Jesse Palmer is sharing a bit of The Bachelor backstory, in which he played a major hand in. On the latest episode of The Bachelorette, the host discussed an unusual fact about the show that many viewers have spotted on their own. If you’ve been a longtime viewer of the reality dating series, you may realize that despite the many lunches and dinners on the show, you never see much of anyone eating. Palmer takes credit for that.
In the new episode of The Bachelorette, Jenn Tran visits New Zealand with her 12 remaining suitors. During their time there, Trann sat down for a bite with Palmer. It was an unusual sight for viewers. Declaring that he had an “interesting piece of trivia,” Palmer asked the latest single looking for love why she thinks people don’t eat on dates. Trann guesses that “eating isn’t attractive,” to which he agrees.
Palmer — who served as The Bachelor on the show’s 5th season before becoming a host later down the line — explains that his way of balancing and conversing had a major role in the reason.
On my season, I was scarfing the food down on every date trying to have these serious conversations — just literally talking through the food. And I think after that they had to stop doing it… So I essentially ruined it for everybody.
Jesse Palmer, The Bachelorette
Other Season Leads Have Tried Explaining The Rule
Jesse Palmer isn’t the only one who has discussed how eating is handled on the show. Sean Lowe was also asked about this in 2014.
This one is pretty simple, because it’s not entertaining TV. Not to mention, the plates of food usually have been sitting there for a long time before we ever sit down. Nobody likes cold steak. Also, the microphones pick up the chewing sounds and it’s pretty gross to listen to. So typically, we would eat alone in the hotel room before the date so we wouldn’t be starving later.
Sean Lowe, Patheos
Tayshia Adams echoed the sentiment in 2021, when she was asked about the lack of eating in the franchise.
As far as The Bachelor goes, I know everybody is so concerned as to why we don’t ever eat the food on the dates. It’s generally because there’s cameras and mics and all that and it would be kind of hard to get your sound bytes while you’re chewing and eating. We generally eat before the dates. Sometimes the food looks kind of good and you want to poke at it, so that’s definitely happened.
Tayshia Adams, Delish
It’s a bummer to think of being at a lavish dinner and not eating a bunch of cold food. Then again, it’s not the most appetizing meal either. If going to town on KFC and other foods saved some people from cold, gross food, then hats off to Palmer for his service. However, with all the technology available to her, there has to be a way for everyone to have their cake and eat it, too.
