Has 'Bach' Fantasy Suite Switch Happened Before?

If you’re a devout reality competition TV show viewer, there’s a fair chance you’ve grown desensitized to reality TV hyperbole. Is it actually the most exciting episode of television in the history of humankind? Will next week’s episode actually answer every single question I have about this season/the planet/the universe? Will this show actually change my life? At the end of last Monday’s episode of The Bachelorette, Chris Harrison let Kaitlyn Bristowe that the producers decided the Fantasy Suite would happen before the hometown dates. This would be a major alteration to the tried-and-true format. After the episode ended, I wondered, Does this actually change the show as we know it, or has something like this happened before?

I'm a relatively new member of Bachelor Nation, and I'll be the first to admit I do not know the ins and outs of a lot of the seasons. I was curious if the Fantasy Suite/hometown date switcheroo had happened in any of the 19 seasons of The Bachelor or in any of the previous 10 seasons of The Bachelorette. I had some research to do. So, I rummaged around the Internet archives for a while. And then, I found it: Chris Harrison's Bachelorette blog for Yahoo.

After last Monday's episode aired, the man, the myth, the legend addressed the Fantasy Suite/hometown date scheduling switch 'em up in his Yahoo blog. After explaining why the show decided to implement this format change (“We thought four hometown dates seemed a little premature, and [Kaitlyn] agreed.”), the host of the long-running reality dating program writes the following:

It’s the first time we’ve made such a drastic change, but we really think it’s going to make a difference for Kaitlyn and her guys.

As a proud member of Bachelor Nation, I cannot help but take Chris Harrison's word as law. Like the two Bachelorettes twist at the top of the season, this Fantasy Suite rule change really does change the show as we know it.

Image: Clodagh Kilcoyne/ABC