Hey RS,
Wow, Michelle’s podcast was the best so far. I love that it focused on how doing the show impacted her life, rather than on what goes on behind the scenes.
She is a powerhouse of a woman. I admire her sincerity and ambition. I think women who are strong enough and brave enough to carry a child for 9 mos and then give the baby up for adoption are the most selfless women on earth. (As a mom who has carried 2 children of her own). It was a great story and I’m so glad she shared it. Had no idea it was coming.
Question time & I apologize in advance if these have been asked in the past.
1.) Do you think that one of the reasons they announced Rachel early was to try and cast a few more diverse contestants? I mean I have to believe knowing the show has been predominately white that not many minority men apply or not enough that fit the “bill.” I really don’t think so. Final casting weekend had already occurred weeks earlier. Maybe a few more minority contestants got added late, but I wouldn’t think many.
2.) Do you know what the women who are not on a date do for lunch/dinner? Are they allowed to go out or do they have to have dinner catered in so that people do not see them out? Just curious as I haven’t seen any spoilers of women who were out & about during their down time.
I’m looking forward to Michelle interviewing you!
Thank you!
Comment: No, they don’t just get to hang out on the town and go out for that exact reason. People would see them. Pretty much everything is catered and brought to the rooms.
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Hi Steve,
I am a big fan of yours! Been reading your blog since Kaitlyn’s season (I started watching the bachelor/bachelorette with Juan Pablo’s). I always tell my friends who also watch the bachelor/bachelorette to read your blog!
I have a question: do you have any spoilers about Nick and Vanessa’s current relationship status? They’re still engaged.
I know you don’t follow their Instagram/social media accounts, but I’ve been looking at them. Nick posts photos with Raven, Rachel, Kristina… He has posted many photos with Raven, even ones where they are kissing. Raven has liked those photos on Instagram too and also posts their photos a lot from the season. I know a lot of this is just to gain attention and likes. But Vanessa rarely likes his photos anymore (she used to). She hasn’t recently posted pictures of them from the season (which most contestants do every Monday to get likes). I kinda have the feeling that they’ve already broken up. Do you have any information on this? They may pretend they’re still together for a few months after the finale, but I don’t think Vanessa is as fame hungry as Nick is and would pretend to be together. But then again we have seen a pretty biased edit of Vanessa so who knows what she is really like.
Thank you!
Comment: They’re not broken up. Don’t read so much into stuff like that. It’ll just drive you crazy. Because you can create any storyline you want by doing that, positive or negative. You say Vanessa didn’t like a Nick picture he posted on IG and that makes you think they’re not together. Well, they are. So I guess her not liking it doesn’t mean anything. He likes Raven’s picture so what does that mean? Apparently nothing either since he’s not with her. Again, who likes what and who comments on whose page is never a 100% indicator of anything. This will be true til the end of time.
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Hey Steve,
First things first – love the podcast! Keep up the great work. All the interviews have been very interesting and all different from each other in their own way. One thing I have noticed is that almost all of the interviewees have been people who got negative edits on their season. I would think that experience would lead to a lot of tension between them and the producers who manipulated them so much. Maybe I have just missed it, but have any of these people (or others you have talked to off the air) addressed how they reacted to producers upon realizing how they were being portrayed? Actually, a majority of the former contestants I interviewed weren’t people who got negative edits. Clare was never considered a villain. Kacie B. was never a villain. Nick might’ve done a villainous thing on “Bachelor Pad 3,” but when he showed up on Paradise, I don’t think anyone had a villain reaction towards him did they? And that’s 3 of the 5 contestants. JJ and Courtney would definitely be considered villains, that I agree with.
Also…. Raven’s whole segment last week just had me cringing… Like pulling the blanket over my head because I just can’t watch. I agree she definitely seemed to be pretty smashed. I just can’t imagine a scenario (no matter how wasted she was) where revealing that seemed like a good idea. Imagine being her parents or brother and watching that episode…. Gross.
Comment: Yeah, that was a complete head scratcher. I have no idea why she decided to share that with the world. Just seems like something you’d tell your girlfriends. Not your potential ex-fiance and 7 million people.
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This is the first season since Trista and Ryan that I didn’t watch. I’ve seen A LOT of trash on this show, but this year I just couldn’t take it anymore and stopped midway. It might have to do with me being pregnant and not being able to control my hormonal angry outbursts 🙂 Corinne made my skin crawl and the fact that they encouraged her drama only made me more mad. I felt like on Trista’s season they actually WANTED Trista to find love and now they just focus on the drama more and more. How many more seasons do you think this show has? Who do you think breaks up with who (whom? I never know when to use whom), Nick or Vanessa? If you were the bachelor and these were your group of women, who would you pick? What percentage of the girls do you think are there to really find love and not fame?
Even though I stopped watching this season, I still get on your site daily to check out anything new 🙂 I love your sarcasm, honestly, and all your juicy knowledge 🙂 Also, if you have any good baby girl names to suggest, suggest away 🙂 Stevella? 🙂
Comment: Well, lets break down your questions: 1) This show will go on as long as it wants to. 2) My guess would be Nick would be the one to eventually break it off. 3) Who would I pick? None of them. Too young for me. 4) 0% of the girls go on this show for love. I mean, they all have it in the back of their mind, but it’s not THE reason why they go on.
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Seriously Steve, I don’t usually cry but I couldn’t hold it back when Michelle Money was talking about meeting her son… Wow! Thank you for doing these podcasts, I look forward to them all week now. You are helping to HUMANIZE these contestants and it’s SO refreshing. Never thought I would understand or like Clare or JJ but I seriously love getting to know/understand these people from their perspective as opposed to the perspective they are promoted to have…
My question is: Going on a bachelor show for the second time, do you still fall for producer manipulation? How does the show handle Bachelor in Paradise where everyone knows what’s really behind the scenes already?
Thanks again Steve! Stoked!
Comment: Absolutely you can. Because leading into that second appearance, producers are constantly telling you how much better it will be for you this time around, and then FOMO sets in and you convince yourself it can’t possibly be that bad – until it is.
“Bachelor in Paradise” really is a different animal because you do have more of a chance to meet someone on that show since it’s numerous guys and girls, and not just one sex of 25 people competing for one person. Plus, so many of these contestants talk and hook up outside the show, going on BIP is a drop in the hat to them. They don’t think twice about that one. It’s more of a fun show and they’ve seen some relationships work out of that one, so, it’s not too hard to convince yourself you can find someone on there. The biggest difference is you can talk to and sleep with someone you connect with on that show every single night. You don’t have to worry about barely seeing them, or only seeing them on dates.
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Hi Steve,
I noticed in this week’s reader emails your amazement/joking disbelief that someone who never watched the Bachelor franchise would enjoy your column….I just want to say (in the best way possible) that you are totally wrong! I love your perspective and sarcasm….I never watched the bachelor (full disclaimer: I used to be an MTV junkie and did watch that one flavor flav and I love New York show back in the day for the lolz) but am always interested in what people go through just for 15 minutes of fame, and why. Most of all – I have been loving your podcast! I spend about 2 hours in the car everyday and you have made it so much better in recent weeks! I’ve had times where I couldn’t wait to get into the car!
Anyway – I really enjoyed Courtney’s podcast. She just seemed so genuine of all things, and I was amazed that she never did reality afterwards. I also really enjoyed Clare and JJ Lane. Nick Peterson was ok…regardless of what his motivations were he was still deceptive …and VERY high stakes. I also was just surprised he took Rachael’s final 2 episode edit (that he said was his motivation for keeping the money) as verbatim when he should know that the producers may have baited her into saying some of that stuff. What do you think? Maybe if I had watched the show I would know 🙁 Yeah, kinda hard to say that when you didn’t see it. I think Nick did what he needed to do. It’s not unheard of to go that route, so I can see why he did it.
Second question, I remember from reading your column that you would never have/ask Andi Dorfman to come on…could you clarify why not? Do you think Andi is just after fame? If so, is there anybody else you would *never* have on?
Keep up the podcast!
Thanks!!
Comment: Andi would never come on my podcast so there’s no point in asking. She would consider herself “above” it. Trust this to be true.
Never have on because I don’t want them on? Or never have on because I don’t think they’d do it? There’s plenty in both categories.
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Hi Steve
I was listening to Juliette’s podcast on Channel 33 last night and I know you mentioned you also listen to that one. She interviewed Rob Mills from ABC this week and he talked about a pro athlete who he met with a few times years ago that was “desperate” to be the Bachelor.
Any idea who he is talking about?
Thanks!
Comment: I know that a while back Ryan Braun was talked to about it. And since Juliet is such a Chandler Parsons fan, she could be referring to him as well.
However, people need to get this through their head when talking about a pro athlete being on this show. It’ll never happen because they’re in season. So I don’t know why people would think they’d ever come on. Not to mention, they don’t NEED to come on this show to find a woman. They’re pro athletes.
Just look at the seasons. “Bachelor” films Sept – Nov. “Bachelorette” films March – May. Now look at the pro seasons:
-NBA and NHL run from October through June. So none of those players could ever be on either show.
-MLB is April thru October. So they’re out.
-NFL runs Sept thru Feb. So they could never be the “Bachelor.” Could they cast one on the “Bachelorette?” I mean, if that player is really gonna leave off season workouts and training so he could be one of 25 guys on a dating show, technically it could happen, but it never will.
So lets completely just dismiss any possible professional athlete ever appearing on this show because it’s never going to happen for 1) job reasons and 2) the utter ridiculousness of it.
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Hi Steve,
I’m a big Connie Britton fan and loved her in Friday Night Lights (maybe even more being a hs teacher married to the head football coach myself-I still think to myself in situations “what would Tami Taylor do?”). So naturally I’ve been a fan of Nashville and her on it. I was pretty stunned she died last episode. The show can’t really start a new season without her, at least successfully, right? I would still watch, but she is the backbone of the show. I think the episode after she died was really good-but that can’t go on forever.
I just read in an interview she decided to leave the show, and I guess that’s why she died (Rayna would never just leave her family), but I’m really curious your thoughts on Rayna dying and if/how the show will move forward.
Thanks for all you do! Avid reader and now listener!!
Comment: The weird thing about that whole situation is that when ABC didn’t pick up “Nashville” and CMT did, there were rumors out there she was only coming back for 8-10 episodes this season. But at the beginning of the season back in January, Connie went on Ellenand said she’s “in for the duration,” so why would anyone immediately think, “Oh she’s lying to us. She’s leaving this season.” Or even look at that statement and think anything other than she was gonna stick around? We had no reason to believe she was leaving after that interview. So yeah, it was surprising.
With that said, the show can survive most definitely. I think if it were still at ABC they’d be in trouble because being a network show, you have a certain amount of ratings expectations if you’re holding down a prime time slot. That’s why so many shows get cancelled. But on CMT and Hulu? They don’t have to worry about great numbers, since those are cable channels and they’re expecting less. I can see it going on another few seasons. Maybe stopping at 7 or 8.
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By the way I’ve always loved/respect that you’ve never leaked who gives your spoilers nor do you release certain personal information on certain leads and contestants ( such has who All nick has slept with and so on) but I’ve gained even more respect after listening to your podcast. But one thing that drives me crazy is when I watch a show or listen to a podcast where the main person will talk either talk crap or give there opinions or badmouth someone and then when that person comes on there show all of a sudden they back track and act like there best friends.
I LOVE that every podcast so far you have stayed true to you and if you don’t agree with them or you will come out and tell them how you truly feel about their actions and if you had wrote anything negative towards them you tell them why. You just don’t agree with everything, you call people on their BS. So thank you. And honestly, I never really listening to many podcasts before yours and at first I was a little bummed that you weren’t going to be doing live chats anymore and instead you were starting a podcast. Of course I subscribed right away but I didn’t think I’d love them and boy was I wrong! I am obsessed with them and besides your spoilers this is the best thing you’ve done!;)
Comment: Thank you. The one thing I feel you’ll get from my podcasts that you won’t from others who talk “Bachelor” stuff, is those people dissect the show and the dates. I could not care less about that stuff since I’ve known what happens for months. I’d much rather talk to interesting contestants from the past 15 years this show has had. I find that more entertaining. I learn stuff, you learn stuff, we all learn stuff. And I’m not doing this to change your mind on any of them. I’m doing it because the contestants essentially have never had a voice or a platform like this before. Once they come on for a good 45-90 min, then you can make your own judgment about what you think of them. It’s all I ever wanted to do with the podcast was get to know these people’s thought process while on the show and post show. And I think our next couple guests coming up you’ll really like. Sharleen I’m really looking forward to next week. The week after that is someone that’s very important to the franchise and someone I’ve always been interested in talking to. That’ll be in 2 weeks.
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Hey Steve,
Really loving the podcasts but miss seeing you on live video! Nick P’s was my favorite. If you could keep asking contestants their process of getting on the show, that would be great. Any how – you said ABC owns the rights to couple’s wedding for 2 years, so then on Ben and Lauren’s show when they turned down the ABC wedding, was that all for show?
Thanks!
Comment: I didn’t see exactly what they did since I didn’t watch their show. But to me it just means they turned it down for now. If they get married in the next calendar year, and if it’s televised, ABC holds the rights.
