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Jimmy Nicholson and Holly Kingston share their thoughts on the future of The Bachelor franchise

Jimmy and Holly open up about why their season of The Bachelor didn’t perform well and what they think needs to change.

Video transcript

LACHLAN GUERTIN: "The Bachelor's" heading to the GC. I've heard so many rumors, joint "Bachelor," joint "Bachelorette." What are your thoughts on just the future of the franchise and do you reckon you'll keep watching?

JIMMY NICHOLSON: I think, look, I mean, I think it is a great franchise. There's a lot of success stories to come out of it, but I do think there is a way that people are watching things differently now. And I think it did need a shake up. I think for our season, for those that watched it, said they actually really enjoyed it, and I thought it was great.

HOLLY KINGSTON: But it was the formula was old.

JIMMY NICHOLSON: The formula is a little bit old and a bit tired, and things can get lost in the edit. Holly was such a sure thing from the start that they actually didn't show much of our love story at all. So people want to know that stuff. They want to see that, and I think a new format, which I've heard rumors, there's a new format going to happen--

HOLLY KINGSTON: Don't you say anything.

JIMMY NICHOLSON: I think it's going to be really, really exciting. I think it's the shake up that it needs. "MAFS" is such a successful show because people love-- although "MAFS" has kind of taken a turn down a dangerous avenue where it's becoming a little bit--

HOLLY KINGSTON: I struggle to watch "MAFS," and I think I will struggle to watch "Bache" this year. I think, like we didn't really watch Brooke's season of "Bachelorette."

JIMMY NICHOLSON: We tried.

HOLLY KINGSTON: [LAUGHS]

JIMMY NICHOLSON: No, we watched a little bit of it, but--

HOLLY KINGSTON: I think we watch one or two eps, but I think once the formula, and you know what happens, and you know how little of what you film actually goes into the show-- for me, as well, I definitely struggled because I dealt with a lot of trauma after the show, and I was really lucky that I had Jimmy. But watching and seeing what people, what the cast go through is really tricky. So in terms of "Bachelor" this year though, I reckon we might.

JIMMY NICHOLSON: I think we'll watch it.

HOLLY KINGSTON: We might watch it.

JIMMY NICHOLSON: I think it's going to be if, yeah, I think it'll be a great season. I think it's going to have a mix, something it needs, and yeah, I think it is a franchise that people do-- look "MAFS" is great and it's entertaining for everyone. I haven't watched much of it, but I know that, I mean, I got asked to go on "MAFS" before "Bache" and I said, absolutely not because I just don't, for me, I had an Instagram message from some, and for me, it was just never going to be something that I could do. It works for some people, but I want to--

HOLLY KINGSTON: You on "MAFS" just wouldn't have worked.

JIMMY NICHOLSON: I wanted to meet someone and yeah. So I think that there's, people love watching that stuff. And I think that I have a suspicion that "Bache" will be a little bit more "MAFS"-esque, and if that's what people want to watch, that's what they should probably do.

HOLLY KINGSTON: [? You have a suspicion, do you? ?]

JIMMY NICHOLSON: Yeah.

HOLLY KINGSTON: That's interesting.

JIMMY NICHOLSON: Will it produce, if it is like that, will it produce as many successful couples?

LACHLAN GUERTIN: - Yeah.

JIMMY NICHOLSON: Maybe not, but is it going to be entertaining? Yeah.

HOLLY KINGSTON: Probably.

JIMMY NICHOLSON: Even probably more entertaining.

LACHLAN GUERTIN: I mean, I was going to say, like, I really thought your season was one of the most entertaining ones in terms of the people, and the story lines, and all. That but the ratings obviously didn't reflect that. You guys care about-- did you guys care about ratings?

JIMMY NICHOLSON: We did. I mean, look, of course, if you go into something, you want it to succeed, but I feel like it was frustrating for us because, like, the launch night was on the finale of--

HOLLY KINGSTON: "Farmer Wants a Wife."

JIMMY NICHOLSON: --"Farmer Wants a Wife"--

HOLLY KINGSTON: The beginning of the Olympics.

JIMMY NICHOLSON: --so your first episode is on a night where your target market is watching something else. If you don't get people from the start, and then they played, it was in during the Olympics as well, so I feel like there was some frustrations there behind the scenes from the actual producers of "Bache." I know one of the execs actually moved on afterwards because, I think, he didn't agree with the timing of it all.

I would never try and trash talk Ten, but they know a lot more about me. But I feel like we had everything against us, and for those that watched it really enjoyed it. But also, I think people were just over the formula, and I definitely a couple of times thought, shit, am I like boring, or like do people not like me, or because I feel like I was--

HOLLY KINGSTON: But also, you hadn't really watched much "Bachelor" before, and I kept on saying to you, because Jimmy didn't really know what the general formula was because he never really watched it, and I said, Jimmy, no matter what, because he would be like, what? I said something really funny to you then, and they didn't air it. I'm like, no, because you were probably saying something that may insult some very small part of the public, and they need "The Bachelor" to be perfect. So it wasn't that-- And I probably only got along with about three of the girls, but that is not to say that the rest of the cast were bloody hilarious and very entertaining.

JIMMY NICHOLSON: Oh, yeah, yeah.

HOLLY KINGSTON: You know, and so I agree. I think it was the perfect recipe for everything to be great, but unfortunately, the ratings didn't represent that. But I think after nine seasons of the same old stuff, I think it's probably it's due for a shake up.

JIMMY NICHOLSON: Give it a shake up. We're excited for the franchise for those going on it. I think they'll have a great time.