So excited about this week’s podcast guest. For the first time ever, Emily O’Brien from Ben Flajnik’s season will be joining me this Thursday. And no, it’s not to talk about the 8 year crush I’ve had on her. Please, people. She’s married woman with a child and another on the way next month. Emily is the only person in franchise history who is an epidemiologist. So what better person from this franchise to come on and talk about the coronavirus and give her thoughts from a medical perspective on what we’re facing. Sure, we open the podcast talking about Ben’s season for maybe 15 minutes, but then we talk about the virus for the next hour. So informative hearing someone who literally studies viruses and diseases for a living discussing this stuff. I wanted to make it basically a Virus for Dummies, as there’s so much misinformation floating around out there. So I tried to approach it from the angle of knowing absolutely nothing. Sure, there are things I’ve read over the last 2 months just like everyone else, but what’s real and what isn’t? I think Emily does an excellent job of breaking down what we’re dealing with, how we overcome it, and what we should be doing in the meantime. Can’t wait for you all to listen this Thursday. Yes, she might be one of my favorite people ever in this franchise, and if you’ve followed this site with any regularity you’d know how many times I’ve referenced that, but that has nothing to do with Thursday’s podcast. I’d asked her to come on in the past, and talking about Ben’s season really wasn’t something she wanted to spend an hour talking about, so it just never happened. Now with this situation we’re all in, her knowledge in this arena is unmatched by anyone in Bachelor Nation. I really think you’re gonna like it and be more informed after you listen. I know I was.
“Listen To Your Heart” episode 3 aired last night. In case you cared. By the way, here is the episode ratings breakdown so far:
Episode 1: 2.9 million viewers (0.6 rating)
Episode 2: 2.8 million viewers (0.6 rating)
Episode 3: 2.8 million viewers (0.6 rating)
Soooo yeah, the show isn’t getting any better and the ratings are evidence of that. Someone sent this to me as well. Apparently there’s an app called Survey on the Go, where you can make money by taking surveys. Well recently, a reader was taking a survey and these questions came up about why people aren’t watching “Listen To Your Heart.” Interesting final question in that survey too…
This show has a lot of issues. Sharleen Joynt pretty much echoes my thoughts on it in her recap for Flare magazine that you can check her link to on her Twitter account today (@SharleenJoynt). Here’s two major issues I have with this show:
-The show is trying to act like they’re finding the next singing superstar, and I don’t see these people as like the best unidentified talent in the world. It was more like, “Hey, lets cast a dating show, but, they have to be able to have some singing ability.” I think Natascha is a good singer, and she’s got some skins on the wall. Believe she placed high on The Voice in Holland. We know Trevor was on Idol. A few others have done things here and there, but, this was more about the dating aspect. Which brings me to my next point…
-Your success in this show is basically if you lucked out in pairing with someone that a casting department hand selected and that you maybe had about a week in real time to mesh with. Take Gabe last night for instance. Chris Harrison tells the group to pair up with someone that they see a romantic connection with. If not, go home. Gabe wanted Savannah, even though he was paired with Ruby. Savannah didn’t want Gabe, so Gabe couldn’t fake it with Ruby and they both left. What if Gabe was the best singer there? Because he couldn’t sing with Savannah he couldn’t sing AT ALL? Makes zero sense. Telling someone they can only perform with someone they have a connection with, when they had no say in picking the people who came on the show in the first place, is utterly stupid.
-Because these people barely know each other, I’m sorry, it’s just cringey watching them perform to each other. Some of it, well, most of it, looks so forced. They know they’re being judged on how they connect with their partner, regardless of how well they sing. So we know who’s into who and a couple of them, yes, are clearly into each other. But the ones that aren’t? It’s hard to watch. Which shouldn’t be what singing is about. Are you a singing show or are you a dating show? Because they’re trying to make it seem like those two have to be mutually exclusive, when they don’t.
More news in the Peter/Kelley world. According to a report this morning by US Weekly, Peter and Kelley are fully dating. Yeah, no shit. Did anyone actually think otherwise? You think he just randomly has gone and spent the last month living in HER place, in another state, just because they’re such good buddies? Not to mention his quotes when he was asked about it previously. He said they weren’t dating. But when asked would he, he said “absolutely.” Well what exactly needed to happen? They’re spending more time together than any new “couple” that starts dating. You spend a month in isolation with someone, see them every day, and live in their place – you know whether or not you’d want to date them. So it seems like this was just a label they didn’t want to pin on themselves so close to his “breakup” with Madison, but, I think we all knew these two weren’t quarantining together because they liked sharing recipes and playing board games. Unless one of those board games was hide the pickle. We ain’t stupid.
Since my tweet 2 weeks ago, Victoria Fuller hasn’t hid the fact she’s been in Iowa this whole time. The question now becomes how serious are her and Chris Soules. I guess we don’t really know until they talk about it, but again, you have a situation where one party knowingly traveled out of state to go see someone and spend (at this moment) two weeks with them. Do you really think Victoria F. went to Iowa to learn how to farm? Ride a tractor? Get ready for harvest season? Ummmm, no. One thing this did was definitely show that it is possible for me to post information, back it up with zero evidence, and it still be true. I knew Victoria was in Iowa with Chris when I posted it and I had the proof I needed. But by posting that evidence, I’d be giving up sources, so I can’t. Now, would Victoria F. have been so clear where she’s been with her IG stories and posts if I never spoiled she was with him? I guess we’ll never know.
And finally, if you didn’t watch my Sunday night IG live with Ashley Spivey, we spent a lot of time talking about the Clare/Matt James situation. In case you missed it, Clare tweeted this over the weekend:
If you are doing interviews and creating Cameo accounts before you are even on my season… you are in it for the wrong reasons… #dontwasteyourtime
— Clare Crawley (@Clare_Crawley) April 25, 2020
Respect the opportunity you’ve been given. Respect the rules. Respect me. @BacheloretteABC ??
— Clare Crawley (@Clare_Crawley) April 25, 2020
Immediately everyone assumed she was talking about Tyler Cameron’s BFF, Matt James. Even Matt assumed she was referencing him since after that post, he gave I believe an IG story saying that this Cameo profits are all going towards his charity. When Olivia Caridi responded to a fan after supporting Clare and not even knowing who Clare was referencing, Clare responded with this:
You weren’t supposed to deduce babe, it was about MULTIPLE men and a general thought I was having while we sit here in a real life crisis where someone’s (everyone’s) time + sincerity hold so much weight and value. ??????
— Clare Crawley (@Clare_Crawley) April 26, 2020
So now people hate Clare, the Matt James army is attacking with pitchforks, and it’s a whole mess. Look, in my opinion, if Clare doesn’t like that Matt is giving interviews and setting up a Cameo account before he’s even on the show (regardless of where the money is going), or any one of her other guys, that’s her prerogative. How are we supposed to tell her how she’s supposed to feel about what her guys are doing? If she doesn’t like it, that’s her decision. I don’t think Matt did anything criminal, and certainly there are worse things out there to be doing. I just think he’s jumping the gun a bit. We all know these guys once they get off Clare’s season will begin building their own brand. They all do it. Matt or anyone else isn’t doing anything we haven’t seen before. Except for the fact that they’re doing it pre-season because, well, they can since the virus has put us in this alternate reality where contestants on this show can now be on social media pre-show due to filming being postponed. So it’s just a weird situation all around. I’m not gonna tell Clare how she’s supposed to feel, and if Matt or anyone wants to do pre-show interviews, or set up Cameo accounts under the “Bachelor” category even though they aren’t even on the show yet, then they just will have to deal with whatever comes with that.
I’m fully aware that if you’re not #TeamMatt that you’re basically the second coming of Satan, but c’mon people, ease up. Go look at some of the responses under Clare’s tweet and realize that no matter what we tell people about bullying, or hate speech, or to ease up contestants, you and I both know it’s never gonna happen. Trolls will be trolls. And stans will be stans. Matt James’ pre-show fans have basically started an army to which apparently no one can defeat. He can do no wrong in certain people’s eyes, and we all must bow down to whatever he does. I’m not sure why that’s the case but that’s the reality based on what I’ve seen written in response to Clare’s tweets and what I’ve received. Lets just tap the brakes a bit everyone, again, on someone you don’t know at all. Maybe Matt James is the greatest living soul walking the planet today. And maybe he’s not. My guess is it’s somewhere in the middle. Unfortunately though, this is the social media world we live in now. So do all your Rachel-Lindsay-on-the-WTA PSA’s you want, but this shit ain’t changing unfortunately. This weekend’s tweets by Clare and the immediate attacking afterwards is further proof.
Send all links and emails to: steve@realitysteve.com. To follow me on Twitter, it’s: www.twitter.com/RealitySteve. Instagram name is “RealitySteve,” or join my Reality Steve Facebook Fan Page. Talk to you Thursday.
