Q: There are no new contestants, right? Just people we have grown to love?
A: You are going to see people from the universe of The Bachelor, people who might not have made it all the way to the end. At the end of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, we end with a happy couple, but you know, there's people along the way who either missed out on a chance or really had their hearts broken, so Bachelor in Paradise is all about a second chance at love and a lot of these people are men and women that we have just come to adore but for whatever reason, they weren't the right one at the very end. Now we hopefully get to see them and help them find someone, which is the reason they came to us in the first place.
Q: It's a nice reunion for you, then.
A: It's great. Everyone of these people came here hoping to find love and I'm really happy for the chance to help in the process of having these people find happiness in their lives, someone to hold at night and someone to witness their life with. I mean, who doesn't want that? I'm grateful to be a part of it.
Q: Are you also grateful you get to explore the whole range of your island wardrobe?
A: The shirt is a bula shirt, that is the fashion and in fact is formal wear in Fiji. If you go to a wedding, and my wife is Fijian, and if you go to a wedding or a family event, everyone, all the men, that's exactly what they wear.
Q: All the action will take place at a Fijian resort?
A: Basically the people arrive and they spend their days and nights at the resort, a beautiful resort. It just looks fantastic. Who wouldn't want to be there? It's a couple kilometres from the main road, though, so it's a nice, lovely little place and yeah, everything goes on there.
Q: At the rose ceremonies, if there are more men than women, the women hand out roses to the men and a few go home, and then when more women arrive, the men hand out roses. Is that the gist of it?
A: We've all been through that. We've all been through being single and meeting someone interesting on a Friday and then going out on a Saturday and going, "Oh, hang on. I just met someone interesting on a Saturday. Oh my goodness. Who do i call back next week? Aaigh!" People have been there. It's fascinating. Absolutely fascinating watching how the men deal with it and how the women deal with it.
Q: And unlike the regular versions, there's the potential for many couples here.
A: Oh, yeah. It's the best part.
Q: Were you surprised at some of the couples that formed or were you predicting in your head who would pair off well?
A: No, if there is one thing I've learnt from working on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, it's that I can't pick it. I can't pick it. I'm still not able to let my biases and my preferences not get in the way, so I'm constantly surprised. Everyone around me goes, "Duh. Of course." And I go, "But I thought...that...that..." And it's great for the kind of television that we're making because my surprise reaction is 100 per cent genuine.
Q: The continued prospect of love is strong.
A: I think Australia is going to absolutely love Bachelor in Paradise because it's like the greatest hits. It's like 45 minutes of a Foo Fighters concert. Everyone is like, 'Oh, I love this one!' And that's the first two episodes of the Bachelor in Paradise. It's like, "Oh my God, they're here, too!" It's so much fun. I love it. It's gonna be super good.
Check out the entire Bachelor In Paradise cast here.
