Nick Viall’s Bachelor Summary Leaves Questions for Mayim Bialik

Noted actress and neuroscientist Mayim Bialik is admittedly not well-versed in pop culture, so she turned to a former Bachelor for assistance.

During her Thursday, January 23, appearance on Nick Viall’s eponymous podcast, she was asked to give feedback on Grant Ellis’ cast of women before his season premiere next week.

“What’s the premise?” Mayim, 49, asked Nick, 44, who previously served as the franchise lead in season 21 after respective appearances on The Bachelorette and Bachelor In Paradise.

Before Mayim and Nick went through the women vying for Grant’s heart, the podcaster gave her a run-down of the entire show.

“Twenty-five to 30 women show up and night one they come out,” Nick explained. “Sometimes, people [are] like myself; I blacked out and was really nervous. Some people hang glide down. … The producer was like, ‘So, what do you want to do?’ I was like, ‘Well, I was just going to introduce myself.’ They’re like, ‘Well, we’re not sure, but if you want to parachute in or something, like, you never know.’ Sometimes they will do a stunt.”

The Big Bang Theory alum had questions about the length of episodes, how the lead narrows down the crop of suitors and more logistics.

“Night one, they get anywhere from zero seconds to two minutes of time to make a connection,” Nick continued. “One person gets what’s called the ‘first impression rose’ and they’re safe. At the end of the night, the Bachelor hands out a bunch of roses and if you don’t get a rose, you go home.”

Nick’s wife, Natalie Joy, chimed in, “By the end of it, he proposes to one person and gets engaged.”

Nick, who met his wife after his Bachelor Nation tenure, further explained how the end of the show works ahead of the final rose ceremony.

“The final four weeks, there’s what’s called ‘hometown week,’ where the [lead] gets to meet their families and then it’s super weird. The Bachelor has to fake-ask for the blessing of a bunch of people he has no intention of getting engaged to. Then, the third week is called ‘fantasy suite week’ and you have an overnight with each [person] off camera.”

Mayim then asked whether fantasy suites were a place for contestants to hook up.

“Sometimes [they have] the sex, and sometimes not the sex,” Nick added.

Mayim, meanwhile, wanted to know what would happen if “somebody gets pregnant” from an off-camera tryst.

“I know I’m just supposed to say, ‘Use birth control,’ but I have to tell my kids the only way not to get pregnant [is to abstain or use contraceptives],” Mayim added.

Nick and Natalie, 25, jumped in to joke that they’ve “been hoping” for a pregnancy scare for the sake of show ratings.

“On my season, there were a couple [magazine] covers … claiming that I might have gotten one of the people pregnant. That was a rumor,” he stated.

Nick first appeared on Andi Dorfman’s season of The Bachelorette in 2014, finishing in second place. He returned in the middle of Kaitlyn Bristowe’s season in 2015 and was also the runner-up. After a brief jaunt to Paradise season 3, Nick served as the lead. He got engaged to Vanessa Grimaldi only for them to split several months later.

Grant’s season 29 of The Bachelor premieres on ABC Monday, January 17 at 8 p.m. ET.