Reality Steve

Reader Emails

“Reader Emails,” & Colton’s Documentary Released on Friday

Photo Credit: ABC

Hi Steve! I hope you and your family had a happy Thanksgiving! I have a few questions for you…

When you had Jacqueline on your podcast weeks ago, you discussed a video or picture you had sent her of someone from Bachelor in Paradise who was out at a club with someone who they weren’t with on the show. Has that story come out yet in the press? Is that person still with the person they were with on Paradise? I really hope it wasn’t Thomas! Becca has been through enough! It wasn’t Thomas. No, it hasn’t come out and I doubt it will. Just looked like two people from the franchise hooking up for the night/weekend. Neither of them are dating each other now based on what I’ve seen on social media. And no, neither of them are in a relationship as far as I know. And yes, this was on video and clearly these two were together. It wasn’t just hearsay.

Are you loving Survivor this season? I have watched every season since the beginning (except one) and I am loving this season. They did an amazing job choosing the cast and this past episode was especially good! When Ricard said who he planned to vote out, I think my jaw dropped! I hope you do another survivor podcast once this season ends. I can definitely see many of these contestants coming back in the future. I’m not loving all the twists, no. I am loving the cast though. A really great cast and I’m excited to see who pulls this thing out.

I know you haven’t watched Married at First Sight in a while but if there are highlights online of a guy from this past season named Gil, I am telling you, he would be the most perfect bachelor ever! Many fans of MAFS have said he is the best contestant who has ever been on the show…handsome, kind, a fireman, plus he actually wants to settle down. I am convinced he would be the next Sean Lowe… Someone who would actually end up marrying his first choice pick! He got completely screwed over on the show this season and if Bachelor wants to change things up, do a crossover show! Take a contestant from MAFS. I’m convinced it would be the smartest thing they ever did, especially since they are planning a second season of The Bachelor right after Clayton’s. A fireman as the bachelor?! Yes please!

Thanks for all you do Steve! I’m constantly driving and I love listening to your podcast! Keep up the good work!

Comment: Only thing is, never in 43 seasons of the show has the Bachelor ever chosen someone who was on another show. They consider themselves the gold standard when it comes to reality TV dating shows (as they should since they’ve lasted way longer than anyone else), and they’d never choose someone who was on another show before theirs. In their mind, THEY make them the stars first, so, I don’t see them ever going that route. Not gonna happen.
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Hi Steve,

I heard Blake on Mike and Bryan’s podcast and I read John Hersey’s “ we didn’t cheat “ explanation.

In hindsight Blake and Katie were a horrific match. If living in Canada wasn’t enough the fact that he wants to spend a good deal of time in Africa and Australia puts a nail in the coffin. Sure if this was a problem Katie should have made it clear she wanted Greg Grippo instead of waffling. She knew Blake all of a month and while they had chemistry on the show a discussion of post show should have eliminated Blake.

So they give it a try and she is not happy with it but would probably stuck it out longer if John hadn’t become her new BFF. From what I know about John he lives in San Diego area and works at Dukes in La Jolla as a bartender.

I have been to Dukes in La Jolla and Huntington Beach and I can tell you it is a goldmine. Bar and restaurant are thriving Year round. A popular bartender can make 200 K so with his looks and income John is a real good catch. He sure didn’t have to go on The Bachelorette to find love because Duke’s has an abundant supply of women every day for him to meet.

It is easy to see how Katie and John could develop a romance considering an absentee fiancé and a good looking , high income former contestant living in same city.

Long way to getting around with my beef. Blake seems like a very decent straight forward guy. He didn’t deserve to be blindsided a month after the breakup. John can write a book trying to justify why it went down the way it did but it doesn’t hold water. I think he would have wanted to wait till after the holidays to go public but Katie has shown she is an attention grabbing me first person and based on public reaction it backfired.

Katie and John might last and eventually Blake will find a globe trotting wildlife lover so in six months this will be just another Bachelor breakup…. Albeit a bit more sleezy than the countless others.

Comment: Agree. And that’s the point I think almost everyone is making. No one is saying Katie and John can’t date. And logistically, if not other reasons, they probably are a better match for each other than Katie and Blake. No one is saying anything about that. It’s all about how each of them handled this announcement to let America know they’re a couple. It was petty, it was immature, and it didn’t need to be done. But based on both of their responses to their announcement, they clearly do not care how they came across and absolutely 100% still don’t see why what they did is being looked at negatively. They don’t get it, so, it’s almost pointless to try and convince them.
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Sorry for emailing you twice this week, but I am seeing quite a bit of promo from the Bachelor franchise about how history making it is that Michelle’s final 4 are all men of color. It made me wonder something. IMO, her connection with Rick was much stronger than her connections with Rodney. Rodney seems to clearly be in the friend zone. Since, at this point she probably already knew who her final 2 might be, Do you think the producers talked her into eliminating Rick, so that they could have their historic POC moment!!

Thanks!

Comment: I’m sure it played a role. You don’t put anything past this franchise when it comes to clearing up their image as they took a beating in the last year from their lack of diversity.
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Hi! I guess this is more of a statement/opinion than a question, but I don’t know why people are so surprised at what Katie did and are saying she’s not who they thought she was. She is EXACTLY who she showed herself to be! For someone who claims to be “real” IDK if I’ve seen a lead that is so fake! IMO, the way she treated Thomas was awful and so mean. I wasn’t a Thomas fan, so I am not defending him here, but his elimination was cringe worthy!! And she’s still taking jabs at him on her IG.

Was never a big fan of either her or Blake, but my gosh! If you were in love with this man, have some respect with your breakup process.

Her true colors will continue to come out & really, no one should be surprised.

Thanks, from an OG fan of yours!

Comment: And that’s one of my issues. If Blake was a total dick, cheated on her, was horrible to her, etc, that would make more sense as to why she did the reveal the way she did. But everything she said publicly about Blake (and even things I heard she said privately told to me by others) were nothing but positives about him, their relationship, how in love she was, etc. So yes, while you don’t owe your ex and explanation, it’s still just common courtesy, ESPECIALLY when you’re public figures like that, to give him a heads up if you ever cared about him. That’s all. A simple conversation would’ve done. But nope. I guess that was too much to ask to try and be a decent person in this situation.
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Hi Steve,

Thanks to your Twitter links, you got me into watching Kelly Johns’ hilarious Bachelor satire videos, where she plays the part of everyone. She doesn’t post them as much as she used to, sadly. Do you have any other Bachelor satire suggestions? She posts them every week I thought. It’s possible there are weeks where I’ve just forgotten to re-post her video on my IG story, but I could swear she does them every week. As for others, there aren’t weekly ones that I’m aware of.

On a non-Bachelor note: I wonder what you thought of the DWTS results? I honestly thought JoJo was the best dancer.

Comment: Well, we’ve been down this road before with the show. The best dancer doesn’t always win, the best story does. And I guess enough people saw Iman as more of the underdog because he had no dance background, and improved week to week, vs JoJo who literally came from a dancing background. Yes, JoJo was the better dancer as she should’ve been. She also had some great choreography this season and memorable dances, but when you let the audience decide, they all have their own likes and biases. And we’ve seen time and time again with this show it comes down to fanbase and storylines. Iman was a product of that.
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Hey Steve –

I know you and others have complained about all the twists and advantages on Survivor. What do you think of going back to the early days and having a season without hidden immunities or advantages but they don’t tell the players? Jeff could still ask if anyone has any to keep the ruse going. Interesting or incredibly boring? I don’t think they could get away with that. You gotta have some idols in there. Just not as many as they’re currently doing. And just do idols. No twists, knowledge of powers, etc. Just straight one idol at each camp, once it gets played, another one goes back in. But it seems like those days are long gone.

Favorite judge on Masked Singer? Joel McHale when he comes in. But if you’re asking about the original judges, probably Robin since he’s the least theatrical on the panel.

It is amazing how many people feel compelled to go online after every bachelor breakup to say they knew it would not last as if this is a unique or odds defying prediction.

I know you don’t watch it but Married At First Sight has really developed its own toxic following with plenty of posts against this season’s “villains”. A big public thanks to all these reality people who risk their reputations for our amusement !

Comment: It’s why I say if anyone were to ever come to me before appearing on this show and ask for my opinion, I’d most likely suggest not doing it. But I know they’d never listen. One person did, and now she’s married to someone outside the franchise. So hey, my advice actually can work!
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Jacqueline Trumbull recently did an interview where she claimed her crying sounds from her season with Arie were used during the Becca/Arie breakup footage, as well as during her season of Paradise. Does the contract these contestants sign really allow the producers/network/showrunners to use audio from ITMs from one season on a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT show or even attribute them to someone else (I.e. making it sound like it was Becca’s cries when it was Jacqueline’s voice crying)?

I know you’ve frequently referred to “Franken-biting.” Have you heard of any other situations where contestants have said their voice-overs have been used in seasons that were not their own or have been editted into scenes that did not even involve them (for example Jacqueline’s cry being used in the Arie/Becca breakup scene)?

What’s the most egregious use of franken-biting that you can think of in the shows recent history?

Comment: There’s so many instances of it, it’d be impossible to cover here. Every single episode you’ve ever seen of this show has multiple instances of frankenbiting. Here’s how easy it is to do and the best visual example I can give you. This was a promo that the show “UnReal” ran promoting their show.

Pretty simple to make someone look like they said something they didn’t, huh?
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Steve, Colton’s Nexflix show comes out (pun intended) on Friday. When you were hearing that he was in works with a show prior to his breakup with Cassie, were you hearing that it was a coming out show?

At the end of the day, I’m happy he is comfortable with himself to live an authentic life.

Comment: Not at all. I mean, when he came on my podcast last summer, I specifically addressed the gay rumors with him and he denied them immediately. Clearly this was still a time when he was in denial. But no, I had no idea this was gonna be the basis of his show.
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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.

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