The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - Secret Boyfriends and Smuggled iPads

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

Jared joins Ashley to break down the latest Bachelor Nation headlines! We get Ashley’s honest reaction to Kaitlyn Bristowe’s admission that if she could do her season over again… she would have picked someone VERY close to Ashley. Kat Izzo from Bachelor in Paradise may have a secret boyfriend! We reveal how she was messaging him while on the show. And a fan favorite former contestant could be our next Bachelor!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

Now, hold up. Isn't that against school policy? That seems inappropriate. Maybe find out how it ends by listening to the OK Storytime podcast and the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, it's Daniel Fischel. Writer Strong. And Will Ferdell from PodMeets World. We are back in Las Vegas and giving the people what they want, a full week of Y2K content.

Tell me why. Well, for the Backstreet Boys residency at Sphere, of course. We joke and say this is our second marriage, but it takes a lot of communication. Plus, it's carrot top, baby. And finally, Ashley Simpson-Ross joins us to talk about her upcoming sold-out Vegas residency. Listen to PodMeets World on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. December 29th, 1975, LaGuardia Airport. The holiday rush, parents hauling luggage, kids gripping their new Christmas toys.

Then everything changed. There's been a bombing at the TWA. terminal, just a chaotic, chaotic scene. In its wake, a new kind of enemy emerged, terrorism. Listen to the new season of Law and Order Criminal Justice System on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, and I'm the host of the on-purpose podcast, and today I'm joined by one of the greatest athletes of all time, Novak Djokovic.

He's won 14 grand slams in a glittering career. Novak, Djokovic. When you reach your 30, you start counting your days to your retirement. I'm 38 this year. How long can I push my own limits? Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hi, my name is Enya Jumanzor. And I'm Drew Phillips.

And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom. If you're a crime junkie, And you love crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated ADHD... Oh my God, perfect. And want to hear people with mental illness, psychobabble. Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you.

Open your free IHeartRadio app. Search Emergency Intercom and listen now. This is the Ben and Ashley I, Almost Famous Podcast with IHartRadio. Hey, guys, welcome to the Almost Famous Podcast. Today, I'm doing headlines with Jared. Hello. Jared, you kind of got a mini headline this week. I don't even know if you know.

I sent it to you on Instagram when you were away last week. Did you see? No, I mean, I saw you sent me a reel about Joe Jonas. No, that was about how he's everybody's Halpast right now. But I was going to say how you are Caitlin's, not Hall Pass, but you are the one that she would go back in time. and... Yeah, I saw that.

Yeah, okay. Chris Astor. Chris Astor, if you... If it was like F, Married Kill or something like that. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I feel very privileged. I'm very lucky. She said, she said F because you didn't hit that.

Didn't hit that, that's right. Yeah, she never brought me a fantasy suite. Thank God, because it would never been the same between me and her. No, of course. How could it be? It was meant to be that you did not get to fantasy suites. I would agree. Yeah.

Did you imagine if she, like, just came over and... Well, I don't think you guys would be as close. Yeah, of course not. Because you know, it would be just like, oh, oh. you know no can't do that yeah can't do it meant to be but then she also said that she would marry you which is really great if she had to go back in time during her season she'd marry you yeah well she always said i was a gay best friend on the show so you know what i mean it's good to know that now she would hit it you know at the time she wouldn't all righty so people would mess they messaged

me last week and they're like actually what do you think about this oh my god ashla's gonna come after her i'm like oh my god no i think it's so flattering that's how i always interpret that You say my husband's hot. I'm like, oh, my God, thank you. I know. I always think it's so nice. I don't get jealous at all. I think it's a compliment.

It's like, because he's mine. He-he. Are you tired? No, I'm just, you know, got a busy day here. We're doing headlines, baby. I don't know. Also, like, the first headline I see is about K, Kat, Kat, Kat, who allegedly snuck an iPad into Bachelor in Paradise to message her secret boyfriend. First of all, she should get praised for this.

Jared is the most, what's the word? Contrarian? Well, you are contrarian, I was going to say. I mean, this is great stuff for TV. Like, this is what we need. Well, it wasn't on TV. But you know what? It adds to the fuel, you know what I mean?

And it gets people talking. And it's like, you guys, you know you need this. You want this. This is fantastic news. So my sister snuck in her phone. She had an old phone that she handed over to the producers and they were like, phone, please. This is during Bachelor in Paradise, too.

And guess what? She forgot her charger. So she ended up going to the executive producer and was like, listen, I brought my phone in. I do not have a charger. But I will not do this show unless you let me have my phone so that I can talk to the guy that I'm talking to at home. So it was the exact same situation.

Yeah, but they made it known that she was a mistress, right? Yeah. Like she was, yeah. You know, mistress is, let's just continue to clarify. I know it was 10 years ago. She was the other woman, whatever. She was the other woman in a relationship, a dating relationship. There was no marriage or even engagement.

All right. She was the other woman. Sorry. All right. All right. So Alicia is alleging that after Alicia left the show with Sean, they had a conversation with Sean's best friend in Tampa, former home of Tom Brady,

who is apparently Kat's former boyfriend, quote, her boyfriend at the time, he's like, you won't believe who ended up screwing me over. he fills everybody in she's been sending him love letters since day one in paradise so alicia claimed that cat has been sending her ex or possibly her current boyfriend seems like current boyfriend secret letters while she's been filming uh alicia goes on says she snuck her iPad in she was sending things to get to him this uh like things like this will last you until i get out of paradise and like that's crazy lots of like So apparently Nick, shout out to Nick, was unaware who just had James gone on his podcast. So cool. Anyway, Nick says they was unaware of the iPad claim, but he did mention he was told about Kat's alleged communication attempts with an off-screen boyfriend after bumping into a friend

who also had some things to say about Kat. So Nick, uh, in response to Alicia's accusation said, I heard Kat somehow wrote some messages on her arm for him. Like, what? what wait what okay so anyway so cat apparently has an off screen boyfriend that she was communicating with while she was in relationship with dale take some balls to do this i'll give her credit yeah what i mean first of all if you're the boyfriend there's been so many relationships like this where it's like hey i'm going to go on tv for the you know the opportunities of it all yeah but But you know that, like, she's going to kiss other people. Everybody always, oh, yeah.

So, like, that's clearly going to happen. It can't be a serious boyfriend. It's obviously, like, somebody that you like, but you're not, like, really committed to. Yeah, in these scenarios, I think that the boyfriend, unfortunately, has probably knows that he'll never do better than Kat. Well, cat is a hot one. So he's probably like, yeah, you know, this poor guy. So, like, I'll put up with it. I'll do it.

Like, you, yeah, you go off, you do this thing. I'll be here waiting for you. It's like, damn, man, just break up with her. She's, you know, it's not worth it. Yeah. So anyway, so... But I do like Cat as a reality, TV personality. She is perfect.

Great. Love it. Listen to your hearts. Jamie Gabriel is engaged. You guys may remember Jamie from, wow, it was COVID era. Jamie was so cute. I forget who her partner was, but she's engaged now. So shout out to her.

I forgot this show even existed. Like, I feel terrible saying that, but I've, like, you were pulling up the article on my listen to your heart oh my god that's right yeah it was like a music bachelor show i liked it i enjoyed every minute of it i'm not saying it was bad no i know but it was during covid and it was during a weird era bad timing um poor timing yeah very poor timing but it it aired in september i mean um april 2020 so i mean talk about in the thick of covid exactly i think people weren't like even into i don't even know people were just watching the news at that point Yeah, I was just like, remember when Cuomo would come on every day and like it's about New York because New York was like the epicenter and every day Cuomo would come out and we'd be like glued to the TV because it's like what's going on New York because it just felt like New York was just at the heart.

Anyway, we don't have to revisit what happened five years ago. They couldn't do promotion either. It was just a weird time. It didn't make it. It also seemed like a, it was the previews were so corny. The commercials did not have me. It was actually watching it that I said, oh, this is actually pretty decent. Anywho, one of them got engaged. Jason Tartick says... Moving on, next headline. Never say never to being the next Bachelor. Okay, Jason.

As if, like... As if you would say no. I love you, Jason. But like, don't give me this... No, I'll never say never. Like, I'd have to think about it, dude, if Bachelor asked Jason to be... If ABC was like, hey, Jason, you want to be the Bachelor,

he would jump at the opportunity, which I don't blame him. No, no shade of wanting to be the Bachelor. Let's not pretend that, like, you'd have to contemplate it. No, yeah, of course. Like, it's just, it would just be like, I would love to be The Bachelor. It would be a great opportunity. So cool.

My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously suspicious. Well, wait a minute, Sam. Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit. Well, Dakota, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast. So we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend has been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. Now he's insisting we get to know each other, but I just want her gone. Now hold up, isn't that against school policy? That sounds

totally inappropriate. Well, according to this person, this is her boyfriend's former professor and they're the same age. It's even more likely that they're cheating. He insists there's nothing between them. I mean, do you believe him? Well, he's certainly trying to get this person to believe him because he now wants them both to meet. So, do we find out if this person's boyfriend really cheated with his professor or not. To hear the explosive finale, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. December 29th, 1975, LaGuardia Airport. The holiday rush, parents hauling luggage, kids gripping their new Christmas toys.

Then, at 6.33 p.m., everything changed. There's been a bombing at the TWA terminal. Apparently, the explosion actually impelled metal glass. The injured were being loaded into ambulances, just a chaotic, chaotic scene. In its wake, a new kind of enemy emerged, and it was here to stay. Terrorism. Law and order, criminal justice system is back. In season two, we're turning our focus to a threat that hides in plain sight.

That's harder to predict and even harder to stop. Listen to the new season of Law and Order Criminal Justice System on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, it's Danielle Fischel, writer Strong, and Wilfredel from PodMeets World. And we're bringing you Viva Las Content. That's right, we are back in Las Vegas, the city of sin, and giving the people what they want. A full week of Y2K content. tent. Wait, we're back in Vegas? Tell me why. Well, for the Backstreet Boys residency at Sphere, of course. We sat down with Kevin Richardson and A.J. McLean just minutes before they took the stage,

and our very own Wilfredel basically became the newest member of the band. Boy band, please. Plus, the man who has the longest running comedy show on the strip joins us and gets his props. It's carrot top, baby. And finally, we all L-O-V-E-Hur, Ashley Simpson-Ross, us to talk about her upcoming sold-out Vegas residency. It's a full week of nostalgic interviews you don't want to miss. Listen to PodMeets World on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or

wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, and I'm the host of the on-purpose podcast, and today I'm joined by one of the greatest athletes of all time, Novak Djokovic. The world's number one, male tennis player. He's won 14 grand

slams in a glittering career. Novak Djokovic! You've been through so many injuries, losses. I always showed himself. What has Novak Djokovic done? What goes through your mind when you lose? I just want to be left alone. What has it taken to become Novak Djokovic?

It's a consistent practice. It's prayer work, mindfulness, meditation, conscious breathing. It requires more responsibility from you on a daily basis to prepare yourself for the biggest battle. When you reach your 30, you start counting your days to your retirement. I'm 38 this year. How far can I go? How long can I push my own limits? Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Have you ever wished for a change but weren't sure how to make it?

Maybe you felt stuck in a job, a place, or even a relationship. I'm Emily Tish Sussman, and on she pivots, I dive into the inspiring pivots of women who have taken big leaps in their lives and careers. I'm Gretchen Whitmer, Jody Sweeten. Monica Penn. Elaine Welteroff. I'm Jessica Voss. And that's when I was like, I got to go. I don't know how, but that kicked off the pivot of how to make the transition.

Learn how to get comfortable pivoting because your life is going to be full of them. Every episode gets real about the why behind these changes and gives you the inspiration and maybe the push to make your next pivot. Listen to these women and more on She Pivots, now on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. let's get into the quote so he said on the playing the field podcast when it comes to whether or not he'd do reality tv again possibly being the bachelor he said he didn't he wouldn't rule it out oh yeah he would do you know i'd have to think about it i'd have to contemplate and i really have to sit down you know you know put it on the scale the pluses and the minuses he said i always say like you never say never but I will say since I like don't know what what was it like two years ago

there may have been five shows that approached me to go on and my desire to go on back on reality TV is quite low right now so never say never but I'd prefer if I was going back in for like a competition show or something like that well of course yeah everybody every of course who Like he wants to do traitors. He wants to do special forces. Yeah. Everybody wants to do traitors. Everybody wants to dancing with the stars. Of course, it's a competition show.

It's not, certainly not easy, but in terms of the... You're not going to, like, look bad. Well, you're not worried about... It's a game. It's not... Doing something and having people criticize you for it. It's more of just, you know, you suck at dancing or not. Oh, and then...

When asked about the growing social media buzz calling him to be the next Bachelor, he said he didn't realize that that was a thing. He said, that's news to me. Some people have sent me. me these articles that are rumors, but yeah, I don't know where that stuff comes from. Well, this comes from who's going to be a next bachelor? And then his mom is making fun of him saying you're 36, you're going to be like a golden bachelor, maybe a silver bachelor.

No, well, good for mom. I still think 36 is a good bachelor age. Well, of course. Of course. Of course. I mean, looking back, we were far too young. Like, Ben was 26 years old when he was the bachelor. Yeah.

How stupid is that? Well, that's not stupid. To find your person at 26 is not, like, super young. It's not super young, but I... You and I had perfect timelines. Like, in my opinion, as far as, like, age goes, you and I met each other at 27. And then we got married at, I was 31 and you were 30. Yep.

So... Yeah, I think if, I don't know, mid-20s is pretty young to be the lead to have to choose. To be the lead in the whole day. Yeah, yeah. That's a hard one. Yeah. You know, not that it can't happen. I mean, I think Jojo was 20.

26, 27, 25, I don't know, somewhere around that age. Yeah, you're right. To carry a show and to navigate the experience of dating 30 people and such, that's different than like being in love with your person. Yeah, and then to really start dating after the show. I mean, we all talk about it, how you, of course, you form feelings on the show, but then when you leave, that's when you truly start dating. Yeah.

And so, yeah, that's a tough world to navigate. So I do think, like, stepping, if I'm looking at it from 30,000 feet, Jason would be a smart choice because he's a name he's older he knows how to navigate this for a relationship um but i don't know i also just want something different i want something new i want like a celebrity i want a stunt casting exactly it needs to be a celebrity i don't think it's going to survive by getting a random person because we have an inside source that says that they are out in the world trying to find the bachelor that they're not going to pick from the selection that they have which makes total sense to me because i don't think that there's a standout and they need it to be like

a C-list celebrity? A B-list? You think that they can get B-list? Of course I think they can get B-list. No, they cannot. Who would you consider a B-list celebrity for them to get? I don't know. I'd have to really think about this,

but I think that they could get someone who's a pretty good name. If they paid... Well, look at this. Okay, one of our next headlines is... Well, you're not going to get Austin Butler. That's an A. Would you consider him A-list?

You don't think Austin Butler is an A-list celebrity. I mean, I love him, but I don't think that, I don't know that, like, he's not a, is he a household name yet? Yes. Yeah. Awesome Butler is in a household name. Okay, fine. I'm thinking, let's think about, like, athletes.

Oh, athletes, they could get, they could get an athlete. Yeah, because if they had at some point in life, you'd have to, the problem with sports athletes. They had Travis Kelsey on E, have his own dating rally show on. Yeah, but the problem with athletes is that you have to, because the bachelor is such a long process, I mean, you're talking about if you, you can't have a retired athlete. Yeah, but then it's tough. Okay, now we're just talking too much about this. Just name a B-list athlete. I don't know.

I can't think about it. Continue with it. Okay. Well, speaking of Austin Butler, Katie Bigger and Zach Shalcross, they're married now, just letting you guys know if you didn't know. They had drinks with Austin Butler.

She said that Zach and her recently got drinks with him in an online video and the video, the three of them are seen chatting, and they're also with a filmmaker, filmmaker Darren Or how do you say this? Aronofsky. Do you know who that person is?

Wow. Oh my God. Katie and Zach were with Darren Aronovsky? See, I knew that he would be thinking that was a bigger deal. Holy crap. That's a huge deal. They're creating martinis behind a bar. Austin asked Katie and Zach various questions, like how they met and if they knew that they would end up together.

This had to have been a brand deal, right? This had to have been like a brand thing. That's very cool, though. But that is cool. Yeah, very cool. Another couple that has been all over social media this week is Rodney Matthews and his new wife, Ari. They got married. Congratulations.

They got married in Riverside, California. I mean, it feels like just yesterday Rodney was here. He went and had an appearance at Audrey's. I guess it was over, was it over two years ago? I think it was like two years ago. Two years ago. And now, and he was a single guy. And now here he is.

Married. Look at that. Look how time flies and how life happened so fast. Two years. Isn't that nuts? That is nuts. What the hell is going on with life?

So they did do a very intimate ceremony. And that was a couple weeks ago where they were like outside the courthouse and they show that they were married. But now they did the actual wedding surrounded by family and friends and a lot of Bachelor alum. I think Susie was there and Justin was there. And. Well, I saw.

Andrew was there, right? I think Andrew was there, Justin was there. You said Susie was there? Yeah. I think Michael was there. Michael was there, yeah. So that's a nice group. Yeah, a great group.

They were a great season group of people. Yeah, they're very enjoyable, very good-souled people. But we're really happy for them. And finally, Juliana, I can't, I don't know if I can still say Juliana's last name. You know, Grants, Juliana, Pasco Rosa. Pascarosa. She just did her first interview post breakup. And she said that it made sense to both of them to split.

She said it's so odd because I think I was having so much angst about the breakup being announced because I felt oddly embarrassed on my family's end. We take marriage very seriously. Just before even filming, I just had this goal that, like, I want to make my family proud of who I am when they're it back. So that was really hard for me. She said this on Jason's podcast, Trading Secrets. And she said, of course, they didn't judge me. They didn't find it embarrassing. But that was what I struggled with the most. I didn't really care what anybody else thought. I was just like, I really hope my family's not upset with me. And when he asked where they stand today,

Juliana said that she wishes him the best. I want him to succeed. I will always support him. I think he's a really great genuine guy. And I can tell that he's a really great genuine guy. and I can tell that he's supporting me from afar. And that's very nice. She also said that she's getting back out there on dating, on the apps, like Raya, Raya, Raya, whatever the hell you call it. And she would be open to being on Bachelor in Paradise. Nice. Or be the lead of the Bachelorette.

Well, good, duh. Again, nobody says no to that role. Wow. Actually, there's been a few. There's been a few. There's been a few. But I think they all regret. All right. Well, guys, stick around this week. We'll have an interview with Allie Joe. She is dating Sam and they were supposed to be in Paradise together or hope that they would be, but they got together off camera. So we are going to ask her all about that and about this cat drama, cat having a boyfriend behind the scenes because I think she might know a little bit more than we do.

Cat, meow. Yes. Until then, we'll see you soon. Much love. I've been Ashley. I've been Jared. Thank you so much for listening. See ya.

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

Hold up. Isn't that against school policy? That seems inappropriate. Maybe find out how it ends by listening to the OK Storytime podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, it's Daniel Fischel, writer Strong, and Wilfredel from PodMeets World. We are back in Las Vegas and giving the people what they want. A full week of Y2K content. Tell me why. Well, for the Backstreet Boys residency, it's fear, of course. We joke and say this is our second marriage.

But it takes a lot of communication. Plus, it's carrot top, baby. And finally, Ashley Simpson-Ross joins us to talk about her upcoming sold-out Vegas residency. Listen to PodMeets World on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. December 29th. 1975, LaGuardia Airport. The holiday rush, parents hauling luggage, kids gripping their new Christmas toys. Then, everything changed.

There's been a bombing at the TWA terminal. Just a chaotic, chaotic scene. In its wake, a new kind of enemy emerged, terrorism. Listen to the new season of Law and Order Criminal Justice System on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, and I'm the host of the On Purpose podcast. And today I'm joined by one of the greatest athletes of all time, Novak Djokovic. He's won 14 grand slams in a glittering career. Novak Djokovic.

When you reach your 30, you start counting your days to your retirement. I'm 38 this year. How long can I push my own limits? Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the IHeart Radio app, podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Hi, my name is Anya Emanzor. And I'm Drew Phillips. And we run a podcast

called Emergency Intercom. If you're a crime junkie and you love crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated ADHD... Oh my God, perfect. And want to hear people with mental illness, psychobabble.

Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercoms the podcast for you. Open your free Iheart radio app. Search Emergency.com and listen now. This is an IHeart podcast.