Latest / The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast / Bachelorette PTO with Jason Tartick

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Bachelorette PTO with Jason Tartick · The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: This is the Benn and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast
0:03
Speaker 1: with her Radio. It is a very special episode of
0:07
Speaker 1: the Almost Famous Podcast. I have one of my favorite
0:09
Speaker 1: humans in the world, and I mean that. You don't
0:11
Speaker 1: meet a lot of people in life through random circumstances,
0:15
Speaker 1: especially a television show. You go, I like this guy,
0:18
Speaker 1: but I don't like this guy like his dad, and
0:20
Speaker 1: I really like his fiancee um. I think she's great.
0:25
Speaker 1: Jason Tartik is here to guest co host with me today. Jason,
0:28
Speaker 1: welcome to the podcast that It is so good to
0:31
Speaker 1: be here. You're one of my favorite humans too, so
0:34
Speaker 1: thank you for saying those kind words. And I'm excited
0:36
Speaker 1: to be on. Man, it's been too long, been too long,
0:38
Speaker 1: it has been too long. I think the last time
0:40
Speaker 1: I saw you in person was in Memphis, Tennessee at
0:42
Speaker 1: the St. Jude charity event with your dad was there
0:46
Speaker 1: as well, which was awesome. It was you, me and
0:48
Speaker 1: Wells and your dad. I think that was all from
0:51
Speaker 1: the Bachelor World. That was m miss and somebody. Yeah, no,
0:54
Speaker 1: I think you nailed. Then there's I mean there's a
0:56
Speaker 1: couple of different like actors and musicians stuff, which was
0:59
Speaker 1: a blast, but are you running it back? You're gonna
1:00
Speaker 1: be back then, I'm out that weekend. I'm not. I'm
1:03
Speaker 1: gonna be in Honduras that weekend. I wish I was. Um,
1:06
Speaker 1: I'm supposed to be in unders. Here's the deal for
1:09
Speaker 1: anybody listening. I've I've offered this up. I'm going to
1:12
Speaker 1: Honduras on a trip. I'm leading it, and so i've
1:14
Speaker 1: it's open invite, like anybody can come. You got a
1:17
Speaker 1: humanity to hope you not a dot Organs sign up.
1:19
Speaker 1: Here's the big problem, and I'll just be Uh. Flight
1:22
Speaker 1: costs are so expensive that I'm like on edge on
1:25
Speaker 1: doing it or not, because they went from like six
1:28
Speaker 1: hundred bucks typically to like three thousand dollars to get
1:30
Speaker 1: to Honduras right now. And so I just don't know
1:32
Speaker 1: if we can do it. Like, I just don't know
1:33
Speaker 1: if I can ask people to go down there for
1:35
Speaker 1: three thousand dollars. It's a lot of money. That is why.
1:38
Speaker 1: That's a huge I mean, yeah, that that increase makes sense,
1:41
Speaker 1: that's nuts. Yeah. So, um, but I'm supposed to be there.
1:44
Speaker 1: If I'm not there, I might be able to get
1:45
Speaker 1: back to St. You was awesome. It was good to
1:47
Speaker 1: spend time with you, and UM, like I said, your
1:49
Speaker 1: dad was awesome. Hey, uh, Jason obviously here to co
1:52
Speaker 1: host with me today. Uh, but I want to talk
1:55
Speaker 1: uh right off the bat about um, your book and
1:58
Speaker 1: the projects going on. And I mean it with all
2:01
Speaker 1: sincerity when I say, you know, you and I come
2:03
Speaker 1: from similar backgrounds. You are a lot more accomplished in
2:07
Speaker 1: your and your work in your career than I was
2:09
Speaker 1: when I left it to kind of start my second chapter. Uh,
2:13
Speaker 1: but we have similar backgrounds. Um, you've used it to
2:17
Speaker 1: coach and teach and share insight with others, and you've
2:20
Speaker 1: also done it through a book. So let's just catch
2:22
Speaker 1: everybody up on what you're up to and where people
2:25
Speaker 1: can you know, keep diving into your your your knowledge.
2:30
Speaker 1: Yeah for sure. So ten years in corporate banking and
2:32
Speaker 1: I got an NBA and accounting and finance, and one
2:35
Speaker 1: of the things that I learned when I had got
2:37
Speaker 1: this platform is there's just a huge discrepancy and the
2:40
Speaker 1: stuff that we need to know every day, Like, think
2:43
Speaker 1: about the stuff we have to do right. We have
2:44
Speaker 1: to deal with taxes, we have to deal with inflation,
2:46
Speaker 1: we have to deal with budgeting. All these things were
2:49
Speaker 1: not taught anywhere in the school system nowhere to be found,
2:52
Speaker 1: not in my MBA program, nowhere. And so what I
2:55
Speaker 1: did was I created a company called Restart to really
2:58
Speaker 1: help like bridge that. And from that, then just like
3:01
Speaker 1: all this other stuff started coming up. I created a
3:04
Speaker 1: podcast Trading Secrets. We have all different people on from
3:07
Speaker 1: different industries to talk about money, what they make, where
3:10
Speaker 1: they make it, where they've lost money. So I joke around,
3:13
Speaker 1: I'm like sex to call her Daddy is like dollar
3:16
Speaker 1: signs the Trading Trading Secrets. And then I have the
3:19
Speaker 1: first book out called The Restart Roadmap, Rewire and Reset
3:21
Speaker 1: your Career. It's been a great start. We had four
3:24
Speaker 1: best seller lists all about a roadmap to making sure
3:27
Speaker 1: you're on the career trajectory that you want. And then
3:30
Speaker 1: have another book I'm starting to work on now that
3:33
Speaker 1: I'm up in the air bend that curious your opinion.
3:35
Speaker 1: It's gonna be one of two things. I'm like doing
3:37
Speaker 1: a focus group. It's going to be either there's so
3:40
Speaker 1: many books about there, like small entrepreneurship and small business.
3:43
Speaker 1: This is gonna be like the handbook for employees, like
3:46
Speaker 1: how to be an employee and get rich that's either
3:49
Speaker 1: or get wealthy, build wealth. That's one or the other.
3:51
Speaker 1: One is going to be the different intersections of the
3:55
Speaker 1: impact money has on love. So when you're single, things
3:58
Speaker 1: you have to prepare for when you start dating, when
4:00
Speaker 1: you start moving in, getting married, planning for a wedding,
4:03
Speaker 1: uh and everything else, kids and stuff like that. So
4:06
Speaker 1: one of those two concepts is going to be the
4:08
Speaker 1: next book. I'm gonna vote for both. Um the I
4:14
Speaker 1: think the inner like the life plan idea is one
4:18
Speaker 1: that is intrigued to me. And I think I shared
4:20
Speaker 1: this with you in Memphis. You know, I've I haven't
4:23
Speaker 1: been um quiet about like kind of my struggles with
4:28
Speaker 1: envy or jealousy or feeling like, hey, I'm not doing
4:32
Speaker 1: what somebody else is doing in the world, not even
4:35
Speaker 1: from like our you know, small little niche reality show.
4:40
Speaker 1: And one of the things that I love about Trading
4:42
Speaker 1: Secrets is people get on there and you push them
4:44
Speaker 1: and they also are open to be very vulnerable about
4:46
Speaker 1: their mistakes, um, their financial situations. Because I found out
4:51
Speaker 1: and this was before the show, right before the opportunities
4:54
Speaker 1: for me uh kind of opened up, and and before
4:58
Speaker 1: some of the businesses that I was able to create
5:00
Speaker 1: and work on. Now where we're at all profitable, they're
5:04
Speaker 1: they're still struggling. I was still pouring money into them
5:06
Speaker 1: and trying to get them up off the ground, right.
5:08
Speaker 1: I found myself in a place where it's like, I
5:10
Speaker 1: don't know if I'm in a good place, Like I
5:13
Speaker 1: don't know if I am making the right next steps.
5:18
Speaker 1: I don't know compared to so and so if I'm
5:21
Speaker 1: missing out on a bunch of opportunities and income that
5:25
Speaker 1: I'm just blind to or saying no to. And what
5:28
Speaker 1: I love about Trading Secrets and I love about your
5:30
Speaker 1: platform is it kind of gives a a look into
5:34
Speaker 1: some of the topics that have been taboo for so long. Yeah, exactly.
5:39
Speaker 1: I mean I don't understand why these are topics and
5:42
Speaker 1: conversations we can't have. I think we've been a little
5:46
Speaker 1: conditioned to think we can't talk about money or where
5:48
Speaker 1: our successes. And what's cool is we've done it at
5:51
Speaker 1: Trading Secrets, but I've recognized just because we have people
5:55
Speaker 1: from certain shows or their influencers, or they're even investors
5:58
Speaker 1: like a guy like Kevin o'lee, they'll talk about their money.
6:01
Speaker 1: But what we need to do is get more, you know,
6:05
Speaker 1: everyday individuals walking the streets to talk about it. So
6:08
Speaker 1: what I'm starting to this week, I'm starting to film.
6:11
Speaker 1: It's called Trading Secrets in the Streets, And so we'll
6:14
Speaker 1: be out there just literally going up to people in
6:16
Speaker 1: all different cities and be like, what do you do
6:19
Speaker 1: when you start doing it? What you make? What do
6:21
Speaker 1: you make today? How did you get your raises? What
6:23
Speaker 1: do you think you'll make? Because this is information that
6:26
Speaker 1: allows us to navigate our lives and like figure out
6:29
Speaker 1: what we want to do and how we want to do.
6:30
Speaker 1: I think the maybe the obvious question here too though,
6:34
Speaker 1: is for somebody out there. So when I was working
6:37
Speaker 1: my first job that I was at for five years,
6:41
Speaker 1: I I think I kept out at like forty thousand
6:43
Speaker 1: a year. I think I started thirty. Um. It was
6:46
Speaker 1: a fine job. Um, but you know, it was tough.
6:50
Speaker 1: It was tough to live in a big city making
6:52
Speaker 1: thirty thousand dollars a year and trying to figure out
6:54
Speaker 1: how to do it really hard to figure out how
6:56
Speaker 1: to save anything, um, and also really hard to figure
6:59
Speaker 1: out how to have any fun, like how to you know,
7:01
Speaker 1: go out my buddies or you know. It was it
7:03
Speaker 1: was a weird season of life. So many people are
7:06
Speaker 1: in that season of life, and they're in that season
7:07
Speaker 1: of life when they're in their forties and fifties and sixties,
7:10
Speaker 1: because you know, maybe their career of choice doesn't compensate
7:14
Speaker 1: them as much as others. So how does your platform
7:19
Speaker 1: and in the interviews you're having with like the Kevin
7:22
Speaker 1: o'lears of the world, who can bathe in money, Um,
7:25
Speaker 1: how does it relate to them? What can they get
7:27
Speaker 1: from it? So? Okay, So yeah, I think well, one
7:32
Speaker 1: of the things is that they're they're believing in like
7:35
Speaker 1: the overall mission, right, Like you get like a Kevin
7:37
Speaker 1: O'Leary when I talked to him about what I'm trying
7:39
Speaker 1: to do, He's like, hell, yeah, go talk to your family,
7:42
Speaker 1: Go talk to your mom and dad about what their
7:43
Speaker 1: plan is for the next stage of the life. Go
7:45
Speaker 1: see how much they make, Like have all this out
7:48
Speaker 1: there and do it so that you can get more
7:51
Speaker 1: information for yourself, your family and the people around you.
7:54
Speaker 1: But I think some of the people will will be
7:55
Speaker 1: really surprised, right, Like if Kevin O'Leary listens to an
7:58
Speaker 1: a rod and he hears about a rod corp and
8:01
Speaker 1: and how a Rod the baseball player now owns a
8:04
Speaker 1: professional sports team, he might start to say, wait a second,
8:08
Speaker 1: I should be doing things different. Or if you get
8:10
Speaker 1: someone like a really super successful Rob deer Deck who
8:13
Speaker 1: is making a D five k and episode as a
8:15
Speaker 1: host and then tells me how he negotiated his placement rights,
8:19
Speaker 1: his ad placement rights into MTV show so that he
8:22
Speaker 1: would get a hundred percent of it, and he goes
8:24
Speaker 1: from making one K and episode two millions in episode.
8:28
Speaker 1: It starts to make anyone think twice. And even if
8:30
Speaker 1: the cool thing about Rob deer Deck two is he
8:32
Speaker 1: had a production company, and his production company was making nothing.
8:36
Speaker 1: He just had the entity that was doing like little
8:38
Speaker 1: stuff here there. He negotiated in his deal that every
8:42
Speaker 1: single TV show he hosted had to be produced by
8:45
Speaker 1: his production company. So instantaneously when that deal executed, he
8:49
Speaker 1: turned that company into like a fifty million dollar revenue
8:51
Speaker 1: generating company. So I think, like, you know, anywhere on
8:54
Speaker 1: the scale where you're at the you know, the thirty
8:58
Speaker 1: dollar market year, and you're just thinking about the basics
9:00
Speaker 1: of finance, like where to budget and how to spend
9:02
Speaker 1: your money. Uh, there's something in there for you. And
9:05
Speaker 1: even if it's like a Rod talking about how a
9:07
Speaker 1: Rod that dude has imposter syndrome when he's sitting in
9:10
Speaker 1: the owner's table because he's like, I don't belong here.
9:13
Speaker 1: There's some wild takeaways, which is it's just kind of wild.
9:17
Speaker 1: And then remind me, though, because we did talk about
9:19
Speaker 1: this in Memphis, what was that when you talk about
9:22
Speaker 1: the job stuff and you're like where you are today,
9:25
Speaker 1: what was the one thing or the biggest decision making
9:29
Speaker 1: driver that had you end up leaving your past life
9:33
Speaker 1: to do all the you know, post show entrepreneurial stuff. Uh,
9:37
Speaker 1: it was a day. It was a moment, and I
9:40
Speaker 1: don't think it happens with everybody. So I had a
9:43
Speaker 1: weird life where I was selling a software and I
9:47
Speaker 1: was working in the basement of this office building. And
9:49
Speaker 1: then on Thursdays, I had negotiated with my company that
9:53
Speaker 1: I would leave work at three pm, catch a flight
9:55
Speaker 1: to l A, and I would go and do my
9:57
Speaker 1: l A stuff or wherever the of things had to
10:01
Speaker 1: be done for the TV show because the show was
10:03
Speaker 1: my time of The Bachelor was airing during this um
10:07
Speaker 1: and I would fly and I'll go to l a
10:09
Speaker 1: and I would do all this red carpet stuff. I'd
10:11
Speaker 1: come back on Sunday nights and I would jump right
10:13
Speaker 1: back into my desk. And after a while, like I
10:17
Speaker 1: wanted it for the healthcare for a long time, right,
10:19
Speaker 1: I wanted it for the benefits, and I I didn't know,
10:24
Speaker 1: you know, what this would look like for me long term.
10:27
Speaker 1: I was still up in the air on like, hey,
10:29
Speaker 1: is this gonna is? Am I ever gonna make money
10:31
Speaker 1: from being the Bachelor? Uh? Is there gonna be in
10:33
Speaker 1: any opportunities that exist. I was not wanting to hedge
10:36
Speaker 1: my bets fully into me becoming like a self starter
10:40
Speaker 1: of any kind yet, And I felt like I was
10:43
Speaker 1: living to double lives. I felt like I was facing
10:45
Speaker 1: it at one of the other. I wasn't. I wasn't
10:48
Speaker 1: benefiting that, Like the two weren't benefiting from each other.
10:51
Speaker 1: The two were very separate lives. And I was getting tired.
10:54
Speaker 1: And so I remember sitting at my desk and said,
10:55
Speaker 1: I need to just take a risk. So my risk
10:58
Speaker 1: wasn't um anything really that I thought was gonna make
11:02
Speaker 1: me a lot of money. It was generous. So generous
11:04
Speaker 1: coffee was my first venture. And I said I just
11:07
Speaker 1: want to try now to use my platform to sell
11:10
Speaker 1: as much coffee as possible so that we can donate
11:12
Speaker 1: it back to organizations. And if that's my career for
11:15
Speaker 1: the next forty years, I think I'm gonna really enjoy that.
11:17
Speaker 1: Like I think I'm really gonna have fun with the
11:19
Speaker 1: idea of creating these new stories and building a business
11:21
Speaker 1: and fighting the good fight to try to build this
11:24
Speaker 1: thing up so that it can be an asset to
11:27
Speaker 1: these nonprofits. And so that was the final moment, was
11:30
Speaker 1: I just know now, um that I'm I can't keep
11:33
Speaker 1: living two lives, i can't keep exhausting myself. I've got
11:36
Speaker 1: to find a way that when I'm at these right
11:38
Speaker 1: carpet events to have something to talk about that is
11:42
Speaker 1: benefiting me, benefiting the world, and also employing me. And
11:46
Speaker 1: so that that was that was the first step, was
11:49
Speaker 1: ID I'd break it down to say Jason that it
11:51
Speaker 1: was my my moment was I'm releasing, releasing myself to
11:56
Speaker 1: place a bet on myself that I can be creative
11:58
Speaker 1: enough to find the next step. That's so cool. And
12:03
Speaker 1: did you when she because you were on the show,
12:06
Speaker 1: right you were you were on the Bachelorette and then
12:08
Speaker 1: you became a bachelor. Did you have the same job
12:11
Speaker 1: both times? Like, did they let you go both times?
12:14
Speaker 1: They give you that bread, So a lot of people
12:15
Speaker 1: don't know this. Yeah, So I was at the job
12:17
Speaker 1: for three years before The Bachelor. I went on the
12:19
Speaker 1: Bachelorette and they gave me a sabbatical, so just an
12:22
Speaker 1: unpaid sabbatical leave of ac and not knowing how long
12:26
Speaker 1: I was gonna be gone. So that ended up being
12:27
Speaker 1: about what two and a half months that I was
12:29
Speaker 1: out of work. I came right back and that next Monday,
12:32
Speaker 1: after I got back, I stepped into the office, say,
12:36
Speaker 1: it's a wild it's a weird, especially when you work
12:41
Speaker 1: with a bunch of people who love the show and
12:42
Speaker 1: they're like, what happened? Where have you been? What did
12:44
Speaker 1: you do? You must have been there a long time,
12:47
Speaker 1: and and you're like it's all blur at that point,
12:49
Speaker 1: like you're not mentally back into reality yet, and so
12:52
Speaker 1: you're kind of like, yeah, And then I worked it
12:55
Speaker 1: up until I was the Bachelor, did the same thing
12:57
Speaker 1: for my time on The Bachelor, then worked at another
12:59
Speaker 1: year and a half after my time on the show,
13:01
Speaker 1: And so what was that it was like a six
13:03
Speaker 1: month period. You went back to work and then started
13:05
Speaker 1: filming and they let you go and let me go again.
13:08
Speaker 1: So here was something that nobody. I don't know if
13:10
Speaker 1: I've ever shared this publicly. Um. I remember the moment
13:15
Speaker 1: that So I got signed up by a lady that
13:17
Speaker 1: I worked with to be on the Bachelor app. She
13:19
Speaker 1: was like, Ben, but this is very known. So like Ben,
13:22
Speaker 1: you're not dating, you don't any friends out here in Denver,
13:24
Speaker 1: you only work like you need to do something cool
13:27
Speaker 1: with your life. And so the Bachelor that was that
13:29
Speaker 1: that thing left there, came back um to work and
13:34
Speaker 1: I started a sales job, and so I was um.
13:39
Speaker 1: I was working in sales, and when they asked me
13:41
Speaker 1: to be the Bachelor, I said, I'm not gonna do
13:44
Speaker 1: it if my family doesn't think it's a good idea,
13:47
Speaker 1: if my four closest friends don't think it's a good idea,
13:50
Speaker 1: or if my job doesn't let me because shocker, you
13:54
Speaker 1: don't get paid a lot to be the Bachelor, Like
13:56
Speaker 1: I mean, you don't. It's a great income for me
13:58
Speaker 1: back then, a lot more than I was making, but
14:00
Speaker 1: it's not you know, if you're gonna quit your job
14:02
Speaker 1: to do. It's a really scared you can't retire um.
14:06
Speaker 1: And so I went to all of them, and I
14:08
Speaker 1: went to the CEO of my company and he said, no,
14:10
Speaker 1: you should do it. You gotta take a risk, bet
14:12
Speaker 1: on yourself here and so the doors open when you
14:14
Speaker 1: want to come back. And so that's I mean, one
14:16
Speaker 1: of the reasons I stayed there for a year and
14:18
Speaker 1: a half was the loyalty just to them letting me
14:20
Speaker 1: do that. I was one of the only people I
14:22
Speaker 1: feel like on The Bachelor and especially who was going
14:25
Speaker 1: back to their job, because who what job is gonna
14:28
Speaker 1: let you leave for two and a half months. That's
14:31
Speaker 1: a wild certain It's interesting that not many jobs, by
14:34
Speaker 1: the way, But one of the things for me is
14:36
Speaker 1: it was exact opposite of you. Like everyone in my
14:40
Speaker 1: life was like, what the hell are you doing? My
14:42
Speaker 1: mom and dad are like no. My boss was like,
14:45
Speaker 1: he's like, I'm not approving this. So I ended up
14:47
Speaker 1: going to the president of the bank. He ended up
14:49
Speaker 1: approving it. All my friends were like, what the hell
14:51
Speaker 1: are you doing? Because I just took this. I took
14:53
Speaker 1: this job from New York to Seattle and it was
14:56
Speaker 1: like two months after I got to Seattle that they
14:58
Speaker 1: invested some some good sizeable money and they're like, what
15:01
Speaker 1: do you do? Like no, but that the president of
15:04
Speaker 1: the bank ended up saying you can go now. When
15:07
Speaker 1: I got back from the show, and I was thinking
15:09
Speaker 1: of like him and hang about paradigm. Uh, that's when
15:13
Speaker 1: the entire company came down like litten, you go to paradise,
15:17
Speaker 1: there's this it's over. I mean, what was the reason
15:22
Speaker 1: why the president said, hey, you can do this? Well,
15:26
Speaker 1: it was funny. It's so funny because I was really
15:28
Speaker 1: trying to position because I p t O days and
15:31
Speaker 1: I was like, I've already banked these because I just
15:33
Speaker 1: like rolled them over. If I could get paid while
15:36
Speaker 1: going on the batch, right, that would be perfect. So
15:38
Speaker 1: they approved that. But what happened was it went from
15:41
Speaker 1: my boss to the next boss to the next boss.
15:43
Speaker 1: No one wanted to approve it, so it ended up
15:44
Speaker 1: at his lap. And the way I positioned it was
15:47
Speaker 1: pretty much like, listen, I've given nine years of nine
15:51
Speaker 1: ten years of everything I can do at this bank.
15:53
Speaker 1: You've asked me to move. I've moved four times. You've
15:55
Speaker 1: asked me to put this bank for at the forefront
15:58
Speaker 1: I've done it. I literally just need to do this
16:00
Speaker 1: for myself. I just need to give this a chance.
16:02
Speaker 1: And he read the memo. I wrote the whole memo
16:04
Speaker 1: in my book, and he just was like I think
16:07
Speaker 1: he was like I knew him too. I think he's like,
16:09
Speaker 1: this kid is a good kid. I like him. He's
16:11
Speaker 1: worked hard. Let him go. And then the director of HR,
16:14
Speaker 1: like the head of hr I was told this that
16:17
Speaker 1: she's a fan of the show, and she stormed into
16:19
Speaker 1: his office was like, do you know what you just approved?
16:23
Speaker 1: And they had second guesses about it, but they ended
16:26
Speaker 1: up giving me the g oh Man, what's a huge deal.
16:29
Speaker 1: What a relief. Um, Hey, we're gonna get more into
16:32
Speaker 1: this too. I want to tease this. Jason is gonna
16:35
Speaker 1: stick around, uh, and we're going to have a very
16:38
Speaker 1: special episode. We're gonna talk to Jason about everything when
16:44
Speaker 1: it comes to wealth, personal finances. Um. I'm even gonna
16:48
Speaker 1: get into the exciting stuff of tax uh taxes and
16:53
Speaker 1: tax savings and how you can benefit from that. And
16:55
Speaker 1: then also we're gonna talk a lot about his book
16:58
Speaker 1: and uh, the re Start Roadmap and his podcast Trading
17:03
Speaker 1: Secrets on a really special episode that will be posted
17:06
Speaker 1: um super soon. It's gonna be great. Jason. Let's transition then,
17:22
Speaker 1: um into your life right now? How is uh engaged life?
17:27
Speaker 1: I am no longer an engaged man. That feels weird
17:30
Speaker 1: for me to say I got married, um, which is
17:33
Speaker 1: a great thing by the way. Uh, but how is
17:36
Speaker 1: engaged life going? Are you sick of talking about it? Yet?
17:42
Speaker 1: It's so funny, Like I was thinking about this on
17:44
Speaker 1: a run today. I was like, through life, there's so
17:48
Speaker 1: much like societal pressure of every next step from like
17:52
Speaker 1: when you're literally like enter high school, right, it's like
17:55
Speaker 1: what you're doing high school? You go to high school?
17:56
Speaker 1: Where're gonna go to college? When when you're in college,
17:58
Speaker 1: what are you studying? Would you declare your mate? Your
18:00
Speaker 1: What are you gonna do for work? Getting to work,
18:01
Speaker 1: You're gonna move you get a girlfriend, You're gonna boyfriend,
18:03
Speaker 1: you're gonna move in, You're getting a gauge, You get engage,
18:05
Speaker 1: you get married, how many kids you can have? I
18:07
Speaker 1: feel like the societal pressures of like what the system
18:09
Speaker 1: like is driving forward just doesn't stop. So we got
18:13
Speaker 1: engaged last May and it was I mean, it was everything.
18:16
Speaker 1: It was. It was such a beautiful moment, and uh,
18:19
Speaker 1: it was awesome. But like you said, Ben, I think
18:22
Speaker 1: the questions about the wedding have haven't stopped since day
18:26
Speaker 1: second one of getting of getting engaged, and we've had
18:30
Speaker 1: It's it's just been really busy for Caitlin and I. Right,
18:33
Speaker 1: we've had she was still hosting the show, she had
18:37
Speaker 1: a podcast tour, she was Dancing with the Stars tour,
18:41
Speaker 1: I was finishing the book. I went on a on
18:42
Speaker 1: a book tour. Uh. She's actually in Canada right now.
18:46
Speaker 1: She's doing another wine Wellness in Women Like Business keynote
18:50
Speaker 1: speaking stuff, so a little different than her typical stuff.
18:53
Speaker 1: But we've just been so busy with stuff that obviously
18:56
Speaker 1: that makes planning a little bit more challenging. But the
18:59
Speaker 1: engaged life is right here in Nashville, Tennessee. Things are
19:02
Speaker 1: good here. We got Ramen and Pino. We're healthy. The
19:05
Speaker 1: older we get, the more we realize how freaking important
19:08
Speaker 1: that is. As we've seen some scares with our family
19:11
Speaker 1: and our family's friends. Um, but things are things are
19:14
Speaker 1: going well, man, things are going well. How when you
19:17
Speaker 1: cross into that moment of the married life is a
19:21
Speaker 1: guy that hopes to be there extremely soon what's the
19:24
Speaker 1: biggest thing that changes? Like number one, Uh, the way
19:27
Speaker 1: you see I would say there is a what I
19:31
Speaker 1: said yes to Jessica. It went from us, um, knowing
19:38
Speaker 1: that we're gonna be partners, to being partners. And there's
19:40
Speaker 1: a different mindset I think we both have towards each
19:43
Speaker 1: other on UM, I want to say, protecting each other, planning, uh,
19:49
Speaker 1: working with each other to build a future together. Whatever
19:52
Speaker 1: that looks like. UM. Personally, I just think the biggest
19:56
Speaker 1: switch was when I see her, she is a part
19:58
Speaker 1: of me and I'm a part of her. Out Um,
20:01
Speaker 1: there's there's you know, we're different people, we have different ambitions,
20:04
Speaker 1: different goals in life, but when it comes down to it,
20:06
Speaker 1: we've made a commitment to be a part of each other.
20:10
Speaker 1: And I and and when you're engaged, I didn't really
20:13
Speaker 1: feel that as much. I felt like we were prepping
20:15
Speaker 1: for that. We did some like you know, premedal counseling
20:19
Speaker 1: to kind of get ready for that moment. But there,
20:21
Speaker 1: when you step out of that room, you're like, we're married,
20:23
Speaker 1: Like this isn't like you know, if everything goes well
20:28
Speaker 1: and God willing, we're married forever. Like you are? It
20:31
Speaker 1: for me and I've I've found it. I thought, if
20:34
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be honest, I thought I was gonna be
20:36
Speaker 1: that was gonna be overwhelming for me a little bit.
20:38
Speaker 1: I kind of got a little stressed out leading up
20:40
Speaker 1: to the wedding, like am I how am I gonna
20:42
Speaker 1: feel that next day or whatever. It's been really peaceful.
20:45
Speaker 1: It's been very exciting for me. And it's why I
20:48
Speaker 1: asked about engage life and I ask about your wedding.
20:51
Speaker 1: You're gonna get married when you want to get married
20:53
Speaker 1: and when it works for you too, and all of that. Uh.
20:57
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed the season of life that was engaged
21:00
Speaker 1: because it didn't have as much of the societal pressures
21:04
Speaker 1: as what I feel like now, like once we're married, kids,
21:07
Speaker 1: um a dog house, like people start asking like what
21:11
Speaker 1: are the next steps and next steps and next steps
21:13
Speaker 1: and next steps. I was really enjoying being in a
21:15
Speaker 1: season of life where it just felt like we could
21:17
Speaker 1: be a couple but know that we were committed to
21:20
Speaker 1: each other. Um, you know, but obviously we did. We
21:25
Speaker 1: waited for a year and a half to get married,
21:26
Speaker 1: so we had some time there. Yeah. It's interesting because
21:30
Speaker 1: I somewhat relate to that, especially like right after we
21:35
Speaker 1: got engaged like that and we took off like work
21:38
Speaker 1: and everything like that was such a high, like this
21:41
Speaker 1: is unbelievable, like this is your forever. You've both committed
21:44
Speaker 1: to it, and now you've got to like plan to
21:46
Speaker 1: cement that. And I feel it's interesting because I feel
21:50
Speaker 1: that the pressure of planning and the wedding stuff is
21:55
Speaker 1: actually greater than the pressure of are you getting engaged
21:59
Speaker 1: as far is like volume, like the volume of it
22:02
Speaker 1: and everyone's and I think I think also too, it's
22:06
Speaker 1: the the outpouring uh, really certain opinions about what it
22:15
Speaker 1: should be. Oh, you gotta go do it here, you
22:17
Speaker 1: don't chance on the flowers. You must have this, you
22:20
Speaker 1: gotta have this, you gotta like all these saying I'm like,
22:23
Speaker 1: oh my, it like creates like absolute just craziness. It does.
22:28
Speaker 1: I we got engaged. I don't think I saw jess
22:32
Speaker 1: for it felt like we like got engaged and separated
22:35
Speaker 1: at the same time, because then she just started wedding
22:37
Speaker 1: planning like her mom my mom and Jeff went a
22:41
Speaker 1: bunker and they just wedding plan then for like a
22:43
Speaker 1: year and a half, and then Jessica pops out on
22:45
Speaker 1: the aisle and I'm like, hey, this worked out. Thank
22:46
Speaker 1: you for doing all this. I had a lot of fun. Um,
22:50
Speaker 1: thanks for the student drink. Uh. Jason, there's a headline
22:53
Speaker 1: later on we'll get to when it comes to your wedding.
22:55
Speaker 1: I'm just warning you for that again. Jason's gonna stick
22:57
Speaker 1: around here. We're in a co host a really special
23:00
Speaker 1: episode for Best Day. It's gonna come out very soon.
23:02
Speaker 1: I don't have the exact day yet, but we're gonna
23:05
Speaker 1: talk and pick Jason's brand on everything that I think
23:07
Speaker 1: we all could benefit from, especially when it comes to
23:09
Speaker 1: finances and when it comes to planning for our future. Um,
23:14
Speaker 1: no matter of funeral, really ship if you're single, if
23:16
Speaker 1: you're retiring or not. But Jason, it is the off
23:21
Speaker 1: season here at the Almost Famous Podcast. It won't be
23:23
Speaker 1: the off season for long. We do have a very
23:25
Speaker 1: special Bachelorette season coming up that we'll be talking about
23:28
Speaker 1: and breaking down. Um. But we have headlines to run through,
23:32
Speaker 1: so let's jump right into him. Here's the here's the
23:36
Speaker 1: first headline for you, Jason. If you don't know how
23:38
Speaker 1: this works, we're just gonna comment based on our first reaction.
23:42
Speaker 1: But this is when we can celebrate. It's an easy
23:43
Speaker 1: one to get us warmed up. Here. The Bachelor's Hayley
23:46
Speaker 1: Ferguson and Ula Paul Vey Paul Hockey, Yeah hockey star
23:54
Speaker 1: are married after Las Vegas wedding. This according to US Weekly.
24:00
Speaker 1: The Ferguson and her sister were on the season of
24:02
Speaker 1: The Bachelor that I was a part of. Uh. It
24:05
Speaker 1: was a beautiful wedding in uh Las Vegas. They have
24:09
Speaker 1: been dating for a while. Here's an important side note.
24:12
Speaker 1: They got married at the World, the Resorts World, Las Vegas.
24:16
Speaker 1: Have you been there, Jason, I have been there. It's
24:19
Speaker 1: it's stunning. What the big like inside scoop behind that
24:24
Speaker 1: I've heard, Like the little trading secret is that Steve
24:27
Speaker 1: Apparently Steve win It's a rumor, so don't quote me,
24:30
Speaker 1: don't make it for sure, but Steve win Ow this
24:34
Speaker 1: guy big time money, the guy who started Resort World
24:38
Speaker 1: and it and it got the deck got cleared. He
24:40
Speaker 1: never got paid. And I heard it was a vendetta,
24:44
Speaker 1: but it was also a dream of his and they
24:46
Speaker 1: created Resort World, and there was there was issues that
24:50
Speaker 1: Resort World looks so identical to win that Resort World
24:54
Speaker 1: at last minute had to like change some of their
24:56
Speaker 1: colors because there was actually a potential for a lawsuit. Now, Jason,
25:01
Speaker 1: who do you have to be in the world? Like,
25:03
Speaker 1: I go golfing a lot. I gamble on the golf course.
25:07
Speaker 1: It's like, sometimes it's twenty bucks, sometimes it's ten bucks. Sometimes,
25:10
Speaker 1: you know, I come out on top, not very often.
25:13
Speaker 1: Who do you have to be in the world to say, Hey,
25:15
Speaker 1: you owe me money, I'm gonna buy I'm gonna build
25:18
Speaker 1: a resort just to say, you have to be a
25:24
Speaker 1: big time foreign billionaire, which is I believe that's impestive. Man,
25:31
Speaker 1: that's a story to tell. Obviously, Bachelor weddings are something
25:45
Speaker 1: to celebrate. So I believe if I have on my
25:49
Speaker 1: facts straight, um, that Emily was the maid of honor.
25:53
Speaker 1: That makes sense, right, Emily is also in a relationship.
25:59
Speaker 1: I believe they are engaged to get married. I could
26:02
Speaker 1: have that wrong producers behind the scenes, if you don't
26:05
Speaker 1: mind fact checking that for me. Um, But bachelordings are
26:09
Speaker 1: a big deal. It's cool to see them both move on,
26:12
Speaker 1: um and to something really special. I mean they're they're
26:14
Speaker 1: marrying hockey players. That's that's a big deal. Yeah, I
26:18
Speaker 1: mean they've clearly done well. I mean they seem happy,
26:22
Speaker 1: Like I've seen their Instagram, like their post when they
26:24
Speaker 1: get Gabe. They both seem extremely happy. And I think
26:27
Speaker 1: here's um what her sister? What is her? Haley's sister
26:31
Speaker 1: named Emily. Okay, Emily both on your says she ended
26:36
Speaker 1: up with and I know this guy like the back
26:38
Speaker 1: of my hand, Carl's I'm a big hockey fan her
26:41
Speaker 1: and Carl. That guy is like a Stanley. I mean
26:46
Speaker 1: he is a stud. He's one of the best, one
26:48
Speaker 1: of the best best players in that NHL. I think
26:50
Speaker 1: he has like a fifty million dollar contract, like eight
26:53
Speaker 1: year contract with the Vegas Nights. I mean, the guy
26:56
Speaker 1: is a stud. Um, so good for um. That's correct.
27:00
Speaker 1: A little A little interesting thing is when they're on
27:03
Speaker 1: my season, the big joke and I think they overplayed it.
27:06
Speaker 1: I think obviously the show made it like they would
27:08
Speaker 1: never leave each other, right, they wanted to always be
27:10
Speaker 1: around each other. Um, they never wanted to separate. They
27:13
Speaker 1: always wanted to live in Vegas. They had a bunch
27:15
Speaker 1: of like I think they had like eight uh dogs.
27:18
Speaker 1: When I went to visit their house there, like it
27:20
Speaker 1: was kind of the whole like spoof that that these
27:23
Speaker 1: twins were so connected, and I think they are. Isn't
27:25
Speaker 1: it interesting to think that they're marrying people uh from
27:28
Speaker 1: different countries. Uh, they'll definitely probably not be living in
27:32
Speaker 1: the same city because there's no way these two guys
27:34
Speaker 1: are playing on for the same team long term. So
27:38
Speaker 1: they really took a step out, which is also cool
27:40
Speaker 1: to see kind of like that path now to them,
27:43
Speaker 1: you know, blossoming into um two humans that can still
27:47
Speaker 1: love each other and function in different areas. Yeah, I mean,
27:50
Speaker 1: I will say there's some there are some similarities there
27:54
Speaker 1: because the just a hockey player mentality. Their hockey players
27:58
Speaker 1: are just cut from a different they are It doesn't
28:00
Speaker 1: matter what country you're from, where you're from, when you
28:02
Speaker 1: are born and raised and live in that locker room,
28:05
Speaker 1: it's just like it's a different type of energy. And
28:07
Speaker 1: I think, uh, I think maybe you know, they just
28:11
Speaker 1: that's that's their thing. Ben. You know what, maybe I
28:14
Speaker 1: know it didn't work out with you guys, but maybe
28:16
Speaker 1: after they had everything Ben Higgins have to offer, they're like,
28:19
Speaker 1: you know what I need? Yeah, I need somebody studlier,
28:23
Speaker 1: more athletic, wealthy, tooler. I need a hockey guy, Um,
28:28
Speaker 1: would you throw it down the mits? Ben? Would you
28:29
Speaker 1: if you're in it like someone's talking and your team
28:31
Speaker 1: needs it, are you gonna throw down the mids? On
28:35
Speaker 1: surgeries underneath my belt? Jason? So I'm ready to fight
28:39
Speaker 1: um whenever the call is happening. Hey, Jason, there's been
28:44
Speaker 1: a lot of talk here recently. We've discussed a little
28:46
Speaker 1: bit on the podcast. I would love to just hear
28:49
Speaker 1: your personal insight into your story here. UM. A lot
28:53
Speaker 1: of past contestants, it feels like, as of recent speaking
28:56
Speaker 1: out against the show, UH typically didn't up in right.
29:00
Speaker 1: Now we have access to our social media's Uh, we
29:03
Speaker 1: have access now to more media in general. But Matt
29:07
Speaker 1: James is a lead here UM who recently has come
29:10
Speaker 1: out with a book, and he is also criticizing the
29:12
Speaker 1: show for how they dealt with his relationship with Rachel.
29:16
Speaker 1: His quote is, according to EU, Matt James blames the
29:20
Speaker 1: Bachelor for turning his relationship into a circus. Now we
29:23
Speaker 1: always we all remember, Um, this became a really big
29:27
Speaker 1: issue and topic back in the day with him and Rachel,
29:30
Speaker 1: and then they went on the tell all and it
29:33
Speaker 1: didn't look like he and Rachel we're gonna get together
29:34
Speaker 1: at all. He came on the podcast a few weeks
29:36
Speaker 1: ago and said they actually left that live show holding hands,
29:40
Speaker 1: that they were like they were good right after it. Um, Jason,
29:45
Speaker 1: why do you think people today are feeling more of
29:48
Speaker 1: an ankst and an upset nous towards the show than before?
29:54
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's ben because they have the
29:56
Speaker 1: platform to do it now, and they have people that
29:59
Speaker 1: will list sin even when they are very removed from
30:02
Speaker 1: the show. Like you know, back in the day, it's
30:05
Speaker 1: just just still like when we were on the show,
30:07
Speaker 1: Like you get all your interviews when you get off
30:08
Speaker 1: the show, and after no one like really cared as much.
30:11
Speaker 1: But with social media, the drama continues and the ease
30:15
Speaker 1: of getting your opinion out there escalates at such a
30:18
Speaker 1: different level. I mean, I think because of it, Like
30:22
Speaker 1: I'm surprised the show hasn't done this. You see the
30:25
Speaker 1: different drama out there right, Like there's a new thing
30:27
Speaker 1: every week, Like a couple of weeks ago, is Blake
30:29
Speaker 1: and Natasha going at it based on edits and you
30:32
Speaker 1: know then you obviously Matt just had his book come out,
30:35
Speaker 1: and there's you know, there's always something. Uh. The other
30:38
Speaker 1: day it was you know, I've I've made a comment
30:40
Speaker 1: and it's got headlines got picked up after Colton Colton
30:44
Speaker 1: I talked, there's I'm taking a business approach here. There
30:47
Speaker 1: is so much value and the alumni of this franchise,
30:55
Speaker 1: and almost nothing is done with it, which is fascinating
30:59
Speaker 1: to me because if you took these conversations and you
31:02
Speaker 1: took this drama in like a house where there's like
31:04
Speaker 1: like a big brother and you had like a Natasha
31:08
Speaker 1: in a blake have to go at a toe to
31:10
Speaker 1: toe with this stuff or some of these controversies or
31:12
Speaker 1: with the acts like the stuff, it would be unbelievable entertainment.
31:17
Speaker 1: So I'm surprised there is especially now there's not anything
31:20
Speaker 1: taking uh taking some type of value from the franchise.
31:26
Speaker 1: But I think it's just because people now have a
31:30
Speaker 1: means of talking about it, and let's also talk. Let's
31:34
Speaker 1: also bring this up. When anyone from the franchise talks
31:38
Speaker 1: about the franchise, especially things behind the scenes, all your
31:43
Speaker 1: levels of engagement go up significantly. And most people in
31:46
Speaker 1: this world they're monitoring that. So not only do they
31:49
Speaker 1: have a form to talk about it, but they also
31:52
Speaker 1: have engagement levels and reinforcement that the attention for those
31:58
Speaker 1: conversations behooves them and their personal whatever it is they
32:03
Speaker 1: may are trying to brand or bring to fruition. Yeah.
32:06
Speaker 1: You know, it was interesting when when I was writing
32:08
Speaker 1: alone in Plain Sight, when we were having our initial meetings,
32:12
Speaker 1: the conversation came up, as do you want to do
32:14
Speaker 1: a tell All tell as do really good? They do
32:16
Speaker 1: really like, they sell a lot. People are very interested
32:19
Speaker 1: in them, and I decided not to one. I don't
32:22
Speaker 1: have a lot to tell. I would I feel like
32:24
Speaker 1: I could tell everything from my experience. My I think
32:27
Speaker 1: my experience on the show was unique in the fact
32:29
Speaker 1: that it was pretty easy overall. There was some like
32:33
Speaker 1: moments that got ugly at the end because the end
32:37
Speaker 1: is always hard. Um, you probably have a lot to tell.
32:40
Speaker 1: You're just too good of a guy to tell you. Well, yeah,
32:43
Speaker 1: I think it would have been nice. Um, But I
32:47
Speaker 1: get what you're saying is there is there is this
32:49
Speaker 1: level where, like, you know, if I jump on the
32:51
Speaker 1: night and say, hey, I'm gonna tell everything that I
32:54
Speaker 1: know from the show, uh, and I'm gonna dig out everything,
32:57
Speaker 1: I think people will be a lot more interested in
32:59
Speaker 1: hearing about that then me jumping on and talking about
33:02
Speaker 1: my dog or talking about my wife or talking about
33:05
Speaker 1: um generous. Uh, it is there. There is a value
33:10
Speaker 1: to that that I think began. It is interesting the
33:12
Speaker 1: show hasn't taken advantage of it. The show kind of
33:14
Speaker 1: just it. They don't even comment on this stuff anymore.
33:17
Speaker 1: If you, I don't know too much about like the
33:20
Speaker 1: um all all the different moving parts of everything with
33:24
Speaker 1: like I know a little bit about Generous, and I
33:26
Speaker 1: know the book you that you wrote. But going back
33:28
Speaker 1: to original point, if Ben Higgins wrote a tell all book,
33:32
Speaker 1: it would be the number one book on and like
33:35
Speaker 1: you got into the weeds with it, it would be
33:37
Speaker 1: the number one selling book anywhere. When Ben Higgins decides
33:40
Speaker 1: to write a book that's going to create impact based
33:43
Speaker 1: on some of the mental struggles you had and more
33:45
Speaker 1: of your life direction, it's it's just not going to sell.
33:49
Speaker 1: It's as marketable. If I'm writing a book about rewiring
33:52
Speaker 1: your career, that will never ever sell if it was
33:55
Speaker 1: more of a bachelor focus book a book. And that's
33:58
Speaker 1: like where people in these world's post show I have
34:01
Speaker 1: to make decisions, like which way you're gonna go why
34:03
Speaker 1: are you gonna go that way and understand like the good,
34:07
Speaker 1: the bad and everything that comes with And you know,
34:10
Speaker 1: I wonder too, is there a way to navigate this
34:12
Speaker 1: is just this might even be a rhetorical question, but
34:15
Speaker 1: is there even a way to navigate? I think the
34:17
Speaker 1: show has made a lot of mistakes, obviously, I think
34:19
Speaker 1: the show has a lot of improvement to do. But
34:21
Speaker 1: is there a way to do this and not have
34:24
Speaker 1: people like contestants and leads um hurt from the experience
34:30
Speaker 1: when you're on a dating show that really thrives on drama,
34:34
Speaker 1: like when drama is the number one marketing point to
34:37
Speaker 1: where they say this will be the most dramatic season
34:39
Speaker 1: of all time every time. Is there a way to
34:42
Speaker 1: do that without it having controversy and feelings hurt? I
34:46
Speaker 1: mean the short answer of like you want to real answer,
34:49
Speaker 1: the answer is no. Like at the end of the day,
34:52
Speaker 1: I mean, this is a television on national network uh
34:56
Speaker 1: TV because it's entertaining and there's great stories and bad stories.
35:00
Speaker 1: And if you go take like even a one o
35:02
Speaker 1: one class I'm writing or telling a story, there has
35:06
Speaker 1: to be the villain, there has to be the loved character.
35:08
Speaker 1: There has to be the downfall every movie you watch,
35:10
Speaker 1: it's entertained that. So I think when you step into
35:14
Speaker 1: this there's only so much. You just kind of have
35:17
Speaker 1: to know what comes with the territory and what you
35:19
Speaker 1: don't know. I do think people from the show alumni
35:24
Speaker 1: like yourself are doing a great job at trying to
35:27
Speaker 1: educate Bend. The amount of phone calls you've taken, why
35:29
Speaker 1: don't you take like a list of probably a hundred
35:32
Speaker 1: plus people who have called you and say, how do
35:34
Speaker 1: you navigate these waters? Right? And I think the alumni
35:37
Speaker 1: is really really good at being open doors to Hey,
35:43
Speaker 1: if you feel stuck after this show because you're just
35:45
Speaker 1: mentally confused or just lost, like to say, hey, I've
35:49
Speaker 1: been there. This is the little advice I can give you,
35:52
Speaker 1: that's for sure. In the impostor issue, where of course
35:55
Speaker 1: you're gonna feel like an impostor. You got famous for
35:57
Speaker 1: going on a dating show without any like really tangible
36:00
Speaker 1: skill sets to be there other than the fact that
36:03
Speaker 1: like somebody somewhere said, hey, you are a desirable person
36:07
Speaker 1: to somebody out there. We don't know who it is yet,
36:09
Speaker 1: and then you get thrown into this world, you know,
36:12
Speaker 1: Matt ma as a unique and to kind of close
36:14
Speaker 1: this thought mas a unique situation where I do feel
36:17
Speaker 1: like he might have one of the most impressive bachelor
36:20
Speaker 1: relationships um that we that I can remember, based on
36:25
Speaker 1: the issues surrounding it, Like it would have been very
36:28
Speaker 1: easy for him and Rachel to say, no, this isn't
36:30
Speaker 1: worth it like this, this isn't gonna work long term.
36:34
Speaker 1: There's too much hate, there's too much confusion, there's too
36:37
Speaker 1: much chaos. Let's just go our separate ways. You do
36:39
Speaker 1: you all do me when move on. I'm very impressive
36:43
Speaker 1: they said no, we're gonna make this thing work. I
36:45
Speaker 1: think it. I mean, I'm gonna assume here. I think
36:47
Speaker 1: it speaks to probably how much they care about each
36:50
Speaker 1: other and that their their relationship is probably really strong
36:53
Speaker 1: behind the scenes too. Yeah, I mean, if I had
36:56
Speaker 1: a question, if Matt was sitting right here, I've got
36:58
Speaker 1: to meet Matt. I've got to meet Rachel. Did I've
37:01
Speaker 1: done some stuff with them too, Like we did a
37:03
Speaker 1: couple of live things. They're awesome, Like their energy is
37:06
Speaker 1: so pure, it is so real. Matt is a super
37:10
Speaker 1: super intelligent guy, which I really like. And I think
37:13
Speaker 1: one of the things it's just like his his energy
37:15
Speaker 1: and his conversations. He'll like joke around, be like, yeah,
37:17
Speaker 1: I'm kind of a geek with this, and he'll like
37:19
Speaker 1: get into the specifics about it. But I think one
37:22
Speaker 1: of the things is I would ask Matt. I would say,
37:24
Speaker 1: do you think that the same chaos that frustrates you
37:27
Speaker 1: that really became the center and pinnacle an epicenter of
37:31
Speaker 1: your relationship, is that same chaos what actually brought you
37:35
Speaker 1: two together? Like, is there any bit of testament to
37:37
Speaker 1: say if this didn't happen the way it did, if
37:40
Speaker 1: people didn't criticize us the way it did, that maybe
37:42
Speaker 1: it wouldn't have worked, Like the strength of it wouldn't
37:45
Speaker 1: be there. And you to your point, you see them
37:47
Speaker 1: like I've seen him in person, I see him on Instagram.
37:50
Speaker 1: Their foundation is rock solid. They're always with each other,
37:54
Speaker 1: They're traveling with Rachel's family, They're traveling with Matt's family.
37:57
Speaker 1: There they seem so well rounded and balanced and happy,
38:02
Speaker 1: just like always happy. So I think maybe that chaos
38:06
Speaker 1: is uh is a really dark moment for them to
38:09
Speaker 1: look back on, but also the strengthen their foundation. If
38:12
Speaker 1: you can get through that, uh, it's a testament to
38:16
Speaker 1: what else you can get through in the crazy world.
38:18
Speaker 1: That's I mean, national controversy. You make it through that.
38:22
Speaker 1: I don't know how many things in life. Uh, we'll
38:25
Speaker 1: get harder or more confusing than that. And they made
38:29
Speaker 1: it and they're, like you said, they're doing great. So
38:31
Speaker 1: it's good for them and him and Ben him too.
38:34
Speaker 1: Like I don't know if you guys have talked about
38:35
Speaker 1: this before, but I think some people forget that he
38:39
Speaker 1: had never been on a show before. I can't. You
38:42
Speaker 1: could you imagine going through what you went through after
38:44
Speaker 1: the Bachelor not ever having any exposure to Yeah, no,
38:48
Speaker 1: I couldn't, because there was the first couple of weeks
38:50
Speaker 1: where you try to get used to this whole thing,
38:52
Speaker 1: and then when you finally become the Bachelor and you
38:54
Speaker 1: step into like that role and you have people come up,
38:58
Speaker 1: at least you know what to expect, like at least
39:00
Speaker 1: you know where where the contestants are at emotionally or
39:04
Speaker 1: if they're nervous. Um, No, I can't. I think there
39:08
Speaker 1: I almost feel like The Bachelor was like, for lack
39:10
Speaker 1: of a better term, like good practice to become the bachelor,
39:13
Speaker 1: good prep um to become the Bachelor without it. I
39:17
Speaker 1: think that you would have just been lost, um and
39:19
Speaker 1: just lacking confidence. Yeah, because you see the buddies like
39:23
Speaker 1: that you went through this experience with. You see some
39:25
Speaker 1: of them like, oh man, that did not look good
39:27
Speaker 1: and they're dealing with that and then they're calling you
39:29
Speaker 1: and you see the ups and downs and you know
39:31
Speaker 1: how this can come off. So then obviously it could
39:34
Speaker 1: prep you when you're gonna be the bachelor to know
39:36
Speaker 1: that there's gonna be highs and lows and who knows
39:38
Speaker 1: which angle is can turn. For him to just get
39:40
Speaker 1: thrown in, that's a that's a lot to take out
39:43
Speaker 1: without any experience. So he came out with came out
39:46
Speaker 1: in a relationship. Hey, isn't that what we want? It's
39:48
Speaker 1: a big deal. There we go. Speaking of relationships, Bachelor
40:02
Speaker 1: in Paradise is Becka Koufern and Thomas Jacobs have announced
40:05
Speaker 1: that they'll both change their last names after the wedding.
40:08
Speaker 1: Here's how this is gonna work. Jason, Uh, Thomas is
40:10
Speaker 1: gonna change his name uh to Oh, they don't know yet.
40:14
Speaker 1: I guess it's either gonna be Koufron Jacobs or Jacobs.
40:17
Speaker 1: Kouferin is going to be how they hyphenate this. Um,
40:21
Speaker 1: they think it's really important. Have you talked are you
40:24
Speaker 1: going to hyphenate your name? Jessic and I talked about it. Um.
40:27
Speaker 1: She actually went with she dropped her middle name and
40:30
Speaker 1: is Jessica Clark Higgins. Um. Now, I mean that's more
40:35
Speaker 1: traditional than I think even this. But I know it's
40:39
Speaker 1: a topic now where people are discussing it. Have you
40:41
Speaker 1: guys talked about it? What do you think? We've talked
40:43
Speaker 1: about it briefly. So what we've what Caitlin has said
40:47
Speaker 1: is literally this. I think the exact same thing is
40:50
Speaker 1: what Jessica is doing. So I think she was going
40:52
Speaker 1: to drop her middle name and make Bristol her middle name,
40:57
Speaker 1: and then her last name would be tart Ik. But um,
41:00
Speaker 1: you know, though those conversations can change. But the last
41:02
Speaker 1: time we talked about it, that's what that's what she
41:04
Speaker 1: said she would do. In my stance on it is
41:06
Speaker 1: like whatever, like do do whatever you wanted to, you know,
41:10
Speaker 1: like I whatever makes you happy, Uh, do what you
41:14
Speaker 1: gotta do. You know, I have friends who didn't even
41:16
Speaker 1: change your name. And I get it right. I mean
41:18
Speaker 1: Jessica wanted to change her name. She she asked you
41:21
Speaker 1: know that's that was important to her. UM. But it
41:24
Speaker 1: is interesting that both of them will change their name.
41:27
Speaker 1: UM something cool. You know, they're they're doing a bunch
41:30
Speaker 1: of things different, you know, uh than what is normally expected.
41:33
Speaker 1: Becca proposed to Thomas Beca co hosted The Bachelor on
41:37
Speaker 1: stage with me, and so I've gotten to be a
41:39
Speaker 1: part of her kind of relationship journey, UM over the
41:41
Speaker 1: last few years. It's really cool to see. I really
41:44
Speaker 1: liked Thomas. UM talk about a guy that will that
41:47
Speaker 1: really made the one eight turn from his time on
41:51
Speaker 1: The Bachelorette to Paradise. He really showed up and he's
41:55
Speaker 1: a good dude. I like him a lot, and so
41:57
Speaker 1: we're super happy for him. Them here, that's a big news.
42:00
Speaker 1: They're gonna hyphenate their names. They just don't know what
42:02
Speaker 1: order you get. Yeah, it's up to them. Uh. Also, uh,
42:06
Speaker 1: big news here to celebrate Astrid and Kevin went if
42:10
Speaker 1: you remember them, Uh they met on Paradise and uh
42:16
Speaker 1: they're engaged. They had their first kid August. Uh. August
42:21
Speaker 1: is now seven months old. Astrid's coming out and talking
42:23
Speaker 1: about how their relationship has changed UM post child, which
42:27
Speaker 1: I always find interesting because obviously you're married, God willing
42:31
Speaker 1: one day just kinda will have kids of our own.
42:33
Speaker 1: Trying to figure out how that will look. She says
42:36
Speaker 1: Jason that Kevin has picked up the dogcare, the cooking, groceries,
42:41
Speaker 1: all the little stuff so that Asterid can focus being
42:44
Speaker 1: focus being on being the best mom possible for August. Uh.
42:51
Speaker 1: She says she can't imagine doing this the parenting deal
42:55
Speaker 1: with anybody else other than Kevin. That has been really great. Uh.
43:00
Speaker 1: Jason e thoughts on this, like, no, I swear to God,
43:03
Speaker 1: no joke at that. Like when you said that that
43:05
Speaker 1: gave me my legs. I got some loose bumps there.
43:08
Speaker 1: I think that's all. I mean, that's it's like the
43:10
Speaker 1: beautiful story. When you first read that headline, I didn't
43:13
Speaker 1: know which way it was gonna go. I was like, oh,
43:15
Speaker 1: like the things get that after the kid. And to
43:17
Speaker 1: see that, like Kevin is just doing anything, um to
43:20
Speaker 1: be like the best father. It doesn't surprise me. For
43:22
Speaker 1: anyone that's met Kevin, he's a hell of a guy.
43:26
Speaker 1: And um, yeah, I mean that's that's awesome. That's that's
43:29
Speaker 1: what I would expect from Kevin, And that doesn't surprise me.
43:32
Speaker 1: In the least that doesn't surprise me. There. I've got
43:34
Speaker 1: to do a couple of things with Kevin and spent
43:36
Speaker 1: some good time with him at Winter Games actually way
43:38
Speaker 1: back in the day. He's just a good dude, and
43:40
Speaker 1: it's it's awesome to see them happy. It is so
43:44
Speaker 1: awesome to see him mappy. But one takeaway, they're like, no,
43:47
Speaker 1: you cannot, you cannot compare having dogs and kids. Let
43:51
Speaker 1: me get it out there. But I will say having
43:54
Speaker 1: the dog like it does create some kind of foundation
43:57
Speaker 1: for like, Okay, who's gonna wake up and take the
43:59
Speaker 1: dog out? When do you feed the dog? Who buys them?
44:02
Speaker 1: Who takes into the vet? Like it? It creates some
44:04
Speaker 1: system of accountability that's different than just making yourself. I
44:08
Speaker 1: think people that are honest. Jason and I'll fall on
44:10
Speaker 1: the sword for this one. We had a really you know,
44:13
Speaker 1: we got Whalen, our puppy who's sleeping right next to
44:16
Speaker 1: me right now. He has bad gas today, by the way,
44:18
Speaker 1: so but he's napping very nicely. Um. You know, when
44:25
Speaker 1: we first got him, he was a tough puppy. He
44:27
Speaker 1: was a kind of nibble. He would nibble on everything,
44:30
Speaker 1: he would chew everything. Um, he wouldn't want to sleep,
44:33
Speaker 1: and it it caused some nights where Jessica and I
44:36
Speaker 1: were both like upset with each other with getting a puppy, uh,
44:41
Speaker 1: with trying to figure out our rhythms in life. And
44:43
Speaker 1: so we started to like talk about it with people,
44:45
Speaker 1: and some people who had kids said, hey, getting a
44:47
Speaker 1: puppy is maybe more difficult than having an infant in
44:49
Speaker 1: a lot of ways. And I don't know that to
44:52
Speaker 1: be true yet, I just know that, Like, there was
44:54
Speaker 1: some sleepless nights. Now, I think a child obviously is uh,
44:59
Speaker 1: Liz a lot longer and uh shows you the terrible
45:02
Speaker 1: two's um. But I think you're right. I think we
45:06
Speaker 1: learned a lot about ourselves and about our relationship from
45:08
Speaker 1: getting this puppy. Yeah, I mean it's true. And the
45:12
Speaker 1: one thing is that my dad said this to me
45:14
Speaker 1: and I kind of blew. I brushed it off when
45:16
Speaker 1: he told me. When I was thinking about in our
45:17
Speaker 1: second you said, just remember with dogs, the difference, the
45:20
Speaker 1: big difference is those are babies that never grow along,
45:24
Speaker 1: like they can never take themselves out again, they can
45:27
Speaker 1: never do X, Y and Z like forever. So just
45:29
Speaker 1: know that. And it is a lot, but It gets
45:31
Speaker 1: you on the same page like everything, even like the
45:34
Speaker 1: finances of it, the splitting the duties, like who's gonna
45:37
Speaker 1: even like training when you're trying to train one way
45:39
Speaker 1: in and Caitlyn's training another way. Like getting on the
45:42
Speaker 1: same page with how you're communicating. It's definitely I would
45:45
Speaker 1: hope helpful. Maybe Kevin and Nashtra can give us more
45:48
Speaker 1: on that. I think somebody who has PAS could probably
45:49
Speaker 1: speak into them. Yeah, maybe they should speak kind of
45:52
Speaker 1: not Hey, the teaser came out recently. Uh, Jason July
45:57
Speaker 1: leven is the premier of the New Bachelor season. Rachel
46:01
Speaker 1: and Gabby are ready to find true love and fun
46:04
Speaker 1: New Bachelor atte teaser. Uh. You can watch the teaser online.
46:09
Speaker 1: You can just google it. It's it's all over the place.
46:11
Speaker 1: It looks really fun. Here's something that we found out
46:14
Speaker 1: last week, Jason. Um, you know, these two are getting
46:17
Speaker 1: along really well. They're still friends, at least that's what
46:20
Speaker 1: they're telling us, and I believe it. They're acting like
46:21
Speaker 1: they're doing everything they got. They're having a lot of
46:23
Speaker 1: fun with this one. I'm jealous because I would have
46:26
Speaker 1: loved to have like a somebody that I really liked
46:28
Speaker 1: doing this with me. I think it would have added
46:31
Speaker 1: to the experience. Um, but your fiance Caitlin shared her
46:36
Speaker 1: Bachelor at season at least night one with somebody, and
46:39
Speaker 1: then that bachelor went home and Caitlin stayed. I know
46:44
Speaker 1: Caitlin spoke out on kind of how she feels about
46:46
Speaker 1: the two bachelorrette thing. I don't need to ask you that, Um,
46:50
Speaker 1: but do you are you excited for this season now
46:54
Speaker 1: knowing that these two are still getting along post filming,
46:57
Speaker 1: or are you hesitant to watch it? Kind of what's
47:00
Speaker 1: feelings about this upcoming season again, premiering on July eleven. Okay,
47:06
Speaker 1: so here here's what I'm excited for. What I'm excited
47:08
Speaker 1: for is I think sometimes especially early episodes, when you're
47:12
Speaker 1: feeling maybe it's a little it's getting a little like
47:14
Speaker 1: boring or like I don't know if I've like totally
47:16
Speaker 1: caught the hook of the batch sort of stay connected.
47:19
Speaker 1: I think having the two different personalities and people and
47:23
Speaker 1: reactions and everything like that will keep it like spicy
47:25
Speaker 1: and entertaining. I think, Okay, we talked a little bit
47:28
Speaker 1: about this, but we're talking about like the little benchmarking
47:31
Speaker 1: imposter syndrome some of the mental effects that come with
47:34
Speaker 1: the show after. I can't see a world in which,
47:39
Speaker 1: whether they say it or not, that these two aren't
47:43
Speaker 1: beginning to possibly, especially when the show airs like competing
47:48
Speaker 1: a little bit, like so maybe the filming went great,
47:50
Speaker 1: maybe everything's perfect, but you get like once. Suppose America
47:54
Speaker 1: has a favorite. Suppose they edit a favorite. Suppose one
47:58
Speaker 1: person gets a million followers the next first and it's
48:00
Speaker 1: a hundred thousand. Suppose one has a better couple in
48:03
Speaker 1: a like couple, like I have a feeling and I
48:05
Speaker 1: will be interesting, especially when you have the chance to
48:07
Speaker 1: interview him to see like, are you at all doing
48:11
Speaker 1: any of this benchmarking? Are you a little envious? Are you?
48:14
Speaker 1: Are you happy with where you stand? Because I would
48:16
Speaker 1: find it really hard, really hard at the lead level.
48:20
Speaker 1: I mean, you do that when you're cast up thirty,
48:22
Speaker 1: So when you're at the lead level, it's got to happen.
48:24
Speaker 1: What you're being someone who was the lead. What's like
48:27
Speaker 1: you're taking thought on that if you had someone with
48:29
Speaker 1: you the whole time, with you going though the whole experience,
48:32
Speaker 1: you would have to do a little of that. I
48:34
Speaker 1: think I've never thought about it that way. Um, I
48:36
Speaker 1: was thinking about it kind of how they're gonna film it,
48:38
Speaker 1: but then the post part. I mean, as you speak,
48:42
Speaker 1: I would be shocked if anybody even out there listening
48:44
Speaker 1: couldn't see how there would be some envy and jealousy,
48:48
Speaker 1: Like I would just be shocked if somebody's not like, yeah,
48:50
Speaker 1: that makes sense. I I struggle, um deeply, like had
48:55
Speaker 1: like had to really work work personally on working through
49:00
Speaker 1: envy and jealousy in my own life. Um, And so yes,
49:04
Speaker 1: my answer to that would be, as the lead, you
49:06
Speaker 1: kind of get asked to do this thing which feels
49:09
Speaker 1: like a massive moment um, probably the biggest opportunity you've
49:12
Speaker 1: ever been asked to do, and then you're sharing with somebody.
49:16
Speaker 1: I I honestly could see where the filming of it
49:18
Speaker 1: would be pretty fun. You're sharing it with somebody, You're
49:22
Speaker 1: in this enclosed environment. You're probably both having you know,
49:25
Speaker 1: some of the guys are interested in one of the girls,
49:27
Speaker 1: some of the guys are interested in the other girl.
49:29
Speaker 1: However that's gonna work. They're both feeling loved on, they're
49:31
Speaker 1: both feeling desired, they're both feeling like intentionally pursued all
49:35
Speaker 1: those things are going well, it would be the post show,
49:38
Speaker 1: which was when it was hardest for me. Even following,
49:41
Speaker 1: you know, the next season, and some would say, I
49:43
Speaker 1: have you know, leads lead syndrome or whatever. That's that's cool.
49:48
Speaker 1: I probably do. Um, you know where you're You're You're
49:52
Speaker 1: the Bachelor one year, and then a couple months later
49:54
Speaker 1: they announced a new guy and nobody cares about you anymore.
49:57
Speaker 1: Everybody moves on and you're like, wait, I'm still here,
50:00
Speaker 1: I still want my moment. Why don't I have my moment?
50:04
Speaker 1: And so yes, I could see where post show this
50:06
Speaker 1: could get difficult, um, because they will probably get asked.
50:09
Speaker 1: They won't get asked to do every opportunity together. One
50:11
Speaker 1: will probably get asked to be a host of something,
50:15
Speaker 1: or they'll get some really good Instagram or you know,
50:17
Speaker 1: TikTok deal, and the other won't. When those things are happening,
50:21
Speaker 1: I could see stuff starting to slip in. I mean,
50:23
Speaker 1: I think we all are human, we all could see
50:25
Speaker 1: that totally. I mean that's like, like, I know you
50:29
Speaker 1: and Nick are totally different, right, different humans, different people,
50:32
Speaker 1: different interests, um, but like both from the same season.
50:35
Speaker 1: Then you both go on to be the next Bachelor's
50:37
Speaker 1: that it's just like it could. I could see where
50:40
Speaker 1: that would create so much who did it better? Like,
50:43
Speaker 1: maybe it'll be interesting to see during the season, like
50:45
Speaker 1: if one of them falls in love first and the
50:47
Speaker 1: other one is like have it struggling with it, like
50:49
Speaker 1: how that goes together. So I think it's gonna create
50:51
Speaker 1: a cool dynamic one that day we haven't like totally
50:54
Speaker 1: seen yet, and one that should be fun to I'm
50:56
Speaker 1: just I'm just happy. Okay. So the first check was, uh,
51:00
Speaker 1: is the show going to add unneeded drama to those
51:03
Speaker 1: two's relationship? And it sounds like it didn't, at least
51:05
Speaker 1: through filming. Um, according to where they're at personally, I'm
51:09
Speaker 1: happy about that. I really was gonna be upset if
51:11
Speaker 1: them both being announced as the bachelorette UM was gonna
51:15
Speaker 1: end in us having to choose one or be more
51:17
Speaker 1: in favor of one, or more pain being added to
51:20
Speaker 1: one unnecessarily, like you know, um, And so I'm happy
51:24
Speaker 1: that we got that one checked off. And now we
51:26
Speaker 1: go on to see how this plays out filming and
51:28
Speaker 1: post filming. Well, uh, final headline is the Bachelor alum
51:32
Speaker 1: Jacqueline Trumbull celebrates her bachelorette party in Loss Vegas. Now,
51:39
Speaker 1: if you remember, Jacqueline was on The Bachelor season twenty two, Um,
51:44
Speaker 1: she's thirty years old and she is getting married, and
51:48
Speaker 1: so she celebrated in Vegas with a few Bachelor Nation
51:51
Speaker 1: alums Kindle Long and Michel Cooper. We're both there. They
51:57
Speaker 1: attended a drag show at the Garden, Las Vegas, hit
51:59
Speaker 1: up in her aim at Venue Area fifteen, enjoyed a
52:02
Speaker 1: delicious dinner at Super Freako, which I heard is absolutely amazing.
52:08
Speaker 1: So congratulations to Jacqueline on celebrating a great weekend and
52:12
Speaker 1: we wish her the best as she gets married. Well, hey, everybody, Uh,
52:16
Speaker 1: as I mentioned before, we have a really special episode
52:20
Speaker 1: for Best Day coming out here soon, so make sure
52:22
Speaker 1: you continue to upload the almost famous podcast and listen in. Um,
52:26
Speaker 1: we're gonna do that with Jason. It's going to dive
52:28
Speaker 1: into a lot of the stuff we were talking about
52:30
Speaker 1: at the beginning and even more detail. I'm gonna pick
52:32
Speaker 1: his brain. I'm gonna learn a lot from myself. I'm
52:34
Speaker 1: gonna take a bunch of notes personally, because it's not
52:36
Speaker 1: so often that you get somebody as wise as Jason
52:41
Speaker 1: Cornered and I get to interview him. That's a special deal. Hey,
52:45
Speaker 1: that's all we got for you today on the Almost
52:47
Speaker 1: Famous podcast. Thanks for joining us, Jason, Thank you for
52:49
Speaker 1: joining us. It means a lot. Thank you so much
52:53
Speaker 1: for having me on. So we into every episode in
52:55
Speaker 1: the same way. Just follow my lead with that. We'll
52:57
Speaker 1: be back next week breaking down another week of Bachelor news,
53:01
Speaker 1: and then we're getting closer and closer, just a few
53:04
Speaker 1: weeks away from the Bachelorette season airing. Yes, it will
53:09
Speaker 1: have two Bachelorettes. But until then, I've been been, I've
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Speaker 1: been Jason. We'll talk to you later. Everybody. Follow the
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Speaker 1: Benn and Ashley I Almost Famous podcasts on I Heart
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Speaker 1: Radio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.