Welcome back everyone. A lot to get to today before we get to the recap. Plenty you probably haven’t been here since back in mid-March when Nick’s season ended. There was spoiling of Rachel’s season as it was happening. We had a Thursday podcast every week with guests like Chris Bukowski, Kelly Travis, James Taylor, Ashley Spivey, Chris Lambton, and Jaclyn Swartz to name a few. If you haven’t gotten caught up on them, please do. A lot of great conversations with those people that gives you a little glimpse into their lives both on and off the show. The biggest thing is there is no time limit and no editing. I think about as much as I want to talk about them, I try and get to all of it, and they’ve been gracious enough to pretty much answer everything. Also during the last month, there was a whole Luke Pell fiasco, along with a Josh & Amanda situation that I ended up in the middle of if you want to check those out. All there on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and more. I recently signed a deal with Midroll, one of the largest podcast advertising networks, that will keep the show coming for the foreseeable future. Very excited to be a part of Midroll and what they have to offer.
However, I’m sure you’re first question coming back to today is, “Where are your episode-by-episode spoilers?” Be patient. They’re coming. I have a lot, just not all. The “Bachelorette” as we know has a MUCH quicker turnaround time from end of filming to airing of first episode (about two weeks) compared to the “Bachelor” (about 6 weeks). You had all your spoilers for last night’s episode that I posted Friday, and hopefully before next Monday’s episode airs, you’ll have all your dates, eliminations, roses, etc for the rest of the season. You already know who your winner is. That’s not in question. Well, to me it isn’t at least. I’m guessing some of you because I don’t have ALL the spoilers right now think that the ending could be wrong. It’s not. I’ll be honest, the ending is becoming easier and easier to get every season. It’s those middle episodes that are always the toughest to nail down who went home when and who got roses. But will get them to you as soon as I have everything ready to go. Promise.
Speaking of podcasts, I have some exciting news to share. First off, this week’s podcast guest on Thursday is none other than former “Bachelorette” DeAnna Stagliano. Married with two kids now, DeAnna was involved in one of the most controversial endings this show has ever seen when Brad didn’t pick either her or Jenni Croft (now Badolato) – the first and only time the lead dumped BOTH people at the end and chose no one. Can’t wait to have DeAnna on this week to talk about all she went through during that season, and then her subsequent “Bachelorette” season which ultimately led to her picking one of the more bizarre “winners” this show has ever seen. Not to mention everything that happened during their short engagement. What a clusterf**k that was. Some others we have appearing in the coming weeks: Lesley Murphy, Jared Haibon, Tenley Molzahn and more. Looking forward to talking to each and every one of them.
One announcement I want to make for the first time today is that starting next month, I will be adding a second podcast that can only be heard exclusively on Stitcher Premium. What does that mean for you? Well, it’s a monthly service, but also commercial free. You’ll get your first month free, then it’s $4.99/month or $29.99/year. I mean, c’mon. That’s $.16/day for the monthly, or $.09/day if you purchase for the year. And you get access to ALL of Stitcher’s podcast library, which has some of the most listened to podcasts going right now, including Schmucks, a show where comedian Jessie Kahnweiler interview people that are hated on the internet (http://www.stitcherpremium.com/schmucks), and “Guys We F***ed, a very popular podcast by Krystyna Hutchinson & Corinne Fisher that’s ad free & has bonus episodes. Not to mention access to tons of stand-up albums by some of your favorite comedians. Stitcher came to me and asked if I would be part of their Premium brand and I immediately jumped at the chance. I just wanted it to be something different than what I was already doing. I know your next question is probably, “Are you going to have big name Bachelor guests on that one that we have to pay for?” The answer is no. Everything will stay the same on the Thursday podcast. The monthly podcast with Stitcher Premium will be completely separate and I will not “save” any info for that podcast, nor will it really be “Bachelorette” focused.
Because of the interest in my “Dr. Reality Steve” column, combined with her relationship column that she writes for “Flare” magazine, I’ve asked Sharleen Joynt to be my co-host on our monthly Stitcher Premium podcast. We’ll briefly touch on “Bachelorette” stuff and mention Rachel’s season occasionally, but over the years since a lot of you have asked for a female opinion on my “Dr. Reality Steve” column, well, now you’ll get it. This is for you the listeners. We will be taking calls/emails from you guys on anything relationship/sex/marriage related, as the main focus of our monthly podcast. So starting immediately, if you have a question/story/dilemma that you want to share with me and Sharleen, and you have access to Skype audio, let us know and we will arrange to set up a time where we can record the call. I’m looking forward to this since I think Sharleen’s relationship advice has always been excellent in her column, and will be an outstanding addition to this podcast. We don’t know when the premiere date is yet, but my guess is it’ll be sometime in mid-June. So if you want to be a part of the podcast, contact myself or Sharleen, let us know, and we’ll set up a time to record. I will let everyone know when the first podcast is being released.
Yet another podcast note I wanted to pass along. One person I’ve been dying to have on my podcast was Olivia Caridi. In case you didn’t know, she recently just got hired by CBS Radio to do her own weekly podcast, and due to contractual issues, she’s unable to appear on my podcast…but I could be on hers. So I went on Olivia’s podcast a couple weeks ago, and she’ll be releasing it in the next couple weeks I believe. I will let you know when she posts it. She only does one a week as well and I know she has a few in the can, but I’m hearing it might be the first week of June. The best part about doing Olivia’s podcast is she basically allowed me to do the interview I WANTED to do with her if she was ever able to come on mine. I even got to do a “Rapid 10” with her. So not only is the podcast Olivia interviewing me about all the things she wanted to know, but we took turns asking each other questions and I pretty much got in everything I wanted to talk about with her. I think you guys are gonna love it. I flat out told Olivia I think going on “Paradise” is a horrible idea for her. She said she’s not doing it. I really do believe she’s sticking to that. It’s a really interesting podcast with a couple of deep dives into topics you might be surprised to hear. I will keep you posted on when that’s being posted.
Get your “Reader Emails” and “Dr. Reality Steve” emails in for this week, as being the season just ramped up, they’re both pretty low right now. And again, if you want to be on the first podcast with myself and Sharleen and you have a relationship/dating/sex/marriage question, feel free to contact either of us and we’ll set it up. Looking forward to hearing from everyone.
