In what is set to be the biggest twist in this season’s The Bachelor, Locky Gilbert is forced to make the hardest decision the franchise has ever seen.
WATCH: The Bachelor: Locky and Bella’s ‘awkward’ first kiss
According to a well-placed source, a last-minute decision by the shows bosses leaves the Survivor star dumbfounded after being told to send a whopping five girls home all at once.
“He hadn’t spent a lot of time with some of those girls and he was worried that such a snap decision meant he may be sending home the love of his life,” says the insider.
“On group dates you don’t always get to know someone that well and need all the time you can to make that decision. So of course he was worried.”
But, due to the seriousness of COVID-19, which threw a spanner in the works for production, leaving crew scrambling to cover the worst-case scenario, our insider reveals they had no choice.
“When coronavirus forced the show to shut down, there were 15 girls remaining and producers broke the news to Locky that he had to do a mass cull that night and send five girls home on the spot,” the insider explains.
“COVID-19 escalated so quickly that producers hadn’t had time to plan for what they would do if they had to shut down completely.”
Wrongly assuming they would be able to rush through and finish the season off, just days before stage three restrictions happened without barely any warning, they realised there was no way they could keep track of 15 girls.
“They had to basically shut up shop immediately. And to try and maintain some control, they only wanted to focus on the top 10 girls moving forward as it was already going to be so difficult to coordinate them all over Zoom,” says the insider. “It was a mess.”
To make matters even worse, Locky had just 30 minutes to make the gut-wrenching decision.
“Producers told the girls they had to have a last-minute rose ceremony and sent in hair and makeup straight away.
While the girls were all getting ready, Locky was told he had to send five girls home that night, instead of one,” the insider explains.
“He was stressed and freaking out about it as he barely had any time to consider his decision.”
And it wasn’t just Locky who had to deal with the unforeseen circumstances – the girls were devastated by their early exit.
“A lot of those girls had given up a lot to be on the show,” says the insider. “They put their jobs on hold, and not to be given a chance to really see if there was a connection, to be ditched from the show was rough.”
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