Lance Bass Wants To Host An LGBTQ Version Of ‘The Bachelor’

Lance Bass is living his dream of hosting The Bachelor; he is one of the rotating guest hosts on the current season of Bachelor in Paradise.

Bass, 42, ended his three-episode run on Tuesday (August 30), and since the former NSYNC-er had such a good experience on the show, he wants to do it again.

Per NBC News, he even has an idea for a new series: “If you want the most dramatic season ever, do an LGBT version,” Bass said with a laugh.

“I think maybe it’s the time for The Bachelor to do a gay Bachelor. I think that would be so much fun,” he continued. “And I definitely know a host if you need it. I have not talked to anyone about that, but I would be so down."

Bass said that he met his husband, Michael Turchin, near the shooting site for Bachelor in Paradise in Punta Mita, Mexico. The couple, who wed in 2014, is expecting twins via surrogacy early November.

Unscripted dating shows haven't had many examples of gay love stories, especially on network television. Just last week, an ITV executive said of popular international format Love Island that it doesn’t work with same-sex relationships, according to The Guardian. He said the series is “a particular thing. It’s about boys and girls coupling up.”

Speaking of LGBTQ dating shows, in general, Bass says, “I think it’s so needed.” In 2016, Bass hosted the short-lived Finding Prince Charming, a gay dating competition series, modeled after The Bachelor, on the Logo network. The show was canceled after one season of eight episodes. “I don’t know why they didn’t do a second season of that,” Bass said.

In 2019, Bachelor in Paradise was applauded for following contestant Demi Burnett as she came out as sexually fluid and ended Season 6 proposing to her then-girlfriend, Kristian Haggerty. The pair made history as Bachelor Nation’s first same-sex couple, and the franchise was nominated for a GLAAD award.

Just like Burnett has searched for love with both men and women on Bachelor in Paradise, Bass believes that the summer series is the perfect place for exploring more LGBTQ storylines. “Demi obviously had the first LGBT storyline on Bachelor in Paradise, so that seems like a place that is a great venue for all love stories,” he said.

“I love the fact that they’re really branching out,” Bass says of The Bachelor franchise, specifically mentioning the senior citizen edition, which has been in development for over a year and is currently in the casting process. “They’re doing the seniors next, which I think is such a great idea. I like that they’re trying different things and I think the next step, the obvious step, would to be an LGBT version. I would love to see a show where you had lesbian, gay, trans, bi. To me, bisexual is just such an interesting thing to watch because everyone is an option.”

Bass is the first-ever gay host on The Bachelor franchise, and Tituss Burgess will also step into that role, as another guest host later this season.