The Bachelor Winter Games began filming on Tuesday with a small-town parade and celebration featuring many bachelors and bachelorettes who are franchise favorites.

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The new ABC reality spinoff began filming on the morning of December 5 in Manchester, Vermont. Fans gathered in the streets for a parade filled with male dancers in grass skirts, a walking Statue of Liberty, an oompah band, a koala-suit mascot, a female Viking, Santa Claus, and more.

The event, dubbed The Bachelor Winter Games: Arrival Celebration, was documented on social media by fans.

Based on various social-media photos of the welcome parade, The Bachelor Winter Games cast appears to include Season 20 The Bachelor star Ben Higgins as well as three-time Bachelor franchise participants Ashley Iaconetti and Clare Crawley.

Ashley initially competed for Chris Soules' heart on The Bachelor's nineteenth season, while Clare first found fame on Juan Pablo Galavis' The Bachelor edition. Both ladies went on to appear on two seasons of Bachelor in Paradise.

Also apparently competing on the series will be Dean Unglert from The Bachelorette's thirteenth season starring Rachel Lindsay and Bachelor in Paradise 4; Josiah Graham, Eric Bigger, and Jamey Kocan from Season 13 of The Bachelorette; Luke Pell from The Bachelorette's twelfth season starring JoJo Fletcher; Michael Garofola from The Bachelorette's ninth season starring Desiree Hartsock and Bachelor in Paradise 2, and Lesley Murphy from Season 17 of The Bachelor starring Sean Lowe.

In addition, two ladies who recently filmed Arie Luyendyk Jr.'s The Bachelor edition -- which premieres January 1 at 8PM ET/PT on ABC -- signed on for Winter Games once they returned home.

[Spoiler Warning: Please stop reading now if you don't want to know the two women from Arie's season participating in Winter Games].

According to Bachelor spoiler Reality Steve, Arie's bachelorettes Bibiana Julian, a 30-year-old executive assistant at MTV Miami and former Miami Dolphins cheerleader from Miami, FL, and Lauren Griffin, a recruiter from California, are the participants who will be competing and seeking love in Vermont.

Social-media photos of the parade also show first-season The Bachelorette star Trista Rehn and her husband Ryan Sutter onstage being interviewed by The Bachelor host Chris Harrison.

However, the happily-married couple were not wearing the same "Team USA" jackets like the rest of the American team cast members, leaving their participation roles unclear.

Additional photos also show numerous unidentified cast members of international The Bachelor franchise editions walking in the parade behind banners identifying their countries.

The beginning of the parade also featured a banner with The Bachelor Winter Games logo, which includes 11 country flags.

The 11 country flags displayed on the logo are Australia, Canada, China, Finland, Germany, New Zealand, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States.

As previously announced, The Bachelor Winter Games will feature American and international bachelors and bachelorettes of the past competing in winter-themed challenges all the while looking for love at a luxurious resort.

The Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss revealed last month The Bachelor New Zealand's second-season star, Jordan Mauger, and The Bachelorette Canada's first-season winner, Kevin Wendt, will also be competing on Winter Games.

The Winter Games spinoff is expected to premiere in February 2018 and air as counter-programming to NBC's coverage of the 2018 Winter Olympics. ABC announced it had ordered the show back in May.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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