‘The Bachelorette’ Week Two Betting Odds
–This is the 13th season for ABC’s distaff spin-off of ‘The Bachelor’.
–Dallas attorney Rachel Lindsay is the series’ first African-American bachelorette.
–The second episode of ‘The Bachelorette’ will air on Monday, May 29 at 8 PM Eastern.
This is why we can’t have nice things. Not only is the winner of ‘The Bachelorette’ now a well known non-secret to anyone with the slightest inclination to finding out the identity of the ‘Final Four’ is becoming obvious as well. That leaves our ‘To Make the Final Four’ betting odds market in a state of limbo.
I’ve seen some conflicting reports on who makes the ‘Final Four’ so I’m going to leave it up for now minus the apparent winner. In other words, you’re betting on the remaining three to make the ‘Final Four’. For now, it’s like back in the day when Michael Schumacher dominated Formula One like no one else in history. European sportsbooks needed to do something to get some betting interest on the races so they started doing a ‘to win’ market *with* Schumacher as a prohibitive favorite just about every week. They also did one *without* Schumacher, essentially asking bettors to pick who would finish second. This is different since even with Schumacher and the Ferrari team on another competitive level there was some drama as to who’d finish on the podium. Plus, there was always the modicum of a chance that Schumacher would blow a tire or have some other mishap that would keep him from winning.
As you’re no doubt aware, I’ve started watching and following a ridiculous amount of reality TV to do odds on the various shows. I’ve watched everything from ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race‘ to ‘Dancing with the Stars‘ The popular ones all have fan websites where theories are thrown around and spoilers floated for their viability. ‘The Bachelorette’ is entirely something different–the producers might as well have spent the first 15 minutes of Episode 1 telling viewers what would happen this year and who would win. I can’t figure out what they’re thinking. Either they’ve orchestrated (at least to some extent) the early release of the show’s results or else they’ve got the worst ‘operational security’ of any TV show production in history. Maybe they’re of the opinion that it doesn’t matter to their viewers and expect them to turn in regardless of the outcome being known in advance. Maybe they will. If they do, it doesn’t say much about the fanbase. One thing is certain–it’s destroyed the show as a wagering proposition.
‘THE BACHELORETTE’ IS ESSENTIALLY A ‘WORK’
There were some more revelations this week further implicating the legitimacy of what the producers of ‘The Bachelorette’ spoon feed to their viewers. The storyline is that thousands of eligible bachelors ‘audition’ for the show and the producers select the most appealing or at least the most entertaining. That’s apparently not the case, at least in some instances. For example, DeMario Jackson is (hint, hint) *expected* to do really well this season. Turns out that he was ‘recruited’ for the show and didn’t ‘try out’. Not surprisingly, no one really seems to care.
It’s no secret that the producers of reality TV shows have numerous ways to manipulate the outcome. The easiest is selective editing with which a nice person can become a ‘heel’ to the audience and vice versa. Many shows have some sort of ‘audience voting’ component and I’ve always had doubts about the veracity of the results. Producers can either ‘cook the books’ on the outcome or just pick who they want to win without regard to the real voting numbers. This allows them to manipulate the outcome and not end up beholden to the ‘judges’ scoring. That makes ‘Dancing with the Stars’ less of a ‘dancing competition’ and more of a popularity competition where the producers tell you the outcome with little to no transparency of results. That sure seems legit.
Of course it’s all entertainment so it doesn’t really matter how the decisions are rendered and winners selected. The majority of reality shows, however, at least have enough respect for their audiences to create a subterfuge of legitimacy and to go to great lengths to keep the outcomes under wraps. That’s why we can create betting markets on reality TV in the first place. ‘The Bachelorette’ doesn’t even try to maintain a patina of being on the ‘up and up’. I’m still scratching my head to why this is the case but every theory I come up with suggests that the producers don’t really care.
‘THE BACHELORETTE’ FANTASY LEAGUE
I’d hoped that ‘The Bachelorette’ would do a better job keeping each episode on the hush hush until it airs. That would make ABC’s ‘Bachelorette Fantasy League’ contest more interesting. My plan had been to do odds on these every week but since the answers are almost as common knowledge as the full season results why bother? In any case, here’s the questions with my ‘guesses’ as to what will happen:
–TRUE or FALSE: Rachel sends one bachelor home during a group date. (TRUE)
–A Hollywood super couple presents which of these challenges to Rachel’s bachelors on a group date?
‘Husband material’ challenge
‘Cooking for Two’ challenge
‘Beach body workout’ challenge
‘Dating etiquette’ challenge
(This assumes you consider Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis a ‘Hollywood super couple’. Not exactly Bogart and Bacall. The guest couple presides over a ‘Husband Material’ challenge)
–TRUE OR FALSE: A bachelor will take a dip in a hot tub with Rachel in this episode. (TRUE–I really am guessing on this one but doesn’t someone end up in a hot tub every week?)
–Which of the following is written on one of the date cards this week?
‘The sky’s the limit’
‘Who let the dogs out?’
‘Lets make this a slam dunk’
‘I’m looking for my best friend’
(As much as I’d love to see a pack of rabid German Shepherds released on everyone involved with the production of the show while Baja Men’s ‘classic’ song ‘Who Let The Dogs Out‘ plays no such luck. I used a little logic on this one–the other celebrity guest on the show is legit legend Kareem Abdul Jabbar. I guess you could go with ‘The sky’s the limit’ and do a bit about Kareem’s 7’2″ height. And maybe he’s a great guy to have as a ‘best friend’ but I’m thinking ‘Let’s make this a slam dunk’ is a lock.
–TRUE OR FALSE: Rachel’s ex-boyfriend shows up unexpectedly at the Bachelor mansion. (FALSE–my Magic 8-Ball tells me that it’s not Rachel’s ex-boyfriend’s but an aforementioned contestant’s ex-girlfriend that appears on the scene)
And finally…
–Which bachelor receives the first 1 on 1 date of the season?
It’s not Kareem despite the fact that he could still dominate every bachelor at 1 on 1. It’s the ultimate winner of the show and now fiance of our protagonist.
Anyway, here’s the updated betting odds minus Peter Kraus. We’ll be back next week with an update and more betting odds on ‘The Bachelorette’:
THE BACHELORETTE SEASON 13 BETTING ODDS
TO REACH THE ‘FINAL FOUR’
Peter: OFF
Eric: +150
Bryan: +250
Dean: +450
Josiah: +450
Kenny (pro wrestler Kenny King): +750
Anthony: +750
Diggy: +950
Brady: +950
DeMario: +1250
Alex: +1250
Matt: +1500
Lee: +1750
Jack: +1750
Blake E: +1750
Fred: +1750
Jamey: +2150
Will: +2150
Jonathan: +2500
Iggy: +2500
Adam: +2500
Bryce: +3250
Lucas (the guy that says WHABOOM!): +5000