Hi Steve,
So, how many tweets/emails/messages did you get yesterday saying you were wrong about the spoiler from those who didn’t read the update when you changed the spoiler to Bryan? Quite a few. Expected. I even said that the day I posted the new spoiler. No matter how many times I mentioned it in the following 2 months, inevitably there will be people who just showed up in May to read the spoiler then never heard anything since. And we saw those people come out last Monday. Oh well. Not my fault they choose to read one column and never again.
I’ve been meaning to write in and say how I finally binge watched Friday Night Lights while I was home on maternity leave. I didn’t expect to like it since I’m not into football, but it sucked me in and I couldn’t stop watching. Thanks for that! You don’t have to be a football fan to watch FNL. It’s for everybody.
What do you think of the current season for the Challenge? I’m not sure I like the whole dirty concept of it, even though the Challenge is one of my favorite shows ever. It just seems too convoluted this season with so many surprise twists. I’m fine with it. I like it so far. But I’m still unclear on some of the alliances and who is screwing who for what reason.
I believe you said you’re working on getting some Challenge contestants on your podcast, which is great. Who would be in your top 3 girls and top 3 guys to interview?
Finally, wanted to say your podcast is one of my favorites to listen to. Keep up the great work!
Comment: Don’t want to jinx anything in regards to podcast guests. But as I mentioned weeks ago, there will be more “Bachelor/ette” people, and there will be ones from other shows mixed in.
__________________________________
THANK YOU REALITY STEVE
Thank you for being the voice of reason!
I agree with every word you said, as usual.
You have addressed the PETER fans diplomatically in many ways, including your “circular argument” section. I SOOO agree with your words: “the level of crazy that’s coming from the Peter nut jobs is mind blowing.”
You touched on many good points –
– Yes, clearly Rachel was all into Brian since the first night. Chemistry, yeah!!
– Live finale – I agree with you, I also had absolutely no problem with Rachel in the hot seat, explaining the finale as they went along. Rachel has a strong camera presence, and she did a fine job.
-You addressed the question of whether Rachel sabotaged Peter’s shot at being the next Bachelor? But on that note, may I ask, do you think she truly felt that way and she truly felt that Peter should NOT be the next Bachelor? Or did producers encourage Rachel to say things along those lines, as part of the groundwork for Peter becoming the next Bachelor? I don’t know how she really feels. But even if she was trying to sabotage him, it’s not gonna work. She doesn’t produce or cast the show.
– You gave kudos to Eric’s kind departure! That was one of the very classiest good-byes I have seen (male or female) after getting the boot. Other contestants, on this season and on prior seasons, may have left with similar sentiment, but Eric seemed genuine, and he spoke from the heart. Eric’s kind words may have been the highlight of the whole show last night for me! Stand up guy.
-Uh yeah, how about that dang wind in the final rose ceremony!? I also could not believe they continued with that, outside. But the wind added a bonus comical element! I wondered if they had to re-shoot? Bryan and Rachel seemed rushed, and rehearsed (or re-hashed) at times.
-Brief comment…. You said, “Rachel said in her People blog today that when she went to Bryan’s room that night…” that was Peter’s room, not Bryan’s room? Yeah quite a few people alerted me of that. It got fixed immediately.
Question – do you ever get to meet the stars of the series, the ones in the Dallas area? JoJo and Jordan, Sean and Catherine, and now Rachel and Bryan (although they have not decided where to live yet)?
Comment: Nope. Met Sean and Catherine once for about :30 seconds. Haven’t met anyone else. Although this past weekend, Rachel’s engagement party was at Stirr last Saturday night in Deep Ellum. I haven’t been to Deep Ellum in probably 5 years. But I happened to be there last Friday night and was at Stirr. Missed them by a day. That would’ve been interesting for sure.
__________________________________
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the good work again this season.
I thought that last night’s finale cast in a new light Rachel’s decision to announce in media interviews before the premiere that she’s engaged. In theory, this should have been the ideal season to not reveal that she’s engaged, because it would have been more suspenseful for the unspoiled to believe that maybe she and Peter left the show in a relationship but not engaged. Not sure how intentional that was on either the show or Rachel’s part, but it raised some interesting questions in retrospect.
And a question for you: Do you think the outcome would have been different if Peter had been willing to propose? I had spent the whole season convinced that Bryan was the clear winner, but last night’s breakup between Rachel and Peter was certainly something.
Comment: No.
__________________________________
Hey Steve,
Congrats on another successful season! Looking forward to another. I personally prefer Peter as Bachelor because I think it’d be interesting for them to fully run with the “will he or won’t he” propose bit which’ll be a tiny change of pace, plus if there’s that many Peter crazies, maybe his cast will be especially nutso.
Do you think the Dean crazies will change their mind once they seen Paradise? Probably all depends on how they edit it I guess. A Wells Bachelor season wouldn’t be awful since he has at least an ounce of personality but I know that’s pretty unlikely too. You can’t reason with crazy, so no. Don’t see it being Wells either.
I’m curious if you think Rachel is pissed at production for stirring shit up so much with the edit. If it really was Bryan for sure since Hometowns, they could’ve helped a girl out and shown more of their romance and less of the Peter drama (not that they would). Now most of Bachelor nation thinks she’s a second Desiree but seem to be even more critical than I can remember they were for her.
Rachel’s no dummy, she knows Peter wants the Bachelor role and she wasn’t about to take that lying down. I don’t get the “but he was soooo sincere and still loves her” people. My hope is you have dirt on him, they make him the Bachelor, and then as soon as filming wraps, you release everything. I know not likely, but a girl can only hope.
Thanks!
Comment: I have no knowledge of this whatsoever, but my guess is once they were done filming in early, during the following months, Rachel probably learned/heard a lot of things regarding Peter that didn’t match up with what he told her on the show. And that probably led to her saying some of the things she did. Just a guess.
__________________________________
Hey RS!
Thanks for another great season of spoilers. Sorry you had to deal with the peter crazies on twitter last night *insisting* you were wrong about your prediction (massive eye roll). I literally had to keep the link of your correction copied to send to people on twitter.
Anyway, something I’d love to see (and I don’t know how or if this would be possible), is an update on the BIP “couples.” Who’s still seeing each other, etc. I’m especially curious about the DLO/Dean/Kristina love triangle. I saw them all together all over social media at the MTA after party so am super curious/interested if he’s still playing them both. Also, what about Robbie and amanda after that whole thing blew up? I’ll be updating that as we get closer to the live finale. But they definitely want a proposal out of this season, and my guess is they’ll get one with Derek and Taylor. They’re inseparable. You know, from the guy who didn’t want to date anyone from the franchise. Yeah, him. Now he’s gonna propose to one.
Finally, do we know any more about the bachelor winter games? When it’s going to start? What the format will be like? Curious what that’s going to be like.
Thanks again for the spoilers! Your blog and podcast is great.
Comment: It’ll air in February. When it tapes, we don’t know. And it will be a cold weather resort in the US. Doesn’t look like they’re going out of the country. And according to Rob Mills, looks like they want to include contestants from “Bachelor” franchises around the world.
__________________________________
Hey Steve,
I’ve been watching a lot of Rachel and Bryan’s post-public-debut interviews today, and I have to say, a lot of them felt as though they were the comments section come to life with the antagonism towards Rachel and Bryan and focusing almost all of the attention onto the break-up with Peter. In particular, there was one Access Hollywood interview with Eric where the anchor had the gall to ask him if he thought he’d “dodged a bullet,” as Rachel had been so sweet up until the finale and that this “other side” of her came out and should be universally considered a deal-breaker. I’m a fairly new fan to the franchise, but I feel as though there have been plenty of moments where the Bachelor/Bachelorette has been fairly direct with their contestants at either the finale or the Women Tell All/Men Tell All and they didn’t receive nearly as much flak as Rachel. Maybe it’s because the examples I’m thinking of they were clapping back at pretty widely regarded villains (like Ben H. calling out Leah, Desiree calling out James for being manipulative,) but I’m wondering whether you think there’s any weight this might be a moment where people are more likely to see an “angry black woman” rather than someone justifying themselves to an ex after a fairly messy break-up, or is it just people REALLY like Peter that much? It’s hard to watch many people come so quickly to the defense of someone who displays so many red flags for manipulation and possibly emotionally abusive behavior down the road. I personally don’t even think Rachel acted rudely to Peter, as she acted much more civilly than I could possibly have acted if it were me; she was direct and said what needed to be said, especially in regard to the “go and have a mediocre life” comment.
Thank you so much, I can’t wait to see what you have to say and what goes down on BIP!
Comment: People have short term memories when it comes to this show. You’re right. It’s happened other times in the past and the lead got way less flak from the public. Could be a combo of the Peter crazies mixed with how that break up was edited. Anytime there’s negativity against a fan favorite, you’re gonna have some crazy outrage.
__________________________________
Can you think of the last “winner” of the Bachelore/ette that was portrayed nicely or the “fan favorite” by editing?
Nick- Picked Vanessa, fan favorite Raven. Ben- Picked Lauren, everyone was rooting mainly for Jojo. Robby was liked better than Jordan because everyone thought he was a cheater. Etc etc. It seems like the producers don’t want the viewers to favor the winner for controversy. Thoughts?
Comment: There have been plenty. I’d say Lauren Bushnell was well liked. As was Shawn Booth. Whitney was well liked. Chris, Catherine. That’s quite a few.
__________________________________
First of all, I think I enjoyed this Bachelorette the most. She was smart and sassy, good looking and intelligent. Can’t say that about too many Bachelorettes. It might not have had the most viewing audience, but it was a nice change to see a woman in charge of her destiny using her brain AND her heart. I kind of think this one will work, but as you say, we shall see.
I know you have selected Peter for the next bachelor, but I personally think he came off as an ass. I guess because I am a Rachael fan, I didn’t care for his attitude on the show. He looked pissed and he really had no right. He knew they wanted an engagement when he signed up, and chose to play the “I’m not ready yet” persona for sympathy. If he is the bachelor, he most likely will not fall in love. We know people go on the show mostly all for their 15 minutes of fame, but if the show wants us to believe their conclusion of an engagement/marriage, he’s not the one. We want to pretend it will end happy, that’s the premise of the show. Peter needs a normal courtship, so I personally hope it’s not him. I think they should pick someone from another bachelor show…….give us a surprise instead of the status quo. I don’t see that happening.
I loved the ending not being of the norm. I liked that Rachael was part of the experience in watching it all, something different for a change. Chris Harrison should think about changing his famous boring line, “Gentlemen, Rachael, this is the final Rose”……come on Bachelor franchise, can’t you think of one other line to put in there, just for variety!
OK, that’s my final rant for this bachelorette. But I have questions for Mr. Steve. It’s mostly about the chosen Bachelorettes:
1. I know that the contestants for the Bachelor have to bring their own dresses, shoes, and do their own makeup. Does the Bachelorette have to purchase her own? I mean these are expensive dresses. And does she buy her own false eyelashes? I notice they are different lengths, so perhaps they are her own. No. “Bachelorette” has her own stylist the whole season.
2. Does she have a studio do her hair? Or are these wigs that the studio buys for her? She has her stylist all season.
3. I noticed that they give the engaged couple an expense-paid trip. Is this part of the deal when they sign up? No. They’ve done that in the past, but it seemed like a while since we saw that. Guess they decided to bring it back this season. Can’t remember who the last one was.
4. What does the bachelor/bachelorette do on their downtime? No TV, no internet and they can’t mingle on their own time with the contestants, so what do they do?
Thank you for making the show more fun to watch. Having your inside scoops make it much more exciting.
Comment: They do nothing but sit around, drink, have “fake” conversations suggested to them by producers, and film ITM’s. That’s about it.
__________________________________
Hi Steve,
I am a long time reader. I first started watching The Bachelor during Jake’s season and found you shortly after. That first season, I remember enjoying the fairytale love story they were selling until Jake picked Vienna and then the drama after the season ended with their awful Chris Harrison sit down interview. At that point, if viewers didn’t figure out Jake was a tool and cold hearted, they were ignorant. But, I kept watching because I enjoyed the escape and reading your updates. I also enjoyed knowing the ending before everyone else and trying to see if the edit would reveal the final choice.
A few comments on the finale… You were spot on about that proposal being outside. That wind was ridiculous and Rachel could barely keep her eyes open. I bet her false lashes were really annoying her in the wind, along with her hair whipping in her face. They should have moved it inside.
You know what I did NOT miss about the different format to the final episode? The stupid Neil Lane segment where the guys go pick out the engagement rings. Ugh. Yes, we all know Neil Lane gives them the ring so he gets his few minutes of free advertising. But, it’s sooo contrived and boring watching the final two men talk with him and pick the ring… It really just kills time. Glad that was left out.
You touched on the ratings and the prediction that this season would tank due to Rachel being the first black Bachelorette. You know what? I liked her more than any other Bachelorette I’ve seen. She wasn’t wishy washy. She didn’t get all twisted over a guy who treated her like crap. Now, I have missed a season here or there (didn’t watch a single episode of Jojo’s season). But, I’m pretty sure Rachel had more back bone than many of the previous Bachelorettes.
Since this is my first and only time writing, I’m throwing out all my questions. Why do you no longer do the video chats? I used to love those. It was fun to see Maddie when she was still with you and hear about Olivia, etc. I’ve listened to a handful of the blogs, although, half the contestants I don’t remember and have to google to figure out who they are. I mostly just remember the leads and the final two. Plenty of reasons. One being that I they were uncomfortable for me. I’ve never been a big on camera guy. Also, there were major technical issues involved that kept happening which never got fixed by whatever company I was using. Another reason is that podcasting is a very hot new medium right now. It’s where advertisers are spending their money. I could never monetize the video chats in that form. Made all the sense in the world to go over podcasting with the audience I have.
Anyway, thanks for doing what you do. Your sarcastic wit gives me good entertainment when I don’t want to think about stressful stuff like work, etc. Glad you found a way to monetize it.
Comment: Thank you. Monetizing comes with the territory. Once I realized I could make money doing this, obviously I was going to continue going that route. The podcast has become a second income, but also, has allowed me to get back to my radio roots.
__________________________________
Hello,
From what we’ve seen on TV and SM and what I’ve heard from elsewhere, Rachel Lindsay has not proven to be a pretty person, inside that is. She knew exactly what she was saying and doing during the Bachelorette. All in all, shows self-centered character. Intelligence, yes, but intelligence does not guarantee wisdom. She doesn’t know how to take the high road either and likes it mean instead.
It is clear who wears pants in her relationship. She is a match with Bryan, there is no denial in that. Other guys dodged a bullet.
Comment: I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say this was written by a Peter crazy. Just a hunch.
