Exclusive Interview
Where Are the Golden Cast Members in the ‘Bachelor in Paradise’ Premiere? Jesse Palmer Explains
Bachelor in Paradise returns with the Season 10 premiere on Monday, July 7, but don’t expect to see cast members from The Golden Bachelor and The Golden Bachelorette in Episode 1. Although it’s been confirmed that some of the Goldens will be looking for love in Paradise this summer, they are not featured in the premiere.
ABC confirmed that the Goldens’ arrival won’t be until Episode 3 on Tuesday, July 15. There will be two episodes with just The Bachelor and The Bachelorette singles on July 7 and July 14 before the Goldens show up.
“It was a grand entrance,” host Jesse Palmer tells Swooon. “I’m happy we gave them their stage and their moment to kind of do that.”
While Palmer “can’t speak too much” on why things were staged that way from a creative standpoint, he does have an idea of why the arrivals were kept separate. “I do think part of the structure of Paradise was to encourage both generations to stay in their respective generational lane when it comes to dating,” Palmer explains. “Essentially, what I encouraged everyone to do was not make it weird.”
Although a previously-released preview for the season appears to show some crossover, Palmer says, “I’m in a situation where I’m never gonna tell somebody who you’re allowed to love and who you’re not allowed to love or fall in love with, but there’s an encouragement to keep it over here. And you’ll see, I think the structure throughout the season, it’s sort of set that way. I imagine them arriving when they did kind of allowed relationships to start forming with the younger cast, and when the Goldens arrived, they could focus on each other.”
The confirmed Golden cast members are: Leslie Fhima, Gary Levingston, April Kirkwood, Charles King, Jack Lencioni, Kathy Swarts, Keith Gordon, Kim Buike, Natascha Hardee, and RJ Johnson.
Bachelor in Paradise, Season 10 premiere, Monday, July 7, 8/7c, ABC
—Reporting by Avery Thompson
