The day after the finale is always a glorious day for me. I’m happy because the season is over and I get somewhat of a break before we ramp this thing up again. I’m happy because, for the most part, I’m usually vindicated on something I told people about months ago before you even saw a promo for this season, which happened last night. But then again, I do also get a lot of the same stuff I get every season in regards to the ending. People will see what they saw last night and try and convince themselves that this couple is different than previous ones. I hear it EVERY SINGLE SEASON. “Man, I didn’t like (so-and-so) but they looked really cute up there together. I think they might make it.” Already gotten a few already. Unfortunately I don’t know what to tell ya’, but they won’t. Nick Viall came on this show for a 4th time to increase his brand, get on DWTS, and further his career since, well, Workforce ain’t payin’ the bills anymore. And he absolutely succeeded in doing that. Regardless of what either of them said last night (which was painful if you ask me), Nick has become a pro at what to say in front of the camera, so it’s basically impossible for me to buy anything he’s selling. There are too many things I’m aware of that help me formulate that opinion, so it’ll never change. I’m looking forward to talking to Sharleen later today as I’m sure we’ll have a nice little talk about Nicky for this week’s podcast. I’m sure not gonna try and sway her and she’s certainly not gonna sway me. But it sure will be fun to discuss. Can’t wait.
As for today, there is very little recap here. We know what happened last night, it’s not really that relevant to break down what each girl said to the family, or what they did on their last dates, etc. I’ll have some brief thoughts on last night as a whole on page 2, then I have more of Rachel’s guys on pages 3 & 4. We saw four of them last night: DeMario, Blake, Dean, and Eric. Going into last night, I only had Blake. Now I have all four. Figured that wouldn’t take long. I think there’s a reason the show chose those 4 to be the ones to appear – none of them are going to win. Never really thought they’d give us any guys who were gonna last long. Out of those four, I’ll go with DeMario going the farthest.
Remember, this week’s podcast will be released tomorrow along with the last “Reader Emails,” and “Dr. Reality Steve” of the season. So anyone who’s got questions/comments about anything, get them in today. Especially “Dr. Reality Steve.” I don’t have any as of now. For those that might be a little late to the game, Michelle Money interviewed me for last week’s podcast. You can listen to that podcast here:
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The reason why everything is going up tomorrow is because I leave for Vegas tomorrow afternoon. Never been there for first weekend of March Madness, so I decided to do it this year. For me, it’s the greatest sporting event every season and nothing beats it. Not the Super Bowl, not the World Series, not the NBA or NHL Finals, not anything. The tournament is the best. I’m glued to every year and that’ll never change. This year, a few of you suggested to me about doing a Bracket Pool for my readers, so I figured why not? Here’s what I’ve set up:
-It’s Reality Steve’s Bracket Challenge run through CBSSports.com. Click on that link, create an account, fill out your bracket(s), and you’re in.
-There is no entry fee.
-You can fill out up to 5 brackets per email address (of course I filled out 5 under the name Jack Bauer 1-5).
-I don’t think we’ll come close to having this many entries, but the first 10,000 people who fill one out are qualified.
-Any ties will be determined by the Total Points predicted for the National Championship game. If there happens to still be a tie, then the pot will be split among all those who tied for the most points.
-Bracket must be completely filled out before tip-off of the first game Thursday morning, which is 9:15am PST as Notre Dame and Princeton tip it off (Upset Special #1 for any of those interested).
-Winning Prize: There will be one. I just don’t want to announce it publicly since isn’t there something against that legally? It’ll be straight out of my own pocket. And yes, I’m eligible. But I doubt I’ll win. I was thinking of charging money to join the pool so there’d be a bigger pot, but I don’t want to go through the hassle of collecting people’s money through PayPal and matching it up with each person’s brackets. And then people saying they sent money, but I didn’t receive it. Trust me, I’ve done this before. It’s never fun. Plus with heading out of town, it’ll be more of a hassle. Maybe next year. This is all for fun. Enter up to 5 times with the chance to win a prize at the end. Simple as that.
-The winner will get a shoutout in my column.
-The points breakdown is as follows:
First Round: Each correct pick is worth 1 point. The seed of the winning team is added to the correct pick total.
Second Round: Each correct pick is worth 2 points. The seed of the winning team is added to the correct pick total.
Sweet 16: Each correct pick is worth 4 points. There is no bonus applied.
Elite 8: Each correct pick is worth 8 points. There is no bonus applied.
Final Four: Each correct pick is worth 16 points. There is no bonus applied.
Championship: Each correct pick is worth 32 points. There is no bonus applied.
So only in the first two rounds (Thursday thru Sunday’s games), lets say the 12th seed beats the 5th seed and you picked the 12th seed, you’d get 1 pt for the correct pick, and 12 points for them being the 12th seed, so you’d get 13 points on that pick and so on and so forth for all the other games. Remember, this only applies to just Thursday thru Sunday’s games. After that starting with the Sweet 16 next week, you just get points (listed above) for each correct winner. Figured I’d put a little more stock into people who have the ability to pick upsets early on. Tell your friends, lovers, mistresses, whoever. Free chance to win a prize.
As mentioned earlier, Rachel’s season starts filming Wednesday or Thursday night. That’ll be the night of the limo entrances. With me being out of town this weekend, I might be a little slow on the Twitter feed if dates in LA are getting spoiled, but I will catch up at some point. I remember during Nick’s season, I wasn’t posting as many spoilers while filming was happening other than the obvious ones (basically nothing after New Orleans) and there were those emailing saying I didn’t know anything about this season, they’ve found out my sources, and I was gonna be wrong about Nick’s season. We all know how that turned out. I will post what I post about Rachel’s season when I post it. I never know when that’ll be, so you just have to bear with me. All I know is at the end of the season, I’ll have all your spoilers for you like I do every season. Just be patient. Because you don’t know every detail 4 seconds after it happens doesn’t mean you won’t get your spoilers. If any dates are public on social media this weekend, or I find out information about any dates, I will do my best to tweet them out. But remember I’ll be knees deep in gambling tickets transfixed on March Madness games, so apologies if it’s not immediately.
With that said, I did find out one thing in regards to filming this weekend. There will be a date on Saturday filmed at the La Quinta Resort in La Quinta, California. Looks to be a 1-on-1, which means filming would begin tmrw night (Meet & Greet Wed night, off day Thurs for move in, Friday group date, Sat 1-on-1, Sun group date, Mon rose ceremony). There is supposedly dinner and a fireworks show being planned for this Saturday night there. I will keep you posted if any pictures become available and we see who Rachel is on the date with.
So in case anyone’s keeping score at home, that’s now 8 guys from this season you’ll have been spoiled on, along with a location already for a date that hasn’t taken place yet. None of which US Weekly or anyone else is reporting. Soooooo yeah. I could do this all season if you want ha ha.
Final poll question of the season: After watching that atrocity on the ATFR last night, how long do you think these two will last? And I’m sorry that “about 72 hours” wasn’t an option.
crushonspivey
March 14, 2017 at 10:03 AM
Yikes. Nick chose the wrong girl. Watching those last several episodes, Vanessa was so in her own head, so unable to let go and just go with it, so having to be in control of a situation that was not hers to control, I am shocked that Nick chose her. They are a terrible personality match, although I am not sure what kind of guy is right for Vanessa. She has no chill. Like none.
It was easy to see why Vanessa and the other girls did not get along. Vanessa is abrasive because she is so insecure. And it comes out in terrible ways that will torpedo a relationship. Her insecurity causes her to have to gain control, and controlling people will wear you down eventually. I get it that couples will have serious times, but she is a non-stop serious time. I saw almost no levity and just fun between Nick and Vanessa. They were so painful.
I bet they announce they are done within a month of DWTS is over. I’m sure Ben and Lauren will piggyback it to to minimize their fallout as well.
The Bachelor batting average is still terrible, and Harrison claiming they were good at what they do last night in helping people find love was laughable. I get the Bach’ette has more success, but overall this show is below the Mendoza line. Just awful.
purplerayne
March 14, 2017 at 11:28 AM
Oh jeez, Nick didnt choose the wrong girl. Nick is just the wrong guy for anyone. He barely liked Raven! If he did, he wouldve nailed her in the Fantasy Suite. But thanks to RS and that TMZ video, we know it never happened.
The best part of the show WAS Vanessas’ spot on assessment of this show and of Nick. He was being vague with her! It is weird! It doesnt make any sense! And it does suck to be the chosen girl knowing your guy was waffling btw you and another person up until the day of proposal. Remember when Jojo started to cry on the bathroom floor on her final date with Ben? THIS IS NOT A NORMAL ENVIRONMENT! Its no wonder none of these couples makes it. (I think the men on the Bachelorette do handle it better. Plus the women do a better job at selecting their mates…hence their success rate vs the Bachelor).
cjscjs711
March 14, 2017 at 11:36 AM
I have a different take on it.
I think Nick was in this for reasons similar to Chris Soules’s – to improve his brand and keep the media offers coming.
So, that being the case, I don’t think he made the wrong choice. Unlike Chris, who chose someone (he wasn’t going to marry either, Whitney) who really really really wanted to get married; Nick chose someone who was skeptical, lived not only far away but in another country with a job she also is very happy with. So the breakup here is kind of built in. More likely than with Whitney, Vanessa won’t be devastated when they break up.
JMO
crushonspivey
March 14, 2017 at 11:46 AM
purplerayne, I agree that Nick is the wrong guy. And his mom even knows it too. Every time she was on screen, she looked in agony. I expected her to stroke out at any second last night, she was so stressed out about her son. It got worse with Vanessa though. But I think Nick’s mom knows that Nick is still an immature baby at 36, and she is ready for him to grow up. It just isn’t going to be with Vanessa. They have no shot. Like none. It was telling when Nick’s dad says that Vanessa was his normal type, but it never worked out with that type. And everyone can see why but Nick. He is terrible at picking women for himself.
kimmyfromdablock
March 14, 2017 at 1:38 PM
I just read Sharleen Joynt’s blog for Flare magazine and as per usual it’s a snoozefest with her overly pc comments and observations. Then of course you have her followers commenting or shall I say waxing on about how eloquent and observant she is….ugh and just no.
I don’t care how anyone tries to spin it about Nick and Vanessa being real and honest – he’s just not that into her and it’s clear. Maybe at the time of the show he kidded himself once again that this was it – but dude has other plans and it’s clear.
His poor family though. They are so overly invested in their boy’s quest for love. Dad looked like he had popped a few Xanax bars and Mom looked…..well, Mom looked just bad. Hair cap and nose stud aside, she is just too much. And who were all those people? Were they all siblings? I wish they would tell us who each of them are, besides the obvious Bella.
I think Vanessa is uber high maintenance. I’ve never seen a couple try so hard to act in love and realistic at the same time. Nick must just be dying inside.
On a brighter note, Rachel rocked it last night. She is adorable and her smile lights up a room. I am really looking forward to her season. She genuinely seems interested in finding love.
angela86
March 14, 2017 at 2:23 PM
I couldn’t help but cringe watching After the Final Rose ceremony. This is the first time the couple is out in public together, Vanessa brought her whole family to watch and yet they barely gave them any air time. The five minutes of screen time they got was used to dissect all their relationship flaws on national television. I wonder if ABC is upset with Nick or something because how they have been treating him (the last month) hasn’t been very fair…like ruining his season by announcing Rachel’s while Rachel was still on his season.
Vanessa and Nick didn’t look happy together but Nick knew who he was choosing. The last 4 weeks she was completely erratic and emotional and constantly complaining about one thing or the other. Yes I know that it could be the editing but aren’t they supposed to make the winner likeable? I really hope that Vanessa has a charming personality and that it was just the editing that made her look that crazy. If you’re reading this Vanessa, you’re beautiful, smart and come from an awesome family…life doesn’t always have to be a struggle. And you can do better than NICk.
I have my ups and down’s with Nick. I really liked him on Andy’s season and I had a feeling she was choosing the wrong guy. I really liked him on Kaitlyn’s season. I also really liked him on Bachelor in Paradise. I especially liked him the first few weeks of his season as the Bachelor. I liked that he gave the first impression rose to Rachel, I liked that he didn’t judge Corinne and I liked that he didn’t side with Taylor (sorry Reality Steve, I know where you stand when it comes to the feud but Taylor was 100% in the wrong). I really hated how he acted the last few weeks. I hated how he treated Danielle L and the Kristina. I hated that he couldn’t comfort Vanessa and make her not seem crazy…He could have told her that he loved her back, he could have comforted her…but he didn’t. Apart of me wonders if he chose her because he wanted her to dump him on national television again so that his time with the franchise could be extended. He seemed so unsure of what he wanted and wants and I started to realize that He was just in it for the fame. Thank god his season is over.
I really am looking forward to Rachel’s season. From the eight guys you posted Reality Steve, almost half of them are ethnic…so I have hope that it’s going to be more multicultural this season. Can’t wait.
tbta4
March 14, 2017 at 2:25 PM
Did anyone else just cringe when one of Rachel’s guys said something along the lines of “I’m going to go black and never come back”? My husband and I just skeeved.
Although Rachel is a fantastic girl who can certainly hold her own on screen, both visually and verbally, I’m absolutely dreading all the “race talk” that is sure to come as the season progresses. People tune in for love stories or drama, depending on your point of view.(Or in the case of RealitySteve readers, to watch for editing tricks!) However, I fear it’s all going to be racial drama in the house and at hometowns which will be absolutely aggravating and annoying because it will overshadow any potential love stories and just get repeated, and repeated and repeated…….ad nauseum.
Nick’s seasons had two story arcs that just got beaten to death, Corinne and “Poor poor me, I could end up with no one.” Normally I am a sucker for punishment, and watch the whole episode,especially the last chance dates, but this season I did a lot of fast forwarding, laundry, kitchen sprucing and mail perusal during the show. SAD!
LM111
March 14, 2017 at 5:03 PM
I agree with CrushonSpivey about Vanessa being the wrong girl, for the exact reasons you mentioned. “Non-stop serious time” was a brilliant description. No doubt Vanessa’s a decent enough woman, but where’s the fun in that relationship? If I’m choosing a life partner, I’m picking someone with a happy positive demeanor. I just don’t see it with her. But maybe he picked her because she’d be easier to dump than Raven (I always want to call her “Raven Lunatic” because of that stiletto incident).
The AFTER show was just awkward. They let Vanessa ramble on and on about the problems in their relationship. Why, ABC, why??? It was so boring. Can we go back to the final couple pretending to be in love? Pretty please!
On to Rachael… isn’t she lovely and refreshing!? I hope they pick some good guys. I didn’t mind the comment ‘I’m going black and never going back”, but I think they need to be careful with race comments in general.
dannyelloww
March 14, 2017 at 8:11 PM
Is it just me or did it seem like Nick and Vanessa were setting up their break up with all the talk about how difficult their relationship is?
tak1980
March 15, 2017 at 2:32 AM
I don’t believe Nick and Vanessa will last much longer than his stint on DWTS. My reason is simple, Nick is out for fame and fortune, otherwise I believe he would’ve chosen Raven. On their last date It was so obvious the he and Raven had more chemistry together. Raven was playful and fun, Vanessa is whiney and insecure. She made it plain, her family’s Sunday dinners was a set thing. Nick could’ve had a future with Raven if he wanted a wife.
As far as Rachel’s season goes I’m not looking forward to all the race craps being thrown out there. It has already started on ATR. Rachel is beautiful and I look forward to watching her season. She really seems to have her heart set on falling in love.
adrie
March 15, 2017 at 2:42 AM
That AFTR was definitely one of the weirdest ones I’ve watched. Vanessa just kept going on and on about how hard and difficult everything has been. You could tell when Nick came out he was trying to be more upbeat and not air their dirty laundry but it was like Vanessa just didn’t give a sh!t about playing along. It was really awkward.
Also – I’m an Aussie reader – Rachel meeting her first few men was COMPLETELY removed from the show here. No idea why. Is the video link available anywhere?
RaRa
March 15, 2017 at 1:04 PM
I think you can probably find it on Jimmy Kimmel’s site. Reality Steve had it embedded, but it won’t run due to copy write laws.
tater
March 19, 2017 at 10:58 PM
I so agree with the race thing. It’s gonna completely take over the show. Or every episode will be held in a church. My pick so far is Peter she may go for the gap then they can be twinsies! OMG