Hi Steve:
Happy NYE!
Yes, you pronounced BIPOC correctly. That’s fine to say.
This was a really good podcast. I like hearing about the breakdown of the show like this.
I do believe that the producers had an idea that Clare’s season was going to be a split season. I feel they think they needed a “gotcha” for the season.
Absolutely, Clare and Dale don’t happen without COVID. Clare was able to “watch” Dale before he came on the show. Someone (a producer) knew that she was very interested in Dale and they knew it was a possibility that she’d really like Dale enough to leave the show.
I believe as well that some guys were actually cast for Tayshia too. This is about the most obvious thing now looking back on the season. When 3 of her final 4, and 8 of her final 12, were guys that weren’t in the original cast back in March and were ones we saw for the first time in July, it’s just too coincidental. Not to mention Brendan telling us on post season podcasts he was contacted for the first time 10 days before he flew out to La Quinta, I mean, c’mon. They had 4 months to find guys “only” for Clare, and yet, a guy who made Tayshia’s final 3 who he admitted himself was much more of a match for Tayshia than Clare, wasn’t even approached until July? There’s so much evidence out there, I do not understand why people are refusing to accept it. Tayshia had nothing to do with it. This was all on productions end. They did not start filming July 18th with every egg in the Clare basket and every guy on that show cast specifically for her with no intentions whatsoever of ever bringing in a new lead during the middle of filming. Didn’t happen.
Producers had a hand in Bennett coming back, as well as Ben. Brendan I think wanted to leave before 3/4 but he finally decided to leave. She just wasn’t into Ivan enough to keep him the show didn’t want another Clare so they bring Ben back. Notice how her goodbye to Ben was shown out of sequence too.
Kudos to Lauren Zima. I laugh all the time through her “Roses and Rose”. She’s entertaining. Don’t look for in depth or spoilers from her at least not now maybe they will feed her some spoilers to hype the show.
Tenley from Jake’s season doesn’t get enough credit on the Instagram game beginning with contestants and the gram.
Diversity in Bachelor Nation, I think are making strides this year. Hands down, Ivan was a game changer in this franchise from his BLM conversation to his family to his religious stand. His mom said that he was going to make an impact in this world and he already has and I hope he gets to continue. Excited to see where he goes with his platform. I just hope he doesn’t turn into a self promoting, self absorbed dbag like most of these guys turn into.
Matt James season we’ll see. He’s Black (Bi-racial). I don’t see him picking a Black winner. So we are still looking for our Black love story in this franchise. I’m Black and been watching since the beginning – Alex Michel.
BIP – I think will be huge. Big cast may need to extend the time to contain the whole cast.
I can’t imagine these guys with Hannah Ann at all. Tayshia was the best follow up to Clare.
Best of luck to you in 2021 Steve!!
Comment: It will be so easy to get a lot of the big names on BIP this summer. Because it was cancelled last summer, it’s such an easy pitch to these people all wanting to stay in the limelight and gain followers to just say, “This is gonna be our biggest season yet. Everyone’s waiting for BIP. It’ll be a can’t miss.” That’s all you have to say to these fame hungry people and they’ll sign on the dotted in a heartbeat.
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Hi Steve,
Happy New Year! I’m curious if you’ve heard anything about when the next season of Survivor will film and/or air? How has COVID impacted their normal schedule? It seems like they shouldn’t really be impacted that much (minus initial quarantines) since they film on a “deserted island”. I think I recall you saying in the past that there have been instances where they film two seasons basically back to back, but for whatever reason the 2nd season airs before the one that was filmed 1st. I was really hoping CBS was hanging onto a season or two like that and could provide us some content during these COVID times…guess not.
Comment: A couple things here: It may seem that way, but they film in Fiji ever since season 33 because they give them tax breaks. And Fiji isn’t letting anyone film. So either Fiji loosens their restrictions, or, they find somewhere else to film.
Also, yes, they film seasons back to back. One films March-May, the other May-July. But only once did they air the May-July one first in September of that year. All the other seasons, the March-May season airs in the fall, with the May-July filming happening the following spring in February. So yes, that means that by the time the finale airs in May on that spring season, it’ll be almost one year since that particular seasons filming ended.
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Happy New Year RS! I’ve always enjoyed your sports analysis. I’m a huge Ohio State fan, so I’m curious: what kind of shot do you think my buckeyes have against Alabama??
Comment: Of course they have a shot. As long as you take the field, you have a shot at winning. And we’ve seen Ohio St. in this position before make a run when no one thought they could. They absolutely have a shot to beat Alabama. Will they? If anyone knew that, they’d be rich.
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Dear Steve,
Happy New Year! I had a few questions about Matt’s season of The Bachelor and some opinions about this past season of The Bachelorette.
I have to say that after watching Tayshia’s finale that I actually liked her as the bachelorette too. At first, I did not think anyone could fill Clare’s shoes, but I have to say that she made the remainder of the season pretty interesting. I think Clare is such an honest person while also coming across as domineering. I definitely agree with you that she is not everyone’s cup of tea. I personally like her brutal honesty because she does not care about pleasing producers, she just lives her life the way that she wants to with Dale. I have to respect that and wish them the very best.
On the other hand, Tayshia came across as a sweet and mature woman who knew what she wanted once she realized how mature and caring Zac was! I have to say out of all of the guys this season that the one that I admire the most is Zac. For him to face addiction, beat it and then to help those who suffer with that same issue is remarkable. I hope that he can continue to use the platform he received from being on the show to continue to help others. I really hope that him and Tayshia stay together since I believe that they appear to be two mature people who fell in love without the gimmicks this season. I did not know how the no traveling would work this season, but I have to say that it strangely worked. This season really just focused on the connections being made once Tayshia took over which I think brought me back to some seasons like Sean and Ashley’s where it was not as much about the traveling and social media influencers.
I wanted to know if you saw this as well? Zac reminded me a lot of JP when he was on the show. Maybe it’s the New York accent and the maturity that both of them displayed due to being in their thirties when they were on the show. Just a thought. I loved JP and Ashley together. I was sad to hear about their split. Thinking about their children. Wishing all of them the best amidst this difficult time! I wish everyone would do so. I feel bad for the hate they face on social media.
The question that I have for you about this season of The Bachelor is, do you know if they flew in families of the final 4 girls again to the resort like they did for Tayshia’s guys? Or perhaps with the rise in cases that they were unable to fly in families this time? Yes. Families were flown to Nemacolin for hometowns on Matt’s season just like they were for Tayshia’s.
I was also curious if you knew where Kirk Dewindt from Ali’s season is now? I know that is quite a blast form the past, but I feel like since his stint on Bachelor In Paradise we have not heard much from him.
Thank you for all that you do!
Comment: I haven’t followed Kirk. I have no idea where he is or what he’s been up to.
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Hey Steve!
School has been so hectic so I haven’t had time to read the reader emails religiously, basically playing catchup every season so I’m sorry if you’ve answered this before. What are your thoughts on Becca and Garrett’s breakup? Do you have any more insight other than the political differences?
Comment: I think a lot of us always questioned how two people who, not only politically, but morally seemed on opposite ends of the spectrum would work. I’m just thoroughly enjoying the shade that Becca constantly throws his way without mentioning names anytime she does a Q&A on her IG stories. It’s clear as day reading her answers anytime she references her relationship with Garrett. I get a kick out of it.
As for what I know about their breakup. Nothing other than what Becca hints/throws shade at in some of her answers. You can see it just took her time to see what a lot of us were scratching our heads at for a while. And she’s not hiding that fact now either.
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Steve,
What do you think is the real deal with Carly and Evan? Listened to your podcast last week with his ex Wife and then saw Carly post on one of her socials that Evan “asked for a divorce.”
I always thought Carly was never THAT into him and just wanted to find someone to continue game and was almost a wannabe Jade and Tanner. Sounds harsh but she always seemed to be changing fame and seemed fake to me.
Comment: Let me just say I know very little about the inner workings of their marriage, nor did I ever claim to. The one thing I do know is they did not live together for at least the last 18 months of it. She moved out early on in her pregnancy with Charlie. That’s fact. Carly never denied that in her video and plenty of people knew that to be true for a while. I wasn’t the only one. Hell, Nick even knew and even threw shade at Evan once for it. Go ask him. And there were others. Probably not hard to figure out which others knew.
I thought the quotes I read from her YouTube video she did were highly manipulative. Paraphrasing here, but, “I was always all in. Divorce never an option. If he wanted out, that was his decision.” Good Lord.
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Hi Steve,
I enjoy you and your website a lot. I was super impressed with the diverse and inclusive cast. I found Matt super genuine. But I did have an issue with the first episode. As a woman, I had a really hard time when they censored a vibrator with a black box but have no issues showing a woman half naked in lingerie. I find this really tasteless. We can say things like “can I put your balls in your mouth”, or show up in a negligé, but a vibrator, a device that gives woman pleasure has to be blacked out. Just curious your thoughts on this, as a man, and an expert in reality TV?
Comment: It’s a Standards and Practices thing. Apparently network television is not allowed to show a vibrator on TV. And it’s not like production didn’t know that. As for the lingerie and sexual innuendos, those have been a part of this show for ages. That’s never changing. “The Bachelor” didn’t choose to not show a vibrator. The network did.
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Queen Victoria – has anyone else told you she reminds you of Krystal from Arie’s season? She has kind of this valley girl voice to her but it seems like she’s laying it on extra thick. By just the voice, or the character? I don’t think they sounded alike, but they’ll both certainly be polarizing characters.
Also, I am so looking forward to your live with Ashely tomorrow night! I have missed seeing her and hope she’s doing alright. It will be so nice to see you both together again!
Comment: I hope you enjoyed it. Anyone who missed it, go to my IG account, click on that icon that looks like a little TV, and all the past IG lives are on there.
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why is it when Bachelor success stories/failures are mentioned there is no discussing Holly and Blake the dentist she married? They met on BIP and it was an amazing connection.
Comment: I have no idea.
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Heyo Steve!
What do you think about Mrs. Kimmel and her “predicting” the winner of the Bachelor 8 times and she picked Rachel tonight as winner. Do you think she hears from you and claims it as her own knowledge?
Comment: That bit has been going on for years now. She clearly reads spoilers.
