Hi Steve,
I don’t usually listen to the ‘He Said, She Said’ podcast, but I ended up listening while doing groceries yesterday, and although I ended up bawling in the produce section, I’m glad I did. My heart goes out to Malik & Shelby. Wow. I haven’t stopped thinking about them and what they’ve gone through. Their positive attitudes in the face of such terrible adversity is so inspiring. They sound like an amazing couple and if they can get through what they’ve already been through, having kids and going through the rest of life’s trials will be a cakewalk! I live in Toronto (Canada) and the fact that this kind of racism is so pervasive in North America still is just shocking to me. We are a cultural mosaic here; seeing interracial couples seems just as common as same-race couples. It’s made me think about how little, seemingly innocuous comments about race can be damaging and really affect one’s outlook. It seems as though Shelby didn’t realize just how deep-rooted her father’s hatred for other races was when she was growing up and he made offhand comments. I’m going to feel more compelled to speak up the next time someone makes a race-related joke or comment.
On another note, my husband and I are both pretty white Canadians of Irish descent. That said, we have a 6 year old daughter who wishes she were black! She gravitates towards black dolls, black princesses (Tiana was her favourite on the Disney Cruise!), and she always begs our neighbour to braid her hair in corn rows. It’s pretty cool to see that kids are no longer forced to believe ”princesses” are cookie cutter blonde Barbie types (sounds like this upcoming season of the Bachelor is a different story!). Just thought I’d share that because it makes me happy to know that a large chunk of society seems to embrace all skin colours and see the beauty in everyone.
Thanks to Shelby and Malik for sharing such a sad story with an awesome message of how love can withstand any adversity!
Comment: They were one of Ashley and my favorite callers. I hope everyone went and listened to that from last week. Can’t believe Shelby’s family acts that way in 2019. Pretty disgusting.
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Hi Steve!
Been reading your spoilers for a long time now and love them! I wanted to ask 2 questions I have after reading the reader emails last week.
First, a few people have questioned why Blake chose Tayshia for that first date over Hannah, and you speculated that it was likely producer driven. You made the comment that it will be interesting to see how he responds to questions about that after filming. But if it was producer influenced, can he say that?? I doubt it. But I think when he does answer the question, I think you’ll be able to tell by his answer without him saying it directly if he does. Did that makes sense? It did to me.
And my 2nd question is about Mike Fleiss pulling the plug on Kaitlyn Bristowe getting cast on DWTS. You said that she was set to be cast up until the night before when he stepped in. Do you know why he did that? And why so last minute? I would assume casting had likely been in the works for a while at that point?
Thanks!
Comment: According to Kaitlyn, it was because he felt that his Bachelorettes should focus on their relationships. Which is about as asinine of an answer he could’ve ever given.
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Hi Steve..
Always fun to read your take on these things.. I agree with your observations about Blake. As we watched him last night it became kinda obvious that after burning thru everyone on the beach he was left with the only one available. However, I thing he was just horny after a few weeks without and decided to move on the easy meat as he tried to hurry her into the sack. For her part Kristina having seen this movie before shot him down.
Its almost like Blake has some sort of mental problem.. which leads to the question, what caused that huge scar that goes from ear to ear on the back of his head? Nobody has mentioned it on air and it might give a clue as to if this fellow got hit with something big and hard causing some kind of brain damage that might explain his ADD like behavior when it comes to women. That seems to be a polarizing question amongst viewers. I have no idea.
Mike.. It occurred to me while watching him leave last night that if none of these women wanted a relationship with him after weeks on the beach, who would want him as the Bachelor? Just a thought.. but it may have had something to do with him being passed over..
OK. Cheers and thanks for all the digging and reporting you do. Cant imagine if we were all just left to believe what they show us without being able to get the real scoop here from you.
Comment: According to Mike himself, he wasn’t even interviewed for it. So maybe those in the know never really looked at him as lead material. I don’t know. But to not even get an interview?
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How far into DWTS before Tyler shows up to support Hannah (as her friend)?
Comment: I’m not so sure that’ll happen. Gigi might get mad.
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Hi Steve,
If the top 4 girls from those seasons are all taken, doesn’t that mean Amanda Stanton is taken? I haven’t heard that to be true.
Comment: No. I think at the time I originally said that months back when people were asking for someone new before Hannah was announced, they were all taken. Since then Amanda and Bobby broke up, so when I wrote that recently, I never corrected myself.
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In light of Jordan and JoJo’s re-engagement, because I’m surprised they’re still together, is there any other married or engaged Bachelor/Bachelorette/Bachelor in Paradise couple that has surprised you that they’re still together?
Comment: Arie and Lauren. Not so much anymore because they’re married with a kid. But after that happened on the ATFR, yeah, I was surprised they lasted to this point.
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So Kristina Shulman is on Instagram Stories calling out Nick Viall. What is their beef? She claims his brother DMed her first and she warned Nick. That he told his wingman “fuck her” and he’s judging her character based on what he sees on BIP.
Any insight on this drama?
Comment: All I know is they’ve never liked each other post-show. But I don’t know any details.
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Blake and Kristina going “all in” on a relationship has me confused. Your spoilers don’t say they leave together and the finale is next week. Did it really fall apart that quickly? Well you saw what happened. Yeah, it did. Blake claims he wanted more (I still really doubt he did. I think he just wanted something positive to come out of Paradise), and she didn’t.
I am currently enjoying your podcast with Kristen Baldwin. I hope she does more shows; she’s quite engaging and I agree with her points of view on almost everything (which is rare for me)!
Thanks for all you do.
Comment: Kristen is great. Love her work at EW.com. I realized after the podcast we never got around to talking about another one of our favorite shows we’ve texted about – Cobra Kai!
