The Bachelor producers revealed how they were able to pull off an episode despite their leading man, Zach Shallcross, catching COVID-19 while he and the contestants were all in London. While it is a concern that Zach wouldn’t get to spend as much time as he would like with the women during that week, it is also an issue for production. On a show where every minute counts and there is a schedule to be met, it was crucial for the producers to figure out exactly how they would solve this issue they had yet to encounter.
Executive producers Bennett Graebner and Nicole Woods along with director Dave Miller spoke with Entertainment Weekly about how they came up with a solution for The Bachelor’s Zach Shallcross catching COVID-19. Nicole shared that they test everyone on the show every morning and that they were slightly shocked, as this was their first positive result after being very careful over the last couple of years. Bennett shared that Zach “was really concerned that he was going to lose time with the women and not be able to further the relationships that had really started to take off.” While this was Zach’s major concern, it was the producer’s concern that they were obviously “locked into a production calendar,” Bennett shared as well.
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In order to pull off the virtual cocktail party and rose ceremony that they all went ahead with, they shared that Zach had to set up everything himself, since they obviously couldn’t break quarantine and go into his room. They communicated with him over the phone about how to set up everything from lighting to audio to the cameras. Dave shared that some people were concerned the whole thing would look “goofy,” and that they don’t want it to look like they were shooting “an SNL skit or something.” Nicole said that after much deliberation they were very pleased with how it all came together because it was a huge group effort, “every department, their expertise shined on this one.”
The Bachelor team has been lucky up until this point to not have anyone catch COVID-19 while filming the most recent seasons since 2020 when the outbreak began. While it has been good that no one has gotten sick until this season, it definitely left Bachelor producers a bit unprepared and scrambling when the positive test did actually come through. It’s really one of those things that everyone knows could happen, but they don’t expect it to because they have been lucky so far. When it comes to The Bachelor, there are deadlines to be met on all fronts, so shutting down or asking for extra time really isn’t an option.
Zach seemed happy enough with the way that everything worked out on The Bachelor, and he put in the work to make sure that it all went as smoothly as it possibly could have. While previous contestants are usually available to ask for guidance, this was a completely new scenario that Zach had to tackle all on his own. Sure contestants have gotten sick previously, but those illnesses didn’t require a mandatory quarantine like Zach’s did. Going forward, now Zach will have even more experiences to guide future Bachelors through as they navigate this crazy reality show that has regular hiccups like the recent COVID-19 scare.
Source: Entertainment Weekly, Zach Shallcross/Instagram