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This Is Why The Bachelor Premiere Is So Dang Long

Photo: Courtesy of ABC.
The start of a new year can only mean one thing — Bachelor season has officially begun. After getting his heart broken by Hannah Brown, Peter Weber will once again try his hand at finding love on a reality dating show, only this time he’ll be the one giving out the roses. But before you settle in for the night and finish filling out those Bachelor brackets, there are a few things you should know, especially how long Peter’s Bachelor premiere really is. Buckle up, because it's going to be a big one.
Typically, regular Bachelor episodes only last two hours, which is still quite a commitment, but Peter’s season is going to kick off a little differently: the premiere episode of Peter’s Bachelor season is three hours long and will include extra content that fans don’t usually get to see so early in the season. We can't say exactly what's included, but trust us when we say this: Make sure you stay until the very end of the episode. It's big. Huge.
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The premiere will still include all of the normal highlights of the evening, such as the limo arrivals and packaged intros of some of the various contestants. But unlike previous years, the first episode will also show Peter’s first one-one-one date and group date, which is traditionally saved for the following week. And let's not forget that Hannah Brown is slated to appear on The Bachelor premiere; again, keep an eye on that final hour.
As of now, The Bachelor promos are being coy about the circumstances that made producers break the usual format, but the decision fits the narrative that the marketing, Peter, and Chris Harrison have been spinning that this season is mysteriously different.
"It was a really emotional, gut-wrenching season in ways that we haven't seen in a really long time," Harrison told Good Morning America. He also added that the drama may not be over yet — even though regular Bachelor filming wrapped before the 2019 holidays.
Thankfully for fans of getting enough sleep and not looking at a screen for three hours straight, your Monday schedule won't be disrupted for long. After the premiere is over, the episodes will go back to two-hour episodes, for the most part. There's always the chance that ABC announces another mega episode in the middle, but that would be downright unusual.
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This mega premiere should, however, prepare you for when the finale hits. We're going to go ahead and suggest book up your Monday and Tuesday night for that second week of March. Over the past several years, The Bachelor has transformed its usual three-hour finale into a huge two-night event, with each night clocking in at two hours a piece. Likewise, the After the Final Rose special used to be reserved for the final hour of the finale, but nowadays the series opts to intertwine the special throughout the finale, frequently jumping back and forth from the recorded footage to the live, present-day show. So odds are that will continue on into Peter’s season as well.
It may seem a bit excessive, but when it comes to The Bachelor that's kind of the vibe.
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