reality steve 2/27: ATFR 2 Taping

Here’s what I know what happened coming from someone who was there:
-Showed the finale and ATFR 1 condensed to the audience into a 90 minute version, so it was basically a clip show of the two shows combined.
Finale:
-Jason proposed to Melissa. Him crying on the balcony was after he had let Molly go yep, and before Melissa had arrived. Melissa obviously accepted the proposal. They leave NZ engaged.
-DeAnna actually does ask him to take her back yep, but he’s like, “Look loser, I’m in love with two other women.” So I’m sure she was put put up to that since she just had broken up with Jesse two weeks earlier. DeAnna admitted to choosing the “wildcard”, but said she should’ve picked him instead. Oh please. More B.S. Blah blah blah….

ATFR 1:
-Jason dumps Melissa on camera. When Melissa came out, she was in a somber mood. Like she knew what was about to happen. They barely embraced. Made it seem like Melissa knew it was coming. Jason tells her he can’t stop thinking about Molly. Melissa asks if he had contact with her, he says no. She says, “You chose me, but you’re not willing to fight for me?” Basically accusing him of changing his mind. “We left New Zealand, we spent all this time together, and now you want to spend all this time with someone else. I don’t get it.”
-Jason just says the chemistry is different what a doof, and he can’t stop thinking of Molly. So Melissa is pissed that he proposed but basically wussed out and didn’t give their relationship a chance.
-Last thing shown to everyone is Chris Harrison saying, “I’ll leave you two alone to talk”. Then Melissa telling Jason, “Don’t text me, don’t call me, don’t email me, I don’t want anyone contact with you, we’re done.” ~she said: don't call me, don't text me. leave me alone. She gets up, leaves, gets into a limo, and talks to the camera. still likeable, says it's the pity card to say must be sth about her that keeps being dumped, sth she does not yet know about herself ~ which is far enough, and diff than saying sth *wrong.* and she says "I get the silver lining" that ~he's not for her or sth, it's just hard to see now. for all she seems sweet & ~uncomplicated, not a thinker --jason looking at her in surprise when she says 'Winston Churchill' & she points to her head "Not just a hat rack"-- she's impressively self-aware I think. and a sweetheart.
-She leaves and they bring Molly out. Molly has NO IDEA this has just happened with Melissa. She thinks she’s coming out to ask Jason her questions, and he explains he just dumped Melissa. Basically telling her he can’t stop thinking about her. Molly keeps looking at Chris Harrison thinking this is all a joke.
-She asks, “What about Melissa?” Jason says “I don’t expect you to get engaged to me now, but can we explore this.” Molly says she’ll give it a chance. Once Molly is over the shock, she says they have a lot to talk about, she feels sorry for Melissa I did not hear that - I did hear hear her say that she would need to know more about why it happened that she left NZ rejected, but she’s willing to see where things go and she can’t help but be a little bit happy. Said her feelings have never changed since getting dumped in New Zealand. Shows ends there.

at the ATFR 2:
-Melissa was not there. Chris Harrison had a written letter from Melissa that he read which stated she was fine, she’s moved on, and doesn’t regret anything about anything happened.
-Chris Harrison talking to Naomi, Nikki, Stephanie, Kari, and Erica live in studio. Gets their reaction to everything that happened. They essentially all bag on Jason saying if he was that conflicted, he should’ve waited and not proposed. good. (is it written into his contract that he has to pick one girl? I think I read at twop that it is, and maybe even that he has to get down on a knee (!) although he d n 'have to' propose.
-Took questions and comments from the audience. Some of the girls on stage answered some of the questions, but it was basically getting feedback.
-Jason comes out next by himself. This is when Chris Harrison reads the letter from Melissa. Afterwards, Jason defends his decision saying he had to do it, didn’t want to lead Melissa on, follow his heart, Molly was constantly on his mind, blah blah blah
-Bring Molly out by herself first then Jason joins her. Talk about how everything is great. Rewatches her segment from ATFR 1 and reiterates she was really surprised, had a lot of questions, but Jason answered them. Her family had questions too, but, they’re fine with it now and they love Jason. She’s planning on moving to Seattle once everything dies down. Hope people aren’t mad at him for following his heart. Jason is mad that people are saying bad things about Molly. Molly states for the record, she is NOT pregnant.
-When both out there, Chris Harrison asks Jason at what point he had something for Molly, and audience member screams “The tent!” So they bring the tent out to both of them as their gift.
-Show ends with them bringing Jillian out and announcing her as the next Bachelorette.

Final analysis:
So when Melissa asks him, “Did you have contact with Molly?” and he says, “No”, So when Melissa asks him, “Did you have contact with Molly?” and he says, “No”, there might be more to it. They didn’t see the whole show, the just saw the highlights of the ATFR 1. I’ll say it now, Melissa suspected Jason was seeing/texting/emailing/talking to Molly. That’s why she asked. There’s no way he didn’t contact her in those two months. Not a chance. But like I said, this is the way I thought ABC would spin this: that he just changed his mind. And that’s what they’re going to present. Hey, if you want to believe that, go ahead. I will always believe differently. He did not just change his mind without having spoken to her in 2 months in my mind. No way.
Also, as some of the bachelorettes said, if he was THAT conflicted at the final rose ceremony, why even propose to Melissa? If you don’t think for a second this was part of a plan, then I don’t know what to tell you. There’s no way anyone in their right mind, if they were truly in love with two people, would propose to one, then two months later, dump her on national television. I’m seriously contemplating printing out the email conversation now between Melissa and Jason that was done after the ATFR 1 was taped. It verifies everything I’m saying here and coincides with what Melissa said at the taping once he broke up with her. All Jason is doing in these emails is apologizing for what he did and wishes he would’ve handled it better and not listened to the producers. huh. that we know how this all plays out, you can’t tell me the emails were fake. I’m sorry. I never thought they were, the addresses were verified, and exactly what happened tonight is exactly what’s in them, EXCEPT for the fact that Melissa knew Jason had contact with Molly while they were engaged. And ABC conveniently left that part out.
I told you on Jan. 27th what the outcome of this show would be, and today’s taping proved it. I’m sure Jasons pleading of “Don’t hate Molly” and “I went with my gut and I’m happy as a clam right now” will tug at the heartstrings of some of you, but hey, I’m not buying it. At all. I believe Jason Mesnick knew during the filming he was going to pick Molly, was told to pick Melissa so they could create this shocking, dramatic finale, and he went along with it. I guess its my word against theirs.

well Reality Steve's recent post re AFR & AFR2 was pretty right on about all the ~facts of what was portrayed. I'd looked at this yesterday and it pretty much ended suspense for the show: re Jason crying on the balcony, Deanna. all seemed likely to be what happened (well ~ what was shown), and it was.
so I wonder about his conviction that this was planned by ABC, or that the producers were helping Jason see Molly as well as Melissa btw end of filming and the AFR. if that's true, they are straight up emphatically & repeatedly lying that no, this was the first time Molly had seen Jason since. (and isn't a straight up lie like that vulnerable to being factually disproven? and wouldn't that be *really* bad for the show? or not, I dunno, will ppl not watch if not credible ~) Molly was pretty genuine seeming in her confusion "What about Melissa?" and looks over toward Chris. so Chris's blog post today is fairly easy to believe, does that make me a sucker? his spin or whatever seems most likely: we'd rather have the happy love story, Jason & Mel, but went with what got. ok. but what's with Fleiss's "best ending ever"? that doesn't fit this spin.


Chris Harrison blogs 'The Bachelor': The finale and 'After the Final Rose' | PopWatch Blog | EW.com:
Jason proposed to Melissa right before Thanksgiving over in New Zealand. It was an awesome day and night. They couldn't have been happier. I have an amazing picture of the three of us that I took on my phone right after the proposal. They were both very much in love and the scene couldn't have been better. It appeared to us he had found a terrific woman who would become his wife. You have to understand that we want a proposal and we want a true happy ending. I would have sworn up and down that that is what we had that night. I thought on the flight home that you, the viewers, are going to eat this love story up. I talked to Jason and Melissa several times after the proposal and all was going well.
After the holidays something changed. Jason was struggling with Melissa and he told me something was wrong and things had changed between them. A few weeks after that I heard that Jason was going to break up with Melissa and that he still had feelings for Molly. I will be honest when I tell you that my heart sank. I loved Jason and Mel as a couple and selfishly knew that their success together would be great for our show. A true love story with a perfect ending, but all that was shattered with that phone call. My first thought was, Oh my god, he's going to do the unthinkable and make the switch. Turns out I was right. Jason knew he and Melissa were through and wanted another shot with Molly, who he had also fallen in love with. So here we are in the middle of the Bachelor season on TV and our Bachelor is breaking up with the woman he chose and going after the one that he let go. We had a decision to make. What do we do with this situation and this information? Do we let all of America just keep going along with this happy little fairytale only to find that in the end it all blew up a month and a half prior? It's not like Jason was breaking up with Mel and just going away. He was asking for a shot with the girl you saw him break up with in New Zealand. I know this has been controversial but in my mind the only thing we could do out of respect for all of you watching was to show, as delicately as possible, what the hell was happening. Not that it makes it any better or easier, but the fact is everybody knows when they sign up for this show everything about their story will be public. It's a TV show and that is not a big secret. They are well aware of what they got into.
We quickly put together the first After the Final Rose special and brought the three of them together to play it out. I won't speak for Melissa but I can tell you she wasn't blindsided. She knew things weren't going well. Did she know Jason was going to break up with her? Honestly, I don't know. You'll have to ask her, or you could ask your double top-secret source who's second cousin knows a guy who saw the Bachelor once ( I love the ''Source'' -- great stuff). Believe me when I tell you that was the hardest, most uncomfortable show I've ever hosted. I like Melissa very much, and in fact we've talked several times since the taping including Friday before the second ATFR special. Of course, she was hurt and pissed that night we shot the special, but she feels, as do I, that everything happens for a reason and that she's better off. I consider Melissa a friend of mine, and when I go home to Dallas she'll be the first person my wife and I will call to have a cold one with. I know it's hard to see this but these are real people trying the best they can to deal with real issues. As I've said before, that's what makes this show so incredibly compelling to watch.
Because we shot the special and because what happened was so explosive, I assumed it would leak out. We could have been real A-holes and held off till we were closer to the end but that wouldn't have been fair to anybody. So we shot that special six weeks ago. It's unfortunate things leaked out like they did but we know how that happened and who's responsible. We were also well aware of the ''bonus'' information you have been given. I'm not sure why ruining the ending of one of the most successful shows on TV wasn't enough for people but it should have been. To hear these ''people'' go on and add their own twists and turns to the story was not only laughable but flat out ridiculous. To be quite honest, I could care less, but I know Jason, Molly, and Melissa have been hurt by all this and that's where I draw the line, and I do care about that. We said this on the show but I want to make it very clear to you, that when Molly walked on that stage six weeks ago that was the first time she had seen Jason since the finale was shot. A quick side note: When you're making up stories, try to make it somewhat realistic. Do you really think we would fly anybody into the Bachelor's hometown for a date after the show was wrapped? Not even Melissa met him in Seattle. Come on people, I expect better rumors and lies from you by now. Try meeting in Mexico or Canada that would have been so much more believable.
..We can't have a show where we only show the good parts and when things turn ugly, as life often does, we stop pack up our stuff, apologize to the millions watching, and just go home. well so when things turn ugly, your exec prod says it is "the best ending ever." so.


The Melissa and Jason emails - Bachelor 13.wordpress
From: xxx@hotmail.com
To: Jason Mesnick
Sent: Mon Jan 19 08:18:10 2009
So last night didn’t go NEAR how I thought. I didn’t think I would be that angry (I’m not sure I’ve EVER been that angry to be honest with you). And getting confirmation about Molly in front of people like that was a complete classless move if you ask me. how cld you do that to me
after I repeatedly asked you about it??? I’m not stupid, I knew about Molly, knew you guys had been talking, and you lied to me about it. You owed it to me to tell me this before last night and I can’t believe you did that to me publicly. I can’t even tell you how much respect I lost for you. Please don’t respond.

The producers had a lot to do with it. I am so sorry. This is so horrible.

This coming from the man who told me not to trust producers. Then congratulations on being produced, but I don’t believe you. You are a grown man, and perfectly capable of making your own decisions. Own your actions and stop blaming this process.

I wish we could have had that same conversation away from cameras. They really didn’t want me to say anything to you until the cameras were there and you know that I couldn’t do that. cldn't say anyth or cldn't not?? Its just things really felt different and I didn’t
want to be thinking about her and wish I could control it.

The fact that even after ‘production’ was wrapped, you still let producers manipulate our ‘relationship’ is frustrating. At what point do you say, “Hey, guys, you did your part, and now it’s our turn to have a real relationship without you meddling and telling us what to say and do?” And I’ll just say, the Molly thing wasn’t a secret….just wish you’d had the decency to tell me before I was put in front of TV cameras, regardless of what Martin (a producer, mentioned by realitysteve) was telling you, as a person, a friend, etc, you owed me that.

______
via twop: Someone finally posted the emails.
If these are not real, then someone well wrote a satisfying version of what viewers would want to hear Melissa say. esp re it being produced. and maybe these emails are really from Melissa & Jason: Jason does sound as generic as always.