Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their thoughts in the comments last week! Even if I don’t always make it in there to respond, as I didn’t last week (it’s been another busy one over here—I think it says something that I’m doing my last proofread during off-moments in our sitzprobes and tech rehearsals!), please know that I do read every single comment.

So, to address the whole “outside information” discussion, I would only feel confident doing this moving forward if the response were unanimously in favor of it, which it wasn’t. I know how annoying it is to read an article about the show or browse a contestant’s Instagram page only to stumble upon spoilers. I have never wanted my recaps to be a place for that, so I’ll continue as I have been, though I will make exceptions depending on the information and the discussion it brings about. If it spoils the season, even in a roundabout way, I’m probably not going to address it. Sydney’s rumored fib about having not attended her high school prom is a good example (hence why I did share it!). Anyone who would want to learn more about that could easily do so, but it doesn’t spoil the season either way. It was instead about discussing the possible trend of contestants leveraging “sob stories” to make it further or to get a sympathetic edit. There are so many outlets for outside info and rumors, so as many of you suggested in the comments, I’ll use my judgment and only include whatever speaks to me or contributes to an interesting discussion.

One more thing: I want to especially thank those of you who went out of your way to suggest ways for me to monetize these recaps in order for me to stick with them. I cannot tell you how kind I find this, to have readers VOLUNTEER information that could result in them paying for these one day. (I hadn’t heard of Patreon until you guys suggested it.) I was so touched by this. Personally, I am not totally comfortable charging even a few bucks a month for these, just since I know they’ll never be my top priority work-wise and not everyone is in a position to spend their hard-earned money on something relatively frivolous. So, on that note, encouraged by your kind words, I plan on finally looking into partnering with a sponsor in the future. I haven’t begun shopping around yet but wanted you to be the first to know. I feel I owe it to you, my readers, since YOU are the reason I’m even a position to have something to “pitch”, and your comments are what motivated me to finally look into this. I’m sure some people will consider this “selling out”, but I think I’ve proven by writing these for 5.5 years (yikes!) without any ads or sponsors that that is not the case. With a sponsor, I could justify continuing to spend so many hours creating these recaps, and you could rely on them being better prioritized in my life and not always being on the verge of vanishing (which, honestly, they currently are). I take brand partnerships super seriously and I would make it my utmost priority to find a fit with a brand or company that I believe in or use, and which feels right. I could very well be getting ahead of myself—these recaps, given their seasonal nature and the fact that the content is rather niche, might be a bit of a weird sell—and it’s very possible no companies will bite. But either way, I want you to know that’s my hope moving forward as I think it would be the best happy-medium for all of us. As always, I welcome your thoughts and suggestions.

Thank you all for chiming in on this! Now let’s recap…