The Viall Files - E27 Handcuffs and Half-Truths with Lauren Zima

Episode Date: July 3, 2019

Today I’m joined Lauren Zima, host of Entertainment Tonight and The Bachelor recap show Roses and Rosé. She opens up for the very first time about her relationship with Chris Harrison (the tables have turned!). We get the details of how Chris and Lauren started dating, Lauren gives us the inside scoop on The Bachelorette’s Jed situation, and we make predictions about the rest of the season. Then we take a shocking call from a fan that you have to hear. Stay placid, never pay for something you could get for free, and don’t be afraid to make the first move! Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: BETTERHELP: https://www.betterhelp.com/viall NATURAL HABITS: https://nhoils.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What's up everybody welcome to another episode of the vile file this is a good episode that's great it's I loved Lauren Rochelle is very excited yes our guest is Lauren Zima, the Bachelor, Bachelorette, Correspondent for Entertainment Tonight, also Chris Harrison's girlfriend. You know what? Chris Harris, yeah, wait. How do we say it where it's just like,

Chris is his, Chris is her boyfriend. Yeah. Chris Harrison's girlfriend. Oh, yeah. Chris Harrison has the pleasure of dating Lauren Zima. Rochelle is back from her mysterious vacation. Unfortunately, Shug is not with us today. I know, we're bummed.

I mean, real talk. I know this is maybe even a hot topic. Shug's dog, Oliver, was attacked by another dog. Yeah. He's okay. He is going to survive. It was a very scary situation. This is a heated debate,

and we've kind of recorded a little bit before. I mentioned the dog breed on my Instagram that has now been expired. I've been told by some people, I don't necessarily agree with it, that it's not good to name the breed of the dog because of stereotypes or whatever. I don't necessarily agree. My frustration isn't with the dog.

It's with the owner. Yeah, the owner might have that. This particular dog we come to find has put two other dogs in the hospital. It's a rescue dog and I think it's amazing to rescue a dog. I think the reality is that sometimes if you are going to rescue a dog,

you should be respectful of that dog and other people around that because that dog might come from a past that has made them susceptible to violence. Just like people, dogs can be weaponized. And just like people, some dogs can be potentially more dangerous than others. That's just a fact. I mean, this particular breed of dog, I love. I think they're awesome dogs and they can be very gentle and kind. Unfortunately, it's the type of dog that if you abuse it and treat it with violence and it acts out violently,

can be very scary and can cause serious damage to those around it, which is unfortunate. But my frustration is with this owner. This owner was skateboarding with this dog. And I don't know anything about like, I'm assuming that only riles up a dog when they're skateboarding and going. And then this owner,

when the dog attacked Oliver, yelled out, pick up your dog, pick up your dog. And she did. And she did. She picked the dog and the dog clamped onto Oliver's leg

and shook it. And thankfully that's all that happened. So traumatizing for Suge too. It was scary. And thank God that Suge's arm didn't get in the way or like a two-year-old child was there.

You know, it's really scary but this owner knew this dog was capable of it and yet this owner chose not to muzzle his dog which I get. He's like,

oh, well, when I skateboard with him, he can't breathe right. Well, then don't skateboard with your dog, dude. If your dog, because now this dog's at risk. What is Shug supposed

to do in this situation? When you find out your dog's attacked, and then it's attacked two other dogs, and this guy clearly has shown that he's not a responsible dog owner, you're like forced, then it's become, then you have to put on the dog. You're not gonna put down the owner.

You know, like, and it's scary, and this dog doesn't deserve to be put at risk, but clearly this, and I think that's just unfortunate. So if you are a dog owner, and if you have rescued a dog, that's awesome. But regardless of whatever dog that you have, if your dog has a history of biting people or biting other dogs, then put your dog in a situation

or don't put them in a situation that allows them to put other people at risk. And it's really unfortunate. And we're sending our love to Shug and Oliver. Anyways, that's all I gotta say about that rochelle where the hell were you okay so i nanny part-time and they i went with them to hawaii so i guess i was kind of embarrassed to say like oh i'm nannying why i don't know i'm i don't know are you nanny shaming i guess i am i apologize you're not i'm just it's not what i want to be doing at my age but you

know it's it's fun what do you mean at your age i don't know it's just not it's fine did you get paid to go to hawaii i got paid to go to hawaii and let me tell you okay i was inspired by the becca jess episode of like owning you know being alone mysterious french woman and i went on tinder in hawaii yeah and let me tell you if your self-esteem is low, go to a remote island and get on Tinder because you will match with everybody. Did you get laid? Well, I won't say that, but I did get, I went on a date, a secluded beach. Okay.

Watch the sunset. He had a picnic. Stars above. Beach. No, not a soul in sight. Can you imagine? You won't say you got laid? I don't like the't i don't like the

i don't like the i don't want any so rochelle may or may not have been late yes late well where you were in hawaii i was in hawaii oh so i definitely was late so you definitely got late yeah yeah yeah yeah but did is uh i'm like guys in LA don't put in any effort. This guy, beach, picnic, sunset. Are you still in contact with this romantic man? I mean, there's no point, really. Hit it and quit it. Well, I mean, what's, he lives in Hawaii. He's four hours away.

So you don't believe in long distance relationships? Long distance? He's a four hour flight. Nick, really? Does he want to keep talking he has no intention of moving to la ever does he want to keep talking i don't i don't get that impression savage what no i'm giving you a hard time i think it's great so you had a great um you made some money yeah you went on vacation yeah you met a man you had a picnic, you made some money. Yeah. You went on vacation. Yeah.

You met a man. You had a picnic underneath the stars. You may or may not have had sex. If her mom's listening, she didn't have sex. Yeah. But wink, wink. Good for you, Rochelle. Welcome back.

Thank you. I'm glad we could catch up on your life. And thanks for holding down the fort. Well, not holding down. We missed you. I mean, technically, I mean, we we were just a goddamn mess

while you were gone. But you are back and we do, as Rochelle mentioned, have a great episode episode with our dear friend Lauren Zima. We get to know a little bit about Lauren.

And she said she's never talked about her relationship with Chris before. We've got to find out how they met. Yeah. Who hit up who? Obviously, here are some thoughts on the Jed situation. Yeah. She had the pleasure, pleasure, I don't know. She interviewed Jed's accuser.

Oh. Sounds so. That does sound. Well interviewed jed's accuser oh sounds so that does sound well jed's accuser i like saying it because it sounds like makes it sounds bad yeah which is great so we love the drama we do anyways thanks for listening um i think you're really gonna enjoy this episode and uh yeah lauren zima everybody rochelle how are you loving your natural habits well i'm loving my diffuser if i'll be honest because my roommate always is lighting candles and now i can't be around candles because you freak me out about them

but they're not healthy for you but he loves the diffuser he's a guy but he loves the style of it um it's good like gender neutral comes in white style of it. It's good gender neutral. It comes in white and black. It's very elegant. Listen, you have candles for aesthetics. But listen, you shouldn't be breathing it in. But more importantly, did you know that when you're diffusing essential oils into the room, it actually oxidizes?

I can't pronounce the word. It creates more oxygen in the air. I didn't know that. Yeah. Oh. Yeah. It creates more oxygen in the air. I didn't know that. Yeah. Oh. Yeah. It's very healthy for you. Yeah.

Anyways, if you are looking for a cleaner solution to ascent your indoor air, even if that's all you do, it's a much healthier, safer option that also can help relieve stress. It has a relaxing feeling. It can help reduce headaches. Yeah. It can boost your immune system. Yeah. addicted to it i'm glad i'm glad that you're liking it again right now and we're going to change this but right now all new customers get 20 off wow at checkout you don't even have to put a code in on the diffuser too on everything wow on our website um free shipping

domestically head to nhoils.com. Get yourself a diffuser or in a roll-on. Yeah. Roll-ons are ready to go. You can take them anywhere if you are on the go. It's great for kind of

resetting during the day if you do like a yoga and meditation class. It is an alternative to use as a perfume or a cologne if you want. It will absorb into your skin and it won't last

because we don't put chemicals or fragrances in that. But you can keep applying it. You know? Yeah. You're going to get addicted. I'm addicted to the Roll-Ons. So yeah,

try nhoils.com natural habits. Follow us on Instagram. A lot of great health information on our Instagram about essential oils, how to use them, all the benefits they have with them. So give us a file at natural habits and nhwales.com. Lauren Zima, how are you? Welcome to the Vile Files. Thank you for having me and thank you for this mug with your face on it.

Yeah. I love it so much. Thanks for drinking out of my face. No one has ever said that to me before uh just came to me uh lauren zima uh is our wonderful guest today uh lauren i feel this feels um does it feel weird it feels a little weird yeah it's like the the lauren's usually the one asking the hard-hitting questions to me and i'm usually usually trying to deflect being like, I don't know. I don't know.

Let me answer your question in a way that I feel comfortable asking because I don't want to answer your question. Why not? Well, Lauren, for those of you who don't know, works for ET Entertainment Tonight. Yes. And she's the bachelor go-to woman for entertainment tonight. And she's made a name for herself in journalism and pop culture in general

and has a very hit popular recap show called Roses and Rosé. Yes. Is that it? You nailed it. You did not say Roses and Rose. She also once asked me to make her a video for her and i was just like doing a bunch of shit and talking to her friend and i recorded it

and i sent it to her and i i called her laura in the video i was and i meet after i sent it i was like what the fuck oh no dark felt real dumb dark dark moment i mean we've known each other for quite some time now and yeah it's weird because we were just talking about this but we can't remember when we met but i first i think i first interviewed you at your photo shoot to be the bachelor because we always et always does the photo shoots for the lead and i was so excited for you to be bachelor i got up and cheered when they announced you really yes thanks it makes me feel good i did you were so good on paradise i remember we're in the office and we were all like yes like this is such a surprise it's so fun it's so great and we were so stoked and then i was also uh i was

on your date with rachel remember new orleans i interviewed you there yeah wait you watched the date well we always go and we do kind of a set visit with a date. So like you do that like kind of every season. We do it every season for Hannah season. We did the rugby date. That's literally. Oh, there's our picture. That's our photo shoot. Oh, we're babies. So much has changed years ago. Yeah. Speaking of which, so much has changed years ago yeah speaking of which lauren tea also is uh you know got closer to the franchise yeah in what way she is uh now the uh look at her face the lady friend girlfriend of one chris harrison we say lady friend friend. I just want to know

who slid into whose DM? Oh, I DM'd him. You did. See? Yeah. She did DM. Oh, yeah. Women are doing it nowadays.

Good for you. And how, that's a bold move on your part. Well, I will say I DM'd after a bit of a vibe. We were, you know. Nevertheless,

still bold. But what was the vibe you were getting? Well, I fully support women sliding into the DMs. I'm not even saying that. That wasn't bold. But this is the host of a hit show, which you cover. Right. And I'm sure Chris's job is to be charming and delightful and friendly and potentially could have been mistaken as flirty but

yet you were like no no this dude's into me yeah i'm gonna shoot my shot i did and i felt it yeah well you know i've been interviewing him specifically i've been interviewing him for i don't know three years and it was always incredibly professional like yes and not truly no really i mean not in a negative way but i never i never was like i just never even looked at him that way because here is the difference when you're interviewing wait what do you mean you didn't look at him that way i mean i didn't like find i never looked at him and even considered whether i found him attractive i really didn't come on i truly didn't i promise anyways i Anyways, I'm teasing. But, you know, when you interview people who are the contestants, a lot of people are having

like their first taste of being interviewed. So they want to like chat a little bit before or after. It's a little like, you know, more chatty. But Chris has been doing this for such a long time and he would have to, you know, probably go and do something else. So he comes and he always does press in a very professional, timely, I come to my interview, I give great soundbites, I leave kind of away. So it was just always so professional and so cordial and he was always lovely in a very professional, timely, I come do my interview, I give great sound bites, I leave kind of a way. So it was just always so professional and so cordial

and he was always lovely and that was it. And then I ran into him. I was getting some coffee. He was getting some tea. He doesn't drink coffee. And he said something about like- You just ran into him like- Yeah.

Off the- She was stalking stocking not in a work setting well i ran into him ran into him uh she was like i was waiting on the ninth hole i'll be honest it was at a tell all taping oh we're both at craft services oh craft service love you ran into him i ran it i went to go get caught we don't even we're not at craft services oh craft service love I went to go get caught we're not even in the same he's on the stage craft services running during a break and he just gave me a different vibe

I think we what was the vibe this is great I really appreciate you sharing this because this show we talk a lot about dating and it can be very confusing to like know when to shoot your shot I'd love to know what specifically, could you give our listeners more details? Sure.

To know when they should shoot theirs? Because sometimes it's very confusing. Like he does X, Y, and Z. I don't know if he's into me. Well, you know what I actually have told a lot of my friends is I just don't see the harm in sending someone a right a placid message placid totally great also i'm gonna first i'm gonna ask you what that word means but before calm chill before but what was the vibe like there's got there has to have been something

there was something significant did he offer you cream like stop i don't i didn't mean that in a wow that freudian slip wow she's gagging into her vile file she was getting coffee and he was like hey lauren can i get you uh no it was actually it was fairly overt i think he said something about uh he mentioned something about like picking his kids up or something. He somehow brought up like being single, I think. And then I said, here we go.

Oh yeah. I mean, I'm, if only I had someone to pick up my kids with, I said something like I'm single now. And he was like, oh, but I said it in a more eloquent way.

I don't know. Somehow it's communicated. This is sounding like, give me that ass. a more eloquent way. I don't know. Somehow it was communicated. Revealed? This is sounding... He wasn't like, give me that ass. He didn't say that. No, no, no, no, no. Chris is a professional.

I mean, I'm making it sound much more straightforward than it was. I think it was more conversational than that, but somehow it was communicated. It was electric chemistry. And I just DM'd him and said, hey, it was really good to see you. I get what Lauren's trying to say like and these no right but like it sounds like you can there's the difference between someone who's like being pleasant and nice how was your day totally can i open the door for you that's not necessarily flirting but when someone starts like saying yeah i mean you know yeah when you're just gonna i'm super single you know. Yeah. When you're talking. Just gonna, I'm super single, you know?

And like, yeah, like I'm sure I've done stuff like that where you're just kind of like, I don't know if you're interested, but I just want you to know. Right, which I appreciate. What's going on with me. And then that makes sense. Because you know what is annoying

is when you are just being a pleasant person and people do think you're hitting on them. Right. Which I mean, it's like, no, I'm just. All you nick on the daily no i know it i've been told i'm a flirt what i don't think why would anyone ever say i think i'm just i think i just am a pleasant person well i've also been told i'm not pleasant but but when i'm trying to be pleasant apparently i'm a flirt i endorse you one way or the other pleasant nick not pleasant anyway so chris chris was uh so that was communicated and he had also i think mentioned uh something about it had just

been his birthday maybe his birthday was coming up i don't remember but so i just dm and he was like i was super alone on my birthday i was so darkly alone now that I think about it I don't remember I was so captivated by him in the moment that I don't remember captivated yeah

but I messaged him and said it was so you know it was really good to see you the other day like I hope all is well and I think I said have a good birthday

or hope your birthday was good something like that oh so it was a very benign very benign plac Very benign. Placid. What does placid mean? Well, we should Google it and get the exact definition in case I'm using it wrong. But I believe it to mean easy, calm.

Do you have a word of the day calendar? And now you're trying to throw it in. No, it's calm. Yeah, like a lake. Not easily. Like Lake Placid. Excited. Yeah.

I don't know if it was the best word. Even-tempered, calm. Calm and peaceful. Okay. Benign. Benign. excited I don't know if it was even tempered calm calm and peaceful even okay benign benign it was kind of like

not a huge swing a little you know bunt it was a wave it was a wave and that is what I tell my friends because I do have some girlfriends who

are very much caught up in I think the movie fantasy of how relationships start and they think that they're going to meet an incredibly handsome doctor at a book club who's going to come up to them and just ask them out. And I'm like, this is not how it works, you guys. We all want to meet that way.

But like, yeah. So I say, what is wrong with saying, just send a little DM. It doesn't have to be, hi, I want to go out with you. But get the conversation going. So let me ask you this. When you DM'd, it sounds like, was this was this going on your head because this is smart because all right where you was was lauren zima being like all right i think this guy was flirting with me i want to shoot my shot but i want to do it in a kind of fail safe way where if i just say hi

and i kind of open the door window if he he doesn't reply back, I'm still in the clear. One hundred percent. Because I wasn't like, hey, man, I want to lick your face. Should we get some coffee? One hundred percent. That's weird to come back from. Yes. You know, like.

I didn't say, hey, I couldn't be more single. And I know how darkly alone you are. So. So. OK. So you send this fairly benign. Placid. Placid. Hey. Hey, man. Good to see you. Good to see you send this fairly benign. Placid. Placid.

Hey, man. Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Hope the B-Day is great. When did it escalate? Did Chris escalate it? We did a little bit of DMing back and forth.

It got a little more flirtatious. Who really shot the shot? He finally said, he's a gentleman in every sense of the word. He finally said like, we should grab a drink. Great. Good for him yeah so chris you you you like paved the runway i opened the door and he walked through he did oh that's the perfect way to go open the door that's great make it we all let's make it easy on each other you know what would you have done had chris not done that would you

were you like were you ready to like... I would not have asked him out. No. No. Why not? Because I think, like I said, I got a little bit of a different vibe, but it's still, you know, we've known each other professionally for years. I didn't know. Maybe it was just, I mean, we both jokingly call it. Like the other day, somebody asked us how we met and I waited

to hear him tell the story for the first time. And it made me happy he told it exactly the same way and he used the same phrase that I've used when telling my friends which is we had our first human conversation so after that conversation I wasn't sure if I'd totally read it right so I wouldn't have asked him out if he hadn't reciprocated I'm curious because while you don't like you guys don't work for the same company right you know like and I do get a lot of questions and like especially with my questions with nick about like work situations so you guys don't work for the same company but you work together you are colleagues in a sense in a sense right um it would certainly make your job harder had you felt embarrassed or it let's say you let's say if chris was let's say in a non-dating setting, let's say you ran into Chris at a bar,

got super drunk, were totally inappropriate. I'm not saying you would. That would make your job harder, right? As a host of the show that you cover. So like you're kind of in a way colleagues. So Chris, same thing for Chris. He had to make this decision. This is someone that I interact with through work who works for a company

that covers our show it was a it's a it's hard as as a guy especially in like you know today's you know me too great thing but like we as guys we want to make sure that we're being appropriate especially in work situations what's you know chris is in a position of power as the host of the show. I give him credit for like trying, he want, he, and then. Well,

look, this is why I act, and it's actually another reason. Yes. It's tough. It's tough to do. But it's another reason that I encourage my girlfriends

to open the door. Because you know what it does? It puts you also in a position of power and comfort as a woman. So you can feel at that arena. And I also understand that for men, we put the onus on them a lot of them making that first move that's nerve wracking that can be confusing for them they don't you know the good ones don't want to offend anyone

so uh it all worked out really well and it was also the perfect amount of time of we had like a little bit of messaging and then like he said let's grab a drink and have real person talk because that's another thing i think my friends do they stay in the dating app messaging world too long i'm like you're misreading tone it's getting weird get a real conversation why why wouldn't you have asked him out yeah i think chris was like again i what he didn't and good for chris but what if Chris was just like, man, what if he was literally thinking the same thing you were thinking? And he was just like, what if? If he hadn't given me flirty vibes, I would have just left it.

But he responded. Okay, here's why I wouldn't have asked him out. Because I opened the door. Because I already felt I'd gone my way a little bit. And now I need you to come to me a little bit. You wanted some reciprocity. Yeah. It's kind of like, wasn't it on Becca Kufrin's season when some guy got out of the limo and

he was like, I need you to come. Oh, that was the worst. 60% or 40. Oh, God. Whatever. Let's all, let's each take a step forward. So I'd taken my step and I needed him to take a step. And he did.

And now you guys are in love? Isn't it hard? Do you like expect these bachelor type dates? Like roses, helicopters, waterfalls? No, I don't know. I hate it when people ask those questions. Sorry. I'm sorry.

Is that a joke? No, no, no. No, it's not. No, no, no. It's just more like those are literally the worst dates to have in the bachelor, first of all. And like this unreasonable expectation that Chris would have as the host of the bachelor that somehow he's got to bring in a helicopter or a waterfall.

Or just be very romantic. He is... He's a guy's guy. He is a guy's guy, but he's also, I mean, I sort of feel that I'm reaping the benefits of someone who's worked on this show and learned how to talk to women for so long. He is so communicative.

He's so thoughtful. He's so clear with his feelings and a good listener i mean you know date an interviewer we listen it's great uh i don't expect bachelor dates from him but i will tell you he's taking me on a helicopter oh yes daddy harris was it did one time was it everything you wanted it to be? On it, I really got to tell you, I'm going to get so sappy, but I could have fun with him anywhere. I have such a great time with him. I have so much fun with him and I'm so happy with him if we're like scanning through movies

to find something to watch on TV or if we were in the helicopter. That's great. Yeah. But like the helicopters itself aren't very romantic. Also, you can get very like motion sickness in helicopters. You know what is weird? I mean, our little headsets weren't really working. It's not like easy to talk to each other.

It's a very unromantic setting if I'm being honest. 100%. I mean, especially when you have cameras in your face. Helicopters are small. So on every bachelor date, there's like. Oh, I never thought about that. You're right there and there's a producer and at least one cameraman and an audio. They have to be inches from your face.

Yeah. So it's not in any way romantic. Yeah, no, you can't like have an easy conversation. Your headphones going in and out. You're like, what? What? Yeah. No.

Did you see the water? Yeah. Great. I would not call it romantic. Well, I'm very excited for your love life. Thank you. Let's get to know Lauren, the journalist. Okay.

Where did you always want to be? You're a journalist, right? I'm a journalist. Was that your major in college? It was.

I was, my undergrad was in magazine journalism. There's a specific magazine. There is. I went to the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

Oh, we're now, we've just pulled up Nick. You look a little motion sick. And why are you shirtless in this helicopter, Nick? We were in the Virgin Islands. Also, I don't need a reason. We're watching this clip of you and Andy in the helicopter. You don't look happy.

And you're shirtless. Is your back sweaty and sticky? Well, I knew I was sending her home at that point. I had just sent home Whitney. Oh, this is Danielle. Yeah. That was a two-on- point. I had just sent home Whitney. Oh, this is Danielle. Yeah, that was a two-on-one. I gotta tell you, at just the quickest glance,

I thought that was Andy Dorfman, but that's me too. Oh, yeah, a little bit, yeah. We didn't have the most striking conversations. You and Danielle? Yeah. Well, you're not talking in this clip we're watching. That was probably the most we ever talked.

Look, another helicopter. That was not the most we ever talked look another helicopter that was not the most two beautiful women not i didn't i think you said that wrong but is this another no they're like two beautiful women that i i we i just i struggled having this is another helicopter clip where no one's talking the same day you probably can't hear each other it's not a great setting. Your shirt's on here. That also is true. So magazine journalism. Yes, I went to the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

Very good school. And my undergrad was in magazine, and then I got my master's degree in broadcast journalism. Yeah. How'd you end up in LA? It's kind of weird. I've back and forth when I was 22, when I just finished, was finishing up my master's, I moved here to work for variety. I was doing like party and event coverage and movie premiere coverage for them. And then I got offered a job at a startup that I'd worked at while I was in school called Newsy.

So I moved back to the Midwest to work for that startup. And then when I was at Newsy, Entertainment Tonight reached out and offered me a job. So then I moved back to LA. So I've been back and forth on it. That's awesome. So I know, do you feel a kind of a sense, like your major or your career path is challenging. There's a lot of grind to it. What are some words of wisdom you could offer to the people out there, men and women, who want to do what you're doing? Because it's tough.

It's like a lot of people don't get to do what you're doing. And I got to assume there were some discouraging moments in your path to being the bachelor, the bachelor correspondent. Well, you know, it's hard because I've gone and spoken at my school and people want this really clear path, right? You know, like what were the steps you took to get there? And media is changing so much and has changed so much over the past 10 years that there isn't as clear of a path as there used to be. It used to be that you'd start at a local news station and like work your way up market to market. And now I just tell people, lean into your brand, lean into your personality,

say yes to work always until you really feel comfortable in a place where you can turn down work and feel okay. But I hustled so hard. I mean, I was at one point in LA, working two jobs, and I was taking classes and doing internships so I could get the classes for free at three different improv theaters. Because I was trying to kind of do like comedy and journalism at the same time. So just hustle and also take improv classes, which you have done and you and I have done at the same theater. I didn't know you did comedy. Yeah. So funny.

That makes sense. Oh, thank you so much. So kind. Groundlings. And did you groundlings or UCB? We, I've done both.

I've done, I did IO, UCB and groundlings. We had one of the same UCB teachers. Oh, really? Yes. I forget her name,

but she's a lovely woman I think her name is Jess she uh yeah Jess Eason Jess Eason we love that Jess Eason she had a Liberty commercial

yes for a long time and it would run during the bachelor all the time she must have got paid for that because it was on

all the time oh it helps to get a commercial doesn't it yeah that's great yes but I do tell people to take improv classes because this job is so much about listening and asking good follow-up questions and improv is all

about listening and yes and also if you're in sales uh and when i was working for salesforce it was uh they would you know they they did a good job of like paying for career development things if you and you could take improv classes and they'd pay for it recommend it uh just because again thinking in your feet listening um a lot about the thing you know stressful situations it was it's a it's a great life skill so even if you're not trying to be a journalist or an actor or a comedian improv in your local do it michael scott you know oh no meet some people. Now, before you found love with the great Chris Harrison, what was dating like for you in LA? I think what actually happened was

I just wasn't thinking about dating at all. And then stuff just kind of happened. You know, like it would be, I would start talking to someone at like an event and they'd ask me out or whatever. So you really weren't thinking about it. I wasn't thinking about it. Because some people were almost like,

in that sense, kind of swear it off. i don't want to date i'm not ready to date i was like i'm just living i'm not looking for a relationship and i'm not not looking for anything i was just like i'm just gonna focus on work and kind of see what happens yeah i didn't swear off of it or anything but i you know i mean you're from the midwest too it's it's a sort of different way of growing up than some other places in the country. People get married younger. It feels more like normal or natural

to get married a little bit younger. Then you come out to one of the coastal cities and it's like, oh, this is weird. Like, you know what I mean? In terms of like- Well, I mean, people in LA are single into their 50s and never get married. And you just realize people like live sort of differently all over the country.

Yeah. Why do you think that is? I don't know. What is your theory? Well, I think the coasts are more progressive. And I think part of it, I think it's a little bit a combination of like priorities. Certainly, there's nothing wrong with or people have different priorities, right? There's that.

I also think like especially in like more tradition, like the Midwest or the Southern, you know, there's this a lot of getting married, especially back in the day was a timing thing. You know, like you would have your first love, and maybe that would or wouldn't work out. But right around the time you would graduate college, whoever you were kind of in love with in that moment would be the person you were like, I think I could get married. And you do. I think nowadays with people, I've read something that millennials are getting married later in life. And that's probably a good thing.

Well, when you think about when marriage was invented as a concept, people died much younger. That too. The timing of it. I got like six years left. So if we could go ahead and have a family. We got to repopulate.

My life expectancy is at 40. Yeah. Yeah. And so I think you know people are just they're they're more okay with saying wait i don't great that i'm in love with you but do i want to spend they have a little bit more perspective at an earlier age nowadays i think well what's sort of weird about me i guess is when i was in college i did not think i ever maybe wanted to get married really yeah i didn't even think i was very like i don't know i'm 25 i'll have three kids oh yeah no i'm i was like i don't even know if i want kids i don't know if i want to get married

well i mean we're we're taking a bit of a dark turn and i don't want to get depressing but um i lost my dad when i was 22. And I think that changed my perspective. I suddenly wanted to be clinging to like family and to something real and grounded. Yeah. And so that changed things for me. And then being married changed things for me. So, all these life experiences happen. And I've had people ask me before, like, what's your five-year plan? I don't have one. I think I've just had experiences where I see how life can change so quickly that I really just try to live in the moment and stay really positive and do things that feel

right for the person I want to be in the direction I want to go in, which is why, like, did I think about, do I want to start dating? No, I really didn't think about, like, you know, what do I want to do next? I want to jump into a relationship. I don't have those goals, I guess. Before you met Chris, like, were you pretty much single or were you like? Yeah, yeah.

There were no, there was no like three month fling? I'd like, I dated other people a little bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But single, yeah. And you know, then we had that weird DM. When's the wedding? Oh my gosh. Nick.

I'm just kidding. You know, it's so funny. That's an annoying question. I've asked him that question. I don't even know how many times. Yeah, this is someone, I'm sitting with someone who's been like, asked me some very direct questions.

Very direct. All the tables have turned. Very direct. The tables have turned. Very direct. Like why Nick, why can't you answer that? I'll remember, I'll never forget. This was my favorite time I've ever interviewed you.

You came up to me at a red carpet. You come up to me and you go, look, I know what questions you're going to ask me. And I was like, okay, well, do you not want me to ask you?

And you're like, no, let's do it. Like, okay. It was like, we were just both so on the same page. Cause it was this place where you knew what me to ask you? And you're like, no, let's do it. Like, okay. It was like, we were just both so on the same page. Cause it was this place where you knew what everybody was asking you.

And you just had to keep powering through poor Nick. I feel like that's your MO. Just power through. Let's just get through my life. You know, let's just do it. I, I kind of said that,

you know what, this is a compliment that I'm going to pay you in a very weird indirect way, which is what I like to do. Is that you know what this is a compliment that i'm gonna pay you in a very weird indirect way which is what i like to do is that you're a smart person and sometimes that like in those interviews i just wanted to like and i know like listen you got a job to do and sometimes the questions that you ask it or kind of like hey lauren we need to ask these questions but sometimes i really appreciated the create the creative question question that hadn't been asked or like that got me thinking. I always thought you were capable of that. And so I was kind of like, hey, what you got for me?

A challenge. Yeah. Love a challenge. I don't remember what we talked about probably. So why don't you guys break up? Do you regret it? You know, stuff like that.

I'm resetting. I'm resetting. This is him right after Bachelor in Paradise resetting for a new chapter. Not, I, I really didn't know

I was going to be the Bachelor. You didn't? Why, no. Why, why would I know that? I felt like you talked, no.

No, no one thought I was going to be the Bachelor. Kristen thinking I was going to be the Bachelor. I didn't think I was why would i know that i felt like you talked no no no one thought i was gonna be the bachelor kristin thinking i was gonna be the bachelor i didn't think i was gonna be the bachelor the people who made me the bat shirt weren't planning on me being the bachelor i mean i very much believe and i think we could have that situation on our hands this season that it can change up to the very minute totally i mean i remember luke pell we interviewed him and he said according to him he said i was about to get on the plane when I found out I was not the Bachelor. Which is totally believable. Yeah. And he definitely was.

Every season they give at least two people a contract to sign to be the lead. With the stipulation, they're very open. We're having this conversation with other people. Which, yeah. with other people. But they're very good at, the Bachelor producers, the thing they're best at more than anything is adjusting on the fly. And that's the-

They have to. They have to. I mean, that is what is so interesting to me right now about the show is how much things change

week to week so quickly. Everything can adjust because whether they make a reveal in an episode or whether a reveal is made online, and all of a sudden, the vibe, the perception, everything can change.

Well, I have a lot to say about this episode. And I first want to get into, you did, I'm really into this whole Jed story. Yes. But before we get into that, I want to get to know Lauren a little bit more with Do You Know Me? Our fun game that we are now playing.

A game I've never played. It's new. It's available on Amazon. Yeah, do you know me? My friend created it. But I do love it because it's fun little questions. I'm a big believer, especially in dating situations is that you can, uh, learn a lot from simple questions.

I think in dating situations, people go into the, Oh, tell me about yourself. Yeah. Oh, I'm, Oh, what do you do for work? You know, it's just, and if you can kind of get away from some of those like hard hitting, not that they're hard hitting, but there's, there's a lot of like pressure that comes with like, what do you do for work? Because there's an implication of like,

there's how much money do you make is somewhere embedded in that question. You're like, are you going to be impressed with my job or what I do? Or like, where are you from? These are, but what about like, I would say get a little more specific.

We're going to play this. So anyways, Rochelle and I, I'm going to ask these questions. Okay. Rochelle and I are I'm going to ask these questions. Okay. Rochelle and I are going to have a competition of who knows Lauren Zima better. The assumption is maybe me. This is really about reading something because they're random.

Nick, if you lose, it's not a good look. I was just going to say. So the first question is, we're going to answer these right away. We did this twice. We're going to shorten it up a little bit. But is Lauren using someone else's Netflix account? I'm going to answer these right away. We did this twice. We're going to shorten it up a little bit. But is Lauren using someone else's Netflix account? I'm going to change a little bit. Have you ever?

No. Have you ever? Have you ever used someone else's Netflix account on like an ongoing basis? Not like one time login, but for a period of time you were like, I'm using, like I'm logging in. Hold on. Let me, before you answer, I'm going to say yes. Yes.

Everyone in the universe has at one point. I mean, like, for over, like, three months where you were flat out not paying for it. Yes, I'm saying yes also. I have never. Oh, really? I have logged in. But, like, that's a weird, like, it's seven, eight, what, 10 bucks a month? You can't, like, it's a weird thing.

It's just, it's hard to pay for something you don't have to pay for. Do you mean the person doesn't know you're using it? Either or. But like you knowingly like didn't pay for your own Netflix that you weren't in a relationship with. Oh. Now you're adding on so much. Well, he's remembering. He's like, she was married though.

If you were married or living with someone then sure something you don't need two people paying for netflix okay what's the answer then my answer is no i've never done that we both lose uh yeah good for you lauren who's netflix did you think i was using no but like again like rochelle clearly has i've never paid for netflix whose netflix are you using i think I'm using my dad's. Okay. You're an adult. I'm not going to pay for it if I don't have to.

So sue me. So sue me. Put it on my tombstone. Not paying if I don't have to. I feel like people are going to be with me on this. No. Write in. Oh, I will say, but she knows, I'm using my sister's direct TV login for cable apps.

Oh, it comes out. Yeah, but she is aware, but it is totally hers. So I'm doing that. See? It's the digital age, baby. It's tough. But you know, we are a family. I'm also on my best friend's Spotify account.

See? Oh my God, you told me. And I'm going to tell you something dark. She kicked her husband off for me. did like there i mean does that work like she has a family plan and her husband was also on the plan she's like i kind of want lauren to be on our spotify so she was like you can only have so many names so i'm on her family plan with like her and her siblings what you can have a family plan with spotify yeah she wants lauren's playlist you can listen to someone's playlist without being in their account okay

look tomato tomato female relationships are very important that's a piece of advice i will never not stand by prioritize your friendship so either way we're okay yeah we're done let's move on has lauren ever been arrested and i mean even handcuffed or like been apprehended more than it yeah have you ever been arrested she's trying to give throw us out she absolutely has been arrested no i have never been arrested nick what do you think i've been arrested for you know what we're learning well like maybe there's a dui or maybe we learn maybe you like college you know what people get arrested for peeing in bushes in college can i tell you i didn't drink at all in

college i knew she's got her shit together of anybody i've ever met i want to be clear that i drink now but i did not drink in college have you uh have you ever hooked up with someone who is older than 50 no i have not thanks for letting us guess oh i forgot the game i was gonna guess yes i would have got that wrong what would i well how old chris he's 47 i'm close i'm 31 how do you feel like and how sure age differences with men and women i mean we joked rachel likes to tease me a lot about some of the the age low-hanging fruit how young you've gone yeah but like not old at some point but like i for me it's like a more maturity thing at certain a certain point like i like it's hard for me to meet someone who's under 25 and is it no no it's very extremely easy extremely let me finish my thought okay and consider like if i get around you

no all i meet is people under 25 it's hard for me to meet someone and then like let's say there's an initial like you're like uh meet cute at a at the craft services services and then i find out she's younger than 25 it's hard for me to even like where is this gonna go because i want to be with someone who's like oh like ready potentially like like a but lauren's not no i'm just saying but like in terms of you and chris are what that's 15 years apart and i you know i'm like i it's easy for me to meet, like even a girl, 26. That's a, you know, if I meet, that's a, how do you, how do you, what are your opinion on that? I sometimes get uncomfortable speaking to it because I feel like sometimes I don't, I don't know if Chris gets self-conscious about it.

I can, I get self-conscious. My women friends like to tease me about dating younger women. Well, here's what I will say. For me, it is all about life experience and the life place that you're in. I mean, I do think that this is sort of a hard thing for me to talk about because I always worry about making other people uncomfortable in it. But like losing my dad at a young age totally changed my maturity level. I suddenly had to step up in all these new and different ways with my family, a lot with my family changed. So it aged me up in a lot of ways. Gave you some perspective.

Yeah, completely. So from, you know, and I had that experience when I was 22. Some people are in their 60s and have never had certain life experiences. So I think it's all about life experience, the place that you're at, what you want out of life. I do think that, like, I see where you're coming from. Like, your early 20s are such a time of change. And so I see that and I get that. But at the same time, I look at everything on a case-by-case basis. But I see where you're coming from. I do.

Yeah. I don't feel that with them. No. And again, like, I think at a certain point as you get older like it's a wash well right like I mean let's kind of to Lauren Lauren's point after like 30 like we're always growing and maturing and so I'm kind of making a joke but like after 30 you're kind of who you're up you are I think that's fair you know like yeah you might develop and change and have a whole, like, it was fascinating talking to my parents when they were here about, like,

their faith, they still have it, but it's certainly a lot different at 60 than it was at 30. They are more progressive and more open, so they have changed as people. So that's not to say, like, they aren't different people, but yes, at, between 18 and, like, 25, there's still so much like figuring yourself out.

You're totally right. At that time, you're figuring out who you are. But then once you have yourself figured out, it is experience that affects and changes you. But I think you're right that your like core self is figured out. So that's like if I meet someone who's like, say, 23, my reluctance of like pursuing that is i don't really want to be a part of their development as a human being and i applaud you on that as a trepidation you know like i you know like it feels like i don't want to i want to meet someone who confidently is who they are and we will grow as a couple but i don't want to be a part of that like

i get that yeah do you think he should be more open to the younger ladies oh no oh okay i got you i was confused no he has like you have like an age cap of old how old you'll date i do not you said that the other week i did not what's your age cap is it 30 i dated someone who was two years older than me a couple months oh and by the way i have dated people younger than me too yeah um i don't know i only i have an age minimum i try to abide by i don't do a great job all the time but i have no age cap in the sense that like because anyone who's older than me and in terms of a maturity level would but the kid element is obviously

something that like right again plays all right if i were to meet someone at this point in my life if i were to date someone let's say who's two years older than me it's fair to wonder do they want kids and if they do how quickly do we have to have kids the person i dated who was older than me had a kid yeah you know so it was kind, well, maybe they're like good with that. I don't know. So there were things about dating someone older than me that I had never even considered before because like my whole dating experience,

regardless of their age, was they hadn't had kids. And so the assumption is they probably at some point hopefully do. And it was like when, you know, and so. Life experience, life place, timing. Yeah. All right. Well, the three. assumption is they probably at some point hopefully do and it was like when you know and so life experience life place timing yeah all right well three are we still tied oh i screwed up that one yeah no no wait am i winning i think you're winning i would have oh shoot we lost i would

what would you have said i would have said she had been arrested no slept with someone older i would have said had so we're still we're still tied why are we why not i think i got two right why not no i mean because you're you're you're i mean you're because i thought chris was older than 50 i'll be honest oh you did no shade no shade no no i i i knew i'm not good with ages um i uh no i just feel like soon before you met chris like you uh you know you're a mature person who like i didn't think Before you met Chris Like you You know You were a mature person Who like I do think Had you met

A good looking 50 year old guy in LA Should be down Like I don't think You would have had a problem with it I'm gonna take that as a compliment It is Silver Fox

Take that Next question Does Lauren know Who won the most recent Super Bowl I'm gonna say yes Because you're dating Chris Harrison Yes Obviously

Because she's in Pop culture I don't know I don't know I don't know how much of a sports fan she is and if she would have known that she looks like no

zero clue oh I am you don't know who won who won the Super Bowl the Patriots was just a guess yes

but you didn't the Patriots won the Super Bowl total gas based on the fact Super Bowl would you have said oh we both we're still tied freaking A Super Bowl 52 so lesson learned have said, oh, we're still tied? Freaking A.

Super Bowl 52. So lesson learned. Don't judge a book by its cover. Yeah, wow. We really don't know anything about you. She has a very, here's what I learned about that question. Yeah. Niche.

Niche interests. While she is dating someone who is a diehard sports fan, Chris, before, for those of you who don't know, before he was the person who made people fall in love, he was a reporter for the Dallas Cowboys. He's a huge Cowboys fan. He's a sportscaster. He was a sportscaster. He's a guy's guy. And one would think that she dating this guy, at least I would, but it tells me they have

a very independent relationship. Love that. A hundred percent. And you know what? He is, I have never dated someone like him though who is he's so conscious of me having a good time and so wants to make sure that i'm like enjoying myself in any situation that when the super bowl happened we went to a super bowl party because like i guess that's what you do i don't know like i don't really partake but he like he like took a

little money and like put it in a bet for me so I could like be active and enjoy myself and whatever. Yeah. I don't even know what that was. I think there was some kind of grid.

But he really makes sure I have a good time. But no, I don't know anything about sports. And one thing I love about our relationship is we both have our stuff. We have a lot of things

we enjoy to do together. And it's just. See what you can learn by asking if they do the Super Bowl is what person he loves golf and every anytime I enjoy something to do with golf with him he gives me a glass of wine in my hand have you ever has Lauren did we would

you do we were so yeah we're tied this is the this is Tiebreaker? No, we have two. Has Lauren ever taken an Uber pool? Yes. I'm going to say no. Never done it. Sounds so. Wow. Look at you. High society. You pretentious.

1%. Oh, is that. You know why I never do it? Doesn't it take a long time? I just assume it would take a long time. I took an Uber pool. You did? I took an Uber pool. You did? I took an Uber pool.

You're like, to get here. No. I did it for fun. I took an Uber pool immediately after filming The Bachelor and I got into LA. Wow. Whoa, bold move. I was just kind of like, I had done it before.

Okay. Did Vanessa know? Who knows how that would have been. Nick, I'll be honest. Did you want a little attention? Yeah. It looks like you want a little candy in the back seat. No.

It was more like, here's the thing about Uber Pool. When I first moved to LA, I had my car, my whole life was in Chicago. And so I came out here and I didn't have a car out here. I had it out there and I had my condo there. Oh my God. I forgot about this time. This is flooding back to the honest time in your life. Yes.

I wasbering all over la which can get really expensive and before there was a moment where uber pool like was invented and i think everyone was kind of like like what is this let's try this way i'm going to get in a cab with it's already enough that i have to be driven by this you know but you wouldn't do it and i had this uh friend who was a a woman, an attractive woman. And I just assumed that she. Oh. No, but my point of it is, is like, I guess her look had nothing to do with it.

Oh, really? Sounds like they did. No, I point this out. I point this out because I kind of judged her for being the type of person who would be like, I don't want to get like. She could do it. I wouldn't feel comfortable. Like she would like, I don't want to like put myself in a situation how guys, you know, and that's why I say that. And she was like, well, why don't you don't Uber pool?

And it was very much like, well, if she can do this, then clearly I can do this. And this was after I had been on like the bachelorette twice. But at that point, she's telling me, she's like, dude, nine times out of 10, you're still the only person. So it was before like Uber pool. Oh yeah. I've never had that experience. And so.

Wow. So you got out of your comfort zone for this beautiful woman. Yeah. Well, the trick is if you're ever going to Uber pool and you have the time, you've got to sit shotgun. You sit shotgun, you put your headphones on. Oh. And that way you don't have to talk to the people in back.

The driver's driving and you're like. I don't have time. That's why I don't do that. You don't have time, Lauren. Did you get recognized? no i sat shotgun and i um good story yeah anyway so lauren is lauren's too good uh yeah to take an uber pool she's a little snobby i'm too busy i have stuff to do uh yeah final question wait you won that and that. And I didn't, I didn't. Can I say it's actually dangerous for me to take Ubers because I go into interview mode and I interview the driver.

Oh, I never do that. And before I know it, like this man is telling me about like how he's sending money to his ex because of his daughter. And then I'm like wrapped up. Like it's dangerous. I was going with headphones. It's just like, even if I'm not listening to music sorry man I can't yeah I gotta learn on a call yeah um last question has Lauren ever not necessarily with Chris so you don't have to but has Lauren ever used handcuffs in bed oh that face makes, yes. I think that's a yes. So I guess, yeah. Oh, no. Oh, no. Or she's just blushing about

the question in general. Were they furry? Looks like she can picture them right in her mind's eye right now. Okay. All right, so Lauren's super and I have never. Okay. Rochelle I have never. Okay. Rochelle, have you?

No. You haven't? No. I haven't. Look at your face. I don't need these extra trimmings. I'm fine with the meal as it is. Wow.

Who doesn't love a side dish? So Lauren has definitely used handcuffs. The game Do You Know Me really has done its job. It tells a lot. I endorse Do You Know Me really has done its job. It tells a lot. I endorse Do You Know Me. I have never had them been used on me. I also have never used them on anyone else. Put it on your bucket list.

I don't want to be tied up. I'm not big on the whole submission thing. Oh, maybe you should then. And I also feel weirdly comfortable. And yet, you'll take an Uber pool. How is there a correlation? I see it. Look at her face.

I see it. Oh my God. I'm like, let me get in this enclosed space. Well, thanks for playing Lauren. Do you know me? I love that game.

Yeah. Check it out on Amazon. Nick won. Nick knows you. Okay. Lauren, you, I'm very fascinated about this Jed story. You had the pleasure of interviewing

his accuser. Yes, we were her first Are we calling her an accuser? I guess she's accusing him of some stuff. Or she's telling their story. We were her first on-camera interview at Entertainment Tonight. Do you believe her?

I don't have a reason to you believe her? Just her story. Yeah, I don't have a reason to not believe her. Just kind of a yes or no? Yes, I believe her, yeah. I mean, she sent us a text exchange between the two of them. Not that that can't be faked, but I do believe her, yes. I think it would be wild if at this point, when she's going around telling this story to multiple media outlets,

that no one who knows Jed, like a friend or a family member, wouldn't have come forward and said, this person is lying and this is crazy i i think that would have happened by now yeah because i guess like the fair like the playing the other side of jed he's not allowed he he's under contract and he's not allowed to he's not allowed to like speak to this yes i mean i guess he could and he could go rogue but definitely whatever's going on there's people uh the on the producers who are he's not allowed to do that and so he would be breaking rules if he were to say something oh he's not allowed to come and defend himself or say anything well you can't allowed to give interview yeah and so listen it's a different world because social

media is what it is with instagram stories you You could have easily gone and like, hey, guys, this bullshit. Luke took to Instagram to address some stuff. Yeah, so that happens a lot. And so he could do that. I'm certain he's being advised not to for whatever reason, just because I don't, you know. But yeah. Yes. I believe her. I, but yeah. Yes. I believe her.

I do believe her. Yes. You know, some people were kind of tweeting at me and saying like, I'm defending Jed or something. I, all that I've said about this is look, Jed, as we've said, cannot do interviews. So I will just wait until I have fully formed an opinion on the situation until I can interview him. And quite frankly, I want to grill him about it. Here's the thing about Jed, though, that I couldn't.

I mean, he really kind of crossed poorly on this episode based off the information that we know. It was so hard to watch. It is so bizarre and painful. painful and um but he the problem i had like this whole half truth thing in the sense that like it makes it's a you know this whole jet came out with this like hey you know hannah i just want to be honest and and i you know i i i was i came here for the platform you know and he basically tried to sell himself as an honest person by admitting that he wasn't being honest but he was still telling a lie while he was doing it honest, but he was still telling a lie while he was doing it, which makes it worse. It's like a half truth.

One of the lyrics in the song he sang to her was, I'll never tell a lie. It's the darkness factor. But I mean, specifically, don't you think it makes it worse when you try, like it's a manipulation tactic. Even in any relationship where you're like, you try to own up to a mistake, but you do it specifically because you feel guilt more importantly and specifically my guess he's worried he's going to get caught so he tries to own up for something but he completely leaves out a most important detail do you think he told her about the girl and they just edited it out no not at all uh it's like for example let's assume think of a situation where a guy like a guy or girl cheats on their girlfriend let's he goes to vegas and he like meets a girl and he like made out with

a girl right it's the that that guy what jed did to henna it's like he comes home he feels a lot of guilt he maybe he's worried one of his friends for talk and so he goes to his girlfriend says hey babe i just i need to come clean. I met this girl and nothing happened. I just want you to know nothing happened. But like, I was definitely flirting and I was inappropriate. And it made me realize and completely leaving out that he like, grinded with her and made out with her and maybe hooked up. And so that people do that all the time.

And then it's really icky because you feel like, of course, and then that person feels like that they absolutely are telling the truth because why would he make that up? People say all the time, like, why would he say that if he did left that out? Anyway, yeah. So I just think it makes it 10 times worse what what Jed is doing. It makes it that much ugly if assuming this is all true. this is all true and i gotta say with with with her i know the there's a side of people saying uh well she is complicit in this she is but what she's more naive than anyone i gotta say because i'm glad if it's true she can't it came out and i'm not saying she's totally innocent in this

but any reasonable person if they put themselves in a situation not knowing what this world is like and they were dating someone for three or four months and that person surprised them and said hey man i've been like i got this opportunity and but it's just for show and i love you and this is a show i think we all righteously want to be like oh we wouldn't we would break up but like this girl is seemingly was in love with jed and and feeling these feelings and according to her it's the first person he said i love you too like let's not discount like who know we want to always believe the people we love we want to believe that they love us the most and then for jed to like seemingly

go on the show go far he's He's like, watching this episode, it seems like for the first time, I see Hannah actually falling for someone other than Luke P. She likes making out with all these guys, but this is the first time. It seemed like Jed had the power dynamic between those two.

Oh. I mean, she was opening up to him and he was telling her to open up. I mean, how often do you see the cast telling the lead to open up more? When she was telling him that it's hard for her to be with the other guys and she's sort of looking over at him, those little moments. She was like saying, I'm going to pick you. It felt very real to me.

Just me watching her. I don't want to predict the thoughts in her head, but it looked like her feelings for him were very real. It seemed, and again, like we like we made missing stuff but that conversation really made it seem like other than luke peach jed is the only one she's developing real feelings for more than like i like making out with you you're sweet and you're nice but like she was being vulnerable with jed and what i'm saying if you're this girl like and he yeah go like he's gone far how would you feel like clearly she's loving the intention she's a country music singer but like every any normal person if they were like dating

someone someone goes on the show and don't come back you would be pissed you would be hurt and so i don't think i'm i'm very more defensive of this girl rather than think like she is she you know like she's not necessarily she's been she's been manipulated by jed well and now she's kind of out to get him which i get i get i'm at the point now where i don't want to put him versus her because we've heard so much about this she's done multiple interviews now at the end of the day it's a mess they both made bad choices it's a mess and i'm certainly not defending jed and i totally see what you're saying that i think and i you know i talked to her and she said what she told me was i kind of

didn't think the show was real i was i was doing something that i thought i needed to do for someone i love fair i totally believe that there's a big perception out there and i see that with people i've interacted with is that people yeah do believe it's not necessarily real it's more so now that you have with with social media and paradise more so now pre even cast members clearly are treating this show like a career opportunity and i think in the past it was a naiveness of like and it was an experience not necessarily a career playbook now it now it is. You're definitely getting more people treating it as a career opportunity because everybody knows I'm gonna go on the show

and at least get X amount of Instagram followers. Most of them are disappointed by what they've done. But like, yes, what I'm saying is, and so I totally believe, I don't think that was a disingenuous comment by her. No, I don't think so either. I'm just at the point now where, you know, this has all come out i just don't know

how much more we're gonna get we still have a month of the show left and what is a little it's gonna be brutal right well and what's really strange to watch right is great tv it's always gonna be great tv and this whole situation makes a great tv because now i i don't know if i've ever looked forward more to right the whether he's on the the men tell all or the afr whatever i'm fast he's he's my front runner now because like luke's been such a mess and like she can't pick him yeah they've in the previews they make it seem like i mean who knows but it sounds like they're showing us sending luke home yeah and as great as tyler is and as good looking and as charming as he is holding out for tyler he's a me, when Tyler said in this episode, I sincerely want the best for Hannah,

I believed two very distinct things in that comment. I believed absolutely that he thinks that. I absolutely believe that Tyler thinks that he wants the best for Hannah. I believe that he truly thinks that Luke P is not the best for Hannah. I believe that he truly thinks that Luke P is not the best for Hannah and actually believes he hopes it's anyone but him. Anyone but Tyler? Listen, I think he really likes her. And I'm sure if Ty were listening to this, he would probably be pissed off by that. But when you watch it back, this is a guy, all the guys, even Peter's a great guy. this is the first time like it's hard to make about luke because i mean i'm jed because of of this story but like and like i don't agree with

almost anything uh that comes out of luke p's mouth in terms of how he speaks to to hannah but he is seems to be the only one who just looks like he he's losing his mind because he likes her so much in a sense of like i don't believe it doesn't seem i don't believe any of these guys it i i could be wrong is what i'm watching that they're going to be heartbroken truly heartbroken when they go home really how do i do is someone who's been in that position like a blake from last year or garrett when you watch the show when i mean like listen i think everyone should have their heart broken at some point in their life no it's seriously it's like you learn you grow no but not even that it's like a weird fucked up high

in a sense if you can't like relate to the experience of at least in the moment of like literally not knowing if you're going to be okay like that's a life experience that you have and i just don't see any of these guys like really being afraid i saw that with garrett and blake last year and that has nothing i see that with luke p whether i agree with like things he says i think luke p right now is so all in and truly believes that it's hannah and all these guys i'm just not seeing it. I'm seeing the guys who really care about Hannah, who think she's great, who think she's beautiful and smart and funny. And I think they all hate Luke P and they're all

bros. Yeah. It's like, would you, could you really give Peter a hug for getting a rose? It's great that they're cool. And sometimes the show does that where it's just like, they're way too excited to support. And I guess I got say well i don't agree with luke p like it is not wrong for luke p to be happy that mike went home we're talking about these guys who are seemingly talking about i agree i can get engaged to hannah in three to four weeks yeah and yet they're so right happy that there's nothing wrong with that. The problem with Luke P is the shaming and the judgment and the condescension and the misogyny. That's what also makes it fascinating to watch both Luke P and Jed on camera is because if

we didn't know any of this about Jed, he would be saying all the right things. And we would be like, wow, they have real feelings for each other. And they really seem into each other. And wow, Luke P on camera. I have an easier time, not an easier time, but I've judged Luke P more because I am seeing with my own eyes the things he's saying that I don't agree with and that I find problematic. And Jed is saying all these things and we're seeing like we said, real feelings from Hannah. And I have to say, I kind of thought from the drag race date, I thought that Jed might be the guy for Hannah because she has said to me in different interviews,

you know, she wants like this like kind of classic Southern guy, but modern. And that's kind of what Hannah is. And I think Jed is giving those vibes, you know, like lives in Nashville. He's got that charm, but he's also this like open, coming across this open-minded guy. I'm pretty sure Jed used a line from one of his songs what did you say rochelle what about her bod no there's something

about earth or the oh the earth falling through the earth thing was that from one of his songs i don't i don't know it's got we should listen to his song right now there is no way that that line is not written on some sort of note and when he's like pretending he's writing songs and it's like. The earth opened up and my heart fell through. But I agree with you, Lord. I think she, Jed is clearly the front. Just from watching the show, Jed is. This episode was very telling.

It was a, yes, to me it was like. Well, they did the Tyler dirty with that pickled herring. I was literally getting dirty. I would have thrown up. I thought to myself, I wonder if, and you can tell me more that you know more than me, but I was like, are the producers worried that he's coming across

too perfect? They sabotaged him. Make him awkward on a horse and throw up from a fish. She was literally, she could have been more unattracted to him at that point. She was just like, God. He was a side of Tyler we've never seen. I really felt I was watching him fall from grace and nearly fall off a horse. No, I don't think the producers think that way.

I mean, listen, Tyler's a very impressive guy. Even like you look at his social media, he's an impressive- He's organizing group runs in Central Park. Coming around to you, Tyler. No, I've always been a fan of Tyler. He is objectively impressive. Again, I think to myself,

I wasn't doing this at 25, 26. So he's, he's also a guy, you know, in a sense that like, you are definitely seeing the best parts of Tyler. And again, I don't want to take anything away from all like the, the right things Tyler has said. But again, I, I just don't see a guy who's truly gonna, who is afraid of losing something. And from personal experience in that world imagine falling in love with someone and then be and watching him date a bunch of other guys who are threats no human being can be that chill yeah in that situation and that doesn't mean you have to and that's not an excuse for luke to say the things he's saying you can like try to you can

you can be respectful and calm like blake for example when blake got broken up with becca he was respectful he also was losing his shit and i'm just saying like these guys ability to be like so fucking cool tells me about the stakes that they really have or maybe don't have because it's easy to say the right thing. I think there's part of them that is just so excited when like about the idea of Luke P finally leaving, like they want to get rid of him so bad. Sure.

But I totally see what you're saying. They were all very excited that Peter had a rose. They care too much. If there was another guy who was truly like in it, he would just be like, listen, all I care about me and her. And like,

this is all like it'll all work itself out and i just don't i'm not seeing that and it happens every season and again guys it's easy to fall in love with your peers because that's who is friends because that's who you're seeing more so having been the bachelor after this episode which i felt was very telling and we saw three people go home who would you pick right now to be the next bachelor who would be the best and i say that question asking who would be the, make the best. I would have picked Mike before this episode.

I think if I'm being honest, I really, you know, I think the bachelor needs to have the first black bachelor. You don't think he has a shot still? Sure. Of course he has a shot. I mean,

as a fan, I think it was a very poor showing for Mike. It was, it was kind of a week. It was a week. Goodbye. I don't, again,

he's like this i'm ready to get married to you based on what like there's no connection between the two so now he's like just saying things and i didn't like it to see it sounded he came across to me as disingenuous and i just it was just i've always gotten a friend i got a friend's vibe it was just like i just i didn't think the show went out of their way to have like this big sometimes there's just a big goodbye in this emotional moment right right Mike's goodbye

was very forgettable and so just objectively gracious gracious fine I'm not there's nothing I'm not

I'm not criticizing Mike the person right or his goodbye I'm just saying from a fan standpoint it was forgettable

and I don't it didn't seem like he was a priority for the show so i guess i would say uh well after minus the jed drama i would have said peter jed and tyler uh who are you picking who again tyler the best television show tyler peter clearly the you know from what the fans are saying you know tyler tyler Tyler, Peter. Yeah. Well, I mean, I always, and I talked to people about this a lot. Like,

look, Colton didn't necessarily have the biggest following before he was bachelor, but he made, but he was the most charismatic, but a lot of people were calling on Twitter. So adamantly for other people, but Colton made for the best television show.

He had a great story. So I want the best TV show. I think what, like, I am really excited about Peter. That's the thing. I feel like I need to know more about both Tyler and Peter. And I really want to see emotional moments from both of them.

I need it. Tyler is too collected. And for, for a bachelor, it's almost like great. You're charmed. You're charming. And you're like,

you're smooth and you're good looking, but like, but you know, we got, we got more apps. I don't know. I'm I'm, I hate to say I need the tears.

I want to see those tears. Well, let's take some fan questions before lauren has to wrap up and uh yeah hey thank you for having me nick vail thanks for what's your time with me let's ask nick your sexy questions hi what's your name good. Hi, what's your name? How are you? Good, how are you? What's your name?

My name's Kyla. Kyla, how are you? I'm good, how are you? I'm great. I'm Nick. This is Lauren. Hi, Kyla. Lauren Zima.

So nice to meet you. We also have Rochelle in the room. Hi. Nice to meet you. What's your question hi um so i've been dating my boyfriend for five years now and a little over a month ago i caught him playing with himself to a picture of a girl we both knew right beside me in bed so um her volume i kicked him out and we broke up for a couple weeks but now it's like everything's back to normal um eventually i let him move back in

wait i'm sorry for interrupting what do you mean it's back to wait so you were living you were living with him? Yeah, we like somewhat resolved things and I let him move back in. And, but I'm just basically trying to figure out things mentally on my part. And I would like an opinion from someone who doesn't know the situation, like just a stranger basically. And he used her Instagram to access the pictures. Kyla, I think it's very problematic that it was someone you both know.

Yeah. Yeah. So wait, so hold on. So you walked in on him masturbating? No, she was laying in bed with him. No, he was in bed right next to me. Masturbating. To a picture of someone they both know.

And he assumed you were sleeping? He thought that I was sleeping, yeah. Bold motherfucker. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's hard to understand why someone would do that. That's just really stupid. And so you looked over.

He was just like a picture of her and just rubbing one out. Actually, that's just really stupid. And so, like, you looked over, he's holding the, he was just, like, a picture of her and just rubbing one out. Actually, I forgot to tell you, he was on my phone to get to her account. So, Kyla... I mean, he assumes you're sleeping, but, like, that doesn't make it,

it just makes it weirder, but I guess not. And how did he explain himself as to why he would do that? Well, basically, I knew, like, I was turned over and I knew exactly what he was doing. And when I turned over, he clicked the phone off and I, I like, he was just immediately saying, I'm not watching porn. I'm not watching porn. So I grabbed the phone from him.

I put him outside the room and, um, I went on my phone and what popped up was a picture of this girl in a bikini on Instagram. And just the whole time he tried to explain to me that it wasn't him watching porn. And I'm like, yeah, you're wrong. I would argue that him watching porn would have been a better. That's my thing, too. I think it's a big problem that you know her, Kyla. i would say just go ahead and get yourself out of that relationship i'm sorry i'm being really blunt but you deserve better you deserve better babe you do that's definitely i mean ultimately probably i mean you've been living with him uh you've been named been in for five years um yeah it's it's so like yes it's just like it's weird that you were looking

at a picture i mean listen as a if we're trying to be objective here do like do men and women if we're all being honest if we've been in a relation is this your first are you guys how you don't seem that old so you've been in for five years how old are you is your first boyfriend 21 okay 21 so like yeah you guys are both super young you've pretty much all you've ever known i am not defending him at all but like we've all like i'm sure in our brains have thought of a fan have had fantasies like i don't sit there and pretend that i i'm sure you've saw another guy and thought he was attractive and maybe you've fantasized him. Like getting the picture of your friend, it does make it a lot worse and it makes it like kind of tangible in a sense.

But it's a weird thing. It feels more emotional. It feels more emotional because it's like it's a and I'm not defending him, but I guess I mean, we've all been there where you think about our mind goes. And like Lauren and I both joke, it would have been better if he's watching porn. Right. And in a weird way, like had you had let me ask you this. Had you woken up and he was masturbating to porn, what would you have thought?

It would have been way better. But I mean, still, not ideal. Leave the room. You know, Kylie, you know what? baiting to porn what would you have thought it would have been way better but i mean still not ideal room you know kyle you know what i'm just gonna pivot onto something totally different here do you feel like you know who you are without your boyfriend yeah i'm fine like see when we when we broke up you know everyone was trying to tell me, this is when you need to figure out who you are. And I, I basically like, I,

I feel like I know who I am. So sure. It's not like my world revolves around him. I just asked. Cause you guys got together pretty young. Yeah. Listen, I,

whether, you know, to Lauren's point, whether you know who you are or not, like, and I, not to sound condescending, you are young and that's an awesome thing and regardless of how much you already know there's you i i hope that you hope that you have a lot more to learn just regardless of any 21 year old

there's so much life and there's so much things that as people we can all learn and so this this mistake doesn't make him a bad person and i I can't even necessarily, it makes him a cheater because like, it's just, it was weird and he got caught and it's like a poor decision on his part. But like, yeah, it might be an opportunity for you to take a, like maybe he's moved back in. Maybe this is a real opportunity to see if this is like, because clearly he has, this is going to be a thing that you're wondering if he's thinking about other

people. And maybe because you guys have been together for most of your adult life, that maybe you guys need to experience life outside of each other. You guys are so young that you could break up and date other people. You have time. I think if you're meant to be together and if you date other people the only thing that that will help you do is get resolved that he is the person for you you know if you go and kind of date other people and experience the world a little bit and

you miss him and you're thinking about him then that'll give you some resolution is it cheating though if you do that is it cheating well you gotta be on the same emotionally like it definitely i do i'm sure you felt emotionally cheated and i can think it's she has a right to feel that way for sure right um at the same time as humans we have all fantasized about people uh maybe we maybe we didn't take off the phone but like i i it's i'm sure people listening have whether for him to do it next to you while you're sleeping and does it make it okay if like he did it while you were at work and couldn't have got caught but like i bet that's happened people in relationships masturbate to porn and sometimes they communicate and their spouses know you know yeah it's a weird thing but um i think and more importantly to lauren's point you guys

maybe you need to experience life outside of each other, regardless if you know yourself or not. And clearly he is thinking about other, um, girls and that doesn't make him a bad person, but he shouldn't be doing it in a relationship. So maybe you guys should have life without each other and see if it's, if it's really a relationship you guys want to be in with each other. Definitely. It's definitely been one of my thoughts. So. All right. You're beautiful, Kyla. Yeah. You're going to be in with each other definitely it's definitely been one of my thoughts so all right you're beautiful kyla yeah you're gonna be cutie you are thank you all right good luck thank you okay bye-bye it's so nice to meet you as well thanks for calling okay bye she seemed awfully excited given this is such an emotional burden you take on jesus

oh my god you got to advise these people in their five-year relationships. This is the best part of the show. This is a lot. Hello? Hello. It's Tracy. Hi, Tracy. How are you?

I'm okay. How are you? I'm good. I'm Nick. This is Lauren. Hi, Lauren. We also have Rochelle in the room. Hello.

Hi. And what's your question, Tracy? Okay, so I'll try to make this as succinct as I can. So my husband and I have been together for nine years, married for six years, and we have a three-year-old daughter. Did you say six years? Yes. Okay. About two years ago, my husband started getting very unhappy and kind of depressed just with life in general um so i talked to him about it and he thought he was having like a midlife crisis

and he needed something in his life that was just his and that didn't revolve around just my daughter and i um so i signed him up for some improv classes he was interested in. And he really liked that for a while. And then things kind of went back to how they were before. Okay. So I thought maybe it was a problem between the two of us and we needed to like connect more. So I tried to set up date nights for us twice a month. Like once a month we'd get a babysitter and go out and do something. And then once a month we'd put my daughter to bed and have a date night. And then I just like plan something fun for us to do.

Um, that those days went fine, but the next day things went back to how they were before. Um, he started as time went on getting like mean and said mean things to me and just didn't really seem to like me. Um, so I kind of took the approach of, I like made a conscious decision to stop caring about that and just focus on my daughter and stop worrying about that.

I wasn't being good enough for him and just wanted to like, enjoy life with my daughter. So we did that and I discovered that I could do everything I needed to do enjoy life with my daughter. So we did that. And I discovered that I could do everything I needed to do with her on my own. I didn't necessarily need my husband. Um, and then we had a family vacation with my family and he was horrible to me that whole week, like yelling at me and just being really mean. And my family was really concerned, but I didn't want them to talk to him about it because I thought it was something we needed to work on together um so after that I told him that we needed to go to counseling and I was going to go and if he didn't want to go that was fine but I was going because I didn't know what else to do um so he came with me and shortly

after that he started um taking medication for anxiety um this was back in like september we started doing this and ever since then we've been going to counseling and he's been really improving a lot and like taking to heart everything that i've been saying that i've had issues with and it was going really well but for some reason i'm struggling now to get the feelings back that I had for him before any of this ever happened. I know that he's really trying to be better and he is being better, but I, for whatever reason, I can't emotionally get myself back there. So I don't know. I'm wondering what can I do to like fully forgive him and fall back in love with my husband because right now I feel like we're not there at all and I don't want to be stuck in a marriage

where I don't love my husband forever yeah no that makes sense I mean listen I think uh thanks for your question it's a very vulnerable and honest question um and you're in a tough spot I think there's a couple things to consider here. I mean, it makes a lot of sense, right? In terms of you basically through your story kind of told us kind of an evolution of your relationship, right? And the one theme that I noticed when you telling the story, it's literally you're doing all the work. You, you, you know, he was needed some more excitement. So you signed him up for improv and like, you know, you suggested counseling and, you know, you were like doing 90% of this relationship and he like, he was showing up and that takes its toll in terms of like the desire to make it work.

And that process, you again, realize that you could do these on his own and on, on your own. And so that fear of like needing the partner or needing that person to help me, you became a kind of a independent, powerful person. Right. And so that kind of makes sense of why maybe now you're feeling these feelings of like, do I really need you? And there's some resentment in there. And like, you even mentioned like the ability to forgive at the same time you are married. And like, it just kind of depends on, on, um, what your vows mean to you. And I'm not saying like people do get divorced. And sometimes I know you say, you know, death do your part, but sometimes the right thing to do, unfortunately is to separate. Right. And I think you're just in a position to decide

what's your timeline, what's your patience level. I mean, I've never been married, but every time I've talked to a married couple who's had 20, 30, 40 plus years of marriage, they talk about good years and bad years, not like months and days. So this might be something you have to get through. I think it's very honest. I think you need to communicate with him where you're at too, without making him feel threatened but there's nothing i think you just have to continue to keep doing what you're doing and eventually figure out if you can get it back right but like i don't think there's anything wrong especially you have a family together to try to make it work um this might be a process that could take six twelve months eighteen months to get back i don't think it's going to change overnight.

And my guess is subconsciously, I don't know, is it subconscious? Do you feel like how permanent is this? His effort that he's showing, like, do you even know if this is like, if it's genuine or if he means it, or is he just like trying to make it work kind of thing? So you're probably processing all this and figuring it out. I think you got to see the effort.

That's the thing. You have to feel like you see continued sustained effort from that other person because any relationship, whether it's marriage, friendship, or work relationship is a two-way street. And I understand why your feelings would wane if you're not seeing the effort from him, especially if you've been very communicative and clear that you need to see effort from him. If you're telling him, I need you to do these things, I need to see these things from you, and that's not happening time and time again. I understand your feelings. And you know what? At the end of the day, you have to feel like you gave it your all before you walk away. So that's a question I would ask myself. Do I feel like I have tried everything I absolutely can? When you say like you have to forgive him,

do you feel resentment? Do you feel resentment towards him? I guess I thought, like we talked about this together and I thought that I had forgiven him. And then as we've gone through, you know, my coming with, for lack of a better word, like different complaints, every time we meet with our therapist and he's actually making an effort to fix these things and I'm not having these feelings come back, I'm thinking that, I mean, I don't know why they're not coming back. So I'm thinking maybe it is because I'm still resentful and I don't know how to get over that because I don't feel like I

am but when I think about it I still feel really bad about the situations that happened so I guess I am okay I just don't know how to forgive I guess my question is what's your trust level that this new person is going to you know what I'm saying do you

believe that because if I were you I would have uncertainty about like how he's going to be and that would make me wonder if it's really worth my time and I wonder if you feel that. You know like do you trust that this new version of him is really the new

version of him or is it just kind of like this kind of temporary thing? You know? Yeah and I don't know. I definitely feel that way and i don't know how to know that for sure yeah so it's been i mean listen i don't have a i don't have a hard like do this or do that i will all i want to say is it sounds like you're doing the right things you're doing as much as you can i commend you for that you're doing therapy you just kind of have to keep checking yourself and checking in with yourself. I think there's nothing wrong with giving it more time and wanting to make this work. And then you have to decide

what your breaking point is. And you have to figure out whether this is going to be something that you could regret if you left a relationship. But if he's willing to do the work, and you love him, you might not be in love with him, but you love him as a person and you love the family, there's nothing wrong with seeing if you can get that feeling back. And it might take some time. But at some point, if it's gone, then it's, I guess, gone. But you're doing the right things. You're doing everything you can at this point. I think that's great. All I love to you, girl, you're gorgeous.

It sounds like you're prioritizing yourself and your daughter. So good for you. Thank you. Thank you. Take care. I hope that was somewhat helpful. Just keep, keep your head up high and keep doing what you're doing.

Thank you so much. I appreciate it. All right. Take care. Bye Tracy. Lauren, thanks for coming. Thank you for having me.

So much fun good luck with your relationship oh thanks not that I want you to break up but if you do can we have the exclusive

oh my god no I'm seeing great things the tables have really if I ever yeah if I ever you know get in a relationship

maybe we can double ooh and then you know we'll just we'll just go from there. Thank you so much for having me. Thanks for being a friend.

It's so funny. Thanks for being a friend of Bachelor Nation. Give me all the dirt. You're good. And we'll see you. We'll see you next time. Fans. Thanks for listening.

If you like us always, you know, we appreciate the five stars if you could, and we will see you next week.