Bachelor Australia - Season 3 - Sam Wood - (Male) - SM - IG - Media - *Sleuthing* - *Spoilers* #3

If anything, this show has shown that after watching for so many years, the viewers (speaking as one) are the ones who are most jaded and put their hands up and say, "Oh well.. that's just the show" etc, and the lead is just being the "lead" and he will be defended time and again by viewers with no basic expectation for him to say, "I am sorry. I hurt you." to those he hurt in person.

Art is the only lead I know who full out said this on ATFR - and said this in person outside of ATFR as well - while Sam is the only one I know with a F1 who did not to be on the hotseat at all or face the girls in person on ATFR. So Sam has gotten off more than any other lead with a F1 since he is the only one.

I think that is part of why it feels so different. An ATFR, while doesn't do much at all, gives the lead the opportunity to have that face to face conversation and say "I am sorry". Just because other leads don't do this doesn't mean Sam should be measured to the common denominator but the best denominator. That's what all leads should aim for -- the best version of themselves like Warwick said, not the status quo of "Well everyone does it". That should be the measurement to compare to, imo, the highest bar rather than the lowest.

It's so easy to just view this as entertainment (and it is) but I wonder if I was on this show would I would feel differently? It's easy to watch UnReal and watch this show for years and think one understands it all ("TPTB made him/her do it", "It's just the show", "They know what they signed up for", etc) but until one has actually lived it? That's a very comfortable place for me to be - just an observer.

This best expresses my thoughts:  

"There’s no doubt the real winners are the viewers at home who can switch off, unscathed, from their guilty pleasure."

http://thenewdaily.com.au/entertainment/2015/09/17/the-bachelor-finale/

I'm not sure Lana would have wanted to face Sam today and I think it may have caused her even further humiliation in her mind. This is often a traumatic show for the F2 and a hard show but one with potential opportunities for all the other contestants. I feel so badly for Lana and also her mother as this must be so hard for a mother to see her daughter in pain. I so enjoy watching this show and it's hypocritical but I don't want my daughters to be contestants.

The final recap. Thanks to you guys we weren't shocked AT ALL ;)

https://flawlessvision.wordpress.com/2015/09/18/bachelor-sam-picks-snezana-shock-factor-zero/

Flawless wrote:The final recap.  Thanks to you guys we weren't shocked AT ALL ;)

https://flawlessvision.wordpress.com/2015/09/18/bachelor-sam-picks-snezana-shock-factor-zero/

Not even the violently ugly ring was enough to shock us, because this is Zamels we’re talking about and yellow-gold two tone kinda goes with the trashy territory.

Is Zamel's really that bad in AU?

I don't believe anyone is justifying that it's ok for leads to not be accountable for the mis-leading of the F2 and other contestants. Unfortunately we can't effect true change on this show since our opinions don't make it to show producers....though some folks  have said the TPTB US may have their interns checking out this board   We the viewers would have to stop watching the series altogether and until then I do agree that we are hypocritical to keep watching it.  I got into this show purely to enjoy the love story which is what the US series were based on before they turned into drama and now the Aussie series are heading in that direction. I don't enjoy the drama aspect of the show & I have learnt to tune it out, JMO.

AEF wrote:I'm not sure Lana would have wanted to face Sam today and I think it may have caused her even further humiliation in her mind. This is often a traumatic show for the F2 and a hard show but one with potential opportunities for all the other contestants. I feel so badly for Lana and also her mother as this must be so hard for a mother to see her daughter in pain. I so enjoy watching this show and it's hypocritical but I don't want my daughters to be contestants.

So true, for all the women that get invested (not all F2s are).

But even so, I always think it is good if the lead can just cop to it and say, "I am sorry". Will it change anything? No. But it's the right thing to do, imo.

And ITA... would never want my children on this show, as contestants or as lead. When it comes to finding a lasting partner this is the last show I would advise someone to go on to find it. It really is an interesting reflection that I can enjoy it but when I think of these people as all "Real" it certainly takes the comfort and enjoyment away a bit.

Great line about the ring Flawless. I have not heard anyone say they like it. Zamels is not the first place you would think of to buy a ring.

mercieme wrote:I don't believe anyone is justifying that it's ok for leads to not be accountable for the mis-leading of the F2 and other contestants. Unfortunately we can't effect true change on this show since our opinions don't make it to show producers....though some folks  have said the TPTB US may have their interns checking out this board   We the viewers would have to stop watching the series altogether and until then I do agree that we are hypocritical to keep watching it.  I got into this show purely to enjoy the love story which is what the US series were based on before they turned into drama and now the Aussie series are heading in that direction. I don't enjoy the drama aspect of the show & I have learnt to tune it out, JMO.

Yeah. But as posted before, every lead can choose to just say "I am sorry" and that goes a long way.

No lead should need public opinion to tell them to just own up to their own part/be accountable and say they are sorry -- because it is the right thing to do (as the saying goes, "right is right, even if no one is doing it").

Art was able to be accountable and say he was sorry. He even met personally with the girls he hurt prior to ATFR to apologize in person and along with Matilda they both even paid for F3 to stay in hotel, sent the other girls flowers, etc. And to this day, because of this, he and his F1 can hang out and laugh all together.

It says a lot about Art's character as a person, post-show and post-edit. And so because of that it shows that a lead can choose how he is post-show and that it can make a world of difference - even in his own life as well as those of others. It is only a reflection on himself that he did this and it is a reflection on other leads who don't.

AllAboutLove wrote:

Flawless wrote:The final recap.  Thanks to you guys we weren't shocked AT ALL ;)

https://flawlessvision.wordpress.com/2015/09/18/bachelor-sam-picks-snezana-shock-factor-zero/

Not even the violently ugly ring was enough to shock us, because this is Zamels we’re talking about and yellow-gold two tone kinda goes with the trashy territory.

Is Zamel's really that bad in AU?

It's the shop where teenaged boys go to buy their girlfriends stuff because nothing is over $50 ;)

It's hideous

Flawless wrote:

AllAboutLove wrote:

Flawless wrote:The final recap.  Thanks to you guys we weren't shocked AT ALL ;)

https://flawlessvision.wordpress.com/2015/09/18/bachelor-sam-picks-snezana-shock-factor-zero/

Not even the violently ugly ring was enough to shock us, because this is Zamels we’re talking about and yellow-gold two tone kinda goes with the trashy territory.

Is Zamel's really that bad in AU?

It's the shop where teenaged boys go to buy their girlfriends stuff because nothing is over $50 ;)

It's hideous

LOL have to agree with flawless...not only that, pretty much all the items that Sam gave is in a catalogue that someone posted in another Bachelor group I follow on FB and it's all cheap "sale" stuff...

Well, I'll come out and say it now - I felt really sorry for Lana last night, even though I'd disliked her up until that very point. She was totally led on. This might be "the game" but, given Sam said it was always only Snez for him, did he have to be quite so full on romantic with Lana?

But more than anything, it's his words in the media now that are the worst. Dismissing every single girl as never having stood a chance. What cad!

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/lanas-tears-after-watching-sam-dump-her-during-the-bachelor-finale/story-fn8yvfst-1227532944116

“It was so weird because the night before [the finale] he was saying to me like ‘Oh we’re going to have all of these adventures together’ and then we breakup and I never see him again,” she said.

Sam told news.com.au that while he was glad he knew that Lana wasn’t doing as well as expected in the wake of the emotional finale, he said there was nothing more to say to her.

“I think it’s been said. What I said to her at the finale I meant and nothing has changed from then and I just wish her all the best.”

Yeah, good luck Snez, you're going to need it.

Bring on the Bachelorette program. I'm soooooo over this Bachelor now!