Feels like we haven’t spoken to each other in months. Years maybe. Craziness happening in the “Bachelor” world, but today I can exclusively report, that comes to an end. I don’t see any other outlet reporting this, so anyone after this post I would appreciate giving the proper credit. According to my sources, ABC’s investigation into the BIP situation has been completed, they found no evidence of any wrongdoing or sexual misconduct, and they will be announcing this soon. Possibly as early as today. After seeing some stories get out over the weekend which really questioned Corinne and her behavior, this isn’t at all surprising of an outcome to me. I kinda saw where this was headed when I was getting all the information coming to me last week. There just didn’t seem to be enough there to warrant the things that were being said and how certain outlets were claiming what was going on. This opens the door to a lot of questions I’m sure you all have, most of which I don’t have the answer to. But expect any minute now for ABC to make this announcement regarding their investigation.
Not sure if you saw it over the weekend, but two contestants, Raven and Jasmine, who were actually there and witnessed what was going on between DeMario and Corinne spoke out and gave their thoughts to the whole situation. Needless to say, it certainly didn’t help Corinne’s case. Sources can say whatever they want, tabloids can mask their stories however they choose to create a certain narrative and get clicks, but no one ever had any quotes directly from people who were actually there until these two spoke up. Raven was very vocal in detailing what she saw, as was Jasmine. Even Evan decided to chime in on the weekend of his wedding. I mean, you can choose to believe “sources” or you can believe people who were actually there who spoke on the matter. Not to mention, what Jasmine and Raven said is practically everything you read on this site last Tuesday when I reported what my sources were telling me. Good to see this thing is finally over and we can move on from it.
Now, I’m also hearing rumblings that ABC wants to still produce something for this summer. They don’t want to NOT have a summer show and leave 6 weeks of expected programming from BIP unaccounted for. What form that takes, when/where it films, when it airs, is it even called “Bachelor in Paradise,” that I don’t know. But in the coming days, I think we’ll be hearing more about this. My guess is they don’t all go back down to Mexico and resume shooting BIP, but there will be some show shot in the next few weeks in the states. I just have no idea what it’ll be, where it’ll be, or who will be involved. As for DeMario and Corinne, whatever summer show gets produced, I’m guessing these two will either have to do a sit down interview, or something on camera to talk about why BIP was shut down. They can’t just completely ignore the thing. Hell, maybe they’ll even have these two on the new show, I don’t know. But my guess it we will be hearing from them in some form or fashion. So there is good news in this after all. Looks like there will be some sort of summer programming. Stay tuned as more information becomes available.
And on yeah, Evan and Carly got married this past weekend down in Mexico. Again, we don’t know when it’s airing, or in what form, but I’m sure ABC will let us know at some point soon.
More good news! The first edition of the “He Said, She Said” podcast with me and Sharleen Joynt will debut this Thursday on Stitcher Premium, promo code: Steve. You can go there now and get signed up and the episode will be up for you on Thursday. What does that mean for you? Well, it’s a monthly service, but also commercial free. You’ll get your first month free when you sign up using that link, 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, not to mention access to tons of stand-up comedy albums by some of your favorite comedians like Amy Schumer, Louis CK, Aziz Ansari & many more. 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. Making it basically an audio version of “Dr. Reality Steve” and adding a fan favorite like Sharleen was a no-brainer to me. So sign up, check out the first episode (with a special appearance by Sharleen’s fiancé Andy), tell us what you think, and hopefully you’ll come aboard for our once a month podcast.
In case you missed it at the end of the episode last night, next week we get back-to-back episodes on Monday and Tuesday. Monday will be the conclusion of South Carolina (where Jack gets eliminated on his 1-on-1), then the Norway episode (where Kenny and Lee have their 2-on-1). Tuesday I’m guessing will be the conclusion of the Norway episode then the Denmark episode, with I’m sure a cliffhanger at the end. The reason for the back-to-back episodes is because the following week, July 3rd, they are running a repeat figuring people will be out of town for the holiday. So once we come back on July 10th, it’s one episode a week until the finale August 7th. So mark that in your calendars.
So what has been the fallout from “Bachelor in Paradise” being cancelled? Well according to Ad Age, not a whole hell of a lot. Advertisers have yet to jump ship on the franchise, which we know by recent political shows being cancelled, is the ultimate decider. If you start losing advertisers, you’re screwed. So far, so good for this franchise. I guess they’re waiting to see exactly what comes of this situation, but for those already engraving this franchise’s tombstone, you might wanna hold up a bit. “Bachelor in Paradise,” I believe, is done as a franchise. But I really don’t think this affects the “Bachelor,” “Bachelorette,” or the “Bachelor Winter Games” at all. Time will tell.
Get your “Reader Emails” and “Dr. Reality Steve” emails in for the week. We’re actually more low on “Reader Emails” right now than usual. Get those in today to be answered in tomorrow’s column.
The poll question this week revolves around this BIP drama.
