Another successful premiere is in the books. So thanks everyone again for coming back to the site yesterday for all your “Bachelor” info. I say it every season, and it never fails. From the second BIP is over in mid September, until the day of the “Bachelor” premiere on the first Monday in January, so roughly 3 1/2 months, my traffic is rather pedestrian. Sure, the die hards who have to know every second what’s going on are there every day, but those people are so the minority of this show’s overall audience. You should see the numbers from Sept. 15th or so through Jan. 6th. Sure, there’s spikes on days of spoilers during filming, but the second that first Monday rolls around, it skyrockets. It’s why it’s hard for me to dedicate a lot of time to anything other than the show in the offseason. But it works hand in hand, I get it. When I was doing “Daily Links” sure it’d be a little more, but nothing crazy. But the second the show starts back up, you all come back and that’s what I’m thankful for. Outside of I believe Sean’s premiere, yesterday was my highest premiere traffic ever. So thank you. It certainly helps and I appreciate you knowing where to come for your “Bachelor” info.
It’s dedication like that which allows me to have my Fan Appreciation Party once a year in Vegas. It’s a thank you to all you who support the site. If you can’t make it, I understand. Obviously way more people read the site than come to the party, but I figure it’s the least I can do. Again, this year will be the 5th consecutive year we’ve done this, and this will be the biggest one yet. You don’t wanna miss it. It’s happening Friday, June 7th at the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino. It’s first come first serve. If you’re flying in, a flight itinerary is your confirmation into the party. If you’re driving in, your hotel reservation is your confirmation. People who live in Vegas, you’re obviously always welcome as we always have a good 15-20 locals there every year. This year in the bigger room I’ve gotten, we can probably get at least 125 in the room. More confirmations came in yesterday, so the party is filling up. I know it’s 5 months away, but people book early, so if you’re interested, let me know, and once you book you will be confirmed. Those interested in staying at the Venetian anytime between June 6th-10th, I can get you a discounted rate. I should have that code shortly. If you’re interested in coming to the party, just let me know all the names of the people who will be with you in your email. And if you’re interested in the Venetian discounted rate, inform me of that too. Ashley Spivey and her husband Steve are in for this year, and I hope to add a couple more Bachelor Nation people at some point. No guarantees though because, well, sometimes they’re difficult to pin down.
Ratings are in from Monday night, and the show’s premiere had the same rating as Arie’s premiere last year with a 1.5. Overall viewers were down from 5.48 million last year to 5.1 million on Monday. But remember, it went up against the college football national championship. Last year Arie’s first TWO episodes went up against college football and both drew 5.5 million viewers and a 1.5 and 1.4 rating respectively. After that, every episode that aired on a Monday drew over 6 million (there was one Sunday episode in there). So I’m guessing that’s where we’ll see Colton’s overall viewership starting next week. But as always, lets not forget how Bachelor dominated social media Monday night drawing over 200k mentions on Twitter, which is huge. Yeah, the execution of dragging out 80 minutes of night 1 footage into a 3-hour show sucked, but it certainly had people talking and engaging, which is what this show wants. The death of this show is when no one comments and no one cares. And I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
So we all saw Cassie use sign language to Colton during the cocktail party on night one. Well, I guess she doesn’t know her sign language as well as she thinks she does? Former DWTS champion Nyle DiMarco, who is deaf himself, says the three words she signed to Colton were wrong. I mean, Nyle is deaf and has been signing much longer than Cassie has, but is he being picky here or was she really that far off? I don’t know sign language so I don’t know. And it also took Cassie less than 24 hours to already start responding to negative feedback, which is never a good sign. Here’s what she had to say for those that missed it:
Oh boy. If she’s already having to clear stuff up, I can only imagine how much worse it’s gonna get for her as the season goes on. Good luck, Cassie.
As I mentioned yesterday, tomorrow’s podcast guest is Paulie Calafiore from the Challenge. We recorded for 2 hours yesterday. I don’t edit my interviews so you will hear every second of it. Going in Paulie knew I wasn’t a fan of his and I was going to call him out on stuff I disagreed with, which was a lot. And I did. And there were times were I’m almost exasperated listening to his stories. I think this is a much different Paulie than you heard on the US Weekly podcast where he cried for 25 minutes. There was no crying in this one. I made him face the fire on decisions he made, how he treated Danielle and Cara, the Demi stuff, etc. At times he’s apologetic, but then would follow it up with a “But…”. I let him say what he needed to say and called him out when he needed to be. It certainly is gonna be an interesting listen. Regardless of anything you hear in the two hours tomorrow, and I told him this myself, none of it matters if he just goes back to his f***boy ways. None of it. It’s just words. Kinda like a previous guest did and you all know who I’m talking about. Rhymes with Lames Jailor. So some of you will still hate him after you listen, some might hear some good in it, some might love him after the fact. But I wanted to give him a chance to speak on what happened in the past, what’s happening now, and what he wants to happen moving forward. His tune hasn’t changed. He’s doing everything he can to win Cara Maria back. Will she take him? I mean, she’s certainly not cutting him off like Danielle has, that’s for sure. You’ll hear all of that tomorrow. I haven’t gone back and listened to any of it yet, but I will tonight to do the time stamps. But I left the podcast feeling we could’ve done another 2 hours together and probably STILL disagreed on a lot. I just couldn’t get to everything. But we covered a lot. Can’t wait for you to hear it tomorrow.
Anyway, “Reader Emails” starts on page 2…

tinyred500
January 9, 2019 at 9:47 AM
To the reader emailer who wants to know where they can get Nick and Kaitlyn’s season’s, I bought mine off off iTunes.
jlal
January 9, 2019 at 3:07 PM
I don’t do any social media at all, fb, linkin, insta, twitter, none. I am not weird, just private. I don’t want my personal business out on the internet. I feel it is smart, not strange. Actually can’t understand those who do.
adelina
January 9, 2019 at 5:39 PM
I totally agree with you @jlal. I think it is so refreshing to find someone who doesn’t feel the need to be on social media. There is nothing wrong with being a private person who feels no need to represent themselves through these platforms. I have never understood the allure of facebook or instagram. So ego driven. If you need to keep in touch, pick up the phone or send an email. I have twitter for following never posting and a Linkedin for professoinal purposes that I never look at.
If you’re between the ages of 18-40 and you don’t participate in social media despite having the means to do so – you are my hero.
jlal
January 10, 2019 at 4:04 AM
Thank you adelina. I get a bunch a crap from friends and family, especially about not doing FB. I have always been a private person. I also am in a profession where I have seen first hand the security and safety concerns with putting your private information out there, not to mention the potential negative professional impact. I actually talk to those I like and love. Also, friends and family know to not post a photo of me with my name attached.
tinyred500
January 10, 2019 at 10:06 AM
I agree with you two, there’s nothing weird about not wanting to be part of social media. I’d rather be doing other things. 😉
LM111
January 12, 2019 at 9:24 AM
Ha. I thought I was the only person not on FB. And it’s not that I “stopped” being on social media, I never joined. My reasons are the exact same as Jlal, I like to maintain my privacy. Maybe I’m old school, but I’d rather call my friends and see them in person. I don’t need strangers patting me on the back to feel good about myself. haha
upmyalley
January 14, 2019 at 9:04 PM
That premiere was so embarrassing! One would think the queen herself was coming! Actually, I think that’s kinda true! Bwahaha! So over the top and cheesy. I threw up in my mouth a little. The Bachelor, Teen Edition.
auddaniels
January 15, 2019 at 8:11 AM
Just a note about Cassie, my roommate is a Speech Language Pathologist, and she and the other SLPs in the district have been talking about her for a while because they knew she was still in school, and therefore only an SLPA. I think it’s so rare for contestants to have real jobs, or future jobs, that the producers tell them to use it to their advantage. Anyone who isn’t in that profession wouldn’t realize that they’re twisting the truth, so I feel bad because she was probably manipulated into it. On that note, Speech Paths don’t all use sign language anyway. It’s like being bilingual, it may help you get a certain job, but it’s a niche. She probably doesn’t even use ASL.