Bachelor 24 - Peter Weber - Media SM - *Sleuthing Spoilers* #2

luvstx wrote:But Guardian angel, this is also the first time I remember them including part of Epi 2 in the meet and greet. So does that mean many TBCs?  And did they do it because they need an extra half episode at the end?

I will answer as much as I can on Thursday’s podcast and column. I will also address what Peter said here in his https://t.co/cEd3t75Rsi interview yesterday: pic.twitter.com/PIePpojLOp

— RealitySteve (@RealitySteve) December 31, 2019

Flyin' like an eagle, baby. #TheBachelor pic.twitter.com/lW2EFPtY9g

— The Bachelor (@BachelorABC) December 31, 2019

GuardianAngel wrote:

ule101 wrote:Could the ending be a sister bride scenario.

Oh yeah I'm talking about him dating two at once. I mean we've had a pilot pick no-one one self elimination, and two switchero's. So if the ending is so different I don't know what else they could do,unless they do another Charlie.

glad you joined us. I'm confused, what do you mean by that? TYIA

I hope he's not seeing two people. Like @sdmom mentioned, you would think they would be meeting up and if there are two involved, that's even more SHV's and sneaking around.

I can't imagine dating two people at once then announcing on the AFTR who he's chosen, that would be the worst IMO. For the F1 because he wasn't sure, to me there would be doubt going forward, and for the F2 to be dumped in that manner.

He does go on in that interview upthread, that when he started, he couldn't imagine himself not choosing someone at the end so there is some foreshadowing that he does choose someone IMHO.

Maybe they haven't filmed the FRC yet? I get the feeling MF had enough with spoilers and has figured out a way to keep it unspoiled.

Not sure what he means here because since Season 13 it's premiered the first Monday in January. Even Arie's season was January 1st because it was the first Monday in January.

Wiki Bachelor USA

This season of #TheBachelor is so good that we’ve moved the premiere up a week! The journey begins January 6!!!

— Mike Fleiss (@fleissmeister) December 13, 2019

https://twitter.com/fleissmeister

So a lot of stuff to get to today, but right off the bat, I’m going to tell you immediately that what I know you want the answer to, I will help with it, but I have nothing definitive. I’ll go over all of that later, but I know many of you were expecting all your answers to everything about the ending this season today, and I don’t have them. But I will fill in some blanks that hopefully will clear up a couple things. I know we’re 4 days away from the premiere and you don’t know the ending yet and it’s really never happened before since I started spoiling the “Bachelor.” Even if my initial spoiler was wrong, I had always released a “winner” before the first episode aired. Not gonna happen this season. Not because I don’t want to, or not because I don’t feel like it, or whatever rabid conspiracy theory you can come up with. The bottom line is I don’t have the ending yet, but I’m pretty sure there’s a good reason why I don’t. We’ll get to that in a little bit. First, some things to go over.

Today’s podcast is basically what you’re reading in the column. Although I can’t possibly remember every detail and every word I said in today’s roughly 35 minute podcast, I wanted to have it in written form as well. Next week, we’re back on the regular schedule here on the site. Tuesday’s with the recaps, Wednesday’s “Reader Emails,” and Thursday with the podcast and sometimes “Dr. Reality Steve” if I have some. That will never change. Because I didn’t write much the last 3 ½ months doesn’t mean anything is changing. In season, the schedule is always the same. I haven’t written much in the offseason the past 3 or 4 years, so I’m not sure why people automatically assume I just stopped writing. Same ol, same ol. You’re back to regularly scheduled programming next week.

You know for the last 20 or so seasons, I’ve been able to view the first episode of the season early as it’s given to the media to write their reviews with no spoilers. Of course, I’m not an approved media site but I have my ways to watch the episode early despite it being username and password protected. For whatever reason with the premiere only 4 days away, ABC hasn’t posted the first episode yet to their media site, so I haven’t seen it yet. I can’t review it if I haven’t seen it and honestly, I don’t know if it’s going up before the premiere. If it does, I’ll watch it and have your detailed episode 1 spoilers up on Monday. If not, then you’ll just get your episode-by-episode spoilers on Monday, and the night 1 stuff will just be the basics. It won’t have the order of the limo entrances or who got intro videos, etc. like I do every season. So either way, you’re getting all your spoilers on Monday in written form, and if episode 1 gets released before then, that’ll be a little more detailed.

Also a clarification to make when I say “episode-by-episode spoilers.” What I should say is “rose-ceremony-by-rose-ceremony” spoilers, since it’s impossible for me to predict how ABC is going to lay out their episodes. We already know that Monday’s premiere is 3 hrs and it will cover what we always see on the first night (intro videos, limo entrances, cocktail party, rose ceremony) but then it’s going to start in with what we would normally see in episode 2. You will see all 3 of the beginning dates in episode 1 – the “flight school” group date, Madison’s 1-on-1 to Peter’s parents wedding vow renewal, and the “sex” date planned by Hannah Brown. All my spoilers this season will also be on my IG feed and my IG stories as well, as I’ve gotten someone to do that for me. But they will say “Rose Ceremony #1 Spoilers” and that means everything you will see up through the first rose ceremony. Then “Rose Ceremony #2 Spoilers” will be everything up through the end of the second rose ceremony. It’ll continue on through each rose ceremony, and since not every episode will end with a rose ceremony, saying “episode-by-episode spoilers” not knowing what ABC is choosing to air in each episode will just confuse people. So just know all spoilers will be on the site Monday and on my IG feed and IG stories.

So on Tuesday, this is what I put out on Twitter:

I will answer as much as I can on Thursday’s podcast and column. I will also address what Peter said here in his https://t.co/cEd3t75Rsi interview yesterday: pic.twitter.com/PIePpojLOp

— RealitySteve (@RealitySteve) December 31, 2019

Certainly never something we’ve heard a lead say before his season ever. No one’s ever said this will be “the first unspoiled season in a while” and “there’s a reason no one’s gonna find out.” First off, lets make one thing clear. He’s talking about the ending. Peter, your season is not spoiler free. Far from it. Everything about your season has been spoiled up through the final 2, and most of it was spoiled in real time. So what he’s saying is that no one will know the ending because “there’s a reason for that.” I know this perked everyone’s ears up on Monday since so many of you sent to me, but what I can tell you now is I’ve heard this exact same thing behind the scenes since Thanksgiving. Hence the reason for the last month, anything I did hear, I weighed it against the “this ending isn’t gonna be spoiled and there’s a reason for it.” When I first heard it, I took it like I take everything else, which is a wait and see approach. And over the last five weeks, it’s proven to be true. Then once Peter said it publicly on Monday, I knew what I’d heard behind the scenes 5 weeks earlier was legit, although over the course of the last 5 weeks, it was becoming clearer and clearer that something was different about this season.

A couple weeks ago I told you I didn’t have the ending, but the only thing I did know about this season was that it wasn’t a normal ending. Meaning it wasn’t “here’s two women, choose one, dump the other, and leave the final rose ceremony as a couple.” So on Nov. 17th in Australia when the finale was filmed, that’s not what happened. However, what DID happen I’m not fully sure of. On any given season, there’s essentially six possible outcomes when you get to the end. For the sake of this season, this is how this season could possibly end:

1) He’s with Madison, but they’re not engaged
2) He’s with Madison and they’re engaged
3) He’s with Hannah Ann, but they’re not engaged
4) He’s with Hannah Ann and they’re engaged
5) He’s single a la Brad Womack where he got to the end and told both women he wasn’t interested and rejected both of them and he’s single and plans on staying that way
6) He’s single but that doesn’t mean he’ll be single either by the time the ATFR rolls around
Two other things to take into consideration when contemplating the ending is this:

1) Peter alluded to it in that People.com interview that he “couldn’t be happier” with how the season played out.

2) Chris Harrison did an interview with “Good Morning America” and in it he specifically says “you truly aren’t gonna know how it’s going to end until the very end” and “It’s possible it’s still not over.” Factually speaking, one person in this history of this franchise went through a whole season, got to the end, and said, “Nah, I’m good. I’m choosing no one and I’ll just stay single. Bye.” And that was Brad Womack’s first season. I understand that all the leads are coached in what to say in interviews, and essentially we hear some form of “I’m very happy with how things turned out” every single season, but I honestly don’t think Peter is telling America he “couldn’t be happier now” if back on Nov. 17th in Australia he told both Madison and Hannah Ann thanks but no thanks, I’m just gonna continue being single. I don’t think that happened. I don’t buy that.

What I can tell you now though are two specific things to help with the puzzle:

1. Peter did not get engaged to anyone on final rose ceremony day. Doesn’t mean he won’t be by the ATFR or ON the ATFR. But what I do know is that there was no engagement on final rose ceremony day in Australia.

2. Madison’s dad did not give Peter his blessing to marry his daughter during his hometown date visit. Could he have gotten it later? Sure. Have I heard that he did? No, I haven’t. But doesn’t mean he didn’t. The extent of that information in particular ends at the hometown date where Madison’s dad didn’t give Peter permission to marry his daughter. So I’m sure that played a role on final rose ceremony day as well.

Now there are other things I’ve heard about things that happened on or around final rose ceremony time, but none of those are 100% confirmed, so I don’t wanna throw them out there since it’ll only muddy the waters. But those two above I know to be accurate, so those may (or may not) help with this puzzle about what happened at the end. I don’t think there’s any easier answer. When it comes down to it, and when you combine what Peter and Chris Harrison have said post show, I pretty much have the same feeling a lot of you do. And that’s that there was no “finality” on the day of the final rose ceremony. I don’t really know any other explanation of how I’ve heard twice that the ending won’t be spoiled and there’s a reason why – and that’s because the ending hasn’t happened yet. I can’t spoil something that hasn’t happened yet. In all my years doing this, even if I initially had the ending wrong, you had a spoiler for the “Bachelor” usually within a week or so of filming ending. All I can tell you is that if the ending of the season happened on Nov. 17th in Australia, I would’ve found out about it by now. But I believe it’s not over and that’s why Peter and Chris are teasing that there’s a reason it won’t be spoiled. Pretty bold to claim that if you just think I might not hear something over the next two months. So that’s the good news. Today is only January 2nd. We have about 10 weeks until the finale and ATFR. I’m sure more will come out during that time, and when I hear stuff that I can confirm, I will share it with you.

One story that popped up last week I want to address is something that happened on Tik Tok of all places. And I want to address it because it directly involved me. A woman named Lilly Sitver went on Tik Tok and shared a story about she was in an Acai bowl place in TN, Hannah Ann Sluss was there, and Lilly claimed she heard her facetiming with a guy (presumably Peter) and they were talking about apartments in LA together. This made the rounds to me last week as numerous people sent it. I was already aware since Lilly emailed me back on Dec. 12th, the day this happened in the Acai bowl place. There was a reason I never tweeted this story, never wrote about it, and never mentioned it in a podcast. Because to me, it was, well, not a whole hell of a lot. Anytime someone gives me any information, I have a list of questions about their information and based on how they answer them is how I gauge how legit the info is. Not saying Lilly is lying or making this up, but all I have is her word that she thought Hannah Ann was talking to Peter on that Facetime. She had no pics or videos of who she was talking to, nor did she have any audio recording of the voice. So there really wasn’t a whole hell of a lot to do with that information.

I appreciate Lilly coming to me thinking she may have had something. A lot of people do. But the way I work, and how I post spoilers, all centers around what proof you can provide other than “I’m hearing this,” or “word around town,” or “I swear this is true,” etc. That’s just not good enough for me. I know it is for the IG accounts who pretty much run with everything they hear as fact so as to try and be on top of spoilers, but that’s not the way I do business. If I posted every single thing told to me, whether it be this season or any other season, you’d be getting stuff practically every other day. I don’t and I won’t just throw every rumor out there hoping one sticks just to say “See! I told you.” When I feel confident in a spoiler then I release it. That confidence has to go through a few levels of digging before it gets to that point, and unfortunately Lilly’s info, while it’s possible that’s maybe exactly what happened and Hannah Ann happened to spoil her season sitting in an Acai bowl place in Tennessee on Dec. 12th, is not enough for me to go off. If you choose to believe Lilly’s story, that’s great. Then you know how the season ends up. That info wasn’t strong enough for me because there was no proof behind it, so I keep digging.

I know that this wasn’t the answer you were looking for, and we can sit here and speculate until the end of time exactly what happened on final rose ceremony day, or analyze everything that Madion and Hannah Ann post on social media to try and get an answer to things, but I don’t think you’ll get anything there. Because anyone can create any narrative they want when it comes to social media. Madison takes a selfie where she’s smiling and it’s “oh my god, she looks so happy! She must be engaged!” But then if you’re in the camp of “Peter is with Hannah Ann,” you’d make the same case if you saw a picture of Hannah Ann smiling. So that’s an effort in futility to me. Pointless. I’ve heard bits and pieces of things here and there behind the scenes that I’m trying to confirm and hopefully that’ll shed light on some things. But the bottom line to all this is whatever happened on final rose ceremony day isn’t over yet, the “ending” of this season hasn’t technically happened yet, and that’s why there’s nothing to spoil as of now.

I’ve been asked is it frustrating and the answer is no. Will it be annoying when I inevitably get asked 14,873 times in the next two months “Hey, who did Peter choose?” Of course. But I’m just gonna refer them to this column. I laid everything out there for you that I have for now. Hey, maybe it’ll be kind of cool to go into the finale not knowing what the ultimate ending of the season is. This show’s biggest gripe with me has always been about spoiling the ending. Sure, I’m guessing they don’t like everything else being spoiled, but, when you film hometown dates in public, you’re essentially giving out who your final 4 are, so they clearly don’t care THAT much. But Chris Harrison even said in an interview about a year ago that he wishes the ending didn’t get out. What better way for the ending not to get out than to not film it in advance? Is this going to be a one-time occurrence or will this how it is every season from here on out? Tough to answer. We won’t know until the “Bachelorette” rolls around.

So lets enjoy the season. Yes, I know it’s different, and yes I understand a lot of you are impatient and have to have your answers to everything 14 seconds after it happens, but unfortunately, that’s just not the case this season. They’ve changed things up. There are plenty of things I don’t know about what happened. I tried to give you today what I do know. I’m sure it will lead to speculation and crazy theories and people claiming they know what happens, but just keep in mind what Peter and Chris Harrison are selling post show. I really don’t think the “ending” has happened yet because I think they truly do want a season where the ending can’t be spoiled. And the only way to absolutely guarantee that is to not film it in advance. So we’ll see what that leads to. We’ve got 2 ½ months still, so I’ll fill you in on anything I get.

Your rose-ceremony-by-rose-ceremony spoilers will be up on Monday, and if ABC posts the first episode online to the media, I’ll update that for you as well. I’m looking forward to more and more info going forward. Should be interesting. I’ve already heard basically variations of every ending possible and, well, we know only one of those can be right. Just a matter of which one. I would think by the time the finale and ATFR rolls around, I will have a good idea of what went down and what to expect. I’d be pretty surprised if I didn’t. But yeah, this is going to a wild two months of speculation, theories, and crazy stories about this season. Buckle up.

Peter Weber went through both emotional and physical turmoil while trying to find love on #TheBachelor. https://t.co/ZKLnzPSYKF

— Entertainment Tonight (@etnow) January 2, 2020