Hey RS…I know you’re not a fan of reddit, but they are all in panic mode now over Nayte and Michelle. Not sure if you’ve heard (you probably haven’t), but this weekend I decided to drop in and see what they were saying about this season and they were all going crazy that maybe Michelle isn’t with Nayte supposedly because of a picture that Joe posted in the woods, and they think it was around the time Michelle posted something similar. I know they take every little morsel they can and run wild with speculation, but this was completely over the top. Some are now convinced Michelle is with Joe and the spoiler is wrong! Anything you can shed light on or is this just another reddit theory that holds no water? Thanks for all you do!
Comment: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…
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Hello RS
Question- Game of roses just said 1. There is a bunch of footage that makes Becca look bad and not the nicest but the show will never use it And 2. Trista and Ryan may have known each other before the show.. Have you ever heard either of these rummers/know if there’s any truth to them? Footage of Becca from her season of “Bachelorette” or BIP? I could see that. Just because like with any protected contestant, there’s always some footage they have out of all the hours of filming that might not portray them in the greatest of light.
Never heard that Trista and Ryan one.
Oh, and I watched I Love You, Now Die per your recommendation. Man, that really f##### with my mind. So many emotions, so many different factors, so sad for everyone. And the parents made me so mad saying they had no clue when he’d had previous suicide attempts. Really makes you think about things differently!
Thanks!
Comment: I can’t recommend that documentary enough. It’s on HBO Max and you won’t be disappointed. Will definitely make you think. And it’s so unique because we’ve really never seen anything like it. At least not publicly. But for how much time kids spend on their phones, and unless their parents are mirroring every single text they send and receive, you really don’t know who they’re talking to or what they’re talking about. If they did, that situation never would’ve escalated to what it did. The whole doc is so well done and there are so many more layers than just “he told her he wanted to kill himself and she encouraged him to so he did.” Their backstory, her fascination with movies, her post death behavior, the parents role, seeing the text messages before and after he killed himself, etc. So good. Highly recommend. Especially if you’re a parent of a teenager. You might get freaked out by the whole thing, but it will make you think about things maybe you haven’t before.
RS…I’m sure you saw your ex-gf Kat tweeting this weekend that she heard someone from Bachelor Nation was gonna be on Celebrity Big Brother? Did you hear anything about this? Do you know who it is? Just wondering.
Comment: Yeah, she texted me beforehand to tell me what she’d heard. I have no BB sources, so she’d be better at hearing stuff like that than me. She never tweeted who it was though, right? She told me she was pretty sure this person was gonna be on, but since she never tweeted the name I’m not gonna put it out there. I have no idea where she heard it or who her sources are. And it’s not like I’d heard anything about a BN person until she texted me. I guess we’ll see if it ends up being right. But until she puts the name out there, I’m not gonna say anything and I don’t know if she’s going to.
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Hi Steve –
Your take on Aaron Rodgers (who knew Jordan would be the good one?)? I just find it hard to believe that the team would not require proof of vaccination. Teams are only suggesting it. No teams have mandated it. Rodgers came across as a misinformed idiot on that podcast. I mean geez. Great quarterback. One of the best ever. But not the brightest bulb out there after that podcast performance.
Masked Singer – Do you suspect the judges are told not to hit the take it off button for the most likely finalists so they don’t screw up the results? I do feel “let down” when the mask comes off and I have no idea who it is or, worse, when it is someone I have an issue with (like anti vaxxer Rob Schneider). Are you one of the elite super fans who gets to vote? No, I’ve never been able to vote. I’ve always questioned that the judges know more than they’ve let on, but they’ve always said they haven’t, so who knows?
The Challenge – I really don’t like that they disappeared 3 players without any explanation this season – Nam, Josh’s first partner, and Ashley. Even BIP said why they were kicking off Iven. I think the audience can handle it. Yeah that didn’t make much sense to me either. But if you look online you can probably hear what’s being said about Ashley’s removal. A lot of the contestants are talking about it. Devin, Tori, and Logan have all spoken out about it publicly.
For Bachelor in Paradise, I was thinking it would be funny to pull a Too Hot To Handle on the next cast and not tell them that they were there for a game not based on romance – like a rip off of Big Brother or Survivor.
Comment: They’d never last. But it sure would be entertaining.
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Hi Steve,
Sorry for the long email, but I’m wondering if you’ve heard any rumblings on how ABC/production feels about the viewership on Michelle’s season. I know the Nielsen ratings aren’t great (and are declining each episode in the target demo) but is there any discussion about it getting good Hulu numbers (since those aren’t public)? Do they expect it to get better/worse as the season progresses? How worried are they about the holidays? I haven’t heard anything really. The only time you ever hear the show address their ratings were when it’d do well and Fleiss/Harrison/Mills would tweet “We love you Bachelor Nation! Highest rated show of the night!” Which they never do anymore because the overnight ratings suck now.
I ask because I freelance in influencer marketing. And yes, some of us read spoilers to know who to follow and target. We’re seeing drastically lower engagement among the contestants and even on the official show accounts. The contestants are not racking up followers like they normally do. One of the guys who had a one on one last week just broke 10,000 followers (Rick). And he’s a regular handsome white guy that this fanbase would normally flock to. Even Clayton isn’t gaining many followers.
Do you think this low growth/engagement is the new normal (and I need to adjust client expectations) or is this season an outlier with low viewership due to bad scheduling, burnout, racist fanbase, etc? I don’t think we’ll ever see the numbers from the Colton/Hannah/Peter era again, but these numbers are drastically lower than even Katie’s season (which is a good comparable with recency/streaming effects).
Comment: I don’t think there’s one factor that you can put your finger on and say “that’s the reason.” Probably a myriad of reasons, some of which you named. Also, I do think guys are less followed than women from this show. Hannah Brown’s season seems to be an outlier. But yeah, since her season everything is down across the board, so to me it just seems like the new norm. While you will gain a fanbase from this show afterwards, it’s just not as big as it once was.
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Hi Steve!
A week late on this….Several years ago you had Deanna on your podcast and she was talking about the pool party during her season and how she had a big blow up at the guys because it seemed like they weren’t really giving her any attention or trying to get to know her, or at least thats what the show portrayed. She said in real life she was actually on mad about/at Graham Bunn. He was who she liked and he was the one not giving her the attention she wanted.
Do you think that the “sleepover” date might have been the same situation where she wasn’t necessarily mad at all the guys but Nayte wasn’t giving her the attention she wanted? She pulled him first to specifically talk to him about it on the night portion.
Thanks so much, love everything you do! Feels like were friends because i’ve been reading for years now!
Comment: That could’ve been it since we know Nayte was a front runner in her mind. But I still believe that whole date was orchestrated by production to bring some drama to it.
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