People rushes out the new cover two days early, and in a break from their usual practice, Becca and Garrett are not the main story. Instead, the magazine goes with another royal cover, the 10th one featuring Meghan since her engagement last November. For the record, I can't imagine any royal "secrets" that we haven't heard before. Chip and Joanna show up again too.
As I said last year when Nick and Vanessa were bumped down to a sidebar, I wonder if Becca and Garrett knew they weren't getting the main cover headline. (What I'm really wondering is if they're disappointed, annoyed and/or seriously pissed off.) The "lives, loves and secrets" of the royal women are hardly breaking news, that story could easily have been held until next week. Is People falling out of love with the Bachelor franchise? Maybe, but not completely. As I'm writing on Monday night, just after the 3-hour finale episode finished up, there are several Bachelorette stories at People.com, and more will probably pop up in the morning.
At this point I'm mostly over The Bachelorette. What I want to know is, who's the next Bachelor? (I wrote a long post about it a few days ago, read it here.) People has a story about that too, titled "Who Should Be the Next Bachelor? Our Top Three Picks--and a Wild Card Suitor." Read it here, or here's the short version: the top three picks are Becca's 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finishers, aka Blake, Jason and Colton; the wild card is Grocery Joe.
If you're counting, we now have four engaged Bachelorette couples (Kaitlyn and Shawn, JoJo and Jordan, Rachel and Bryan, and now Becca and Garrett.) Will ABC pony up for one or more televised weddings? My feeling, regarding Kaitlyn and JoJo in particular, is that if a TV wedding was going to happen it would have happened by now, but who knows. ABC may have a few spare hours to fill at some point down the line. As of right now, getting engaged on Bachelor In Paradise is the best way to get a TV wedding.
Last year at this time: Issue dated August 21, 2017
Update: I might have figured out why Becca and Garrett only got a sidebar headline. Do you remember Kate Coyne? She's an executive editor at People, responsible for writing some or all of the cover headlines. During the Bachelor finale in March, we learned that she really doesn't like Arie. (Read about that here.) Now it turns out she's not a fan of Garrett either:
In my lengthy relationship with Twitter and Instagram and Facebook, I’ve come across a lot of hateful memes. Memes mocking women, refugees, the LGBTQ+ communities, even mass shooting survivors. I’ve seen the worst of them. You know what I’ve never done? LIKED any of them. 2/x— Kate Coyne (@KatePeople) August 7, 2018
And to be clear, we’re talking about memes barely a year old. Not even in many cases. These are sentiments that #Garrett LIKED within this past year. He can claim he’s grown and changed, and yet: he expressed no regret nor deleted his account...until he got caught. 4/x— Kate Coyne (@KatePeople) August 7, 2018
His excuse was that it was a “mindless tap” on those pages. Over half a dozen times, though. That’s a whole lot of mindless-ness. And again: no remorse for it until busted. So...as someone who has always loved #TheBachelorette and will continue to love it... 5/x— Kate Coyne (@KatePeople) August 7, 2018
And as someone who will happily show up for the premiere of @BachelorABC (so rooting for the return of @peterkrauswi!) I think when it comes to this season? And this guy? I’ve had all the mindless-ness I can take. I’m out. But best of luck to Becca and whoever she chooses. 😘 6/6
— Kate Coyne (@KatePeople) August 7, 2018
Was it Kate Coyne who downgraded Becca and Garrett? I think it's possible.
Tuesday morning, update #2: A close-up of Becca's ring. The women in my Twitter feed hated it.
As Garrett was picking out the ring on the show last night, I was wondering what happened to Becca's first ring. You know, the one from Arie. In People's "20 Seasons of The Bachelor," published two years ago, Neil Lane was asked the question, "If the relationship doesn't work out, do the women keep their rings?" His answer: "I don't know where they go. I just say it goes to ring heaven." So where is Becca's first ring now? Someone must know. Lane explains how he created the new ring here.
Update #3: In an interview with Variety, ABC Sr. VP Robert Mills talks weddings:
It’s funny because I feel like we’ve got this
lineup of engaged couples now so we have to figure out what to do. None of them
seem to want to take us up on a mass wedding, which I understand, although I’d
love that [laughing]. But yes, I’m sure we’ll talk with them about what next
steps are in their relationship. On “After the Final Rose,” we’ll talk about
whether they’ve discussed a timeline. (Read the article here.)
Tuesday morning, update #2: A close-up of Becca's ring. The women in my Twitter feed hated it.
As Garrett was picking out the ring on the show last night, I was wondering what happened to Becca's first ring. You know, the one from Arie. In People's "20 Seasons of The Bachelor," published two years ago, Neil Lane was asked the question, "If the relationship doesn't work out, do the women keep their rings?" His answer: "I don't know where they go. I just say it goes to ring heaven." So where is Becca's first ring now? Someone must know. Lane explains how he created the new ring here.
Update #3: In an interview with Variety, ABC Sr. VP Robert Mills talks weddings:
Have
you discussed with Becca and Garrett any plans to televise their wedding?
