Latest / The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast / What If? with Jojo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers Part 2

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What If? with Jojo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers Part 2 · The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This is the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: with iHeartRadio.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: It's the Almost Famous podcast.
• 0:07
  Speaker 3: Yes we have teased it, Yes we have waited for it,
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: and we are excited for it. Two really incredible people,
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: big deals coming out of Bachelor Nation and have made
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: bigger names for themselves. Now we have Jojo and Jordan
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: with us. Welcome to Almost Famous for the first time.
• 0:24
  Speaker 4: Wow, I feel honored to be on the stage.
• 0:27
  Speaker 5: Hold on, guys.
• 0:29
  Speaker 6: Jojo was actually on the podcast before, but she was
• 0:32
  Speaker 6: only with me.
• 0:33
  Speaker 7: Oh that's why.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: I don't know. Why did I get nervous? What happened?
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah?
• 0:41
  Speaker 6: It was like a girl chat time. It was I
• 0:44
  Speaker 6: don't know what were we promoting anything? Were we just recapping?
• 0:47
  Speaker 5: Yeah? So like this.
• 0:50
  Speaker 6: You know, it's the first time all the boys are
• 0:52
  Speaker 6: in our presence.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: So okay, Well, one of the I guess I'm wrong
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: in my assumption then, because one of my assumptions was
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: that Jojo and Jordan always denied the request to come
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: on this podcast.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Is that No, that was my assumption, because you haven't
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: been here. Is that not true? Oh? Dang, well, I'm
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: glad we asked you.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: Now, we should have had you on so many times before.
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: I'm really excited you both are here. I respect you
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: both a lot. I've became a big fan of Jordan
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: because I watch you most saturdays of my life. And Jojo,
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: obviously I think the world of and so it's a
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: big deal that you're here. We have a lot to
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: break down. You are up to a lot in life.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: But let's start back.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: At the beginning, if we can.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: If you can remember six years ago, Jojo, you participated
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: in season twenty of The Bachelor, which I just happened
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: to be a part of.
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: I do remember that.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that was a great time in life because then
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: you became the Bachelor and Jordan, so leading up to
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: that decision to marry a wonderful man, can we go
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: back to And I think I want to ask it
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: this way because the listeners of this are fanatics for
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: The Bachelor. They've listened to us talk about The Bachelor
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: for almost seven years. How I mean and I think
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: you two are the best example. How real is this experience?
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: And let's start with your season of The Bachelor. What
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: you were learning about yourself along the way, what it
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: felt like to leave Jamaica and.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: Go What in the world was this whole thing about
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: and let's stop there, because then I have some follow ups.
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: Wow. Yeah, let's go back down memory lane. You know, guys,
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: when I went on the Bachelor, then we had many
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: conversations about this. I was coming off of a previous
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: relationship that I knew was not good for me, I
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: knew was unhealthy. I think it really chipped away at
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: me and who I was as a woman and my confidence.
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: And so going onto that season, there were some walls
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: that I think I had up and nerves and anxiety,
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: and just going through it, I think along the way
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: and having you as the Bachelor in our relationship that formed,
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: I think I like grew a little bit. I think
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: that I started to remember what I deserved and the
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: type of guys that were out there, and so as
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: you know, like that was a real experience for me,
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: it was for you, was for everybody that was involved,
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: and I think that it was just kind of like
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: a growing journey for me and a realization that like,
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: I don't ever have to settle right and Ben, you
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: were a great example of that. You know, we ended
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: on that last day in Jamaica. I thought I was
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: going up to that altar and getting a ring, and
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: obviously it didn't end that way, but you know, everything
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: happens for a reason. And I remember leaving that day
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: and the exact feeling. I was like, wait, what, Like
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: it was just such a I couldn't even process. It
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: was like a shock moment that lasted for a bit.
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: I can stop there, or I can keep going.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: No.
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think that's good because it is a
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: it's a weird thing when you're on this show. And
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: so obviously if people can't remember that far back, I
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: did end up with Lauren. I am happily married now
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: to somebody that was not anywhere close to my season,
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: nor has she ever watched it, which is so good
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: for me. But then when Laura and I broke up,
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: and I wonder if these are the same feelings, and Jordan,
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: you can't relate with this because you just skipped out
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: of this thing real happy and never gotten there.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: I had a long period of time, maybe over a
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: year of my life where I was like, what was
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: this whole thing for?
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Like, what was this whole thing about?
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: And so obviously, Jojo, you became the bachelorette soon after,
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: but in that limbo stage, did you have those same
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: feelings of what was what is this whole thing? You know?
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: I think I took a lot away even though it
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: ended in heartbreak for me, and it was something that
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: I kind of dealt with. I knew without a doubt
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: that I grew, Like I knew that I was coming
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: back home although heartbroken. I knew I was never going
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: to fall back into those unhealthy relationships that I maybe
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: let into my life before. And I think, and I
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: say this to this day, like going through that experience
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: on the Bachelor, it changed my life in so many ways.
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: It changed my life for my personal self development, my growth,
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: what I wanted, what I knew I deserved. So I
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: didn't ever look at it like why the heck did
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: I go through that and it ended this way? I
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: just think that it was I was shocked that I
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: was able to feel all those things in such an
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: unusual way. And setting you.
• 5:42
  Speaker 6: Know, Jordan, when this is going on with Jojo, what
• 5:47
  Speaker 6: are you doing? Are you watching her getting heartbroken on
• 5:50
  Speaker 6: Ben's season hoping that she's the Bachelor?
• 5:53
  Speaker 7: At No, I'd never watched any of it, so like
• 5:57
  Speaker 7: completely oblivious to the entire thing happening. And then you
• 6:01
  Speaker 7: guys know, like a lot of the way you end
• 6:03
  Speaker 7: up on that show is there's casting and they go
• 6:05
  Speaker 7: to different cities or somehow you get in the mix.
• 6:07
  Speaker 7: They fly a bunch of people out to LA they
• 6:09
  Speaker 7: kind of dwindle it down to twenty five. I wasn't
• 6:11
  Speaker 7: a part of any of that. So literally, ten days easy,
• 6:15
  Speaker 7: ten days before film started for The Bachelorette, I got
• 6:19
  Speaker 7: a call from Bennett out of the blue, Completely out
• 6:22
  Speaker 7: of the blue.
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: I had executive producer I could dated.
• 6:24
  Speaker 7: Show, and they had kind of reached out to my
• 6:26
  Speaker 7: agent because I was in there. I was doing sports
• 6:28
  Speaker 7: radio stuff at the time, and I think it was
• 6:31
  Speaker 7: Pete's wife. Actually was Pete one of the Fosters, was
• 6:33
  Speaker 7: working on that show. I didn't go on that show.
• 6:35
  Speaker 7: They didn't want me. My name got passed along to
• 6:38
  Speaker 7: that say. So Bennett called me. He's like, hey, uh
• 6:41
  Speaker 7: you single? And I'm like yeah. Like he's like, you
• 6:44
  Speaker 7: ever watched the show? I'm like no, I mean I
• 6:45
  Speaker 7: know what it is, but I've never watched the show.
• 6:47
  Speaker 7: And he's like, well, I got this great girl. He's like, look,
• 6:50
  Speaker 7: I'm not going to tell you're going to fall in love,
• 6:51
  Speaker 7: but if you want to go have some fun for
• 6:53
  Speaker 7: a couple of weeks, travel a little bit. I think
• 6:55
  Speaker 7: it'd be really cool. And then and I kind of
• 6:57
  Speaker 7: hung up on that, and I'm like, I don't know.
• 6:58
  Speaker 7: I was living in Nashville at the time, training quarterbacks
• 7:00
  Speaker 7: doing sports radio, and I was like, man, I'm flexible,
• 7:03
  Speaker 7: I could take time off, so sure, why you know,
• 7:05
  Speaker 7: why not? But I made that decision a couple of
• 7:07
  Speaker 7: days before and to the point of view and uh
• 7:09
  Speaker 7: and Ben. I flew out to La, stayed with one
• 7:13
  Speaker 7: of my best friends, Brandon, and he's like, hey, let's
• 7:15
  Speaker 7: just watch an episode, like let's see, you know, because
• 7:17
  Speaker 7: we didn't even know who the bachelorette was going to
• 7:19
  Speaker 7: be at that point. It was either Jojo or Kayla.
• 7:21
  Speaker 7: And they were kind of like, didn't know my name had.
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: Never at that point it was only Kaylea. Everyone thought
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: it was Kayla for so long.
• 7:27
  Speaker 7: So I fill up episode with and I'm watching Ben
• 7:30
  Speaker 7: and Jojo. I think you guys were like in like
• 7:33
  Speaker 7: a waterfall at a waterfall. You're sitting on a rock
• 7:35
  Speaker 7: at a waterfall, like not sure how, but again, it's all.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: Water under the bridge now.
• 7:44
  Speaker 7: So we're I'm watching and I'm going I think it's Kayla,
• 7:47
  Speaker 7: Like she's cool, she's attractive, she seems really funny. I
• 7:50
  Speaker 7: was like, but this Jojo girl, she's like smoke show.
• 7:53
  Speaker 7: And I'm like, you know, maybe I just like shoot
• 7:55
  Speaker 7: her a DM and I don't do this whole TV thing.
• 7:57
  Speaker 7: And I was like kind of like thinking like, oh,
• 7:58
  Speaker 7: I could DM or she'll probably respond, you know, like
• 8:00
  Speaker 7: just the typical overconfident guy that thought he had a
• 8:02
  Speaker 7: following on social media. But I'm like, you know what,
• 8:05
  Speaker 7: I committed to want to do this thing because like
• 8:07
  Speaker 7: it was just an experience. I was like, you know what,
• 8:08
  Speaker 7: whoever it is, I'm gonna go do it. So obviously
• 8:11
  Speaker 7: I was locked in a hotel room at the time
• 8:12
  Speaker 7: that Jojo got announced, but I didn't really know much
• 8:15
  Speaker 7: about the show. Didn't know much about anything other than
• 8:19
  Speaker 7: seeing one or two dates with with Ben and Jojo
• 8:21
  Speaker 7: and thinking Jojo was pretty cute. But that was kind
• 8:24
  Speaker 7: of that was it. So I was new to what
• 8:26
  Speaker 7: was about to happen to me.
• 8:27
  Speaker 6: I had no idea, and Jojo was a surprise bachelorette
• 8:30
  Speaker 6: because usually the runner up doesn't get picked to be
• 8:34
  Speaker 6: the bachelorette because the heartbreak is apparently too intense and
• 8:38
  Speaker 6: too recent.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Oh and it was. Yeah, it was super super there
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: for her.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: What I'm saying, it was like, I remember when Jojo
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: was announced and I'm sitting I remember exactly where I
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: was at. I was so jacked that Kayla was going
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: to be the Bachelorette because and we'll get into this
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: in a second, but I was so excited because I
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: was like, Okay, this is just some nothing I have
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: to watch now, right, And then I was with Lauren
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: at the time, and she didn't want to watch it
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: because typically, and Jordan, thank you for this, the people
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: coming on that season usually come out of the limos
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: and they're like, been such a terrible dude, how could
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: he do this to you? You know, oh gosh, like
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: I'm not going to be the been to you or
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: all these you know, things that happen every season. I
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: was like, I don't have to hear that, and Laura
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: doesn't have to watch it, and we're both like, good,
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: I think JoJo's amazing, but I don't want to see
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: her on TV again. That would be too real for me.
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: Well, and I think at.
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: The time too, because Ben, you know, I don't know
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: if you even know this, Like Lauren had reached out
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: to me a couple of times after you guys got together,
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: because I think she was struggling with some with the
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: whole the two I have thinks, which was hard for
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: me because I was also kind of grieving the loss
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: of our relationship but also wanting to be a good
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: friend to Lauren and comfort her, and so there was
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: this weird kind of dynamic that was going on.
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: You're exactly right because I and again I remember exactly
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: those conversations of her saying to me, this is just
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: too real, like there is just too much and it
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: was heavy on our relationship. And I think for people
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: that don't participate in it, and I don't know if
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: this is the case every season, but for the more
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: and more people that we talked to in the years
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: that we've done this, it feels like there is a
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: lot of kind of heaviness over that final day and
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: what that meant and how it was done and if
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: it was done well and if there was closure or not,
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: And it was heavy on our relationship. It was a
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: conversation we had many times, and there was never any
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: healing from it. I think I think even today, if
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: you were to ask Lauren, was there ever in that
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: season of life until the day you broke up, ever
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: healing and from those conversations, I don't think there was,
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: because there was just not a good way to close it,
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: Like there wasn't And so that's I mean, it's a
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: good place to dive into. You were a surprising bachelorette
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: because Kayla had kind of been the one that was chosen.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: Then you get announced.
• 11:01
  Speaker 5: As it behind the scenes obviously.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, behind the scenes.
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: I want to kind of stop there and talk about
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: now your experience on the Bachelorette, and then also relating
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: it with something that's been heavy on me ever since
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: then when people ask me, and obviously they still do
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: this day, because it's just the nature of the show
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: about the final days of me being the bachelor and
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: telling two women I love them, uh and doing it
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: out of a place that I thought was good and
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: healthy and was all going to work out, and now
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: looking back saying it was probably a very unwise decision.
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: Did you as a bachelor at any moment ago I
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: get it now or at least I can understand it now.
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: On I mean, and I talked about that, like I think,
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: you know, man, I don't even really know if it
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: was the two I love yous that messed me up
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: the most. I think it was the conversations we had
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: after that about like us being these best friends and
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: like not being able to envision a life without each
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: other every day, and it was kind of like, because
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: I do believe you can love more than one person,
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: and after going through the Bachelorette, I think that I
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: started to experience that in my own way. But I
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: was so cautious of not saying I love you because
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: of my experience. But I really don't know if it
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: was the word I love you more so than the
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: coupling it up with all the other promises. I guess
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: if you know that I had expected you know what.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: I mean, that makes sense, Yeah, it does.
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: But I get you can love somebody, but the comments
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: of like, you know, can imagine that life without you
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: like every year, So those things are I think what
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: you really start to think about when you think of
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: your future. Right, So I had I was envisioning the
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: future and what that life looked like. So I think
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: that might have been the hardest part for me.
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know, maybe, And you can give me advice.
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: You were an incredible bachelorette. You are one of, if
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: not the most beloved bachelorettes of all time. You did
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: it really well, and you did it with humor and grace,
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: and you just navigated the process really well. If you
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: look back on that season, you were like, Hey, Ben,
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: here's some advice for you, Here's what you should have done.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: What would you tell me?
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: Honestly, I wouldn't tell you to change anything, you know,
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: because I think it's such a unique experience for everybody,
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: and I think more than anything, you really have to
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: just be true to yourself. And the second you start
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: like overthinking and like trying to guard yourself or to
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: put up these I wouldn't have told you to change anything, right,
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: because I think that experience and how it was done,
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: it ultimately led me to where I needed to be,
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: and it attributed to all that self growth and you know,
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: all those realizations that I had. So, I mean, people
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: are gonna knock you all day for saying I love
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: you to do two Girls, but like that was your
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: truth and decided to speak on that, and I wouldn't
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: tell you not to do that.
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, and it's weird because I think and
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: you know, first off, Jordan, it's great that you have
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: to go through the casting process. There's two people I
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: know that it's never had to go through the casting process.
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: And there's two things that those two people have. They're
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: incredibly good looking, you and Sean bo. So yeah, so
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: some of us we have to grind to get on
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: and that's and that's why that's I'm saying this because
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: what And I'm glad that it's this way, And I'm
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: glad it was that way during kind of the season
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: of the Bachelor and Bachelorette that we were both in
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: their way all in it was very real to me,
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: and I think I mean, obviously it was very real
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: to the two of you because you're sharing a life
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: together now, but leading up to it, you don't really
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: know what you're getting into. You're very unequipped. And I
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: think the audience watches this and goes, why are they
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: doing it this way? How are they not more you know,
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: wise or careful in their decision making? And for me,
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: in my experience, I was coming from pretty much being unemployed,
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: living in a little house in Denver with no friends
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: because I just moved to this city and then all
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: of a sudden being asked to be the Bachelor and
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: showing up and having at you know, an incredible group
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: of people there that were, you know, date with that
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: I was dating and trying to figure out to do that,
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: and then at the end having some of the best
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: women I've ever met in my life standing in front
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: of me and me trying to navigate how to do
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: this well. And it's really I meant what I really
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: wanted to answer in interviews back then when people are like,
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: how could you do it? And I was like, I
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: just didn't know how to do it. Like I'm I'm
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: not stupid. I won't say that about myself, but like,
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: I'm just not smart in these situations.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: I have no clue how I could have done this.
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: You couldn't have because no one has ever had to
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: do that in their lives period, you know what I mean.
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: So you I had no clue how to do it.
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: I think I just had an awareness because of what
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: I had just gone through. Otherwise, you have no way
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: to gauge how that experience is going to play out.
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: No one can.
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: Maybe the thing here that's weirdest about the show too
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: for me was that like a few of these relationships,
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: not many of them felt like real relationships, right, like
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: you're dating somebody. It just happens that you're dating somebody
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: else at the same time. But these are real things.
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: They're they're changing your life, they're changing your perspective, as
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: you say, they're giving you a better look at either
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: who you're gonna be with in the end and share
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: life with, or what you're looking for in a partner
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: long term. And so typically in life, when you have
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: a real relationship and it ends and there's a lot
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: of emotion to it, there's closure, and there's maybe some
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: fights afterwards, and there's may maybe some how could you
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: do this to me? And some texts and some calls,
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: and then at some point everybody moves on and you
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: feel like, Okay, at least I've been heard, they've been heard,
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: and now we can move forward. Jojo, I've only I
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: think seen you one time since the show, and it
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: was you and Jordan and airport in Nashville, Tennessee, and
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: like passing.
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: We saw you and Lauren at iHeart and event remember
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: all of us together at.
• 17:20
  Speaker 6: Oh my god, that's all right, and you guys were
• 17:24
  Speaker 6: talking about how it was a little awkward and that
• 17:28
  Speaker 6: leads perfectly into this question. Then, when things were a
• 17:33
  Speaker 6: little rocky with you and Lauren, the relationship was going south,
• 17:37
  Speaker 6: I think there was probably a lot of people around
• 17:41
  Speaker 6: you being like, oh, he should have picked Jojo, and
• 17:45
  Speaker 6: I'm sure Lauren was insecure about that. How much did
• 17:50
  Speaker 6: Jojo play a role in your relationship with Lauren after
• 17:53
  Speaker 6: the show?
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: Oh? I mean mentally a ton And it's unfair.
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: It was unfair too, because I think it again, going
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: back to I don't know, I would argue strongly that
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: I had the best cast of women that any Bachelor's
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: ever had from the start to from the start to
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: the finish, I would say that, you know, there was
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: just incredible people on that season, and I would fight
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: for that. And so with the show itself. When you
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: have that many incredible people, there's comparisons that are done.
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: And the comparisons aren't fair, they're not healthy, they're not right,
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: but they happen, and they usually, you know, people like
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: the person that got hurts. It's easy to you know,
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: to try to push down the person that should just
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: be living a really happy, go lucky life. But those
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: conversations never left and it would come up at random times.
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: Maybe be in a really healthy season of our relationship,
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: things would be going well and we go on an
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: interview and you know, somebody says, Lauren, what did it
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: feel like to have been watching it back and see
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: Ben say I love you to two people and is
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: like funny maybe or is like light is like is
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: maybe people didn't realize the gravity and the weight of
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: that question on our relationship, like and so people wouldn't realize, yeah,
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: this is just another good question from a from somebody
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: getting a headline, And for me, I would sit there
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: and like my insides would crawl because I'd be like,
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: we haven't had to talk about this in weeks, Like
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: we haven't had to broach this in weeks. And at
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: that point, Jordan and Jojo were together, and I thought
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: that was going to be something that moved everybody forward,
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: like everybody's doing their thing right, everybody's good now, like
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: we can we can leave this and step And it
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: never did it. And I think Lauren would say the
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: same thing, you know, and it was me and her
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: both dealing with this, but it never left us, I
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: think until the very end.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: Is that fair? Does that make sense?
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: Yeah?
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: That's heavy?
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: Would you expect that. I mean, Jojo, like the two
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: of you, Jojo and Jordan. Would you guys, can you
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: relate with that at all? Like hearing that and and
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: understanding the questions from the show and understanding that the
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: navigating the unhealthy things that come out of the show
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: for you.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: Did you guys have any of that?
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: I don't think that we had the same, Like you
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: know what you were experiencing with Mouren and how it
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: relates to me. I don't think I felt that, you
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: know with Robbie who was my runner.
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: Up, right, we didn't feel it with you and Robbie either.
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so I didn't. I didn't. That wasn't our struggle.
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: I think the really hard part for us was just
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: that that whole year after, you know, we had a
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: hard year, thought a lot wasn't good, almost broke up
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: a couple of times. And we're very kind of open
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: about that. The struggles for us, we're just trying to
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: figure out. Now we're two people that have just met
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: in a really weird way, trying to live together and
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: be together coming off of this crazy show, and you
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: know the time, you know how like presses and articles
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: and like every other day it was something that created
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: a stressor for us to try and navigate, and we
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: didn't know how to and we just were different. We
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: communicate very differently, we handle conflict very differently, and so
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: that was a big learning process for us.
• 21:20
  Speaker 7: Well, I think, I think too, Like a lot of
• 21:23
  Speaker 7: it has to do with your storyline on the show
• 21:25
  Speaker 7: as well, right and pitying me and Robbie together. Behind
• 21:29
  Speaker 7: the scenes, Jojo was kind of getting primed that I
• 21:33
  Speaker 7: was the one that you don't know what's going to
• 21:34
  Speaker 7: happen when he gets fame or whatever, you know what
• 21:37
  Speaker 7: I mean? Like I was the one that she had
• 21:38
  Speaker 7: worried about, who's he going to be? Can I trust him?
• 21:42
  Speaker 7: And so after the show there was you have to
• 21:44
  Speaker 7: break those Yes, you met and you know each other
• 21:47
  Speaker 7: for nine weeks, but you guys know this, like then
• 21:49
  Speaker 7: real life hits and you really start to like really
• 21:51
  Speaker 7: know somebody. And also like when you read something on
• 21:55
  Speaker 7: a magazine, Yeah, you know it's a magazine, but you
• 21:57
  Speaker 7: also haven't ever is that true? Is it not true?
• 22:00
  Speaker 7: I had those conversations you don't know this person beyond
• 22:03
  Speaker 7: the bubble that we were in. So building trust and
• 22:06
  Speaker 7: building the real aspect of our relationship was kind of
• 22:10
  Speaker 7: difficult because of what it looked like and the storyline
• 22:14
  Speaker 7: and what she was feeling and what kind of our
• 22:16
  Speaker 7: storyline on the show was. Like I was the one
• 22:18
  Speaker 7: that I don't know, she didn't know if I was
• 22:19
  Speaker 7: going to propose because I didn't didn't ask her dad
• 22:22
  Speaker 7: when I was supposed to ask her dad, like you know,
• 22:24
  Speaker 7: so I was always the one there was a question
• 22:25
  Speaker 7: mark about. I kind of had to like fight really
• 22:27
  Speaker 7: hard to like, no, that's not like you can trust me, like,
• 22:31
  Speaker 7: and so that was just a part of our relationship.
• 22:33
  Speaker 7: I think that with the communication with the real life,
• 22:35
  Speaker 7: with the pressure of it, it just it spiraled and
• 22:38
  Speaker 7: it was very tough for that first year period. Like,
• 22:41
  Speaker 7: it wasn't super fun. There were fun parts, but it
• 22:43
  Speaker 7: was hard.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: Do you remember the hurdle that you guys crossed that
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: kind of.
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: Led you then to being like, no, this is right
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: and I do trust you.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: Is there a moment a time?
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I remember this so vividly. We had moved into
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: this the first house that we obviously were living in together,
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: a small, tiny little house. We had been fighting and
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: we would have we had this like blow up fight,
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: like and it scared me because it reminded me of
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: a toxic relationship I had in my past, and that
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: was I told myself to day that I left Jamaica.
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: I would never allow that into my life again, Like
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: that was not not it for me. And I remember
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: that one fight had gotten to that level and I
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: was like, oh, no, I think did I leave or
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: did you leave? I think I left.
• 23:29
  Speaker 7: We remember were multiple times we both like left out,
• 23:32
  Speaker 7: like I needed.
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: To get away, and we were like, man, this is
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: not good good. And so that day we came we
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: both came into the living room and we were like,
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: we have to figure this out.
• 23:45
  Speaker 7: It was in very like you know in those fights. No,
• 23:49
  Speaker 7: it was like we were broken, We were sad. It
• 23:51
  Speaker 7: was like this is not good for us as individuals,
• 23:55
  Speaker 7: like like like either we need to be I love
• 23:58
  Speaker 7: you and and go our separate ways because it's can
• 24:01
  Speaker 7: be better for each of us as human beings, or
• 24:03
  Speaker 7: we need to figure out like why we chose each
• 24:05
  Speaker 7: other in the first place. Those good parts and also
• 24:08
  Speaker 7: realized that we got a lot of shit to grow
• 24:10
  Speaker 7: up on, We had a lot of to grow and
• 24:12
  Speaker 7: we have a lot of work to do to get
• 24:14
  Speaker 7: to a point where this is healthy and it's supposed
• 24:15
  Speaker 7: to be what we both wanted out of it. And
• 24:17
  Speaker 7: I was about a year in. Yeah, that it was
• 24:19
  Speaker 7: kind of that crossroads. We're like, okay, like we can
• 24:22
  Speaker 7: take this road and we'll still love each other and
• 24:23
  Speaker 7: respect each other. We tried, we really did, and it
• 24:27
  Speaker 7: was sad and we were broken. Or we can say, hey, no,
• 24:29
  Speaker 7: we're going to lean into this and like actively make
• 24:32
  Speaker 7: that choice on a daily basis, be intentional about it.
• 24:35
  Speaker 7: So that was tough, though.
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: Do you think looking back, like you both came into
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: that wanting it to work still or either of you like, no,
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: this is not going to work. Like I'm trying to
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: say okay for a listener out there who is not
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: in a toxic relationship. Yeah, but it's trying to navigate,
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: Hey can I make this thing work?
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: I've been married now for almost two years a year
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: and a half actually as of like next week, and
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: it's not easy, right, And my wife is an incredible
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: human who has the purest soul, But it's not easy
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: to navigate, and it's it's not always roses in our household.
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: But the reason it works is because we both have
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: the spirit of no we're we're in this now, like
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: we're going to make this work. And so going back
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: to that conversation after a year together, what was the
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: spirit behind everything that kind of helped you move forward?
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: Well, I kind of just want to make a quick
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: clarification on the toxic park because I wouldn't say like
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: we never had like this is what when I say
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: toxic and how it relates to our relationship. Wasn't like
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: really bad things were happen, like I was doing something
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: or he was doing something. It was the inability to
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: navigate and work through conflict and allowing it to just
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: kind of escalate. There was never a de escalation that
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: we were able to figure out, and it could have
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: been something so small, and so I knew and we
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: both knew like that would that's not sustainable, Like that's
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: not healthy, it's not it's not going to be something
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: we can do long term. And so when we came
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: into that conversation, we both knew how much we loved
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: each other, but it was a real like do you
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: want this is? Do you believe this is what's best
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: for you? And who I am as a person, who
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: you are as a person. And I think we both
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: went into that. Like you said, Ben, is like we
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: both agree that this was what we wanted, and we
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: both knew that it was going to take a lot
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: of work on each side, a lot of compromise, and
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: just a lot of kind of I think self awareness,
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: and a lot of situations that maybe we both didn't have.
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: But I will say after that moment, we actively and
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: intentionally worked and all the things that we knew were
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: are struggles, which I think the biggest one of the
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: time was communication in conflict. Right, Like we were best friends,
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: we have the best time together day to day. It's
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: like we love being with each other, but when we
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: have times we didn't.
• 26:50
  Speaker 7: Know how to argue, not how to argue people that
• 26:52
  Speaker 7: in relationship. But I think's interesting that you guys can
• 26:54
  Speaker 7: probably relate to this, and I think in a way
• 26:55
  Speaker 7: like anybody can relate to this, is when you come
• 26:58
  Speaker 7: off the show, there is an avents pressure, yep to
• 27:01
  Speaker 7: be together and be happy and be perfect, not because
• 27:04
  Speaker 7: you want to and you obviously should want to, but
• 27:06
  Speaker 7: because that's what it's supposed to look like. And so
• 27:09
  Speaker 7: I think that moment, when we came to that point,
• 27:12
  Speaker 7: it was almost like, Okay, screw that pressure, because that
• 27:16
  Speaker 7: pressure was what made us solve some issues and come
• 27:19
  Speaker 7: to agreements and compromise because like, no, no, we have
• 27:21
  Speaker 7: to fix this because we're expected to, We're expected to
• 27:24
  Speaker 7: be happy, we're expected to be a good couple. In
• 27:26
  Speaker 7: that moment we came to it, it's okay, we need
• 27:28
  Speaker 7: to choose this because we want to, not because there's
• 27:31
  Speaker 7: a pressure too. I think that was a big difference
• 27:34
  Speaker 7: because for a long time, we put on a good
• 27:35
  Speaker 7: face when it wasn't super great, which you kind of
• 27:38
  Speaker 7: have to it sometimes, and we fix things because we
• 27:40
  Speaker 7: felt like we needed to. And there's the immense pressure
• 27:43
  Speaker 7: of everyone saying how good to a couple you were,
• 27:45
  Speaker 7: when behind the scenes you're like, wow, it's not that good.
• 27:48
  Speaker 7: And so we chose they were like in that moment,
• 27:49
  Speaker 7: it's like no, no, yeah, I get the pressures there,
• 27:52
  Speaker 7: but that like, we need to do this because we
• 27:54
  Speaker 7: want to, and if we want to, then we actually
• 27:55
  Speaker 7: will make those changes for us, not for anybody else.
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: But I wouldn't also say that we made decis to
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: stay together for other people. But it was that that
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: pressure that we had added to the stress and a relationship.
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: I didn't want to go to my mom and tell
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: her all the issues that I'm I didn't want to
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: go to my best friend because I never wanted them
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: to look at him in a poor light, you know,
• 28:17
  Speaker 4: And so I didn't feel like I had this outlet
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: to like vent because it right, we had just gone
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: engage on this crazy situation scenario, whatever you want to
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: call it, and we fought for that relationship because we
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: believed in it, But we didn't have those outlets that
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: we felt like we could normally have, right because we
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: felt like eyes were always on us, or we didn't
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: people to like misconstrue something or run with it. So
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: it was just that was an added pressure.
• 28:43
  Speaker 5: When did you feel like it started to get good?
• 28:46
  Speaker 4: Honestly, like right after that, And I will I can't
• 28:50
  Speaker 4: say I think right after because it was the most
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: real moment that we had that we knew if we
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: were to ever end up in another conflict, we were
• 28:57
  Speaker 4: both so like in that moment, we I don't think we've.
• 29:01
  Speaker 7: Ever had a more We felt like a true team
• 29:05
  Speaker 7: after that, so like as opposed to arguments where like
• 29:08
  Speaker 7: someone was trying to be right prove their point, it
• 29:10
  Speaker 7: was like we still do that right everybody does, but
• 29:12
  Speaker 7: like we felt like we were in it together at
• 29:15
  Speaker 7: that point, not for any other reason, not for any
• 29:17
  Speaker 7: other purpose, but just because we wanted it not bad.
• 29:20
  Speaker 7: And I think that we looked at everything through that
• 29:23
  Speaker 7: context from there on out, which I think really helped.
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's uh, And I think it's it's very relatable
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: because I think, you know, in my relationship, I'm sure
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: Ashley has that moment too, where you have something either
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: good or bad, but all of a sudden, you look
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: at this person you go, we're a team, Like we're
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: in this together. This is good, We're going to make
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: this work. We're both better for it. And it kind
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: of feels like the skies open up. Everything gets a
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: little brighter, like the way of being right or the
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: way of the pressure is lifted because now you've got
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: your teammate.
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: And I think that the show does play a role
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: in this.
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: And you know, for as much as you know Ashley
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: and I still sit here seven years later and talk
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: about this show and break down the show and interview
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: people from the show, there's parts of the show that
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: still keep us very excited about the show. And it
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: is these real moments and knowing that the behind the
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: scenes of this is sometimes tough, but also it is
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: worth it when it works out. And I remember many moments.
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: I mean most moments I remember are moments where, yeah,
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: you know, Laura and I would be doing great and
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: then we'd have something going on in our life and
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: then all of a sudden we have to jump in
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: a car and drive to an interview, or jump in
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: a car and go to an event, and it was
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: like the weight on that is like, wait, we haven't
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: fixed this. There's no healing from the thing we just
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: said to each other. And now we're going five to
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: six hours standing around each other and taking pictures and
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: smiling until we can talk about it again. And maybe
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: we won't even talk about it again, and it will
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: just like compound on each other.
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: Oh you day over day over day.
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: And so I get it, like you don't have the
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: skill sets sometimes in relationships, and it's beautiful when you
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: can work that out. And I think you guys are
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: a testament that because you are open about the difficulties
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: of this right publicly, you've definitely spoke about how hard
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: this was, and so people fans and also past contestants
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: like myself got to see that and go I get
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: it and they're gonna make it work.
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah, No, it's so true. I think it's important though too.
• 31:23
  Speaker 4: You know when people always ask about like what, it's
• 31:26
  Speaker 4: hard to kind of give that advice if you will,
• 31:28
  Speaker 4: to the next bachelorette or the next bachelor, because you
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: don't ever want to say, like, it's gonna be some
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: really hard freaking time and kind of like damper it.
• 31:35
  Speaker 4: But it's kind of the truth. And I think that
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: like the more awareness and you know, comfortability was saying like, yeah,
• 31:43
  Speaker 4: it's gonna be tough, and you have to be comfortable
• 31:45
  Speaker 4: in the uncomfortable and work through it if it's something
• 31:47
  Speaker 4: that you want, Like that's real life, you know. So
• 31:51
  Speaker 4: I mean, I'm thankful for that hardier looking back, because
• 31:54
  Speaker 4: I hope we would not be the couple and have
• 31:58
  Speaker 4: this relationship that we have today, which I'm so thankful
• 32:00
  Speaker 4: and blessed for if we didn't go through all that stuff,
• 32:03
  Speaker 4: you know, and didn't have to have that moment of
• 32:05
  Speaker 4: feeling so broken that we needed to make a real
• 32:08
  Speaker 4: true choice.
• 32:19
  Speaker 6: Can we talk about the reproposal when you got the
• 32:24
  Speaker 6: most amazing ring of all time and Jordan, why did
• 32:28
  Speaker 6: you choose to repropose.
• 32:30
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean so obviously as soon as you come
• 32:32
  Speaker 7: off the show. That's the only question you get right
• 32:34
  Speaker 7: when you get married, like and so simultaneous we just
• 32:37
  Speaker 7: talked about it. We were going through a really tough
• 32:39
  Speaker 7: part of our relationship, like that was not on the
• 32:42
  Speaker 7: table during that first year. We weren't talking about the wedding.
• 32:45
  Speaker 7: We were talking about staying together and like getting our
• 32:48
  Speaker 7: relationship healthy into a better place. And so we'd kind
• 32:51
  Speaker 7: of come out of that, and I really wanted two things.
• 32:55
  Speaker 7: I wanted the excitement again of something to look forward to,
• 33:00
  Speaker 7: something that felt authentic. And I wanted to do it
• 33:02
  Speaker 7: my way. I wanted to do it without Jojo having
• 33:05
  Speaker 7: that had just broke up with someone not sweating her
• 33:08
  Speaker 7: butt off on a beach in Thailand because she hates
• 33:10
  Speaker 7: being hot, Like you know, I wanted. I wanted to
• 33:13
  Speaker 7: buy my own ring I did. I wanted to go
• 33:14
  Speaker 7: ring shopping where I knew kind of what she wanted.
• 33:17
  Speaker 7: I wanted. I want to go do it my own,
• 33:18
  Speaker 7: on my own way. So that's what I did. And
• 33:24
  Speaker 7: it was a crazy story because it almost didn't happen
• 33:26
  Speaker 7: three or four times, like i'd I was doing TV
• 33:29
  Speaker 7: and Charlotte the night before for sports and I lied
• 33:32
  Speaker 7: to her. I told her that I was spending the
• 33:34
  Speaker 7: night there and catching a plane to LA Friday morning.
• 33:37
  Speaker 7: Really I was jumping to Nashville to pick up the
• 33:39
  Speaker 7: ring then that night and then flying from Nashville to
• 33:43
  Speaker 7: LA the next morning. And my flight got delayed till
• 33:45
  Speaker 7: three in the morning, didn't know if it was going
• 33:46
  Speaker 7: to take off. And I'm like, literally, all she has
• 33:49
  Speaker 7: to do is FaceTime me because I'm not at my
• 33:51
  Speaker 7: hotel room, I'm not in my bed. I am at
• 33:54
  Speaker 7: the airport. She facetimes me, and I decline it. That
• 33:58
  Speaker 7: is not a good print. Thanks, And I'm Michael, God,
• 34:01
  Speaker 7: please just don't FaceTime texture, you know, like, Hey, I'm
• 34:03
  Speaker 7: in bed, gonna get some sleep to get an early flight.
• 34:05
  Speaker 7: And I'm like, is my flight gonna take off? Like,
• 34:07
  Speaker 7: I'm not even gonna to national I'm not gonna have
• 34:09
  Speaker 7: a ring. I'm gonna like, can I tell you what?
• 34:11
  Speaker 4: In that moment, looking back, I realized, like this is
• 34:13
  Speaker 4: how I know I'm like in a very good relationship,
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: Like I'm not I'm not trying to hit you up
• 34:18
  Speaker 4: and asking where you are every second of the day.
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: There's like all that trust that was there, but you
• 34:22
  Speaker 4: were still sleeper nervous. I think it did help, though.
• 34:24
  Speaker 4: I was at Becca's house, and I think Becca knew
• 34:27
  Speaker 4: to Becca knows to me. She might have been kept
• 34:30
  Speaker 4: keeping me real busy, but I.
• 34:33
  Speaker 7: So anyways, we're at this We were actually looking at
• 34:35
  Speaker 7: wedding venues like that whole weekend, and so we went
• 34:38
  Speaker 7: to one that I knew wasn't gonna be a wedding
• 34:39
  Speaker 7: venue option, but it was literally you could see the
• 34:42
  Speaker 7: bachelor mansion from this little helicopter pad at this venue,
• 34:46
  Speaker 7: and so we're kind of, you know, we're kind of
• 34:48
  Speaker 7: just walking around looking, oh, this is where the ceremony
• 34:51
  Speaker 7: be cool, and I kind of like put my arm
• 34:52
  Speaker 7: around or I'm like, it's just so wasn't this isn't
• 34:55
  Speaker 7: this crazy? Like we're literally like a mile from where
• 34:58
  Speaker 7: we met, Like think about it. I started getting into
• 35:00
  Speaker 7: this kind of sappy and she's like, what are you doing.
• 35:04
  Speaker 7: She's like, get your arm off family sweating. But yeah,
• 35:09
  Speaker 7: it was important to me to just do it my way, like,
• 35:11
  Speaker 7: and it takes nothing away from the first proposal.
• 35:13
  Speaker 4: What are you laughing at the wedding venu tour guide.
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: One person was just that.
• 35:18
  Speaker 7: Come on yeah video, but it was it was And
• 35:25
  Speaker 7: I get this question a lot, But it doesn't mean
• 35:27
  Speaker 7: that the first proposal wasn't real or anything less. But
• 35:31
  Speaker 7: it was just an opportunity to do it like I
• 35:33
  Speaker 7: would have in real life with nobody else there the
• 35:36
  Speaker 7: pressure in the the anxiety of doing it, picking out
• 35:39
  Speaker 7: a ring and doing all that.
• 35:40
  Speaker 4: So it was actually fun for me too because I
• 35:43
  Speaker 4: was had no clue what was happening.
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: Like, I know you weren't engaged. You're like, but that.
• 35:51
  Speaker 7: Morning too, I like put on a collared shirt and
• 35:53
  Speaker 7: Ben we were talking earlier, like I don't wear this.
• 35:55
  Speaker 7: We're doing a press tour today, I'd be wearing air
• 35:57
  Speaker 7: and she's like, I'm like, yeah, you know. I thought,
• 35:59
  Speaker 7: I you know a little bit for looking at venues
• 36:01
  Speaker 7: and I was like, is that what you're wearing?
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: Sweaty ponytail?
• 36:04
  Speaker 7: Like you're gonna wear that?
• 36:07
  Speaker 5: I'm like, bro back up you and gorgeous all the time.
• 36:13
  Speaker 6: You guys got a lot of stress put on you
• 36:16
  Speaker 6: from Bachelor Nation for waiting so long to get married.
• 36:20
  Speaker 5: Were you guys together for six years before the wedding?
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: It was our six year engagement anniversary on our rehearsal
• 36:27
  Speaker 4: dinner night the week. Yeah.
• 36:30
  Speaker 7: I tried to do it two years earlier. We tried
• 36:32
  Speaker 7: to do it in twenty twenty. I work in the fall,
• 36:35
  Speaker 7: so falls kind of off the table and the venue.
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: We kind of had to but we knew we wanted
• 36:40
  Speaker 4: to have a long engagement.
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 36:42
  Speaker 7: Well yeah we needed that.
• 36:44
  Speaker 6: But you were like the youngest bachelor at ever at
• 36:46
  Speaker 6: the time. Didn't she get engaged twenty five five?
• 36:51
  Speaker 5: Yeah? I think you were the youngest at that point.
• 36:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Jojo and I started the trend that everybody hated
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: because I was what twenty five turning twenty six or
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: twenty six years building?
• 36:59
  Speaker 7: Is?
• 36:59
  Speaker 4: It was?
• 36:59
  Speaker 7: Ay, it's like a batcheler was like thirty something.
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, and then we got really young, like it
• 37:04
  Speaker 3: went young and then they had to like.
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: Really work ari that they're ari in there.
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: Like the age back. I think it's so fun that
• 37:14
  Speaker 3: you did it, Jojo. So you're confused, Oh, I knowing
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: you this is funny. So you're confused because he's acting
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: funny and then he does it. Is it as special
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: to you in that moment as you think he thought
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: it could be.
• 37:32
  Speaker 4: It was more special to me in the moment. It
• 37:35
  Speaker 4: was just so real, right, it was like that funny
• 37:38
  Speaker 4: like having zero clue that it was going to happen,
• 37:43
  Speaker 4: and then just realizing this is something he's been thinking
• 37:45
  Speaker 4: about for a long time, and then hearing the crazy
• 37:47
  Speaker 4: story of.
• 37:48
  Speaker 7: Ott I hadn't slept.
• 37:49
  Speaker 4: Oh yeah, that's rr so.
• 37:51
  Speaker 7: Like my flight ended up taking off Regardletts at two
• 37:54
  Speaker 7: forty five am. I landed in Nashville like three something,
• 37:58
  Speaker 7: drove rented a car, drove straight to my buddy's house
• 38:01
  Speaker 7: that had the ring that I'd shipped to him, grabbed
• 38:03
  Speaker 7: the ring, drove straight back to the airport for a
• 38:05
  Speaker 7: five fifteen am flight to La. Landed in La, had
• 38:09
  Speaker 7: to drive to the venue to make sure someone was
• 38:11
  Speaker 7: gonna be there because they bring me back, and then
• 38:14
  Speaker 7: drove to Becca's house to pick up Jojo. So zero
• 38:17
  Speaker 7: sleep at all and have to act like everything's good.
• 38:20
  Speaker 4: He's is really good at day. Oh he's super sweet.
• 38:23
  Speaker 4: I had no idea and it was kind of it's fun, right,
• 38:26
  Speaker 4: like we had this cool experience getting engaged the way
• 38:31
  Speaker 4: we did on the show, but you didn't really get
• 38:34
  Speaker 4: that true, Like I'm gonna plan this engagement right, I
• 38:38
  Speaker 4: don't know, I'm gonna pick out the ring, and so
• 38:40
  Speaker 4: knowing that he did that and knowing that I got
• 38:42
  Speaker 4: to experience like.
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: Both, Yeah, he loves you a lot, Jojo, obviously, but
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: there's funny things.
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: It's just funny, Jordan. I don't know.
• 38:53
  Speaker 3: I mean, I'm sure you would do wild things for
• 38:56
  Speaker 3: Jojo today, like you would. You'd probably do that again
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: if if needed to be. But I remember that dating
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: season and just the links I was willing to go
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: for Jessica and the things I was willing to do
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: to make sure she knew how much I loved her,
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: And like the.
• 39:14
  Speaker 4: Airport when we saw it and that was the first
• 39:15
  Speaker 4: time you were going to meet her.
• 39:16
  Speaker 5: I was, oh my gosh, what a time to run
• 39:19
  Speaker 5: into bed.
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: It was wild and I'm like, what are you doing here?
• 39:23
  Speaker 4: He's like, I actually been talking to this girl and
• 39:25
  Speaker 4: I'm going to meet her and her family, I think,
• 39:27
  Speaker 4: right for the first time.
• 39:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, she picked me up from the airport that day.
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: So like it was funny because I remember calling my
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: buddies and be like, you'll never guess what just happened
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: to me, Like, what a weird time in my life.
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: I am getting ready to meet this girl who I
• 39:42
  Speaker 3: am head over heels for who we facetimed, and but
• 39:47
  Speaker 3: I don't know her family.
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: I've never met them.
• 39:49
  Speaker 3: And I'm in the airport and I'm freaking out because
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: I'm just landing literally yes seconds, I think I just
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: got my bags, like I was walking out the door
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: kind of taking a breather to be like, Okay, this
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: is going to happen.
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: And then here comes Jojo and Jordan, and I'm like,
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: you gotta.
• 40:05
  Speaker 5: Be shooting me.
• 40:09
  Speaker 7: Now. The first time we had really talked because only
• 40:12
  Speaker 7: for that iHeart thing. It was good, it was it
• 40:14
  Speaker 7: was a weird situation.
• 40:15
  Speaker 3: It was too soon, too soon, we weren't doing it,
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: and I was like, you got to be kidding me.
• 40:19
  Speaker 3: I don't know what God is telling me right now,
• 40:22
  Speaker 3: but something weird and I don't know how to process it.
• 40:24
  Speaker 3: But it all works out, and it all works out
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: in the end. Well before we transition here into and
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: thank you guys for having this conversation and being so
• 40:32
  Speaker 3: open about it. And it's a lot of fun to
• 40:36
  Speaker 3: talk to the two of you.
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: It really is.
• 40:38
  Speaker 3: And it also, you know, I want to say this
• 40:40
  Speaker 3: before we transition into something that is really exciting for
• 40:43
  Speaker 3: the two of you.
• 40:44
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: The reason and I mean this.
• 40:49
  Speaker 3: Deeply, the reason that my time on the Bachelor is
• 40:52
  Speaker 3: still something that I hold. So it's such a good
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: season of life is in a lot large part to you, Jojo,
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: like you are an incredible human. One of the toughest
• 41:02
  Speaker 3: things after the show for me and trying to navigate
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: the madness, was that I had nothing but amazing things
• 41:10
  Speaker 3: to say about you.
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: Had been so much easier.
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: If I could have been like, yeah, it's obvious why
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: I didn't choose Jojoe. She's crazy, she's a terrible human.
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: But it was the complete opposite in my life, And
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: so there was this weird thing where I never had
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: anything but amazing things to say about you because that's
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: how I fell, which also made it harder in these
• 41:28
  Speaker 3: interviews and in these conversations with Lauren, and so thank
• 41:32
  Speaker 3: you for being you. Thank you for being you post show,
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: and I'm so happy for the two of you. Now
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: just see how this whole thing plays out.
• 41:39
  Speaker 4: Same to you, Ben, honestly, you know how I feel
• 41:41
  Speaker 4: about that. I mean, you made the experience going into
• 41:44
  Speaker 4: the Bachelorette one that was very hopeful for me. So appreciate.
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: Before we do transition to the big deal. I gotta
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: ask you, Jojo.
• 42:01
  Speaker 3: One of the coolest parts about my time on The
• 42:04
  Speaker 3: Bachelor was watching your friendships unfold and you mentioned Becca.
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: Here are you guys still close to this day?
• 42:09
  Speaker 3: Can you give us an update on your friendship with
• 42:12
  Speaker 3: Becca and what you think of her relationship with Haley
• 42:15
  Speaker 3: and all the stuff they're up to.
• 42:18
  Speaker 4: My very best friend, right, Like, it's pretty wild that
• 42:20
  Speaker 4: this is somebody that I met this season the Bachelor,
• 42:23
  Speaker 4: who is now she's like family right to me. It's like,
• 42:27
  Speaker 4: we will be connected, soul sisters, if you will, for
• 42:31
  Speaker 4: the rest of our for our lives. But yeah, I
• 42:33
  Speaker 4: think that was one of the most amazing things that
• 42:36
  Speaker 4: came out of our season. It was our relationship. And
• 42:39
  Speaker 4: I get emotional. I don't know why when I talk
• 42:41
  Speaker 4: about Becca, I mean because that girl is one of
• 42:48
  Speaker 4: you guys. Know, She's one of the most incredible, the
• 42:50
  Speaker 4: most incredible human being that deserves every ounce of love
• 42:53
  Speaker 4: that she so freely gives to everybody in her life.
• 42:58
  Speaker 4: And so seeing her relationship with Haley evolve and grow
• 43:02
  Speaker 4: and to see where it is today and how much
• 43:04
  Speaker 4: she's grown and is able to showcase that love in
• 43:07
  Speaker 4: such a powerful, proud way makes me the happiest I
• 43:12
  Speaker 4: could ever be.
• 43:13
  Speaker 6: Yes. Yeah, seeing their contown and Instagram is just like, Wow,
• 43:17
  Speaker 6: you guys could not be cuter and more in love
• 43:20
  Speaker 6: After five years.
• 43:21
  Speaker 4: Hailey had the cutest relationship and it makes me.
• 43:24
  Speaker 6: So Yeah, Hailey's so awesome. She's just really easy to
• 43:28
  Speaker 6: talk to you. I've only hung out with her a
• 43:29
  Speaker 6: number of times, but I'm so comfortable with her every time.
• 43:33
  Speaker 4: Amazing.
• 43:34
  Speaker 6: Before we do talk about your show, The Big D,
• 43:36
  Speaker 6: I want one question about, like, how how you guys
• 43:41
  Speaker 6: have become different people throughout your time together.
• 43:45
  Speaker 5: Jordan.
• 43:46
  Speaker 6: How do you feel like Jojo has changed since you
• 43:49
  Speaker 6: guys got together and then vice versa.
• 43:51
  Speaker 4: Wow, this is a great question. Hard hitting is.
• 43:54
  Speaker 7: Hard, We're tough here, changed.
• 44:01
  Speaker 5: Like a vault.
• 44:03
  Speaker 7: Yeah, no, I think she mm hmm, but I have one.
• 44:10
  Speaker 7: You have it? No go no, no go, you have.
• 44:16
  Speaker 4: No I will say what I think. This is a
• 44:20
  Speaker 4: good thing, So I don't look at me weird, I think, Jordan,
• 44:24
  Speaker 4: to be honest, when we first got together, it was
• 44:26
  Speaker 4: just it it felt so tense. I think through the
• 44:31
  Speaker 4: throughout the last six seven years, I have seen you
• 44:35
  Speaker 4: just kind of break down your walls a little bit
• 44:36
  Speaker 4: and become a softer person a little bit. I think
• 44:42
  Speaker 4: that you've become like more patient and more like because
• 44:45
  Speaker 4: it's something that I practice and preach all the time.
• 44:47
  Speaker 4: It's just like that patience, the kindness, that the overly
• 44:52
  Speaker 4: like whatever. And I think it was really hard in
• 44:54
  Speaker 4: the beginning to showcase that because we were in such
• 44:57
  Speaker 4: a stressful period of our life, or he was getting
• 44:59
  Speaker 4: a has every other day on his character, which was
• 45:02
  Speaker 4: so unfair to him because it was based on nothing
• 45:04
  Speaker 4: that I think it created this like hardness, you know,
• 45:07
  Speaker 4: almost to him right where it was it was harder
• 45:10
  Speaker 4: for him to be this softer had that softer side
• 45:14
  Speaker 4: come on. I it's just like night and day. And
• 45:17
  Speaker 4: that's how I think he really solved.
• 45:21
  Speaker 7: I think Jojo from it's from an like her strength
• 45:27
  Speaker 7: and independence I think is something that I knew she
• 45:30
  Speaker 7: was before, but like she is so fully autonomous when
• 45:35
  Speaker 7: she needs to be, She is so independent, she is
• 45:38
  Speaker 7: so strong. I don't think she ever saw that in herself,
• 45:40
  Speaker 7: and I think that was a progression of seeing her
• 45:43
  Speaker 7: believe how self sufficient she is and can be, both
• 45:47
  Speaker 7: in business, both in a relationship and friendships with who
• 45:50
  Speaker 7: she is. So I feel like I've seen her really
• 45:53
  Speaker 7: become who I saw her and see herself that way.
• 45:57
  Speaker 7: And I think that's an evolution of like believing in
• 46:00
  Speaker 7: yourself of trusting yourself confidence. But I think it's also
• 46:04
  Speaker 7: like finding your identity after this crazy thing happens, and
• 46:08
  Speaker 7: like who you are and who you're going to be
• 46:09
  Speaker 7: and what you want your life to look like and
• 46:11
  Speaker 7: the person you're going to be. And I think, like
• 46:13
  Speaker 7: I love her so much, but I've seen her grow
• 46:16
  Speaker 7: so much in that as a as a human being.
• 46:19
  Speaker 7: That's the biggest change because she was always like she
• 46:20
  Speaker 7: is the most selfless, loving person in the world. That
• 46:23
  Speaker 7: never changed. Like even me when I was being an
• 46:25
  Speaker 7: a hole and I'm stubborn early on, like she still
• 46:28
  Speaker 7: loved me. Me I'm a little more stubborn. I don't
• 46:30
  Speaker 7: need to talk to you today. She's not that way
• 46:32
  Speaker 7: like she is. She is just so forgiving and such
• 46:35
  Speaker 7: a lover. She was always that person. But I've definitely
• 46:37
  Speaker 7: seen her become a stronger, independent, more confident woman in
• 46:41
  Speaker 7: every aspect, like our relationship, but also just as a
• 46:43
  Speaker 7: business woman. Yeah, she's a boss.
• 46:48
  Speaker 3: Well, it's it's a great transition into the big deed
• 46:52
  Speaker 3: because you know, I think Jordan, you know, what Jojo
• 46:59
  Speaker 3: was to us was one of the things that was
• 47:01
  Speaker 3: kind of implanted into her head as she was on
• 47:04
  Speaker 3: the show. Is this guy's about his fame, right, He's
• 47:07
  Speaker 3: he's gonna chase fame and he's gonna do this and Jojo.
• 47:10
  Speaker 3: The funny part, isn't it is that was the same
• 47:12
  Speaker 3: thing that was being said to me about you, And yeah,
• 47:16
  Speaker 3: who's she going to be after this show? Now here's
• 47:19
  Speaker 3: something that's really cool. The two of you, I believe
• 47:22
  Speaker 3: could be argued to have the best individual careers post
• 47:26
  Speaker 3: Bachelor and Bachelorette as any couple or any person coming
• 47:31
  Speaker 3: off with the franchise. You've made names for yourselves outside
• 47:33
  Speaker 3: of it. Now you've done it, though without seeking the fame.
• 47:37
  Speaker 3: There's never been once where I've been like, you aren't
• 47:40
  Speaker 3: out there, you know, in the club and the red
• 47:42
  Speaker 3: carpets and all these parties, just to be seen and
• 47:45
  Speaker 3: to be known. You're doing it because you're both really
• 47:47
  Speaker 3: good at it, you're both pros at it, and you
• 47:50
  Speaker 3: should be doing it. And I said, okay, you obviously
• 47:53
  Speaker 3: were gonna get famous after the show. You guys are
• 47:55
  Speaker 3: huge personalities and great at what you do, but you've
• 47:58
  Speaker 3: just done it really well and you've hand it really well,
• 48:00
  Speaker 3: and I think the Big D is a representation of that.
• 48:04
  Speaker 3: Can you just tell us a little bit about why
• 48:07
  Speaker 3: you said yes to this project? And George, I would
• 48:09
  Speaker 3: love to know within that as you explained it, was
• 48:11
  Speaker 3: there ever hesitancy in your life knowing that JoJo's you know,
• 48:14
  Speaker 3: told you're gonna be about fame and now you are
• 48:17
  Speaker 3: on TV right you are hosting shows?
• 48:21
  Speaker 2: Was there ever like that?
• 48:22
  Speaker 3: I don't want to do this because I don't want
• 48:24
  Speaker 3: to prove them, you know, right at some level.
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: And how you navigated that mentally, the think's tough.
• 48:30
  Speaker 7: Like I think early on we both got into back
• 48:32
  Speaker 7: into doing what we loved right after the show, and
• 48:34
  Speaker 7: then we found out very early on, not just like
• 48:38
  Speaker 7: renovating a house together or not not on TV, not
• 48:40
  Speaker 7: on anything, just like putting each other in stressful situations
• 48:43
  Speaker 7: and working together. We found out that that worked really
• 48:45
  Speaker 7: well and we actually enjoyed it so like the fact
• 48:47
  Speaker 7: that we got to do it on TV, like we
• 48:49
  Speaker 7: love working together and we weren't sure the very first
• 48:51
  Speaker 7: show we ever filmed together. We're kind of like, this
• 48:54
  Speaker 7: is either going to be really fun or it's gonna
• 48:55
  Speaker 7: be kind of tough, because like it's different to work
• 48:58
  Speaker 7: where there's pressure to deliver, to study lines, to do
• 49:02
  Speaker 7: things like that, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't,
• 49:04
  Speaker 7: even for good and bad relationships. But was unique when
• 49:06
  Speaker 7: we got this idea of the show The Big D
• 49:09
  Speaker 7: quick premise. It is divorce couples, whether a few months,
• 49:13
  Speaker 7: few years, decade, haven't talked together, no relationship, have a relationship.
• 49:17
  Speaker 7: Divorce couples move into a villa together and they're looking
• 49:21
  Speaker 7: for love again, whether that's they're looking to date other
• 49:23
  Speaker 7: people or maybe they would like to rekindle the relationship.
• 49:26
  Speaker 7: They're looking to find that connection, work on themselves and
• 49:29
  Speaker 7: see what happens. And so we're kin, yeah, and so
• 49:33
  Speaker 7: we were kind of like at a time like, well,
• 49:34
  Speaker 7: we're not divorce, We're actually about to get married, like
• 49:38
  Speaker 7: you know, like what are we doing? And then we
• 49:39
  Speaker 7: kind of sat back and go, you know what's interesting
• 49:41
  Speaker 7: about us, all of us on here, is that we
• 49:44
  Speaker 7: know what it's like to fall in love on TV,
• 49:46
  Speaker 7: and we know that it actually can be real, like
• 49:50
  Speaker 7: as crazy as that sounds, it can happen, and I
• 49:53
  Speaker 7: think there was. There's reality shows, dating shows about everything.
• 49:56
  Speaker 7: I don't think there's one that's really focused on divorce
• 49:58
  Speaker 7: because a lot of times it's it's a negative stereotype,
• 50:01
  Speaker 7: it's a taboo subject. It means the end of love,
• 50:04
  Speaker 7: not the beginning. That's we want to break that.
• 50:06
  Speaker 4: And I will say, right, it is kind of weird.
• 50:08
  Speaker 4: And to Jordan's point, that was a unique part of
• 50:10
  Speaker 4: this show because we hadn't seen that, seen that been,
• 50:14
  Speaker 4: haven't seen that done? Yeah, oh wow, it's been a
• 50:17
  Speaker 4: long day. But I will say, you know, no one
• 50:20
  Speaker 4: gets married to get a divorce. No one does. No
• 50:24
  Speaker 4: one ever has that a part of the plan. And
• 50:26
  Speaker 4: so the six couples that are on the Big Deal,
• 50:29
  Speaker 4: they all got married. Never in a million years thought
• 50:31
  Speaker 4: it would end in a divorce, right. They all wanted
• 50:33
  Speaker 4: this a perfect relationship. Some got married really young, some
• 50:37
  Speaker 4: got married during the pandemic. There was a lot of
• 50:39
  Speaker 4: different right before the pandemic, it wasn't that okay anyways,
• 50:44
  Speaker 4: They all wanted their relationships to flourish and thrive, and
• 50:48
  Speaker 4: unfortunately it didn't. And the reality is, sometimes it doesn't
• 50:52
  Speaker 4: work out, but that doesn't mean that you have to
• 50:55
  Speaker 4: give up on love and there can be hope after heartbreak.
• 50:58
  Speaker 4: And obviously we can't speak to being divorced because we
• 51:02
  Speaker 4: had just got we just got married. But I do
• 51:04
  Speaker 4: think that there was an element of this show which
• 51:06
  Speaker 4: really drew me to it. It's seeing people that like
• 51:09
  Speaker 4: really needed that closure, that were really broken from the past,
• 51:12
  Speaker 4: and we're just stuck not being able to move on.
• 51:15
  Speaker 4: And I know, you know, for me, even just to
• 51:17
  Speaker 4: break up after the show, right, like, all you want
• 51:20
  Speaker 4: is to be able to open your heart again, to
• 51:21
  Speaker 4: find something new, and we were obviously able to do that.
• 51:24
  Speaker 4: So that was something that we were able to speak to.
• 51:26
  Speaker 4: And obviously it's dramatic, it's juicy. I'm not going to
• 51:29
  Speaker 4: sugarcoat that this happened.
• 51:30
  Speaker 7: There's actually there's there's two parts of the show that
• 51:35
  Speaker 7: Bachelorette fans, Bachelor Bachelrette fans and you guys are think
• 51:38
  Speaker 7: what drawed me to it is, I think is interesting.
• 51:40
  Speaker 7: The first is that when we go on these shows
• 51:42
  Speaker 7: as single people, the Bachelor Bacherette, you can kind of
• 51:46
  Speaker 7: be who you want to be, right Joe just not
• 51:48
  Speaker 7: able to fact I tell her, like I make this
• 51:51
  Speaker 7: much money, or I'm easy going, I don't stress, I
• 51:54
  Speaker 7: super you know, I don't golf five days a week.
• 51:56
  Speaker 7: You know, you can be who you want to be
• 51:58
  Speaker 7: until they find out out on this show. On this show,
• 52:03
  Speaker 7: the big dealing directly going no, no, no no. He has
• 52:06
  Speaker 7: an attitude, he yells, he golfs five days a week.
• 52:09
  Speaker 7: You know what I mean. So you have to be authentic.
• 52:12
  Speaker 7: Your worst is out there. And so what was interesting
• 52:15
  Speaker 7: about this is true connections formed quickly because going into it,
• 52:19
  Speaker 7: you knew all you know, all the bad things. All
• 52:20
  Speaker 7: you could do is talk to the X that's sitting
• 52:22
  Speaker 7: in the chair next to you. And the other thing
• 52:24
  Speaker 7: that I think is so interesting and I wish we
• 52:27
  Speaker 7: would have had this is we have a relationship expert
• 52:29
  Speaker 7: on the show, doctor Jada Jackson. She's amazing. We put
• 52:32
  Speaker 7: them through exercises, communication, things, working on things, problem solving,
• 52:37
  Speaker 7: but they're also able to have an unbiased opinion to
• 52:40
  Speaker 7: talk to somebody about, Wait, we got divorced because we
• 52:43
  Speaker 7: couldn't do X.
• 52:44
  Speaker 4: Y and Z.
• 52:44
  Speaker 7: What are the tools that we needed? So they can
• 52:47
  Speaker 7: either fix those things and go, maybe we can do
• 52:49
  Speaker 7: this again because we actually are armed with the tools
• 52:52
  Speaker 7: make this relationship work, or maybe the go okay, now
• 52:56
  Speaker 7: I know how to be better for the next relationship,
• 52:58
  Speaker 7: and then a new one can start. So those two
• 52:59
  Speaker 7: things make this really unique.
• 53:01
  Speaker 4: I gotta tell you guys, it's really and I hope
• 53:02
  Speaker 4: you watch the show because it's so The interesting, funniest
• 53:07
  Speaker 4: part of this whole thing is like every dynamic of
• 53:10
  Speaker 4: these ex couples it's so different.
• 53:12
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 53:12
  Speaker 4: You have two individuals who were married, ones that are
• 53:16
  Speaker 4: like they show up on the beach and they're like,
• 53:18
  Speaker 4: stay out of my way, get out of my face,
• 53:21
  Speaker 4: single this and that. You have one that's like really
• 53:23
  Speaker 4: wanting to fight for the relationship, the other one that's
• 53:25
  Speaker 4: like no, goodbye, and all these different dynamics. You start
• 53:30
  Speaker 4: to see them change. It's not all of them, but
• 53:32
  Speaker 4: you start to see some of them evolve. You start
• 53:34
  Speaker 4: seeing the one that thought they would never take a
• 53:36
  Speaker 4: second look at their ex husband or ex wife again
• 53:38
  Speaker 4: being like, wait a second, is this really over? It's crazy?
• 53:43
  Speaker 5: This is so fun.
• 53:45
  Speaker 4: Final, right, it's not something that you take.
• 53:48
  Speaker 2: So is the goal to get uh?
• 53:52
  Speaker 3: I mean, I guess as hosts, is the goal for
• 53:54
  Speaker 3: the two of you to get couples who have gone
• 53:56
  Speaker 3: through divorce back together, or is the goal just to
• 54:00
  Speaker 3: see everybody find love again or open back up, like
• 54:02
  Speaker 3: what's your kind of what was your mindset?
• 54:04
  Speaker 2: And helping them navigate this.
• 54:06
  Speaker 4: I think for us, like we there's obviously reasons why
• 54:10
  Speaker 4: people get a divorce, right, Sometimes it just really isn't
• 54:13
  Speaker 4: the right relationship for you, right. So this was never
• 54:16
  Speaker 4: about trying to force people back together. It was more
• 54:19
  Speaker 4: so hoping that they are able to open their heart
• 54:23
  Speaker 4: up again to love, because all these people come in
• 54:27
  Speaker 4: saying that they haven't been able to move on from
• 54:29
  Speaker 4: the past for one reason or another, or maybe find,
• 54:33
  Speaker 4: you know, whatever it is that they're looking for. So
• 54:35
  Speaker 4: it's really the goal is to end with one relation,
• 54:39
  Speaker 4: one relationship, like a committed couple, whether that's a rekindled
• 54:43
  Speaker 4: love or it's a new love. But it's really about closure,
• 54:46
  Speaker 4: moving on from the past, letting go of the baggage
• 54:48
  Speaker 4: that was stopping you from moving forward, whichever direction that is.
• 54:53
  Speaker 5: Where can we watch this and when?
• 54:56
  Speaker 7: So it's going to be on USA Network. It'll be
• 54:58
  Speaker 7: next Wednesday, June fourteenth. It actually airs right after Temptation Island.
• 55:03
  Speaker 5: We're big t Oh so perfect.
• 55:07
  Speaker 7: And it's on Peacock the next day so you can
• 55:09
  Speaker 7: stream it out as well.
• 55:10
  Speaker 2: This is really exciting.
• 55:11
  Speaker 4: This isday on Wednesday on.
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: Day Yeah, this is uh, this is exciting.
• 55:19
  Speaker 3: I think this show will be really uh, really fun
• 55:22
  Speaker 3: to watch and really exciting to watch the two if
• 55:25
  Speaker 3: you do this again, you guys are pros. You're great
• 55:27
  Speaker 3: at what you do. Jordan, I'm a big fan of you.
• 55:29
  Speaker 3: I watch you on Saturdays. I appreciate just follow along
• 55:33
  Speaker 3: getting prepped for well my day on the couch. You
• 55:38
  Speaker 3: I always laugh, you gotta work, and I'm sitting on
• 55:40
  Speaker 3: the couch like chilling being like.
• 55:42
  Speaker 7: I think jell for those games so I can't.
• 55:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you're doing all right, and Jojo is so good
• 55:48
  Speaker 3: to talk to you again, to catch up with you,
• 55:52
  Speaker 3: to break down all the madness of the last you know,
• 55:55
  Speaker 3: seven years of life. Our twenties are mid twenties into
• 55:59
  Speaker 3: our thirties. I mean so much, o, guys, and I
• 56:03
  Speaker 3: don't want to uh to not bring up once again
• 56:07
  Speaker 3: that the two of you saw me two minutes before
• 56:10
  Speaker 3: meeting my now wife.
• 56:12
  Speaker 4: In personal something right that.
• 56:16
  Speaker 2: As a god well man, I don't know what. Yeah,
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: I mean, it means I.
• 56:22
  Speaker 4: Really do think that, like the past behind you, yeah,
• 56:25
  Speaker 4: the past behinds, but like also we always wanted the
• 56:27
  Speaker 4: best for each other. Yeah, whatever that looked like, that
• 56:30
  Speaker 4: was like so important to both of us. And I
• 56:31
  Speaker 4: think that we we we spoke to that every time
• 56:34
  Speaker 4: that we could, and so to be together now, for
• 56:37
  Speaker 4: you to now be married, and for us to have
• 56:39
  Speaker 4: that quick moment before you met your future wife, I
• 56:42
  Speaker 4: think that's a really cool thing.
• 56:43
  Speaker 7: I also remember in that conversation with Ben and telling
• 56:46
  Speaker 7: Joe was like I really like him. Yeah, And I
• 56:48
  Speaker 7: think that was important for me, right, because like it
• 56:51
  Speaker 7: shows me a lot about Jose's character that she could
• 56:53
  Speaker 7: fall in love with someone like you, because I'm like,
• 56:55
  Speaker 7: I get that, Like I understand that or much rather
• 56:58
  Speaker 7: that be the case in someone. I'm like, wait, how
• 57:00
  Speaker 7: did you like this guy? I mean I came a
• 57:02
  Speaker 7: wait for them, Like, I get it, Like I really
• 57:04
  Speaker 7: like Ben. I remember telling you that because that was
• 57:06
  Speaker 7: our first time really talking. So I think that's pretty cool.
• 57:09
  Speaker 3: It is, yeah, it is, well, it was great to
• 57:11
  Speaker 3: see you know it is. It's just so wild. I
• 57:14
  Speaker 3: think back and then and I remember getting in the
• 57:15
  Speaker 3: car with Jessica. I think, oh, she felt jump in
• 57:17
  Speaker 3: the car with Jessica and I'm like, I just ran
• 57:20
  Speaker 3: into Jojo and Jordan. She's like, who are they? And
• 57:23
  Speaker 3: I'm like, oh goodness, I just got to sit for
• 57:28
  Speaker 3: a second. It's good to see you. It's nice, nice
• 57:30
  Speaker 3: to meet you. Well, you guys are great. Thanks for
• 57:33
  Speaker 3: coming on bish the Best with the Big D again.
• 57:35
  Speaker 3: It's airing Wednesday, June fourteenth on the USA Network. Please
• 57:40
  Speaker 3: tune in and check it out. If you're a tempty,
• 57:42
  Speaker 3: you can just keep the TV going. And if not
• 57:46
  Speaker 3: and you want to watch it the next day, as
• 57:48
  Speaker 3: they said, it's going to be on Peacock streaming, so
• 57:50
  Speaker 3: you can tune in there. Jojo and Jordan, thanks for
• 57:52
  Speaker 3: joining the almost famous podcast. It's great to have you guys.
• 57:55
  Speaker 4: Love you, thank you.
• 57:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, without it being awkward, I love the two of you.
• 58:06
  Speaker 7: Good way so well's I can get a text for
• 58:08
  Speaker 7: the next golf trip. You know, I got my.
• 58:10
  Speaker 5: Statement in oh are you in?
• 58:12
  Speaker 6: Because I was literally going to say, now you guys
• 58:14
  Speaker 6: can play off together.
• 58:16
  Speaker 2: Hey, I wasn't. I wasn't watching this, but it is
• 58:22
  Speaker 2: always here a.
• 58:23
  Speaker 7: Couple of two great courses in Puerto Rico. If he
• 58:25
  Speaker 7: gets need a little away time like down.
• 58:28
  Speaker 2: I would Jordan.
• 58:30
  Speaker 3: You are going to get a text then, because we
• 58:31
  Speaker 3: were to meet up, but we're going to play golf.
• 58:34
  Speaker 6: You're going to get a text, Okay, okay, Yeah, that
• 58:36
  Speaker 6: sounds good. The Puerto Rican idea is more at my
• 58:39
  Speaker 6: alley like on the beach.
• 58:42
  Speaker 5: Thank you, Thank you.
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: Follow the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcasts on iHeartRadio,
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.