The Bachelor's Jimmy Nicholson says he was approached for MAFS
After nine years on-air, The Bachelor Australia is getting a revamp and moving to the Gold Coast in an attempt to shake things up.
The reality TV show has suffered poor viewership in recent years, with many fans labelling the format as “out of date” compared to Channel Nine’s ratings juggernaut Married At First Sight.
Chatting with Yahoo Lifestyle about the future of The Bachelor franchise, last year’s success story Jimmy Nicholson and Holly Kingston share what they think season ten will look like.
“I have a suspicion that The Bachelor will be a little bit more MAFS-esque,” Jimmy says. “And if that's what people want to watch, that's what they should probably do.
“If it is like that, will it produce as many successful couples? Maybe not. But is it going to be entertaining? Probably more entertaining.”
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Jimmy went on to reveal that while he hasn’t watched too many episodes of MAFS, he was actually approached to appear on the show a few years ago.
“I got asked to go on MAFS before The Bachelor and I said, ‘Absolutely not’,” he shares.
“It was just an Instagram message from someone and for me, it was just never going to be something that I could do. It works for some people, but I wanted to meet someone.”
‘The formula is a little bit old’
While The Bachelor’s format evidently worked for Jimmy and Holly, with the couple recently celebrating their one year anniversary, they agree that a shake-up is necessary for the show to survive.
“I think for our season, those that watched it said they actually really enjoyed it and they thought it was great, but the formula is a little bit old and a bit tired and things can get lost in the edit,” Jimmy details.
“Holly was such a sure thing from the start, but they actually didn’t show much of our love story at all. People want to know that stuff, they want to see that.”
The pair also admit that they were disappointed with the low ratings, receiving only 482,000 viewers for the premiere compared to 681,000 the previous year.
“It was frustrating for us because the launch night was on the [same night as the] finale of Farmer Wants A Wife,” he shares. “So your first episode is on a night where your target market is watching something else.
“And it was played during the Olympics as well. So I feel like there were some frustrations there behind the scenes from the actual producers of The Bachelor, and I think one of the executives actually moved on afterwards because I think he didn't agree with the timing of it all.
“I would never try and trash talk Ten, they know a lot more than me, but I feel like we had everything against us.”
‘Due for a shake-up’
Holly adds that she was surprised people didn’t tune into the season as it was filled with interesting storylines and charismatic contestants.
“I probably only got along with about three of the girls, but that is not to say that the rest of the cast weren’t bloody hilarious and very entertaining,” she says.
“I think it was the perfect recipe for everything to be great, but unfortunately the ratings didn’t represent that. But I think after nine seasons of the same old stuff, I think it's probably due for a shake-up.”
Although they acknowledge that it will be a little strange watching this year’s season of The Bachelor, with Holly revealing that she “dealt with a lot of trauma after the show”, the couple assert that they’ll be tuning in to see what happens.
“We're excited for the franchise and for those going on it, I think they’ll have a great time,” Jimmy remarks.
Jimmy and Holly have recently teamed up with ANZ to help others understand their spending habits. You can learn more about ANZ's Your Money Report here.
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