Olivia Ponton says America Singer wouldn't survive modern reality dating shows

Hi angels, it's Olivia Pont and welcome back to another episode of Booked and Busy. [music] This is my podcast for all of the girlies that love to read just as much as I do

So, to anyone who follows me already, thank you so much for supporting this new endeavor of mine

I'm a little nervous, but very excited for it

And then for people who don't know me, hi, my name is Olivia Pontton

I'm 23 years old

I live in New York City

My life kind of just revolves around traveling, reading, spending time with my friends, and trying to maintain a normal self-care routine

Books are heavily a part of my self-care routine

Reading has quite literally got me out of some of the hardest parts of my life

I think a feeling that we can all relate to is when you finish a book and it changes your perspective on whatever you're currently dealing with

That's uh an incredible feeling

So on this podcast, I'm kind of just going through books that make me cry, books that I can't put down, and books that uh forever kind of change my thought processes

I really wanted to create a space for the girlies that love to read because I think often in quote unquote book clubs, you weirdly feel like you're in school again and that there's deadlines and you have to read books by a certain time

So my idea for this is I really just wanted to create something where you could come and watch it whenever you finish the book

So for each episode of Booked and Busy, I choose one book to completely deep dive

So I'm going to introduce the book of the month

This is the selection series by Kira Cass

When I posted this, everyone had said that this was like their high school, middle school book that they were obsessed with

So I'm very excited because I was late to the game

I did not know about this book when I was younger

I actually listened to all of these via audiobook. 8 hours and 45 minutes for one book

I also have [snorts] to stare at a wall while listening to it because my attention span is not high enough where I could be doing other things while listening

So, did I stare at a wall for 8 hours and 45 minutes? Yes

Did I enjoy every second of it? Yes

Same thing for these as well

So, if you need a little reminder on the series, it's basically 35 girls versus one guy who's the prince of Ilia, aka the Bachelor, from what I think

So, for each episode, I do a beverage of the day

The beverage of this month is just tea

Throughout all of the books, they are just sipping their tea all of the time

And may I add, it makes them look incredibly chic

In my imaginary world where this happened, it felt very chic

Another thing that I love to do each month is to kind of dress inspired by the character

So, obviously, it's red, white, and blue

That is because the main character's name is America

So, I went with like a white little frilly dress, but it's also super sparkly

And then I decided to go with some pretty crazy jewelry from Sporski

And then a little headband to kind of act as a tiara

I've quite literally never been so addicted to a book before

From the first chapter of The Selection, I was immediately hooked

Staring at at the wall, I just was like shocked of how I've never heard about this series before

My favorite genres of movies are like the competitive action-packed crazy ones like The Hunger Games, Mazerunner, Divergent, etc

And this series, I feel like, is truly up my alley because it kind of covers all of those bases

So, for this episode, I kind of wanted to switch up the dynamic of how we talked about the books

I know I've said this in other episodes that I want to try different things until I find something that really fits for this specific book

And I thought with all the reality TV shows going on, I wanted to dissect this book as a reality TV show

So, I'm going to treat this as if I'm breaking down a reality TV show, but like in a dystopian royal society form

So to start off, we are going to go with the character breakdown because there are actually a ton of characters within these series and I think it's truly what makes the story line so addicting because you really feel like you know everyone

So we're going to start with the three main characters

We have Miss America Singer

She is spicy

She's fiery

She's a little back and forth to the extent in the second book I started getting really tired of her and I was like, "Okay, girl

Like make up your mind." But I think she's a protagonist and she means well always

Then we have Maxon who is Prince Maxon

He's the hair to the throne and I like him a lot personally

Then we have Aspen Leisure who is a natural-born six in the cast system and then he eventually becomes a royal guard

So within the royal family we have Queen Amberlye and King Clarkson

King Clarkson is like the epitome of like an intimidating bad father and Queen Amberly is like calm, collective

She means well, but she's just very composed

She doesn't like to stir the pot

Then we have America's family

They talk quite often about her family, but specifically about her father and her mother

Her mother is Magda and her father is Shalom

So, now we're going to go through some of the prominent contestants that were also in the selection

We have Marley Thes who I personally thought from the beginning was going to win the entire selection

She's America's best friend, and she's very sweet and loyal

We have Celeste Newsome

She's glamorous, manipulative, and to be honest, later on has a redemption arc

Then we have Chris Ambers, who is so close to being perfect

She's very sweet, traditional, and honestly, very close to winning in the end

We have Natalie Luca

She's just bubbly, chatty, doesn't really take the process of it all too seriously

So, we have Elise Whisks, who is from New Asia, and she is there to win

She's very diplomatic, and Max is very communicative that he likes that about her

We have Ashley

Sweet, sweet Ashley

She doesn't have a huge part in the books, but she's just very artistic, a bit shy as well

We have Zoe

She's one of the girls that is very early eliminated

We have Tuesday Keeper

She's very briefly mentioned

We have Tiny Lee, who I feel like she was just giggling the entire book 24/7

And then for the palace workers, there's only one main girl

That was Sylvia

She was the palace etiquette teacher, and I feel like she was very prominent because her job was like to keep all the girls in one room and preoccupied

Then we have the rebel groups

We had the northern rebels and the southern rebels

The northern rebels were more intellectual and they honestly wanted to reform the system while the southern rebels just wanted violence and they just wanted to hurt people because hurt people hurt people

So for specifically Celeste, I did not genuinely think she was going to make it past the first round

I thought she was going to get eliminated pretty much immediately

I was not a fan of her for pretty much the entirety of the series

I was very shocked that she made it to the top four

She was definitely the society's favorite because from a viewer standpoint was the best option

She played the part

She said all the right things to everyone specifically on the press and she said all the right things to Maxon and gave him everything that he wanted

Like I said earlier, I genuinely thought Marley was going to win the entire selection

I feel like she was very shy but said the right things

Maxon was obsessed with her

She was clearly beautiful

So, when everything happened with the guard, I believe that was in the second book, I was shocked

I could not believe that she was getting caught with a relationship with another guard, I was very shocked

I was staring at the wall just like I also thought Chris was a great candidate besides the fact that she was simply boring

And then when we found out later on in the book that she was part of the rebels, that was like the biggest turn of events that I was like, one thing I really loved about this series is that you were always kept on your toes. like there was always switchups from every component, but never something that was like a complete what the heck is going on to the point where it wouldn't make sense

I feel like everything that did happen that like kept you on the edge of your seat, it didn't make sense in the long run

So, now we're going to do a little deep diving on America's character

Off the bat, right when Aspen broke up with her, literally in the first few chapters, her plan was to sign up for the selection out of revenge, which she made very clear was against her own intuition

She did not want to sign up for it

Which I feel like it's very funny cuz I think that defines a very classic relationship nowadays

You date someone, you break up with them, you decide to act out and do something against what maybe they would have approved or you know even yourself would have approved and then it turns out being the best thing that you could have imagined for yourself

Aka the part of a breakup where you're like focusing on yourself

I feel like in a weird way that's what America was trying to do by being like, "Okay, I'm just going to listen to my mom

I'm going to sign up for this silly thing

And then well, she ended up winning the entire competition

For people who have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about or maybe you haven't read this book in a few years, America was dating this guy Aspen and they have this cast system, one being like the tippity top royalty and I think it goes till nine that is like not good

America was five, Aspen was a six

And in the cast system, you always want to try to date above, marry above

Aspen eventually broke up with America because he, you know, could understand that he was a six and he could never provide the life for her that she deserved

The only real reason of why you don't want to be in a lower class is because the lack of the human necessities

I'm talking heat, food, water, work

Even in the book, she was explaining when you're a five, I think you have more access to being like entertainment people, whereas a six, you're more of uh guards

I could be wrong

Don't don't quote me on that

So when he breaks up with her, America is obviously devastated, not okay

So her mother had been really trying to convince her to sign up for this selection, which is every girl in the entire country of Ilia that is 16 to 18 can apply for this

So the actual selection is 35 girls who are going to go and live in the palace and then Max aka the next king will go through and basically find his wife from those 35 girls. very very similar to the Bachelor

He kind of just weaves out the girls one by one until he gets like his top three or four and then once he gets to three, he has a few days to make up his final decision and propose to one of them

He's looking for a wife but also a princess of Ilia

Well, I guess she would also be the queen

So, after she gets picked to be a part of the selection, she like hated her life

She did not want to go

But you know what? She was like, I'm going to do this life experience

Hopefully, I'll forget about Aspen. again in that era of the breakup where you're just like, I want to do anything to not remember this person

So, on the first night of all the girls getting to the palace, you know, they all check into their rooms

They're living in huge suites, just places that they could not comprehend

And America starts having a full-blown anxiety attack

She needs to get outside

She's freaking out

She's running around the palace

She's like just trying to get out into the garden

So, she's banging the doors

The guards are not letting her out until eventually a voice comes from behind her and ordering them to open the doors. and she bursts out and she's crying, she's hyperventilating, she's freaking out and Max is trying to calm her down

It was specifically a rule that you were not allowed to communicate with Maxon until the next morning

So, all the girls had a fair share of meeting him and having first impressions at the first time

That did not happen because Maxon put himself in a situation to meet her before everyone else

So, it kind of already started as like a little secret between them cuz he was like, "You can't tell anyone about this because I don't want the other girls to get jealous." which like foreshadowing kind of and America in the midst of her anxiety attack is just explaining about how she doesn't want to be here

She doesn't want to be a part of this election

She thinks it's stupid and he, you know, tells her like, "Do you want to go home like I can send you home right now?" And she's like, "Well, no." So, it becomes this little game where he's like, "Okay, I'm going to keep you on because while you're here, we can send money back to your family

You can eat good

You can get new clothes

You can live a very lavish lifestyle

And then once I find my wife, like, you can go home." So, they had like a pact in the beginning, which I thought was really cute

And from then I was like, "Oh, I have a good feeling about this." This is also a perfect example of her indecisiveness from the beginning

You know, she starts to like Max in, but then Aspen shows up as a guard

That caught me very off guard

I was like, "Wait, I thought she was forgetting about him, and now all of a sudden he's the guard that's guarding her room every night

Like, what is going on?" I think there's very specific quotes throughout the entire book where she is showing us that she is indecisive

And I don't know if it's she wants both of them or she doesn't want either of them or she wants Max in one day. wants Aspen the other

It is just like a constant turmoil

Like I was saying earlier, like in the second book, I was getting to a point where I was like, "Girl, come on." Like, make up your mind

It has been months

For example, in book two, they didn't celebrate Halloween anymore

I don't know why

It just became out of tradition

Maxon threw a holiday for America just for her to experience it once in life

Maxon chooses America to wear the royal dress

They dance together and then the rebels attack

And that was like a huge huge thing

Also, when she finds out that Maxon is seeing other girls like Chris and Celeste, that caused her to feel this like turn in her stomach, it makes you feel sick, honestly

Like, I think we can all relate to that feeling

When you find that out, you're just like, oh my gosh, like I was not expecting that

After Maxon like confessing his love for her and being like, I you know, it's you, it's always going to be you

And then to find that out on that section, I can understand her for being a little back and forth if you found that out

But at the same time, America literally quotes numerous times, "I don't know if I want him, but I don't want him to talk to anyone else." Which I'm like, "That's not fair." Another example of her being all over the place is in book three when she is fully ready to commit to Maxon

He confesses his love to her

She's so close to also doing that

And then Aspen shows up again

One more key moment that I really want to talk about is when Maxon finds out that America is still seeing Aspen because we all know what happened to Marley when that was found out

They were literally banished to cast 9

But if you read the book, you you know that they actually weren't

But it was a huge deal in the book

I think when Maxon found out that that was Aspen Aspen, there was an element of shock to it, but I think in his brain, everything started making sense of why she was acting the way that she was

From his perspective, he was constantly saying like, "You are the one

You are the only one, and you still couldn't choose after both of us are putting our everything out on the line for you." I think Aspen represented her old life and like the safness and the security of that and Maxon represented this whole new potential life that was very scary, very daunting

I don't think our girl was built for cleancut decisions

So then I wrote some questions for myself in current reality dating shows

Would America singer survive? Like would she be a fan favorite? Would people hate her? I don't think she would survive current dating shows if people knew her perspective

Again, current dating shows, you know, the producers edit things and it makes makes certain people look crazy when they're not

So, take that with a grain of salt

But I think if people knew America's thought processes and what she was doing, I do not think people would like her

I think nowadays also people fall in love in like what 4 days, 5 days of being on the show, whereas America was there for 9 months and she still couldn't make up her mind

I think she would go home cuz they'd be like, "You're too indecisive for us." Now, I feel like everyone's slowly been seeing how often books are turned into adaptations

I think this would make a great candidate for an adaptation for a TV series

So, this is who I would cast in the series if I had absolutely any say over it

So, for America Singer, I love the actress Abigail Cohen

I feel like she has the rare ability to look so sweet with just enough awkwardness behind it

I think she carries herself in a very intense way

I think if anyone has watched any of her other work, she was in this series that I loved called Fate

It was like about fairies and stuff, which I feel like kind of like weirdly goes along with like princesses

And then I think also her red hair just tops it off

For Prince Max, I would cast Lewis Partridge

Hot take

I think he fits it perfectly

I think he could play the part just as equally where he's charming and sweet yet awkward because again like this is his first time ever dating women in general and I think he's like what 18 in the book

I think he also has that like royal charm to him and the way that he looks

He's elegant but never like too polished

And I feel like through his work you can kind of tell like under pressure he would always make the right decision which I feel like is great for the series

So, Aspen Leisure

I don't know if this actor would 100% work, but again, we're talking like my dream cast

I would book Charles Melton

I feel like he's very intense

He's got like a protector complex who will like ruin your piece, but also be totally in love with you

I think he also gives that vibe of like pretty like possessiveness

And I feel like he's sure in his brain that he's doing everything right even when he's not

So, for Celeste Newsome, I would book Cindy Sweeney

I think she would be perfect at the I'm a but only a to the girls and to the outside everyone loves me and everyone adores me

So next up for Marley things I would book my Trey Rama Christian

I think again she could play like the innocent sweet girl so well

I've also watched some of her work

For example, Never Have I Ever is an incredible show

I think it's absolutely hilarious. to kind of throw an oddball here

I think Natalie Luca being played by Sabrina Carpenter would be really really funny

I think she would hit the nail on the character of Natalie

For Chris Ambers, I would book India Armatifo

I think she would also play a very like calm, collective, innocent person, but then when we find out Chris is a part of the rebels, I feel like her as the actress, I think she'd be able to capture that in such a beautiful way. for King Clarkson

This is a funny one, but I would book Killian Murphy

I think he would play like the ruthless, intimidating King spot on

And that and I would just love to watch him in another movie

And then for Queen Amberly, I would book Goo Mabatra

So, next one is like if I was in the section, what would I do? Cuz I thought about this quite often

The first thing that I would do, I would try on every dress imaginable

And I think my gowns for the parties and for even just tea time on a Tuesday, I would be constant full glam every single day

American, the first book requested pants

She's like, I don't do this dress stuff

I want to wear pants on Saturdays

I would be in full glam every single day

Full dresses, full heels, everything

That would be like my dream

I think I would pick colors like gold, pink, black, and white

Maybe not red, white, and blue

And then another question I asked myself was if I was in the selection, what would like my strategy be? Like how would I go about things? I don't know if I necessarily relate to anyone throughout these books and be like, oh yeah, I would act very similar to her

I think it would really depend on where I was at mentally before starting

I don't think I would ever go in it with the mindset of like I I want to win

I'm going to win

I need this

Where I think Celeste was very similar to that

I don't think I would have been as indecisive as America

I feel like I'm very good at making decisions and I don't think I'm as boring as Chris

So, I don't really know how I would fit in there, but I would definitely be a character

Now, I kind of want to talk about the dramatic moments that like left me just gasped

The Celeste and America scenes were quite quite funny

Celeste messing with everyone to make everyone's experience terrible, like ripping off America's part of her dress

I think that was on the Halloween night

I believe, maybe I'm wrong, but I believe she put glass in someone's heels so they couldn't walk anymore

Don't quote me on that

And I think there was just multiple times where Celeste was constantly trying to like poison or hurt her other contestants to make her seem like a stronger candidate

And that's why I did not like her for a while until her redemption era and then I was like, "Okay." Another very dramatic moment would be Aspen and America's Halloween rendevous when the rebels attacked and then they hid in I kind of look at it as a cave like a secret passageway

They have them quite often throughout the castle

If there is attack, people can go and hide there and then you're locked in there for 24 hours

Aspen and America were locked in there for 24 hours

And I think they had a rekindling moment and that is when things started getting really complicated in America's head because she was like, I love this guy

I'm in love with him, but I'm also in love with the other one

So, I think that was a real tester for her to see who could she see herself with long term

So, now I'm going to do a little segment of eliminate or elevate

I'm going to go through the girls and figure out who I would keep and who I would send home

We have America Singer

I would elevate her

I think she has some great redeeming qualities and I love the way that she stands up for what she believes in

We have Marley Thes

Um, before the Guard incident, I would have kept her

After the Guard incident, I think I probably would have kept her still

Celeste Newsome, I would have sent her home probably the first chance that I got

Chris Ambers, I probably would have kept her because she was sweet, she was loyal, she's very caring, simple girl

Natalie Luca would have kept her

She was so sweet and bubbly and I loved her personality

Like I loved that she didn't really take anything too seriously

Elsie Whisks, I probably would have sent her home because I don't really understand the whole like diplomatic standpoint of things and like, oh, I'm just with this person because of what their family can do for me

I don't get that

Zoe, I probably would have sent home pretty quickly

Tuesday, I probably would have sent her home pretty quickly

I feel like that just wasn't matching

And then Tiny Lee, I think she was so adorable

I probably wouldn't have sent her home as early as they did, but eventually I probably would have sent her home

And then Ashley

Ashley, I honestly would have also probably sent home pretty quickly

Well, I want to end this podcast on a little question

Since there are so many books in this series, I only read the first three

Which girl do you think deserves a reboot and like her own version of the selection from her perspective? I say Celeste or even Chris speaks to the rebels

That would be really interesting

Thank you

Thank you

Thank you so much for watching this month's episode of Booked and Busy

I really hope that you liked it and I really hope that you liked this kind of dynamic of the episode

To my book lovers, I love you and let me know what book you want to see for next month

Love you

Bye. >> [music] [music] [music] [music]