Sounds like there’s a Stork in some lucky lady’s future
It seems natural to set the latest incarnation of “The Bachelor” in and around Paris, given the city’s reputation as among the most romantic in the world.
There’s just one problem with that, says Travis Stork, the guy at the center of ABC’s eighth matchmaking exercise: Adding the fantastic setting to what’s already a fantasy of a show makes it that much harder to forge a real, lasting relationship.
“It’s something we were all cognizant of,” says Stork, 33, an emergency-room doctor in Nashville, Tenn.
“As the show progresses, part of the decision-making process is, ‘How would this relationship play out back in America?’ It wasn’t lost on me that we were living this fantasy life.”
That said, Stork thinks both he and the 25 women looking to become his one and only are “smart enough to realize that a relationship has to go beyond just the experience in France.”
Viewers will get to meet Stork and his would-be girlfriends when “The Bachelor: Paris” premieres Monday at 10 p.m. ABC is hoping that the change in locale – previous editions have been set in Los Angeles and New York – and the fact that the show’s been away for a while will help revive ratings, which have flagged.
The series has been largely unsuccessful at creating long-term relationships, though the previous two Bachelors – Byron Velvick and Charlie O’Connell – are, so far as we know, still with their chosen women, Mary Delgado and Sarah Brice.
Stork doesn’t appear daunted by that, although he laughs when asked why he was still single going into the show.
“Everyone acts like it’s a plague to be single,” he says. “Life is all about timing, and I always felt like when the time is right, I’ll end up with the right person. When this opportunity arose, who was I to say this wasn’t the way I was supposed to meet that person?”
In France, the show put Stork up at a 14th-century chateau that makes previous “Bachelor” pads, be they Malibu mansions or Manhattan brownstones, look like broom closets.
Even better were the acres of adjacent forest land, which he used “to clear my mind” while hiking and mountain biking.
Unfortunately for more than half the women, their time in France was mercilessly short – Stork is forced to send 13 of the 25 home on the first night in a rose ceremony that leads to one of the more memorable jilted-suitor confrontations in the show’s history.
“That’s unlike anything I’ve ever had to do in real life,” he says. “They all arrived in Paris with expectations – excited to see the city, see the country. And that first night, before they ever really have that opportunity, I’m sending over half of them back to America. I felt bad doing that.”
Stork is contractually obligated to remain coy about whether he and one of the women were able to break through the trappings of the show and find love.
“Let’s just say,” he says, “I’m really happy with the way things ended.”
The birthday bunch
Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner is 60. Singer Kenny Loggins is 58. Actress Erin Gray is 56. Actor Sammo Hung (“Martial Law”) is 54. Actor David Caruso is 50. “Today” show co-host Katie Couric is 49. Actor Nicolas Cage is 42. Country singer John Rich (Big and Rich) is 32. Actor Dustin Diamond (“Saved by the Bell: The New Class”) is 29. Actor Liam Aiken (“Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events”) is 16.