Reality show The Bachelor has been given a rose by television bosses. MediaWorks chief executive Mark Weldon says another season of the dating show will be commissioned.
The show made bachelor Art Green, winner Matilda Rice and contestant Chrystal Chenery household names and regular fodder for gossip columns. The format, taken from the United States, sees women compete in a range of manufactured challenges for the affections of the titular bachelor. Regular eliminations drag out the process over several months until only the winner remains.
Weldon launches a stout defence of TV3's reality-heavy primetime schedule in the Weekend Herald and cites The Bachelor as a "blockbuster" ratings success that justifies his strategy.
"The shows that are least replaceable are event shows like The Bachelor, which we will certainly repeat. You have to watch them together, they're social events."
According to Nielsen figures, the show's finale attracted 462,100 viewers, and Weldon said more full episodes were streamed from TV3's on-demand website more than one million times. He conceded ratings for some of TV3's other reality programming, notably X-Factor and The Block, were down on prior iterations, but said his overall strategy was sound.
