The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - S8 E8 Are You Sick of Me? with Wells Adams and Graham Bunn

Episode Date: November 5, 2018

Ben and Ashley open up about the heartbreaking news about Shawn Booth and Kaitlyn Bristowe, and try to figure out what happened between them, and why this break-up feels like a marriage ending.  Then, Wells Adams stops by, to get caught up on everything going on in his world, and the exciting new project he’s starting with iHeartRadio. Plus Ben and Ashley sit down with Graham Bunn, and he spills about his new TV show, and how it was transitioning from The Bachelorette into a radio and TV career. And we hear how Jared and Ashley are spending their first holidays since getting engaged! 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. Hello, Ben. This is kind of a sad day. It's a really sad. I've been thinking about my entire ride here. I'm not like, I don't know. I'm usually excited for this podcast, and I feel like it's still important. It's maybe more important than ever, but this is a tough one.

So Caitlin and Sean broke up. They called off their engagement after three years together. and these are two people that mean a lot to Ben and myself because, well, Caitlin was on my season and then Ben was on her season and was really great friends with Sean. You guys bonded immediately in the house. That was your roommate. Yeah.

I like, I mean, I love them both. I haven't been able to stay in as good as touch with either of them as I'd like to be. I did know that there is, you know, trouble in paradise, but there always is at some level, right? you never really believe it could come true. I was there for this whole love story to play out. I mean, I really thought they were meant to be. Me too.

I truly still believe, honestly, that they're soulmates. I feel like they are, this is just my personal opinion. I could be totally off. But I feel like they've gotten lost a bit in work. I think both of them have a lot of their separate things going around. He has his business. She has her podcast and like a zillion other things.

And I just feel like they let work get the best of them and they were spending so much time apart that they weren't finding ways to reconnect with each other. They just didn't have enough time. They were not living a life that was like conducive to having a romantic personal relationship. What do you think? Yeah. And I also think, Ashley, with everything you said too, was that maybe time apart will bring them together. That's always something that you hope for if they're open to it. So I'm looking here at the Us Weekly article that came out, which is, it's titled, Caitlin, Bristow, and Sean Booth split, call off engagement after three years together.

I'm just going to read it for a little bit. Breaking up is hard to do. Caitlin Bristow and Sean Booth have split, and they've called up their engagement after three years together. It says in this article, Caitlin has basically called off her engagement to Sean, but they're still trying to work on their relationship. That's important for us to know because I don't want to give up hope that this is still something that could work. but I know that this is really none of our business. I've been through this. And all I will say is I'll reach out to Sean just to be, it's a tough season no matter

what. I mean, there is a thousand pits of criticism. And then there's support in like the oddest ways, Ash, listen to this. So when you get like when a breakup happens publicly, the hardest part is sometimes not the criticism of like, oh, I knew it was never going to work. Like you can brush that off because that's not anybody's business and nobody really knew what sucks is when people when you still love the person that you're with and people message you and be like oh yeah he was terrible or she was terrible and yeah you were never meant to be

together and you should have done this you shouldn't that that's when it really sucks like when people are trying to support you or make you feel better about yourself but yeah at the same time criticizing the partner that you're with for so long and shared your heart with so that's tough Yeah. I don't want to speak as if I know exactly what's going on. I mean, I obviously sensed trouble as even most fans did because they just really stopped liking each other's stuff on Instagram. I know it sounds stupid, but they did. They stopped posting with each other. And maybe that wouldn't have been weird if they hadn't been a couple that was always posting about each other before whatever, like, trouble came about. Yeah, so how did they announce the breakup, Ash? Well, it looked like through people.com really were the ones to announce it. Us Weekly article is interesting because I also heard that on Thursday, E had an article

come out saying that they were like pretty much on the rocks, but really trying. Like it was a bad spot, but like they weren't ready to call it. But then people on Friday said that they kind of just called it and they had the quotes um i'm just i don't know guys i really feel like they're soulmates and maybe i'm just an optimist but i really do hope that they split and then they realize how much they miss each other because watching them on tv and in person together you're just like that's electric that's goals honestly jared and i have always named them as the couple that sounds bad now but we'd always want to be like because they're just so fun and playful together and you just felt

the magic around them. That's something special. That's not your average couple. No, it's not. No, Ashley, I think I get to what you're saying. And I think everybody does is we all were cheering for them and root in form. And, you know, their journey had been long. I mean, at this point, it doesn't even seem like they're a bachelor couple anymore. You know, it's Caitlin and Sean just together in general. What do you think life looks like for each of them individually now, moving forward? Do you think Sean gets a lot of attention or do you think he kind of keeps it quiet, you know, how does Caitlin move forward? Is she the next bachelorette? What happens?

I think fans would love to see Caitlin as the next bachelorette, but I don't know that the show would do that again. I don't know what's going to happen with their house or their dog because, man, is Caitlin attached to that dog, you know? Yeah. They'd have to have joint custody of the dog. All of this is so sad, Ash. This is the moments that we don't like doing the podcast, but we know we need to do it.

The truth is, Caitlin and Sean have now officially broken up. Okay, so I just pulled up the People.com article. This is their exclusive statement to people. After three incredible years, we have decided to go our separate ways. This difficult decision has come after thoughtful, respectful consideration. Even though we are parting as a couple, we are very much committed to remain friends. We have both evolved as people, which is taking us in different directions. But with the hope that we will continue.

to support each other in new ways. Due to the nature of how we met, our relationship has always been very public and we have enjoyed sharing it with all of you. But we ask that you respect our decision and privacy at this time. That makes me think of two things. One, please guys, be kind

and respectful and don't retaliate against this, you know? Yeah, definitely. And then my second thought is three incredible years it's just you never see Bachelor couples split after a long period of time together. We've never really seen that until now. No.

I mean, we have a couple. It begs the question. Anybody out there listening, email us at Ben and Ashley at iHeartMedia.com. There's a couple other couples out there that have been together for a while. JoJo and Jordan. Rachel and Brian.

You know, we obviously have Ari and Lauren and then Becca and Garrett right now. They're all kind of out there in dating world. Which one of those couples will be married first? We want to hear from you. You don't want to talk about the breakups. Who knows? That's not something to talk about.

But we want to hear who do you think will actually make the commitment first because, as Ashley said, it feels like we're losing a married couple from Bachelor Nation, even though officially they never were. Switching gears here. We're bringing on somebody

that's on this podcast almost as much as we are. Am I annoying you guys at this point? No, you're our favorite villain. Yeah? It's seamless. It's so easy. It is really easy. Can I sit in the middle here?

I'm the moderator and the mediator. It's Wells Adams, by the way. Oh, wow. as if his voice wasn't distinct enough. He does have that, like, radio voice. Well, you've been getting a lot of awards recently for your radio work. That's right. I got second place again in Nashville.

I'm pretty good about it. I've lost Bobby Bones seven years straight. So, it's pretty good stuff. The two of you, when did you mend your relationship? Like, how do the two of you sitting in the same room as friends now today? Because at one point in your life, you weren't just friends. Well, it was at the romantic point. and then it wasn't a romantic point.

Yeah, there was like never anything to mend. Oh, it's like romantic, non-romantic friendship. Yeah. Yeah. No. I don't know. Sorry, there was no drama there. I was really hoping there was some drama.

It was never weird. You started stir stuff up, man. It's so funny. Try to stir stuff up with Ben, and he like won't have it. He'll do his PC move right out of it. And I'm like, damn it, Ben, let me have fun with you. You know what these two? We're never going to work.

When? Was when Wells said, what's your favorite music? And Ashley said, Hansen and it all just it was like wow they're done I have never that just ended right there

I've never been so happy that they kept a clip in to that show then that clip I don't remember I get up and watch it this weekend we put on umbop onto the stereo dance to umbop is that Hansen yes that is Hansen get Wells joke that means you're a fake fan

umbop that just ended I was too focused Your brilliance is lost on those that are not up to our speed. Oh, he's insane. Sometimes I sit with Wells. We're in Vegas at I Heart Fest and I was sitting on my computer and I was like, Wells, here's a couple of the bands I've been listened to. He knows them all.

He knows the lead singers. He knows the backstores. And I was like, I was pulling out deep stuff like milk carton kids. And he's like, oh, yeah. Like, I know all about them. But that's my job. That's like me being surprised that you know a lot about coffee and being a good guy. Dude, you'd be surprised how little I know about coffee.

But, no, that's a good point. But Wells, you've got some great musical taste. Why are you in studio? Well, we are going to be unveiling a new podcast here at IHeart Studios that I'm going to be hosting. And I can't say too much about it. But I think a lot of people are going to be very, very interested in what we're doing and who also is going to be on the show with me and what we're going to be talking about every single week. It's similar to like what we're known for, but a little different. Yeah.

Yeah. No, I don't know. Love. Reality TV? Yeah. Oh, okay. And it is not Bachelor related at all. Yeah.

You're not going to talk Bachelor at all? Not at all. Okay. Enough. There's enough Bachelor podcast, guys. I love yours. It really is. There's not enough.

This thing just keeps going. You're going to have a co-host? Yes. But I can't tell you who it is because then it would give away what the show is going to be about. But I'm really excited about it. I think a lot of people are going to be really. excited about it. I think you in particular, Ashley, are going to be all into it. We know Sarah Highland's into it. She's very into it. Yeah. And all our friends. And so it's going to be,

it's going to be a really cool podcast. I hope so. I'm intrigued. Yeah. Do you think I'm going to be into it? I don't know. Yeah. Is it for all people of all ages and all kinds? It is. It is. It really is. Yeah. I think I know what it is. And it's going to, Ashley, what do you think it is? Wait, really? Put the mics off while she says it so that just. Is that, has happened yet? No, it hasn't happened yet. It's about to. Anyways, Ashley, there you go.

Thanks. Why am I not surprised Ashley in the head? Ben has no idea what we're talking about right now. Ashley literally just said it and he's all, I don't know what's happening. What is that? Is that happening now? Okay, I got another question. So if you have a new podcast, are you still going to be doing your favorite thing with Brandy?

Yes, I am. That is never ending. Okay. I mean, everyone needs a little positivity in the world that shows only about our favorite things. This is going to be about my new favorite. Guilty pleasure, though. I'm so excited about this show. That's amazing.

I've been on your podcast with Brandy Cyrus a couple times. You guys always seem to dig out parts of me that I don't know exist. This is what Ben does, guys. And I'm sure your listeners now know this. Ben, you said in the beginning, Ben deflex when it ever gets serious. And it's so easy for Ben to pull out some, like, real deep, dark stuff out of you. The second you try to get Ben to talk about anything, he's like, well, Hold on a second.

Last week, Ben said he's having an emotional, a little bit of an emotional sort of time. I was emotional. So I said, what's going on? Yeah. Nothing. He switched it. Suddenly, we were knee deep into talking about how he doesn't like people that talk during the movies.

Yeah. It's a bad thing. I hate the movies. Well, it was the movies that started it. That's the reason he doesn't watch scary movies because there's some darkness inside him. The Haunting of Hillhouse? Yeah.

Alon Gale makes an appearance on Netflix's new show. What is it called? The Haunting of Hill House. I heard it's super scary. Have you seen it? Phenomenal. And I am a terrified, like I can't stand scary things and I watched it. It is so good.

But Alon's a plumber. Yeah. Alon is the executive producer of The Bachelor. How does he get on this stuff? I mean, he showed up on the Avengers, or Avengers movie. No, Guardians of the Galaxy. That's because he's friends with. James Gunn, yeah.

James Gunn. And then he shows up on this. Is he taking an acting career? I don't know. Do we know? He's phenomenal. I think he wants to be known for his camera. I think he'd like to show up for like five seconds in every movie he could.

I kind of like it. Of course he's good, right? I'm really good. There's only one person in this world. I try to make Ashley cry during winter games a couple times during interviews. She's just a lock cage. Alon walks in the room. She just starts bawling.

The whole one wasn't there. He wasn't even there, but I know. You're the only good looking guy in America that hasn't made this girl cry. That's probably true. I was actually watching this last. week. I was in studio last week for the podcast. I came in this week as well. And I was watching videos from a few months ago when Ashley announced that she was in love of Jared. I was in love with Jared or that we were together? Both. Yeah. So you're watching in clips from

Paradise seven years ago. Her announcing it in studio. Yeah. And she is bawling. I mean, bawling. And it just made my heart so happy. It was so nice. It was such a beautiful moment for us. I can't wait for you to ball when you find your wife. I'm good. I'm just hanging out. I'm happy. Let's just real quick. Who is your celebrity crush right now? That's a good question.

It's always going to be Halliberry. She's always going to close. Okay, let's be realistic, Ben. Who is someone that, like, we could legitimately go out and, like, get for you? You know, Olivia Colpo still. Well, you know, I'm just, like, obsessed with her so much. Yeah. You guys, I look at her Instagram, like, way too much.

Really? I study, like, how I could be more like her. Oh. Do you look at her? more than like a Kardashian. Yes. Really? Oh, so much more. You dumped the Kardashians? Yes, yeah. But like it's kind of weird because she like kind of knows.

She like, Olivia is very aware of my obsession with her. It's kind of weird. No, it's not weird. You're just supportive. Like when you're in on something, you like to go all out. Like you don't want to go halfway. So Danny Amadola and Olivia Coppola have been like dating for two years. And of course he used to be a patriot. So Jared has like a man crush on him and I have a girl crush on Olivia. So here's the weird thing. TMZ came out with these pictures very recently that Danny was seen spotted with another girl on the beach. No. So that means that Olivia may either be cheated, be cheated on, or she's single and she can date you.

And I definitely have it in there to hook that up. Let's go down that route. Okay. Let's get them hooked up. Okay. Also, can we just pivot real quick to like if you are famous at all, why do you think that you're going to be able to get away with cheating on your significant other? I have no clue. Everyone has a camera in their pocket right now.

He's on the beach in these pictures in a very public beach. I'm so confused. Unless like Olivia and him broke up this week and then he's getting a really quick rebound, I'm not sure what's up. No. I don't get that. Yeah, I just feel like you've got to be careful. Or just hold tight for a little bit.

Yeah, or just don't be a jerk and cheat on your significant other. Yeah. You know? But we don't know where they're at. Yeah, I'm with you. This is weird. Actually, Danny, do you, boy, because we got to get Ben. Yeah, right?

Horizontal. I mean, I... Thank you, Danny. I mean, like, I really have it in here. Like, we DM sometimes. Well, we tried to play this game a year ago. Nothing ever happened. Well, that's because you're scared or something.

You really, like, don't want it to happen or something. Yeah, I'm good. See, he is good. I'm good. Wells, you're the man. I'm going to be listening to your voice for as long as I possibly can while I'm on this earth. So, thank you. I'm pumped for Iheart Radio's project with Wells.

Adam and some mystery guest that we still don't know a lot about. Yeah, we'll see. You'll know soon enough. It's not going to be Bobby Bones, though, because he's beating the fucking board shows. Bye. That Wells, guys, the sweet man. Very, very special to my heart. Speaking of things special to my heart, Ashley.

Yeah. What have been eating lately? A lot of blue apron. Yes, you have. And I know that you have, too. You're really into that hot Italian sausage pizza, aren't you? Big fan of hot. hot Italian sausages.

Blue Apron delivers farm, fresh ingredients, and step-by-step recipes to your door. So what do you do is you choose chef-designed recipes and they deliver fresh, seasonally inspired ingredients right to your door. And all it takes is 20 minutes to repair each meal. As you said, Ashley, I'm a big fan of a lot of the things. One of the things I'm a fan of is every week at least three recipes built with your busy schedule in mind, where Blue Apron has done the meal prep for you with prepared sauces, spices, and ingredients.

So I show up, there's a box to my door. all the stuff's inside, I pull it out, I put it in my fridge. And then when I'm ready, Ashley, from start to finish, from the time I pull stuff out of my fridge, I want to hear your time, I, 17 minutes, 45 seconds. Wow. 17, whoa, mine's about 24 minutes. You get distracted because you're, it's there. That's probably really true.

I have trying, I'm trying to eat a little bit healthier than a pizza. So I've been eating the hearty vegetable grain bowl. It's perfect for fall because it's in season, you know. Everything with Blue Apron is in season. Yeah, that's, that's unique. It means it's fresh. It's all healthy. I've, as I actually mentioned before, I was talking to her about it before the podcast.

I've been dying over the hot Italian sausage pizza. I put it in the oven for a little extra time because I love my pizza just a little crispy. Me too. But if I'm feeling a little more healthy, I'd be in all the healthy vegetable grains like Ashley. But for the most part, I'm just a big fan of the pizza. It makes the perfect ball dinner. So everybody, I'll take it. they're listening. Your saliva is building up in your mouth. You're getting very excited for

whatever next meal it is that you're listening to during this podcast. So let me tell you how you get it. Check out this week's menu and get your first three meals free at blue apron.com backslash almost famous. It's blue apron.com backslash almost famous to get your first three meals free. Ashley, you did this amazing last time. It was such a unique gift. Ashley, finish us off. Blue apron. A better way to cook. Ashley, if you really want to follow my footsteps. If that's really your dream and your desire, I'm going to say you should be a little wiser, but there's one thing I'd recommend you doing, sleeping in the sleep number. I'm a big sleep number fan. You know this. I've used it for years. And I think if you could quantify my

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They censor every move and automatically adjust to you, keeping you sleeping comfortably throughout the night. Come in during the Veterans Day sale and save $400 on a queen sleep number 360C4 smart bed. could do with $400 in savings, a lot of things. Now, only $1,299 plus there's an exclusive savings reserved for military and veterans. Sleep number is the official sleep and wellness partner of the NFL. You only find sleep number at one of their 550 stores nationwide. Visit sleep number.com backslash podcast to find the nearest one near you.

It's worth it. Sleep number.com backslash podcast. One holiday season or one holiday is done Finished up Halloween Ashley scale of 1 to 10 How exciting was your Halloween It was really great I mean

The Halloween's get really tame as you get older But the only part I've ever really cared about Is dressing up I feel like there could be I'd be happy If there was one day each month Were you dressed up as somebody else I'm not a big dress up guy

Yeah I know we established this last week. I don't get it. I know. But here's one thing about... You should come on the I don't get a podcast and we can talk about how I literally don't get how you don't have a passion for dressing up. I would love to talk about it because I don't get it either. I've never had.

I think I'm secretly really evil. You know what's funny? Sometimes I think that you could be. I don't know if I like that. Sometimes when you've had too much whiskey and only when you've had too much whiskey do I think this man Could be a secret feeling

What do I do? You have a little like You have trouble in your eyes Like you want to start something Well that's kind of where I was going with this Oh you were? Yeah I feel like Ben is actually mad at me you guys

Oh I'm not really mad at all Really? No Just one of those other things Just somebody else thinks I'm unlovable Oh my God They really get to know me Oh my gosh

Stop that I'm talking about when you have whiskey in you. Well, here's the thing. This is the way I was getting at. On Halloween, I have this weird urge, and I always have, that all these people out, and it's, like, supposed to be spooky and scary, right?

I don't know what it is about me, but I do want to hide in the bushes and scare people. Like, I, that's the only thing I want to do on Halloween, and I feel like it's the only time that it actually could semi-be acceptable. I don't want to ruin their lives. I don't want to do anything too drastic. But I just get this urge to, like, hide behind something, and jump out and go, boom, and make them scream.

You should live in my apartment then because Lauren and Jared are always trying to scare each other. So when one person was out and then like the key starts turning in the door, one of them will hide and then bust out of a door. Minutes later, you know, like not just like right away, but like 10 minutes later after casual chit-chat, then they'll burst out of a closet. Did they get each other? Yeah, there's been a couple good times. It's fun. There was one really good time where Jared was hiding in Lauren's closet. it and the reaction he was filming it the entire time unbelievable and but what's the best part

was almost her face when she realized it was jared just because she was what like felt like safe yeah really mad just like embarrassed almost because she flipped out and then like the realization that it was him she was just like oh my goodness how did he do that to me are you jumpy not right i mean yeah yeah but i'm not scared easily like we kind of touched on last week I there's no movie that I can think of that really whacked me out as an adult the ring the exorcist and the six cents were what really got me as kids as a kid yeah yeah what about you what got you as a kid it only the bathroom seed with all the blood just the clown I don't like clowns well I remember you with clowns that's just a big thing for me last year it's just

an issue I don't understand clowns there's nothing about a clown that makes any sense I would love for somebody out there explain the intrigue of clowns. Like, why would you hire a clown to come to your birthday party? Why would you pay a grown adult to dress up in something that is pretty creepy? I think. And I'm, you know what? I'm not even going to apologize for any clowns out there listening. Oh, no.

I don't think that, I think it's very an outdated thing. I don't think people have clowns come to birthday parties anymore. I think it really stopped with our generation. I think clowns coming to birthday parties was lastly a 90s thing. Don't you agree? Have you seen a clown at a birthday party lately? No. Oh, no.

I would never go to a birthday party with a clown. I would not go. I promise you. We did this on Happily Ever After. Yeah. No, I know. You like, didn't you have a clown experience on Happily Ever After? I have had a couple.

Yeah, the show seems to like to bring out, you know, the things that scary the most. So Happily Ever After, definitely had clowns. And then one of the girls during Leah on the season of The Bachelor dressed up as a clown, I couldn't look at the same. She went home that week. Just had to get rid of it. There's a thing that happened with me as a young child. I remember this day. I think I've shared it on the podcast before

and if not we'll share it again. It's been a while. I was at the circus with my grandmother and we sat front row. Really nice of her to buy me tickets to the front row of the circus. Except you didn't enjoy it, did you?

And a clown and a gorilla, like a man dressed up like a gorilla, came over and took my grandma into the circus like arena, you know what I'm talking about, and left me there. So I'm just little kids sitting all alone and I see her being stolen at the time.

I don't know it's a fake gorilla. Oh, my God. And the clown to me is something I've already been scared of. So you want to picture your absolute worst nightmare. You have your grandmother that you love dearly get taken into the arena by two of your least favorite thing. Oh, my goodness. And you have to watch from the sidelines. It's not okay.

It's scarred me for life. That's so, so scary. On a clown note, my grandma, clowns and grandmothers, my grandmother actually loves clowns. She has porceling clowns in her house still. They always used to freak me out as a kid. Yes. But there's one thing. It's in the guest room upstairs.

And it's a clown portrait. And whenever I'm sleeping in that room, I have to take it down and turn it around. It's so creepy. It stares you overnight. And it's not a joyful-looking clown. It is a clown that it's an it clown, to be honest. Do you ever wonder?

Anybody out there listening, please email us at Ben and Ashley IHeartMedia.com. Do you ever wonder what's going on? And these are loved ones of ours. Like, these are people I love dearly. What is going through their minds? Why would they have pictures of semi-creepy-looking people staring at them with makeup on? I don't understand.

It's really weird. It's really weird. Okay. Speaking of Halloween and just recapping Halloween, I don't know why we didn't talk about this last week. What was your favorite Halloween costume? And did your parents ever dress up? My parents never dressed up. My favorite, two favorite, Elvis.

And then I was a vampire once. Oh, yeah. You said that. Yeah. And I was a good vampire. I was like the palest little kid. Yeah. I mean, I just had no color to my skin.

And dark hair. And dark hair. Yeah. And so you slap a cape on me and some fangs and I'm ready to go. Have I talked about my strong desire to make Jared Tom Cruise in interview with a vampire? Have I talked about this before? No. All I want to do is give him red contacts, powder his face, make him sparkle.

And he'd look just like Tom Cruise in interview with a vampire with one of those really cool, like, 1700s jackets. You're not wrong. I know. You're not wrong. I'm nervous for you. Why? Because I want to dress Jared up all the time.

Oh, no, no. I didn't know about that. We'll talk about that. We'll talk about that next week. I'm almost famous podcast. I'm nervous for you because Jared just seems to get increasingly better looking year by year by year. Isn't it so rude?

I'm so scared for myself as well. I don't know what's going to happen to you. See, people used to be like, oh no, you're the better looking one. Like, you know, back when I just had like a better looking one. back when I just had like a crush on him when I was in love with him and he didn't reciprocate. But now that we're together, people don't tell me that anymore because it's not true anymore because he's absolutely the better looking one. And I call this Jackie syndrome because one time there was a guy who I had a crush on,

his girlfriend's name was Jackie and she was not cute and he was stunning. And so now I think I have Jackie syndrome. No, you're beautiful. Well, thanks. But, you know, he's a model. now you go back and look at him in 2015 to now it's almost not the same no not something's happening i know he says it's love though isn't that cute he's always like i'm just happy this is just happy sounds gross um so you guys are together this is your first holidays together yeah this is a

big deal i know your first engaged thanksgiving coming up yeah you know Halloween it's fun it's all fun in games thanksgiving's a big deal what do you do you do you do what do you do you do you do How are you managing this? Well, we've decided that he's going to come to my house for Thanksgiving and I'm going to go to his house for Christmas. It was not easy. Jared, he's a holiday man. Like, he loves the Northeast during the holiday season and is his favorite stretch of time from that Thanksgiving through New Year's period. And it wasn't easy for him to, you know, surrender to having Thanksgiving in our house.

But I thought that Christmas means more to him. So there you go. Speaking of big deals, Graham Bunn is coming into studio. He's actually working his way in right now. He's going to pop a squat, get comfortable. When did your show premiere? November 13th. November 13th.

But before we start with Graham, Graham make himself comfortable. Ashley, compromise is big in the holidays. Oh, I want to, yeah, I want to talk to you. What did you do the year that you were with Lauren? Yeah, so we just spent two holidays together. My first year, my family flew to. Portland. So my parents through the Portland and we celebrated in Portland. I think we might do that for Christmas. I think my parents may come to the Providence area. And then for the next year,

I went with Lauren's family to Palm Springs. I celebrate there. But she didn't get to spend a holiday with my family. And so I'm still, I guess my families are still holiday virgins when it comes to having a guest. Maybe is it because you're an only child? I don't know. And your parents can travel to you. Yeah. I think it was easy. I think I think they volunteered. So it wasn't a big deal. But I do think compromise is big in the holidays. I can see where it become a big issue. And it's actually kind of nice to spend the holidays together, like both families. Yeah, I like that. It bonded everybody. Yeah. So. All right, guys, we have Graham Bunn here. He is a Bachelor alum that you may not remember the name of right now, but once he gets talking,

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So get this. Well, I'm excited to talk to more. We got the holidays coming up. But before we do that, we got Graham Bunn in studio, Graham, welcome. Thank you for having me. Hey, do you know how to talk in a mic? I wouldn't say that I know how to. I have done it before, but I don't know if I'm any good at it. That's for sure. Same here.

So for those of you who do not know Graham, Graham, you were on... Which would be 99% of the people listening. I don't think that's true. I think you were on The Bachelorette in what year? I believe it was 2009, yeah, I think. Was it Ali Fedowski's? No, it was Deanna Pappas. Oh, but then you... Who'd she end up with? that was before my time.

Yeah, she went with a guy named Jesse Sinsack, I believe. They're together still? No, I think that lasts in maybe six days. Oh. You know what I notice about Bachelor relationships? They're either really quick to end or they last the long haul.

Ben, you may have been the only exception I can think of where it lasted a year and a half. Middle of the road? Would you say a year and a half is middle of the road? I would say that's middle of the road. I would agree. I would agree. At that point, like the honeymoon phase has gone away.

The nostalgia has kind of gone away And you have to actually start having like a real Yeah, you worked at it Yeah, you work at it So 18 months in Then after the Bachelorette You transitioned into radio Or were you already in radio?

No, no, I'd never done radio before And it was years and years later That I kind of actually fell into radio Which was an amazing opportunity, very cool So act of God for sure Never been behind a mic And didn't think it was going to work out well But yeah, did it for like four and a half years

out here in California. That's awesome. Yeah, it was very cool. What was the show set up on? It was just country music. It was a morning show. So it was like morning drive. You get up, drive to work.

I was a guy introducing songs, interviewing artists, kind of talking about country music and where it's going, stuff like that. What are you doing now? I am hosting a television show, which will premiere on USA Network, November 13th. It's under the premise.

It's different than American Idol, but I think people would kind of acknowledge that that's the most widely known singing competition show. Kind of like American Idol. Each episode in itself, though. It's kind of a showcase. So there will be a winner every week. So if you miss week one or week two, it doesn't really matter. You can watch week through. Every show is a

one-off. And then there'll be a grand finale with all the winners. Is there a certain genre of music is around? It's all country. It's called real country. Yep. It's going to be good. I'm a big country fan. If, so I mean, now you're hosting. Yeah. And so I want to talk. I want to dig into this show here. Dig into it. Let's do it. But Ashley, you tell me if I'm wrong. You know that, Grant, you have done a lot kind of with, Do you feel like the connections and networking that was made coming off the Bachelorette? Or is this all kind of in the works totally separate from the Bachelorette? I mean, for you to not be hosting a show on the USA Network, is a big deal.

Well, thank you. Yeah, I mean, it's anytime you get to do anything cool and exciting, just like what you guys are doing, it's a big deal. And it's, yeah, it's very flattering and humbling. And I think you can never discount the influence that Bachelor and Bachelor Nation and everyone that loves that show has. But I fully feel like the work that I've done in Country. radio was a big influence on getting this job.

Yeah, the relationships that you build and the way that you treat people and stuff like that, yeah. Speaking of relationships, have you found one since the Bachelorette? Yeah, I was in two long-term relationships, one for five years and one for six years. So definitely did the long-term thing. And L.A. is kind of a hard place to date, but so fortunate. And, you know, I'm actually still really close friends with Deanna. So cannot speak enough about what a wonderful opportunity it was to be on the

bachelor and you know I had a great time just she and I weren't meant for forever but we're definitely forever friends for sure I went to her wedding which was which was cool unfortunately no one told her dad because I ended up in the toes somehow as like a joke and that was kind of weird no way he was like don't let me get don't get me started on the gram years or something everybody at my table was like uh so where did you end up on that season I left so I actually asked to leave the show um I left after hometowns because I she had met my family nothing changed in my heart and I didn't want to deprive her of finding

something because she, you know, she had already been through the ringer with Brad Womack and being left as the final girl. Oh, that's, okay, so that's how I'd know her. Yeah. The final girl on the first season of Bradwana, Brad. Yeah. And then, so yeah, so it got down to the hometowns and she met my family.

My family loved her. It just, it didn't change for me. So I went to her and everyone that worked there and said, hey, look, this is going to be my last episode. And whatever she wants to do, it's cool with me. She's the best and I'll always love her but I don't think that I'm going to propose so I left the show the next day yeah okay so moving now back into the show this is the big piece of your life you've left radio left radio took the jump into TV and could not say enough about USA and

Wilstra Studios everyone that was behind the scenes the talent on the show was insane one of the things that's different about this show is they booked people that had either done a hundred and 50 to 200 shows on their own touring, doing professional gigs. So these are all professional singers that don't currently have a record deal, but are right there. You know, there's only so many spots that these record labels can take on. And there's so much talent out there. So it's just another platform for very talented artists to get their names and their

music out there. I was going to say, why watch your show instead of the voice or American Idol? Well, our show, if the voice in American Idol do a wonderful job of encompassing all genres of music. So if you're a country fan and you're watching the voice, you kind of have to wait four or five songs or four or five artists to get to something that you really identify with. For a real country, if you're a country music fan, every song that gets

saying is going to be by one of your favorite artists and you're going to get to see someone insanely talented put their own spin on it. So it's kind of best of both worlds. You get to see new talent with familiar music that you already love. So it's, it was a really cool thing to see. And we had like a live audience there when we filmed it. It was a blast. We held it in a bar. People were drinking. Yeah, it was a blast. Like the scene was super dope. It was cool.

Are there celebrity judges? Yeah. So, Shania Twain. Oh, yeah. This is the Shania show. Yeah. So Shania Twain, Travis Tritt and Jake Owen. Oh, dang. Those are huge. That's a big deal. Yeah, and they were great. I mean, they were really invested. And the cool thing about this show is they went out

and they brought the people they wanted. So they went out and found artists that they thought were super cool. And they're kind of competing. There is an element of the voice there that each one of them has, They don't have a team, but they're the ones that handpicked the artist that came. And so you'll see who Travis invited, who Travis believes in, and the kind of music that Travis kind of associates with and what influenced him. And it's completely different from Shania.

And it's cool to see how they kind of navigate that. Give us all the dirt. Like, how is Shanaia as a human being in real life? Shania is the best. I was very fortunate. For some reason, Shania liked me. She was very cool. I got to do a lot of cool things on the show with Shania.

of teaming up and Jake and Travis were great. Travis is one of my favorite people on the planet. Jake's just a really cool dude. Like what you see with Jake Owen is what you get. He's a cool guy. He loves country music. He's an encyclopedia of knowledge, as is Travis and Chenaya. And it was just cool to be a fly on the wall, just hanging out with those guys doing dinners and kicking it, being in Nashville, hearing stories. I mean, one night, Travis was in my dressing room for like two hours telling stories about hanging out with Waylon Jennings. And I was, I mean, I was just blown away. Some of the things, you know, because Whalen is gone now, and that's not anyone that I can go see.

So the only thing that I could ever learn about Whalen, if you love country music, is through Travis's stories. And it was just, I mean, it was like surreal. I was sitting there like, Travis is a legend in his own right and talking about hanging out with Whelan Jennings. It doesn't get much better than that. Ashley, are you a fan of country? I am. I'm like, I don't go deep cuts. Yeah, yeah.

But, like, 90s and 2000s country is one of my favorite genres. Really? Yeah. I'm a huge country fan. I know you are. I'm a big Whalen fan. Yeah, Whalen's the man. I think I'm wearing my whaling ring.

which is good luck. But do you guys ever go to country shows? Like, if people aren't fans of country music, I encourage them to go to country shows because it's one of the best times you'll ever have. That's something that Jared says. He's not one to listen to country on the radio, but whenever he goes to a country show,

he's like, I could really get into this. Okay. Yeah, it's a good time. It's just like a relaxed atmosphere. So I was saying, I've been to a couple of music festivals. The country's festival is always the best, because I feel like the artists are always so welcoming. And they just want to have, they want to have a drink.

They want to have a talk. They want to hang out and they want to play good music. I think country artists and I'm biased are, and I'll say some because I never want to offend anybody, the most relatable artist on the planet, some of. Now, there's definitely artists in pop and rap, hip hop, R&B, whatever you want to call it, that are definitely very relatable. But I think across the board, country does an amazing job of just being very relatable. I think that country music is just the pop music today because if you listen to pop radio, it's very like R&B base and it's all electronic. It's like sort of like a mix of R&B and club music. And that's not my style. It just sounds very produced. You know, it's very in studio sounds, not organic instrument sounds. So when I, like, want to hear a story and, like, a meaning behind the lyrics, I have to listen to country.

There's sometimes where I just, I'm like, oh, my God, I hate radio. And I'm like, you're like, okay, yeah, you can actually change it over to the country stations now and, like, feel substance. Yeah, it's cool. You know, I think country artists do a great job of staying authentic to storytelling. I mean, I know the sounds evolving and national. Phil goes through phases with different sounds, but the storytelling aspect and just kind of relating to people on a human level, that never goes away. And I think they do an amazing job on real country and you'll see it on USA, premiering November 13th. They reinforced that theme

throughout the entire show of why people wrote a certain song, why people connect with this song, why they chose to perform certain songs and what it means to them, how it's encouraged them in their life. And it's just really cool to see. One, I'm not blessed with that kind of talent. I could never get up and sing a song and play an instrument and kind of make someone feel what I'm feeling when I wrote or performed it. But to see these people get up there and do it in front of Shania, in front of Travis, in front of Jake, you know, legends and icons and people that are doing their thing currently, it's really impressive to see. I mean, it was so cool. You have all ages? All ages. Yeah. All ages. For sure. But there was the caveat that

they had to have played a certain number of shows on their own touring. So they're like professional. Yeah, they're professionals. So you don't have any bad audition American idols. No. There's, there's none of that. Like, from the very first performance you see to the very last performance you see, you'll see a professional performance. Well, yeah, you were right. You said that they had, the artist had to pick the musician. So obviously, they're semi-professional. Yeah. Have you seen a Starsborn? I have seen it. I've seen it twice now, actually. Me too. Yeah. Incredible. And Bradley, I want to be Bradley Cooper. Okay. So I was actually going to tell you, you kind

of have Jackson vibes. Oh, yeah. That is one of the nicest things anyone's ever said to me. Bradley's character in the movie. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, he's the man in that movie. And they did an incredible job with the soundtrack. He's, I hope they win everything across the board for that. I need them to win everything. I mean, the soundtrack's incredible. I believe that one of the songs Shallow might be charting on Billboard.

Oh, I think it probably is. Do you think that they're going to win best song for shallows or the one at the end that Gaga wrote? I'm not sure. It's a toss up, but it has to be either or. The cool thing about the movie, if you haven't seen it, been check it out is that is an actual conversation that people are having. Like, what song is better? What song is going to win award? It's so good that multiple could win.

If he doesn't win Best Director, though, I'll throw something at the TV screen. I'm not well-versed enough to know if anyone's won Best Director and their director. And Best Actor at the same time? Well, maybe that has happened, but for your directorial debut. So the first time he's ever directed to win, which I think he's the front-runner, would be incredible. Anyway, Ben, you got to see it.

Sorry, this is two podcasts in a row where I just have to continue to talk about it. It's just like last year with the Great showman so much passion just so much love i actually had to look up to see if the greatest showman was this year wasn't um so what do you mean it came out in december of 2017 movie it was in 1980s i never watched movies yeah i'm just like i think for the last two weeks i've just been a little bit behind i just noticed that i'm losing touch with the world slowly but surely but i'm okay with that's all trying to drag out of you ben's been having some what did you call it sort of an emotional last week last week he's emotional and then i mentioned it earlier to

day, but it's like, let it out. Talk about it. Yeah, well, yeah, let's get into this. What's going on? What's going on in Ben's life that you're out of touch? I know what I think it was. We figured it out after the podcast last week. We did our volunteer retreat for an organization that I'm a part of. And what's the organization? 25 people in two houses. It's called Humanian Hope United. Okay.

Actually, the winner for our Humaneity Hope fundraiser is standing in. Yeah, this is Lindsay. What up, Lindsay. Come say hi. Yeah, come on. Yeah, Lindsay's going to co-host with you guys today. Nice. Yeah. Hi, Lindsay.

Lindsay, welcome to Los Angeles. Thank you. But we did our volunteer retreat. So it's 25 people in two houses. And it was two and a half full days. And then I flew out here right afterwards to do the show last week. And I just think I was drained. Yeah, so you're on the move.

I was on the move. There's only so much, I don't know if you feel this way, you know, within the church or within people that really cared, the caveat is they actually authentically care. How many times in your life can you really be asked? How are you doing? No, no, no. How are you really doing? How's your soul? Yeah.

And it's like, oh, dude, like, right now, not good. I'm tired. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How are you is one of my least favorite questions. I hate the question. How are you? I don't like when people go, I'm great. Yeah.

Graham noticed. I was to ask you how, how do you even answer that question? We talked about last week. We couldn't come anywhere. How can you answer the how are you question? I answer it the same way every time. I'm crazy blessed. Okay.

Yeah, crazy blessed. Oh, that's nice. Yeah, because I'm, like, the luckiest person I know. So, like, no complaints. I am positive, though. I've never been a time. There's never really been a time where I couldn't say crazy blessed. Yeah.

I'm crazy. I mean, honestly, I, you know, I did a job that I was not groomed for. I didn't go to school for radio. It had no radio background. Got a chance to do my own show on, you know, a station out here in L.A. for four years. Never hosted a TV show. Got a chance to host on USA Network. Like, I'm crazy blessed.

Like, God has definitely put it. favor on my life. So, like, I feel, I would feel selfish to answer it any other way than be like, yeah, I'm crazy blessed. Super lucky. Super fortunate. That's, that's a great way to answer it. Now, I think there's that, like, level, though, when you're around people for two full days when they really want to dig deep. They don't just want to hear that, but why? Oh, yeah, but in the moment. Yeah, yeah. It just gets a little bit. So I was just tired. But I feel good this week. And I'm also just realizing. Well, you look amazing, man. You look like you fully recover. I have. We had a dinner together last night. And somebody said,

They're like, you look drained and tired, but sexy. Like a good tired. A sexy, disheveled. Well, the problem was, it was, I don't know what you guys in L.A. do. But it was 8.30 at night, we're starting dinner. That's 9.30 Denver time. I'm exhausted. Yeah, that's late.

By the time we're done, it's 11 o'clock. It's midnight. I'd been in bed for two hours a night. Like, you guys out here. You hide it well, man. You just go too hard. Or wasn't me. Were you so excited today?

I was excited to come in and see you. I was. I've been hearing great things about you. Graham, we're super excited for, man. You are crazy blessed. Thank you. This show is going to be a really fun to watch. I'm going to be excited to watch it.

I know Ashley is November 13th on USA Network. That's right. Graham Bunn. Thanks, bud. Thanks, ma'am. Thanks for having me. You guys enjoy. Have a nice thing.

Bye Jackson, Maine. There we go. Tell your friends. Ashley, talking to guys like Graham. He's so awesome. I loved him. I can tell. Like, when he sits down.

Good vibes. Yeah, good vibes. Those guys always make me a little Today maybe I'm just a little sensitive to it But I feel like guys like him I get a little jealous of Because like 20 minutes ago You said that I have evil in my eyes

When I drink too much bourbon And so I'm not throwing good vibes off And so when he said that I was like This is type of guy that Ashley would never say that about Ben Ever you know Ever say it about Well no I mean

I did compare him to Jackson Maine Real quick Before we bring out our special guest for the day Ashley Ben I'm so sorry it's okay you said it it's just a you said you feel like you could be evil yeah you're not supposed to respond with oh yeah i agree i know the uh one day i will just bring this back up when you're like when i call you on the phone i'm like ashley i'm struggling i'm feeling you know a little bit you know

down and out i need a little help and you're like no ben like you're loved you're cared for i like you and i'm like no actually you remember that one time you remember that one time hey you remember that one time that we had a really special guest in studio? Yeah. Right now? Yes. We have the fundraiser winner for Humanity Hope United and IHeart Radio. Lindsay, welcome

to studio. Thank you. So, Lindsay, just to give a little background, it's been a couple of weeks since we last talked about it. We threw a fundraiser for Humanity Hope United. This fundraiser is going to go to buy a piece of land in Honduras

that we currently lease that This applies 20 plus people everyday jobs. And these jobs then, obviously then equate to access to education, health care, clean water, infrastructure, so on and so forth. It's a really big deal that we buy this piece of land because the palm companies are coming in to buy it. And so that's the reason why it's pressing now that we raise $250,000 by March 1st of next year to buy this piece of land. 250,000.

Yeah, and we're grinding. I mean, we're trying every area. So this is the idea behind it. And then we'll move on. Lindsay, I cannot wait to get to know you. this is awesome that you're here. I know you have a crazy, cool story and just you're coming into studio at a really awesome time for us because it's just, we're excited to talk to you. But this is the way that we're going to raise $250,000. We have asked each volunteer for Humanity Hope

United to do their own individual fundraiser because we can't raise this alone, right? As a group of people, we need everybody to start. So that's why the retreat happened two weeks ago was we asked everybody come and say, hey, this is the deal, this is the issue, this is what's facing us. If you go back to your homes and your communities and take ownership in this, do your own fundraisers that we think we could have over 150 fundraisers going on that could raise $2,000 each. That happens. That's $300,000.

That buys us the piece of land and everybody has ownership in that. So this was my fundraiser. This giveaway or, you know, bidding auction was my way of raising funds. And Lindsay was the one that contributed to it. Lindsay, thank you so much for coming out to LA. You gave a hefty chunk. Yeah. What was the final bid?

$4,500. We're going to have $4,500 with a fund today. So it's actually going to be... It's like you donated money, but you never really did because it's going to be worth it. Aw. I think. I hope. I think so.

I hope so. So are you like the biggest Ben Higgins fan of all life? I'm a pretty big fan. That's really sweet. Why? I need it today. Please tell me. Well, um...

This is Ashley used to be like you. I love Ashley. I hate myself right now. I just want to let you know. I hate myself so much right now. I don't know how to take this back. Because I'm just thinking I'm like having this moment. I backflashed or whatever it's called.

A flashback? Back flash. Flash back. Flash back to this time we were sitting around a campfire and he was trying to put tequila down my throat. Okay? And he knows that I can't drink tequila. You're not helping yourself right now.

I'm just trying to explain the one time I saw trouble in his eyes. And now I feel so bad. It's okay. No, Ben, he's going to think about this for the rest of his life. Yeah. This will stick with me. It definitely hit his soul. And he has the best soul of all time, right? He does anything for anyone. He's the biggest mush ball. He's so sensitive. And basically his whole existence is helping people. And here I am saying this one time he had evil in his eye when he tried to feed me tequila. No, this, Ash, I'm not mad of you. It's just I respect you for speaking your truth in your heart.

Lindsay. I really, I'm going to go. I'm glad that you're out here to have a really awesome day. What we're going to do is we're going to co-host this podcast together. We're going to dig into a couple topics. We're going to dig into your life and where you're at. Then we're going to go shopping. We're going to go to Ashley, help me out. It's Lauren

Conrad's new store. And Carbon. And Carbon 38, which has the most amazing leggings of all time. Yeah, you know what you got to do? Lindsay, they're filming the housewives down in the hall here. All the housewives from Beverly Hills are here. They're doing a workout class, and they're all in these... This is the thing.

I walked in there. There's cameras facing me when I came up to elevator today, and I thought I was really cool for a second. Then I realized that I'm not. And they're here for the housewives. And all the housewives and then becettili's in there with Tanya. And they all look like really good. Like the workout clothes these days aren't just workout clothes.

They're like, cool. Yeah. And that's what Carbon 38 has, right? They are style. Yeah. They're fashion forward. Do they have guy stuff? I'm not sure.

You'll find out soon. I still can rock a pair of leggings. I want to get in deep with her. Yeah, let's do it. Because this is sad, but I hear that you're going through a divorce. I am. So I'm so sorry about that. But did you think that maybe bidding this much on Ben and winning this contest would

become a date and then there could be some love that grew from this? I don't know if I thought about that far, honestly. Oh, please now. No, I mean, when you go through a divorce and you really get to a place where you're ready to move on, I think you just really want self-love more than like love with someone else, especially like having a four-year-old. I think I really want to be a good role model to her and give her a good life. And so I think it's really for me just kind of pulling back from a lot of codependency and focusing on me, loving her, giving her a good life. And knowing that Ben Higgins would be a great stepfather.

Yeah, great stepfather. I can read. I'm really good at reading. I get what you're saying. You know, this season of life, I don't know how much you want to get into it. And feel free to not answer fully. It is that season where just maybe life has taken a turn

that you never expected or foresaw. And so now you sit here needing to kind of invest into yourself again. What are some of your ways that you want to do that? I mean, this is awesome. You come out to L.A. You get into some good weather. We're going to shop. I'm going to dinner.

All that stuff. I'm going to host a podcast. I mean, if this isn't, you know, cathartic, I don't know what it is. But then what other ways do you see yourself kind of rebuilding yourself again? I think following your passions, I think a lot of my life was, my husband was in the military. And so a lot of it was, you know, I love our military and I love what they do for us. But a lot of it was following him around and doing the things I needed to do so that we could raise a family together. And he had those opportunities that he needed to fulfill in his career.

And I think I kind of lost myself and the things that I'm passionate about. So I think a lot of it is kind of throwing myself back into things that I find important and things that I, so I can find my own success and feel happiness in my success and be able to be like, you know, like you can definitely find your success at any time in your life, you know. So I think that's a big part of it is a first step is just kind of finding something you're passionate about and enjoying that. Your daughter is four years old. She is four. She did not come out here with her. She's taking a little break. She's with grandma.

Oh, that's nice. I don't have L.A.s for her. It's a little remexious. You're from Arizona. I'm born and raised in Arizona. I moved out here in Oceanside, actually, for about five years. Really enjoyed that. Lived on base over there.

And then I moved back to Arizona when he got out. And now I'm planning on moving back here, actually. Oh, great. Lindsay, welcome back to California. First, let me give you a little bit of an education on ThreadUp. ThreadUp is the world's largest online consignment in Thrift store with up to 90% off estimated retail price. That's 90, 90% off. They have a huge selection from over 35,000 brands like Madewell, Banana Republic, BCBG, Steve Madden, Kate Spay, Lou Lemon, Coach, and more. You know,

you know how you know thread up's good? What? How? A lot of those brands I had no clue about until thread up. And then I'm like, yeah, because my simple, my simple tastes, just thread up so much better. That's because you're a boy. I have to say that my thread up close, I have two closets. One is kind of like for casual wear, for like things that aren't so nice that I just throw on honestly to record the podcast. And then I have another closet that's for my nice clothes, all my Threadup clothes, even though it's from a consignment in thrift store, it lands in the nice closet.

Yeah, I think I need to start making a nice closet. I just don't think I'd have much for it. Okay, Ashley, if you go to Threadup.com slash almost famous 30, today you'll get an extra 30% off your first order so you can continue to build up your nice closet. It's seriously so easy to shop. You can filter by your size so you can get the stuff that fits you the best way. Ashley, can you agree with that? Yeah. I love the way that on thread up, they have certain things that you can select so they can narrow your search down to exactly what you're looking for in your size. Yeah, the filtering stuff is easy. It's awesome.

I mean, coming from an online retailer myself, I think ThreadUp does it incredibly well. So if you love to shop like we do, you need to check out these deals on ThreadUp. Plus, if you sign up now, you'll get an extra 30% off your first order at Threadup.com slash almost famous 30. Make sure there is no A in there. It's Threadup, T-H-R-E-D-U-P dot com slash almost famous 30. That's Threadout.com slash almost from his 30 for an extra 30% off. That's 30% off. That's pretty amazing.

By the way, girls, they have a lot of cute jackets, a lot of cute blazers, and bell bottoms that I recently ordered on thread up. So look out for the bell bottoms. They're back finally, because I was so over skinnies and how tight they are. Anyway, moving on, let's talk about 23 and me. I know, Ben, you haven't gotten your results back. And I keep talking about how I am now only 14% Italian. But you may be wondering out there, actually, if you're only 14% Italian, what? is the rest of you okay well here here's my breakdown i am 27.7% french and german and then it's

like asterisk netherlands so that is my dutch side i knew that i was from the netherlands but i didn't know it was of french and german descent then it's ashkenazi jewish ashkenazi ashkenazi thank you mark ashkenazi jewish which is 24.3% That's my grandmother from Lithuania. So that was expected. Then there's my 14% Italian. Then here's something out of the blue. British and Irish.

10% nuts. Iberian 1.3. Balkan. 0.9. Broadly northwestern European. 12%. Broadly southern European, 5%. And broadly European.

2%. Western Asian and North Africa in 1.3%. So I'm just a mut. 23 and Me is named after the 23 pairs of chromosomes in your DNA. Their service provides you with over 75 genetic reports about your health. It's not just your heritage, but can also tell you things about your lactose intolerance and sleep movement. And traits like your eye color or your hair curl. And all you got to do is spit into the tube provided and mail it back to the lab.

Now they have a new podcast. It's called Spit, and it's a new podcast with Eye Heart Radio and 23. and me. And the podcast discuss how science and DNA plays a role in our society in our lives and how your DNA story can be experienced today and a whole lot more. Here's what they do. The host sits down with the biggest artists and influencers of our time, including Emmy winning Darren Chris from the assassination of Johnny Versace and singer John Legend to discuss their own 23 and me. Ben, don't you want to do this now? Yeah, definitely. Yeah, it sounds awesome. Sounds exciting. All in. what do you think you're going to be besides what you know what do you know what do you know right now

what are you uh i am somehow um from the um eastern european so i'm yugoslavian which no longer exist and so i don't really know oh okay well that that means you really have to do 23 and me but if you want to listen to the podcast you can do that anytime join them subscribe to the spit podcast learn more about the DNA found in our spit understand who we really are genetically and how we are connected to the world around us And you guys, you can listen to full episodes right now on the IHeart app or wherever you listen to podcasts. Of course, don't do it right now. Finish this podcast.

And then you can go over to another IHart podcast. So we talked about it a little bit last week, Lindsay, is this idea of that, you know, a lot of people in the world right now are feeling lonely. It's a common feeling, right? The loneliest aspect. Has that been, you know, kind of, has that came into your life here recently? or are you still feeling, you know, pretty good? And is this part of this self-love stuff to bring, to kind of show yourself that you aren't alone anymore?

Or is it more just to kind of pick up the spirits? I think a lot of what I've noticed is there's, we live in this world where everyone kind of relies on likes and, you know, kind of almost like this infamy where they want people to know who they are based off a brand that they've created and not really who they are as a person. And so I think we kind of end up, we're more alone. only than ever our society at this point in time. And I've noticed that. And I think I'm trying

to kind of learn how to be happy alone so that I can engage in others and enjoy others truly so where I'm not using them as an opportunity to feel some type of, like selfishly. You know, like you hang out with people sometimes selfishly because you're lonely. I want to hang out with people because I truly enjoy their company. And it's something that I want to pass my time with versus like, oh, I'm so lonely. I want to go, like, hit someone up. do something with them. That's interesting because last week, Ben was talking about how he has this theory that people watch The Bachelor because they're in this state of vulnerability and they're able to

connect with them on a deeper level than most other shows. So did you feel like watching The Bachelor, you feel connected to people such as Ben? And Ashley. Yeah, I think it's kind of an escape. I think a lot of that, like the beauty of The Bachelor, and kind of this, like, fantasy they create. I think a lot of people like to escape in that and just kind of like, I mean, people love romance. You know, that's why Disney's made it so big.

So, yeah, I think The Bachelor, that kind of what it was, that's kind of what it was for me is it was, you know, a time in my life where I was, you know, living on a base with, you know, kind of like settled and in a very, like, complacent place in my life. And so The Bachelor was kind of like a getaway, like watching it. It was exciting to be able to pop it on. see everyone doing these exciting things and being swept away and having romantic moments and I think that I mean most women enjoy that I'm sure there's a lot of men that enjoy watching that

I love it. I get so into it. Especially the recaps each week on the Almost Famous podcast. Ashley, you know something that's really that I'm listening to Lindsay talk here. Lindsay, I'm going to speak for you for a second. But it's something I admire right now

is everything she's saying makes complete sense, right? You know, we're going, she's going through a tough time in life it's weird because you're sitting right here as I'm talking to you but that's how podcast worker is but she's going through a tough time in life she has a child she's hurting you know

personally and she's rebuilding herself right now by doing these things that are self loving and we'll talk about it all day today but she's doing it for her child not for herself you hear that like you know I want to offer this to my my daughter so that she sees success she sees confidence and she seems a mother that's healthy and fulfilled.

That's cool. Like that's awesome. That shows a level of sacrifice and unselfishness that goes far beyond what even a lot of people can attempt. And so I think, I mean, I don't know you fully yet. We'll get to know each other really well throughout today. But it sounds like the right path. But you are a Bachelor fam.

I am. But you haven't entered. You started watching The Bachelor. Why? It's actually kind of funny. So I think it was right after So one of my friends We were kind of hanging out for the first time

Both our significant others were deployed So we started kind of like hanging out a little bit Because we were waiting for them to come back And we saw an ad for you on The Bachelor It was like you holding the rose And I actually never got into The Bachelor I swear I never It was never something I really was interested in

I didn't watch a lot of reality TV like it's just something I never got into but then my friend and I looked at we're watching the ad and like do you see this like is this real do you think he's real I don't think he's real like that's saying they're debating me like is he that good of a communicator like what like what is this you need to watch it to see if the ads were accurate right we watched the whole season together but I had no idea like before that the season with ben I didn't watch kately's season or any of that I went back and watched it later like like actually a few months ago just randomly Ben Do you know when I became like a fan girl over you? No. When you did the sex talk episode of Caitlin's podcast. Oh, that's fun. I mean, Caitlin's podcast.

A peatlin's show. Yeah, that was good. When I did this, I dressed her up like an egg and I was a sperm and we met each other in the, the ovaries. Yes. Yeah. Well, that wasn't all aired. But when you were like walking through the class of students, like really interacting. Yeah, that's so cute.

telling it in the most like gentle way my mom and I will rewound it and watch it a couple times oh that's so sweet that really is yeah yeah it was fun you know I got but that was I had one up because I worked at a youth center so I was used to teaching sex ed the like little like kids oh you were you've done that before I had done that scenario because they gave me props they gave me a sperm and an egg and they were like go make this thing work and so I I feel like I had a little practice before him but I also enjoyed it um I was so nervous that was my very first like big date and I killed it I had I remember going on a walk by myself and just continue to talk to myself like you can do this you can do this you can do this you can do

this you've done it before you can do this I was so nervous um but yeah that was that was a cool moment because it gave me a little confidence I actually walked out of that date with confidence I didn't and I hadn't walked out of that like most of those dating scenarios with like a personal confidence before and it's a good feeling to like stick your chest up a little bit walk out and be like I did all right. Oh, you left as a frontrunner there. It goes with confidence and frontrunner status. Yeah, well, I was.

I got third. Yeah, it's funny that you say, like, is he, was he real? I wonder if the show, I haven't asked them this, when they did the perfect Ben thing, if that's what they wanted the question to be, like, is this real? Like, is he, I thought, I think there was, we're setting me up for almost failure by the perfect Ben. Like, how do you, how do you then, like, match that title? You did, though.

Kind of. Except for when you said, I love you to two girls. That was the only downfall of the perfectness. Yeah. I think we've all been there, though. I think we've all been, like, I think we, I think I can understand that, that the ability to love, like, more than one person, not necessarily, like, romantically. But I think, like, when you open up to someone and there's an interpersonal connection

there, I can see you feeling that strongly to want to express that to two people. Like, I understood it. I didn't think you were a bad guy for doing that. I didn't really, you were. I was like, oh, like, that's, that is, like, that's a bad situation for the women to be in. But I feel like I totally get it and I probably wouldn't have done the same thing. How could he be a bad guy by loving two people, right? It's just the fact that they, one, was going to be so much more let on.

That's the only thing. But, like, that's so, that's so crazy to villainize you for, which I don't think you ever were. But the only time you ever got a little flack was that moment. Yeah. Do you think, what do you think about Colton then? I mean, Colton, Colton's a sweet guy. he's he's uh you have thoughts on colton don't you i do what's your thoughts on golden we've i mean we've had everybody from dean in here saying it's going to be a dumpster fire that was hilarious

i actually saw that clip i love lauren zima's interviews they're great so tell us what are your thoughts on colton um becoming this bachelor my thought is he's not remotely ready as someone who's been in that point in my life and i look back on a 19 year old lindsay who got married I'm like, oh, God, this guy's not ready at all. He's 26. But it's not even the age. It's the maturity level. It's the emotional maturity level.

You get that a lot. You hear that a lot of them. And I can, in the way he, and I get it, like, he is like, you know, I kind of feel like he's the poster child for the first bachelor that hasn't lost his virginity before. And so I understand the appeal. And I get that he's like a really attractive guy. He's got a bunch of charity work he does. Like, he seems like a good person.

But I just don't think emotionally. he's ready at all to be in a committed relationship where he's going to get married like I could see him dating for a few years maybe getting to know someone but as far as like him if someone was like

is this guy like not any he wasn't even on the show if they were like do you think this guy's ready to get married I'd say no I don't personally don't think so I wonder Ashley what do you think she brings up a good point I wonder if the show

kind of like they were with me but they're setting people up because everybody has that feeling I mean as a buddy of his I have that feeling of like is he really really ready? Like, I don't think he is. He's not even remotely ready from the last time that we saw him on dating on Paradise to be engaged and to be a strong partner to somebody else. And I wonder

if this show knew more about him than we do and that I do. And they said, yeah, everybody's going to ask this question. They're going to go into it expecting disappointment and expecting to finish the season being like, well, we told you so. And they know that his growth and his ability to surprise us far outweighs any of our understanding right now. I think that might be the case because what Colton and I have always bonded over in interviews is that we grew up so much from the show and we gained so much relationship, relationship experience from the show, but also just got to know ourselves so much to the show that I think this third time around, he's going to show massive growth.

Yeah. I actually, Liz, I think you're in the right headspit. I think as a fan, that's where I'm at. Like, I had no shot he's ready. Why would he be The Bachelor? There's so many better choices. There's guys out there ready. blah, blah, blah. But you never know when you're ready on it.

You never know. And I think that the show knew how ready he was. This is my, I think they're, they're doing the flippy woo on us. Actually, I have something else to say. Yeah. Colton is also much like me and like, I don't think he has any desire to date around. I think he

truly wants to be with his person and just like live a nice, calm life with this person. I don't think he's the kind of guy who actually wants to go and like, go to a bar, pick up chicks. No offense to Jason and Blake, But I think that they have that more in their soul than Colton does. Like, they like to kind of play the field.

It's kind of fun for them to live the, like, bachelor life on steel roads. Yeah, I mean, he even clean on, he was such a good guy to Tia, even though you could tell that for him, he was really torn. But it was really about making Tia happy. Yeah. This is a good guy. I mean, I can see that aspect that he's a good person. I just think that I think he has room to grow as a person before he finds his happy.

before he finds this perfect person I think he needs to like maybe grow a little bit emotionally and like understand him I remember the first time this is funny I remember the first time I told Colton I met up for dinner

right after you got off the bachelor at we're sitting at a restaurant in Denver called Senior Bear and I had never met him the show had reached out and said hey can you reach out to this cold guy he's a really good guy but he's super hurt and he has a lot of stuff like

he needs a mature a little bit where you walk him through some stuff I said yeah of course so I met up up for him and like you know it's two guys hanging out who don't know each other it's a little awkward but it was like easy

we had something in common to share and talk about so I pull up and like what do you want to drink and he's like oh man I don't really drink that much I was like okay cool

he's like well I'll have a margarita he's like I'll have a drink I was like okay what do you want he's like a singria I was like yeah you don't drink that much

like we're out just kicking then he's so like he's just my point was as you're saying that Blake and Jason are having fun with this they're able to go out to these clubs and do these appearances

and have a really good time that wouldn't have been cold and cool And Cole wouldn't have felt natural in that environment. Never had done it. So if he wasn't The Bachelor, I think he would have just kind of faded out here. But because he is, I think he's going to pleasantly surprise us. I think we're going to watch his season and be like, I get him now.

I understand him now. And I personally am excited to see him kind of went over the hearts because I think he has the most possible, like the most opportunity to do that. And I think because the show knows how fragile this season is, if they don't get people within two episodes, they're done. So I think in the first episode We will see Colton do incredible things Hey Lindsay we've got a big day ahead of us We've got to go Have a really good time

I've never been to the Palisades And so we're going to go meet up with Carbon 38 in the little market With Lauren Conrad We're going to go to lunch And just take a trip around LA Cannot wait to hang out with you Lindsay Thank you again for your donation

To Humanian Hope United Thanks to IHeart Ashley I still love you I love you. No, I love you. No, I love you. Like, I need you to know that I absolutely adore you.

No, I need you to know that it was just a stupid comment coming from one flashback. Ashley, here's the thing. There's a difference between being evil, which you are not, and liking to stir up trouble. Oh, I definitely like to stir trouble. Sorry about the word choice. It's stirring up trouble that you have in your eyes. Ashley, you have talked to me every week for the last year and a half. I think at this point, if you didn't dislike me a little bit.

Oh, my. My God. So what do you like dislike about me? Please be honest. Ashley, you know what I honestly dislike most about you? Yeah. Um, is, is really the fact that I kind of enjoyed the Ashley that would come in here and be super emotional. I don't like that you're not as emotional anymore. Okay. I miss the emotional Ashley. The one, I miss your tears a little bit. Yeah. No, that's okay. I, I actually thought you did. Yeah. I would walk in here, I'd be like, she's doing exactly what I want to do. I just

can't do it the same way. Really? So that's actually an insecurity of mine right now. now because on my i don't get a podcast which is just like girl talk you know a lot of the girls write into my facebook message boards and they'll be like i don't relate to her anymore she's too happy well i don't with that i'm glad you're happy that makes me sad that i'm not as relatable anymore no you're relatable i just miss i just always i think what i enjoyed um i enjoy a lot more of of you now because you're happy you're confident you're wise your thought through you enjoy me more now but you just so that you miss the no no no what i miss is coming in here never knowing what i was going to get yeah like never knowing if ashley had a

blind date the night before that you're going to like that you thought was the one for two hours and the third hour if he told you he wasn't and then you're going to cry about it like i missed that because that was i would be like what the hell but i i appreciate you more now than i did and i love you do it and i know you love me as well all right before we leave you guys you want to just say a huge thank you to blue apron because it's a better way to cook and you can get your first three meals at blue apron.com slash almost famous. Thank you to Sleep number. Visit one of the 550 sleep number stores nationwide. Visit sleep number.com.com slash podcast to find one nearest you. Ritual essential for women. It is the multivitamin reimagined ritual.com slash famous to start

your ritual today. Thread up the world's largest online consignment and thrift store. Get an extra 30% off your order at threadup.com slash almost famous 30 and spit listen to full episodes of 23 and me's spit podcast now on the iHeart radio app or wherever you listen to podcasts um we do a thing here at the almost famous podcast you've been a listener uh and we've been a big fan for a while of this podcast um i say i've been been so you're going to start you're going to say i've been lindsay i've been and i've been ashley peace and love Later. Bye.

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