Hi Steve,
I read on Mark Walberg’s Twitter account that the second season of Temptation Island will air this fall. Do you know the premiere date, and more importantly, will you and Nell be recapping each episode on your site again this season?
Thanks for all of the entertainment you continue to provide us!
Comment: Yes, it will premiere this fall. Don’t have an exact start date yet but expect sometime in October I believe.
And yes, I’ve partnered up with them again and will be giving you full coverage (minus spoilers) for season 2. Nell will be recapping every episode, and we’re figuring out who will be a part of the podcast every week. Will it be the same person every week like Kaci last season, or will we get all 8 involved in the couples get their own week, and then have Mark Walberg at the beginning and end of the season. We’re still figuring that out. But there won’t be any other site I believe that will have as much “Temptation Island 2” coverage as this one, so look forward to that this fall.
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Hi Steve,
After Blake’s release of Caelynn’s texts, do you see her own behavior as problematic? As a woman with a very similar sexual assault story to Caelynn’s, her texts and behavior seemed almost predatory to me. I would never be so aggressive after what I’ve been through myself, and I think there are much larger issues with Caelynn as a whole. Had that situation been flipped, and Blake was the one who ordered the Uber, who said, “come on let’s just have a good time, just chill” people would be up in arms over this and calling his behavior problematic. Especially because he declines her invite a couple of times and says no. Why are we not holding her to the same standard?
Comment: I’m not one to say how Caelynn should approach sex in future relationships. If she wants to have casual sex, as she was suggesting in those texts, then so be it. I’ve got no problem with that. But yes, unfortunately there is a double standard in this country when it comes to that because if that convo was reversed, and Blake was saying the things she was, he’d be looked at in a much different way. I don’t know how we fix that. However, those were just texts. Blake ultimately agreed to it, and I think if he’s being honest, he probably didn’t need his arm twisted to have sex with her. I don’t wanna speak for him, I’m just speculating here. When it’s the other way around, I wouldn’t say that’s always the case. Therein lies your difference. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the double standard that’s out there.
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Hi Steve,
My question for you is do you know if there has been any consecutive outcome of the bachelor/ bachelorette cast based on the way they audition / interview? Example: open casting call vs sending in a personal video. All or most of the recent casts have said “oh a co worker or a family member applied for me and I had no idea until I got a call from producers asking me if I was interested.” I’d say almost everyone who is cast on this show is not someone who showed up at an open casting call. It’s more about being recruited, being submitted by someone else, knowing a former cast member, being submitted by an agency, etc.
My next question is when did Peter Weber first audition? I just real on your page that Peter had applied for a previous season and was someone that was already in their records.
I love reading your page and thanks for all you do!
Comment: I believe he applied for Becca’s season.
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Steve,
I’ve been trying to keep up on all of the Bachelorette and BIP updates, but I just took the bar exam so forgive me if you’ve already answered this question.
Do Demi and her girlfriend both get a Neil Lane engagement ring out of this engagement? Or just Kristian?
I don’t know why I thought about this, aside from it seems like a pretty sweet gig for them if they get two free diamond rings and maybe/probably a televised wedding next summer in Mexico. Especially since Kristian never really had to endure real Bachelor/BIP stuff.
Thanks!
Comment: Good question. That I’m not sure of. But yeah, does sound like a pretty sweet deal if they both got rings out of it.
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Hi Steve,
Long time reader/listener first time writer. Did you happen to listen to Bachelor Happy Hour podcast with Rachel and Ali? They had Hannah on the last one and from the sounds of it, she seems a bit bitter that Tyler is out and about dating. Rachel was completely on Hannah’s side but I feel like Tyler has every right to go out and date. She didn’t choose him. She only asked him for drinks because her first choice turned out to be an ass. I don’t think she has an right to criticize Tyler and his dating life when she chose someone else to spend the rest of her life with and when that relationship didn’t work out she wanted Tyler. I know on your podcast you had mentioned that Tyler and Hannah wouldn’t end up together and I agreed with you then and her being on the podcast pretty much confirmed it. So my question is, do you side with Hannah or Tyler? Do you feel like she has a right to be bitter about it?
Thanks for all the spoilers!
Comment: Didn’t listen to it. If you’re making me choose, I guess I’d have to go with Tyler, even though I still think he could’ve showed a little more discretion. I say I side with Tyler because Hannah could’ve chosen Tyler in the end, and she didn’t. Unfortunately, she has to live with that decision. As for Tyler, I have no problem with him dating Gigi because what guy wouldn’t want to. I just think it wasn’t the greatest of looks to do it two days after leaving Hannah’s place.
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Hi Steve! I am having a real dislike for Blake. I think the problem is that his f#ckboy behaviors have made it to the beach. I feel like he expected to go on Paradise being the sweet, aw shucks, guy we all remember and loved from Becca’s season, but when these ladies from his past showed up he knew he was in trouble. I don’t care who messaged whom, or what the nature of their relationships were at the time, or what was said after. It really doesn’t matter. He was obviously more concerned about the viewing public’s perception of him than how he made these women feel, namely the ones he slept with back to back. Acting like everything was great with Kristina on their date like he was suddenly Mr. Wonderful again after looking like he was going to vomit when she appeared on the beach. Once he realized the date was about talking about how disrespected she felt, he accused her of ambushing her. Then when Caelynn confronted her he acted like she was crazy and apologized to her as if he were Mr. Wonderful again just to shut her up. But he would have went through that entire show avoiding her had she not pulled him aside and called him out on his crap. And then he sits for an ITM slumped over worrying about how HE will be affected by everything that happened-this will ruin me, and my family, etc. Blake has turned into a f#ckboy but fully intended to try to keep his f-boy ways hidden from the viewers, and still try to make himself out to be the sweet Blake we all knew and loved, possibly to audition for the next Bachelor? When he figured out that was not going to be the case he actually wanted to leave the show. Then, after watching this he launches into damage control, which to me makes him look even worse by revealing selected private texts between him and Caelynn. I thought this was a low blow and a lazy, ineffective way to try to repair his image. Thoughts?
Comment: One part I agree with is that Blake’s reactions in his ITM’s were too concerned with how he’d look, rather than the women.
However, I think you’re jumping to a conclusion by saying he would’ve went through the whole show avoiding her. You don’t know that. It literally would’ve been impossible for him to do that. I think Blake knew exactly what he was getting into going to Mexico and was probably prepared for it. I just don’t think it was to the extent he thought it would be. Mostly because there was nothing happening with Caelynn and they’d agreed before the show their relationship was just a hook up. So of course he probably felt blindsided to hear all these accusations she threw out there. Why wouldn’t he?
Caelynn has a right to feel like her relationship with Blake was more than it was. But not when she admits in a text it was only sex and is planning before the show how they were going to handle it coming up and they both agree to be honest. Here’s my issue: Caelynn was complaining about something in June (when filming took place), for something that happened in April (when Stagecoach happened) that she’d already made amends with Blake about. It doesn’t make sense. I feel she overexaggerated how bothered she was by Blake, probably because of pressure from producers to create a storyline.
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Hi Steve,
Thanks for all your great writing and investigating as usual. I’m sure Bachelor execs are not happy with Blake releasing texts that appear to show problems with their storyline (although who knows if they are real or edited it what). I am wondering if there is a specific contract provision that prohibits contestants from doing this. (If not, i am guessing there will be now.) I saw an older version of a Bachelor contract which basically said there was a huge financial penalty for a contestant saying anything in public to indicate in any way that what was shown on the show isn’t true — even if it wasn’t in fact true. I remember this because it really blew my mind. Have you seen a Bachelor contract and do you think Blake is in breach of it in any way?
Comment: I’ve seen an older one. And I guess we’re getting into semantics if we’re saying what Blake did was reveal stuff that wasn’t true. It seems to me he revealed stuff that was more about sharing the full story, rather than something that wasn’t completely true. But that’s nit picking. If Blake was in major trouble, I’m guessing we would’ve heard by now.
They’ve become more lenient in recent seasons on social media stuff. So many of these contestants do stuff they aren’t supposed to do and get away with it. So I doubt anything major will happen to Blake.
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Hi Steve:
Long time reader of your column and watcher of all Bachelor shows.
First of all – thank you for your column. I have to read it before each season now. This season was the best season ever in the franchise. I was not a fan of Hannah going into the season. Personally, I thought all of Colton’s women were too young to be The Bachelorette but Hannah killed it. She was was real, something we have not seen here in a long time and she matured in her journey. Best season ever.
On to BIP – Do you think Caelynn’s motive is to out all of the f*boys in the franchise? She’s with Dean now. I think he’d better watch out. Maybe she’s all about herself and her own agenda. I guess time will tell. I see that you feel she’s definitely into the drama. Well, there’s zero chance I think her and Dean last at all, and we know how Dean treated Lesley post-break up, maybe Caelynn should watch out. Dean knows.
I think Peter (Windmill) will be the next Bachelor. I see you agree as of today.
I wish Tyler C would go on DWTS with Hannah – but seems like a long shot.
I see your next podcast guest is Brett Vergara! I’m looking forward to that one.
Thanks again. I appreciate you and your work.
Comment: Brett was great. He’ll definitely be on again in the future.
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Dear Reality Steve,
Big fan of you work. we have reason to believe that Clay Harbor on the newest season of Bachelor in Paradise (season 6) has used steroids. We believe this due to his body size, high pitched voice (caused by an increase in estrogen after steroid use is discontinued). We believe that steroids are a symptom from his failed NFL career.
Let me know your thoughts.
Comment: Who’s we? That’s an incredible accusation to make based on his voice. I have no idea if Clay uses or doesn’t. Then again if he did, he certainly wouldn’t be the first football player to, nor would he be the last. But if your evidence is his high pitched voice, that’s ridiculous.
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Hi Steve,
Long-time reader from New Zealand here. We get all the shows here and I’m embarrassingly addicted.
I know it’s all about Paradise now and I’m sure you’re totally over the Jed stuff, but I wanted to point out a discrepancy between what Jed said in Ali and Rachel’s interview, and what he said in Ben and Ashley’s interview. I think you said you just listened to the first of those, because it would be the same story. For the most part, yes, he stuck to his talking points.
But in the first podcast, he said he didn’t mean to “like” the “anti-Hannah” social-media posts, and that he tapped on them to see the responses. In the second podcast, he slipped up and admitted that he did mean to “like” those comments (and said why he did it). So just in case anyone thinks Jed isn’t a compulsive liar…
Ali and to a lesser extent Ben were far too easy on him. He said that on Ben and Ashley’s podcast? Well, if he did, then there you go. Even more lies and showed how he really felt, despite masking it with “I know how hurt she was, I’m sorry, etc.” It’s all BS if he says after the fact he purposely liked those IG comments.
Also why has no one asked Jed how he feels about the fact that he effectively stole Hannah’s potential relationship/engagement with Tyler or Peter (something Hannah mentioned in her People Live interview).
Anyway, thanks for your podcasts. I enjoy them so much that I’ve pretty much given up on avoiding spoilers.
Comment: Because he hasn’t done an interview with me.
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Hi Steve,
I’ve put way too much thought into this Caelynn/Blake thing this week, so here go my thoughts, in case anyone cares:
In general, women aren’t as able to emotionally detach themselves from sex as men are. This is not ALWAYS true, of course. But I saw this a lot when I was younger, and experienced this myself. Sometimes, women go into f**kbuddy situations with a clearly communicated agreement that there’s nothing more than sex. And sometimes (a) they do this with the secret hope that it will lead to more, because they’re really into the guy, or (b) they start feeling emotionally attached because of the sex.
I think either (a) or (b) happened to Caelynn. When I see her crying on TV, and going on and on about how much she doesn’t like him, what I see is a young woman with a broken heart. In her mind, Blake was boyfriend material; in his mind, she was a “mistake.” She feels rejected. She feels dumped.
This wasn’t Blake’s fault. He was completely honest with her, and he doesn’t deserve the skewering he’s getting on social media. Yeah, the text in bed, and whatever; he’s no saint. But he was honest with her, and in fact, he seemed sad on BiP when he realized that their expectations were out of whack.
On the other hand, I don’t think people should be skewering Caelynn either. Mostly I just feel sorry for her, and like many women, I’ve been there. I also think that people need to remember that Caelynn is the survival of an especially horrible sexual assault. She’s fragile for a reason. She’s also very young. I think we can all look back on relationships from our early 20s and cringe.
I do have to wonder why anyone in their right mind would go on this show. Who needs to air their drama in this way, and at the mercy of the producers? Is this really worth the Instagram income?
Anyways, just my two cents. Thanks for making my favorite escapism even more fun; these days, we really need it!
Comment: You bring up some good points. Here are my thoughts. I agree that any FWB relationship or f**kbuddies can easily lead to the two things you said, which is either a) one person goes in hoping it will lead to more, or b) one starts feeling emotionally attached because of it. I get that. I’ve been in situations like that myself, as I’m sure many people have, and that’s totally believable.
However, Caelynn is complaining about this two months after the fact, they only had sex one time, and they’d already agreed it wasn’t anything more than that nor were they going to pursue anything further. If this was a continuous sexual relationship, even if they were saying it was just sex, then I could see her having the reaction she did on the beach. But it wasn’t. It’s just not adding up. I think she overexaggerated her emotions in June, for something that happened months earlier, so it would be a storyline.
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Listening to your latest podcast now… glad you’re actually calling out Caelynn for the holes in her story. I was shocked how Ben Higgins’ sat idly by while Dean raked Blake (Ben’s friend) over the coals on his podcast. I have no problem with Blake sharing the tests do prove his innocence. It truly restored my initial opinion of him, which is that I think he is genuinely a good person. I also agree that Caelynn’s post was much too vague. She should have clarified whatever was misconstrued or misinterpreted due to editing in her post but she didn’t. She should have went to bat for Blake considering how badly she dragged him through the mud.
Comment: I didn’t listen to Dean on Ben’s podcast so I can’t comment on that.
However, with all the pro-Blake side that I’m sure you think I’m on, he’s not absolved for the things he did. He screwed up big time. I’m still scratching my head as to why he did, and then why he agreed to come on this show. And I think Blake knows he screwed up based on his apology post-show. But, it’s kind of like a James Taylor situation all over again. If he just goes back to the same behavior, then his apology means squat. James did and he became a fraud. Lets see what Blake does.
With that said, of course Dean was gonna side with Caelynn. He’s sleeping with her. That’s about the least shocking thing I’ve heard all season. But if/when Dean and Caelynn are done, then lets see what tune either of them are singing then. I have a feeling barbs will be thrown, no doubt.
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Hi Steve:
Do you think you will have Kristina, Blake or Caelynn or Dean ever on your podcast? I don’t think Kristina, Dean, or Caelynn would ever happen. There’s a pecking order on this show. And there’s cliques. And there are certain people and cliques that don’t like me and feel they are betraying others if they come on with me. So they just do podcasts with their buddies. And that’s fine. I know it happens, so I accept it. I think Blake would at some point. I just don’t know when.
I heard Dean already defend Caelynn on the Almost Famous – Ben & Ashley I podcast of course because is his girlfriend now.
I actually went back and listened to Kristina’s interview on Olivia’s podcast.
(Yes, I listen to all of these podcasts. I listen to Olivia’s because she was on your podcast). It was a good interview and gave some background on Kristina and Dean and Kristina and Blake – who knew that podcast would be so relevant to the drama on BIP now.
At this point Kristina should likely stay away from Bachelor guys. She “dated” Jef Holmes too. Too bad she picks the bad ones, but it seems that these guys get on the show and get a big head. The attention is too much for them to handle.
Looking forward to your next guests. I also like your Survivor guests.
Comment: You’d think Kristina would learn from her mistakes, but I really don’t think she does. There isn’t a person in this franchise that wants to be part of a Bachelor Nation couple more than her. I don’t get it. Go date outside the franchise. I guarantee she’ll have a better success rate if she does.
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Okay so based on Hannah and Dylan’s social media…. Are they still together, Dylan has been tweeting live a lot the recent episodes & it kinda has me leaning towards them possibly breaking up watching this back. Dylan has been responding tweets such as Dylan deserves someone who looks at him like a priority and said Damn. I feel so bad for Dylan…. watching it back it somewhat looks like Hannah is choosing him out of pity and feeling bad. What are your thoughts? Even if they got engaged do u think that watching it back and seeing all of this and how hannah acted would cause them to break up?
Comment: Yes, they are still together. Dylan is trolling viewers.
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Hi RS,
I have two questions
Do you know the reason why Hannah B went to BIP because we see her in one of the trailer for this season. Is it to set up Mike as bachelor like Becca did last year or to advice Demi?
Comment: I think it’s to talk to Demi about her situation.
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Hi Steve,
I know I’m going to get a lot of hate for this but other than Mike’s “big smile that can light a room”, I don’t get the hype of everyone wanting him to be “The Bachelor”. I think he seems like a nice guy but we are not getting a lot of personality from him. What do we know about him other than he has a mom, grandma and a sister? I totally agree that we are way overdue for a man of color. I stand behind that 100%. I am just not picking up the vibe that everyone else sees. I’ve also read that people off the show have stated they haven’t gotten the same charming charismatic Mike that we are getting when the cameras are rolling. Do you think he is getting good edits because the franchise wants to ship him as the first man of color? We have had lots of men in the past seasons who would have been a better fit for the Bachelor especially with a better storyline. I watch for entertainment purposes (as I’m sure everyone else does) but don’t feel like I would be entertained as much with Mike. I think I read where you mentioned Clay? Clay has a lot of personality and lets be real here, he’s very easy on the eyes. Ex football player that treats women with respect and seems to be very authentic personality. I don’t know, I’m ready for a diverse bachelor but for me it’s just not Mike.
Also, do you think there will be a lot of backlash if they don’t make him the Bachelor? I kind of feel like the show has all but set him up to be the bachelor and if they don’t make him the Bachelor there will be a lot of people angry. Totally not trying to step into that subject because I understand it’s a slippery slope but I think the next bachelor needs to have more of a storyline than a smile that can light a room. There will be as much backlash as there is every season. Mike’s fans will be up in arms, they’ll rant and rave for a couple days, then no one will pay attention since there’s nothing you can do about it, the season will start filming with whoever they choose, and by January when the show starts airing, it’ll draw the same viewership it draws every season. Wash, rinse, repeat.
I have a question. I have friends that know I like the show and know that I religiously follow your spoilers. (even when I’m not watching the show) My friends will screenshot spoilers from other places like a spoiler fb group or spoiler Instagram page and send to me. I always reply with, yeah I read that on RS. Not once have I seen anything from another source that you had not already reported on. I’m curious if all spoiler pages are just getting all of their information from you and posting it on their sites or do they actually have intel that doesn’t come from you? I know you can’t possibly know the answer 100% but it does make me mad that so many people have “spoiler” pages but none have reported anything that you haven’t already told us. Thanks for the spoilers, the entertainment, the tweets and the podcasts. I absolutely love the way you stood up for women, especially when reporting about the guys who had girlfriends going on to the show. I know a lot of guys would have defended them, even knowing they were wrong. There are so many out there now who just cut and paste my stuff, you’d have to ask each person who posts that spoiler individually “where’d you hear that from?” If they were honest, I think we know the answer where it originated from. But it’s impossible to police so I don’t worry about it.
One more thing, have you seen any of Jed’s post Bachelorette interviews? I listened to his interview with Ali and Rachel. Everyone has said he is sorry and he has owned it but I absolutely have not heard him own any of it. Not once has he apologized to Haley. I feel like if he was truly sorry he would have apologized to her.
Comment: Nor do I expect him to.
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Do any of the contestants go back to work after the show? Or do the majority them become a “social media influencer”?
Comment: You’d have to break down each one individually and see. A lot quit their jobs and just become influencers. I feel that’s moreso the women than the men. But basically if you last long on this show and get a huge following, a lot of them end of quitting whatever job they were in and get involved in media/podcasting, etc.
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Hi Steve! I’ve been a fan of yours since Jason Mesnick’s season, but started watching the Bachelor shows since season 1.
With Ashely I’s wedding this past weekend and knowing at least two other women from his season are married – including the final one – I found myself wondering if there was an update on the accident Chris Soules was involved in a couple years ago. So, I did a quick search and found this article saying his sentencing was moved from May to the end of this month.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2019/05/28/chris-soules-bachelor-sentencing-rescheduled-for-august/1258197001/
What are your thoughts? Based on what I read, it seems the max he will get is two years. It really makes me sad for the family who lost their loved one. Has there ever been another Bachelor/ette who got into this much trouble with the law?
Thanks for your time and all you do.
Comment: I honestly haven’t followed this case since maybe the first couple weeks after it happened. Anything I said would be completely misinformed.
No, I can’t remember anyone from this franchise that was involved in another person’s death.
