Latest / The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast / Off the Beach with Alli Jo Hinkes and Sam McKinney

Transcript

Off the Beach with Alli Jo Hinkes and Sam McKinney · The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This is the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: with iHeartRadio.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Hey, Almost Famous crew. It's been holding it down. Can
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: you believe it? It's been a year. This is wild.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: It's been a year since the last season of Bachelor
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: in Paradise aired. Today, I'm connecting with two people who
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: both hit the sand last season, but they didn't find
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: love until they were off the beach. It's Allie Jo
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: and Sam McKinney. Welcome to Almost Famous.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: Hello. Thanks for having us.
• 0:32
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Thanks for having us. I appreciate it.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Catch us up. Okay. From everything I understand, you guys
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: have semi-recently moved in together. Is that true?
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: About what? Three months now?
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: About three months.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: How's that going?
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: It's going good.
• 0:48
  Speaker 5: So Sam moved in to my apartment in Fort Lauderdale
• 0:51
  Speaker 5: and my lease was about to be up September. So
• 0:55
  Speaker 5: come August, we just literally three weeks ago, we just
• 0:57
  Speaker 5: moved into a new apartment in Delray and And now,
• 1:00
  Speaker 5: you know, it's both of ours versus just like that
• 1:03
  Speaker 5: he moved in with me.
• 1:05
  Speaker 6: Yeah, it's been a lot. Needless to say, I had
• 1:08
  Speaker 6: a house, still have a house in South Carolina. So
• 1:10
  Speaker 6: trying to get it in shape to be rented and
• 1:14
  Speaker 6: find somebody to do that. And then to come down
• 1:16
  Speaker 6: here and I think to downgrade from a 3,000 square
• 1:19
  Speaker 6: foot home with two 60 pound dogs to a 600
• 1:23
  Speaker 6: square foot, one bed, one bath has been rather interesting,
• 1:27
  Speaker 6: but Honestly, it's really been.
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: Nice since I've been here.
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: Now we have a two-bedroom.
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: Yeah, now we got a bigger place, so it's not
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: too bad.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: I would assume, too, it's only up from there. My
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: wife and I started– well, I had a house in Denver.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: It was about 700 square feet. And as soon as
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: we got married, she said, hey, we might want to
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: look elsewhere.
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: There's been a lot of things that have happened in
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: this house that I don't know if, like, one, I
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: want to be a part of. Two, we need some space.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: It's always fun to hear from couples. I mean, goodness,
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: I've been married for five years, so I've lived with
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: my wife for five years, and I'm still learning new
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: things about living with a woman. So we'll start with you, Sam.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: Best thing about living with Allie Jo, and I'm not
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: going to say worst, because I don't know if there's
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: a worst. No, there's not. The most confusing, I'll phrase
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: it as.
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's easy.
• 2:30
  Speaker 6: I mean, the best part, hands down, is having something
• 2:34
  Speaker 6: to come home to after work. I think that's one
• 2:36
  Speaker 6: thing that I've missed for a while now, especially the
• 2:39
  Speaker 6: year that we dated. It was, you know, I try
• 2:42
  Speaker 6: to explain this to everybody is that, hey, most of
• 2:44
  Speaker 6: my social life, my social hours come from work.
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: Whenever I go home, it's just me and the dogs.
• 2:51
  Speaker 6: I usually don't say another word to anybody, um, in person,
• 2:54
  Speaker 6: face to face until the next day, whenever I go
• 2:56
  Speaker 6: to work. So I think now being able to know
• 3:00
  Speaker 6: that she's here and know that my dogs are here, it's, uh,
• 3:04
  Speaker 6: it's kind of like a sigh of relief. I, today
• 3:06
  Speaker 6: was probably one of the toughest days I think I've
• 3:08
  Speaker 6: had at work, but just being able to come back
• 3:11
  Speaker 6: home and know that.
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: She's there, uh, Yeah.
• 3:14
  Speaker 6: You know, it's just, it's like the, it's a little
• 3:16
  Speaker 6: soothing to me. So it's something that I definitely appreciate.
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: Same question to, I get, did you, did you mention
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: the most confusing thing?
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: No.
• 3:26
  Speaker 6: So I'm not going to say confusing. I would say,
• 3:30
  Speaker 6: I think difficult thing is she works remote. So, you know,
• 3:36
  Speaker 6: being in, especially being in the, in the one bedroom spot,
• 3:39
  Speaker 6: it's tough to I think you feel like a little claustrophobic.
• 3:44
  Speaker 6: And I think for her, I think she would get
• 3:46
  Speaker 6: a little irritable, a little cranky at times.
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: And, you know, I mean, I would understand that if.
• 3:51
  Speaker 6: I worked at my desk for all hours of the
• 3:53
  Speaker 6: day and then I got home and the only thing
• 3:55
  Speaker 6: I want to do is relax and she's ready to
• 3:57
  Speaker 6: go out and move. There can be a little bit
• 3:59
  Speaker 6: of conflict of interest there. So now we don't have
• 4:02
  Speaker 6: that to worry about. We're in a place where she
• 4:04
  Speaker 6: can walk wherever she wants in a bigger spot. That way,
• 4:08
  Speaker 6: if she gets mad at me, all she's got to do,
• 4:09
  Speaker 6: there's another bed in the other bedroom.
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: We're good to go.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: Allie, Joe, I'm going to throw that same question over
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: to you.
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 4:16
  Speaker 5: Well, I would say the best thing is Sam cooks dinner,
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: which I really like because I'm not like a huge
• 4:22
  Speaker 5: cook and I would eat the same thing literally every
• 4:24
  Speaker 5: single day. So he likes to chef it up, get creative.
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: I just have to eat the food and he's a
• 4:30
  Speaker 5: really good folder. I'm like the worst folder. That's what
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: I thought he was going to say.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: Like I'll do the laundry and I'll fold my things up.
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: And he's like, babe, Who taught you how to fold?
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: And I'm like, my mom. And she's really organized and
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: a good folder. But I'm not a good folder. So
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: he's good at that.
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: And I would say the one thing that he does sometimes,
• 4:50
  Speaker 5: talking back to food, we'll cook.
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: Dinner and we have leftovers.
• 4:54
  Speaker 5: And he takes what is my lunch as his lunch
• 4:57
  Speaker 5: to work because he just takes whatever in the morning,
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: rushes out. And I wake up like an hour and
• 5:02
  Speaker 5: a half earlier so I can get all my things done.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: And he just, whoop, out the door. I walk the
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: dogs in the rain.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: It's fun as you get into this season, I think,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: of relationships. Sounds very similar to my wife and I.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: I love to cook. Sam, I don't know about you,
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: but I work all day. Shockingly, doing this isn't my
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: full-time job. And cooking, honestly, is my way of just
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: kind of like decompressing from a day. It doesn't take
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: a lot of talking. I can pour a cocktail and
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: hang out and let my mind go while, yeah, I
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: make dinner. It's pretty great. So, okay. Let's dive into
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: the nitty gritty here. You guys are happy. Can we
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: say that? Are you guys happy right now?
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Most of the time, yeah.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, most of the time. That's good enough.
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: It's good to live with somebody. I think you have to.
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: You know, you have to live with somebody.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: But I'll start with you, Sam. Obviously, you were on
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: Jen's season of The Bachelorette. You went to Paradise once.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: Didn't work out. Went to Paradise a second time. I
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: guess didn't work out.
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: But it didn't. No, I only went back once.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Oh, you only went back once.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: I only went back once.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: I guess my question is, how in the world did
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: they convince you to come back? It felt like you
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: had one of those.
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: Vendetta.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: Times where the show kind of chews you up, spits
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: you out, and then you're out there trying to clean
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: up the mess. How in the world did you agree
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: to go back onto a show?
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: So, The Bachelor.
• 6:37
  Speaker 6: between like Bachelor Bachelorette and then Bachelor in.
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: Paradise is very interesting to me.
• 6:41
  Speaker 6: I think you see a lot of people who get
• 6:43
  Speaker 6: this golden boy or golden girl edit on one of them.
• 6:47
  Speaker 6: And then chances are on the next one, they usually
• 6:50
  Speaker 6: don't really get that same narrative. And that was just
• 6:54
  Speaker 6: a sliver of it. I think mainly for me, there
• 6:56
  Speaker 6: was a, I think a responsibility that I held because
• 6:59
  Speaker 6: whenever I came off of the show, I was so excited,
• 7:02
  Speaker 6: so excited for people to watch, excited for my parents.
• 7:04
  Speaker 6: I felt Obviously, I wasn't perfect out there and I
• 7:07
  Speaker 6: don't claim that. But what America saw and what the
• 7:11
  Speaker 6: story that I went through were not the same.
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: So the only.
• 7:15
  Speaker 6: Way that I really felt like I could clear things
• 7:18
  Speaker 6: up was to go back out there. And I think
• 7:21
  Speaker 6: once you play a game the first time, you usually
• 7:24
  Speaker 6: get a little bit better the second time. So I
• 7:26
  Speaker 6: kind of understood if I go out there and get nobody,
• 7:29
  Speaker 6: any ammunition at all. There was one instance where somebody
• 7:32
  Speaker 6: tried to say something to me. And it was like
• 7:35
  Speaker 6: them talking to a wall. I was under zero circumstances
• 7:38
  Speaker 6: going to get into any type of conflict with anyone.
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: I think just remembering what the show can do.
• 7:46
  Speaker 6: And when you remember that and that stays at the
• 7:48
  Speaker 6: forefront of your brain, then it kind of mellows you
• 7:51
  Speaker 6: out a little bit in a way that you just
• 7:53
  Speaker 6: know if you trust the person that you are, then
• 7:55
  Speaker 6: you really don't have anything to worry about.
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: But you just can't hit back when somebody hits you.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I messed up there. So you went on Paradise,
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: and then your third show was obviously the Bachelor Mansion
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: renovation show, Bachelor Mansion makeover. So you did have a
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: good enough experience on Paradise where you said, hey, maybe
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: I don't have anything else to prove, but this sounds fun.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: Let me do this show. You got to hang out
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: with one of my good buddies, Dean.
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah, good old Dean. I love Dean.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: Which I'm sure was its own type of entertainment. Allie,
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: you went on Paradise and you didn't find love there.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: But you guys left separately and somehow connected. How did
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: that happen?
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: Through Instagram.
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: No, no. Tell the truth.
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: Instagram.
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: Tell the truth from what the show was, what the
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: show did.
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
• 8:49
  Speaker 5: Well, so really the reason we connected was through Instagram,
• 8:52
  Speaker 5: but Instagram I had messaged him when I got sent
• 8:55
  Speaker 5: home because he had literally got sent home like a
• 8:57
  Speaker 5: day or so before I did. And we connected and
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: we were in touch and we thought we were going
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: to meet each other because they asked us to come
• 9:03
  Speaker 5: back to the beach. And we got ready to pack
• 9:07
  Speaker 5: all of our things to go back to the beach.
• 9:09
  Speaker 5: They were going to bring both of us back. And
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: then literally last minute, like bags were packed. Basically, they
• 9:14
  Speaker 5: were like, never mind. So they like pulled it from us.
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: And so from there, we were like talking, you know,
• 9:21
  Speaker 5: venting to each other a little bit. But then like
• 9:23
  Speaker 5: after I would say like a week or so went by,
• 9:25
  Speaker 5: like we actually started talking about life and ourselves and not.
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: Just the show.
• 9:29
  Speaker 5: Because that's the thing I feel like in this world,
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: like you may only have one thing in common, which
• 9:33
  Speaker 5: is the show and whatnot.
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: But we had a lot of other things in common.
• 9:36
  Speaker 5: So Sam made the move and came to Florida and
• 9:40
  Speaker 5: we met and we hung out for the weekend.
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: And then honestly, the rest is history.
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: We saw each other like every other weekend up until
• 9:46
  Speaker 5: he went to the Bachelor Mansion renovation filming.
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: It's interesting to me. that the show did not bring
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: you back on the beach because that season of Paradise
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: specifically had success stories, but not a ton. They weren't plentiful, right?
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: We left that beach with Andrew and Alex, who are
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: still together. Bailey and Jeremy, who I believe are still together.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: And then Spencer and Jess. And, you know, it would
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: have been awesome. have the fourth. It was right there
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: in front of them. It was like a free gift
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: that they didn't even have to really work for. Do
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: you know why they didn't bring you back?
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: No, I don't think we'll really ever know.
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't think we'll know. I tried to get
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: to the bottom of it.
• 10:34
  Speaker 6: And long story short, one of the producers that I'm
• 10:39
  Speaker 6: close with practically said, hey, a lot of it depends
• 10:41
  Speaker 6: on this rose ceremony tonight. I don't know the situation
• 10:45
  Speaker 6: at all. They just probably said a lot of it
• 10:47
  Speaker 6: depends on this rose elimination or rose ceremony. And then
• 10:55
  Speaker 6: later on in the day, they were like, okay, now
• 10:57
  Speaker 6: it was like a 90% shot. I mean, hell, they
• 11:00
  Speaker 6: flew Allie back from New Jersey to Florida for her
• 11:03
  Speaker 6: to get her stuff. So, I mean, they were on
• 11:06
  Speaker 6: the edge of doing all of this. And then as
• 11:08
  Speaker 6: the day progressed, it was like.
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: Well, I landed.
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: I went from Costa Rica to Florida, from Florida to
• 11:14
  Speaker 5: Jersey because I wanted to see my family.
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: I was in Jersey.
• 11:17
  Speaker 5: They were like, can you get on a plane? Long
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: story short, they flew me back to Florida. They were like,
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: can you get on a plane in a couple hours?
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: I landed at midnight thinking I was going to the
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: beach literally the next day within 12 hours or so.
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: And then at midnight when I landed, they were like, oh, sorry,
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: it's not happening. So yeah, it was a little disappointing.
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: And I have to say too, just the experience, like
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: it rained every single day for hours. So even when
• 11:41
  Speaker 5: I was there, if I wanted to talk to people,
• 11:43
  Speaker 5: I literally like never had that opportunity. So I just
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: feel like It was cut so short for me. He
• 11:48
  Speaker 5: had a very different experience on like The Bachelorette. You know,
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: he did find a connection and stuff. But like both
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: of my seasons, it was so short lived. And I
• 11:56
  Speaker 5: feel like I never even got the opportunity even to
• 11:58
  Speaker 5: like hang out with the girls. I literally slept there
• 12:00
  Speaker 5: one night and that was it. Because you couldn't talk
• 12:04
  Speaker 5: if it wasn't filmed and they couldn't film because it
• 12:06
  Speaker 5: was raining and they would keep us separate for a
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: couple of hours. So I really never got the opportunity
• 12:11
  Speaker 5: or the experience, I feel like. So I'm forever disappointed.
• 12:15
  Speaker 5: But obviously I have Sam.
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: Thanks, babe.
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: But, you know, you get it. Like, you put a
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: lot on hold and whatnot.
• 12:23
  Speaker 5: And I feel like the Bachelor season I was on
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: was kind of a flop all around. So I wanted
• 12:28
  Speaker 5: to also show my personality, who I am.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: But, yeah. Yeah. I mean, a little insight is it
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: is awesome to have the experience. It is better to
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: find somebody. Let me tell you that. We mentioned the
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: couples that came off the beach together. Spencer and Jess
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: just recently announced they are no longer together after moving
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: in together just a short time ago. Were you shocked
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: by that news?
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: Um, I kind of was, yeah.
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: Like I think she had just done a podcast before
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: it saying, you know, they were like doing great and stuff.
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: I don't really know him that well, but she was
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: always like super sweet. But I, and I know they
• 13:13
  Speaker 5: were always together on the show. Um, I don't really
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: know much about their relationship, but I am surprised. I
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: feel like they like meshed well together, their personalities.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: That's one thing too. I mean, mentioning them, I got
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: to meet them at the reunion, the Paradise reunion. I
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: did that for iHeart and it was awesome. And I
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: got to meet all the couples that were together and
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: a lot of the contestants that were, you know, were
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: on that season. But you two weren't there. And I just,
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: I'm kind of, I guess I am confused by that
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: from a show standpoint of, You want to recognize the
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: love that comes from the show. And I think there
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: was a pretty clear path in my mind on how
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: they could have told your story as a success story
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: from Paradise and made it make sense to the viewer.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: But it's like they just kind of said, no, not
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: our thing. Sam, you mentioned that you'd kind of try
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: to get to the bottom of it. But the Paradise
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: reunion is even more confusing to me on why you
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: weren't there.
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think... I think once again, this kind of
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: goes back to what I know. It's really funny.
• 14:20
  Speaker 6: So, you know, whenever they give you the list of
• 14:22
  Speaker 6: names of or they want you to make a list
• 14:24
  Speaker 6: of names of girls you want to see on the
• 14:26
  Speaker 6: beach before you get there.
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: Me being the bad.
• 14:29
  Speaker 6: Guy from The Bachelorette, the last thing I wanted to
• 14:32
  Speaker 6: do was write multiple girls names down because what I
• 14:35
  Speaker 6: knew was going to happen is that I was going
• 14:37
  Speaker 6: to walk down and the second or third pick that
• 14:40
  Speaker 6: your second or third girl that I put on my
• 14:42
  Speaker 6: list was going to be there.
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: I'd have a connection. She would walk down.
• 14:45
  Speaker 6: And then next thing you know, I'd look like an
• 14:46
  Speaker 6: asshole again because I would leave that person for Allie.
• 14:52
  Speaker 6: So I'll never forget Wells. I'll never forget Wells pulling
• 14:56
  Speaker 6: me to the side at the bar. And he was like, hey,
• 15:00
  Speaker 6: I need to do we need to do whatever we
• 15:02
  Speaker 6: can to keep you here.
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: So Spencer and Jess were obviously they were a couple.
• 15:08
  Speaker 6: And I kind of knew after my first date with Jess,
• 15:12
  Speaker 6: I think her and I were just not a fit.
• 15:16
  Speaker 6: I think that's really what I told her between Spencer
• 15:20
  Speaker 6: and I. I was like, listen, I think Spencer is
• 15:22
  Speaker 6: a great guy. I think all three of us have
• 15:24
  Speaker 6: very similar characteristics, but we could not be more polar opposite.
• 15:31
  Speaker 6: And it's not a bad thing. It's not about choosing
• 15:33
  Speaker 6: the better guy. It's just about choosing the guy that's
• 15:35
  Speaker 6: a better fit for you. And whenever that happened, that
• 15:39
  Speaker 6: happened pretty early on in the rose ceremony or in
• 15:42
  Speaker 6: the cocktail party before. And Wells pulled me to the
• 15:45
  Speaker 6: side and he was like, hey, we got to do
• 15:47
  Speaker 6: everything we can to keep you here. And the only
• 15:48
  Speaker 6: girl at that time that really wasn't taken was Alex.
• 15:52
  Speaker 6: Alex knew that if Allie Jo walked on the beach,
• 15:56
  Speaker 6: she was, I was, I was going to leave her.
• 15:58
  Speaker 6: There was no doubt about that.
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: Alex even knew that's who I wanted to meet. So
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: she like, she knew she'd be going home.
• 16:04
  Speaker 6: So I think it was, I think there was probably
• 16:07
  Speaker 6: like 20 minutes left of the cocktail party. And, you know,
• 16:13
  Speaker 6: I go and talk to Alex and I feel like
• 16:14
  Speaker 6: an ass because I've been there for 24 hours and
• 16:18
  Speaker 6: all of my time has been based around the girl
• 16:20
  Speaker 6: that I took a date out, you know, or I
• 16:21
  Speaker 6: took out on a date was Jess.
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: And then here, 20 minutes later, they're like, Sam, we
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: want to keep you here.
• 16:27
  Speaker 6: Let's go talk to Alex because she doesn't have a guy.
• 16:31
  Speaker 6: And I'm like, this doesn't feel right for me. Like
• 16:34
  Speaker 6: I was already the bad guy a season before. Like
• 16:36
  Speaker 6: at the very least, I'd go home night one with
• 16:38
  Speaker 6: my dignity before I hurt anybody's feelings or even pretend
• 16:42
  Speaker 6: to be something that I'm not. So whenever Wells was like, hey,
• 16:47
  Speaker 6: we're trying to make it happen. And then we're all
• 16:48
  Speaker 6: in line to go to the rose ceremony. Alex is
• 16:52
  Speaker 6: like right behind me. And she is, if you know Alex,
• 16:56
  Speaker 6: she's like goofy, always smiling, extremely energetic. That was not Alex,
• 17:02
  Speaker 6: that was behind me at the cocktail party. So then
• 17:06
  Speaker 6: I talked to her and she's like, they want me
• 17:09
  Speaker 6: to do something. And she wouldn't tell me. I knew
• 17:13
  Speaker 6: what was going on because whenever I got a few
• 17:16
  Speaker 6: phone calls, whenever I got sent home and it was like, Sam,
• 17:19
  Speaker 6: that was not supposed to happen.
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: Blah, blah, blah.
• 17:21
  Speaker 5: They were supposed to bring us on together because we
• 17:24
  Speaker 5: both said each other's names.
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: So I just will never, it will never make sense
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: to me. I don't mean to cut you off. It
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: will just never make sense to me.
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: I think Sam too. that we both said each other's name.
• 17:32
  Speaker 5: Why wouldn't you be more strategic in playing it? Because
• 17:34
  Speaker 5: at the end of the day that I feel like
• 17:36
  Speaker 5: as producers, especially now with the even more flop we
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: had after grant season with Taylor, Frankie Paul season, like
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: you should want these stories. We are the ones promoting
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: your franchise. And if it is about love, like let's
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: have it be about love and relationships, not about like
• 17:51
  Speaker 5: these weird games and the goldens and the mixture.
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: It was just like, they're doing the most, but they
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: did the most.
• 17:56
  Speaker 5: And like, The most random ways, if that makes sense.
• 18:01
  Speaker 6: I don't think that they thought that, or I don't
• 18:03
  Speaker 6: think they ever considered that I was going to go
• 18:07
  Speaker 6: home night one. I think they knew that Allie and
• 18:09
  Speaker 6: I would hit it off, but they were like, all right,
• 18:11
  Speaker 6: Sam will get past the first week with no real
• 18:14
  Speaker 6: thought into it. And then whenever that didn't happen, that's
• 18:17
  Speaker 6: when they started scrambling. Whatever took place after that, after
• 18:20
  Speaker 6: we both got sent home, I really have no idea.
• 18:22
  Speaker 6: And even to this day, I still don't have an answer.
• 18:24
  Speaker 6: I tried to get one. Don't really know. And I
• 18:28
  Speaker 6: think that kind of threw a wrench into all of it,
• 18:30
  Speaker 6: which is why they ultimately called us and said, hey,
• 18:33
  Speaker 6: what do you think about coming back? Little do they
• 18:35
  Speaker 6: know I've been talking to Allie since I've been sent
• 18:37
  Speaker 6: home and since she's been sent home. So her thing,
• 18:40
  Speaker 6: you know, her thing to me was before she jumped
• 18:42
  Speaker 6: on that flight back to Florida to go to Costa
• 18:44
  Speaker 6: Rica was like, hey, I'll go if you go.
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I wasn't going to not go if.
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: That would be another waste of time.
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 18:52
  Speaker 6: I think at that point you're trying to, you know,
• 18:54
  Speaker 6: cross your T's, dye your eyes. And then, like I said,
• 18:57
  Speaker 6: whatever happened after that, not really sure.
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: But, yeah.
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: We're here now.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: We didn't say no to coming to the reunion. You
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: would have came and hung out, right?
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely. I got along with everybody. I think.
• 19:11
  Speaker 5: Yeah, like we even said, we never get really invited
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: to anything. Yeah, we're on the East Coast, but like
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: we are a couple. they like to consider us we're
• 19:19
  Speaker 5: bachelor nation, but they only want to consider us we're
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: bachelor nation sometimes. So, you know, that's why we're like
• 19:26
  Speaker 5: even happy to like do this podcast because we feel
• 19:28
  Speaker 5: like a little removed from that world, which is, you know,
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: it's okay. Like we're happy. We have our like own
• 19:34
  Speaker 5: personal lives, but no, you do make friends and there
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: are opportunities in it. And we kind of just, I
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: feel like I've always been on our own island.
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: Um, That's okay.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: You're not alone in that feeling, though. I think especially
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: right now. I mean, obviously, the show has taken a
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: big hiatus. It has not. been on TV for a
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: long time. We really don't know when it's going to
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: come back.
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: If it does come back, I'm guessing it's going to
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: come back with a Bachelor season because the Bachelorette season
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: didn't work. Is there anybody that pops in your head
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: that's like, hey, this should be the guy that could
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: bring the franchise back.
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: It's gotta be, it's gotta be a, like, I know
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: that there were talks about, uh, what's it? Robert Irwin.
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah.
• 20:20
  Speaker 6: Like, do I think that he has the, I don't
• 20:23
  Speaker 6: know if he has what it takes to be able
• 20:25
  Speaker 6: to do it, but like, what a great, uh, name
• 20:28
  Speaker 6: and face by one of those wholesome people you've ever
• 20:30
  Speaker 6: met between his dad like his dad was the same
• 20:32
  Speaker 6: way yeah i think like it just brings it's the
• 20:35
  Speaker 6: same thing with taylor frankie paul like it's just a
• 20:37
  Speaker 6: huge it's kind of like an icon that you bring
• 20:39
  Speaker 6: to the bring to the stage but in between those
• 20:42
  Speaker 6: two people they have completely different um lifestyles characteristics qualities
• 20:48
  Speaker 6: the bachelorette took a shot at you know shot on
• 20:51
  Speaker 6: taylor frankie paul knowing what was out.
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: There And it backfired.
• 20:55
  Speaker 6: So I think the next time is to get somebody
• 20:56
  Speaker 6: that like America actually loves, like America loves to see.
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: And I think that they can have a successful show.
• 21:03
  Speaker 5: The Savannah Banana guy that's on Dancing with the Stars,
• 21:06
  Speaker 5: does he have a girlfriend?
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: I don't think so. He's kind of begged on social
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: media to become The Bachelor.
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: Okay. I wouldn't know that if he doesn't have a girlfriend,
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: they should choose him. He seems wholesome.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: It will be somebody that has a name, I think.
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: I don't know if that's the best move. I'm I'm
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: in the category of you just got to get somebody
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: that people can root for and root for with. And
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: the show has to know that this person has the
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: right intentions, some values, maybe a little charismatic that can
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: like actually carry a conversation on television. Yeah.
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: Someone relatable, you know.
• 21:45
  Speaker 5: But I think that's why bracket like Love Island's so young.
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: I'm like, wow.
• 21:48
  Speaker 6: I think that's why you got to get somebody that's
• 21:50
  Speaker 6: like already been through the whole social media thing and
• 21:54
  Speaker 6: like that high, because I think that's where a lot
• 21:57
  Speaker 6: of people get lost in this entire process is that
• 22:00
  Speaker 6: they go through and, you know, they get off the show.
• 22:03
  Speaker 6: And the next thing you know, you've got 100,000 followers.
• 22:07
  Speaker 6: You've got 300,000 followers. You have all types of DMs
• 22:10
  Speaker 6: from whoever that. And they've never experienced that type of
• 22:13
  Speaker 6: attention before. And it just starts to... Go to their head.
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 22:17
  Speaker 6: It just starts to deter them off of the path
• 22:19
  Speaker 6: that they were originally on. And I think it changes
• 22:21
  Speaker 6: everybody if you allow it to change you.
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: It will do that right there.
• 22:25
  Speaker 6: So if you can get somebody who's already been through
• 22:28
  Speaker 6: all of this that can ignore however many thousands of
• 22:32
  Speaker 6: DMs of girls or guys hitting on you, whatever, then
• 22:36
  Speaker 6: you can probably maneuver through what's to happen after the show.
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: But... What do we know?
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's all speculation right now. Obviously, Chris Harrison,
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: the former host of The Bachelor, came out with his
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: show that is built on this idea of traditional values.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: And what we assume that means is values and faith
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: and maybe not as much politics, but some things that
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: most dating relationships have happened in the course of a
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: few months. Those will be prevalent in his show. We'll
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: see how that goes, and we'll see how The Bachelor
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: comes out against it. A few rapid fires for you all.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: I guess this isn't as much of a rapid fire. Allie,
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: you're really good friends with Juliana, correct? Yeah. You're both
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: on grant season. She recently got engaged.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: I know.
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: I'm so happy for her.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: She was on this show. Goodness. Just a few months ago.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: And we listened to it, tried to get them to
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: tell us that they were like married. We thought maybe
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: they were already married and they tease that. I don't know.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: I have you spoken to her recently?
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: Yeah, we were literally texting not even a week ago
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: because she's coming to Florida in a couple of weeks
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: and we're going to try and get together. She'll be
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: with her fiance and I'll be with Sam and Sam's
• 23:50
  Speaker 5: never met Juliana and I've never met her fiance. So
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: it'll be a great opportunity for us to all get together.
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: So I hope that works. I know she has stuff
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: going on. My mom's going to be here that weekend
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: for her birthday. So we'll, even if she gets together
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: with my mom and everything too, we'll, we'll make it happen.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: That's a, would you say she's one of your closer
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: friends from that season?
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. I talk to her the most.
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: I talk to her at least once a week, if
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: not every other week or through Instagram. We definitely stay
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: in touch. I, I know her cousins, you know, there's
• 24:16
  Speaker 5: some common people we know in Fort Lauderdale.
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: So it's nice.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: If she has a bachelorette party, do you think you'll
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: be attending?
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: Yes. Cause she already told me, you know, I'll be
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: invited to her wedding.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah. What, uh, but the plans for the bachelorette
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: party are not solidified yet.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: No, but I did send them an engagement gift. It
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: was cute.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: That's sweet. That's thoughtful of you. We're really happy for
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: her here. We, she was kind enough kind of right
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: after the season ended in the breakup happened with grant.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: She came on and was very vulnerable, very open. She
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: didn't have to be, she was, and she was great.
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: And she always carried a lot of respect for grant
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: within that conversation, but was definitely not happy with him.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: I made that very clear. Then we get to kind
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: of follow her journey then to meeting, her fiance, and
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: we got both of them on here, and that was great. Allie,
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: as you look back on your season of The Bachelor,
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: and you think about Grant as your bachelor, what are
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: your thoughts kind of about the whole situation?
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: Like him as a bachelor, like how he was for
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: all of us? I think he was nice.
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: I just don't think this whole experience is right fit
• 25:28
  Speaker 5: for him. So a little like, I don't know, when
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: I watched him on Jen's season, he seemed so different than... how,
• 25:35
  Speaker 5: when I met him, like he kind of was more
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: reserved and he felt shy. Like I felt like when
• 25:41
  Speaker 5: I was talking to him, like I would ask him
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: more questions, but I'm like that as a person. So
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: I don't know if it's just me, but I think
• 25:47
  Speaker 5: he's just too, a little too laid back for this
• 25:49
  Speaker 5: type of thing.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah. It's, uh, and I mean, being the bachelor is
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: a whole different beast, but you do have to kind
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: of step into it maybe with like a little more gusto,
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: I think.
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: Exactly. I think, yeah.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: We had Latia on last week and, you know, obviously
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: they've been feuding on social media. They've been feuding?
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: I didn't know this.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: She's kind of just like being snarky and funny. I
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: think she doesn't care that much about it, but she
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: does take advantage of the opportunity. Hey, final question for
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: you guys. People listening wrote us in as we prepared
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: for this. And the main question was, have you guys
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: talked about getting married?
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: I don't know, Sam, you're supposed to listen to me.
• 26:47
  Speaker 6: Needless to say, whenever, I mean, of course, I think
• 26:51
  Speaker 6: if I moved here, definitely those talks have happened. But
• 26:55
  Speaker 6: I promise you social media and the bachelor world will
• 26:58
  Speaker 6: be the very last people to find out whenever all
• 27:01
  Speaker 6: of that happens right there, to say the least.
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: But yeah, of course, there's been talks about it.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: I mean, it would be nice if you came on
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: here and told us before you told anybody else. That'd
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: be sweet.
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: Well, maybe we will. I like you. This is the
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: first day I met you.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: Keep that in mind. I got it. That'd be very nice. Yeah,
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: that'd be a good win for all of us here.
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I like that.
• 27:21
  Speaker 5: Listen, I'm very grateful that he did leave his job.
• 27:25
  Speaker 5: He worked with his family. He has tenants in his house.
• 27:29
  Speaker 5: He literally uprooted his life for me. And I don't think,
• 27:33
  Speaker 5: you know, I'm 32 years old. If we didn't see
• 27:35
  Speaker 5: a picture of this, when it.
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: Happened, I'm old.
• 27:37
  Speaker 5: I know I'm a cougar, but yeah, I think we
• 27:40
  Speaker 5: need a couple months just to like get ourselves together.
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: Like we've never lived together.
• 27:43
  Speaker 5: We've been in a long distance relationship and we just,
• 27:46
  Speaker 5: he just moved here and then we just moved again.
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: So finally feel settled.
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: So she's saying no right now. It can't be yet.
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: He's already saying no.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: You got to give it a few months, Sam.
• 27:56
  Speaker 4: We got some more.
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: What rings I want on Instagram is my whole for
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: you page.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: Just wait till you start getting like clumps of hair
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: stuck on the side of the shower, Sam. It's a
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: whole new wild game out there.
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: She does throw them away. I'm surprised.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: Marrier.
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: I'm shocked, honestly.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's over right there. Big win. She can't fold anything,
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: but goodness gracious, she can clean up that hair.
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: I totally can.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: Hey, as we close out here, obviously the two of you,
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: have both been around Bachelor Nation. You've been on Paradise.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: You've been on Seasons of the Bachelor, Bachelorette, obviously this
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: Bachelor Mansion takeover. You mentioned that you feel distance from
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: the franchise. Doesn't mean that the viewers don't still want
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: to stay engaged in your life. How can they best
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: do that? What can they look forward to? What exciting
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: things are to come or maybe not to come in
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: your world that they can be watching for?
• 28:53
  Speaker 5: We definitely like make funny Instagrams or TikToks. Like Sam
• 28:57
  Speaker 5: makes fun of New Jersey every chance he gets. But
• 29:00
  Speaker 5: we go out a lot in like Delray and Fort
• 29:02
  Speaker 5: Lauderdale and West Palm. And we meet people there. Like
• 29:04
  Speaker 5: a lot of people do come up to us when
• 29:06
  Speaker 5: we're together, which is really nice. But yeah, they stay
• 29:09
  Speaker 5: up to date. I know Sam's not huge on social media.
• 29:11
  Speaker 5: So it's usually me posting.
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the club.
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: He's like, I'm doing that. But I respect that. And
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: I actually really like that about him.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah. One of the wins of. for me of getting
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: married was I was like, Hey, you can take over
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: this now.
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: Right?
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: Like you're good communicating on behalf of both of us.
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: Cause I not into this thing. Um, anyways, that's good
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: for you guys. Hey, uh, make sure you go out.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: If you're listening, follow along on Sam and Allie's journey as, uh,
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: they pursue potentially one day walking down the aisle or
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: at least making the maybe commitment to it. They are
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: living together. If you see them in public, please say hello.
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: And maybe one day at some bachelor thing or I
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: heart thing or something we can meet in person. But
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: until then, I appreciate you guys coming on. We wish
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: you the best here. Thanks for catching us up on everything. Hey,
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: this has been an Almost Famous Podcast. I'm holding down
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: the fort for right now. Who knows what Ashley's doing?
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: I know, I love the housewives of Rhode Island.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we have no idea what she's up to these days.
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: But whatever it is, she's staying busy. So until next time,
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: I've been Ben. We'll talk to you soon, everybody.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: Follow the Ben and Ashley Eye Almost Famous Podcast on
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.