I don’t have a question, but just a general observation. Man, were you right about that group of Bachelor Bros (Chase, Jef with 1 F, and Robby). They are Grade-A douche bags. I was reading some article on Betches.com that had an interview with Chase, and I pretty much puked in my mouth. Just thought I would share because it’s comical the level of douchery:
“What’s your biggest dating red flag?
Poor eating habits. If they aren’t taking into consideration what they are eating now, I can only imagine how they’re going to look when we’re in our mid-forties with an additional twenty years of unhealthy eating. Biggest turn off to be exact… Coke! If a girl orders a Coke or Diet Coke on a date with me, it may as well be a death sentence.
What’s your fav guilty pleasure food?
Twizzlers. I can eat a King Size bag on the way home from the grocery store, easy.”
I mean first of all, if a girl ordering a Coke on a date is a death sentence, you will literally never ever find someone up to your standards haha. What a trivial and weird thing to say.
Secondly, you cannot trust anyone who’s fav guilty pleasure food is Twizzlers. TWIZZLERS. I can’t.
Comment: Yeah, pretty much confirms what matters most to Chase in a relationship. When he takes women back to his cave, does he let them sleep on the the hard rocks, or does he at least lay a blanket down?
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Hey RS,
One thing I keep getting confused about in regards to Lauren and her ex-fiance is why does she keep saying it’s been almost a year since she broke it off with him? Didn’t you say she was supposed to be married in July of last year? Doesn’t filming start in September for this show? I’m totally confused lol. Are we sure it’s not lauren’s ex that shows up at the end? Love the site, but this has really been bugging me.
Comment: To answer your last question first, no, it’s not Lauren’s ex-fiance who shows up, Chris Crane. It’s Becca’s 7 year on again/off again ex, Ross Jirgl.
Yes, they were supposed to be married in July of 2017. But I stated that Lauren broke it off in December of 2016. So when she said that to Arie (they were in Paris & Italy in October of 2017), it had almost been a year since the engagement ended.
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Currently watching Becca’s date with Arie from the Tuscany episode. It reminded me of his date with Kendall and Jacqueline last week and Sienne several weeks back because the same exact thing happened: those women all had to literally carry the conversation. Sienne especially was doing the heavy lifting on their date. Kendall seemed to be okay with meeting him at his level and Becca seems to be so blinded by whatever she’s feeling for him that she’s cool with whatever she can get from him. Jacqueline has a bit of a Sharleen vibe (well, all of the women mentioned above are, but her a tad more so) where it’s a “what the hell are you doing here?” kind of situation. Even Bekah (spelling?) steals the scene from him, and she went to f**king prom four years ago.
Contrast to all of that with his time with Lauren – maybe it’s that he’s more into her than he is the others or maybe it’s because he feels more comfortable being the “leader” in a relationship and she seems to be okay taking a back seat. The other women have strong personalities and a bigger presence whereas she is a bit more reserved and quiet. He’s clearly smitten with her and she is more his physical type than any of the other women there.
With that said, I have a couple of questions.
1) Was Arie difficult? Watching his dates with those closest to the preferable edge of the bell curve is interesting. Is he really that vacant? Does he really bring that little to the table? Or was he a pain in production’s ass and they are Juan Pablo-ing him? Why else would they put “Why do you think you wouldn’t gravitate towards someone intelligent?” in the show? Were they still pissed they couldn’t get Peter or something? Strange. I’m not sure exactly what their deal is with him, but considering he’s delivering them the worst ratings in the history of the show, and Robert Mills in the “Bachelor Party” podcast linked to on Page 1 really didn’t have a lot of good to say about him if you read between the lines, they’re basically just giddy about the finale, since that’ll at least have people talking. They surely aren’t that much up to this point.
2) What was the reasoning behind casting Kendall? Did they want her to be the “weird one” and she flipped the script on them? Not sure if you have any insight into this, but was just curious what your insider thoughts were. Because the more Kendall shows herself – her compassion, her empathy, her reasoning – the more I am confused as to why they put her on this show.
Thanks for all that you do!
Comment: There are always a couple every season that don’t quite fit the mold, or are quirky and you question why that person would want to be on this show. Remember, Kendall’s job and background is in TV. She has a demo reel out there. I don’t think it’s far fetched to assume she did this for career advancement. Hell, most of them do. We know that. Kendall just already has a head start on a lot of them.
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I know you always say that it doesn’t matter who the lead is because it’s the same show regardless (and usually I agree), but I feel like Arie is exceptionally boring and plain this season that makes it noticeably different. It’s not because I don’t like him personally– I didn’t like Nick’s personality but he was still articulate and could say things other than “amazing.”
Also, what is the deal with Arie & Lauren’s footage? Their awkward dates had people from the franchise (Kaitlyn and Raven) tweeting about how confused they were by them as well.
Comment: It’s certainly confusing and people are looking at it saying two different things. Rachel blogs for US Weekly saying she watched Arie and Lauren and thought, “Game over. Lauren is winning.” Based on THAT from Monday. An episode where Arie was specifically saying he needed her to open up more and we still don’t know much about her. Granted, I’m sure Rachel is aware of the spoiler and that’s what’s coming out in her writing. Then there are others (most people) who are confused how he can say he’s worried about her not opening up, and on the same date, saying he’s deeply falling in love with her. Again, Arie is a joke, and this season is joke. Tune hasn’t changed all season.
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Hey Steve! Hope all is well with you!
I was curious if you had heard if any couples off of Winter Games (Lesley and Dean, Kevin and Ashley I, etc) had been in contact planning to pair up before filming started a la Bachelor in Paradise? Your recap last week just seemed like everyone kind of knew who they were going for night 1. Thanks again!
Comment: Maybe Ashley had her eye on Kevin, but I think Lesley and Dean was just from the first night. I don’t think there was anything previous. Ashley is a “Bachelor” lifer. I’m not going to be naïve enough to think she didn’t have a plan going into this show. That’s not how she rolls.
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Please tell me you can nail Ben to the wall with this whole “emotional breakdown” on Winter Games. Lauren does not deserve to be dragged through the mud again in his bid to stay famous and ride the sympathy train to be the next bachelor. She has gone back to her normal life albeit with good opportunities which frankly she deserves for what’s she’s been through while being on tv and getting attention seems to be his happy place. Thank you.
Comment: Stay tuned.
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I feel like we see more of the girls exploring the towns without Arie, both on the show, and in their Instagram pictures. Is this new? I thought in past seasons contestants would be holed up in their hotel room and couldn’t explore. Yet now we see pics of the girls shopping or exploring Paris or Italy on their Instagram as if they aren’t required to just sit in the hotel alone anymore?
Comment: You’re forgetting that all those pictures are taken with/by handlers, who then give them to them later on after filming. They aren’t exploring all day walking around with all the other girls with no supervision. You’re seeing bits of a full day. Nothing’s changed in that manner.
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Hey Steve,
I’m still hanging in there anxiously waiting for some drama to happen. I’m on my second episode of this season and I’m about bored to tears…
Two comments:
Jacqueline’s departure reminded me a lot of Sharleen’s. Right before hometowns, way too good for the guy but super attracted to him, couldn’t logically see introducing him to her family. Good for her, she’s clearly the only sensible one here. Very similar. Sharleen even referenced that on Twitter.
I know everyone compares Lauren B to Lauren B, but the more I look at her, the more I see her as a combo of Emily and Becca mushed together, with a little of the twins thrown in. I feel bad that everyone keeps trashing her for being boring. She may very well be super fun and this is just the edit she’s getting. I’m sure she’s not actually a mute, right?? Either way, she seems really soft and not strong enough to withstand what’s coming her way.
Can’t wait for this all to blow up. What the heck was Arie thinking? Any chance of Courtney coming back on the podcast to spill more dirt?
Thanks again!
Comment: Lauren certainly does seem more shy and reserved than everyone left. Hell, might be the most shy, reserved one of the entire season. I have no idea how she’s gonna handle the backlash, but she better be ready because they’re gonna get it. It’s inevitable.
I don’t know about Courtney. She’s a tricky one.
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Ciao Reality Steve,
Lonnnngggg time reader, first time emailer. Been a big fan of your website and also the Bachelor Franchise has been one of my embarrassing guilty pleasures since like 10 years! Im in Italy (since 5 years) and originally from India. Now you can cross off 2 more countries as part of your fan club 🙂 They’ve been added to the “Reality Steve International Readers” list.
So my questions are:
1) I get all my bachelor related gossip from your website mainly, though are there any other magazines/websites etc that specialise in bachelor franchise gossip. Especially their behaviour and scandals post show? I know you dont get into too much details about contestants when a season is over and the next one begins. So hope you dont mind recommending me some places to satisfy my idiotic curiosity! No one covers anything in the offseason other than this site. Tabloids don’t start really acknowledging the show until commercials start running and bios are out. If anything, once I start naming contestants, that’s when they start going through police blotter to dig out dirt. But until then, unless ABC allows paparazzi to show up on some dates (like the few for Arie this season), they don’t spoil or talk much about the show while it’s filming.
Sidenote- 2) I am so bored with Arie’s season. May i say, he is starting to look a bit creepy now. Though im powering through just for the inevitable s**t-show that is to come! I really needed that spoiler to get me interested this season! That’s what I’m here for. Glad I could help.
3) I know everyone hates Jef Holm, i have tried to scour through websites to find out what all sh*t he’s done so far to be so universally hated, but i get completely generic info. Can you list me the top 3 scandalous things he has done? Once and for all? I’m done talking about that guy. Not worth it.
4) I would love it if you can get into spoiling other reality shows? Housewives maybe? Keeping up with the kardashians? Project runway? Top chef? I know its easier said than done, Though would love it if you went in that direction! Don’t see that happening.
5) The winter games sounds like a snooze! Is it really worth watching? Is it as entertaining as bachelor in paradise you think? Just saying coz i really dont watch all the international versions of this show, how can i ever invest myself in this? Basically nobody out here watches the international versions of this show. It wasn’t terrible, but it’s not like it’s gonna win Emmy’s either. It is what it is. BIP in the Winter with international contestants and challenges. There’s really no difference.
6) Do you think Bekah M just went on the show for her ‘brand’ because shes an actress? Who ALL do you think are the most ingenuine or rather ‘not there for the right reasons’ ?? Hehe Mostly all of them.
7)And Lastly, i wanna know your picks from Arie’s season for the next Bachelor in Paradise. Remember, the “Bachelor” season that airs in the same calendar year as BIP is the one that has the most contestants. Half of Arie’s girls will show up on BIP at some point. So whoever you think will be there probably will.
Thank you and i hope your website lasts forever 😀
P.S- Hell yeah Becca K for bachelorette! (after all that shes gonna go through with Arie!) Though im completely girl crushing on Kendall! I really would have liked to see Raven as bachelorette and not Raven 2.0! Tia seems to be a potty mouth-ier version of Raven…
Comment: I would say that’s accurate about Tia. And I think she would’ve had a great chance at “Bachelorette” until Arie changed his mind.
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I’m assuming you don’t have insight into the actual editing but will they will really play up Ashley I and the crying yet again? Is there actually going to be an audience for the insecurity stuff, particularly since we’ve seen it how many times at this point?
I guess the whole deflowering thing might be different but even that just feels like sleaze on top of what’s already a played out act.
Comment: I mean you saw it last night, they hyped it up in the previews, and I’m sure we’ll see more of it. She’s a character. She knows that what she has to do. Yeah, a lot of us are sick of it. But you know it’s coming, so you either deal with it regardless of how annoying it is, or you just don’t watch. Ashley is no different than any other contestant. Some people absolutely love her and think she is the best most real human being on the planet and is the epitome of Bachelor Nation, and some wish she’d go away forever. What can you do?
