Former Bachelorette winner and professional snowboarder, Jesse Csincsak, who invented the idea of post-Bachelor/ette cruises, mixing together contestants from a variety of past seasons, in an unstructured, fun and lively environment, has announced the next one.

The dates are January 30 to February 5, 2010, taking off from Miami. You’ll be cruising on Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas. The ports of call:Miami, Belize, Costa Maya and Cozumel. Belize and Cozumel are great for scuba diving and all water sports.

It may be summer now, but come January, you know you’ll be itching for some warm water, blue skies, hot sun and and bikini weather. So plan ahead, I hear Jesse puts on one of the best cruises ever. Why? First, he gets the most fun guys and girls to go with him and it’s a group that knows how to party. Second, and perhaps unique to Jesse’s cruises, when you book through Jesse’s friends, you are automatically a VIP who can go to all the dinners and parties the Bach/ettes go to. No waiting on lines, no wondering if you can get in to the hot events. It’s a done deal.

I don’t think the final list of cruisers is set yet, but Jesse expects some from the Bachelor Pad and some from an array of past seasons. Should be a great time.

Radar reports what I suspected, that Jake and Vienna have been broken up for a month. Why does this timeline fit? Because Chris Harrison announced today that Jake Pavelka is indeed part of the cast of the upcoming Bachelor Pad.

The Bachelor Pad began filming around June 7. It was supposed to film for 15 days or so, which means filming has just wrapped up. Co-Host Melissa Rycroft tweeted today she’s headed back home from LA.

Why were there 19 contestants instead of the planned 20? The 20th, Mattue Johnson, was sent home the morning filming was set to begin. Was it because Jake let them know he and Vienna were headed to splitsville and they wanted to make room for Jake?

It seems to me the announcement of the Jake-Vienna split was timed to ramp up interest in the new Bachelor Pad show. Same for the new round of Jake and Vienna interviews, with each giving markedly different reasons for their split, and Chris Harrison confirming Jake has been added to the show. And it’s going to get uglier.

(photo by Barcroft Media.)

The Bachelor needs for the Bachelor Pad to be a hit. This season with Ali as the Bachelorette has been the most boring ever, despite the great locations. She’s insecure and constantly alternates between her two emotions: giddiness and whining. She’s pretty but has no sex appeal. The guys are as bland a group as I can ever recall. And rumor is after her F3 Frank bows out in Tahiti, she picks no one. With this kind of a snoozer of a season, the Bachelor needs a serious infusion of energy. What better way than the Bachelor Pad, bringing back uber-enemies Wes and Jake, crazy alpha male David Good, and psycho queen Michelle. They will be balanced out by the sane Kiptyn, demure (but very sexy) Gia, goody-two shoes Tenley, party girl Natalie Getz, and a few others who were and remain, totally forgettable.

Back to Vienna and Jake. Their whole relationship may have been a publicity stunt. I think Vienna’s turned out to be the better actress. Watch her tearful account of Jake rejecting intimacy with her.

As to how the Bachelor Pad is set up:

“Bachelor Pad,” premiering Monday, August 9 at 8 p.m. on ABC, brings together 19 of the most unforgettable characters from seasons’ past living together in the “Bachelor Pad” mansion. Each week they’ll compete in challenges for immunity and the opportunity to go on a date with contestants of their choice. The winner of the challenge will then grant immunity to one of his or her dates via the presentation of a rose. At the end of each episode, the contestants will vote to determine which cast members will be ousted from the “Bachelor Pad.”

My bets for the final two: Kiptyn and Tenley, who, by the way, reportedly are dating. He probably won the athletic challenges and saved her from elimination. It would be good PR for the Bachelor franchise because he’s already said he’d donate the money to charity.

Colorado snowboarder and former Bachelorette winner Jesse Csincsak is at it again, hosting another Bachelor/Bachelorette reunion in Breckenridge.

“We will be having nights out on the town complete with cocktails, dancing and maybe even a costume party one of the evenings. Then on Sunday, I will be guiding the group on a snowmobile tour in the Breckenridge backcountry to show everyone what the mountains are really about!”

Who’s there? From what I can determine:

Jesse Csincsak
Natalie Getz
Juan Barbieri
Jesse Kovacs
Richard Mathey
Chris Bradshaw (and wife Jennifer)
John Hardesty
John Presser and Tara Durr (who will announce their engagement)
Matthue Johnson (and Suzi)
Mark Huebner (and maybe Mike Steinberg and the guy who jumped in the pool with no clothes from Jillian’s season)
Elizabeth Kitt
Brian Westdorf
Melissa Henig
Elizabeth Wade
Gina Marie Hamilton
Jeannette Cherie Pawula
Trista and Ryan Sutter may stop by

More photos of the house, called the Ski Classic Lodge, here, a video tour here.

People Magazine, courtesy of former Bachelorette winner and snowboarder Jesse Csincsak, reports today that a Bachelorette contestant from the Bachelor Rome season of Prince Lorenzo Borghese and a Bachelor contender from Jillian Harris’s season will announce their engagement in April in Breckenridge, CO, site of the next Bachelor/Bachelorette reunion. The wedding is set for November.

Who is the couple? Reality Steve reports on his Facebook page it is Tara Durr and John Presser. Their wedding page, which tells a bit of their story, is here.

If you don’t remember who they are, it may be because both were eliminated during the meet-and-greets of their respective seasons.

Now, who will be next up? Will it be Holly and Michael, Deanna and Steven (Michael’s twin) or at long last, Jillian and Ed? It sounds to me like Jillian and Ed are a bit envious of ABC’s picking up the tab for Jason and Molly’s wedding. I suspect they will go the same route ( unless of course ABC isn’t interested.) If it’s Holly and Deanna who are next to head for the altar, I wonder, will they do a joint wedding?

Still no final word who has been cast for The Bachelor Pad, but my predictions still include Jesse, Natalie Getz, Tanner Pope, Juan Barbieri, Jesse Kovacs and Nikki Kapelke. I won’t be surprised if Gia and Tenley and several from Jake’s season turn up as well. Many of the former contestants are now “repped” by the same P.R. firm. My guess is that we’ll see a lot of that firm’s clients on the show.

What will happen after Jake sends Tenley away the Final Rose ceremony? Will he propose to Vienna? Here’s host Chris Harrison said in his blog this week

“I will tell you now that Jake is extremely happy and very much in love. Is there a proposal? How does it all go down? You’ll have to watch one of the most emotional, romantic finales in Bachelor history to find out”

I think that means yes. It wouldn’t be very romantic if he turned both girls down.

As for Roz, she should have talked to Wes before she went on and realized you can’t win because the show controls the edits. As for all those girls who suddenly revised their stories to say they saw Roz and the producer playing too close? Valishisia today took it all back and apologized to Roz, saying the producers got her going and she really didn’t see anything. Ella gives a very unconvincing explanation for her change of story on Roz. Reality Steve has more.

Looks like Steve will finally make some bucks off his blog. He’s sold his scoop on After the Final Rose to In Touch Magazine. They have the exclusive, which means he can’t post about it until 12:01 a.m. Weds.

And ABC is loving it. Ratings for the Women Tell All: “BC’s The Bachelor: Women Tell All managed to hold strongly with 11.2 million, an increase of 300k viewers from last year’s airing.”

All season long, the previews of upcoming episodes from the Bachelor have been misleading. Is tonight’s any different? From the voiceovers and screencaps, it appears Jake picks on one.

First, you see Jake alone at the final rose ceremony site, looking up at the approaching helicopter, which we know now is how Vienna and Tenley both arrive (no limo this time. )

“I can’t believe it’s come to this. I’m so confused. I would never ask a woman for her hand in marriage unless I was 100% sure….I can’t believe it’s ending like this.”

First up in the preview: Tenley:

As Tenley’s mouth is quivering, we hear her say in a voice-over:

“I’m pretty hurt that Jake doesn’t think we have physical chemistry when I feel like there’s so much passion.”

Then it’s Vienna’s turn:

As she looks down and off to the side and cries, you hear her say, also in a voice-over, “I don’t know where his mind or his heart is right now.” Then she adds, “I don’t know where I went wrong.”

Then there’s Jake, doing his best Jason Mesnick:

As he cries, his voice-over says: “This is the hardest decision I’ll ever have to make.”

It was a given he wasn’t going to pick Tenley. Who wouldn’t feel trapped and be struggling for air after hearing her say “forever” and “for the rest of our lives” in every other sentence? It reminded me of the 1972 version of the movie “The Heartbreak Kid” and we know how that turned out. And how many times in her personal interviewss tonight did she say “ex-husband?” I think I stopped counting at 5.

So, the question is, is the preview an accurate portrayal or yet another attempt to mislead us and keep us guessing? The Bachelor knows we all know Vienna was Jake’s final choice. So the only suspense is in whether he proposed, if so, whether she accepted and either way, whether they are still together.

The options: Jake pulls a Brad Womack and tells first Tenley and then Vienna he’s not ready to propose — or Vienna just has a moment of self-doubt, but Jake chooses her and proposes, and her facial expressions are tears of joy, not sadness.

If Jake chooses no one, his post-show interviews will probably consist of him saying, as he has the past two episodes, that he was in love with more than one woman. Add in his crush on Gia, and his belief he was falling in love with Ali, and he’s in love with four women. Meaning, he wasn’t exclusively in love with either Vienna or Tenley, and he needs to know that when he proposes, there’s only one woman for him.

In the end, it’s unlikely Jake stopped wondering what would have happened if Ali hadn’t left. Even more so, it seems Gia’s gracious and classy exit had him dwelling on whether she would have continued to open up.

Then there’s the cynical view: Jake didn’t go on the Bachelor to find a wife, but for fame and to become a media star. He played the game through, was gracious to all, and ended up alone — as he intended to all along.

The other lingering question: Is Ali the next Bachelorette? All signs point to it. They hyped her to death this season. What other reason could they have had? The only other possibility is Gia, who certainly has the looks and sex appeal, but is a little too timid in the personality department. But maybe an acting coach can fix that.

The only winners this season: St. Lucia which got incredible publicity, and the bank account of The Bachelor. Did you notice that at the end of the show, an announcer said, “Travel and accommodations provided by St. Lucia Tourist Board.” And of course, the viewers: We’re almost done with Jake and the most boring season in Bachelor history.

What really goes on behind the scenes on the dates, in the Bachelor mansion and at the rose ceremonies? How much of what we see is real and how much is edited to tell a story that will drive ratings upwards? How shocked are the contestants at the way they are portrayed, when they finally get to see the show, long after they’ve returned home? Is Mike Fleiss a genius or just a master manipulator? Does Chris Harrison spend any time with the participants during filming other than at the rose ceremonies? Are any of them sorry they agreed to do the show, or will they all say it was the highlight of their lives?

These are some of the questions I’m sure viewers would like answered when ABC’s 20/20 airs it’s two hour special on March 15, “Inside The Bachelor: The Stories Behind the Rose.”

We may not get those answers, but we’ll get to see some of the most memorable Bachelor/Bachelorette participants from seasons past. Jesse Csincsak, who will appear, says on his Facebook page that Jillian and Ed, Kiptyn, Ryan & Trista Sutter and Andy Baldwin are also participating.

Deanna Pappas tweets she is appearing, and she mentions Melissa and Brad Womack are also included.

I’m hearing we’ll also see Reid (who many fans thought Jillian should have picked.) The only person whose name hasn’t surfaced that I’d like to see on is country music singer Wes Hayden. He’d probably tell too much of the truth for an ABC program to be comfortable with airing, but they’d be foolish not to include him.

All in all, it sounds like quite a show, far better than anything we’ve seen this season with Jake and lots more interesting than Jason and Molly’s wedding.

Not only has this been the worst season of the Bachelor, with robotic Jake who reminds me of the joker in Batman with his permanent grin, tonight was the worst episode of the season.

It was the hometown date episode, where Jake visits the final four in their or their parents’ home town. The whole episode was awful. Ali was completely unbelievable in the role of little girl, legs curled up like a fetus, crying her eyes out for minutes on end. I didn’t buy it for a second and it went on way too long. Cloyingly fake and annoying. And her family was so boring they had to film most of her date in an empty house relying on her grandmother’s spirit.

Gia’s brother and Vienna’s father were both awful to watch. Grating personalities and so physically unappealing . Who would marry into either one of those families?

Gia has zero personality and even less conversational ability. She’s the best looking of the bunch, and she moves well, maybe they can put her on DWTS. The Bachelor is definitely beyond her skill set.

Tenley’s dance was terrible, like a third grader at a school play. Embarrassingly awful and I didn’t think Jake was into it one bit. He looked perplexed. Her father was the only redeeming feature of her segments.

Vienna’s edit is getting better, now she’s portrayed as the genuine, honest one. She’s still as fake as her nails, and playing Jake like a fiddle. She is the most manipulating and conniving of the group, and quite physically unappealing, but at least she doesn’t come off as wooden as a piece of furniture. Her and Jake will never make it from the final rose ceremony to ATFR unless the Bachelor pays them wads of money.

Seriously, this was the most pathetic episode in recent memory. I attribute it to the trouble they must have had casting the season with Jake as the bachelor. Had Kip or Reid been chosen, it would have been a whole other show. Even the date locations have been boring — RV’s, campsites and wineries.

The scenery in St. Lucia (for the fantasy and final dates) is the only reason to finish watching this train wreck of a season.

TVGrapevine

Who’s a worse nightmare, Vienna’s father or Gia’s brother?

Another preview video of Vienna’s home town date is here and a new article on Gia here.

It’s official. On March 8, ABC will televise the wedding of former Bachelor and Bachelorette contestant Jason Mesnick to Molly Malaney, the woman he first rejected when he selected Melissa Rycroft, and then returned to.

The two-hour “The Bachelor: Jason and Molly’s Wedding” is set to air March 8. The event will include the bride’s dress fitting, planning for the big day, bachelor and bachelorette parties and the ceremony. Past “Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” couples and participants will be on the guest list.

Well, that’s one way to get your wedding paid for and stay in the public eye. Will you watch?