Speaker 1: Uh uh, what's up, Pricks?
Speaker 2: How you doing?
Speaker 1: Hey?
Speaker 2: Hey?
Speaker 3: God, hi, hey hey hey hey hey listen listen are
Speaker 3: you listening?
Speaker 2: Uh huh, Pricks.
Speaker 3: Okay, So there's this this thing has come to Hollywood,
Speaker 3: come to Hollywood.
Speaker 2: What am I talking about?
Speaker 3: They're an article came out on Deadline and we feel
Speaker 3: like we need to comment on it because, yeah, first
Speaker 3: of all, we know some of a few of the
Speaker 3: we know a little bit, we know some of the players.
Speaker 4: Well let's let me just tell you what it is.
Speaker 4: And some of somebody posted it on our Rose Pricks
Speaker 4: Facebook feed, so you guys know probably, But since this
Speaker 4: whole thing is Bachelor number one, that's what our podcast is.
Speaker 4: We do a lot of other things, but we're a
Speaker 4: bachelor group. As you know you're listening. There's trouble in Paradise,
Speaker 4: my god. Yeah literally, yes, I mean in every possible way,
Speaker 4: and we're a little bit scared. And I mean we've
Speaker 4: said this for a long time. Some shit needs to change,
Speaker 4: but I don't think we realized till like a lot
Speaker 4: of whistleblowers apparently went to Deadline or whoever they went to,
Speaker 4: we did not know how toxic the environment seems to
Speaker 4: have gotten over there at in the making of the Bachelor.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so let's get into it.
Speaker 3: So just a tiny tiny bit of backstory that but
Speaker 3: which might be in this article, So I might be
Speaker 3: this might be overkill. We could we can like read
Speaker 3: from the article. This is how I think we should
Speaker 3: do it. We should read from the article, and then
Speaker 3: we'll just keep stopping and discussing anything that we have
Speaker 3: insight on.
Speaker 2: Let's start.
Speaker 4: Let me start, because the gen trand the way they
Speaker 4: start this article is really well written because they get
Speaker 4: right in there with what Jen had to go through.
Speaker 4: So Jen, we are he knew like in retrospect the
Speaker 4: shit we turned out who Devin turned out to be
Speaker 4: such a nightmare of a human. So I'll just read
Speaker 4: it as it says, Yes, as we know now and
Speaker 4: Stephanie knew earlier. Jen transtarved the last season obviously, the
Speaker 4: bachelorette was in tears, her mother sitting yards away as
Speaker 4: she watched footage of her proposing. I forgot she proposed
Speaker 4: to him to devn On abcs after the final rose.
Speaker 4: The engagement had not worked out and was over before
Speaker 4: Jen was forced to relieve that day alongside Devon. It
Speaker 4: was a decision that former Bachelor star Ben Higgins called quoth,
Speaker 4: cruel and unnecessary, which we all said as audience, as
Speaker 4: people watching the show, we were like, oh, this is
Speaker 4: this is rough, This feels like like abuse. Yes, and
Speaker 4: it was. Remember she said, and they say this in
Speaker 4: the article. Do I have a choice? She asked Jesse
Speaker 4: and he nope. He's like, it seems she didn't, So
Speaker 4: off we went. Now we find out in this article
Speaker 4: the decision to air the footage was made by Clay Freeland,
Speaker 4: who serves as showrunner and an EP of the Bachelor
Speaker 4: franchise alongside Bennett Rabner Rabi.
Speaker 3: Now these are names that we need to Yes, these
Speaker 3: are yeah, these are the players.
Speaker 4: These are the players, and they're relatively new players. Yes,
Speaker 4: so names we haven't really seen a lot. Claire made
Speaker 4: that decision to put in that position, put her in
Speaker 4: that position and air that proposal on live TV. A
Speaker 4: former producer said producers were screaming at them in the
Speaker 4: booth to stop and were ignored. They said she was
Speaker 4: falling apart. Now let's pause here because I kind of
Speaker 4: feel like, yeah, I'm a little torn. I'm of two minds.
Speaker 4: Because as a TV producer I can kind of understand.
Speaker 4: I mean, people watched it's cruel and unusual, but it's
Speaker 4: reality TV. It's not the first time they've shown a
Speaker 4: breakup or like a nightmare.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it was kind it was kind of the
Speaker 3: way it was done though, because Devin did not as
Speaker 3: you remember, Devin just did not give a fuck. No.
Speaker 3: I mean he really came up across like a sociopath
Speaker 3: and also knowing everything that had happened since. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I agree with you in the sense that, like when
Speaker 3: they showed that whole thing of I think it was
Speaker 3: Ari breaking up with what's her name, and.
Speaker 4: You had to hear them gulping every time, like the
Speaker 4: crying and like sendading, and they were.
Speaker 2: Like following her.
Speaker 3: Ari was having to follow her from room to room
Speaker 3: and she was like get out, go away, I don't
Speaker 3: want to talk to you, and then you know he'd
Speaker 3: be like, okay, but can I just talk to you
Speaker 3: for a minute, you know, and it went on forever.
Speaker 3: So and that was different producers.
Speaker 4: That was pretty bad too. But it's what it's the show.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's the drama. It's the thing. I mean,
Speaker 4: this is like what people kind of signed up for.
Speaker 4: But it's she was crying to the place where you
Speaker 4: can She's not an actress. She's not like, I don't
Speaker 4: think she's pursuing acting. So it felt like, oh my god, no,
Speaker 4: this feels like like a snuff film.
Speaker 2: I think I said that at the time, like this
Speaker 2: is crazy, this is insane. Yeah, yes, yes.
Speaker 4: So her story, it says, highlights the current behind the
Speaker 4: scenes state of Bachelor Nation. She came to a head
Speaker 4: earlier last week when a majority of production staff. So
Speaker 4: this is a production this is not we're not talking
Speaker 4: about the editors or whatever. This is just production side.
Speaker 2: We're five.
Speaker 4: They were asked as a result of ABC and Warner
Speaker 4: Brothers TV decision to pause The Bachelorette.
Speaker 2: So a bunch of people got canned.
Speaker 3: Right And by the way, in this article, right after
Speaker 3: the thing about Genran, it says, do you know why
Speaker 3: Freeland did it? Because it was her idea? Yeah, producers
Speaker 3: said so Claire, Yes, Claire's idea. So this is kind
Speaker 3: of what they're going to be talking about. So there's
Speaker 3: a power issue here is what it sounds like. So
Speaker 3: some people speaking with Deadline prior to the layoffs described
Speaker 3: one source, so they are hiding sources.
Speaker 4: People are scared, they need jobs. They don't want to
Speaker 4: fuck up their lives.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 4: They said it was a blood bath over Bachelor production.
Speaker 4: A dozen current and former crew members claim that Freeland,
Speaker 4: these two people were new people have run a quote
Speaker 4: toxic and hostile environment where only their ideas are accepted
Speaker 4: and others are worn to step in line. Or else
Speaker 4: they were they would be asked to leave. Now they
Speaker 4: deny the allegations.
Speaker 2: I have to say.
Speaker 3: So here's so, following Mike Flic's exit, Yeah, let's never
Speaker 3: forget that Mike flis like literally was a domestic violence
Speaker 3: against his wife.
Speaker 2: Right, are now divorced in Hawaii? Remember that?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, and was kind of forced out. So following
Speaker 3: his exit, the show elevated three people to run the franchise.
Speaker 3: Claire Freeland, who had previously run The Bachelor in Canada,
Speaker 3: Grabner whoever that guy is, who had worked on the
Speaker 3: franchise since twenty eight and Jason Erlick, who has been
Speaker 3: involved in the show for over twenty years now, Right,
Speaker 3: you know Jason Erlick.
Speaker 2: So I know Jason.
Speaker 4: He was my boss, my main my head head, like
Speaker 4: head honcho boss when I was working out ready, for love.
Speaker 4: And I want to say because I when I saw
Speaker 4: his name, I was like, oh my god, what.
Speaker 2: But then it says okay.
Speaker 4: So the hope was, let me before I tell you
Speaker 4: that this trio of people could usher in a new
Speaker 4: phase for the Reality universe, you know, because they do
Speaker 4: need to step it up. It is a little antiquated,
Speaker 4: as we've said. But as you when you learn later,
Speaker 4: is that he left. He did not make it with
Speaker 4: these two. And what I want to say is going
Speaker 4: to surprise you. He's, like, legit, one of the nicest
Speaker 4: people I've ever freaking worked for. That guy was not
Speaker 4: only nice to me and supportive of all my stupid
Speaker 4: ideas and was like it was like a very happy
Speaker 4: lots of fear like we you know, when we were
Speaker 4: like coming up with date ideas, not like on set
Speaker 4: or anything, but just like very chill work environment, so fun.
Speaker 4: He would have little meetings just to like pump us up.
Speaker 4: Sometimes he'd be like, okay, nine o'clock morning meeting, and
Speaker 4: he would tell like inspiring stories and tell us how
Speaker 4: great that we were and what fun we were having
Speaker 4: and let's not you know, let's not ever like go
Speaker 4: home sad. I mean, he's a good dude, and I'm
Speaker 4: sorry if someone else has had a bad experience with him,
Speaker 4: and that might be, but I was so happy to
Speaker 4: see that was not in this article.
Speaker 2: So he's so good is not a positive thing.
Speaker 4: Yes, I like Jason a lot, and I mean, and
Speaker 4: I don't need to say that because I don't work
Speaker 4: in that universe anymore in reality television.
Speaker 2: But he's he seems like a really good guy.
Speaker 3: So but now they're saying that he has been part
Speaker 3: of the show for a lot of years.
Speaker 4: He's been part of the show, but not part of
Speaker 4: this trio. So he became part of this trio and
Speaker 4: these new people whatever, but then he left ended up
Speaker 4: leaving right whatever for whatever.
Speaker 3: And so it says a trio of other EPs, Nicole Woods,
Speaker 3: Peter Geist, and I know Peters as well, kerk Oh,
Speaker 3: you do.
Speaker 4: I think he was one of the I think he
Speaker 4: was one of the people there at one of our
Speaker 4: production people.
Speaker 2: I don't remember.
Speaker 4: But it says they oversaw the franchise on a day
Speaker 4: to day basis, but they also departed.
Speaker 2: They departed and then early took over.
Speaker 4: So this is we're going back the articles, taking us
Speaker 4: back before these two alleged crazies came in right, So
Speaker 4: it says that they worked. I mean we're talking. I
Speaker 4: think they're just trying to say, yes, it's in decades.
Speaker 4: It says, Meanwhile, the do you pronounce this word troika?
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 2: That's like a trio. Why didn't they do?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it didn't last long because they're being annoying. So
Speaker 4: the new people that we just said and Jason didn't
Speaker 4: last long. Deadline understands that Jason are like left after
Speaker 4: overseeing The Golden Bachelor, which we all know he did
Speaker 4: amazing things with and then he left. I would like
Speaker 4: I did try. I actually tried. When I saw his
Speaker 4: name on The Golden Bachelor. I sent him an email,
Speaker 4: but he didn't respond. It's probably a little busy, okay.
Speaker 3: So left days after Deadline revealed that The Bachelorette would
Speaker 3: skip its summer cycle. Came another bombshell moment for staffers
Speaker 3: on February twelfth, So that was ten days ago that
Speaker 3: from the time that we're recording this, staff assigned to
Speaker 3: work on The Bachelorette were told they wouldn't be returning
Speaker 3: to the franchise. News that cause shockwaves throughout the crew.
Speaker 3: It's not clear exactly how many were impacted, but these
Speaker 3: shows generally have a crew of north of two hundred people.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, staff that are currently still working on The Bachelor,
Speaker 3: including on the specials that follow a season of the
Speaker 3: flagship show will continue and some staff may return.
Speaker 4: Okay, that's right, and they don't know. It's everybody's in limbo,
Speaker 4: which I can't imagine is super scary.
Speaker 3: Here's all of the shitty stuff, it says, and they
Speaker 3: also were saying that Ken Fuchs, who's been there forever.
Speaker 3: They insist Warner Brothers is covering their ass and saying
Speaker 3: that Fuchs remains an quote active part of the franchise.
Speaker 3: But it says the last two years, but particularly the
Speaker 3: last six months, have just been incredibly hostile, toxic, and horrible.
Speaker 3: One crew member told Deadline it's a dumpster fire right now,
Speaker 3: added another. Some of the departures have been budgetary issues,
Speaker 3: but Stafford suggests there's more to this than just money.
Speaker 3: Sources have said that showrunners Freeland and Grabner have passive
Speaker 3: aggressively criticized the work of people who have produced the
Speaker 3: show for years, ignored senior members of the production team.
Speaker 3: And here's what people are saying they sit behind their
Speaker 3: closed doors, they don't walk around the office, they don't
Speaker 3: talk to people when they're on set. They just sit
Speaker 3: with each other. They like the opposite of the opposite
Speaker 3: of Jason. Jason was like not that guy says, it's bizarre.
Speaker 3: I've never seen such horrendous leadership. Another former producer told
Speaker 3: Dateline quote, the most surprising thing of all is the
Speaker 3: silent toxicity at another crew member. Everyone thought it was
Speaker 3: just happening to their department, and it was only a
Speaker 3: few months ago when we realized it was happening to
Speaker 3: all of us. And basically, what we're going to find
Speaker 3: out is that they don't out although it's weird because
Speaker 3: it says they don't outright treat people poorly.
Speaker 2: They don't scream at people.
Speaker 3: It's more that everything they do is secretive and passive
Speaker 3: us and they know they're doing it to affect people.
Speaker 3: Could this be people being sensitive. I don't think so,
Speaker 3: because I've heard other stuff. So I have I know somebody,
Speaker 3: you know somebody, a girl that is a works on
Speaker 3: the show, and I know a guy and I have
Speaker 3: had it confirmed that the non disclosure agreement that everybody
Speaker 3: there is afraid for their jobs, for the for their
Speaker 3: sanity that they're they sign a non disclosure that is
Speaker 3: so thick that they're afraid to talk about.
Speaker 2: Their job to anybody.
Speaker 4: Oh and yes, that seems to be the case for sure,
Speaker 4: And then I would too. People have to genuinely protect themselves,
Speaker 4: Like what the fuck's going on over there? And I guess,
Speaker 4: I mean, I don't know if that's different than Love
Speaker 4: is Blind. I'm sure they have a similar stuff, right,
Speaker 4: but like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 4: This is this is bad. I mean, this is really
Speaker 4: like we should dig into who these people are. I'm
Speaker 4: gonna look this. I'm gonna look the lady up on
Speaker 4: Instagram as you go on. I'm going to see if
Speaker 4: I can find out more about her.
Speaker 3: Some One thing that was horrible when I started here
Speaker 3: were the hours they used to work us, like one
Speaker 3: hundred hours a week, said one source who's worked on
Speaker 3: the show for many years. But it's gotten much better.
Speaker 3: So they have this article as a bunch of people
Speaker 3: that are saying positive things, so we don't know, like,
Speaker 3: you know, another crew member said, they have been quote
Speaker 3: nothing short of professional, fair and kind. I've never seen
Speaker 3: them raise their voice, behave inappropriately or humiliate anyone. Claire
Speaker 3: and Bennett have brought real positive change to the work environment.
Speaker 3: A third producer said, quote, experience with Bennett Grabner as
Speaker 3: a boss has been exceptional. He's always treated me with
Speaker 3: respect and kindness. I can say the same regarding Claire Freeland.
Speaker 4: I found Claire Freeland, but I don't think this is her.
Speaker 4: You don't think she writes children's books as well?
Speaker 2: Probably not?
Speaker 3: So? No, no, okay, So here's something. So this person
Speaker 3: the Jody Baskerville, who was promoted to become the franchise's
Speaker 3: first black executive producer in twenty twenty one, left early
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty four. She worked on the story side
Speaker 3: of the post production division. Baskerville did not respond to
Speaker 3: a request for comment. Seven months and two show cycles
Speaker 3: after her departure, the studio hired Michael Margolis and Keeley Booth.
Speaker 3: Margolis and Booth previously worked on the Canadian version of
Speaker 3: Bachelor in Paradise, a show Freeland previously ran. The problem.
Speaker 3: Margolis is Freeland's husband, and Booth is an old friend.
Speaker 3: Warner Brothers has formal conflict of interest processes in place,
Speaker 3: as well as protocol protocols to be followed if hired,
Speaker 3: and the company said that a formal process occurred and
Speaker 3: the pair do not report to Freeland.
Speaker 4: Oh okay, I'm sending you a picture of Claire and
Speaker 4: she's exactly what you would imagine. Okay, just get ready
Speaker 4: to have your mind blown. Okay, like that is if
Speaker 4: that was then, Just the look on her face and
Speaker 4: the vibe that's coming off this photo.
Speaker 2: Can you imagine every day you're like.
Speaker 4: Already so tired, you're working like sixteen hour days, and
Speaker 4: you're like, yeah, oh shit, that's exactly who I thought
Speaker 4: she'd be.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I'm going to read you.
Speaker 1: Well, that's basically the.
Speaker 2: Article is just outing these.
Speaker 4: Two and this is denying again, like we said, and
Speaker 4: Deadline did their due diligence. You know, they've denied the allegations,
Speaker 4: and there are people backing up that they're not that bad.
Speaker 4: And maybe you're right. Maybe some people just don't like
Speaker 4: the change and they're a little different in the way
Speaker 4: they run things.
Speaker 3: Somebody wrote anonymous comment, I'm gonna read We're gonna get
Speaker 3: into some of these comments though, because the comments are
Speaker 3: crazier than the article.
Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
Speaker 3: So somebody wrote, Rob Mills is responsible for Bachelorette not
Speaker 3: being on the air this season, not these to bosos,
Speaker 3: and might I add Rob Mills is responsible for the
Speaker 3: fact that we can't get screeners right right yeah vibe
Speaker 3: yeah yeah, uh okaye. Not bullies, just professionals who loved
Speaker 3: what they do did to bring amazing, touching, human drama
Speaker 3: entertainment to many millions of people and see it ruined
Speaker 3: from the top down and not be able to do
Speaker 3: anything to stop the fall is soul killing. What you
Speaker 3: are reading is a come up and send It's overdue. Okay,
Speaker 3: hold on, there's I gotta find some of these comments,
Speaker 3: but some of them are on Reddit.
Speaker 4: I'm looking on the Deadline comments too, and somebody pointed out,
Speaker 4: which is kind of interesting. Are they the same people
Speaker 4: who do the casting it's been so bad lately, hard
Speaker 4: to watch anymore. We kind of disagree. We'll push back
Speaker 4: a little because we do love our grants. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 4: here's a comment. This is an anonymous comment. It's from
Speaker 4: today at eight am. This is the twenty second. This
Speaker 4: is from anonymous. This is incredibly validating. I was so
Speaker 4: excited to work on this series, only to find myself
Speaker 4: completely sidelined and unsure of my role. Eventually, I was
Speaker 4: told I didn't know how to do a job I
Speaker 4: had been successfully doing for nearly a decade. Whether intentional
Speaker 4: or not, I was on a contech.
Speaker 2: I'm looking at the same thing.
Speaker 3: I don't know when someone mentioned in this article deliberately
Speaker 3: tried to get the star of the series to speak
Speaker 3: poorly about me. They then use that conversation as leverage
Speaker 3: to cut my contract contract early, only to dismiss it
Speaker 3: with a condescending quote, TV is hard. When I left,
Speaker 3: It's the most patronizing thing anyone's ever said to me.
Speaker 3: I'll never forget it. I'm genuinely thrilled to see these
Speaker 3: people finally being exposed.
Speaker 2: I believe this. I believe now that you guys.
Speaker 3: Was this in Was this the article? I know, but
Speaker 3: I'm trying to think if this was in the article.
Speaker 3: There was something where, Oh, they said that Gary Golden Bachelor,
Speaker 3: Gary told the producer that he did not want to
Speaker 3: marry Teresa and they forced him.
Speaker 2: I believe it. That was a that was a.
Speaker 3: Bombshell in there said that they threatened to sue him
Speaker 3: or something.
Speaker 2: Oh, he didn't do it, they made him do it.
Speaker 2: I believe it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I believe it, And that's why everybody was so
Speaker 4: sort of tight lipped. Nobody really turned on anyone, you
Speaker 4: know what I mean. Like Teresa didn't really turn She's like, oh, well,
Speaker 4: we just want to live in different places.
Speaker 2: Whatever. He didn't turn out to be because of.
Speaker 1: These fucking non disclosure they have. They they are worried.
Speaker 2: About getting sued.
Speaker 3: Okay, this person says, get real difficult decisions in a
Speaker 3: time of dwindling ratings. As you say it, sure was
Speaker 3: heroic of Claire to hire her husband and best friend
Speaker 3: as executive producers. Stop looking boot and have some respect
Speaker 3: for the people who actually earn their spot.
Speaker 2: Okay, damn, it's okay. Here here's somebody who says. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I was there for the meeting where Bennett said we
Speaker 3: are lucky to be working, as he was referencing a
Speaker 3: story in the trades about the state of our industry.
Speaker 3: Bennett also went on to say we're a wonderful crew
Speaker 3: and that he wanted the franchise to continue so that
Speaker 3: we can all still work and make great TV together.
Speaker 3: We also wore name tags. I have been with the
Speaker 3: show fourteen years and I still don't know eighty percent
Speaker 3: of the names I found that helpful. Nicole Woods had
Speaker 3: been there since the beginning and also didn't know most
Speaker 3: of the crew's names. She also was widely disliked because
Speaker 3: of her signature Karen behavior and energy, often injecting herself
Speaker 3: into conversations that didn't involve her. People learned how to
Speaker 3: tolerate her by clearing an area whenever she entered a room.
Speaker 2: Wait, what was her name again? That's not clear. Now
Speaker 2: it's Nicole Woods. I think I know her too. Let
Speaker 2: me look this up.
Speaker 3: Okay, go on, uh okay, this person writes back to
Speaker 3: that person Anon not married to Claire. Since if you
Speaker 3: have complained about the fact checking, I'll jump in here.
Speaker 3: Bennett never went on to say quote, we're a wonderful crew,
Speaker 3: and that he wanted the franchise to continue so that
Speaker 3: we can all still work and make great TV together.
Speaker 3: He said we should be grateful to have work at all.
Speaker 3: There was an awkward, deafening silence following Bennett's threatening remarks.
Speaker 3: One of the directors had to chime in after to
Speaker 3: say something and complimented the crew to show some semblance
Speaker 3: of leadership, something the showrunners have failed to do. As
Speaker 3: is clear by the statements in this article. Had they
Speaker 3: added that they appreciated our hard work, that meeting would
Speaker 3: have been very different. People are rightfully disheartened by poor leadership. Wow,
Speaker 3: I believe the people.
Speaker 4: I mean, like I can. They're all having this conversation
Speaker 4: in the open. How sad under like this anonymous? They
Speaker 4: can't have these like you said, you can't. It's like
Speaker 4: our dear leader, you can't speak out this.
Speaker 3: This person wrote anonymously, wrote, anybody's anybody going to mention
Speaker 3: that the name tags were implemented because one of them
Speaker 3: except the names of some people of color on the crew.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, but it's so I mean, Okay, here's
Speaker 2: another one.
Speaker 3: This is another anonymous comment. I work on the show
Speaker 3: and have for a long time. I can confirm that
Speaker 3: the work environment got noticeably more secretive.
Speaker 1: How secretive?
Speaker 3: A lot of us found out about The Bachelorette being
Speaker 3: paused from the February seventh deadline article, and two weeks
Speaker 3: later we still haven't heard a word from production about it.
Speaker 3: In essence, we were ghosted, but we've managed to piece
Speaker 3: together that the season was paused because certain parties want
Speaker 3: Bennett and Claire gone. And in the meantime, people's livelihoods
Speaker 3: hang in the balance. Bennett and Claire, if you two
Speaker 3: are reading this, you need to go now. Your egos
Speaker 3: do not outweigh everything else.
Speaker 2: God, I like that this is.
Speaker 4: Being exposed because we've all worked in reality TV, and
Speaker 4: you know, I mentioned Jason and then meister revising producer
Speaker 4: who was a friend of mine.
Speaker 3: You're not gonna let me.
Speaker 2: You are not going to like this, Okay, what.
Speaker 3: About Erlck threatening Golden Bachelor Gary when he told Erlick
Speaker 3: he didn't want to marry Teresa anything to keep his job,
Speaker 3: including threatening the cast. He's a sleazy, greasy producer, always
Speaker 3: has been.
Speaker 4: I'm going to stand up to that. They have a
Speaker 4: right to say that. But my experience with him was nice.
Speaker 4: I'm sure he has had his bad days, but he wasn't.
Speaker 4: I did not find him like that. And what I
Speaker 4: was gonna say is that I've worked in reality TV
Speaker 4: on a bunch of different shows and as of you,
Speaker 4: and it's a really bad place, if I may say.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's interesting that we never talk about it
Speaker 4: because we cover these shows, whether it's Bravo, whatever we're doing,
Speaker 4: Like there's a darkness there. There's a darkness that's worse
Speaker 4: than stand up comedy, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 4: Like there's a bad you know, you better fucking get
Speaker 4: these numbers or you're out. I was on a show.
Speaker 4: I'm not going to say what the show was, but
Speaker 4: it wasn't Ready for Love. That was also had it.
Speaker 4: It was a nightmare. But I was on this other
Speaker 4: show and uh, I did the best I could, and yeah,
Speaker 4: if they didn't want to have me back, that's fine.
Speaker 4: But instead of calling me into the office and saying, like, listen,
Speaker 4: are regular writers coming back or whatever, they just didn't
Speaker 4: say anything to me. And instead I watched one by
Speaker 4: one every single person around me, including the teleprompter guy,
Speaker 4: get a contract, get someone coming up and go, here's
Speaker 4: your contract. I could hear it right and left. And
Speaker 4: then that's how I knew I wasn't invited back because
Speaker 4: that never came. But there's a leadership world in which
Speaker 4: somebody could just be a kind person and go, yeah,
Speaker 4: you know, we're not going to have you back, but
Speaker 4: you've been great, Like just never had the conversation.
Speaker 2: I just was fired and like just didn't come back. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, when.
Speaker 4: I'm saying, like, I think that that's I think we
Speaker 4: need to talk about this shit more about what goes
Speaker 4: on in these what goes on to make these shows.
Speaker 4: Watch Watch Unreal. Everybody watch Unreal, because that's real. That
Speaker 4: was based on the real woman who left the Bachelor franchise,
Speaker 4: And like, I do believe she suit over that too.
Speaker 4: I'm sure she did, but I think it was worth
Speaker 4: the suit. They got many seasons out of it and
Speaker 4: it was phenomenal. Yeah, and you know, I can't stop
Speaker 4: talking about it.
Speaker 2: I worked on a show.
Speaker 3: I worked on a show many years ago, is my
Speaker 3: actually my first job in the business, and it was
Speaker 3: really got awful for no reason. The production of it
Speaker 3: was awful. So we it was a dating show, and
Speaker 3: we had to come up with interesting information about the person.
Speaker 2: So you had to it had to be like, how
Speaker 2: do I explain this?
Speaker 3: There was a thing where you had to guess if
Speaker 3: something's true or false about a person, and we had
Speaker 3: to have a couple of true things that were like sexy,
Speaker 3: and sometimes we would I would get you would be
Speaker 3: assigned contestants and then you'd have to interview them over
Speaker 3: the phone and find out some like juicy, funny, tidbits
Speaker 3: about them. For instance, you'd have to ask them questions
Speaker 3: like what's the weirdest place.
Speaker 2: You've had sex?
Speaker 3: But sometimes you would get contestants that were really young,
Speaker 3: like eighteen, you know, they were old enough to be
Speaker 3: on the show, but young, and they'd like I had
Speaker 3: a couple of them, or like virgins, my god, which
Speaker 3: is not that crazy to be a virgin at eighteen, right,
Speaker 3: So but to me, no that I'm still uly but
Speaker 3: our our boss. It was such a scumbag. He was
Speaker 3: really really gross. And I've told you this. He came
Speaker 3: from the world of he used to be a.
Speaker 2: Leader in est remember that, yes, yes, of course, oh
Speaker 2: my god. So it was very like tell it like
Speaker 2: it is, people love it.
Speaker 3: Well. He was just very cult leader ish and he
Speaker 3: was very kind of hostile to listen. There's people, there
Speaker 3: are people that I still know today that love him
Speaker 3: and feel like he gave them a start in this business.
Speaker 3: But I happened to know you would have to go, well,
Speaker 3: here's what would happen. You'd write a script. Then you'd
Speaker 3: have to go sit in his office and read it
Speaker 3: to him and pitch it to him, and he would
Speaker 3: get really mad if you didn't come up with something
Speaker 3: that's like raunchy about these people, and you'd get in trouble,
Speaker 3: like you'd threaten your job is lecture you.
Speaker 2: He'd tell you.
Speaker 3: I remember being told that I was a wink a
Speaker 3: week link on the staff because so you'd have to
Speaker 3: go and and sometimes you'd have to like make stuff
Speaker 3: up like that that's not even that crazy, Like uh,
Speaker 3: one time, and I've told this story. I believe I
Speaker 3: told it on a different podcast, but I had to.
Speaker 3: I wrote that this one girl who was a virgin.
Speaker 3: I said one of her skills is she can tie
Speaker 3: a cherry stem in a not with her tongue. Okay,
Speaker 3: I probably made it up, but I had to come
Speaker 3: up with something or I was gonna lose my job.
Speaker 3: So this guy, this producer, was like, Okay, you better
Speaker 3: not that better not be a lie. She better be
Speaker 3: able to do it. No, and yeah, and I had
Speaker 3: to sit there like my stomach hurt, you know.
Speaker 2: I was like uh huh.
Speaker 3: And he's like, yeah, I'm gonna bring a cherry stem
Speaker 3: and she's gonna she better fucking do it or you're
Speaker 3: or you're fired, thank god. And then he was just
Speaker 3: bluffing like he didn't really do that, but of course
Speaker 3: I was like so scared the day of the taping
Speaker 3: that she came in. I'm like, oh my god, please please,
Speaker 3: you know, let him make her do it, like I'm
Speaker 3: gonna die.
Speaker 2: Here's what part of it is.
Speaker 4: Here's what I think part of the issue is, which
Speaker 4: again we don't talk about, but like it's a lot
Speaker 4: of it was non A lot of the shows we
Speaker 4: worked on were non union, so there were the rules,
Speaker 4: and a lot of mine were non union, so they're
Speaker 4: not ready for love. But like the actually was. I
Speaker 4: think when we started it was. And then there was
Speaker 4: a there was like a revolt. There was like a
Speaker 4: revolution during the thing. I believe. I'm pretty sure that
Speaker 4: did happen. I think it started somehow. How could an
Speaker 4: NBC show.
Speaker 2: Be non union? Is that possible?
Speaker 1: Even?
Speaker 2: But I think it was.
Speaker 3: Well, they can call the producers, they can just call
Speaker 3: you a segment producer and not call you writers, And
Speaker 3: that s what they did.
Speaker 4: Are skilled, That's what Yes, So then there was like
Speaker 4: some kind of pushback on the crew. And it's this
Speaker 4: crazy now that I think about it, now that I
Speaker 4: have more knowledge, I'm like, wait, what and they get
Speaker 4: away with like it's crazy. And because of that, because
Speaker 4: when you think of a normal set, like a multi
Speaker 4: caam set of a show, like they have to have
Speaker 4: like you've got to break on time, you've got to
Speaker 4: have a really good craft like all these things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but you don't.
Speaker 2: You're not covered. Reality TV is not covered.
Speaker 3: But you can't say like, no, you don't have to
Speaker 3: ask contestants sexually charged questions. There definitely are not ethics
Speaker 3: and morals involved in these shows. They're trying to get
Speaker 3: ratings and I don't know that a union would you
Speaker 3: know what I mean, I don't know that me complaining
Speaker 3: and saying that, hey, I don't have the stomach to
Speaker 3: you know, humiliate an eighteen year old or lose my job.
Speaker 4: I know, No, I get it. I'm not saying you.
Speaker 4: I mean we all did the same thing. It didn't
Speaker 4: even occur to me when I first took these kind
Speaker 4: of jobs where I was like, oh, yeah, no, of
Speaker 4: course I'm not unionized. Of course it's all under the table,
Speaker 4: and I guess that's fine. I mean I did a
Speaker 4: bunch of shows like that where I was like, everybody
Speaker 4: was just fine living their lives.
Speaker 2: I do remember the hours were.
Speaker 4: A lot longer, and we didn't get paid more because
Speaker 4: we weren't getting Golden time.
Speaker 2: We weren't getting like.
Speaker 4: What you're supposed to get with SAG or whatever, because
Speaker 4: you know, they do look out for you. They do
Speaker 4: make sure they're not overworking or under you know, underpaying.
Speaker 4: So a lot of these things that we watch and
Speaker 4: we love, like the Hours, and we've heard Bachelor contestants
Speaker 4: this is kind of different, but it comes still from
Speaker 4: the top down, like having to stand for so long.
Speaker 4: Like we had our friend Sondra from Golden Bachelor on
Speaker 4: the show and she's like, yeah, fuck that shit, I
Speaker 4: just sat down.
Speaker 2: Nobody's going to tell me to stand.
Speaker 4: And we loved that about like the senior, older people
Speaker 4: that are like, yeah, you're not gonna tell me what
Speaker 4: to do. But there are people that almost pass out
Speaker 4: they're drinking, they're not eating enough, they're drinking so much.
Speaker 4: Remember the stories we used to hear about, like Last
Speaker 4: Comic Standing, they would like purposely wake people up in
Speaker 4: the middle of the night and then just give them
Speaker 4: eminems to eat in the morning. Some crazy shit went down,
Speaker 4: and this is reality TV, So maybe this is the
Speaker 4: reckoning we need. These kind of stories.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I just don't know that, Like I don't know
Speaker 3: that like any kind of union would help.
Speaker 2: I mean, I guess you think so it.
Speaker 3: But look at what they tried to do on like
Speaker 3: Love is Blind, And now they make such a big
Speaker 3: deal about like showing them eating, like as if to say,
Speaker 3: like we're fine. Everybody's fine. People are having snacks, right,
Speaker 3: so they were complaining that they weren't getting fed.
Speaker 2: And I believe it.
Speaker 4: I mean, although that you live, you're living in a house,
Speaker 4: like they did show that on Golden Bachelor and showed
Speaker 4: like people walking around and opening the fridge and Jick
Speaker 4: you know, whenever he wanted to grill something up. So
Speaker 4: maybe that was changed. I still want to believe that
Speaker 4: my Adjason made it a nice you know, a nice set.
Speaker 2: It doesn't mean that.
Speaker 4: Everybody had a great experience with someone, right, I mean,
Speaker 4: these they're still in reality, they still have to keep
Speaker 4: their jobs as long as they can.
Speaker 3: I can understand a lot I do happen to know
Speaker 3: from from the stories that I'm being told that you're
Speaker 3: we're not supposed to repeat. But that's why we're keeping
Speaker 3: these sources completely anonymous. That it is scary and everybody's
Speaker 3: scared for their jobs right now. Yeah, and they don't
Speaker 3: like they don't give anybody there's no job security. It's
Speaker 3: just like you're going to make this TV show and
Speaker 3: for a lower and lower and lower budgets and if
Speaker 3: you don't like it, get the fuck out. There's four
Speaker 3: hundred people behind you that will take your job. And
Speaker 3: it's a little bit the world we live in. It's
Speaker 3: not just this, it's not just reality television. It's not
Speaker 3: just and that is scary as fuck and it's such
Speaker 3: a shame. Yeah, like you know, who's a really good
Speaker 3: boss though? This is You're gonna be surprised when I
Speaker 3: tell you this. But Elon Musk is like surprise, Like.
Speaker 2: He's a good guy. He's a good guy.
Speaker 4: He's now a lot of nice What if you guys,
Speaker 4: and what if somebody's new to this show and they're like, oh,
Speaker 4: I'm going to click on this. I'm very interested in
Speaker 4: this weird like bachelor thing and then they don't know
Speaker 4: we are we are joking.
Speaker 2: Remember that guy.
Speaker 4: That I went almost went out with that did work
Speaker 4: for Space, he worked for Elon Musk. Yes, And remember
Speaker 4: how I said, Okay, this is a Borday aft thing.
Speaker 2: But we'll leave you with this.
Speaker 4: I met this guy and we're supposed to go out.
Speaker 4: We never did, but we were texting back and forth
Speaker 4: and he was like a space guy. He's like he
Speaker 4: was like an astrophysicist or something. He was very I
Speaker 4: was very excited about him. And then I just tried
Speaker 4: to make a joke. I go, so, does Elon come
Speaker 4: into the office. He's like yeah, sometimes, I go, does
Speaker 4: he come in like through the dome like this? He
Speaker 4: like come in? Does he like descend from the ceiling
Speaker 4: in like an orb into the middle of the room,
Speaker 4: and he.
Speaker 2: Goes, no, just like regular.
Speaker 4: And I knew at that moment I was like, oh,
Speaker 4: this is probably not gonna It's too bad.
Speaker 2: I really thought it didn't work out anyway. But right
Speaker 2: like he thought I was serious that that was my question.
Speaker 4: Yeah, does he like, you know, just like the heavens
Speaker 4: open up of like kind of like a spaceball and
Speaker 4: then he just like descends in like a glitter orb.
Speaker 4: He just walks into the just regular. He's a parking
Speaker 4: space and he just.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, his.
Speaker 3: It has his name on it, but like yeah, just yea,
Speaker 3: and it's just cool.
Speaker 2: He just walks in through it. He opens the door
Speaker 2: and just walks in, walks out. Anyway, you guys, all right,
Speaker 2: thanks everybody.
Speaker 4: We'll stay safe and just like you know, yeah, hug
Speaker 4: somebody today who might be having a tough time at
Speaker 4: their job.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And we want these.
Speaker 4: Jobs to continue because we want the show to continue
Speaker 4: because it's what we do and we love it, actually
Speaker 4: like it. So let's everybody get it together, be nicer
Speaker 4: and do nice things. Yeah, okay, bye bye,