Paradise and Stuff (mostly stuff)

This blog comes a little late as Tuesday night I was caught up [cue Usher] in my own real reality rather than my favorite edited-for-storyline-purposes reality and was not able to watch Paradise in real-time (is time even real in Paradise?). I am caught up (that song is an epic, classic banger) now and I had a little to say about it at the end of this piece of content.

But first I want to deal with the Erich blackface incident for (hopefully) my last time. Since The Bachelorette Final Finale, much digital ink and podcast airspace has been consumed by this. Friend and Loyal Follower of These Musings CSP sent me this article on former Bachelorette Michelle Young walking off the Final Finale set after it was clear to her that the suits at ABC (sABCs), their Evil Genius Producers (EGPs), and Jessie Palmer (just Jessie) weren’t going to touch that part of Erich’s story, deeming his texts to an ex a far more important part of his carefully curated narrative. Not to mention having had plenty of time in the broadcast to deal with it.

My questions on this situation go back to his blackface origin story. This was far from a random solo act. He must have thought his social circle would get a rise out of it. Fellow schoolmates on the yearbook team approved of it. Faculty yearbook advisors approved of it. Either the school principal approved of it or delegated that authority to someone else who approved of it. That approval of it clearly means that the community of parents and alumni had given their tacit approval of it. And let’s be clear, a yearbook is a historical artifact of a community’s culture, through which community members share recent experiences, reminisce fondly on past memories, and look forward with hopes for the future.

That is a lot of approval for me to wrap my head around.

Moving on, it comes as no surprise to anyone in Bachelor Nation that the journey of those silly young kids Clay-uhn and Susie has come to its utterly predictable end. I care naught about their reasons why. My interest is in the data provided by @Bachelordata IG. Clay-un and Susie join a group of 42 Bachelor/Bachelorette broken engagements (cue Evanescence My Heart Is Broken) versus NINE relationships still going. That’s 17% percent down-on-one-knee successful journeys, although the Neil Lane jury is still out as those ongoing relationships include the new couple, Erich and Gabby, and several unmarried couples. So that 17% is bound to get even lower.

The irony is that Bachelor in Paradise has a better track record for continuous coupledom than Bachelor/Bachelorette combined! Ten Paradise couples are still encoupled as compared to 17 breakups. Who knew a cast of those who had previously loved and lost in front of a national television audience could find love in a string bikini’d and speedo’d resort environment on a Mexican shore with alcohol flowing freely and a boom-boom room?

As to the Paradise Premiere, as expected, it was full of introductions to a lot of people (many that none of us remember and many from Clay-ohn’s season) and minimal mayhem at this juncture. The most exciting thing to me was Andrew’s shirt. That style shirt was my jam about 20 years ago and I’m glad it’s coming back around. Ima need one.

See you next week for two episodes. I’m not sure how committed I am to watching this in a timely fashion, though.

P.S. This week’s viewing and blogging wine were brought to you by My Daughter Cassandra (MDC) who procured and shared a good quality-to-price ratio Oblivion Zinfandel (her fave varietal).