The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - S21, #4 1/2: Breaking News: Bachelor Out of Paradise

Episode Date: June 14, 2017

Ben and Ashley go deep into the Bachelor in Paradise scandal. What have their insider sources told them about the incident? Is this the end of Paradise? What ramifications can this have on the franchise? What are the other contestants that were sent home saying? “Sources” have reached out to Ben and Ashley…and now they’re reaching out to you. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast is brought to you by Zeal. In-home massages delivered to you. Download the Zeal app or go to zeal.com and use promo code Almost Famous to get $25 off your first in-home on-demand massage. I'm Ben. And I'm Ashley. And you're listening to the Almost Famous Podcast on IHeart Radio. Special edition.

It is a special edition. Ashley and I have decided to jump on the phone with each other today. I'm actually currently in Denver. He's at work? I'm at work. Yeah, don't tell anybody, but I'm sitting in my office up in the mountains talking to Ashley about some breaking news that a lot of people have already heard about regarding Bachelor in Paradise. And we're here today to maybe not share our opinion on the matter, but our perspective coming from two people. who have both participated in this show or in this franchise, Ashley has been to Paradise.

I have not. And we just want to try to shed some light on a situation that is unfortunate, to say the least. We hope by the end of the episode we both have information that is clear, that is truth, and then allow everybody out there, all of our listeners, to form their own opinions. and we will follow this story as it plays out. But first, Ashley, what do you think? You know, we've been getting tweets all weekend about people wanting us to discuss this topic on the podcast. And, you know, the first 48 hours, I was like, no way.

There's no way I'm going to talk about this. I'm too close to it. I am too close to the people that are involved in it. And it's such a sensitive subject. I really just don't need to put my voice out there when, you know, you and I don't really know facts. We're just really hearing hearsay from all these different sources. So before we do divulge and talk to a reporter about some real straight facts and we wanted you guys to be able to come here to us who we like to think of as being like very reliable

sources in Bachelor Nation, I wanted to talk about how my experience on the Bachelor and specifically Bachelor in Paradise has been over the past two years. So it's kind of interesting the timing on this because over the past couple of months, I have spent so much time thinking about how grateful I am for the Bachelor franchise. Over the past three years, the Bachelor has allowed me to connect with so many women who tell me that watching me on the shows has helped them feel like they're not alone. By seeing my raw vulnerability, honesty, and just straight up messiness, it makes them feel, quote normal in a world of picture perfect airbrush imagery. We would never have had this platform

to communicate with each other if it weren't for The Bachelor. It's just one of the very many things that I am so thankful for when it comes to this franchise. And yes, I cried a lot and I got my heartbroken in both of my stints in Paradise. And because of those experiences, I've actually become a stronger person. And when I think of Paradise, I don't think of sadness, as you may assume from the crier. I think about the lifelong friends I've made on camera and off and how amazing it is that I have such a tight-knit, ever-expanding group of friends. I think about all the love and passion that I felt in paradise and not the tears I shed. I think about the kisses that made my head spin, not the breakups that made my heartache. I think about watching four of my

good friends find their great love, the person that they will presumably be with for the rest of their lives and the baby that'll be born in September from the love that was found in paradise. It's sad that this summer's cast will probably not be able to have a similar experience to my own. And I've been thinking about all those affected since the news broke and Ben and I have, of course, been sending our love to everyone involved. And that being said, please keep in mind that during this podcast, Ben and I were in present in Paradise during this week's unfortunate moments and we are trying to figure out the mystery just like you guys are there are so many rumors and unconfirmed reports here on the almost famous podcast we are trying

to get the real story out there just remember this isn't just a salacious story to ben and i this is our second family we're talking about you know ashley you're right and um thank you for sharing your thoughts i've never been to paradise um i don't know um how paradise works I don't know how the relationships work. I don't know the process of meeting somebody in paradise. I honestly don't know the boundaries in paradise. What's appropriate and what's not. And so today, I'm here to learn more myself.

I think you're right. You are closer to the situation. You're friends with Krint. You're friends with a lot of people that were there during this event. And for you to share, I guess, or comment on this situation, doesn't seem fair to you. It doesn't seem fair to the people involved. It doesn't seem fair to the franchise.

And so today, this podcast is going to feel different. It's going to feel more journalistic. You know, I haven't written anything down, mostly because I don't know what to say. Entering into this phone call with you, I'm nervous. I'm anxious. I don't feel great about this talking about this topic. mostly because I don't know the truth. Yes.

And that has to be clear. As we move forward throughout this whole episode is, I don't know what's true and what's not. I was not there. You were not there. Everything's hearsay. And that's tough. But what I will say,

my only perspective I have on this is from my experience on The Bachelor and Bachelorette. You know, I think you said it during, Your write-up, a lot of these people who were cast in Bachelor in Paradise, I consider friends. A lot of the people that work on this show, I consider friends and family. They have seen me in my worst. They've seen me in my best. They've seen me confused. They've seen me, you know, I'm getting emotionally even kind of talking to you about it.

They have seen me and been beside me in moments that I'm not proud of and moments that I am proud of. I feel the exact same way. When I was reading this last night, when I was writing this last night, it's no surprise that I had a lump in my throat reading it. Just thinking about this amazing group of people that I have around me who have accepted me at not only my best, but my absolute worst. You're right. And I think the show, The Bachelor and Bachelorette has been given this, I don't want to say. People assume things about the show. They assume situations are set up.

They assume people are put forced into different scenarios. They assume that we are forced to drink all the time. Exactly. They assume that we're forced to drink. And in my experience, those were never the case. Never. I was never forced into anything. I was talked through as a friend in situations.

If I was confused, they would sit with me and allow me to speak my mind and help me process. And yes, there is producing that is done. It's a show. You know, there are situations that happen that they need to get something out of it, but that's never a forced situation. They don't write a storyline before the season starts. The storyline makes itself up each and every day during the process of filming the Bachelor at Bachelor and Bachelor in Paradise. with that said, these people are humans.

We've talked about it in the first couple weeks of this show, this podcast. People make mistakes. They're not perfect. They're not going to be perfect at their job. And the one thing that comes out of this whole scenario is, did somebody make a mistake? Did a producer make a mistake with things taken too far? I don't know. But if it did, you have to understand that they were just trying,

to portray a storyline that was existing in front of them. Yeah. My perspective on this show is that there's 300 to 400 people in Mexico who are now without jobs. That's tough. There's 300 to 400 people who are not millionaires. You know, Chris Harrison is not the only person that works on the show. There are makeup. There's hair.

There's cameras. There's sound. there's art, there's travel, there's date producers, all of these people work on the show. And now, you know, if the situation existed how, you know, even in the worst case in error, it is terrible and nobody should support it. But what we should support and what I want every viewer and every listener to know is that there are people who are now without a job and we should feel for them, just like it would happen in any unfortunate event that somebody would lose a job. um these people are my that was perfectly said ben so as as actually and i move forward i don't have a comment i don't i wish i did i wish i could tell you all this is exactly what happened i don't have

that but we are going to talk to somebody that i believe has done a good job at investigating the situation we're going to allow her to speak her name is jackie strouse from the hollywood reporter. And soon we'll get her onto this podcast. And because Ashley is so close to the situation, she has asked and I have agreed to kind of lead that discussion because I think for Ashley to dive too much into this, she's going to be very biased. I'm going to even be biased. I'm going to fight that. But we're going to talk to Jackie and see what she, or listen to what she has found out. Until then, Ashley, as all this played out over the last week or a few days, I'm sure your heart has been pulled in a thousand different directions,

right? You're friends with Krynne, you're friends with a lot of people that work on this show. From a former cast member on Bachelor in Paradise perspective, what are the things that stand out to you the most that is most detrimental not only for Bachelor in Paradise, but also for, I believe I want to hear from your perspective, the cast that had kind of paused their lives to be a part of Bachelor in Paradise. Well, you should have seen the group messages that were going on during Saturday night, Sunday when all this was breaking. It was just, it was a mix of people that are here and past alums and then current contestants, and nobody was giving facts.

Everybody was just like, there's something going on. And it was a very eerie, dark cloud that was just over the thought of paradise. It was very weird. Like, we couldn't figure out a word other than eerie because maybe it was just like a mystery. and nobody, and it was dark, but nobody knew what was going on, really. Even the cast that was there, they're unclear as to really necessarily what's going on. And then I get home. So I was on a plane for five hours, you know, and I didn't have Wi-Fi the entire time.

And what I landed to five hours later was completely different stories than what I took off with. And it was insane. And then my feelings would change. It would go from like dark and eerie to being like, like, like oh maybe this is all a misunderstanding and maybe it's just not a big deal and they'll resume next week who knows so i kept going back and forth feeling for different people and having so many a big variety of feelings for each individual person there depending on the rumors that were going on and then i think about everybody who's not being able to experience the amazing experience that

was paradise for me the past two years and of course yeah everybody who works there who they put so much creative energy into this show. They love this show. The fans are obsessed with this show. The more I talk to fans, the more that they don't even care about The Bachelor and The Bachelorette as much anymore, and they just wait for paradise.

And every fan that I've talked to in the past 48 hours is so upset that their favorite show is probably not happening this year, especially since they've gotten so close and attached to these characters, and they wanted to see them mingle in this atmosphere. and this is just something that they're going to have to skip out on. Yeah, so I guess that, Ashley, this brings up, and I want to give you a chance here,

and I know I feel like I'm interviewing you, but in a sense I am, right? You're a former cast member. You're somebody that I want to hear from that I think people out there want to hear from. So it sounds like as you talk about this, you went into two things I want to hear more about. One is the group thread that people are a part of, that is kind of bouncing information off of each other, telling them, telling you, and others what they heard, what they maybe saw, if they were down there during that time, what they're feeling towards the situation.

So you're saying, if I'm hearing you correctly, this thread kind of went from this dark and kind of cloudy depiction of what was going on in the paradise to when you landed, you kind of felt like, wait, maybe the accusations and maybe the worst case in error that we were hearing initially might not be the whole truth. Right. I think when the news first broke and we were thinking, wow, they just canceled the season or they just stopped filming. They halted production. We thought the very, very worst.

And then as I get off this plane and new reports are coming out all unconfirmed and there's a zillion billion stories that have been coming at me and people are asking me to explain them. And I'm like, honestly, it's so peacey. I can't even put it together. And as far as I know, that's where it is right now. still a whole bunch of unconfirmed stories. So at first it seemed like it was going to be a simple story, but now there are a zillion different versions of it and so many unconfirmed facts.

And that's where we are now still. You're right. And I'm hearing you. And actually, I've talked to you many times. And I can tell that this is not an easy situation for you to talk about, that your own thoughts are kind of scrambled in your own mind. You know, as I've talked to you about this trying to prepare for this, this podcast, you know, you don't have any strong feelings or emotions or opinions on this

because, honestly, we don't know. And so I just want to thank you for even being willing to talk about it because I know how hard this is. You're close to the situation. You care about these people. You care about this show. You care about the people that work on this show. And so everything that you're speaking of is coming from a place of confusion, emotion, and

for all parties involved. everyone sadness. And so thank you for talking about it. And we're going to try to clear up some of this stuff. You know, we're going to try to give Ashley some cold hard facts. I'm going to try to learn a perspective on it that maybe I haven't heard yet. I don't know a lot about this situation yet. So with that, I want to call in Jackie Strauss from the Hollywood Reporter.

Hi, guys. How's it going? It's confusing. That's how it's going. Yeah, I would say so as well over here. So we asked Jackie to come on the podcast because the Hollywood Reporter has done a really good job at figuring out or trying to figure out the facts or at least gathering the information to this story. I think with this story alone, they feel like it is such a massive story that they have to decipher all the information, process it and make sure that they get this story straight. And so Jackie has been a great job at that so far.

I believe she's going to continue to do that. And so I want to ask Jackie, Jackie, can you just give us a little brief synopsis of what exactly happened Sunday in Paradise? Well, thank you for saying that. You know, I do think that Chris Harrison had a good point when he spoke out today addressing all of the misinformation and information that is out there. And so that's why I do, like you said, want to stress that I'm really speaking on what has been confirmed and what we have been able to report on from what we know. And that's why we have not identified the names of the contestants that are allegedly

involved, and we're not going to do so until they speak out or until the show identifies them. But what we know about what happened on Sunday is that a producer suspected misconduct on the set and filed a complaint to Warner Brothers, which is the production company that produces the Bachelor and the Bachelor's spin-off.

And that's how they're instructed to handle this situation if it does come up. No charges have been filed, and neither of the castmates allegedly involved have spoken out. So right now, it's an internal investigation from Warner Brothers. And this type of an investigation

can typically take one to two weeks, which is why I believe Chris probably felt the need to speak out and tell the fans to be patient as they get to the bottom of this. Because, you know, speaking to our reliable sources, there are a lot of differing, there's differing perspectives and there's differing viewpoints. And it does seem, as you were mentioning before, that it's taking a lot to get to the bottom of what actually happened. Definitely. So as far as confirmed information now, as you mentioned before, the two, the members, I guess, we can't even say two, the members involved in this event, they have not been confirmed, correct? Correct. And it happened on the first day of filming, which would have been a week ago Sunday?

Yes, that's what we have reported. But they didn't shut down immediately. I think a lot of people are confused about this. correct yeah it was it appeared to be another day of filming when the contestants who were involved were approached with the situation and that's when the camera shut down and from there the investigation began which then went into two days of interviewing the entire cast which continued on for another couple days of interviewing the entire crew i mean it's a lot of people to get through. You know, 16 of the cast was officially announced, but as we know

now from photos getting out, there were more that were already there, as the show obviously welcomes more as a week's progress. And then there's probably about 25 crew members, so it's a lot of interviews to get through in a few days. And then by Sunday, the cast had their phones back. As you guys know, there's no social media devices allowed, and that's when they were flying home and most of them were back on Monday, including the ones who were allegedly involved. So, Jackie, can you confirm that, just from what I'm hearing here, that after the events took place, that then every cast member and also producers, whoever on the show, were

then interviewed internally, or was this just a cast member just normal, you know, in the moment interviews talking about what their experience was during that day? From what we know at that point, the show was shut down. So it wasn't, you know, a typical interview. It was more so they're interviewing everyone for the internal investigation. And this may be very random, but in my own little paradise head. I'm wondering, were the cast members still communicating and talking while in the hotel? That is a good question.

And, I mean, we know that they were sequestered, but I'm not sure if they were sequestered in groups or if they were sequestered one-on-one. Okay. To go back then to kind of dissect your original statement, and I first want to thank you for not jumping to conclusions or making assumptions during this whole story, because as we talked about before we gave you a call, was, you know, the accusations or at least the rumors. of accusations, which we now have confirmed through you, that there is actually no suit filed, correct? Correct. So the accusations or the rumors that are being made are terrible. And if they're true, then this is incredibly unfortunate for a ton of people. And so I appreciate that you're taking your time to process through this and not making any

assumptions either way, good or bad. And so please, if you've done it so far, and I know you'll continue, if there isn't an answer, don't feel like you have to give it to us. We're just trying to dissect exactly what we know at this point. Yeah, I think it is hard to have patience in this situation. People want answers, but as you, to your point, it's very damaging to jump to those answers. For many people.

And so there's a storyline that I, recently just found out that I didn't know initially. There is a producer involved, and this is possibly where, at least, as you said, the complaint stem from, which then escalated into the pausing of production. So this producer, you're saying they made a formal complaint because they were involved in the situation, they're around the situation during this whole experience between the cast members? So we do know that there was footage of this incident in question, but what I can't say,

I guess what I can say it's unclear at the moment what exactly the producer saw. If the producer saw the incident, if they saw the footage, that's not entirely clear. The only thing that would really be accurate to say is that this producer was on location and filed a complaint about misconduct on set. Is it true she didn't show up to work the next day? I've heard that floating around. I have not been able to confirm that. And so do we have any information into the complaint that was made?

Like to dissect misconduct at all? I mean, the official statement from Warner Brothers is allegations of misconduct on set. So that's really all that we have to go on by now since we haven't seen the actual complaint. and that's really kind of the big question that is out there right now, and I assume that's why it's taking some time to get to the bottom of it. Definitely. Do you have any insight into how these investigations work? I mean, I know that's probably not the most exciting topic to talk about,

but I think for the interest of our listeners, and then also as you spoke of the time frame to when we'll get information from the situation, is, how do these investigations usually go down? Yeah, I mean, well, in this case, they were on location, so it would be whoever's conducting the investigation from Warner Brothers would fly out, so that might have taken a little bit of a delay, as opposed to if you were filming locally in L.A. or something like that. And at that point, they take over from there,

and it really can take at least one to two weeks to get through everything. I mean, at this point, they're going to interview the cast and the crew, basically anyone who was there to get all the perspectives. They're going to look at the footage. And it's definitely a case-by-case situation. I mean, this has never happened before on this franchise. In 15 years, production has never been shut down aside from, you know, weather or something that was out of their control.

So it's definitely, there's not a rule book that I could cite on this, but these types of investigations will at least take one to two weeks. So it certainly raises a question about even if this were settled and all the parties were happy, schedule-wise, you know, it seems unlikely that this season could be pulled off in time for an August 8th air date. It's delayed a few weeks. Yeah, that's, I mean, that's kind of what was going to be my next question is, what kind of impact do you foresee or have you heard that will occur now to the franchise or this show specifically? I mean, I think that's the big question. I think that it was lucky that the Bachelorette was dark on Monday to help create some distance from this. And unfortunately, I think there is a close tie, even though the shows are separate. And even though The Bachelorette has already wrapped, it's airing as this is going on,

and as you know, it's a crossover audience. So I think that that is definitely something that the show is going to have to figure out. As you guys know, there's still opportunity for The Bachelorette to address this. They'll have the live after the final rose and the Mentel All. So it then becomes an option if this is something. something that they're going to address or if they want to keep this separate. Yeah. You know, you said it best, and I think this is something for all of us as, you know,

viewers of the show to, we can assume this. You know, The Bachelor and Bachelor has been around for 15 years. It is a well-oiled machine. The format of the show really hasn't changed every year and every season. Production, you know, clicks along, right? they typically handle situations because they can foresee them coming

you know that's including weather or issues with travel or maybe you know issues within the show internally this is something that's new and some insight that I have that Ashley has because I know she talks to the same people

is that when this went down when when production was paused people that the the production of the show kind of was in freakout mode. Nobody knew what to do or handle it. And I think as we continue to get more information, it'll be interesting to see how the franchise handles this.

Because either way, you know, however this plays out, and I want to hear your opinion on this, however this plays out from this point forward, if the worst accusation they're being made are true, or if maybe all of the, rumors being spread aren't true. This will have a ripple effect on the franchise. We might not foresee it in the near future, but the show will be affected. And just from your point of view and the people you've talked to, long-term, what do you think the impact of this will be?

Well, we do know that the incident is said to be a sexual encounter between two cast members, cast members who are intoxicated. So that's not a stranger to seeing that on the series. So I think moving forward, even when the Bachelor returns, if you see two contestants who are

intoxicated who are hooking up, it might wait differently on the viewer, given what they know about what happened. And I think back to your point, what's really unfortunate and also what Chris suggested is, not everything out there is true, of course.

But these bachelor nation fans are going to seek out this information. They want answers, so they're reading it. So it is unfortunate that, you know, basically every blog out there is citing unverified sources. And there is that question of no matter what's true and no matter what the investigation determines is the damage already done because this information is out there. But on the flip side, there's the question of the memory that this audience has. And, I mean, this franchise has certainly seen controversy before, not to make light of this one. But, you know, it's a matter of, will this carry over to when the other seasons are airing, or is it a short-term memory, and people are, you know, willing to give the new season a chance and keep it behind them,

which is interesting. I think, unfortunately, for The Bachelorette, there is not that distance, so that's an interesting to see how this play out, especially if this is an ongoing investigation for maybe three episodes of The Bachelorette. It'll be interesting to see how the fans react to that. But, you know, I do think that there's no way that this franchise is emerging completely, you know, untarnished by this. Yeah, I mean, I think you're right. And it just shows the weight and I believe the power to what we say and when we say it, people. Our opinions do matter. And when somebody has felt wronged, it is careful to,

when you communicate like a situation like this, you have to be careful, impatient and make sure that you have all of the facts in place. And I'm not, that's why I said earlier before we called you. And I don't know what to say about this. I have zero, I honestly have zero opinion either way. All I know is that the accusations I've heard are incredibly powerful. and some that should be taken very seriously and some that should be investigated and made sure that we know everything to happen. But I hope that the truth prevails in this and that however this gets spit out, worst case scenario, best case scenario for the franchise and worst case scenario, best case scenario for the people involved, that the truth prevails and that we can hold that opinion in light of watching this show. from here on now. I agree.

Yeah, I agree. I think the most important thing is this investigation and letting them do their job as torturous as that might be for viewers who want answers. I mean, unfortunately, we may never get the full answers of what actually happened. And that is something viewers will just have to deal with when there's something a little bit larger at planning. One last question, it's one that I just heard you speak of at the very end. Do we have, and I don't know long-term how much this adds to this story, but I need to ask it. Do we know, do we have confirmed accounts that substances outside of just your normal drinking water were involved in this? Meaning alcohol?

Alcohol? Anything, I guess. I think it's pretty safe to say alcohol was involved at this point. Okay. I will take that for what it is. Jackie, thank you again for coming on with us. We will be following you as this investation continues, and please continue to tell us the truth. I know you will, collect the facts, and we will trust you for everything that you report on from here and out. Well, yeah, thank you for having me on. It's great to speak with you guys, hopefully, you know, under better circumstances next time. But thanks for having me on.

All right. Jackie Strauss from the Hollywood Reporter. We appreciate it. And thank you so much for joining the Ben and Ashley Almost Famous Podcast on IHare Radio. Bye, guys. I feel like a lot of fans are probably going to listen to. that interview and they're probably going to think, oh, wow, well, I kind of already knew that stuff. That's pretty vague. But, like, the truth is, the information, the hardcore facts we have

right now, they are vague and they are basic. Yeah. I mean, that's it. I mean, we're, you know, we literally threw together a podcast in a day, really, I mean, a couple hours even based on facts that, or based on vague facts. We just don't know anything. And we want to tell all the viewers out there what's happening because this is a very serious situation. You know, we don't want to make a lie to this. It's kind of hard to hold a bachelor or a bachelor's at podcast when this situation exists because it just feels heavy. It feels cloudy, you know, a show that we watch to laugh at people, to laugh with people,

to watch people fall in love, now feels like, I guess at least personally, like I want to make sure that all these this investigation gets cleared up before i can become really a fan again and that's too bad if you know it's it's it's it clouds um a situation that we just don't know a lot about i completely agree my sister asked before she's like do you want to watch episodes so whatever of the bachelorette later and i'm like wait what bachelorette right now i can't even think about the bachelorette um yeah i feel like you just can't really think about what's going on in the franchise until this is all cleared up definitely and you know i do but I want to, again, give Jackie Strauss and the Hollywood Reporter some credit here.

She didn't say anything to make a story. You know, she really didn't say a lot, but I felt like she said exactly what she knows. And I think we should probably have her back on as this continues to play out because she does sound like somebody, at least from talking to her today, that we can trust, because she's not out here to make some claim that's going to get her a headline. And I guess more followers on Twitter, what she did was just explain, this is what I know. This is what we have confirmed. Everything else at this point is hearsay.

Exactly. We're not here to make drama. We're not here to make more drama. So, Ashley, I have a couple questions for you. Oh, you do. You have more questions? Okay. I asked Jackie the same thing, and I want to hear your opinion.

You know, we, the Bachelorette and Bachelor will be affected by this situation. However, this plays out, we know that now, right? Right. This has clouded this situation, and that's just the truth. and how we work as a society. What is your opinion of how this will affect the Bachelorette and Bachelor long term, given that this investigation is not completed yet? Well, let's see.

I feel like, I don't know, if we talk about ratings here, are we talking about the quality of, like, just the quality of people, the quality of the production? Both. I mean, honestly, what I'm just wondering, actually, like, is it going to affect the ratings, which means it affects how many people, are tuning in. Is it going to affect how it's produced and the quality of production?

Is it going to, I guess, you know, is it going to affect another question to kind of make this a little more detailed? Is it going to affect how much we see in each relationship? Are we going to not see the physical aspects of somebody's relationship on the show now because of a situation like this? I think there's a couple things that will be changed. One, I don't think the ratings are going to be affected by this. If anything, this is such a huge story that people who who aren't bachelor fans are hearing so much about The Bachelor and they may get, you know, curious about what this whole thing's about. So they're probably going to end up watching it

and maybe even getting a bigger audience from this. I think that as far as production goes, drinking is probably going to be more controlled. They're probably going to have a closer eye and they're probably going to cut people off and they feel like it's time to be cut off. Beyond that, beyond that, I also think that there's probably going to be like younger kids

parents of younger kids, you know, in their early teens, their teens, they're probably could be a little more careful about what they're watching on TV and whether this is a show that they should be watching in general. Yeah. I do think that people will be paying more attention now to what's shown on this show. This is maybe, you know, like I said, a lot of these people that work on the show, I feel like our family to me. They've been supportive of me, always.

They were supportive of me through my situation in The Bachelorette, to me being the Bachelor, post-batchelor, and then in my relationship, and then post-my relationship. They have been nothing from executive producers to founders of the show, to Chris Harrison, who I consider a friend of mine, to, you know, smaller producers in a show and art. The camera and audio, like, those people have entered into my life in a way that I will always be grateful for. for. And the part that I guess coming out of this that worries me is that these people, the people that we don't see all the time might be affected the most. I also want to clarify and say that never in my three seasons did I ever see anything happen that should have been stopped that I thought was morally wrong. Well, you know, the truth is that we don't know a lot. Ashley and I are coming to all of you today to just kind of talk through this with you.

I mean, honestly, I don't even know how this podcast will sound. It's not, it was thrown together to Ashley and I just wanted to get together, talk through this with you because we felt like if we're going to do a Bachelor and Bachelorette lifestyle podcast, this is obviously important. We can't ignore the situation that is existing. And as we mentioned before, I want to be clear, Ashley and I have zero opinions or comments really on the matter. We just have a motion around the matter. have feelings associated with the show, associated with the people involved, associated with the people that work on the show.

We just have emotion. And so we sit here today as fans, as participants in this franchise, very similar to how all the viewers out there are participants in this franchise saying, hey, we're going to be patient. We're going to take our time. We're going to listen to the facts come through because we don't know what happened and we would hate to jump to any conclusions. And we encourage, we encourage anybody out there.

to hesitate to jump to any conclusions. And if the worst case scenario is the truth, then we will respond to that accordingly. If the worst case scenario is not to truth, then we will respond to that accordingly. But until we know that we cannot form an opinion, all we can ask is that in a situation like this that affects so many people, and I don't want to undermine that, this affects so many people. Most importantly, the people that are actually involved in this event. This will affect them no matter what. We ask that the truth prevails. And so with that, thank you for listening. This has been Ben. And this is Ashley and Ben Higgins for president.

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