I’ve written in plenty before but since you said your reader emails were low this week, I figured I’d send in a couple for next week.
(1) why do you think production didn’t end up casting Salley Carson? It seems like the storyline of her being engaged two weeks prior then breaking it off would have been a dream storyline for them. Unless they thought that it just wouldn’t be believable to the viewers for her to be on the bachelor to find love a mere two weeks after she was engaged? Hard to say. It does seem pretty ridiculous. We all know she never would’ve won so maybe they just wanted to cut their losses short and not deal with the backlash. But the second they posted her as a possible contestant, they HAD to know the public would find something like that out in minutes. It took me less than 30 min to get an email on her.
(2) when potential contestants are flown out to LA and then some get cut, is it just because casting changed their mind? Or is it because some people fail the psych/drug/STD test? All sorts of reasons. They always bring more out there than who gets on, so they have to have alternates just in case for whatever reason.
(2.1) have you ever heard of potential contestants (don’t give names) who production fully intended to cast but they got cut because they failed one of the tests? Yes.
(3) I think I’ve asked you this before but I can’t remember your answer. If they aren’t allowed to have phones/internet/magazines or media of any kind, are those rules any more lax when they are flying? Obviously I know they can’t have phones, but what about other forms of in-flight media/entertainment? It would be miserable to fly halfway around the globe with nothing to do. I believe they are a little more lax on flights but definitely no internet.
(3.1) can they drink on the flights? I doubt it.
Not a question, just a prediction: even before you had the picture of her on the plane indicating she was final 12, I had an inkling Gabby would go far (easily top 4, possible next bachelorette). She has that all-American appeal (nurse, professional cheerleader) and as we know, people with connections to former popular contestants (ex: Tia Booth being friends with Raven, and in this case Gabby having dated—was it Dean?) aren’t brought on only to be sent home night 1. I’m not fan-girling over her (I know nothing about her other than what you’ve shared)—just predicting.
Comment: We’ll see.
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Hey Steve!
I’m a long term but super casual reader— I’m just now getting caught up on your work for Michelle’s season.
I was curious if you have a process for reaching out to contestants once you kind of know their contracts are up? I know you were black listed awhile back and I haven’t a clue how long the contracts last, but I do hope some of the contestants from the last couple of years will share their story with you more unscripted.
I truly couldn’t possibly listen to another “bachelor nation” podcast that obviously have to have questions and answers submitted ahead of time. The censorship is so outrageous.
Thanks for your work in covering the show, it’s truly kept me around all these years, and I appreciate your tone and process on how you cover the show as time has passed. You’re valued and appreciated.
Comment: I’m still black listed by the show. I can’t remember the last time I even reached out to a “recent” contestant to come on the podcast. I know it’s not gonna happen so I don’t even bother to ask. It sucks, but, it is what it is. They realized what I was doing and decided to have their own base where contestants could go to start being interviewed “in house” so to speak.
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Hi Steve,
A few questions for you regarding both ABC and Bachelorette.
Do you have any idea the ballpark of how much these people get paid:
Kaitlyn or Tayshia: For hosting? No.
The lead of any given season: The men make more than the women. Men are like $100k-$125k, women in the $60-80k range. It might have changed in recent years but that’s the way it used to be.
The pros on DWTS: No.
The stars on DWTS: It’s around $125k base for everyone to come on. Then you get bonuses for every week you last.
I’ve always wondered if the exposure is enough for these people to do it for cheap, or if they collect their coin.
Another opinion of mine is that while Joe could’ve handled the DM situation better, I don’t think he should be made a villain for it. As a fellow Minnesotan, I do think what happened in May 2020 took a toll on everyone from here in a way that’s hard to describe to people who aren’t. For that reason, I think Michelle really has to be the judge of that, and people comenting on the validity of his statements who don’t come from Minneapolis should stand down and follow Michelle’s lead – she knows how it felt, she lived it as well. It’s hard to describe the impact of seeing that happen in your own area, and then see the chaos that ensued as a result. Allow Michelle to decide if his actions were justified. Yes. IF that’s what happened, then sure. We just don’t know if Joe was just saying that to save face or if he was being honest.
I’m really liking Michelle thus far. It could be my MN bias, but I think she has a calmness to her that we haven’t seen before. It’s quite refreshing – she doesn’t seem like she’s there to find love and have fame as a default if it doesn’t work out like I feel about so many of them. She seems really committed to finding a husband.
Lastly, how is it possible that the Bachelor franchise finds possibly the least photogenic men to grace the earth each season? I always think the female leads got screwed over when the photos of their batch of men are released, and then I watch the episode and see them on video and am blown away. I guess maybe if this is a recurring theme, it’s my fault. Lol.
Any idea how far Mr. Coleman goes?
Thanks so much!
Comment: Yeah the photos are never great. People complain about them year after year without fail. Then, like you, they see them on the show and usually the perception changes.
I don’t know the exact place Joe leaves, we just know he’s not #1 or #2. But he definitely goes far. We also don’t know how they did hometowns this year. Before the season started, the plan was to go back to normal hometowns. But at the time of filming, I don’t believe that ended up happening since not one hometown date ever got out publicly, and that’s never happened. And hometowns would’ve been happening right at the height of the Delta variant this summer. So my guess is that was the plan (which I had reported), but then it got changed and they did something different.
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RS…big fan and have really enjoyed how you’ve handled yourself through all the Demi stuff. You’ve shown to be the bigger person through all of this and I really think the whole thing was kind of a cheap shot, but that’s not why I’m emailing you.
I wish I could say the same for the reddit crew. I lurk over there from time to time and am amazed at how much those people claim to hate you yet all they do is talk about you and your spoilers. Every time you’ve tweeted something about Clayton’s season, within minutes it’s already up on their site and there’s a discussion about it. But they also continue to say that you don’t know anything anymore and you never have spoilers. So which one is it? You’re right about them when you say it’s all negativity. Those people talk non stop all day about contestants and it’s rarely ever positive. I get that they are a sounding board for people and I know a lot of contestants read them, but they really shouldn’t. I could NEVER go on this show knowing that there are places like that with nothing but nasty things to say all day long. I know you’d never do it but I really wish you’d do an AMA over there to explain to them how idiotic they look constantly saying how irrelevant you are, yet talking about all your spoilers all the time. Pleeeeeeease do one! They’d look so stupid. Ok, that’s my rant. You’re the best!
Comment: Done talking about Reddit. Don’t care what they say about me.
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Hey Man you ruined my Moms experience watching bachelor it’s her favorite show and she is 64 years old she’s worked hard at Boeing for 42 years and it’s all she watches on TV she followed you on Twitter and you have ruined it by giving away the winner on Twitter.
Comment: Sorry Moms.
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You made me chuckle about the apple thing, but then I figured people who didn’t grow up in Minnesota/Wisconsin where there’s an apple orchard every few miles may not know about all the apple varieties!
Fun fact: the University of Minnesota has created a few apple varieties! My favorite is Honey Crisp.
Comment: Yeah, had no clue til last week. Now that I’ve seen the list, I’m trying to keep an eye out for which ones I eat. Last Thursday I ate an Ambrosia.
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Main man Steve, the ratings are the LOWEST EVER for the show! 2.8 million is a joke and I can tell you people I know who DID watch are turned off by what is going on and stopped watching. They can hype their .7 demo all they want but a few hundred thousand watchers the advertisers crave is meaningless to the longer term longevity of this show once they see the fall off. Tayshia and Kaitlyn must go and Jesse Palmer is a reminder of what they did to Chris Harrison as well, which a LOT of former viewers found disgraceful. The followup show Queens fell off the cliff. ABC is in deep trouble with their programming. Just a note from the real world’s take on things.
Comment: Yeah, the ratings were terrible. Way down from past seasons, way down from past “Bachelorette” numbers, and way down from last October’s “Bachelorette” start with Clare. No way around it.
Yet, now hearing rumblings of a season starting to film in January as I mentioned on Page 1 and it doesn’t seem like that’s affecting them.
