The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - S21, #6: "Paradise Returns"

Episode Date: June 27, 2017

Ben and Ashley get an exclusive on the DeMario exclusive.  Find out what girl from Ben’s Bachelor run still intrigues him…what ex-girlfriend he recently connected with…and if he sees a time when he and Lauren...could be friends. Plus…why Ashley wants to be treated like a dog…and “Your relationship doesn’t pay my bills!”…who said it?! 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 going on? I'm Ben. Oh my gosh. Ben is so peppy today. Yeah, I am because I get to be with you. Yeah, we're in studio together. Finally. So much to talk about.

So much to talk about. So let's start with this recap on all it's happened in Bachelor in Paradise up until the day. Which is that, well, when you last heard from us, we didn't know whether or not they were going to resume filming. and to the joys of all of Bachelor Nation out there, they have. Yeah, they're all back, right? They're all back now.

I do believe that they all flew back on Friday and Saturday. And I think today might be the first day that they're continuing to film. That's awesome. But honestly, there hasn't been a lot of news about Bachelor in Paradise since the events of Karen and Demarro kind of, I guess we're released to the public. I'm lost. I don't even know who's back down there. I don't know who left, who stayed. It seems like the only people who are not back down there are Corinne and DeMario.

And Melanie from E-News, Melody Bromney from E-News, got the first exclusive interview with DeMario. And it's on E-News, but we want to talk to Melanie a little bit about all the details and how she got that interview, which has been so sought after. Melanie's out there right now. Melanie, are you there? I'm here. How are you guys? Hello. How are you? We are great. Good. So as far as getting the interview, it was just that, you know, he really wanted to tell his story. And I think, you know, we did this interview actually the day after Warner Brothers had cleared him in their own internal investigation.

And he was very keen to talk and to kind of be able to talk about the experience from his side. Him and I actually had a mutual friend, which is how he came to me. And that's why it all happened. Interesting. That was my first question to you is, I mean, I think everybody out there wanted this interview or at least desired to hear kind of from, I mean, because up into this point, Corinne has not done an interview with anybody, correct? Yes, that's right. But, you know, she's also, her lawyer, Marty Singer, wants the investigation to continue. So as far as she's concerned, this isn't something that's over. Okay. Yeah. So, DeMario, though, so, I mean, I guess to say DeMario does believe this is over? Yeah, for him it absolutely is over. Now, I'll say there is still, obviously, some things that are hanging here as far as he hasn't spoken to Corinne since they left to Mexico.

He really wants to speak to her. But as far as he's aware, because he's been cleared by Warner Brothers, because there's tape, he actually feels that in his eyes, this is something that is over. So does that mean that Corinne hasn't been cleared by Warner Brothers? Well, no, you know, Warner Brothers have said that the investigation is over in Texas. That's why they stopped filming, but now they've resumed filming. They said that Bachelor in Paradise is coming back. It's Corinne's lawyer that believes that there should be further investigation that takes place. But as far as DeMario is concerned, you know, he said, like, there is tape out there,

and he actually wants people to see that tape. Now, Warner Brothers have said that nobody is going to see that tape, but he says that he feels that if people saw the tape, that it would absolutely clear him that people would understand how it has. happened, how they were in the swimming pool together, all the events leading up to it, because every single thing was captured on video. You know, I know this is airing in two parts. I guess Ashley and I just want to know right now to kind of set the tone for the rest of this

conversation with you is, how is DeMario doing from your perspective? He's okay. You know, the day I spoke to him, so the day after he had been cleared, he was careful. He was still kind of reeling from the whole experience of what had happened. For him, he definitely feels that he is innocent, and that actually he believes that just the whole, as far as when the story broke, that people just assumed that he was a sexual assaulter, that he was a sexual predator, that that was a really, really horrific situation to go through. And so he's definitely recovering. He says it was the worst 11 days of his life, that it's going to take him a long time. to get over it. But I have to say, he was actually not bitter, which I've spoken to people

after scandals before where they feel that there is somebody to blame. He wasn't like that at all. He was very much just so grateful for having his family and friends and the support network that he had around him. I heard that his family was taking it pretty hard. Yeah, well, he said that his mother was crying every single day, but that his father had been a real rock to him. And he also said, you know, he, is used to having very strong women around him. That's his mother, his sister, his also grandmother as well. He spoke about, and you know what?

He spoke about Corinne and how all he wanted to do was to speak to her and to give her a hug because while he feels like he is in somewhere, vix him in the sense that, you know, his name was out there and he definitely sees it's potentially a race thing, you know, black man, white woman, and people presumed that he was guilty initially over social media. So he also saw that she was also a victim in the situation that people were shaming her, were calling her various names as far as, like, her behavior with men in the past. And that really, really upset him too. So all he wanted to do was to give her a hug and tell her that, you know,

he understood what she had gone through as well. It's, I mean, Ash and I've been talking about this situation now for the last couple weeks, and it is one that has been heavy, I think, on our hearts, like, as we talk about it. And it is one that isn't easy to talk about because of situations like this where there are multiple people involved and a lot of people are hurt and there's a lot of confusion and assumptions made. And it's nice to know that you've talked to him and that's his perspective. I mean, what an incredible perspective from somebody to say, hey, I know this is hard for everybody. I just want to be there. Yeah.

It's so nice to hear that they are sensitive to each other and that they still want to be friends after all this. No, I don't know if she wants to be friends with him. This was his perspective and what he was saying. But I also said to him, you know, look, this show is going back. They're going to be filming again. They've obviously profited from the scandal in the sense that there's more buzz than ever before about that term. Paradise. There's more kind of intrigue about this show.

Do you blame them at all? And he was like, no, I see them as victims too. He was very kind of balanced, I would say. There wasn't a bad guy or bad woman. woman in this situation for him. As far as he was aware with the production side of things, there were 300 people who were not paid because they stopped filming. And he was like, you know, while at first, when they said, we're stopping down filming. And at first, he was like, I can't believe I'm going home. I've done nothing wrong. He then thought, oh gosh, there are

fathers here, there are mothers here, there are people here that are not going to have their paycheck in order to pay their bills because they're not going to be able to be working on this production, which honestly, I have to say, it was like such an extraordinary perspective that he had, such a massive amount of empathy that he had for every single person involved in this. There wasn't anybody that he looked to and could blame for the situation. So it seems like he's pretty happy that they resume filming. And I have to ask, is there a reason why he didn't go back? Well, I mean, I don't think that decision in hands to ultimately be made yet, actually. I know I read a lot of things on the internet

that say he's definitely not. But as far as he was concerned a few days ago, it was something that he would potentially consider despite what's happened in the past. Now, as far as he's aware, when he was on the Bachelorette, he was, you know, considered to be a cheetah, which he says was unfair that the woman that came back into his life on the Bachelorette. That was something from the past and not something that was relevant to that. He then went on back to him paradise to redeem himself. He now feels like that's been an unfair situation, but there's also a sense in him that he wants to redeem himself again and that going back gives him a third chance. I definitely suggested to him maybe he shouldn't do that.

But it's something that I think he very much just wants to tell his side and really kind of explain to people who he is. And I think as far as he's aware, he's had two instances where he's looked like the villain, like the bad guy. And in both instances, he says he's innocent. Yeah. Well, I know this is a two-part show. Three-part. Three-part. Darling, there is a lot there.

Wow. Wow. And we can't cover it all in the five minutes of this, you know, segment. I encourage anybody out there if they want to hear more of DeMorrow's story. And it sounds like DeMorrow's story is one that's coming from a good place. it's coming from a place of like you said empathy and just um he i guess for for any lack of a better term just um grace and peace which is impressive um and uh and i tune i ask anybody tune in to melanie uh brownlee's uh interview with demario on e um it's two more parts we have

look forward to yeah and we will also have i'm putting up a uh a q and a print version of it on Eon 9 as well. So people can catch up that way as well. Amazing. Thank you for joining us, Melanie. You gave us so much info. Oh, good. I'm pleased. Thank you so much. Bye. And then we just have to add before we go on to the current season of The Bachelorette that we have exclusive information that they will be showing a lot of the footage that led up to the shutdown on this coming season of Bachelor in Paradise. Now that's surprising to me. I think so too. I was very concerned. I was like, are they going to just start

fresh or are they going to pretend like nothing happened i agree no i mean it's almost like there's so much risk in them showing it in my eyes yeah but but then i guess if they do show it it's showing some confidence from the production company totally hey what we're going to show exactly what happened and and i guess maybe the audience be the judge totally and this way i just you know my initial thought was that they were going to use the first day footage and the second day and third day footage but then they weren't going to end up showing Corinna DeMario at all. Just completely cut them out of it.

Well, I will be watching Bachelor in Paradise. I'm assuming a lot of Bachelor Nation will be watching the first episode, at least of Bachelor in Paradise. I'm guessing that a lot of people that don't normally watch the Bachelor franchise are going to be tuning in. Yeah. So you're looking forward to watching it then.

Oh, absolutely. I agree. So we have a couple topics I just want to talk about around Bachelor in Paradise now that people have gone back. one that I'm interested in is Amanda Stanton she is Amanda Stanton was on the season of the Bachelor that I was a part of Amanda is a mother of two she in my eyes has been amazing I always enjoyed my time with Amanda I have a lot of respect for her for her I can't say I would love

to have talked to me I haven't talked to her you know her going back on Bachelor in Paradise surprise me I'm not saying good or bad decision I don't know that yet we'll wait and see but it's surprising that Amanda did go back to me. I am now excited to kind of see her journey. Do you agree? Like, what's your thoughts on that? I think when I was giving Amanda advice as to like whether or not she should go, I kind of went back and forth because she just kept telling me that she had this urge to do it.

That she couldn't describe it, but she just wanted to do it. And I said, that's exactly how I felt my third time. And everybody was telling me, oh, it's going to be a bad decision, don't do it. But then I did it. And I mean, it wasn't a fun time. I was also really glad that I did do it for the experience and the growth of it. And I watched your third experience. I mean, in my eyes as a viewer and told me if I'm wrong because I really am just a fan.

It almost looked like you had closure kind of saying, okay, I'm done. Like this was it. This was done. I'm closed off from Bachelor and Predus. I gave it a good shot. Now do you still have that urge yourself to go back? Or is that chapter in your life seemed to be closed because of that third experience? I mean, that urge is definitely gone.

And maybe it was because of the personal business that I felt like I needed to take care. of, and maybe that wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for Paradise, or at least it would have been dragged on for a while more, you know, because you're kind of forced to address certain issues when you're on screen with The Bachelor. So, I mean, I think it was a good choice for a lot of reasons. I definitely was able to move on because of doing it three times. But the thing is, like, Amanda didn't really need to move on. I think for her, she maybe wanted to start a new chapter when I didn't have to do it with Josh. And Amanda is my closest friend who is down there in Paradise right now. I know if I know that she's into I know that if there is one guy down there that she's into it is Wells and she's been pretty open with me about that and that seems to be a hot commodity I mean he's a great dude I like Wells

but he is a hot commodity with these women right now everybody likes well he's the only he's not the only option but to me like if I were down there it would be only about Wells and maybe one other person that I believe is down there I gotta find out what the one he's wearing honestly he has but also he

He's the bartender, so we're not really 100% sure that he's going to be dating. I mean, I know that he doesn't really want to. I mean, Ashley, how would you feel if Amanda dated Wells, for example? It's not my most favorite idea, but it's also some very weird thing that you have to deal with. If you're part of this bachelor family of ours, you kind of have to be okay with the thought of your friend liking your quote X. Yeah. I mean, Ashley, I will say this. from my perspective of you

I think you do something I know where it comes from you have a massive heart and you care about these men that you like really I guess what I'm trying to say is out of anybody that I've met from the show that has had a fling

on Bachelor in Paradise or on The Bachelor you out of anybody care about those people the most coming off the show as well like you're not just saying hey I still have a thing for Wells and like I don't want him dating anybody else

you're just saying it still hurts because I allowed myself to fall for that guy and Jared and I don't know if there's anybody else on there No, just those two But you still look at this now and you say Hey, it just sucks Like you're honest with it too

You're not hiding it It's hard to watch these guys date other women Because I really cared for them at some point Yeah totally When I knew that Wells was going to go to Paradise I definitely thought this is going to be a little bit less enjoyable watching back than I thought it would be

Yeah definitely Would you ever date anyone from The Bachelor World I think we talked about this the first time And you said that nobody from your season Well, you know, it's hard for me right now. It is because I'm trying to get out there. I'm trying to explore and like I'm doing the best I can at that. But there's still moments where right now it's like dating somebody just seems so weird.

You know, like I know it's a process of kind of getting yourself back out there. I don't know what that process looks like. Knowing me, I'm going to mess up really bad at it a thousand times and then somehow spit myself out and say, hey, I'm ready to date again. I don't want to close that door. That just seems, I mean, I actually, I listened to Lauren on a. on a podcast this week, and they asked the same question. She says, well, I'm not going to close the door to dating somebody in the bachelor franchise.

That's just ridiculous. But there's nobody at this point that I'm saying, oh, I want to pursue that. And there's actually nobody that I'm saying, oh, I'm ready to pursue that. You know, going back on a show again would be hard. Going back into that experience again, just doesn't seem smart. But to kind of close this thought, it just says, yeah, I mean, I don't want to close that off. There are some great people that have came out of this franchise.

Why would I not stay open to it? Yeah, there's that. And I'm definitely not saying that I'm closed off to it either. But I do have to mention that it is harder to get over somebody in our Bachelor family because we see them all the time. Like, I can't just cut these guys out of my life. And then even if I tried to, like, not go to any events that they were ever going to be at, I'd still have to see them on TV.

All the time. I know. Kissing other people, dating other people. And here's the craziest part for me is you all going to get away from it. Once, if you start dating one person, I already hear about it on all the text threads I'm part of, I know who everybody's kissing. I know. All the time.

It sucks. Yes. And then even if you weren't there and you don't have people who want to tell you what's going on, then there's like reality Steve and he'll just like tweet it. And I'm like, okay. Yeah. You're not hiding in this world. Okay.

Speaking of this world, Ashley, I, I'll just be honest, we have a great sponsor, I think, today. Yeah. But I don't know anything about it. but I see it all the time. All your ex-batchelor girlfriend. Use the Fab-Pit Fun box. Okay, so yeah, it's the FabFit Fun box.

You're a part of it. Yeah. I'm looking at the box now. I have one in front of me for anybody out there. I honestly, it smells like a woman and I don't know. All right, this Fab Fit Fun box, I've been getting one each season. There's four boxes that get delivered to your door a year. Yeah.

And you order them at Fabfitfund.com. But the thing is, they've been getting so much better over the past two years. They've always been great, but every season now. You're right. It's a subscription box. So you go to fabfitfund.com and you sign up. And then you get $200 worth of merchandise for only $49.99, which is just insane. And I have got to say, that is an actual statistic right there because there's this Dr. Jarts exfoliant

that if you go to Sephora, it's over $70. But I got it in my Fab Fit Fundbox, along with a whole bunch of other stuff that totaled up to only $50. Well, I'm putting some of this, this says eye cream on right now. Yeah, you are. He's doing it for real. And, I mean, I'm a big fan of concentrates. That's what it says on here. All right.

Well, I can actually give you some recommendations. You know, Ben's just trying them out right now. but my favorite product from this summer's box is this. How am I going to say this? Uh, thermiel. How do you say this in French? I mean, Ashley, you're asking me something that, yeah. It's aviany, whatever.

It is sunscreen. And it is, I'm not just talking this up because this is a sponsored ad. I'm letting you know that I use this sunscreen every morning now, and it makes your skin feel like silk. And it doesn't leave you purply, and it doesn't make your makeup look. cakey like a lot of other sunscreen. I believe it's pronounced a ven. Aven.

Well, here's the deal. I don't want my makeup looking cakey in the morning. I, you know, the FabFit Fun box, I'm sitting here. I'm just going to go through it, but if I keep doing that, I'd distract myself from the podcast. Make sure to use, if you're interested, and I am telling you, I just

use the eye cream. It feels nice. I feel refreshed. Go to fadfitfun.com. Use the promo code almost famous and you can get $10 off on this box, which Ashley's already mentioned. It's a great deal already. Yeah. And then you get it for $39.99. Like, that's insane.

So just use our code. And then you get Ben's favorite eye cream. Ben, do you use eye cream as a guy? Like, is that encouraged? I do use eye cream as a guy. No, you don't. No, I do. Because I'm starting to get some, some.

You're starting to see the aging? Yes. Blemishes. No, like that what are those? You don't use eye cream for blemishes. Crow's feet That's what I'm talking about I'm starting to get some crows feet

Well actually to be honest You don't have any crow's feet Really? So the eye cream must be working for you Ashley stop hitting on me Always By the way You got to email us

At Ben and Ashley At iHeartMedia.com For any comments, concern praise, critiques Make sure you do it Ben did you watch the first episode of this week's Bachelorette extravaganza

We got four hours in one week It's a big week. It's a lot of sitting. It's a lot of sitting. Yeah, I watched. Yeah. Well, we start off, of course, with Kenny and Lee because there's always Kenny and Lee drama. And they were at the group day. And this is the amazing confrontation in which Kenny was like, you're a little bitch. And then he said he was going to poop because we're clean here on the Ben and Ashley, almost in his podcast, in his cowboy boots. And all the guys were relishing in it. Can we just stop before we continue on this in a second?

What's up with this season and these guys and their comebacks to each other? Like you go back to the Wabooom and whatever that other guy's name, conflict that we reenacted in here. And then you go into this guy saying, I'm going to poop in your cowboy boots. I think it's so funny. But like, what does that even mean? Like, can you poop on command? Is that a thing? No, he's going to bring his shoe into the bathroom next time he needs to go.

Well, hey, I've never had that done to me. I hope it never gets done to me. And if I was a guy, I was just saying if I'm competing for a woman's heart, I'm not talking about pooping on anything, including cowboy boots. Did you hear that in the season after yours, Chad season? Well, actually, let's introduce Chad right now. Chadson's in studio with us. Hey, Chad.

The ultimate villain who's just absolutely not a villain at all if you get to know him. Do you like that? Do you want to be called a villain or do you want me to say that you're not a villain at all? You know, the one thing I'll say is that, like, as far as, like, the people that approach me, it's been super great for me. You know, I've met some of the other guys often. I've seen some of the girls that come up with them at their appearances and stuff. Yeah. And it's like, they were like, dude, we played the good guy on the show.

This is the girls we're dealing with now. Because it's like, I only get like those club girls, you know what I mean. Like those, like hot chicks. That's a good point. I love that point. So you get a different breed of girl depending on your edit. I only get the girls that, like, understand the cocky guy, you know? So it's fantastic for me.

Wait, wait, wait, sorry, go ahead, Ben. Yeah, so you're saying it's fantastic for you. In my mind, I thought, wait, you're only getting the club girl, and they're getting, like, nice girls. Well, they're only getting, the club girls are nice. You get to take them out of the club, but, no, I get the hotchurch. I'm sure they have great morals outside of the club, Ben. Don't can't judge them just because they're at the club. Oh, my gosh, this is making me think of so many questions to ask you.

But first, I have to go back to the doo-do bandit, which Wells told me about. What was that? What was that? You were in the house. Wasn't there somebody leaving poop in the toilet? I never heard. I think the first time I heard about it was I would listen to one of Wells' podcasts, and I heard him say something.

I have no clue what you guys are talking about right now. There was this guy in their house that would poop and not flush, and not only that, but he wouldn't put toilet paper in the toilet. Oh, you're talking the bachelor. Yeah, in the Bachelorette house. That group of guys. It wasn't me, if you're asking me. It wasn't me, no.

We can tell Ashley's been thinking about this. for a while. Like, the first question she asked him. It was pooping in the toilet. It was probably well. Somebody was picking deuses and not wiping their butt. Yeah. Like, oh, he was throwing it out on the garbage.

How gross is that? That's not good. But wait, we're talking about good girls and versus bad girls. Do you have a girlfriend, Chad? I don't know right now. That's kind of a weird situation. Yeah, we don't have to talk about that. Yeah, we do.

We sure, sure do. Hold up. I've sat in this podcast room very, very quickly after some confusing stuff in my relationships and I know how bad it sucks to be questioned on it I have to talk about this stuff all the time no for sure I mean it's it's cool like um we were dating you know I'd met this girl online and everything like what app actually she slid into my business emails and was like yeah it was like how can I get some abs and I was like what up girl you don't want abs like you want what do you know yeah so we started talking and um you know we ended up meeting up finally like six months later out in Newport beach and start dating and everything but then like she still doesn't understand the TV stuff so like I was doing an interview the other night on entertainment tonight

where you know they're like hey are you in a relationship with someone right now and like the show is airing so I'm like maybe I am maybe I'm not and I roll over the next morning to a text it's like oh so you're not in a relationship well you're single now and I'm like she thinks I was gonna like go back and like fight for

and be like nah baby like we are dating but I was just like I'm not I can't deal with this like if you're gonna like scrutinize every single interview I do for like things that I have to do for like, you know, I can't like go ruin a show, you know what I mean? Right, no, no. You're contractually obligated to say what you did.

Right, yeah, you know, so, yeah, she didn't get that. And so I've kind of like taken a step back now to kind of be like, you know, your relationship doesn't pay my bills. Yeah, no, it's tough. That is tough. I get that.

I mean, I think it's something Ashley and I've talked about in here before is you come off of this, this, well, you're in this world that is different now. It's not just a Bachelor for you now. You're doing a ton of stuff outside of The Bachelor. and everything and you do kind of have to say things at times that maybe aren't they're more politically correct than you'd like yeah this has got to be vague vague vague vague is the good word to say you got to be vague all the time i'm never vague which is why

i get in trouble yeah that's why she's great to say my podcast with me because she says everything and i just get to listen and he you know balances me out because he says everything perfectly oh well um i don't know about that but somebody Chad, I've only got to meet you a couple times, all at Bachelor or Bachelor-esque events. Yeah, they've all been fantastic. Not all fantastic. But the one question I have for you coming off of this week's episode of The Bachelor at is you were a villain. And I think we can all admit that.

That's not hiding anything. You were known as the villain. Did you know during the season, like as you were actually living in those moments that you would be the villain? No, I mean, I kept talking to the producers. I was like, if you guys air everything that's happening here, like, the whole country is going to hate everyone here, and I'm going to be the only person that makes any sense. And so they couldn't air like everything that I said that, like, made sense because then they would be like, well, now everyone else looks really weird.

Yeah, definitely. There were a lot of times that I thought you were right on, actually. Right. But the thing was, like, when I started, like, calling people out on stuff, it made me bad. And then they didn't really know what to do. They couldn't, like, try and make me likable or, like, everyone else would just look really weird. So then they started running with that. Then every question they asked me was kind of geared towards me saying bad stuff about the other guys. And then it just steam rolled from there. And

eventually I kind of was like, whatever, let's just do this. You accepted the role then. Yeah, yeah. You know, I mean, after a while, you can't go back. I kept being like, I don't want to say mean things anymore. And they'd be like, so you hate him, right? And I'm like, all right, yeah, I hate him. So wait, have you been watching this season? I've only saw last episode. Do you think that people are trying to become the villain now? Like, I think Lee is just to make a splash to get his name out there? It seems like there's like three or four dudes all kind of trying to pull the same maneuvers now.

Like it's gotten really crazy, I feel like. But you went into it with no intention. No intention. But I mean, like, I mean, if you look at everything I'm doing now, you know what I mean? Imagine if I had let those guys like get me kicked off. Like I'd have been like, well, gee, like, I guess I'm a bad guy, Jojo. Yeah. Like, you know, I mean, I'm flying all over the world.

I'm doing all this stuff. I'd be back in Oklahoma still trying to sell houses, you know, until like little old ladies. Yeah. That's no fun. Well, what are you doing now? You're doing famously single on E, which is Sundays at 10 o'clock. It's the second season.

Josh Murray was on the first season. Did you get any advice from him? Advice from him? Yeah. Not really. I mean, I watched like two minutes. I never watched the shows before I go on him. I'm just like, put me in a house and tell me what to do.

Yeah. But I talked to him a little bit after everything. But I think for the most part, I talked to like Polly D and everything before my start. Oh, okay. Yeah. Polly D was also on the first season. Yeah. So tell us about the premise of famously single.

Basically, it's like you take a bunch of famous people or whatever that have been single for a long time and they throw us into a house and try and figure out why we're single and see if we can get into a relationship. Give us one reason why you're single as determined by the famously singled house. That's a toughie. Okay. Probably just the fact that I'm so perfect and I haven't accepted it. It's something I have to work on. Every day I have to wake up and convince myself it's okay. But no.

I think my main real reason was that I was taking care of my mom when she was going through cancer for. like seven, eight years. And all throughout that time, I knew that getting into a relationship would actually pull me away from her. So I got in this, like, habit of like date for a couple weeks, moved to the next girl, date to a couple weeks, you know, never developing any real relationships. And now I've gotten to where no matter how much I like a girl, I can just like, stop talking to her and move on and go to the next one and not really like, you know, have heartbreak or anything. That sounds like a real problem. Well, now it's about like finding a girl to be able to like, okay, I'm just going to make it work with this person. I'm not going to choose to just like

move on like I always do I mean I guess I mean that's some great self-perspective and so self-awareness and and that's not just came that hasn't just came from you thinking you know at night or meditating on that it's came from these shows right I mean I know for me I've talked about the bachelor and bachelorette um have had exposed a lot of my weaknesses especially with the relationships and how I cared for my partners or for the people I was trying to invest my life into um has this I mean are you saying all of this kind of came from these shows you know I knew most of it. I think I had the general gist of why I did what I did for a while.

And it almost kind of convinced me like, well, it's okay to just keep popping from girl to girl because I know that I don't know whether I convince myself that it's okay or convinced myself to do it. But like at the end of the day, the shows helped me kind of understand deeper of why, you know what I mean? Whereas I never really kind of like dug into it. But I mean, I always kind of, you know, before the shows knew what I was doing. Yeah.

But it's like you just start. digging into it more emotionally because you get asked questions so many questions in these little interviews you know about why you're doing what you're doing and you just start talking yeah and you start realizing you know as you're talking why what's really in your head definitely I mean I think that's my advice to anybody that goes back on these shows is you know the the whole purpose of the bachelor bachelor bachelor is for the audience and the people involved to kind of fall in love with each other you know you get to know the people better and if you're not vulnerable if you aren't open uh then you're not only going to be a terrible person to watch on TV or

especially on these dating shows because nobody's ever going to get to know you, but the person that is pursuing you is not going to get to know you. And I think these shows have been a great event in my life because I've been able to talk about things. I've sat in these interviews with producers for hours just discussing why in the heck I'm so down on myself or why in the heck I haven't fallen to love before, these things. And you do. You start to see things about yourself that you never have seen before. And Iggy talks about that when he gets eliminated in the episode this week. and it really resonated with me because he said

I learned more about myself in four weeks than I have in the past 30 years and he said and I finally am learning to accept myself or something like that and I was like wow you know I haven't been a fan of him the entire time but he's definitely gotten out of he's definitely gotten the right thing out of this experience this is a side of Chad that we don't get to see very often

is a side that you're actually admitting faults or like being vulnerable at least I haven't seen it as somebody that's watching on these shows and wasn't actually on a show with you. Everybody's always trying to get me kicked off on Bachelor's shows. I'm always just like, stop. Stop trying to make me look aggressive

or I will beat you up. What's the biggest misconception about you? Probably that. Everyone's like, are you actually like super violent, crazy? I'm like, well, don't try and get me kicked off a TV show or steal my wallet or something. And, you know, no. But I do have to ask.

Your social media does point to that. Like, if I was just to know you through social media, I would say this guy is exactly who I watch. No, do you see him with his doggy pumpkin? Actually, just because he has a dog doesn't mean he's a great guy. He loves his dog. He adores it. If you treat a woman like you treat your dog, she's going to be lucky.

Yeah, for sure. My social media went all the first. Let's just meditate on that line. Can we get that printed off somewhere? If you treat a woman like you treat your dog. He buys her new bathing suits. Yeah, she's got some quality. Tire.

Oh, Ashley. Pumpkin knows fashion. Pumpkin knows fashion. But Chad, we can't get enough. I mean, honestly, Ashley was so excited for you to be in the studio today. She claims you're a great guy. Yeah. From just my conversation with you today, I'd say, hey, I got a lot to learn about Chad.

A lot to learn about Chad. And if I want to learn more about Chad, I got to check in to the famously single television show Sundays at 10 on E. Correct? That is correct. You're on there. So let's see if Chad can find love on famously single. We are super lucky, Ashley, to be sponsored. today by Adam Tickets, A-T-O-M. Now, if you don't know what Adam Tickets is, you got to check it out,

go download the app. It's a super easy way to attend movies, okay? So I've been using it. How is it different than all the other movie apps out there? Well, I'll tell you here, Ashley. What you do is you go into the app, you can search by the closest movie theater you're around. So I'm in L.A. a lot, right? I don't know L.A. at all, even though I'm here all the time. So if there's a movie theater close by, I'll get on Adam tickets. It will show up and then I can actually buy my tickets on this app. And one thing I've learned from Adam Tickets is that in L.A.? You guys actually reserve your seats for movies? Yeah. Yeah. We don't do that back in Indiana. Yeah, but you know what's nice about it is that you can reserve

your seat and then you show up with your phone and then you're in. You don't have to reserve any time for printing your seats or getting a good seat. That's exactly what Adam Tickets does. So yeah, you can invite your friends. You get a barcode. You show up to the movie theater. One of the cool parts about it is when you walk up you scan your barcode and if you've ordered anything from the concession stand they'll actually have it sitting there as you walk up so you want popcorn and cheese actually you got popcorn and cheese that is special all right so you have to get this app no other app has that if you want to get this app you can get $5 off your first movie tickets with a promo code gift G-I-F-T so download the Adam tickets app A-T-O-M

tickets use a promo code gift get $5 off your first tickets and have a Blast watching these movies. I'm in for Cars 3. I'm not. I don't know. I guess I could see Wonder Woman. I haven't seen that one yet. She looks good.

And by the way, you got to email us at Ben and Ashley at iHeartMedia.com. Critiques, comments, concern, especially praise. Okay, so let's continue on this Bachelor episode rundown. We just have a few more points to touch on. It was a crazy episode. One thing I want to talk to you about is I felt like, Rachel's first one-on-one date of this of this week was awkward. I felt like this guy was super into her, right?

This guy is painful. Jack. We didn't know Jack before this episode. Yeah, he fell in love quickly, which will come back to bite him as we've seen. So he falls in love with Rachel or whatever he thinks he's feeling for Rachel. And then he gets let go, which I'm happy for him because I hope he gets a dose of reality and says, hey, you just met this girl. Do you know what this guy looked like when he was talking? It was so eerie.

It's hard to watch. It's another one of those hard to watch moments, which is what I do for all the bachelor. It's like not watch it and just like kind of like peeked through my fingers every once in a while. Wait, we had to talk about the kiss for a second. Okay, I was going to talk about how like he always had his chin down and then he like glars up. He like puts his eyeballs up. But I've noticed that from day one.

Oh, you know that from day one? Yeah. Okay. So he's very weird when he talks. But the kiss was hysterical because she goes. You're going to get sick. I'm contagious. And that is the ultimate go-to line when you don't want to kiss someone and they go in for it.

And here's my advice to Rachel. As the Bachelor-Bachelorette, the worst thing you can possibly tell one of the contestants is I'm contagious. Because meaning like, hey, I've also kissed somebody like probably right before you. Probably. And this whole house is about to get sick real quick. Did you ever use the sick card to get out of a kiss? No, because I was just trying to play it cool the whole time. Like for me to admit any faults during my season of the batch, it would have been a huge step for me.

Like I was just trying to trick all these people to think I was like the top of, yes, maybe. I tried really hard to be cool. Let's just say that. So I don't know if anybody got sick on my season, but I do know, and I can't wait to talk to Beck about this this week, is I was in Mexico City and I was hiding around the corner because the women were staying in this room. and they all or a lot of them had just gotten the stomach flu and they're all talking about it in the hallway and so I could hear a couple of the women from my season talking about what was going on with their stomachs

and they had no clue I was there so I cannot wait to talk to her about that but so I don't know if that was for me I got it. It's going to be such a good story. It's going to be such a good story. There's a lot of stomach flu that happened on my season, hopefully not just because of me. Yeah, right. But yeah I mean we're at the place in time The Bachelorette that we're starting

get to know these guys better we're starting to find out who we like and not like we're starting to see the villain and and we're starting to see how these kind of storylines play out we're i would say we're close to halfway um rachel's going to start really starting to have to decide who she cares about and who she doesn't and then also there is a level of uh of the show where she has to be strategic in the sense of she if there's if she sees somebody there that she's not fully committed to and and but they have a great heart and they could get hurt easily maybe she has to decide do i let them go early or late do i like to keep them around for a little long because they're just really good to have around and I think about this time she's

really going to start seeing who if anyone she could be with right did you ever have to dumb people on your one-on-ones oh because I feel like uh Rachel I don't know I don't remember might be a fan of that yeah she's doing it and I kind of really like that because I feel like if you get the one-on-one you normally feel like you're going to stick around that week but that is definitely not the case with Rachel. Yeah, no, she's confident. And I think Rachel's going to make the decision that she feels like her best, and she's going to kind of follow her heart, maybe a little quicker than I would. But, no, I think most of my one-on-ones weren't really well. I always, I look back, I mean, maybe I'm missing something, but I've always, I think most of my goodbyes happened either

midweek because of something crazy or at a rose ceremony. It's a question that has kind of came up in my life a lot here recently, right? As I've now been entered into single life again, I guess, I've opened myself up to more girl-friend relationships, like having friends that are girls. Gal-pals. Gal-pals. Yeah, gal-pals. Let's say that. One of them just happens to be my ex-girlfriend from college.

And here's a crazy story behind this, right? So one of my best friends who is the founder of Humanian Hope United, which is the nonprofit that I support, and his wife live in Austin, Texas. And my ex-girlfriend from college lives in Austin, Texas. And they've stayed friends the whole time. They're some of the best friends, right? and so this last week I was actually in Austin for a meeting for the coffee company that I'm starting with my buddy and we all decided to go go out have fun it was their three year old's birthday and so they were kind of celebrating three years of being parents and we were all in town well my ex-girlfriend was there and we were seen in town just hanging out just you know with everybody well I think couple trolls on the internet started to say oh we saw a video of Ben and his ex-girlfriend together and oh they must be be dating again. They must be falling back in love. He never liked Lauren. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So, I mean, and all that is, I guess, uh, laughable because of course I did. And of course, like, um, you know,

we, we are just friends. But Ben, would you ever think about going back? Yeah, but it is, it is crazy to think of like in our society, we can't be friends with our exes. And actually, I think it's okay to be friends with our exes. You know what I get all the time. You know, Jared and I can't post ever a picture. We can't post a picture because you're dating. If you do. Because we definitely are dating and we're definitely going to get married one day even if one of us doesn't see it like you guys I know as a fact says commenters yeah that we will definitely get married one day well I hope so well so I understand this completely and it took me a long time to get to the point where I could just be friends with Jared and yeah I mean you can be friends

with your ex I think there's always going to be some sort of lingering feeling um if it's not always. I think it comes in cycles. Definitely. Yeah, let's see if Gabby in Los Angeles has any opinion on this. Gabby, do you think you can be friends with your ex? I absolutely think that that's 100% a thing that you can do. Thank you so much. Are you ordering food right now? Yeah, I just ordered food. Wait, that's perfect. What are you eating? What are you eating? I'm eating ramen. Okay, perfect. So, okay, as you sit there and enjoy your ramen, um, and, and hundreds of thousands of people are listening to you on a podcast right now,

eat your ramen. You do believe you can be friends with your exes because that's what I believe. I think not every time, right? You're going to have exes that come into your life. It's seriously on a situation basis. Yeah, definitely. But it's not a bad thing, right? I mean, if you've moved on and they know you better than a lot of people in the world know you

and you still like each other, like you're still like, hey, you're a pretty cool person. It seems like you should be friends. Absolutely. I completely agree with that statement. I mean, me and my ex-boyfriend, we broke up six months. and because we like move separate places and we face time all the time he talks to me when I'm like I live in a new city and I'm freaking out and you know it's it's really really helpful to have someone there for you who knows you bet definitely yeah well I appreciate that perspective

because I agree with you but we have buddy somebody on the line that disagrees with you oh wow oh yeah Brett in Colorado Springs hello hi Brett hi hi hi Ben how you doing can you be friends with your exes, Brett? Absolutely not. I kind of agree with you. If I had to choose one or the other, I would go with this team. My mom was actually talking to me about this this week. It's totally old school, but back in the day, in our parents' generation, there's no way that you stayed friends with your ex. This is such a millennial thing. Brett, explain why you think this. Because we're more loving and more accepting. Well, it was about maybe seven years ago. Seven? I had seven years ago, yeah. I had just gotten engaged. Oh, you can't be friends of the next fiance. Well, no, actually. So I had

an ex-brie friend from a few years further from that who reached out to me, wanted to, you know, build up a friendship again. And, you know, I was open to it. My fiance left for the military. I really needed a friend. And, you know, it didn't really work out. Um, I got drunk. Oh, no. We had like an hours long phone call about how much we loved each other. Oh, it was just a phone call? A phone call. I mean, it's still a little cheating, but...

It really was. I mean, I felt like the worst person in the world. So, I, you know, I told my fiance, you know, he was obviously upset, but, you know, I cut that person out of my life, and I'm still married to this day. That, okay, okay, that, let me, yeah, that was a good ending to a story that I was like, I was trying to follow but I was feeling for you

I was feeling for your fiance I'm feeling for this third party but here okay so let's break this down together you were lonely you were desiring somebody now that might be a situation I think where you have to put a boundary

and I don't think being a friend with your ex in this situation is a good choice which you found out you have to set boundaries if you're in a committed relationship but if you're not then you could have been friends and I'm not talking anything romantic right

So, like, I'm just saying you're just friends. Like, you don't talk to each other at the time, but when you see each other, it's great to catch up. You can be around a bunch of people at once. I think that's okay. Would you agree with that? I'd agree with that. But, I mean, if you're going to movies with them or, you know, going out to eat, you know, then you're crossing some lines. And I think if you can keep the boundary there with your existing relationship, go for it.

But if you think you'd be tempted in the slightest, back up, cut them out. I would have to say that if you want to be friends with your ex-examination, and you're not in a relationship, then that's fine. But if you are in a relationship, then it's not that cool. Like, I don't think you'd be hanging out with your ex-girlfriend if you're still in Lauren. No, no, no, I wouldn't. I know I agree with you completely on that front.

You have to set those boundaries in life. Disagree. What? Amy. Okay, Amy, the producer chimes in to disagree. That's when you should be friends with your exes and anybody you want to. If you're engaged to somebody, you're committed to them, there's nothing wrong with being friends with men or an ex.

I don't know. I would always feel threatened. You're just going to get engaged and just cut off everybody. So you get engaged, no more Wells, no more Jared, all these friends you've had. That's ridiculous. I mean, I think I'd have to disagree there. I mean, I didn't cut out all of my friends, but, you know, I did, other exes I did cut out. I thought the relationship I had that ex, I could keep it appropriate.

And it turned out I couldn't. Well, at least you made it. That's what it comes down to is if you can't be appropriate, you shouldn't be friends with them. If you can be great. I can't be appropriate. That's the bottom line here. And that's Ashley for you. She knows herself better than anybody else.

Ashley cannot be appropriate. Brett, thank you for calling in. Congratulations on still being married. That's a big deal. We should celebrate that. Ben, do you ever think that you could be friends with Lauren? Definitely, 100%. No, like close friends.

I mean, right now that's so hard for me to say because just being friends with her seems so weird. Like, you know, I think there's still that like emotional connection that I haven't released. I don't know if I ever release it, but if I can give up kind of the, that emotional attachment, then yeah, we could just be friends. We could catch up. We could, I don't know, hang out in groups. But right now that, right now that just seems so odd to me that I'm even putting her in a friend category. But what's the point? Like, is it really a point of being?

friends with your ex because you have enough friends in your life they're good people and i'd say yeah that's hard that's i i don't know if i'm like if i need a thousand more friends but when you meet somebody that is special and that you want to share life with and in terms of dating then afterwards it's great to still share life with them at some level like that's not every time but sometimes so i hope so but no right now i would consider lauren somebody that i i just respect a lot i care about a lot But putting her in that friend category still seems weird to me or seems hard. I guess that's what with me and Jared. People still always say what's up with that.

How do you be friends with somebody you cried over so many times on TV? But basically we both made a decision that we couldn't, we didn't want to be without each other. Yeah. I mean, relationships are difficult. If it's romantic, if it's friendships, if it's family, romantic relationships are hard and it takes work and commitment. And I think maybe just to kind of close off this topic is you could be friends. with somebody that you've been in relationship with because you've already put the work in to show them that you are loyal, hopefully committed, and worthy to be, at least worthy

to be trusted. And so I don't know. Yeah. I mean, I hope that one day, Lauren, I can be friends, but we'll see. What do you have to say that the haters out there who told you that you're not allowed to be friends with your ex and they saw you out this weekend with her? Well, I would say thank you for bringing up a great topic for our podcast. It's been actually almost famous.

Perfect. There's two episodes of The Bachelorette this week And you know what that means Two episodes of the Ben and Ashley Almost Famous Podcast on IHart Radio So we'll talk to you very, very soon Thank you to our sponsors, Adam Tickets, A-T-O-M And Fab Fit Fun

This has been Ben And this has been Ashley On the Almost Famous Podcast Follow the Ben and Ashley I, almost famous podcast Or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts