Many Bachelor Nation fans are aware that producers have a big impact on the show and cast members. However, just how far Bachelor producers will go to deliver a compelling story may come as a shock. For years, former cast members have spoken out about Bachelor producer manipulation tactics. Even some former producers have come clean about their dirty tricks.
Some of this manipulation takes place after filming has wrapped. In the editing room, producers can do a lot to control storylines and even what cast members say, or at least, seem to say. “Frankenbiting” refers to an editing tactic where a sound clip from one scene is inserted into an unrelated moment. Any time you hear a cast member “say” something shocking, but don’t see the words actually come out of their mouths, it’s probably an example of frankenbiting.
Producers can also reframe entire situations. Who here remembers Clare Crawley opening up about her romance troubles to a raccoon on Bachelor In Paradise? Yeah, that didn’t happen. Clare was talking to a producer about her struggles, but in editing, a raccoon was spliced in on the receiving end of Clare’s breakdown. Sure it led to a funny and iconic BIP moment, but it was understandably frustrating for Clare upon rewatch.
Of course, that’s just what producers do after the cameras stop rolling. The Bachelor producer manipulation tactics that take place while filming the show are often much, much, worse.
Alcohol
Some past contestants are quick to blame it on the alcohol—and for good reason. In the ViceTV docuseries, Dark Side of the 2000s, former producer Michael Carroll admitted that from the start of The Bachelor Season 1, alcohol was free-flowing, and female contestants would be “drinking champagne until they’re blotto,” at the encouragement of production.
This environment of heavy drinking persisted for years. It seemed that every season there was one contestant who went way too hard at the open bar on night one and was sent packing by the lead. Tipsy contestants often lead to compelling television, as a little liquid courage can help cast members open up. However, the encouraged drinking sometimes had disastrous results.
During Bachelor In Paradise Season 4, disturbing sexual assault allegations came to light. It was alleged that there was sexual misconduct between male contestant DeMario Jackson and an inebriated Corinne Olympios. Following an internal investigation, ABC claimed that there had been no misconduct.
However, the network still took steps to cut down on drinking. From then on, contestants were supposedly issued a 2-drink per hour limit. Two drinks per hour is still enough to get you messed up, and there are doubts that the limit is still in place for recent seasons.
Time
Though viewers get roughly an hour and a half of content each week, producers film TONS of hours of footage each season. One thing fans might not have an idea of is how much time goes into filming. One of the most insidious Bachelor producer manipulation tactics is time—specifically the time they spend interviewing cast members.
Many former contestants have opened up about the way producers wore them down with exhausting interviews. Bachelor Season 18 cast member Sharleen Joynt revealed that while interviews with producers on her season typically lasted 20 minutes, her’s would stretch on for an hour as producers pressured her to say she was falling in love with lead Juan Pablo Galavis.
Chris Bukowski, who made numerous Bachelor Nation appearances, made similar claims. He admitted to parroting back lines that producers told him, “because I’d been sitting in a stupid room for an hour and just wanted to go…You would say something you totally didn’t even believe or want to say, but they just keep asking you and asking you and asking you.”
Bachelor producers will drive around with a freshly eliminated contestant in the back of a limo for ages in an attempt to wear them down and elicit tears. The police-style interrogation tactic is one of the grossest in a Bachelor producer’s handbook, though unfortunately, it’s very effective.
Personal Details
Bachelor contestants undergo a rigorous screening process to get on the show, which includes numerous interviews about their personal lives and history. Though much of this information isn’t brought up on the show, producers apparently don’t hesitate to weaponize the details they learn about contestants.
Former producer Michael Carroll admitted that producers would “wield [personal details] like a weapon” to elicit certain responses. “We had a lot of tactics on how to get a girl to cry on camera,” he said in the ViceTV docuseries. Carroll added that producers were “wrecking them psychologically” by bringing up contestants’ “hot buttons.”
Ex-contestant Brooks Forester, who famously self-eliminated on The Bachelorette Season 9, spoke about the producer technique of bringing up past trauma, getting a contestant riled up, and then pivoting back to the current situation. The final cut of the show would frame the contestant as emotional about their Bachelor journey, when really, they were upset about something entirely different.
“They’d try to get me to talk about something from my childhood, for example,” Brooks claimed, “or say something really personal about a family member…then try to attach that to what’s happening in the world of The Bachelor.”
Controlling Frontrunners
Of course, it’s not just contestants who face these Bachelor producer manipulation tactics. Leads are also manipulated by producers in an attempt to craft a compelling storyline for the season.
Bachelor producers run the show, literally, and are in charge of setting up dates. While leads do have input, producers can, and do, override their requests. On ‘This American Life,’ former Bachelor Colton Underwood revealed that producers were constantly asking him to “rank” the contestants on his season. However, he began to suspect that producers were conspiring to keep him from the women he was most interested in after one of his “top girls” was left off an early group date.
“From there on out,” Colton said, “I was like, ‘All right, if you’re going to do that to my top girls, I’m not really going to tell you who my top girls are.'” So, Colton lied to producers in an attempt to outsmart them. He continued to tell them that contestant Hannah Goodwin was his top choice when really he had set his sights on Cassie Randolph.
Unfortunately, this backfired on Colton when producers positioned Hannah as the frontrunner and made specific efforts to encourage Cassie to leave the show.
All Bachelor Nation fans want is a good show. However, the lengths that Bachelor producers often go to deliver a good show are extremely troubling.
TELL US – DO BACHELOR PRODUCERS GO TOO FAR WITH THEIR MANIPULATION TACTICS?
