Jennifer Love Hewitt is the person to thank for the 9-1-1 and The Bachelor crossover on ABC.
The I Know What You Did Last Summer star is a fan of the dating reality series, and when the first-responder series got picked up by ABC after being canceled by Fox, she pitched a crossover to Tim Menear, the show’s co-creator and showrunner.
“The whole crossover episode came about because Jennifer Love Hewitt called me after she went to one of the finales of The Bachelor,” Minear told Entertainment Weekly in an interview. “She’s a huge fan of The Bachelor and she said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if the 118 responded to a call at the Bachelor mansion?’”
Minear said the people at The Bachelor “were unbelievably supportive and helpful” in making the crossover happen.
“They volunteered to show us the ropes about how they make the show, and then when we shot it. We actually brought in the Bachelor crew to shoot the first part of that case, so that it really was The Bachelor,” Minear continued. “And then we go into 9-1-1 world when they have to call 9-1-1. So that’s how it came about. It just seemed like a great idea.”
The fourth episode of 9-1-1’s seventh season, “Buck Bothered and Bewildered,” will feature The Bachelor’s Joey Graziadei in the ABC drama series.
Watch a preview of the crossover in the video below.