Man, it’s been quite a week for Rachel Recchia. First she had to deal with insufferable trolls online body shaming her for losing weight, even though they had no idea it happened through a kidney infection. Now she’s having to deal with those pesky dating rumors about Blake Moynes because she appeared at an event with him this past weekend in Laguna Niguel, CA. I know people love getting the tea, but this isn’t the first time not only have Rachel and Blake taken a pic together, but they’ve literally traveled to other countries together. Yet, people just assume they must be dating because of it. The article linked above Rachel clears the air and says he’s her best guy friend, they’ve never kissed, they’ve never made out, and she knows people are shipping them all the time. Hey, maybe it’ll be a situation like Susie and Justin where they hung out all the time and it took a while for them to realize they wanted to date. I guess that’s possible, but I don’t get the sense that’s what’ll happen here. As Rachel says, if it hasn’t happened by now, it’s probably not going to happen. Nor does it seem like either of them want it to because of their friendship. It’s just so bizarre to me the parasocial relationship fans have with certain contestants. I’ll never understand it. Ever. People just need to check themselves sometimes and realize these contestants don’t care about you. Like, at all. So maybe you shouldn’t invest so much thought and time into people who don’t reciprocate it. Just a thought.
A lot of questions this week in “Reader Emails” about production on the show. Some real good ones in here. Lets get right to them…
(1) do you know for sure that production knew Sam would have to leave at a certain point to officiate a wedding (I.e. that he had to leave and was never going to be the winner)? If so, why would they cast him? Do you think they were hoping he would either be (a) the villain (which he was) or (b) the next bachelor? Why bother even casting him if they knew he wasn’t going until the end? Because they’re casting a TV show, not the 25 best fits for their lead. Sam isn’t the first contestant who going in knew they had to leave before filming ended and he won’t be the last. Only they can truly know if they knew he’d be the villain, but they really can make any contestant out who they want to be. It’s all about what that contestant gives them, and Sam gave them plenty of material.
(2) is it possible that Jenn was clued into the fact that he was never going to stay the whole time? Or maybe that he was even a “plant”? It just seems so fishy that he got the first impression rose, they had a seemingly intense connection, but then this week she absolutely grilled him more so than anyone else. Was this a planned breakup by production? Like is it possible that production went to Jen and was like ‘hey FYI, this guy is leaving in a week regardless. Kick his ass to the curb now’ It’s impossible to know that. I have no idea. I don’t think he was a plant per se. He’s just a guy who was very naïve to the whole reality TV process (as was his family evidenced by what they said in there social posts), and producers rand with it.
(3) unrelated to Sam/Jenn. But have you heard of contestants or from contestants in the past that were SERIOUSLY blindsided or heartbroken when they didn’t get a rose? We all know that in the moment they are brainwashed into thinking they “love” the lead (bachelor/bachelorette), they’re sleep deprived/drunk/etc. but curious if there were ever contestants that were really heartbroken (like it was an actual break-up) or really thought they were making it all the way and were then blindsided. You don’t have to share names if people have confided in you, but curious if there were past “breakups” (rose ceremonies) that seemed particularly brutal and genuine to you. Absolutely. And it’s usually contestants that were eliminated early. Promised things by production, then they’re eliminated, and their producer feigns shock, bewilderment, sadness, etc because that’s their job. If your producer doesn’t have you fired up thinking you’re going to do well on the show and go far, then you won’t really feel like being there. I say this every season, but every producer is gassing up their contestant to think they’re gonna be the final pick and great of a fit they are for the lead, and every season, only one person wins. Not to mention 8-10 don’t even last past the first night. But if those first night eliminations weren’t thinking they had a chance, they’d never get on the plane to come on the show. So its producers job to make them think they have a chance, when in reality, a lot of them don’t. The number of contestants eliminated at each rose ceremony basically has stayed the same for 49 seasons. So yeah, there are plenty of contestants who have smoke blown up their ass only to have the rug pulled out from under them every season.
(4) do you think Sam is a shoe-in for paradise? Usually villains are since they are promised a redemption-edit, but the social media activity between him and his family calling Jenn a “fraud” and whatnot makes me wonder if he’s burned his bridges in the franchise
Comment: It would be quite hypocritical of him to do it. And if he does, it just proves he 1000% cares about what strangers on the internet think of him, even though he claims he doesn’t.
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Is it just me or did Jenn’s heated entrance and reaction when looking for Sam seem producer-induced? Do we think what occurred on the group date was actually enough to make her this angry? She stormed in with a vengeance at that point that she didn’t leave the date with. Obviously the situation in general was created by producers but her demeanor is really what confused me. Felt like we missed something!
Comment: I wouldn’t say she was heated. Obviously she was put off by Sam. But with the amount of time you spend sitting with producers talking about your feelings on this show, I think the more she talked about Sam, the more she realized there was nothing of substance there. I’m sure there was some producer nudging to get her in that direction, but it’s possible she just realized there wasn’t much there with him.
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Random Notes –
It’s clear that Devin and Sam M. have black-cents where their words/tone sound more like black people when they are agitated/confronted. Speaking of which, Jenn has an almost Tayshia-like Canadian accent to me. Weird. Last voice note – Noah and Aaron sound more alike than their looks. I think Aaron was just a producer plant to interject drama into the season. Word on the street is the “book” he gave Devin isn’t a real book and the “author” was/is a producer on the show. Correct.
And I kinda feel the same about Sam M. If we believe that everyone knew he had to get back home in time for his sister’s wedding, and he decided to keep repeating himself. The only reason he stayed as long as he did, was the producers. Usually, he would have been eliminated on a 2 on 1, which we didn’t get this season. But I do believe he was truthful in being picked to be on the show and not knowing she was the bachelorette. These guys (only one Asian) seem to have been picked for either Daisy or Maria. Probably. They’ve basically admitted as such in that LA Times interview back in May where they said “that’s on us” when it came to production talking about lack of Asian representation about the men. We’ve always known Jenn wasn’t their first choice, and the cast of men reflects that.
But the show tends to be about the contestants versus the lead. So to say Jenn is boring. Whatevs. It’s all about who is vying for the roses. Same for Grant. Paradise is where you really have to stand out.
Anything else? That’s all I can remember for the moment.
Comment: Nope. That should be it. Thanks for coming.
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Hi, Reality Steve! Long time reader. I used to email quite frequently, but it’s been awhile!
Anyway, I had a comment about Jeremy’s hometown date. Don’t know if it’s just me, but Jen and Jeremy’s family members seemed to be talking at cross-purposes. Jen was talking apples and they were talking oranges.
Jen seemed to be asking his sister and then his mom, if Jeremy was ready for an engagement, as in….Is he at a place in his life where he’s ready for it….ready for that type of commitment, etc.,
But his mom and his sister both answered Jen more in relation to how fast the show moves and there’s still 3 other guys, and they expressed their thoughts about not seeing him ready for that, but it seemed more driven by those factors as opposed to where Jeremy stood at this point in his life.
Not saying they didn’t have valid points, but at the end of the date, Jen was saying in ITM’s that maybe Jeremy wasn’t ready for a commitment. Anywho, just a bit of a frustrating interaction to watch. Oh well, regardless, he was probably the one being eliminated anyway!
Thanks for all you do, Steve!
Comment: Can’t both be true? Jenn was talking about ready for a commitment, but the family isn’t wrong talking about how fast the show moves, and the actual engagement at the end of the show is basically “committing” to a relationship.
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Hey Steve,
Do you think Marcus will address any of the rumors out on tik tok? Did you find out any more tea? What is his relationship with his adopted parents? It sounds strained. No.
What did you think of the producers allowing the final 4 to hang out for beers before the hometown rose ceremony? It’s certainly an interesting twist because it’s something they really have NEVER done in the past. They don’t want the contestants hanging out past the final 4 – minus a few seasons they had the 3 overnight people stay in the same hotel. But maybe this will be a thing going forward.
Which guys do you assume will try to be in BIP when it airs? Well it doesn’t really matter who tries. It’s who they want. Most of these guys would want to do it if asked. But next summer, they’re going to have 4 seasons to choose from, so there will be A LOT that don’t make it on.
Do you think Kelsey’s dad is going to be golden bachelor? Hard to say at this point. We’ll have to watch to see how this season goes.
Regarding today’s podcast, maybe we find out that Julie is Ainsley.
Comment: But if that were the case, it’s not like Julie is hijacking the show and choosing to run it herself. Production decides what the twists are. Julie just hosts. So if she says, “I’m Ainsley,” I don’t think that makes any difference at all. Just means she’s voicing what the show decided what the twists are this season. I don’t see how that makes her more involved than any past season, when in reality, every past season when there was a twist, Julie announced it. So if she’s Ainsley, she’s just doing what she did in past seasons.
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Hi Steve – Love your Bachelor/Bachlorette reporting! On last night’s hometowns, I had the same exact thought as you – geez, every family has a bench outside, how convenient! ? So that led me to my question. Were these houses the real houses of the families, or just rentals, if you know? I remember in a past season you mentioned that some houses were rentals. Just curious — is that now a universal thing, or some yes, some no?
Thanks as always for your entertaining writing!
Comment: There’s always rentals every season. But to go down each one every season and determine who’s was their real home and who’s was a rental – that I don’t know. But it does happen more frequently than people think. So yeah, it’s some yes, some no.
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I’m so glad you commented on the horrible selection of places they visited on Jeremy’s home town date in Fairfield, CT. I was so excited when the scene opened and saw Fairfield as the home town. It’s located in Fairfield County which is the southern tip of the state along the water (Long Island Sound) which has been dubbed “the Gold Coast.” Fairfield has beautiful beaches and many areas near the shore where there are gorgeous mansions and many scenic views. The town itself is a great place to walk around, fun shops, nice restaurants, etc. I grew up in Fairfield County, in a city where they filmed the scene where they walked around a food store with the farm theme – Stew Leonard’s. It is a fun experience to shop there, but no way would I chose that as a site for a home town date (in fact, most people I knew who lived in that town avoided the place as it’s a zoo!). It’s also NOT in Fairfield. It’s in Norwalk which is a about a 20 minute drive on the god-forsaken I-95 highway known for its traffic back-ups and plagued with accidents! BTW, I could not place the location where Jenn met Jeremy. Fairfield has one pretty little lake with trails and a dog park, and the spot where they met did not look like it. So, maybe another random choice outside Fairfiled. What a disappointment! I wouldn’t go searching for it either. Might find yourself floating in that brown water as a guy with a hockey mask watches from the shore.
PS: I, too, was very perplexed about Jeremy being picked for home town dates. And I got to wondering if perhaps it’s similar to Hannah Brown’s season where she let Peter go after overnight dates, even though she obviously had a strong attraction to him. Your theory was that the producers knew she wasn’t picking him and wanted him out so they could name him as the Bachelor. Jenn’s chemistry with Grant was MUCH stronger than with Jeremy, but they had Grant pegged as the Bachelor, so maybe the same situation??? Yeah not sure exactly when they decided they wanted Grant.
To be honest, I don’t see her lasting with any of the men. Typically by home town dates there’s a clear frontrunner who the lead seems smitten with. Jenn does not act likes she’s smitten with any of them. I’ll bet she picked Devin as he was the only one who professed his love for her. I also think the producers tanked her season with the premature announcement of Grant as the Bachelor. That’s getting more hype than the Bachelorette. A lot of people are expressing that their interest has waned and just want this season to be over.
Comment: I think she seems smitten by Devin. I think she’s liked him all season. That’s the impression I get when I see her with him. She acts different around him.
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Hi Steve
This reason was obvious Jenn is picking Devin even without the spoilers. What do you think if Devin’s family and his feelings for her now? Do you believe he’s genuine? Have you here’s anything about how her friends feel about him? No. Haven’t heard anything other than they’re still together.
Having watched Sam’s epic meltdown on loop over and over, I was thinking of other over confident gaslighters who had similar backgrounds and alpha dog behaviors- particularly, Karl on Katie’s season, that emotional intelligence twatwaffle on tayshia’s season and definitely jamie on Michelle’s season.. heard anything on those three guys lately? Particularly Jamie.. he seems pretty hated by bachelor nation.. he just stayed out of the spotlight- so what have you heard?? Ps what up w that Robby Hayes on Joni’s season? Still a player??? He was ridiculous. I didn’t remember those guys names since you brought them up. Unless they do something newsworthy, I pretty much move on once the season is over and don’t keep up with most of them.
Thoughts on Grant as the new bachelor?
Comment: I think he’ll be fine. Not thrilled at how they made his announcement since it got zero fan fare, but, I think once they start promoting his season, and we see his interview at the MTA next week, it’ll help his cause. I think he’ll be fine in that role.
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Hi Steve –
I understand that the Trump campaign is trying to present (or lie, if you prefer) that Taylor Swift and her fans are now for him after the terror threat recently led to shows being canceled. If she cannot show up in person this week at the Democratic convention, I hope and pray she sends them a video to play that states this is utter BS. I highly doubt she’s going to the DNC this week, and yes, it’s disappointing seeing how many people fell for that garbage, but hey, it’s why I always say social media is the greatest invention ever and also the worst. The flood of misinformation that people automatically believe is scary at times.
Assuming your information is correct about this week’s Power of Veto, I think it goes back to Tucker speaking to the Pentagon members about the Rubina-Cedric votes and knowing they were lying to him. With Quinn, he knows where he stands and thinks he may be able to flip in into an ally. Inspired by Leah’s comment, I now think of Angela as PTA-hole. Yeah, we’ll see tonight Tucker takes Quinn down to put up Chelsie, but I haven’t read enough as to his reason why. Other than I did see clips where he says he just wants to shake up the game.
Minor prediction – the funny clip that they will play at the beginning after the recap will be someone slipping and falling on their butt as they exit the wall competition.
Comment: Lets see if you’re right. I could definitely see that.
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Marcus is too pure for this type of show. His childhood history, Ranger experience, and his soulful sister…I just don’t know if this type of guy can thrive and fall in love in this pressure cooker tv experience. I imagine he might easily fall in love with Jenn outside of it. He’s shaking in the interviews, feeling so much, and giving it his all. I bet he even loves Jenn. But this is just another planet compared to surviving in a 3rd world country or being at literal war. I’m crying almost everytime he’s on screen. He’s trying so so hard.
Comment: Yeah, you’ll hear in my interview with Dr. Diane Strachowski in Podcast #405 tomorrow she feels the same way. This is not a good environment for him.
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Hi Steve,
Given that the spoiler is supposedly that Devin is the final pick, what do you make of the preview where he expresses doubt? He says in the clip to Jenn “I want to get to the end with you but I don’t know how to get there.” And she replies “I don’t know what you need me to be” and she is crying in a clip later wearing the same white top? It makes me think they aren’t going to work out 🙁
Comment: It makes me think editors are good at their job. Just like the clip that started the season of Jenn at the final rose ceremony saying, “I can’t have you propose to me…” we know isn’t what it seems.
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Hi Steve,
Will you be open to go on Jason’s podcast Trading secrets or even have an episode about yourself on your own podcast where someone interviews you? I first found out about you when I was in college during Mesnicks season. It is neat to see you still doing this 15 years later, but what’s really impressive about you (or at least to me) is that you are a one man show, you do everything yourself and you are one of the first people to start covering the show. I can’t think of anyone having podcast before you. It’s also impressive because technology and social media has come a long way since 2009 and somehow you always stay on top. I just think as a business you are interesting topic. People start and fail podcasts all the time and you not only keep going successfully, but have added a new podcast.
I have listened to few of Jason’s episodes and I can’t say I’m impressed with the quality or knowledge he puts up, but you will be such a fascinating subject to interview.
Comment: Well thank you. I appreciate it. I definitely was one of the early ones covering the show, but not the first. But I was the original person who had the idea to have a weekly podcast where I interviewed past contestants. Nobody else was doing that before me. There were podcasts that recapped the episode every week, but no one was doing weekly interviews with contestants until I did back in 2016. Now, basically everyone does.
