Hi,
Heard anything about why Ben Smith from Tayshia’s season didn’t go on paradise? I’m assuming he didn’t because you didn’t mention him even though there were more people you didn’t know yet if they showed up at some point.. I figured he’d be someone they’d really want. Any chance he’s considered for bachelor next year? He did finish as the F2. He’s not on Paradise unless he showed up the last week, which, I doubt they’d bring someone like him in last week. I think he’s just moved on from the franchise. If he’s not on Paradise, then no, he’s not gonna be the next “Bachelor.”
Thoughts on jojo and Jordan lately? I assume your opinion of him has changed a bit? They’ve been engaged since 2016. I know they moved the wedding date again because they won’t switch venues because of covid. To me, that seems kinda weird, but ok…Yeah, for sure. I mean did I think they’d make it? No. I think that about a lot of couples. They definitely surprised me. And yes, it also surprises me they’ve been engaged 5 years. COVID definitely threw off plans though. So good for them.
Have you spoken to Clare lately? Or do you think you might again soon? Isn’t her NDA up this august? No. It’s possible I’ll reach out soon and see if there’s a possibility.
Anyone you’re surprised didn’t go to paradise this year? I know this isn’t a huge name, but someone I thought would definitely go from Matt’s season was MJ. Maybe with the humidity she didn’t need her hair poofing out anymore. Kinda surprised she didn’t go.
Matt and Rachael have been pretty public on IG lately. Thoughts on that relationship, if any??? Ps his beard sucks, but she seems happy. Good for them. Based on what he said, she laid down what she wanted and he’s obliging. If that’s what he needed after the Grace incident, and he’s actually taking the relationship seriously, then good for him.
Personally, I like Katie as the bachelorette and I’m happy she picked Blake. Hope it works. It looks like her attitude about Greg (liking shady comments and memes about him etc) is a lot like Rachel post show w regard to Peter. She’s obviously seen stuff about him that’s not too nice (acting aspirations etc) and however he was eliminated still leaves a bad taste in her mouth. Your take?
Thanks for the spoilers!!
Comment: When Katie liked the meme of Greg on Chatty Broads IG page, then Greg’s sister kinda called her out on it, then both deleted shortly thereafter, I think that tells you what you need to know.
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Before you gave us the spoilers for bachelor in paradise you mentioned there was a love triangle, who was the love triangle?? I mentioned it when I gave the spoilers: Kenny/Mari/Demi.
I know if you knew the outcome of what happens with Greg you would let us know, have you heard anything and just don’t want to run with it because you need more confirmation or have you heard nothing solid? This was emailed before last Wednesday’s post.
I know you say Kat and you talk often, any luck of getting her on a podcast soon with you? I LOVED her comments and commentary when Ashley and you were doing lives. I’m not sure if she watches the bachelorette but I think her quick thinking and sense of humour recapping an episode or the season so far with you would be amazing lol. She doesn’t watch so I don’t think she’d have much to add about “Bachelorette.” Maybe we’ll do some BB talk down the line.
I’m pretty interested to see how this season plays out. I know producers can edit or only put out what they want us to believe. However, we know the filming ended early and I went back and watched all the previews for the season and there was only a few scenes that haven’t been shown yet, and the majority of those look like they may happen next week. I’m wondering if over night dates even happened or if it ended by then. CAnt to find out! Thank you
Comment: There’s a lot of messiness the last 2 episodes.
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Hi Steve,
Big fan of your work as always, thanks for spoiling and your podcast. So before I ask my questions, I want to give my take on Chris Harrison leaving this franchise. I am kinda glad he left, even if it wasn’t for his disastrous interview with Rachel. I am not about cancel culture, we all make mistakes and if we can genuinely attempt to learn, grow and evolve then why not. I know you have redeemed yourself and Demi Burnett Downer just wants to be a hater and a child. So back to Harrison, for years I always found him to be this monotonous, characterless, charmless and boring host who was obviously full of himself with his high and mighty demeanor. I find him to be robotic and poor Julie Chen from Big Brother being called the Chenbot, I think the title would be more befitting for Harrison, the Chrisbot. I think the best example of an interesting and engaged host is Jeff Probst from Survivor. At the same time, I am not into the current casting of Kaitlyn and Tayshia, when they talk to Katie, it’s like highschool. I think Wells Adams would be good or someone totally different, I am excited to see David Spade in BIP. Also once again, some random country music band needs to be plugged for their 2 minutes of fame wether the couple on the date are into that sort of music or not. This franchise has not learned, yes to getting a more diverse cast, but always plugging a religious christian, country music and cringeworthy group dates/contests that keep being recycled is getting old and boring. I really have no idea who they’re looking to settle on as permanent host.
Thank you for bringing Kasey Kahl and Nikki Delventhal on your podcast, great stories. Love old school guests and with that I wanna ask if you will bring the following on your podcast, cause I think it would be very interesting: Jake Pavelka, Aaron Buerge, Juan Pablo, Alex Michel, Ashley Hebert or Trista Rehn. Also please interview Johnny Fairplay, Russel Hantz, Coach Benjamin Wade or any other Survivor contestants, it would be befitting since the new season is starting this September. Lastly is your Live IG with Ashley Spivey on instagram returning anytime soon.
Thx again for everything!
Comment: All tough gets and I’m not sure a few of them would even come on my podcast. We’ll see.
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Hi Steve!
A few questions…
Firstly, we’ve heard Justin address his problematic tweets, but Andrews seem to have been swept under the rug. I know you don’t have insider information on this, but do you personally think Andrew S will be addressing it at some point? Not sure if he will. He should though. I’m guessing he’ll say pretty much exactly what Justin did. That’s all he can do at this point.
Secondly, I originally laughed when people were wondering if Blake & Brendan knew each other since they’re both from Ontario, Canada. As a fellow Ontarian, I scoffed at the thought that Americans perceive Canada so oddly (ie that Ontario is small by any means)… until I did a bit of digging and found out they really do know each other. Do you happen to know any details of their relationship? (Aside from the fact they play hockey together… haha #canadianstereotypes) They’re definitely friends and the show has chosen not to mention it at all, which is kinda weird. They’ve always acknowledged that in the past.
Thirdly, because you’re a sports fan, is it safe to assume you watched the final of the Euro Cup? We were rooting for Italy, but it was devastating seeing the aftermath… not only about the racism that some England players faced, but also the abhorrent behaviour of the English fans literally beating Italian fans. There’s several clips on YouTube. No one seems to be discussing the fan behaviour, though. Thoughts? Honestly, I didn’t even know until I read this. Now I’ve seen it. Soccer hooliganism has been going on for years. M80’s on the field, bags of piss thrown at players, fights, etc. It sucks. What happened to the 3 Euro players was inexcusable, but to be 100% real, it was the first thing that went through my mind when I saw the last 3 English players all miss their PK’s were black. I sensed something like that was gonna happen unfortunately. Disgusting.
Lastly, I thought you might be interested in knowing that, when I started visiting your website, I was a mere teenager… and here I am now, a mom of two in my 30s… time flies! Keep up the great work & much love from Toronto!
All the best!
Comment: Thanks so much for the long follow…and making me feel incredibly old!
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Hey Steve,
Apologies if you’ve been asked this before but I’d like your take. I was listening to the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast episode with Becca, Tayshia, and Wells and something just struck me by how innocent Tayshia was acting about the BIP season that Wells filmed (acting like she didn’t know any spoilers or any behind the scenes stuff at all and couldn’t wait to watch), and Wells was acting equally as innocent about Katie’s Bachelorette season that Tayshia filmed.
I know that because they’re on an “official” Bachelor podcast they all have to act this way on recording, but my question is- do you have an opinion/inkling on if they actually do read any spoilers or talk to their BN friends post filming about what happens? And I say this for not just these 3, but also the general crowd of people that are in better graces with the powers that be (think also Nick Viall, Natasha, Joe, etc.). They all seem to always act spoiler free in interviews at least because they have to. But wondering if your simple gut instinct tells you otherwise, and/or if you’ve heard some rumblings before confirming that some of them do know what’s going on. It just doesn’t seem believable that each of them would sit and watch it every episode without knowing anything in advance.
Thanks as always!
Comment: Wells was there, so he knows. Becca was there, so she knows. Yeah, I’m guessing Tayshia knows the basics of what happened. There’s really no way she doesn’t. Does she know every rose ceremony, every elimination, when people arrived, etc? No. But I’m guessing she knows exactly who got engaged and what happened to Becca and Demi because she’s close with them.
No, it’s not believable they don’t know. I haven’t heard their podcasts since they’ve returned, but if that’s how they’re acting, that’s just stupid and insulting to their audience. I get they can’t say anything, but to sit and pretend you weren’t even a part of it just seems silly.
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Hi Steve!
I have a few Survivor questions for you. I really miss it after it not being on air for a year!
I hear they were able to film season 41 this past spring (which will air this fall). Do you know if they were also able to film season 42 (which would normally air next spring)? Yes. 42 was filmed. It’ll air in the spring. I’m guessing February since that’s when it usually starts.
There’s also a rumor that season 41 only filmed the contestants competing for 26 days (instead of the usual 39), did you hear this also? Was it weather related? Or Covid related?
Thanks for all you do! I appreciate it.
Comment: I think it was 29 but you may be right. Point is, yes, it was less than the 39. I’m not sure I heard the reason though. Probst has said they changed things up this season, but we don’t know yet what that means. The thing that just came out is the winner was actually announced out on the island for both seasons. Probably bc there won’t be a live audience to do the reading of the votes, so, the whole cast and crew already knows who won both seasons. Interesting. They haven’t done that since season 1 when, lets face it, they didn’t know what a hit they had on their hands so they didn’t know any better but to do it out there.
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Great podcast with Ella! As someone who has watched every single season of The Bachelor, I absolutely love hearing from contestants from the earlier seasons! I agree with Ella that the show used to be SO much better. It’s still fun to follow (I must admit I’ve barely watched Katie’s season…though I will definitely watch the fight with Greg) but for years now I have enjoyed your column about the show more than the actual show!
Your driver’s license story was insane! When you said that it actually arrived the day before your appointment, but you’d already canceled your appointment, I’m pretty sure I said out loud, “NOOOOOOO” Why do some things have to be so difficult?! I hope you don’t end up having to wait in line for hours. Our air conditioning broke last year and it was brutal! I’m glad you got yours fixed, even if it’s just temporary!
Comment: AC is fixed thank god. The control board was broken so they had to replace it. I plan on going to get my license stuff tomorrow. Lets see how that pans out. If I have to wait in line, fine. If I show up and they tell me to come back later in the day, that’s fine as well.
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Hi Steve!
Sending this Monday afternoon before the episode, so not sure if other questions will come up for people, but I’m wondering if you think Bao will be on Michelle Young’s season? He’s not a name that I have right now, but I only have a few. And since Greg and Karl were set to be on Clare’s initial season and got re-cast in a future season, we can’t rule out anyone who was set to be on a previous season from possibly being on hers.
No proof of this, but I suspect that production is thinking of setting him up as the first Asian Bachelor. Not sure if the dates work out for Bachelor filming, but it would be a smart idea given the uproar from Bachelor Nation when he didn’t make Katie’s season.
He’s also from San Diego, and the pictures of him hanging with some of Katie’s guys, Hunter even commenting on the picture:
Comment: Even if he’s on Michelle’s season, he’s not gonna be the “Bachelor” next season. The timing doesn’t work.
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Hi Steve,
Thank you for the update on spoilers re: Michael and Andrew. Absolutely no criticism here! Always happy to see what you report. Since we can assume Greg and Katie have their blow up during overnights, by process of elimination and how you’ve reported, it appears to be a Justin / Blake finale. She seems to have friend vibes with Justin. Seems to have best chemistry with Michael, Blake and Greg on screen. With Michael self eliminating I’m curious if he would have gone farther had he not left for his son. In your opinion do you think Katie would’ve had Greg/Blake finale had she not had the blow up during overnights and picked Greg at the end? Or do you think it was Blake all along that was going to be her final pick? Curious what your thoughts are on the order of how it all finished and played out.
Thank you for all that you do.
Comment: I don’t know if it’s a Justin/Blake finale since I don’t know when Justin gets eliminated. Maybe he’s already gone by the time Greg leaves. As Katie said, this isn’t a normal ending. And already that one of her final 4 (Michael) self eliminates, we’re already off to a weird start to her ending. It’s not gonna end there.
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Hey Steve!
Long time fan and reader. My question for you is:
I really miss your Instagram lives with Ashley. I was wondering if you’ve ever considered doing them with someone else? Either with someone in the bachelor franchise or not? Thanks!
Comment: I haven’t given it much thought, honestly. Maybe at some point it’ll resume. Maybe it’ll be with Ashley, maybe it won’t. I just don’t know yet.
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Hey Steve!!
My question isn’t in regards to the current season but bachelor in paradise which I’m excited for! I know you said Abigail and Noah were together from the start but broke up at the end however there’s been a LOT of speculations on Reddit and other places that they have since gotten back together. Wondering if you know if they have? Dying to know!!
Comment: No idea.
