The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - Almost Famous In Depth: Cam Ayala

Episode Date: July 20, 2022

Ben and Ashley connect with Cam Ayala from Hannah Brown's season for a raw and honest update on his life. Cam opens up about his leg amputation surgery and the daily challenges he endures.  We hear Cam's perspective after being seen as a "villain" and how fans didn't hear his true story after watching the show. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hi, my name is Enya Eumanzor. And I'm Drew Phillips. And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom. If you're a crime junkie and you love crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated ADHD... Oh my God, perfect. And want to hear people with mental illness, psychobabble.

Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. Open your... free IHeartRadio app, search emergency intercom, and listen now. Everyone thinks they'd never join a cult. But it happens all the time to people just like you. And people just like us.

I'm Lola Blanc and I'm Megan Elizabeth. We're the host of Trust Me, a podcast about cults, manipulation, and the psychology of belief. Each week we talk to fellow survivors, former believers, and experts to understand why people get pulled in and how they get out. Trust me, new episodes every Wednesday on Exactly Right. and wherever you get your podcasts.

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That means more juicy chisement. Terrible love advice. Evil spells to cast on your ex. No, no, no, we're not doing that this season. Oh. Well, this season, we're leveling up. Each episode will feature a special bestie, and you're not going to want to miss it. My name is Curley.

And I'm Maya. Get in here. Listen to the Super Secret Festi Club on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is Ben and Ashley I, almost famous in-depth. This is a very special episode. We've been doing these recently, and they've been a lot of fun for Ashley and I. They've kind of replaced the in-depth episodes that we used to do. Now we are digging into some contestants, some more current contestants, also some past contestants who have a story to share.

Today, we're going to welcome Cam Ayala onto the podcast to share about his recent amputation and his longstanding battle with the disease lymphidema. We're also going to talk a lot about how the show handled this, because here's the truth of it, Ashley. I don't know if you feel this way. I remember his time on the show. I remember him talking about having pain. I don't remember it sitting in very deeply with me or understanding exactly where the pain

was coming from. I don't think when he was on the show It was ever explained And I want to get to the bottom of that Because I don't This, when I saw that he got his leg amputated It was kind of a shock to me That it was this severe and this serious

To be quite frank The only thing I really remember From his time on the show on Hannah season Is him Is ABC Cam Yeah Remember? That was his tagline ABC Cam

And I don't remember what it stood for now All No Do you remember? I don't either. Oh. This is what happens, you know? Like, everybody thinks that everything is going to be like such a huge thing.

And people are going to remember storylines forever. And then three years removed, you're like, I remember one thing. But I do remember Cam as a person, as a character. He's definitely memorable. And now he has a story that he really wants to get out there because there's a lot to what you, a lot to him that you didn't see on the show. Let's bring your mom.

Here is Cam Ayala. Cam, hello. How are you feeling? Your surgery was just a matter of weeks ago. Mm-hmm. Yeah, about three weeks ago. And I'm doing pretty good. There's definitely some daily challenges

and things on this journey that I'm finding just by trial and error. I've only had a couple falls so far, but other than that, that, the community has been very supportive. So I'm blessed, for sure. Let's start back at the beginning. So for those who maybe need a reminder, you're on Hannah Brown's season of the Bachelorette. During that time, you spoke openly about your battle or your life living with lymphodema. You had mentioned it caused a lot of pain. At that point in time, when the Bachelorette

aired, how many surgeries had you had on your leg? yeah at that time i'd had 15 surgeries uh there in 2019 so yeah it's it's been going on since i was 11 years old so it's something that has been a part of my life and something i can't really not talk about especially when you have a romantic partner just because of the physical implications of having surgeries and stuff so i i felt that it was very necessary to be transparent with hannah sooner rather than later because i mean as you and ashley know oftentimes in that journey you can go on a group date or even a one-on-one that can get physical. Yeah.

And at that point, I hadn't been on any dates that were physical yet. So it was just kind of the elephant in the room for me that I wanted to be very transparent with Hannah and see, you know, if that's maybe a red flag for her, maybe she isn't ready yet to be with someone who has a chronic disease like I have because, you know, there's times if I've had sporadic infections, I'm getting, you know, emergency surgery. And then the girlfriends I've had in the past go from everything's all great. And the next thing, you know, they're being my caretaker as I'm learning how to walk again and kind of go through that whole recovery process.

So definitely wanted to be up front with her about that. So just for all of us and educate all of us, and we're going to get into your life now and your process through the Bachelorette and kind of using your platform now to share this. But can you explain lymphidema to our audience, to Ashley and I, where it can. came from, kind of give us the high-level overview medically of what this is and where it came from? Sure. And it's a pretty complex condition, so I'll make it super high level. So really, there's two types of lymphoma, primary and secondary, right?

I have primary because I was born with it. So that's just a genetic part of the disease. And then secondary lymphoma comes secondary to some sort of trauma. It can be surgical trauma, really common in breast cancer patients. So you may have heard of women, they've had breast cancer where they remove lymph nodes under their arm or they've had mastectomies, chemo radiation. When that lymphatic system is compromised through any of those forms of trauma, they can then develop secondary lymphedema. I was born with it, but I didn't start swelling until I was about 11 years old.

So really, for anyone, we all have the lymphatic system. It's parallel with our venous systems, our veins. So if your lymphatic system gets compromised in any way, then you can develop lymphedema, which is unfortunately a progressive disease and currently there's no cure for it. And the common symptoms you'll see in patients, they just develop really bad swollen limbs. So it can be really bad swollen arms for the breast cancer patients or patients who are lower extremity their legs can get up to 10 times larger than their unaffected limbs. So it's pretty painful too and you have to manage it daily.

So it's not just something you can just forget about and pray that it goes away. It's something that requires daily self-care. Do we see that also with extreme obesity? Absolutely. So I'm sure people who may have seen that show, my 600-pound life. Okay, I'm sorry, I was going to say it, but I didn't know if there was like enough tact to that comment. No, no, you're 100% accurate. And that's actually a lot of people who may not know what lymphomoeia is or they don't have a loved one that has it.

they see the show like that. Yeah. And I'd say over 90% of Dr. Nalzartan's patients on that show have secondary lymphedema due to their obesity. And coincidentally, I used to call on Dr. Nau because he's in Houston where I live. So when I was selling lymphedema pumps professionally last year, that was one of my accounts. So that was interesting, having the reality TV come full circle. He seems like such a character.

That man isn't phased by anything. Not a thing. And the way you see him on TV is exactly how he is in real life. so so then to your story you go on the show has uh obviously we just mentioned that three weeks ago uh you had your leg amputated was this always uh something that you believed would happen at some point or did something switch here recently where you said this is now the option we have to go after yeah great question so um when i was out there in 2019 uh with hannah at that point I had had 15 prior surgeries.

I had been told in 2016, so three years prior to me being on the Bachelorette, that amputation was probably a solid option for me. But when you hear that and you're like an athlete like I am and like you are then, and I'm sure Ashley, too, you want to do everything and you're, well, you were in winter game. Weren't you on winter games? Oh, I was very athletic there. Yeah. I guess it's relative, right?

It's okay. I appreciate that you calling me. athletic looking. Okay, you had a kid and you look amazing right now. So you're, you're an athletic type, right? Thank you. Um, so, uh, basically, I was doing everything in my power to avoid amputation. I was eating healthy. I was working out. I was wearing my compression garment doing all the things that the doctors told me to do. And it was actually the knee replacement that I had last year that really was like the straw that broke the camel's back. Unfortunately, the surgeon used the wrong size hardware, positioned it wrong. So ever since last year, as I was going through physical

therapy and working with a personal trainer, I was just in a living hell, so much pain every day. So I got a second opinion when we saw the x-rays like, oh boy, yeah, that was a botched knee replacement. So yeah, instead of going through the revision process, which would require three additional surgeries and with my history of chronic infection, amputation at that point was pretty much inevitable so at this point i was like okay i'm 33 i'm single um now's a good time to just kind of get it over with so i can make that transition into a new lifestyle so that when the time comes for me to start actively dating again and hopefully get married and have kids i'll be really comfortable and ultimately confident in my prosthetic leg and just in that new lifestyle so that's really what led to

it was just those chronic bouts of pain for the past year after having that knee replacement that was failed Imagine that you're on an airplane and all of a sudden you hear this. Attention passengers. The pilot is having an emergency and we need someone, anyone to land this plane. Think you could do it? It turns out that nearly 50% of men think that they could land the plane with the help of air traffic control. And they're saying like, okay, pull this, do this, pull that, turn this.

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Trust me. New episodes every Wednesday. on exactly right listen wherever you get your podcasts this is uh obviously um you are learning now uh about this new life uh in the front of you what have you learned so far uh you know you are single you are wanting to date you are an athlete i think i saw somewhere tell me if i'm wrong and i missed it but you are trying to get back on the basketball court you are trying to get back to doing the things you loved before the leg was amputated. What are you figuring out?

Like, where is your mind at? Yeah. Like I was saying, it is an adjustment every single day. Like so even now, just standing on one foot, this is my right leg. And now you can see my, I call it four stump. This is my residual limb here. So having to put all of my weight on my left leg, all throughout the day until I get my prosthetic leg, I didn't realize how sore and how tired

I would be. Things like brushing your teeth and refilling your water bottle. Like right now, I'm using these forearm crutches. So I have to get really creative and just literally think one step at a time to navigate. And then to answer your question about, you know, returning to the basketball court. So last Tuesday was my very first time in a wheelchair for wheelchair basketball. So I got out there and it just it felt like I was at home. And though it's very different than an able body person running up and down the court, instead you're wheeling and you're shooting. And a lot of the rules are very similar to regular basketball. So it's amazing to have an opportunity to pick up something that was one of my biggest passions. I even played

basketball in college. So doing it now from a wheelchair and being in that community is just something that's going to take a lot of work, a lot of learning. But, you know, Lord willing, and if I make the Paralympic U.S. men's team, the next games are in 2024 in Paris. So that's my dream goal. I feel like that's going to happen. I was just thinking that before you said it out loud. Yeah.

So hopefully I'm engaged or married by then so I can have a wife in the stands cheer me on. But if not, you know, whatever the case may be, I'm going to do my best every day to work towards that goal. Okay. So now that you have had that leg amputated, was that the only point? part of your body that was affected by lymphomedaima? Do you, or do you have to worry about showing up somewhere else? Yeah, that's a great question. So earlier I was talking about how

there's primary and secondary lymphedema. So when you have primary, and like me, when you're born with it, our lymphatic system is throughout our entire body. And it's one that is so understudied. So the medical community is still trying to wrap their brains around, you know, what is the rate of progression for patients? So a lot of questions, I don't know, and asked through DMs after I got the amputation. It's like, oh, they cut off your lymphedema leg. Your lymphidema's gone. Well, it's not like a cancerous tumor or other things where you just remove that part and it's gone and you're healthy and you're good. So we just don't know if the lymphidema is then going to progress to my left leg or up higher in my core. And you can even get

lymphideme in your head and neck. But me staying on top of it and having a great care team in place just to monitor it ever since I've had the surgery is really going to be the best thing we can do is just to keep a close eye on it and prevent anything from being complicated. But truth is we just don't really know, unfortunately. But I'm not going to let that fear of the unknown prevent me from living my new life and being athletic and doing things I love, like going to concerts and hiking and all that stuff. It's just now I just have to be a little bit cautious that if there's something that feels wrong, you know, our bodies are our best sensor. So being in tune with that and then being able to speak up to my medical team if

if something comes up in the future. You know, so how's the pain now? I mean, I'm just curious is the pain gone? I mean, you got your leg amputated. I have to imagine maybe you're still healing. Yeah. So, you know, just three weeks out of the surgery. So there's still some of that natural inflammation. But this is the thing that I did a lot of research before the amputation. And I read a lot and I talked to several other ampute patients about this whole thing called phantom pain and it is terrible so basically see my residual in here on my right leg so throughout the day I will just sporadically feel like my right ankle is on fire or like a stabbing sharp pain and so instantly like your brain tells you you know reach down and you know comfort that area

squeeze it or sometimes I get phantom sensation where it's not painful it's just a where like my ankle or my toes will itch, but I don't have those toes or ankle anymore. I mean, I've heard of this before, but just crazy. It's real. I'm telling you right now, it is absolutely real. And every amputee experiences it in some capacity. The hope is that over time, it will minimize and decrease. But honestly, that's been the thing that it's just been dreadful because they've given me some pretty strong pain meds and it doesn't really affect it at all.

I'll be sleeping and I'll wake up in the middle of night and I'll go to grab my right ankle because it's just throbbing in pain, but there's nothing there. But what's really fascinating is there's things like mirror therapy where I literally put a long mirror, one of those ones you hang on a door in between my legs. So I look down at the reflection of my left leg, but my brain is telling me that I still have a full right leg. So it's really, it's really bizarre. And that's honestly been the biggest surprise to me is how severe that pain is when I experience that throughout the day. So that's an adjustment too I have to account for in my day-to-day life moving forward. But again, the hope and prayer is that it does minimize and it should because the surgery

I did was pretty in depth. And basically they take those nerve endings once they amputate and they reconnect it to my hamstring. So it can help fire off those nerves. So I don't just have crazy phantom pain for the rest of my life. The body is so interesting. Isn't it? Medicine is a Amazing. Just the fact that, like, they reattached those nerves. It's, wow. I'll have one more medical question, actually, for you before we talk about how the Bachelor production handled your, what would you call it? Is it a disease? It is a disease, yeah. Okay. 100%. So do you plan on getting a prosthetic? Absolutely, yeah. And that's one thing I'm really excited about. I should be getting that by hopefully, if everything goes right in the next

couple weeks, hopefully by mid-August. Because basically right now, I just had my stitches out last Friday. So this whole residual limb, I'm wearing actually compression garment on it now to help control the swelling. So then once that's controlled, they then will do a mold of my residual limb. And then that is what ultimately is going to be used to create the socket to move the new leg. and it's robotic, which is really cool. Like next to my iPhone, I'll be plugging in my leg at night. So if I go on a road trip or go anywhere and I forget my leg charger, I'm kind of SOL, so I've got to be smart to bring that.

But yeah, it's a process to get the prosthetic. And so I'm absolutely getting one of those. And then eventually I'll get one of those running blades that I can start jogging again. I haven't been able to jog in like six years because of all my knee surgeries. 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. And want to hear people with mental illness, psycho babble. Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. Open your free Iheart radio app. Search Emergency Intercom and listen now. Imagine that you're on an airplane and all of a sudden you hear this.

Attention passengers. The pilot is having an emergency and we need someone, anyone to land this plane. Think you could do it? It turns out that nearly 50% of men think that they could land the plane with the help of air traffic control. And they're saying like, okay, pull this, until this. Do this, pull that, turn this. It's just... I can do it my eyes close.

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

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From what I understand, we did a little research. I looked up a little bit before we came on. For as little research as there's been into lymphodema, the advancements in prosthetics is incredible, like over the last 15 years. And these prosthetics are allowing people. to live and do what they did before, or maybe if they were born without limbs, to, you know, run and to play. I just watched right now there's a golf tournament going on for, I don't know if you play golf,

but it's a golf tournament going on for anybody with a physical disability or a mental disability. It's by the USDA. It's an incredible tournament, but there's many people out there with no legs or one leg. or partial legs. And they are incredible. I mean, I can't keep my balance with two legs I was born with. They are swinging out of their mind. They're hitting at 300 yards in the middle of the fairway. So I'm excited for you in that realm. Well, as Ashley mentioned, we do want to talk a little bachelor here with you. We'll end then with kind of your thoughts.

I know your faith is something very important to you. You've been on a few podcasts here recently as you've shared your story about your faith. We didn't see a ton of that being mentioned on the show, but that's just kind of how the show works. Right. How do you feel like the community around you, including the bachelor community, has responded in support of your recent procedure?

Yeah, so just high level. I think the community in general, just the general public, the outpour has been amazing. It started with a week before I had the amputation surgery I did an interview with People magazine with Kathy Bates because she's the national spokesperson of the Lymphonyman nonprofit that I work for. V. Kathy Bates? V. Kathy Bates. Yeah, she's a good friend of mine.

Holy crap, that's awesome. Yeah, she's an amazing lady. And really after that article, and I did an Instagram post the day after my amputation, like showing my residual limb for the first time. And from there, all the other big media outlets started to run with that story. And that was honestly like the first time in three years that I'd gotten like positive press. Because when you're the villain, if you will, on your respective season of really any reality TV show, not even just the media, but just the direct messages and the cyber bullying that

went on and the imposter syndrome and me believing that I was a villain and all these things that complete strangers were saying about me. So getting that clarity and that closure of really having my story told accurately has meant the world to me. Even Hannah Brown, who I hadn't talked to since the day, she eliminated me over three years ago. She sent me a pretty long direct message, apologizing for not handling our conversation better. But you know how it goes in that environment, especially elite. I can't imagine, Ben, the amount of, I don't want to say producer manipulation, but you're getting a lot. of people barking in your ears and you have all these different relationships you're navigating so

unfortunately me opening up about my lymphidema to hannah and then 10 minutes later mike johnson telling her that i'm making up this medical sob story to get a pity rose and then being sent home that night and then the public just labeling me as you know this this creepy guy who told this you know medical story that didn't even make sense to people because they edited out me saying lymphedema, right? So the general public didn't even know that I had this disease because production shows to edit that out. They never said the word lymphedema in the show. They edited out every single time. And I even had a t-shirt made for the Bachelor in Paradise Reunion. I told the producers and said, look, I am wearing a shirt that says I have lymphoma,

Google it. So you guys can't censor me anymore. This is a disease. I don't know why I'm getting this kind of treatment. I show up to the Bachelor in Paradise Reunion. I wear the shirt. And when we see it live the next night. They literally had it blurred out like it's some sort of curse word. Why do you think that is? I mean, that feels... I mean, look, it's reality television. It's for entertainment. And I feel like all the contestants are personified to something, right? And so they had me labeled as some sort of villain. And so they didn't want to give me the platform to bring awareness to the disease that I have that affects over 10 million Americans. So I just feel like it was a missed opportunity for the network to have representation. You know, we talk a lot about

diversity and inclusion. I don't think that just should be limited to your ethnicity or your sexual orientation, right? I feel like people with disabilities like I have should have just as much representation in there or at least an opportunity to spread awareness. And that was robbed from me every single time I was on the Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise, and any of the reunion shows. So part of it been, may have been that production didn't understand how severe of a disease that it is. And I feel like now, after I have the amputation, you know, the proof is in the pudding, they see like, wow, he really wasn't joking around or saying the sob story, so Hannah would feel sorry for him. So that's kind of how I might take on. And I don't want to be

angry and bitter towards the franchise i mean i've i've had those thoughts but that doesn't really get you far and obviously if i didn't even have the experience we wouldn't be talking here on this very popular podcast so i'm blessed just to even be able to come back and have these kind of discussions did they talk about it in casting did anybody ever see your leg i mean as you guys both know we go pretty in depth with the physical and the medical history so i was very clear I had to even get a doctor's note signed off that, hey, he can do this journey. So they were all aware of it. I just don't think they understood the severity of it and how much of an impact it's played in my life.

I mean, the night before I told Hannah at that party, I was like in tears with three different producers saying, I don't want to talk about this. This is something that's very sensitive to me. But like, no, that's your thing. Because every contestant has a thing, right? Some sort of backstory that makes them, you know, uniquely them. and that was mine and so when i go and i do that it was then used against me and then they don't even air the disease and then i'm labeled as this guy who's desperate looking for a pity rose

cam this might be one of the i mean there's been a lot of uh unfortunate events that have happened on this show and unfortunate things and i've always been a protector of the edit because typically at least in my experience, the edit isn't always that far off of the behavior of the person. And I've always said that, and some people get really angry at me for saying that. But that's just my experience. I feel like you're right in that. But this is one of the times that I'm sitting here now. I don't have a lot of words to add to this because this is really unfortunate.

And especially, I remember your time on the show, and you were. I mean, I remember when you came out and said that you had suffered with severe pain, And it didn't, it felt like, you know, you're getting a pity rose because of how it was being seen. Now to know, you know, how many years forward and you've had your leg amputated, you've still struggled with this disease. And now you're sitting here having to almost explain yourself and catch people up on what was existing six years ago is really unfortunate. And I can't imagine the toll. I was angry at some of the very small things. that didn't affect my life at all that I got edited as.

I can't imagine what you've been holding on to for six years as you've been trying to explain this. I mean, you think of the thing that you're most self-conscious about. Sorry, I'm getting emotional thinking about it. You think of the thing that you're most self-conscious about. And a thing that has sidelined you from playing the sports you love, sidelined you from getting deeper into relationships, hopefully leading to marriage.

thing that has impacted your career and all of a sudden you're in this environment and you are opening up to basically a stranger because Hannah was essentially a stranger to me at that time and then just to have it the whole narrative completely turned around and used against you is something that gave me really bad PTSD that I had to go to a lot of therapy to and Ben to answer your question you kind of alluded to earlier I wasn't strong in my faith in 2019. So that's why that wasn't part of my backstory. It was after the show going through severe depression, going through having to not participate in social media, and then obviously COVID hits. So that threw a whole other layer into complexity for everything. So it was really when I

hit rock bottom that I reignited my relationship with God. And, you know, it was the church that I go you in Houston that you did the podcast with, the maybe God podcast with Eric. He really helped me in those moments of darkness. And so now finding a way to turn tragedy into triumph and having that whole faith over fear mentality, that has been my coping mechanism to let go of the past. And all I can do is control how I approach my recovery and try to be a beacon of hope and inspiration to other patients who have lymphedema or our amputees and to show that when you fight through it and you have God on your side or whatever you believe in that you can still go on to live an amazing and fulfilling life and that's that's my North Star I'm ready to just you know

move forward you're creating a you're creating a story that I believe many people you know we say it here often because life gets complex and there's a lot of things that happen but if one person can feel less alone from the story that you're sharing and this whole thing's got to be worth it i mean this whole life that we're living has got to be worth it i believe there's going to be many as you mentioned 10 million people within the united states suffer with lymphadema i don't know the number for amputees um we're excited now to watch your journey moving forward we want to see we are we're here to see and celebrate you got to come back on if you do make the 2024 olympic team uh but we'll be uh we'll be tracking that journey along the way.

I want to ask you one more question. It seems like love is definitely a high priority for you. And so is sharing this lymphedema journey. Would you ever go back on Bachelor in Paradise and trust the show again? It would take a lot because I was promised redemption in Paradise to first go around. Well, they can't hide your story now. You've told your story. Well, yeah, and I can't hide.

I could hide the lymphedema by just doing all the stuff that I knew to keep the swelling now, but I can't hide an amputation, especially out in paradise. I'm not going to wear jeans on the beach every day. But I honestly, I doubt the production team would even reach out to me for that to be an opportunity. But if they did, oof, that would be something I'd have to really pray about. But honestly, I feel that I know that God has a plan for all of this and all the pain that I've gone through is not for nothing. There's definitely something for that. And one of my other big milestones, and I talked about this with Tia and Natasha on clickbait a couple weeks ago.

My milestone is in mid-September. I'm going to Red Rocks for the first time to see a concert. And I'm seeing Lauren Dagle. That's my like celebrity crush. and she's a woman of faith too so you guys happen to know her you want to put in a word for me that would be awesome I can see red rocks from my house right now

sitting here looking out the window yeah so I can see red rocks I'll drive by send the message to Lauren see if magic can happen in the air at Red Rock that night's a beautiful place yes it is I've never been so I'm excited for sure you're gonna have a great time and when you're there I'm nearby

so make sure you say hello So, Cam, leave your options open. It's my only thing I'll say. If the show wants to have you back, you can tell a pretty powerful story and on the show. But if not, we just look forward to you telling your story through whatever avenue you see fit.

If you're interested in more, we got a lot today from Cam, but if you're interesting in kind of hearing some of the other podcast he's done, he's posted about him on his social media, the maybe God podcast, was a great podcast that dove a lot more into the faith side of this whole experience

so you can check that out. But until next time, Cam, thanks for coming on the Almost Famous podcast and sharing your story. Wish you the best. And we know the future is very, very bright for you.

Thank you so much. Thanks, Ashley. I really appreciate it, guys. Thank you. Appreciate you. Follow the Ben and Ashley I, Almost Famous Podcasts on IHartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.

Hi, my name. is Enya Humanzor. And I'm Drew Phillips. And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom. If you're a crime junkie and you love crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated ADHD... Oh my God, perfect. And want to hear people with mental illness, psychobabble. Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. Open your free Iheart radio app. Search Emergency Intercom and listen now. Bestie Club podcast season four is here. And we're locked in.

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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. They give you the answers and you still blew it. The Puzzler. Listen on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get.

Your podcasts. Hi, I'm Jennifer Lopez, and in the new season of The Over Comfort Podcast, I'm even more honest, more vulnerable, and more real than ever. Am I ready to enter this new part of my life? Like, am I ready to be in a relationship? Am I ready to have kids and to really just devote myself and my time? Join me for conversations about healing and growth, all from one of my favorite spaces, The Kitchen.

Listen to the new season of the Overcombered podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your. podcast. Everyone thinks they'd never join a cult. But it happens all the time to people just like you. And people just like us. I'm Lola Blanc and I'm Megan Elizabeth. We're the host of Trust Me, a podcast about cults, manipulation, and the psychology of belief. Each week we talk to fellow survivors, former believers, and experts to understand why people get pulled in and how they get out. Trust me, new episodes every Wednesday on exactly right. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

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