The Bachelor Pad Star Talks About Life On Set, And Why He's Not So Bad After All
Well, it's Bachelor season again. A time for us to gather around our televisions and do what we do best: scrutinize our own kind.
From hair styles, to outfits, and the ever popular "do you think those are real?" debate, we rip the female contestants to shreds without mercy. Some of us are so busy sizing up the competitors that we don't even notice the man they are competing for!
That's why many of us prefer to watch The Bachelorette. More pecs. More glutes. Fewer bedazzled cocktail dresses and spray tans to complain about.
After fourteen seasons of rose ceremonies, cocktail parties, and enough scandal to keep us PVR'ing each week, we are very well versed in the basic formula of ABC's most anticipated dating show. There is the damsel, there will be a prince, and of course, there are the villains.
Enter Craig McKinnon. He was a contestant on Ali Fedotowsky's season of The Bachelorette as well as this past summer's debut of Bachelor Pad. Over the course of two seasons, he has garnered a lot of attention. And most of it has been negative.
You may remember Craig as the "dangerous" guy with the perfectly swept
hair and ongoing rivalry with Jonathan "The Weatherman". The
confrontational yet amusing exchanges between the two left a bad taste in audiences' mouths when it came to McKinnon. But according to
Craig, reality and reality television stand in stark contrast against
one another.
For many viewers, the show is nothing more than a guilty pleasure. We love getting wrapped up in the ridiculousness of it all. We know that not everything we see on television is real, but exactly how much of what we watch is made up?
Well, it turns out that the answer is... lots.
So what really goes on behind the scenes? What can be expected on the set of a show that revolves around finding a perfect romantic match? You may be surprised to know the full extent of seclusion that is required once the contestants arrive at the mansion.
Craig tells us that although he only watched a few episodes of the show prior to his appearance, he did expect more face time with the bachelorette. In addition, from a viewer's perspective, the house always looks so lavish and ornate, a glorious paradise for partying and livin' it up.
But according to Craig, it's not all it's cracked up to be.
"You've got twenty-one guys with different personalities, no TV, no music, no phones, no magazines - there's nothing to do," he says.
Access to the outside world is monitored, which avid Bachelor fans tend to forget. The house mates are expected to be around each other and socializing 24/7, meaning private time is nearly non-existent. So what's left to do? Not a whole lot. Craig admits that boredom was an issue in the house, and to compliment the boredom, producers supplied a healthy amount of liquor - a lethal combination.
Is that what lead to the feud with The Weatherman? "I didn't expect that it would get the publicity it did," he tells us, adding that pleasant interactions between the two were not shown and the "arch enemy" plot was blown out of proportion.
As for his post-show reputation, he admits that his portrayal on the show has really hurt his image. "It's still crazy going to bars," he says, insisting that he isn't the monster that ABC made him out to be. It's difficult now, he confesses, to convince people otherwise.
ABC premiered a spin off of the popular series called The Bachelor Pad, which featured former contestants of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette competing in various competitions for a prize of $250,000.
Craig was selected to appear on the show with fellow Torontonian Jessie Sulidis, however his stay in the contest was short lived. In comparison to his experience on The Bachelorette, he says that it was "much more stressful" as the premise for this show was about building alliances, winning prizes, and not necessarily falling in love.
Plus, the cast was expected, if not encouraged, to turn up the heat. Producers wanted more hook-ups and more conflict - and that's exactly how it was marketed. But, if you watched Bachelor Pad, you discovered rather quickly that the show wasn't nearly as juicy as it was advertised to be. Aside from the pressure to flirt and get frisky, the real challenge, according to Craig, was the competition.
He explains that it was especially difficult to form alliances with his cast mates being that many of them had pre-existing friendships that reached far beyond the boundaries of the mansion. Craig says that this time around, competitors were far more aggressive, perhaps proving that money speaks louder than love.
Now, we have to wonder: Two Bachelor stints down, would he go in for a third round?
"Never," says Craig, who is no longer on the market as an eligible bachelor. Now a staunch non-believer in love connections made on reality TV, he makes only one exception for fellow Bachelor Pad cast mate, Tenley Molzahn. She and Kiptyn, whom she met on the show, are reportedly still going strong.
So what's next for ABC's loud-mouthed bad boy? Well, with plans in the works to make a television comeback entirely independent of his Bachelorette fame, he has a new weight loss program awaiting debut. It's called Lasting Weight Loss and is geared towards everyday women with a realistic, straightforward regimen to follow.
And what about his reality TV persona? Is Craig McKinnon the jerk that he was made out to be?
All we have to say about that is you can't believe everything you see on TV.
Photo care of WOMAN.ca & ThinkContra.com
 Courtney Gilmour | |
| About the author: | |
Courtney is a published writer, stand-up comic, and shameless Internet enthusiast. She holds a double bachelors degree in English Literature and Communication Media Studies, specializing in semiotic theory, however she doesn't get Shakespeare and has never won a game of Scrabble. Currently she lives in Toronto and works as a writer for WOMAN.CA. | |
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