Bachelor in Paradise host Osher Günsberg is the first to say that some of the behaviour captured on screen this year was not OK, but he’s still happy it aired on prime time television.
The longtime host of Australia’s The Bachelor, The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise said the ethos of the franchise is that they endeavor to capture the action as it happens, filming but never influencing the outcome.
Bachelor in Paradise always ignites a flurry of discussion, but this time around there has been an unflinching spotlight on the behaviour of some of the male contestants on the show, in particular that of Ivan Krslovic who appeared on Ali Oetjen’s season of The Bachelorette before arriving in Paradise.
Viewers voiced their rightful discomfort of Ivan’s behavior on the show, where he was at times quite possessive and aggressive in his attempts to isolate Tenille from her fellow contestants. To the point where she had to plead with him to back off and other male contestants on the show were afraid to go near her in case they risked Ivan’s wrath.
While this sequence of events may have been difficult to watch, Osher thinks it was an important storyline to let unfold on national television, while also pointing out that viewers didn’t see every moment of what went down in Paradise.
“We’re telling a story, but there are parts of the story that we are not going to show,” the 45-year-old TV host told Mamamia. “First and foremost we were checking with Tenille at all times, asking ‘are you OK, do you want to continue’? So at all times, Tenille had a choice.
“We didn’t show that because we’re making a prime time television show and there is only so much we can put to air. There is security on set and there is psychological support on set at all times and we showed a bit of that at the time, and we do cover it quite extensively on the upcoming tell-all episode (airing this Thursday night at 10pm on Network Ten).