How do you makeThe Bachelorwithout the Bachelor?
Shutting the show down completely simply wasn’t an option nor was it something the Bachelor wanted to do.
With the clock ticking, the entire production team came together to brainstorm a solution.
Zach gets the AV set-up going in his room on ‘The Bachelor’.ABC
Fortunately, Graebner, exec producer Nicole Woods, and director Dave Miller had the answers.
How often were Zach and the contestants being tested throughout filming?
NICOLEWOODS:We test them daily.
Zach Zooms with the ladies on ‘The Bachelor’.ABC
When you guys found out Zach had COVID, what happened next?
Did you immediately set up a war room to plan your next course of action?
And as everyone knows, there are false positives.
The ladies during a virtual ‘Bachelor’ rose ceremony.ABC
WOODS:We definitely ran two tests.
Then we drop everything and get together and are like, “Okay, what do we do?”
We sit down and we just start throwing ideas at the wall.
Zach and Charity on ‘The Bachelor’.ABC
GRAEBNER:It’s incredibly challenging, trying to figure out how to continue making the television show.
I really give him credit for that.
Like, he didn’t say, “Oh, I’m really bummed out.
I don’t get to see London.”
We had to prepare for any scenario moving forward.
There was also no guarantee that we’d be able to shoot after those five days.
Nicole, can you give us an idea of what options A through E were?
WOODS:Well, the original timeline for COVID quarantine was 10 days.
It was probably option E, because that was the least desirable for all of us.
In times like that, your brain is just firing on adrenaline to attempt to solve the problem.
It was, best-case scenario, he’s clear on day six.
GRAEBNER:We were locked into a production calendar.
We know exactly where we’re traveling and when we’re traveling.
And the same is true for where we are in London.
That was part of the struggle.
What do we do with the women?
What if she gets COVID?"
We got really lucky that it didn’t spread amongst the entire cast of women.
We tested Gabi multiple times in the following 48 hours after that.
How did the idea of a virtual cocktail party and rose ceremony come about?
In full disclosure, I thought it was a bad idea, and I told him.
I said, “I really don’t think this is a good idea.”
He said, “Why?
What are you so worried about?”
I wasn’t supportive of it for that reason.
I was also concerned that when we put it together, it just wouldn’t look likeThe Bachelor.
It wouldn’t look like the production that we know and love.
To be frank, I thought it might look embarrassing.
It’s not like we can send in a bunch of people, and they can set up things.
But he really did it all himself because he had to.
The first reaction was like, it feels like we’re shooting anSNLskit or something.
Let’s not let it become that.
There were many different turns that we could have taken where it would’ve gone into parody.
And I think we found the next best thing.
Let’s have the girl on an iPad so she can hold him in her hands.
Do we have the women sit at a monitor [during the conversations]?
No, that felt weird.
That’s contrived and stale.
We went, “Wait a minute.
People are used to it.
It’s a language people understand.
So, let’s just have the girls hold an iPad so they can kiss the screen.
That’s good.”
MILLER:We did do a version of that.
We would end up with what we call the “non-clean listening shot.”
So out of necessity, I was like, let’s get rid of that [picture-in-picture] screen.
They’re just going to be looking at him.
You don’t look in a mirror when you’re talking to somebody.
This is supposed to be a one-on-one conversation where they’re paying attention to each other and not distracted.
We quickly realized that if they didn’t see themselves, then they couldn’t frame themselves nicely.
But we have a camera on them.
What was the reasoning behind that?
And they didn’t have WiFi, so it was just a logistical thing right off the bat.
That felt wrong too, like a television show getting in the way of what people would normally do.
And were there other scenarios you entertained in terms of how Zach would “be” in the room?
I’ll admit I was really hoping Palmer would walk in holding a laptop with Zach on the screen.
It’s 10 feet or so between the ladies and the podium anyway in a rose ceremony.
Trust me, my sense of humor, I would love to have made theSNLversion, a hundred percent.
I would’ve had [stage manager]Paulie Dannerwheel Zach in with his face on the monitor.
All the goofy ideas came out of me, and I got the giggles out.
Then we moved on to, what is not going to be silly?
And that was just putting the monitor there and having a black screen.
It’s funny how difficult simple things are when you’re not in a studio [setting].
They were already in the room, and then he has to arrive.
I’ll give you an example: The handing out of the roses, we discussed that at length.
Does Zach also have roses in his room?
Or is that just ridiculous?
So you’re trying to figure out what looks and feels best but also isn’t likeMax Headroom.
You had to squeeze 11 women into a much smaller space than usual for that rose ceremony.
What was the biggest challenge in getting those shots?
MILLER:Kudos to the art department and the lighting team on this one.
We never ever, ever would put the lady standing six inches away from the wall.
It just isn’t done.
We scout places on purpose that are big and have a nice, soft background and are beautiful.
We had to light with LED strips, like we were lighting on a boat or something.
They figured it out and they did it quickly and they did a great job.
I mean, it’s the best job that could be possibly done.
Can you tell us anything about the date Charity was supposed to have with Zach?
I was like, “How can you be surprised?
Of course, she’s going to get the next date!”
But they were, and so was Charity.
In the past, leads have been sick and still had dates in some form.
Emily was very sick in London during her season; she lost her voice.
We’ve had these issues in the past.
What is the protocol now in the COVID era when your lead is under the weather?
WOODS:I feel like we’ve been really lucky to not have to be faced with that decision.
In the bubbles, I really don’t feel like we were faced with that.
It will be interesting moving forward how we handle that, but we really rely heavily on the testing.
What can you tell us about next week’s episode?
The Bachelorairs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.
