Latest / The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast / Beyond the Bachelor: Carly Monzo

Transcript

Beyond the Bachelor: Carly Monzo · The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: This is all those famous Beyond the Bachelor with Susie Evans. Hi, Hi,
0:08
Speaker 1: how are you?
0:09
Speaker 2: I'm good?
0:09
Speaker 1: Are you? I'm good?
0:12
Speaker 2: You look beautiful?
0:13
Speaker 1: Thank you? So do you? Thank you?
0:16
Speaker 2: Okay, let's bring it back to the beginning.
0:19
Speaker 3: What were your initial thoughts when you found out your
0:22
Speaker 3: brother Joey was going on the Bachelorette.
0:26
Speaker 1: I think just excitement all around. You were super excited. It
0:29
Speaker 1: was such everything was unknown, so I think we were
0:32
Speaker 1: just excited for the experience for him. I we joke
0:38
Speaker 1: that my sister and I thought that he either was
0:40
Speaker 1: going to go home night one or he was going
0:44
Speaker 1: to make it to the very end. So we were right.
0:47
Speaker 2: That is amazing, And honestly, it can go either way.
0:50
Speaker 3: That's what's so funny and crazy about the Bachelor is
0:52
Speaker 3: like people can go home night one and then you
0:55
Speaker 3: meet them and you're like, oh my god, you're a
0:57
Speaker 3: wonderful human. How did you not make it passed that
1:00
Speaker 3: first night? And I really think just depending on the
1:03
Speaker 3: Bachelor the Bachelorette, like it can determine so much about
1:06
Speaker 3: the outcome. So it's funny that he made it all
1:08
Speaker 3: the way. In a different world, he could have been
1:10
Speaker 3: he could have been out there.
1:12
Speaker 1: I know. I was so nervous because it was such
1:16
Speaker 1: a risk to go and leaving his career on the
1:19
Speaker 1: back burner for a little bit. And as we got
1:21
Speaker 1: closer to the premiere, I was like, just make it
1:24
Speaker 1: through the first night and get one rose because I
1:26
Speaker 1: didn't want him to be embarrassed that he went on
1:28
Speaker 1: the show. But obviously it worked out very well.
1:30
Speaker 3: Totally, and honestly, it is so vulnerable, it's like really
1:35
Speaker 3: truly putting yourself out there. Was that weird to all,
1:38
Speaker 3: Like it's your brother and you're seeing him like fall
1:40
Speaker 3: in love, go on dates, kiss somebody? Like was it
1:43
Speaker 3: weird at all? Or was it just like so cute
1:45
Speaker 3: because he's your little brother, right.
1:47
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, my little Yes. Yeah, it was very weird
1:51
Speaker 1: watching him. I think the excitement wore off, like in
1:56
Speaker 1: once we got to the second episode, because I think
1:59
Speaker 1: I'm thinking back now, but on the Bachelorette there was
2:01
Speaker 1: some like kissing date he did where it was the
2:04
Speaker 1: longest kiss or something, and we were like, no, this
2:08
Speaker 1: is not fun anymore. This is getting so uncomfortable. So yeah,
2:12
Speaker 1: that part was a little uncomfy. Feel super excited. I
2:17
Speaker 1: think my biggest concern was just being what people's interpretation
2:24
Speaker 1: of who he is as a human being on the show.
2:27
Speaker 1: Us knowing him and how amazing he is, you just
2:30
Speaker 1: you never know what other people's viewpoints are going to be.
2:33
Speaker 1: So I think it was more so nerves from that
2:35
Speaker 1: standpoint kind of took over everything else because I just
2:39
Speaker 1: wanted to protect him, but I wasn't obviously wasn't there,
2:42
Speaker 1: and it's all been filmed already and you're just reliving it.
2:44
Speaker 1: So it was the whole thing was a little bit
2:47
Speaker 1: nerve wracking.
2:48
Speaker 2: Right, That's so wild.
2:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, And it's crazy because you don't know what they're
2:51
Speaker 3: going to show versus what they're not going to show.
2:53
Speaker 3: So even if you know your brother's character, like, it
2:56
Speaker 3: could get chopped up a thousand different ways and people
2:59
Speaker 3: can perceive it. How ever, But obviously everyone loved Joey.
3:02
Speaker 3: I feel like sometimes I'm like, oh my god, he
3:04
Speaker 3: like saved the franchise and coming back like everyone loved
3:08
Speaker 3: him and like on the Bachelorette, but then when he
3:10
Speaker 3: was the Bachelor, I think the Bachelor is like an
3:13
Speaker 3: impossible job. I don't think that most people come away
3:18
Speaker 3: liked because it's one guy dating a ton.
3:21
Speaker 2: Of girls, Like nobody wants to see that. I mean,
3:24
Speaker 2: we do, but like we do what we do home. Yeah,
3:27
Speaker 2: So he navigated it so well.
3:29
Speaker 3: It was like so impressive because I feel like, to
3:32
Speaker 3: this day he has like such a good standing with
3:35
Speaker 3: the fan base and people outside of the fan base.
3:39
Speaker 3: Were you guys come, I mean you knew he made
3:42
Speaker 3: it quite far obviously, but were you completely shocked when
3:45
Speaker 3: you realize, like, oh my gosh, Joey's about to be
3:47
Speaker 3: the Bachelor?
3:48
Speaker 1: Was it?
3:48
Speaker 3: Did it like shake your family's household? Was everyone supportive
3:51
Speaker 3: or was there ever a discussion of like is this
3:53
Speaker 3: the best choice?
3:55
Speaker 1: I think we were all supportive. Joey tried to kind
4:00
Speaker 1: of keep it under wraps as much as possible. I
4:02
Speaker 1: think all the conversations he was having because I think
4:04
Speaker 1: he talked to a few leads from the past, or
4:08
Speaker 1: people who were almost leads and weren't leads, and just
4:12
Speaker 1: the whole process and everything being so unknown until the
4:15
Speaker 1: last minute, I think he was trying to balance getting
4:18
Speaker 1: his hopes up for an exciting opportunity versus this. They
4:22
Speaker 1: might be talking to multiple other people, so he really
4:27
Speaker 1: only talked to me about it. To bounce things off
4:30
Speaker 1: of and didn't disclose too much to my family. But
4:33
Speaker 1: I think he also didn't want to get their hopes
4:35
Speaker 1: up because I think everyone was just so excited for
4:38
Speaker 1: the opportunity. Yeah, I don't think I truly don't think
4:43
Speaker 1: anyone challenged him to the point where we thought it
4:46
Speaker 1: wasn't a good idea for him. I think we saw
4:49
Speaker 1: how much we joke when we saw him at Hometowns
4:53
Speaker 1: for Charity season that he just went to like an
4:58
Speaker 1: all inclusive, like intensive therapy session because he was like
5:04
Speaker 1: the best version of himself when we met him, we
5:06
Speaker 1: were like, this is Joey on steroids, because you're just
5:09
Speaker 1: so removed from being on your phone all the time,
5:13
Speaker 1: getting into just that normal rut of going to work,
5:16
Speaker 1: coming home, sitting on the couch, like it was just
5:19
Speaker 1: so insightful. I think for him working on himself figuring
5:22
Speaker 1: out what he wanted in the process of dating Charity
5:26
Speaker 1: with a bunch of other guys. But I think, knowing
5:29
Speaker 1: how much he grew from the Bachelorette and this opportunity,
5:33
Speaker 1: I don't think he ever would have been able to
5:36
Speaker 1: turn it down. For the reason being, what if I
5:39
Speaker 1: don't think he could have watched the show back, declined
5:43
Speaker 1: the position and then Dean Kelsey on the TV and
5:47
Speaker 1: would have been like, I could have had the chance
5:49
Speaker 1: to date her and be engaged to her. So I
5:52
Speaker 1: think that outweighed everything and we were just really excited
5:55
Speaker 1: for him.
5:56
Speaker 2: That's so cool. That's that's really cool insight.
5:58
Speaker 3: Do you have any behind the scene tea that you
6:01
Speaker 3: can share, whether it was like something that maybe people
6:04
Speaker 3: don't know about your experience, like when you got to
6:07
Speaker 3: go film and because you did hometowns and then obvious
6:10
Speaker 3: well double hometowns essentially, so like behind the scenes tea,
6:14
Speaker 3: or just like what was the most shocking thing that
6:17
Speaker 3: you saw that you're like, oh, I didn't realize this
6:18
Speaker 3: is what went into reality television.
6:21
Speaker 1: Just having all those cameras in front of you is
6:24
Speaker 1: so shocking the first time that it happens. So for
6:27
Speaker 1: Charity season, we were just it was so nerve wracking
6:31
Speaker 1: and it was crazy. By the end of the night,
6:34
Speaker 1: you started to like not care or realize that they
6:37
Speaker 1: were there. So that was shocking to me how easy
6:41
Speaker 1: you can just start to be yourself in such a
6:44
Speaker 1: crazy situation. I think something that we joke about and
6:49
Speaker 1: laugh about rather with Joey all the time. Is when
6:51
Speaker 1: we went to Mexico for Joey's Meet the Family episode,
6:59
Speaker 1: he the way they had set it up. Joey came
7:02
Speaker 1: in first and told us who we were going to
7:05
Speaker 1: be meeting. So he talked about his final two ladies
7:08
Speaker 1: that were there, explained them like who they were, why,
7:13
Speaker 1: why these two women were the last people there, And
7:17
Speaker 1: then I think we had and I apologize because I
7:20
Speaker 1: feel like I like blackout certain things because it was
7:23
Speaker 1: I don't forget it. But I think we took a
7:26
Speaker 1: break after he told us who the two girls were
7:30
Speaker 1: before we actually met the first one, and my sister
7:34
Speaker 1: and I went, we like fixed our lip gloss before
7:37
Speaker 1: we went back on camera, and we looked at each
7:39
Speaker 1: other and we were like, it's Kelsey, Like we knew
7:42
Speaker 1: before meeting them, just how he talked about her, We're like,
7:46
Speaker 1: he is clearly so in love with her. So I
7:50
Speaker 1: think it really shaped kind of the direction of my
7:54
Speaker 1: conversations with the two of them, because I feel like
7:57
Speaker 1: for Daisy, I was trying to see if there was
8:00
Speaker 1: something that maybe Joey wasn't seeing, or if there was
8:03
Speaker 1: things that he had questions about versus Kelsey. I feel
8:07
Speaker 1: like they show so little of the conversations we had,
8:10
Speaker 1: But I feel like my sister and I were very
8:13
Speaker 1: not harder, but I think we're trying to dig a
8:15
Speaker 1: little bit deeper to make sure, Like he seemed so
8:18
Speaker 1: sure already before even meeting her, So I think we
8:21
Speaker 1: were probably a little bit tougher in conversation with her.
8:24
Speaker 1: But I always think about that before we even met them,
8:27
Speaker 1: my sister and I looked at each other and we
8:29
Speaker 1: were like, it's Kelsey. We know it's Kelsey.
8:32
Speaker 2: I love that.
8:32
Speaker 3: That's like very special that you guys were able to
8:35
Speaker 3: kind of tell, even just by the way he was
8:37
Speaker 3: talking about her, because obviously the show has to sort
8:41
Speaker 3: of mislead the audience. Like that was one thing that
8:44
Speaker 3: was really hard watching back the season that I was on.
8:46
Speaker 3: It was like you're seeing things unfold and you're like, wait,
8:49
Speaker 3: this isn't how I I mean it is, but it's
8:51
Speaker 3: not how I remember it exactly. But you understand, like
8:55
Speaker 3: once you're in it, that the production side of things
8:58
Speaker 3: like they have to kind.
8:59
Speaker 2: Of mislead viewers or else it's not exciting.
9:02
Speaker 3: So I don't particularly remember exactly the conversations like I
9:06
Speaker 3: don't remember you being hard on Kelsey, but it is
9:09
Speaker 3: interesting that you guys were like, Okay, we really have
9:12
Speaker 3: to get in there and like, yeah, like just make
9:15
Speaker 3: sure that this is all it's all going good. And
9:20
Speaker 3: obviously Joey was a fan favorite, but so were you,
9:23
Speaker 3: Like what were your thoughts when people were like tweeting
9:27
Speaker 3: and going on Instagram talking about you. Obviously we know
9:31
Speaker 3: you've been married for like four years now, correct, Yes,
9:34
Speaker 3: so you're not a possible contender.
9:36
Speaker 2: But some people were like, oh my god, we need
9:38
Speaker 2: to get Joey's sister on the show.
9:41
Speaker 1: Yes, it was. We just laugh about it. My husband
9:44
Speaker 1: and I have been together for thirteen years. We went
9:46
Speaker 1: to high school together, so we've been together for a
9:49
Speaker 1: very long time. So it's just funny. It's just I
9:53
Speaker 1: stn't feel a little bit of impostor syndrome maybe and
9:59
Speaker 1: just confused. I understand why everyone follows along with Joey
10:03
Speaker 1: and Kelsey, but I still just get all these people
10:06
Speaker 1: that are following me, or the craziest thing that random
10:10
Speaker 1: brands would want to send me things, and I'm just
10:13
Speaker 1: like why, why, why do you want to do that?
10:16
Speaker 1: And it's and I'm I'm enjoying it. It's fun and
10:21
Speaker 1: it's I mean, I'm having fun with it. It's just
10:24
Speaker 1: I still when I make a video for something, I'm
10:28
Speaker 1: so confused why people are.
10:30
Speaker 2: I love that. No, it's because you're fabulous. Like the
10:33
Speaker 2: people loved you. We were like give us more, we
10:35
Speaker 2: want more.
10:35
Speaker 3: And I see like tiktoks of you and Kelsey. Now,
10:49
Speaker 3: obviously you guys have a great relationship, which is so amazing, Like, yeah,
10:54
Speaker 3: that's such a big part of like bringing somebody into
10:56
Speaker 3: your life is like knowing that they're going to get
10:57
Speaker 3: along with your family. And so I want to hear
11:00
Speaker 3: about your relationship with Kelsey a little bit.
11:02
Speaker 1: Yes, I am obsessed with Kelsey. I similarly to Joey.
11:08
Speaker 1: I think it was definitely was taken out if I'm
11:11
Speaker 1: a little bit being on a show on reality TV.
11:14
Speaker 1: But the two of us are definitely gravitate to be
11:17
Speaker 1: more introverted. People can be very much homebodies, like go
11:21
Speaker 1: with the flow, where don't need to have, you know,
11:25
Speaker 1: a crazy night out planned every single weekend. Kelsey and
11:29
Speaker 1: my husband Zach or the poll are opposite, so they
11:31
Speaker 1: want to stay out till the bar closes, they want
11:33
Speaker 1: to buy everyone's shots. They're ready to have so much
11:37
Speaker 1: fun every night, and Joey and I are like, we
11:39
Speaker 1: finish our drink, we'll go home, like you guys can
11:42
Speaker 1: stay out. So the four of us together just have
11:47
Speaker 1: the same sarcasm and sense of humor. And it's so
11:51
Speaker 1: important just for those little moments as a family, when
11:56
Speaker 1: you're playing games or just like sitting on the couch,
12:01
Speaker 1: our personalities all just mesh so well. So because she
12:05
Speaker 1: reminds me so much of my husband, I obviously love her.
12:07
Speaker 1: She we get along very very well, but she just
12:10
Speaker 1: bounces off of our family's energy so well. She got
12:15
Speaker 1: to meet our entire extended family. My grandma had passed
12:19
Speaker 1: away a few weeks ago, and she came to the funeral,
12:22
Speaker 1: met my entire side of the family. Everyone was obsessed
12:25
Speaker 1: with her. She fits in just perfectly. So I love her.
12:29
Speaker 1: I'm very all. I tell Joey all the time. All
12:32
Speaker 1: I ever wanted was to be best friends with his
12:36
Speaker 1: soon to be wife. So I feel very lucky that
12:39
Speaker 1: we have that.
12:40
Speaker 2: Wow, that does give me chills, Like that's so special,
12:45
Speaker 2: that's so nice.
12:46
Speaker 3: It does make a big difference when somebody's ability to
12:50
Speaker 3: kind of like fit in with your family, Like it
12:52
Speaker 3: just makes it just makes it so much easier and
12:56
Speaker 3: and it.
12:56
Speaker 2: Just brings a lot of happiness.
12:57
Speaker 3: Like it's so nice when you can just like hang
12:59
Speaker 3: out as a family and it doesn't feel like there's
13:02
Speaker 3: a weird dynamic, Like it sounds like she just fits
13:04
Speaker 3: right in.
13:05
Speaker 2: So that's amazing.
13:06
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
13:07
Speaker 3: So since you are married and you've been been together
13:11
Speaker 3: for quite a while, what advice did you give Joey
13:13
Speaker 3: before he left for the show.
13:17
Speaker 1: I think a lot of different advice, but I think
13:21
Speaker 1: just I wanted him to be himself, and I think
13:24
Speaker 1: he had never watched the show before he went on,
13:27
Speaker 1: so we always joked, oh, Joey, we're going to nominate
13:31
Speaker 1: you to go on The Bachelor one day, and we
13:33
Speaker 1: did not nominate him. A producer had reached out to
13:36
Speaker 1: him and his DMS. But I think my mom did
13:40
Speaker 1: not believe me for a long time. She swore I
13:43
Speaker 1: nominated him because we would joke about it all the time.
13:45
Speaker 1: I was like, I really didn't, but this was an
13:49
Speaker 1: amazing opportunity. I think the advice was just to be himself,
13:53
Speaker 1: and I had explained sometimes there's a villain on the season,
13:57
Speaker 1: and sometimes people be depicted in different ways even if
14:02
Speaker 1: that's not truly who they are. So I just wanted
14:05
Speaker 1: him to protect his heart, be cautious of people around him,
14:09
Speaker 1: be trusting, but maybe not too much of not the
14:13
Speaker 1: lead in the process of the show, but just the
14:15
Speaker 1: producers and the other men that were there, Like, you
14:19
Speaker 1: don't know people's motives for going on the show, but
14:21
Speaker 1: I just wanted him to be himself. And I feel
14:24
Speaker 1: like that's exactly what he did, and I don't I
14:28
Speaker 1: don't think you could have spun him any other way
14:31
Speaker 1: than that, because he was himself. And then I think
14:36
Speaker 1: when we saw him for Charity's hometown, when he came
14:41
Speaker 1: home to us, I remember him just talking about how
14:44
Speaker 1: serious it was, and I remember telling him that it
14:49
Speaker 1: was hard for me to give the advice because I
14:51
Speaker 1: didn't want him to be heartbroken at the end. But
14:53
Speaker 1: he was really teetering between kind of guarding his heart
14:58
Speaker 1: versus like really go all in to get to the
15:01
Speaker 1: point to be able to be engaged or to propose,
15:05
Speaker 1: And I was like, you have to go all in,
15:06
Speaker 1: Like if you don't, you're going to regret it. You're
15:09
Speaker 1: either going to be so heartbroken and we'll be here
15:11
Speaker 1: to help you after, or you're going to get to
15:14
Speaker 1: the point where you might be engaged. So yeah, obviously
15:17
Speaker 1: his heart got broken, but it led him to where
15:20
Speaker 1: he's at now. But I think my advice was if
15:23
Speaker 1: he really felt that that person that he was pursuing
15:27
Speaker 1: was worth it and he felt the future that he
15:29
Speaker 1: had to go all in and kind of risk it all,
15:32
Speaker 1: which I think he did.
15:33
Speaker 3: So wow, that's the best advice that it's the best
15:39
Speaker 3: advice I think I've ever heard anyone say, because it
15:41
Speaker 3: is so weird when you get to the end and
15:45
Speaker 3: I'm sure he experiences too, but you kind of like
15:48
Speaker 3: you feel.
15:48
Speaker 2: Like you're falling in love, but you're realizing.
15:52
Speaker 3: Like there's two or three other people on the same
15:56
Speaker 3: trajectory and like, yeah, it's so hard to like put
16:00
Speaker 3: your guard down.
16:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's so amazing when you do.
16:03
Speaker 3: Because obviously with Joey, like everyone, that's the thing is
16:07
Speaker 3: everyone saw his heart and everyone as a viewer fell
16:10
Speaker 3: in love with who he was and was like, we
16:12
Speaker 3: want to see you win. In another aspect, like we
16:14
Speaker 3: want we want you to be the Bachelor, and we
16:16
Speaker 3: want you to like find somebody so that you can
16:20
Speaker 3: have this experience and have it be that happy ending.
16:23
Speaker 3: So that's honestly, like the best advice I think I've
16:25
Speaker 3: ever heard anybody get really cool. How did you guys
16:29
Speaker 3: as a family navigate like the scrutiny that comes with
16:33
Speaker 3: being on the show, because obviously you guys were all
16:36
Speaker 3: very much loved, but no matter how loved you are,
16:38
Speaker 3: there's always going to be people that are haters or
16:42
Speaker 3: trolls or whatever.
16:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, I try. I definitely would have fun on the
16:48
Speaker 1: night of the episode airing going on Twitter and following
16:52
Speaker 1: what people were trying because the memes that people post
16:55
Speaker 1: are so funny, So that was just like part of
16:58
Speaker 1: the fun experience it all, especially when Joey was there
17:03
Speaker 1: with us watching it, because, as you talked about, they
17:05
Speaker 1: cut so many things out, So when he was there
17:09
Speaker 1: with us on a Monday night watching it, I think
17:11
Speaker 1: it was easier to process because I could obviously see
17:16
Speaker 1: what's being aired on TV, but I could also hear
17:20
Speaker 1: straight from him what he said or like what the
17:22
Speaker 1: dynamic of that conversation was. And then I really tried
17:27
Speaker 1: to cut off looking at things on the internet after
17:33
Speaker 1: just that night on Twitter. I made the mistake of
17:38
Speaker 1: looking at Reddit before and I was so ang, it's horrible,
17:43
Speaker 1: It's so crazy. And for the most part, like we
17:48
Speaker 1: talked about, things were so positive towards Joey, but it
17:53
Speaker 1: was the comparison of the women that were on the show,
17:56
Speaker 1: and I think there was spoilers out that Kelsey wasn't
18:01
Speaker 1: the person who was engaged to Joey, and I think
18:03
Speaker 1: there was like just so much speculation between the girls,
18:07
Speaker 1: and I know Kelsey was involved in that, and I
18:09
Speaker 1: just already felt protective of her. So I think I
18:12
Speaker 1: just I had to not look at it because I
18:15
Speaker 1: can't fight with them and Reddit on Readiley. So I
18:19
Speaker 1: think the way to deal with it was just getting
18:22
Speaker 1: the information from the source, which was Joey who was
18:24
Speaker 1: physically there, and then just trying not to listen to it.
18:27
Speaker 1: But I cannot take for granted the fact that they're
18:29
Speaker 1: truly was like, there wasn't a lot to work with
18:31
Speaker 1: for Joey, so I was good. If people were going
18:35
Speaker 1: to be coming at him and like really commenting on
18:38
Speaker 1: his Instagram or things that were in my sight, I
18:41
Speaker 1: would have made so many burner accounts and I would
18:43
Speaker 1: have been fighting with people all day, Like I would
18:45
Speaker 1: have been going crazy.
18:47
Speaker 2: I love that.
18:48
Speaker 3: That's how my girlfriends are back home as well. Yeah,
18:52
Speaker 3: and honestly me too. Sometimes if people are in my comments,
18:54
Speaker 3: I'm like, let me give you a little some like
18:56
Speaker 3: I'll give me something to talk about. I know where
19:00
Speaker 3: you just like pin the comment and then like people
19:02
Speaker 3: in the comments will do it for you, and you're like, yeah,
19:03
Speaker 3: I didn't even have to like do anything because Bachin
19:06
Speaker 3: Nation has so many homies that look out for us.
19:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, but no, it's so true.
19:10
Speaker 3: Kit Linbristoll always uses this term shopping for hate, and
19:16
Speaker 3: it's so true because if you go looking for it,
19:18
Speaker 3: you can find it, Like it's so easy to find.
19:21
Speaker 3: I think that's very healthy the perspective you took and
19:25
Speaker 3: like implenting those boundaries because it can be so wild
19:30
Speaker 3: coming off the show and even being off the show,
19:32
Speaker 3: and like, if you don't if you don't have the
19:34
Speaker 3: mental strength to like put in those boundaries for yourself,
19:36
Speaker 3: like you're always going to be reading horrible things about
19:39
Speaker 3: yourself online because it's it's gonna be out there, but
19:43
Speaker 3: if you just don't allow yourself to access it, Like
19:47
Speaker 3: and if they are coming on your page.
19:48
Speaker 2: That's different.
19:48
Speaker 3: But if you go looking for it, like you are
19:50
Speaker 3: going to find it. So if you don't go looking.
19:53
Speaker 2: For it, it pretty much doesn't exist. Like it's not real.
19:56
Speaker 3: It's literally a fantasy world that people are living in
20:00
Speaker 3: and discussing things that are factually incorrect. It is so
20:03
Speaker 3: wild to me, but it can be so tormenting to
20:07
Speaker 3: your mental health. So I love that you were able
20:10
Speaker 3: to like catch that early on and be like, yeah,
20:12
Speaker 3: I'm probably not gonna go looking for this, but I
20:16
Speaker 3: do love it sounds like you are such a like
20:19
Speaker 3: a real one for Kelsey.
20:20
Speaker 2: It sounds like you were already protective of her and
20:22
Speaker 2: loved her.
20:23
Speaker 3: So that is just like it just speaks to y'all's
20:25
Speaker 3: relationship and just to you as a person as well.
20:28
Speaker 2: It's so nice.
20:29
Speaker 1: It's so it's just it's it's truly crazy to me,
20:32
Speaker 1: how drastic, how drastically different it is for men and
20:37
Speaker 1: women on the show even today, Like people come at
20:40
Speaker 1: the craziest stuff on Kelsey's TikTok's her instagrams. Yeah, just
20:44
Speaker 1: don't look at it. Why are you watching it? I
20:46
Speaker 1: don't understand. I don't understand it, But I think just
20:50
Speaker 1: the comparison between it's always like it's always women doing
20:54
Speaker 1: it to other women, and I think for them there's
20:56
Speaker 1: just there's less to work with. So on that end,
20:59
Speaker 1: Joey was good. It was more so I wanted to
21:02
Speaker 1: try and protect Kelsey's heart and it's just it's hard.
21:06
Speaker 2: That's very sweet, and it's yeah, it's so wild.
21:09
Speaker 3: Yeah the women that there are so many women that
21:11
Speaker 3: will just come for you. Somebody said recently, and this
21:15
Speaker 3: I feel like this is taking a dark turn. But
21:17
Speaker 3: I'm like somebody said recently, no one hates women like
21:20
Speaker 3: women hate women, and I.
21:21
Speaker 1: Was like, it's so true.
21:22
Speaker 3: Gosh, like that is so true. Like the amount of
21:25
Speaker 3: women that have been just yeah, horrible to other women,
21:28
Speaker 3: whether like it's experiencing it myself being on the show
21:30
Speaker 3: or seeing it happen in real time watching the show.
21:34
Speaker 2: It is so wild.
21:35
Speaker 3: But again, kind of like what you said earlier, like
21:37
Speaker 3: we can't also we can't ignore that there are so
21:40
Speaker 3: many wonderful people as well that do come and like
21:43
Speaker 3: fight the fight for us, and they're like this is
21:46
Speaker 3: not appropriate, like why are you commenting this, but it's
21:48
Speaker 3: it is. It's crazy that people that it will attract
21:52
Speaker 3: to just be so like wildly opinionated in a negative way, but.
21:58
Speaker 2: I wanted to know what have you been up to?
22:00
Speaker 3: Like, Obviously, I see that brands are reaching out to you,
22:03
Speaker 3: and you're like posting some cool videos on social media,
22:05
Speaker 3: and I love seeing it. I think everyone, if you have,
22:09
Speaker 3: if you appreciate and enjoy social media, I'm like, everyone
22:12
Speaker 3: should be doing social media. It's such a fun, cool
22:15
Speaker 3: thing to be a part of. What else have you
22:18
Speaker 3: been up to since the show?
22:20
Speaker 1: I just am still working my full time job obviously,
22:25
Speaker 1: So I am a geriatric social worker. I work in
22:27
Speaker 1: an assisted living facility, so that's what I do by day,
22:31
Speaker 1: and then I have the luxury of working a four
22:34
Speaker 1: day week, so I work for ten hour days, which
22:38
Speaker 1: is amazing, so I can utilize my day off for
22:42
Speaker 1: the weekends or in the evenings I'll do make little
22:45
Speaker 1: videos post them throughout the week. So it's a lot
22:49
Speaker 1: of work. I give these people so much credit who
22:52
Speaker 1: do social media and everything full time. It's like these
22:56
Speaker 1: little videos you make take so long, and then again
23:01
Speaker 1: I overthink what I'm doing, so I'll edit it and
23:03
Speaker 1: change it and do it again. So yeah, I have
23:07
Speaker 1: my job. That's my career that I love, but this
23:09
Speaker 1: has definitely been something fun on the side to be
23:13
Speaker 1: to be doing. But again, just such imposter syndrome doing it.
23:16
Speaker 1: It's just just for fun.
23:28
Speaker 2: I feel like most people in social media probably have
23:30
Speaker 2: that same feeling where it's like, what are like?
23:32
Speaker 1: This is?
23:33
Speaker 2: But it's so fun? So I think why not?
23:37
Speaker 3: But wait, okay, geriatric social worker, how did you get involved?
23:43
Speaker 3: Like how did you find that as your passion in
23:45
Speaker 3: your career?
23:47
Speaker 1: So I went to college for social work, and you
23:49
Speaker 1: can do so many things with social work. You can
23:52
Speaker 1: work with kids, you grow up with homeless people, you
23:54
Speaker 1: can work with people suffer who suffer from domestic abuse,
23:59
Speaker 1: you can work in everything. I was so grow so
24:02
Speaker 1: close to my grandparents growing up. In high school, I
24:05
Speaker 1: volunteered at nursing homes. I just love that generation, that population.
24:10
Speaker 1: So I just knew I wanted to work with elderly people,
24:15
Speaker 1: but I did not want to be a nurse. I couldn't.
24:17
Speaker 1: I couldn't deal with that from a clinical standpoint. So
24:22
Speaker 1: this was just a different path I could go down
24:25
Speaker 1: to work with that specific population. So that's what drove it.
24:28
Speaker 1: I went to school for social work and then just
24:31
Speaker 1: right out of college, worked in a nursing home and
24:34
Speaker 1: then an assisted living and impatient geriatric rehab. So I
24:37
Speaker 1: just always worked with that population, but I went to
24:39
Speaker 1: school for it.
24:40
Speaker 2: So, oh my gosh, amazing. And also, I know you
24:43
Speaker 2: mentioned your grandmother passing.
24:45
Speaker 3: I'm so sorry, but did I see on your social
24:48
Speaker 3: media that you guys got a tattoo?
24:50
Speaker 1: Yeah? Since it?
24:52
Speaker 2: What does it say?
24:53
Speaker 1: I will butcher it. We are Italian, but I didn't
24:56
Speaker 1: speak Italian. My grandma. We have this video of my
24:59
Speaker 1: grand when I was younger that I took her for.
25:02
Speaker 1: She said she wanted the words peace and joy in Chinese,
25:07
Speaker 1: and my cousins and I were all together for her funeral.
25:11
Speaker 1: We're like, we should get this tattoo. But I have
25:13
Speaker 1: no connection to Chinese writing. So I took a bunch
25:18
Speaker 1: of old cards that she had written me and we
25:21
Speaker 1: translated peace and joy in Italian. It's patcha igioia. So
25:26
Speaker 1: we just took cards and took a P and an
25:29
Speaker 1: A and a C, and just my sister traced it
25:32
Speaker 1: on tracing paper in her handwriting. So then all of
25:35
Speaker 1: our cousins we got her tattoo. We just did put
25:38
Speaker 1: a little twist on it.
25:39
Speaker 2: I love it. I think she'd like that even better,
25:41
Speaker 2: you know.
25:42
Speaker 1: Like I think she would have gotten it.
25:45
Speaker 2: Oh that's so cool. I love that.
25:48
Speaker 1: Well.
25:48
Speaker 3: I am so glad that we got to chat with
25:50
Speaker 3: you today actually before we go, since there's a new
25:53
Speaker 3: season happening right now. With all the boys that may
25:57
Speaker 3: listen to this, who knows, maybe they'll be curious. But
26:00
Speaker 3: what advice would you give someone going on the show
26:03
Speaker 3: that's watching it back right now, Like, what advice would
26:05
Speaker 3: you give them just for like how to navigate this process.
26:09
Speaker 1: The guys that are watching it like watching.
26:11
Speaker 2: Themselves back, maybe the guys in Jen and Jen.
26:14
Speaker 1: I think, I think for everyone just to not to
26:19
Speaker 1: take it too seriously and to remember that you signed
26:24
Speaker 1: up for a show and it's reality TV and they're
26:27
Speaker 1: trying to make good TV at the end of the day.
26:29
Speaker 1: So I think just being able to laugh at yourself
26:32
Speaker 1: is super important. I think for Jen, she's doing amazing.
26:36
Speaker 1: I think I saw something that the ratings went up
26:39
Speaker 1: and everything, so I'm excited for her. I think for
26:43
Speaker 1: the guys, specifically the final two, because they think seeing
26:47
Speaker 1: getting to see both perspectives, Joey being I hate to
26:51
Speaker 1: say like runner Up, but the person that did not
26:54
Speaker 1: get engaged versus being able to see how Kelsey navigated
26:59
Speaker 1: being the person that was is now engaged. I think
27:04
Speaker 1: it's harder sometimes, at least in my opinion, for the
27:07
Speaker 1: person that is actually engaged to watch everything back versus
27:11
Speaker 1: the person who is not engaged at the very end
27:16
Speaker 1: is having self reflection and realizing you were just there
27:18
Speaker 1: for such a short amount of time. And hopefully that
27:22
Speaker 1: person has a good family and friend support system to
27:24
Speaker 1: help them work through that. But I think for the
27:26
Speaker 1: person that is engaged, just to again remember they're not
27:31
Speaker 1: showing your whole love story. They have to show other people's.
27:35
Speaker 1: I think that's really difficult because you have to kind
27:37
Speaker 1: of watch their whole season. I don't think it's a
27:40
Speaker 1: bad idea to not watch every episode or to just
27:44
Speaker 1: watch the parts that that specific person, if Jen is engaged,
27:48
Speaker 1: just the parts that they're in together. I just think
27:53
Speaker 1: it's so hard to navigate, and I think just giving
27:56
Speaker 1: yourself the freedom to laugh some things off, take things
28:00
Speaker 1: so seriously, because it's definitely they want to make a
28:03
Speaker 1: good TV which they do a very very good job of,
28:07
Speaker 1: so I think just taking things not so seriously, if possible,
28:11
Speaker 1: if you your said been done, I don't think I
28:13
Speaker 1: could have ever done it.
28:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's tough, but that's really good advice and hopefully
28:17
Speaker 3: they are listening and hopefully they can take that to heart.
28:20
Speaker 2: But I just want to say thank you so much
28:22
Speaker 2: for joining us.
28:23
Speaker 3: I feel like people are going to be so excited
28:25
Speaker 3: to hear straight from you.
28:27
Speaker 2: Everyone loved you, and thanks for joining us.
28:31
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me