Next Wednesday at 9 p.m., Rogers Media’s Citytv is launching the first Canadian version of international dating show franchise, The Bachelor Canada, with free agent CFL player Brad Smith as the first bachelor searching for love.

Playback sat in on a screening of the show earlier this week, where Smith, the show’s host Tyler Harcott, Sean Devries, supervising producer, The Bachelor Canada and Claire Freeland, director of original programming, Rogers Media shared some of the ins and outs of making the first Canadian adaptation of the U.S. dating smash which is being produced in Canada by Vancouver-based Force Four Entertainment.

Devries says the entire production team felt like they were “going into the Super Bowl as extreme underdogs” before the first day of shooting because the U.S. version has been on the air for 16 seasons.

Freeland says she and the Canadian team met with The Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss and the U.S. show’s producing company Next Entertainment (in association with Warner Horizon Television for ABC) before beginning production to get an idea of what things look like behind the scenes on the show.

“The production on the U.S. show is insane,” says Devries who marvelled at the fact that there is a person on staff for the sole purpose of lighting candles at the evening’s rose ceremonies.

Devries adds that the Canadian version has been shot at a 30p frame rate, which gives it a different look than the US version, which is shot at 60i.

The Bachelor Canada premieres on Citytv at 9 p.m. on Oct. 3 and moves to its regular timeslot of Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. the following week.

Photo (left to right): Brad Smith, star, The Bachelor Canada, Tyler Harcott, host of The Bachelor Canada, Sean Devries, supervising producer, The Bachelor Canada and Claire Freeland, director of original programming, Rogers Media.