Hi Steve,
Love reading your recaps and reader emails. Thanks for putting in the work. A few questions:
Do you know if Tayshia and Clare are ever featured in the same scene in the show — either with Chris Harrison or with the men or otherwise? They’re not.
If Clare and Dale were quarantining at La Quinta while Tayshia filmed her half of the season, do you think they ever ran into the remaining guys or were they totally secluded? If they did, it certainly wasn’t filmed. One thing I was told was that Clare and Tayshia were never filmed together, nor saw each other.
The scene where Chris Harrison is presumably sitting down with Clare and says something along the lines of “if we keep going down this path it doesn’t end well” — do you think he is talking about ending her season early? If so, would Tayshia already be there and in quarantine by that point?
Lastly, do you know how the show will work with election night being on a Tuesday?
Thanks!
Comment: Tayshia was already on set quarantining 9 days after Clare’s season started filming. That wasn’t by coincidence. And filming never stopped. So if they’re gonna play it as like they made a decision on the fly after Clare cornered them by not wanting to participate anymore or something, that’s a flat out lie. Production is the one who suggested ending with Dale, which lends a lot of credibility to what I reported in that this was their plan all along. A plan that only THEY knew about. Not Clare. Not the guys.
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RS – Thank you for your always *hilarious* recap of the Bachelor shows! I really look forward to reading your blog and Twitter. Not much to smile about these days, and you’re still making me laugh during this hard time!
Are there any Bachelor contestants who aren’t into social media after the show? It seems to have happened in the earlier days before Instagram influencing was a thing, but wondering if there are any recent instances of this of people who prefer to be private and live a normal life. Very few. Emily O’Brien definitely comes to mind. Because I follow her and you heard her on my podcast. She’s not into this stuff at all. I’m sure there are others, but I just don’t follow a ton from this franchise.
What about before? If so, how do the producers find them? Do they just show up to a casting? It seems to me it would be easier for producers to see if someone was good for TV if they had a strong social media profile.
Thanks for your great work!
Comment: Pretty much all the cast is recruited now either through agencies, or friends of people who’ve already been on the show, etc.
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I don’t understand why she’s getting so much hate. She knows what she wants, she calls people out on their BS (re: saying you came there for her but knowing nothing other than she’s from Sac), and she doesn’t feed into drama (night one sat night guys down at once).
While I thought that strip dodgeball date was icky, I feel like we’ve seen enough to know that was clearly production and not her.
It’s a bummer that people say they want to see a strong female lead and then they tear her down.
Anyway, my two cents.
Thanks for all you do!
Comment: Just don’t say the word “empowered” when referring to Clare. People will bite your head off.
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Hi Steve,
I’m emailing you again with questions for the second week in a row. I agree with you on what you said on Wednesday’s recap. I think people are really harsh to Clare for no reason at all. People take things way out of context. Anyways I have a few questions for you.
The first being, are there ever days you wish you had a different job? I feel like this could be a headache a lot of the days. It would be fun though. It’s mostly fun, but social media and this toxic Bachelor Nation fanbase is making it less fun year by year. You’re literally not allowed to have an opinion anymore that doesn’t align with someone else’s or else you’re a hater, biased, and a bunch of trolls jumping down your throat. I’m gonna do what I do until this show is not around anymore, but yeah, it gets old after a while. And it’s getting worse and worse with each passing season.
Secondly, what do you love most about your fans? I love that you throw the party in Vegas every year (well besides this year) to show appreciation for them. That they’re loyal. There’s no other way around it. For 6 months during COVID, I had minimal traffic on my site. Partly because I wasn’t writing much, and partly because there wasn’t much going on in Bachelor Nation. But the second Oct. 13th rolled around for the premiere, they’re back like clockwork. I see it every season and it still even amazes me to this day really.
Lastly, what are a few things you would change about this franchise if you could? I’m sure there’s lots.
Thanks for everything you do!
Comment: I don’t have a year to answer that question.
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I’m sure your hunch is right that Clare is prob engaged to Dale and wow that’s quick but on that vein… curious for you personally what’s the minimum length of time you would need to have dated someone to feel like you know them well enough to be ready to make a forever commitment be that a tradition proposal and wedding ceremony or just a covenant to be lifelong partners?
Comment: I’d have to be with someone at least 9-12 months to determine engagement.
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Hi Steve,
I hope you are doing well. Here are a few thoughts and questions.
I am totally team Clare. After waiting all these months for the season to finally film, she should definitely expect more excitement and attention from the guys on that first group date. It’s just unfortunate for Bennett that he “paid the price” as she ended up not spending much time with him after all (not that we saw anyway). For sure she’s very expressive of her emotions, kind of like Hannah Brown was.
As for the dodge ball date, of course it wasn’t her idea. In fact, when she was hugging goodbye the guys from the blue team we could see her saying to each one that she was sorry and thank you for being a good sport.
Brandon who was eliminated at the after party just got caught in his own BS and wasn’t smart enough to get out of it. Why should she waste her time with that guy? There’s still a big group left, it’s hard enough getting to know everyone and figuring out who to keep or let go, but she knows what she’s looking for. It’s clear he’s not that interested in her and if she feels not special attraction either why keep him around?
My question is though, how do these eliminations really work? Every situation is different. But as you’ll see tonight, anytime someone gets sent home on a 1-on-1, it’s because before the date production already knows they’re sending them home. It’s why they put them on the date to begin with.
Did she really make that decision on the spot while talking to him without stopping to talk to a producer? I’m sure a decision like that was decided on the spot.
Do the guys have to pack their suitcases before every date they’re on? If not who does the packing? Yes. Packing is the least of their concerns. Not hard to have someone pack for you, even if you don’t. But if you’re on a 1-on-1 date, at least later in the season, I know you have to pack. Because while it has happened on a few occasions, it’s very rare that a 1-on-1 date in the early episodes is used to send someone home.
When Brandon gets in the car is he really taken straight home or to the airport? I’m sure that was for dramatic effect and he stayed the night and left in the morning.
I also have a question about the guys’ living arrangement. Are they still staying in their individual rooms and just spending the day in another villa? Yes, this season was individual villas as opposed to past seasons, but that’s because of how the season was shot.
Do you think Dale looks a lot like the lead singer from Fine Young Cannibals? I can see the resemblance.
Will you tell us what the story is about Easy? It will be discussed as much I can let on during tomorrow’s column and on the live with Ashley tomorrow night.
And finally, I am really happy for you and Kat, you look really good together!
Comment: Thanks.
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Hey Steve – Thanks for including my question in Reader Emails – no need for you to respond here as I know your busy but I wanted to say I completely agree with your answer. I got sucked into the rabbit hole on Cassie’s IG page and was stunned at the horrible things people were saying about her and directly to her. I found this article below and if you have time it’s a really good read that explains how Colton’s “aw shucks” good guy façade really might just mask a predator:
https://themuse.jezebel.com/the-bachelor-spun-intimidation-into-a-fairy-tale-the-b-1845144859
Even the title is spot on: “The Bachelor spun intimidation into a fairy tale”. I was one, along with the author of this article, who interpreted Colton’s infamous fence jump not as a romantic move but as a spoiled child having a tantrum when things didn’t go his way. Like this lady says, why does Colton constantly talk about “fighting” for love? If both parties want it to work, why is there a fight? Have you read all of text messages that were sent? I thought Colton’s were terrifying.
Its baffling that anyone could think Cassie is seeking fame from this whole thing.
Anyway thanks and good luck with the spoilers all this season, can’t wait!!
Comment: It was disgusting what she put up with for basically doing nothing other than posting a pic about her life. If you wanna react to a polarizing picture or maybe a take or stance someone posts on IG, I guess that’s more fair game in terms of people probably expecting others to voice their opinions. But she did nothing other than post pics of her hanging with Katie and then people shit on her in her comments.
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Hi Steve!
I loved reading your recap of episode 2, and totally agree with your defense of Clare. I just wanted to provide an alternate perspective on Stripgate. People saying it’s not fair because they would never make women strip are missing the entire cultural context we live in. Male nudity and female nudity are treated COMPLETELY differently in our society. For women, nudity is used to embarrass, humiliate, and rob them of their power. Think about how many celebrities’ nude photos have been hacked and leaked. Are any of them men? If it is a man, it’s an unsolicited dick pic he sent to a woman, so there is still a woman being victimized by male nudity. Male nudity is still seen as empowered, aggressive, and even threatening at times. At the worst, it can be a joke or mildly embarrassing, but men don’t lose power and status in society because of nudity. Of course there’s a double standard, because there is a double standard in society. Sexism is still a thing. Women are trying to reclaim our nudity as something empowering and our own, but we’re not there yet.
It drives me crazy when people use this argument that “Well if a man said/did this to a woman, people would be mad!” or “If a white person made that joke that black comedian made, people would be mad!”. It’s a stupid argument. We all live in a world that has power structures in place that have oppressed certain people groups for centuries. That’s why when someone who belongs to the majority group says or does something about a minority group, it can cause a lot more harm than when the opposite happens. There are double standards in everything because we don’t live in a vacuum, our actions take place in our culture. Hopefully someday we’ll live in a world where men and women have the exact same amount of power and all the rules apply equally! (And races, sexual orientations,etc)
I hope this helps some people understand these situations better, and think about these things before they get mad, but we’ll see!
Comment: Great email. Couldn’t agree more.
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Hi Steve,
I have to say, the people that are crazy enough to think that it was Claire’s spontaneous idea to do strip dodgeball clearly have no idea what goes into producing this show. If you look at the signs they had hanging on both ends of the court and below the booth Chris and Claire were sitting it clearly said “STRIP Dodgeball.” Like people think production just magically had those signed printed and created after Claire went rogue and had this “fun idea”?
Seems like people are looking to drag Claire no matter what. If this was Hannah’s season or Jojo’s I don’t know if everyone would be blaming them individually vs. blaming the show for what they don’t like.
People say they want a mature female lead who knows what she wants! But clearly many people aren’t ready for that
Comment: Yup. Pretty much. There will always be people finding something to bitch about.
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Hi Steve,
Love your site and Bachelor Franchise coverage. Also, couldn’t agree more with your (and Sharleen’s) take on Clare’s reactions.
I found her comment that I haven’t been to prom to be basically the same as almost every single final 4 contestant saying they’ve never brought a date home.
Anyway, for my question – now that we’re back into the swing of things and it looks like Tuesday evening/off schedule isn’t having a huge impact on Bachelorette ratings, has it impacted your site’s metrics? Basically, is your readership on par with what it usually is during a regular season or has COVID/weird schedule had an impact?
Thanks for providing entertainment! I still can’t believe there are people who take this show so seriously.
Comment: Yes, it’s basically the same. Except in the past, Tuesday was my biggest traffic day followed by Wednesday, Thursday, etc. Now it’s Wednesday as my biggest traffic day, with Tuesday #2, and then Thursday and so on.
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Hi Steve:
Curious if you had a chance to listen to the latest Game of Roses podcast. Bachelor Clues says that an unverified source shared with him that they actually filmed night one of the bachelorette twice. They filmed it back in March — and then COVID shut everything down. So they needed to scrap everything & start over.
Do you have any thoughts?
Thanks!
Comment: I didn’t hear it but I heard about it. Are they insinuating it absolutely happened and they’re just looking for evidence? Or are they wondering if it DID happen? Because 100% didn’t happen. There was no first night of limo entrances back in March. Never happened.
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Hi Steve,
Thank you for all that you do! As a longtime reader/listener, it’s been a pleasure watching you grow and evolve.
I have to say, after watching Wednesday’s live with Ashley, I agree with you on just about every point made. It’s mindblowing to me why people are annoyed at Clare. As a woman in their 30s, you’re going to be a bit more decisive than women in their early/mid-20s, and what’s wrong with that?
I don’t see anything wrong with her being upset when the men didn’t pull her aside. This screams producer manipulation in some way to me (either getting in Clare’s head or the guys’) and I don’t see how people do not see this… wouldn’t you all be hurt?
And come on, she didn’t make up the strip dodgeball. Clearly…
And when Brandon literally couldn’t come up with one positive thing about her other than she was pretty when he said he was glad it was her… shouldn’t women be championing her for being direct and letting him go? Why would you want a guy who flat out lies / cannot think on the spot at all? He had months to research her while they were doing nothing… He wasn’t saving COVID patients in the ICU or anything…
Plus, it’s been clear that many Bachelorettes picked their guy on night 1… and it may have gone much better for some of them if they were allowed to leave. Kaitlyn has openly said that the Nick stuff continued to haunt her… what if she just left after 12 days? I’m sure JoJo would have been fine leaving with Jordan quickly as well. Shouldn’t we be praising her for being more honest than other leads? And for not leading people on? And for actually going for the guy she wants vs. trying to produce a television show?
In essence, I agree with you that whatever the hell is going on in the world right now is making people angry about literally everything. Who cares if Clare went to the prom or a dance or whatever literally 21+ years ago? Leave her alone.
Comment: Yup. She absolutely did nothing wrong. But people are gonna see what they want in certain situations. Is she perfect? Absolutely not. But the hate is unwarranted. Criticism? Sure. Hate? I don’t know for what.
