Fall TV Blog

When The Bachelor’s Jason Mesnick proposed to Molly Malaney, he picked the picture-perfect setting.

Returning to New Zealand, where he had first picked Melissa Rycroft on the show’s finale (a decision he later dramatically reversed on a subsequent After the Final Rose episode), Mesnick and his bride-to-be stayed at the luxurious lakefront Eichardt’s Private Hotel in Queenstown, a five-suite property ringed by white-capped peaks and boasting stunning views from the heart of the resort town.

The big moment for Mesnick and Malaney took place on the grounds of Kohara Lodge, an environmentally friendly house on the banks of the Shotover River, where Jason delivered a diamond and platinum ring (from a jeweler in his hometown of Seattle) by placing it in a glass of champagne and passing it to Malaney — after setting the timer on his camera to capture the scene for posterity.

This time, at least, they were alone. On a previous romantic outing to the picturesque Milford Sound, the couple’s picnic was crashed by an uninvited guest — a curious bird called a kea.

A rare alpine parrot, native to New Zealand and infamous for its cheeky attitudes, the kea flew down on the couple’s picnic blanket and nibbled on the champagne bottle. But the pair took it all in stride and even took a photo of their uninvited guest.

No word on whether their new feathered friend will be invited to the wedding.

Keep reading to see a photo of the bird.

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All’s well that end’s well!

Jason Mesnick, who infamously reversed his decision after the finale of The Bachelor to choose Molly Malaney instead of original choice Melissa Rycroft, has popped the question once again, asking Malaney to marry him in New Zealand.

Last fall, as cameras rolled there, Mesnick sent Malaney home on the final episode of The Bachelor, choosing Rycroft instead. Jason then memorably announced during the After the Final Rose special that he had made a mistake, dumped Rycroft on national television, and embarked on a romance with Malaney.

Now the couple, who have been maintaining a long-distance relationship (he lives in Seattle, she lives in Milwaukee) have returned to the site of Jason’s ill-fated first choice so “Jason can do what he should have done in the last time he was here, and ask Molly to marry him,” says a source close to the couple.

Last night, as part of a romantic weeklong trip in New Zealand, he did just that, proposing to Malaney, who giddily accepted.

More details to come…

Tell us: After all that’s happened, are you happy for the couple?

Kwaku Alston/Stockland Martel

After many weeks of Internet speculation, Dallas pilot Jake Pavelka will be the new Bachelor. ABC made the announcement on the Tuesday night live results show of Dancing With the Stars. The new season of The Bachelor begins filming in a few days and Pavelka says he’s ready to meet the 25 eligible women who will be vying for his affection.

Eliminated by Jillian Harris on The Bachelorette last season, the 31-year-old Pavelka tells PEOPLE he’s encouraged that he will find love on the show.

“I’ve dated some really amazing girls, but I’ve never been successful at finding that one girl,” he says, “and I saw how the whole thing comes together, the process with Jillian. I saw how the process works and I believe in it. That’s a unique way to meet somebody.”

Harris, who accepted a proposal by her final guy, Chicago computer software consultant Ed Swiderski, tells PEOPLE she thinks Pavelka will be a fabulous Bachelor.

“Jake has a huge heart and he’s very sensitive,” Harris says. “He isn’t afraid to show his emotions. The world will see how far he is willing to go to find the right person.”

According to Pavelka’s parents, Jim and Sallie, the woman who lands their son’s heart will have to have a taste for adventure. “He likes a girl that is spontaneous,” mom Sallie says. “The way he put it to me, he would like a girl that can work in the yard and then put on a pretty dress and go out to dinner.”

As for possible date suggestions, “He likes scuba diving and snow skiing,” dad Jim says. Adds Jake, “I fly on the weekends, play golf, go to a movie, but I’m not a couch potato. That’s the one thing I have to make these girls understand — I have a lot of energy. I love salsa dancing. Country dancing on a Thursday night in Dallas is really fun, too. I enjoy working with my hands, creating or building something, landscaping and doing garden work. Even if [a woman] didn’t enjoy doing the things that I do, I would want her to be a part of them because I love them so much.”

And Pavelka says he’s eager to reciprocate.

“I want to do things with her that make her happy. That’s something I’ll definitely offer her,” he says. I really want to find somebody. I have a really good life now, but I would love to share it with someone.”

Pavelka’s new season of The Bachelor is slated to premiere in early 2010 on ABC. Read more about him in this week’s issue of PEOPLE. — Monica Rizzo and Cynthia Wang

Tell us: Will you be tuning in to Jake’s season?

Kevin Foley/ABC

Get the roses ready! ABC has announced that they will reveal the identity of the next Bachelor during the Oct. 13 episode of Dancing With the Stars. Sources tell PEOPLE that Bachelor producers will likely select one of the three runner-ups from the recent edition of The Bachelorette for the job.

Kevin Foley/ABC(3)

Now that Jillian Harris has made her decision — giving Ed Swiderski the final rose and getting a $60,000 engagement ring — on the season finale of The Bachelorette, it’s time to look ahead.

And there are plenty of eligible bachelors. Does Kiptyn Lock, a business developer from Encinitas, Calif., deserve to hand out the roses or would you rather see Philadelphia realtor Reid Rosenthal look for love again?

There’s also Dallas-based pilot Jake Pavelka, who returned to warn Jillian about Wes, and Michael Stagliano, who says he and his brother Steve would “spice things up a notch” if they did double duty on The Bachelor.

Kevin Foley/ABC(4)

Even though Molly Malaney was Jason Mesnick’s second choice on The Bachelor, the couple’s relationship is still going strong.

The couple stopped by Good Morning America to dish about their future plans. “Things are going great,” Mesnick said. When asked if the couple would walk down the aisle, he answered that they will “absolutely someday” get married.

Although the couple is not currently living together, Malaney plans to move from her home in Milwaukee to be closer to Mesnick’s hometown of Seattle. “We’re very happy,” Malaney told GMA of their five-month courtship. “We’re doing the distance thing right now.”

Malaney also said that she is starting to bond with Mesnick’s 4-year-old son, Ty. “It’s been great,” she says. “We talk on the phone, we play together when I’m in town.”

Everyone has clearly moved on since The Bachelor: After the Final Rose aired in the spring, when Mesnick infamously jettisoned his first choice, Melissa Rycroft. After a stint on Dancing with The Stars, Rycroft announced on Monday that she is engaged to boyfriend, Dallas insurance agent Tye Strickland. –Steve Helling

Kwaku Alston/Stockland Martel

Just call it the plus-sized Bachelor.

Fox has announced plans to cast a new reality show called More to Love in which “average looking” women will vie for the affections of a man producers describe as a “Kevin James-type.” According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Bachelor’s executive producer Mike Fleiss will team with Mike Darnell, Fox’s president of alternative programming, on the project. “For six years it’s been skinny-minis and good-looking bachelors, and that’s not what the dating world looks like,” Darnell tells the Hollywood Reporter. No air date has been set for the show. – Brian Orloff

Tell us: What do you think of the show’s premise? And will you tune in?

ABC, Charles Sykes/AP

As expected, Jason Mesnick proposed to a finalist on the season finale of The Bachelor. Then, he went off-script by unceremoniously breaking up with fiancée Melissa Rycroft and romancing runner-up Molly Malaney.

And that, says a fellow Bachelor Matt Grant, was not smart.

“This guy kind of committed suicide,” Grant told PEOPLE at The 23rd Genesis Awards in Beverly Hills Saturday. “He’s a nice man. I’ve met him quite a few times. But I think he should have gone about it differently.”

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It’s been nearly a month since The Bachelor’s Jason Mesnick and Molly Malaney inspired shock and outrage by rekindling their romance on national TV — at the expense of Jason’s jilted fiancée Melissa Rycroft.

So how is the couple doing now? “Molly and I are happy,” Jason tells PEOPLE.

In fact, the couple spent a few days in the past month getting to know each other off-camera. In one of the few chances they’ve had to see each other since this new post-Bachelor phase of their courtship began, Jason flew to visit Molly at her home near Milwaukee. Together they’ve been busy meeting her friends for drinks (“They all gave him the stamp of approval!” says Molly), taking romantic strolls along Lake Michigan, and “grilling out.”

“I’ve learned new terminology,” Jason says, laughing at the Midwestern word for barbecuing. “It’s normal, right, to say ‘grilling out’?” Molly insists with a laugh as the two snuggle up on a sofa in Molly’s living room.
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What a week it was for Melissa Rycroft! On March 2 viewers saw her get engaged to Jason Mesnick on The Bachelor, then, only minutes later, they saw her get dumped on the After the Final Rose special.

One week later to the day, Rycroft emerged smelling like a rose when she performed the Viennese waltz live on Dancing with the Stars. She had the support of not one, but two men — Dancing partner Tony Dovolani and new boyfriend, Ty, a former flame she started seeing after things went south with Mesnick. Rycroft calls Ty, a Dallas-based insurance agent, her “rock.”

In the latest issue of PEOPLE, Rycroft says all she wanted to do after the Bachelor drama was go back to her life in Dallas. But when she got a call on Friday, March 6, from Dancing producers asking her to fill in last-minute for injured Access Hollywood host Nancy O’Dell, she couldn’t resist.

“This is a reward, in a way, for what just happened,” Rycroft says, knowing that sore muscles and all, the opportunity was a no-brainer.
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