Ex-sports star named as one of Ten’s new Bachelors

A former football star has been unveiled as one of Ten’s three new Bachelors ahead of the upcoming new season – which has undergone a big change.

A former NRL star is set to broadcast his journey for love as one of the new Bachelors unveiled by Ten.

Retired Canberra Raiders player Luke Bateman, 28, will join Brazilian-born Wesley Senna Cortes and model Ben Waddell as the stars of the reality TV franchise for its upcoming season 11.

“This is the opportunity of a lifetime, and I’m feeling all the first date nerves – dialled up to 11. I’m looking for a partner who I can build and share a life with, a genuine person who makes me laugh and wants to start a family,” Luke said in a statement, released via Ten, while Ben added that it was “surreal”.

From left: Wesley Senna Cortes, Ben Waddell and Luke Bateman. Picture: Ten

“While I feel incredibly lucky it’s also very daunting. I’ll be going in with an open mind and open heart to find the girl of my dreams,” he said.

“It’s a huge honour given what the show means to Australia, but also to represent my culture,” Wesley said.

“It’s not every day that you have such an incredible team helping you find love. I couldn’t be more excited.”

Bateman played for the Raiders. Picture: AAP Image/Daniel Munoz

The long-running franchise is currently being filmed in Melbourne for the first time after relocating from the Gold Coast. Prior to that, it was filmed in New South Wales.

The Bachelor’s first season, starring Tim Robards, premiered in Australia in 2013 with more than 1.1 million viewers tuning in to watch him declare his love for Anna Heinrich.

During its peak, the show went on to draw almost a million metro viewers per episode, but it’s suffered a steep decline in those numbers in recent years.

Last year’s finale drew a five-city metro audience of just 358,000 – giving it the dubious honour of being the least-watched finale in Bachelor history – off the back of a lacklustre season in the ratings, where it averaged just 291,000 metro viewers per episode.