Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Side Dish: More with Colton Underwood

Episode Date: February 5, 2026

More of my interview with 'Traitors’ star Colton Underwood. We get into working with the iconic Alan Cumming on The Traitors, and how the stylish hosts sets a high bar for the cast. This episode was recorded at The Butcher’s Daughter in West Hollywood, CA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm heading up to Napa, the wine country soon for a little trip. It's me and my in-laws and my kids and some friends, I think, are also joining us. So we actually have a lot of needs. We need a space for a lot of people to stay. We want to be able to cook breakfast in the house. We want to maybe have a few dinners there. We want space for the kids to hang out and play, and we don't want to be too cramps. That's the main thing.

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you can see what's going on and actually rest easy. ADT makes sure your home is your haven, not another thing to worry about. When every second counts, count on ADT. Visit ADT.com to learn more. Hi, it's Jesse. Here's a little side dish from this week's episode of Dinners on Me. This week's guest was my friend Colton Underwood, who you know from the most recent season of the traders, coming out Colton, and his very, well, I might say, controversial season on The Bachelor. We met at The Butcher's Daughter's Daughter in West Hollywood.

The Butcher's Daughter is a bright, buzzy, and effortlessly cool, part cafe, part restaurant, part vibe. It's a place I thought Colton might like. It's a health forward spot. It's in the heart of WeHo. And I thought it would be the perfect place to catch up with my buddy Colton. So let's jump back into the conversation. Now, as you can expect, we talked quite a bit about season four of the traders, where he showed off his savvy as a seasoned reality TV professional.

This was my 10th show. So, like, by this time... This was your 10th show? Yeah. After all of the TV I've done over the years. Wait, I'm at. This is my 10th one. You count me through these.

Both Bachelors. One two. No, Bachelor. Bachelor in Paradise. All filmed in the same year. Okay. Then, um, obviously your reality show. My reality show coming out, Colton.

Right. Masked singer. Name that tune. Beyond the Edge. Okay. What's Beyond the Edge? It was this, um, basically celebrity survivor. We were in Panama.

Okay. Um, gosh, I just counted the middle of it. Was it a whole, like, series? It was just one, it was just one season? We were the first season of it. I had so much fun doing that one, though, too. Oh, gosh. I just counted these.

I'm not going to put you on the spot. I can Google my IMBD. There's a couple that are on the loose right now on the rug. I don't know if I consider name that tune. I know. You've been on that. I've been on it. It's like literally.

It's a 12-hour trip to double. 90 minutes of your time. Yes. Yeah, I had a trip to double. Okay, but no, you have done a lot of reality. We did add unscripted people take all the credits that they can get. I totally get it. hilarious.

Yeah. But yeah, so by this time, oh, I hosted... Are you my first for Hulu? Oh, okay. That counts. That counts. Yeah. So, anyway, but my point is, like, by this time in my career, it's hard for me to put

the participant hat back on and just play dumb. Like, I've sort of been around the block. I, like, know what's happening. Like, I know when a bunch of cameras come in a room, shit's about to go down. So, like, I'm not, like, numb to that. So, I don't know. I mean, you were really thrown into, like, the deep end of that with the voucher. that is like, I mean, if you're talking about reality TV and like going with like,

oh yeah. Truly reality TV. Yes. You and then like I'm sure like all the housewives are like so like in tune to that. For sure. For sure. For sure. Absolutely.

So like you know like part of it is you're making a show but part of it is you're playing a game. So you have to like balance it. Sure. Yeah. Derinda I loved and still like she she seems cool. She's great. I'm not a housewife person. Derinda's like she's, I'm not even going to call her mother, but like she's.

I would call her like an ante. She's like really checks in and is there for me and like supported Jordan. She seemed very grounded. Jordan lost his father and like she sent me this lovely poem to share with him when she lost her partner. So like she is really ground and like actually cares about the person, which is rare.

That reads though. I mean I feel like that reads. Yeah. In the edit. Because most people are like, okay, I was on a show with him. Like I don't owe him a friendship or them a friendship. And that's how some people are. Other, you know, other people gravitate to us.

So anyways, The other person who I really liked to see there was Mark Bowles. So Mark and I with Derek... Because you did dance with the stars. I've never done dancing with the stars. I'm just casting you in all these shows that you haven't ever done. That would be the only one that I've left. It's the only one I've left.

I can be good at that. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So how does you know him? We played pickleball together. Okay. So him and Derek were partners against Jordan and I and we played a bunch of people.

Yeah. He seems also... I met him like once or twice. He seems really lovely. He's very grounded. Yeah. So like instantly I was like, okay, like there's a crew here that I could put together. And then also there was a lot of gays.

And I was like, well, this is fun. Yeah. I don't have a lot of gay friends. So like I need any more. Yeah. That was it. Are you in touch with all the days? Oh yeah.

Okay, good. We don't have like our own group chat, but like we're in the faithful one. Oh. Okay. So before we get off of the traders, is there anything that you are like, you'd love to. Well, I think I had dinner at your house a few weeks before I left her. Yeah. You did.

Because you basically were like, just don't do what Wells did. Right. We love Wells. Yeah, my friend Wells was kicked off very quickly. Because I'll tell you this. I know why it didn't work for him. Comedy doesn't transfer. Nobody wants, like, a funny guy there or a smart ass or like anybody with sarcasm.

Right. Because you already have your guard up and you have trust issues already with everybody. So like the funny guy doesn't typically like last very long. That's really smart, actually. And that's also like I think I'd be good at it Because I don't lead with comedy No Like I think I think you would be brilliant

People find me funny after a while When they get to know me and I feel comfortable like letting that side of me show But I don't lead with it Definitely don't lead with it Which I think disappoints some people Because they're like oh that's the guy from modern family Why is he not making me laugh more?

I think if Wells would have slow played How naturally funny and quick-witted he is Yeah He would have done much better Right But because he came out of the gates so strong and once again this goes back to he was also

you have to look at some of his other castmates like a Johnny bananas right like it's like fire and ice type thing like they didn't work well together and so as soon as Johnny went they were like the next obvious thing we got to go for him so here's my stance on like

actors coming into the show is they feel like I dealt with this with even like Michael where he would do or say something and like you can tell he's like looking around to see if there's a reaction. I'm like, yes.

This isn't that. Like, this is what we do. Like, this is who we are. And, like, we play these games. We come as ourselves.

Right. So I feel like actors always try to do a little too, too much. Right. Because they're, like, trying to keep up with, like,

they don't have the standard personality of, like, a reality person. Yeah. You know what I mean? I do. I also think, my hearing.

Um, I also think that I would do really well in the show. You would crush. I think I would do well because I, I mean, I wanted to say, be pretentious to say I'm not like a normal actor, but I do, I am actually kind of like a shy person, um, in general, but you're also endearing and you could like really buddy up.

Yeah. You would be like a good core. I don't know. I think I'd be good at it. Yeah. I just feel like, it's so funny with the show because now that it's in its fourth season, like you're seeing how like people, you know, they'll say things like, you're acting shifty. Like, are you a traitor? I'm like, you're acting shifting because you're nervous and you're on like a reality TV show. Yes. You know? You have eight cameras pointed at you and you're miced up. And I feel like I went on there, but like, well, you're an actor. You're probably acting. Like, I mean, it's just like, you know.

Yeah. But I do think I would be good at it. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Colton tells me about working with the iconic Alan coming on The Traders and how the stylish hosts sets a high bar. You know that one task you've been putting off since forever? If that task is start therapy, which it is for me, growth therapy makes it way easier to finally check that off your list.

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Reggie, I just sold my car online. Let's go, Grandpa. Wait, you did? Yep, on Carvana. Just put in the license plate, answered a few questions, Got an offer in minutes. Easier than setting up that new digital picture frame. You don't say.

Yeah, they're even picking it up tomorrow. Talk about fast. Wow. Way to go. So about that picture frame. Forget about it. Until Carvana makes one, I'm not interested. Carvana made easy.

On Carvana. Pick up these may apply. Okay, be right back. And we're back with more dinners on me. How much time do you have with Alan? Like, is he kind of stays? But I just, we just ran into him at the premier party at the Abbey. Oh, really?

And he said something. He was like, I feel like this is always my first time actually meeting you guys. Because, like, he truly isn't on coming. He's in character the entire time. Yeah. Like, even when, like, we have stop downs for camera repositioning, like, he is theatrical. He's moving his hands. He's so professional.

Yeah. So he stays in his bit the entire time. Like, it is his castle. We are playing his game. His dog is always with him. Like, it is a thing. So it's sort of cool because, like, from as a professional, it's like, that is awesome. Like, the standard that you're setting for, like, a reality television host.

Yeah. If you're bringing it to, like, the next level. I mean, I got to know him as a Broadway performer, you know, like, and so I'm so excited that someone who has those roots. I mean, he obviously has done incredible TV and film work as well. But, like, you know, I consider him like a Broadway guy. And I just love seeing... It's so funny, though. You know him from Broadway?

You know him from Spice Girls? No, I know him from as Nightcrawler. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I like superhero films. Yeah, totally, totally. A lot of people also know him as, like, the villain in Spice World. Oh, okay. Yeah.

Yeah. But, yeah, he's great. And obviously, you know, the show is also built on, like, all these incredible looks that I think it's started with Alan, obviously. And, like, I also saw the evolution of it because, ironically. Like Alan and I have the same stylist. And I remember Sam, Spector, who does such an incredible job on the Traders and deserves an Emmy Award. And hopefully we'll get one in the near future. He was like talking about the show that he was dressing Alan for.

And like it started off, like if you look at the early episodes of season one, it's like, he's just like kind of leaning into like what he does. He always like had a little bit of a flare. But like now, I mean, Alan's like dressed up. It's a coffin. Yeah. And this is all Sam's stuff. I mean, he's the one that's, like, putting this all together. And I'm so proud of him.

But then you start noticing, and I mean, it was a little bit this way just because of the type of people that they're bringing on. But, like, the cast is now, like, it's all about their looks. He brings everybody up a level. Yes. Like, that's, like, one thing that, like, coming on this show, I'm like, oh, I have to bring it. Right. Because, like, it's so campy. And is this?

But is that, like, something that you... So obviously, you have to prepare to bring all those clothes yourself. Yeah. And I assume you would have to, like, how. hire your own stylist if you want or like you know put that together yourself that's out of your pocket i worked with the stylist you did i was like that was really smart um and then i mean yeah because you don't have just like a pearl necktie hanging around by the way that was seven dollars on amazon incredible yeah but it was like paired like that i'm a big so like when i first met my highs and lows

yeah like i will wear a thousand dollar shirt but then a seven dollar necktie yeah yeah because like I just love being able to play. Like I grew up shopping at Coles, right? And like that doesn't just go away. Right. So like I'm always looking for a good deal. And, but now I want to like bring it and up my sound.

But yeah, it took eight fittings to get the entire look for the showdown. Wow. And then it's incredible too because she packages it and labels it and like puts it all together. Yeah. And then when you get to Scotland, you just hang your things up and you have it all labeled out.

It makes life easy. And like steamer trunks. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I just saw some there in her Instagram story that where you were wearing that great, like, Princess Diana, a cardigan. Yeah. It's doing very well for that company right now. Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, I still wear some of the wardrobe. Some of it, you know, like, has to go, like, the bigger pieces go back to, like, the PR and, like. Sure. And I wore this in one of my interviews. Okay. I was like, I don't know. I'm an outfit repeater.

I don't have time to have new outfits every time I do things. No, no. Of course not. Yeah. I know. You look great. Thank you. Yeah.

I was impressed with the style. I had fun of it. But you always look good. You always look like well put together. Even when I see you at the gym. I'm like, you're like the version of like the guy who goes to the gym that I wish I could be. Like you just look like, oh, he's wearing the cute gym clothes. I like to match.

Yeah. I've like, I've been that way since I was a little kid. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, we talk about fatherhood and the scrutiny that comes with it. And we debate whether he should leave Hollywood to become a farmer. Okay, be right back. Okay, I have a confession to make.

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asked. Not all fish are the same. Get seafood you can trust. Go to Wild Alaskan.com slash JTF for $35 off your first box of premium wild caught seafood. That's wildalaskan.com slash JTF for $35 off your first order. and thanks to Wild Alaskan Company for sponsoring this episode. And we're back with more dinners on me. You keep threatening to leave town. Yeah, I want to farm. I know. I mean, you know me.

I'm at this point where, one, I don't think you have to be in L.A. anymore. You don't know that, like, that's controversial and people want to bring film back here, as do I. But, like, you can always come back for it if you do. I don't look at even, like, traitors. We filmed that in Scotland. and like all these, all the projects that I've like been a part of in these last few years don't film here. Right. Of course I have friends here and there's a lot of industry people here.

But I want my privacy. I'm like to this point where I sort of just want a few chickens and I want land. I thought it was an Encino. I know, but I mean, look, if I was on modern family and I could live in. Yeah, I don't know. I just like, I grew up in the Midwest. Like I sort of want to go back to those. roots. I loved my childhood. Like, that's a, I really enjoyed how I grew up. Um, and I want

our boys to sort of have that. So boys. Oh, yeah. Are you pregnant again? No, not yet. Are you trying? Yeah, I won't keep it. We're getting ready. We can take this out. No, no, I talk openly about this. Oh, really? We're going to, yeah, we're going to start for number two soon. So, wow. And then, I don't know if we've, but all of our embryos are boys. So, so we know what we're having. Yeah, we have a few more. I love having two boys. Yeah. Wait. So because, I mean, I know we talked about this on Daddyhood a little bit, but like it was also at the very, very, very beginning when I had you on. Right.

You were a, you're a great podcast with, by the way. Thank you. That's done. Daddyhood's done, right? What? Is Daddyhood done? We're getting ready for season three. Oh, okay.

So we're going to do season three. We moved more into like parenting. Okay. Yeah. I mean, that's also like, I'm at such a good place in my life right now where it's like, I feel so fulfilled. Yeah. And, like, privileged to even have Bishop and like going through the process.

of getting ready for number two. It's like I want him to be an older brother. Yeah. I mean, I'm so glad we did it for those reasons. Justin and I both have siblings. And, you know, we, you know, having just lost my mom last year, I know how much my siblings and I supported one another through just that. So, like, I just think about, you know,

I don't want my children to go through any of their life without someone that they can kind of, I don't know, commiserate with. I mean, I want them to be able to like, how about our two gay dads, our two fucking crazy gay dads? I want them to like have each other to sort of lean on through that.

So I'm so excited for you both. That's great. Yeah. And that's hence why I'm thinking of moving to a farm. Yeah, I know, I know. I mean, when you look back at like the past 10 years of your life, and like you see where you're at now.

I mean, I get to be when you're close friends on Instagram, so I get to see, you know, you and some of these really sweet moments with Bishop. And I just, it feels like, not even another lifetime ago, but like another life completely. When I, when I was just like looking at, like, tape of you on, you know, The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.

At this point, it's three lives. Like, my NFL days, Bachelor days, and then now just being a husband and a father. Yeah. I mean, obviously, You love it. But, I mean, what does it feel like when you had kind of a retrospective and you look back on that?

It's like a mix of a bunch of different emotions. Like, I think when I was 24 when I did The Bachelor, like when I first signed up for a Bachelorette or got onto that show. So at that point in my life, like, and I should say this, my age was 24, but playing football and like to the level that I played it, was so debilitating in my emotional maturity because I didn't date. I didn't try. I went to, I traveled to summer camps to play football.

Like, it's not like I was getting this experience dating and emotional, like, my emotional IQ was like very, very low. So like by the time then all of a sudden now I'm on front of a camera, 24, 25 years old, pissing America off left and right and like trying to like figure out this balance. It's just, I don't know. It's like it's a mix of emotions for me because I'm like I'm so glad that I had that experience. It forced me to grow up really quickly. I learned so many life lessons.

I came out of the closet because I had such a public downfall. Like I don't know if I would have like I don't know if there was a path for Colton to come out. If I didn't have like as sharp as a downfall that I had publicly, I think it sort of forced my hand in like a beautiful way now that like of course I wish could have happened more naturally. but like that's sort of like the mixed bag of emotions I get where it's like pain and trauma but then also like there's beauty and like happiness now that I get now that I'm on the other side. You're so public on, you know, Instagram with your family. I mean, you certainly protects a lot of that in a way that we all do. But you know, you are very open about your marriage to Jordan and, you know, being a dad and like the struggles with that.

How do you deal with criticism and like just, you know, internet chatter now having the history of what you've been through. I mean, I tend to think that you probably have a better set of tools than someone like me. Well, it's just, it's so, it's pretty complicated because the Bachelor franchise skews pretty conservative. Yeah. Like, all the way to the fact that like last, or when this last election came up, I put a poll on my Instagram, just curious who people were voting for. 70% of my followers are voting for Trump. Oh, interesting.

That's really interesting. There's, like, this part of me, the reason why we're public and why we show Bishop's face and why I highlight our fun moments in our family is because I might be the only gay person that that person follows. Right. And, like, I want to represent gay dads. I want to represent our community to, like, not be so defensive. So as, like, when Mary and Alabama goes to vote, she knows that, like, oh, yeah, I thought,

like, they're two really good dads. Like, they deserve those rights. Like, that's just sort of how my brain works. And also why Jordan and I ultimately decided that we were going to be public with, like, showing Bishop and our other kid, you know, is just we want people to see us. And, like, I also, when I can say that, but then also say, like, I totally, totally, totally understand why most people in our community do not show their kids. Yeah. Because there are some really hateful and mean people out there. it found one of my posts found the religious side of things and it was brutal like because i monitor comments

you asked how i handle it sometimes i respond sometimes i just delete sometimes i block and report i'm all over the place on how i handle things it just depends on what time of day you catch me it's so funny i feel like when we were um when you were expecting uh bishop and you were talking about doing some sort of posts. I don't know if it was something that you were doing for. I don't remember the circumstances of the post, but I remember us telling you that we had done a post on our Instagram because we had someone help us with our nursery.

Yeah. And we took some pictures of the nursery to support the designer. And I think Cray and Barrel gave us some stuff. So we had to take some pictures. And there was a tree, I think it was actually even just like a rubber fake tree, but it was like behind the crib and like kind of the branches were out over the tree. And it was on my Instagram. And, like, the amount of people that came after me because of the tree.

Like, that leaf is going to fall off the tree and suffocate your baby. We had a vase on his changing table. And it was the end of the world of, like, you idiots, he can hit that. I'm like, he's not even here yet. Also, this is a staged photo. If you want to know how 80 and all these. It's like Dakota Johnson's lemons at her, on her architectural digest shoot. She didn't put the lemons there.

No. The artichokes is the one that I always get, like, because they photograph so well. I'm like, I think he keeps a bowl of artichokes in their house unless it's getting Of course I'm not going to have the vase there on the changing table. Oh, it was the end of the world. The babies aren't even born yet. I know. It's so funny.

I was like, we are still a month, like, away from our due date, and you are worried about a vase on my changing table? I know, I know. It's like, do you see a diaper warmer anywhere in this picture? No, we're not ready. We're not ready. Believe me. Oh, my God.

It's so fucking funny to me. Oh, my God. So that was a little side dish from this week's episode with Colton Underwood. If you haven't heard our full conversation yet, make sure to Check it out on Dinners on Me. This episode of Dinners on Me was recorded at The Butcher's Daughter in West Hollywood, California. Next week on Dinner's On Me, you know him from Cheers, The Good Place, and more recently from Netflix's A Man on the Inside. It's Ted Danson.

We'll get into his legendary run as one of TV's most iconic leading men and his latest chapter on screen, which this season includes his wife as a co-star. Dinner's On Me is a production of Sony Music Entertainment and a kid named Beckett Productions. It's hosted by me, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. It's executive produced by me and Jonathan Hirsch. Our showrunner is Joanna Clay. Our associate producer is Alyssa Midcalf. Sam Bear engineered this episode. Hans Dale She composed our theme music.

Our head of production is Sammy Allison. Special thanks to Tamika Balanced Kalasney and Justin McKita. I'm Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Join me next week.