The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - A New Season with Jason Tartick

Episode Date: January 31, 2024

Ben Higgins and Chris Harrison sit down with Jason Tartick for the real story of his life post break-up.Chris and Ben share some advice for Jason as he navigates the next season of his life, and he reveals what he’s looking for in his next relationship.The bromance is real when Almost Famous and The Most Dramatic Podcast Ever combine to hang out with the one and only Jason Tartick!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously suspicious. Wait a minute, Sam. Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit. Well, Dakota, luckily, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend's been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. Now he's insisting we get to know each other, but I just want her gone.

Hold up. Isn't that against school policy? That seems inappropriate. Maybe find out how it ends by listening to the OK Storytime podcast and the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, my name is Enya Umanzor. 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.

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And I'm Chris Harrison. Welcome to The Most Dramatic podcast ever with Ashley I. And she's not here. So as a result, Chris and I are going to co-host this with one of our favorite people in the world. Jason Tardick. Jared. Jared's here. Um, we are in, uh, well, been telling them where we are. We are in Carmel, California. This is a very special event for IHeart. We bring anybody we can out to IHeart to interview them because we like them. So Jason, you were in here earlier, but when Chris and I were talking about this with Dean, we said this trip

is really meant for us to invite people we like to hang out with to catch up in our lives. And you're definitely one of those people. And so, So tonight, I don't think it's a secret that we have a lot to catch up with you on. But then also, we want to talk to you about your future. Like, what's exciting outside of, you know, obviously what's going on and in the news right now. But let's obviously start with your- Should we start with the Middle East? Where should we- What problems should we solve tonight after four bottles of wine at the Mission Ranch?

Well, I think, Chris, the thing we should start with is Jason. are you single? Guys, it's good to be here. Yeah, I got Dean here, Chris here, Ben here. I feel like I'm back in 2018. It is good to be here. You know, Jay and I have a long. Am I single? Yes.

Jay and I had a long talk because he came to Austin and hung out for a while. And he was, A, the only person who I've ever done a podcast with at my house. And then he spent the night. We had a sleepover. We had a sleepover. Yeah. Why did that happen? I want to hear the backstory because what happened, we were going to dinner night.

And I was standing next to Lauren. And she goes, I love Jason Tardick. I said, that's great. I love Jason Tardick. But why do you love Jason Tardick? She goes, because Jason Tardick helped break down boxes at my house. The guy did one nice thing. I made my bed too.

He's gotten more mileage off this one benevolent act. You've done it a hundred times for her. I've been breaking up boxes, taking out the trash for five years. You know, Jay comes by one afternoon, kicks a box. box. And she's like, oh, he's the greatest guy in the world. I think, you know, living with Gandhi all the time. I'll take it. He's been, he's been selling that for a while. But, uh, yeah, we did. We, we got deep. It was a, it was a, honestly, a very emotional night for both of us. Oh, God. Uh, we kind of, we got done. And we, we, we just kind of went down the hall in separate

ways and we're like, we just got to be. We're going to bed. Yeah, we did some quiet time. Peace. It was a, it was a, it was a, it was a, it was a, therapeutic. It was good. And thank forever. It was cathartic, and I think it was something we needed. And it's something, like, we've all become good friends. We can all have these conversations. And it's probably dangerous to be doing this after, you know, four bottles of wine. But Jay and I did talk about him being single and about looking for love.

And I'm sure you've dated more since. I've seen you out and about. You've seen me. Where have you seen me? I mean, the thing with Jay is Instagram is the tip of the iceberg. Yeah. 90% of it is below the water. for me. So if I'm seeing 10% of the entertainment value of his life, I can only imagine what's going

on. That's good. Yeah, life is good. It's changed a lot since our last conversation. So everything is going quite well. Okay, how's it changed? Because you seem like you're on the uptick. Just in a lot of ways. I think like last time we talked, like obviously there were a lot of emotions. What's good about emotions is you get those things out, you name it to drain it. And you go through the grieving process. I've gone through that process. I have full acceptance. And so that feels good. I feel lighter every day. You know, for me, I was watching from the outside. So I got to see the headlines and listen to that episode. The two of you are great at that. Like, I had no doubt that the two of you would dive in authentically and really pull out the emotions. And I think it's good for people to hear

because it does, like the reaction is very positive. Like, it keeps people update. updated with where you're at in life, Jason. Yeah. But we're here now. Like, I guess the question I have for you is, like, what are you looking forward to now in the future? Like, this is a whole new start for you. If they listen to the podcast on the most dramatic podcast ever.

Yeah. And they kind of got a baseline of where you're at in life. Now we're here in Carmel a few months later or a month later. Like, what's next for you? Yeah. I mean, if you're going to, if you're going to give me that platform, with these two giant podcast hosts, I've got to take the platform to do a little plug.

I have a new book coming out, right? Talk money to me. So I'm very focused on that book. I'm also very transparent with things like that. If I sell one book or I sell, I don't know, probably 50,000 books, it's not going to put another penny in my pocket. I'm just very passionate about the subject matter

of we have to learn finances. And then when we learn finances, we have to learn how to protect them with ourselves, grow them with ourselves, and then grow as a unit with someone else. So the new book comes out in April. I'm excited for that future. I'm excited for an agency that's really, really doing well.

We doubled our revenue last year. We're probably going to hit close to eight figures this year, which is exciting. And I don't know. I think aside from just business, it's more of this, I'm in this weird phase of life where I've thought about it. I really haven't been single, like straight up single, single since like 2007. Okay, so let me just explain that briefly. They start casting for The Bachelor in early 2018,

like late 2017, you go on the show, got off the show, then the show's airing was in the top three, so they have to like, you know, they kind of give you the guidance, like watch what you're doing, so I was careful. So there was probably like a two,

three month window where I was single in 2018. And then X and I are together, we break up. It's really been since 2017, I've been single. And then 10 years through my 20s, I was like corporate soldier, tell me where to go, how to go. So this is the first time in my life that I have like financial freedom.

I'm single. And I could just do what I want to do, how I want, when I want. So this is the year for me, like, aside from all that work stuff that I put out there, I'm just like, I don't know if I could swear on this podcast, but I'm just like, just let loose and enjoy life. It's a dangerously awesome combination. Yeah, it is. Because you said things have changed since our podcast the last time you and I

at it. And that was, you were still, I would, I would say if we could name it, you were in the morning phase. You were still figuring things out in the morning phase. I was grieving through different, like, through, through like bargaining and trying to figure out. Well, you're a little confusion. You're a little confusion like this. Yeah. Name it and label it and figure out where it goes. Of course. Yeah. Now, if we were going to label this chapter, where are we? It's acceptance and pure, purest form of clarity. And, uh, and it just, just excited, like excited for what's next. In my life, I want to have family. I want to have kids. I recognize I'm 35. So I know that there's only so much time for this period of my life

where I could just be the main priority and go. So I would name it as like clarity, go and stop overthinking. Just like, go do it. So you have the business, a little financial freedom. You've dealt with all the issues. And my guess is you're also realizing, you know, you've got a modicum of fame, right? You got a little name recognition out there. So you're enjoying this chapter right now, it seems. I don't, so when you phrase it like that, I don't, the whole like, those things are great, but that's not why I'm enjoying it, truly. I'm enjoying it because for so long. I've been so bogged down of worrying about everyone else and taking care of everyone else. And if you get into like therapy, it's the rescuer, which is like an unhealthy version of the coach.

And I'm excited to just take care of me. And so fame, whatever, all that bullshit. Like, I don't care. It's just like I have so much light that I don't feel so much empathy for people I once loved and I feel so much care for what I want. And so that's truly what I'm most excited about, right? Like, all that stuff is like bullshit. I think all the fame and all these things we get. It helps, it helps on a business level. It helps with your book. It helps with the podcast. It plays a part in it. Yeah. It plays in it, it, 100% helps. You can't deny that. All that stuff helps. But it all that does to me is just give, it provides an ability to have financial freedom and financial freedom that allows me to do what I want, i.e. coming out to Carmel for a couple

days to see people I love and have cared for since 2018. I think it's cool in this world. Like, how often do you meet people from an unscripted show? And then six years later, whether we're on the mic or not, we're checking in. Ben, we're calling each other, talking business, talking about the mastermind stuff. Chris, how's life? How's family? How's married life? Like, to me, that is such a cool thing. So it's a mix of everything, I guess. But to me, it's the financial freedom, I guess, that it provides. And who knows when it ends, right? You just, you know, it can all end tomorrow. Well, you're doing a lot. I mean, Chris and I talked earlier, and we talked with Dean about the passions and what has been created from the show. And you've done a lot.

You know, you'd be a great example to many on what you can do with the opportunities provided. And then I also would believe if you never went on the show, you would have done great with or without it. But I think the big question for so many and myself included is, what, are you looking for like what is this next season if you dreamed of what this next season would look like for you like what are the things in in the future that you would love to have like attached to the jason name so be a little more specific because i could i could like what does relationship look like to you what does what does this i mean you've created some incredible businesses that you're like you said are hopefully going to create eight figures in

24. Yeah. But like, like when you look at the end of 24, maybe, we're in December, let's say. Yeah. Like, what do you hope is attached to your name? I think if I look at like personally, let's look like, let's look like three to five years, right? Okay. Three to five years, I would love to be married with kids, find my person, 100%. Um, and then professionally, I've, learn that you can have all these aspirations and dreams. And I think everyone here, we know curveballs come our way and you just expect the unexpected. So just try and be better than I was yesterday. Like learn from yesterday and try and be and grow as an individual within like the different tracks I'm kind of going. Right. So but for me it's like continue to explore to find myself,

learn from the mistakes. And then I don't know. I want to find someone. Right. Like that is the goal. Like when I think about my personal life, like I want a family and I want to have kids and those are things I want. And I have so much, it took me a long time in life to learn confidence, long time, posture syndrome, all of these things. When it comes to professional world, I just, I know I have confidence that if I'm backed against the wall, I'm going to figure it out. I know I'm going to.

So now I'm just so much more focused on do the things I know I can do and work, but like also just developing myself every day in a way I can just be a better person to myself, if that makes sense. It does. And I don't want this to be a bash on Caitlin because you and I both know Caitlin well. Chris knows Caitlin well. We're friends with Caitlin. But relationships that don't work out teach you something.

They do. Like with my relationship with Lauren, it taught me something. And, you know, now that I'm with Jess, she was the person I was looking for. What characteristics in the next partner are you kind of looking for? Because I know there's a lot of women out there that are probably like, I would love to date a Jason Tardick. He is a really attractive dude who has his stuff together. But like as you've kind of gone through different seasons of life, what characteristics are you looking for in your next partner?

Number one for sure is a unit in which the, The support that's given is matched in return. Number two, I would say, is honesty and integrity. I think when you get caught in love clouds, it's easy to avoid a lot of those things. I think number three is we live in a world in which so much is working against relationships. and so much is working against happiness. And I think the more happiness you have, the more envy there becomes. And when that envy enters, you need such a solid unit that your partner in the room

with you and without you in the room is there for you and they have your back, right? So those are three huge things that I'll be looking for. What were you blinded by with the love? The Love Cloud thing is interesting. Yeah, I mean, the Love Cloud's interesting, and I hate to bring it back to the book I do. My background's business and finance and accounting. That's my heart. My grandpa told me, taught me at 16. And I think the perspective is even in the book, like, I was so caught up in the Love Cloud, even fundamentals that I know and teach and preach every day, I didn't even look

into. I talk about it in the book. And so I think in general, anyone that's out there, if you've gotten caught in the love clouds, it's easy to lose sight of a lot of things. Some of the things already mentioned and some of the things that you might know better than the back of your hand. And sometimes you have to take a beat to say, just check in, right? Like check in with yourself. So are you saying you lost yourself in this relationship? You're good. I think, I think, yeah, I think that's, I think that's a very fair assessment. There, there were times, in this relationship that I had lost myself and as a result of that you get caught up in like a cloud of of your so into the love of it and the idea of it you lose focus of kind of like your just

overall compass direction and foundational focus for what is right. and isn't right. And I think I could be wrong, but I do think there's a lot of people out there that when love enters, you start to be blinded by those things, right? Because you're so infatuated with that overwhelming feeling of bliss that you have been searching for, whether it's been a month, two months, a year, three years, whatever it might be. And that's a good learning lesson for me. My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously suspicious. Well, wait a minute, Sam. Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit.

Well, Dakota, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend has been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. Now, he's insisting we get to know each other, but I just want her gone. Now, hold up. Isn't that against school policy? That sounds totally inappropriate. Well, according to this person, this is her boyfriend.

friend's former professor and they're the same age. And it's even more likely that they're cheating. He insists there's nothing between them. I mean, do you believe him? Well, he's certainly trying to get this person to believe him because he now wants them both to meet. So, do we find out if this person's boyfriend really cheated with his professor or not? To hear the explosive finale, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the Iheart

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or wherever you get your podcasts. Chris and I were talking about earlier. And you and I actually were talking about at the airport. And you asked me a good question. Like two years in a marriage, what's life look like? You know, like, what, what is it? Because it's a good question. Like, I couldn't answer that before two years of marriage.

I wouldn't know. And I said, you know, if I were to, I'm speaking to church on Sunday. And I'm speaking to it, like, at some point, a group. that's single. And the one thing I want to make sure to implement into them is one, singleness is fine. Like be single as long as you need to be single. The second is when you get married, like when you're committing to somebody, there's a beauty in the fact that now in two years in this, I can confidently tell you that there is a partner out there that will release like some type of stress from your life. Not all stress. There's a whole new stress to marriage.

but for me like my life is freer now that I'm married like my life like yes there's a whole new burden that has been placed on myself as a husband yeah but overall I found an incredible partner like an amazing woman who wants my life to be better who wants her life to be better and as a result like she wants to support both those things and I didn't know that when I was in your position I went through a breakup on the show and at that point in time for me I was a in a spiral of like maybe life is never what I thought it would be. Like maybe marriage is not whatever pictured it would be. Maybe it would be full of pain and like I would have to sacrifice a lot. But it's not that. Like for me, I don't have to sacrifice a lot for my marriage other than just

trying to be a good husband to my wife. Yeah. And I think that's exciting for you. Like you're in a very similar position at this point in time where you're coming out of this relationship and let's, we don't need the bad mouth or, like, put hate on either one of you, right? Both of you hold a deep level of respect in our hearts, but it wasn't right. So now you enter, like, out of that into this whole new season. And I know Chris and I talked about earlier, we're excited for you on what this new partnership looks like. And that's why I ask you the question. Like, what are you looking for now? And Chris, you know, went even better than, than I could and say, like, what does that like Love Cloud look like?

Yeah. I think, I think, yeah, I think you bring up a few good points. I think even when you look at, just you talk about like, I know you said you don't want to bad mouth anyone and I don't think anyone should be. I think even when you look at why relationships didn't work, that's why I even hate, even stepping into these conversations, Chris, I mentioned on your podcast. It's always, I always start to, I could feel it. I am already deregulated talking about it. Why am I deregulated talking about it? Why am I deregulated talking? talking about it. Deregulate talking about it because I have a very, very long laundry list of why things didn't work out in this relationship, right? And my ex also has a very long list. And there's no way those lists connect. And my perspective is going to be a lot of hearsay and opinions. And her perspective is going to be a lot of hearsay and opinions. And when you enter into conversations like this with friends and mutual friends in a world that's so small, I want to treat it with the same respect I would expect my significant other. And while I don't think that's been the case at this point,

I'm still going to stand here and not really dive into those things. Right. So I, there's, there's reasons why it didn't work out. There's reasons why we are where we are. And I think to your point, Ben, all you can do in these situations, The only thing is look in the mirror and say, where did I miss? Where can I be better? How do I grieve and get clarity?

And for my next partner, I better show up in a million better ways than I didn't show up in my last relationship. And that's the journey I'm on right now. Are you surprised the breakups had such a shelf life? That is, you know, there's still headlines. There's still no. Why? When you start to read and see the same, you read the same book and then you read it over, you know how it plays out.

When you watch the same movie and then you watch it again, you see how it plays out. And there's been a lot of conversations about a lot of exes of my ex that one year, two year, five years. six years, seven year plus, continue to hit headlines. So I'm not surprised. Chris, that's a question for you, though. You've been around the show. You've been around relationships, maybe for a while. Why do headlines play out?

You know, for mine, I felt like it was a shelf life. Like, it was like a six-month shelf life, where it was like, felt like the world was falling down around me. And then it never, like, really existed again. Yeah, when you're, I mean, and Jay and I talked about this, when you're, you know, when you're in that tempest, it feels, all-consuming, you know, and I've talked to people that are on the show when they're going through stuff. And I'm like, look, I know it feels like the waves are crashing over your head.

But if you took a look from, you know, 30, 50,000 feet, you'd realize this is such a minuscule part of your life and a minuscule part of the world. But, you know, we don't ever have that perspective when we're going through stuff. I mean, it's impossible, right? Because we're all self-absorbed. We're self-involved. And when things are happening to us, it's magnificent, right? It's huge no matter what it is. And so that's only human nature. But what's interesting is you're right, these things usually have a shelf life. If they continue to exist and prolong and seem to be exacerbated, there's usually a reason why. And it's interesting. It's like, you know, and usually it's because someone wants it to, right? Someone is propelling it to make that

happen. And I've just noticed like the headlines continue. Yeah. What headlines continue, though? Well, I just saw one today. But, like, I think the idea behind the headlines are things, a lot has to happen, right? And a lot has happened, you know, a lot has happened. Well, look, click in our day and age, too. Clickbait is a wonderful thing, as Ben looks up the headline. You know, it is, it's interesting when you live in a world where we want one answer.

Like you said, Caitlin has a laundry list of reasons why this relationship didn't work. You have a laundry list of reasons why this didn't work. But for the, and when you're in a room like this with a bunch of friendlies and people that love you and we're talking and we know the layers of this thing. And there are many layers to it. There always are. But when you get removed from it and it's just the listener and they're just looking for that one reason, right? we all want that one reason why give me the magic bullet there's never a magic bullet there's never a magic bullet when there's a breakup there's always multiple multiple layers to how it got to that

point but in this day and age of the clickbait and the headline we all want that right we all want that one reason of why did kaitland or why did jason you know like this will this will solve everything yeah and it's that's that's that's never the case but the headlines will keep going because obviously it's getting, the only reason there's good feedback. People are listening and people are watching. Well, I think you're right. I mean, there's investment. And I think that maybe means people are invested in the relationship or people are invested into the breakup. I don't know if we could. That's good. I mean, it's a good debate of like, I mean, clearly people are interested in Caitlin. Clearly people are interested in you. I mean, it goes to your, you know, the Q rating, right?

I mean, obviously you were in the zeitgeist and people were interested in what's going on with Jason and what's going on with Caitlin. And so, like, this, you know, it only prolongs if people are interested. Yeah. I mean, my take on it prolonging is just, like, I don't, I'm not the kind of guy that's going to step into stuff unless I have to protest for myself, right? And I don't. And there's, you know, there's been a lot of interesting things, right?

but I'm not going to step into anything unless it's truly directed. And there's been a lot of, like, it seems like passive-aggressive, little digs here and there, interpretations. But, yeah, I mean, it just, it is what it is. And, yeah, it's an interesting, like, dichotomy of analyzing all that, right? I mean, the funny thing is, the three of us sitting here have all been in the same. spot to a certain degree yeah we've all been a part of the headlines we've all been on the good end of them yeah and the really shitty end of them yeah and you know they they they they're both

through the extremes and when you're on the bad end and when things keep going it's like okay you think it's over and then there's another yeah there's another one yeah and uh it's it's tough i mean i know you know ben with Lauren when he was going through it I dealt with him and with you and then you guys both dealt with it with my shit yeah um it's a lot. It's a lot. I think in defense to both sides or any sides or your side or anyone's side, Ben, your breakup side, whatever, headlines, right?

The business of it, you create a headline so people click. The only thing these magazines are looking at is how many people click through. If people keep clicking through, they will continue to create those headlines. And those headlines are always going to be taken out of context to get you to click through. What I would say to anybody that is reading a headline is like, actually read the full article, then make your interpretation. Just go four paragraphs down. Just go four paragraphs.

Read the end. Yeah, just read the end. I mean, here's the headline here. This is the one I was talking about. So it was published today. It says Jason Tardick would have told himself to wake the hell up before moving in with ex-Katelyn Bristow. So I haven't even done this yet, but if I scrolled under the bottom,

which is a freaking long article, man. Oh, I could, I could... It says, um... I can interrupt you. And it will finish it, finish it, though. I could, I could tell you. The final paragraph says, now this changed throughout the years of our relationship. But the point, but to point at you a picture of how uninformed we were, here is a detailed

list of all the numbers we didn't know before moving in together. Right. And it goes through credit score, total income. This is from your trading secrets podcast. Right. So, well, I'll break, like, let's start. That's why I love. the podcast I run because we give behind the scenes of stuff like this. So behind the scenes, I have a book coming out. Again, if I sell one book or 10,000, I'm not going to make

any more money. The book drops in April. The book drops in April. But the point is, is that we had to, with a big publisher, we have to get an exclusive. That's what you have to do. So who do we get an exclusive with? We get it with people. What does people do? They give a book exclusive. It gives credibility. So then what you do is you hand them the manuscript. So you give them the manuscript and then you don't have control over what they write. Now the whole entire point of that, that headline is such fucking bullshit because it provides zero context to the conversation in the first two chapters is to show relatability that no matter who's out there, even a guy like not trying to put myself, but even a guy who's got an MBA and accounting and finance and has lent hundreds

of millions of dollars underwrote bank loans, he still, through a relationship and love, got lost in some of the things that matter when you look at something as a unit. And it was all in the first two chapters of me saying, this is where I screwed up. I want to show you my cards because I'm writing this book based on where I screwed up,

here are things you could do better. You got caught that love cloud and you didn't ask those important questions. Yeah, so then they take a line that's going to get people to click through. So that's a headline there. But the psychology of like why this, like, I mean, why are we still talking about the breakup?

I mean, I think a lot of people can interpret that a lot of ways, but it's an interesting discussion. Yeah, it's a lot. So it's a twist, in a sense, promoting your book, which goes through all those things. Yeah. But it is a twist a little bit on like the overall message of,

hey, before you enter in a relationship or before you take these big decisions in life, think about X, Y, Z. Correct. And they say the headline is like, wait the hell up. Exactly. But for you, it's like, just in general, whoever you're, whoever you are, wherever you're at in life, think about these things before you enter into these big commitments. Yeah, it was more of like, if I'm asking you, Ben, for advice and you're saying to me, Jason, you know, I screwed this up here and there and I said to myself, Ben, wake the hell up.

Like, think about this. That was the idea when writing this portion of the book. Like, wake up, Jason. Like, think about this stuff. And the idea was to connect to a reader. Like, I'm sure we all, every person in this room has made mistakes. their relationship and finances. So that was like the idea with it. But that's one headline. There's many others. I don't think that headline's probably a depiction of the others.

And there will be any more. Yeah. And I'm sure. I'm sure. So, you know, that's what's interesting. And I've read a lot of those lately. And I think what's, you know, the one thing about headlines and the one thing about relationships and breakups and perspectives and however anyone wants to talk is in 2024, it's really tough to rewrite history with words. So, you know, you can say what you want and you can put things out there and you can have different captions and, you know, different things out there. But when there's enough public record of things, you really can't rewrite history as much as you want to, no matter what types of form of kind of deception someone may or may not try to display.

You just can't rewrite history. My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously suspicious. Well, wait a minute, Sam. Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit. Well, Dakota, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes,

my boyfriend has been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. Now he's insisting we get to know each other, But I just want her gone. Now, hold up. Isn't that against school policy? That sounds totally inappropriate. Well, according to this person, this is her boyfriend's former professor, and they're the same age.

And it's even more likely that they're cheating. He insists there's nothing between them. I mean, do you believe him? Well, he's certainly trying to get this person to believe him because he now wants them both to meet. So, do we find out if this person's boyfriend really cheated with his professor or not? To hear the explosive finale, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. My name is Ed. Everyone say, hello, Ed.

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All right. Well, to close this, Jason, you do have a book coming out. As we've mentioned, why should somebody out there who's listening want to read your book? Talk money to me. Talk money to me.

So if you don't know how to invest at all, it gives you a step by step of how to invest. That's one. If you don't know how to budget, it gives you a step by step of how to budget. If you don't know how to pay down your debt or understand your debt, gives you a step by step of how to do that. If you don't know how to think about the idea of working with banks

to get your first mortgage or maybe use equity lines to increase your wealth, like the basic idea of using lending to get approved and to them build your worth, this book will help you do it. And then in the book, every line or every word that is said that might be confusing in the business space, there's a full glossary. and that's just the business aspect. If you're then thinking about like, how do I talk money to myself

because I don't have a great relationship with money, this book will teach you to do it. And if you're working with another partner to like build in, move in together and build a long-lasting relationship of wealth as one, this book will teach you how to do it. So it's an intersection of love and money. There's so many books about how to master love.

There's so many books how to master money. And love and money are a huge part of like everyone's life and how we exist as one. That's the kind of the premise about the book. And then the other thing, too, is unfortunately this world, like you look at true crime and all the things we do, we learn through hardships. There's a lot of really crazy stories out there of people who learned in really, really, really hard ways.

Like getting married, getting a mortgage, and instantly the next day, IRS, boom, has a tax lien on their whole house because they didn't recognize their husband. They just married has a huge IRS tax lien. There's a lot of stories that we can learn through their experiences. So that's a little bit about that. It's the number one reason, right? It's the number one reason people get divorced, break up, whatever money. Have these discussions.

You and I talked about this. And look, someday you'll end up in a room with Ben and I and Slack slash joggers boots with no socks and a shirt that's a jacket. That's right. Look at how far you've come. Look how far you've come, man. Here we are. Jason, seriously, man. I appreciate you sitting down again.

and sitting down with Ben and I. And I'm glad we're all here. We said it with Dean and, you know, Bob. Gettys coming in. Andrew Firestone's here. A bunch of friends are here and it's always good to get everybody together. Check out the book. Talk Money to Me.

Drops in April. Trading Secrets, the podcast, which I've listened to many, many times over. It's brilliant stuff on the economic side of life. So many just simple things we should all be doing. Yeah, I appreciate. Thank you guys for having me. well let me ask you two now while I got you as you're wrapping up you can ask me anything two married men here you've had a lot of success one piece of advice for me what do you got give me feedback

tell me what I could do better tell me what I need to do more of or less of let's end with the two guys we've done it successfully teaching the guy who hasn't done it right I'll start here yes my honest opinion is this take some time um and I mean this from bottom of my heart. Take some time to decipher through all this BS right now and figure out what you want. I journaled, which was a huge gift to me because I knew what I was looking for before this whole experience and then after. But figure out what right now you feel like you're missing and be okay admitting it and figuring out like there's a person out there for you who fills those gaps you know for me this world was spinning faster and i could

consume and a lot of my friends and family were telling me hey you're never going to be that guy that can stay relevant that can stay influential that can stay in the spotlight you're not that guy and i wanted to fight that like no i can be that guy yeah and they're like you're not going to be that guy it's not who you are ben and um and finally i had realized i wasn't that guy like that wasn't what made me happy. When me happy was a life of somebody that would give me security, simplicity, contendment, but also pushed me to be the man I always dreamed of being.

And when I finally realized that, hey, maybe my life wouldn't be marrying somebody that was in the spotlight, but marrying somebody who maybe made me my better self, then everything made more sense. And so, you know, the success financially or whatever that looked like, like that just maybe comes or it's kind of up to you but when it comes to a partner for me it was just

like um in a sense like settling into what i knew would be my best partner yeah and not looking for whatever can make the headlines yeah jess and i don't make the headlines very often we go to bed at 815 we watch a lot of gardens of the galaxy or whatever's on tvs lovely and when i lay in bed at night jason and i look at her and she lays her head on my chest um we have a dog in my feet i'll tear up saying it um there's many of nights where i look at her and i and i tell her like this is my dream and i never maybe when i was on the show i never believed it would be yeah but it is and so i just say take a second and step away and just say hey outside of all this craziness what do i dream of yeah but what did i dream of

of and go back to that that's good advice that's great advice you didn't think when we were eating pot brownies in jamaica you were going to have the dream goodness gracious and the thunderstorm came in you remember that the brownie man yeah um yeah goodness gracious what do you got chris no it was well said i mean you and i have talked business but i it's funny the first thing that struck me and i wouldn't say it as poetically as Ben just did. But same thing. I was like, you know, if I'm giving advice to you, it's be single. Embrace it.

Yeah. And I don't mean go play the field and, you know, be a slut. I just mean, and if you, by the way, if you want to, knock yourself out. I don't care. But it's take some time. And that's all that. That's what Ben was saying. And I agree.

Take some time to get your sea legs about you. And, you know, you, whether you know it or not, you got rocked. and you know life's a little crazy with the headlines and with all the crap going on and when we go through stuff like that you just need a minute right and you just need to give yourself some grace give yourself some time and you're a smart guy and you have a lot of people around you that love you to death and like no one's i mean by no means is anyone worried about you yeah you're doing just fine but and you know the success of business and all that stuff's going to come but it's just i what i want for you is same thing ben and all your friends want for you is

to also find somebody to share it with. And you will. Yeah. And you will. Yeah. It's one of these things, it's like life prepares, like life only prepares you for so much. You got to live, you got to learn. And then breakups, no matter who you are, are really tough.

And then this whole other aspect that we talked about today, right? Like all this other noise enters. And in the only world, the word I can think of is like paralysis. Like I just like, sometimes you sit back and you're like, I'm paralyzed. Do you, like, fight for what's right? Do you just shut the hell up? Do you just go away and never come back? So I just click the switch off and just turn around.

So it's good to hear about this because no one really prepared. And you both have been through it. No one prepared. There's no book to teach you how to deal with all this stuff. It's a lot. It's truly like drinking water from a firehouse. It's impossible. You are nowhere prepared for it when you were kind of shot out of this canon.

And I went through it even when I got divorced and I started dating. yeah and it's like oh my god like it's it was a you enter a world you're like you know you have it's a whole different world than when you were single before yeah and when you when you were on the show and so um enjoy that yeah and experiment and then make your mistakes and fail and laugh about it and then eventually you're going to get to the point where you see the ridiculousness and all of it and you're going to settle in and you'll find somebody it'll be wonderful exactly until then enjoy it yeah I think because the thing is, like, in this space, you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't. You jump on the mic with Chris and Ben, instantly, I'll get shit for just even talking, right?

Or you'll get a lot. You just don't know. And I think the biggest thing I've learned even through, like, my therapist is like, stop. When you experience things in life, when you walk into them, think about your experience and less about how people are experiencing you. We get so focused in this world, how everyone is experiencing and consuming us, as opposed to, like, what is my experience in this moment, the way I'm thinking, the way I'm talking, and just continue to proceed with character in the way that you normally would.

And if you worry about your experience, the rest will fall into place. So what I'm trying to do. Amen, Ben Higgins. Bring us home. Jason, nobody's worried about you. You're going to do great, man. Chris is right. You're a great dude who are just so thankful to be out here with.

And thanks for sitting down with us. thanks for hanging out with us. Thanks for teaching us the things you've got to teach us when it comes to, I mean, in five years, we'll be hopefully sitting maybe not in this room,

but in a different room. Maybe in this room. And you're going to be teaching us or teaching somebody new. Chris and I will be retired at that point, I hope. That'll be the next guy who ends up broken out of trying your fingers life.

I will be long dead. Yeah. By then. Yeah. He'll sit at my gravesite. But you're going to be teaching somebody new who comes through this world or through a different world, the same stuff we're talking about today. We're like, hey, I've been in your, your shoes. And that's such a

cool thing. And we've seen it over and over again as we've been here for eight plus years since the show and Chris, I don't know, 50 years. Just pour some red wine on the grave. This has been the... Sons of bitches. Throw some roses on there. A couple of tear drops. We've been here with the most dramatic podcast ever and the almost famous podcast. But Jason, just thanks for hanging out with this weekend. Thank you guys for having me. Hey, love you boys. Love you. Love you guys. Always a pleasure. Follow the Ben and Ashley I, almost famous podcast on IHartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcast. Thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram at the most dramatic pod ever. And make sure to write us a review and leave us five stars. I'll talk to you next time.

My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously suspicious. Wait a minute, Sam. Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit. Well, Dakota, luckily, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend's been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. Now he's insisting we get to know each other, but I just want her gone. Hold up. Isn't that against school policy? That seems inappropriate. Maybe. Find out how it ends by listening to the OK story.

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 all! I'm Mani. 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 at me?

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I'm Dr. Joy Hardin-Bradford, host of the Therapy for Black Girls podcast. I know how overwhelming it can feel if flying makes you anxious. In session 418 of the Therapy for Black Girls podcast, Dr. Angela Neal-Barnett and I discuss flight anxiety. What is not a norm is to allow it to prevent you from doing the things that you want to do, the things that you were meant to do. Listen to therapy for black girls on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast.