What was once the flagship franchise of Network Ten, in 2021 The Bachelor and The Bachelorette produced the lowest ratings Network Ten had seen since its inception in 2013.
Now, a Network 10 boss has revealed that they have “a lot of work to do” to get it back to where it was.
In an interview with Mediaweek, Beverley McGarvey, the executive vice president and chief content officer for ViacomCBS Australia and New Zealand admitted that they were questioning “what do we do with Bachelor“.
“Can we get it back to its glory days?” she said. “Often with those legacy formats, there are pivots that you can make, there are things that you can do, and shows like MasterChef and The Block that have been on the air for more than a decade prove that a format can go for a long time when you carefully manage it, and sometimes it’s cyclical.”
What Were the Ratings of The Bachelor Franchise Like In 2021?
Both The Bachelor and The Bachelorette were unable to break above 440,000 viewers per week — despite Brooke Blurton’s season showcasing the first Indigenous and bisexual lead.
In fact, the seventh and mid-way episode of the season only raked in 249,000 viewers — the lowest of any season ever.
As for Jimmy Nicholson’s 2021 season, the season premiered 200,000 less than Locky Gilbert’s season and only 629,000 viewers chose to tune in to see him choose Holly Kingston in the finale. The lowest ratings for a finale ever.
Bachelor Alum Abbie Chatfield Called the Franchise “Dead”
Even though Abbie Chatfield got her start in Matt Agnew’s 2019 season of The Bachelor, followed by a stint on Bachelor in Paradise, it hasn’t stopped her from declaring the show “dead”.
And unfortunately, the drama surrounding her relationship with Konrad Bien-Stephens at the tail-end of Brooke’s Bachelorette season was certainly more intriguing than both 2021 seasons put together.
Speaking on her podcast It’s A Lot, Abbie admitted it was “an interesting season”.
“I loved the representation, obviously, we loved it, it was wonderful seeing all the diversity on screen,” she said. “Do I think the franchise is dead? Yes. Because if Brooke couldn’t bring back the ratings who could? If this Bachelorette [season] couldn’t bring back the f***ing ratings, who could?”
Bachelor in Paradise Cancelled For the Forseeable Future
In October this year, we reported that the fan-favourite series, Bachelor in Paradise Australia 2022 had been cancelled.
Just like any good reality TV relationship, next year’s season was called off, announced to be back on again, before finally being cancelled indefinitely yet again.
After the debacle that was the 2020 season, the series was put on hold while they waited to grow a bigger pool of contestants to cast from.
As reported in episode 111 of the So Dramatic! podcast, a source told host Megan Pustetto that previous contestants from the franchise had been approached to star on BIP.
“A lot of us were approached by producers and asked if we would be keen to do it and some of us were even in talks,” they revealed. “But we have just been told that it’s no longer going ahead because of COVID.“
“I think it’s probably more likely because of the lack of interest in the franchise,” they added.
We”ll just have to wait and see what the Network has planned!
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