I'm going to not insult your intelligence and assume you all knew that. Even without all the internet nattering and conspiracy theories, you'd probably realize that since you see 10 minutes of footage from a date that lasts a whole day, what makes it to TV isn't exactly the whole story. And it's more than just that - apparently a lot of conversations/stupid hijinks/grand romantic gestures are actually suggested by the producers, and they have the power to take sound bites out of context and play them over footage that's completely unrelated in order to manipulate us into feeling a particular way about each "character".
While I try to make the blog as conspiracy-theory free as possible, in order to keep things lighthearted and fun, one of the real reasons I love the Bachelor is that it's fun to speculate about what's real, and what isn't. How much of what we're seeing is producer manipulation? What are these people really like?
Sorry, I just wanted to use this picture again.With this in mind, I can't help but wonder...is Evil Bentley really all that evil, or just a victim of egregious editing? Someone with a lot of time on their hands has created a blog devoted solely to redeeming Bentley in the public image - in this article, they make a pretty good argument that many of Bentley's most dastardly comments were what we call "frankenbited" - cobbled together from bits and pieces of other interviews.
What do you think - is Bentley a heartless goon, or some poor schmo who got on the wrong side of the ABC production machine? Or (and this third possibility makes it all the more interesting) is he just playing up the villain role to cash in on his 15 minutes of fame? Talk amongst yourselves.
It could be all three. I've decided he's no-good: Chris Harrison detests him, and he usually gives the "villains" the benefit of the doubt. (I think.) Also, if Michelle "Imma coming at you like a spider monkey!" Money thinks he's out-of-line, that can't be good.
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I think you're right - I can't help thinking he must be at least a little bit of a jerk, or they wouldn't have had so much to work with. But I wish all his sound bites didn't sound so suspiciously chopped up, so I could judge his jerkitude on its own merits.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Nancy, and thanks for the shout out. Bentley is awesome and is the best thing about the current season. Read more about him at
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I'm sorry, but you can't make up the stuff he said in the interviews. They didn't have him read a script. He said them and chose to say them and they proved that he is a jerk. Is he Satan incarnate? No. Is he a good dad? Maybe, I don't know. It's certainly possible. But the comments he made about Ashley and his intentions were purposeful. They may have been focused on for drama, but he still said them.
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