The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - I’m Back, Baby!

Episode Date: February 25, 2025

Ben is back from paternity leave and giving an update on baby Winnie and who she’s already looking like two weeks into her little life. Then, he’s picking up where Ashley left off last week on Grant’s dramatic season and discussing uncomfortable conflicts and difficult decisions. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously suspicious. Wait a minute, Sam. Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit. Well, Dakota, luckily, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend's been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. Now he's insisting we get to know each other, but I just want her gone.

Hold up. Isn't that against school policy? That seems inappropriate. Maybe find out how it ends by listening to the OK Storytime podcast and the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's start with a quick puzzle. The answer is Ken Jennings' appearance on The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs. The question is, what is the most entertaining listening experience in podcast land? Jeopardy Truthers believe in... I guess they would be Kenspiracy theorists. That's right.

To give you the answers and you still blitzers. The Puzzler. Listen on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, it's Honey German, and I'm back with season two of my podcast. Grasias. Come again. We got you when it comes to the latest in music and entertainment with interviews with some of your favorite Latin artists and celebrities. You didn't have to audition? No, I didn't audition. I haven't auditioned in like over 25 years. Oh, wow. That's a real G-talk right there. Oh, yeah. We'll talk about all that It's viral and trending, with a little bit of chisement and a whole lot of laughs.

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This technology's 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. Today, we welcome Ben back from his paternity leave. It wasn't long enough, right, Ben? Uh, it, I mean, it felt not long enough for me, but then when I look back on all the great content that you put out here and that you had your guest host help you with, then it does feel like a long time. A lot happened. I mean, I watched The Bachelor this week and realized the last time I did

a Bachelor breakdown with you on the almost famous podcast, uh, I think was like week two. Yeah, there was like 20 girls left and now we're at hometowns. You missed like, the whole boring chunk of the middle that you and I always try to get through. And you joined us in the episode that I always feel like it rams up, which is the one in which we eliminate the girls down to the hometown girls. You're right. You're right. I stuck in at the right moment. You know, that's, we did this on purpose nine months ago that we'd say, let's have a baby at the perfect time. You know what? This is a little side comment about birthing time. I have now had a baby in the summer

and a baby in the winter July and January and if I had to choose I do like the baby being born in the winter better because it's so much harder to with like well especially with two

have the bundling the transferring from the house to the car and the car to like the store and all that when you can't have them bundled up in the car seat, I know it's so ridiculous. I think you will soon understand what I'm talking about. All I'm saying is that with the newborn phase, it's a cocoon phase, right? So like all you're doing with that baby is sitting in the house and being cozy. And that's a winter thing. We have started family walks. So three days ago, we started to do walks around the neighborhood. It will be, it's something that we're doing fairly consistently now. It's fun for Jess. It's fun for our don't. It's fun for Winnie. But yes, I agree.

We've talked about it. It was nice the week that when he was born, it was like five degrees in Colorado. So we just stayed inside and had nothing else to do. It was wonderful. It's weird. After like, what are we? About two weeks into parenthood,

now we kind of feel like we're in the groove, right? Let's get her outside. Jess just went to the grocery store for the first time today. Very nerve-wracking experience. Oh, she did? the first time by yourself with the baby no okay just by yourself yeah um it's we're ripping the band-aids off of the like new parent freak out mode and we're trying to figure out slowly but surely not too fast how to get into life uh and how to keep things going it's been a blast

i'm loving every second of it and then you know what i found out uh and i don't know how you do it Ashley. Obviously, this week was me catching up with The Bachelor, going back through some episodes, going back through some notes, making sure I was up to speed on everything. Even with a newborn, finding some time to sit down and watch The Bachelor is not as easy as you would think. Oh, yeah, because when you have your little time, you're like, oh, what am I going to watch? It's like, oh, yeah, I have the Bachelor episode and I have to, like, study it. yeah so and you need to have full attention for the hour and a half bravo to also adjust for taking walks at this point

because like she she's amazing yeah she's uh she got torn apart a little bit and she's back at it she's amazing she's an athletic girl yeah she's got drive actually we are here to talk about the bachelor today though uh this is obviously the week leading into hometowns uh when i caught up some episodes you did have some disagreements you told me just a second ago, that this season you thought was kind of the boring parts in the middle. I know that when you know I talked, this wasn't a season that you were ecstatic about, kind of maybe two weeks ago, but you did have Zachary reality as a co-host and a guest. They disagreed with you that this season actually has been really good and has been something

to engage within. Has your opinion changed at all after this last episode? well not as a whole because like I thought that those few episodes the past couple weeks were so draggy that like that that like doesn't compare to any prior season I've never felt such a drag before and now that we're on this episode I'm like okay now we're like a back on track to feeling like interested in the episode you know it's not like the most exhilarating thing it's not like other seasons pass or but like you know cannot wait till next week I I have to get my screener, you know, like, is it Friday yet? Is it in my inbox?

I'm not going to feel like that, but I'm like at least like engaged while watching the episode. Yeah. And this was, yeah, so this was my favorite episode thus far. And this has nothing to do with Grant. Like Grant like every week proves that he's like so incredibly sweet. And he seems like he's going to be the greatest husband. There's just something about this season that just like hasn't clicked with me.

and I think a lot of people out there, but I don't think it was, it's Grant, it might have to do with storytelling. It just might be a combination of things, but like I just, if he's out there listening, like I think he is such a kind man and he seems to have just the sweetest heart.

Yeah. And I'm sure that you kind of took that away with some of his conversations this week too. Yeah, you know, I think my read on Grant, I haven't been able to share it in a while, is I think you said everything. He's kind. He has a sweetheart.

I do think, conflict is maybe an uncomfortable position for him. And sometimes as the lead of the show, Bachelor or Bachelor, most of, like a lot of the role is navigating conflict and kind of being the mediator amongst the house and amongst your relationships. And it does feel like he kind of wants to take the nice route out of that and just tell people how great they are and that everything's fine when I don't know if that's helping. I also don't know if it's helping build deeper.

relationships. However, there has been some conversations, especially this episode, that I think we did get the rawness of Grant, and I think that shines. I want to start, though, breaking down this episode with asking our producer to pull up, because now we're down to the final four, to pull up Ashley, myself, our final four when we broke down the women at the very beginning. We're going to talk about that at the end, kind of revisit who we thought would be here who is here and who's not. Yeah, we didn't do good. I'll start out, Ashley, my first out of this episode, and it's hilarious. We see a scene with Jesse and Grant golfing in Scotland, a dream for many golfers. Grant's swing is not terrible, but goodness gracious, you know what it reminds me

of? It reminds me of those Disney movies when they used to, like, play basketball, and you would watch it because you were a basketball player yourself, you'd be super excited for it, and then you're watching, you're like, these people have never shot a basketball in their life. no grant isn't to that level he does he is able to make contact but you can tell this dude has not golf many times and they're trying to make it look like he has i mean this dude is what we call in the golf world like he's raw dog in it he has no gloves on so he's like he has no golfing glove on uh he has a very nice wide unbalanced swing he swings out of his shoes you can see it his short game is is questionable and i love that that's what they chose for him to do because i I bet they gave him, they're like, tomorrow you're going to go golf with Jesse. And he's like, I've golfed five times in my life. And they're like, good. It's going to look awesome.

Do you think that they like really did much than just hit one ball? They played one hole. It rained the whole time. They weren't that what at the end of it. And then they're like, great round. And they're like, thanks. I guess I just don't like when they do a scene like that with Jesse from your bachelor experience, do you actually play a whole game?

No. Goodness. There's no way the show's like, hey, you know what, Jesse and Grant? take three and a half hours and go play and golf just have fun go enjoy yourself we're gonna film it

it's a scene setter it was it's wild it was hilarious I enjoyed watching it because I was like poor Grant obviously doesn't play this game and Jesse does

Jesse's a good golfer he has a good swing he's a lefty he's just a well I was gonna say he's just an athlete but actually so it's grand so professionally both of them did you guys go to Scotland

on your up on your season with Kail Island Ireland. Okay, it's just Ireland. I wasn't sure if you did Ireland and Scotland. No, just Ireland. Well, that was my big takeaway at the beginning of this episode because as a golfer, I just thought it was funny. We can move on from that conversation because not anybody listening. There's not one person that was like interested in what I just talked about. So let's start breaking down the episode. And obviously the date cards this week are very meaningful because we still have some people who have not had a one-on-one date, which means if they don't get a one-on-one date,

this week, they really won't have a one-on-one date for the whole season because, yes, the final three all get one-on-one dates, but those are not, they're meaningful, maybe more meaningful, but they're not actual one-on-ones. They're kind of just the format of the show. You know you're going to get a date if you're down to the final three. This is the last time Grant can show Zoe specifically that he cares to have some time with her by giving her a one-on-one. And what happens, she does not get one but juliana also didn't have a one-on-one yet either and technically

um letia had a one-on-one of sorts because you miss this week but she had a three on one date and then he took her on the dinner portion so I think they had a one-on-one date they had that intimacy but this was her like first full-day date juliana getting the date

was not shocking to me, though. Why this season has there been so many people not have one-on-ones? Is the season cut shorter? Isn't a good question. Because there's always one. He didn't dump anybody on a date either. He didn't dump anyone on a one-on-one.

If you go back through past seasons, if the format of the show works and if the lead agrees to it, and I said, I've said this before, when it comes down to deciding who's going on one-on-one, you sit down with the producers before the week starts, and you said, I'd like to bring them and them on so and so and so and so on a one-on-one. The producers will say,

hey, you brought so-and-so on one-on-one two weeks ago. That's going to be their second one-on-one, and these people don't even, haven't even had one yet. Would you like to bring one of the people that haven't had one yet, or would you like to give this person their second one-on-one? And you, as the lead, get to say, now I want to bring them on another one-on-one,

and those other people, I don't really care to go on one-on-one with them right now. But if everybody kind of gets one, And one person gets two, there should still only be one person this week that hasn't been on a one-on-one yet. So why three? Things get crazier when you say that when Latia got her, you know, one-on-one date night thing, that was because Beverly went home with an appendicitis. So Beverly was even supposed to have that date, and Latia wasn't supposed to have it. then that would mean that would mean that would mean that Latia Juliana and Zoe all wouldn't have had a one-on-one going into this week. It's a very interesting.

I don't necessarily know if the filming was cut short by a week. That would make sense. That would answer everything. If there was one week less of filming, then producers. Can you check this out for us? The season did start later than usual too. It was the end of January. the math just ain't mathin anyways we we did get juliana on a one-on-one this week

we also are going to see letia on a one-on-one this week Zoe is not going to get one this week it is a very uncomfortable spot for Zoe to be in and I understand it I understand why she'd be questioning everything I'm understanding why she's going why am I still here if this is how we're going to play this out. I'd also understand how she takes it very personally. In fact, Ashley, I would say Zoe handled this better than really anybody else I've seen. Yes, she brought up the concerns and she kind of communicated to Grant that she felt pushed aside. But she didn't make it all about herself, even though she really could have. She could have. And she was supposedly like villainous earlier in the season. And now she's really backed off. The girls are accepting her.

And she's not creating any drama. She's not even being very dramatic about this. Which is very nice, and I'm sure very appealing to him. Maybe it was a test. Maybe it was like, Zoe, I like you enough to bring you to hometowns. Let's see how you react and not getting a one-on-wit. No, what a wild way to test. Yeah.

Should we just jump into the Giuliana date? I would love to jump into the Giuliana one-on-one date. The card says this, Ashley, and I'll let you take it away from here. Juliana, our love is a fairy tale. So she's going to get the Cinderella date. Every season has one, and every season I am jealous. This year they take a private, was a plane or helicopter, and they go to a castle, and she gets to pick out a gorgeous gown, he gets fitted for her tucks. And I am even more jealous than usual here, because then they go to a Bridgeton ball where she gets announced, like Miss Juliana something, her big debut.

I'm like, oh, this is amazing. They have, like, the formal dancing. I love this. And there's not much to mention, like, obviously they have good chemistry. Like, this was not, like, something we were worried about that I was going to be awkward or anything between them or anything. Because even he says up front of the date, he's like, I'm really physically attracted to her. I'm just needing to see if there's, like, more depth there.

And, yes, there is. She reveals at dinner that there was some. There was somebody who had an addiction problem when she was, she doesn't really give a date range, though. We don't know if this is like her childhood or this is current because the way she acts seems like it's more current than in her deep past. Do you agree with me? I don't, I think it's been a lifelong journey for her.

I also, I had to really like respect this moment. And people can obviously speak of these things in any way they want. want. But sometimes you have these kind of conversations come out and you can tell that the person doesn't really want to be talking about what they're talking about and naming the people that, you know, they're naming. And you can tell that the producer, like, hey, you should talk to Grant about this. This is a huge part of your life. This is a very difficult, like, season for you. He needs to know about it if you're going to be engaged at the end. And I get why all those conversations are had. They're not like saying anything that's not true. If you're going to get engaged in the end to this guy, he should probably know about this season of your life that's been such a marker on you. However, some people have a lot of discomfort and talking about, say it was her mom,

her dad, her grandma, an uncle, a friend, whatever it be. They're like, I don't really, they didn't sign up for the show, so I don't really want to call them out here. She obviously put her foot in the ground with the producers. Got to respect her for this. And she said, I'll talk about it. I do agree that it's important for me to speak of.

but I'm not going to mention who it was. I'm just going to talk about somebody close to me and he's going to be able to get through it. And I got to respect that because I always, I love when people own the decisions they make because a lot of times we come back afterwards and they're like, it was all editing or the producers made me do it.

I'm like, you had every right to stick your foot in the ground and say, I'm not going to do it that way. And Juliana obviously did. And I got to just give her credit for that. Good job, Ben. That's a good. nuanced pickup because I think like as an audience you're like oh but who is it but who is it and you're not thinking like she would really fought to protect the whole family yeah she loves

this person obviously still and she cares about him and she doesn't want to like you know crush him and uh and that that's just something that I think is admirable not that when you mention somebody's name it's not because again this is your own personal decisions to make but I'm glad that she obviously felt strongly that she didn't want to call a person out and she said no guys i'll i'll tell them what i need to tell them and then anything else we can talk about afterwards and then she said that her bubbly personality all the laughing all the smiling is often a mask like something that she's put on to have like a strong tough front when she's actually like very sad inside and we'll go and retreat by herself and to be honest i'm like okay well i thought that you're like smiling over

happy even smiling when you were tattling on a girl last week was weird and now we kind of know why this is this is actually an act and that makes me realize that I probably like her more than I thought because I was just like she just seemed too phony last week to me and now I'm like oh okay well she acknowledges it's phony and it's a protection mechanism yeah and it's also another I want her to have the space to be real and share where she's actually at. And if she's not feeling great, she doesn't have to. This is a hard environment to not feel great within. It's kind of like being a radio morning host every day, right?

You can't have a bad day. Even if last night was the worst day of your life, you can't jump on air and just kind of be down, tried in and out. You have to pick it up because it's life. It's your job. And so I want her to be able to have that space. I also, though, again, have to give her credit that she saw this and said,

well, I don't want to be a burden to this experience or to anybody else, even though I'm not feeling great. I'm going to try to turn it on to keep this thing as fun for Grant, fun for me, fun for others as possible. That's a big decision she's making, which makes me, Ashley, say this,

she's my frontrunner after this date going into hometowns. Okay. So it's just obvious to me that it's between her and Latia. Yeah. Like, that's just who he's going to have that extremely hard time deciding between. Yeah. And leaving this episode, I think that it's Latia.

Like, to me, that that seems like the connection that's stronger. But, yeah, obviously in a few weeks, he's completely paralleled out. Yeah. Well, we see that coming up. Uh, for the sake of this conversation, Ashley, we obviously have a big group date that sits in the middle of this with a lot of drama. Um, but let's jump to the Latia one-on-one to kind of compare the two if they're your two-forters and we'll go back to the group date. I will say this. Again, a great date. Uh, the most, uh, honest conversation that I've seen the two of them have, uh, or any, really have seen Grant have all season. Ben, like the best conversation we've seen on The Bachelor. Like, all. for sure all year, but a memorable one,

like one that I might like remember from seasons from now is the one about her Mormon faith. Exactly. It's a, it's one that feels like it transcends the show. It opens up life out to life outside of the show. They both dug deep within this conversation

to pull out things about their lives personally. There was emotions brought in. As much as we love to know that these conversations exist throughout the whole season, they don't. And honestly, sometimes they do. Some seasons we feel like every conversation that's had is intentional, it's meaningful, the right questions are asked, both people are opening up. And some seasons we don't get it at all, right?

Some of the bachelor seasons that we've talked about that maybe didn't hit the mark for us were because we never felt like there was a real conversation from start to finish. We don't know anybody any better. Everything was surface level. This was not surface level. This was a good conversation. the date itself was a beautiful date. The two of them obviously have a great connection.

They're very comfortable with each other. I agree with you that she would be the other person right now that would be at the top. But I will say this for as healthy as that conversation was between the two of them, I would not put her over Juliana because this will become a thing. A thing. Okay. It has to. I mean, if your family...

Well, it may not from his point of view. it would become so much of thing, but like... It might not from her point of view, but it will become a thing with the family. If she's giving us these hints of how her family dynamic is, I'm not saying right or wrong. And in the past, if she's traditionally dated people within her faith tradition consistently, and now she's stepping outside of that, and now she's coming to hometowns, the family is not not going to say they're even going to have a problem with it, they're just going to going to have a lot of questions that will, that will not help this relationship have a sturdy

foundation. Things will be questionable from that point on. 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, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast. So we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend has been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. Now, he's insisting we get to know each other, but I just want her gone. Now, hold up.

Isn't that against school policy? That sounds totally inappropriate. Well, according to this person, this is her boyfriend's former professor, and they're the same age. And it's even more likely that they're cheating. He insists there's nothing between them. I mean, do you believe him? Well, he's certainly trying to get this person to believe him because he now wants them both to meet. So, do we find out if this person's boyfriend really cheated with his professor or not?

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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. now. Listen to Wisecrack on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, so I have some questions for you, but before that, I want to make just a few little things I noticed. So one of the things that we get asked about a lot, like I don't know about you, Ben, but if I ask, are my Instagram following for behind-the-scenes questions from the show? a lot of them want to know, do you guys talk politics or religion before, you know, getting down on one knee? And I said that I think usually it's probably a fantasy sweet type of thing. But from your point of view, especially since you do have a great faith, is that something that you brought up on dates during the show?

Or is that something that kind of seared you away from? First off, I love that politics and your faith get thrown into the same bucket. they're both private conversations that you don't want to air out to the public sometimes yeah no faith was a huge conversation within the season that I was a part of we always talked about it because nothing makes sense within my life without my faith so if you take my faith away there's just a lot of like open questions and open holes on like why do you do what you do and yeah why do you say what you say and the I mean so like it had to be it I don't want to say it's a part of my personality but it's it's a hundred percent a part of like my every breath moment like my value system

my more like my morals um how I view others people even in breakups like I wanted them I wanted the women to know like I still believe they are a child of God and so that doesn't mean I'm just dismissing them or that I think they're unattractive I just am not feeling it romantically faith was a huge part it just was never shown um and i don't really know why maybe to the producers it wasn't the story they wanted or it wasn't as interesting as other conversations that were having politics uh because of my i think political like um fire uh was i was less I mean, I would talk about it. If somebody asked me, like, what do you believe about X, Y, Z?

I would tell them because they asked. But it's not like my driving force. Like, my faith oftentimes is the catalyst to why I believe politically what I believe. And so if you understand my faith, you're probably going to understand me, which probably helps you understand that, like, how I'm, you know, what I believe politically. Yeah. So I don't remember having like, hey, what do you think about this guy or this girl? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Right. Or, you know, what do you think about that wall? I don't remember those conversations, but I do remember talking about, like, my belief in humans often. Okay. So when she tells him that she's Mormon, I had two things. Actually, I knew that this conversation was going to come up, but I didn't remember that until, like, she was. like, I'm Mormon. I was like, oh my God, that's right. She's Mormon and this conversation was coming. Um, I have two questions for you. How much do you know about, um, Mormons

dating outside of their faith? I mean, I, I know quite a bit about the Mormon church. So do they typically date outside? Uh, not typically, definitely not typically, but is, does it, is it usually an issue with the family? Yes. They do? Okay. It would be a, a, it would be issued probably be the best word to use yes it would be a conversation okay and then are you surprised that someone of the Mormon faith would go on the show i you know you have this kind of like i mean i obviously uh i know enough about the Mormon church to uh speak to it incredibly generous people and insanely close community like the very tight knit community and the Church of Latter-day Saints

is one of the biggest givers of funds to NGOs around the world like just insanely generous and so you know I think I'll say this and I'm going to make an assumption

this would be like a really big topic that like religious studies would have to like go into I would say with this kind of new era of this new generation coming up within the Mormon church, I think we've seen them be more accepting of being in the social scene, right? We just, we're seeing more and more people put their faith out there, talk about it, and go on shows or have shows. So I don't know.

am i would say though the one thing here that is interesting to me that i would have probably asked if i was grant just because of my lack of knowledge would have been that question exactly well would i have to convert to well no it would be the question of you i would have been you obviously know that i'm not a you know a practicing Mormon and so for you to come on this show like what was your expectations of me in our relationship when you came on this the show, knowing that I didn't practice this same faith. So obviously she has to be okay with the thought. Yeah, that would be my assumption.

That's what I'm getting to is like, I'm assuming that she thought about this, that she walked through this. Maybe she never knew how far she would go. And so she's like, I'll just confront it when I need to confront it. And this seemed like a good time. But I would have asked that conversation if I was Grant, like, what were you thinking then? I mean, this is a big deal. Right.

Also, we get from this conversation that, I mean, the standout moment to me was that he has a faith in God for sure and just so emotional. He gets so emotional. I feel so emotional when he says that, you know, he really wants to have dinner at the table with his family and that he didn't really have this when he grew up. But he would take his dinner to his bedroom and eat alone and then talk to God in those moments. And I was like, I'm destroyed. How beautiful is that? Well, it's beautiful that he has a relationship with God. And that that's what, and, you know, that in those moments, he wasn't like, I'm going to go and, like, play a video game and seclude myself further into, like, this whole life.

But that he, he reached out and it was so faithful still. And I mean faithful about like his future and his belief in God and all that and that he craved connection. I mean, some would say that God speaks the loudest and the quietest of moments. And it sounds like Grant spent a lot of time in quiet. And I think when you slow down and spend some time in quiet, I think God shows up or at least you can hear it. And so there's probably even though Grant didn't really speak of his strong like I wake up every day. Like, he kind of, like, spoke to this checklist that he would have to do to say that he had a strong faith. Yeah, he said, I don't have my 9 p.m. prayers, yeah.

From my perspective, his, you know what? Like, from what I've heard from there, his faith is so strong. Yeah. And that the checklist isn't at all, at least within the Christian tradition, something that is a marker of how strong or how weak your faith is. It's those quiet moments that you spend with God. And so I'm listening to Grant there, and I'm like, dude, like, you've had, you have had this, like, there's a reason that you're kind, that you're considerate, that you're introspective, that you seem to be caring so deeply for the women that are involved in this process, even though this process is so goofy, you recognize the humanity that exists within these women. And as a result, like, we're seeing that as a lead, and, like, that's what's making you a good lead. because I can tell you care, which I will also say is probably why the ending is so bad, hard for him.

Oh, like, man, oh, man. He doesn't realize how much he's going to care. And that could be a problem. Ben, Ben, Ben. It was like, in that moment, I was like, I'm so glad this guy's The Bachelor. And then in the back of my mind, I was like, oh, how could he, how does he go? from this conversation to I don't know

if I'm going to pick her and it's not like just her like how do you go from like this is this beautiful moment this is a beautiful moment I can't say it any other way to being like I'm going to make a decision so frivolously

like just so I think we see a lot I'll tease this for the rest of the season and hopefully the bachelor's producers are listening to this and can like give us a little high five and I mean it when I say this, I think the last few episodes of this season are going to be memorable,

captivating, incredible storytelling, and really, like, where you're on the, like, edge of your seat hoping for that episode to drop next week because you want to know what happens. I think we're about to get a really raw version of Grant that I am excited to see. He's going to be so uncomfortable. He hasn't really been uncomfortable yet. Yeah. Yeah. He's about to get out of this, like, kind of.

of like smooth, charming, good-looking guy. Like, he's had that the whole season, and it's been great. I think we're about to see Grant break. And that's, I mean, I've been there. That's when the season gets real. And I think we're about to see it. My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously suspicious. Oh, wait a minute, Sam.

Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit. Well, Dakota, it's back to school week on the okay. Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend has been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. Now, he's insisting we get to know each other but I just want her gone. Now hold

up, isn't that against school policy? That sounds totally inappropriate. Well, according to this person, this is her boyfriend's former professor and they're the same age. And it's even more likely that they're cheating. He insists there's nothing between them. I mean, do you believe him? Well, he's certainly trying to get this person to believe him because

he now wants them both to meet. Do we find out if this person's boyfriend really cheated with his professor or not? To hear the explosive finale, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Everyone thinks they'd never join a cult. But it happens all the time to people just like you. And people just like us. I'm Lola Blanc and I'm Megan Elizabeth. We're the hosts of Trust Me, a podcast about cults, manipulation, and the psychology of belief.

Each week we talk to fellow survivors, former believers, and experts to understand why people get pulled in and how they get out. Trust me, new episodes every Wednesday on exactly right. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. 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 Take 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. list 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. Ashley, for the sake of time, we've got to jump to this group date. There's obviously some drama that comes up at this group date.

Circling around a topic that's been the topic for the last few weeks here, Zoe doesn't have a one-on-one this week. so we come into this group day, kind of expecting her to be the main focus of this group day. However, to everybody's disappointment, at least the cast, she wasn't because there's one other person that's feeling pushed aside. Ashley, after weeks of engaging in this show, and after weeks of talking through this with co-hosts and fans of the show, at any point during this group day, did you feel like Carolina was doing one? One, anything wrong. That's the best way I know how to describe it. And two, are you annoyed by her or do you get it?

Well, I've defended her a lot, thinking that, like, the girls were, to a certain extent, like, ganging up on her, especially when, like, a lot of the issues started with her relationship with Rose and Rose telling her something weird and them saying that she was monopolizing time when I actually thought that she needed to use the time to get some answers. this is probably the episode in which i'm like okay carolina i you probably do need to chill the hell out i still think that there might be a little overreaction um the only overreaction i really felt was dina was like do you not have free will and uh like because she wanted her to admit that she had the free will to tell grant hey um i'm just having a sad moment but please don't don't get give your time to me because I want you to give your time to the other girls. We should all be having time. I was like, okay, well, like Carolina says, not in the history of the bachelor. Has anybody said, oh, please don't give me your time. I would much prefer all our time to be

equally divided. Please go back to the other girls while I'm having this sad moment. Like, that's the kind of thing where I was like, oh, you know, I still can see, I understand Carolina's point. If he's coming to her, she's going to take advantage of the time. Now, I didn't care for Carolina in this episode because I think this was like the first time where she wasn't a, she really wasn't a team player. There's a difference between getting more time with the lead because of like this and that. But like for you to be like, oh, you know, I'm just down and out. So I'm just going to sit out on the activities. That is kind of begging. for that's just begging for special treatment and grant is kind of too nice not to give

into it yeah well i think he has to give into it i mean one of the fears is the lead and i it's been this way i've talked to almost every lead is these group dates at the end get really awkward because there's only like five people on them and all five of these women you've probably other than this season have four in it was there four or five here four but four or five i don't know you have a one-on-one with all of them so you have these close relationships and now you're like at the end and you're like let's still have a group date it's very awkward it's a very weird environment and it and it just feels tough and so one of the hopes I remember at this exact date during my season all of us were standing together and I said here's a deal this is awkward and this is weird for all

of us yeah this is going to be so much easier if we just slap on our good attitudes and try to have the best time possible because if not, this could be like rough. We all know we all, we all know we're walking on this like fine line between all of us getting mad at each other and falling into the deep end. And so can we just put on our good attitudes for this thing and have the best time possible? Yeah. And it's kind of what your hope is as the lead for this date specifically is can we just get through this? Because none of us really want to be here doing what we're doing today. Well, so for Carolina to pull this kind of

sit aside, I get it from her perspective. She's just down. Like she doesn't want to be there. She's making it very well known. She's kind of like this is pointless. She just can't act. No. You don't know what I mean? She does the opposite of Juliana. Like she can't put on the happy face. She can't put on the happy face.

And she says this thing to Grant where she says, I just see all these other relationships far past ours. And so I'm wondering what I'm doing here. And I think that's what she's really feeling. Is she sitting there going, am I just sticking around for a row ceremony? Because maybe it's just better for me to leave now in this moment because he obviously cares more about some other people that are on this show right now. Yeah. The issue with her is that she's always needing validation. Every week,

she needs a new solo moment with him to get validation. And she's just constantly feeling like, are we not up to par? Are we not up to par? Well, it's like, I just think maybe you're, you just, if that's how you're feeling, you're just not connecting. Yeah. Maybe you're not at the par. And you should go home, which from me watching it this week, I felt like she wanted to go home. I think she, in a sense, wanted Grant to tell her, hey, you're right. Let's just call it here. You're good, like, pack the bags. Get out of here. Okay, but I don't think her ego can handle, wanted to handle getting eliminated at a rose ceremony, which is maybe why she wanted to continuously have one-on-one time.

with him be like if it's going to end it's going to end with us too right here i am not getting eliminated at a row ceremony that's fair too then let you then show off and say no i'm out like hey this is this is it for me peace out everybody i'm sending myself home uh the rest of the conversation around this drama it did feel like the girls are over they're exhausting themselves on a topic that is not worth focusing on too much yes she's taking up some time however it feels it did feel like at least from what we saw in the show they are isolating her they're not really letting her say anything without it being the wrong thing to say i think they're frustrated with her and then the argument of uh that somebody will give up their time for somebody else out of fairness

is absolutely ridiculous that's never happened it never will happen and you don't think of stuff that way no i understand the crux of what dina was trying to say which is like i stood up for you um i I didn't understand why the other girls had an issue. I was trying to be understanding of you. And now, like, you've crossed my line. Like, you have been absolutely ridiculous. And then it's nice to see the makeup in the final, you know, scenes of the show in which we can, we can quickly go through who gets eliminated.

We would have said that we were a shock to see Alex leave a couple weeks ago. She's the classic had the first one-on-one situation where we get. like very tied up with the person who goes first and we're like that's the one that sets the precedent right and it feels so strong because we haven't seen him really have a one-on-one with anyone else any like sort of long-term in-depth conversation with anyone else so we immediately think that that person is going to they've got it right but she has fallen down the steps so to speak over the past few weeks. And then

Serafina, I always kind of knew last week, it was like, oh, this is a date. They're going to have fun, but she's not getting to hometowns. And then Carolina, you know, she, that's it. It was time. And I think that he did take some of the warnings from the other girls to heart when it came to

her. Final thoughts. As we close out this episode, Ashley's top four was Zoe Alex, Carolina and Nisi, so she had one of four. My final four was Zoe, Alex, Alicia, Rebecca. So Zoe is the one that got us into the final four for both of us. Finally, this season has been rushed.

There was only 25 women. Seven of them sent home on the first night. Four in the second. This is an unusual situation because historically the Bachelor is nine to 13 episodes. Joey had 11. Grant will only have nine. That's a child. women are usually standard.

So, yes, we were right. There is a unique, the math is mathing because it's a unique season for the Bachelor shorter. Less women, less women being eliminated. You know what? You should have had an extra episode and not giving us a women tell all.

I'm sure there's a women tell all coming our way and we're going to be annoyed by it. Also, last thought, Zoe, she's got to be one of the very few people in Bachelor history to get to home towns without having a one-on-one date should be interesting. She might be the first. Yeah, I don't think she's the first, but she's one of few. All right. Well, guys, we are going to go do an episode with Alicia. If you remember her, we were, she was a shock elimination week two. So stay tuned for that

episode and we'll be back with more this week. Until then, I've been Ben. And I've been Ashley. Bye. Follow the Ben and Ashley I, almost famous podcast on Iheart radio 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 and the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. Everyone thinks they'd never join a cult. But it happens all the time to people just like you. And people just like us. I'm Lola Blanc and I'm Megan Elizabeth. We're the hosts of Trust Me, a podcast about cults, manipulation, and the psychology of belief.

Each week we talk to fellow survivors, former believers, and experts to understand why people get pulled in and how they get out. Trust me, new episodes every Wednesday on Exactly Right. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. 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 an IHeart podcast.