Costa Rican episode of ‘The Bachelor’ airs Monday

A Costa Rican episode of the popular U.S. reality TV show “The Bachelor” will air Monday at 7 p.m. on ABC.

Last October, bachelor Brad Womack and six bachelorettes traveled to Costa Rica and filmed an episode of the show while visiting the La Fortuna and Arenal area. The cast and crew stayed at The Springs Resort & Spa, in Arenal, and participated in a group date doing a canyoning tour with a local outdoor expedition company, Pure Trek Costa Rica.

“(Womack) did the group date with me and Pure Trek,” said Pure Trek owner Cynthia Crummer. “He and six girls and a film crew shot the entire thing. I’d never worked with reality television before so the whole thing was a pretty funny experience,” Crummer said.

“The Bachelor” is in its 15th season, and true to the famed format of the show, the season began with 25 women vying to win the heart of a “bachelor..” As the show progresses, young hearts are shattered as Womack whittles the contestants down to one. At the end of each episode, Womack presents a rose to the girls he intends to keep around, while disappointment overtakes the others.   

In the final episode of each season, the bachelor is expected to drop to a knee and ask his chosen bachelorette for her hand in marriage. Womack, however, is famed for his 2007 decision to propose to neither of the two finalists, which resulted in seismic chaos throughout the reality television world.

At the end of the episode in Costa Rica, Womack holds the ominous rose ceremony. He selects some of the women to go with him on his next adventure, while sending others home devoid of love although, one imagines, full of  ‘pura vida.’

“Brad Womack is a really nice guy. Really, he is a sweetheart,” Crummer said. “But in the end he dumps a couple of them and they move on. That’s just how the show works.”

The show’s viewer ratings usually top the U.S. television charts on Monday nights. So far this season, the average weekly audience tuning in has been 8-9 million.

“The solid rating of ‘The Bachelor’ – more than nine million people in U.S. alone – makes this an important opportunity to show the natural attractions of Costa Rica on one of the principal entertainment channels in our primary market,” said Tourism Minister Carlos Benavides.

The show begins at 7 p.m. local time and runs for two hours. Through the show’s first 14 seasons, only one of the couples remains together today.