The Viall Files - E360 Brandon Jones Tells All

Episode Date: December 22, 2021

Today we’re sitting down with Bachelorette Runner-up, Brandon Jones! We dive in to get all the tea on the conclusion of this season and check-in with Brandon to see how he is doing after the finale. We ask if the emotions were real, how he’s handling heartbreak, and what bothers him most that people assume about him. We also dive into Brandon trying to find clarity by watching the show, what defines a fuckboy in Brandon’s eyes, and who he would let his sister date from the house. We reflect by asking Brandon how he would react if Michelle reached out to him and if he would want another chance with her. We also give Brandon some advice now that he is part of the heartbreak club and ask about his future plans. “I want my partner to choose me.” Please make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode and as always send in your relationship questions to [e-mail] to be a part of our Monday episodes.  Check out our new "Introvert" merch at www.viallfiles.com today! Episode Socials:  @viallfiles @nickviall @bmacjones See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

you're crazy welcome everybody to a very emotional vile files brandon cheers cheers how you doing man uh you know i'm doing good um as you guys can take a sip oh i can take a sit all right oh yeah i'm doing a lot better now all right um uh sorry for intro welcome to the club yeah oh yeah yeah i heard about you yeah i guess uh not once but twice yeah yeah oh man so it's okay can i ask you some sure what's some advice you could give me like moving forward because i felt like you know i got the closure i needed i got everything i needed but you went through it twice i did so are you looking for like love emotional

advice are you looking for like career advice are you looking for like what should you do next like tomorrow what what are you looking for no i think it's mostly like i guess it's like emotion advice like right now i'm a little bit closed off you know i'm not gonna be that vulnerable really until i meet someone who was i don't know i guess like i can be vulnerable with again but you know like were you closed off too once you got back and where you like shut down and you just yeah i was kind of a mess at first okay yeah it took me um well we were just talking about this with uh elizabeth in the recap um it took me until getting through the airing of the show and i guess i'll turn it back to you i mean my first question is like, for me, it was really hard to watch back. And I look at you and watching your journey back, and not every scene is created equal.

Not every runner up in my mind is equal. Like, you know, this world is funny. And I think, you know, it's really hard for everyone to process. And everyone's affected differently right yeah and every once in a while i see someone that reminds me of myself when going through it where like this man is in like he's all in he has uh put aside the outside world family friends judgment whatever he has committed this he found somebody he connects with, and he decided to say, fuck it, he's all in. And she went a different direction.

And in this moment, this man is broken. He's going to be okay, but I felt there's some real crying. And you don't get that with every runner-up, especially with the Bachelorette. I saw that with you, and I'm wondering wondering watching it back um what was that like because uh there were times watching the season back with andy that like i got i would cry because it would like i'd be like it would you know like most people like have you had your heart broken before this uh yes but not like this yeah yeah and so any heartbreak right you you will romanticize the situation in your head

and this thing you got to watch back and you're like we were in love like what the and you know like and i remember asking myself like watching it back like kind of like i was kind of i was like what the you know like, and then you start questioning the authenticity of everything you went through. And so my question to you is, like, what was your thought process watching it back? As someone who clearly had very real emotions for Michelle, like, did you watch it? Was it torturous? Like, how did, what did you go through? So, I mean, okay, coming back, obviously, I was completely broken.

You know, like, I didn't want to, you know, I called my parents as soon as I got back. I was like, hey, I'm in the airport. I could take an Uber, but I'd rather, like, send a car with you guys and just, like, talk out all my emotions on the drive home. So, parents picked me up. You know, they're giving me advice they asked me what happened they also obviously knew like I went to the end without having to say months um I broke down cried in front of them and I was like yeah like I really thought it was it um her meeting my family they thought it was it too um just the way that I looked at her the way I talked about

her and uh my parents uh they're not the most when it comes to bringing girls home they're not the most like hey we want you to be a part of the family they're more like uh oh we'll see how it goes you know normal normal normal an appropriate level of like yeah we'll see yeah and then they met met Michelle and they're like, yo, like, we have a spot open up for you if you want it. She's a very impressive woman. It is. So, it was a lot of preparation.

Like, I, you know, I went through a little bit of a sad, you know, kind of depressed stage. Just kind of like stayed in my room. I didn't really want to talk to anyone. I think, you know, just like, thank God, because my family kept checking in on me my friends kept checking on me um clayton tried to check on me you know before he left a couple guys from the show checked on me and uh you know just how many of them did you tell what happened uh i only told clayton and will what happened so will was the one who got his jacket thrown in the pool.

Yeah. I really liked Will at first. And then, like, at the tell-all, I was like, eh. But you vouched for Will. Yeah. I vouched for Will. Like, he's a really, really great dude. I thought he was pretty funny early on.

Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, at the tell-all, that was just cutthroat. Like, plain and simple. I've never seen the dudes like that. tell all that was just cutthroat like plain and simple i've never seen the dudes like that like that was just cutthroat so yeah um yeah so you know and then i don't know my mindset just switched like i realized like brandon you can sit here you could dwell on everything but that's not gonna help because whether i like her or not it's gonna show when was that like when like was that during airing like when it was at the was it airing well you had this moment no no no this is all before airing i had to prep myself before seeing it air because i knew people were

gonna be like reaching out they're gonna be tagging me they're gonna like i so yeah it's the worst right because like people watching like oh you they're so happy you ended up with her man like oh my god can't wait to meet her and i can't tell a single soul what i'm going through other than like immediate family and friends so you know i realized like i'm gonna have to face this one way or another and i like to say like i it's like facing a storm you You can either run away from it, but either way, it's going to catch up to you. So you can go face it head on and get to the center of the storm and realize it's beautiful and see the beauty in it. Or I could keep running from it and staying in this, like, upset stage and, you know, this questionable stage of, like, what's happening and all that.

So, you know, I just switched my life around. I got into the gym. I've been in the gym twice a day. Just, you know, I just switched my life around. I got into the gym. I've been in the gym twice a day. Just, you know. You look buff. I appreciate it. Yeah. You know, just like doing that mindset.

Read a lot more, journaled a lot more. Got all my thoughts out, prepared myself. And then. What'd you read? I read, it was a book. It's just called Uncom it's just like his struggle and his journey to get to where he's at um read a book about you know i guess i don't know i stuck with football for some reason but like they just had the best stories like kurt warner when he thought you know it was all done he didn't want to go and try and

you know he put his all out and then ended up being successful so yeah um there was a lot of working on myself so would it be fair to say that um this experience of heartbreak that you felt was one of or the lowest moment of your life it was definitely one of the lowest moments of my life yeah uh definitely you know that day of because i didn't i didn't allow myself to understand you know i didn't allow myself all i saw was the heartbreak if that makes sense like i didn't allow myself to understand the beauty from it i just looked at the bad i just looked at you know my life like right afterwards like yeah like i'm not moving to minnesota with her and i'm not doing this with her i'm not starting a life i'm not you know talking to her family anymore yeah so it was

just like so we only get the benefit of watching the show right yeah so uh nate obviously was had been a front runner for you got the first impression rose yeah you know nate nate's a confident guy and we watched this episode like the fancy sweet episode where nate was you know nate nate's a confident guy and we watched this episode like the fancy sweet episode where nate was you know he was kind of in your face like kind of flexing a little bit yeah he came in mad confident i'm not gonna lie we're but you know and like you know i've been in your shoes before so you know hearing what you're describing i get at least for me you're just like yeah there's moments of doubt um but once you decide like we had like like well how i thought was every time i have a moment of doubt i just thought how could how could you have what we have with someone else

i don't i don't get it right i right? It was like simple math to me. But yet, you know, certainly I knew the guys they ended up with, like I knew they were like legitimate threats. Like I knew. And so did you see Nate as, like did you always like knew it was you or were you looking at Nate or maybe even Joe or even Rodney or any other guy and think, I know we have something, but like, fuck, I'm worried about this. Yeah. So, um, see, the thing was, I wasn't, I didn't look at it that in like that light, I guess I looked at it as, you know, these guys have nothing that I have with Michelle. They will never, they will never compete to what I have with Michelle. I will never compete with what they have with Michelle. And I think I looked at it as Michelle needs to see the best out of every single person here. So if I'm the decision at the end of the day, then I was that perfect choice. I was that perfect fit.

perfect choice i was that perfect fit and we all brought something different to the table so i didn't look at it as like oh nate's such a threat i'm gonna have to do something or joe sets the threat or do something but you you you knew it came down to one like you knew like at the end of the day michelle had to make a choice yeah it wasn't gonna be the bachelorette forever where she's like i get to date all these guys you know yeah and when it gets down to the final three like it's it's i don't know about you but for me it was just like it's easier to like accept this crazy world you decide to be a part of like hey i don't know it's weird it's fucking like there's done dudes like we're on a date like whatever but down to three it gets more real and like you see the end that's when you that's when that's when everyone like joe said best, we went from like bros to foes.

You know what I mean? Because everyone's starting to have this even more intense, intimate connection with Michelle. And then, you know, so honestly, honestly, I dealt with it. I dealt with it as soon as I left Minnesota. I realized that all the guys on the show are telling me to focus on my own relationship. They're saying, hey, focus on your own relationship. Focus on, you know, your own talks with Michelle. Focus on all that.

And I realized that was the biggest lie that anyone's told me on the show. Because focusing on your relationship doesn't help you at all. It just numbs the pain from everything else going on. That makes sense. What do you mean? Because you got to understand that if you want to be with that person in this setting, you got to learn to understand to put yourself in their shoes. So you got to understand that I know she's going to have a great time with Nate.

I know she's going to have a great time with Joe. I know she's going to have a great time with me. I'm not going to just focus on me. Because as you've seen, I saw Nate kind of getting in his head a little bit at the end. Because he was like, dude, I did not know that Michelle was having these connections with these people. Like, when the fireworks went off. He was like, yeah, I didn't know we were having this connection. See, I dealt with that already.

And so. You were prepared for that. I was prepared for that. Because it's fantasy suites. We all know what that means. If you get a key you know it might lead to something it might not i mean like what does it mean i'm not gonna no no no no i'm required to ask you you you went down a path and i just wanted to see how far you're willing to go no no no no

yeah so i dealt with that and that helped me because i realized like that's why i said at the end like your happiness that's why i knew i love michelle because i realized like wow i've never put someone above me in my life before usually i try to look as equal but talking to her parents and seeing their successful marriage like realize like you gotta put them first so i thought you know what i'm gonna put myself in her shoes i'm gonna understand that she needs to have these great connections these guys need to be at their best so that she can see that and make the best decision for herself of course i hoped it was me at the end um obviously it wasn't and i was dude i that was yeah i i was yeah can i can i this and i don't

want you to answer right away i want you to think about it for a second like okay are you still hurting a little bit you can take a drink before you answer um yes and no is that me so yes because yes and no a little bit uh so i think you know hurting less but maybe still healing yeah so i watched the episode before it you know i walked on stage and i saw everything going on and i think it was less hurting it was more how do i put these it was, I thought I'd get clarity. Like, I had the parents love me. I had a great time with the parents.

From AFR tonight? No, no, from the last episode. Because I'm watching this as I know I didn't win, so I'm looking at Nate, and I'm seeing, like, you know, their connection. I'm seeing, you know, everything going on and how that all built up. So that was hard for you to watch? Well, yeah, a little bit. Because, you'm getting i'm trying to get clarity on why she chose him and so i understand that you know you chose him your heart wants what the heart wants

you can't you can't can i offer you some advice now hearing what you have to say you gotta let it go you gotta let the tv aspect go yeah well you know because if i'm hearing you right yeah is that you bonded with michelle's parents and then when you watched it back you saw that bond you were reminded of that bond like kind of like i mentioned i was like i you know you you go through this experience we get heartbroken and then you take some time then you watch it back you're like fuck i get to like i have to watch this fucking shit back i don't have to remember it and you're like wait that was fucking real i would ever remember i'm not delusional i'm not fucking crazy right yeah because in real life like you don't get to look back at it you don't

get to watch don't even look back see that's the most beautiful thing i had a soundtrack and it's like it's even more beautiful than i remember you know it's just so beautiful at the old sun so god i'm romantic um but you know you connect with michelle's parents right and then you're like all right maybe i'll see something more with with nate that i didn't get to see and yet here we are you know michelle's mom's like i don't know like maybe he's a boy you know what you know what i'm saying you're just like yeah maybe he's a but i'm not and that was hard for you to watch uh i think yeah the big no that wasn't it that wasn't it what was it you know honestly the hardest you to watch uh i think yeah the big no that wasn't it that wasn't it

what was it you know honestly the hardest thing to watch was seeing how truly happy i was and how so in love i was with her seeing myself like that and then knowing the outcome at the end that was the hardest thing to watch that's what i prepared for yeah and i yeah my advice still stands i think you gotta try to you definitely you didn't know better but you didn't you should not have watched the show for clarity it was never going to give you the clarity you wanted yeah so it will only bring you back to that moment because you know it's a show right and they want the people who get to watch your journey unfold to feel as close as what you felt yeah right that's what i understood like there's so much that happens off camera so there's so much that happens you know that wasn't on the

screen and everything like that you mentioned that afr again what what are some things that you wish more than anything uh give me a moment with michelle that you wish the people could have seen that for whatever reason as we all know not everything gets to be shown you know they have time constraints but what was a moment with michelle that you wish the people might have been able to see um i think it was all the little small details i did outside of the cameras outside of it all like um finding her in the hallway and just going up to her and holding her and letting her know like, yo, you look beautiful. And like those small little things, small little details. The whole

bee thing. So, and I guess I had a, what was it called? The blood bath or you guys call it mentolol. Yeah. So, they did the bloopers and I got attacked by a bee on the one-on-one. Like, okay yeah so they did the bloopers and i got attacked by a bee on the one-on-one like i'm terrified of bees i got attacked by one and i'm sitting there talking michelle holding her hand and you know she's telling me her heart's going in a different direction and i'll nowhere man this bee comes up and lands on both of our hands. At the pole? Yeah. We looked down and we looked at each other like, yo, what are the chances? So it was that. What did you think in that moment? So wait, you're afraid of bees.

You're getting your heart broken. And this kind of moment that you guys still shared that seemed very fortuitous. Do you get into that shit? moment that you guys still shared that seemed very fortuitous yeah did you are you like do you you get into that shit i mean for me it was like that bee landed on my hand and usually you know i'd run away or anything like that but at that moment i was like what can i do you know like i i could care the last thing i could care about is that beat but it was just like a beautiful moment that like you know it's funny how one-on-one i get attacked by a b and then the last time we talked the b lands on both of us so do you think you'll

still be afraid of bees oh 100 what are you talking about man man 100 i'm just saying in that moment like i was in so much pain why can't that be your big takeaway no longer afraid of bees that's not it uh another thing okay okay this is it another thing was um on my 101 we hop in the car and on their drive there it didn't really show the drive there we're just talking it's like all off camera time and she was like okay i gotta ask you a serious question if you can pick one song to jam out to what would it be and so i'm like yo r b uh mario let me love you and uh she's like okay okay um we go to the ice cream shop we hop back in the car and the producer's like hey yo you guys should tune in on some music like jam out do whatever you want it's gonna be a little bit of drive to

wherever you're going and so i'm like okay so we're going through all these radio stations and we're going through like six seven eight radio stations and we pick one and it's like it's like a t-pain song that's ending and we're like okay we could we could keep it here i like i like this type music like 2000s r b all that uh the next song comes on and it's let me love you by mario and we look at each other we're like yo what are the chances of that like radio in a car we pick seven or eight different stations and that plays i each other we're like yo what are the chances of that like radio in a car we pick seven or eight different stations in that place i mean if you're on the bachelor chances are great man that was wild that was well i picked the radio station so it was like i thought yeah i'm a cynic

you're a cynic yeah i'm glad to come i used to be you someday you'll be me um i'm gonna actually ally ally um i'm just kidding ally just sent me something i'm gonna read to you i don't want to know what you think about it right now you just is this true i'm live researching on behalf of brandon i'm very curious bees land where they feel they are safe and protected such as how they feel near their queen and their hive a bee landing on you and it is an invitation to awaken the divine queen within you sitting in a seat of confidence grace patience and abundance that's crazy wow i like how nick delivered that google response as if he was like telling a girl like you are with a toxic man like it was like such cadence in which he delivered that

maybe maybe take it as like um no like yeah um yeah i didn't i see i thought bees just hated me i thought i thought it was just like a personal vendetta. They look at your beautiful eyes. You got nice eyes, by the way. I appreciate it. Nick, you hit on me a little bit. I don't think the camera really captures your eyes. Well, the lights and everything, like, I think my pupils were like this big the entire time. So it was kind of hard. They're like a light brown hazel kind of?

Yeah, like a hazel. Captivating. You ladies are missing out. Sheesh. You mentioned your clothes off you feel a little afraid like so you also talked about um on afr that and i'll be honest i find a little hard to believe and i think twitter agreed with me you said on afr that that you're not usually like this. You were the most kind of emotive with your words, very grandiose, very, you know, and it all seemed very genuine, but it did not seem like your first time. And which is fine, too, in terms of being so expressive. Yeah.

So is it true that you really this you you this was the first time you felt like you were saying these things like you got yeah you gotta understand like in the real world when i came to dating like i would take months before i got in a relationship with that person before i even got vulnerable before i said anything it would take months after that before even telling them like my biggest fears in life and like what i've gone through in life and all that so i was closed off because i didn't i don't know i just like vulnerability hasn't been like a huge thing um i'm i'm vulnerable with the people that i'm comfortable with if that makes sense like the people i trust i'm vulnerable with so it takes me a long time to trust people but where does that come from uh i don't know probably just life experiences getting

hurt in the past um you know my family's kind of like that too they're not too vulnerable with people unless you know they trust them they get to know them everything like that um i don't know just like i wore my heart on my sleeve with michelle because i knew she was a one-of-a-kind person and my feelings started growing and that's how it led um but real world no what uh mixed reactions uh last episode uh from you pulling michelle aside yeah nate wasn't too happy with you and interesting enough like i've i've uh i've been in nate's shoes uh uh so and i was pretty pissed um why why did you do it and what was your what did you think you were going to accomplish

because a lot would a lot of people would say um that you weren't confident okay and and the fact that she might pick you and it was i think even nate said it was an act of desperation halo mary yeah um and michelle even like started crying because like i i thought like this i thought she was gonna pick joe like that was my pick a few weeks ago yeah but when it came to the final three i was like fuck i think joe's going home. Because I think, you know, I was really torn. And you were this guy who, you know, like episode one, I don't know, I thought you were kind of a fuck boy, to be honest. It was the accent.

It's like, whatever. And you came out on the bed and, you know, it's like, I just want you to know what it's like to wake up next to me. I'm like, all right, fuck boy. But you really proved everyone wrong. And by that episode, Michelle was clearly into you. I'm like, fucking Brandon's funny too, man. And yet when you pulled her aside and Michelle starts crying,

I was like, fuck, maybe Brandon is going home. Because why is she crying? So anyways, what was your motivation? And then what were you thinking when michelle started crying when you were sharing this and is there anything in that conversation that didn't get to air because i know how that world works what we saw was probably you know two minutes of a 20-minute conversation yeah uh it wasn't 20-minute conversation it was probably like a 5-10 minute conversation um man so again i think i said it earlier but michelle like when when you look at michelle she tells all her emotions through her eyes

so when she sent rodney home i saw when she came back in that she was devastated, absolutely devastated. She tried to hold it in. She tried to hold it together. And I realized, like, if that's my person, if I was in that place and I was in her shoes, like, I have the guys to talk to. You know what I mean? Like, we could have pillow talk. I get all my emotions out and everything. But I'm realizing, like, who does she have?

Like, producers are great. Don't get me wrong. But sometimes you need someone outside that realm to really like talk to you connect with you and like figure everything out you know so yeah um got a lot of mixed doesn't matter like it doesn't matter it definitely does not matter one thing I took away that was the most important to me that I kept with me the entire time was i asked levon and e from her parents what made their marriage so successful like what was something that i could take away after meeting them that was made it so successful and what he said to me was you know the best thing about me and levon is like we're best friends hands down we're best friends like i always put her first um understanding one another truly helps

communication is a huge thing but one of the biggest things is that they were best friends so to me going in i chose to do it at the rose ceremony instead of before pulling her side me in her hotel room or whatever it is because to me going into a rose ceremony instead of before pulling her side meeting at her hotel room or whatever it is because to me going into a rose ceremony you already have your mind made up you already know who you're it's not gonna change drastically like you already know who you're gonna send home you already know all that so to me it wasn't like desperation or hail of mary but i was there for her i was there for my best friend at that time I didn't go in for Halo Man I didn't go I didn't care if I got sent home I just couldn't bear to see her like that because

I was so in love with this woman and so I could not bear to see her crying I could not bear to see because it's just going to get harder and harder and after fantasy suites 2 there was no way that was going to be like like sending ronnie home would definitely hurt but once you get that next step in connection and you're in mexico you're in this beautiful setting like i could i i just try to put myself in her shoes i actually believe that answer and that's my best friend so i went in i was like hey just i you could send me home that's fine i don't care i don't i could care less i want you to know that i'm here for you we're here for you i see you her biggest thing was that in her poem she felt she's felt unseen so i was like i see you

i'm here for you i just want you to know that everything is going to be okay. If you send me home, it's going to be okay. Send Joe home, Nate home, everything is going to be okay. Everything happens for a reason in this life. So the conversation we had, yeah, it went on for like five, 10 minutes. It meant the world to me when she started tearing up and crying because she really understood like what i was there for my intentions because i didn't care what other people thought i cared about what she thought and she saw my true intentions that i'm just trying to be your best friend right now i'm not trying to do this for a rose i could care less about a rose at this point i'm here for you so

yeah a lot of people took it wrong which is like they're like oh how come you didn't bash the other guys like why i'm not there to bash other guys i'm there for like some people are like that but that's not why i was there for i was there for her i believe you so i believe you yeah and so i believe you mostly because i was all very beautiful and well said and you're a sincere guy but uh you acknowledging that you knew she had already made her choice she already yeah that's why i waited till the self-awareness that like it wasn't a hail mary because like you knew no matter what you said if i would uh you know what chris s did you know stop the date and pulled her aside and talked to her or snuck to our hotel room to talk to her right before the rose ceremony. I feel like that's when, like, I tried, like, I saw the look on her face.

I could not take that again. And I could not imagine going through that alone again. So I went up and I was like, you know what? I can care less what people think about me in this moment. I just want her to know I want to be your best friend. You're my best friend. Just understand as a best friend I'm here for you. I see what you're going through. I understand if it's me, I understand Please just continue this journey find your person find your happiness. That's it

What would be Something about you that people would accuse you of? Like your personality that would... Being a fuckboy. Would really bother you? Being a fuckboy. That would bother you? Yeah.

Why? Because that's not who I am. And it's like you saw. Sure. But... Why would that... Why does that... Like, do you get defensive or, you know, like it's...

It's just like in your core, that's not who you are. It it's just like in your core that's not who you are it's just because in my core it's not who i am and also that's the first judgment that people make so it was crazy because growing up like i was not a good looking kid i was not a good looking kid i had the braces i was the kind of like nerdy kid in school who was good at basketball but like braces skinny i was five two hundred pounds like great clips haircut not to bash on great clips but uh you know like i was not a good looking kid and before then no one really cared because you know women were really interested in me like i had a big heart but you know i wasn't like the star athlete of the team or i wasn't anything like that not the best quarter god when they sprung

that up on me i was like dude i haven't skated in nine years my god oh gosh okay um yeah and then all of a sudden that changed like i started growing like i'm a late bloomer so 17 year old kid that's what i got mostly and um i started you know working out i started i got i had a huge growth spur i went from like five three to six foot and then later in college six one six two and now i started becoming a fuck boy because i look this way now and i was like what do you think makes a fuck boy you tell me you said oh you said i guess like i mean i can tell you but like if you definitely know you're not i want to hear from you what you think it is and like give me an example what like a fuck boy would be and i'm only challenging a little bit because i think you're great but like on this show

there's a lot of like uh hyperbolic statements by guys in our position who want to sound and come across as really sweet. I mean, I definitely think Martin's a fuckboy. You know what I'm saying? I think he popped some bottles in Miami. But I think Martin wants to come across as a really sweet and kind and thoughtful guy. but I think Martin wants to come across as like a really sweet and kind and thoughtful guy. And so, um,

it's easy to say that you don't want people, uh, to think you're a fuck boy. Uh, but like, yeah. What do you, what do you mean?

I just, I just, I like that just comes off. Like that's the first thing they go to. Like, so what I honestly, like, I can't tell you what it means.

I guess there's a guy who sleeps around who doesn't really care about women's feelings or anything like that they just want to get it in and go but to me like growing up like my personal view was how I looked fuck boy is a look it's not it's not your personality it's not anything like that a fuck boy is how you look and so if I'm a smooth talker or if I'm anything like that that just adds into it then people just boom right off the bat but for me it was it was 100 how i look so i mean it's it's okay like people have decisions they have judgments and then they get to know you and then they realize like oh wow you're just actually a nice guy like yeah it's crazy like um yeah i mean i don't know like again i could we could spend hours on this i personally think of you know fuck boys could be

men and women and they're usually people who are non-committal about relationships but totally fine with participating in hookup culture hookup culture yeah uh and there's nothing wrong with hookup culture but like they often especially like you could be like let's say you're dating someone right and you're just like you meet this woman you guys hang out and just passion there yeah yeah you hook up and she's just like i want to date you and i love having i like hooking up with you and you're like i like you too but like you know i'm just like i just got off the bachelor and it's like oh i don't know i was in love you're like, I like you too. But like, you know, I'm just like, I just got off The Bachelor. And it's like, oh, I don't know. I was in love and I'm healing and like all this shit.

But like, she's like, all right. And then you're like, and you call her up the next, you know, a week later. And you're like, hey, you know, I know like you said you want to date me. And I was up front with you because like I don't want to date you because like I'm not in a position to date right now. Because again, I'm healing, you know. But like also like, let's go to a movie. And then like you hook up again. And you're like you have sex and then you keep kind of doing the same thing over and over gotcha and like meanwhile she's falling in love with you because you're

beautiful you got these eyes and you're six two you came off the bachelor this is very specific and you know what i'm saying like that like that's you can get into a fuckboy situation and again like that's why i say men and women can be fuckboys because in this climate we have met like we're in a very non-committal like hookup culture kind of vibe where you got dating apps and everyone like doesn't want to find a relationship and like i think players are people who are like dishonest and lead people on and manipulate and lie but i mean i digress but like you know what i'm saying like and so i think it's once people see my old soul now like i'm old school like i was raised old school love old school all of that so people are gonna look at you you talk about a look right because you know once they get to

know me once they get to know me they see they see that but you know until then it's sure yeah yeah so like what do you do like so like so it bothers you that people would think that and i get it right because you are again you're tall good looking attractive and you have game you're smooth you're good with your words and so a lot of people are going to meet you and think you know there's plenty of women you could have uh you must have options it's not gonna you're you're you're you're you're the assumptions of you being a fuckboy aren't getting any better buddy now that you're coming off the the the bachelor and grand you've you've come across very well and

you you look like a great guy but you will be given you you will have what people will perceive as options and knowing that like you you we opened up this conversation with you like asking what you do you're closed off shit we have seen plenty of fan favorites in your shoes you know come on and feel like they're literally a guy named was it was it brandon or brendan i always get the guys oh so that's why i'm paradise you know what i'm saying spell my name wrong and they say they call me brendan i it's there's a lot it's Yeah. I don't know what happened to that guy. Well, he was. Something happened. He was you. He was the heartthrob. I mean, do you know who Justin Long is?

He's an actor. Great. He's in a lot of popular movies. Anyways, he loved this guy. Loved him. Okay. Because he was like, this guy is a saint. He's.

And I honestly like. He's a fine guy. I don't really know him. I interviewed him once. He seems swell. but he got himself into a pickle okay when i'm bachelor in paradise okay and he came across as a bit of a fuck boy okay right and so was he like talking to multiple women at the same time i mean you know it'd be interesting what he you hear his perspective but he came across as someone who had options okay and he uh decided to consider those options well all while uh not uh being as upfront as he thought he was okay with

people who were clearly developing feelings for him oh okay you know what i'm saying like you're gonna be in a position now where, you know, even in a weird world, in a weird way, you are going to be in your dating life, whether, like, you know, Clayton's the next bachelor, but in your life, you'll be able to play that game. You've been given this power and this influence and this platform and people are noticing you on the street and you will, like, like people be coming at you yeah and

it will be easy to fee it will be easy to be intoxicated with those options and as you i don't know if you're a comic book fan but with great power comes great responsibility kind of thing so you're confident being the person who's like nothing bothers you more than being labeled a fuck boy that you're going to be able to maintain this non-fuck boy uh as someone who's going to be you're going to be tempted man you're you're you know i mean you know it's already happened you know like throughout the season it's already been like that dms are open yeah but i don't respond to anyone i don't do anything like that like you haven't responded to anyone not a single person okay so i mean unless it was like caitlyn from the show just saying like hey how are you doing or like you

know like yeah but not anything like that i haven't responded to a single soul like to me i was raised do not put yourself out there unless you're ready to put yourself out there Right now i'm still you know working on myself. I'd like to get to a certain point I'd like to get the happiness of what I saw myself on that show um but I'm i'm i'm I think you know just in general i'm too humble of a person to

want to do that so being a like i think i that came off wrong like you people can label me however they want that their judgment everything like what everyone was saying like their judgment doesn't bother me it's just when it's repetitive so often just becomes annoying it's human it's human yeah yeah it's just human and it's just i think it just becomes annoying it It's not like, oh, it disturbs me and I have to go make an image of myself to not look like this. But it's just annoying. And I'm glad I took this leap to go on the show to show people this is who I truly am. And I'm even more blessed to fall in love with such an amazing woman. So, honestly, that doesn't bother me.

The DMs can be open. They're flooded. But that's also a trust thing. I don't really trust a lot of people in the first place so i'm not gonna reach out to random people you know to have these quick intimate moments just because i can't just because i have that power like just because i have that power doesn't mean you use it for that reason a lot of people would a lot of people would trust me I've seen you know a couple guys on the season who this season yeah who you know they who are we talking

about um no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no But you have some wolves in the sheep den from this season. A little bit, yeah. Yeah, a couple. You got to understand, though, but what you saw with me on the season, that's truly me. I know some people, it's kind of hard to figure out how he can be so caring and endearing and truly give his heart out and wear his heart on his sleeve, but that's just me. I'm not here sleeping with a bunch of women. I'm not here doing this. I'm not here doing that.

I'd rather be the best of myself before doing that. That just complicates things. That just adds more stress to your life. Especially like it wouldn't be fair to someone to reach out, hit them up and be in the state of mind where I know like I could be going down that road of being a fuck boy of like I have no emotions for you. But what am I doing? You know, I'm just leading you on at that point so i don't know i got hurt i don't want to hurt someone like that if that makes sense i think it does i think it's great to say i i believe you and i i hope that you follow and i think you will but uh um a lot of people uh before you have have disappointed yeah did you learn something about yourself that you would like to work on or change whether it was on the show or just in life um you're a great guy you're emotive but like what is do you think um where have you where have you grown and where are areas in your life you think you can grow to be a better partner uh for whoever is

that whoever that person ends up being yeah i think um you know the sense of growth came from you know let me think about this i think my sense of growth personally the best positive outcome i got out of this is that i learned how to love myself again if that makes sense because you know i'll break it down for you guys i'll be honest like when i got back i wanted to be like nate i'm not gonna lie i bought a dangling earring i was gonna buzz cut my hair i was in a bad place like i didn't love myself when when michelle broke up with you i didn't love myself i didn't love myself and i was like man did you almost do a nose piercing no i don't know it was like nothing it rocks that i mean dude yeah i'm just saying like like that's who i wanted to be because i just didn't think i

was good enough and so good for you for admitting that the best positive thing out of it was i learned to love myself and i learned like yo there's nobody else in this world like me so i think you know learning to love me was the best positive outcome another thing was looking at this breakup as man uh one day i'm gonna have children i'm gonna have three kids and they're all gonna go through the same thing that i'm going through a hundred percent they're gonna go through a heartbreak they're gonna think that they were the same thing that I'm going through. A hundred percent. They're going to go through a heartbreak. They're going to think that they were so in love and that they were so invested and that was their person. And I could be able to connect with them, let them know that right now in this point in time, it feels like it's the end of the world.

It feels like there's nothing going to be coming good out of this. It feels like you just lost everything. But you got to understand. And I could show them, you know, I can like look at this back. I could show them this and be like, I went through the same thing. You got to understand that I wouldn't be here because it all leads to something special. So she may not have been your person. They have not been your person.

But you're going to find your person later on. So, you know, that was a huge thing huge thing you know coming to terms with that just hey this heartbreak was one of the best things that happened because everyone is gonna go through heartbreak and now when i raise you know little people after me like they're gonna go through the same thing and i could be able to look at them be like everything is gonna be okay you are scrambled ruby's cube right now but you're gonna look back you're gonna watch everything and you're gonna realize the person you become how old are you um 27 and a lot of people i think uh you know it's hard to criticize the final four you guys had a quality of final four yeah but uh when people were trying to criticize you they were saying you were too young you got a baby face yeah did that bother you uh because i'm talking

to you man i'm impressed and you know uh i did not what you just described in that appreciation for heartbreak um is that something that i learned until i was 29 28 you know so it took me a few years that are long a few years longer than you and yeah so like what did that did that bother you at all um and where do you feel like um is there anyone else besides your parents who kind of taught you uh who has been your role model and you've've learned this about, you know, this sense of what, because what you just described is perspective, which to me is like the key to life. Yeah, yeah, it's certainly.

And where have you been taught and who's kind of mentored you about some of these kind of ways to look at adversity? See, I don't think it's really mentorship. Like I learned that out for myself, but I was given that through the love of my friends and my family. of these kind of ways to look at adversity see i don't think it's really mentorship like i learned that out for myself but i was given that through the love of my friends and my family like they built me up and i took on this like what can i take from this like what are the positive outcomes because it's not all bad like what's the positive outcome and i mean i'm telling you, like I journaling, like journaling in and out, just I kind of just learned that, you know what, this is going to be beautiful one day. And I could not have gone that with, you know, I could say parents, parents, huge, huge, because they found each other.

Like I assume they went through a heartbreak, maybe not similar on TV in front of millions of people, but they went through heartbreak. They went through something similar. My friends have gone through something similar. Like the guys on the show, they understand what I was going through. They understand the relationship I had. They were there for me. Perspective comes from you. It's built from the strength of everyone around you, but you need to find that internally. So again, and then going back to being called 17 like dude i'm thankful like imagine when i'm 40 yeah yeah i'm gonna be looking 25 finally you know i mean or yeah so i mean that doesn't bother me like i'm i'm 100 cool with that

i do get i need every single place i go to that a little bit old when you're 27 but um yeah man you appreciate it amanda's got a question for you oh yeah yeah so when michelle's dad was asking how you feel about ambitious women and sort of how you're able to manage that and pointing out that sometimes that can be hard you mentioned your mom and i was wondering how would you describe your mom in three words? Heartwarming, powerful, and dorky. That makes sense. My mom is such a dork. But she is one of the most powerful women.

She's the one who really helped me with, like, all the relationship advice. She's the one I go to. My dad's more of a, like, a he's very emotional like he he loves to like talk emotions and relationships but he's more like a you know you can you can walk it off you can walk it off my mom is more sentimental like let's talk about it like what happened here let's dive to the core and everything like that so um yeah i mean as you've seen my mom made the bracelet for michelle uh she's that's the heartwarming part like she just loves everyone first and i think that's where i got that from it's just a i love you first until you do something and then my mindset will kind of change but um yeah so i got

that from her um yeah so powerful heartwarming and dorky she's gonna hate me for the dorky part but i gotta i gotta speak the truth so that's where i got it from yeah uh brent do you think uh someone can be in love with two people yeah i do you do i do why um in love yeah i do not love like in love like you why for a couple reasons i think you know you can be in love with two different people because those two different people bring two different aspects to your life yeah i think it's just at that point what route you want to take what route fits best into your world so i mean we're i'm sorry but did she say that she was in love with you on your season or uh yeah one of

them okay yeah yeah so i mean but i don't believe that she was okay well i think i truly think michelle was i just think i believe that she felt it when she said it yeah i believe that it felt good in the moment i think she was truly truly in love with nate and i think you know i'm not gonna question it like but i think you know her feelings for nate was a lot stronger the love for nate was a lot stronger than the love for me yeah um so i think yeah you can be in love with two different people is are they both equivalent no i mean i think there's a different equivalence to it. But yeah, you can truly love, be in love with multiple people. I believe you can love multiple people and respect and have an appreciation and love. And that's why...

Well, I don't think she said she was in love with me. She didn't. I think she said she loves me. I thought she said that at AFR. Because I was surprised by that. That's why I asked. It seemed like she said i said i was in love with you and i and i could have been hearing that wrong but i i was actually

like oh shit i didn't realize she said that yeah she said she loves me she said she loves me she said that the feelings are that she loves me everything yeah so so um but i think she was truly truly her heart wanted nate i think it wanted nate you know honestly i think it wanted nate a little bit before that um moment actually i don't know i don't know what she went through but i think you know i could see it um their connections do you feel like do you think about when she might have made up her mind uh no because i can't control it like i mean i have yeah definitely but at the end of the day like it's just sabotaging yourself for no reason you're just creating scenarios in your head for no reason like i can't control that there's nothing i can control i got asked though if i

could do this all over again the exact same would i and i said 100 without a doubt without a doubt i would do everything the same i would still pull her away from the road ceremony check up on her i would still drop off that letter right before i would still do everything so um i believe you and i'm glad that you feel the way you do because um you you seem like you have found a sincere appreciation for the experience and i believe that you will continue to own like how you felt about michelle 100 and own you like you're never going to apologize for the way you felt because it was real in the moment and i you know i'm sure you will continue to process this experience as everyone who's been in your shoes has and you'll come to certain realizations but you will you will you know and that's something that's always helped me is that like you know i you know like you know caitlyn is you've become friends

with right you know caitlyn and she was the one of the women i was on her season okay and like they're friends now. I'm friends with Jason. And very recently him and I talked about like, I don't see Caitlin as an ex. You know what I'm saying? Like in the moment, I didn't know.

But like, as time has passed, like it's a significant place in my life. I don't deny the feelings I had. They were real, but like just the way you process it. But I still, I'm glad that i've never

um tried to downplay um those feelings i had and try to diminish that experience because i wanted i didn't want my ego to be like i didn't really care or whatever yeah at that point fuck your ego dude like that's what that's what i'm glad you feel that way man not everyone does that is some of the people on there just for the wrong reasons and that pissed me off because yeah it pissed me off you gotta no come on man come on man i was gonna come on to you i'm like come on come on man uh just you can see like some of the people were on there for the wrong reasons and well martin yeah you you have a thing for martin yeah i mean i i watched with a critical eye and uh i did not appreciate how he handled his exit or what he said to or about michelle and i think how he handled uh his disappointment

and how he defended jamie weirdly i think he i've said this on the podcast before which you probably didn't hear i think he's the guy uh i think he's the friend who will defend cheaters uh i think his b has got he hangs out with the guys who cheat on their girlfriends and his friends will be like i'll get martin's and martin's like yeah i'm like rodney's not rodney rodney would never cheat on his girlfriend i was gonna say rodney's a sweetheart man but you know what i'm saying like i could be wrong i could be wrong i haven't met him but i'm pretty good at reading people um and uh yeah i uh i have a strong opinion about martin yeah yeah i i i get that i get that but you're welcome to like disagree with me no i mean i mean that's i'm not see i i'm not

like that i'm just like yo that's your opinion like go for it uh i do know martin uh he is a good guy relationships i'm wrong what i i didn't say if i'm too hard on him i don't want to be hard on him man i mean i mean he's a good guy i see i'm not on that side i'm on the bro side you know what i mean i'm on i'm on that side i'm not on the question relationship that's a good question you know the the the i i joked bros you know i'm not defending him i'm not defending him what he said anything like that okay i don't want to get you in trouble here but well it's not in trouble let me ask you this right so i was critical of of martin because i thought martin was you know when he you know and granted it's a reality tv show whatever it's edited and we see this but in that moment what i saw for martin is a guy who will always pick his

friends even over the girl he claims he loves like there's a lot of men like that i saw that guy in martin i know a lot of guys like that they're're all over LA. You know what I'm saying? And I'm someone who values loyalty with the people in my life. 100%. And friends. But I don't know. For me, being a true friend is knowing when to check the people you say you love the most and call people out on their bullshit, even if they don't agree with you. And so where do you fall with you know in terms of

being a bro and sticking up for your friends and having your bros back versus like seeing your friend do something that as we've come to learn about you like you seem like a pretty stand-up guy and you sound like a guy who knows how to treat women and you're respectful and where do you draw the line basically between saying, you're my boy, but like, I'm not okay with what you're doing. Once they disrespect the woman, once any sort of disrespect. So, you know.

So your best friend's cheating on his girlfriend. Yeah. Comes to you. What do you say? Tell her or I will. Okay. You know what I mean? I mean, it's just because why like if you want if

you were so thrilled with like cheating on her okay like why are you still with her is it that comfort that you want is it just like that portion i don't know so i i for me for me again i love people until i truly get to see them and i make my opinion off of like who they are like i don't judge i try not to judge people like i'm not gonna lie like i do like sometimes judge like that we're humans like that is all right i've learned to more like love people first before judging them so yeah what he said so martin is a good guy um what he said in the car i did not agree with um we actually spoke on the phone i didn't agree with it um but he is a good guy uh bro side where my bros are you know will daniel clayton those are my bros rodney like those guys good guys stand-up guys um if they disrespect women that's when i

have a problem would you let martin date your sister no okay that's all we need no not a need but i appreciate the honesty i will i won't drill you any further on that you've been a good sport i just i don't think i let any of the guys date my sister you wouldn't know none not even clayton well rodney clayton clayton uh well see if they're too close like those guys are too close to me to where like no no no come on like dude it's your like it's your sister man somebody yeah yeah someone else other than my homeboys i have a family who i i called them my sisters it's like i always thought that it was weird like i don't know did we talk about this did we talk about now la but like you know if you have a

daughter right if you have i have sisters and i and i hope someday i hope to have a daughter right like i want my like whoever my daughter wants to love i want her to find love and be with that person and if she's a heterosexual woman i want her to find a man who she wants to be with just right not if it ends well not if he's a good guy great that's great but if they something happens i don't want to pick a side i i i do not pick a side that's not my drama that's not my beef. That's not my beef. I'd rather you stay, like, because it's so easy for, like. Would you, okay, so. I just, I don't want to lose a friend because my sister.

Would you let her, okay. If that makes sense. It does. And you got me there. I appreciate that. But now I feel like we've gotten more of a lukewarm answer on Martin. So now I want to go back and say, would you let your sister date a guy like Martin? And would you want your sister to date a guy like Clayton?

I don't know Martin that well. From what I... I don't know him that well, man. From what you know, gut feeling. You're a smart guy. You read people. You fell in love in eight weeks. So you can make quick decisions. You're a smart guy. You read people. Like you had, you got, you fell in love in eight weeks. So you can make, you can make quick decisions.

That's the thing. Ah, man. What he said after, you know, in the car with Michelle? No. What about, would you, would you, would you be okay with your sister dating a guy like Clayton? Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Dude. Okay. Okay. Okay. Let's, let's actually talk about that. What was your, you said some thoughts about my boy clayton uh listen i i like you judge clayton before you even knew him i am i've been critical of the choice of clayton because we don't know anything about clayton because i'd

quite honestly i would be more interested in watching you find love you know like i'm invested in your love story i just don't give a shit about clayton's love story yet i'm sure he's a swell guy no he seems like a really nice guy so guy uh i look forward to be proven wrong i i hope i think i'll be entertaining a season it's not the guy yeah i don't have a problem i mean my my i don't know anything like we know nothing about clayton enlighten us about clayton dude okay yeah so this man is is just one giant six four six five teddy bear he's just one like the most fun kid i had fun with he like again i let him date my sister i wouldn't let him date my sister but if we understand gun gun points in my head like yes

yes like absolutely type like absolutely you hope your sister falls for a guy like clayton great guy great guy um i think the only thing is dude like the show portrayed him well they didn't show a lot of him but it portrayed him well clayton was reserved in palm springs he did not want to come out minnesota once we knew that we were going to the football field all of a sudden this man changed he was all of a sudden in his element he was 100 himself he was 100 genuine nice his true self came out he started being coming comfortable because i mean with these guys and after the whole jamie thing like dude you don't know you don't it's kind of hard to trust

people at that point when jamie started doing his little bullshit, it started a whole trust thing with the guys. Guys started becoming more reserved because we thought we could trust one another and we're here for the same reasons. Turned out it wasn't. So I think at that point, guys kind of started closing off. I still had my boys, so I was still cool with them and, like, talking to them and everything. But guys started becoming more and more reserved because they didn't want to open up with someone who's going to, you know, start rumors or anything like that or, you know, just create drama. So it portrayed him well. It could have showed a lot more points.

Like, we had a huge bromance moment. Like right before my one-on-one, I didn't get to say goodbye to him. So I'm doing my whole contemplation and everything like that. And then they brought him back. And we just had a whole moment that right before my one-on-one, he was like, dude, like I know like you're the person for Michelle. Once you know you're on the big things just keep being yourself just stay yourself throughout this whole thing like everything's gonna be cool like he was always there for every single guy in the house always

there and so yeah just became my one of my closest friends right after and then yeah so i mean he's a good guy see i think what it was is that you know going in they announced it was clayton and people had such high expectations like extremely extremely high expectations that ultimately he could never meet because it's out of his control so i mean they had high expectations because it's the bachelor and they want to be invested they want to be invested all that either way it will be up to clayton to show us who he really is he will need to not be reserved and he's gonna have to like he's gonna have to shine even when he's on the football field you know what i'm saying and uh i hope it's gonna be an exciting season i hope that he does yeah uh

forgive me for asking this question but i have to do my job do your thing um if you got a call from Michelle okay just let into your dms okay would you read it would you reply and I know and I know you got to respect she's with Nate yeah I know you wish him the best but like wait in like a in like a yeah like with the door with the door not weird but like would the door be totally closed um have you moved on um or would you like was there any part of you that is like hey listen i gotta respect that she's with someone but like if she's not then like give me a call i think no so i i think it's more the door the door is open as a friend okay in a respectful way so if she did slide in my dms and just like wanted to talk and everything then i would talk to her in a respectful

manner i wouldn't talk to her and how i talked to her you know on the show or like i'm assuming this is like if she's if she let's say if it let didn't work out with her and nate oh yeah yeah i'm saying like you know who know we wish him the best things happen we i mean i would talk but yeah i six months later she's like hey listen um didn't work out um you know nate went pad aboard and never came back uh and she slides into her dms i need my i need my person to choose me first okay to see me and then choose me first um yeah i mean i would be there for her 100 in a respectful way yeah we don't doubt that yeah but um i know i i my person has to choose me

first in that sort of setting um i think you know at that point she chose nate and i truly wish on the best but i i can't be a second option if that makes sense i don't know i think it's more like i don't know how i'd deal with that later on like i feel like that would just be turmoil that i don't know if i could cope with later on what do you mean just because like i respect the answer just because i wasn't just because i like i wasn't chosen like i gave my all i gave you everything i showed you everything and i know um in that time there's a lot of pressure and i think her heart truly wanted nate more than me and so i just don't think that i could be the second place when i'm putting someone first place constantly you know what i mean so um yeah i i hope that doesn't happen i hope they don't break up i hope you know because

i don't want this to be i want her to have happiness with him. But, yeah, just as a friend, 100%. I would be there 100% in the most respectful way. But, no, if she was like, hey, I want to get back together with you and everything like that, I just think, you know, I would have to, you know, take my own journey and find someone else and go through this process again and see you know if that's the right way so all right final question before we get to our very easy and light-hearted game okay great uh and this is this is a softball too but it does

require some i want some honest thinking well what's something that women you've dated have thought they liked but ultimately found a little bit of annoying do you have any annoying habits like what's what's something about you that's just like it's just like you know like you do that all the time and i'll be honest it's kind of fucking annoying um man man oh another song i mean yo i i i 100 bet like if you called one of them up i bet you they would have the answer um there's gotta be i think how many exes do you have i have like like serious relationships yeah i mean then again it could all be relative like you know exes from high school are still your exes but it might be different than like, say someone, you know, you, when you were like 24.

Yeah. So it'd be two or three. Two or three. Yeah. If we count high school, that was like my first love. So like adult, not high school, but like of those exes. Oh, so like. I'm sure there's something that they both were like, they both complained about something,

the same damn thing. I think, you know, if I'm, think you know if i'm you know if i'm playing yeah yeah if i'm being real like if i'm playing like call of duty or if i'm you know playing like two kids with the girls with the boys and the chicks hit the video games and she's talking to me and i'm so invested like and i yeah it's probably annoying because i don't respond right away or you know so i think that could be it but i want to point out that plenty of women love video games but it video games can cause a lot of problems my exes had problems with that like if the boys were like yo hop on let's go i'm like yeah

absolutely one more game babe one more game no it'd be like it'd be like wait i thought we're gonna watch a movie and i was like i was like how are you gonna spring up a movie after you just hurt like okay okay yeah so pick your battles pick your battles okay yeah so i think it's just uh attentiveness when uh because i'm focused man like i am focused like i give i like to give my all this stuff you know what i mean i want to do the best so yeah there you go your strength on and your weakness, your focus, strength and weakness. If you're not focused on the right thing, then you're not attentive. I'm not, I'm,

I don't know. Ask them. Yeah. Ask them. But yeah, listen, we're, we're,

we're human and imperfect. Yeah. I mean, so. Brandon, it's been a pleasure. What is your last name? Jones.

Jones. Brandon Jones. What a nice name. It's been a pleasure. It's been a pleasure. I really appreciate you coming on and being so honest, man. Before we let you go, we like to play a really easy, fun game called Do You Know Me with our guests. Okay.

I'm just going to ask you a series of questions. I mean, do I have to go? I'm comfortable right here, man. You don't have to go, but, you know, like I actually have a flight in the morning. I got to go see mom and dad. I got a flight in the morning. That's awesome. All right. Go for it. right simple questions yes or no like just you can yes or no well it'll make sense okay have you ever done this do you ever done that yes or no whatever if you have an anecdotal story if

you want to elaborate you're welcome to we love it when you do but if you don't you got it yeah it's up to you man absolutely does brandon uh have a go-to pickup line no i wish i did i wish i had one that was just solid but i'm sorry do you how are you with uh how would you like to meet women i'd like to meet them in a social setting i like to meet you are you do you do you have the confidence to pick and go up to someone and yeah yeah what would you do i'll just walk up and say hello like name's brandon jones or i wouldn't say my last name but i'd be like hello yeah you would and you should with a name like brandon jones i fucking i fucking wouldn't i just say hello my name is brandon uh you know i brandon jones when i walked in i thought you're pretty cute so i want you to say hi i'm brandon i'm brandon no i want you to say hi i'm brandon jones hello i'm brandon jones

i think we agree i probably think she should go with brandon jones yeah we love the jones okay oh do you like the hello or the hi he's just gotta like pass the business card hello i'm brandon jones no i like hi i like hi hi i'm brandon jones yeah okay yeah i mean there you go that's my picket line and i just like yeah i just like to spark conversation with people okay so brandon jones do you own a power drill yes i do good for you yes i do i own two are you a handy guy i am a handy guy what do you like to what are you handiest with uh i like to you know build stuff so like tables or you know just like household stuff like if you're trying to hang up your if you're trying to hang up your tv like i'm the only guy when you say you build tables are we talking like ikea or like do you whittle wood

uh well i don't whittle wood i was probably like ikea and stuff like that i'm not a woodsman i wish man but like household like i like to fix things i guess have you ever popped someone else's pimple no no you're not living oh you you see i like watching it but i don't think i could be the person to pop it but yeah it's very satisfying stuff i'm okay with people popping mine i guess so if you if you see something you just there you go you need a your key to life is finding someone who could pop my pimples i guess you're one of two usually i have found wait are you saying pop other people's pimples or have i popped my own well well you of course you pop yeah but you don't know but like uh i don't go up to people yeah i don't go i don't have like my

friends the fact that you let your girlfriend pop your pim you don't know but like uh i don't go up to people yeah i don't go i don't have like my friends you let your girlfriend pop your people yes there are people who would say can you let me pop that and you will make her happy i'm not crazy i don't yeah i mean i mean for all the people who wouldn't do it it's fucking gross but like half of the people listening like i hear you nick um can brandon drive a stick shift i can't drive a stick shit good for you yeah all the people who thought this guy was too young fuck you you can drive a stick shift yeah man uh i learned a friend's six shift first before having an automatic and then i mean automatics are great but i prefer a stick i feel like you look a lot better driving a stick have you ever had an imaginary friend yes his name was charles okay yeah good for you yeah i watched uh that foster's imaginary friend growing up

fosters or uh that in uh fairly odd parents and i was like yeah imaginary friend for sure yeah 100 do you know cpr no really yeah i wish i did i do not youtube that yeah i mean yeah but i'm not certified or anything like yeah i mean i know like the disney channel steps i've seen that you play fantasy football absolutely i'm in it right now yeah maybe one of our leagues are a fan of batch some of the batch the guys okay some ogs oh some ogs are all in the league how are you doing this year then i i'm losing i think i lost i know i lost to bennett in the playoffs oh for real yeah oh dude you know bennett i know bennett yeah uh beat me in the plan um salty have you ever have you ever skinny dipped i have skinny dip with uh with who with people people yeah plural uh two women it was it was back in my it was back

in my high school days not a player i'm just kidding i'm just kidding you're allowed to live man i'm just giving you a hard time good for you well oh if it makes if it's fair they tricked me and i skinny dip myself so you know what if that's fair they tricked me they're like hey we're gonna go skinny dip so i jumped in and they're like yeah we're not and then i was like okay i'm just okay yeah so i think you should have left it alone i should have left it alone can we cut that out no okay have you ever slept with a co-worker yes were you dating no and so how did you go about setting up front expectations and that so that no one felt like they were being fuckboyed uh well it was actually her telling me that she just wanted to do it once just to try it out and i was like okay okay okay is that cool yeah cool it's all about our friends expectations yeah yeah and then once the other person says you

know i had those expectations but things have changed for me a lot more and you're like you know you know i'm saying i mean yeah that sounds like it yeah because you're good for you yeah i just wanted to clarify make sure we're on the same page because you set a very high standard for yourself with the audience i want to make sure you maintain that well i'm just gonna be myself we do not i don't want i don't i don't want to be talking shit about you on this podcast in a year when you go to paradise. Oh, gosh, man. Oh, gosh. You're going to paradise. We'll see.

Okay. You should. You want advice? You should go to paradise. I mean, I wouldn't quit a job. Okay. I wouldn't, you know, for it. Okay.

But if you're given an opportunity, you don't have to quit a job that you love. I've just never seen paradise. It's a good thing. I don't know what it's like. It's good. you will thrive okay i would i've heard good things i've heard bad things well uh if you want advice i'll give you some advice right now okay uh i think once you're healed you deserve to go out there and date yeah i encourage you to go out there even before you feel fully healed even if you go on a couple bad dates and it doesn't go perfectly and maybe a couple ones just remind you of the

love you felt for michelle that's fine it'll help you get over it i mean i think you should stay completely away from any woman who has ever gone on the bachelor especially if they're on clayton season or if they're on Matt James' season or Pilot Pete's season, and you should respectfully decline all messages until you walk down the beach so that no one can accuse you of being a fuckboy.

Okay, so this is it. I feel like this is from experience from someone or you? Well, from watching a lot of Paradise. A lot of Paradise. And don't go to stagecoach. Yeah. What is stagecoach? You can be friends.

It's a concert. Don't worry. It's good that you don't know. I don't need to hear. Okay. You can be friends. You can be respectful, but don't hang out with anyone. Don't hook up with anyone.

Don't make out with anyone. It's best not to talk to anyone. Okay, cool. But you can be friends. And if you want to go to Paradise, then be available and meet people for the first time. Or at least just explore relationships for the first time. Okay. Well, so speaking of this, like I just saw Thomas and Becca.

And I saw how happy they were. And they were on Paradise. I'll tell you what, man. I mean, I'm a believer in it. And they were on Paradise. I'll tell you what, man. I mean, I'm a believer in it. We were hard on Thomas. I've become not only, I'm a Thomas fan. I'm close to considering that man a friend.

He's a great guy. Like, I just met him. He's a great guy. Oh, well, I mean, you talk to some people from his season and they go, oh, well, he was a devil. It's just like, and I was hard on Thomas. I mean, I saw, yeah, I heard about him. True story. he was a devil it's just like and i i was hard on i was i mean i saw yeah i heard true story true story i went out last week me and nally met up with uh grocery store joe and uh thomas they were out okay joe was at a party and uh also had uh serena v and uh grocery jar grocery joe

wonderful couple we had dinner last night like we enjoy hanging out with them they're good people i want to you know good people anyway uh natalie my girlfriend and thomas were talking and thomas was asking about our favorite ice cream or whatever and this motherfucker the next day and he was supposed to him and becker to come over joe came over for the football game the packer bears game okay they didn't make it over And this guy, because we like earlier in the day, it was like, hey, if you have time, you know, swing by and whatever. So he had my address

and dropped off a pint of ice cream that him and Natalie were talking about at our front door. Sheesh. And just rang the doorbell and said, left you guys some ice cream. Told you, man.

He was a sweetheart. What a sweet guy. What a nice, genuine, thoughtful person. Did you guys see them making out during after the final rose he told me he told me about it i did like in the blurred out it's like brandon and michelle having this heart to heart and you just see becca like lean in i see that's the thing is like that so that's it's a legit relationship yeah like yeah it doesn't yeah so i mean they told me they were fucking hard on him dude and like like i heard like what he did on his season but compared to what people do on my

season i was like that's nothing that is like nothing he literally was like did you ever think you could be the bachelor he's like yeah i thought about it and they were like fuck you oh my gosh yeah okay um anyway and again i i actually thought he was kind of full of shit when i first met him um but uh he proved me wrong i mean i'm i'm a great dude so stand-up guy have you ever had sex in a car i have were you driving no it was with a girlfriend have you ever done a keg stand i have all right i have well last question does uh. Does Brendan have more than 10 pairs of shoes in his closet? Yes, you do. You seem to be like of a clothes hound,

you know, a fashionista. I saw that date, I saw what you were wearing on that hometown date. Yeah, so I actually worked at Nike. I was a contractor with Nike for two and a half, almost three years. And so I got a little bit of shoe collection like i brought my all gold kobe's and i brought my jordans and i brought you know

so i think i brought at least that amount with me here and that's just like you're a sneakerhead yeah i'm sneakerhead 100 100 all right so what's next for you i mean you're you're a traveling nurse recruiter uh do you want to keep doing that is that your final destination with the career or would you like to see yourself no so um you know i i actually departed from that job just with everything going on and i was just so there's so many things going on. And with this, like I was so stressed out. I was so beyond stressed. And I just knew like, okay, I just need to take a break from it. And I just need to like collect my thoughts.

I needed to become, I needed to become a better person. I needed to love myself again and then put myself back out there. Like when I say that, I don't mean just relationships. I mean like work. I mean like with friends and everything like that because I don't want to be the person who's bringing everyone down just because it's my problems. You know what I mean? And so, yeah, so I was a traveling nurse recruiter. I had to depart from that just because it just got so unbelievably stressful.

just because it just got so unbelievably stressful. Yeah, so, you know, right now, I think I'm just working on myself. I do have another job. It's just like kind of like side gig, just like enjoying life. Like right now, I'm just enjoying everything that's happening. And so, what's next? I don't know. I don't don't know right now i'm just working on myself like uh i do want to be a part of this franchise i love it uh you talk about you know like you're on fairness man yeah what you're gonna oh man you don't have to be all coy man like they're they clearly are gonna want you i i yeah i don't know i don't i don't know what that future holds i don't know what that future holds. I don't know what that future holds. So we'll see. But, you know, I'm going to. Promise me you will not hook up, flirt, lead anyone on.

You'll be cold stone with anyone from Bachelor Nation who slides in your game and definitely don't slide into theirs. Are you saying before going on paradise and stuff like that meet people for the first general oh no you deserve to date man you should go out there and live your life you know well i mean i you've been through it like i like that's why i appreciate the advice yeah so i mean you're women i mean shit clayton season's done yeah so oh yeah oh i'm yeah has has anyone from clayton season slitting your dms yet yes okay yes did you did you respond no okay good smart no but i mean don't just keep that just keep that going i'm telling you i haven't responded to anyone i'd rather just all right yeah don't promise me i promise you i won't i promise you i won't it's been a pleasure man i i wish you all the best i appreciate i'm glad to see you're doing well

uh you're going to be great um and uh thanks for being fun and a good interview and i'm sorry your heart was broken but i am i'm glad that you're definitely in the right direction. And I'm not worried about you one bit. Yeah, no, I appreciate it. Thank you for bringing me on. Yeah, just anyone going through a heartbreak, I promise you it's going to be okay. I promise you it's going to be all right. Hey, man, we talk about this on the show.

Death taxes and you will get over someone if you allow yourself to. Learn to love yourself. That's the most important thing. in perspective there you go so uh guys uh make sure to uh follow this young man root for his success i i think we'll see him in the future thanks for listening i hope you enjoyed this episode uh we have uh next week uh another great ass nick and a best of that if we knew brandon was going to be so giving we would be part of that episode but uh everything else we've done this year i'll be sure to check that out on wednesday i hope you have a very merry christmas happy holidays whatever it is you celebrate and we will see you back on Monday.