Here’s why The Golden Bachelor only has 3 Hometown Dates instead of 4

We’ve finally found a point where The Golden Bachelor actually deviates from the original Bachelor format.

It’s trivial, but it’s happening as Gerry heads to the Hometown Dates portion of the season.

Instead of four Hometown Dates, he’ll only get three in the first season of The Golden Bachelor.

This is something the women didn’t even know before the last rose ceremony.

After the Hometowns, we’ll really be down to the wire as Gerry will send one woman home, and then only two will remain.

The best part about all of this is that, while we knew this final three was coming, The Golden Bachelor spoilers have not revealed who wins, if anyone, and we still don’t know if Gerry is engaged.

Robert Mills explains why there are only three Hometown Dates

The reason behind The Golden Bachelor’s change to Hometown Dates is something viewers have already complained about — the one-hour episodes.

Hopefully, next season, we can get longer episodes, see even more of the popular show, and have more Hometown Dates.

Robert Mills, ABC‘s senior vice president of alternative series, explained why they changed the format. He tweeted, “The worst part of this was the ladies thought there were 4 hometowns and due to the 1 hour format we could only do 3.”

This change to the original format was not one that viewers wanted, though they have been sharing changes they do want, and that would make the show even better.

Unfortunately, this was not a great move for Ellen, who easily would have been the fourth Hometown Date. When she was eliminated, Gerry told her it was the hardest decision he had to make.

Ellen spoke out after her elimination on The Golden Bachelor

After Ellen went home on The Golden Bachelor, she took the time to post about it and proved, yet again, what a gorgeous, graceful woman she is.

She admitted it was painful to say goodbye to Gerry, especially since she was clearly falling in love. But she was kind about it all, thanking everyone on The Golden Bachelor for the experience.

The next part makes us think she might be tapped for The Golden Bachelorette if ABC decides to bring another new spinoff. And we think they will, based on the immense popularity of The Golden Bachelor and the calls for a woman-led version.

In part, Ellen wrote, “I’m so ready to find my forever person, I wasn’t ready for so long, but I’m so ready now!”

It doesn’t hurt that many viewers are calling for Ellen to be the first The Golden Bachelorette lead too, so we’ll have to wait and see if production is listening.

The Golden Bachelor airs on Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.