Today there is only one TV story that has me feeling Dish-y. And yes, it’s “Bachelor” related!
Why did one of Jake’s final four bachelorette’s ditch him? And was it all part of a larger master plan?
The Dish has your answers… below.
“Bachelor” Babe Bails
Last night, “Bachelor” final four contestant Ali Fedotowsky pulled the plug on love with Jake Pavelka, in favor of her career. The 25-year-old, who reportedly works for Facebook, supposedly had gotten a call from her employer telling her that she either come back to work or lose her job. I’m just going to throw it out there right now that it all seems just a little bit suspicious, if not a bit convenient to me. Ali’s employer just happened to decide they needed her back at work right after she took Jake on her hometown date? No offense, but she is 25. How far up the food chain could she be at Facebook? They couldn’t have made it work without her for one more week? At this point she had been gone, I’m guessing, about five weeks, and the show had just one more week of filming. She would have been back soon enough.
The creator of this show, Mike Fleiss, said in an interview recently that it’s not really about whom they wind up choosing. He doesn’t care about the outcome as long as it’s a good story. I’m also sure that after 14 seasons, the women and men on this show know the deal, as do their employers. Contestants know the deal when they sign their lives away in the show contract. You may be gone for a week, you may be gone for up to two months. In order to do the show, I’m sure you have to explain how long the absence will last.
It would not surprise me one bit if the producers of this show called Ali’s bosses and set this all in motion. It’s the same way they set up for Ed Swiderski to leave for work purposes during Jillian’s Harris’ run as “The Bachelorette.”
I’m not the only one who thinks this. On a Facebook fan page (now there is irony for you) fans write some pretty harsh comments. “Wake up people – this is a publicity stunt contrived by the producers to make it “the most shocking” season ever. PLEASSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!” wrote another woman. Someone else wrote, “That was the worst acting I have ever seen. You could tell that the Show has created and staged this. No woman would choose her job over a guy, IF she was in love.”
However, over at www.realitysteve.com, the guy who spoiled the final four and who has revealed the eventual winner several times before, says ABC knew ahead of time that Ali might have a work issue to contend with at her job. “I was told that Ali told ABC before ever appearing on the show that Facebook would only allow her a certain amount of time off,” blog owner Steve Carbone wrote. “ABC was well aware, as was Ali, that if it came to a point where Ali lasted long in the show, it could come to this. I was told that Ali figured ABC would kinda go to bat for her a little more and get work to not offer such a strict ultimatum, if she ended up making the final four.”
OK, so that’s an interesting development, if true. Either way, whether it was designed by the producers or not, it sure seemed like this employer ultimatum threw Ali for a loop. She genuinely seemed to be falling in love (well, reality TV fantasy world love anyway), with Jake and was clearly conflicted about her choice. Host Chris Harrison revealed on his blog that Ali and Jake sat for about two hours contemplating the decision, the night of the rose ceremony. Watching as an observer, and someone who has been in and out of many relationships, it seemed like Ali was waiting for him to say what she wanted to hear — i.e. — that she would be the one at the end.
However, Jake kept telling her he wanted her to stay, and that he was falling in love with her (as well as with three other women). He contractually couldn’t tell her she was the one, even if she was. But he didn’t have to deepen the wound by continually admitting he had three other women he was potentially in love with too. I would have left too.
Plus, she seemed like a smart girl and if you look at the track record of this show over 14 seasons, even those who wind up together in the end, wind up breaking up later on anyway. So, I say, ‘Good for Ali,’ for walking away. Giving up a career for love you find on a reality show seems about as smart as marrying someone you have never met live on national television. (Yes, I threw in a Darva Conger/Rick Rockwell reference for you). Ali will have a chance to explain herself on the Women Tell All special airing on Monday, February 22.
ABC wants us to believe that Ali might have a change of heart though. In the preview for the episode airing February 15, we saw that Ali calls Jake on the phone while he is on his fantasy dates with the final three women: Gia, Tenley and Vienna in St. Lucia. In a press release for the next episode we are led to believe Ali will try and win Jake back. “It’s a wild romantic ride with each of the women – until Jake had to make another heart-wrenching decision – tremendously complicated by a departed bachelorette who pleads for a second chance,” the release states.
I will be truly shocked if she actually “pleads for a second chance.” I’m going to go out again on a limb and say that this is all just another attempt to create drama for the show. You really have to start watching this show as if it were a serialized drama and not a reality show. However, I am clearly outnumbered by the masses that still believe every twist and turn on this show. Wouldn’t it be an interesting experiment to see a “Bachelor” without any manufactured drama.
Oh wait, we did. It was during seasons 1 through 4, before producers figured out how to create better stories.
Before you “Bachelor” lovers and defenders start sending me hate mail, for the record, I’m going through a breakup and its Valentine’s Day. So maybe I’m just a little bitter and jaded this week.
Cut me some slack!
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