Bachelor Creator Mike Fleiss Explains Why They Chose Colton Underwood

Choosing The Bachelor or The Bachelorette can be a difficult job, but somebody has to do it!

That somebody is creator Mike Fleiss, who has been at the helm since the show began sixteen years ago.

Mike recently opened up to Entertainment Weekly to discuss why they decided to go with Colton Underwood as their leading man.

“All the guys we could have gone with, they all have their pluses and minuses, you know? It’s always a very difficult choice,” he explained.

“And people get angry no matter who we choose. The only person that we ever chose who didn’t seem to piss people off was Juan Pablo!”

He continued, “It was like 100 percent approval for the choice of Juan Pablo. So it’s a hard thing to figure.”

Though there are people who aren’t fans of Colton, Mike feels like he’s the perfect choice.

“We like this guy. He’s interesting, he’s certainly hunky, he looks the part, he’s an all-American kid, a football player. The virginity thing is interesting,” he shared.

“And we think that just the potential of [Colton losing his virginity] creates added stakes for this season. When we sat with all the guys that we were considering, Colton just seemed like a star.”

He continued, “When you’re in the room with him, you’re like, that’s a big personality, a big presence. He just won us over. And he has grown from the time he was on Bachelorette. I think the Bachelor in Paradise experience did add to his maturity.”

And, while they could’ve gone with Jason Tartick or Blake Horstmann, Mike felt as though they made it a little too clear that they wanted the gig.

“The Jason people are pissed, the Blake people are pissed — if we had chosen Blake, the Jason people still would have been pissed,” he said.

“Really, you can’t look for 100 percent approval, you’ve gotta make your best decision in terms of story potential.”

Mike continued, “What the show is really about is the journey of coming in [single], and then going through the arduous process of finding that person and making a firm decision that will affect the rest of your life. I think Colton represents the biggest potential for that story to create a lot of drama and romance.”

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