The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - Busting Balls and Defusing Bombs with Peg Munson

Episode Date: January 23, 2026

Peg Munson got a "promise ring” from Golden Bachelor Mel Owens, but now she’s ready to share what REALLY went down!We hear how she and Mel were aligned in their romantic views, where things stand with Cindy, and her true thoughts on the promise ring??She takes us into the Fantasy Suite night, and she shares some unbelievable stories from her career as a bomb technician!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. This is the Ben and Ashley I, I almost famous podcast with IHart Radio. It's the almost famous podcast, and today we're getting to chat with a woman. We fell in love with. She can dance.

She can ride a unicycle, and she worked on the bomb squad for crying out loud. Let's go. She's Beyond Cool. Today we're chatting with Golden Bachelors, Peg Munson. All right, Peg is on the line, guys. And I want to ask our bomb diffuser, like, do you do Mission Impossible like things? Oh, my God, which one, you guys? I know. The most dramatic, the most Vegas. Oh, the most Vegas is we had a love triangle go bad in Vegas in the 90s. Yeah, it was a love triangle, I'm telling you. So it was a, some guy was dating the chick, but the chick. had the boyfriend, but the husband was involved. So one of, I think it was the boyfriend was suspicious

and they, the boyfriend caught them, found out she was married. He worked at the Luxor Hotel. You guys could Google this. It's all over, you know, it's on the internet. But long story short, the guy got pissed off, hired a bomb maker out of South America. So the guy made a bomb. So when the guy came out of the Lexor hotel to finish his shift, he saw, a 7-Eleven coffee cup on his car, right? Just a normal 7-Eleven coffee cup. So the guy picked it up, and as he picked it up, it's a pressure plate, picked it up, boom, it went off and killed him. There was a pipe bomb inside of the coffee cup. So, yeah, so that was my, it was, yeah, that was a very interesting. Let's put it that way. That was a very interesting call. So it was

a love triangle gone bad, you guys. Lesson for all of our listeners and myself included. If you find some foreign object sitting randomly in a place, I guess don't touch it. No, don't touch it. Don't touch it. There you go. Exactly. We've had, we've had baby diapers, bags, you know, bags like, you know, baby bag diapers that used to carry when you were, you know, you had a kid. Diper bags. No, thank you. Diper, because it's been a long time. Can you tell? A diaper bag explode. You know, we've had briefcases explode, backpacks explode. You know, coffee cups explode. Yeah, they'll figure out to put a bomb anywhere. So, yeah, yeah, don't touch it. I'm going to be on edge. I'm going to be on edge from here now.

You're going to me too. I would never think not to move a cup from my hood of my car. Yeah, don't piss me off, you guys. Yeah, you've got creativeness. Hey, you DM'd saying that you wanted to come on and speak and share the truth. Why was it so important for you to share the truth? with us. Well, you know what? There's been a lot of things going on. Cindy said this, this one said that, that one said yes, this. And it's kind of like, remember that game that you guys, we played when we were kids? Everybody sat in a circle and you started out with the person saying, I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Telephone. Thank you. Telephone. And the time you got back around, it was like you're riding a pink elephant, you know? Yeah. Seriously. Right? So, you know, look, I love all the

girls. I love Cindy. But, you know, there's some things that that had happened. And I just gotten to, look, I'm a really, really, you know, I love deep and I love hard. I really do. And I'm a protector. Look what I did for a living. I protect people. If I love you, I will literally give my life for you. I really will. That's just my nature. And I will take so much. But then there's a point to where I'm like, okay, that's enough. That's enough. That's enough. And there just was some things that were said that were just, they were not true. They just, and you guys are going to have Mel on on Monday.

And so you guys can, you know, talk to him about those things because I don't want to speak for him. I don't want to speak for Cindy. But I know, you know, there's things that happened

that she said that just are not true. And it just, you know, I don't know, you guys, I'm at the point to where it's like, you know, live and let live.

Whatever. I'm at that point where, honestly, it really doesn't matter. I mean, her experience on the show is her experience. Mell's experience on the show is Mel's experience. So my experience on the show

is my experience. There are some things I can't talk about because of the contract and you guys understand because you come from this world that I just, you know, I cannot say. So I'm just going to leave it at that. You know, I did text her at Thanksgiving and I asked her just to please, you know, stop talking because you guys, it started to hurt my heart. I'm going to be honest. It hurt my heart. It's like, why is she saying this stuff? And what really bothers me the most, you guys, is that, and you guys come from the bachelor world i got to spend 24 hours with mel she got 15 hours with mel how the hell do you know somebody's character at 15 hours or 20 hours you just don't so to speak about somebody's character or my character you don't know us you know you don't know me and you really don't know

me you know you really don't and that's the truth and that's why i asked you that whole text at thanksgiving it was like hey i hope you're having a beautiful time with you and your family can you please just talk about your own experience. It got to me. It got like, you don't know him and you don't know me. So please don't talk about our characters when you really don't know us. You know that 15 hours that you got to spend with somebody. That's it. That's all you know. And come on, you know, it takes a long time to get to know somebody. So that's what that was. And in a nutshell, you guys. Was it our podcast that she said something specifically that set you off? Well, what happened was she just, she kind of went on all these podcasts.

There's like several of them. And I just, you know what? Honestly, in my heart, I'm going to be really honest with you guys. I just wish you would have had a little bit more gratitude and humility and grace. You know, look, we all went on this show. You know, we all knew what we signed up for, right? We all did. There's going to be one person at the end.

And I always said in all my interviews, her idea of love was just different than my idea of love and different from Mel's idea of love. She truly wants to get married. And God bless her, she has every right to be married. But as 62 years old and it's 67 years old, we know better. We're like, that's not reality. I don't want to be another Bachelor Nation statistic. I really don't, you know.

It's like, oh, I love you, get down on one knee. And then, you know, a week or months later, it doesn't work out. I honestly came to this platform to really to find a guy that, honestly, I'm going to be honest with you, that I could date. I didn't want to get married because I don't know. How am I going to marry you when I don't even know you? I mean, to me, to me, that's insanity. I don't want you proposing to me when I don't even know who you are. You know, I've got to like you. I've got to know you before we take that next step. And that takes time. The interesting thing, I'd love for you to elaborate a little bit on your what you said there is her idea of love was different than your idea of love. What did you mean by that?

Well, when Mel and I had that opportunity to go into the fantasy suite with no cameras and no mics, you know, that was a really good opportunity to really find out if this is a person that I could even date. And that's where I'm at. Come on, I'm 62 years old, you guys. I've been engaged. I've been married. You know, we have life experience. And I don't live in fantasy land. I just don't. I live in the reality in a real world. And so getting to the fantasy, sweet and being able to really let down your guard and really talk about what you want. Who are you? What are your goals? What are your ideas? You know, what are you thinking? Because I don't want to do it for TV. I wasn't there to do it for TV.

I was there to do it for me, you know? And I told Mel, you guys, at hometowns, I said to him, because he said to me at hometowns, he goes, look, the cameras were off. He said, look, you know, at the end, I really hope it's you. And I looked at him, and I said to him, and I said to him, then get us to the fantasy suites. Because if you really feel that way, then get us to the fantasy suites so I can get to know who you are. Because not only, you know, he's there to find a girl, you know, a gal, I'm there to find a guy.

But are you the right guy for me? And am I the right girl for you? And that opportunity, you guys, that we had at the fantasy suite, that was, that's what did it for us. That's what kind of put us over the edge to really have that time without TV land around and really get to know this person. You mentioned about her having 15 hours and like you not knowing her and her not knowing you. I could understand you saying that you don't know the lead in that amount of time on the main show. But I feel like you do get to know the girls that you're living with, especially if you're the two that get to the end. So you still feel like you didn't really get to, you didn't really know her?

Oh, come on, you guys. No, that was, we got what, 10 days in the house with each other. and you know how production is a lot shorter than ours, yeah. Yeah, that's right, exactly, and it was. I mean, we got 10 days in the house together maybe. And when we, when that whole, it was about, okay, let's say, I'll give it 14 days. But we're doing things.

Everybody's going on dates. You guys, you know how it works with production. It's like this. They've got it down to a science. And you're go, go, go, go, go. And so do you really get to know somebody in two weeks? You tell me, you guys, do you really get to know somebody? In two weeks.

Then when we went to hometowns, I didn't see any of the girls. They keep us sequestered away from each other, that whole entire week. And then when we went to Antigua, they keep us sequestered as well. So I didn't see Mel. I didn't see, you know, Cindy. You only get to see that person, that production wants you to see and to talk to. They're running a show, you know, and that's the purpose of the show. You know, that's the, you know, it's a dating show.

And they have their way of doing things. So no, she doesn't know who I am. to this day she doesn't know who I am. Yeah, and I don't really know Cindy. I would have to imagine walking through this, and goodness it's been years, I'd have to imagine, though, that once you got to the fantasy suites, and the two of you sat down and had the conversation of, I don't want to get married, and you're saying, I don't want to get married,

I want to date you, that would be a difficult conversation for, I'd say, 99% of the seasons that have existed, because most of the seasons, you go into it and the fans go into it, believing that the lead is ready, excited, and wanting to get married. I mean, that's what makes the Bachelor, Bachelor app, Golden Bachelor, different than all the other reality shows out there, right? There is this idea that, hey, we are finding our forever partner potentially on the show. And it's worked for some and not worked for many, but it's the idea of the show. So to have that conversation would be a bigger deal at the time than maybe it seems today, can you give us a little bit of insight into how that conversation went,

how you knew it was even a conversation Mel would be willing to have and for him to know that you'd be willing to have it? Well, it's interesting, you guys. Okay, here's the thing. 11% statistically, if you guys have done your research, only 11% of couples worked out in 20 years. That's only 11%. That's it. Okay.

So why are we in our 60s, you guys, that we've been married, we've been divorced, right? We've had families. We have jobs. We've had careers. We've sent our kids to college. We've done all the things that are supposed to be done. We've checked all the boxes. So when you guys, come back to me when you guys are 60 years old, and I'll tell you

honestly, this conversation will be a lot different. Because what you learn over life, there is no forever. You know, I talked to my girlfriend on the phone last night, and she was married for 35 years, my best friend from high school who signed me up for the show. She lost her husband. He was a firefighter to cancer. And she said, you know, Peg, I realized one thing, there is no forever. There's just not.

You can be married. You can have families and you can love and you can have this wonderful life. But you know what? Somebody's going to die. Either you're going to outlive your spouse or the other spouse is going to outlive you or you divorce. So this fantasy, you guys, that we grew up with Disneyland and the princess and the, and the in white shining armor is going to come save us, it's not real.

The reality of life is you've got to date and you've got to know somebody. And I honestly really do believe in my heart. If people would have taken, take more time to get to know people, the divorce rate would be a lot less. Because people jump in and they jump in with this fantasy and all the hormones are raging and all that, you know, the infatuation. And it's just not real. And like I said in the show, you guys, what I've learned in my 60s is I'm really looking for that fireplace. I'm not looking for the fireworks.

I've had the fireworks, you guys. I've had engaged, you know, two times, married for 20-something years. And I realize that slow burn is what makes a mature, sustainable relationship. And that's what I'm looking for. And that's the conversation that Mel and I had together in the fantasy suite. How many women in your season do you think had similar mentality? Or did you think that most of them were romanticizing the experience? A lot. A lot. If you, a lot of them, they shared that with me. They're like, I don't know, I don't know if I'm going to get and married. I don't know. Yeah. Because it's like we have our own lives. We've all, you know, we're single women. And there was a lot of professional women there as well, you know. And we're used to having our own space, our own life. We make our own money. We have our own gig. So there was several of them. Yes, definitely.

And it would make sense, it does make sense to me that in the golden franchise, less would be ready or excited. There's multiple factors. One, yes, you've been through it. I would also say that I think a factor of people being ready for marriage would be that they're in their 60s. And they're like, hey, I want to try this again. I want to do this again. I want to jump into it again because I want somebody to be a partner with as, you know, this really fun new chapter. opens up for me. And so I could see where people are like, no, I do want to get married. That is

something important to me. But I do think the expedited timeline of the show, I do think the factor of most people coming into this with past relationships behind them, lessons learns. I could see where less would be excited about it. But, and maybe this is just because it's season two, I think so many people are still watching the golden because they want to see these love stories play out. They want to see it happen on their televisions. That's why, you know, maybe a lead says yes to it or why a contestant comes on the show because they're ready. And so I think the question out of that would be why would Mel be the lead of this show and why would you go on to this show if that wasn't your intention? Here's the thing, you guys. I have about 10 girlfriends,

right? Being born and raised in Las Vegas, I have a lot of girlfriends. A lot of girlfriends. A lot of girlfriend groups. And the truth about the matter is they've lost their husbands, all 10 of them, right, to death. Or, well, some of them have gotten a divorce. But the majority of us were like, we really don't know if we want to be married again. We really don't know. There's no reason to be married again. I don't need your money. I don't need your house. I don't need your car. I don't need kids. We're past all of that. Why do we have to succumb to the pressure of society and to be married to have a love story. To me, that's crazy.

Look what we've been doing, you guys. Have you been watching us? We've been to Toronto. We've been to Detroit. We have been to Rio de Janeiro for three weeks. We're going to the Super Bowl. We've been here in Vegas. We've been to the sphere.

We've been to concerts. Why do you have to put it in a box to make it okay? Why can't a love story be free? Why can't you choose every single day to be with that? person like, you know, Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. They've been together for how many 40 years, and they're not married. So, you know, this constraint of that you've got to do it this way, or it's not real, it's crazy. Well, I'm not saying it's not real. Goodness, that's not at all what I'm saying. I'm not saying it's not real. And I'm not saying you're succumbing to society.

I'm saying my point was the concept of the show is that you are walking. into the mansion to, you know, get on one knee and to propose to somebody. So out of that would be, Peg, do you recommend that the Golden franchise specifically has a different idea of love or that the ending maybe is expected to be differently than the other seasons where people are more intentional and I want to find my forever person. And I think this is a great place to do it. That's a good point. That's a really, really, really good point. It really is. Because I think when you're younger, you guys, we all have that, oh my God, I want the wedding. Oh, my God, I want the family. Oh, my God, I want to find my, you know, my guy. And you live a little bit more into your romanticize it. You know what I'm saying. And that's just normal. That's natural. You know, when you're younger, we have all these, you know, these hopes and these dreams and especially for women. I think we have them more so than men. So I think what happens with the gold is what you're finding you guys is we're a little bit, we're, my much more realistic because we've been through life. Look what happened to Gary and Teresa. How well did

that work out? They were engaged and got married and divorced three months later. So we only have three, you know, we only have what we're on our second seasons of the Golden's. So and Joan and Chalk are not married yet, you know, and I heard her talk about it, you know, and at this moment in their relationship after one year, they're not ready to be married either as well. So I think that's a really good point, you know, and I think for the Goldens, we have, we get to write our own story. We earned it. We earned it. We have been

through some shit in life. You know what I'm saying? So why not be able to have what we want to have and not, you know, Carol's been making fun of the Promise Ring and she's been doing all these little videos and mocking it and everything and that's fine and that's wonderful. But you know what,

you guys, it's not about, and as you guys know, it's not about a piece of paper. It's not even really about a wedding. It's about you showing up every single day and being the best person that you can be for your family, for your mate, you know, and, you know, take it, look at it from that viewpoint. And, you know, one day if you decide to get married, great. And if you don't, that's okay too. You know, and I think the Goldens have a right to do that. We get a right how we want to have our love story. I really do. And that's a really good point. And that's something that I think going

forward with the next season, I think you're going to see a lot of different things, a lot of creative things, you know, that come up that people are going to do get engaged, don't get engaged, get a promise ring, get a commitment ring. You know, but our relationship is going strong and it's fun and it's exactly what I wanted and it's exactly what he wanted at this point in our life, in our 60s. You guys make a lot of sense, especially as we hear you talk today together. You make a lot of sense together. You're very logical. You're very grounded. And I was just thinking about how

Cindy was just wholly, you guys couldn't have been more opposites except for your eye color because holy moly, like the two of you with the eye color is absolutely unreal. Sparkling diamonds in there. Yeah. So with Cindy and the fact that I think that Mel very much knew that he wanted to choose you in the end, but he still got quite annoyed that Cindy quit, as he likes to point out that she quit. And he did not like the fact that she stopped the process short.

Why do you think that bothered him so much if he even said to you, I want it to be you in the end? You have to know, you have to understand people. The biggest thing in life that I can give people is to understand people. We all come from different walks of life. And as you get older, you realize this. It's like nobody's the same. all have our stuff. We all have our skeletons. We all have our traumas. We all have our love, right? And we're

all doing the best that we can on this planet for the very short time that we're here. So the reason why is because Mel is a professional athlete. And what you guys saw on TV, and if you've been watching us or following us, he's totally two different people. What you saw on on TV and who he really is in real life, they're totally two different people, you know? And he, because he's a professional athlete and in his mindset you've got to finish the game he tell i listened to him on the phone talking to his boys all the time i don't care if you're winning or you're losing you got to finish the game so that's his professional athlete mindset you know he's been playing football professionally for you know what a long time through college through the NFL and that's his mindset you got to finish the game so he did

got he did get but heard about that because she didn't finish the game and that was his own personal stuff and you know and she had the right to leave carroll left she had the right to leave and i i commend both of those women you know if it's not what you want and i talked to carroll i did i remember we were in the kitchen that morning that she left and cindy kept saying to carroll will give him grace and i said to carroll i said no carroll if this is not the guy for you then you know you know peace out. Because here's one thing I've learned in life, you guys. I don't want to waste my precious life anymore. God has given me this life, one life, one breath, and I really, my time is my most important commodity. It really is. So who I spend that with is very important to me. So if it's not

right, cut it and run. You bring up something here that I think is interesting for viewers. You just said that Mel was different on TV than he is in real life. You fell in love with with Mel on when he was still on TV and now you know him in real life. Can you explain how that's evolved for you if it is so different? Well, here's the thing, you guys, because I was very honest, you know, and I, you asked the girls in the house, Terry and the ones that I'm very close to. I was there and if you guys watched it, I was, you know, I was like, look, I just need to know if this guy is datable.

Forget about marriage. Forget about being engaged. he datable? And is he datable for me? Right? So the times that we had on the show, I got the one-on-one date and we spent like 12 hours together. I mean, it was one of the longest one-on-one dates that our season had. And there was a lot of off-camera time, a lot, because I was there from, you know, 1 o'clock in the afternoon to about midnight. So, and it's very important to have that time of your overnight time in the fantasy suite without anybody there. Because now, guess what? Now you can be yourself, 100% yourself. And now does that true authentic self going to

match up with his true authentic self? And that's where that time is so important. And that's why they give it to you. You guys, if that time wasn't important, the show would not have given, you know, all these bachelor and bachelorettes for 20 years that time in the fantasy suite. So there is something to it. You know, there's something to it to finally to really get to know who that person is. And I got to see him. He got to see me. And no, we did not have sex, just to clarify. And we talked.

We talked all night long. We got to know each other, you know? And that's when I knew for me. I don't know, I can't speak for Mel, but that's when I knew for me, okay, this is a go. This is a green flag. I can do this. But up to that point, I wasn't sure. I was not sure.

And I told him at the fair. And you guys are probably going to bleep the side out. But I looked at him at the O.C. fair and I said, look, if you're that egotistical asshole kind of a guy, I go, I've dated that before. I am not going to date that again, you know? Remind us what happened at the

fair? I got your attention. She's like, oh, what happened? She came alive. She woke up for that one. We were off camera because we're eating lunch, right? And I said, okay, come over here. Because this is how I talk to Mel. I'm not

afraid about it. I'm not. I'm not intimidated or or any of that stuff with what I've done in my life. Hell, I've done dignitary protection with the president of the United States. So I just said, look, I need to talk to you. Come here. And I said, look, you need to, I said, it's good that you made your apology. I, you know, that's great. But now I need to understand, help me to understand, is this who you really are? Is this, you know, this person that you were talking, you know, on that podcast? Because I don't want to date that. If you're, you know, arrogant, egotistical, narcissistic, I don't want to date that. And I said that. right to him with a lot of F-bombs, you know, and we address, when we address that issue,

we really did, you know, and he gave me an answer to clarify that, that I was okay with, to move forward in that journey. I do think that interview set everything back, because I think people are going into it, wanting to be surprised, wanting to be thrown off and say, yeah, that interview doesn't make sense with how the story plays out, right? in the end where, no, this guy does want to find love and he does want to find his partner. And he does want to find this forever person. And I think the show ended and where he said, hey, we got a promise ring.

And the two of you, yes, as Ashley said, you make great sense together. And it seems like you're very happy together. And people are happy about that. But I do think still it lacks the story that was expected when you give up two hours of your week every week to watch somebody possibly fall in love. But we did fall in love. Just because we didn't do it the traditional way, that's so sad that you said that.

Because now it's like the reality is we did fall in love. And you guys got to see that story unfold. And if you're watching it, you're even seeing more of a love story unfold. And that's what's exciting. This is not something that's going to die in a month or get divorce and get married in three months. You know, this is a love story.

That's real. That's honest. authentic, that's mature, right? And that's going to grow. And it is growing. And we're having so much fun, you know, and enjoying each other's life. It is. And I think Mel explained it in an interview recently. And I think it starts to make the picture make more sense where originally, when we were watching the season back, I think it was very clear that you weren't wanting to get married. And I think it was pretty clear that Mel was not looking for a marriage at the end of this. And so that was an alignment that we saw as the season continued. And I think when you're

watch it, it almost told the story, if it did not tell the story that, hey, these two are just going to end up together at the end because they both want the same thing. Not necessarily because they're madly in love. And that's why I said what I said. It's because they both want the same thing. They're willing to date at the end of this and to figure out if love comes from it, right? But Mel comes on an interview and says, no, he knew it was you. very early on. He knew it was you very early on in the process. And so when for you personally did that love start to develop where you started to say, hey, this is also a guy for me. I mean, you just said it was the fantasy suites. Mel saying it's week one and it was always you. That's a

pretty big length of time that the two of you weren't aligning on this intention. That's scary, my best friend out of the house. I went in there. I didn't like him. I was like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I kept like, I don't know. I don't know. I need to get to know who he is. And I almost did not go on the show because of that podcast. Because I didn't like it, you guys. I was with America. I'm like, that's shitty, man. To say something like that was pretty damn shitty. I'm taking my time and my life and my energy to come meet you. And this is what you say. I'm like, no, no, no, that's not going to work. You know, so after I had talked to him at the O.C. Fair, because we got to spend a lot of time, I had that conversation with him. You know, it lasted a good, you know, it was a long conversation. And by the

end of the night, I knew that I wanted to continue with this journey. There was that spark. There was that, oh, I started to let my guard down, started to open my heart. And my daughter said to me, Mom, you got to go. I have an open heart and an open mind. Don't judge somebody just because of what they said. I mean, a lot of us, we open mouth and insert foot. And if you tell me you've never done that, then you're lying because we all have, you know, or we've said things that we wish we hadn't said or out of context. But I wanted to get to know who he was at a soul level, you guys, you know, at a deep soul level, because that's what's going to make a sustainable relationship work, you know, is, you know, that soul level of a connection, that communication, the maturity and the

sustainability. And that's what you get when you get old, you know, you get that stuff because you've learned it. Are you guys planning on moving to each other's cities? I know that you guys are relatively close together. You're four four hour drive, right? If this keeps progressing, do you see yourself maybe ever living together? Oh, yeah. We talk about that all the time.

But what's really cool, you guys, you get old. You get shit, right? Because you've worked your entire life, right? So you have shit, right? And what's exciting now is we have his house and we have my house. I love it. Who gets two houses, man? That's cool.

It is nice. We get to go to Orange County and hang out at the beach and we get to come to Vegas and do Vegas things. Do you know how exciting that is? You know, it's exciting and it's fun. And that's the way you should spend your 60s, doing it the way that you want to do it. I've raised my daughter. I was a single mom, you guys. I raised that kid by myself after my divorce.

I was a bomb tech. I was a firefighter. I was a police, you know, police academy, fire academy, FBI bomb academy. And you're going to tell me I have to do it your way? I don't think so. It's my time. my way. And that's what you need to do. You know, as we get older, you realize that you get to write your own story and your own life story, your own love story. I paid my dues. I did everything

that I was supposed to do. Now it's, I get to do it my way. Oh my gosh. That reminded me of a podcast that we just listened to and how he was talking about how he wanted to get to know how you retired at 50. How did you retire at 50? Well, the fire department, you guys, because when you're, You know, you have, you can, look, there's so many of us that die of either heart issues or cancer, right, because of what we do. That job, let me tell you, it's a ball buster. It is a freaking ball buster. I've had children die in my hands, in my hands, gunshot wounds to the back of their head and a little 10-year-old takes his last breath in my arms, right? The three-year-old that I have to go to their house on a Saturday morning calling 911 because the baby girl is in the pool,

floating in her diapers and she's blue. So you know what? I don't have tolerance for bullshit in life. I just don't. And when you get that baby girl out of the pool and you've got to put that kid on the table and you've got to do CPR and the mom is screaming her eyes and her brains out, do you think I give a shit about all this piddly crap in life? I don't because I know what's important. And what's important is to be honest, have integrity, help another human being and have life. have patience and tolerance. I know I'm kind of on a soapbox, but man, when you see the worst of worse you guys for 20-something years, you know what's important in life and you know what's not. So how did you retire at 50?

Part of purpose. So what happened? You have 20 years. You can do 20 years and you have to be 50. So at 20, I did 22 years and as soon as I hit 50 years old, I was peace out because I was having heart issues. And that the job is beyond stressful. So the doctor told me that, the doctor told me the fire doctor, my medical doctor, everybody's. I was throwing PVC's. That's a whole other thing, a heart issue. And so it was time to go. Do you think that background helped you navigate this process? I mean, because it's definitely different, but it is a level of stress. It is a level of the unknown. There is, obviously, you come off of the show and there is the opinions that you take in, the headlines that you read, the people that you talk to to confront the truth like you are today.

Do you think that background doing what you did help, do you prepare for this chapter? That background helped me prepare for life. It helped me prepare for life. You know, there's a lot of different chapters, you guys. As you get older in life, here's this chapter, that chapter, this chapter, but to answer your question, yeah, 100%. And there's a lot of things that were going on behind the scenes that the girls don't even know. You know, we came back from shooting one time.

And this is just who I am because I was trained this way. And there was a screen off the window. And I'm like, holy, holy, what's going on? Why is there a screen? And then Robin or somebody else said, there's another screen off. So I went into protection mode. I'm like, oh, no, no, no, no, no. Get me security.

Get me the who's ever in charge. Why are these screens off? You know, I, we're here in a house that's not secure. So we need to find out what's going on. I ask for more security. I asked for security with a weapon because I had everybody's best interest, just who I am.

I'm a protector. And I'm, you know, so I'm like, yeah, so yes, it did. It helped me a lot with this whole situation. And I sure did. Did you and Mel watch the series back together? We did. Not all of it.

But a lot of it, we did. Not all of it. Yeah, we did. We sure did. We watched it all back. What did you think? I thought was great. I loved it.

It was fun. It was a lot of fun. I think it was good. I have no ill feelings about anything. I know what I signed up for you guys. I knew there was going to be one woman. I knew that if we had a connection, I wanted to see if he was datable for me. I don't live in fantasy. I live in reality. And yeah, it was fun. It was a lot of fun. You know, it was interesting and fun. And I knew he was going to be making out with all these women. And maybe he'll have a connection with me and somebody else or not me and other women. I knew what I was signing up for. Yeah, you're now, I mean, goodness, pretty far removed from the filming of the show.

You've gotten to watch the show back. You answered the question on the season that Mel was at least datable enough to say yes to a promise ring months into this now together. Do you still think Mel is datable? 100%. He's more datable now than he was on the show. And here's the thing, too, that, you know, I just want to kind of like throw out there. Being a professional firefighter, an arson detective and then arson bomb squad. I did a lot of court trials, right? They would bring us in to testify, a lot of depositions. And one thing I've learned about Mel is that he has a very, very, very analytical brain.

You have to have that type of brain to be a professional athlete. And you have to have that type of brain to be an attorney. So when you're deposed, they ask you questions and you answer. You give them one word answers. And it finally dawned on me when we were at the cheerleading conference. competition with Paula Abdul, because he got me aside and he was drilling me. And I'm like, wait a minute, what is this about? And I went home and I assessed it. And I go, oh, that's what that's about. That's his attorney for 25 years, you know, doing a deposition and trying to find

out information. Because I've been in several depositions. I've had to testify as an expert witness in federal court. So I understand that whole process. And you do. You answer questions, you guys with one word. Because when you're in court, you don't want to give the court to any more information. You want to get you want to answer the question, but you want to answer it with the least amount of words because you don't want to give them that material. Right. So that's what he comes off with those one word answers. And I understand that now. I get that. I also know a lot of attorneys who are very long-winded and cannot shut up and talk. So there's that side too. He has that. He has that. He has that, but nobody

has seen that side. He has that side. Oh my God. You'd ask him where time it is, he'll tell you how to make a watch for like two weeks. If you listen to the breakdown of our season, I kept saying, there's going to be a moment. Like, the show does not pick a lead that answers questions

in this way. The show does not pick a lead that asks questions in this way. That's never, that's not a thing. Like, they know too much after so many years of doing this to pick a lead. Like, there's going to be a moment but we're like, that's the Mel. Like right there, that's him.

That's him. And I'll say this. And again, you started this whole thing out, and I respect that you said, I'm not going to be here to speak on Mel's behalf. And that's great. We'll talk to Mel about so much of this. But there's one moment that really frustrated me this season.

Because as frustrated as I was watching this and being like, I'm getting nothing out of this guy. Like, I see nothing. I thought it was going to happen at hometowns. And I thought it was going to happen with your daughter. I really did. I thought this would be the moment out of any moment. in all season where this guy's going to be a human again and actually speak to her and answer the

questions that she's desiring to know about how he feels about his mom. And goodness gracious, he didn't do it. He did do it. He did do it. No, no, no. You guys know, come on now. Stop it. But no, but if he did it, the show would have shown it. No, it would. No, they didn't. You asked Cindy, they had a whole day making hats in Austin. And he was so upset that they did not show that side of him. That side of him the entire day. And Cindy has talked about that as well on all these podcasts that she's done. There is so much left on the editing floor that it's just, and that's the nature of the beast, you guys. My daughter and him were laughing. You guys, wait, there's this whole scene. It is so sad. Just tell us how they interacted because we didn't see it. You said they did.

I know. And here's the thing. So we walk in, my daughter has a present for Mel. And it's so sad this stuff didn't make it on the show. She walked in with an actual hip replacement because her boyfriend works in the medical field. We died laughing for at least 20 minutes. It was hilarious. She literally had a hip replacement and gave it to Mel, right? And said, here, Mel, when you're ready for your hip replacement, we go. And it's a real hip replacement, you guys.

And we handed it, and it was hilarious. And then those two were bantering back and forth. if they were drinking a beer, you know. Really? Yes, bantering, laughing their asses off, didn't see that on television, didn't see anything of him and Cindy, because he really enjoyed that day of her taking him to that place to pick out a hat and do all this stuff. And they were laughing and they were joking. It was a couple of hours, he said, in the store. And they didn't show any of that. So his real human side didn't make TV.

Well, why, what's your theory on that? Why would they want to make their lead cold seeming? Ask the showrunners. I don't know, you guys. That's above my pay grade. I have no idea. But my family, oh my God, they fell in love with them. We're laughing. We're joking. My daughter, my mother. He had some funny, funny. My mom's 82 years old with a little dementia, but never has missed a season of the Bachelor or Bachelorette. And those two were, those two were bantering. That was hilarious. It was so fun, but they didn't see that on TV. And it's sad. It's sad, but it's also reassuring to know that that existed because I think out of anything,

and I'm glad we spoke to you before we spoke to Mel, because I think if we would have spoke to Mel, I still have that time in my head where I'm like, this is the moment, dude. Step up. And so to hear that he did is something reassuring to me as a viewer and a fan of the show now. to say, okay, this guy wasn't just cold even to the people that weren't really participating but had gotten dragged into it. That would have been really frustrating.

The final question we have for you, or that I have for you, I guess. I don't know if Ashley has anything else. Have you taught Mel how to ride a unicycle? No, that was my question, Ben. Dang. Guys, he was freaking hilarious. Yeah, no, no.

No. He doesn't, yeah, no. Is it ever going to happen? I don't want him to break it. hit because then I have to cut his ass. Yeah. Oh my God. There's good to hip who pleases out there. Yeah.

We need a follow up where you guys just hang out. I want to see like the way that I want to see your interaction with outside of the bachelor process. Watch our videos. It's not your natural environment for either of you. It's hilarious. We did this. We did this fitness blast in, um, in Rio de Janeiro.

We taped a lot of it. It's hilarious, you guys. It's a, you got to watch it. It's hilarious. He's pretty funny. He's a funny guy. Yeah, really, believe it or not. So for listeners that are listening to this and walking through it,

if you could explain your relationship today in closing so they can kind of get a bow on this whole experience, can you explain how Peg and Mel operate in the world together? We are two human beings walking on this planet that have had, you know, love, we've had loss, we've had children, we've had careers, and now we're at this chapter of our lives that we have found each other just to enjoy each other one day at a time. You guys, I might not wake up in the morning. I might have a cardiac arrest during the night. And this is the shit that you know when you get older,

this stuff you start to think about. So our relationship is out of mutual respect, out of love, out of joy and having fun. And we appreciate each other one day at a time because that's all any of us have you guys. That's it. Very nice. I'm glad that you guys are so happy. It's really awesome.

You beat Gary and Teresa as far as your longevity goes already. Oh, there you go. Woo-woo. Hey, thank you, Pegg, for being here. Yeah, thanks, Peg. You're welcome, guys. Thank you very much. You guys will have a fun time with them.

He's a good guy. He really is. And he talks a lot. Oh my God, does he talk a lot? Be ready to it. That's good to know. All right. All right.

All right. You guys. Thanks. I really appreciate it. Bye. Thank you. We really appreciate you coming on. Right.

Until next time, I've been Ben. I've been Ashley. See you guys. Follow the Ben and Ashley I, almost famous podcast on IHart Radio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Thank you.