The Bachelor In Paradise Filming Timeline Will Be Key To The Season’s Drama

With the little slice of summer that we have left, the Bachelor franchise is taking us back to the beach. Bachelor in Paradise premieres on Tuesday, Sept. 27, ushering in the show’s eighth season with another cast of Bachelor Nation alums attempting to pair off with one another in hopes of finding love — and maybe even an engagement. However, unlike past seasons, the show is airing in the fall instead of the summer. So if it’s premiering late, when, exactly, was Bachelor in Paradise Season 8 filmed?

Typically, production on Paradise begins in the spring — shortly after The Bachelorette, which generally tapes from March to May, wraps. That usually sets up Paradise to be ready to premiere in late August. However, this season of The Bachelorette threw off the schedule, filming from March to May but not premiering until July and running through the end of September. Yet, according to some social media sleuthing, it appears that this season of Bachelor in Paradise did indeed begin filming in June despite the fact that its premiere date is later this year.

We know this thanks to an Instagram from host Jesse Palmer, in which he’s standing on a beach with a sign that reads “open.” The caption states, “With the power vested in me, I now officially declare Paradise OPEN!!!” The picture was posted on June 14, which is about when we can assume filming was taking place. The Bachelor stats account @bachelordata similarly estimates that this season of Paradise began filming around June 7.

Some of the casting also provides evidence that can help us locate the filming dates in the timeline. Since men like Logan and Johnny from Gabby and Rachel’s season will be joining the beach in Mexico, Paradise likely did not begin filming until the previous Bachelorette production had wrapped in mid-May.

Typically, Paradise filming lasts for about three weeks, which is much shorter than the show would have you believe, given the endless drama and sheer number of cast members funneling on and off the beach. The @bachelordata Instagram, which helpfully broke down the timeline in a post explaining when Tino’s alleged cheating on Rachel happened, outlines the Paradise filming period as stretching from about June 7 to June 28, with The Bachelorette having wrapped filming May 13/14.

This is also important to the Rachel and Tino saga on The Bachelorette, as a shot of Rachel appeared in the Bachelor in Paradise trailer, prompting fans to wonder if Rachel will also be looking for love on the show. The answer to that, according to this timeline, is no, as it appears the alleged cheating and fight occurred after Paradise filmed, meaning Rachel was likely still engaged to Tino at the time of filming and probably appeared on the show briefly to host a date or offer advice to contestants.

What will be most interesting about the Paradise timeline, though, will be how the couples who got engaged or left the show together have fared since leaving the beach. If filming really did wrap in late June, about four months will have elapsed by the time we find out who “found love” on the show at the finale. Will those couples still be together four months later, or will they have already broken up? We’ll have to wait and see as the season unfolds.