One thing I took back from NY this past weekend? A cold. It’s probably because my hotel room was nice and cool, yet outside it was muggy with 1000% humidity. That’ll do it to ya’. Or it could be all the germs from being on the plane. I’m not full blown sick yet, but my throat this morning feels like I gargled a bag of razor blades. Good times I tell ya’. Anyway, it was a fun trip. Got to see family I hadn’t seen in a while, got to eat chicken parmesan at three different restaurants, did some touristy stuff since I was staying in the heart of Times Square, and finally got to spend some time with “He Said, She Said” co-host Sharleen and her fiancé Andy Saturday night. Oh the stories we shared. There was some deeeeeep conversations going on. I guess that’s what happens when Vodka gets involved. I’ve always loved how down to earth Sharleen has been about her whole experience with the franchise so it was good to see a different side of her in person. Two great people and we had a blast together. I can’t remember the names of the three bars we visited after dinner, but there was definitely some great people watching, that’s for sure. All in all, a fun weekend, but I’m glad to be home and don’t have any trips planned for at least 3 weeks or so.
Remember, we have another new episode tonight because next week is a repeat due to the holiday weekend. The conclusion of the Kenny/Lee 2-on-1 date, the rose ceremony in Norway, then they travel to Denmark for Eric’s 1-on-1, a Viking group date, and Will gets a 1-on-1 as they head over to Sweden for the day. These were the two episodes where I was kinda confused on who went home when, so thankfully we’ll get our clarification tonight.
Tomorrow’s recap will be a tad shorter because of the fact I have “Reader Emails” to include, so get your emails in to be answered in tomorrow’s column, along with any “Dr. Reality Steve” emails for Thursday. And speaking of Thursday…we got her! Thursday’s guest for Podcast #32 is none other than DeAnna Stagliano. She’s got a busy schedule which led to the miscommunication last time, but I was able to secure time with DeAnna almost two weeks ago when we recorded and it’s a really good one. She’s the first lead we’ve ever had on the podcast, so it was really interesting to hear her thoughts being the focal point of a show. Not to mention, she gets very candid about how much she was paid to be the “Bachelorette” (it was nothing much), and she’s very clear that the way her season ended is NOT AT ALL the way she planned or wanted it to go. So glad I was able to get DeAnna on. You’re really gonna like this one. Look for that on Thursday.
Part 1 of DeMario’s sit down interview with E! aired last night, where he spoke for the first time in detail of everything that happened with Corinne. Essentially it’s almost exactly what I heard and was first to report a couple weeks ago. Now, could DeMario be lying and making all of this up? I guess it’s possible. I just don’t think he is. By every account that I’ve heard, what DeMario said on E! last night, and what you’ll hear tonight on the remainder of the interview, is what happened. Remember, Corinne never filed any complaint against the show. Her legal team hasn’t been specific about what actually happened between DeMario and her. They just said they’re investigating more. If Corinne finally speaks up and says everything DeMario is saying is a lie and she never did any of that, well, then we’ve got an interesting story on our hands. I have a feeling she won’t though. People were there and witnessed it. All of it is on camera. So it’s not like this was in some locked room, nobody knows what happened, and it’s his word against hers. We don’t even have her word yet, really. I wanna wait and see what Corinne actually says in response to DeMario before going any further. But he’s being awfully specific about everything that happened. He didn’t speak in generalities. And everything he’s saying is pretty much what I heard from my sources. This was a hook up, they talked about it afterwards, Corinne at no time thought it was inappropriate during filming until producers (who never witnessed it live or saw it on tape) filed a complaint. So lets give this a little more time, but I have a feeling this is gonna die off soon.
Last week I had an article from Ad Age about how advertisers hadn’t started pulling out of “Bachelor in Paradise” yet. Well, according to a new article from Ad Age, some advertisers are pulling out now, which is never good. If it’s a couple here and there, they can survive it. But if it’s a massive influx of advertisers who want nothing to do with the summer show, then this season might be the end of BIP and next summer they come back with something else.
And our poll question today is who you think is more at fault in the Kenny/Lee feud. I think I may know where this one is leaning.
rob22
June 27, 2017 at 9:06 AM
It’s probably just me, but I’m getting a “Jef Holm” feel from Bryan. Rachel thinks he’s so smooth, but it just feels like a con from a smooth operator. I don’t know if he’s pulling his lines off the internet like Jef did, but Bryan looks to me like a guy playing the part of a guy who’s interested in Rachel. He says exactly what he knows he needs to say. Is he interested in some shagging? Of course. Beyond that, I see this as something very short-lived. Then Bryan will go on a victory tour and see how many Bachelorette alums he can nail. Hey, I’m probably WAY out there, but that’s what I’m seeing and feeling.
crushonspivey
June 27, 2017 at 9:18 AM
This show just keeps getting worse, and seems to want to push it more and more. Shamelessly. Fleiss, Elan and ABC have created a mess, a race-baiting mess. And Rachel has deserved much better than they are giving her.
ABC is taking the heat, but Fleiss and Elan need to get called out personally for this abomination and they are in charge of this mess. They made Rachel keep Lee too long, stoked the flames of racism for TV enjoyment to create a 2 on 1 conflict(hey producers–pushing Lee and Kenny towards race related in not cool TV, it is despicable). Sorry, but picking Rachel, then race bating for a storyline is cause for apology, and the production company needs to apologize.
This storyline and then the BIP issues shows Fleiss has lost control on his show, and keep pushing it in terrible ways. Sex, booze, drugs, race baiting. Congrats.
rob22
June 27, 2017 at 9:21 AM
BTW: Lee shouldn’t get any kind of pass for not understanding the racial implications of calling Kenny “aggressive”. Lee isn’t 15 years old and he lives in Tennessee where the racial divide plays out pretty publicly. Lee understands perfectly what he was saying to Kenny. But he spoke using enough “code” that he can claim surprise when he gets called out on it. That’s what is done in the south (I live in the south btw). People speak in code, and everyone understands what is meant. And everyone also understands that guys like Lee will hide behind words like Political Correctness or “Being misunderstood” or “they played the race card” to obscure their intent. Lee is a bad guy. Kenny shouldn’t have taken the bait, and doing so hurt him, but it’s not hard to understand why Lee got under his skin.
rob22
June 27, 2017 at 9:23 AM
@crushonspivey: I agree 100%. The Producers role in Lee’s race baiting cannot be ignored either.
instigator911
June 27, 2017 at 9:30 AM
@rob22 – I agree with you in that Bryan seems a little too slick. I also noticed last night that Bryan seems cosmetically enhanced. I’d bet a few dollars that he’s doing Botox and filler. If that’s the case – that’s odd and would be a turnoff for me.
As far as Lee — he’s just a slimeball. Regardless of his past tweets – he is pretty transparent. None of his portrayal seems unfair – he is exactly what Kenny calls him — a snake.
allaboutme
June 27, 2017 at 9:44 AM
I keep getting the Ed vibe from Bryan, which I think is worse than the Jef H. vibe.
Del Scorcho
June 27, 2017 at 10:00 AM
Bryan was on a show called “The Player” so I don’t think for 1 second that he is genuine.
Also, Reality Steve says in his podcasts that he doesn’t make fun of people’s physical attributes that they can’t control, yet makes fun of Lee being short. Hmmm…
biscuit
June 27, 2017 at 10:34 AM
IA with both crushonspivey and rob22 regarding Lee and the franchise promoting the racial divide. I would love to know Rachel’s take on all this now that she’s had to opportunity to view the interactions of Lee’s IM as well as all the guys take on Lee’s actions. I wonder if Rachel now has a different viewpoint of Kenny. In last night’s episode, Rachel said there was some truth from both parties where in actuality there was no truth coming from the lips of Lee.
Kenny appears to have been very sincere in his feelings for Rachel. Mind you, he too could have been there for the purpose of his brand promotion, but from what I’ve seen so far, he seems sincere. Unfortunately he is the recipient of intentional provoking and drama storyline from the franchise and Lee. If Kenny really had a desire to get to know Rachel, that was not going to happen because what mattered most to the show was the making of drama.
I also wonder what Kenny’s thoughts are on this whole experience. He has to know it wasn’t a fluke Lee was cast. If he were at a regular work place, he would have grounds for discrimination and harassment suit. You sign (contract) your life away and dignity being on show like this.
allaboutme
June 27, 2017 at 10:49 AM
Jordan is more sincere about JoJo than Bryan is about Rachel. Who would have guessed?
dtandie
June 27, 2017 at 12:02 PM
Yes, he told Ashley Spivey that and then he went on to use the word midget (I can’t believe he doesn’t know how politically incorrect that is these days!) He also went on and on, criticizing Dean’s appearance.
instigator911
June 27, 2017 at 12:32 PM
I actually thought the references by Steve about Dean looking young were a bit tiresome and oddly excessive. I think Dean is super sexy.
rob22
June 27, 2017 at 12:54 PM
Regarding Dean and RS’s comments, I agree. A couple of podcasts back he went on and on about Dean being a teenager or looking like one. I had to watch more closely and when I did, I was scratching my head. He’s 26, and doesn’t look excessively young. Yes, he’s younger than Rachel, but she’s in her 30s. Dean’s pretty much in the sweet spot of the typical contestant. It’s not like he’s 20, 22 or 23, or something. I just found that whole line of commentary to be weird, especially since it went on and on. If he continued to do that on a following podcast (I decided that I cannot listen to another one), I guess he thinks he found a funny line to pull out over and over.
tjudd
June 27, 2017 at 3:44 PM
I’m from the south & I have never heard that the word “agressive” is code for something. How is that racially motivated? Trust me, I’m not a fan of Lee’s by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it’s grasping at straws to say he’s being racist!!
tjudd
June 27, 2017 at 3:47 PM
I hope that’s sarcasm about the midget part. Cuz seriously, I still call people that. I have a friend who is one & she thinks its hysterical? All this PC bs is getting ridiculous!
elizabeth82
June 27, 2017 at 3:47 PM
I read Kristen Baldwin’s recaps on Yahoo because her tweets are funny. Her recaps go up the same nights as the episodes. Maybe Steve reads them too because these passages are really similar, amirite?
Steve: “Josiah then tells Rachel he’s 100% convinced she’s the woman for him, she’s the woman of his dreams, and he wants to grow old with her. Rachel essentially tells him to slow his roll cuz she’s not even close to being on that level with him. He doesn’t even ask her anything about herself, just spews out how much he wants her. That doesn’t go over well and Josiah’s days are numbered.”
Kristen: “Rachel is loving all of it — until Josiah implies that God told him they’re going to be together. ‘I just want to grow old with you,’ he says. ‘And I really, really mean that, Rachel.’ The Bachelorette is all, slow your roll, pal. ‘You never really ask questions about me,’ she tells him, adding that she wants him to learn things about her by asking, not by reading them in a tabloid. Yeah, Josiah’s days are probably numbered.”
https://www.yahoo.com/tv/bachelorette-episode-5-recap-kenny-vs-lee-round-1-020144658.html
taxionna
June 27, 2017 at 4:44 PM
instigator911 – you are so right! Brian has definitely had some fillers/botox on his face. Really brings out the uncanny valley.
tjudd – when you have multiple men of color telling you that it’s a dog-whistle for racism, you should probably listen to them.
more information here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/a-bachelorette-contestant-dropped-a-classic-racial-dog-whistle_us_59488bbde4b0cddbb008f1b4
rob22
June 28, 2017 at 7:50 AM
tjudd: you’ve honestly never heard the “aggressive black man” talk track. “Black men are violent, dangerous people”. Unfortunately people post stuff like this all over social media and comments sections. That’s why calling him “aggressive” was code. It was shorthand for “aggressive black man”. He just left of the last two words to make it more ambiguous and less obviously racist. I could entertain the possibility that a lot of people could make that kind of statement not realizing that they were making a racially charged comment. I just can’t entertain it for Lee. He knew what he was doing. That was something that wasn’t lost on either the black men or the white men on the show. There were several comments to that effect from several contestants.
allaboutme
June 28, 2017 at 7:52 AM
tjudd – Also, watch Little Women to hear how toxic the M word is. Or – just Google it.
jlal
June 28, 2017 at 8:32 AM
To the person on here and apparently RS too, yes midget is a bad, bad, label. just like using the term retarded is bad. Just because people are more aware these days about what is offensive to certain groups doesn’t make being PC bad. I’d like to think progress vs. PC is to credit. There was all kinds of terms used in the past for women, blacks, disabled people, etc. that are NOT funny. People should know better today.
Bryan has definitely had work. Botox and fillers in the cheeks are my guess. Vanity aside, I like him though.
jlal
June 28, 2017 at 9:16 AM
I think Rachel is the most intelligent, classy, and well spoken bachelorette they have ever had. I have only caught two grammar errors and those were using the wrong pronoun, he vs. him and I vs. me which unfortunately most people do.
Lee was hired and most likely kept on the show by the producers to cause trouble. It is unfortunate the producers decided to use the race card. Sad, and desperate really. After the Chad backlash I would have thought they would figure out the most of us watch for the lead bachelor or ette, not to have the show be about what conflict they create.
pwaagg
June 28, 2017 at 1:33 PM
Literally couldn’t agree more. This is exactly what I was thinking when I watched this scene. And knowing what he’s said about race issues in the past, we know he knew exactly what he was doing when making those statements.
pwaagg
June 28, 2017 at 1:35 PM
Seriously? Have you not seen his racist tweets? He’s completely racist. And it’s a very common race baiting move – calling black women or women of color/giving them the “angry black woman” title and calling black men “aggressive”.
sam837
June 29, 2017 at 3:03 PM
It’s funny everyone keeps commenting on Lee’s racism toward Blacks, when he has made way more overtly hateful, bigoted, disparaging remarks against Muslims. But I guess that’s ok because hatred against Muslims is the last acceptable form of xenophobia. Being Muslim, and a longtime Bachelor fan, I find him highly offensive, and find it offensive that that part of his hatefulness is brushed under the rug.