The Untold Truth Of Reality Steve

When it comes to anything and everything about ABC's Bachelor Nation, there's one expert that truly knows all — Reality Steve. Steve Carbone has been recapping "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette" for nearly two decades. But after receiving a tip about Jason Mesnick's wild season finale back in 2009, he became the end-all, be-all for "Bachelor" spoilers. He has insiders reach out to him directly to give him the scoop on what's really going on behind the gates of the Bachelor mansion. Carbone stands by his sources — claiming that "95 percent of the stuff I get is legit" (via Reality Blurred). 

Carbone has had a hold on being the go-to source for "Bachelor" content for a decade now. Despite a few bumps in the road, he's managed to keep his position of power and influence by keeping in close contact with his sources. But behind the mega-successful website is a real man with a real history — not all of it pretty. So let's get into the untold truth of Steve Carbone, the man behind Reality Steve.

Even though Reality Steve has given ABC a whole lot of free publicity for "The Bachelor" franchise, the network isn't typically happy with him. Steve Carbone has kept his sources confidential, talking to people behind the scenes season every season. But he's been sued twice after ABC alleged he was attempting to get "Bachelor" contestants to break their confidentially contracts (via Cosmopolitan).

The first time he was sued was during Ben Flajnik's season, when he reached out to some of the women who had been eliminated while filming was still occurring. They declined to comment, but Carbone was still sued for tortious interference. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Carbone was also sued in 2012 after the network said he breached his settlement agreement for spoiling the show, which he then also settled. It would appear the two parties have since come to a truce as no further lawsuits have been filed despite a steady stream of spoilers over the years.

Blogging about reality TV has been around since the internet was in its infancy. Steve Carbone got his start by writing chain emails about the old show "Joe Millionaire" that gained a cult following. That's what led him to start Reality Steve, writing recaps about shows like "The Bachelor," "The Bachelorette," "Big Brother" and more. Considering the website has been a popular platform for decades, Carbone was able to turn his side hustle into a full-time career in 2011. Prior to that, he had a career as a sports radio host (via Reality Blurred). And according to a New York Times profile from 2016, Carbone proudly boasted he was making six figures from his site (which is believable, considering his site is infamously chock-full of ads). 

It's not a shock that Reality Steve has become somewhat of a primary source for "Bachelor" tea, leading to fame and a prosperous career. According to Texas Monthly, Reality Steve's webpage averaged 1.5 million visitors per month in 2016. And as long as ABC airs new seasons of "The Bachelor" franchise, Carbone likely won't be giving up this gig anytime soon. 

Since Steve Carbone has been an online staple for so many years, he's been able to receive so many tips about "The Bachelor" without reaching out to insiders first. In the interview with Reality Blurred, Carbone says that most of the spoilers are brought to him first. "I think people, for the most part, want to help," Carbone said. "The bottom line is: I don't think a lot of people are out to give me misinformation." 

But his relationships with "Bachelor" insiders, particularly former contestants, aren't all copasetic. Just this year, Carbone received backlash from contestant Demi Burnett after she alleged that he detailed a sex dream he had about her over the phone. He's also been accused of being misogynistic toward a handful of cast members (via Heavy). After Burnett told her story, Carbone posted an apology online. 

"Going forward, I'm not gonna have any sort of personal relationship with these contestants," he said. "Because even the times I've tried to speak to them in a 'looking out for you' way, helping them maybe avoid disaster, etc, it backfires more often than not. I need to draw clearer lines that these are people I'm reporting on not people I have relationships/friendships with" (via E!). 

Steve Carbone has been right a lot with his spoilers/predictions of winners of "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette." But that doesn't mean he's perfect. Particularly, Carbone came under fire after inaccurately spoiling Desiree Hartsock's season. "I'll be the first to admit that I got lazy," Carbone told Dallas Observer. "And that's why I don't think I'll ever be wrong again because of that season. I just wasn't very thorough. The information that I had was solid in my eyes and I was like, 'Wow. This can't be wrong.' I didn't follow through with things, like I do now." 

In fact, he's been wrong many times, incorrectly predicting the order of eliminations and the winner of seasons on multiple occasions. According to a lengthy Reddit thread documenting his errors and controversies, he originally announced that Rachel Lindsay was engaged to Peter Kraus (she was not) and that Hannah Brown was ended to Tyler Cameron (which, no matter how hard fans dreamed, she was not). However, he was able to correct the mistakes before the finales aired.  

While Carbone says he receives major backlash whenever he slips up on his spoilers, he said being wrong also helped the traffic on his site (via The Dallas Observer). People wanted to see him fail and were eager to call him out on it when he did, he said. However, that didn't stop Carbone from continuing his work and perfecting his skills of deciphering true tea from fake news. As a result, Carbone hasn't been as quick to reveal his spoilers in recent seasons.

One of the most shocking facts about Reality Steve is that he doesn't even like "The Bachelor." Yes, you're reading it right — the expert of all things "The Bachelor" doesn't even like the dating show that has become his career. There's a long list of other shows he'd rather watch, including his favorite reality show "Survivor." He understands that writing commentary about "Survivor" doesn't lead to the same amount of interest as the prime-time dating show. But "The Bachelor" pays the bill, so he keeps watching (via Texas Monthly).

All in all, Carbone is just a regular guy who wanted to figure out how to have a career in writing and succeeded in an unconventional way. He likely never anticipated that he'd become so intertwined with the most popular reality dating show of the era. But while Carbone may be sick of recapping the seemingly endless "Bachelor" franchise, it's given him the most steady gig a blogger could ask for.