Ketzel

Well, she said she was talking to a friend who didn't know anything at all about PCOS, and the more she described the effects, the more upset she got. It could have been Chase, but it doesn't seem likely it was a doctor. What struck me about what she said in her IG story was that, up until now, she had ignored the more serious effects of PCOS, and hadn't really done anything to treat or mitigate them. We know she's seen a number of doctors, but aside from her brief hiatus from eating pasta, we haven't seen her following any medical advice. And of course, the first thing she would have been counseled to do is lose weight, a recommendation she has strenuously rejected for years now.

From a pamphlet put out by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists: "A woman's peak reproductive years are between the late teens and late 20s. By age 30 years, fertility (the ability to get pregnant) starts to decline. This decline becomes more rapid once you reach your mid 30s. By age 45 years, fertility has declined so much that getting pregnant naturally is unlikely for most women." And this is for women who are not dealing with morbid obesity, insulin resistance or PCOS. So if Chase really wants to have a baby with his wife in the all-natural way, he may want to re-think this betrothal. Why am I not surprised that Whitney and he didn't have this discussion before he popped the question?

Thanks for taking one for the team, Dot. Is she doing these livestreams on Facebook? Did Chase get to say anything? Or anything that wasn't openly adoring of his pulchritudinous fiance? So far, the only thing he's posted on his instagram was another ad for the premiere in which he compared their "love story" to Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp and Shrek. Whitney promptly responded by criticizing him for "always being so cheesy." So I'm guessing he's being trained to shut up when Whitney is talking, unless it's to echo what she said. I have to add, he's lucky she just went for the beard. Who could forget the look on Lennie's face when she attempted to smell his armpits.

No surprise there - judging by that clip, Big Whit can can't even get herself off the ground. If one assumes all 36 are fully paid-up members, her "class" is pulling in a whopping $720 a month, and if half of it is going to Todd, she's grossing $12/day out of this silly venture.

The thing is, haven't we have seen what she looked like at the time the taping for this season ended, from the pictures and video she posted from the cruise? It sure didn't look as if she'd lost a lot of weight during taping in those pictures from November.

I think that's her photographer, Hope Leigh.

Of all the young women in the world, 28-year-old Chase picks a morbidly obese woman seven years his senior, with significant fertility issues even without counting PCOS, and significant other mental health concerns, like her eating disorders, her narcissism, her hang-up on her daddy., her personal hygiene challenges. And he is so completely convinced that she is The One that he puts a ring on it less than a year after meeting her, let alone dating her. And he is going to fight for her against The Other Man, an obese addict with barely two years of recovery, unemployed other than driving for one of the car services, who believes he may have a future as a stand up comedian, and has never shown anything but a platonic interest in Whitney. This shit show is turning into a totally ludicrous soap opera. But if Whitney is forced, FORCED to choose between "the man she loves" and "her best friend," can't she at least have a third lesbian option? Or have her choose Chase only to find out she's really marrying his evil twin? Or have Buddy struck by amnesia and have him fall in love with her until he recovers his memory? And then it's too late - they're married and Whitney was artificially inseminated with his sperm by an unethical doctor who is now blackmailing her, claiming she's really carrying Chase's baby. . . .or is it Lennie's??????

Plus, I'm sure she doesn't have the stamina to do five 24 minute workouts in one day, let alone back-to-back in one day.

Whitney has been throwing herself at Buddy for years, and he has had her firmly friend-zoned from the beginning. Are we supposed to forget the end-of-season 2 (I think?) final interview show where Shaun asked him "once and for all" whether he has had, does have or thinks he ever might have a romantic interest in Whitney? And with an apologetic glance into her furious face, he said an unambiguous "no"? Some may like to imagine he must have changed his mind this past year, but given his behavior, that's hard impossible to believe, and even if he did change his mind, that doesn't change the past. There was no off-again, on-again interest in Whitney from Buddy in the past. He's always been consistently kind but not interested where she was concerned. And that includes the way he behaved after she "tongued" him. So funny how Whitney interprets Buddy getting up from the picnic table to go and play with Ashley's daughter a confirmation of her juvenile jibe that he is jealous she has a first date with Chase. Much easier to believe he got up because he was bored with a conversation that totally revolved around Whitney's giddy hysteria that she was going on a date! With a man! And he was cute! And she was going to marry him! And everyone should stop telling her not to get ahead of herself because she was just joking about marrying him! (Although she totally wasn't and shut UP, Ryan.)

I've seen the episode on TLC Go. Get a six-pack of the Malbec, and definitely get the hot wings. Just remember not to use "bro" as your drinking game cue!

Whitney just posted an instagram story in reaction to the responses she got from fans by asking what they wanted to see more of. She says that most people want to know more about her daily life. She then recounts her life today- she napped for a while, she does that every day, she snuggles with Henchi, she's waiting for a delivery of kitty litter from Target, she spoke to Buddy on the phone and he's coming over to hang out. (Is she in Charlotte? Or Greensboro? Not clear.) Also Hope Leigh was supposed to come over but is stuck in the airport in Nashville and probably won't make it. "My life," she concludes, "is boring." I do agree with her. But am I supposed to be all "Oooh, why is she waiting on Buddy? What about Chase? " Because I actually am finding that kind of boring, also.

Whitney makes an up-front appearance in an instagram photo with Chase peeking out from behind her. Why do I find myself wondering if this is a Photoshop mash-up of two pictures?

Ryan's new gig as a trainer in a new boxing/kickboxing/aerobic/loud music gym that just opened in Charlotte, called RockBox. That young man is a hard worker! I wonder if this is part of a back-up plan if the barnacle business doesn't work out long term. 🙂

Whitney said on one of her instagram "ask me anything" stories that they hadn't set a date. Cynical me assumed that meant TLC hadn't committed to airing A Very Special Episode (including paying for the wedding and all the trimmings) yet.

To me it's really really strange. (Well, not strange, fake.) My sister married a southerner, and the social whirl after they announced the engagement went into high gear almost immediately. No holiday party thrown by his friends or hers (or both) to celebrate the engagement? Babs and Glenn didn't invite Chase's family over to a "meet the in-laws" dinner? Chase has a sister, I believe. No sisters-to-be lunch with lots of wine and giggling? No "welcome to the family" get-together with Chase's people? Not even a suggestion that these types of things are being planned, let alone taking place? Or maybe they all took place while the engagement was still under wraps for TLC, and Whitney just forgot to mention them now that it's all public?

What I found most interesting about Whitney's participation in that conference was how completely she misunderstood that her personal message was basically irrelevant for the majority of women with a PCOS diagnosis. This was a crowd of women, mostly of child-bearing age, whose primary focus was on the threat PCOS posed to their fertility. If you want to have a child, and you're told you have a syndrome that could prevent you from getting pregnant, you are going to do whatever you can to increase the odds in your favor, and that definitely includes maintaining a healthy body weight. Whitney's "you can't do anything about your weight, but you CAN be proud of yourself anyway," was about as relevant to those women as if she had shown up saying "you can't have babies, but you CAN have cats!"

I always thought the reason she didn't get freebies in exchange for endorsements is that she was so hopeless when it came time for her to do the quid for the pro quo. She'd show a picture of herself wearing something, and she wouldn't give credit to the store or the designer. Then a bunch of her fans would start asking where she got the beautiful whatever, and she would either ignore them, or answer just one of them, deep in a thread where others would probably never see it. She never seemed to get that she was supposed to be actively advertising. I think that's why her tentative (word used correctly) relationship with Torrid after the CurvyCon never took off. I expect Anna and Natalie have been wising her up. Speaking of advertising, NoBSdance seems to have disappeared from her instagram.

I have been advised by someone who has already watched the premiere of three things. One, if you want to play a drinking game while watching, don't pick "bro" as the word to drink to. Two, Whitney does not know the difference between the words "tenderly" and "tentatively." Three, Chase describes himself to Whitney as someone who works "in construction" and who hates the club scene. So I guess we have to pretend we don't know he's a bartender who manages a college-age-oriented nightclub.

Check out DJSpaceSpice's instagram - Both she and Chase have posted an instagram story advertising that they'll be collaborating on Amplify NC's New Year's Eve event. "You won't want to miss me behind the bar with severinbro7," says the dj. I wonder if Whitney bought her ticket yet?

Jenny Saville is a British figurative painter, quite respected, although some people find her work scary or off-putting. Natalie is apparently a fan? Or at least she likes this particular painting?

I hope the deer survived. My guess is he probably had tickets with Ryan or some other friends in Charlotte.

Chase is selling a single ticket to a country music concert on December 19 in Charlotte, because he "hit a deer and ruined his truck" so he can't go. I assume he didn't seriously damage himself, or wouldn't his devoted fiance be rushing to his side, rather than doing promo for TLC in Hollywood? (Did you know there is going to be a sneak preview of this season at 8:33 PM tonight?)

Ryan's already back in NC, hanging out with Chase at a ball game. Sure doesn't look like either of them are missing her.

According to their assorted instagrams, Anna and Natalie are in New York and Whitney is on her way to LA.

I can't imagine Whitney, Natalie or Anna getting involved with this show. I came across a trailer for this show, and to me it was all offensive. I very much doubt anyone who identifies with the body positivity movement would have anything to do with it. It seems to be mostly about how shocking and/or ludicrous it is for a "conventionally attractive man" to partner up with an obese woman. In a few minutes, the trailer showed: (a) the horror one of the men's family expressed when he talked to them about proposing to his girlfriend; (b) another of the men's friends asking if his interest in his girlfriend was purely sexual, heavily implying she was a fetish object to him; (d) a group of one of the men's friends taking him to a strip club to try and get him interested in a slimmer woman; (e) one of the men announcing that he loved his girlfriend very much and wished she was even heavier, while another man made the tired joke about how much more of his girlfriend there was to love, and in each case the women just sat there, looking humiliated or insulted. BTW, it's scheduled to premiere on the same night as Whitney's new season. I guess TLC is going for a theme night! 😞