Hi Steve
Now that I am hooked on Joe Millionaire, I find it more and more difficult to sit thru an entire episode of The Bachelor. And it doesn’t help that the lead is so ho-hum. It’s almost embarrassing to watch how he gushes when a woman tells him she’s falling in love with him. He acts like a teenage boy with his first crush. I also think he may have self-esteem issues as the way he behaves illustrates that he doesn’t feel he deserves their affections. It would not surprise me in the least if he ends up with no one. There have been several other leads who’ve professed love for more than one woman at the end, but by now most of them were starting to reciprocate when the women professed their love. But he just giggles and says nothing in return. And, after watching the Hometown visits, I still do not see a clear frontrunner. I will say though that it was rather obvious who he was sending home (even without your spoiler). When Serene told him at the end of the date that she actually was IN LOVE with him, he barely reacted, basically just sat there like the remark had gone over his head. And, I also wasn’t surprised when he didn’t give Rachel a rose till the last one (or maybe they didn’t show them in true order?).
Earlier in the season he seemed to be gaga over Rachel. But last night he seemed more taken with Susie and Gabby. And I’m starting to like Gabby more and more. In your poll I voted for Susie for Bachelorette, but the more I think about it, I think gabby would make a better one as she has a fun personality.
The powers at be, better pick someone more exciting for the next season or they’ll lose a lot of us viewers. So many better reality dating shows out there. Joe Millionaire and Temptation Island the best of the lot and FAR more entertaining! I’ve thanked you in the past for turning us onto these shows, but bears saying again. Thanks Steve! And keep the recommendations coming! Lastly…this might be the first season where I could truly care less how it ends.
Comment: I think the ending is definitely gonna be something different than what we’re used to. So whether or not that turns viewers on or off remains to be seen.
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Hi Steve,
While I was watching the hometowns last night, and reading the column today I had a few thoughts/questions (none are theories about the ending!)
1) The hug/jump – can you ask one of your contestant contacts, do the producers basically make them do the running hug/jump at this point? I’m fairly petite, and never in my life have I ever wanted to do a greeting that way. Rachel and Clayton were semi breaking the 4th wall making fun of it too. I feel like it has to be “forced” (or suggested). It’s become a staple of the show. It’s absolutely suggested.
2) Bachelorette – since the season has a non-traditional ending, that seems like it makes it harder to choose a bachelorette. I guess it all depends on whether Clayton is totally single or left it open ended with 1 or more of the women. I guess it gives Serene more of a shot since she’s the last one who is fully eliminated. I guess we’ll see how the ending plays out, and if Susie leaves, I guess it could be her. It’s just hard to imagine there’s no finality with the final 2-3 women and then they immediately turn around and one of them becomes the Bachelorette right away.
Thanks for the entertainment!
Comment: Yeah if they are gonna do the “Bachelorette” announcement on the ATFR, will be interesting to see how it’s presented. And how that woman acts.
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Hi Steve,
I know you are zeroing in on what happened after Fantasy Suites regarding Clayton and the three finalists. Each of the three are unique in their own way and would be a tough choice for anyone to narrow it down to one.
Rachel’s father hinted in the house visit that being a pilot in Europe could be on the table for Rachel. Clayton handled it well but you could see that unless his company has an office in major cities in Europe or he is willing to try a new career that might be a deal breaker regarding Rachel. If it were it obviously didn’t stop him from getting it on in The Fantasy Suite.
Susie appears to be the complete package but I don’t see the chemistry between them relative to what he has with Rachel and Gabby.
So that leaves Gabby who I believe would have been his final choice.
If Gabby were his final choice The proper thing would have been to only sleep with her in the overnight.
But Clayton wasn’t thinking about love that week he was thinking about getting as much as he could.
Unfortunately it backfired on him and all three said Sayonara. That is probably a first and why Fleiss is so happy to have something unique to crow about given low ratings across the board for all network shows and intense competition from Love Is Blind, FBoy Island, Temptation Island and a host of others.
So what happens next? I think Clayton has probably spent the last 3 months apologizing and is ready for one last Hail Mary at ATFR. I believe his main target is Gabby and I think he will not get engaged but will ask for a chance to date and see where it goes. I think he will be rejected because she doesn’t know if she was first, second or third choice and she has a good shot at being Bachelorette.
That’s my take.
Comment: Interesting take. Gabby is someone that not a lot of people are talking about. Everyone seems zeroed in on Rachel and/or Susie. Even after I said that I was told he’s not with Rachel, people just don’t want to believe that.
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Hey RS…you alluded to the fact that you’re certain Clayton isn’t with Rachel, but how do you know that? I know you can’t give up your sources but that’s a pretty big spoiler. Anything else you can fill us in on there? Thanks. Love the site and can’t wait to see how this plays out.
Comment: Not without getting too detailed, no. All I can say is a source I trust told me and I have no reason not to believe it. He’s not with her. I also have no reason to believe he will be with her either come the finale.
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Hey Steve!
As I’ve been watching the Hometowns episode, it seemed like Clayton was not having a very good time with Susie. During the day portion of their date, and especially the jui jitsu part, he actually seemed unhappy. If you watch it back, he had a bad attitude about wearing the gi, he didn’t make any positive comments about the activity they were doing, and he just seemed generally melancholy. It almost made me wonder if something bad had happened before the date, or if he just didn’t really want to be there. Did you notice that at all? No. It’s funny that everyone can watch the same exact show, yet see completely different things. It’s not like I saw his date with Susie and thought she was miles ahead of everyone else. I just didn’t see what you saw.
He also doesn’t really interact with Susie in the same way he does with Gabby and Rachel. During the day portion of his date with Gabby he was all smiles the WHOLE time, and he seemed genuinely happy. When he was meeting Susie’s family, he seemed hesitant and, quite honestly, not that into her really. I guess this is all to say that I don’t think he was as into Susie as he was Gabby and Rachel. I think that may even be why they filmed Susie’s hometown date first, because they knew she wasn’t his number 1. And maybe that’s why Gabby’s was filmed last, because she WAS his number 1 possibly. Do you personally think that the order the hometown dates are filmed in has anything to do with who the lead likes the most? Have you ever heard anything along those lines?
Comment: Order means nothing. It’s almost always done logistically. If the final 4 rose ceremony is in LA (which it usually is), they just work east to west. If it’s on the East Coast – Juan Pablo’s season comes to mind since his final 4 rose ceremony was in Miami – they went west to east.
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Hey Steve –
What are your plans for your Super Bowl winnings? Well, paid some stuff off and the rest is coming with me to Vegas in 2 weeks for March Madness.
Random observation from this week’s Bachelor is that Rachel, who is beautiful and thin by societal norms is a bit curvy by Bachelor norms. Not body shaming as she is gorgeous. Makes me wonder if the show will ever be pressured on the body type front. Bob G may have been the last non-ripped guy. We’ve seen for 46 seasons the body type this show goes after. I don’t see that changing anytime soon unfortunately. What’s that saying, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them.” That goes for this show as well.
Loved the podcast with Rob last week and when you go non Bachelor for some podcasts. Hoping you pick up a show like Love is Blind between Bach seasons and interview someone from there. If you are not sick of talking about Celebrity Big Brother, I bet you can land Todd Bridges by reaching out on Twitter. He seems very responsive to tweets. I would love to hear you pull a Julie Chen Moonves and ask him “Todd – on the night you were evicted, you said Todrick was playing the best game and implied you would vote for him to win. At the finale, 2 days later, you rolled your eyes at him and voted against him. We have to know – was it harder playing Willis on Diff’rent Strokes or playing Big Brother?” It’s seriously the most annoying thing Julie does and it’s completely pointless. I know she has to be a shill for the show, but good God that’s so over the top and stupid to ask that.
I agree the finale was too short. No answer why Kattan couldn’t vote or why he just showed up. Given the lack of sequestration, I don’t think jury questions are as necessary as the regular show. In this case, the questions or debate segments would telegraph the outcome. Watching the episodes, etc. answers the questions about strategy and alliances so the usual questions would not need finale answers. In this case, maybe it prevented even more digs at Todrick. That guy has been getting destroyed on social media for past business practices and his comments. I read – no idea if it is true – that the response he yelled to Shanna when she left and she said she would get the jury against him is the same thing a home invader said to her in a past scary incident. If there is a PR person who specializes in reality show contestants who screw up, they would be an interesting interview. Do you think agents will try to keep their clients off this show to avoid pulling a Todrick? Do you believe superfan Jerry O’Connell will really do it? Neil Patrick Harris appeared as a super fan in the past but is probably too big for it. Just seems like little upside for a true/happening celebrity.
Comment: We’ve seen 3 seasons of the Celebrity version now and I don’t think they’ve come close to casting an A or B lister. It’s mostly reality stars and athletes. I don’t think any A, B, or even C lister would ever do that show because they don’t need it. The people that do it are, well, the type of people we’ve seen for 3 seasons. Most of these contestants have been on multiple reality shows before this.
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Question about hometowns: I know that usually they FILM them (not necessarily air them- we know they are aired out of order) based on what makes sense geographically. For example, if they are coming from Europe, they might do Florida first, then Tennessee, then Texas, then California). Do you think, or have you ever heard of them planning the order of the hometowns in hopes to change the outcome or elicit certain emotions from the lead? No. It’s definitely done logistically.
For example, if they wanted a particular girl to stick around so they planned her hometown date LAST so that she’d be fresh on the mind of the lead, and therefore more likely to get a rose? Or put a front runner/someone who they knew had a skeptical family first as to jilt the lead, thus making him re-think their final 3?
Same question about overnights and final 2 dates: who chooses that order (that they are FILMED— again, we know they aren’t aired in order always) and do they ever manipulate the order of the overnights or F2 dates based on how they think the lead will react?
Comment: I think that’s all done based on circumstance and each season is different. I don’t think there’s a rhyme or reason to it. If there were, then it’d be a pattern that people could snuff out that’d give away who they chose.
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Steve,
I was wondering if you had heard anything in regards to Clint Arlis’ passing. It’s always a terrible thing when someone goes at such a young age. I hope you’re taking care!
Comment: No, I haven’t. Even did some Google searching on it, and still nothing publicly about cause of death. Such a tragedy.
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This is obviously my first time since I don’t even know if I’m doing this right haha!
Anyway, do you get excited when you get spoilers? When you drop little hints or say you’ve been hearing things and will confirm soon, I get so excited! Like what is it going to be!! So it made me wonder if you ever get excited about spoilers.
Also, I know you’ve said you don’t care who the next bachelor/bachelorette is, but do you have a favorite out of the final 3? It seems you like Rachel but I don’t know if she’s your favorite.
Thanks for keeping my reality heart going!
Comment: Ha ha excited? Excited as in how? Like I squeal when I get something? Jump up and down? No. But I do feel a sense of relief when I do get something big because I know people just expect it of me. And in recent years, they become more vocal when I DON’T have something, so that gets annoying.
I do not have a favorite out of the final 3. I could see any one of them getting it and would be fine with Gabby, Rachel, or Susie.
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