A lot of the same ol, same ol this season in terms of the spoilers. Two weeks before the season started, before you even got your first glimpse of Michelle’s season, I told you she was engaged to Nayte. Then for 2.5 months you hear all sorts of rumblings, people read too much into the edit, Brandon’s likes and comments on IG, and all the sudden it turned into “Is the spoiler wrong?” Pretty much like every season. Then at the end of last week, you’ve got TikTokers spreading gossip that Michelle had already broken up with Nayte and was back to dating Joe. Which couldn’t have been further from the truth, but as we get closer to the finale every season, the rumors always pick up. I shot that down on Friday in a tweet, and as you saw last night, there was nothing to that whatsoever.
What I will say as I did in the tweet was that I’ve spoken with Nayte’s ex on quite a few occasions back when the season started airing. No need to go into details about anything other than to say she never wanted to be part of this narrative. It was her friends that kept pushing it on social media and contacting other sites telling them the same things his ex told me. Was it positive stuff? Uhhhh, no. But I explained to her what coming forward would mean, what she would have to deal with publicly, how many people wouldn’t believe her regardless of what she said, what she showed as proof, etc. Her intention of even contacting me in the first place wasn’t even to tell her side publicly. I think she just needed a place to vent because she was definitely frustrated and confused. But already when the rumors were floating out there, I saw how she was immediately being dismissed as a scorned ex and told to get over it already, etc. Yet, none of those people had spoken to her personally, none of those people had FaceTimed with her, and none of those people know any details of their past other than basics. I get the sense that Nayte’s ex, while frustrated, confused, and a little disappointed, is over the whole thing now. It happened, you learn from it, and you move on. If other gossip mongers want to drag it out, that’s on them. I told his ex to tell her friends to shut up since it’s not helping her case and she agreed. It’s a non story because she wants it to be, not because what she said has no merit. It most certainly does. But she doesn’t want to address it or talk about it, and that’s why I never brought it up all season that I’d even spoken to her back in October until this past Friday. Just wanted to shut the rumors down once and for all. Don’t bother asking what she said, what evidence she showed me, what their relationship was, etc. Doesn’t matter anymore. Nayte is with Michelle now. End of story.
The Brandon side of this whole finale certainly had its moments. Hell, all season Brandon did because he wasn’t known to anyone until the last minute. Remember, I had that pic of Michelle and Brandon meeting her parents, which I thought was Peter. Then I didn’t have Michelle’s final four this season until after I’d said that Michelle was engaged to Nayte. And then of course this photo I received on Sept 7th which, at the time, I didn’t know who it was. All I knew was that this guy was in the final 2 since the final rose ceremony was just days later:
Ahhhhh, the ol Brandon/Michelle jet ski date I got pics of on Sept 7th. (Even though at the time I didn’t know which guy it was). pic.twitter.com/fcujWRMr7m
— RealitySteve (@RealitySteve) December 22, 2021
Then all season long, as we start to see Brandon’s edit, knowing he was in the final 2, a lot of the conversation turned to, “Are you sure she doesn’t pick Brandon?” Yes, I was sure. But again, as is the case with pretty much every season, without revealing my sources, I can’t tell you how I knew she had picked Nayte. So I just let all the Brandon talk run its course all season knowing it couldn’t change what happened back in Mexico. Michelle and Joe both at the same Vikings game one night, the Nayte flirting in Austin rumors, the Brandon likes and comments about Michelle all season – all those things are just minor distractions, but none of them can replace what happened during filming. That’s all I focus on. Everything else is just noise intended to distract. Of course I got told all season I was wrong and she was with Brandon. Will those people contact me now and say anything? I’m still waiting…
The other thing regarding Brandon, especially after last night’s episode, is this uproar on why HE wasn’t the Bachelor and Clayton was. I thought Brandon handled himself about as well as he could in Mexico when Michelle let him go. Definitely got a sympathy edit and I figured the, “Brandon for Bachelor” comments would come fast and furious. And they did. But let me paint the timeline for you.
-Michelle’s final rose ceremony day was Sept 9th or 10th.
-Clayton started quarantining for his season of Sept. 22nd or so. First night of filming was the 29th.
-Making Brandon the “Bachelor” would’ve done two things:
1) Ruined any suspense last night of who Michelle chose (and all season for that matter)
2) Wouldn’t have been realistic in a time sense that he was that devastated over his Michelle breakup that two weeks later he’s going for fittings, shooting promos, and getting ready to meet 30 women
All other past leads had way more than 2 weeks to get over a breakup, regardless of how devastating it was, before they were named the new “Bachelor” or “Bachelorette.” So yeah, it was never in the cards for Brandon to be the “Bachelor” or Clayton. The closest they ever came was announcing Rachel as the “Bachelorette” before she was eliminated at 3 on Nick’s season. But there’s no way they’d ever make the #2 person the lead AND announce them as that lead, BEFORE that season and/or finale airs. Takes all the suspense out of that finale. Last night would’ve been a waste of time to a majority of their audience if they’d been reading for the last 2 months that Brandon was the “Bachelor” and he’d already filmed his season.
So about last night…(Thoughts on Page 3)
