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.

As to RS’s sources, he doesn’t sound concerned. He says they aren’t coming from production, but from past contestants, and there’s little control over that. Except I can’t believe he’s not tempted to feed some false information to selective past contestants. What better way to ferret out the leakers, than feed them a highly specific, false piece of info. Then, when Reality Steve runs with it, he’d know where it came from. I’m not entirely convinced that’s not what happened this year with RS being wrong about Chantal. In which case, Fleiss knows perfectly well who RS’s source was on that one.

Who else is a goofball according to Fleiss? Chantal’s new boyfriend. He confirms Chantal turned down being the Bachelorette.

EW: Did you ask Chantal O’Brien?

FLEISS: Yeah, Chantal quite possibly would have been our bachelorette, if she hadn’t not, quote-unquote,’ fallen in love with some goofball in Seattle. I’m sure they’ll be together forever.

Another revelation from Fleiss: They won’t be going back to unknowns, but will continue to pick future contestants from their in house stables.

And on the lack of ethnic diversity: “Oh, we have to wedge African-American chicks in there! We always want to cast for ethnic diversity, it’s just that for whatever reason, they doen’t come forward. I wish they would.”

Fleiss says there are more viewers than the ratings indicate:

We did 20 million viewers on Monday and have another cover of People magazine, despite the fact there is some really important stuff going on [in the world]. There’s a degree of absurdity to that. But I think our ratings are way higher. People watch this show in groups.

While I’m not thrilled about Ashley, the vanilla dental school student cast as the next Bachelorette, I’m hopeful the guys she dates and the date locations will make it worth watching. The more money Fleiss and the Bachelor rake in, the more money they can put in the production budget, and that just means a better show for viewers.

EW didn’t ask Fleiss about Brad and Emily and I’m not surprised. I doubt he cares. This is a numbers gamae to him. He just wants people talking about the show. What happens in real life to the participants is hardly his concern. As he says,

You’d be hard pressed to find people in the country who didn’t know what happened on Monday. For a show to be on 10 years, it’s a miracle!

Fleiss, whose 2008 deal with Warner Brothers’ Horizon TV division has made him one ot the most highly paid reality tv producers, can crow all he wants as far as I’m concerned — so long as he keeps delivering, and I’m betting he will.

The Bachelorette starts shooting tonight in LA and begins airing on May 23.

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. As a result, Emily says she loves Brad, but they have to work on the the “way they fight” and she’s not moving to Austin anytime soon. Brad says he will keep working to convince her. Secondary reason: Emily was very uncomfortable watching Brad’s serial kissing of the other contestants all season.

Emily seemed to be in apology mode the whole show. She kept rubbing Brad’s arm, locking arms with him and telling him she loved him. Brad kept insisting how much he loves her, but his body language didn’t match his words. He was stiff and physically unresponsive. Either he is scared to death of her, or he already knows she’s going to break his heart and knows there’s nothing he can do to prevent it.

Chances these two will get married? Not great. I wonder if Brad has any idea of who Emily is as a person, or whether he simply created a persona based on his idea of a perfect Emily. He has her on such a pedestal. How can she ever match up in the real world? The reality will never live up to the image and the dream.

That said, I hope Brad and Emily make it. He really believes she is the woman of his dreams. And tonight, a week after the taping of the After the Final Rose. Emily is with Brad in Austin, hanging out one of the four bars Brad owns with his brothers and partner Jason. Jason took this happy picture of Brad and Emily. You can find it and more at JasonCarrier1 on twitter.

A word about Chantal. She had a very classy exit, maintained her dignity and her face didn’t crumble. Just little (crocodile?) tears. A poster at FORT had some words of advice for Brad, after seeing Chantal, stunning in a one shouldered smoking hot red dress: (From the Eagle’s song, Desperado:)

Don’t you draw the queen of diamonds, boy
She’ll beat you if she’s able
You know the queen of hearts is always your best bet

Now it seems to me, some fine things
Have been laid upon your table
But you only want the ones that you can’t get

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?

Reality Steve, whose initial information this season was wrong, today says he has a new scoop. As much as I’d like not to believe him, what he writes is exactly what I’ve been thinking all week and makes too much sense not to be true. Bottom line: Brad and Emily got engaged, and then broke up. Right now they are back together, but it’s anyone’s guess what will happen. There’s trouble in paradise.

That may explain why the After the Final Rose Show will feature three past couples, with only a short segment with Brad and Emily. One, the show needed filler. And two, as Steve suggests:

The ATFR almost seemed like an intervention from the shows successful couples to tell them how to make it. Almost like a pep talk….

I have never thought Emily Maynard would uproot herself and her child from Charlotte, NC, and move to Austin, TX, after dating a guy a handful of times over three months. She’s only 25 years old, and for her entire adult life she’s been known as a “Hendricks.” She’s been very connected to them, financially and otherwise. I can’t imagine the Hendricks want their grandaughter moving to Austin, TX. They may not have a direct say in the matter, but I suspect they’ve made their feelings known and raised concerns.

Also, Emily and Brad come from very different economic backgrounds. Emily comes from money — her father is a wealthy businessman , and the Hendricks are very wealthy. She and her late fiance, Ricky Hendricks IV, met in Key West where both sets of parents were building multi-million dollar second homes. Brad Womack owns four bars in Austin, with his brothers and another business partner, but he is not a wealthy man, not by the Maynard-Hendricks standard. Nor does he live the lifestyle she’s accustomed to.

Brad is 38. Emily is 25 with a 5 year old daughter. Neither have ever been married or raised a child with a partner. (Emily’s fiancee died before she learned she was pregnant.) They have no friends in common and don’t share a common lifestyle. For Brad, leaving Austin is not an option. Emily has to be wondering whether it’s too soon to be making such huge changes in her and her daughter’s lives and losing the only support system she’s ever had as an adult.

There’s no question Brad believes he’s head over heels in love with Emily. Emily seems enamored of Brad. But she doesn’t seem head over heels in love with him. She may just be in love with how much he professes to love her.

When Brad and Emily broke up, I’m sure the show and network pulled out all its stops to get them back together, from offering therapy to getaways. They’ve even enlisted couples from past seasons to give them encouragement. And they may be together now, but even if it’s real as opposed to for show, I doubt it will be for long. There’s trouble in paradise, and this is not a couple who is going to make it to the altar.

Chris Harrison told Extra last month that Brad made the right choice “for him.” He stressed “for him.” Apparently, it may not have been the right choice for Emily. And clearly, their current relationship, if they even have one for real, is far too fragile to withstand media interviews.

I have to say, I don’t blame Brad Womack. He fell in love and proposed. He didn’t wimp out. Unfortunately, as the show has alluded to in previews all season long, the question was always, would the woman he chose be able to love him back? Emily may want to love Brad, but she can’t make the leap. She’s too young and still too much a part of the Hendricks’ family, brand and lifestyle, to be able to make the break. And the more Brad pleads, the weaker he will seem to her, until she breaks it off completely.

To add to this sorry state of affairs, the show has picked a completely uninteresting woman to be the next Bachelorette. Ashley Hebert has as much appeal as going to the dentist (a profession she’s aspiring to, but willing to delay while she takes a second shot at reality tv stardom.) She’s hyperactive, she alternates between shrieks and giggles and clamming up emotionally, she’s not alluring or sexy, her head is too big for her body and she’s as bland as they come. Who wants to turn on their TV only to see the white bread girl next door?

Will I watch? Yes, to see the guys. But if they’re as bland as they were during Ali’s season, not for long.

Thanks to TV Grapevine for posting this 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.

On the finale, filmed November 19, 2010, we’ll see Brad head over heels with Emily and the idea of a ready-made family. What will be their status now, almost four months later, filmed this week for the “After the Final Rose” show? Have Emily and Ricki moved to Austin? Are they living with Brad? Are Brad and Emily still together? Will they announce a wedding date?

Common sense tells us if Emily and Ricki are living in Austin, they didn’t just move in with Brad. Brad and Emily need to shop for a home together (his loft is too small), and they will want to bring Ricki along so she feels she’s a part of the process (and it comes of less of a shock when they do move in together. ) Nor could the Bachelor chance having some realtor spill the beans before the FRC. It took Brad and Emily took the whole season to show any emotion for each other. It was like watching paint dry. I suspect their post-engagement plans will be the same — deliberately slow, not rushing into anything, and keeping their cards close to the vest.

I think Emily is a better match for Brad than Chantal. I’m not sure Brad is so great for Emily, or that she won’t get bored by him over time, or want to return to Charlotte for the prestige that being part of the Hendricks clan brings. Had Brad chosen Chantel, I think she’d have fit in really well with his life in Austin. But if Brad wasn’t feeling it for Chantal, then he made the right decison…for him. Time will tell if it’s also the right decision for Emily and Ricki.

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.

Oh, no. After believing Reality Steve all season that Brad Womack’s final rose goes to Chantal O’Brien and the couple are happily engaged, he now tells us he was wrong and Brad is engaged to Emily. He also says Chantal turned down the Bachelorette gig for next season, and that’s how we end up with Ashley in that spot.

RS says it doesn’t matter why his sources were wrong. I’m not convinced of that. I think people will still follow his spoilers in future seasons, but no one will rely on them. They will be just another piece of the puzzle. Which is a good thing, because sleuthing the seasons, as they do at FORT, is the most fun.

The final question: Is this latest spoiler from RS what really happens?

In tonight’s episode, you will see Brad tell Emily on their overnight date that he’s falling in love with her. He hasn’t said this to anyone else this season
-Ricki is NOT part of the finale and is not brought to South Africa
-It is a regular final rose ceremony in terms of the presentation. Brad doesn’t pull an Ali and let Chantal go early. He makes her do the whole song and dance, says whatever he says, then rejects her

At least RS copped to his mistake, didn’t try and pass blame and apologized to those affected, from Brad to Chantal to readers. And thanks to FORT for breaking the new ending over the weekend.

Who does Brad pull aside to talk to before giving out his final two roses? Is it Emily (who must reassure him since she moves on to the F2) or Ashley (who gives a wrong answer and gets the boot?)

Reality Steve says Ashley will be the next Bachelorette — apparently Emily didn’t want the gig. Definitely no “wow” factor in that choice, but maybe the dates, locations and guys will be great. One can only hope.

The best part of Reality Steve’s latest column is the description of the casting process, provided him by one of the contestants from a former season. Psychologists, private investigators, blood and urine tests, 1000 questions and total seclusion. I’m surprised there are enough people willing to put up with it. Bottom line: No one would go through all that for a chance at love with a stranger. They would only do it for a shot at fame and fortune. Just another sign this show is far from real.

I’ll bet Ashley is about to get inundated with offers from clothing stores to provide her with outfits and jewelry to wear on the show. What she really needs is a great hair stylist to cover up her incredibly big forehead. It’s so distracting, and reminds me of Herman Munster. Sports Illustrated tried here, but a comb-over isn’t enough.

The “Women Tell All” episode tapes today in L.A.

Next Monday on The Bachelor, Emily reveals her sad history and one contestant decides to call it quits. Who goes home? Madison (the woman with the fangs).

The question: Was she just not that into Brad? Was it Emily’s story? Was it one of the other girls? Here’s a longer preview:

(Recommended Resource: Watch Brad Womack in Season 15 of The Bachelor online.)

Brad Womack, for those that watched his first stint as The Bachelor, know he can be a pretty uptight, serious guy. Watch him here, in this interview this morning, and you’ll see how he’s changed. He’s looser, happier, and practically giddy about having found love. It’s also refreshing to hear a Bachelor/ette with a vocabulary that contains a word other than “amazing.” In discussing the 30 women on the show, he uses phrases like “bold personalities.” He’s also very complimentary to all of them.

Tonight Brad was on Jimmy Kimmel Live. He was just as happy sounding as in the interview clip above. He also revealed he didn’t sleep with any of the women while on the show.

I’ve always thought of Brad as a pretty straight shooter. I hope this new love works out for him.

The first shots of Brad Womack at the FRC (Final Rose Ceremony) are contained in this new ABC preview. And an interesting comment by host Chris Harrison, about Brad saying he’s found love:

Well we’ll have to see if they are together. Just because he’s in love doesn’t mean that it’s happily ever after. You’ll have to wait and see how it ends. But I will say this, he’s in love right now.

Some of the great scenery pictures in the Carribean are from a date with Ashley H. at the Cuisinart Resort in Rendezvous Bay, Anguilla. Chantal and Brad’s safari date takes place at another uber-luxurious resort, Lions Sands Game Preserve in Mpumalanga, SA. Yes, it’s also one of the places Jason and Molly stayed on their honeymoon.

When the Final Rose Ceremony comes around, thanks to the great sleuthers at FORT, we know Brad is staying at the luxurious six suite 26 Sunset Ave, Llandudno (virtual tour here.) The FRC seems to be a half-hour away, at Ernie Els Winery.

This may be the best season yet in terms of romantic and beautiful locations. It’s the journey and how the Bachelor/B’ette gets to the end, as well as the “edit” that makes the show so interesting, so don’t let the spoilers about who he chooses keep you from watching.