The Bachelor Australia - Season 2 - Blake Garvey - ATFR - *Spoilers* - Media & Social Media Discussion #2

GuardianAngel wrote:

atem wrote:It's always the show's fault. Well, I disagree. And I have never been a fan of Jason after that fiasco of his season, and that's coming from someone that was hoping he'd be the lead.  I really feel for people like Sam and Lisa that will yet again get the shaft.

His 'true love'?  Yeah, whatever.

Why do you think he did this atem?

I have the slightest idea. Nor do I care.

Just reposting what I think about Blake and generally any lead of this 'reality' show:

Hi ellmack! Good to see you posting here!

I think some people are overthinking it. When a couple doesn't spend any time together, communicating to each other, feelings die. That's why long distance relationships rarely last. Heck, it's why people with wonky work schedules don't work out.

To me there wasn't a reason why not to have a ATFR with just no audience. It gives great drama with the show still having a lot of control. Because, they didn't, now there are all these other stories filling in holes that have nothing to do with it.

I do think in the end Blake looks like an idiot and Sam should be happy not to end up with a guy she really didn't know. Did she know what he really does for a living? I wouldn't want anything to associated with him, if I did.

That's why it's important to know the lead is not anything more important than the others he/she dumps & literally lies to throughout the show. It's why I want the Final 2 picked to have a brain cell and dump the lead.

GuardianAngel wrote:Is it possible that they led him to believe Sam would definitely accept his proposal where as Louise wouldn't, because for whatever reason (Was she the favourite according to the fans?) they wanted this to happen? Blake thinking he has to choose someone, choose Sam because that's what he was led to believe.

Going back to what he said, paraphrasing, he felt awful for letting the other girls go, his heart was broken, maybe he was referring how he felt about letting Louise go. I'm wondering if in fact he wanted to choose Louise, but was led to believe she wouldn't accept his proposal. I just can't think of any reason why the franchise would purposely want this to happen.

*sigh*

- Blake's behaviour letting Louise go:
This is why I am struggling so much with Blake choosing Louise as his "true love". Regarding the F4, when he found out that Jess was not ready for marriage he let her go and he cried about it. With Lisa, he really, really cried letting her go. But with Louise? He barely even touched her or showed much sad emotion (when they hug goodbye Blake can be seen with lower body almost pushing far away from Louise). If he was told she wasn't ready for marriage or to be proposed to then why part the way he did? He knew the same thing about Jess but still cried about letting her go. With Louise he showed no heartache at all, even smiles? Just because he may have been told Louise wasn't ready doesn't mean his heart shouldn't be breaking about letting her go. That has always been his pattern when it comes to heartbreak... him tearing up. That is why it makes no sense to me why she is now his true love. Blake has always cried, even in the The Project interview, when it comes to heartache. I am inclined to think his tearing up in the interview is related to Sam, not to Louise. He would have been also upset when he let Louise go in South Africa as well, not just now. But he never cried when Louise left.  

- Blake constant reassurance towards Sam:
What puzzles me to no end is, edit or not, producers' coercion or not, Blake constantly, and I mean constantly, reassured Sam from beginning to ending of the season that he was sure of her, he wanted her to stay, to believe in 'us', to have faith, to know she is in this, etc, etc. In fact, during the Finale Episode, he reassures Sam on their Safari picnic that he understood her concerns and tells Sam that she wouldn't be there with him in F2 if she wasn't "perfect" and he understood how hard it was for her but that he needed to reassure her. And then on their last and final date, Sam sits on Blake's lap and she talks about not wanting to share him and being heartbroken if she is not with him in the end... and Blake says softly "noooo" to when she says not being in the end... as if to reassure her not to worry and then he kisses her. 

- Blake's breakup statement matching Sam's doubts:
I cannot understand how Blake's reason for falling out of love with Sam and the statement that Channel10 posted on Blake's behalf matches so perfectly with what Sam shared on their yacht date in South Africa. She asked him if he was really sure, if he really knew her, that she didn't want him to be disappointed in the end by believing she is someone that she is not. His official breakup statement on them being different and different priorities goes back to Sam's very own reasoning of "Don't pick me and then say you are disappointed I am not what you think". It matches too perfectly with Sam's own reasoning. Coincidence, perhaps, but what a foreboding coincidence... and so sad it seemed to come true, bubble or not. 

- Blake switching off:
I've stated that I believe that Blake was probably just exhausted post-proposal, in every way, and needed time to adjust from his longest TB season ever which would explain him being switched off. His interviews though, especially the early ones, he seemed genuinely happy with his F1 choice. So something changed post-FRC. 

- Long film time length (4mos) vs. short editing time length (6wks):
I am not sure how much the editing of this show in such a short time span in relation to filming plays into all this. They filmed for 4 months and then only 6 weeks were post-filming to put the show together. That is a very short turn around for these shows. Usually the time of editing and putting together the show takes as long as the filming itself (roughly both 3 months). This means that TBAU team put this together very, very quickly. It could explain the edit and storyline of Sam but it doesn't explain what happened post-proposal. I understand falling out of love and how this show can be a bubble for sure. 

- Blake's post-show behaviour (Non-PR Blake vs PR-Blake):
I just don't get Blake's behaviour post-show. It is why I posted that he had deleted his tweet about the 'Louise rumours'. That was him posting that tweet without PR representation. All his behaviour on his own (interviews on TV/radio) have seem to be him being evasive and not denying or confirming anything. He got PR representation and has now gotten rid of his evasive tweet about Louise not being with him and forgotten about his remarks just a week+ ago about not about any other girl, just needing time to heal. Not having the headspace. To me, PR is always about facing things head on and trying to get ahead of the story. That is what PR does. Face it head on, don't hide, don't evade, just tell the facts and the truth. So I guess I am so confused because I know what a non-PR'd Blake says and now PR'd Blake will tell the truth? Coming from someone that says he is honest and genuine it is unsettling that PR is what will get the truth out. It is also disconcerting because I doubt we will ever know what really happened. The only way I can make sense of it all is that the whole thing was an act/scripted with Sam and Blake and both parties knew or Blake just fell deeply in love with Sam and fell quickly out of love and looked for some support and Louise was there to give it and he still cared for her as he did Lisa, Jess, etc. But why no emotional tearing up or tears when he said goodbye to her F3 will never add up since that is how reacts when sad about letting someone go...

My feelings of frustration/sadness/etc are not so much Blake breaking it off with Sam but how he treated Louise when she left and now being with her. It just seems so odd to me that he could go from being smiley sending her home to her now being his one true love after breaking off an engagement to someone he said the same thing to already.

atem wrote:It's always the show's fault. Well, I disagree. And I have never been a fan of Jason after that fiasco of his season, and that's coming from someone that was hoping he'd be the lead.  I really feel for people like Sam and Lisa that will yet again get the shaft.

His 'true love'?  Yeah, whatever.

The one difference I see here between Blake and Jason is that Jason owned up bluntly and quickly on ATFR. Melissa faked being heartbroken at the break-up, but we found out much later that her ex-boyfriend had picked her up at the airport when she returned from filming. Jason admitted to his mistake quickly and was never evasive about it. Melissa, not so much.

Jason took the brunt of the brutal bashing, Melissa went on DWTS media gigs married the guy that picked her up at the airport, and is living a wonderful life with two children. Jason did the long distance relationship for 8 months before Molly moved to Seattle where Jason lives. They eventually married, have a daughter and Jason has a son from a previous marriage.

Eventually it all works out. I'm sure it will for everyone here too.

Adding 2cts to the Love-In here... how could one possibly not empathise with the on-screen characters and the unsuspecting, some even gullible telly viewers who have been ill-informed, mislead and exploitertained by Channel Ten/Shine all the way... Too many tears, too many telly hours have people been seduced in front of big flat screens with this fictional drama.

Allaboutlove you are spot on! It is really Allaboutmoney ... Sadly not nearly enough to keep Ch10 afloat for much longer - Network boss Hamish McLennan just posted a whopping $80Mn loss this week. He won't be explaining to shareholders that it was due to Blake's rose distribution process :bigsmile:.  I really do hope for him (Hamo) he can deliver the goods so we get to look forward to another season of sleuthing:cutesmile!: and he get's to keep his lofty paycheck.  

Note Carry Bickmore is on that same payroll. Don't be expecting her to ask the right questions, or the tough ones, or to give us any exciting news that we don't already know. She will be underwhelming us by asking the questions Mr Hamish and his managers and contractors have ordered her to ask, such that the lemon can be squeezed just a little bit harder and a few more coins roll out of the box.  Which is such a shame, as even Carry's little boy Ollie would ask much better questions than Mr Hamish (in Ollie we can still unconditionally trust...).

Of course Woman's Day is in on the pathetic gravy train of insanity too. Claiming that 2.1Mn of us read their tabloid each week at $4 a pop... WD, now owned by the Bauer group has published some rather lofty corporate values:

"At Bauer Media we inspire people because we are inspired by people. We are the leader in our industry. We have ambitious plans to grow our company :why: by rewarding a success-driven and nimble culture, whereby we live our values every day and remain customer focused at all times. We are passionate about what we do.

Our values create a sense of shared identity, defining what we stand for and how we do things. We have four key values – Respect, Collaborate, Create and Challenge."

Reading that, is there anyone out there that does not want to grab a bucket?


Truth be told, the Blake's, Sam's, Louise's are all wonderful people, much like the rest of us. Whilst they individually may have made some decisions in their past that some of us may not identify with (like appearing on the show...), driven by whatever circumstances - it would not be for us to judge the contestants who were given tightly controlled scripts and bound and gagged by contracts as they try and make a buck and/or find love.


IMO questions are to be directed to the 'faceless' corporations behind the telly, most of which are/were inextricably linked, and in majority owned by infamous billionaire families and now ran by rich-kid coin-operators, some with questionable values. Media ownership has created a perception to be a morally bankrupt, incestuous, corrupted, self promoting, honeypot.

By us FFWD through the adds on our PVRs, they get more coins per viewer and they still can't break even, meaning their collective incompetence is on full display.

Thankfully due to the forum here, social media transparency and www.powered sleuths, we are collectively gatecrashing the RKOI party.

That way Bachelors and Bachelorettes can live happily ever after. Perhaps with a bit less money, but at least in true love.  


One more thing: If dinosaur media companies carry on their antics for much longer, I recommend we vote in a flat capital tax globally, such that individuals with too much money and not enough love, do not put our wonderful society and magical planet in danger.  They don't stand a chance against new media of: human. equal. social.  -  new media doesn't look at the television, it looks through it.

-- phew --  Thanks to all contributors - you are on a roll.

I really think this season has to be seen in the context of Channel's 10 contuing financial difficulties and very poor ratings. Rosie understood this in her blog when she depicts Sandra Sully, the Channel 10 news reader as controlling what happens in each episode - when the girls were allowed out of the mansion, telling Blake he has to send girls home - the irony of satire being applied to a 'reality' series.
I believe Blake was given the role because he was so suggestive (could be the low emotional intelligence that his mother spoke of to Lisa) and could be because of how ready he was to start a new life by selling up his car etc prior to filming.
I do believe Channel 10 felt they needed a proposal. I struggle to see Sam was in on the script. Jason talks about how much the producers get inside these peoples' heads and Rochelle has spoken of her experiences with the Australian producers confirming that Shine received the manual from the US.
You would think the length of the season and the publicity break mid-season would have helped not hindered Blake making good decisions, look how quickly Canadian Tim seems to be zeroing in on his F2 and others have done the same.
I do think that as soon as producers were out of his ear Blake started having doubts (it was great he did not sleep with Sam but very telling about his feelings of doubt) - why did he not push to see Sam - we know of other bachelors who have just gone and organised visits without producers, I think if he had wanted to see Sam it would have happened as he has clearly done with Louise over at least the past few weeks in Thailand.
I have read previously about atem's thoughts on Jason allowing himself to be manipulated and part of me agrees but I also think it is hard to understand Stockholm Syndrome without experiencing it.
I do think Blake reached out to Lisa first and that is why she sent the sisters before misters tweet. Louise sensitive and in love supported him. I'm not so sure he had really fallen for her in South Africa but I think with her support (which I think Blake needed and normally craves) and baking post show he received from Louise he has built on his feelings for Louise .  
I do think he has mistreated Sam post breakup. Where I do feel he has behaved badly is talking about the drunken Sam calls -  we will never know if this is true but  given the turmoil Blake had created foe Sam by switching off and given his ‘ex’ said she has received the same form Blake in the past, I think it was bad judgement on his behalf. Not providing Sam with clarity (same as what Andi was said to have dome) and returning Sam's texts to confirm the rumours is not the way to treat someone you where you once cared.
Still I think it does come back to Channel 10 as a number you have said, this is all playing out in a context of commercial desperation.

bacheliar and AEF. Thanks for the info on Channel 10. I would never know all that information.

We know Blake turned it off as soon as the camera's stopped rolling. This is why I felt perhaps he was forced to choose Sam. There was a saying during Jason's season, "if you want Molly you have to choose Melissa" which was supposedly the whole set up to create the switch, all scripted.

The fact that he let Louise go at F3 may be telling. That's the spot where TB protects the girl from further hurt. He may have struggled with that decision afterwards or even the magnitude of an engagement, which would explain the lack of intimacy with Sam in the days after the proposal. The Mesnick may have been more slow going. He's watching the show back and Louise is shown in scenes he's wasn't present for. She never had a bad moment. She was the total package from watching the show where as Sam had a few rough spots like tearing into Laurina. Personally, I like Sam for being so real, but he never saw that side of her and maybe he didn't like it. He said something like unfiltered Sam was different. He could have been talking about the show, not their communication after or maybe both??

As far as not telling anyone or announcing it until now, I'm sure he had to work at getting Louise to give him another chance. He may not have gotten very far with it by the finale. Her father is going to a hurdle. I would guess that he's been given a chance, but an engagement will be a long way off. She should make sure he can commit forever after this. We've heard enough about the producers and the bubble to give him the benefit of the doubt imo. I'm wishing them the best.

I'm so over people blaming  the people that produce the show. How about this...stop watching it.

AEF wrote:
I do think Blake reached out to Lisa first and that is why she sent the sisters before misters tweet. Louise sensitive and in love supported him. I'm not so sure he had really fallen for her in South Africa but I think with her support (which I think Blake needed and normally craves) and baking post show he received from Louise he has built on his feelings for Louise .   

I agree with you on this based on what I posted concerning Blake's reaction to Louise: no heartbreaking tears? even if told she wouldn't accept a proposal he would still cry/tear up if he felt loss as he did with Jess and Lisa and even Sam when talking in The Project Interview. 

I still stand firm (barring it being scripted) that this all happened post-FRC and that him admitting to contacting Lisa and her response on this is telling. I see him reaching out to Louise for support and her reciprocating because she really loved him. 

Who knows if, outside of the bubble, that his family and his best mates were telling him to be with someone other than Sam when they watched the show? 

Blake did say in a post-breakup interview on the radio that he wishes his best mates had been there with him at the end of the show to give him a reality check and to see what is what and not to propose. 

Sam definitely got the young/immature/not-ready-for-marriage edit in some ways, especially by Blake's family pressing her on starting babies in the near future (Lisa was just whether she loved him but not about babies, babies). 

The biggest criticism of Sam throughout the season was her being immature and not marriage material. Who knows how this played on Blake's doubts already and whether his family actually saw Sam as marriage material (even though they liked her). I could see Blake's friends doubts and families doubts about marriage and rumours of Sam partying bleeding into his own doubts and spiraling to a place of 'general feeling' this is not right. 

I just feel bad for Louise to have watched how he fell for Sam and told Sam she was the only one he was in love with (lip service or not, it would still hurt) but if she is happy, then for her, that is what matters most regarding Louise.

AllAboutLove wrote:

AEF wrote:
I do think Blake reached out to Lisa first and that is why she sent the sisters before misters tweet. Louise sensitive and in love supported him. I'm not so sure he had really fallen for her in South Africa but I think with her support (which I think Blake needed and normally craves) and baking post show he received from Louise he has built on his feelings for Louise .   

I agree with you on this based on what I posted concerning Blake's reaction to Louise: no heartbreaking tears? even if told she wouldn't accept a proposal he would still cry/tear up if he felt loss as he did with Jess and Lisa and even Sam when talking in The Project Interview. 

I still stand firm (barring it being scripted) that this all happened post-FRC and that him admitting to contacting Lisa and her response on this is telling. I see him reaching out to Louise for support and her reciprocating because she really loved him. 

Who knows if, outside of the bubble, that his family and his best mates were telling him to be with someone other than Sam when they watched the show? 

Blake did say in a post-breakup interview on the radio that he wishes his best mates had been there with him at the end of the show to give him a reality check and to see what is what and not to propose. 

Sam definitely got the young/immature/not-ready-for-marriage edit in some ways, especially by Blake's family pressing her on starting babies in the near future (Lisa was just whether she loved him but not about babies, babies). 

The biggest criticism of Sam throughout the season was her being immature and not marriage material. Who knows how this played on Blake's doubts already and whether his family actually saw Sam as marriage material (even though they liked her). I could see Blake's friends doubts and families doubts about marriage and rumours of Sam partying bleeding into his own doubts and spiraling to a place of 'general feeling' this is not right. 

I just feel bad for Louise to have watched how he fell for Sam and told Sam she was the only one he was in love with (lip service or not, it would still hurt) but if she is happy, then for her, that is what matters most regarding Louise.

I do think he had doubts about Sam pretty much immediately so I think he was 'made' to propose. Maybe his friends and family contributed post show but they were only adding to not inserting doubts.