The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - There's Something in the Water with Nancy Hulkower

Episode Date: December 23, 2023

Ben is live from the Bachelor Mansion with Nancy Hulkower from The Golden Bachelor! Nancy shares what it was REALLY like to try and get ready for a date with Gerry while sharing a bathroom with many other women. And, we hear how Nancy's dating life has changed since appearing on the show!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Why are TSA rules so confusing? You got a hood of you. I'll 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. No such thing. 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 IHeartRadio app. Search Emergency Intercom and listen now. Every case that is a cold case that has DNA. Right now in a backlog will be identified in our lifetime. On the new podcast, America's Crime Lab, every case has a story to tell. And the DNA holds the truth. He never thought he was going to get caught. And I just looked at my computer screen.

I was just like, ah, gotcha. This technology is already solving so many cases. Listen to America's Crime Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 from 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 IHeart Radio app.

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Ben and Ashley I, Almost Famous Podcasts with IHeartRadio. This is the Almost Famous Podcast. Today, I have a very special episode. We are still sitting at The Bachelor Mansion. It is holiday season. It is freezing cold. But I have somebody who's going to warm up my heart because they are from the same hometown as I am. Nancy, welcome. Thank you. so we have a backstory here we do um i'll tell it quickly but i was in worso indian i was working

at a youth center uh right out of college and my boss at the time was the boss of myself and actually your your mom yes can you believe it can you believe that and my boss at the times had been you need to get out of warsaw because if you don't leave warsaw now you will never leave Warsaw. And you at least need to leave Warsaw for a period of time. You don't have to forever, but at least for now. She goes, my brother has a job in Denver that I want you to go apply for. And I did. And I ended up taking that job. And I moved to Denver, which is my path to becoming the Bachelor because somebody there signed me up for the show. Oh, my gosh. And then I ended up here at this mansion walking in as the Bachelor. But your mom was like my co-worker, right? We did

youth camps together we did after school programs together we did exercise you know for the kids together you slept at church camp together slept at church camp together in the same hut yeah in separate beds um i know but it was church camp and we did i know and we were great together but that was such a big part of my life and then i find out that you're going on the show uh your your brother and actually your family a lot of your family live on the same lake that i was living on that's right that i grew up on that the show shot and so did i that you grew up on so i was very excited to watch you uh come on to the golden bachelor so thank you i have to get your backstory how did you end up on this show so my niece abby which i also have a picture of i have to show these

to you um abby was last year 28 and it was Thanksgiving and she said aunt nancy you know there's a new show, you know, for older people, dating. And she goes, you need to apply. It's called the golden bachelor. And I was like, oh, for heaven's sake. I'm not going to do that. I was like, really? And she goes, let me apply you. And I said, wait, wait, wait. You can do it, but let me edit it. So she did. And I thought, you know what? I have nothing to lose by doing it. And I don't know if you know my, my nephew Luke, my brother, Rob's son, Luke, and who I know, you know. Who worked for me for a few months here last year? Yeah. And he reached out to you and said, do you think she should do it? And he would say,

you know, I didn't know how all this worked, obviously, until I came on the show. But he said, Ben hasn't really said anything. Ben said, why not do it? Well, I think, and now I know why, because we all, you know, you just can't talk about it. Anyway, that's what he said. So I thought, you know what? It's true. Why not do it? And so I, they started calling me.

And all of a sudden, I was like, it was like winning the lotto. Like, you don't think you're going to win. And you're like, oh, my gosh, why am I buying a ticket? Okay, I'll buy a $2 ticket. And then all of a sudden, you're like, oh, my gosh, I won. I never thought that would happen to me. So I feel like I won the lotto. I remember when he texted me that.

I do, but I can pull it up right now. But I know you couldn't say anything. No, and I can say a lot. No, I can't because at this point, I'm years removed. But I get to question a lot from people every season. Somebody knows somebody who's applying for the show. Applying, not getting asked to go on. And they ask, should they go?

And you can give them a drawn-out answer on, well, if, they are a little crazy? No. If they're super normal, yes, whatever. So what I've ended up over seven years came down to for me, from my experience is, why not? Like, and I love that. Yeah. But that made me, that was when, that's what I meant when I heard your answer from Luke. Yeah. My nephew, he goes, well, Ben said, why not? And I thought he's right. Why not? And so I did because I thought, oh, that'll never happen, whatever. And, you know, my husband died 12 years, almost 13 years ago from colon cancer. And, you know, it's been a long haul.

And finally, the kids are out of, well, my youngest sister's still in college. She's a junior. But I really do want to meet somebody. And I just haven't. Yeah. So I thought, why not? And obviously, in this season, I didn't. I self-eliminated, you know, three quarters of the way through.

There were then seven people left. And I had a pickleball injury. And I had seen that Gary had really had good connection with, actually, one of the ones he ended up with, and Leslie, Teresa, and I think, Faith. And it was, we all saw it. You know what I mean? It was outward. I never got a one-on-one date. It was just unfortunate.

but you know that's the way it happens and I because they told I had a boot on my leg and I was like you know what I'd wear a boot and cross the desert for somebody who was the guy but I knew he wasn't the guy yeah and so I thought you know what's probably time for me to go anyway well it's no and it is it's like this is such a weird experience there's no prepping you there's no saying hey I've never been on a camera yeah you've never had five cameras in your faces and a production crew and all that. So like me prepping anybody, even this last bachelor, Joey, who I've talked to, um, you know, I was like, I can't prep you for this. What I can tell you to do is be yourself, like be the best like version of yourself as much

as you can. Um, and then the other side of that is the same question. Why wouldn't you do this? Like, which I love, but I'm saying thank you because I really took that to heart. Yeah. It's like that really good, like, just little push to be like, if you can come up with a good reason why you shouldn't be here, great, don't do it. But if you can't, please show up to L.A. and come to the mansion. Yeah. It's worth the shot. Why not? We're from Warsaw, Indiana, and we're sitting in Los Angeles in the Bachelor Mansion in Nogora Hills. And we're like, I just, I want to say, Ben, there's got to be something in the water. Yeah. In Indiana. Seriously? We're really good at this. Yeah. We're really good at this. Indiana is really showing up well these days.

You've got good corn-fed roots. The simplicity is attractive to America. And I think there's a reason why. So you come to the mansion, you didn't find love here. Now, we've been talking to some of the women tonight from your season. And one of the common things that have been spoken is that a lot of these women felt maybe invisible alone, kind of didn't know how to process. You're raising your hand because you obviously felt that too. and they walked into this mansion and they met these women and all of a sudden they said,

hey, I'm not alone in this journey to find love. You're raising your hand because you obviously agreed. Maybe elaborate a little bit on kind of what you were feeling walking into this. And then what you found out once you entered into that room on night one with all these women. I didn't feel alone the first night. I was excited. We, you know, I connected with everybody in my limo. the first night was so fun because we were all, nobody, we were all fresh. Nobody knew what to expect. Nobody had ever been in front of a camera and this whole situation. It was moreover, you know, after a few days, you could see and you've been in the situation,

you observe, I was really nervous. Yeah. And so I really, if I had it to do over again, I would. be more I don't know I was really I was nervous so I was quiet more quiet than normal

and so looking back I think I would have been better TV because people kept saying well you know oh these four these four girls are really good TV they're dramatic they're loud they open their

you know whatever they do more risque things and I had promised Again, I'm my kids only parent. I have three beautiful kids. And I was like, I made sure that they knew or asked them, are you guys okay with this? They're like, go, mom, you need to get out morally. And I said, I promise I will not embarrass you. And I didn't want, I, I'm not that person. Like, I'm not a prude, but I'm not going to be out there doing a sexy dance or just on TV with, I wouldn't do that.

I just wouldn't. So I was, I was myself. I was genuine. And I'm proud of the way I handled it. But I felt alone in that I'm not as big TV. I'm not that, you know, you get people who are get more attention, more on air time. And I was like, oh, I wish I was on air more air time. But I'm not dramatic.

I didn't have any problems with anybody. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I know exactly me. Yeah. There's actually a room upstairs that I got really good at napping in because I was so nervous that I would separate. You did? From, yeah, when I was on The Bachelorette in this house,

I remember being so nervous the first two weeks until actually the Bachelorette at the time said, I want you here, but you need to step up because you're gone as soon as like the moment you can get a way. away from the moment that's going on, you're disappearing. And I was so nervous that I was separating. You know, I also wonder, because I remember standing in this mansion on night one and going back to the roots in Indiana and knowing that town and knowing how close the town in it is and knowing how many people probably knew that I was going on the show and going, I want to

show up well for them and for myself because the repercussions. of that are a lot bigger even than the repercussions of me going home when I want. Like if I don't show up well, if I embarrass that town, I'm going to feel it. Did you feel that? Yes. Yes. Definitely. I mean, I felt that for my family in Indiana, and I felt that for my kids who, you know, again, are in college and working.

But I also wanted to do it my way. I didn't want to be anybody else, and I wasn't. Yeah. Something to be proud of. It is. It is, but I, you know, like I just said, I feel like those people or the way I was, I don't get as much attention. Or, you know, there's more people who have 50,000 followers and, you know, all that stuff. And that makes me, like, crazy.

Anyway. The thing that I've always said, and even to like the current bachelors, so when the bachelor calls who's either getting ready to film their season or just maybe gotten done film this season, my only advice in these days is a few things. One, don't let your head get too big or too small. You're going to get beat up. You're going to get celebrated.

It happens every season. You're not alone in any of it. We've all done it. We've all been there. Not everybody's going to love you and not everybody's going to hate you. You just got to stay yourself. The other side of this from my personal experience, was have more fun with it than I did.

I wish I would have enjoyed it more. Me too. Because I was so on edge the whole time that I never enjoyed it. I can't say I enjoyed it until years later. The show wasn't mean to me. The show wasn't bad for me. It was my own just, I was so hard on myself. And I was living in my own head the whole time.

I never just lightened up and went, my goodness, I'm in Los Angeles at the Bachelor Mansion. I'm here. Like, how cool is this that I get to do this with so many people and now I get to watch it on national television? Was it weird watching yourself on national television? Totally. Totally. And my friends who had the party, they were like, okay.

And here, all I was worried about, this is bad. You know, they didn't help us with hair and makeup. Yeah. And, you know, I'm 61. Yeah. So kind of need a little help. So I was more worried about, which is, I know bad, how I looked on TV because I thought, you know, everybody looks great when they get their hair blown out or girls do. Yeah. We didn't have that. So we were doing our hair. Thank God, Susan, my friend, is a hairdresser.

Yeah. So she would help us with our hair. So we had that. Then we did our own makeup. And every day I was very cognizant of, is my makeup done? Do I have? enough lipstick on. Do you think this is the right way to do it? Like, I usually have my sweats on or my yoga pants on going to Pilates with my hair and a ponytail and a baseball hat. Yeah. So this was like being makeup and camera ready. And every day I was like, whoa, what? Like I felt out of my element a little bit. Sure. Well, this house, I mean, the mansion here, it's like a fraternity and sorority. So when you're on The Bachelorette for me, it's a fraternity. People are running wild through this thing.

We're lifting weights. We're running. We're sleeping. We're napping. We're eating. And then as soon as we'd find out that Caitlin was showing up, we'd all like scatter to get ready for her to show up. It's the same thing with the women when it's on the bachelor season.

Right. Is, you know, it is, it's like a sorority house, but you have very little resources. You have two bathrooms and, you know, maybe three to get ready in. Right. And at the time, it's frustrating. I remember being so frustrated. Like, get out of the shower. I want to shower.

And then five years from now, you're going to look back and be like, that was amazing. That was so funny. Do you remember when so-and-so just jumped in the shower with the other person because there wasn't enough water to... There's great stories that will come from this. My name is Ed. Everyone say, hello, Ed. From a very rural background myself, my dad is a farmer and my mom is a cousin. So, like, it's not like...

What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a company? comedy club. I know it sounds like the start of a bad joke, but that really was my reality nine years ago. I just normally do straight stand-up, but this is a bit different. On stage stood a comedian with a story that no one expected to hear. Well, 22nd of July 2015, a 23-year-old man had killed his family. And then he came to my house. So what do you get when a true crime walks into a comedy club, a new podcast called Wisecrack, where stand-up comedy and murder takes center stage. Available now. Listen to Wisecrack on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. Shock incarceration, also known as boot camps, are short-term, highly regimented correctional programs that mimic military basic training. These programs aim to provide a shock of prison life, emphasizing strict discipline, physical training, hard labor, and rehabilitation programs. Mark had one chance to complete this program and had no idea of the hell awaiting him the next six months.

The first night was so overwhelming, and you don't know who's next to you. And we didn't know what to expect in the morning. Nobody tells you anything. Listen to shock incarceration on the I-HeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A foot washed up a shoe with some bones in it. They had no idea who it was. Most everything was burned up pretty good from the fire that not a whole lot was salvageable. These are the coldest of cold cases, but everything is about to change.

Every case that is a cold case that has DNA right now in a backlog will be identified in our lifetime. A small lab in Texas is cracking the code on DNA. Using new scientific tools, they're finding clues in evidence so tiny you might just miss it. He never thought he was going to get caught, and I just looked at my computer screen. I was just like, ah, gotcha. On America's Crime Lab, we'll learn about victims and survivors, and you'll meet the team behind the scenes at Othrum, the Houston Lab that takes on the most hopeless cases

to finally solve the unsolvable. Listen to America's Crime Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Dr. Joy Hardin-Brandford, and in session 421 of Therapy for Black Girls, I sit down with Dr. Othia and Billy Shaka to explore how our hair connects to our identity, mental health, and the ways we heal. Because I think hair is a complex language system, right, in terms of it can tell how old you are,

your marital status, where you're from, you're a spiritual belief. But I think with social media, there's like a hyper fixation and observation of our hair, right? That this is sometimes the first thing someone sees when we make a post or a reel is how our hair is styled. We talk about the important role hairstylists play in our community, the pressure to always look put together, and how breaking up with perfection can actually free us.

Plus, if you're someone who gets anxious about flying, don't miss session 418 with Dr. Angela Neil Barnett, where we dive into managing flight anxiety. Listen to therapy for black girls on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. kind of transitioning a little bit. Your storyline really kind of had a pivotal point on a date,

obviously, quite honestly, in my least favorite date that the Bachelor, or Golden Bachelor ever does. It's a wedding date where they have people dress up in wedding dresses and they take pictures. And I've been publicly very against these dates. I think it adds in a. weird dynamic for so many people but hey they did the date and you were there and that was when you really started to get i would say emotional like the vulnerability came out you couldn't help

yourself for maybe um holding back so walk me and anybody listening through that experience of you going on that date not knowing what to expect then finding out about the date um let's start there finding out about the day when you learn that you're going to be put in a wedding dress what you think? I didn't know. We all knew we were going on a group date that we would have, it was a costume or a uniform. And they took us to a mansion in Malibu. And not until we got there, did they say, okay, we're going to get out of the van. And then we're going to walk, not run, very specific. And I'll tell you what. Up here on the lawn. see that way down there, there's a rack with uniforms or costumes.

Everybody pick a costume, and then we're going to go to the right and go in and change and do your costume, and we're going to have a photo shoot with Franco, somebody, Franco. Frank is very popular for the show. He's been on many times. And we were like, oh, great. I didn't know it was a wedding dress thing then. But when we got up there, some people ran who weren't, you know, to get the best costume. Yeah.

I was trying to follow the rules. Whatever. But that doesn't always get you ahead. No. I've learned. So when I got there, seriously. So when I got there, you know, everybody's grabbing. And all of a sudden I'm like, okay, okay, wedding dress.

Okay. Because the one cute dress was gone quickly, blah, blah, blah. So I just grab one. I don't think about it. It didn't resonate. I'm like, okay, I'll just put on a wedding dress. Big deal. I take it in.

We all go in. We all get changed. And then we come out and we're fluffing our hair up before we meet Franco and Gary. And somebody walked by me and said, oh my gosh, Nancy, you make such a beautiful bride. and it hit me out of the left field. I mean, truly, it brought back the emotions from my wedding day, which we got married at my parents' house in Winona. Yeah.

There were boats out in the water when we got married, like quiet. They knew, you know, we had a big tent, the whole thing. And it was like truly the best day in my life. And then we had our reception at Stonehenge. And anyway, it was wonderful, but it wasn't the dress so much, but it was the dress represented my 23 years of marriage. Like it was the beginning of we had a great love story and three beautiful kids. And as you all know, everybody knows marriage and relationships are hard and they go up and down.

Ours was the same. But we had a great thing. And then, anyway, so it wasn't just so much the dress, but the dress represented my whole picture. Yeah. And what made me really happy. And I just said, you know what, Gary? I had a really bad, hard day. And he goes, well, I could tell that you weren't, you know, yourself.

And I said, well, you know what? It really evoked and brought back a lot of emotion, et cetera. And he, you know, we sort of connected a little bit that day. because he told me about his wife and he had smelled cinnamon rolls in Fort Wayne and he broke down out of the blue but he said

I understand that it can come out of left field because he had the same thing so anyway but I got through it and then I thought you know what it was a hard day but you know what I made it through it

and I was honest with them I mean you couldn't help it because he knew, he was like, you're not acting like yourself, but, you know, what's wrong? And I was like, anyway. Well, I mean, I wonder, because for me, I've been learning so much watching The Golden Bachelor. Have you? A ton. Like what?

Or why shouldn't ask you. No, you can ask anything you want. Can I interview you? Yeah. You know, I've been learning a lot about the wisdom of relationships and about, I mean, there's been multiple sides. There's been one about the gratefulness of. of the new marriage I'm in, right? I'm two years married.

So there's like a appreciation for the fact that we have this and how precious that is. Savor it. Yeah, so I've been learning. Be thankful for it. Like the thankfulness that I am every morning and every day. And I mean that. I know.

There's the other side of it is just how do you communicate as you get older in life and you're dating for that second time. Like I've been learning stuff on friendships. What do it look like to walk into a house and be really nice to everybody and really thankful that so many people are here kind of in the same spirit that you are. The wisdom has been

really important for me to learn. And there's one side of this that I can't relate with, but I can learn from. As you just mentioned that you were kind of having these like, just like flashbacks. These pictures of what life was and now what life is. How often

does it happen in your life? Like, is that new? Was that the first time? With Gary? You being in the wedding dress? No, more of like remembering the 23 years of incredible marriage that you had and like obviously the emotions of that wedding dress brought back something that was like hey something in me is like I'm going back to that day going back to that season right and and so for somebody listening maybe who has lost a spouse maybe they're new to it like how often is that happened in the last 13 years is that new

or is that something that you're familiar with it's something I'm familiar with I think And I've said it many times in the past that, you know, you never get through, you know, you don't get over grief, but you get through it. And it might be, you know, I hadn't had that kind of response to, you know, I'm being emotional like that or, you know, breaking down where I couldn't, I was just really upset for years. But I think about it probably almost every day. Not in the, like, I guess a good analogy, or not an analogy, but I guess a good remembrance is now I used to, like, think of memories

or I'd say to my kids, oh, Maggie, honey, daddy used to always give you two popsicles. remember here? Oh, here's the picture. Because my kids were younger. They were 7, 12, and 15 when he died. So bad, you know, they were young. I was 48. I was young. And so, and, you know, we used to cry about those things, but you have to, like, remember them and keep the memory alive, especially when you have children. But now I can look at it and remember him and say, and now I don't cry anymore, I smile because of those great memories. So it's not as much grief anymore. I think you always carry that with you. But now it's like happy because there were so many good things about it. My name is Ed. Everyone say hello Ed. I'm from a very rural background myself. My dad is a farmer and my mom is a cousin. So like, What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? I know it sounds like the start of a bad joke,

but that really was my reality nine years ago. I just normally do straight stand-up, but this is a bit different. On stage stood a comedian with a story that no one expected to hear. The 22nd of July 2015, a 23-year-old man had killed his family. And then he came to my house. So what do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? A new podcast called Wisecrack,

where stand-up comedy and murder takes center stage. Available now. Listen to Wisecrack on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A foot washed up, a shoe with some bones, in it. They had no idea who it was. Most everything was burned up pretty good from the fire that not a whole lot was

salvageable. These are the coldest of cold cases, but everything is about to change. Every case that is a cold case that has DNA. Right now in a backlog will be identified in our lifetime. A small lab in Texas is cracking the

code on DNA. Using new scientific tools, they're finding clues in evidence so tiny you might just miss it. ever thought he was going to get caught. And I just looked at my computer screen. I was just like, ah, gotcha. On America's Crime Lab, we'll learn about victims and survivors,

and you'll meet the team behind the scenes at Othrum, the Houston Lab that takes on the most hopeless cases, to finally solve the unsolvable. Listen to America's Crime Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What would you do if one bad decision forced you to 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. Shock incarceration, also known as boot camps, are short-term, highly regimented correctional programs that mimic military basic training. These programs aim to provide a shock of prison life, emphasizing strict discipline, physical training, hard labor, and rehabilitation programs. Mark had one chance to complete this program and had no idea of the hell awaiting him the next six months. The first night was so overwhelming, and you don't know who's next to you.

And we didn't know what to expect in the morning. Nobody tells you anything. Listen to shock incarceration on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Dr. Joy Harden Bradford. And in session 421 of therapy for black girls, I sit down with Dr. Athea and Billy Shaka to explore how our hair connects to our identity, mental health, and the ways we heal. Because I think hair is a complex language system, right, in terms of it can tell how old you are, your marital status, where you're from, you're a spiritual belief. But I think with social media, there's like a hyperfixation and observation of our hair, right?

That this is sometimes the first thing someone sees when we make a post, or real. It's how our hair is styled. You talk about the important role hairstylists play in our community, the pressure to always look put together, and how breaking up with perfection can actually free us.

Plus, if you're someone who gets anxious about flying, don't miss session 418 with Dr. Angela Neil Barnett, where we dive into managing flight anxiety. Listen to therapy for black girls on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. it's uh it i mean and that's why i said i'm learning because there is so many good things about it and this show i think is really highlighting the beautiful parts of every season of life

um and to be really grateful for every season you're in as i said we've got to talk to some incredible people tonight who have all mentioned you know they're ready to find that second chance so you've now obviously been on the show you self-eliminated three-fourths of the way through you've gone back home to your friends and your family i'm more curious personally what is your friends and families now response watching the show they loved it they loved that i did it they loved that like i feel like i got an a plus which for me i know that sounds funny but you know my mother. Yeah. You wanted an A plus. I wanted an A plus. I wanted the gold star sticker. Yeah. No, she's great. But I. But no, she is. You want an A plus. I want an A plus. Like, how cool does it feel for her to be like,

I'm proud of you? And you know what? She is. That's awesome. And I, I'm really thankful and my faith is a really important thing to me. And I think that it really helped get me through. Without a doubt, the whole time. But now going forward, you know, today I was watching the show, you know, the end of after the final rose. And it brought back or it made me sad at the end for myself and also all the women on the Golden Bachelor who didn't have get Gary. and then all the other single people in the world who haven't met their person or who haven't met their second person as with widows and people are divorced, but that we're not supposed to be alone and it's really like it made me sad like, oh my gosh, I wanted to be Teresa.

Like I wanted to have that. But now I still have hope that I will and I think it's really important for. people at home to know that, and I've said it somewhere else that I guess we just still have to keep putting ourselves out there. Yeah. So what does life look like now? I don't know. I'm a little scared to go back. Really? Just because, well, this has been so great and I've gotten to come back several times to do different things, which has been great. And but now having this be the final, you know, I don't know. But. I'm hoping that through, this is funny, Ben, there's so many things that happened.

I'm wearing a retainer right now because three weeks before I came here, I broke off, not my front tooth, but a side tooth. They had to pull it. I'm like, you are. I'm going. On a show. And I was sweating and I was crying. And like all these doors kept opening. like it kept, they're like, we'll give you a retainer.

Nobody'll know you'll have a tooth, but, because I have to have an implant. But it's one of my fronter, you know, you could see it if I didn't have it in. It's gone. Yeah. I was like, okay, God. Kid me me? Like, what are we going? Yeah.

And doors kept opening. And Amy, Rob's wife and I were very close. And Amy said, Nancy, I just have this feeling. The door keeps opening. Keep going. Yeah. When it closes, you stop. It's interesting.

You know, my only, and I've said it publicly, my prayer when I got, well, the lady at my office said, Ben, you should go on the show. Can I sign you up? And I said, I'll help you sign me up. So we sat at the computer. We signed me up. And then they called the first time. And so I went back home and I called my family.

I was like, hey, they called. I don't know what that means. And my only prayer that made sense of the time was, God, please close one door. if it's not supposed to be right. Like, if it's my friends, like, let them say no. If it's my family, let them say no. If it's my work, because I didn't want to leave my job, let them say no. And all of them said, yeah, you should go do it.

And so then I was like, I have no excuse. Every door just flew open. And then they said, Ben, will you show up to L.A. in two weeks and come film, come beyond the bachelor. I had nine days. Yeah. But all these other things kept going wrong. I have problems with my right eye, whatever.

I had to have my eye thing done. Anyway, and I was like, okay, I'm not meant to go. Sure enough, it got better. Things worked. And I was like, why not? And so I was like, okay, we're going. It's worth it. Yeah, it's good.

Nancy, it's really fun to have you out here. It's weird to be in Los Angeles at the Bachelor Mansion sitting across. From Warsaw, Indiana. Seven years after my run on The Bachelor, I am now sitting across from somebody else from Warsaw, who has been on a show that is a part of the Bachelor family. It's been so fun to have you guys out here. It's been so fun to have you out here. You walked in tonight and I said,

I told one of the girls here, I said, please tell me what Nancy walks in, because I want to make sure to go up to her right away and say hello. Thank you. I'll see you again. I hope. And I wish you the best in this next season of life. And I'm so proud of you for doing this.

I mean, it is. It's like I'm learning a lot from you, but I'm also just like really glad that you did it. it's been really fun to follow along with your story. Can I say? Yeah. I'm really glad I did it and I'm very grateful. I'm like, thank you God for the experience. Thank you for the open doors. And when a door closes, I'll stop. But you know what? I'm, I just have faith that I was for whatever reason meant to do it. Even in my little, you know, all my friends are so much bigger personalities and they have so many more followers and all that.

I'm not really into that. Like, I don't know. Maybe I should be. But they have people to do all their stuff. And anyway, I'm, I'm just not like that. I wish I was. Maybe I'll get better at it. But I just, I'm trying to just roll with it.

Yeah. Because I feel like for some reason I'm, I don't know. Yeah, it's a fun ride. It's blind. It's a fun ride. You're here at The Bachelor. mansion with uh sugar ray you're here with uh new kids on the block okay we're in sync they're all out here somewhere they're all here somewhere think about your life now nancy you

show up to l.A and all of a sudden you're hanging out at the same house having dinner do i get to meet them you sure you do you got to get back out there though okay in sync you're kidding yeah you can make it happen no you can you're this is your party yeah this is my party Yeah. It's been, it's fun. And the ride is just beginning. I'm so pumped for you. Well, hey, this has been another episode of The Almost Famous Podcast. I've been Ben. You say I've been Nancy. I've been Nancy. And I will be back very soon with more incredible interviews. But until next time, tune in, download. And Nancy, thank you. Thank you too. Follow the Ben and Ashley I, Almost Famous Podcast on IHart Radio or subscribe wherever you.

You listen to podcasts. Hi, my name is Enya Eumanzor. 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.

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