Latest / The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast / Almost Famous In Depth: Ariel Frenkel
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: This is Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous in Depth.
- 0:04Speaker 1: All right, today we're joined on the Almost Famous podcast
- 0:07Speaker 1: for a very special episode Ariel. Welcome. Hi. You have
- 0:13Speaker 1: been doing the rounds here recently. You've been talking about
- 0:17Speaker 1: this show a lot. Are you sick of it yet?
- 0:21Speaker 1: I could never get sick of talking about the show.
- 0:24Speaker 1: That's not true, I promise you that's not true. I
- 0:29Speaker 1: think it's nice to be able to talk about the experience,
- 0:31Speaker 1: and I feel like from each conversation you get a
- 0:33Speaker 1: different take from different people and they ask different questions.
- 0:36Speaker 1: So it hasn't become redundant for me yet, but maybe
- 0:39Speaker 1: one day I'll get tired of it. Well, you know,
- 0:42Speaker 1: it is a cool experience. And I will say, as
- 0:45Speaker 1: I was prepping for this, you have you have an
- 0:49Speaker 1: experience that not everybody can can relate with that came
- 0:54Speaker 1: onto the show and then have been removed from the show.
- 0:57Speaker 1: You pretty much personally came out, in my opinion, and unscathed.
- 1:01Speaker 1: Like nobody is hating on Ariio. Everybody loves Ariel. How
- 1:04Speaker 1: does that feel? I think there will always these some haters,
- 1:08Speaker 1: some okay majority. I was given amazing advice kind of
- 1:13Speaker 1: after the experience about how to handle everything, because going
- 1:17Speaker 1: in I kind of didn't know what to anticipate, and
- 1:20Speaker 1: everything that I might have anticipated was very different once
- 1:22Speaker 1: I was actually in there. So I was given great
- 1:25Speaker 1: advice on how to handle everything once because there's this
- 1:28Speaker 1: interim period of we kind of leave. I left Thailand
- 1:31Speaker 1: and then for a long time, I don't know what
- 1:33Speaker 1: anything's going to look like, what's going to play back,
- 1:35Speaker 1: what the episodes are going to be like. So someone
- 1:38Speaker 1: told me that no matter what people say, I have
- 1:41Speaker 1: to keep being authentically myself and sticking true to what
- 1:44Speaker 1: I know of myself. So even if people are praising you,
- 1:47Speaker 1: if they're saying really nice things, don't take that to heart.
- 1:49Speaker 1: But also then don't take the insults too much to
- 1:52Speaker 1: heart either. So I feel like there's always something negative
- 1:55Speaker 1: that people can say to me. There's always something that
- 1:57Speaker 1: can be said in any capacity, But of putting so
- 2:00Speaker 1: much weight on the compliments, I'm also not going to
- 2:03Speaker 1: put so much weight there, so I won't put weight
- 2:04Speaker 1: on the negative commentary. So I appreciate what everyone's saying.
- 2:08Speaker 1: Everyone's been so sweet, so nice, and like, I love
- 2:11Speaker 1: how people have been reaching out like individually, even through
- 2:13Speaker 1: like social media and stuff, and even a Nashville I
- 2:16Speaker 1: run into people on the street and they had such
- 2:17Speaker 1: kind things to say. But I try to like still
- 2:21Speaker 1: stay true to myself, so even if I hear insults
- 2:23Speaker 1: or hear someone say something, because people will always, no
- 2:26Speaker 1: matter who you are, have something negative to say. So
- 2:29Speaker 1: I feel like I try to ignore that and keep
- 2:32Speaker 1: being myself no matter like what people say, not trying
- 2:35Speaker 1: to shift that. Who gave you this advice a friend
- 2:39Speaker 1: of mine that I'm actually well traveling? Oh really, So
- 2:42Speaker 1: like they weren't somebody from the show No No, But
- 2:46Speaker 1: when they told you this, it just felt like, No,
- 2:48Speaker 1: I needed this reminder. It wasn't someone I was super
- 2:53Speaker 1: close to. But they said. Let's say someone says that
- 2:56Speaker 1: I'm unintelligent, for example, and I'll be trying to prove
- 3:00Speaker 1: that person wrong instead of just being intelligent. So whatever
- 3:03Speaker 1: the insult or anything is, you're always going to be
- 3:06Speaker 1: trying to disprove what people say. So it's better to
- 3:09Speaker 1: actually just be yourself because then that way, even the
- 3:12Speaker 1: compliments will actually ring true and the insults won't. So
- 3:16Speaker 1: it's better to do that than to try to combat
- 3:18Speaker 1: what people are saying online and I try to honestly
- 3:21Speaker 1: only filter in the positive commentary for the most part.
- 3:24Speaker 1: You know, the other thing that happens. It feels like
- 3:27Speaker 1: when you're saying this, you wouldn't lose yourself, which is
- 3:29Speaker 1: so easy to happen in this experience. Right, you're in
- 3:32Speaker 1: it right now. But you went from zero to one hundred, right,
- 3:35Speaker 1: I mean a year ago you weren't getting recognized in Nashville,
- 3:38Speaker 1: or maybe you were and you could correct me there,
- 3:41Speaker 1: but now you are, And it's so easy. There's so
- 3:44Speaker 1: many different factors that can cause you to lose who
- 3:46Speaker 1: you are and years later you look back and say,
- 3:48Speaker 1: what happened? What was all this about? Yeah? Definitely, And
- 3:52Speaker 1: I wanted to make sure that I was being authentic
- 3:54Speaker 1: to myself through the experience. And I wasn't going to
- 3:57Speaker 1: waiver on that, even in moments of being uncomfortable or
- 4:00Speaker 1: so I didn't feel like myself. It's always important to
- 4:03Speaker 1: kind of go back to your center of gravity one
- 4:05Speaker 1: when you can, well, I want to talk about who
- 4:08Speaker 1: you are as a person. This is an in depth
- 4:10Speaker 1: episode with Ariel. I was Ariel, right, that's how you
- 4:14Speaker 1: say it, Ariel. Okay. So there's like a longer. Yeah,
- 4:19Speaker 1: I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna do that correctly seventy five
- 4:22Speaker 1: percent of the time, I promise, Okay, from here on out,
- 4:25Speaker 1: it's going to be right. But these are most listened
- 4:29Speaker 1: to episodes here at the Almost Famous Podcast because I
- 4:31Speaker 1: think people really like to know who they are watching
- 4:34Speaker 1: and who they are seeing on television. So let's start
- 4:38Speaker 1: at the beginning before or not at the beginning necessarily,
- 4:41Speaker 1: but who were you before this show? What was your job?
- 4:44Speaker 1: What were your hobbies? What are your friend group like?
- 4:47Speaker 1: Give us a little insight. Should I start for the beginning?
- 4:50Speaker 1: I started my college days whenever it feels like it
- 4:52Speaker 1: matters the most. Well. I grew up in New York.
- 4:56Speaker 1: After New York, I moved to DC for school. I
- 4:59Speaker 1: went to Dow George Washington, and I actually made my
- 5:02Speaker 1: closest friends there. I don't think I had as many
- 5:05Speaker 1: close relationships with people in high school, like typical bully story.
- 5:09Speaker 1: But I really made like my lifelong, like forever kind
- 5:13Speaker 1: of partner friends in college and I still we're kind
- 5:17Speaker 1: of in a group of four, and then many people
- 5:18Speaker 1: outside of that. And then I graduated college and actually
- 5:24Speaker 1: moved to LA to pursue a job in entertainment. I
- 5:27Speaker 1: worked at a talent agency and it's like grad school,
- 5:30Speaker 1: but it is a very intense experience and I learned
- 5:34Speaker 1: a lot in two years. I then worked in hospitality.
- 5:38Speaker 1: I've kind of switched around a lot of different jobs.
- 5:41Speaker 1: I most recently was working for The Financial Times, and
- 5:45Speaker 1: then I switched to freelance marketing. So I basically now
- 5:50Speaker 1: work with brands, building brands up, doing all the marketing
- 5:52Speaker 1: strategy for them from the beauty space to the fashion space,
- 5:55Speaker 1: and also through word of mouth through anyone that actually
- 5:57Speaker 1: wants to work with me based on my previous experience.
- 6:00Speaker 1: So uh, and it's it's a question that so many
- 6:03Speaker 1: get asked at this stage, Now do you plan on
- 6:05Speaker 1: continuing to work at the job that you have before?
- 6:08Speaker 1: So I now work in freelance. I'm going to keep
- 6:10Speaker 1: that job as long as I can because I really
- 6:12Speaker 1: like building brands from the ground up and helping people
- 6:15Speaker 1: visualize their strategy. I was able to basically apply everything
- 6:18Speaker 1: I've learned. I've worked since I was sixteen years old.
- 6:20Speaker 1: I over the summer. Was intered at the first time
- 6:23Speaker 1: when I was sixteen at a PR firm, and I
- 6:26Speaker 1: just loved the rush of like being surrounded by people
- 6:28Speaker 1: that are kind of running around the clock. I was
- 6:30Speaker 1: with all twenty six year olds at that time, and
- 6:32Speaker 1: I just felt like writing copy and getting involved. And
- 6:36Speaker 1: to me, I always prioritize even work over schooling and
- 6:39Speaker 1: things like that. So I interned every single year when
- 6:42Speaker 1: I was actually in school through both kind of like
- 6:45Speaker 1: different semesters of the year and then also in the summer.
- 6:48Speaker 1: So then, now, do you feel like your experience on
- 6:50Speaker 1: the show? Has it given you any new insights? Do
- 6:54Speaker 1: you you feel like it's going to help you? I mean,
- 6:56Speaker 1: I would imagine. I don't want to assume, because most
- 7:00Speaker 1: like good people don't. But you didn't go into this
- 7:02Speaker 1: show thing hey, this is going to help my career.
- 7:04Speaker 1: But now you're seeing the you know, the backside of
- 7:07Speaker 1: the show in what opportunities are available. Do you think
- 7:09Speaker 1: it's going to help in this next chapter? I don't
- 7:13Speaker 1: necessarily think so's it can hurt and depending on the
- 7:16Speaker 1: job opportunity. But I'm more so I'm less interested in
- 7:18Speaker 1: the corporate world and I kind of left that and
- 7:22Speaker 1: I'm more interested in like the startup and freelancing space,
- 7:25Speaker 1: so that it can hurt you in more corporate environments
- 7:29Speaker 1: because people question your participation. So I actually really had
- 7:32Speaker 1: to think about it before I went into the show,
- 7:34Speaker 1: because that could really hurt my chances of going back
- 7:37Speaker 1: into kind of a large corporation and even the previous
- 7:40Speaker 1: work experience that I had. So I really had to
- 7:42Speaker 1: be meticulous about it, think about it, and so far
- 7:45Speaker 1: I think when people search me there won't be kind
- 7:47Speaker 1: of negative commentary or anything like that that they see
- 7:49Speaker 1: from my experience on the show. But I also had
- 7:52Speaker 1: to be really careful about what kind of roles I
- 7:55Speaker 1: want to pivot into now if I do decide to
- 7:57Speaker 1: go back, it's like the startup space. Yeah no, you again.
- 8:00Speaker 1: You carried yourself tremendously on the show, and you stayed
- 8:03Speaker 1: authentic to who you are. I think that's a big
- 8:05Speaker 1: reason why you are such a fan favorite, and you
- 8:08Speaker 1: have been busy talking about the show since the show.
- 8:11Speaker 1: Let's give us a little more insight here. If I
- 8:14Speaker 1: did my research correctly, your national Ellie is Ukrainian. Correct, Yeah,
- 8:21Speaker 1: I'm Ukrainian Jewish. Ukrainian Jewish. You grew up in New
- 8:24Speaker 1: York City, as you said, you moved to LA but
- 8:26Speaker 1: you are a world traveler. Also, you do enjoy travel.
- 8:31Speaker 1: That is a big part of your life, correct, Yeah,
- 8:32Speaker 1: it always has been. Through work. I traveled a lot
- 8:35Speaker 1: for most of my jobs, and I also worked for
- 8:37Speaker 1: a company that was primarily based in London, and then
- 8:39Speaker 1: a previous company as well that was between LA and
- 8:41Speaker 1: New York, but we traveled all over. Because it was
- 8:44Speaker 1: in the hospitality space, we did a lot of on
- 8:46Speaker 1: the groundwork where we checked out different hotels and restaurants
- 8:50Speaker 1: and so on to kind of see what the market
- 8:51Speaker 1: is like. And in between every job I've made, start
- 8:55Speaker 1: to do a big trip, usually by myself. Again, between
- 8:58Speaker 1: when I left the talent agency space and was moving
- 9:00Speaker 1: into hospitality, I went to Asia on my own because
- 9:03Speaker 1: I knew I wouldn't have that like two month period
- 9:05Speaker 1: to have off again. So I think it's important to
- 9:08Speaker 1: travel to see the world, and if you can do
- 9:11Speaker 1: it within a certain budget as well. I like the
- 9:13Speaker 1: challenge of being able to do so. You're you you definitely,
- 9:18Speaker 1: I mean least we got this sense that you're adventurous.
- 9:22Speaker 1: You're One of your final dates was Zach was eating
- 9:26Speaker 1: insects and we said here at the almost famous podcast, Um,
- 9:30Speaker 1: how cool of a moment. That was because traditionally on
- 9:33Speaker 1: the show or other shows, you see people traveled to
- 9:36Speaker 1: different cultures and kind of get grossed out by whatever
- 9:40Speaker 1: is being put in front of you or whatever, and
- 9:42Speaker 1: it's it's always a very awkward, I feel like scene
- 9:45Speaker 1: because it's it's it's disrespectful in my mind. And you
- 9:50Speaker 1: especially did not disrespect you dove in and you enjoyed
- 9:54Speaker 1: it and you talked about good it was. I thought
- 9:56Speaker 1: it was a really great moment for the show to
- 9:58Speaker 1: see somebody respect culture in different people's lifestyles like you did.
- 10:04Speaker 1: I think you always have to. And it's also smart
- 10:05Speaker 1: sometimes to do research before you go somewhar to know
- 10:08Speaker 1: the customs because even a handshake can be disrespectful in
- 10:11Speaker 1: certain cultures. So I think it's very important to do
- 10:13Speaker 1: as much research as you can, no matter which new
- 10:15Speaker 1: city you're going to and country as well. Yeah, well,
- 10:19Speaker 1: thank you. I guess it was a great thing to
- 10:22Speaker 1: see on television. Well, I want to dive into your
- 10:25Speaker 1: time on the show. Now we've got a picture of
- 10:28Speaker 1: who you are when you got signed up, when you
- 10:32Speaker 1: agreed to come on the show, were you already interested
- 10:35Speaker 1: in Zach was this already something or in somebody that
- 10:39Speaker 1: you were intrigued by, or is this just a new
- 10:41Speaker 1: experience to have a lot of fun with. No, I
- 10:43Speaker 1: was definitely I found out. I signed up for the
- 10:45Speaker 1: experience not knowing that it would be Zach, but I
- 10:47Speaker 1: found out before going in. So were you excited? Yeah,
- 10:53Speaker 1: I was excited. Okay. I definitely was guarded coming in,
- 10:57Speaker 1: and I was cautious because I didn't know what to
- 11:00Speaker 1: think of the experience and what to think of someone
- 11:02Speaker 1: kind of trying to pursue a relationship in that kind
- 11:04Speaker 1: of a dynamic. But the more I got to know him,
- 11:06Speaker 1: the more excited I got, and the more I kind
- 11:09Speaker 1: of felt like, yes, he wasn't part of like the
- 11:11Speaker 1: typical kind of I don't really have a type, honestly,
- 11:15Speaker 1: I like to say that, but he's definitely not in
- 11:17Speaker 1: line with like anyone I've dated in the last few years.
- 11:19Speaker 1: And he really reminded me of a lot of the
- 11:22Speaker 1: relationships I had in college, and his kindness and his
- 11:24Speaker 1: sweetness and the way he was really like a great
- 11:27Speaker 1: listener and made me feel comfortable in such an uncomfortable environment. Yeah,
- 11:31Speaker 1: I got more excited as I got to know him,
- 11:33Speaker 1: because I don't like to really base anything off of
- 11:36Speaker 1: what you see on someone on television or what they
- 11:38Speaker 1: might be like, because you might be disappointed or they
- 11:40Speaker 1: might just be different when you meet them. So I
- 11:42Speaker 1: was very excited as much as I could be, but
- 11:45Speaker 1: I like to like limit my emotions until I really
- 11:47Speaker 1: meet someone to get to know them. So I mean,
- 11:49Speaker 1: you know, I think one thing that we've been critical
- 11:53Speaker 1: of here and we said, oh, we don't know if
- 11:56Speaker 1: it's always fair to Zach is you know, his listening
- 11:59Speaker 1: abilities was not exactly shown on television. But we had
- 12:04Speaker 1: Jess on a week or so ago and she said
- 12:07Speaker 1: he was a good listener. You're saying he's a good listener,
- 12:11Speaker 1: can you if you don't mind maybe like supporting the
- 12:14Speaker 1: dude a little bit and validating that, yes, he did
- 12:17Speaker 1: actually listen and he wasn't just quick to cut the
- 12:19Speaker 1: conversation off and move on. Of course, he was a
- 12:23Speaker 1: great listener. And I think that people kind of said
- 12:25Speaker 1: this previously, but people put such an emphasis on empathy
- 12:29Speaker 1: and use these words that they actually don't align with themselves.
- 12:32Speaker 1: You don't have to have the same experience as someone
- 12:34Speaker 1: to be there for them and to make them feel
- 12:38Speaker 1: better about their experience, or just to listen, you can
- 12:41Speaker 1: give off a sense of sympathy, because those are two
- 12:43Speaker 1: very different things. So I felt like Zach was very
- 12:46Speaker 1: sympathetic to different people's experiences. But there's also a limitation
- 12:49Speaker 1: to how much you can really be there for someone
- 12:52Speaker 1: that you're getting to know on such a short period
- 12:54Speaker 1: of time, especially in the first few weeks, because ultimately,
- 12:57Speaker 1: like these people don't know each other, so it's very
- 12:59Speaker 1: hard to sit there and have and hear about a
- 13:02Speaker 1: really major life event of someone's and be able to
- 13:05Speaker 1: contribute and comment back so much. Because also if you
- 13:08Speaker 1: interrupt them or you don't have a good pace in
- 13:10Speaker 1: how you're actually having that dialogue, it can come off
- 13:13Speaker 1: as disrespectful if you're like too engaged, and you kind
- 13:16Speaker 1: of also don't have experience in what they've kind of
- 13:18Speaker 1: gone through. So I think that's a lot of pressure
- 13:21Speaker 1: to put on someone to always be asking the right
- 13:24Speaker 1: questions without even a license therapist. He's not a psychologist,
- 13:29Speaker 1: you know, he doesn't understand how to dissect these things.
- 13:31Speaker 1: He's also someone getting to know someone. So I think,
- 13:34Speaker 1: especially as the season progressed and he got to know
- 13:36Speaker 1: people better, he was able to get more of an
- 13:38Speaker 1: understanding of their experience and also that connection was there. Yeah,
- 13:42Speaker 1: And so when did you feel like your connection with
- 13:44Speaker 1: him really spark Then? When did it go from being
- 13:47Speaker 1: interested and intrigued to being like, this is somebody now
- 13:50Speaker 1: I want to pursue in our one on one Estonia.
- 13:53Speaker 1: I feel like that was really a turning point for me.
- 13:55Speaker 1: I think it was really nice that we were able
- 13:57Speaker 1: to have a slow build and a slow progression because
- 14:00Speaker 1: it was it allowed us to kind of enjoy the
- 14:03Speaker 1: environment and the difficulty of it because I was able
- 14:05Speaker 1: to see him slowly and slowly each week, and I
- 14:08Speaker 1: kind of feel like that's how we were able to
- 14:10Speaker 1: get to the right pace by the Uestolia date and
- 14:13Speaker 1: then we really like transcended everything by that point in
- 14:26Speaker 1: your mind, I mean, after that date, did you believe
- 14:30Speaker 1: and could you first see yourself being with Zach at
- 14:33Speaker 1: the end? I could, Yeah, And I think, you know,
- 14:37Speaker 1: it's obviously it's a little bit of well you've been again,
- 14:41Speaker 1: You've been praised by Bachelor Nation for your poise, but
- 14:43Speaker 1: it's a little bit of a it's a sad storyline
- 14:49Speaker 1: that I feel like probably most people now are asking
- 14:52Speaker 1: you about like the last you know episode of the show.
- 14:55Speaker 1: It's kind of the marking on your storyline because your
- 14:57Speaker 1: story was incredible with Zach from start to finish through
- 15:01Speaker 1: this season, and it did it. It kind of ramped
- 15:04Speaker 1: up and then it continued and at the end, nobody
- 15:07Speaker 1: that was watching could really tell, like who was going
- 15:10Speaker 1: to be there in the end, but it wasn't you.
- 15:12Speaker 1: And so people are asking you about that moment. Not
- 15:17Speaker 1: to jump completely ahead, but when that last Row ceremony
- 15:20Speaker 1: existed and you had this such a great thing, you
- 15:22Speaker 1: had such a great thing going with Zach, were you
- 15:24Speaker 1: surprised that you're going to be going home? Or did
- 15:26Speaker 1: you pretty much foresee it happening in the overnight that
- 15:30Speaker 1: this was your last week. I didn't see it on
- 15:33Speaker 1: our date in the overnight because I was the first
- 15:35Speaker 1: date and I felt like we had such honestly a
- 15:37Speaker 1: great time talking and talking about our features and things
- 15:39Speaker 1: like that. But I was very kind of honest about
- 15:41Speaker 1: what I was looking for and honest about the way
- 15:44Speaker 1: I was feeling as well, and I kind of forgot
- 15:47Speaker 1: about the other dynamics. I forgot about the other women.
- 15:49Speaker 1: I forgot that there was other people there, because you're
- 15:51Speaker 1: also not surrounded by the women at this point, so
- 15:54Speaker 1: you don't know how their dates are going, you don't
- 15:55Speaker 1: know how their connections are progressing, and you kind of
- 15:58Speaker 1: forget that it's not just you Zach in a way.
- 16:01Speaker 1: So I was initially shocked to be going home, but
- 16:04Speaker 1: at the actual rose ceremony, I noticed that he wasn't
- 16:06Speaker 1: making eye contact, that there was a long speech given
- 16:09Speaker 1: about what it transpired. I knew it wasn't related to me,
- 16:12Speaker 1: So I was able to pick up on the fact
- 16:13Speaker 1: that I was going home in that moment, but honestly
- 16:16Speaker 1: forgot that that was an option walking into the rose ceremony,
- 16:19Speaker 1: just because of how our date went. It's interesting, most
- 16:24Speaker 1: people we talked to have a pretty good feeling that
- 16:27Speaker 1: last week that that was that was it for them,
- 16:31Speaker 1: like they'd be back on a planehead and home. And
- 16:33Speaker 1: you are saying that you realize that at the rose
- 16:36Speaker 1: ceremony itself, that when he wasn't making into contact, you're
- 16:40Speaker 1: picking up on his body language that this was going
- 16:45Speaker 1: to be it for you. I also had to remembered
- 16:47Speaker 1: that he had other strong connections because you get so
- 16:50Speaker 1: wrapped up in your date and your experience with this person,
- 16:52Speaker 1: so you forget that they you know, you objectively know
- 16:56Speaker 1: that they're going on another date, that there's the other
- 16:57Speaker 1: women there, but seeing the other women as well, I
- 17:00Speaker 1: had remembered how strong those connections were from kind of
- 17:03Speaker 1: a very early point because we had progressed so late,
- 17:06Speaker 1: kind of in the process. By Estonia that was kind
- 17:08Speaker 1: of the last one on one, So I felt like
- 17:10Speaker 1: I had been reminded of the reality of everything so
- 17:13Speaker 1: versus being so wrapped up and caught up in our
- 17:16Speaker 1: date and our experience in our relationship, because I try
- 17:19Speaker 1: to always look at our individual experience versus comparing myself
- 17:22Speaker 1: to the other women. And I was also throughout the
- 17:25Speaker 1: experience able to gauge more what the other relationships were
- 17:27Speaker 1: like based on the women coming back talking about their date,
- 17:30Speaker 1: talking about the connection. So I think being also separate
- 17:34Speaker 1: from the women not being in the same like hotels
- 17:36Speaker 1: them and vicinity, I just kind of was reminded of
- 17:39Speaker 1: the reality of everything while the rose ceremony is happening. Yeah,
- 17:43Speaker 1: So I mean, are you close with the other women
- 17:46Speaker 1: with gabbing, Katie, Were you close with them going into it? Yeah?
- 17:49Speaker 1: I was very close to them from the really beginning. Honestly,
- 17:52Speaker 1: it was kind of the three of us being very
- 17:54Speaker 1: close throughout the entire experience, and I also had close
- 17:56Speaker 1: relationships with the other women, but I had a particular
- 17:59Speaker 1: close Cicadian Gabby. Yeah, so it is a weird you know,
- 18:04Speaker 1: people don't always know this when they're watching it, but
- 18:07Speaker 1: it is a weird week because you go from kind
- 18:10Speaker 1: of being in this house with you know, all of
- 18:13Speaker 1: these people, talking, playing cards, doing whatever you do to
- 18:15Speaker 1: entertain yourself, and then all of a sudden, before you
- 18:18Speaker 1: know it, you're at your own home and then you're
- 18:22Speaker 1: isolated for you know, I think for me it was
- 18:25Speaker 1: around like a week and a half, like almost ten
- 18:27Speaker 1: days of being alone, just entertaining myself while at the
- 18:32Speaker 1: same time still trying to remember that I'm like dating
- 18:34Speaker 1: this person and I am on a show. But it
- 18:38Speaker 1: gets it's a really weird dynamic at the end. I
- 18:41Speaker 1: think it's very isolating by the end, and I think
- 18:44Speaker 1: not being able. It's funny because throughout the entire experience,
- 18:47Speaker 1: it's very overwhelming to be surrounded by so many women
- 18:49Speaker 1: at once, to have all these dates and all these things,
- 18:51Speaker 1: and that can breed elements of jealousy that can breed
- 18:54Speaker 1: elements of kind of comparison. But it's actually really hard.
- 18:58Speaker 1: I think it would be very difficult as well to
- 19:00Speaker 1: have the women come back after their dates, because I
- 19:02Speaker 1: know that's happened in the past. Yeah, I know Zach
- 19:05Speaker 1: definitely wanted to keep us separate, and that was much
- 19:08Speaker 1: better for us objectively, but it was very difficult to
- 19:12Speaker 1: also feel so isolated in those in those moments, in
- 19:14Speaker 1: those points, and you're you're disconnected from from your friends,
- 19:17Speaker 1: from your family, from anyone really, so you're just a
- 19:20Speaker 1: left alone with your thoughts, and that's not always the
- 19:22Speaker 1: best headspace and feeling to have. Yeah, I wonder you
- 19:25Speaker 1: don't have to answer it. But I'm just curious now
- 19:27Speaker 1: that you say that, because in past seasons, most of
- 19:31Speaker 1: the seasons here is recently, we've seen the women come
- 19:34Speaker 1: back from these dates or the men come back from
- 19:37Speaker 1: these dates and be around each other. I wonder with
- 19:41Speaker 1: this particular scenario, obviously, with what happened with Zach, I
- 19:47Speaker 1: wonder what the dynamic would have been like, if it
- 19:50Speaker 1: would have changed things, if it would have made the
- 19:51Speaker 1: things more tumultuous, or if it would have made things
- 19:54Speaker 1: easier because everybody could have talked in one space. What
- 19:57Speaker 1: do you I mean if you want to answer it,
- 19:58Speaker 1: or if you can't answer, what do you think? I
- 20:02Speaker 1: think we all had so much respect for each other,
- 20:05Speaker 1: and we still do now despite the things that had happened,
- 20:07Speaker 1: and we would never blame one another for anything. So
- 20:11Speaker 1: and the way we're able to be so happy for
- 20:13Speaker 1: Katie now and have such a normal dynamic and relationship.
- 20:16Speaker 1: I just think that if we had been able to
- 20:18Speaker 1: have a conversation and it was more so even privatized,
- 20:21Speaker 1: that could have been beneficial to all of us. Yea
- 20:25Speaker 1: to have that awareness, because I think there was a
- 20:27Speaker 1: lack of awareness of what had happened, And I think
- 20:30Speaker 1: for me, I'll only speak on my own experience. For
- 20:32Speaker 1: me personally, standing at the Rose ceremony and not knowing
- 20:35Speaker 1: what had happened or what Zach was talking about, and
- 20:37Speaker 1: then being sent home and still not knowing for a
- 20:40Speaker 1: long period of time, I think that would have definitely
- 20:42Speaker 1: eased a lot of my own confusion and my own
- 20:46Speaker 1: lack of understanding of anything that's transpired and tile and
- 20:49Speaker 1: outside of me. How long were you confused for? When
- 20:52Speaker 1: did you find out how did you find out? When
- 20:55Speaker 1: did stuff start making sense? I found out a lot
- 20:58Speaker 1: of information in watching it, So I think that was
- 21:01Speaker 1: the really difficult part in watching everything back, we all
- 21:04Speaker 1: found out the full scope of what had happened, and
- 21:07Speaker 1: I think that was really hard. That episode was the
- 21:09Speaker 1: hardest for me to personally watch, not because it was
- 21:12Speaker 1: necessarily even just me being sent home and seeing the
- 21:14Speaker 1: difficulty get the breakup. I feel like everything was overshadowed
- 21:18Speaker 1: for something that I felt like took away from all
- 21:19Speaker 1: of our relationships in different ways, and I just didn't
- 21:21Speaker 1: like the way anything was handled. What were your emotions
- 21:25Speaker 1: watching it? Were you angry? Were you sad? I went
- 21:28Speaker 1: through a wave of a lot of different emotions. I
- 21:30Speaker 1: was very confused, and then I was really sad watching
- 21:33Speaker 1: it and seeing that even when you see kind of
- 21:36Speaker 1: us parting and me saying goodbye to Zack and all
- 21:39Speaker 1: these things, I felt like it quickly shifted to another topic.
- 21:41Speaker 1: So it was really sad to see that my relationship
- 21:44Speaker 1: was kind of overshadowed by a single week and a
- 21:49Speaker 1: single experience. And yes, things are really poorly handled, but
- 21:52Speaker 1: I felt like there was so much like kind of
- 21:54Speaker 1: beauty in that relationship and we had gotten so close
- 21:56Speaker 1: at that point, and I didn't like how everything was
- 21:59Speaker 1: position and so I thought that was really difficult to
- 22:02Speaker 1: see and difficult to watch. And then I was angry
- 22:05Speaker 1: as well in terms of the whole week being centered
- 22:08Speaker 1: around sex and how things that should have been private
- 22:11Speaker 1: were publicized. So I was also angry for my friends
- 22:14Speaker 1: that I was angry for myself, and then I was
- 22:17Speaker 1: sadness kind of Again, It's tough because we got to
- 22:20Speaker 1: walk a thin line here between being judgmental and critical
- 22:24Speaker 1: but also understanding. You know that we have been able
- 22:27Speaker 1: now to look back on this moment, and there was
- 22:30Speaker 1: So there's a lot of complexity in this moment because
- 22:32Speaker 1: I really do believe Zach thought he was doing the
- 22:34Speaker 1: right thing, like I really and I think his intentions
- 22:37Speaker 1: were really good. I think he meant well by it.
- 22:39Speaker 1: But I think all of us could see watching it
- 22:41Speaker 1: and preparing for especially those who have been on the
- 22:44Speaker 1: show before, that hey, this is going to be really
- 22:46Speaker 1: hard to navigate, Like you are making statements early on
- 22:50Speaker 1: that you don't know if you're gonna be able to
- 22:52Speaker 1: keep so for you, but I can I can say
- 22:56Speaker 1: that and judge that and criticize that from my couch,
- 23:00Speaker 1: I have no play you know, role in this at
- 23:02Speaker 1: all other than talking to people like you on this podcast.
- 23:06Speaker 1: But as you look back on it now, how do
- 23:10Speaker 1: you wish this would have gone? Like? What do you
- 23:12Speaker 1: wish Zach would have done that week? Knowing that, okay,
- 23:15Speaker 1: he didn't believe that having sex with any anybody was
- 23:17Speaker 1: going to be like he thought the better option would
- 23:19Speaker 1: be to keep that off the table for the healthiness
- 23:22Speaker 1: of all relationships involved. I think that was his intention.
- 23:25Speaker 1: How would you have liked this to play out? Then?
- 23:28Speaker 1: Between the you know four of you? I just wish
- 23:32Speaker 1: he had a conversation with all of us that was private.
- 23:35Speaker 1: When it came to intimacy. I think there should be
- 23:37Speaker 1: discretion de quorum in that, and I don't think that
- 23:40Speaker 1: should be kind of publicized in any way. I think
- 23:42Speaker 1: in previous season there's always been like this question mark
- 23:45Speaker 1: of what happened in the fantasy suites. Think I hate
- 23:47Speaker 1: that terminology what happened in the overnights? So I wish
- 23:51Speaker 1: that things were handled with privacy, and I also wish
- 23:54Speaker 1: that there were like a very one on one conversation
- 23:57Speaker 1: with each person to gauge how they're feeling to people
- 24:00Speaker 1: come to that conclusion doesn't matter feeling on it, And
- 24:03Speaker 1: I respected Zach's attentions and I respected I think he
- 24:06Speaker 1: tried to approach the week with kind of a noble ideation.
- 24:11Speaker 1: He felt very like, this decision is noble and I'm
- 24:14Speaker 1: helping everyone, But he actually kind of hurt everyone by
- 24:17Speaker 1: making a unilateral decision without everyone else. So each relationship
- 24:21Speaker 1: is so different, each person requires such different things. We're
- 24:24Speaker 1: all very different personality types as well, and I wish
- 24:26Speaker 1: he honored all of those relationships by having a kind
- 24:30Speaker 1: of one on one conversation with each person and not
- 24:33Speaker 1: approaching the week in a unified way. Well, I mean,
- 24:35Speaker 1: for somebody that you've complimented here on the show and
- 24:38Speaker 1: other places, and for somebody you have respected and that
- 24:41Speaker 1: you built a relationship with, and you know fairly well,
- 24:45Speaker 1: why do you think he felt like it was his
- 24:48Speaker 1: ability to make this decision for everybody else. I doubt
- 24:53Speaker 1: that he thought about the repercussions of this, and I
- 24:55Speaker 1: doubt that he ever anticipated the week would play out
- 24:57Speaker 1: the way that it did. Again, I think it's kind
- 24:59Speaker 1: of like a falsifi nobility, because I think he was
- 25:01Speaker 1: trying to protect everyone. I think he always comes from
- 25:03Speaker 1: like an earnest and genuine place. I actually don't think
- 25:06Speaker 1: he had malintent at all, and I don't think he's
- 25:08Speaker 1: just a malicious person in general. And I just can
- 25:12Speaker 1: authentically say that based on my experience with him and
- 25:14Speaker 1: based on the person that I got to know. So
- 25:16Speaker 1: I think that he was trying to kind of please
- 25:19Speaker 1: everyone and trying to live up to this like persona
- 25:23Speaker 1: of being like a really great kind of bachelor and
- 25:26Speaker 1: a great person versus just seeing how everyone else was
- 25:29Speaker 1: feeling and tapping into those emotions. I think sometimes there
- 25:32Speaker 1: must be so much pressure to be kind of this
- 25:34Speaker 1: perfect figure and to be carrying an entire season. So
- 25:38Speaker 1: I feel like sometimes when you try to be the best,
- 25:40Speaker 1: you don't end up being that because you're not actually
- 25:42Speaker 1: being true to your relationships, true to yourself. And I
- 25:46Speaker 1: feel like it also just put a really negative spin
- 25:49Speaker 1: on just physical intimacy, and we're all adults, and I
- 25:52Speaker 1: don't think there need to be such a stigma around
- 25:55Speaker 1: intimacy and such a stigma around any decisions that were made,
- 25:58Speaker 1: because it made everyone kind of on a disadvantage. Between
- 26:01Speaker 1: all the women, Yeah, it's a weird you know, you
- 26:06Speaker 1: have great insight into this um because it is a
- 26:10Speaker 1: weird week. It's and it's also a very vulnerable week,
- 26:14Speaker 1: you know, for everybody involved, the lead and the women,
- 26:17Speaker 1: and I know from like past experience, you're going into
- 26:20Speaker 1: this week and you know what it, you know represents,
- 26:25Speaker 1: and it's the first time that you know, cameras get
- 26:28Speaker 1: taken away. It's the first time that maybe you don't
- 26:29Speaker 1: have like a nice date planned and you don't have
- 26:35Speaker 1: even a time restriction on how late the date's gonna go.
- 26:37Speaker 1: Like you you typically know there's an out and so
- 26:40Speaker 1: you can ask some questions and have a conversation and
- 26:42Speaker 1: then if you're not interested, you know you're going home
- 26:44Speaker 1: to your own, separate place at night. This is a
- 26:46Speaker 1: weird week for most people because there is vulnerability, and
- 26:48Speaker 1: there is this intimacy, no matter at what level, and
- 26:53Speaker 1: it you start to feel a lot of pressure. I
- 26:55Speaker 1: think the leads do, because you're right, they start to
- 26:57Speaker 1: feel like they have to be perfect and if they're
- 26:59Speaker 1: not perfect, none of these people are going to be
- 27:01Speaker 1: interested in them anymore. And then they're all going to
- 27:03Speaker 1: go home because yeah, once you know the cameras go
- 27:06Speaker 1: down and the door closes. We're all very human and
- 27:09Speaker 1: none of us have it all together. I personally felt
- 27:12Speaker 1: like it was one of my favorite experiences because I
- 27:15Speaker 1: took the time off camera and so on to just
- 27:19Speaker 1: really ask questions back and forth. I think it's nice
- 27:22Speaker 1: to have ample time and it feels like you're back
- 27:24Speaker 1: in a real kind of dating environment. It feels like
- 27:27Speaker 1: you're out of this simulate environment of the show. So
- 27:30Speaker 1: it feels really nice to be able to stay with
- 27:32Speaker 1: someone for hours. It feels nice to be able to,
- 27:34Speaker 1: like see I think people can always be authentic on camera,
- 27:37Speaker 1: but there's just like a different feeling when you're when
- 27:39Speaker 1: you're off camera and when you're sitting there for just
- 27:41Speaker 1: fifteen hours in a row talking. So for me, fortunate
- 27:45Speaker 1: that week is looked at in such a negative light
- 27:47Speaker 1: and like things happen that we're obviously outside of my
- 27:50Speaker 1: control and so on. Because in the actual date itself,
- 27:54Speaker 1: I really enjoyed my time with Zach and I really
- 27:56Speaker 1: enjoyed speaking kind of into the night and not sleeping
- 27:59Speaker 1: and having kind of a romantic date like that, because
- 28:02Speaker 1: it feels really nice to be able to just have
- 28:06Speaker 1: uninterrupted time with someone that you're potentially going to be
- 28:09Speaker 1: getting engaged to. So do you leave that evening having
- 28:22Speaker 1: any doubts? I think it was hard for me with
- 28:25Speaker 1: my family because I felt like after that evening we
- 28:28Speaker 1: had spoken about family, and we'd spoken about things that
- 28:31Speaker 1: are obviously my family so important to me, and I
- 28:33Speaker 1: just found out more information on how kind of the
- 28:35Speaker 1: date went because I obviously couldn't see the conversation that
- 28:38Speaker 1: they were having with with Zach, and I think I
- 28:41Speaker 1: felt a little bit doubtful about how supportive my parents
- 28:44Speaker 1: were and how they were feeling about everything, as well
- 28:45Speaker 1: as obviously everyone got to know my brother, and I
- 28:49Speaker 1: don't make decisions based off my family, but I also
- 28:51Speaker 1: don't want to make decisions that would they would be
- 28:56Speaker 1: just so again, Sir or So has been like that
- 28:59Speaker 1: was something we had to overcome and that was something
- 29:01Speaker 1: that we had to have more conversations about. Do you
- 29:04Speaker 1: think if you would have ended up with Zach at
- 29:05Speaker 1: the end and you brought him home to your brother,
- 29:08Speaker 1: do you think the vibe changes or do you think
- 29:10Speaker 1: it's similar. I think my brother would become more understanding
- 29:14Speaker 1: over time, like I think my only was is very
- 29:17Speaker 1: loving and my family was supportive of me being pursued
- 29:21Speaker 1: in this relationship, and they're just happy for me to
- 29:23Speaker 1: be happy. But I think they had a hard time
- 29:26Speaker 1: conceptualizing finding a relationship on an experience like this, And
- 29:29Speaker 1: I think they had just very natural qualms and natural
- 29:32Speaker 1: hesitations that I feel like any any parent would have,
- 29:35Speaker 1: including myself, if my daughter, we're going on over my son. Yeah,
- 29:39Speaker 1: it's it's totally fair for families to feel weird about
- 29:46Speaker 1: their loved ones coming back and being like, yeah, I'm good,
- 29:49Speaker 1: I might get engaged at this and everybody'd been like,
- 29:51Speaker 1: I mean, that's cool, We're happy for you, but this
- 29:53Speaker 1: is this is not what we expected. And I feel
- 29:55Speaker 1: like I've lost all sense of any type of control
- 30:00Speaker 1: or knowledge of where you're at in your life. It's
- 30:02Speaker 1: a weird. It's it's a very weird few months for
- 30:04Speaker 1: them them. I'm sure, for sure you sign up for
- 30:08Speaker 1: the experience. Your family doesn't. Yeah, and they are. I'm
- 30:12Speaker 1: for a generation, so my parents have never experienced anything
- 30:15Speaker 1: like this and never even thought this would be something
- 30:17Speaker 1: that I would be doing obviously, so I think it's
- 30:20Speaker 1: hard for them to wrap their head around. I think
- 30:21Speaker 1: they still don't care what the show is, but I
- 30:23Speaker 1: think in the end they would have been happy for me.
- 30:25Speaker 1: But I felt like it would take a lot more
- 30:26Speaker 1: kind of conversations and sit down, so they would have
- 30:29Speaker 1: seemed more like proof of the relationship in a way,
- 30:32Speaker 1: as did your brother growing up when you brought people home.
- 30:35Speaker 1: Was this also a similar vibe that he would give
- 30:39Speaker 1: the people you're dating or is this just because this
- 30:43Speaker 1: environment was so weird combination? But he was always like this, Okay,
- 30:48Speaker 1: my brother always tried to grill people and put them
- 30:52Speaker 1: on the spot and things like that. It's it's in
- 30:54Speaker 1: his nature to be protective and it comes from a
- 30:57Speaker 1: place of love that I always kind of hesitant bringing
- 31:00Speaker 1: people home because he also just wants the best for me,
- 31:04Speaker 1: And I don't think anyone can know what the best
- 31:06Speaker 1: for you is except for yourself. So people can create
- 31:09Speaker 1: ideas for the partner you should end up with, but
- 31:11Speaker 1: they'll never know better than you do. But it comes
- 31:14Speaker 1: from a place of love for you always. Yeah, I
- 31:17Speaker 1: think he. I mean, my entire family comes from such
- 31:19Speaker 1: a place of love. They're so supportive in any decision
- 31:22Speaker 1: I make, in any relationship that I've been in. But
- 31:25Speaker 1: They're always going to be honest, and I think honesty
- 31:29Speaker 1: is more important than sugarcoating things or putting a nice
- 31:32Speaker 1: spin on things, because I think honesty is what gets
- 31:34Speaker 1: you through to a long term relationship. You want to
- 31:37Speaker 1: be able to be honest with your partner. You want
- 31:38Speaker 1: your partner to It's not about your partner passing a test,
- 31:42Speaker 1: but you want to see if your partner makes the effort.
- 31:44Speaker 1: With your family, that's say, if it's more difficult, and
- 31:46Speaker 1: I appreciate it Zach not really being kind of scared
- 31:49Speaker 1: of the interaction or scared of my brother. That's scared,
- 31:51Speaker 1: but I appreciate him continuing on in the relationship and
- 31:55Speaker 1: not letting that be such a tarrent. Yeah, that's fair.
- 31:57Speaker 1: That's fair. Well, switching gear towards the end of this
- 32:02Speaker 1: time with you, and again I want to say thanks
- 32:04Speaker 1: for coming on here. I know life's you know, spinning quickly.
- 32:09Speaker 1: You've got a lot of requests, and so thanks for
- 32:11Speaker 1: coming on here. But I'll last a few final questions
- 32:14Speaker 1: kind of about the show. You know, after you after
- 32:19Speaker 1: the final Rows moment, a lot of people were vying
- 32:22Speaker 1: for you to be the next Batchelorette. They're trying to
- 32:25Speaker 1: figure out how that could all work because a lot
- 32:26Speaker 1: of people, you know, obviously love Charity and I'm really
- 32:29Speaker 1: are excited for the next season, and that's not being
- 32:32Speaker 1: taken away from here, but they wanted you to be
- 32:34Speaker 1: there as well. If they would have asked you, would
- 32:37Speaker 1: you have said yes? Is the first question. No. I
- 32:41Speaker 1: think it's a lot of pressure for me personally to
- 32:42Speaker 1: take something like that on. And I also feel like
- 32:45Speaker 1: it the experience feels like a long time ago, but
- 32:48Speaker 1: also doesn't at the same time, and I don't think
- 32:50Speaker 1: i'd be ready to be thrown back into environment like
- 32:52Speaker 1: that and pursuing multiple relationships in this kind of a setting.
- 32:56Speaker 1: Did you feel this way after, I mean, say, a
- 33:00Speaker 1: month after you know you're you got sent back home
- 33:03Speaker 1: and you're looking at the world and you know you're
- 33:05Speaker 1: waiting for the show to air. Were you pretty confident
- 33:07Speaker 1: at that point? Yeah, I'm not if they ask me,
- 33:09Speaker 1: because you had to assume that you were in the running, like,
- 33:13Speaker 1: I'm not doing this. I try to be open minded
- 33:16Speaker 1: enough because initially I didn't even want to do the show,
- 33:18Speaker 1: and I was trying to be I was very reticent
- 33:21Speaker 1: to participate in anything like this and I really had
- 33:26Speaker 1: predominantly a great experience and it was really great getting
- 33:29Speaker 1: to know Zach. So I didn't want to say definitely no,
- 33:32Speaker 1: I want to keep it option, but I think it's
- 33:35Speaker 1: a lot of pressure, and I think Charity is handling
- 33:38Speaker 1: I'm sure she's handling yourself beautifully, and she is such
- 33:43Speaker 1: an incredible person, and I honestly don't like that people
- 33:45Speaker 1: are constantly saying that I should be about to writting
- 33:47Speaker 1: all these things because I'm personally so happy for her,
- 33:50Speaker 1: and I don't think it needs to be two women
- 33:51Speaker 1: pinned against each other or any any conversation like that.
- 33:55Speaker 1: So I think I haven't really liked the commentary online,
- 33:57Speaker 1: even though it's coming from a positive place. I think
- 34:00Speaker 1: we'll should throw their support towards Charity, who is the
- 34:02Speaker 1: president bachelorette. Yeah sure, yeah, I mean I think I
- 34:05Speaker 1: think people are just really excited about you both, Like
- 34:07Speaker 1: what a compliment to the two of you. But Charity
- 34:09Speaker 1: is gonna rock it, like we have no doubt, right,
- 34:10Speaker 1: She's gonna be great. I'm so excited for a Charity
- 34:13Speaker 1: to find a fiance, and I know that there's going
- 34:15Speaker 1: to be guys throwing themselves at hard Yeah. Yeah, we're
- 34:18Speaker 1: pumped to watch it here. So then the next question is,
- 34:22Speaker 1: would you consider going on Paradise a lot less pressure
- 34:25Speaker 1: than anything you've done so far or being the bachelorette.
- 34:28Speaker 1: If they called you and said we'd love to see
- 34:29Speaker 1: you on the beach, is that something you'd be interested in.
- 34:33Speaker 1: I'm hesitant, but I'm always going to keep my options open.
- 34:36Speaker 1: And it's not a no, but it's a yes. So
- 34:39Speaker 1: I was ambiguous. I got to ask this because my
- 34:42Speaker 1: co host it's her favorite question. That's one of mine too,
- 34:45Speaker 1: but I just don't ask it because I let her
- 34:47Speaker 1: do it. If you went to Paradise, is there somebody
- 34:49Speaker 1: in Bachelor Nation right now that you are interested in
- 34:54Speaker 1: or would enjoy seeing walk down the stairs to the beach? Um?
- 34:59Speaker 1: As of right now, I don't think so. It's interesting,
- 35:03Speaker 1: but people usually have like a one person see them m. Yeah.
- 35:08Speaker 1: Usually people who have come on the show know the show,
- 35:11Speaker 1: and so they've typically watched the show previously and they're
- 35:15Speaker 1: sitting at a place and being like, yes, now that
- 35:17Speaker 1: i've you're different in the best of ways, and I
- 35:20Speaker 1: want to say this, like you might be the first
- 35:22Speaker 1: person I've ever interviewed on this show and the six
- 35:25Speaker 1: years of doing this that I really believe, you know,
- 35:30Speaker 1: if they were asked to be the Bachelor, I would
- 35:32Speaker 1: have said no based on it not being right for
- 35:34Speaker 1: you and not feeling like it would have been appropriate
- 35:36Speaker 1: for the season of life you're in, and also that
- 35:39Speaker 1: you're sitting here going I would think about Paradise like
- 35:41Speaker 1: you actually think you would think about it, and you
- 35:42Speaker 1: might say no to it, knowing the season of life
- 35:45Speaker 1: you're in. Some people just say it. I get the
- 35:48Speaker 1: sense that you've you're pretty confident and where you're at
- 35:54Speaker 1: in life right now. Yeah, And I think that I'm
- 35:57Speaker 1: still doing a lot of personal work right now. I
- 36:00Speaker 1: think that people don't understand what it's like to kind
- 36:03Speaker 1: of be on the back end of this experience. You
- 36:06Speaker 1: are talking about yourself twenty four hours a day. You
- 36:09Speaker 1: are getting to the real root cause of why you're
- 36:11Speaker 1: actually not in a relationship and what kind of previous relationships.
- 36:15Speaker 1: And I had to take a lot of ownership in
- 36:17Speaker 1: my past relationships and what had happened to have those
- 36:22Speaker 1: relationships kind of dissolve. And I didn't realize how responsible
- 36:26Speaker 1: I was and how much I was kind of the
- 36:28Speaker 1: arbiter of my own kind of situations falling apart, and
- 36:31Speaker 1: I feel like the experience taught me so much about myself,
- 36:35Speaker 1: and I had so much personal growth even outside of
- 36:38Speaker 1: my growth and my relationship with Zach, So I feel
- 36:40Speaker 1: like it's still an ongoing process for me. And it's
- 36:44Speaker 1: very difficult to be kind of disconnected from everything in
- 36:46Speaker 1: your life, disconnected form everything you know, and having to
- 36:49Speaker 1: truly follow your gut and your intuition and those you're
- 36:53Speaker 1: talking about yourself all day, and you resurface things that
- 36:57Speaker 1: happened to you in middle school that you didn't even
- 37:00Speaker 1: I's affected you or bothered you or brought you to
- 37:02Speaker 1: the place where you are. I didn't realize how kind
- 37:04Speaker 1: of inadvertently cold I'd become in certain ways, and how
- 37:08Speaker 1: I push people away in relationships. And I think it
- 37:11Speaker 1: took Zack a lot. It took Zack and I a
- 37:13Speaker 1: minute as well to kind of get through that. In
- 37:16Speaker 1: a way I was always pining, I became this kind
- 37:18Speaker 1: of mysterious person, this person that I wanted to project outwards.
- 37:22Speaker 1: And I feel like the show really allowed me, and
- 37:23Speaker 1: these conversations that I was having with Zach allowed me
- 37:26Speaker 1: to work through a lot of past issues, in particularly
- 37:30Speaker 1: romantic issues. So it takes a real toll to do
- 37:34Speaker 1: an experience like this. It takes a lot, and you
- 37:36Speaker 1: can turn that into a net positive. So I really
- 37:40Speaker 1: look back on my experience feeling like I've gotten to
- 37:42Speaker 1: know myself in a way I never anticipated before. But
- 37:46Speaker 1: it takes a lot out of you to do something
- 37:48Speaker 1: like that. It takes a lot out of you to
- 37:49Speaker 1: put yourself out there in that way, and it is
- 37:52Speaker 1: like a very emotionally, physically and so on taxing experience.
- 37:56Speaker 1: So what are you doing? What does life look like now? Then?
- 37:59Speaker 1: I mean, you're learning this stuff. It kind of puts
- 38:01Speaker 1: you in a liminal space like you're kind of sitting
- 38:03Speaker 1: between two worlds for a bit as you're processing in
- 38:06Speaker 1: realizing what you're learning about yourself. And then where do
- 38:09Speaker 1: you go from here? How do you implement these things?
- 38:12Speaker 1: What are you doing for everybody listening who feels very
- 38:15Speaker 1: similar to you and that they're learning something about themselves
- 38:19Speaker 1: and they want to figure out how to implement it
- 38:21Speaker 1: into their lives and actually make real positive change. As
- 38:26Speaker 1: somebody that I'm picking up on is very thoughtful, how
- 38:29Speaker 1: are you working through this? I think it's about forgiving
- 38:34Speaker 1: yourself for where you're at, and forgiving yourself for anything
- 38:39Speaker 1: you might have done in your plast to bring you
- 38:41Speaker 1: to this point. And I think it doesn't necessarily take
- 38:44Speaker 1: getting to a breaking point to start your own personal growth,
- 38:47Speaker 1: but that can be little things each day. I feel
- 38:50Speaker 1: like for me, a big issue was taking everything personally.
- 38:53Speaker 1: I used to put myself in every single situation. I
- 38:56Speaker 1: thought I was a very sensitive person, but actually I
- 38:59Speaker 1: was leaning a narcissistic because I was putting myself in
- 39:03Speaker 1: every scenario and taking a lot of words and actions
- 39:05Speaker 1: of other people that are living their own lives personally.
- 39:08Speaker 1: So I think it's the best advice that I can
- 39:10Speaker 1: ever give is to take yourself out of kind of
- 39:13Speaker 1: being in your own way. I felt like I learned
- 39:16Speaker 1: a lot from the experience because I saw how much
- 39:19Speaker 1: I had self sabotaged in my past, and how much
- 39:21Speaker 1: people were even in the experience, self sabotaging even before
- 39:25Speaker 1: their relationship got to a breaking point, with Zach in particular.
- 39:28Speaker 1: So I feel like it's about being kinder to yourself
- 39:33Speaker 1: and knowing that every everyone's kind of a work in
- 39:35Speaker 1: progress in a way, and there's a much more you
- 39:38Speaker 1: can do to kind of progress as a person, but
- 39:41Speaker 1: to also know how to take yourself out of situations
- 39:43Speaker 1: and understand everyone's going through it too. So when someone
- 39:47Speaker 1: like lashes out at you should always stand up for
- 39:50Speaker 1: yourself and you should always make it clear that you
- 39:52Speaker 1: have your own personal set of boundary, but also to
- 39:54Speaker 1: understand that, like, where is this person coming from, and
- 39:56Speaker 1: why are they actually acting this way? Why are they
- 39:59Speaker 1: so upset? It's not a about me, So it's about
- 40:02Speaker 1: taking yourself out of the equations and understanding how everyone's
- 40:06Speaker 1: probably going through the same motions and feelings that you are.
- 40:08Speaker 1: You know, the show is interesting because people go on
- 40:13Speaker 1: to it for a thousand different reasons. You don't really
- 40:15Speaker 1: know what you're getting into. Nobody really does you get
- 40:17Speaker 1: into it. And there's not one person that I've met
- 40:21Speaker 1: that hasn't been changed. And then there's also not one
- 40:24Speaker 1: person I've met that if they didn't that if they
- 40:28Speaker 1: allowed the show to change them in a positive way,
- 40:32Speaker 1: it didn't. It did like people got people were changed
- 40:35Speaker 1: in a positive way from the show because they did
- 40:37Speaker 1: this introspection and because they dug deep, and because they
- 40:40Speaker 1: gave themselves the forgiveness and because they were criticized and
- 40:44Speaker 1: watched under a microscope dating somebody. When you come through that,
- 40:49Speaker 1: I feel like a lot of people gain a sense
- 40:51Speaker 1: of confidence. And hopefully that's what people's experiences are, because
- 40:55Speaker 1: the show can be really hard on people too, But
- 40:57Speaker 1: I hope they come out of it and just allowing
- 40:59Speaker 1: themselves to be forgiven a little bit because they've done
- 41:01Speaker 1: something really difficult and came through it, and that's something
- 41:04Speaker 1: to be proud of. Well, final question for you. We
- 41:10Speaker 1: talked about your career before the show, we talked about
- 41:13Speaker 1: your experience on the show. We talked about a very
- 41:17Speaker 1: difficult ending to the show just in general for so
- 41:21Speaker 1: many people. And now you're sitting here and you've shared
- 41:24Speaker 1: a little bit about what you foresee the next season
- 41:27Speaker 1: of your life being. But what can people who are
- 41:29Speaker 1: fans of yours, who listen to the show, what can
- 41:32Speaker 1: they be looking forward to from you? What do you
- 41:35Speaker 1: foresee your next steps being in life? And what are
- 41:40Speaker 1: you looking forward to accomplishing. I mean, after this experience,
- 41:45Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to being in a relationship. I'm looking
- 41:47Speaker 1: forward to now applying everything that I kind of learned
- 41:51Speaker 1: from my relationship with Zach, because if a relationship doesn't
- 41:54Speaker 1: come to fruition or you don't get engaged, doesn't mean
- 41:56Speaker 1: you can't learn from it. So I want to take
- 41:59Speaker 1: my experience wood Zac and kind of implement that into
- 42:02Speaker 1: my next relationship. And I feel like I'm much more
- 42:05Speaker 1: open now to dating and I'm much more open to
- 42:08Speaker 1: really being I hate the word vulnerable now, but there's
- 42:11Speaker 1: no other word to use. Why do you hate it?
- 42:13Speaker 1: I just feel like it's so over to use now world,
- 42:16Speaker 1: it's only in your world. Everybody else still enjoys it.
- 42:19Speaker 1: You just got it said to you about a thousand
- 42:21Speaker 1: times in like a two month span. For me, it's
- 42:23Speaker 1: about now entering my next relationship and entering like dating
- 42:29Speaker 1: situations and truly being open minded. I thought I was.
- 42:33Speaker 1: I thought I did the personal growth, but I think
- 42:36Speaker 1: after this experience, I'm very ready to date and I'm
- 42:39Speaker 1: very ready to put myself out there. We wish that
- 42:42Speaker 1: for you. We're excited to watch you. You're one of
- 42:45Speaker 1: our favorites. Really appreciate you coming on. I would love
- 42:48Speaker 1: for you to be a co host with either Ashley
- 42:50Speaker 1: or myself sometime when we need one, because both of
- 42:54Speaker 1: us travel a little bit and she's a mother now
- 42:56Speaker 1: and so sometimes she has to be out. But your insight,
- 43:01Speaker 1: your wisdom, your poison. Doing that during the season and
- 43:05Speaker 1: now is something really admirable. And so keep being you,
- 43:11Speaker 1: keep doing you, and thanks for coming on the show.
- 43:12Speaker 1: We really appreciate it. Ohsome well, thank you so much
- 43:15Speaker 1: for having me. That was another almost famous in depth
- 43:19Speaker 1: episode with Ariel, somebody who became a fan favorite on
- 43:23Speaker 1: this season of the Bachelor. We hope to see her
- 43:26Speaker 1: in Paradise. From that interview, I don't know if we will,
- 43:32Speaker 1: and I think that's probably a good thing. Like I
- 43:34Speaker 1: think she's gonna make the decision that's best for her,
- 43:38Speaker 1: even though selfishly we would all love to see her
- 43:40Speaker 1: fine love on the beach. But until then, if you
- 43:44Speaker 1: want to catch Ariel season of The Bachelor, you can
- 43:47Speaker 1: find that on Hulu. She's also very entertaining on TikTok.
- 43:53Speaker 1: You can follow her at a F R E N
- 43:57Speaker 1: K E L on On TikTok, you can follow her
- 44:02Speaker 1: there until next time. I've been Ben, We'll talk soon.
- 44:08Speaker 1: Follow the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcasts on
- 44:11Speaker 1: iHeartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.