Channel 10 has called out this year’s leads on The Bachelor for promoting themselves and affecting the “integrity” of the show.
A source told Yahoo Lifestyle Australia that showrunners from the network were frustrated that Thomas Malucelli was promoting hs book and Jed McIntosh has recently been dropping music on Instagram.
“When the leads have so many projects ready to drop and promote before the show, it ruins the integrity a little and the illusion these people are there looking for love. They’ve been told to hold off with their side projects until after the show has aired,” the source said.
“It said they were embarrassing, and if we wanted our [Instagram] blue ticks and $5,000 bonus, we had to stay away from any events or other reality stars,” they added.
The upcoming season of The Bachelor Australia will air on January 9, 2023. It has been confirmed that the season will have three leads; Jed McIntosh, Felix Von Hofe and Thomas Malucelli.
McIntosh is a drummer for Melbourne band Mood Monroe and has played with some big names including Kylie Minogue, Pharrell Williams, T-Pain and Sean Paul. Von Hofe is a marketing manager who was a captain for the Melbourne Tigers and Malucelli is a fitness and life coach.
“No one in the world has ever had three bachelors and so, therefore, the way it works, the way everyone gets to know each other is very different this year,’ host Osher Günsberg said on The Project in May.
“It’s already been fascinating. We’ve been going [filming] for a little while now and it is already just electrifying what we’re seeing.”
And, it appears that the extra leads aren’t the only change in format in this season of the reality show.
“To really mix things up, Felix, Jed and Thomas all went on a series of blind dates at the start of the season and chose which girls then make it onto the show. They were filming multiple dates a day, before then finally getting to the first cocktail party,” a source told Yahoo Lifestyle.
For more on this topic, follow the Reality TV Observer.
