The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - Pulled Back In with Molly & Jason Mesnick

Episode Date: August 13, 2024

One of the biggest Bachelor Nation success stories is the love between Molly and Jason Mesnick, and Ben is ready to catch up with the happy couple! Molly reveals the major moment that inspired her to watch The Bachelor for the first time in a decade, and we hear the story of why their son binged his parents season with all of his friends! Plus, find out what happened when Ben got mistaken for Jason at the Golden Wedding!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

Hold up. Isn't that against school policy? That seems inappropriate. Maybe find out how it ends by listening to the OK Storytime podcast and the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Culture eats strategy for breakfast, right? On a recent episode of Culture Raises Us, I was joined by Valicia 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. and 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. The U.S. Open is here, and on my podcast, Good Game with Sarah Spain. I'm breaking down the players, the predictions, the pressure, and of course, the honey deuses, the signature cocktail of the U.S. Open. The U.S. Open has gotten to be a very wonderfully experiential sporting event. To hear this and more, listen to Good Game with Sarah Spain, and IHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment

on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Novartis, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports Network. Why are TSA rules so confusing? You got a hood of you. I take it all! I'm Manny. 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 at me? I can't expect what to do. Now, if the rule was this, the same go off on me i deserve it you know lock him up listen to no such thing on the i heart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts no such thing

hi my name is enya umanzor and i'm drew phillips and we run a podcast called emergency intercom if you're a crime junkie and you love crimes we're not the podcast for you but if you have unmedicated ADHD oh my god perfect And want to hear people with mental illness, psychobabble. Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. Open your free IHeartRadio app. Search Emergency Intercom and listen now.

This is the Ben and Ashley I, Almost Famous Podcast with IHartRadio. It's an almost famous podcast. We have a very special episode today. Some stars of the show. Some stars of the last episode. When I say stars of the show, I mean the show in general. And then also the last episode, Jason and Myrard. Molly. Welcome to podcast. That's really nice of you to call us stars. Yeah. I don't think we are.

And it's also, it's also the first time they asked us to be on the show instead of you. Yeah. So like, I haven't been on the show. I bet in five years, six years. Well, other than like a wet, that wedding. But I, yeah, I don't, I actually was just doing a podcast the other day with a former alumni. They said, are you ever bum that you don't get asked to go on the show more? And I said, There's, like, small times in my life. I'm like, I'd love to go back and do that. And then most of the time, I'm like, I don't even remember that being an option.

Yeah. Well, it's funny. I think the only reason we got back is because Jason Ehrlich, right, one of the producers of the day, is back in the, back in the heads or one of the head seats, and he's the only one that knows us. You know, Jason Ehrlich was the head producer on a show that about 10 people watched called Ben Lauren Happily Ever After after my season. Oh, my God.

He was your producer? Head producer. That was his first, like, go back into the Bachelor world once he came back from being gone for so long. Oh, my God. Yeah, but he's a good dude. I really like him. Okay. So you were obviously on this last episode, but let's catch up with the two of you because

we really didn't get to during this episode. The two of you are obviously living in Seattle, which makes sense on why you were on this show specifically. But life, like, are you big Bachelor fans still? Is this still a part of your life? Why are you shaking the same? No. I mean, we, I, Jason never watches the show.

Yeah, exactly. Like, not at all. He has removed himself from that world. I have not watched the show. It was probably, I went 10 years without seeing it. And then we went to the Golden Wedding. And I talked with Joey at the wedding. He's like, you've got to give this season a chance.

So then I watched his season. And I like fell in love with the show again, honestly. Like, taking a 10-year hiatus and coming back. His was a great comeback season because it was amazing. So now I watched his season and I've obviously been watching this season. Time out. What? I love my wife, but she's lying.

What? Life's the show and she's only watching it now because Riley, our daughter, is getting into it. And that's mommy daughter time. And Riley might come down here now, but that's why you're watching it. Yeah, that's true. Like the other night, maybe two weeks ago, I was like, I don't want to watch it. We'll, like, save it for another day. I mean, it's a lot of, it's a big time commitment.

And Riley's like, no, we have to watch. watch. I need to see who gets kicked off. Well, you know, the best part about watching the show, like, when you're on it, is they give you the non-commercial version. Yeah. And so you cut it down from two hours to, like, 1.30, what did you get 30 minutes of your life back? Yeah. Trust me. It's been about eight years of that. And I don't know what my life would look like

if it wasn't for that. Yeah. Now, okay, that actually brings up something I'm curious about. And I don't know. There's not many, this is going to sound awful towards you, too. I don't mean it that way. There's not many people from the show that have kids now able to watch it, like that are getting into that age. So I've never asked this question. I'm actually very curious.

What is it like now having a daughter who's watching this, who's intrigued by it, and then I have a thousand follow-up questions on that. Yeah, I love you. And it even goes beyond that. There's a college-age kid. Yeah. They actually watched it with us last night

and watched the, during COVID, watched our season and saw how dumb we were back in the year. He had been. He had all of his friends over every night during COVID, and they would watch our season down on the next day. And I would hide in our bedroom because it was the most humiliating thing ever. So I'm glad we got that done. Riley has zero desire to watch our season.

Even seeing like the little flashback they do in the episode from last night, she freaked out. She's like, oh, my God, I don't want to get us. She's also at that age where like she sees somebody kiss. And literally every time somebody kisses on the show, she's like, ugh. Yeah. Yeah. So would you, if say she did come, say, hey, I really want to watch your season. Would you watch it with her? Would you even allow her to watch it? Teenager, maybe. Maybe when she's a little bit older. I mean, she knows kind of the just, she knows how the show goes and she kind of knows how our ending went. Like I wanted to be sure now that she's getting into it that I explained, you know, daddy didn't pick me if they picked somebody else. And so she knows all of that.

But I don't even know that she has a desire to watch our season. She will. When she's old enough with her teenage friends, they'll all want to. Like, Ty didn't want to watch it when he was 11. He didn't want to watch until he was like 15 or 16. And he's a guy that doesn't like the show. We'll have to let her watch it eventually. It feels like to me from an outsider's perspective, like I would be so anxious.

Like, I won't allow Jess to watch it, my wife. Like she has never watched your season. She hasn't probably ever watched a season of the, I don't think she's watched more than two episodes. Yeah. I mean, I've seen Jason's season before when he was on The Bachelorette. I've never seen it. Yeah, she would never, my wife is very sensitive. And so I do think it would, like, not be a healthy thing.

I think she could laugh it a lot, but there'd also be moments where she's like, I don't want to, I didn't need to see that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. And so, like, for me, it would be a very nerve-wracking experience. I think I would be like, yeah, you can watch it. But you're, you know, this, you might see us differently, which I don't, you know, but that's healthy for any kid, I guess. At some point, they have to realize their parents aren't perfect. I don't know if Riley's there yet. I was most panicked.

She thinks I'm perfect. I don't know about Molly. When I was watching it, I was most panicked because, like, I was like, what if these boys, him and his friends, like someone better on the show, me, you know, but like they're stuck with me. But that's not how it went at all. They were like, you're the goat. You're amazing. She said some people like people that we met that are teenagers, they call her the goat. That's ridiculous.

But no, you take it in, accept it, just accept it, feel it. I mean, how many times in our life now do we actually get to feel really good about ourselves? Like, if that's something just to Michael Jordan, Tom Brady and my business. Being on The Bachelor makes us feel special. Gote, it's an actual goat. Yeah. It really helps us out. Okay, so the kids are watching the show now, but obviously during this episode, we see the two of you in a recording studio.

You were really, I don't know how many people know this, you were the really first podcast breaking down The Bachelor back in the day or talking about the show. Yeah. So how much of that is still a part of your life? I mean, was this your full-time job to go in the studio and do this Love on Air show? Well, we, well, initially, are you going to talk? Sure, go for it.

She lets me talk sometimes. So, well, initially, somebody from the local radio station said, hey, this is, what year is this? Oh, 2012? They're like, hey, the future of radio is this podcast. We're going to host a podcast for you. You guys can do whatever you want. And it was once a weekend.

It was really easy, right? We could recap to the show. Yeah, similar, right? But it was just the two of us. And Riley was a baby, right? Yeah, right? Yeah, a baby. And so it was super fun.

It was super easy. But then Molly got hired as a radio host locally. So we had to cut that off because of it. Because it was kind of, what's the right word? It was competing radio station. Our podcast was with one station and then my job was with IHeart. I was, so Bender that you see on the show,

him and I did the morning show on Kiss FM here locally. And I was at that station for seven years. And we met when we filmed our season of The Bachelor as a fake radio show date with Bender hosting it back 2000. Well, what was it, 2009, 10? Yeah. So the show that you see on last night's episode is not a real show, right? No, no, the guys. There's no way.

All the contestants thought it was real. They did, but Bender and Jubal are on different radio shows. I don't work in radio anymore, so it was just put together for last night's episode. It actually been a very interesting concept if you could get people to come in there and really like hash out their love issues, but also their story and people want to listen. It's kind of like, what is it, Delilah? You know, Delilah? Yeah, she's local.

Oh, really? That was Molly's competition back in the day. Well, I kind of love Delilah. Her voice is very soothing. Yeah, it's very nice. My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously suspicious. Oh, wait a minute, Sam. Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit.

Well, Dakota, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend has been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. Now he's insisting we get to know each other. But I just want her gone. Now, hold up. Isn't that against school policy? That sounds totally inappropriate.

Well, according to this person, this is her boyfriend's former professor and they're the same age. And it's even more likely that they're cheating. He insists there's nothing between them. I mean, do you believe him? Well, he's certainly trying to get this person to believe him because he now wants them both to meet. So, do we find out if this person's boyfriend really cheated with his professor or not? To hear the explosive finale, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. My name is Ed. Everyone say, hello Ed.

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.

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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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. 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.

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The U.S. Open is here. And on my podcast, Good Game with Sarah Spain, I'm breaking down the players from rising stars to legends chasing history. The predictions will we see a first time winner and the pressure? Billy Jean King says pressure is a privilege, you know. Plus, the stories and events off the court and, of course, the honey deuses, the signature cocktail of the U.S. Open. The U.S. Open has gotten to be a very fancy, wonderfully experiential sporting event. I mean, listen, the whole aim is to be accessible and inclusive for all tennis fans, whether you play tennis or not.

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Are you still in radio, Molly? No, I stopped during COVID. Stop doing radio. it while I did it, but I was getting a little burnt out, like 4 o'clock in the morning, getting up every day with kids is tricky. We had needed her to sell houses with us. So now I work with Jason. We work together in real estate.

So, yeah. How is that going? It actually, it really well. Honestly, Jason's been doing it for 11 years. Yeah. I've been doing it for about three and a half now. We work from separate locations so that we can have some separation. Jason goes to his office.

I work from home so that we can at least have a normal, conversation at night versus being together all day long. But it's been great. Yeah. We're both good at different things. Like I handle the contracts and the client stuff where she makes all the houses look really pretty. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's a good team. But Jason, when you were the bachelor, were you in real estate then? No, I wish I was. That would have been awesome. No, I was kind of doing some financial services type stuff. Right. And I think if I can go back and like, I always thought I was going to get into real estate, but no, I wasn't back then. but the so some of the people we've seen it with a few like recent bachelors specifically

they've kind of made this the switch to real estate post show i wonder what's funny i just connected with uh clayton yeah that's who i was thinking of yeah so i just connected with clayton recently because we had some mutual stuff going on in real estate and i was like how long have you been in it for it he's like just a year yeah so i think there is a piece of like because i think from the outside you're like oh real estate's easy you know all you do is meet people meet people and you can make a lot of money, which is a lot harder than that. So I hope the perspective is like, hey, I'll get my license and everybody knows who I am now. But like Ari's in it.

Ari done. We've done with Ari. Yeah, we've done like we helped Ari's, we helped Lauren's parents, Lauren's parents sell a house up here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it is kind of cool, like especially for people who are bachelor fans.

And if they want to work with people that are in the same like business and they get to know all of us, I think people get a kick out of it. Yeah, for sure. But that's not, I mean, is that why you? made the switch over to real estate is because you thought, hey, people know me. They'll want to work with me. No, it's much more of like real estate's just a really good business to be in in general. Like if you're selling something, right? And the most important thing in your life is something you're talking about all the time or the most expensive thing or the most valuable thing in your

life. So if you're sitting at a coffee shop, people are always talking about like, how do I pay my house? Do you know a landscaper? And if you can become the hub of those conversations, it really becomes valuable. And we've also owned a bunch of houses, right? Yep. I'm all like you make it pretty. You can come here and do that. You can see my office. It's a good job. Thank you. It's a lot of things from my life that have been placed on a shelf behind me. Yeah, I sell coffee for a living. I'm imagining the margins on a house a little easier. Yeah. Wait, do we go those same shelves? Yeah, we have shelves. I think we have the exact same

shelves upstairs. Yeah, you know how hard they are to set together from IKEA. They were not easy. So, okay, so the two of you are working now together. That's a big update in life. And then let's just kind of tease here. How in the world did you end up back on the show? Because as you've now mentioned, Molly, you're watching the show with Riley. Jason, you're not really watching the show much anymore or ever. Ever is probably a fair word to say.

So you get a phone call from Jason who says. well you know what actually is really funny remember how he called so he calls initially and he's like so um i hear you and molly are not doing well and we granted we had just seen him at the golden wedding that's always a great intro yeah i've heard through the great friend that you and your wife are struggling you want to hang you know that's not true you just saw him at the wedding so he's like i hear you guys aren't doing well and we're looking for the next golden bachelor would you consider and like granted I mean, I'm old, but those guys are 25 years older than me.

And I was like, dude, what the hell are you talking about? And he's like, okay, so since that's a no, would you guys consider hosting a date in Seattle? Yeah. Like, he kind of set me up. And of course, like that kind of stuff's fun. We haven't done it for a long time. It's been interesting. Like, when we got invited to the Golden Wedding, I was pretty hesitant.

I have kind of put this chapter behind me and I feel like I'm not, we're not involved in that world anymore. There's new fresh young blood out there that are half my age. Yeah. And I just, even at that wedding, I felt really like an outsider. So I did have a good time. It was great seeing people like we've known you. It's good seeing people like that again, you know. But I'm glad that helped me get my feet wet a little bit. So then when he did, Jason did call Erlich and say, do you guys want to host a date. It was like, okay, I just did this. I can do it again. It's okay. Let's do it. And I would say probably like our at this point in our life, it's not that our friends and even our clients and people around us, they really get a kick out of it. They're like, oh my god you guys were really on the show yeah and it wasn't it's black and white anymore yeah yeah i mean and i do think the golden makes sense for all of us to go back to because i do think the the people watching the golden show at least for that last season were people who watched it 20 25 years ago like it's a very similar you know group you know this this new blood that's coming through these new seasons i think it is a different group that's watching i don't think you have the same

demographics and so you know the golden era of the bachelor was the beginning you know first few seasons do you guys remember what happened at the golden wedding with me and jason with you two did i ever tell you this oh god i don't know it's a big deal okay i'm excited so you know i haven't been on the show as i mentioned in five years i'm excited to be there there's there's a lot of people i don't know producer wise like most of them are you have come and gone since my time on the show and it is we're all dressed up ready to go into the wedding and they're telling me the stuff I'm going to be doing like you know you're going to go talk to the red carpet people and all this stuff so I'm going to be pre-hand though we need you to go take your photos

like your pre-wedding photos I said okay so I walk over there and I'm standing there and taking photos take a pick up pictures and they go hey Jason can you put your face can you put your chin down I said, Jason, they go, yeah, Mesnick. Oh, my God. And you're like, I'm not a damn old. And I said, I bet Jason's 15 years older than me. Yeah. I was already feeling a little awkward at this thing.

I already feel like I don't belong. Now the producers of the show don't even know what my name is. You are. They have no clue who I am. So I'll never forget that. I also will never forget Jason that you came to the house when I was The Bachelor and I really appreciated that too. Oh, yeah.

We took shots, right? We took shots together. It kind of loosened me up. And the two of you came, I believe it was for Bachelor Live on stage in Seattle. I got to see you. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was cool. So you have had a big piece in my journey.

Oh, my God. Yeah. Including getting the two of us confused, which I take as a compliment because you're a very good looking man, Jason. I appreciate that. It's like looking in the mirror. Yeah, it's kind of weird. It is. Thanks to Jason and Molly for coming on talking a little bit about this.

episode, a lot of bit about where their lives are at today. They teased some of the details of what they saw during this date. But they're coming back to talk to us in even more detail about this episode as we break down this episode of Jen's season of The Bachelor. So stay tuned for this episode breakdown with Jason and Molly. Follow the Ben and Ashley I, almost famous podcast on IHeartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously suspicious. Wait a minute, Sam. Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit.

Well, Dakota, luckily, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend's been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. Now he's insisting we get to know each other, but I just want her gone. Hold up. Isn't that against school policy? That seems inappropriate. Maybe. Find out how it ends by listening to the OK Storytime. Podcasts and 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. The U.S. Open is here, and on my podcast, Good Game with Sarah Spain.

I'm breaking down the players, the predictions, the pressure, and, of course, the honey deuses, the signature cocktail of the U.S. Open. The U.S. Open has gotten to be a very wonderfully experiential sporting event. To hear this and more, listen to Good Game with Sarah Spain, an IHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Novartis, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports Network. Why are TSA rules so confusing?

You got a hood of you. I'll take it all! I'm Manny. 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. 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, psychobabble.

Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. Open your free IHeartRadio app. Search Emergency Intercom and listen now. This is an IHeart podcast.