For the first time ever, ABC’s Bachelor spinoff Bachelor in Paradise is getting people to take it seriously. To the show’s discredit, this was accomplished through dark and unethical circumstances when two contestants’ alcohol-infused sexual encounter (not a first for BiP) lead to an internal investigation and bigger conversation about whether or not heavily intoxicated participants on a reality show can have consensual sex.
On this week’s DirtCast, I’m joined by our resident Bachelor expert, Jezebel Deputy Editor Kate Dries, and comedian Michelle Collins, who—in addition to hosting a highly funny podcast of her own called Fresh Batch—hosted Season 2 of ABC’s After Paradise, a post-Bachelor in Paradise talkshow.
A true Bachelor aficionado (and dare I say, insider?), Michelle gives her take on what will happen to Bachelor in Paradise now that it’s been announced that Warner Bros. will resume production on the current season.
“I’m surprised they’re [resuming the season], but I also get it,” Michelle says. “Because from a financial point, how do you just not go back? But it’s also this question of if anything did happen, HOW do you go back? It’s a very ugly space.”
Later, she speculates “that they’ll...combine [everything] into a two hour long premiere and they’re gonna address [the controversy] in the first episode and get it out of the way and then it’s gonna go into normal Paradise.”
We then move onto lighter topics—specifically The Bachelorette’s Peter Kraus vs. Six Feet Under’s Peter Krause, a trip to a monster truck rally, our favorite theme restaurants, and what it’s like run into Leonardo DiCaprio at Coachella while rolling on ecstasy for the very first (and last) time.
Keep up with the hilarious Michelle Collins on Twitter and Instagram.
DirtCast can be found on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeart Media.
Our show is produced by Levi Sharpe with editorial oversight by Kate Dries. Mandana Mofidi is our Executive Director of Audio. Our theme music is by Stuart Wood. This episode was mixed by Brad Fisher. Listen to our politics podcast, Big Time Dicks, here.