Three months off seems like three years. Seriously. I know Zach’s season ended one month ago today, and we’ve had two whole seasons of this show film (Charity’s and “Bachelor in Paradise”) before last night even hit the air, but it’s still incredible to me how long ago three months seemed. With that said, I want to welcome everyone back and, yeah, you didn’t miss much on this site, because outside of a few weeks ago reporting on the Serene/Brandon breakup, that was the only thing I wrote in the past 3 months. Just understand that I know what my numbers are. And I know where the audience is leaning towards. And for you readers, unfortunately, that’s the podcasting world. Your recaps will still be up every Tuesday and “Reader Emails” every Wednesday during all of Charity’s season and BIP, but there’s still a “Daily Roundup” podcast that, trust me, is getting more traffic and monetizing so much better than the website. Those are just the facts. Times are changing. People just don’t want to read long form columns anymore. This is something I’ve seen take over basically since the pandemic. To see how my numbers have done such a 180 in 3 years blows me away. I didn’t see it coming. But it’s here and it’s why there’s a daily podcast now, coming up on one year of that.
You can listen to today’s podcast on a number of platforms, but you can also tune in by clicking the player below:
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Music written by Jimmer Podrasky
(B’Jingo Songs/Machia Music/Bug Music BMI)
Speaking of “Reader Emails,” get your emails in steve@realitysteve.com today for tomorrow’s column since, well, we have zero emails right now because I haven’t written in 3 months. Makes sense. But get those in today and I’ll be answering them tomorrow. I mean, you gotta have some thoughts/questions/queries after last night, no? And if you have anything on others shows like TI or The Big D, Vanderpump Rules, whatever. I’m all ears.
In case you missed yesterday, I’ve got your rose ceremony-by-rose ceremony spoilers up right now that gives you every date and elimination up to Hometown Dates. After that, I have what I know to be fact versus what we can deduce from things that have popped up online in the months during filming.
One of the things I talked about in those spoilers was the whole Xavier intro video that I could’ve sworn had the wide angle shot of someone kissing Charity in Fiji. That clip was first seen in BacheloretteABC’s IG account on June 7th which was a :30 preview of her season. When it came out, there was a lot of discussion of who that was kissing Charity in Fiji. Then when Xavier’s intro video was posted to their account on June 12th, I thought that clip was in it, which would then confirm it was him. Some people emailed me yesterday saying they remember it being in there too, and some said they don’t remember ever seeing it in there. The comments under his intro video on the BacheloretteABC IG account has no mention of anyone saying “Hey, you just gave away Xavier is in Fiji” or something to that effect – unless ABC deleted comments. I hadn’t looked til yesterday.
Bottom line is that it really doesn’t matter ultimately if that clip appeared in his video package or not. What matters is if that’s him who’s kissing her. To the naked eye, I think it’s him, but it’s not 100% confirmed. I’d say I’m about 95/5 looking at it thinking it’s Xavier. Once there’s something definitive there, we’ll know her final 3.
Some corrections have been made since yesterday in those spoilers. They are:
-I misidentified which Chris was sent home last night. Chris Spell was the jumping guy who got eliminated. Chris Blackman was in the original cast of 29 men on the Facebook page that never made it to first night, along with Brandon Wallace, Demarcus Gresham, and Steve Cole.
-I originally posted yesterday the first group date of the season was 12 guys at the Hollywood sign and the first 1-on-1 with Aaron Bryant was driving a convertible car and then heading to the LA Theater for a private concert. It’s been changed. The 12 guy group date was at the beach where they played dodgeball, and Aaron and Charity drove to the Hollywood sign in their convertible before heading back to LA for the private concert.
-Even though in real time during filming I told you that Xavier filmed his hometown date first and Joey filmed his second, my picture on Twitter and IG had Joey first and Xavier second. That’s been changed on both IG and yesterday’s column.
-Warwick’s (who I guess pronounces his name “Warrick”) 1-on-1 date was at the Belmont Amusement Park in San Diego, the same place Colton and Elyse had their 1-on-1 during his season.
“Bachelor in Paradise” completed filming over the weekend and I don’t have the final couples yet. Yesterday in the Daily Roundup the biggest spoiler I gave was the fact that Katie Thurston did go down to Paradise, but not to be a contestant on the show. She appeared to give a group date card I believe, but this was mostly about her having a talk with ex-fiance, Blake Moynes who was there. Apparently they hashed out the way their relationship ended and it was a positive talk overall. Seemingly this was the show extending the olive branch to Katie since she’s been very critical of the show and her time on it, and this convo with Blake gave both of them the closure they needed.
I’m still waiting to hear the final couples, who got engaged, etc and I will post those when I get them.
Your recap begins on Page 2…
