The Bachelor in the Media

[DEL901]

7 minutes ago, chocolatine said:

Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that he was an utterly lame Bachelor and kissed like a fish.

Agree he was a lame Bachelor.  I thought his turn made it clear why they stick with someone from the previous season….gives the some more awareness or something.  He went in green since Clare’s season got postponed and they had to make a decision and start filming.  

[nlkm9]

10 hours ago, DEL901 said:

One of the surprising things for me is that Matt and Rachael are still together and seem to be happy.   Who’d have thunk it?  

yes agreed. Ben was gross lol. I think that prince of dog food was the worst. Andrew Firestone was my favorite season, more I think because he did exemplify a bachelor who most women would adore, and the fact that noone knew who was the bachelor until they were all out of the limos. 

[ApprenticeFan]

The 27th season has the first preview released:

Edited November 23, 2022 by ApprenticeFan

[phlebas]

On 9/24/2022 at 9:41 PM, chocolatine said:

Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that he was an utterly lame Bachelor and kissed like a fish.

It's true. Most fish don't close their eyes.

[deSchenke]

14 hours ago, ApprenticeFan said:

The 27th season has the first preview released:

I could do without the shower scenes. 

[nlkm9]

8 hours ago, phlebas said:

It's true. Most fish don't close their eyes.

I will never forget how he treated her on aftr, so condescending and nasty. very sad.

[Lamb18]

Over on the NFL thread (on my phone) I typed "Colts" and guess what word was still in my phone's memory and showed up as a suggested word? Colton! My phone does not forget. It wishes it could.

[phlebas]

So Elan Gale is unemployed.  I wonder if we can convince him to come back to The Bachelor and make it suck less?

https://jezebel.com/fboy-island-canceled-a-farewell-to-very-large-arms-1849859723

[LilDumplin]

16 hours ago, phlebas said:

So Elan Gale is unemployed.  I wonder if we can convince him to come back to The Bachelor and make it suck less?

https://jezebel.com/fboy-island-canceled-a-farewell-to-very-large-arms-1849859723

I saw his name as a producer on The Midnight Club on Netflix (although that is cancelled now too). Wonder if he is trying to move away from reality? 

[phlebas]

1 hour ago, LilDumplin said:

I saw his name as a producer on The Midnight Club on Netflix (although that is cancelled now too). Wonder if he is trying to move away from reality? 

Tough to blame him. But I would love for him to come back long enough to train his own replacement. The current crew doesn't understand why we ever enjoyed this show

[DEL901]

Oh, the shade…https://ew.com/tv/the-bachelor-zach-shallcross-first-poster/

The headline compares him to a model for Men’s Warehouse.  

[Kiss my mutt]

Yeah, I’m not too incredibly excited about him, but it won’t keep me from watching as usual. 

[DEL901]

5 minutes ago, Kiss my mutt said:

Yeah, I’m not too incredibly excited about him, but it won’t keep me from watching as usual. 

Me too.  But after two back to back train wreck seasons (Clayton and double bachelorettes which did not double our fun) I guess they wanted a palette cleanser.   I fully expect the next Bachelorette to be batshit crazy.  

[DEL901]

Matt andRachael still together.  Good for them.  I guess if they could get past the racism scandal, they might actually be able to go the distance.  Plus they don’t seem to do a lot of Bachelor events or blogs or podcasts or anything.  
https://people.com/food/see-bachelor-matt-james-attempt-to-eat-100-cookies-at-a-ski-resort-never-turn-down-a-cookie/

[nlkm9]

2 hours ago, DEL901 said:

Matt andRachael still together.  Good for them.  I guess if they could get past the racism scandal, they might actually be able to go the distance.  Plus they don’t seem to do a lot of Bachelor events or blogs or podcasts or anything.  
https://people.com/food/see-bachelor-matt-james-attempt-to-eat-100-cookies-at-a-ski-resort-never-turn-down-a-cookie/

He really treated her like crap on national tv so i hope he is worth it . Ugh.

[ApprenticeFan]

Zach's girls are officially here:

 

 

Edited January 5, 2023 by ApprenticeFan

[phlebas]

Ok, I know she's young, but I'm all in on Jess judging only by these pictures. She is, to my eyes, the least sculpted/uncanny valleyed of them.  Curious to see in what ways she's either forgettable or evil.

 

[chocolatine]

Rachel Lindsay is complaining that Chris Harrison doesn't talk about her on his podcast. I'm sure if he did talk about her, she would complain even more. There's no winning with her.

[nlkm9]

She is really a piece of work!!

[Kiss my mutt]

Just curious how Chris’ podcast was? I haven’t listened to it yet. Is it worth it?

[chocolatine]

12 minutes ago, Kiss my mutt said:

Just curious how Chris’ podcast was? I haven’t listened to it yet. Is it worth it?

I haven't listened to it, and didn't even know that he had a podcast until the Us Weekly story popped up in my newsfeed. It just galls me that Rachel is making it about herself even though Chris apparently didn't say a word about her. The poor guy is just trying to rebuild a small fraction of his former career and she seems determined to ruin that for him.

[Kiss my mutt]

Just now, chocolatine said:

I haven't listened to it, and didn't even know that he had a podcast until the Us Weekly story popped up in my newsfeed. It just galls me that Rachel is making it about herself even though Chris apparently didn't say a word about her. The poor guy is just trying to rebuild a small fraction of his former career and she seems determined to ruin that for him.

Yeah, She needs to let go of the bitterness. UO, but Chris got a raw deal. I’ll probably listen to podcast but I’m sure it’s very politick so he doesn’t get raked over the coals. 

[chocolatine]

1 minute ago, Kiss my mutt said:

UO, but Chris got a raw deal.

I agree. He put his foot in his mouth, for sure, but he didn't deserve to lose his livelihood, IMO. And considering that it was an interview with Rachel Lindsay that precipitated this, I wouldn't blame him if he never wants to hear or say her name again.

[dreamkiller]

For anyone who cares to know what the article actually said, Rachel did not state that she was upset that she was not mentioned on the podcast. She was responding to comments that others made about the podcast and even stated that Chris has the right to express his viewpoint on the situation.

Actual statement: “So I’m not going to speak too much to it. … Some people [have sent] support, you know, or like, ‘I don’t like the way that he addressed it … your name wasn’t mentioned.’ Which, when we talked about when this podcast was announced, I said, ‘He’s going to talk about how he feels, he’s not going to mention my name.’ Why would he? This is his opportunity to tell his side of it because he hasn’t before, which he totally has the right to do.”

This is not a topic that has very much meat on its bones at this point, however, the continued misrepresentation of her thoughts and words in support of Chris Harrison is interesting. 

[DEL901]

I wasn’t sure which show to put this link unde since it covers all the shows, so I thought I’d go  with the mothership….the most complete listing and up to date  status of Bachelor couples I’ve seen…

https://people.com/tv/bachelor-and-bachelorette-couples-whos-still-together/

[chocolatine]

3 hours ago, dreamkiller said:

For anyone who cares to know what the article actually said, Rachel did not state that she was upset that she was not mentioned on the podcast. She was responding to comments that others made about the podcast and even stated that Chris has the right to express his viewpoint on the situation.

Actual statement: “So I’m not going to speak too much to it. … Some people [have sent] support, you know, or like, ‘I don’t like the way that he addressed it … your name wasn’t mentioned.’ Which, when we talked about when this podcast was announced, I said, ‘He’s going to talk about how he feels, he’s not going to mention my name.’ Why would he? This is his opportunity to tell his side of it because he hasn’t before, which he totally has the right to do.”

This is not a topic that has very much meat on its bones at this point, however, the continued misrepresentation of her thoughts and words in support of Chris Harrison is interesting. 

I did read the article, and I perceived it as negative towards CH. There's no reason she had to say anything about his podcast at all. And I call BS on "some people have sent support" so this is why she is commenting. WTF does she need support for? She just likes to insinuate herself into situations that have nothing to do with her.

[phlebas]

I wouldn't say CH's situation has NOTHING to do with her.  I suspect she's still getting hate mail from it.  If she's still dealing with the repercussions of giving Chris a mic and letting him say the quiet part out loud, I understand her wanting to respond to emails she's gotten.  

If she was going line-by-line through his podcast and recapping, that would be different.  But I read all this as "he can do what he wants, I'm fine with him keeping my name out of his mouth, now on to other things"

[chocolatine]

6 minutes ago, phlebas said:

I wouldn't say CH's situation has NOTHING to do with her.  I suspect she's still getting hate mail from it.  If she's still dealing with the repercussions of giving Chris a mic and letting him say the quiet part out loud, I understand her wanting to respond to emails she's gotten.  

If she was going line-by-line through his podcast and recapping, that would be different.  But I read all this as "he can do what he wants, I'm fine with him keeping my name out of his mouth, now on to other things"

His podcast has nothing to do with her. The best way for her to stop receiving hate mail is to not keep rehashing something that happened two years ago. But she desperately wants attention for her own podcast, so she made his podcast debut about her. If CH is keeping her name out of his mouth, there is no reason for her to still have his name in hers.

[dreamkiller]

1 hour ago, chocolatine said:

I did read the article, and I perceived it as negative towards CH. There's no reason she had to say anything about his podcast at all. And I call BS on "some people have sent support" so this is why she is commenting. WTF does she need support for? She just likes to insinuate herself into situations that have nothing to do with her.

Your perception is fine, your (and others) misrepresentation of her statement is where the issue lies. I would hazard a guess that consistent misrepresentation of her statements and her position by the internet may be a part of what fuels her to continue to comment. 

[Stats Queen]

39 minutes ago, dreamkiller said:

Your perception is fine, your (and others) misrepresentation of her statement is where the issue lies. I would hazard a guess that consistent misrepresentation of her statements and her position by the internet may be a part of what fuels her to continue to comment. 

I read the article and I came out not impressed with Rachel’s comments overall.

I felt like she was placing a generalized label on all of Chris Harrison’s fans. This may not have been her intent but it is how I felt reading her comments.

Just my interpretation of some of her comments.

This was from me reading the entire article.

I don’t use social media much and haven’t kept detailed track of Rachel since her time on Thr Bachelorette. 

 

[Irlandesa]

11 hours ago, chocolatine said:

His podcast has nothing to do with her. The best way for her to stop receiving hate mail is to not keep rehashing something that happened two years ago. But she desperately wants attention for her own podcast, so she made his podcast debut about her. If CH is keeping her name out of his mouth, there is no reason for her to still have his name in hers.

She ignored it for years. Chris could have done that as well and just started his podcast unrelated to the past.  The minute he started talking about what happened, though, she was going to be affected even if he never said her name.  She doesn't have the luxury to have it 'not be about her' because it riled up the people who blamed her for Chris's actions in the first place.  They sought her out and started sending her hate again.  It's why she had people reach out and it's why she felt she had to address it. 

I actually do think she'd prefer the focus should on Chris because his behavior in the interview had nothing to do with her.  He didn't let her speak.  That's not the way it played out, though, and Rachel staying silent and taking the abuse isn't going to make it stop.

9 hours ago, Stats Queen said:

I felt like she was placing a generalized label on all of Chris Harrison’s fans. This may not have been her intent but it is how I felt reading her comments.

I feel she was just matter-of-fact about it all.  She's responding to people who reached out and didn't like how Chris addressed this all on his podcast.  Her point is that the podcast isn't for people who are hoping for more introspection or a more sincere sounding (to their ears) mea culpa from him.  It's for his fans who will take him as he is, who either weren't bothered by his defense of Rachael and comportment in the interview or felt he had made enough amends for them.

[phlebas]

On 1/20/2023 at 10:47 AM, chocolatine said:

His podcast has nothing to do with her. The best way for her to stop receiving hate mail is to not keep rehashing something that happened two years ago. But she desperately wants attention for her own podcast, so she made his podcast debut about her. If CH is keeping her name out of his mouth, there is no reason for her to still have his name in hers.

I guess we disagree on this.  I expect CH to keep talking about The Bachelor, and her to not.

And the best way for her to not get hate mail is to have white skin and a penis :)

[TVMovieBuff]

I know I am not watching Zach's season. Two reasons. It has been ages since we had a really nice Bachelor. The last one was Sean Lowe and not for a lot before him. 

Now all the girls & guys are too good-looking. Everyone could be a model. I liked it better in the early days when you had mostly the guy or girl next door. Much more interesting. 

[nlkm9]

Andrew firestone remains my fave for many reasons- first off back then noone knew who the bachelor was! There wasnt sociaL media bs. And andy was a bonafide catch, a good looking millionare! It was very down to earth!!

[chocolatine]

On 1/20/2023 at 7:38 PM, Irlandesa said:

Her point is that the podcast isn't for people who are hoping for more introspection or a more sincere sounding (to their ears) mea culpa from him.  It's for his fans who will take him as he is, who either weren't bothered by his defense of Rachael and comportment in the interview or felt he had made enough amends for them.

So what if it is? It's his podcast and doesn't have to be "for" anyone other than himself. If he had said anything about her, she would have been justified to comment. But he obviously wants to move past what happened two years ago, and she doesn't want to let him. She just can't let anything go. She kept disparaging Peter Kraus for years after her Bachelorette season, even though she was supposedly happy with Bryan, and now that she's no longer able to milk that situation, she's zeroing in on another target. As long as she keeps disparaging people without provocation, she deserves all the hate mail she gets.

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, chocolatine said:

So what if it is? It's his podcast and doesn't have to be "for" anyone other than himself.

You and Rachel agree on that point. 

1 hour ago, chocolatine said:

As long as she keeps disparaging people without provocation, she deserves all the hate mail she gets.

The hate mail came before she said a word.  It started coming when Chris addressed it again.  

[phlebas]

Another bad decision by a future frontrunner.

I'm willing to take Greer at her word that she's not this way any more, just like I was with Rachael Kirkconnell. Time will tell. Even a teenager in 2016 should have known better, but all 18-year-olds do and say stupid things sometimes. 

She and Rachael should go have coffee and com[pare Recovering Racist Bona Fides.

https://people.com/tv/the-bachelor-first-impression-rose-greer-blitzer-apologizes-defending-blackface/

Edited January 25, 2023 by phlebas

[LakeGal]

I watched Zach on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Monday night.  Jimmy was asking Zach how he can tell the women apart and remember all their names.  Zach said he really did remember all the women and their names.  He said he felt bad after he couldn't remember names on After the Final Rose.  He said he really paid attention on the first night.  Jimmy told Zach he wanted to test him on that.  He opened a curtain and there were 30 women's faces.  All were from his season except one.  He asked Zach to pick the fake one.  Zach took awhile and looked and looked then finally picked out a blonde.  He was correct.  She was just a person in the audience and she did look like all the other blondes that end up on the show. Zach admitted to Jimmy that he did find love. They also talked about his Uncle Puddy.  Zach also had photos when he had been to the show a few years ago with a buddy.

 

[DEL901]

I just watched the interview. It was painful.  Zach has no banter.  And he twice in the first few minutes responded to a question by saying “that’s a good question “.   But  he really tried, so points for that.  

[Starlight925]

8 hours ago, LakeGal said:

IHe asked Zach to pick the fake one.  Zach took awhile and looked and looked then finally picked out a blonde.  He was correct.  She was just a person in the audience and she did look like all the other blondes that end up on the show. 

Zach was on Jimmy after the entire season had wrapped.  I certainly hope he'd be able to pick out which girl wasn't there.  

As for him finding love....finding it is one thing, keeping it is another.

Edited January 26, 2023 by Starlight925

[partofme]

On 1/18/2023 at 9:07 PM, chocolatine said:

I agree. He put his foot in his mouth, for sure, but he didn't deserve to lose his livelihood, IMO. 

I think Chris Harrison was very lucky to have that high paying gig for as many years as he did.  And he supposedly got a very generous payout from ABC.  Unless he's very bad with money he'll be okay, I don't feel bad for him.

Edited January 27, 2023 by partofme

[chocolatine]

34 minutes ago, partofme said:

I think Chris Harrison was very lucky to have that high paying gig for as many years as he did.  And he supposedly got a very generous payout from ABC.  Unless he's very bad with money he'll be okay, I don't feel bad for him.

It doesn't matter how much money he was making (and I would argue that, considering the show's ratings success, CH earned every penny), it still wasn't fair for him to be banished permanently based on the comments that he had made. And the payout just meant that ABC knew he could sue them for a much larger amount and/or disclose a lot of unsavory details about "the process" so that was their way of buying his silence and cooperation.

[nlkm9]

15 hours ago, chocolatine said:

It doesn't matter how much money he was making (and I would argue that, considering the show's ratings success, CH earned every penny), it still wasn't fair for him to be banished permanently based on the comments that he had made. And the payout just meant that ABC knew he could sue them for a much larger amount and/or disclose a lot of unsavory details about "the process" so that was their way of buying his silence and cooperation.

Agreed. Unfortunate cancel culture. But jessa is doing a good job, and wayyyy better than kaitlyn and tayisha.

[phlebas]

Whether CH's transgressions are worth his punishment is, of course, a matter of opinion. 

He definitely had bad timing, though. The franchise already was getting dragged for being mostly a Whites Only club -- we still haven't had a black woman get the final rose. I think only Michelle made it to top 2, and that was with our lone black bachelor. 

Because of Rachael, race was definitely on everyone's mind. 

Add to that the show had been hemorrhaging viewers since Elan left. ABC was probably looking to shake the franchise up, and then CH says something ignorant to the first black lead during a racism scandal which had entered the general public's consciousness.

Letting Chris go was obviously based on the belief that he was costing them money. Whether they were right of not is irrelevant -- it is their job to make those calls. If I embarrassed my company, they would make the same calculus about me.

[b2H]

2 hours ago, phlebas said:

Whether CH's transgressions are worth his punishment is, of course, a matter of opinion. 

He definitely had bad timing, though. The franchise already was getting dragged for being mostly a Whites Only club -- we still haven't had a black woman get the final rose. I think only Michelle made it to top 2, and that was with our lone black bachelor. 

Because of Rachael, race was definitely on everyone's mind. 

Add to that the show had been hemorrhaging viewers since Elan left. ABC was probably looking to shake the franchise up, and then CH says something ignorant to the first black lead during a racism scandal which had entered the general public's consciousness.

Letting Chris go was obviously based on the belief that he was costing them money. Whether they were right of not is irrelevant -- it is their job to make those calls. If I embarrassed my company, they would make the same calculus about me.

All I know now is, viewership has been down, whether for just crappy contestants or for CH being dismissed.  This series is supposed to be a guilty pleasure and that was destroyed with the whole incident.  Dear hubby and I bonded over this show in our dating years.  Since the CH firing, the show had not been on in our home.  It is no longer a guilty pleasure once politics comes into the equation.

ETA:  this article from September 2022 pretty much defines my position:

https://decider.com/2022/09/19/the-bachelor-franchise-is-losing-fans/

 

Edited January 29, 2023 by b2H

[phlebas]

i don't have the numbers in front of me, but I think the viewership began dropping before they fired CH. I personally think they have misjudged why many of us watch, but they seem to double down on drama every new season.

They have managed to ruin BiP too.

[DEL901]

22 minutes ago, b2H said:

All I know now is, viewership has been down, whether for just crappy contestants or for CH being dismissed.  This series is supposed to be a guilty pleasure and that was destroyed with the whole incident.  Dear hubby and I bonded over this show in our dating years.  Since the CH firing, the show had not been on in our home.  It is no longer a guilty pleasure once politics comes into the equation.

ETA:  this article from September 2022 pretty much defines my position:

https://decider.com/2022/09/19/the-bachelor-franchise-is-losing-fans/

 

I’m not sure what politics you are referring to???

Just now, phlebas said:

i don't have the numbers in front of me, but I think the viewership began dropping before they fired CH. I personally think they have misjudged why many of us watch, but they seem to double down on drama every new season.

They have managed to ruin BiP too.

I think the whole social media/influencer culture really helped to break the shows as FaceTime and fame became the goal.  

[phlebas]

9 minutes ago, DEL901 said:

I think the whole social media/influencer culture really helped to break the shows as FaceTime and fame became the goal.  

I think you're likely right. It's really baffling to those of us who don't bother with either Instagram or TikTok

[nlkm9]

On 1/28/2023 at 9:19 PM, phlebas said:

i don't have the numbers in front of me, but I think the viewership began dropping before they fired CH. I personally think they have misjudged why many of us watch, but they seem to double down on drama every new season.

They have managed to ruin BiP too.

Bip is almost unbearable. Im a long time watcher since season 1 but not sure i can watch that again.

[Jax7917]

I don't mind the drama aspect to the show, though they have been drowning it out lately with way too much of it and losing the "love story" while doing that.. but what I would change is the bachelor/ette having to use the same recycled lines each season. Zach's doing a better job with it this season but in general, I am so sick of the same lines used every single season and not being able to see the bachelors real personality. I'd rather hear real and silly conversations than hearing " I'm falling in love with you" by episode 2 when we have not seen any conversations between these people to show us how this person got there.