Latest news with #Teti
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Bachelor in Paradise' EP teases 'very sexy reboot' for season 10
The citizens of Bachelor Nation are creatures of habit. Like Wayne and Garth, we fear change. But change is coming to Bachelor in Paradise, rose lovers — and it's time to talk about it. In addition to a new location (Costa Rica!) and a new twist (the Goldens are coming!), Bachelor in Paradise also has a new showrunner, Scott Teti (Claim to Fame), and he's ready to give ABC's beach-based dating show a makeover. "It's an amazing opportunity, because this franchise has been around for so long and had so much success, and it's exciting to be a part of that," Teti tells Entertainment Weekly. "It's also super exciting to be able to reboot [the show] both visually and creatively in a format sense." Promising an "upgraded, sexy style across the board," Teti says the new season of Paradise will also incorporate elements from its precursor — the late, great Bachelor Pad. If that doesn't pique your interest, rose lovers, nothing will. Read on to learn more about Teti's plans for Paradise, from "relationship games" to "elevated comedy" to the possibility of romance between the Golden contestants and the younger singles. ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let's talk about the big move to Costa Rica. Why is the show moving? SCOTT TETI: Before I came on, the location [change] was already in motion and had been approved. So, I think the drive to move was based on shaking things up stylistically with a new vibe and a new kind of Paradise. This also is very production friendly. It's a very private beach. It's very secluded, but it also has the ability for our production to stay on one side of the sister hotel, and the newer portion of the Azuara Beach Resort, where we will be filming, is right next door. It's this beautiful sexy, new location. Unlike in Mexico, where the contestants slept in open-air cabanas, everyone will get proper hotel rooms this season. Can you confirm that everyone will have air conditioning? Everyone will have air conditioning, yes! We're in Costa Rica this time and it's got this very wild, beautiful vibe. The hotel where they're going to be staying is more upscale and has a sexy chicness to it that feels a little bit elevated than the traditional kind of Paradise world we've been in. The cast can literally open up the doors to their rooms and swim out into the pool under bridges, and then up to a beautiful bar that is touching the beach. Are you excited to not have to film really sweaty people all the time? They were just so sweaty in Mexico. Between the air conditioner and the pool and the ability to swim right out into the pool, I imagine they're not going to be sweating unless they are running up and down the beach. So yes, I'm excited to be filming people that aren't constantly sweating, but maybe [they'll have] a little bit of a glisten to just give it a sexy vibe. More importantly, there is no way you could have subjected the Golden cast members to the brutality of the Playa Escondida accommodations, with the crabs and the bugs and the heat, right? [Laughs] Yeah, I mean, look, I think they're going to be pleasantly surprised down here. There's no shuffleboard set up yet, but we're going to make sure that they have their perfect Paradise to keep them rested and hydrated. Let's talk about the Goldens joining the group. People have a lot of questions. For example, if Leslie, 66, and Hakeem, 30, hit it off, can they date each other? Well, I would say that this rendition of Paradise is designed to encourage those to stay within their lanes. But yes, anything can happen in Paradise. You wouldn't be opposed to a May-December romance if it developed? Hey, who am I to say? Former Bachelorette Hannah Brown is joining the hospitality staff, alongside bartender . Tell us about what she'll be doing. She'll be handing out champagne before the rose ceremonies, checking in with people, seeing how they're doing. She is kind of taking on the role of, if you will, like a Director of Paradise Relations. She'll be checking in with the cast before the rose ceremonies, or even if somebody needs help with a romantic getaway to spice things up, she'll be there. She's going to be in the mix as this director of hospitality kind of role, checking in, giving advice, maybe even providing a little yoga experience to free the minds of some people. It's going to be fun. Will be back? We don't have the Truth Box, but we have so many other twists and turns and things that are new. Something that's super exciting is to be able to reboot the franchise both visually, creatively, in a format sense. We are bringing in elements that have a little bit of competition to them that we're calling chemistry or relationship tests, and they are really going to enlighten the cast and help them learn things about themselves, about each other. Things that might be admirable qualities might surface, things that are red flags might pop up as a result of these tests. Some of the tests are designed to show people how compatible they are or possibly how incompatible they are. So they're really going to shake things up and drive a lot of story in that sense. They're really designed to organically help them in their quest for love, and they're going to be fun and they're going to be surprising, and I think people, including the audience, are going to be caught off guard a lot of ways. essentially copied its format from , and now it sounds like is maybe incorporating some of the -style challenges? We're taking a different approach, in that I don't like to use the word "challenge." That's why I think we're really digging into relationship or chemistry tests because that's what they are. I will say that we're taking a lot of time to think about them and creatively how to implement them and not be so on the nose with things and keep people surprised at the results that we're getting. Bachelor Pad definitely is a little bit of an inspiration here. Hopefully people are excited that we're bringing elements of the Pad back. It's clear a lot of elements of the show are being refreshed and tweaked, but people are really attached to . Can we expect that to stay? I'll just say that everything about the style of the show, we're trying to elevate. From new cameras and lenses to frame rates to the way it's shot — we're trying to implement an upgraded, sexy style across the board. A lot of that involves the music and the storytelling as well. When it comes to the main titles, it's already being worked on, and we are trying to give that a 2025 spin. We are going to implement that in a way that feels stylistically upgraded, if you will. But the same song, please? Potentially, yeah. That's what we're working on. What makes a good contestant? First of all, it's someone who's really looking for love. If you don't have that from the start, it's not there. That's been front and foremost, who is really looking for love. And really getting a sense of who is attracted to who right off the bat and who's going to make a good match, as well as who's going to make good story because of things that are going on in their real world. When they find out that this person is here or that person's here, is it going to drive a different kind of story or jealousy? Who's going to embrace it and not kind of self-edit and pull back? And who is a hot commodity that people are putting on their checklist? We've got a team that is constantly researching this and that is in tune with the cast and talking to them. We have a good sense of who's going to come into Paradise and be pleasantly surprised with who's arriving and who's showing up on the next day and the next day. That's the fun of it. Is there a literal checklist? Because the contestants are always talking about the list: 'You were on my list.' 'Oh, he was on my list.' Yes. And Caitlin Stapleton, who heads up our cast team, is amazing, and so in tune with everybody. There is a list of who is attracted to who for these reasons and those reasons, and who wants to get to know this person. That's all part of it. We want this experiment to work. To just throw a bunch of random people in there and hope that they find love [wouldn't work]. You want to go in with a little notion of like, "Okay, this is already charged from the beginning." The show has a great premise, and it really works. But there's always one part in the season where it's too early to stop bringing in new people, and yet it's too late for new people to form real connections with anyone already on the beach. How do you plan to navigate that tricky period? I think that was the impetus to change the format and examine how do we start with this traditional Bachelor in Paradise model — though even that's going to have new twists and turns as we go, and the cast is not aware of that at this point. How do we keep this going or actually shift a gear, if you will, so that now you're driving forward with these relationships in a different way? That's where these relationship tests really start to drive story in a way that pushes this in a little bit of a Bachelor Pad direction so that you're driving to something and it gets more exciting. You're finding people who are deeper in love and driving towards something special. For people who have never seen , or who maybe gave up on it and are thinking about tuning back in, why is season 10 the time to jump back into the pool, so to speak? I would say that it's all the things that people loved about Bachelor in Paradise with elements of Bachelor Pad, along with every cast member from Bachelor Nation in an elevated, sexy new style, elevated comedy, more twists and turns than ever before, surprises, and really storytelling that keeps people on edge through every rose ceremony. You will not know what's happening, hopefully between four to five stories, not just one or two. It's an elevated experience overall, and we're really pushing the limits. We've done a lot of due diligence on the creative end for months now, trying to experiment with elevated devices that we can put into the show, where we're getting into the cast's heads. So often, everyone falls in love so quickly in Paradise and what must be going on in their head? It will hopefully look and feel like a very sexy reboot of what everybody has loved for many seasons. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Bachelor in Paradise premieres Monday, July 7, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Get a first look at 'Bachelor in Paradise' season 10's chic new Costa Rica digs (exclusive)
Dating is hard. Dating in the heat of summer on a beach that's often overrun with crabs is even harder — but for nine seasons, contestants on Bachelor in Paradise did it anyway. This year, however, Paradise is getting an upgrade. Entertainment Weekly has an exclusive first look at Bachelor in Paradise's new summer home, the Azura Beach Resort in Costa Rica, and from what we can see, there isn't a rogue crab in sight. And rather than sweating it out in open-air hotel rooms, every contestant will enjoy a room with four walls, air conditioning, and a private pool. 'The hotel is more upscale and has a sexy chicness to it that feels more elevated than the traditional kind of Paradise world that we've been in,' explains new showrunner Scott Teti (Claim to Fame, Summer House). 'The cast can literally open the doors to their rooms and swim out into the pool under bridges, and then up to a beautiful bar that is touching the beach. It has amazing views. The beach itself is private and unique. There's a beautiful island right off it with a bunch of fishing boats that surround it every day, with a quaint little town right next door, but not a ton of foot traffic. It feels remote and upscale and sexy at the same time.' Season 10 contestants — including some single seniors from the Golden franchise — will each be paired with a roommate, though EW can confirm that they won't have to sleep in bunk beds. Teti reveals that a special 'VIP Suite' will also be available to contestants 'on certain occasions,' should they want to get some 'alone' time with a potential love interest. 'The VIP suite is a two-story private getaway with an amazing setup that exudes Paradise,' he says. 'It's got a private pool on the top floor and a jacuzzi on the second floor with a full-on kitchen. It's got huge balconies and elite views.' In other words, rose lovers, imagine the 'boom-boom room' of old, but a lot nicer. During the day, contestants can hit the beach — as you'll see below, the daybeds have been replaced by more civilized couches and chaise lounges — or visit one of two bars. Paradise bartender Wells Adams will be back offering mixed drinks and advice, while former Bachelorette Hannah Brown will be on hand 'handing out champagne before the rose ceremonies, checking in with people, seeing how they're doing,' explains Teti. So far, six contestants have been announced: Kat Izzo, from Zach's season of The Bachelor; Zoe McGrady, from Grant's season of The Bachelor; Hakeem Moulton and Jonathon Johnson, from Jenn's season of The Bachelorette; Leslie Fihma from The Golden Bachelor; and Gary Levingston from The Golden Bachelorette. "Everything about the style of the show, we're trying to elevate," continues Teti. "From new cameras and lenses to frame rates to the way it's shot — we're trying to implement an upgraded, sexy style across the board." Upgraded, sexy, and comfortable, that is. With men and women from The Golden Bachelor and Golden Bachelorette on hand this season, producers are creating an environment where the seniors can stay cool and sunstroke-free while looking for a love connection. "We're going to make sure that they have their perfect Paradise to keep them rested and hydrated," says Teti. "There's plenty of shade and comfortable water temperatures to be had." Teti is staying tight-lipped about how the Golden cast members will be integrated into Paradise. Still, when asked if producers would allow a love connection between a Golden single and a younger contestant, the showrunner doesn't shut it down. "I would say that this season is designed to encourage [people] to stay within their lanes," he notes. "But yes, anything can happen in Paradise." Bachelor in Paradise season 10 premieres Monday, July 7, on ABC. Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
The Sun
15-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Cash Aid Transforms Lives in Kenya, Says GiveDirectly
KILIFI: Three years ago, Thomas Kazungu Karisa was struggling to make ends meet as a petrol station attendant in the Kenyan county of Kilifi, when a sudden cash donation changed his life. 'My family often went to bed hungry, my children were sent home from school for unpaid fees and I was buried in debt,' said Karisa, a father of five. Now he beams at his lush farm blooming with okra, the result of a one-off donation of 110,000 Kenyan shillings (roughly $930 at the time) from a New York-based NGO, GiveDirectly. He used the cash to lease a plot of land with two neighbours in his village of Milore, install an irrigation system and start farming. He built up credit and bought two cows, as well as a chainsaw he rents out for 2,000 Kenyan shillings at a time. 'If they had given me food, it would have been long gone by now,' Karisa told AFP. 'But with the money, I have been able to change my life.' GiveDirectly believes charities and NGOs should stop handing out things like food and school books, and start just sending people cash. It has given donations to almost 1.5 million Africans, and has carried out 25 studies across the continent to measure the impact. Fears the money would be misused or wasted were unfounded, it said. One Kenyan study found that families generated $2.50 for every $1 received. 'We can show evidence of cash having reversed domestic violence, improved child mortality, improved business outcomes, made families healthier, children accessing more education,' said Caroline Teti, GiveDirectly's vice president for risk in Africa. 'Poverty doesn't wait' With the United States and other Western countries sharply cutting aid in recent months, GiveDirectly believes cash handouts offer a way to do more with less. Traditional aid systems spend vast amounts on planning, supplies, transport, offices and expensive Western staff. A 2022 study by the University of Washington found that back-office costs in the United States ate up 30 to 60 percent of budgets for global health projects. Much more was lost getting supplies to the final endpoint. GiveDirectly still has overhead costs, but says 80 percent of donations goes directly into the hands of recipients. 'Cash is not a magic bullet,' Teti said. Governments are still needed for fundamentals like schools, health facilities and electricity. But for improving livelihoods of the poor, cash can be effective and fast. 'Poverty doesn't wait,' Teti said. 'One year is enough for a girl to drop out of school... for a mother or child to die.' Other aid agencies have embraced the concept over the past 10-15 years as hundreds of studies have shown its efficacy. The Norwegian Refugee Council now gives 20 percent of its aid in cash, but could easily give as much as 45 percent, said Tariq Riebl, its strategy and innovation director. Even USAID -- before being gutted by the administration of President Donald Trump -- finally backed the use of cash payments in a policy paper last October, after years of internal pushback. The only real obstacle, Riebl told AFP, is 'latent conservatism' in the aid sector: 'There's something more comforting about handing over a kit of non-food items or a sack of rice, than giving cash.' 'Dilemma' Cash is not suitable everywhere, such as war zones where markets barely exist, or when specialist items are needed like ID cards for refugees, or HIV medication. Doctors Without Borders (MSF), a medical organisation, has twice used cash transfers when markets collapsed: in Syria in the mid-2010s and recently in Sudan's Darfur region. But they were exceptions. 'Cash for healthcare remains very rare,' said MSF's advocacy head, Tarak Bach Baouab. 'We want to be sure of the quality of our programmes so we prefer sourcing the drugs and equipment ourselves.' Nonetheless, there is a dilemma. 'We're not there to tell people what to do with their lives. It's not very empowering and it creates a lot of dependency,' Baouab said. 'But if you give cash to a family and they don't spend it in the right way, then we might see health outcomes diminish.' GiveDirectly sees this as a selling point for giving cash wherever possible. 'Lives can only be changed by the people who are living that life,' Teti said. 'We are giving them dignity and we are giving them choice.'
The Sun
15-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Can cash handouts replace aid? Kenya offers some answers
KILIFI: Three years ago, Thomas Kazungu Karisa was struggling to make ends meet as a petrol station attendant in the Kenyan county of Kilifi, when a sudden cash donation changed his life. 'My family often went to bed hungry, my children were sent home from school for unpaid fees and I was buried in debt,' said Karisa, a father of five. Now he beams at his lush farm blooming with okra, the result of a one-off donation of 110,000 Kenyan shillings (roughly $930 at the time) from a New York-based NGO, GiveDirectly. He used the cash to lease a plot of land with two neighbours in his village of Milore, install an irrigation system and start farming. He built up credit and bought two cows, as well as a chainsaw he rents out for 2,000 Kenyan shillings at a time. 'If they had given me food, it would have been long gone by now,' Karisa told AFP. 'But with the money, I have been able to change my life.' GiveDirectly believes charities and NGOs should stop handing out things like food and school books, and start just sending people cash. It has given donations to almost 1.5 million Africans, and has carried out 25 studies across the continent to measure the impact. Fears the money would be misused or wasted were unfounded, it said. One Kenyan study found that families generated $2.50 for every $1 received. 'We can show evidence of cash having reversed domestic violence, improved child mortality, improved business outcomes, made families healthier, children accessing more education,' said Caroline Teti, GiveDirectly's vice president for risk in Africa. 'Poverty doesn't wait' With the United States and other Western countries sharply cutting aid in recent months, GiveDirectly believes cash handouts offer a way to do more with less. Traditional aid systems spend vast amounts on planning, supplies, transport, offices and expensive Western staff. A 2022 study by the University of Washington found that back-office costs in the United States ate up 30 to 60 percent of budgets for global health projects. Much more was lost getting supplies to the final endpoint. GiveDirectly still has overhead costs, but says 80 percent of donations goes directly into the hands of recipients. 'Cash is not a magic bullet,' Teti said. Governments are still needed for fundamentals like schools, health facilities and electricity. But for improving livelihoods of the poor, cash can be effective and fast. 'Poverty doesn't wait,' Teti said. 'One year is enough for a girl to drop out of school... for a mother or child to die.' Other aid agencies have embraced the concept over the past 10-15 years as hundreds of studies have shown its efficacy. The Norwegian Refugee Council now gives 20 percent of its aid in cash, but could easily give as much as 45 percent, said Tariq Riebl, its strategy and innovation director. Even USAID -- before being gutted by the administration of President Donald Trump -- finally backed the use of cash payments in a policy paper last October, after years of internal pushback. The only real obstacle, Riebl told AFP, is 'latent conservatism' in the aid sector: 'There's something more comforting about handing over a kit of non-food items or a sack of rice, than giving cash.' 'Dilemma' Cash is not suitable everywhere, such as war zones where markets barely exist, or when specialist items are needed like ID cards for refugees, or HIV medication. Doctors Without Borders (MSF), a medical organisation, has twice used cash transfers when markets collapsed: in Syria in the mid-2010s and recently in Sudan's Darfur region. But they were exceptions. 'Cash for healthcare remains very rare,' said MSF's advocacy head, Tarak Bach Baouab. 'We want to be sure of the quality of our programmes so we prefer sourcing the drugs and equipment ourselves.' Nonetheless, there is a dilemma. 'We're not there to tell people what to do with their lives. It's not very empowering and it creates a lot of dependency,' Baouab said. 'But if you give cash to a family and they don't spend it in the right way, then we might see health outcomes diminish.' GiveDirectly sees this as a selling point for giving cash wherever possible. 'Lives can only be changed by the people who are living that life,' Teti said. 'We are giving them dignity and we are giving them choice.'
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Can cash handouts replace aid? Kenya offers some answers
Three years ago, Thomas Kazungu Karisa was struggling to make ends meet as a petrol station attendant in the Kenyan county of Kilifi, when a sudden cash donation changed his life. "My family often went to bed hungry, my children were sent home from school for unpaid fees and I was buried in debt," said Karisa, a father of five. Now he beams at his lush farm blooming with okra, the result of a one-off donation of 110,000 Kenyan shillings (roughly $930 at the time) from a New York-based NGO, GiveDirectly. He used the cash to lease a plot of land with two neighbours in his village of Milore, install an irrigation system and start farming. He built up credit and bought two cows, as well as a chainsaw he rents out for 2,000 Kenyan shillings at a time. "If they had given me food, it would have been long gone by now," Karisa told AFP. "But with the money, I have been able to change my life." GiveDirectly believes charities and NGOs should stop handing out things like food and school books, and start just sending people cash. It has given donations to almost 1.5 million Africans, and has carried out 25 studies across the continent to measure the impact. Fears the money would be misused or wasted were unfounded, it said. One Kenyan study found that families generated $2.50 for every $1 received. "We can show evidence of cash having reversed domestic violence, improved child mortality, improved business outcomes, made families healthier, children accessing more education," said Caroline Teti, GiveDirectly's vice president for risk in Africa. - 'Poverty doesn't wait' - With the United States and other Western countries sharply cutting aid in recent months, GiveDirectly believes cash handouts offer a way to do more with less. Traditional aid systems spend vast amounts on planning, supplies, transport, offices and expensive Western staff. A 2022 study by the University of Washington found that back-office costs in the United States ate up 30 to 60 percent of budgets for global health projects. Much more was lost getting supplies to the final endpoint. GiveDirectly still has overhead costs, but says 80 percent of donations goes directly into the hands of recipients. "Cash is not a magic bullet," Teti said. Governments are still needed for fundamentals like schools, health facilities and electricity. But for improving livelihoods of the poor, cash can be effective and fast. "Poverty doesn't wait," Teti said. "One year is enough for a girl to drop out of school... for a mother or child to die." Other aid agencies have embraced the concept over the past 10-15 years as hundreds of studies have shown its efficacy. The Norwegian Refugee Council now gives 20 percent of its aid in cash, but could easily give as much as 45 percent, said Tariq Riebl, its strategy and innovation director. Even USAID -- before being gutted by the administration of President Donald Trump -- finally backed the use of cash payments in a policy paper last October, after years of internal pushback. The only real obstacle, Riebl told AFP, is "latent conservatism" in the aid sector: "There's something more comforting about handing over a kit of non-food items or a sack of rice, than giving cash." - 'Dilemma' - Cash is not suitable everywhere, such as war zones where markets barely exist, or when specialist items are needed like ID cards for refugees, or HIV medication. Doctors Without Borders (MSF), a medical organisation, has twice used cash transfers when markets collapsed: in Syria in the mid-2010s and recently in Sudan's Darfur region. But they were exceptions. "Cash for healthcare remains very rare," said MSF's advocacy head, Tarak Bach Baouab. "We want to be sure of the quality of our programmes so we prefer sourcing the drugs and equipment ourselves." Nonetheless, there is a dilemma. "We're not there to tell people what to do with their lives. It's not very empowering and it creates a lot of dependency," Baouab said. "But if you give cash to a family and they don't spend it in the right way, then we might see health outcomes diminish." GiveDirectly sees this as a selling point for giving cash wherever possible. "Lives can only be changed by the people who are living that life," Teti said. "We are giving them dignity and we are giving them choice." mnk-er/cw
