Producers of “The Bachelor” have contacted internet-famous Dr. Mike Varshavski for season 30 as the franchise tries to reverse sliding ratings with a push toward genuine romance.
A source told Page Six that producers have reached out to the 36-year-old family medicine doctor while casting the next leading man.
Season 30 is set to premiere sometime in 2027. The outreach comes as the long-running ABC franchise looks past recent misfires and tries to put love, not clout, back at the center of the pitch.
Dr. Mike, as he is widely known, built a massive following by posting health advice online. He has 15.1 million YouTube subscribers and 6 million Instagram followers. People named him “The Sexiest Doctor Alive” in 2015, the same year Buzzfeed featured him in a piece titled, “Um, You Really Need To See This Hot Doctor And His Dog.”
He is not a recycled Bachelor Nation cast member. That is part of the point.
Page Six reported that the show is aiming for someone “genuinely successful” and “charming” who is “actually looking for love.” A source described the move as a return to the show’s “old-school roots.”
That framing matches what a source earlier told the U.S. Sun, as carried in the same reporting. The franchise, that source said, needs a clean break from the usual pipeline.
The U.S. Sun source put it this way:
"They need a fresh start."
The same source said producers are skipping the familiar habit of elevating someone already inside the franchise:
"They won’t be following the tradition of choosing someone who’s already part of the franchise. They want someone who’s serious about looking for love and not just in it to be an influencer."
And on the kind of man they want for the role:
"He’ll most likely be in his 30s and will have a good career, good morals and is going to be a huge catch to any contestant on next season. It will be like the earlier years of the show, for sure."
Dr. Mike fits the age band and the career test on paper. Whether he wants the job is another matter. The Page Six account does not say he accepted, declined, or even responded. A rep for the show did not comment.
The Bachelor first debuted in 2002. Over the years, ratings have been going down. In May, the show announced it was accepting submissions for its 30th season. In July, the U.S. Sun reported that producers had hired a new casting team to try to crank viewership back up.
Recent leads have not helped the brand’s image. Grant Ellis, the last Bachelor, drew a “clout chasing” accusation from a contestant. On the Bachelorette side, the season built around Taylor Frankie Paul, also known from “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives”, was pulled just days before it was set to air after a video surfaced of her throwing chairs at her ex, Dakota Mortensen, during a domestic violence incident.
Spinoffs from the same machine include “The Bachelorette,” “Bachelor in Paradise,” and “The Golden Bachelor.” The core product still sells fantasy. Lately it has also sold the sense that fame is the real prize.
That is the hole producers are now trying to fill. Reach out to a doctor with a real practice and a clean public brand. Sell “good morals” and a serious search for love. Promise a throwback to the earlier years, when the lead was supposed to look like a catch first and a content creator second.
It is a telling admission. After years of rewarding the influencer path, the franchise is shopping for a man whose day job is treating patients, not farming engagement.
When a hit dating show has to leave its own alumni network to find someone who might actually want a wife more than a following, the audience already rendered its verdict.
