Quite the interesting night last night to say the least. I, along with 225,000 other people, were watching Call Her Daddy’s interview with Rachael Kirkconnell when right at the 20 min mark, a bombshell was dropped. No, not anything related to the Rachael/Matt breakup – that happened later. They didn’t start talking about the breakup until the 40 min mark. But whaddya’ know? At the 20 min mark, Alex Cooper admits that she read Reality Steve during the Matt/Rachael season. Then a couple minutes later, Rachael references me as well, bringing up the Grace story that I covered on IG back in the summer of 2021. I appreciate the fact that even though it was 4 years later, Rachael’s story was no different than my coverage at the time and what had gone down. It’s exactly the same. I had been reached out to by a woman named Grace in Florida after she saw Matt and Rachael together in NY telling me Matt was trying to get with her two days earlier, I contacted someone in Rachael’s camp because I had a feeling Rachael knew nothing about this, Rachael was informed, and she broke up with him. Lasted a week, but it served its purpose. I’ve done this NUMEROUS times in the past behind the scenes with contestants when I feel they need to know something I assume they didn’t know. Some have listened, some haven’t. But every single one of them ended up being true. So I appreciated Rachael taking it serious enough to end things with Matt and not buy into any excuses. Granted, it only lasted a week before she got back together with him, but I do feel vindicated that even 4 years later when she re-told the story last night, it’s exactly how it happened.
If you wanna listen to that part of the interview, I have it cued up when they start talking about me:
Lets get right into your “Reader Emails” for the week, followed by the transcript for today’s Daily Roundup. Enjoy…
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I know there are still a lot of unknowns about the upcoming season of BIP. But how come BIP (at least up until now) makes absolutely zero effort in terms of location or aesthetics? Is it lack of budget? I mean look at “Love Island” or “The Challenge”— the locales are always incredible and even when they’re not, the production team puts major effort into the aesthetics (neon signs, plush couches, pics of contestants on the wall, perfectly lined up sponsored products, gym equipment, etc.). Why doesn’t BIP put that kind of effort in? (And I feel like your answer will be ‘they don’t need all that. They just need former contestants to be puppets and sit around all day creating drama’—that’s fair. But that’s EXACTLY what these other shows are and yet they still manage to have decent aesthetics.
I think one reason might be that this is not the flagship show of the franchise. Bachelor & Bachelorette are and this is just a spin-off so to speak. Doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try as hard, but also remember, it’s more of a fun, summer show whose ratings are far less than that of the Bachelor & Bachelorette.
Related to the question above: do you think there is any chance that BIP will start to incorporate “challenges”? Either legitimate ‘challenges’ (think: The Challenge, Survivor, Amazing Race—things that actually take skill) or even just silly ‘challenges’ (like “Love Island”)? I think in the early seasons, BIP was unique in that it was one of the first shows to “recycle” contestants (specifically fan-favorites and “villains”) but now literally EVERY reality show does that (seriously every competition show, game show, reality show) so I think BIP needs to up the ante or do something new to stay relevant. With all the TV options out there nowadays, I don’t think the casual viewer is content just watching attractive 20-somethings being bitchy to each other on a beach for 3 hours a week. It’s tough to know right now. Yesterday you heard me talk about the fact there’s a new show runner this season, and Jesse Palmer has made comments that he hears there will be changes made. But none of us know what that’ll be yet. And this show has never been real big on transparency, so I don’t think any of us will know exactly WHAT those changes are until the season starts filming and spoilers come rolling in.
Kelly Ripa is notoriously NOT a fan of anything about the Bachelor franchise. Do you know why she hates it so much? Also, since it’s an ABC show she obviously has to interview the lead every season and always rips into them. How is there not somebody above her that is just like ‘hey we know you hate this show but you have to promote it so please be nice to the lead when they come on your show.’
In case you haven’t seen the Bachelor/ette leads on “Live with Kelly and Mark,” she always has the same spiel- it’s a backhanded compliment. With both Grant and Jenn (the two most fresh on my mind) she says something along the lines of “you are so attractive and amazing— why would you need to go on a dating show to find someone?!?”
Comment: Yes, it’s known Kelly talks down about the show when she has to talk about it and/or interview the leads. I saw Grant’s clips yesterday and maybe she eased up a bit because she was told to. But then again, I didn’t see the whole interview so it’s possible she was still running her same schtick. Nobody really knows why she does that, but if I’m ABC, I either pull my contestants from going on her show, OR, tell her to just calm down with the hate and fight through a 3-5 minute segment twice a year without trashing the show. She’s getting paid millions of dollars. Not that hard to suck it up for a couple interviews a year.
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Steve,
I listened to Courtney’s podcast After Reality yesterday where she had you on as a guest. You were discussing the fact that you would both like to get screeners so you could watch The Bachelor before it airs. Courtney mentioned that Game of Roses has screeners. Just so you know, Chad and Lizzie from Game of Roses podcast asked for anyone who could help them get screeners for months before they finally were successful.
Do you think they could help you and Courtney get screeners? It might be worth a try. It’s worth a try. Would just make my Monday nights so much easier.
Also, I was surprised how many people have been critical of Grant because he promoted his song online. What is wrong with that? Why are people so negative about Grant? I think he is a great bachelor. What happened to his song? I noticed he took it down. Personally I don’t care. We all know everyone is using this show as a stepping stone to something else in the social media world. But I know that most people who watch this show still have a hard time grasping that. So anyone who sees anyone on this show that seemingly isn’t putting 1000% effort into being the best, most genuine contestant ever, takes shit. It’s just the way it goes. I don’t agree with it, but unfortunately, that’s the way the show is viewed by most.
Clayton was on a podcast recently where he talked about how production didn’t want a lukewarm Bachelor so they made him a villain. He also said that he knows they chose him because he was from the demographic they liked -white, tall, football player, from the Midwest, etc. and overlooked all the black men in the final four. But that was not his fault. Who made those decisions to skip over the final four and pick a white guy? Was it Mike Fleiss? What do you think about Clayton’s comments? Do you think the issues he had with the woman who falsely accused him are related to how production treated him? To answer your last question first, I don’t see the correlation, no. Mike Fleiss is no longer affiliated with this franchise other than being the creator. He has no say in anything production related anymore. Back with Clayton, I can’t remember where his role was. I’ve already forgotten how long he’ll be out. As for who and why they choose the lead, I don’t think any of us will ever know.
Do you think things have really changed since Mike Fleiss left? I think they are having more people of color as leads So that is good. Do you think they are treating their leads with more respect and will continue to do so?
Comment: I do think things are different just by certain small things we see on camera and casting diversity. But other than that, only contestants can speak on how it is on set.
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I’m curious about Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, What are the other cast members saying about this? How did the other women feel on set around Justin? Why did Colleen Hoover support Blake?
I’m interested in hearing what these other cast members have to say? I believe I read a few that support Blake. But do we have any information on what experiences they had with Justin? Some men can have an “ick” vibe about them, they can be perfect in front of others but when you’re alone with them you can feel uncomfortable. They make comments that cross the line, But being professional you do your job and push past that. So judging the videos is not a true representation of what Blake was going through.
The chemistry between these two actors is incredible. I’m starting to believe that Ryan got jealous and HE took over forcing Blake to put in the demands.
I think Justin believes he did nothing wrong, but did cross the line with being the director and co-star on some of the intimate scenes and not protecting both of them with an intimacy coordinator.
It will be interesting to see how this all turns out.
Comment: The only ones we’ve seen do anything publicly are Brandon Sklenar (who posted Blake’s complaint on his IG Story and said “For The Love Of God Read This), Jenny Slate who gave a statement in support of Blake, and Colleen Hoover who gave a statement as well. I’m sure the longer this goes on, the more we’ll hear people either publicly, or in court documents, speak online. Which is why this story is becoming increasingly tough to cover. There’s so many moving parts and so many things being misconstrued to fit a narrative, while also knowing there’s still so much more info to come.
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Hi Steve,
Wondering if you can weigh in on the FIR phenomenon. Last night, Alexe (from my teeny tiny home province of New Brunswick, Canada — it’s a beautiful place!) won the first impression rose and it got me thinking about what Bach Data has pointed out, which is that FIR winners never win the season.
How is it that after all these seasons, no first impression rose winner has won the ring at the end of a Bachelor season? Is this because the FIR winner is more likely to be chosen by production than by the Bachelor himself? I’ve always found this interesting and would love to know what you think.
Comment: I just think the men choose based on something more surface level the first night and the women take the process more seriously and have better intuition, as evidenced by the amount of FIR winners who go on to be the final pick.
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When you ask someone to listen to your podcast, what counts for a listen? If I listen to 3/4 but I have a meeting and forget to finish does that count. If I skip the last minute because you have a spoiler for Traitors does that count. Just wondering how that all works. I’ll be honest – it’s ever changing. I get confused myself as to what actually counts as a download now. But as long as you listen to the show and hit play, that at least counts as one. After that, I throw my hands up. So the best answer I can tell you is just to listen every day as much as you can.
Also I would be interested in additional Deal or No Deal coverage. I listen to Rob C but that show just has me hooked right now. Are you interested in getting any guests to talk about that? Maybe after the season ends, but while it’s airing, I’ll just be giving my thoughts every week. Today’s pod is all about the Rachael interview, but I’ll cover it tomorrow after watching last night’s episode, which saw the most successful game we’ve ever seen played against the banker as far as I can remember in 1.5 seasons.
So far I like Grant’s women and I wanted Jonathan to be the bachelor so glad I’m liking it after all, he’s likeable.
Thanks for all the coverage and spoilers of course. This is the only show I like spoiled so I appreciate all you do.
I’m not watching Traitors until it’s all over so trying to avoid your coverage on that lol.
Comment: I thought Grant was perfectly fine for the first episode. Seems engaged with the women, good looking guy, and knows what he has to do. I say it every year, but people don’t seem to remember. This show is made by the cast, not by the lead. It’s not Grant’s fault his season wasn’t promoted all that well. He’s fine in the role. People will be talking about the women the next day, not necessarily anything Grant does.
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Hi Steve –
Will you, Dave, Courtney and The Judge be wearing a coordinated 80s costume at the party? Maybe something like the Devo costumes in the Whip It video. Ha ha, I don’t believe so. We are all dressing separately I believe.
Special Forces – You referred to Billy Baldwin exiting but it was Steven, the skunk of the family. While I think MTV would not have them back on The Challenge again if they did it, I think a lot of multi time Challenge participants would do far better than most of the Special Forces participants. I think the standout players this season are Brody – even though I think his father is nuts politically – and Pink’s husband. Did I really call him Billy? I’m an idiot. And yes, I’d be shocked if Carey Hart wasn’t someone who makes it to the end. It’d have to be an injury that takes him out at this point.
Observations on The Challenge Reunion:
-Aneesa is that player who always believes everyone should make their decisions based on what is best for her. Did you see her IG and her weight loss journey? Seems like she’s in much better shape than we’ve ever seen her.
-No explanation for puking Nehemia. Nope. Kinda random to never address it.
-Bananas loves to play the villain with a smirk. Laurel is just nasty. Nothing Bananas did surprised me this season. Laurel seems to be developing quite the enemies on this show. No one seems to like her much anymore.
-Too many cast members believe Tony wanted to exit quickly for me to give him the benefit of the doubt. Agree.
-TJ’s cameo added absolutely nothing. Nada.
-The cast has tremendous respect for CT based on their reaction to the overrated comment. Yeah that was kinda out of left field for Michelle.
-Darrel was not even mentioned in the GOAT discussion despite his number of wins. Maybe it’s because it’s been so long since he won? Then again, I say that not knowing exactly how long it’s been. He hasn’t won recently has he?
-I don’t recall what makes most of the upcoming All Star contestants rivals. Neither do I. But I have it set to record and this will be my first All-Star season I ever watch. But probably won’t get to it until the weekends.
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Hey Steve!
Here’s a question for you that I have been seeing make rounds on facebook and X.
Pick one:
Would you rather see Mahomes make history with a three-peat?
OR
Would you rather see Hurts and Barkley get their first superbowl rings?
I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on this!
Comment: I know this sounds like such a cop out and non answer, but I’m being completely honest when I say this: I’m fine with either one. I don’t have a strong hatred or strong like for either outcome. When you have nothing invested into either team, it’s hard to really care what happens. BUT, gun to my head? I’d probably go with seeing Mahomes win a third because I’ve always appreciated greatness and we’ve never seen anything like this. I like seeing ridiculous, almost unexplainable things happen in sports. And him winning 4 Super Bowls in 7 years to start a career would be pretty crazy. But if Philly won, I wouldn’t be disappointed either, since Mahomes start to his career is still unmatched and will probably never happen again.
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You’re a horrible person and I really don’t appreciate how you need to spoil every show. I’m glad that’s how you make your money but maybe choose something a bit more impressive. You ruin any type of show by posting spoilers and don’t tell me to just not look at your page because I did not find out from looking at your dumb page. Other people look and go tell everyone on every social media platform.
Comment: This came through on my IG last night. Sometimes you just gotta chuckle.
Daily Roundup transcript on next page…
