As the sun sets on season eight of The Bachelor Australia, behind the scenes the powers that be are already casting their next for next year’s leading man.
Wasting no time to put the message out there, Channel 10 have taken to social media to spread the word.
On Thursday evening, the show’s host Osher Gunsberg shared a call-out to Instagram.
“Are you looking for love? Think you’re Australia’s next Bachelor? @warnerbroscastingau has opened their applications for the 2021 Bachelor. Head to my stories now & swipe up to apply,” the presenter explained.
However it was the very interesting accompanying image which spoke a thousand words.
You see, teamed with Osher’s call-out was a mash-up of three past Bachelors – Tim Robards (season one), Sam Woods (season three), Matty J (season five) and this year’s leading man Locky Gilbert.
Noticeably absent from the Bachie hall of fame were four men: Blake Garvey (season two), Richie Strahan (season four), Nick “The Honey Badger” Cummins (season six) and Matt Agnew (season seven).
These sinned binned Bachie all boast a rather tumultuous history with the show.
Blake infamously proposed to winner Sam Frost during the finale, only to dump her for second runner-up Louise Pillidge.
Meanwhile the nation fell in love with Richie on Sam Frost’s season and we thought he would be cool bananas but the magic from The Bachelorette just didn’t translate and he failed to carry his own show. Then there was his very terse run-in with ex Alex Nation on Bachelor In Paradise…
As for Nick, well, he has become the Voldemort he-who-shall-not-be-named type figure around the Bachie traps after he failed to pick a partner.
Finally, dear old Matt Agnew was packaged up as a squeaky clean astrophysicist looking for love but his ill-fated romance with Chelsie McLeod went up in flames quicker than a year eight science experiment catching alight with a Bunsen burner.
Don’t mention the war: Nick Cummins made Bachelor history by picking no one.
By omitting these men Channel 10 is sending a very clear message as to the type of person they’re looking for – wholesome family man, free of scandal and drama.
With Sam, Tim and Matty J all settled down and creating families with their respective partners from the show, they’ve fast become the poster boys for the franchise.
As to whether this year’s star Locky Gilbert can follow in their footsteps remains to be seen but all will be revealed next week when The Bachelor finale airs.
Osher’s post was quickly flooded with calls for a more diverse casting choice in a bid to finally break up seven white male leads.
“A person of colour or diversity in size would be great,” one user said.
“Please for the love of everything let it be a man of colour. Like it’s time,” another agreed.
“Wow look how different they all look,” a third joked.
The nation was outraged after Blake proposed to Sam, only to dump her for second runner-up Louise.
According to the application advertisement, Warner Brothers is looking for “single men between the ages of 27-40.”
“You must be willing and available to be filmed for the duration of the series. Filming will roughly commence mid February to mid May of 2020 and may take up to 12 weeks,” the ad explains.
Think you have what it takes and want to apply to be next year’s Bachelor? Head here!
Wholesome family values, embodied by 2017 couple Matty J and Laura Byrne, is what the network wants.
(Image: Instagram)
