"It's like The Bachelor on steroids."
That's basically all you need to know about ABC's new reality dating competition series The Proposal, which premieres tonight following—you guessed it—The Bachelorette.
Hosted by former Bachelor Jesse Palmer, The Proposal is basically an on-stage pageant (complete with a swimsuit portion, as well as a question and answer round) for a male or female suitor to find the love of their life among the 10 competitors. Oh, and it's all happening in front of a studio audience.
After his experience as the Bachelor in 2004 (he and winner Jessica Bowlin broke up a few months after the season ended), Palmer knows a little bit about what the contestants are going through and the pressures that come from trying to find love on a Mike Fleiss-produced show.
"You're speeding up the timeline to 60 minutes and...there's an audience watching you, there's a man or woman standing feet away that you can't even see, and you have to do some serious soul-searching, and I think the only way possible in order to have a good ending and one you're comfortable with is to be yourself and try to listen to what's inside. It sounds easy, but having been on a show like this, it can be challenging, too."
"Viewers at home don't have to wait three months to go the journey before seeing a proposal or seeing a result. On this show, at the end of every episode, there's going to be that moment, that proposal. People don't have to wait for it."
But come on, are we really expecting people to get engaged at the end of what is essentially the Miss USA of dating? Well, it depends on your definition of a proposal.
"It could literally run the gamut. You can have a sexy night in the fantasy suite You could have a full-blown down on one knee, open a ring box kind of thing," Palmer explained. "It's completely up to the two finalists proposing to the mystery man or woman that's not revealed to them at the very end."
Looking back at his time on The Bachelor, Palmer admitted he did feel a certain pressure to propose, a sentiment other Bachelors have expressed in recent years.
"You want to make people at home happy, but at the end of the day, you have to really listen to what your heart is telling you, which can be very difficult to do."
Of course, being a dating show created by Fleiss, Bachelor Nation fans should expect to see some familiar faces.
"People watching at home will recognize people," Palmer teased. "Maybe from The Bachelor, maybe from other industries."
To hear more from Palmer about the new show and his time as the Bachelor back in season five, press play on the videos above.
The Proposal premieres tonight at 10 p.m. on ABC.