Hi Steve, I’m a fan of yours all the way from South Africa. I’ve read your blog for a while now and I’ve always wanted to contact you, but I’ve never really had anything to write about. Recently I read your recap on Michelle’s season episode 3 (In SA we will probably get to watch her season when it’s finished or close to the end) and you mentioned that she doesn’t pick the dates or who goes on the dates with her? Is this true for every bachelor/bachelorette, all the way to the end? Do they get to pick the fantasy suite date order? Wow. South Africa in the house. Yes. They don’t have a say in naming who gets each date. Production plans the date, they know who the lead likes the most, and they will strategically place people on dates how they see fit and how it fits the storyline. Example: They knew Nayte was a favorite of Michelle’s because she tells them at some point. They aren’t giving him some BS Truth or Dare date like Rodney got. No, Nayte gets a 1-on-1 in MN, in her hometown, that her friends are a part of.
Oh and all these fabulous dresses that the Bachelorette wears, is it hers or does it get picked out for her? The show has a stylist that takes care of all that stuff.
Thanks so much for everything, when you feel like you’re not being appreciated, just remember there’s a young lady from another continent, just waiting for your articles and appreciates all you do to keep us updated on Bachelor Nation news 🙂
Comment: Thanks. Nice to hear that every once in a while.
______________________
Hi Steve–
Is it just me, or is “can I steal you for a minute?” not happening this season? Another thing I’ve noticed is that it seems like Michelle is getting rid of the villains pretty fast. I’m sure there will be new ones, of course, but it’s interesting. Any thoughts on why either of these things are different this time?
Thanks!
Comment: Good point. I can’t remember it happening yet. Could be being done on purpose, or, we just haven’t seen it. I think we’ll know when future seasons air if this is a one off.
______________________
Hey Steve –
Pretty fascinating that the CBS BIPOC casting change is leading to an all black alliance on Survivor. From what has aired, they don’t seem as committed / selfless as The Cookout. Do you believe they will accomplish the goal? Based on your recent podcast discussion about all the twists this season, fair to say you did not like the hourglass twist? I think it led to a great tribal counsel with misdirection and blowing up people’s games. I don’t see it lasting. I think Survivor is different than BB when it comes to alliances because there’s just a different feel and things seem to change on a daily basis out there since so much is going on. And while I thought Tribal Council was great, the hourglass twist was dumb. Of course she was gonna save herself. There was no chance she wasn’t gonna do that. And I think that twist sucked. A team wins immunity, and then you say “Uhhh, no you didn’t because this woman decided against it and save herself?” That’s not a twist and not what we know Survivor to be. Contestants from this season have even been pretty outspoken about this.
The Challenge – I think the 3 team thing has led to unfair challenges because they don’t force teams with more members to have sit outs. Do you think Amanda should be invited back since winning does not seem to be her priority? One thing I missed on the show that they explained on the podcast – CT talking about his challenge blues referred to his unshown lobbying to be nominated so he could win and switch to Emerald. Yeah, what are they doing not making the team with more players sit people out? That doesn’t make sense. Amanda is great TV for them. The only reason she’d even missed the last few was because she had a baby or I’m sure she would’ve been on those. I missed that CT stuff.
Did you stick with Heels on Starz? Did you like it? Unfortunately I never got around to watching it. Maybe at some point I will.
Vice has started airing older episodes of Dark Side of the Ring. I recommend the Brawl for All and Plane Ride from Hell eps. So many of these show my past “heroes” are/were just awful people (e.g. they considered drugging people’s drinks and humiliating them to be good pranks). I still need to catch up on those too. Although I know the stories behind them, I’m sure I don’t know every detail.
I found it odd that the Bachelorette guys would make fun of a guy (yes he was a buffoon) for owning a pizza place for a job. If you can take over a month off and have 6 pack abs, you may not be a high power career guy who can look down on other occupations. People have great love and loyalty to their favorite pizza places.
Comment: Yeah Will’s argument seemed to lack a lot of substance. Just mentioning pizza constantly isn’t much of an insult. If only Peter knew about Will’s retweets pre-show maybe he could’ve brought those up in retaliation.
______________________
Hi Steve,
I’m a big fan of your column and twitter account. Any updates on the relationship between Maddie and Mike from Katie’s season? You showed the state fair pictures but their IG accounts make them both appear single.
Thanks!
Comment: I haven’t heard anything since.
______________________
Happy Tuesday!
So a couple bachelor questions and one non bachelor related question…
If you could choose someone (or multiple people) from production (past or present) to write a tell all book, who would it be? I’m assuming Chris Harrison…but anyone else? I guess Elan. And I know he’s written books, but I’m talking about the show. But yes, Chris Harrison would be the main one but that isn’t happening ever.
Same question for bachelor franchise related contestants who haven’t already written a book. Basically who do you think would have the most tea to spill? Well that’s the thing. You can name a laundry list of contestants you’d like to hear write a book, but none of them will be able to write THAT book you want, so it’s almost pointless.
And for my sports question…
With week 10 starting, if you were to bet money, which teams are going to the Superbowl this year AND who is going to win it?
Thanks for all you do! I look forward to reading your columns each week.
Comment: I picked two teams from each conference pre-season. Didn’t mean I actually thought they’d win it all, but, I took into account their odds and what not. In the NFC, I have Arizona and the Rams. Looking pretty good there. In the AFC, I have the Raiders and the Bengals. The thing is, with bets on those 4 to win it all, I really just need one of them to GET to the Super Bowl. Bc once they’re in, it guarantees me winning something since the odds are so high (all over 10/1) that I can hedge and guarantee myself winning something.
______________________
Have you noticed that a couple guys this season seem to be wearing make-up? Will (I think that’s his name– the guy with the head on the platter) wears heavy eyeliner each episode. How common is it that the guys wear make up? I honestly haven’t noticed.
Some Survivor Questions: I noticed some heavy editing last week during the challenge. One team seemed to be totally slaughtering the other team. Editing made it seem like the other team had a chance. When the trailing team got to the platform to begin their puzzle, the other team had their sliding puzzle set up in such a way that with just a couple easy shifts, they would win. Have you ever heard of production telling a team to pause during the challenge so the other team could catch up so they could catch the optics of the challenge being closer than it appeared? Many other times, tensions run high, but in this “close” challenge, the winning team never appeared anxious, and the losing team never seemed hopeful/excited, even though TV made it seem like it was close.
Comment: No. Production can’t intervene like that because money is on the line. They have Standards and Practices to follow. But there is editing, so they can make any challenge seem pretty close if they want. And they do when they can.
______________________
Hi Steve
I have a couple of questions sice you said emails have been low and I’m bored right now trying to put a 2 yr old to bed.
Do you still talk to Sharleen? I love her podcast with Andy- he’s super funny! I’ve listened to them all and really the only one I didn’t like was Nicks… What. A. Creep. I will be forever baffled that that dude has an audience. Yes.
Have you ever had someone reach out to you for advice/to talk about the show, who then went on to go far or be a big name in the franchise? No.
So many contestants recently released books. Think any of them would come on the pod to promote it? Or are they all to engrained in bachelor culture tho go there? Not likely. I don’t even bother asking anymore. If their PR reaches out to me I’d do it, but there’s probably a reason they haven’t.
What ever happened to Unreal? It ran its course. They did 4 seasons and that was it.
Also, I miss you rating your top women of them season. I get that some think it’s sexist, but I disagree, as you say beauty is subjective. All these women are clearly beautiful so it’s just fun seeing what your type is, but I get it, toxic bachelor nation gets way to worked up and reads into it for so much more then it is.
I could come up when more questions but I’ll leave it at that.
Thx!
Comment: Here’s the thing. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with me giving my opinion on a top 3 or top 5 best looking women on Clayton’s season. Beauty is subjective. It’d just be an opinion of who I find attractive. The problem is, and this stems from what happened back in April, trolls out there will turn it into something that it isn’t, they’d say it’s creepy that a 46 year old guy is commenting on a mid 20’s womans looks, they’d say I haven’t learned anything blah blah blah. It’s not worth the headache. You gotta understand, there are people out there that are looking at every single sentence I write and tweet I send out and dissecting it to try and jump down my throat, even when it’s not there. I’ve seen some real reaches from people since April because, I guess, they just dislike me so much and they’ll do what they can to report back anything I do so I go away or something. I don’t know why they’re so obsessed, but they are. I know myself and this site has done a complete 180 since everything went down in April. For people that don’t see that, they aren’t reading and listening every week. But the aggregators are definitely out there cherry picking sound bites and/or sentences out of a column and trying to turn it into something it isn’t. Me ranking my top 3 or 5 looking women on Clayton’s season will be like Christmas morning to them. Saying who I think is attractive is subjective, completely innocent, and in no way is anything sexual. But I’m not going to bother giving the aggregators the satisfaction of turning it around against me.
______________________
Send all links and emails to: steve@realitysteve.com. To follow me on Twitter, it’s: www.twitter.com/RealitySteve. Instagram name is RealitySteve, or join my Reality Steve Facebook Fan Page. Talk to you tomorrow.
