We thought we knew everything about The Bachelor and The Bachelorette from the off-camera drama between host Chris Harrison and Nick Viall to what the women eat. But this revelation about the competitive dating franchise is seriously blowing our minds.
We always presumed that the big, beautiful mansion featured on the show was an ABC-owned property. But as it turns out, a real family owns the home and lives there when Bachelor isn't filming.
Meet the Haradens, the family of six who reside at the 9,000-square-foot home we all know as the Bachelor Mansion. Marshall Haraden built the dream home for his family in 2004, he told Today. ABC took a liking to the property and struck up an arrangement with Haraden to let them film the show there biannually. So now, twice a year, Harden, his wife, and their four kids move out for seven weeks while the roses are being doled out.
"When [the crew] comes, we move out for 42 days," he said to Today. "Everything we own leaves the property and goes into storage." The the six-bedroom, nine-bathroom home then undergoes some preparation before filming can begin, including fresh coats of paint, cameras set up everywhere, and a stockpile of wine. Then, when the contestants leave the house for the hometown dates and final weeks, the crew puts everything back as it was.
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Haraden calls the whole thing "bizarre," adding that he "[stays] away from the house unless something breaks." Besides hearts, of course.