The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - What's Up Doc?

Episode Date: September 30, 2021

The Bachelor has a new host! What do you think about Jesse Palmer?? Ben finally reveals the truth about how close he came to stepping into the host role himself.Dr. Joe Park joins Ben and Ashley to spill all about his brief but dramatic stay in Paradise. Find out all the juicy details of what happened when the cameras weren’t rolling!And Dr. Joe shares the important facts about the Covid vaccine and what you need to know about the Delta variant. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. 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.

Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. Open your... free iHeartRadio app search emergency internetcom and listen now I just normally do straight stand-up but this is a bit different what do you get when a true crime producer

walks into a comedy club answer a new podcast called Wisecrack where a comedian finds himself at the center of a chilling true crime story does anyone know what show they've come to see it's a story it's about the scariest night of my life

this is Wisecrack available now listen to Wisecrack on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. Let's start with a quick puzzle. The answer is Ken Jennings' appearance on The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs. The question is, what is the most entertaining listening experience in podcast land? Jeopardy-truthers believe in...

I guess they would be conspiracy theorists. That's right. They gave you the answers, and you still blew it. The Puzzler. Listen 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. Listen to shock incarceration on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is the Ben and Ashley I, Almost Famous Podcasts with IHartRadio. It's another episode of The Almost Famous Podcast, and hey, I want to start this thing out by saying and reminding everybody that, once again, Ashley, Kennedy, and Jared are opening up a coffee shop. And it's going to be a bar, coffee shop. It's going to be awesome. They're using generous coffee. Ashley, and this is why I wanted to mention it, we had our generous ambassador call. There's about 200 people across the U.S. that represent generous voluntarily and told them about the opening of your shop.

They were so pumped, so excited for generous to be there. Oh, thank you. We're excited. Your girls are coming out. Your reps are coming out to teach us how to make some specialty coffees next week, stuff that you serve out in Denver. We're very excited. I'm excited to taste test and all that.

They're going to be great, and they're pumped for it, too. So the generous team is going to show up in Rhode Island for this big deal. All right, let's dive into it. We obviously got Dr. Joe coming on here in just a second. We're going to spend a lot of time with him today, talking everything, Paradise, everything, COVID, getting his advice and insight into all the crazy stuff happening in Paradise. And also in the world that we live in the day. But Ashley, huge news coming out of Bachelor Nation. We have a new host for The Bachelor.

Jesse Palmer was announced. Ashley, just take it away. What are your thoughts? Okay. Well, I heard this rumor last week, and I thought, hmm, okay, that'll work. I mean, he definitely is like the most natural fit if we're going to like, oh, God, I can't even use the word replace, but like,

if we're going to have a Chris Harrison-like figure, he works very much in that place. I don't think Chris Harrison can be replaced. I think he will always be missed as part of this franchise. I asked people on Twitter, you know, how are you feeling about this choice? So many of the people say like, oh, it's not Chris, it's not Chris. And a lot of people are saying it's not Wells because a lot of people wanted it to be Wells after this season of Paradise.

But overall, I don't see any like real negativity towards it. Not, you know, some people are like, oh, they're just putting another. they're just putting somebody just so much like Chris into the role but I don't really I don't personally I just feel like it kind of fits I'm cool with it

how are you I'm not like over I mean I think he's the sweetest guy we had him on the podcast I really like him I think he's great at what he does I think he'll feel like a very natural fit it's not going to feel weird to have him there what do you think I think you'd be a terrible of the senior citizen bachelor show and that's why they need me. Because that is your role.

That's my role. No. That's your job. You know, I think it's actually more surprising to me. Not because of Jesse. Like, Jesse has been really nice to us. I've been in a few events with him. He obviously has a lot of history hosting different things. Like, he's really, you know, gone across the board from sports to daytime talk to, you know, Good Morning America to, you know, he's really, is really well-versed in the hosting space. I think there's a few things that are surprising me. One person I have to get off my chest. I hope at this point now,

my biggest criticism has always been from the public that they're grooming me to replace Chris Harrison, that I'm just their golden boy, that they're always going to try to groom to be the next Chris Harrison. I hope at this point that conversation is done. Like, it's never been the case. It is just kind of, you are also a very natural seeming fit.

I don't think anybody would have thought it was weird if you were chosen. Uh, I think a lot, I actually think there have been more excitement about it because you are like more quote relevant in Bachelor nation now. A lot of people don't even know that Jesse came from the franchise because he was the bachelor back in 2004. I mean, you were the bachelor. Gosh, like even a decade beyond that. Yeah. Uh, I, I would have loved to see you be the host, even if that meant you had to take a break from the podcast. Yeah, never. I'm not leaving. But I also feel like, you. you were just about to say that you want that narrative to die yeah well i mean i just i think it's i think it was unfair because it was just never the case now i am surprised now let me say this too i am surprised that wells was not the the chosen choice i think he would have wasn't really never in the running they never called you about it they never picked your brain no this is a good headline no i was never i never got the call i'm actually semi surprised they didn't like kind of like okay good i'm glad you're

surprised. Well, I just thought like, hey, they would have called and been like, do you have all interest in this? Like, what do you think? But I never got a phone call. Like, not even a hint, not even a text. And so I don't, either that says that they've known it's Jesse for a long time. Again, this is nothing against Jesse. I am surprised it wasn't Wells. I think Wells has done a terrific job in Paradise. I think he has worked really hard in Paradise. Like, I don't think people realize just how much he does as a bartender in Paradise for very little pay. And maybe he will be the Paradise Host. I still think that's a possibility

and I think it would be a good choice. I was going to say it makes sense to me of Wells as the Paradise Host. It would make sense to me. I don't think this... Yeah, I think I'm with you where it's like, okay, I mean, it's just not a shakeup. You know, it's not the new trajectory.

It is replacing Chris and that's hard to do. I think Jesse's shoes are going to be massive to fill. I think it's going to be really hard to. for him to do. I think Caitlin and Tasia kind of had the benefit of the doubt because they'd been on the show before. And I think people were just intrigued by how they would navigate it. And they both weren't professional hosts necessarily. And so people kind of were just like, let's just see if they have fun with it. And they did. I'm not mad at it. I'm not, I don't think it's like a, I don't think it's like, oh my gosh, it's a terrible choice. I don't see the criticism right now being

about Jesse. I just think it's like, okay, like cool. Yeah. I like had like very little reaction. I was like I'm fine with that. Sure. I wonder who they did call. Like I wonder if Robin, I thought Robin Roberts would have been in a terrific replacement. This is what I was just going to ask you. Who was like your lofty dream host that you were like, that person's probably not going to do it. Yeah. But I think they'd be great. So my choice is Michael Strayhan. Yeah. So mine's Robin Roberts. I think Robin Roberts. I've met her personally many times. She's always been incredibly intentional about conversations when when I'm on Good Morning America. She's calm my nerves. when I've been nervous on Good Morning America.

She, like, has, she knew about my coffee without ever being a focus on the show. She asked me about generous coffee and how it was going. And she just said, hey, it's, like, really cool to see what you're doing. Like, she knew all this. And I was just like, that, that's who you want as a host. Like, you want that character or that person to care outside the show just as much they do on the show. And so, like, my lofty goal was like, Robin Roberts, incredible host of The Bachelor. Cool. Mine is Michael Strayhan for a very similar reason. It's just funny that they're both the GMA host. He's so warm and I think that he can have those like hard to heart conversations without being weird. I feel like he would have brought a little humor to the show, a little lightheartedness, but not like overdoing it. And he is that he's so personal. Like when we've been on Good Morning America, I'm like, I can't believe that one, I mean, Giants fans. So this is like even cooler for me. But like he'll come.

in the backstage area and he'll like hang for a little while just with the guest and then he remembers us and we're just like these bachelor people you know so like I'm not like a celebrity to be remembered and then um he like FaceTime my friend backstage he's just so warm and cool and that would have been awesome but but again that man is so freaking busy it wouldn't have been at all on his agenda to even consider money speaks who knows um Um, but no, I think those are two good choices. Yeah, again, uh, Jesse's been great to us. He's a super nice guy.

I know we'll have him on the podcast now as, uh, the new host of the show. Nothing against him. I'm just a little surprised, uh, with the choice. Uh, it's, I think it threw me off. And I'm like, uh, okay. Like, let's, let's see how it works. Um, and, uh, and we'll see how he does. And I'm sure he'll do, he'll do fine, um, at, at this hosting role.

I just expected a little more of a shake up, uh, as, as, as we kind of got this, like, new. opportunity to shake it up. And so, yeah, we'll wait and see. Well, one other big headline of the week, as we mentioned before, Michelle's Young's women have been revealed. We're going to break those down on a whole separate podcast, a very special episode here coming up after Paradise. Michelle's men. What did I say? You said women. Oh, no. Oh, gosh. Well, it's been a long day. Anyways, Michelle Young's men have been revealed. So we will talk about that. Actually, I will break it down here in an upcoming episode. So just stay tuned.

Maybe do your research beforehand, send us in your thoughts, your questions, your concerns. It feels like it's going to be a crazy season. And it sounds like Michelle does a great job as the lead. Yeah, I'm excited to see. It's going to come, it's going to be here before we know it. All right. Well, let's get Mr. Joe Park on. He's in our waiting room.

We'll be right back. 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.

Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Emergency Intercom. and now. The U.S. Open is here, and on my podcast, Good Game with Sarah Spain, I'm breaking down the players from rising stars to legends chasing history, the predictions, well, we see a first-time winner, and the pressure.

Billy Jean King says pressure is a privilege, you know. Plus, the stories and events off the court, and of course the honey deuses, the signature cocktail of the U.S. Open. The U.S. Open has gotten to be a very fancy, wonderfully experiential sporting event. I mean, listen, the whole aim is to be accessible and inclusive for all tennis fans, whether you play tennis or not. Tennis is full of compelling stories of late. Have you heard about Icon Venus Williams' recent wildcard bids

or the young Canadian, Victoria Mboko, making a name for herself? How about Naomi Osaka getting back to form? To hear this and more, listen to Good Game with Sarah Spain, an Iheart women's sports production in partnership with deep blue sports and entertainment on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of I Heart Women's Sports. I don't write songs. God write songs. I take dictation.

I didn't even know you've been a pastor for over 10 years. I think culture is any space that you live in that develops you. On a recent episode of Culture Raises Us podcast, I sat down with Warren Campbell, Grammy-winning producer, pastor, and music executive to talk about the beats, the business, and the legacy behind some of the biggest names in gospel, R&B, and hip-hop. This is like watching Michael Jackson talk about Thurley before it happened. Was there a particular moment where you realize just how instrumental music culture was to shaping all of our global ecosystem? I was eight years old and the Motown 25 special came on and all the great Motown artists, Marvin, Stevie Wonder, Temptations, Diana Raw.

From Mary Mary to Jennifer Hudson, we get into the soul of the music and the purpose that drives it. Listen to Culture raises us on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Kurt Browneuler. And I am Scotty Landis, and we host Bananas, the weird news podcast with wonderful guests like Whitney Cummings. And tackle the truly tough questions. Why is cool mom an insult, but mom is fine? No. I always say, Kurt, it's a fun dad.

Fun dad and cool mom. That's cool for me. We also dig into important life stuff, like why our last names would make the worst hyphen ever. My last name is Cummings. I have sympathy for nobody. Yeah, mine's brown oler, but with an H, so it looks like brown holer. Okay, that's, okay, yours might be worse. We can never get married.

Yeah. Listen to this episode with Whitney Cummings and check out new episodes of bananas every Tuesday on the exactly right network. Listen to bananas on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine that you're on an airplane and all of a sudden you hear this. 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, pull that, turn this.

It's just, I can do 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. All right, guys. Well, we have Dr. Joe on one of our favorites. One of our favorites.

Hey, Dr. Joe. Hi, Joe. Just, you call me what again. Call me whatever you want. We've met now three times. So Joe is fine. Seriously. But I guess, like, you have to differentiate yourself from grocery store, Joe.

So, like, that's fair. You know, he came first. So I'll defer to him, whatever he wants to go by. And he wants me to go by. I'm good at whatever. It's funny because he comes with a, an official title as well grocery store that's true gs j now but i think it's now short transition to gsj he just goes straight initials now yeah so yeah he's um he's got another

echelon of bachelor the bachelor credibility where he's just initials i feel like that's when you really branded yourself well is when you can start with something and you drop it and people still know what it refers as that's cool good for him um okay so joe i asked my uh twitter following Well, actually, I don't know if I should get into this real quick, but like, let's do it anyway. Your Bachelor in Paradise experience was sort of short-lived. Got a note right off the bat, any desire, like, did they want you to come early on? Or could you, for work reasons, not take off long enough? We really thought that you should be part of the original cast.

So obviously, these decisions are not made by me. This Bachelor machine is very well-oiled. They know what they're doing. And I trusted that process for sure. They had told me a couple of times, hey, maybe this day, maybe this day, you'll be on. But again, I trust the people in charge. They, again, do a fantastic job. And they thought at certain points, the timing wasn't right.

And so I came on when they thought it was the. the best time they thought it was the best time for me to be on so you could have gone in earlier yeah you don't have to get too far into I just wonder like now that you say that just how much because it does make sense like if they held you back because of what was going on with Brendan like they're just like hey like this feels like throwing Joe into like the firing squad and like we don't really want to do this to this guy um that's just an interesting thought now Joe um question for you because it's always been intriguing to me

what in the world do you do for 12 days in quarantine in a hotel room like without knowing when you're going to be released like that's what's crazy say it's not all COVID quarantine at that point that is just what we call being stuck in the hotel room as a bachelor contestant um so the first one or two days i was just kind of getting my bearings but i actually ended up being a really great time. I read three books. I practiced my Spanish a lot. We had Spanish television that was available, so I was brushing up with my Spanish. I actually made a, I folded a bunch of paper hearts. I folded about 112 paper hearts. Like origami? Yeah, origami. I learned every country of the world in most of their capitals. So I stretched a lot. I worked out three times a day.

it was very and it was so peaceful it was great i played the ukulele i bought one right before and i learned it so it was great this is a smart smart man does in quarantine this is not everybody's quarantined no i mean like i ate i watch tv i tanned mapped i ate a lot of guacamole as well though so i'm we're on the same page but um but yeah i mean there's only so much you can do without a phone and internet so it was uh but yeah and once you got into the routine um it was it was really nice to wake up and have you know the kind of things to do uh checklists of things to do well that's uh yeah your quarantine didn't look like everybody else's let's just say that i'd love to give the bachelor franchise that much credit and say i can imagine that each one of these people were

doing that no that wasn't happening um joe uh we have a lot to talk about with you today especially around um the vaccine and your thoughts on it and then you know COVID. You've had COVID, but, you know, obviously as well, people are going to be very interested in your, in your Bachelor in Paradise story. If you're honest, like, no holds bar. Do you feel like your Bachelor in Paradise journey was a success? Do you feel like it kind of missed the mark? Do you feel disappointed in it? And let me preface this by saying, Ashley and I were sad we didn't see more of you. So we would call it a disappointment from a viewer standpoint just because we want to see more of you, but for you personally, how was it?

I would say it was, it was semi-sweet, like a semi-sweet chocolate. It wasn't, though I'm grateful for the opportunity to have been there. And I did have moments where I had some really great conversation with Natasha. I was happy to see everyone again, producers, production. There were a couple of sound guys who I'd seen the first time. So in that respect, it was great. But obviously, I was hoping to find something real. And I was really hoping, you know, I went in with a lot of hope.

And especially after quarantining for 12 days, I think it's only natural that the more you invest, the more expectation. Maybe that's unfair, but I did have more expectation going in thinking that this would be a right situation. There would be something down the pipe. And I don't blame anyone for it. It was really just a situation that was difficult for everybody. And but that said, I would, I don't regret going, but it was not, it wasn't the best experience to put it that way. So I remember when we kind of tried to pry a little bit and we asked you who you'd want to go down to Bachelor in Paradise and hang out with. And we met romantically, but you kind of like, you know,

took it in a very PC, you know, a very PR friendly way. And you said you would want to go and hang out with Brendan. So your friendship with Brendan. It played lots of roles. I guess my biggest question as far as that is,

if you had known that Natasha was so entangled with him prior to asking her on the date, would you have still asked her? It was, that's a great question. There was, at when I got there, it was such an interesting scenario. There were people, the way I put it to people, there were people who were in relationships already or quote-unquote relationships. I didn't know how Bachelor in Paradise worked, really. I didn't know how off and on hot and cold things

were. But I got there and I talked to Kendall and she was obviously not in a great place. And we actually had a really fun conversation. I bought her book the day before I left for quarantine. She read a bit of it. We had some fun conversations about crabs, but clearly she was not in the right place during our conversation and for understandably so. I talked to Natasha, and she was still a beach. She was breezy.

She said her time there wasn't great beforehand. No details, no names. It was just, hey, I've had a rough go thus far, but I'm still hopeful and ready to make this work, waiting for something to happen. So it's hard. So there were either people who were already very much in a quote-unquote relationship or like birds with broken wings and they're trying to fly. They're doing the best they can. They're hopping around. They got a little, but they got a little crunch. They were just doing

the best they could. And some people put on stronger faces and braver faces. And again, that's commendable. And Natasha definitely did that. And it was so commendable, especially after everything she went through. But it's a good question. I don't know. I don't know. I'm not sure. what I would have done at that time to be in fairness. I have a personal question for you because I think your thoughts are going to be wise. But, you know, obviously you go on the state with Natasha. She brings up that the person that you wanted to see in paradise, Brendan, had, you know, they had their situation. And obviously the public really jumped onto that.

And you kind of all of a sudden were thrown into the middle of it without even. knowing you're going to get thrown in the middle of it. Well, Paradise is now over. Everybody's home. We've seen it play out. Paradise isn't over for everybody, but for you it is. How are you, if you agree or disagree with Brendan's decisions now that you've seen him, how are you being a good friend to him now? What kind of friend can you be in this moment while, you know, if people agree or disagree? You're still a friend, I would imagine. That's a really good question. And I, when I got back, you know, well, while I was in quarantine, Obviously, we don't know anything that had happened before. And I'd heard from Natasha, not everything, bits and pieces.

And I think that's also a really great of her. She didn't want to completely talk about Brendan. But that second half of the day really was dominated by her time beforehand and the ways in which she had been hurt during her time of practice prior to me getting there. And to be honest, at that time, reaction when I said my Brendan it was half incredulous it was half incredulous and it was half there are the Brendan's there was a Brendan Quinn that I had known about in the season before so I was just making sure we're on the same page here and and at that time it really was somebody who I

just met who I did believe what she said but it was it was talking about somebody who I had grown close with who I got close to, obviously on the first go around on the Bachelorette, who I have seen and spoken to many times thereafter. And in my head

I really wanted, I wish I could hear his side. And when I got back home, I did hear his side. Obviously, I didn't see everything that happened, but before the season aired, I heard his side. And at that point, again, I was still very, I wasn't sure what to think because I'd heard her side now I'd heard his side and then obviously like everyone else I saw bits and pieces the salient pieces of the first few episodes where what transpired

between them was aired and I can't condone anything he did he was manipulative he lied He gassed it. And I think it was said in the show, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, one thing you can't do is potentially show up on this show with something already happening. That obviates the whole process. And if I were a viewer, and that's all I knew of him on TV, I would think he's a terrible human being. and really shoddy for everything he did. And what he did was, period. The difference in my situation is I've met his family.

I know him to be a good friend. I know him to be a good son. I know him to be a good uncle. I know him on all these facets. I know him to be the guy who drove an hour when he was visiting New York to my hospital, gave out water for two hours. hours to all the healthcare workers.

In the freezing cold, him and Kenny came by, and then drove an hour back just to do that. I know him to be the youth basketball coach who gives his time to coach basketball. And so I don't agree with anything he did. And he knows we've talked and he knows how I feel about how he acted. But I knowing the man that I know,

the amount of time I've known him, and the conversations we've had, I do think, and I believe that he has learned a lot and that he can change. And he's starting, he's realizing and he can learn from this. And though he's in this storm, this awful storm that he himself created, I do, I will stand next to him through this storm. And I won't shield him from him, but I'll just be like, hey, I'm, I'm still here for you if you need me. And hopefully, you know, again, you'll learn from this.

But, but yeah, it was definitely not easy for him. And I do think he's learning from it. Sorry, I was all-winded. No, thank you for sure. No, no, no, that was great. I am just curious, what do you think it is about the show that makes good people go bad? I will say, I think, without question, there is a, a, potential reward for being on the national television there is a golden this is a

potentially a golden ticket for a lot of people ads and sponsorships and all these things that we see so so frequently after the show you know everyone's doing coupon code swipe up ad you know click this link click that like podcast and so podcast oh just the lowest of the low but so I do think it is a when there's these self-incentives in place, it's going to lead to people trying to cheat this game. And even when they're not cheating the game, I don't think it's crazy to think that a lot of people are there

because they of secondary game. That maybe, and this is just one man's opinion, that maybe everyone isn't there just to find love, that maybe they're also thinking about the Instagram following, about how much they can make or what can come out of it thereafter. So I think that's what makes people go bad. I think it's just the incentive structure of the show.

You know, just being real here. Yeah. Well, you held your own, man. You came into it. Yes, it was quick. Yes, we here feel like it wasn't enough. But you exited out on a high note. You held your own.

And I think for that, we were happy about it. We didn't want to see a good guy like you go bad, and you didn't. But before we move on, I do have to have two more Paradise questions for you, if you don't mind. Please. Hit me. Okay. On TV, it seemed so abrupt that your date went from being great. And by the way, love the speaking Spanish to her, loved the I'm going to switch drinks because there's a bug in yours move.

It was so cute. You were such a perfect gentleman. and then all of a sudden the Brendan thing came up and like the tables turned but I'm assuming that in real life it was probably a two was it a two hour is sit down date and we just hour and a half yeah hour and a half and then like on TV we just saw it go sour real quick how was it that abrupt that you started having second thoughts about her because of the Brendan Stitch I I when I watched it I watched it with friends and it really does take you back to your mind space because I saw it for the first time when everyone else saw it. And my, I think everyone thought second thoughts, but it wasn't second thoughts per se. I could tell when she had started really going into it that she, it really did hurt her. Yeah. And it's just my way. And I felt the same way about Kendall. Because I wasn't, especially after reading her book, I was interested in her.

you and kendall seem to make a lot of sense just knowing you both a little you know um but when somebody is hurt my first instinct not to think oh here's my chance like let's make my move i just wanted to say hey i don't know if you have anyone else out there in the beast i don't know if they're in their own relationships their own they're in their own space trying to make things work I want to first and foremost, I know it's a TV show, I know it's Bastion and Paradise and people are there to find love, but I still can't turn off that part of me. It's like, hey, I want you to be okay as a person. I want you to be like good. And I want you to know that like relationally or unrelationally that I am a safe place for you. Like period. Like I'm, if you want to talk about

it, we can talk about it. And so at the end of the day, I remember, I don't remember saying it, But then I watched it and I was saying, hey, like, I'll be here. You'll be here. That really was me trying to say, hey. And I told her also that wasn't aired. I said, hey, we'll also both be in New York. You know, we're both in New York. I can't wait until we, because obviously people are different on camera.

Some people are different on camera than they are off camera. I meant to say, hey, when you're ready, because you literally just got through this eight hours ago. You just went through this, this storm of this redemption rose. It was the same day, you know, because the road storm happened early in the morning. And it was just me saying, hey, like, I don't want them to push this forward. When you're ready, I'm here, you're here, and when you're comfortable and you feel like you're able to kind of regroup and form that connection again, I'm here for you. And I'll be here. And I don't want to, again, make you uncomfortable by, you know, all of a sudden trying to kiss you and be overly touchy.

And that's what that was. It wasn't, I mean, Natasha is beautiful and she's intelligent and she's funny and she's very mature. And I just didn't want to form a foundation on something that was where she was in such a tarred place emotionally. And that's why interviews like these are great. We get to learn more about the situation. I also just got to know if you are such close friends with Brendan that like you must have. known that he had a prior relationship with Piper. Did you ever think like, hey, dude, maybe he should chill this out if you're both going to paradise because you may get in trouble.

So I'm hung out with them in group settings. A lot of us, you know, a lot of people just, you know, a lot of people did. But a lot of people held a lot of people in group settings. And that's true for, like, I've hung out with Abigail a lot. I hung out with Chelsea a lot. I've hung out with Serena a lot. I've hung out with Piper a lot. And they existed in group settings all the time. I was there when they first met. We all met at the same time. So I don't think they were in a full-on relationship, at least before.

I mean, I didn't see Brendan for three, two, three months prior to the filming, I believe. And I wasn't, obviously I saw the pictures online. I saw like the Us Weekly article, you know, pops up on Instagram feed. but I didn't think they were in like an exclusive exclusive relationship and I don't I still am not sure if they were in fairness so if they did have a plan obviously it's a really it went quite poorly and they shouldn't have done it but again I'm telling you we all it's a small small bachelor nation world after all so we all hang out it's just we haven't all made out but we go on. Well, a lot of people have made out. Very important distinction. Yeah, a lot of people

have made out. Let's not, let's not ignore that either. Um, the, uh, yeah, we were just talking about that. Ashley and I were texting this weekend. A lot of people were out in New York City at a, at a concert and, uh, we were texting. I was like, did I, did I miss the invite? Like, I didn't get invited anymore. And Ashley's like, I don't know if, uh, if we get invited this stuff anymore. It's like, you know what? I don't know if I'm mad about it. Like, I have a pretty good thing going. I was in bed at 8.30 on Friday. So, um, pretty pretty pumped about that um all right well uh joe thanks for your honesty thanks for your openness we're not done with you yet we got to talk uh covid um booster shots the vaccine uh everything uh medically uh around all of that

here in just a second but let's take a break and we're going to come back with dr joe he's going to put his doctor hat on now is not his paradise hat and teach us the thing too should i get the scrub cap yeah please do that'd be great yeah uh-huh yeah Hi, my name is Enya Umanzor. And I'm Drew Phillips. And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom. If you're a crime junkie and you love crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated ADHD...

Oh my God, perfect. And want to hear people with mental illness, psycho babble. Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. Open your free IHeartRadio app. Search Emergency Intercom and listen now. The U.S. Open is here, and on my podcast, Good Game with Sarah Spain, I'm breaking down the players from rising stars to legends chasing history. The predictions will we see a first time winner and the pressure.

Billy Jean King says pressure is a privilege, you know. Plus, the stories and events off the court and, of course, the honey deuses, the signature cocktail of the U.S. Open. The U.S. Open has gotten to be a very fancy, wonderfully experiential sporting event. I mean, listen, the whole aim is to be accessible and inclusive for all tennis fans, whether you play tennis or not. Tennis is full of compelling stories of late. Have you heard about Icon Venus Williams' recent wildcard bids? Or the young Canadian, Victoria Mboko, making a name for herself.

How about Naomi Osaka getting back to form? To hear this and more, listen to Good Game with Sarah Spain, an Iheart women's sports production in partnership with deep blue sports and entertainment on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of I Heart Women's Sports. I don't write songs. God write songs. I take dictation. I didn't even know you've been a pastor for over 10 years.

I think culture is any space that you live in that develops you. On a recent episode of Culture Raises Us podcast, I sat down with Warren Campbell, Grammy-winning producer, pastor, and music executive to talk about the beats, the business, and the legacy behind some of the biggest names in gospel, R&B, and hip-hop. This is like watching Michael Jackson talk about thoroughly before it happened. Was there a particular moment where you realized just how instrumental music culture was to shaping all of our global ecosystem? I was eight years old, and the Motown 25 special came on. And all the great Motown artists, Marvin, Stevie Wonder, Temptations, Diana Raw.

From Mary Mary to Jennifer Hudson, we get into the soul of the music and the purpose that drives it. Listen to Culture raises us on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Kurt Brown Oler. And I am Scotty Landis, and we host Bananas, the weird news podcast with wonderful guests like Whitney Cummings. And tackle the truly tough questions. Why is cool mom an insult, but mom is fine? No. I always say, Kurt's a fun dad.

Fun dad and cool mom. That's cool for me. We also dig into important life stuff, like why our last names would make the worst hyphen ever. My last name is Cummings. I have sympathy for nobody. Yeah, mine's brown-ohler, but with an H, so it looks like brown-holer. Okay, that's, okay, yours might be worse. We can never get married.

Yeah. Listen to this episode with Whitney Cummings and check out new episodes of bananas every Tuesday on the exactly right network. Listen to bananas on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine that you're on an airplane and all of a sudden you hear this. 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, 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. See? Listen to no such thing on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, Dr. Joe, you just broke down Paradise with us.

It's time now to talk to us about and hopefully educate us on the vaccine. You know, there's a lot of things going on. I just want to start with this. I, yeah, I am vaccinated, fully vaccinated. That was a choice I made. But I have a lot of friends that are not vaccinated. And there's a few things that I want to start out with who is just asking you some questions that they've asked me because I can't answer them.

They're saying, hey, why would I get vaccinated if I'm still going to get COVID? That doesn't make sense to me because that has happened in our friend group. Somebody has been fully vaccinated, gotten COVID, and gotten COVID pretty bad. They were sick for a while. And so that was the first question that I wanted to ask you is, why would you get vaccinated if you can still get COVID? That's a great question. It's a very fair question and a question that a lot of people have asked. So the big thing is the Delta variance going around, and though it's possible, they call them break-through infections, they are still exceedingly rare.

98% of infections, COVID infections are from people who have not had any form of the vaccine. So although there are anecdotal cases, they are exceedingly rare and obviously much, much, much, much rar if you have the vaccine. Secondly, the fact that your friend had it pretty bad is also exceedingly rare next to nobody is hospitalized, even if you get it. So now, one, it's rare that you get it. Two, to be hospitalized is almost unseen. And then that's very different than people who are unvaccinated. People who are unvaccinated still have much, much higher rates of getting severe disease and being hospitalized from the disease. And so in that way, again, the chance of you're getting it is significantly diminished and

also severe disease and hospitalization significantly diminished. And also kind of as a corollary to that, a lot of your friends and a lot of our friends probably are around the same age, young adults, who honestly would probably do okay health-wise because they are healthy already. But their parents might not and their co-workers might not. And other people who are at risk may not. So even that for yourself, for your community, for your loved ones, for all those reasons, it is a good idea to get vaccinated. And by the way, all the three vaccines we use in the United States,

they're all FDA approved at this point for people 16 and older. And so even more reason. Yeah. Great. Well, I appreciate you, Sharon. I'm getting so many questions from girls on Instagram. I know you're not an OBGYN, but so many are like, are like, I'm thinking where, you know, my husband and I are trying now or I am pregnant. Like, what did you do?

I did a whole podcast on my other podcast. I don't get it about this. I talked to four doctors, different points of view for sure, but it was cool. And I always, it helped me make my decision to get it. I actually got the shot the day after we conceived, unknowing. And then I waited until 16 weeks to get my second dose, just because I was so sick the first, you know, trimester. But do you have anything to say about people worried about fertility and people worried about miscarriage or anything like that for young women? And again, knowing Bachelor Nation, I know that's a large percentage of people who,

watch the show and who are fans of the show and obviously listen to these podcasts. I would say the American College of Obstitians gynecologists, ACOG, has been very clear. And I know there's anecdotes. I know there are opinions from one person, another person. And even different obstetricians probably will have different opinions about these things. But the overarching body, the governing body of all obstetricians say it is safe to get the vaccine while you're trying to conceive while you're pregnant, while you're lactating and breastfeeding.

So there are no contradictions. Again, this comes from not one person's opinion, not anecdotal incidents, but from the ruling, the governing, the official organization that oversees all of obstetricians, gynecologists. And so I'll defer to their recommendations on that. And they are pretty clear.

and I would recommend anyone who's curious to go to ACOG's website to get more guidance on that. I think it's a good question because it is one that gets brought up. I have a lot of friends that are getting pregnant and this has been something kind of sitting over them if it's safe or not. Joe, we are going to play kind of like devil's advocate here because I think the most helpful thing is not to come on here

and say, you should do it, you should do it, but ask the questions that everybody are asking because I think education on this stuff is very important. And a lot of people do have a lot of different opinions. And I think at the same time, that's fair. You know, a lot of people are concerned. This is confusing. This is the first time in this, you know, in this generation's life that they've kind of

been asked to do something by a governing body. And so I want to ask you, why do you have the trust in it? And I mean, obviously, you are a doctor. So I think we can probably assume the answer. But why do you have the trust in a governing body to tell the general public that they should be vaccinated? Ben, I'm so glad you bring that up. And people are right to have these questions.

They're not dumb for having these questions. They're not anti-American. You know, people, they're intelligent people asking these questions. To answer, I would say we have had these. They are mandated. You just don't remember it. The MMR is mandated. All of us have got the MMR vaccine.

So first of all, it is something that we all do. We just were two younger babies when we got it. A lot of people get the flu shot every year. those that that's not mandated but um so this is not completely out of the blue or or novel it is something that we all have gone through but obviously as an adult it is something that's very new and again there are um a lot of good good questions out there and i trust it because i've read the papers i trust the governing bodies the fda the cdc um these people who devote their lives and who have done this research, whose families are getting it, they're getting it,

their families are getting it. And outside of some crazy, not crazy, but I just don't know what incentive people would have to not be truthful about this. And so knowing the research and not understanding why anyone would want to lie about this, I trust it because for those reasons, and again, it's just something that we're not used to, but we've all gone through. We've all gotten the MMR and other vaccines also. So it's just, I guess we just don't remember it. And again, as adults, it's a little odd, but it's not completely new. Some people say that doctors have an incentive to have people get vaccinated.

Like, there's like a monetary incentive for you guys to be proponents for it. What do you have to say about that? I, if there is, then I'm missing out because I've not gotten any things from it. But no, there is no, there's no fiscal incentive for doctors in any sense. I think the incentive is we want people to be healthy. I think the incentive is, I think, being in a healthcare setting, we don't want to get it, you know, we don't want to decrease our risk of getting it. And so, and obviously incentive is not having to go through what we went through again.

I always, I wish people could, like, I had like some sort of like Google Glass, where I could have shown what life was like when it was really bad and how it is now. And people could just literally turn it on whenever they wanted to see the people on ventilators. And yeah, just the scene that we all saw as healthcare providers during the height of COVID. And how it is now? And it's much better post-vaccine in most places. And again, it's because of the vaccines. And we are all doing better.

We are all able to kind of get back to a normal-ish way of life. in large part because of the vaccine. And so with the, now that it's FDA approved, they are all FDA approved, I think there's very little reason not to get it. And there's a great organization I'm working with called the Ad Council, and they have a great website called vaccine answers.orgie that also has answers to questions that may not be asked right now,

but to answer us to very common questions that a lot of people, especially young adults have. So I would definitely recommend people check that out. Okay, final question for you. This is a personal one for me, okay? Yeah, hit me. I, you know, I am fully vaccinated, but it took me a little bit of time because I wanted to learn about it as best as I possibly could. Same here.

Read as much as I possibly could. Understand what was being asked of me. And then I made the personal decision again to say, yes, I believe I need to get vaccinated. I am having a hard time, though, with the idea of a booster. I am. I don't, maybe because I don't know enough yet. I haven't learned enough yet. I haven't read enough yet. There's not enough out there for me to understand. So are you at all hesitant or are you all hesitant to get a booster shot? And what would you say to somebody like me who is hesitant to get a booster shot? Just because right now I am not, I'm lacking education in it.

And also it just feels odd to me, you know, like to have to do that. And I didn't expect to have to do that. So it's a little bit of a shock to me personally. Sure. So right now the booster is recommended for people 65 and older who have gotten the shot at least the second dose six months ago. It's for people who are in settings like healthcare settings or frontline providers or people who are going to be around a lot of other people like teachers who again six months later after the second shot. These are the people who are immunocompromised. So right now it's not necessarily recommended for people. healthy people such as yourselves. But again, the research shows that antibodies wane after a certain period of time. And I think that is why. And I think the idea is that this booster shot will decrease,

even those few breakthrough infections that we're having will help decrease even those few numbers, again, to reach a herd immunity. But what exactly I would ask you is, what about it is concerning to you? Well, I can't see the booster. is concerned to me because I don't know if it is or not. I'd say with the first one, and maybe people would call me a wimp for this, that's okay. I get it. I wanted to see how

people reacted to it. Like I wanted to see what it was. I want to understand more of like what I was agreeing to and what I was putting in my body. And so part of that was understanding the research behind it, understanding, you know, the symptoms from the shot, understanding how people were reacting to it. And then I felt, okay, yeah, I can do this. You know, I want to do this. I, I willingly want to do this. But the booster, I just don't know enough yet. And that's why I want to ask you, because when I don't know enough about something, I don't want to blindly, you know, step into it. And maybe that's the part that's most concerning is I just don't know enough. And that's why I thought, hey, this is a good moment. I'll ask a doctor. Yeah, yeah. It's, you know, it's the same as the

other, essentially the same as the other vaccines. So if you've gotten the first two, then it's going to be, you should feel about the same after the booster and I just think as far as I'm happy that you did your due diligence, your research on the vaccine, how it works. It is not that easy. I try to make a couple videos to show, kind of simplify it a little bit. But again, this is going to be kind of like a weird wide kind of perspective, but I don't know how my car works. I don't know my refrigerator works. And I still trust in that the refrigerants used in the refrigerator don't create a carcinogenic environment for my foods. And I think I leave that to the experts to do that. And the people who developed a vaccine, the people who studied it, who made

sure they were safe, the doctor to administer it. The whole system around it are the same people who develop Tylenol and antibiotics. And every other medication you've taken, it's the same process that went through it. And so these are working out. Again, similar to Bachelor of Nations, you got to trust the process. And unless people have the wherewithal to have that medical training or that research trainer, the scientific background, it's hard to understand it. But That's where, again, in this society, we just trust that our car is going to work, that it won't explode when we turn the ignition on, that the engineers know enough that when I'm on my balcony, it won't fall down. So in the same way, I think, and again, that's not medical specific, but that's just, I think, how have you, some things. But again, it's not like people are aged need to be going out and getting a booster.

So let's just reiterate that. And now I thought of one other. Why would people who already have the antibodies from having actual COVID have to get the vaccine because aren't the antibodies from having actual COVID even stronger than the vaccine? So that's also another good question. So the antibodies still wane after a period of time. And so it's more just getting and also the response. We know how our body responds to the vaccine. And how our body responds to a natural infection is still, it's variable depending on a lot of things, a lot of, again, like polymorphous.

There's a lot of variables that go into how we respond, our body's respond. The vaccine essentially is a control, but we know how our body responds by looking at, I mean, it's 40,000 initially. Now it's more than that, or 20,000 initially, but now it's more than that, people that were there were studied in both the Pfizer and Moderna trials. So we know that. We know how effective it is across different ages, sexes, races, people with different diseases. And that's not true, necessarily for natural infections. And so, again, one, antibodies weighing depending on when you had it. And two, the reaction to the vaccine is more controlled and more studied, more understood on a wider population versus any individual reaction.

Okay. but I had chicken pox as a first grader, and now I don't have to get a, and now I've never gotten a chicken pox vaccine because I had it. So how is that any different? So the type of virus, it's a varicella, Zoster virus, it's a little different. They don't mutate nearly as quickly, a coronavirus is mutate. That's what will be one variable. The other thing about like boosters and things that, this is one man's meaning,

but I think there probably might be other boosters on the line as the coronavirus keeps mutating, but the coronavirus is also a very different type of virus. And so the way, like that has a spike protein that mutates a lot. And so it is just how it's constructed is very different. And so there are measles, month's rebella, where you can only get it. You only need it once or maybe a booster later on if you work in a healthcare setting, but generally you only need it once because they don't mutate very rapidly. And some do.

And so that's part of it. It's probably like the flu shot where like I've had the flu before, but I also get a flu shot every year. because the strain is different. Exactly. There are some types of viruses, and honestly the more successful viruses, that just mutate very quickly,

and they're just built different. And so, yeah, that also a good question. Well, Joe, you're built different. You're built well. I'm proud of you, man. Hey, thanks for coming on. Thanks for answering our tough questions. We rapid-fired them at you,

but I don't know. Can't think of many guys that we'd rather ask these questions to than you, considering you spend your quarantine reading, learning Spanish, playing music, and working out. If that doesn't say something about you, I don't know what will. Hey, Dr. Joe, thanks for joining the Almost Famous Podcast today. We appreciate you.

Thank you. Guys, always a pleasure. Always great talking to you guys. And yeah, thanks so much for having me and letting me be part of your podcast. All right, everybody, that's another episode of the Almost Famous podcast. Thank you, Dr. Joe, for coming on. Ashley, it's been a pleasure. We'll talk very soon about the next upcoming really, really, really,

long episode of Paradise. I think they said it's like three hours, which is... Three hour tour. Oh, my goodness. But we're going to break it down here on the Almost Famous Podcast next week. Again, stay tuned for a future breakdown of Michelle Young's men. They're her suitors have been revealed. We're going to break it down, talk about it, make our first assumptions and judgments.

It's always my favorite time because I can do it and feel like I don't get in trouble for it because it's just kind of like a given. Anyways. It's blind. It's blind. We have no clue what we're talking about. Anyways, hey, I've been Ben. And I've been Ashley.

We'll talk soon. Follow the Ben and Ashley I, almost famous podcast on IHartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Hi, my name is Enya Umanzor. And I'm Drew Phillips. And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom. If you're a crime junkie and you love crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated ADHD... Oh my God, perfect.

And want to hear people with... Mental illness, psychobabble. Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. Open your free IHeartRadio app. Search Emergency Intercom and listen now. What would you do if one bad decision forced you to choose between a maximum security prison or the most brutal boot camp designed to be hell on earth?

Unfortunately for Mark Lombardo, this was the choice he faced. He said, you are a number, a New York State number, and we own you. Listen to shock incarceration on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's start with a quick puzzle. The answer is Ken Jennings' appearance on The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs. The question is, what is the most entertaining listening experience in podcast land? Jeopardy-truthers believe in... I guess they would be Ken Spurs.

furacy theorists. That's right. To give you the answers, and you still blew it. The Puzzler. Listen on the I-Heart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I just normally do straight stand-up, but this is a bit different. What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? Answer, a new podcast called Wisecrack, where a comedian finds himself at the center of a

chilling true crime story. Does anyone know what show they've come to see? It's a story. It's about the scariest night of my life. This is Wisecrack. Available now. Listen to Wisecrack on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. This is an IHeart podcast.