How much does it cost to be on The Bachelor? Surprisingly a lot!
The outfits and make-up in Bachelor Nation are next level, and have the price tag to prove it. But the biggest expense is interrupting your education or career to spend 2 months chasing true love. Worth it? Depends on what you can afford.
How much money does it cost to be on The Bachelor?
Being a contestant on ABC’s The Bachelor isn’t free.You don’t have to pay to be on The Bachelor (and you won’t be paid to be there either) but you do have to make a significant investment in your appearance.
The financial cost is greater on women as contestants on The Bachelor than men who will be contestants on The Bachelorette. Women are under greater scrutiny, but also stand more to gain if the show launches a media career.
Furthermore, sites like ShopYourTV share where to buy the outfits of every Bachelor contestant, making their wardrobe choices even more weighty before they embark on their journey for love. I, personally, was very excited to see Hannah Ann and I have the same shoes. (I actually bought them after I saw her wear them in an earlier episode this season!)
8 Weeks and $8,000 of wardrobe
Undoubtedly one of the most challenging aspects of being a contestant on The Bachelor is not knowing how long you’ll be there, but packing a suitcase as if you’re going to proposals. Contestants need outfits for the following:
- 6-8 cocktail parties
- 3-6 group or one-on-one dates
- sportswear
- swimwear
- clothes for ALL climates because you don’t know where in the world you’ll travel!
- shoes for all of the above
You never see contestants wearing the same outfit twice, which means you have to pack quite the wardrobe to make it through the season.
Since a cocktail dress can run anywhere from $200 to $600 each, it wouldn’t surprise me if many of the girls packed thousands of dollars worth of dresses for those boozy hours alone. Add in some hiking gear and enough swimsuits to spend 5 days per week poolside and you’re easily pushing a five-figure clothing budget.
A few years ago, E! News found contestants spend $1,000 to $8,000 on clothes for the show, but this number is likely higher now. A 2016 rumor said Elizabeth Caridi spent $40,000 on clothes, which she says is untrue.
Hair, make-up, and… plastic surgery?
The beauty standards of The Bachelor seem to get upped every season as contestants arrive in their limos ready for a career of hawking hair gummies on Instagram. These women are beautiful, and often it’s in no small part to cosmetic enhancement. And plastic surgery isn’t cheap!
Getting your hair cut and colored for your debut on the Bachelor probably runs only about $400, but many of the girls have semi-permanent cosmetic procedures like spray tans ($60), eyelash extensions ($150), eyebrow microblading ($500), lip injections ($300) and Botox ($300).
Some also boast nose jobs ($4,000), chin implants ($4,000), breast augmentations ($10,000) and more. Though it’s less likely these surgeries were done specifically to prep for the show, unless they’ve been planning a long time!
How much does it cost to be on The Bachelor in terms of career disruption and unpaid time off?
Interrupting your career or education in order to be on the Bachelor is hands-down the biggest blow to your bank account. It’s also the one everyone seems to ignore!
Filming The Bachelor takes approximately 8 weeks, though it will be shorter if you go home early. However, I suspect most employers aren’t keen to hold your position for 1 to potentially 8 weeks while you look for true love on reality television. For this reason, it’s not surprising most contestants quit their jobs in order to be on the show.
Missing out of 2 months of income can cost contestants anywhere from $6,000 to $20,000, depending on what they do for a living. While the actual Bachelor or Bachelorette will collect a salary for being on the show, none of the contestants are paid for their appearance.
What about sponsorship?
It’s likely many, if not all, of the contestants receive some sponsorship opportunities to help with costs both before and after the show.
Free beauty treatments and gifted clothing and jewelry can seriously lower the financial impact of being on the show. Likewise, launching an Instagram career afterward could help recoup your initial investment. If you really want to clean up, pull a Jillian Harris who is now worth more than $3 million!
Is it worth the price of true love?
All the contestants of The Bachelor who are there for the right reasons are doing it to find true love. It’s worth noting that in the case for true love the show actually doesn’t have the greatest track record. Also, love is supposed to be one of the “best things in life” that are free, right?
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And here’s what’s wrong with society if people are looking to reality tv to get their love lives in order. I suppose you were just trying to warn people off doing this because of the costs involved, but to me this just seems like a meat market assembly line approach where you have no control, so no thanks. This approach to finding your true love seems to be like trying to become a professional actor; the unemployment rate in this field is something like 94%. Hard pass. It seems to me there are much better ways to find that special someone. I’ve met girlfriends by doing activities that by nature are not solitary; you meet someone who likes the same things you do, and take it from there. As an introvert I’m a shy guy around the ladies by nature, but unless you like to be alone you have to poke your head out of your shell every once in awhile to see who’s out there, as nerve wracking as that might be. In the meantime, hockey season is finally back up, so that’ll keep me occupied for the present.