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- It’s no surprise most “Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” couples don’t last.
- The contestants are expected to find love in less than two months.
- Only one “Bachelor” couple is still around.
- Six “Bachelorette” couples have lasted.
While America will be following along with Arie Luyendyk, Jr. and his contestants on this year’s “The Bachelor” until mid March, what most viewers may not know was that all the filming was completed for the show well before the January 1 premiere.
Luyendyk, Jr. and producers started filming with 29 women on September 20. We know the exact date after “Bachelor” producer Mike Fleiss tweeted out a photo from the set. Luyendyk Jr. was finished filming by the end of November with the first promos released later that month.
That means that Luyendyk, Jr and his contestants were expected to find love in less than nine weeks or around two months.
This short timeline is pretty standard for “Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” contestants. Dating over 20 people and trying to find love in two short months is extremely difficult, which might be why only one Bachelor couple is still together from the show, two if you count Jason Mesnick who ended the show with Melissa Rycroft but soon broke up with her to date (and later marry) the runner-up Molly Malaney.
Ethan Miller/Getty ImagesAnd while some publications have found that most American couples date for two to three years before getting engaged, that doesn’t mean this short dating span (in front of millions of viewers) never works out.
Sean Lowe, the “Bachelor” for season 17, started filming in LA on September 20, 2012, and finished in the first weekend of that November, which means he only had six weeks to fall in love. Yet, he’s now married to his winner Catherine Giudici and the pair have a son together.
The “Bachelorette” is on a similarly short timeline, and incidentally has a higher success rate, with six of the 13 couples still together. Rachel Lindsay, the most recent “Bachelorette,” is still with her winner, but has said the couple is still getting to know each other.
“Honestly, I’m not thinking about the wedding because I’m like, ‘Are we gonna make it?’ which I honestly think we will,” Lindsay said in July. “I just want us to get to know each other better.”
It just goes to show you that a little TV magic is necessary when making these shows and stretching out the timeline. So the next time you’re surprised that the “Bachelor” or “Bachelorette” couples don’t stay together, don’t be — the odds are stacked against them.
Watch “The Bachelor” when it returns to ABC January 1 at 8 p.m. EST.
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