This weekend made me feel old. I mean, we already know I’m old, but this “Bachelor” promo that ran during the Oscars Sunday night was kinda funny and kinda sad. I’m sure you saw it. It was a take off on the scene in “Ghost” where Demi Moore was at the pottery table and Patrick Swayze comes up behind her and they make sweet, passionate love. I think. Anyway, when they did the Peter parody of it on Sunday, people were emailing me thinking that was some sort of clue to the season. Like, they had no idea it was even a reference from “Ghost.” I mean, it did come out 30 YEARS AGO. Holy crap. Yeah, no wonder some people had no idea what that was all about. But for me, someone who saw “Ghost” in high school and have referenced it numerous times over the years in past columns, kind of a jaw dropping moment when these millennials don’t have a f***ing clue what it was and think ABC just randomly made some pottery commercial with Peter in it. Smh. Yup, we’ve officially hit that point people. I’m old as dirt, I can’t relate to the young uns’ anymore, and I might as well apply for my AARP card. Go ahead, just make your “Ok Boomer” comment to me and continue about your day. My response is, go see “Ghost.” It’s enjoyable. Willie Lopez is a snake. And Carl is a bad, bad man. How dare you try and get in Molly’s pants after you killed her husband, Carl!
Outside of that, this weekend was pure insanity. Like, I can’t remember a weekend in Bachelor Nation like this past one that I’ve had to deal with. Literally starting Friday through yesterday, I think people were 100% convinced of four different theories floating around, when in actuality, none of them amounted to anything. I understand the ending this season is unspoiled. And I understand a lot of you HAVE to know what happens or else you’re gonna pop a brain vessel or something. But you’ve gotta stop believing EVERY…SINGLE…THEORY you see online. It’s not healthy, I tell ya’. Go see a doctor if you’ve been infected with theory-itis this season, because unfortunately, a lot of you have. And in over 300 emails, tweets, and IG messages I got this weekend, you really had yourselves convinced this weekend that Peter ended up with a woman whose face the audience will never see (that should’ve been your first hint). But I digress. Let me explain…
It all started when someone decided to post a theory online that Peter was dating his producer, Julie LaPlaca, it got legs, then this article was out there. At that point, all my inboxes exploded. This was the new thing. Everyone read that and just assumed because someone had a theory, that it must be true. As I said Saturday and I’ll say again. This theory is garbage. There’s nothing to it. Peter is not with his producer Julie. It was asinine someone even came up with that, and even worse, media outlets considered it a legitimate theory. Here’s the issue. Theories are just guesses. They’re speculation. They aren’t spoilers. Did you read everything IN this person’s theory. It was a whole theory based on post-filming social media pictures. People want to think they have something when they don’t. And I guess people will post whatever they want and get people to believe them. Then I’m the one that suffers the brunt of it because people come running to me for answers. Trust me, EVEN IF I had put the spoiler out there months ago, the second this theory came up I still would’ve been bombarded with it. I know this because it happens every season.
So this person says “I’m 98% sure Peter is with Julie…” then lays out aaaaallllll these points (which are nothing but post-filming pictures and comments) to try and back up their theory. Great. He’s not with her. So that makes all the time and effort they spent putting into their “guess” now a moot point and, well, wrong. We’re dealing with spoilers. He’s either with Julie or he isn’t. He isn’t. So anything written to try and convince you he is, seemingly is a waste. And I get that people want to have theories about the ending, but, if they actually took the time to think critically about this, they’d realize that theory made no sense. And for other outlets to pick up on this and run it just so they can get clicks, without critically thinking about this themselves, is reckless journalism to me. Unless it’s a Kaitlyn situation where she clearly screwed up and spoiled her own season in snapchat IN BED with the guy she chose, or, it’s Arie and Becca posting from the same backyard within 15 minutes of each other on their IG stories, any other social media pics aren’t definitive spoilers.
Peter and Julie have pics together post-show. Great. They’re they are in Times Square on New Year’s Eve together. Yeah. SHE’S HIS PRODUCER. Did that person bother to think even for a second that Julie travels with Peter ANY TIME he does media rounds? And he was in NY for the ABC Rockin’ Eve show like EVERY “Bachelor” has been on NYE for the past I don’t know how many seasons to promote the “Bachelor” because it premieres within a week after NYE. Peter spends more time with Julie than he does ANY of the women this season. Probably 10x more. She goes everywhere with him. So it’s not the least bit surprising that he’d befriend her, their families would befriend each other, and they’d spend time together outside the show. So to say because their families spent time together and took a pic together that Peter is with her? Huh?
Lets also not forget this theory gave you absolutely nothing in terms of how this would’ve possibly fit into any of the storyline we see at the end of the season. If Peter is with Julie, when did this happen? How did this happen? If the audience has never seen Julie’s face on the show, why would this be an ending anyone would care to see? They try and pitch a love story every season, right? 99.9% of their audience didn’t have a clue of Julie LaPlaca’s name before this weekend, let alone could pick her out of a lineup. Thus, they have zero investment in her. But she just shows up on final rose ceremony day, runs off with Peter, and the audience is supposed to be invested in that? C’mon people. Lets think before we theorize. I’ll continue…
Peter has said since the season started his season was gonna be unspoiled and has continued to say no one’s guessed it yet. And the show has doubled down on that. Do you think for a guy who has said that for the last two months, both he and Julie are gonna openly post pics and videos of themselves together? Even if your argument is, “They’re hiding in plain sight!” No. The show would never do that. They aren’t gonna give you evidence for 3 months of their final couple in public hanging out and just hope you don’t pick up on it. That’s not how this show works. These weren’t like some secret pictures this person stumbled upon either. These were all pictures and videos that were on both their public pages, and parents public pages. I don’t know how else to explain it other than there’s no way the show would allow this. But they weren’t a couple and were never a couple, so I guess it doesn’t matter.
One final caveat to this story is that someone added on to it by saying, “I heard that Julie was engaged until right around the time of the final rose ceremony and called her wedding off.” Jesus. Please, whatever you do, don’t let facts get in the way of your own narrative. Wrong. Julie was engaged this past summer and HER FIANCE called it off. So yeah, while whoever threw that out there sure made the story sound juicier and probably got more people believing this nonsense, it couldn’t have been more factually incorrect. And that’s where theories and random suggestions like that really throw me for a loop. I don’t deal in theories. I deal in spoilers. Big difference. My goal has been to find out what happened in Australia at the end of filming. These people are just mixing stuff together post-show with some pictures and videos. That’s not a spoiler. That’s a guess. Just trust me when I say Peter isn’t with Julie. Yes, I know I don’t have everything laid out perfectly with how the season ends. But it is absolutely 100% possible to not know the end, but KNOW that Peter isn’t with Julie LaPlaca. Or Hannah Brown. He’s not. Lets move on. And oh yeah, Robert Mills basically laughed at the Julie rumor yesterday in this interview.
justsaying
February 11, 2020 at 12:18 PM
>>And we know from previews that Madison is the one who makes it known that if Peter has sex (or is intimate with anyone), that would be hard on her. According to Robert Mills, apparently she tells Peter this during their overnight date.
So Madi, obviously frontrunner, told Peter she’s not going to be happy if he gets it on with other women and he went ahead and had sex with the other two overnight dates?? Okkk he is manifesting some kind of personality disorder to me. Whatever you all want to call it.
crushonspivey
February 11, 2020 at 1:04 PM
I think last night the writing was on the wall already here. Madison laid out her heart about what she wants in a marriage, and it was PAINFULLY obvious that it is not what Peter wants. Not at all. Madison wants a religious guy. Peter is not a religious guy at all. And he did’t want to say so so he hemmed and hawed around it. The long pause was so obvious after Madison talked about what she wants, and she is serious as she takes her morals very seriously. It is all very personal to her.
Then, add in the fact that Peter knew she was religious, lived her convictions, and then told him she’d struggle is he had sex with the other girls, and he did it anyway. To me, that tells me he didn’t really love her. For better or worse. Not that this is a problem, but if he truly wanted to be with her, he’d have respected that, and put her first. But he didn’t. He put his sexual desires first. I don;t think that makes him a sociopath, just a selfish guy if he went for it then expected Madison to be chill with it.
What is obvious here is that Pete and Madison just aren’t a good match. They want different things, have different values. Madison wants her life to be filled with faith and a guy who shares that with her. That just isn’t Peter. And that is ok. What isn’t ok is if he is playing her just to try to get her in the end and faking it to get her. Then, that is selfish and dishonest. He should see it and just walk. They’re not compatible with some big stuff.
winsomeone
February 11, 2020 at 1:46 PM
What a mess Peter is. Madison should run for the hills.
all4one
February 11, 2020 at 6:16 PM
Thank you Steve for filling us in on what you know!! We all appreciate you, and you make the season more fun.
I just want to say that the irony is thick here.
“Just send me home if you’re going to be physical with other people.”
Luke- crucified
Madison- understood
Hannah- a hero
Peter- a philanderer
You don’t deserve her Peter. But fortunately for you that’s what grace is. God giving us things we don’t deserve.
justsaying
February 11, 2020 at 7:20 PM
all4one,
Luke was crucified even before the whole sex talk began, be fair. His general cockiness was his demise. Hannah was upfront with Luke as well regarding her being physical, unlike Peter, from what RS said.
Miaperdido
February 11, 2020 at 7:43 PM
Or Madison leaves and then Hannah decides to leave as well. Never had that happen before. He goes after one of them later. They film it.
all4one
February 11, 2020 at 8:10 PM
Just saying,
You’re right.
Gina
February 11, 2020 at 8:10 PM
Maybe they both leave because they feel like he lied- then him and madi end up together after. They’ve been throwing him under the bus all season and made him look awful, would it be outrageous for that to happen again in the finale?
irisvioletgrey4
February 11, 2020 at 8:10 PM
Ooh, I love that theory, Miaperdido! Peter gets his comeuppance and for the first time in years, the final women don’t compromise themselves in order to be the winner.
Statler Without Waldorf
February 11, 2020 at 9:29 PM
Madison may have actually been looking for a husband in this(?) and a secondary benefit was becoming a “social media influencer”.
Hannah Ann clearly went on this show to work on her fake crying skills and grow her social media influence/“modeling” career.
Peter is even worse than Arie was as a Bachelor. He’s immature, has no backbone and is just chasing tail and getting it wherever he can as much as he can. That’s fine and all, but good grief, I can’t remember the last time I watched a season with so many unlikable cast members. Oof.
Sounds like they all need to end up alone with their Instagram follower counts to console them.
ladybirdrn
February 12, 2020 at 1:28 AM
I’ve never given a response until now. Steve is over thinking this. You can’t spoil what hasn’t been filmed. I believe He’s with Madison. She may or may not leave the island but production will make it appear as if Madison did. Peter didn’t even have Her fathers permission. Maddie never met the parents since the girls told Her they had sex with Peter. At that point why would Maddie meet His parents(see them again). She most likely Was shocked,sad,upset. At that point she leaves (maybe goes as far as a hotel room) if he was going to pick Hannah He’d of filmed on. Also Peter said He knew after date 4.I will Bet Peter knew the day he took Maddie to his Parents vow renewal. I saw that look he had for her then. It’s clear although the same age Hannah is more Imature and shallow. Has no real future goals. I know recently even Peter was unsure about Hannah who he said was young and had walls up. I didn’t get the feeling Hannah was all that into Peter. On their date she even acted unsure. So just like Colten Peter goes after Maddie. They decide to date so IF AND WHEN he proposes She can feel special. Time has now gone by since he slept with Victoria and Hannah. In their alone dates they agree to get engaged on live TV. That’s why it’s not spoiled. Only a few ppl even know this will happen. It also gives them an out if they decide they want to date longer then they will be no after the Rose engagement. Maybe we don’t know the exact step by step order but He is with Maddie who needed time to get past Peters over nights. Most girls if they were honest especially a virgin wouldn’t want a proposal right after Peter had sex with others. Also Peter and Maddie needed time to date and For Peter to get to know her father so they could get His ok. No way is Maddie getting engaged without Her dads permission.
dogmomma
February 12, 2020 at 5:35 AM
I don’t remember the order of overnight dates, but if Madi’s overnight was 3rd, and she told Peter that she would have a hard time with him being intimate with the other 2 girls, then he would have already been intimate with them. But if Madi was first and told him not to do that but he did anyway, then I think that would be a huge deal breaker for her.
I hope Peter has learned a lot from his experiences on the show. I don’t think he’s a bad person who needs to be crucified, but he was weak and vulnerable and made lots of bad choices, which is exactly what the producers are paid to do to people.
tinyred500
February 12, 2020 at 9:12 AM
@Statler, ‘Peter is even worse than Arie was as a Bachelor. He’s immature, has no backbone and is just chasing tail and getting it wherever he can as much as he can.’
Ouch at Arie, did you forget he got married and now has a baby girl? In that regard he was genuine with his Bachelor quest, he may have fudged up the end by picking the wrong girl at first, but he got there in the end. I agree Peter is too immature, not able to stick with any decisions made and is making a lot of poor decisions thus far. Whether Peter actually picks a girl, gets engaged and marries her, remains to be seen.
ru80
February 12, 2020 at 9:59 AM
If you go to Madison Prewett Instagram go to her rose stories there is a pic she put up a day ago with her on Peters Back. I don’t know how old the pic is but why would she put up a pic if she was not with him after he slept with one or two or three of the Girls?
marie101?
February 16, 2020 at 10:21 AM
I think Madi and Luke P. should get together. They have the same belief system for sure. I think her removing herself from the end made her more attractive to Peter. But not sure, he may have been ready to choose her anyway. It won’t be a stable relationship unless one of them becomes a little more accepting of each other’s beliefs, and you don’t usually see that with conservative Christians… it’s all or none. I guess we all will see how it plays out in the end.
toastie
February 17, 2020 at 10:51 PM
My favorite theory is that Tyler C shows up on the final rose ceremony day to give peter some advice, and then ends up interrupting him, confessing his love, and peter chooses him. They adopt a bunch of dogs and kids and feed so many underprivileged children all over the world, and just generally bring joy and attractiveness to the people… it’s my theory, I made it up…