ABC
- The most common reason potential contestants cannot participate on "The Bachelor" or "The Bachelorette" is because they have a sexually transmitted infection.
- Creator Mike Fleiss' former assistant said "you'd see that herpes is the biggest thing."
- Writer Amy Kaufman details it in her upcoming book, "Bachelor Nation," out March 6.
Want to know the most common reason contestants don't get approved to compete on "The Bachelor?" It's not looks, and it's not the psychological exam. It's herpes, according to a new book on the show.
Los Angeles Times writer Amy Kaufman discovered this information while researching her upcoming book "Bachelor Nation: Inside the World of America's Favorite Guilty Pleasure," out March 6. (An excerpt was published today in The New York Post.)
In the book, Kaufman details every step to becoming a contestant. After filling out an extensive application, with five to 15 pictures of themselves and a "well-lit" video showing off their home, lifestyle, and personality, finalists are invited to LA or a weekend to fill out personality tests. The weekend also includes interviews with producers on the show. Participants are confined to the hotel the entire weekend, and are not allowed to talk to each other.
They also have to take a medical examination, which includes an STI test.
"As soon as the medical tests came back, you'd see that herpes was the biggest thing," Ben Hatta, [creator and executive producer] Mike Fleiss' former assistant, said. "And sometimes you'd be the first person to tell a contestant that they had herpes. You'd be like, 'Uh, you should call your doctor.' Why? 'We're not going to be able to have you on our show, but you should call your doctor.'
Every potential contestant with any STI is taken out of the running immediately.
"Then they'd realize they'd been denied from 'The Bachelor' and now a bunch of people knew they had herpes," Hatta said.
"Apparently, that's the top reason applicants don't make it onto the show," Kaufman writes in the book.