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Why contestants don't eat on Bachelor Nation? Jesse Palmer dishes on weird 'The Bachelorette' rule

Fans of Bachelor Nation seldom see their favorite contestants eat during their dates

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND: Before Jenn Tran and her 12 remaining guys went on a date in New Zealand on July 29 in 'The Bachelorette' Season 21, franchise host Jesse Palmer dropped a humorous bomb.

If you've been watching Bachelor Nation for a while, you might remember that the 45-year-old former professional football player featured in The Bachelor's fifth season before making his hosting debut.

If you've been watching for some time, you're also aware that when competitors and leads go on dates, they frequently sit in front of appetizing-looking meals and are well-known for not eating in front of the cameras.

In between nibbles in Auckland, New Zealand's Depot Eatery, Jesse continued to discuss—and even take credit for—the rule while dining with Jenn on 'The Bachelorette' Season 21, Episode 4.

As they fearlessly dined in front of the camera, Jesse commented, “I have an interesting piece of trivia for you. Have you ever wondered why you’re not supposed to eat when you’re on a one-on-one date?”

Jenn predicted the obvious, asking, "Eating is not attractive? I don’t know."

Reminding Jenn that he was the star of 'The Bachelor' Season 5, Jesse pointed to himself. Jesse gave an explanation, saying, "On my season, I was scarfing the food down on every date, trying to have these serious conversations — just literally talking through the food. And I think after that, they had to stop doing it… So I essentially ruined it for everybody."

While reacting to the information, one fan took to X to write, "Jesse Palmer is the reason no one eats on dates??? this is an insane piece of bachelor nation lore." Another user chimed in, "Jesse being behind the no eating on dates rule is hilarious truly."

One user quipped, "Jesse ruined eating on a date for everyone, and that's why TheBachelorette now announces his age in the chyron every episode." A fourth user also tweeted, "Love getting the tea about why they never eat from Jesse and learning that it's all his fault!!!!"

One tweet also read, "Not Jesse Palmer being the reason they ignore the meal on the one on one dates… PLS." Another added, "Love the reveal that Jesse Palmer is the culprit that caused no one to be able to eat on dates!!"

'The Bachelor' and 'The Bachelorette' stars avoid eating to look good on camera

It may surprise fans of the franchise who have watched the shows more recently that this wasn't always the case. Several former cast members of the program have tried to clarify the ambiguous rule to fans over the years.

In 2014, ex 'The Bachelor' star Sean Lowe exemplified, "… It’s not entertaining TV. Not to mention, the plates of food usually have been sitting there for a long time before we ever sit down. Nobody likes cold steak. Also, the microphones pick up the chewing sounds, and it’s pretty gross to listen to. So typically, we would eat alone in the hotel room before the date so we wouldn’t be starving later."

In 2021, ex 'The Bachelorette' lead Tayshia Adams said to Delish, "It’s generally because there’s cameras and mics and all that, and it would be kind of hard to get your sound bytes while you’re chewing and eating. We generally eat before the dates. Sometimes the food looks kind of good, and you want to poke at it, so that’s definitely happened."

'The Bachelor' and 'The Bachelorette' stars have dress code

Contestants must follow a dress code in addition to packing their own clothes. Part of the reason for this is the technical aspects of filmmaking, such as avoiding patterns that might appear to clash on camera.

In his book 'For the Right Reasons', Bachelor Nation alum Sean said that he and the other hopefuls were told not to bring clothing with "stripes, small checkered patterns, big patterns, and solid white."

No ring on 'The Bachelor' and 'The Bachelorette' set

When the person you love lives in the same mansion as you, who needs external contact? When filming starts, participants lose their phones.

Contestants must also follow the music guidelines, according to previous suitor Daniel Maguire, who made appearances on Joelle "JoJo" Fletcher's Season 12 of 'The Bachelorette' and Season 3 of 'Bachelor in Paradise'.

"Once in a while, one of the producers might play a couple of minutes of a song, but they can’t have music playing often because they don’t have the copyrights," he earlier said to The Verge of his time on the show. "Plus they don’t want background noise, and they don’t want people being distracted," he described.

"On The Bachelorette, three or four guys brought guitars. Once in a while, they played guitar. But [the producers] often didn’t want them to do that."

New episodes of 'The Bachelorette' Season 21 air on Mondays at 8 pm ET on ABC, and are available on Hulu the following day.