ABC "The Bachelorette" may have some additional changes on the horizon.
Following the finale of Clayton Echard’s season of “The Bachelor” on March 15, 2022, host Jesse Palmer revealed that the next “Bachelorette” would feature two leads for the full season for the first time in the history of the franchise.
Both Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia will begin filming their joint season in the coming days, though the show isn’t set to premiere until July 11, 2022, according to ABC exec Rob Mills.
The network has not shared how the season will play out or how the dates will go, but there are plenty of rumors about what’s going to happen — and where. One of the major rumors that has been circulating for a couple of weeks is that the season will be filmed on board a cruise ship.
Here’s what you need to know:
The Rumor Appears to Have Been Started by Someone on Reddit
As tends to be the case with many rumors, someone posted on a subreddit about an upcoming voyage on an up and coming cruise line that has supposedly been canceled because of the show.
The rumor is that passengers were emailed and told that their cruise was canceled because the network essentially paid to rent out the full ship for a few weeks. Passengers may or may not have been told their cruise was canceled because not enough people booked.
“Virgin Voyages cancels a month of cruises with only 12 days notice to charter the ship for ‘The Bachelorette’ filming,” a Redditor wrote, kicking off a new thread on March 10, 2022.
“Passengers are rightfully outraged. Twelve days notice for one of the cancelled cruises (late March and most of April, this is on the Valiant Lady). Thousands of people with booked flights, hotels, having already taken the time off work, limited availability with school holidays, booked non-Virgin excursions, pet boarding, etc. Honeymoons, Easter family vacations, etc all canceled,” the original poster wrote, adding that cruisers who were booked on the voyage were supposedly offered future cruise credit for the inconvenience.
Reality Steve Mentioned the Possibility of the Double ‘Bachelorette’ Season Filming on Board a Cruise Ship
On March 16, 2022, Reality Steve posted a blog about “The Bachelor” finale, and revealed his thoughts on having Gabby and Rachel’s joint season filmed on the high seas.
“In terms of locations, one place I heard they were going this season was Paris. Not sure when, but that’s one place I heard they’re headed. Now there’s also this email floating around that was sent to me about Virgin Cruise Lines cancelling cruise destinations for 3 weeks in April due to ‘lack of sales,'” Reality Steve wrote.
“The email also states that Virgin was approached by an American TV company who are willing ‘over the odds for the entire ship for 3 weeks.’ It fits with the ‘Bachelorette’ timing, it would definitely be something new and different, but I haven’t heard if this is 100% the ‘Bachelorette’ that contacted Virgin Cruise Lines. Sounds like it could be, but nothing confirmed yet,” he added.
Reality Steve went on to speculate how things will play out if the season does happen at sea, which is interesting to think about. He should have some spoilers once filming officially gets underway.
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