Coming down the home stretch. Less than 2 weeks to go before the finale of all finales. As you know, the schedule is a tad different as the “Women Tell All” airs this Sunday night, with the Overnight dates airing next Monday. I posted your WTA spoilers on Thursday, so in case you missed those, you can click here to read them. Some good stuff regarding Krystal coming up on Sunday that you won’t want to miss. Basically everyone who made it past night 1 was on the show except for Valerie and Maquel, and they added two girls from night 1, Olivia and Jessica. Looks like a little more drama than past Tell All shows due to Hurricane Krystal and the footage they show of her that hasn’t been seen yet. Not to mention Caroline basically calling out Arie for what he did since she’s BFF’s with Becca. They know what I’ve reported, and they certainly aren’t pretending they don’t have a major event happening at the ATFR. But how they’re going about it is quite curious to me. Not sure what their deal is.
I tweeted this last night, but the Hollywood Reporter released an interview last week with producer Bennett Graebner talking about Winter Games that you can read here. At the end, they ask him a couple questions about Arie’s season and here is the response that people were sending to me last night:
THR: Chris Harrison also really pumped up the ending to his season, calling it “phenomenal.” What can viewers expect?
I’ve worked on the show for 10 years. The finale will be something people haven’t seen before. And even if they are reading spoilers and think they know? They don’t know.
I don’t know why Bennett is saying that or what he’s alluding to, but it’s irrelevant to me. Here are the facts I’ve reported about what you’ll see in the finale:
1) Becca’s ex, Ross Jirgl, shows up to propose and she rejects it.
2) Arie dumped Lauren, got engaged to Becca, and they left Peru and engaged couple.
3) In early January, Arie ended his engagement with Becca and started dating Lauren.
All of that happened. Those aren’t opinions or guesses, those are facts. You’ll see that play out during the finale. So what Bennett is talking about people thinking they know but don’t know? No idea. I have a feeling he’s talking out of his ass to get as many people as he can to watch. Because unless right after the finale airs, and everything I told you happens plays out like I said it would, and someone immediately interviews Bennett again and asks him, “What did you mean when you said “people think they know but they don’t know,” then what he says is irrelevant. It’s all part of the hype machine.
Lets get to your Winter Games spoilers for the final episodes 3 & 4, along with what happened at the Tell All taping, which will be shown after the episode on Thursday.
Episode 3 (Tonight)
-Downhill skiing was the competition, and Dean won for the men, while Lesley won for the women. Because they technically had an extra date, they gave their date card to Kevin & Ashley, and they do that pottery thing similar to Swayze and Moore in “Ghost.”
-After the downhill skiing, Tiffany ended up going home. Ben has a conversation with Chris Harrison (which they’ve teased in the promo) where he basically says that he isn’t ready for love, finds himself defending Lauren all the time, and that it’s best if he leaves. This is going to strike a nerve with a lot of people I’m sure since, as I reported back in August, Ben has been seeing Lindsey Duke but has yet to publicly acknowledge it. I have no idea why, I’m not sure what his deal is, but it’s certainly not a good look for him to constantly talk about not being ready to date when he’s been dating someone rather frequently for 6 months. But anyway, after he tells Chris Harrison that, he says goodbye to the group as well.
-After Ben tells the group, then later on, Michael eliminates himself because there wasn’t anyone he was interested in and everyone had paired up, so he leaves. After Ben leaves, Chris Harrison pulls Yuki aside and essentially sent her home because she wasn’t paired up with anyone.
-Later in the episode, the Kissing Contest happens with Arie, JoJo, and Rachel as the judges. Essentially the competition was the judges voted on who had the most passionate kisses. Before the competition, Clare and Christian were still kind of arguing over everything that went down with Benoit from last episode, and Clare decides she doesn’t want to do the kissing competition with someone she hasn’t kissed yet, so they both eliminated themselves and go home.
-The 6 couples in the competition are: Dean/Lesley, Jordan/Bibiana, Courtney/Lily, Kevin/Ashley, Josiah/Ally, and Luke/Stassi. Kevin and Ashley were the winners of the kissing contest. The last place couple was Josiah and Ally (as voted on by the judges) and they were sent home. Before they kissed, Ally got sick and ended up throwing up in the bathroom.
Episode 4 (Thursday night)
-Once the kissing competition was over, Jordan talks to Bibiana about their relationship and what’s next for them and she says it’s not going to happen, so they go home. Now, there are only 4 couples remaining: Kevin/Ashley, Luke/Stassi, Courtney/Lily, and Dean/Lesley.
-Before the final competition, all four couples are given overnight dates. They all take them, but only two of them stay overnight: Kevin/Ashley and Dean/Lesley. Courtney/Lily and Luke/Stassi never actually spend the night together, they just take the date. This is brought up at the Tell All taping, and the reasoning that Courtney, Lily, and Stassi gave was that it was more of a privacy thing to them.
-The final competition is ice dancing judged by Nancy Kerrigan, Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner. Consensus is that Luke and Stassi had the best routine, but Kevin and Ashley were declared the winners because, well, this show was never in a million years going to declare Luke and Stassi the first ever Winter Games couple when they knew that Luke isn’t nearly as popular in the franchise and he wasn’t there for Stassi.
Tell All Taping (1 hr episode following Thursday night’s finale)
-The contestants in attendance at the taping were: Courtney, Lily, Rebecca, Ally, Eric, Christian, Jordan, Josiah, Ben, Bibiana, Clare, Benoit, Dean, Lesley, Kevin, Ashley, Stassi, and Luke. The first 12 names were out on stage to start the show and they just answered questions and talked about their time there. This show is only an hour, so they focused on the couples in the finale essentially.
-Courtney and Lily were sitting with the group the whole show and they were interviewed first. They said they are still together and dating, just RV’ed across the country, and they are now living in LA.
-Next up they brought Dean and Lesley out. They are obviously still together and Dean ended up getting down on one knee…and gave Lesley a key to his house. I’m sure that when they start running promos for the finale and hype that an engagement happened, it’ll be of Dean getting down on one knee. Silly.
-Stassi was brought out next by herself. She said Luke ghosted her after taping. Bahahahahahahahahahhaha. Of course he did. Probably because he was seeing Holly Allen right before he left and has been with her since he got back. But yeah, he’s a real stand up guy. They brought out Luke to talk to her and he said he thought she knew by their last conversation he was endings things, but she had no idea. He says that he messaged her 3 times on IG but she never responded but never got her number. Stassi was apparently not very happy after their interview. Stassi might be my new favorite person, and yet again, Luke shows his true colors.
-Kevin and Ashley were brought out next and are still a couple. He’s staying with her right now while he’s in LA. Chris Harrison did not ask them if they were in love, but, they did make it a point to mention that they did NOT have sex in the fantasy suite. Which is technically correct. They didn’t. As I said in Reader Emails last week, their sex happened post show. Ashley said she told Kevin that she was not going to sleep with someone so quickly after meeting them (which he said he agreed with) and basically that their “private” life is “private” between them. Chris Harrison never asked her if she was still a virgin. So the fact that Ashley made sure to bring that out is obviously a direct reference to what I reported. And I stand by it. It happened. The show just chose not to make a storyline of it when I was told they would try. But again, if it’s your private life and it’s private between them, maybe someone shouldn’t have blabbed about it to others. So much for keeping your private life private.
-Last segment, they brought Clare up on stage. They showed her highlight package and it was clips from all the seasons she’s been on the show. Chris Harrison then brought up that she was in love, and for that person to stand up and Benoit comes to the stage. They talked about their relationship, and played a video of them in Sacramento in a park drinking champagne. They didn’t specifically say how many times they’ve seen each since filming, but have spent a lot of hours FaceTiming. Basically, after the show ended filming, Benoit texted Clare to see how she was doing, they reconnected at that point, and they’ve been together ever since. For those that are unaware, filming ended about a week before Christmas. So they’ve been together a couple months now. Benoit proposes to Clare and she says yes.
So there are your “Winter Games” spoilers for the rest of the season. Recap begins on Page 2…
jlal
February 20, 2018 at 9:48 AM
Wow, RS must be getting a load of crap on social media from Arie fans. Once again, I don’t do SM but he seems really defensive. I hope it works about for Arie and Lauren, like it did for Jason and Molly.
Still don’t see the issue with a single guy or women dating around. Also, know that many times one person is way more invested than the other. That doesn’t mean the one who isn’t as invested is a “bad person”. Also, people do grow up, mature, and change especially if they find the right person.
At least they showed more interaction between Arie and Lauren, so it makes more sense now. I did think Kendall would go before Tia though. I noticed that Becca and Tia said love you when she left, so figured those two were pretty close.
As for winter games, I can’t even pretend to care. Other than, I’m happy Ashley finally had sex. Maybe now she won’t place fairy tale expectation on every single guy who says hello to her.
kernst33
February 20, 2018 at 11:43 AM
I was so thoroughly done with Arie after this episode. From his self congratulations for handling Kendall’s taxidermy to his break up with Tia, I was just finding myself getting so angry with him and his cockiness. I’m so ready for this season to be over, and to go to the hilarious display of fragile masculinity that is The Bachelorette.
trainwrecktv
February 20, 2018 at 3:49 PM
Do we finally have our first fantasy suite pregnancy (Lauren) on our hands?
I thought I was the only person who tears the roof of their mouth off with apple jacks. Lol
G K
February 20, 2018 at 4:21 PM
trainwrecktv – only time will tell! Crazy to think. And by the way, HOW does apple jacks tear off the roof of your mouth???? It’s not like its hot – you and Steve are clearly soul mates – only 2 in the world this happens to! Haha!
LM111
February 20, 2018 at 4:50 PM
I keep forgetting to mention this… every season, when the lead goes to meet the final 4 families, he/she will bring a gift (like flowers or wine) to just ONE family, the winner’s family! I paid attention last night and noticed that Lauren’s family got the gift. As far as I know, that’s never happened (assuming Steve is right on his spoilers). Did they re-shoot the ending to make Lauren the winner? Makes me wonder.
trainwrecktv
February 20, 2018 at 5:07 PM
It is like chewing broken glass…delicious broken glass. Stuff like that shreds the roof of my mouth…but it never happens to anyone else I know. 🙂
adelina
February 20, 2018 at 8:17 PM
Aside from Arie being in the top 5 most boring Bachelors….I can’t think of one of these women who would make a good Bachelorette. I think Kendall is interesting and Tia can be charming, but I don’t think either of them could carry the lead position.. Even though RS predicts Becca will get it based on the sympathy vote, I jus don’t think they’ll give it to her. Not enough in the personality OR the looks department.
elizabeth82
February 20, 2018 at 10:16 PM
@LM111, Lauren IS the winner
elizabeth82
February 20, 2018 at 10:18 PM
Also, Tia for next Bachelorette all the way
cjscjs711
February 20, 2018 at 10:29 PM
Becca’s date – it really is a Minnesota family thing to go apple picking. The University of Minnesota has developed a lot of popular apple varieties (Honeycrisp, etc.) Her family is also typical traditional Minnesota. Minnesota Nice, but the Franchise could (and has) done a whole lot worse. You can’t always tell…. A lot of the ones who came across as spunky, lots of personality, were a wash on their Bachelorette season. Kendall truly is too ‘quirky,’ Tia I don’t think so….
jlal
February 21, 2018 at 3:48 AM
LM111, I noticed Arie took two gifts to every home. They all got flowers, but a couple also had a gift basket, one he carried a gift bag, and I can’t remember what the fourth one was. I think, Becca and Lauren’s families got the flowers and gift baskets, Tia’s the flowers and gift bag, and I forget Kendall’s family gift other than the flowers. Not that I think it matters much, as the lead always take the family a gift of some kind. I just noticed he took two every time.
I think Becca’s personality may come through as the lead. She is pretty, but her looks may not be for everyone. I think Tia would make a great lead, ton of personality. It would be a fun watch.
sarahe
February 21, 2018 at 9:34 AM
@jlal, I don’t think anyone’s issue with Arie is that he dated multiple people as a single man. I think the issue is how he treated those women. Had he been up front with women he dated about not wanting to settle down and wanting to keep things casual and open, that would be one thing. But clearly Steve has heard from multiple people who have dated Arie that he made them feel like they were the only one, only to cheat on them. If you want to date around, fine. But don’t lie to the women you’re dating in the process. That’s what makes him a scumbag.
flyingchaucer
February 21, 2018 at 4:38 PM
Reality Steve, I get that you’re defensive of the accuracy of your spoilers, especially given that you apparently are often not credited for them, or are often second-guessed, but I have to say that there’s something…uncomfortable at best about your insistence on the Ashley I. losing her virginity story.
I’m not saying that you’re wrong or it didn’t happen; I don’t actually really care whether she did or not. But it strikes me as problematic verging on gross to see a guy not involved in the act insisting that his perspective on a woman’s sexual experience is the correct one. YMMV, I guess, but it’s hard to see why this is a hill you want to die on, and so I suppose I’m posting this because I’m hoping you might reflect a little bit.
sarahe
February 22, 2018 at 7:03 AM
@flyingchaucer- I completely agree with you. It’s a little strange that Steve is getting so defensive on that particular spoiler, because honestly while the show and Ashley herself have made her virginity a large part of her storyline in this franchise, it’s quite honestly not Steve or anyone else’s business when she does choose to have sex. Steve, for the record, I also believe you because your track record speaks for itself. But I wouldn’t go out of your way to defend the accuracy of this spoiler. If Ashley and Kevin are choosing to keep that private, let them.
jlal
February 26, 2018 at 8:58 AM
sarahe – I get what you’re saying and agree to a point. However, I have only heard of Arie dating around a bunch, not cheating a bunch. Even his ex before the show said as far as she knew he was faithful to her.
I just get tired of RS and others taking such a judgmental moral high ground about everyone. Young, single people date. A lot. Those in this franchise seems to move up and down the line up, men and women. They treat it like a live dating app. I think they, both men and women, should be able to date around, sleep around, or whatever without being labeled. They’re all adults and know what they’re involved in.
I’ve heard about many of Arie’s relationships, not anything about him cheating. I also keep in mind sour grapes from ex girlfriends, and different expectations. I’ve dated people, some for months, that I knew I’d never marry. People don’t always date their “forever person”, sometimes you date the “for right now” person.
ganny2jax
February 26, 2018 at 9:31 AM
If Benoit knows what’s good for him, he will drop Clare Creepy Crawley like a hot potato. She’s a used up old maid with teeth I despise. Watching her is like running my fingernails down a chalkboard. Poor little guy. It was fun to watch Christian diss her with broken English. One thing is clear about the international contestants though, and that is they have seemingly higher morals than the good ole Americans. Glad to see a more mature side of Ashley. Good for her and Kevin! Lesley and Dean, uhhh not so sure about them.
ganny2jax
February 26, 2018 at 10:14 AM
I DO NOT want to see Tia get Bachelorette. She was trying hard on WTA last night by saying she’s ready for love again. Uggg. No. I can’t stand her bad-mouthing self. I can see them picking Sienne for obvious reasons. But I can’t think of anyone on Arie’s season worth watching.
deedledee
February 26, 2018 at 9:24 PM
Agreed. RS comes across as sooo puritanical about dating and in reality, dating is not exclusive until it really is, meaning a conversation has been had. I listened to the ex on the podcast expecting something and it was like, BFD, you thought he was your boyfriend and he wasn’t. Happens. Next time, get clarity. Life goes on. I think Arie is rather boring and surely flawed, but plenty, PLENTY of men date around and have fun being single before they decide to settle down. That’s typically the way it goes, especially for guys like Arie.