Speaker 1: This is the most dramatic podcast ever and iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1: Chris Harrison Lauren z Ema coming to you from the
Speaker 1: home office in Austin, Texas. We open up the playbook
Speaker 1: as we step back today in Bachelor Lore, Elsie. We
Speaker 1: got a comment from one of our listeners about a
Speaker 1: particular moment in Bachelor history, and this went viral the
Speaker 1: other day online and it was actually really funny. So
Speaker 1: I will give you a first hand, professional re enactment
Speaker 1: of this dramatic moment. When I walked into the room
Speaker 1: to announce to the ladies that they would be traveling,
Speaker 1: and again, they're tired, They're ready to go. They know
Speaker 1: this announcement is coming. And I walk in and I say, ladies,
Speaker 1: it's time to pack up the first stop on this
Speaker 1: amazing journey that will take us around the world. Now
Speaker 1: I'm going to pause for a second because now they're
Speaker 1: on the edge of their seats. They are anticipating the
Speaker 1: greatest announcement ever. Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe. Where are we
Speaker 1: going that will take us around the world. We'll begin
Speaker 1: in a city full of art, culture and rock and roll.
Speaker 1: Peter is going to meet you in Cleveland, and that
Speaker 1: is when the penny dropped.
Speaker 2: I remember that. That was Peter Weber pilot Pete season
Speaker 2: and yeah, you were coming in to tell them, was
Speaker 2: it about their first trip?
Speaker 1: That was the first trip? You know, it's time, you know,
Speaker 1: at episode three or four whatever when we would always
Speaker 1: leave and you know, it got so commonplace too that
Speaker 1: you know, everybody knew when they were going and all that,
Speaker 1: and they.
Speaker 2: Were except you mean, like people had watched the show
Speaker 2: and then they'd come on, so they knew, oh, he's
Speaker 2: going to come in and announce that. Now, yeah, they
Speaker 2: knew the formula.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so they you know, that was the one it was.
Speaker 1: It's so funny because in the days and episodes leading
Speaker 1: up to that, when I go wake them up in
Speaker 1: the morning, and you really are waking them up early.
Speaker 1: We've been up previously the night before at the Rose
Speaker 1: ceremony till probably a few hours before I come back in,
Speaker 1: and so everybody's really tired, and you know, the producers
Speaker 1: are trying to pump everybody up, and everyone's bleary eyed,
Speaker 1: and you know, we're like, hey, can y'all look you know,
Speaker 1: somewhat alive. It's going to be on HDTV soon. And
Speaker 1: so that was then you'd come in and they were
Speaker 1: actually excited because you know, you're going to go somewhere cool.
Speaker 2: But this was to Cleveland, Ohio. No shame to Cleveland, Ohio,
Speaker 2: but it's not BALI, right.
Speaker 1: And so we I got there that morning, and you know,
Speaker 1: typically we would work with the boards of Tourism, Chamber
Speaker 1: of Commerce, wherever, you know, one of the governments around,
Speaker 1: you know, if you went to a different country, and
Speaker 1: there were certain things that they would want said. And
Speaker 1: obviously our goal is to make it seem romantic and
Speaker 1: exciting and pump up the volume and all this. And
Speaker 1: I got there that morning and we're all really tired,
Speaker 1: and we've been doing this for twenty years. It was
Speaker 1: just like wanh wanh wanh.
Speaker 2: But like you had to know what the reaction to
Speaker 2: Cleveland was going to be.
Speaker 1: One hundred percent. I was worried because I'm like, what
Speaker 1: they're gonna They're gonna come at me like angry villagers.
Speaker 1: They were, you know, I was totally scared of what
Speaker 1: was about to happen. And uh I because I knew
Speaker 1: it was just going to go off so dead. What
Speaker 1: they didn't show, I don't think unless it was a
Speaker 1: blooper on that episode. But I did a fake take
Speaker 1: when I said we were going to Maui. You fake
Speaker 1: them out or honolu, I said something I think. I
Speaker 1: said we're going to Hawaii and they went nuts.
Speaker 2: I said, so when you say fake take, you mean
Speaker 2: you lied to them first.
Speaker 1: And I said, I'm just kidding, We're going to Cleveland.
Speaker 2: They're like, what, So why did you tell them Hawaii?
Speaker 1: Because I needed that reaction?
Speaker 2: Oh, because you thought they'll put this reaction shot in
Speaker 2: later one hundred people will actually make it look like
Speaker 2: these women are cheering for Cleveland, Ohio. Yes, had you
Speaker 2: guys done that before? Because that now feels familiar to me.
Speaker 2: I feel like there were other seasons where I watched,
Speaker 2: because Cleveland wasn't the first so so destination. Yes, I
Speaker 2: could be wrong, but I feel like there were other
Speaker 2: seasons where I watched and that reaction, the reaction was
Speaker 2: big to an okay place, and I remember thinking, why
Speaker 2: are these women so excited for like Little Rock, Arkansas?
Speaker 2: So had you done that before? Faked them out?
Speaker 1: I would say other things to get I think what Deadwood,
Speaker 1: South Dakota was another one, which, by the way, you know,
Speaker 1: here's the thing. Some of these locations were amazing, like Whitefish, Montana, Deadwood.
Speaker 1: I even liked going to Cleveland, some of these other
Speaker 1: locations around the country. We would always kind of use
Speaker 1: the United States is the jumping point typically, and then
Speaker 1: you would go off overseas and it's just hard because
Speaker 1: they're so excited because you come in and you say
Speaker 1: we're about to, you know, begin a jury that will
Speaker 1: literally take us around the world, when it literally wasn't
Speaker 1: taking us well.
Speaker 2: Also, some cities just don't have that. Like if you
Speaker 2: say we're going to Miami, Florida, that has a little
Speaker 2: more recognizability then New Orleans, Vegas, right, Whitefish, Montana, I'd
Speaker 2: be like, I mean, I have some Yellowstone. Is it cool?
Speaker 2: Is it like Yellowstone? So you you did the fake take.
Speaker 2: They ended up airing the crickets, which was funny.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm glad they lean into it.
Speaker 2: And sometimes the show wouldn't lean into reality enough. I
Speaker 2: was sitting watching going like you just said, it's been
Speaker 2: on for twenty years, Like just lean into and welcome
Speaker 2: the reality of this reality show because we all know,
Speaker 2: you know, you don't need to fake us out, Like
Speaker 2: as if they were excited about.
Speaker 1: Well, and lean into because we're going to show Cleveland
Speaker 1: in a very good light, right, We're going to show
Speaker 1: the rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and we get
Speaker 1: access to and we did. We actually had a great time,
Speaker 1: and I was there for a few days and hit
Speaker 1: some great restaurants and I love that area. But it's
Speaker 1: okay to lean into the joke and then go there
Speaker 1: and then show how great that's.
Speaker 2: Cause then you're going upward. Yeah, you're on an upward journey.
Speaker 1: Yeah, don't I mean to have people screaming and yelling
Speaker 1: that they're going to Minneapolis or Cleveland or Dallas. Like really,
Speaker 1: it's it's like, come on, we know, we know we're
Speaker 1: not going to be all that excited compared to like
Speaker 1: Bora Bora, and but you know, Peter season, we went
Speaker 1: off and we'd ended up in some great places and.
Speaker 2: What else did you ever have to fake reactions to
Speaker 2: the most? I think people have probably asked you about
Speaker 2: this a million times. I'm not sure I ever have,
Speaker 2: but people always wondered if the lead like remembered everyone
Speaker 2: during the rows ceremony, for example, I'm thinking of stuff
Speaker 2: like that. Did you have to reshoot somebody saying names,
Speaker 2: or like, what did you guys have to reshoot or
Speaker 2: do a fake take of even though it was a
Speaker 2: reality show.
Speaker 1: One of the big things that we were always careful of,
Speaker 1: and we drew this line ourselves, is we would never
Speaker 1: people always ask did you write the names on the roses?
Speaker 1: Do they have an IFB which is that little earpiece
Speaker 1: where the producer would tell you what to say? Or
Speaker 1: were there que cards? Because how would they remember? We
Speaker 1: made them memorize the names in order. What they would
Speaker 1: do is they would choose the list of say ten,
Speaker 1: fifteen women, whatever it is. Then you would have to
Speaker 1: memorize as many names as you could. However many Lourens
Speaker 1: and Kelly's you could memorize, and then you would go
Speaker 1: out and say it. Then you would stop and leave
Speaker 1: the room. Producer your handler would have the list and
Speaker 1: you would go on.
Speaker 2: So they'd memorize like three or four names at a time. Yeah, gotcha.
Speaker 1: Well, and I don't know if people got dumber over
Speaker 1: the years, but it's funny like back in the day
Speaker 1: they would go three, four or five people in a row.
Speaker 1: Then it got to be like two people in a row.
Speaker 2: I think the answer is people got.
Speaker 1: It was really, I mean really it got bad sometimes,
Speaker 1: like we can't do three names.
Speaker 2: Brad Womack. Was he the one who once infamously said
Speaker 2: the wrong name when you went out there?
Speaker 1: Well, the most famous one was Jesse Palmer, Oh maybe
Speaker 1: it was Jesse. Jesse on night one looked at one
Speaker 1: girl and said the wrong name, and she came up
Speaker 1: and got a rose, and then he like froze and
Speaker 1: we left and he's like, I said the wrong name.
Speaker 1: And then he went back out and was like, look,
Speaker 1: I didn't mean to give you a rose, but since
Speaker 1: you got it, do you want to stay? And the
Speaker 1: girl stayed? Like I think if the girl had any
Speaker 1: kind of hoofs about her, she would have been like, no,
Speaker 1: like I'm leaving, But she's like, I want to be
Speaker 1: on TV again, so I'm gonna stay. But yeah, he's
Speaker 1: he's the one that infamously said the wrong name.
Speaker 2: So then so you guys chose to put it back
Speaker 2: on her.
Speaker 1: So yeah, back he goes. He goes, what do I do?
Speaker 1: And I'm like, well, say say the right name from
Speaker 1: now on and then go because he offered her, He's like, look,
Speaker 1: I this is what happened. And it was the right
Speaker 1: thing to do, but he put it back on her
Speaker 1: and then. But as far as reshooting stuff, the only time,
Speaker 1: you know, every now and then very rare. Ken Fuchs
Speaker 1: was our director. If for some reason we had a
Speaker 1: bad take or the lighting messed up or whatever, we
Speaker 1: would maybe have them say it again, but we would
Speaker 1: never change what happened. Right, Like, if somebody did screw
Speaker 1: up and say the wrong name or what you would,
Speaker 1: we would not have fixed that. We would have shown
Speaker 1: that and then had to correct it with whatever, Jesse,
Speaker 1: can you.
Speaker 2: Say that wrong name again? We didn't. The lighting wasn't
Speaker 2: great exactly, We didn't. It was a little dark. The
Speaker 2: shot okay.
Speaker 1: And the only thing I ever had people do is
Speaker 1: again they would be so tired in the mornings when
Speaker 1: I would go in and set up dates and they
Speaker 1: were just dead. I mean they were so so tired
Speaker 1: or hungover or whatever, and producers would be like, Hey,
Speaker 1: can y'all act like you care at all about what
Speaker 1: I'm saying.
Speaker 2: I always used to advise people, even doing like hosting
Speaker 2: and stuff, you have to like be yourself, but add
Speaker 2: ten percent like the camera just being on camera, having
Speaker 2: a screen separating you from a person. You can't just
Speaker 2: be you like you want to be natural. But you
Speaker 2: can't just be you as if you're you know, talking
Speaker 2: to your friend over coffee. You need a little more
Speaker 2: energy at the table.
Speaker 1: When as years went by, you would you know, we
Speaker 1: got cheaper and cheaper, you would lose cruise, and so
Speaker 1: we would often do what's called a clean read, and
Speaker 1: so they would shoot my stuff first without anybody in
Speaker 1: the room, and so produce. Usually there'd be like two
Speaker 1: or three producers sitting on the couch making fun of me,
Speaker 1: trying to get me to laugh, goofing around, and I
Speaker 1: would read, you know, do it a couple different ways
Speaker 1: with an eye with a camera directly at me, and
Speaker 1: then they could only you know, then that way you
Speaker 1: can use all the cameras to just shoot the women
Speaker 1: when we would do it for real and you get
Speaker 1: the ladies reactions.
Speaker 2: You told me the other day. They used to mess
Speaker 2: with you during the live shows too.
Speaker 1: They would yeah, because you know, I had I would
Speaker 1: have an eye be during the live specials or doing
Speaker 1: the tell, all all those things they you know, and
Speaker 1: so they would prompt me on certain things and say, okay,
Speaker 1: next up, talk to Lauren or talk to Kelly or
Speaker 1: bring her up to the hot seat. But most of
Speaker 1: the time they would be in my ear trying to
Speaker 1: get me to crack up, saying really inappropriate stuff when
Speaker 1: you're on live when I'm on live TV. Yeah, we're
Speaker 1: on live TV. And they would just they would be,
Speaker 1: you know, really inappropriate okay, Like I wish I could
Speaker 1: have had those recordings that would have been great bloopers,
Speaker 1: you know. And they would often do it very inopportune
Speaker 1: times if things were really emotional, someone would be crying
Speaker 1: or it was like a really tense moment and they
Speaker 1: would try to crack me up.
Speaker 2: And cross your zippers down.
Speaker 1: Yeah exactly. I was like, do you always drool like that?
Speaker 1: Or like, do you have you always had a lazy eye?
Speaker 1: That's weird?
Speaker 2: Like Chris, you're really sweaty, just so you know, man,
Speaker 2: seek No, you never sweat okay. Getting back to the
Speaker 2: traveling thing a little bit, to destinations such as Cleveland.
Speaker 2: I did not watch the show back in the original days,
Speaker 2: but you didn't always travel. Do you think that it
Speaker 2: made the show better or worse when you started traveling
Speaker 2: instead of just filming everything like at the Mansion and locally.
Speaker 2: How do you think it affected the show overall?
Speaker 1: Well, it made the show better, but it also made
Speaker 1: it cheaper in a couple of ways because it was
Speaker 1: Charlie O'Connor.
Speaker 2: So better and cheaper.
Speaker 1: That's a good Charlie O'Connell was a first one where
Speaker 1: we really traveled and then we stayed. We went to Aruba,
Speaker 1: and the and the Bord of Tourism in Aruba did
Speaker 1: a big payout and got us to stay there for
Speaker 1: the final, for the third when it was down to three,
Speaker 1: and then the finale and that was the first time
Speaker 1: we'd ever done that, and it went unbelievably well. They
Speaker 1: were so excited and then tragically, the Natalie Hollowell case happened.
Speaker 2: Natalie Holloway, Yeah.
Speaker 1: And that happened right and they were it was like
Speaker 1: they had the high of our show and then that
Speaker 1: and it was a total disaster. So we felt bad,
Speaker 1: But that was the first time, and then from then
Speaker 1: on it started getting bigger and bigger from these resorts
Speaker 1: and boards of tourism in these countries that were like, yeah,
Speaker 1: instead of buying a sixty second commercial that no one's
Speaker 1: going to watch, we're going to bring the bachelor over
Speaker 1: and have a two hour high definition commercial to millions
Speaker 1: and millions. You know, at the time it was tens
Speaker 1: of millions of people, so it was huge. So they
Speaker 1: would pay us to come over there and shoot, so
Speaker 1: it was cheaper and allowed us to cause. Look, the
Speaker 1: other thing is why was the show better? Because after
Speaker 1: several years of being in la There's only so many
Speaker 1: times you can go wine tasting, only so many times
Speaker 1: you can get in a hot air balloon, go to
Speaker 1: the beach, go to Malibu. You know, there's just not
Speaker 1: that many locations, and so it got a little tired.
Speaker 2: Well, as a viewer, it was nice because you sort
Speaker 2: of felt like you were traveling while watching the show.
Speaker 2: I mean, I like movies that are set in other
Speaker 2: locations for the same reason. It was aescapist.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and people would honestly, back in the day, it
Speaker 1: was done on such a high level. I don't know,
Speaker 1: I've heard it's not on this level now. And it
Speaker 1: was already waning when I was still on the show.
Speaker 1: We stopped staying at the nicest resort. Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: really on a budget, and so we weren't showing you
Speaker 1: the best of these cities, and we weren't going to
Speaker 1: the nicest places in the world, and so that age
Speaker 1: and era had stopped. But it was escapism, and these
Speaker 1: websites of these resorts and countries would crash after the
Speaker 1: episode aired. It was pretty amazing what the result would be.
Speaker 2: How do you think it affected the relationships? Because here's
Speaker 2: where my mind goes, and I'm asking you because you
Speaker 2: just have the scope of you were on it throughout
Speaker 2: all the different iterations. Like, on the one hand, I
Speaker 2: think travel is important in a relationship. You got to
Speaker 2: travel with somebody and see how do we do together
Speaker 2: when we've missed our flight, and do we like to
Speaker 2: do the same things when we travel. But then on
Speaker 2: the other hand, you know, when you've just started dating,
Speaker 2: you're not typically going to Europe together. So I mean,
Speaker 2: I guess it could make better TV. People get really
Speaker 2: swept up in it. How do you think it affected
Speaker 2: the actual relationship connections?
Speaker 1: It didn't help because they're not traveling together. It's not
Speaker 1: a real situation where they're traveling together. The bachelor does
Speaker 1: not fly with the bachelorettes or vice versa. We keep
Speaker 1: the cast apart, so the lead will travel separately. So
Speaker 1: you're flying separately, so you don't get to see the
Speaker 1: angst of being late for a flight, who lost the tickets?
Speaker 1: Oh my god, you packed five bags and I did
Speaker 1: a carry on, And then you get to the resort
Speaker 1: and oh my gosh, this room's really small and the
Speaker 1: toilet is right there, so you know, who goes to
Speaker 1: the bathroom and win? And do you go to the lobby?
Speaker 1: And you know, all those things, all the angst of
Speaker 1: traveling together. They're not doing that. They're not spending that
Speaker 1: kind of time together, so it's not that intimacy. They're
Speaker 1: only getting the time that we allow, and you're only
Speaker 1: seeing the best parts of that person because we want
Speaker 1: the bachelor bacherette to look right. So the only time
Speaker 1: they're seeing each other is when they're on on a
Speaker 1: seaplane going to a private island that happens to be
Speaker 1: shaped like a heart and there's a lobster dinner waiting there.
Speaker 2: So I think I missed the episode with the heart
Speaker 2: shaped island.
Speaker 3: There was one was okay, So it's you know, it's
Speaker 3: not you know, well, it would have.
Speaker 2: Been funny if like I would still love for them
Speaker 2: to do this, like do a date like that one time,
Speaker 2: you know, it's uh, just like going to Cleveland, you know,
Speaker 2: put them through a rough and tumble travel situation together.
Speaker 1: You have an hour to get to the airport, like.
Speaker 2: Like the Amazing Rates Race meets The Bachelor.
Speaker 1: Totally yeah, and so yeah, it's it's it's the best
Speaker 1: of travel without the worst of travel. And and so
Speaker 1: you know, as as you, I agree, you gotta work.
Speaker 1: You gotta really travel with someone intimately to know someone.
Speaker 2: And that's why you and I went to Cleveland together. Okay,
Speaker 2: Well that was a fun little trip down memory lane
Speaker 2: and a little insight into how the behind the scenes
Speaker 2: of some of those big reality TV moments work. Thank
Speaker 2: you guys for joining us for another episode of the
Speaker 2: Playbook here on the Most Dramatic Podcast Ever. We love you,
Speaker 2: we appreciate you, and we'll talk to you next time because,
Speaker 2: as always, we have a lot more to talk about.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram at the Most
Speaker 1: Dramatic Pod Ever, and make sure to write us a
Speaker 1: review and leave us five stars. I'll talk to you
Speaker 1: next time.