The Untold Truth Of The Bachelor Winter Games
The Bachelor Winter Games walked so The Bachelor Listen to Your Heart could run. The competition show aired a total of four episodes in two weeks while the 2018 Winter Olympics was happening in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The show brought together 26 people who have been in Bachelor shows from Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Japan, the United Kingdom, and China.
Contestant Lesley Murphy described the show to HuffPost as "a good balance of competition, winter games, falling down hills, bad athletes on your TV screens, but also finding love." She also explained, "There's a women's heat and a men's heat, and whoever wins each gets a date card. That's how that happens. And then you can ask whoever you wish."
By the end, Ashley Iaconetti and Canadian Bachelorette contestant Kevin Wendt won the Winter Games following the Couples' Ice Dancing Challenge. Three other couples made it past the finale, including Leslie Murphy and Dean Unglert, New Zealander Lily McManus and Australian Courtney Dober, and American Luke Pell and Stassi Yaramchuk from Sweden, with Bibiana Julian and Jordan Mauger ending things before the season's end.
Bachelor producers had trouble casting internationally
Bachelor producers intended to have one representative from each of the more than 30 countries where Bachelor franchise shows have aired, but the visa application process under the Trump administration made that goal hard to accomplish. Some contestants experienced delays in approval while others were denied altogether, according to THR.
"If there's one lesson to be learned from all of that, it's that it's not as easy as it used to be to get people into the country and if we're going to do a show like this again, we need to start the casting process earlier," co-showrunner Bennett Graebner told THR about Winter Games.
He added, "In some cases, there were a number of people who had to travel hours and hours to go to visa interviews and appointments at embassies. When they finally made it, it almost brought me to tears seeing some of these people in person knowing how hard it had been for them and how much they'd done just to get a visa and get on the show."
Only three couples stayed together by The Bachelor Winter Games' reunion special
Although four couples matched up during the final rose ceremony, not all of them stayed together. Luke and Stassi split up before the reunion show in Los Angeles. Ashley and Kevin continued to date long distance, Courtney and Lily moved to Los Angeles and got a place together, and Lesley and Dean decided they'd look for a home together in L.A. Dean told THR, "We've done a good job at setting time apart for each other and making each other a priority in our lives." None of the couples ultimately ended up together in the long run (via People and E! News), but Ashley, Kevin, and Dean did eventually all find love with other people in the Bachelor franchise.
The Bachelor Winter Games only filmed for a few weeks in December 2017, which could've contributed to the lack of relationship success. Bachelor exec Graebner told THR, "There were such strong relationships that were moving quickly and I wanted to keep watching those relationships and see them develop, and I couldn't because the show was already over. I think in the future, I would hope that we would do more." He added that he'd like to have more episodes and at least one more week for any potential future seasons to "really allow those relationships to breathe even more."
One Bachelor Winter Games couple got engaged
Clare Crawley left Canada's Benoit Beauséjour-Savard heartbroken during The Bachelor Winter Games, but he still gave their relationship another shot. After the show, Benoit reached out to Clare and they dated in secret for two months. "I've always wanted a man that wouldn't give up on me — you truly have changed my life," Clare told Benoit at the reunion before he got down on one knee and proposed to her with a custom Neil Lane ring, as reported by People.
Clare added, "After my dad passed away, the wedding wasn't important because that's when your dad gives you away. So I never thought I'd have a wedding, but it's a celebration of love and who knows? I never thought it would happen for me even on the Bachelor shows, so [now] it's not out of the picture."
Ultimately, Clare ended up becoming the Bachelorette after her relationship with Benoit didn't work out. Fortunately, Benoit seemed happy that Clare would get her own Bachelorette season. "Congratulations to this gem!! She will be an amazing Bachelorette," Benoit said on Instagram along with a photo of him and Clare. "She is smart, fun, strong, knows what she wants and most importantly, she will call out the guys messing around!!"