Latest / The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast / Almost Famous OG: Catching a Wave with Alana Blanchard

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Almost Famous OG: Catching a Wave with Alana Blanchard · The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This is the almost Famous podcast with iHeartRadio.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Hi everybody, this is Trista and Bob and we are here.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: We are here today for the Almost Famous OG podcast
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: to talk to Alana Blanchard, who was one of my
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: cast recruits on Special Horses World's Toughest Test. Did way
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: better than me, And of course you probably all know
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: her from her professional surfing career and that amazing butt
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: on Instagram.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Oh thank you, thank you.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. I literally, Bob, I have to say
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: I wrote her when we could start following each other
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: on Instagram because you're not supposed to follow each other
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: before they announced the cast, and I wrote her immediately
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: and I'm like, oh my gosh, please can you share,
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: share your your tips in getting that beautiful?
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Oh? Thank you?
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: How are you?
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: How are you good?
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having me on the podcast.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: I'm so excited. And I think you did amazing.
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: I mean that was just, you know, a crazy, crazy experience,
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: and I just remember you being like the sweetest.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Well.
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: I was like when you left, I was like so sad,
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: because I felt like when anyone left, it was just
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: like I don't know, I was like, no, you were
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: just I don't know. I felt like you helped me
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: because I was.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Like, Wow, she's doing it. Okay, I got this.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: You're so sweet. I remember when I was leaving, you
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: were like, oh, I'm so sad you're leaving, and you know,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: you were just so kind to me. So thank you.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: But you literally you crushed it. I do not understand how,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: especially the hike day, the hike where you were like
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: way in advance of it seemed like all of the
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: guys and of course they show the clip of you
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: saying that in preparation you carried your kids around. That
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: is great preparation.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Totally.
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: I mean I think for any mom, like that's just
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: kind of what we do, right, like when you have
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: little ones and we have a lot of hills and
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: trails here, and I'm a surfer and there's a lot
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: of hills and trails to get to like the surf breaks,
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: so we're always kind of going up and down things and.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: We're carrying our kids.
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: So I think that definitely benefited me because I was
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: just kind of used to it, and my kid is
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: well back then he was pretty much the exact same
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: weight as the burkin, so it was perfect.
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: I was gonna say that had to be.
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: You know, my wife when we had our kids, all
• 2:54
  Speaker 5: of a sudden, her arms were just ripped and I
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: was always like, how are you doing this? And I
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: realized she's carrying around forty pounds all the time exactly.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, constantly just carrying things.
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: And yeah, I think I don't know something about I
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: just actually like doing those kind of things. So the
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: I feel like any of the athletics stuff in those challenges,
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: I was.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: Like, Okay, I got this.
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: I feel like that kind of was my strong suit,
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: where the other like mental stuff was like definitely my weakness.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Oh girl, I feel like the total opposite.
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I was gonna say, I don't think so. Watching it,
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: you came off like a powerhouse. I don't know how
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: you're going to have that stuff. Yeah, don't you think, Trista.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: I mean, well, I was gonna say, I didn't mean
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: the opposite for her. I meant the opposite for me.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: I felt like the mental I could do the physical
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: I had a really hard time with. But Bob is right, like,
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: I don't think the mental part. It seems to me
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: as an outlook an onlooker, you did not seem weak
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: in the mental department. I mean, girl, you survived what
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: was it, five hours of the torture noises in your ear.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: I don't know how you even survived five hours.
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that was definitely and I'm pret I feel like
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: it was longer. I came out and it was seven am.
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: I think we started at like one am with the
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: torture noises, and I just I but looking back, I
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: kind of wish I just stuck it out just a
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: little bit longer.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: But it was.
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: Driving me crazy, just being cold, being in the stress
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: positions and just listening to that noise. You kind of
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: start like going crazy, like for a little bit. I
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: feel like for the first hour or two I kind
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: of was just out of it and I kind of
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: like zoned out. But then like after a while, you're
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: like I just can't handle this anymore. And you keep thinking, Okay,
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: they're going to stop it. They're going to stop it,
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: because looking back on the last few seasons, I'm like, oh,
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: that doesn't you know, it's probably like three hours of
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: you know, hell or what.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: But I could do that. But it just kept going
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: and going and going, and.
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: I was like, please let me talk to the lady
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: because I would rather get like drilled by her than
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: be in that.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would rather her tell me I'm a bad mom.
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: Whatever she wants to say. I'm like, I'll talk to
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: you however long you want. Just don't don't leave me
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: in here anymore.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: But I just was it.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: Loud, like with the headphones really loud, so.
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: Loud, so loud, you can't hear anything else, you can't see,
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: and you're just in those stress positions so you can't relax.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: And after like a night of running and.
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: You're just exhausted, and then they they want to like, yeah,
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: they it's just crazy looking back on it. They want
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: to push you mentally, Like they told the lady like, oh,
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: she's having a hard time, you know, she's missing her kids,
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: and they kind of played into that, I think, And
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: yeah they looking back, I'm like, oh, I wish I
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: kind of understood, like why they like say things or
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: do things because they want to push you so hard
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: mentally to break.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I was watching it.
• 6:09
  Speaker 5: I mean Tristan I talked about this afterwards because I
• 6:12
  Speaker 5: got you know, I've known Tristan. I you know, we
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: used to date and we've known each other twenty some years.
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: I was out here season of the Bachelorette before they
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: made me the on my.
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: Own, but I seeing her on the show was like,
• 6:26
  Speaker 5: it was made me emotional because I'm seeing my.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: Friend go through all these challenges.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: Then I got emotional again in this last episode thinking
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: about my wife being in that situation and having someone go,
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: you know, you're a selfish mom being here. I mean
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: I would I even said to Tristan, I'm like, I
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: don't even know what I would do if someone was
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: like challenging me in that regard.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: That would have set me off for sure.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: Totally.
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah. I think at that point that when they took
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: the stuff off, you're so out of it, and they
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: told us to be really docile, do not speak back
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: to them unless you're like asked a question.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: So I was just like, and I.
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: Just remember being like, I understand that, uh huh, Like
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: I just but I guess like at the same time,
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: if I really think about it, I probably did kind
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: of feel like a bad mom doing that, like being
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: on the show and being away from my kids because
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: I only weaned my second.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Like a month before the show.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: Oh wow.
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: I just was like, I don't know, it's so crazy
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: as a mom, you just have this, like as soon
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: as you leave your kids, I think you just have
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: this like anxiety or whatever it is. Yes, guilt, mom guilt,
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: and I'm sure dads get it too, but I just
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: wasn't I would, I wasn't used to being away for them,
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: and like, I'm glad you guys are like, oh, you
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: did so good, because I felt like, I'm like, I
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: just cried all the whole time on National TV.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: No yeah, no, no, no, I mean honestly, I feel
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: like all of us felt like we cried so much,
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: but it didn't they didn't really show a ton of it,
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: and you you crushed it. I was just so freaking impressed.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: I mean, I am not a surfer at all. I
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: hate open water. I you know, I don't know that
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: I've even ever tried surfing, but I feel like everyone
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: should think, let's go surfing, because clearly, if you are
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: able to get through Special Forces like you did and
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: your your main career, obviously, I know you work out too,
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: but is surfing that there's something to be said for
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: surfing to prepare you for Special Forces? Yeah?
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Totally, yeah.
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: I think I think it's just the constant, like you're well,
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: I think there's a few things. I think our environment
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: with surfing constantly changes, so we're kind of used to
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: so we have to like think on our toes.
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: A little bit.
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: And then we're kind of used to being put in
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: situations where you're like, Okay, this is kind of crazy
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: and scary, like if you're surfing big waves and you're
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: kind of feeling uncomfortable, but you have to breathe through it.
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: You can't like freak out because if you freak out,
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: it's gonna be worse for you. Yeah, and then it's
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: like just I think, you know, I've been surfing my
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: whole life, so I have that like endurance, So I
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: think there is something to say with like that definitely
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: helped me. And I feel like if I didn't have that,
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: I would have been out, you know, on the first
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: day for sure, because mentally I don't think I was,
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: you know, as strong as you.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: I just I don't know. I was just like this
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: is crazy.
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: Like that first day when we got into our area,
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: I was just like I can't sleep here, Like this
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: is this is disgusting.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Like how are we gonna sleep good here? But I
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: ended up seeking good because I didn't know.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because you don't have your kids, you don't have
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: the stresses of normal life, and we're freaking exhausted every
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: time we got the chance to finally lay down totally completely.
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Like I was worried about that was my biggest
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: worry going into it. I'm like, how am I going
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: to sleep on a cot? But then I think you're
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: just so exhausted, and I ended up sleeping kind of.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: Good, totally okay. So I would like to know. I
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: know in the mirror room you talked about with Bethany
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: Hamilton and her you were with her when she right
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: when she was bit by the shark. And what I
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: want to know is that obviously was a very traumatic
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: experience for you growing up. Does Special Forces replace that
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: as your most traumatic experience or.
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: I mean, I feel like, you know, I mean, because
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: I was so young at the time, I feel like
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: I bounced back way faster than a bit happened now.
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: But I mean seeing yeah, I mean I did see
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: my friend's arm get bit off, and I it's a
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: little bit uncomparable, I guess, but I compare the Special
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: Forces to like giving birth, wow, because I feel like,
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: I mean, I had my both of my kids naturally,
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: and I feel like they're like in par like.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: In different ways.
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: But I mean, yeah, like the shark attack, like that
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: was just more traumatic I think long term. And but
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: like my reasoning behind doing Special Forces was like seeing
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: my dad react. He saved her life, like he got
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: the Turner kid on her arm, and I was like,
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: I want to do that, Like because I have kids now,
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: I'm like, I want to do that for I mean,
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: hopefully my kids never are in that situation, but you
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: just never know, and especially having boys, they just get
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: into everything. I'm like, I want to be able to
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: react like how my dad did, and like if I
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: need to save a life, I want to save a life,
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: you know. Like so I guess that was kind of
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: why I that up, and I just was like inspired.
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: I've always been inspired by my dad and how he
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: reacted in that situation.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: Did he have special training? Do he have like Special
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: Forces training or anything like that?
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Nos training?
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: I mean, I think as a surfer, we are kind
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: of you know, used to like people, especially in Hawaii,
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: people will come and they can't swim and then they
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: get sucked out into a rip current and like we've
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: had to save people before, Like you know, give our
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: board to them or whatever it is. So we are, like,
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: I guess, kind of you know, used to situations like that.
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: But when there's a situation, I feel like, you know,
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: you're like your friend's arm getting a bit off.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: You just go into total shop and you just react
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: how you need to.
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: I mean, I was not like, I was not okay
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: when I was when I was in the situation, I
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: was like throwing up. But my dad was just like
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: laser focused. You know, he knew he needs to save
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: his daughter's best friend. And if he did so, I
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: just always, you know, admired that, and I was like, I,
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: you know, I want to be that way if there
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: was ever a situation like that.
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, are you guys still beesties?
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah?
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: We're still super close.
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: And she actually lives like ten minutes away from me,
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: and you know, she travels a lot for like more
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: like motivational speeches and stuff, so she's always traveling.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: But when she's home we get to surf and stuff.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: That's so cool. Yeah, Okay, I know we have to
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: go really soon. I have one last question. And if
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: I'm making this up, sorry, my brain doesn't work quite
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: right since I had children. But I'm sure. So I
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: feel like you and Cam at the reunion we're calling
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: each other twin. Yeah, yes, okay, tell us that story.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Where did where did you and Cam Newton being twins
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: come from?
• 13:56
  Speaker 5: No?
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Like, I mean there's obviously time where you're we're
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: all in the bunk and we're just like, you know,
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: we wanted and Cam and I feel like Cam and
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: Golden especially like entertained us.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: They were so funny, always telling us.
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: Stories and I was like, I want to learn how
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: to be a gangster, Like I forget how it even
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: like came about, but he just started teaching me like
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: slang like twin and like you like to this. I'm like,
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: and it was just like this whole thing. I wish
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: everyone was like, gosh, they have to show that it
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: was hilarious, but no, they didn't show it. I think
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: they wanted us to look like we were really, you know,
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: feeling it. But there were sometimes when we were cracking
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: up and the DS would be like, what are you
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: guys doing in their shut up, like no laughing, But
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: it's so hard to not laugh when like Cam and
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: Golden are just like telling these stories or teaching me,
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: you know, these slang words.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: It's like, it was hilarious.
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: That is so cute. I didn't know what you guys
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: were talking about. I should have asked you about it then,
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: but I was like, okay, we need to we need
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: to know the story.
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, he taught me a few other ones. It was, yeah,
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: he's he's hilarious.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: Hysterical, he is such Oh my gosh, did you sorry
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: This is a total side note, but did you notice
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: on the first day he had a diamond anklet on? Yes,
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: and then and then I don't know if you saw
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: it after this, but on the last day when you
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: guys were in interrogation, they had it. You know, you
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: guys all had to strip, and he stripped and took
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: his socks off and it was on him. It was like, still,
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: I think he had it on the entire time, I
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: thought he lost it.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: I thought so.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: Too, but I don't know.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: Maybe they maybe they got it back anyway. Isn't that funny?
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: That's so funny. Yeah, because I remember him being like, oh,
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: I just lost like a I don't know, like fifty
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: thousand dollars or something crazy ridiculous.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: And now I was like, oh my god.
• 15:57
  Speaker 5: I would never warm up you have the best choice
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: to throw that in your combat boot.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: You know, yeah, maybe not. Okay, we've got to go.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: I really quickly just want to say I've been following
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: your story about Coda, your son and his eye.
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: Yes, he's doing so much better. It was just another
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: you know, bump in the road. But he's doing so good. Yeah,
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: thank you so much, of course, of course.
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: Well thanks for joining us. We appreciate it, very inspiring.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: Thank you, thanks for having me.
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: Thank you for being here. We appreciating your face.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: Okay, see you.
• 16:38
  Speaker 5: Bye bye, and thanks everybody for listening to almost famous
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: to O G's.
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: We'll be back with more