The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - The Bachelor Fantasy Draft

Episode Date: June 2, 2025

Ben and Ashley are the undeniable Bachelor experts, so we’re putting them head to head to pick the best Bachelor season if it was full of celebrities!   Where would they place the Bachelor Mansion?? Who would host?? And who would be the villain??   Head to our Instagram to pick whose season you would watch! @Almost_FamouspodcastSee 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.

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 Yumanzoor. 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 IHeartRadio. It's an almost famous podcast. We are here today to play a... little game. Ashley and myself have prepared for this moment. Here's what the game is. We're going to set up what we think would be the perfect or in our minds the most watchable bachelor house, meaning we're going to pick our bachelor, the host, the location,

the villain of the season, but this is all going to be made up of celebrities or at least people we know. Now, there are some stereotypical roles that you will hear us talk about. At the end of this, we're going to post this on our social media. We're going to leave it for you to vote on which of the shows you would rather watch, mine or Ashley's. So I'm laughing at just what's about to happen here, especially since Ben doesn't know celebrities. I had to work very hard to put this list together. But, Ashley, let's get it started. We're going to start out with the location for the Bachelor Mansion. All right.

My location for the Bachelor Mansion was the South of France, because who goes to the South of France that aren't celebrities? That is the Celebrity Hot Spot. That is true. The South of France. We're not far off from each other because I chose Lake Como in Italy. Oh, perfect. We're like right there.

We're getting the same thing. I think we both are going with the same vibes, right? Fancy, romantic, full of celebrities, easy for them to get there because they all have private jets that are flying back and forth all the time from these places. Ashley, the host of this show was very easy for me to pick. Who was it for you? Should we say it on three? Yes.

One, two, three. Chris Harrison. Easy. No questions. No questions. So we have the south of France. We have Italy with a host, Chris Harrison.

It just makes sense. Now, this is where I think things will get most interesting. Your bachelor. My bachelor is somebody who I chose because I knew that you would love him. And I knew that he's a universally appealing man and has been for so many decades and he's appealing to all ages. My Bachelor is Kevin Kossner. Great choice. We were kind of on the same wavelength here with a lot of, I think there's some

similarities with my Bachelor. My Bachelor is somebody that is iconic, so handsome, dated many, many, many people in his career and still adorned by people today. It's Frank Sinatra. Oh, wow. Look at you. A total classic. Great. Oh, mother effort, dude.

You brought dead people into this. I would have made it JFK Jr. In that case, because he is my ultimate man, prince of America, and my ideal, as well as pretty much every woman's ideal. But okay, ideas for next time. Good job with Frank Sinatra. Great. Thank you. The contestant that you think would get out of the limo in a costume, who did you choose? There was a lot of people that I could have put in here. I was thinking the obvious is like Lady Gaga because she used to come out of her crazy outfits, the meat dress and whatnot. And then I thought like current day popular would be Chapel Rhone and I decided to go with somebody who always has a

sense of humor. It's very likely that Jennifer Lawrence would show up in a costume. That's good. That's good. I went with a little bit different of a thought process here. I thought back to my childhood. I thought back to current day. I came up with somebody that I think would come out in a costume. And some would say on purpose, and some would say just because it's what they wear. And that's Britney Spears. Okay. Yes, absolutely.

And I think it's because she's just what she wears. It would like seem like a costume. You'd be like, excuse me, girl. Yeah. That is not appropriate attire for this mansion, but okay. Yeah, that would be my choice. And I would love to see her on The Bachelor. In fact, there is a world in which I bet the show could get her to become the Bachelorette if

they wanted to next year. I think it would be amazing. She doesn't want to do anything in the spotlight, but your mention of her is making me change one of my answers, if that's okay. I'll give you my original answer, but I have got to put her in here for one of the categories now. The contestant that cries the most, this feels like a category that you have a lot of respect for, Ashley. Who did you go with? It's one that I haven't chose yet, but I'm going to, to do that, but I'm going to fill in the person, the person that I just took off of one category and replaced with Brittany, I'm going to put her in this category. I'm going to go with Anne Hathaway. Interesting. Well, I had to go with the most iconic of all time. I put in here

Ashley. Ashley, I Kennedy. I can't imagine anybody else crying like Ashley does and would do and has done on The Bachelor before. So Ashley will always be the legendary, teary-eyed crier on The Bachelor. Well, thanks, Ben. I guess you're allowed to put me in here. Yes, I am. You fit all categories for what was told to me

I could fit in and not. The next one is the villain of the season, always the one that's talked about the most. Usually the one out of, you know, anybody that's not in the top three, usually one that builds the biggest following, Kike kind of carries this following into life. It's a big category.

And I hope you chose appropriately. I have two. All right. So my initial thought was Jennifer Lopez. She's having like a bad period right now. I don't know. People like aren't liking her right now, which is why I kind of went for it.

And then there's her ties to ditty. So that was another thought that I had. Yeah. We know that she's very unlucky in love and like she's willing to kind of like play the game of love. And I could see her just being dramatic and diva like around these women and the women not necessarily getting along with her. I've always liked her as like just a spectator. But I felt like in The Bachelor Mansion she wouldn't go over that great. And on the same token, somebody else having a very bad time.

in the media right now would be like lively and for very similar reasons i can see her being the villain because i think that she says a lot of weird things sometimes seems fake a lot of the time and that never goes well in the bachelor mansion oh if i had to pick one of them oh i also picked jalo because she had like had been seen on a date with kevin costner or a rumored date with kevin costner recently. So she was already going to get a leg up for the other women. And they wouldn't like that. So I guess I'm going to go with, I'm going to go with J-Lo since that was my gut. Interesting. I might put Blake somewhere else now. That's very interesting choice, because I chose the same person.

Great. And your reasoning? I've met J-Lo. And she was sassy. Oh, yeah? How did you meet her? Tell us our, tell us. I was on Kimmel the same night she was there. And it was a very awkward encounter. I was in my dressing room and her dressing room was right next to mine.

And it was very clear that even a like making eye contact and like a wave was not going to be the outcome of our interaction. She very much was not treating me like an equal human. which not from a celebrity standpoint or equal, but we're all human. And I think anybody that has the ability to walk past another human without being courteous that they exist has the potential to be a terrific villain.

Wow, Ben. Yeah. And I love J-Lo. So you always liked her until that moment? I still like her. I mean, she's like 50, what, five and looks like she's like 20. I still got a lot of respect for her. She keeps, but I didn't like that much.

moment and I just think as I watched her I mean I don't take offense to it Jalia doesn't need to know who I am she doesn't necessarily need to say hello to me I would appreciate it if she did I just think if she did that to me and we were both on the Kimmel show the same night she has the potential to walk into a house and and do some glares that shake the world yeah totally totally all right Ben do you want me to take over for the question you can take over okay the contestant that says that the villain isn't there for the right reasons? Who did you have? This is a tough one for me. I kind of went with somebody that was like too good to be true. Meaning not every time that the villain says they're not there for the right reasons. They're not always right on that, right?

Like a lot of times they're wrong. That person is there for the right reasons. They're just loved by so many people and they're friends with so many people that the villain gets envious. Yeah. So I went with Betty Davis. All right. Explain further. Like I said, she's too good to be true. She was loved by so many. She walks into a room and it felt like probably the world stopped.

She had that aura. She had that ability to make people feel seen and known. And I think that's the person that usually gets to target on their back because they're usually given the first impression rose. And when they're given the first impression rose, people always look at them differently. And I think Betty Davis would be accused of it and then ultimately show up at the end being like, no, I was always here for the right reasons. That person was wrong. I am who I claim to be.

But I think she could be disliked by the villain because they would be envious. Okay. I get that. I get that. Do you know a lot about Betty Davis's history? enough was she like kind of a controversial character i mean she played controversial characters yeah yeah yeah so like her characters and her are like so tight but she was always known for her authenticity so i think what i remember just from i don't know hearing the name betty davis

which is wild that we could still hear her name you know even though she died the year i was born is that because she was iconic, she was loved, she played characters that some would maybe frown upon or not be happy with, but yet she was authentic and she was glamorous. And she prioritized that over everything else. And so I think that is a really good mixture for somebody that would be read to say,

you're not here for the right reasons. 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 Law and Law. order criminal justice system on the iHeart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts my boyfriend's professor is way too friendly and now i'm seriously suspicious

oh wait a minute sam maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit well dakota it's back to school week on the okay story time 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 and 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. Hello, it's Danielle Fischel. Writer Strong. And Will Ferdell 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. 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 joins 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 Irish. Heart 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're not? 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 Patton. Elaine Welteroth.

I'm Jessica Voss. And that's when I was like, I got to go. I don't know. 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. choice was Katie Perry because Katie Perry is not afraid of calling people out, whether that's

through songs or I just feel like she's just like not really afraid to speak her mind. She doesn't always look like the most liked person in the room. But she is, again, I guess pretty authentic to herself. That's a great choice. I love it. She probably would also fell into the category of costume at the beginning. For sure. The contestant that crushes it during the talent show. This is when I put Lady Gaga because nobody's more of a triple threat. That's a good point.

That's a great choice. Marilyn Monroe. Okay. Yeah. Same situation. Yeah. Same idea. Same thing.

What a cast this Bachelor would have. No Oscars has even had a. red carpet like this before. Contestant that gets so competitive, they injure themselves during a group date. So I didn't have anyone for this when we started the podcast throughout talking to you. I might go with Taylor Swift because nobody can beat Taylor. And she's sly and she has all of these ideas in order to, you know, make herself probably the most famous artists of all time, she, she's always mapping out her career, I think.

And I think that she's not going to let any of these other people win. I mean, I think Taylor Swift is a really hard choice to follow up on. That's a great choice. I went with Simone Biles. Oh, that's actually absolutely fantastic. Yeah. So Simone Biles, I mean, this category fell into the athlete for me. I think if somebody that is beautiful, competitive, successful, Simone Biles would, I mean, I hope she doesn't injure herself, but she did injure herself during her last Olympics and she still competed. I don't think she gives up. She sticks around. Ashley, contestant most likely to say, I'm not here to make friends. All right. So this is where I put Blake lively because it doesn't seem like many of her gossip girl castmates.

have continued a friendship with her after the show. She obviously worked with Justin Baldoni and they are not friends. Her and Anna Kendrick also, they've worked together before and apparently there's drama between, they're not drama, but they don't love each other as well.

So based on the track record of working with people and not liking them, we're going to put in Blake. I think it's a great choice. At the same time, she is apparently very close to her traveling pants, but... You know way more about that. I have no comments. I know nothing about what's happening here.

I went with Jennifer Aniston. I feel like Jennifer Aniston's friends with everyone. Well, I really did it because I saw friends and I wanted to put Jennifer Aniston in the list. I don't have a great reason for this other than the fact that I just like to watch her on television again. I thought that you would say Jen Anderson for some reason along those lines. Yeah. Yeah. That's kind of my thought process.

All right. Who is? Oh, I like this question. Well, actually, I like the next question. The contestant that experience is a weird medical emergency during filming. I put, this is where I put Britney Spears after you mentioned Brittany. Because absolutely, Brittany has been so injury prone throughout her life between her knee. And there's like always a reason that Brittany has to can't.

insulator whether it's her mental health or physical health she's she's the one that uh i feel like is going to end up on that stretcher maybe it's just because poor thing we've already seen her in the back of an ambulance before yeah that's a good choice ashley this this one's hard for me uh so i kind of went with who who's really who's really good at getting attention for anything they do. And I've got to be careful with this because some names came to mind that would definitely cause listeners

to never listen to this show again. So I won't mention those names. I'll just make people assume who it would be. But it's somebody dramatic. It's somebody known to enjoy any headline that gets posted about them. So it honestly was my third choice on this list, but I went with Courtney Kardashian.

Courtney? Yeah. You went with Courtney to have a weird medical emergency. Yeah, I did. Are you sure you had the right Kardashian because Courtney's not very dramatic? Oh. Who's the dramatic one other than Kim? Well, you know, I don't think any of them are overly dramatic because I'm in Ashley.

Maybe I meant Chloe. No, Chloe is very grounded. Oh, goodness. I don't think Chloe, but maybe like Chris would do it. Okay. I mean, I'm not against changing my answer to Chris. Chris has always been about headlines and getting her daughter is famous for whatever reason. So let's change it to Chris.

You talked me into it. I needed a Kardashian on this list because I needed people to vote for me. This one was fun for me. Contestant most likely to friend zone The Bachelor but enjoy their time at the mansion. This is 1,000% the first, this was my easiest question to answer, Emma Stone. Great choice. I went with Betty White. Oh, okay. That's a good one too. Yeah. Does Emma Stone not just seem to like just a guy's girl that like you think that she's really hot and then you hang out with her and then maybe you're like, ah, maybe you're more of a bro. Yeah, she does. No, it's exactly.

That's very good. You know who else kind of? brings that vibe to me. Who? Anaday Aramis. Is that how you say her name? Yeah. She's like the hottest thing now. Yeah, but I feel like she's like cool.

Maybe it's just like me making it up in my head. But I feel like she's cool. Definitely cool. Definitely cool. All right, Ben. So Betty, Betty White for you there. Who is the contestant most likely to eliminate, self-eliminate before a rose ceremony?

I said Scarlett Johansson, because I think Scarlett Johansson also so cool and she's just like not she's like I am not here for the attention I don't need to get further here just for the sake of getting further I don't feel a connection I'm gonna get out and I'm gonna use my cool voice

and be like hey you're too cool for me and I'm out of here she doesn't take pop her she doesn't take pictures with fans when she's out and about so I'm like yeah this girl like doesn't care she's just all about like the work yeah why is your cool voice deeper her cool voice is deep she's like a cool raspy voice you know oh yeah i thought that you're just saying like you when you think of a cool voice um most like

don't you think that like most girls like either they have like a really nice like light like very feminine voice and then like guys love that or they like really like a mysterious voice yeah i don't know if i'm a mysterious guy because they intimidate me no you're definitely not think about it like just has like that beautiful ultra feminine voice and i'm very jealous of it yeah yeah they they kind of intimidate me the mysterious does which is why i chose the person i did emma watson to me would just totally be too cool for school here no interest in going through the process and if i was in the seat of the bachelor uh she would be one that would intimidate me throughout the whole process

and at some point I would be nervous to speak with her and she's just like I'm out of here this guy sucks I feel that and I was gonna also think of Natalie Portman so we're thinking about like

really intellectual girls because you got your brown girl here I've got my Harvard girl with Natalie Portman they don't need this okay so who is most likely to interrupt

and steal the bachelor on a group date Ben This is a great question to try to figure out an answer. I went here with Taylor Swift. Yeah, I could see that. I could see it. Because I think she just speaks up to what she wants. And she has expectations for that.

So that's my answer. I dabbled with that answer as well. I eventually went with Megan Markle. because we know the girl says she doesn't like attention but she does but she does all right final question here location for the finale and proposal um well this is outrageous so i can't say it's romantic but to hold an event like this would be after you know a red carpet fuller than the Oscars let's just put the finale in the middle of the Coliseum.

Like the Coliseum in Rome or the Coliseum in L.A.? The Coliseum in Rome. Yeah. That's a good, I mean, goodness, great choice. I actually said the fountain in Rome. What is it, Trevi Fountain? Yeah, oh, pretty. Because they were going to be in Italy for me.

And so I was like, it's a quick trip. And how beautiful to have that thing lit up from behind. Oh, gorgeous. Ben at night. Oh, just gorgeous. A closed street. Yeah, we should become the producers of The Bachelor. It would be like a $100 million show.

Anyways, hey, that's our choices. Go on and vote for us. You can choose Ashley if you'd like, but I would take it a lot more personally if you did choose Ashley over me. I think they're pretty equal. They are. It's going to be a tough choice.

I think we might get 50-50 here. This has been the Almost Famous podcast. This is our ideal Bachelor setup. Make sure you comment, question, get mad at us if some of these celebrities are bad choices. We don't mind. We love the feedback. So until next time, I've been Ben.

I've been Ashley. See you guys. Follow the Ben and Ashley I, almost famous podcast on IHeartRadio, 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.

Rider Strong. And Wilfredel from PodMeets World. We are back in Las Vegas and giving the people what they want. 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 29. Ninth, 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.

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, my name is Enya Humanzor. 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 Iheart radio app. search emergency intercom and listen now. This is an IHeart podcast.