Since the spring of 2002, The Bachelor has kept viewers on their toes with all the love and drama it has brought. Since the show began, The Bachelor and its spin-off’s have seen people in their 20s and 30s compete for love on the ABC series. What many fans don’t know is that there is actually an age requirement to appear on The Bachelor. While fans could have assumed you needed to be a certain age to appear, it was never confirmed until now. Here is everything to know about the age requirement to appear as the lead or as a contestant on The Bachelor franchise.
Viewers usually see someone in their late 20s as the lead, but there has been the rare occasion that they have been in their 30s as well. But, with the news of the age requirement, it seems pretty safe to say that viewers will never see anyone under the legal drinking age, which makes perfect sense due to the nature of The Bachelor franchise.
According to Distractify, while contestants have to be at least 21 years of age when they send in their applications to appear on the show, they also revealed that there technically is no exact age limit to become the lead on The Bachelor or even The Bachelorette. However, considering that The Bachelor leads are almost always picked as a past season from the franchise, they are always over the age of 21.
Based on data pulled from Bachelor Nation Wiki, the average age for women that appear on The Bachelor is over 26-years-old, while the average age of men on The Bachelorette is 29-years-old. While the contestants have to be 21 or older to compete on the series, rarely, viewers will actually to see a 21-year-old compete for love on The Bachelor franchise. While it has happened before, someone so young would rarely compete for love on a national television show. Nevertheless, ABC wants the connections to be believable as possible, and casting someone under 21-years-old would help with the show’s credibility.
With The Bachelor still being on the air, and it seems for many more years, it is possible that they could change the age requirement for the leads in the future. However, it is very unlikely the age requirement to be on the show will ever change. For now, viewers will have to tune in every year to see if ABC decided to take the plunge and cast a 19-year-old as the lead. One thing is for certain, the drama on the show will never go away, and that is what the viewers always look forward to seeing.
Source: Distractify, Bachelor Nation Wiki