Melissa - Bachelor 13

[sdl]

You noticed that Melissa turned down a good offer to be the next bachelorette. she is a dancer, she said that she has been dancing since she was three. Why not, take up the Offer of dancing. At least she is not looking for love , she said that she spoke to her parents and new boyfriend before going, If her parents had dissaproved, I don't think that she would have done this again. GOOOOOOOOOO MELISSA YOU ARE YOUNG AND FREE, ENJOY LIFE, YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE. This girl is only 25 years old, she has her entire life ahead of her

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I know, and I think Melissa will be a great entertainment reporter. She's cute and bubbly and seems smart enough. I like her and I think most others do as well.
What bothers me is how people fall in love with these idealized versions of the people they see on TV - cheering Melissa on to get her teaching certificate (which seems pretty iffy), gushing about how great Jason is with Ty (which we can only assume because we don't know them), and so on.
If any of these idealized beliefs are questioned, then the blindly loyal go on the attack. Admittedly, I sometimes stir the pot because I think it's equally valid for us to assume that - before TB - when Melissa said that her life's ambition was to work in the entertainment industry, she meant exactly that...and we increasingly see proof of it.
Would I do the same thing? You bet. Am I criticizing? No way, I think it's cool.....except to the extent that it saddens me when some folks are mislead along the way.
These characters, off camera, are human and really no different than a thousand other people we know. They make mistakes, they say dumb things, and they change their minds. The only difference is that they chose to live their lives on TV - which says a lot about their priorities.

[nikiniki]

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I know, and I think Melissa will be a great entertainment reporter. She's cute and bubbly and seems smart enough. I like her and I think most others do as well.
What bothers me is how people fall in love with these idealized versions of the people they see on TV - cheering Melissa on to get her teaching certificate (which seems pretty iffy), gushing about how great Jason is with Ty (which we can only assume because we don't know them), and so on.
If any of these idealized beliefs are questioned, then the blindly loyal go on the attack. Admittedly, I sometimes stir the pot because I think it's equally valid for us to assume that - before TB - when Melissa said that her life's ambition was to work in the entertainment industry, she meant exactly that...and we increasingly see proof of it.
Would I do the same thing? You bet. Am I criticizing? No way, I think it's cool.....except to the extent that it saddens me when some folks are mislead along the way.
These characters, off camera, are human and really no different than a thousand other people we know. They make mistakes, they say dumb things, and they change their minds. The only difference is that they chose to live their lives on TV - which says a lot about their priorities.

about the bolded part, its a dirty job but somebody's has to do it, , SDL, some people are going to be on the tv doing stuff, it might not be our choice, but its theirs.

[sdl]

Just curious--I haven't been keeping up with Jillian's threads--is she getting the same "famewhore" comments for accepting the Bachelorette gig?

A gig that by the way, Melissa turned down.

Had it not been for Nancy O'Dell's injury less than a week ago, Melissa would still be in Dallas at her job for a wine distribution company. Which is where she was when she got the call for the show.

Not everything's a conspiracy or a lie...

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Good point. Neither Jillian nor Melissa should be referred to as famewhores. It is degrading.
They should properly be referred to as "people who enjoy fame, seek the spotlight, and choose to live their lives, including pursuing romantic relationships, on TV because they like the notoriety."
There's nothing wrong with that. Who among us would turn down People Magazine if they called to do a story? But, please, let's don't pretend that Melissa is just doing this because she's between semesters or has a love of dance.

[sdl]

about the bolded part, its a dirty job but somebody's has to do it, , SDL, some people are going to be on the tv doing stuff, it might not be our choice, but its theirs.

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nikinikiniki...
I need to shut up because the more I talk the deeper I dig in, but I'm agreeing with you in my own peculiar way.
Any one of the 25 girls who signed up for this TB gig would have rather been on DWTS, right? Pretty much anyone on this board would say yes if ABC mysteriously called....
Melissa got it because she has IT.
Luckily, and this is all I'm saying, she put herself in this position through some smart career moves (starting with the DCC) to get it.
Good for her, and I'll be cheering for her.

[ASassyKat]

Her intent was to go back to real life, and she did that. She was in Texas living her real life until she got the call on Friday and was asked if she could be a last-minute replacement.

I assume she agreed to do it because she is a dancer and has been since a young age.

I don't put any of these people on a pedestal, they are not perfect they are merely human like the rest of us.

[MsFroggy]

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Good point. Neither Jillian nor Melissa should be referred to as famewhores. It is degrading.
They should properly be referred to as "people who enjoy fame, seek the spotlight, and choose to live their lives, including pursuing romantic relationships, on TV because they like the notoriety."
There's nothing wrong with that. Who among us would turn down People Magazine if they called to do a story? But, please, let's don't pretend that Melissa is just doing this because she's between semesters or has a love of dance.

My favorite word in the whole word aside from showmance is famewhore. Dissecting famewhores in the context of reality TV is the raison d'etre of discussion sites such as this one. Were it not for famewhores we'd be out of stuff to talk about, so I'm completely grateful to them for being so accommodating as to go on television and make themselves open for discussion. When I say famewhore, I actually mean it almost as a... compliment.

Well, I did say almost.

As for Melissa, she is clearly not in this because she's gathering valuable life experiences for the purpose of teaching 1st grade sometime at the dawn of the next decade or century. I doubt she'll ever go that route or that she ever wanted to in the first place. It was extremely convenient for her to be all gung-ho about it for one brief scene during The Bachelor when her declaration apparently managed to turn Jason around from seeing her as a cheerleader to seeing her as a mother. As stupid as he is, that actually worked on him. Did she secretly snicker about his gullibility later when the cameras were off? I have no trouble imagining that she did.

[Beachmom]

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Good point. Neither Jillian nor Melissa should be referred to as famewhores. It is degrading.
They should properly be referred to as "people who enjoy fame, seek the spotlight, and choose to live their lives, including pursuing romantic relationships, on TV because they like the notoriety."
There's nothing wrong with that. Who among us would turn down People Magazine if they called to do a story? But, please, let's don't pretend that Melissa is just doing this because she's between semesters or has a love of dance.

ITA!! She wants fame. And her legions of fans will continue to bow down to her - for any reason. I like her based on what I saw on TB, but I don't think she deserves the shameless adoration she's getting. What bothers me is this:

1. The many votes she will receive just because of "who she is." Not fair, in my book. I hope some are objective enough to vote for her dancing ability, but I saw a lot of people who were going to use "all of their votes" before she set foot on the dance floor.

2. The teaching thing. Don't assume she'll be a wonderful teacher based on the interactions we saw with her and a few children (Ty and her friends' girls). It's hard work! A lot of people who are great with kids are not so great in the classroom. They might be wonderful with their own kids, though. Fine if this truly is her goal in life, but I highly doubt it - especially now!

3. The PERSONAL assaults Molly and Jason are getting. Let's let them live their lives. We'll check in with them during Jillian's season - if they haven't broken up. I think they might have a chance, but then I'm a hopeless romantic. When I read about the hate towards Molly though, I cringe. You can condemn the actions without condemning the person.

Maybe some Bachelor and B'rette contestants go on the show to find true love WITHOUT the fame (Stephanie, perhaps?), but I believe more go on to see if they can be discovered by Hollywood. Melissa has achieved her goal. And how do we know that wasn't her goal from the beginning. Most of us have no way of knowing!

[FanOfUnrealTV]

Maybe some Bachelor and B'rette contestants go on the show to find true love WITHOUT the fame (Stephanie, perhaps?), but I believe more go on to see if they can be discovered by Hollywood. Melissa has achieved her goal. And how do we know that wasn't her goal from the beginning. Most of us have no way of knowing!

I adored Stephanie, but even she knew there would be cameras present. There are a lot of places to go to find love...most of them do not involve being on camera. These people chose to do it on camera....ALL of them.

[BachfanNY]

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Good point. Neither Jillian nor Melissa should be referred to as famewhores. It is degrading.
They should properly be referred to as "people who enjoy fame, seek the spotlight, and choose to live their lives, including pursuing romantic relationships, on TV because they like the notoriety."
There's nothing wrong with that. Who among us would turn down People Magazine if they called to do a story? But, please, let's don't pretend that Melissa is just doing this because she's between semesters or has a love of dance.

Exactly my point for the past week.

Who said Mel's fans aren't realistic?!?!

[LynCEA]

Beachmom - you make TOTAL sense - I said similar things in another comment to another post. However, I would go so far as to say that I think we should not only let Molly and Jason live their lives, I think we should be supporting them. Jason made a decision to end a bad relationship. That concept is as old as Adam. He did the right thing. As I said in the other post - it was a hard thing to do, not a bad thing. Melissa was not surprised by him or anything he said. We all have our faults, not just Jason, not just Molly, not just Melissa. Live and let live. All the best to all of them.