BIP Season 2 - Samantha Steffen - *Sleuthing Spoilers*

Maddy wrote:
samanthasteffen_ #felonyFoshooo  #bachelorinparadise #bip #bachelornation
text: 'do whatever it takes to get a rose.' Translation: You seem like a nice person, maybe we will meet. #outofcontext

seton wrote:is dat from her IG? I dont see it on twitter.

 The plot thickens! Based on the previews we had a hunch Samantha might not be the most sympathetic character to ever grace this show, but it was hard to predict just how poorly she would behave.

Thanks to Tanner, my favorite ITM commentator, we know Samantha allegedly told Joe via text message to do “whatever it takes” to still be there when she arrived. I’m keeping an open mind here and assuming she said that innocently enough. After all, it’s not like Samantha knew what relationships would have formed, nor that Juelia, her good friend with whom she’s vacationed, would turn out to be the stomping ground. It’s safe to say she didn’t know the extent to which Joe deceived Juelia, the way he made “bitches” out of Mikey and Jonathan, both of whom stood in his way, and the frightening ease with which he’s capable of lying to just about anyone. However, my case against Samantha rests entirely on her behaviour in Paradise. Let me explain…

With Juelia sitting her down to give the hard truth about Joe, what bothered me just as much as the lack of trust (in what screwy world would it make sense to have Joe there, who we know by now carries conversations much like a steamroller?) was Samantha’s condescension. Her putting her hand on Juelia’s knee and saying, “I love you to death but I deserve [to hear] what he says” sent me over the edge. (Have I ever fully expressed my disdain for women who say they “love you to death” as a preamble, to be followed by “BUT”? Ugh, just be authentic, please!) Juelia said, “I just know that it went from zero to hero in no time flat, and then back to zero,” correctly insinuating that the very same thing could feasibly happen to Samantha. The correct response from Samantha, no matter how confident she felt in her relationship with Joe, should be empathy and some sort of self-reflection. What kind of a girlfriend wouldn’t respond with some variation on, “I can’t believe he did that to you,” or, “I’m so sorry that happened”? You could tell Samantha didn’t even take Juelia seriously, interrupting her patronizingly: “I’m just so beyond… Like, I can’t even tell you how good I feel in that situation. I’m just on cloud nine.” Translation: “I love you to death but what you’re saying doesn’t apply to me.” Way to act unsympathetic, dismissive, and superior in one fell swoop, Samantha.

Furthermore, in Samantha’s interviews, she was careful to state she and Joe hadn’t known each other beforehand and that there was “zero plotting.” But for all her caution, in an interview she still called Juelia “silly” for “calling Joe out for her feeling they had more than what was really there.” Whatever happened to Sisters before Misters, Sam?

I must emphasize, my concern isn’t with whether or not Joe and Samantha were in cahoots before Paradise. It’s safe to say they were, but really, if their actions while on the show were respectable, it wouldn’t matter. As I said yesterday, the Bachelor alum world is all interconnected; I actually doubt they were the only two to speak beforehand. But my beef is with Samantha’s behaviour, as a friend, on the show.

At this point Joe can be chalked up to being a manipulative, hyper-defensive, remorseless doofus. But Samantha’s careful, calculated demeanour is what gives me the heebie-jeebies. Joe doesn’t care what people think, but Samantha does. Case in point, her Twitter feed is full of damage control tweets in which she doesn’t take any responsibility for her actions. She didn’t know the extent of the drama, she says. Maybe next time, listen to your girlfriend as she tries to tell you about it.

avoice wrote:I think we need to keep an open mind as not all may be what it seems. For example... I checked both her and Joe's twitter and they both deny the sex thing. .He said she is classy. She said she wouldn't do it with family watching. That tells me that the producers and editors spliced and diced moments out of context to make it paper what it did. She was defended on twitter by friends who know her better than we do and a friend who watched with her and said she was in tears watching how it was all portrayed. The producers are evil. If she is a nice person I hope the remaining episodes redeem.

chloep wrote:The lady doth protest too much, methinks...

I don't think she is just a sheep who has been painted black... Her "oh-crap" look when she caught the cameras after coldly brushing J off was very telling, IMO.
For the record, I know zilch about this girl, but I always thought that her zillion SM selfies(and lets not even talk about her clothing line) came off a bit condescending and narcisstic. Can't say she is proving me wrong much as of now, but I guess we will see...