The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - Almost Famous Adventures: Was Guy Gansert Ever In Love with Joan?

Episode Date: January 29, 2025

Our Bachelor Nation OGs Bob Guiney and Andrew Firestone are hanging out in Pebble Beach with Guy Gansert from The Golden Bachelorette! Find out what REALLY happened between Guy and Joan, and we ask the tough question… could Guy ever be the Golden Bachelor??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. Let's start with a quick puzzle. The answer is Ken Jennings' appearance on The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs. The question is, what is the most entertaining listening experience in podcast land? Jeopardy Truthers believe in... I guess they would be Kenspiracy theorists. That's right.

To give you the answers and you still blitzers. The Puzzler. Listen on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What would you do if one bad decision forced you to choose between a maximum security prison or the most brutal boot camp designed to be hell on earth? Unfortunately for Mark Lombardo, this was the choice he faced. He said, you are a number, a New York State number, and we own you. Listen to shock incarceration on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Kurt Brown-Oller. And I am Scotty Landis, and we host Bananas, the podcast where we share the weirdest, funniest, real news stories from all around the world.

And sometimes from our guest's personal lives, too. Like when Whitney Cummings recently revealed her origin story on the show. There's no way I don't already have rabies. This is probably just why my personality is like this. I've been surviving rabies for the past 20 years. New episodes of bananas drop every Tuesday in the exactly right network. Listen to bananas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Almost Famous Podcast with IHart Radio.

Almost Famous to OG's Pebble Beach Edition, Bob Ginny, Andrew Firestone. Come on. Here I am. Amazing, buddy. I mean a co-host. I mean, everybody else said no. Everybody else said no. They've been wanting this.

The people have been wanting this for a long time, clamoring the two of us together. Those two people wanted it so badly. Jessica and Ivana, they're like, our wives were like, wouldn't it be great if they just left us alone for a couple hours? Our wives do love each other quite a bit. And I will say, we did all right for ourselves. Right? We did okay.

But we are joined today. It's the Golden After Dark series, by the way, as well. So we got a bunch of our favorite stars from the Golden Bachelor here joining us. And I want to say, Guy, I am so glad. to have you here. It's Guy Gansert, correct? Yes. Guy, great looking dude. Comes walking in. Right away, we're talking about sports. We're talking about sports injuries, which we all have.

Let me tell you what, I got a little intimidated when the guy walked in. He's like comes in, he's strapping, he's yoked, he's working out the whole thing. So I kind of puffed my chest out a little bit. Right away, I didn't like him. And look how nicely he's dressed. You didn't tell me, I thought this was going to... No, well, we wanted to be on video a little bit. We want everyone to feel comfortable. So, you know, Guy and I are dressed handsomely. and, you know, it's all right. But welcome, Guy.

Thank you. Thank you. I'm happy to be here. And I won't make you feel bad that, you know, that I'm 66 years old. What's that? I'm 66. 66. All right.

I'm 53. So, yeah, I'll be 54 in May. You still went behind the years. Yeah, I still am. Yeah, I'm still a baby. And Andrew, Andrew, what, you're almost 46. I'm in my 40s. Yeah.

I'm in my 40s. For another six months. Yeah, for the tail end of them. But thank you so much for joining us. It's a big weekend. So this is, we believe, either the third or fourth annual. inaugural, I'm sorry, not inaugural. That'd be the first one.

The third or fourth annual. Consecutive golf outing here at Pebble Beach where we do a big bachelor reunion and we do a whole bunch of podcasts. So glad to have you be a part of it. It's a family tradition. You know, we like to keep it rolling. I love it.

And we're not sure if this is either one of ours third or fourth of these. No, no, no, we're sure. I get invited every year. He's been here 17 years consecutively. I didn't know they were doing the show. Bob, not as much. Yeah. But we were talking earlier, like this is such a great

like it opens up the Bachelor world a little bit to have this other era be part of it and offer other perspectives. And when you walked in, what you said to me, you're like, oh, two other guys that know my experience and know my perspective. But that's why we're here. We want to hear it from you

and what, you know, not only on the show and your experience, but like kind of life after and all of these other opportunities. You're playing golf for the first time. Yeah, I am. Yeah. Well, let's start at the top. How did the whole opportunity even come to play for you? Like, how did you end up on the show in the first place?

You know, I had a woman reach out to me and we were talking and she said, you know, I think you'd be a really good on a reality TV show called The Golden Bachelorette. And I said, I have no idea what you're talking about. So you'd never seen the show? You never even heard of it. I'd never seen. I knew there was the Bachelor and the Bachelorette. You know, you'd see some of the commercials, but I knew nothing more than you get a rose. That's good. You don't get a rose. That's bad. And then at the end, the young kids hook up. Yeah. And that's all I knew about the show. Yeah. It's pretty good synopsis, really. So I knew nothing about it. And so I then reached out to my to my sisters. I say, if you guys ever heard of a show called Golden Bachelor, Bachelorette?

And they go, oh my God, yes. And I said, well, somebody wants me to be on this thing or I should apply for it. They go, you got to do it. And my nephew is about 40. He said, Uncle Guy, he goes go for it he goes he goes even if you don't do it he goes you can always put it in your back pocket so i you know i i send in the you know the ask five five questions you know told me send five pictures and five other things and then i got the the questionnaire i don't even remember a single question i remember one question on the questionnaire the rest of it i just filled out as fast as i could because i was it the STD question no it wasn't that one okay it was that was the one bob phil that's what they sent me up oh my god they did ask me about that

No, the only I remember was, like, they said, do you have a Hollywood crush? And that's the only one I remember. Oh, and do you? Yeah. What did you put as a Hollywood crush? Diane Lane. Oh, nice choice. Good pull on that one.

So, Diane, if you're listening to this, I'm still out here. This is good to know, because this was going to be one of my questions to you is who, you know, who's your Hollywood crush? Yeah. You could find her today. That was it. I just always, she's a terrific. actor, actress, and she just has this quality of class to her that, you know, I've always admired. And so, she's about my age. She's like 59, 60 or something like. I know she got

divorced from, you know, one of the Brolin brothers or something like that. Josh Brolin. Anyway, Josh Brole. Yes. Yeah, because James is the dad. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, so that's how, I, so I, you know, I went through the application. To be honest with that, I, I didn't think i'd be chosen i just but i just kept going through and one zoom interview after another after another and and um you know i still wouldn't even sure i wanted to like really go through with it but i was just going through the process and a lot of things happened in my life over the last the six months leading up to the show that were pretty significant milestones for me in my life to be able to move forward after my my divorce and i finally said you know what i'm going to do this and then

And right after that, Jackie called and said, hey, you've been selected. And I said, yay me. Power of yes. But you were your career working at the time that this whole thing interrupted your life, but you felt like you were in the right place to do something like this. Yeah. Interesting enough, this is one of the milestones I was talking about. So one of it was in April, I did this two and a half week unexpected road trip.

My oldest daughter was running the Boston Marathon. I flew back to Boston from the West Coast, spent four days with, you know, my daughter McKenzie and my grandson E. Don, and then she ran the marathon. And from there, I have another daughter that had gone to Oxford University together MBA and was living in London. So I just said, you know what? I'm going to get on a plane. I flew to London, spent four days with her. Did some great stuff. I went out to Liverpool, home of the Fab Four, and I'm a Beatlemaniac, a self-profess Beatlemaic. One of the best days I've ever had, by myself, you know. And then from there, I went to Atlanta and visit my grandson some more, went to Dallas

Fort Worth, visited, you know, family and friends where I grew up and then went to San Diego when my sons lives. I got back and I just, you know, it's like two and a half a week's unexpected. I said, you know what? I'm about to turn 66. I've got 35 years working in the same ER. Is that right? The same hospital. Same hospital. Same ER was like, you know, I mean, I had done everything I wanted to do in my career. I was the medical director, chairman. I was a chief of staff of the hospital. So I did administrative work. But then I was also mostly, I was just, as we call the pit doc you know we you know the air is working in the pit and i had done that and i just said you know it's it's time i want to do what i want when i want and so in in april long before i heard from the

show i decided to retire and i just out of the blue like it was one of those things it's just i knew people said you're going to know when you know and so that's what happened i i just said this feels right i wanted to go out on top i didn't want to be a doc that just stays around a little too long it's a little bit, you know, just. They kind of ask to leave. Yeah, like, I didn't want them to have that uncomfortable conversation. Sure. And I even told them.

So I went and I, and I decided to do that. Interestingly enough, and, you know, the show calls. And so, and I had even asked, you know, the people I work. I said, hey, is there any way I can get like, you know, June and July off? And they said, in the ER, no. I said, even for a guy like me, I've been doing this for 30. I started the group for Christ's sake, you know. Anyway.

So it was almost like, it was, it was a wonderful. timing for me to do it. So when I won the show, it was very easy. I didn't have to worry about coming back to work or do anything like that. I worked my last shift about a week before I went on the show. Oh, no kidding. Yeah. Wow, perfect timing. It seems like the people that we talk to that I've talked to over the years that have had a good experience, kind of life had kind of shuffled the deck in such a way that they were ready for something like this, that the show wasn't interruptive to their life, but rather it was additive to it. There you go. And so now like, so afterwards, like in hindsight do you think it was additive to your life absolutely and even though it didn't

maybe turn out the no it really wasn't I you know I talk about you know this quotes transformational journey that I went through and there was all these things that kind of led up to that the show was a culmination of all these significant milestones of my life that allowed me to move forward I went on it and then it just allowed me to open up it gave me time to be very introspective I My daughter sent me a Moleskin journal and said, Dad, maybe you should journal your time on there. I started it on the plane on the way down to L.A., and I journaled every day for 45 days.

I went through an entire book, went to a second one. Days, they would like the one-on-one dates and the hometowns. I would write 20 pages. Yeah. Just like chronically, like, chronically, what was happening, but it's also spending time, how I was feeling, describing you in my relationships with some of the other you know you know guys on the show you know friendships I developed and I just used it as a way to kind of you know go back and

and think about my life and think about things and where I wanted to go and so that was very therapeutic for me so when you ask that the it enhanced it and I will say that you know people say you know gosh it was really hard for you at the end I said you know I didn't win but I really one yeah yeah because i got what i needed out of the show and i i i thank you know i thanked the show bachelor nation for allowing being part of that i thank joan for allowing me to get to this point and be able to feel like i can you know that could truly love again right yeah you know and like you open up and be i opened up and i didn't i didn't think that was really before i went down there i said this isn't possible and even when i was down there most of the time i put a barrier

I was very guarded. I said, this is silliness. I said, I said, this is fantasy land. This is not reality. But, you know, it allowed me to think. And I eventually just let myself, I say, you know what, just go with it, you know, and don't try to manipulate anything. Just go with your feelings and emotions. And you guys have been there. It's, it's an interesting phenomenon that you go through. And it doesn't matter. Because I had watched some of it, you know, I went back and watched some of the shows. I was like, oh my God, this is crazy. You know, I can't possibly do this. I don't think you could have gone back far enough to watch ours. No, I did not. Do you have a Betamax machine because that's what you would have needed for mine? Do you have black and white or like a, you know,

a projector you can twist? Yeah, you're, you guys have liked this real quick. I'll just say this real quick was, was I didn't even know the show was on ABC. Yeah. I got home. Somebody said, when September 19th, when they mailed an announcement, they said, I just saw me on the ABC. I said, why they said well you're on going back right i said that's on ebc because when i watched it i just rented hulu right yeah and i was i didn't associate it with anything and so i was like they go i go oh my god and that's when i realize okay this thing's on prime time on abc at eight o'clock i said okay this is going to be an interesting nine weeks or whatever yeah my boyfriend's professor too friendly and now I'm seriously suspicious.

Oh, 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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What would you do if one bad decision forced you to choose between a maximum security prison

or the most brutal boot camp designed to be hell on earth? Unfortunately from Mark Lombardo, this was the choice he faced. He said, you are a number, a New York State number, and we own you. Shock incarceration, also known as boot camps, are short-term, highly regimented correctional programs that mimic military basic training. These programs aim to provide a shock of prison life, emphasizing strict discipline, physical training, hard labor, and rehabilitation programs. Mark had one chance to complete this program

and had no idea of the hell awaiting him the next six months. The first night was so overwhelming and you don't know who's next to you. And we didn't know what to expect in the morning. Nobody tells you anything. Listen to shock incarceration on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Ed. Everyone say hello, Ed.

I'm from a very rural background myself. My dad is a farmer and my mom is a cousin. What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? I know it sounds like the start of a bad joke, but that really was my reality nine years ago. I just normally do straight stand-up, but this is a bit different. On stage stood a comedian with a story that no one expected to hear. The 22nd of July 2015, a 23-year-old man had killed his family. And then he came to my house.

So what do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? A new podcast called Wisecrack, where stand-up comedy and murder takes center stage. Available now. Listen to Wisecrack on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A foot washed up, a shoe with some bones. in it. They had no idea who it was. Most everything was burned up pretty good from the fire that not a whole lot was

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Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Andrew and I were talking earlier, you know, one of the things that's sort of been referenced a lot is that the Golden Bachelor brought the whole franchise back to a little bit more of a, I don't want to say kind or gentler because that just seems ridiculous, but just kind of like what it was supposed to be intended for, right? Which was hopefully these people find love, but hey, the guys don't have to hate each other. They can get along. So I was on the Bachelorette before I was on the Bachelorette, much like you were on the Bachelorette. I loved the friendships I made from that experience. And then, you know, and then you get opened up to all. all these other people. And Andrew was the first bachelor that I met, you know, before I even became The Bachelor. And I was like, oh, my God, he's so nice. And, you know, it's like you start to, like, connect all the dots and realize that, I mean, the casting is really the biggest part of this show from the standpoint of who they picked

to be the lead as well as who they pick to be the people that are, you know, there to meet this individual and meet each other. But good for you. Good for you, finding that positive, that silver lining. No, it was, it was good. I cannot thank them enough. It's just, it's, it was life-changing for me. It sounds kind of crazy.

But it just wasn't a show, but that was the culmination. It didn't allow me to take it to that whole another level of where I, you know, where I was in my life, you know, and, yeah, I can't, I can't be more happy. So I had heard that on the way down, you know, you all, there's a bunch of you on the same plane. Yeah. You get off the plane and everybody kind of surrounds you. Oh, are you guys? You know, I mean, how's that feel?

Is that something? I mean, you don't, you don't get that probably a lot in the ER as much as you would have wanted to. Yeah. You know, you mean the attention from the beginning of the show? Yeah, she got a lot of attention from the show. You know, I, it really hit me. I went down to Las Vegas and joined my, I got my send to fly in from San Diego. We went to the sphere to see the Eagles.

Oh, wow. And I'm in this, we're in the, you know, the cosmopolitan. And there's, you know, it's hordes of people, right? I couldn't go, I was just blown away. I couldn't go 25 feet without somebody stopping me. And they were going, guy, guy, you're guy, you're like, oh my God. You know, I said, holy, shawley. I said, there's a lot of people who like this stuff and watch it that I didn't really,

I didn't sense it because I, you know, I live in Reno. And so it's, you know, it's a very small community. Everybody in Reno is like on fire because, you know, I'm representing, you know, my hometown, you know, which I, you know, I love. And it was great, you know, and very, very complimentary. You said, oh, my God, you, you projected yourself so well and you've represented yourself so well and you've represented Reno so well. And I, you know, that's great.

Oh, it's got to be good. It makes you feel very good. Are you kids proud? The kids feel good. Yeah, you know, I still wonder, they, I think they were a little hesitant because they, you know, mostly they just didn't want to see me get hurt, right? You know, and they also, you know, we're afraid of, you know, social media. And I said, I said, listen, I said, I got, I got through a divorce of 34 years.

I can handle anything right now, you know. It is tough, though. But they were, they were, my kids have been so supportive. They were, they've been so. good about the whole thing. Because, you know, they're kind of thrust into the limelight a little bit that they didn't expect. You know, start answering questions. Exactly. And they're on the hometown visit and they're there on TV and all their people all over the country. I mean, you know, are reaching out to them. And they're like, I don't know if I really signed up for this, but

they've been so good and they've been so gracious. And that's one of the other things that happened in my transformational journey is, was there's like five things. But the third one is is I developed an even better relationship with my children. That's great. That's awesome. Never too late to do that either. That's right. I got a five-year-old, a six-year-old and a three-year-old at home.

Savor the moments. Yeah. Well, I'm savoring this moment right now that I'm not having to, you know, break up a fight. I'm feeling pretty good about it. Let me ask you this. So have you been around Joan much, or Joan in Chalk, much since the show's finale? And you will be this weekend. I mean, have you thought about that?

and how do you feel about all that? Yeah. To answer your question, I've spoken with Chalk several times. It's almost like it seemed like we talk like once a week. Not for a lot. And it's more of just like, hey, how are you doing? Is everything going okay? Because Chalk and I were roommates.

So it was Chalk. It was Gary. It was Charles L. And Michael. And so we spent a lot of time together, you know. And so I spoke with Chalk. I saw Joan. Obviously, at the finale, but that's, you know, on the stage and you ever long don't have a lot of time to really talk.

I saw her at the after party, but probably only got to talk to her for like, you know, a minute, you know, so not much. So, but I'm very comfortable seeing her. I, you know, I thank her, you know, because she allowed me to move forward. And, you know, and so, I mean, how can I be upset about that? And obviously, at the end of the show, I mean, the emotions you saw, it's. the end those are real emotions i tell people i said i say i can't i can't fake this stuff i said but i said i said i said you know um they said well did you really fall in love i said i said at the moment yes i said but mostly as i look back on it i fell in love with the idea of falling in love

sure and that's you know that's a win too it is absolutely a win yeah and that again that's allowed me to like know that i can feel this way again because i didn't think i could i thought this is You know, I'm just going to, you know, get old shrivel up and, you know, and, you know, be watching, you know, Wheel of Fortune every night, you know. Sorry. Or like an interest or a spark and like a reinvigoration, which I think there's so many good outcomes. I think it can happen in the show whether it's a happily ever after or it's an inspiration or it's like a confidence. Yeah. Interesting.

I still remember. And so when we first won the show, we'd gotten like a little opening. packet and there was a letter from uh clare and bennett and you know i read through this thing and i read through it at the end too i was like oh my gosh you know this is this is so insightful and i remember they wrote um you will get out of this experience what you put into the experience and it was you know i read at the beginning didn't really have any impact on me at the time at the end i read it and i said i said oh my gosh i'm so glad because Because I did. I got out of it because I put everything I had into it by the end. I just

opened myself up and I just let my emotions just run. And so I just found that very insightful as I went back and re-read it a second time. And I even went up to him. I said, you guys, I said, this is beautifully written. And don't give us too much credit. It was a hallmark card. Well, thank you for joining us, man. It's really great to get to meet you and great to have you on the show. And I liked, you know, at the top of the show, a lot of people, well, no one would have seen this, obviously. But Gary, you and Gary hanging out. And Gary's like, is this where we go? You know, he's like looking out for you.

And, you know, I love the friendships that come from something like that, too. That's the biggest by-prop. Incredible. And friendships for life. And I know you guys probably had the same thing. And, you know, and you get closer to, closer to some individuals more than the others, just, you know, because there's a bond. And, like, Gary and I, it was quite interesting. We met waiting to go.

you know, waiting outside the limousines, waiting to meet Joan. And I met him there, and we bonded immediately. Yeah. And just, it's, you know, he's my brother from another mother. There you go. You know. Well, hey, man, it sounds like you won on so many levels. Thank you so much for joining us.

We'll see if you can win tomorrow on the course. Welcome to the week. I am so ready. I am so ready. Well, thank you, man. Thanks for joining us. We appreciate it. Thanks for being almost famous to OGs.

And good luck tomorrow with your new clubs. I'm looking forward to it We'll see what happens I guarantee you'll still beat me 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 okay story time 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. Let's start with a quick puzzle. The answer is Ken Jennings' appearance on The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs. The question is, what is the most entertaining listening experience? podcast land. Jeopardy Truthers, believe in...

I guess they would be conspiracy theorists. That's right. They gave you the answers and you still blew it. The Puzzler. Listen on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What would you do if one bad decision forced you to choose between a maximum security prison or the most brutal boot camp designed to be hell on earth? Unfortunately for Mark Lombardo, this was the choice he faced. He said, you are a number, a New York State number, and we own you.

Listen to shock incarceration on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Kurt Brown-Oller. And I am Scotty Landis, and we host Bananas, the podcast where we share the weirdest, funniest, real news stories from all around the world. And sometimes from our guest personal lives. too. Like when Whitney Cummings recently revealed her origin story on the show. There's no way I don't already have rabies. This is probably just why my personality is like this. I've been surviving rabies for the past 20 years. New episodes of bananas drop every

Tuesday in the exactly right network. Listen to bananas on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.