‘Are You The One?’ Host Terrence J Explains Takeover For Ryan Devlin

“Are You the One?” viewers will be treated to a new host and new location come Wednesday night’s premiere of the experimental dating series. After six seasons at the helm, Ryan Devlin is not hosting the program this time around. MTV has chosen Terrence J, who fans may recognize from the “Are You the One?” Season 5 after shows, to lead.

“I have an overall deal with MTV and VH1 and so I’ve been hosting a bunch of television for them,” Terrence explained of how he received the hosting gig to International Business Times on Tuesday.

“This is a show I just caught myself watching on the network and just fell in love with it. I wanted to host it. I’m a fan of the show. I’m a fan of love and it was a really fun to experience to go down to Louisiana with these 22 singles. I had a blast.”

After six seasons of leading “Are You the One?” Terrence said he didn’t exactly get a “blessing” from Devlin to take over, but he also had nothing but kind words to say about his past performance. “No. I didn’t talk to him about any blessing or anything like that,” Terrence told IBT.

“I think that Ryan Devlin and the past seasons have been amazing. I think he killed it as a host and I just hope that people love the flavor that I bring this season,” he said.

Still, Terrence, who’s credits include hosting “E! News,” Fox’s “Coupled,” and “106 and Park,” is not worried about being compared to his predecessor. “I have a ton of hosting experience and a ton of things in the relationship genre so this was a new season and a new show for me, but I definitely have a lot of experience doing it,” he said. “I just like to have fun. I like to bring my own flavor. I don’t care about anything before me.”

A new host isn’t the only change coming to “AYTO?” this time around. Viewers will also be treated to a new setting: New Orleans.

“It’s just a different backdrop. When you’re in Hawaii the most interesting thing you can watch is a spider monkey jumping from one tree to the next,” Terrence quipped of the switch. “You’ve got the jazz music, you’ve got the bands, you’re got the French Quarter and beads being thrown, temptation, voodoo, magic, mystery, great food, alligators. It’s just a huge amount of things that takes place in this show that become part of the texture of what this show is and it’s a lot of fun to watch.”

While some changes are coming, the dreaded blackout twist is still in place and with one added couple, making it 22 singles this time around, the Season 6 cast will have quick the uphill battle finding their perfect matches.

“Trust me, this cast does the job on the own. They don’t need any extra deterrents to keep them from making bad decisions,” Terrence teased of the twist. “The blackout is back. All of the same rules are in place. There are no structural rules but again, we’ve never seen 22 people be able to do this; we’ve only seen 20. Can this even be done? That’s the big question.”

As for a potential Season 7, Terrence is more focused on having viewers enjoy the current installment and its collective group of “stars.”

“I had fun, man. I just hope people love this show and this season as much as we enjoy shooting it. That’s what I really want to focus on. Before we even think about a Season 7, I want people to really enjoy this cast.”

Terrence can be seen elsewhere on MTV hosting the game series “SafeWord.” He also has another TV show and a film in the works with the network.

Catch “Are You the One?” Wednesdays at 10 p.m. EDT on MTV.