The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - Title: Counting Kisses on Night One

Episode Date: January 25, 2023

It's the premiere of Zach's season and Ben and Ashley have some brutally honest thoughts!  Have we seen this many kisses before on night one?? Ben breaks down every first impression, right down to the licks.  And, we look forward to what we can expect from the franchise after the reaction to this season's premiere!  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Everyone thinks they'd never join a cult. But it happens all the time to people just like you. And people just like us. I'm Lola Blanc. And I'm Megan Elizabeth. We're the host of Trust Me, a podcast about cults, manipulation, and the psychology of belief. Each week we talk to fellow survivors, former believers, and experts to understand why people get pulled in and how they get out. Trust me, new episodes every Wednesday on Exactly Right. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Jennifer Lopez, and in the new season of the Over Comfort 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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is the Ben and Ashley I, Almost Famous Podcast with IHartRadio.

It's a big week at the Almost Famous Podcast. We are no longer in the off season. In fact, Ashley Ikenetti did a tremendous job interviewing this year's Bachelor, Zach. You can go back and listen to it if you haven't already. It's worth listening to Ashley did not. hold back with questions. I did it. And Zach didn't hold back with answers. I thought it was a great interview. I left it being excited to meet him.

I'm going to meet him next week in California at the Pibble Beach, AT&T, Pro Am. And I'm excited to meet him. I think he's probably a great dude. I have my thoughts on the first episode that we'll talk about later. But I thought your interview was great, Ashley. Thanks, Ben. That's so sweet of you. You did a good job. Now, I wasn't on that interview because this last week, I was at my favorite event, or at least one of my favorite events of the year. It is the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. It's a golf tournament. We won't bore you with golf. I will say that somehow, some way, Chris Harrison did beat Wells and I both.

Somehow, some way. Pretty sure that was the obvious winner. No, not at all. Really? We're close to the same. name. All three of us, you know, we go back and forth on who be two and how who be two. Chris kind of has that, uh, I would say the older brother or dad, um, thing over Wells and I where no matter who's better at anything, he always somehow finds a way to win. Um, well, maybe it's because he has over 10 years of experience on the course over you guys. Yeah. Well, he's never played in this though. Uh, he's never played in this event. This was his, uh, first time playing at Lake Nona. Wells, I would say, is the most talented golfer.

I think Chris would admit that, too, out of the three of us. I will be the most streaky, meaning I could get hot and go really low, or I could go really high. And then Chris is kind of that just like that turtle who just walks slowly, doesn't do anything crazy, but he just did what he needed to do to beat us both. That's all the golf knowledge we'll give. Obviously, a big. Um, a big thing coming out of this weekend for some people, not really as much for me, but you can listen to Chris Harrison's new podcast, the most erbatic pod ever and get all this.

Which is super enjoyable. I've been catching up on the episodes. Yeah, it's good to hear his voice out now. I have, I've gotten caught up to, yeah, it's great to hear his voice again. There's something just so soothing and like, I feel like listening to it that I would enjoy listening to it, even if I wasn't a bachelor fan and didn't know him. Well, I think that's probably the hope, right? Yeah, that's definitely the hope. He has a building fan base. It's going to happen.

Yeah, but his relationship advice is very good. I mean, in general, his advice is very good. He's seen a lot of things. But he was there this weekend with us. So was Chris Lane, who is married to Lauren Lane, formerly Lauren Bushnell, who obviously I know well. And I was nervous. again, you can get the details of this whole thing. We won't go into details here on Chris's podcast.

I was nervous, anxious, maybe more or anything. I haven't seen Lauren since we split. It doesn't really haunt me, but it was just like a thing where it's like, hey, you know, how often do you want to run into your exes? Maybe some, they're not, they're cool with it. I don't do it often. Like, it's not like a habit of mine. And so I was just like, no, this could be weird.

And hopefully it's all good. I'm sure it is, right? She's married with two kids. I'm married. Life has gone very good for the both of us. We're both very happy. But that first interaction was going to be a little weird. But it didn't happen.

You did not see Lauren. No, I didn't see Lauren. I don't even know if she came. But I did see Chris and Lauren's dad who was there helping Chris out throughout the week. And it was awesome. It really was. It was really good. Chris, very, very kind, very nice.

There was no weirdness. There was no, like, awkwardness. It was just good to see him. It was kind of good to rip that band-aid off. It kind of felt like that first interaction. He's a sweet guy. I remember being around him, yeah. Sweet guy.

And we ran into each other within 10 minutes of me walking into the hotel. And he didn't see me. So this is not me being the bigger man here. But I went up to him, said, hey, Chris. He said, hey, ma'am. And then the conversation started about the week. It was great to see Lauren's dad. It was very nice, too.

He actually approached me, said, hey, Ben. So it went great, I guess, overall. There was no drama there. It is interesting, and you can hear about the details of this. The locker room that we have at this event, it was Chris Harrison and me. There's 50 people playing in this thing. So there's a lot of people. It's Chris Harrison than me, and then Chris Lane on the other side of me.

No way. Yeah, I was sandwich between the Chris's. And so when I saw that, I saw that before I had actually ran into Chris Lane. And I was like, goodness gracious. This, yeah. But it was awesome. And I'm really happy that I got to like meet him again in person, get to talk to him, get to see them. It was in a weird way, therapeutic, just to see them again.

And they're great people. and so I definitely wanted them to know that, hey, we're all good here. Like, this is great. But it was a really great week. Sarah came down and watched Wells. Lauren Zima came down and watched Chris. Jessica came down and watched me. All of us got to hang out.

My parents, my mom and dad, my dad's my catty. My mom is my moral support. At times, my water bottle holder. She is the best. And we all got to go to family dinners every night. All of us, we did probably five family dinners. Just getting together and having drinks and having food and talking about life and laughing. It was a great week.

And what I'm very thankful for every year. And it was great to have Chris and Wells there with me because this is Chris is, or Wells's second year, Chris is first. So sometimes I've done this alone. So this is great to be all of us together. So can you give us like a little bit? behind the seeds tidbit of like how the chemistry is between all the ladies. Oh, yeah. Or like, give us a little dirt from the weekend. You know, the dirt from the weekend is,

is minimal. There isn't a lot because we're- A fun moment. A something, something, you have to have a story. We, there's a lot of stories. So here's a good moment. So I'm on the 18th hole on Sunday. And I hit a ball and I hit it way right, probably 20 yards. right of the green. It's a par five. So I had quite a long ways in. So it wasn't a terrible shot. It wasn't a good shot. I walk up to my ball and it is rolled underneath Sarah and Wells's feet. They were doing an interview and my ball rolls up and sits underneath their feet. They don't even know it's there. They have no clue that it's rolled up underneath their feet. And so they're in this interview with who knows who, like NBC or somebody. And I have to walk up behind

them, ask them to please move their interview so that I can hit my ball out of like, the media area that no ball is ever supposed to be him. That's a good moment. The chemistry between the three girls was awesome. None of them are huge golfers. Jessica walked all 18 holes with me one day. I don't expect her to do it every day. She doesn't

love golf and it's a long walk. I mean, you put in 25,000 steps by the time you're done on a golf course. So they sat and they drank wine together. Sarah and Wells are on the way to Disneyland after Disney World, actually, sorry, Disney World after the tournament to do a nice little tour with Wells' brother Brett and his wife. It's kind of a week, it felt like of bliss more than anything else.

It just kind of felt like a week where everybody like is enjoying being in the hot sun, having drinks. If you want to golf, you golf. If you don't, you sit at the cocktail bar here and you just hang out and you watch all the celebrities walk by. There's a lot of celebrities there, a lot of former athletes that I loved growing up. So it does feel like a week of bliss. My week wasn't easy, you know, but it was a lot of fun. And so I enjoy, I just enjoy being there with my parents and with Jess, and then obviously to have friends there. So great week in Lake Nona.

Can't wait to go back. I won't bore you with golf knowledge. Well, I want to jump into one more thing before we do the first episode recap. How is Chris dealing with, I mean, dealing is not the right word. How is he celebrating? Just having the number one podcast last week

and just like kind of feeling back. I laughed at this. You know, I've been doing this for six years. Ashley, we have a good podcast. It's a good, solid podcast. It's grown. It keeps growing. We have a lot of fun with it. But I've been here for six years now. Chris has done this for a month. And somehow I found myself this week at this tournament creating content for him once again. Like, he just has this way over me. where if it's on the on the bachelor or if it's with this podcast we did a whole podcast about my week uh and the and the the things that happened to me just kind of running into chris and nothing bad happened but it was a it was a thing right it's it's it's good material for his

most dramatic podcast ever here's a good story for example now the stories come out yeah i just remember we have a buddy of ours who was caddying for robie amel robbie emel is an actor and in a bunch of movies, really good-looking feller, looks good in a golf shirt. And his caddy is friends with Wells from Los Angeles. And we're at dinner one night. And Chris Harrison is talking to me about running into Chris Lane. And this Robbie's caddy doesn't know who Chris Lane is. So he Googles him.

And he kind of waits till the conversation's over and all of us are having this family dinner. And he kind of stops the conversation. He goes, yeah, this is Chris Lane. His wife is so hot. I knew that was coming. And I was like, hmm, I didn't say a word. I just kind of sat there. And Chris and Wells start laughing.

And they're like, hey, you should stop. Like, that's Ben's X. And then he's like, oh, that's super awkward. And so he Googles me. Because at this point, Jessica has not shown up to the term. And he goes, but yeah, but your wife is so hot too. I was like, please don't say that my wife is hot.

Oh, really? I like that. That was good. Obviously, it makes Chris's podcast as well. It's a good story to share. Chris is handling it great. I mean, he's very excited. He's good at this stuff.

I mean, when we sat down to do his podcast with him in the hotel room, he has a whole paper full of notes and questions that he wants to get into with us. The fans adore him, right? I mean, he had tons of people around him asking for autographs and asking for pictures. and asking for different things from him. And he handles it really well. I think he's in a good spot. I feel like there's times that I've seen Chris

since obviously the incident where it felt like, hey, this isn't the same Chris I've always known. This is, there's something going on here. He's hurt. I would say, you know, his love for Lauren Zima is incredible. I mean, he adores that woman.

And I don't want to speak for them, but I would imagine, even listening to their podcast, the last two years has brought them closer together because they have a tremendous amount of respect and support for each other and they love being around each other, which is so cool to see. I've never seen Chris with somebody, with a partner, right?

And I just felt like from this week, it was a week where I felt like that's my buddy. He's back. You know, he's in it, and he's healthy, and he's good, and he has great perspective on things again, and he's great advice on things again, again. He has a lot of wisdom to share, but he also can have a lot of fun. So I feel like this podcast has been great for him and probably great for a lot of people listening. I just think he's

good. I feel like he's in a good rhythm. You guys probably had the episodes in which you finally got to be able to relax and have fun because the podcast, the first two episodes are them recapping the past two years. The second two are him getting fan questions. And the fan questions are not easy. They didn't give him softballs at all. Those were not filtered questions. And then finally he got to sit down with you guys and probably have fun. Yeah. He's kind of on the trajectory out of that. I mean, he doesn't need softballs. It's Chris. He should speak to what happened. He should speak to the events that happened. He should speak to everything. I mean, he doesn't, he doesn't want to hide away. And so they shouldn't be softballs. He should speak to this.

stuff and he is and he's willing to and i think that's ultimately a really good thing for everybody and now his show will turn into um a really fun show for so many people to listen to and get his perspective and advice on and i think that's going to be a great seat for him to sit in because it's unfiltered chris is not a filtered human he can he can put a tie on and stand in front of a camera and do great things but he has just a lot of raw grit to him too and life experience that you want to hear and you want somebody to share and you don't want it to be necessarily buttoned up

on a television show. Like I think this podcast can be a lot of fun because we get the unfiltered Chris Harrison, the one that we've known and the one that we've really enjoyed being around. And now other people are going to be around it. And I would tell you, listen to his show. He is himself.

Like that is, he is more himself on that show than I've ever seen him on a media stage before. And that's exciting for me. So, yeah, listen to it. It's part of the IHeart family. It's part of our team's family. It's a great show. It's good to be with both of them.

Very excited about just getting to spend that time with friends. And we're going to see Wells again next week in California. We're going to see Zach again, the current Bachelor in California. And speaking of Bachelor, actually, I think we should take a break. We come back. We have the first episode of this season to break down. Cannot wait. I've not talked to you about it yet.

There was no text last night. night. There was no phone calls last night. I have no clue how you felt about this first episode. I know how I feel. And you all listening will know soon. Hi, my name is Enya Yumanzoor. And I'm Drew Phillips. And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom. If you're a crime junkie and you love crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated PhD. 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 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. The Super Secret Festi Club podcast season four is here.

And we're locked in. That means more juicy chisement. Terrible love advice. Evil spells to cast on your ex. No, no, no, no. We're not doing that this season. Oh, well, this season, we're leveling up. Each episode will feature a special bestie, and you're not going to want to miss it.

Get in here! Today, we have a very special guest with us. Our new super secret bestie is The Diva of the People. The Diva of the People. I'm just like text your ex. My theory is that if you need to figure out that the stove is hot, go and touch it. Go and figure it out for yourself. Okay.

That's us. That's us. My name is Curley. And I'm Maya. In each episode, we'll talk about love, friendship, heartbreaks, men, and, of course, our favorite secrets. Listen to the Super Secret Bestie Club as a part of the Michael Thura podcast network available on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Before we get into the details of the episode, I will say my overall thought on the first night is what it is every season. And you know how I feel about the first episode.

I think it's pointless. I do. I don't, if there's one thing about the show that could change, it would be how night one operates. Now, we do have to meet everybody. The limo entrances are fine and they're nice. But I don't remember anybody's name. I don't remember how they introduce themselves. I don't remember much about night one in two more weeks.

And so I just feel like there has to be a little switch up here. It felt like it does every season. This is not a critique of this season. this is not being critical of what I think the season will look like. It just felt monotonous to me. And it felt, it felt very predictable. They're going to have somebody crying.

They're going to have somebody upset. They're going to have somebody trying to steal more time than others. Not everybody's going to get to talk to him. Oh, no. What's going to happen if I don't get to talk to him? The Sean Lowe segment, I think, was meant to mix it up. But what did we get out of that? We didn't get really any advice.

we didn't get much more than a monologue of Zach lifting weights. You know, I would have loved to see Sean and Zach sit down and Sean go, Zach, you weren't the popular choice to be The Bachelor. How are you going to handle that this season? Like the fact that, like, maybe some of these women even here didn't expect you to be a Bachelor. The fans watching the show right now didn't know that you were going to be The Bachelor. That was not for some... How do you respond to that, Zach?

What do you want to get out of this season? if you know you're going into it as the underdog. We didn't get any of that. We just kind of felt like we skipped over it and tried to make Zach look like this really desirable dude that everybody wants. And it's like, wait, that might be true. And he's good looking and he's tall

and he might be super nice. And I'm not going to take that away from him. But it's not what we know of him yet. We don't know that as viewers yet. We don't know that he's a desirable person. You've just kind of thrown us into that to believe it. And I don't know if I believe it yet. I think that they were trying to pretend

like that just wasn't. a thing. You can't pretend like it's not a thing. It is a thing. They really were. They were like overcompensating by being like, we're not even going to address the fact that the fandom isn't really into this choice. We're going to lean into the fact that these girls are supposedly

very into the choice. Like there was that montage of the girls watching the Bachelor announcement. And that was just so cringy because the girls were going to scream even if you announced Pee Wee Herman as the Bachelor.

It's a good point. I agree. And so you can't ignore it. And I don't know why they are. The beauty of the show was the vulnerability of the show, the vulnerability of the storyline, the vulnerability of the journeys of each person who's either placed as the lead or coming on to the show to experience and find love. Zach's storyline is different. We don't know necessarily. You can get more of the details of this by listening to last week's podcast with Zach and Ashley. But we don't know the details of why he left Rachel as, viewers. If they don't listen to this podcast, they have no clue why the Rachel Zach situation didn't work out. You also, as a viewer, probably don't know Zach after last season. You might know

he was announced as The Bachelor, but you're probably, as most people are going, why Zach? Now, not that I'm against it, but why Zach? He's a nice guy. Okay, cool. And then we just get thrown into this. And that's why I said. The show has to, I said this last, season. The show has to be very careful of trying to convince the audience of something that's not true. And this season, it felt like they tried to do it from night one. They tried to convince us that everybody wanted Zach. And that's not true. And so, are you going to lose my trust? Or are you going to disrespect me as a viewer to think that my knowledge of the show and watching it year over year, year, and try to convince me that Zach was the most desirable.

choice. He is not. And Zach knows that, right? After your, like, podcast last week, we know that Zach knows that. And that's okay. Yeah, I don't know if I was the popular choice. I don't know if Nick Vial was the popular choice. Ben, stop that now. You were the most shoeing that there ever has been. Okay, fair. That might be true also. And that, and that's great. And, and, but what did they do with that? They also didn't, you know, hide the fact that, hey, we didn't really have anybody else here so like but they did and i think that is what's frustrating to the fandom too it's like there's some there's multiple guys that they would have rather see sure because they felt like they knew them more via paradise or whatever and so play into that like just give me give me

the opportunity to hear zach respond to why he thinks he should be the lead like why he is the one that they chose to find love he definitely answered that on the podcast But they didn't do it on the show. We're talking about the show here. On the podcast, I think you get a lot of details of Zach. I think you're going to like him more. I think you're going to understand him more. I think you're going to see what could potentially make him a really fun lead to follow. My critique of this show in general on night one was it felt like it was misleading and it felt like it didn't ever confront the elephant in the room that would have been a beautiful elephant in the room to confront. Zach, who are you? Why are you here? Why should fans? like to follow you. Do you remember another, like, cringe moment of them doing this? Was them showing him being a DJ in high school? And then what was the other thing they showed? Yeah, I just remember the DJ because it's like, maybe he'll DJ his own wedding.

And it's like, why would he do that? There was two little throwback clips. And then they're like, see, now you know him. And isn't he a fun guy? Oh, so gringy. I think he, the bass guitar. In a band. Yeah.

He was in a band. And so, again, and. I'm being very critical. As we always are of the first episode. Of the first episode we always are. And I'm sure again, Zach is great. I cannot wait to meet him. I'm very excited to meet him.

But to convince us that he's a cool dude who we're going to love to follow, they show us that he was once a DJ in high school and he played in a band. Like that's what we got. Like it's not like he, it's like, hey, those are impressive and there's a cool and there's a great traits, right? But last, you know, our last bachelor was a professional football player. So like, you know, it's just different. Like he was, he was cool in high school.

Is that what we were trying to say? Like, has he not done anything since? Is what does his life look like now? And it felt like they just fell so short on convincing us. And they tried so hard, right? We have the, he played a band. He was a DJ. And then they have the segment with all the women being excited.

about Zach being the bachelor and then they have you know him curling and then you know it's like they tried really hard and I just think they didn't and so the first episode kind of felt like a throwaway to me because what they tried to do did not work that's my opinion do you agree or disagree very well put very well put should we jump into the girls now I will say there are some there's a good memorable girls and I'm glad that they brought back packages because my remembering correctly that like last year there wasn't packages or one of the past few seasons there wasn't and i do think it gets you to know the main characters better there's some great girls yeah there are there really there are some ones that i feel like he has

an actual chance with um i say that as if there's not normally but you know what i mean like there are girls that i can like five that i can name and be like okay this one this one this one this one these are the ones to watch half for okay briana is well she's the last one out of limel we know She's safe. This is like kind of a little recap that we get at the beginning of the episode. We know that she's safe because she got America's First Impression Rose. There were five girls at After the Final Rose Bailey, your friend being one of them, and he ends up forgetting her name.

He calls her Baylon and whatever, you know, things like that happen. Then there's Catherine, and that's her, she's got a package next. and I feel like Catherine is very much a frontrunner right now. I would agree. How attractive she is and she has like a nice calmness. There's something there. Anything else to say about Catherine? No, I think she, I think Catherine, I don't remember the girl's name,

which I'm sure we can find out very soon and I'll reference it. I think the two frontrunners are Catherine and then for me, the girl that... Greer. No, not Greer. No. I mean, yeah, sure. I mean, she's up there. But it would be the girl that kind of consoled Madison as she was walking out.

She was very calm and she was kind of like, I can, she like made a very wise and like, just caring comment where she's like, I can kind of see that some of the girls are getting upset and that that's tough. And, you know, she's just kind of like going to be there for the girls. I don't know her name. We'll find that out. But yeah, Catherine is definitely a frontrunner to me. She's somebody that stood out. She's beautiful. Like you said, she's calm.

She's collected. And she just feels like she belongs there. Yeah. Christina is up next as far as the packages go. She's from Nashville. She has a five-year-old daughter. She's got a vibe. I don't know whether she's going to be a vibe for Zach,

but she's definitely getting a problem in the house. She might be a shitster. What do you think? or is she going to be a girl's girl? I think she'll be a girl's girl. I do. I think she, yeah, I think she's going to be a big personality. I just don't think she's going to try to mess things up. I just think she's going to be a big personality in the house that the girls are going to either like really gravitate to or the quieter ones are just kind of going to sit back on the set. She looks exactly like Kelsey Ballerini meets Lauren Conrad.

Is she the one that at the end of the episode was doing the Kegels? I think so I like that part I was like that girl's chill like she's funny she was responding to their questions really well she was like making a lot of humor out of it

I was like that girl could go a long ways like she's got she's got what it takes and then Charity she is a child and family therapist she loves her job she finds it really rewarding

says she's eager to get married Jared pointed out that he hates it when the girls say eager to get married because it's like, are you eager to find like somebody spend the rest of your life with or do you just like want the wedding? Do you just want that title?

Well. Or are we looking too into it? I think, uh, what? He would prefer them to say, I'm just really ready to find love. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

I mean, that's what they meant. Yeah, you know, I'm sure it is. I don't really remember charity. Charity, charity. I know if I saw her face, I would. I know charity. Because I think he made the comment about how beautiful her name was and unique a name was. So I do remember that.

I think all the packages highlighted women who are going to be there a while. I don't think any of the packages had anybody going home on night one, right? Right. Okay. That is a big thing because sometimes they pepper in packages from women who leave night one. And it's just like, why did you even waste that time? Yeah. Yeah, fair enough.

These girls, I definitely think, are here to stay. So Greer's next. She's from Houston, Texas. And we see later in the episode that they have a real bonding moment about Texas. Their conversation is probably the easiest of the night. Would you agree with that? She's also just like that girl that, like, barely has any makeup on and looks great. And guys love her.

Yeah, it's definitely one of the easiest conversations. I think I'm getting every season you try to understand the lead. And I think I know Zach's thing when he's, uh, feeling awkward or nervous and he closes his eyes when he talks like he's saying words and closing his eyes at the same time because I think he's nervous which is fair right I licked my lips everybody has a thing um with her he didn't close his eyes and talk he he was very in the moment it felt very relaxed and from my perspective if since he wasn't doing that he was just enjoying the conversation which is a good sign yeah she made him

feel so comfortable because she was way more comfortable in the environment than he was. And I think he could just be like, oh, okay, I'm going to let her carry this. And that made him feel just at ease. Good. You need that. Yeah. Okay. So then Brooklyn, she's the rodeo girl. Yeah. I don't really think that anything else stood out about her to me. But Brianna is next. And Brianna was, again, the first impression rose. She has her own beauty company. feel like she's going to be around for a while or do you think that she's going to be one of those oh well she's not a first impression risk

she's the America's first impression race do you think that she's going to be around a while or this is just America's choice and Zach's like not as into it as America is I don't know how you wouldn't be into it yeah I know she's stunning yeah and she seems really sweet she was great

she didn't she didn't cause drama like she could have easily been the person that had the rose walking in and then also just go in and like be reckless with it. She wasn't. And so I think she'll be around a long time. And I feel like

she's going to be somebody that we really get to know through this show. So America made a good choice with that first impression rose. You think the producers gave her that rose dress? Yes. 100%. There's no way she just had it

in her luggage. Well, I mean, that's kind of something that I would do. Yeah, no, I think she definitely, I mean, my guess is that that was set up. well she looked great in that dress she looked beautiful all right next up in last package was katie from

Austin and she's a nurse and she also really makes me feel like she's going to be there for a while I think that he's very into her again there's the same sort of like composure calmness beauty they really couldn't go wrong a lot of nurses this season

if anything ever happens in the house I feel like they're very well protected A lot of nurses this season. Yeah. I mean, I go back to it. Like, the packages this season seem to introduce people who were going to be around and going to be there for a long time. Which is why I went through the packages. You know, I was like, okay, let's go through the package because let's just talk about these girls.

Because when I look back on the episode, those are pretty much the girls that I remember. Through limo entrances, do you remember any? I have to say, not a lot of entrances really stood out to me. there wasn't a lot of shock factor entrances, which I am down for, let's just get through it. I thought that it was disgusting that one girl licked his ear.

I mean, I wouldn't like that, no. But, I mean, it happens. No, you wouldn't. It's gross. She, well, she didn't make it past night one. Yeah, I know. Of course she didn't. Yeah.

It's not, it's not a great thing. I mean, a couple things in the limo entrances. One, why in the world that Jesse Palmer smell Zach's breath? I don't do that with my wife. I don't want her to do that to me. You know, stick to those way up there. It's like, hey, if you think it's not great,

then just hand him a listerine strip. Weird moment there. Don't know why it has to happen. You know, really there's only a few limo entrances that stood out to me. One is that he kissed Bailey. Yeah. Kind of out of nowhere, kind of just like, hey, do you remember my name? Yeah, it's Bailey.

Oh, and then he leans in and kisses her. It's like, all right, I mean, cool. Like, if that's how we're going to play this. He felt so bad about forgetting her name on stage. And this is only a couple days after this. Yeah. And I think he was just like, how do I make her feel comfortable and know that like she actually did make an impression on me?

But I just, I didn't remember her name. Fair enough. I don't know if we've ever, have we ever seen like a legit first kiss? No, we've seen like girls come in, yeah, come in and kiss them. but have we seen the bleed actually like kiss somebody like on the limo entrances I don't think so

I mean in a sense he already met Bailey kind of so like he's met her before but in a lot of ways it would be if you take away the fact that they met on live television it would be somebody just getting out of a car for the first time saying hey this is a great

first date and then you're like cool and then you just lean in lay it on them that's so true i don't know no no i don't think that's happened in like the past that we've been watching yeah but it's just the weirdest thing that even like these people sit down for 10 minutes and kiss i was thinking about this last night well it's something we're going to talk about you did it you did it did i did you kiss i don't know yeah but like back in your day you like kiss one or two people tops yeah it couldn't have been more than one yeah like crystal's almost

kissed Britt, and we didn't even know that until after the fact. Some we're going to talk about here coming up right after this break. We're going to talk about the most kisses we've ever seen on night one. How do we feel about it? Hi, my name

is Enya Yumanzoor. And I'm Drew Phillips. And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom. If you're a crime junkie and you love crime. 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.

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 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. Hi, I'm Jennifer Lopez, and in the new season of the Overcomfit 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 Overcumper podcast as part of the MyCultura podcast network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. 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 iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Wait, Ben. What? You, is it really technically? Like, have we bachelor data this? This is the Are most kisses on, really? Seven. Seven kisses. No, don't do it, guys.

It's so nice to only have one or two, like actually mean something. I know that what's her name, Madison, she just threw herself out of him. So like, does that, you know. And Holland, you know. Holland? She kissed him too. No, no, it was Madison. It was Madison.

Sorry. Madison, yeah. Yeah, Holland had the entrance. I did remember. You went to Holland last season. You were in the wrong Holland. I thought it was kind of funny. That was kind of funny.

It was funny. It wasn't dirty enough to. be like, ugh. Yeah, it's just kind of funny. Another entrance that I have to say I remembered was actually Madison's, because I think her insecurity started creeping up early when he didn't like the taste of the syrup, which like, why was he so weird about the syrup? Just say you like it. It's sugary. I know. I don't know. So, Ashley, if you remember back a few years ago, I had this theory. On this show, when you're the lead, you start making out when conversation feels done when you feel awkward. You might be physically attracted to the person. You might be

attracted to the person, but you have nothing else to say. And I think I said it a few seasons ago. I said, I am watching as a viewer to see how many kissing scenes we see and how many conversations we see. I think it was Matt James' season. When we were complaining throughout the season that we don't really know these women, that all we're seeing is Matt kissing them. And we don't know these women because we didn't feel like Matt was asking the follow-up questions. asking the questions that were obvious, asking the things that would bring out who the person is and why they are the way they are.

Night one, for me, makes me concern for that for the rest of the season because I felt like he was kissing people. Now, he was asking, and it was sweet at times, and maybe it felt appropriate. But night one is a very easy night for conversations. You know nothing about this person. You can ask anything, and you're going to learn it, and you're going to follow up, and you're going to hear more,

and get to understand who these people are. night one to me feels like it's a very odd time to kiss seven people because i from my perspective and my judgment would say you're covering up the fact that you don't know what else to talk about and if you're already feeling that way on night one when it's the easiest to have things to talk about how is it going to look in week six it's interesting that you say night one is the easiest thing to easiest time to talk and now i'm thinking and i kind of agree it's because everyone's So you literally like, so tell me about your life. Where are you from?

And like those things can like pick up a conversation really easily. Yeah. It's the dates that are like nine hours long and they're so quiet that make you feel a bit more awkward. 100%. We have to understand that as when you're in that, these conversations are no more than 10 minutes long. They're most, 10 minutes would be a long first night conversation.

They're very short. And so within that. five to 10 minutes, if you are kissing them, then you are obviously either moving very quickly and you're just feeling the physical vibe. If it was with one person, I'd say, whoa, there's a connection there, right? It's the, it's something, there's some fire that they're seeing in each other. But when it happens seven times, I am hesitant and I am concerned about the fact that you can't carry a conversation for five minutes to 10 minutes with somebody that you've never met before and as a result you have to kiss them to show them that you're interested is there not

another way to show them you're interested why don't you just tell them hey i really enjoy this conversation i'm very like attracted to you i'm excited to get to know you more there's so much more i have to learn about you instead the default is let's just make out which also is not a great thing for the other woman to see it was something that most bachelors are very protective of is hey i don't want to kiss somebody in front of other women you know some of these women one of these women might be my wife i don't want her to see me making out with somebody else but there was no shame in that this season there's no shame everybody saw everything like every kiss the women are watching now that could be the producers could be i don't know but night one is not the

night to do it it's an open stage it's an open area there's not a lot of places to hide It would, if I was on the advisement committee, I would say, hey, just cool it for night one. Start night two. Do it that time. Here's a small theory. Okay. Maybe because there wasn't as much of an interest in him, they thought, how do we make women really go crazy and how do we get them to be possessive? And that could be watching him get physical with another girl.

Possibly. I don't know. I'm just really spitballing here. I mean, I don't really think that's what it is. I don't really think that's what it is. I think your theory is correct. I think he probably just felt a little awkward. And he was like, what do I know how to do? Which is the concern for most people going into this season that Zach is going to be very awkward and hard to watch.

Right? I mean, that's, that's, that is the critique of this season going into it. So this didn't help me on that. All right. Well, Ben, I mean, you're on fire today. You could literally have done this podcast on your own. No. He's got these theories, he's got bullet points.

And you really analyze this episode, and I love it. Well, I want Zach to thrive. I do. I want this to be a great season for him. I want him to come out of this finding love. I think Zach is, I will say this. I think he is the type of person that will come off the show with a partner. And I would not be shot if they're going to be together forever.

I do think he has the desire to find love. I think he has the openness. to this experience. I also think Zach is looking at this thing, like, I kind of hit the lottery. Like, you know, I have 30-some beautiful women here trying to date me and just like falling over me. And I don't know how many times that's happened in Zach's life where like, you know, he's been pursued in this kind of like capacity. And so I think it's a good opportunity for him. I do think Zach could give us a great love story. And I'm excited to watch that. I would just say, yes, my night one critiques are very critical

because I didn't get anything that I was wanting to get or I think a lot of viewers were wanting to get out of this first episode. I just concur. That's all I can say is that I agree with you on pretty much everything you're saying. I mean, Jesse even said, Zach's like, has this, like, he's so funny, he has this great sense of humor. It's like, we haven't seen any of it. We didn't see any of it.

Like, okay, then show him cracking a joke. Show him making fun of him. Speaking of, like, trying to be funny, I guess, was Madison's moment when she was dancing. What is it called the giddy? The jitty with the dance, whatever I never heard of it before. But also, I'm like a sheltered mom. Is it? Okay, I can see.

So they're doing the dance thing, and then she kisses him and it's awkward. And then he's like, but first he was like, I don't want to dance anymore. Let's not dance anymore. That's enough. And then she kisses him and he's like, let's continue. Continue to dance. So awkward. He wasn't into it, was he.

Oh, no. So sad. But it was also like she was being a little cry. Well, she was, but it's also, you know, I don't know what kind of expectations everybody has going into night one. It felt like she had a lot. Like, I just want him to recognize me. It's like, well, you got one 30 chance for that.

So don't freak out if on night one, you're not the one that stands out. You got a long time in front of you here. Just chill out, hang out. Have a drink. I was like, all I want is a little, like, sparkle in his eye, like, to see him, like, maybe, like, double take at me. That's all I'm asking for. Yeah.

I mean, it's just a lot. And you're kind of in a whirlwind as the lead. You're turning in circles. Like, every second you get, there's somebody coming from this direction, in this direction, in this direction, in this direction. And to focus on one person, to recognize one person and to have that sparkle like that, that is, that doesn't happen every season. So I wish, you know, she would have been told, hey, just take a seat.

hang out you're good she may have made it through the night she may have made it through the night she she reminds like she died no no she could have made it through the night she reminded me a lot of how lace uh kind of felt on um my season uh lace was overwhelmed with just like so much happening and there is a lot happening and there's cameras and there's people and there's conversations and then you all are, you all are pursuing this one lead. And if, if you're not like maybe in a great space, if you're not confident, if you have some like insecurities that maybe you haven't spoken to or tried to work through, they will come out and they can come out and they can

come out with a vengeance. And sometimes we don't see those insecurities for a couple weeks on this show. But, you know, Lace just needed to go home. Like she did. She just, and then that was not. Like necessarily even my decision, she just knew she needed to get out of there because it wasn't creating a healthy environment for her. I think the same thing for Madison. She needed to go home. As soon as she started to cry on night one like she was, the first thing I thought was like, this girl needs to get out of here. This is not going to be healthy for her. This is not going to get any better for her. This is not going to be one of those people, as we've talked about, who leaves this show, no matter when they leave it and say, I'm glad I did it.

yeah leaving on night one is usually an abuse crying over it is obviously not about like you thinking that that guy is your person it's about like just the national rejection yeah which which sucks i'm sure i mean i'm sure that hurts and i'm sure it's weird and i'm sure you had i mean you know she said i give up my life for this i don't know what kind of life she gave up for this don't do that if anybody's listening and they're thinking about going on the show next season don't give up your life for this show like figure out a way to you know block out some time but like don't go into this thinking that life's going to change for you traditionally it doesn't historically it doesn't and so don't have that perspective and it puts too much pressure on the situation it puts so much

weight on every interaction with the lead you want to make sure this person's right for you you want to make sure you're right for them and just hang out have fun with it treat it like a sorority house or a frat house. Like, just enjoy the ride for as long as you're riding. Mm-hmm. All right. Well, when we look at the rejects, Kara, Laca, Holland,

Olivia L, Olivia M, Becca, Sonia, Vanessa, and Victoria. I don't remember any of them except for Laca who licked him and then Holland, who wanted him inside her. Gee, you remember any, so it's pretty typical of the first row ceremony. It is. There was one girl that I'd never seen. She was like a taller blonde who was very pretty that kind of like snuck up and she was gone. I don't know what her name was, but I was like, huh, we never saw anything about her. I don't even know if we saw her limo entrance. So that was maybe a little of a shock. There's always one. There's always one. You know, got to be the grocery store, Joe. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. So no, nothing surprising on night one. Don't think any of our standouts, any of the people. people focused on, didn't get shown, and then had to go home. So night one's over. It did look eerily, uh, bright. Like the sun was high. Oh God, every time. Yeah, but this season it gets

brighter and brighter. I was going to say, like some seasons, you can kind of see the sun coming up over the mountains there. Yeah. Um, this season, it felt like the sun was nice and high in the sky. It was lunchtime. It was lunchtime. Those poor girls had to go back to the hotel and sleep and then wake up and get back on a flight and go home and be like, I don't know what just happened to me. Not a flight? It was weird. Yeah. What flight are you talking about?

For all the people that had to go home on night one. Oh, those girls had to go home. Okay. Yeah, they had to fly home. I don't think they ride their bikes. Oh, no. Sorry. I was thinking about the other girls.

They go to the hotel for a night and then pack up their stuff and then move into the mansion the next day. No, they're moving into the mansion. So, overall, it was a night one. I'm not going to get too critical of the rest of the season. I don't know. The highlights for the rest of season look like how every season goes. There's tears and there's people upset and there's people leaving and there's, you know, you know, Zach's voice sharing how much he wishes somebody would come back.

And I think it's going to be a fine season. I was hoping night one just kind of blasted us off into this whole new stratosphere of excitement. I would say this could probably be another season where week three, I don't watch until week six, and I'm fine with it. I hope not, but we'll find out next week after watching the episode. And it's been another season where they decided not to mix up night one. I just want something crazy on night one. Yeah, mix it up a little bit.

Like, give us something different. I'll say in the scenes to the next episode, there's like no fence jump, but there's no moment that they'll be teasing for a while, which kind of makes me nervous. Well, I think the part that they'll be teasing will be the fact that somebody leaves or that he lets somebody go home that he really wishes comes back.

Yeah. Which, hey, that'd be a good storyline. Hi, my name is Enya Jumanzoor. 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, 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 my icecloth. 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. Everyone thinks they'd never join a cult. But it happens all the time to people just like you. And people just like us. I'm Lola Blanc and I'm Megan Elizabeth, We're the host of Trust Me, a podcast about cults, manipulation, and the psychology of belief.

Each week, we talk to fellow survivors, former believers, and experts to understand why people get pulled in and how they get out. Trust me, new episodes every Wednesday on exactly right. Listen 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 when 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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. All right, Ashley, we got to do headlines. There are a few today.

Let's dive into it. Here's Bachelor Nation headlines. First headline is one that threw me off, surprised me, sadden me. As I know a lot of people in Bachelor Nation felt, former bachelorette, Deanna, and Steven split after 11 years of marriage. I know. So sad. So if you guys don't know their backstory. Stephen Stagliano was actually the brother of somebody who was a contestant on another prior

bachelor's season and the two of them met through Bachelor Nation and they've been married for yet 11 years and they said it's with immense sadness that Stephen and I have decided to end our relationship as a couple. We've been working hard for a long time, both as a married couple and its individuals and have come to the conclusion to remain separate. We remain loving parents to our beautiful children, Addison and Austin, and will continue to raise them together with love and faith and we respect and please respect our privacy during the difficult time as we navigate the new normal um they've been they the children are eight and six and she said in 2018 she opened up about the marriage and she said we think you're crazy

if you don't go to therapy um we are all a product of our environment and how we were raised and none of us are perfect yeah well it's tough news. We had her on the podcast last year as they were moving. I remember talking to her wishing the best as they start this new journey, as they say, co-parenting still, but doing it in separate places. Well, Kristen Cavalieri seemingly confirms date with Tyler Cameron amid romance speculation. This is a good headline. So if you guys remember on New Year's Eve, It was Kristen and her hairstylist and his boyfriend with Tyler and Caitlin and Jason out to dinner. And people are like, well, it seems like everybody at that table is coupled up.

Well, now she's kind of seemingly confirming this because she says, my last date was public. She said this on her podcast. My last day was public. So if you really want to know, I guess you can Google it. Goodness gracious. I know. She said that she doesn't have to say it, but it was New Year's Weekend, New Year's Eve weekend. And that's all.

She said, but she will let you know when she's dating someone serious and is in a committed relationship. She's the kind of person that will shout it from the rooftops. But until then, she's not going to comment on her love. life any further said your girl's gonna have fun so they met you guys um when they were doing a collab for something i think he was modeling something perhaps with her james her james yeah yeah james yeah so now you know we always kind of thought this would happen always assumed well natasha parker leaves bachelor podcast because of issues with franchise did you hear about this i did

Weird. I mean, not weird. I mean, I'm sure there's a good reason for it, but she's very vague about it. She talks about it on clickbait. She said she's leaving the podcast. She says that she's not going to get into the who, what, why, and where and all that stuff. But in the past six months, she's seeing stuff happening in the franchise that is basically not for her. She says sometimes being part of the franchise is hard to continue with and just like let that be that. She says the click pay producers are amazing, and she wants to continue podcasting, but is like in her own way. So we really don't get much about what it is. Yeah, we don't know what happened in the last six months that made her make this decision. Yeah, six months. Yeah, so maybe we'll find out if she does come out with her new show, and I'll be listening to that. Well, next headline is this, shooting her shot.

Bachelorette alum Michelle Young sends flirty message to Michael B. Jordan. So this is this really funny TikTok trend where basically it goes, my mom says, never get into a stranger's car. And then you show a stranger who's really hot, pretty much a celebrity. I'm pretty sure it's always a celebrity in the next little flash. And then you show yourself or this guy getting into the car in a crazy manner. I personally love the Joe Burrow. one, but in Michelle's case, she's putting, she's putting Michael B. Jordan in that car saying

get in and she jumps right in. So she's not saying this really directly to Michael B. Jordan, but she's putting the video out there and we are, I am hoping that this becomes a thing and that he sees it and reaches out. I hope so. Well, speaking of romance, Bachelorette Gabby Windy in Jersey Shores, Vinnie, caught holding hands on Flirty Night Out for Dancing with the Stars Tour Stop. All right. The headline is misleading. They weren't caught holding hands on a flirty night out for Dancing with the Stars. They held hands on stage at Dancing with the Stars. I'm reading these little bits, you know, that they are in Atlantic City, that they did four shows together in Atlantic City and everybody's like you know doing this the dating speculation and

they're like always flirtatious blah blah but then like I get to the the crux of this article and it just says that they were holding hands on stage and it seemed genuine like this is no this is exactly what they do with headlines and it's so silly they held hands when they bowed to the audience at the end it seems like they held hands a few times but it could have been a part of a routine so in the end still kind of a are they are they not are they or are they not situation with gabby and viny well i think they could be playing into it we're rooting it on can it just happen do you think at this point it's just like they're just kind of playing with it and it's not legit because it would

have like we would have seen more and heard more if it was for real still happen okay next headline one that will celebrate bachelor in paradise alum michel money engaged to golfer mike weir me and you forever is her quote all right so michel money and her her now fiancee golfer mike weir have been together for seven years and they have talked about um basically not getting married in the past just being like we are committed to each other forever but we don't need a piece of paper to make it legally official but now they've changed their mind Michelle talks about on her into story, I think she just was like, you know, let's, it's just a change of mine, truly. And the two of them had really cute Instagram posts, I love you, I'm so lucky, um, mine.

And of course, Bachelor Nation was very prominent in the comments underneath. Um, all congratulating them. I'm so happy. Michelle Money is a serious favorite of the franchise. She definitely is. We're really, really excited for her. Um, well, all the headlines we have for you today. I do want to say, Ashley, that as you were breaking this down, the ratings for last night came out. Oh, God. The headline is speaking that the bachelor producers and execs do believe this season will be down and may hurt the show drastically in some capacity. Last night, the show had 2.8 million viewers and a 0.6 rating.

it's down from last year's even premiere of 3.5 million viewers and a 0.8 rating. So it's down 700,000 viewers. That is not good. It's down to 2.8 million viewers, which is a drastic decline from even four years ago. That is a huge decline in a year. Massive decline. Huge percentage there. So it makes us wonder once again if the headline is that the Bachelor producers are concerned

internally about this season having low ratings. Why in the world are they making the decisions they're making? That's not for us to decide. That's for us to analyze and to critique and to make assumptions about. And we'll do that every week right here on the Almost Famous Podcast. Yes, we will. So until next time, I've been Ben. Ashley, bye. Follow the Ben and Ashley I, Almost Famous Podcasts on IHeartRadio or subscribe wherever 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.

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