Reality Steve

Reader Emails

“Reader Emails,” Ratings, and “Temptation Island” Episode 2

Photo Credit: ABC

So episode 2 of “Temptation Island” aired last night. What’d you think? Was there anything more uncomfortable than Shari and Javen choosing their first dates? The other 6 at least had the decency to grab their dates hand when they chose them as they walked back. Shari and Javen pointed at them like they were in a police line up. “You. I pick you. This way please.” Hilarious. We’re only 2 episodes in though. They’re going to loosen up. And if someone can explain to me what Shari was so upset with watching Javen’s video at bonfire last night, please inform me. I’m just as confused as Host Mark was. Like, what did she see that was so bad? Am I missing something? I’m going to ask Kaci that today if maybe something was shown that we didn’t see, but I doubt it. Maybe it was just the emotions of being away from their boyfriends, I don’t know. But Shari lost it over something fairly innocent I thought. I can only imagine her reaction when Javen actually does make out with someone and she has to watch. Yikes. Like, will she run over to the other side of the island and start clawing women’s eyes out? Will she hop in an Uber and get the hell out of Hawaii? Anything seems to be on the table with her. Anyway, Nell Kalter has her episode 2 recap now up for your reading pleasure. Check it out.

Anyway, tomorrow’s podcast guest is Kate Casey from the “Reality Life” podcast. I’ve been on Kate’s podcast probably 3 or 4 times already, but this is the first time having her on mine. She was great. After her, we’ll have Kaci from “Temptation Island” on to recap episode #2. So look forward to that tomorrow.

Ratings are in from Monday night and the show did well, pulling in a 1.6 rating and 5.96 million viewers. Yet, if you read Robert Mills’ tweet, you’d think they dominated the night. I don’t know what he’s referring to with this tweet to be honest:

I guess because it drew a 1.6 rating, which TIED for the best rating of the night, he’s just focusing on that. But Robert knew exactly what he was doing when he sends out something so generic like that. He knows that most people will attribute “number one show of the night” to “most watched show of the night,” even though it clearly wasn’t. AGT drew 4.5 million more viewers than the “Bachelor.” But because AGT’s age demographic is skewed WAY higher than “Bachelor,” it only drew a 1.6 rating in the 18-49 demo. And that tied with the “Bachelor,” so Robert can technically say it was the #1 show of the night without being wrong. If he was being 100% honest, the tweet would’ve read “The Bachelor was tied for the #1 show in the 18-49 demo last night!” But who’s gonna write that? No one. So you see what he did there.

Lets begin the “Reader Emails” shall we?
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Jimmy Kimmel’s annual habit of following your spoilers and “predicting” the final choice when he confronts the lead on camera has become irritating. He’s not an idiot, though. I’m assuming he does this because he loves to watch the lead squirm and is hoping this will lead to a memorable moment — some kind of slip-up or inadvertent confession on camera. There can’t be any other explanation, because he’s not fooling anyone about his predictive ability when everyone knows the spoilers are online. It’s surprising the network lets him get away with this, though.

Comment: I think it’s just a bit at this point. Like you said, people know. And the fact he’s been so obvious about it over the years is almost like he’s doing it with a “wink wink” attached to it.
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Hi Steve.

I was excited when you announced on your website that Temptation Island is back! I remember loving the first season when it aired all the way back in 2001 and some scenes began to pop up in my head.

After watching the first episode of this season I actually found the entire first season on Youtube and naturally had to re-watch it. Disregarding the absolute cringe of what everyone is wearing, it was still a fun watch. I even watched the second season as well, which I’d never seen before. That was more of a sh*t show and thus almost more fascinating as almost everyone cheated, and with several of the couples you just knew they were not going to make it.

Since the show aired during the early days of the internet, there isn’t a lot of info on what happened to the cast after the ”where are they now” episode. I managed to google up the Instagram accounts of Mandy, Kaya, Valerie and Taheed, as well as info that Andy and Shannon started a family, but are no longer together. But not much more. I couldn’t find anything on Billy.

Maybe you have already thought about it, especially now that you are checking in with one of the contestants of the renewed season on your podcasts, but would you consider having one of the people from the original couples on your podcast? Granted it’s been well over 15 years since the first season aired, but I for one would love to hear their thoughts on the experience, what their lives have been like since, as well as what it was like to shoot a reality show in those early days of reality-tv. (There seem to have been several moments where the producers were unaware of what was going on, something that would never happen today).

If you’ve thought about it, but have been unsure if anyone would be interested in listening, you can mark me down as at least one.

Comment: It’s tough because I just don’t think the audience, at least my audience, would remember or care enough about a show from 15 years ago. Until you mentioned those couples names, I didn’t remember any of them and I’m guessing my audience wouldn’t either. I wouldn’t say never, but, I doubt I would relegate a whole podcast to one of them.

One funny thing about season 1 that I read on Wikipedia when I was looking up past seasons, is that there was a couple who was booted off the island because the show found out they had a kid? Look at the background checks the shows do now. I can’t believe they didn’t know that before they let the couple on the show in the first place. Like, wouldn’t that be question 1 or 1A on their application?

Question 1: Are you married?
Question 2: Do you have kids?

Bizarre that happened.
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Hey Steve,

I know that you posted reader emails already this week, but I thought I’d go ahead and get a head start on next week! I just saw an article on Entertainment Tonight, stating that Colton opened up on the LadyGang podcast with ET’s Keltie Knight, Becca Tobin, and Jac Vanek about Aly Raisman. I found it interesting because isn’t this the first time he has publicly admitted, outside of Instagram, that he had a relationship with her? It also cancels out his narrative on Becca’s season that he never had a relationship before (which we knew already because you showed us Insta pics of them together at Christmas). I was just wondering what your thoughts are, and why would he choose to reveal that now?

Thanks for all you do!

Comment: There are a lot of things I’m not sure about when it comes to Colton. That just happens to be one of them.
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Hi Steve,

I was just wondering if Colton and Cassie are getting more “happy couple visits” than normal since he seems to be in LA a lot and she lives in Huntington Beach. Seems logistically possible that they could see each other more? It might make a difference in whether their relationship works out or if the production can coerce a proposal by March.

Comment: I’m never informed EVERY time the couple is together. It doesn’t necessarily work that way. What I do know is they have been seeing each other. And yes, him being in LA a lot and Cassie living in HB makes it logistically easier for them to pull it off more than the average fan thinks.
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I’m about a week late on this as I was late listening to the podcast and I just finished reading through the Reader emails, but I find it really odd that nobody is talking about Paulie’s appearance on Ex on the Beach? I wish you would have called him out about that because it became clear on the show that he had been cheating on the ex that was on the show while they were together and she was completely blindsided in the same fashion Cara and Danielle were. It seems like history repeating itself which is why I call BS on everything that comes out of his mouth. He clearly has major insecurities (I’m guessing Napolean Complex) that cause him to need to play woman at once. I wish douchebags like him didn’t get the opportunity to be on all these shows, but I also understand why MTV keeps him there.

Comment: I could’ve gone into the Lexi stuff but I chose not to. Just wanted to focus on the Danielle/Cara relationship and what happened with Demi. Lexi would’ve brought up a whole new can of worms and I just didn’t feel like going there.
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Do you happen to know when Temptation Island was filmed? Thought you could ask Kaci during the weekly updates.

Comment: It was filmed almost all in the month of September into the first few days of October.
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Steve,

Just wondering if you’ve ever watched Music City, a reality show set in Nashville on CMT? Guess who shows up in episode #6- Luke Pell… wanting to co-wrote a song with one of the main characters Alisa. Of course she’s already written the song and he’s wanting to ride her coattails and record it with her. He is still so slimy !

Comment: No I don’t. But good to know Luke’s career is really taking off.
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Hi Steve,

Long time reader, first time emailer.

What is up with this story about Bobby Bones being considered for the next Bachelor? I am a fan of his, but I could not see him being the Bachelor at all. That could be a train wreck.

Thank you for keeping us entertained!

Comment: Bobby Bones is not going to be the “Bachelor.” The next “Bachelor” filming is 9 months away. They’re not even talking about that right now. Final casting weekend for “Bachelorette” is coming up next weekend, so the thought of who they’re going to cast for next “Bachelor” isn’t even on the radar. Don’t believe stories like that. 25 seasons in a row they’ve cast someone from within the franchise and production has admitted they don’t plan on changing the format. Stories that report that have no idea what they’re talking about. It’s click bait.
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Here’s a few comments regarding some questions from last week’s reader emails:

1. One reader asked if any contestants of the same sex had hooked up with each other. Well, during Kaitlyn’s season, the show edited Clint and JJ’s bromance to falsely make it look like it was a romance, even dubbing them “Brokeback Bachelors.” So to answer this person’s question, if it were to happen for real, no I don’t think that the show would discourage/ refrain from filming it. To the contrary. I’m sure they’d film it. But there’s been 37 seasons and it’s never happened. So I don’t really think it’s going to.

2. One person asked who was the closest to being a bonafide professional athlete on the show and you guessed for the leads it would be Sean Lowe. You forgot about Jesse Palmer, who, unlike Sean, was actually in the NFL. Yes, Jesse was one I forgot. Definitely made a nice career for himself. I knew I blanked on someone.

3. One person asked if Ashley I and Jared’s wedding will be shown on paradise and you said you haven’t heard anything. She said on her Cosmo blog that the wedding is in August so I’m assuming that it’s a yes. Certainly possible. Not to mention Ashley/Jared and Carly/Even were down in Cabo this past weekend with camera crews filming something as well.

4. One person asked if it’s odd that Kaitlyn would be ready to move on so quickly after ending an engagement. Well, I remember back when her season was still airing, pictures surfaced online of Shawn touching some country singer named Bri Lobue. Afterwards, Bri Lobue said that she didn’t watch the show, so she didn’t know who he was or that he was engaged. So I think Kaitlyn knew all along that she was more invested in the relationship than him, but she tried to make it work anyway. I feel sorry for her but I don’t feel sorry for him at all.

Comment: That seems to be the consensus. But now Kaitlyn is goo goo ga ga over Jason, so I guess none of it really matters anymore. They both seemed to have moved on.
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Hi Steve,

I’m a big fan of you and your site! My question is, would the Bachelor/Bachelorette ever cast a contestant who’s not on any social media? If the producers ONLY cast people with at least a decent SM presence/following, I think it shows just how little they care if people are there for the “right reasons” considering how many people aim to turn their Bachelor stints into insta careers.

Anyway, thanks for reading! Keep doing you!

Comment: Well that’s a given. Producers definitely don’t care if people are there for the right reasons. They care about who’s going to be the most entertaining. That’s never been different.

As for would they cast someone with little social media presence. Yeah, I think they would. There have been people who’ve gotten on in recent years that weren’t big on social media. Those people also turned out to not be major characters on that season. Put it this way, it definitely HELPS if you are, but would you get turned down because of it? No.

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