Spoiler Alert! The Bachelor has begun filming.

According to what I know, and what I can say, The Bachelor began filming in California this week and Ben has chosen his first group of ladies.
The girls were housed at the Agoura Hills Sheraton for four days and spent Thursday with hair and makeup people getting ready to begin the first rose ceremony that night. Filming begins at 9:30 ish, after they hose down the driveway, plant all the flowers in the garden and get the press there to watch on closed circuit TV's behind the scenes.
You may think that it's just a crew and the people we see on camera that first night but I believe they have a big press gathering behind the scenes to get the media in their inner circle of love and secrecy. Ben comes back to the production area and meets these people, eats from craft services and schmoozes.
His presence at the 7 hour cocktail party is sketchy. The girls don't have free access to him, apparently. You almost have to take a number. He's carefully managed by producers.
If you enjoy finding out tidbits of info, go to RealitySteve.com. He seems to get all kinds of tips on what's going on. Like today they are filming at a high school in the Los Angeles area. And the producers and production assistants control the girls and the happenings to the nth degree. Very little is spontaneous.
I understand it's a TV show but I was hoping it was a bit more like what you see on TV. The Bachelor and the girls all sit around and talk for hours and no one influences the man's choice on who to pick at the rose ceremonies. Now I doubt that. I have a theory that the producers tell him to choose about 7 girls he really likes and then fill up the roster with girls who'd be good on TV. It could happen.
What do you think?

The Bachelor Begins Filming This Week!

Twenty-five young ladies are packing their two (only!) suitcases this weekend with enough dresses to last them through a bunch of rose ceremonies, beachwear, snow wear, boots, skinny jeans, cute tops, bikinis and enough hair products and makeup to potentially sink Malibu into the ocean.
Filming begins later this week for The Bachelor! But don't get too excited because we won't actually see the episodes until January 4th and until then we need to try to get to like Dancing With the Stars.

The new Bachelor, Ben Higgins, must be in the midst of his own prep to meet all these women-- like obsessively exercising for those shower scenes, having his back waxed (work with me here) and pressing his tuxedos. I'd like to think that Ben won't fall into those traps that make us think we're too old to watch this stupid behavior on the show. You know, those scenes they shoot like two men scrubbing each other's backs in the shower to promote a Brokeback Bachelor publicity stunt, or a woman obsessively kissing a parrot. You have to know some young, hungry producer who just got hired is behind those ridiculous moments. And if you're like me, it's those moments that make me think I might not watch The Bachelor. Boxing dates where someone goes to the ER, Roller Skating when you only have one arm. Those unfunny, humiliating things the producers make the contestants do in reality TV.
WE DON'T LIKE THEM!!! If you follow twitter, not only do people think these scenes are stupid, they lose interest. Men are not your audience and women don't like to see other women humiliated.

Note to Bachelor producers: You are losing the middle age woman as an audience. Just take a look at who sits out there behind Chris Harrison on After the Final Rose. Is it the fans of PUNK'D? Nope. It's middle-aged women. If you're going after the MTV crowd, keep staging stupid schticks like walking topless through L.A. and professing to be a Disney princess but if you want to keep us watching, cut out the stupid shctick.

That said, I'm excited for Ben and all the lovely ladies who will first stay in separate hotel rooms to attend the first rose ceremony then will get to move to the mansion if they make the cut the first night. Out of 25, it's usually about 15 who stay, right?
You have to know that producers are brainstorming right now about how to make girls show up with a heart in a cooler, drive a giant cupcake car, and come in on a horse to make what they believe is better TV. I, for one, think it ruins the show.
What do you think?

The Bachelorette Kicks One Out and Lets One In!

This evening's installment of The Bachelorette opened with Clint's vocal and menacing departure from the show. He plays the villain almost too well, almost like he is Heath Ledger playing a bad guy!

In the first scene Kaitlyn listened to him try to dig himself out of the hole he was standing in but she was too smart to fall for his mind-wrangling. She did, however, let him walk through the group of gathered bachelors (mistake!) and when he stopped to give them the evil eye and choice words, JJ threw him under the bus by telling him to apologize for taking valuable time from them. Not sure what the strategy was there from Clint's BFF. My hubster was convinced this was part of the diabolical plan to take over the world but to what end, I asked?
There was a lot of bleeping and posturing and snake eyes from Clint as he said his final words to JJ. I think he might have even threatened him. JJ had some tears, regrets, face slaps (by himself!) and Tanner said it was like Brokeback Volcano erupting.

Kaitlyn decided against having a rose ceremony and they all took off to New York City! (Imagine that cowboy from the salsa commercial saying that last part!) JJ vowed to turn over a new leaf, one that includes romancing women.
Holed up at the Knickerbocker Hotel, the men received a date card that mentioned the word 'fresh' and Shawn, JJ, Ryan B, Jonathan, Corey and Ben Z went on the first New York date.

Rapping Wars: Apparently Kaitlyn loves to rap (but can't really do it?) and with the help of Doug E. Fresh, the men wrote and performed raps insulting each other all in the name of good fun. Another stupid date.
Why fight, insult, pit these men against each other in this season? Tony the plant talker is looking better every date. And to make this show even worse, Nick Viall was in the audience waiting to ask Kaitlyn if he could join the show. If you remember Nick from Andy's season, he behaved like a teenager and was secretly filmed on his exit flight insulting Josh, the winner. Andi ended up saying he was bad news. He looks like a young, handsome John Lithgow.
Apparently Nick's been very vocal on social media and Tanner told the men all about this Bach alumni's history. Tanner's vast inside knowledge made me wonder if he is actually Reality Steven secretly infiltrating the show.
When Kaitlyn got all flustered that Nick showed up, she mentioned to the men he may join the ranks. They were overjoyed to have another competitor. NOT! The Bachelorette said she'd decide Nick's fate in the morning.
Note: If Kaitlyn likes this Nick guy, I officially am done rooting for her. Not only does she have much better prospects in her group of existing men, but it is downright disrespectful and immature to consider Nick's inclusion all because of some flirtatious messages on twitter, for crying out loud. Kaitlyn talks about husband material but is this player husband material? I don't believe so.
I was upset in my comfortable chair at home and had to go get another glass of wine!
Ending up in the "hairdresser" chair at Ashley S.'s beauty salon, Kaitlyn asked for advice and actually got a good tip. She's just in lust.
Two things about Ashley S. the onion peeling wacko contestant from Chris Soules' season. She is not a hairdresser, she's a business woman, and I believe she's going to be on Bachelor in Paradise. That'll be great!
Kaitlyn ignored the good advice and told Nick to move in.

The evening's date was a black tie affair at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the after hours. Must've been midnightish because the street was deserted as Jared, the hawk-eyed man from Maine entered the Met to see Kaitlyn descending a grand staircase. This was the type of Bachelor date we actually enjoy, but her thoughts were with Nick. Uggh! Oh, then they kissed a bit, talked, and she was back on track. You know when the romantic Bachelor guitar music comes on, this is a special moment to get us thinking that Jared might be the ONE. Little did Jared know until watching last night's show that Kaitlyn's mind was somewhere else. Wonder how he feels this morning. They left the Met and had a romantic helicopter tour of the night lights of NYC. So why Nick?



The next date had the limo taking Joe, Ian, Chris, Joshua, and Ben H to Broadway to rehearse a dance number in Aladdin, the Disney musical.
The man who passed the dancing and singing audition got a tiny walk on part in the show's performance that night with Kaitlyn. Most of the guys couldn't sing except Ian the runner, who is way too accomplished and mature for Kaitlyn. The dentist got the job due to his broad gesturing and theater-like posturing. Apparently he sings the song "A Whole New World" in the car. Red Flag!!! First he arrives in a cupcake, then knows Disney songs. We must watch this man.
Kaitlyn and the dentist dressed in elaborate Aladdin costumes walked on for twenty seconds and off again. Once out of makeup and costumes for their big Broadway debut, they walked around the theater district and visited the New Year's Eve ball that drops in Time Square, stored in a building. Cupcake looked a lot more manly in his jeans than the harem pants, bolero, rope hat and makeup so they kissed.
Back at the hotel room where the budget apparently didn't allow for a couch big enough to fit ten men, they awaited Nick's arrival like a pack of jackals ready to pounce on an unsuspecting gazelle. And this is where we left it.
To be continued. The previews show that Nick sees conflict from the men, Ian finds his dignity and the mood is tense. I'll probably watch next week even though this season is kind of stupid, but I know people who've dropped off this season due to the immature tone of the show this time around. Just sayin'.

Oh, and former Bachelor Bob Guiney has moved into my neighborhood and I'm wondering why this Playboy channel DJ/ Country singing celeb is living in suburban Seattle amongst Microsoft executives. Life is strange sometimes. I'll try to get an exclusive interview if I see him walking his dog!





Kim Hornsby is the author of The Husband Hunt, a series of short books based on The Bachelor.

The Bachelor is Filming Hometowns

There will be no spoiler alert here, today, this month, because The Bachelor hasn't started yet. Well, not for us to watch on TV. It's almost over as far as filming goes.
Can you believe that??? While we've been satisfying our Monday night Bachelor addiction with Dancing with the Stars, filming for The Bachelor has been forging ahead with the Farmer from Iowa, a fan favorite from Andi Dorfman's season.

Chris Soules is narrowing down the playing field as I write this, to four lucky farmerettes, I mean women. I HAVE jumped ahead to peek at what's going on, where they are, and what they're wearing on dates, but I won't give anything away to those of you who want to watch the whole thing unfold like a game of 52 pickup in January.
Let me just say this much. Chris has been around Des Moines Iowa this last week having final dates before Hometowns, and considering that everyone but me has a smartphone with an awesome camera and a twitter, tumblr and tinder accounts, the social media sites are buzzing with photos and sightings.

I've seen pics from cars, from football games, in the windows of restaurants, all over Des Moines as fans realize that Farmer Chris is dating in their own backyard.
Strange thing is that there is one girl who is unknown at this point. Reality Steve has no idea who she is until someone sends him some more information. Chop Chop Everyone!
Reality Steve puts together the information like he's running campaign headquarters for a presidential candidate. He filters information, then sends it out on twitter and his blog site to inform the public to their God-given right to know what is going on with The Bachelor. Steve even knows that when the Bachelor productions crew blows in to town, Tinder lights up for that particular town with hookups for the single crew members. If you're unfamiliar with Tinder, I believe it is a social media site for booty calls. Oh to be young in this day and age. One word: Condoms.


Anyways, Chris is looking good this week and didn't we just know that the down home farmer look was a thing of the past once he went through the PR machine that is The Bachelor. He'll never be the same again, probably will never be satisfied with the small town life, and his new wife, assuming he finds one in this group of highly made up super-modeled looking singles, will never know what it's like to bring in the hay in late August because winter's a comin.







Kim Hornsby writes award-winning novels that are cheaply priced considering how good they are. The Dream Jumper's Promise was Chanticleer's Top Pick for Mystery/Thriller Paranormal this year as well as being nominated for Best Indie First Book by Indie Rom/Con.

The Bachelor - Hometowns,Fantasy Suites and Cross Examinations

Two nights of The Bachelor this week had us chomping at the bit to see what's going to happen in Juan Pablo Ville. Now J.P. himself has leaked The Bachelor winner to the press and has completely spoiled the ending for us. Chocking it up to a language problem is no longer acceptable. Oh how can I defend you after this Juanny? I'm not sure I can.

I won't tell you how this ends, just in case you want to follow this through until the end but let me just say that The Bachelor staff must be supremely disappointed with Juan Pablo Galavis' big mouth this season. It hasn't even made for great T.V.

Let's recap what we've seen on T.V. this week:

Hometowns had J.P. visiting Clare, Andi, Renee and Nikki. No one's family was completely enamored with the Bachelor. Nikki's parents were fair and accepting, saying that they trust their daughter's judgment. Andi's dad was openly unaccepting, Clare's family visit was downright strange and full of drama (did you expect less?), and Renee's family visit was full of a loving mother seeing her son again after weeks away.
Clare did a lot of posturing, pouting, dirty looks, Andi did a lot of smiling into his face, Nikki did a lot of wondering whether to tell him she loved him and Renee was just so happy to see Ben that it overshadowed everything. Unfortunately, the most down to earth woman on the show was sent packing, probably because J.P. saw that he shouldn't continue to date her when she has a son waiting for her at home and he has no intention of choosing her at the end. Consider yourself lucky Renee. She was allowed to cut the ties to the Latin charmer and get back to her child and the real world. I saw on twitter that Renee and a business partner are looking at bringing that big rolly ball fun in New Zealand to the L.A. area.
The more we see of J.P. the more we realize that he might not want to settle down at all.

Next, St. Lucia:

Tuesday's show was all about the three "overnight dates" Juan Pablo kept calling them. Excuse me, but that's supposed to be a secret in the form of a card opened at the end of the dinner and it's not a given that the girls will choose to stay with you all night in a bedroom. In his defense, the Bachelor did say repeatedly that it would be a chance to be with his date without cameras, alone, talk all night, wake up together.

First was Clare's date on a gorgeous yacht, motoring around St. Lucia, swimming, more hair flipping, pouting, sister bashing, and kissing.
Remembering how J.P. willingly "swam" with her in Vietnam, then threw her to the lions afterwards, Clare was coy about accepting the date card's offer to spend the night with the man she now loves. But in the end, and after determining that he just wanted to talk all night, she accepted the offer and off they went to be alone with the cameras and crew. The T.V. audience was treated to more pouting, kissing, hair flipping, kissing, hot tubbing, kissing, then thankfully, we were sent to commercial. The more I see of these two, the more I think they might be well suited.
Next was Andi's date and they seemed to have a fabulous time. Lots of laughing, kissing, fun.
She willingly headed off to the fantasy suite before dinner was even consumed it seemed, where she woke up the next morning hating on Juan Pablo. If all he did was talk about himself all night and name drop and not ask her what makes Andi tick, why the vicious attack on his personality on national T.V.? Andi was too angry for someone who simply saw a selfish side to the man she was falling in love with. As her rant went on and on, I liked Andi less and less.
First, Nikki's date.
Nurse Nikki showed up in a barely-there bikini top and long skirt, making J.P.'s jaw drop and his choice of bouncing around on horses the perfect date for him and Nikki.
Why the saddle cam, people? Just sayin'. It added nothing. A picnic on the beach had Nikki tell Juan Pablo that she loved him and the kissing began. Later at dinner, J.P. couldn't wait to get to the overnight part of the date and pulled out the date card as soon as Nikki sat down. Off they went.
Next we were treated to watching Andi walk up a St. Lucian hill several times on her way to break up with Juan Pablo. Let me just sum up this painfully long argument by saying that J.P. handled himself well during the cross examination of the lawyer who badgered him, hated on him, and exhaustingly tried to get J.P. to admit he's selfish. My hubby and I were practically screaming at the T.V. "Shut up Andi and just go already!" Then she went on and on in the van after she left. If this is Andi when she discovers that the man she almost fell in love with is not truly in love with her as a person, then I pity all her past boyfriends as well as J.P. Oh. My. Goodness. SHE WOULD NOT STOP.
Note to Andi: Please don't speak for all women when it is entirely your personal inability to judge a character well enough to see if a man is right for you or not. To wake up angrier than a badger on a rampage is your problem, not Juan Pablo's.
We may find out that Juan Pablo is a jerk in the weeks to come, (sure looks like it on the Women Tell All) but he handled himself well when being raked over the coals with Andi. It was a relief to move on from her rant.
Back at Juan Pablo's ego, he took the rejection gracefully and composed himself well enough to tell Clare and Nikki that they both had roses if they wanted them. Which they did.
The previews show both ladies crying on their beds, Juan Pablo walking off into the jungle and loads of tears at Women Tell All. I'm not waiting with baited breath for the next two weeks but-
We'll watch, we'll commiserate, we'll say "I told you so".

Juan Pablo is Sucked Into the Vortex!

Spoiler Alert!

Juan Pablo cannot be that stupid. He just can't. Everything we've seen so far tells us he puts Camila's interests first, before his own, going so far as to fix her wedgie on national TV. (I won't tell you what my GF said to me about J.P. fixing her wedgie anytime).
Last night on The Bachelor, the Pabs fell for womanly tricks, twice! And we saw him sinking deep into that hole of "I'm thinking with my libido, not my head".

At the beginning of last night's episode, everyone flew to South Korea but of course, the Bachelor does not get to do this 14 hour flight with the women. He flies separately and although you may think this is because it takes the group of women a full day to pack up their seventeen suitcases each  and he can't be bothered waiting,I believe it's because he goes early to scout out date locations. Ever wonder how he knows where to go and what to do in foreign countries?
There were two group dates this week so if I jumble the dates, it's because it was confusing.

With Gangum Style being so incredibly popular in the U.S. (even pistachio commercials?), Juan Pablo had the first group date head on over to a TV station to learn a dance with K-Pop's biggest Korean stars -2NE1. This is actually pronounced 21. Apparently these four ladies who sing and dance are huge stars in Korea, enough to fill an enormous mall to about 47 people. What? The girls danced in K-Pop outfits, arrived in a limo and got their K-Pop Star on. Personalities were revealed as Nurse Nikky became the most whiney contestant in the history of The Bachelor and Kat became the most dancey person in the history of The Bachelor.
Yes, Kat can dance but then so can Cassandra (she was a cheerleader!).
 And Nikky, just shut up. It was too much, hearing how traumatic it would be to go on the stage to dance.
At the end of the party, though, Nikky got the rose probably for pretending to be shy, and in need of floral approval. After listening to her whine all day about not wanting to dance in front of a crowd and how she doesn't fit in with the group of girls because she doesn't have sisters, this made us mad. And made Kat fake a happy smile.

The one on one date saw Pabby with Sharleen, who pretending to not want to sing for him because-- WHY? She doesn't usually sing for her men this early in the relationship. WHAT? Maybe she was afraid that if he heard her amazing voice he'd fall in love with that, not her wonderful personality? News alert: Her personality is a bit lacking. And I'm being polite here because she's Canadian. And so am I.
My hubby pointed out it isn't like she's a rock star or stripper, men don't usually go for opera singers. And then she says she doesn't like kids! Or something like that. She doesn't want kids. What we know for sure (by her strangeness) is that Sharleen is terrified of looking like the other girls. She went on to tell the Latin Daddy that she dated a man with a four year old daughter and couldn't get past the fact he'd already had his first child with someone else. Excuse me J.P.! YOU HAVE A FIVE YEAR OLD DAUGHTER! Hello? Does this sound familiar?
Pabby gave her a rose for being so honest, which is the same as saying "I'm like a moth to your raging bonfire."

In order to justify this rose, I had to tell myself that she must've said something off camera like "I am ready for motherhood now, even though I wasn't back then," or "You make me want to have those three kids you are planning on." Otherwise how didn't J.P. see that she is all wrong for him? Maybe men do like Opera Singers. AND, Sharleen is the most awkward flirter I've ever seen. She just plain can't flirt properly. (Watch Andi for some great flirting!) Juan Pablo, listen to me. She is not on THE BACHELOR because she feels she's ready for a commitment and kids. She's promoting her business, http://sharleenjoynt.com/
The next group date involved Renee, Andi, Clare, and others who faded into the background. Oh, and Lauren the pianist. They sang karaoke, drove Swan boats, and had fish eat their dead-skinned feet. Finally Renee got some airtime!
 Clare has now claimed the Pabs for herself and looked silly with all her hanging off him and squeezing herself into other girls' spaces to guard her man. When they got all dressed up for a fun evening, Juan gave the rose to Andi, who is a front runner in my opinion. As a lawyer, she knows enough to not talk stink in front of the camera. Unlike Nikki, Clare and Elyse. Oh and Lauren drank too much, went in for the kiss and he refused her. Apparently now Juan is only going to kiss girls he's absolutely unable to avoid kissing (because of his terrible willpower), like Clare.
And what's up with Kelly, the dog lover? We never get to see if she has any sort of relationship with Juany. I have a theory that she's his friend in the real world, planted to help him see what's going on backstage. Why else would they allow a girl to bring her dog on The Bachelor? Ever seen them hug? Like siblings. And he gave her the rose when they dressed like dogs, that day. Hmmmm? Best line of the night was a diss on Clare who squabbled about the tiny piece of octopus she put in her mouth. Kelly said to the camera: "I know you've swallowed bigger things than that."
The cocktail party and rose ceremony was strange and not just because it was outside where the temps made everyone shiver but because even though the girls with roses made a pact to not hog J.P. so others could get time with him, Nicky still took him from Clare and the fight began. Meow! Nikki might be able to diaper a baby like a champ but she's not able to look Juan in the eyes.

Lauren went home for various reasons, one being the crying at the group date, begging to be kissed and not having a good enough rapport with JP, Elise also was sent packing and I'm sure if she's watching the show, she knows enough now to never trash talk the baby (Chelsea) again.

What did we learn from tonight's episode? Men are easily led down that slippery slope to lust by the girls who best know how to work it.
Next week looks good with J.P. and Clare taking something too far and regretting it. Muuuhaaaaa.

Kim Hornsby is an Amazon Bestselling Author. THE HUSBAND HUNT series on Amazon books, is modeled after THE BACHELOR.

Juan Pablo has chosen his Queen

Filming of The Bachelor 2014 has finished, if you can believe that.
The first night at the Bachelor Mansion in Los Angeles was September 17th in Agoura Hills (near Britney Spears house) in California. The scoop is that they stayed briefly in the L.A. area, after the opening night, had a few days/dates and left for Utah. Juan Pablo loves to ski and on his Bachelor application, he said that his favorite place to go was skiing in Utah, so this is no huge surprise.

But the next location was a HUGE surprise to me, if the rumors are correct. The whole show picked up and left for South Korea, where they filmed a spot with a dance duo who has millions of hits on YOUTUBE. Really? Okay, I'll wait to see this. Then they went to Vietnam, apparently and ended in Miami after hometowns. If you love spoilers, check out Reality Steve who seems to have a spy on the inside of The Bachelor. Chris Harrison, are you moonlighting?
One of the oldest contestants was eliminated in Miami, leaving 3 gorgeous women to go to St. Lucia with Juan Pablo.

You have to think this man is trying to find someone compatible with being a part time mommy. It would totally suck if he thought with his 'heart' instead of his head. I know someone who made the first choice and the children are virtually ignored now. Very sad. I think Juan Pablo is smarter than that.
I can't wait to see this all play out on Monday nights in January. CAN;T WAIT! As I type this Juan Pablo presumably has proposed to someone and is waiting out the three months to be with her. How frustratato! That's my attempt at Spanish. Luckily we have Thanksgiving and Christmas to distract us before the regular Monday nights resume and we find ourselves planted in front of the T.V. hoping Juan Pablo finds his true love. It's something to look forward to in January which has the highest suicide rate of all the months. Oops. Did I say that?
If you find it hard to wait, like I did, you might want to take up reading. I'm an author and created my own little Bachelor world in these stories.

I recently wrote a short story (2-3 hour reading time) where I used Juan Pablo as the hero. I made him French but still very sweet, compassionate, parental and sexy. It's #1 on Amazon Christmas stories this week in Anthologies. My story in the book is Christmas in Whistler.
Also, check out my Pinterest board for this story. I loved writing it and paired him with Julianne Hough.

 I think they'd make a cute couple. What do you think?