Not a Great Year for Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky

ali and roberto

Ali and Roberto have called it quits. Count me among those who are not suprised.

It has not been a good year for Ali Fedotowsky. First she had a head injury in a kayaaking accident. Then she injured her leg kickboxing which required surgery on her femur. By August, she had left her job at Fox5 News San Diego and postponed the wedding. In October, she said there are no wedding plans. On Nov. 1, she was fretting about needing another knee surgery. And on Nov. 7, it was announced the Style Network wasn’t giving her a TV show after all (the show had been announced in April.) The only work I see she has now is on a shopping website called OpenSky. She has a PR firm, and a manager, but her website has been “under construction” forever.

Ali and Roberto didn’t seem to have a lot in common to me. She was bent on a show business career, signing with William Morris soon after her engagement, and then she had a gig on Fox 5 San Diego (now over.) He’s an insurance agent and a jock. What was there to talk about at dinner?

Who knows what went wrong. I think they are very different people, from their politics to their values. She’s much more of a free spirit, while he’s pretty traditional. She’s into clothes, fun and celebrity, he’s into sports and work. They lasted 18 months — probably not long enough under their contract with The Bachelorette to even keep the ring.

Here’s hoping next year is better for Ali. I suspect she’ll be moving to LA (if she’s not already there.) If she really has her heart set on a TV or broadcasting career, she should consider acting and speech lessons while she’s recuperating. She’s very telegenic, enthusiastic and facially expressive, and instantly recognizable, but her voice and speech cadence need a lot of work. The Bachelorette may be a short-cut to a media career for some, but it’s not a substitute for talent. Self-promotion and PR reps will only get you so far.

Bachelorette to Film in Phuket, Thailand

Reality Steve has some spoilers on Bachelorette Ashley Hebert’s first dates and several of the 25 contenders vying for her roses.

  • Tuesday, March 15: Meet and Greet, 25 guys
  • Thursday, March 17: 1 on 1 date-Bellagio, Las Vegas
  • Friday, March 18, group date , Monte Carlo Hotel (Jabbawockeez show) Las Vegas
  • Saturday, March 19, 1 on 1 date, Ryan “Mickey” McLean , Mandalay Bay (private concert from Colbie Caillat performing her song “I Do”) Las Vegas
  • Monday, March 21, 1 on 1 date, Ben Castoriani, Americana at Brand outdoor mall in Glendale (flash mob video), Los Angeles
  • First week of April: Filming in Phuket, Thailand

Two contestants who may be around for awhile: New Orleans lawyer Ben Castoriani: Continue reading

Chris Harrison: No Decision Yet on Next Bachelorette

While Reality Steve remains confident Ashley Hebert will be the next Bachelorette, Chris Harrison said today no decision has been reached. He said it could be Ashley, or it could be (of all people) Michelle Money.

“It will not be announced at the Women Tell All,” he tells TVGuide.com, clearing up recent reports. “I can promise you as of Sunday night, I was with the creator of the show, Mike Fleiss, and when I left him in the wee hours of the morning we did not have a Bachelorette picked.”

Chris is known for his over-the top description of upcoming shows, and his description of Michelle at the “Women Tell All” is no exception:

Michelle will blow your mind, and I mean that in a good way and bad way. I’ve seen it all and I never saw this coming. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in 10 years, and I was so thrown off I didn’t know what was going on.

Chantal would obviously be a better choice than Ashley or Michelle. So the question is, did she turn it down, or, despite all the recent spoilers saying Emily and Brad are engaged, is she the one Brad picked?

The evidence is mounting Brad picks Emily. If he does, is it because Chantal was too ready to get married right now, and he could take things more slowly with Emily, because of her daughter? Would Emily really agree to pack her daughter up and move to Austin, after just a handful of dates over two months? Or would she agree to get engaged and see how things go over the next several months? Maybe Brad, despite all his protests to the contrary, isn’t ready to commit to more than getting engaged right now.

He certainly has Emily on a pedestal and seems enamored of the idea of a ready-made family. But, it’s now an open question who ends up as F1. Once again, good job, Mike Fleiss. You fleeced Reality Steve and no one would be surprised if you have more twists and turns in store for us. And on the topic of the next Bachelorette, take it slow. Ashley is not the best choice. Neither is Michelle. Please keep searching.

Congrats Jesse and Ann: Another Bachelorette Engagement

The Bachelor/Bachelorette Franchise has another win in the engagement column. Congratulations to Jesse Csincsak and Ann Lueders. Jesse and Ann have been dating for a year since they met on one of Jesse’s Bachelorette reunion cruises to Mexico, and this week he got down on one knee at a romantic spot on Lake Erie and proposed.

They will wed in Las Vegas and then return to Colorado to start their married life. Radar Online has the exclusive video of the proposal, in which Jesse tells Ann:

“I’ve spent the last year getting to know you….When I was on that boat to Mexico, the first time I met you, I would never have dreamed this would have happened, that it would get to this point. But I have fallen in love with you and I want to grow old with you.”

Ann was a contestant on Jason Mesnick’s season of the Bachelor while Jesse was the winner during Deanna Pappas’ season. Deanna broke up with Jesse within months, and it’s great to see him so happy again.

Jesse has been my favorite male contestant on the show over the many seasons. I’ve interviewed him many times and stayed in touch since then, and am really delighted for him and Ann. My congratulations and best wishes to them both.

Bachelorette Ali: Love and A Contract With William Morris

Ali and Roberto really do seem in love. The finale was wonderful to watch — Mike Fleiss and Co. delivered the most romantic final episode in many seasons. Congrats to the happy couple, just watching them smile lifts the spirits. Roberto really grew on me last night. I wish we had seen more of his personality during the season. I also really liked Ali’s family, they were so level-headed (as compared to some families we’ve seen in prior seasons.)

Ali has signed with William Morris, so much for those protestations she wants to get back to regular life. I’ll bet she’s commuting from San Diego to LA in no time.

Whether Ali’s ultimate fairy tale ending is that she ends up happily married or with a show biz career, or both, remains to be seen, but a fairy tale ending it was, complete with Prince Charming.

Here’s a nice photospread from the Final Rose Ceremony. Just click on the photo and they all come up. And here’s what the couple had to say on the ABC teleconference call today.

Bachelorette: Who Got Fleissed?

Did Reality Steve, who released the first spoilers at the beginning of the season that Ali ends up alone get Fleissed? Or did Fleiss himself get Fleissed by Reality Steve? Today, Reality Steve admits he got Fleissed. He says his sources were wrong, Ali ends up engaged to Roberto and Chris leaves early.

Chris leaving early is nothing new. The show practically spoon-fed it to us in previews. That Ali chooses Roberto is also nothing new — or at least it’s something that has been predicted here and at FORT for weeks as the most likely ending (if for no other reason than Roberto has been MIA since filming ended while Chris has been out and about.) Roberto as F1 has been evident as well, except to those who had a different favored outcome (like wanting the F1 to be Chris.) I wrote last week, it is likely to end with “A final rose ceremony with only one guy. The suspense might be in “Will Roberto Accept?” rather than “Who did Ali Choose?” (My tweak on it, which probably won’t happen, was to further speculate she proposes to Roberto rather than the other way around.)

This weekend, the ending became even more obvious. The New York Post had an article with new comments by Bachelorette producer Mike Fleiss and Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky. The money quotes:

Fleiss: “The audience is going to be very satisfied with the outcome.”… “I think it ends up pretty well for her. I think she’s happy.”

Ali: “The finale is really good. Sometimes they can seem very orchestrated. This one is very real,…I feel like I made the best decision that I could.” Continue reading

Bachelorette: Extended Finale Preview

It’s still impossible to tell who Ali is favoring. Which may well mean she ends up with neither. Or, Chris could leave before the Final Rose Ceremony day, and Roberto could show up and propose. There’s pictures of Roberto arriving by boat, but none of Chris so far. And it’s still a possibility that Roberto could propose and get rejected.

Bachelorette: Back to Ali Ends Up Alone?

The latest preview from ABC makes it seem both Roberto and Chris aren’t ready to propose to Ali. But if that were the case, it wouldn’t be her decision, it would be their decision. And she repeatedly has said she’s happy with her decisions. In the clip, Chris tells her he’ll miss her. And the clip ends with a shot of Frank.

So what’s the shocker in store for us at the finale, the thing that’s never happened before? Is it just that both reject her…or does she find out the one she wants most isn’t going to propose and so she takes a risk and proposes to him instead? And if so, does he accept? That’s one of the few alternative scenarios that accommodates either ” will she find love or leave paradise with a broken heart.”

But something else may be in store for us, as ABC says she makes a “last minute, heart-wrenching decision which changed all of their lives forever.” That suggests she picks no one. In fact, today’s press release from ABC: Something happens on the Last Chance Dates. Chris’ sounds particularly ominous. Continue reading

Bachelorette Ali’s Surprise Ending: The Possibilities

Ali Fedotowsky says the ending to her journey for love on the Bachelorette is a surprise, something that’s never happened before on the show. What could that be? As far as I can tell, only two things. Either her final choice rejects the final rose she offers (no proposal, she ends up alone) or she proposes to him rather than the other way around.

I’ve been leaning towards believing she ends up alone and is happy about something else in her life, like some exciting new show business or fashion job she’s been offered and anxious to start.

A few things point the other way. The finale was filmed on May 9. So far, we haven’t seen previews with an engagement ring in them. So, did the guys pick out rings? Here’s jeweler Neil Lane in an interview in the Boston Globe on Thursday May 6th. Lane was going to be in Boston on Thursday, May 13 to talk about his art and clients at the Museum of Fine Arts Fashion Council. (Here’s their Facebook post about it.) The event was not open to the public.

Q. “The Bachelor” pops up when you search your name online.

A. I’m going [this week] to film my fourth season with “The Bachelor” on an exotic island. This one is “The Bachelorette.” I’ve become part of that. I will present the rings for “The Bachelorette,” for the two bachelors she chooses, for them to decide on the ring. Doing these things are like – OK, why not?

Continue reading

“Men Tell All”: Kirk’s Broken Heart

ET! The Bachelorette “Men Tell All” preview.

Poor Kirk. Or should we say lucky Kirk? Monday night is the “Men Tell All”, which typically isn’t much more than a placeholder until the Finale the following week.

Rumors are running the gambit between her picking Roberto, Chris and no one. Some are speculating she’s back with Frank. I think she’s single, and on the “After the Final Rose” episode which airs right after the finale, she’ll finally tell us why. Is she engaged, does she have a new love, go back to an old love, or does she have an incredible new job or career move? As of now, I’ll say it’s a new job or career venture.