Bachelor spin-off a calculated risk

BACHELOR IN PARADISE
Series premiere ★★
Sunday 7.30pm, Ten

By launching its Bachelor/ette spin-off in the frothing wake of Nine's dating megahit, Married At First Sight, Channel Ten is taking a calculated risk. Ideally, the unsuccessful suitors from previous Bachelor/ette seasons will ride the wave of interest in such relationship contrivances and generate the same level of column inches and social media debate as the Marrieds, as they vie for each other's affections at a Fijian resort. But with its homogenous line-up of pretty young things, will Australia's first Bachelor in Paradise be as relatable to a wider audience? Osher Gunsberg, marking his ninth season as host, thinks so.

Lisa Hyde in The Bachelor In Paradise.

"I can't speak for every beautiful person in the world but I've met plenty of people who, we as a society, would think, 'They're hot, they should have no problem [finding love]', but they just cannot find someone who is interested in them romantically on an emotional level," he says. "People want to feel less alone. They want to see people on television doing things they've gone through. You can watch the Olympics and you can see someone run 100 metres in less than 10 seconds, but I can't do that and nor can you. Or you can watch a show like The Bachelor and go, 'Yeah, that happened in one of my relationships. I've had a guy tell me that and then he went out with somebody else. Oh, I don't feel so isolated.' That's all we're trying to do on this show."

The two-week shoot packs in a lot of melodrama, with the cast of handpicked favourites including the cuckolded (Jarrod from Sophie Monk's Bachelorette), the game playing (Leah from Matty J's Bachelor), the kooky (magician Eden and breakdancer Apollo from Sophie Monk's Bachelorette), and the franchise's most infamous villainess, Keira (Richie Strahan's Bachelor).

In the opening episode, the players waste no time in setting up allegiances before the first rose (read "elimination") ceremony. Plenty of cocktails (which Gunsberg reveals are often non-alcoholic beverages dressed up with umbrellas) are downed in the pool before a couple sneaks off for a moonlit "date", which is largely spent lying on a picnic mat. Upon their return to the group the two are subjected to a group interrogation about whether they pashed. This juvenile display is clearly awkward for the couple and reeks of a game of Spin the Bottle at a teenage party into which someone has sneaked a cask of Fruity Lexia.

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