Bachelor 25 - Matt James - Media SM - Discussion - *Sleuthing Spoilers*

Amethyst wrote:I like Chris H., and I don't want him removed from the franchise. I do think he could have handled this interview a whole lot better -- he's usually smarter than that. He should have stopped with, Rachael should address this first, and I will address it with her at a future time.

It gets back to vetting of cast members. The series really has dropped the ball with certain cast members in the past (i.e. Lee, Chad.) The producers picked some really stellar POCs for Matt's cast. But I questioned their selection of Victoria right from the get-go. I refuse to believe, in a season with a record number of applicants, that Victoria was the best villain they could come up with. A good villain should have some positive qualities to at least partially offset their negative qualities. If Victoria had positive qualities, they were "left on the cutting room floor."

As for Rachael, it's mind boggling that the show would not have been more sensitive to potential racism in a season with a POC lead. You would think they would have been extra careful in their casting. I think this is something that does need to be addressed. It seems that some questions could and should have been raised by her Instagram feed. If the fans could find it, the producers should have been able to find at least some of that.

If some fans have had it with the series, I get that. A lot of hopes were pinned on this season. I do keep in mind that they got it right with Tayshia.

My theory was and is ... and I've written this previously ... their vetting is just fine. They find out everything we do. They know exactly what these people are like, prejudices and all. They don't accidentally cast them because they didn't know what they were like. They cast them precisely because they do know!

I wrote as soon as they cast Matt, the first black bachelor, that there would be a female Lee on his season. Before the season started filming!!! I knew they would go with another person who has a history of racism just like Lee did on Rachel's season. It is the drama based on racism. Similar to their drama with bullying. How many times did they have segments on anti bullying on the AFTR? Rachel read stuff that she got on the show, and yet, they continue to showcase it, encourage it, basically demand it from their cast. True, not everyone goes along, but there will always be those thirsty ones who will gladly oblige to get in good with producers and get subsequent opportunities be it for BIP and other spinoffs, or just extra air time to build those instagram followers. They are full of it!

Sprite wrote:

Amethyst wrote:I like Chris H., and I don't want him removed from the franchise. I do think he could have handled this interview a whole lot better -- he's usually smarter than that. He should have stopped with, Rachael should address this first, and I will address it with her at a future time.

It gets back to vetting of cast members. The series really has dropped the ball with certain cast members in the past (i.e. Lee, Chad.) The producers picked some really stellar POCs for Matt's cast. But I questioned their selection of Victoria right from the get-go. I refuse to believe, in a season with a record number of applicants, that Victoria was the best villain they could come up with. A good villain should have some positive qualities to at least partially offset their negative qualities. If Victoria had positive qualities, they were "left on the cutting room floor."

As for Rachael, it's mind boggling that the show would not have been more sensitive to potential racism in a season with a POC lead. You would think they would have been extra careful in their casting. I think this is something that does need to be addressed. It seems that some questions could and should have been raised by her Instagram feed. If the fans could find it, the producers should have been able to find at least some of that.

If some fans have had it with the series, I get that. A lot of hopes were pinned on this season. I do keep in mind that they got it right with Tayshia.

My theory was and is ... and I've written this previously ... their vetting is just fine. They find out everything we do. They know exactly what these people are like, prejudices and all. They don't accidentally cast them because they didn't know what they were like. They cast them precisely because they do know!

I wrote as soon as they cast Matt, the first black bachelor, that there would be a female Lee on his season. Before the season started filming!!! I knew they would go with another person who has a history of racism just like Lee did on Rachel's season. It is the drama based on racism. Similar to their drama with bullying. How many times did they have segments on anti bullying on the AFTR? Rachel read stuff that she got on the show, and yet, they continue to showcase it, encourage it, basically demand it from their cast. True, not everyone goes along, but there will always be those thirsty ones who will gladly oblige to get in good with producers and get subsequent opportunities be it for BIP and other spinoffs, or just extra air time to build those instagram followers. They are full of it!

I'll have to mull that one over. I want to go with Hanlon's Razor. From Wiki -- Hanlon's razor is a principle or rule of thumb that states, "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

That might end up being Rachel's best, and most plausible explanation as well.

@Amethyst While I appreciate that stupidity is rampant, I just cannot buy that here. I find it too much of a coincidence. They do a ton of interviews, background checks, psych questionnaires and they know these people inside out. They know their weaknesses and what buttons to push. Years ago I might have bought the stupidity excuse because SM was still new and people didn't necessarily know to check it. That time has long since passed. With black lives matter being very fresh and the Lee incident with Rachel, there is no way they didn't know to check everyone's SM. IMO it is not a coincidence. It is deliberate. If I can predict that this will be a story line for the show before they even start filming, I don't buy that they didn't think of it as a story line even before they cast Matt as the first black bachelor.

@Amethyst I’m all for giving people the benefit of the doubt but sadly I think Sprite is right. While we can’t prove it definitively things certainly point to TPTB intentionally casting people with racist beliefs which is horrifying.

In 2016 the show Unreal, a show started by a Bachelor producer that seems to be a thinly veiled critique of the Bachelor franchise, had a storyline of the first “black bachelor” who had a racist contestant cast on his season. I haven’t watched Unreal but from recaps I read it sounds like the black bachelor was encouraged to form a relationship with the racist Southerner. Here’s a recap: Unreal

Then, in 2017 Rachel Lindsay was lead and they cast a racist on her season from what others tell me. I don’t know if TPTB got the idea from Unreal or if that was always a storyline they were planning to use when they had a black lead, and Unreal just ran with it first.

In Matt’s season, in 2020 of all years, we have Rachael, who was unknowingly nominated to be on the show, and producers would have seen all her SM before approaching her to be on the show. She deleted a lot of posts and follows that TPTB would have seen before casting her.

It’s mind boggling to think TPTB would stoop so low but they have shown us who they are over and over season after season. The fact that racists were cast on both Rachel L and Matt’s seasons also points to it being intentional on TPTB’s part.

I looked up Unreal and the producer Sarah Gertrude Shapiro on Wikipedia and you can learn a lot reading about that there. Here’s a piece The New Yorker did on her and Unreal/The Bachelor: Confessional

jmo

I have wanted CH replaced since I started to watch the show – for his lack of sincerity and general sleaziness. Those reasons are pretty small compared to the issues we have seen lately.
JMO

This was a response to his apology post: https://twitter.com/viper3435/status/1359680497933164544

bluwavz wrote:

Chris Harrison’s statement on his interview with Rachel Lindsay yesterday... pic.twitter.com/FkX8NYM9DT

— RealitySteve (@RealitySteve) February 11, 2021

https://twitter.com/RealitySteve/status/1359678740192763904?s=20

Damage control

I saw a post on Reddit that the show may be timing the issuance of Rachael’s statement with the episode where she has her “I see color in all senses” discussion with Matt. That discussion doesn’t seem like something that happened at the RC after FS (why would it come up then?) or the LCD (given their clothing). So I’m guessing it happened leading into HTD (so in this Monday’s episode) or before the RC of the HTD episode. What do you think?

https://twitter.com/realitysteve/status/1359941952171626497?s=21

Kaylah is right.. its nerve racking when one isnt sure of how the TPTB would make one look..  How do they really choose who deserves the grace? 
 https://twitter.com/spperk/status/1359903626894917641?s=19

mbl wrote:I saw a post on Reddit that the show may be timing the issuance of  Rachael’s statement with the episode where she has her “I see color in all senses” discussion with Matt.  That discussion doesn’t seem like something that happened at the RC after FS (why would it come up then?) or the LCD (given their clothing).  So I’m guessing it happened leading into HTD (so in this Monday’s episode) or before the RC of the HTD episode.  What do you think?

I totally think it will be a part of the show. Why wouldn’t it be? She was cast imo with full knowledge of her history. I believe they intended for her to be exposed outside of the bubble which would make their “story” all the more rich. We wonder why we haven’t been seeing much of the storyline thus far on the show, it’s because it’s been playing out in real life. This fallout, to an extinct was written into their storyboard, creating a forbidden love scenario. All jmo...

@luvnunity I agree. My question in my post was if anyone else thinks the “love is love” conversation is coming up in the 2/15 or 2/22 (HTD) episodes. It doesn’t seem to fit in with later episodes based on clothing and/or context. Do you have an thoughts on when the “love is love” conversation occurs?

I don’t know whether or not Rachael is sincere or merely performative but TPTB should let her apologize. My gosh.

I wonder if TPTB have finally overplayed their hand. We are seeing more clearly than ever their machinations. jmo