The Bachelorette 11 - Kaitlyn Bristowe - MTA - Taping July 11th - Airing July 20th *Sleuthing - Speculation*

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine informed me that Ian, the guy from this season’s Bachelorette who said he’s had sex with a ton of girls hotter than Kaitlyn, was his college roommate. I’m still holding a grudge for how long that took him to divulge, but whatevs. During that conversation he also let me know that he was going to the live-taping of the infamous “Men Tell All” episode. Not to be outdone, I texted a friend of mine who happens to be a big deal at ABC (hashtag humblebrag, my friends are all totally VIP) and asked if he could get me tickets last minute. He made moves and last Saturday I was able to attend the live taping as well.

When I got there, they made me sign a confidentiality agreement and then sent a lawyer in to scare me from spilling any juicy spoilers, so I have been keeping this to myself for TEN DAYS.

Almost as painful as not being able to talk about this until now, they also took my cellphone away from me. I’ve never spent that much time away from my phone, so major props to me for not only secret-keeping but also surviving severe separation anxiety.

The taping was last Saturday, which you probably figured out if you can count to ten. After waiting in line, handing over phones and passing security, we were offered Subway for lunch before sitting in a cold room for like three hours while Chris Harrison was giving GMA a tour of the set. Finally we were brought on set and before the taping started, an ABC emcee let us know that we were going to be recording b-roll for the episode. We were directed to make a series of different faces, including “shocked”, “appalled”, “laughing” and “surprised” as well as nineteen hours of clapping, while smiling, with our hands by our face so they can be seen on camera. I was nervous that I looked like an enormous censored, but the cameraman was nice to me. Maybe if I start to wear makeup and do my hair before leaving the house more often, more men will follow suit.
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After that was over and my hands were purple from all of the clapping, we were shown a condensed version of the episode where Ben H. was sent home, because obviously he was there, and that episode wouldn’t air until Monday. Dear ABC, if you could show every episode sans commercials that would be amazing.

It was hilarious to watch this show with super-fans. Like, the two women behind us flew in from Kansas, there were two groups who had donated significant amounts of cash to Chris Harrison’s charity to win tickets, a girl in the pre-show room was telling us that her friends actively pursue the casts of each season by sending them DM’s, etc. I was also given major side-eye when I was the only person in the room who cheered when Kaitlyn gave Nick a rose, and booed when she also gave a rose to Shawn. ******** weirdos.

After the episode, we were instructed to perform for the cameras again, before the men took stage. At this point, we are also told that we can react however we want to their entrances but when Kaitlyn comes to the stage, everyone needs to clap loudly. My poor hands.

The men took stage and this is a legit statement – some of those men are so attractive it’s breathtaking. Like on TV, they’re fine to look at, but up close, holy poop. Ben Z. cannot be a real human. Ben H. could literally charm the pants off of any woman. And probably any man. Most surprising to me was Joe. I am super upset that when we were both in Kentucky we didn’t know each other.

After they take their seats, and the screaming women stop screaming, the show begins. I’m not going to recap the episode, because just like every week, I already did that.

Side note: I will also be recapping Bachelor in Paradise this year, with the same snark, so follow along. You’re welcome.

Instead, I am going to talk about some of the things they didn’t show on camera.

First, these men love each other. A lot. Like, when JJ was in the hot seat and being picked on, Ben H. interrupted to tell everyone that when Ben H. was sent home, JJ reached out and asked if he wanted to grab a beer. Ben H. continued to say that JJ was a great dude, and they were good friends. That is just one example; any time one of them went back to their seat from the couch, everyone stood up and bro-hugged; during breaks from filming, they again bro-hugged. Every single time.

Speaking of breaks from filming… during all of them, the ABC crew came out to not only touch up makeup, but to also bring the Bachelor’s shots of booze. Naturally, for Kaitlyn it was white wine, but the rest of the guys and the Bachelor in Paradise cast in attendance took a shot or two every time the film stopped rolling. I was also told that they had been on a “party bus” prior to arriving to the set. I get it, I was ready for a cocktail after eleven minutes, but I was surprised at how saucy they wanted to be on camera.

Except Ben H. He refused booze through the entire taping. In fact, he was so visibly uncomfortable to be there it fed the crowd. If you watched, you heard some of it last night, but the women in the audience went crazy with cheers and applause any time he did anything. There are some man-(pseudo celeb) hungry women in Los Angeles.

If you’ve watched the “Tell All’s” before, you know that the contestants who went home the earliest always have the most to say. And it’s never anything any one cares about. While it’s super annoying to watch on TV, that is the edited version. It was painful to watch hours and hours of this. Kupah was by far the worst and for absolutely no reason. I can’t even talk about how awful of a person he is or how much attention he clearly requires. I hope I never have to see him again. I bet he’s friends with Shawn. Ew.

Jonathan also never shut the **** up. He took every single opportunity he could to speak. For instance, when Chris Harrison read those horrific tweets to Kaitlyn, Jonathan interrupted her tearful response to say, “As a parent, I want to apologize on behalf of all of the parents out there.” What?! First, who are you? Second, what in the hell are you wearing? Third, do you know all of the parents out there? There were several other instances that he spoke out of turn with something awful. He’s probably friends with Kupah and Shawn. Ew.

The other thing that surprised me, that probably shouldn’t have, was how many times the word “****” was used. In the edited version, it was only bleeped out once, but I think it was dropped at least once every five minutes.

They aired a couple of the gay innuendos regarding JJ and Clint last night, but there were dozens more made, which is why Clint looks so exasperated when Kaitlyn digs at them. He was clearly upset by the amount of (pretty funny) jokes. Joe giggled at all of them, and we’re basically in love.

Despite having watched this show for years, I’ve never really had (good or bad) feelings toward Chris Harrison. But, I was quite impressed with him. He really worked the crowd, was willing to sign autographs and pose for photos with fans. There was one film break where he turned around to the audience and asked us if we wanted him to call Ben Z. over, and during another, an audience member asked if he was going to make fun of Ryan for getting so drunk the first night, and Chris Harrison responded with, “I don’t even know who the hell that is. I don’t know any of that back row.”

Before the final cut, we were told that at the end of this shot, we needed to clap and smile for three minutes straight. At this point I can’t feel my hands and I need a drink, but for you, The Bachelor franchise, I will do anything. While we clapped, it was interesting to me that Kaitlyn ran right over to the men she’d sent home, and everyone hugged and kissed her. I’m amazed at how well (most of) this season gets along.

It should also be noted that the cast really loved the crew and vice-versa. I kind of knew that because I creep on all of them on Instagram, but there was so much hugging I might as well have been at the beginning of an orgy.

We were there from 11:45 – 8pm so it was a long day, but I would do it all over again. And I’ll probably bribe my friend with cocktails and jokes to make that happen.

Alanna wrote:....I'm not surprised the blogger was the only one who booed Shawn, he's crazy loved on sm.

mizzoufan wrote: It seems all the hate is with Shawn. Nick doesn't seem to care one way or another about Shawn.

jen689 wrote:

Alanna wrote:....I'm not surprised the blogger was the only one who booed Shawn, he's crazy loved on sm.

JMO I don't think Kaitlyn has a lot of men who are fans. It seems most of Shawn's fans are women. I wonder how Kaitlyn and Shawn are going to react when Shawn's fans start flirting and coming on to him when they are out in public

soccermom333 wrote:At first I was annoyed Kait spoiled her season. Now I am soooo happy she did!  JMO and I know it's not popular and that is okay but I believe it allowed us to "see" things from a different perspective.  I am excited to see Shawn propose and see them at the after show but sad to see nick get rejected.  

Alanna wrote:

bluwavz wrote:Whoa.

Clint Arlis ‏@ClintonArlis 3m3 minutes ago
@kaitlynbristowe & I wish you treated me like Nick or Shawn- Didn't have a problem trusting your heart when guys were stabbing their backs.

What does this even mean?

AllAboutLove wrote:

mizzoufan wrote: It seems all the hate is with Shawn. Nick doesn't seem to care one way or another about Shawn.

Nick probably thinks Shawn is a joke.
Not to mention, Nick has a career/job.
Shawn's job is about to be Kaitlyn.
IMO, Nick is the winner.

GuardianAngel wrote:

Alanna wrote:

bluwavz wrote:Whoa.

What does this even mean?

Kaitlyn had tweeted to Clint that she wished he treated her like Clint treated JJ. I don't see the tweet now, but I did read it somewhere.

So yeah, I'd say most of those guys knew early on they never stood a chance.

Nibbles22 wrote:I admittedly don't spend a lot of time on SM, because well, I have a life.  I do however read the Bachelorette news on my internet home page, and peruse the comments, just as I do many articles that interest me.   I find in the comments, that Kailyn is the most unpopular bachelorette among die hard fans, imagine that, and most comments from people who were fans of Shawn when the season started, can't stand him now.  It had everything to do with his constant whining, temper, possessiveness, reaction to Jared getting the GDR, the comments about Kailyn banging other dudes, and of course the eskimo brothers bragging he did to the other bachelors.  None of this surprised me, because quite frankly, I feel the exact same way.  I guess I am surprised that he's got a lot of support on SM, because it wasn't apparent in the comments of the dozens of articles I've read.