Monthly Archives: March 2011

Bachelorette to Film in Phuket, Thailand

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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 →

Bachelor Creator Mike Fleiss Sounds Off on “Goofballs”

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Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss explains the show’s success today in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. Shorter version: The Bachelor owns the romance field, everyone else can just step aside. He’s right about that.

He also has a favorite word. “Goofball.” As in Reality Steve:

EW: Reality Steve spent most of the season predicting that Chantal will be the winner. Once he owned up to being wrong, fans crowed that he had been `Fleiss’d.’ Did you or anyone involved in the show feed him misinformation?

FLEISS: I wish I could take credit but he duped himself. He’s nuts, a goofball. He says these things with 100 percent conviction but he’s right only half of the time. It doesn’t matter that much to us, it’s just that he acts like he knows everything. He’s the Michele Bachmann of reality TV facts. But the leaks are not really coming from production. They’re coming from former cast members. That’s a hard thing to police. The best way to combat him is to let himself shoot himself in the foot.

The Michele Bachmann of reality tv facts? Ouch! But it’s nice to know Mr. Fleiss has his politics right. Makes me like him more. Continue reading →

Bachelor Brad: The Queen of Hearts is Always Your Best Bet

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The Bachelor season ended not with a romantic proposal, a twirl, and declarations of undying love, but with a breakup. It was no secret Brad would propose to Emily and she would accept. The question was going to be, are they still together?

The final rose ceremony was filmed in South Africa on November 19. The “After the Final Rose” show taped last week, which means while both aired tonight, one occurred four months after the other in real time. A lot can happen in 4 months.

As soon as the ATFR began, Chris Harrison, looking tired, stressed or botoxed, take your pick, announced that the couple had already split once since leaving South Africa, and hadn’t seen each other in the past month. Later, Chris throws in another bombshell: Brad and Emily were supposed to get married on the ATFR show, which had been planned to film in Anguilla, where the couple fell in love. But Emily called it off.

Chantal came out first, looking terrific in red, then Brad came out, and Chantal, like the good-sport she is, asked the pertinent questions aimed at getting closure. It didn’t go the way she wanted.

Emily also looked beautiful, with a new hairdo in a darker blond (or maybe just added lowlights) and a shorter cut. We also got to see she has a personality, something the show tried to hide all season. She was tough, spontaneous, and funny — who would have guessed? She complained about her “edit” — the boring, poised lady edit — and insisted that if she had gotten the dates Chantal got, she would have had fun too.

So why did they break up? According to Emily, it was Brad’s temper. They have been having knock-down -drag-out fights. Emily says she has a temper too. Continue reading →

Trouble in Bachelor Town?

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Every season, the day after the airing of the Final Rose ceremony and After the Final Rose show, the happy couple from the Bachelor/Bachelorette do a teleconference call with the media and answer questions. When they are done, the rejected Final 2 contestant comes on the call to answer questions.

Another staple every season: The happy couple begins their media tour right after the final show. Usually, they go on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and then a morning show. Then they hit the talk show circuit. Within a few weeks, they fade into obscurity as attention focuses on the next season.

The first sign of trouble in paradise came earlier this week when ABC posted its press release of the post-show teleconference. Brad Womack and the woman he chose, whom everyone says is Emily Maynard, will not be on the call. Instead, host Chris Harrison will be on the call to talk about them (translation: dto do damage control.) After that, Brad’s rejected F2 (Chantal O’Brien) will answer questions. The second sign of trouble was learning that the couple won’t be on Jimmy Kimmel Live after the final show airs. Instead, he’ll be announcing the next Bachelorette.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that interest in Brad and Emily will be greatest — and ratings highest –in the hours and days immediately following the final show’s airing. ABC and The Bachelor aren’t in this for a love story, they are in it for money. The contestants are bound by contract to appear on media shows as requested. There’s no way the Bachelor would give the couple a pass. It’s contrary to their financial interest. So, the question is: Did Brad and Emily break up? And, are they together now, or not? Continue reading →

Bachelor Brad: Preview of Meet the Family and Last Chance Dates

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TV Grapevine has an extended video of Bachelor Brad Womack as he brings Emily Maynard and Chantal O’Brien to meet his family and on the last chance dates. It’s pretty obvious from the video that Brad is telling Emily she’s the one. He keeps saying he wants to be Ricki’s real father.

It’s also pretty obvious that Chantal knows on the last chance date that Brad is not choosing her. (Its usually the F2 who gets the shark date. ) I think she has known since their treehouse date — another unromantic date (Outdoors, lots of bugs, no jacuzzi, no real bathroom, no luxury. It was worse than a camping date.) Props to Chantal for being the good trooper and going through with the Final Rose Ceremony knowing she was being rejected. I’m not surprised she turned the Bachelorette part down, even before she had a new boyfriend. The show was not kind to to her in the editing.

Ashley Hebert, who will be announced as the next Bachelorette on the Jimmy Kimmel show Monday night, is a disappointing choice for the role. All we can do is hope the guys are worth watching in her season.

The spoilers ruined this season. First with Reality Steve being wrong about Chantal being F-1, then saying 100% that it’s Emily, and then that Ashley will be the next Bachelorette. Even if he turns out to be right about the last two spoilers, it doesn’t make up for the first false spoiler about Chantal. His cocky insistence it positively was Chantal colored our viewing the whole season, until we learned he was wrong (and he later confirmed it.) It was nice of him to do a mea culpa, but it doesn’t restore his credibility. The only good thing to come out of Reality Steve’s false Chantal spoiler is that next season we’ll return to sleuthing, because Reality Steve’s information just can’t be taken as the final word. Continue reading →

Celebrity Apprentice: Welcome D-Listers

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The train wreck that is Celebrity Apprentice premiered tonight. 60’s hearthrob David Cassidy was the first to go home. Why? Because Survivor’s Richard Hatch, who should have gone home, bullied him? No, it’s because Richard’s abrasive personality is better for ratings.

On to the contestants:

Who has had more plastic surgery, David Cassidy or LaToya Jackson? It’s a toss-up.

Gary Busey is looney-tunes. Survivor’s Richard Hatch and Starr Jones have surprisingly similar bossy personalities and inflated opinions of themselves.

Marlee Matlin is probably a very nice person, but having her accompanied by a guy who repeats what’s said to and by her in sign language is an unwelcome distraction. I can’t imagine how disjointed the show will be when she’s project manager.

Rapper Lil’ John has attitude issues. Jose Canseco sis one of the more likable contestants, but seems to have some nerve-related physical issues. Maybe it was just a shaky camera.

Dionne Warwick is inept at even the smallest task, like running a credit card through a machine. She rationalizes “I’m used to buying things with credit cards, not processing them.” Translation: She thinks it’s beneath her.

Lisa Rinna is overly-opinionated, b*tchy and has no filter. I don’t think she’ll last long. Unless they need her to play the role of major trouble-maker, pitting people against each other. Continue reading →

Bachelor Brad Ending: Who Makes Him a Better Person?

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We don’t need Reality Steve’s spoilers or even sleuthers when we have Brad Womack himself giving away the ending to this season’s The Bachelor. He does all but shout he’s picked Emily Maynard:

Teleconference with Brad 12/15/10, after filming but before show began airing on what he’s looking for:

I’ve always wanted to wind up with somebody that is just genuinely sweet and that is just as much of a friend as anything else and so I found that and you know it’s someone that makes me want me to be a better person.…

Discussing Emily in last week’s South Africa episode (in video clip above):

Emily is one in a million….the person I am around Emily, I’m a much better person. I’m myself, but a much better self.

Brad on Emily (3/5, People)

“She went through a tough situation with the plane crash,” Womack, 38, says, “and becoming a single mom. But she rose to the occasion beautifully and I admire that. She makes me a better person when I am around her.”

Game over. Congratulations, Brad and Emily.

Chris Harrison: No Decision Yet on Next Bachelorette

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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.