The Bachelorette Finale Recap - 7/7/08
-For those of you that are familiar with the column, you know I don’t do a regular recap of the finale. It’s more a summary of what we saw throughout the course of the season and comments about the end result and eventual failed relationship we’ll be hearing about soon enough. I expect nothing different this season. This season has definitely been a bit different than past seasons in that, I’ve never heard so many rumors about the finale, what’s true and what isn’t, and how many different scenarios we’ve heard of what really went down. Here’s what I know. I was told over a month ago that the final four were Jeremy, Jason, Jesse, and Graham. I was also told with 100% certainty that Graham went home after the hometown dates, and Jeremy after the overnight dates. I was then told that Jason was DeAnna’s final pick, but that’s wasn’t 100% confirmed. Although, after hearing it was him, I watched the rest of the show thinking it was him in my head and wrote accordingly. I didn’t really understand why she’d pick him since logisitically, it didn’t make any sense for her - someone who constantly reiterated how important being close to family was yet picking a guy with a 3 year old who lived in Seattle. So I always was skeptical in the back of my mind why she’d pick him. I didn’t care either way, I just didn’t think it made much sense.
-I do believe ABC went out of their way this year, more so than in others, to lean the editing heavily one way. Based on how each of them was edited, they really wanted to make everyone think Jason was getting picked. I mean, Jesse didn’t kiss her til the hometown dates, the guy admitted to his dad he wasn’t ready to get married in two weeks, and now we’re supposed to believe they’re madly in love, engaged, and ready to get married next year? Then last night, we see that he’s nervous around the family, the family is totally sold on Jason before Jesse, on and on and on it went about how Jesse isn’t her type, and Jesse isn’t someone the family really saw her with, yada yada yada. They laid it on pretty thick that it was gonna be Jason and as the show was going on last night, it became more and more obvious it was Jesse for the sole reason they’d never give it away that easily.
-Some of you may have heard the numerous rumors being thrown out there about this season. There are tons of them, and I was going to write them all out and you could pick and choose which ones you believe and which ones you don’t, but honestly, I don’t even care at this point. Let me tell you something: Do you realize how easy it is to start a rumor on a message board? All you have to do is sign on under a lame screen name, have the title of your thread be “I KNOW WHO SHE PICKS….”, then in your post, talk about how you know someone very close to someone on the show, and make up a whole bunch of stuff that sounds like it could be legit. People will start believing you, trust me. So it does get kinda difficult knowing who’s telling the truth and who isn’t. If you go to certain boards right now and look back at past posts, there are people that will swear up and down that DeAnna picked Jason. And there are those who swear she picked Jesse. Well obviously, only one of them is right. I just don’t know why people feel the need to run to message boards to post things. Anything I hear, I tell my friends that are interested in the show. I don’t need to run to a message board to convince a bunch of people I don’t know. I don’t get it.
-I hope people who heard their was a “surprise” in the finale could see that it was Jeremy returning. First off, ABC’s press release last week promoting the 2 hour finale and “After the Final Rose” show stated that a “rejected Bachelor returns to make DeAnna’s decision more difficult”. Well, if Jeremy got eliminated in the Grand Bahamas, and the Final Rose Ceremony was taking place in the Grand Bahamas, and when you reach the final three, the guy who gets eliminated (in this case Jeremy), doesn’t get to go home until they’re done filming, well then of course it was gonna be Jeremy. They probably needed time to kill and told him, “Hey, go tell her she’s making a mistake and to take you back - we’re short about 10 minutes of film”. So needless to say, there was zero suspense when Jeremy returned and pleaded his case to take him back. Ummmmm, we saw Jason and Jesse at the Final Rose Ceremony in the previews last week. How is what Jeremy says going to have any effect on that? Dumb. I thought it made Jeremy look worse. Of course, one of the rumors floating around is Jeremy was tricked into doing that. Wouldn’t put it past them. Wouldn’t be the first time and most certainly wouldn’t be the last. And apparently Jeremy isn’t that distraught over DeAnna since other rumors have him canoodling with Chelsea in recent weeks. I guess that whole “lean-against-a-tree-get-down-on-my-knee-and-cry” deal over DeAnna has kinda passed, don’t ya think?
-One thing I found interesting about the finale was the gift that each guy got for DeAnna. Jesse went with the standard “book of pictures”. Hasn’t every guy made that for a girl at some point in his life? I know I have. Although, when I gave it to her, I didn’t sit there and read it to her like she was a 3rd grader. Sorry. I thought Jesse’s gift was boring and unoriginal. However, I actually thought Jason’s gift was kinda neat. Call me cheesy, but at least some thought went into it. It was creative, he actually took more than 5 minutes to make it, and it seemed genuine. I give him points for that. I usually always feel sorry for the final person who gets dumped on this show (well, except for DeAnna), and it was no different last night with Jason. He actually seems like a good guy. I still don’t know why he’d choose to leave his son for 6 weeks to go on a reality dating show, but whatever. I think most people, whether they were a fan of Jason or not, had to feel sorry for the guy last night. That was brutal. Letting him get down on one knee about to propose and then telling him no? Ouch. DeAnna said “everything happened so fast”, well, what we saw was he got up to the podium, and before anyone spoke, within five seconds he was on his knee. Is there a reason DeAnna didn’t start speaking right away and lay it all out there? Maybe she didn’t know he was about to kneel down, but then again, he wouldn’t have kneeled down if you’d already told him you weren’t in love with him.
-And didn’t you find it a little bit strange that Jason asked DeAnna’s dad for her hand in marriage the first time he met them, Jesse didn’t, and DeAnna’s family made a big deal out of that fact? Then what happened? The very next time he saw them Jesse asked. Something tells me Jesse had no intention of ever asking her father for permission, probably because he didn’t know any better, but he was told, “Hey, ummmm, buddy, if you want to propose to this chick, you might want to ask her father first. Kinda the right thing to do.” I just found that all too convenient that he didn’t do it at first, there was a big discussion about it, and Walla!, he does it in the next scene. Remember, the show has a story to tell. I’m guessing that was part of it. All a little too convenient for me.
-The “ATFR” show was interesting because, well, it was taped last Tuesday. Outside of family, everyone in the audience was a paid attendee that was sworn to secrecy. But obviously, it’s impossible that every single person who attended would keep their mouth shut. So that’s how things get leaked and that’s how on Wednesday, the original information I had of her picking Jason changed to Jesse. Kinda hard to dispute someone who attended the taping and I no reason not to believe what they were telling me. But there’s always that 1% in the back of my mind that thought they could’ve been making it up. So yeah, any speculation up until the taping of the “ATFR” was just that - speculation. But after that show was taped last Tuesday, that obviously had the outcome open to the public, no matter how hard they tried to keep it in.
-I didn’t understand Host Chris telling DeAnna and Jesse’s family last night, “This is the first time you’ve known your children are engaged”. Huh? First off, DeAnna said last week on the “Men Tell All” she was happy and engaged. I’m sure they watched that. And secondly, if they’re flying Jesse’s family out there for the show, wouldn’t that be kind of a hint? I guess technically they could’ve flown his AND Jason’s family out, and they had to watch the finale there to see which of their sons got picked, but since they never showed us a shot of Jason’s disappointed family, or elated family if you want to look at it another way, then I just assumed Jesse’s family was the only one there and they obviously knew beforehand. Please. DeAnna even said last week in an interview that her and her “fiance” talked all the time, and were able to meet up a few times in private for weekends together. Would Jesse’s parents really be that naive to think that he wasn’t going to see DeAnna? C’mon. They knew. As probably did most of his friends.
-Matt and Shayne are still together. Yawn. If any of you think that those two are ever walking down the aisle together, you’re nuts. No way is that happening. I think I’ve already explained myself on this one numerous times so no need to again, but just don’t ever get your hopes up for those two. They just seemed like a couple who met a couple weeks ago. Nothing about those two’s appearance last night made me think they were interested in getting married. Maybe it was the fact that he’s a skinhead now. Or that Shayne had on another god awful outfit. Or that they weren’t mounting each other the whole time like DeAnna and Jesse (more on that in a second). Not counting Shayne and Matt and DeAnna and Jesse, this show is 1-for-14 in producing a married couple. I think I’ll stick with the odds on this one and say it’s not going to happen. Andrew Firestone got married this weekend. Just not to Jen Scheft. He married the chick he met at the Playboy mansion who likes flashing her cans in movies. Her career is goin’ places. So congrats to those two. I’m sure they’re destined for a life of happiness til the end of time. Well, at least until he finds himself another Playboy bunny.
-My final analysis on Jesse and DeAnna, or as we should now call her, DeAnna Marie Csincsak. Enjoy that last name. For those that are thinking, “Wow. They really seemed to be in love last night”, let’s not forget, EVERY couple that’s ever appeared on the “After the Final Rose” show has looked happy and in love. And none of them have worked out. Because it’s the “Bachelorette”, and because I do think the women on this show take it a little more seriously than the guys, I think Jesse and DeAnna might last a little longer than our normal couples do. But not much. I still don’t think these two will get married, have three kids by the time she’s 30, and stay married “forever”, like both of them are claiming. It’s not me being cynical, it’s me being realistic. Unless ABC decides to televise their wedding like Trista and Ryan (which is a definite possibility), then they’ll go through with it - and then get divorced within a few years. The more they kept telling each other how much in love they were over and over and over again and kissing for the cameras makes me think it’s all that much more fake. It was like they were trying to prove a point to us. Really? Do you really need to show us every four seconds that you guys like each other? Thought that was totally unnecessary and over-the-top. Definitely seemed like they were trying to convince America right then and there, “See, we’re affectionate and tell each other ‘I love you’ so much, it’s destined we’ll be together forever.” Ok. You keep convincing yourselves of that. I’ll just continue to be skeptical. My approach with these two is no different than in any of the previous 15 seasons, and that is: I’ll believe it when I see it. They can say how happy and in love they are now, but wait until they begin to have a normal relationship and the cameras are off. Then we’ll see if they’re telling each other “I love you” every 1.9 seconds. God that was nauseating. Anyway, raise a glass to the new Mr. and Mrs. Jesse and DeAnna Csincsak. For now, at least.
UPDATE: I figured I’d mention this since many of you have emailed this since last night. One of the main rumors going around about this season is that DeAnna actually chose Jason, changed her mind, and the Final Rose Ceremony had to be re-shot. Now, even for a show as low as this, that seems like something awfully ridiculous to do. But then I started getting emails in the last 24 hrs telling me to go back and watch when DeAnna rejects Jason. The flowers in the background were changing colors scene by scene. And not because of camera angles, but because they were literally different colors and different bouquets. Here’s what I noticed, and you will too if you go back and watch:
-When Jason get out of the limo and is walking up the path to see DeAnna at the Final Rose Ceremony, there’s a bouquet of white flowers to DeAnna’s left and right. In the very next shot of him greeting her and giving her a hug, those bouquets are now two bouquets of pink flowers. Then the very next shot is a wide shot of them, and its back to two white bouquets.
-When Jason bends down about to propose, DeAnna says “No, I can’t”, yet you can’t see her face, and the voice sounds like it’s dubbed in. To the average person, this may not seem like much or it may not seem dubbed in at all, but having worked in sound editing before, this is definitely something that, unless you know to look for it, you wouldn’t notice it. I’m 100% convinced DeAnna did not say “No, I can’t” live at that moment to Jason.
-Throughout the whole time Jason is on the podium with her, if you watch the background, the flowers keep going from white, back to pink, back to white, and so on. And at the very end, when they do the same exact aerial shot of them hugging, what was once white bouquets on each side of DeAnna when he walked up, is back to being two pink bouquets.
What does this all mean? Maybe nothing. They do re-shoots in reality shows all the time. Maybe the microphone didn’t pick up certain sentences, maybe the wind blew DeAnna’s hair in her face, which is all possible. My only question is, why would the background flowers need changing unless it was shot on a completely different day? A re-shoot done an hour later, two hours later, 10 hours later, whatever, would still have the same set. What would be the point of changing out the flowers unless it was done on a different day? Maybe we’ll someday get an answer to this, maybe we won’t. You make your own judgment. I just figured I would present you with some evidence which may suggest what you’re seeing isn’t what’s really happening. Yet again.
-Keep checking back to the site periodically for updates, “Reality Roundups”, and “Dr. Reality Steve’s”. I promise, they’re coming. Probably gonna take a week or two off, but I’ll be back soon. Any questions, comments, queries, praises, criticisms, marriage/sex/love/relationship issues you have, feel free to email me at steve@realitysteve.com. Until next time…..
67 comments July 8th, 2008
