It was pretty much just what we all expected...60 minutes of boring television. One hour of my life that I will never get back.
The producers of this yawnfest must have used the script from Ben Flajnik's Women Tell All episode. Right down to bringing out one of the final two girls. The usual group of women never includes one of the finalists. The only other time this was done (that I can remember) was with Courtney Robertson - and only to heal the bad publicity she had been getting. The Canadian version just replaced Courtney Robertson with Whitney Lee. This was really no surprise because they have been giving Whitney practically the same edit as was given to Courtney. It's so transparent that they are trying to make us think Brad will pick Whitney over Bianka. Do they actually believe that the viewers of the Canadian edition aren't already fans of the U.S. show? It isn't as if Ben's season was several years ago...the finale was last spring! The whole thing is so contrived.
And if you were expecting to see the gloves come off and the claws come out, boy, would you have been disappointed. Just when something good started up, sure enough, someone would speak up to diffuse the situation. Case in point - Gabrielle Dipersico is pulled up into the hot seat next to Tyler. She explains that she has a tendency to speak her mind. I get that. She certainly provided entertainment, and kept this entire season from slipping completely into boredom. Laura F pipes up and suggests that Gabby was a "plant" by the producers. But just as the things started getting interesting, the fan fave Kara speaks up to save Gabby. She says the one thing you can say about Gabrielle, is that she will own up about the things she says. She doesn't try to hide it.
Well, I don't know about being an outright plant, but the show's casting has definitely been known to recruit people from talent agencies, or go after people they feel will fill certain "characters". Gabrielle is no stranger to the media. You can do a Google search on your own...that's how I found this stuff:
- Gabrielle and her cousin Paris wrote a book called "Wake Up Call", you can find it on Amazon, here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Wake-Up-Call-Gabrielle-Dipersico/dp/1460932374. Nice cover photo of Gabrielle, by the way. Made it very easy to find her using Google image search.
- this book was the cause of this hate crime against Paris, as reported by the Toronto Sun: http://www.torontosun.com/2011/08/25/attack-on-muslim-author-may-be-hate-crime.
- and last, but not least, a talent agency called Orange Management booked a job for Gabrielle to appear in a Much Music commercial for Marianas Trench. Here's the link to that: http://orangemodels.wordpress.com/category/much-music/
So was Gabrielle cast or recruited? Does it really matter? Casting has a set of criteria that they are looking for. If they don't get the right contestant from their open casting call, then they go looking for it. Cast...recruited? It's the same thing. Maybe some of these girls go on the show "to find love", but you would be a fool to think they all do.
Some other highlights:
- Chantelle Harink explained that she thought she was at a disadvantage because of her background and beliefs, but found the girls were very supportive of her. She was glad she told Brad about being a virgin. And of course, Tyler had to add "You didn't just tell Brad, you told all of Canada". Thanks Mr. Obvious.
- Laura Bateman said she was definitely falling for Brad. She knew what she was getting into when she signed up to be on the show, but still couldn't handle walking into the middle of Brad and Whitney kissing. Go figure.
- Whitney Lee said the montage of her escapades was hard to watch. She too accuses Gabrielle of being a plant, and goes further to suggest Gabby was paid for her part. Really? As if your motives were to find love, Whitney? Then she demonstrated her lack of acting talent by tearing up. Nobody believes it, Whitney. But maybe you can cry for real now, because after next week, your 15 minutes is done.
- Kara Henderson is acknowledged by Tyler as the fan favorite. She says she loved Brad as a friend, and that she was never in love with him - they had a lot of fun, and their relationship was never awkward. Hey if it was the real world, in my opinion, a friendship is often the start of something more. Oh and one more thing...it certainly seemed as it Kara was being primed for a possible Bachelorette Canada, if that show should materialize.
- Then there was a montage of outtakes from the show, which were very funny: the host from the club in New Orleans who couldn't pronounce Mississauga; the flatulent horse pulling Brad and Bianka's carriage in Paris; and Kara's hair catching on fire. Why don't they show this stuff in each episode?
Finally, finally... the preview for next week's finale. It's really what I have been waiting for. Forget about rehashing all this stuff that I already knew. Here's what I picked up as the clips quickly flashed over the screen:
- Whitney and Brad go boating and golfing in their final dates, while Brad and Bianka try polo.
- Brad's sister looks like she's really letting both girls have it with the tough questions about being in it for the so-called right reasons. But watch this segment and the way the clips are put together. His sister is wearing a white top the day she meets Whitney, and a blue striped top the day she meets Bianka. They switch it up a bit. To Whitney she says, "I find you very guarded around us" and "you let Brad do all the talking". Later, she talks about Whitney - "She knows where she's going and she has a plan". This could be a compliment, except the tone is hostile. To Bianka she says, "I do have a couple of concerns about you and Brad....Are you telling us what we want to hear or is this you? Do you not have some sense of concern?"
- We see this same shots again, of a woman from the neck down, in a white dress (Bianka) that we have seen previously in the season. I don't remember about before, but this time we hear Whitney in a voice over.
- The last clip is that of Brad at the final rose ceremony, all teary eyed and saying "Oh my God!"
What does this all mean? Well not too much. There was nothing new that we haven't seen in previous clips or previews. Just a couple of extra shots of each girl with Brad on their final dates.
So now comes the good part. Stop reading now if you don't want to be spoiled.
First of all, as I've said before, the previews shown at the beginning of the season as well as last night's preview show a woman in a white dress at the final rose ceremony. And as I said before, it's almost certainly Bianka...body type, glimpse of hair, and even the way she walks. It's Bianka. We see no shots of Whitney at the final rose ceremony. There is one clip of a woman in a long blue sundress walking away from Brad who is dressed casually. He says something to the effect of "you're doing this NOW?" There is obviously a problem. My best guess has been that Whitney somehow doesn't even go to the final rose ceremony. However...
The Women Tell All episode that you saw last night was filmed on November 2. On Monday, a Vancouver woman vacationing in Scottsdale, Arizona tweeted:
Suzy
Two days later she tweets:
She also tweets the same info to everyone she can - Brad Smith, Tyler Harcott, CityTV, News 1130 Radio, and even Entertainment Tonight Canada. Now, I didn't find this myself, it was first brought to my attention on the BachandBachette fan forum. You can read this thread here
What does this mean? Well, all by itself, it doesn't say much. She says she saw Brad and Bianka out shopping together at Nordstrom's. That's all the info she had. But anyone can tweet out anything they want. If that was me, and I recognized these two...I think I might just be tempted to watch them a little bit more, see what they were up to, watch their behaviour a bit, even check for a ring. A bit creepy maybe, but I would stop way short of stalking. There were no cameras around, so it wasn't part of the show. She is obviously a fan of the show, but she didn't offer up any additional information. Another argument against this sighting is that when the lead and winning contestant meet between the end of filming and the airing of the finale, they are usually sequestered in "safe houses". It's all kept very hush-hush. They aren't allowed out. Then, this happened...
Yesterday afternoon (Nov 14, the day of the Women Tell All episode), Canada.com hosted a live chat with host Tyler Harcott and Stephanie Perron, CityTV Communications Coordinator. You can read the entries here. A seemingly benign question was asked..."Why didn't Brad post a blog during the fantasy dates?" (the fantasy/overnight date episode aired November 7). This was answered by Stephanie who said, "Tyler was out of the country for some well deserved rest". The same person later asked if he was in Scottsdale. There was no response to this one. Well, when these live events happen, a lot of questions don't get answered. The problem is that there really weren't a lot of people asking questions. They were obviously caught off guard with this, and just chose to ignore it.
So, there it is. Brad picks Bianka Kamber, and are living happily ever-after. Well, as of two weeks ago anyway.
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