I sent the bat signal out yesterday, and you all responded in droves. And when I say “responded in droves,” I mean “not at all.” Exactly zero people left audio messages on Yappa in yesterday’s column as I asked for tomorrow’s podcast. Oh well. Just means I’ll answer “Reader Emails” for the podcast. I’ll be doing it later this afternoon, so you can still get emails in the next few hours for me to address on tomorrow’s podcast. I wasn’t expecting more than 5 or so Yappa audio messages, but I guess I wasn’t expecting zero. Got about 10 emails so far, but would like around 15-18 to respond to for the podcast. Because some are just short answers with not a ton of explanation needed and some are a little more long winded. And then some I know I’ll end up going off on a tangent. So email me at steve@realitysteve.com in the next few hours to get your email read in tomorrow’s podcast. Plenty of stuff you want to go over I’m sure. Hell, it doesn’t even need to be about the show really. I’m in an answering mood today, so get em in the next few hours.
So Hannah Brown’s book comes out next week, meaning all the outlets are getting early advances on it. People dropped this nugget today that I’m sure will have everyone talking. I’m going to address this more at the beginning of the podcast tomorrow because I have stuff to add, but lets just say this story is not the least bit surprising. While it may have been kept under wraps until now when Hannah revealed it in the book, it was certainly discussed in Bachelor Nation inner circle at the time of that party thrown by Hannah G and Dylan.
Lets get right to last night’s recap shall we?
-We started off with Michelle getting to see her parents since the episode is back in her hometown. We’ve seen that before, but usually with people on dates. Colton introduced Hannah Brown to his family. Ben Higgins showed Emily Ferguson his family when they were in Indiana. I don’t think Nick got to introduce any of his women to his parents when they were in Wisconsin. Nikki got to meet Juan Pablo’s mother and daughter in Miami. So the lead has gotten to see their parents before in the past when episodes were filmed in their hometown, but always on a date. Michelle just got to go home and chill with her mom and dad and spill all the tea about the guys up to this point. Ok, she didn’t do that, but she should’ve. Then the parents could’ve spoiled everything. Or not.
-Joe got the first 1-on-1 in Minnesota because I don’t know if you know this, but Joe’s from Minnesota. So is Michelle. Kinda been a secret all season, but oh boy, cat’s out of the bag now. Or as Nayte would pronounce it, “bayg.” Said it last week but there’s a reason the front runners got their 1-on-1’s in her hometown. She likes them the most. As you know, back in August, Joe and Michelle at the Twins game was spoiled in real time on my social media accounts. They were barely there. Stayed about 3 innings then left for her date at the high school. You actually got more footage from video that day than the choppy editing from the first pitch last night.
(UPDATE): Michelle and Joe Coleman just received jerseys from the Twins mascot, TC Bear, and threw out the first pitch. Then kissed. Ooooo kissy kissy pic.twitter.com/SL7vOwxiEY
— RealitySteve (@RealitySteve) August 15, 2021
-They went back to Michelle’s HS and she broke out all the old school awards and photos. Showed Joe the trophy case of her basketball team, then whipped out the HS yearbook. I mean, I was half expecting her to let him wear her letterman’s jacket at that point. Do you know how big a deal those were when I was in HS? I know they’re still around today, but are the kids excited about getting them and wearing them? Like, that was the ultimate back in the early 90’s. If you gave your girlfriend your letterman’s jacket to wear, that was basically showing off to the whole school. And they ate it up. Problem is, it kinda loses its luster when you have a new girl wearing it every other month. Not gonna say I speak from experience on that, but, ummmmmm, so I’ve heard. When I look back now at all the things I did in high school that I thought were cool, “ew cringe” (like my niece says) doesn’t even begin to describe my reaction.
-Before the night portion of Joe’s date, the show put up a “Viewer Discretion Advised” warning saying that there would be talk of depression and suicide. If I’m not mistaken, that’s the first time they’ve ever done that before a segment, no? They’ve started to do it after the fact, and did again last night, but before? I don’t remember them doing that? When Caelynn told her sexual assault college story to Colton did they put up something beforehand? I could be completely blanking but I don’t remember them doing that. And I remember when Tayshia’s season was airing and Ben talked about his mental health issues and suicide attempts, people were bothered that they weren’t warned beforehand. So I guess they learned their lesson by putting the warning up before the date.
-Basically Joe breaks down telling the story of how basketball was basically his life, but it ended because of a foot injury. And because his whole life was basketball, to have it crumbling down like that was very hard on him to the point where he was depressed and suicidal. Said he moved back to Minnesota because that was home and that’s where he needed to be. Seems like this might have been the first time he’d ever opened up about that since the guy seems pretty private. Not a whole hell of a lot to break down here. That was his story, he cried, Michelle cried, and she gave him a rose. I’m just gonna move on from this one.
