Hey Steve!!
First off, kudos to Holly for being honest and speaking up about her relationship with Luke. I can’t even imagine how hard it must’ve been for her to open up. I agree. Took her a few weeks to decide to do it. All the credit goes to her.
I love that you take your podcast guests (especially with bachelor nation guests) through a timeline. From how they got on the show to last rose ceremony. It makes podcast unique and easier to follow. Thanks. I try to just ask what I think people want to hear about their time on the show.
What happened to the poll questions in your recaps? Those were super fun, I miss them.
Hope you consider Boston for your next year weekend trips!!
Comment: That poll question company changed their format and no longer did it. So we moved on. Boston is certainly a possibility next summer.
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Hey Steve,
Avid follower of your site for a while now. First time writing in. I was wondering if you knew the overall viewership/ratings of the past few bachelorette seasons. I’m curious to know which seasons (Becca, Rachel, JoJo, etc.) had the highest amount of ratings/viewers overall per season and were deemed successful and which had the lowest. Similarly with the Bacheor seasons, if you have that knowledge.
Thanks so much!
Comment: Of those three, I believe JoJo’s was the highest. Rachel and Becca’s have been pretty much the same. Although Becca’s had a few episodes that topped out bigger than anything Rachel’s did.
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Hey Steve!
I have only recently started to read your page. And, based on your “Reader Emails” pretty much everyone who writes you is in this same boat. Nonetheless, I wanted to write in.
Despite being appreciative of what you do, my first impression of you, upon reading your spoilers and recaps, was that you almost had an arrogance and impatience with how almost needy and impatient your readers were with you. This rubbed me the wrong way because, the same way people tell bachelors and bachelorettes that this is what they signed up for, I felt you had signed up for this and had a certain obligation to the people who were reading your blogs and listening to your podcasts to, at the very least, be patient with them. I would expect someone who admits to just having started to read my page to have that reaction. I’m fine with it. Just know I’ve been doing this for 15 years. I’m very sarcastic and I do say a lot of things tongue-in-cheek. However, a lot of my sarcasm gets taken literally and people have a conniption over it. What can you do?
However, this past week I watched Jason’s season for the first time. After finishing it, I went online to try and figure out what people thought at the time of what went down. Unsurprisingly, people seemed to pity Melissa and hate Molly and Jason. But, what shocked me the most was reading your apology that was written in 2010 for your role in all of that. I had absolutely no idea that you were even spoiling then, let alone that you had posted things that weren’t fact checked etc. I just wanted to say that, after reading your apology, I have a new appreciation for what you do and the way you do it. It changed my opinion of your responses and made me respect your insistence on waiting before you post what you hear, as well as only posting what is pertinent and relevant.
Thank you for having integrity in the digital age.
Comment: Thanks. Yeah, that was a big one that was right when the site first got big. I’ve owned pretty much every mistake or wrong spoiler I’ve ever posted on this site. I’m the only one who writes the “Bachelor” stuff. No one else. Yeah, sources tell me things, and if I report what they say, and they’re wrong, I don’t hang them out to dry. If it’s wrong, it’s wrong. Will always own that. The Jason stuff (outside of the basic spoiler that he chose Melissa, changed his mind, and he was dating Molly after a secret taping of the ATFR), was wrong. Got fed false info. It was my first big spoiler, it was 2009, and I was believing everything I was told. Thanks for acknowledging that.
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Hey Steve,
Some of the questions below I mainly want your opinion on:
Obviously Becca and Garrett are still together, but you did say you don’t see them lasting. Is this based on their political differences? The Garrett I see on the show is always smiling and positive and I would never think that he would like those things on IG… so in that sense I think Becca was thrown for a loop because she fell in love with the goofy guy who reminds her of her dad.
Also, we have seen Becca defend Garrett in interviews regarding the IG stuff, not really confronting the issue but rather telling viewers to have an open mind, etc. Do you have any insight on how Becca feels about this stuff? I can’t imagine Becca being the type of girl that would date someone with the opposite beliefs of her… I have no idea if she ever talked to Garrett about their political standings during the overnights but sure doesn’t seem like it. Becca keeps saying how happy she is in interviews so I really don’t know what’s the truth. And do you think Becca’s defending him because he’s her man? Becca just seems like someone who wouldn’t stand for that but that’s just my two cents. A lot of those questions you asked will be answered next week when we see them together for the first time. I just don’t see it long term with those two. It’s not political. It never was political as much as people want to make it into that. People on different political sides can absolutely be married. I just think Garrett and Becca aren’t as compatible as she thought in her head they were while they were filming. Maybe they’ll prove me wrong, who knows? But right now, the jury is definitely out.
Also, how do you think Chris will address this in the ATFR? Does he address it right away and it becomes the focal point of the show? In the interviews yesterday I linked to that Chris did, he basically said he’ll get a feel for the room and the vibe that night and make his decision during the live finale. He’s the host. The only way it gets brought up is if he brings it up. I doubt they’d bring it up on their own.
Lol that was a doozy, sorry. ^
Do you know how many days it was between the overnights rose ceremony to the final 2 dates? The meet the parents for each one starts the next day, so the first “last chance date” for each guy would be 3 days removed from the final 3 rose ceremony.
Do you know if they filmed Blake’s or Garrett’s final chance date first? No.
Chris H. did a glamour interview where he basically said that Becca dumping Blake is one of the top 5 most dramatic/gut wrenching eliminations in history. For once, I truly do see a a runner up who seems very in love with the lead. Do you think Blake’s gonna pull a Jason and “root for Becca’s happiness” and start his audition for the Bachelor? Just from what I saw of Blake on the show, he’s very emotional and I don’t think he will handle the ATFR well since he never got closure with Becca. Hopefully he realizes that he knew this girl for two months and that she probably just exaggerated her feelings to him for tv purposes…I definitely don’t think Blake is gonna go scorched earth, be pissed, and call her out on the finale. No way. None of the other guys did, so I can’t imagine him doing it. It’s been 3 months. I’m sure it stings a little, but he’s moved on. He’ll ask what was the deciding factor, when did you know, etc. They all do. He’ll get his closure, people will feel awful for him, and that’ll be that. The campaign for the next “Bachelor” will begin right then.
Finally, I know you said you’ve heard negative things about Jason and Blake. I’ve read on other sites that there were negative fan encounters with Jason, pretty much acting like a celeb and being rude, etc.
Can you tell me at all what the negative thing(s) about Blake is or just at least give a hint? (pretty please Steve) I just hope it’s not him being a douche to girls…It’s nothing major.
Also, usually the final couple does a lot of press the days following the finale night. (GMA, Kimmel, etc etc.) Since there’s a lot of negativy surrounding the F1, do you think they’re gonna still go on the full press tour? I can’t remember but was it Jojo and Jordan that didn’t do press since there was a lot of negative things about Jordan. I know that Kimmel usually jokes around but he’s also very outspoken on political issues. I think it would be weird to have Garrett on.
Anyway, thanks for reading all of things. Just had to clear my mind on Bachelorette related business.
Comment: I don’t know. Probably won’t know til later in the week when morning shows start putting out their schedules for next week.
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Hey Steve,
A couple observations and questions this week:
Did you notice in the season finale preview they showed after the MTA, they show both Blake and Garrett riding in a boat wearing their nice suits on their way to go see Becca for the final rose.. When they show Garrett, they pretty much just showed his face. When they show Blake, he is looking at the engagement ring he is holding in his hand. When you know the spoilers, it’s funny how easy it is to notice how the producers go way out of their way to edit things to make it look like the opposite of what actually happens. I expect to see a lot of man tears from Blake on Monday.
One thing I have also noticed is that Garrett has been absent from social media since last week. He hasn’t had any activity on Instagram for 4 or 5 days now which is unusual for him. I’m assuming this isn’t a rule going into the last show since Blake is on social media every day. Just thought it was interesting for Garrett because he is usually active on his Instagram on a daily basis. Would you make anything of this?
Comment: Not really.
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Hey Steve! Thanks for all you do!
Let’s get to know you better! Before I answer these, may I suggest the podcast that Michelle Money did with me all the way back in early 2017. We did back-to-back weeks with Michelle. The first one I interviewed her, then the following week she interviewed me on my podcast. I think we talked about a lot of these.
Favorite ice cream flavor: Rainbow sherbet, Mint N Chip, or Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Favorite movie: Impossible to narrow to one. Die Hard, A Few Good Men, the Back to the Future Trilogy, Hoosiers to name a few
Favorite clothing store: Nordstrom’s
Favorite sneaker brand: Nike
Favorite non-alcoholic drink: Coke
Favorite alcoholic drink: I’m a Coors Light guy
Favorite season: Of this show, or the seasons? I’ll go with summer.
Dream vacation destination: Anywhere that has overwater bungalows
Do you like rollercoasters? Eh. I’ll go on them, but I won’t really enjoy them
Beach or lake? Beach
City or country? City
Plane or road trip? Plane 1000x over
Do you have any tattoos? No
When is your birthday (no year)? May 31st
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1. Do you think Jason was trying to throw shade at Garrett when he said that everyone deserves love regardless of their sexual orientation? No. He was referring to his brother who is gay that was on his hometown date. Garrett and Colton are boys.
2. Do you think that guys like Jordan and Chad are too dumb to realize that if they make an ass out of themselves on the show, then the producers definitely won’t ask them to be the next bachelor? Or do you think they just care more about getting attention than they do about the getting the bachelor gig? I don’t think either of them truly thought they’d ever be the “Bachelor.” I think they just wanted to make a name for themselves on the show so they acted accordingly.
3. Becca said in an interview that she got cast on the bachelor because her co-workers nominated her. It seems obvious that she didn’t know the stories about Arie’s womanizing (such as in Courtney’s book) before she went on the show. Do you think that it is odd that none of her family or friends ever warned her about him when they were together, especially after Sydney did her podcast with you? Well Sydney did the podcast after Arie’s season was already done filming and they were engaged, so that couldn’t have warned her. But just like Holly last week on the podcast, sometimes you just wanna ignore outside noise and see things through for yourself.
4. Some emailers have suggested Kaitlyn as a potential podcast guest, but I remember in the past she trash talked you. Are you still mad at her? Do you think that she was pissed that you wrote early in Chris’s season that you thought she was too raunchy to be the bachelorette, or because you had the wrong spoiler? I was never mad at Kaitlyn. Not sure where that came from. I’d have her on anytime. But she has her own podcast. Those people are usually tougher to get on because, well, anything I’m gonna ask them they’ve probably already talked about on their own podcast. But sure I’d have her on.
5. Have you ever thought about inviting Cassie Lambert on the podcast since she no longer works on the show? Your listeners might be curious to hear about her relationship with Arie. No. She would never answer what I’d want to know from her so it’d be pointless.
6. You may have been asked this before, but do you think that Jake Pavelka might have actually had more success as an actor if he had not done the break up interview? He still lives in Dallas, so it looks like he gave up on his Hollywood dreams.
Comment: No, and not because of the break up interview. I just think he’s not all that great on camera. Nothing ever struck me about him as, “Yeah, I can see him having a great TV future.”
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1. Last nights MTA showed a different side of Colton, which kind of tells me that he won’t be the bachelor. He was too aggressive towards the other guys and was pretty much an asshole. Even if the producers love him and America does as well, I don’t think that’s how you’re supposed to play it. Jason played it perfectly and definitely was auditioning for it. He’s not gonna be the “Bachelor.” I think even HE knows that.
2. Also, am I in the minority that thinks Jean Blanc’s comment to Colton last night was not that mean? Sure, it was an ass***e thing to say, but Colton was literally being an ass***e right before, going back and forth. I understand his virginity is a sensitive topic, but I’m not sure why people are so up in arms about what he said to Colton. I don’t have a problem with what Jean Blanc said if Colton called him a pussy first, which the evidence certainly points to. If he didn’t, then Jean Blanc saying that was unnecessary.
3. Tia and Chris? Whoa. It was in the very beginning and didn’t last long. Especially since we know Chris is with Krystal.
4. I was also surprised that Becca didn’t say much on Lincoln. Feel like she’s very progressive and would be outspoken against behavior like that (aka going to the women’s marches) so for her to stay mum and just say she thought all her guys were great was disappointing. A “no comment” would have been better! She should’ve at least acknowledged it, not go the other way and say she “had a great bunch of guys this season” without singling him out.
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Hi! Thank you for the spoilers. Can’t wait for BIP to start!
1. I read an interview Jean Blanc gave and he said that Colton called him a pussy and Ashley I. even said it herself when she was teasing the MTA last week that Colton called him a pussy and he said what he said and she found it to be jaw dropping and she had no idea if they were going to air it. Apparently they did. But why leave out the part where Colton called him a pussy? To make him look better? Because to me, Colton still looked pretty bad. Probably to make Jean Blanc look worse, since he already had a bad edit. Sucks we’ll never get the real footage of what went down at the MTA. But there were plenty of people there. Those who are neutral are saying he said it. Those who are #TeamColton are saying he didn’t.
2. Why was Becca only on stage for, like, two seconds? She was there for two segments. They kept her through a commercial break. That’s standard for the Tell All shows.
3. I see why now everyone was in Mexico, obviously a cameo for BIP. But why bring on Amanda Stanton and Robby? I can understand the couples, wanting to show off their “success” along with the babies Jade and Carly have, but don’t understand Amanda and Robby coming. Or even Arie and Lauren. Amanda went on for a cameo and did something with a date card. Robby actually went on as a contestant. The others I addressed on page 1.
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have you heard anything about if After Paradise is coming back?? not that pre taped crapfest last season, but the original LIVE ‘after paradise’ show ?? and if so potential hosts?? lots of good bachelor alumni to choose from, courtney dober for example 😉 just anyone but sean lowe ugh he sucked! lol
Comment: Looking at my DVR, it’s not on there this season. At least in the first two weeks. And ABC hasn’t made any announcement for one, so my guess is there won’t be an “After Paradise” this season like there wasn’t last season.
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Not sure if you saw Bekah M’s not so nice tweets about Jason. Do you know what her beef is with him and why she gets “fake ass vibes from him”. If she thinks he’s lobbying for the bachelor role, like why does she care? Every single person goes on this show for exposure with a call option on “finding love”. She’s trying to stay relevant so what’s it to her that he is/if he is, trying to also?
Comment: I didn’t see, but I woke up to a few emails making me aware of this. Unless these people come forward and attach their name to it and tell exactly what happened, the story is probably gonna die. As for Bekah, I can’t answer for her motivations on anything. She admittedly loves to stir the pot, so take it for what it’s worth.
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Send all links and emails to: steve@realitysteve.com. To follow me on Twitter, it’s: www.twitter.com/RealitySteve. Instagram name is “RealitySteve,” join my Reality Steve Facebook Fan Page, or listen to all my podcasts at Apple Podcasts. Talk to you tomorrow.
