Hey babes! A few weekends ago, I went to support a friend at the Bachelor/Bachelorette casting event in Ft. Lauderdale and see what the process was really like. I’m a huge fan of the franchise and you can read my recent recaps of Rachel’s season here!
The casting was scheduled from 1pm-5pm at a small boutique hotel in Ft. Lauderdale. We really had no idea what to expect, so as my friend was getting ready I started google-ing “Bachelor Casting” and found all of these horrible articles about how the girls had to wait for 3 hours standing wrapped around the blocks in Manhattan, Atlantic City, etc. This was pretty shocking and I hoped that wasn’t what we were in for! The Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area is huge so on one hand I thought there could potentially be just as many girls at this casting, but on the other hand a lot of people down here are not great at showing up for events that are super specific, especially on a weekend where they might rather be doing something more fun. Here we are on the drive over:
When we arrived at the hotel, there wasn’t a line outside or anything obvious and the staff politely helped us navigate upstairs to the ballroom where the casting was being held. Approaching that room there was a desk with a woman handing out applications and explaining what to do. Jenna got application #99, which means she was the 99th person to come apply to be on the show. We headed into the ballroom you see below which had a bunch of tables set up and a bunch of men and women all filling out their applications. At our table there were 4 girls actually applying and 4 friends (like myself) there for support! We joked that we should start our own TV show about the friends of the contestants that got them on the show haha! There were maybe about 60 people in the room at that time – a handful of men and the rest women (not surprising.)
Once you’re done filling out the application, you get in line to have your photos taken. You can see below a few girls in line and the woman in the grey tee at the front is one of the staff members organizing things. Pretty much all of the staff at the casting were just local hires for the event that have no actual ties to the show. There were two female producers present from what I was told (look for hippie types in their 60’s) but they didn’t interact with applicants much.
Below you see one of the guys getting his photos taken. They take some normal photos of you and then a few holding a sign with your full name and phone number (this guy’s name was Dan and I wouldn’t be surprised if he made it on The Bachelorette next year. Unfortunately the glare hit the board he’s holding so you can’t see his phone number lol 😉 )
After finishing the application and photos, you turn in your application and wait for your number to be called to go sit in the hallway waiting to go into a private room for some on-screen action. Here is my girl (on the right) along with a sweet babe we met named Alexa (on the left.) She had already applied for the show online and producers called and asked her to come to the Ft. Lauderdale casting. She’s obviously cute and was super nice so I bet she could be on the show too! To be honest, all of the girls we met were such sweethearts. I’m not sure if it was the fact that everyone was probably in the same boat feeling nervous, but everyone was super chatty and friendly. I hope I see some of the people we met on future seasons of the show! 🙂 For the most part, everyone was pretty attractive too, the guys in particular. A lot of people were joking that they could just find a match there at the casting and not have to go on the show after all!
This hallway had about three private rooms that would have one girl inside at a time with one camera person who would interview them on-screen. You sit in a chair and they roll the camera, asking you your name, where you’re from, about your job, why you want to be on the show, what went wrong in your past relationships, etc. Pretty basic things, but I think the main point is to see if you do well on camera and won’t be super awkward or dull on TV. You’re only in the room for a few minutes really and it isn’t all that nerve wracking since it’s just you and the one camera person who were all super friendly and welcoming.
After your on-screen interview, you’re free to go! I assume they will contact the girls they’re interested in from this casting sometime in the next month or so since filming for The Bachelor typically beings in September. However, I think it’ll still be at least a few more weeks before we know who the next Bachelor is, so they can’t technically finalize that cast until they know who they are choosing women specifically for. On the other hand, The Bachelorette is further away since it won’t air until next May so the guys I saw at this casting event will have a lot longer casting process than the girls.
Overall, it was so much fun and a great experience for me and the applicants too. I would guess that over the 4 hour span of this casting, they probably only had 200-300 people total so it was very pleasant and not like the other castings I read about online. We were only there about an hour total. Can’t wait to see who makes it on the show! 😉
Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave me a comment and let me know if you liked this post! xoxo, Nicole