So if you were following my Twitter the other day, you know tomorrow’s guest for Podcast #38 is none other than the “Real Housewives of Dallas'” Brandi Redmond. I’ve known Brandi a little over a year now and we talk about a ton of things: how we initially met (totally random), her time as a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader, her marriage and how it was portrayed on the show, the Jesus Juice parties we’ve had at her house, what we can expect for season 2 of RHOD which starts next Monday, plus a lot more. Brandi is my first podcast guest in 38 that I actually did in the comfort of my own living room, since she lives about 10 minutes from me. Definitely different to do an interview in person than over the phone. Honestly, I think that might’ve been the first in person interview I’ve done in my life. It was a lot of fun. We were drinking wine the whole time, and you can tell by the end, Brandi got a little loose. No spoilers, but there’s definitely some good stuff in there. Definitely look forward to you hearing that tomorrow as it was one of the more fun interviews I’ve ever done. Next week, back to the “Bachelor” franchise as Lace Morris will be the podcast guest. Already recorded it last week and Lace was great as well. Some interesting stuff she says about Grant.
Speaking of podcasts, Vulture.com did a review of all “Bachelor” related podcasts yesterday. And hey, they like me! They seemed to like me and Olivia’s, both separately and together. I think I’ll be going on Olivia’s podcast in the future again, so I’ll keep you updated on that. That was one of my favorite ones I’ve done.
Obviously a ton of talk surrounding Peter since Monday and will he be the next “Bachelor.” He spoke to reporters after the ATFR on Monday, and if this isn’t him basically setting up his narrative next season, then I don’t know what is:
“He did, however, say that he went into the Bachelorette with an open mind and that if he were given the chance to be the Bachelor, he hopes he would be able to propose in the end.
“I went into this entire process totally open minded and ready for whatever was thrown at me, and even with that I don’t think I was prepared,” he admitted. “I don’t know if I can get to that level with someone that fast, but I certainly know that I tried. In this one instance, I couldn’t. I can’t really speak to my future. In this one time, it wasn’t what I was able to do at that point.”
I mean, the guy couldn’t have made it any clearer. So anyone still asking, “How can he be the ‘Bachelor’ if he already admitted he can’t propose in that short of time?,” you have your answer. He couldn’t propose to RACHEL in that short of time. One girl. He had no other choices. If he’s the “Bachelor,” he has other options and maybe he’ll find someone. So yeah, as I’ve said all season long, his narrative is there for it to happen. Just a matter of if he wants to do it. Certainly seems like he does. But nothing is official until the announcement is made.
As for all the speculation that Rachel just chose a ring and Bryan is a default pick for her, she addressed it yesterday during her media rounds. Of course, the Peter nut jobs will just say she’s lying, but I don’t know what else she can do at this point. It’s right there in bold print and verbally came out of her mouth. If you can’t accept that, or choose not to believe her because it doesn’t fit YOUR narrative, then I don’t know what to tell ya’.
As for “Reader Emails” this week, they begin on Page 2. A LOT didn’t make it in because it was a variation of the same themes. Mostly “How can Peter be the Bachelor if he’s not ready to propose,” and/or “do you think Rachel sabotaged his chances to be the “Bachelor,” and/or “Bryan was Rachel’s default pick.” There’s probably 30-40 emails combined that had one of those questions in it. Some made it in, most didn’t. Because there’s only so many ways to answer the same question. There are some good ones in there though including what I think of one of my podcast advertisers. Enjoy…
anita29
August 9, 2017 at 9:02 AM
OMG! I cannot believe how many people drank the Peter “Kool aid”! This guy was not into Rachel. Please go back to the ABC online page and read the question on Peter’s profile:
“What’s the closest you have ever come to being married?”
My ex of two years. I was looking at rings after just THREE months.”
So, for this girl he was willing to commit in just three months, but for Rachel, no.
PLeasseeeee… He was paving the road to be chosen as the next Bachelor.
I wish Rachel and Bryan the best of luck. I think people forget how much editing this show
involves and I think Bryan got a very bad edit. I bet he’s a fantastic guy and that is why Rachel chose him.
tinyred500
August 9, 2017 at 10:08 AM
I totally understand that it’s a heavily produced and edited show. The producers want to sway the audience to think who the favourites are. I’m sure each season the lead has their own narrative that’s part of the storyline too…all to keep the audience guessing and erm glued to the telly!
Over previous seasons we’ve seen so called favourites come and go. Look at Des and Brooks, we were lead to believe it was only Brooks for her, it was a theme throughout her season, then he left because he didn’t love her etc., and she was left devastated. Or was she? Was it really also just as much about Chris, but his narrative was a hidden one and the audience was purposely mislead? So Rachael’s season perhaps isn’t so different from previous ones. I don’t care one iota who picks who, it makes no difference to my life. However, I’d never ever compare a relationship outside of the show to the so called one on the show, because it isn’t a relationship and they aren’t really dating per se. It’s an elaborate and over the top form of speed dating, with the minimum time spent (with the lead) in hope they can garner as much info they need to decide who’s the right fit, and that’s if they are sincere.
jessie
August 9, 2017 at 10:15 AM
Oh wow are the Peter nuts, NUTS! It’s kind of funny – because it’s so like girlfriends I know in real life – creating a fantasy person in the body of a real person who fit’s their personal taste and they make every excuse for the guy. Funny and sad! It’s going to be a nightmare when this guy is bachelor. Man, I hope something happens to stop that!
shenanigans
August 9, 2017 at 10:27 AM
I don’t understand why people are accusing Rachel of “throwing shade” at Peter when she said that the show wasn’t for him. She was simply stating the truth: that he couldn’t propose to someone he only knew for six weeks. He clearly said that to her. It’s not like it’s something she just pulled out of her butt. LOL
Now, Peter is backtracking by saying that he was open to the possibility, maybe under different circumstances, yada, yada, yada. However, that doesn’t change the truth: he wasn’t willing to do it for Rachel, and she had every right to say that to him.
tinyred500
August 9, 2017 at 10:41 AM
Do you not think that peeps in general are nuts for watching such a cheesy and silly show to start with?! Lol I do and yes, I include myself! Lol
crushonspivey
August 9, 2017 at 12:45 PM
Have to admit, the format they used for the finale did Rachel zero favors. I think they tried a new approach simply because the ending was different, but they should have stuck with how Andi did it. It would have been more fair to Bryan, and to Rachel.
Instead, that Peter break up was the high point, and the engagement was basically an afterthought to the finale. And it is supposed to be the crescendo to the season. It wasn’t. It seemed almost fake and contrived.
I also think Rachel sort of blew the break up. She is the lead. The show is her. Yet, she kept asking Peter for something, which made no sense if she was there to just break up with him. She should have been more forward like Andi was with Nick and been done with it. “Sorry, you’re not at where you need to be, it is not going to work out, but good luck.” Instead, she basically avoided being in charge there–which she was. Her season. So that is why it was a super weird break up. Rachel handled it bad. It made her ending less dramatic and exciting.
As to Peter as the lead, I dunno. I think he’ll do fine. I thik it would be different being a lead of he show and picking your one than being one of the 30 being chosen. Especially when you can get one one knee and say “Will you keep dating me”, like Brad and Juan Pablo. After so many seasons of this shows, fans should be savvy enough to do understand it’s only been 3 months. So ees ok.
rob22
August 9, 2017 at 1:10 PM
So, did anyone catch the line Peter had about trying to reach out to Rachel, after the show finished taping, through the producers and was denied? What the heck was that all about? And I think the producers booted it on that one. They could have setup some serious Mesnick action for ATFR. Ahhhh, what could have been! Can you imagine how that would have gone down? About like an errant molotov cocktail, I expect.
rob22
August 9, 2017 at 1:23 PM
Assessing Peter for The Bachelor. Well, if you set the bar low, we know he wouldn’t been as bad as Ben Flatdick, Juan Pah-blow or Farmer Chris. I think he’d also be better than some of the oldies that almost took the show down in flames: Prince Lorenzo, Bob Guiney, Charlie O’Connell and Andrew Baldwin. He also is not slimy like Nick or Alex Michel…. not that I’m fully opposed to a slimy Bachelor. I thoroughly enjoyed Nick’s silly season.
For all his problems, I’d imagine Peter would be a middle of the pack Bachelor. Maybe the equivalent of someone like Byron from back in the day. The only problem here is that I think the show needs better than that with it’s sagging ratings. I think I’d go Ben Higgins 2.0. I’m not saying it would happen, it probably won’t, but I think that’s the right call. I think he was a pretty popular Bachelor. I don’t know where else they could go since they seem to not want to go outside of the show. (I’m aware btw that Ben said he wouldn’t do it. But money talks and everything else walks. He, like most of us, has a number that he couldn’t say no to). And the reasons that he gave, to me, weren’t the type of reasons that couldn’t be tossed quickly away. I mean, for the alternative, we’re talking about Peter. Peter who can’t get engaged in 6 weeks, despite that being the premise of the show. The WHOLE premise. Ben’s issues are much easier to move past.
tinyred500
August 9, 2017 at 2:24 PM
I’m surprised the producers didn’t sanction that contact, it’s happened in the past, despite it being supposedly against contract rules (yeah, we know they contradict themselves). There must have been another reason….perhaps Rachel wasn’t on board with the idea, who knows! Horrid thing for the chosen one though, really disrespectful, another reason to say no by the lead.
shenanigans
August 9, 2017 at 3:11 PM
Crushonspivey: I said this in another thread: I think that Rachel was really confused by the mixed messages that Peter was sending her in Spain. I love you and I see a future with you….. but I’m not there yet and I won’t propose. And, bear in mind, he told her this knowing that she had to make a choice the next day.
Rachel wanted him to want her, but he didn’t. At least, not enough to take that step. And, when she looks back at it now, with a few months’ perspective, she probably views it the same way she sees her ex of five years: just another guy who wouldn’t commit.
Rachel felt really badly about that when she was in the moment in Spain. On ATFR, not so much. LOL Now, she has that commitment from Bryan and she’s not looking back.
rob22
August 9, 2017 at 3:26 PM
I’m not sure that Rachel “wanted” Peter as much as she wanted him to want her. I think, either way, she picks Bryan. Edited, or not, it seemed pretty straight forward. How many times have we seen a lead appear to be all in with someone and then dump them on the final night? Peter probably lucked out. Much better to go down the way he did than to go down on one knee and then have the bomb dropped on him. And…. the pay day for The Bachelor won’t suck either. It actually couldn’t have ended better for him. I mean, come on, it’s not like him and Rachel were ever going to be married. You have to literally be insane to think that was a possibility.
LM111
August 9, 2017 at 4:02 PM
If Rachel planned on picking Bryan the whole time, I’m confused by her “break-up” with Peter. She didn’t need to get into the whole proposal thing at all. What difference would it make anyway? Seems like it was just ego for her. She could have just walked in, told him that she had to let him go, and left. If her intent was to be with Bryan all along, why was she baiting Peter? To embarrass him at the end? I don’t get it.
Also – I don’t get why some people think he was giving her mixed messages. You can love someone and not be ready to marry that person on the spot (otherwise, we would all get engaged in every single committed relationship we’ve ever had!). Love is great, but it takes time to know if you’re compatible with someone in the long term. Do they compromise when a situation calls for it? Do they argue respectfully and constructively, or do they get ugly when things don’t go their way? Are they selfish or giving by nature? That stuff takes time. He obviously liked her, but she needed him to go into an engagement on blind faith and he was more realistic about it. That doesn’t make him disingenuous in my eyes.
Karen
August 9, 2017 at 7:53 PM
Steve, I think it’s time for you to share what you know about Peter! K? Thanks!
shamelessbachfan
August 9, 2017 at 8:09 PM
Completely agree with everything you said!
missmanners
August 9, 2017 at 9:34 PM
You have the patience of Job to read through tons of emails asking the same questions and making the same accusations over and over again. Holy water, Steve. Holy. Water. But seriously, what a sugar honey ice tea show that finale was and now the inmates are running the asylum. The vilifying of Rachel and Bryan. The mental gymnastics used to justify Peter’s every word and action. Astounding. There needs to be a lecture in PSY101 on this. Well, at least there’s a few months of calm before full-on Peter Mania is unleashed via The Bachelor. Sharpening my stakes as we speak.
tinyred500
August 10, 2017 at 4:33 AM
@LM111, I agree with what you state and you make some very true and valid points.
The whole premise of the shows is that the lead will propose or be proposed too, that’s the tagline the audience is spoon fed throughout each season. Whether this aligns with the viewer is another thing entirely. It’s pretty much realism versus fantasyland. I for one have no problem with no proposal at the end…it almost makes it more real…how many have we actually seen though? So, from a producers prospective it seems a proposal or else…no one (appears to) gets a good edit if they don’t propose…and majority of the audience don’t like it either.
I personally think they should reintroduce a promise ring option, ‘maybe’ they would get a higher percentage rate in successful unions.
I have a lot of respect for the ones who have made it through though. Not only for successfully picking the right one for them, but for surviving the awful aftermath of the season airing etc., and all that entails, it must be Hell on earth. Kudos to them.
ashleigh11
August 10, 2017 at 6:06 AM
If Rachel forced Peter to bend on his values and get down on one knee, only to say “actually, thanks, but i decided no” in favour of Bryan, I’m pretty sure the social media universe would have destroyed her. So Peter has a romanticized view of only wanting to get down on one knee once in his life – either Bryan was default or Rachel is an awful human being for wanting to take that from Peter only to reject him. Either way – the final couple falls completely flat for me.
I loved Rachel as the Bachelorette because she was smart, capable and intelligent, but the whole ‘ring or nothing’ bit turned me off. I know she’s probably contractually obliged to force it, but like others in the franchise, she could have paved her own way and followed her heart. She wanted the guarantee, but a ring doesn’t offer that – it just means that someone is cool with potentially being engaged multiple times in their life.
I do hope Peter is the next Bachelor. The man is hot and we haven’t had a legit hot Bachelor in forever. I couldn’t care less if he was into Rachel or just wasn’t feeling it enough in the end, or whether we get a proposal at the end of these shows – just keep it interesting and give us some eye candy in the meantime.
Can’t wait for BIP. I feel like I endure Bachelor/Bachelorette just to get to the crazy fun of BIP.
rob22
August 10, 2017 at 7:17 AM
I was reading the summaries of the past Bachelor seasons and it seems that most of the men did not propose in the first several seasons. I didn’t look at the Bachelorette seasons, but I think most, if not all of them proposed. But, now it has become mandatory. I imagine Peter will need to sign in blood that he will propose to someone before they write him the check. Still…. I want to see Ben 2.0. Peter’s nice, and all, but just seems like a mediocre Bachelor. I know RS will say that the lead doesn’t make the show, but a boring lead does effect the show negatively.
weird
August 10, 2017 at 12:54 PM
@ashleigh11 nailed it on everything, most importantly how long it’s been since we had a legit hot bachelor. I’m barely holding on after Nick’s season. Peter or bust.
ladyjane747
August 11, 2017 at 8:13 PM
So obvious that Rachel was into Bryan and vice versa all season. Don’t see how anyone could’ve missed that! The Peter relationship was just for drama and TV. Rachel’s a smart woman. Peter’s not at her level – an attorney and a personal trainer/model? Ahhh, no. Dude couldn’t even spell “coitus.” LOL If he is the Bachelor, I hope they can give him some uppers or something; he’s so sloooow.
upmyalley
August 11, 2017 at 8:15 PM
I don’t remember which rag I read it in but Peter has wanted to be the bachelor since high school. It was his desire to get all the hot babes. The whole season he has been auditioning. He hasn’t fooled me one bit. He wants all those women drooling all over him. As far as Rachel, well, even though she’s smart and pretty she’s not beautiful and she, like all the others, is just another franchise puppet. It became obvious when she keep waboom guy and Lee and such and such. Lol Same ole song and dance my friends. Bryan is creepy and a suck face.
katieottawa
August 12, 2017 at 1:08 AM
OMG I just made it through the readers emails. I command the patience of reality steve because it was enough to want to gauge my eyes out. Seriously some people really need to give their head a shake. Why do people even care about any of this??? “If its not peter who do you think will be next bachelor?” All you people really need to get back to the real world and quit obsessing about these celebrity wannabees. Its a silly show with fake people, fake edits, fake storylines. You obsessing over it really isnt going to change anything or move things quicker. If steve says he thinks its peter why is that not good enough but instead feel the need to press on to hear something different and instead throw out some what if scenario. Complete waste of time.
I must really be in the minority where i watch it a bit but forget all about it 5 minutes later and couldnt care less who she chooses, and who will get the bachelor gig. Why people give 2 rats ass about any of these people who they have never met is beyond me.
Dont any of you have anything more important and worthy to consume your time with than some stupid reality show??
tater
August 19, 2017 at 2:34 AM
He reached out to Rachel and she denied him. She had nothing to say to him. He was trying to get back together essentially.
tater
August 19, 2017 at 2:44 AM
It’s a tv show that everything has to be elaborated on. They probably talk for a minute and she said I’m breaking up with you because you don’t want to get married and producers probably said no please elaborate and talk about it more in depth so then you see that long drawn out process.