In 2003, Steve Carbon (‘Steve’), a blogger from Dallas, started a newsletter that leaked reports from the show the Bachelor and the Bachelorette that had not yet been aired, even revealing the finale of one of the show’s seasons. After some triumphant spills reaching an audience of millions, RealitySteve.com was born and dedicated to spoiling the very successful franchised series.
Steve so far seems to have been successful in avoiding lawsuits regarding the leaking of unseen content from the very popular US TV series. However, Steve did find himself in some strife with ABC producers in 2011 when he was caught offering a contestant $2,500.00 to give up spoilers. The lawsuit was settled in 2012 where Steve agreed not to solicit any information from the cast and crew for at least the next 5 years.
Although Steve, who is better known as ‘Spoiler Steve’, has had legal battles in the past for spilling the beans, that hasn’t deterred him from continuing to exercise his First Amendment rights, which essentially allows him to blog about whatever he wants.
There is a clause in the contracts imposed by the ABC producers that could see any contestant or crew member facing a $5 million penalty for leaking any information about the show. This would prove to be the best (if not only) approach for ABC producers to try and stop the spoilers – that or throwing some cash over Spoiler Steve’s way who has previously said
“Everyone’s got a price”.