Bachelorette Ashley Chooses JP and Few Other Surprises

If you're a reader of Reality Steve, you already knew Bachelorette Ashley Hebert chose JP Rosenbaum of Roslyn last night as her bachelor.

Ashley and JP: Will a lot of kissing
lead to a longterm relationship?

If you didn't, I'm so sorry you had to sit through almost two hours of recaps, anticipatory interviews and, finally, the humiliation of poor Ben before the three to five minute reunion leading up to the "engagement" at the end of the episode.  The news is that Ashley will complete dental school in Philadelphia in a month and will then move to New York City where she and JP will "get a place together."

It certainly seems like Ashley and JP are into one another.  I've never seen so much kissing.  So, let's hope there's a chance for them.

However, this process (um, journey) has to be tweaked - for the contestants and for the audience.

Again, producers used misleading teasers to throw viewers off the track.  Ashley's sister was put up to lobbying against JP.  (This morning, I heard a radio host opine that she was auditioning for her own reality show.) There's footage of Ashley frowning right up against video of JP to make it look like she's down on him.  Poor Ben has an engagement ring and goes so far as to get down on one knee to propose to a woman who knew weeks before the taping of the finale that she was going with the other guy.  At least he walked away like a man, without histrionics.

Are these contestants so wrapped up in their contract - or cowardly - that they give the runner-up no indication they'll be rejected until the last second?  Or is the runner-up acting?  Either way, there has to be a better way to close this program out.  You fly a guy to Fiji so he can get psyched for a lifetime commitment, dress him up in his best Sunday duds and spit him out?  The men I know would be furious at having to put on a suit for no good reason.

In the After the Final Rose episode, host Chris Harrison alluded to an appearance by the wicked Bentley, but he was a no-show, as anyone who reads the blogs knew.  The most interesting part of the after party was the interview with Ben who said, basically, "JP's a good guy, I'm not angry anymore, I wish the two of them the best.  I'm getting on with my life."

And let's not forget the endless promos for ABC's upcoming Bachelor Pad.

I've said all along that this show is guilty pleasure and I enjoy it, but it could be so much better if they threw away the tired reality show formatting.  Mix it up a little bit.  Intertwine a some behind-the-scenes action.  Let us know more about the contestants and the process and delete the endless chatter with the same buzz words - journey, my heart, in it for the right reasons, I think I'm falling for..., which reminds me of the worst one of them all, dot, dot, dot.

With the Bachelor/Bachelorette's poor track record - three couples still standing since the 2002 debut of the franchise - producers ought to consider additional changes to keep the couples together - if they care about that.  Word is that after Ashley and JP's final rose ceremony, they were allowed to see each other, whereas in previous seasons that was not the case.  At least there was one adjustment.  Reality Steve has said couples should be recruited from the same part of the country to avoid the failure of so many long distance relationships.  That's a good one.  C'mon ABC, let's try something new.