A former Bachelor producer has spilled some behind-the-scenes secrets and oh, my.

We’d be fooling no one if we said we thought the behind-the-scenes of The Bachelor was full of sunshine, roses and sprinklings of love potion.

But a former Bachelor Australia producer called Steph* has told Fox FM’s Fifi, Fev and Byron this morning there’s a lot of meticulous production planning going on in the background to create and craft a show that’s been a ratings winner since its debut in 2013.

Here are some of the highlights:

Poor old Tim wasn’t interested in playing the game

“We had a bit of a problem on Tim’s season because he fell madly in love quite quickly,” Steph told the show.

“So we were like ‘Who do you want to go on a date with,’ ‘Anna’, ‘Okay, who do you want to go on a date with next?’, ‘Anna’. So he had to work with us a little bit. [We’d say] ‘Um, why don’t you get to know the other girls. Maybe they’ll surprise you.'”

Some cocktail parties are filmed over TWO NIGHTS

“We actually filmed that over two nights. If you look closely, about halfway through the cocktail party they’re looking a bit blurry-eyed, and then when it comes to the rose ceremony they’re fresh as a daisy.”

The Bachelor is “guided” in his decisions

“He’s not told, but he’s guided towards decisions,” Steph said. “The reason the Bachelor keeps the interesting people in is because it takes the weight off his shoulders. He knows for the show to do well it’s gotta be interesting. It’s hard for him to be interesting the whole time. If he keeps the crazies in, that’s a great show.”

No, producers and contestants probably aren't getting it on during filming

"You want to get [employment] on the next series, so it's at your peril if you make a move on the girls," she said.

"In saying that, one of the girls is now married to the cameraman. They have a baby as well, so she got her happily ever after but that didn't happen until after the show finished. And one of the producers did end up getting with one of the [other] girls, as well."

Producers feed everyone lines, but not explicitly

"A trick of a producer is you say to them, 'I'm gonna ask you a question, you repeat the question back in your answer,'" Steph told the show. "So you can say 'How did you feel when Richie brutally rejected you at dinner?' and they have to [say], 'When Richie brutally rejected me at dinner, I felt...'

The US Bachelor is more brutal for this reason

"In the US they have a massive budget, so it’s one producer per contestant. When the contestant gets kicked off, the producer loses their job, so you might be doing some sneaky things to keep your contestant around. It’s not as brutal in Australia."

Want to catch up on some Bachelor in Paradise chat? Listen to Michelle Andrews and I debrief below. We've got you covered.