Look, I don’t like throwing stones –– enough have been thrown at me to know that most of them almost always come from only partially informed people, never from folks who actually know the whole story. And while I’ve seen many episodes of this season’s Bachelorette (don’t ask), I haven’t seen every single one. Still, contestant Wes Hayden has to be a world-class douchebag. Until he got tossed off about a week ago, the young C&W singer-songwriter from Austin had admitted to viewers –– not to the bachelorette herself –– that he was doing the show purely for publicity’s sake and that he had a girlfriend back home. (What a gal, I can hear you saying, letting her boyfriend play kissy face with another woman on national TV. Must be true love.)
Everyone loves a bad boy, sure, but you’ve got to wonder: Does acting like a spoiled, selfish jerk qualify as legitimate bad-boy behavior? I don’t think so. Getting shit-faced, driving your lawn mower to the liquor store ’cause you can’t find your car keys, wrecking on the way back, and getting tossed in jail for driving under the influence? That’s bad-boy. Using your fists to defend a lady’s honor at a bar? That’s bad-boy, too. But lying –– and having your family lie for you as Hayden did on national fucking TV –– is just dirty, rotten, and lowdown. Too bad ’cause the dude’s honkytonk music is solid, and, from our biased perspective, he’s managed by a Fort Worth company, SoundCheck International. Hayden plays a cool spot, Spencer’s Corner (6861-C Green Oaks Rd, by Ridgmar Mall, 817-652-6090), on Sat., July 18. Don’t bring any rotten fruit and vegetables, though –– and no stones, either.
This article is actually misinformed. Check out the radio interview with Wes–he explains everything detail. ABC took words he said about one thing and edited them in a way as to make him sound like he was talking about something completely different. http://shar.es/6EGG
Excerpt from the interview:
Wes, when you’re in the limo last night, and you say it’s pieced together, how exactly do they get a clip of you saying, ‘I’m the only guy in Bachelor history who’s made it to the top four with a girlfriend.’ How do they get that clip?
Wes: They don’t play what I say after that. I said, ‘I’m the only guy in Bachelorette history to make it to the top four with a girlfriend. Get real, dude. If I had a girlfriend, I’d be home with her right now, and I wouldn’t be putting up with this. They said stuff like that all the way through. They can take whatever they want and just play what they want. It’s not rocket science. I promise you. I do have a career. I’ve been a musician for 14 years and I would never go on national TV and sink myself.
I feel for Hayden. I really do. He should sue for slander. Period. Granted, he’d be up against Disney’s lawyers, but still. And I will gladly take back everything I’ve said once I see the transcripts — except the part about his music. His superb talent is not up for debate. Thanks for writing, Lindsay.
Lindsay’s right – I heard the interview too, and
the guy has seriously been played. Although
the only ones who know the real story are Wes
and his supposed ex girlfriend, he does come
across in the interview as more sincere than
you saw on the show.
It’s probably a mixture of both things – his character
and ABC’s editing, but I think he’s a much nicer
guy than the show wanted us to believe.
Hi Anthony,
I wanted to add to the previous comments, which I totally agree with. Not only does Wes’s interviews address the editing, but Micheal from the show and also Jillian herself have said in interviews that Wes got a bad edit and was made to look bad. The thing that really sucks was seeing this article in MY local favorite place for news and music, the place I see my friends being awarded Best of ’09, etc. This is the publication I’ve stood up for time and time again when someone calls it the FW “Weakly”. So it sucks seeing him getting the same treatment close to home, that he’s getting from Mainstream USA. I’m amazed people choose to think Reality TV is actually REAL, not scripted and edited. Sorry to be long winded, I’m pretty passionate about this injustice. You have my email, so if you want links to the interviews done by other people on the show backing Wes let me know. Thanks and this is the only time I’ve decided to call y’all that bad name! ha Love ya most the time!
yeah, c’mon, there are *no* cool places by a mall.
Either way, I think he’s screwed — perception is nine-tenths of reality, and the perception of him is uniformly negative. And, biased editing or not, he certainly didn’t help himself by saying some of the ridiculous things he’d said.
anthony it’s about time you stated the obvious: no amount of sneaky editing could completely change this guy from hero to a zero.
creative editing might have been used to enhance his douchebaggery for the sake of ratings, but you can’t fabricate wholesale douchiness by editing alone.
“no amount of sneaky editing could completely change this guy from hero to a zero. ” — perhaps, but everyone should listen to the Reality Steve interview and THEN formulate their opinion. ABC/Bachelorette is known for this kind of hatchet job. Maybe it speaks to the naievete of Wes but at least get the entire story before casting stones.
Come on, you sort of have to be at least a somewhat horrible human being to appear on The Bachelor or the Bachelorette in any capacity.