The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - The Curse of the Diamond

Episode Date: April 18, 2023

Chris Harrison has called out Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss! So Ben and Ashley dig into the details to discuss what may have happened behind the scenes of the show, and how major decisions were made. Do you ever wonder what happens to the Neil Lane engagement rings after a Bachelor couple splits?? We have the real answers! And, Ben reveals an important piece Bachelor history that he took with him after his season ended.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.

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. Hi, my name is Enya Umanzor. 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. Why are TSA rules so confusing? You got a hood of you. I'm take it all.

I'm Manny. I'm Noah. This is Devin. And we're best friends and journalists with a new podcast called No Such Thing, where we get to the bottom of questions like that. Why are you screaming? I can't expect what to do. Now, if the rule was the same, go off on me.

I deserve it. You know, lock him up. Listen to No Such Thing on the. iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. No such thing. What would you do if one bad decision forced you to choose between a maximum security prison or the most brutal boot camp designed to be hell on earth? Unfortunately for Mark Lombardo, this was the choice he faced.

He said, you are a number, a New York State number, and we own you. Listen to shock incarceration on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Ben and Ashley I, Almost Famous Podcasts with IHartRadio. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Almost Famous Podcast. Ben and I were just complaining off air about air travel and how it's just got to be so ridiculous.

Yesterday, I had a four-hour delay with a toddler by myself. It wasn't the best, but it's also. not the worst, but it's been a trend, a crazy, crazy trend. My flights recently over the past three months have been like four hours plus delayed. But anyway, sounds like Ben had a far more interesting story about a delay, and it happened about a week and a half ago. He was midway through the story, and I was like, wait, right, save this for the air. Tell everybody about this, because I thought it was going in a very interesting direction.

Go for it and tell the entire story again. You want the people to hear this, huh? The people, yeah. Yeah. Well, I, you know, this is, I just fly a lot. I do. You are on a plane every, what do you think the average is? Four to five days?

Well, I just, I just hit 61 flights this year. So, segment. Wait, wait, right. Since 2003, the first of 2003. Yeah, so that's like. Wait, 2020. Yeah. It's like a plane every, like, average a plane like every,

I don't know, two and a half days. It's a lot. It's a lot. Yeah. So you count. Well, no, you can see it on your, like on your flight, like status, like flight segments. You always take the one airline? Yeah, I always take United.

I'm a big United thing. Because it's a big hub. It's a big hub in Denver, a big fan of their service, got to get the upgrades every now and again. The crazy thing is I flights, I flew a ton last year, like 125 flights or 150 flights. and then 61 flights this year. I am still not sometimes even in the top 10 when it comes to status on the flights. Like, people are flying more than me,

which blows my mind. I don't know why and I don't know how. Yeah, it's crazy. There's just a lot of people that fly all the time, I guess. But, all right, here's the story. I'll tell it quick. So I was in Cucata, Columbia, a week and a half ago with Project Hope.

Incredible trip, reviewing some of the work being done. for pregnant women in Colombia, and it's part of the Venezuelan refugee migration, where they are coming over from Venezuela, getting health care done in Colombia, moving to Colombia a lot of times. So it was a great trip, but the flight there is pretty tough. So to get to Kukata, it takes forever. I think it was like 14 hours of total travel for a place that's not that far from the U.S. And we fly into Bogota.

We're going to go to Bogota to Houston, Houston back to Denver. We get into Bogota, get on our flight. It's a midnight takeoff. We'll land in Houston at 545 or something. I'm supposed to have a flight connection at like 7.30 a.m. back to Denver, be back in Denver by 9.30. That sounds great to me. Like I'll be home, ready to start my workday,

kind of ready to just like get through as much. as I can before I fall asleep again. Well, we're in Bogota. I get on the flight. I get upgraded. So I'm sitting in first class. Very nice. Very excited about this. I'm going to have some cocktails. I'm going to have some food. I'm going to relax. Two seats over for me. There's somebody sits down. The flight attendant comes up to this person and says, what was the problem out there, sir? The guy goes, I have no problem. He goes, well, what happened out there? And he goes, well, some guy was taken forever in line. My wife and I asked to move in front of him. And he said, F you to me and nobody talks that way to me and my wife. I'm an ex-marine. I don't stand down to

nobody. So I'm listening to all this. I'm like, well, that's interesting. Okay. So the flight attendant leaves him, you know, and goes and talks to the other person, then leaves the plane, talks to the lady at the front desk that was checking people in along with some other passengers, comes back on the plane, the flight attendant, looked at the guy two seats over from me and goes, everybody out there says you were the instigator. You were the person that instigated this argument. And he goes, I was not the instigator. I was not the instigator at all. It's his fault.

Nobody talks to me that way. Fly attendant goes, here's the deal. I don't really care. I just want to get to Houston. Like, I want to get to Houston as fast as possible. I want to get out of,

like, out of this airport and get home. And the guy goes, okay, cool. And the flight attendant said, as long as you guys don't fight on the plane, we're good. This is where I stopped Ben.

Yeah. Because I was like, all right, they're about to fight on the plane. Yeah. He goes, we're good. And so everybody around us

who has heard this is like, okay, good. We're already delayed 20 minutes. Now we're going to get taken off. So the flight attendant sits down. We leave the jet bridge. We're backing up. We get to like probably five minutes from the jet bridge. And this guy, two seats over from me, goes, no, you know what? You need to apologize to me to me to the flight attendant. You need to apologize to me. I'm not the instigator. You need to apologize to me. Oh, no. The flight attendant's like... And is his wife sitting next to him? His wife sitting seven rows back. He got first class. His wife got seat seven and six. seat, which is still a good seat, not first class.

The man took first class for himself and didn't give it to his wife. I'm already judging this guy. Yeah, a solid move. But so the flight attendant gets onto his phone calls and says, we got to go back to the gate. Like, you know, this guy is wanting apology. I have nothing to apologize to him for. I'm not apologizing to him. And the flight attendant looks at him, and he's the flight attendant's right.

He goes, sir, like, I have no. skin in this game. All I want to do is get to Houston. I don't really care who was right and wrong as long as you guys don't cause any more issues. So we go back to the gate. This guy won't give up. He is literally going, you need to apologize to me. So with five, I'm sorry if I've said anything or done anything that's offended you. But I am basing everything I know off of what everybody else is saying. The guy back there hasn't said a word since you walked onto this plane. He's fine. You're the one that's upset and you're delaying this plane. So long story short, two and a half hours later, we're still sitting on the plane. This guy's still arguing. We finally- He's arguing the flight

attendant and everybody else that comes up. Then they bring in like an HR person from the airport to talk to him. And I'm thinking, and everybody around me is thinking, take this guy off the plane. Like he is, he's delaying everything. Take him off the plane. Just get him out of here. But they were nice to them. They were nice to them because I think they were thinking, we don't want to get them stuck in Bogota. Like, it's not a bad place. Bogota is an amazing city. But you're in a different country. You don't want to get stuck in a different country, especially if you're on your way to the no-fly list. So we finally take off once this guy calms down, kind of like gets tired enough, everybody's fuming. Think about how mad this plane is at this guy at this point. Did his wife get involved?

No, his wife stayed very quiet, very silent. Like just kind of sat back. She could She could see it all. Yeah, she could see it all. So I miss my flight then to Denver. Here's the, here's the crazy part. I've never seen this before in all my flights. We land in Houston, pull up to the jet bridge. Five police officers walk onto the airplane. Boom, boom, boom. Take this guy off. Walk him to some little quiet room off the side. Who knows what happened to him. But I imagine it was not good. Before everybody de-boarded. Oh, yeah. Big old scene. Yeah, it's like theater. It was a big old theater. Everybody was intrigued. Was it a little bit worth the miss? Not worth it. No, never worth the miss, but it was one of those things, as we talk about many times before, where you like watch it, like you put your hands over your face, but you open up your fingers

just to see it because it is like, for whatever reason, it's entertaining. I don't know, again, if that's the evil side of me. I don't know if it's the side of me that just likes to see weird stuff happen because I do. I love it. But yes, I was watching this very intently. I'm typically not good at keeping my mouth shut in these situations. I did a really good job at not getting involved. So what I wanted to say to-

Oh, sweet mediator Ben would have been great here. No, because I was very much not on this guy's side. What I wanted to say, shut up, sit down, stay quiet. You're in first class on a flight. You're fine. Like, eat your food, have a cocktail. But the part that was driving me crazy was why we were sitting still during this delay. He was calling his friends back in the,

us being like, oh, I got him. Like, this guy was just like, you know, saying it. Yeah, he's like, I don't back down to nobody. I don't back down to anybody. So he's calling his friends, like, bragging, like, oh, I got a story for you when I get back. And I'm just like, dude, you are literally ruining this for, I don't know how many people on a plane, 300 people on a plane.

Like, you're ruining this for them. Get over yourself. But finally made it back. We're all good. I was fine. It's kind of entertaining, I guess. It's like one of my best stories to tell from that trip, even though it was a, great trip, but it is the story I tell. So, I mean, even though, that, I mean, that's sucked.

That delay is totally sucked for everybody in the back, not being able to watch this, too. They have no clue what's going on. You're comfy seeing. You probably have your laptop over open doing something, and you've had a couple of whiskeys right now. Yeah, I'm fine. I'm doing just fine. Yeah, bourbons. Yeah, I'm doing just great. Well, I feel bad for everybody else and you for missing your flight and all that and for his wife especially yeah for all you fly it out there it just uh it just feels like a lot of people are flying uh airports are getting busier people are traveling again it's you know it is i would just say take take it with a grain of salt like enjoy the ride some airports are nice to hang out in and others um i could probably give you a list

of my favorites um and my least favorites but flying has been wild well we just talked about drama we were just talking about drama on flights actually there's some drama going on in Bachelor Nation right now, right? Ben, our first headline is so dramatic. It's so dramatic, Ashley. It's time. Let's just jump into Bachelor headlines. It makes me giddy. Yeah, it's a big deal. And I have opinions on it, right? Because I know both these people. Let's take a break, though. When we come back, we've got some headlines to discuss in Bachelor Nation. 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 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, 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. Hi, my name is Enya Umanzor. And I'm Drew Phillips. And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom.

If you're a crime, 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. Imagine that you're on an airplane and all of a sudden you hear this. Attention passengers. The pilot is having an emergency. and we need someone, anyone, to land this plane. Think you could do it? It turns out that nearly 50% of men think that they could land the plane with the help of air traffic control.

And they're saying like, okay, pull this, until this. Pull that, turn this. It's just, I can do it my eyes close. I'm Manny. I'm Noah. This is Devon. And on our new show, no such thing. We get to the bottom of questions like these.

Join us as we talk to the leading expert on overconfidence. Those who lack expertise lack the expertise they need to recognize that they lack expertise. And then, as we try the whole thing out for real. Wait, what? Oh, that's the run right. I'm looking at this thing.

Listen to no such thing on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, sis, what if I could promise you you never had to listen to a condescending finance, bro, tell you how to manage your money again. Welcome to Brown Ambition.

This is the hard part when you pay down those credit cards. If you haven't gotten to the bottom of why you were racking up credit or turning to credit cards, you may just recreate the same problem a year from now. When you do feel like you are bleeding from these high interest rates, I would start shopping for a debt consolidation loan, starting with your local credit union, shopping around online, looking for some online lenders because they tend to have fewer fees and be more affordable. Listen, I am not here to judge.

It is so expensive in these streets. I 100% can see how in just a few months you can have this much credit card debt and it weighs on you. It's really easy to just like stick your head in the sand. It's nice and dark in the sand. Even if it's scary, it's not going to go away just because you're avoiding it. And in fact, it may get even worse. For more judgment-free money advice, listen to Brown Ambition on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. All right.

Ashley, here's the headline. Chris Harrison, yes, Chris Harrison, calls the Bachelor creator, Mike Fleiss, a narcissist. That's not a good word to use to somebody, following his exit from franchise. All right. Here we go. So on Chris's podcast, the most dramatic podcast ever here on IHeart Radio podcast, he was talking to Megan King, who is now, again, part of the Real Housewives of Orange County. And towards the end of the podcast, Megan goes, So are there any narcissists that have been the leads of the show? And he couldn't come up with anyone.

Come on. All of us are narcissists. No, stop. I think people, like, use the word narcissists a little bit lightly these days. Okay. Should we look up the real term? I want to, before we go into this, yeah. Let's define narcissists.

Narcise. I mean, I know I have behavior. Like, I have to fight against it. I have to implement, like, things in my life to not, like, think of myself all the time. Yeah, but Ben, there's like, there's one thing when you could be like, first off, I don't think that you are at all self-centered or egotistical. You, to me, are like the least narcissistic person in the entire world. You care about others so tremendously.

You put others before you all the time. You're the last person I would ever think to consider a, had to have any narcissistic behavioral patterns. Okay. Well, you fight it hard then. Thank you. And it shows that you fight it very hard because no one would, ever think that, but this is the definition of narcissistic personality disorder.

It is a mental health condition in which people have an unreasonably high sense of their own self-importance. They need, they need and seek too much attention and want people to admire them. People with this disorder may lack the ability to understand or care about the feelings of others. Now, like I was saying before, I do think that people throw this word around a bit because it's supposed to be like the most extreme of the extreme. Like it's a personality disorder according to, you know, psychiatrists when you're in the seat, right? But if a person's a little egotistical, a little self-centered,

loves the stage, loves getting attention. Not all those people are narcissists, okay? So that's why this is a big word to use here. Okay. So Chris says this, quote, the creator of the show was, pause, severely. One of the toughest things about narcissism is you will never, I don't want to say never, but very rarely that a person will recognize that about themselves. I was talking to one therapist about narcissism and she said, I'm just warning you that next to a homicidal maniac, narcissism is the toughest thing to treat.

that to have someone self-realized and actually fix that is next to you impossible. It just rarely happens. Yeah. Let's pause here. Let's pause here. A couple questions. Based on the definition, my question for somebody who obviously is experienced in the field would be, can people then, like, can they combat this?

It's a disorder. It's a mental health issue. like, can you work on something like this, you know, or is this a personality trait that's just kind of more, um, nurture. Like it's just built, or it's more nature. It's built inside of you. Are you born this way? It seems like nature to me. I think you can probably combat, um, the behaviors. Okay. But I think it's, it's just, it is built in them like born, like nature versus nurture. But it is. So when Chris says this, my clinical point of view, I don't really know. But when Chris says this, this is obviously like, uh,

a dis. Like this is a, hey, this person, like, he's not saying this is just the thing that, you know, the creator of the show needs to work on it. It's like, this is a diss towards who he is as a person. Is that what we're saying? Oh, yes, yes. And I do think that he felt comfortable enough to say this,

one, because obviously Chris, because Mike is no longer with the show. Two, Chris is no longer with the show. But also, because right now it is the second round of investigations that are going on within Warner Brothers about Mike Fleiss's behavior. It's presumed that this is the reason that he is no longer with the show.

Interesting. I didn't know that. Oh, yes. There are some investigations into workplace behavior. They say it's misconduct, there's allegations going on. The first time that he was looked into it was in 2019 when there was the speak of him mistreating his wife. Yeah.

And now this is about like casting and racism and all this. Yeah. A lot about like uncomfortable comments he would make while casting. Interesting. So I guess for some clarity here, because we did break this story a few weeks ago when it came out, is Mike no longer at all associated with the show, or is he still own, I mean, he still owns, I mean, he still owns, the show, right? No, it's very strange. He, according to my sources that I've heard, um, he sold the show a while back, but has still been the head honcho. Okay. So he is,

he is now no longer profiting from the show. He's no longer involved in the show, at least as far as we know, his involvement with the show is done. I mean, when the show airs, Mike Fleiss is not making any more money on this show. I believe. That is correct. But we don't know that for sure. You believe it. I can't say anything for sure, but I do know that I was speaking to somebody. This is actually a couple months ago before he left.

And I, if I was interpreting correctly, he did sell the show a while ago, but was still there as part of the running of the show because he was the creator. Okay. Well, this is an interesting headline. There's a lot here to break down. Obviously, we have the relationship between, between, Chris and Mike, which hasn't been spoken about until now. So we know it's probably not on good terms. We figured it wasn't based on Chris's exit, but we didn't really know for sure.

It doesn't seem like the two of them split well. Chris is around for a long time. He helped start and kick off this show with Mike. They had to work together for a long time. 20 years. And, you know, for to end this way, you know, there's a lot of questions I have. Was it always this way between the two of them? Did they ever have a good relationship?

Did they ever get along? Like, what was the dynamic like for those 20 years? Or were they kind of walking in their own isolated, like, areas and would cross pass every now and again, and they both needed each other because Mike obviously owned the show for a long time. Chris hosted the show and it was the face of the show. But we now are seeing, we can assume, based on this headline and based on what Chris said, that it did not end in a beautiful manner.

Strong words from Chris. Now, I know them both, right? I don't know Mike that well. I've met Mike a few times, probably a five or six times in my life. Was he present in, like, the boardroom when you were assigned to be the bachelor? No, he was not. But he was at a breakfast that I went to when I was, I guess, interviewing to be the bachelor or doing, you know, there was like three people took me to breakfast and asked me a bunch of

questions about why I think I should be the bachelor. And I was like, I mean, it was a terrible thing to ask me because I was like, I don't know. I think you guys tell me why I should be your bachelor. But he was there for that. Chris and I have known each other a lot more intimately and had a friendship during the show and after the show. Mike was always nice to me, I guess, but he had no reason not to be.

I was there and gone. So it's not like I had a lot of longevity with the show afterwards. But I always did wonder. You have had quite longevity with the show as a by association. By association, yes. But I always did wonder what their relationship was like because they are very different people. They are. I mean, no matter what, they're very different people.

I never, I've always been curious even when I was the bachelor of what in the world, like, who is this Mike Fleiss guy? Like, where is he? Oh, you know, is he like watching us? He's very mysterious to the cast. They got always be like, is he here? Like, is he watching us from a distance? Is he in some control room? Like, is he like puppeteering us around or what's going on here?

So I always was curious about this character. But I do know them. Interesting place where they've ended up. I'm going to be intrigued and we'll break it down for you here on the Almost Famous Podcast. So whenever these, this WB investigation continues and kind of comes to a resolution, we'll make sure to fill you in on what they find out. it's interesting the state of the show and I think it also

actually a big question here is what does the show look like without Mike I mean if he's been around for this long had such a control over it for this long what is the show going to look like creatively for this next upcoming season it's going to be interesting like what we said in our breaking news

podcast that you weren't on Jared and I talked about it he didn't have a huge involvement with the day-to-day processes of the show you know, storylines and such like that. But it seems like he did have final say on whoever the lead was.

So I think that casting might be a little bit different. I want to ask you a question because you are friends with Chris and I don't know if you know this personally or not, but it sounds based on his openness in calling him a narcissist that could we say that maybe Mike had a hand

in the decision that was firing Chris and he's a little bit of, you know, like this is his moment. to kind of be like bask in the glory that is his fire, his departure. Oh, I don't, I mean, I guess I can't say, I don't know, I've never asked if Mike had a hand in it. I would have to assume.

I would definitely assume. I think that he was probably, if he's the head of making the casting decision for the lead, I feel like he's probably head in charge of the decision of Chris leaving. So here's what we know based on the context clues. Up until recently, Mike was still running this show. And so all big decisions had to go through Mike. And if he didn't like a decision being made,

then I bet he had the ability to put his foot down and say, no, it's not going to go that way or no, we're not going to choose this person. When it comes to firing your host after 20 years or getting to a place where your host leaves, I don't think we still know if he got fired or if he left or how legally that's written up. Both of them.

We really don't know how it's written up. Yeah. Mike definitely had a saying. Like, we have to. I mean, if he didn't, then he's not doing his job. because he still was running the show at the time. I also think based on Chris's, you know, and this is such, he had such a good,

he has such a good podcast right now. We're going to hear a lot from Chris, and we're going to see more unfiltered Chris, but the most dramatic podcast has done a great job at opening up Chris to speaking his mind more openly. And he said it in one of his first episodes. You know, he's not unaware of the ratings, drops of the show, he's not unaware of the struggles of the show, of the inner turmoils of the show.

He's not unaware of any of that, right? He still has friends that work in the franchise. He still has friends that work on the show, and he can look up the numbers with Google. And he seemed to do that. It does feel like, yes, I don't know if this is like Chris's jab at Mike. It doesn't really seem like who Chris has ever been where he wants to like jab somebody, you know, when he doesn't have an affiliation with him. But I guarantee you there is some piece of him that,

it's like, yeah, look what happened when you get, when I'm gone. Like, everything's falling down. Like, the franchise is going to change forever. You know, hopefully for the better. We love the franchise. We love watching the show. We're big fans of the show. But this is a whole new season and chapter. I don't want to understate just how different the show is now going to be without Mike there. It's the first time we've ever seen it in 20 years. It has, it's going to be different. Well, my guess is this. And again, it's just assumptions. from this mysterious man who was kind of like

the Wizard of Oz in a lot of ways the man behind the curtain I think that they're going to have more room to experiment and they don't have to go necessarily

by a formula with him gone. Well, sure. I mean, I just don't know enough to know what he was involved in the knot.

And I know this WB investigation will open us up to okay, where was he putting his foot down? What was the things he was for and what were the things

he was against? We'll know more here very soon about the inner workings of The Bachelor, but this is a very interesting point for anybody listening. I was a lead on this show. Ashley has been very involved in the show and was on the show, and we don't know how it works behind the scenes. I have no idea who was making these decisions. I have no idea how things were getting done. I have no idea who was the gatekeeper to all big things that we were watching on television, including editing, including leads, including casting.

So we're going to find that out soon. But for us to take a stand right now and say, no, this is how it was going down. We just don't know. And that's part of the interesting part about being so involved in the show is it really is like the Wizard of Oz. It is a mystery, like behind those cameras.

I have no idea what was going on in the control room. I have no idea what was going on at the offices. I have no idea these conversations. All right. Well, let's take a break and we'll get on to some fluffier headlines this week. Fair. 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 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. 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.

Hi, my name is Enya Umanzor. 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. Imagine that you're on an airplane and all of a sudden you hear this. Attention passengers, the pilot is having an emergency and we need someone, anyone to land this plane. Think you could do it? It turns out that nearly 50% of men think that they could land the plane with the help of air traffic control. And they're saying like, okay, pull this, do this, pull that, turn this. It's just, I can do it my eyes close. I'm Manny. I'm Noah. This is Devin. And on our new show,

no such thing, we get to the bottom of questions like these. Join us. Join us. says we talk to the leading expert on overconfidence. Those who lack expertise, lack the expertise they need to recognize that they lack expertise. And then as we try the whole thing out for real. Wait, what? Oh, that's the run right. I'm looking at this thing. Listen to no such thing on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Jennifer Lepa Lopez, and in the new season of the Overcomfort Podcast, I'm taking you on an exciting journey of self-reflection. Am I ready to enter this new part of my life?

Like, am I ready to be in a relationship? Am I ready to have kids and to really just devote myself and my time? I wanted to be successful on my own, not just because of who my mom is. Like, I felt like I needed to be better or work twice as hard as she did. Join me for conversations about healing and growth. Life is freaking hard. And growth doesn't happen in comfort. It happened in motion, even when you're hurting.

All from one of my favorite spaces, The Kitchen. Honestly, these are going to come out so freaking amazing. Be a part of my new chapter and listen to the new season of the Overcomber podcast as part of the MyCultura podcast network on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. All right. First headline is this. Oh, my goodness. This guy. I love him dearly. He's one of my best friends in the world. I think he's great. He is one of a kind, though. I mean, he just makes you pull your hair out sometimes. Good for Kalin. Anyways, Dean reveals he got Kalin a third. Yes, a third. We talked about the first. I don't know if we ever even talked about the second. But now it's a third engagement ring and they share wedding updates. Good, good that they have updates. I bet Dean was learning about. these updates while Kaylin spoke about him. But it's a third engagement ring, Ashley. Oh, man. And the funny, ironic thing about all of this is that Dean didn't even want her to have an engagement ring. He, you know, he was like, why can't you just wear like a paper ring or

like a rubber band or just like a band? Why has it had this to be this ideal rock for you? Yeah. So what happened was he got the ideal rock. Short story guides if you haven't followed. He got the ideal rock. It was the rock, not the actual ring. He was going to put the rock on a ring. He put it into a napkin of some sort and put it into the junk drawer in the kitchen. Not surprisingly, it disappeared.

It's been months and months and they cannot find it. But he still wanted to give her a proper proposal in Hawaii a couple months ago with an actual ring to put on her finger. So he went to the jewelry store, got a, quote, inexpensive ring. And did it with that. The plan the entire time was for her to actually get a ring that resembled the one that was lost. And what happened in this case, nice to be a part of Bachelor Nation. A jewelry company reached out to him and they offered to make her ring.

So she now has a new ring, but not on her finger yet because he's going to give a tour at some time a surprise. Maybe in their next trip in Hawaii, he said sometime before the wedding, he will put this new ring on her finger in a special little moment. Why does he keep making her wait for this stuff? I've got to talk to him because it's the most teen thing ever. Yeah, he's like continued like, okay, he lost the first, did, you know, took her on a hike for the second. But this third, like just give the girl the ring. Like let her wear a ring. Like, why does he keep? She doesn't need another moment. No.

She doesn't need another new moment. She just wants to be engaged. She just wants to like enjoy this season of life. But goodness gracious. This is very, this is a very Dean's story. For anybody listening and wanting to know Dean's personality and kind of his traits, this is a very Dean moment.

And I'm sure you can listen to more of Dean and his hysterical antics when it comes to being engaged on the podcast with Jared and Dean. Their podcast. Help we suck at being newlyweds. With Caitlin as well now, right? Yeah, it's with IHeart. They have talked a little bit more about their wedding this week. We'll put it out there. She does have two dresses. Their wedding venue is an Aspen and they're leaning in hard to that theme. They said it's kind of like Yellowstone vibes. And they got their invitation mockups this week. They said it's beautiful. But Dean is wondering why there's a pair of cowboy boots on the invitation. He's never worn cowboy boots and he doesn't think that Kaelin

wears them often. I mean, I can't. I just come on. Anyways, speaking of engagement rings, next headline is a good question. Get a question this often. We've talked about it before, but it's been maybe a year or two. What happens to the Neol Lane engagement ring after Bachelor Nation splits? Former leads explain this. I would, I have experienced myself. Well, Ben, Ben, uh, explain yours. Did Lauren, they just come up to you, they go, yeah, you'd like to take the rig back now? Yeah, you get a weird text. If you make it, though, I think it's two years post show, then it's yours to keep.

Yeah, that's what it is. Two years post show. Or you could, like, buy it from them. Yeah. It might even be at a discount. No, I think it's so, I mean, I need to be at a discount. It was more than my house. But, um, the, yeah, you get a weird.

text. It says, hey, please turn it in and you do. And here's the question, where does it sit, though? And I'm wondering if there's like a drawer, like a graveyard with all these rings. Or if it goes back to Neil Lane, some have argued with me here recently, honestly, people that would be in the know that Neil takes them back and repurposes them, takes the diamonds out, and reuses them. So what's your take on that? Like, are they cursed diamonds? No. I mean, I don't think that, but I'm sure some do. You just would never know. I think it's only cursed if you know it's cursed. if it if it was on the finger of a relationship that ended sure it was the symbol of a relationship

that ended yeah like it's not wouldn't you want to know though like if like some legendary couple from bachelor like in your big bachelor friend like whoa this ring was once worn by but no i mean i know people i i mean i know people who have given rings from like a parent's divorce to their fiance. Really? Yeah. It works. It's a ring. So some, some believe in the curse of the diamond, some don't. But we do know if you keep it for two years, it's yours. Insurance then transfers over to your name. And it's yours to keep. And you can do it with it what you want. So some couples, if they're like on the 18th month mark, like, you know, I was getting close to, some would think, let's just not say anything for six months. Some are like, no, we got to say

something. Like, we got to go back on with our lives. And you fall short. to the two-month or two-year timetable, and it goes back to the show. But some of these rings are really expensive. I mean, I saw the other day, there was a stat that Bachelor Data did on the most expensive rings from the show. And I think the one from my season was the most expensive ever. It was like 200,000. That's when it was peaking in size, for sure. Yeah, so. Wait, can I pull this up? Like, I want to see the Bachelor data. Yeah. Well, I don't know where it's at. It's going to take a while to find it. When you say a couple days ago, do you mean like a couple months ago.

Day's kind of good again. Oh, no, it's right here. Oh, cool. So, Katie's, what we just saw, is 3.1 carrots. Okay. Total carrots. Yeah, Lauren has the most, has she had the most

carrots. How much? At a little over four carrots. Goodness gracious. And then Whitney was right behind her. So you guys were, our little season combo, was the heyday of rings because Whitney was just at four carrots.

Oh, well. I don't miss that. ring at all. I have, no, I've not thought. I really have not thought about it since. So we're fine. All right. So let's continue with our headlines. All right. Here we go. Claire Crawley. She buys a new house with husband Ryan Dawkins. We're building our home together. Here's what's wild to me, Ashley. Super excited for Claire. It's like still weird for me to read Claire Crawley and husband. It feels like it happened fast. It feels like it happened out of nowhere. But it's such a thing that you and I rooted for, right, for so long, going back to COVID when she was announced as the

Bachelorette, we're like, we want Claire Crawley to find love. We do. Like, it's a big deal. But now she has a husband. Ben, I get so excited and I think about this often. Like, I literally just sometimes just sitting on the couch. Okay. And I'm just like, Claire's married. Like, it happened and I'm so happy about it. Claire is married. Like, not out of nowhere, but it happened like without a lot of like lead up, right? Yeah. Okay. Well, without a lot like, who around it. It was really just one of those we love each other.

We're old enough to know that this is the right fit and we're just going to do it without a lot of hoopla. Okay, fair enough. All right, so this is what's going on with their life right now. She's had the house in Sacramento.

He's had a house in Oakland and they've been like kind of splitting their time between them. But they don't have a house together yet and they just found them they love so much. It'll be shared with them, of course, and his daughters. They are not fully moved in yet because they're redoing a lot of it. She says they have a ton to do.

They came in and checked on everything. She came to check on the grass because she's obsessed with the grass. She says it's been hard to find a house with such a beautiful yard and lawn. She's super stoked about it. And while she was there, she got on Instagram and shared that this was their new house. She said that she loves the fact that they have fruit trees, like lemon trees and lime trees and orange trees. That's really cool.

And she has so many more ideas for what she wants to plant in there with time. And she's just been really stoked to build a home together and make it exactly the way they want it. She said that she's going to be hidden up Instagram a lot because she needs help from all the followers on like this or that

because it's the first time that she's going to have to compromise in putting together a house with somebody else because she's always kind of done it herself. well next headline is this former bachelorette trista setter says producers sold my clothes during filming now this was said ashley on the almost famous oh geez podcast which is a great podcast as well within our network we're big fans of it we really think it adds something to the flavor and the brand of the almost famous podcast sure do i have some comments on this okay please do do you want me to tell the story first yeah tell us the story for it first okay so ben flanics on the

podcast this week. He said he got to keep his suits. And she was like, wait, you get to keep your suits and I didn't get to keep any of my dresses. She said she had a connection with sacks. It was basically like an early like influencer brand deal. She's like, I'll wear the dresses. You give me the dresses. We'll all promote it. Something like that. She said it was her own thing, had nothing to do with the producers. She goes into her closet like halfway through the season. And she's like, where are my clothes? Where are my dresses? She's excited to keep them, you know? And then they go, Oh, we've been selling them. And they're like, you've been selling them?

They've been selling them. And that's some like soap opera thing, she said, where they sell things in L.A. And she's like, wait a second. This was, these were, these were, these are mine. They're my clothes, not your clothes. So she said she eventually, you know, she got to keep a couple nice formal dresses,

but she was pretty bummed. Yeah. Well, they must have sold them. So my comments on this was I got to keep most of my clothes. The only way I did, though, is I wrote a letter to WB. if you remember, I don't know if I've shared this story or not, but I wrote a letter pretty much saying, hey, I'm going to be your bachelor for the next year, right, until you

announced somebody new. And I don't dress well. Like, it's just not a part of me. And if you Jared. Yeah. If you want me looking like presentable in all these appearances, then the clothes that you have, you know, tailored for me during my season of The Bachelor, then I'll need to have. And I'm, and I, then I did a little stat line where it's like, okay, this is how many people are six foot four and my weight. And this is how many people, uh, in entertainment are six foot four in my weight. And it's like nobody, right? Like, nobody's that tall in entertainment. And those that are, are like usually really ripped and they play like giants on shows. So I was like, I was going to say that's like, um, Jason Mamoa. Like, Jason Mamoa. Like, Jason Mamo.

is not much taller in me. And he, you know, he's a massive man when it comes to everybody else in entertainment. And so I, so all of a sudden one day I get like six boxes of clothes. I still wear most of them. Like I still like my claws, I still have boxes downstairs in our house that have never been opened from the show because like they tailor everything down to your swimsuits and underwear. And so nobody else is going to wear that. And if they don't give you the clothes for like Zach's season, because they don't do this

anymore. After I wrote the letter, they pretty much quit, like, very, like, strictly said, no leads are going to do this anymore. We're not going to set this precedent. It goes into the rental closet at, like, the studios. And people can go and rent them for, like, costumes and stuff anytime they want. But they just, I bet I have, like, I don't know how much the suits worth it to show about me, like, $5,000 suits hanging on a rack for the last seven years. You never, going to have to buy a suit again. Do not gain or lose any weight. I know. Yeah, that's the stressful part, right? I know exactly where I stand. And I had lost so much weight during my season that

some of it is no, does not fit. Yeah. But it's interesting they sold them. It feels like a very bachelor thing to do and like a really like interesting story where it's like, sorry, I didn't know. Yeah, I didn't know we weren't supposed to sell them. I didn't know they were actually yours. Oh my gosh. Ben, one, that was so business savvy of you. I'm proud. You looked up stats. Yeah, well, it's the only way to make a good argument. Well, and here's the sad part about my story is, you know, I got to keep some of the watches from that season.

There's some nice watches. There was like three watches that I got to keep. And I had them in a box with my grandfather's watches that he had given me when he passed. And that's the box that got stolen when my house got broken into in Denver. Everything got taken. And so I don't have any of those things. Yeah, that stink. so I don't have that, but I had the clothes.

I do have a Hugo Boss suit. I mean, I still be looking good as. Jared only wears his Armani suit that he got from the date in the museum and the helicopter. He was like the male Cinderella date, basically. And it's the only thing he wears when we have a very formal occasion. Yeah, he looked good. Well, Sarah Heron tries out new prosthetic arm can finally hold Dylan's hand, she says. Yeah, so sweet.

So she's decided to get a prosthetic arm with the hand She said that it's just going to make her life a little easier But she's got a lot of practice to do with it And they're still tweaking it so that it fits her the best She said this is the most It's called the C-O-V-I hand And is the most advanced of its kind For the intuitive default grip pattering

That's pretty scientific sounding But you know it's because it's able to like grip like very naturally and it's able to input custom-made gestures into the device. Oh, super cool. But basically, she feels really nice that now when she's in the passenger seat of the car, she can hold Dylan's handwilling drive. And that's the thing she's wanted to do. And it's adorable.

That's so great. Well, hey, Ashley, this week I was in South Bend, Indiana, and I did a speaking engagement at Notre Dame. Right. And it'd go great. It went really awesome. They were incredible, great turnout. to the event. But after the event, they said, Ben, what we really want is to FaceTime

one of three people. Ashley Ikenetti. And I said, Ashley might be my go-to here. Like, I was going to text you. I didn't have any service, but I was going to be texting you and be like, hey, I need to FaceTime you to make 100 people happy. I've done that to you before. In a bar a couple weeks ago. And it was so fun. That girl was huge man. Yeah, loved you. Caitlin Bristow or Chris Harrison. But I was like, I think I could get Ashley on the line. That's, that feels safer. Well, the next headline is about one of those three. But wait, you didn't FaceTime me. I didn't have any service. It was like in that. Yeah, I tried. I was going to. And then I was like, you know what? I don't any service. And that was my excuse. I was like, see, can't do it. You're like, but Chris Harrison

and Caitlin Briss are too big of celebrities, even if they are good friends to just randomly call. Or I just like, I don't talk to them enough. I get it. To like randomly faceTime them with a hundred random people. I talk to you enough where I'm like, hey, I'll do it. See where Ashley's at. I bet she's like hanging out. All right. Caitlin Bristow reveals ABC salary stuns Bachelor Nation with this reveal. Okay, but she doesn't actually say what she got. She said that they offered her.

Okay, they offered her to be the Bachelorette 40,000. And she said that you'd think at that dollar sign, she'd say jackpot, sign me up because she's very open about the fact when she was on Chris Solz's season in The Bachelor, she had like $0 in her bank account. Yeah. And so it was like, tempting, but then she didn't accept the offer because she was advised by, I think, her dad, to hire an entertainment lawyer. Yes, with their stepdad.

And he changed a lot in the contract and negotiated it big time for her. And then one of the executive producers said, you got an entertainment lawyer and you're asking for this amount of money? I'm sorry. And I thought this show was about love for you. I mean and then she goes basically well F off it's about love and money okay they go hand in hand

for me right now which is great and I'm so glad she did this but it has me wondering just as somebody who closely knows producers which one said that all of them trust me they all play this like guilt game with you like you can't ask for more money

this is about love don't you want to be here for the right reasons you would hate if the cast would find out how much getting paid from this season and think that you're not here for the right reason. Even our friends say this. Oh, they're all guilty of this. They also don't want like the lead to be making more money than they are.

Well, no. I don't think we were. Like, trust me. I mean, Caitlin did our eye. Souls did our eye. I did not hire an entertainment lawyer. And so as a result, I was pretty much like, sign me up. Hey, I'm here.

The rumor in my land is that you guys are basically, told to tell them how much you made the previous year at your normal job and then they match it. It's not untrue. Is that accurate? It's not untrue. Yeah. And so you are like writing instruction manuals. Yeah, I was making like that thing. Yeah, they, uh, you know, you remember this questionnaire. When you actually go on to the, the bachelor to bachelor, they do a big questionnaire with you about your life. And you say, like, I think there's a question, how much do you make in your normal job or annually? You don't know that it's actually been a negotiation process. for later on when they're like, all right, well, cool. For like nine months down the road. Darn.

Dang. But good for Caitlin. I think she's right. It is love and money. I don't think anybody who is in their 20s or 30s or 40s that get asked to be on the show or asked to be the lead should not then say, well, hey, I want to try to make the most out of this, not only when it comes to love, but financially for the future as well, because I'm leaving my job for this show. And I don't know what life looks like on the outside when I go back. So I have not. no problem with, you know, some negotiation. Here's the problem, though. Or I guess here is a little insight. They must have really wanted Caitlin because typically when somebody pulls this move and they negotiate and they hire in a lawyer and they ask for a lot more money, the show will

just move on. Like, they'll say, okay, we'll find somebody else. But they must have really wanted Caitlin. And, oh, but that brings up another part that I totally forgot to mention. She was, of course, up against Britt Nielsen, and they said to her, she contracted that even if Brit got the lead role, that she still was owed the amount of money that they came up with. And that is so smart. I mean, that also made them definitely sway towards the Kalin side. Hey, we got money wrapped up and Kalin. It's like a, yeah, it's like a contract negotiation in sports. Like, who's getting paid more and are they going to get more playing time or not? Well, Exactly. Ben, I have to ask you a headline-making question.

Okay, what's up? Caitlin was offered $40,000. Mm-hmm. Did you get less or more than that amount? More. Okay. I got more. And you know that Caitlin got more, too, than 40.

Obviously, I mean, it's alluding. You know, when you're in the lead circle, like, you kind of call some people and be like, hey, how much should I be asking for? it's uh 40 was i think the starting price that they asked um but i don't know that i mean for katelyn but i'm assuming yeah she got more and that the guys are offered more often i don't know that i don't have any clue the like again the behind the scenes of the bachelor is a mystery to many and but i do know that yes every producer seems to know the strategy of wait no way you're asking for that much money no way you're asking for more like they the guilt the guilt trip is there but i get it right i mean it's their negotiation it's

yours you're in negotiation with against each other until you sign the contract and then you're on the same team they play their game you play yours and you see where it splits it out one last question okay it's rumored that crystals made basically more than any other bachelor because he was nobody really talked about it but he was basically a millionaire and his his yearly salaries was pretty high. I think so. So do you know that he is one of the higher paid, if not the highest paid of all the bachelors?

I know he made more than I did. I know that. Yeah, I would assume so. I mean, I think you can go back and read even past, like, headlines of where, like, the Emily Maynard's and those, like obviously have been on record to be some of the most paid leads. And I think Chris is always up there. I mean, I'm assuming the print.

Like if he had his annual salary, I'm assuming that was pretty ridiculous, so he might have made a lot. I don't know. But yeah, Chris did fine. Well, Ashley, that's all the headlines we have for you today. A lot of headlines today. A lot of stuff going on in Bachelor Nation. We'll be back next week, breaking it down. Now, here's my final thing. I have to do it because I'm selfish. I leave tomorrow for Dallas, Texas to play in the invited celebrity classic golf tournament alongside Wells Adams. Forty other celebrities. Emmett Smith, Tony Romo, Pudge Rodriguez. It's going to be great. Albert, pool holes who I actually get to play with on Wednesday. Very excited. It's going to be on NBC. Check it out. If you see the leaderboard, just scroll down a bit. I'll be there. Um, hopefully above Wells. It's going to be a great time. But we will be back here next week, uh, talking about it, sharing all the stories. So, yeah, Ben, hey Ben. Yeah. Yeah. Why aren't you best friends with Tony Romo? Yeah. I think you play like in every golf tournament with him. No, well, um, they're like secretly be our best friends. We just haven't, like, announced it yet that we're best. But We're best friends.

I have a good story about Tony Romo and our friendship that I'll share next week on the episode. How about that? Is it a true story or just a cliffhanger that you're making up? It's very true. Very, very true. Okay, I'm excited. I think you're going to add another story this week. So good luck, Ben.

We're rooting for you. You're an awesome golfer. We love you. Well, I love you all. Until next time, Ashley, I've been Ben. I've been Ashley. Bye. Follow the Ben and Ashley I, almost famous podcast on IHartRadio or subscribe or

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 and the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, my name is Enya Umanzor. 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 why are tsa rules so confusing you got a hoot of you want to take it all i'm manny i'm noah this is devon and we're best friends and journalists with a new podcast called no such thing where we get to the bottom of questions like that why are you screaming i can't expect what to do now if the rule was the same go off on me i deserve it

you know lock him up listen to no such thing on the i heart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. No such thing. Hi, I'm Jennifer Lopez, and in the new season of the Overcomfit Podcast, I'm even more honest, more vulnerable, and more real than ever. Am I ready to enter this new part of my life? Like, am I ready to be in a relationship?

Am I ready to have kids and to really just devote myself and my time? Join me for conversations about healing and growth, all from one of my favorite spaces, The Kitchen. Listen to the new season of the Overcombered podcast, on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast.