Clare Crawley's season of "The Bachelorette," which was scheduled to begin filming Friday, has been postponed due to concerns about the coronavirus.
The production delay was announced by Warner Bros. Television Group, which said it is "halting production on some of our 70-plus series and pilots currently filming or about to begin." "The Bachelorette" is one of the production company's franchises.
"There have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 on any of our productions, but the health and safety of our employees, casts and crews remains our top priority," said a statement from Warner Bros. "During this time, we will continue to follow the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control as well as local officials and public health professionals in each city where our productions are based."
In a video posted to Instagram on Friday night, host Chris Harrison confirmed the news.
"It is with a heavy heart I come to you tonight because right now at this very minute I should be standing on a very wet driveway with a very excited woman, ready to change lives," he said. "But in effect lives have been changed."
Crawley's season had been slated to begin filming at the iconic "Bachelor" mansion in the Los Angeles area on Friday night, Harrison said. He added filming will be delayed two weeks and then they will “reassess where we are in the world."
"It was not only the right thing to do. It was the only thing to do. But that doesn’t mean that this decision wasn’t hard to make," Harrison said, noting hundreds of people on the cast and crew will be impacted. “Jobs will be lost, paychecks will be lost and there’s just no way to avoid that.”
Earlier this week, Harrison had said the coronavirus was "100% affecting" planning for the upcoming season and they had already nixed all international travel.
Harrison said Friday night he is looking toward the future.
"There will be a time again when we all laugh about trivial things — about finding love, about the drama — this too shall pass. But in the meantime, let’s all be smart; let’s all be vigilant, let’s all be caring and loving in every way possible," he said. "We have to ... knock this thing down. The faster we do that, the faster we are all back to crazy things like rose ceremonies and hot tubs, and all the great things that come with it."
It's unclear if the production delay will affect the premiere date of "The Bachelorette," which is currently scheduled for Monday, May 18.