After loyally watching every episode of every show associated with this franchise since Jake Pavelka’s season, I maybe watched a few hours total of Becca’s season and about half an hour of BIP.
Becca and her top four were deeply boring. I can’t imagine trying to hold a conversation with any of them. The only person I found remotely compelling on Paradise was Grocery Joe. Colton seems like a kid.
I enjoyed Rachel’s season of the Bachelorette. Her story and personality are interesting and made good television (not only the first African-American lead, but also someone with more ambition than being an instagram “influencer”). Unless ABC finds a way to make it as interesting as Rachel again, I just can’t see myself coming back to the show with the loyalty I once had.
I have some suggestions for ABC: pick some women with very unusual backstories (a mennonite? an ex-cult member? someone who lives on a fishing boat?) and/or really cool careers (NASA scientist? novelist?). We need some better characters. This silliness is losing its luster fast….
Comment: That’ll probably never happen. And based on the contestants I have so far – it’s more of the same we see every season.
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Hey Steve,
I guess you aren’t short of emails after yesterday’s announcement. I am quite disgusted with the way this was choreographed this year. They didn’t even TRY to hide the setup this time! I don’t think Colton is the best choice and I do think it was not even close to reality but yes I will watch because I always do. I guess ABC got exactly what they were going for with all the publicity from picking Colton. I now equate the franchise to wrestling…we know it isn’t real but watch anyway just for entertainment. My question to you is, do you think the producers were talking to Colton during BIP and caused the whole event with their offer to make Colton the bachelor?
Thanks for being the sanity
Comment: I think Colton knew exactly what he was doing and how he handled the Tia relationship as delicately as he did. I can’t prove any conversations happened between him and producers and maybe them putting it in his ear, but I’d be naïve to completely rule it out. Anyone would be.
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Hey Steve!
Hope your Vegas vacation goes well and Luka manages okay. My dog has bad separation anxiety as well, and I’ve found that sometimes Xanax can help. It won’t knock her out but it helps take the edge off to allow her to relax. My vet prescribed it for her and she takes it when I know she’ll have a significant trouble, like when I take her to be groomed or we’re traveling.
I want to preface this by saying that I agree Colton isn’t a great guy and that you’re right on his treatment of Tia. He jerked her around quite a bit and never should have done Bachelorette with Becca. It’s obvious he was hoping to either be engaged to Tia (if she was Bachelorette) or become the Bachelor. That being said, I think he’s a good pick from a tv standpoint. His virginity will be a storyline, especially heading into fantasy suites, and I’d guess at least one girl will make it her mission to have sex with him or at least be highly provocative like Corrine was. He doesn’t seem overly emotional like Blake, but he won’t be completely removed and trying to produce the show like Nick. And it doesn’t hurt that he’s attractive and “played” football, which feeds into his heartland appeal. I think he probably was the best option for the show, especially after Arie. And realistically, the guys from Becca’s season were duds. Most of them are very unlikable, and quite a few raise serious red flags. Who were they gonna choose? Back-up boybander Chris the Goose? Colton will get people talking and they’ll tune in next season, and that’s all producers care about. Maybe next time they’ll have better guys to choose from.
Thanks for letting me talk and good luck with your drafting!
Comment: Who were they gonna choose? Well, I mean America will have you believe Blake and Jason were way better choices. That’s who it was down to. What you said makes perfect sense. And honestly, what did we really know about Jason? Nothing jumped out to me about him the more I thought about it. Colton has a way better storyline than Jason. And I never saw Blake as a lead.
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is Ben H still dating Leslie? I have not seen pix of them together.
Comment: Lesley Murphy? He was dating her? That’s news to me.
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Steve,
LOVE the website and the podcast! Your spoliers are the reason I started watching The Bachelor again.
My question is silly, really. I think Kevin’s voice sounds like Napoleon from Napoleon Dynamite. Am I the only one?
I mean no offense by this because I love that movie!
Keep up the good work!
Comment: No, you’re not. Plenty of people think he sounds like him. And they wouldn’t be wrong.
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I know it doesn’t matter but for the person who asked
Ashley heels were always on they just sunk into the sand and looked like flats – who wears stilettos on the beach lol
Comment: Well there you go.
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Hi Steve,
I’m semi-new to the Bachelor world and I had a few questions/thoughts I wanted to get your opinion on. (Sorry for the abundance of questions)
A majority of my friends and I were raised catholic, and most of us have attended some form of catholic school. When all this info has come out about Colton, we made a joke that is ABC trying to take the show in a direction? Saying that only Bachelors like Sean Lowe will work? Also, do you think they will start showing some of the non-romantic conversations between contestants like talking about religion, or politics? Remains to be seen, but in 36 seasons, they’ve yet to do it. I doubt it’ll change.
We also were wondering, depending on how Colton’s season goes do you think ABC would consider doing spin-offs of the Bachelor/Bachelorette? For example, a specific religious affiliation, a gay bachelor, or perhaps an all-asian cast? With movies and shows focusing on casting more diverse casts, this could be an interesting idea…No. I don’t see that happening.
A few other questions I had, are; how can the show get away from only casting people who are Real Estate agents, or Social Media influencers? Do you think that people who have more laborious, or time consuming jobs just can’t afford to leave their jobs for a given amount of time? How come all of the girls that are popular on this show always look the same? They all do their hair the same, have a slender body, and dress similarly. In a world where body image is talked about so often- do you think the show will start casting people who don’t look like every instagram girl you see? And finally, do you think ABC will ever have a season where viewers actually vote and pick the Bachelor/Bachelorette?
Comment: No. This show will always cast young and women that are size 0’s, 2’s, and 4’s. I mean, they’ve done it for 22 seasons, why would they change now?
No. The audience will never pick the “Bachelor” or “Bachelorette.” This show is about control. They’d never give that up.
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1.) OMG, I swear I had that exact same pair of overall shorts that Astrid was wearing when I was 6 years old. WTH So Astrid shops at Babies-R-Us?
2.) Annaliese just seems like she just wants to be with someone, ANYONE. She’s coming across as being soo desperate, I almost feel embarrassed for her. You aren’t the only one.
3.) Question….do Jade and Tanner have actual jobs? Or do they just make their money off of endorsements? I swear they are advertising something new every day on FB. Their house looks soo huge and nice! I want IN on those kind of endorsements. Tanner has a full time job. He works in the automotive industry.
4.) Question….What do all of these people do for jobs after being on the shows? Do they just go back to their old jobs before being cast on the bachelor shows, or do they just fall into the endorsements and do that full time?
Comment: All depends on the person.
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Hi Steve,
When do they film BIP intros? Is it at the end of paradise or throughout the show? Just wondering how they get those group shots of everyone together being friendly. I figured it couldn’t be at the beginning or else it would spoil who all was there from the get-go. Thanks!
Comment: The individual ones? When each person arrives.
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Hi,
You said in a comment that people leaving BIP go to the hotel waiting for their flight later that night or the next day. Are they not waiting until the end of the
season to film those scenes from the beginning of each episode with all contestants together on the beach, running around, etc. ?
If it is before filming the season there should not be any surprise when a certain contestants appear.
Comment: The group shot of the contestants on the beach and the women hitting each other with pillows, if you look closely, that’s just original cast. No one that wasn’t there from the beginning is in those shots.
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Hi Steve! Two quick questions.
1. I listened to your podcast with Taylor Nolan (which was great), and you said it was one of your most favorite podcasts you had recorded. Can you name a few more that are your favorites? I have a lot. There are too many to name.
2. Just curious if you’ve ever heard of Bachelor contestants dropping out once they found out who had been casted as the Bachelor? For example if someone auditioned for the show because they thought Jason would be the lead, learned it was Colton, and then decided to not go on. Not specific to this season though.
Thanks!
Comment: No, but I’m sure they have. Just not many.