'Bachelor' contractually obligated to be a jerk
Can you blame The Bachelor for a change of heart? No, but many disgusted viewers are holding single dad Jason Mesnick responsible for how he acted on his heart's wishes.
For those who missed the controversial finale Monday night or just want to relive the excruciating moment when Jason told his chosen fiancee, winner Melissa Rycroft, that he was dumping her because he still had feelings for runner-up Molly Malaney, check out Zap2it's Bachelor recap.
The Jason-haters appear to fall into three camps:
1) Those who want to string him up for giving Melissa the boot on national television
2) Those who blame him for being a fickle-hearted douchebag who shouldn't have been on the show in the first place since he obviously doesn't know jack about love
3) Those who find it irresponsible that he confused his child Ty by introducing him to women who weren't guaranteed to be part of his life
Jason acknowledges that the first group's hatred is legitimate, since he's filled with self-loathing for his actions as well. But he says that he had no choice. ABC and The Bachelor contract made him do it.
"That was part of the deal. I signed up for it in my contract," he says in a People interview. "Your relationship is --- good and bad --- in front of everybody. If I could have, I would have seen Melissa the night before. It killed me. It kills me now."
The Star-Ledger's Alan Sepinwall makes a good argument that yes, Jason is a jerk, but he's just like all the Bachelor jerks who preceded him. Timing was everything. If Jason had dumped Melissa on the actual finale, we would have seen her weepy limo ride earlier. And, unlike previous Bachelors who eventually broke it off with their final picks, Jason had the bad luck to have his change of heart before the After the Final Rose reunion.
Somewhere in Texas, Brad Womack is doing a happy jig. But Bachelorette Trista Sutter -- the only one in the franchise to marry her pick -- isn't too pleased with how Jason handled things.
Vote: How should Jason's love life play out?
Do you still blame Jason? Should ABC get blamed for holding Jason to the contract? Should every Bachelor contestant get blamed for agreeing to perpetrate such a ridiculous farce on TV? Should the viewers get blamed for fueling the ratings, making ABC continue with The Bachelor formula for ratings success and dating disasters?
Jason is a spineless tool. he sure as hell could have told Melissa off camera.
What was worse was trying to rationalize it by saying he would tell Ty to do the samething & not worry about what people think.
Um, that applies to deciding to have a non-traditional career or wearing what clothes you like no matter what is in style. It does not apply to treating another person poorly just because your penis, I mean heart, tells you to.
We all know Brad Womack broke the contract by picking no one & he didn't get sued, now did he?
I loved Jason...now he is a tool...was he obligated to lie and say he didnt talk to molly until that night...was he obligated to stick his tongue down mollys throat 5 minutes after...he could have broke up with her before the final rose and came on the show and told them what happened alone...he is a complete liar to say that was the only way...so the show made him stay with her for 6 weeks and break up with her that night...and molly is pathetic...its obvious she is a fake piece of trash...she even said she wasnt an emotional person but to do that on tv to another women she makes me sick...i dont blame him for doing it i blame him for how and to use the show as an excuse is a cop out...your right brad is a real man...even deanna looks good after this...how lucky is jillian now...wow what will this show do next for ratings...melissa just be thankful...im sure tonights show was planned recently to do damage control...they probably paid melissa to come on and try to make jason and the show look good...im not sure who is worse molly or jason...they deserve each other...poor ty he has no chance with those too...
Jason and Molly will be history by Memorial Day. You can bet on it.
Now it should be "The Bastard" not "The Bachelor". I won't be watching this show ever again. Good riddance!
If that was part of the contract, uh...I wouldn't have signed it? Duh.
It was obvious that Jason was lying when he said he had not spoken to Molly since the show ended.He would not have given up so easily if he had not been certain he would be with Molly. It was also abvious that Molly was lying by the way she laughed, and looked down. The truth is they did alot more than talk during those six weeks he was still with Melissa.
You are sooooo on the money, IggyPop! They'll probably be history BEFORE Memorial Day...LOL!!!
As the Mother of two girls..I hate that this was aired as it was. Seems to me he got his cake and gets to eat it too. He tried Melissa and something didn't go right so he thought..hell I'll try Molly now. What a fine lesson he's taught his son!!
I feel horrible for Melissa - she was blindsided last night, and I feel she handled it very well under the cir***stance. I didn't think that Jason and Melissa were supposed to "see" each other until the After the Rose ceremony, but yet they were together during the holidays.... Molly & Jason will not work out as she is so very obviously fake. He will again learn the hard way and by then it will be too late to get back with Melissa or Deanna.
I knew Deanna made a mistake with Jesse too. Jason made the right choice the first time - Melissa.
Jason "had" to wait to break the news to Melissa on air? Oh, bulldinky. And he "had" to not have any contact with Molly between the show's final episode and the "After the Rose" ceremony, too, right? (As if.) Why would this guy be so committed to his contractual obligations if he's so quick to break his promises to the girl he first asked to marry him? (Well, the one that followed the termination of his first set of marriage vows, that is.) The Bachelor's bloom has fallen off the rose; it's time for Chris Harrison to find a new, less smarmy gig and time for this trainwreck of a show to shut down forever!