Bachelor Australia - Season 3 - Heather Maltman

see2love wrote:

lozzatron wrote:I'll start this by saying that I haven't followed the spoilers all that closely so I have no idea how far Heather goes (I know she has at least one more date coming up but that's all I know).

Watching the show though and following the media, social media, etc I'm jumping back and fourth about whether I think she'll be F1 or not.

One one hand it just seems way too obvious. I mean on the previous Australian series it became pretty obvious Tim was going to pick Anna and Blake was going to pick Sam but the show's producers at least tried to make it look like that wasn't the case to build suspense. They're not even really trying this year which makes me think they're happy to go on letting the public think it'll be Heather to distract from it being someone else. Heather's the one doing the media circuit, Heather's the one the girls in the house all talk about, Heather's the one Sam said was the frontrunner (at this stage), etc. Almost seems like they want to leave the focus there to distract people because someone else has snuck under the radar (obviously my guess would be Snez whom Sam obviously is also very attracted to).

On the other hand though after last year's mess maybe they're just happy to let it unfold a bit more naturally without even bothering to try and throw people off track. Heather is quite popular with the fans so maybe they're just happy to ride with that to keep the bulk of viewers happy.

I will add however that if Heather doesn't go onto win and she's just been in focus to throw people off track then it may backfire spectacularly for them. Judging by the fans comments on social media, the polls, media identities positive comments about her, etc she seems extremely popular. Now obviously not everyone likes her, but for a Bachelor contestant at least she has quite a large majority of support. They've kind of set up this situation where she seems like the natural choice and if Sam then chooses anyone else it'll probably cause a great deal of confusion/negativity from large portions of the general fanbase.

Now obviously at the end of the day it doesn't matter who the fans favourite is, it is Sam's decision. However after last season's mess they'd probably want an ending that'll make the fans happy so if Heather isn't F1 then they probably should have maybe pushed her into the background a bit more. I know there's still a long way to go though so perceptions can change a lot.

Very good points you make especially re the bolded. Making it too obvious may also turn public opinion agains Heather. For example, on sm (twitter especially) people are starting to call her out on her jealousy and her facial expressions when she hears about someone else's connection. There are a lot of comments on fB regarding this too. If the edit continues to show as as the jealous F1, it will only cause people to start rooting for the "underdogs". I hope the are more discreet with showing the F1 at this stage or maybe refrain from showing her possessive, jealous and entitled tendencies.

AllAboutLove wrote:ITA lozzatron    

Heather currently has 51% fan favourite and this went up from last week when she had 37% fan favourite so if anything, more people like her now.

Also, obvious edits for F1 are par for the course. Sam Frost F1 Bach Au S2, Matilda F1 Bach NZ, even the recent Shawn F1 Bette S11 all were fan favorites/obvious edits from the getgo and throughout (even in the media too). Sure comments can be negative but they all have the most followers, as does Heather, including the most fan support and media support. As much as individual taste may or may not like the fan favourite/obvious edit, it seems that when it comes to obvious edit/fan favourite it is nothing new and no surprise really that if Heather is F1 she will be seen that way early on. 100% of all the recent (past year and a half) F1s were obvious edits/fan favourites and despite the doubts raised, the majority of viewers picked the F1 early on. So again, nothing new here if this is the case again.

lozzatron wrote:I always find the number of Facebook likes pretty telling for gouging popularity. I don't put much stock in comments on social media because you usually find it's the same few people jumping from one SM platform to another spewing the same love or the same hate everywhere. After episode 5 (aka the episode where Heather's jealousy/insecurity was focused on a lot) they posted a cap of the "I may or may not miss you" scene on the official Bachelor Au FB page. It received 2500+ likes (when most posts receive a few hundred max).

The jealousy angle with Heather doesn't even bother me tbh. I liked her in the first ep and thought she was funny/cool, but I also thought she could end up becoming a bit too cool if you know what I mean and it could result in her becoming insufferably arrogant throughout the series thinking none of the other girls could touch her. Her beginning to doubt herself and feel insecure though (while sad) has made her far more relatable for me. You can tell she's genuinely worried about the other girls and her making comparisons there has her thinking she's not Sam's type. She also seemed genuinely concerned in episode 5 that she was getting sent home soon when she was talking to Sarah and Rachel. While that insecurity and jealousy may turn some people off, I actually like her more because of it. She's become more sympathetic and relatable for me and given the increase in her popularity it seems for others too.

AllAboutLove wrote:
I am actually wondering if there is a reason Heather and even Sam to an extent (he said Heather was the frontrunner) are being so upfront in the media
1) I guess time will tell but maybe they are dealing with the backlash from last season and since I don't live in Australia I am not sure how much they are trying to make sure that this season isn't like the last one. Sam has made it very clear that he is not Blake and seems to want to stay as far away from anything from last season. Kind of like making it known that Sam won't be choosing one of the girls other than the F1 no matter how the edit looks, etc?
2) It may also have something to do with Sam Frost as the Bette and her show coming up which will overshadow this show since it will likely air very soon after the finale and Sam Frost is another reminder of Blake. So maybe they are trying to get the attention on Heather and Sam so everyone has a positive view of Sam Frost and the very first Bachelorette Australia season?

AEF wrote:The two things that have me pondering that Heather is F1 is not her relationship with Sam (although we are probably being shown more of it than any other F1) but her media blitz over the past fortnight and when she said in an interview that we will find her journey 'surprising ' as right now it is looking very unsurprising. The only thing I can think of at this point is I would think Heather is not going to handle the Lana situation well.

While Heather appeared thrilled and somewhat stunned, she suggests she has a good run on the show, which has wrapped filming, telling the Daily Telegraph: 'There’s a joke that there’s a curse of the white rose — you get it never really works out.
'But you never know. I think people will be pleasantly surprised by my journey on the show.'

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With pundits now predicting she’ll now be the one to get The Bachelor’s final rose, Heather was predictably coy when asked as to how her journey with Wood concludes. But she did give a clue that there may be a happy ending at the end of it.

“There’s a joke that there’s a curse of the white rose — you get it never really works out,” she says. “But you never know. I think people will be pleasantly surprised by my journey on the show.”

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