Channel 10 boss reveals how the network almost passed on buying the rights to The Bachelor

The Bachelor is arguably one of Channel 10’s biggest shows, making the likes of Matty ‘J’ Johnson, Sam Wood and Tim Robards household names.

But the network’s head of entertainment and factual programs, Stephen Tate, revealed they nearly passed on buying the rights to the dating reality show. 

He spoke at the Screen Forever conference last week, as reported by TV Tonight, and revealed the show was not on his radar until it was brought to his attention by female staffers at 10. 

‘Bachelor had sort of languished for many years. Nobody really thought that Australia would like it,’ he said.

‘It was actually some of the female staff here at 10, who came to me and said, “You really need to be making The Bachelor because we’re completely invested in the various versions around the world.” I thought “there is something in this,”‘ he recalled. 

The Bachelor Australia has proven to be one of the network’s most successful programs, drawing in a steady, and dedicated, audience each year.  

And in its eight seasons, it has also successfully matched four couples – Tim Robards and Anna Heinrich, Sam Wood and Snezana Markoski, Matty Johnson and Laura Byrne, and most recently Locky Gilbert and Irena Srbinovska.

The show has also launched the social media careers of several past contestants including Abbie Chatfield and Keira Maguire.  

The Bachelor is will begin filming its ninth season in the coming weeks, with Osher Günsberg returning as host. 

The show is also set to move to a new Bachelor mansion in Sydney’s west.

The $6.3million property, in Dural in Sydney’s north-west, sits on five acres of land and features French chateau-inspired architecture, Daily Mail Australia revealed this week

Before production moved to Oxford Falls, The Bachelor franchise had been filmed in houses in Hunters Hill and Glenorie.