For nearly two decades, Reality Steve (Steve Carbone) has been the internet's most trusted source for reality TV spoilers and behind-the-scenes information. In this episode, Rachel sits down with Steve to discuss how he built his reputation breaking Bachelor spoilers long before the finales aired—and why his reporting has changed the way fans watch reality television. They dive into the latest headlines surrounding Taylor Frankie Paul's unaired Bachelorette season, why ABC pulled the show just days before its premiere, what Steve's sources have told him, and whether the season could still air. Plus, they discuss the latest Love Island drama, the reality behind production, Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce's wedding, and what viewers don't see happening behind the cameras. If you've ever wondered how Reality Steve gets his information—or why millions of fans trust his reporting—this conversation is for you. 🎙️ New episodes of Miss Understood every week. --- --- --- PLEASE LIKE, SHAR...
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Before we get started, I wanted to let you in on a little secret. What you're about to hear is only part of the conversation. Every week, we keep talking over on Patreon where you'll find exclusive bonus episodes, behind the scenes, footage after show, conversations with my guests, and personal stories from my life that I don't share anywhere else. If you love Misunderstood, Patreon is where you'll get the full experience. Just head over to patreon.com/understood with Rachel Yucatel or click the link in the show notes. I'd love to have you join us.
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January of 2009, I became this de facto authority. I was the go to guy for your Bachelor spoilers.
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Me chronically online Reality Steve. I'm like, how do I even know that name? Steve Carbone, better known as Reality Steve, has spent years pulling back the curtain on reality television, breaking spoilers, exposing what happens behind the scenes, and telling us which love stories may not be quite as real as producers would like us to believe.
B
I do not spoil the Bachelor and the Bachelorette to get people not to watch. What I do it for is to get you to watch the show a little bit differently.
A
Today, the timing could not be better. Taylor. Frankie Paul is back in the headlines.
B
She says, I don't care what I shouldn't post. My response is, you probably should because you posting could effectively make you lose custody of your child.
A
I have 900 questions that I know you want answered. So we're getting right into it. Do you think that this is still going to actually air?
B
They did say due to the video that was released today, we are going to pause. They didn't say we're canceling it.
A
Enjoy my conversation with Reality Steve. Steve Carbone. Reality Steve. Thank you so much for joining me today on Misunderstood.
B
How are you, Rachel? Thanks for having me on. Good to be here.
A
So where are you based?
B
I am based in a suburb of Dallas, Texas called Frisco, Texas, about 30 minutes north of downtown Dallas. Been here this month is 20 years.
A
No way.
B
I've been here. Grew up in Southern California, went to college in Southern California and moved here in 2006, July of 06. And we are at 20 years this summer, which is, which is crazy. I can't believe I've been here 20 years. But here we are.
A
Yeah, I love that. Well, so it's interesting, I found you online on Instagram. You have a daily podcast called Reality Steve and you have become an influencer in reality tv and I want to know how you got there. Like did you study journalism? Like, how did you get here?
B
I was a communications major in college. And for me, my background was always sports talk radio. I wanted to be a sports talk show host. That's all I cared about. I went to college for it, and I knew I wanted to have my own sports talk show. I just didn't know about how to get there. And then I started working for a sports talk show right out of college. And then once I got into it, I realized, I don't know if I want to make a career out of this. There's a lot of politics involved. Not politics politics, but, you know, they would rather take a named athlete and give them a show versus somebody coming up for the system. And being a huge sports fan that I am, I just said, I don't know if this is what I want to do full time. So I just was always a big TV watcher, sports and, you know, reality TV. And then it started taking off in the early 2000s, and I was just watching a show called Joe Millionaire back in the early 2000s.
A
Love it. Yeah.
B
I sent an email to three of my friends recapping every episode. It was just me being very snarky and sarcastic about, like, because this was. You got to remember back in the early 2000s, we hadn't gotten into the reality TV that we see now. This was the first show. I'm watching the NFL on Sunday, and they're broadcasting this on Fox, teasing this show coming out where they're basically going to trick 20 women into thinking the guy that they're pursuing is worth 300 million when he actually makes 20 grand a year as a construction. And I was just like, again, you have to put your mindset. Back in 2003, this was unheard of back then. This wouldn't even be. People would even blink at this now. But I was like, I gotta watch this. And then I'm just. I'm watching this show and I'm like, are these women really falling for this? So I would just write an email to three of my friends. Lo and behold, I kept getting emails from other people saying, I loved your Joe Millionaire recap. Can I get on your Joe Millionaire email list? And I'm like, I don't even know who this person is. So unbeknownst to me, they were sending it to people who were sending it to people who were sending it to people. I'm like, okay. So I had, like, a list by the end of the season of Joe Million, I had, like a list of about 350 people. That wanted to be on it from three. So I'm like, okay, I got to continue this. People seem to be liking my recaps. And the next, like, dating show that was on the television docket was the first season of the Bachelorette. They had aired two bachelor seasons, but it was the first season of the Bachelorette, which was Trista, who was dumped at the end of season one. She was the final two girl on season one of the Bachelor. I did not watch Bachelor season one in season two, but I was aware of it. I knew what the premise was. So I was like, all right, I'll just do Trista season. And then from that point on, I don't know what it was. Again, people were loving my Bachelorette recaps. And I said, I'll just keep it going. So I became, you know, the one of the main bloggers for recapping the Bachelor and the Bachelor.
A
What was your blog called?
B
At the time, it was just realitysteve.com. that's what it was. It was just reality. I gave myself a moniker when I went from the email to like, because then I was tired of sending out emails because this was early 2000s and blogs were starting to become a thing. And I'm like, I need to create a blog because I don't want to have to send out an email every week. So I just thought of, hey, I'm watching reality tv. My name is Steve. Like, it's that simple. Like, I'll just go with reality Steve and I start a blog. And I was like, perfect. I'll just put it up there every week so I don't have to worry about people asking me, hey, where's your recap?
A
Wait, time out. And in the meantime, do you have a full time job as you're doing this?
B
Yes. At the time I started Reality Steve, I was still doing part time sports talk radio, but I was in the mortgage industry. And I was just selling second mortgages to people in Southern California back when, before the bubble burst.
A
And this is. You're not making any money posting these blogs. It's just an after style for fun. Yeah, okay.
B
And I. And. And my whole point, my whole reason for doing it was maybe somebody in the entertainment world would see it, ask if I could write for them. I never pitched myself. Maybe I should have. But I was just content on doing this for fun. And so from 2003 to 2009, I did it for fun. Then I got my first spoiler meaning it was the Bachelor season for Jason Mesnick. And I had Found out what had happened before the season even started airing. So I put it out there.
A
Wait, how?
B
Oh, I can't tell you, Rachel. I kill you if I do that. No, but it's just like, it's. I, you know, it's just people came to me with information.
A
Got it.
B
Like, I was like, wow.
A
But what I mean is, at that point, people saw you as having such credibility in it that people that were in the know contacted you with like, hey, off the record, I've got a little info.
B
Well, they didn't even say, like, they said, you can post this. But they were also, like, the reason they came to me was like, they had known that I had one of the more, you know, looked at blogs out there, and they knew that. They said to me, like, hey, I know you cover the show. I found out some information about what happened in the finale of the Bachelor. I'm like, okay. And so I put it out there two weeks before the show ended, and no one had any reason to believe that I had a spoiler that was correct.
A
Right.
B
I wasn't going to be vindicated until the finale aired. I can tell them until I was blue in the face. I'm telling you guys, this is what happens. But until it airs, nobody knows. I had never had a spoiler. I've been writing about the show for six years, so nobody had any reason to believe me. Jason. Season plays out, the ending plays out, the spoiler ends up being correct. And then from that point forward, January of 2009, I became this, I don't know, de facto authority on the Bachelor spoiler guy. And obviously the Bachelor has been on all these years since then, and all of a sudden it just became I was the go to guy for your Bachelor spoilers. And it's just been 17 years in the making now, where season in and season out, I have been able to spoil the Bachelor and the Bachelorette before it airs. I tell you what happens before it airs. And there have been a couple times where I've been wrong, but that was initially I've been able to correct it. And by the time the finale came around, you knew who they were picking at the end, Whether it was the Bachelorette or the Bachelor.
A
Did you end up making good relationships within, like, production or are people that are on it? I mean, I see you've had some really big guests that are, like, in,
B
I would say social media has been the advent of social media, and the growth of social media has been a huge help because at this point, it's so easy to get a hold of people, it's so easy to contact me. So over the years, it's just. I don't want to say it's become easy because there are certain season where it takes me a little bit because it's not just one person comes to me and says, hey, this is what happened. Because then I would never be wrong. I got to get multiple confirmations of things. And there were times in the early going where the first thing I heard I'm like, oh, that must be it. And those are the times where I might have been ended up being wrong, but then I had to correct it later. It's just one of these things where because my name is synonymous with Bachelor and Bachelorette spoilers, most people, and I say most because there have been a couple out there that I know were trying to basically pull me off sides here. But most people are trying to help me and most people want to contribute to be like, hey, this is. This is how it ends. And I run with it and people seem to love it. And like I've always said for years, I do not spoil the Bachelor and the Bachelorette to get people not to watch. What I do it for is to get you to watch the show a little bit differently. It wouldn't help me as a brand if people didn't watch the show. I mean, it keeps me somewhat employed. I've moved on to other shows now. Not spoiling wise, but just covering them. But for the longest time I was. I didn't want people not to watch the show and I'm like, hey, here's your winner. Don't even bother watching. No, it just gave people a different way to watch the show. Watch for certain edits. If you know this person is getting cut early on, you could see where editing is going in there against them. Or if, you know somebody lasts until the very end, you could see how it progresses in their storyline. So for me, it was just giving people a different way to watch the show. And the ironic thing is I don't like to be spoiled about anything in my life. I don't want to know the end of a movie before I go see it. I don't read the end of a book. But for this particular show, what do I care? It's essentially what it is, is going to be a broken engagement within three to six months anyway.
A
Right? Right.
B
It's not like I'm giving some. You know, this isn't the nuclear codes that I'm keeping. I'm spoiling a silly reality show that's the way I look.
A
So since 2009 when, when you kind of broke this, have you been able to monetize this and quit all other jobs?
B
Yeah. So in 2009 I was. Someone came to me and said, you should be able to monetize your blog. And I said, I great. I have no idea how to do it. They came along and they helped me do it. And then I put, I started putting ads on my blog in 2010. It took me about a year before I could ever really get this going. And then in August of 2011, so this next month will be 15 years that I broke away from the mortgage industry and broke away from working for my father and started Reality Steve LLC. And I've had that ever since August of 2011. So this year will be 15 years that this has been my full time job now. From 2011 to 2015 it was straight blog. Then podcasting came into the world and that became a thing. And so I had a podcast where I was just doing one episode a week. I would interview somebody once a week, usually a former contestant from the Bachelor of the Bachelorette and or other content creators and whatnot. And then for the longest time it was like my blog was probably 80% of my income and the podcast was a second income. It was a bonus of what I could make a month.
A
Sure.
B
Then Covid hit and all of a sudden it flipped. Now 98% of my income is my podcast. And what I can make on social media and realitysteve.com while it still exists isn't a thing. And because I don't write anymore, I don't write recaps because I know people don't want to read anymore, especially long form recaps that I was doing. I was writing 8, 10 pages on Microsoft Word. I'm like, I'm not going to kill myself over this when nobody's going to read it.
A
So you're basically just telling your recap now on your daily podcast. People can listen to it on their drive to work or whatever.
B
Exactly. It's just so much easier that way. And yeah, just nobody reads blogs anymore for the most part. Everyone, you know, everything is. It's especially attention grabbing short clips, headlines on YouTube and Instagram, stories and TikTok, like that's what, that's the way we're going now. And I'll be honest, I was late to the game. I didn't start doing clips until about, I don't know, six months ago. And people were doing that for the longest time. So. But I can see it's very beneficial. My podcast is flourished because of it. And so yeah, it's been really interesting transitioning from a writer into what I'm doing now, which is just straight audio. And then I still have my weekly podcast where I interview somebody that's been going on, like I said, since 2015. But my daily started July 11, 2022. So we're coming up on four years that I've put out a daily podcast every Monday through Friday. I've never missed a day. And then I have a sports podcast that I started in January of 2023. So that's about three and a half years old.
A
So people that follow you, I'm sure they love the behind the scenes knowing this. So. So you're. It airs every morning and I'm assuming you film it the night before. So there's not much, much missed time. You're on top of it. Unless something has broken overnight.
B
Exactly. I record anytime between 8 and 11pm the night before and it comes out. My daily podcast, the daily roundup is what I call it. It comes out at 7:30 Eastern Time. So there have been a couple times where something broke overnight and then I had to wait till the next day to cover it. But in four years I could think of probably less than on one hand how many times that has happened. It's just, especially in reality tv. It's not like this is political and it's a major political story that, oh my gosh, everybody's on. It's reality tv. If something broke, it's not earth shattering news, but it is what it is. Has it happened? Yes, but it's very infrequent. So that's why I feel confident recording the night before, having it post at 7:30am Eastern time.
A
So we know you mostly cover the Bachelorette. What are some other shows that, that you really have gone down the rabbit hole on and you consider yourself a special?
B
Yeah, I. There are quite a few. I mean, I've really gotten into Big Brother over the last six years. I started with season 21. I was a late comer to that show, Temptation Island, Love is Blind, I watched those. But the one airing now, Love Island, I took about four years off. I watched the first three seasons of Love island when it used to air on CBS in the summers and then the second it went to streaming, I'm like, I don't want to have to change my input on my TV to go watch it.
A
Right.
B
And then it came back, you know, it came back for the. So I missed seasons four, five Six and seven. And then season eight came and I was just like, you know what? I'll. I'll watch it this season. And again, it is such trash and it is such silliness. There's really no point to it yet. I'm enthralled by it and I've watched every episode and we've, you know, finale is on Sunday. Like this thing is ending, but yet Big Brother starts Thursday. So that is now going to be the one, the next that takes over for my Love island coverage.
A
Okay, so let's get into that. I was going to start with Travis and Taylor's wedding this weekend because it just happened. But let's talk about Love island because we're talking about it. I, as I started to mention to you before, I have not watched Love island. And by the way, do you think it got more popular because what is her name? Ariana? Adriana. Do you think that more popular when she became the host?
B
I think it had an uptick. I don't know the numbers, but I did see the numbers for this season and it's like over some number a billion minutes watch of Love island on streaming. It is like the second most watched show on streaming.
A
So is this one of the only shows? I guess Survivor might be the same where they basically film it and put it out as the people are there and it's a couple days behind, but. Right. Is that what they do on this show?
B
They do it on this show? Survivor is filmed way in advance.
A
Oh, it is. Okay. So this is the only show they do this in.
B
Big Brother is filmed kind of like Love Island, Big Brother films. And what you see on Big Brother happened maybe two or three days earlier.
A
Got it.
B
Every other. Most other dating like Bachelor films and then it's in the can for two months before they air it.
A
Got it. So that makes it kind of exciting. That totally makes it exciting. So I knew I was interviewing you. I have not watched Love Island. So yesterday I sat down with my 14 year old and I said, I went into her room, she had a friend over and I said, okay, I'm interviewing somebody. I have to get caught up on this. Which episode should I watch so that I get caught up? And she goes, oh, mom. Oh my God. So she gets, she comes out of her room with her friend, they sit down and she says, we need to start on episode 18. And the episode was. I can't even tell you what it was called, but something about this is when they went to Casa Casa more. Whatever. Yes. Casa Amore. Okay, I'm gonna let you be the expert on this so I don't sound like a fucking idiot. But I will tell you my background on this so far. I watched this as I'm asking questions and not even asking questions. My daughter keeps stopping it, starting it, saying, wait, you have to understand the relations. These two went in so strong and now this guy's a jerk. And oh my God. And then we skipped to episode 20. And then something about the movie night. And then I got really into Kyle, the Asian looking guy who is so smart. Everyone else seemed so dumb. And I was like crying. I was on the couch crying when he left. And then we all watched last night's episode or the one that aired last night. We all watched it together. Now I'm hooked. Okay, break the whole thing down for people that don't watch it. Yeah, just explain it a little bit. Why it said why it is my daughter's name. She's like, forget watching episode one because no one's really on it from that episode.
B
Yeah.
A
So just explain the whole show quickly.
B
Quickly. Essentially, it's really to boil it down to its simplest terms, it's a bunch of young, hot, dumb 20 year olds that make bad decisions like we all did at that age. That's what it is. Because there's a reason most of these people are under the age of 25. They want. And they're all good looking. They want them to go on the show and be attracted to numerous different people and to, you know, I don't know. I don't even know if you can call it cheating because you just met these people. Are you really cheating on somebody? Yes. You might pair up with somebody in the early going and the whole goal is to make it to the end and be the final pair standing which is voted on by America. America votes for their favorite couple and that couple wins $100,000. Well, that's 50,000 each after taxes. It's 33. 5.
A
Like probably more money than a lot of these kids have ever seen.
B
Yeah, it's so silly because what this show has now become is there's a show called Love Island Games where they bring them back at some point. People that have been on Love island before and they can win money in games. And there's a show called after the Villa which will air next April, which will follow these people post Villa over the next nine months and air in April of 2027. And we get an update on what they've been up to in their life. Then all these people have the ability to possibly Go on other shows like Perfect Match or the Challenge and stuff like that. So all this is, is let me get my. Just like any reality show, let me just get on it. Hopefully I can be a memorable character and some other show will see that and pick up and pick me up to be on another show. Because obviously the more exposure you get, the more Instagram followers you can get, the more TikTok followers you can get and then you can monetize that. The perfect example is a guy that started the show. He was one of the original six men on this season. You didn't see him last night because he was eliminated one week in and his name is Sean. He's a. A police officer from Philadelphia. Before he came on the show, he had 4,000 tick tock followers. He lasted one week on the show. He was the first elimination. So in that week, obviously you don't want access to your phone. They take your phone away. You're on reality tv, you are isolated from the outside world. By the time he got his phone back, he had a million followers on TikTok. He hadn't posted a thing. That shows you how important this show is to people and how much you can basically change your life by. I was going to say being an important character. He really wasn't. He lasted a week. These people have all been there for three or four weeks now. It's been a month since this show started. So all these people are going to become Instagram famous or social media famous after this. It's just a matter of what they can do to capitalize. Are you just going to put out TikTok content? Two or three videos a day? If they do, they're going to make a shit ton of money because that's the way people go now. But I don't think they can say what they want about wanting to find somebody on the show. I think that's an added bonus. I think all these people are very well aware of what this show can do for their social media career. And if they happen to find somebody on there that they like and they meet, you're just like, okay. But again, this show isn't casting a bunch of people that all are from the same city. So if you meet somebody that's like great, but you know, the strongest couple arguably this season is Bryce and Trinity. I know Bryce lives in la. I don't know where Trinity lives, but I don't think it's la. So how serious are they going to be post show if one of them doesn't choose to move, then it's just a long distance relationship that'll probably fizzle after a few months outside of the villa.
A
Have they followed the after effects of this kind of show like they have with Love is Blind? I know there's plenty of people that have gotten married, stayed married, had children. Have they ever done a recap of really where these couples are?
B
No, I think a lot of people just kind of follow them on social media. And as far as I know, like I said, I took off seasons four to seven, so I've heard names and stuff. But if you take the final four couples, because those are the ones where it says you finish and you're the winning couple. And then here's who finished second, third, and fourth if you take the top four couples of the first seven seasons that have aired. So we're talking about 28 couples. I, I had to do a Google search before this season because I was like, how many people are actually still together from this show?
A
Right.
B
And I think it's only like three or four couples from those of those 28. And all of those are within the last two seasons. Like, nobody from a long time ago is still together because why would you be like. It's. The show is very, very silly. And like I said, it's not about. They want to present it as, oh, we're, you know, the winning couple and we're going to make it last after this. But it's like, it's like anything when you're isolated in an environment like that and your whole focus is to fall for somebody. Yeah, it's kind of like a Stockholm syndrome. Of course you're going to fall for that person. You don't have the ability to talk to your friends, your family. You're only with this person. You can go to bed with them every single night. You sleep in the villa together. Yeah, you're going to fall for them. But then real life hits you once you're out of the villa. Wait a second. Do I actually know this person? Is it something more than physical between us? And most of the time the answer is no.
A
Right. And I think these kids totally forget how hard that is. When you start to have to ask somebody to share in chores or take out the trash or pay for things. You know, half these kids don't even have real jobs or whatever.
B
It's not realistic to think that they are going to last outside villa. And I think the audience has caught onto that. It's like, look, you know, we, we're voting for our favorite couple and essentially it's not about, I don't know, it's, it's a popularity contest. And I think also the couples on here are acting a certain way because they want the public to vote for them because they obviously want to win. So they might just be saying all the right things to their partner because there is one couple, Bryce and Trinity, they're the only two right now that have officially said to each other, you're my girlfriend, you're my boyfriend. Like they are a couple. But again, what does that mean? It's just words out there, right. Once they leave the villa, once they leave Fiji, who knows if they're going to stay as a couple? And it doesn't matter. You just have to convince an audience who ends up being the voters for this. You just have to convince them, hey, let's vote for this team, let's vote for this couple and give them the a hundred thousand dollars which ends up being really nothing after taxes.
A
Right, right, right. But you know, it's, it's funny because it is fun. Said I got kind of hooked and to watch my 14 year old daughter and her friend so into it. Clearly, you know, what you're saying is true about the popularity contest. These people don't know anything. I kept saying out loud, this person is so dumb. How do they, how do, why do, why are they found? Why does anyone find them attractive? This is insane. But that's not what they're going for. They're not looking for personality traits, they're not looking for all that stuff. The amount of lying that goes on. It's very clear their character is just trying to establish some sort of alliance with the girl or the guy, keep themselves on the show. You know, the fact that Sincere and I'm blanking on the girl's name, who my daughter very much likes, but she didn't like Sincere. She was so nervous that they were gonna be in the bottom two last night because she's like, without them the show is nothing. They're all the drama, you know, and the whole thing with kc.
B
So is that her favorite, is that her favorite couple, Melanie and Sincere? If she had to vote.
A
No, she likes Melanie. I think her favorite. Melanie and Sincere. Yeah. I think her favorite couple is not Kenzie, not the girl who by the way had an amazing voice. The blonde, the dancer. She had an amazing voice, which all of a sudden I started to like her because by the way, that was the way me as an adult, as a 51 year old woman saw different personality things when she came out of her Shell in the karaoke thing, and she started to dance and sing. I was like, oh, this girl's interesting. Up until then, she's making out with all different guys. I thought she kind of sucked, but then I was like, I kind of like her. I think my daughter's favorite, and I should ask her, is the one she was very nervous was gonna get knocked out last night, which is the guy who has the accent and the pretty girl.
B
Zack and Kayda.
A
Yes.
B
Zack's brother. Zack's brother was on Love island last season.
A
I heard. Cause I heard about how the other girl who came on in the casa. Whatever. Made out with who. I thought she sucked too. What was the big deal about her? And then she got let go because of some racial remarks, right?
B
Yes. See, the thing. The thing about this show is I don't really know what they're. They want to position themselves as. These people are serious about looking for love. And then you got people on the show this season that are like, hey, I'm coupled up with you. But the whole point is to get out there and explore. They bring in new people during the course of filming that they want you to explore with. Well, if you're coupled up, so. So to speak with somebody, somebody might take that as well. What do you do? I thought we were coupled up. Why are you cheating? But then if everyone that was coupled up never explored, it'd be the most boring show in the world. So people are getting mad at people for exploring, but then they're also mad at them for not exploring because they're saying, like, well, what are you doing on the show? Oh, you're just gonna stick with your original partner? That's boring. Well, that's like, I don't know what they want.
A
That's funny, too, because when the point came, when they came from being in the casa. Casa, casa, whatever. Wyatt was mad that Casey had chosen someone else instead of Ayanna. Am I getting the names right?
B
Anaya.
A
Anaya, yeah. Yeah. And the guy. Is his name Kayce?
B
Casey. Yeah.
A
She was mad that Casey had picked Titi.
B
Titi, yeah.
A
Right. So I said, wait a minute. Why is that a bad thing? He met this girl and decided I liked what he said. She reminded me of my mother. She reminded me of my sister. Made me feel at home. Okay, so that's what he found attractive. Whereas the other girl, who seems well spoken and nice, and I'm sure she's a great girl, he decided after meeting someone else that he had a better connection. What's the problem with that. But my daughter was very upset and thought that was very unloyal. And so, you know, and that became a whole storyline for like, a whole hour and a half. That's all we heard about. Which started to bore me. Cause I didn't mind his choice.
B
See, that's the thing. That's the thing that became a very huge online discourse. And I think it had more to do with. And Anaya repeated this a couple times. She said, it's not that you chose somebody else. It's the disrespect you showed me when they were watching Movie Night. Because it was showing clips of him separated from Anaya, basically insulting her, calling her a grandma, saying that basically he was almost taking authority over her body. He essentially made a comment to one of the other guys when he was away from Anaya, kind of saying, like, I've gotten. Essentially, I've gotten farther with TT in the three days that I've known her than I did with Anaya for two weeks, essentially saying, titi's giving it up and I isn't, and I'm gonna go that route. And that's why people thought that it was shitty of him. He could choose tt, but they thought he chose TT strictly for lustful reasons and physical reasons. And so that was the. That was the discourse. But Anaya gave him too much energy. She shouldn't have been that upset. Like, I put out in a video, and I said on my podcast, I'm like, look, Anaya has every reason to be upset, that she felt that this guy was leading her on, telling her, hey, it's all about you. It's all about you. He goes to Casa, meets somebody else, hooks up with her, comes back, chooses her, and dumps Anaya. She should have just been like. Instead of screaming in his face and getting mad at him, she should have just been like, I found myself another guy, too, Carl. It should have been, I don't care about you anymore, Casey. You've showed who you are. You've showed your true colors. I've moved on. I thought she gave him too much agency there by constantly getting mad at him and them yelling back and forth. I felt like she kind of stooped to his level by yelling back at him when she should have just been like, what do I care? You chose somebody else. I found a new man that's better than you.
A
Exactly.
B
It's almost like, kill him with kindness. Don't yell at him. Because two people yelling at each other gets nothing accomplished.
A
Right? Right. Right. So if you had to recap where we are in the season because this is going to come out on Tuesday. We've got the finale coming out this weekend. What would your recap be right now? And then what are your predictions?
B
So we're down to six couples. After Casey and Casey Corbin and Parmita got eliminated last night. I think that it's almost a foregone conclusion that Bryce and Trinity are going to win this thing. He is a DJ and she's a 22 year old. That they've just been together for the longest time and at casa he did not cheat. And basically they showed clips of him at casa constantly saying, I'm wondering what Trinity is doing. A couple of his confessionals, he was brought to tears. The prediction markets out there, Kalshee and Poly Market all have all the money coming in on these two. So it certainly looks like they are going to win. So, I mean, it's tough to rank from that point forward because I think all that matters is who's coming in first. But yeah, Sunday night is the finale,
A
but you've got all sorts of episodes coming out before then. Do you see any big dramatic things or are you hearing of anything that's going to stop us in our tracks in the next couple days?
B
No, I can't imagine because we got tonight's episode and then just Thursday, Friday and Sunday, there's only four episodes or three episodes before the finale. So it's just going to be, I would think, eliminations and how those eliminations go, whether it's America voted for all of you guys as and this couple received the lowest amount of votes or here's the three couples that received the lowest amount of votes like last night. But you can. The ones that aren't in the bottom three you can save or you can vote for who you think is the least compatible like they did with Corbin and.
A
Okay, I'm gonna give you a dark horse. I happen to love Kyle. Is that the same?
B
Which one's Kyle? Oh, no, the agent.
A
Carl. Carl. I love Carl. So my dark horse prediction is going to be Carl and Anaya. Yeah. Just because I think she made a huge mistake when she let him go. I think he's. I think he should be the next bachelor. I think he's so cute, so smart, so kind. I mean, the fact that he was brought to tears when she was crying and like under his breath was like, it's okay, it's okay. I just think he's such a wonderful guy in the little bit that we know. Okay, obviously. But I just happen to like them.
B
I. I think they have a shot for second. I don't think they're winning just because they are. So they are a couple that formed at Casa Amor, which was only a week ago, and Bryce and Trinity have literally been together since the show started. And I think the audience has a much deeper connection to Bryce and Trinity's story because they've been together so much longer. Whereas Anaya and Carl are literally only together because, remember, when they came back from Casa More, Anaya decided, I want to stay with kc and KC chose Titi. So Anaya had nobody until America voted Carl back into place. So I get that they're a late. They're a late blooming couple, but I still think they can make top two. Top three, possibly, but.
A
And I'm not saying this, no one come after me. This is not a racial thing. This is not anything. I don't think that. I think they look like a very odd couple. They don't match in my mind. Like, I just. Bryce and Trinity. And Trinity, I think she's so pretty and so cute. I think he reads as gay a little bit. And I just don't see it. I don't see the connection when they kiss. It's hard for me to watch. I don't know. I don't. I just don't feel like they look good together. I think it looks fake.
B
You're not the only person online that has that sentiment towards Bryce. He's also. He turned 30 during filming. I think he turned 30 last week. She's 22. I know. He lives in LA. He's a DJ and a model. I can't remember where she's based. I want to say Atlanta. So again, like, what is it post show with them? I've never bought them as a couple either. I just, I just think they are playing the game, which is as long as we present as two people that are into each other. We've been around here. We've been together literally since the beginning of the show. I think we can get people to vote for us and we'll win this thing. And I think that's what they're doing. I'm sure they. I'm sure they like hanging out with each other. I'm sure we just found out last night or the night before she admitted they had sex. Like they. They finally consummated their relationship.
A
How does that work, by the way?
B
On the show, you literally just do it in bed with everybody else around and just have to, I guess, be quiet about it or be loud about it. I Don't know. Maybe these have no shame and don't care.
A
Oh, my gosh. All right. Yeah, well, all the power to them. Can't wait to see what happens. I will be watching for sure. All right, let's go back to the conversation about Taylor, Frankie, Paul. So you came out with a spoiler alert a couple months ago saying that. That this was going to actually air. Do you think that this is still going to actually air?
B
Yes. Now, I say that after she had a crash out on Instagram over the weekend. So I at this point, it was supposed to air March 22. On March 19, TMZ got a hold of a video clearly given to them by Dakota's side. Her. The. The father of her two year old, which was footage from back in February, I think of 2023, the night she was arrested, which they built. Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. First episode around, she was arrested for domestic violence because she threw three bar stools at him. And this was before they ever even had a child. Like, this is when she had two other children from her first husband. And that got released. And ABC came out and basically said because it was fresh on everybody's mind, like, our show's supposed to air in three days and we literally have our Bachelorette, even though it happened three years ago, our Bachelorette on video for three and a half minutes in a absolute drunken rage, throwing bar stools at her baby daddy. Like, we can't. We cannot air this.
A
Were you shocked that they pulled it with such short notice?
B
I was shocked in the fact that this has never happened in the history of reality TV that I know of. Whereas a network show. And the Bachelor has been on longer, way longer than any other dating show in reality TV history. I mean, the next Bachelor season will be season 30. She is the 22nd Bachelorette. I mean, 51 seasons have aired of this franchise since the early 2000s. It's been on the air almost 25 years. For it to film a season and then just not air was mind boggling. To think we just, it's never happened before. So that part was kind of weird to me. But I did notice their language when they chose to pull it three days before the premiere. They did say, due to the video that was released today, we are going to pause. And I was like, that's interesting word. They didn't say we are never showing it. They didn't say we're canceling it. They did use the word pause. Now at the time, I was like, should I be reading into that? Well, now come to Find out. I found out about a month and a half later that I was told it was going to air around mid July and they're just not going to shelve this thing forever. It is going to air. I was told it was going to air on abc and it's not like they were just going to dump it on a streamer. She's had two custody hearings right now that have happened since then. She's got another one coming out tomorrow. She or not coming out, she has to appear in court tomorrow with Dakota, her baby daddy. I don't know what's going to come from that considering she seemed to violate her restraining order this past weekend with her Instagram post. So I have no idea where this is headed. I'm so focused on this hearing tomorrow because she has got a lot that she's probably going to have to answer for. And you know, a judge put something in place at the last hearing that said, both of you lay off social media. I'm putting in a non disparagement clause in this parenting contract. Like you cannot talk about the other on social media. And she literally just blew through that in the wee hours of Saturday morning. So not only did she post about it with an 11 carousel post on Instagram and her Instagram story, it was like five, it was like four or five in the morning, Utah time when she did this and it was just like, like almost a spiral for her. And look, she don't want to.
A
She just returned back from rehab. Correct.
B
We had just found out she even went to rehab the week before and we don't even know what it was for. I mean, was it for drugs, was it for drinking or was it for mental health? When the original report came out, somebody said it was for a week. Based on her Instagram post this weekend, it sounded like it was for two days.
A
Yeah, I was gonna say most rehabs are at least a month.
B
So I don't know what a two day rehab.
A
So if she was really at one, she would have had to leave early. I mean the whole thing in there. And also I read somewhere and you would know this more than me because you're really following this, but that she, you know, didn't want to talk about her mental health to the ex, which is, by the way, listen, I've been divorced a long time. I have a 14 year old daughter. I know going in and out of court with an ex, when you're heated about things, you're pointing the finger about everything and mental health is a big part of that. You want to prove that that other person is crazy so that you get custody or you could get temporary custody. So every little bit of her, every move is being watched and her lawyer could say whatever they want, but she's doing herself a disservice by posting even as what you're talking about. The hours that she's posting at shows that she's not in a stable place where she's getting real sleep and taking, you know, and her priorities are set up that she's caring about being quiet. And if she can't be quiet, how is she gonna to manage the rules that she needs to follow to be the proper parent?
B
So before all this happened, she had 70, 30 custody. And then there was an issue that came up and she lost custody of her child for two weeks before a hearing back I think in early May or end of April.
A
Was that just because of the video or some other things that had happened?
B
It was some other things that came up and the judge said it was emergency protective order, something like that. She lost and it said, okay, you lose custody until the hearing. At that hearing back end of May or end of April, beginning of May, it was okay. At the end of that Hearing it was 12 hours a week supervised and he wanted three four hour visits. And it's like, okay, so we're building up then. Then the next hearing was on June 1st and it went from 12 hours supervised to every other weekend and once a week non supervised. So it's like, okay, she's building. Of course her lawyers asked to get back to 70, 30 and there's no way the judge.
A
Right, but, but by, by the way, for people listening, that's important. They're asking for more and they're getting that little bit of more, which means she's doing well in whatever those parameters are that he had given her. So up until that point she had been doing what was asked. So you're right, tomorrow will be, or today when this airs. It'll be very interesting to hear if they pull back on that basis on her actions.
B
That's what, that's what we're waiting on is, is the judge going to see this crash out from Saturday little five days before you're going back to court and you do this like it just. I understand if, if. And here's the other thing, it's her side. I can't say for sure if every single thing that she posted is true. She's basically saying that her ex and her baby daddy are now conspiring against her. They're manipulating her, they're gaslighting her, they're emotionally abusing her. I'm not going to sit here and say that that's not happening with her. But what I am going to say is, at your last hearing, the judge specifically told you not to do something and you went out and you did it five days before your next hearing. Right now, I don't know how the judge is going to look at that. Is he going to say, nope, you haven't improved since the last one. We're just going to keep it at every other weekend and one day a week, Is he going to take that away from her? Is she going to lose? Because like, it just didn't make any sense. Because if you have a protective order and a restraining order in place and the judge puts a non disparagement clause in there, social media, and then you go break that.
A
What was she saying in these posts and have they been taken down?
B
No, they're still sitting right there on her Instagram and even in one of the Instagrams. I just want to pull it up real quick.
A
Sure.
B
In the last Instagram post, she even says, don't really care what I shouldn't post. Done protecting them as they are still torturing me at my lowest. So she's even basically, I don't know, spitting in the face of the judge saying, I know I'm not supposed to post about this, but I'm so fed up, I'm going to. And to me that's just not smart. The juice isn't worth the squeeze on this. Because while she says I don't care what I shouldn't post, my response is, you probably should, because you posting could effectively make you lose custody of your child. Isn't that more important than sharing with a bunch of strangers on the Internet how you're feeling?
A
Yeah. And let's break that down for one second, what you just talked about, where she, she thinks that her ex, both exes basically are conspiring against her. I'm sure I'm not gonna use the word conspiring. I am sure the two of them, much less their lawyers, have spoken to each other. Because we all know a situation where two enemies get together, they become best friends in that hatred of the other person. Right. So they, I'm sure, are sharing stories, commiserating, whatever. But listen, there is laws put in place for a reason. If she walks the straight and narrow, if she's, you know, appropriate, you know, no judge is gonna wanna take a child away from their mother. And so the bottom line is she just needs to focus on herself and stop worrying about if they become best friends and wanna have the kids get together and do whatever they want. That is really none of her business and it shouldn't affect her behavior. Don't you agree?
B
I totally agree. I just, I, I under like I wanna put myself in her shoes. And again, I have to say, if everything she posted is true, she's just telling us her side. I'm sure these guys are going to dispute what she said. That's why I didn't want to focus on what she said and say, oh my God, she's lying about this. There's no way this is true. I just focused on the fact that you had a protective order in place. You have a protect. You guys have both have a protective order against each or restraining orders against each other. They cannot be in contact with each other or be within 100 yards of each other for the next three years. The judge put that in place. And then, then after the last hearing it was like, oh, by the way, we're also adding a non disparagement clause because since you guys can't contact each other, meaning all child exchanges are done through DCFS and stuff like that, they're not even like calling each other to be like, hey, three o' clock at the park today, I'll meet you. No, it's all being done through inner, you know, third parties because they are not allowed to be within 100 yards of each other. But then she takes it to this extreme and even he did because he has his roommate posting things that his roommate posted a video over the weekend of her attacking. Attacking him. Again, that was apparently two weeks before the video that we all saw on tmz. So again, it seems like he's indirectly breaking that restraining order and she's just directly doing it by posting it on her Instagram.
A
So in your, in your opinion, could ABC once again come out and say. Because they don't. Do they actually have an air date that has been released?
B
They have not given an air date. They have ever since March 19th when they pulled the show and they said we're pausing it. It. They've never said. They have been asked about it and they said we're taking it. Essentially, they're just giving, you know, almost athlete speak. We're taking it day by day.
A
Got it.
B
We're seeing how things go.
A
But okay, so it's not like it was said middle of July, here's when it's going to air. So there is a chance that at some point, we could see a statement come across from ABC saying at this point, due to all the things that have happened, we have finally made the decision this will never end.
B
Correct. That could happen.
A
And do you think that this could be turned into something else? Whether it's a documentary of the behind the scenes of all the things that happened that made them pull this season?
B
Yeah. I'm wondering if they don't air it, do we get something like maybe we don't get because this show is an 11 week show and it's shown once a week, it's 11 episodes. Maybe we don't get a full season. Or for the first time in history, they do dump it on a streamer and everybody can watch at their own leisure. I think that's been the appeal to the Bachelor and the Bachelor franchise and why it's lasted as long as it has is because everybody just gathers on Monday nights, watches it, and then talks about it the next day. And we got another week before the next episode airs. Maybe they just dump it on a streamer because they know at this point, number one, the spoilers are already out there because of me. Everybody already knows what happens during the season, but because of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and what has happened on social media and the things that have been said on social media since filming ended, there has been so much that has happened post filming that makes what happened on the season to me kind of irrelevant.
A
Right.
B
Because, I mean, I'll give away the spoiler if people don't want to hear the spoiler. You can tune out right now for the next 20 seconds. But basically, when they filmed this show, it filmed October to December of 2025. She got engaged at the end of the show and she got engaged to a guy named Doug. And according to Dakota, he has told this story. It has been corroborated by other people. The day after she got back from filming, she jumped right back into bed with Dakota and had sex with him and did not tell him she had gotten engaged on the show. So why are we going to invest Our time in 11 weeks to watch this farce of a season for a woman who, oh, yeah, it's going to look great. And oh my God, they probably said all these flowery things when they were with each other, her and Doug, at the very last episode, and they got engaged. But what do I care when the very next day after she got back from filming, she went back and slept with her ex? I don't.
A
And whatever happened to Doug, Doug's still out there.
B
They're all, all these guys are on social media hoping and waiting that the, the show gets aired so they can building their career. Yeah, but at this point because of, because of all the stuff happening off Bachelor related stuff in, in her custody battle, I, I, I've always been told before the crash, out this past weekend that it's going to air mid July. And then TMZ came out. I, I said it back on May 4th. It's on my Instagram. You can go look at it. It's my pin post. TMZ came out last week or the week before and said we're hearing Taylor Frankie Paul season is airing mid July and it's going to air on abc. I'm like, great, tmz. I reported that a month and a half ago, but thank you for not crediting me. But that's what their report. So again, what I reported seemed to be corroborated and it was going to happen. Now if it's going to air mid July, I mean Rachel, today is July 7th, right? We're almost gonna have to start promoting your show. Like if it's gonna air mid July, you would think it's gonna be announced this week. Hey, Taylor Frankie Paul season is starting, you know, next Sunday or the, the following Sunday, I, I gotta believe. But nothing as of now, so, so I have no idea what they're waiting for. And do these recent, you know, her saying stuff like I don't care what I'm supposed to post. Do they think that, you know what, she's too much of a headache, it's too much of a hassle. She clearly is a loose cannon. We don't need to deal with this. We're just like you said, release a statement and saying after further review, we have just decided we are not going to air her season and just leave it at that. That is certainly on the table.
A
Do you think the guys all have gag orders as to what they can say? I mean, I know a lot of them are still on their Instagram, but
B
on a normal season that was supposed to air. Yeah, you sign an NDA where you can't do anything and you can't do any podcasts or you can't go on any other shows, which is really interesting due to one story. But you can't do anything without ABC's approval from the, from the year your finale airs, which would have normally been May of 2026. Every media appearance that you do has to be approved by ABC until May of 2027. Well, her season hasn't aired yet, but One of her guys this season, the guy who finished second, went off and filmed a reality show that's kind of like a trader spin off. It's called the Mob. It's going to air, I believe on Hulu. And that's just like on the fact that he did that and it's already been, you know, officially kind of announced by the cast. That's unheard of that somebody who's on a show filmed a Bachelor at season, that season hasn't even aired and he was allowed to go off and film another reality competition show. So I, So now I'm like, I have no idea what they're doing with these NDAs, because that's never been allowed in 25 years of this show.
A
And Doug hasn't come out and given his side anywhere.
B
He won't be able to. Nobody, none of the guys have talked about the show other than, you know, they kind of make. We'll make comments here and there on their Instagram like, like, had a great time, can't wait to you all to see it hopefully, and stuff like that. But so he's not at the point
A
where he's like, fuck it, I want my 15 minutes of fame. I'm going to go do my rounds.
B
Not yet, but he will like Taylor. Frankie Paul's posts. She will like his Instagram posts. Sometimes she's even commented underneath his posts, but nothing show related. It's just been like in support of each other.
A
Interesting.
B
So, you know, who knows? But if this guy, I mean, look, if I'm this guy and I got engaged to this woman and I found out that she literally went back to her baby daddy one day after our engagement, what do I want with her?
A
Yeah, I wouldn't be liking any of her posts.
B
I wouldn't be liking any of her posts and I'd be moving on. So to me, that just screams that he's out for clout and he doesn't actually care.
A
And that's tough because imagine his life right now. He can't date anyone, at least publicly. And even if he privately does, there's gotta be someone who's gonna post that and be like, I just, I know that these two are fucking, you know? Exactly. So that's gonna be a complicated existence for him right now for sure. Okay, so I'm excited to hear what happens on Tuesday's court case. Yeah, that will change, I think, the outcome of this whole conversation. All right, before I let you go, this weekend, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce got married in the biggest celebrity way I Think of our time, it seems. What were your thoughts about it? What are you hearing? It started to leak a couple things. I don't know what's AI and what's not. What are you hearing?
B
Yeah. First off, I'm just gonna put this out there. My fan base knows this, but I'll tell you, a fan base. I am an absolute swiftie. I have been ever since about 2018. I wasn't into Taylor Swift in her early going, but when she started putting out pop music, I was suckered in. I am not her demo. A 51 year old heterosexual male is not her demo whatsoever. But I also have been to five of her concerts. I think they're unbelievably fun. It's a very positive experience. So much energy. I thought the ERAS tour was amazing. I've never seen anything like it. Singing 45 songs over three and a half hours, that's like, that is mind boggling to me. It was such a great concert. So my whole thing with this whole relationship has been, oh, I'm sure Taylor's into him. My whole thing has always been with my sports background. Having covered athletes, Rachel, I think you're
A
very well aware I know athletes.
B
You know athletes. I don't want to say all, but I do want to say over three quarters of them. And that probably might be being generous. They all cheat. And I, my, my, all my worries have always been about him. I thought it was a weird pairing to begin with, so I was like, okay, this is probably, you know, for fun. But then the more I saw them together, I'm just like, okay, maybe, maybe it is, maybe it is something legit. Before they got together, she had only dated actors and musicians. And you know, you look at his dating history, his most famous women that he were with were always black women. And I was just like, this just seems like not. It almost just seems like this is a, a stunt thing for celebrity status, but like, she doesn't need it. She does need somebody that understands her popularity. To me, I've, I've said it for years, she's the most popular woman in the world. There isn't anybody that could, could walk the streets more popular than Taylor Swift. So she has to be with somebody that understands the level of fame that she has. And somebody like Travis Kelsey, who arguably is one of the best tight ends in the history of the NFL. He gets it. And when I did see them together and she finally did that podcast, I'm like, wow, they do seem like they do get along. So my worry has always Been on his side, just being the athlete part of it. I just. I don't buy these athletes. I've been around it. I've. When I covered sports and I was in locker rooms and saw the women waiting outside locker rooms for the play to leave, I'm like, I know how it works.
A
Well, and I want to clarify that too, because people listening are like, oh, that doesn't mean that all guys are dirty dogs. No, it actually has nothing to do with that. It's the temptation. It's that the women make it so easy to be tempted. You know, they will say, you don't need to know my name. You don't even have to speak to me after. I just want a part of this right here, right now. And that is very tempting to someone. And. And when guys are out having fun and celebrating and being with the boys, it doesn't actually mean anything more than it's just a fun night. But it gets misconstrued and you get in a lot of trouble, especially the more famous you are. And if you are with. If you choose to be with one person, which is, by the way, I think, why Derek Jeter, who I've been open about, I've dated in the past, was such a good guy because he made no qualms about it. He was like, listen, we're dating, but I like to date, and when this is over, I'm gonna go date someone else. Or, you know, he didn't even need to say that, but it was. There's no. He was never involved in a cheating scandal or anything like that because you knew where you stood and you had fun and he was an amazing guy and nothing, you know, but there are guys who like to pretend to live a certain life, and they're just not. And I think that's. There's a big difference there.
B
Well, is. Is there truth to the Derek Jeter NDA stuff?
A
No. I mean, not with me.
B
That story about how any woman that he brings back to his place, he has then put their phone away and sign an NDA, and then he sends him away with a gift basket and a signed baseball.
A
Who sends him away? But I will tell you, he does have. He had a stack of boxes by the window. It had a bunch of balls. I never asked him for one. I have plenty of his clothes, which, by the way, my ex husband has, which is really funny because, you know, when I ended up getting married, this was a long time ago, the father of my daughter, so 15, 16, 17 years ago, I had like a pair of Shorts. I think I had a T shirt.
B
Like with the Yankee symbol on it.
A
Yeah, basically, somehow, like, it wasn't. It was like Nike or whatever it was. I forget what it was. I bet you see, he still has it and I'm sure he still wears it. You know what I mean? Like, super funny. I think one time I did ask Derek to sign a ball for my mother or someone. And he did, but there was no gift bags. But I was in and out of his house plenty of times for over a course of multiple months. Great guy. We were friends. We dated. We were friends again. We dated again, you know, and we would still remain friends today, if I texted him or I saw him, we would be friendly. Great man. But no, those rumors are not true. At least not with me.
B
Okay, so the one thing that I do want to say in support of Travis is knowing who he's dating right now, he would have to be the stupidest man on the planet. And with everybody having a cell phone out there, you would think if he is running around on her, this would have gotten out.
A
I was just gonna say that.
B
Yeah, I don't care who, how much money you have and how many people you can pay to shut up and, you know, hush money, whatever the case may be. If he was running around on her, like I said, he's got to be stupid because everybody's eyes are on this guy, knowing he's an athlete and probably waiting for him.
A
Yeah, and not only eyes on him, but, you know, I even said this to my husband, who was never involved in. I just got married recently and we started when we started dating. I said, listen, just so you know, there are plenty of people that are waiting for me to fail too. And I'm, you know, just me, a little me. But whatever. My point is, is I said, you gotta be careful who you text, who texts you, and what you respond. Any sort of thing that you think is not even a big deal or someone just being sweet. I said, that could be misconstrued. That could be taken outta Conte. The screenshot could be taken and sent to tmz. So I'm sure that conversation happened. And if it didn't happen, the both of them are very well aware that everyone is waiting to see him fail and possibly even her. I mean, who knows? Like, you know, that guy Matt could write her again or Jake Gyllenhaal could all of a sudden be like, you know, I always loved you. And you know, everyone is waiting for some sort of gossip. So I don't know that that will ever be an issue. But I agree with you. They have. I think he had a different type. I think he has been so enamored with his family and the fans being so into her that it has helped build that up. My only thing is my daughter's a swiftie. I became a swiftie. I've also been to five eras, tours. Like, I get it. I get the emotional attraction to both of them and wanting them to succeed. And this was such a great love story. I've seen video though, of them together where she's really annoying and she can be really, like, immature. And the stuff that she does sometimes seems very foolish and strange, where she comes across so mature and fun and exciting on stage, you know, behind the scenes, I don't necessarily know that she is that mature or sexy or whatever, and I just hope she is. I hope she pulls it together because he can be sexy. By the way, whoever is dressing him also needs to be fired, and they need to fix that. Because if that was my husband, boyfriend, and be like, stop showing up in these stupid T shirts.
B
Yeah. I mean, look the way. You know, there were. There were reports that, oh, no, no, no. This MSG thing is just basically an after party. They've already gotten secretly married in front of family and friends. But by all accounts, this was a wedding. This past weekend, we've again, now people are saying, this is all filmed. Trust us, this is going to be a Disney plus special that she's going to release. Like. Like, Taylor is a marketing genius. She's going to capitalize on this, and maybe we will get to see their wedding video at some point. But, you know, when people said msg, they were like, who gets married at Madison Square Garden? I was like, you know, who does? Taylor Swift. Because if they got married in, you know, the rumors in the beginning were like, Rhode island outside, you wouldn't be able to control helicopters and paparazzi flying around. It would be a total distraction. I'm like, you get married at msg, you got cars going underground. Nobody will ever see you enter. Nobody will ever see you leave. Clearly, everybody that's attending, yeah, we got to see pictures of them leaving their hotel and getting into a car and going over to msg, but that's it. The second they got into msg, I'm sure just like certain comedy shows and certain concerts, you have to put your phone and lock it away.
A
Yeah.
B
Nobody had a phone there, so it made actually sense to me. I was like. Like, this makes way more sense than getting married out in the Open in Rhode Island. Even if it was on a private property, paparazzi would have found out about it. They would have sent out helicopters and people in boats and people just.
A
And they treated the security of it. So my husband owns five security companies that he was on Cuomo's show on Friday night talking about the security and he was like, listen, they are protecting this. Like, it is game three where Trump is in, you know, is sitting in the stands. Like, there is no way that anything was getting by anyone. And they were protecting the A list stars to the couple themselves. His biggest thing was, you know, the egress. Like at the end, you have 1,000 people trying to leave at once. They haven't had their phones. How are they gonna connect to their driver? It's gonna be like a whole mess. I didn't stay around and watch. I mean, I know that a lot of the news networks were doing the play by play all night, but it is interesting that here we are a couple days later and we're not hearing that much. I mean, stuff has started to get leaked. A lot of AI photos started to get leaked. We found out that Adam Sandler officiated. Do we find out for sure that Paul McCartney performed or was that just a rumor?
B
Again, we hear that, like, that's, you know, when it comes from. The thing is, you got to remember where it comes from. I saw that come from people.com. they're not going to make stuff up at.
A
That's true.
B
@people.com. that is literally probably because if I'm not mistaken, her PR person that. What's her name? Like Tree or something like that? Yeah, her PR person has a very. She's like, in with people. So anything you get from people is probably coming directly from her pr. So, yeah, I think the Sandler stuff is true. I'm sure the Paul McCartney stuff is true as well. So I wouldn't. I don't. I don't doubt that.
A
And the last thing I'll say on what you just brought up, you talked about how you heard it was filmed. She knows that her life is based on her fans. She has such a huge fan base. He has a huge fan base. And it would make sense to me that she would say, listen, listen, I wanna have this intimate time with my family and friends and whoever all these people are. I think some of these people were like, how did I get this invite? But okay, exactly. But I do think she's gonna ultimately say this moment and this weekend is for us. But eventually I wanna release this on Disney or wherever you're saying. Because I want my fans to be able to see what I went through and this buildup of this love story and the getting ready and the getting there and the whole thing of how it happened. They will make so much money on that and I think their fans will appreciate it and like it. And because she is so enmeshed with her friends, I predict that that will come out and she's just hoping to keep as much secret as she can. Just letting out a little bit here and there so that everyone's tempted. But everyone will be watching that, that video when it comes out.
B
I would be stunned if this isn't released on a streamer.
A
Right?
B
I mean, I'd be more stunned if it wasn't then, if it was, you know, like it would at this point be like, why wouldn't she do this? She, she documented her whole ERAS tour in a five part documentary on Disney plus which was, was awesome to see. And you know, and one of the reasons I love Taylor, obviously she lives a different life than all of us. She is a multi billionaire. But just seeing the story and seeing it on her ERAS tour documentary, you know, giving bonuses to your dancers and your crew of almost $200 million, we saw the story that she donated $26 million to charities that were in New York and some national charities. Again, she doesn't have to do this. And it's the one thing that I've always liked about her. She does a lot of stuff to help people behind the scenes. And I just think that she's always had just a great heart. There's still, still the two of them are just a couple that I, I still, I don't want to sit here and say I question it, but they're just not the most. I, I don't even know what the word is, but I just, I never would have suspected it. When I first heard they were dating. I'm like, oh, okay, this is cute. She's coming to his game. She knows nothing about football. She's up and they're showing her in the games. And then I was like, okay, this will last a few months. But the longer it went. And then she went on his podcast. She was being seen out with him because she was always, always very, very private about who she dated. She did a 180 when it came to this relationship. And maybe that was her thing. Like for all those years, the guys that I dated, I kept it private. I never did interviews, I never went on podcasts, I never talked about them with Travis, it's been a 180. She maybe just said to herself, you know what, it hasn't worked for me in the past. Going that route and being so private. She dated that Joe Alwyn guy for six years and all we ever saw were like photos from far away of them holding hands in London or New York. And I'm like, with Travis, she went on his podcast. Like that's huge for her to do that. And so I give her all the credit in the world. I think she's an amazing, amazing woman. She's an amazing marketer and I'll always be a swiftie. Congratulations to them. I hope it lasts. God forbid we find out that he gets her pregnant. This will be the most watched baby, just like it's the most watched marriage. My gosh, her having a baby is going to be like literally a royal family.
A
Well, what's your prediction? I was just gonna ask baby, do you think he's going to retire soon? Do you? What, is she going to come out with a whole new album of kids music? What's going to happen?
B
I, gosh, I've always said, like, I don't know, you saw the ERA Store like you said, how does she top that? Can she go back to just doing a two hour concert and be like, she's got so many hits. I don't know if she wants to, to go out and do a year and a half tour that's over, you know, 155 concerts and, but it's like I don't think she's done, I can't imagine she's never going to tour again. But if she gets pregnant within the next six months to a year to 18 months, that's going to put off any sort of touring for at least, you know, probably a year out from having the baby. So now we're looking at two, two and a half years before we see her on tour again. And my prediction is I, I don't think this is going to be a quickie marriage. No, I, I think she's in this for the long haul. I, I want to say that he is too. And I think that they start a family within the next 12 to 18 months and eventually she will have a resurgence back in the public eye, at least on the music level. I mean, there's already rumors that she's got an album coming out within the next like six months or something like that.
A
I think.
B
Yeah, I have no idea if that's true, but.
A
And he starts practice, what, in August? So in a month?
B
No Training camp starts in two weeks for most of these teams, so he'll be back at training camp in a couple weeks. And, you know, she'll be at all of his games this year again. And, and we, and we ride that thing out for the next. For this season. I think he's done after this season. It would be my guess as a sports fan and knowing the way he's kind of rolled. I think he wanted. I didn't. He didn't want to go out on the way they went out last season. The Chiefs, I believe, lost their last seven games.
A
Ye.
B
Patrick Mahomes blew out his acl. I think he wanted one last season with him. And Patrick. Patrick isn't retiring, but I think he's got one year left in him and then he'll call it quits and maybe start, you know, that family.
A
Okay, here's my prediction. I think he's going to do two more seasons. I think that they're going to announce they're pregnant right before or during the beginning of next season, because then everyone's still enthralled with them. And she comes to the games with a pregnant belly. He wants to win at least one more time. And so that's my prediction there. But I think she's gonna get pregnant closer to next, the end of next summer or, or maybe even a little earlier so that they could have their baby. But she's gotta time it out so he doesn't get distracted by the baby being born while they're playing.
B
That's my very, very, very possible.
A
Yeah.
B
And I, yeah, I, I say one more season, but if he went two, I wouldn't be stunned. I think two is max. I think he, if he gets two more now, if they win it all this year, I think he goes out on top. I don't think he comes back back. But I don't know if the Chiefs are ready right now to win the super bowl this year. But when you have Patrick Mahomes, I guess anything is possible. And it looks like he's going to be ready to go.
A
And I think Travis had a distraction for, for the last year, so maybe he's not going to be distracted. He'll be all in. Just quickly on this conversation, Blake Lively did not show up. And Ryan Reynolds. Do you. Are you hearing anything? You know, some people were saying. Do you think maybe she was invited and decided not to come so that there was no drama surrounding that, or do you think that they've stopped speaking?
B
I have no inside info on this, but my guess is that relationship is over. Because if they are close and they did remain friends through all this, how in the world? I mean, she is the godmother of one of Blake's babies. I don't know why Blake and Ryan wouldn't be at that wedding unless the stuff that we've been reading for the last year on the fallout from it ends with us is true and they're no longer friends and they're just not on speaking terms because of the stuff that came out during depositions and things like that. To me, just as an outsider, it seems like that relationship is over.
A
Right? Steve, you are filled with interesting knowledge. Tell people where they can find more and tune into your channel show.
B
Yeah, Instagram. I am Reality Steve. The podcast is the Reality Steve Podcast. It's a daily Monday through Friday, comes out 7:30am Eastern time every morning. And then my TikTok, I'm Reality Steve 20. Somehow somebody took Reality Steve on Twitter so I had to throw a number in there. 20 is my favorite number. So I'm Reality Steve 20 on TikTok. Everything else is at Reality Steve threads Twitter and Instagram.
A
And make sure you guys follow him for all this. You know, again, as this unfolds with the Bachelorette stuff, you will want to go listen to him talk about it. Even on his Instagram. He'll give you inside scoop as to what he's hearing. So that'll be awesome. Thank you again for joining me. For those of you that are interested in just a little more, we're going to put it up on our Patreon for our after hours. But again, Steve, thank you so much for joining me.
B
Thank you, Rachel.
A
If you've enjoyed today's episode, don't let it end here. Our Patreon community has become one of my favorite parts of Misunderstood. It's where I can become more personal, answer your questions, share what's really happening behind the scenes, and continue conversations that simply don't fit into the public podcast. Whether you want bonus episodes, exclusive behind the scenes, access my Palm Beach Life series, monthly giveaways, or even a one on one conversation with me, there's a membership tier that's perfect for you. I'd truly love to welcome you into our Insider club. Just visit patreon.com misunderstood with Rachel Ukatel or click the link in the show notes.
Miss Understood with Rachel Uchitel
Episode Title: Reality Steve EXPOSES Reality TV's Biggest Secrets | Taylor Frankie Paul, Love Island & Bachelor Bombshells
Release Date: July 21, 2026
Guest: Steve Carbone (“Reality Steve”)
This episode welcomes Steve Carbone, aka “Reality Steve,” the legendary reality TV spoiler, to unpack the mechanics and secrets of reality television. Rachel and Steve dive deep into the inner workings of popular shows like The Bachelor, Love Island, and the scandalous unfolding saga around Taylor Frankie Paul, while also touching on the recent (and secretive) wedding of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. Expect candid, unfiltered discussion about behind-the-scenes manipulation, reality TV fame, and the blurred lines between entertainment, reality, and personal consequence.
On the birth of Reality Steve:
“I sent an email to three of my friends recapping every episode…Lo and behold, I kept getting emails from other people saying, ‘I loved your Joe Millionaire recap. Can I get on your list?’... By the end, I had like a list of about 350 people that wanted to be on it from three.” – Steve, (04:01)
On the nature of spoilers:
“It’s not like I’m giving… the nuclear codes that I’m keeping. I’m spoiling a silly reality show, that’s the way I look at it.” – Steve, (11:28)
On Love Island contestants:
“It’s really, to boil it down to its simplest terms, it’s a bunch of young, hot, dumb 20-year-olds that make bad decisions like we all did at that age.” – Steve, (19:12)
On Taylor Frankie Paul’s legal troubles:
“She’s even basically, I don’t know, spitting in the face of the judge saying, ‘I know I’m not supposed to post about this but I’m so fed up, I’m going to.’ To me that’s just not smart. The juice isn’t worth the squeeze.” – Steve, (43:53)
On The Bachelor franchise pausing a season:
“This has never happened in the history of reality TV that I know of, where a network show films a season and just doesn’t air... For it to film a season and then just not air was mind-boggling.” – Steve, (37:30)
On reality TV motivations:
“I don’t think they can say what they want about wanting to find somebody on the show. I think that’s an added bonus. All these people are very well aware of what this show can do for their social media career.” – Steve, (21:06)
On Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce:
“I thought it was a weird pairing to begin with, so I was like, okay, this is probably for fun. But then the more I saw them together, I’m just like, okay, maybe it is something legit.” – Steve, (55:04)
| Timestamp | Segment / Topic | |-----------|---------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:03 | Steve’s background and shift from sports radio to reality TV | | 05:58 | Transition to “Reality Steve” blog | | 08:09 | First Bachelor spoiler and rise to authority | | 11:16 | Philosophy behind spoiling reality TV | | 12:51 | Monetization and the decline of blogging | | 15:35 | Other shows Steve covers (Love Island, Big Brother, etc.) | | 19:12 | What Love Island really is about | | 36:23 | Taylor Frankie Paul’s Bachelorette season controversy | | 43:53 | Dangers of violating court orders via social media | | 48:41 | Revealing Taylor Frankie Paul’s post-filming behavior | | 54:02 | Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce – wedding speculation | | 61:54 | Logistical details of the MSG wedding | | 71:43 | Noticing Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds’ absence |
Throughout the episode, Rachel and Steve dissect how reality TV is less about finding love or winners and more about generating social fame, weaving narratives for the editing room, and monetizing spoilers. In a world where contestants’ post-show followings matter more than any cash prize, the genre is exposed as a business of dreams, drama, and deception. The drama isn’t limited to on-screen antics — real-life legal issues and social media meltdowns can irrevocably change destinies, as Taylor Frankie Paul’s saga shows.
Steve’s revelations about Taylor Swift’s wedding point to the new era of privacy, control, and brand management even for the world’s biggest stars. His candid, unfiltered view strips away the illusion that reality shows are about anything but what happens after the credits roll — follower counts, brand deals, and headline relevance.
For more insider gossip, after-show content, and Rachel’s personal stories, check out the Misunderstood Patreon.