Latest / The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast / Beauty & The Bachelor with Allyshia Gupta

Transcript

Beauty & The Bachelor with Allyshia Gupta · The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: This is the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast
0:03
Speaker 1: with iHeartRadio.
0:06
Speaker 2: This is Almost Famous podcast. We are here today with
0:08
Speaker 2: a very special guest. We're so excited for her to
0:10
Speaker 2: be joining us. Alicia from this season of The Bachelor.
0:14
Speaker 2: Probably one of the most talked about eliminations of the
0:17
Speaker 2: season still today even though it happens so early on,
0:20
Speaker 2: and that's really what we want to talk about throughout
0:22
Speaker 2: this episode. Alicia, I do want to start with saying this,
0:26
Speaker 2: before the season started, we kind of always go through
0:30
Speaker 2: our top four of who we think will make it
0:32
Speaker 2: based on knowing nothing about any of you and really
0:34
Speaker 2: having no clue of anything that's going to happen through
0:37
Speaker 2: this season, and you were up there, so for you
0:40
Speaker 2: to be eliminated was shocking to us here. But we'll
0:44
Speaker 2: kick it off with kind of your backstory, if that's
0:46
Speaker 2: okay with you. You have a fairly similar backstory to
0:53
Speaker 2: a lot of the very well known contestants that have
0:56
Speaker 2: come through the Bachelor franchise. You are a former pageant
1:01
Speaker 2: and you're also just very accomplished outside of that, So
1:05
Speaker 2: can you give us a little backstory of your pageant
1:07
Speaker 2: years and have you known or competed against anybody that's
1:10
Speaker 2: been on the show before.
1:12
Speaker 3: Well, thank you firstly for that. And yeah, so interestingly,
1:17
Speaker 3: the pageant world is so small, and yes, I do
1:20
Speaker 3: come from the pageant world. I competed at Miss USA
1:23
Speaker 3: and held the title is Miss California. But I couldn't
1:27
Speaker 3: be further from what you would imagine when you think
1:29
Speaker 3: of a typical pageant girl. I never really competed. I
1:34
Speaker 3: had come from a family that was born and raised
1:38
Speaker 3: in England, so even pageantry, the whole concept was so
1:44
Speaker 3: new to all of us, and it really just got started.
1:47
Speaker 3: I was a little kid, and I was always a
1:48
Speaker 3: girly girl, and I love crowns and sparkles and everything
1:51
Speaker 3: that princesses wore, and that was my dream job. And
1:55
Speaker 3: I was watching our local town. We had nothing in
1:58
Speaker 3: our local town, but we had this big Christmas parade
2:00
Speaker 3: every year, and so I was watching it and the
2:03
Speaker 3: local queens on had gone by on a parade and
2:07
Speaker 3: they were waving, and I just saw the crowns and
2:09
Speaker 3: pretty dresses, and I remember asking my mom, like, how
2:11
Speaker 3: do I want to be on that float? I want
2:14
Speaker 3: to wave, I want the crown, I want to be
2:15
Speaker 3: a princess and I was like five, and my mom
2:18
Speaker 3: is the complete opposite of a girly girl, so she
2:22
Speaker 3: had no idea and she had no idea how to
2:25
Speaker 3: help me. But I did some research and figured it
2:27
Speaker 3: out and it was a local pageant, So that's kind
2:29
Speaker 3: of how I got started. And then I didn't really
2:32
Speaker 3: compete because I wasn't a US citizen, so up until
2:36
Speaker 3: I was about twenty two, I hadn't yet naturalized, and
2:41
Speaker 3: I never felt any repercussions besides not being able to
2:44
Speaker 3: vote up until trying to attempt to qualify from this USA,
2:49
Speaker 3: and of course you have to be a US citizen first.
2:52
Speaker 3: So my dream of competing in pageants really was put
2:56
Speaker 3: on a back burner, and I went to college. My
2:59
Speaker 3: life continued. Was not in my plans whatsoever, wasn't on
3:02
Speaker 3: my big go card. But just so happened that the
3:06
Speaker 3: same director who owns Florida happened to own California at
3:10
Speaker 3: the time, which was the chris family, Todd Chrisly and
3:13
Speaker 3: Savannah Chrisly. So they reached out to me and they said, hey,
3:16
Speaker 3: would you want to come out and do California. We
3:18
Speaker 3: knew you were from Florida originally, and you wanted to,
3:21
Speaker 3: and I said, no, that ship sailed like I have
3:23
Speaker 3: a job. That was like a pipeline dream. No, I'm
3:27
Speaker 3: not interested. And they said, well, what if we just
3:30
Speaker 3: let you come to the state level, because typically to
3:33
Speaker 3: win a preliminary pageant on a county or yeah, certain exactly.
3:42
Speaker 3: So they said, well, what if we just say you're
3:45
Speaker 3: Miss Hollywood and you can come out and compete. So
3:47
Speaker 3: I said, okay, sure. At that point, I hated my job.
3:50
Speaker 3: I was working in marketing.
3:52
Speaker 4: Were you a US citizen at this point?
3:54
Speaker 3: At this point I had I had naturalized as a US.
3:57
Speaker 4: Cident, okay, because I was confused.
3:58
Speaker 3: So I was like, when when separate from the pageant world,
4:01
Speaker 3: I had done that for my own.
4:03
Speaker 4: So you didn't do it for it? Okay?
4:05
Speaker 3: No, But of course my mom posted something on Facebook
4:08
Speaker 3: with you know, my naturalization papers, and that's when the
4:11
Speaker 3: Chris Lies had seen it and reached out and said,
4:13
Speaker 3: come on out to California and just do it. And
4:16
Speaker 3: I had bought this pageant dress probably oh, I bought
4:20
Speaker 3: it from when I was eighteen, and so now going forward,
4:22
Speaker 3: what it was twenty something and I had this dress
4:26
Speaker 3: that I was never going to wear anywhere else, and
4:28
Speaker 3: I thought, sure, I hate my job. I'm just going
4:30
Speaker 3: to use this as a distraction and go for it.
4:32
Speaker 3: And it's just a bucket list item. And I remember
4:35
Speaker 3: inviting my mom and my sister to the pageant and
4:37
Speaker 3: they're so honest and like, we have a very close relationship,
4:40
Speaker 3: and they didn't mean it in a horrible way, but
4:42
Speaker 3: they said, you know, I hope we don't mind, but
4:44
Speaker 3: we're not going to come from Florida to California to
4:46
Speaker 3: watch this because you're not going to win. Like there's
4:49
Speaker 3: just no You're not a pageant girl. You're not prepared,
4:51
Speaker 3: you don't go to the gym, you don't have a coach,
4:54
Speaker 3: you don't know how to walk, you don't know how
4:55
Speaker 3: to answer a question on stage, and pageants California are
5:01
Speaker 3: known for being really competitive, and so it was a
5:04
Speaker 3: really big one. And I said, you know what, guys,
5:06
Speaker 3: I'm not upset, like, don't waste the money, don't My
5:09
Speaker 3: sister's in med school, so she has a crazy schedule,
5:12
Speaker 3: and I was fine with them not coming. And then
5:14
Speaker 3: long story short, I ended up winning. I don't know how.
5:18
Speaker 3: I think it's really a matter of They liked the
5:21
Speaker 3: fact that I wasn't the typical pageant girl, and that
5:23
Speaker 3: I messed up a million times on my interview, and
5:26
Speaker 3: I was, you know, walked when I wasn't meant to walk,
5:29
Speaker 3: and did circles when I wasn't meant to do circles.
5:32
Speaker 3: So I think they probably liked that it was I
5:36
Speaker 3: was just novice in the pageant world. But yeah, I
5:40
Speaker 3: do have I do have some connections with the past
5:44
Speaker 3: Batchelor contestants. As far as competing in pageants, No, I've
5:47
Speaker 3: never competed against any of them, and I've never met
5:50
Speaker 3: any of them through pageants either or personally either.
5:53
Speaker 4: Well, so how did you become Miss California if you
5:57
Speaker 4: were going to Florida?
5:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I was. I grew up in Florida, and
6:02
Speaker 3: that's when my pageant journey I supposed started, let's say.
6:06
Speaker 3: But then after college, I got my first job out
6:09
Speaker 3: in LA and I moved and I was for a
6:12
Speaker 3: couple of years, and that's when they had contacted me,
6:15
Speaker 3: and I already naturalized as a US citizen.
6:18
Speaker 4: Okay, okay, all right, I got it, got it.
6:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, And you have to compete or you're living. So
6:23
Speaker 3: at that point I was in California.
6:25
Speaker 4: Okay, all right, there you go. Okay, So then how
6:27
Speaker 4: did we get from that to signing up for The Bachelor?
6:31
Speaker 3: Well, how did we get from that to signing up
6:35
Speaker 3: for the Bachelor? So much went on in the between
6:38
Speaker 3: those two things. I was in a really serious relationship
6:42
Speaker 3: for three years and I really thought I was I
6:46
Speaker 3: saw the future with this person. There was no doubt
6:48
Speaker 3: in my mind. This was going to be my husband,
6:52
Speaker 3: my the father of my children. And it was reciprocated.
6:57
Speaker 3: We he had purchased an engagement We were engagement ring shopping,
7:01
Speaker 3: you know. We asked my mom for permission to marry me,
7:04
Speaker 3: and the book, the whole planned it all out, asked
7:07
Speaker 3: my mom, my sister, and then on a Tuesday, woke
7:12
Speaker 3: up and said, you know, I think there might be
7:14
Speaker 3: other people more compatible for me. So I packed my
7:16
Speaker 3: bags that same day moved out, and The Bachelor just
7:21
Speaker 3: happened to DM me like the next week and asked
7:24
Speaker 3: if I was single. And they'd reached out previously and
7:27
Speaker 3: I wasn't single or interested in doing the show, But
7:31
Speaker 3: at that point they just got me on the right day,
7:33
Speaker 3: at the right time and the right phase of heartbreak
7:36
Speaker 3: to think it might be worth a shot going on
7:39
Speaker 3: the show, and.
7:41
Speaker 2: Then you went through with it. Now, before we get
7:44
Speaker 2: into the curiously early elimination, I do want to ask you,
7:53
Speaker 2: what did we not see on the show in those
7:56
Speaker 2: first two weeks that are so true to you that
8:02
Speaker 2: you'd want Grant to know in the world to know
8:04
Speaker 2: that you never got the opportunity to share.
8:06
Speaker 3: Well, there's a lot that's shared that is an aired,
8:08
Speaker 3: of course. I mean, there's just so many women in
8:12
Speaker 3: conversations frankly that happened, you know, it would be impossible
8:15
Speaker 3: to show it all. But I do feel like my
8:18
Speaker 3: short time that I was there, I was one hundred
8:21
Speaker 3: percent myself and very authentic with the women in the
8:24
Speaker 3: house and with my one on one time with Grants.
8:26
Speaker 3: So I don't feel like I walked away with any
8:31
Speaker 3: sort of regrets or feelings of that I missed the
8:36
Speaker 3: shot to show someone who I am or I wish
8:38
Speaker 3: I did this or said this, because I was all that,
8:42
Speaker 3: and I did show up as Alicia and remained her
8:46
Speaker 3: throughout the entire time. So I feel pretty good in
8:49
Speaker 3: retrospect looking back at my experience.
8:52
Speaker 4: I think that when we watched episode one, we thought
8:55
Speaker 4: that you could have even been the first impression and
9:00
Speaker 4: rose recipient. You were definitely in contention for that at
9:03
Speaker 4: least from what we saw, felt.
9:05
Speaker 2: Like that, and had the first kiss from what we
9:07
Speaker 2: saw first kiss.
9:09
Speaker 4: From what we saw, Yes, I know that could have
9:11
Speaker 4: probably been, you know, fudged. Now we've just been dying
9:17
Speaker 4: to know, like what changed in a matter of the week.
9:22
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know what changed. I think for me,
9:24
Speaker 3: I can only speak from my perspective, right, so I
9:27
Speaker 3: don't know what went on and Grant said or why
9:30
Speaker 3: he made the decisions he made. But I was feeling
9:33
Speaker 3: good about our connection. We had continued conversations that of
9:38
Speaker 3: course weren't aired, just because you know, you don't have
9:40
Speaker 3: the time to show everything, that were really progressive in
9:44
Speaker 3: my opinion. And it's funny because the Internet reacted to
9:47
Speaker 3: our night one conversation like, oh my gosh, they have
9:51
Speaker 3: so much chemistry the connection, and in my eyes, of
9:55
Speaker 3: all the conversations I had with Grant, that was my
9:59
Speaker 3: least favorite, just because it's the first one and you're nervous,
10:01
Speaker 3: it's night one, it's super late, you're tired, your heels.
10:05
Speaker 3: Arning all the conversations after that feel even more comfortable,
10:10
Speaker 3: if anything. So you know, I wish that they were
10:14
Speaker 3: eric because I think it would give more color to
10:16
Speaker 3: who I am and give more color to the relationship
10:20
Speaker 3: that Grant and I had developed in that time. But
10:23
Speaker 3: to be honest, I'm not sure what changed for him
10:25
Speaker 3: in his head. I really really thought I wasn't expecting.
10:29
Speaker 3: I wasn't expecting to go home as early as I did.
10:42
Speaker 2: You obviously get in a limo after that elimination, and
10:45
Speaker 2: you do have time to kind of process, but I'm
10:48
Speaker 2: sure it was confusing then now that you look back
10:50
Speaker 2: on it, if you could make some very un educated
10:55
Speaker 2: assumptions about what had happened, because it is surprising. I mean,
11:00
Speaker 2: in the bachelor world, to go home week two usually
11:03
Speaker 2: means there's no connection. I mean, at least when I
11:06
Speaker 2: went through it, it usually meant like, hey, we haven't
11:08
Speaker 2: even had a conversation yet, so I don't even know,
11:11
Speaker 2: like remember your name, and so like you're gonna go
11:14
Speaker 2: home because we obviously like aren't finding ways to even talk. Right,
11:18
Speaker 2: you are saying that you did get to talk to him,
11:21
Speaker 2: that you did have some sort of connection with him,
11:23
Speaker 2: and so as you've processed it, you could make some
11:25
Speaker 2: assumptions like what happened.
11:28
Speaker 3: So you know what they say about assumptions, It only
11:30
Speaker 3: makes an ass.
11:31
Speaker 2: Out of you and me, and I can do them
11:32
Speaker 2: all the time here, but here I go.
11:35
Speaker 4: That's what we that's that's our bread and butter. Yeah,
11:38
Speaker 4: that's all we do.
11:40
Speaker 3: So my assumption would be I wasn't physically his type,
11:45
Speaker 3: having lighter hair and skin and eyes. Maybe I just
11:49
Speaker 3: wasn't physically his type. That was one of the first
11:52
Speaker 3: things that crossed my mind, because to your point, Ben,
11:55
Speaker 3: when you are eliminated that early, even though we did
11:59
Speaker 3: have amplepportunities to continue our conversation and grow our connection,
12:04
Speaker 3: you really aren't. You don't have enough time with the women,
12:09
Speaker 3: in my opinion, to make a decision based on their personalities,
12:14
Speaker 3: unless you haven't had time to speak with them, which
12:17
Speaker 3: we did have. So I would have to imagine it
12:19
Speaker 3: was purely down to a physical element that maybe I
12:23
Speaker 3: didn't I physically didn't check the boxes of what his
12:27
Speaker 3: future wife he imagined her to look like.
12:30
Speaker 4: He kissed you and I right away, though I know
12:33
Speaker 4: I'm not sure you.
12:35
Speaker 3: Know that's it is very strange, and we had more
12:39
Speaker 3: kisses after that and we had time that was one
12:43
Speaker 3: on one. I was actually pretty sick the morning of
12:46
Speaker 3: the basketball date. The bus ride over, I just wasn't
12:50
Speaker 3: feeling too great. I had a little bit of a
12:52
Speaker 3: stomach ache, and he really made it a point to
12:54
Speaker 3: pu me to the side and check on me, and
12:57
Speaker 3: even i'd been vomiting TMI, I know, and even really
13:02
Speaker 3: ask if he could kiss me, and I was like,
13:04
Speaker 3: you don't want to do that. I've been vomiting, and
13:06
Speaker 3: he was super adamant on taking care of me and
13:10
Speaker 3: being there. So it was definitely a surprise at that
13:14
Speaker 3: Rosemary ceremony, and I will say, hmmm, well, I don't
13:18
Speaker 3: know if I'm allowed to say this, but they'll stop
13:20
Speaker 3: me if I can. I felt like he was giving
13:23
Speaker 3: me a lot of validation that I was staying. So
13:27
Speaker 3: it was surprising when my name wasn't called, because I
13:31
Speaker 3: felt like he was intentionally sending me messages that were
13:35
Speaker 3: kind of like, you know, the wink wink, don't worry
13:38
Speaker 3: you're here, saying he has a connection with me that
13:42
Speaker 3: you know. I shared something really personal with my family
13:45
Speaker 3: and some photos with him on that final night, and
13:48
Speaker 3: he asked to keep them and said, you know, I'm
13:51
Speaker 3: going to hold onto these. I'll give them back to
13:52
Speaker 3: you next time I see you. So of course I'm
13:55
Speaker 3: reading that like a woman's going to analyze that in
13:58
Speaker 3: her head, and we're thinking, like, okay, again, one hundred
14:03
Speaker 3: percent we have the connection. And yeah, that was like
14:07
Speaker 3: the last thing he said to me and before the
14:09
Speaker 3: row ceremony and then sent me home. So it was
14:13
Speaker 3: very confusing. But at the same time, I do feel
14:17
Speaker 3: like closure is just somebody not picking you. You know,
14:21
Speaker 3: if it wasn't meant to be, it wasn't meant to be,
14:23
Speaker 3: And you know, I feel good about that, and I
14:28
Speaker 3: think I had a connection with Grant. I would have
14:31
Speaker 3: liked to explore it more. But if he had already
14:33
Speaker 3: made that decision in his head that he wasn't attracted
14:36
Speaker 3: to me, I'm glad he sent me home earlier than later.
14:39
Speaker 4: We had you on thinking we were going to get answers.
14:42
Speaker 4: You were going to tell us about some conversation that
14:44
Speaker 4: went awry, and now you've further puzzled us as to
14:48
Speaker 4: why you left week two.
14:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, I wish I could, like I wish I could
14:53
Speaker 3: tell you what further conversations like happened that would have
14:57
Speaker 3: changed things. But truly, looking back on it, there wasn't
15:01
Speaker 3: anything that would have derailed our progress. If anything, it
15:05
Speaker 3: would have. I think had you were seeing more of
15:09
Speaker 3: our conversations, they would have been even more continued.
15:12
Speaker 4: Probably why they didn't show and that is that anything,
15:15
Speaker 4: because they didn't want us to feel even weirder about it. Okay,
15:19
Speaker 4: So we see online that you and devn Jen's Devon
15:25
Speaker 4: devon Strator are following each other. Now listen, there's this
15:30
Speaker 4: girl that I know, and he slid into her DMS
15:34
Speaker 4: when like he was with Jen or like right after
15:38
Speaker 4: they broke up, something somewhere in the very close proximity
15:42
Speaker 4: of their relationship. So and guess what little breaking news here?
15:48
Speaker 4: He just did it again. He said to her, I'm
15:52
Speaker 4: dying to bring take you out on a date, Like
15:54
Speaker 4: when can we do this? Literally they haven't spoken in
15:57
Speaker 4: like six months, Okay. And then and less than a
16:02
Speaker 4: week later, he posts a picture of him with some
16:06
Speaker 4: new girl, like out there on Instagram with some other girls.
16:09
Speaker 4: So we know we're assuming strongly that Devin slid into
16:15
Speaker 4: your DMS. What of you guys talking? What are you
16:18
Speaker 4: talking about? Yeah?
16:20
Speaker 3: So thanks for bringing this up, because that is a rumor.
16:23
Speaker 3: I was certainly not excited to hear circulating.
16:27
Speaker 5: I have no idea how this Bachelor Nation world works,
16:32
Speaker 5: but in my reality of La La Land, it's like,
16:35
Speaker 5: we're all BFFs after this, We're going to hang out
16:38
Speaker 5: after the show.
16:39
Speaker 3: I'm going to come over and play with Ben's kid,
16:42
Speaker 3: like me and Ashley are going to get drunk together.
16:44
Speaker 3: That's how. That's how I imagine, like the tail end of.
16:46
Speaker 4: This is, it's not really far off right.
16:50
Speaker 3: And so, you know, anybody Bachelor Nation who followed me,
16:54
Speaker 3: I made it a point to follow them back. Devin
16:56
Speaker 3: was one of the many that were included, and I
16:59
Speaker 3: think people forgot to mention the many others who I
17:03
Speaker 3: mutually follow. Yes, he did slide into my DMS as
17:07
Speaker 3: a few other people.
17:08
Speaker 4: Stay busy, He's busy.
17:12
Speaker 3: What's so funny is so he slid into my DMS.
17:15
Speaker 3: I didn't respond to him. He slides into my DMS again.
17:19
Speaker 3: After these rumors starts circling that Devin and I start
17:24
Speaker 3: following it or whatever. He sends me another message and
17:28
Speaker 3: it was I couldn't believe it. I'm gonna spark notes
17:32
Speaker 3: it for you because I can't be bothered to go
17:34
Speaker 3: dig it up right now, but essentially said like sorry
17:38
Speaker 3: that I caused you all this attention from these rumors,
17:42
Speaker 3: like as if he were interested in me or the
17:47
Speaker 3: bouchler right now, Like oh see.
17:50
Speaker 4: Look this is what he just posted. Oh's Valentine's Day.
17:53
Speaker 4: He posted this girl, Yeah, these days my V day?
17:58
Speaker 4: Soothing like beach waves, Yeah, play in for Playing for Keeps, babe,
18:06
Speaker 4: Playing for Keeps three four days before this slid into
18:10
Speaker 4: this girl's DM saying what am I taking you on
18:13
Speaker 4: a date?
18:13
Speaker 2: I have a feeling that he's not going to be
18:16
Speaker 2: dating this girl very much longer after this show.
18:20
Speaker 3: I hope this girl can see oh I'm on blurred
18:23
Speaker 3: But for her own personal record, the date of these
18:29
Speaker 3: messages was February sixth from mister Devin Straighter, so I'm
18:34
Speaker 3: pretty positive he was with her at that point as well.
18:38
Speaker 2: Eight days is a long enough time to play for Keeps.
18:40
Speaker 2: Eight days in early not know, That's what I don't.
18:43
Speaker 3: She must have heard something before, because if he's doing
18:46
Speaker 3: it to everyone rumors like she would have heard that
18:49
Speaker 3: he does this by now, she must not care.
18:53
Speaker 2: It's uh, Alicia, This is a very interesting conversation to
18:57
Speaker 2: be having because you're not wrong. The Bachelor Nation is
19:01
Speaker 2: a very supportive group of people. There's always events happening,
19:05
Speaker 2: and back in the day there was a lot more
19:08
Speaker 2: events happening. And I hope that you know, the almost
19:11
Speaker 2: famous group can bring you into some of these fun things.
19:14
Speaker 2: We're gonna love to have you there and we all
19:17
Speaker 2: will become best friends. And hopefully my wife does bring
19:21
Speaker 2: a little daughter and her and I can have a
19:23
Speaker 2: date night and you guys can babysit. But there is
19:28
Speaker 2: this interesting thing that happens after the show. You were eliminated,
19:31
Speaker 2: in our opinion, too early, and if we get to
19:33
Speaker 2: talk to Grant again here soon, we're gonna tell him
19:36
Speaker 2: that and see what he says about it, hopefully clear
19:39
Speaker 2: any confusion. But now you have the opportunity to go
19:44
Speaker 2: on Paradise. And the reason these rumors were started, and
19:48
Speaker 2: the reason I even saw them, was because people were
19:50
Speaker 2: kind of making couples up for Paradise, and Devin's name
19:53
Speaker 2: was getting their round along with yours because you both
19:55
Speaker 2: follow each other. We've gotten to the bottom of that
19:58
Speaker 2: whole scenario. He slid into your there isn't and am
20:02
Speaker 2: I fear saying there isn't like a relationship built right
20:05
Speaker 2: now between the two of you. So if you show
20:10
Speaker 2: up to the beach in Paradise, the first question is
20:12
Speaker 2: would you say yes to doing it? Secondly, if Devin
20:16
Speaker 2: shows up to the beach in Paradise, would you be
20:18
Speaker 2: interested in pursuing a relationship with him? And if not him,
20:21
Speaker 2: then who?
20:22
Speaker 3: No, I would not be interested. That's the easiest answer
20:27
Speaker 3: is certainly no to Devin for a multitude of reasons.
20:32
Speaker 3: But if what we've just covered isn't enough, then I'm
20:35
Speaker 3: not sure what is. I really want to have a
20:39
Speaker 3: partner for life and a husband, and I want to
20:42
Speaker 3: start my family, and I'm looking for someone who's serious
20:46
Speaker 3: about that. And I think it's pretty obvious that, based
20:49
Speaker 3: on the way he moves, that's not what he's looking for.
20:52
Speaker 3: So you know, that's a non starter for me. If
20:55
Speaker 3: you're not serious, then I'm not even going to give
20:59
Speaker 3: you the day of time, So time of day excuse me.
21:02
Speaker 3: So that would be the answer to that. Would I
21:04
Speaker 3: go on Paradise It depends depends. I think I would
21:09
Speaker 3: have It would be something I would certainly consider, and
21:12
Speaker 3: I think there would be a lot of different variables
21:14
Speaker 3: that I would have to think about before I made
21:18
Speaker 3: a decision when if I went or if I didn't go,
21:20
Speaker 3: Like what.
21:21
Speaker 2: Wait time out? What variables work?
21:25
Speaker 3: My work schedule, my family and life schedule. Like I said,
21:29
Speaker 3: my little sister is graduating from med school and as
21:34
Speaker 3: residency starting and match day and those are just big
21:36
Speaker 3: life events I wouldn't miss for anything. And then, of
21:41
Speaker 3: course who else is going to be on Bachelor in Paradise?
21:43
Speaker 3: I think if there was men going who I could
21:46
Speaker 3: see a future with, then it would be more enticing.
21:49
Speaker 3: If it was men like Devin going, then no, I
21:52
Speaker 3: don't as interested because a while it would be fun,
21:57
Speaker 3: I don't see how anything serious could come of it.
22:01
Speaker 4: Well, it sounds like you're a Bachelor fan because of
22:04
Speaker 4: what you said. So in Bachelor's past, which single guys
22:08
Speaker 4: would you like to see a show up on that beach?
22:12
Speaker 2: I gotta start looking. I'm gonna google this so I
22:14
Speaker 2: can fill in any gaps she's not willing to answer.
22:18
Speaker 3: Ben was honestly, Ben, you used to be on like
22:21
Speaker 3: my Hot Bachelor Guide list before you were married, like
22:25
Speaker 3: you were my hype. Dark hair, dark eyes is typically
22:28
Speaker 3: what I go for.
22:31
Speaker 2: Oh okay, So if that's what you're saying here, there's
22:36
Speaker 2: a guy named Spencer. I think we were he was
22:38
Speaker 2: just a few seasons ago, right, and he's like living
22:41
Speaker 2: next to Kelly Flann again. That's how he's in my head.
22:44
Speaker 2: Good looking fella, dark hair, tall, ripped.
22:47
Speaker 3: It's hard because so much changes too in the relationship
22:52
Speaker 3: and then the inter dating in Bachelor Nation, it's kind
22:56
Speaker 3: of hard to know who's single and who's available, and
22:59
Speaker 3: then of that group, you know, you don't know anything
23:02
Speaker 3: about people's personalities, and as cliche as that sounds, if
23:06
Speaker 3: you looked at any of my ex boyfriends, you would
23:08
Speaker 3: be able to attest to the fact that I go
23:10
Speaker 3: off personality. Even though I do have a type, I'm
23:13
Speaker 3: always finding myself dating guys that go against that type,
23:17
Speaker 3: just based on us being able to get along and
23:19
Speaker 3: have a good time and laugh, which is weird because
23:23
Speaker 3: you know, circling back to this past season, Grant was
23:27
Speaker 3: definitely my physical type, dark hair, dark eyes, tall, and
23:32
Speaker 3: we had a lot in common as far as being
23:34
Speaker 3: raised by a single mom and being super close to
23:37
Speaker 3: our sister, loving dogs. We both grew up on a
23:41
Speaker 3: farm and my sister was born in the same town
23:44
Speaker 3: he was born in New Jersey. It's a lot of
23:46
Speaker 3: weird small coincidences.
23:48
Speaker 4: Well what about New Jersey? Oh my gosh, who's what's
23:55
Speaker 4: his name? The one from Katie season that I everybody
23:58
Speaker 4: thought was gonna win, Greg Greg He's now not with
24:04
Speaker 4: Victoria anymore. I could see him being a hot shot
24:07
Speaker 4: in Paradise.
24:08
Speaker 3: Yeah. Wait, Greg Greg is like as far as personality wise,
24:12
Speaker 3: that's somebody who I was like, oh yes, gets along
24:14
Speaker 3: with because I've seen his tiktoks and they're just so funny,
24:18
Speaker 3: Like that's my type of humor. I mean, these aren't
24:22
Speaker 3: Bachelor people. But have you been watching Traders? Because Boston
24:26
Speaker 3: robb he needs to come to Paradise. He's I love
24:30
Speaker 3: Boston Robb.
24:34
Speaker 2: Well's loved him. Wait, so like but Boston robb is
24:39
Speaker 2: fifty years old.
24:41
Speaker 3: No, Boston Rob's married with a beautiful family as well.
24:46
Speaker 2: But people like him.
24:47
Speaker 4: Okay, so we're kind of is really catchy.
24:50
Speaker 3: I like, I don't know, I like that that type
24:53
Speaker 3: of confidence.
24:56
Speaker 2: Here's what we're going to tell you. So we're gonna
24:58
Speaker 2: speak some old school, almost famous bachelor wisdom over you.
25:04
Speaker 2: You should go to Paradise. You're going to be sought after.
25:08
Speaker 2: It's going to be really fun for you, ask Ashley.
25:11
Speaker 2: Ashley's married with two kids from Paradise.
25:14
Speaker 4: To it it is.
25:16
Speaker 2: It is something that I know when you sign up
25:17
Speaker 2: for The Bachelor, it does feel overwhelming, very odd, and
25:23
Speaker 2: then you get sent home week two and you have
25:25
Speaker 2: a lot of questions about it. What happens in Paradise
25:28
Speaker 2: is it's a whole new world. It's not that long,
25:31
Speaker 2: it's a very intentional time. It's a lot of fun,
25:35
Speaker 2: and you're going to do great there. So if the
25:38
Speaker 2: opportunity comes your way and we don't only lead you
25:41
Speaker 2: straight here, we have no skin in this game. I
25:43
Speaker 2: think Ashley and myself would both say go do it.
25:46
Speaker 1: Well.
25:46
Speaker 3: I appreciate that input, and yeah, Ashley, you do have
25:49
Speaker 3: a success story that is envious of. So I think
25:54
Speaker 3: it's like I said, if there was somebody going or
25:58
Speaker 3: a few different people who I think there was a
26:00
Speaker 3: real connection with, I would be excited to take that
26:03
Speaker 3: opportunity because you do see real relationships that come out
26:07
Speaker 3: of it. And I haven't watched Bachelor in Paradise, so
26:10
Speaker 3: I know I need to go and watch a full
26:12
Speaker 3: season of it to know how different it is. From
26:15
Speaker 3: The Bachelor, because I have heard that it's a totally
26:19
Speaker 3: different dynamic and a totally different environment completely.
26:24
Speaker 4: Yeah, and this season they might have air conditioning, so
26:27
Speaker 4: this would be the season to get.
26:40
Speaker 2: Ashley. I do have two final questions just to kind
26:43
Speaker 2: of summarize here. Ashle and I just broke down that
26:45
Speaker 2: The bacheloret is not returning for the next season. However,
26:48
Speaker 2: when we did our investigation, your name did get brought
26:50
Speaker 2: up in the mix of who they were thinking about
26:53
Speaker 2: asking to lead the franchise. If they would have came
26:56
Speaker 2: to you with The Bachelorette or maybe even in the
26:58
Speaker 2: future when the show comes back, would you consider it.
27:02
Speaker 3: Yes, I don't think I would ever shut the door.
27:05
Speaker 3: I had an incredible experience on The Bachelor, and I've
27:08
Speaker 3: said it before, I'll say it again. Even knowing how
27:11
Speaker 3: my journey ended, and knowing I would go home night
27:16
Speaker 3: two or week two, I would go back and do
27:19
Speaker 3: it all again. I had a really, really great time.
27:21
Speaker 3: I have nothing but the best things to say about
27:25
Speaker 3: Grant and the production and the entire show. So because
27:30
Speaker 3: I had such a great experience, I would definitely be
27:32
Speaker 3: open to doing anything as far as Bachelor Nation goes. Yeah,
27:38
Speaker 3: I absolutely feel like part of the family already, and
27:41
Speaker 3: I felt their outreach from the fans, and I love it.
27:44
Speaker 3: I'm obsessed with it. I've had a great time and
27:48
Speaker 3: I have no complaints from what's for trade or what's
27:51
Speaker 3: not portrayed the women on the seasons. I mean, we've
27:55
Speaker 3: just had a really all around I had a really
27:57
Speaker 3: great experience.
27:58
Speaker 2: And then the final thing I have to up because
28:01
Speaker 2: it was mentioned and it feels like more and more
28:04
Speaker 2: we talk about it here on the Almost Famous podcast.
28:06
Speaker 2: It's a complete pivot point. But you have been open
28:09
Speaker 2: about your lime disease. If you don't listen to the
28:11
Speaker 2: Almost Famous podcast. One of my best friends in the
28:14
Speaker 2: world suffered from lime disease and it actually increased to
28:17
Speaker 2: a whole different disease and that he still deals with
28:20
Speaker 2: this day. Obviously, we have Kelly Flanagan, we have Daisy.
28:24
Speaker 2: Lime disease is a very important topic that doesn't get
28:27
Speaker 2: talked about enough, that isn't studied enough, that isn't even
28:30
Speaker 2: considered a real disease by most, which is outrageous to me.
28:36
Speaker 2: So in closing here, we have a minute do you
28:41
Speaker 2: mind sharing about your lime disease and kind of where
28:44
Speaker 2: you're at, how you're healing, and any advocacy efforts that
28:47
Speaker 2: you're doing or that you know of on behalf of
28:49
Speaker 2: this disease that so many people are unfamiliar with.
28:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks for thank you for loving that up to me,
28:55
Speaker 3: because it's such an important cause and one that I've
28:58
Speaker 3: personally suffered. I was about two and I contracted limes disease,
29:04
Speaker 3: and unfortunately I was in New Jersey and the tick
29:07
Speaker 3: had bit me on my hairline. And because I was
29:10
Speaker 3: so young, a lot of the symptoms are really similar
29:13
Speaker 3: to the flu, and the one really sign that you
29:17
Speaker 3: can tell it's limes disease is a bullseye rash that
29:21
Speaker 3: you get around the tick bite, and because that was
29:24
Speaker 3: under my hairline, it was undetectable. And so I was
29:28
Speaker 3: so young. My mom kept taking me to doctors and
29:30
Speaker 3: everybody kept saying, it's a flu, it's this, this, this,
29:32
Speaker 3: And then one day I woke up and I was
29:34
Speaker 3: completely paralyzed, my entire right half of my body. I
29:38
Speaker 3: was in a wheelchair. They rushed me to the hospital
29:40
Speaker 3: and put me in a placed me in an induced
29:45
Speaker 3: coma so my brain swelling wouldn't keep on increasing and
29:49
Speaker 3: got me on antibiotics and a direct line pickline to
29:53
Speaker 3: my heart, which I stayed on and from there. It's
29:56
Speaker 3: something that I've lived with that is I've never really
29:58
Speaker 3: had a normal baseline because it happens so young in
30:01
Speaker 3: my life. I've lived with it what feels like my
30:04
Speaker 3: entirety of my life, and it's just something I've learned
30:08
Speaker 3: to manage and it's ongoing. There is no cure for it, sadly,
30:12
Speaker 3: so a lot of limes disease patients have different experimental,
30:20
Speaker 3: holistic remedies that they'll try. I love cryotherapy and in
30:24
Speaker 3: Fred'sana's of course, there's the antibiotic route that I've also
30:29
Speaker 3: partaken in and it has helped me tremendously, but it's
30:32
Speaker 3: not a forever solution. It's something that I continuously have
30:36
Speaker 3: to go back on and do rounds of antibiotic treatments
30:40
Speaker 3: every couple of years. So it's a lot and it's
30:44
Speaker 3: something that I think a lot of people are starting
30:46
Speaker 3: to talk about more, thank goodness, and I love that
30:48
Speaker 3: there is so much of it shown on Bachelor, because
30:52
Speaker 3: we need to talk about it more. And I think
30:54
Speaker 3: we're finally getting to the point where people are addressing
30:56
Speaker 3: the severity of it and how serious it is, which
31:00
Speaker 3: is wild that it's taken this long. But I do
31:03
Speaker 3: advocate for the limes disease community. Bay Area Line Society
31:07
Speaker 3: is out of California. I've partnered with them previously and
31:11
Speaker 3: continue to partner with them on really educating an awareness
31:16
Speaker 3: for limes disease. If you follow their social media pages,
31:19
Speaker 3: they also share about events and fundraisers that they have
31:22
Speaker 3: throughout the year, But the biggest part of their cause
31:26
Speaker 3: is trying to educate people and just bringing the statistics
31:32
Speaker 3: of this disease to the forefront. So if you're interested
31:37
Speaker 3: or you have lime disease know as someone who has
31:39
Speaker 3: limes disease or suffering with it, I would highly encourage
31:42
Speaker 3: you to check out Bay Area Limes Disease as a
31:45
Speaker 3: resource for learning more and for learning about events in
31:49
Speaker 3: your area or ways you can help.
31:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is something that needs to be talked about more.
31:55
Speaker 2: Thank you for bringing it up. It is interesting that
31:57
Speaker 2: The Bachelor has so many contestings that have suffered with
32:00
Speaker 2: this disease, but I also think it's not only because
32:03
Speaker 2: the Bachelor looks for people with lime disease, Because I
32:05
Speaker 2: don't think they do. I think it's because a lot
32:06
Speaker 2: of people have it.
32:08
Speaker 3: It's the spetific of limes disease of how many people
32:10
Speaker 3: have it that is. I mean, if you think about
32:14
Speaker 3: the statistics of who has had it or experienced it
32:17
Speaker 3: from the Bachelor Nation, I think that would be pretty
32:19
Speaker 3: fitting with what statistically online with how many people are
32:24
Speaker 3: implicated with limes disease.
32:27
Speaker 2: Thanks for talking about it. It means a lot to
32:29
Speaker 2: all of us here. We've talked about it many times. Alicia.
32:31
Speaker 2: You are great. We hope to watch you on Paradise.
32:34
Speaker 2: We hope to have you some almost famous events. Thank
32:38
Speaker 2: you for taking the time to chat with us today.
32:40
Speaker 2: We leave this conversation with some nuggets. Devin works hard
32:47
Speaker 2: about some things that he just shouldn't be working with.
32:50
Speaker 2: The second thing takeaway is we have no answers to
32:53
Speaker 2: why Alisha was sent at home. We're still as confused
32:55
Speaker 2: as ever, but it doesn't mean that her love story
32:58
Speaker 2: is over and hopefully we get this see it on
33:00
Speaker 2: the beaches wherever those beaches exist in the world. Here
33:03
Speaker 2: coming up soon. Until next time, I've been Ben.
33:06
Speaker 4: I've been Ashley. See you guys
33:09
Speaker 1: Follow the Ben and Ashley, I almost famous podcasts on
33:12
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.