Rest assured Bachelor Nation: the future of Bachelor in Paradise is a question of when (and who), not if.
“Obviously, we didn’t shoot last summer, so now we are going to have multiple seasons, it’s going to be a murderers’ row of choices of people,” Chris Harrison exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting Sourced Craft Cocktails’ Most Dramatic Cocktail Kit Ever. “And I mean, I hate to say this, but there’s going to be people left on the bench that we love just because you can only have so many people on that beach. And right now, the plan is we’re moving forward. Clearly, we are like the rest of the world. This vaccine is on the horizon, there is hope on the horizon and where there’s hope, there’s roses and there’s The Bachelor. We’re always right there.”
The 49-year-old host continued: “In all seriousness, our dream scenario is Bachelorette is next. That’s our normal schedule. You know, we shot The Bachelor in the normal timeframe, we’re going to shoot Bachelorette in the normal timeframe — this winter/spring — and then that’ll lead us into hopefully the Bachelor in Paradise that we normally have in June. … I’m not Anthony Fauci here, but my dream is that the vaccine is working by then and we’re right back to normal.”
Season 16 of The Bachelorette filmed at La Quinta Resort in Palm Springs during the summer. Production on the upcoming season 25 of The Bachelor — starring Matt James — began in late September at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Pennsylvania.
“We’re gonna have to really medicate our producers who come up with these dates because they are at their wit’s end. There is only so much you can do in a half-mile by half-mile block of the hotel,” Harrison told Us about filming the Bachelorette and Bachelor in one location amid the coronavirus pandemic. “They really did an unbelievable job of making it as creative as possible.”
The former Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? host noted that some of the dates “needed an audience,” which is why contestants have been crashing group dates on The Bachelorette.
“Well, you can’t get an audience. So, we used the one we had back at the house. We did as creative of a job as we could. And I think we pulled it off,” he said. “I think we did a great job. There are aspects of the intimacy of this pressure cooker in this fishbowl environment that I do like, but at the same time, I miss having the world as our playground.”
While fans will have to wait until January 4 to see James’ journey, Tayshia Adams’ quest for love continues on Tuesday, November 24 — and can now be complete with the official Bachelor cocktail kit.
“I’m glad we’re upping our Bachelor Nation experience a little bit more with the Sourced Craft Cocktails,” Harrison told Us. “This is going to be so fun and what I love is honestly you just go online, go to sourcedcraftcocktails.com, you order it and it shows up at your house. I mean, everything is there. All you have to have is a good attitude, some ice and a glass. Everything else is there.”
For more from Harrison — including which Bachelorette season 16 contestant already secured his ticket to Mexico — watch the video above.
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