Before you cast the women, how do you determine the Bachelor’s ”type”?
We knew Jason Mesnick was a dad and the kind of woman he was looking for, and I think you’ve seen that in the women [this season]. There’s a lot less cattiness and drinking and carrying on. We don’t really ask, ”Do you like blondes with big boobs?” I don’t think you can just say, ”I love blondes, brunettes, blue eyes, whatever.” So we really just try and go for a cross section of good people.

The women on the show seem to have an endless supply of evening gowns and glamorous outfits. Do you give them a suggested packing list before they arrive?
All they need to bring is bathing suits. [Laughs] No, we tell them you’ll be going on dates, you’ll be lying around the house, and obviously you’ll probably be getting into a pool or a hot tub. We tell them there’s a possibility of seven rose ceremonies, so bring as many dresses as you can, and also bring options. Actually, the first night, we make the girls have options. Say you have your favorite little black dress. Well, we can’t have 25 girls get out of a limo in a black dress. Our stylist Cary Fetman goes to each of the girls and tries to help them look their best. Because a lot of people, God bless them, are not that great at dressing. He’ll say, ”Hey, this dress isn’t that flattering, how about the blue one?” And a lot of times girls don’t have that many dresses. If you pay attention to the show, sometimes they swap.

Who decides which women go on the group dates versus the one-on-one dates, and what the dates are?
Our Bachelor has a say, and [the producers] obviously have a huge say. We don’t tell the Bachelor things that are going on behind the scenes [with the women]; he has to find out for himself. A way for us to show him what’s going on is to put Megan, Molly, and whoever else has been going after each other in the house on a date, so he can see that for himself. Say Jason really isn’t sure about Naomi, then we’ll make sure he gets a date with Naomi that week.

What do the women do all day when they’re not on dates?
A lot of them work out, they lay out by the pool, they’re free to do whatever they want. A lot of times, there’s not a camera rolling, but if something were to happen — say two people get into a fistfight or something — you can bet there would be a camera there pretty quickly. We try to balance it out where there’s plenty of time to relax and sleep. There’s no TV or Internet in the house — the whole thing is to be about the Bachelor and the show.

Does the Bachelor give producers a tip-off beforehand as to whom he’s going to choose during the rose ceremonies?
We always know. He decides who is staying, and we usually decide the order they’re called in just for more drama. At any point, he could be like, ”I’ve changed my mind.” Then he would stop and tell the producers, and we’d deal with it.

In season 5, Bachelor Jesse Palmer infamously called the wrong name at a rose ceremony. How have the other Bachelors managed to keep all those names straight, especially at the first ceremony with so many women?
Everyone’s nervous at their first rose ceremony, so we make it real easy for them, and we break [shooting] up into three to five people at a time. Then we’ll stop, just to make sure we don’t run into any mistakes. We don’t want a [microphone] in his ear, we don’t want cue cards, we want it as natural as possible.

Where are the roses kept?
They are brought in for every rose ceremony. Angelic Rutherford is head of our art department — she and her group are in charge of the roses. She’ll bring in a dozen or two dozen roses just to pick out the right one. They’ll have to de-thorn some of them, they’ll prune them, they’ll make them the right size. There’s an art to it. The great part is, after the rose ceremony, my wife always gets the leftovers. It’s our tradition.

When a woman is booted, where does she go?
They’re very well taken care of — we get them a hotel, food, whatever they want. Whenever they’re ready to go home, we fly them home. Later on in the show, we’ll keep them in town, and they’re sequestered. We have a psychologist available, and I know they do talk to one — because a lot of times you think you’re okay and you’re not.

How long is the taping from start to finish?
About two months, but sometimes we go a little longer for travel purposes. Each woman gets a full day for her hometown date, and the exotic dates are an entire week on location. Which is really good for me, because I’m spending a week in New Zealand or wherever. [Laughs] But it was also great for Jason — at the minimum, each girl gets two days with him.

Are the Bachelor and the woman he chooses allowed to see each other between the time that taping ends and the finale airs?
Absolutely. We try and facilitate as much as possible for them to see each other, because it only behooves us to help them remain a couple. We set up phone numbers for them so they can call each other. They talk usually every day — definitely every Tuesday morning after the show because there’s explaining to do. We also set up little rendezvous for them as much as we can. When you have two single people, it’s a little easier. With Jason, it’s been a little tricky because he has his son, Ty, and he doesn’t want to be away that much. But we’ve still made it happen.

Why do you think the Bachelor/Bachelorette franchise has resulted in only one marriage — Trista and Ryan?
I don’t know. Trying to put a finger on why some of these relationships work out and some don’t, it’s the same enigma of trying to figure out why they don’t work out in the real world. For these couples, it goes way beyond the cameras. Maybe it will work, maybe it doesn’t, but it has nothing to do with how they met or the show.

Why is every rose ceremony described in the teasers as the most ”dramatic” or ”emotional” or ”shocking” rose ceremony ever?
The funny part is, we rerecord it every time, and I don’t know why because we have the technology to save it and reuse it. But I think it’s part of the torture. I heard years ago that Mike Fleiss, the creator of the show, put that in, and somebody wrote an article about how we kept saying it — and it was kind of out of spite that we left it in. It’s kind of like my ”final rose” statement, it’s one of those things that you make fun of, but if it’s not there, you’re like, Aww, I kind of miss that.

What time did I cave? 12:50 CST.

Yes, as I child, I used to open my Christmas presents early (and re-wrap them). Do I do that now? What do you think? ;o)

That all said. I wouldn’t be surprised if this were all true. Not saying more because this is not the spoiler thread.

I am trying very hard to be “surprised” over what happens the next two weeks. Maybe after the WTA I will cave and try to find out.

Oh and for #210 (C-list) I agree with you. She should at the very least get a trip to be on the WTA show. We could negotiate for her. First class airfaire, hotel suite and one of L.A’s finest, limos everywhere and all expenses paid including dinner at Spago (or other L.A. hot spot).

Repeating I will not go look at spoilers!! LOL