Guess what? I'm on the bachelorette!!!

.... But not in the way you might think! haha 

That's my dorky face!!! (via @chrisbharrison, arrow added by me)

DISCLAIMER: If you are a die-hard Bachelorette fan and don't want to know anything about Andi's season before it airs, or don't want to know any behind-the-scenes stuff that might ruin the "magic" of this "journey to find love" or whatever it is they call it, then you might not want to read this post. The rest of you, enjoy!

PS: all photos and videos in this post are my own, unless indicated. I planned on posting this earlier, but the videos took forEVER to load. That's what I get haha.

Waiting for the Bachelorette!

Here's the backstory. Tuesday afternoon, Chris Harrison (the show's host, for those of you not in the "know") sent out a "casting call" of sorts via instagram in Santa Barbara: letting people know that there was going to be a taping going on in Santa Barbara if we came to such-and-such a place at such-and-such a time we could be in an episode of the Bachelorette featuring "four-time Grammy winning R&B group Boyz II Men" (You know, that band we forgot all about from the early 90's?)!!!!!!!!!!! 

via @chrisbharrison

We've done this kind of thing in LA a few times, but since tapings don't happen too often in our town, I thought it would be fun to go. Honestly, I didn't really care about Boyz II Men (Sorry! But really, they're STILL making music??!), and I've been a little bit over The Bachelor/ette franchise lately, but it would still be a really fun and unique experience. I adored Andi's spunk on Juan Pablo's season; plus, it would be free entertainment for a Wednesday night. Thanks to friend Sheri who let me know about it; it turned out to be a great idea! 
We went downtown in the scooter to avoid parking issues, and hung out in the rapidly-forming crowd at the Paseo Nuevo shopping center. Some people had been waiting there more than two hours (!), since the "casting call" had said it started at 3 when it was really going to start at 5. Showbiz, I guess; gotta increase the hype!

Chris Harrison's first appearance. And all the cameraphones in Santa Barbara.

 Finally, Chris Harrison came onstage and was his usual adorable and cliche self letting us know about the show being taped. He is actually a pretty funny guy--either that or he has some funny writers coming up with one-liners for him to say. And yes, he definitely told us that this was going to be the "most embarrassing date in Bachelor history". Also, no cell phones, please. Haha.

 

 "No cellphones allowed!" jkjk

The date we were filming was a group date for episode 3, and Andi was on a date with 12 guys. I later found out that there was also a one-on-one dinner at the Santa Barbara courthouse the night before, so it sounds like most of episode 3 will be taking place in our pretty town. Pretty cool. I applaud the choice of the courthouse--it's one of our favorite picnic spots on sunny days (we actually had picnicked there that weekend). But anyway. 

Boyz II Men would be playing a few songs, then Andi and her guys would come through the crowd to the front and hang out. Then they'd do their embarrassing" thing. My money was on singing "I'll Make Love to You". (spoiler: I was right!) 

Andi and her two "teams". Not sure why they got split up, but that's what happened.

 Boyz II Men played their requisite "couple of songs", which was actually the same song over and over so the camera crew could get good video. Then, Andi and the guys came through the crowd to "listen" to the music, and then Chris brought them onstage. The guys on the date were split up into two "teams" (it wasn't a competition date, though), and each took turns singing a line from the song, "I'll Make Love to You". They sang together on the chorus. Some of them were really really bad, some got really into it, but they were all really good sports. I obviously don't know who any of the guys were, but it'll be really fun to watch the show when it airs and see who was who!

Contestants singing "I'll make love to you" to Bachelorette Andi Dorfman

 

Tim and I joked around a LOT during the whole thing (since the show is pretty much one big joke anyway) and tried to guess who would be the "villain", who'd be the sweet guy next door who makes it to hometowns but gets booted because of a crazy family member, and of course who would become the next bachelor. Because that's how it works, you know.

After the song was up, Chris came back up and thanked the guys and asked Andi a couple questions about the show (without revealing any of the details, of course!).

 little Santa Barbara shoutout :)

Boyz II Men came back on to try and salvage their integrity after their song got butchered, but since we'd seen what we came to see, we bailed. haha. 

Escalade parade. Andi got one (with a producer), the rest was for other crewmembers, I'm thinking? The guys were in two limos.

Downtown was PACKED with blacked-out Escalades and limos and trailers, what with having "big name" (HA) musicians AND prime-time tv-show cast and crew in town. It was right before dinner when the "concert" was over, and we figured that Andi and the guys were off to their hotel for food and the post-date cocktail party (where maybe the group date rose would be handed out?). We had a little stake-out across the street until the limos left, and then we tried to follow them. Like any sane person would do.

 

We pulled into a gas station to wait for the limos to catch up with us.

We got about three blocks before they hopped onto the northbound freeway, where we couldn't follow, which meant they were staying/eating at the Bacara hotel. There isn't a whole lot north of Santa Barbara that's fancy enough for a group date cocktail party unless you go pretty far, which I doubted since it was so close to sunset. All signs point to the Bacara! I'm interested to see if I was right when the show airs. (although why not go back to Malibu? Have they already left the Bachelor mansion, at episode 3?)

After we lost them, we had a little date night, since what could possibly be more romantic than stalking a stranger out on a date with twelve men??? haha.We hit up a newer restaurant in the Funk Zone and dreamed of having an extensive crew plan, fund, and execute elaborate dates for us. Also: helicopters.

Do you watch the Bachelor/Bachelorette? Have you ever been to a tv show taping?