Sometimes I just have questions. And usually in the past, I was able to get those questions answered, for the most part, by directly talking to the people involved to come on my podcast. We know now that a lot of contestants are protected by this show and only go on “Bachelor approved” podcasts. Not to mention, they are basically told to stay away from mine. There’s nothing I can do really. Which is why it sucks when an interview like this comes out from Eric Bigger, and it makes me wanna talk to the guy. He really brings up some interesting points in this interview, but also, I’m a bit confused about some of the things he said and the timing of it all. I specifically remember the night before Arie was introduced on GMA, I was in Vegas for my annual opening NFL weekend trip, and my texts were getting blown up about who it was gonna be. I had so many different names being told to me that night (Eric being one of them) that it was the craziest rush to find out the next Bachelor I can ever remember. Before bed I did tweet that I was hearing it was Arie and that’s who it ended up being. So to hear Eric say this now is really interesting, but again, so many questions.
Here’s where I’m at with the final four for Clayton’s season. I’ve got 3 of them confirmed. Just waiting for final confirmation on who the 4th woman could be. The good thing is, it can only be between two people based on what else I know from what went down in Austria. Susie’s hometown was yesterday as you know. No pictures got out unfortunately, so, I guess you’ll just have to trust me that it happened. The next hometown won’t be til tomorrow since they film every other day. I really think I’ll know the final 4 by the end of day today, or tomorrow morning at the latest. I will tweet and post on my IG once I know.
I think it’s pretty comical how going into last night’s show, they were literally teasing it in the promos with giant wording on the screen “A Villain Like You’ve Never Seen Before.” Really? I mean, I think Jamie was being incredibly shady with things he said and deflecting it onto other guys, but “like we’ve never seen before?” That’s some serious hyperbole. Trust me, I can name a few off the top of my head that are far worse than Jamie. And yes, I’m aware there’s a new site out there that investigates these people’s jobs and calls them out, which seemingly some of them are lying badly about what they do, and in their search of Jamie found some definite problematic tweets. So that’s certainly not something he should be proud of. However, I’m just talking about how the show is promoting him. The show isn’t mentioning anything off air, and they probably never will, but I’d say that was bit much heading into last night where Jamie seems to be the early season villain like we get every season. Hyping something up that isn’t all that it’s made out to be for a guy that lasted 3 episodes. And considering Jamie is already taking to IG with his “reality TV isn’t real” and “at least you were entertained” takes, I don’t really know what to make of it all. Villain in the sense of what this show considers a villain? Absolutely he is. One that we’ve never seen before? Not quite.
Jamie went to his IG stories last night to talk about the reaction to him:
This is exactly what I mean when I say Toxic Bachelor Nation. That’s what this fanbase does now. Does Jamie deserve to be made fun of/ridiculed for what we saw on TV the last 2 weeks? Absolutely. Was there probably more to the story than what was shown? I’m sure. But the fact that people have to attack him, call him names, go after friends and family, it’s completely out of hand. But you know what? Not the least bit surprising. This part of their fanbase absolutely sucks and they’ve made this show a worse place for contestants. And you know what else? The show contributes to it by exactly what I said earlier. Running promos heading into last night saying in giant captions “A Villain Like You’ve Never Seen Before.” So all you’re doing at that point is riling up your Toxic Bachelor Nation fanbase to let loose on the guy. He was cocky, arrogant, entitled, and clearly had no idea how this show worked, so they exploited it. He thought he was too good for the show so they leaned into it. Dislike the guy for that. But enough with the racial attacks and attacks on friends and family. Again, I’ll say that and exactly zero people will listen.
I’m a broken record every season now. I say the same thing and nothing changes. This fan base stops at nothing anymore and it’s embarrassing. Who has the time to get that riled up and comment on someone IG page the nasty things that they do? What’s missing in your life so much that’s what you have to do to take it out on others? What a sad existence these people live. So I can say it today, I can say it the night of Clayton’s premiere, and I can say it 100 times after that, but for Clayton’s women, just know you guys are next. No matter what you think you did or said on the show, just know someone out there will find a reason to hate on you. The way you talk, walk, brush your hair, wear your makeup, dress yourself – trust me – they’ll find something and make sure they let you hear about it either in your DM’s or on your IG page once you’re allowed to go public again. There’s nothing anyone can do to prepare you for it, there’s nothing you can do to stop it, but just know it’s coming. This is what this show is now. A stomping ground for trolls to express any and every emotion they have about someone they see on television because social media gives them access to.
So a screwup I definitely had during Michelle’s season was discovered last night. Never had a ton of info on Michelle’s season other than some pics/videos in Minnesota and then your final 2 guys and who she’s engaged to. But I clearly screwed this one up:
(CORRECTION): Welp, totally misidentified that one. This was clearly NOT Peter on this date meeting Michelle’s parents. I strictly went off the shaved sides and assumed it was Peter. It wasn’t. This date was with Brandon. https://t.co/P7sEUxBbPQ
— RealitySteve (@RealitySteve) November 3, 2021
Now that we know Peter is gone, the only guy left at that point with a similar hairstyle is Brandon. What I do find hilarious though is how many people since last night are acting like they all knew it was Brandon and how could I get that wrong. Huh? That date was August 21st. That was 2 ½ months ago. Not a single person until last night has emailed or DM’ed me saying, “Remember that pic of Michelle at her parents place you posted, I think that’s Brandon and not Peter.” Well yeah, it’s easy to say it’s Brandon now when you’ve seen him for 3 episodes. But back on Aug. 21st, Brandon Jones wasn’t a blip on anyone’s radar – including mine. Hell, Brandon Jones wasn’t a blip on everyone’s radar until the day I reported he’s the #2 guy this season. I got the pic that day, was never told who it was, and just saw it was a very distinct hairstyle with the shaved sides and misreported it was Peter. I didn’t even know Brandon was still on the show at that point so I never thought to look it could be him. Hell, I even have a picture and video from the night portion of their date that night, and STILL thought it was Peter. So lets back up pretending like everyone knew it was Brandon the whole time when exactly zero people had corrected me about it in the last 2.5 months. C’mon now. I can admit it was wrong. I think you can admit you didn’t see it either back then. That’s not making any excuse. I’m just saying the emails and DM’s last night from people acting like they knew the whole time is pretty funny.
Recap begins on Page 2…
