ABC really struck gold when it decided to jump aboard The Bachelor train 24 seasons ago. Not only is the flagship dating show still going strong (with new Bachelor Peter Weber currently flying high on the network), but the franchise added The Bachelorette (Season 16 is coming this year) and Bachelor in Paradise (Season 7 is forthcoming), which have also proven big hits. Now, another expansion of the franchise is on the way, with strange new entry The Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart set to debut this spring.
I wouldn't be surprised if the executives at ABC have been after The Bachelor producers to give them another way to make Bachelor Nation happy, and they've managed to come up with an idea that doesn't simply put the very same idea into a new setting. According to Deadline, The Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart will take the basic idea of sexy singles looking for love and add the additional challenge of proving your musical talent. And, we won't have long to wait to watch this experiment, as it'll debut on April 13.
The Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart will feature 20 men and women who are all singers, musicians or whose careers and lives revolve around music. As they look for Mr. or Mrs. Right, they'll live together, go on those infamously extravagant and adventurous Bachelor-style dates and have to sing popular tunes, both solo and as couples.
After duos commit to one another, they'll have to compete in musical challenges, some of which will be live performances that will be judged by top music industry professionals. Those performances will be graded on whether or not they show off the couple's complete devotion to each other, and the couple with the highest marks will continue until there's only one such duo left standing.
I have to say, this seems a lot more ambitious than Bachelor Pad. That 2010-2013 show saw previous Bachelor and Bachelorette contestants date as they took part in "challenges" like pie eating and Twister to stay in the mansion and vie for a $250,000 prize.
We don't know exactly how many episodes The Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart will have, but it's set to bridge the gap between The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. The 2019 seasons of those shows had a break of two months in between them, so it's possible we could get a full eight episodes of the new series, which will air in the franchise's typical Mondays at 8 p.m. spot.
Of course, this means that we'll be getting almost a full year of Bachelor franchise goodness in 2020, and in the coming years, should this new iteration of the property do well.
So, is Bachelor Nation ready for nearly a full 52 weeks of the looking-for-love madness that the franchise brings us every year? Honestly, before hearing the full idea behind The Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart, I would have said that it's better for there to be a long-ish break between the shows. Now, though, I can see that this is different enough that it will probably sustain everyone's Bachelor lust until we get to feast our eyes on the new, non-Hannah Brown, Bachelorette.
The Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart is coming to ABC on Monday, April 13 at 8 p.m. EST. For more on what you can catch on the small screen in the coming weeks, check out our 2020 winter / spring premiere guide.
