Survivor’s Locky Gilbert to be Ten’s next Bachelor
The crossovers between stars of Ten’s reality formats are set to continue, with Survivor contestant Locky Gilbert becoming the next star of The Bachelor.
Last year, Ten went with relative unknown Dr Matthew Agnew for its male-fronted series, but used Angie Kent – who had already appeared on Gogglebox and I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here – for The Bachelorette.
Ten’s CEO Paul Anderson flagged a few years back the network was moving away from stereotypical “head-boy” types as the face of its flagship dating franchise.
Gilbert, Ten said, is a CEO who is “heart-stopping, jaw-dropping, [and a] tall drink of water”.
“Having built a legion of female fans during his time on Australian Survivor, this successful CEO knows that with great risk comes even greater reward. And he’s putting it all on the line again, to dive right into the romantic experience of a lifetime,” Ten added.
Gilbert said he really wants to find love on the program.
“I’m pretty content with my life at the moment. I go on these crazy adventures, but I’d love someone to share the memories with,” he said in a statement.
“I’ve got best friends, but I want to find that one best friend that I can spend the rest of my life with. This is an amazing opportunity to hopefully find someone special at the end.”
Ten said 2020’s The Bachelor is coming soon.
Ten has experienced mixed results with casting already-known personalities in its dating franchise.
Sophie Monk’s stint as The Bachelorette in 2017 was a ratings success, with 951,000 metro viewers tuning into the first episode, and going out on top with 1.640m metro viewers watching her pick Stu Laundy in the final episode.
The following year, rugby player Nick Cummins’ series of The Bachelor had the best opening ratings for the male-fronted series, with 950,000 metro viewers tuning on overnight. Then 1.241m metro viewers tuned in to watch him decide to leave without a partner.
That same year, Ten turned to Ali Oetjen, who had been on the first season of The Bachelor and appeared on spin-off series Bachelor in Paradise, as its Bachelorette.
This gave Ten its lowest premiere for The Bachelorette with 631,000 metro viewers. It concluded with 926,000, down 44% on Monk’s season.
Agnew, who was not a media personality before his appearance on the program last year, had 828,000 metro viewers watch his first episode, and 1.17m watch his final decision.
Kent’s season premiered to 716,000, and around 1m watched it conclude.
