With Fantasy Suites right around the corner, “The Bachelor‘s” Zach Shallcross is getting real about the infamous “sex week” nickname that has taken over Bachelor nation and sheds light on his approach to the week full of potential overnight dates.
“That was a joke on how the week has been historically viewed,” Zach told TheWrap. “For me, it was another opportunity to spend with the women where the cameras, the producers [are gone]. It’s a full, huge chunk of time, whereas like a typical date, a one-on-one or group date … it’s pretty short in the grand scheme of things.”
While Zach planned to embrace this “uninterrupted” time in which he and the women could talk about things they would never feel comfortable discussing on camera, the leading man hinted that Fantasy Suites don’t go as smoothly as he wished, despite his best efforts.
“It was a lot of me trying to set some boundaries to help everyone in that week, and it really just hurting us all,” he said.
As Zach prepares to potentially spend the night with his final three women, Kaity, Gabi and Ariel, he reflected on his “Night at the Museum”-esque date with Kaity, which broke “Bachelor” tradition by featuring an overnight portion prior to Fantasy Suites in just the third week of Zach’s journey for love.
“With Kaity, there was an immediate spark connection,” Zach recalled. “It was like, ‘I feel comfortable wanting to do this with her [and] if she’s comfortable to do this with me, this would be a really cool date.’”
After his positive experience with an early overnight, Zach said he would “absolutely” approve of more overnight dates in future seasons of “The Bachelor,” adding that the franchise should make sure they leave an “out” for those who wouldn’t feel comfortable participating.
While host Jesse Palmer admits the decision for the early overnight was “way out of [his] pay grade,” he shared he was “jealous” of the “really cool date.” “I don’t know if we’ve ever done that on the show before,” he told TheWrap. “That could become something that becomes a staple — overnight that the museum date early on?”
“The Bachelor” premieres Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and new episodes are available on demand and on Hulu the day after they premiere.