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.
crushonspivey
May 23, 2017 at 9:29 AM
Steve, I know math is not your thing, but dropping 1M viewers is actually huge. Most times it is a few hundred thousand. But 1M is massive and a red flag. The show lost 15% of its viewers from last year. I don;t blame it on Rachel though. I just think the formula is getting played out, much like American Idol did.
And per usual, the early episodes are way too overproduced to give us ridiculous contestants, like Whaboom. We all know Elan made her keep him, and it simply is not believable that she would have. And that Whaboom he did after getting his name called was not funny, it was obnoxious and cringeworthy, and I was embarrassed they made Rachel say his name. What a joke. Time to stop with the fist night producer plants that are jack@$$e$ for attention. It seriously is dumb. This show has enough crazy on its own.
Congrats Peter. Alfred E. Neuman is proud of you. Now got make some adorable gap toothed babies.
rob22
May 23, 2017 at 11:31 AM
@crushonspivey: agree totally. The first night was completely unwatchable. Outside of snickering at Wah-boom, there was nothing there. And obviously Wah-boom was really stupid. The show is becoming a caricature of itself. The contestants come in with an agenda to sell something, get attention, audition for BIP or build their brand and it’s no longer even hidden. You have a professional wrestler, a guy who’s already hyping suits on social media that he wore the first night and Wah-boom, who I assume is shooting for a BIP appearance and some fun travel. I didn’t look up enough to notice much more. Yeah, I would have thought it would have played out before now, but there’s an expiration date for everything. Maybe a little too early for panic, but not too early to push it to DEFCON 4, maybe DEFCON 3.
ctrealitygirl
May 23, 2017 at 12:15 PM
I couldn’t agree more. And what’s with adding more to the typical 25 suitors?? I think I read that there were 31 and all but one or two are forgettable. Like you rob22, I skipped watching most of the show. Set my DVR and may scroll thru to see if I missed anything, but doubt it. If they continue to make the first episode such a sideshow their numbers will drop even more. Between Wah-boom and the ventriloquist guy (not to mention the tickler), I was so turned off. What a group of losers Rachel got. So disappointing.
RaRa
May 23, 2017 at 12:41 PM
On the show, Willie’s “Urkel” quick change routine was supposedly to help her remember his last name (“Urquelle” or something like that). But the profiles show Willie’s last name as “Gaskins.” I’m confused.
kimmyfromdablock
May 23, 2017 at 12:47 PM
The WHABoom dude was embarrassing. Acting like that is not appealing to any woman on this earth.
I thought Rachel was beautiful and charming.
rob22
May 23, 2017 at 2:07 PM
@kimmy, I agree that Rachel was great. I’m sure a couple of credible guys will emerge to make the show somewhat interesting. But to the point that RS always makes, the contestants make or break the show. That’s a bit concerning from what we’ve seen so far. I’m really not sure why they needed 31 guys, unless they were so desperate to find something entertaining that they threw some things up against the wall to see what might stick. It definitely feels like the shotgun approach to casting this year. Quantity over quality and hope you get some footage out of a few of them to make a show. Remember how much they milked the Corrinne story line last year & how Nick went along with it. I wonder if Wha-boom makes it through another show just to offer some footage for the show in Episode 3.
elizabeth82
May 23, 2017 at 6:04 PM
Astrid was the one telling Rachel about guy who’s a player, not Whitney. Whitney was still a mute. Surprised Steve got them confused since Whitney was one of his favs on Nick’s season.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Adam Jr. shtick, ha.
melanie88
May 23, 2017 at 10:07 PM
DEAN FOR BACHELOR!!!
shenanigans
May 24, 2017 at 5:19 AM
I think they cast 31 guys (rather than 25) in order to have a diverse group that would appeal to Rachel. As Steve noted, they had already cast most of the guys before Rachel was announced as the Bachelorette. Then, I suspect they added a few additional African-American men to round out the cast.
Think about it: would they bring on more than 10 African-American guys to compete for a white Bachelorette? They haven’t in the past.
abpbach
May 24, 2017 at 8:41 PM
Love your podcasts! They are well thought out, entertaining, and clearly natural conversations, which I value. Your guests are phenomenal – you either have guests that I want to know more about (Sharleen, Courtney, Michelle, etc.) or those that I didn’t realized I need to know more about (Ashley, Natalie, etc.). Thank you for bringing intelligent people on and keeping me entertained. Only thing I hate is having to wait an entire week to hear more! Can’t wait to hear what you and Sharleen come up with!
sprinkles
May 28, 2017 at 8:11 PM
Did not like Lucas on his last reality show. He was a total douchebag…why they would cast him is beyond me.