For a week, the celeb gossip universe has been obsessed with The Bachelor's "After The Final Rose" special, which some perceived as pure public humiliation.
While the show's season finale and the reunion special were shown back-to-back, six weeks of real time had elapsed between the finale, when Jason Mesnick chose Melissa Rycroft as his bride, and the special, during which he announced that he had changed his mind and professed feelings instead for runner-up Molly Malaney.
As Rycroft fought back tears, and as Mesnick turned to Malaney, many fans became enraged, decrying Mesnick as a "jackass," "playboy" and "bastard."
This particular chapter of reality TV struck some as a little too real.
Yet The Bachelor creator and executive producer Mike Fleiss says the March 2 spectacle reflected not the worst, but the very best of reality TV.
"I'm not really surprised by this, it's just a sign that the show is working," he told Time magazine. "That's really your job, to create television that the whole country will sit down at one time and watch together."
"Honestly, I really don't see the difference between [Jason Mesnick] dumping Molly in New Zealand and then dumping Melissa [weeks later] in Glendale."
Some say the difference is that Malaney knew there was a chance she could get kicked off the show during the competition, while Rycroft's departure occurred long after she had already been picked as the winner and gotten engaged.
But Fleiss insists Mesnick's actions came as no shock to Melissa.
In the weeks leading up to the special, Fleiss said he started to hear word from other producers on the show that Rycroft and Mesnick were not getting along.
Two weeks before the reunion, Fleiss heard Mesnick was still interested in Molly Malaney - whom Fleiss had approached about starring in The Bachelorette (third-place finisher Jillian Harris would eventually be tapped for that role).
All of of which set the stage for the most unpredictable "After the Final Rose" event in The Bachelor history - as host Chris Harrison accurately hyped it.
Opting to film the show without a live audience for secrecy reasons, and unsure of how Malaney would respond to Mesnick's affections, Fleiss said there was plenty of uncertainty when cameras rolled - just not when it came to Rycroft.
"She knew they were essentially finished before walking out on stage," Fleiss said of Rycroft, who debuted last night on Dancing with the Stars. "But doing it for real, making it official and handing back the ring caused real emotions."
In various interviews, as well as in e-mails between Jason and Melissa that were leaked to the press last week, The Bachelor star blamed the producers for some of the emotional fallout surrounding his choice of Molly Malaney.
Specifically, Mesnick claimed numerous times he was obligated to dump Rycroft in front of the cameras. But Fleiss says that's only half the story:
"We didn't want Jason to necessarily spill the beans prior to taping, to keep it as real as possible. But he's a good guy and didn't conceal anything - he let her know before that show that he didn't think this was going to work."
Fleiss seems to be basking in the buzz of the past week, but he also claims the emotional outcry that's accompanied this season's Bachelor denouement is a sign of the passion this new wave of reality TV contestants is bringing to the set.
Before, he says, it was nearly impossible to recruit plausible contestants, or even hosts, to reality TV projects. But the genre has grown increasingly mainstream, and producers have been able to find people who are not just exhibitionists.
And that, he says, is the true impact of Jason Mesnick.
"Believe me, I've seen Bachelor couples stay together who really didn't care about each other," he said. "Some of them feel an obligation to the show to try to be a couple, since we spent literally millions of dollars as their matchmakers."
But rather than playing to the expectations of producers, or viewers, says Fleiss, Mesnick dared to reveal his true emotions, and to acknowledge the uncomfortable truth that love is not always a programmable enterprise.
"More than any other Bachelor in history, he was committed to love and to truly following his heart even though he knew he was going to have to go through hell to do it," Fleiss said. "It's really a romantic notion, that he sacrificed chunks of his popularity to at least try to be with the woman he loved."
Will Jason and Molly get married?
Share
27 Comments
March 10th, 2009 12:12 PM
To me it sounds like the producer and staff are sweating all the negative remarks on how this was all handled. Admit it, you messed up big time and ruined future seasons. Jason, does not know what he wants,except for sex from the last three girls. That was very easy to figure out. So, if Jason, the producers would just shut up maybe some of this would just go away.
March 10th, 2009 12:24 PM
Mike Fleiss is ever bit the offender Jason is. To even compare the two situations is deplorable.
Jason seduced Melissa into thinking that she was prepared to make a commitment. Then he asked her for a commitment and she made one. At the same time, he seduced me and 15 million other viewers into thinking that he was genuine. He betrayed Melissa, not just by contacting Molly, but also by nurturing thoughts of Molly all the while he allowed Melissa’s commitment to grow. Then he got on national TV and fed his sic ego while the audience was subjected to watching the pain he inflicted on Melissa. By then, the viewers were starting to get it that his words and actions were not congruent; while his words sounded sweet, his actions reeked of deception. We watched his ego further bolstered by Molly's denial and fantasy that he was simply "following his heart". Now to witness the producers approval of this mockery of a so-called “search for love” is sickening!
For I and 15 million other views who wasted our time witnessing the lowest form of “reality” in action, watching Jason and this producer go from one talk show to another trying to convince us Jason found love while pawing all over Molly is disgusting!
As for Molly, how dare you get on talk shows and pretend you support Melissa. Are you so stupid to think that no one watched the clips of your sabotage of Melissa in the first place?
I agree with Jason. Molly is the right person for him. You are both phony. Now please go away so we do not have to turn the channel every hour to avoid posttraumatic stress from witnessing more of your VERY offensive behavior.
As for the producer, I feel sorry for the women who have had to put up with you. Your word isn't any more genuine than your hero, Jason (aka the Bastard)
I am so proud of Melissa for choosing not to go on the Bachelorette. Good for her. She didn't fall of the producers seduction!! Melissa is my hero!
March 10th, 2009 12:41 PM
Thank you, Madeline, that was very well stated. It is true, I think, Jason told so many different stories or lies at first about his feelings and Melissa the producers had no other choice but to go on TV and different websites trying to smooth things over for future shows.
March 10th, 2009 2:22 PM
NO one mentions the coversation that must have taken place when Jason claimed he "called to check in on her" guarantee Molly did all she could to bad mouth Melissa.. doesnt say much for her character or his...JASON USED the wrong head to decide future..it was obvious Mollys last date was to use Sex to WIN...BOTTOM LINE BOTH CLUELESS TO WHAT LOVE IS ALL ABOUT NEVERRMIND FAMILY ,POOR TY....THE WORLD DOES NOT NEED SCREWED UP PEOPLE GIVING ADVICE ON AIR...
March 10th, 2009 3:35 PM
This is not real life; it is actors being paid to perform improvisation.
March 10th, 2009 4:06 PM
jason and molly's love is obviously real. she would never have taken him back if not. all u haters can suck it.
March 10th, 2009 5:29 PM
Jason's still a jerk, no class. Neither one can be trusted, I give it 6 months.
March 11th, 2009 6:38 AM
i dont think what jason mesnick was really wrong at least he told ppl the truth ...feelings changei have been hurt like this once but i never held the a grudge against that person . i thought atleast he did not lie to mee. im not sure y ppl r makin such a big fuss of it .its life..juss coz he was a star in some reality show doesnt mean he is not a real person witb real feelings... he loves molly i knw melissa was hurt during the process but seriously its their life .
get over it..
March 11th, 2009 6:39 AM
i dont think what jason mesnick was really wrong at least he told ppl the truth ...feelings changei have been hurt like this once but i never held the a grudge against that person . i thought atleast he did not lie to mee. im not sure y ppl r makin such a big fuss of it .its life..juss coz he was a star in some reality show doesnt mean he is not a real person witb real feelings... he loves molly i knw melissa was hurt during the process but seriously its their life .
get over it..
March 11th, 2009 9:12 AM
Still back peddling??? Your a Jerk too! These are people with real feelings. I don't care how much you step on your Dick, this was the WRONG thing to do. You are an asshole and so is Jason. And Molly is the total dumb-blonde!