-Now the question becomes what about the next “Bachelor.” The #1 question I’ve gotten since last night is essentially do I think Rachel sabotaged Peter’s chances to be the “Bachelor.” My answer: We’ll never know. If he’s the “Bachelor,” then obviously she didn’t. If he isn’t, then of course people will say it’s Rachel’s fault and the Peter nut jobs will have even more reason to stick pins in their Rachel doll. But no matter what Rachel said last night, she doesn’t produce the show. She isn’t picking the next lead. Look, they’re either going to choose Peter or they’re not. Nothing on stage last night that Rachel said should have any effect. He’s the most popular “loser” this show has seen in a while. Plenty of people want him as the next “Bachelor.” His following trumps anything that Dean or Eric have to offer. And he has a built in story line. Could Peter still be affected and maybe choose this is something he doesn’t want to be a part of? I mean, I guess he could. But I know the show wants him badly, so if he doesn’t get it, it’s because he turned it down. My gut still tells me he’s gonna be the “Bachelor.”
-Remember, that announcement isn’t going to happen for probably another month or so. Just because Rachel says this process isn’t for Peter doesn’t mean the show can’t turn that exact quote around and make a Peter “Bachelor” season all about that. Like, I see it different than a lot of people. If anything, the ATFR last night only feeds more into a possible storyline for his season. The guy went on the show to promote himself. He was never going to propose at the end of this thing whether it was Rachel as the “Bachelorette” or someone else. He was out to build his brand and he did exactly that, so props to him. And now, he can make it even bigger by signing on to be the “Bachelor.” I frankly don’t know how he would turn that down when a majority of the public wants it, the show wants it, and he checks off everything they’d want in a lead. The whole “well, I don’t know if I can propose this soon blah blah blah,” that’d absolutely be his storyline next season, because he can sit there during his “Bachelor” announcement, say he’s had time to think about it, he “got out of his own head,” realized this process can and does work, you can fall for someone on this show, and he just needs to trust his instincts. Even though I’m sure I will have already spoiled it, you don’t think the tease and promos leading up to Peter’s finale will have the average American who doesn’t follow spoilers glued to their seats wondering if he’s gonna propose? Because that’s essentially what they’ll make the whole season about. And girls who are falling for him will cry because they’re afraid he might leave them or he won’t be where they’re at in the end. I mean geez, I should f***ing produce next season. Because if he’s the “Bachelor,” that’s exactly what you’re gonna see. And people are going to watch. Anyone other than Peter next season is a fallback guy for them, you can count on that.
-Oh yeah, maybe I should talk about Rachel and Bryan at some point. Yeah, I mean cool. Congrats you guys. Good luck and have at it. I’m not gonna say I give them any more or any less of a chance than previous couples. Their relationship starts today (or I guess technically when filming ended). We know nothing. And nothing we see on social media will prove anything. Ben and Lauren were sending “I love you’s” to each other on IG just weeks before they announced they were done. None of that stuff matters to me. When they walk down the aisle, that’s when I’ll believe it. And they’ll get a gift from me if they do. I wish them luck, this is not going to be easy on them, tabloids will start in immediately with, “She’s still in love with Peter” and all that nonsense – you know it’s coming. It’s what they do. Your guess is as good as mine as to if these two will make it or not. Every couple we’ve seen at the finale seems over-the-moon in love, they express it as much as they can on social media, they say they can’t wait to just do normal things together (which Rachel and Bryan followed suit with today), etc. What they’re doing is absolutely no different than every couple who came before them in terms of their profession of love. Some work, most don’t. We’ll see what happens.
A couple quick thoughts on the finale:
-Could we have maybe moved that final rose ceremony inside somewhere? I mean, they could clearly hear how windy it was and it basically drowned out everything Bryan and Rachel said to each other. I’m guessing that was not one of their prouder moments, and if they could do it over again, they would’ve moved it inside once they realized the wind had picked up.
-Was Rachel a bit sassy to Peter on the ATFR? Yes. Was it as bad as the Peter nut jobs are making it out to be? No. But anything negative towards the guy they’re going to overreact to, so I wouldn’t expect anything different. She followed any sassiness up with saying she sincerely hopes he finds love. (“Yeah, but she’s just saying that.”) Impossible.
-I will share four words with you that I was told described Peter the best. And this was before the ATFR aired, which is pretty comical. Who it came from? Doesn’t matter. Lets just say they aren’t far off: “Non-committal,” “Emotional,” “Manipulative,” and a “Basket Case.” Yep. Pretty much what I saw last night. Here come the pitch forks and torches.
-I’ll leave with this one final thing in regards to this season: the spoiler that I reported about on May 16th that it was Peter then changed on June 6th to it being Bryan? I never mentioned this until now. On May 17th, I was told my spoiler was wrong. Now, I hear that every season so I didn’t immediately put a ton of stock into it, but, I also couldn’t completely dismiss it. Went back to the original source who told me it was Peter, told them to find out everything they could and if there was any validity to it, and didn’t hear anything for two weeks. Figured it was nothing. But then they finally came back to me with the evidence I needed to realize the spoiler was wrong. But yeah, it took three weeks to sift through a lot of intel and finally get to where I got to. I’m glad I did. Sucks being wrong, even if it was for only 3 weeks.
Happy Paradising everyone. Back next week with your weekly recaps of that sh** show. Should be interesting based on that promo we saw last night.
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.
jordan5827
August 9, 2017 at 7:56 AM
I feel like the tension between Peter and Rachel was normal given the situation they were in. They are technically exes and it seemed like they didn’t get much closure when things ended. I just didn’t read too much into the saltiness like everyone else has. It also seemed very obvious that after filming ended, Rachel figured out that she might possibly have been played by Peter and that he only wanted the Bachelor gig. That’s also probably why she seemed a little bit bitter towards Peter. She doesn’t seem like she is very good at faking emotions. She is very easy to read. Not sure if Bryan is the guy for her, but I think she still would have picked him even if Peter had proposed. They had chemistry from the first night and Bryan was very consistent from the beginning and a lot more of a “take charge” personality, which seemed to be what Rachel was looking for. I love Eric! I think he is so genuine and positive. Just seems like a wonderful guy. Would love to see him as the Bachelor. Peter is easy on the eyes, but very boring. I don’t think a Ben 2.0 would happen. Just listened to him on a podcast this morning where he was asked if he would ever be the Bachelor again if they asked him to, and he said that he wouldn’t.
keddo
August 9, 2017 at 8:39 AM
Didn’t anyone else notice how Harrison asked questions that had already been answered, seemingly with the sole purpose of dragging out the angst? It just seemed slimy to me. Or maybe it was because he had his list of questions but didn’t have the flexibility to alter the next question to draw out something different and more insightful. I know, it’s trash TV, not a serious news program.
The seeming contradiction of having Peter, who didn’t want to propose marriage after only a few weeks and 2 or 3 dates with Rachael, being the next bachelor, is not really an issue. Several previous bachelors have ended the show with a non-proposal, an “I choose you to see how it works between us in real life” conclusion. Who knows, he might have an instant connection with someone and find himself being surprised at being head-over-heels in love and ready to propose.
I would watch a season with Peter as the Bachelor; he seems to have integrity and his personality isn’t all out on display. I didn’t watch Nick’s season and won’t be watching BIP due to the sliminess.
After watching Jessie Graff on American Ninja Warrior, I want to see her as the next bachelorette.
sjcaligurl
August 9, 2017 at 1:29 PM
I initially liked Peter and thought they were cute together until he started getting wishy washy and that was around the home town dates. He expressed concerns to his friends but turned around and told her family that he couldn’t imagine not having her in his life. She was shocked because he’d never given her a hint of that before.
There have been guys who’ve left early because their feelings weren’t getting there the way they should given the time limits but he kept dropping little nuggets when she seemed to be willing to let him go. I was questioning Bryan’s realness at first but now I’m starting to think Peter was the one who might not have been real. It was her show but he wanted to control the game. Some seemed pissed with her for saying “I’m not living a mediocre life. I’m living my best life” but he’s the one who threw that in her face when he saw that she wasn’t going to keep him if he wasn’t ready to propose to her. Then that whole thing where he got nasty with Bryan and told him that he didn’t want to be sitting there with him. He’s got a “side” to him that’s not as sweet as people want to believe. He was jealous of Bryan yet didn’t want to offer her more than maybe status.
Some guys were envied Bryan because he was older, more confident and knew what he wanted with Rachel and she ate it up. He got the FIR, a group date rose, an expensive watch and, ultimately, the final rose. It shouldn’t have been a shock despite all the emotional drama with Peter. Her issue with Bryan was that things were happening so fast and seemed so right that she couldn’t believe it was true. Peter made that worse with his insecurities (or plot to get eliminated so he’d be up for Bachelor). I think she made the right choice. She kept saying she wanted a guy who knew what he wanted and wanted it with her. Peter couldn’t offer her that (even if he claimed to want to give it to her)
She was used to indecisive guys like Peter or guys who needed a bit of healing like Eric and Dean. Eric thanked her. Perhaps Peter could have thanked her for showing him that sometimes he needs to seize the moment. His own friends told him: “Don’t F it up!”
Now that it’s out that it’s been his dream since high school to be the bachelor, it appears he was the insincere one – not Bryan. Maybe he got further than he thought but he also got close enough to be in the running for Bachelor. I wonder how much the producers had to do with it.
elizabeth82
August 9, 2017 at 7:08 PM
I didn’t even like Bryan particularly (too suave and aggressive kisser), but as the season went on and especially in contrast to Peter, he got better. He never played with Rachel’s emotions, got into mind games, or resented other guys–all of which Peter did. One thing I really liked in this crazy finale was how he called out Rachel right away about not being present during their final date. Realness goes a long way with me, and that shows that he’s got some realness to him and that he wants to work through issues by bringing them out in the open, which is what I believe healthy relationships require.