The year long wait to watch yet another handsome young man look for love on national television is finally over! Pilot Peter Weber's season of ABC's The Bachelor premiered last night, and the three-hour look into his beginning search for the lady of his dreams garnered quite the crowd of viewers. So, even with many thinking that some of his other Bachelorette runner-ups should have been the dude handing out roses this year, it looks like the franchise made the right decision.
It turns out that Peter Weber's not just winning at windmill sex, as his Season 24 Bachelor premiere won the night. The reality dating show saw just over 6 million total viewers and a 1.8 rating in the coveted demographic of adults 18-49. According to Variety, Weber's debut accounts for a very nice 20% rise in viewers and ratings from Colton Underwood's Bachelor premiere last year, which brought in 5.1 million viewers and a 1.5 rating.
Underwood's season netted its highest numbers with the finale, with 8.2 million viewers and a 2.4 rating, and while we can't know yet if Weber's time choosing from dozens of lovely ladies will be as fence-jumpingly dramatic as Underwood's was, the show certainly got off to a solid start last night.
Audiences were first introduced to Peter Weber on Hannah Brown's season of The Bachelorette last year, and fans in Bachelor Nation were pretty quickly taken by his pleasant nature, how well he treated Brown and how he managed, in a season full of intense drama, to stay focused on the woman at the center and keep his head above the fray. Brown was taken by all of that as well, and when you add in the undeniable chemistry the duo had, you can see why Weber went so far on her season.
Hannah Brown wound up dumping Peter Weber very close to the end of her Bachelorette journey, right after the fantasy suite dates, which led to Weber being eliminated and not becoming one of her Top 2. But, as Bachelor Nation knows full well by now, Weber was the only one with which Brown...decided to enjoy some naked time. That's right, folks: they screwed in a windmill. Four times! And, this is why there were so many references to windmills on last night's premiere. Never say that the Bachelor franchise lets us forget anything.
While we've already been promised that Peter Weber's season of The Bachelor will bring about plenty of tears, confusion, drama between contestants, make out scenes and all of the other things that we look for from these series, we also got the start of some major tension last night when Brown herself showed up. She was very popular with a lot of fans during her season (even though some likely believe it's time for her to take a Bachelor Nation break), and people loved her and Weber together, so I wouldn't be surprised if many of those 6 million plus viewers tuned in to see what would happen between them.
ABC was probably willing to spoil that reveal because of Hannah Brown's popularity after her season and winning Dancing with the Stars last fall, so promos dropped prior to The Bachelor's debut told us to expect to see her. Even though Reality Steve told us that she's not going to be around long, her time speaking with the possible one-that-got-away-because-she-let-him-go Peter Weber last night turned into a tear-filled reunion that not only probably didn't go as smoothly as anyone involved thought it would, but was also major enough that it won't wrap up until next week.
We shall see soon enough if the Hannah Brown / Peter Weber cliffhanger will be enough to convince all of those viewers to come back for more. The Bachelor airs Mondays on ABC at 8 p.m. EST. For more of what you can watch in the new year, be sure to check out our 2020 winter / spring premiere guide and Netflix premiere schedule!
