Latest / The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast / Is Jill Chin’s Relationship Endgame? Plus She Unpacks The HGTV Drama!

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Is Jill Chin’s Relationship Endgame? Plus She Unpacks The HGTV Drama! · The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This is the Ben and Ashley I, Almost Famous podcast
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: with iHeartRadio.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to Almost Famous. It's Ben and Ashley together.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: And we get to check in on one of our
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: favorite people in the world. She also happens to be
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: a part of Bachelor Nation. You'll remember her back from
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Clayton's season of The Bachelor. We also saw her try
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: to find love last year on Bachelor in Paradise.
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: Try.
• 0:25
  Speaker 4: Try. That's a sweet way of saying it.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: And most recently, she competed on the HGTV competition show,
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Bachelor Mansion Takeover.
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: It's our girl, Jill Chen.
• 0:39
  Speaker 5: Hello. Jill's here. Jill, I had so much FOMO when
• 0:45
  Speaker 5: you and Rachel were going around Newport last week, and
• 0:49
  Speaker 5: I wanted to be there, but something kept me away
• 0:52
  Speaker 5: from it.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: You know, you were invited.
• 0:55
  Speaker 5: I sure was. I know. And I wish I could
• 0:58
  Speaker 5: have been there.
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: Which Rachel are we talking about?
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: Rekia.
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: Oh, she was in town.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: She was in town. She came to visit.
• 1:05
  Speaker 5: It would have filled my soul. Oh, my God.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: It was so amazing. It was the best.
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: Was it better or worse since Ashley wasn't there?
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: Oh, God, it was worse, obviously. We wanted to get
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: all the tea. That's the thing. It's like we only
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: have so much between us, too.
• 1:23
  Speaker 5: I don't even know what T you're referring to, possibly.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: I couldn't imagine. Yeah.
• 1:29
  Speaker 5: Well, Jill, we really wanted to get you on here
• 1:33
  Speaker 5: because you just dropped a massive bomb on us. Because
• 1:37
  Speaker 5: the last time we saw you on TV was about
• 1:40
  Speaker 5: a year ago now. Yeah. On Paradise, leaving your second
• 1:44
  Speaker 5: season of Paradise. And you just... had everybody's hearts breaking.
• 1:49
  Speaker 5: You were representing so many single girls out there when
• 1:53
  Speaker 5: you were sobbing, just like, why is it never me?
• 1:57
  Speaker 5: Why can't I find the one person who's going to
• 1:59
  Speaker 5: choose me? Okay, Meredith Gray. So soon, soon after that
• 2:07
  Speaker 5: paradise departure, it seems like you found love in real
• 2:10
  Speaker 5: life and then you kept it a secret for a year.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: I did. Yeah.
• 2:15
  Speaker 5: Tell us everything.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: Okay. So after paradise, I was like, well, I guess
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: I have to go on the apps. Like that sucks.
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: So I was on the apps and I was like dating,
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: you know, I was like going on dates. I was
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: really making a, I was, I gave it a good
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: college try. Okay. And it's just a hellscape on there. Genuinely.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: Like I try trying to talk to people is like,
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: I'm like, do you even want to be on here?
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: I don't know. It was so bad.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: It's been so long for me, but I hear, because
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: it used to be fairly fun to be on those
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: apps because people were interested. You go on dates and
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: It was kind of the place that you could have
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: a first date and move on. But I've heard now
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: it's just pretty much a hookup app. Did you get
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: that feeling?
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: Ooh, no, actually I didn't get that feeling. I think
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: maybe because I'm just like a little older. Um, so,
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: but it was very much like, you know, you'd match
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: with somebody and then you'd like, wait to see if
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: they would respond to you. And then, you know, you're
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: just like, Hey, you know, you send a wave emoji
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: or a high or whatever, and you get nothing in return. Um,
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: so yeah, Yeah, it was just bad. And then you're like,
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: the people that they give you, because now it's like
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: there's marketing involved too. So it's like, you got to
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: pay $ 3. 99 for the hot people. I'm like, where are
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: the hot people? I swear to God. No. I swear
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: to God.
• 3:41
  Speaker 5: One time I was like, you know what?
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: I'll pay the $ 20 this month to see some nice people.
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: And lo and behold, there are all the hot people
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: behind the paywall.
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: No way.
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: Who's over there deciding who gets behind the paywall?
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: Dude, I don't know, but I would love to have
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: that job. Like Hinge is awesome if your friend is
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: dating and you get to swipe and see, but it's
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: really bad when you're trying to do it for yourself.
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: So I was on Hinge and then I came across
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: A man. And I'm like, oh, my God, I know you.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: That's actually so embarrassing because I'd actually went to high
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: school with him.
• 4:22
  Speaker 5: OK, so, Jill, yeah, you live in Rhode Island. You've
• 4:25
  Speaker 5: always lived in Rhode Island. And the thing is, the
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: dating pool is limited there because everybody has known each
• 4:32
  Speaker 5: other in this age group since kindergarten.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yes. It's literally kindergarten. And it's actually so funny, actually,
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: because you are like, you're not anti Rhode Island, but
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: you're the least Rhode Island person that could be a housewife.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: And I love it.
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: Thanks for subbing me up.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: It's so funny to watch. So anyway, so yeah, so
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: I saw him and I was like, oh, that's embarrassing
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: because he's probably seeing me too. For some reason, I'm like, ah, no,
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: like I don't want to be seen on this app.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: I don't know why. And then he messaged me and
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: was like, I think I know you from somewhere. And
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: I'm like, my school was literally 400 people. My class
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: was 100 people. So I'm like, you know exactly who
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: I am. What are you talking about? And so I
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: was like, I wasn't offended, but I was just like, oh, okay.
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: And so we started off there. And then all my
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: friends back in high school had a crush on him
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: because he was a musician and hanging out with all
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: the cool kids. He was part of the cool group.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: We're like, oh my God. So I sent a screenshot
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: to my friends and they're like, Joe, you have to
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: do this for us, please.
• 5:37
  Speaker 5: We need him.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: You have to. And then he was doing the same
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: thing on his end with his friends. And then before
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: our first date, he had texted his friends. He goes,
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: the stakes have never been higher. Cause like he was
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: so nervous.
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: That's so cute.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah. So, so then we did, so we started dating
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: in August of last year.
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: Like right away, like six weeks after you came home.
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: Six weeks after I came home, which is actually crazy. No,
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: I think we filmed a little bit earlier.
• 6:07
  Speaker 5: You did. You filmed in May.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we filmed a.
• 6:09
  Speaker 5: Little bit earlier.
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: So I was like going on dates. I was like
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: trying to do it and it sucked. Like some of
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: the guys, literally there was one date that I went on.
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: And he was, you know, a wealthy man, you know,
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: was I trying to find a rich guy, maybe. But
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: so I was like, all right, let me just go
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: out with this guy. And just see how it is like,
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: see if I could put up with it, you know,
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: for the money, obviously. And so I went on the
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: date and I drew and I drove back listening to
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: like the song. That's like, by paloma paris you know
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: that song it's like about like all day every day
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: therapist mother made nymph it's like all the things that
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: like women should be and it's just like basically like
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: a feminist song because this guy was like what do
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: you think about traditional gender roles would you would you
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: stay home would you i'm like brother this is the
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: first date like what are we doing how old was
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: he he was in his 30s i was looking for
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: like 30s OK. And like I put like a large
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: range because like I wanted someone more mature and whatever.
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: It was like a whole mess. So I had a
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: lot of bad dates. And then I was like, oh,
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: my God, this man who like I know from my childhood.
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: But I saw a totally different side of him. I
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: hadn't known. I'm like, everyone was gatekeeping him. Like how
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: did no one told me that he was like this?
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: I'm like mad at everybody who lives in my hometown.
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: When was the last time you saw him before your
• 7:32
  Speaker 5: first date?
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: Oh, my God. He claims like at a party, like,
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: I don't know, probably six, no, more than six years ago.
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: It's been a really long time, probably in our 20s.
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: So was he nervous because you're beautiful or nervous because
• 7:45
  Speaker 5: you were on the show and you're kind of like
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: a celebrity?
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: Oh, he doesn't watch. He doesn't watch the show.
• 7:51
  Speaker 5: But he definitely knows that you've been on a few seasons.
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: For sure. For sure. I think we both had this
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: kind of like rose colored glasses of like a version
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: of each other in high school too. We're just like,
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: Oh my God, like I was on the cheerleading team
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: and whatever. And so, yeah, I, I don't know. I
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: don't know. Hopefully it wasn't because I was on reality TV.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't think it's even a diss because you
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: don't know somebody and all of a sudden you like,
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: you see them or hear about them being on TV
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: and now you have a date with them. I just
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: think there is like, it's not even like an infatuation
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: with the fame part. I think it would just be
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: an intimidating thing because people don't know how to talk
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: about it or bring it up or not talk about it.
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: You know, it's hard.
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: Right. For sure. And I think that that's also kind
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: of part of the reason why I kept it a
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: secret for a year. Cause after my last relationship, which
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: I had like shared our relationship online, like not much,
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: I don't really share much online, but I shared our
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: relationship online. And then, you know, afterwards I was like,
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: you know, if you Google his name, I come up
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: and I'm like, ew, I don't like that. I want
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: to be tied to this person like publicly. So I
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: always said after that, I was, wasn't going to hard
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: launch until I was engaged and I'm not engaged.
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: Oh, I was like, Whoa. Yes.
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: Imagine, imagine if this is where I did it. Um,
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: but I was just like, I'm, I'm really sure, you know,
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: I feel so sure and so comfortable that I'm like, okay, now,
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: now I'm ready.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: I have to ask if he proposes tomorrow, do you
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: say yes?
• 9:23
  Speaker 5: Yes, of course.
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: Oh, we, we very much plan our future. We plan
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: our future. We wanted to move in together this summer,
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: but unfortunately it didn't happen because like he lives about
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: two hours away and he has like a job and
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: everything up there. So we couldn't move his life down
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: here just yet, but that was the plan.
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: So where does he work?
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: He actually teaches carpentry. He's a carpentry teacher for high school.
• 9:50
  Speaker 5: Okay, that makes sense for you guys, aka HGTV homecoming
• 9:56
  Speaker 5: queen and king now. You can do the architecture and
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: the presentation. and he can build things. That's a beautiful combo.
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: It is such a beautiful combo to have a handyman. Honestly,
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: it's like a game changer.
• 10:09
  Speaker 5: Okay, so is he going to be able to move
• 10:11
  Speaker 5: closer to you or with you?
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, for sure. Obviously, his whole family's down here.
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: He doesn't want to be up there. He wants to
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: be down here.
• 10:30
  Speaker 5: Well, Jill, sorry. I'm like so eager to ask you
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: so many questions now. I'm just like really one happy
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: for you because you've wanted this so bad.
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: I know that sounds desperate though. It sounds desperate.
• 10:41
  Speaker 5: It's okay. We can all admit that we're like a
• 10:43
  Speaker 5: little desperate. Is it like, you know, let's just like
• 10:45
  Speaker 5: remove the cool factor from being desperate. It's like, if
• 10:48
  Speaker 5: you want love, you just want love. You know what
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: I mean?
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: I know. I just want to feel like stable. I
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: hate having like my head on a swivel being like,
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: where is he? You know?
• 10:56
  Speaker 5: Yeah. My second thing is when you were with your
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: other ex who had not a weird name, but a
• 11:01
  Speaker 5: name that I always used to mess up who now
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: you have a detachment on via the internet. Um, Did
• 11:09
  Speaker 5: you ever feel like that with him? Like that he
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: was the one?
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: No.
• 11:13
  Speaker 5: Oh, I thought that you kind of did.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: Well, the thing is, like, it made sense. Like, on paper,
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: everything made sense. But I always had this gut feeling. Like,
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: I would imagine myself walking down the aisle, and I would, like,
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: be like, ugh.
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: Oh, you should have ended that sooner than you did.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: I know, but then I was like, well, maybe this
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: is what healthy love is like, is that I'm just
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: so grounded, and I'm so, you know, I just, like,
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: had no idea. Yeah.
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: And.
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: But then it got like, it wasn't like bad, bad,
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: but I'm just like, we just don't like each other clearly. Like,
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: or just, you just don't like me. So yeah, I never,
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: I always felt like a little hesitant.
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: Okay. And, and my final question that pertains directly to
• 11:56
  Speaker 5: your new boyfriend is that he's not tagged on your Instagram,
• 11:59
  Speaker 5: so I can't stalk him.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, it's because, I feel like because he's, like,
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: a teacher. We had this conversation, like, you know, I
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: don't want, like, his students or, you know.
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: So he's, like, a shop teacher?
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he's, like, a shop teacher.
• 12:13
  Speaker 5: Oh, my God, that's so cute.
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: Right? Like, if my shop teacher was, like, dating somebody, like,
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: for reality TV, like, it would be, it would be funny. Like,
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: we would, like, joke about it, you know? I don't know.
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: I just, I don't know. And his Instagram's private anyways,
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: so it's not like you'd be able to do any stalking. Oh, okay.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: Ashley is going to go home once we get off
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: this and find a way to request his friendship. Would
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: you tell him, yes, please approve Ashley or not?
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, because she's a friend. Yeah, she's a friend.
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: Yeah. So, Jill, we just mentioned the HGTV thing. And
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: you also recently texted me when our podcast came out
• 12:56
  Speaker 5: about the drama between– Trista and and Courtney and Joe
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: and you were like I'm living for this podcast episode
• 13:05
  Speaker 5: it's so juicy it made Ben and I feel very
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: uncomfortable oh.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: My god like because you guys weren't there.
• 13:13
  Speaker 5: Right I know Thank goodness. I don't need any more
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: of that in my life.
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: Oh, my God. Who is the moderator? I feel so bad.
• 13:21
  Speaker 5: That's our producer, Heather.
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: Who's on right now.
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: Heather, I feel so bad for you. But honestly, you
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: must have been like, wow, this is awesome as a producer.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: You can feel the tension in the room by listening.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: I don't want to be in that room.
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: No.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: No.
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: And, you know, like, it would be like that a
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: lot on the show, too, when we were filming. It
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: was like, we all, like, low-key hated each other, and
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: we would have to, like, kumbaya all the time. It
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: was so annoying.
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: Did you hate Dean?
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: Because they kind of made it seem like everybody hated Dean.
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: No, he loves, she loves Dean.
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: Oh, I love Dean. Dean's, like, dare I say, the
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: only person on that show that I, like... That I
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: have like a genuine friendship with.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: Okay, good.
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: But you see what I'm saying?
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: The edit, especially towards the end, made it seem like
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: Dean was, they tried to make Dean the villain.
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: It's just hard to do because he's just not.
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, because he just like doesn't care. I think they
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: tried to make him the villain because he'll just tell
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: you straight up what he's thinking. He's very honest. He
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: doesn't care what anybody thinks of him. So I think and,
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: you know, they're trying to pit like Noah and Dean
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: against each other. Yeah. And they were kind of doing
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: that to like play it up themselves. But it really
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: wasn't wasn't much. But I love Dean.
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: I love Dean.
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: Okay, great. We're all on the same page about Dean Love.
• 14:40
  Speaker 5: So tell us about what it would be like to
• 14:42
  Speaker 5: be around Joan and Courtney. And did you find it
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: to be a big deal that on your day off
• 14:48
  Speaker 5: that Courtney didn't text Joan back?
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: I mean, I could see how I would be like
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: a little peeved because we were in Agora Hills. We
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: were by the mansion. So in order to get like
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: to anything, it's like an hour, which is so ridiculous.
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: Like I didn't go into L.A. proper, whatever the hell
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: it's called. Yeah. At all, because it was going to
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: be like a hundred dollar Uber. And I'm like, no,
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: I'm just going to like chill in the hotel. I
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: personally wouldn't take that so seriously. heavily like you know
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: Courtney was clearly going through a lot I had no
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: idea at the time like the extent of what she
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: was going through I think she shared that with Joan
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: which in my mind like all right Joan you know
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: I'm going through something crazy like let me be for
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: a second you know Joan can make her own fun
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: we did have like a few days off but at
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: the end of the day like you know you're filming
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: a show it's not like I'm banking on chilling with
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: my homies you know at the end of filming so
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: it wouldn't have really to me that's like all right
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: you do your thing I'm not like I I don't know.
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: I could see how it could be a little disrespectful,
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: but at the end of the day, I don't value
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: my time like that. I don't know.
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: I wouldn't have been fazed, I don't think. But I'm
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: assuming that there had to have been more than that. Oh,
• 16:01
  Speaker 5: of course.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there was so much more. Why? Well, just in
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: the design process, it sucks because when I went into
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: the show, I thought, okay, we're going to be judged
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: by design professionals. No offense, like Tayshia and Tyler, but
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: it was like very much, you know, opinions based and
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: not really. And then I was also expecting to be
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: working individually. I didn't know it was going to be
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: all group projects.
• 16:26
  Speaker 5: Which I thought was kind of unfair.
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah. The group projects was really tough because number one,
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: who wants to work on a group project? I hated
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: group projects. And number two, it's like we all have
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: such different tastes and personalities that we are bound to clash.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: So it just so happened that Joan and Courtney were
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: on the same team every single time. Every single time
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: they were on the same team and they just got
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: like sick of working with each other. And I really
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: worked well with Courtney. I did not work well with Joan.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: And I think Courtney also did not work well with Joan.
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: And so that caused a lot of issues. And at
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: the end of the day, I just wanted to get
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: away from them, to be honest. During the day, I
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: wanted to get away from them. It wasn't a pleasant experience.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: It's kind of what they're saying on the show. I
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: think all of them are like, hey, we just need
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: some alone time. I wonder if The Bachelor, they're smart
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: people behind the scenes. The show came out. They had
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: to have known when you get big personalities, like all of,
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: you are big personalities. You've, yes, you've entertained on TV
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: before you've dated, you've cried, you've fought, you would, you know,
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: Jones led a show for crying out loud. Like when
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: you are big personalities and you stick yourselves on the
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: same team, drama's going to happen. But that show didn't
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: feel like it ever needed drama. Like the drama always
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: felt like it disoriented me as a viewer or distracted
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: me from the projects at hand. And so I felt
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: like they set it up to be this way.
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: I mean, they had to have known, but also it's
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: like the drama, I will say the drama was totally
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: organic in that we are just like very dramatic people.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: There was no kind of like planting, at least for me,
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: there was no planting of like so-and-so saying this about
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: you or whatever. It was, it was all very organic, but,
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: But I also think that we as like, you know,
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: designers or, you know, a specialist in our field, we
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: saw this as like a real opportunity to enter a
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: different space, you know, like outside of Bachelor Nation. So
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: everyone was really trying to give their all being like,
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: I'm going to get my own show one day, you know,
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: like that kind of thing. And so, you know, like
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: I will say that Joan is. was she's a really
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: big personality. She's very on all the time, which can
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: be a lot. And then, you know, at one point
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: she called someone like a scene stealer. She was like, oh,
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: I'm happy that they're gone because they're a scene stealer.
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: And I'm like, what? Like, what are we doing here? Like,
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: I get that we're making a show. We all like
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: to make the show. That's why we do it. You know,
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: I have the same affliction where I love, you know,
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: to be in front of the camera. I think it's fun.
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: But why are we saying why are we like trying
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: to it just felt yucky to me. I didn't like it.
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: I didn't like it.
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: I'm thinking that because you and Ben and Joan and
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: Trista are all going on this bachelor cruise, we should
• 19:25
  Speaker 5: put you guys all in a room together again. And
• 19:28
  Speaker 5: I don't even know why I'm putting Trista in here.
• 19:30
  Speaker 5: It's because she was part of that podcast. She was
• 19:32
  Speaker 5: a part of the HGTV show.
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: Did you say me? Why am I in this room?
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: Yeah, because you're going to be on the cruise. But
• 19:38
  Speaker 5: why would I want to be?
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: I don't want any of this.
• 19:40
  Speaker 5: You're being on the podcast. You're the podcast host for
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: part two of our HGTV drama pod.
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: I don't want any of that smoke. I'm good. I
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: don't plan on having.
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: Any issues on that cruise ship. I'm hiding.
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: Heather says no.
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: I thought that was so genius, though, because we really
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: have never been like, you two hate each other. Fight.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: You guys have to talk and hug and make up.
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: I thought that was freaking genius. I want more of that.
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: I think you guys should really inhabit the space where
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: you put.
• 20:11
  Speaker 5: We've thought of it before when we were trying to
• 20:15
  Speaker 5: really figure out new sub series to do. We thought,
• 20:20
  Speaker 5: what if we get enemies on and they have to
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: hash it out? And then we're like, well, how are
• 20:24
  Speaker 5: we going to convince people to do that? Nobody wants
• 20:26
  Speaker 5: to do that. I don't want to do that.
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: I mean, you got them cornered somehow and they did it.
• 20:31
  Speaker 5: We'd have to pay them big bucks.
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: It was so funny because... You know, Joan and Courtney,
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: they're like at the end, you could tell it's like
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: not OK, but they're like, I forgive you. I love you.
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: And it's like, do you really?
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: I don't know. It felt icky. I would say that
• 20:47
  Speaker 5: that Joan and Courtney seemed to be OK, but Courtney
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: and Trista did not seem OK.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: Heather just told us that they all went to dinner after.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think it's healthy in a lot of ways, right? Jill,
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: we can talk about this. On season one of The
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: Real Housewives of Rhode Island, confrontation happens, right? And then
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: you hope there's some forgiveness and healing and everybody can
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: move on. So it's not uncommon to have people confront
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: each other. I think the difference here for me is,
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: Which is just that that room felt very heavy, felt
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: very tense. And honestly, I individually really love and like
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: all of those women. I don't know their dynamics together.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: I've never really been around them together. But individually, they're
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: very great to me personally. But I didn't need an
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: apology at the end or like a kumbaya hugging. It
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: didn't feel like it was ever that. It felt like
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: it was almost a force like, okay, we're running out
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: of time here. Everybody good? Yeah, okay, see you later.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: I honestly just wanted to be like, hey, I don't
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: want to see you again ever.
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: Right, yes. Because that's honest. Like at least that would
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: be honest, you know? Yeah. It's so, I was going
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: to say something about like, you know, Well, OK, so
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: I feel like I loved being on all of these
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: shows because it is kind of like a healthy environment
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: for confrontation. I'm not a very confrontational person in real life,
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: but on the show, I'm like, OK, like I'm actually
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: going to do this because I know the parameters are safe.
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: You know, no one's going to beat me up, hopefully.
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: You know, it is socially acceptable within this space to
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: have some, you know, intense conversations, right? So I do
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: like that aspect of the shows and, you know, kind
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: of getting to, you know, practice having that kind of
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: beef with people. But I think that when you bring
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: it out into the real world, you're kind of like, oh,
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: like it feels it does feel like super uncomfortable.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: But that's why Almost Famous has continued to be around
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: for as long as it has. Sometimes those moments of
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: awkwardness are what people tune into the most. Jill, I
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: have a question. I don't want to be awkward, but
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: I've had to face it myself. Ashley's a unique situation here.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: You've got a very serious relationship going on. Are you
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: good saying goodbye to reality television?
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: In terms of dating, yeah.
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: She's like, in terms of being added to the Real
• 23:35
  Speaker 5: Housewives of Rhode Island, I'm down.
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: I mean, if they wanted to have me on. No,
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: it's like, so in terms of every show that I've done,
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: I'm like, this is my last show. Because I'm like,
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: lightning doesn't strike this many times. You know, like, I'm
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: a small town girl from Rhode Island. So for me,
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: it feels like such a treat to be part of
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: these things, like, over and over again. And.
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: So, you know, every time I'm like, oh, it's my
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: last time getting mic'd up. Oh, it's my last interview,
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: you know. And I always, you know, I leave it
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: on the field. I leave it on the field. And
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: then if something comes up, then, yeah, I'm going to
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: be open to it. But I've always, you know, for me,
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: what's really important is, like, having a job. I really
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: like having a stable job and getting that paycheck every
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: two weeks, you know. That's very important to me. Because,
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: I don't know, it's probably just because of, like, my upbringing.
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: And also, like, seeing what happened with Taylor Frankie policies,
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: and I'm so sorry. But, like, some of those guys, like,
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: quit their jobs. And I'm like, it's time to clock in.
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: It's just time to clock in. Like, let's just get real. So,
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: you know, if it makes sense, it makes sense. I'm
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: not saying no. Yeah.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: Okay, so there's opportunity out there. You would still say yes, like,
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: given the right scenario. HGTV feels like a great landing
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: spot for you and your new boo.
• 24:50
  Speaker 5: Yeah, definitely. Now I was talking about your old boo,
• 24:54
  Speaker 5: Clayton Eckert.
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: Oh, oh, oh.
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: The man has a hit podcast. It is an IR podcast.
• 25:00
  Speaker 5: It's called Love Trap. It's currently at number eight on
• 25:04
  Speaker 5: the Apple charts. Okay. Because this, he did a whole
• 25:07
  Speaker 5: podcast about the woman who, you know, he claimed he
• 25:11
  Speaker 5: was going to be having it or she claimed she
• 25:13
  Speaker 5: was going to be having his child.
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: Yes. Twins. Ah, twins.
• 25:17
  Speaker 5: And she just this week. pleaded guilty, like took a
• 25:21
  Speaker 5: plea deal. Have you been following this at all?
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I actually have been following it from the start.
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: And it's so funny because like I had supported Clay,
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: like Clay has been through a couple rough patches and,
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: you know, I, I sent him, you know, the occasional,
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: you know, I'd watch and, I wanted to because I
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: felt bad. It's not right, obviously. And then Clayton and
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: I got into some beef. Actually, while he was on
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: Perfect Match, we actually got into some beef and he
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: was like texting me these giant things. And I just
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: it didn't sit right with me because I'm like, I've
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: been in your corner technically, like for all of this time.
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: And now we're beefing. So, yeah. Okay. Um, I don't
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: agree with, I mean, obviously the situation's horrible. It's like,
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: it's a nightmare way, what he's gone through. I mean,
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: I hope there is a Netflix documentary. I think it
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: is worthy of a Netflix documentary.
• 26:13
  Speaker 5: I think it is probably too.
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: There's multiple people involved. it's insane like she's done this
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: to so many people I feel really bad that he
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: got caught up in it but I will admit like
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: when that first came out I was like oh my
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: god Clayton's pregnant with twins like I believed it which
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: is terrible but um yeah I don't know it I
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: mean I say my love to him I suppose.
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: Have you guys made up like is this one that
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: we should get you in the same room I.
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: Would love to be in the same room I'd actually
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: like to be in the ring no um I think
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: we could like talk it out for sure. I don't
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: think he cares. I don't, I don't really care either. Um,
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: obviously like, man, if we could get Rachel Clayton in
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: a room, Rachel and Avon in a room, Oh, that'd
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: be cool.
• 26:57
  Speaker 5: Rachel and Avon. Yeah. I forgot about that component. Is
• 27:01
  Speaker 5: there more there than meets the eye?
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: For sure. Oh my God. Yeah.
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: And I know Rachel would be down.
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: She is down. She's down, but he's not down. Yeah.
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: We could get Rachel on no questions.
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah. But, like, allegedly, he's not down.
• 27:16
  Speaker 5: Why did he beef with you over the perfect match stuff?
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: Well, he was just filming perfect match. And then all
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: of this stuff, like.
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: He posted something crazy. And then Rachel showed up to
• 27:25
  Speaker 5: perfect match.
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: Rachel and I knew that Clayton was there. And she
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: didn't know because she didn't have her phone. But I knew.
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: And they would give them their phones, like, periodically. So Clayton,
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: when he got his phone, we were beefing because of
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: the Serene Brandon situation. And it kind of got like ugly.
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: It wasn't, it wasn't like a good conversation. I didn't
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: have like a, you know, it didn't have a good resolution,
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: but it was fine. I don't really care. I see
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: him dancing and doing the cameos. And I'm like, you know,
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: I'll do your thing.
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: I think he's a hit on cameo right now.
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: He's such a hit. I wanted Rachel to get me
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: one for my birthday, but she did it. I think
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: it would be, that's too far. I don't think he
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: could do it.
• 28:04
  Speaker 5: He doesn't have to know it's for you. We just
• 28:06
  Speaker 5: put a whole bunch of random details about you and say,
• 28:10
  Speaker 5: it's a girl named Jill.
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And just say like, this is an apology.
• 28:15
  Speaker 5: It's an apology.
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: Is he going to be on the bachelor cruise?
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: I don't think so. I'm actually so excited for the
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: bachelor cruise because like, it is going to be a mess.
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: It's going to be such a mess.
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: You might not see me. I'm going to be there,
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: but I might be in my room 100% of the time.
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: Okay, Ben's going to show up to the meet and greet.
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: There's going to be a meet and greet with Ben,
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: and then he's going to go to his room.
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: Oh, my goodness.
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: I've never been on a cruise before.
• 28:42
  Speaker 5: Well, guys, as a cruiser who's been on 20, I
• 28:46
  Speaker 5: just want you guys to know that this is not
• 28:49
  Speaker 5: you guys going on your first cruise, okay? This is
• 28:52
  Speaker 5: a work trip.
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: No, it is a work trip, but I'm hoping that
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: I can, you know, I just want to snorkel. That's
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: all I want to do is snorkel.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: Jill, how about you and I, because my wife and
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: daughter will not be able to attend. How about, because
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: I love to snorkel. How about we do a snorkel
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: day together? Like we make sure that we rally the
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: troops to go snorkeling, see some fishies.
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: Yes, find some shells. Yes.
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that'd be fun. Hey, Jill, we've got good updates
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: from you. We hope to see you on our TVs again.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: We're very happy about this new romance that you have
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: that is leading to, it sounds like, a forever deal.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: So in closing, my last question for you is let's,
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: I'm going to assume, and I think you want me to,
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: that this is your forever thing now. This chapter of
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: dating and apps and the cries on the beach has ended.
• 29:49
  Speaker 4: How does it feel?
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: Honestly, it feels like I've earned it. I hate to
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: say it. It does feel like I've earned it because
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: I have gone through like, why did I go through
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: this much? Like to get to this, but honestly it
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: does feel so worth it. And I'm so happy. And
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: I have never felt like, well, you know, because you
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: guys are in love, like you guys love your partner.
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: So it's just like, it really is the best feeling.
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: It's the most like comfortable and just like, like I
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: can breathe. It feels so good. So, and I won't apologize.
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: I will never apologize for having, you know, for doing
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: my thing. Back on TV and, you know, in the apps,
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: it is what it is. So I think I think
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: I'm well prepared and I think I'm deserving. Sorry.
• 30:29
  Speaker 4: Hey, don't apologize. Again, why are you apologizing? You just
• 30:32
  Speaker 4: said you're not going to apologize and then you apologized.
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: Okay, that's true. That's just my MO. That's just how
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: I am because if I don't apologize, then I'll die.
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: Then I'll explode.
• 30:42
  Speaker 4: Hey, Jill, it's always a pleasure to have you. Thanks
• 30:44
  Speaker 4: for jumping on Almost Famous.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: And we'll be catching up with you soon when it
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: happens on the Bachelor reunion cruise.
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: Can't wait to see you. Thanks, guys.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Follow the Ben and Ashley Eye Almost Famous Podcast on
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.