The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - S2 #5 Scallops, Sorrow, and Significant Others

Episode Date: September 6, 2017

In today's episode B.I.P.'s Christen joins Ben and Ashley to discuss "Scallop Fingers"...fun nickname or cruel bullying?  Also we play another round of "Who the Heck are You?" with Blake E. where we find out what his obsession is with Whaboom! The next Bachelor announcement could be coming at any moment. What do Ben and Ashley know? More importantly...DO they know? All that plus the twins lose their minds and Nick and Vanessa breakup! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is the Ben and Ashley I almost famous podcast with IHartRadio. What's up, everybody? I'm Ben. I'm Ashley. And we have a spectacular podcast for today after a very dramatic week of Bachelor in Paradise. And one of the lead, the most desirable woman in Paradise right now. Kristen is on the line. Kristen, you out there? I am out here, Ben.

Hello. Hi. How you doing, Scallop Fingers? Oh, I know, right? Oh, my goodness gracious. I know, I'm telling you, girl. I'm trying to make my transition right now from scallop fingers into something like a little sexier, maybe like Scallop Girl. Personally, this week, I heard scallop fingers so many things.

I actually don't, maybe you could explain this to me, Chris, and I don't get the intrigue of it or even the humor behind it. I mean, it's kind of funny that at one point you ate scallops, but everybody eats scallops. right right no my thoughts exactly i think you probably saw that last week i was like i don't get it i felt like i was uh ashley on her podcast thank you thank you for that shout out yeah girl so what is it help me help me understand okay i have a theory um like i'm not big on following i guess social etiquette or like social norms i kind of just beat to my own drum so i think that was maybe funny but I also my stronger theory is that everyone was really really hot granted we were recording like a little later into the summer than they normally do and so everyone was really hot

and getting kind of bored and so that's how they came up with the term scallop fingers and we all know how they came up with the term which is like you ate leftovers in the back of a newber or something can I tell you how many times I have eaten leftovers in the car or in inappropriate places my sister always gets mad at me for this and I think this is just what happened. Yeah, this is exactly what happened. It's kind of like the whole like, eh, I'm going to do me. Like, I'm not really worried about it. I mean, I guess I kind of get it now. Anytime you eat shellfish that's a little bit older in a back of a car, it can't be the most advertising experience for the people around you. So with that, Kristen, you were in the wrong for eating shellfish that was a little bit older.

aqua carb other than that you know what let's put scallop fingers behind us i do want to ask though i mean maybe i should like issue a public apology that would be like the person of the plane have you ever had the person of the plane that sits next to you and decides to get like chinese or type at the airport and open it up hold on that is me i get tuna sandwiches every time yeah i just tweeted that wells yesterday because he was like oh my gosh i'm eating my hoagie on the plane And I'm like, I just got off my plane and I took my Asian food and pulled it out and I got some side eyes. Yes, yeah. Of course you did.

So that is just rude. It's not okay for anybody to do that. Because you have food in me? Well, no, because you smell it. You're in a close quarters. But, okay, so you get the word, the name, Scallet Fingers. Yeah. Do you feel like after watching this back now, Scallet Fingers behind us, do you think people were being mean to you?

Was it funny? Did you feel bullied? How did you feel about watching this back? Yeah, yeah. Well, when I watched my episode, so I didn't watch the episode Monday when I came in. I had watched a pre-cut the week before, and it was extremely overwhelming because at the time, I still had no idea that everyone had been talking about me, and so people who I was just kind of like happy go lucky with the rest of the time, I didn't know that they had been, that it was

that kind of situation, I could kind of feel it. Like when you walk into a room and you, you've probably had that feeling. You're like, oh, wow, everyone was just talking about me. Yeah, I don't belong. Yeah, I get that. Yeah, I don't belong. I'm coming in late to their click. It's kind of rough.

Like, that kind of thing. So I definitely had those feelings a lot, but I just didn't really know, I mean, I didn't know to the degree of, like, what it was. So when I watched the pre-cut episode, I was like, I had, like, a lot of anxiety for a couple a day, because I'm thinking, I have no idea how people are going to perceive it. Like, they're giving America all this language to use against me. Like, I probably need to delete all my social media. I don't know, you know.

Well, you know, watching it from my perspective, I thought you weren't necessarily bullied. I just don't think people were kind. I don't think they understood exactly how this could affect you watching it back because you do feel alone. And I guess I want to ask Ashley, Ashley, you've been a part of Paradise a few times. can you relate with Kristen and with the idea that when you walk into paradise you don't always feel like you belong or did you always feel like yeah I'm jumping riding in this I'm accepted and I'm wanted here I always felt accepted because I got further in the process so I made deeper friendships I think but that was my question for you Kristen yeah is because you were limited so early on in next season did you feel left out because of that yeah definitely so I think that was like it was easier it was it was it made me like an easier um i'm not trying to say target but for that reason i was you know i went

home when did i go home i went home the last day we were in the mansion so for that reason there were like stronger friendships that had formed and also i was walking into a group that was all original cats so while they all had been there going through everything i was like i had not been flown out yet. So they kind of like had the, a store no more, I think. And, you know, I have to, I want to say this, like when Alexis told the story, she had no idea it was going to get taken to the extent that it was. So she told me she's like, I did not mean it in a mean spirited way at all. Like, I was just telling a story. So. Yeah, it didn't seem like when Alexis told us, she was trying to pick on you at all. It just, it was kind of funny, you know,

we'll share a story. It's what I know about this person. I get it. It happened all the time. But there was one person in Bachelor in Paradise that I felt kind of crossed the line with you. One person that kind of kept us on our toes, and we've talked about on the podcast before, and that's Jasmine. I have two questions for you. One, did you feel like Jasmine was a bully? And then the reverse that, what's your relationship with, like, what's your relationship like with her now? Yeah. Good questions.

So the situation, I don't want to use the term bully. I want to say that it was tough because I had tried talking to her. I just, I kind of felt like I wasn't getting like the same kind of treatment as like Christina gave Gilo kind of thing. I tried talking to her multiple times in Paradise and I thought that we were okay. So things seemed to like calm down and everyone was like more comfortable together and everything else. And then whenever the episodes were coming around and I was like about to come on to the show, she was like saying like she'd like put snake, watch out for the snake, get ready

for the snake, stuff all over her social media, which for me was so hard because I tried so many times even after the show calling and reaching out to her like to just to make sure she knew like I never wanted to hurt and betray you in my decision. Like that's a very hard situation to come in with the date card and already be like so out of your element having to choose a guy. to take on a date um and so she so so doing that i was like i was pretty like i guess hurt by that because i'm like gosh you're you're really just going out of your way to try to destroy me like is if you didn't say enough mean things on the show like now you're trying to turn everybody against me and that's tough um so i would say like i don't want to use the term bully i just want to say

like um she just she was a little rude little rude i think it does it says something when even after this whole thing goes down and you think you know there you guys have mended your your issues then she goes out in social media and does i don't think it's right i don't i don't think especially people within the franchise i don't think it's right to um no to to any level on social media kind of bully people because you get it so much from everybody else. Yeah, you need your click. You need your friends around you, even if you aren't maybe fond of them. I feel like I have to take, I don't want to take Jasmine's side right now, but just looking

from a different perspective, I feel like sometimes there's a lot of the storyline missing on Paradise, and maybe she was dealing with some of that frustration. I don't know how to excuse what she said about Kristen being a virgin. Okay, but that's what I really want. I want to talk to you about this and what happened on the show. Yeah. I want you talk about the virgin shaming that Jasmine did with you because obviously I feel like I'm in your shoes.

And I think it's just the most ridiculous thing we talked about on last week's podcast to just be like, oh, who would ever want to go on a date with her? Like what fun is a virgin Pina Colada, right? Yeah, yeah. How does that cut you? gosh um okay so i think that i am like i'm i'm very confident in that decision because i'm like i'm not asexual you know you can relate to that oh my gosh yes i remember getting off my show the chris's season and people were like very confused because like oh i dress like that or i like kiss like that and it's

like well you can't be a virgin do that so i was getting like virgin shamed that way like where you couldn't be a, quote, sexy virgin as once Ashley Simpson said, and it kind of stuck with me. Yeah, you couldn't be a sexy virgin. People want to put you in a box. Like, if you're a virgin, you're a nun. So, that's not the case. But I think, yeah, no, that was, honestly, the virgin Pinacolada thing to me was, was kind of funny. Because I think if you're, if you're confident enough in your own decision, it's kind of funny. I mean, there's part of it that kind of cut, because it's like, why are you telling all these men like like you don't want that like that's that's just as bad as slut shaming that's horrible that's true and did you get frustrated by just the fact that the show wanted to make it a storyline

with you like they had you announce that to everyone yeah did you talk about it in uh casting because i talked about in casting yeah you probably had the same situation as me where like did they ask you about it um i was pretty i was open about it in casting because they're like oh you know what's your relationship status and i was like um They'll be interesting if I dropped this bomb on them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just wash their faces. Well, it's actually funny.

Elon is like, I'm so committed to you and Ash. Oh, my God. The things he wants me to do. Coming to AIDS. Yeah, he's like, I wanted you a spin-off show with you guys. I'm like, yeah, let's do it. Let's call it the cherry race. Oh, gee.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Alon's like, if I am not the first phone call you make once that day happens. Yeah. By the way, everybody out there, Alon is the executive producer on Bachelor in Paradise, The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. So Alon has a lot of power, and he's also, I think, a really good friend to Kristen and Ashley and myself. So that's what they're talking about right now.

He's our ultimate confidant. So, you know, I'm looking at it from my perspective, and I know Becca and I know Ashley and Kristen, I don't know you, but, you know, I would consider us friends now that you came on to our podcast. So, hello, new friend. And I know Beck and Ashley personally, and I know they're two of the classiest, the most beautiful and the most beautiful-hearted people that I know. And when I talk to them about their decision to be virgins, it's a conscious decision, right? They've thought through it. It's where they're at in life, and it's a decision they've made. And I respect that completely.

And I think people should. I think the idea of virgin shaming is odd and weird. And I don't think, no matter what was done behind the scenes during this, there is, there is no, There was nothing that was appropriate for Jasmine to say anything about you being a virgin on camera. My question, though, this is a little personal. We've asked Ashley the same thing and share what you want. Where does that decision come from for you? Yeah, no, that's a really great question.

So for me, it's a faith-based decision. For me, it's like more about it's just something that I want to share that's special when I meet the right person. So you said it's not faith-based? It is a face-based. Okay. Face decision, yeah. Yeah, so it's a faith-based decision for me and just, like, a matter of wanting to, like, share that with, like, you know, when I meet the right person, the person I'm going to be with forever, et cetera. And it's also been, like, I kind of explained this to one of the guys on the show, like, it's been a really logical decision for me.

Like, it hasn't been that difficult because everyone who I've started to, like, progress with in a relationship, they've been, like, just a. a total F-boy, for lack of a better word. So it's kind of like, why would I do this? Like, why would I do this right now with you so you can go do this with someone else tomorrow kind of thing? Yeah. I mean, you picked an interesting, I've said the same thing, but you picked an interesting path to date people

if you're not looking for that F-boy, as we call them. But, hey, there are some great guys out there. I know them personally. I'm looking for the, yeah, the diamond in the rough. Yeah, and there are this guy. So you and Ashley and Becca as well are incredible role models. I respect your decision a ton. I think it's incredible to have just the wisdom and the maturity and the confidence to stand up and say this is going to do for the right reasons.

And so I've told Ashley this before. I'll tell you this now. Keep doing you. Keep being confident in your decision. Thank you. Thank you for coming on our podcast today. We appreciate it, and we look forward to the rest of the season of Bachelor in Paradise. Yeah.

Don't we wish all guys were more like Ben? Oh, oh, my gosh. Can he just, like, teach a class for all the guys even in the franchise? Oh, well, you know. All right, guys, Kristen, it's been great having you around. Kristen, before you go for everyone listening, I don't remember what guy you're with right now. Oh, my gosh, Kristen, we have to talk about your guys right now. And I have to talk about, like, are you really attracted to these suckers that you're making out with?

No. Yes. Wait. You can't leave it like that. Elaborate a little bit. Okay. There's a point where, I mean, these guys are, they really are incredible guys. Let me just say that first.

I'm not, like, romantically interested in any of them. And there's a point in time where they just keep stealing me one after another. And, like, Blake comes to steal me. And I think they showed this. And he's like, he's like, can I whisk you away or whatever? I don't know if I'm line. And I'm like, dude, honestly, like, I can't. talk to anyone else until i get sued i'm starving and i go the way to my heart is through my stomach

so he brings me a plate of scallops with no fork and i'm like real funny guys of course no then there's another point in time where the tickle monster who's actually doctor comes and he's like oh can i steal you wait and at this point it was just getting funny because they just keep like i like yo-yoing me around and um he comes over and he like goes in for the kiss and And they even show this, and I'm like, okay. You must have wanted to brush your teeth after all that. I did. Yeah, they all made out with each other, basically.

That's a lot. I mean, okay, I was going to say goodbye, but now I'm hooked. I got to ask about this. How long in this, how long in between makeout sessions were typical for you? Like, are you talking minutes, seconds? I mean, are you from one to the next? How is this like? Well, it's probably kind of similar to your little bachelor run.

Well, I'm not, yeah, I'm not claiming that I haven't, I haven't participated in the same thing. This is not to call you out. I'm just wondering. Oh, I know. I'm playing with you. I would say, minute. Yep, minute. Jeez.

It was the night. Kristen, I want to talk to you about beauty before you leave. How did you feel about looking at your hair the other night? Oh, my gosh. I am, ugh, I'm mortified. That's probably the most embarrassing part of the show. I don't think people realize, like, we don't have mirrors. It's 200 degrees.

It's six in the morning. We haven't slept in a week. Yes, I actually never used a hot tool while in Paradise. I just, you know, slig it back, ponytail, or just let the humidity do its thing. Also, you have fantastic hair, girl. See, my humidity is redlock, yeah. Well, it was cute and islandy. Also, did you not bring waterproof mascara?

Yeah, I did not. Dumb. Terrible decision. That was funny. Terrible. Horrible decision. And I knew the whole time I was like, this is going to haunt me. I'm going to have those raccoon gifts.

Like, this is bad. You know, if there's one thing I've learned from this process is the more relatable you can be, the better. And that was very relatable. Oh, girl, thank you. I got to share a story real quick. I'm learning a lot. And the more and more time I spend with Ashley, the more and more I learn about females and whatever they do. We have it, rock.

Yeah. So I'm with Ashley this last week in Tahoe. and I show up and her hair is about twice as long. Actually, tell me if I'm embarrassing you and just tell me when to stop if this is not something I should be sharing on air. But her hair is twice as long as it was the week previous, and I was so confused on how that happens.

And I really had no clue that you could add something to make your hair fuller, longer, thicker, shinier, whatever it was, but all of a sudden, Ashley had hair down to her butt. Wait, Ben, you're telling me that you didn't feel any extensions when you were The Bachelor, when you, like, put your hand behind a girl's head and kiss her. Like, girls are terrified that guys are going to feel their extensions in the back of their head. I actually did walk in when I woke up the girls one morning on the show. I walked in there as a, I think it was Jojo's extensions on the table next to her bed.

And she blamed on somebody else. So I have learned a little bit about this, but not a ton. And so I'm constantly amazed at the things that you have to go through. We go through. It is incredible to me. And then you have to look at waterproof mascara. I'd say just rock it, girl. Keep looking like a raccoon.

It's a good look on you. Hey, thanks, Ben. Yeah, yeah. No, I agree. It's very stressful. And that's by like whenever it's like, oh, you want to do the show, it's like girls, like, kick into high gear. Like, well, now I have to get these dresses and waterproof mascara. It's too much to keep track of.

We could do an entire segment on just the amount of money that it takes to get ready for the bachelor. Oh, it's asinine. We could do a whole segment on that. Also, I got to give you a shout out, Ashley. I just like browsed through your Twitter because I had not, I had not really, like, caught up on some of your tweets. And I love that you were like, I'm happy to be the pioneer for the virgins in Canada. It's a great point because I think I was only the second one because Becca never did Paradise. Right, right?

Yeah. It's just now it's a thing. It's an obligation. I wonder who will take that title next season. Pass the torch. I know. It's a big role. But hey, we're running out of time, Kristen.

So, again, thank you for joining our podcast. Thank you, guys. We appreciate you. Thank you. I think we could really be friends in real life. Girl, I completely agree. Awesome. All right.

I'll meet you soon. Or I'll slide in yours. All right. See, Kristen. Take care, guys. Ashley, you know how I knew we run out of time. Oh, my God. You're right.

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Oh, yes, they're wonderful. But if you guys want to get your own movement watch, you're going to have to go to movement.com slash Almost Famous, and you can get 15% off with free shipping and free returns. This watch is really, it's got a clean design. It's going to look expensive even though you're not paying an expensive price. So make sure you head over to movement.com slash almost famous to join the movement. Yeah, they don't have just men's watches. I mean, I'm wearing mine right now.

I can tell time. I can tell when we've been talking to Kristen too long. I could have kept talking about all the guys, all the tickling, all the mascara and hair extensions. But they have a great set of women watches as well, female watches. What would be the right way to call that, Ashley? They'd be called female watches. Female watches. Women's watches.

Selection of female watches. Go out to movement.com. Make sure you put slash almost famous at the end, and you'll get 15% off with free shipping for your female and male watches today. Ashley, we are walking into one of our favorite segments that we've ever came up with on this podcast. We kind of dropped the awkward Ashley, which I wish we'd go back to at some point. Yeah, I got a tweet about people missing that today. The segment that we're going into today, the famous, who the heck are you? And we have Blake E in studio.

Blake E! Hey, Blake. Are we going to get through this interview without talking about Woboom? Are you going to ask me a million questions about Lucas and edit it so that that's all that you see? No. So what happened when he went to Paradise were they like explain your story about how Wabom ruined your entire experience on Rachel season. Do they say something like that?

Yeah, every individual person was like, why do you hate Lucas so much? I'm like, yay, let me talk about it individually to every person again. Like great, cool. So like you're telling me that you never once brought this up on your own. You never once talked about Lucas just on your own accord. Never unless it was, like, it was never unprompted. Everybody would ask, like, why don't you like Lucas? And I'm like, well, it's kind of hard to summarize.

It's a complicated history. Did you guys have, like, some set up plan? Because people have conspiracy theories about you and him, saying that you guys knew each other, you were on another show together. Did you plan on having this big blowout once you were both casted on the Bachelorette? No, I was not The fight was not planned That was me really angry in the moment

Oh, okay I think we should give everyone a bit of a refresher On who Blake is Yeah And what we're talking about with this fight With Waboom So weeks ago Ashley and Ben did a dramatic

Recreation of your fight And I think we'd like for you to hear it Oh, I heard it Oh yeah Oh, I love that Let's let everyone hear it again All right Why am I here?

You're here to be on blank TV And why is that? because you want to be a comedian you're a washed up joke I can't help but feel that you weren't here and I would have to be a real shot at get and I would have a real shot at getting to know Rachel but because you were busy being

wabooming and making a joke out of this experience I'm gonna go home you win Lucas boom the thing is it's like not about winning it's about the world brother it's about the world

and you have no idea what the world needs. I have no clue with that man. This is, by the way, timeout, this is my favorite part. You're the Wabooom Clown, and I'm the nice gentleman. Go back to your protein shakes, go back to your steroids. I'm just going to let you speak for yourself. I know what funny is. Waka, Waboo!

Pie in your face, waka, waka, fart joke. if someone said how would you summarize Lucas in one word and I feel like this is a compliment to Lucas I would say waboom okay let's stop here so this is what we got

all right bravo did you know you're creating the finest television when you did that I did not know that by the way kudos to Ben that was probably the best waboom of all the waboom

I mean okay Blake there's a lot to unpack there I need to know Like, at that point in time, were you jabbing at Lucas? Were you complimenting him? I'm still confused on that argument. That argument makes no sense to me. Basically, we get into an argument, and I kind of did, like, a mic drop, and they're like, no, like, keep going.

So the fight continued, and it escalated, and I was trying to mock him, and I was basically saying that, like, like, Lucas's style of humor is, like, pull my finger, whoopee cushion, pie in the face, like, fart. Like, you're like a, you're like the guy that blows up the balloons at the kid's birthday party. You're a clown. Yeah. Can you tell us a little bit about your experience with him on the other reality show? What was it called? How did you guys get along there? I would be ecstatic to give context for this.

Oh, please. My huge hatred of this person. Have you been able to air this and vent it before? Not really. Oh, well, this is your opportunity. Speak to Bachelor Nation. Well, long story short, Lucas and I were on a previous reality show. And on that show, couples were, had to go to couples therapy.

and they were given a chance to try and reconnect or get over each other. And halfway through the show, they brought in five single guys and five single girls. It was called. It was called Exile. On what network? On Wii TV. Oh, we? Yes. So, the show was about five pairs of exes. I got paid

as a fitness model to go halfway through. I got three grand to go to the Dominican for seven days. They were like, are you single? Are you open to being in a relationship? I was like, yeah. Wait, wait, wait. Confused. You guys were single, but you're in relationships. No. No, the five pairs of couples were in a relationship or breaking up or getting back together, whatever.

They brought five single guys, five single girls halfway through to help them make a connection if they wanted to meet new people. So Lucas and I shared a love interest. Oh. Yeah. Yes. Wow. So the reason why I'm so frustrated with Lucas is that on that show, at the end, the couples can

leave by themselves together or with someone knew they made a connection with. But on that show, at the end, he and our similar love interest, his quote-unquote ex-girl chose to leave together. So basically he had to break up with the girl he was saying and she had to quote unquote break up with me. Well, the reason why I'm upset and we talk about right reasons is because Lucas chose to go home with her, but he kept screwing the girl that he saw on the show in the real world. The girl that chose to go home with Lucas actually had a boyfriend in real life and she told him from the start she would pick Lucas. Even though she kissed me and we had a connection. So they were both fake and I was real. But luckily that show made me look good. I get on

this show, they tell me that Lucas isn't there. They said they didn't know that he was on another show. And I go, okay, great. I've got three options here. The second I saw Lucas, I was like, I can pretend like I don't know him, and then I'm a fake, I can be friends with him, don't want to be friends with the Waboom guy, or I have to try and distance myself from this. But I already knew that I was set up to fail because they were going to say, you both were on a reality show. You both are here for the wrong reason. So I was set up to fail from the start. My frustration now isn't with Lucas. It's with the situation. Well, I mean, Blake, we've talked about this in the podcast before and I get where your frustration come from but I I mean you might have a

different experience than I do but I've never felt like the show has misedited something I mean yes it cuts out stuff but the overall storyline always seems to play out exactly how it happened when I was there I disagree with him on this topic on me or on Ben Ben thank you actually yeah you're welcome there's a there's a lot missing from storylines can I just say backstory that I producers asked me who I was most excited to see in paradise I said I hope that Ashley I is there oh well thank you that's so sweet they're like that's not happening this year they said why I was like well I think she's kind of crazy but I have a I'm really good with crazy so I think I could handle her and they're like okay we'll keep good crazy oh yeah I know yeah I know but you know what it's like

to get kind of a you know not fair I'm sure you don't cry all the time every day but I did cry every day in paradise like that's highly accurate okay but there are some other things that I think we're mess with along the way. So they just, you know, whatever. Moving on, what does the E stand for in your name? Why is it Blake E like Chuck E? Cheese. Ah, well, um, nice. My full name is William Blake Ellerby, but Lerby is the E.

There was a Blake K on the show, so I was Blake E. Oh, that is why. So you have entered into the Ashley Eye Syndrome. So you're constantly going to be Blake E from now on. I like my initial now. I used to not love it. So should we talk about Paradise? You were talking about Paradise?

Did you like the fact that you had to swap spit with basically two other guys? Because you just kissed Kristen back to back to back? So before my date, I was told that nobody had kissed Kristen. And if I did, I would come out in front. And I kissed her at sunset over the water on the date. And they didn't show that. Oh, that was the second kiss we saw. I was like, what the come on?

Oh my gosh. I mean, waka, waka. Hey, I'm looking at your, I was trying to figure out your last name because I had no clue what it was. And so I looked up your Instagram, Blake, and there is a girl Toppolis kissing you on your Instagram. Who is that woman? And was she around for Paradise? No, that's my ex-girlfriend. And why did you post it on your Instagram then?

When was this? What's the date of the post? It's like just last week or earlier this week. Shut up. Well, Paradise makes me look like, you know, a loser that can't get a date. And I just was trying to show people that Paradise, Paradise Romance-wise. and got crap on me. I have got to check out this girl.

Wait, Blake, are you telling me that you're trying to overcompensate by posting a picture? 100%. Okay. Oh, man. At least you're honest. Instagram, Blake, you need to help me out here because Instagram is always confused me. I talk to Chase about this. And it could just be that I just am not ripped enough to do this.

But you got a lot of shirtless pictures and a lot of underwear picks on here. Um, can you please explain to me the reasoning and the mentality behind posting this stuff? Uh, well, I'm a personal trainer. I majored in nutrition. I'm a certified strength and conditioning specialist. I'm a fitness model and that's kind of my world. So it kind of shows what I do. I mean, if somebody wants to get shredded or diet, you need to show them that you've been there

first. So I'm just showing what I do. Perfect. Yeah. I mean, Chase said something, uh, similar. So I, I just have no clue about that stuff. If I look at Instagram half the time and people's lives seem a lot more exciting than mine. And so I just trying to catch up and take cool pictures when I can.

And maybe next time I'll do one shirtless. I think you're pretty cool, Ben. Thanks, man. It's all facade, Ben. Blake, last question. Are you happy to Paradise? No, because I got scalloped. How long were you there for?

I was there for, well, the hotel like three and a half days, but I was literally in Paradise for 26 hours straight. Got up at six, back at the hotel at eight. That was all filmed the same day. Wow, that hurts the heart. I mean, I guess this, okay, so edit aside, you and I actually believe that things aren't edited correctly. I would say, okay, I'd fall someplace in the middle then. There are storylines that don't play out completely accurately to how it's shown. But for the most part, the story is told to what I imagine actually happened.

So when we watched last night's episode, it looked like you had a hard time finding. a date. Was that the true scenario or explain to the audience exactly what was going on? Do these women really want to go on dates with you? Were they already taken? What was happening there that, in your opinion, was shown incorrectly? Yeah, I'll tell you exactly what happened. I get there. Christina was my first choice, and she seemed kind of hesitant to go out with me, but I wanted to kind of show her that I wasn't that same guy she saw on the show. And when she started to warm up to me, I said, okay, well, when I come back, if I were to ask you, would you say yes and she said yes so after I talked to like four girls and I came back and I asked her first she

said no I was like you're throwing me under the bus what are you doing and when I spoke to Danielle I spoke to Danielle second I could tell like there's no chemistry there but they said hey ask her like if you were to ask her she'd say yes and I didn't want to do that but I did and of course she said no so they're getting the footage they need of me getting shot down and raven was like hung over on the ground they're like go talk to raven and I think I spoke to I forgot who else I spoke to jasmine but everybody really pushed for Kristen and Kristen wasn't really on my radar but I do only have nice things to say about Kristen

she was actually really sweet on the date and you guys don't see me but I took care of her on the date her contacts were coming out I made the boat driver stop and give her his sunglasses so her contacts wouldn't come out because she was going to be legally blind if she lost her contacts so I had to go get her like water bottle caps

to put contacts in and we got her some solution and some dramamine and we got her feeling better shivery is not dead and Blake E is the perfect example of it. Blake, hey, we find out a little bit about you. We appreciate you coming in. Thanks for waiting. We know it took a while today. But hey, thank you so much for joining us on the Almost Famous Podcast. Thank you for having me. Now we know who the heck you are. Waka, waka. Well, speaking of Kristen's contacts, we have a fabulous sponsor. Ashley tells us about it.

Are you tired of paying overpriced costs for uncomfortable contact lenses? And do you overwear your contact lessons just to save money. Well, we have the solution for you. It's called Hubble contacts. They're quality daily lenses that you'll get for half the price of the other guys. You know, contacts are expensive because four companies actually control 97% of the market until now. I think that's why Kristen was so desperate not to lose her. Oh, because they were so expensive and she didn't have enough back in the hotel.

So if she were to get Hubble, she would get contacts that are sent directly to her. and she'd get them at half the price and she could just go to the optometrist and get a prescription today and then send it in to Hubble and then they're going to send it to her and then they're going to send it right to her door. She could have a backup pair of contact and not wear mascara when she's going swimming and be good to go. So good. Hubble has been featured in Vogue and GQ, TechCrunch, Mashable. It's a very reliable company. if you want a fresh pair of contacts every single day for less go to hubblecontacts.com and get your first two weeks for free that is 60 contacts for $30 that's only a dollar a day it's half the price of other brands go to hubblecontacts.com

you're going to get 15 pairs of lenses for free you get 20 20 vision for half the price that's hubbb-b-l-e contacts.com go to Hubble there's nothing worse than not be able to see anything, especially Bachelor in Paradise. Yeah, but you look sexy in your glasses, Ben. Come on. I did get a pair of glasses. I'm getting old, Ashley.

I need to have some readers on me. Yeah, I know. I need my nighttime driving. Actually, it's time for us to talk a little bit. Are you ready to talk? I just want to talk to you right now, Ben. I'm kind of glad it's just the two of us. Yeah, we haven't got to do this yet today, and I've been missing you.

All right, here's a couple topics. We're going to keep the topics just the three of them. the three main topics of the episode, but we're going to start with a tweet that I got yesterday that, to me, it's sad, okay? The tweet read something like this. I don't have in front of me, I wish I did, but it said something like this, Dear Ben, I am going to stop watching The Bachelor because it feels like it's turned into a bully, making fun of, and shame fest. And that's sad to me, because that's not what this show should be. It's not what this show used to be.

But after watching last night's Bachelor in Paradise, I want to know if you can kind of understand where she's coming from because I can. It seems like to me, just off the top of my head, that she's referring to the twins and their antics, which sucks because we're both friends of the twins. And I know that they felt really awkward when they went into Paradise. There wasn't any guys left. They were the last ones there.

Dean denied Emily's date, and I knew that she was really looking forward to asking him out. And they've also apologized on Twitter a zillion times this week. They've just been like, this was not us. We completely lost it. And I have completely lost it on the show, too. I've said horrible things about people because in the moment, you think it's funny. And it is not funny.

So I understand how can get carried away when you're in that environment and you are frustrated and upset and feel left out. Yeah, I mean, I was going to see. I do know the twins. Last night watching it was surprising me. I don't think any of us would say that their actions or their words were kind or appropriate. But twins aside now, because they have apologized, we'll both accept that apology. It sounds like I will.

It sounds like you will as well. I want to understand the mentality, though, to how you lose yourself. You just said something at the end of that last statement that I think might ring true. You feel alone and you feel like an outsider in something. So as a result, what you react? Is that what happens? I think, to be quite frank, we all make fun of people when we're at home with our friends, right? Like, we all talk smack about other people, especially if we don't like them.

I mean, if we had cameras following us around at all times, we'd be caught saying the ugliest things. It's just human nature. So I think that when you get into that interview room, you think you're just talking to your friend and you don't think about what it's going to to look like two months down the road when it's aired. Yeah, that's a great point. Yeah, you kind of lose yourself and you become so comfortable in the interview room that you have no clue what it's going to look like months later. But that brings up a good point.

Any of these people then need to – they are held to a standard, right? They have a responsibility. And so you have to watch yourself as you speak about people because you know it's going to come back. I mean, at a small example, we look at – we talked to Kristen earlier. She's talking about her scallop fingers, right? It's kind of funny. It's humorous, but it dragged on and on and on and on.

And I can imagine what that nickname did was kind of take away some of the guy's interest in her because that's all they could think about. And that's unfair to Kristen at that point. And did you have a moment when you were on either season that you said or did something you regret? Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I mean, regret is an interesting word for me. I've had to apologize to people individually,

and I've also had to kind of tuck my tail between my legs at times. Yeah, I've definitely done things in my time on The Bachelor and Bachelorette that I guess I look back on which I would have done it differently. Like what? Can you give us an example? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think the most popular one, right, is telling two women at the end of The Bachelor that I love them. I mean, not that I didn't have strong feelings for them both, but it was an, inappropriate use thing to say at a time that was critical in my relationship with my future fiancé.

I think that was irresponsible for me. I think it was unwise. I wish I would have just held those emotions in to save them for that last moment, but I didn't. And as a result, I had to apologize or explain myself throughout that. So, I mean, I think that would be my big – when I think about something that happened that really affected somebody else deeply, that would be it. And that's what I said. I mean, that's why I'll forgive the twins in a second.

I mean, what they said, totally uncalled for, not cool. But hey, you said it. It happens. In a sense, it's locker room talk, but you have to move on. So we've all been there, but the thing I'm interested in is there's so much weight to each word everybody says when you're being filmed. And I think we all have a responsibility to participate in the show to hold ourselves to above approach. there's also times where you say things because you think they're going to sound funny but then they're not funny yeah you're exactly right ash i mean i think last night's episode though to me it felt heavy

i mean even though there was a lot of predictability to it it felt heavy because i thought there was a lot of people getting their feelings hurt and and one of the person that was getting their feelings hurt was christina and she was getting it hurt by one of our good friends dean who we just spent the week with who i really enjoy spending my time with and i've got to to know him now better than I did a couple weeks ago when we were just talking on the podcast. I love Dean. I think he's a good guy. I think he's young and I think he's figuring himself out, which we all are. But he hurt Christina deeply. Last night we saw it. And my reaction was that Christina cared, and Ashley, please disagree with me here, but this is my take. Christina cared

too much for Dean in this environment. I think she was ready to spend what she believed there's the rest of her life with Dean. And he was just like at a glance saying, hey, I think you're cool. I think they're on completely two different wavelengths when it came to where their heart was at. Oh, yeah, totally. But you can't really predict

how you're going to feel there. What does that mean? I mean, I went into Paradise One, my Paradise One. And I was like, I'm not going to like anyone. Like the producers are going to like, if they want me to stick around, they're going to have to force me to like someone.

And then immediately, like, right off the bat, I was just like, fell so hard for Jared. I never thought I'd even like like like someone, let alone like borderline love. That's, I mean, good point. And how quickly that happened for you, Ashley? That happened at first sight, to be honest. It was like really weird. It was probably the closest ever had to like love at first sight.

Yeah, I mean, and there was something there. You still have a relationship with Jared today. So there was obviously something to back those feelings. And I feel like Dean and Christina aren't done yet. Just by my sense of watching the show, there was too many, too many open-ended issues that they didn't get closure on. I wouldn't be surprised if we hear about Dean and Christina again one day. What do you think? I agree with you 100%. Like I said, I love Dean. Please don't think any differently of, well, I guess Dean made his mistake, so you can think

pretty differently of him right now. But I love Dean. I respect Dean. I think he's a good guy. He's making terrible decisions on Paradise that I think he's learned from. And if he talked to him today, he would apologize for. But I think Christina's reaction was, I enjoyed it because I thought it was real, it was authentic, it was raw, and she was going crazy because she watched a man, and I don't want to put words in her mouth that she loved or really liked or had deep feelings for, make out with another woman right in front of her, and it was tearing her up inside. It is not normal. I know we've talked about this on the podcast the past couple weeks, but it is not normal

to have to watch the guy that you love make out with somebody in front of your face. Correct. So why did she not leave then? She stuck around and kept trying to date him, and that was my... Oh, okay. We were talking about you back on the... beds were like early in Monday's episode early in Monday's episode I did want her to leave then and then he probably would have been like oh my god I lost her now I have to go get her that hard

to get chase thing and then Raven made excellent point I hated it oh I loved it I know you loved it I hated it because this is what girls do and Ben you can explain this girls don't listen they they live in la la land I know we do Christina was doing and Raven was telling her the truth Amy, I think you saying that girls live in LaLand goes over a lot better than me saying that. I mean, but then Raven's telling her the truth and she did exactly what girls do. Instead of going, you're right, by Dean, she yelled at Raven. It was unbelievable. I know, but you have.

It was so annoying. I was so annoyed because, yes, Raven is speaking what Christina even knows is the truth. But it's not the time for her friend, Raven, who's in like this happy relationship and who's at zero bumps. along this Paradise Road to just be like, oh, you know what, I'm going to preach to her about this and, like, hopefully she gets it. I am not a lover of tough love. If you throw tough love at me, I'm probably going to retaliate more and be like, nope, not over. I'm going to get him. Like, I'm going to try to prove you wrong. And then enjoy making mistakes. I know. I will. I will. Because Raven was telling her the truth. And Christina, Christina played it wrong from the start.

Girls need to go by Dean when they do that. And you know, I love. And you know, I love. I love Dean, but I'm just saying, you know, we know we do. It's just something that, like, in our weird psyche tells us not to do. The kick-ass girls of this world are the ones that can leave, and they're the ones that probably win. I want to ask Ben, Ben, if you were Dean, okay, and you like them both, which obviously he did, and Christina bails you, wouldn't you have wanted her? Yeah, you would have wanted her more. Wait, Ashley, you're saying, do I want her more? You would have wanted her more if she left early on on Monday's episode or even last week.

Then you would have been like, hey, I'm going to go after this one. I can't say that. Honestly, I think if I put myself in the Dean's shoes or if I was there in Dean's position and had two wonderful women in front of me that I was confused about, I can see where he's coming from. I just think he handled it incorrectly. I would have been, I would have felt terrible if she would have got up and left. Yeah, I don't know if I would have wanted her more romantically because I think that would have been almost felt like manipulation. like hey I'm going to get up and walk away so he chases me but I think I would have felt so sad

and so like that I had hurt somebody I could see it in Dean's eyes as Christina was sitting there explaining herself with tears in her own eyes and he just didn't have the words at all which he hasn't exactly had the words through this whole season to explain himself oh my God Ben I want to talk to you about something okay so on Monday night Dean posted a picture of the cutest cutest picture of he and Christina in Kentucky during the week of their break and the caption said, you're out of my league, okay? And oh, my God, did I get all mushy and, you know, I was so touched.

And then Jared goes, that's such BS because whenever I say that you're out of my league, you tell me that that's BS. And I go, that's because that statement is BS. I need to know your thoughts on this statement. You're out of my league. No, my dad always told me that if somebody says there, that you are out of their league, it just means, it just. Yes, I do. It just means that they don't actually like you. It means that they don't like you and they're trying to let you down easily. No person is ever going to be like, oh, you know what? This person, they're too good for me. I'm going to find someone a little bit more mediocre to match me. It's not going to happen, which if you had said that to some girl. Yes, Ben. Do you think that that line is always a lie? No. Yes, it is. You're not going to say, oh, you know what, this girl's too good for me. I knew I should answer this one. I have to answer this one. I have to. I have a question. I.

I should have just said no comment. I couldn't win here. It's because you used the line before to let girls down gently. You just said you got mushy. I did. And then Jared said that's BS because whenever I used the line, you don't believe it. And then I was like, you know what? This is BS.

So now you think Dean's Post is BS? I think this is the appropriate term. I think this is a better term. I don't deserve you. Okay. I mean, I get that. Yeah. I think there

There is a time and place in every relationship where you should feel like the other person is too good for you. You want to be with somebody who's too good for you. You would never turn someone down who's too good for you. So you want to be in a relationship that you feel like that your partner is too good for you. Yeah. But the reverse of that is you also, and I think this is an important thing, topic that we could go into more, but you also want at some level to feel like your partner

believes that you're too good for them. Because I think that bounces out where both parties are going, wow, like I am so lucky because I feel so special and that my partner believes I'm so special and that they love me so much that they're almost confused at the person I am, right? Like I've been in relationships before where somebody's looked at me and said, you're too good for me. And I've said, that's not true. I know it's not true. But There is a level there where I feel the same about her, and it works because both parties just feel so special to be with each other. That's true. That's why I like the phrase, I don't deserve you, because I think if you use the words, I don't deserve you, that could allude to like you care about me too much and I can't catch up to your feelings.

No, I like that too. Maybe you should text Dean and see if he'll change the caption, because I think that's what he's trying to say. I'm not, I know the love that, the loving place that Dean came up with that quote. Like, I'm not trying to, like, crap on his caption because I think I know exactly what he means by that. Yeah. You really, really love, I think he loves Christina. I think he truly cares about her. He just is having a very hard time navigating a very unnatural environment.

Yeah. And that brings me then to this question. You know, we saw something this week that we don't see often. We see the final two or three weeks of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. But we saw on Paradise, and I think you felt very similar to this. We saw true heartbreak. I think it would be hard for anybody to argue that Christina was not heartbroken for a couple days here at Paradise. And as hard as that is to watch, we have to thank, I guess, Christina,

for putting herself out there in front of all of us so that we get to watch her journey to find love and that's what this whole franchise about right it comes back to the first question we asked the bachelor the bachelor at bachelor in paradise almost feels like a bully fest right now it's not right it's not fair it's not what we want to watch

what we want to watch is people trying to are people trying to find love and Christina was going at it we want to watch people and then feel comforted by the fact that they are going through on TV what we go through in our daily lives and we don't go through this

just making fun of party fest what we do go through is like heartbreak and love and that's what people go and watch The Bachelor and The Bachelor of it for. Yeah, let's get back to it, right? I mean, let's get back to

people attempting to find love and not as much have put each other down. And we've lived in this world a while, Ashley. I think the two of us want to lift each other up, hopefully. You know, you lift me up all the time. You said my glasses are sexy. I mean, I'm going to walk out of here a little more confident.

Oh, my gosh. The text that you send me throughout the week just randomly, like, make my heart burst. So, yeah, I mean, that's it. We want to lift each other up, and we can make fun of each other. I can make fun of Blake for taking pictures of the shirt off. I think that's weird. I'll never get it, and I'll never tell them that I get it. I think that's just absolutely for a thousand reasons odd.

But you know what? At the end of the day, I don't want to see Blake hurt. even if I think his Instagram's weird or I think his fingers smell funny like scallops I don't want to see him hurt deep down and I hope this show is not hurting people to their core that would be terrible

and last night I thought we walked a very thin line into that I want to just bridge on one topic before we move on and I posted an Instagram with Dean yesterday and it was like the weirdest thing because I got so much hate on my comments section about Dean and the caption just said like everybody makes mistakes everybody has those days right because that's a Hannah Montana quote but then I go he made some bad one yeah I knew that

he made some bad moves in paradise but there are few people that can make me smile and laugh like he does he's one of the warmest people I've ever met and people are like I cannot believe you're condoning his behavior I'm like am I condoning his behavior no he like he admits that he made the mistakes but like you guys can't like villainize him as a bad person because of like what he's done in paradise. Also, I can't stand this expression, F-boy. Like, he's not F-boy, he's-nep-boy. And I want to know your definition of what an F-boy is.

Because this term has just been everywhere on social media regarding Dean. And I'm tired of it, but I'm tired of it because I think, when I think F-boy, I think a player that hooks up with different girls with zero guilt, zero guilt attached. And I do not think that that is, Dean. again you've answered the question perfectly you know it is like when when i think a f boy

i don't know if i know many um i've had friends in college and i've kind of been like this but yeah it's hooking up without guilt and most of my friends including myself in our uh decisions in life through college and in adulthood when you've you've interacted with a female you've had a relationship and maybe you're kind of over, you harbor this guilt. And I've always said when my buddies ask me about it, right? Like, why can I just go out and mess around with girls like some of the other guys do and not hold guilt? I said, no, that's a good thing. That shows you, it really is.

It shows your soul, you have a soul, shows you have character, shows that your heart breaks for others' heart's breaking. And the thing we always have to remember on a show or not, these are people. We are people with a soul and with eyes and with feelings, and you don't want to manipulate those feelings. You don't want to take advantage of those feelings. And people who kind of just sleep around and then say, oh, you know, screw it, like whatever, that's the people we want to stay away from. So that would be my definition. Dean's not one of those. Yes, Dean made some really bad decisions, terrible decisions.

He did not treat Christina or Danielle fairly in this, but I don't know if he could because his heart was being torn in two different directions, but he had guilt. He wasn't just doing that to sleep with two beautiful women. That wasn't his intention. He actually wanted to see something work where he could be a supporter of them. I don't think he did it correctly, but I totally got what you're saying in your post. I think you're completely spot on. You love the kid through it. You're going to stick with him through it.

He needs good women like you to be there for him. But there's one thing that Dean will not be doing, and that's getting married anytime soon. I think we're... Zola is the wedding registry that will do anything for love. Couples can register for the brands they want on an easy-to-use platform with the ability to personalize everything, personalize everything with notes and photos. It's a registry that feels like them. Zola is a one-stop registry, sheets, a wine subscription, a honeymoon fund. Zola works directly with 450 plus brands, 450 plus brands, so the happy couple can find whatever they want in one place.

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Now you're going to have to go to zola.com slash almost famous for more details. But when you do, you'll receive $50 when you register and use Zola. So go to zola.com slash almost famous. That's zola.com slash almost famous. I want to talk about Mike Fleiss and these crazy, Crazy. Okay, let's not call the creator of our beloved show. Crazy. I just think that his tweets are being a little wacky lately. We were analyzing them all weekend long when we were in Tahoe. The one today, the one that he tweeted about two or three hours ago, said, unfortunately,

Peter will probably not be The Bachelor. And this follows tweets over the past couple days that said that Wells will not be The Bachelor, that nobody from Jojo season will be The Bachelor, and that Dean will also not be The Bachelor. So we are left with you and Luke from our possible selection. But he said probably. Probably not. So is he just trying to mislead us and it's definitely, like, it's probably not. But the 10% chance, well, that's the 10% it's going to actually end up being.

Oh, guys, I got a big announcement I'd like to make on the almost famous podcast. I have no clue who the Bachelor. Oh, my God. You freaked me out for a second. I was like, this is how it's happening. This is how it's going to happen. I'm going to be part of this. I have no clue, and it's crazy.

But here's Jill. I know Mike. I think Mike is hilarious. I think Mike is brilliant. I think Mike knows exactly what he's doing, and what he's doing is getting people like us to talk about his crazy tweets. So there is a ton of interest around the next Bachelor. We don't know who it is. I don't even know if they know who it is, honestly, at this point.

I know that the people that he said are not the Bachelor, and I'm going to include Peter in that, even though it was a probably, they're getting pretty thin. And so if it's not me, is it you, Ben? Yes, isn't you? Oh, my, we're going to have to wait and see you on Good morning. Are you, Ben? Or could you possibly hide this from us the entire time? No, no.

I know he couldn't. So I'd like to tell everybody out there a little story. So for the last three weeks, I've been planning to surprise Ashley in Tahoe this last week because I couldn't wait to see her and Jared and Dean and Luke. So for three weeks, I kept a pretty good secret up until the night that I was supposed to show up. Then Ashley and Jared found a picture of me at the airport heading the title, so they caught on. So if I can keep that secret, do you think I keep this secret? Ben, are you the Bachelor?

Are you leaving me on this podcast? Here's the deal. Okay, here's the deal. Mike Fleiss is a brilliant man. He created a show that's played for 22 seasons, plus The Bachelor at Plus Bachelor in Paradise. he's hanging out in Hawaii right now and he's laughing at all the attention that his tweets are getting

I don't know how this plays out I don't but what I do know is that him tweeting like a crazy person is such good entertainment it's such good entertainment and all of us including the two of you will have to wait

and find out for who the next bachelor will be Ben oh my gosh okay first off you guys want to follow Mike Fleiss and also Mike Fleck P-S, thank you for my life right now. But it's at Fleiss Meister. It's F-L-E-I-S-M-E-S-M-E-S-T-E-R. And we'd love to hear you break down all the tweets

because we have just been analyzing the crap out of them. Yeah. And I'm also going to do a little call out here. I'm going to challenge Mike Fleiss to come on this podcast and explain himself all his tweets next week, hopefully after The Bachelor's announced. And you'll have to wait and find out. I just can't believe that you're The Bachelor.

I'm torn. You're obviously the Bachelor. He's not. But I'm torn if I want it to be Peter or not. Now I don't even know. Why, I do on Peter for yourself? Because sometimes I wonder the same for me. I'm like, I'm very team Peter in becoming the Bachelor, but also should I be thinking

more selfishly? Ladies, you're getting very excited about this topic. But we're dragging it along a little bit longer than we should be. You can talk about this off here. I'm on a text thread with Ashley and Amy, and it goes on and on and on about the next bachelor. and I typically just delete it. You guys, I complain all the time.

I'm like, oh, my God, I'm so tired of speculate in who The Bachelor is going to be five minutes later, but really, who do you think it's going to be? This is my life. It happens every time. Okay, but do you know what we definitely want from our next Bachelor? Clear skin.

So I hope he's using bioclarity. Oh, geez. Bioclarity is delivered straight to your door. It's an easy, twice, daily, three-step system that's natural. It doesn't have harsh chemicals. Bioclarity helps maintain clear skin to make you feel confident like every bachelor should be and ready to take on your day.

And we know how hard days are when you are the bachelor. Your face is no place for weird harsh chemicals like benzoporoxide. So instead, bioclarity uses antioxidants that are found in green tea to clean and detoxify your skin and cooling cucumber to soothe an oak kernel to hydrate in everything. everything else. It doesn't give you redness. It doesn't give you dryness or irritation. It's a three-step system which you're going to cleanse and you're going to treat. Then you're going to use the restore gel, which is going to leave your skin feeling smooth and refreshed. So all the girls that are touching your cheeks are like, oh man, I can't wait for our kids to have such

great skin. Anyway, if you want to get sexy skin, go to bioclarity.com. Our listeners are going to get their first month for only $9.95 plus free shipping. That's a $20. savings and it comes with a 100% risk-free money-back guarantee, but you need to enter our code Famous, F-A-M-O-U-S at Bioclarity.com. Nice job, Ashley. I can tell you really like Bio-Clarity. Oh, thanks. You know, I am a fan. All right, we got some callers on the line. Huge questions out there. Let's see what we're talking about. Let's see what we think the next bachelor will be.

All right. Let's go to Lauren in Missouri. Hello. Hello. Hello, Lauren. Hi, oh my gosh, I think I'm going to throw up. I love you so much. Oh, my gosh. I love you too, but I'm shaking really bad.

Where are you right now? You're chafing really bad? I'm my car. Yes, I'm shaking. Oh, you're shaking. We thought you said chafing. I thought you said chafing. I was real confused for a second.

Or like you're running? No. That's so funny. Yeah, okay. What do you? think who is the next bachelor Lauren? Okay, so I've been following that producer's

tweets and I really think it's Ben Z from the Paradise season. No shot. No, no shot. You know what? I don't know who it isn't. Oh my gosh. Ben Z dude, you're very kind

but that would be the snoozyest season of all time. I think he's just so cute. Yeah, I mean, I think he has a big heart. I don't think, knowing Ben, first off, I don't think he would be able to handle it. I think he cares a lot, and I think he would get tired of the constant interaction. And he'd miss his dog. Okay.

That's true. He would miss his dog, Zeus. He would. Lauren, our follow-up question to you then, okay? So you've always been watching Bachelor in Paradise. Yes Have you enjoyed this season Is the first question I want to ask?

It's been okay I don't know what other words to describe It's kind of been a disappointment I feel like because the only love story is really Taylor and Derek And I feel they're not really showcasing it It's more about all the other drama And

I guess like I love Dean at the beginning of the season. Now I'm not at him, and I'm just kind of like, what are you doing? I want to see more of Robbie and Amanda, because I love that storyline. But everything else, it just seems like it all fizzling out. And I don't know. I don't know what's going on. I was listening to your guys' podcast yesterday from, I guess, was it last week,

about how there's just been a lot of drama and there really hasn't been any love. And I was like, yes, I 100% agree with that. It feels like magical, or musical chairs, feels like musical chairs, and the music stopped, and everybody's scurrying to find someone, and everybody partners up with someone they don't actually really like. Oh, weird. Yeah. No, I agree. It's all about, like, just having fun with their friends, and it's not really about finding

that connection, and I feel like everyone's just trying to make it as long as they can on Paradise without even really just trying to find love. Yeah. You know, Lauren, as you were talking there, um, I thought of, something okay it kind of clicked with me and that could be crazy so I need to bounce this off some of my my female wisdom here the two of you um you said you know you love dean's beginning the season right everybody loved dean at the season and now you're just mad at him do you kind of feel like dean is your little brother like i i haven't met many women who like absolutely hate dean

they're all just annoyed and mad at him like you would a little brother that would do this is that kind of how everybody's feeling i think i don't know about the brother other thing. I guess I kind of see him as, like, a guy in my past that screwed me over, and I'm just kind of, like, taking my anger out on what happened to me out on him because I'm watching it on national television, if that makes sense. But I could see, like, the little brother side of things, too, because if my brother did that, I would be just as mad. Yeah. I mean, I get it. Like, there isn't many people that hate, you shouldn't hate Dean. I mean, you should be upset with his decision-making, but I feel like he's just so darn

cute that everybody's like oh you know what just so mad at you dean but gosh dang it i just want to pinch your cheeks that's how i feel every day i yeah i totally can see that and i was wondering if that's how you felt ashley since you guys are like so close yeah i just don't like the fact that people are villainizing him for mistakes that he's making when like we all make mistakes i'm not condoning that he did a lot of insensitive things but nothing's ever been done by him in malicious intent. Do you know what I mean? People are making it seem like he's trying to hurt people on purpose.

And he doesn't feel bad about it. No, I think he definitely feels bad about it or else he wouldn't be as emotional as he is on the show. I think if he didn't care about Christina, then you would see that. But I think he does. I think Christina was just a challenge for him and he didn't know how to handle that

because like the right woman for you is going to be intimidating. So I don't know. I don't think he's a villain either. don't understand why people are labeling him as a zone because I think he just made a mistake and I think that it just is unfortunate for him. It's on national television. Yeah, he's a good-looking feller who got stuck on an island with some really good-looking people and he fell for multiple.

Like, can't feel that bad for Dean, but we can also check him where he's at and say, come on, buddy, step it up. So, Lauren, thank you for the call. Thank you, Lauren. We're going to move on. No, come on. Bye. Bye.

Bye. It's so much talking to you guys. So good talking to you. all right now we're going on to emily in new jersey hey emily um what's you thinking hi um first off i love both of you guys i'm obsessed with this podcast i watch it i listen to it every week thank you thank you emily we really appreciate you saying that um i have a question about whether you whether or not you think that there's a possibility of them skipping this bachelor season and having christina go up

as a bachelor's. Did you have my car bugged this morning? Because this is exactly what I was talking about. And the only reason, and I think it's a spectacular idea, the only reason I see it being impossible, not, you know, completely impossible, impossible, no, impossible, anyway, is that they've already casted, presumably all the girls for said Bachelor season, and they have not done any casting for the guys.

well and I mean there's there's some TV business we got to talk about here yeah ratings yeah so the bachelor's historically brings in um a lot better ratings than the bachelorette um it's just kind of time a year so i mean i guess it would be a different time you can really put that in play but i think that um the bachelor has a female audience and the females like watching the bachelor because they can kind of relate with the women and there's more than one woman involved and then they kind of all like to ooh and awe over The Bachelor. And so it brings in more ratings. It's a higher publicized show.

So I think I would be very surprised. I don't think that will be the case. What I don't think would be surprising would be if the Bachelor comes outside of the franchise this season. I believe it's not Peter. It's not Dean. It's nobody that we will at least nobody's participated in this show before. I'd say there's about a 75% possibility that's going to be the case.

I suggested an outside celebrity to one of the producers, and he seemed about three weeks ago to poo-poo that idea of having somebody from outside the franchise. Of course he would. He doesn't want to get you involved in this. I know. He was like, Ashley just came up with a genius idea. We're going to pretend like she wasn't the one who came up with it, and we're going to go along with it.

Ashley, I hope if it is a bachelor outside of the franchise, that you take credit for it. What should take credit for it. That would be. Yeah, I would love that. I would come out on this podcast and tell everyone what happened. You know, the truth of all this is we, it is a time where we're excited for this. I mean, I remember leading up to the announcement of me being a bachelor. And just to let everybody know, I only found out I was going to be the bachelor about four days before we announced it.

Which is so silly because you are like, we're the obvious bachelor, you know. So if that took four, if that was four days before it was announced, I can't even imagine what it's going to be like this time around when it's just so up in the air. Yeah, I mean, that's it. And so there's a lot of anticipation. We're all excited. I'm excited.

I think we need another great guy to join. Like you. Just family. Do you say like me? Yeah. Oh, actually. You guys make me laugh. But hey, yeah, we'll have to wait and see.

But if not, Christy, Tina's a great choice. Let's do another Bachelorette season. I always like watching them. All right, thank you. I think after Paradise, everyone would love to. But, yeah. Thank you guys.

Thank you for your very poignant thoughts, Emily. We're going to move on to Allison in Pennsylvania. Hey, Allison. Hi. You are a teacher? No, I am a senior at Tufts University. But at Tufts, we have this program where you can teach seminars to freshmen as sort of an orientation class. So I'm teaching one with my best friend called The Bachelor and Society.

That's amazing. Our first time is actually tonight. So what exactly does this class entail? Well, so the first portion of the class, we're sort of looking at the production and looking at editing and how the show is physically made. And then the second portion, we're really diving into looking at social issues through the lens of the Bachelor. So we have an episode on gender and sort of heteronorativity. dating norms, and then we get into race with Rachel's season, and we have a class on content and sexual misconduct that works really well, you know, from the Paradise stuff,

but especially for a classical freshman students in college, it sort of worked out pretty well that we're able to talk about that. Definitely. So what are your thoughts on this season of The Bachelor in Paradise? I think it's been interesting. As I said, the sexual misconduct stuff was horrible, and I thought the whole thing was a big mess, but it has given us a lot of food for thought to think about

going into our class. I think it's a very difficult situation to handle, but that overall the producers tried their best in how to handle it and treat it as a serious issue. But obviously, you know, when you're thrown into something like that

and you're still trying to produce a TV show, it's hard to deal with things delicately and still in the drama for the rest of the season. Yeah, what about the love stories? I mean, we got some crazy love stories going on. some bickering. We just talked to Kristen on this podcast. She's, I think we've nominated to the most sought after woman in paradise this year. When you watch this, you're obviously educated, you're intelligent, you're teaching class on it. Do you get emotionally involved

in these storylines, or do you kind of keep it at a distance and you just analyze everything? I do get emotionally involved. I go into it thinking, okay, I'm going to take my notes. I'm really going to analyze, but always halfway through. I'm smiling. I'm cringing. I'm so excited for the people, and I always do believe in the love story, and you know, sometimes it does work out. I believe in Taylor and Derek. They're very cute. Yeah, I'm with you.

I mean, I've watched this before, and I emotionally involve myself in a lot of these stories, because I do know it can work. I mean, Ashley would be the first to tell you, hey, true feelings can come from this show every time. I mean, if you just open yourself up, who knows

where it will go, and we saw a little preview after this week's Bachelor in Paradise where somebody who's getting down on one knee proposing it looks like at the reunion special who do you think that is i think that it has to be derrick and taylor just based on the fact that they've been the only sort of solid couple through the whole thing and yes they've had their issues but they've been about the other one the whole time everyone else i'm just not sure amanda i don't think is ready to jump into anything again you know after last season and christin you said is juggling a lot of guys i don't

I don't think you can really whittle it down in this short amount of a time. So you don't think Amanda's ready. She doesn't. We just lost our caller. We are going to move on right now. We have to take a spot for one of our favorite sponsors, FabFit Fun. Sorry, couldn't transition that like Ben does. You guys know all about FabFit Fun if you are a regular listener of the Almost Famous

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It is $200 of value per box, usually. It can even be higher. Like this month's editor's box, the fall editor's box, is worth $350. $49, you guys. That's insane. But you know what you're going to get it for? You're going to get it for $49.99 each season. It's the best bargain out there. I just got my box in the mail a couple days ago. Let me tell you some of the things that I got. All right, you're going to get one of my favorite things. Dr. Brand's poor derm abrasion. It is worth $58 if you go get at Sephora, but it's just in this box and you're going to get the whole box for less than that. It's just nuts. But this stuff makes my skin. so soft and smooth. I'm obsessed. It was quite the fine for me. I will use this stuff for the rest of my life. And then there's also this awesome lip stain and an eye shadow palette. Good things in this box. Highly recommend it. So go to FabFit Fun. Use our promo code almost famous and get $10 off the editor's box this fall. All right. We're moving into our

final segment. One of my favorites. We have some great listener emails this week. I mean, after last week, we kind of challenge everybody to write in on their ideas of virgin shaming and the show and some of the main topics. And we had a plethora of emails. Ben, we should do a bonus podcast sometime where all we do is answer listener questions. Sounds awesome. Yeah, let's do that. Okay, but for right now, we're just going to talk about Sophia. Sophia wrote to us and she says, just wondering what your thoughts are on Nick and Vanessa's breakup. I know Ben went through a very similar situation. Do you have any insight on what happened? I know it's a personal situation, but all seemed so great and happy for them. Obviously, we only see what they let us

see on social media, but it seemed so sudden. By the way, love the podcast. You guys are the best. Hope you guys discuss this. Sophia. Ben, I guess I'll go first because I think I see Nick more often than you. But all I can say on this matter, is truly that Nick and Vanessa had been very private in their relationship. Whenever Nick and I hang out, we don't really talk about that part of life very much. Yeah, that's just something that they've always been very private of ever since he even got back from The Bachelor. Yeah, I don't think there is a great way to handle this, right? I can only speak from my experience, but it is a private situation that because of your respect for the fans and the people that have watched you, you make it public.

They don't need to tell us that they even broke up, right? We can just find out to the grapevine. And Lauren, I didn't need to tell everybody publicly they broke up, but we wanted to have a respect for the fans. You know, what leads up to it, it's hard to say. Sometimes relationships end all of a sudden. Sometimes they're going really well and something happens. and it changes everything in the split of a second. And we don't know the backstory here.

All I know is from my experience, and it's an uneasy situation. It's hard no matter how it's done. And, I mean, what do you want them to do? Did you want them to post on their social media or Instagram and leading up to and say, hey, we're having issues today. We're getting closer to the breakup. Hey, tomorrow, you know, tomorrow, look for us to even closer. No, you don't know.

It will just happen when it happens. Um, my advice to him now, um, I don't really know. That's, that's a tough topic. That's a tough subject. I guess my advice for them now is to keep their heads up, um, not listen to the noise to, uh, find a way to love and respect each other, um, so much. That's, it's important. And, um, they're both lovely people. You know, Nick and I are very close. He's, um, a guiding. guiding source for me honestly and has been for the past couple years he's like a big brother to me and Vanessa I didn't hang out with her too much but every time I did she was lovely very very nice girl to hang out with that's it I mean Nick and Vanessa are uh now officially

moving on we wish them the best from this podcast um we thank highly of them and uh we just hope that this time that uh hearts are breaking and and life is changing that they are able to keep moving forward. Yep. All right. Well, that's a sad note to end the podcast on, but it is something we have to address as we are one of the official,

we are like the official Bachelor podcast. All right, guys. Well, next week is the finale of Bachelor in Paradise. Can't wait to talk about this supposed engagement with you guys and to see what happens with Dini Babies. Oh, and there's a scandal that we don't even know about. And maybe next time we talk to you

will finally know who the Bachelor is. That is what I'm. most excited about. So until then, I've been Ashley. And I've been Ben. See you guys. Follow the Ben and Ashley I, almost famous podcast on IHartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.