Saturday, March 7, 2015

Finals, Scores


Maggie - 215
Britt - 55
Kaitlyn - 30
Ashley S. - 70
Jade - 50
Megan - 10


Ashley I.
Melissa - 145                           Eastlake - 75
Kardashley - 35                        Kelsey - 55
Carly - 75                                 Mackenzie - 5
Jillian - 25                                Jordan - 5
Tara - 5                                     Juelia - 10
Samantha - 5                            Tandra - 0


Kardashley - 35
+10 for earning audience applause x 2
+5 for being featured in a blooper
Bonus: +15 for refusing to accept Kelsey's apology
+5 for her look of sheer disgust featured when Kelsey blew her nose in Chris Harrison's handkerchief...although, let's be real. The look of disgust should be for the concept of a cloth handkerchief rather than Kelsey's actions in this incident.




Ashley S.
Ashley S. – 70
+10 for earning audience applause x 2
+10 for being described as a superlative by Chris Harrison
+20 for audience whispers of disbelief
Bonus: +10 for giving Chris Harrison a gift
+10 for being invited to appear on Bachelor in Paradise
+10 for refusing to back off of her complete insanity





Britt
Britt - 55
+20 for audience applause x 4
+10 for crying
+10 for blaming the editors for making it seem like she doesn't want kids
Bonus: +5 for mentioning her work with "inner city" children
+10 for insisting on going up and sitting with Chris (hilariously, when she asked "Can I come up there?" my husbands immediately response was "I think you all know a mandatory restraining order that goes into effect the moment you get kicked off." Seems like it's probably not all that far from the truth)

Carly
Carly – 75
+10 for audience applause x 2
+15 for earning audience boos
+20 for earning audience whispered disbelief (earning all three of these in the Bachelor equivalent to the Gordie Howe hat trick)
+10 for crying
+5 for being featured in a blooper
Important Info: +15 for admitting to reading Chris' blog....which you know they all did.




Jade
Jade – 50
+5 for earning audience applause
+10 for crying
+5 for being featured in a blooper
Bonus: +15 for admitting to reading Chris' blog
+5 for commenting on her lack of closure (which should totally be a standard part of the points by the way)

+10 for insisting on going up to sit with Chris, ostensibly so he could get the full body shot of her looking hot in that red dress!



Jillian   
Jillian – 25
+10 for earning audience applause x 2
+5 for being featured in a blooper
Bonus: +10 for Chris Harrison telling her she was "jacked up"

Jordan   
Jordan – 5
+5 for earning audience applause

Juelia   
Juelia  10
+10 for earning audience applause x 2
Kaitlyn   
Kaitlyn – 30
+10 for earning audience applause x 2
+5 for being featured in a blooper
Bonus: +5 for complaining about her lack of closer
+10 for earning audience lip pouts
Kelsey   
Kelsey – 55
+5 for audience applause
+10 for being called a superlative by Chris Harrison (though was she really the most controversial contestant ever? Don't people just generally dislike her? Maybe they meant controversial in that it's the first time the show has ever admitted that having something tragic happen to you isn't necessarily the equivalent of being a decent human being)
+10 for crying
+5 for being featured in a blooper
Important Info: +15 for a super awkward audience murmur during the introductions
+10 for blowing her nose into Chris Harrison's pocket square. It has certainly never suffered through such indignities before as he had an operation years ago to limited all bodily functions

Mackenzie   
Mackenzie – 5
+5 for audience applause

Megan   
Megan – 10
+10 for earning audience applause x 2



Samantha   
Samantha – 5
+5 for audience applause

Tandra   
Tandra – 0
Though she earns a million life points for not bothering to show up.
Tara


Tara – 5
+5 for audience applause





Friday, March 6, 2015

Week 9, Winners and Losers

It's our final week of competition and the scores will be up soon. But before I announce our season winner, I just wanted to thank every one for contributing to another great year of competition. There are no losers in Bachelor Fantasy League...only people who will have to wait another season to take ownership of the Michael Stagliano Child-sized T-shirt Trophy. But there are certainly losers of the show that's basically designed to be an audition tape for Bachelor in Paradise. So before I post scores, let's take a quick peak at who emerged victorious from this year's episode of the Women Tell All and who would have been better off just hanging out in a bar somewhere far, far away with Tandra.

Winner: Britt
Man, did Britt dominate this episode of probably not entirely scripted TV. She came off as super sympathetic; she got the audience believing that her love story was entirely derailed by Carly; she got in zingy one-liners and mention of her love for inner city kids; and she even won points by quietly but classily defending Kelsey. The fact that she "felt better" in response to Chris' claim that sending her home wasn't prompted by Carly casts further doubt on her claim to have strong feelings for him (real heart break would be devastated by the destruction of the petite, blonde, scapegoat shaped life raft - which Carly would coincidentally likely certified to man), but overall the night was a stunning success for Britt. I'd still be somewhat surprised if she was named Bachelorette, but it doesn't seem totally outside of the realm of possibility anymore. After all, it's not like there are obligatory shower scenes for the ladies. 

Loser: Carly
I'm so much sadder about Carly now that I know that she is the sister of Zak, one of the most delightful contestants in Bachelorette history. But let's face it, this week was indisputably rough for the once relatable-seeming girl. She did not come out of the reunion special looking great, and not just because she looked a bit haggard from all the energy she was expending hating Britt. The eye-rolling, defensiveness, and the way in which she had to sit quietly while Britt and Chris discussed her like she wasn't even there were all pretty rough to watch, and I hope she takes that lesson to heart before consenting to appear on any other franchise show.

Why have you abandoned us, oh
great black box of modesty?
Winner: Kelsey
I'm wondering if Kelsey and Britt hired the same person to do spin control because they were just so gently well-spoken, apologetic and measured. My favorite part of the whole episode last night might have been when the audience finally realized that, while they may neither like nor trust Kelsey, they couldn't help but applaud her demonstration of class. I 100% believe she is condescending and arrogant. But she's also clearly smart, and her decision-making showed it.

Loser: Kardashley
Kardashley was pretty much the opposite of Kelsey in almost every way from her constant looks of disgust to her complete lack of contrition. And Kardashley's boobs were pretty much the opposite of the desiccated flesh of an ancient mummy, in part because of their youthfulness but largely because they were so very, very un-covered up!

Winner: Jillian
Setting aside her intensity and the fact that Chris Harrison called her "jacked up" (I assume the part where he called her "bro" just got mistakenly edited out), she was her usual hilarious and charming self. She defended Britt with fierce loyalty and called out Carly on some pretty mean-spirited jokes without ever playing the victim. And she continued to not comment on her "former NFL cheerleader" status...ahem, Nikki.

Loser: Samantha
Poor Samantha also continued true to form by only managing to speak once and being rudely interrupted while doing so. Although we at least all finally learned the fun fact that apparently she has a bit of Midwest accent!

Winner: Ashley S.
Image result for women tell all bachelor season 19If the Women Tell All did nothing else, it clarified that, while Ashley S. is obviously an odd individual, her work on the show had to have been the product of a poor reaction between alcohol and drugs. She was so much more coherent on the episode than at any other point during the show. And yet, you gotta kind of respect her for riding it out, for refusing to attribute any of it to the production team or the crushing stress. And you also gotta kinda be amused by her betting pool shenanigans. You have to think if the accounting team wasn't betting on the contestants, they will be now! Overall, how could we not declare Ashley S. a winner when the elusive Chris Harrison is oddly desperate to be her friend!

Loser: Mental Health Care in America
That being said, I cannot suborn the idea of putting her on another reality show that is even more alcohol-centric when it is clearly a serious problem for her mental health and safety.

Winner: Playboy Models Everywhere
Seriously, when have Playboy models ever been billed so sympathetically? I admit to have avoided that whole terrible corner of reality TV, but I imagine anything involving Hugh Hefner couldn't possibly compete with poor sad, sweet Jade.

Loser: Bloggers
Honestly if anything, the Women Tell All made it clear that blogging was a far more regrettable choice than posing naked. These women understandably clung to every word that Chris casually penned and then forcefully threw them in his face. 

And I imagine he did the exact same amount of work on his
romance novel as he does on the show.
Winner: Chris Harrison
Because he always wins. Because next year's Women Tell All will feature him handing a contestant, not his pocket square, but a spare hundred dollar bill he just happens to have on him from all the sweet, sweet cash money his romance novel is sure to bring in. Because, come on. He's Chris Harrison.

Loser: Chris Soules
So, despite all odds, I have to admit, I still like Chris. He seems to be a completely decent guy who enjoyed the hell out of this experience without completely losing himself along the way. But, one can't help feeling like he's an early 90's TGIF star who found a magical pair of Oakley's  that made all women fall in love with him, and they're just about to get snapped in an epic Kid n' Play dance off. Sure, he's had a magic few weeks with women in shorty overalls hanging on him, and, I would imagine, a hilarious scene with an older librarian "letting down her hair" while he nervously backs into a corner, but those moments are about to come to an end. After all his hemming and hawing, his tripartite confessions of love, it's just really hard to see him coming out of this experience having found true love. But at least he'll come out of it teaching us all a powerful lesson about the importance of being ourselves...