The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - Is It a Ring Thing?

Episode Date: January 17, 2025

Could Kelsey and Joey be headed for splitsville?? Ben and Ashley break down all the facts about why she was spotted without her ring! We try to figure out why Wells was the first to be eliminated on his season of The Traitors. And we get a baby sneak peek at Kendall Long’s growing family! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Hey friends, this is the Almost Famous Podcast. We are here today to break down the headlines within Bachelor Nation. Now, just want to say this at the start, we did a special headlines episode breaking down the big, very traumatic. for Ashley, and so many of Bachelor Nation break up between Matt and Rachel. Ashley didn't sleep. Stop it. I didn't sleep. I woke up to the news.

Yeah, but then you didn't go back to bed. You didn't go back to bed. You woke up and you stayed up. I woke up and I saw the tax star group throughout. It was 8.30. It didn't go back to sleep. You did not go back to sleep. She stayed away.

I tried to do some research to see if it could be possibly a false rumor or him trying to throw us off. Yeah, that would be a wild, wild strategy. So that is a special headlines episode. It's out there now. Make sure you go back and listen to it. But we are breaking down other news within Bachelor Nation. The first one is this. Maddie Pruitt reveals why husband Grant never watched her on The Bachelor. Well, this is typical, I feel. When you meet your spouse after your appearance on the show, you don't meet them through the show. Ben has just ever watched any of year season. Goodness gracious, not a chance. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't even know how this made a headline, but they were doing a YouTube clip. Somebody asked, have you ever watched The Bachelor with Maddie on

it? And he said, no, never, not once. Not one YouTube video. Not one clip. No. She starts laughing. And she said like, yeah, if it was reversed, I wouldn't want to date. I wouldn't want to watch you date another person. Do you think this is common, Ashley? I mean, like most people don't. I only know a few who have watched... Well, wait. Actually, Jess has watched your season because your mom told us that wonderful little moment where just walked into the house.

Yeah, her mom. She saw like a clip. Like five minutes. Yeah, your mom was watching her season. And then she said something like, did she say would you date Ben? Or did Jess just offer up like that's the kind of guy I'd want to date?

She goes, I'd date that guy. Yeah. That's so cool. Those moments are the best. It's probably the coolest moment Jess has ever had. I mean, I could just see her walk and be like, I'd date that guy. And then walk out and be like, yeah, we're getting married one day. Yeah.

Her mom watches it. Her mom watched it. Jessica never, like, invested into it. Never, I think after that moment, never really sat down and watched any moment of it. And then even when, like, a commercial comes up now where there's a scene up, of it. It's not something either of us really enjoy coming on. I don't, I feel like if you didn't watch your partner's season, within most Bachelor Nation couples, I know, most people don't go back to rewatch it. Now, if you're in like the Sarah Highland case with Wells, she watched that season

and saw Wells and was like, I like that guy. Yeah. So that's different, right? She didn't know that she would be dating him one day. But if you're already dating, you're already a committed relationship. Yeah. I don't know many people that would like willingly go back to watch that season. Maybe if you met 10 years after the fact, and it's like a different lifetime, then it's more funny. And it depends how far your spouse got. You know, Wells didn't get that far. He was eight or seventh or something. Yeah. Like he got dumped in the episode that he kissed her. So like, it's funny for her to go back and watch. But for somebody who makes a talk. He was eight or seventh or something. He was a for somebody who makes fantasy sweets that's a different story i don't think it's very common uh next headline

is this bachelor star kelsey anderson reveals why she doesn't always wear her engagement ring from fiance joey i've never worn a wedding ring yeah well you have one tattooed so that counts that makes sense yeah yeah yeah i'm a big fan of um there being a symbol whether a ring or a tattoo on that finger to say I'm taken. I like the public announcement of this, but this is her explanation. So, ah, where is it? I don't know. I'm scared. What the heck? I'm joking. She said, ah, you know, blah? I'm joking. Ha, ha. I'm just not wearing it. And you know what that means? It means I'm still engaged, but it's literally just a symbol. Hmm. She goes, I've kind of warped it a bit. I have to go get it fixed. One of the diamonds fell out because of how,

I was taking care of it before. So now I'm just trying to be more responsible. Okay. She said Joey's walking around without an engagement ring and you guys didn't say anything to him. It's because I'm a woman. That's really nice. She did confirm, though, that all things are good in the hood. All right.

Well, Ben, what do you think about a girl not wearing her engagement ring? She does have a point with the fact that Joey's walking around with that one. I, yeah, sure. I don't know. I don't have a ring. I have it tattooed on my finger because my dad and, Stop, stop making it seem like this is not an argument to be had. What if Jess went around without a ring?

I'd be fine. Honestly, I'd be fine with it. She loves her ring so much, though. Like, this, I read this, and it's a totally different perspective. Kelsey has every right to do what she wants to do with this ring. I don't want it wearing because I find it incredibly inconvenient to have this thing on my finger that gets caught, that I play with all the time. But if Kelsey doesn't want to do great, I just don't, I can't relate with that because the only example I have, is of a wife who won't leave the house without her rings because she loves them and she wants

everybody to know she's married. Me too. And I never take mine off. Never ever. I'm not one of those girls to take it off for the shower or for bed or anything like that. So even if mine was altered, I would have another one on my finger. Yeah, sure. I mean, that's how Jess is. She loves her ring. It's something important to her. I'm actually going to be with Joey and Kelsey in less than two weeks. First time I've ever met Kelsey in person, which I'm very excited about. Oh, me too. Tell me everything about her sweetness and her beauty. I will. She's like a real life Disney princess. She's, I hear she's great. Joey is going to be competing in Orlando at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. I don't even know if that's public news yet. I might just be

breaking something that I'm not supposed to be. But he and I will be competing against each other along with Wells. See who wins. All right. Next headline is about Wells. Yeah. You know what? I'm really happy for my friend. And here's why. Social media reacted in the most loud way

saying Wells should have been on Traders longer. And I agree. But here's the headline. Trader star Wells says wife, Sarah Highland, wasn't super proud of early exit. Now, he did get sent home from Traders right away. Okay, so I actually need you to cover this headline for me.

Because I don't understand traitors. I tried watching Peter's season because we were interviewing him about the show. I feel dumb watching traitors because basically the whole plot is to find people who have been labeled as a traitor and you're supposed to assess them out and that's it? Yeah. Okay. You're supposed to guess based on the clues that you have from the games and from being around them and asking them questions.

Okay, so you're telling me that Wells got eliminated from the cast because they didn't like him or because they thought he was a traitor? Oh, you can't not like Wells. No, I know, but like didn't like him as a player, not as a human. I don't think they trusted him. And that's, I mean, I do get this with Wells. Because Wells is a sweet, sweet boy, very nice, very loyal. but he does

like he's he's he's he's witty he's smart and he could be a traitor like I think if there's one person in that group that would be assigned to be a traitor because they could play both roles really well it could be Wells

because he's also a gamer like he's good like I think the whole show saw him he understood the rules of the show which most people going on didn't which is shocking to me I know he probably game planned and prepped

watch previous episodes, had his strategy down. And my guess, and based on what the show showed, is most people are like, he's going to be too good at this. Like, either way, we need to get rid of him because if he's here too long, he's going to be too good. I feel that. 100% feel that. Okay, so comes home, and he asks Sarah, you know.

I mean, comes home right away. Like, here's the friendship story of this. Okay, yeah, please tell us the background. So I find out a few months early Like he's going on traders And we have an event lined up to do together That he has to back out of because of traders So he tells me, hey man, I'm sorry, I'm going on traders

I'm like that makes tons of sense You should do this. The reason we get invited to these events Is because we do these things And that's what he was saying too Well, so he's gone in Scotland And I fully expect Wells to be gone it was like 24 hours after he had texted like hey going on the show signing off by

yeah a few weeks like 24 hours later he sends a text like well I'm back and we're like what happened so they don't seclude him in Scotland no no he came back I'm sure he like showed up back to Sarah like to the house Sarah's like welcome home like nice 48 hours in Scotland huh that was cool he had bought like this nice suit I mean, the guy deserved to be there longer. He was going to be so good at the game. 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. Hey, sis, what if I could promise you you never had to listen to a condescending finance, bro? Tell you how to manage your money again. Welcome to Brown Ambition. This is the hard part when you pay down those credit cards. If you haven't gotten to the bottom of why you were racking up credit or turning to credit cards, you may just recreate the same. same problem a year from now. When you do feel like you are bleeding from these high

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Hola, it's Honey German. And my podcast, Grasias Come Again, is back. This season, we're going even deeper into the world of music and entertainment with raw and honest conversations 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've got some of the biggest actors, musicians, content creators, and culture shifters, sharing their real stories of failure and success. You were destined to be a start. We talk all about what's viral and trending with a little bit of chisement, a lot of laughs, and those amazing vivras you've come to expect.

And, of course, we'll explore deeper topics dealing with identity, struggles, and all the issues affecting Arla and and community. You feel like you get a little whitewash because you have to do the code switching? I won't say whitewash because at the end of the day, you know, I'm me.

Yeah. But the whole pretending and code, you know, it takes a toll on you. Listen to the new season of Grasasas Come Again as part of my Cultura podcast network on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. 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. Listen to Family Secrets Season 12 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So in press, somebody said, how did your wife react, when you said that you were the first one banished. And he said, yeah, she wasn't super proud of me. I mean, there's vows that we said for better for worse.

So she can't divorce me over this. However, she was bummed, I think. She ended up watching it this morning. And I'm like, what do you think? And she was like, yeah, you don't look bad. And I'm like, is it that, it's that bad, isn't it? And she just thought that he would win, he said. And I thought, he goes, he goes, I thought I would win.

And then I didn't. Yeah, it's a weird moment because Wells kind of has that like touch of gold. So like the things he touches typically goes really well or he figures out how to make it go really well. Yeah. I think this is a weird moment for him where he touched it and it like went to coal like right away, blew up in his face. He was saying goodbye. So that's funny because my sister called me yesterday. She fased times me a lot when she has a client and she has a TV in her salon.

so they like watch TV together whoever she has in the chair and so she's watching traitors and she goes we're watching traitors right now and i go oh you know what that's weird that you mention that because i haven't seen wells done like any press or posting anything about it and she goes yeah it's probably because he just got eliminated on the first episode yeah he gone um poor guy i want it just i wanted it for him uh Ashley if there was now I want you to pick one there was a there's all these reality shows that come off of Um, like what show you were on originally now, special forces, traitors, um, there's probably some beach show. What show stands out to you the most to do survive? I put survivor and I would put amazing race in that too for you. Well, they don't have like those. Doesn't matter. No. Oh, doesn't matter. I'm putting them in there for you. I probably do dancing with the stars just because like it's in a studio environment. Okay. Not the wilderness. And I don't have. people screaming in my face and I understand it more than traitors yeah I don't think I'd be very good at gameplay do I have really any sort of mask come on now I would get eliminated night one too

or they'd be like this girl is no threat she could just let her be here forever yeah yeah I think you can figure it out you're a gamer you have done a spinoff show though I know I did stars on Mars huge success um the I I think I would would prefer, I would enjoy Survivor, and then Trader second, special forces third. I watched Special Forces last night. And there's so many moments that I would love to test myself within that they're doing. But you really are sacrificing a lot. I mean, you're, you're in it. Like there's no. It's like 10 days, though. that's fair. That's why I would do it. I can do this for 10 days. Yes. Yes. And pay for our college fund.

100% and you guys, we know the salaries are really good on there. It would pay for an Ivy League. Well, an Ivy League maybe during our college years, not today. Yeah. I think it's, I think that could be something interesting. I don't know. It's fun to think about. You know, we've been asked for a few. two, they'd have really worked out. And some of them are like three month commitments. And I just don't have that in me anymore. Hello to traders and special forces, even though Ben and I have, you know, mixed feelings. We would 100% say yes, just letting you know. 100%. We are here to be in your cast.

Please call. We're scared of you, but very willing. I would actually love to do a show where there's like partners that aren't married. Like you just get teamed up. I think you and I could be a dangerous force because I can push you like I can tell you to do something when I know it's right

and I feel like you would trust me and then you have that like other angle at it where you understand the whole environment and you kind of like see things I don't see I think we could really make magic happen plus we'd be so comfortable with each other that we wouldn't need to be on our best behavior

you know no we could talk back at each other yeah That would fun. Let's do it. Hello, calling Amazing Race. This sounds like an amazing race partnership. It's out there now. Final headline of today is this. Kendall Wong reveals whether she's chosen a baby name. If she'll share her baby online and so much more. So she said that Mitch and her have chosen a baby girl name, but we're still going through baby boy names. They've decided that they don't want to share the names out loud because they don't want to hear other people's opinions. I can understand that. They were saying that they were debating between a couple of them just asking opinions for fun. And then, like, people just had, you know, ah, hate that name. Oh, that scares me. That, that, you know, so they had to keep going back to the drawing board.

So they're just not going to share anymore. And they're not going to, I don't think they're going to find out whether it's a girl or a boy until it comes out. Mm-hmm. How do you feel about that, Ben? Oh, I think it's, well, not. knowing, I feel like just adds an extra level of complexity. Now, we know we're having a little girl. So we've been able to plan for that, right?

Set up the nursery in whatever way we saw fit, get the clothes lined up, get everything ready for a girl. I already feel like there is enough unknown to this process that I don't want anything else unknown. Yeah, you don't need any surprises. There's no surprises. There's going to be enough surprise. Yeah.

The name thing I completely agree with, and we talked about this before, but we have a name picked out. We're very excited about this name. We feel very confident in this name. However, we have been advised to not share the name and not because we don't want to. We would love to, but it is that moment of it just takes one person to be like, oh, that's interesting for you to question it. but nobody's going to question it once at your baby's name. I've seen this happen, right, Ashley? One of my best friends in the world,

a human I love so much was having his first son. And we're all, we're actually, he was with a bunch of like bachelor people and we're all hanging out. And he said, oh, we're going to name our son Clayton,

which just happened to be while Clayton was the bachelor. They're like, ooh, like the Bachelor? And he's like, I don't watch that show. I don't know what that means. And they're like, yeah, the Clayton, the Bachelor right now. And he's like, nope, not.

doing it change the name completely no way change the name completely even though he doesn't watch the show and doesn't associate he didn't want he you know you i guess when you don't watch a show you don't really know how big of an impact it makes but he didn't want his son to be two years old and for people to be like oh wasn't that the year clayton was the bachelor like i think if if one person said that to him he would it would be over well you know that wells became a really popular name once wells was on the show I'm sure he's he like I said he has the gold touch it's different so you know that it has to do with wells being on the show the increase in popularity yeah people saw and they're like I like that name that's a cool name it is a cool name Clayton's a cool name and I would have no problem with him naming his son after a bachelor but I think it threw him off it just took one person's reaction fair or not for him to be completely thrown off from that name and so that is why Jessica and I are keeping it to ourselves until the day of birth. And then I would love for somebody

to come after my daughter's name. I would absolutely enjoy the moments on Instagram of commenting back on that. That would be a blast for me to spend the first week of my fatherhood just going at it. Well, who actually knows the name? You must have told your parents.

Our parents know. Okay. Will you tell me after? No. No, that's fine. Grandparents don't know. Okay. I do think that,

Jessica's siblings know, and that would be it. That's all that knows. Okay. Yeah. So with Dawson, we had Dawson picked out, you know, since I was like 20 years old. And I would tell people so definitively, his name is Dawson, his name is Dawson. So it wasn't like they could really give anything but positive feedback. While going through options with Hayden, so many ideas were denied.

So many of my favorite ideas were denied. Yeah. And that does, that bums you out. Like, I really like Preston. I would have probably wanted Preston. but Jared didn't love Preston and then like his family didn't like that at all

and then my mom still has issues with Hayden Haven I don't know that's I mean that feels like something you had to take up with your mom I like it my dad loves it because I was gonna name him Dominic

after my dad and my dad was like no don't yeah he said don't because he doesn't even feel like a Dominic because he's gone by Jay his whole life Yeah. And he was like, no, Hayden Haven, it's cool.

I'm excited to see what Kindle, you know, comes up with here. This is an exciting time. A lot of unknowns as a fan and as a viewer seems very, it seems like unnecessary stress as somebody expecting a child. Again, if you want to hear the special headline episode with Matt and Rachel's breakup that we are sad for because we had a lot of hope within them and we enjoyed them as a couple, make sure you go back, listen to that episode.

This has been the other headlines over the last week within Bachelor Nation. Until next time, I've been Ben. I've been Ashley. See you guys. Follow the Ben and Ashley I, almost famous podcasts on IHartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to 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 conspiracy theorists. That's right. They gave you the answers and you still blew it. The Puzzler. Listen on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, 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. Smokey the Bears. Then you know why Smokey tells you when he sees you passing through. Remember, please be careful It's the least that you can do After 80 years of learning his wildfire prevention tips Smokey Bear lives within us all

Learn more at smoky bear.com And remember Only you can prevent wildfires Brought to you by the USDA Forest Service Your State Forster and the Ad Council Tune in to All the Smoke Podcast Where Matt and Stacks sit down with former first lady Michelle Obama

Folks find it hard to hate up close. And when you get to know people and you're sitting in their kitchen tables and they're talking like we're talking. You know, you hear our story, how we grew up, how Barack grew up, and you get a chance for people to unpack and get beyond race. All the Smoke featuring Michelle Obama. To hear this podcast and more, open your free IHeart Radio app. Search all the smoke and listen now. This is an IHeart podcast.