The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - Bachelor Breaking News: The Departure of Mike Fleiss

Episode Date: March 29, 2023

Jared and Ashley NEED to discuss the breaking news around the decision from Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss to move on from the franchise after more than 20 years.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.

Now, 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. 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. The Super Secret Bestie Club podcast season four is here.

And we're locked in. That means more juicy chisement. Terrible love advice. Evil spells to cast on your ex. No, 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. I just normally do straight stand-up,

but this is a bit different. What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? Answer, a new podcast called Wisecrack, where a comedian finds himself at the center of a chilling true crime story. Does anyone know what show they've come to see? It's a story.

It's about the scariest night of my life. This is Wisecrack. Available now. Listen to Wisecrack on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Ben and Ashley I, Almost Famous Podcast with IHeart Radio. Hey, almost famous nation. Ben is still away, but we got breaking news. So who's going to break down the breaking news with me?

The guy that sleeps in the same bed with her, which is why I'm here. Hi. So. I was the easy. They were like, who can we get? actually look to your left get that guy okay well here he is because i can't break news on myself everybody knows i'm very awkward if i have to like talk to myself no no no no no i can break the news down babe i'm saying that like you know i can't talk to myself so i need to have somebody here

to talk about things too but ben and you you could just get on a mic with nobody else listening and just sound normal yeah i mean we talk to ourselves constantly well i'll say that you do feel A lot more comfortable talking to yourself around the house than I. In the house, out of the house, anywhere. I talk to myself all the time. So if you just put a mic on me, I'll have a full on conversation. We're burying the lead here. So we're here because Bachelor Creator, Mike Fleiss is parting ways of the franchise

after more than two decades. That is right. Bachelor creator, Mike Fleiss, is parting ways. So let me read the variety article really quick. We don't get a ton of detail in it. and every article out there basically uses the exact same quotes and the information. There's not a lot of detail. Bachelor creator, Mike Fleiss, is parting ways with a mega dating franchise.

He launched more than two decades ago. Fleis will be replaced by new showrunners, Claire Freeland, Jason Ehrlich, and Bennett. You know what? Bennett's a great friend of mine, and I have no idea how to say his last name. Grabner? I think it's Grebner. Grubner? I don't know. Bennett, it's Bennett. And we're very happy for Bennett. But yeah, so they've all had long-term

ties to The Bachelor. Jared and I know firsthand that Bennett is the one that has been the most involved with the American version of The Bachelor for the longest non-interrupted time. He has been there since we began. So Mike Fleiss is walking away or parting ways with The Bachelor. What's crazy about this article, it says nearly 55 seasons of the collective shows have all been created by Fleiss. What Bachelor shows have not been created by Flies? I don't even know. They all, I believe that they all have.

So, obviously, the franchise is moving forward. Charity season is filming right now. Paradise has already been announced, and I would imagine that The Bachelor is going to be picked up once again. Flyce said, first and foremost, congratulations are in order for Zach and Katie. I wish them a long and happy life together. I want to thank WBTV and ABC for 21 extraordinary years. They found the perfect creative team for me to entrust the Bachelor franchise

and keep this lightning in a bottle bold. And moving forward, let the journey continue. That was what Flai said. He said it in a statement directly to Variety. The man is most known for his tweets. He's not most known for his tweets, but he is very well known for his tweets because he's always teasing that something very, very dramatic is going to happen.

then, like, nothing really super dramatic happens. Yeah. Or he says, like, good, big, huge news. So we will be missing those. Big T's. I mean, he might still do those. Who knows? He's not deleting his Twitter.

I was surprised that he didn't announce this in a tweet. I mean, I have no idea if he did or not. I imagine not if he's sending out a statement right now. But I think that the show's not going to, I mean, I guess we'll find out if we see any changes in the show. You know, they even say in this article, that he hasn't been really a part of the day and day. For over a decade. For over a decade.

So, you know, I don't think that much is going to change with the show. But Flyce, I mean, let's be honest, Flaise created, he created one of the most polarizing and popular reality TV shows that have ever hit airways. And, Mike, if you are listening to this, we are grateful that you created this show, because if you didn't, then Jared and I really probably wouldn't have met. We would have our family, our whole life now.

So we are very grateful for your craft. Well, we were never, we never interacted with Mike all that much. There would be kind of, I remember seeing him for the first time. I think it, he might have showed up at the mansion. I can't really remember. But he would always wear filthops and like this Tommy Bahama shirt. And I'm like, I thought that he was always in black with his tinted sunglasses. That's what I always think of.

And when you look at him up online, that's what he's always wearing. I remember, I remember flip flops. That's what I remember. I don't know why that stuck in my head. But I remember somebody saying, like, oh, that's, that's. Mike Flecks. He is the guy. It's like, oh, my God. Especially when you first cast it on the show and you're filming and, you know, it's so nerve-wracking. And so we never had too many interactions with Mike. But I remember that's what I'm meeting up to is that this past season of Paradise that that Ashley and I had the opportunity to go on. We were walking to an interview and we saw Mike with his family. And it's always nerve-wracking because he's not our boss, obviously. But also he's the guy that like is obviously giving like and saying, yeah, okay, you can have Ashley and Jared back, which we're always super grateful for so it's like oh my god like this is weird and then um me but we had such a pleasant car he came up you know we said hi and he knew who we were very grateful to have you guys it was

we were like really thank you so much yeah it was a really nice interaction he said that you know he thanked us for everything we've done for the franchise and it's like uh you don't need to thank us but that means the world to us so thank you because you know we don't know if he cares who we are but but let's talk about how his departure will impact the show because, you know, it says he didn't have a, like, day-to-day hands-on create, it wasn't a day-to-day producing that he was, although was he considered the showrunner? This is what we understand from just other producers and all the seasons that we were involved in. It was that he had the ultimate say in a lot of the big decisions,

most notably who would become the lead. And then he'd show up to things like tell-alls and he'd make a visit to the mansion a couple times a season. Yeah, he's not creating storylines or character arcs or anything like that. I would imagine. How do we think him leaving will affect the show?

I do think it's going to be, I think it's going to affect the lead choice. I think it's going to affect the lead choice. I'm just going to kind of leave it at that. Yeah, it could. But also, I'm imagining it's not flesi, I would imagine that flies over the years hasn't come in and be like, I want this person to be the bachelor and that's that. I'm sure that just like any business, a lot of the producers have brought him options and saying, okay, well, it's down to so, you know, this person, that person and this person and like we think that this person could be really good here, but we also think that that person can do really well here.

And then he probably makes the ultimate decision. So I don't know. That's what I think. I think the ultimate decision might be changed because I think if you were to look at like the possible batches from the, from the Clayton, the Zach eras. I think you look at the lead choices and you definitely think that Zach could be like in the bunch of contenders.

But you also think that Zach's not the one that gets chosen of the contenders. I think that he's the one that made those choices. Yeah. I mean, honestly, I guess time will tell. You know, watching the show and see if we as an audience notice anything different with it now that the creator stepped aside. My assumption would be, I don't know what my assumption is. I guess we'll find out.

Fleece leaving can mean lots of things. Yeah, but I think the most important thing, or not the most important thing, but like my lasting impression of Fleece leaving is that it really is a changing of the guard almost because even though he hasn't been involved, like Flaise created The Bachelor. That's crazy.

Imagine being, imagine meeting someone and be like, yeah, I created Survivor. Like, huh? What do you mean you created it? I thought of it and then I made it happen. Yeah. That's what Mike Fleiss can say for the rest of his life. Be like, yeah, you know the show The Bachelor?

Yeah. Yeah, I created that. Yeah. So what was he known as, do we think? Was it executive producer and now he's not executive producer? I have no idea. Showrunner. I mean, it says creator.

So whatever that means. Okay. But he'll forever be the creator. So you can't like step down as creator. Well, yeah, I guess it can't be former creator. So I don't know what exactly he's stepping. down as because like you said it's just it says creator it doesn't say that and his hands on and he hasn't been hands on so maybe he was an executive producer of some sort of that he was just

executive decision maker yeah 100%. And that's what will be changing. So whether that's lead choices or whether that is what other what other things could possibly be changed. I think everybody really talks about lead choices and cast. Well, of course, because those are the biggest decision to be made. Who's going to be the bachelor or the bachelorette? Like, you know, should we travel here or we should travel there? Those are all my new decisions. Like, the biggest decision is who's going to be the lead.

So, yeah, I mean, Flights leaving. We'll see if we notice any changes with the show. But then also, like Fly said, in this article said, it seems like the show's in really good hands. Now, I don't know two of the three producers, but the one producer that we do know personally is so good at his job. And I have no doubt that he's going to continue creating a great show for all of us to watch that I have no doubt about I agree well thank you Jared for

you know being so wonderful and articulate and I'm feeling feelings better than I could ever that's very wrong it's not wrong I don't know where you come from I think you're just trying to be nice and you said I'm not I just say things and most of the time it's just to say it's just to make noise that's what I do on these podcasts I just say things to make noise and then hopefully sometimes it makes sense. Love you guys. Bye. Follow the Ben and Ashley I, almost famous podcast on IHeartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.

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 on 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. And want to hear people with mental illness, psychobabble. Yes, yes.

Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. Open your free I-HeartRadio app. Search Emergency Intercom and listen now. The Super Secret Festi Club podcast season four is here. And we're locked in. That means more juicy chisement. Terrible love advice. Evil spells to cast on your ex.

No, 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 Bestie Club 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 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. This is an IHeart podcast.