By Jackie O’Rourke
A&E Editor
On Feb 24, the Edgerton Center for the Performing Arts was filled by fans of “The Bachelor,” who are also known as “Bachelor Nation,” as Student Events Team held a live viewing party for the latest episode of television show. The event was hosted by Jason Tartick and Blake Horstmann.
Tartick and Horstmann were contestants on Becca Kufrin’s season of “The Bachelorette” in 2018. Horstmann also appeared on to the franchise’s spinoff show, “Bachelor In Paradise,” in 2019.
“They were really fun and seem like such normal people which I loved to see,” said junior Katrina Rivard.
Attendees watched “The Bachelor” as it was airing on ABC and during the commercial breaks, Tartick and Horstmann answered questions that students sent in to SET’s Instagram.
“I liked how they did the Q&A during the commercials and how it was only five dollars to go,” said junior Mikayla Amato.
Most of the answers that Tartick and Horstmann gave contained a lot of behind the scenes secrets of the production and process of the show.
“It was so fun and really interesting to learn about things on the show viewers do not see. It makes me look at the show differently because I realized that the contestants do not see all that we see, they only go off of their interactions with each other,” said junior Mickey Pirro.
Students asked questions such as: “Is anything scripted?” “Do you actually eat on the dates?” “Do you have to buy your own clothes or are they provided?”
“It was awesome getting the inside scoop. It is really interesting how easily we perceive something based on the angle of the camera. There is so much I didn’t know and now I can see the show from a whole new perspective,” said senior Alexa Blazas.
“One thing I want to make very clear, in my experience, people always ask me if it is scripted and I got to say, from start to finish, from the recruiting process until the last day, and even when we do stuff like this, nothing is scripted. They never tell you a line to say or give you a phrase to drop. Now, it may be different for other contestants, but never in my experience did they ever say, ‘go say this’ or ‘repeat this,’ ” said Tartrick.
Horstmann and Tartrick did confirm though that the producers edit things that contestants say to be perceived a different way than the contestant initially meant it.
“The producers have a job to do, as much as you think they are your friends. They already had my narrative on “Bachelor in Paradise” planned out for me. They have to make a TV show and unfortunately, I was the sacrifice,” said Horstmann.
SET hosted a private meet-and-greet for the first few people who bought tickets afterwards. This select group of people were notified of this by email.
“I wish I had known that if I was one of the first people in line I could have met them. I just wish that was advertised but overall I thought it was great and a fun event that SET decided to do for us,” said Amato.
I, Jackie O’Rourke, was the first person in the ticket line on Feb 17, so I had the opportunity to meet and get my picture taken with Tartick and Horstmann.
Tartick asked me what I was studying. I replied, “Journalism, and actually, I am writing an article on this event for our school paper.”
“That is awesome. Say nice things about us,” said Tartick.
