A pardigm shift has occurred!

Ok Fleiss has just proven that there is no limit to his games! We now have proof positive that he has gone to extreme measures to doctor screencaps to mislead his audience! To me this means for us sleuthers, we no longer have a fair playing ground. This is like going to a Casino and finding out that the house is cheating.

Now I can handle flipping photos, cutting and pasting voiceovers, editing sequences to mislead - that was part of the game - because if you were smart enough and alert enough or worked hard enough, it could be caught. But actually changing the colour of Melissa's dress and photoshopping a pinky ring on Molly's baby finger!? Now that goes beyond the pale.

As Olive said - this officially means they have jumped the shark. No longer fun. They may as well just hire actors - and then you don't have a reality show right? I think in his desperation for higher ratings, they may have just killed the goose that laid the golden egg.

I read this over at TwOP and I think its the best theory of what may have happened. This a direct copy and I don't take credit for it.

What last night's show proved was that something has changed since Jason did interviews in early January. There was no mention of an engagement. In fact, there was no mention on whether he was happy with somebody, or just happy in general. I found all of that to be in sharp contrast to his earlier interviews.

So I think RS is right that there probably was a proposal/engagement (with Melissa), and there no longer is that relationship. And based on last night's edit alone, I'm more than willing to believe that Jason is dating Molly because the lack of Melissa/adoration of Molly was pretty obvious. So I think RS was right in some of his statements...but not all.

Regarding CH's blog and his seeming defense against what RS stated, I'm actually willing to believe him that this result wasn't scripted. Since RS broke his 'news', I've either thought they were all in on this or that this was just how things happened. But I've never bought the whole 'you can have Molly if you propose to Melissa story', without Melissa and Molly being aware of what is happening. So I'm willing to forgive (for lack of a better word) ABC that.

However....and that's a big 'however', I still hold ABC 100% responsible for what is most likely going to be the most cruel move yet, and that is filming that ATFR show back in January. Based on everything I've read and believe now, I have little to no doubt that show was filmed in January so that Jason could break up with Melissa and start dating Molly openly. I don't care what Jason's contractual obligations are, I can think of no good reason why a break-up needed to be televised. Yet I have to believe the breakup was televised because I see no reason for the ATFR show to be televised in January without that. I mean, Jason and Melissa could have broken up privately and just explained that on an ATFR show which would have been taped closer to the end of the broadcast (as has been done in prior seasons).

It all comes across to me now like Jason called the show and said 'I made a mistake and want to start seeing Molly', and they said 'You can do that if you film this show for us now and show us first-hand what happened in your relationship to Melissa'. I think the ATFR2 is being added, not because the network was clamoring for it, but because Fleiss was surprised at how popular this season has been (and how popular Jason has been as a bachelor and, quite frankly, Melissa as a bachelorette) and decided that they needed to finish the story a little bit better than with a dramatic and heart-breaking ATFR.

If this is in fact the scenario, CH is right in saying that ABC didn't script anything. But that doesn't exonerate them for creating a show for drama's purpose when one didn't need to be created. If things go down as predicted in that first ATFR show, I will always believe that ABC/Fleiss had the power to NOT humiliate Melissa and yet chose not to exercise that right. And while I watch alot of reality TV for the trainwreck aspect, this one just crosses a line for me that I don't appreciate being crossed.

Zeds, thanks for sharing that post with us, what makes it more interesting, is that I could have written it myself because it reflects exactly how I feel and how I think things happened and went down.

Regarding the WTA, it should have been titled "The I love Molly show". Weren't they just ramming Molly down our throats? It was so obvious that was their point. The whole show was kind of strange. Jason's attitude and demenor was also kind of strange. Did you notice the bachelorettes were not polled to ask whom they thought Jason was going to pick? Most of the time was spent on Natalie, who cares? I thought it they were going to concentrate more on Stephanie, Shannon the stalker and Meagan.

Chris Harrison is part of the show, it pays his salary and that is where his loyalties are. If it involves humiliating someone on national TV, he will do it with a smile on his face, or a fake concerned look. It's his JOB.

Can someone give me the simplified version of what has happened? I am lost.

RomanceinTexas' post gives you the latest info from a mole at the AFTR screening.