For the first time in eight years, a major star will be missing from The Bachelor franchise.
After the coronavirus pandemic delayed production on Season 16 of The Bachelorette, Clare Crawley's journey to find love has officially kicked off...just not at the iconic mansion that the franchise has started almost every season at since Brad Womack's first go-around as the lead in season 11 (2007).
The ABC reality hit is filming the entirety of Clare's on location at one resort in Southern California, with the contestants and crew quarantining for two weeks before production began, and they will be tested for COVID-19 regularly while also having their temperature checked. It's safe to say it might just be the most dramatic season ever.
Given the pretty big loss for the franchise, we decided to pay our respects to the home that's seen countless rose ceremonies, first kisses, petty fights and weird limo entrances by revealing secrets about the mansion and how production transforms it from a family home to one of the most well-known filming locations in reality TV history.
Keep reading to learn everything there is to know about the iconic filming location, from how many bathrooms are available to the contestants to the scary natural disaster the home survived a couple of years ago...
1. Built in 2004, he home was listed in 2008 for a reported $8.75 million, and it is 9,000-square feet on 10 acres of property, with six bedrooms, an infinity pool
2. Contractor and president of The Marshall Group Marshall Haraden and his family live in the Agoura Hills mansion whenever production isn't filming.
3. Known as Villa de la Vina, the Mansion is actually available to rent for events like receptions, corporate conferences, and yes, proposals. (You can also book Chris Harrison!)
4. "They're here 42 days, twice a year," Haraden told Us Weekly of the show taking over the house. "Everything leaves—everything that's not tied down, that's not part of the home. Curtains, TVs, pots and pans, clothes—everything in one day goes out. And then they take two weeks to put it together the way they want it, and they shoot for X amount of days, and then they spend two weeks to put it back."
5. Production even changes the paint colors each time they use the mansion, with Haraden telling Us Weekly, "They'll paint it to the colors they want, whether it's a man or it's a woman—Bachelor/Bachelorette, they'll change the motif. They paint it back and forward a lot, so [in total the show has given it] about 44 coats of paint."
6. When the show is filming, production pays to put the Haraden family up at a local hotel as part of their deal, which is renewed each season, with Haraden telling Us Weekly, "It's definitely a hassle."
7. How does the iconic driveway stay glistening all night long on the first night? "That's a production assistant who's got a hose," Mills revealed to us. Shout-out to that hardworking PA.
8. Contestants have full access to the kitchen and can cook whatever they want and have access to almost anything.
"They can make a grocery list and they can get sort of whatever they want," Mills confirmed. Basically, it's the human version of Postmates.
9. Prepare for college flashbacks as the cast has access to two bathrooms downstairs and then two bathrooms upstairs (though the property has nine bathrooms in total). "The getting ready is all upstairs where the bedrooms are," Mills told E!.
10. The franchise has filmed every season at the mansion since 2007, aside from Emily Maynard's Bachelorette season (which filmed in her hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina), and now Clare Crawley's season.
11. Given the franchise's popularity, the Haraden family has dealt with their share of unexpected visitors over the years.
"People think that when the show's on TV, it's happening at the house," he told Today. "Sometimes when we come home for dinner at 9 or 10 at night, there's people outside the gate climbing over the fence or on top of their cars trying to take pictures."
12. In 2018, the infamous property was in "grave danger" during the Woolsey fire that ravaged much of Southern California, with The Hollywood Reporter reporting at the time that the rapid moving brush fire reached the house's patio and another house on the property that is used for production purposes was also reportedly destroyed. Fortunately, Villa de la Vina remained mostly "unscathed" by the natural disaster.
The Bachelorette will air this fall on ABC.