Another thing to keep in mind, and it kinda relates to all the “I think he’s with Hannah Brown” responses I got last night because of recency bias, is the fact that I know a lot of you who read me every day, and follow along in the offseason, and are up-to-date on everything happening while filming is going on are truly ones in the minority when it comes to this show. Here’s an example. So there’s someone out there who keeps a chart of all the contestants and their IG follower growth as the season goes on. It’s about as detailed of a breakdown as you’ll get and I’m sure I’ll refer to it throughout the season. She sent it to me today so I can look at some numbers. Here is her Google spreadsheet. I’m just gonna take someone off that list at random, but someone we know will go far this season: Kelsey Weier. I chose her because she finishes 4th and I know her following will be huge come the March finale. Well Kelsey, like most of these women, was private on IG when I announced her as a contestant and like most of them, all turned their profiles public on Nov. 17th when the finale was filmed. You can see she had 2,499 followers from the time I announced her as a contestant back in September when her profile was private, and then when she turned it to public, she immediately shot up to 8,210. Right now she’s sitting at around 16,800. Which is peanuts in Bachelor land. We all know by the time the finale rolls around, she’ll be at a minimum of 500,000. So ever since Nov. 17th, she’s gained 8,000 followers. But we know from now until the March finale, she’ll gain hundreds of thousands.
Why? Because she’s on people’s radar. They’re seeing her every week. So while a certain collection of you have known Kelsey as a contestant since September and could’ve started following her on Nov. 17th, only 8,000 of you did. But once the show starts, millions of eyeballs are viewing these people on a weekly basis, their social media takes off. And that shows that during the offseason, only the true die hards who follow daily really have any idea as to what’s happening in the “Bachelor world.” Jan. 6th rolls around and you have a whole new crew of people. It’s hard for the people who follow daily to understand, but I’m telling you, you are very much in the minority when it comes to the overall viewership of this show. Most fans turn off their brain the second BIP ended in September and don’t have a clue about anything until Jan. 6th. That’s just the way it is and I see it season in and season out. My traffic numbers bear that out every season as well.
It’s also a major reason why “I think he ends up with Hannah Brown” is the consensus opinion now as to how this season ends up. So for Peter to say that his season will be unspoiled, I really hope he knows what he’s talking about. The more people that are convinced it’s Hannah Brown at the end (which is the overwhelming majority right now), the less I think it’s her. And the show knows that, which I believe is why we got her on the episode last night and will continue that conversation to start next week. It just seems a little out there to have Peter all up in his feels in the beginning of the season, develop feelings for women all season long with Hannah Brown out of the picture, then get to the end and be like, “Yeah, I don’t want you Madison or Hannah Ann, I want Hannah Brown again. Sorry.” Seems like it’d pretty much be a slap in the face to anyone who signed up for this season. Not that production cares about any of the contestants feelings, but, I’d be pissed if I were one of these women and the ultimate outcome to this season is if Peter ends back up with Hannah Brown. Again, not saying that he is because I don’t think that’s the case. I’m just saying IF that were the end result of this season, the women would have a reason to riot.
There were a few things that stuck out to me in last night’s episode. The first is the whole interrupting game they play. This is NOT a story anymore I feel. Look, we’re well aware production controls who gets to go in and interrupt people. Hannah Ann is good friends with Hannah G. She knows the show. This isn’t someone clueless to how this works. Not to mention, this happens EVERY season on basically every episode. Someone is always interrupting someone’s time, and that someone is usually someone who’s already had a ton of time, and the person they’re interrupting is someone who’s barely noticeable. So if Hannah Ann chose that role to play early on, that’s on her. But this is all part of a storyline that production needs to sell to make sure there’s drama on what is usually a very bland and boring first night. Unless someone interrupts, or someone is sloshed, what really ever happens on night one? Nothing. So, someone’s gotta follow their narrative and do it, and Hannah Ann was the willing recipient this season. The interrupting thing is so old and so overplayed it’s not even worth getting bothered by anymore. With that said, I’m sure plenty of fans aren’t thrilled with Hannah Ann after last night’s episode and think she was overdoing it.
But when you really break down this show, especially on the first night, you have 30 women there, and the audience is expected to believe all 30 women have an equal opportunity to get their chance to talk to the lead, and then he makes his decision based on that. Sorry. Doesn’t work that way. The amount of times I’ve heard over the years from night 1 eliminatees that not only did they NOT get to speak with the lead, they were TOLD to wait until it was their turn and were allowed to, and then time runs out, Chris Harrison comes in and says time is up, and they’re left wondering what happened. Translation: Production knew they were filler and weren’t gonna get any time on purpose. Yep. That’s what it’s like if you’re one of those chosen contestants on the show. No one ever thinks it’ll be them. Until it is.
