Bachelor Nation, as fans affectionately call it, is an ever-expanding amoeba, slowly taking over our television screens (and Instagram feeds). Not that we mind, really. The show and its accompanying spin-offs are endlessly entertaining. And the pseudo-celebrities that emerge from the show have formed a web of internet friendships and romances that make for great Friday night deep dives. So far, there's The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and the true guilty pleasure Bachelor in Paradise. Once upon a time, the show dipped its toe into a true competition show with Bachelor Pad, where contestants competed for a pile of money. (It has since been canceled.)
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Tuesday, ABC announced that Bachelor Nation would spawn yet another show — and it's the weirdest one yet. The Bachelor Winter Games will premiere in February 2018. As the name suggests, it's a game show. Because it's Bachelor-related, it's also about love. According to the press release, the show "will reunite the [Bachelor Nation] all-stars at a luxurious winter resort, where they will go head-to-head in winter-themed athletic challenges, including the toughest sport of all – love." The new series will coincide with the 2018 Winter Olympic games, which will take place February 9 to February 25 in Daegwallyeong-myeon, South Korea. The show promises to take competitive dating to a "chilling new level" with the "arch enemies" and "villains" of seasons past. Please, for the love of all that is good reality television, do not invite Chad Johnson back.
Given the immense popularity of The Bachelor's latest season in January — it was the only network reality television series to grow its audience, according to a new report — this sort of expansion makes sense. However, The Bachelor Winter Games sounds like it has a similar premise to Bachelor Pad, which didn't fare too well. As a Bachelor fan, I keep tuning in because I believe in the whole love-on-reality-television thing (sue me!). Add money to the mix, and I'm clutching my pearls. Surely, money isn't more important than love! It's not clear as of yet if there is a financial prize at the end of The Bachelor Winter Games, but it seems likely.
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The show also seems to bear a similarity to The Challenge, formerly known as The Real World/Road Rules Challenge. This series takes former contestants from The Real World, Road Rules, and Are You The One? and pits them against one another for a cash prize. The new Bachelor Nation series seems to take this premise and apply it to... the Winter Olympics?
We'll just have to wait until February 2018 to see how it all plays out. Here's to hoping that contestants are forced to go bobsledding. (Bachelor Nation, we have a bobsled team.)