Jesse Palmer will serve as the host of Season 8 of Bachelor in Paradise when it airs on ABC this fall, the network has announced.
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@JessePalmerTV and bartender @wellsadams!" the show's Twitter account tweeted on Tuesday.
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Jesse and ABC executive Mike Fleiss both retweeted the post, with Jesse writing on his own page, "Excited to hit the beach."
This will mark Jesse's first season as Bachelor in Paradise host, but Wells Adams has been a bartender on the show for years.
And on Bachelor in Paradise's seventh season last summer, Wells also served in an extra "Master of Ceremonies" role in which he led the Rose Ceremonies but had to share hosting responsibilities with a lineup of celebrity guest hosts including former N'SYNC boyband member Lance Bass and rapper Lil Jon.
"When I think of some of the people they have in mind to come back for Bachelor in Paradise, I think it's going to continue to be a very watched and very discussed block of programming on Mondays and Tuesdays," ABC Entertainment President Craig Erwich told Deadline about the new season, which ABC will air on both Monday and Tuesday nights this fall.
Jesse, an ESPN sports analyst who starred on The Bachelor's fifth season back in 2004, is continuing his role as host of the franchise after hosting The Bachelor's 26th season starring Clayton Echard, which just wrapped in March.
ABC also named Jesse as host of The Bachelorette's upcoming nineteenth season starring both Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia after former The Bachelorette stars Kaitlyn Bristowe and Tayshia Adams co-hosted the series' seventeenth and eighteenth editions starring Katie Thurston and Michelle Young, respectively.
Chris Harrison previously hosted the entire The Bachelor franchise, but he exited the show in early 2021 after a racism scandal exploded during Matt James' season. (Matt was the first Black The Bachelor star ever, and Chris defended his winner Rachael Kirkconnell's past racially-insensitive actions).
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Chris had been with The Bachelor franchise for nearly two decades given he had began hosting the show all the way back with Season 1 that premiered in early 2002.
Bachelor in Paradise will premiere its eighth season in Fall 2022 and air twice weekly on Monday nights from 8-10PM ET/PT followed by Tuesday nights from 8-10PM ET/PT.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOWBachelor in Paradise will be taking over the Monday slot Dancing with the Stars previously held as well as the Tuesday slot that had been filled by The Bachelorette for the last two years.
The Bachelorette's nineteenth season is set to premiere on Monday, July 11 at 8PM ET/PT, and so Bachelor in Paradise will eventually replace the show in that time period, presumably in late September or October.
As for Dancing with the Stars, the ABC reality dancing competition is moving to a new home on the streaming service Disney+ this fall after 16 seasons on ABC.
Erwich called Bachelor in Paradise "the perfect show to kick off the fall season" because it was up in the ratings last year and was "probably one of the most talked about installments of the reality show" producers have seen "in a long time."
"Because there are so many characters and storylines, it's the perfect show to expand over the course two nights," Erwich said.
ABC executive Robert Mills told Variety in early May that producers were "still in the middle of planning the creative on Bachelor in Paradise."
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Robert hinted Jesse would probably continue his role as host when The Bachelor producer shared, "We loved the idea of celebrities being involved... I think it will be great to have guest stars there, but guest hosts? I don't think we need it."
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Bachelor in Paradise, which was renewed for another season in April, will continue to feature The Bachelor and The Bachelorette alums looking to receive a second -- or maybe even a third -- chance at finding a committed relationship in a tropical location.
The new season is expected to feature shocking twists, surprises, unexpected guests, and some unlikely relationships, per usual.
Several women from Clayton Echard's The Bachelor season are expected to participate, and suitors will also likely be heavily plucked from Katie and Michelle's The Bachelorette seasons.
Bachelor in Paradise's seventh season premiered in early August 2021.
Season 7 of Bachelor in Paradise ended with three engagements, but the only couples who are still together are Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt as well as Kenny Braasch and Mari Pepin-Solis.
Riley Christian and Maurissa Gunn split not long after their engagement aired on ABC last year.
Noah Erb and Abigail Heringer also reunited and became a couple after filming the summer spinoff's seventh season together, as did Becca Kufrin and Thomas Jacobs.
After ABC announced The Bachelorette's later-than-usual Season 19 premiere, speculation that Bachelor in Paradise was being canceled began circulating online, but the franchise's creator later set the record straight.
"Canceled??? No f-cking way!!! #BachelorinParadise forever!" Fleiss tweeted in response to cancellation rumors.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
