Ok, so I’m a little late. Sorry. Just needed to find the time and motivation to sit down and hash this thing out. First things first, if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you saw me mention last week that I got dressed up for Halloween for the first time in probably 20 years this past weekend. Good times. Happy Hour lasted till the wee hours of the morning. No, I didn’t go as Jake. I thought it was rather obvious who I went as, but I’d say 75% of the people who came up to me asked, “Are you Octodad?” Huh? Who the hell is Octodad? Once I pointed out the Bluetooth, the earrings (which you can’t see in the pics), the Ed Hardy shirt, the eight kids, and the lovely inscription on the back, they seemed to guess correctly.

More “Bachelor” News

So I’ve gotten this bit of info regarding a girl who was cast to be on this season with Jake. I emphasize “was”. This particular girl was flown out to LA to be one of the 25 bachelorettes. The afternoon of the meet-and-greets, she was upstairs getting ready, then came down to film her ITM (in the moment). When she sat down, her handler gave her a piece of paper with lines to memorize. She was told to memorize those lines and say them when they started filming. What was she supposed to say to the camera? “When I first saw Jake, I fell in love. I can’t wait to fly away with him someday.” The girl basically told her handler, “No, I’m not saying this. I haven’t even met the guy yet.” The handler told her she had to, and that they’d just run it after she met him. The girl said no. Back and forth they went, until the girl just decided she didn’t want to do the show anymore and walked out, got her stuff, and left the show.

Now, obviously no one will ever see this when the season starts. This girl will never be on camera since she’s not one of the 25 bachelorettes. She left before the filming started. When the show flys all the girls out for the beginning of filming, they bring in more than 25 girls just in case something like this happens. Wasn’t the first time it happened, and it certainly won’t be the last. But just know it happened this season. Kinda funny that now they are actually telling people exact lines to say instead of just putting them together and saying, “Here, talk about this.” Look, we’ve always known the show wasn’t real and I think a lot of people have come to accept that. But my problem has always been that they constantly are trying to tell us it is. That they just “throw 25 women in a house, roll the cameras, and drama ensues.” Uhhhh, not quite. “Here, read these lines about how much you love Jake even though you haven’t met him yet” is a bit much, don’t you think? So when you’re watching the first episode this season, and you hear girls falling all over Jake talking about how great he is and they are so in love, just know that those were filmed before they even met him, and that the girls saying that were basically ones who just agreed to do whatever the producers told them to. As opposed to the other girl I just told you about who basically stood up for herself and realized how ridiculous the whole thing was.

Had a great night last Wednesday night at the Dallas Stars hockey game with Jeremy, Tanner, and Kiptyn. Tanner has basically turned into a rock star from his appearance on the show. I think more women were interested in talking to him than watching the game. My first chance to ever meet or talk to Kiptyn. Glad to see that he got to witness his first hockey game. No need to go into details about what was talked about and all the shenanigans that transpired that night. Some things are better left unsaid. All good guys, we had a great time, and I’m guessing in the near future, we’ll be dropping more drinks and catching falling drunk women back there in no time. I will say this on Tanner’s behalf: I think he and I watch the same exact shows. After going through his recorded shows on his DVR, I could’ve sworn it looked like an exact replica of mine. The city of Dallas belongs to Tanner Pope. We’re just all lucky he lets us live in it. Daddy is a rock star, no doubt.

So did you see this article last week in “People” magazine regarding Ed and Jillian? Interesting to say the least. Why some reporter decided to ask them about Jillian’s lingerie collection is beyond me. Of course Ed, being a man who has such a way with words (”I want to molest you when I get home”, “Bring the beer and condoms”), had this to say when asked what’s the sexiest thing a woman could wear. “No panties.” Ok, first off, he didn’t even answer the question. The question asked the sexiest thing a woman could wear, and he responded with something that she SHOULDN’T wear. Secondly Ed, it’s perfectly normal for you like it when your girlfriend goes panty-less. Especially when they don’t tell you about it beforehand. I just tend to think that’s not the answer you want to give to a magazine read by millions of people. Showing some tact would be nice, but I guess then consider the source and everything we’ve read and heard about the guy. Maybe that’s just who he is. But c’mon buddy. Probably not the answer you needed to give in that situation. By all means you can think it, but personally, I just wouldn’t have expressed it to “People” magazine. To each their own.

So the biggest news in the last week regarding this show was the engagement in New Zealand of Jason and Molly. Before I give my comments, I actually found this amusing, which is odd, since I didn’t think Regis Philbin has done anything funny in 20 years. But the re-enactment of the Jason/Melissa break up gave me a good chuckle. Here it is:

Lets first off talk about the engagement itself. Congrats to those two. If it works for them, then so be it. Personally would I have done the engagement back in New Zealand and immediately had the tabloids reporting it? No. I thought they wanted this all to go away? I understand most Jason & Molly fans are thinking more like, “Awwww, he proposed where they had their first date. So romantic.” But for as much as those two got criticized for everything that happened, and I was front and center leading that charge, I guess I would’ve just laid a little low and not made such a presentation out of it. The proposal back in New Zealand, pictures ready immediately, cover of “US Weekly” saying you’re not the “villain”, etc. Look, I get that he wanted to do it back where he says he should’ve done it in the first place. I just wouldn’t of if I’m trying to distance myself from everything that happened. Their words say they are, but the actions don’t.

With that said, I’m going to share something with everyone that very few people know. When Jillian’s season ended, I actually got in touch with Jason and we finally had a man-to-man talk about everything that went down. He shared his side, and I shared mine. Do we agree on everything? No. He was very persuasive in what he said, and I told him how I felt about how everything played out. Til the end of time, we will both agree to disagree on the events that happened while he was on the show. I feel my sources had no reason to lie to me, and he says that’s not how it went down. I’m fine with that. I don’t hate the guy. Never did. I just expressed to him I think he could’ve handled the whole situation completely different. But that’s yesterday’s news. It happened almost a year ago. He’s moved on, he’s happy, he’s engaged, Melissa’s moved on, she’s engaged, so who am I to harp on it anymore? It’s put to rest. We both said what we needed to say to each other, and I think both of us came out with a better understanding. I emailed him after I heard about the engagement congratulating him and Molly, and he responded with a thank you. I’ll admit, I was rather harsh on the guy for a good two months. Sure he deserved some of it, but probably not as much as I gave.

I don’t think Jason and I will ever be golfing buddies, and I’m certainly not expecting any sort of invite to the wedding, but for those that think I’m out to ruin peoples lives and constantly make fun of them, well, I just don’t think you understand the site and how I write. That’s ok. It’s not for everyone. I’m glad Jason and I hashed things out for the most part. Who am I rain on he and Molly’s parade? Hey, at least they got engaged as opposed to most of these couples who don’t even get that far. Personally, I just wish he’d stop going to the “I’m not a villain” card and just let everything that happened on the show go. No matter what he says or does, people are still going to hate him regardless. It’s almost like he’s trying to please everyone and that’s just impossible. He’s got his fans, and he should just enjoy them. The haters will be there no matter what he says. But telling people again his side of what happened just isn’t what needs to be done now.

I will say that what he told “US Weekly” about having to confront Molly on TV rather than lose her to the “Bachelorette” was exactly what he told me a couple months ago, so, I at least give him some credit for keeping his stories straight. We can debate that until the end of time (and I think I did on the phone), but regardless, it’s over and done with. They’re engaged, Molly’s moved to Seattle, she found a job, and they’re happy. In the end, I guess that’s all that matters, right? No need to bring them up anymore until their wedding or if there’s some nasty breakup. So good luck to the two of them. Been a pretty crazy year, but it seems like they’re happy and moving on. Good. Now I can too.

Yes, in case you haven’t heard the news, both Holly and DeAnna are dating the Stagliano brothers. Holly of course is still dating Michael from Jillian’s season, and DeAnna has been dating Stephen Stagliano for a good month. I really have no idea what to make of all this. Good luck to the four of them. I’m sure the world will be a better place with Holly Durst and DeAnna Pappas as sister-in-laws someday. Oh my. Somewhere Jesse Csincsak is gathering former contestants for another reunion, making sure video cameras are rolling, and shaking his head.

As far as the “Bachelor/ette” reunion cruise from LA to Mexico last weekend, I don’t think it’s going to be its own show. Probably just like the Vegas reunion, I’m sure there’ll be footage popping up somewhere on a “Men Tell All” episode. When I saw Kiptyn last Wednesday, he mentioned that he was going on it. As were Wes, Jesse Kovacs, Jesse Csincsak, Robby D, and a few others. That’s about all I know. Pictures are already all over facebook if you want to go look for them.

One final note on the “Bachelor”, it was announced yesterday that this season is going to be the first one in HD. Outstanding. So are we actually going to get to see the implant scars this season? Or the botox injections? I cannot wait. Jake is already claiming that his wife is one of the 25 women cast for the show. And now that we’ll get all their physical defects in HD, can this season possibly get any better? I highly doubt it. To see him get down on one knee and propose to some goody two-shoes, church going, southern belle might be the highlight of my 2010. Then to watch them celebrate by letting off a bunch of white doves and going crazy with the milk and cookies, can that possibly be topped? “The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love” beginning January 4th. Get your barf bags ready, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.

I wanted to cover more this week, but I’m tired, I have a long day ahead of me, and I still need some catching up to do on some shows. So next week we’ll return with “Reality Roundup” as I cover “Survivor”, “Dancing with the Stars”, the new “Celebrity Apprentice” cast, “Sex Rehab”, the “Ruins”, plus some other tidbits. Also, the interview with former “Survivor: Micronesia” and “Fans vs Favorites” Eliza Orlins will be happening soon as well, so stay tuned for that. To follow me on Twitter or become a friend on Facebook, scroll down the right hand column and find the corresponding link under “My Stuff”. Any questions, comments, emails, praises, criticisms, or opinions, feel free to email me at steve@realitysteve.com. Until next week…

Administrator The Bachelor 13 - Jason, The Bachelor 14 - Jake, The Bachelorette 4 - DeAnna, The Bachelorette 5 - Jillian

Sorry it took me a couple days to post this. Here is a 2 minute clip from the interview Jason Mesnick did Friday morning on a Seattle radio station where he has Reality Steve on the mind:

Jason Calls Out Reality Steve

Let’s dissect some of the things that Jason says here, since the guy is contradicting himself all over the place.

“That guy heard a rumor…that I ended things with Melissa and started up with Molly.” Uhhhh, last time I checked pal, that wasn’t a rumor, it was fact. And I never reported it as “Hey, speculation is”, or, “Hey, maybe this happens”. From day one, I told everyone this isn’t what I thought happens, it’s what I know happens. So, it wasn’t a rumor, nor did I ever report it as one.

“I don’t even wanna mention his name, he’s got this reality website. I don’t even think anyone should ever even talk about this guy.” Sooooooo then why are you talking about me still three months after the fact when I basically had forgotten about you and Molly since about a week after the season ended? March 9th was really the last mention I made to your name in my column, yet here you were on June 19th bringing me up in a radio station interview promoting a Fathers Day event. I’m glad you have me on the brain. Is this a man crush?

“But, he made up the whole story in between, so everything he says is a flat out lie. He had the bookend right, but made up the whole story in between.” Well, apparently not since the main story I reported last season before anyone else, that you dumped Melissa at a taped ATFR show and asked Molly back, was true. So yet again, another inaccurate statement. Not everything I say is a flat out lie. In fact, most of it is true. And this season, when I told people last week that Ed does come back on the show, that’ll turn out to be true as well. As for making up the stuff in between, that will always be up for debate. I know I didn’t. You think I did. Then again, you’re under contract and not allowed to talk about certain things, so it’ll take a hell of a lot convincing on your part to turn the people who believed what I said.

“So I will tell anybody out there if they know who this guy is, he’s a bunch of BS. And I can promise that everything he says on his website is all his own stories. He’s a storyteller.” Wait, I’M a bunch of BS, or what I write is a bunch of BS? Please be more clear. And EVERYTHING that I say on my website is my own stories? Except for the little minor detail of finding out about the secret ATFR show you taped six weeks prior to the finale airing. And lets not forget, posting what happened at the ATFR 2 taping about one hour after it ended. Talk all you want about not liking some of the things I write, trust me I get that all the time, but don’t say I was factually inaccurate and a “storyteller”. Not true.

“And Melissa, who lives in the same city as this guy, started believing him.” Oooooohhhhhh, ok. So now I was the one who turned Melissa against you? Even though I’ve never spoken to her in my life, never met her, and have sent her one email that she really never responded to? Yet without having ever spoken to me or had any running email conversation, I somehow was able to convince her of everything that really went on? Damn. I must be a REALLY good writer. Better than I thought. So not only are you a huge RealitySteve.com fan, but apparently Melissa is too, AND, she listens to everything I say. Outstanding.

“And I talked to her after that…well, I haven’t talked to her since this whole thing went down. She was OK, up until that point, but she started believing what this guy was saying.” So which is it? Either you talked to her after she apparently believed everything I wrote which you say was me telling story, or you didn’t? My guess? You didn’t. This guy is flip flopping like a politician.

“He’s the one specifically that started stirring stuff up. He’s a just a miserable guy. He’s just trying to get famous.” Actually, you stirred it all up when you agreed to dump Melissa during a closed set taping and ask for Molly back. All I did was report it. Miserable? I wouldn’t say that. Jaded, skeptical, and weary about anything that actually happens on this show? You bet. And saying I’m trying to get famous is ludicrous. I’ve been part of the media for a while. I’ve covered plenty of athletes and interacted with famous people on numerous occasions. I don’t want that life. Now THOSE are your miserable people. And extremely insecure. And completely crazy. So no thanks, but I’ll pass.

I think I’ve said enough. Lets put it to bed. Jason showed some true colors in this interview, and just hearing the venom in his voice towards me was rather surprising. He’s obviously still bothered by the fact that people still hate him for what he did, so he figures why not take it out on me? I find it funny. I’m just not gonna resort to name calling and blaming others for what I did. I’ve said my peace. Hope you had a wonderful Fathers Day and you and Molly live happily ever after. I won’t hold my breath.

Administrator Interviews, The Bachelor 13 - Jason

So not only does Chris Harrison seem to have a hard on for me, constantly referring to things I write in his blog, but now Jason Mesnick has jumped aboard that train. Jason was in studio on a Seattle radio station this morning promoting some Fathers Day event this weekend, and took the time to call me out during the interview. Very kind words he uses too. I believe he calls me a “miserable person”, a “storyteller”, and “full of BS”, among other things. Sweet. Glad I’ve made such an impression on him. Of course, he doesn’t mention me by name, but its rather obvious who he’s speaking about. I have the audio clip and will post it later tonight or tomorrow, along with my thoughts on the whole thing.

The funny thing is, I really haven’t mentioned Jason Mesnicks name since March 9th, that was the last post I made filed under “The Bachelor 13 – Jason” according to my archives. Have I referenced what happened during his season while writing about Jillian this year? Of course. But actually calling the guy out for anything he’s said or done? Not in three months. I’m just shocked at the fascincation he has with me. I mean, he’s JASON MESNICK, former Bachelor. Why is some nobody like myself still on his mind? I don’t get it. It’s done, it’s over with. Move on. You’re happy with Molly and you’re claiming you guys will get married. Great. Calling me out just seems idiotic. If I’m so insignificant, why even bring attention to me?

I’ve always said since Day 1 that when anyone asks me about his season, I will tell them that I will believe til the day I die, that it was something he was told to do by producers and that he had contact with Molly in the 3 months from the time filming ended til the time the ATFR was taped. Jason claims it was all real and these were all his choices. Well I don’t expect him to say anything different. Do we expect the guy to honestly admit to that? Unless he wants his pants sued off, then no. I presented my case and gave the readers the option to believe, or not believe me. It’s their decision. Some did, some didn’t. Whatever. The difference between Jason and I is he’s still trying to convince the ones that believe me, to not believe me. I don’t care about the people that don’t believe me. That’s their prerogative. We can go back in forth until the end of time on this. Jason can never admit to any behind the scenes stuff, and I can never prove my allegations without outing my sources, which will never happen. So it is what it is at this point. My word against his.

I had no intention of ever bringing this up again, but if the guy wants to call me out, I’m gonna respond. The audio clip and my thoughts coming later tonight or tomorrow.

Administrator The Bachelor 13 - Jason

Finally, it’s here! The official launch of the RealitySteve.com merchandise store. I want to first thank my best friend and webmaster Erick for the tireless work he’s put in on putting this thing together. I also want to thank our partners at TWENTYth for all the work they’ve done as well. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now, and to see it become a reality is very cool. We want any and all feedback that you can give as this is still a work in progress.

Also, I want to thank two former “Bachelor” contestants, Lisa and Michele, for allowing me to use them as my models for the site. You’ll recognize Lisa from “Bachelor: Rome” where she received the first impression rose and made it to the final three before being unceremoniously dumped. Michele was from Brad Womacks season who unfortunately got sent home early due to, well, “falling down the stairs”. However, if you really want to know what happened, head back to the “Dr. Reality Steve” edition where she was the guest columnist. Thanks girls. Great job on the pictures.

A couple things I want to immediately say about the product. First off, if I ever see anyone out and about wearing any RealitySteve.com gear, I will buy you a drink. Of course, people in Dallas and Los Angeles ultimately have a better chance of that happening, but hey, just wanted to throw that out there. Secondly, for all those who purchase products and want to be seen on the site, we will be setting up a Flickr account so that all pictures taken in RealitySteve.com clothing will be added to the photo section if you’d like. All you have to do is take a pic and email to me and it’ll get on there. And lastly, be sure to have those cameras ready because we will periodically have contests where you can win free gear. So without further adieu, you can now purchase RealitySteve.com merchandise at:

www.RealitySteve.com/store

Administrator Reality Roundup, The Bachelor 13 - Jason, The Bachelorette 5 - Jillian

Ahhhhh, what a week. So many peoples stories have changed, the latest on Melissa joining “Dancing with the Stars” tonight, and finally we’ve heard the last of Tatiana Del Toro (at least I hope so). Let’s put some final FINAL thoughts together on this “Bachelor” season and just move on. It’s over, it’s done with, everyone’s changing their stories now, it’s a farce. Like I told you it was back on Jan. 27th. Before we get to that though, a couple notes regarding the site.

Over the next two months, there will be changes to the site. Still working out the kinks, as you saw last week we tried a different format, but a lot of things are happening right now and I want to make sure this site looks good when we roll everything out. So there might be some days the look of it changes, and there might be some days that it’s down, but just know its all temporary. I hope to have everything finalized and done by May 18th, which is the start of Jillians season of the “Bachelorette”. So any craziness in between now and then, just bear with me. It looks like the merchandising is definitely going to happen, I just need to figure out what products we are going to launch with, plus, some people want to advertise, and the current format we’re in doesn’t make it easy, which is why we’ll probably be giving the site a new look.

It’s not like I broke the Bachelor “shocker” back in January so all this could happen. Far from it. What’s happening now is a result of me being credible with my news, and the thing I’m most proud of, is how many emails I’ve gotten over the last few weeks from people saying they had never even heard of the site before and now they’re a fan. I’ve always wanted more and more people to find RealitySteve.com, but I did a terrible job of marketing it, which is to say I did nothing. If breaking this seasons ending gave me notoriety, so be it. But those that have been with me for the last seven years know I’ve been loyal to giving you consistent “Bachelor” updates, plus my opinions on a myriad of things. Now, I’m just going to do it more often. Especially with “Idol” about to begin its final rounds, “Survivor” up and running, “Celebrity Apprentice” being a trainwreck I can’t not watch, and the whole “Dancing with the Stars” thing. Hey, those that know me know that’s been one of my favorite shows since it started. Now, with the whole Melissa angle thrown in, obviously that adds a little extra to those that are “Bachelor” fans. Speaking of that, lets go back to last week, in particular, AFTER Tuesday nights show.

Really now, with all the chaos surrounding this past season of the “Bachelor”, I feel like after today, let’s just put it to rest. Some of you will always believe what you want to believe about the possible set up and conspiracy that I’ve alleged, and that’s fine. All I’ve ever wanted to do was present a case as for why I believe what I was told went down this season. You’re not a bad person if you don’t believe it, and those that do, aren’t conspiracy theorists or bad people either. They’re just realists. Ha ha. Anyway, what really bothered me last week after the ATFR 2 was the spin job that everyone was putting on this. Included in this spin job were ABC, Mike Fleiss, Jason, and even Melissa. On Wednesday, Jason immediately came out and said he broke up with Melissa on TV because he was “contractually obligated to.” Then Mike Fleiss immediately shot back with, “Uh, no you weren’t.” Then Jason spun it to, “Well, Melissa knew we were having problems and we were already broken up. We had ended things a week earlier.” Then Melissa on with Ellen Thursday says, “Yeah, the breakup was mutual, we were broken up. But what upset me was the lying. I asked him numerous times if it was about Molly and he said ‘no’. Then we get on TV to tape the ATFR 1 and he informs me it is.” Then Jason the next day on Ellen says, “Yeah, I wasn’t contractually obligated. I felt I was doing what the producers wanted me to do, and I take full responsibility for that. If I could take anything back, it was that I did it on camera. She didn’t need to go through that.” Well gee, ya’ think?

Look, Jason did exactly what he needed to do last week, which is apologize for embarrassing her on television. He didn’t need to do that, he admits he didn’t need to do that, and says he’ll live with that decision for the rest of his life. Good. He should. And the fact that both of them are now saying, “Well, we were broken up before we went on that show” pretty much proves even more than not only is Jason a douchebag for doing it, but also that ABC was complicit in all of this as well. Bascially they’re saying, “Well, you guys broke up off camera, and we can’t have that. Come and shoot the ATFR 1 six weeks early so we can ‘re-create’ that breakup.” If ABC is saying Jason wasn’t contractually obligated to do that on camera, then ABC could’ve easily said, “No, no way. We’re not doing this to her.” But they chose not to because they wanted drama, and that’s exactly what they got.

Nice to see that Melissa admitted the emails I’d had in my possession for two weeks that I chose not to release were legitimate. Hey, I knew they were the whole time, but it was good to hear something I said finally proven correct. And I’m glad someone else chose to release them because I did not want that on my conscience anymore. I didn’t want my name attached to those emails. And considering they landed in my inbox from someone who’d never emailed once before, I had a good idea someone would release them. I’m sure it was passed around to a few people. I think the one thing those emails proved was Melissa knew there was something going on with Jason and Molly during the time they were together. That’s obvious. I think its obvious to everyone now, and that’s the one thing that Jason is continually lying about. Notice how he never addressed it in the emails both times she brought it up? Never confirmed or denied it, which was smart. Just left it alone. The minute he admits to it, is the minute he’s guilty for lying in front of America, which most people think he did anyway. Also makes ABC look horrible in that they allowed it to happen, and makes them liars too. That gave Jason an out to not address it in his emails back to her.

I find it funny that at first, ABC/Fleiss/Chris Harrison/Jason all were adamant that “No, no, no, no. They had no contact whatsoever in those two months he was engaged. Molly was taken by complete surprise and anyone who suggests otherwise is just plain wrong.” Yet now we’re hearing, “Oh wait, there was one phone call where he was just ‘checking’ on Molly.” Really? When he’s engaged to Melissa and spending time with her over the holidays? Of course, there are also numerous reports that Molly texted or called Jason while he was with Melissa, which she has said happened, but god no! Jason would never do such a thing! Whatever. Like I’ve said ever since I released the news about this season, it is going to be he said/she said til the end of time. You will either believe that he didn’t have contact with Molly and ABC wasn’t planning this ratings bonanza, or you can believe Melissa. It’s up to you. I’m pretty much done debating it at this point. By next week, no one will give a rats ass about Jason and Molly and how they’re doing. I thought the most telling thing between both Melissas appearance and Jason and Mollys appearance on “Ellen” was the fact that Melissa said he started pulling away “almost immediately” when they got back from taping. For a guy that claimed he tried so hard to make it work, I would think pulling away immediately isn’t supporting your case too much.

More questions:

Now he and Molly are doing a tourism video promoting New Zealand talking about that’s where they fell in love and what a great place it is? Huh? I thought when he left New Zealand, that’s when he was in love with Melissa? Did you see this thing? Unbelievable. Check it out:

Jason and Molly Pimp New Zealand

If Molly had no idea she what was going to happen at the ATFR 2, why was she talking about, “I stay up every night hoping Jason would change his mind and take me back?” No other Final Two girl in the history of that show has ever said that on the ATFR 2.

Why did Molly say during the ATFR 2 taping that she’s definitely moving to Seattle, and then on “Ellen” less than a week later when asked if she was moving, she says, “Eventually. We’re taking it day by day.” Shouldn’t that have been her original answer? Man, no one can keep their stories straight.

Why did Jason tell Molly, ten minutes roughly after he just dumped his fiance, “I’m falling in love with you?” If he didn’t have any contact with this woman in two months, can you technically be “falling in love with them?” Seems a little extreme. I would think you’d just leave it at, “I haven’t been able to keep my mind off you and I want to try this out.” Not, “I’m falling in love with you.” How could you? You haven’t spoken to her since New Zealand! Jason is King Contradictory right now.

And of course, he’s gone back and forth on at what point they broke up. He says it was a few days before the ATFR 1 taping, then he said it was a week, then he said in the beginning he shouldn’t have broken up with her, then changed it to, “she knew what was coming.” AAAAAAHHHHH!!!! This is all making my head hurt really. Stick to one story, buddy.

So this can be debated forever. Who do you believe, Jason or Melissa? Or neither? Either way, it doesn’t affect my life. I believe Melissa but it doesn’t mean you’re a horrible person if you don’t. If I were you, I’d put it past you, move on, and start discussing more important things. This is exactly what ABC wants, and that’s to have you talking about them weeks after the season ends. So I will put an end to it in this column if you promise to as well. Sure, I’ll continually make jokes til the end of time about this season and what a farce it was, but I’m done presenting my case for why I believe this was a set up. Let’s move on.

As I’m sure most of you have heard by now, Melissa is going to be an injury replacement for Nancy O’Dell on “Dancing with the Stars” beginning tonight. Nancy O’Dell dropped out on Thursday, and news broke yesterday that Melissa was asked to do it. Which means she’s had a whopping four days to practice. I’m really surprised by some of the response I’m hearing in regards to Melissa “selling out” or “only doing this because she wants to be famous.” Huh? Once again, people will have their opinions on this one way or another, but this is how I see it:

1. She’s a last second injury replacement, so this basically just fell into her lap. She didn’t go out seeking this. This isn’t something she’s been in negotiations for for weeks. Nancy O’Dell just dropped out on Thursday.

2. She has a dance background, it’s her passion, so it’s not like she’s going on “Fear Factor”, or some other stupid dating show just so she could be on TV. I think the fact she turned down being the next “Bachelorette” shows more about her character and motivations than accepting this gig does.

3. She knows she can do well because of her background, the public already likes her, and she immediately becomes one of the favorites. Why wouldn’t you enter a competition that you know you can win?

4. With Nancy O’Dell dropping out Thursday, this is the latest ANYONE has ever dropped out of DWTS by far. If they’re find a replacement and give them only four days of rehearsal, they’re not going to pick someone with ZERO dance experience because they’ll just get voted off the first week. So of course they had to find someone who could dance, and she fits the bill perfectly. It’s ABC crossover, her name has been out there the last week, and she can dance.

5. She told Ellen on Wednesday “I just wanna go back to Dallas, get back to a normal life, and get away from reality TV” or whatever she said. She didn’t know about this opportunity when she said that, so to call her a liar just seems ignorant. Unless you think she knew about this all along, which she couldn’t have, since they announced the DWTS cast back on Feb. 9th and she wasn’t a part of it.

6. As for her doing another ABC show, I don’t think that has much to do with anything. It’s not like this is being produced by Fleiss and his production company. This is a completely different animal. What would being scorned by ABC previously have to do with her appearing on this show? ABC the network necessarily didn’t screw her. It was Fleiss and his production company that did. Two totally different animals. I might have used the term “ABC” in past columns, but I was referring to Fleiss and Co.

Seems to me that the people hating on her are the ones who didn’t like her in the first place or thought she was in on this whole scheme with the “Bachelor.” So whatever she does, you’ll never change those peoples minds. She could have announced last week on “Ellen” that she’s taking a camera crew to Africa to feed a village of starving children, and her detractors would first ask, “Why are you taking a camera crew?” Can never win with some people. Look, I have no problem with Melissa doing this, but I can see plenty of people will. Whatever. To each their own. I hope she does well. I can’t imagine she won’t at least get to the finals. I mean, c’mon. Steve-O? David Alan Grier? She could’ve been given four hours to practice and she’d be better than them. People who hate her will cheer against her, and people who like her, won’t. It’s pretty simple. There’s no way she would tell America “My reality television days are behind me” if she knew she was gonna do this show, which she didn’t. I can’t believe people are getting on her for that. It’s dancing. It’s her passion. She can win. She’d be crazy not to.

Once again, let’s put all of our “Bachelor” related stuff behind us after today. Really, there’s nothing more to talk about. I’m moving on, and so should you. There are too many questions you will never get answers to unless your name is Jason Mesnick, Molly Malaney, Melissa Rycroft, Mike Fleiss, or Chris Harrison. I’ll be back Wednesday with a fresh new “Reality Roundup” breaking down week one of “American Idol” (I believe it’s Michael Jackson week), along with a few thoughts on more crap that I’m watching. As always, any questions, comments, emails, praises, criticisms, pre orders for your RealitySteve.com boy shorts (ha ha), feel free to email me at steve@realitysteve.com. If you haven’t already joined the “I Love Reality Steve” Facebook group, you can always do that as well. Or just add me as a friend as there is a link to that down the right hand column. See you Wednesday.

Administrator The Bachelor 13 - Jason

I’d say that the ATFR 2 was a complete waste of time last night. I told you Friday what was going to happen. Nothing surprising. All they’re doing is trying to make you hate Jason and Molly less and less than most people already do. Which is fine. I mean, that’s their couple after all now, so they got to make them look good however they can. Even if it meant embarrassing Melissa on national television. Like they care about that. Oh by the way, did you see the ratings from Monday night? Through the roof, as I thought they would be. 15 million watched the finale and 17 million watched the ATFR. Highest rated ATFR in the shows history, and highest rated finale since Guiney’s season. Thank you, thank you very much. I’ll take full credit for that. That’s why I never believed anyone who screamed after I ruined the ending on the You Tube videos, “That’s horrible! I’ll never watch this show again!” Please. You were all front and center on Monday night, and then some. How? Because the show was getting on average 11 million people weekly. Yet 15 million tuned in to the finale and 17 million watched the ATFR. So another 5 -7 million people, who didn’t give a crap about this show during the season, tuned in just for the end to see what all this hype was about. The hype that I created over a month ago. So ABC, feel free to scratch me a check at any point. Just don’t spell my name wrong.

ABC, Fleiss and Co. all got what they wanted out of this. They can BS us about “Well, we would’ve liked for Jason and Melissa to be our story if it meant sacrificing the ratings in the end”, when we all know that’s not true. This is Hollywood. This is TV. There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING these people care more about than money and ratings. That’s it. That’s all their job requires them to do. Produce something that will get people to watch their show. I can’t make that any simpler. That’s why the contracts people sign to come on this show excuse ABC of any liability for how they portray any person whatsoever. You really, really, really think Mike Fleiss and Co. care about how Melissa ended up in all this? Please. There’s no better proof than him saying a couple weeks ago, “This is the best ending we’ve ever had.” You’re damn right it was. Take all human emotion out of Monday nights finale. Just pretend those were robots that were told to act that way (which some of you still believe was the case). Take all feelings and emotions out of Monday nights broadcast and just look at it from a pure drama/shocker/crazy ass plot perspective. That was damn entertaining. Finale not so much, but that hour of the ATFR show you can’t say wasn’t riveting television. You don’t think so? It was the lead story on most news and entertainment sites yesterday. I had over 700 emails for the day, did 5 radio interviews, and basically spent all day on the phone talking to people about it. And that’s exactly what they were going for. All the more reason I believe they had a plan, they executed it, and they got their results to the tune of 17 million freakin’ people.

Host Chris really had nothing good to say in his blog today either. I guess he’s had enough of going after me. Although, he really stuck his neck out there when gave us this beauty. “Five years down the road, when Jason and Molly are married, I wonder if many of you will feel different about this.” Holy crap! This couple is “a month” into their relationship and you’re predicting they’ll be married five years from now? For a show that’s never produced a marriage ever? Good luck with that. Please tell me somewhere in Vegas they’re posting odds on Host Chris’ beyond ridiculous prediction. I’d be a rich man if they did. If none of the previous 12 Bachelor couples have lasted, and they didn’t have even CLOSE to the pressure that Jason and Molly are starting their relationship under, why would I think those two will make it? Molly’s gotta have doubts about the guy whether she wants to admit it or not. He’s proposed to two different women in a year, and is now working on his 3rd “girlfriend” in that time. I’d say he’s a little fickle. And it’s almost like because everyone is hating on them already, and because people are expecting them to fail, they are going to try THAT much harder to please everyone by staying together and proving people wrong. In the end, I doubt it’ll work. I’ll stand by this shows track record, and that’s 0-for-12 in producing a marriage. I like playing the odds. Can’t get any better than a 0% success rate, can you?

As for the emails between Melissa and Jason, someone released them yesterday anonymously (shocker) and now the entertainment sites are running with them. And yes, those are the ones I’ve had in my possession for a couple weeks now. I’m glad someone else decided to do it, because I was not going to release them. I didn’t want that on my conscience anymore so I’m glad my name isn’t attached to them. I’m not going to post the link to them anywhere on this site because I don’t want to be associated with them. But they’re out there everywhere now, so they shouldn’t be hard to find. Remember, those just randomly landed in my email box from someone who had never emailed me before. So I’m guessing they were the ones who released it or anyone else they could’ve forwarded it on to. I had nothing to do with those getting released, and I’m sure if you check the IP address or domain name of whoever released it onto that blog yesterday, that’ll prove my innocence as well. I just couldn’t bring myself to do that to Melissa. I figured she’d had enough.

Everyone has their opinions of what went down this season. These will be debated forever, yet another thing ABC wants. As long as people are talking about their show, they’re happy. I came to you in January and told you about the shocking ending of what was going to happen on the ATFR show. It happened. I told you I had sources at the ATFR 2 taping this past Friday and what went down, and it happened. The only thing some of you are still having a hard time believing is what my sources told me about Jason being told to do this and him accepting. Well, considering my sources have been right pretty much every step of the way, is it really that far fetched to think they were wrong about this? Of course ABC/Fleiss/Harrison/Jason/Molly will deny it til the end of time. They have to. They’d be guilty as charged if they didn’t. But I think I’ve given you a map of how this season played out starting on Jan. 27th and ending last night. And I’d say that map was pretty clear. All I want you people to do is use common sense, think outside the box a little bit, and realize that this is completely possible on the way the season went down. Hey, I’m always going to believe it because I have no reason to doubt my sources. One thing to remember: I was never guessing on how I THOUGHT this “Bachelor” season would play out. I was TOLD how it was going to play out by people in the know. Big difference. They never lied to me once and gained nothing from lying to me, which is why I believed them. So all I can do is tell everyone to remember this is TV. This is Hollywood. Its fantasy land. All they care about is the bottom line which is making money. They will spare no expense to do so. Unfortunately, Melissa was that expense this season. And oh yeah, for the record, the “Bachelor” does get paid to do this show. You might want to figure all that in to this equation as well.

So Jillian is going to be our next Bachelorette. Yippee. Nice girl. Cute girl. But seems like this will remind me a lot of Meredith’s season. I mean, does Jillian really reach into the hearts of all Americans (despite being Canadian) enough to get them to watch her journey of love for eight weeks? I guess we’ll see. Obviously, people are going to watch. But unless there’s a huge scandal like this season, I don’t expect them to come anywhere close to those ratings numbers. But of course, I’ll be back writing about the show. In fact, I was thinking everything was gonna be back to normal next season. Just me watching on Monday nights, then making fun of it in the column on Tuesday mornings like I’ve done for the last 7 years. But I sh** you not, as I sit here writing this at 11:15 CST on Wednesday morning March 4th, I’ve already gotten news regarding Jillians season. Is it as big as what went down this season? No. Not close. But its damn interesting to hear. Jillians season begins shooting in two weeks and will air starting in May. That’s not the news. However, I’m going to go do a little more research on this thing and let me find out a little more. All I can tell you right now is that this is definitely stuff the audience wants to know. I will get back to you on this in the near future. And don’t worry, no clues this time. Ha ha.

As for those asking about any possible interview with Melissa, I think that’ll be tough. She’s going to be on “Ellen” tomorrow to tell her story, and I’m sure she’s talking to the magazines, but after that, I have a feeling she just wants to get back to her life. For all those who think she was a plant, and in this for the money, and just wants to be on TV, well, that’s not the case. If it was, she would’ve been the next “Bachelorette”. In fact, she was asked to (Which also goes along with the theory this plan was put in place a while back), but turned it down. How do I know this? Mike Fleiss said it himself in an interview posted yesterday. Here is the brief snippet from the interview:

THR: So is Melissa the next Bachelorette?

Fleiss: Nope. She didn’t want to do it. She’s heartbroken.

You can read the full interview here.

And now even Mike Fleiss is throwing Jason under the bus saying he wasn’t contractually obligated to break up with her on the show. Gee, so now all the major players involved are on different pages. Fleiss says he didn’t have to do it, but Chris Harrison and Jason are saying it had to be filmed because that’s what the contestants agree to. So which is it? Here’s the link:

Fleiss Throws Jason Under the Bus

I would think that someone who wanted money, fame, and fortune out of all this would’ve certainly agreed to be the focus of a show for 8 weeks. But can you blame her? After getting thrown under the bus the way she did? I certainly don’t. Look, if she was a plant and was acting in all this, then she wouldn’t be phased and hurt by all this, and she definitely would’ve just moved right in to being our next “Bachelorette” since she wouldn’t have had any hatred towards ABC and what happened to her. But apparently Melissa’s dignity doesn’t have a price, which is something I can’t say for certain people we know. Good for her. I believe after this week, she is pretty much going to disappear and will get back to living a normal life. I really don’t think there’s much more you could say about her character after hearing that she turned down their offer to be the next “Bachelorette”. And I hear it was a damn good offer, as well.

A lot of you have been asking what happens now that the show is over? In the past, I’ve gone into hibernation and barely produced any columns til the “Bachelor/ette” starts up again. Not this season. I’m going to start dedicating a little more time to the site. Looks like we’re finally going to have some advertising on the site and I’m working on a few other things as well. One thing that I’d really like your feedback on is possible merchandise. I know that I have a very loyal fan base that has followed me for a while and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that. And I’ve always done my best to repay you by responding to your emails and answering all questions that you have. Although, the last couple days have been impossible, so don’t take it personally. Anyway, I was thinking of possibly coming up with something tangible. Like tshirts, hats, mugs, bumper stickers, etc. Of course, my brilliant mind wants to make boy shorts with “Realitysteve.com” across the ass, but, well, I don’t think that’ll play. Especially if you’re married or have a boyfriend. Anyway, merchandise is always something I’ve thought of doing, but never too seriously until now. I think it might happen though, so stay tuned. It would not be ridiculously priced and I wouldn’t be making a whole hell of a lot of it, but it’s something.

So I will still dabble here and there on “Bachelor” stuff during this “offseason”, but beginning next week, back to “Reality Roundup”. I think each one will feature an episode recap of “American Idol”, and then focus on the other stuff I’m watching like “Survivor”, “Celebrity Apprentice”, “The City”, “The Hills” (when it starts back up again), “Sober House”, and whatever else floats my boat in the TV world. But definitely it will focus on “Idol” since, well, that’s my favorite show going right now. I’ll just say this: I’d be shocked if Danny Gokey doesn’t win. The guy can sing his ass off and he’s got a story to boot. I mean, his wife dies 4 weeks before his audition? Who isn’t going to get behind that guy? Consider me the lead cheerleader on “Team Gokey”. Anyway, more on that next week. So thanks for sticking with the site during these last crazy ass six weeks. And to all of you new readers who had never heard of me until all this news broke, welcome aboard. Glad you’re a fan now. Any questions, comments, praises, criticisms, orders for your first “RealitySteve.com” t-shirt (ha ha), email me at steve@realitysteve.com. Talk to you soon.

Administrator The Bachelor 13 - Jason

No need to gloat really. I told you what their shocker was going to be on January 27th, and it happened. Doesn’t matter how I know, who told me, or how it all came to be. The bottom line was I ruined ABC’s surprise for the season and I’m glad I did. Especially after that abortion they showed us on television last night. I will be honest with you and say I’m sick to my stomach. I mean, the two hour finale was nothing. We all knew what was happening there. But that ATFR show was downright painful. I felt AWFUL for Melissa. Still do. The debate will rage on from this day forward what you want to believe about Jason and Molly’s performance. Was he put up to this? When did he know? When did Molly know and what did she know? That’s all up for each individual to decide. Judging by the message boards and my comments, seems like we’re running about 99% in favor of Jason being named King A-Hole sometime in the near future. Hey, you know all my answers to this. No need to go over it again. Fifty years from now when I’m asked about the Jason Mesnick season of the “Bachelor”, I will firmly believe he was told to do this and agreed to it to create this shocking finale. And no matter what BS Chris Harrison wants to whine about in his blog today, or how many times Jason and Molly want to deny they’ve never contacted each other in the two months he was engaged to Melissa, or how ABC now admits, “Well, we expected it to get leaked”, NOTHING will change my belief of what went down this season.

So basically what I want to mention today is Chris Harrisons blog, and an email I received last week from a completely different source than the ones who gave me all my other information. Lets start with Chris, since apparently he has a hard on for me now. I love how its killing him that he constantly has to address the rumors that I started, yet won’t mention me by name. Hey Chris, how about the fact that in US Weekly last week, not only are they quoting me, but also the “source close to production” that echoed everything I said? Why am I the bad guy here? How about you guys start checking under your own noses for leaks. Hell, the “source close to production” said a hell of a lot more than I did in that article. And oh yeah, all of it was true again. Apparently Fleiss and the gang are all super sleuths now because, according to Chris, “we know how that happened and we know who’s responsible.” Ummm, I hate to tell them this, but they don’t seem to know much of anything. And there’s more than one person leaking stuff considering the email I’m going to show you later on in this post I had never even heard from until five days ago.

Chris is also shoveling the BS that because they’re a TV show, and because they always want their audience to know, good or bad, what’s going on, that’s the reason they televised the break up. According to Chris, “the fact is everybody knows when they sign up for this show everything about their story will be public. It’s a TV show and that is not a big secret. They are well aware of what they got into.” Oh, so that makes it right? That’s just sickening. Go sell that somewhere else. I can’t believe they’re trying to justify televising the public embarrassment of Melissa with a “Hey, that’s just TV. They know what they sign up for.” Well, I guess if these contestants actually read their contracts they would. But half of them just want to be on TV, they don’t realize that they are signing their life away so you can embarrass, humiliate, defame and portray their character in any way you choose, without one ounce of responsibility falling on ABC and the production company. Trust me. I’ve read the contract. I have that in my possession too. The show is f***in sick joke. I had no idea the lengths they go to in that contract to make sure ABC and the production team aren’t held liable for anything that happens on this show. It’s unfreakinbelievable. Yet, we’re supposed to believe this is “real human emotion?” Please.

Chris says that Melissa was not blindsided and that she knew when she arrived at the taping, because of the talks her and Jason were having as of late, that it just wasn’t working. Chris says he doesn’t know if Melissa knew she’d be getting dumped on the show, and that you’d have to ask her. Well, Jason said on Jimmy Kimmel last night that Melissa and him were broken up by the time they arrived at the ATFR taping, and the only question he had was was she going to wear her ring there. So which is it? Were they broken up or not? And Jason, if you and Melissa were already broken up, like you admitted last night on Jimmy Kimmel’s show, THEN WHY THE HELL DID YOU HAVE TO DO A WHOLE SONG AND DANCE AND GO THROUGH THE BREAKUP YET AGAIN??? You guys were broken up. Fine. Move on. But for thirty minutes, we have to sit there and listen to you do it over again while cameras were rolling? Look, ABC can claim they’re gonna show everything, but please. We all know why that ATFR was filmed. Because they knew they had an ending they’d never had before, and they knew they had an ending they could promote as a “shocker” and “one of the best we’ve ever had.” Can you believe that? You wanna know how little Mike Fleiss and ABC thinks of Melissa? The fact that they promoted last nights finale as the “best we’ve ever had.” It was? I’m sure if you ask Melissa that, she’ll tend to disagree. For shock value, utter embarrassment, disgust, and pure cruelty, yeah sure, best ending you’ve ever had. You don’t give a crap about how Melissa feels as long as 11 million people are watching I guess. Appalling.

The reason they’re saying they decided to film it was because at the time of the ATFR 1 taping, they were a few weeks into the show, still six weeks away from the finale, and they’ve gotten word that their happy couple is now on the rocks. So what do they do? Chris says, “Do we let all of America just keep going along with this happy little fairytale only to find that in the end it all blew up a month and a half prior? It’s not like Jason was breaking up with Mel and just going away. He was asking for a shot with the girl you saw him break up with in New Zealand.” So they figured by taping the ATFR show, they would let America see what happened between their engaged couple. Ok, fine. Problem is, Jason didn’t say sh**. He went from spinning Melissa around, telling her he loved her 100 times in a row, telling Molly “I think you’re wrong” when she told him he was making a mistake, to him just saying, “Uhhh, things changed. Chemistry changed.” Can we get some examples here? This is your fiancé supposedly, not some bimbo you dragged home from the bar. Of course Melissa was pissed, this douche broke off an engagement because why? I still don’t have an answer. Well, other than the one I will always believe which is, there wasn’t an answer. He was just being told what to do.

They’re still trying to shove the “these are real people trying the best they can to deal with real issues.” I’ll give you that its real people. Finally, something truthful. As far as I know, this show hasn’t gone the way of casting androids, but I’m guessing that’ll probably be up Fleiss’ sleeve next season. “Watch Jillian pick from a pool of 25 computer generated d-bags with no human emotion whatsoever!” I might actually tend to believe the “real issues” part if Jason could’ve actually given us examples why he couldn’t last more than two months with his fiancé that he was sooooooooo in love with when he left New Zealand. The whole thing just doesn’t make sense. Once again, if you’re that conflicted in New Zealand, and Jason made a point to tell us a zillion times that he fell in love with two women, well, then how can he propose to one over the other? That’s completely illogical and narrow minded. “Well, its because that day I believed Melissa was the one for me.” Too convenient. That’s such a cop out answer. Totally left the door open for what he eventually ended up doing.

I just want you people to see here that there’s more than meets the eye. When Jason was on with Kimmel last night, they talked about the last time he was on, which was during the first week of the show, so around Jan. 5th. Kimmel asked him point blank, “Were you engaged then?” Jason said, “Yes. Melissa and I were engaged and things were great.” So, if the ATFR 1 taping was on or around Jan. 18th, and two weeks prior on Kimmel you guys were engaged and things were great, that doesn’t leave much of a window for that engagement to go to hell in a handbasket to the point where you call it off because you want to try and get back in Molly’s pants. So you either lied to Kimmel in the first week of January that things were great, or, you just lied in general about the whole relationship since you were never as in love with her as you claim to be. I will always believe the latter. One last note about Jason before moving on to Molly. Jason told us at the ATFR 1 taping before Melissa came out, “I care so much for Melissa that I need to talk to her.” On national television? Really? Apparently you guys were talking privately and were having problems, and according to you, were already broken up. Hmmm, nice guy. “Hey, I know we’re broken up, but ummmm, since ABC didn’t have any footage of it, think we could gather you up to fly out here and we can get this so 11 million people can see for themselves? Thanks. You’re a trooper.’ How Melissa didn’t punch him in the face during that taping is beyond me.

As for Molly, look, we can go back and forth all day every day for the next century trying to figure out what she knew and when she knew it. Only about four people know the honest answer to this, and they’ll never tell us the truth anyway. Hey, a few of you asked me last week why haven’t any former contestants who were on the show years ago ever come out and said anything if this is all so scripted and manipulated. Ummmm, because they can’t. If there’s nothing else you take from this column today, I want you to take this bit of info. As you know, all contestants are under contract with ABC for a year from when their finale airs. But that only covers interviews, appearances, etc. Everything has to run through ABC. So yeah, Megan didn’t really do that when she got the interview with me, but, that’s ok. Some decide they’re pissed off at ABC enough they’ll do what they please. And she did. However, and I can’t stress this enough, every contestant who’s ever appeared on this show signs a LIFETIME confidentiality agreement which essentially states that you can never give away the show secrets or else you can get sued for $5 million.” Oh yeah, I have that contract in my possession also. So why do you think in sixteen seasons, not one person has written a tell all book? Because they can’t. So that’s why you’ll hear stuff on message boards, from friends, etc. These people talk. They tell friends and family and what not, but nothing will ever publicly get traced back to them or else they’re in deep sh**. So if you have nothing to hide, and everything about this show is clean, forthright, honest, and truthful, why is everyone part of this show threatened with a $5 million lawsuit if they ever speak publicly about what really goes on? I’d say that’s pretty telling.

So that’s where I’m essentially banging my head against the wall. I can’t prove any of this, and they’ll never admit to it. If they do, their show is yanked for being a complete farce. So ABC/Jason/Molly/Fleiss and Chris Harrison to a certain extent, are the ones who have to wake up in the morning and look at themselves knowing where the real truth lies in all of this. Will we ever know? Probably not. But all I want to do is get everything out there for the public to see and have them make their own decision. Judging by the emails I’ve gotten and response, it sounds like people are starting to catch on. However, it’s not like I think the show is going anywhere. If not, they’ll thrive off this and continue to produce more crap for us to watch. And yes, I’ll be front and center watching and writing about it. More on that tomorrow. And oh yeah, Molly, when Jason told you to your face in New Zealand, “I love someone else more” and “I think you’re wrong”, when you told him he was making a mistake, that was awfully quick of you to either forget or forgive him for saying that. Not ten minutes after this guy lets his fiance go last night, does he and the girl that he dumped in New Zealand have their tongues jammed down each others throat. Really? You couldn’t wait til maybe you got off stage or something? Yeah, and they had NO contact in those two months? Uh huh. And I’ve been wrong about everything since Jan. 27th.

So, since that time in January, I’ve been giving more and more information little by little that’s all proven to be true. I’ve had a few minor details wrong, but basically for the most part, I’ve told you what to expect this season. Well, last Wednesday I got this random email from someone who claimed to work in LA. I verified it based on the information given, but obviously I will keep their occupation private. This person then proceeded to tell me they have contacts over at ABC, and those contacts essentially had a map of how things went this season on the show. Well, here is that email. This was sent last Wednesday, and obviously you can see most of this stuff ended up playing out. I’m showing it to you because this was never my original source. In fact, Id never even gotten an email from this person EVER until five days ago. So this is what someone at ABC is leaking to their friends, who then passed it on to me. Here’s what they wrote:

“Ok, so let me break it all down for you as I understand it:

Hope you enjoy the carnage. Because it is coming!”

So just so we’re clear here. This email was sent from someone at ABC to a buddy, who then passed it along to me. So when Chris Harrison talks about they know where the leaks are coming from and know who’s responsible, I’d say they don’t. So just wanted to add this fuel to the fire that more people knew about this than ABC wanted to believe. I was just the only one to come out with it as early as I did. Doesn’t matter who told me, how many people were involved, or how I got it, the fact is I wanted to beat ABC to the punch on their “shocker” for this season, and I did. I’ve never done that in the 15 seasons I’ve been covering this show because, well, I’d never gotten tipped off like this before. I’m sure they’re not happy because this was going to be their gem, and they definitely didn’t want the public forming an opinion before the finale but, oops. Sorry.

I would like nothing more than to speak with Melissa so we can get an answer to a lot of these questions. Put it this way, she knows I’m looking for her. The invitation is out there. All she has to do is accept it. And what better place to come to share your story than here, where all I want to do is get the truth out. I feel the public has been misled enough by this show, and seeing Melissa get taken behind the woodshed last night was gut wrenching to watch. Something tells me however that she is done with this whole process and would just like to move on. Of course she doesn’t want to be the next Bachelorette. Would you after what just happened to you? Melissa was the perfect candidate. She has America behind her, she’s likable, she’s cute, and she already has a built in audience. There’s a reason Jillian is out next Bachelorette. It’s because Melissa doesn’t want any part of this mockery any more. And can you blame her?

I’m still working on transcribing the Megan interview, so I’ll have that up in a couple days. As for the Jason and Melissa email conversation done after the ATFR 1 taping was held, I still haven’t decided if I’m going to release them. I’m leaning one way right now, but I’ll have a definitive answer in the next day or two. Until then, enjoy tonights fluff piece as ABC tries to shove down our throat “Hey, Jason’s just living his life and don’t be mad at him for following his heart.” Blech. Makes me want to vomit. The guy made his own bed and now he should have to lie in it. And going on Jimmy Kimmel and immediately becoming defensive about what he did isn’t helping his cause much either. Back tomorrow with more stuff. Any questions, comments, emails, praises, criticisms, or more Jason/Molly backlash, email me at steve@realitysteve.com. And please, don’t be offended or keep sending emails if I don’t get back to you. I get and read ALL your emails. I just have to pick and choose which ones to respond to due to the 200-300 or so a day I’ve been getting recently. Thanks for your patience. Enjoy tonight. If that’s possible.

Administrator The Bachelor 13 - Jason

So as we head into a “shocking” finale that I’ve waited six weeks for, a couple thoughts about everything in general.

As for the Megan interview, I was able to recover some of the audio, but I can’t upload it now. So what I’m doing is transcribing the last 35 minutes we did so you can read my questions and her answers in a nutshell. I will have that up either later tonight or in tomorrow’s column.

Let’s start with another interview conducted this weekend by none other than, you guessed it, Hairbotique.com. Can’t say I’d ever think in a million years they’d want to talk to me, but hey, I enjoyed it. The author is a big fan of mine, they’re based here in the DFW metroplex, and she wanted to get my story out there. I think the one thing about this interview you’ll find different is its actually about me, not the news I broke. That’s been covered ad nauseum and I think you all know about what happens tonight. No, this one is just about me, my background, and what makes me tick. I think. Take a look for yourself. Here’s the link:

Who is Reality Steve?

UPDATE: Looks like the problem is fixed and everyone should be able to access the link now, which is why I took down the other post where I cut and pasted the interview.

As for tonight, I think a lot of people have gotten on me for attacking Jason and Molly’s character throughout this whole process, and really, I don’t think I have. Do I think what he did was wrong? Yes. Does that make him a bad person? Depends on how you look at it. I think he’s a decent guy, but a horrible decision maker and easily manipulated. Let’s face it, Jason Mesnick, in the last 12 months:

-Proposed to DeAnna and got rejected
-Agreed to sign on for another reality show where 25 girls would chase him
-Proposed to Melissa and she accepted
-Two months later, changes his mind, dumps her on national TV, and starts up with yet another girl, Molly

I mean, the guy seems to be like a kid in a candy store. He doesn’t know what he wants. I don’t see that as being the “catch” that ABC is making him out to be, I’m sorry. I think he’s one of those guys that probably didn’t date a lot before he got married, got divorced, felt pretty down about the whole thing, had an opportunity to come on this show, got dumped by DeAnna, then does this season, only to be manipulated and do what he was told. I think this guy just tries to please too many people and doesn’t take a stand for himself. Is that a character assassination? I don’t think so. I think it’s a character flaw that he has. We all have character flaws. Hell, I know I do. But I also know that I never would’ve done this to Melissa, or any woman for that matter.

The bottom line is this regarding Jasons character: Regardless of if he had a “change of heart” and “couldn’t take his mind off Molly”, Jason DID NOT have to break up with Melissa on camera and embarrass her like that. Period. End of story. Yes, he’s under contract to ABC to create a story and a show here, but if he puts his foot down and refuses to dump her at the ATFR 1 taping, it could’ve happened. But he didn’t. And that is one of the things I “couldn’t wrap my head around.” He chose to embarrass her instead of breaking up with her off camera. So judge his character based on that.

As for Molly, hey, I’ve said this from day one, I DID NOT KNOW what her role was in all this. I know she knew something, but at what point and how much is the million dollar question. When I first broke the news, I was convinced Molly didn’t know anything when she left New Zealand. And I still believe that. After I heard about what went down at the ATFR 1 taping, I figured she was pretty upset and left New Zealand pretty unhappy. I ruled out Jason telling her before the final rose ceremony, “Ok, here’s what’s gonna happen. I’m gonna dump you, pick Melissa, but take you back in two months. Got it? Ok, now act all upset tomorrow.” No, I don’t think that happened at all. I think she thought she had a good chance to be picked, but when she wasn’t, was devastated and left New Zealand scorned and upset.

It wasn’t until about 3 weeks ago that I started hearing rumors about Jason and Molly seeing each other on weekends he wasn’t with Melissa, which then started to make sense. Only problem, once again, is I can’t prove it. In fact, no one can other than Jason, Molly, and those closely involved with the show. And they’ll never admit to it because that makes them guilty. Especially when Jason denies to Melissa tonight he ever had contact with Molly in the two months he and her were engaged. I think he’s lying. C’mon, no guy would break off an engagement with someone in “hoping” that a girl he dumped two months earlier would give him a second chance. He had to be pretty confident Molly would take him back. And the only way that’s possible is if they had contact. C’mon people. Take off the blinders and think outside the box. It’s not that far fetched. This is a TV show. It’s drama. They can do whatever they want with these people once they sign up. Are you really believing these two never spoke in two months? Sure, they’re going to play it off as she’s shocked, she’s got a ton of questions, but she never stopped loving him and is willing to try, but just like the rest of the season, it just seems something is fishy about all this. I asked Megan in our interview point blank, “As a woman, if that were you, and you’d had no contact with the guy for two months, and he just dumped his fiance, would you take him back that quickly?” Megan’s response: “OMG. Are you crazy?”

Plus, Jasons story in all this is that he was in love with two women. Ok, I’ll even give you that, buddy. You love both of them. Up until that morning of the final rose ceremony, you’re completely torn about the two. So if you’re THAT conflicted about who to choose, why then a proposal? The “Bachelor” stipulates that you are by no means necessary forced to propose to someone. It’s encouraged, but you’re not obligated to. Yet again, I think he’s trying to please too many people here. ABC would like a proposal, so he gave them one. Melissa I’m sure would’ve loved to be proposed to, so he did. It just doesn’t make sense. The guy had a degree in psychology, am I right? How can he think proposing when he was that torn between two women would be the right idea? He will tell us til the end of time that he went with his heart, and truly thought Melissa and he would be together forever when he proposed. I’m sorry, but I don’t believe that. I will always believe Jason knew he wanted to be with Molly in the end and was told to pick Melissa in a plan that would lead to this “shocking” ending, and he agreed to do it.

As for his appearance on the “View” this past Friday, pretty bland. He didn’t say anything that surprised me. Of course he’s gonna say the show isn’t scripted. Uhhhh, admitting that it is would essentially kill the show as we know it. It’s funny, Jason first comes out and says, “Look, I know there’s tons of rumors floating around out there, I don’t even have time to read all them. They’re crazy. I don’t even follow what’s being said on the internet. BUT, I do want to kill one theory and that’s that the show is scripted. It’s not. This is completely real.” Gee, how convenient? He doesn’t follow any of the rumors going around, yet, he decides to squelch the one that’d be the most damaging to the show? How nice. It’s also funny that at the beginning of the season, he’s screaming from the mountaintops “I’m engaged! Yippee!” But all interviews recently, with “People”, the “View”, the “Women Tell All” show, and it’s, “I’m extremely happy. You’re just gonna have to watch and see what happens.” Very telling.

So I just wanted to get these thought out there before we watch everything tonight. I will definitely come back tomorrow with some more thoughts after watching, and will have the last part of the Megan interview up if its not up later tonight, plus, I’m working on some other things for this week. As for the emails, I’m still deciding on what to do. I want to see how tonight and tomorrow play out, and then I’ll make a decision. Any questions, comments, emails, praises, criticisms, last ditch crazy ass theories that you might have, feel free to email me at steve@realitysteve.com. Check back later today for the last half of the Megan interview. If not, it’ll be in tomorrow’s column. Until then. March 2nd is finally here! Woo hoo!

Administrator The Bachelor 13 - Jason

Here’s what I know what happened coming from someone who was there:

-Jillian is announced as the next Bachelorette.
-Melissa was not there. Chris Harrison had a written letter from Melissa that he read which stated she was fine, she’s moved on, and doesn’t regret anything about anything happened.
-Showed the finale and ATFR 1 condensed to the audience into a 90 minute version, so it was basically a clip show of the two shows combined. Jason proposed to Melissa. Him crying on the balcony was after he had let Molly go, and before Melissa had arrived. Melissa obviously accepted the proposal. They leave NZ engaged. (Gee, I said that a month ago).
-DeAnna actually does ask him to take her back, but he’s like, “Look loser, I’m in love with two other women.” So I’m sure she was put put up to that since she just had broken up with Jesse two weeks earlier. DeAnna admitted to choosing the “wildcard”, but said she should’ve picked him instead. Oh please. More B.S. Blah blah blah….

ATFR 1:
-Jason dumps Melissa on camera. When Melissa came out, she was in a somber mood. Like she knew what was about to happen. They barely embraced. Made it seem like Melissa knew it was coming. Jason tells her he can’t stop thinking about Molly. Melissa asks if he had contact with her, he says no. She says, “You chose me, but you’re not willing to fight for me?” Basically accusing him of changing his mind. “We left New Zealand, we spent all this time together, and now you want to spend all this time with someone else. I don’t get it.”
-Jason just says the chemistry is different, and he can’t stop thinking of Molly. So Melissa is pissed that he proposed but basically wussed out and didn’t give their relationship a chance.
-Last thing shown to everyone is Chris Harrison saying, “I’ll leave you two alone to talk”. Then Melissa telling Jason, “Don’t text me, don’t call me, don’t email me, I don’t want anyone contact with you, we’re done.” She gets up, leaves, gets into a limo, and talks to the camera.

-She leaves and they bring Molly out. Molly has NO IDEA this has just happened with Melissa. She thinks she’s coming out to ask Jason her questions, and he explains he just dumped Melissa. Basically telling her he can’t stop thinking about her. Molly keeps looking at Chris Harrison thinking this is all a joke.
-She asks, “What about Melissa?” Jason says “I don’t expect you to get engaged to me now, but can we explore this.” Molly says she’ll give it a chance. Once Molly is over the shock, she says they have a lot to talk about, she feels sorry for Melissa, but she’s willing to see where things go and she can’t help but be a little bit happy. Said her feelings have never changed since getting dumped in New Zealand. Shows ends there.

ATFR 2:
-Chris Harrison talking to Naomi, Nikki, Stephanie, Kari, and Erica live in studio. Gets their reaction to everything that happened. They essentially all bag on Jason saying if he was that conflicted, he should’ve waited and not proposed.
-Took questions and comments from the audience. Some of the girls on stage answered some of the questions, but it was basically getting feedback.
-Jason comes out next by himself. This is when Chris Harrison reads the letter from Melissa. Afterwards, Jason defends his decision saying he had to do it, didn’t want to lead Melissa on, follow his heart, Molly was constantly on his mind, blah blah blah
-Bring Molly out by herself first then Jason joins her. Talk about how everything is great. Rewatches her segment from ATFR 1 and reiterates she was really surprised, had a lot of questions, but Jason answered them. Her family had questions too, but, they’re fine with it now and they love Jason. She’s planning on moving to Seattle once everything dies down. Hope people aren’t mad at him for following his heart. Jason is mad that people are saying bad things about Molly. Molly states for the record, she is NOT pregnant.
-When both out there, Chris Harrison asks Jason at what point he had something for Molly, and audience member screams “The tent!” So they bring the tent out to both of them as their gift.

-Show ends with them bringing Jillian out and announcing her as the next Bachelorette.

Final analysis:

I’ve been vindicated! Thank god. Why would I have lied to you people? I had nothing to gain by lying in all this. Nothing. I was truthful and honest from the beginning. You gotta remember, what was shown to the audience was a 90 minute version of the 2 hr finale and ATFR 1. So things can be spliced up, edited, and shown out of order. But this was the bare bones of what was shown.

So when Melissa asks him, “Did you have contact with Molly?” and he says, “No”, there might be more to it. They didn’t see the whole show, the just saw the highlights of the ATFR 1. I’ll say it now, Melissa suspected Jason was seeing/texting/emailing/talking to Molly. That’s why she asked. There’s no way he didn’t contact her in those two months. Not a chance. But like I said, this is the way I thought ABC would spin this – that he just changed his mind. And that’s what they’re going to present. Hey, if you want to believe that, go ahead. I will always believe differently. He did not just change his mind without having spoken to her in 2 months in my mind. No way.

Also, as some of the bachelorettes said, if he was THAT conflicted at the final rose ceremony, why even propose to Melissa? If you don’t think for a second this was part of a plan, then I don’t know what to tell you. There’s no way anyone in their right mind, if they were truly in love with two people, would propose to one, then two months later, dump her on national television. I’m seriously contemplating printing out the email conversation now between Melissa and Jason that was done after the ATFR 1 was taped. It verifies everything I’m saying here and coincides with what Melissa said at the taping once he broke up with her. All Jason is doing in these emails is apologizing for what he did and wishes he would’ve handled it better and not listened to the producers. Now that we know how this all plays out, you can’t tell me the emails were fake. I’m sorry. I never thought they were, the addresses were verified, and exactly what happened tonight is exactly what’s in them, EXCEPT for the fact that Melissa knew Jason had contact with Molly while they were engaged. And ABC conveniently left that part out. But something still tells they might not have left it out, and we will see the full meltdown. Guess we’ll find out Monday.

So the question til the end of time will be this: When did Molly know about all this? When she left New Zealand, I truly believe Molly knew nothing. She thought it was over and she was heartbroken because she had just been dumped. I’m telling you, I will believe beyond a shadow of a doubt until the end of time, that Jason and Molly were in contact during the two months from the taping of the finale in New Zealand until the ATFR 1 taping in January. Here’s something else to ponder? Why would they bring Melissa out first, have Molly backstage not listening in to anything going on, if they didn’t have ANY idea what was about to happen? Don’t they ALWAYS bring the F2 girl out first on the ATFR shows so she can ask her questions and get her answers first? Please.

In closing, all the phonies out there who tried to tell you Jason and Melissa were happy and engaged, Molly was pregnant, Melissas parents were the real issue, Jason’s mom was posting on message boards, and all the other crazy rumors you’ve heard over the last month, you couldn’t have been more wrong and congratulations on trying to throw people off. The bottom line is I told you on Jan. 27th what the outcome of this show would be, and today’s taping proved it. I’m sure Jasons pleading of “Don’t hate Molly” and “I went with my gut and I’m happy as a clam right now” will tug at the heartstrings of some of you, but hey, I’m not buying it. At all. I believe Jason Mesnick knew during the filming he was going to pick Molly, was told to pick Melissa so they could create this shocking, dramatic finale, and he went along with it. I guess its my word against theirs until eternity. I tend to think my word is worth more.

Administrator The Bachelor 13 - Jason

So I’m sorry to report, but the last 35 minutes of the Megan interview is gone. Not because ABC killed it, not because I thought I’d get in trouble for airing it, and not because Megan did anything wrong. Bottom line: When I stopped recording the interview, it was 1 hour and 28 minutes long. When I saved it, I thought it saved the full file. After making it an mp3 file and creating a link, it wasn’t til then that, for whatever reason, the file only contained 53 minutes. Honestly, I have no idea what happened. So here’s where we stand right now. I spoke with Megan and she said she’d be more than glad to re-record it. But with the weekend coming up, and the finale Monday, I’m thinking maybe when this is all said and done, we’ll just have Megan come on talk about everything that just happened. I just think after Tuesday, her talking about the WTA taping won’t be as significant, even though she had some good stuff (i.e. – Jason was brought in for his segment and then left. None of the girls ever got to speak to him before the taping started backstage, nor afterwards. It’s like he was President Mesnick and was entering a hotel lobby or something with Secret Service wheeling him in and out. Don’t you find that a little odd they don’t even let him speak with anyone? And oh yeah, Jillians question to him? The only one that was asked. He never took questions from the audience, nor from any of the other 14 girls that were sitting there. Uh huh. How can you not see what’s going on here?).

So, it looks like more media is picking up on the information I had a month ago. If you’ve gotten your US Weekly this week, you’ll see I’m quoted a few times in the article on the shows finale, but also, a source that they’re claiming is with ABC production, confirms everything I said was true, even down to the “Jason was seeing Molly behind Melissa’s back.” Once again, you can choose to believe US Weekly or not. “Star” magazine has it as well in their 3 page story on the finale.

Also, one of “Access Hollywoods” insiders, Laura Saltman, posted a on her blog “Dish of Salt”, basically everything that I’ve told you for the last month as well. You can read that right here:

Dish of Salt – “What I Know About ‘The Bachelor’ Scandal

As always, you can choose to believe Laura or not. I tend to think she’s brilliant, but hey, that’s just me being biased. Although, it is pretty funny I’m not the only one who’s now talking about how this finale is made out. If you said, “Well, he’s just a blogger, he’s not credible”, fine. There’s definitely some validity to that. But when magazines and entertainment sites are running with it? Hmmmmm. Probably a little truth there, don’t you think? Whatever. Only three days away now before all this comes crashing down on everyone. Of course, the shock value will probably be worn off by then since you’ll have known about this for almost two weeks. I think most of the shock will come from you saying, “Holy crap! Reality Steve was right!”

I’ve said from the beginning that the only thing I really knew from the ATFR 1 taping in January was the outcome. Remember yesterday when I said I was getting some more info about what went down on the ATFR 1, and I’d release it Monday? Well, I’ve decided to tell you now. The outcome of the ATFR 1 taping, as you know, was that Jason dumps Melissa for Molly. I’ve said that numerous times. I’m starting to hear more information about some of the things that shake down. My sources are telling me that there is a huge meltdown which brings Jason to tears, and it comes from Melissa. I’m talking screaming him down, maybe some cursing, an overall verbal beatdown and then she storms off set. I’ve heard this from more than one source now and I feel pretty comfortable going with it. Now, the part I don’t know for sure is what caused this. But I can sure guess. If she just got broken up with, I’m guessing she’d be upset, but nothing to that extent. So I’m beginning to think more and more that Melissa’s emotional breakdown is caused by the fact that Jason does in fact tell her about Molly, and that he’s been seeing her. I really can’t think of anything else. That’s the type of reaction I’d expect when you tell your fiance, “Oh by the way, I’ve been seeing Molly.” Once again, you can choose to believe this or not. We shall see Monday. I’m 99% positive the Melissa meltdown happened based on what I’ve heard. The reason for the meltdown, Jason telling her about Molly, is speculation on my part. But I think I’m gonna be right on this one.

Now, as for what happens later tonight. Yesterday, I told you that the ATFR 2 was taped Wednesday and Melissa was part of it. Well, that was a mistake on my part. All I had heard was it was CONFIRMED they were going to tape an ATFR 2 and that Melissa would be part of it. I shouldn’t have said it was already taped because I wasn’t 100% sure. But what I had heard was that “either its done, or its going to get done”, and I jumped the gun and said its done. Woops. In the grand scheme of things, that’s meaningless though. So I was two days off as to when the ATFR 2 taped. That’s so inconsequential at this point, even though I’m sure plenty of you will jump all over me for it. Keep in mind, everything that’s important about this season is centered around the ATFR 1 taping I’ve known about for a month. That’s where the sh*t hits the fan. Who cares what day the ATFR 2 is taped on since that’s just pretty much gonna be a fluff piece anyway? Yesterday I told you it taped Wednesday but I wouldn’t have any information about it before it aired, right? Well, now I’m telling you it tapes today and I’ll have details of it tonight. I’m guessing you’re more pleased with the latest developments, so, me having the date wrong by 48 hours couldn’t be less important. Check back later if you want an update on the ATFR 2 taping today in California.

That’s it. I appreciate all the people who have now registered at RealitySteve.com so they can leave comments. Over 300 already on the first day, which is more than I ever expected. I just figured people would stop commenting. Anyway, have a great weekend, and I’ll see you Monday. Email any questions, comments, praises, criticisms, and love letters to steve@realitysteve.com.

Administrator The Bachelor 13 - Jason