Inside the ‘Paradise’ Glow Up: New ‘Bachelor’ Boss on Evolving Summer Spinoff to Keep Up With Genre Competition 

Inside the ‘Paradise’ Glow Up: New ‘Bachelor’ Boss on Evolving Summer Spinoff to Keep Up With Genre Competition 

Bachelor in Paradise is back — and upon first glance, viewers may not recognize the longstanding ABC reality dating show. 

After taking a year off, the beloved summer-set spinoff from The Bachelor franchise is partially revamped for its landmark 10th season. With a tried-and-true format that prompts a revolving door of contestants from the Bachelor and Bachelorette to explore romantic relationships amongst one another, this year, Paradise‘s cinematography and new location at a Costa Rican hotel adds to the show’s modern feel.

The aura of Paradise is certainly different, and showrunner/executive producer Scott Teti tells The Hollywood Reporter that the show’s structure will also shift later in the season to level up with the ever-growing competition in the reality TV dating world. “The focus and conceit is to continue to help these people find love,” Teti says, adding, “But there’s twists, there’s turns and there’s certainly some format changes that shake things up.” 

The BIP boss keeps his lips sealed on what is yet to come (see the season teaser below for some hints), but one of the biggest changes has already been announced: the addition of Golden stars from The Golden Bachelor subsidiary that spotlights singles over 45. Despite not revealing much about the new format, Teti does answer the question on everyone’s minds — will the Goldens be dating the eligible Bachelors and Bachelorettes?  

“They were encouraged to stay in their dating lanes,” Teti admits. “[The Goldens] definitely came to party and they had fun. And there is a lot of mixing of the worlds. I think it was a good balance.” 

Below, Teti (fresh off being named the new showrunner and EP of the mainstay Bachelor) tells THR how casting for Paradise differed with the addition of the Goldens, how BIP navigates the pressure of staying at the top of the reality TV dating show food chain and how many seasons the show should stay on-air.

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This is a time of shake up behind the scenes at The Bachelor franchise, and you’re a huge part of that. What are some things that you’ve learned on the job as showrunner that you’ve improved on or tried to do better with this season of Paradise?

One of the things I’ve learned over the years is to listen to people around you. Early on in my career, people would say, “I want to do it this way,” or “This is how it should be done.” And I think as you go through the years, you realize that you should ask a lot of questions, get a diverse bunch of opinions from everyone, men and women; listen to what they want and to what the fans like. That’s played a lot into how I approach things. I like to be collaborative. If I have an idea, then I want to get feedback on that, and I think that’s made me strong as a showrunner. I think bringing in the right people on a team and having a really good, strong group and being collaborative with them makes for a good culture and a good, fun environment that really resonates through the cast and the whole process, hopefully. And also, it’s okay to back off a little and let things unfold. 

As we all know on these shows, it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when sometimes the train feels like it’s going to go off the tracks. It’s about keeping cool, thinking about solutions/ I’ve always been solution-oriented, to find a way to take something that happens and make it even better in the end. I think as you run the shows for many years, you get stronger in all those regards if you’re doing the right thing. All of that went into this season of Paradise, along with coming in with a fresh, new perspective, and wanting to do big things that I haven’t done on shows and try new things. Be adventurous with style and storytelling and devices that you don’t have time to do usually because of budget or scheduling. I think it made for, hopefully, what everyone thinks is a really great product.

The new season has a completely different vibe from past seasons of Paradise, down to the editing, the cinematography, even to the physical location being at a new hotel in Costa Rica. Where did this inspiration for this new, fresh vibe for the show come from?

Before I took the job, I was watching older seasons of the show and I thought about what I would want to do. How would I see this? What would I want to put into this? What would I want to change? I think there’s [a] core DNA of the show that the audience loves, which is the quest for love and really holding true to that, and of course being a little irreverent and comedic at times. But that quest for love is the core of the show and I wanted to hold intact.

From a storytelling style perspective, I was like, man, let’s switch out these cameras. Let’s get some cinematic lenses on here. Let’s get some toys that we could play with to add motion and dynamics and a sexy feel, and get FPV drones in there and really make the show feel elevated cinematically, and carry that into the storytelling. Traditionally, we’re up in their faces. But when you back off the cameras, the cast tends to forget that you’re on them. It feels a little more sexy, and you’re getting this organic story that unfolds in a much more natural way. Those are some of the things I wanted to do right away. And even try new devices, get POVs of what they’re thinking about sometimes, and have a little fun with that. So it was about just pushing the envelope creatively. I was grateful to be given the chance to do that.

How is the format of Paradise this season going to compare to prior seasons? Is there anything that’s going to really shift?

Yes, and I’m not going to give anything away, because I can’t right now, but it will definitely shift. The focus and conceit is to continue to help these people find love in their continued search for it, so that all holds intact. But there’s twists, there’s turns and there’s certainly some format changes that shake things up. 

Well, I think one of the biggest changes was the introduction of the Goldens coming down to Paradise. Whose idea was that to bring them on, and did that take convincing or were producers initially on board with the idea? 

There was a lot of discussions between the network and myself and Warner [Bros.]. There were many discussions about that, and I think we landed in a spot that everybody felt comfortable with. But it’s definitely different. It’s loud, it’s a very big idea. So there was a lot of thought put into how this was going to be done and how they were going to be integrated into the show, and I think the result was pretty amazing because you have these two generations with two POVs that come together. It was this really unique kind of world that took place. 

Is there going to be a mix of Bachelor/Bachelorette contestants dating these Golden stars?

(Laughs) That is the big question I get asked a lot, but I will say that, because we put so much thought into it, I think the way they were integrated, the way they come into the show and when they come into the show, it was very much that they were encouraged to stay in their dating lanes. And I think what transpired was exactly that. But they came, and they definitely came to party and they had fun. And there is a lot of mixing of the worlds. But they were very much encouraged to stay in their lanes, and I think it was a good balance.

Why did Paradise take a season off, and what does that mean for the show’s future going forward?

That was before I came on board, so I really don’t know why it took a pause. I think the hope and intent is that if this [upcoming season] has a great response that we would go right into another season. I look forward to that.

Hannah Brown‘s going to be a part of this season. Is her role an experiment, and if it goes well, will you ask her back for a future season? 

Hannah was great, she’s lovely to work with. I think it was more about the POV that Hannah brings. We have Wells [Adams] who’s been a fixture of the show and has been a good ear for the cast members to bend and get advice from [as the bartender], and having that female perspective come in, particularly someone who’s been through the dating world that they’ve been in [as a former Bachelorette] and can relate to them and who now has found a real relationship, that was really the benefit of having Hannah there. It was a great combination of having her, Wells and [host] Jesse [Palmer] all working together in an even more increased capacity than has been done before. Obviously there’s another element to these chemistry tests and things that we’re implementing to help people find love, so they were able to help out with some of those as well.

I know that you weren’t around when it was announced that Bachelorette was going to be taking a season off, too. Do you know or think that that show will continue? And how will that impact Paradise for a potential next season?

I think those are all conversations that are probably happening, but I can’t speak to any of them. I think that you probably will need to, at some point, restock the pond, so to speak, so I would assume that at some point Bachelorette will be coming back. But I can’t really speak to any of it. I think that when you look at it, the universe has a deep pool to pull from, and there’s a lot of people who still are searching for love even within that. So we’ll have to see how that all shakes out, but I’m excited for it.

With this upcoming season of Paradise, there’s a lot more competition in the reality TV dating genre. Love Island is on every single night, and it kind of feels like the new vibe [of BIP] is very fresh and inspired by Love Island. How do you think that Paradise needs to evolve with this competition? Or do you think that this classic format is enough for the show to keep on working?

I think when we get to our twists and turns and as we watch Paradise unfold, you’ll see where we wind up. I think we found our own zone with that, we kind of hit our own stride, and I think Paradise is [more] different this season than it’s ever been. It has some elements from other other shows, but I think it has a lot of new elements to it that are unique as well. I think it’s evolved in a really good way, and I think it really drives the show forward in a way that I think lands the plane in a fantastic way.

For you as showrunner, how different is casting Paradise versus The Bachelor? Because on Paradise, there’s more leeway with contestants. You can put contestants on who have had scandals on Bachelor or Bachelorette, so how’s the casting different with Paradise versus the main franchises?

I think the trick with Paradise is you already know who these people are, right? You’ve seen them in their respective worlds on television, and you kind of know who they are as characters and what their ins and outs are. You know who’s going to be a great character, and who’s going to bring something else to the table. But the trick is you still want to find somebody who is there for love, really looking for love, that’s in that unique space that they didn’t find it [previously on the show], and they really want to continue to find it. But also the trick with Paradise, unlike those shows, is you’re really trying to find matches, right? You’re trying to think ahead of who’s going to match with who? Who’s had something with this person, and it could cause some conflict? But also, who is going to be a good fit for this person over here? You kind of have this kind of spider web diagram trying to connect the dots while still trying to bring great characters to the table.

How was the casting different for the Goldens? Did they have any hesitations or questions about joining Paradise for the first season? 

In a lot of ways, the Goldens bring such a youthful energy to this that they kind of feel like the younger generation at times, because they’re so open and uninhibited and ready to have a great time. Casting with them is even easier, because they are just at that stage of their life where they’re ready to take these chances and [are] kind of like open books. So it was in some ways a little easier.

How many seasons should Paradise go? 

Forever. I think it should go as long as it continues to feel fresh and fun and sexy and has the fans interested. It’s all about the story that unfolds and keeping people engaged. And it’s about continuing to push the envelope. You have to continue to think of new, creative ways to do things and not get lazy about it, that’s my opinion. As long as we can keep it fresh and entertaining, I think keep it going. 

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New episodes of Bachelor in Paradise air at 8 p.m. Mondays on ABC. New episodes are available to stream on Hulu on Tuesdays.