‘Bachelor’ Creator Mike Fleiss Announces He’s Leaving the Franchise After ‘21 Extraordinary Years’

usmagazine.com:

His final rose! Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss announced he’s leaving the franchise after more than two decades.“First and foremost, congratulations are in order for Zach [Shallcross] and Kaity [Biggar],” Fleiss, 58, told Variety in a statement on Tuesday, March 28, referring to the season 27 lead, 26, and his fiancée, 27, after their engagement aired on the Monday, March 27, finale. “I wish them a long and happy life together.”Fleiss, who launched the ABC series in 2002, went on to confirm his departure as the head of the dating show.“I want to thank WBTV and ABC for 21 extraordinary years,” he continued. “They’ve found the perfect creative team for me to entrust The Bachelor franchise and keep this lightening in a bottle bold and moving forward.

Let the journey continue.”The California native, who created The Bachelorette in 2003 following the Bachelor’s success, previously stepped back as executive producer and showrunner of the female-led series in 2021. (Season 20 of the Bachelorette premieres later this summer with lead Charity Lawson.)Moving forward, The Bachelor will be helmed by showrunners Claire Freeland, Jason Ehrlich and Bennett Graebner, according to Variety.Ahead of his departure, Fleiss made headlines in 2019 for his rocky marriage to Laura Kaeppeler.

The Bachelor Winter Games producer raised eyebrows in July of that year when Kaeppler, who was pregnant with the couple’s second child at the time, claimed her husband attacked her at their home in Hawaii and demanded that she get an abortion.In order to view the video, please allow Manage CookiesWhile Fleiss denied the allegations, the twosome called it quits that same month.