July 7, 2026 • 38 mins
TJ Palma is here to spill all the behind-the-scenes tea from Love Island USA and Beyond the Villa! He opens up about the moment he really fell for Iris, clears up the biggest misconceptions about their relationship, shares what it felt like leaving the Love Island villa, addresses the TMZ controversy, and shares why he never felt manipulated by producers. Plus, TJ talks about living with anxiety, how therapy in the Love Island villa changed his life, and why The Traitors is his dream reality show. He ends the interview with an inspirational never said this before moment.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, guys, welcome to I've never said this before with
me Tommy di Dario. It feels like I can't go
anywhere without hearing some sort of discussion about Love Island.
It is one of the most talked about shows in
the world, and it's a show that we all get
so invested in. It's pure escapism, and I love that
it brings joy to so many people. My guest today
(00:23):
is TJ Palmer, who brings all of that joy and
so much more. Now you know TJ from Love Island
USA Season seven and from most recently Love Island Beyond
the Villa. So today we're diving into his journey throughout
the shows and celebrating his love story with Iris, and
we're also hearing more about the man behind the reality
TV persona and my boy. TJ leaves us with a
(00:45):
very powerful moment at the end, diving into something that
I mean, I know that so many of us can
relate to. So let's see if today we can get
TJ to say something that he has never said before.
TJ Palm, how are you.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
My man?
Speaker 3 (01:02):
I'm doing well.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Thanks for having me. I'm psyched to have you. I
always love when a fellow can I say a fellow.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Jersey boy, I mean really New York, but yeah, we
have a beach house in Jersey, so I'll take it.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Let's do it.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Good. Good you You have a lot going on, man,
you have a lot going on. We have a lot
to talk about. I'm fascinated by the business you've built
and you've created, So we're going to get to that.
But to begin, we got to celebrate Love Island. Yeah,
we got to celebrate your journey on Love Island.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Man.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
So you know you entered Love Island as a bombshell
right a bit later in the season. Yeah, And in
this season right now, a lot of the bombshells are
kind of struggling to match up because people in relationships
are kind of closed off already. What was your mentality
going into the villa knowing that relationships were already formed?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yeah, I knew I was going to have such a
hard time. Like, being a bombshell is not easy to
begin with. Like you're going into this group that's already
established couples.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
People look at you.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Like, oh, screw this guy, you know, like he's gonna
try to take my girl. So that gave me a
little anxiety, Like you know, but I think I did
the best that I could, and you know, I have
a beautiful girlfriend now because of it. So I think
in the moment, it was very nerve wracking and I
didn't know who to talk to or like what to do,
(02:22):
who didn't like me. I was just overthinking everything. But it,
you know, it played out the way it was supposed
to do.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
So yeah, yeah, and you ultimately fell for Iris, right,
I sure did. Do you remember like the specific moment
where you were like, oh shit, I think I'm catching feelings?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Yeah, I do.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
I don't know if they showed this conversation, but we
were sitting on this the green bench.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
I don't know what color it is this year.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
But because they always changed it up, but we were
talking about something was going on with the girls, like
it was super dramatic and like and she just had
like such a good head on her shoulders and she
was like very level headed about the whole situation given
whoever advice forget what it was.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
But I was like, wow, this girls, this goes a
little different.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
So I don't know, that really stuck with me, and
I think at that point I was like, wow, I
kind of like this girl, you know.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, because you well because you felt like probably you
connected on a deeper level, right, It wasn't just like
a surface thing. It was like, oh wait, I'm seeing
like who this person is exactly.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
And it's so quick in there too.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
It's like, you know, first three days, you're like, already
I like this person.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
A lot alright, you know, so it moves moves quick.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Yeah, what a wild experience, craziest experience.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
In my life. Are you kind of like, how did
I do that? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I still like the first in the villa. I can't
watch it till this day. It's just like, I mean
also was it was a while ago, but just seeing
myself being so nervous on TV, it was just like,
oh my god, I don't even want to see it.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
I'll cringe out.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
But yeah, but I mean it's cool, like I had
a great time, great experience. I had some of the
most fun memories, you know. So it's just a blessing man.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
You know.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah, And I mean you guys are in that villa
for hours and hours. There's so much we don't get
to see.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
I mean I was in a hotel for longer than
I was in the villa.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Well, right, right right. Yeah, But is there anything from
your relationship on Love Island with Iris that like we
didn't get to see, like kind I got left on
the cutting room floor.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Yeah, I mean I think her and I we just
weren't amazing TV, Like, we weren't super dramatic or anything,
so it didn't show us much. But we had so
much fun, like whether it was off camera and we
were just doing dumb shit having fun with each other.
So a lot of people didn't get to see that.
Like I know, during lunch, they would separate the guys
and girls and we would like play catch with orange
(04:33):
and stuff because you know, I'm playing used to play baseball,
so like all right, let's throw the orange around because
we didn't have balls or anything, but we would.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Just have fun. Man. I don't think a lot of
people saw.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
That, which is crazy to me because I feel like
some of the biggest scripted shows right now, our shows
like Off Campus and shows that show kind of that
like Yearning and Yeah, that was those fun moments. It's
not really about like toxicity or drama. Yeah, and people
I do feel like want to see that. So it's
a shame we don't always get to see.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yeah, there is a given to take. I think I
don't know Love Island.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
They can't focus on everything, you know, there's only so
many stories they could follow at one time, or like portray,
So I mean I get it. You know, we weren't
the best story at that time, you know, but it
worked out now.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
So when you ended up leaving the villa, what did
you miss most about Iris? Do you remember? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I think being you spend so much time with that person,
you know in the villa, so like, I don't know,
I missed that just having someone to like talk to
in the villa, you move super fast, and my walls
are already down, you know, like you kind of have
to go into that experience with your with your walls down.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
So I just felt super comfortable with her.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
And then outside of the villa, I'm like shit, like guarded,
Like you know, I don't know who to talk to,
what to talk about, you know, because in there you're
so close with everyone, and I are in this new
world outside the villa, going through all these you know,
who recognizing you on the street and you know who's
saying one on social media, so it's like a whole
new life and to kind of go through that with
(06:08):
not that many people around you, is like, you know,
it's a little difficult at first, especially.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Well because you went through something so unique. Yeah, and
not a lot of people can understand that, right, so
to suddenly be like ripped out of that, I imagine it's
kind of like, wait a minute, I have to reacclimate
to like the real world together.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I mean, even being without my phone for five weeks
was like a huge change. When I got my phone
back for the first time, I forgot my passwords literally
and when I finally remembered it, like, I remember my
heart beating so fast, and I stayed up all night
because it was just like I had so much anxiety
from not only the social media stuff, but just even
getting my phone back, you know, thousands of messages and
(06:48):
families calling asking a million questions, you know, So it
was just it's like a once in a lifetime It's
hard to explain and for people to understand.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
But yeah, well, and there's so much noise around it,
like people I feel like everywhere are talking about Love
Island and their opinions and think they know your life. Yeah, right,
and and people weigh in on it, and you see
those opinions. I'm sure they're not always easy to avoid.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
No, definitely not.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
I mean I think it's I struggled with it a
lot when I first came out because I'm like, I
wanted to correct everybody, you know, like, but I've realized
that everyone's going to have something to say, whether it's
positive negative, in the middle, So like you just kind
of got to live with that aspect. And it's hard because,
I mean, humans aren't supposed to have like millions of
(07:35):
opinions about themselves, like, you know, weigh in on themselves
all the time. So definitely definitely something like I had
to get used to. And now I'm at the point
where like I try to like let it go and
you know, I deal with it a lot easier, But
definitely when I first came out, it was, you know,
difficult to deal with.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
So how how did you handle that situation? Like, especially
the you iris Pepe situation, people were weighing in left
and right right, and I imagine it's a weird thing
to see, especially when you do feel like you want
to correct people or share your story, but you can't
possibly do that to thousands and thousands of people, right,
So how do you handle that.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
I think, like I definitely responded to people and stuff
like that, Like I probably give a comment here or there,
But I don't know. It's just one of those things
you got to let play out and like if it
wound up working out, obviously, but it's just one of
those things you gotta let play out and whatever happens happens.
Whatever's happening is supposed to happen.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Everything's meant to be.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
So I don't know, it's just one of those things
where you kind of got to let it go and
try Like me especially, I try to stay off my phone,
Like I don't read the comments anymore. Irish shall read
the comments a little bit more than me, but I'll
post and like get off that, like I don't.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Even want to.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
I don't want to see them. I don't know. I
just ignorance is bliss.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
It Well, it protects your mental health, yeah too. I
mean to live in that world all the time. Yeah,
it's like why yeah, let's go live exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
But it's inevitable, like I'm gonna see something, I'm gonna
hear somebody say something on the street. So it's a
lot of positivity, Like everything's positive you know, so it's
like it's a blessing.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
So what do you think fans most misunderstood about that
entire situation with.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
You? I would say, you know a lot of people
thought like the TMZ scandal was like a cheating scandal
with her.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
That's absolutely not true.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Like I would say the timeline too, you know, like
people got that mixed up and just a lot of
like noise and chatter just like honestly just like bullshit.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
You know.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
So, I mean, what are you gonna do?
Speaker 2 (09:43):
I feel like a lot of people have a good
sense and a good understanding of like what happened, So
it's not really like an issue for us. Plus it
happened so long ago that we've kind of gotten to
the point where it's like, so what you know last
year almost a year ago, you know.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
So is it hard for you, as like a protector,
as someone who loves who you're with to like hear
things like that or yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Mean it's tough to see somebody upset or like, you
know the same thing you want to correct everybody. You know,
it's kind of you got to take a step back
and realize that, like everyone's gonna have that opinion positive
or negative.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
And also like.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
A hundred people could say something positive and we always
focus on that one negative piece, always mass So it's
like it's inevitable, like I said, but just trying to
focus on the ninety nine positive things that happened or
what people said.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
So yeah, So I mean I admire you because when
things get so complicated, especially publicly, you can feel a
lot of pressure and sometimes the gut instinct can be
you know what, none of this is worth it. I
just don't want the drama at all. I'm gonna retreat. Yeah,
and it sucks, and even if I love someone, I
(10:52):
just want to separate myself completely. Yeah, why didn't you
do that? What kept you in it?
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Why didn't I separate myself?
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Yeah? Like what kept you going with iris? What kept
you saying, you know what, let's just forget all this
bullshit and keep going, Because not a lot of people
would do that. Well.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
I mean like when they were like together or whatever,
I was separated, Like I was like, you know, happy
for them, let them do whatever and let them figure
it out. But then after it was just like someone
I wanted to be with. So you know, when they ended,
and you know, we started talking again. It was kind
of like, all right, let's just see where this goes.
You know, we both like each other. Let's see if
(11:27):
this works on the outside. It worked in the villa,
so why not try it out, you know. So it's
tough to let something go that you know you love,
you like a lot.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
So yeah, have you always been that way? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (11:39):
I think I've always been a lover boy, you know,
I fall So yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
That's cool. Man. It's like I said, it's high stakes
and the drama sometimes can feel overwhelming for a lot
of people, but you're clearly the type to not let
that derail the life you want. Yeah, right, You're not
gonna let someone else or pe people or whatever stop
you from going after what you want.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
I mean also, I feel like my athletic background also
helps with that, like, yeah, you know, staying on track,
staying discipline, you know, working towards something you want, like
without you know, letting the fans or the umpire or whoever,
like you know, get.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
To your head.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
So yeah, just just trying to stay on track, to focus,
let the noise get to you.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Yeah. Yeah, which, again, it's hard when you're in a
public couple and you know, I I'm in a I
guess you can say a public relationship too, and not
to the level you are. But people sometimes will say
wild things to us. Like we were out to dinner
once and someone was like, hey, here's my sir gets
info if you ever want kids, and we're like really, whoa, wow, okay, ay,
(12:44):
like as I have like a pesto pasta, but like, cool.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Yeah, I've had that happen.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
I'm sure some wild things said to you.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Yeah, no, definitely, but it's honestly been like so positive
and like I think one person my entire time, like
coming off the show, has it ever said anything negative? So,
like I said, one negative thing, focus on the ninety
nine positives.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Yeah. Interesting. You know you and I have a history.
You probably don't even know what is it. So I
had Leah Katteb on my show. Yeah yeah, and she
opened up to me about how producers at the time
and the villa were trying to keep her Miguel separated
and how they were playing games with her and kind
of messing with them, and she really went into it
(13:26):
and how upsetting it was for her. And I opened
to TikTok and I saw you reposted that clip.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Okay, t J.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
I see you. Did her story resonate with you? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
I think me specifically, no, But I know like there
was things said to Iris about myself to try to
get her over me, because you know, when I left,
she was super upset, and you know, from what she
told me, like they took a couple off days and
whatnot to try to get her like back into all right,
(14:00):
we're filming this show, like, you know, let's move on, TJ.
So that definitely resonated a little bit. I'll let you know,
her speak to it if she wants to, but yeah, definitely,
I feel like people go through that.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
It's such a messed up mind game. Yeah, you know,
like you're already there bearing your hearts and souls. Yeah,
so like let it play out how it's supposed to
play out.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Yeah, I think you know, you're on this island, no phone,
no contact to the outside, so like you're pretty you're
like easily influenced, and you know, people say things, you
hear something and you're like, oh shit, you think about
the outside, what are they thinking?
Speaker 1 (14:38):
You know?
Speaker 2 (14:38):
So you're just trying to move as you know, genuine
as possible, and that's.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
All you could really do you know, yeah, but you
never felt manipulated.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
No, I mean there's been at the end of the day,
you could always.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Say no or like, you know, if they want to
get you to talk to this person you don't want to,
you don't have to, but they're not going to force
you to.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
But you know, it is what it is.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Yeah, yeah, I give you props man going into that.
It's it's Is it something you would ever do again
at this point in your life?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
I know? I mean I would do reality TV again
in general, but a dating dating show obviously, But if
you weren't with I, like you, I mean, if I
came off single and you know, her and I are together,
maybe I'd think about it, like but going into it knowing,
you know, I know how this stuff works.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
It's a show.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
At the end of the day, I may not look good,
I may not look bad, like but I would definitely
love to do another show, like some sort of challenge
or like game show.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Traders would be cool.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yeah yeah, yeah, you think you would dominate that trader?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Hell yeah?
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Would you win?
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Hell yeah? Oh yeah, yeah, no doubt in my mind.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Okay, yeah, all right, that would be awesome to see
you on that one.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Imagine.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
I can't wait. That's like like a special op show.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yeah, that would be cool, anything like where I could
do a challenge or like some sort of game. Yeah yeah, Okay,
the drama, I mean the drama is always there, but yeah,
you can't escape that.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
No, no, but at least you can be a little
more athletic. Yeah, something else and focus more on that,
right exactly, and then beyond the villa man, I mean
that was a fun show to watch too. What was
what was the most challenging part about that?
Speaker 2 (16:22):
I think the fact that it's like the cameras are
following you, you know, instead of everything being hitting cameras.
Now it's like, all right, we're in your face, Tommy.
So yeah, that was a little getting used to. But yeah,
I think like we had a fun time doing it.
I had so much more fun than the first show
because I knew everybody. I was now friends with everybody,
(16:42):
and you know a lot of us are friends in
real life, so it was easy in that aspect. It's
not like we're going to work with people we don't
know and like you don't know what their intentions are
or whatever.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
So it was a lot like I was more comfortable.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Did you feel like in Beyond the Villa we got
to see more of the type of content you wanted
us to.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
See or were there specifically me?
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, were there things you wish we got to see
more of with you?
Speaker 3 (17:07):
I think?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
I mean, listen, we filmed every day for hours and hours,
and I think like ninety percent of the stuff gets
cut out obviously because they can't put, you know, twelve
hours in an episode. But I think it was cool
that they highlighted like my business and like they showed
that part of my life, and my mom was in
the show, and my brothers were in the show.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Like that was really cool. I wish my dad was
doing it, but he was like, I don't want to
do that shit.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
So no, no, yeah, old.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
School Italian's like I've done too much bad shit in
my life. I don't want to be on there. But
we had so much fun.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Like I think people got to see, you know, who
I am more because you know, in the Villa one
I wasn't there for that long, but two, you don't
really get a sense of who the person actually is.
Maybe you can tell if they're a little funny, but
you don't know about you know the business or his family,
how close he is with his family and his brothers
and what they do. So it was cool in that
(18:00):
aspect to you know, have that online.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
It was a great cast.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Yeah, it was great. We had a lot of fun.
The show did well.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
So yeah, I see a lot of people saying they
want you guys back for another season.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Well see, yeah, I mean I think that's the goal
with any show. It's just so whether or not the
people want it, the producers want to do it, the
network wants to do it, so we'll see.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
You think the cast would be down to do it again.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
I don't know if everybody would be down. I know
some people would be down, but well, we'll see. We'll
take it day by day.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Yeah, you know, yeah, but sounds like it was a
great experience.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Yeah, it was. I mean, I think.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Just like living in a house with fifteen people that
you get along with, and whether you're bicker or not,
but you're having so much fun. You're all living in
this house, you party in the house, you go out,
you snowboard, like it was just a good time. It
was almost like the Jersey Shore how they all live
in the house together. So that was definitely a cool
part of the beyond the villa and the.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Villa, right, yeah, right right?
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Living with everyone?
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Man, you like a reality star pro now you know
how to do it.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
I'm I don't know. I'm trying trying, I'm getting used
to it.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
I feel like Dancing with the Stars could be your
next move.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
My mom would like pay for me to go on
that show. Yeah, yeah, she would like that's her.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Dream, like if she watched me on Dancing with the Stars.
So maybe dancing with the Stars.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
There we go. Can you bust a movie?
Speaker 3 (19:23):
You know?
Speaker 2 (19:24):
I could, I could do a little something something, but
I definitely need some lessons. Yeah, but my mom has
been trying to get me to do lessons for years
and I'm.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Just just like, I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
I don't want to embarrass myself, but maybe, uh, I'll
embarrass myself on Dancing with the Stars.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
You never know. Yeah, how have you changed the most
since being that bombshell in that villa right to now?
Because what a journey you've gone on.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Yeah, I really you know, meeting the therapist on Love Island,
like it kind of changed my life because my whole
I would say the last few years of my life
struggling with like social anxiety, anxiety in general. Like I
always kept it to myself. Whenever I felt it, I
(20:10):
would just be like, TJ, you don't have it. I
would try to like just push it down, push it down,
push it down. And when I spoke to her, I
can't name her name, but shout out to her. To her,
she was the best. She really like, let me know
that it's okay. You have to recognize it and move
past it. So when you feel it, you feel it,
you recognize it. Hey, I'm getting a lot of anxiety
(20:30):
right now because I'm in this uncomfortable situation.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
But it's okay. I'm here and I'm going to move
on and it's I'm going to.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Get through it. So that helped me a lot. I
used to just push it down. I don't have it.
I don't have it, and that's why I kept coming
back up. I mean I still have it till this day.
But really just being open with myself knowing, hey, I
have anxiety. Hey I don't like this. I don't like
this situation. Maybe I don't want to do it, but
trying to face the line instead of running away from it,
because if you run away from it's going to keep
(20:56):
chasing you. So, you know with the cameras. I was
never comfortable in front of a camera like me doing
this right now and not being nervous or having a
lot of anxiety, like is crazy. I remember doing a
podcast in college with my buddies and I couldn't even
speak like I was just like they'd ask me a
question I don't know, like I wouldn't be able to
(21:18):
answer because I just had that much anxiety about it.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
So I've grown in that sense a fuck ton.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Yeah, so I'm proud of myself.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
That's awesome. Man. It gave you the tools to learn
how to deal with that and right, like you said,
doesn't go away, but you can manage.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
It exactly and just be open. Like if you asked
me last year, head, do you have anxiety? But like nah,
now what's anxiety? But now it's like yeah, I do,
but like I'm working through it. I'm facing it every day.
I'm putting myself in uncomfortable situations to try to get
over it, you know.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
So yeah, yeah that helped me a lot.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Were you someone who ever thought you would talk to
a therapist or did you have kind of a preconceived
idea like when I don't need it.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Yeah, it's honestly, I was like, yeah, I don't need it.
Like I'd never you know, had a session. I never
was around anyone that really did it, so I didn't
have an understanding whatsoever. But I was just like, Ah,
this person is just gonna tell me something and I'm
gonna I'm just gonna listen, Like what do they know?
Speaker 3 (22:12):
You know.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
But it was more about like them listening and helping
me come to the conclusion.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
You know.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
It wasn't like, hey, you need to do this, that
and the other thing, right, and then I take that
and I listened to it and I'm like, I don't.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Know, like is that even true?
Speaker 2 (22:26):
You know, but it's more of like helping me figure
out what I need to do.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
And yeah, so I like that a lot.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Yeah, And I mean, you know, Jeremiah, Jeremiah is a
big advocate for therapy, and you know, he's been doing
it for years and it helps him a lot. So
hearing it from him him as well, like that helped
me get into it more after the show.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Yeah, man, And I also feel like, at least for
me because I've done it before too, It's like I
grew up in an old school Italian household and it
just wasn't something ever talked about. Yeah, like you know,
it wasn't really just something you did my parents, you know.
So it's just even for me, Like when I had to,
when I had the opportunity to do it to help
me sort some stuff out, it was like, I don't
know if I'm that person that needs it, Like I
(23:10):
had such a different mentality about it, right.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Like who needs that shit?
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Right?
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Yeah? And then you do it and you're like, why
haven't I done this my whole life?
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Right?
Speaker 3 (23:17):
It can only help you. It's not going to like
make you a worse of a person, you know.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
So I think it's beneficial for anyone to do it,
even if you I mean, if you don't think you
have problems or you don't think you need it, maybe
maybe you should look into it.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
So yeah, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
That's cool, man, that's really cool. You are someone that
a lot of people think they know, right, They've watched you,
they see you online, they see your business, they see
your content. What do you think people get wrong about you?
The most?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
A lot of people think I'm like so boring and
like just like this like brick wall, which like I
get because sometimes again I have like anxiety and I
don't want to speak a lot or like make jokes
and stuff. But when I'm really comfortable, I'm outgoing, I'm
talking to everybody. I'm a little funny maybe sometimes, so
that for one, but too, like again, I'm human. I
(24:08):
think people, you know, take you know, the cast people
on shows and they're like, oh, this is a character,
and like you can say whatever you want to them
and they you know, maybe they're not going to see it,
or they don't have feelings or when out, but these
are real people, you know, and we have real, real feelings.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
So that's one thing.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
You know, I feel like people just think we're on
a TV screen all the time, but I'm here with you,
sitting down real people, you know.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Yeah, it's amazing to me sometimes when people will write online,
you know, good and bad, that it's like whoa You like,
would you say that to someone's face? Yeah, you know,
it's like whoa. It's just it creates this, yeah, like
this weird perception that like people say whatever right, Yeah,
it's like no, no, you're a human being.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Yeah, it's just you know, behind the phone. It's like
a disconnect.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
It's almost like, yeah, I don't know, but I guess
I signed up or we signed up for it, Like
people are gonna have an opinion about us till the
day we die, so.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Right, yeah, I just got to work through it and
keep that in the back of our minds.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
How do you decide and know what to keep for
yourself versus what you share, especially in your relationship with Iris,
Like how do you know what sort of boundary to
put out there?
Speaker 2 (25:22):
I mean, we Iris and I we always run everything
by each other. So like whether it's just taking a
video or posting a video, we always show each other.
I just posted a YouTube blog. I showed her the
entire thing. It was us in Italy and whatnot. She
obviously knew I was recording everything in Italy, but like
the final version, like do you like this? Do you
want to keep some of this? Do you want to
(25:42):
take it out? Like whatever it is? So we're pretty
good about that, but it's just like, I don't know,
I guess we're pretty We're both pretty open about, you know,
our lives, like what we do, and that's something we've
we've always been so there's obviously things that we keep
to ourselves that we don't want people to you know, see.
But it's not like we're hiding anything. It's just like,
(26:05):
you know, sometimes you want to keep something private, you know. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Yeah, So it's it's a case by case though.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
You know, well, it seems like from an outside perspective,
you guys have something really healthy and like you champion
one another, and you know, aside from the reality world
and you know, the social media world, you're a businessman. Yeah,
and you're a busy dude. Like you know, you run
kind of this Airbnb operation up to twenty properties maybe
more that you you have a pipeline. How did that
(26:32):
all begin for you? Because it started pre Love Island.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Yeah, yeah, it started when I graduated college in twenty
four but we played. We were playing throughout graduation into
the playoffs. Who won the national championship That was amazing.
But during that time is when I really started Airbnb.
So I was just graduating, still in the playoffs, and
I did a ton of research. But I met my
buddy Jack. We're good friends till his day. He had
seventy airbnbs in Tampa when I met.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Him, you know, three years ago.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
I was like, this kid's a year older than me,
his seventy airbnbs, I'm graduating college in a couple of months.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Like, what am I doing wrong?
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Like? I was an entrepreneurship major. I tried a ton
of businesses. I had a women's clothing brand, I sold sneakers,
I sold on Amazon.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
I tried everything. Some thing's worked.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
But when I heard that, I was like, all right,
I'm going all in with this. And he taught me everything,
And you know now he's like one of my best
friends till this day. And yeah, I started with my
freshman year roommate, him and I went partners on this business.
We started with one unit, two units. Now we're in
Tampa and Fort Lauderdale, twenty units. Yeah, it's a it's
(27:39):
been great though.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Yeah, and it seems to be fun for you to
share that as content too, like a little peek until
what it means to do what you do with your business.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Yeah, exactly, I think it's cool. I always wanted to
do real estate.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
I never knew how to get into it because I
didn't have a lot of money. I didn't come from
like a ton of money, so I couldn't just buy houses.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
But doing arbitrage, Airbnb arbitrage.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
I was able to get into Airbnb with not that
much money and leverage other people's homes to you know,
build cash flow and then buy home. So I think, like,
right now, it's pretty cool that I'm documenting a whole
series about renovating this house and whatnot and showing people like, hey,
you could do this too.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
I'm twenty four.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
I was twenty two and I started like anybody could
get into this, and I think that's been a game changer,
Like just trying to help people and help the person,
help TJ that was twenty one in college that didn't
know what he wanted to do, Like, help that person.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
So that's that's my goal.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
So what's the ultimate goal with all of it.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Well, I would obviously scale this business, grow my portfolio.
I would love to get properties like elsewhere, like have
properties all over the place so I could just like, oh,
you want to go to California, you want to go here,
But help people at the end of the day, like
help that college kid that didn't know what he wanted
to do, and you know, just progress his career. You know,
(28:56):
like maybe it's not Airbnb, but maybe he tries it.
Out and he learns a lot and he uses those
skills and translate it into something else.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
So that's my main goal, you know, helping people.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
But I'm looking to start a design company where I
could like design other people's homes houses because I have
a little I have an eye, a little bit of
an eye. Not as good as iris, but yeah, that'd
be cool as well.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
That's so sick. Yeah, would you guys do that together?
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Yeah, we've actually been talking about it, Like we wanted
to go to like college apartments and like our college
kids and like redo their entire apartment. Like I think
it'd be pretty cool because like one give back, but
that's like our you know, a lot of like twenty
five year olds, that's like our target main audience. So
like helping those people design their whole house I think
(29:43):
would be a cool concept. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Yeah, man, that's a show too. Yeah, I'd watch that.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
I'd be said, Yeah, like renovating dorm rooms.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Yeah right, Yeah, that's awesome. It's clear you're very passionate
about that.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Yeah, no, thank you. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Honestly, a lot of my life I didn't know what
I wanted to do, but it's just like happened just
like that, And now I feel like I'm a spot
where it's like, okay, like I really like this. I'm
gonna keep continuing to do this, and the content's great.
But I'm glad that I started this business before that
and before the shows, because I have something tangible, you know,
I have assets, you know, So it's not just like
(30:16):
if social media dies tomorrow, like not that I would
be screwed without it, but.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
You know, it gets rid of another business.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
So you know, I have this airbnb business to not
fall back on, but you know I have it.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Yeah, and it's probably refreshing too being someone who is
so out there right online and in the reality worlds
and who has you know, desires to not always be
plugged in and always being on your phone, like exactly
refreshing to go do that, have that balance, go knock.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
The window out wall out right. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
No, I love it, and it's helped me a lot
because now I could even make better to decisions like
in this world, like the content social media world, like
if I really don't want to work with a brand
or or I don't know if it aligns with me,
well I don't have to do it. Because just because
of the money, Like I'm making money with my airbnb business.
I don't have to do things just for money. I
don't have to do it just for you know, attention.
(31:17):
You know, So that's that's pretty cool as well.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Do you feel like you're very ingrained in this world
you found yourself in the reality space or do you
like it was your job and you don't really watch
and keep up with it all.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
And I'm watching the new season a little bit right now.
Like once they got into cost some more, I was like,
oh shit, it's kind of getting good. Yeah, so I
started watching. I missed last night's episode, but I have
to catch up again. I'm still a little bit out
of touch, Like I've been in rooms with people and
I don't realize that I'm in rooms with people that
have been on shows and stuff.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
But it's just.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Something I gotta get used to. And you know, I'm
now in this world, so maybe I gotta do some research.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
You'll have a lot to bout. Yeah, right, you're juggling
a lot. Yeah you're not, you know, someone just putting
content out or just on reality.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
You have a business, You're a businessman. Yeah, like exactly,
it's a lot. Yeah, so it's hard to split the time.
But I was always focused. My whole thing was like
the one thing principle, like only focus on one thing,
spend majority of your time there. But now you know,
I'm kind of splitting a little bit. So it's hard
to you know, you know, manage the two. But I
think I've been doing a decent job at it. So
(32:28):
just trying to stay balanced.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
And I like you because you show that like good
guys deserve a seat at the table. Yeah, and can
be on reality and Ken set a good example and
can be inspiring and motivating. And sometimes the narrative is,
you know, if you're not overly dramatic or toxic or
throwing a drink in someone's face, there's not a space
for you. But you've proven all of that wrong.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
I think that's really cool, man.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
I appreciate it. I uh, that's true.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Like a lot of people think you have to be
like super dramatic, and I honestly didn't think I would
make love to begin with. Like every interview that i'd pass,
I'd be like, ah, they're not gonna call me next time,
Like I don't I'm just a normal guy.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
Like, I don't have this.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Huge personality and I'm not super dramatic or anything like that.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
So it's cool to see that. And I'm just looking back.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
It blows my mind that, you know, I've gone through
this the last year. It hasn't even really been a year.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
I think I might have got on the show today
last year, you know. So it's a lot has happened
in a year. A lot has changed.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Man, what a what a journey? Right, yeah, what a journey?
Well TJ's we begin to wrap this up. The name
of the show is called I've never said this before.
And in my other job, I cover a lot of
red carpets and you know, movie premieres and things like that,
and you get two minutes to talk to someone. It's
so quick, yeah, so rushed. And you know, I feel
like I leave those carpets, and the actors I talked
(33:51):
to or singers or whoever, leave those carpets feeling like
what do we all get to talk about? Like it
was nothing. I mean, it was so fast, right, So
I thought, I'm going to create a show where people
on to give them time and space and you know,
say something that means something to you. Yeah, So I
always done the question with what is I was in
the interview with what is one thing You've never said before?
Speaker 2 (34:12):
So?
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Is there anything you want to share today?
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Yeah, I've I've never spoke about it like online. I
don't think so. But I used to get bullied in
middle school a lot. And that's where my social anxiety,
my anxiety in general, the nervousness to speak in front
of a class like, that's where that all came from.
And I used to have a YouTube channel back then.
I used to play Minecraft and I used to get
(34:35):
bullied for it, and one day I deleted the channel
because I just couldn't take it anymore. So but it's
crazy now to look back, like now I have a
YouTube channel, now I have you know, all these subscribers,
people that want to see my content. And I was
so afraid of doing that when I was in middle school.
So I'm a big advocate for, you know, stopping bullying
(34:55):
because it's it's tough and no child should go through that.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Isn't it amazing that the thing you got bullied for
is now what's it's what I did? What you do?
Speaker 3 (35:05):
Yeah, it's crazy. It's it's so full circle because the
day I get my YouTube plaque.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Will be a crazy day because that's always something I wanted,
especially in middle school, and that was something I always
looked looked to, like you know, I don't know. It
was just fun for me to make content and now
like I'm making content again and now, like I think
going through the online bullying, the bullying in school, like
(35:32):
that helped me with now because now when people say
things to me, I'm like, you know, you don't know
what I went through middle school. You know, so it
and honestly it's dark, but it did help me a lot.
It shaped me to who I am today, and honestly,
I'm grateful, you know, not to say I was grateful
for that to happen, but it made me into a
(35:52):
great person and doing well and I'm in this position
today because of it.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
And so yeah, that middle school man, he's looking at
you being like, we did it.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Bro. Yeah I wish I would go back and tell him.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
But but in your own way, you have, you know
you have. And what a great message for people too,
because it has gotten so out of control of the bullying,
and you know, it's it's a it makes me sick
seeing what some people have to go through today and
you know you're a testament to it's not going to
stop you even though people try look at you. You're
(36:27):
doing it.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
It's crazy, man, Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
You're doing it. Yeah. I hope you feel proud. I
hope you take that in. I do good. I do good.
Appreciate it, TJ. I appreciate you. Man. What a what
a pleasure.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Get me crying. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
I'm sorry, man, I'm sorry. Like I said, you want
to do that on a red carpet and when you
have two minutes, right, So, like, I'm glad you could
get that out. It's something that matters. It's something I'm
passionate about too. That that should happen to me too.
It happened to a lot of us. And as dudes,
we don't always talk about it. Yeah, we want to
be like, oh yeah, I know, we never had a problem.
We're good. That's not reality.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
I appreciate you giving us the space to talk about
something like that.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
It's really cool.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Well, thank you man, thanks for hanging. I look forward
to seeing you on Let's see Dancing with the Stars,
some sort of special op show. You and Iris' college
dorm show. We have a lot to do, work to do. Ye.
Keep rocking, man, It's a pleasure.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
I appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Thank you. I've
Never Said This Before is hosted by Me Tommy Diderio.
This podcast is executive produced by Andrew Piglisi at iHeartRadio
and by Me Tommy, with editing by Joshua Colaudney. I've
Never Said This Before is part of the Elvis Duran
podcast Network on iHeart Podcasts. For more, rate review and
(37:45):
subscribe to our show and if you liked this episode,
tell your friends. Until next time, I'm Tommy Dedario.
Hey, guys, welcome to I've never said this before with
me Tommy di Dario. It feels like I can't go
anywhere without hearing some sort of discussion about Love Island.
It is one of the most talked about shows in
the world, and it's a show that we all get
so invested in. It's pure escapism, and I love that
it brings joy to so many people. My guest today
(00:23):
is TJ Palmer, who brings all of that joy and
so much more. Now you know TJ from Love Island
USA Season seven and from most recently Love Island Beyond
the Villa. So today we're diving into his journey throughout
the shows and celebrating his love story with Iris, and
we're also hearing more about the man behind the reality
TV persona and my boy. TJ leaves us with a
(00:45):
very powerful moment at the end, diving into something that
I mean, I know that so many of us can
relate to. So let's see if today we can get
TJ to say something that he has never said before.
TJ Palm, how are you.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
My man?
Speaker 3 (01:02):
I'm doing well.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Thanks for having me. I'm psyched to have you. I
always love when a fellow can I say a fellow.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Jersey boy, I mean really New York, but yeah, we
have a beach house in Jersey, so I'll take it.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Let's do it.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Good. Good you You have a lot going on, man,
you have a lot going on. We have a lot
to talk about. I'm fascinated by the business you've built
and you've created, So we're going to get to that.
But to begin, we got to celebrate Love Island. Yeah,
we got to celebrate your journey on Love Island.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Man.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
So you know you entered Love Island as a bombshell
right a bit later in the season. Yeah, And in
this season right now, a lot of the bombshells are
kind of struggling to match up because people in relationships
are kind of closed off already. What was your mentality
going into the villa knowing that relationships were already formed?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yeah, I knew I was going to have such a
hard time. Like, being a bombshell is not easy to
begin with. Like you're going into this group that's already
established couples.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
People look at you.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Like, oh, screw this guy, you know, like he's gonna
try to take my girl. So that gave me a
little anxiety, Like you know, but I think I did
the best that I could, and you know, I have
a beautiful girlfriend now because of it. So I think
in the moment, it was very nerve wracking and I
didn't know who to talk to or like what to do,
(02:22):
who didn't like me. I was just overthinking everything. But it,
you know, it played out the way it was supposed
to do.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
So yeah, yeah, and you ultimately fell for Iris, right,
I sure did. Do you remember like the specific moment
where you were like, oh shit, I think I'm catching feelings?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Yeah, I do.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
I don't know if they showed this conversation, but we
were sitting on this the green bench.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
I don't know what color it is this year.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
But because they always changed it up, but we were
talking about something was going on with the girls, like
it was super dramatic and like and she just had
like such a good head on her shoulders and she
was like very level headed about the whole situation given
whoever advice forget what it was.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
But I was like, wow, this girls, this goes a
little different.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
So I don't know, that really stuck with me, and
I think at that point I was like, wow, I
kind of like this girl, you know.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, because you well because you felt like probably you
connected on a deeper level, right, It wasn't just like
a surface thing. It was like, oh wait, I'm seeing
like who this person is exactly.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
And it's so quick in there too.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
It's like, you know, first three days, you're like, already
I like this person.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
A lot alright, you know, so it moves moves quick.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Yeah, what a wild experience, craziest experience.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
In my life. Are you kind of like, how did
I do that? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I still like the first in the villa. I can't
watch it till this day. It's just like, I mean
also was it was a while ago, but just seeing
myself being so nervous on TV, it was just like,
oh my god, I don't even want to see it.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
I'll cringe out.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
But yeah, but I mean it's cool, like I had
a great time, great experience. I had some of the
most fun memories, you know. So it's just a blessing man.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
You know.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah, And I mean you guys are in that villa
for hours and hours. There's so much we don't get
to see.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
I mean I was in a hotel for longer than
I was in the villa.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Well, right, right right. Yeah, But is there anything from
your relationship on Love Island with Iris that like we
didn't get to see, like kind I got left on
the cutting room floor.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Yeah, I mean I think her and I we just
weren't amazing TV, Like, we weren't super dramatic or anything,
so it didn't show us much. But we had so
much fun, like whether it was off camera and we
were just doing dumb shit having fun with each other.
So a lot of people didn't get to see that.
Like I know, during lunch, they would separate the guys
and girls and we would like play catch with orange
(04:33):
and stuff because you know, I'm playing used to play baseball,
so like all right, let's throw the orange around because
we didn't have balls or anything, but we would.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Just have fun. Man. I don't think a lot of
people saw.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
That, which is crazy to me because I feel like
some of the biggest scripted shows right now, our shows
like Off Campus and shows that show kind of that
like Yearning and Yeah, that was those fun moments. It's
not really about like toxicity or drama. Yeah, and people
I do feel like want to see that. So it's
a shame we don't always get to see.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yeah, there is a given to take. I think I
don't know Love Island.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
They can't focus on everything, you know, there's only so
many stories they could follow at one time, or like portray,
So I mean I get it. You know, we weren't
the best story at that time, you know, but it
worked out now.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
So when you ended up leaving the villa, what did
you miss most about Iris? Do you remember? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I think being you spend so much time with that person,
you know in the villa, so like, I don't know,
I missed that just having someone to like talk to
in the villa, you move super fast, and my walls
are already down, you know, like you kind of have
to go into that experience with your with your walls down.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
So I just felt super comfortable with her.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
And then outside of the villa, I'm like shit, like guarded,
Like you know, I don't know who to talk to,
what to talk about, you know, because in there you're
so close with everyone, and I are in this new
world outside the villa, going through all these you know,
who recognizing you on the street and you know who's
saying one on social media, so it's like a whole
new life and to kind of go through that with
(06:08):
not that many people around you, is like, you know,
it's a little difficult at first, especially.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Well because you went through something so unique. Yeah, and
not a lot of people can understand that, right, so
to suddenly be like ripped out of that, I imagine it's
kind of like, wait a minute, I have to reacclimate
to like the real world together.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I mean, even being without my phone for five weeks
was like a huge change. When I got my phone
back for the first time, I forgot my passwords literally
and when I finally remembered it, like, I remember my
heart beating so fast, and I stayed up all night
because it was just like I had so much anxiety
from not only the social media stuff, but just even
getting my phone back, you know, thousands of messages and
(06:48):
families calling asking a million questions, you know, So it
was just it's like a once in a lifetime It's
hard to explain and for people to understand.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
But yeah, well, and there's so much noise around it,
like people I feel like everywhere are talking about Love
Island and their opinions and think they know your life. Yeah, right,
and and people weigh in on it, and you see
those opinions. I'm sure they're not always easy to avoid.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
No, definitely not.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
I mean I think it's I struggled with it a
lot when I first came out because I'm like, I
wanted to correct everybody, you know, like, but I've realized
that everyone's going to have something to say, whether it's
positive negative, in the middle, So like you just kind
of got to live with that aspect. And it's hard because,
I mean, humans aren't supposed to have like millions of
(07:35):
opinions about themselves, like, you know, weigh in on themselves
all the time. So definitely definitely something like I had
to get used to. And now I'm at the point
where like I try to like let it go and
you know, I deal with it a lot easier, But
definitely when I first came out, it was, you know,
difficult to deal with.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
So how how did you handle that situation? Like, especially
the you iris Pepe situation, people were weighing in left
and right right, and I imagine it's a weird thing
to see, especially when you do feel like you want
to correct people or share your story, but you can't
possibly do that to thousands and thousands of people, right,
So how do you handle that.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
I think, like I definitely responded to people and stuff
like that, Like I probably give a comment here or there,
But I don't know. It's just one of those things
you got to let play out and like if it
wound up working out, obviously, but it's just one of
those things you gotta let play out and whatever happens happens.
Whatever's happening is supposed to happen.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Everything's meant to be.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
So I don't know, it's just one of those things
where you kind of got to let it go and
try Like me especially, I try to stay off my phone,
Like I don't read the comments anymore. Irish shall read
the comments a little bit more than me, but I'll
post and like get off that, like I don't.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Even want to.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
I don't want to see them. I don't know. I
just ignorance is bliss.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
It Well, it protects your mental health, yeah too. I
mean to live in that world all the time. Yeah,
it's like why yeah, let's go live exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
But it's inevitable, like I'm gonna see something, I'm gonna
hear somebody say something on the street. So it's a
lot of positivity, Like everything's positive you know, so it's
like it's a blessing.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
So what do you think fans most misunderstood about that
entire situation with.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
You? I would say, you know a lot of people
thought like the TMZ scandal was like a cheating scandal
with her.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
That's absolutely not true.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Like I would say the timeline too, you know, like
people got that mixed up and just a lot of
like noise and chatter just like honestly just like bullshit.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
You know.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
So, I mean, what are you gonna do?
Speaker 2 (09:43):
I feel like a lot of people have a good
sense and a good understanding of like what happened, So
it's not really like an issue for us. Plus it
happened so long ago that we've kind of gotten to
the point where it's like, so what you know last
year almost a year ago, you know.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
So is it hard for you, as like a protector,
as someone who loves who you're with to like hear
things like that or yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Mean it's tough to see somebody upset or like, you
know the same thing you want to correct everybody. You know,
it's kind of you got to take a step back
and realize that, like everyone's gonna have that opinion positive
or negative.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
And also like.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
A hundred people could say something positive and we always
focus on that one negative piece, always mass So it's
like it's inevitable, like I said, but just trying to
focus on the ninety nine positive things that happened or
what people said.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
So yeah, So I mean I admire you because when
things get so complicated, especially publicly, you can feel a
lot of pressure and sometimes the gut instinct can be
you know what, none of this is worth it. I
just don't want the drama at all. I'm gonna retreat. Yeah,
and it sucks, and even if I love someone, I
(10:52):
just want to separate myself completely. Yeah, why didn't you
do that? What kept you in it?
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Why didn't I separate myself?
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Yeah? Like what kept you going with iris? What kept
you saying, you know what, let's just forget all this
bullshit and keep going, Because not a lot of people
would do that. Well.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
I mean like when they were like together or whatever,
I was separated, Like I was like, you know, happy
for them, let them do whatever and let them figure
it out. But then after it was just like someone
I wanted to be with. So you know, when they ended,
and you know, we started talking again. It was kind
of like, all right, let's just see where this goes.
You know, we both like each other. Let's see if
(11:27):
this works on the outside. It worked in the villa,
so why not try it out, you know. So it's
tough to let something go that you know you love,
you like a lot.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
So yeah, have you always been that way? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (11:39):
I think I've always been a lover boy, you know,
I fall So yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
That's cool. Man. It's like I said, it's high stakes
and the drama sometimes can feel overwhelming for a lot
of people, but you're clearly the type to not let
that derail the life you want. Yeah, right, You're not
gonna let someone else or pe people or whatever stop
you from going after what you want.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
I mean also, I feel like my athletic background also
helps with that, like, yeah, you know, staying on track,
staying discipline, you know, working towards something you want, like
without you know, letting the fans or the umpire or whoever,
like you know, get.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
To your head.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
So yeah, just just trying to stay on track, to focus,
let the noise get to you.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Yeah. Yeah, which, again, it's hard when you're in a
public couple and you know, I I'm in a I
guess you can say a public relationship too, and not
to the level you are. But people sometimes will say
wild things to us. Like we were out to dinner
once and someone was like, hey, here's my sir gets
info if you ever want kids, and we're like really, whoa, wow, okay, ay,
(12:44):
like as I have like a pesto pasta, but like, cool.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Yeah, I've had that happen.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
I'm sure some wild things said to you.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Yeah, no, definitely, but it's honestly been like so positive
and like I think one person my entire time, like
coming off the show, has it ever said anything negative? So,
like I said, one negative thing, focus on the ninety
nine positives.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Yeah. Interesting. You know you and I have a history.
You probably don't even know what is it. So I
had Leah Katteb on my show. Yeah yeah, and she
opened up to me about how producers at the time
and the villa were trying to keep her Miguel separated
and how they were playing games with her and kind
of messing with them, and she really went into it
(13:26):
and how upsetting it was for her. And I opened
to TikTok and I saw you reposted that clip.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Okay, t J.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
I see you. Did her story resonate with you? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
I think me specifically, no, But I know like there
was things said to Iris about myself to try to
get her over me, because you know, when I left,
she was super upset, and you know, from what she
told me, like they took a couple off days and
whatnot to try to get her like back into all right,
(14:00):
we're filming this show, like, you know, let's move on, TJ.
So that definitely resonated a little bit. I'll let you know,
her speak to it if she wants to, but yeah, definitely,
I feel like people go through that.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
It's such a messed up mind game. Yeah, you know,
like you're already there bearing your hearts and souls. Yeah,
so like let it play out how it's supposed to
play out.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Yeah, I think you know, you're on this island, no phone,
no contact to the outside, so like you're pretty you're
like easily influenced, and you know, people say things, you
hear something and you're like, oh shit, you think about
the outside, what are they thinking?
Speaker 1 (14:38):
You know?
Speaker 2 (14:38):
So you're just trying to move as you know, genuine
as possible, and that's.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
All you could really do you know, yeah, but you
never felt manipulated.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
No, I mean there's been at the end of the day,
you could always.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Say no or like, you know, if they want to
get you to talk to this person you don't want to,
you don't have to, but they're not going to force
you to.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
But you know, it is what it is.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Yeah, yeah, I give you props man going into that.
It's it's Is it something you would ever do again
at this point in your life?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
I know? I mean I would do reality TV again
in general, but a dating dating show obviously, But if
you weren't with I, like you, I mean, if I
came off single and you know, her and I are together,
maybe I'd think about it, like but going into it knowing,
you know, I know how this stuff works.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
It's a show.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
At the end of the day, I may not look good,
I may not look bad, like but I would definitely
love to do another show, like some sort of challenge
or like game show.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Traders would be cool.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yeah yeah, yeah, you think you would dominate that trader?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Hell yeah?
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Would you win?
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Hell yeah? Oh yeah, yeah, no doubt in my mind.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Okay, yeah, all right, that would be awesome to see
you on that one.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Imagine.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
I can't wait. That's like like a special op show.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yeah, that would be cool, anything like where I could
do a challenge or like some sort of game. Yeah yeah, Okay,
the drama, I mean the drama is always there, but yeah,
you can't escape that.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
No, no, but at least you can be a little
more athletic. Yeah, something else and focus more on that,
right exactly, and then beyond the villa man, I mean
that was a fun show to watch too. What was
what was the most challenging part about that?
Speaker 2 (16:22):
I think the fact that it's like the cameras are
following you, you know, instead of everything being hitting cameras.
Now it's like, all right, we're in your face, Tommy.
So yeah, that was a little getting used to. But yeah,
I think like we had a fun time doing it.
I had so much more fun than the first show
because I knew everybody. I was now friends with everybody,
(16:42):
and you know a lot of us are friends in
real life, so it was easy in that aspect. It's
not like we're going to work with people we don't
know and like you don't know what their intentions are
or whatever.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
So it was a lot like I was more comfortable.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Did you feel like in Beyond the Villa we got
to see more of the type of content you wanted
us to.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
See or were there specifically me?
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, were there things you wish we got to see
more of with you?
Speaker 3 (17:07):
I think?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
I mean, listen, we filmed every day for hours and hours,
and I think like ninety percent of the stuff gets
cut out obviously because they can't put, you know, twelve
hours in an episode. But I think it was cool
that they highlighted like my business and like they showed
that part of my life, and my mom was in
the show, and my brothers were in the show.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Like that was really cool. I wish my dad was
doing it, but he was like, I don't want to
do that shit.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
So no, no, yeah, old.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
School Italian's like I've done too much bad shit in
my life. I don't want to be on there. But
we had so much fun.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Like I think people got to see, you know, who
I am more because you know, in the Villa one
I wasn't there for that long, but two, you don't
really get a sense of who the person actually is.
Maybe you can tell if they're a little funny, but
you don't know about you know the business or his family,
how close he is with his family and his brothers
and what they do. So it was cool in that
(18:00):
aspect to you know, have that online.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
It was a great cast.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Yeah, it was great. We had a lot of fun.
The show did well.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
So yeah, I see a lot of people saying they
want you guys back for another season.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Well see, yeah, I mean I think that's the goal
with any show. It's just so whether or not the
people want it, the producers want to do it, the
network wants to do it, so we'll see.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
You think the cast would be down to do it again.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
I don't know if everybody would be down. I know
some people would be down, but well, we'll see. We'll
take it day by day.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Yeah, you know, yeah, but sounds like it was a
great experience.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Yeah, it was. I mean, I think.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Just like living in a house with fifteen people that
you get along with, and whether you're bicker or not,
but you're having so much fun. You're all living in
this house, you party in the house, you go out,
you snowboard, like it was just a good time. It
was almost like the Jersey Shore how they all live
in the house together. So that was definitely a cool
part of the beyond the villa and the.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Villa, right, yeah, right right?
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Living with everyone?
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Man, you like a reality star pro now you know
how to do it.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
I'm I don't know. I'm trying trying, I'm getting used
to it.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
I feel like Dancing with the Stars could be your
next move.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
My mom would like pay for me to go on
that show. Yeah, yeah, she would like that's her.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Dream, like if she watched me on Dancing with the Stars.
So maybe dancing with the Stars.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
There we go. Can you bust a movie?
Speaker 3 (19:23):
You know?
Speaker 2 (19:24):
I could, I could do a little something something, but
I definitely need some lessons. Yeah, but my mom has
been trying to get me to do lessons for years
and I'm.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Just just like, I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
I don't want to embarrass myself, but maybe, uh, I'll
embarrass myself on Dancing with the Stars.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
You never know. Yeah, how have you changed the most
since being that bombshell in that villa right to now?
Because what a journey you've gone on.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Yeah, I really you know, meeting the therapist on Love Island,
like it kind of changed my life because my whole
I would say the last few years of my life
struggling with like social anxiety, anxiety in general. Like I
always kept it to myself. Whenever I felt it, I
(20:10):
would just be like, TJ, you don't have it. I
would try to like just push it down, push it down,
push it down. And when I spoke to her, I
can't name her name, but shout out to her. To her,
she was the best. She really like, let me know
that it's okay. You have to recognize it and move
past it. So when you feel it, you feel it,
you recognize it. Hey, I'm getting a lot of anxiety
(20:30):
right now because I'm in this uncomfortable situation.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
But it's okay. I'm here and I'm going to move
on and it's I'm going to.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Get through it. So that helped me a lot. I
used to just push it down. I don't have it.
I don't have it, and that's why I kept coming
back up. I mean I still have it till this day.
But really just being open with myself knowing, hey, I
have anxiety. Hey I don't like this. I don't like
this situation. Maybe I don't want to do it, but
trying to face the line instead of running away from it,
because if you run away from it's going to keep
(20:56):
chasing you. So, you know with the cameras. I was
never comfortable in front of a camera like me doing
this right now and not being nervous or having a
lot of anxiety, like is crazy. I remember doing a
podcast in college with my buddies and I couldn't even
speak like I was just like they'd ask me a
question I don't know, like I wouldn't be able to
(21:18):
answer because I just had that much anxiety about it.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
So I've grown in that sense a fuck ton.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Yeah, so I'm proud of myself.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
That's awesome. Man. It gave you the tools to learn
how to deal with that and right, like you said,
doesn't go away, but you can manage.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
It exactly and just be open. Like if you asked
me last year, head, do you have anxiety? But like nah,
now what's anxiety? But now it's like yeah, I do,
but like I'm working through it. I'm facing it every day.
I'm putting myself in uncomfortable situations to try to get
over it, you know.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
So yeah, yeah that helped me a lot.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Were you someone who ever thought you would talk to
a therapist or did you have kind of a preconceived
idea like when I don't need it.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Yeah, it's honestly, I was like, yeah, I don't need it.
Like I'd never you know, had a session. I never
was around anyone that really did it, so I didn't
have an understanding whatsoever. But I was just like, Ah,
this person is just gonna tell me something and I'm
gonna I'm just gonna listen, Like what do they know?
Speaker 3 (22:12):
You know.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
But it was more about like them listening and helping
me come to the conclusion.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
You know.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
It wasn't like, hey, you need to do this, that
and the other thing, right, and then I take that
and I listened to it and I'm like, I don't.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Know, like is that even true?
Speaker 2 (22:26):
You know, but it's more of like helping me figure
out what I need to do.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
And yeah, so I like that a lot.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Yeah, And I mean, you know, Jeremiah, Jeremiah is a
big advocate for therapy, and you know, he's been doing
it for years and it helps him a lot. So
hearing it from him him as well, like that helped
me get into it more after the show.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Yeah, man, And I also feel like, at least for
me because I've done it before too, It's like I
grew up in an old school Italian household and it
just wasn't something ever talked about. Yeah, like you know,
it wasn't really just something you did my parents, you know.
So it's just even for me, Like when I had to,
when I had the opportunity to do it to help
me sort some stuff out, it was like, I don't
know if I'm that person that needs it, Like I
(23:10):
had such a different mentality about it, right.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Like who needs that shit?
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Right?
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Yeah? And then you do it and you're like, why
haven't I done this my whole life?
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Right?
Speaker 3 (23:17):
It can only help you. It's not going to like
make you a worse of a person, you know.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
So I think it's beneficial for anyone to do it,
even if you I mean, if you don't think you
have problems or you don't think you need it, maybe
maybe you should look into it.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
So yeah, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
That's cool, man, that's really cool. You are someone that
a lot of people think they know, right, They've watched you,
they see you online, they see your business, they see
your content. What do you think people get wrong about you?
The most?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
A lot of people think I'm like so boring and
like just like this like brick wall, which like I
get because sometimes again I have like anxiety and I
don't want to speak a lot or like make jokes
and stuff. But when I'm really comfortable, I'm outgoing, I'm
talking to everybody. I'm a little funny maybe sometimes, so
that for one, but too, like again, I'm human. I
(24:08):
think people, you know, take you know, the cast people
on shows and they're like, oh, this is a character,
and like you can say whatever you want to them
and they you know, maybe they're not going to see it,
or they don't have feelings or when out, but these
are real people, you know, and we have real, real feelings.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
So that's one thing.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
You know, I feel like people just think we're on
a TV screen all the time, but I'm here with you,
sitting down real people, you know.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Yeah, it's amazing to me sometimes when people will write online,
you know, good and bad, that it's like whoa You like,
would you say that to someone's face? Yeah, you know,
it's like whoa. It's just it creates this, yeah, like
this weird perception that like people say whatever right, Yeah,
it's like no, no, you're a human being.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Yeah, it's just you know, behind the phone. It's like
a disconnect.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
It's almost like, yeah, I don't know, but I guess
I signed up or we signed up for it, Like
people are gonna have an opinion about us till the
day we die, so.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Right, yeah, I just got to work through it and
keep that in the back of our minds.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
How do you decide and know what to keep for
yourself versus what you share, especially in your relationship with Iris,
Like how do you know what sort of boundary to
put out there?
Speaker 2 (25:22):
I mean, we Iris and I we always run everything
by each other. So like whether it's just taking a
video or posting a video, we always show each other.
I just posted a YouTube blog. I showed her the
entire thing. It was us in Italy and whatnot. She
obviously knew I was recording everything in Italy, but like
the final version, like do you like this? Do you
want to keep some of this? Do you want to
(25:42):
take it out? Like whatever it is? So we're pretty
good about that, but it's just like, I don't know,
I guess we're pretty We're both pretty open about, you know,
our lives, like what we do, and that's something we've
we've always been so there's obviously things that we keep
to ourselves that we don't want people to you know, see.
But it's not like we're hiding anything. It's just like,
(26:05):
you know, sometimes you want to keep something private, you know. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Yeah, So it's it's a case by case though.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
You know, well, it seems like from an outside perspective,
you guys have something really healthy and like you champion
one another, and you know, aside from the reality world
and you know, the social media world, you're a businessman. Yeah,
and you're a busy dude. Like you know, you run
kind of this Airbnb operation up to twenty properties maybe
more that you you have a pipeline. How did that
(26:32):
all begin for you? Because it started pre Love Island.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Yeah, yeah, it started when I graduated college in twenty
four but we played. We were playing throughout graduation into
the playoffs. Who won the national championship That was amazing.
But during that time is when I really started Airbnb.
So I was just graduating, still in the playoffs, and
I did a ton of research. But I met my
buddy Jack. We're good friends till his day. He had
seventy airbnbs in Tampa when I met.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Him, you know, three years ago.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
I was like, this kid's a year older than me,
his seventy airbnbs, I'm graduating college in a couple of months.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Like, what am I doing wrong?
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Like? I was an entrepreneurship major. I tried a ton
of businesses. I had a women's clothing brand, I sold sneakers,
I sold on Amazon.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
I tried everything. Some thing's worked.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
But when I heard that, I was like, all right,
I'm going all in with this. And he taught me everything,
And you know now he's like one of my best
friends till this day. And yeah, I started with my
freshman year roommate, him and I went partners on this business.
We started with one unit, two units. Now we're in
Tampa and Fort Lauderdale, twenty units. Yeah, it's a it's
(27:39):
been great though.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Yeah, and it seems to be fun for you to
share that as content too, like a little peek until
what it means to do what you do with your business.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Yeah, exactly, I think it's cool. I always wanted to
do real estate.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
I never knew how to get into it because I
didn't have a lot of money. I didn't come from
like a ton of money, so I couldn't just buy houses.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
But doing arbitrage, Airbnb arbitrage.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
I was able to get into Airbnb with not that
much money and leverage other people's homes to you know,
build cash flow and then buy home. So I think, like,
right now, it's pretty cool that I'm documenting a whole
series about renovating this house and whatnot and showing people like, hey,
you could do this too.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
I'm twenty four.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
I was twenty two and I started like anybody could
get into this, and I think that's been a game changer,
Like just trying to help people and help the person,
help TJ that was twenty one in college that didn't
know what he wanted to do, Like, help that person.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
So that's that's my goal.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
So what's the ultimate goal with all of it.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Well, I would obviously scale this business, grow my portfolio.
I would love to get properties like elsewhere, like have
properties all over the place so I could just like, oh,
you want to go to California, you want to go here,
But help people at the end of the day, like
help that college kid that didn't know what he wanted
to do, and you know, just progress his career. You know,
(28:56):
like maybe it's not Airbnb, but maybe he tries it.
Out and he learns a lot and he uses those
skills and translate it into something else.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
So that's my main goal, you know, helping people.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
But I'm looking to start a design company where I
could like design other people's homes houses because I have
a little I have an eye, a little bit of
an eye. Not as good as iris, but yeah, that'd
be cool as well.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
That's so sick. Yeah, would you guys do that together?
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Yeah, we've actually been talking about it, Like we wanted
to go to like college apartments and like our college
kids and like redo their entire apartment. Like I think
it'd be pretty cool because like one give back, but
that's like our you know, a lot of like twenty
five year olds, that's like our target main audience. So
like helping those people design their whole house I think
(29:43):
would be a cool concept. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Yeah, man, that's a show too. Yeah, I'd watch that.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
I'd be said, Yeah, like renovating dorm rooms.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Yeah right, Yeah, that's awesome. It's clear you're very passionate
about that.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Yeah, no, thank you. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Honestly, a lot of my life I didn't know what
I wanted to do, but it's just like happened just
like that, And now I feel like I'm a spot
where it's like, okay, like I really like this. I'm
gonna keep continuing to do this, and the content's great.
But I'm glad that I started this business before that
and before the shows, because I have something tangible, you know,
I have assets, you know, So it's not just like
(30:16):
if social media dies tomorrow, like not that I would
be screwed without it, but.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
You know, it gets rid of another business.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
So you know, I have this airbnb business to not
fall back on, but you know I have it.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Yeah, and it's probably refreshing too being someone who is
so out there right online and in the reality worlds
and who has you know, desires to not always be
plugged in and always being on your phone, like exactly
refreshing to go do that, have that balance, go knock.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
The window out wall out right. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
No, I love it, and it's helped me a lot
because now I could even make better to decisions like
in this world, like the content social media world, like
if I really don't want to work with a brand
or or I don't know if it aligns with me,
well I don't have to do it. Because just because
of the money, Like I'm making money with my airbnb business.
I don't have to do things just for money. I
don't have to do it just for you know, attention.
(31:17):
You know, So that's that's pretty cool as well.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Do you feel like you're very ingrained in this world
you found yourself in the reality space or do you
like it was your job and you don't really watch
and keep up with it all.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
And I'm watching the new season a little bit right now.
Like once they got into cost some more, I was like,
oh shit, it's kind of getting good. Yeah, so I
started watching. I missed last night's episode, but I have
to catch up again. I'm still a little bit out
of touch, Like I've been in rooms with people and
I don't realize that I'm in rooms with people that
have been on shows and stuff.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
But it's just.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Something I gotta get used to. And you know, I'm
now in this world, so maybe I gotta do some research.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
You'll have a lot to bout. Yeah, right, you're juggling
a lot. Yeah you're not, you know, someone just putting
content out or just on reality.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
You have a business, You're a businessman. Yeah, like exactly,
it's a lot. Yeah, so it's hard to split the time.
But I was always focused. My whole thing was like
the one thing principle, like only focus on one thing,
spend majority of your time there. But now you know,
I'm kind of splitting a little bit. So it's hard
to you know, you know, manage the two. But I
think I've been doing a decent job at it. So
(32:28):
just trying to stay balanced.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
And I like you because you show that like good
guys deserve a seat at the table. Yeah, and can
be on reality and Ken set a good example and
can be inspiring and motivating. And sometimes the narrative is,
you know, if you're not overly dramatic or toxic or
throwing a drink in someone's face, there's not a space
for you. But you've proven all of that wrong.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
I think that's really cool, man.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
I appreciate it. I uh, that's true.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Like a lot of people think you have to be
like super dramatic, and I honestly didn't think I would
make love to begin with. Like every interview that i'd pass,
I'd be like, ah, they're not gonna call me next time,
Like I don't I'm just a normal guy.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
Like, I don't have this.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Huge personality and I'm not super dramatic or anything like that.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
So it's cool to see that. And I'm just looking back.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
It blows my mind that, you know, I've gone through
this the last year. It hasn't even really been a year.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
I think I might have got on the show today
last year, you know. So it's a lot has happened
in a year. A lot has changed.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Man, what a what a journey? Right, yeah, what a journey?
Well TJ's we begin to wrap this up. The name
of the show is called I've never said this before.
And in my other job, I cover a lot of
red carpets and you know, movie premieres and things like that,
and you get two minutes to talk to someone. It's
so quick, yeah, so rushed. And you know, I feel
like I leave those carpets, and the actors I talked
(33:51):
to or singers or whoever, leave those carpets feeling like
what do we all get to talk about? Like it
was nothing. I mean, it was so fast, right, So
I thought, I'm going to create a show where people
on to give them time and space and you know,
say something that means something to you. Yeah, So I
always done the question with what is I was in
the interview with what is one thing You've never said before?
Speaker 2 (34:12):
So?
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Is there anything you want to share today?
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Yeah, I've I've never spoke about it like online. I
don't think so. But I used to get bullied in
middle school a lot. And that's where my social anxiety,
my anxiety in general, the nervousness to speak in front
of a class like, that's where that all came from.
And I used to have a YouTube channel back then.
I used to play Minecraft and I used to get
(34:35):
bullied for it, and one day I deleted the channel
because I just couldn't take it anymore. So but it's
crazy now to look back, like now I have a
YouTube channel, now I have you know, all these subscribers,
people that want to see my content. And I was
so afraid of doing that when I was in middle school.
So I'm a big advocate for, you know, stopping bullying
(34:55):
because it's it's tough and no child should go through that.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Isn't it amazing that the thing you got bullied for
is now what's it's what I did? What you do?
Speaker 3 (35:05):
Yeah, it's crazy. It's it's so full circle because the
day I get my YouTube plaque.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Will be a crazy day because that's always something I wanted,
especially in middle school, and that was something I always
looked looked to, like you know, I don't know. It
was just fun for me to make content and now
like I'm making content again and now, like I think
going through the online bullying, the bullying in school, like
(35:32):
that helped me with now because now when people say
things to me, I'm like, you know, you don't know
what I went through middle school. You know, so it
and honestly it's dark, but it did help me a lot.
It shaped me to who I am today, and honestly,
I'm grateful, you know, not to say I was grateful
for that to happen, but it made me into a
(35:52):
great person and doing well and I'm in this position
today because of it.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
And so yeah, that middle school man, he's looking at
you being like, we did it.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Bro. Yeah I wish I would go back and tell him.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
But but in your own way, you have, you know
you have. And what a great message for people too,
because it has gotten so out of control of the bullying,
and you know, it's it's a it makes me sick
seeing what some people have to go through today and
you know you're a testament to it's not going to
stop you even though people try look at you. You're
(36:27):
doing it.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
It's crazy, man, Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
You're doing it. Yeah. I hope you feel proud. I
hope you take that in. I do good. I do good.
Appreciate it, TJ. I appreciate you. Man. What a what
a pleasure.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Get me crying. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
I'm sorry, man, I'm sorry. Like I said, you want
to do that on a red carpet and when you
have two minutes, right, So, like, I'm glad you could
get that out. It's something that matters. It's something I'm
passionate about too. That that should happen to me too.
It happened to a lot of us. And as dudes,
we don't always talk about it. Yeah, we want to
be like, oh yeah, I know, we never had a problem.
We're good. That's not reality.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
I appreciate you giving us the space to talk about
something like that.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
It's really cool.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Well, thank you man, thanks for hanging. I look forward
to seeing you on Let's see Dancing with the Stars,
some sort of special op show. You and Iris' college
dorm show. We have a lot to do, work to do. Ye.
Keep rocking, man, It's a pleasure.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
I appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Thank you. I've
Never Said This Before is hosted by Me Tommy Diderio.
This podcast is executive produced by Andrew Piglisi at iHeartRadio
and by Me Tommy, with editing by Joshua Colaudney. I've
Never Said This Before is part of the Elvis Duran
podcast Network on iHeart Podcasts. For more, rate review and
(37:45):
subscribe to our show and if you liked this episode,
tell your friends. Until next time, I'm Tommy Dedario.
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