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Hometown Heroes · 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 i R Radio. The Almost Famous podcast is going nowhere.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: We're here to stay for as long as you want
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: to keep listening. Hey Ashley, Hi Ben, what's up here?
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: You're going to Honduras in two days. I am. It's
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: a big deal. So I'm going through all the steps
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: right now. Because you know, international travel, you have to
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: get a COVID test. This will be my fifth COVID test,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: and I your fifth COVID test for this no in
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: general since the beginning, um, you know, with all this
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: stuff from the show, and then I try to get
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: one anytime I travel, just because there'll be no worse
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: feeling than like getting on a plane flying to you know,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: somewhere and then finding out. So anyways, I'm getting my
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: COVID test, which is never fun, not ideal. We're going
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: down to Honduras for the weekend, myself and just a
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: few others because, as you heard us talk about in
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: the podcast, a couple of months ago, at the communities
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: that we work within, hunt Durs were hit twice like
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: within three days by two major hurricanes, and so um
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: the waters have uh kind of gone down. We're going
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: down to figure out, hey, how do we rebuild what
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: what's the what's the need right now? So I'll be
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: down there for the weekend. I'll be back Monday to
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: talk about it if anybody has any interest in it, uh,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: and to kind of share what we find. It's it's Uh,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: it's gonna be pretty hard. I think it's gonna be
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: a really difficult trip because a lot of the stuff
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: that's been done over the last eleven years and a
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: lot of their homes have been wiped away. So but
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: I well, you know what I hope for uh, and
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: I'm kind of holding on of this is when we
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: get back and on Monday when we talk, I'm like,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: all right, it sucks like there's nothing about this. It's not, um,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: not bad, but there is a path forward, you know,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: like there's there's now uh, there's there's already stuff going on,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: and there's you know, to be more stuff going on. Uh,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: you know, once we kind of rally the troops. So anywa, Um,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: I'll be down there for the weekend, Ashley this week,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: I mean, we only have a few weeks left and
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Matt James season. Uh, the headlines haven't stopped. We're gonna
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: break down headlines. We're gonna break down uh, the latest episode,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: but also one thing we have to talk about and
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: one thing we want to kind of sit on for
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: this podcast especially, is everything going on in Texas since
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: the last time we talked. Yeah, I was gonna say
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: the Honduras thing was not the only weather tragedy we've
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: had this year. Now we have Texas and our friend
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Blake was down there. I think he had a DJ
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: gig and he got stranded down there, and honestly, like
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: in comparison to everybody else's living situation, Blake was probably
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: pretty lucky. Um. But we're gonna get all the details
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: from him later in this podcast, But first we want
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: to go do a rundown of the episode. It was
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: hometown week, and um, what was your initial thoughts? Ashley?
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Thank you feel But I feel like a downer. So
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: here's my issue. I say this stuff, yeah and and
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: and we can't be downers because I know there's people
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: out there really enjoying the season. I mean, there's parts
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: of this season I absolutely love, uh, you know, Matt
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: being one of them. I think he's a great dude.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: I've I've always liked him since I met him the
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: first time. I think a lot of these women are
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: really fantastic, and I'm wondering, and again I just sound
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: like a brokenner. I'm wondering if because I haven't been
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: as invested into the relationships up to this point. Is
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: why this Hometown Week, which is usually one of my
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: favorite weeks, I felt like it fell short to me.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: What do you think that exactly? I'm like, why am I?
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Why am I not feeling anything? Especially since I got
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: to hometown Week and I was like, Okay, well I'll
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: start to feel a lot of things now, like now
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: dramas over, like these are the ones he's taking. Seriously,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: I didn't feel it. Do you you know what I
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: felt the most in any scene in this this week's episode,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: just trying to guess, I mean Matt talking to Michelle
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: maybe like Michelle's kids, the kids, That's when I actually
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: felt like a little heart flutter. And so let's start there.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: It was the first day of this week. Michelle first
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: takes him, Um what they do bike riding, bike writing,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: so nothing really monumental there. Um then her family was
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: probably the nicest as well. But the thing that really
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: made me feel something was the fact that all the
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: kids from her class, or not all the kids, some
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: of the kids from her class zoomed in. They had
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: him on a big screen. They kind of grilled Matt.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: He had the perfect answers for everything. He's so sweet. Uh.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: You could just see how much the kids love Michelle,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: how great of a teacher she is. But like that
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: was the only thing that made me feel. I mean,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: it's really sweet though, because obviously her connection with those
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: kids right now is virtual for for the most part,
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: right I'm sure they've seen each but like, it's got
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: to be a wild feeling to be zooming in. Uh.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: And then these you know, these kids seeing their teacher
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: like that's that in itself, as will to see your
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: teacher like on a date, like pursuing the love of
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: her life and you're asked to like zoom in and
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: say hi to her. I also imagine that it's a
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: great feeling for her. I think it's probably like, no
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: matter what happens at the end of the show, I
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: bet she feels super supported by the people that she
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: sees the most often, and that that's that's special. Yeah,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: that was so sweet. Let's talk about her parents. It
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: was just the two of them that were there. They
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: seven have a really nice marriage. They seem to be
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: very supportive of her. They were the least grilling of
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: all the families. I would say, so, Um, I think
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: the only thing is that, like you can tell she's
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: so invested she's saying that you'd say yes your proposal. Um.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: You know she's had less time than the other girls. Um.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: And then they played basketball together at the end, and
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: that seemed like a nice little family moment. He definitely
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: had most fun with them. This is, uh, Michelle's stories
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: pretty crazy if we take a step back from it,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: you know, this relationship has moved very fast. In fact,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: right after her very first one on one day, I
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: think most of the fans watching the show went, there's
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: something special here. Definitely. You know, she really stood at
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: the top four. I think like unlike anybody else, she
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: just like immediately placed herself there like it was like
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: which almost makes me think maybe this is the best
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: connection because it's like right away they knew they had
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: something special and it hasn't waned, it hasn't straight away
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: from it. Now is the first one on one day,
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: I would say, typically on this show, that's not a
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: great sign when it's aired. First, you have stats on this.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: I don't need bad Serge Ada to tell us about this.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: I have no clue what the stats are. I'm just
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: saying typically when an episode is finished, I remember like
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: the last two hometowns. I don't necessarily always remember the
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: first hometown. And I think that's like just in my head.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: It's not a great sign. But again, uh, this is
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: the family that felt like they were the most supportive
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: of the relationship between Michelle and Matt. Uh. They felt
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: like the family that did wanted Matt to have a
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: good time with him, They wanted to get to know him.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: But that moves into Rachel then. I mean, Rachel obviously
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: is somebody that Matt has had feelings for for a while.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: We've seen her a couple of one on one dates. Um,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: what did you think about the way, Like, let's start
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: at the beginning when Rachel, uh, you know, kind of
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: blindfolds Matt. What did you think about how this date started,
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: Like did you feel like there was something good going on?
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Or do you feel like the connection was distant? I
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: felt like for the first time the connection was distant. Yeah,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: So I'm thinking you asked that question because you felt
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: the same. Yes, I did feel the same, And I
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: don't know if possibly it's because the things that have
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: gotten on in the past week. Well yeah, I think that.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: I definitely think like mentally for the viewer, but like
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: that like plays into it. But I also think it's
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: possibly like the nerves of what was up to come,
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: like you know that this date was not when you're
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: like relaxed by Like I think in the back of
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: your head, it's hard to be so focused on a
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: relationship when you know you're about to drop twelve feet
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: out of a plane. So that could be it too,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: That could totally be it. I was missing the part
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: where any of them talked about doing it for the
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: first time. Did Did either of them say that it's
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: skydiving was the first time? I don't remember this, and
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: I think that for some reason that's like critical to
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: me in this right. I don't know, because if it
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: is your first time doing it, like you may not
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: want to do it. I guess both of them just
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: you know, we're cool about doing it. But I think
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: that with him being a risk taker, um, he would
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: have been down. But like, was this something she wanted
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: to do or is this something that she was like,
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: I'm going to impress him with by doing Have you
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: ever done it? Have you jumped out of a plane? No?
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Have you? I feel like you've done it. I haven't.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: I have. I would so I said this the other day. Uh,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: and I would love to hear from all of you
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: listening right now. If you're listening, please tweet us and
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: hashtag almost in this podcast, or go on our Instagram
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: um and comment on this, or send us an email
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: at Ben and Ashley at I heart meatia dot com.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: I would much rather that, I don't know if it's
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: a popular part opinion, or not jump out of a
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: plane that I then I would bungee off of those
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: like bridges you know that you see where I would
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: much rather jump out of a plane. Me too, But
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: I really have no desire to do either. No, there's
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: not like I would do it if I felt like
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: you would totally do it. I feel like that, well,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: I would mostly I feel like I would do it
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: if I was trying to prove that I wasn't like
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: a whimp. Okay, yeah, I mean I think Matt truly
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: wanted to do it. I think he was excited for
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: this date and I think he was obviously cool with
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: the date. Somebody would have probably gotten it. The producers
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: are probably like, we have this opportunity. Maybe they gave
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: it to her first and she took it. Uh so
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: they go up there, You're right, maybe that distance was
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: out of nerves um. Then they go, they go up there,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: they fall, and then she takes a hard landing really
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: hardly feel it. Yeahs concerned, and then you see from
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: him that he's just like, oh my god, I really
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: just realized how much I love you. Basically like I
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: thought that like my future you could tell, like without
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: him saying it that he was like, I feel like
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: my future wife just like I could have died in
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: front of me. Blah blah blah. And even when he's
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: saying this, I feel like she's not as receptive to
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: it as mostly as the other as maybe Michelle or
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Bree would have been. Well, yes, that that could be
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: also she took I mean, her fault was not just
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: a fault like it had to hurt. I'm sure it
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: shook her up and adrenaline, but yes, no, you're right,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: you're right. I think that's a fair point, though, is
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: it didn't feel receptive now why, we don't know, uh,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: but it definitely it definitely had to shake her up
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: a bit like that fall hurt like that was that
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: was one Like I'm sure everybody on set that day
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: was freaking out, like we just we just had a
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: massive vision. It kind of reminds me to pause here
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: for a second. You go to my Instagram right now.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Jason tart Ik, who is the boyfriend to Caitlin Bristol,
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: and I had a bet on a football game and
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills fans do this weird thing where they jump
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: off of stuff onto tables, and so the bet that
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: we made was if the Colts beat Buffalo a few
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: months ago, then he had to be at a waffle
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: house for twenty four hours, and for every waffle he ate,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: an hour was subtracted. An hour of subtracted from his time,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: so he can pound like twenty waffles only be there
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: for a minute or four hours. If if Buffalo won,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: then I had to do the whole Buffalo mafia jumped
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: thing onto a table. I did that. You got the
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: easier option there, Ashu. It hurts so bad today, Like
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: you can go to my Instagram and watch this thing happen. Um,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: like it hurts so bad. I jumped off the tailgate
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: in my truck onto a table, onto like my concrete driveway,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: which I've learned now that you're not supposed to jump
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: feet first. You're supposed to jump like head first, and
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: you're supposed to jump into the grass. There's so much
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: that I didn't know. Anyways, I did it, and so
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: I can relate with this where it's like for a
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: couple of hours afterwards, like I was a little shaken up,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: like my wrist was hurt. So okay. So then we
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: get into so you guys negate what I said about
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: her not being recepted, You're right. Her whole body just
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: slammed against it and her you can actually tell how
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: badly she was hurt. When she was talking to her
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: mom about how bad it was. She's like, Mom, like,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: I have a lot of makeup on right now covering bruises.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Well there you go. Okay, So you just brought the parents.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: We meet Rachel's family. Uh. I think this was this
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: was going to be a very telling time for Matt,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: just like any family he meets. But I think his
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: relationship with Rachel has gone fairly well up to this point.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: I think I was expecting something major to happen because
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: it's like this, no way it's gonna be this easy, uh,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: for them, because there really hasn't been any controversy between
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: the two of them, and you know, just like Matt
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: hasn't a lot brought a lot of controversy on any
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: of these relationships. Well, so we meet the parents. Rachel's
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: dad said right away he'd be surprised if she was
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: in love. Ashley, what do you take from the meeting
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: of the parents. I mean, obviously the dad was one
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: of those dads that we see every season. He was
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: the token dad that was really hard on him, not
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: really buying anything, really had no interest in really talking
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: to him, being that there were three other girls still
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: in the running, which I get like a lot of
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: dads would have that issue, but I wish that like
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: parents would at least we saw it with Bree's mom too,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: like there's just like some attitude towards it. It was
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: like you knew your kid was signing up for this show,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Like you knew if they got this far, you and
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: them would be in this position like let's not put
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: it on Matt, Let's not make it seem like Matt's
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: the bad guy here. He's not. This is just the
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: process well, and it's it's a weird time to be
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: the bachelor when you walk into these rooms, because there's
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: one thing you don't necessarily want to do. You don't
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: necessarily want to ask every dad for their approval to
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: propose their daughter. Yes. And a huge note here, the
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: only person that this really came up with was with Rachel.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: He was the she he was. Rachel was the only
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: of the girls that Matt said, I didn't ask your
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: dad for permission because I don't want to do it
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: with so many other girls here. He didn't say that
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: to any other woman, Like you could tell that he's
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: already in his mind planning a proposal to Rachel. It
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: is the scariest thing to be sitting there in general,
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: and then to be talking about that with the dads,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: especially some dads that you know it's not gonna happen with.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: It just feels dirty. Like there's not a lot of
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: things I think you have to do as the lead
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: that feel like dirty or manipulative. Now there's things that
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: happen that you choose to do that are manipulative, Like
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: that happens but there's not many situations that you're like that,
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: Like the show sets you up to be manipulative. This
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: is definitely one of them. It was a very uncomfortable
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: thing for me. I know it was very uncomfortable for Matt.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: It's just really odd because it's the first time you
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: meet the family. You're really hoping they like you because
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: at this point you're pretty emotionally drained, you're exhausted. Uh
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: you can see the end, the finish line is near,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: and you have one big thing in front of you,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: uh that this week, and that's talking to the the families,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: and you have to sit down with these dads or
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: these moms or whoever it is in some cases uncles
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: and grandparents and grandma's like whoever it is that you ask,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: and it it's just heavy, like it's not it's not fun.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: I will say it's one of the memories from the
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: show that I remember being having the least amount of
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: enjoyment in was the end of Hometowns when that would
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: have to happen. I get that, but don't you don't
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: you wish or respect the fact that Matt was like,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to ask now, I'm going to call
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: your dad. It was weird to me that Rachel was
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: She said she was bummed to hear that, and I'm like, girl,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: don't be bummed. That's very exciting. He's definitely gonna call
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: your dad one day. I think it is one of
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: the best things Matt could have done, because ultimately the
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: relationships on this show, only one of them will survive.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: Let's just say, for the sake of this conversation, Rachel
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: and him end up together at the end. Well, then
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: he and Rachel are going to start a life together.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: These other women are gonna matter to him. I know
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: he cares about them, but they won't have really a
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: role in his life. And so for for him to
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: start out in the right foot with her family as
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: he like starts to enter into her family, it's really important.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: So I think it was a great move. I just
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: don't think Rachel understood what exactly Matt was saying. That's
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: what I get from, Like, I don't think I think
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: she was a little bit like confused on wait, is
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: he telling to me he's not there? Is he telling
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: me that you know, he's not asking my dad because
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: he can't see that. Like, I just don't think she
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: got what he was saying, and I think Matt secretly,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: just like if he would have said it without being filtered.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: It was like, Hey, Rachel, I'm gonna ask your dad
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: here in a few weeks if I can marry you.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: So I'm not going to ask him today, So just
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: like understand that. And and anyways, well, what did you
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: what was the overall tone that you got from Rachel's family, Like,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: do you feel like they're excited about this next chapter? Nervous?
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: What do you think they weren't? They weren't super warm
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: and welcoming. The mom seemed nice. It's just the dad
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: was just the Grizzly Bear dad. Yeah, we see it
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: every season. Yeah, I mean, but like also, like moving
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: into Breeze section of the episode, it was kind of
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: like the Grizzly Bear mom. She really wasn't she was
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: not keen on on on anything. It's really hard, I
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: mean definitely because not arm to him well, And it's
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: really hard I think as a parent, because I don't
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: know what it feels like to hear that your kids
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: signing up for this show. I can't relate with that.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: I mean, my parents we're kind of more confused. I
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: think it's at the first, at the start, and then
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: it's all kind of funny games. Right then there's some
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: excitement around it, uh you know, you kind of celebrate it,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden you realize, oh, crap,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: like this is like life altering, life changing, Like what
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: we're talking about here is is going to change the
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: like it's gonna change our son or daughter's life forever.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: And and I think that's where it might hit these parents,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: where it's like, can we just take a second, like
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: this doesn't make any sense to me? Like this, can
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: we just take a second and like not be okay
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: with the fact that you're telling me that you're in
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: love and this guy is also dating three other women
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: right now, I get it. I just think there's like
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: a bet a good way to go about it, and
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: in a in a way that doesn't really help any
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: party involved. And I think going at it aggressively and
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: being like I'm against it, or going at it and
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: being like this is stupid, I don't think it helps.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: I don't think anybody's gonna respond well to that. Yeah, no,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: I agree. I just like wish that they would be
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: like think of it more as Ah, we're getting to
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: know him type saying we'll see where this leads and
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: less of a like intimidation situation, and maybe maybe I'm
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: just crazy, maybe like everybody, most most families would be harder.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: I just feel like my my parents. My mom would
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: be so giddy and my dad would be like, this
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: is the fen craziest I've ever been a part of.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: Not believe I'm here, this is silly? Well, and how
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: would that feel? Right? So, say your dad does show
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: up and needs to come on the podcast and be like,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: but what if he shows up and you're in love
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: and you're like trying to pursue this next step and
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: it's already a little weird to you and he goes,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: this is silly. It would hurt you, right, it would
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: hurt you. You'd be confused, but it would be it
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: would be a fair thing to say, like this is silly, Guys,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Like take a second. Now. It works sometimes, and that's
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: why we love the show because sometimes love comes out
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: of it. But let's be honest, this week especially feels
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: silly because it's so hard on on the lead, and
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: it's also hard in these girls and their families are there,
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: and you see the families for like a couple of
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: hours and then you leave and you're like, hey, next
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: might talk to you, might be engaged. Like that's wild,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: that's just wild. I know. Okay, let's go into brisday.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: So Brieu takes him was it called four wheeling sort
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: of off roading, and she's like getting payback for that
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: time that he took her in the four wheeler and
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: like tipped it over and all that. Um. I can
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: just tell right off the bat that she that he
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: feels the weakest for brie And I feel like why,
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: I don't know, he just like every time she kind
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: of like explains her feelings, I feel like instead of
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: having that excited look in his eye, he's having that like,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: oh man, I'm gonna have to let her down one
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: day look in his eye. Interesting. I mean, okay, so
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: you're saying not that you don't know, you're saying you
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: see it in his eyes, Like you just feel like
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: I've seen his eyes, Okay, you see his eyes fair.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: Especially at the end of that I don't mean to jump,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: but at the end of meeting her family when they're
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: sitting outside and she said like, I'm falling in love
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: with you. It was first off, like we see that
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago, Matt says, I'm falling in
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: love with Rachel, so we know that he is that
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: she's so far ahead in this game. Um. Then with Michelle,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: she says, I'm falling in love with you and he
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: doesn't say it back, which is telling for us as
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: an audience that she's not up to par with Rachel. Um.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: She also he but he looks excited and very happy
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: to hear that from her. When Bree says it, he
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: just like kind of nods and doesn't smile and then
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: makes out with her. It's always it's always a good
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: fall back plane when things get weird, just start kissing. Yeah, okay,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: So they go four wheel in. Um. She says that
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: she still feels bad about the fact that she wouldn't
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: be able to give Matt a conventional family, which is
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: really sad, but Matt says that doesn't that that doesn't
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: matter at all, and um they go in and meet
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: her best friend, her mom, and then the baby sister,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: and of course it's very sweet to see Bree interact
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: with the baby sister, and he's like being like, oh man,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: I can really start visualizing families with these women. And
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: then Bree's mom comes and she goes and chats with
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: her and she says that she feels like there's a
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: mutual connection. She says that she's falling in love with him,
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: and she's so scared, and her mom is like, I
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: want to protect you, um, because like the worst case is,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: of course you know she's gonna have a broken heart,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: but that they could mend that together and they'll survive
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: if that does happened. So we have this, we have
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: this date. I'm with you. It does feel like the
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: one I still and I'll share my opinion here in
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: a second. I think Serena obviously, with how the show
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: plays out, she's like obviously the least in the mat
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: which I think at this point is pretty telling because
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: which week, so then we have Bree I think would
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: be next. This is a little side tangent watching this
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: episode though, even though yes, I don't think their connection
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: is as strong as Michelle or Rachel's. I think she
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: has Bachelor atte written all over. I think I think
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: with how bad uh she she wants to find a partner.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: I think also with um just who she is and
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: and how she's been on the show. I think she
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: has Bachelor atte written all over I'd be shocked, Okay
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: really because I would say that Michelle would have a
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: hand up on her really interesting. Well, we'll watch. I mean,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: there's there's a couple some seasons. You and I are
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: sitting here at this point being like, yeah, then none
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: of these people have Bachelor, Bachelor at you know, written
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: all over him, right. I mean, I think we said
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: that when Ari became the Bachelor, were like, who from
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: this season could be the Bachelor? Like nobody like that,
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: this doesn't make sense, and then he became the Bachelor.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: I think with this season they have like four or
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: five names we could say, oh yeah that could work.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that could work. I mean I just think
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: it goes down the list. Well, let's jump into Serena's
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: then date here. I mean, this is this is a
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: really important part of the episode. Um, especially now that
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: we know how it plays out, you know, watching their
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: first part of the date and putting into the perspective
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: of what we know at the end, I think, I mean,
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: I'm not shocked, but I think this is gonna have
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: a traumatic, dramatic impact on Matt's uh next few weeks
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: because he's gonna be worried about this thing happening again.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: Oh I'm sorry, I keep jumping ahead, but what the
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: heck is it the scenes for the next episode. Yeah, well,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: let's talk about that a little bit. Let's talk about
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: a little bit. Fine, fine, fine, alright, Yes, I loved
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: I think Serena is one of my favorite She's just
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: fun to hang out with. I love the fact that
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: she's set up that like Canadian getting to know Canada
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: Day That was fun, and then like the ice hockey
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: that was cute. She's just really relaxed, seeming on TV
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: like she seems like she's being very much herself. She's
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: not putting on a show, and you can tell because
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: she ends up, you know, being honest with her feelings
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: and not going forward with it. Um. Her family was Honestly,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: I don't even like think I wasn't even thinking about
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: her family very much, because I think the most monumental
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: conversation during that family meeting part was the one between
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: her and her sister, in which her sister was like,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: you don't seem smitten, and and then there was the
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: conversation with her mom about doubts because apparently she was
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: so rocked by her last um failed relationship. And I
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: think I think the whole point of the whole theme
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: of that meeting was less about Matt and more about um,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: just serena kind of realizing that she didn't have it
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: with that, and did you feel the same well? And
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: I wondered too, if this will be good for her? Right?
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, you kind of need that, I know, if
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: you want to call it motivation, if you want to encouragement,
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: you know, when you get have a tough relationship, you
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: need that next step. And and not that she went
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: into this thinking this was the next step. She probably
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: went into this thinking I'm ready, but you realize that, Hey,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: I'm not ready. But now I at least see that
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: I'm not ready and I can start to work on that.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: And I think that's maybe where we're going here is
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: I don't know if this is as much of a
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: thing to do with Matt, even though you know he
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: is the right one for her, but it is more
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: of a hey, I'm not ready for this commitment. I'm
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: still hurt. I need to go back and heal. I think, yes,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: but know because I feel like that's kind of what
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: she wanted it to be, like, Oh, like, I just
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: need to get over the past in order to move
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: forward with him. But then when she sits down with
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: him and actually breaks up with him, she says, you're
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: not my person. And I think she really knew in
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: her gut that he wasn't And I can't believe that
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: they It's actually kind of funny that they made it
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: seem like she was totally dumping him. She walked him out,
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: he had to get in the suv. It's really sad.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: I feel bad for him, but I also think like
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: he knew, and I mean, I'm just speaking for what
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: I'm seeing here. I think he was like, oh man,
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: I really like Serena. I don't think she was the one.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: I think in his head he knows that Rachel's the one,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: and um, I think now his fear is that it's
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: that Rachel's going to realize that her feelings aren't strong
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: enough for him and then she's going to leave. But
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: I'm looking at the scenes for the next episode. Now
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: I can talk about it. Ah, does she I think
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: she's the only person who could rock him the way
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: that he looks rocked. Yeah. No, I mean this is
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: two weeks by the way we're talking um, not the
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: this is uh next next week's women until all, Um,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: I don't. Yeah, I mean there's always been this kind
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: of hint that like there's something to come right Rob
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: Mills has always been hinting at this season's finishes is
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: wild and it's worth tuning in for. And like, so far,
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, how things are going. It could be
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: beautiful and it could tell a love story, but I
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: don't know if there's like something gripping. Now we're seeing
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: hints that like this is gonna end and dramatic fashion.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: Um and I and I agree with you. I think
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: Rachel right now feels like the only one that can
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: do that to him, But I have a feeling it's
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: not her. I think it's one of these other women
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: who leave as well. And then he's confusing and he's
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: starting to feel like is everybody going to go away?
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: There's no way that Michelle leaves on her own, no way.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: She's very much preparing and excited for an engagement. And
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: then Bree also feels like she's there, even though I
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: don't think he's there with her. So I truly cannot
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: figure out what he could be so emotional over well.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: But I'm excited. I'm actually really excited. Now, yeah, are
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: you excited for the woman? Tell why? I'm not a
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: huge fan of the tell alls. It's just rehashing old
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: drama um that usually doesn't really come to the best conclusion.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: It will be interesting to see Victoria and see if
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: she takes any sort of accountability for her actions, because
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: it seems like in the scenes to the next episode
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: you see her like try to explain that it was
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: like her insecurities that got the best of her and
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: that's why she needs she hopes that bo will forgive her.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: I don't know. Yeah, I mean, I think it's hard
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: to say. I think this cast this year has been
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: criticized and celebrated all all at once. I think early
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: on people were probably pretty frustrated with the bowling, um
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: pretty disgusted maybe the better way to say it, with
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: the bullying. I think that as we've gone on, there's
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: been a couple of women really shine and go to
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: the top. So I'm excited to kind of see how
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: they're doing now and how they're processing it. Uh, But
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: I'm not like, this isn't until all that I'm gripped by.
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: In fact, now I am excited for the next couple
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: of weeks of the show though. I'm excited to get
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: back to these relationships and to see how it plays out. Well. Ashley, Uh,
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: just like we do every week. Ranked this episode A
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: to F please. I think for hometowns it was a C.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: And I hate comparing everything that Tastious season and you
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: guys know that, like Tastiaus season was one of my
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: favorite seasons ever. Yea, but like I so much for
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: every hometown visit. Yeah, I felt like I really got
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: to know the guys better. I got a good grip
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: on how Tatia's relationship with the family would be in
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: the future. There was a lot of warmth and acceptance there,
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: and I just didn't get like the same uplifting vibes
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: with with this. Yeah, I'm gonna give it a sea
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: as well. I think for hometown, hometown is always one
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: of my favorites because there's always something cool from home
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: that comes in. Uh. You know, they get to me
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: to families, You get to see like their their lives
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: a little bit, get a picture into them. This just
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: didn't do it for me, But hey, who are we
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: were critics and uh, but typically we're not like typically
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: we're we're pretty pretty we're probably pretty favorable compared to
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: most on this show, and I don't know, maybe we're
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: completely off. Tell us if we are. Hey, actually, let's
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: take a break here and we come back. We're gonna
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: talk to Blake Hortzman, who was in Austin UH this
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: last week during the ice storm. UH and Ashley and
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: I also have kind of compiled a list of organizations
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: in places that you can support as listeners right now
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: that can help the people in Texas, and so we're
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: gonna read that list talk to Blake when we come
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: back with almost famous podcast Hey Loves It's Paris Hilton,
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: and my new podcast, This is Paris is out now.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: I just wanted to do a podcast because I feel
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: like I have so much to talk about. There's so
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: many things that happened in my life that are so exciting.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: I want to be able to connect with you all.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: Just in the past week, I've been talking to so
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: many of my friends and just really just fun and
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: interesting and hilarious and really cool people that want to
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: be on the show. So it's just going to be
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: so different to be the one asking questions because I'm
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: so used to everyone asking me questions. I've seen the
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: guest list of people coming on this podcast. Oh my gosh,
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: I could not get these people. So I'm really excited
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: that on this podcast with you is. This is going
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: to be an insane run and if you guys want
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: to listen to it, you should listen to This Is
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: Paris on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. Alright, guys, we have Blake
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: on the line. Blake tell us everything. Start to finish
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: about your week. Last week's stranded in Texas. Why were
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: you there in the first place? Yeah, it was. It
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: was supposed to be a quick trip, end up being
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: about almost a week. UM. I went down there to
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: play a DJ set um at a rooftop bar. They're
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: down called Summit Down and down in Austin, UM. And
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: we were warned, you know when we went down there.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: We got down there and people like, you know, there's
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: like a winter storm coming in. I was like, I'm fine,
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: I'm from Colorado, Like it'll be fine, Like oh yeah,
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: big big storm coming into Texas. Alright. I was like,
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: I'll be fine. But I remember I woke we woke
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: up on Saturday, I supposed to play Saturday night. We
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: woke up on Saturday and my flight had already been
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: canceled for Sunday, and I was like, that's that's bizarre.
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: But it's fine. We'll like book another airline or something.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: You know, it's gonna be something else. It was weird
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: because it was it was cold. It was Texas cold.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: There wasn't like you know, Colorado cold, Minnesota, Canada cold,
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: nothing like that. Uh So we did the gig and
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: it was outside and stuff and it was great. You know,
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: it was like you know, mass all that was worn it.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: We ended up being really successful. Uh. We welcome the
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: next morning and everything was getting The whole city were
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: shut down. UM, and that's why I like, I like,
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: you know, a lot of people my damn through Like
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: you know, it doesn't even look that bad out blah
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: blah blah, but like Texas is not built for that
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: kind of cold and that kind of weather. And let's
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: let's pause here then, because there's a good note there.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: You're right. I was. I was in Nashville, um, at
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: my future in law's house during this, and they shut
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: down two for a week and now they didn't lose
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: power and they didn't lose water. But when you say
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: not built, like in Colorado, you get a snowstorm and
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: the plows are out, the salt trucks that you know,
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: the beat juice, like everything's out on the roads. It's
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: taken care of overnight in your act going again. Um,
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: you know the planes have the d icing, uh you
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: know salvent like all that happens. Well in Texas they
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: don't have those things. Like why would you buy thirty
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: plows if you use it once every a hundred years
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: exactly exactly, And even like yeah, Denver d I he
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: has some runways that were heated, you know what I mean,
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: so like they just weren't. Yeah, we woke up Sunday
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: and there was still no snow, but it was cool.
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: It was like twenty degrees or so. Um, Sunday night
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: is when I got really bad. I'm not gonnae like
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: it was even a decent amount. It was like a
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: good blizzard, Like they had seven inches in a couple
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: of hours and it was blowing really hard, some crazy
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: snow drifts. And that's when I was like, oh no,
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: you know, because like you said, there's no plows and
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: there's no salt, so the roads were no joke, two
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: to three inches of ice. It was. It was scary.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: It was really really bad. Like just walking across the
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: streets at seven eleven took me like fifteen minutes because
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: I was walking so slow and so gingerly. What about
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: the food situation, you were living off seven eleven food
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: because there's no room service, like you just couldn't eat
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: a real meal. Yeah, that applies to so many people
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: in Texas, so many right now. And it was that
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: was the scary pro That's when I got know, it
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: got real because so all ubers were shut down, all
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: like Uber Eats, Postmates, all those shut down. And then
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: the hotels were running out of food, and the trucks
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: couldn't get could not get in to uh to deliver
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: the you know the you know the packages of food
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: and stuff like that as shipments of food. So we
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: slowly started running out of food. Um, we got some
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: point where we're like, you know, whatever they had left
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: in the kitchen and like cam sandwiches and things like that,
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: they're making sandwiches for us, uh. And the other thing
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: about Texas, all their pipes are above ground, so none
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: of them are like below ground or anything so I
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: don't know a single hotel. Maybe there's like two or
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: three hotels in the city, but hotels and apartment buildings
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: that did not have a pipe burst Like everybody I knew,
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: pipes froze and burst and just spilled water. So they
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: were running out of water. There's no power, there was
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: no food. It was like the end of times down there.
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: It really really was. It was scary for a lot
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: of people. It was at And the thing is too
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: is to notice. If you could have eaten at seven
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: eleven every day, that would have been great, Like you
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: could have done it. But what happened was there was
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: no ability to get into the city or to replenish
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: this like nothing was doing so that food was running
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: out though, tell food is running out. Water was spilling
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: all over these hotels, like and then let's throw on
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: top of it something that you didn't mention. You know,
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: Texas a few years ago, UH change their power grid
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: and deregulated it and and privatized it um and it
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: shut down. I mean all power had shut down across
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: the whole state. They're doing these rolling blackouts. Tell me
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: about that. What what is if anybody isn't what is
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: a rolling blackout. I think the way it works is
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: they basically cut power on purpose in neighborhoods to lessen
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: the amount of power being used in the amount you know,
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: the amount of I guess overuse by this this system.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: So I think it's just rolling blackouts. They purposely would
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: send you know, certain neighborhoods blocked out for a couple
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: of hours here there, um and that was honestly, Like,
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: my hotel didn't lose power. But I remember I was
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: standing in line to like, you know, forty minute wait
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: at the hotel lobby to get food. And I remember
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: standing in line, there was a couple ahead of me
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: with a newborn baby, and they were like, we had
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: to come here. You know, we haven't had a power
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: in two days. And they were like, we can't. You know,
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: it's freezing cold in our house and we can't. We
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: don't have food and I have a newborn baby. So
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: they're like, we we come here to grab some food.
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: And they were able to finally get us a room,
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: but a lot of people were just hanging out in
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: the lobby because they wanted heat, you know. So it
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: was it was pretty wild and it was really scary.
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: My my buddy, UM, one of my best friends since
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: I was a little He has uh three kids, all
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: under the age of six, and he lives in Austin.
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: And uh they lost power and obviously then they lost heat.
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: Their house Uh got down to forty degrees inside. Um,
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: so they went to a hotel. They drove like two
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: hours to a hotel. That hotel lost power. They drove
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: back to their house, found a generator and they were
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: heating one room. And this is what he told me.
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: And it's crazy. He goes, Hey, I was driving and
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: it feels like in times, like there's cars parked everywhere. Uh,
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: there's cars abandoned. Uh, there's people you know. One of
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: the things that was on the news uh last evening
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: that I saw what and it's still happening where there
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: are people in the city park, like Austin was able
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: to get water running to the city park and there's
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: like a three hour line of people with buckets, um
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: filling up there, you know, filling up their buckets with
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: clean water just to take it back home. But one
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: of the things he told me was right before he
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: they this happened, it was Valentine's Day and his wife
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: had gone to the grocery and bought a bunch of
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: stuff to like do for Valentine's Day dinner on and
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: he goes that's the only reason that you know we
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: aren't in in dire need is because we just happened
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: to time it perfectly, not knowing the results. But like
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: grocery stores that ran out of food, I mean, this
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: is like, this is not like, this is not funny,
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: This is not like, this is something that it was
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: still affecting the lives of people in Texas. And that's
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: where I want to transition here for a second and
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: to we talk about your trip to UH to get
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: back to Denver, which is I think super interesting. There's
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: some good resources out there, UM and please continue to
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: share them, maybe on our Instagram page comments some good
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: places you know. But the Salvation Army of Texas UH
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: go to give dot Salvation Army Texas dot org, American
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: Red Cross obviously we know about the Red Cross. They're
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: they're massive. The Red Cross dot org is their website,
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: not the with it's just red Cross dot org. And
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: then Austin Disaster re Leaf Network. You can go to
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: a d r N dot org to donate their UM
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: definitely something that still needs donations, definitely something still impacting
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: people in Texas. But Blake, you were able to get out.
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: How did that happen? Yeah? So I think basically Tuesday night, Um,
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: we were like, you know what if our flight gets
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: canceled against tomorrow Wednesday, like, we gotta find a way
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: to get Dallas because flights are getting out of Dallas.
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: We're like, we gotta you know, we got And what
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: sucks is like we were holding up in a hotel
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: where maybe a family whose home is flooded and cold
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: needs it, you know. So we're like, if we can
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: get out, they can use and we even checked out
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: a one hotel early so that another family could come in,
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: you know, because I went through four hotels in like
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: four days. Um, so I was like, we we need
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: to get home, you know. Like so we get to
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: the airport as soon as you're going security. Wednesday morning,
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: of course, flight gets canceled, and they canceled. They went
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: over the intercom and said no, all flights are grounded
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: for the day. There's nothing get out of Austin. And
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: we're like, oh my god. So we're like okay, let's
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: go running, you know, get to the rental car we
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: got a rental car. Of course, there's a huge line.
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: Everybody got the same thing we did. So we get there,
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: there's no more rental cars available. I start calling other
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: rental places in town. Nobody has a car available. Uh.
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: So we're pretty desperate at this point because we didn't
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: have a hotel that night. You know, I didn't know
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: what we were gonna do, sleep in the you know,
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: the airport or what. So. Uh. I get on my
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: Instagram and I basically was like, you know what, uh,
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: please share this post us whatever you can. But if
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: is anybody going already going from Austin to Dallas, I
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: will hop on, you know, me and my buddy Eric
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: will hop in. We'll pay for snacks, will pay for gas,
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: like whatever we can do to hop in with you. Um.
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: And I got some inquiries. Um. But then there was
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: one girl and it was she was like, you know what,
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: my cousin just got one of the last rents of
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: cars in the city and she's driving to Dallas and
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: then to Oklahoma City. She's like, she's by herself, Like
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: we want you to go with her. That would be
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: great if you could go with her. So she gave
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: me your number and We end up talking and I
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: was like, yeah, let's do it. She's like I'm leaving out.
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: It was like perfect with the airport were packed up,
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: like let's do it. Yeah. So it worked out and
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: she was great, you know, thankfully she was. She was
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: awesome girl, and like I said, like I'll be I'll
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: be completely honest. The first thirty miles from Austin took
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: about two and a half hours, and it was scary,
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: Like it was really really scary. The ice that was
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: on the interstate was so bad that even like a
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: percent of an incline, these inner these um semis were
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: rolling backwards on the inter state. It was terrifying. For
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: the first like thirty miles about two and a half hours,
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: we were I mean we were weaving in and out
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: of these semis that were going backwards. There was actually
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: literally tractors on the interstate trying to like pull these
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: semis up these tiny grades like ti the tiny grades,
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: you know, like almost like an on ramp, like that's
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: the kind of stuff they would get stuck on. Um
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: there were semis jack knives all over the road. Um.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: So it was really bad. And there was a moment
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: where we we got really lucky. We had two huge
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: decisions because we actually went to a seven eleven, and yeah,
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: we stucked up on food and water because we're like,
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: we're gonna get stuck on the Interstate over the night,
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: like we're just gonna have to sleep in his car. Um,
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: And we ended up pulling off the highway right at
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: the exactly the right time. We went on like a
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: dump road for a little while, for a good twenty minutes.
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: And then this is probably the sketchest thing I've ever done. Um,
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: We're getting on an on m keep back on the highway,
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: and then semis in front of us stopped instead of
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: rolling backwards, so we threw it in reverse and we
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: whipped it around and ended up going We ended up
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: going on and off ramp the wrong way and turn
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: onto the Inner States because there was no although semis
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: were stuck, so there was nobody on the on ramp.
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: All the semis were stuck behind it, and we ended
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: up getting back on the Interstate, and then we were
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: the only car for the next I don't know, a
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: hundred miles because every other car got stuck behind the semis.
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: So that was the one move that helped us get
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: through and then we took us another four hours after
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: that to get to Dallas. But once we once we
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: finally got there, was a good feeling. And then we
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: got out there that first thing the next morning, first
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: flat out. But it was scary, and I feel for
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: Texas a lot. Like I said, a lot of people
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: think like, well, we're overreacting or whatever, but it's not.
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: It is. It is dire down there, and like like
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: Ben said, this isn't something that's gonna like overnight get better.
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: I mean people have lost homes, I mean the power.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's almost like a hurricane down there, Like
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: this is gonna take months for them to get back
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: on their feet. This might be a silly question, but
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: how did it feel driving in a car with somebody
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: you just met and like needing to trust their driving
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: skills in such conditions? Yeah, it was. It was funny.
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: I'm actually gonna have her my podcast at some point,
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: I think and talk about it because it was hard.
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: It wasn't a lot because like I said, those first
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: thirty miles was and she was driving the first thirty
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: miles and uh, it was scary, especially too because of course,
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: you know, like her phone was blowing up because I
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: like tagged her in a story and her I was
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: blowing up and I was like, why don't just put
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: your phone down for a little while, let's go down
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: the road. But no, she it was we got really
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: lucky because she was awesome. She was a great driver.
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: She was she wasn't like a like she had driven
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: in stuff like this before, So that was that was
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: a plus. Like me and heard both driven in winter,
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: you know. So um, that helped a lot. But I
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: got lucky for sure. It could have been really bad
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: the so blake you were in Texas though, Just to
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: get a little shout out to your podcast with Eric,
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: which is your co host on Behind the Rose podcast,
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: which you guys do together. Uh, you're down there for
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: a gig. You make it back to Dallas your home now? Uh?
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: Is there any other ways? You know, we just mentioned
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: a few organization that people can donate and support. Is
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: there anything else you know of from being down there
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: and seeing into hearing about it that you would want
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: to tell people to focus on. Yeah? Actually, and I
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: have a story like one of those highlights in my
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: profile where I put the trip and then I also
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: put like a bunch of places you can donate or when, Um,
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: Austin mutual Aid is actually raising money for families who
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: are now maybe in a hotel for the next month
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: because their houses are completely the storied. So awesome. Mutual
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: Aid is a great spot. Um, there's a couple others. Um,
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: you know what was really sad was seeing you know, like,
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: like you said, Texas does not use this whether, Um,
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: a lot of the be homeless out there. Um, it
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: was bad. You know they were there. I knew I
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: met some girls who spent like a thousand bucks on blankets.
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: They were running around giving you know, homeless people these blankets.
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: So there's a lot of places you can donate to
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: help out the homeless um out there in Austin and
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: Dallas and Houston. But yeah, in my story, there's, um,
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of resources. So okay, we'll go check
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: out blake story. In fact, Blake, I'm gonna do something
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: right now. I'm gonna steal that slide and I'm gonna
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: post it myself and then almost in this podcast can
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: probably post that or or you know, we can pass
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: it around. It's uh, thanks for sharing the story. What
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: a wild few days for you. Um, you know it
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: is a story you'll tell for a long time. But
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: it's also you know, let's let's spend this time hearing
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: from you and then focus on Texas because that's you know,
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, I can't imagine, and it just
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: it crushes me to think that, like there's people without
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: homes out there, um, unprepared, you know, uh alone, isolated,
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: and there's people losing their homes now as well, and
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: like the cost to that this, you know that there's
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: just a lot, man, So thanks for sharing. Um yeah,
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: let's go out respond and uh man, anything right now
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: other than the Behind the Rose podcast that you want
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: to give a quick shout out to that's going on
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: in your life. Uh no, that's pretty much it. Check
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: out behind those podcast. Um, follow me a block a
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: dot h But that's pretty much. Appreciate you guys have
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: me on and like I said, yeah, well we'll share
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: as many resources and fundraising abilities as we can. So
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: thanks buddy. Hey you guys in Texas. Love you. The
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: biggest headline coming out of Bachelor Nation this week has
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: probably come out during this podcast recording. Matt James has
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: put out a formal statement regarding the Chris Harrison and
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: Rachel Lindsay extra interview. Now. He did discussed this briefly
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: on his Instagram story last week. He said in a story,
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: I am beyond grateful to have Rachel as a mentor
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: during this season. Your advocacy for the B I p
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: o C People in this franchise is invaluable. I stand
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: with you and the rest of the women advocating for
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: change and accountability. But just now, he put out, I'd
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: say a more formal statement on his Instagram feed, and
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: this is what it reads. The past few weeks have
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: been some of the most challenging of my life, and
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: while there are several episodes left of the season, it
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: is important that I take the time to address the
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: troubling information that has come to light since we wrap
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: it filming, including the incredibly disappointing photos of Rachel Kirconnell
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: and the interview between Rachel Lindsay and Chris Harrison. The
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: reality is I am learning about these situations in real time.
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: It has been devastating and heartbreaking, to put it bluntly,
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: Chris's failure to receive and understand the emotional labor that
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: my friend Rachel Lindsay was taking on by graciously and
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: patiently explaining the racist history of the Antebellum South, a
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: painful history that every American should understand. Intimately was troubling
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: and painful to watch as black people and allies immediately
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: knew and understood. It was a clear reflection of a
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: much larger issue that the Bachelor franchise has fallen short
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: on addressing adequately for years. This moment has sparked critical
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: conversations and reporting whereas important questions and resulted in inspiring
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: displays of solidarity from Bachelor nation. It has also pushed
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: me to re evaluate and process what my experience on
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: The Bachelor represents, not just for me, but for all
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: the contestants of color, especially the black essence of this
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: season and season's past, and for you, the viewers at home.
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: I will continue to process this experience and you'll hear
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: more from me in the end. My greatest prayer is
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: that this is an inflection point that results in real
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: and institutional change for the better. Like Matt says, he
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: has plenty more to say on this, and I'm assuming
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: that we'll hear a lot about this topic during after
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: the final rows um. He was not the only person
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: to speak out about race in Bachelor Nation this week.
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: As this conversation fortunately continues. Going from that then to
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: this story, Trista center on her podcast that is called
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: Better Etcetera. The headline reads, Chris Harrison will do the
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: work that is necessary to learn from his mistakes amid
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: Bachelor controversy. This according to US Weekly, She says on
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: the podcast that she does not condone racism, nor participating
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: or defending it. She says that she wants us to
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: all do better. Of course, um, she wants to be
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: better allies. She says that she thinks it's important to
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: highlight racial inequalities in the world. Um. But she said
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: it's also not okay for certain people within Bachelor Nation
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: to shame other people within Bachelor Nation who are not
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: directly involved with this controversy because they haven't spoken up.
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: She said that that being said, she should um Harrison
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: should be held accountable for his words and actions. Um.
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: She said that Bachelor Nation feels like family to her.
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: But just because um, your family, doesn't mean you have
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: to agree with the other person's words or actions. Definitely
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: not um. Well. Tasia Adamson says to chime in here,
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: Chris Harrison stepping aside from the Bachelor is a really
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: good thing. This according to people. Yeah, She said that, Um,
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: I'm going to read this direct quote. She said, I
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: think after reading his apology, there's a few things that
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: stuff out to me. It hit my heart a little
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: bit more to know that he actually meant what he
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: was saying. He said by excusing historical racism, I defended it,
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: which was absolutely the truth. And the fact that he
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: called that out and owned up to that and he
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: acknowledged that means a lot to me. She also said that, um,
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: the fact that he said this is not just a moment,
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: but a commitment to a much greater a much greater
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: understanding that will actively make each day that he that
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: he will actively make each day also meant a lot
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: to her. She said that, Um, this isn't just a moment,
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: just like how Black Lives Matter isn't going to just
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: be a trending topic on Instagram. Um, it's a thing
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: that takes place every single day that we should be
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: actively trying to partake in and better. She also said
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: that his words affected a lot of people, herself included,
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: and that she thinks that by him taking ownership and
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: not just issuing an apology and then going back to
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: work the next day like nothing happened. Speaks volumes on
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: his behalf. She said that she that we have to
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: allow people to prove us wrong, prove themselves. And she said,
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: direct quote, I've learned this in my relationship. I mean,
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: Zachary used to be an addict and he's done a
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: lot wrong in a time that I never even knew him,
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: and he needed somebody to give him a second chance
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: in order to prove himself. He wasn't gonna lie anymore. Um,
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: he wasn't gonna lie anymore, that he wasn't going to
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: do drugs anymore. That he was just going to do
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: all these things that he used to and he made
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: an insanely different path for himself and now is helping
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: a lot of people because of that second chance. It's
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: interesting to hear that because obviously, with Chris Harrison's platform,
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: uh and the years he's been doing the show and
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: the massive following the show has, uh, there's a huge
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: opportunity here uh to make really positive change. Like there's
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: a big opportunity for that right now. You know, as
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: as Tasia was kind of saying, which is something that
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: that will look for right. I mean, it's it's happening
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: hopefully behind the scenes. Uh. You know, Chris has came
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: out publicly and said he is working on stuff. Uh.
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: But if that is true, then he's gonna come out
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: and have a really positive impact because a lot of
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: people want to hear from him and listen to him.
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: And just like you know the cast here, there's a
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: lot like Tasia huge following, Rachel Lindsay a huge following.
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: You know, their words right now are mattering a ton
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: too to how we go forward. It's it's something that
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: the almost Famous podcast listeners have always done, right. They've
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: always rallied around just like the Texas example, Right, They've
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: always rallied around, Uh, the idea that people matter and
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: that people should feel love and be loved because they
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: deserve to be loved. They're humans. And I think the
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: Almost famous podcast here uh and and many others Embattulation
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: are saying, Okay, this is a good opportunity to hold
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: each other accountable to to learning it better so that
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: people out there can feel loved and be loved. Well, Uh,
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: this headline is weird to me how it reads. Actually,
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: I need you to break it down because the article. Uh,
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: in the following of it doesn't at all go with
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: what the headline reads. But I'm gonna say the headline
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: and if you're listening, don't just stop here, listen to
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: how this explained, because we're gonna read the exact quote.
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: Rachel Lindsay says, on whether Chris Harrison should be fired,
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: let's see what happens. Now, that's not at all what
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: she says. She She's a lot more clear in her response.
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: Actually what does she say? Yes, she says that, um,
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: he needs to take time to get educated on a
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: profound and productive level. She says, I think you have
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: to see what happens dot dot dot. I think I
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: don't want to play into things too quick to judge someone, right.
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: Am I disappointed? Absolutely? Do I agree with what happened
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: in that interview? No, But at the same time, he
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: has taken steps to not issue one, but two apologies.
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: Let's see what happens from there. Yeah. So the lines
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: a little misleading, just like headlines typically are. But yeah,
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: she's saying, Hey, he's issued two apologies, let's see what
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: happens and um, and we're going to continue to follow
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: that story as well. It's not just a story, it's
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: it's something that's happening in this world right now, right
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: This is an action that a lot of people are
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: needing to take. And then obviously it just kind of
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: came to the public eye. Uh during this interview with
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: Rachel and Chris Well. Actually this headline reads, and it's shocking.
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: I mean shocking to me. I had I did not
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: see it coming. Maybe you did, But the Bachelorettes Claire
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: Crawley and Dale Moss reunite in Florida just one month
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: after split. It could not be more shocking to me. Okay,
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: I was. I did not feel like this was on
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: the horizon. I wasn't sure that Claire would even be
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: open to talking to Dale. I didn't know that Dale
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: was going to have any interest in talking to Claire.
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: The two of them were spotted in Florida last Tuesday,
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: one month after news broke that they were going to separate,
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: that they were separated. Um, they were seen at No
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: No Como's Sunset Hut. So not only are they seen
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: in Florida together last week, but she just posted on
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: Sunday a picture of her hand with seashells in them,
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: so possibly probably still in Florida with a ring on
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: her left finger and somebody's foot who looks like Dale's
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: according to the flutors um is in the background of
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: this photo. The caption reads collecting Memories. So wow, um, okay,
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: Ashley Bizarro to me, I don't understand how this isn't
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: like a massive story. I mean, maybe it is imbasgination.
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: I'm just a little out of touch with what people
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: are talking about. Like clear Crawley and Dale Moss reunite.
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: We've seen nothing from them in like except like, oh,
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: I mean, quite honestly, like a lot of tears, a
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: lot of rumors. Now, hey, if they find themselves back
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: together again, I think everybody would would celebrate that, as
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: long as it's healthy and it's good for both of them. Wait, Ben,
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: this gets crazier. Okay, So there's that post that she
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: posted yesterday, and we have confirmation that she's still in Florida.
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: She's in at the Ritz Carlton at in Sarasota, um
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: and there's a picture of them, Claire and Dale holding
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: hands at the pool. And then wait, and then onlookers
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: said they were very affectionate holding hands. A lot one
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: percent seems like they're back together. They looked like they
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: were having a great time. Dale carried her on the beach. Okay,
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: so they're not even trying to hide it, because if
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: you like, there's not manything like I've never carried carried
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: Jessica on the beach, um and so like you don't
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: that's like that definitely, Like at this point, it's just
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: out there like they're definitely something going on. I don't
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: know what it is, but they're not even trying to
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: keep it from us. I mean I would go as
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: far right now as to say, yes, it's confirmed that
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: they're together in Florida. I mean there's pictures there at
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: a hotel. Who knows what's going on? Ashley. Now here's
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: the second question for you. Where are you finding all
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: of this? Like who's out there tracking clear in Dale down? Uh?
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: These bachelor's saluts. It seems like something that would if
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: I start reading those blogs, my I would have I
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: would be in a corner in the fetal position, just bawling,
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: so sad because I'm sure they're there, they know everything,
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: or like Scoop, it's an Instagram account posted the photos. Okay,
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: I follow that one. That one sometimes fun because I
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: can keep tracking my friends and what they're up to. Uh, well,
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: the story's wide, we'll keep track of it. I'm sure
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: we'll have more to talk about next week. Maybe they'll
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: post a picture together and just really started. Well I'm wait.
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: I'm smiling because I'm happy for her. This is great.
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: You're You're happy, exciting and so unexpected. That's good. That's nice. Uh,
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: this headline is wild. I saw it scrolling through Instagram
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: one day. I had to scroll back and I was like,
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: what in the heck is going on? This is just crazy.
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: So the headline reads, Hannah Brown's brother Patrick hangs out
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: with Jed Wyatt's ex Hailey Stevens. This according to US Weekly, Ashley,
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: what is going on? This is so wild? Guys. Okay. So,
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: Hailey Stevens is the girl that Jed was allegedly seeing
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: when he went on Hannah's season. This is the girl
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: that he apparently called at the airport and said like, bye,
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: I'm doing the show. And now Hannah Brown's brother has
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: posted a picture of her on Instagram and the the
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: lyrics that he posted along with the picture go to
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: the song up. It goes to the song by Ashley McBride,
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: which is called American scandal, but in the quotes that
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: he uses, don't tell me the world couldn't handle a
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: good old fashioned American scandal. Hold me baby, Oh no,
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: can you believe? It seems dangerous. There's like kiss faces, yeah,
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: kissing and winking emojis, and this seems dangerous. This seems
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: like it doesn't end well. I don't know how it ends,
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: but it just doesn't end well. So we don't know
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: if they're actually dating. We haven't had that confirmation yet.
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: We do know they hung out, but that's as far
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: as we know at this point, right, yeah, okay, well, hey,
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: we'll follow that story too. Oh man, Well, final story
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: of the day. Hannah Brown's boyfriend Adam Willard proposes to
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: her and Jordan Davis new music video. So this music
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: video comes out and she's kind of like playing the
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: girl who it's like going through a whole bunch of
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: different love scenes trying to find her true love, and
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: at one point in the storyline of this music video,
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: her now real life boyfriend proposes to her. I'm wondering
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: if this is where they met, but we don't have confirmation.
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: On good point, I was like, how did they do
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: this so quickly? Because it has that would make sense
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: if they didn't, Like if they met on set of that. Yeah,
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: because he's a model and he's you know, models are
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: often in music videos. And I say, like, yeah, this
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: is it. This is definitely how they met. Yeah. Well
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: you can watch that music video. I watched it. It's cute,
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: it's good. Um dance around there. Uh and uh has
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: like I don't know, it's kind of like her story
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: of dating. But Jordan Davis's new song almost Maybe's uh
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: is a music video with now with Hannah Brown and
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: her committed boyfriend. I think they're public now, right, can
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: I can we say that it's public? Okay, it's public.
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: Hey Sleeve, that's our podcast and it's been a good one. Uh.
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: But again, I want to finish it with two things.
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: One is more of a shameless plug. Uh for the
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: almost Famous merch You can go to my fan threads
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: dot com slash almost famous and buy some of our merchandise. Uh.
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: We've created it. Uh and uh, I know the hats
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: are really popular, the hats and long sleeve, So go
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: check out that. Again. That's my fan threads dot com
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: slash almost Famous. Also I have to give a shout
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: out to uh to your book that you and Jerry did.
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: It's a great book. Then you're so sweet. Just tell
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: everybody about it. It's a children's book about making friends
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: and getting out of your comfort zone. How do you
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: find it? Called Lucy and Clark a story of popular love,
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: and you can find it at Lucy and Clark book
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: dot com. That's so sweet. Bad But seriously, when returning
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: the favor, go get Ben's book alone and play inside
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: anywhere books are sold. Yeah, it's out there now. Uh.
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: And we're a little bit over a week and a
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: half into the launch alone in plain site. It's been
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: really fun to hear the story, So go read it,
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: review it. Almost famous family, You've been with us for
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: so long. It would just mean a lot to me
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: if if I could hear from you on on this book,
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: because I think a lot of it is stuff you
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: would know just based on listen to the podcast, but
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: also stuff that you might not know. Uh. And I
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 1: would love to share it with you all. Uh. Finally uh,
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: to end this whole podcast today, we mentioned some organizations
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: and Blake mentioned some organizations to support Texas. Please get
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: out there and support Texas. Uh, there are neighbors. Uh,
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: we love them. There's a lot of struggle and hurt
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: right now. Uh down there, go out and support Texas.
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: It's it's the right thing to do, it's a good
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: thing to do. And uh and we'll post. I'll definitely
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: post on my Instagram the link that yeah, that he
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: he shared all the screenshot his stuff. Uh and we'll
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: throw it up there. Well, actually we'll be we'll be
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: back next week. I'm gonna go to Honduras this weekend
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: and check out the damage done down there, and then
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: we'll be back with another episode of the almost famous
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: podcast I've Been Been, I've Been Ashley. Bye, guys Later.
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: All followed the Benn and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: on iHeart Radio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.