The Press Box - Ep. 146: 'Bachelorette Party' With Bryan Curtis

Episode Date: July 12, 2016

The Ringer's Juliet Litman and Bryan Curtis discuss the rift between the Rodgers brothers (8:00), how Aaron Rodgers has "chosen to do life" (14:00), the strange Kama Sutra horse date (20:20), and the bond between Texans on the show (26:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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and whether or not you're getting a good deal, all right from your phone. So drop your old ticket app and experience buying and selling tickets the way it should be. To start using Seekek, download the free Seekek app or go to Seekek.com. Also, while you're online, we now have merch. Go to bitly.com slash ringer merch to get t-shirts and sweatshirts for you, your friends, and anyone else you want to seem cool. Okay, Bachelorette time. Welcome to Bachelorette Party. I'm Juliet Litman.

Last night's episode was probably the best of the season, and it was very first of the season. and it was very football focused. So I had to bring in Dallas native football connoisseur. Is that even a thing? Yeah. And my colleague, Brian Curtis. Hi. Hi.

Welcome back. What an introduction. You know, I was thinking about this, and I was like, this is ideal ringer content. This is a reality show with significant NFL of ties. And all season, just kind of been waiting for the Jordan Rogers story to really be amplified. And we finally got it last night. Yeah. We were waiting for a shoe to drop, basically, right?

Yeah. Like, you know, it's Aaron Rogers' mention. like Jordan kind of being like a playboy athlete has been his persona this whole time. But it was addressed last night, like explicitly. Right. And he's been dinged for being entitled. Yes. No humility.

Right. As if he's vacuuming up all of Aaron Rogers' stardom, right? Yes. It's weird. The thing is, though, I feel like they actually like Jordan. Like, for example, they were, they stayed in the country of Argentina. Do you know anything about the country of Argentina? I've been there, been there on vacation with my wife?

Is it cheap? Yeah. Okay. Because I'm just convinced. I think I went through after a crisis, though. A monetary crisis. Based on like two episodes of this American life, I have been led to believe there are often monetary crises in South America. But I'm pretty sure that with The Bachelorette, they kind of just like pick one cheap country and then do like a few trips there.

Because like if this was The Bachelor, they would have left, they would have been onto a new country. But instead they took a shoddy old bus from Buenos Aires to the countryside. Yeah, absolutely. And I think you can, that's, that's very economical Bachelor. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Yeah.

I think this show has a little smaller budget. Yeah. And the fact that they did two horse dates. Two horse dates. What the fuck? That was ridiculous. It was like a hutter balloon mixed in or anything like that. I would rather have done the weird elevated pool situation.

Yeah, that was cool. For three days in a row, basically. Than ever gotten on a horse? Ever be involved with those horses. They were like, we'll get back to the horses. Let's talk more Jordan. Sure. I think that the guys like Jordan because in the bus ride from the city to the country,

they did like this weird like freestyle. Yes, which was amazing. Incredibly impressive. My wife left the room during that. and listen from the other room because she cannot handle incredibly embarrassing moments. And then she came back. She was like, that was actually pretty good. It was very good.

They must have practiced several times. Yeah. It only shows the one. Probably over several days because they have nothing to do. Yeah, that was the cleanest cut for sure. Yeah. And that kind of seemed fun. And it seemed like Jordan's like part of the group.

He's kind of their leader, right? James is their musician. Yes. They're sort of troubadour, as it were. And Jordan. He's a true traveling troubadour. And Jordan is the cool guy. The cool guy, alpha male leader of the group, right?

I actually think Robbie's the leader. So this is interesting. Yeah. I feel like Robbie was the one who was really kind of like making it all happen. And Jordan's kind of like a long for the ride. But I think Robbie is more of the alpha there. He's the secret leader. That's interesting.

Yeah. Also, Robbie just really, like, how can you fight with someone who just owns loafers no socks so hard? Like, he doesn't even look bad or obnoxious. Like, it's just his style and it works for him. His looks seem to get more cultivated every week. He looks better every week, is what you're saying. saying? Maybe.

But I think he does. I just think he looks more like sculpting. It looks more plasticy too in a week. Yeah. It's very funny, right? Luke and Robbie have been increasing plasticity. Luke, yeah, definitely true. It's like I find it kind of weird to look at.

Anyway, that bus ride seemed to me. It was interesting, though, because it actually, it really seemed like the five those guys liked each other. I did think James Michael, James Taylor, excuse me, seemed like he was kind of on the side a little bit. Totally. But I thought that Robbie seemed like the one who was like the most enthusiastic. and kind of like his energy push them along.

They're all unembarrassable. This may be, is it the, is it the nicest bachelor house or bachelorette house ever? Maybe. Right? And just because they've been doing this all year. They just like each other. Right? They just want to hang.

Yeah, they've been singing all year. They've been playing in the pool together all year. Yeah. Like I also like to hang, but I wouldn't then go and be like, oh, like my stupid, like, this girl, she sucks. She is not, she's so entitled. Like, I don't know. It just, it seems really fake the way that they, like, Like they turn on Jordan when he's not around.

Yeah, that's funny. It doesn't really make sense with the rest of their behavior. No, it doesn't. Because usually when you have someone like that who's like the villain, he or she's usually ostracized, like Chad. No one actually like Chad. But it's probably real guy behavior, right? Because you all get along fine.

You all have a great time. And then, you know, when the other guy leaves the house, there's a couple of comments under the breath, but nobody really takes that seriously. And then you kind of move on, right? Yeah. I guess with women, it's more vicious, like, all the time. Or like a reality show. Yeah.

Yeah. But so anyway, so they get to the countryside. Jordan ends up with one of the one-on-one dates. And it's like a wine-themed event of date, which I just feel like Jordan has been given every date to make him look good. It's a fantastic date, right? Mendoza, famous wine country in Argentina. They fly there on a private plane and then they do like the gritty, Lucy O'Ball, Great Cushing. So they like are in like they are both standing in their own like wooden basket of grapes crushing them.

And then she decides to like get in his basket with him. Yeah, very romantic moment. It was very romantic, and I was trying to think of, like, what's an equivalent, like, a non-grape equivalent of that kind of, like, aggressive move? Like, I don't know what it is. Like, getting out of your own seat, like, sitting on someone's lap. I think that's pretty close, right? Yeah. I'm trying to think, yeah, leaving one thing and saying, no, no, let's do this together.

Yeah, it's almost like, I don't know, if you were, like, taking, if you were having, like, his and hers mud baths and decided to get one together or something. And then she starts smearing crushed grapes all over his calves. Did she notice that little move? It was really weird. That was kind of sexy. kind of underrated sexy, right? But then, this was gross and weird. They then took wine glasses and scooped out the, like, supposed wine.

They had just, from, like, the grapes that they just crushed. But that's not how wine works. You don't just crush grains and then you have wine. It's not juice. No. And they're like, oh, this tastes pretty good. And they're swirling it around the glass. That was funny.

Yeah. Jordan was like, oh, it has a full bouquet. That was funny. But then they were drinking as if it actually tasted good. Like it was, like, fine sangria. Because it looks like sangria because it was chunky. Right. But that's just not how wine works.

I'm sure it did not taste good. And it had, like, dirt all over it because their feet were in there. It didn't taste like wine, right? That was very strange. But it all just kind of goes along with the idea that everything related to Jordan is just so scripted. It's so scripted. He looks great, right? He's happy.

He arrives looking perfect. It gets on his private plane, drinks wine, and then they proceed to the Bachelorette uneaten dinner, right? Absolutely. With heavy conversations. Yeah. So they go to this dinner, and this to me was the most obvious, other than giving JoJo the magazine, this was the most obvious moment of producer intervention, which was they both like narrate their

day to each other as if they hadn't been together the entire time. They're like, so we took a plane and then we were in Mendoza and then we did the grapes and we had a great time and now we're here and it's been the best day of our lives. But like with more detail, they really like were narrating what had just happened. Right. This is someone had forgotten in the last hour and a half. Yeah. Yeah. So they were like, some producer must have been like talk about your day. Yeah.

Do you think they're boring if they don't talk about their day? They could be boring together, I think. Sure. I bet they would probably. Just a lot of silly, small talk, baby talk kind of goofy. I don't know. Jordan's not from Texas, but he really seems like he should be. He could be Texan, yeah, for sure.

Yeah. Little California. Is that offensive to you as a Texan? No, not at all. It's descriptive. There's a little California in him too, though. Yeah. And in his hair.

He looks like a California cool guy rather than a Texanian. Texas cool guy, which is Luke on this show. Luke is a Texas cool guy? Luke closer, yeah. Interesting. I don't know, Jordan, he's just so fabricated, like, in every way. Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

So the dinner is like really the meat and potatoes of this episode. They finally talk. Fun intended, by the way. Thanks. They finally talk about the elephant in the room, Aaron Rogers, of the Green Bay Packers. Which we've been wondering how this is going to be handled. Yes. We don't really know what's going on.

You and I've been wondering, how is this going to be addressed? It was apparent that from the beginning, you only cast Jordan Rogers if you guarantee him a hometown date. So we knew he'd be getting hometown, which is next week. And he is indeed getting one. But he is not going to have his brother Aaron there. Let me just read to you verbatim what Aaron said, what Jordan said to Jojo. And then we'll do a deep dive on this. Ready?

I'm ready. Okay. So he takes an awkward sip after she's asking about who he's going to meet. and Jordan says my middle brother won't be there. And he goes on to say, me and Aaron don't really have that much of a relationship. Then there's an obvious edit. And he says, just the way he's chosen to do life.

I chose to stay close to my family and my parents and my brother. It's not ideal and I love him. I can't imagine what it's like to be in his shoes and have the pressure he has and the demands he has. I don't have hard feelings against him. It's just how things go right now. And then Jojo asks, does he know that you're doing this? And he said,

don't think so, this being on the show. Right. And next, he says, at every step of my life, I was just kind of disappointed. No matter what I did, it was never good enough for a coach or for a teammate because I was being compared to someone who did it the best. When I walked away from playing, I could have kept playing, football didn't define me, not having a great relationship with my brother or what people think that relationship should be didn't define me. Hmm. Hmm. So much to unpack here. There's so much here. Let's just go line by line. So me and Aaron don't really have much of a relationship. This has been rumored on the internet. I heard about this.

Right. So it wasn't a surprise to me. Do you think that JoJo and Jordan had already talked about his relationship with Aaron off-camera? Almost certainly. How do you not bring up the celebrity brother on date one? Does he bring it up or does she bring it up? I think he probably brings it up. I think the talk naturally turns there, right?

And then he says something about them not being close or something like that or them not like having much. I guarantee it's been teased before. There's just no way that it didn't come up. Right. I mean, that first thing you read sounded so rehearsed. Yeah. Where he says, I know he has a lot of pressure on him. I mean, does that brother talk that way?

No, definitely not. It sounds like a statement from an NFL player at a podium. Absolutely. I mean, totally. Right? Yeah. And I thought this was the most egregious quote. It's just the way he's chosen to do life.

That's damning. If I'm like, Brian, it's just the way you've chosen to do life and I like walked away. That would be like the rudest thing I could say. Yeah. And it puts it all on Aaron, right? Yeah. I mean, it sincerely says Aaron has abandoned me for the NFL. NFL and his family.

Yeah, right. And that's it. What do you know about Aaron? I was sorry, Aaron Munn. Aaron Rogers is his family. To coin a term. Like, are his parents like ever present and like within his media persona? I don't ever remember that.

Of course, we've been so spoiled by Archie Manning. Right. Being haunting every NFL stadium that paid in Eli we're ever in. But I don't remember it. And what you think of Aaron Rogers that we know about him is that he's just very solitary, kind of standoffish. Sure. In his own world and on Instagram and otherwise, right?

And yeah, so I don't think so. Is that common for quarterbacks to be known as like standoffish? No. Like it's like an unusual quarterback personality, right? Besides Jay Cutler. Jay Cutler. And I feel like. It's an NFC North kind of.

But I think that, you know, you're the face of the franchise, right? You're inclusive by your nature. You're the go-to quote. So you're kind of miss, you know, Tony Romo, Peyton Manning, right? You're kind of Mr. Nice Eli. You're kind of Mr. Nice guy. Do Eli's teammates like him, though? Well, maybe not.

But I don't think of Eli is like standoffish. No. Just maybe like a loof. A rude or, yeah. Or just kind of shy or goofy or whatever. Yeah. It's interesting because Jordan does seem like he has kind of the quarterback personality. Oh, yeah, for sure.

He's the face of the franchise. Yeah. In this case, the Bachelorette franchise. I mean, he wants you to know he could have kept playing, but he didn't really play in the NFL. That was another great line, right? Yeah. I could have been on another practice squad and not been actually. for a single game the next year.

I chose my own path. And also he's fighting this entitlement thing, right? Underneath all of this is that I've been given everything by being Aaron Rogers' brother. And he's saying, no, no, no, I'm not. But he doesn't like me. Right. So I haven't been given anything. Well, he's also said, like, everyone expects him to be really good at football because he's based

on his brother and he's not. Right. He said, I've just been a disappointment. Which is weird. They both weirdly had the same pet. They went to the same community college. Gino. Butte.

Oh. In California before getting the big D-1's college. ship, which is kind of interesting. And if Aaron was so, why didn't Jordan get straight to D1? Interesting. Where did Aaron go to college for D1? Cal. Oh, he did.

And Jordan went to Vanderbilt. Yeah. Big moment for Vanderbilt athletes, by the way. It is really. It's becoming like another sort of, dare I say, northwestern type of school where I went. Or I just feel like there's a fair, like decent athletics and like a good school. Yeah, Jay Cutler, right? Yeah, Jay Cutler.

Who else? Well, Jordan Rogers. There was, oh, Festus Azeli. Oh, there you go. And then this is like so irrelevant, but Carl Towns' cousin, Wade Baldwin, who was just drafted by the Grizzlies also went there. But I just feel like association with Carl Towns shoots you up the rankings. Related to famous athletes. Related to potentially the next great hope in the NBA.

It was really, yeah, it's just really interesting. This is kind of a masterful script if he wrote it himself because he keeps saying football didn't define me. Like Aaron doesn't define me. But like by saying those things over and over, it's like reverse psychology. like football doesn't define me but football, football, football. Like, don't define me by it, but football, football, football. But remember, I play football. Yeah.

Yeah, and it's his first real moment of vulnerability on the whole show, right? Did you buy it, though? I mean, I assume he's, you mean, like, was he an accurate recitation of his relationship with Aaron Rogers? I assume so, right? Yeah. He's not making up the feud. I mean, I don't know if he feels actually sad by it. Right.

Or if, but it did seem like this plausible, right, that he's, they're, they're, they're They're estranged, and he's Mr. Peppy quarterback guy, Jordan, I mean. Right. And he's kind of buries it under his smiling, everything's cool man, kind of pet it, right? Yeah, no, it's believable. It's, no, it is believable. It's true. I just wonder, like, how much they were rehashing this, like, if it happened in, like, a different scene.

That's got to have happened at least once. Yeah. How would you not ask? I don't know. Have you done other Jordan research? I feel like you do, like, stealth bachelor research. You know, I haven't on this case. Yeah, usually I look at the recruiting videos.

I think he was before huddle videos. and stuff, so I haven't looked at them a lot. But yeah, I mean, just that the fact that he is a former NFL quarterback who didn't play in the NFL at all. That doesn't even count. Yeah. Like, what does that, like, what should he be called? Which is impressive by, you know, my standards.

Yeah, thousands and thousands of people play football. So getting to a practice squad is pretty good. Yeah. But it's funny the other people talking about like, yeah, he played in the NFL. Like, well, kind of. Not really. Yeah. Like, not really.

I bet, like, Robbie might be a more accomplished athlete. Right. I mean, this also goes right at Jojo's. I mean, Jojo's, we know she's concerned about whether he's. you know, in it for the right reasons, quote unquote, right? And whether he's just kind of doing this because he wants to be The Bachelor or he wants to be on a TV show. And this was kind of his way, right, of kind of pushing back against that a little bit. Jordan wouldn't be a great Bachelor.

Like, obviously. Of course. I hope. Fantastic. It seems like he's going to win, right? Yeah. But he's such an obvious choice if he doesn't win. Maybe they could break up even if they do win and he could be a bachelor. Like it's hard for me to imagine that either Jordan or Jojo is truly ready for marriage.

Right. And it would be our second marginal NFL quarterback bachelor, right? Yeah. That's kind of amazing. The legacy continues. Absolutely. It's the head's the Peyton Eli Handoff. It really is.

Yeah. Just made me think. So there's a third Rogers brother who I guess we'll be meeting next week. Luke, I think his name is. Who looked like you worked at a comic book store or something. Yeah. So I have like this whole theory about this is mean, but loser third brothers. Oh, nice.

So like obviously Cooper Manning is one of the most famous. But like, do you think Jordan is the loser third brother or is it Luke? See, that's the real question, right? Yeah. Who, if this trio, who's the loser. Or is it Aaron? Kind of been an upset, right? I just, I think it could be Aaron, but like when you are referenced by Barack Obama and you've won an NFL MVP, you can't really be a loser.

Right. Plus, Aaron Rogers seems kind of like, even though he doesn't want to hang out with anyone, I think he seems fun. Yeah. I feel so sad for the loser third brother. Yeah. I mean, like, Cooper Manning got hurt, right? And he was going to be a good quarterback. I got a whole list of them.

I mean, none of them are really losers. But like just compared to the heights of their other two brothers. Let's have it. Luke Hamworth, brother of Liam and Chris. Loser, yeah. I saw him, I saw him three of them on the street once and it just sucks for Luke. Did he get the looks? No, he didn't.

Oh. He didn't. He looked like the world. He wasn't ugly, but he's no Hems. He's no Hemsworth. He looked like the third Zeller. Ooh. Luke is like the name of that.

It's got to the go-to name. There's a third plumbly, Marshall Plumley, who's played a Duke as well. He's not going to make the NBA. Right, Tate? He's not that good. He's in the Knicks, but. Oh, my God. Tate's on the Knicks.

Well, that's like being a little bit. Already better than Jordan Rogers. That's true. Then there's Michael Thompson, Jr., brother of Clay and Trace, previously mentioned. That's really tough for him. He's the oldest. I think often the oldest is the worst. That's Cooper, right? Yeah. And when you get the name, too, when you get the, it's your birthright. Yeah. You are Michael Thompson Jr. I think that Luke Rogers is also the oldest. Because Aaron's the middle, and I think, I think Jordan's the youngest. Yeah. I think. The Wilson's Luke and Owen. They have a third brother, Andrew. He's not really a loser, though, because he's like one of their writing partners sometimes.

Oh, that's cool. I think. It's his moments. There's a third Estevez brother, Charlie Sheen. Who's really the loser now? I was going to say. Charlie Sheen. It's a three-way tie for.

Emilio and remote. Being one of three brothers is tough. You never know if you're going to be the loser or not. I'm sure we'll be getting a lot more Jordan. Next week's hometown should just like, I know there's four of them, but like it should be 50% Jordan and then the other three can each have a few minutes. Because that'll be just totally revelatory. So much better.

Do you think there'll be pictures of Aaron playing in the house? Probably. Like over the mantle or something? I hope so. There probably be pictures of all three brothers together. And I'd be like really sad shots. Oh, yeah, that would be so sad. What used to be.

And also we didn't address in your quotation there, just the ridiculousness of the fact that Aaron Roger doesn't know his brothers on The Bachelorette. Come on. There's no way, right? No. Like how could he not know? Something that enters his giant PR zone at all. They would have the name Aaron Rogers put into the public realm.

No way. There's no way. And also, if you. you are working on the show, if you're a producer or like a PA, if you don't do your due diligence and try to get Aaron Rogers on the show or on record, like you're fired. Like there's just no way they didn't, they didn't reach out to him. Absolutely. And don't you think Aaron was just pissed about it? Yeah, I would be pissed.

Yeah, because they're trading on his name in some small way. And I don't care about that, but I'm sure he does. Also, like, Aaron Rogers, as far as I know is not done anything particularly embarrassing. And, like, this is kind of embarrassing. No. Yeah, this is embarrassing. So it's like, hurts his reputation. Like, I just, I just don't get it.

I don't know. This was like really what I was waiting for all season though. So I was really happy with the date last night. I think I think besides the Don't Cry for Me, Argentina, tear fest of a couple of weeks ago with Derek, I think this was the most significant episode of the show. Oh, yeah. And like it made it worthwhile having Jordan on the show. Absolutely. Like I was a spent on that.

Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. It was a pretty good episode beyond that. We had Alex and Jojo go on this weird horse date. Oh my gosh. So while the guys were on the bus beatboxing, Alex and Jojo were in like a private.

a car. And Alex inexplicably was like sitting on Jojo and she looked so miserable in the car. She even like how old. She was like, ah, it was so not in a good way. She was like so uncomfortable. She clearly did not like that guy and they made made her give him a one-on-one. And also Alex's height has been kind of an issue all season. And then he sits in the middle. So you're usually put the little person right kind of squeeze in. I could help but think of that. Oh my God. I didn't even think about that. That's a great point. And then their date was like this one guy, some horse trainer, like, hypnotized his horse, but it looked like he was, like, massaging it.

It was very sexual. It was, I was like, I could not help but think whenever he was maneuvering around the horse. It looked like commasutra positions, you know, Greg, it's just a little leaned over, and then he's back. It was very uncomfortable. And then making things so much worse, he, like, hypnotizes the horse and, like, it's, like, lying on the ground. And then it's, like, Jojo, he's like, Joe and Alex, you can lie with it.

So they lie, like, in, they, like, spoon with the horse. He encouraged them to spoon with the horse. It's really weird. His words. Spoon. Yeah. Right. It was so bizarre.

Have you ever seen the movie Rob Roy? Yeah, a long time ago. You know, when he gets, he's like in the pond and he's hiding and he gets underneath the carcass of like the cow or something like that? Sure. Yeah. He reminded me of that. Oh, that's good.

I can't believe you didn't go horse whispered to you were Rob Roy. That's an upset of all things. That really, that Rob Roy scene really scarred me when I saw as a child. And I would just, I would rather do anything but lie with a hypnotized horse, like in like a dirty field. It just seems so weird. Who does that? Right.

It seemed like maybe come pet the horse and then move away and go lie somewhere else. It's just not a thing. And they also like adding insult to injury for Alex, they made him wear some like ridiculous costume. I'm just going to say that. Didn't he look like a character in the Nutcracker when he came out in that? Because he had the big pants, like he was going to dance for us or something like that. Or like there's some kind of like he was like from like Argentina at Epcot

Center or something like that. Like he was like, it was just so upsetting. He'd like you to come eat at the Argentine restaurant in Epcot. Yeah. I just, I just, I just, Joe clearly. never liked Alex, they just made her, made him stay. Yeah. I mean, so she had this thing last week, or two weeks ago, right, where she should have,

she tried, she kept both Alex and James, and she should have eliminated them both. I mean, the producer must have said, no, you can't because we need next week's episode to be meaningful, right? I wonder why they made her do that. Yeah, like that. But, like, was that even meaningful to happen? She didn't. Like either one of them?

No. She did it. They were terrible. She really did it. And then also Alex said, I'll be your goocho or whatever. He was trying to be romantic instead of gaucho. It was so bizarre. And, like, in the car ride, they had nothing to talk about.

He had nothing. It was so, oh. They probably wanted to show more footage of that, but it was just too awkward to endure. He said, is that wheat as they passed a field, right? He was trying to make conversation. I will say he does not seem like the brightest bold. No, he is not the brightest bold. He will not be accused of that.

Among this group, it's hard to necessarily stand out for being smart. I want to know, if you're smart, stands out. It's hard to stand out for being dumb. Right. Somehow he did it. Yeah. Great job, Alex. Not immense a season.

Yeah, Alex, Alex proved his worth. And so then meanwhile, Alex gets voted off on the one-on-one, even though there's not It goes all in and she just is like, yeah, no. She's like, no, thank goodness. I was glad that he was gone. And then the other three, it's raining. So instead of like some usual date, they just stay in the hotel all day, which honestly seems better.

Yeah. It seemed kind of fun, actually. Yeah, they did, like, truth or dare and, like, other, like, weird games. They should have played a board game. I think board games would, like, bring out people's true colors. Oh, that's fun, yeah. Like, they should have played, like, I don't know, they could have done this category, or they could have done, like, I don't know, trivial pursuit.

You can see how aggressive everybody, a trivial pursuit might have taken a a while. I don't think we answer the question. Three days later and we're not, nobody, nobody won. Trueville Pursuit Jr. Oh, yeah, there you go. But they should have played a board game, but instead of they played like True Third Air, which obviously is better for TV.

Fine. Yeah. But. Which is an excuse for Robbie to take his clothes off. Right. Excuse for Robbie to take his clothes off. James Taylor. Shuffs, shoves his, uh, I was going to say stuffed or shoved.

He stuffed his face with French fries, which was disgusting. It was totally disgusting. And Robbie was like, that's not really like how you do. turn on a woman, which is hilarious. Which is a good point. Yeah, great point. Also, Jojo orders all this greasy food and we're like, oh, that's fun. And then at the end of the date, all the greasy food is there on touch.

You noticed the pizza didn't have any of a slice taken out of it? You can't eat that on camera, Brian. Come on. Come on. Really nothing. No one ate anything except stuffing the fries into James' mouth. So they somehow ultimately, the three of them are without Jojo. Robbie, like, wins that date, of course.

Of course. And who else was going to win that? And Chase is just totally confused. Chase is out. This whole season about why Jojo doesn't. doesn't like him and we're like, we have not seen you two together ever. Chase, Chase isn't going to kill it in Paradise if he goes. I'm certain of it. Yeah, he'd be a good. Yeah, he's one of those guys. It's like, it's like the XFL, right?

Jordan, you know, you go from shitty NFL quarterback to like a big star. Yeah. And he's kind of like, he'll be a total star in Bachelor in Paradise. He seems, normal dude, yeah. He reminds me of like the Jared of this season. Very good. Like, I just feel like he's going to be. That's right. Jared went from the weenie little nerd until this like huge stud on Bachelor. Like most desired guy in paradise. Except he didn't want, he don't actually want to date anybody about him. No, I think he's going back again. Yeah, he was in the commercial this week.

I hope that Chase. That was exciting. Yeah, I know. I hope that Chase is in Paradise. I think that could be really big for him. Yeah. I think, I think you're right. He's a star.

He's just, he's just in the wrong league. Exactly. It's a CFL, the XFL, the basketball, right? You're just, you're really good. You're just in the wrong league. Find your place, Chase. So anyway, Chase and James Taylor and Robbie end up, like, in some discussion about, like, who's the frontrunner.

And they say the word frontrunner. runner like 15 times in 60 seconds as if they just learned it or something yeah which they probably did and it was really it was really bizarre like James Taylor was like I'm not a frontrunner and like explaining why and so strange and then Rob is like if you're if you don't consider yourself a front runner like you shouldn't be here it was very it was very much like locker room talk it was locker room talk and it made you think you made you feel pretty good about James so I don't really like that he kind of has a good view of the show yeah like he knows what's happening he understands he's not in the same league he's not dumb right you know

He knows what's going on here, right? It was very strange. You really could have replaced that with, like, believing you're, like, the best player when you're playing against, like, Aaron Rogers, for example, you know? Totally. But Robbie's an athlete, right? So he's got the, I'm going to beat this guy. Exactly.

And that, like, you kind of need that to win, right? Absolutely. It was funny. It's like you, James Taylor ultimately got voted out. And the second they had that frontrunner conversation and he didn't have, like, the aggressiveness to kind of insert himself, even with his peers. You just knew it was over. It'd be interesting to, like, make a list of guys that have.

of one of The Bachelorette who didn't have that alpha dog, you know, because Ben was a guy who didn't have the alpha dog thing and he lost, right? And then has to come back as a bachelor. It's true. It's been a few. And sometimes they take themselves out of the running. Like there's been, I can think of two times. They just explode, yeah. Brooks, who was on Desa's season.

Totally. He just was like, he was not an alpha dog and he just, he would have won, but he took himself out of it. And then this guy, Frank from Allie's season, also not an alpha dog. And he took himself out of it. It's sort of like you need that, like, that, that, that, that athlete mentality to, you to win or something. And it's totally different with the women.

Absolutely. Because it's been a lot of beta. Yeah, the alpha women. The alpha women, usually they go to paradise. Like someone like Ashley, she's crazy. Although she's not really alpha.

She's just insane. But someone like, I don't know, like a Claire Crawley or something. There you go. Sort of like the blind belief that the women have in themselves doesn't play as well as like the men's blind belief.

It almost always blows up. It's pretty funny how like when you really think about it in these kind of like academic terms. The Bachelor and the Bachelorette like just they, they exemplify. every existing gender cliche. There's a Susan Faludi book here. To be written about this.

Seriously. Susan Faludi is probably so happy you just referenced her. First time in this podcast history, perhaps. Yeah. Seriously. Seriously. So there was a date with Luke, by the way. Oh, yeah. I think the only thing we need to say is that it was the exact,

it was the same date as Alex's. Yes. Horses. He was in his element. So it came off like a tasteful country music video. Luke was shooting and riding, right? And he was in his element. It was kind of reminded me of like a date

that Lady Mary would have gone on and down Abbey. Very good. Like, I like that. The kind of, like, this guy just comes in and is, like, very, like, just aggressive. Like, Luke's a really good shooter and, like, great with the horses. And, like, that would, like, get Lady Mary's attention. And it got Jojo's attention.

Totally. Really did. Luke was an outdoorsman. Yeah. She was really into it. She's just the most attracted to Luke, I think, but likes Jordan the most. I think that's right. Like, Luke, what do they talk about?

Yeah, but don't discount that, don't discount the kind of cultural, you know, meshing she can do with Luke. That's true. That she can't do with Jordan. That's a great point. I don't really understand like the Texan to Texan vibe. But there is a Texan to text. Trust me.

I believe it. And also Luke was kind of shy and tongue-tied and he's really come out of shell. It's true. Way more talking. He talked a lot better. I know. For a while, I wouldn't be able to hear his voice if I thought about him. But now I can hear it.

Yeah. And he was like kind of eloquent all of a sudden. I know. I kind of was like, oh, do I like Luke? Yeah, I kind of did. Yeah, I did too. That's a great point. Can you tell me more with this Texan-de-Texan vibe?

I think it's sort of, it's very hard to explain, but I think you just kind of have this similar kind of shared cultural hair. You know, you know, so first of all, they could, let's say that Jojo and Luke lived happily ever after. They could move 10 miles away from where Jojo's parents live and have horses and land and everything, right? Right. So we're not talking about, you know, going to Iowa with Prince Farming. We're talking about being in greater Dallas and living that life and still working in the city or doing whatever they want. So Jojo understands what that is. Right.

grew up around people like that. That makes sense. And Luke understands what Jojo is. That doesn't seem like a foreign person to him. You know, like that's like, oh, yeah, yeah, she just somebody lives up in Dallas. Okay. Right. Interesting.

So I think there's just, and I think they kind of just speak the same language. And like she probably went to high school with people like him. Sure. Does Texan to Texan apply, like, like across all cities? Or is it like people from Dallas get each other? People from Houston get each other. Like people from, I don't know, where else? El Paso get each other.

And there's definitely a Dallas-Huston kind of rivalry along L.A. San Francisco lines that just no one cares about but us I think sure but no I but I think I think they're in the particular same kind of vibe for some reason they just seem like they you know they just kind of look alike they do kind of look alike they both look fake is what you're saying they do one of one of them looks like a real cowboy quote unquote who's done a lot of modeling yeah and wants to do a lot more right they they they like walked out of a photo shoot for like some kind of plaid yeah like it was almost like like not quite Ralph Lauren but like Ralph Lauren want to be like fall catalog.

Totally. He looks threateningly Texan to me. Interesting. And I don't mean that like he looks scary, but I mean it's like he's so Texan. I can't even understand it. Right. Yeah. I wonder if he's going to be the bachelor of life.

Just because if they show you talking a lot close to the end of the season, that's usually a good sign. And he'd be good, right? They'd be like prince farming, but a little more of a, you know, a little more of a horsey vibe. I hate Prince farming. Oh, I hate Prince Farming. But he's like a lot.

I think they're different in the sense that he'd be kind of less annoying, right? Yeah. I think so. He would be less like, well, I'm just from Iowa. This is just who I am. Luke seems a little bit more like predatory, but not in like a predator way, but just a little bit, just more aggressive. It'd be a great red state bachelor if Trump gets elected, right? This would be kind of, he's kind of the bachelor of the first Trump administration, you know, I think.

Brian, that's the darkest timeline. What a note to go out on. Thank you for coming, bringing your Texas expertise. It was really needed this week. Oh, my pleasure. I can't wait for next week. It's going to be amazing. I can't wait.

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