The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - Nothing Gold Can Stay

Episode Date: November 3, 2023

We’re in week 6 of The Golden Bachelor and things are getting tense for Gerry! As we move through Hometowns, it’s clear who will be Gerry’s final 2, but at this point he’s said “I love you��� to 3 PEOPLE! Ben speaks from experience about how messy things can get after an admission of love. Plus, Ben reveals a shocking secret about the rose ceremonies that Ashley never knew!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Novartis, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports Network. This is the Ben and Ashley I, almost famous podcast with IHartRadio. It's another episode of The Golden Bachelor. We're at week six. It's an emotional episode. One that I will theme, us Indiana boys, we just seem to... Really love people.

Yeah, we just have big hearts. We just have big hearts. We just really want love. I was like, Gary. What in the world are you doing? Oh, man. All right. Well, let's start out with this Teresa's hometown date in New Jersey.

It's a beautiful start to this episode. I absolutely love hometown dates on the Golden Bachelor. I didn't know I would because of the green kids being involved and also the kids being involved and the emotion that comes out of all of them. I think it is awesome. Nobody's tough, though. Do you know, did you notice that there's like no villainous characters trying to get really, really digging? He's 72 years old.

He's the adult here. Yeah. Like, what are you going to do? Be like, hey, man, I don't think you're mature. Like, are you really ready for something serious? Yeah, it's like, I don't know. I'm 702. Are you going to want to hook up with all these ladies after you've become the bachelor?

I mean, yeah, there's no tough being needed. And I think it's a really beautiful piece to, to this. we'll kick it off again we're in new jersey with teresa's family i you know have felt strongly about teresa i know you really think teresa's like gonna be here i don't know again i just i don't know what it is about teresa i just think that she's silly to me she's just like she's like a little fairy that's what she is and she's like wearing this like little sun dress and i'm just like a little fairy she just she contrasts the other two of them for sure because the other two of them seems

so similar in vibes to me, Faith and Leslie. Well, and I think we see a little bit of that because I understand what you're saying. There is that level of Teresa where you're like she feels at times maybe a little naive for being seven years old. A little like just happy to be there kind of feeling. However, I think we see that cleared up. And this is one of the reasons I like this week's hometown. When it comes to her daughter speaking about her mother saying she just really is, like the nicest person. Then we hear the grandkids say, grandma's over all the time.

She's a huge piece of our life. Yeah. I think Teresa is genuinely down to her soul. Just a really joy-filled, sweet human who, yes, maybe comes off like a little fairy. Like, ooh, like I'm just happy to be here. However, I think there's a depth and I think a commitment to kindness and joy that she has that we're seeing, basically. on what her family said about her. And I think that's beautiful. To be specific, Gary is talking to the grandkids. And they say she comes over a lot because she's lonely, which is so sad.

And then they say, you should be the new papa for us. And then this daughter, I got emotional when the daughter was saying that, like, it's not a replacement for my dad. and that her really wanting this for her mom and I was like, oh my God, could I ever feel that way? I don't know. It would be so, I don't know. So I think it's like a testament.

It's a testament to how much her mom is like happy with Gary. I mean, her daughter is magnificent in this. The stuff that she says about her mom and then, you know, what she said about her late father. And then also just her wisdom and being like, hey, you know, it's going to be sad to not see my mom here. She has to move. But I'm the child in this relationship still.

And that's my mom. And she has to do whatever she wants to do. I also think it's worth noting Teresa's comment to her sisters when she's like, I just, I loved it. I just love the Golden Bachelor so much. She says, I'm competing against a bunch of 60-year-olds. I know. And she's, like, insecure about it.

And you're like, come on. I know. At this point, you're just all doing your best. The sisters are seriously so sold that she's on Clown Night, Cloud Nime says she's found her guy. And I'm like, oh my God, this is like so intense because like it's not her guy yet. Well, I don't have a great comparison to this, actually. But I do have people that I know who live in, I'm not going to say retirement community. Yeah, retirement communities, like 15 over communities, right?

that I know and they've lost a spouse. And they are constantly dating. They're always going to like the happy hours in the cocktail parties and talking about what Dr. So-and-so used to do and what he's been doing and all these things are always said. And then every once in a while, you know, you get the comment like Dr. So-and-so and I went to dinner last night at the local steakhouse or whatever.

And there is never this like questioning. These people are close to me in my life. there's never this questioning of like is he the right guy for you or not it's just simply a cool you have companionship like i don't care what this dude is next to the saying or like what he's communicating i'm just happy now in your 70s and your 80s that you have somebody to go to dinner with and that makes me thrilled i don't know if her sisters have that uh as much of a like kind of a mentality of anything goes like i do when people tell me this, but I kind of, I just don't question it. Like, I don't ask them, is you a good, is you a good guy? I think, I think you're right. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um,

that's also like, with everybody else, and you know, I've said this last week, I just don't understand how they're falling in love so fast. I'm like, I don't feel like you guys have hung out like nearly enough to feel this. Like, I'm so confused because it just seems like so much less time than the actual bachelor and I'm like you guys have gone on one date and you feel like you're in love already I'm so I'm like really guys really yeah 100% well I think it goes right back to what I was saying I think at this point in your life companionship is love it's it's close yeah yeah and it's and it's nice having somebody you want to hang out with is love yeah having somebody that looks you know across the table at you and you can carry a conversation with

or you can go to bed at night with and, yeah, not have to say a word and that you can wake up and maybe go to the pumpkin patch together and you both have a laugh or two. Like, it looks different. You're not trying to raise a family together. You're not trying to, you know, go through the issues when it comes to losing a job together. At this point, you're both retired. Yes, you don't have to be perfectly compatible in those big life situations. You're just looking for a companion.

And I think it's wonderful. So to close up Teresa's date, because she is and, or, I guess she was number one for me. She is the only one that Gary cannot say, I love you to. He says, oh, that's so special to hear. Thank you so much. It's just, oh, that makes me feel so good. Yeah.

So this, to me, is the dead giveaway that she is the one that is not going to be picked at the rose ceremony, which we have a teaser for because he does not complete the rose ceremony. He only gives the rose to Leslie. So let's move on to Faith's home down. faith is she kind of lives in the middle of nowhere Washington State and I don't I want to know like do we ever talked about like what her marital past has been like

was she ever was she ever married because we've never had her bring up an ex-husband or so I don't remember I don't I don't remember but no I don't think so we know she doesn't lost a husband but she has two sons and they say that she falls very hard and fast and they also say that she's that like they ask him whether or not he's in love with her and he's like pretty much yeah he said yes here and that was another thing at um at teresa's hometown

he said when asked by the daughter are you in love with my mom he would go he goes i'm not really sure i remember what that feeling i don't really know if i can qualify this yet remember he was like it was 1960 something when I fell in love with my wife and I'm not sure is this falling in love now and then he was certain when it was with faith I just really I'm surprised that they made this a teaser because it didn't feel like it's a big cliffhanger to me because it's just so obvious that it's between Leslie and faith now because those are the two that he was just like yes love yeah if it's not between those two then Gary has a lot of of a lot of explaining to me, I think. Yeah. You know, the faith relationship has always been interesting to me because she did get the first impression rose. And then we didn't really see a ton from her for a few weeks.

Then we kind of saw her come back into the scene. I would say that the Leslie and Teresa relationship to Gary make, I just know more about them than I do faith in Gary. It was shocking to me when I watched this episode and I saw him say that. and I saw him say that in front of the family. Oh my gosh, yes. Because she looked at him and she gave him eyes,

which they keep talking about these eyes that she gives him. And then he said, I love you. Did he say I love you first? I don't know. I mean, I think it was like kind of like simultaneously. They were both like, I love you and I love you. And it was in front of the family. This was a very intimate moment.

It was probably the most intimate moment we've seen ever on any bachelor's. show, I think. Like, I don't remember a bachelor or bachelorette couple going to hometowns and sitting in front of the family and looking at each other and being like, I love you and I love you and kissing. Like, I don't remember this. So this was a very intimate moment. It, I think, holds a ton of weight. And I was shocked to see it because I didn't think we would see Gary say, I love you to anybody until the very end. I had no expectation that he would drop the L word. Now, granted, again, I'm not the one to criticize.

I thought it was going to be hard for him to fall in love after his wife. That's why I thought it. I just thought he was going to save it to the end and then be like, I, you know, I haven't said this in so long and I know it's, you know, I know, but he didn't. Remember with Michael Aalio? We like didn't want him to say, I love you until it was like him and whoever he was with, whether it was Danielle or Katie. Because we were like, no, no, no, no.

He hasn't said this since his wife passed. We've got to reserve it. We've got to wait a long time for it. Gary just loves. He loves. He's got us Indiana boys. We've got big hearts. Big, big hearts.

He's probably the last bachelor who said, I love you. Well, yeah, you didn't say to three people. Now he's saying it to three people. Why does he get a pass? And you, like, get cremated. Well, you know, the funny part about that is, you know, when I did it and years later, people have kind of given me the benefit of the doubt. Like, you're so young.

Like, you just weren't mature yet. I hate when people say that because who are they to say anything. But I've always allowed it to be said because, like, yeah, that's a free pass. Like, you can't be mad at me because I was 26 years old and trying to figure life out. What are they going to say about Gary? Like, Gary 72. Gary is in a bubble of love right now. He has no idea what he's doing.

This environment is very difficult for somebody whose age to navigate. I would say that's what people would say. I wish people had just said it was so hard to navigate And Ben was feeling all sorts of emotions And hey, he had some great people at the end And so of course he cared for all of them Wait, before we move on We gotta talk about moving places

So it's a big conversation, yeah Yeah, because New Jersey girl Teresa's daughter was like If she needs to move to be with him I mean sucks for me But what am I supposed to do? And faith right off the bat is like Hey, do you like the country

because, like, I can't imagine not being around my sons. And if this were me, I'd be like, yeah, you're not taking my mom away from me. Can't do it. Yeah. What do I think about that? My response would be, I think that is a very quick way to dispel a conversation that should be being had between the two of you because he obviously has kids and grandkids too. That's what I mean.

like it's not fair okay you guys would have to go back and forth that's what that's my immediate thought because you're right he dismissed the conversation he was like if it's the two of us we'll address it at another time but it's like actually like probably should address it this early like you're not early right now you're top three you probably need to talk about now my solution would be like you're going to have to split your time you're both retired you should be able to or i don't know if she's retired um but yeah especially with his lifestyle in indiana he They should be able to go back and forth, like a month there, month there. Who knows?

Why is everybody trying to take people out of Indiana? It's a good state. Let us hang out there. Jeez. It ain't all bad. RAP, Bobby Knight, by the way. Oh, yeah, I heard about that. I was thinking about you.

Bobby Knight passed away this week, a legend in Indiana. Anybody that's lived in Indiana, most people lived in anywhere around the U.S. No, of Bobby Knight. I want to take a second and say he was a huge part of my childhood, and he's one of the reasons I went to IU, and my life would never be the same, Without him, people call him complex. Sure, you can do that, but he was a good coach,

and his legacy will live on forever in the hearts of us, Hoosiers, and including Gary's, I'm imagining, because Gary likes sports. Who doesn't like sports? A foot washed up a shoe with some bones in it. They had no idea who it was. Most everything was burned up pretty good from the fire that not a whole lot was.

salvageable. These are the coldest of cold cases, but everything is about to change. Every case that is a cold case that has DNA right now in a backlog will be identified in our lifetime. A small lab in Texas is cracking the code on DNA. Using new scientific tools, they're finding clues in evidence so tiny you might just miss it. He never thought he was going to get caught, and I just looked at my computer screen. I was just like, ah, gotcha. On America's Crime Lab, we'll learn about victims and survivors, and you'll meet the team behind the scenes at Othrum, the Houston Lab that takes on the most hopeless cases,

to finally solve the unsolvable. Listen to America's Crime Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What would you do if one bad decision forced you to choose between a maximum security prison or the most brutal boot camp designed to be hell on earth? Unfortunately for Mark Lombardo, this was the choice he faced. He said, you are a number, a New York State number, and we own you.

Shock incarceration, also known as boot camps, are short-term, highly regimented correctional programs that mimic military basic training. These programs aim to provide a shock of prison life, emphasizing strict discipline, physical training, hard labor, and rehabilitation programs. Mark had one chance to complete this program and had no idea of the hell awaiting him the next six months. The first night was so overwhelming and you don't know who's next to you. And we didn't know what to expect in the morning. Nobody tells you anything.

Listen to shock incarceration on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. My name is Ed. Everyone say hello, Ed. I'm from a very rural background myself. My dad is a farmer and her mom is a cousin. 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. The 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. I'm Dr. Joy Hardin-Brand-Brandford, and in session 421,

of therapy for black girls, I sit down with Dr. Athea and Billy Shaka to explore how our hair connects to our identity, mental health, and the ways we heal. Because I think hair is a complex language system, right? In terms of it can tell how old you are, your marital status, where you're from, you're a spiritual belief. But I think with social media, there's like a hyperfixation and observation of our hair, right? That this is sometimes the first thing someone sees when we make a post or a reel is how,

our hair is styled. We talk about the important role hairstylists play in our community, the pressure to always look put together, and how breaking up with perfection can actually free us. Plus, if you're someone who gets anxious about flying, don't miss session 418 with Dr. Angela Neil Barnett,

where we dive into managing flight anxiety. Listen to therapy for black girls on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Final hometown this week, Ashley, is Leslie's. That's in Minnesota. Leslie reminds me of like a Victoria Fuller. She's not a villain, but she definitely stands out because of her energy and kind of her intrigue. She's edgy. She's just, she's, she's not like, you know how like you qualify. It's like, yes, this is what we do, okay? It's like, is she cute. Is she beautiful? Is she hot? She's sexy. She's sexy. Yeah. And like she definitely knows it about herself because of kind of how she introed into the season.

With the Prince thing, like we're like, okay, you slept with Prince. Cool. Now you are a woman who slept with Prince. I'd be talking about that too. That's a big deal. Everybody wanted to back in the day. So Leslie, you know, is a little more edgier. She's beautiful. She has never been married.

No, she's been married twice, but she's never. felt like she's had like a great like love companion like a life companion well that makes sense based on kind of her story of her father passing her brother helping raise her and then her brother kind of which i thought was a great scene with gary her brother being like you're nothing like the guy she usually dates and this makes me so happy they called them menses mench means a good person in their family and yeah i thought the brother was going to be our oh okay here's our tough guy family move but he wasn't and i loved that he wasn't And he just welcomed Gary in.

Yeah, it was beautiful. Gary did ask for the brother's permission, which is a big deal. We see that obviously during the Bachelor every time or during the Bachelorette every time. But we hadn't seen it yet on the Golden Bachelor. It was because there was a father figure here. He was a father figure and the other ones didn't have that. Yeah, so a very traditional. thing kept up by Gary and the show.

It's very, you know, we see something traditional happen where he does ask for the permission. The brother grants it to him. I don't think he would stop, you know, stop him from that. This couple has legs to me. If it wasn't Teresa, it's Leslie in my mind because I don't know what Gary's looking for in that companion and that love interest later on.

But I do know that Leslie would offer him, I think the joy that we've seen Gary kind of be attracted to, the adventure that Gary is obviously still attracted to, the energy, that Gary may be too much energy. And it feels, I don't know, I wonder if there's something inside of Gary that's like, I could be the first good man to enter into her life romantically, and that excites me. Yeah, totally. It's also cute when the grand kids say, do you actually, I think they call her glamma, which is adorable. Do you actually love my glamma?

Are you in an actual couple? Really cute. And that, of course, starts the love thing. Is he going to say it? What's he going to do? And then he does it in a private moment when they walk out of the family time. And he just, he says, like, I love you.

I love you. So now we have two full I love you's. I was shocked the first time. I was floored the second time. I don't know where Gary's going to go from here. All I can assume is this. And I wish the same thing for my myself. I'm going to assume that Gary feels this way about these two women, that he means

what he's saying, and that he might be in love with three women right now. Yeah, but he didn't say, even though he kind of admits that he is in love with Teresa afterward, he still didn't say it to her. And I wonder if the hometown order is accurate. My assumption is that he feels this way, feels very strongly. And this is what I hope. We all realize and start to understand that it is possible to feel really strongly about multiple people one time and that we also start to show some empathy for those on the show who feel that way and start to understand how just difficult getting rid of somebody you care that much about is it does not feel right it does not feel good and in Gary's case I think it could even be heightened because he hasn't

felt it in so long and that you see that emotion coming out of him and you see how hard it was for him to even get to this point and I personally am watching this now in the edge of my seat floored and shocked that he said it but also my immediate thought went to Gary what in the world are you going to do now like who kind of like Jess's famous comment every week is

who's taking care of Gary? I don't know we see him get out of the The limo in here, or whatever, the SUV, and you're like, you just know he's not prepared for this rose ceremony to the point where now we see he gives out the rose to Leslie, which, again, I thought it was weird that they didn't give the row. Um, I thought that he would give a rose to faith and that it would be a tie between Leslie and Teresa. That would be the cliffhanger because I do, I feel like faith is number one. I think it's so strange that you don't think that. I don't know.

Ash. Do you know things? And you know things. You know things more than I do. So now I'm like looking at you for spoilers. No. I don't know any spoilers. I'm not allowed to have spoilers.

No, wait. You do not know anything because like you kind of know Gary a little bit more. When is he coming on the podcast? I know exactly what he said in interviews, which is that he's happy. And so he ends up with somebody. And you didn't, I mean, I think going into this week, Teresa was my number one. I think coming out of this week, I don't think I could say that any longer because of the lack of emotion and confidence that he showed in that. relationship, I think that faith would probably come above Teresa for me.

Now, the Leslie thing I don't know what to do with. I don't, again, that's why I said. I don't know what to do with the Leslie relationship because I thought Teresa would still go above Leslie, but yet Leslie has to Rose. Interesting piece during the Bachelor when you're asked to be the Bachelor, you're asked not to leave Rose ceremonies. Like, it's just hard for them because all the cameras are set up. Thanks for the reveal.

So many years into this. it just doesn't happen very often because it's hard because the cameras are on like uh tripods they're locked in and so when you leave we saw that one guy run over when normally we would already have the camera yeah because guys there are so many cameras at row ceremonies and they're all reserved for the row ceremony there's like nobody hanging out like getting footage to the kitchen no so that's why we saw the one cameraman run over so that's why when i saw this I'm like, this poor dude, literally Gary, and I think I did it once where you're so overwhelmed with emotion and you can't, you don't want to be in that room. Like something just washed over

me where I was like, I don't want to be here any longer. Like I can't, I don't like doing this. I have to do it, but I'm not ready to do it. And you just like leave to get a breath of fresh air or something. And here's the other cool part when you do it. Like all the producers are in some room like outside in the garage. And the camera guys are all locked in on the cameras. And so when you walk away, it's like the first time in months that you're standing alone in a room, which feels really weird. For a split second, but. Sure, but that split second is magical for your healing and your health. So Gary's obviously over come with emotion. He says he's going to throw up. Looking at two women, and either one of them could be the partner, my partner for the rest of my life. Like,

I really think that he would be almost happy with all three of them right now. And it's just like, It's not picking out of a hat, but it's somewhere close. Yeah, I think it's somewhere close with him. I think for him he's now weighing the options. I kind of wish, Ash, that with the Golden Bachelor, maybe they would have made hometowns and fantasy suites one straight week before then. That way he would have like extra time. And that way fantasy suites would give him the like intimate, quiet, private time

to help make this decision easier for him. I agree. Yeah, that's what I was, because then they still get down to two for the final row ceremony. Yeah. And it can still be two weeks of episodes, but I do wish he had a little bit more time.

Because going with just the family is going to be even more. It's just so emotional because he's just like going off of the experience of the family. If he had another like date, yeah, vibes wise, it would be different. Yeah, because then, you know,

you would kind of get on the same track then as the other shows where you're down to three, still for the fantasy suites, two for the final, you know, two weeks. Yeah. But we give the benefit of the doubt for the Bachelor and Bachelorette where they can have three overnights. And oftentimes you can hear when you maybe talk privately with the leads, the overnights are like the deciding factor. Hometowns are a big deal.

But once you get behind closed doors, then you get to ask maybe more intimate questions. You know, the person like kind of like lets loose a little bit. You see what your chemistry is when nobody's forced. you to talk and I think that's going to be a hard part of the golden is where we're asking them to get down to the final two and we've seen it with Gary already he loves the three of them and it's and so he could use more time and I think this would be one of those scenarios that we could give him more time yeah good thought we don't hear him say this right now that he that this is the hardest choice that he's had to make or like this is the most heart-wrenching and

awful thing he's experienced since his wife dying but that's coming and that's That could even be the final. I would say that's probably the finale, the quote from the finale, which is just like mind-blowing. I think it's still during this. Oh, really? I think Jesse comes down,

but you gotta imagine. At this point, Jesse is like probably out of his suit. Well, no, because he has to come back to say this is the final road. Jesse probably has no idea how to handle this with an elder. No, he's, I can't imagine how he's learning as he goes here. A foot washed up a shoe with some bones in it.

They had no idea who it was. Most everything was burned up pretty good from the fire that not a whole lot was salvageable. These are the coldest of cold cases, but everything is about to change. Every case that is a cold case that has DNA. Right now in a backlog will be identified in our lifetime. A small lab in Texas is cracking the code on DNA. Using new scientific tools, they're finding clues in evidence so tiny, you might just miss it.

He never thought he was going to get caught, and I just looked at my computer screen. I was just like, ah, gotcha. On America's Crime Lab, we'll learn about victims and survivors, and you'll meet the team behind the scenes at Othrum, the Houston Lab that takes on the most hopeless cases to finally solve the unsolvable. Listen to America's Crime Lab on the IHeart Radio app,

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

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

Available now. Listen to Wisecrack on the IHeart Radio app. couple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. What would you do if one bad decision forced you to choose between a maximum security prison or the most brutal boot camp designed to be hell on earth? Unfortunately for Mark Lombardo, this was the choice he faced. He said, you are a number, a New York state number, and we own you. Shock incarceration, also known as boot camps, are short-term, highly regimented correctional

programs that mimic military basic training. These programs aim to provide a shock of prison life, emphasizing strict discipline, physical training, hard labor, and rehabilitation programs. Mark had one chance to complete this program and had no idea of the hell awaiting him the next six months. The first night was so overwhelming, and you don't know who's next to you. And we didn't know what to expect in the morning. Nobody tells you anything.

Listen to shock incarceration on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Dr. Joy Harden Bradford. And in session 421 of therapy for black girls, I sit down with Dr. Afea and Billy Shaka to explore how our hair connects to our identity, mental health, and the ways we heal. Because I think hair is a complex language system, right, in terms of it can tell how old you are, your marital status, where you're from, you're a spiritual belief. But I think with social media, there's like a hyper fixation and observation of our hair, right? That this is sometimes the first thing someone sees when we make a post or a reel is how our hair is styled. We talk about the important role hairstylists play in our community, the pressure to always look put together, and how breaking up with perfection can actually free us.

Plus, if you're someone who gets anxious about flying, don't miss session 418 with Dr. Angela Neil Barnett, where we dive into managing flight anxiety. Listen to therapy for black girls on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Emotional week, Ashley, I did want to mention that I did shed a lot of tears this week. And I don't do that all the time. I've done a lot more during the Golden Bachelor, mostly during the grandkids segments.

I think it was really cute. And I also definitely did when Teresa's daughter was talking about her late father. Yeah, that was the moment where I was like, oh, I'm willing. Yeah, for as much benefit as this show has brought me in terms of watching TV and as much joy as I've had watching these people pursue relationships, I think over the last maybe week, up until this week, it has started to like feel a little bit too intimate to me where my mind goes to my family or Jess's family. And I hadn't had that happen yet. It was when the daughter was talking that I imagined my dad gone. Yeah, and it just, it's not, you know, that's, I guess it's probably healthy. And it's not a bad thing to have happened.

I think about my parents dying too often to need this. Yeah, it just put me in a weird place. You know, you don't want to lose them. They're good people. All of them. We've been lucky. But that's where I got emotional. Wish the best for Gary.

Poor dude is in it. And I hope all of us listening understand how much he's in it. This is not made for TV. Gary is not a paid actor. He has no experience on television before. He is trying to find love. And so are these amazing women that are with him. This is going to be a very emotional last few weeks of the Golden Bachelor.

Ashley, to close out, I do have a little insider information. Okay? Yes. I don't think the franchise has decided if they're going to do another Golden or not. What do you mean? Like, that's so dumb of them. Well, that's what I thought. But how mad would we be if all of a sudden, like, this show comes and goes and we never hear about it again?

Of course, there would be outrage. So let's appreciate the last few weeks of this season. Okay. I'm not worried. They just haven't, like, greenlit it yet, but it's obviously going to happen. I sure hope so. It's been so great. Well, next week we'll be back breaking down another episode of the Golden Bachelor.

It's been a wild ride, a really fun ride. We can't wait to continue to talk about it. We wish the best for everybody involved. But until next week, I've been Ben. I've been Ashley. See you guys. We'll be back with good stories next week. Bye.

Follow the Ben and Ashley I, almost famous podcasts on IHartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Let's start with a quick puzzle. The answer is Ken Jennings' appearance on The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs. The question is, What is the most entertaining listening experience in podcast land? Jeopardy Truthers believe in... I guess they would be conspiracy theorists.

That's right. They gave you the answers and you still blew it. The Puzzler. Listen on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If a baby is giggling in the back seat, they're probably happy. If a baby is crying in the back seat, they're probably hungry. But if a baby is sleeping in the back seat, will you remember they're even there? When you're distracted, stressed, or not usually the one who drives them,

the chances of forgetting them in the back seat are much higher. It can happen to anyone. Parked cars get hot fast and can be deadly. So get in the habit of checking the back seat when you leave. The message from NHTSA and the ad council. Have you ever wished for a change but weren't sure how to make it? Maybe you felt stuck in a job, a place, or even a relationship. I'm Emily Tish Sussman, and on She Pivots, I dive into the inspiring pivots of women who have taken big leaps in their lives and careers.

I'm Gretchen Whitmer, Jody Sweetie. Monica Patton. Elaine Welteroff. Learn how to get comfortable pivoting because your life is going to be full of them. Listen to these women and more on She Pivots, now on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Culture eats strategy for breakfast, right? On a recent episode of Culture Raises Us, I was joined. by Belisha Butterfield, media founder, political strategist, and tech powerhouse for a powerful

conversation on storytelling, impact, and the intersections of culture and leadership. I am a free black woman. From the Obama White House to Google to the Grammys, Valicia's journey is a masterclass in shifting culture and using your voice to spark change. Listen to Culture raises us on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.