The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - Mini Van, Big Impact

Episode Date: February 16, 2021

Ben and Ashley break down Heather Martin’s surprise minivan arrival and the speculation that Rachael ends up winning the season. Hear the REAL story of how producers reacted to Heather just showing up. We hear a major revelation about Jojo and Jordan’s relationship. And find out the truth about Katie as the next Bachelorette! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hi, my name is Enya Eumanzor. And I'm Drew Phillips. And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom. If you're a crime junkie and you love crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated ADHD... Oh my God, perfect. And want to hear people with mental illness, psychobabble.

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This is Wisecrack, available now. Listen to Wisecrack on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Super Secret Bestie Club podcast season four is here. And we're locked in. That means more juicy chisement. Terrible love advice. Evil spells to cast on your ex. No, no, no, no.

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Trust me, new episodes every Wednesday on exactly right. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcasts with IHartRadio. Hey, this is another week of the Almost Famous Podcast. We're here to break down the most recent episode of Matt James' season. Ashley, there is an episode out there that we recorded. Tell everybody where they can find it. So yesterday we dropped an episode that is exclusively about race in the franchise.

We have Devon Franklin on, and he's a media mogul. He's an inspirational speaker, and he does such a fantastic job of talking about race in this franchise and how far we need to go. It was such a powerful moving episode. I think Ben and I got emotional at times. We really urge you to listen to it. It was all based on the fact that there was that interview last week on extra between Chris Harrison and Rachel Lindsay. And yeah.

So we want that conversation to keep continuing. Will's said this week, you know, Will's from a couple seasons ago. He said, I sincerely hope this isn't another black box with quotes around it moment, where people speak up against racism because it's the topic of the day. I don't want to see the retreat back into comfort after one day, after one post. I'm loving the energy I'm seeing and all I ask is to keep it up. So we want to keep it up. We want to make sure that this is something that we continue to talk about on this podcast. I reached out to a couple of the girls from this season to discuss the joint statement that they put out last week. I don't know if

you guys saw, but all, wow, there's like 30 something girls from this season. And they put together a statement in response to the Rachel and Chris interview. And it read this. We are the women of Bachelor season 25. 25 women who identify as BIPOC were cast on this historic season. that was meant to represent change. We're deeply disappointed and want to make it clear that we denounce any defense of racism. Any defense of racist behavior denies the lived and continued experiences of BIPOC individuals.

If you guys don't know what BIPOC means, that means black indigenous people of color. They continue to say these experiences are not to be exploited or tokenized. Rachel Lindsay continues to advocate with grace for individuals who identify as BIPOC within this franchise. Just because she is speaking the loudest doesn't mean that she is alone. We stand with her, we hear her, and we advocate for change alongside her.

So I wanted to do a little research as to how these girls got together and came up with this statement. So I reached out to a couple of them. Chelsea responded, and she told me that I was able to use her words and talk about what she said on our podcast. She said that the women who wrote this statement would like to remain anonymous, but in order to continue to lift BIPOC voices, please feel free to mention that it was written by six women of color. They spoke, worked on, and wrote on a statement together. She says she doesn't want to speak for others, but she can say that last week she felt really disappointed and a little defeated. She said a lot of this season has felt like one step forward and two steps back.

If you guys did listen to the episode yesterday, or the one that we recorded yesterday with Devon, we address this one step forward and two steps back that she mentions. She continues to say that she specifically feels like this extra interview was too important not to speak up about. She said she didn't want people like Rachel Lindsay or people like Taylor Nolan to feel like they were alone and that that they weren't supported. She said that we are allowed to, of course, discuss that she has told me this on the podcast. So, yeah, we're just going to keep talking about it. We've got to keep talking about it. And hopefully we will grow and change in this franchise will be better because of it.

You know, one of the things that Devon kind of hinted to and talked about is, like, the power, it reminds me of that, you remember the old story that we used to hear about the starfish and the kid that walks down the beach throwing one starfish at a time in the ocean? And the conclusion of that is like, if he gets questioned on that and the kid's response is like, well, at least I helped that one. Well, talking to Devon reminded me that, you know, yes, we have a podcast, but, you know, this takes up a very small amount of my answer. time and it takes up a very small amount of your time and it takes up a very small amount of time of our listeners that this conversation needs to continue far outside of the podcast into our communities and networks into the people that we come in contact with so that we can continue to help the one or be a part of the solution and not the problem we can help and not hurt which is something I've kind of coined this year as my phrase so yeah you know I think when we look at this

maybe the conclusion to all this is we can't let the conversation stop here we can't let this as wills said like just be another moment where we we advocate and then we step back it's hey this is something that is it is not only needed but it's also hurting people and and i hope to our listeners on the show and i hope and i know for you personally is uh we don't want to live life hurting other people and we want to be a part of the solution so uh with that ashley let's take a break here we are going to break down this week's episode. We are going to talk about Bachelor headlines. We're going to do a normal podcast. But again, we encourage you to go back and listen to our conversation with Devon Franklin, which was posted on Monday.

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Listen to no such thing on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. 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?

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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... What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy Club. I know it sounds like the start of a bad joke, but that really was my reality nine years ago. I just normally do straight stand-up, but this is a bit different. On stage stood a comedian with a story that no one expected to hear. Well, 22nd of July 2015, a 23-year-old man had killed his family.

And then he came to my house. So what do you get when a true crime producer, walks into a comedy club a new podcast called wisecrack where stand-up comedy and murder takes center stage available now listen to wisecrack on the iHeart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts well we got another week of the bachelor now it feels like to me i'm going even hold my opinions on this episode until we kind of intermix them into the conversation. But we're obviously excited about this week for a couple reasons. One of those reasons is because we have a cliffhanger and Heather Martin has walked into the brand new, very big, very beautiful Bachelor Mansion and we have no clue how it's going to play out. But this week, we see it

play out. We do. And it wasn't much different than what we predicted last week. We predicted last week. She comes in. He says, okay, give me a minute to think about this. He actually holds a lot Hannah Brown's opinion. Like it holds a lot of weight for him. The whole reason that he even said like hang around is because he needed to decide whether the opinion of such a close friend should kind of overweigh how far he's come with some of these other girls and to make that disruption if he were to allow her to join this group so late in the game um but ultimately he decides that he's just come too far with the other women tells heather that she you know she can't stay um but it was very of course the way he does it is so sweet um he says that

you know if we were in san diego right now it would be a different story but that's not the case and um she goes home but again i think we see a bullying moment Just like the girls, I'm not saying you have to be super warm and welcoming to a girl who's coming in during week six slash seven. You know, I understand how agitating that can be. But for Kit to say, bitch, what are you doing here? I don't want to hear you. I don't want. Then there's other people who are saying, like, I don't want to hear your tears.

What's her name again? Like, there's just like a lot of just cattyness again. And it's just like, this girl is already in such a. vulnerable position to make her feel like this on top of it was like again disappointing to see but maybe not shocking well yeah that's my bit one no i was actually very surprised especially with kind of i don't know it's kind of you know it's kind of this we uh we had thought i guess that after the a few weeks the bowling would stop i was surprised at how mean they were to heather like it was definitely mean i don't think anybody's going to argue that that it was

a very uncomfortable situation that they didn't know Heather, that they obviously didn't want her there, which I don't, I don't even disagree with. Like, of course you don't want her there, but it was, it was hostile. And she sat in that, and obviously she did go home, which was, I'm going to say, probably for the best for her. Like, I think sticking around there would have been even worse. And I was kind of sitting there, Ashley, expecting what was to happen, which was Heather going home.

And I was like, please don't stay. not because I don't like Heather. She's been on the podcast. She's a sweet girl. I don't know if she'd make a match with Matt or not. But it was like, please don't stay because then that's the storyline that we hear now for the next few weeks. And we're getting so far in this season that I am again and I'm harping on it every week. I want to see the love stories.

I don't want to see the drama at this point. It's been way overplayed. It's way overused. And so Heather did go home. Well, others went home as well. We walked then into a rose ceremony and some of our favorites go home. well Chelsea went home and Serena C went home again every single rose ceremony for like the past four or five weeks I am mind blown by somebody who leaves and this week it was Chelsea I was DMing her as I said earlier in this podcast and then I had to DM her and be like wait wait a second you're eliminated in this at the top of this episode I did not see that coming at all we've seen such strong moments from her during group dates over the past three weeks that I thought it was going to be Abigail leaving

at that rose ceremony. I love Abigail, you know, but just like connection wise, it just seemed like she was falling off and Chelsea was gaining steam. But there she went. And I mean, it makes sense that she would have left in this episode. We see so many people go home in this episode, you know, it truly chopped the cast in half. But I think it was just interesting the way that she went home earlier on it's a I would define this episode as the episode where uh again a lot of our favorites exit like this was like a big gut punch when it comes to some of our favorites and obviously the first row ceremony is the first example of that we're going to get into abigail in just a bit um but we move on from the rose ceremony to uh the first one-on-one

date of this episode that's with serena p uh the date card says can our love go deeper which can mean so many weird different things and it was weird and it was different and it did mean some awkward things yes it did so they did tantric yoga in like basically sex positions yeah um i wouldn't have loved this date they've done something like this before i remember chase and jojo did it um i think there's probably been another one um matt is you know really affectionate he doesn't really care when it comes to pda and apparently we learned that serena is not that way at all. She's wanting it to be over the entire time. She said she was beyond her comfort zone. Matt really says that, well, Matt really enjoyed the activity, but also really

enjoys that Serena is so honest with how she didn't like it afterward. And to be honest, I was thinking like at points during this date that they weren't super compatible. I really like Serena. I like her honesty. But I was thinking, like, are there love language is going to be compatible if he's like all into this affection and sexuality? And she's like, I'm not, I'm not like this. Like, I'm feeling very uncomfortable. Did you find the same? Yeah. I mean, love language is funny because you, you want to find somebody that is compatible, but you also can find that adventure in the incompatibility or, you know, so maybe off the show. I think this is a big telling moment for, the experience on the show when you're on the show uh you don't have that time to sit and watch a

movie or you don't have that time to be intimate in whatever way that you feel is fit without cameras around but cameras are around people are watching it all times if that is is something that makes you uncomfortable well then the show is going to be really hard for you and so i actually then after the date was over i was like okay if matt no she's uncomfortable realizes that she was I'm going to say awkward. I don't know if she was awkward, but she was just like not feeling the moment. And yet still keeps her around.

And there is something very, like he's feeling very serious about her. Completely agree. Because it seemed like once they hit that little disagreement, he wanted to just keep pushing forward. Yes, exactly. So he's like, hey, I get it.

I now see this. I understand it. And yes, this is a little bit disheartening because it would have been a great date. And we could have like made, out and like done all this stuff but then he's like hey i respect the situation if i respect you enough and i like you enough to now still keep you around even though this was this was weird this death they didn't necessarily like flow and fit well so what it tells me is she's somebody

to watch out for i don't know if he ends up with her at the end but it's definitely now like the very first as we get down in the final weeks here the first telling uh connection outside of maybe rachel that we're like okay this is something very serious now maybe but like can i just say i feel like maybe she's not all the way there with him and i think we're seeing that for the scene to the next episode with her family she's kind of maybe doubting if she's 100% into him and i feel like if you are so into somebody like you'd want to do that date even if it wasn't public yeah i don't know i feel weird about this i've always felt weird about a on television like even though I was the bachelor and it happened like there was not a like you know

you can kiss there's like boundaries there but as soon as things started to get like super heated or like you know that moment felt like it was going beyond like PG 13 yeah I wouldn't have been comfortable with it while I was on the show you definitely makes you feel like a different sort of way like you know your grandma's watching this you know your family's watching this you know a lot of people are watching that like hey we're you know it just made me feel weird um but if we go on she does get the rose she's going to be around and we get a new date card which piper michel rachel brie kit abigail are all on the card which feels so weird to say because a lot of these girls aren't here going in the next week it's like hey i read this list

and it's weird that this is you know the episode that we're breaking down because a lot of these girls do go home but um jacinia then gets the one-on-one so we see that we know that after the show or after this date and the date card reads love will always find a way I think there must have been something cut out because they go straight into the nighttime portion of the date. That's interesting. Yeah. Because there's nothing there with that date card meaning to go into the date.

You know what I think? Yeah. No, you're right. And like what is that? Like a scavenger hunt? Is it something like that just didn't work? Did whether or not handle it well? But you're right.

It is funny because that is a note that you see, you're always good at this stuff. I watched it and I have in here like. the nighttime portion notes, but I didn't even think about the fact that the date never happened. That's Ashley, good note. Once again, give Ashley Ikenetti credit. She has dissected the production and she's realized that we only saw the nighttime portion. Well, the nighttime portion was full of some really important moments, right? Like we learned a lot.

We saw a lot. And Matt, I think, is really starting to identify who he's most into. And we see this on the nighttime portion. So our first series conversation is with Bree, and she breaks to him that she had to resign from her position at her work in order to be with him any further. I know a lot of people, when they go into The Bachelor, like their place of work gives them, you know, two weeks, a month, whatever. It seems based on where she is in this, she probably had to resign after a month. And could you imagine the amount of guilt he would have hearing that conversation? hearing her tell him that if she was on the chopping block now like I think we all knew that

she wasn't really on the chopping block so we all like had a sigh of relief but still oh the guilt I would uh I would say that like I I wouldn't wish that upon any bachelor or bachelorette to have that conversation like I don't know if brie will look back on that we could ask her at some point I'm sure we'll have wrong and say do you ever regret that conversation because because I think she's like, hey, I needed to share him this. He's, like, the most important person in my life right now, and he needs to know where I'm coming from, and he needs to know how serious I am about it.

But it was like, it felt to me like Matt was like, oh, no. I mean, hey, I like you, but, like, now I feel really weird because I like somebody else too, and, like, now I feel a much pressure. Here's, okay, side note, a little frustration. Bree's awesome. And, like, we're not seeing enough of her. We're not seeing enough of her. Like, we saw the one-on-one day weeks ago.

We haven't really seen Bree. Tell me if I'm wrong since then. We don't know a lot about Bree. Here we are. They're sitting down and they're having this wonderful conversation. And she is opening up to him if it's appropriate or not. That's beside the point. They're opening up to each other.

They're having this like very romantic conversation. And I'm like, Bree, where have you been? And then I'm like, that's not your fault. You've been around the whole time. I know. And I think it goes back to my brief conversation with Chelsea. She brings up two things. One, that there are too many girls on this season.

when you add it up it is about 37 38 girls that is crazy and it is too much because you can't focus on the love stories enough and then secondly she brings up the fact that it was so bogged down by drama that so many of these love stories were never told and think about the amount of time we would have to get to know matt and breeze connection if we just eliminated a little bit of the Serena and Katie fight last week the Victoria drama all that stuff like it would have made room

to get to know Brie better yes I 100% agree with you Ashley it's a weird thing I'm a big fan of Brie she still has my vote I'm sticking to that well you know we obviously see the connection once again between Rachel Matt Matt does or Rachel does end up getting the rose from Matt and

Abigail goes home and Abigail goes home which I'm saying here let's pause at this point because I'm on Abigail's team I don't think she got a fair shot I don't know why she didn't get a fair shot but she gets the first impression

Rose there seems to be this really magical connection where did it go wrong I'm asking myself this question like we never saw anything of Abigail again maybe it's because she didn't like really speak to Matt again but it's like no she had to have right like they've had to have conversations leading up to this point but every week we're holding on saying abigail's got to get a rose like i got got to get

the one-on-one abigail's got to get the one-on-one and it never happens and then she goes home in this fashion and i feel like as a fan i didn't get enough abigail like we just never got enough of her as a human and i was excited for that because i really thought that was something special I didn't, everybody was saying that she was going to be going home because I just didn't have, I didn't want to believe it. And now, well, I got to believe it. Well, she definitely is a frontrunner, I think, for Bachelorette. Yes. Because she is one of the most endearing girls and the one that we are craving to see more of that we never did.

Matt's explanation as to what happened to them was interesting. He said, I felt our connection was so strong off the top that I left. it just like sit um and i let other relationships build because i was so sure of what we had but then in doing that those other relationships grew stronger and it's just really interesting the way like he just kind of put it on the back burner and then never it just never brought it off that that back burner never it never did it's because he's right like relationships did progress past it and he was kind of having tunnel vision now for a few of these women and that Abigail didn't fit into that view that he thought his life was going to shake out to be with. Maybe that is what

happened. Maybe he knew he had some with Abigail. Relationship progressed past it. He couldn't see it catching up. So she goes home. I'm sad about it. I mean, I think a lot of people will probably be sad about it. But the positive is that maybe just possibly she could be our next bachelor and who she would have a fan in us. Well, Rachel does get the rose from the date. Uh, interesting moment, uh, during this date is that when Rachel gets the rose, it's the first time this whole season that there is this kind of overarching cloud of, um, defeat amongst the other, like the women on that date. Like, you could just see in the room that everybody's heart sank. Uh, you could tell that something was about to happen because you, you saw everybody's face and everybody's face is either thinking, of course it's Rachel. he's obviously into Rachel or it's just I really wanted to be here next week and now I have to wait till a row ceremony again to figure that out and like that's scary to me but it was a it's a heavy moment it was one of those grand moments too that highlights the couple where you're like okay

you're getting basically rewarded now you're getting your own alone time you're getting this concert moment this is something that Jared brought up earlier that I think that since we're talking about Rachel. It's a right to bring him now. A lot of speculation has gone on this week that like the only reason that Chris would be so defensive of Rachel Kay in that interview with Rachel Lindsay is because Rachel K wins this. Do you think if Rachel does win this? And this is just coming from Jared. And it sounds better coming from him. But like he seemed to have a. interesting argument should we spoil the season like should the season be spoiled should

ABC do it and be like this is Rachel she's our winner um and we're going to address all the the racial stuff going on right now between her because it's just too odd to watch this season with the um it's the what is it called the elephant in the room it's just like an elephant in the room you know i i don't that's hard i can see i yes my my initial response is no and here's why it is matt's journey and the girl's journey to figure out and so once that journey plays out uh then uh we can kind of see it to conclusion right so is it is this a uh a moment that's different than others where it's like if they did spoil it i would be shocked no i wouldn't be shocked at I can't even say it would be the wrong thing to do.

It's just I have a feeling they're going to say, hey, Matt, this is your story as the Bachelor and we're going to let this thing finish out. However, along the way, you know, I do think there's some things that the franchise needs to do and confront before the finale, but I don't think it's going to be spoiling the end. I don't know if that helps or hurts or solves anything at that moment. Well, speaking of solving something, Kit doesn't feel like her relationship with Matt is able to be solved, is able to work out. And we see that when Matt gets back to the house, he's kind of strolling around his incredible pad that they have him living in. And Kit shows up with her mind made.

And it's made in one way. It's very weird to me because she is freaking out a couple hours earlier sitting around that couch. She said, is my face just tomato red right now? Because she's like kind of just taken aback or shocked that she's not going forward. She just was, she just felt like she was very invested during that group date in getting further along with Matt. And then she shows up and says, I don't think I'm there. I don't think I can feel confident in me being your future wife and you deserve somebody who feels confident in that now

and it's funny because she had earlier said like this is my plan of life I'm not going to have kids until I'm like 25 26 I have a timeline she went through that with him he seemed down with it and then she was like you know what never mind I don't think you're the guy for me anyway can i can i make an assumption a theory that's so unwarranted and could be completely false yes please do kit's mom is a well-known person uh i wonder if any of this had to do with kit saying i don't know if it's wise to have my mom on this show next week yeah it would be a big deal for her to give up five days of quarantining and come on television uh and unless i'm 100%

sold out on this it's just not something i want to do like it's not something i want to put up and then like that would make sense like that doesn't make sense yeah i i just wonder when i watch i was like you know what i wonder if she's just saying like hey i'm not completely sold out that i'm the one and i don't know if he's the one for me and so let's just call this good before the family comes in because my family um is known and that's going to be a story in itself and it's just not it's not worth not worth doing right now with where we're at in our relationship well So Kit goes home. So now at this point, in this episode,

we've had the people from the first rose ceremony that we love. And we have Abigail, who is a figure who got the first impression rose. And we have another popular figure on the show, Kit, all going home. At this point, when does it end? Well, it does end for a bit. People stop going home until the very end. And in between now and then, we have Jacinia's one-on-one, which is interesting to me.

And I'll tell you this. I didn't know his connection with Jacinia was strong. um in fact i didn't think it was strong and i didn't either i'm surprised quite frankly that he didn't keep abigail uh and not have her on the group date but have her on that one-on-one just to really get that time with her to really get to know her a little bit right i think as a fandom we would have felt a little bit more completed if abigail was the one who got the one-on-one because at least we'd be able to like say all right she had her time they did not have have it.

But now we know. And it just feels more like a conclusion for us. With Jocenia, I mean, it seems like a nice girl. We liked her in that argument with MJ. Doesn't exactly pull on our heartstrings, I think, as much as Abigail. We feel a little bit less invested in her. And to me, it was an even more obvious, oh, she's going to get eliminated at the end of this date type situation.

I mean, it's everybody's going home on this episode. It's wild. Like, you have a rose ceremony. You have Abigail going home. You have Kit going home. And then you have a one-on-one date, and she goes home. Yeah. But I don't think it was a surprise that just sent you went home to anyone at the end of this date because, I mean, she said she was blindsided.

I don't know how she was blindsided. I mean, it was written all over his face. And we just, you know, as I know it's different. You don't see it as clearly as the audience does when you're. there but with the other girls that he had left like you just knew michel was going to get a spot and at that point we had rachel with a rose we had um we had serena with a rose and so then we had two roses left and it just was so obvious that it wasn't going to be going to justenia yeah so um jacin you goes home we have the final rose ceremony and as actually just mentioned um serena p

Rachel, who had roses going into the rose ceremony. Bree and Michelle get a rose. Piper is then sent home at that rose ceremony. Matt is pretty upset about it. She feels pretty tough. I mean, this is a hard breakup, I'm sure, for them both. But now we move into hometowns. And so we're going to see these stories. And Ashley, to kind of go into the, what do they call it when the show ends and before the next show like just scenes to the next episode yeah scenes from the next episode when we watch the scenes from the next episode it feels like to me the tone that they're setting as for the viewers is some of these girls have a lot of questions if they're ready for this or not like these girls families are pretty much saying like I don't see this working because I don't see

you there yet like in terms of love yeah I feel like they always kind of like tee it up like that there's so much doubt we'll see next week um these girls, you know, are on the younger side. So I would see like the families maybe being like, are you sure, are you sure? But you know what I was thinking earlier, which is super crazy. Going into hometowns with Tasha season, first off, you like cut off the first four weeks, right? Because those were Claire's four weeks where we really didn't get to know anything about Ivan, Zach, Brendan. and Ben and Ben like we didn't get to know anything about them in those four weeks

but going into hometowns I felt like we knew them very well and we were very excited to see where they came from yeah and I just I don't feel the same way these girls are lovely they are seriously like I like them a lot I don't think it's on them it's a good top four it's not on them it's about the way the story the storyline has evolved well so a prime example here Ashley. We're fans of Michelle. And it's the bloopers where all of a sudden we see this side of Michelle that we haven't really been able to see because it hasn't been shown. But it's like this is terrific. Like the stuff that she's doing is hilarious. Can we please show this stuff so that we know this side of Michelle and not just in the bloopers on the episode so we can start to go? That's relatable. Like I remember doing 30 pushups before my date so that I would look a little bit better on camera. Swole. I get it. I've seen it. I like it. I like it. I'm encouraged by it because I don't feel so weird by doing it

but we haven't seen it until now and that's a little bit frustrating we've said it every week though okay Ashley again next week's hometowns but we have to talk about this week's episode and we have to rate it so your rating of this week's episode

A to F. I would say it was about an eight and a half I so that's like a B plus okay yes I liked it I actually I felt myself engaged in it not distracted at all. It was much different than I felt the past couple of weeks. I think it was because there was such less amount of drama. The only drama we had really was up front with Heather.

I think we got good conversations here. Yeah, I think it progressed us. I still think there was frustrations. I'm going to give it a 7.7 just because... 7.7. Yeah, I think it was an increase in episode. I think it was fine, which is a C plus. It's just

Yeah, it just missed the mark a little bit again for me Because of these storylines and because of the exits And the lack of information around these exits I feel like we're just kind of like Missing the mark when it comes to the story Well, Ashley, that's this week's episode We'll be back next week for another breakdown of the episode It's going to be hometowns

We have Bachelor headlines to talk about But before we do, let's take a break Get a glass of water and move back with the Almost Famous Podcast. Imagine that you're on an airplane and all of a sudden you hear this. Attention passengers. The pilot is having an emergency and we need someone, anyone to land this plane. Think you could do it? It turns out that nearly 50% of men think that they could land the plane with the help of air traffic control.

And they're saying like, okay, pull this. Let's do this, pull that, turn this. It's just... I can do it my eyes close. I'm Mani. I'm Noah. This is Devin. And on our new show, No Such Thing,

we get to the bottom of questions like these. Join us as we talk to the leading expert on overconfidence. Those who lack expertise lack the expertise they need to recognize that they lack expertise. And then, as we try the whole thing out for real. Wait, what? Oh, that's the run right. I'm looking at this thing.

See? Listen to no such thing. thing on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, my name is Enya Humanzor. 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, psychobble. Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. Open your free IHeartRadio app. Search Emergency Intercom and listen now. Hi, I'm Janica Lopez and in the new season of the Overcover podcast, I'm taking you on an exciting journey of self-reflection.

Am I ready to enter this new part of my life? Like, am I ready to be in a relationship? Am I ready to have kids and to really just devote myself and my time? I wanted to be successful on my own, not just because of who my mom is. Like, I felt like I needed to be better. or work twice as hard as she did. Join me for conversations about healing and growth. Life is freaking hard.

And growth doesn't happen in comfort. It happens in motion, even when you're hurting. All from one of my favorite spaces, The Kitchen. Honestly, these are going to come out so freaking amazing. Be a part of my new chapter and listen to the new season of the Overcumper podcast as part of the MyCultura podcast network on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, sis, what if I could promise you you never had to listen to a condescending finance, bro,

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fewer fees and be more affordable. Listen, I am not here to judge. It is so expensive in these streets. I 100% can see how in just a few months you can have this much credit card debt when it weighs on you. It's really easy to just like stick your head in the sand. It's nice and dark in the sand. Even if it's scary, it's not going to go away just because you're avoiding it and in fact it may get even worse. For more judgment-free money advice, listen to Brown Ambition on on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hola, it's HoneyGerman.

And my podcast, Grazacus 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 audition 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. I feel like this is my destiny.

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 vibras you've come to expect. And of course, we'll explore deeper topics dealing with identity, struggles, and all the issues affecting our Latin 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 what I mean? Yeah. But the whole, pretending and cold, you know, it takes a toll on you. Listen to the new season of Grasas Has Come Again as part of My Cultura Podcast Network on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. As promised, as usual, we do have Bachelor headlines.

The first headline is one that, I don't know, I have a feeling, Ashley, you're the expert on this stuff, but I just read it. I'm like, there's got to be more to the story. Well, anyways, Chris Harrison says, Bachelor producers said, know to Heather Martin returning, but she, in quotes, kept fighting this according to Us Weekly. So this is super interesting because I would, because this explains why she came in so late. Yeah. I mean, maybe they just like gave in to her and they were like, fine, we'll give into her now, even though we know there's no chance.

So Chris Harrison says this quote, to be honest, I found out later because the producers didn't tell me she was coming. Hannah B. had concocted this story and was helping produce this thing from the side, he says. He said that she thought that Heather would be a good match for Matt, but when they reached out, production said no. However, she kept fighting for this. She said, I want to come out there. One of the executive producers said, Heather, do not come to Nemecolin. You're not going to be on the show. he said do not show up on our doorstep and she did and she got a call we got a call and said Heather's here and I walked out to the gate that's actually mind blowing because that is absolutely the opposite of what we thought yet last week we were talking about how like silly it was that

they were kind of playing that scenario as if she just showed up out of thin air in a minivan and all that but she does say in this episode she's like i flew myself out here and maybe it's true i don't know that's wild if you you think about that that is crazy a little desperate not crazy for like crazy that's just like a wild scenario that she would that's crazy that she would take that risk that's just like that that that's a huge risk also to go to nimacolin uh to find out where it's at to pull up to the gate i mean you got to think if this all is just like how we saw it. That poor security guard is like,

I don't know what to do here. You're asking for Chris Harrison. You're in a dress. Like, this is too much for me. I don't get paid enough to handle this. Well, interesting to say the least. Chris Harrison is in the headlines again. This is according to people.

You know, there was a rumor, I don't know, a week or two ago that Katie Thurston had been casted as the next bachelorette. Yet Chris Harrison says in people that the debate is still going. Yeah. So they haven't really picked The Bachelorette yet. I guess it was not announced at Women Tell All, so it was rumored. Katie even responded to those rumors last week saying, like, that's news to her that she's the Bachelorette.

Harrison said, quote, in the same interview with Rachel, but what was before the race conversation, he said, I promise you this. If we named her the next Bachelorette, I was not there. We did not name her or anybody the next Bachelorette during the women tell all special. In fact, we didn't even talk about who the next Bachelorette would be unless they started taping in the middle of the night after I left. So as far as I know, nobody's been named the Bachelorette, and I promise you this, it will not be part of the tell all special. He said there is a large debate as to who could be the next female lead. uh well we'll have to wait and see you know i have a couple that i would love to see but we'll wait

we'll follow along this is an interesting story i think it gives a glimpse a real life glimpse uh and it's it's nice that they were vulnerable about it into couples coming off the show jojo fletcher and jordan rogers admit they initially stayed together to please bachelor nation this according to us weekly okay yeah so this is a quote from jojo she said i think that was one of the reasons we stayed together in the beginning there were so many reasons why we thought we should not be together. I think subconsciously for me and for him there was this pressure, not only for people that watch the show, but from our friends and family. She said that the two-sum, of course, doesn't feel the weight of those expectations anymore. She says, obviously,

we're far past that. But I think in the beginning, there is that sense of pressure. Yeah, well, it's good to see them happy. I almost think that if you went back in their timeline, you can kind of see where maybe they maybe the best way to say is like they started to fall in love again or they started to fall in love outside the show because you can see this kind of like renewal on their social medias and in their life of doing things together and their discussions

their engagement their second engagement yeah so it's great for them two final headlines this one comes from the very first bachelorette of all time and according to us weekly Trista Sutter bachelor and this is her quote

bachelor contestants need to accept producers can use anything against you. So she says on the Right Reasons podcast this week that they're producing a television show. You just have to accept that. She said that once she got into a big knockdown dragout fight with executive producer creator, Mike Fleiss, and she said that he texted her that week and said, we have a great relationship, but we're producing a TV show. The producers are producing a TV show.

So they need to have certain things put in place. And they need to be able to edit. They need to be able to create a different storyline in order to have people be engaged in it. She said there is no reason that the show would still be on the air if the producers weren't involved in that way. You know what I mean? Well, Trista has always been fairly outspoken. In fact, I really believe this, Ashley. I wonder here in the next kind of season of The Bachelor

and what they decide to do and how they move forward with everything. I wonder if the drama now will decrease. Do you believe that this show would change in a poor way if the drama decreased and they just went back to increasing the love stories? I don't think so because we had Tasha's season as an example of that.

There you go. I think people loved it. The ratings, I think, were really high. if you just look at her Instagram followers, she was a beloved Bachelorette. And I just feel like that was the most drama-free season there ever has been once we got past Clare and Dale's storyline. That's right.

Well, good point. Hey, the final story of this week is one that is based in love. One that we celebrate. The Bachelor alum Leslie Murphy welcomes daughter Nora Blanche, filled with pure wonder in awe, Leslie says this according to people she was born on February 12 um she's happy healthy beautiful um and Leslie calls her daughter a pure wonder and it's an awe to be in her presence she said thank you so much for the love and prayers she and her dad are doing just amazing um just

needs some rest well uh everybody that's the bachelor headlines of this week uh now Ashley, once again, there was another podcast this week that we find that we did that we think our listeners should listen to. They should take the time. They should sit in it, process it, and then go out in their communities and learn, be educated to educate themselves, and also to make a difference amongst those they come in contact with so that this world can be a better place. again that is an interview and big credit to devon franklin for coming on and taking up the time that he did do that well hey that's all the headlines this week that's our podcast we'll be back next week with that i've been ben i've been ashley bye guys follow the ben and ashley i almost famous podcasts on iHeart radio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts hi my name is enya umanzor

and i'm drew phillips and we run a podcast called emergency Intercom. If you're a crime junkie and you love crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated ADHD, oh my God, perfect. And want to hear people with mental illness, psychobabble. Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. Open your free Iheart radio app. Search Emergency Intercom and listen now. Why are TSA rules so confusing? You got a hood of your take it all! I'm Mani. I'm Noah. This is Devin. And we're best friends and journalists with a new podcast called No Such Thing,

where we get to the bottom of questions like that. Why are you screaming? I can't expect what to do. Now, if the rule was the same, go off on me. I deserve it. You know, lock him up. Listen to No Such Thing on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. No such thing.

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'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. 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 host 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. Hi, it's Honey German, and I'm back with season two of my podcast. Grazias, 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's viral and trending with a little bit of cheesement and a whole lot of laughs. And of course, the great vivras you've come to expect. Listen to the new season of Dacias Come Again on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast.