I've always suspected the first night in The Bachelor house had to be arduous, but I had no idea just how tough it could be. Despite arriving during the evening, I was surprised to see Chris Soules' eliminated women left in the morning. Did The Bachelor rose ceremony really last all night? Chances are, yes.
The first night in the mansion is the worst night because with so many women, it takes forever. Having them all show up via limo takes a long time, then Chris has to meet them all, confessionals have to be filmed, the rose ceremony takes place, then the eliminated contestants' reactions are recorded. All in all, it's a long night and can definitely stretch into morning.
Brad Seberhagen, a contestant on Jillian Harris' season, once admitted that the first night is torturous. "The cocktail parties started at sunset and ended at sunrise ... it was mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausting.”
This had to be even harder for Chris since he had 30 contestants instead of the usual 25. The extra women is likely what tipped the scale and had the ladies leaving in daylight, instead of the late evening. Think about it: after just 15 women came and Chris spoke to them, they were already three hours in, according to one contestant.
Even if they started the limo exits the moment it got dark in L.A. it still would have been around 10:00 p.m. with half the ladies still to come. By the time the rest of the house arrived and Chris mingled with them it would have been another three hours or so, putting them at 1:00 a.m.. (And that's assuming they got rolling at 7:00 p.m. It might have been much later than that to start with.)
Then comes the dreaded rose ceremony, which is legendary for stretching hours. Former Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky revealed that it's only short for viewers, not in real life.
We only see the rose ceremony for about five minutes on TV. But in real time the cameras have to reposition themselves every few minutes. And in between each name being called, the cameras want to get shots of each of the girls. And honestly, production probably just wants to make the girls sweat it out! That way they get nervous looks on their faces. And the camera can capture them for our viewing pleasure!
In between calling names, they shoot confessionals, reactions, and Chris leaves to learn names/call his next batch of women. When that's finally over the women get to leave, but I'm not surprised it was light out by that point. Plus the lack of sleep would explain how crazy and mean the eliminated women got after they were sent packing. Yikes.
I feel for you Tara. Good thing you made it through.
Images: Rick Rowell/ABC; giphy
