'Everybody does deserve love.'
Everything Bachelor producers touch turns to gold... so it only makes sense that their next dating show centers on the golden years.
The producers behind the highly successful ABC dating franchise are currently casting for a new spinoff focusing on senior citizens looking for love, they revealed in an announcement during Monday's episode of The Bachelor. While speaking with ET's Lauren Zima during Roses & Rose on Tuesday, host Chris Harrison opened up about producers focusing on a senior dating show amid some criticism of the current Bachelor cast's immaturity.
"Yeah, this is a knee jerk reaction to that," he quipped. "We thought instead of 20s, we're going 60s and 70s."
In all seriousness, Harrison said he's often asked by fans about when the franchise will expand to include senior citizens. "[They say], 'We need love too.' And they're right, and so we're going to do it," he explained of the show, which is looking for contestants over the age of 65. "We're going to put this to the test."
"Everybody does deserve love, and while we can't service everybody in the world, we're gonna do our best. We've nailed down the singers [with] Listen to Your Heart, now the senior Bachelor," he added.
Harrison said that the new show -- the franchise's third new spinoff this year, after Listen to Your Heart and Summer Games -- will likely start with a senior Bachelor, rather than Bachelorette.
"A lot of it is still up in the air because this is in the gestation phase. And while we're talking about 65 and older -- I don't think that's set in stone either because we haven't... we're just beginning the casting process, so we'll see what we're about," noted Harrison.
If the new series debuts this year, it will be the sixth Bachelor franchise show to air in 2020 (The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise are set to air this summer). ABC's Senior Vice President of Alternative Series, Specials & Late-Night Programming, Rob Mills, recently told ET that the franchise would be taking up "more and more hours" on ABC. See more in the video below.
The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. Apply for the new senior-centered dating show here.
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