Everything from this point forward was posted on Nov. 22nd, four days after the finale filmed, with one spoiler addition regarding the night of the final four rose ceremony. If you were following along in the offseason, then you already know this. If you’re just checking today for the first time in a while, then you’re hearing this for the first time. But nothing has changed regarding the ending since I posted this since 6 weeks ago.
Episode 8: (airing Feb. 20th) Hometown Dates
Corinne Olympios 24, Fort Lauderdale, Florida (Filmed Sat. Oct. 29th)
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Rachel Lindsay 31, Dallas, Texas (Filmed Sunday, Oct. 30th)
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Raven Gates 25, Hoxie, Arkansas (Filmed Tuesday, Nov. 1st)
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Vanessa Grimaldi 29, Montreal, Canada. (Filmed Thursday, Nov. 3rd)
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Back on Nov. 5th, the day after the final four rose ceremony, I tweeted this out:
Ahhhhh, they did it again. Another stupid storyline…
— RealitySteve (@RealitySteve) November 5, 2016
I was made aware that before the rose ceremony, which took place at the William Vale Hotel in New York, Andi Dorfman shows up to give Nick “advice.” But you can bet your sweet ass that when this episode airs, and they first start teasing a female “showing up” on this episode, they’re going to make the unspoiled viewer out there think that Andi is coming on because she wants Nick back or something ridiculous. Wasn’t the case. She just gave him “advice” as only a NY Times-best-selling-author-who-already-sold-Nick-out-in-her-book can. If you even look at Andi’s Instagram from Nov. 4th, you can see she was staying at the William Vale Hotel. But yeah, that’s what I was referring to back then.
Rose Ceremony Elimination: Corinne Olympios.
Episode 9: (airing Feb. 27th) Lapland, Finland, Overnight Dates (3 to 2) Finland
Every season I get the proverbial, “So does the Bachelor sleep with all three girls” question, and every season my answer is the same: “It differs every season.” Some Bachelors have slept with all three. Some have slept with two. Some have slept with one. And some have slept with none. This season, in case you didn’t know, Nick Viall is the “Bachelor.” After the revelation reported here earlier this season that Nick slept with contestant Elizabeth Sandoz at Jade and Tanner’s wedding (and confirmed by Elizabeth in episode 1), that now brings his total of women from the franchise he’s slept with to 7. Don’t ask. If I wanted you to know, I’d tell you. Just know the number is 7, and that’s only the ones that I know, which means there’s a good chance there’s probably more. Anyway, I have no idea who Nick had slept with in Finland. But it’s Nick, so anything’s possible.
Rose Ceremony Elimination: Rachel Lindsay.
Episode 10: (airing March 6th) Women Tell All
Episode 11: (airing March 13th) Finale (Raven Gates vs Vanessa Grimaldi)
So back when I spoiled the final four on Nov. 10th (which was in the middle of filming overnight dates), I told you that by everything I was hearing, he was going to pick Vanessa. I hear a lot of things every season, and most of them end up turning out to be true. Halfway through Ben’s filming I told you I heard he was going to pick Lauren – he did. Last season, I told you I heard it was the Jordan and JoJo show and she ended up picking him. So safe to say the intel on that stuff has been pretty solid the past couple of seasons. Was the information I was given this season right again? You bet.
Nick is engaged to Vanessa.
I feel like a broken record now, but I’ll repeat it again. There are exactly ZERO outlets that reported this spoiler. E!, TVGuide, US, In Touch, Hollywood Life, Life & Style, CNN, MSNBC, Yahoo, Drudge Report, Yahoo, EW, Perez Hilton. On and on and on I could go. So if you run this spoiler, please credit this site is all I ask. Thank you. From this point forward, you will see promos, teasers, hear rumors, yada yada yada making you think all sorts of different things that aren’t the ending of Nick is engaged to Vanessa. It’s all just background noise. Pay no attention to it. The show and tabloids will do whatever they can in the next few months to make you think it’s an ending that’s different from what I reported. “Nick walks away!” “Nick ends up alone!” I can see all the headlines now. As I say every season, this isn’t a guess. This isn’t speculation. This is what happens. People can choose to believe this information or not, and there are always those that will doubt and are entitled to their own opinion – however wrong it may be. To be honest, this was the easiest season in recent memory to spoil, and I pretty much knew it would be going in. Too solid of sources this season to ever be worried about being wrong.
Will they last? Probably not. Already not hearing good things about the final couple, and I think where they are in life and location is playing a major role. However, despite everything that Nick claims, he did this season to strictly promote his career. No different than any other lead. He’s been taking acting classes in LA for a while now, so if Vanessa is even considering this relationship to be serious, she’s gonna have to move to LA for this to work. And I’m hearing she does not want to leave Canada. Sorry, but Nick is not moving to Canada. Nor is he moving back to Chicago. That’s not what he wants. He acts and models now. And oh yeah, practically begs to be on DWTS, which he would do in a second if they wanted him. So expect that talk to heat up come spring. He’s wanted that gig for two years now. So already with the relationship starting in LA, and Nick being bitten by the Hollywood bug, it already is starting out on the wrong foot. Plenty of time before any of this comes to fruition, but too many things about Nick that I’ve heard that absolutely have me 100% convinced he’s not interested in marrying anyone from this show.
I’m sure now that the attention will turn to who the next “Bachelorette” will be now that you know how the ending played out. The show has really changed things up the last two seasons when it comes to announcing their lead as we know. Two seasons ago, they went to Ohio to film Caila’s intro video, only to give the lead gig to JoJo. Then this season, they basically led Luke on thinking it was him, so much so that the guy was set to leave on a plane to LA until getting a call the night before telling him they decided to go with Nick. So there’s absolutely nothing set in stone in terms of who the next “Bachelorette” will be, nor will there be for a while. Here is what we know about the “Bachelorette”:
FACT: In the 12 previous “Bachelorette” seasons, every one of the leads finished in the top 4 of the “Bachelor” season they were on.
FACT: There has never been a black woman who made the final 4 of the “Bachelor” in 20 previous seasons before Nick’s.
FACT: Rachel Lindsay is black.
Does that mean that Rachel is gonna be the next “Bachelorette?” I don’t know. This show is capable of anything at this point. She’s obviously a serious candidate, that’s a given. For a franchise that’s taken so much sh** for their lack of diversity, to finally have a black girl make it to the final 3, if Rachel ISN’T the next “Bachelorette,” you gotta start thinking if it’ll ever happen. And I’m just looking at this purely from the standpoint of them actually having a viable black candidate for the lead. Maybe Rachel doesn’t want to do it, I don’t know. But based on how far she lasts, the likability factor, coupled with being 31 and a career woman, seems like she’d be a perfect candidate, no? She’s going to be the girl everyone probably expects will get it, but after what they’ve pulled the last two seasons, I will believe it when I see it. So my answer to the question of who will be the next “Bachelorette” is quite simply, “We’ll know when we know.” Might not be the answer you want to hear, but it’s true. Nothing is ever set in stone anymore in terms of the next lead after what they’ve pulled. So unless they’re gonna snatch a contestant at the last minute from a previous season like they did with Nick, I think the next “Bachelorette” is between Rachel and Raven. If they finally decide that next season is when they’ll have their first black lead, then she will be. If they don’t, then she won’t. She’s obviously in the running more so than any previous black contestant. It’s just a matter if they decide to pull the trigger on it.
I’ve already had emails sent to me inferring that, “Well it’s obvious Rachel is gonna be the next ‘Bachelorette.’ Do you think Nick purposely brought her that far and agreed to do it for them?” I mean, I don’t know how I’m supposed to answer a question like that, not to mention how irresponsible it is to make such a claim. Sure, if Rachel ends up being the “Bachelorette,” sounds like people already are convinced it was because Nick was told to take her that far, so I guess it’s pointless to try and convince those people otherwise. Problem is, you have absolutely no way of proving that, nor would Nick ever admit to such a thing. If you wanna believe that, and Rachel gets the gig, I guess more power to you. And if Rachel isn’t the next “Bachelorette,” your theory was never true to begin with. It’s all guessing and speculating at this point. To me, it’s still way too early. If you go strictly on a 12 season history of the “Bachelorette” franchise, then the only real candidates are Corinne, Rachel, and Raven. And I’m telling you there’s zero chance it’ll be Corinne. So that leaves Rachel and Raven. Who knows what they’re thinking at this point? But I feel it’s so far away now (that decision isn’t made til March), that it’s pointless to have a back and forth. Rachel is their first serious opportunity to cast a black lead in any of their shows. It’s up to them whether or not that’s what they want to do next season. We’ll know in 3 months.
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