The Bachelor Summer Games, a new The Bachelor franchise spinoff intended to mirror the premise of ABC's 2018's The Bachelor Winter Games, will reportedly no longer happen.
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ABC reality chief Robert Mills confirmed the network's The Bachelor Summer Games plans in February, but the Summer 2020 series is being scrapped due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Variety reported.
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The new spinoff was supposed to air as counter-programming to NBC's broadcasts of the 2020 Summer Olympics, similar to how The Bachelor Winter Games aired while the 2018 Winter Olympics were taking place.
However, the actual Tokyo Olympics were rescheduled for 2021 due to the pandemic last week -- eliminating the immediate need for The Bachelor Summer Games.
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It remains unclear whether The Bachelor Summer Games will also be pushed to next year and still air simultaneously with the actual Olympic Games.
Mills said in February that ABC planned to air The Bachelor Summer Games in overlap with The Bachelorette's upcoming sixteenth season and before Bachelor in Paradise returns with its seventh edition.
But production of The Bachelorette season starring Clare Crawley has also been delayed and has yet to begin, making it extremely unlikely the season premieres in May as originally planned given the United States just extended its social-distancing policy through the end of April.
Bachelor in Paradise is typically filmed in Mexico in June and premieres in August following The Bachelorette finale.
The 2020 Summer Olympics were set to commence on July 24 and conclude on August 9, suggesting The Bachelor Summer Games was slated to air on ABC during the weeks of July 27 and August 3.
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The Bachelor Summer Games was expected to resemble The Bachelor Winter Games, which was a winter sports-themed reality competition series that premiered in February 2018 and aired four episodes over the course of two weeks.
The Bachelor Winter Games, described by ABC as "an ode to the Winter Olympic Games," aired simultaneously with The Bachelor's 22nd season starring Arie Luyendyk Jr. in 2018 as counterprogramming against NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics.
The Winter Games spinoff was filmed in December 2017 at a private ski resort in Vermont and featured former American and international The Bachelor franchise participants competing in various winter sports challenges and looked for love along the way.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, The Bachelor viewers can at least look forward to the premiere of The Bachelor: Listen To Your Heart, a new spinoff mixing music and romance, on Monday, April 13 at 8PM ET/PT on ABC.
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