Are contestant names written on the roses on The Bachelor?

If you’re anything like me, anytime you’re tuning in to the premiere episode of The Bachelor or The Bachelorette, there’s tons of thoughts going through your head. Questions of who will get the first impression rose, who will cause a dramatic scene, and who will ultimately go home are all fair things to worry about on night one. As viewers watching at home, you can only imagine then how stressed the person in the leading role might be.

For

The Bachelor season 25

,

Matt James

proved this week during the premiere that he’s certainly nervous. Not having been on

The Bachelorette

previously, the New York City hunk was faced with all the night one jitters and important decisions with zero experience. This season will definitely be different in that regard, and Matt even touched upon the fact that he’ll be going through the experience for the first time just like

the contestants

are.

As someone who hasn’t been on the show before, we’re sure it was especially difficult to remember all of the 32 contestants’ names. I still can’t believe any lead on

The Bachelor

or

The Bachelorette

can manage to remember them all. And while it’s pretty impressive, they do reportedly have a lot of help.

How does the Bachelor remember names?

To the surprise of many fans, the roses on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette do not have contestants’ names on them. That would be a pretty efficient method, though!

Instead, according to Cosmopolitan, production has a heavy hand in helping the show’s lead remember all of the names on night one. Chris Randone, who appeared on Becca Kufrin’s season of The Bachelorette and later on Bachelor in Paradise, recalled last year how night one went during his season, saying:

"They come out and [Becca] only said three names at a time, and then she goes back in and then comes back out. Three names at a time. And it’s like, stop production, start, stop, start. … She doesn’t name off every single person right away. She’ll come out, [name] three [men], go back in, five minutes later, come back out, [name] three."

So if that’s the rule for most seasons, it looks like the lead will only say a few names at a time, before consulting with production about which contestant is who.

As reported by PopSugar, former Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky revealed that she had the same system for remembering names during the rose ceremony, also adding that throughout the night, producers will show the lead photos of the contestants to remind them of their names. It’s a whole system, apparently, which makes total sense.

There’s a ton of planning behind the scenes of The Bachelor, and remembering contestant names is definitely one of the major processes. Let’s just hope the leading lady or leading man doesn’t have issues remembering far into the season!