Bachelor Pad has been canceled by ABC, so fans of the network’s dating show franchise will have to look elsewhere for their summer fix.
The show first aired in 2010, giving the Bachelor and Bachelorette cast-offs a chance for some more airtime and drama in an elimination-style game show. Contestants paired up in teams, hooked up with one another, and competed for a $250,000 cash prize.
In its three seasons, Bachelor Pad drew in fans of the series during the what is otherwise the franchise’s offseason, making its cancellation a bit of a surprise.
Fans of Bachelor Pad got to see the show go out on a high note in 2012. At the show’s final vote, the last remaining couple participates in a Prisoner’s Dilemma, with the female and male contestants voting to either keep or share the $250,000 prize.
If one voted to keep and the other to share, the person voting to keep was entitled to all the money. If they both chose share they would share the money, but if both chose to keep it, then the $250,000 would be split equally among all contestants.
In its final season, Nick Peterson (who was a suitor on season 7 of The Bachelorette ) voted to keep the money, turning on his partner, Rachel Truehart (from season 16 of The Bachelor ).
News that Bachelor Pad was canceled came it seems by accident. Show creator Mike Fleiss responded to a fan’s tweet about the show this weekend, informing the fan that Bachelor Pad wasn’t coming back this year.
“@ okatie : @ fleissmeister when is the next Bachelor Pad gonna be?” Not happening this summer…
— Mike Fleiss (@fleissmeister) March 16, 2013
His reply seemed to imply that the show could possibly be coming back at some point, or maybe even re-tooled.
Before it was canceled, Bachelor Pad earned decent ratings for ABC in the slower summer months. The first two season of the show averaged between 5-6 million viewers each week, but in the third season the average fell to close to 4 million.