The twenty-seventh season of '' The Bachelor'' premiered on January 23, 2023. This season features 26-year-old

Zach Shallcross Zachary Lloyd Shallcross (born July 31, 1996) is an American television personality who appeared on season 19 of ''The Bachelorette'', and starred in season 27 of '' The Bachelor''. Early life and education Shallcross was born in Fullerton, C ...

, an

Oracle An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The word '' ...

sales executive from

Anaheim Hills, California Anaheim Hills is a planned community encompassing the eastern portions of the city of Anaheim, in Orange County, California. History Prior to the development, a few scattered low-density neighborhoods existed in the area, including Peralta Hills ...

. Shallcross finished in third place while exclusively pursuing

Rachel Recchia Rachel Joanne Recchia (born March 8, 1996) is an American television personality who appeared on season 26 of '' The Bachelor'', and co-starred in season 19 of ''The Bachelorette'' alongside Gabby Windey. Early life and education Recchia was ...

on the nineteenth season of ''

The Bachelorette A bachelorette is an unmarried woman. Bachelorette may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Bachelorette'', a reality television dating show part of ''The Bachelor'' franchise with numerous versions: ** ''The Bachelorette'' (American TV ser ...

'' featuring Recchia and

Gabby Windey Gabriela Maria Windey (born January 2, 1991) is an American television personality who appeared on season 26 of '' The Bachelor'', and co-starred in season 19 of '' The Bachelorette'' alongside Rachel Recchia. Early life and education Winde ...

. The season concluded on March 27, 2023, with Shallcross choosing to propose to 27-year-old travel nurse Kaity Biggar. They moved in together in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

in July 2023 and plan to marry in 2025.

Production

Casting and contestants

On September 14, 2022, it was reported that Shallcross was the frontrunner for the role. He was officially announced on September 20, 2022, during the live ''The Bachelorette'' season 19 finale. Shallcross then met his first five contestants, Bailey, Brianna, Brooklyn, Cat, and Christina. Notable contestants include Christina Mandrell, who is the niece of country music singer

Barbara Mandrell Barbara Ann Mandrell (born December 25, 1948) is an American country music singer and musician. She is also credited as an actress and author. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, she was considered among country's most successful music artist ...

; Miss South Carolina 2018 Davia Bunch; Miss Florida World 2019 Lekha Ravi; and Ariel Frenkel, who is the ex-girlfriend of actor

Michael Vlamis Michael Vlamis (born March 27, 1990) is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer known for his role as Michael Guerin in ''Roswell, New Mexico''. Vlamis made his feature directorial debut with his psychological thriller, ''Crossw ...

Filming and development

The season was delayed by three weeks from its standard first week of January start, to avoid a potential clash with ABC's coverage of ''

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, AB ...

''. Filming began on September 26, 2022, in

Agoura Hills, California Agoura Hills () is a city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Its population was 20,330 at the 2010 census, which decreased to 20,299 in 2020. It is in the eastern Conejo Valley between the S ...

. On October 22, the show was seen filming in

Tallinn, Estonia Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

. This season also includes visits to

The Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

;

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

; and

Budapest, Hungary Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population of ...

, with filming concluding in Krabi, Thailand in mid-November. Rapper

Latto Alyssa Michelle Stephens (born December 22, 1998), professionally known as Latto or Big Latto (formerly known as Mulatto), is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. She first appeared on American rapper Jermaine Dupri's reality television s ...

, former contestants Courtney Robertson and Victoria Fuller, retired

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

players

Shawne Merriman Shawne DeAndre Merriman (born May 25, 1984), nicknamed "Lights Out", is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Maryland Terrapins and was sel ...

and

Antonio Gates Antonio Ethan Gates Sr. (born June 18, 1980) is an American former professional football player who was a tight end for the San Diego / Los Angeles Chargers during his entire career in the National Football League (NFL). He was named to the Pro ...

, and band

UB40 UB40 are an English reggae and pop band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the ...

made guest appearances this season. While filming in London, Shallcross tested positive to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and was forced to self-isolate in a hotel quarantine. All of the remaining dates got cancelled and both the cocktail party and rose ceremony shifted into a remote format with simulcast via

Zoom Zoom may refer to: Technology Computing * Zoom (software), videoconferencing application * Page zooming, the ability to magnify or shrink a portion of a page on a computer display * Zooming user interface, a graphical interface allowing for image ...

. This had previously occurred on the eighth season of '' The Bachelor Australia''. After arriving in Estonia, contestant Greer Blitzer also received a positive Covid test. Unlike '' The Bachelorette 19'', where contestant Logan Palmer was eliminated after testing positive, Blitzer remained in isolation until she returned a negative result the following week.

Contestants

32 potential contestants were revealed on September 23, 2022. The final cast of 30 women was announced on January 4, 2023. In the second week,

season 23 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

contestant Tahzjuan Hawkins asked to join the cast, but Shallcross declined.

Future appearances

''The Bachelorette''

Charity Lawson was chosen as the lead for season 20 of ''

''.

''Bachelor in Paradise''

Season 9 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

Becca Serrano, Brooklyn Willie, Cat Wong, Davia Bunch, Genevie Mayo, Greer Blitzer, Jess Girod, Katherine Izzo, Kylee Russell, Mercedes Northup, and Olivia Lewis returned for season 9 of '' Bachelor in Paradise''. Blitzer, Willie, and Wong were eliminated in week 1. Serrano quit in week 3. Bunch and Mayo were eliminated in week 3. Girod split from Tanner Courtad, Northup split from Jordan Vandergriff, and Lewis split from Michael Barbour in week 5. Russell left in a relationship with Aven Jones in week 5. Izzo got engaged to John Henry Spurlock in week 5.

''Dancing with the Stars''

Lawson participated in season 32 of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

'' where she partnered with

Artem Chigvintsev Artem Vladimirovich Chigvintsev (russian: Артём Влади́мирович Чи́гвинцев; born 12 June 1982) is a Russian-American professional dancer, specializing in Latin dancing. Chigvintsev was a cast member of '' Burn the F ...

. They finished in fourth place.

Call-out order

: The contestant received America's first impression rose : The contestant received Zach's first impression rose : The contestant received a rose during a date : The contestant received a rose during a date : The contestant was eliminated : The contestant was eliminated outside the rose ceremony : The contestant was eliminated during a date : The contestant was temporarily removed from the competition : The contestant quit the competition : The contestant won the competition

Controversy

Contestant Greer Blitzer faced controversy shortly after the season premiere after tweets of her defending

blackface Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person. In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...

were uncovered, continuing the trend of contestants with racist social media histories being cast in the franchise. On January 24, 2023, Blitzer issued an apology for her past behavior. The incident was further addressed during the ''Women Tell All'' special on March 14, 2023, with host

Jesse Palmer Jesse James Palmer (born October 5, 1978) is a Canadian television personality, sports commentator, actor, and former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for five seasons in the early 2000s. ...

acknowledging the franchise's failings to adequately address serious topics such as racism in the past. Blitzer also confirmed that she was educating herself on the history of blackface and had met with Dr. Kira Banks, a psychologist and diversity consultant.

Episodes

Notes

References

External links