Latest / The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast / Bachelor Countdown Day 1: Brad Womack
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: This is that Ben and n Ashley I almost famous
- 0:03Speaker 1: podcast Bachelor Countdown. This is the very first episode, as
- 0:09Speaker 1: you heard, at the beginning of a really exciting time
- 0:12Speaker 1: for us, as we lead up to grand season of
- 0:14Speaker 1: The Bachelor. We're going to be speaking with each past Bachelor.
- 0:18Speaker 1: I don't know if we're speaking with me.
- 0:20Speaker 2: I don't know of every single one, but a lot
- 0:23Speaker 2: of them.
- 0:24Speaker 1: Yeah, leading up to this amazing season that is upon us.
- 0:29Speaker 1: And today we do have our first episode, and it's
- 0:31Speaker 1: with a Bachelor who I've heard so much about, who
- 0:37Speaker 1: I've heard from everybody that worked on the show that
- 0:40Speaker 1: they loved him so much. And I mean this and
- 0:42Speaker 1: I'll go into details here in a second. Brad Walmack.
- 0:46Speaker 3: Brad Walmack, Oh my god, it's so cool to meet you.
- 0:49Speaker 3: You are the first Bachelor I ever watched your second season,
- 0:53Speaker 3: So in some way, if it weren't for you, maybe
- 0:55Speaker 3: I wouldn't have the life that I have because I
- 0:58Speaker 3: was just so obsessed with your season and it got
- 1:00Speaker 3: me on the train.
- 1:02Speaker 4: You are got her.
- 1:03Speaker 5: Too kind, I've got to say, and I have to
- 1:05Speaker 5: say I've been one to meet both of you. I
- 1:07Speaker 5: think you guys are Bachelor Nation Royalty. I mean that
- 1:11Speaker 5: I've so thank you so much for having me.
- 1:13Speaker 6: You know what, I'm king of the nerds.
- 1:15Speaker 1: At times it feels like and you get that, Brad,
- 1:17Speaker 1: because you're king of the nerds.
- 1:20Speaker 4: Brad.
- 1:21Speaker 1: We have so much talk to you about. But I
- 1:22Speaker 1: do want to start, and I said this when I
- 1:25Speaker 1: was on The Bachelor. It was very important to me,
- 1:29Speaker 1: mostly because I'm insecure and an only child, that I
- 1:34Speaker 1: made a lot of friends with the crew because you're
- 1:37Speaker 1: around the crew so much, and every crew member that
- 1:42Speaker 1: I would get familiar with and get into conversation with,
- 1:45Speaker 1: I'd always ask like, what are some of your favorite seasons?
- 1:48Speaker 1: Or who are you some of your favorite leads? And
- 1:50Speaker 1: everybody from Chris Harrison to wardrobe to camera and audio
- 1:55Speaker 1: who'd been there for a long time always mentioned your name.
- 1:59Speaker 1: And so there was something that you did right, not
- 2:02Speaker 1: in a manipulative way, and not even because it was
- 2:04Speaker 1: being aired on television, but there was a thing that
- 2:08Speaker 1: you did during your time on filming that made people say,
- 2:12Speaker 1: I appreciate, I respect and I like that guy.
- 2:15Speaker 4: Thank you man.
- 2:16Speaker 5: I First of all, that means a lot, of course,
- 2:18Speaker 5: but you know, as you said, we were around those
- 2:21Speaker 5: guys twenty four to seven, you know, and they very
- 2:24Speaker 5: very very quickly became family, especially Chris of course. But anyway,
- 2:30Speaker 5: it was a genuine relationship with those guys, and so
- 2:33Speaker 5: that means a lot. To hear it coming from you.
- 2:35Speaker 5: I want to say this, Stuf, I've heard nothing but
- 2:37Speaker 5: good things about you too, and I promise I'm not
- 2:39Speaker 5: trying to turn it around it in fact, both of
- 2:41Speaker 5: you guys. But anyway, Yeah, no, I appreciate the acknowledgment. Man,
- 2:45Speaker 5: I think the world of that entire crew still do
- 2:48Speaker 5: to this day.
- 2:50Speaker 3: Is that why you became the Bachelor twice? Because the
- 2:53Speaker 3: crew loved you so much? Because America had mixed feelings?
- 2:56Speaker 2: Oh?
- 2:56Speaker 4: I know, Actually I.
- 2:57Speaker 5: Think I became the Bachelor twice because of mental illness issues.
- 3:01Speaker 5: I mean, I'm kidding, but you know, no, I America
- 3:04Speaker 5: did have mixed feelings about it. I was very quickly
- 3:08Speaker 5: reminded of that when I was announced the second time.
- 3:10Speaker 5: And what a whirlwind though. You know, one thing I'll say,
- 3:15Speaker 5: it's I do believe in the premise of the show,
- 3:19Speaker 5: and so to be asked back a second time, heck yeah,
- 3:23Speaker 5: I go head first in. I felt very very fortunate
- 3:26Speaker 5: and wanted to give it a shot, and it kind
- 3:28Speaker 5: of worked, kind of didn't depending on who's asking.
- 3:31Speaker 4: So anyway, I had a great time.
- 3:34Speaker 1: Well it's funny because back in the day they came
- 3:38Speaker 1: to me. I don't know if it was a legitimate offer.
- 3:41Speaker 1: I don't want to say that, but they came to
- 3:43Speaker 1: me during Somebody's season right before it started and said,
- 3:45Speaker 1: would you ever want to come back on?
- 3:47Speaker 4: Yeah?
- 3:47Speaker 1: And I thought of you, and I was like, I
- 3:49Speaker 1: don't know if it goes better for me, Like I
- 3:53Speaker 1: believe in the show, and I would be excited about
- 3:55Speaker 1: the opportunity, and there's a side of me that wants
- 3:57Speaker 1: to say yes because it is a gift to be
- 4:01Speaker 1: in this like isolated environment to try to find love.
- 4:04Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 4:04Speaker 1: Man, but it can also like I'm not ready for that,
- 4:09Speaker 1: the repercussions of what this could look like when everybody says,
- 4:11Speaker 1: I'm I'm sick of this guy, because they're gonna get
- 4:13Speaker 1: sick of you.
- 4:14Speaker 6: So I want to dig into that a little.
- 4:16Speaker 4: Bit with you.
- 4:16Speaker 1: What did did you Did you feel support at any
- 4:21Speaker 1: point or was it the second time around? Kind of
- 4:24Speaker 1: just this uh chaos and tornado of negativity, you know.
- 4:30Speaker 5: That's a that's such a good question. I'll tell you
- 4:33Speaker 5: from cast and crew, well, I say cast, from production
- 4:36Speaker 5: and crew, I felt immpt support. I mean, I'm embraced
- 4:40Speaker 5: with open arms. But I got to tell you, man,
- 4:43Speaker 5: the first time. You know, obviously you guys have done
- 4:45Speaker 5: it too, but when you do the publicity tour and
- 4:48Speaker 5: everything before the season begins, I will never forget this.
- 4:51Speaker 5: I went on Ellen and I just bombed. I mean
- 4:53Speaker 5: I just bomb And even the publicists at the time
- 4:56Speaker 5: kind of was gave me the puppy eyes.
- 4:58Speaker 4: Like, oh, that didn't go so well, you know what
- 5:00Speaker 4: I mean, and so and I knew.
- 5:01Speaker 5: I knew I was in trouble a little bit, and
- 5:03Speaker 5: so and I had of course, journalists reminded me all
- 5:06Speaker 5: the time about how I was not a fan favorite
- 5:09Speaker 5: because I didn't choose anybody, and so, you know, but
- 5:12Speaker 5: it's just one of those things. So to answer your question,
- 5:15Speaker 5: it was kind of a mixture of both. But like
- 5:19Speaker 5: I said, when we first started this, I dove in
- 5:21Speaker 5: head first. I was going to say, hey, look man,
- 5:23Speaker 5: I'm going to give this thing my all. I have
- 5:25Speaker 5: absolutely no regrets. And I ended up meeting Emily amongst
- 5:29Speaker 5: the other women, and you know, no regrets for that either,
- 5:33Speaker 5: you know.
- 5:34Speaker 4: And so I had a really good time.
- 5:36Speaker 3: You mentioned your appearance on Ellen. Didn't you call you
- 5:39Speaker 3: a jerk? I mean that must have rattled you. That's
- 5:42Speaker 3: what I led you to bomb.
- 5:44Speaker 4: Yeah, well, I'll tell you this.
- 5:46Speaker 5: So she called me a jerk the first season because
- 5:48Speaker 5: I didn't pick anybody, and then thank god, she asked
- 5:52Speaker 5: me back for a little bit of redemption. But it
- 5:54Speaker 5: was the third time I was on Ellen to announce
- 5:56Speaker 5: the second season, and I don't know what it was, Ashley,
- 5:59Speaker 5: I don't know. I'll admit I remember just being a
- 6:03Speaker 5: ball of nerves going into that particular show, and only
- 6:08Speaker 5: because I was I was realizing, Okay, I'm about to
- 6:10Speaker 5: do this thing again, you know. And so it was
- 6:12Speaker 5: really nerve wracking. And she didn't cut me any slack,
- 6:16Speaker 5: of course, and uh, the audience wasn't having it. I
- 6:19Speaker 5: mean it was it was a bad it was a
- 6:21Speaker 5: bad appearance. But uh, but yeah, she did call me
- 6:24Speaker 5: a jerk, but thank god she apologized.
- 6:27Speaker 2: Why did she apologize.
- 6:29Speaker 4: I think I'll tell you what.
- 6:30Speaker 5: I think she got the other side of the story,
- 6:32Speaker 5: you know, not picking anybody the first season of course,
- 6:35Speaker 5: I became public any number one right away, and and
- 6:39Speaker 5: that was not my intent. I wanted to stay true.
- 6:41Speaker 5: And I've said this so many times. I really do
- 6:44Speaker 5: believe in the premise of the show, and I just
- 6:46Speaker 5: didn't want to sell out. And so I think she
- 6:48Speaker 5: took her initial reaction and was thinking, who does this
- 6:52Speaker 5: guy think he is?
- 6:53Speaker 4: And then.
- 6:55Speaker 5: I guess through I don't know, some other channels, she
- 6:58Speaker 5: got the true story and she invited me on. I
- 7:01Speaker 5: was able to tell my side of the story, and
- 7:03Speaker 5: so it went a little bit better. So yeah, I
- 7:06Speaker 5: don't know, I got a little bit of redemption, but
- 7:08Speaker 5: not much.
- 7:09Speaker 4: So.
- 7:10Speaker 2: I never watched your first season, Okay.
- 7:12Speaker 3: But I but you know, of course I knew what
- 7:15Speaker 3: happened because I watched your second season and all that,
- 7:18Speaker 3: and I just maybe because I didn't watch it, but
- 7:21Speaker 3: I always thought that perhaps it wasn't a jerky decision
- 7:24Speaker 3: to not pick somebody that you weren't fully into. I
- 7:27Speaker 3: think that was a respectable decision.
- 7:30Speaker 5: I appreciate that. I you know, and I've been able
- 7:33Speaker 5: to say this very publicly. I I told the producers
- 7:37Speaker 5: when we first started interviewing for the show to begin
- 7:40Speaker 5: with that I might not be the best guy because
- 7:43Speaker 5: I just I really want to stay true to my
- 7:46Speaker 5: heart and I really do, and so and I did.
- 7:49Speaker 5: And as amazing as the women were, there just wasn't
- 7:53Speaker 5: a love connection, I think on all sides, frankly, and
- 7:57Speaker 5: I just didn't want to lead anybody on. So I
- 7:59Speaker 5: appreciate that, and I'm pretty proud of the decision, even
- 8:03Speaker 5: though I got beat up a little bit, actually a lot.
- 8:05Speaker 1: It's interesting too, when fans of the show watch the show,
- 8:12Speaker 1: you know, for and I think there is a big
- 8:15Speaker 1: group that would agree with you and say, yes, that
- 8:18Speaker 1: he was staying true to his heart. He was doing
- 8:20Speaker 1: what felt right. That's honorable and that's something that we
- 8:24Speaker 1: should be proud of. There's also the group, obviously, that
- 8:27Speaker 1: came after you for that, and they come after every
- 8:29Speaker 1: lead for decisions made. I think, being a part of
- 8:32Speaker 1: the show, as Ashley and myself have been, I hear
- 8:36Speaker 1: this and I'm like, what a what a courageous decision, honestly,
- 8:41Speaker 1: because you don't go on this show hoping to spend
- 8:44Speaker 1: three months of your life breaking up with people and
- 8:47Speaker 1: shedding tears on national television and opening up your heart
- 8:50Speaker 1: to try to find love to then at the end
- 8:52Speaker 1: just say, yeah, this didn't work. That is a that
- 8:55Speaker 1: would be a really hard decision.
- 8:57Speaker 6: To come to.
- 8:58Speaker 1: I don't know even how you would get to that decision,
- 9:00Speaker 1: because it would take so much strength. But I hear this,
- 9:04Speaker 1: and I'm like, this is maybe I'll say it the
- 9:08Speaker 1: most honest season that we've ever had.
- 9:11Speaker 5: Then well, well I appreciate that, man very much, and
- 9:15Speaker 5: I'll say it. I will very publicly admit I wanted
- 9:18Speaker 5: something to work out from that show. I wanted a
- 9:21Speaker 5: relationship to work. And Ashley, you and Jared Jesus Man,
- 9:26Speaker 5: you guys love stories just so amazing.
- 9:29Speaker 4: I love it.
- 9:29Speaker 5: I love it and and I promise I'm not just
- 9:34Speaker 5: saying that to get on your good side.
- 9:35Speaker 4: I really love it.
- 9:37Speaker 5: And so, but when I went into that show, I
- 9:40Speaker 5: genuinely wanted that. I remember talking to my twin brother
- 9:43Speaker 5: whenever I was asked to do this show and saying, hey, man,
- 9:45Speaker 5: I'm not dating anybody. This might be a really good
- 9:48Speaker 5: way to find somebody. Get out of my box and
- 9:51Speaker 5: I'm sorry, out of my bubble. And so when it
- 9:53Speaker 5: didn't work out, trust me, I was just as disappointed
- 9:55Speaker 5: as anybody or everybody else and so I was a
- 10:01Speaker 5: little bit surprised about being expected to stay within parameters
- 10:05Speaker 5: of the show, meaning being told, no, you have to
- 10:08Speaker 5: pick somebody. Yeah, I'm not talking about by the producers.
- 10:11Speaker 5: I'm talking about by just for a public opinion, right, yeah,
- 10:14Speaker 5: And it just I just don't understand. I mean, where
- 10:17Speaker 5: are for me? At least I was talking about real life.
- 10:20Speaker 5: I mean, sure it's it's it's televised and it's filmed,
- 10:24Speaker 5: but it was very real for me, and and it
- 10:27Speaker 5: just didn't work out unfortunately.
- 10:38Speaker 3: Let's talk about Emily because it is like, like Emily
- 10:44Speaker 3: is Wow, what a captivating figure and also extremely elusive
- 10:49Speaker 3: in the bachelor community. No podcast can get her on,
- 10:53Speaker 3: not even Trista like the rog Girl can get her on.
- 10:59Speaker 3: How what is she? Have you had any interactions since
- 11:03Speaker 3: you broke up? Like, what's she like? Why is she
- 11:05Speaker 3: so elusive? She has six kids now, she's married, Like,
- 11:09Speaker 3: just tell us a little bit about Emily.
- 11:10Speaker 5: I'll tell you everything I know at least one. I
- 11:13Speaker 5: think you said you hit the nail on the head.
- 11:16Speaker 5: She's extremely captivating, she is pure to her core, just
- 11:20Speaker 5: an exceptional human being. And you know, you ask if
- 11:24Speaker 5: we've had any interaction. You know, I'm a very very
- 11:28Speaker 5: respectful guy when it comes to situations and if someone's
- 11:31Speaker 5: in a relationship. Meaning I remember when I had heard
- 11:35Speaker 5: she gotten married, and I reached out and said, hey,
- 11:37Speaker 5: I'm genuinely happy for you. And that's exactly what she
- 11:41Speaker 5: had been wanting. She had been wanting marriage, a beautiful family,
- 11:45Speaker 5: and she has all of that in them some right
- 11:47Speaker 5: and so but as far as being Emily, yeah, she
- 11:51Speaker 5: is a little elusive. I don't think she needs much.
- 11:55Speaker 5: And I mean that in such a complimentary way, you know,
- 11:57Speaker 5: and and where I think i'mind of a sellout.
- 12:01Speaker 4: I'll do anything, but I'm kidding. Actually no, it's yeah,
- 12:09Speaker 4: I love it, but no, it's uh.
- 12:12Speaker 5: I say it with almost utmost admiration. Actually that how
- 12:16Speaker 5: she carries herself and what you see is what you get.
- 12:20Speaker 4: And you know, we did.
- 12:21Speaker 5: Realize, I'll admit this, we realized really quickly we were
- 12:23Speaker 5: two different people once we got back into the real world.
- 12:27Speaker 5: And I think I'm a little rough around the edges
- 12:31Speaker 5: and she is extremely refined. Again, I'm saying that in
- 12:33Speaker 5: a complimentary way. And when I look at her from
- 12:37Speaker 5: the outside, looking in and seeing what she's the life
- 12:42Speaker 5: that she's created and and built.
- 12:44Speaker 4: I couldn't be happier.
- 12:46Speaker 5: And so but yeah, I'll reach out to her one
- 12:49Speaker 5: time and that's it. And it was a congratulator and
- 12:51Speaker 5: it was a sincere congratulations.
- 12:53Speaker 2: Well, you guys are like Barbie and Ken.
- 12:56Speaker 5: Well, i'll tell you what it's uh, maybe for a
- 12:59Speaker 5: brief you know what, do they call it the fifty
- 13:01Speaker 5: seconds or something? But I really enjoyed my time with her.
- 13:06Speaker 5: She has a pure soul, you know what I mean?
- 13:08Speaker 5: And so I thoroughly enjoyed my time with her. And
- 13:13Speaker 5: you know, things don't work out unfortunately, and here we are.
- 13:17Speaker 6: The rough edges Ken would be.
- 13:23Speaker 3: He's a different version. He's like an Austin bar owner Katon.
- 13:29Speaker 6: I love that.
- 13:30Speaker 4: There you go. I'll take it.
- 13:31Speaker 3: Well, Brad, you actually might be a little bit and
- 13:35Speaker 3: maybe more in Emily's shoes right now because you just
- 13:38Speaker 3: hard launched a picture with a girlfriend and you really
- 13:43Speaker 3: haven't posted about women or been public with women since
- 13:46Speaker 3: being with Emily.
- 13:48Speaker 2: What's going on there?
- 13:49Speaker 5: I like that you guys are well informed. I guess
- 13:51Speaker 5: you can't hide from that. You know what's so funny?
- 13:53Speaker 5: I spent forever kind of evading and shining away from
- 13:58Speaker 5: Instagram and all social media. You but but I got
- 14:01Speaker 5: to tell you, Yes, I am in a relationship and
- 14:06Speaker 5: she's worthy of I didn't want to hide her.
- 14:09Speaker 4: Does that make sense?
- 14:10Speaker 2: But there have been other women that you were willing
- 14:12Speaker 2: to hide.
- 14:13Speaker 4: Well, but that sounded so much. So you're you're calling
- 14:16Speaker 4: me out, and I get it.
- 14:17Speaker 5: I get it, I get it, and I guess that's
- 14:20Speaker 5: what I signed up for. But no, this is the
- 14:23Speaker 5: first time we're we're we're hitting it off. I don't
- 14:25Speaker 5: know what else to say, and and we're having a
- 14:29Speaker 5: lot of fun together. She's an inherently kind human being,
- 14:33Speaker 5: and I don't know what else to say. I'm I'm
- 14:35Speaker 5: I'm really happy. We're really happy together right now. And
- 14:38Speaker 5: so I appreciate you acknowledging that, and I'll pass that
- 14:42Speaker 5: along to her. So I'm so embarrassed. I'm sure I'm
- 14:45Speaker 5: beat red, but I love it in I like it,
- 14:50Speaker 5: you know, contrary to popular belief, I'm a really shy guy.
- 14:54Speaker 5: And so I was proud to say, Hey, I don't
- 14:58Speaker 5: know what she sees in me, but I'm glad she
- 15:00Speaker 5: does see something.
- 15:01Speaker 4: Let's go, let's hard launch this thing.
- 15:03Speaker 1: Yeah, can you explain a little bit to the listeners
- 15:08Speaker 1: and to Ashley myself, because you do say you called
- 15:11Speaker 1: yourself a sellout, I would say you're one hundred percent
- 15:13Speaker 1: not Uh, if you'd be everywhere all the time. Yeah, yeah,
- 15:17Speaker 1: quite private is actually how I would describe you would
- 15:20Speaker 1: have hit paradise. But you obviously at some point said
- 15:25Speaker 1: I want to share this with the public for whatever reason.
- 15:30Speaker 1: Walk us through a little bit of the details to
- 15:31Speaker 1: how it led up to the point where you said,
- 15:33Speaker 1: let's let's let this thing go.
- 15:35Speaker 5: Well, I'll tell you what, and I'll try to make
- 15:37Speaker 5: this quick. I don't want to bore anybody, like I said. So,
- 15:40Speaker 5: I just jumped on Instagram maybe four to five months ago,
- 15:43Speaker 5: and I'll tell you the only reason I did is, Guys,
- 15:46Speaker 5: I'm over fifty years old, right, I.
- 15:48Speaker 3: Can't believe it. I tried to do the math on this.
- 15:50Speaker 3: I was like, how old was he when he was
- 15:52Speaker 3: the bachelor?
- 15:53Speaker 4: Hey? What pretty old I was?
- 15:55Speaker 2: You were an old bachelor.
- 15:56Speaker 5: I was an old bachelor if I remember, right, was
- 15:59Speaker 5: at thirty four, thirty seven, respectively. I think so and so, Yeah,
- 16:03Speaker 5: I was one of the older ones.
- 16:04Speaker 2: In fact, I think had a huge age gap.
- 16:07Speaker 4: Oh I'm sure that played a role with two.
- 16:10Speaker 5: She didn't want to be changing my depends at at
- 16:13Speaker 5: a later age, I don't know. But anyway, but the
- 16:17Speaker 5: only reason I jumped on Instagram is this whole thing.
- 16:20Speaker 5: And I won't bore you guys, but you know, just
- 16:23Speaker 5: kind of this fitness over fifty type thing. I won't
- 16:26Speaker 5: even get into because it's boring. But with being online,
- 16:32Speaker 5: I didn't want my partner. I didn't want her to
- 16:36Speaker 5: see that and then just to feel like, you know,
- 16:39Speaker 5: I'm kind of hiding her whatever. And that's that's why
- 16:41Speaker 5: I said, hey, man, if this is what this is
- 16:44Speaker 5: all about, if people want to peek behind the curtain
- 16:46Speaker 5: a little bit, been great. I mean, she's a huge
- 16:48Speaker 5: part of my life, and that's exactly why I said, hey,
- 16:51Speaker 5: let's just do this. But you're right, I have been
- 16:53Speaker 5: private up to a certain point. Now I don't know
- 16:56Speaker 5: what I'm doing, guys. Maybe a midlife crisis, who knows.
- 16:59Speaker 6: That's all right, that's okay.
- 17:01Speaker 4: I freed it.
- 17:02Speaker 6: It brings me to a question.
- 17:04Speaker 1: I don't know how to phrase it for you necessarily,
- 17:06Speaker 1: but you were thirty four and thirty seven when you're
- 17:09Speaker 1: The Bachelor. Right, You're now fifty years old and you
- 17:16Speaker 1: just recently launched a relationship. Right. You went on this show,
- 17:22Speaker 1: as you said at the beginning, believing the premise and
- 17:25Speaker 1: wanting to find a partner. Sure you haven't, right in
- 17:30Speaker 1: sixteen years?
- 17:31Speaker 4: Right?
- 17:31Speaker 1: What has this been like for you personally these sixteen
- 17:35Speaker 1: years of still looking, obviously and still wanting.
- 17:40Speaker 5: Sure, that's a great question too, man. You know I'm
- 17:43Speaker 5: going to I'm going to give you the cliche answer,
- 17:46Speaker 5: but it's not cliche. I was very, very, very heavily
- 17:49Speaker 5: involved in my career. And I have to give my
- 17:54Speaker 5: business partner's credit because they're happily married. They have been
- 17:57Speaker 5: for years, and they did it right, and so I
- 17:59Speaker 5: just couldn't find a way to do that, to find
- 18:01Speaker 5: that balance. I'm very happy to tell you may have.
- 18:05Speaker 5: Twenty twenty four, we sold our entire company. I've had
- 18:08Speaker 5: a little downtime, and it brings perspective into life, you know,
- 18:11Speaker 5: and and so what this woman has brought into my life,
- 18:15Speaker 5: and I'm sure in your relationships too, it opens up
- 18:19Speaker 5: this whole other door of of experience and and well
- 18:25Speaker 5: just experiencing life. And I'm here for it. Man, and
- 18:28Speaker 5: so you asked about the sixteen years. Sure I could
- 18:32Speaker 5: blame it on Oh yeah, it was hard, you know,
- 18:35Speaker 5: working away whatever. But maybe I had some things to
- 18:39Speaker 5: work out. I don't know, you know. And but I
- 18:44Speaker 5: got to tell you right when I met this girl.
- 18:46Speaker 5: You know, they say when you know, you know, and
- 18:48Speaker 5: I know that's a heavy statement. I know that, so
- 18:50Speaker 5: let me preface this. But it feels like I'm kind
- 18:53Speaker 5: of living out my when you know, you know, in
- 18:56Speaker 5: a very blissful way. And so maybe it was just timing, Ben.
- 18:59Speaker 5: I don't no, man, I've never subscribed to a specific timeline.
- 19:05Speaker 5: So I'm feeling good about this right now.
- 19:07Speaker 2: Speaking of timeline, are kids in option or a want?
- 19:12Speaker 5: No, you know, that's a that's a good question. And
- 19:14Speaker 5: we both have had and and you know, people have
- 19:17Speaker 5: their desires. But she didn't want children. I didn't want children.
- 19:21Speaker 5: I love children, I love them, and but but personally
- 19:26Speaker 5: I've never wanted them, and neither does she and so
- 19:29Speaker 5: and and you know, frankly, that's actually been kind of
- 19:31Speaker 5: a deterrent in past relationship.
- 19:33Speaker 3: Yeah, I could see that that that was something that
- 19:35Speaker 3: you've always stood firm on.
- 19:37Speaker 5: Well, yes, and and but and like, let's let's bring
- 19:40Speaker 5: up the obvious. Emily had a.
- 19:42Speaker 2: Child, yeah, six kids now too.
- 19:44Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, yeah.
- 19:45Speaker 5: And and when I met her, she had Ricky of yeah,
- 19:48Speaker 5: beautiful child. And I had the immense pleasure of spending
- 19:51Speaker 5: time with Ricky and was thinking, Okay, this might be
- 19:54Speaker 5: my life and I was loving it. I wanted I
- 19:56Speaker 5: want to make that very clear.
- 19:58Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 19:59Speaker 5: But then you know, as time goes on, I just
- 20:02Speaker 5: did realize and maybe it was work or whatever that
- 20:04Speaker 5: maybe I'm.
- 20:05Speaker 4: Just not at a point that I want children of
- 20:08Speaker 4: my own.
- 20:08Speaker 5: And I have some nieces and nephews that I absolutely love,
- 20:12Speaker 5: and I try to play the cool uncle role, and
- 20:16Speaker 5: but that's it for me and my partner. Now she's
- 20:19Speaker 5: on the same page, thank god. And so where to
- 20:22Speaker 5: give you this?
- 20:22Speaker 2: Well, I'm glad that you found somebody, Yes, on the
- 20:25Speaker 2: same page.
- 20:26Speaker 4: Thank you.
- 20:27Speaker 3: Now was this something like I feel like with Emily?
- 20:30Speaker 3: She probably wanted a huge family always?
- 20:33Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 20:34Speaker 3: So back when you guys were together, did you think
- 20:37Speaker 3: that you wanted kids?
- 20:39Speaker 4: No? I would no.
- 20:40Speaker 5: Actually I was open to the fact of let's say,
- 20:45Speaker 5: take it on a family with children, and meaning Ricky
- 20:48Speaker 5: of course.
- 20:49Speaker 3: Yeah, you're open to taking on a family like that,
- 20:51Speaker 3: but maybe not having your own.
- 20:53Speaker 5: Absolutely yeah, yeah, and and you know, raising a new
- 20:56Speaker 5: born and things like that. And I mean that's a
- 20:59Speaker 5: big decision. And obviously, and you know, Emily and I
- 21:02Speaker 5: discussed it a little bit, but let's face it, guys,
- 21:04Speaker 5: I mean we weren't really together long enough to have
- 21:08Speaker 5: those fundamental conversations and and you know, and and I
- 21:12Speaker 5: love our time together. It was just albeit brief, right,
- 21:15Speaker 5: and so but yeah, I'm sure that was discussed at
- 21:18Speaker 5: one point, but I will I do again. I want
- 21:20Speaker 5: to make this abundantly clear. I saw Ricky as a treasure.
- 21:24Speaker 5: I want to make this abundantly clear. But yeah, but
- 21:27Speaker 5: but after Emily and everything, I started realizing maybe my
- 21:30Speaker 5: own children just aren't for me.
- 21:42Speaker 2: Okay, Brad, you you mentioned this. This is a little bit.
- 21:46Speaker 2: This is a little deep.
- 21:47Speaker 4: Let's know that.
- 21:48Speaker 6: Entry made me nervous.
- 21:51Speaker 4: Save me ben control.
- 21:54Speaker 6: This is like a marriage here. I'm just I'll sit.
- 21:57Speaker 3: Back and has it freaking me out to ask the question? Okay,
- 22:00Speaker 3: So on your Instagram, you know, you talk all about
- 22:03Speaker 3: health and how it's affected your mental health, your your
- 22:07Speaker 3: physical strength.
- 22:09Speaker 2: You talk on a podcast.
- 22:11Speaker 3: That you posted to your Instagram about how you were
- 22:13Speaker 3: diagnosed with bipolar disorder twenty years ago. That means it
- 22:18Speaker 3: was actually kind of close to your first season of
- 22:20Speaker 3: The Bachelor. Yeah, can you explain how that diagnosis affected
- 22:26Speaker 3: your time as the Bachelor? Both times you also have
- 22:29Speaker 3: mentioned that you don't currently take medication for it, because
- 22:32Speaker 3: when you did, you were a zombie.
- 22:34Speaker 4: Sure.
- 22:34Speaker 5: Yeah, you are very very well informed. I gotta now
- 22:37Speaker 5: I'm learning. Anytime you put something out on Instagram, that's
- 22:40Speaker 5: there forever, you know, so I can do to this game.
- 22:43Speaker 5: So same help me anyway.
- 22:45Speaker 2: You make the research easy when you post on Instagram.
- 22:47Speaker 5: I know, right, And so I appreciate the question. So
- 22:51Speaker 5: I don't know if you guys watched the beginning of
- 22:53Speaker 5: the second season, but they actually filmed the sessions with
- 22:57Speaker 5: a psychiatrist.
- 22:58Speaker 4: I can't make this up.
- 22:59Speaker 5: And they thought it would be very beneficial to the
- 23:01Speaker 5: audience to say, hey, yeah, I mean that was part
- 23:05Speaker 5: of the show. Yeah, and that was and I want
- 23:08Speaker 5: to make this clear, that was actually my psychiatrist.
- 23:10Speaker 4: It was show. And so.
- 23:13Speaker 5: You know, it's one of those things that I talk
- 23:15Speaker 5: openly about only because it can it can create some
- 23:19Speaker 5: havoc and and and chaos in your personal life. I
- 23:23Speaker 5: try to deal with it. I try to mitigate it.
- 23:25Speaker 5: That's one of the reasons fitness and other things, the
- 23:28Speaker 5: little boxes I need to check are so important to
- 23:30Speaker 5: me to mitigate that and just to feel productive on
- 23:33Speaker 5: a daily basis. But to answer your question, how did
- 23:35Speaker 5: it affect me? In hindsight, it recavoc and especially after
- 23:42Speaker 5: the ending of both seasons. You know, I do genuinely
- 23:46Speaker 5: care what others think of me.
- 23:48Speaker 4: And we just.
- 23:50Speaker 5: Established after the first season it wasn't too good and
- 23:56Speaker 5: and that and that weighed heavy on me, you know,
- 23:58Speaker 5: and and caused some some a pretty big roller coaster ride,
- 24:02Speaker 5: right and but I got through it. And and I'm
- 24:06Speaker 5: a huge advocate to discuss anything in all things regarding
- 24:10Speaker 5: mental health issues, of course.
- 24:12Speaker 4: You know.
- 24:12Speaker 5: And so but now I've seen somewhat regulated. Life's good.
- 24:16Speaker 5: Right now, Life's really good. And it's it's steady. I
- 24:20Speaker 5: like that.
- 24:21Speaker 1: That is it's it's funny, Brad. I have to tell
- 24:23Speaker 1: you before we jumped on with you. And I don't
- 24:27Speaker 1: know if Ashley has any more questions to fall up here.
- 24:29Speaker 1: I don't want to take up that.
- 24:32Speaker 2: Those are definitely the big ones I've covered.
- 24:34Speaker 1: We were having a little production call and our producers
- 24:38Speaker 1: were like, we got what we're gonna do on social
- 24:40Speaker 1: media is we're gonna post a picture of Brad's body.
- 24:43Speaker 1: And I said, why are you posting a picture of
- 24:45Speaker 1: Brad's body?
- 24:45Speaker 6: They're like, because he is in great shape. Oh, And
- 24:49Speaker 6: I was like, that's cool.
- 24:51Speaker 1: And then you got on here and you're popping through
- 24:53Speaker 1: your Henley and I was like, damn, Like the guy.
- 24:57Speaker 5: Is look, I don't know. I think you are just witnessing.
- 25:01Speaker 5: I think I said this me living a midlife crisis
- 25:03Speaker 5: very publicly.
- 25:04Speaker 4: That's doing it well.
- 25:05Speaker 6: You at least you're doing it looking good.
- 25:07Speaker 5: No, I appreciate that, man, And I think we're all
- 25:09Speaker 5: doing just fine.
- 25:10Speaker 2: Man.
- 25:11Speaker 5: You know, I love life. I like to take care
- 25:14Speaker 5: of myself. I like to be happy, and obviously you
- 25:17Speaker 5: guys do too. But I appreciate the I think the compliment.
- 25:21Speaker 5: I appreciate that very much.
- 25:23Speaker 1: I have a couple of like just easy direct questions.
- 25:26Speaker 1: See you as we close up our time here. You
- 25:28Speaker 1: mentioned that you sold your business in twenty twenty four.
- 25:31Speaker 1: What's next for you anything professionally? Or is this early retirement?
- 25:35Speaker 5: No, it's definitely not early retirement and not at all.
- 25:38Speaker 5: I mean, I want to work desperately. And so you know,
- 25:42Speaker 5: my twin brother and another guy, but my twin brother
- 25:46Speaker 5: was my business partner for all twenty four years of
- 25:48Speaker 5: our career. And we're talking, we're having conversations now about
- 25:51Speaker 5: jumping right back in just something hospitality based.
- 25:55Speaker 4: I don't want to give up work.
- 25:56Speaker 5: I feel alive when I'm working, and so I'm excited
- 26:01Speaker 5: about I got to tell you I have enjoyed some
- 26:03Speaker 5: downtime just to reflect. I love life, man, you know,
- 26:07Speaker 5: and and you know, you mentioned something. I'm not gonna
- 26:10Speaker 5: I promise I'm not gonna get cheesy.
- 26:11Speaker 2: But we love cheese.
- 26:13Speaker 4: Okay, okay, let's get cheesy.
- 26:14Speaker 2: Then, okay, Gray, you mentioned.
- 26:17Speaker 5: Something about being and I'm paraphrasing, but being lucky to
- 26:20Speaker 5: be on the show. You it's something about that, and
- 26:23Speaker 5: I do feel fortunate to be part of all of this, right,
- 26:25Speaker 5: And that's what I mean about loving life and so
- 26:28Speaker 5: these little experiences and so I'm experiencing this little chapter
- 26:32Speaker 5: of downtime and I'm not in a big hurry to
- 26:35Speaker 5: get back to work, but I do want to. Life
- 26:38Speaker 5: is really good, man. So to answer your question about
- 26:40Speaker 5: what's next. I'm really not in a hurry. I know,
- 26:44Speaker 5: I'm going to get back to work, but I am
- 26:45Speaker 5: I'm really enjoying my daily life right now. And so
- 26:49Speaker 5: and it feels good to be able to say that,
- 26:51Speaker 5: you know, So, life's good.
- 26:53Speaker 1: How did you deal with this season, like a year ago,
- 26:55Speaker 1: when everybody was putting memes out there for Brad and
- 26:58Speaker 1: Chad because there's nothing your twin brother.
- 27:01Speaker 5: But you know, every time, I actually sometimes my mom,
- 27:05Speaker 5: I'm like, really, mom, and wanted to do that to us,
- 27:08Speaker 5: like Brad and Chad, I mean and and so, But
- 27:11Speaker 5: I with it.
- 27:12Speaker 2: It had to be a little bit of a joke,
- 27:13Speaker 2: right of course.
- 27:15Speaker 5: I mean, of course, you know, and I trust me.
- 27:19Speaker 5: I'm I'm all our biggest critic, and so I pile
- 27:21Speaker 5: on on my brother and I more than anybody. And
- 27:23Speaker 5: we can take a good joke. So yeah, we'll be
- 27:26Speaker 5: a living meme. We can take it. We've got that.
- 27:31Speaker 1: And then I just I want to know, did you
- 27:33Speaker 1: does your girlfriend now does she know you from the show?
- 27:37Speaker 4: No, I mean obviously she caught wind of it.
- 27:40Speaker 5: Yeah, But but you know, it's not like I walk
- 27:44Speaker 5: around identifying with it or anything like that.
- 27:48Speaker 4: I don't know if i've Oh yeah, it's in my
- 27:50Speaker 4: tagline actually on Instagram.
- 27:52Speaker 5: I think a two time that's or failure or something
- 27:55Speaker 5: or bio whatever it's called anyway. But no, we've talked
- 27:58Speaker 5: about the show, of course. I mean, I think every
- 28:00Speaker 5: body's fascinated with the overall experience.
- 28:03Speaker 4: But no, that was not a key factor in us
- 28:07Speaker 4: meeting or anything like that, thank god. You know. So, yeah,
- 28:11Speaker 4: she was somewhat oblivious.
- 28:12Speaker 2: And she wasn't a fangirl.
- 28:14Speaker 4: No, not at all.
- 28:15Speaker 5: Maybe that's why she actually likes me, you know, it's
- 28:19Speaker 5: she was oblivious to my past.
- 28:20Speaker 4: Who knows.
- 28:21Speaker 6: Stop.
- 28:22Speaker 3: I still think that you are one of the more
- 28:24Speaker 3: iconic bachelors for sure. Now I've focused a lot on Emily,
- 28:28Speaker 3: but I want to talk about Deanna Pappis, who also
- 28:32Speaker 3: dumbed at the You dumbed her at the Altar, And
- 28:36Speaker 3: she was just on our iHeart Like Family podcast called
- 28:41Speaker 3: I Do Part two, and she broke down about her divorce.
- 28:44Speaker 3: She was married for a long, a long time, at
- 28:47Speaker 3: least like six seven years, right, and the divorce was
- 28:52Speaker 3: not her choosing. Okay, and Chris Harrison told us that
- 28:56Speaker 3: one day, you guys may meet up. Yeah, did you
- 28:59Speaker 3: ever meet up? What's your relationship with Deanna? Any advice
- 29:03Speaker 3: for her in this tough situation.
- 29:04Speaker 5: Yeah, I'll tell you, and I want to say this,
- 29:07Speaker 5: I love that woman, love her. We never met up
- 29:10Speaker 5: in person. We did get in contact through Instagram, of course.
- 29:14Speaker 5: I'm learning that's another great way to stay in touch
- 29:17Speaker 5: with people. And she is still to this day, so
- 29:21Speaker 5: gracious kind. We communicate relatively often, and you know, I
- 29:32Speaker 5: know she was hurt by her divorce. That obviously hurts
- 29:35Speaker 5: me because I do genuinely care about her. She's one
- 29:38Speaker 5: of the ones I mean, aside from Emily. I'll say
- 29:41Speaker 5: it that I feel so strongly connected to and always will.
- 29:45Speaker 5: I feel connected to her family. Believe it or not,
- 29:48Speaker 5: I really liked her family, and so anyway, I will
- 29:52Speaker 5: always carry that relationship very strongly and proudly in my heart.
- 29:56Speaker 5: And to know that she's still hurting kind of break
- 30:00Speaker 5: my heart, to be honest. But I think she's a
- 30:02Speaker 5: remarkable human being and hopefully we stay in touch for
- 30:06Speaker 5: the rest of my life. Yeah, she's a good person,
- 30:11Speaker 5: really good person.
- 30:12Speaker 6: Actually, did you watch that season? Was that the season?
- 30:14Speaker 4: You want?
- 30:14Speaker 1: No?
- 30:15Speaker 2: No, no, no?
- 30:16Speaker 6: You were the next season, Yeah, I'm too old.
- 30:19Speaker 5: I think I think that's Ashley's way of saying I'm
- 30:21Speaker 5: way too old.
- 30:23Speaker 6: Oh my god.
- 30:24Speaker 3: No, but that season, I guess would have been like
- 30:26Speaker 3: my freshman year of college, and I think your season
- 30:29Speaker 3: was my senior year something like that, just graduated, something
- 30:33Speaker 3: like that.
- 30:33Speaker 1: I was hoping she's gonna be like I was in
- 30:34Speaker 1: sixth grade and my parents wouldn't let me watch that season.
- 30:38Speaker 1: Brad again, as we close up here, are you still
- 30:41Speaker 1: watching the show at all?
- 30:43Speaker 5: I don't, man, I still try to kind of stay
- 30:46Speaker 5: in touch. I'm telling you, man, I respect the hell
- 30:51Speaker 5: out of that franchise and all things that are involved
- 30:53Speaker 5: with it, and so but no, I really don't, and
- 30:58Speaker 5: only because I don't watch It's TV these days, you know,
- 31:01Speaker 5: And so I did. I'm gonna tell myself. I very
- 31:03Speaker 5: furiously googled who the next Bachelor was gonna be in
- 31:06Speaker 5: case you guys were going to ask me.
- 31:08Speaker 6: He seems like a nice guy, you know, so I
- 31:11Speaker 6: wish him.
- 31:11Speaker 4: All the luck. The only thing I would tell him
- 31:14Speaker 4: is buckle up. You know.
- 31:16Speaker 5: It's one of those things that Jesus man, you think
- 31:18Speaker 5: you haven't figured out, and you do not and I'm
- 31:21Speaker 5: sure you guys can attest to that, you know, and
- 31:23Speaker 5: it comes at you quick, doesn't it.
- 31:25Speaker 4: It's a fun ride.
- 31:26Speaker 6: It's a fun ride.
- 31:27Speaker 1: I the only when I get to talk to the Bachelor, really,
- 31:31Speaker 1: the only advice I have is, uh, this is gonna
- 31:34Speaker 1: be a roller coaster, but you will survive.
- 31:36Speaker 6: If I can do it, you can do it too.
- 31:37Speaker 6: You'll be right.
- 31:39Speaker 5: Can I say something of you Ben real quick? Your
- 31:42Speaker 5: time as a bacheler and again not trying to get
- 31:45Speaker 5: on you guys, good side by far. I think you
- 31:48Speaker 5: were the best one period. And Christ I'm not kidding
- 31:52Speaker 5: at all. Just a stand up guy, solid guy, uh,
- 31:56Speaker 5: genuine and and I'm not trying to use all the
- 31:59Speaker 5: buzz words that we all use, you know, describing each.
- 32:02Speaker 4: Other or whatever.
- 32:03Speaker 5: But I've told Chris this man just job, very well
- 32:07Speaker 5: done for setting the example.
- 32:09Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it means a lot.
- 32:12Speaker 2: It does so sweet to it.
- 32:15Speaker 1: I mean it, I mean it so anyway, you know
- 32:19Speaker 1: what you say that and it means something to me
- 32:21Speaker 1: because it is such a as you've mentioned, an important
- 32:25Speaker 1: season of life one two I think, uh maybe it
- 32:32Speaker 1: was decently dune because it could be related with because
- 32:36Speaker 1: I think I went into it not having any idea
- 32:39Speaker 1: what in the world I was doing there, and as
- 32:40Speaker 1: a result, people watching there like he was kind of
- 32:44Speaker 1: the bachelor.
- 32:44Speaker 6: I would be the bachelor. He was kind of.
- 32:46Speaker 1: Confused, kind of tried to figure out his way. Got
- 32:49Speaker 1: really emotional because this thing was overwhelming. So innocent and pure, Yeah, right,
- 32:54Speaker 1: innocent and pure.
- 32:56Speaker 4: We needed a pure in this world.
- 32:58Speaker 3: Man.
- 33:00Speaker 6: Appreciate that, buddy. It means a lot and our little
- 33:03Speaker 6: angel look back on.
- 33:05Speaker 3: Did you watch his season in like our time on
- 33:07Speaker 3: the show. Oh yeah, oh yeah, you continued.
- 33:12Speaker 5: A few seasons I did watch, and I'll tell you
- 33:15Speaker 5: the one season that I purposely, of course didn't watch
- 33:18Speaker 5: was Emily's.
- 33:18Speaker 4: Season as Bachelor Matte.
- 33:20Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 33:20Speaker 5: I think that would just be for my salt and
- 33:22Speaker 5: my own loose But yeah, of course I carried over
- 33:25Speaker 5: a little bit. And I'm fans of you guys. You know,
- 33:28Speaker 5: it's it's just in certain other people that have been
- 33:32Speaker 5: on the show. I like this, and so I've been
- 33:34Speaker 5: anticipating this conversation. You know, I'm kind of fanboying to
- 33:37Speaker 5: you guys, and I appreciate you having.
- 33:39Speaker 4: Me on very much.
- 33:40Speaker 2: We appreciate you, Brad. Thank you so much for your time.
- 33:43Speaker 6: Yeah, thanks for coming.
- 33:45Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, I mean my pleasure, truly, my pleasure. Guys.
- 33:47Speaker 3: Thank you a great start to our Bachelor row as
- 33:51Speaker 3: I'm going to call it, our series of Bachelor interviews
- 33:55Speaker 3: leading up to Grant's premiere.
- 33:57Speaker 4: Let's go, good luck Grant.
- 33:59Speaker 6: I'll say that, Brad, you're the best. Appreciate you, and uh,
- 34:04Speaker 6: let's not now that you have.
- 34:05Speaker 1: Some time on your hands, let's not make it too
- 34:09Speaker 1: many more months before we have you back on.
- 34:12Speaker 5: I'm yours buddy. Thank you so much, guys, it means
- 34:14Speaker 5: a lot. Bye, all right, bye guys.
- 34:17Speaker 2: Follow the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcasts on
- 34:20Speaker 2: iHeartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.