If you were following me on Twitter last night, you know that US Weekly was up to their old tricks again. About 10 minutes into the show, they posted this article
which “spoiled” what Chris Harrison was promoting as a “historical” moment you didn’t want to miss coming up on the ATFR. One problem: I posted that 12 hrs earlier and, per usual, they didn’t credit me. It happens time and time again, and I point it out every time. And I will continue to do so. This is wrong. It’s horrible journalism. This isn’t ESPNs insiders vs Fox’s insiders and one getting an exclusive 5 min before the other one, to which it took ESPN years to start crediting other outlets. My post was up by 10am EST time yesterday morning. US Weekly is well aware of who I am and what I do. So when you pull sh*t like that, you’re gonna get called out for it. Is it really that hard to include one sentence in your story that says, “…as first reported by Reality Steve?” Apparently for them it is.
Here’s the two reasons why this bothers me so much, outside of just being the right journalistic thing to do. You credit where stories were first posted.
1) They HAVE credited me in the past. If they’d never credited me before on anything, then this would make more sense. But they have. So picking and choosing when to give credit and when not is garbage. If they posted the story 5 minutes after I did, 10 minutes – yeah, even though we’d still know where you got it, at least THEY could claim ignorance. But 12 hrs? Please.
2) I ALWAYS have credited US Weekly any time they’ve broken something.. Granted, it hasn’t happened a lot but it happens on occasion. The most recent one was US Weekly was the first to report Jordan Rodgers was a contestant on JoJo’s season and I retweeted it, and continually mentioned it anytime I referenced it during her season. And I will continue to quote and/or source them if they ever have any legitimate Bachelor story before I do. So they can’t say this is some revenge towards me. Just do the right thing is all I ask. Apparently that’s asking too much.
Some thoughts on the episode and ATFR:
-Enough with the Santa references last night. Really? Like, people understand he’s not a real person that delivers gifts right? Someone told Vanessa this, or no? The acting job on their part was horrible. What producer got saddled with that job of dressing up in a fat suit and throwing on a fake beard to play that role? Talk about low on the totem pole in that franchise.
-Nick’s sister Bella has been on TV so many times by now, she’s earned her SAG card.
-I know this is the first time since Ben’s season they went to a cold weather place for the finale, but at least Ben’s was at the top of a mountain. Did Nick get engaged in the lobby of hotel cabin? I half expected people to be walking around in the background looking for their free continental breakfast.
-Was it weird at all that Raven never cried when Nick was dumping her but was when she got in the limo? She almost seemed like she knew it was coming. Or even dismissive of it. Hell, probably realized she dodged a bullet.
-Yes, I saw during the proposal to Vanessa the horrible editing job they did where one scene she had full lipstick on, and the next scene she didn’t. My guess would be that lipstick smeared so they re-shot some of the kissing scenes and just did butcher job on the edit that didn’t take that into account.
-The worst thing Raven did last night was be so eager to jump at the chance to do BIP. SMH. I can’t blame her since all her friends are gonna do it and she was basically put on the spot last night. Still doesn’t make it the right decision though.
-I mean, what can you say about the ATFR that hasn’t already been said. This tweet got a lot of fun last night. I think it speaks for itself:
Nick and Vanessa's relationship summed up in one picture pic.twitter.com/oYEZpu7RlR
— RealitySteve (@RealitySteve) March 14, 2017
-You guys all saw it. Hell, Emily Maynard Johnson of all people even took a shot at Nick and Vanessa. You see her tweet?
@AshleySpivey They look like me and you know who. Yikes!!
— Emily MaynardJohnson (@EmilyMaynard) March 14, 2017
Man, you know things are rough when she’s comparing Nick & Vanessa to her and Brad. Or was it her and Jef? Whatever the case, that sure wasn’t a compliment she was giving them.
-Pretty sure Sharleen and I will spend a good amount of time on this in today’s podcast. To me, they just didn’t look happy. (How many times did Vanessa utter the word “difficult?” 100? 200?. That was just bizarre. The whole thing seemed off. I’m sure Sharleen will disagree, which is fine. But we both watched the same show. Hey, it might be because there’s an inherent bias on both of our parts. I don’t know. But I sure wasn’t the only one who watched who got that impression. Hope Nick & Vanessa didn’t go on social media today.
-I know I say it every season, but it’s not just me being cynical to be cynical. I’m being realistic. These two have a VERY long shot to make it. Too many differences, they’ve already not had the greatest of three months together, and it’s not the most ideal situation for her. I absolutely agree that Chris Harrison was focusing all on the negative with them, but do you think he did that because he knew everything was rosy with them? Of course not. He’s never been that harsh towards a final couple that I can remember. He was really going after them and I guess they handled it as well as they could, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to understand these two aren’t long for each other.
-In the meantime, they will no doubt capitalize on the fame and shilling that comes with this show. I’d be surprised if they didn’t post an IG ad by the end of the day today. That’s what these couples do, Nick has been after that ever since his first season, he’s gotten what he wanted, and now he’s going to run with it. Those that want to make excuses for them, look, you can’t call out other people in the franchise for shilling products, but if Nick and Vanessa do it, somehow justify theirs. They all do it. It’s what the show has become. It’s part of the culture now. They will get paid great money to pimp crappy products they don’t care about on IG. It’s all part of the deal.
So in conclusion, just wanted to say thank you for all the kind words about another successful season here at RealitySteve.com. Time for me to go celebrate in 24 hours. I remember those bleak days in October or November where I was getting told I knew nothing, my sources were drying up, and that I was gonna get Nick’s ending wrong. Since then I posted every contestant, how the final four played out, every date, rose, and elimination, even stuff that was never shown, along with providing you last night’s spoiler of Rachel meeting her men before those episodes even aired. And I’m sure I’ll take some again this season and told I know nothing during Rachel’s filming – and produce the same results. So save your breath, you’re going to get all your Rachel’s spoilers this season as you always do. I have EIGHT of Rachel’s guys starting on the next page (including the one I posted yesterday and all 4 she met last night), not to mention the location of Saturday’s date. I’m already ahead of last season’s pace!
Enjoy Rachel’s guys, and I’ll talk to you again tomorrow.
