ABC reality boss says this year's Bachelorette looks like a regular season: "It’s not socially distanced in any way, shape or form"

Variety

"Everyone was tested, so they could do everything they’d do on a normal season, like kissing and hugging and everything else," says ABC's Robert Mills of filming quarantined in a resort. "It will be acknowledged at the start, in terms of what everybody had to do — they had to quarantine and get tested — but then once you’re in the bubble, you’re in. There won’t be travel, but it looks like a regular season. It’s not socially distanced in any way, shape or form." He adds of the lack of travel: "The travel becomes part of the love story, so this was just very different. It’s amazing to go to places you normally wouldn’t go with someone you’re falling in love with. These are once in a lifetime trips. That’s a big positive, so to have that taken away was tough. But on the other hand, these are the type of dates you would go on in real life, so it is more realistic. In terms of storytelling, we couldn’t just hide behind bungee jumping or traveling to amazing place, so I think there is a bigger investment in the characters that we didn’t have before." ALSO: Chris Harrison describes "the intimacy and the pressure-cooker in that fishbowl environment."