EXCLUSIVE: ABC has made a call on the highest-profile series on its 2024-25 schedule yet to learn its fate, renewing reality stalwart The Bachelor for a milestone 30th season with a new showrunner.
Once again, the network and The Bachelor producer Warner Horizon Unscripted Television reached out to the dating franchise’s bench to fill the top job at the mothership series, naming Scott Teti, currently executive producer and showrunner of the upcoming season of Bachelor in Paradise, as The Bachelor executive producer and showrunner for Season 30. He succeeds Claire Freeland and Bennett Graebner, who exited in March following “toxic” workplace allegations.
ABC is yet to unveil the bulk of its midseason 2026 scheduling plans, but The Bachelor is believed to be targeting its usual midseason window. That would work for Teti’s schedule as he would segue from Season 10 of Bachelor In Paradise, which premieres July 7, to The Bachelor 30.
This marks a fast rise for Teti, who only joined the franchise in January when he was named showrunner of Bachelor in Paradise. It is unclear whether he would continue to run both going forward.
ABC made most of its renewal decisions for the 2025-26 broadcast season ahead of its May 13 upfront presentation. The Bachelor’s pickup was delayed by the search for a new showrunner after franchise veterans Freeland and Graebner stepped down in March. Their departure as executive producers and showrunners came a month after Deadline revealed allegations of a “hostile” environment behind the scenes of the franchise and followed the exit of two co-executive producers a few days prior.
Prior to joining Bachelor in Paradise, Teti executive produced ABC’s Claim to Fame and Bravo’s Summer House in addition to various Married at First Sight spinoffs,
The Bachelor is produced by Warner Horizon Unscripted Television, a Warner Bros. Television Group company. Bachelor In Paradise is the franchise’s only representative this summer. As Deadline reported exclusively, summer staple The Bachelorette is skipping a cycle.
Peter White contributed to this report.
