Hey Steve –
Just curious how you’d rank Chris Harrison amongst other reality tv hosts like (the outstanding) Jeff Probst, Phil from Amazing Race, (the average) Carson Daley, Seacrest, etc.
Comment: I’d say Seacrest is the best reality host there is, but his job is also different. Probst is the best of the others because of how involved he is with the whole “Survivor” process. Phil would be next. Then Chris. Carson Daly? He’s 428th. He’s got a whole bag of nothing to me.
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Hi Steve
From what I’ve seen throughout bachelor nation is that many persons tend to lean where the “popular kids” lean. In my opinion, most of these are afraid to make enemies because if they make one enemy then they know they would most definitely upset a whole squad. I’ve also come to the conclusion of some viewers being fickle. Something I’ve also observed is the fact that many persons are quick to “crucify” these bachelor alums for their actions seemingly forgetting that they are also humans and make mistakes. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t have an opinion on the action but we however need to be careful of what we say on the internet. Some might say “they put their lives out there so they should take the heat” while it is true that they’ve done that, we don’t need to constantly beat up on them.
I saw a snippet of Demi’s interview with Lauren Zima as well as E! News. After watching I came to the conclusion that all these people have been drinking Demi and ABC’s knockoff KoolAid. Do you think that there’s bias when it comes to interviews especially when the interviewer seems to have favour for an individual?
In the interview with Zima, Demi says that she and Kristian weren’t “really” in a relationship and if I could recall it’s the same thing that Jed has said. Why is it that Demi could be praised for going on this show not “really” being in a relationship but it’s a problem when another guy does it?
My thing is, What’s good for the goose should be good for the gander.
Comment: Absolutely 1000% there is media bias when it comes to certain people’s coverage of this show. I don’t think that’s hard to figure out who. Hence the reason why I think people come to my site. You will not get one sided interviews, incessant ass kissing in sit downs and IG posts, and podcasts that are ABC approved so only certain things can be talked about. Which is why I always think I’ll have an audience. Those in the franchise, or close to it, have to cover the show and its contestants a certain way. I don’t.
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Hey Steve!
Obligatory “long time reader, first time emailer introduction” here! First and foremost, I want to thank you for all that you do and go through for us fans! Viewing is just so much better and entertaining when you have some behind the scenes info, and know what’s coming next. I get so excited when a cast member does or says something totally bogus, and I get to yell at the TV and call them out/ get riled up because of what I know. It always ends in laughs for us. In my circle, there is a stark difference in viewing experience between those of us who are spoiled, and the friends who are uninformed. The unspoiled react and form opinions exactly how production wants them to, and they believe all the storyline lies that are clearly false in the real world! The rest of us just can’t wrap our minds around it!! The show has it down to a science! Honestly at this point, I (and many others I know) would stop watching the series if you stopped informing. So keep up the great work! ..Geez, they need to get you on their payroll already! Surely the execs of the franchise MUST be aware of how much traffic that you single-handedly bring to their show. Tally up all the hits you get on your site right after dropping a spoiler, and I guarantee those masses are what keeps them quiet about you. There’s a Batman quote hiding in there somewhere.. the hero they need, but don’t deserve..
Anyways, I had a train of thoughts the other day, and would love your opinion. You’ve mentioned in the past the flirting between Chris Harrison and Lauren Zima. I’ve since read into their relationship, and past marriages, and they do seem pretty genuine with each other on the surface. Do you think that if it blossoms into a proposal or marriage, that the franchise will insist on filming / exploiting/ claiming it as a bachelor success? Particularly because they’re both so invested in the show? Obviously that’s a big what if for those two, but Uhg! It would just feel so opportunistic if production put it on. They would make it into the proposal of the century! The uninformed side of the audience would be drooling for weeks! A part of me wants to believe that Chris would have dignity, (with whoever he ends up with) and refuse to propose publicly in the name of the franchise. Do you think he’ll ever be able to escape that pressure? Or maybe he’s looking forward to it! Thoughts? That’s jumping pretty far ahead, but, I’d kinda be surprised if Chris televised a possible wedding to Lauren.
Putting my bet in for the inevitable shade throw-down between Caelynn and Dean when they eventually fizzle out. I’m putting all my (imaginary) money on Caelynn. There’s no way she’d ever let anybody accuse her first. She is the definition of: The more guilty you are, the quicker you’ll spread your side of the story. Gotta squeeze in that early bias and get validation before the other side comes out! I mean, she cleaned up that beach and covered all of her bases by night one! Blake didn’t even have a chance. No doubt she’s already cooked up a great storyline for her side of the upcoming split with Dean… Though, I didn’t really follow any of his drama post-show. So who knows, maybe he’s worse! I’ll have my popcorn ready! It’s only a matter of time.
Moving on- The real question I’m dying to know, is if you won the Pasta Pass at Olive Garden this year?! I saw your Tweet about it, and the OG response! The hubs and I won it once, and it was SO much fun! I know it’s just pasta, but we felt like royalty! No one would love and appreciate one of those passes more than you!
As always, thanks for the Tea!
Comment: No, I didn’t. And I’m pissed. They said they were sending me a t-shirt. I got that, two wine glasses, and a $50 gift card.
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Hi Steve,
You were the first to tell us in early June that you got wind that Demi was bringing a girlfriend, Kristian, to Paradise, that she would get to stay on the beach, and they would get engaged. This was confirmed when ABC ran their promo for Bachelor in Paradise on June 22nd and Tanner put the exclamation point on it with his tweet on August 14th that he had heard before the season was filmed that “Demi had planned to leave the show engaged to this girl.” Colton responded to his tweet saying, “Can confirm.”
Given that you, Tanner and Colton knew Demi was going to bring Kristian to Paradise and get engaged to before it was ever filmed I think it’s safe to assume that those much closer to Demi would have known it as well, and most likely sooner. This would include her two best buds, Hannah and Katie, her lover Kristian, her biggest admirer Chris Harrison, and ABC’s management and producers. All of this blows the presentation we saw between Demi confessing on the show to Hannah and Chris that she was bi-sexual and had a girlfriend back home right out of the water. In essence, this proves it was all planned in advance and ABC and its producers perpetrated a totally fabricated story in their presentation to the public of how Kristian came to be on Bachelor in Paradise.
Many have speculated that the reason Demi was doing this publicity stunt was to increase her Instagram numbers so she could make money as a spokesperson or influencer. She’s even said she’d like to do that. Guess who hit 1 Million subscribers on August 24th? Demi. That number was up from 680k when the July 22nd promo showing Demi on top of Kristian in the overnight suite hit the airwaves. And guess who was cheering along with Demi when she announced on Instagram Stories video that she’d hit 1 Million subscribers? Hannah and Katie. Mission accomplished, although it took a lot of accomplices, misrepresentation of the facts to the public, and planning to get there, did it not?
Comment: Good break down. And to be clear, WAY more people than me, Tanner, and Colton knew about Demi/Kristian pre-show, including most of those people down in Mexico.
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Hi Steve!
Caelynn has irked me from Day 1. There was something off about her. I couldn’t pinpoint it. Then, when she shared her sexual assault experience in Colton’s season, I found myself feeling bad for her & excusing the weird vibes I was getting earlier. As the season went on though, it was confirmed to me that I didn’t imagine her ~perfect girl~ routine being forced when she began to show her mean girl/fake side: calling Tayshia a “stupid b*tch” (now calling Kristina the same thing on BIP.. sounds like a go-to line of hers), side-eyeing like it’s her job, telling Cassie to “get that ring” to a guy she was supposedly in love with 5 seconds earlier when she was eliminated, etc. It’s all the same now in BIP & her having that weird 0 to 100 freakout on Blake creating an entire relationship that kinda didn’t exist so people felt bad for her again… I’m just absolutely not buying it. I feel for what she went through regarding the assault but that doesn’t give her an excuse to play victim for the rest of her life especially if she’s actually a mean girl underneath it all (example: her quickly switching from woe-is-me to talking smack about Dean, the guy she’s supposed to be dating, when he got pulled aside by Jen). I’ve been reading your site for a while & am like THANK GOD people are finally beginning to realize how terrible Caelynn is in the Reader Emails.
So this leads to my question! I’m wondering if you’ve heard of anything about what the Bachelor producers actually think of Caelynn? It seems to me they’ve used a lot of material they otherwise wouldn’t (like when you can hear producers in the back of Caelynn’s confessionals) that shows the mean girl side of Caelynn. But with the Me Too movement, they’re probably hesitant to full-on portray a sexual assault victim as a reality show villain because of the backlash they would get… Yet they’re feeding plenty of footage, in my opinion, to try to sway viewers into seeing the true Caelynn. At least that’s my theory! Do the producers not like her but are afraid to give her too bad of an edit? Or am I just a hater?
You da best!
PS – Wait okay FOLLOW-UP!
I just saw the Reader Email from last week where you said Caelynn “does nothing wrong” in the Bachelor’s eyes…. but I kind of disagree with you there. If they wanted to paint her as this perfect person, they wouldn’t show all these background comments… like the “stupid b*tch” or the “go get that ring”.. wouldn’t they have just edited that out? IDK I’m so confused with where they actually stand with her.
Comment: I think those comments are more or less getting overlooked in the grand scheme of things. They will always back her first and her sit down at the “Women Tell All” is the reason why.
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Take a break from reality tv and figure out a way to get Andrew Luck on the podcast! I would love to hear his story and I’m sure he’ll be tired of talking to his usual NFL reporters!
Comment: I think Luck has more important things to do now. Like travel the world, or whatever it is he says he’s gonna do.
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Hi Reality Steve!
First, I want to say that I love reading your spoilers because I’m always amazed how you receive your news.
Secondly, I have always been curious with Jef Holm And is still my favorite of all seasons and I also love Dylan Birbour and I’m really loving Chris From Emily’s season also and currently on BIP.
My question is.. where is Jef Holm and what is he up to and why did Kristina and Jef break up and how did they even ever meet. I know it’s old news. What is he up to and will he ever become a bachelor?
Comment: Yes. Keep hanging in there. Jef will no doubt be the “Bachelor” someday. I can just feel it.
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Hi Steve,
I have a question about the response you’ve received regarding Peter being the next bachelor. I know you say every year that each person has their own fan base, so there are people rooting for each possible contender.
My question is this: had more people been vocal about wanting Mike as the bachelor than other fan groups have been in the past? I ask, because I was on Team Mike. Also, in the past I’ve been apathetic about the next lead. Is it just that I’m in a ‘fan group’ now? Or did Mike have more momentum than others have in the past?
I’m not sure if my question is completely clear, but I hope you get the gist.
Thanks,
A white girl disappointed about another white male lead
Comment: It’s definitely impossible to answer since I’d have to go back to every past season and count up all the “why wasn’t ‘x’ named the Bachelor” tweets and emails. If I’m being honest, the Derek love last week almost surpassed the Mike love.
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Hey Steve!
I’m still pretty shocked by this bachelor announcement. I know it “makes sense” and all for Peter to be the bachelor but I just can’t wrap my head around why they wouldn’t even offer it to Mike (based off interviews he’s given it sounds like they never approached him about it). But I have a morbid theory I wanted to run past you. Assuming Fleiss knows that his days being in charge of this franchise are likely numbered, do you think he chose Peter because he knew it would cause outrage? Maybe if he knows he’s going to be canned soon he just wants to watch the whole franchise implode. Or at least that’s how I’ll make my peace with this decision. Thanks for all you do Steve!
Comment: I don’t think Fleiss’ days are numbered in the franchise considering his ex-wife dropped the charges and took a $10 million settlement according to reports. He’s not going to self-sabotage his own creation to spite people.
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Hi Steve!
I’m a big fan and appreciate all of the spoilers and inside information you give us! I’ve never written in before and hope you don’t mind that I have a non-Bachelor related question. I know you’re a fan of Taylor Swift and so am I! I saw your tweet about Paper Rings and was curious. What do you think about Lover overall? And what are your favorite tracks? Also, which album is your favorite? Any thoughts on Taylor rerecording her first 5 albums?
Comment: It’s great. Probably her best album since Red. My rankings of top 5 songs on the album change every 5 minutes or so, so I’m done ranking them. Out of 18 songs, there’s basically 2 I think are meh. False God and It’s Nice to Have a Friend. Anything else I can listen to. Numerous times.
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Hi Reality Steve,
I apologize if this turns long winded. I will try and keep it short. I have been watching this season of Paradise faithfully and I am really frustrated. I know this show is not real and a lot of how things unfold is contrived, however I feel like it’s so blatantly obvious this season it’s kind of insulting to me as a viewer.
I will start with Demi and Kristian. I am probably one of a few that are annoyed with their relationship and how it unfolded. I don’t care that they are two women in a relationship. They have a genuine and beautiful connection. You can see it when they look at each other and the emotion that came from them seeing each other for the first time since Demi left for filming I feel was real. This is where I start to have an issue…. I have read everything you spoiled about them prior to the season starting. Is it nice to see an LGBTQ relationship on national television? Yes. 100%. But what I don’t like is HOW it came to be on our TV’s Monday and Tuesday nights. It was planned in advance and Demi deliberately led someone else (or did she??). If she had walked down the steps to make that announcement to the group but it was a man standing next to her and not a woman, the cast and crew would have been all over her… Oh but wait, if she had a pre-existing relationship with a man that never would have happened in the first place. It’s such a double standard! I have listened to so many people saying that Demi’s situation is different because she was figuring out her sexuality but no one has been able to explain how it’s different? Demi seems lost to me. On one hand she said at the beginning of the show that she didn’t want to be labeled but then starts to label herself??? I don’t get it. And I don’t like that she wasn’t truthful about this being her first relationship with a woman. If Demi had come on paradise totally single and connected with a woman on the beach organically I would appreciate this narrative much much more. I am happy Bachelor is branching out and showing some diversity but I don’t like how contrived it is. I agree. Demi is conveniently mentioning now on her media tour how she was in a relationship with a woman before. Which is what makes what happened down there and everything she said down there all for show. I’m glad this show finally has a same sex relationship after 38 seasons, and another 10 if you count the summer shows and Winter Games. But the way this all came about, and the amount of acting done by Chris Harrison, by Demi, probably Derek, and hell, even some of the other women there who knew who Kristian was before she showed up, is definitely insulting.
This brings me to Derek. I read your tweet about Peter being the next Bachelor. I loved Mike and Clay and thought either of them would be a great candidate for Bachelor. I don’t feel one way or another about Peter but I am SO glad Derek isn’t going to be the next Bachelor!!! I have a theory that Derek was also in on Demi’s storyline before the show. Maybe he didn’t know everything but his reaction to Demi’s relationship leaves me thinking one of two things. Either he knew this was going down or he was never that into Demi. I didn’t find his reaction to the situation believable. But on the other hand what could he really say? He’s in a tough spot because if he says anything negative then he’s the jerk and anti LGBTQ. If Demi really cared for Derek (which I highly doubt) she would have removed herself from the show when she “decided” she wanted to be with Kristian. There are SO MANY LAYERS to this Derek stuff. Maybe one day it’ll all get brought up and he’ll have to answer for it.
I agreed with your assessment of Kristina and Caitlin’s whatever that was. I think Caitlin was way off base and agree she was focusing on the wrong thing. I thought she was out of line and antagonistic in her approach to her talk with Kristina and if I were Kristina and someone started questioning my intentions I would probably have gotten my back up to.
I am so over Caelynn and her victim card. She has to be the unluckiest person in Bachelor Nation as she seems to have been screwed over by just about everyone she’s come in contact with on this show. She seems like a mean girl to me and I am curious to see what happens when her relationship implodes with Dean because I can’t see her happy living out of a van without regular access to indoor plumbing… I also don’t see him committing to anything longer than it takes him to have a shower…. Time will tell on that one.
Blake doesn’t seem like a bad guy. I kinda get the feeling he wasn’t overly popular with the ladies growing up and his appearance and likability having been on Becca’s season might have gone to his head. While I agree that what he did was dumb at the end of the day was it really all that bad?? He wasn’t in a committed relationship at the time this went down and while kind of icky at least he was open with them about what happened. I don’t know. I actually kinda feel bad for the guy. It will be interesting to see the fallout on the reunion show, especially with the release of the text messages. Which, by the way, I think he was perfectly within his rights to do. These days if you are going to combat something you need to have “receipts”. I can understand why Caelynn would be embarrassed by the messages but she didn’t seem to care about Blake when she started badmouthing him to anyone that would listen or held a camera….. She put Blake in that position to begin with. If he kept those messages to himself and just denied it no one would believe him.
Sorry for the long winded email but these are just my thoughts.
Keep up the great work!
Comment: Agree with pretty much all of that.
