The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - Gray Areas with Blake Moynes

Episode Date: December 1, 2023

Blake Moynes is back from Paradise and not holding anything back with Ashley! He opens up about why his relationship with Jess ended and who else may have caught his eye on the beach.    Blake shares his true feelings of when he saw Katie Thurston show up in Paradise, and we hear about what the future holds for his love life!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 let's start with a quick puzzle the answer is ken jennings appearance on the puzzler with a 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 eye Art Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What would you do if one bad decision forced you to choose between a maximum security prison or the most brutal boot camp designed to be hell on earth? Unfortunately for Mark Lombardo, this was the choice he faced. He said, you are a number, a New York State number, and we own you. Listen to shock incarceration on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Every case that is a cold case that has DNA. Right now in a backlog will be identified in our lifetime.

On the new podcast, America's Crime Lab, every case has a story to tell. And the DNA holds the truth. He never thought he was going to get caught. And I just looked at my computer screen. I was just like, ah, gotcha. This technology is already solving so many cases. Listen to America's Crime Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is the Ben and Ashley I, Almost Famous Podcast with IHartRadio. Hey guys, welcome to the Almost Famous Podcast. I am here chatting with Blake Moynes right now, and I was just like, all this stuff that we're chatting about needs to be recorded. I just found out that Blake, who has been on three seasons, has never been to the Bachelor Mansion. and he's experienced three different hosts. That is quite unique. It is, it is, right? I mean, I've always, like, when you watch the show,

I've always been like, that would be so cool. Actually, because people talk about it, with Bashamans, and Bashman, Man, and she's like, I don't know, I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know this. But, yeah, so cool to, like, go through seasons with three different hosts, all, like, do it in a different way.

But it was just, yeah, interesting that I've, I guess, been around that long. Oh my gosh. Okay. Yeah, because you're in two hotels because you were on the traveling seasons of The Bachelorette. And then you had Chris as the host of the Tasha Claire season and then just Jesse Palmer. So of all three of those, what's been your most favorite experience? I mean, is that weird? You got engaged. It's probably a weird question to ask. I'm assuming Katie's was your best experience or do you look at it in a different way? like in terms of like the different hosts you're just saying experiences in general no no no just experiences because you have had three totally diverse experiences because of that I think the most fun was the first season

I did just because it was so new and so yeah that was exciting you know that was exciting and like you know it was like what you saw and he was Chris Harrison it just felt very extreme I think the most fun was paradise but the most intense was key okay yes yes yes

all right so I can kind of relate like my first season was really fun with Chris Souls and it was probably because I just wasn't like that emotionally invested and like everything is so sparkly and exciting and then the most like the greatest experience the most emotional was Paradise

So okay I have so much to talk to you about about Paradise okay so Ben and I have been really confused by a lack of like storylines seeming together

sure So do you feel the same watching it back? Do you feel like, oh, that needed more explanation? Yeah, I mean, I think as a viewer, you could definitely see there's some piece of missing. I think there was a couple episodes back where even like the Jen situation where I went on a date with Jen, there wasn't really much explained as to, you know, there are certain things like that I think that were missed. Well, what happened there? Tell us what did happen between you guys? Honestly, I mean, the way I try to best explain it is. I had a really great time with Jen on that date.

And I was able to, like, compartmentalize and not think about Jess on it, deservingly should. So Jen, you know, really took my mind away from that, which was great. But when it came back and, like, you start to, like, soak into, like, you know, back on that beach and knowing Jess is there and thinking about what Jess was potentially doing while I was gone and, like, what was she thinking? Like, who did she finally explore with Tyler? Like, there was things that I was also concerned about in a sense.

but my mind kept always going back to her and my heart. My mind, though, was saying Jen. Like, Jen was making a lot of sense to me in terms of practicality. She was really into seeing that relationship through and Jess wasn't. So my heart was saying, Jess, what made sense was Jen, but I ended up following this and, you know, going back to Jess, essentially. Okay. So thanks for bringing up another whole storyline for us. We've been wondering, did you and Mercedes know about this kiss?

between Jess and Tyler? I don't know about Mercedes. I do know that just did. I don't know about Mercedes. I don't know that ever, if they ever talked about it, I don't know. But Jess did talk to me about that

in a conversation that night that you can, that instance you saw where we sat on a couch and talked about, we wanted to do this together essentially where we like came back from the date. That conversation, that was brought up.

So she did tell me that. I just don't know about the latter. It was brought up and what did she say? Did she say it happened or like anything about her feelings? She said that because I pressed her. I was like, listen, did you do what you needed to do?

Because like I didn't go on this date and like try to like create adversity and like I see if there's something else there and give you space to then you just sit around and not do anything. She was worried about stepping on toes and stuff like, did you do it. And she's like, I did. I did.

Um, you know, we did kiss and whatever else. And she said like, it was fun, but it just, it wasn't like an overwhelming like. attraction or a spark there that like really made me feel like it was she missed you and whatever

else she said and like the compliment there and that so she did tell me just that it wasn't overwhelmingly something that made her feel a gravitational pull to him so see i wish we would have seen that oh okay so just just in your relationship it to me never felt strong for you did it ever feel strong? Did you ever think like this can make it the distance or were you like the entire time? You were like, we'll see, we'll see, we'll see. Well, the difficult part was is that I felt confident and was like trying to go all in. The issue was is that it was very good that she wasn't.

And so it was a very, I wouldn't say it was insecure, but it made me feel really weird that like she wasn't sure about me through the whole process and you could feel that it was like one like one afternoon she could be make me feel like she was super into it the other she went so it was like hot and cold all the time and so the relationship never felt strong my feelings were strong for her but the relationship never felt strong because it was very clear she was unsure okay now if she had felt sure you think that you would have felt that there was more or if she was sure she would have been, I think, showing more, like, actual, just, like, physical affection. And there was, there just wasn't, like, I've been, I'm old enough now.

I've been through very solid relationships where I've been in love and things of that. And she wasn't showing enough of those gestures and those things that made me feel like she was in and, like, actually really liked me. Like, I know she liked me, but I think she was just, she was always in her head. And so I don't know what that looks like. If she was to be all in the way I was and really being affectionate and always touch me, always doing those gestures to make me feel wanted. then maybe I would have felt more secure

about the relationship, but we never got there because I just, we're always missing. She was missing something in me, and that's fine. But, like, you just got to a point where it was getting difficult. I see a little bit of myself with her. Like, you would think that being on the show, you would have relationship experience and confidence going into relationships, but I did not at all.

Do you think that she has a lack of experience and was just kind of nervous to go through that for maybe like the first time on the show. She's like an innocence about her. Yeah, I do think that I maybe could have been overwhelming in a sense that I did have a lot of experience.

So when I remember we always, we had a conversation where she was just like, it just seems like you're always so valid in your points and you always have like things to say that like I can't really disagree with. I think that there's maybe times where the experience and maybe the maturity could have maybe overwhelmed her in some way. I know that she's only been in two relationships and she has not dated and doesn't date.

And so I think she is mature. I just don't know how mature she is in the relationship process and managing that. So I think she's a mature person for no question. But maybe in terms of navigating that space, experience helps you. And she doesn't really have too much of that. just like kind of nerve wracking you know yeah yeah for sure do you feel like she blamed herself too much for all of this because i felt like throughout the entire season she was always blaming herself and i was like girl it's okay like you just it's just not it for both of you yeah i you know

i think i think it's like when she's looking at it and everybody was like on paper like why like why can't you see like why aren't you doing this like it makes sense as you can see like in an interview she's like I should be liking him like he's he's into me he's showing up or he's doing these things why don't I like it so I think she was like feeling bad and guilty but it's like if it's if it's just not there that's okay you're not I'm not mad at you're not disappointed but like express this and let's express it early so we can try to get through this earlier we're getting too late you know that's why you see in the episode you know we come to a pivotal conversation coming up and so yeah it was lack of lack of lack of lack of experience

maybe just made her feel I don't know kind of guilty in that she was in the wrong she wasn't necessarily in the wrong maybe she could handle things better but she's not wrong in feeling how she feels okay well there's one moment when you're leaving

where Kylie comes up to you and Ben and I talked about this this week on our recap episode and we felt so much chemistry between you and Kylie we thought that you guys were going to make out and she was going to and I was like for a second forgetting that like Kylie was in a relationship

one of the stronger ones what was your friendship like? Yeah, I mean, that's going to be a question. Obviously, that's going to stir some people talking. Honestly, the way it happened was Piley and I, or even Mercedes, there's a few of the girls that I felt a very close bond with because they're super close with Jess. So there was never like a romantic connection was going to spark in any way,

but I became close to a lot of the girls that were best friends with Jess because I was with Jess from start to finish. It was like a safe space, essentially. So we're able to develop a really great, like, friendship. bond where I could like rely on them talk to them very just like sister like in a sense but I can see like she's definitely surprised me and she ran up and like was expressing those things I was unsure so what seems like a romantic gesture to run up to the car you know what I

mean yeah I was definitely thrown off but I also get it as a friend because I was there in paradise with Nick and I would have done something very similar yeah so like that was that I was thrown off in that moment first off why is anyone up here at the car and like what do you talk like there's no one else here. What do you mean? Like, I got to go.

So I can see how that definitely would have made people be like, what is happening here? But it was from a place of like a great friendship. And she, I think most people kind of felt bad because they saw our weird relationship throughout. And it's like, hey, now he's just leaving. He's done.

It's like, are you sure you want to leave? But at that point, it was just the best thing I did do at that moment. Okay. 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 iHeartRadio app. Search Emergency Intercom and listen.

now. My name is Ed. Everyone say, hello, Ed. I'm from a very rural background myself. My dad is a farmer, and my mom is a cousin. So, like, it's not, like... What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? I know it sounds like the start of a bad joke,

but that really was my reality nine years ago. I just normally do straight stand-up, but this is a bit different. On stage stood a comedian with a story that no one expected to hear. Well, 22nd of July 2015, a 23-year-old man had killed his family. And then he came to my house. So what do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? A new podcast called Wisecrack, where stand-up comedy and murder takes center stage.

Available now. Listen to Wisecrack on the IHeart Radio app, couple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. A foot washed up a shoe with some bones in it. They had no idea who it was. Most everything was burned up pretty good from the fire that not a whole lot was salvageable. These are the coldest of cold cases, but everything is about to change. Every case that is a cold case that has DNA right now in a backlog will be identified in our lifetime.

A small lab in Texas is cracking the code on DNA. Using new scientific tools, they're finding clues in evidence so tiny, you might just miss it. He never thought he was going to get caught, and I just looked at my computer screen. I was just like, ah, gotcha. On America's Crime Lab, we'll learn about victims and survivors, and you'll meet the team behind the scenes at Othrum, the Houston Lab that takes on the most hopeless cases, to finally solve the unsolvable. Listen to America's Crime Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Your entire identity has been fabricated. Your beloved brother goes missing without a trace. You discover the depths of your mother's illness, the way it has echoed and reverberated throughout your life, impacting your very legacy. Hi, I'm Danny Shapiro. And these are just a few of the profound and powerful stories. I'll be mining on our 12th season of Family Secrets. With over 37 million downloads, we continue to be moved and inspired by our guests

and their courageously told stories. I can't wait to share 10 powerful new episodes with you, stories of tangled up identities, concealed truths, and the way in which family secrets almost always need to be told. I hope you'll join me and my extraordinary guests for this new season of family secrets. Family Secrets. Listen to Family Secrets Season 12 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Can we talk about some other relationships and people? And I want to get your perspective. Yeah, sure. What's cat like in real life? I love Cat. I think I love her, too. She certainly has things to work. gone. No question. I think she knows that. I think she's, you know, great for the show in a sense

that she is very expressive and she wears everything on her sleep. And she dives into the experience and does not hold anything back, which creates entertainment. I think that she was the most fun to be around. You know why? Because she was just constantly entertaining in a space where, like, she would say and do things where I'm like you're you're wild like this but I would love to be around her because she's wild but in the best in the best way she's just very expressive likes to emot and so I love being around her because she was just I was always chill with her and she never brought the heat on me right so she never wanted to date you so that's probably why you loved her so much yeah yeah exactly there's a safe space there yeah okay what about Olivia who also is a hoot

so fun i mean they're honestly so fun i didn't know anything really about any of those girls um but olivia really um i think everyone knows who she is now and there's for good reason she's just fun she's uh very she just got along with well i mean she got along with especially all the guys for the most part yeah some of the girls obviously they had tips with naturally but um again just like a ton of energy and um would say things other people didn't want to say, which again, it's fantastic. I know that you were gone by this point

but who the heck is quote getting married? Like, can you tease for us whether this is somebody we actually know or is this a random at the Fendanta or something? No, it's someone you know. Really?

Yeah. Yeah. For sure. It's all of it. It's cast? Oh, you don't have to even like, you can say like it's cast, but not necessarily from this season, but it's people that we've watched date. It's people you know. It's people that you know.

No way. Well, thank you for that. Because Ben and I keep thinking that they're like randoms at the hotel. No, it's worth seeing because I don't think people are expecting it, but it's someone you know. Did you get to stick around for the wedding? Was it like

a crowd with the wedding or is it a very intimate ceremony? Oh, he's feeling uncomfortable. answering that's fine gives me that's fine that's he doesn't want to say anything but his face tells is telling telling can we talk about rachel for a second because i love rachel i'm assuming you love rachel what what's going on like everything just stopped short for her we're particularly confused and we'd love to let you we would love for you to fill us in on um like what happened between her and tanner because in last week's episode or the last episode

episode, it seemed like they were going to go for something, which was surprising for me because it seemed like the Jordan date went so well. But in this episode, both of them apparently just disintegrated without us being able to see any of it. Like, what was Jordan saying when there was no romance between them? It certainly looked like that. And then what happened? Tanner said that like after a day or two, like it just, it wasn't going to work out the way he hoped. So this is such a gray area because I know that she was caught up in a bunch and she would come to me for advice with things but I was also going through my like interesting turmoil with Katie and yeah we'll talk about that like the whole jess of it all yeah and so you know I don't know the the actual details

as to what her issues were all I know was is from start to finish on that season she kept coming to me for advice and when I would see her with a lot of these guys none of them made sense for me they just didn't and I would just say particularly Brayden? Braden made sense in terms of like,

hey, if you want to have a fling here and have fun, like, you know, that's great. But in terms of like being somebody through in a very serious way, not a lot of the people there really came across in a way that made sense from my opinion. And so she kept having these, you know, these dates and these fun things. I just, you could tell that she was confused. She wasn't sure.

The guys weren't sure. And so I feel bad for in a sense that like, I just don't think there's any way. one great for her there, to be honest. And I think that she, in the back of her mind, kind of knew that, but, like, really want something to work. Like, she's looking for love. And so she was trying to push and, like, find all the reasons to, like, find, okay, maybe

this guy, maybe this guy. I just don't think that they're necessarily. There was nobody for her. Fits. I just, I really don't. I really don't. Do you feel that way about a lot of the cast? Like, there just wasn't a lot of matches because, you know, we only have.

Aaron and Eliza and then Kylie and Avin and we've seen so little from both of those couples. Yeah, I mean, there's definitely some great connections there for sure. I think that there's definitely some interesting personalities that make it hard to find fits, real good fits for people that are going to last outside of the beach. it was dynamic cast in the sense of like just unique personalities and people it just yeah I mean as you're seeing there's there is a hard time in finding natural great chemistries aside from some of the ones that stand out for sure okay what's up with peter and sam um so sam came down she Canadian I didn't know who she was before that but um I always felt safe

around her for that reason alone Pete and I were became super close on the beach. I think he came to me just pretty like advice and things. He obviously wasn't around very much on his season. He went home night one. And so we became super close.

They just, they matched up. They were always laughing. They were always laughing and the most easygoing couple on that beach. They just never really got into like drama stuff so you don't see too much of it.

But they were, they were really solid there. I just don't know if it, it just maybe seemed more of a friendship than romantic connection when it came to really trying to make it happen. And I think they tried. And so we'll see what happens at the end of this.

All right. Very interesting. Let's talk about the elephant in the room. The Katie coming down. The Katie. So, like, can you describe what your heart and your body felt like when you saw her stand there? Did you have any inkling? Did, like, the producers say that like something very monumental was going to happen to you that day?

No, no. I mean, I think coming on the season, I had a. I was like imagine if they did that but I just don't I didn't first off think that they would I don't think that I didn't think that she would ever come down because she had spoke so publicly about now I'm not getting involved in the franchise again for whatever reasons those were so

I really didn't think it was going to be something to happen especially because it was so late in the season any of those potential thoughts were gone like I was not thinking about it at all because you thought that she'd be like first sand or something like she would come and she'd date and it surprised and she'd be there right off the bat yeah yeah or just like earlier in season so so much time it went that it just floated i just never thought of it anymore so that day was going really

really well in terms of for jess and i it was a day that we needed and later in the afternoon yeah we're all sitting around and i had a feeling something just going on only because i was looking around just you know when you're every camera's on you you're like what the oh yeah oh yeah all right and so yeah little do you know i hear her hello coming up those stairs I'm like, I know that voice. And then, like, looking and seeing her, I literally said, I think out of those lips. Like, because I just wasn't ready for that. I wasn't ready to have that conversation.

So I was just kind of staring at her being like, is she here to be like, why didn't know? So she pulled me right away. So I didn't have time to even think about what the hell was going to say to her. And I didn't know what angle she was going to come at. What emotions are you feeling? What are you here to do? So she had preparation in a sense, knowing I was potentially down there.

I didn't. You must have freaked out that she was there to date. that's what that's 100% what I thought was happening because I tried to pry her at the end of that conversation and be like hey so you like here to date what are you doing?

She like wasn't answering how much like I was you know overwhelmed but yeah angst I would say I was very anxious because I just didn't know what she was there to do and there to say well I love the way you were just so honest you were like well that just

I kind of needed that because it reminded me of how I should be feeling and I had so much less time with Katie before our engagement and I felt so much more. So at the end of the day, are you thankful that she came down? I am weirdly. I am weirdly.

It would have taken me running into her person for us to have that conversation. Maybe that environment wouldn't have been as fitting. And I think we met in a similar place. So as much as the cameras didn't make it comfortable in a sense

it was like there was a comfortability there with her. Now, I think we needed the time. if I responded to everything was happening in that time publicly with like John and you know did she physically or emotionally all that I was wrapped up in all that and I was bitter I just it wouldn't have went as smooth as it did you know I need we need time to like reflect and like let it just breathe a little bit so I didn't know I needed it I probably could have like

prepared myself in a sense like really get everything off my chest but I feel like we really did I mean everything we talked about was the important aspects we didn't need to dive into any bullshit, dig up anything to, like, why did you do? It was just like, it's okay, forgive you. I get it. I'm understanding. And so, yeah, it was like, I was able to reach up, grab that book from, like, my library and close that last chapter and, like, put that book in and be like, and I can now look back

on it, open it up and like, look back at good memories and all those things and not be scared to, you know, open it up with like bad memories to that, if that makes any sense. Did you think that you needed the closure as bad as bad as? has you realized? Well, I just, it was like something was hanging. I know that I think the way that it was left was she had reached out to me and left me lots of different voice notes and things kind of explaining and apologizing in the way that things had left off.

And so I knew that it probably in some way was messing with her that like I just never even pretend like I had read it, saw it, although it did. So like she, I know that she, how. she felt and how the apology was, but she didn't know really how I was feeling. And so I think like it was a, it was a good for her, especially to know now, okay, now I know and have closure that he's not mad at me. It's fine. He forgives. And so I think closure for her was more important than closure for me because I knew I was okay. I just hadn't verbalized it to her yet. Hi, my name is Enya Yumanzoor. 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.

My name is Ed. Everyone say hello, Ed. Hello, Ed. I'm from a very rural background myself. My dad is a farmer. and my mom is a cousin, so, like, it's not like... What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? I know it sounds like the start of a bad joke,

but that really was my reality nine years ago. I just normally do straight stand-up, but this is a bit different. On stage stood a comedian with a story that no one expected to hear. On 22nd of July 2015, a 23-year-old man had killed his family. And then he came to my house. So what do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? A new podcast called Wisecrack,

where stand-up comedy and murder takes center stage. Available now. Listen to Wisecrack on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A foot washed up a shoe with some bones in it. They had no idea who it was. Most everything was burned up pretty good from the fire that not a whole lot was salvageable. These are the coldest of cold cases, but everything is about to change.

Every case that is a cold case that has DNA. Right now in a backlog will be identified in our lifetime. A small lab in Texas is cracking the code on DNA. Using new scientific tools, they're finding clues in evidence so tiny you might just miss it. He never thought he was going to get caught. And I just looked at my computer screen. I was just like, ah, gotcha. On America's Crime Lab, we'll learn about victims and survivors.

And you'll meet the team behind the scenes at Othrum, the Houston Lab that takes on the most hopeless cases, to finally solve the unsolvable. Listen to America's Crime Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What would you do if one bad decision forced you to choose between a maximum security prison or the most brutal boot camp designed to be hell on earth. Unfortunately for Mark Lombardo, this was the choice he faced.

He said, you are a number, a New York State number, and we own you. Shock incarceration, also known as boot camps, are short-term, highly regimented correctional programs that mimic military basic training. These programs aim to provide a shock of prison life, emphasizing strict discipline, physical training, hard labor, and rehabilitation programs. Mark had one chance to complete this program and had no idea of the hell awaiting him the next six months. The first night was so overwhelming, and you don't know who's next to you.

And we didn't know what to expect in the morning. Nobody tells you anything. Listen to shock incarceration on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So it's been two years, or it was almost two years, when you guys were filming Paradise. Why did it take so long if it seemed to be something that both of you desired? I, well, see, I didn't, yeah, I mean, I didn't necessarily desire it. She probably wanted it more than I did.

I just knew her as like, I, in a sense, and we were like, had control. And since, like, I didn't respond. I don't need to. I don't owe you anything. Yeah. You felt like you kind of were on top just by doing that. I just like was just like I don't need to open it up and there will be a time like there's going to be a time where this happens and we run into each other an event or whatever it is like you know this world is small that we're in and at that time there'll be enough time where we can court like very mutually respectfully have a conversation so why did it take so long I mean sure I could have like randomly called her up or like text and be like hey I'm ready to talk now but like yeah it just wasn't a priority either at the same time so that that's that's maybe why i i can't tell exactly i just like i was not following her i wasn't seeing

any of her stuff unless someone sent it to me like you know she wasn't top of mind so kind of how it went and just to remind the audience the the the anger that like had was because she jumped into a relationship with john hersey right after their breakup and he was on her season as well okay yes exactly so so now you guys have seen each other since. It was an event of yours in San Diego. How did how'd that go and how did come about? So the nonprofit partner that I was working with that we shot the short documentary with is often has an office of San Diego. So they're hosting it for all their local donors and all those things. So I flew in on my way home from Indonesia and working a different project there to

stop in. And I thought, well, there's lots of people obviously in this hub that might want to come and support it. And I wasn't going to send an invite to everybody but her, regardless if it was going to bring some type of attention or make it weird in any way for people. We were great on the show and that's where we had left it and we had texted a couple times after that. Like, just like everything's cool, like, you know, very friendly record. So I felt okay to extend that invite to her as well. And so yeah, she came out and supported. It wasn't weird at all. Honestly, it was super easy. You know, we picked up where we left off in a sense. They were just super comfortable like we were like great friends.

We were just missing that romantic aspect. So it wasn't very weird. You mentioned that it was almost kind of nice that the conversation happened where you guys started your relationship on the bachelor cameras. Do you also think that it was good that you had the conversation on TV just because like to me, it's very weird. I feel like I can have my most vulnerable conversations in that space. space. It does bring something out of you. I don't know that I would have let myself get there, like that deep if I wasn't there.

Like even like Jared and I went to Paradise last year. And we had a conversation there that like we barely ever have in real life. Right, right. Just makes you get there. Well, this is, it's, it's interesting, right? Because I think, you know, I know how much growth have happened to be on a show because you're forced to do things you typically wouldn't you have to get vulnerable or you can't get anywhere with you know whoever you're pursuing so you learn to do it there you learn to be vulnerable

and have those emotions that's where you learn and so yeah when you go back there it's like it's just like I'm back in class again like and it's this you know what I mean like it's almost like it's easy to emote there because it's natural and they are used to doing it as well so you know that you can have a vulnerable conversation because that's how you did it in the first place you didn't So, like, it's easier to do it in that environment. I don't, that's the way I kind of try to explain it. It's exactly the way I feel. And I wish that everybody out there listening could have a place where they could do it, too, with their partners.

Perhaps it's like a therapy room. I mean, probably like the most, the easiest comparison is probably a therapist. It really is. It truly is. It truly is. And even if, and even if there's not, you know, necessarily a producer that's, you know, trying to, the conversation itself and in that environment, it's like, you just know that this, you have this one shot and this opportunity to talk about

the thing you want to talk about. So get it out right now. And it's just like you're kind of forced in that environment to do those things. So it's, it's such a weird thing. But yeah, it's where we learned it. And so I think we feel comfortable in doing it there. After having such a vulnerable conversation, it seemed like Katie was a little confused in her feelings. Somebody in the interview room asked her, do you still love him? And she seemed tempted to say yes. How did that make you feel watching back? You know, I think, you know, I think naturally pulls on the heart strings a little bit because I do know Katie and like that was a very natural reaction for her. So I, you know, it was interesting seeing. I just, I certainly didn't know that.

Now, I try to think about it, I was asked that same question, how I would respond. I would say that, like, you know, when you've been through something like that or have you been in love with somebody, you typically always hold at least a little small, you know, soft spot for them in here still, right? And so, you know, she obviously tapped into that and was able to express that. And, you know, there will always be that little piece there, right? it's just how big is that enough of that to spark anything again romantically i know it's not um for me in a place um i don't think it is for her either but you know it just made it made it feel real because there's always that thing around my season like where you default and all of these things and you know the way that she jumped so quickly to to john it was like multiple things made me feel

like was this all just the fucking you know what i mean and so seeing that reaction there just kind of brings it home a little bit for me that like that was real it was pure um so interesting interesting for sure maybe yeah it's yeah interesting yeah yeah okay that's nice that you were able to feel that afterward definitely it was real um my final question for you i guess is just could you ever see yourself revisiting that or did what happened in the aftermath just kind of possibly ruin any sort of reconciliation for you? No, I mean, I'm definitely, I'm pretty, not that I create like a standard or like a procedure in terms of how I deal with break us from things, but I, you know, it's easy, I think, to look back on all the benefits and the positive and the great things

that's funny, but there is reasons why we didn't work. And so, you know, I don't, we're at a place right now where like a really value that friendship and someone who's going to be in my corner, wise that I would be for her and so to open that can of worms again to see what we could do different to try and make it happen. I just don't see that being something that is worthwhile on both of our ends when I feel like I have a really close friend that would be honest with me, tell me everything how she felt, thought, felt. And there's only so many people you get like that in your life. So like, I don't want to ruin that. I don't think she does either. And so we're in a great place right now, friendship-wise. And I think it should probably stay that way.

awesome well like thank you so much for coming on here and filling us in and telling us all like the secrets and the deep feelings we really appreciate it this is how we sign off so please please sign off with me yeah until next time i've been ashley until next time i've been ashley okay there you go that's amazing that was better than i could have ever imagined because it's really supposed to be i've been blake but that works oh oh oh I thought he said I've been Ashley Ashley that's cute We like that now

I'm going to pull that on Ben next time you record All right See if like thank you so much Thank you take care Bye you too Follow the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcasts on IHartRadio Or subscribe wherever you listen to 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. Let's start with a quick puzzle. The answer is Ken Jennings' appearance on The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs.

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