Bachelor 13 - Media **Spoilers**

[jlccaz]

Originally Posted by bizbachfan

I think its a good "healing point." I hope they can all move on and fans are too hard on any of them.
I was a little surprised at the NZ tourist video featuring Molly and Jason gushing about that is where they fell in love.
But to be I guess it is good PR for them.

ABC contracts with New Zealand tourist bureau, which helps arrange all the travel and accommodations we saw.

In exchange, New Zealand bargained for and got the rights to, among other things, that spot with the "winner" even if the identity of the "winner" changed.

Jason/Molly have contracts that require them to cooperate and appear on demand by ABC/producers.

The show was "good PR for" New Zealand tourism, in the end, and that's probably about it for "good PR"!

[Google]

 

[cherryyou]

James Snyder of TIMES magazine wrote an article entitled _ 'DEFENDING THE BACHELOR'. It is dated today, March 2009. Let me quote the article as I can't provide the link here. It reads:

Dumped! Betrayed! Humiliated! For a week now, the reality-TV universe has been obsessed with The Bachelor and its "After the Final Rose" reunion special that many perceived to be little more than an act of public humiliation.

While the show's season finale and reunion special were shown back-to-back on March 2, six weeks had elapsed between the finale — when bachelor Jason Mesnick chose Melissa Rycroft to be his bride —and the reunion special, during which he announced that he had changed his mind and professed feelings for runner-up Molly Malaney. With more than 17 million viewers watching, Rycroft arrived at the reunion special holding — not wearing — her ring, and Mesnick confirmed the suspicions that the engagement was off. (Read "Reality TV Wants to Heal You.")


As Rycroft fought back her tears and Mesnick turned to Malaney, the show's fans took to the Internet in a rage, decrying Mesnick as a "jackass," "playboy" and "bastard." It was clear that this particular chapter of reality TV struck some as a little too real. Yet creator and executive producer Mike Fleiss says the fireworks of March 2 reflected the best, not the worst, of the genre. "I'm not really surprised by this; it's just a sign that the show is working," he tells TIME. "That's really your job, to create television that the whole country will sit down at one time and watch together. But honestly, I really don't see the difference between [Mesnick's]dumping Molly in New Zealand [at the finale] and then dumping Melissa in Glendale [at the special]."


Some would say the difference is that Malaney knew there was a chance she could get kicked off the show during the competition, while Rycroft's departure occurred long after she had been picked as the winner — and purportedly gotten engaged. But Fleiss insists that Mesnick's change of heart hardly came as a shock to the bride-to-be. In the weeks leading up to the reunion special, Fleiss says, he started to hear word from other producers on the show that Rycroft and Mesnick were not getting along. Two weeks before the reunion, Fleiss says, he heard that Mesnick might be interested again in Malaney — whom Fleiss had already approached about taking part in the next season of The Bachelorette.


All of which set the stage for the most unpredictable "After the Final Rose" event in the show's history. Opting to film the show without a live audience for secrecy reasons, and unsure of how Malaney would respond to Mesnick's renewed affections, Fleiss says there was plenty of uncertainty when cameras started rolling — just not when it came to Rycroft. "She knew they were essentially finished before walking out on that stage," he says. "But still, doing it for real and making it official and handing back the ring brought out real emotions."


In various interviews, as well as in e-mails between Mesnick and Rycroft that were leaked to the press, Mesnick has blamed the production crew for some of the emotional fallout surrounding his ultimate choice of Malaney, saying he was obligated to dump Rycroft in front of the cameras. But Fleiss says that's only half the story. "We didn't want Jason to necessarily spill the beans prior to taping, to keep it as real and raw as possible," he says. "But he's a good guy and didn't conceal anything. He let her know before that show that he didn't think this relationship was going to work."


Fleiss seems to be basking in the buzz of the past week ("It's the first time in a long time that people have something to talk about other than the stock market"). He also believes the emotional outcry that has accompanied the show's dénouement points to a passion that a new wave of reality-TV contestants is inspiring. At one time, he says, it was next to impossible to recruit plausible contestants, or even hosts, for reality-TV projects. But as the genre has become increasingly mainstream, producers have been able to find people who are more than mere exhibitionists.


And with this new pool of talent, Fleiss says, the emotions involved have become more complicated — and engaging. "Believe me, I've seen Bachelor couples stay together who really didn't care about each other," he says. "Some of them feel an obligation to the show to try to be a couple, since we spent literally millions of dollars as their matchmakers and sent them all over the world."


But rather than playing to the expectations of producers or viewers, says Fleiss, Mesnick dared to reveal his true emotions and to acknowledge the uncomfortable truth that love is not always a programmable enterprise. "More than any other bachelor in history, he was committed to love and to truly following his heart, even though he knew he was going to have to go through hell to do it," Fleiss says. "It's really a romantic notion, that he sacrificed chunks of his popularity to at least try to be with the woman he loved."

[Noobslueth]

Originally Posted by cherryyou

James Snyder of TIMES magazine wrote an article entitled _ 'DEFENDING THE BACHELOR'. It is dated today, March 2009. Let me quote the article as I can't provide the link here. It reads:

All that article does is support Jason in his decision to change his mind and go after the one he loves. Whoever wrote that article was too stupid to even realize that people weren't pissed because he went back to Molly. People were upset because he felt obligated to end things with Mel for a second time apparently on tv and feel that it was alright to be shoving his tounge down Molly's throat an hour? (real time) later. Not to mention his story about talking to Molly throughout his engagement to Melissa is constantly changing (is he a liar and a cheater?... maybe) . That writer had no idea why the bachelor needed to be defended I doubt he even watched the season... haha thanks for posting it.

[skeptic@hrt]

Then why didn't he just pick Molly at the FRC? There is no way he should/would have reacted to dumping her as he did, if he was truly in love with Melissa.

[BachfanNY]

Originally Posted by sdl

***********
I had this same thought when watching the show last night. Melissa has the look and the presence of someone who will make a very good entertainment reporter. That's what I was thinking even before being reminded that she had said that this was her career goal. By being on TB and DWTS, she is taking the right steps to make that goal a reality.
There is nothing about Melissa, other than a couple of conveniently timed comments, that says she is ever going to be a teacher.

You have perfectly summed up why i am skeptical about her ever becoming a teacher...honestly, i doubt that's going to happen.

That being said, i think she should be an entertainment reporter. She's gorgeous and full of energy...I'd watch!

[athomeinfrisco]

Originally Posted by BachfanNY

You have perfectly summed up why i am skeptical about her ever becoming a teacher...honestly, i doubt that's going to happen.

That being said, i think she should be an entertainment reporter. She's gorgeous and full of energy...I'd watch!

I agree. I think IF she had stayed with and married Jason she very well may have decided to become a teacher...it would have been a good fit with their lifestyle.

But now she's single again and I think she should do whatever it is that her heart tells her to do and would also love to see her as an entertainment reporter or anything else in the public eye.

[angelic_one2002]

Originally Posted by skeptic@hrt

Then why didn't he just pick Molly at the FRC? There is no way he should/would have reacted to dumping her as he did, if he was truly in love with Melissa.

Thats just it, though..he wasn't.

[ky-la]

Melissa: 'I Accept Jason's Apology' | Extra

Melissa Rycroft rebounded from her "Bachelor" heartbreak by waltzing onto "Dancing with the Stars" last night in an eye-popping outfit -- and she revealed to "Extra" that she's moving on from the Mesnick mess.

Jason has admitted that he was wrong to dump Melissa on national TV -- and sent her a message via "Extra" to say he was sorry. "You don't deserve what happened to you -- and I apologize from the bottom of my heart," said Jason, adding, "But I am very happy for you right now and I know you're in a place you want to be."

The 25-year-old former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader isn't holding a grudge. "I accept the apology -- forgive, forget. I'm moving on, and I'm away from that situation, in a new relationship and a new life really," Melissa revealed. That was quick!

Fellow "DWTS" replacement Holly Madison had nothing but praise for Rycroft -- and dished to "Extra" that Jason is missing out. "I think she's awesome, and the guy who dumped her is stupid," said the Playboy recently un-mansioned bunny.

Melissa's transition from "The Bachelor" to the ballroom didn't disappoint her fans -- or the judging panel! After only 3 days of rehearsal, Rycroft and partner Tony Dovolani scored a 23 -- the second best score of the night!

[VelvetRed]

Originally Posted by jlccaz

With a few exceptions, by my observation, people go on this show because they want to shake things up in the lives they have been living. And often, a change in the professional direction they are headed in is part of what they are hoping for.

For sure, many stick that toe in the water of Hollywood/TV Land only to run screaming home to "real life", same job, same boyfriend even, relieved that it is over, thankful for a few new friends, and cured for good of any desire to shake things up. (Jenni Croft, Bevin Powers, Brad Womack are a few of those)

But odds are, heading into the show, Melissa Rycroft was no different than most. She was open to the invitation to appear on a network TV show, because some aspect of her life as a single woman in Dallas working as an event planner/salesperson (whatever job it is she did there?!?) was incomplete, unsatisfying, lacked a necessary element.

Going on a network reality dating competition is a way to shake things up, answer the lingering "what if's" that plague a person in their 20's/30's. It's no crime. It's the American Way in fact.

So, I never "get" why fans go crazy trying to deny the obvious. Matt Grant the ex London banker, still looking for work in LA, living with his publicist. Deanna ex bartender (she never really did real estate seriously) moves to LA next month, pursuing media/entertainment work. Andy Baldwin, navy doctor, doesn't see patients anymore. He is paid a salary by our government to be a Famous Person with Military and Medical Training. It was so apparent that was part of the "why" those people went on the show. This is going to sound harsher than I intend it, but some of these folks are only one step above "mere exhibitionists" as Fleiss so aptly put it in that Time Mag article CF kindly posted.

You left out former bachelor Travis Stork, who was a doctor and now is one of a panel of former doctors on a daytime medical info show, "The Doctors".

[Fancygirl]

Originally Posted by athomeinfrisco

I agree. I think IF she had stayed with and married Jason she very well may have decided to become a teacher...it would have been a good fit with their lifestyle.

But now she's single again and I think she should do whatever it is that her heart tells her to do and would also love to see her as an entertainment reporter or anything else in the public eye.

Exactly.A whole new life is opened up for her without her asking and she'd be a fool to ignore that opportunity, that other girls only dream of.I'm so happy for her and I hope people don't begrudge her good fortune.I also would like to forget about Jason and Molly and leave them alone.I think they've suffered enough already.