Sire – and Mays the Cat – shift gears to add analysis, insight to ABC’s “Bachelor Live”

EDITOR’s NOTE: As if preparing for Monday’s 7 a.m. ET launch of SportsCenter:AM wasn’t keeping SC anchor Jaymee Sire busy enough, the certified foodie and “Bachelor Nation” denizen was asked to Skype into ABC’s Monday “Bachelor Live” post-show re-cap and analysis. Sire – and her cat Mays (named after San Francisco great, Willie Mays) – were part of the whip-around discussion that also featured Miss Piggy, a watch party from MIT and other Bachelor devotees. Here, Sire explains her involvement and Mays’ timely video bomb.

When I’m not at home watching a sporting event, I generally have the TV on Food Network or HGTV. I don’t watch “Housewives,” I don’t watch the “Kardashians.” Really my only “guilty pleasure,” reality TV is ABC’s “The Bachelor.” It’s a tradition that started in college [Washington State] and has transcended all of my career moves to different cities across the country. My life and address is ever-changing, but one thing has remained constant: Monday nights with some wine, girlfriends and the most dramatic rose ceremony yet.

So when my friend and “Bachelor” producer, Elan Gale, asked if I’d be interested in Skyping in for the new “Bachelor Live” show, I didn’t even have to think twice. We arranged it for last night, which was the final live show of the season, and also followed a big cliffhanger ending, so it was fun to follow that. I was surprised how nervous I was! How hilarious is that? I do live television in front of a national audience for two [soon to be three] hours, five days a week, and yet I was nervous to do a two-minute Skype call about “The Bachelor!”

I used the opportunity to inform Bachelor Ben Higgins that I took him in an US Weekly Celebrity Fantasy Draft with my Connecticut girlfriends (third-round pick, BTW) and that I was expecting big things. I also asked a very important question that all of America has been wondering about this season’s “villain,” Olivia: “Is her breath really that bad?”

Host Chris Harrison wisely jumped in to give The Bachelor an out. . . and he took it. So technically, Ben didn’t answer my question, but his silence said it all. And apparently I wasn’t the only one thinking this, judging by the feedback I got on social media and from my friends.

Of course, my mischievous orange cat (Mays) just HAD to make an appearance, video-bombing me towards the end of the call. Nothing says “single” like hanging out with your cat while watching “The Bachelor.” How embarrassing! Oh well. . . I’m pretty sure it sealed the deal for most dramatic “Bachelor Live” Skype call yet.