Sealed with a kiss. Richie chose Alex on last night’s finale of The Bachelor, with Ten confirming the love search will return in 2017. Picture: Network Ten.

Last night’s finale of The Bachelor has everybody talking today and it’s no wonder — a whopping 1.324 million tuned in to watch Richie Strahan break Nikki Gogan’s heart before handing Alex Nation his final rose.

On the back of that, Ten have announced this morning that they will be bringing the show back for a fifth time in 2017.

Alex Nation and Richie Strahan are a happy couple after meeting on The Bachelor. Picture: Network Ten.Source:AAP

While not the highest rating in the series’ history — Sam Wood’s season drew 1.44 million viewers when he chose Snezana Markoski — overall numbers in Ten’s key 25-54 demographic were the largest for The Bachelor to date.

It was also a huge hit on social media. Trending number one on Twitter worldwide, The Bachelor Australia also achieved an average total weekly reach on Facebook of 4.2 million — an increase of 71 per cent on last year’s numbers.

The show also now officially has the highest number of catch up views in 2016.

Now the pressure is on for The Bachelorette Australia to capitalise on those ratings.
But with social media buzz already positive about incoming Bachelorette Georgia Love, it appears that Ten have done their job in setting up for another successful season of televised romance.