Many, many things have been thrown into chaos this year, and that includes America's favorite franchise about people falling in love super fast. After years of the same production schedule, Bachelor filming is all over the place, and that includes for Bachelor in Paradise, which isn't happening in 2020... right?
As far as anyone officially knows, the only confirmed upcoming Bachelor show for this year is The Bachelorette, which was set to star Clare Crawley, but will now also feature Tayshia Adams. In a normal year, Bachelor in Paradise would air after The Bachelorette. But in a normal year, BiP would also involve a couple dozen singles flying down to a Mexican resort and that sure as hell isn't happening right now. After Clare and Tayshia's season, Matt James' season will film, which means that potentially we could get back on schedule if that premieres in January 2021.
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Still, some people believe that BiP season 7 is still filming in 2020, because certain Bachelor stars have been spotted together, and there has been confirmation that at least a couple of them were "in a bubble." (As we know, The Bachelorette is filming in a quarantine bubble in Palm Springs, California.)
On July 24, Hannah Ann Sluss, who "won" Peter Weber's Bachelor season, posted a TikTok of herself and Mike Johnson from Hannah Brown's Bachelorette and BiP 6. It's just a silly video set to a song about drinking, but the fact that they're together in what appears to be a trailer is intriguing. Mike re-posted the video on his Instagram, and when a follower expressed concern about him and Hannah Ann being together during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mike responded, "I truly appreciate this comment. You care about our safety/health without passing judgement. Thank you 😁. I can say we've quarantined, been tested and stayed in a bubble."
Why would Hannah Ann and Mike be in a bubble? That's what many Instagram users and Redditors started to wonder, with some fans assuming that they were secretly filming BiP.
As reported by Afterbuzz TV (and a few Reddit threads), Mike and Hannah Ann were also with season 5 Bachelor Jesse Palmer on the same day. On July 24, Jesse posted a photo of himself and the two former contestants on Instagram with the caption, "Bachelor/Bachelorette reunion today with @hannahann and @mike_johnson! They’re both super cool and so nice!" and he tagged the official Bachelor and Bachelorette Instagram accounts. In the photo, Mike is wearing the same shorts as in Hannah Ann's TikTok and they appear to be standing in front of the same trailer.
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On top of that, Cosmopolitan has a full rundown of how a number of other Bachelor stars have seemingly been doing something at the same location as each other, including Becca Kufrin, Ashley Iaconetti, and Sydney Lotuaco.
But to temper any expectations before they get too blown out of proportion, let's turn to Reality Steve. The professional Bachelor spoiler tweeted this on August 6:
(SPOILER) Can’t make this any clearer - BIP is not happening at filming. Tayshia is the “Bachelorette.” All the other appearances by alumni are cameos being done bc of the weirdness of the season. Not a normal season, so they are doing non-normal things. It’s as simple as that.
— RealitySteve (@RealitySteve) August 6, 2020
Reality Steve is not always correct, but the explanation makes sense: It could be that all of these people are just showing up to be part of Clare and Tayshia's season. After all, some of them would make no sense for Paradise because everyone has to be single on that show. For starters, Ashley I. is married, Sydney is in a relationship, and Becca is still out on Instagram shooting down rumors that she split from her fiance. Plus, they've all been posting pretty regularly on social media, which is not something one is generally allowed to do while filming Paradise. Given that nothing's confirmed, there is the possibility that they're filming something similar to the cancelled spinoff show Bachelor Pad or a non-romantic version of Bachelor Summer Games, but there's no way of knowing for sure.
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When it comes down to it, seeing any Bachelor stars together at this time can obviously be exciting and get everyone's theories working in overdrive. But consider that Dean Unglert, Wells Adams, and Courtney Dober (from The Bachelorette Australia and The Bachelor Winter Games) have been posting about being in Big Sur, California together, too, but it doesn't appear that they're filming a television show. If they are, they're giving away a lot of the good footage already:
The reality is that Bachelor in Paradise isn't happening in 2020. It's a summer show, and we've got about 20 days left of August. And a lot of these people really just are friends who intermingle, get COVID-19 tests, and go do socially distant things together. Sometimes it's "in a bubble" and maybe for TV. Sometimes it's in bathtubs while drinking beer out of a shoe.