Nothing worse than being out of town and having major news break in “Bachelor” world as it did last week. I left Wednesday morning for Vegas, and as we know, all hell kinda broke loose regarding the “Bachelor” announcement all day Wednesday then with the formal announcement on GMA Thursday morning. Needless to say, it consumed a lot of my time the first two days I was there which I hated happening. There was so much back and forth Wednesday trying to get to the bottom of what was happening, I’ll try and explain best in detail what I had heard and what led me to tweet what I did on Wednesday. Yes, when I left at 7:00am on Wednesday morning, I was under the impression nothing had changed from the previous week that sources were telling Peter would be the “Bachelor” and it would be announced soon. Then Fleiss went all Twitter crazy in the next few days and things started getting a bit weird. Not five minutes after I landed, I was being blown up about Fleiss tweeting that Peter was probably not going to be the “Bachelor.” That’s when I checked my email and I’d gotten information about a new name I hadn’t heard of: Arie.
I understand that doubters are saying, “Well of course now you say that. You had no idea.” Obviously I had a clue where they were leaning or else I wouldn’t have tweeted what I did before bed Wednesday night:
My final prediction before it's announced tomorrow: Arie.
— RealitySteve (@RealitySteve) September 7, 2017
Not to mention the numerous people I was texting and talking to all day Wednesday about Arie. I was trying to get solid confirmation all day Wednesday that Arie was definitely who they were going with. Media outlets were contacting me, contestants were asking me what’s going on, friends were saying “Did you see Fleiss’ tweet,” etc. So yeah, my job at that point was to get confirmation of, “If it’s not Peter, then who is it.” The problem was, along with Arie, I started hearing other names: Ben Z., Wells, Ben H., Roberto, Eric, and Jared to name a few. All those that kept coming up, I kept getting confirmations that it WASN’T them, but I could never get a confirmation it wasn’t, or was, Arie. He was one that was a mystery. So before I went to bed Wednesday night, I sent that tweet out.
What’s funny about this whole thing is, come to find out now, ABC really didn’t make their decision until very late in the game. Arie was on the red eye to NY late Wednesday night. So it’s not like this was something they knew weeks ago and they strung everyone along. He wasn’t “official” in their minds til late Wednesday, he got on a red eye, and was on GMA Thursday morning for the announcement. It’s really the only “spoiler” this show can keep a secret about since it’s a “live” announcement. Everything else they do is taped and pretty much gets spoiled. So yeah, they’ve become better at hiding this, but make no mistake about it, Arie was not their first choice this season. I think they’ve made that pretty clear.
When I reported about Peter two weeks ago, it was because I was made aware Peter was in LA, in a hotel room, set to be announced as the “Bachelor.” Ask anyone involved, and if they’re being honest, they’ll tell you. Hell, we know he was there because TMZ then later caught him leaving the airport at LAX two Friday’s ago. Peter basically said it himself thinking it was gonna be him. In terms of what went down, you’ll hear a lot of stories and yeah, it is tough to distinguish what’s true and what isn’t. What I told you all along is pretty much what went down. They wanted Peter. They always wanted Peter as the “Bachelor.” And Peter was set to be the “Bachelor.” Until he wasn’t. Talks broke down over demands apparently, and in the end, they decided to go in a different direction. What those demands were will be debated forever. Peter had this IG post after the fact:
So yeah, if you read that, it certainly makes you think that he wasn’t comfortable giving himself up to this process. It also makes you think that after they decided to go in a different direction, Peter went, “Oh sh**, what did I just do? Why was I being so stubborn about all this?” Certainly comes across as regret. When you read this interview with Robert Mills, I think everyone can see they wanted Peter and things just didn’t work out. He had the gig and he lost it. I think it’s pretty clear to anyone who has watched this play out Peter was their first choice. It certainly wasn’t Arie. Maybe I’ll just refer to Arie as “not Peter” all season. That’s actually being kind considering the numerous other things I could refer to him as. Yes, they talk to numerous people every season, some more serious than others, and when things fell apart with Peter, they struck up more serious conversation with Arie.
With all that said, and after reading that interview with Robert Mills and also Chris Harrison chiming in on stuff I saw over the weekend, lets make no mistake about it: If they can bring Arie back after 5 years of obscurity, Peter is an option for every future “Bachelor” season going forward. Hell, if he was the “Bachelor” next season, I wouldn’t be surprised. The guy will always have a storyline to be the “Bachelor,” and more so now than ever before of now “not being the right time,” maybe not being in the right frame of mind, but a year from now, he says he’s cleared his head and he’s open to the process. So yeah, just now from this point forward, people will be throwing Peter’s name into the “Bachelor” hat when discussions are happening. It’s inevitable. The choice of Arie only solidifies that.
