-Sports? You didn’t come here for sports. You came here for insightful, play-by-play analysis of last night’s premiere. Ok, maybe not play-by-play of everything because Lord knows the first episode is basically the same thing every season. There’s only so much you can do with a night one episode since they’ve always followed the same format: reintroduce everyone to the lead, show some of the guys’ intro packages, limo entrances, cocktail party, introduce the first impression rose, have everyone then talk about the first impression rose like they had no idea it was coming, someone receives the first impression rose, whatever night 1 drama arises that night, rose ceremony, the end. And that’s exactly what we got last night.
-So on the video packages, Chris S, Joe, Clayton, Brandon Jones, Nayte, Chris G., and Ryan got them. Here’s one thing I did notice that I’m wondering if others did. This is the first time I can ever remember so many family members showing up in the guys intro packages. Hell, Clayton’s mother even left a message on his. And maybe this is a thing, maybe it isn’t. But I definitely noticed they made sure to show us that Joe, Nayte, and Brandon’s parents were also mixed race marriages like Michelle’s parents. Even if it was just a picture of them. All guys that last deep into this season. I found that…interesting…for the sole reason that parents are rarely ever part of one’s intro package.
-Of course, the most noteworthy thing to come from the guys’ intro packages was that for the first time in show history, the hosts Kaitlyn and Tayshia, just randomly decided to go into the guys rooms, make them leave, and start rummaging through their stuff. That should’ve been red flag #1 of what we were gonna see go down later with Ryan. Clearly this was planned and nothing about what happened with Ryan was organic. BUT, I’ve got some questions regarding this which we’ll touch on later. Something just seemed off about EVERYTHING regarding that situation. No, Kaitlyn and Tayshia don’t find that stuff without being told beforehand, yet…huh? Whaaaaa? Typed up spreadsheets and handwritten notes in numerous folders? God I wish these contestants could actually talk and not be bound by some contract that basically muzzles them. I think a lot of that was planted and Ryan didn’t have a clue about it. Not all of it. Just most of it. I’ll explain on the next page.
-I wasn’t surprised at any of the limo entrances really. It’s the same ol, same ol to me. This is what the show does every season. What I was surprised about was the amount of gimmick entrances we had. It seemed like there were more than usual, and then @BachelorData posted this last night:
View this post on Instagram
21 of the 30 guys did some sort of gimmick last night? Even that was more than I thought. I’m not sure what she defined as “gimmick” but definitely more than I remember in past seasons. Usually we’ve always seen every contestant step out of the limo, walk up, say their name, then go inside. So many limo entrances last night the first time we saw them, they were already standing in front of Michelle and we knew their name because it was written on the screen, not because we see them verbally telling Michelle. It’s like they rushed through the guys that didn’t matter that much so they could spend time on the silly gimmicks.
-I’ve said this numerous times before but it bears repeating. Most of this show’s fanbase doesn’t truly pay attention to anything going on until the first episode airs. Yes, there are the diehards that follow along when the cast is released early and follow along during filming wanting the daily spoilers, but they are such a small, small percentage of the audience and I don’t think people realize that. Last night was a perfect example. Michelle’s men were released by ABC on the Bachelorette Facebook page back on July 26th with her filming beginning 3 days later. On July 26th, by the end of the day you had every guy’s last name and Instagram account and maybe anything I’d found about them. SO many people last night were gasping and retweeting or referencing the fact that Ryan was the Bachelor in San Jose for that Bachelor Live on Stage Tour in 2020. Yet, that’s been out there since the day I posted him as a contestant:
Ryan Fox, 30, Sanger, CA. IG: (@ryanmichaelfox). Actually was the Bachelor back in Feb 2020 during the “Bachelor Live on Stage” Tour. pic.twitter.com/ufGSDTpJ4K
— RealitySteve (@RealitySteve) July 26, 2021
Same with Joe having previous ties to Michelle:
Joe Coleman, 28, Minneapolis, MN. IG: (@jcol3). Former 2011 Mr Minnesota Basketball. Played at Univ of Minnesota. He’s gotta be an early front runner, right? Lives where Michelle lives and played college basketball like she did. Already rumors they possibly know each other. pic.twitter.com/NqaDyC2CF2
— RealitySteve (@RealitySteve) July 26, 2021
Even if you weren’t following my tweets that day, all the IG accounts basically took that and posted it themselves as well, so there were numerous places you could’ve seen it. Yet so many people last night were “surprised” by the Ryan stuff like they were hearing it for the first time. So yeah, just goes to show there are way more people that don’t follow this stuff on a daily basis than ones that do. It’s an out of sight, out of mind thing. When it’s not on and in front of peoples faces, a majority of people just do not care. But now that it’s on, it’s like “Oh, lets see what’s out there about these guys,” yet, there’s been plenty of stuff posted since they started filming July 29th. Most people just don’t think to look until now.
