The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - Journals from the Mansion

Episode Date: November 26, 2025

Ben and Ashley have uncovered the journals they kept during their time on the show, and they’re letting all the secrets out!They share their personal thoughts and feelings from the very moment they experienced the most dramatic parts of their season. Find out what they hoped would happen, their biggest fears, and everything they didn’t even tell producers.You’ll never look at Chris Soules’ season the same way!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast, Guaranteed Human. On this week's episode of Next Chapter, I, T.D. Jake, sit down with Denzel Washington, a two-time Academy Award-winning actor and cultural icon for a conversation about change, identity, and the moment everything shifted. I mean, I don't take any credit for it. It's nothing I did as special. know, then knocked down a few pegs and recognize it, but I just didn't put me first. I just put God first, and he's carried me. Whether you're rebuilding, reimagining, or just trying to hold it together, this one will speak to you.

Listen to the next chapter podcast on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. new episodes drop weekly. Don't miss one of them. What up, y'all? It's your boy, Kevin on stage. I want to tell you about my new podcast called Not My Best Moment, where I talk to artists, athletes, entertainers, creators, friends,

people I admire who had massive success about their massive failures. What did they mess up on? What is their heartbreak? And what did they learn from it? I got judged horribly. The judges were like, you're trash. I don't know how you got on the show. Check out Not My Best Moment with me kept on stage on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast.

On the podcast health stuff, we are tackling all the health questions that keep you up at night. I'm Dr. Priyankawali, a double board certified physician. And I'm Hurricane de Bolu, a comedian and someone who once Googled, do I have scurvy at 3 a.m. And on our show, we're talking about health in a different way, like our episode where we look at diabetes. In the United States, I mean, 50% of Americans, are pre-diabetic. How preventable is type 2? Extremely.

Listen to health stuff on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Big Take podcast from Bloomberg News keeps you on top of the biggest stories of the day. My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day. Stories that move markets. Chair Powell opened the door to this first interest rate cut. Impact politics, change businesses.

This is a really, stunning development for the AI world and how you think about your bottom line. Listen to the big take from Bloomberg News every weekday afternoon on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Robert Smith, and this is Jacob Goldstein, and we used to host a show called Planet Money. And now we're back making this new podcast called Business History about the best ideas and people and businesses in history. And some of the worst people, horrible ideas, and

destructive companies in the history of business. First episode, how Southwest Airlines use cheap seats and free whiskey to fight its way into the airline business. The most Texas story ever. Listen to business history on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Ben and Ashley I, Almost Famous Podcasts with IHart Radio. Hey guys, welcome to the Almost Famous Podcast. Today, I think you're in for a treat. We are going to be reading for our Bachelor Diaries. I actually kind of want to make this a series

If enough people said they have Bachelor Diaries Mine is the cringiest thing of all time I showed Ben yesterday It looks like something that Bell would have It's very intimidating I bought it in the airport Thinking you know what I should have a journal for this experience

And you told me before we hit record That you actually don't have a journal Which I thought you did but you did have one and then you turn it into your book in plain sight and so now you're just going to be reading from that yeah it's just like a free commercial for a loan is i was going to say i was like is this a podcast as part of the the extension pack of your book yeah uh no i did have a journal and i found this little uh journal that i'll talk about it's very different than yours goodness you're i just want to take a second can you can you

Have you ever thought about this? But in like 100 years, let's say we're not here on earth. We've moved on. It's likely. Yeah. And somebody digs up like your house, right? They're remodeling and they dig it up and they find this book. And they go, oh my gosh.

It's a treasure. It is historic. This has to have meaning and significance. And then they open it up. And they read, so I was in love with this guy named Chris Souls, and he was really cute. And I kissed him for the first time. Can you imagine what these people are going to think? I think that if it's a girl who finds it, she's going to be like, wow, I want to go live back then.

This sounds like a good life. So romantic. She's like, I'm out here dating robots, you know? I don't know who's AI and who's a human. Oh, that's scary. My journal did turn. I still have it somewhere. I think it's in a book in my garage, but alone in plain sight.

A book in your garage? In a box in your garage? In a box in my garage, sorry. And alone in plain sight is the more formulated professional version of the journal. I took the notes and the key points of the journal in my own insecurities and turned it into this book that was re-released because we added a couple chapters into it one on being a dad a couple on being a husband and so it just came back out and so I thought well if I can't find the journal I can find this little thing I'll talk about but then I'll also read from alone in plain sight but honestly this whole episode is not

about me and I mean it it's really about you because your journal is going to make us so happy I mean, Ben, I'm reading the first page And I'm like, I don't think I can do this I don't know if I can put this out there I know I did a couple years ago on my I don't get a podcast I read excerpts from some diary Was it The Bachelor Diary or was it I think it was the Bachelor diary

So let me just say when you open it You get like a whole bunch of these cards So first up is a date card It says Ashley love requires sacrifices your date is tonight oh my gosh i know who that was with this was with canadian daniel i i went to the tribal day so some of these are paradise not oh yeah this is like a bachelor this is bachelor plus paradise but i admittedly did not write as much in paradise because i was like overwhelmed by emotion i was like i don't even know i was like it'll be documented

on TV. I can't even. I can't even. Okay. Here's how this is going to work. I'm going to let you spend the next few minutes and read some excerpts that you think are great. And then we're going to play a little game. I'm going to tell you the number of pages you need to turn. And you're going to turn that number of pages in this. Oh, my gosh, Ben. You are. And you're going to have to read at least a paragraph from those pages. so that you can't cultivate this experience to be less embarrassing. No, we're going to get into the nitty gritty here. But before we do that, I'm going to give you a few minutes here, Ashley, just to start reading to us, please.

Please, no. Okay, okay, well, all right. I just opened this, and this is a layout of our dance for winter games. This is our routine on the ice. And then I have, some light tickets. Wait, you and I didn't dance together, did we? No. That would have been absolutely incredible. Yeah. I feel like. I have some cards against humanity as if we played that and it meant something because I don't remember that. We did play a lot of that during the Bachelorette. Oh, yeah? Okay. Yeah. And then I have another date card here that says, Ashley, I choose a man to get dirty with on today's date. Huh. Huh. Again, who was that for? Who did I take on that date to get dirty with? To get dirty with. with oh okay who was it it was Kevin oh because it was um the pottery oh so it was

winter this is a lot of these are winter games interesting okay well that was probably the only artifacts that I have from winter games in here because I don't remember writing in here during winter games but maybe there's one page okay this is the most embarrassing thing ever this is page one I'm not sure whether I'm writing to myself or whether I'm writing as if I'm talking two crystals. God Lord. It's simple. I'm picky. I have no desire to settle for less than I deserve make any or to make anyone my boyfriend. There have been only a handful of guys that I've liked to this point and they happen to, that have happened to love the noncommittal hookup culture that we live in and have never committed to me. Never wanted a real relationship and I'm a

hopeless romantic to a fault probably and I'm too wrapped up in the chick flick type of love story but even though my expectations and standards are high I think I should be courted I think I desire a proper romance and that's why I've held out that's what I've held out for in a relationship and sex and then I have some notes for myself wait this is page one literally bullet points yes this is page one it says this is how I wanted to get on can I pause you here yeah because I think we're getting an insight into who you are. How much, like, how nervous were you about your virginity, like, story going into this show? I mean, that is a very vulnerable and very open conversation to have.

Like, I don't typically ask my buddies about their sex life, right? It's not really my business. Now, most of them are married, so I guess maybe we're different. But this, this, I'm assuming it was a big, deal for you to even open up about this? Well, because it was in my audition tape and I knew it was a big component to why they were like so interested in me and it was brought up during audition casting weekend that I knew that it was going to play a storyline and I was going to have to talk about it.

So this is kind of me prepping in like the, so how did you get to be a 26 year old virgin conversation? Okay, before you keep going, why was it in your audition? Like, this was something that you wanted to speak about? No, I had me understood because I knew that they would probably be more interested in me if I put it in there. I knew it was a getter. Keep going. So this is apparently my notes in how I should present myself and getting out of the limo.

Steady yourself. Like, this is me, like, getting out of the limo and, like, stay there. Pose. Show the dress first. second look up smile lock eyes say hey handsome good lord it's so nice to finally meet you i've been daydreaming about this moment for a while did you say all this i'm ashley i'm so glad it's you i said this i'm so glad it's you chris make sure to say his name my whole family is so happy it's you even my critical grandma and she brought me she bought me this dress for the occasion she always says oh he's so warm so

warm my grandmother actually started watching the show before i went on like to see who was gonna be my bachelor and she really enjoyed andy's season and then she really liked chris and she's still with us at a hundred and two and she really liked chris just because he is like Like, I mean, Chris is like the lovable. Yeah. Lovable man, he is. Did you act like accurately say all these things that you wrote down? Well, I remember just because of the edit that I said, I'm so glad it's you.

I don't think I said my whole family is. Maybe I did say my whole family is happy. It's you. And then the next one, it says, anyway, I feel so blessed to be here and having this opportunity with you. I can't wait to talk to you more later. And I wanted to make sure that I didn't say, I'll see you inside. So I said, can't wait to talk to you more later. I did say that.

Did you wink? No, I, winking doesn't come natural to me. Okay, so you don't like walk past me like, can't wait to see you inside. I didn't say that. A decade ago, I was on the trail of one of the country's most elusive serial killers. It wasn't until 2023 when he was finally caught. The answers were there, hidden in plain sight. So why did it take so long to catch him?

I'm Josh Zeman, and this is Monster, hunting the Long Island serial killer, the investigation into the most notorious killer in New York, since the son of Sam, available now. Listen for free on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. What up, y'all? It's your boy, Kevin on stage.

I want to tell you about my new podcast, called Not My Best Moment, where I talk to artists, athletes, entertainers, creators, friends, people I admire who had massive success about their massive failures. What did they mess up on? What is their heartbreak? And what did they learn from it? I got judged horribly. The judges were like, you're trash.

I don't know how you got on the show. Boo, somebody had tomatoes. No, I'm kidding. But if they had tomatoes, they would have thrown the tomatoes. Let's be honest. We've all had those moments we'd rather forget. We bumped our head. we made a mistake, the deal fell through,

we're embarrassed, we failed. But this podcast is about that and how we made it through. So when they sat me down, they were kind of like, we got into the small talk, and they were just like, so what do you got?

What ideas? And I was like, oh, no. What? Check out Not My Best Moment with me, Kevin on stage on the Iheart radio app, Apple podcast, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast. On the podcast health stuff,

we are tackling all the health questions that keep you up at night. Yes, I'm Dr. Priyanka Wally, a double board certified physician. And I'm Hurricane Dibolu, a comedian and someone who once Googled, Do I have scurvy at 3 a.m? On health stuff, we're talking about health in a different way. It's not only about what we can do to improve our health, but also what our health says about us and the way we're living.

Like our episode where we look at diabetes. In the United States, I mean, 50% of Americans are pre-diabetic. How preventable is type 2? Extremely. Or our in-depth analysis of how incredible mangoes are. Oh, it's hard to explain to the rest of the world that you, like, your mangoes are fine because mangoes are incredible, but like, you don't even know. You don't know.

You don't know. It's going to be a fun ride. So tune in. Listen to health stuff on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The forces shaping the world's economies and financial markets can be hard to spot. Even though they are such a powerful player in finance, you wouldn't really know that you are interacting with them. And even harder to understand. Donald Trump's trade war, 2.0, is only accelerating the process of de-dollarization, which in a way is jargon for people turning away from the dollar.

That is where the big take from Bloomberg podcast comes in to connect the dots. How unusual is a deal like this? Unprecedented. Every weekday afternoon, we dive deep into one big global business story. The biggest story of the reaction of the oil market to the conflict in the Middle East is one of what has not happened. Katie, you told me that ETFs are your favorite thing. They are. Explain that. Why is that the case?

And unpack what it means for you. Our breakfast foods are consistent consumer staples, and so they sort of become outsized indicators of inflation. Listen to the big take from Bloomberg News every weekday afternoon on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Robert Smith, and this is Jacob Goldstein, and we used to host a show called Planet Money. And now we're back making this new podcast called Business History about the best ideas and people and businesses in history. And some of the worst people, horrible ideas and destructive companies in the history of business. Having a genius idea without a need for it is nothing. It's like not having it at all.

It's a very simple, elegant lesson. Make something people want. First episode, how Southwest Airlines use cheap seats and free whiskey to fight its way into the airline business. The most Texas story ever. There's a lot of mavericks in that story. We're going to have mavericks on the show. We're going to have plenty of robber barons. So many robber barons.

And you know what? They're not all bad. And we'll talk about some of the classic great moments of famous business geniuses. along with some of the darker moments that often get overlooked, like Thomas Edison and the electric chair. Listen to business history on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. So then I go on and on again, how I'm traditional and old school,

I'm okay with that. Given the plat, obviously I said, but given the, The platform, I want to start a, oh, look at this. Fuck me. This is so embarrassing. It says, I want to start a dating revolution and bring courting back. I challenge any guy watching this to ask a girl that they're interested in out on a one-on-one date, even if it's just meeting at a bar for drinks, it doesn't happen enough. It's so simple.

It's nerve-wracking, but what's the worst that can happen? Why are you embarrassed by that? That's sweet. No, it is. But it's just like so funny, I want to start a dating revolution. See, look, look at the gameplay. Look at the gameplay there, according to the Game of Roses. See, I said, I had an agenda.

You did have an agenda, which is very interesting because I never would have expected you to have one, but your agenda was not about yourself. Your agenda was about sparking, healthy dating across your generation. I think that's very selfless and very wonderful. I guarantee there's some people out there that watched you date and related to your story and said, hey, I deserve a man to treat me well. Keep going. I'm having a good time with this.

So use your girl power and demand to be treated right. Being the booty call is usually meaning that you're the submissive one, not the powerful one in the relationship. Wait, I'm just a little bit confused on how you, like, again, friend to friend here. I'm just trying to figure stuff out. I'm confused on how you went from like, here's my story. I'm a virgin to booty call.

yeah I'm saying don't be the booty call this was apparently like the message that I wanted to get out there to women like I wanted to use my virginity as kind of like or you know the fact that I was going to have to talk about my inexperience and relationships and being like this this is why I am the way that I am and I was just so less articulate about it on screen do you today as a married mom of two do you read this and say good on you? Yeah, definitely. I still like very much stand with what I'm saying here, but it's also just like really cringy to actually read. Well, that's what diaries are all about. Yeah. Is there any other passages that you're really excited about?

If not, I'd love for you to turn six pages. Six pages. Yeah. There's like a lot of like virgin stuff in here. The guys are often shocked. No one expects it. They ask how. I don't get out.

out on a lot of dates. I'm a homebody, and I don't, so I don't have to explain it much. A lot of people really respect, really respect it. And that means a lot, but here I am boyfriendless. So I'm looking for someone who is loyal and who makes me comfortable. And I want to feel, I want to feel like I'm talking and laughing with my best guy from, but I also want to jump on and make out with him. And it's hard to find that combination. My parents have been married for 34 years. My dad still tells my sister and I how much he loves my mom. and how beautiful she is and how lucky we all are to have her. My parents have set their relationship standards high.

Okay, so this starts to the diary and not so much like my planet, my talking points. Oh my God, I die. I literally hear. Okay, this is interesting because the first time I actually had like an in, like in-depth conversation with him besides like night one. Yeah. Was I guess day two when I was. sitting on his lap on a tractor. Oh.

Is that that tractor down L.A.? Yeah. Okay. And I said it was a bit uncomfortable to have to sit on his lap in a bikini during our first real conversation. It made it harder to warm up conversational. I'm most concerned with my image guys

often think that they're thrown off me because like I come across a little bit, you know. I don't, it doesn't align with my innocence always. I want him to know the last thing from a promiscuous party girl I know that he understands this is a show

so we're going to be put in awkward scenarios but I want to give the right impression of myself I don't have time for him to figure all this out

it does feel like you spent a lot of time writing in this during Souls' season that most evenings it sounds like you are updating your journal

or getting your thoughts out. Oh, here. I'm also very scared about talking to him about what I wanted to do in life because I said I felt awkward talking about my field being broadcasting because in Bachelor language, that means she's not here for the right reasons. I know that's so not true. I was raised in a family with a stay-at-home mom and I want nothing more than that if given the opportunity. I put love, marriage, and family before anything and I drop anything for that. It's frustrating to me, that one of the few things that you can't control when it comes to happiness,

success, and quality of life is finding someone. And then, do you want me to fast forward to the end? Yeah, I'd love to kind of get into the meat of the season where you're, I'd love to hear your perspective as we're, you know, four or five episodes in. This is the last entry that I have from Christmas season,

and it's not near the end. I still had like a full, like, 10 days after this. Anyway, last night, thankfully, Chris and I got back to a great place. I left feeling like it was the, like it was post-camping trip. But I wonder if that's a good enough point to be at right now. I then talk about how I'm very comfortable making out with him in front of the camera, even though it's in front of the camera. It doesn't feel like it is. Then I again say, this is the season of the Virgin. Carly, who's 29, told Chris on the one and again, she's born again. and she's waiting for marriage.

Carly. Where are you for this? What? I don't think this ended up playing out. No, I don't think we saw this. And I think she might have a traumatic story. And Becca is 25 and just like me and waiting for a serious, loving, real relationship.

Today, I will spend the day being thankful, eating, stressing about tomorrow, and thinking about Chris, analyzing and maybe going into Chris's room later, dot, dot, dot, whatever the heck that means. It's being talked out or so I'm told by the producers. I need to even get more aggressive and if this was my idea, and this was my idea if I didn't get a one-on-one this week. I needed extended, non-interrupted time and I'm looking forward to it, but I guess I'm not going to get my hopes up.

All right, there you go. This isn't that embarrassing, Ashley. No, I mean, there's a few lines that I'm like. like abridging. Okay. Why do you think you stopped writing? I don't know. I wish I had not stopped.

Really? This is so funny though, because do you know what my first line in paradise is? It's just says paradise the top. Okay. And then it says, things are about to go down

like a Taylor Swift song. I fucking love you. this is because i was relating to a taylor song it was um better than revenge i said that i felt like carry with blood dumped on me see i have no clue what you're talking about so carry you know carry the horror movie oh the horror movie okay yeah like that's how i felt oh look at this i think you're greater than tom brady ignore my giant's affiliation i think you're just as hot as gropolo And most importantly, you've been the only guy to thoroughly distract me from someone else after three years. These damn Scorpio's.

Oh my God. I forgot. I even wrote that letter to Jared. Wow. I haven't thought about this in years. And then in Paradise 2, in preparation for season 2, I wrote my story, like as if I was going to write a book. So I said I read Courtney Robertson's book on the way to casting weekend. for the first season, and that prepared me for this journey. And just now, I'm reading

Andy Dorfman's book as I sit on the balcony back in Port of Ayrta, confined to a hotel room for the second year in a row. As I sit relishing in the humidity, I brace myself for what could be an even more heartbreaking experience than last year's trip here. A second romantic movie plays inside my beautiful suite, and one of my favorite parts about my bachelor experience has got to be all the unlimited free room service. Andy's book has in a way prepared me for how to deal if that devastating heartbreak is actualized. Somehow even though it seems unlivable, I will survive this possible loss and should simply consider at the end of a chapter, not the story. Roughly, the first year to all of these shenanigans was a total blast.

It was all about becoming a more confident person, and my second year, I met Jared. And while I'm going into my fourth year consumed by said person at home, I never saw Jared coming until I did, and I expected what I believe to be my only bow of love at first sight. It's unfortunate that I didn't keep a better record of the beginning of our relationship, a version that isn't televised. However, that story was told for millions to see, and it was a pretty accurate portrayal of our relationship at that point in all of its cheesy glory. It truly gives me, he truly makes me want to be a better person.

Would you like me to continue or should I stop? I want you to continue, Ashley. See, sure. I wish I could be as selfless and thoughtful of others as he is. He's the kindest heart. And at some points over the year, I believe it's almost been to a fault. When the ugly truth, the movie, ironically, is playing in the background, is that if he were a little less caring and sensitive, my heart could have been shattered months ago

and I could still be in the healing process. But no, instead I find myself still holding. on to hope that our incredibly strong friendship could evolve into something more. I just refuse to believe that two people who love each other so deeply can't imagine and can't imagine their lives without each other who are so compatible and so delighted in each other's company. How can we just not be together romantically? The past year certainly hasn't been with all its fair share of teas. Certainly hasn't been with its fair share of teases of this happening? This past year has been. Has been. It's definitely the right word. Of course, without them,

I like to think that I wouldn't be so hopelessly in unrequited love with him. If you asked me this time last year where I would have thought my relationship with Jared would be, I would have said that either non-existent or my boyfriend, as I did believe that he did need time to recover from Caitlin and be friends first. Um, despite the two, tears and at times heartache Jared has enhanced my life and made me more mature. While I still have a positive outlook on love, I know it's not as simple as they make it seem in the movies and I find myself in less of a fantasy world, despite the fact that Jared is a fantasy come to life and anyone that I've ever found as close to Prince Charming. He's taught me emotional intimacy

and I believe our relationship has been a bit of a refresher course for him. People don't understand our relationship and they probably shouldn't because our relationship is definitely one of a kind. Anyway, it goes on and on and on.

That's really sweet, Ashley. Thanks, Pat. Oh, man. I mean, it is like pages beyond that because this was me sitting in the hotel room. Yeah, I mean, it's got like 20 pages. This is me sitting in the hotel room for five days being like I'm writing our story up until now and that's and I think I do get to the point where it was like present day yeah uh Ashley it's absolutely wonderful it always is it's a

great reminder and thank you for sharing this with us a decade ago I was on the trail of one of the country's most elusive serial killers but it wasn't until 2023 when he was finally caught The answers were there, hidden in plain sight. So why did it take so long to catch him? I'm Josh Zeman, and this is Monster, hunting the Long Island serial killer, the investigation into the most notorious killer in New York, since the son of Sam, available now. Listen for free on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. What up, y'all? It's your boy, Kevin on stage.

I want to tell you about my new podcast called Not My Best Month, where I talk to artists athletes, entertainers, creators, friends, people I admire who had massive success about their massive failures. What did they mess up on? What is their heartbreak? And what did they learn from it? I got judged horribly. The judges were like, you're trash. I don't know how you got on the show. Boo. Somebody had tomatoes. I'm kidding. But if they had tomatoes, they would have thrown the tomatoes. Let's be honest. We've all had those moments we'd rather forget. We bumped our head. We made a mistake. The deal felt through. We're embarrassed. We failed. But this podcast is about that and how we made it through. So when they sat me down, they were kind of like, we got into

the small talk. And they were just like, so what do you got? What? What ideas? And I was like, oh, no. What? Check out not my best moment with me, Kevin on stage on the Iheart radio app, Apple podcast, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast. On the podcast health stuff, we are tackling all the health questions that keep you up at night. Yes, I'm Dr. Priyanka Wally, a double board certified physician. And I'm Hurricane Dibolu, a comedian and someone who once Googled, Do I have scurvy at 3 a.m? On health stuff, we're talking about health in a different way.

It's not only about what we can do to improve our health, but also what our health says about us and the way we're living. Like our episode where we look at diabetes. In the United States, I mean, 50% of Americans are pre-diabetic. How preventable is type 2? Extremely. Or our in-depth analysis of how incredible mangoes are. Oh, it's hard to explain to the rest of the world.

Your mangoes are fine because mangoes are incredible, but like you don't even know. You don't know. You don't know. It's going to be a fun ride. So tune in. Listen to Health Stuff on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Big Take podcast from Bloomberg News dives deep into one big global business story every weekday. A shutdown means we don't get the data, but it also means for President Trump that there's no chance of bad news on the labor market.

What does a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich reveal about the economy? Our breakfast foods are consistent consumer staples, and so they sort of become outsize indicators of inflation. What's behind Elon Musk's trillion dollar payout? There's a sort of concerted effort to message that Musk is coming back. He's putting politics aside. He's left the White House. And what can the PCE tell you that the CPI can't? CPI tries to measure out-of-pocket costs that consumers are paying for things,

whereas the PCE index that the Fed targets is a little bit broader of a measure. Listen to the big take from Bloomberg News every weekday afternoon on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Robert Smith, and this is Jacob Goldstein, and we used to host a show called Planet Money. And now we're back making this new podcast called Business History about the best ideas and people and businesses in history. And some of the worst people, horrible ideas,

and destructive companies in the history of business. Having a genius idea without a need for it is nothing. It's like not having it at all. It's a very simple, elegant lesson. Make something people want. First episode, how Southwest Airlines use cheap seats and free whiskey to fight its way into the airline business.

The most Texas story ever. There's a lot of mavericks in that story. We're going to have mavericks on the show. We're going to have plenty of robber barons. So many robber barons. And you know what? They're not all bad. And we'll talk about some of the classic great moments

of famous business geniuses, along with some of the darker moments that often get overlooked. Like Thomas Edison and the electric chair. Listen to Business History on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm going to take the last few minutes here. To talk about yourself now, it's your turn. Come on now. I can do that. This is really fun. So I have this little black book. So when I was growing up, my mom would print off Bible verses and put a new one up every week.

on my mirror and my bathroom, like tape it up there, and I could like remember it. And so for the Bachelor, when I went on the show, she took those verses in some of my favorite quotes and put them all in this book so I could bring it with me and read. But the coolest part is I kind of forgot this. I've always loved Winnie the Pooh. Winnie the Pooh. Yeah, I know. I mean, Winnie. It was brought up at her wedding. Well, the first page is a picture she drew of Winnie the Pooh, yeah. It's really sweet. That's so crazy, Ben, you would one day have a daughter named Winnie. I know. And the quote here is, how do you spell love? Piglet said that. And Pooh answered, you don't spell it, you feel it. Is that sweet? Aw, it's so sweet. Yeah, so it's fun to look through

this and see all these like quotes that are in Bible verses that are written down for me. And I used it a lot when I was on the show just to like, you know, you're away from your family, you're traveling all around. You're stressed out. Life's changing. And so I remember I had this with me and I just look at it. It'd been like a good reminder of my family back home and like setting like just setting me back up for some foundation. So that was fun. I found that for this. So nice. I love that. Well, can you read a couple more? Oh yeah. I can read a couple more. And then I'm going to read a little section from my book that was like really taken from my journal. So we have a quote from Dr. Seuss in here that says, be who you are, be who you are and say what you feel because those

who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. The first Bible verse here is 1 Peter 5 verses 6 and 7. It says, so be content with who you are and don't put on airs. God's strong hand is on you. He'll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God. He is most careful with you. oh this was good it's kind of going off of Ashley some of our conversations about people of faith today and you know how they're speaking about faith on social media and this kind of like strong arm mentality people have but I remember this little prayer that was written by Peter Marshall short but I remember it hit me during the bachelor when I

had made some mistakes and it's funny when you're on that show you make any mistakes um i was showing favoritism i think okay and i was there was a moment and i still like really like hurt for this olivia caridi was getting just i knew she was getting kind of like blasted by the like preface like they needed a villain and she kind of got like singled out and i didn't put my foot down. And then I failed to put my foot down even post airing of the show. And I really regret that to this day. She didn't deserve it. It wasn't real. It wasn't true. And it really, I know it really hurt her. She's great. And so, yeah, maybe not the big mistakes that you'd see on television, but like inner turmoils that were going on. And so the prayer says, Lord, when I am wrong,

make me willing to change. And when I am right, make me, easy to live with. Aw. So, yeah, there was just these, like, really good reminders, and the cool part about it is it felt like all these reminders were humbling in nature, but uplifting in its spirit. So, like, it kept me grounded, I think was the word I was looking for earlier. Like, it did. It kept me very grounded throughout the whole process when life's getting thrown at you

and you just read that, you're like, okay, I don't want to change here. So help me still navigate this being the man that I've always dreamed to be, wanted to be, desired to be. And then I wrote, now this is obviously coming from the book alone in plain sight, which is a whole book on hopefully the reader feels less alone when they're done reading it. And so it kind of takes little sections of my story, my journal, especially Bachelorette when I was feeling super insecure, having a lot of questions, and formulate it into like more of a, like a, book where there's some like response and solution so it's not like a diary where sometimes it's hard to read or grammar is wrong this has been edited so i just want to preface with that yes i apologize for my stumbles but i remember going on to the show i remember a night laying in my bed in in uh in denver a couple weeks before the show started um and my buddies had told me this thing

like and they're friends and to some level I'm kind of happy they said this other ways I think it was really mean but they came over to kind of help me get packed and they said I said man I don't even know how much I need to bring and they said well you probably only be there like two weeks there's some studs that go on that show and I it's so out of touch like I love the way they humbled you but like when six foot four Ben Higgins locks in the door like that is the ultimate bachelor candidate. Like, that's hilarious. That they wouldn't think of you like that.

It really did. Like, it hurt because I was trying to pump myself up. Like, hey, you belong here. You're going to have fun here. And it, like, really set me back on this. Like, this is just embarrassing. Kind of the thought of why would I even do this if I'm only going to be there two weeks?

Like, I don't want to make a fool myself again. This is going to be embarrassing. But I still chose to do it. And I'm proud of myself for that. And then the next thing they said was, well, maybe you can last long enough to become king of the nerds, meaning like maybe you'll like actually do something on this show. But if you do, it really doesn't matter anyways. Two really like hurtful things. So I remember laying in my bed going, goodness, like am I making the biggest mistake of my life?

Is this going to absolutely crush me? I'm already very fragile. And if you remember me coming into The Bachelor, I was already very very. insecure and I thought this could either be the like this could really be something that like puts me over the edge. It wasn't necessarily a great place mentally. And then I wrote on my plane flight to Los Angeles. On your plane flight. Yeah. How would you say that? Why on your flight? On my flight. Okay. On my flight. I wrote this whole. synopsis on what is love.

Okay, see, you and I were both like thinking, interesting, where our heads are at going on our plate. And so let me read this because this kind of is the excerpt from my journal that answers that question, or at least to the best of my ability. Says, what is romantic love? Some of us skip through life assuming we know the answer. We know love when we feel love. but how do we know what we feel is actually love?

Could it be nothing more than a primal instinct and lust? At first, the two feel a lot of like. We meet somebody and sends an instantaneous attraction. Sparks fly, hearts flutter, blood flows. The moment we first speak to one another, we feel the chemistry. Then our hands touch. And it's, to borrow a line from an old movie, magic. When our lips meet for the first time, fireworks explode. But are fireworks proof of true

romantic love? Sparks may fly, but are sparks enough for us to know that this is the one we will be with forever? Chemistry doesn't equal a healthy relationship, something many of us have to learn the hard way, nor do the feelings of being in love mean we've found our one true love. Again, I must ask, what is true romantic love? I have wanted to pursue true love for as long as I can remember. My parents started praying for my future partner even before I was born. Anything they'd pray about for... Isn't that sweet?

Anything they'd pray about for so long must be a big, big deal. Remember, at this point, I'm very single. anything this big had to be taken seriously and I didn't want to blow it that's why one day while laying shingles and pounding nails on the roof with my dad i asked him dad how do you know mom was the one at the time my mom and dad had been together for 37 years the two of them still seem madly in love if ever i'd witnessed true love it has to be my mom and dad's relationship and so i wanted to know their secret. I sat back and waited for my dad to let me in on the secret that unlocks the mystery of finding true love. I honestly expected him to say something life-changing

to give me some profound truth that would illuminate my path forward toward true love. My dad paused for a moment as he thought about the question, then said, Ben, when you know, you know. At that, my dear readers, is the Dave Higgins secret to understand. true love when you know you know i could not hide my surprise my jaw dropped and shocked and i asked is that all you've got yep that's it my dad said with a smile like he actually had revealed one of the greatest mysteries of the universe when you know you know he said again i shook my head i don't get it i said when you know you know that makes no sense to me how am i ever supposed to know what does that even mean my dad grinned and shrugged his shoulders you'll just know something

son, he said again. Except for most of my life, I haven't even known what I was supposed to know. I felt sparks. I've seen fireworks. I felt the euphoria where I gladly drive four hours on a Tuesday night just to spend a couple hours with the one I love. Then I drive back home in the middle of the night and get up tired for work the next day and then do it again on a Wednesday. If that's what it took to see her again. But the euphoria didn't last and neither did that relationship.

none of my relationships did for the first 30 years of my life. And then it goes into meeting Jessica and to going on The Bachelor. Ben, it's so funny that we both so much wrote about love and relationships on the flight. I know. Like, talk about going for the right reasons. Like, our headspace was all about this, this is a huge step in our romantic life. We weren't even thinking about the other things to come with it. It really, I mean, I think that is when we, you know, the game.

Marosa's show was such a fun show, I think, for us to be a part of. And I think to summarize it and to give us some credit, this, you know, this isn't like a self-promotion more than a, hey, I think they casted us hoping for something, right? They loved your virgin story. And for me, you know, maybe it was just like, hey, the good old boy next door from the Midwest. And he seems to relate to our target demo. But I think what they didn't, what they didn't see was this just deep desire in our life to find a partner. And knowing that we had to take some risks to find it along the way, you know, be that reality television or be that just getting out there in the world. And you and I both weren't doing a great job at getting out there in the world and dating at the time

of the show because we're home buddies, bodies. We're a little bit more introverted when it comes to like the social scene. And what the show maybe couldn't have casted or known about us was our deepest desire at the end of the day, bring it, bring the money, bring the fame, bring the attention, all those things. That's great. But we would have never replaced our true romantic like relationship for those things. And today, I think I could speak for you and say, you could take all the other stuff away,

but do not take away my wife. Like you could take all that. I'd give it all back to you in a second, but it was worth it, right? And I think that's the crazy part. And maybe the message that people need to hear is we dreamed of it, we wrote about it, we thought about it, we processed it,

we asked our closest loved ones about it. Now, you know, we found it. And it was better than I ever could have thought. and my dad and it goes into this this next section if somebody asked me today Ben how did you know jessica was the one it's funny and then i wanted to ask you that i wanted to be like so when you met jess what did what did you think i i remember this moment on our first date actually internally i thought i think i know you think i know i think i know yeah and then i said this is either going to be the greatest thing to ever happen to me in my life or the hardest

thing that ever happened to me in my life and ended up being the greatest. But if somebody asked me how did I know Jess was the one? I would say with confidence when you know, you know. Yeah. That's so cute. I'm toys. So cute. I wanted to say that have you seen that trend on Instagram and TikTok where it's like you're going to get a call the Susie and and Blake both did it. Okay. And it's like, you're going to get a call in your 20s, and it's going to tell you. And then, like, you fill in the blank.

And then you're supposed to basically say, you have to do it. And of course, Susie and Blake have made it bachelor-oriented. So it's like, you're going to get a call that you have to go date some guy along with 29 women on national TV. And you have to say yes to it. and it shows like their life over the past, you know, for Susie, like six years and then him like close to 10. And it's so good. It's so good.

You have to do it. It'll make you smile. You have to watch theirs. It's very uplifting. It's really cool to see how lives turn out. It is. It's fun. So that's an insight into the brains of us.

Ashley's unfiltered. And as I said, I had the benefit of getting mine edited and filtered. and distributed across the world this point. So you can go pick up a loan in plain sight. The new edition. The new edition. The modern version. I love it.

Yeah, you can go pick that up right now. It's out for the holiday season. I'm really excited about it. Perfect. And you can continue to listen to us here on the almost famous podcast. Today was a day of introspection and vulnerability. And Ashley, thank you for bringing us into your world through your diary. Thank you for sharing yours too.

It makes me so smiley. And I hope everybody out there listening is also smiling because it's a great message out there. It's a great message you put out there. I love it. Until next time, I've been Ben. I've been Ashley. See you.

Love you. Bye. Follow the Ben and Ashley I, Almost Famous Podcasts on IHartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. On this week's episode of next chapter, I, TD, sit down with Denzel Washington, a two-time Academy Award-winning actor and cultural icon, for a conversation

about change, identity, and the moment everything shifted. I mean, I don't take any credit for it. It's nothing I did as special, you know, did not down a few pegs and recognized it, but I just didn't put me first. I just put God first, and he's carried. Whether you're rebuilding, reimagining, or just trying to hold it together, this one will speak to you. Listen to the next chapter podcast on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. New episodes drop weekly.

Don't miss one of them. What up, y'all? It's your boy, Kevin on stage. I want to tell you about my new podcast called Not My Best. moment where I talk to artists, athletes, entertainers, creators, friends, people I admire who had massive success about their massive failures. What did they mess up on? What is their heartbreak?

And what did they learn from me? I got judged horribly. The judges were like, you're trash. I don't know how you got on the show. Check out Not My Best Moment with me kept on stage on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast. On the podcast health stuff, we are tackling all the health questions that keep you up at night. I'm Dr. Priyankawali, a double board certified physician. And I'm

Hurricane Dibolu, a comedian and someone who once Googled, do I have scurvy at 3 a.m. And on our show, we're talking about health in a different way, like our episode where we look at diabetes. In the United States, I mean, 50% of Americans are pre-diabetic. How preventable is type 2? Extremely. Listen to health stuff on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Big Take podcast from Bloomberg News keeps you on top of the biggest stories of the day. My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day.

Stories that move markets. Chair Powell opened the door to this first interest rate cut. Impact politics, change businesses. This is a really stunning development for the AI world and how you think about your bottom line. Listen to the big take from Bloomberg News every weekday afternoon on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. you get your podcasts. I'm Robert Smith, and this is Jacob Goldstein, and we used to host a show called Planet Money. And now we're back making this new podcast called Business History about the best ideas

and people and businesses in history. And some of the worst people, horrible ideas, and destructive companies in the history of business. First episode, How Southwest Airlines Use Cheap Seats and Free Whiskey to fight its way into the airline is the most Texas story ever. Listen to Business History on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast. or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an I-Heart podcast, guaranteed human.