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Infamous: Tino Franco · The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: Ben Higgins and Ashley.
0:01
Speaker 2: I bring you Infamous. Sometimes roses are red flags.
0:07
Speaker 3: Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Infamous. Sometimes roses
0:12
Speaker 3: have red flags. Today our story continues with Tino Franco.
0:17
Speaker 3: You remember him as Rachel Rekie's short time fiance after
0:22
Speaker 3: her season of the Bachelorette. Welcome to the show to you?
0:26
Speaker 1: Now, how's it going? Glad to be here?
0:30
Speaker 3: We're good? How are you?
0:33
Speaker 1: Couldn't be ready?
0:34
Speaker 3: Great? So we want to do on Infamous because you
0:37
Speaker 3: know your story, as so many are, are unique. You
0:43
Speaker 3: were one of the instances in which you kind of
0:46
Speaker 3: had broken up before hitting the after the final rose
0:50
Speaker 3: couch or you were in a very strange spot in
0:54
Speaker 3: your relationship when you hit that couch? Was did it?
0:59
Speaker 2: What did it?
1:00
Speaker 3: We see is what this show wants to cover. No.
1:05
Speaker 1: I think you guys saw everything.
1:08
Speaker 3: Really thing you need? Yeah, what do you mean? Everything
1:11
Speaker 3: you need?
1:13
Speaker 1: There's there's not a whole lot like to really expand on.
1:17
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't I don't like love how everything
1:20
Speaker 1: went down. I don't like the you know, I heard
1:22
Speaker 1: her feelings and kind of let down the group. But
1:26
Speaker 1: you know, I think we can all agree. I got
1:29
Speaker 1: a pretty noteworthy punishment for it, and we all, I think,
1:33
Speaker 1: are better off that that relationship ended when it did.
1:37
Speaker 1: What was the punishment, Well, after the final rose, they
1:43
Speaker 1: had one of the guys who got eliminated come out
1:47
Speaker 1: and ask her out in front of me, And at
1:50
Speaker 1: that point we had already been broken up for a
1:52
Speaker 1: little bit, so I was kind of like, well, you know,
1:55
Speaker 1: there's none of really my business. I mean, we already
1:58
Speaker 1: broke up, so I don't know why I'm here, but
2:00
Speaker 1: I think the fans took some pretty heavy offense to it.
2:04
Speaker 1: It certainly wasn't like a nice thing, even though it's
2:08
Speaker 1: not like it was like, you know, actively my somebody
2:13
Speaker 1: I was involved with it. I think at that point
2:15
Speaker 1: we hadn't talked for a month.
2:17
Speaker 2: Well, one of the hopes of Infamous Tino is to
2:20
Speaker 2: get on and let the contestants tell their story, knowing
2:25
Speaker 2: now you know production, the team of producers at the
2:29
Speaker 2: Bachelor and Bachelortt have switched over. If you went back today,
2:32
Speaker 2: you would know very few people that are still on
2:35
Speaker 2: the show working from behind the scenes, and so Infamous
2:40
Speaker 2: is here to explain the situations that feel confusing to
2:43
Speaker 2: the audience or feels like the whole story wasn't shared.
2:49
Speaker 2: And that's why I wanted to bring you on today
2:50
Speaker 2: because I know that your hope coming off of your season,
2:54
Speaker 2: even with everything going down, was to kind of have
2:57
Speaker 2: that redemption moment, to share your side of the story,
3:00
Speaker 2: to get people to see that there was two there's
3:03
Speaker 2: actually three ways to it. There's the truth, there's Rachel's side,
3:06
Speaker 2: and there's your side. But what you're saying off the
3:09
Speaker 2: bat here is that the audience saw what they saw
3:13
Speaker 2: and it's all true. So what Rachel was upset about,
3:16
Speaker 2: what the audience was upset about, is the truth to
3:19
Speaker 2: the situation for you as well, and they just are
3:23
Speaker 2: fine being upset.
3:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess I like it's forgive me. I'm a
3:32
Speaker 1: little bit like I haven't been doing podcasts lately or
3:36
Speaker 1: like really thought about any of this. In fact, like
3:39
Speaker 1: most of the time I say no, like the few
3:41
Speaker 1: times people want to have me on. But as I
3:44
Speaker 1: told Hannah, anything for Ben, Ben, you took so many
3:47
Speaker 1: of my calls. I still have you a big time.
3:52
Speaker 1: I mean, so the situation was really tough, and looking
3:56
Speaker 1: back on it, like it's hard because like I really
4:00
Speaker 1: don't want to like I want to avoid any cast
4:05
Speaker 1: of blame, like I want to smart make sure I
4:09
Speaker 1: own my side of it. And the fact of the
4:12
Speaker 1: matter is, you know, whether or not it was crystal
4:16
Speaker 1: clear you know, we were together head over heels when
4:19
Speaker 1: I did what I did.
4:21
Speaker 3: Which, let's just say it out loud, you kissed a
4:23
Speaker 3: girl out at a bar one night when you were
4:28
Speaker 3: with Rachel. Okay, you were at a house party. Story
4:30
Speaker 3: and the I think you guys had an unclear, undefined
4:36
Speaker 3: relationship from what you felt, and she was more of like, no,
4:40
Speaker 3: we were together.
4:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, please edit me as to protect
4:47
Speaker 1: me from getting sued when I say things like this.
4:49
Speaker 1: But what I think the audience might not understand that
4:53
Speaker 1: US three would is there's a huge time gap in
4:58
Speaker 1: what they see versus when things happen. Right, So whether
5:04
Speaker 1: or not you know there was the moment, which there
5:07
Speaker 1: should have been, and we can circle back to things
5:10
Speaker 1: I would have done differently later, whether there was a
5:13
Speaker 1: crystal clear defined moment we are not together, you are
5:16
Speaker 1: afraid to do whatever you want, which there wasn't. But
5:20
Speaker 1: there were moments you know that I think somebody who's
5:26
Speaker 1: in a heightened emotional state, which I certainly was could
5:30
Speaker 1: have taken to be that this relationship had no future,
5:33
Speaker 1: and it was feeling like it was waiting till said
5:36
Speaker 1: after the rose to just kind of announce, hey, we're
5:39
Speaker 1: not together, you know, and we're moving on, which at
5:42
Speaker 1: the time, as ironic as it is, because you know,
5:45
Speaker 1: the after the final rows that I had to suffer
5:47
Speaker 1: through was absurdly humiliating. I found that to be, Oh,
5:52
Speaker 1: my gosh, that is the most humiliating thing that could
5:55
Speaker 1: ever happen to me. No, but the the just the
5:58
Speaker 1: idea of getting there right and me going up on
6:02
Speaker 1: stage having not done anything stupid and her going, yeah,
6:06
Speaker 1: I got to know this guy and he's not for
6:09
Speaker 1: me sounded like beyond hell on earth. So then I
6:15
Speaker 1: went on to overreact in the way that I did,
6:19
Speaker 1: and you know, whether or not, like Ben said earlier,
6:25
Speaker 1: there's my half, her half, and then the truth, I
6:30
Speaker 1: think there's like certainly her side, and whether it agrees
6:35
Speaker 1: with mine or not. I hate that I made her
6:37
Speaker 1: feel that we were concrete in this relationship and I
6:45
Speaker 1: did what I did. Now, my version or my feelings
6:50
Speaker 1: at the time certainly weren't in aligne with that. But
6:52
Speaker 1: I hate that I made somebody feel like that. So
6:55
Speaker 1: the reaction in that part by the show, because they were,
7:00
Speaker 1: you know, probably acting in a manner that they thought,
7:03
Speaker 1: you know, reflected the crime. I understand. Like, I mean,
7:07
Speaker 1: it's the worst thing ever I've I've been cheated on
7:10
Speaker 1: a long time ago, and it's literally the worst thing ever.
7:14
Speaker 1: And I hate that I ever made somebody feel like that.
7:17
Speaker 1: I kind of went on some tangent then so reeled
7:19
Speaker 1: me in. Oh so like details, details right of what
7:24
Speaker 1: the audience might not have seen. So whether there was
7:27
Speaker 1: that conversation of hey, you know, we're done, done f
7:33
Speaker 1: and done right, there was this waiting period, and to
7:38
Speaker 1: me at the time, it really felt like, you know,
7:41
Speaker 1: I was just really in jail of this situation with
7:47
Speaker 1: you know, public perception and the relationship kind of not
7:52
Speaker 1: being reflective. So I'm watching, you know, myself on TV.
7:56
Speaker 1: There's other realities outside of what was going on. Real
8:01
Speaker 1: life's going on, new jobs, going There was just too much,
8:05
Speaker 1: I think going on, and I just really slipped up
8:07
Speaker 1: and not using it as an excuse, I learned from it.
8:10
Speaker 1: You know, I take myself out of situations where I
8:14
Speaker 1: could ever really act out in the same manner, and
8:17
Speaker 1: I really, you know, life and God have really rewarded
8:20
Speaker 1: me for that.
8:32
Speaker 3: So are you saying that when you were, like the
8:37
Speaker 3: time period in between, you felt as if you and
8:41
Speaker 3: Rachel were probably broken up, but like you weren't really
8:45
Speaker 3: allowed to do that yet, is how you felt.
8:49
Speaker 1: That's probably the closest thing so I felt at the time,
8:53
Speaker 1: and like do and I know if this is accurate,
8:55
Speaker 1: you guys would have to ask her. It felt to
8:57
Speaker 1: me like, hey, I really want to break up with you,
9:00
Speaker 1: but I don't want to be the bad guy here,
9:02
Speaker 1: so let's just limp our way over to after the
9:04
Speaker 1: final rows and then we'll cut it there.
9:07
Speaker 3: And she was probably like, no, we're gonna be together
9:10
Speaker 3: until after the final rows and then we can cut
9:13
Speaker 3: it off there officially.
9:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, And like I mean, in hindsight, shit, I
9:18
Speaker 1: probably should have done that hit under a rock for
9:21
Speaker 1: two months. But for some reason, when you're you know,
9:24
Speaker 1: feeling insecure, you're feeling a million different emotions, you act out.
9:30
Speaker 2: The interesting thing here, Tino, if I remember right, it's
9:33
Speaker 2: been a bit one this story, probably to your kind
9:38
Speaker 2: of own liking and strategy, Like you you've kind of
9:42
Speaker 2: kept quiet like you said, you don't say yes to interviews.
9:46
Speaker 2: You kind of did the first week of runs after
9:48
Speaker 2: the show, and then you've kind of gone off and
9:50
Speaker 2: done your own thing. You've stayed in the same job.
9:52
Speaker 2: But I remember this season kind of during the show
9:54
Speaker 2: that you were taking accountability for these choices that you made.
9:59
Speaker 2: You know, I don't I think you can say yes,
10:01
Speaker 2: maybe you guys were broken up. Maybe this isn't, as
10:06
Speaker 2: you know, much of a cheating scandal as it seems
10:09
Speaker 2: on television, because of the time frame, because of the
10:12
Speaker 2: conversations that were happening behind the scenes. But you've taken
10:15
Speaker 2: accountability for this being a bad decision because you were
10:19
Speaker 2: in still within the Bachelor world at the time, like
10:22
Speaker 2: the you know, the fans haven't caught up with your
10:24
Speaker 2: life story yet.
10:26
Speaker 1: It was a bad decision that I didn't feel right about.
10:30
Speaker 1: It was close enough to cheating that I wanted to
10:33
Speaker 1: come clean about it. And I think I got it
10:36
Speaker 1: in my head because there were two folds too, you know,
10:40
Speaker 1: my self destructive path here, right, I did what I did,
10:45
Speaker 1: and then I with no body like I don't think
10:50
Speaker 1: a single person from the Bachelor franchise ever told me
10:53
Speaker 1: I should have told the truth or come clean about
10:56
Speaker 1: it to this day, but I'm glad I did it
11:00
Speaker 1: because when I look back on it still, I feel
11:03
Speaker 1: like I can really hang my hat on, like you know,
11:07
Speaker 1: I did something I didn't like and I came clean
11:09
Speaker 1: and I took a nasty punishment for it. But I
11:12
Speaker 1: wanted to kind of have that like at least like
11:18
Speaker 1: self image of myself like that, you know, if I
11:22
Speaker 1: do something wrong, I'm willing to take accountability like Ben said,
11:25
Speaker 1: and take the punishment forward it. And you know, that
11:29
Speaker 1: was more important to me than kind of getting the
11:31
Speaker 1: sugar high of I don't know, maybe a couple thousand
11:35
Speaker 1: more followers and some brand deals.
11:37
Speaker 2: The time has now passed, and infamous is about getting
11:42
Speaker 2: the sides of the story that felt you know, chaotic, ugly,
11:48
Speaker 2: unfortunate out there, and sometimes they stay that way. The
11:52
Speaker 2: stories are still unfortunate, ugly and chaotic. But you had
11:57
Speaker 2: time now removed. You've already mentioned the decision making that
12:02
Speaker 2: you would have. You know, maybe if you had hindsight,
12:06
Speaker 2: said now, I won't go to a house party and
12:08
Speaker 2: kiss a girl because of the show still going on.
12:12
Speaker 2: But I'm more interested in the emotions now a few
12:15
Speaker 2: years removed from the show that you still experience based
12:19
Speaker 2: on that decision and based on that final finale, and
12:24
Speaker 2: based on this show that so many people watched.
12:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I've actually like gotten off of social
12:31
Speaker 1: media entirely. Well yeah, I mean for the most part,
12:36
Speaker 1: but no Instagram, right, And that was, for better or worse,
12:40
Speaker 1: a constant reminder of that experience of the show all
12:46
Speaker 1: that rarely do I ever get recognized now, Like it's
12:50
Speaker 1: more surprising when it happens than it doesn't now, So
12:54
Speaker 1: it really has gotten to allow me to walk away
12:58
Speaker 1: really cleanly. I think the experience really made me appreciate
13:06
Speaker 1: and be grateful and see how blessed a lot of
13:09
Speaker 1: us are in our daily lives. Because you suffered through
13:15
Speaker 1: that dopamine spike that very few get to experience. All
13:20
Speaker 1: three of us got to go on some pretty exceptional
13:22
Speaker 1: adventures and it kind of showed me aside that is
13:30
Speaker 1: for some people. And I actually found a new value
13:34
Speaker 1: and a new love for kind of the simplicity of
13:36
Speaker 1: my life before. Hence I went back to my job
13:39
Speaker 1: and got to, you know, go and find extraordinary value
13:43
Speaker 1: in the things that I love. I found my way
13:46
Speaker 1: back into my faith, which was more recent and more
13:50
Speaker 1: related to you know, health issues within my family. But
13:55
Speaker 1: I think it really just overall made me a really
13:57
Speaker 1: grateful person. And I've even gotten to the point, like
14:01
Speaker 1: you're touching on then, that I actually and I don't
14:05
Speaker 1: want to sound like a cheese ball when I say this,
14:08
Speaker 1: but it's true, and I tell people this all the time.
14:11
Speaker 1: I think what happened at AFR, if we all remember correctly,
14:15
Speaker 1: being a little bit brutal, I really think it was
14:20
Speaker 1: a blessing in disguise. I think God looked at me
14:24
Speaker 1: and saw somebody who was truly sorry and going through
14:26
Speaker 1: and said, look, this is going to hurt, and you're
14:29
Speaker 1: not going to see why for a little while, and
14:33
Speaker 1: then it's going to become crystal clear one day, instantaneously
14:38
Speaker 1: that this was something I did for you. And I
14:43
Speaker 1: believe that with every ounce of my heart right now.
14:46
Speaker 2: It's interesting so many people could relate with that, just
14:51
Speaker 2: not even from having a bachelor experience. So many people
14:53
Speaker 2: could relate with this season of being. You know, some
14:57
Speaker 2: would say like John on the cross in the valley,
15:01
Speaker 2: you know, in the valley and walking through this and
15:04
Speaker 2: then looking on the other side, and you know, kind
15:06
Speaker 2: of rising up and saying I've learned so much. The
15:10
Speaker 2: learning so much is such a vital thing. I mean,
15:12
Speaker 2: it's it's my take for infamous. Ashley and I disagree
15:15
Speaker 2: on this, and that's great and that's what makes this
15:16
Speaker 2: show amazing. My take is editing is never an excuse
15:20
Speaker 2: for a contestant to use. Hers would say editing can
15:23
Speaker 2: be really bad. Based on our own personal experiences too,
15:26
Speaker 2: she felt like her edit wasn't fair. I felt like
15:29
Speaker 2: it was amazing. I felt like I was.
15:34
Speaker 1: Mine was great, like for half of the season, and
15:36
Speaker 1: then we broke up, and boy, I remember it differently.
15:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, but the production side is very intriguing. Now from
15:43
Speaker 2: your perspective, we go in, you know, the decision was made.
15:49
Speaker 2: Stuff has happened. Now we've came clean on that. I
15:52
Speaker 2: want to know how the show supported you, because obviously
15:56
Speaker 2: it felt like the world was coming down against you.
15:58
Speaker 1: Oh, this is going to be a quick question.
16:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, I want to know how the show came around
16:05
Speaker 2: you from a production standpoint, knowing that this was going
16:09
Speaker 2: to get really bad for you. For you know, as
16:13
Speaker 2: long as you like, no, you can't get it. I
16:17
Speaker 2: mean maybe I don't know he can big, I don't.
16:19
Speaker 2: I'm not the one suing you. Figure out a way
16:21
Speaker 2: to say this without getting sued. How did this show
16:23
Speaker 2: come around you? Was it good or I.
16:27
Speaker 1: Don't know if they paid you Nick and Ashley to
16:29
Speaker 1: be nice to me. But that was about it. I mean,
16:32
Speaker 1: you know, I will say the one person who I
16:37
Speaker 1: think you told me to call Ben, I don't know
16:39
Speaker 1: if we can name him or not, but he was
16:42
Speaker 1: an ep yeah, yeah, yeah. Although he probably was the
16:46
Speaker 1: orchestrator of that miserable thing, he was the one person
16:54
Speaker 1: who reached out after And there were a couple who
16:58
Speaker 1: actually apologized and said that was too much and I'm sorry,
17:02
Speaker 1: And I thought that was at least very classy. I guess,
17:08
Speaker 1: like it's like, yeah, hey, sorry, you know, I tried
17:11
Speaker 1: to shoot it at you in a miss but I
17:12
Speaker 1: clipped your shoulder a little bit, and I want to say,
17:14
Speaker 1: like sorry about that.
17:15
Speaker 2: Did you feel like it was genuine?
17:18
Speaker 1: Yes? I did, but like you know, he also was
17:21
Speaker 1: kind of like, how do I make it up to you?
17:22
Speaker 1: And I'm like, dude, I'm not signing another flipping thing
17:25
Speaker 1: you slide across the desk. There's no way.
17:28
Speaker 2: How do I make it up for you come to paradise.
17:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, exactly. He's like, he's like, name a price,
17:33
Speaker 1: and I'm like, there's no price, there's no price.
17:35
Speaker 3: Well, now that that person has probably gone, would there
17:39
Speaker 3: would there be a chance. No, Well I knew that
17:42
Speaker 3: was the easiest question ever.
17:44
Speaker 1: It would have been a know anyways, because you know,
17:48
Speaker 1: I just like life. It was just too good to
17:50
Speaker 1: kind of risk it all with that again. But like,
17:54
Speaker 1: I have been blessed to find the person I'm gonna
17:57
Speaker 1: spend the rest of my life with. So I'm I mean,
18:00
Speaker 1: I don't have this yet, but I'm working on it.
18:02
Speaker 1: And yeah, she's so exceptional. There's there's no other way.
18:06
Speaker 2: How does she feel about this whole thing?
18:08
Speaker 1: You know, she's supportive. She wants me to fire back
18:11
Speaker 1: up the Instagram and see if we can get a
18:12
Speaker 1: free trip. I'm just kidding, but I'm just like, no,
18:18
Speaker 1: it takes more than it gives. From my experience, like
18:21
Speaker 1: some people have turned it into something like really amazing,
18:24
Speaker 1: but I just I like my day job. I was like,
18:28
Speaker 1: we'll just have to say.
18:40
Speaker 3: We do want to talk about your girl, but we
18:43
Speaker 3: also just want to go back to the passage for
18:46
Speaker 3: a little bit longer. Now, when Ben talks about the edit,
18:50
Speaker 3: and I had a great edit, I mean, like I
18:52
Speaker 3: look great. I was genuinely I did a great job.
18:55
Speaker 3: I think there was a new episodes, right, there's a
18:58
Speaker 3: few episodes, and to me, it was just that it
19:02
Speaker 3: was more or less so missing contact Sun edit. It
19:06
Speaker 3: just it was missing context and I feel like you
19:10
Speaker 3: could probably relate to that. Was there any scenes that
19:15
Speaker 3: would have made that didn't air that you like wish dead.
19:20
Speaker 1: There was a you know, Okay, So now I'm really
19:26
Speaker 1: gonna sound like I'm panderings, but I don't care. I mean,
19:28
Speaker 1: what are they gonna do DM, like some random account
19:31
Speaker 1: DM you guys, oh tell t you know he sucks
19:33
Speaker 1: he's pandering because I don't have an Instagram. But honestly,
19:38
Speaker 1: gun to my head, I wish they showed more. I mean,
19:41
Speaker 1: this is going to sound like such a pander, but
19:43
Speaker 1: I wish they showed more of Rachel because she was
19:46
Speaker 1: so much cooler that season than it was, like reflected.
19:50
Speaker 2: You said that back in the day.
19:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like, I mean, I actually like I thought they
19:55
Speaker 1: did a super disservice to me and her, Like I
19:58
Speaker 1: think it was like twofold where they were trying so
20:01
Speaker 1: hard to make me look bad or or that's just
20:04
Speaker 1: how I looked. You know, I gotta I gotta play
20:06
Speaker 1: Devil's advocate here and avoid you know, getting the call
20:09
Speaker 1: from the lawyers. But I thought it did a real
20:13
Speaker 1: disservice to her. And I thought like they cut out
20:16
Speaker 1: a lot of really cool shit that you know, we
20:21
Speaker 1: did that would have benefited hurt edit more. But they
20:26
Speaker 1: were you know, I think they they can only show
20:30
Speaker 1: so much, and they were like, well, we're not going
20:31
Speaker 1: to show this guy in a good light, so they
20:33
Speaker 1: showed the other ones. But it like kind of didn't
20:36
Speaker 1: do it justice.
20:38
Speaker 2: You said that back in the day. I remember you
20:39
Speaker 2: talking very highly of her, which is always a very
20:42
Speaker 2: unique position for you to be in, because you didn't
20:45
Speaker 2: want to just you didn't want to destroy friends. No,
20:48
Speaker 2: I don't think your friends. I don't think she wants
20:50
Speaker 2: to talk to you.
20:51
Speaker 1: I don't think you're like her. I think I think
20:53
Speaker 1: we're better off. I think we're good.
20:55
Speaker 2: But I remember you saying you don't want to destroy
20:58
Speaker 2: her because you don't have any desire to. Yet you
21:00
Speaker 2: want to protect yourself. How do you do that in
21:03
Speaker 2: the face of national television on a hot seat, knowing
21:08
Speaker 2: that the live finale was going to come at you hard.
21:11
Speaker 2: So how do you do all this? And what ended
21:13
Speaker 2: up happening? And tell me if I'm wrong, is you
21:16
Speaker 2: sat there and you took it and you said, if
21:18
Speaker 2: I can get out of here, the quicker, the better
21:21
Speaker 2: and everybody hates me, it's better than the alternative, which
21:25
Speaker 2: was to try to place blame everywhere else? Was that
21:30
Speaker 2: your mindset going into that finale totally?
21:33
Speaker 1: And like we ended up getting into it on the stage,
21:36
Speaker 1: and like you'd have to ask her, but I'm sure
21:41
Speaker 1: there were some like you know, birdies in her ears
21:45
Speaker 1: saying like, oh, he's gonna come out swinging, you better
21:48
Speaker 1: be hot and boxing gloves on, and you know, I
21:52
Speaker 1: just was like, look, and I know that because I
21:56
Speaker 1: was I had the same birdies that we're saying, you
21:59
Speaker 1: better get out there and go ham and tell you
22:02
Speaker 1: the story. And I was like, look, I just don't.
22:05
Speaker 1: I don't really see any purpose in that. I don't
22:09
Speaker 1: think that will do either of us justice. And at
22:14
Speaker 1: the end of the day, the production for Better or
22:20
Speaker 1: Worse invested a lot of time and energy in me,
22:23
Speaker 1: as did she and it just didn't feel right to
22:26
Speaker 1: go up there and kind of cowered my way through
22:28
Speaker 1: and place the blame game, and I, you know, I
22:31
Speaker 1: know up there somehow we got into an argument, so
22:35
Speaker 1: I feel like maybe she thought I was trying to
22:37
Speaker 1: do that, but I mean, it really wasn't my intention.
22:40
Speaker 1: I think I rewatched it and I was like, I
22:44
Speaker 1: guess I could have said this differently, and that's what
22:47
Speaker 1: triggered it. But I really, like, I think I said
22:50
Speaker 1: something along the lines of like I'm sorry it felt
22:52
Speaker 1: like I was, you know, blaming you. I was really
22:56
Speaker 1: trying not to do that, and that's what started it up,
22:59
Speaker 1: because I think is always hard to hear like I'm
23:01
Speaker 1: sorry you felt this way, but like I was trying
23:04
Speaker 1: to say, like it felt this way. You know, I
23:07
Speaker 1: don't know, but it was un rambling, but yeah, I was.
23:11
Speaker 1: I was trying to get out of there, and like
23:14
Speaker 1: my goal would be to like everyone walk away being like, well,
23:17
Speaker 1: you know, you're sorry, you know, like we can you know,
23:21
Speaker 1: like he like, I would have loved it if people
23:24
Speaker 1: were like, well, you know, rarely do we get TV
23:28
Speaker 1: contestants who actually like come clean and take their punishment
23:32
Speaker 1: like that.
23:33
Speaker 3: Well, I remember the way I felt was like, yeah,
23:36
Speaker 3: wolves and I'm not wolves, but yes, he affed up definitely.
23:42
Speaker 3: But I left watching that finale being like just kind
23:46
Speaker 3: of like so sympathetic for you because it was it
23:52
Speaker 3: was so embarrassing that they brought Avan on stage to
23:56
Speaker 3: ask her out, and I was just like, it is
24:02
Speaker 3: just oh no, no, it felt so just felt so demoralizing.
24:08
Speaker 1: I think it saved you, and I think, in a
24:11
Speaker 1: twisted way, I think that was their thought. I really do.
24:16
Speaker 1: I think I thought they were going to do that,
24:18
Speaker 1: and I think when I got that call apologizing, they
24:20
Speaker 1: thought they had the hooks in for like a light
24:24
Speaker 1: you know, like somebody who'd be still involved with all
24:27
Speaker 1: this stuff, not just you know, doing it because I
24:30
Speaker 1: adore you two and appreciate you too. But no, I
24:35
Speaker 1: think I think it genuinely confused them when I said, like, no,
24:38
Speaker 1: there's no way I'm doing anything for you guys again,
24:41
Speaker 1: because I think it's it's so like like every person
24:45
Speaker 1: from my season, like was in the group chat talking
24:49
Speaker 1: about can't wait for Paradise and I was like, are
24:52
Speaker 1: we for real here? Like I'm not, you know, I
24:55
Speaker 1: just had a bad experience I'm not going.
24:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, kind of like in Miss Does. The hope
25:01
Speaker 2: is that Paradise is a redemption story. I think you
25:03
Speaker 2: would have got it, you know, but it does sound
25:05
Speaker 2: like you didn't need it because you mentioned a second
25:07
Speaker 2: ago as we close here, that you have found somebody
25:09
Speaker 2: that you're hoping to has been the rest of your
25:10
Speaker 2: life with. Am I wrong in making it that clear?
25:14
Speaker 2: She might listen?
25:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, my goal is to know we're spending the rest
25:18
Speaker 1: of our lives together.
25:20
Speaker 2: Amazing.
25:21
Speaker 1: If I still got to convince her, you know, I'll
25:23
Speaker 1: keep working on it, but I think it's it's definitely
25:26
Speaker 1: more than reciprocated.
25:27
Speaker 3: And I was going to pull her up on Instagram,
25:30
Speaker 3: but you don't have one.
25:32
Speaker 2: Can we know who this is?
25:33
Speaker 1: Like?
25:33
Speaker 2: Is this a secret?
25:35
Speaker 1: Sorry? It is? You know, maybe schol post about me
25:38
Speaker 1: and you all see it.
25:39
Speaker 2: But how long have you been together?
25:42
Speaker 1: And she's like, you don't have an Instagram?
25:44
Speaker 2: How long have you been together?
25:46
Speaker 1: We're coming on two years pretty.
25:48
Speaker 2: Soon here, Okay, two years together?
25:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, well not that soon, but you know about a
25:54
Speaker 1: year and a half.
25:54
Speaker 3: In Yeah, is there a right? Not?
25:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's been designed nay, let's go. Yeah, Yeah,
26:07
Speaker 1: she's she's so good to me. It's like, I feel
26:09
Speaker 1: like blessed every day.
26:12
Speaker 2: And she knows all this right, We're not going to
26:13
Speaker 2: like release something here that she's gonna be like, wait,
26:15
Speaker 2: what's happening?
26:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, I want to. I want this to be the
26:18
Speaker 1: first time she hears it and gets all embarrassed and flusty. No,
26:23
Speaker 1: I tell her every day, Okay, that's amazing.
26:26
Speaker 3: You know, we love Rachel here. And you may have
26:29
Speaker 3: made your mistakes on the show and with the whole experience,
26:33
Speaker 3: but I just feel like, you're a very sweet, sweet guy.
26:36
Speaker 1: She's hey, and she's she's a cool girl. She was
26:39
Speaker 1: putting into a really shitty situation largely because of me,
26:44
Speaker 1: you know, and I I haven't watched anything since, but
26:47
Speaker 1: I think she's kind of shown everyone that it seems
26:51
Speaker 1: like and yeah, you know, that's that's good. I have
26:54
Speaker 1: no like thought of her ever, unless like somebody brings
26:59
Speaker 1: her up. And if they ever do and they say
27:02
Speaker 1: something negative, I'm like, hey, you know, you guys didn't
27:04
Speaker 1: see the right person because she was really rad. I
27:08
Speaker 1: would not have gone to the lengths I did if
27:11
Speaker 1: she was not super rad. It's just you know, sometimes
27:15
Speaker 1: you lose the luck of the job of how it
27:17
Speaker 1: gets all played out.
27:18
Speaker 2: That's true. We love Rachel here, but Tina, were very
27:21
Speaker 2: happy for you, were thankful that you came on here,
27:23
Speaker 2: thank you forgiving us the time. In summary, here is
27:26
Speaker 2: what happened. Tino's owned his decisions. He had a really
27:32
Speaker 2: terrible finale that a lot of us felt where it
27:34
Speaker 2: was unnecessary, the Aven situation in a lot of ways.
27:37
Speaker 2: I believe dig kind of save Tino because it took
27:40
Speaker 2: the focus off of him and made it this weird,
27:43
Speaker 2: awkward moment. Yeah, it was very weird at every level.
27:50
Speaker 2: But Tino, out of all of this, out of all
27:54
Speaker 2: of this, the thing that's always been impressive that should
27:57
Speaker 2: not go unnoticed is that your hope and your desire,
28:01
Speaker 2: And what's happened is you did not want to throw
28:03
Speaker 2: Rachel under the bus and blame it on her. You
28:06
Speaker 2: also wanted to take the ownership for the decisions made.
28:09
Speaker 2: And I think that shows a lot of character. I
28:13
Speaker 2: don't think it's done a lot on reality television. It
28:15
Speaker 2: maybe didn't make you the most famous person of all time,
28:18
Speaker 2: but what it did do, as you said, is it
28:20
Speaker 2: taught you a way of life that will pay off
28:24
Speaker 2: in so many great ways. Life comes. Yeah, Tino Franco,
28:31
Speaker 2: thank you for coming on Infamous. Appreciate it for you.
28:34
Speaker 2: Appreciate it man. Thanks Benny, I've been Ashley and I've
28:39
Speaker 2: been Ben. We'll talk to you soon.
28:41
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28:44
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts