Quite a bit of Bachelor news to get to today before we begin diving into last nights episode. Some of this news is informative. Some of this news is incomplete. And some of this news will probably have you frustrated. Don’t worry. It also has me frustrated as well. I hate when I get information but it’s only half the story. Or one part of the story. Because then it turns into, if I share what I know, all these theories will start running rampant and pinned back to me, when that wasn’t the point of me sharing. I like to have as many details about a situation that I’ve heard about before I share with you, you know this. But when it’s something we’ve all been clamoring for since the beginning of the season, yeah, it’s tough. That’s never fun to have to navigate. Basically yesterday I heard for the first time all season what that “unprecedented ending” that the show is hyping up could possibly be. I’ll get back to that in a little bit since we have a couple other things to go over first.
First off, get your “Reader Emails” in for tomorrow’s column. Plenty to go over after last night’s episode, I’m sure you have some questions, comments, etc. Email me at steve@realitysteve.com. Maybe you’ve got some more after what I’ll be posting in the next few paragraphs. So get your emails in.
A couple things to go over that I mentioned on yesterday’s podcast. First off, the WTA is set to tape either Thursday March 7th or Friday the 8th. Which lines up with how a lot of past seasons have worked when they haven’t done anything wonky at the end of the season. As of right now, even though ABC hasn’t officially announced everything, here’s how I believe the remaining episodes will go:
2/26 – Episode 7 (Jasper, Alberta)
3/4 – Hometowns
3/11 – Overnights
3/18 – Women Tell All (tapes 3/7 or 3/8)
3/25 – Finale Night
So that is the standard schedule that they used for years, where the Tell All taping happened 9-10 days before it aired, but also taped before the Overnight Date episode aired. We’d always find out if the final 3 person (the one eliminated on the overnights) was at the Tell All taping, and they usually were. So that was a mini spoiler in and of itself. Just more confirmation that the person did finish 3rd and that’s why they were at the taping. So my guess is based on that schedule Maria (final 4) and Rachel (final 3) will both be at the Women Tell All taping.
The other thing I announced yesterday on the pod was that I’m hearing the “Bachelorette” season is going to be all-international. I don’t know any other details besides that. I don’t know who it’s going to be, I don’t know it’s start date – nothing. Just was told it’s gonna be all-international. I don’t even know if it means that the first location internationally will host 2 or 3 episodes and THEN they move on? Or if it’s literally a new city/country for every episode. I’m sure I’ll hear more as we get closer, but that’s all I got for now. With that said, I think it’s safe to assume that “Bachelorette” filming won’t begin until Joey’s season is done airing because you’re gonna need those producers who are there for ATFR, and most importantly Jesse Palmer, to be wherever they are internationally. So I gotta believe the whole crew and Jesse will fly out to the first location right after the finale on the 25th then filming would begin that weekend, but that’s just a guess.
Yesterday about an hour before the show, I tweeted this:
Tomorrows certainly going to be an interesting day. Frustrating, but interesting.
— RealitySteve (@RealitySteve) February 20, 2024
That tweet was absolutely true. And yes, it has to do with this season. However, it also had a double meaning. I knew if I wrote that, there’d be a select part of the audience that thought I had the spoiler wrong and was gonna change it today. Not the case. Spoiler is still right. That’s never changed since Nov. 30th when I first posted. This has to do with what I heard about for the first time yesterday, and that’s the fact that I finally was able to hear what the gist was in regards to this ending that’s “unprecedented,” and Joey has said has never happened before. The thing is, I don’t have all the details behind it. I was told what the general idea was behind what Joey’s talking about and the show hyping it up, but, it only brought more questions to me than answers. And you know me, I like having most if not all of every detail I can get before I give you what I’ve heard. Especially since we’re over a month away from the finale.
So that’s the “frustrating” part of my tweet. I can’t share what it is I’ve heard yet because I’ll be bombarded with questions I don’t have answers to. I literally just heard from sources the idea of what Joey and the show are talking about. And it makes sense to me what it is. I just don’t know how it fits in with everything else given the 2 min trailer in the first episode that shows Joey standing at the altar, crying, then leaving, taking off his jacket, talking to production, etc. I wanna fill those holes in before I can tell what I heard. If what I heard is right, which I believe it is, it’s definitely something we’ve never seen before. So they aren’t lying about that. However, is it so mind blowing and earth shattering like they’re making it out to be? I mean, not really. But it doesn’t mean it isn’t important. It certainly plays a role in the end result of Joey and Daisy ending up engaged, and I find it interesting, but it’s tough to go along with the hype the show’s giving it only because it didn’t change anything about the ending. It’s more about how we got to that point. As soon as I know more details, since I have more questions now, I’ll fill you in.
This was a great chart by @BachelorData. Does Screen Time = Winning? In a word, no. Look at how many former contestants dominated screen time on their season and some didn’t even finish top 4. Crazy.
Recap begins on Page 2…
