We’re still a little over a month away from “Bachelor in Paradise” beginning filming, but I wanted to start talking about it today because this weekend is when contestants are going out to LA for testing. Meaning almost all contestants being considered for BIP are being flown to LA and have to go through all the testing again. Yes, even if you were just on Colton or Hannah’s season, you have to go back out and test again. It’s basically the same exact testing you do when you go on the regular show – interview with producers, 1000 question personality quiz, meet with legal, etc. That’s why any reports of people already being confirmed for Paradise aren’t accurate because they haven’t even tested yet. Plenty are told they’re on, but, you still need to go through testing. Is it obvious who some are going to be? Of course. As long as they pass testing, which pretty much all do. But they will also test more people than what end up making the show.
I wanted to look over the first 5 seasons of “Bachelor in Paradise” for you to run some numbers so you can pretty much know what to expect. First up is how many total cast members were on each season of “Paradise.”
Season 1: 25 (12 women, 13 men)
Season 2: 29 (16 women, 13 men)
Season 3: 30 (16 women, 15 men)
Season 4: 33 (16 women, 17 men)
Season 5: 35 (17 women, 18 men)
Now, I wanted to break that down even further and see how much of the cast each season was from that calendar year’s “Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” season. “Bachelor” airs in January every year, “Bachelorette” airs May-late July/early August, and BIP films the first week of June. So it’s always filming while that season of the “Bachelorette” is airing, hence they don’t reveal the full cast of guys until they’re eliminated from that current “Bachelorette” season. And looking at the numbers below, clearly season 1 was a bit of an outlier only because I don’t think they knew how they were gonna format the show. The chart below shows how many women and men on the cast were from that calendar year of the “Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” season:
Season 1 Women: 6 (Juan Pablo) – Lacy, Christy, Lucy, Clare, Danielle, Elise
Season 1 Men: 5 (Andi) – Marcus (4th), Cody, Tasos, Maquel, Dylan
Season 2 Women: 10 (Chris) – Jade, Samantha, Carly, Ashley, Amber, Mackenzie, Ashley I, Juelia, Megan, Jillian
Season 2 Men: 7 (Kaitlyn) – Tanner, Justin, Joshua, Jared, Joe, JJ, Jonathan
Season 3 Women: 13 (Ben H.) – Amanda, Lace, Jen S., Jami, Lauren H., Tiara, Shushanna, Izzy, Caila, Emily, Haley, Leah, Jubilee
Season 3 Men: 7 (JoJo) – Evan, Grant, Wells, Daniel, Vinny, Christian, Chad
Season 4 Women: 13 (Nick) – Taylor, Raven, Lacey, Jaimi, Dominique, Danielle M., Jasmine, Christen, Kristina, Sarah, Alexis, Danielle L., Corinne
Season 4 Men: 10 (Rachel) – Adam, Diggy, Dean (4th), Jonathan, Jack, Blake, Fred, Matt, Iggy, Demario
Season 5 Women: 11 (Arie) – Krystal, Jenna, Annaliese, Olivia, Kendall, Chelsea, Tia, Bibiana, Caroline, Nysha, Jacqueline
Season 5 Men: 11 (Becca) – Chris, Jordan, Kamil, John, Grocery Joe, Colton (4th), Connor, David, Leo, Wills, Nick
Here are some conclusions to draw from their casting of this show:
-The percentages on the right is the percentage of that season’s contestants being from the “Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” that aired that calendar year:
Season 1: 25 (12 girls, 13 guys) 11/25 44% (Juan Pablo’s women, Andi’s men)
Season 2: 29 (16 girls, 13 guys) 17/29 59% (Chris’ women, Kaitlyn’s men)
Season 3: 30 (16 girls, 15 guys) 20/33 61% (Ben H’s women, JoJo’s men)
Season 4: 33 (16 girls, 17 guys) 23/33 70% (Nick’s women, Rachel’s men)
Season 5: 35 (17 girls, 18 guys) 22/35 63% (Arie’s women, Becca’s men)
So it’s safe to say at least 60% of this year’s cast will be made up of Colton’s women and Hannah’s men.
-They’ve never had someone who finished in the top 3 of the “Bachelorette” season that’s airing during filming of BIP appear on that season. Three times the guy who finished 4th did (Marcus, Dean, and Colton). Which makes sense because it would basically spoil Hannah’s season if one of her top 3 is filming in Mexico in early June while her show is only airing week 4 at that point. We’d know who her top two were then. So we can expect whoever gets eliminated this Saturday at the rose ceremony (probably Peter) will most likely end up on Paradise.
-I’m hearing unconfirmed reports that filming MAY NOT be in Mexico this season. They’re possibly changing locations. Will update you if that becomes confirmed. It’s just a rumor at this point.
-Based on the numbers of the last 4 BIP seasons, safe to assume we’ll have at least 10-13 of Colton’s women on this season. Here’s ones I can pretty much guarantee are locks: Demi, Onyeka, Caelynn, Hannah G., Nicole, Tayshia, Kirpa, Heather, and Bri. Almost positive they’ll be on. After that, it’s up in the air of who they choose to bring on. We just don’t know. Some people might not want to do it, some might be dating someone else, etc. But names in the mix that they will probably choose 3-5 of are: Catherine, Tazjuan, Nina, Katie, Tracy, Sydney, Elyse, Alex (sloth).
-As for Hannah’s men, again, judging by the last few seasons, expect 10-12 of them being on, with most of them being guys that finished in her top 12 or so, and a couple early season exits mixed in. It’s the way they’ve always done it. I don’t see why it’d be different now. So guys like Dylan, Connor S., Garrett, Peter (probably), Dustin, Kevin, Grant, Matteo, etc. It’s impossible to know right now exactly which ones will be on, but going off past seasons, you can get an idea.
-Now as for names that I’m hearing who aren’t from Colton or Hannah’s season, here’s ones that I’ve heard:
Dean Unglert (Rachel’s season)
Jordan Kimball (Becca’s season)
Blake Horstman (Becca’s season)
Whitney Fransway (Nick’s season)
Kristina Schulman (Nick’s season)
Danielle Lo (Nick’s season)
Keep in mind, this is not a confirmed list. Not even close. This list is ever changing. There might be people who are TOLD they’re getting cast, they get out there, and they never make it on the show. Nothing is official on BIP until we literally see them on screen. Ask Mikey Tenerelli about that. There are obviously more names of people who will make it on this season, and some names that I listed who may not end up getting on or deciding not to do it. You know they love throwing a few randoms in there from like 5 seasons ago every season. So please, all I ask is you don’t contact me asking, “What about so-and-so? Are they going on?” Everyone I just listed is all I’ve heard up to this point. I’ll probably hear more names today, later this week, and throughout the month. Tons of names get thrown out there every season, but no one really knows for sure until they show up. The only thing you can count on is the fact that at least 60% of the cast will be Colton’s women and Hannah’s men. And it’s probably not too hard to figure out which ones will make it.
-One final thing to keep in mind is also is who makes original cast. Again, until we start seeing people leave for wherever they’re filming, no one really knows who original cast is either until they get out there. Can you probably guess someone like Demi, Caelynn, and Hannah G. will be original cast? For sure, because they’re names everyone immediately remembers from Colton’s season. But as for the full list, we usually don’t know who made original cast until ABC releases it. And if you’re a cast member reading this, and their plan is to bring you in episode 5 or 6, I’d highly recommend rejecting them. You’re getting the last scraps of singles, almost everyone is coupled up at that point, and you really don’t have a chance. But hey, that’s just my opinion. Good luck at testing this weekend. Don’t fail!
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