Hi Steve,
Here are some of my strong opinions from last night, with some testaments I found compelling on social media sprinkled in as well.
For someone so keen on wanting the men to express their emotions and be real and raw, Katie sure shut down Greg’s vulnerability real quick. How can she champion herself as a good person? I mean, seriously! She should be embarrassed. She lashed out at Greg last night on AFR. Even if she felt wronged, there’s a right and a wrong way to go about things, and behaving the way she did towards Greg last night is despicable. Greg isn’t perfect, and sure as sh*t neither is Katie.
She reeks insecurity and immaturity. She thought her bitchiness was cute, which it was not. Wasn’t an earlier lesson to be kind, as you never know what someone is going through? Katie vindictively slaughtered Greg on National TV and it was not a flex, it actually made her look dreadful.
It seems like she felt entitled to breaking HIS heart, and when she didn’t get to all hell broke loose. How dare she say he doesn’t know what love is. He has a family and a dad who is dead. I think he understands love. And if she really wants to talk about love, we can discuss her turning around from a heartbreak to tell someone she loves them the very next day, or her fiancé who has been in like or love with three bachelorettes in a row. Saying Greg doesn’t know what love is is SO hurtful.
She acted batsh** crazy. I hope Greg popped a bottle last night! Dodged a bullet. And to Blake, I send my condolences.
She doesn’t handle being questioned or criticized well at ALL! Never question Katie or she will slam you. Good luck Blake! From the very beginning we knew this, men tell all reminded us, and tonight locked it in.
Greg took it to a bad place last week out of hurt in learning he wasn’t the one. She took it way worse today since she “knew Blake was the one” after hometowns. Why did she need Greg to stay then? You could see his heart break last week.. would have been worse after overnights. And while we’re at it, stop equating serious abuse tactics to trendy buzzwords.
Katie is a bully, as evidenced last night, with Thomas, and with Karl. She wore a shirt in promos that said “Be a Katie.” Be a Katie?? I would be REMISS if I or my child ended up a Katie.
Comment: So you like Katie, huh?
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First, I wanted to say that I used to be an avid fan of the show but lost interest somewhere along the way, and so I just read your spoilers and I’m good. This is in no way meant to be mean, but I enjoyed your column so much more when you weren’t so politically correct. I felt like every aspect of this was meant to avoid hurting someone’s feelings which I totally get–that’s me. That is exactly the person I am, and I live my life….walking on eggshells so that I never offend anyone, but that’s not you. I lived vicariously through your column of saying exactly what you thought that was borderline offensive sometimes but always, and I do mean ALWAYS entertaining. When did you go soft? Come back man! Longtime readers miss the real you. I don’t feel that way at all. I’m just not getting caught up in having to take sides on every issue of this show or label people by name. I’ll let others in Bachelor Nation makes asses of themselves doing that. If politically correct means giving my honest opinion, then I guess guilty as charged.
Also, as a female, I can 100% guarantee you that Katie is in love with Greg. He would have 100% been the final rose had he not have left. I agree that you can be in love with one person, and still have anger toward another(as she has said in post finale interviews), but in this instance, that is not the case. When a female crosses her arms and says that she wants nothing but the best for you while bobbing her ponytail, it is the equivalent of saying, “I’m fine” in an argument when you are everything but fine. That means you are angry because you are not getting what you want, and in this case, that is Greg. If he called today, she would drop Blake so fast. I bet my salary that this will be over before the wedding like the rest of the franchise couples.
JMO….not that you care.
Have a great day!
Comment: Couldn’t disagree more.
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Hi Steve
When you asked your readers to weigh in on why the lack of comments this morning regarding Katie’s attack on Greg last night, my first thought was: maybe, like me, after watching the finale, viewers were just done with Katie as the Bachelorette. I’ve been watching the Bach/ette since Deana Pappas season, and in my opinion, Katie is the most unlikeable Bachelorette thus far. If she asserted once more last night “I AM THE BACHELORETTE,” I swear I was going to throw something at my TV. Why makes her think she’s so entitled, or better than her suitors? I’ve been reading some stuff online: US, People, Yahoo Entertainment, etc today and seeing a lot of criticism for Katie’s behavior last night. One article (either US or People) listed comments from members of Bachelor Nation and many commented that they thought she went too far in her attack on Greg. And most of them (Demi Burnette for starters) questioned her reasoning, citing, “If Katie’s so happily engaged, then why still be so mad at Greg?” I found the ATFR hard to watch. Katie seemed like a whole different person last night: colder, very full of herself and very defensive. From what I saw all season, I don’t feel she was in love with any of the men. Two of the four final men had left and we all knew she was NOT into Justin, so all she was left with was Blake. I do think she’s physically attracted to him, but I don’t sense any warmth from them.
Many people (some in the comments section of your website), pointed out the irony of Katie accusing Greg of being and “actor” and faking his love for her. When Katie herself seemed to be acting all season. Perfect example: her theatrics when Greg left, screaming and crying that she wanted to book a flight home. Then less than a day later she’s jumping onto Blake, wrapping her legs around him and by the end of the date she’s professing her undying love for him. Talk about acting!
I’m just thrilled that her season is done and we won’t have to look at her on our TV screens any more. And I sincerely hope that the producers hone their picking skills. ABC really dropped the ball this season and the ratings prove it. Katie did not have the charisma to pull off the lead role and, for her age, acted much more immature than any past Bachelorette. I say GOOD RIDDANCE! I don’t see Katie and Blake making it very long, but could really care less. I didn’t like Blake on Clare/Tayshia’s season and even less the third time around. So, I’m kind of glad she picked him as they make a good unlikeable couple.
Comment: I think you took yesterday’s opening paragraph as serious. That was 100% sarcasm. Obviously I KNEW everyone and their mother had an opinion on the Katie/Greg ATFR confrontation. That was the joke. It was everywhere.
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Hi Steve!
Where can I write to ABC and express my opinion on how awful the new cohosts of the Bachelor are? They have no experience in this type of work and it shows! Bachelor Nation has many people who could do a better job.
Thank you and keep up all you do for the fans!
Comment: abcdoesntcarewhatyouhavetosay@gmail.com. But seriously though, don’t waste your time. Just look at this batch of emails today and how many people liked Kaitlyn and Tayshia. Because you didn’t, you think that means they won’t use them? Like I said, don’t bother. They will make their decision whether you like Kaitlyn and Tayshia or not.
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Hey Steve,
a couple questions
Did you watch Love is Blind and happen to watch after the alter on netflix? I would think that Damian and Giannina are an example of gaslighting since it’s been 2 years? Never seen it.
Love island: do you think that Korey and Olivia are just playing the game to get to the end and win the money? Tough to say. It seems like she’s generally into him now but can I really tell for sure? No.
I know that Katie’s season ended up wrapping early do you know what date it stopped filming? I’d have to go back and look but I wanna say around April 24th I believe?
do you have an idea when they will announce the new bachelor?
appreciate everything you do!
Comment: My guess is it will be towards the end of Paradise, if not afterwards.
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Hi Steve,
You were asking on your latest blog about people screaming on their computer about Katie and Greg. It’s all over the place on Facebook.
This group gets pretty nasty in my opinion. The vitriol against Rachel when the whole Chris Harrison situation hit the fan was unbelievable! There were plenty of dissenters though. There were a couple of months there where I had to scroll past posts from this group to prevent myself from going down the rabbit hole.
Love your blogs and podcasts!
Comment: Wait a second. You mean to tell me people on a Facebook group get nasty offering their opinions of reality TV contestants? No way!
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Hi Steve!
Long time reader, first time emailer. I really look forward to your columns and podcast every week and appreciate all the hard work you put into everything! I started watching FBoy Island based on your recommendation, and I am obsessed! Thanks for the great pick. I have 2 questions for you about FBoy Island:
1. Who is your favorite female lead and why- Nakia, Sarah, or CJ? Honestly, I like all 3 of them. I can’t choose. They are all entertaining and every single one of them have had some boss ass woman moments this season. And you will see some more coming up.
2. Who is your favorite “potential” couple out of the remaining girl/guy pairings?
I know these may be hard to answer since you have seen the finale but hope you can still give your opinion from the first 6 episodes. Can’t wait to see the finale this week!
Comment: I don’t see how to answer that knowing that I know the ending and it not coming across as bias. Or me giving anything away. Sorry.
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Hi Steve,
Two questions from this week –
1. Do you know when AFR was filmed or why they chose not to have it live?
July 23rd. Couldn’t film it live because by this past Monday they were already into shooting Michelle’s season.
2. The quality of Michelle’s promo vs Katie’s seems to solidify the theory that production didn’t like Katie.. any intel on this? There’s been rumors about that all season. Impossible to know how true it is unless someone speaks on record about it. Have I heard it? Yeah. Do I know if it’s 100% true? No.
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Hey Steve –
As I’m assuming most emails this week will be about the finale, I’ll go in other random directions other than to say that Justin’s expressions remind me of The Rock in his wrestling days.
Big Brother – I thought the farewell messages Brent received were somewhat atypical as they had a pretty clear “We don’t like you.” message. Yeah, and he didn’t seem to pick up on it at all either.
The Challenge – This really makes me want to see other countries’ versions of Survivor. Hopefully, this is possible someday. Hard to believe it is the same game if former Challenger Turbo could win it. Without intending to body shame, I was surprised to see Aneesa showing up the heaviest I can remember. While her weight has worked to her advantage in some challenges / eliminations, I think it has hurt her results overall. Surprised former champ Jenny is not back for the international aspect to add some vet experience. Cam’s absence is also surprising. Cam isn’t on this season? I thought she was? And I have no idea why Jenny hasn’t been back now for 2 seasons after winning. Bananas I get. Why wouldn’t Jenny come back?
Podcast from last week – After hearing it, I read a bunch of articles about hoaxers and anti vaxxers who then got it and died quickly or are very sick, specifically Dick Farrel, Phil Valentine, and Scott Apley. Some change their tune on their deathbed (I mentioned this to a person who believes these people and she said their dying change of heart was due to them being weak). I don’t know if such spreaders of disinformation truly believe what they are saying or don’t believe it but spread it for clout, followers, ratings, etc. While I agree that Katie and Greg don’t deserve online hate, I have to admit that I enjoy reading the creative trolling I’ve read for the 3 people named above. My big picture view of the outcome of all this is the anti vaxxers are right and the vaccinated die off sufficiently so they win all elections and control or the vaccinated are right and our vaccines and masks (I’m back to wearing mine) protect us and their numbers are depleted enough so they become fringe players in governing the country, media, etc. More likely the latter.
Too Hot To Handle Brazil – Dubbed in English and pretty good. It had an interesting twist that led to a slightly unfair outcome. Didn’t even know there was one.
Love is Blind – I don’t remember if you watched this but they just had a few reunion episodes. There is a guy named Damian who is the embodiment of what I envision former Bachelorette contestants to be like (including making friends like Francesca from Too Hot). Haven’t seen this one unfortunately so can’t offer anything there.
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Hey Steve.
I’ll just preface this by saying I’m not team anyone. I’m indifferent. There was no “gaslighting”. Not hearing what you want to hear, being told how and why you were hurt isn’t gaslighting.
In response to your comments about Katie still being in love with Greg… from a woman’s perspective, most women aren’t holding onto anger when we are over it. I’ve been there and I was so mad but once I was over it, I just didn’t care anymore. Yep, I’d stick by my assessment that he was an ass, but most girls don’t stay mad at a guy they don’t care about.
Comment: Yeah, I still don’t get this one and disagree completely. You can be mad at someone and not in love with them. Especially when it comes to this show.
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Hey Steve.
I know I’m late, but just wanted to share my thoughts about Greg.
I agree he should have admitted he was not ready for an engagement. However, I think he was not ready, in part, because he didn’t get the reassurance and affirmation he desperately felt he needed from Katie. I think he was initially LEANING towards getting engaged right before, and during hometowns. Still, he needed to that final push of reassurance from Katie before an engagement, so he poured his heart out, albeit kind of love-bombish and overwhelming to take in all at once. When he didn’t get the reassurance he wanted, he knew they weren’t on the same page and he didn’t want to propose. So I don’t think he is lying necessarily when he says he didn’t get the validation he needed. He probably wasn’t ready for marriage in general to begin with. But haven’t we all been guilty of being roundabout or beating around the bush from time to time instead of admitting something, perhaps out of fear of judgment, stubbornness or whatever? Doesn’t make it right and it’s not an excuse. I’m just saying we should be a little more understanding and forgiving here when it comes to Greg, especially considering he was in an unnatural, intense, highly pressured environment to get engaged in the first place. Thanks.
Comment: That’s why I’m not destroying the guy like others are. And after hearing most of the podcast with him and Nick yesterday, more people should get a better understanding. The guy is working through stuff. Be glad he left. Be glad Katie didn’t pick him. Because from all accounts, he is not ready to be in a relationship, let alone an engagement. He still has some stuff to work through for sure. Which is perfectly fine. This just probably wasn’t the greatest avenue for him at this time in his life. He essentially admitted that yesterday.
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