The Bachelor: Jason

Millions of viewers were stunned when DeAnna Pappas rejected Jason Mesnick's proposal, as he dropped to one knee to profess his love in the season finale of "The Bachelorette." Brokenhearted and wondering how he could have misjudged DeAnna's intentions, Jason's female fans flocked to support him, helping him heal from his very public dismissal. Now this handsome single dad will star in his own bid for true love, choosing from among 25 bachelorettes when "The Bachelor" returns to ABC in January 2009. This will be the 13th edition of ABC's popular romance reality series.

Jason, 32, became a huge viewer favorite during the chase to win DeAnna's heart, and his popularity seemed to vault even higher when he lost out to Jesse Csincsak -- who is now engaged to Pappas -- as fans rushed to e-mail him in droves, in total sympathy to his plight. Jason still believes in destiny and that he can find love through "The Bachelor," as he discovered when he fell for DeAnna. His heart-warming story as a single father from Seattle with a three-year-old son, Ty -- the apple of his eye -- struck a chord with many women. Divorced two years ago, Jason would like to start another family, himself the middle son in a family of three boys. His older brother, Sean, is married with children. Jason currently lives with his younger brother, Larry, and with Ty. His parents are divorced and both are happily remarried.

An account executive in estate and legacy planning, Jason is looking for a woman who has a real curiosity about the world, who loves life and can find passion in life's smallest moments. Open and honest, the good-looking and appealing Bachelor loves a variety of sports, including swimming, golf, basketball and football. In fact he used to be a golf professional at a local club. He has traveled all over Europe and continues to pursue his desire to see the world. In his spare time, he takes guitar and swing dance lessons. Perhaps not surprisingly, Jason is a "big brother" for the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America. A philanthropist himself, he hopes to some day form and run his own children's charity.

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Jason moved to Washington at the age of eight and received his BA in psychology at the University of Washington.

Jason gave the 1st impression rose to Nikki
Girls voted for Megan to leave thus she was given a rose and stayed.

The other 13 that were given roses:
Erica
Jillian
Kari
Lauren
Lisa
Melissa
Molly
Naomi
Natalie
Raquel
Shannon
Sharon
Stephanie

I liked Nikki based off the 1st episode.

Melissa! <3

Roses:
Jillian
Melissa
Nikki
Megan
Kari
Lauren
Molly
Naomi
Natalie
Shannon
Stephanie
Erica

No Roses:
Lisa Raquel Sharon

Colton wrote:

Melissa! <3

Yeah so far I like her provided she does NOT get annoying. I definitely do not like Erica, too bitchy

Melissa has this in the bag. I am seriously in love with this girl. :)

I was ok with Stephanie leaving last night. I couldn't see them together. I do like Naomi though... and Jillian and Molly I like better than Melissa. There is just something about her I'm not crazy about but don't ask me what because I don't know! haha

I'm so glad that this show is going to be over next week, all of the hype over who Jason ends up with is beyond ridiculous. It was amusing to see how some people get so wrapped up in the entire saga as if it directly affects them. I guess I watch the Bachelor for completely different reasons than the majority because I could care less who he ends up with one way or the other.

This show has been on for many seasons and only produced 1 real relationship that ended in marriage and a family so the chances of someone finding true love on this show are slim to none obviously, common sense right? well common sense isn't all that common.

Everyone was in love with Brad the bachelor a couple seasons back until he "broke" DeAnna's heart then everyone rallied around DeAnna and she had all the love from the viewers until she "broke" Jason's heart and then the viewers rallied around Jason and had all this love for Jason until he is now going to be "breaking" Melissa's heart... does anyone see a pattern here? Hello?!?!?! Ignorance is blissful........
Oh and they claim to be romantics?

Season finale tonight!

45 min into the show and I think I am going to turn on "I love money 2" in 15 minutes.
I can't take this maudlin bullshit. Things better get juicy...quickly!

I hate him! HATE, HATE HATE him! This show should be called "THE BASTARD" in honor of him! He is a crooked nosed, fugly son of a bitch! I have never been more furious in my entire life! Melissa deserves wayyyyy better than him! MELISSA FOR THE BACHELORETTE! <3 UGH! I am cannot see straight I am so furious. How could he do this to her? At least she went out fiercely! "You're such a bastard." "Don't call me..don't bother me." <3 <3 Jason is the real loser here in more ways than one!

ok WTF is going on? I don't get it. So he made the wrong choice, should he have continued to lead her on? Is everyone so blinded by their Melissa worship to see things clearly? Things change, feelings change and she wasn't the girl for him. I am not saying you specifically Colton, everyone is going apeshit over this. What did everyone want him to do? Stay with a girl he didn't love? I am truly baffled by all of this and have to believe that the only thing that would have satisfied everyone is if he stayed with Queen Melissa even if he didn't care for her that way. THEN he would be a bastard. Just another case of, in my opinion, REALITY FANS GONE WILD!

Good article and it sums up what I am trying to say...



The Bachelor: History's worst monster, or just a run-of-the-mill jerk?
by Alan Sepinwall/The Star-Ledger

God help me, I watched "The Bachelor" last night. Well, technically, I watched "The Bachelor: After the Final Rose" (not to be confused with tonight's "The Bachelor: After After the Final Rose"). I did it because I've been unable to go anywhere for the last couple of weeks without people I know (technically, women I know) asking me about who Jason was gonna choose, or about the spoilers floating out about what went down -- spoilers that turned out to be 100% accurate, by the way -- and there comes a point where I need to set my personal tastes aside and at least take a peek at something that the culture's buzzing about.
So here's my question, which we can discuss more thoroughly after the jump: While Jason is clearly a massive tool, why is he any worse than any of the other massive tools that have been on this show?


So, to sum up really briefly for those of you who are lucky enough to not watch this show: Jason Mesnick, hunky single dad, was a runner-up on a previous season of "The Bachelorette." He comes back, as previous fan favorites have, to be the star of his own season, and public interest suddenly rises over what seems to be the first Bachelor in franchise history to not seem like an insufferable d-bag. He gets down to two women, Melissa and Molly, and winds up proposing to Melissa. Cut to six weeks later, and he's changed his mind, and dumps Melissa on-camera for a shot at Molly.

Now, some people, like Kristen Baldwin at Entertainment Weekly, have already dubbed Jason the biggest cad the show's ever featured. And, admittedly, I come to this from a position of extreme ignorance, having watched maybe two or three hours combined over 13 seasons, but I still don't understand what makes Jason so much worse than his predecessors.

Every "Bachelor" relationship falls apart. Every single one. The only apparent difference here is that this one fell apart quickly enough for the break-up to happen in front of the cameras. And based on stories about how little some of the previous couples liked each other, I doubt even that's true; this is just the first time the Bachelor decided he didn't even want to keep up the pretense for the reunion show. That may be because he's also the first Bachelor who needed a mulligan on a previous woman he dumped, but regardless, most of these "relationships" end pretty damn quickly; all Jason did was make plain what everyone watching the show already understands, even if they didn't want to acknowledge it.
Some of the outrage seems to be over the fact that Melissa got dumped on-camera. Again, I'm coming to this as somebody who doesn't watch the show much, but don't you basically agree to the possibility -- no, the probability -- of that happening as soon as you sign on for the show? Likely public humiliation is part and parcel of the franchise; as Linda Holmes asks, Melissa "would have been dumped in public if he'd picked Molly originally; why was she entitled to be dumped in private now?"This may be one of those cultural blind spots I can't overcome, like the popularity of "The Hills," so if any of our regular readers wants to cop to watching/liking this show (I promise no judgment, from me or anyone else) and explain what I'm missing here, feel free.

Trista & Ryan are still together. Charlie & Sarah. Byron & Mary.

And also, I understand what you're saying, Lorraine, but it's the way he went about it. He brought her on national television and humiliated her. She really can do better than him.

I appreciate your answer Colton because I am sincerely confused! But, do you really think it was HIS decision to bring her on national tv to do this? Its really cracking me up as I am reading everywhere on message boards that they think that Melissa was blindsided and everyone else was in on it. Lets stop, breath and think this thru...lol.
Keep the debate going please! I am trying hard to understand this all.

Colton wrote:

Trista & Ryan are still together. Charlie & Sarah. Byron & Mary.

Yes Trista and Ryan are still together... the only couple to actually be a successful couple. As far as Charlie and Sarah are concerned she had been broken up with him for over a year due to his drinking... hardly sounds like things have been going that well there and as for Byron and Mary? If they weren't a trainwreck they would have brought them on last week like they did Trista and Ryan but they haven't been brought back on since Mary opened up a can of whoop ass on Byron, not like she was going to go on National TV and say how great things are going after her arrest. Out of countless seasons there is only one couple who truly found love and quite frankly I've always thought Trista loved the way Ryan was in love with her

I think if that is true and the producers told him to do that then he is still just as much at fault. He should have told them that he was taking the high road, and he was not going to toy with someone's emotions for the sake of "good television". I will be the first to admit that I am biased towards Melissa because she was just such a warm, bubbly person. I cannot see why anyone would want to treat her that way.

I don't think that he WANTED to treat her like that, but would it have been better to lead her on? have her move out to Seattle? get even more emotionally involved in a real life situation? I mean this is a reality tv show... what is one to really expect from it? I really do question anyone who can fall in "love" on this type of medium.

is it just me? ugh!! arrggh! haha

This is a very level headed article and a good read...I hope that MANY people all over take time to read this.

Defending The Bachelor
By S. James Snyder
Tuesday, Mar. 10, 2009

Dumped! Betrayed! Humiliated! For a week now, the reality-TV universe has been obsessed with The Bachelor and its "After the Final Rose" reunion special that many perceived to be little more than an act of public humiliation.

While the show's season finale and reunion special were shown back-to-back on March 2, six weeks had elapsed between the finale — when bachelor Jason Mesnick chose Melissa Rycroft to be his bride —and the reunion special, during which he announced that he had changed his mind and professed feelings for runner-up Molly Malaney. With more than 17 million viewers watching, Rycroft arrived at the reunion special holding — not wearing — her ring, and Mesnick confirmed the suspicions that the engagement was off. (Read "Reality TV Wants to Heal You.")

As Rycroft fought back her tears and Mesnick turned to Malaney, the show's fans took to the Internet in a rage, decrying Mesnick as a "jackass," "playboy" and "bastard." It was clear that this particular chapter of reality TV struck some as a little too real. Yet creator and executive producer Mike Fleiss says the fireworks of March 2 reflected the best, not the worst, of the genre. "I'm not really surprised by this; it's just a sign that the show is working," he tells TIME. "That's really your job, to create television that the whole country will sit down at one time and watch together. But honestly, I really don't see the difference between [Mesnick's]dumping Molly in New Zealand [at the finale] and then dumping Melissa in Glendale [at the special]."

Some would say the difference is that Malaney knew there was a chance she could get kicked off the show during the competition, while Rycroft's departure occurred long after she had been picked as the winner — and purportedly gotten engaged. But Fleiss insists that Mesnick's change of heart hardly came as a shock to the bride-to-be. In the weeks leading up to the reunion special, Fleiss says, he started to hear word from other producers on the show that Rycroft and Mesnick were not getting along. Two weeks before the reunion, Fleiss says, he heard that Mesnick might be interested again in Malaney — whom Fleiss had already approached about taking part in the next season of The Bachelorette.

All of which set the stage for the most unpredictable "After the Final Rose" event in the show's history. Opting to film the show without a live audience for secrecy reasons, and unsure of how Malaney would respond to Mesnick's renewed affections, Fleiss says there was plenty of uncertainty when cameras started rolling — just not when it came to Rycroft. "She knew they were essentially finished before walking out on that stage," he says. "But still, doing it for real and making it official and handing back the ring brought out real emotions."

In various interviews, as well as in e-mails between Mesnick and Rycroft that were leaked to the press, Mesnick has blamed the production crew for some of the emotional fallout surrounding his ultimate choice of Malaney, saying he was obligated to dump Rycroft in front of the cameras. But Fleiss says that's only half the story. "We didn't want Jason to necessarily spill the beans prior to taping, to keep it as real and raw as possible," he says. "But he's a good guy and didn't conceal anything. He let her know before that show that he didn't think this relationship was going to work."

Fleiss seems to be basking in the buzz of the past week ("It's the first time in a long time that people have something to talk about other than the stock market"). He also believes the emotional outcry that has accompanied the show's dénouement points to a passion that a new wave of reality-TV contestants is inspiring. At one time, he says, it was next to impossible to recruit plausible contestants, or even hosts, for reality-TV projects. But as the genre has become increasingly mainstream, producers have been able to find people who are more than mere exhibitionists.

And with this new pool of talent, Fleiss says, the emotions involved have become more complicated — and engaging. "Believe me, I've seen Bachelor couples stay together who really didn't care about each other," he says. "Some of them feel an obligation to the show to try to be a couple, since we spent literally millions of dollars as their matchmakers and sent them all over the world."

But rather than playing to the expectations of producers or viewers, says Fleiss, Mesnick dared to reveal his true emotions and to acknowledge the uncomfortable truth that love is not always a programmable enterprise. "More than any other bachelor in history, he was committed to love and to truly following his heart, even though he knew he was going to have to go through hell to do it," Fleiss says. "It's really a romantic notion, that he sacrificed chunks of his popularity to at least try to be with the woman he loved."

Bachelor's Melissa Reveals New Boyfriend

The Bachelor's Melissa Rycroft has a brand new gig on Dancing With the Stars -- and a brand new man, she reveals in Us Weekly's newest issue!

The 25-year-old -- who was proposed to, and then unceremoniously dumped for runner-up Molly Malaney six weeks later by Jason Mesnick on TV -- tells Us she's been quietly dating an insurance agent named Ty.
(Coincidentally, Mesnick's 4-year-old son with ex-wife Hilary Monrean is also named Ty.)

"We've been really good friends, but the timing was never right," she tells Us. "With all this going on, he's my support system. It's funny how things happen."

While Mesnick gets slammed by former Bachelor contestants (Andrew Firestone called him an "ass;" Trista Sutter fumed, "She deserves so much better!") -- it seems Rycroft has come out on top.

Link to article


For someone who was so in love and heartbroken it didn't take her long to move on to someone else. Which is fine that she is in a relationship, but I think she wasn't as into the whole Bachelor proposal as everyone else thinks. Which is still fine, but I think she used everyone's sympathy to her advantage. Jason looked like the bad guy and she looks like the poor innocent victim who got her heartbroken.

I completely agree. So she has been dating this guy for awhile right? So lets review, she is completely in love and ready to get married to Jason right? If I am correct, she is told late January that the engagement is off. She is destroyed, crushed and more importantly DONE WITH REALITY TV (per her Ellen interview just days before DWTS aired) DWTS premiered on March 9th. So in just a few short weeks (5-6 depending on the taping of the final rose baloney) she has signed up to do yet ANOTHER reality show and she has been "quietly" dating someone. Sorry, if she tells Ellen she has BEEN dating someone I am going to say that she had been seeing him for AT LEAST 2 weeks (I am being generous...I bet its longer than that). My My My....isnt she a slick one? Manages to have the masses worship her while she has her cake and eats it too. I DO NOT dislike this girl....I just have her number.