Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.<\/p>\n
Romance is not dead. Not if the new season of The Bachelors <\/i>has anything to do with it. Ditching its Sydney home for the more understated sophistication of Melbourne \u2013 in a privately owned Brighton mansion straight out of Bridgerton \u2013 <\/i>the show again promises new levels of \u201cvulnerability and authenticity\u201d amid abundant floral arrangements and a dangerous number of candles.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole series is a love letter to Melbourne,\u201d says Network Ten\u2019s head of creative production and entertainment, Tamara Simoneau. \u201cAnd The<\/i> Bachelor<\/i> franchise is the OG [original] of this format. Many others have come in the decades since it began, and they\u2019re not always about real people finding love. So we\u2019ve veered right back into that, because we think that\u2019s what\u2019s missing from so many other formats.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Bachelors\u2019 new suitors (from left)\u00a0Luke Bateman,\u00a0Ben Waddell\u00a0and Wesley Senna Cortes.<\/span><\/p>\n The opening episode, which is again proffering not one, but three eligible men, plays like a Victorian-era coming-out ball. The suitors \u2013 Queensland lumberjack and ex-NRL player Luke Bateman; Brazilian-born Sydney theology student Wesley Senna Cortes; and Melbourne-born international model, sustainability property entrepreneur and aspiring filmmaker Ben Waddell \u2013 are presented with 20 women, their gowns swishing across the marble floors of the ballroom as a chamber orchestra plays.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a moment where I looked around and thought: \u2018This is really happening!\u2019\u201d says Waddell. \u201cIt brings a smile to my face, thinking about it now. It was pretty special \u2026 looking back, it\u2019s definitely one of the best things I\u2019ve ever done in my life. I went in being cautiously optimistic, but in terms of the calibre of women and the change I saw in myself, I was grateful for the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n Long considered a \u201ctent pole\u201d series used to guarantee good ratings during peak measuring times, this 11th incarnation of The Bachelor <\/i>is being deliberately rolled out over the holiday period.<\/p>\n \u201cWe think it\u2019s a great time of year,\u201d says Simoneau. \u201cBecause it\u2019s summer, because it\u2019s a guilty pleasure, we\u2019re delivering a lot of episodes every week and a little nugget for superfans that will release on 10play, 24 hours earlier than the next episode. So if people want to binge-watch that, they can do so. That\u2019s how viewing habits are now. But also, we have The Gladiators<\/i> coming early in January, so our big emphasis is on having fantastic shows in prime time, all year round.\u201d<\/p>\n This season of The Bachelors has moved to Melbourne, embracing a Bridgerton feel.<\/span><\/p>\n While this Bachelors<\/i> is heavy on pomp, ceremony and swooning, it has not changed its basic approach. Potential villainesses make their dramatic entrances along with the blushing country lasses and down-to-earth fitness instructors. The fighting over men, and the ritualised rejections, are still very much part of the package. This far into the format\u2019s lifespan, it\u2019s a fair bet everyone is acutely aware of the implications of exposure.<\/p>\n Waddell says he has never watched The <\/i>Bachelor, or any dating show, but this isn\u2019t his first reality rodeo. He was on 2015 UK series Taking New York<\/i>, about a group of 20-somethings trying to make it in the Big Apple.<\/p>\n He won\u2019t discuss the widely reported legal stoush with Zac Efron and Netflix that erupted over Waddell\u2019s claims his 2018 documentary series concept Down to Earth<\/i>, was stolen. Waddell also has a television project about building sustainability in development in the UK.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m getting into it,\u201d he says. \u201cMy whole idea, when creating documentaries is finding something I\u2019m passionate about and wanting to learn about it, and hopefully, by me learning about it, the audience is interested and learns through me.\u201d<\/p>\n Through his experience on The Bachelors<\/i>, Waddell says he has learnt \u201cthe power of vulnerability\u201d, and, after decades overseas, a newfound love for his home town.<\/p>\n \u201cMelbourne\u2019s definitely got that European vibe,\u201d he says. \u201cI loved it because it wasn\u2019t tacky. People were well-dressed. We were going to nice, classy places. Melbourne\u2019s very much got that city-of-love feel. It was classy. It was great, and it was right up my alley.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n