S17:E08: Week 8

[Diana Berry]

 

Katie seemed kind of cold to Michael

 

[TomGirl]

1 hour ago, JenE4 said:

But on the other hand, he is going home right now for hometowns! So it comes down to michael wants to go home—but he just doesn’t want Katie to join him.

Bingo!

[JenE4]

That stodgy British Stanky Leg conversation was probably the best clip from the entire season. I wished they would show more fun stuff like that.

[GracieK]

Whenever you have a cast of guys like this that are all in bro love, it’s because the lead did nothing for them. They didn’t feel competitive for her so there wasn’t animosity and male testosterone flowing enough to make them fight for her.

[Arkay]

59 minutes ago, Diana Berry said:

 

Katie seemed kind of cold to Michael

 

I agree. She seemed more apologetic to Thomas than she should’ve been, and when she was asked if she’d give Michael a second chance, she blew him right off with the “I don’t look back” stuff. 

ETA: where was Mike P.? I would have liked to see what he had to say about the “you remind me of my mom” comments.

Edited July 27, 2021 by Arkay

[GracieK]

Katie seems pissed. Like something bad went down - maybe all the guys bailed on her? And she’s angry with the show. I don’t know.. something seemed off and she was acting extremely uptight. 

[Haute Messe]

Kaitlyn's face no longer moves. FF'd thru that stupid proposal. And to think Jason used to be one of my fave bachelors.

That Karl really is a smarmy shithead.

Michael looks good with the beard and he can do so much better than snifflin' Katie. I am so tired of hearing her sob and sigh through her mouth.

I think that whole scene with Connor was the epitome of fake. I never presumed that he was a bad kisser, but Katie is so inarticulate that she couldn't convey that there was simply no physical chemistry there. I'm sure the elementary school crowd appreciates his music.

Thomas....not buying what he is selling. 

Bloopers are the most authentic and entertaining part of this show and if they don't make some changes in hosting and production this feels to me like a sinking ship. 

[tinkerbell]

1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:

Getting sent home for being a sucky kisser has to be one of the more embarrassing reasons to get kicked off the show. 

Oh yeah, this is totally happening and isn't scripted or anything.  

Katie didn't say he was a bad kisser, she kissed him to see if she felt any passion.

1 hour ago, DEL901 said:

Katie should have washed her hair.   And Michael doesn’t seem broken hearted at all.   I wonder if this means he is under consideration for the next Bachelor?

Michael wasn't heartbroken.  He didn't want to get the final rose, because he realized he did not want to marry her.  

[angelamh66]

She really doesn’t have the demeanor of someone who is happily coupled. My guess is she did pick someone but the relationship is already toast.

[julia1130]

What if she was acting weird (esp to Michael), bc she ends up picking him in the end by ditching the other 3 and showing up in Akron?

[tinkerbell]

Katie does not seem happy, does she?  She seems mad, nervous, trying not to show how unhappy she is.

[Irlandesa]

3 hours ago, alexa said:

Is he auditioning to be the bachelor?  But I guess not because he would have to leave his son?

I think COVID is going to decide whether or not he'd take the role.  If they allowed Emily to have her child with her during her season, I think they'd allow Michael to have his son and maybe even some caregivers as well. 

2 hours ago, DEL901 said:

I think hometowns are like last season and they don’t actually go home since they have to stay in the Covid  bubble.  Remember which one of the guys got hurt and she said if he had to go to the hospital he would be off the show.  

That was Michael A.  So yeah, I think the hometowns are in NM. 

 

2 hours ago, nlkm9 said:

Ok so here’s my take - katie says “i saw us going to the end” which is obviously a lie - if she saw herself with him in the end , she should have ended the show right then with him. This is just convenient drama. He was going to see his son on hometowns in the next week anyway.

I don't think he'd be bringing his son to NM since they can't be vaccinated.  I took "saw us going to the end" to maybe be fantasy suites.  I think he would have at least survived hometowns. 

2 hours ago, CraftyHazel said:

Didn’t Michael say he wasn’t going to have his son be there for hometowns (which proves he’s got James’ best interests at heart), and therefore he would not be seeing him in a week?  I swear I heard that.

Yep. I heard that too.  I don't think the issue would be introducing James to Katie.  He can simply say "meet daddy's friend."  I think he wouldn't want him traveling because of COVID.

1 hour ago, JenE4 said:

I don’t know, I think “Where’d you get that shirt? The shirt store?” is a pretty stellar comment to throw someone off their game.

Michael explaining that losing the WoWo challenge proves that he has stamina for his age. Lol.

I wish we'd see more of these kinds of interactions over bickering.  The bickering is almost always the same "He or she isn't here for the right reasons."  But the humor?  Almost always different.

29 minutes ago, GracieK said:

Katie seems pissed. Like something bad went down - maybe all the guys bailed on her? And she’s angry with the show. I don’t know.. something seemed off and she was acting extremely uptight. 

I remember liking Katie on Matt's season but when she and Michelle got interviewed by Emmanuel Acho when they were announced as bachelorettes, I thought she was not great in that kind of setting.  I feel the very same today.  And yes, there seems to be more rejection this season.  She gets rid of Andrew, who comes back and says he'll be there for her, but he turns down her ask for him to stick around.  Then Michael self-eliminates right after that.  She's probably frustrated she couldn't keep Andrew, which she would have done if she had known Michael was going to walk. 

[funnygirl]

never mind

Edited July 27, 2021 by funnygirl

[RealHousewife]

3 hours ago, MissPriss said:

Michael may be the classiest guy this franchise has ever seen. How did he slip by!!! (‘Cause we know they ain’t hunting classy men.)

They definitely don't hunt for classy because they don't always get the best ratings, but I don't see a ton of classy people eager to join the franchise either. 

3 hours ago, TiredMe said:

Well Kaitlin and Tayshia did not have as much control of that situation as Chris would have. I think he would have interrupted sooner. Lol

Ditto. 

Edited July 27, 2021 by RealHousewife

[chocolatine]

I'm not questioning Michael's devotion to his son, but the timing of his exit seems very strategic. He stayed long enough to have a good shot at being the next Bachelor, but not long enough to have to introduce Katie to James or to risk "winning." This way he got a great edit and will have no problem meeting women whether he becomes the next Bachelor or not.

Watching Kaitlyn and Tayshia try to host a live show is like getting a root canal without the lidocaine. 

Connor still looks like a terrible kisser the way he attacked that woman's face. Even if she is his IRL girlfriend, I can't imagine that she enjoys getting mauled like that.

5 hours ago, alexa said:

Is he auditioning to be the bachelor?  But I guess not because he would have to leave his son?

Mesnick was allowed to have his son with him for most of his season. If anything, arranging to have Michael's son with him should be even easier since he doesn't have shared custody.

[Back Atcha]

5 hours ago, Stats Queen said:

Just why did we have to see Kaitlyn’s proposal - she’s supposed to be the co-host, not part of the story?
TPTB just kind of suck.

It's pathetic. The "franchise" (even ABC) seems to be pushing Kaitlyn on us...and WHY?  She doesn't seem to be popular.  She doesn't do a good job.  PLEEEZE tell me she and her FEE-ahn-say aren't going to be the next Chris Harrison.  I'm still questioning how she won Dancing with the Stars.

5 hours ago, saber5055 said:

Now it's the Kaitlyn show. I'm out.

Me too!  She doesn't have IT and she never will.  They can groom-groom-groom, but it won't work.  Create and bring in a FIANCE` ... find a guy who needs to be on television!

6 hours ago, Stats Queen said:

Looking at Kaitlyn’s face continues to creep me out. It’s just so wrong, and she was so cute/pretty before she did whatever she did.

Whenever we saw Kaitlyn and Tayshia onscreen together it was OBVIOUS who was:

• The more polished/experienced/talented presenter
• More attractive
• Better wardrobed (if that's a word)
• More comfortable ...  (WE are more comfortable and SHE is more comfortable)
• Outshines her co-host

[nlkm9]

5 hours ago, GracieK said:

Whenever you have a cast of guys like this that are all in bro love, it’s because the lead did nothing for them. They didn’t feel competitive for her so there wasn’t animosity and male testosterone flowing enough to make them fight for her.

very much like Deannas season. It is nice to see the guys banter though.

4 hours ago, lizajane said:

Kaitlyn's face no longer moves. FF'd thru that stupid proposal. And to think Jason used to be one of my fave bachelors.

s 

I actually thought Kaitlyn looked better last nite, less severe and even pretty--im hoping she is letting her fillers wear off. I mist say that Jason T is adorable

[Diana Berry]

6 hours ago, Arkay said:

I agree. She seemed more apologetic to Thomas than she should’ve been, and when she was asked if she’d give Michael a second chance, she blew him right off with the “I don’t look back” stuff. 

ETA: where was Mike P.? I would have liked to see what he had to say about the “you remind me of my mom” comments.

Something just didn’t seem right with her. 

[JenE4]

7 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

And yes, there seems to be more rejection this season.  She gets rid of Andrew, who comes back and says he'll be there for her, but he turns down her ask for him to stick around.  Then Michael self-eliminates right after that.  She's probably frustrated she couldn't keep Andrew, which she would have done if she had known Michael was going to walk. 

And that preview! I’m going to take my comments to the spoilers and speculation thread, but it does seem like all the guys she’s into are self-eliminating, leaving her with a fuck boi and a guy I don’t recall her ever speaking to.

[seacliffsal]

I hadn't watched any episodes of this season (but have been reading all of your posts) so decided to watch TMTA and get an overall view of the season.  I just couldn't believe what I watched. Audition after audition (to be expected) but a complete lack of hosting abilities even though they had TWO hosts.  I was mesmerized by Kaitlyn's face (I had been reading about it but this was the first time I saw it) as well as the awkwardness of the hosts.  OH, and the men were allowed to go on for far too long.  If Matt can forgive Rachael, why can't we forgive Chris Harrison?

Even though I really liked Michelle and had been looking forward to her season, but I may be out after watching TMTA.  However, I will give Bachelor in Paradise a quick look.

[Hip-to-be-Square]

14 hours ago, saber5055 said:

Ugh. TMTA. So many "Who?" during intros. Not sure If I can make it through this.

The guys: "Katie is the perfect girl. She's stunning. She's gorgeous."

Am I watching the same show as these dudes?

These guys are giving Katie way too much credit saying she "changed their lives" like she's some motivational speaker at a Learning Annex class! And "stunning" or "gorgeous"?!  I'd say she is "cute" or approachable maybe, but haven't they looked at a Sports Illustrated swimsuit magazine or hell, even their local mall? I can only attribute their feelings to the Stockholm Syndrome pressure cooker that is The Bachelor/Bachelorette franchise. 

[TomGirl]

9 hours ago, chocolatine said:

 

I'm not questioning Michael's devotion to his son, but the timing of his exit seems very strategic. He stayed long enough to have a good shot at being the next Bachelor, but not long enough to have to introduce Katie to James or to risk "winning." This way he got a great edit and will have no problem meeting women whether he becomes the next Bachelor or not

 

I thought exactly the same thing.  I may be alone on this, but I don’t feel the Michael A. love.  I think he’s milking the dead wife story just a LEETLE too much.  And I don’t care for his cutesy facial expressions with the cocked head and wide eyes and “I’m so adorable” vibe.

OK, let the firing squad take aim!

[Alexander Pope]

14 hours ago, TiredMe said:

Well Kaitlin and Tayshia did not have as much control of that situation as Chris would have. I think he would have interrupted sooner. Lol

A friend of ours said that they resembled college RAS trying to discipline their peers!

[Madding crowd]

Tayshia looked glowing last night and I like her but she and Kaitlin don’t make good hosts. Katie had lots of good guys ( and handsome guys too) but I don’t think she did herself any favors with the constant accusations and canceling time for the guys to get to know her. 
I think Michael A is unattractive and has a boring personality, but I’m glad he is putting his son first.

I was hoping to see hometowns and I wonder how it will go since she hasn’t spent much time with Jason or Blake. I also find it hard to know which guys she really likes since she says the same things to every guy until she eliminates them. I know the leads all have certain phrases they use but you can usually tell who they are really into from body language and how their face lights up, etc.

Katie is a cute girl next door type and seems like a nice person, but she doesn’t have that extra special quality that would make all these guys interested.

[Back Atcha]

3 minutes ago, Madding crowd said:

I think Michael A is unattractive and has a boring personality, but I’m glad he is putting his son first.

I think he's boring...a nice guy, who's "cute enough."  I hope his real personality isn't that of such a sad sack.  I think Production manipulated him a bit too much.

[Back Atcha]

5 minutes ago, Madding crowd said:

Katie is a cute girl next door type and seems like a nice person, but she doesn’t have that extra special quality that would make all these guys interested.

In general, "these guys" (and girls/women/ladies) all have agents and are looking for careers in showbiz.  Or merely a "celebrity" career of any sort. They don't seem to care what level.  Rarely are they truly interested in "the Bachelorette" as a human.  

[TomGirl]

Michael gets “closure.”

https://people.com/tv/the-bachelorettes-michael-a-opens-up-about-his-difficult-breakup-with-katie-i-do-think-love-is-out-there-for-me/

[Hip-to-be-Square]

20 minutes ago, TomGirl said:

I thought exactly the same thing.  I may be alone on this, but I don’t feel the Michael A. love.  I think he’s milking the dead wife story just a LEETLE too much.  And I don’t care for his cutesy facial expressions with the cocked head and wide eyes and “I’m so adorable” vibe.

OK, let the firing squad take aim!

I'm with you! I think he sounded really scripted at times, like when he said, "How lucky it is to fall in love twice" after knowing Katie for maybe a week.  I think he maybe thought Katie was cute to casually date and also wanted to get his name out there by being on the show as a business owner so that people could google him and find/support his online business ventures.  I think regardless of how nice most of the guys seem, they all came on the show for social media followers and to elevate their attractiveness to local single girls in their hometowns.  

[Back Atcha]

45 minutes ago, seacliffsal said:

If Matt can forgive Rachael, why can't we forgive Chris Harrison?

Because we had only one season of Matt and Rachel--and Chris hosted innumerable franchise iterations for SEVNTEEN years.                          Give us time...give us time.

[Kiss my mutt]

I’ve forgiven Chris Harrison. I’m not sure I can forgive the mess that is Tay and Kay hosting although I like them both as bachelorettes. 
I don’t know if this show is going to Katie’s head or if things aren’t working out like she wanted, but she’s been coming across as a real snot. 
I wonder if the ratings will go up for Michelle’s season and we’ll make it past two pages of comments!

[DEL901]

23 minutes ago, Back Atcha said:

I think he's boring...a nice guy, who's "cute enough."  I hope his real personality isn't that of such a sad sack.  I think Production manipulated him a bit too much.

I thought he was a sad sack at first, but over the season, I think that Greg took over that role as Michael gained confidence.  

15 minutes ago, Back Atcha said:

Because we had only one season of Matt and Rachel--and Chris hosted innumerable franchise iterations for SEVNTEEN years.                          Give us time...give us time.

IMO, because Rachael went straight to apologizing and taking responsibility for her actions, but Chris didn’t until his job was at risk.  

2 minutes ago, Kiss my mutt said:. 
I don’t know if this show is going to Katie’s head or if things aren’t working out like she wanted, but she’s been coming across as a real snot. 
I wonder if the ratings will go up for Michelle’s season and we’ll make it past two pages of comments!

I thought Katie came off as a stealth snot on Matt’s season but she positioned herself as being above the pettiness and professed/hid behind the right motives while she put down others.  

[Jax7917]

I could be wrong , but I think if Katie was on bachelor in paradise instead of being the bachelorette  , she wouldn’t have gotten much attention from the guys . The guys say the same stuff to whoever the lead is . No one has ever said , “ I’m not attracted to her ” , even though we know not every guy is going to be into the same girl so I take what they say with a grain of salt . But Katie is just so plain Jane so hearing the guys gush over her seems so phony . 

[tinkerbell]

50 minutes ago, Madding crowd said:

was hoping to see hometowns and I wonder how it will go since she hasn’t spent much time with Jason or Blake. I also find it hard to know which guys she really likes since she says the same things to every guy until she eliminates them. 

To be fair, she may have spent a lot of time with them. We only know what we were shown.

[Madding crowd]

I think they pretty much show the encounters between the contestants on this show. We don’t see every minute of their one on one dates, but I don’t think they have dates that aren’t shown. Since Katie canceled almost all of the cocktail parties, she sees them only on group dates and rose ceremonies. To me she shows the same amount of attraction to the guys she let go as the ones she kept.

[saber5055]

2 hours ago, Hip-to-be-Square said:

I can only attribute their feelings to the Stockholm Syndrome pressure cooker that is The Bachelor/Bachelorette franchise. 

Or the script TPTB gave them when they signed the contract to get on this show to promote their whatever/themselves *coughfamewhorecough*.

[greeneyedscorpio]

I didn't think Katie seemed upset at all when Michael left.  I know there was mascara running down one of her cheeks, but it seemed so fake to me.  She "cries" a lot with no real tears.  And I agree with whoever said that Michael didn't seem that upset either.   

She did seem like she was on the verge of real tears on TMTA.  Her lips seemed to be quivering at times like she was about to lose it at any moment.  

Her answers to the men, especially Thomas seemed very rehearsed.  

 

Edited July 27, 2021 by greeneyedscorpio

[greeneyedscorpio]

I don't mind Tayshia as a host.  She is polished and well-spoken.  Kaitlyn can take a hike. 

[JenE4]

1 hour ago, Jax7917 said:

I could be wrong , but I think if Katie was on bachelor in paradise instead of being the bachelorette  , she wouldn’t have gotten much attention from the guys . The guys say the same stuff to whoever the lead is . No one has ever said , “ I’m not attracted to her ” , even though we know not every guy is going to be into the same girl so I take what they say with a grain of salt . But Katie is just so plain Jane so hearing the guys gush over her seems so phony . 

Oh, it’s happened! Granted, it was a decade ago, but during what was supposed to be a comedic roast of the fellow contestants, Bentley decided to roast Bachelorette Ashley—calling her ugly, pointing out her flat chest, and admitting that he came on the show for Emily and was disappointed it was her. In fact, that episode is was what made me join this site (which was, at the time, Television Without Pity, then Previously.TV before they sold each site and ultimately spun off to be Primetimer). But I very clearly picked up that the scenes of Ashley “standing up for herself” in the talking heads were filmed long after the actual event—outfit was the same but hair and makeup aligned with what she had ATFR.

[saber5055]

@JenE4, I totally remember that flat-chested Ashley roast. This show was so much fun back then. These days, not so much.

I was posting on TWoP but under a different name.

Edited July 27, 2021 by saber5055

[RealHousewife]

^ Was Ashley a mean bachelorette or something? That sounds pretty mean tbh. 

[Hip-to-be-Square]

I remember the roast of Ashley Herbert!  It was brutal- William, the "cellular phone salesman" from Ohio ripped her a new one.  I felt so bad for Ashley when she sobbed while hyperventilating backstage after the roast was over.  JP was so unbelievably sexy to me that season.  Here's the attached roast that was the most offensive. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbyUx6ogurc

[tinkerbell]

the men saying that meeting Katie has "changed my life forever."   NO -  being on TV has changed your life forever.  It could have been any other Bachelorette, with the same result.  

 

[Hip-to-be-Square]

3 minutes ago, RealHousewife said:

^ Was Ashley a mean bachelorette or something? That sounds pretty mean tbh. 

Ashley was nice at least from what I saw of her when she was The Bachelorette. I heard that she was on Brad Womack's season, but I only started watching this show with her season as the lead.

Edited July 27, 2021 by Hip-to-be-Square

[tinkerbell]

4 minutes ago, RealHousewife said:

^ Was Ashley a mean bachelorette or something? That sounds pretty mean tbh. 

to be fair - the guys were told to ROAST her -  then criticized when they said anything not complimentary.  

[Kiss my mutt]

I guess if I were Katie, I would be kinda WTF with Michael too, saying he needed to go home for his son and then coming on MTA and saying he would like to continue their relationship. What changed since he left? 

[JenE4]

1 hour ago, RealHousewife said:

^ Was Ashley a mean bachelorette or something? That sounds pretty mean tbh. 

No. She was a perfectly normal dental student. But, I think that’s why a few of the guys were really disappointed because they were hoping for smoking hot Emily Maynard (who turned the lead down at the time) and instead they got an average-to-cute (but not necessarily arguably beautiful) woman that they could have met in any small town. Now they go for “regular people that you empathize with,” but back then there was more of a focus on the lead being some type of unattainable ideal. Granted, they also had the likes of Jillian and Bob back then, but somehow their “funny personalities” outshined their lower-average looks. Ashley, on the other hand, while a perfectly normal, sweet girl, didn’t really have anything “special” going for her to make the guys want to fight over her. Remember, this was before the opportunity to become a social media influencer. Wasn’t Bentley there to promote his trampoline park? This was what There For the Wrong Reasons meant back then—maybe more local moms would schedule their kids’ parties at your establishment, lol.

Edited July 27, 2021 by JenE4

[TomGirl]

1 hour ago, saber5055 said:

I was posting on TWoP but under a different name.

Who were you?  I’ve been TomGirl the whole time.

[chocolatine]

1 hour ago, JenE4 said:

Oh, it’s happened! Granted, it was a decade ago, but during what was supposed to be a comedic roast of the fellow contestants, Bentley decided to roast Bachelorette Ashley—calling her ugly, pointing out her flat chest, and admitting that he came on the show for Emily and was disappointed it was her.

It was William who did the mean roast. Bentley only said nasty things in his ITMs.

1 hour ago, RealHousewife said:

^ Was Ashley a mean bachelorette or something? That sounds pretty mean tbh. 

She was perfectly lovely, she just had insecurities about her looks which some of the men exploited.

1 hour ago, Hip-to-be-Square said:

I remember the roast of Ashley Herbert!  It was brutal- William, the "cellular phone salesman" from Ohio ripped her a new one.  I felt so bad for Ashley when she sobbed while hyperventilating backstage after the roast was over.  JP was so unbelievably sexy to me that season.  Here's the attached roast that was the most offensive. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbyUx6ogurc

Watching it back, it's even meaner than I remembered. Poor Ashley!

1 hour ago, tinkerbell said:

to be fair - the guys were told to ROAST her -  then criticized when they said anything not complimentary.  

Roasts are supposed to be funny, not mean. The trick is to make fun of traits about which the subject feels secure. In this case, Ashley was already anxious about "letting down" the men by not being Emily, and William chose to pour salt in the wound.

[saber5055]

25 minutes ago, TomGirl said:

Who were you?  I’ve been TomGirl the whole time.

I went through four different names on TWoP. Luckily, this site is nicer so here I'm still as I started. And I hope to keep it that way! There were so many of us on TWoP who came back multiple times as different posters. Or maybe I just hung out with a rough crowd!

I remember Ashley breaking down back stage after that "roast" that wasn't a fun time at all. But on the bright side, she ended up with one of the hottest bachelors ever, my fav of all time, JP. So there's that. I never suspected TPTB manipulated the guys or scripted the stories back then. Maybe they did. But now it's just too obvious, everyone has a role to play.

[Crashcourse]

14 hours ago, chocolatine said:

Watching Kaitlyn and Tayshia try to host a live show is like getting a root canal without the lidocaine. 

I'm actually scheduled to get a root canal next week 😱, but I'd still take that over watching those two.