If you saw my tweet Monday night, you’ll know that I encountered my first podcast guest that asked to be paid when I asked them if they were interested in being on a future episode. Let me reiterate something I’ve said numerous times since I started interviewing past contestants. I’ve sent out a lot of emails and messages to people I’d be interested in talking to. Some you’ve heard on the podcast already, some you will hear coming up, and some you won’t hear at all because they either said no or never responded. And that’s perfectly fine. Coming on my podcast is either a yes or a no. There’s no back and forth negotiations. I ask, if they say yes, they’re on. If they say no, I might ask why, but it pretty much ends there. I’m not forcing anyone to come on if they don’t want. And as I’ve stated before, I’m never going to comment or out anyone who said no or who never responded. They have their reasons, but I don’t want people jumping on their case on social media just because they didn’t want to do the podcast for whatever reason. If they don’t want to be on, that’s fine. Someone else will. However, what happened Monday was unprecedented. Because when almost 20 previous contestants before her have agreed to do it without even batting an eye and asking for money, and plenty of contestants after her will also do it without asking, it seems kinda laughable. For those curious, it was Britt.
Yes, I can hear your thoughts exactly as you read this. “Of all the people looking to be paid, it’s Britt?” Hence the reason this is a head scratcher. Now, I will say, I have not spoken with Britt directly. I emailed the address on her IG page, which in turn, was her management “team” responding back to me (insert your “Britt has a management team answering her emails?” joke here). A quick two sentence email asking if she’d like to come on the podcast. They came back with, “What are your rates and hours?” When I replied “Explain what you mean by rates?” and their exact response was “your question about what rates mean to imply that this would be unpaid time and free content, in which case we thank you kindly for your offer but we will pass,” I knew it was about money. They said they ran it by Britt. So unless they’re lying, Britt signed off on this. But my guess is if I would’ve responded, “Uhhhh yeah, I’ll pay her $5000 for an hour of her time to talk on the phone,” Britt would’ve done the interview. So while they didn’t utter the exact words “Britt won’t do a podcast unless she’s paid,” it’s quite obvious, at least to me, that money had to be a consideration for her to appear. And that’s just never going to happen.
If all my podcast guests were getting paid to come on, and Britt just happened to ask for more, I’d just say no thanks, and this doesn’t even get mentioned. But that’s not the case. When she’s such an outlier to the point where all of her contemporaries, some if not most, being “bigger” names than her in the franchise, all do it for free without batting an eye, kinda reflects on her and I think it needed to be pointed out. Just seems ridiculously silly. She doesn’t have to travel anywhere. She doesn’t have to even leave the confines of her own bed for that matter. Talk on the phone for an hour and you’re immediately looking for compensation? Uhhhh, no. I mean, they’re making it seem like she’s an A-list actress getting bombarded with requests daily or something, and she just can’t possibly fit a podcast interview into her schedule. C’mon, it’s Britt for Christ sakes.
I’ve got great guests lined up for the upcoming season, all of whom I appreciate doing it and never once asked to be paid. If Britt doesn’t want to do it because she can’t get paid, then she won’t be on. I don’t pay podcast guests. Never have and never will. I don’t need to. I think these people know it’s a fun conversation, they can talk about their time on the show, and discuss what they’re doing now, letting people see a side to them that maybe they couldn’t see during an edited television show. Simple as that. I think her management “team” grossly mishandled this situation. If they would’ve responded back after the first email, “Britt doesn’t want to do it,” again, none of this gets mentioned. But they didn’t, I thought it was extremely bizarre, and that’s why I brought it out publicly. Moving on, and I’m excited about some of the guests we have coming up this season. Tomorrow’s podcast guest is another “triple threat” from this franchise (appeared on “Bachelor,” “Bachelor Pad,” and “Bachelor in Paradise”), the very outspoken Jaclyn Swartz.
The other big announcement that came yesterday, was during ABC’s upfronts in New York, they revealed there will be a Bachelor Winter Games airing next February. The press release is quite vague, and honestly, there’s no way THEY even know what the exact format will be yet. I’m sure they just pitched the idea of what they had in mind to ABC, they greenlighted it, and now producers have 6 months or so to figure out what they’re doing. Trust me. They did this with the original seasons of “Bachelor Pad” and “Bachelor in Paradise,” basically creating the show on the fly once they started filming. To me, it just seems like this is basically Paradise in the winter. Challenges, “competitive dating” (whatever that means), and former contestants. Just another show for all these former contestants to try and get on and hook up. Doesn’t look like money is involved because it’s never mentioned, but like I said, this is not a finished product at all. Knowing “Bachelor” films from Sept – Nov, my guess is “Bachelor Winter Games” will film for a couple weeks in January, which will give them a month to turn it around to start airing in Feb. 2018 opposite the Winter Olympics on NBC.
Tomorrow I’ll be back with Podcast #26 guest Jaclyn Swartz, a review of whatever this Facebook Live announcement of the men is, and any new nuggets I can give you.
Send all links and emails to: steve@realitysteve.com. To follow me on Twitter, it’s: www.twitter.com/RealitySteve. Instagram name is “RealitySteve,” join my Reality Steve Facebook Fan Page, or listen to all my podcasts at Apple Podcasts. Talk to you tomorrow.
