Bachelor 23 - Potential Lead - Discussion - *Sleuthing Spoilers*

barbell wrote:I think they are going after a younger audience who Colton appeals to because of his age and looks. We older wiser ladies ar no longer of interest

no silver fox for us

I don’t know but the whole Colton business seems more and more fishy to Me. It feels like Fleissmouse had a man crush on him from the start, ( football athlete, good looking guy next door type, good heart, inexperienced and insecure about himself in relationships) and what he could do with him as one of his moldable live puppet. Probably gained his trust by having him tell some secrets and promised him he could ‘ trust ‘ him and from then on...led him from one disaster showto another all for his sick viewing pleasure. Wouldn’t be tooooooo far fetched. But for now, my own ramblings.

Exactly like last season. Multiple options that fans loved from Rachel's season and somehow we ended up with fckn Arie, and we saw how well that worked out.

I actually disagree with this. As lame as he turned out to be, the choice of Arie last year made sense to me because I don't think they had multiple options. IMHO, all the eggs were put in the Peter basket and when that fell through, producers had no one. Which is why the whole announcement was a giant clusterf**k.

I mean who were the other options? Eric, not that much of a fan fave as far as I remember. Dean killed all his goodwill with his f**kboy behavior on BiP. Matt and Adam had both been edited so poorly that viewers barely knew them and couldn't figure out how they even made it as far as they did. No, last year, they were in a bind.

This year though, fans loved Jason and Blake alike and supposedly they were both interested. Or maybe in the end they turned it down, who knows. But yeah, definitely had other viable options this year as opposed to last year.

I also think Colton is probably more popular than it seems, given his very high social media following.

Is that always an accurate measure though? Rachel had way less followers during Nick's season, compared to Corinne, Raven and Vanessa and she was a very popular choice when she was made the Bachelorette. Bachelor Nation was very excited for her season and I don't remember there being much griping about wishing it was someone else.

Admittedly I didn't really watch Becca's season so I didn't pay that much attention to all that was going on. However, I remember reading multiple times how little Blake for example used social media and how not very active he was on it. So his not having a ton of followers for example may not mean that there isn't a strong following for him amongst Bachelor viewers. Also, Colton did have his very public romance with Aly Raisman that likely added to his follower count.

I think they are going after a younger audience who Colton appeals to because of his age and looks. We older wiser ladies ar no longer of interest

So I'm not sure what age group you're categorizing as younger but I'm in my very early 30's and have a lot of friends who are still mid to late 20's and I can tell you that smirky, virgin, beefy Colton does not appeal to them. They all think he seems incredibly dull and uninteresting.

Doats wrote:So, are we pretty sure that Colton will be TB? Is there no hope? Have TPTB lost their ever lovin' minds?

I don't sleuth but read sleuthers' posts faithfully. My joy is observing/commenting on episodes and I don't look forward to a season dwelling on Colton's virginity. No judgement there, but the subject is kinda like "all in" to me; it grates after the 42nd time.

I'm not giving up until it's officially announced. Still hoping, if he really is already in NYC, that Colton is there for some other reason. They gave him a crappy edit on BIP if he's supposed to be the lead.

However, I didn't realize that he had a lot higher SM following than the other two. That is discouraging.

Astrobach wrote:I don’t know but the whole Colton business seems more and more fishy to Me. It feels like Fleissmouse had a man crush on him from the start, ( football athlete, good looking guy next door type, good heart, inexperienced and insecure about himself in relationships) and what he could do with him as one of his moldable live puppet. Probably gained his trust by having him tell some secrets and promised him he could ‘ trust ‘ him and from then on...led him from one disaster showto another all for his sick viewing pleasure. Wouldn’t be tooooooo far fetched. But for now, my own ramblings.

I don’t see how having a lead in mind is “fishy”? This is a common occurrence on this show.  They cast contestants EVERY season with them in mind as a future lead. IMO It’s not left up to chance... see who the lead takes to F2 and F3 and then choose one based on SM response?!  Tptb PLACE their next lead in whatever position they want them to finish.  They have a show to produce ... it’s not a last minute decision, they build a story line around their hopeful and produce around it the whole season they’re  a contestant.  They ALL get molded  and manipulated ... Jason and Blake would become clay in tptb’s hands too if they were MFs choice too ... he’s a master puppeteer and they ALL dance when he tells them too.  That whole Tia fiasco on BIP was just them hedging a bet that they knew from talking to him, he wasn’t In love with her and never would be. A calculated risk letting him go BIP but it kept him on TV all summer long. 

I think they always have a back up plan if their lead hopeful doesn’t work out. ( Brad choosing Emily  ) but all in all ... tptb get who they want for their lead ... not matter what they have to do ,,,, lie, promise, manipulate, get producers and handlers to befriend them and feed them loads of crap ... whatever they have to to get them to do their bidding... IMHO.

northernviewer wrote:

Astrobach wrote:I don’t know but the whole Colton business seems more and more fishy to Me. It feels like Fleissmouse had a man crush on him from the start, ( football athlete, good looking guy next door type, good heart, inexperienced and insecure about himself in relationships) and what he could do with him as one of his moldable live puppet. Probably gained his trust by having him tell some secrets and promised him he could ‘ trust ‘ him and from then on...led him from one disaster showto another all for his sick viewing pleasure. Wouldn’t be tooooooo far fetched. But for now, my own ramblings.

I don’t see how having a lead in mind is “fishy”? This is a common occurrence on this show.  They cast contestants EVERY season with them in mind as a future lead. IMO It’s not left up to chance... see who the lead takes to F2 and F3 and then choose one based on SM response?!  Tptb PLACE their next lead in whatever position they want them to finish.  They have a show to produce ... it’s not a last minute decision, they build a story line around their hopeful and produce around it the whole season they’re  a contestant.  They ALL get molded  and manipulated ... Jason and Blake would become clay in tptb’s hands too if they were MFs choice too ... he’s a master puppeteer and they ALL dance when he tells them too.  That whole Tia fiasco on BIP was just them hedging a bet that they knew from talking to him, he wasn’t In love with her and never would be. A calculated risk letting him go BIP but it kept him on TV all summer long. 

I think they always have a back up plan if their lead hopeful doesn’t work out. ( Brad choosing Emily  ) but all in all ... tptb get who they want for their lead ... not matter what they have to do ,,,, lie, promise, manipulate, get producers and handlers to befriend them and feed them loads of crap ... whatever they have to to get them to do their bidding... IMHO.

Agree @northernviewer. IMO, there are many among the manipulated; all of us who are buying the storyboard and Tia who helped make it happen and the poor jerk who winds up in the Bachelor Blender. JMO.

My opinion is that, although I believe it’s all orchestrated by tptb, for the most part, the contestants aren’t in on it.   This storyboard they follow for the season, is much more like The Truman Show, tHan it is a scripted show that they all follow.   They’re just not good enough actors to pull it off .... it needs to be as organic and real as possible to be believable IMO.  

The Truman show, for all of you who may have seen it, was the ultimate reality show, and I believe MF uses those manipulative tactics to get his desired results.  His producers and handlers are the real actors from what I can see ... they’re the ones behind the scenes making sure the ones in their charge do what MF wants them too.   It’s about mind control and manipulation and MF will do what he feels he needs to do to get what he wants ... to get what HE considers good tv.

@lleyki He only came in with 39k followers beforehand, so most of his followers are from his time on the Bachelor. I don't think followers are everything and I don't think they necessarily translate into high ratings, but I think that's how TPTB are thinking. Fleiss did essentially attribute the significant drop in ratings from Jojo/Kaitlyn's seasons to Rachel, saying he felt it was because of racism. I think that sometimes the media/social media reaction doesn't equal actual viewer response. I feel like there wasn't much fanfare when guys like Sean and Jake were announced, but they did amazing in ratings. I don't know how his season will do (I can really see it going either way), but I think that's kind of the mindset they're going in this with. 

In terms of Blake, he's been posting every 2-4 days; he's definitely not as prolific as some, but I wouldn't say he doesn't use it frequently either. I just think his following is the norm for the male contestants, as it's only slightly under Jason's. I think Peter also had about 500k around this time.

IMO!

northernviewer wrote:My opinion is that, although I believe it’s all orchestrated by tptb, for the most part, the contestants aren’t in on it.   This storyboard they follow for the season, is much more like The Truman Show, tHan it is a scripted show that they all follow.   They’re just not good enough actors to pull it off .... it needs to be as organic and real as possible to be believable IMO.  

The Truman show, for all of you who may have seen it, was the ultimate reality show, and I believe MF uses those manipulative tactics to get his desired results.  His producers and handlers are the real actors from what I can see ... they’re the ones behind the scenes making sure the ones in their charge do what MF wants them too.   It’s about mind control and manipulation and MF will do what he feels he needs to do to get what he wants ... to get what HE considers good tv.

The Truman Show is a good reference, IMO. I agree with most of your comments, @northernviewer. The only departure is; because these people are generally poor actors, IMO we can easily see when they are reacting based upon producer instruction. Examples include Becca’s reaction to Ross at her door on Arie’s season, IMO. Look how much she’s improved. JMO.

Aria wrote:I really do think it's all about getting back those conservative "Middle America" viewers they've lost over the last three seasons. I just don't think that Jason or Blake will appeal to them in the same way Colton will. I also think Colton is probably more popular than it seems, given his very high social media following. It's probably a silent fan base, similar to how Sean's was back during Emily's season. 

IMO.

As someone that lives in what is considered "Middle America" I can state that I will ABSOLUTELY not watch Colton as the lead. What I want to see is someone that is ready for marriage and is there for that reason alone. Got to give it to Arie (as much as he sucked as a lead), he was there because he wants to be married. Went about it the wrong way, but apparently, he is headed down the aisle.

IMO, Colton is only there for himself. If he had relationship experience that was not played out in public, it would be a different story for me. But the guy does everything for one reason... publicity for himself. And, again IMO, he isn't even that good looking.

I am so sick of his blubbering and self-pity already.

Welp it's Colton.