As much as we are all loyal members of Bachelor Nation (And, we are, right?), it's hard to watch The Bachelor, The Bachelorette or Bachelor in Paradise and not understand some of the ways in which the shows amp up the drama, either with what we're shown on screen, or what we're later told actually happened behind the scenes. Wills Reid, who started with the franchise in 2018 with a stint as one of Becca Kufrin's suitors on her Bachelorette season, has now admitted that he's a bit bummed by how producers have treated him after his time on the show.
While Wills Reid was eliminated from Becca's Season 14 Bachelorette run during week seven, he was enough of a fan of the experience to return for the beach-bound love-a-thon better known as Bachelor in Paradise, later in 2018 and then again in 2019. But, according to Wills, his time with producers has turned a bit sour since leaving Bachelor Nation behind. Here's what he had to say during a recent AMA on Reddit, where he answered some questions via video on Cameo:
I’m kind of a person who is skeptical about a lot of things, and I know that producers have a job to do, or else they wouldn’t be on set. I also know that they want to be friendly; they’re with you all the time and they basically become your best friend because they’re kind of your only outlet during the show. That being said, I also knew they had a job to do. But, I don’t like being sold stories. I don’t like being told things that aren’t true; I don’t like the facade of that...I’m not very close with too many of the producers anymore. It kind of bums me out, because I feel like, once the show ended, and I’m not on, I feel like I was just kind of a business transaction and once the show was done I wasn’t needed anymore. Which sucked, because I felt like I was close to several of the producers and I wanted to continue that familial relationship and it just isn’t there. And, that’s fine, but don’t treat me like a brother or family and then disregard me. If it’s all business, then let it be all business from the jump and there won’t be any problems.
Oooh. It's actually becoming more and more common for cast members to come out and talk about their experiences with producers, and some of the potentially shady ways they deal with cast. Colton Underwood, who led The Bachelor Season 23 last year after spending some time trying to woo Becca as well, came out last fall to talk about how the producers tried to keep him away from the women who were at the top of his list by not letting him have dates with them as much as he wanted. And, he's now written a book detailing the other difficulties he had in working with producers.
For those not quite in the know, signing up to appear on The Bachelorette, The Bachelor, Bachelor in Paradise or any of the other franchise shows, means that you basically give up your life for several weeks. You're without your cell phone, can't contact any friends or family, don't have access to news or any up to date media, and only get to see the outside world through the Bachelor Nation lens they allow you to see it through.
Understandably, this is so all the participants can fully focus on trying to find love, but it also lets relationships develop between the leads, contestants and producers on the show. Each person on the show has at least one producer who helps to guide them through the process, and as Wills noted in his comments, because that producer is your only lifeline (and in the case of contestants, the only person who isn't also dating the woman you want) it's easy to feel like you've got a real friend in that person.
This all means that, even if you go in like Wills did and fully realize that the producers are there to make the zingiest show possible that gets the most buzz they can muster, you'll probably still leave the experience feeling like you made some true friends in the producers and expect to be able to continue those friendships afterward.
That wasn't the case for Wills Reid, though. And, while he doesn't sound really upset about not having those producers in his corner anymore, it's clear that he wishes they hadn't played up the idea of friendship so much, and had instead kept things much more business-like during his three-show stint in Bachelor Nation.
Well, Clare Crawley's season of The Bachelorette may be postponed for at least a few months, but, lucky for us, the new musical franchise entry The Bachelor: Listen To Your Heart was able to complete filming before the shutdowns, and will debut tonight, April 13, on ABC at 8 p.m. EST. For more on what you can watch right now, check out our Netflix premiere schedule, take a look at all the shows that will continue to air as planned and see what's new to Hulu this month!
