The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - The Ultimate Bachelor/Love is Blind Crossover And A Bachelor Alum Admits To Hooking Up With Married Men!

Episode Date: June 24, 2026

Ben is breaking down the hottest headlines in Bachelor Nation, and we have some wedding news to celebrate!Blake Horstmann and Giannina Gibelli have tied the knot, some Bachelor Nation alums are expecting a baby, and some are welcoming new babies into their families!Plus, we get into Kaitlyn Bristowe's eyelid surgery mishap, and we unpack Colton’s candid comments about his past!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Joy is essential and it's also elusive. But now, there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence. Joy 101. It's a new podcast hosted by me, Hoda Kotby. If you're craving inspiration to maximize your joy, tune into these candid, uplifting, and moving on-air chats. Open your free IHeart Radio app.

Search Joy 101 and listen now. Joy 101 with Hoda Kotfi is presented by CVS. Hey, this is Chuck from Stuff You Should Know, and we're submitting our most sciencey episodes for your peer review with our new stuff you should know doing science playlist. Out now. You want to know about Occam's Razor?

Simplest explanation is usually the right one? We got you covered. Wondered what chaos theory is ever since the first time you saw Jurassic Park? Well, come on down. So distill a nice pot of tea, everybody. Turn down the gas on your Bunsen burner and slip into your most comfortable lab coat

and listen to the stuff you should know doing science playlist on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Michael Rappaport, and my podcast, the I Am Rapaport Stereo podcast, is unlike anyone you've ever heard. If you're looking for strong opinions about sports, entertainment, politics, pop culture,

and whatever else catches my attention, then subscribe now. This kid Jafar Jackson should absolutely, positively get nominated for his portrayal as Michael Jackson. Listen to IMRAP report on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man.

Is everyone lying to me about who they are? I felt such desperation. I felt it was what I had to do. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is, getting a racist statue removed.

And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is, getting a new one put up in its place. I'm Akela Hughes, and Rebel Spirit season two is about both of those things. As I was watching these statues come down, I was thinking about what it meant that I grew up in a majority black city in which there were more homages to enslavers than there were to enslave people. Listen to Rebel Spirit season two on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Ben and Ashley I, Almost Famous Podcasts with IHart Radio. Welcome back to the Almost Famous Podcast. It's been here, and I'm bringing you the latest news happening in Bachelor Nation. And there's a lot. Okay, Blake Hortzman and his now wife, Gianina, they got married in a beautiful ceremony in Croatia.

Heather, this has obviously been, I mean, it sounds bad to say, but it's, for obvious reasons, like, it's a long time coming. They've been together for a while. Yeah, and let's not forget, they have, like, an adorable son named Heath that was born a couple of years ago. I think he was two when they got engaged. But this is like the reality love stories like meshing in real life. You know, we know him from Bachelor Nation. She's from the Love is Blind universe over on Netflix. So it was like reality TV love happening in real life for the two of them.

So yeah, besides them at their beautiful wedding, we also got to see some of our reality TV favorites, like Jason Tardick was there with his girlfriend, Anna Redmayne and Chris Bukowski were there. And then from the Love is Blind universe, we had like Taylor Krauss, Jessica Vestal, Alexa Limo, who I love that girl. She's newly single.

Her love is blind marriage did not work out. But I just love to see it. I love to see love and I love to see reality love crossover like this happen. Yeah, they met, I forget, Blake and Ginny met on us like All Star Shore. It was like a one hit wonder show. Oh, that makes sense. And that's how they came together. They have a podcast now, you know?

I do know that. I do know that. You know, everybody does, but I still have a little confidence that we've been, what, 11 years running here? You are an OG in the podcasting world, that's for sure. Yeah. Well, I like to be, again, I'm a trendsetter. Heather, that's how people know me. That's all I've learned from working with you, Ben, is that you are a trendsetter.

Oh, that's what people know me as. This headline confuses me. Oh, yeah. For a couple of reasons. One is I kind of, I'm just going to say it and let you explain it to me. Colton Underwood says he hooked up with married men before being labeled the Virgin Bachelor. That's where I'm getting confused. So my question is,

was he actually the virgin bachelor? So I agree with you on this, right? Because I was like, whoa. But I saw that he previously had said, so this is a new interview he did, but to go back to one he did in 2021, with variety, he revealed that he had experimented with men

before appearing on the bachelorette. He goes, when I say hookups, not sex, Colton clarified, I want to make that very clear that I did not have sex with a man prior to that. And I remember when he had his whole coming out moment and he was doing press, I remember a lot of extremely invasive questions being asked to him and him being fairly open. This is not verbatim, but saying things along the lines of that he was looking forward to having an

intimate moment with a man that he had not done that before. So, hooking up is an interesting term to use. So I don't know. You wouldn't say hooking up for kissing. Let's just say that. You wouldn't say hooking up for kissing. But virgins, I say this as an umbrella term because everybody knows that I've done a lot of dating shows. I've also been called in my previous jobs. This is not a joke. I've been called the virgin whisperer because I've gotten quite a few virgins on TV or somehow people would get booked for interviews with me and the person who booked them wouldn't know that the person was a virgin and I would find out that they were a virgin. So I know that virgins live in this, this world of technicality. So if it's not penetration,

it doesn't count as losing a virginity. So I think that's this weird kind of great. gray area that we're talking about with Colton. But he said on an appearance of the show, we need to talk on June 16th. He said, I was very careful. Even when I was physically experimenting with guys and trying to like figure myself out, I was so careful on how I did everything. To protect myself, I would only hook up with married men, he explained, married straight men. So that was sort of my rule that I would never break when I was in the closet. That would be the only time I would ever hook up with men was if they were married because they had more to lose than I did. So if they tried to, you know, ruin my career and my life for football, they had a whole family that

they'd be risking as well. So it's a messed up thing to think through, but like it was a form of self-preservation. It was just like a way to protect myself. No comment. I was going to say, let's move on because it's a lot. It's a lot. An IR Radio experience. Weekend gold tickets to Ilson Inc. Montreal with Dom Dalla, Chris Lakin friends, Woolly, Deadmouse, above and beyond, sub-focus, and more with flights from Porter Airlines, three nights at Residents in downtown Montreal, and $1,000, cash. Enter for your chance to win at iHeartRadio.ca. Ilsonique in Montreal, every day you enter is another chance to win. Hey, I'm Hoda Kotby, host of the podcast Joy 101 with Hoda Kotby.

Together, we're going to have meaningful conversations with the world's most fascinating people. Like when actress Olivia Munn shared how she overcame fierce health challenges. I've gone through breast cancer and then helped my mother through breast cancer, and that was more difficult. There's a lot of people who understand postpartner depression. I was not prepared for postpartum anxiety. Listen to Joy 101 with Hoda Kotby on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Keith Gianmanca seemed like a mild-mannered suburban dad. But secretly, he became someone else, a master of disguise who went on a crime spree.

At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea? It seemed very crazy. but I felt so desperate that I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong and what that might look like? No, I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success. Every family has its secrets.

But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. This is going to change my life and my family dynamic forever because everything that had existed prior in my reality is now untrue. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Mainstream media is full of cruel depictions of the unhoused, stories that shame and blame and paint the unhoused as a monolith. We The InHouse is done. podcast that's changing that. I'm Theo Henderson, creator, and host.

And for years, I've created a space where the unhoused and their advocates can tell their own stories. In the last few months alone, I've interviewed unhoused parents, immigrants, mutual aid organizers, veterans, the LGBTQTIA plus community, and the policymakers who make the laws that impact the unhoused existence. Woody Enhous is a two-time webby and Signal Award-winning show with many excited. and guests on the horizon. Tune in this week for my interview with Dr. Jill Whitcher,

a street doctor turned influencer whose work with the unhoused community has made a huge impact online and in her community. Listen to Wey and Housed on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. June is Black Music Month, and on the Drink Chams podcast, we're speaking with the hottest names in the culture,

like Sway Lee. Do you realize how legendary you are? I appreciate that. I'd be seeing it, but I'm like, man, I still got, like, so much more to do. Like, Prince, he dropped, like, 30 albums. We dropped, like, five right now. Like, that's the rate we got to be going. Yep, that's a good attitude.

You also hear stories from industry legends and hip-hop pioneers like Fab Five Freddy. I directed when Nas' early videos. Which one? One love. Wow. I literally filmed in his apartment in Queensbridge. His moms were still up in that apartment. Nause was just beginning to take off.

His pops used to live near me in Harlem. His dad introduced him to a whole lot of, you know, conscious stuff, and he made a young prodigy. No matter the era, Drink Chams brings you the biggest names and the most unfiltered conversations. Listen to Drink Chams from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

On to different news, Joan Vassos and Amy Kaplan welcome new grandbabies. We'd love to see it. Um, obviously, we work with Joan a lot and she was telling me all last week that she had, you know, two grandbabies on the way. So very excited for her and can't wait to hear all about it. But she said, uh, two baby girls, two growing families and more love than I could put into words. Welcome to the world Parker and Charlotte. Your Jojo already loves you beyond measure. Um, and then we'll remember Amy Kaplan from Mel's season of the Golden Bachelor.

She was the one who's got the famous twin daughters who are influencers. And this was her first grandkid. Amy spoke exclusively with us weekly expressing how it felt to be a first time grandmother. She said, I love him. He's precious. He's gorgeous. I love holding him. He opens his little eyes.

And he was looking straight at me and listening to me speak. He's very alert. And she recalled that the first time she met Jordan. She was crying. So that's exciting. Both of them, grandmas. Yeah, there's nothing like a grandparent. Just his parents, my parents, nothing like a grandparent's love for a grandchild.

It's fun to watch. And my parents are out here currently and they are chasing Winnie around. It's also fun to see her exhaust somebody other than Jess and I. Oh, yeah. Hey, Caitlin Bristow is getting very candid recently. It feels like she moved to New York City and said, hey, I'm going to share it all. Got nothing to lose. Caitlin Bristow gets candid about her plastic surgery mishap.

I mean, first of all, Caitlin just is always being Caitlin. This is why I love her. Last year, she opened up about doing an upper bleft surgery, AKA that's when you do the eyelid lift along with she did breast augmentation. And so she got candid about kind of a surgery mishap. So she says, so I did the upper bluff, just very minimal for more like symmetry in my eyes. It was so crazy though. So when I got my bluff, you know you got the stitches and all the things.

And I just got the stitches out and I had a few glasses of wine and I went home. and every time I go home, I just die face first into the dogs. And my one dog, Pino, scratched my eye and I was like Rocky. My eyelid, meaning rocky Balboa. My eyelid was just hanging open. It was December 23rd. So right before Christmas and the guy that I'm dating was with me. And he was like, you should have seen yourself.

She says, I don't smoke cigarettes. I was panicking. I had the door open to my backyard. Smoking a cigarette. Somebody had left there from a party. I was just smoking a cigarette, drinking a glass of wine, and my eyelid hanging open, facetiming my doctor while she was at a Christmas party.

Like, what do I do? And the doctor's response was, loob it up and I'll see you in the morning. Oh. Caitlin. Goodness, Caitlin. All right. Hey, this is some exciting news, Heather.

Katie Morton, we last talked to her, I believe, when she was getting ready to move. Or maybe I did just myself. I don't know if she came on the show. Katie Morton announces she's expecting first baby and is already married to husband Nick. Yeah, I think the pregnancy announcement was really exciting. and everybody knows that she had already moved over to London. So I think everybody knew that this was, you know, you're moving to London, you're getting married, you know.

But it was kind of revealed on social media this week that they're already married. So she posted her beautiful announcement photos, holding a sonogram with Nick and wrote, you know, we're having a baby and that the secret was out. And then while she was answering questions from fans, whether the wedding is going to happen before or after their baby is born, she revealed that she and Nick are already married.

You know, over a photo, she said to answer the question, the wedding will be after. We already had our perfect city hall intimate ceremony, but our wedding celebration is next May. It's crazy to think that our child will be there. Feels extra special. She also went on to say that they are buying a house. She said, so excited.

It's also so much at once to be buying a house, having a baby, planning a wedding. I mean, it's all my dreams come true, and I have always trusted in the timing of my life. But wow, dare I say, all three at once becomes a full-time job. So, congrats to them. And we'll definitely have to get Katie back on the podcast to kind of tell us all about what's been happening with her. It'd be fun. It'd be great to catch up again. Hey, that's all the headlines happening in Bachelor Nation.

Heather, thanks for walking us through them all. there's some big ones out there, some confusing ones, some ones that don't make me feel great inside, and then some others like new birth that get us all celebrating and excited. We'll be back with more news on Bachelor Nation, more interviews. We're also still breaking down the Real Housewives of Rhode Island with our very own Ashley, starring in that show, big star of that show. So stay tuned to everything happening at the Almost Famous Podcast. Until next time, I've been Ben.

I've been Heather. I'll talk to you soon. Follow the Ben and Ashley I, almost famous podcast on IHartRadio, or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Joy is essential and it's also elusive. But now, there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence. Joy 101. It's a new podcast hosted by me, Hoda Kotbe. If you're craving inspiration to maximize your joy, tune into these candid, uplifting, and moving on-air chats.

your free IHeart Radio app. Search Joy 101 and listen now. Joy 101 with Hoda Cotty is presented by CVS. Hey, this is Chuck from Stuff You Should Know and we're submitting our most sciencey episodes for your peer review with our new stuff you should know doing science playlist. Out now. You want to know about Occam's Razor? Simplest explanation is usually the right one? We got you covered. Wondered what chaos theory is ever since the first time you saw Jurassic Park. Well, come on down. So, Still a nice pot of tea, everybody. Turn down the gas on your Bunsen burner and slip into your most comfortable lab coat and listen to the stuff you should know doing science playlist on the IHeart radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Michael Rappaport, and my podcast, the I Am Rappaport Stereo podcast, is unlike anyone you've ever heard. If you're looking for strong opinions about sports, entertainment, politics, pop culture, and whatever else catches my attention, then subscribe. Now, this kid Jafar Jackson should absolutely positively get nominated for his portrayal as Michael Jackson. Listen to I Am Rap Report on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Every family has its secrets.

But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. Is everyone lying to me about who they are? I felt such desperation. I felt it was what I had to do. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

For years, the unhoused have been presented as a monolith in mainstream media. Weedian House is a podcast that's changing the narrative. I'm Theo Henderson, and I created the show why I was unhoused on the streets of Los Angeles. We've grown into a two-time Webby Award, award-winning podcast. The only podcast that shares unhoused stories and news from the unhoused perspective.

Listen to Weezy and Housed on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human.