Tuesday, October 13, 2009

And there you have it....

....worst kept secret in TV history. Jake will be the next Bachelor. I still held out hope that it would be anyone else until I just saw him in the audience with CH at DWTS tonight. How unpleasant :(
Posted by at

10 comments:

  1. HCMOctober 13, 2009 at 7:01 PM

    I guess I am the only one who liked Jake. I thought he was sweet. He also has hot abs! I think he will go out of his way to show he is not "boring". I will watch if only to see if I get THIS one right! Plus I have to keep up my sarcastic updates. I hope Marianna will be there too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. MariannaOctober 13, 2009 at 7:24 PM

    Hi HCM!

    You are not the only one; I think Nadya also likes Jake.

    Anyway, once the season starts, I will definitely be there, musing away!

    Jake was not my favourite but I do not absolutely hate him. I found him to be too intense too early with Jillian; I questioned his sincerity.

    I did appreciate his coming to Jillian to warn her of men with girlfriends, only I think he may have ended up being a victim of Fleiss' editing. Fleiss wanted us all to believe that Wes was the only one there with a girlfriend. Since much of the editing is done after the final outcome, I'm sure they tried to make Ed look good (up to a certain point -- I'll never quite understand all the emphasis on his supposed impotence).

    Anyway, if Jake is himself and does not go into his 'actor' mode of how he thinks the public wants the bachelor to be, he should be palatable.

    M.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousOctober 14, 2009 at 7:10 AM

    I agree, Rems. What an anti-climactic announcement! I feel kinda bad for Jake. And, for all his sappiness, I didn't mind Jake. His character--not him--was a little too emotional, "too perfectly scripted" for me. I want to see him as a human being. Maybe this is our chance.

    Rumor has it that Jake was recruited to The Bach'ette as a screen-test for The Bachelor. The producers had been considering a pilot, and Jake came flying their way. It seems highly probably that Jill's Jake was highly manipulated/scripted in exchange for the booty prize of leading man.

    Jake is an actor. Through and through. Maybe when he's not in competition with 29 other guys, when he's in charge, maybe he'll relax. Maybe we'll see a very different side of him. And possibly, Fleiss is taking a page out of More To Love's book by choosing a guy who does seem to live by his values, who is really ready to get married and start a family. Maybe he'll surprise us and be one of the true love stories.

    I don't know. Something about the clip I watched today of the announcement just made me actually consider watching it. He didn't seem like a camera hog or pretentious about it. He just smiled as they announced him. As much as I love Reid and Kip, I think their season would play out very much like Jill's with no real love connection. Whereas those guys aren't ready to commit, I do think that Jake is.

    Who knows what January will bring in life, but the puzzle-the outstanding opportunity to sleuth again--might once more resurrect Sherleenia Holmes :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. RemmiOctober 14, 2009 at 1:38 PM

    My problem with Jake is that I suspect he was an ABC employee on the Bachelorette. A paid actor without much acting talent. This is just my opinion and based on a hunch. I will reserve further judgement on his potential as the next Bachelor until January.

    Now, if we could only find out what Reid will be up to in the future :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. april in parisOctober 15, 2009 at 11:32 AM

    I've been reading these comments and trying to resist commenting because I have so much work to do.

    But I just can't help myself any more. (Aarrgh! What an addiction this is!) :-)

    Yes, Jake did acting jobs in the past, but so have many, many of the contestants in these shows. Are we trying to say that because someone is a sometimes actor, or even full fledged star, that they have no heart, they have no right to find love? Are they immediately just acting a role? Does it mean that because you are an actor, you have no right to look for love in all the same places a "normal" person has the right to look? Why, if it's ok for "normal" people to go on these ridiculous shows, and see what happens, is it taboo for an "actor" to do so?

    I just can't buy that line of reasoning. It sounds prejudicial to me...and I am always an advocate for fairness to all people even if for some personal reason we don't like them.

    I guess that's the teacher in me. I have many, many children in my classrooms every year that I don't like. But i am required by law to treat them equitably and fairly in all respects. What's more , a higher law is even more important to me: do onto others.....

    I can understand that some people don't like Jake. Everyone has the right of course to their opinion. If everyone in the world liked everyone equally we'd have two results:
    1) the world would be a peaceful place and
    2) all people would be interchangeable; anyone could hook up with anyone else and it wouldn't matter.

    I like result #1, but hate result #2.

    So, yes, everyone has different tastes. But without genuine proof, I don't think I would jump to conclusions about Jake. Even when the writing seemed totally on the wall about Ed, I reserved judgement...until the proof became overwhelming.

    I like Jake...always did. Just because he used to be an actor, doesn't make him a bad person, a slimy operator, a paid stooge or any of those things.

    I used to be a professional model in New York. I hung out with tons of actors; they were my friends. They bleed just the same as we do. They have hearts and feel pain and joy and love just as we do.

    But boy is there prejudice against them. So many assumptions are made. Just like with models. Because I was a model, my life was a terrifying succession of near rapes, accosting, violent behavior from any man who came across me. Because I was a model, the reasoning went, it meant I was a whore. And I should be ready to dole it out to any joe schmoe that demanded it. I quit the profession because I couldn't stand it any more. It was terrifying.

    I wasn't a whore because of my profession. I was a living, breathing woman just looking for genuine love. I couldn't find it. My looks got in my way. I couldn't find true love until I gained weight, went grey, and became just an ordinary person. Is that fair? Is it fair to do that to an "actor"?

    Sorry for the rant, but this cuts close to home...and I think we need to step back and realize these are real people, even though they're on our small screen at home.

    ReplyDelete
  6. RemmiOctober 15, 2009 at 1:42 PM

    The point that I was trying to make was that I suspect that Jake may have been hired by ABC to play a particular part on the last Bachelorette. Just as I have maintained all along that Ed may have been hired by ABC to play his role as well.

    I'm sorry that you took offense Nadya but just because I am not thrilled that Jake is the next Bachelor, doesn't make me prejudice against him or anyone else for that matter.

    ReplyDelete
  7. april in parisOctober 15, 2009 at 3:06 PM

    Remmi,
    I was not singling you out. Many, many people on the boards and elsewhere, as well as many more than just you on this blog have expressed negative opinions about Jake.

    My point is that if it hadn't come out that he was a onetime actor, people wouldn't be expressing their objections to him in THIS way.

    They would be saying, "I don't like him... because he's too intense, or too creepy, or too good to be true, or seems fake, or like he's trying too hard."

    They wouldn't keep on saying that he is very possibly just hired help. That is the sticking point for me. If and when there is absolute proof of that; I will be the first to say, "You guys were right". I just find it kind of hurtful that he is being accused of something we have no way of knowing is true or not.

    Please don't be upset with me for expressing my opinion. I agree that you have the right to yours (which many people agree with, I know)...I just felt like someone needed to step up to argue the other side.

    By the way...one of people's most potent objections to Jake is that he couldn't possibly be for real; no one is that good and that sweet, and that intensely caring so quickly; no one is REALLY an Eagle Scout in real life...ergo, he must be acting.

    And since he is awkward and stumbling and tongue-tied at times he must be doing a BAD job at acting.

    I on the other hand count myself among the obviously very, very few people in this world to know that summation of Jake is invalid. It might be true in his case, but is not necessarily so. How do I know?

    Because 3 years ago I married a man who is the very embodiment of ALL of those same characteristics in Jake that everybody says couldn't possibly be real. He and Jim could have been raised by the same parents; Jim is every bit as "unreal" as Jake in all regards that people criticize. He is fair, and just, warm, and intensely caring. He always does what's right, even if it leads to pain and embarrassment...and I mean ALWAYS.

    He sticks to the letter of the law, and the human code, not the man code. He is a knight in shining armor who will bend over backwards for absolutely no earthly reason to save some very tarnished damsels in distress. He will do everything and anything for anyone that asks for help even at the cost of his own health and sanity.

    And yes, I am still saying at times that he's just too good to be true. But he's real. He also stumbles and hesitates in expressing himself at times. He feels so much and thinks so much that the words don't always come out how he wants them to.

    So, I guess my point is that from my perspective, having met and married a true knight in shining armour myself, I have been willing to believe Jake was real. That he was who he said he was. I found nothing in anything he did to not fit the exact same patterns of behavior I would have seen from Jim in the same situation.

    I know that there was a strong scripted overlay on his actions; that was clear to anybody. But I believe the root of his thoughts and actions to be coming from a sincere, real place.

    Does that mean that I think he isn't planning to profit from this situation? Of course not; everybody on these shows plans to profit from the situation; if not with true love, then with great media exposure that can enhance all kinds of future career paths. Preferably both.

    I for one really look forward to the next season...Marianna's Musings are going to be a hoot with this one...and we can all argue and complain, and laugh ourselves silly...

    And, please remember, if I came across too strongly, I meant no personal disrespect...I love you and everybody on here...

    ReplyDelete
  8. MariannaOctober 15, 2009 at 6:04 PM

    Hello all my lovely darlings,

    I'm going to inject myself into the Jake debate.

    I agree with you, Nadya, on every one of your points (thank you for that little glimpse into your endlessly fascinating background). I also agree with you about Jim (thank you for sharing your 'knight in shining armour' with us).

    However, I must reiterate that what put me off Jake fairly early in the game was that after only one date with Jillian (and, presumably, very little time off-camera with her), he was uttering phrases such as, "I would die to make her dreams come true," and "she's absolutely the woman I want to marry."

    It came off as a little over the top. Even if he truly felt that way about her after so little time, declaring it on national tv made him seem a little creepy.

    I'm not sure, however, that when Jillian called him a perfect "Ken doll" of a boyfriend, that was very kind of her. I felt a bit sorry for him.

    I think people wondered how much direction Jake took from Fleiss and the other producers. For example, when he was filmed coming back to warn her, was that his idea or was that Fleiss' doing?

    His being an actor worked against him, perhaps unfairly. It made people wonder if he was putting on a pretense of loving Jillian so intensely.

    Of course, it's entirely plausible that his feelings were real and that he is just that sort of guy.

    We'll never really know, as we only get to see a tiny bit of everything that transpires during the filming of these shows. We see what Fleiss wants us to see.

    So, as long as we can believe that Jake is motivated by his own actions and not following some kind of Fleissian script, he will be a well-liked bachelor by the majority of women who watch this show.

    Which is not to say that we won't be watching and commenting on his every move!

    Keep the discussions going. It's what we're here for.

    Love you all.

    M.

    ReplyDelete
  9. tall oakOctober 15, 2009 at 11:39 PM

    Nadya told me that she commented on this post. I told her that I was trying to decide whether to confess to everyone that I was a whole lot like Jake. Somehow that didn't seem like a good idea. She laughed and told me to read her comments immediately. When she said that I guessed what she had written.

    It's wonderful to be loved so much.

    Let me speak to some of the suspicions raised so far. First, there has been much talk that Jake was hired to play a part. I don't follow why anyone actually believes that beyond the notion that anyone connected to Fleiss is automatically suspect, including Reid. If it was a part, who wrote it? Fleiss couldn't write that part; he can't possibly grasp such a character. While Jake may have seemed cartoonish to many, I understood him completely, although it troubles me that he agreed to come back, regardless of how much they offered him. If Jake was a fictitious role, he completely fooled Michael, which I imagine is not easy to do, and Jillian, which clearly is easy to do.

    Another suggestion is that he played a role of his own devising, pretending to be something he's not to impress others. If that's the case, he failed miserably. He managed to alienate Jillian rather thoroughly, along with almost all the men. The men that seemed to like him were the same men that I admired the most. If he wanted to impress, he would have done as Wes did and been one way with the men and another way with Jillian. Jake seemed to be the same way with everyone. He knew he was ticking off the man-code men, yet did not waver. This suggests to me that he was being himself without regard for the cost, or that he didn't care what others thought of him.

    There's no question that Jake is an intense guy. I'm pretty intense too, and it does bother many people to varying degrees. That quality tends to preclude casual relationships. If you're out with the guys, they won't feel especially comfortable bragging about their latest sexual conquests knowing how you feel about such things. I'm not particularly surprised that Jillian didn't like his intensity. I couldn't see the two of them together even before my opinion of her plunged.

    Marianna, you make an excellent point. I would like to think I wouldn't fall for anyone so quickly (it took me many weeks to be certain about Nadya!). While it seemed quick to us, I think there was a lot more going on that we didn't see. As I recall, about a third of the guys fell in love with Jillian after one date with her. Apparently, she is very easy to fall in love with. She managed to convince each of them that their feelings were reciprocated. I doubt they suspected that she showed most of them the same level of deference they felt from her. Even the ultra-cautious Reid fell for her after a handful of dates. None of these men really knew her as a person. Need I remind people that quite a few of you fell very hard for Reid on the basis of a lot less exposure or encouragement than Jake got from Jillian?

    There will probably always be a lot of controversy about Jake's return to warn Jillian about Wes. I wasn't surprised by this act. I wondered why he hadn't said anything to her earlier as Tanner had. Being in that position, I would have hesitated too. To tell her beforehand might suggest that he was motivated to get rid of competition. Once he was dismissed, he had nothing left to lose by going to her. He almost certainly felt guilty and cowardly for holding back at all. He could have used that opportunity to try to get back into the game as Ed did. As I recall, she actively encouraged that. But he didn't. Once he told her, he must have known that she wouldn't speak to him again. She was much harder on Jake than she was on Wes in Spain.
    (cont.)

    ReplyDelete
  10. tall oakOctober 15, 2009 at 11:40 PM

    (part 2)
    If even one of these accusations about Jake was true, dozens of friends and acquaintances would come out of the woodwork to sell their inside information. Have there been lots of revelations I haven't heard about yet?
    I have been accused of being too perfect many times. Each time it was leveled as an insult. Like Jake, I protested that it was untrue without success. I can recall only two occasions where people assumed I was only pretending. Before I met Nadya, standing up for what I believe has always been a romantic liability. It seems that has been the case for Jake. I wonder what chance of success he can hope to have with a random group of women. Knights on shining armor look much better from a distance.

    I look forward to further discussions about all this.
    Jim

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)