Hollywood Extortion III: “Bachelor” Producers’ Intimidation Tactics Against “Reality Steve”

This article is Part 6 of ongoing coverage of the Reality Steve Extortion Lawsuit.

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This article was intended to go into more depth of the legal meat-grinding the “Bachelor” producers are inflicting upon our favorite entertainment blogger, Steve Carbone. Specifically, I wanted to discuss the annoying, knife-fighting sideshow that is supposed to determine where the Main Event would eventually be fought. The article was tentatively titled “The Battle for Where to Have the Showdown”. We’ll see if that title sticks later.

The issue I have is that the legal combatants have not even remotely gotten close to arguing and defending the central allegations of the lawsuit. From what I know thus far, Carbone still looks to be in good shape for the Main Event IF it goes that far.  However, if there is going to be a fight, it needs to quickly move forward, not slowed down by legal quicksand maneuvers.

Since December 2011, the lawyers have been battling back and forth for the lawsuit to be tried in their respective jurisdictions (their home state). The “Bachelor” producers want to argue the case in California and Carbone wants to argue the case in Texas where he lives. All the while, legal fees are being racked up on both sides.  And we all know, dollar for dollar who is going to be hurt the most, our Lone Star Blogger: “Reality Steve”.

All the while, according to Carbone, multiple attempts to settle have failed because Carbone doesn’t like the plaintiffs’ proposed terms of the settlement which would allegedly hamper him and put him in the cross-hairs of future legal action. I can’t say I blame him. I have my own ideas of what terms are being offered to Carbone but it would only be sheer speculation and guesswork on my part.

Because I am typing this in the wee hours of the night while nearly everyone is asleep, I will have to postpone the in-depth analysis for now. I want to do it right with good explanations when I can carefully read the docket, cross-reference it with the actual court documents, accurately interpret what happened, and write it clearly and concisely.

For now, everyone will have to settle for the above summary of my impressions. We should also not entirely depend on the lawyers to help get Carbone out. That is why I set up the “Reality Steve Extortion Lawsuit” online petition for supporters to sign so we can put public pressure for this lawsuit to be dropped quickly and unconditionally allowing Carbone the freedom to move forward, entertain, and blog without stress, worry, and financial bleeding.

At this point, with no graceful transition whatsoever, I want to revisit the lawsuit complaint. If you were in a car with me, you would suddenly experience a sharp swerve into a side street with no warning. That is the jolt here.  (Sorry, I am getting tired. That was the best analogy I could come up with at this crazy hour.)

In my very first article, I focused my attention on the initial Complaint because that is where all lawsuits begin. I wanted to find out what the “Bachelor” producers (plaintiff) are accusing Carbone (defendant) of. I also wanted to see what the plaintiffs are presenting as their opening firing salvo. Most lawsuit complaints I read typically have “Exhibits” (supporting documentation) accompanying the Complaint. I was and continue to be suspicious that there were no exhibits whatsoever provided with this Complaint. I interpreted the lack of plaintiff exhibits as intentionally withholding of essential information.

Why is it that the Complaint conveniently leaves out exhibits that directly support Numbered Paragraphs 15 through 18 where the plaintiff accuses Carbone of sending those emails to show contestants? It would normally be appropriate to attach copies of those emails as exhibits.

Additionally, why are there no exhibits to support Numbered Paragraph 19 where the “Bachelor” producers allegedly sent “cease and desist” letters to Carbone? It would normally be appropriate to attach copies of the “cease and desist” letters as exhibits.

My guess is that a decision was made for publicity reasons to leave them out of the initial lawsuit complaint to prevent the general public from seeing and reporting on them. After all, a lawsuit complaint can be accessed by nearly anyone. It is in the public domain. The plaintiffs wanted everyone to know that a lawsuit was filed against Carbone and have everyone see the allegations (accusations) but didn’t provide the supporting documents to support those allegations. How convenient.

The majority of the press coverage so far has been from the December 2011 time fame, shortly after the lawsuit filing date. No one has bothered to follow up on the lawsuit (besides me) because it is “boring” and not gossip-friendly. It actually requires intelligence and brainpower to understand the big picture of what is truly happening with this lawsuit, not just the gossipy nature of Carbone’s alleged emails that has not yet been shown.

The “Bachelor” producers fired the first shot at Carbone but withheld the identity of the person(s) who allegedly received the emails and the ugly words within the “cease and desist” letters.

This says to me that the lawsuit is ABSOLUTELY about intimidating Carbone into silence, cooperation, or a settlement. The complaint was written just long enough and substantial enough to meet the minimum standard of a Complaint filing in an attempt to intimidate Carbone.

I want everyone to remember this. All signs point to pushing Carbone around and bleeding him dry while using the legal system as the puppet strings to jerk him around. As I said before, if it can happen to him as a one-man blogger, website owner, and entrepreneur, it can happen to any of us should we decide to follow in his footsteps.  This Hollywood Extortion Lawsuit needs to stop now.

For more “Bachelor” producers intimidation tactics, go read my last article: “Bachelor” Show Contracts: Is a $5 million Penalty for Violating a Confidentiality Clause Enforceable?

You should also read Attorney Oscar Michelen’s article: Penalty Provisions in Reality TV Contracts – Fair or Unenforceable?

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Look for the next article in Reality Steve Extortion Lawsuit commentary section.

 

10 Comments

  1. Thank you Matthew for your time and research into RS’s lawsuit. I came here via the link on RS’s website. Although I wasn’t a die-hard fan but I do go to his website from time and time to read his recaps and was very upset to see how he was treated by the Bachelor’s producers. The truth is that I enjoyed reading RS’s recaps more than I did watching the shows. It would be very sad if they bullied RS out of existence so I very much appreciate you advocating for him and thank you for it. I made a donation and signed the petition, hope my little contribution helps in some way. Have a great day!! 🙂

    p.s. I bookmarked your site now and will be visiting regularly as you have some very interesting reading materials. Thanks again!!

    • Hello silleebabi,

      You are not alone in your sentiment. I was only a casual reader of RealitySteve.com who visited once in a while. But within a short period of time, I have had to become much more knowledgeable about Steve’s entertainment reporting business, RealitySteve.com, his history with it, and how he operates.

      I have also been a casual fan of the “Bachelor” shows. I do bypass episodes. I even missed most of Brad’s and Ashley’s episodes of their respective seasons because they didn’t appeal to me much.

      But the lawsuit has obviously pulled me back in a big way to better understand how the show works and how it’s produced given what they are doing to Steve. Thanks for reading and your interest. Talk about drama in between show seasons. LOL.

      Matthew

  2. Hello Mr. Chan-
    Thank you for helping out Reality Steve. I enjoy reading Reality Steves blogs. If they want to sue Reality Steve shouldn’t they be sueing other bloggers who are doing the same thing.

    You mentioned you would like to see a Bachelor Contract.
    I bet if you asked Jesse Csincsak he would be willing to show you.
    Jesse Csincsak is so upset with Mike Fleiss who writes the bachelor. Jesse says on his twitter he is going to bring the who down.
    Here is the link to Jesse Csincsak’s twitter: httpss://twitter.com/#!/JesseCsincsak twitter
    I hope this helps. I hope Jesse is able to help you.

    • Hello Susieq72,

      I knew Jesse was upset due to his very public postings but he has no great love for Reality Steve either. But I have to believe that if he sees this happening to Steve, it could happen to him. Both of them should be allies in this issue.

      Your idea of contacting Jesse to get a copy of the contract is a good idea but he doesn’t know me from adam so he might not respond. Maybe some of you Tweeters can put in a good word for me.

      Matthew

  3. I emailed Jesse and I also tweeted him on Twitter. I hope he responds to me or gets in contact with you. I told Jesse this is another opportunity to blow Mike Fleiss out of the water.
    I don’t want to be mean. What this program is doing to people is awful.

    I will continue to read your blogs.

    I will pray for Steve that everything goes good for him.

  4. If Reality Steve could only get free legal representation, that would be a game changer. ABC would no longer be able to squeeze him dry and force him to settle. Isn’t there someone willing to do that for him? There are so many lawyers around; they can’t all be busy.

  5. well, I can tell you this much I PERSONALLY sent him info about Emily before the network announced it…now I am a lady who is a size 16 ..45 years old with 3 kids almost grown….I haven’t had a job in 3 years and my car is 13 years old and I live in a run down mobile home in the backwoods of GA I have NEVER met or even talked with anyone who has appeared on one of his shows and I certainly wouldn’t qualify as a contestant…What Mike Fleiss needs to know is that in a lot of places in the south secrets dont secrets for long at all…heck even those of us rednecks here in the backwoods knew the week that Deanna Pappas signed her contract for being the bachelorette…there are people everywhere that can’t wait to spill big WHOOP why does whom I refer to as the FLEISSMONSTER give a rat’s ass…when Steve spills big secrets especially ones that are big time drama what happens to his show…his ratings go up and it means more money for him…but since the FLEISSMONSTER is saying Steve is paying people I will be more than happy to tell him and ABC BULLSHIT….and YES I still have the email that is dated

    • JoAnn,

      Although I don’t live in the backwoods, I do I live in a city in Georgia so I can speak to how quickly word travels. When mainstream entertainment media begins to quote a Texas blogger outside of the system, it becomes too much for Hollywood. Steve Carbone is being singled out because he has attained a status and visibility that scares Hollywood.

      Feel free to send me the email you have and I will be happy to reprint it for you and give you credit. This is to show “proof” that Carbone gets information from all kinds of places. If anything, this lawsuit will encourage more people to give Carbone more spoilers, not less unless they start filing lawsuits against ordinary citizens. That would make even bigger news.

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