On the heels of last week’s dramatic Bachelor announcement, in which three men were unveiled as the joint bachelors, Channel 10 has revealed its sister series The Bachelorette Australia will have … no one.
Channel 10 has hit pause on the show for 2022.
The diehard Bachie fans among us could speculate as to why this has happened.
Perhaps the declining ratings have something to do with it, or maybe they just want to focus on delivering one knockout season of The Bachelor(s).
By the sounds of it, these reasons might have something to do with it.
The Bachelorette goes on a break
Beverley McGarvey, executive vice president and chief content officer of Paramount Australia and New Zealand, told TV Tonight that we “probably won’t have an iteration of Bachelorette that is on air this year”.
“But actually we haven’t always had an iteration of Bachelorette on air every year. If you think way back to the beginning, we had two or three years that we didn’t, and then we introduced Bachelorette.”
Network 10 is owned by Paramount.
The first season of The Bachelorette Australia premiered in 2015, with Sam Frost as the star of the show.
The then marketing manager went on to secure a place on Seven’s Home and Away.
The Bachelor Australia, meanwhile, kicked off in 2013 with Tim Robards at the helm.
He would eventually fall in love with contestant Anna Heinrich, whom he married in 2018. They welcomed their daughter, Elle, in 2020.
Although the series is going on a break this year, this does not mean it is leaving us forever.
Instead, it sounds like the producers behind the show are figuring out how to freshen up the format.
“I think given the environment that we’re in, the audience is telling us they want to see some of those legacy formats move forward a bit, which we really want to do with that show, because we really respect the brand and the audience loves it,” Ms McGarvey continued.
“So I think a little bit of scarcity this year is probably going to help us move forward.”
As they say, separation makes the heart grow fonder.
Are the ratings that troubling?
If we take a look at the overnight television ratings for The Bachelorette Australia since its inception, the numbers have certainly taken a hit.
Frost’s finale in 2015 pulled 1.52 million metro viewers, Georgia Love (2016) had 972,000 metro viewers and Sophie Monk’s finale in 2017 attracted 1.604 million metro viewers.
In 2018 and 2019, the finales for Ali Oetjen and Angie Kent’s seasons both topped 900,000 metro viewers.
And then something happened.
In 2020, Channel 10 decided to cast sisters Elly and Becky Miles as duo bachelorettes for the first time.
It could have been an interesting season – sister v sister – but Elly and Becky weren’t keen on fighting over the same man.
They loved each other too much for that, so instead of a season full of drama, such as what we see on Married At First Sight, fans got a pretty nice and wholesome season of reality TV.
Turns out, nice and wholesome isn’t what people watch The Bachelorette for.
The sisters’ finale drew 573,000 metro viewers, a significant drop from Kent’s season.
So, Channel 10 tried something new again.
For the 2021 season of The Bachelor and Bachelorette, they selected two non-white leads, answering calls to have a cast that reflected Australian society.
Despite making television history last year – Brooke Blurton was the first Aboriginal and bisexual star – the general format of the show remained the same.
Single dates, followed by group dates, heroes, villains, drama, the cocktail party, rose ceremony and inevitable elimination. Repeat until the end.
Blurton’s finale pulled just 439,000 metro viewers in its last 15 minutes, making it the least-watched Bachelorette Australia finale in the show’s history.
In comparison, the finale of MAFS in 2021 on rival network Channel 9 pulled 1.398 million metro viewers.
So, where does that leave The Bachelorette?
On a break, watching ever so carefully if three joint bachelors and, presumably, a different format will be a ratings win.
