The setting of The Bachelor might be radically different after Colton Underwood’s season. The mansion that the hit ABC reality series and its spinoff The Bachelorette use each season is in flames after wildfires spread through southern California on Friday, November 9, multiple sources confirm to Us Weekly.
“There was no one at the house at the time it caught on fire,” a source told Us. “The part of the house that was used for the production offices has burned down … The whole back house is burned down and it traveled up to the backyard.”
A second source for the ABC hit told Us that the cottage served as the production area while filming.
An insider who lives right next to the mansion told Us that while the main house “will be saved” by firefighters, a second structure is “completely destroyed.”
Creator and producer Mike Fleiss tweeted a picture of a thicket of smoke rising from nearby hills earlier in the day. “Pray for Malibu — and #TheBachelor Mansion,” the 54-year-old wrote.
The second source explained that Underwood and his season 23 contestants have already come and gone, saying, “Production is not using the house anymore. Filming finished a couple weeks ago, and they have been traveling internationally finishing Colton’s season.”
Meanwhile, the neighboring insider told Us that residents of the neighborhood were forced to evacuate and told they would be arrested if they tried to go back to the area.
Bachelor producers gave a statement to Us on Saturday, November 10: “The Bachelor Mansion is a private home in one of the current burn areas of Los Angeles. The area has been closed to traffic so we do not know the current status of the home. It is primarily a private residence, and our main concern is with the family who has been displaced, their neighbors, and all the communities impacted by this tragic fire. We thank the tireless efforts of the first responders here in Los Angeles County and across the State.”
Multiple wildfires have been raging in Southern California, forcing celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, Alyssa Milano, Rainn Wilson, Denise Richards and Guillermo del Toro to evacuate. As of Friday morning, more than 20 million people were under red flag warnings in California, according to CNN.
“Pray for Calabasas,” Kardashian, 38, wrote on Instagram. “Just landed back home and had 1 hour to pack up & evacuate our home. I pray everyone is safe.”
Meanwhile, Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson tweeted that his house burned down in the blazes, which also decimated Western Town at Paramount Ranch, an outdoor set where scenes from HBO’s Westworld were filmed.
