- A lot of Bachelor Nation agrees that the 22nd season of "The Bachelor" is pretty boring.
- There are two reasons why.
- ABC's Robert Mills tells Entertainment Tonight Arie Luyendyk Jr. was what the network needed after "a little bit crazier" of a season with Nick Viall, the previous Bachelor.
- Mills also said the network had some "growing pains" with Luyendyk Jr. on camera.
- "He was having a hard time [with] some of the stuff [he had] to do for TV; shooting things over and over again," he said.
Fans tuning into "The Bachelor" this season can agree on one thing. It's been pretty boring.
Vulture gave season 22 of ABC's reality competition the title of the most boring season to date. Washington Post dubbed leading man Arie Luyendyk Jr. the "boring Bachelor."
It's not something ABC denies.
One of the network's top executives says the reason behind the tame season with the 36-year-old race car driver is because the last season with Nick Viall was very dramatic. (Not to mention the most recent season of "Bachelor in Paradise"caused a lot of controversy.)
"You need different types of seasons and he [Luyendyk Jr.] was what we needed now," ABC senior vice president of alternative series, specials and late-night programming, Robert Mills, told "Entertainment Tonight.""We had certainly an entertaining season with Nick Viall, but it was a little bit crazier and sometimes you need one with a Bachelor like this who’s just very sincere and kind of a regular guy."
Mills then compared the reality show to owning a football team.
"It's like having an NFL team. Whether it’s a Super Bowl-winning season or a season where you just miss the playoffs, whatever it is, you say, "Here’s what we really liked. Here’s what didn’t work. Here’s what people responded to," and you make adjustments for the next season," he continued.
Season 22 of the show was originally supposed to have a contestant from the last season of "The Bachelorette," Peter Kraus. That didn't work out.
Mills admits the network had "growing pains" with Luyendyk Jr. who had difficulties on set during production.
"He was having a hard time [with] some of the stuff [he had] to do for TV; shooting things over and over again, even just something like an entrance into a room because you’ve got to get the right angle," said Mills. "It was hard because he was trying to be as authentic and organic as possible … He really had to get back into it. ... It also happened very quickly, too, so I think there just wasn’t a lot of time."
Luyendyk Jr.'s season of "The Bachelor" was shot over the course of about two months. Filming started September 20, 2017 and finished the end of November.
If you haven't been impressed with the season so far, the final two weeks of the reality competition are promising to add some drama into the mix.
Previews tease that one of the two remaining women will have one of their old flames return to try and win back their heart. The finale is supposed to end with something viewers have never seen before.
We'll have to wait to see if it lives up to the hype or proves to be a clunker.
"The Bachelor" airs Monday nights on ABC at 9 p.m. The finale will air March 5.
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: What happens to your body when you start exercising regularly