Hi Steve!
I am loving this season so far, I wasn’t going to read the spoilers – but I always like to make sure I don’t get invested if it’s not the outcome I want. I LOVE who she ends up with, regardless of what you or Ashley S have to say about him.. from what I see on TV, he’s super charismatic and they mesh really well together. I hope they’re super happy from here on out… but on to my question:
1) Do you remember JoJo’s season, and what a bad rep Jordan had and how people were rooting for Robbie? I think the roles have reversed by about a million… I think everyone is actually team Jordan now and from what it looks like, he and JoJo are really happy and I honestly think everyone would be ok if they never see or hear from Robbie again. Do you think he ranks up there as top 5 biggest “tools” of Bachelor franchise? Also, please rank your top 5 based off your knowledge of them…There are too many to pigeonhole into a 5. But Robby is definitely up there.
(ps) I don’t think Josh Murray is a tool, he got a bad rep but I really love what he does for charity so he’s won me over – so please exclude him from your list. Lol He’s not in my top 5. But just because someone does charity work does not exclude them from being a not-so-great guy. Not specifically pointing to Josh, I’m just saying that’s kind of letting people off the hook a bit, no?
2) Is it just me, or does it seem like Wills always talks with his eyes closed? He definitely has that “chill” vibe to him for sure. Doesn’t get too animated over anything it seems like.
3) I know you haven’t heard about the next possible Bachelor yet, but it’s got to be Blake. I just think he’s so handsome and sweet (maybe a little boring) – IF not him, and I really don’t think Peter would do it, although he would be my absolute first choice.. do you think they would ever bring back Roberto from Ali’s season? I don’t even know if he’s single or not, but he was so freaking handsome, and always seemed too good for Ali. Would that be waaaaaaaay to far back in the vault? If they can bring back Ari, then surely Roberto could be a possibility?
OK – sorry, had a lot of random thoughts/ ideas.. have a good one!
Comment: See how people can watch the same exact person on TV and have total opposite opinions? The email right before this one can’t stand Blake and doesn’t want to see him as the next “Bachelor,” yet you love it. It’s the exact reason why this show is on the air 16 years and 36 seasons.
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Steve,
UGHGHHG. Could this season be any more boring? I thought Arie’s was bad and this is just painful. Honestly, if I didn’t have your spoilers and gossip to read — and I would totally tune out.
Last night I was scrolling through Instagram and noticed that Amanda Stanton was liking many of Kacie McDonnell’s posts. I’m from Philly — so Kacie McDonnell was a pretty big personality here and obviously was Aaron Murray’s fiance for all of about three months. It made big news around here when they broke up two weeks after Josh and Andi. It’s interesting to me that Kacie is friendly with both Andi and Amanda (especially Amanda because her relationship with Josh was so long after these other relationships failed). Did you ever hear anything about the Kacie – Aaron breakup? Seems like these girls have bonded together for some reason (I’m thinking there is some craziness in dealing with the Murray family). No, didn’t hear the reasoning behind that one. But definitely was kinda bizarre that two brothers engagements were broken off within a couple weeks of each other.
I think I’ve asked this before but would you ever consider having Lauren Murray as a podcast guest. Andi has sort of told her side of things, as has Amanda — just would be interesting to hear from the Murray mouthpiece (although I’m not sure anyone would believe what she says).
Thanks for all of your work!
Comment: No. That’s over and done with and there’s no reason to bring her on at this point. The Amanda podcast talking about that whole situation was 15 months ago and from what I’ve seen, there hasn’t been any sniping back and forth since. No need to even begin to bring that to the forefront again. Amanda seems happy and in a new relationship. Bringing Lauren Murray on now would be pointless.
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Hey Steve,
I know we are still very early in the game here and you’ll go on to answer this question 268 more times until we know, but any word on Ben 2.0?
I happened to tune into his podcast episode today for the first time out of random interest. In the episode, they were hinting at Ben missing a previous episode (as we know he was in paradise thanks to you). Ashley I. “joked” she felt Ben would leave her on the podcast to be the next bachelor. There was no denial on his part and considering he’s never discussed his relationship with that girl (forget her name), its stirring up some speculation to say the least.
Thanks! Always enjoy reading your stuff and seriously considering attending the fan appreciation party next year.
P.S. voting for you to add Boston to your summer tour!
Comment: I guess Ben will always be a possibility because the franchise loves him so much, and he loves being part of the franchise. So it can never 100% be ruled out. But it’s still too early to tell.
As of right now, after Chicago, I think that’s my last summer tour stop this year. Maybe I’ll do one later on this year. Or maybe do three more cities next year. Not sure. But I’m very much a creature of habit. Doing this has definitely been fun and brought me out of my comfort zone, but I don’t know how much more I wanna do this summer. I mean it’s almost July already and I feel like I’ve been living out of a suitcase.
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Hey Steve!
Odds on the producers casting Wills as the “First Black Bachelor” purely to make up for all their screw ups? “I know we let a sex offender and some dude who thinks offensive things are funny on the show, but look! we believe in diversity and inclusion so you should talk about that instead!”
Or just wishful thinking on my part since he seems pretty normal and likable….I don’t see it.
I felt really bad when Jordan was talking about his mom on the show. She’s in a Bachelor spoilers Facebook group I’m in, therefore sees a ton of crap people are talking about her son. She posted there last week about Jordan and people were so rude and hateful that she deleted it shortly after. No matter what dumb sh*t came out of his mouth, I wish people would realize the effect that editing does on our perception of these contestants. Knowing his mom has had mental health issues in the past, you have to feel for her and their family.
Comment: If people were writing those comments before Monday’s episode when we learned she’s suffered from mental illnesses, unfortunately, she’s fair game. Anything after Monday night, then those trolls need to get a life.
I’m starting to go back to what Michael Carroll said on the podcast a couple months ago. It’s been 16 years now and 36 seasons. If you don’t know by now what you’re getting into by going on this show, it’s on you. Sure, there are some extreme examples where blame can’t all be put on the contestants, but I’m just talking about specifically if you don’t understand the ramifications of social media and how it works with this show in 2018, that’s your fault and no one’s else’s. Translation: You, your friends, and your family better have thick skin if you go on this show. If you don’t, it won’t be pleasant for you.
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Hi Steve,
Have you been watching the Bad Chiller recap episodes that Nick, Jared and Dean have been doing? They’re suprisingly really funny. I watched one on Twitter. I just don’t get it. The humor is so simple, it’s just not funny to me.
Wills standing put while Chris begged for more time is one of my favorite moments ever. How did he not realize just how desperate he looked??
Comment: Yeah, he pretty much put him in his place. I don’t really know what Chris was thinking. Especially after Becca told him she’d come find him later and he still begged for time. She was completely turned off at that point, as she should’ve been.
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Hi Steve.
Great recap as always. A few observations/questions:
1. Garrett’s wedding video was totally bizarre. As a 40 something who has been married for a while, it looked to me like 2 kids basically fresh out of college who had a very expensive party and were way too immature to get married. If I’d been Kayla, the marriage wouldn’t have lasted 24 hours (much less 2 months) if my groom was such a doofus that he thought it was appropriate to put into our vows that we make comments about people’s private parts on Naked and Afraid. Garrett-DUDE-this is your wedding. Who told you this was cool? He looked like a babbling 16 year old. Kind of hard to believe he’s matured that much in less than 3 years but oh well. I didn’t actually watch the whole thing until I read this email. You are right. That is an awfully weird thing to say in your heartfelt vows to someone. I get he was trying to lighten the mood with humor combined with some seriousness, but that just completely missed the mark to me.
2. Did you notice the guys hardly even cracked a smile when Becca said they were going to Richmond VA? Whooo Hoooo. NOT! So funny. Didn’t she also preface it by saying it was the place of love or something like that. Since when?
3. If Becca says “I’m not gonna lie” one more time, I may have to go and throw myself under a camel. I need to pay more attention to that since it hasn’t caught my ear.
4. Who told Wills that plaid suit looked good? What about his romp-him?
I fast forwarded through almost the entire Wayne Newton date.
Comment: Wayne’s date was painful. Not as painful as it would be for a tear to escape his face if he ever cried, but painful nonetheless.
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Hi Steve,
I love reading your site!
I’ve noticed that Becca hasn’t been writing her blog on People beyond the first week, and it’s the first lead I can think of who has skipped writing it (though I haven’t followed every season…). Do you think it’s because of all the contestant scandals? Like, she addressed the Garrett stuff initially but it would be awkward to do it every week. And Lincoln must be even worse. I bet ABC isn’t happy that she isn’t writing it though! I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Thanks!
Comment: It’s certainly possible, but unless the show or her address it publicly, I don’t think we’ll ever know why.
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Steve —
Have fun in Chicago — it is an awesome city 🙂
Based on what I have seen in this season, Becca is a pretty cool girl – bright, beautiful, fun, adventurous….. but, just months ago, she was engaged to Arie. She brings him up often and seems genuinely hurt by their break-up. And before her, Rachel was vying for an engagement from Nick. I think you mean Peter. Nick wasn’t on Rachel’s season. She was on his, but I don’t remember her pining for an engagement. I don’t get it. I am not sure what my question is — I just don’t understand why these women went after these not-good-enough-for-them guys. Or am I just naive and maybe these women aren’t as bright as I think they are? Or are they distracted by the bright lights and tv cameras? Or something else? In their defense, I do think TV plays a pretty big role in their decisions. They’re definitely swayed a lot by what people behind-the-scenes are saying/suggesting to them.
Also, your comments about Wayne Newton made me laugh. Regarding his estate, I was just poking around online and it is unclear exactly the current status. But, it does appear that he lost the house as part of a bankruptcy proceeding a few years ago. It currently operates as a museum (he may or may not still live there and he may or may not own a small portion of it – couldn’t tell), but it just closed indefinitely for “extensive renovations”. The show portrayed him as owning and living in this estate, but shocking (not shocking) to know that the truth is a bit more complicated.
Cheers!
Comment: Interesting. Didn’t know that.
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Some questions for you this week:
This season has brought its share of controversy with the contestants, do you think going forward they’re going to try their best to vet all of these contestants via their social medias, more vigorous background checks, etc.? I feel like it’s more heightened this season, but every season there is at least one person with social media activity that shows their racism, their ignorance, etc. Because the same thing happened with the proposal. ABC is getting a bad light at the moment. I mean, Fleiss has SAID that’s what they’ll do, but until the next cast of women for the next “Bachelor” season is released, and everyone starts furiously vetting them themselves trying to find the next scandal, we really won’t know.
Can I kindly request Jemmye from the challenge for an upcoming podcast? Girl does not hold back! I think it would be an interesting listen.
Comment: Sure you can request it. Maybe it’ll happen. Or maybe it won’t.
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I feel as though as of now, the candidates for The Bachelor are Colton, Blake, Jason, or Ben 2.0. Unless ABC pulls someone out of nowhere like they did with Arie, how would you order that list as most likely to least likely to get the gig (assuming they’d all take it if offered)?
Comment: I hate to order it because the second I put someone #1 on that list, that means people would assume I’m saying that guy has the best chance of being the next “Bachelor.” I honestly have no idea who has the best chance right now. Nor do I think the show does either at this point.
