This Season On ‘The Bachelor’ Has Less Alcohol Than Previous Seasons, Is The ‘BIP’ Sex Scandal To Blame?

Season 22 of The Bachelor is underway, and fans of the reality dating show noticed in last week’s premiere episode that the contestants were not consuming much champagne like in previous seasons. Did the Corinne Olympios sex scandal on last summer’s Bachelor in Paradise change things in Bachelor Nation?

This Season There Are New Rules On The Bachelor

According to US Weekly, Warner Brothers did implement new rules – including limiting alcohol consumption and more rules about sexual activity – and Arie Luyendyk confirmed that he and the contestants consumed far less alcohol while shooting this season.

“I wasn’t really aware of any new rules. I do believe there was a little bit less alcohol involved, but that’s OK,” said Luyendyk.

“That’s great because with that comes some ramifications. So yeah, I don’t know if there was anything [on my season] done differently except for the limited use of alcohol.”

Jessica Carroll, who Luyendyk eliminated in the first episode, corroborated his statement by saying that no girls got drunk during that first night of filming. She went on to say that it was so cold, most people were drinking coffee and hot water to stay warm. Filming also ran all night, so producers told them to make sure to stay awake.

Host Chris Harrison says that, contrary to what many people think, alcohol has never been a big thing on the show. He says they don’t push it, and they don’t really need it or want it because someone being sloppy drunk doesn’t make good television.

The Bachelor In Paradise Sex Scandal

Last June, producers shut down filming of season three of Bachelor in Paradise after a sexual interaction on the set reportedly crossed the line. Per The Daily Beast, ABC sent home cast and crew after rumors swirled that Olympios was too intoxicated to give consent to DeMario Jackson.

Olympios said she doesn’t remember much from that night, but she was a victim, and she spent the week after the incident trying to make sense of what happened. She went on to say that her worst nightmare has now become her reality.

She initially hired a lawyer to look into the events of that night, but she ended up dropping the investigation after Warner Brothers dropped theirs when they found no misconduct occurred on set.

When production resumed Olympios did not return to the show, but she says she has no ill will towards Jackson or the show’s production team. She said she was a victim of the media scrutiny and people’s assumptions and judgments about what happened.

As for the current Bachelor season, Variety reports that Luyendyk says fans will definitely have to watch because he falls in love with two women. And, viewers will have to wait and see how it all ends.

Catch new episodes of The Bachelor Monday nights on ABC.