Bachelor Happy Hour - ‘Bachelor Happy Hour’ x ‘Almost Famous’ Crossover Round 2

Episode Date: July 13, 2023

Dear friends of the pod Ben Higgins and Ashley Iaconetti join Joe and Serena today for a very special crossover episode of “Bachelor Happy Hour” and the “Almost Famous” podcast! The group gets into their overall thoughts on Charity’s guys, who they think is getting Charity’s final rose, who should have been sent home way earlier in the season, and so much more. Plus, Ben opens up about why he didn’t return to be the Bachelor for a second time.   Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. I'm Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, host of the psychology podcast. Here's a clip from an upcoming conversation about how to be a better you. When you think about emotion regulation, you're not going to choose an adaptive strategy which is more effortful to use unless you think there's a good outcome. Avoidance is easier. Ignoring is easier. Denials easier.

Complex problem solving takes effort. Listen to the psychology podcast on the. iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the latest episode of Next Question with me, Katie Couric, I sat down with Jasmine Crockett, Democratic Representative of Texas. She's holding out the fork for her party in one of the most conservative states in the Union. I think that ultimately, who will become the Democratic nominee for president will be someone

that has been out there and has shown that they won't allow themselves to be punched and just say thank you. Like, they will punch back. Listen to next question with me, Katie Couric on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, my name is Enya Humanzor. And I'm Drew Phillips.

And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom. If you're a crime junkie and you love crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated ADHD... Oh my God, perfect. And want to hear people with

Mental illness, psychobabble. Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. Open your free IHeartRadio app. Search Emergency Intercom and listen now. What's up, everyone? We are back with Bachelor Happy Hour. I am Joe and...

And I am Serena. And this is a special crossover episode with Almost Famous, Ben and Ashley. I'm so happy that they are here. You guys, you've been doing this first. seven years. I thought I'd been in the franchise for a long time, but seven years. How do we feel? The podcast has been seven years. We've been part of it for more than that. So it's been almost nine years for Mason's filming. No way. Ben, how about you? By eight then. I would as soon. Yeah. Yeah, a little bit less a year after Ashley was when I, I guess, was the bachelor, but the

bachelor's season happened right after Ashley's season. You know, it's funny as you announced this, Joe, I just thought, yes, it's been a while. It still feels fresh. Part of that is because I think many of us were pretty young when we're on the show. And so a lot of people, you know, now are even older than I am today and they're just now going on the show. But it's interesting that we're still the ones talking about it. Like this is like we're still the ones engaged in it. That like that kind of new blood hasn't came through and taken over our jobs, which I'm so happy about. I'm so thankful for.

Well, your season of The Bachelor, I specifically remember you, Ben, because you were like the first, like, you were like the first young guy that became a lead. How old were you? Well, when I went on

the Bachelor, I had just turned 25. And then, so I was 25 during the Bachelor, I believe. So I was pretty young. Yeah, that is young. To Jesse Palmer, who was like a month younger in me when he was the bachelor. So, yeah, I was a young lead. Yes, Ben, you were a young lead.

But let's just kind of go back. And Ashley, you could jump in on this. Were you guys the first Bachelor podcast? We were. Yes, we were. No. Jason Mesnick had one with his wife three years. Really?

And it did great. Yeah, but it was, it was kind of, we were the first Bachelor podcast once podcasts had a revenue stream and had a model around it. It was still the Wild West in a lot of ways, but they became like ad platforms and the ability to edit better kind of right when we launched. And so they did it still with recordings, but it was very raw, but people were still listening. It was kind of like AM radio compared to FM radio.

And then, you know, you expand and evolve. to what we have today, which are good pieces of content. So I would say we were the first to do that in this kind of new era podcast. And then a lot of them followed. Yeah. Yeah. You could also, for our listeners, you could catch the first half of this at Almost Famous, this conversation, because I did mention, I did mention it.

But I remember recording with you guys and Ben saying, like, he asked me a question that I think might have been inappropriate. And he's like, no one. listens to this and then the producer chimed in and is like we have like an insane amount of listeners Ben what are you what are you talking about what was the question I don't remember for some reason you were in the studio alone with me and Ben was over his face time or whatever it was yes yes so I remember just being like sitting next to you and you being so nervous and shy and being like this guy we got to get him to come more comfortable is you need to drink you could uh you could

truly, I think you could truly like feel my anxiety and my negative energy. Probably why I asked you a question I did. Yeah, I just probably threw one at you to say, this guy has no chance. It's like this guy. Hey, asshole, do you got a personality? How do we ever imagine? Lisen this guy up? How do we ever think that you would become such a staple in the Bachelor franchise? Really such an icon. Here I am. But almost famous, how did you two, how did you two become you two, you know? It's just being us. Was it, but like how did you decide to do almost famous together?

Was it after winter games? Oh, no. No, we were paired together via our producer, Amy Sugarman. She was like, Ashley, you're kind of like the kooky one who's like very emotional, definitely like a side character. And then like he's definitely leading man. And it would be interesting to put the two of you together. And then we ended up doing winter games together about six months after we started

recording the podcast. So it was just really easy to. go into that show when you had somebody who was such a true friend. Yeah. It was probably also good for just like your podcasting relationship to get to spend so much time together in person

like filming a show together. Like you probably came out of that even stronger host. Yeah. You know, and it's it's interesting. So the show's original idea was they didn't really know who was going to host it. But you know, our producer, Amy, had an idea that she wanted to have a Bachelor show. She's been involved in

the Bachelor franchise for a while. I kind of thrown some different hosts out there, and, you know, I was coming fresh off of my season as The Bachelor, so I was kind of the name that, you know, was lucky enough to hit that timing. We used to record this on our cell phone. So I would call into a line, Ashley would call into a line. We would record via cell phone, obviously today we don't. But the thing that worked for Ashley and I, and I think people nowadays see it more than they did at the beginning, Ashley and I have always been more similar than we are different. you know we have different ways of expressing our emotions obviously and kind of different interests in life she loves boy bands and pop culture and I care less about any of it but the way we see

the world and the way we you know we wanted to have a podcast where this wasn't like the one that bashed on everybody all the time we love to bash we love to judge we love to critique but we really wish we could do it more you know yeah but we don't want to ruin anybody's life through this show so we both like held that value strong to us and then when people people ask me how we work as host, I always explain it as Ashley is the one that's always in tune with everything going. Like, she typically knows the headlines. She knows the people. She knows the statuses. She like has really good ideas of what's going on in the franchise. I know nothing half the time. No, no. Ben then knows like the morality of people. Then he like knows the big things in

life. And I'm like, really? Because he wore stupid earrings. And then he's like, but what do the earrings mean. Yeah. And so I'm like the dad that gets to like be out of touch and just sitting here and be entertained and Ashley gets to keep us moving and grooving. And I just keep this on time and not off topic by, you know, wide margins all the time. So it's been fun and the chemistry has just grown, I think, over seven years. I feel like that's great. It sounds like you guys like really balance each other out. Like you both bring different things to the table. And like that's why you mesh well as host. And you mentioned like you guys. have different, you have different, like, roles in the podcast.

And we talked a little bit on part one of this episode about having disagreements on the podcast. Would you have any, like, major memorable disagreements from your time hosting together? Because, you know, you talked a lot about the good stuff, like, give us the ugly. Well, I think right. Big fights? No, no real fights. But right now, he doesn't understand why I could defend Braden at all.

I say that I play devil's advocate a lot. Just because, like, I can see why charity swooned immediately by him. Like, it's not going to last long, but, like, I get it as a girl. Yeah. I've actually said the same thing. And I feel like that's the good thing, too, about having, like, a guy or a caring is, like, Joe, I can be like, I get it as a girl why she likes these things. You know, it's going to fade. So you guys, obviously, have strong opinions on Brayden this season.

How else are you feeling about charity season? Or, yeah, any other disagreements you got that? Anything else we've disagreed about? I mean, I think the behind the scenes has always been interesting. When we were in person more, most of our disagreements existed around our own personal lives. And sometimes they'd be hashed out on the show. So, like, for a bit in Ashley's story, I remember vividly when she was kind of like into Jared, but dating other people and trying to figure out what life looked like.

And she was super sad. And like, those would always be really frustrating moments. I have moments of my phone of videotapering her being like Ashley snap out of it. Like, you know what you want. You know what you need. Figure this out quicker, you know, quickly. the same stuff would happen with me, right? So this podcast launched a week after Lauren and I broke up publicly. Awkward timing, for real. Yeah, it was perfect timing for the launch

for a podcast for everybody but me. But, you know, behind the scenes, it's not always been pretty with me. I mean, I don't know if it's ever been pretty, but there's been a lot of like really emotional moments where I was like, I don't want to record today or I don't want to talk about this or, hey, I'm, you know, dating this person and I don't know how to get out of it. I don't think it's right, but I'm kind of in this, I'm stuck in it and it feels good because now I'm not so lonely and Ashley's been there for that. And sometimes those things used to more than now get expressed in the show. And it was good to have that person with me. Like Ashley very quickly stepped into as a confidant in my life. And as somebody I have kind of bounced ideas off of knowing

because she was the one person from the show that I could speak with so often. She knew enough about what my experience was like as the lead on this show to say, okay, where are you at? What's going on? Like, snap out of it. You can't be doing this stupid stuff. So that's, those maybe are his disagreements, but there just been some ugly moments behind the scenes and some like good

friendship battles. He's like, Jared's not into you. And I'm like, but I think he is. I think I'd force him. I think I'd drink him. I think I got him. He doesn't show this stuff. You did force him if that was your plan. It was.

course guys your woman's intuition was right yes thank you you got him but you know uh it's been a really fun journey and i think if you listen back at the beginning you know we were both single and trying to figure it out and then you know at the same time i was thinking about going back on the show nobody really knows that but i was at some moment my life like when i was single again going should i go back to be the bachelor like we're breaking news on their podcast and not ours did they I've talked about this on our podcast before. Remember they asked me? They asked you to do it back-to-back seasons? Or skip a season? Skip a season. It wasn't, I don't know if it was ever an official asked, but it was a, hey, are you interested? Would you ever consider it? Okay, okay. So it wasn't

like you were in the room about. There wasn't a contract yet, but there was a measure. What are your, go ahead. So there's those moments. Like, and those are things that maybe you don't talk about on the show, but you talk about with somebody that's been on the show. And that's what our podcast. Yes. I'm Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, host of the psychology podcast. Here's a clip from an upcoming conversation about exploring human potential. I was going to schools to try to teach kids these skills and I get eye rolling from teachers or I get students who would be like, it's easier to punch someone in the face. When you think about emotion regulation, like you're not going

to choose an adaptive strategy which is more effortful to use. unless you think there's a good outcome as a result of it, if it's going to be beneficial to you. Because it's easy to say, like, go blank yourself, right? It's easy. It's easy to just drink the extra beer. It's easy to ignore, to suppress, seeing a colleague who's bothering you and just, like, walk the other way.

Avoidance is easier. Ignoring is easier. Denial is easier. Drinking is easier. Yelling, screaming is easy. Complex problem solving, meditating, you know, takes effort. Listen to the psychology podcast on the iPhone, Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I think Democrats have, for a very long time, allow Republicans to play them. So essentially, Republicans came up with a narrative, and Democrats decided to play into that. And that only hurt the Democrats. I'm Kitty Couric. Jasmine Crockett, Democratic Representative of Texas, is not known for holding back. And our recent chat on next question is no exception. But when you hear how she got to where she is, her intensity makes perfect sense. It's just hard to imagine a world where you don't have enough people that care to do right by people.

And so that same passion that carried me through as a public defender that led me to want to change laws and thinking about the harm that will happen not just to my constituents, but just generally, like I carry that weight. with me because you've seen it up close. Yeah. Listen to next question with me, Katie Couric on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine that you're on an airplane and all of a sudden you hear this. Attention passengers. The pilot is having an emergency and we need someone, anyone, to land this plane.

Think you could do it? It turns out that nearly 50% of men think that they could land the plane with the help of air traffic control. And they're saying like, okay, pull this, pull that, turn this. It's just, I can do it my eyes close. I'm Mani. I'm Noah.

This is Devin. And on our new show, no such thing. We get to the bottom of questions like these. Join us as we talk to the leading expert on overconfidence. Those who lack expertise lack the expertise they need to recognize that they lack expertise. And then, as we try the whole thing out for real. Wait, what?

Oh, that's the run right. I'm looking at this thing. Listen to no such thing on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Ben, being a former lead and Ashley knowing everything about everything, what are your thoughts on charity? Me? Yeah, you go first, actually.

Yeah. Well, I want Ben's from a lead perspective, but I want yours, Ashley, from an Ashley I perspective. Oh, that's very sweet. I mean, she's very likable. And then when, like, you talk to her personally, like she's even more likable. And then I just don't know about her cat.

Like, I just don't feel, like, super swooned by her cast of men overall. But I think what's important is that there's definitely someone she's going to end up with. You know what I mean? Like, in my head. You just need one. Yeah, exactly. Like, I feel like you're going to have. 30 guys, you just see one of them to make a connection.

Yes. So if you guys were to pick one guy now, who would it be? And my choice is only after episode three, not after any. Like the other two episodes, I thought like, oh, I like him, but I don't know how she feels. I will release my pick after. I will. I'll talk about my pick after you guys say who you think I'm referring to. My pick.

I'll let Joe answer because for the. both of us here because we have the same opinion on this. My pick right now is that. I feel like they have the most comfortable chemistry, I guess. I literally feel like they could be soulmates.

Like they have an incredible connection. It's unbelievable. But did you see it? Oh, yeah. Like the fleet one and two, one and two, but it was definitely three that really cemented it for us, right? When she brought him up to his bedroom

or her bedroom, that conversation Joe wrote in his notes she gets lost in his eyes like he wrote that down in his notes for our recap but truly like if they don't end up together like we have talked so much about how we want them to end up together

so like you know we really hope that's how it works out and no shade if that's not who she's with right now I know we so far we're loving him I feel like Joey's Joey's a close second but charity is Charity is going out of her way to give Dotten private time. Like Ben, did you go out of your way to give anyone?

We don't have to really talk about the women on your season if you don't want to. But like, did you. I don't mind. Yeah. Like, did you go out of your, did you go out of your way as a lead like telling production? Like, I want private time with, with this person. No. And there's one good reason for that.

It's not that I didn't like them. It's because I'm such an introvert and I had so little private time. And like a long time in general, I wasn't giving up any of. in my own alone time to spend time with anybody else. So I definitely took my time just to be alone. It was more fun for me and healthier. So I never did. I never remember putting in a special request being like, hey, you guys get away. I didn't really even know I could. And not that I had want to. Were there things that you would do for the women that you had a stronger connection with to kind of go a little above and beyond for them? Like Charity has mentioned that

she's giving Doughton like a lot of special private one-on-one-time during the cocktail parties, like pulling him away into private areas so they can like really connect and like not have to worry about the other guys. Like were there things like that that you did for your kind of favorite? Yeah, definitely. But that was later on. So she, so the interesting part about this conversation to me is we're having this conversation after episode three. And you guys feel so strongly about this. And if it goes well and, you know, there's no big like speed bumps and no big issues, this to go down as one of the most beloved couples and that we could remember

because they've both been beloved since the beginning, you know, and they both have this connection since the beginning. But typically we don't have these conversations week three, and if we do, there's usually a big issue that arises because the show doesn't like to, you know,

give us this much this early on to where we're like, yeah, it has to be here. That's why I don't think he's going to have a long one. Well, my sneaky pick is Xavier. Like I still think Xavier's kind of been there

and been solid and hasn't been showing. a lot. I feel like that storyline has to increase at some point because when we do see him, we're like, this guy's great and he's been solid. So I just feel like there's something that's going to happen that's going to really either tear her hearts out or

make us celebrate them more. I think charity is awesome. You know, she's just very likable. She was a great choice as to lead. I think she encompasses what a great lead is. I'm not yet. I'm still not convinced that her her picker is perfect because there's some people around

that I would have said goodbye to week one after your family member goes, hey, you should probably say goodbye to them. So I'm intrigued by that, but it's not a big mark on her. I mean, at the end, she has to just pick one right and everybody's happy. Yeah.

I like your take on Xavier. I do agree. I think he could be a sleeper that we start seeing into like maybe week four, week five, like really come out of the shadows. This also feels like a really fast season. I think we're already at like 10 guys after episode.

three. It's because we have a lesson to begin with. Not to have a disagreement here, but I'm pretty sure you disagreed when I chose Xavier because Xavier is in my top four. Well, okay, we picked after episode one and no, I did not put Xavier in my top four. But now after three episodes, I do agree he is. I didn't think he, I didn't say he wasn't a catch. I just after the first episode didn't put him in my prediction. You guys, she really threw us off last week.

we had journey on the podcast and she said that amongst her top four was Warwick and she didn't put Dotten into it so i was like okay so i feel like she's excluding dotten for a reason to throw us off a little bit and then Warwick did you think that do we legitimately think that she had high expectations for him no maybe though i mean it's yeah she's cute it's early on like me she thought maybe one-on-one he'll come out of his shell more but like Like he seems to be like just who he is. Like I don't think he's just like a shy guy who needed to open up. I think Warwick is genuinely just like a quieter dude who was like not interested in leaning into the process at all.

I know. Yeah, he wasn't even interested in going on the show. I don't know why. He wasn't looking for a relationship. He basically said it. I don't really jump into relationships because, you know, um, what did he say? What was his reasoning for that? I don't remember.

statement to make when you're on the bachelor. Like what, like, if there's one, if there's like a top three statements to never say publicly while you're on the show, that would be number one. Like, hey, I'm not really into relations. Like, jump into things. Yeah.

I'm not very good communicator. That's why. She's like, what are, you know what show you're on, right? Like, they explain to you why you're here and how this works. Like, it's so crazy. Like, this show's been around for so long. How people don't do just, like, just a touch of research. You don't have to spend, you don't even have to spend the whole

day just an hour just an hour if you're potentially going on the show uh before we let you you guys go actually i do want to ask you one question any of the guys from this season give you successful paradise vibes accessible paradise eyes yes um successful as and like leads to marriage yes yeah i'm not so like we all we all we all know like good character because like the wrestling guy yeah like we watch a brayden and we're like okay he's He's, if he doesn't end up with charity, he's going to be in Paradise. But is there anyone you're like, I can see Paradise working for this one person? You did.

You have to say Joey, Ash. I want to say, Joey is. Okay, so this is why Joey's not screwing out of my mouth right now. I don't think he's going to be there because I think he'll be top three and in consideration for the Bachelor. Okay. Or with charity. Right? Or he could be with Jared. Take the mathematics out of it of who could end.

Okay. Well, then definitely Joey. Okay. Anybody else? I can't even think of anymore. I mean, I think Aaron B. You have to Xavier. Sure. I thought about, I thought about Xavier for a second, but probably Aaron B. Yeah. I mean, I think there's a lot of pair. I mean, I think the one thing about this cast, yes, Ashley has not been swooned over by them.

And I'm not, like most seasons, Ashley and I go into The Bachelor, I'm Bachelor saying, okay, The Bachelor or Bachelor, it's great. Like, we think they're a good choice or we think they're going to be super boring. But that doesn't really matter because the cast is the show. They entertain. They're the most of the content. This year, I think Charity is, you know, the main reason why we're watching to see her go through this journey.

And the cast has, is kind of playing, you know, is in second place. They're running behind her. And I think as a result, though, we're not seeing that the cast really does want to find love. Like, there are people here that are really interested in doing this well and not here for the celebrity of it all, which I think is a great change. And I think that makes good Paradise people. I think it makes good characters in Paradise. I just don't think it makes a great cast because they aren't the big personalities that stand out to us and that lead this show, which is fine. I'm happy to watch Sherty.

I absolutely agree with that. Yeah. And hopefully as the season goes on, you know, there's less and less guys. We see more and more of them. And then they really start to shine. And we see their personalities. But we've been running a little too late. We got to let you guys go because I know you're very, very busy. Thank you, Ben. And thank you, Ashley, for being here. And thank you so much to our listeners for tuning in. And don't forget, new episodes of the Bopsarat air every Monday at 9-8 Central on ABC and then stream the next day on Hulu. Yes, and make sure to tune in to new episodes of Bachelor. Happy Hour every week.

We are going to have some great guests on. We've got all kinds of exclusive interviews coming up. So don't forget to hit that subscribe button. Thanks so much for listening. Thanks, Ben and Ashley again. And we'll see everyone next week. Bye. Thank you.

Bye. I'm Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, host of the Psychology Podcast. Here's a clip from an upcoming conversation about how to be a better you. When you think about emotion regulation, you're not going to choose an adaptive strategy which is more effortful to use unless you think there's a good outcome.

Avoidance is easier. Ignoring is easier. Denials easier. Complex problem solving. It takes effort. Listen to the psychology podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

On the latest episode of Next Question with me, Katie Couric, I sat down with Jasmine Crockett, Democratic representative of Texas. She's holding out the fork for her party in one of the most conservative states in the union. I think that ultimately, who will become the Democratic nominee for president will be someone that has been out there

and has shown that they won't allow themselves to be punched and just say thank you. Like, they will punch back. Listen to next question with me, Katie Couric on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Why are TSA rules so confusing? You got a hood of you. I'll take it off.

I'm Manny. I'm Noah. This is Devin. And we're best friends and journalists with a new podcast called No Such Thing, where we get to the bottom of questions like that. Why are you screaming? I can't expect what to do. Now, if the rule was the same, go off on me. I deserve it.

You know, lock him up. Listen to No Such Thing on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. No such thing. This is an IHeart podcast.