August 31, 2021 • 40 mins
Ben and Ashley get to know Connor B (The Cat) from Bachelor in Paradise!
Connor responds to Lance Bass’ accusations that he’s not “there for the right reasons”, and we hear his side of the story about how things went down on the beach.
Plus, we finally discover the origin of the Cat suit!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Benn and Ashley I almost famous podcast
with our radio. Well, actually, I promise you a very
special mini episode with a guest that could carry a
mini episode. And here she is. Hey, Ashley, how you doing?
Are you being silly? Hello? Are our special guest is
right here in the room listening to you be silly?
(00:21):
It is Connor, Connor Brennan. He's on the line and
he's here to chat with us. Uh. This man has
been a prominent figure in Bachelor Nation for the past
two to three months. Connor, how are you doing? I'm great.
It's pretty crazy to be called prominent by by Ashley.
I wow. Does that mean that you've been a fan
(00:43):
of the show for a while. Yes, I know who
you are. So hi you guys. I'm seeking out a
little bit. It's great to meet you that. Okay, that's
so sweet. So okay, you're one of the people that
are fans going into it, so that's always fun. Did
you end up yourself or did somebody sign you up? No?
I had a friend to nominate me last summer, not
(01:05):
like as a joke, but I always I was like,
there's no way I'm gonna get on the show, Like
blah blah blah uh and then it ended up happening
and then pretty crazy, you're also I believe you're Carly
wood els Um route her nanny's roomate. Is that right?
That's right, And that is completely unrelated how that happened.
And it was right around the same time that I
(01:26):
was interviewing to be on Bachelorette, my roommate was interviewing
to be Carly wood els nanny and so like right
around when I left for bachelorat that's when that happened.
Have you ever met her any advice? Yeah, she gave
me a little bit advice about paradise, which was cool.
Basically just that it's good to be on the beach
the first day, not like coming late, which I think
(01:47):
it was pretty good advice. It's it's interesting connor Um.
You know, in today's world a Bachelor like back in
the day, like cast members came off and had like
careers based on the show and nowadays you don't see
it as much. But you've really stood out, like you've
you've became a character that people recognized, they know and
(02:08):
and really from the get co of your time on
the Bachtlarette, like you made a name for yourself and
H the confidence was something that was always appealing or
not even appealing. I guess it was just like something
made you stand out. We're gonna get into that because
I said on episode UH that we came out with
this UH to break down Paradise. Your confidence seems to
(02:29):
be waning during Paradise less than on the bat and
I want to know why. But let's start the beginning
for you. We love to talk to like where did
you grow up? Um? What was your childhood? Like, let's
let's get into it. I was hoping you to ask
how my childhood. Uh. So I grew up in Columbia, Illinois,
right near St. Louis. UM had my family is incredible,
(02:51):
So I had a pretty amazing childhood, very music based.
You know. I've started playing piano when I was six
years old. My dad's a violinist as well, so I
have a tattoo of a violin here for him. And
he always wanted to take piano lessons when he was
a kid, but he had nine brothers and sisters so
his family couldn't afford it, so he had me take
panel lessons instead. Um. I worked out pretty well. So
(03:13):
just a musical family, always playing songs, always singing. Uh,
and yeah, really really great childhood. You seem like really
a left brainer between music and then you have a
master's degree in medical physics, and then your resume includes
nuclear engineer at some point. Yeah. So I was a
(03:35):
radioactive materials inspector for the state of Wisconsin, which was
pretty wild. And then you transitioned to to eighth grade
math teacher. Yeah, I just kind of stumbled into that.
I've been a math tutor my whole life because I
love math, and I love kids, and I love teaching math. Um.
And so I was working for a tutoring company here
(03:55):
in Nashville and then just found out that, uh, kind
of a friend of theirs needed a full time math teacher.
And I was like, let's go to try Why not?
What what high school are you teaching that? Or middle school?
It was Templeton Academy in Nashville, so like a small
private middle school in high school downtown. I spent a
lot of time in Nashville. My fiance's from Franklin. So um.
(04:17):
But you know, you seem like like kind of a
renaissance man, like you're up to a lot. Like I
feel like the more like you're one of those dudes
that we go and grab a beer and I just
want to sit there for two hours and here about
all the things you've done with your life. Um, what
do you at this point? Now? What do you feel
like your path is? Like? Where do you like really
(04:37):
investing into That's a great question. Uh yeah, I don't know,
because there's there's so many different things I have interested in.
Like I obviously love music and I'm passionate about it,
but I'm also passionate about math and physics and nucle engineering.
So right now I'm probably I don't think I'm gonna
go back into teaching. I did it for a year
and it was It's a hard job, especially in the pandemic.
(04:59):
Was a really tough job. Uh um. And so I
think I might try to get back into nuclear engineering
or look into like some medical sales type thing where
I can use like my medical physics degree. But then always, always,
music will be a part of my life obviously in
one form or another. I feel like you could really
woo the ladies saying that you're into nuclear engineering. I'm
not even I'm not being sarcastic, like, yeah, that sounds
(05:23):
so smart. That's like a real fancy job. Okay, all right,
keep that I would I wouldn't throw that out there
more often. All right, maybe I should be leading with
that I was a nuclear engineer. Sure. Okay. So you
get signed up to be on the Bachelor by a
friend of the bachelorette and then you show up in
a cat costume. And we've been saying multiple times in
(05:46):
this podcast that you had your finest moment in the
cat costume and I feel like the strongest chemistry you
ever had with Katie in it. What did it have
magical powers? Did you feel like you had like a
like a song on on it was? You know, maybe
it was the fact that I, uh yeah, it had
magical powers and I got to kind of hide a
little bit in the cat suit. It just, uh I
(06:10):
came out guns blazing, and when you're in a cat suit,
you can either you know, be full confidence and go
for it or you know, kind of hide. And I
went full confidence with it. Uh yeah. But I think
that that probably was one of our best nights, was
was me and the cats. It was just it was
a lot of fun. We were both cracking up um
and it was just funny and that that was the
(06:30):
goal of it. It wasn't It wasn't supposed to be like, hey,
look at me, I'm in a cat suit. It was
just I hope Katie laughs. I just wanted to make
her laugh. Basically, you, if you were to describe yourself,
You're you're hard dude to figure out. I'll be honest,
We're gonna get that in a bit. And I think
it's like a compliment, like I would take it and
I say that with like, um, you're you're obviously very intelligent,
(06:55):
you're good looking, you're musically talented. Um, you show up
in a have to which I could say all those things,
it also could say the opposite of all those things,
you never know. Um, how do you describe yourself? Wow,
that's a great question. I so if I had to
describe myself, I would say that I one thing I
(07:17):
pride myself on, especially on this show, was being very genuine. Um.
And you you you know, you hear people saying like, Oh,
this person so and so is here for the wrong reasons,
blah blah blah. I came on in my goal. I
wanted to fall in love. That's why I went on
the show. That's why I want on both shows, and
I wanted to be the fullest version of myself and
(07:38):
I did that. I showed up. I brought my whole self,
my goofy, music, fun, loving whatever self. Um So, I
think I would like to say them genuine is one
thing you can say about me. Uh yeah, you got
a little annoyed this week or so we here in
our hot topics when Lance Bass said on Nick Nick's
(07:58):
podcast that you perhaps were there for a music career. Yeah,
come on, Lance Bass. Um So, I was annoyed with
Lance Bass for saying that because I love Lance Bass
and I was so excited to meet him, and we
had like some really good conversation and we were really friendly.
Um and I was just like kind of in all
of him obviously. And then as I remember it, all
(08:21):
the guys were kind of standing there from Katie season
because none of us had seen any of the episodes,
and of course we're like, what happened? Like, we showed up,
We lived this crazy experience, you know, we had all
these emotions, and now we want to know what are
they showing? Like what do we look like on TV?
So I think all of us were kind of asking
questions about the show, and then I was like, oh,
did my song make it? Because I wanted to know
if I was on the show at all. I didn't
(08:42):
even know if I was going to show up on
TV at all um, And so it wasn't like, hey,
I want to start a music career. It was just
I was genuinely interested if they showed my song or not. Um.
And so it was, Yeah, I was really worried going
onto both shows. We'll really just bachelor atte that people
are gonna say, oh, he's here for their own reasons,
he's here for a music career, blah blah blah. Because
(09:03):
you've just seen that so many times that people say that,
and so I am sensitive about that. And that's why
having one of your heroes say it, it's just like
it's a bummer. You know. It definitely stung coming from him.
But the cool thing is all the people coming out
of the woodworks to defend me and being like Connor
is one of the most genuine people I've ever met.
(09:23):
Like his music was great. It wasn't just me walking
around being the annoying asshole with an instrument. It was
you know, I want people to sing along. I want
people to have fun. That's why I play music to
bring people together, not to show off and be like, hey,
look at me, I'm a musician. It's to make people
laugh and that's why I play music. Um. And so
it was cool to see a lot of people from
(09:44):
my season, a lot of people from Bachelor in Paradise
and a lot of strangers just come out and say, um, yeah, no,
he wasn't there for that reason. He was there too,
you know, fall in love and if he played songs,
that's just part of who he is. Yeah, it's Uh.
I want to talk to you about some of them
for a second, because I lee Thomas's storyline is one
that's being highlighted. And um, it feels very quick these days,
(10:07):
how a narrative can get created, you know. So we've
watched this as fans and seen uh and I want
your inside. I thought you'd be a guy that talks
about it. Where like Thomas shows up the bach thread
and we're like, hey, he wants to be the Bachelor, Like, well,
who doesn't, um, And it seems like everybody at least
knows that's in the back of their head. And he
goes on Paradise, he walks down the beach and like
right away, you know, the sharks attack and he's you know,
(10:31):
pushed aside and uh and kind of defined by the
narrative that he had from the show. And you've now
experienced how quickly this narrative we created, Like you see
how dangerous that can be for for Thomas. Even this
week you said something like, Hey, I don't trust anything
comes out that guy's mouth. What is it that we
aren't seeing? Because if it's just that he wants to
be the Bachelor that's the biggest issue people have with him,
(10:54):
then like I say, yeah, I knew thirty guys like that, Um,
so what is it that we're not them that that
the bachelor thing was never the biggest issue, Like that
was just kind of a small part of it. So
what else say is that I pride myself on being
a very genuine person, and what I get from Thomas,
(11:15):
at least on the show was that I couldn't figure
out who he genuinely was a lot of times it
felt like he was saying what people wanted to hear,
and a lot of times we he would just lie,
like we called him in some direct lies. And so
that's where it really graded on me, because the one
thing I ask from people is just like, be yourself.
(11:35):
Be genuine. If you're an asshole, be that. Don't hide anything,
you know, just show up as yourself. I could never
figure out who Thomas actually was, and so I was
going to try to give him another chance on Bachelor
in Paradise, but he kind of just showed up and
did the same sort of thing, right. I just did
not feel any genuine nous from him. So I definitely
(11:57):
interested in giving him another chance of meeting him in
real life and talking to him. But yeah, yeah, yeah,
I guess lives are hard to like show, right, It's
hard to trace back on tell them and you show like,
oh you told me this since secret or you told
me this on the side. Now I'm you did that
enough and enough in me that makes more sense. Yeah,
But like Ashy and I are watching this and we're
like we don't know what to get, like what's wrong?
(12:17):
Like why people much? Yeah? He just changes his story
a lot based on who he's with and who he's
talking to. Interesting. Is there anybody else in the Paradise
cast that you feel like is it represented to their
utmost on the show? Um or a storyline that you
feel like a lot of content is missing. Yeah, well,
(12:41):
there's so much that happened and we only get to
see such small parts of it. Especially on Bachelor Paradise.
There's just so much happening every single day. It's crazy
to see what doesn't make it in Weirdly, Um, Carl
for me got a redemption in Bachelor in Paradise because
I came in that a little bit on TV. Yeah.
I came in ready to be mad at Carl still
(13:01):
because we left and you know, when he left, I
was all piste off at him. And then we kind
of just sat around and talked with him, and he
became one of the guys with Katie's guys, Like, we
all had some good discussion with him, talked things out.
He was really genuine and honest with us, and I
really started to like the guy a lot. And there
was a moment when I was really sad and I
was just kind of sitting by myself being sad boy
(13:23):
on the beach, playing my guitar song um, and he
came up and sat next to me. You know, there
weren't cameras or anything, was just an off screen moment.
He came up and sat next to me, and it
was just like, hey, play me a song, like I'd
love to hear any song he wrote or something like that.
And we just had this cool little moment where he
wanted to hear a song. We sat and talked and
it was nice. So yeah, sweet, we don't get to
see enough of that. He still comes off to me
(13:44):
as the guy that was on the Bachelor, Like I
like him more, but he's still like m He's definitely
a good fault. So it's good to know, you know
that he had that moment. Now we're gonna get into
your whole story line of Paradise, and before we do
want to ask you you know, you've obviously had a
very accomplished career. Um, you probably don't have a hard
(14:05):
time dating. You've got thrown into this world now and
you're talking to us, you're talking to Nick or I
don't even know if you're talking. You're just talking to people, um,
all the time now about this show and now you've
experienced Paradise. What do you make of it all? Like,
I mean, it's it's gotta be a it's yeah, in
(14:29):
a word, it's pretty surreal, definitely, especially since it all
happened so fast as in you know, Bachelorrette was only
a few months ago, and before I even saw the
outcome of that, I was already on Bachelor Paradise meeting
a bunch of Bachelor people who had seen on TV.
So I was star struck. When I showed up. I
was just like, oh my god, Like, I get to
(14:49):
meet you and you this is so cool. Um, it's
it's crazy, and and a couple of things that I
take away from it, or that every person I met, Uh,
they were so much cooler in real life than on TV. Really,
like everyone's more attractive and cooler in real life. Something
you guys, you guys. The coolest it really is you
(15:13):
meet me in person and you just get a fully
fleshed out version of them rather than just a small,
tiny moment on television. So that's one of my biggest
takeaways is just like it's it's it's very curated what
you see and it's really cool to meet these people
in real life and realize that, oh they're awesome people,
even more awesome than I would have thought. Now we
(15:40):
see you having a thing with Marissa early on. Was
there anybody else that you were kind of talking to
or we're interested in that. We didn't get to see
you talk with Uh. Yeah. So I went in really
really excited to meet just sen Um. I was, Yeah,
it talked about her a lot in my interviews and
if you saw my Little Paradise song, I had her
(16:02):
name in the Paradise song um, and so I was
really excited to meet her. And we had a conversation
the first day that was really good. And then she
and I both kind of coupled up pretty quickly, right
like she had Ivan and I had Marissa. I don't
know if they're going to show this or not, but
I actually did end up writing a song for just
Senda because I was really crushing on her, and then
(16:25):
you know, hit it off with Marissa and just sending
hit it off with Ivan. But when things kind of
switched up with Marissa, I still found that I had
some pretty strong feelings for Jasna, and so I wrote
a song and shot my shot in a pretty big way.
And that, you know, there's so many things happened that
that's that doesn't I don't think it makes it into
the cut. But yeah, a little off screen moment. Okay, well, Connor,
(16:49):
like this is not technically a spoiler, because you can
do the math on it, on the dates and all
that you kissed that girl in the odd and at
mentell all and you liked it and you asked for
her number, and that was taped in July. So I
just have this inkling that maybe Paradise doesn't go in
(17:11):
the most positive direction for you, like maybe you don't
find love. Did anything happen with that girl because we
did here in the aftermath that she was a hired actress,
so like they're really putting you through the ringer. Well, um,
there's okay. So the hired actress thing. They asked for
volunteers to kiss me and she volunteers, so she was
(17:36):
She was really pretty. So I got her number and
we definitely talked in FaceTime to bid. But you know,
she lives in l A. I live in Nashville, so
I think, uh, for now, we'll probably just be friends.
But she's pretty amazing. I mean, finds love in Paradise,
I would celebrate it. If he doesn't. I'm not worried
about the guy, like at all, Like, uh, he lives
(17:57):
in Nashville one and he's going to be the most
popular are do in the US because Nashville is the
bachelorette capital of the world. None of how my buddies
treated it once we got them with our show at Nashville,
I'm not worried about him. Um, thanks, thank you now.
Um yeah, so we see this most sery play out.
I want to dive into a bit for you. Um,
(18:20):
you seem heartbroken, especially this week. UM, I don't know
what to ask first about your outfit and why you
decided that was a good idea. I think it was
a feature, just just to be clear kind of. I
think it is a fantastic idea, like if I went
to Paradise. I've always had this philosophy on this show.
(18:41):
I know I'm not the most fashionable. I know I'm
not gonna look as good as everybody else in suits
and all those like outfits that they put on. So
like my strategy and Paradise would be to be ridiculous
and just to like where whatever it takes. That feels
like you picked it out of like a thrift shop.
That was one of those moves. I respect you, So
(19:02):
I guess I'll start there. Where did you find that outfit?
Why did you just said that was a good idea,
and why did that. Do you think this is gonna
be something I wear as somebody's looking for their husband? Okay,
let me answer does in order? I think I found
it on Zara online and I saw it and I
was like, oh my god, I want to wear that. Uh.
And I had one of my best friends here in
(19:23):
Nashville helped me plan out all my outfits for both
Bachelor at Ambaschelor in Paradise, and I showed her that
outfit and she said, no, you are not wearing that
on television. And I said okay, and then I took
it anyway. And that morning I was looking through my
clothes and I was kind of bummed because you know,
the date with Mercenarilly, and I was like, we're going
(19:44):
in guns blazon. Let's do it, baby, full confidence. Let's
put on something that makes me feel I don't know
about sexy, but it makes me feel confident. At least.
It didn't make you feel confident or were you just you?
I looked at that outfit and thought you were like, up,
I give throwing in the towel, right, But you felt
great in it? Oh? I felt great. I felt like
(20:07):
I looked good. I felt like I was rocking and rolling.
I felt like everybody was checking me out. I was like, hell, yeah,
I take some confidence to rock a rock a onesie
like that. We're just gonna go for it. Uh. And
so I threw it on and I felt great, and
then I went and started my stuff. I like you,
I know you. Actually, I feel like you don't like
(20:27):
the outfit. I didn't love the outfit for the reasoning
that you. I feel like, if you it was not
a seducing outfit. And perhaps in the moment, I was
hoping that maybe like you would be more in a
seductive mode. But seductive isn't really my my m O.
I am a goofball. I know who I am. If
(20:48):
somebody doesn't accept me, my doctor isn't either. I was
gonna stay like you and I both to relate with this,
Like if you and I are trying to show up
to the beach and be said active like, we're gonna
fail miserably. It's gonna be awful for both of us.
Now here's the other things. Yeah, well, I have to
say this. I have to have to say this. I
(21:10):
trump you as far as embarrassing outfit choices in Paradise
because when Jared dumped me in Paradise like and he
left like the time that it was for real. Um,
I was wearing an I'm a Kim shirt referring to
I'm a Kim Kardashian with a high waisted skirt, and
Jade knew that he was gonna dump me, and she
(21:32):
was like, I don't know how to tell her. She
should probably change her shirt because it's going to be
even more demoralizing. So she didn't. And now, in hindsight,
I think it's absolutely hilarious. I was wearing I'm a
Kim shirt in that moment. But you know, now that
I remember all this, now I'm saying salute to you.
So I mean, just a little piece that we've never
(21:54):
talked about. I'm all for it because in high school
I was the guy in the football locker room who
would like get changed for football practice and be having
on like the banana hammock that was like leather and
just like wait until people commented, or not leather, leopard, sorry, leopard,
(22:14):
like one of those things that the Magic Mike guys.
I feel like that would translate over to Paradise where
I would be the one that would show up in
a wild outfit. Because if somebody's attracted that and can
giggle about it, then I'm like, hey, we've got something.
But if you just want me to be like ripped
and show off all the time, I'm never gonna be
(22:35):
able to sustain that. Like I'm I'm I got about
a day of that maybe, And I would like to
see a picture of you in this leopard print banana hammock.
I hope that exists. Bring out the sluice. Well. The
other thing is Marissa and I and I don't think
you got to see a lot of this. We were
goofballs together, Like we would just sit there and crack
(22:58):
each other up about the dumbest and like literally our
conversations were hysterical. Just and me, Demi and Marissa sat
in the pool the day before talking about the dumbie
You've ever heard. It was so funny and we were
like I was crying laughing with those two. And so
I knew that, like Marriss' is a goofball too, and
she would you know, I wasn't trying to seduce her.
I was just trying to truly, we wouldn't know that
(23:19):
because we see her as like this, you know, like
whoa like really sensual comes on just talk about Leopard
with her boobies in that left outfit. No, she's she's
so gorgeous and hot, but she's also so like just
fun to talk to and she's a goofball. We didn't
(23:39):
get to see that. That's frustrating that. I feel like
that would have added to the element for us, is
being like, hey, now I get my town are so upset,
Like it had a lot of fun, like of course
he doesn't have Marrissa like her and really have such
a bigger thing going on, but we didn't get to
see your connection. Yeah, and that's why that's why I
was so nonchalant and non worried about her going the date,
(24:00):
because I knew the connection that Marissa and I had,
and I thought, I honestly thought, uh, well, I don't
think there's any way that Riley is gonna like have
a connection like that with her. There's just no way.
Like we've hit it off, we cracked each other up,
we've like cried laughing and stuff together. So I really
wasn't worried. Um, and then I got worried after that.
All right, Yeah, so let's talk about that moment and like,
(24:22):
how your heart felt. Did it sink when you heard
it they went to the boom boom room. I honestly
didn't know if that was a rumor or not until
I watched the episode, So I heard it. Yeah, so
I heard that rumor. Uh, you know, Taj told me.
But then I also heard that maybe they just like
(24:43):
cuddled or maybe they didn't even go to the boom
boom room. So when I was there, I wasn't I
was also scared to ask people. I'm not gonna go
up to people and be like, hey, did they go
to the boom boom room? Like that just wasn't my Like,
it wasn't for me to know. If she wasn't going
to tell me, I guess so my heart definitely sank.
And that kind of changed my perspective because Merris and
I had that conversation the next morning, and I thought
(25:05):
we were still on. I thought things were still good
to go. And then like, even if she liked me
and Riley, I was okay with that, like we would
figure it out. Um. So, based on the conversation we
had that morning, I thought that she still really liked
me and wanted to pursue things. And then the that
whole rest of the day, she spent her entire day
with Riley like right next to him, and I was like, oh, okay,
(25:30):
like I'm starting to make sense of this. But I
that night when I talked to her, I basically had
to break up with myself for her, Yeah, because I
was like, I just I think she was afraid to
hurt me, and so I couldn't really get a straight
answer out of her. I was like, you know, but
after the whole day, it became pretty apparent, and then
(25:51):
they kind of showed up to the Bond Fire together
and I was like, okay, like I think I understand
what's happening here. So that special secret date that you
were trying to set up on campus never happened. Mm
hmm no, because you know, once I found out that
she like went to the Boom Boom room and then
saw the way she was just hanging out with Riley
(26:11):
the whole day, I was like, oh, I don't I
don't even think she would want to go on a
day with me tonight. But I had some cute plans,
like I was had. I had like a list of
ideas of the dates I was going to take her
on that night, you know, just trying to figure out
like what I could do on the beach and whatnot?
Well were they I wanted to do? I thought a
wine and paint night could be fun, like where we
(26:32):
just set up canvases on the beach and paint and
drink wine. Uh. What else? Did I have a taco
night where we just tried a bunch of different types
of tacos? Uh an ice cream bar or something like that?
We talked about ice cream and I had drunkenly eaten
up a ton of ice cream like two nights before. Uh.
I think there are a couple of others, but I
can't remember, just like fun little beach dates now not
(26:55):
to like I mean, I only asked this so to
give our the viewers and the listeners little bit more detail.
I've I've been shocked this season. And maybe it's just
because I'm more into this season and it's been a
while for Paradise, but you know, with the pain of
seeing people ding other people, I asked to actually last
ye because like, how does this happen? Like how are
you okay? How do you process through it? Um? Yeah?
(27:18):
And she said I'm not You're not okay with it,
and she kind of explained, but for you, Connor, as
you're seeing this happen, and now you're seeing this person
that you care about and that you're interested in come
to a bonfire with somebody else right in front of you,
and that in this environment it's acceptable. Still not okay,
Like still not doesn't mean it doesn't hurt, but still okay.
Like what are you feeling during that? Yeah, I mean
(27:43):
the confusing because there's not just one emotion you're feeling, right,
It's a lot. It's a mix of confusing emotions. And
I was still trying to make sense of everything because
I hadn't heard from her directly what was happening, and
so I think what I was feeling was just kind
of no, there was no anger at all. It was
just a little bit of sadness and a little bit
of like, well I was kind of excited about this,
(28:03):
but and now, and so that that like kind of
disappointment about this really could have been something like like
like I love the connection we had, and so it's
it's just that kind of like let down of realizing, uh,
you know, what's happening. And then also that's mixed in
with kind of almost still fresh off the breakup with
Katie Thurston of just feeling like, well, here we go
(28:24):
against someone not picking me, like someone just not like
just not getting chosen again. So having that add on
to that kind of just made me feel like, well,
what's what's wrong with me? Like? Why why do I
always not get picked on the beach or wherever it is?
And so I know that's international thought, but that's always
what pops up when that sort of thing happens. Um,
(28:47):
So that was definitely part of it. Would probably be
a bad HOSTS if we didn't ask um how your
psyche is doing with the whole kissing thing, because let's
be clear, really just meant that it was a chemistry thing,
not a skill thing. We hope that you didn't ever
interpret it otherwise. Oh, I definitely interpreted it otherwise, don't
(29:10):
worry the life. I literally came back from bach Thor
and I was like, I'm a terrible kisser. I that
thing on the TELLL. I texted my a couple of
exes and I was like, am I a bad kisser? Like?
So I was very much in my head, especially once
I got back and watched all the episodes. Got back
(29:30):
from paradise and then saw all the people talking about
me being a bad kisser and whatnot. Uh, and so
it's I won't lie. I'm very much in my head
when I kiss people. Now I am you know, I
wish I could just relax and kiss somebody. But always
in the back of my mind, I'm like, am I
doing a really terrible job? Like is this awful? Like
she hates this, blah blah blah. Like we're getting past that, though,
(29:54):
we're getting through that. Your pillow does not judge you,
just like it's the safest place. You appreciate that, Okay, practicing.
And I'll also say that, um, once you meet the
right person, it doesn't really matter how good of a
kiss who you are, Like it does maybe at times,
but like I'll kiss Jess, like when I have bad breath,
(30:18):
I'll kiss Jess, like walking to the the door, give a
little smooch and give it. Like once you meet the
right person, man, that that goes away. You should just
feel confident someone's gonna somebody's gonna fall in love with you.
And and that kissing thing about the window pretty soon
fix that's really beautiful. All right, we have just a
(30:47):
few more minutes left with you. But I do want
to ask about one couple whose relationship we saw kind
of fall apart this week, is Kenny and Marie with
the whole Demi triangle. There anything more to that that
you'd to add in and like, are we did? You?
Were us confused about Marie's message to Kenny as as
(31:09):
he was um? I think, yeah, I don't really know.
I can't speak on where Marie's head was at, but
I got to say I'm sure she was probably interested
in Kenny but just didn't want to lock it down
after you know, however many days it's been um. And
then I think I think obviously Kenny got a little
bit pissed and went off and was like, all right,
(31:29):
get then I'm gonna make out with Demi. Uh So
it was maybe not the clearest communication between them type
of thing. I don't think. I think Kenny probably took
it a little harder than Marie meant it to be taken. Um.
But also it's it's a confusing place, the beaches, and
you're running along not a lot of sleep. You know,
(31:50):
you might be hungover, drunk or anything like that. So
it's just it's a lot of times hard to process
emotions and what people are saying in real time. So
weird happens all the time. YEA, Now close up here,
I have a final question. I asking my final question.
You probably has a rapid fire for you prepared, Yeah,
(32:10):
but I want to ask him a question before we
get into it here. Um, Connor, you're dude from Nashville, UM,
who is up to a lot, who has a lot
of a lot of curious things that you're You're a
lot of things that you're curious about in life. And Um,
you go on this show, you come off the show,
(32:31):
and I would say that from our perspective, you should
I'm not gonna tell you how to feel, but I
would say, hey, you should have some more confidence maybe
than when you walked in, Like, Um, you've got a
lot of good attention. People have been very interested in you.
You've taken your your your hits, and and you're gonna
stand back up and walk into it. How are you
doing today? If you're explained what it feels like to
(32:52):
be Connor Brennan walking into Nashville, Tennessee as a man
that's been on this show and is now um getting
back out there. How how do you feel? How are
you personally, Uh, that's a really great question and thank
you for asking. Um it's been I will be honest,
it's been a roller coaster. It's been mostly great with
some with a couple of loads here and there, Like
(33:13):
last week with the Lance Bass thing, not just him
saying it, but then all the people coming out and
saying terrible things initially about me wanting to be there
for music. I was really down. I was really really
had a terrible day. I basically just laid in bed
all day. I was really like sad and pressed. And
then the next day this overwhelming amount of support and
love and like my mom made a Twitter account just
(33:35):
to tweak something nice to me, and just like so
many people saying kind things, and I was like I
was being stupid yesterday. I'm so lucky. I'm so incredibly
like grateful for what this experience has given me. So
that's why I'm right now, That's why I'm back at
is just like, how lucky am I to have gotten
to be on this show, to have met such incredible people, um,
(33:55):
and to have been able to really learn things about
myself and come out with so it's more confidence. I
am a hundred times more confident than I was walking
in with that cats. I was terrified. I thought I
was getting sent home night one. And so it's just
like seeing the changes in myself over the past few
months has been crazy. So it feels really really great,
(34:15):
and I'm mostly just just a lot of gratitude for
everything that this has been. It's, uh, it's interesting because
those are the things that we think back on. Actually,
I talked about it even offline a lot like where
you go on you think you can be let go
on night one and you are now all of a
sudden thrust in this whole new world but you never expected.
But that changes you for better and allows you to
(34:37):
meet people, actually meets your husband, and I still think,
you know, meeting my fiance came from you know, the
show and her trust, her mom's trust. That I wasn't
like some weirdo message you understand, but like life will
make sense over time. I will say this, we warn
everybody because you're not the only one that deals with
There's people listening to deal with it. The hating, the trolls,
(35:01):
UM don't stop necessarily, UM, but you become a little
more resilient, you grow, you grow some grit some character
over time. But you're not alone in that, and I
want to shoot that with you. Is actually I talked about,
you're not alone in that. We both we're in it,
We've been through it, we'll still be in it. Um,
So stay strong, buddy, Thanks for coming on. Now pass
it off to Astley to close this out with rapid
(35:24):
fire because she's great at it. Thanks, but I really
appreciate that. It's really fun when we wrapped with this. Okay,
So what is say you are, you know, doing a
set in Nashville, you're doing your music thing. What is
your go to cover song Walking in Memphis by Mark Conan?
So good? Yeah, oh good? Who was the Bachelor alum
(35:48):
that you wanted to see in flirt with a Paradise
but you didn't get it? Other than Ashley Brittany Calvin
for sure from that season? Okay, very good. Uh let's
see she was in your song, wasn't she? She was?
She was? Yep, and just send you a Nabigail. Okay.
(36:08):
So then what about who is a celebrity that you
wish you could slide into their d ms and get
a response from. Oh wow, that's a really good one. Um. Okay,
not in a romantic way. But I did, um d
m Olivia Rodrigo because Wells posted this photo of saying
(36:29):
that I was like the Olivia Rodrigo of Paradise or
something like that, and I d m Olivia and I
was like, Hey, we should write a song to make
Wells cry. So that's my She's such a great songwriter.
No she didn't. What was your go to order at
Wells's bar? So? Wells would make this spicy margarita that
(36:50):
I would go for every time, and basically progressively every
day I would tell him to make it a little
bit spicier, so he put a little bit more like
Hallapenia in there. So by the end I was just
like coughing every time I drank k It was great,
got me alive, It's perfect. Um. Do you have you
ever used a pickup line? Oh? God, I'm sure I'm
(37:11):
sure I have at some point. I'm really really bad
at just walking up to like a girl in a bar.
I can't do that sometimes. That's you know why I
play music so people come talk to me because I'm
too nervous to go talk to people. Um. But if
I was gonna use a pick up line, it would
probably be something, Matthew. It would be a pun, A
dumb pun, for sure, because you're very funny, as we
saw in that one episode, Thank You. Arguably, what's your
(37:35):
favorite food? Favorite food is ice cream? Hands down? Love
ice cream. I could he did every day. I actually did.
He did every day for like a year once, so big.
What's your favorite flavor? Then? Pretty basic? I like cookie dough.
I gotta be honest. I love a big chunk of cookie,
though chocolate's my favorite, so I'm very basic as well.
And then my last question for you is what's your
(37:55):
most embarrassing moment of all time? Of all time? Oh
my god, um, shoot, put me on the spot with
that one. I don't know if I'm gonna be able
to think of that spot. Um, there's one that's in
your head right now that you don't want to share
because you just need to share it. I actually I'm
(38:16):
blanking out completely right now. What have I been very
embarrassed by? Um? I went to France, uh with my
girlfriend at the time. This was like a few years ago.
Went to Paris. We went to the Louver. Was awesome.
I got really drunk on wine the night before I
had a bottle of wine each or something like that.
We go into the louver. So I am crazy hungover
(38:38):
in the loop, just like hating my life, but seeing
this beautiful art and being like, wow, this is great.
I'm so hungover. I feel like death. I want to die.
And so we go to the little like the little
coffee stand in the louver uh, and we're gonna try
to get some coffee and like a croissan or some
sandwich or something like that to bring me back to life.
And I have been trying to learn a tiny bit
of French, like just enough to order, and so I tried.
(39:02):
I tried to order something in French. It came out
in Spanish because because I know a little bit of Spanish,
so I ended up saying something in Spanish with a
French accent, but also completely wrong in both languages. And
so I like walked up, tried to order something, came
out in Spanish, and the guy, like this French guy
just like stares at me and all of a sudden,
(39:25):
like my girlf at the time looks at me, She's
like what what did you just say? Like what just
geve out of your mouth? And I literally just like
let her order and I just like slunk away and
like like slumped my head down. I thought you were
going to the guy that would have been a better story,
and then I borrowed on him. Yea. The nothing makes
you dumber than than the day after a night out. God,
(39:47):
it's makes you question everything. Um. Hey, h Connie, thanks
for coming on man, thanks for spending the time with us.
Wishing the best. We hope you come back on again.
Um and uh and break down some episodes with us
or just chat life. Um, it's been a pleasure. Ashley,
(40:08):
it's been so fun. So thank you for being here
and for giving us your time. Connor, you have been
a joy to get to know, especially over the past
four to five minutes, because I feel like we really
have gotten to get to know you more so, Connor,
you have to follow our lead. I've been Ashley, I've
been Connor, and I've been been Thanks for joining the
Almost News podcast. Job followed the Benn and Ashley I
(40:32):
Almost Famous podcast on iHeart Radio or subscribe wherever you
listen to podcasts.
This is the Benn and Ashley I almost famous podcast
with our radio. Well, actually, I promise you a very
special mini episode with a guest that could carry a
mini episode. And here she is. Hey, Ashley, how you doing?
Are you being silly? Hello? Are our special guest is
right here in the room listening to you be silly?
(00:21):
It is Connor, Connor Brennan. He's on the line and
he's here to chat with us. Uh. This man has
been a prominent figure in Bachelor Nation for the past
two to three months. Connor, how are you doing? I'm great.
It's pretty crazy to be called prominent by by Ashley.
I wow. Does that mean that you've been a fan
(00:43):
of the show for a while. Yes, I know who
you are. So hi you guys. I'm seeking out a
little bit. It's great to meet you that. Okay, that's
so sweet. So okay, you're one of the people that
are fans going into it, so that's always fun. Did
you end up yourself or did somebody sign you up? No?
I had a friend to nominate me last summer, not
(01:05):
like as a joke, but I always I was like,
there's no way I'm gonna get on the show, Like
blah blah blah uh and then it ended up happening
and then pretty crazy, you're also I believe you're Carly
wood els Um route her nanny's roomate. Is that right?
That's right, And that is completely unrelated how that happened.
And it was right around the same time that I
(01:26):
was interviewing to be on Bachelorette, my roommate was interviewing
to be Carly wood els nanny and so like right
around when I left for bachelorat that's when that happened.
Have you ever met her any advice? Yeah, she gave
me a little bit advice about paradise, which was cool.
Basically just that it's good to be on the beach
the first day, not like coming late, which I think
(01:47):
it was pretty good advice. It's it's interesting connor Um.
You know, in today's world a Bachelor like back in
the day, like cast members came off and had like
careers based on the show and nowadays you don't see
it as much. But you've really stood out, like you've
you've became a character that people recognized, they know and
(02:08):
and really from the get co of your time on
the Bachtlarette, like you made a name for yourself and
H the confidence was something that was always appealing or
not even appealing. I guess it was just like something
made you stand out. We're gonna get into that because
I said on episode UH that we came out with
this UH to break down Paradise. Your confidence seems to
(02:29):
be waning during Paradise less than on the bat and
I want to know why. But let's start the beginning
for you. We love to talk to like where did
you grow up? Um? What was your childhood? Like, let's
let's get into it. I was hoping you to ask
how my childhood. Uh. So I grew up in Columbia, Illinois,
right near St. Louis. UM had my family is incredible,
(02:51):
So I had a pretty amazing childhood, very music based.
You know. I've started playing piano when I was six
years old. My dad's a violinist as well, so I
have a tattoo of a violin here for him. And
he always wanted to take piano lessons when he was
a kid, but he had nine brothers and sisters so
his family couldn't afford it, so he had me take
panel lessons instead. Um. I worked out pretty well. So
(03:13):
just a musical family, always playing songs, always singing. Uh,
and yeah, really really great childhood. You seem like really
a left brainer between music and then you have a
master's degree in medical physics, and then your resume includes
nuclear engineer at some point. Yeah. So I was a
(03:35):
radioactive materials inspector for the state of Wisconsin, which was
pretty wild. And then you transitioned to to eighth grade
math teacher. Yeah, I just kind of stumbled into that.
I've been a math tutor my whole life because I
love math, and I love kids, and I love teaching math. Um.
And so I was working for a tutoring company here
(03:55):
in Nashville and then just found out that, uh, kind
of a friend of theirs needed a full time math teacher.
And I was like, let's go to try Why not?
What what high school are you teaching that? Or middle school?
It was Templeton Academy in Nashville, so like a small
private middle school in high school downtown. I spent a
lot of time in Nashville. My fiance's from Franklin. So um.
(04:17):
But you know, you seem like like kind of a
renaissance man, like you're up to a lot. Like I
feel like the more like you're one of those dudes
that we go and grab a beer and I just
want to sit there for two hours and here about
all the things you've done with your life. Um, what
do you at this point? Now? What do you feel
like your path is? Like? Where do you like really
(04:37):
investing into That's a great question. Uh yeah, I don't know,
because there's there's so many different things I have interested in.
Like I obviously love music and I'm passionate about it,
but I'm also passionate about math and physics and nucle engineering.
So right now I'm probably I don't think I'm gonna
go back into teaching. I did it for a year
and it was It's a hard job, especially in the pandemic.
(04:59):
Was a really tough job. Uh um. And so I
think I might try to get back into nuclear engineering
or look into like some medical sales type thing where
I can use like my medical physics degree. But then always, always,
music will be a part of my life obviously in
one form or another. I feel like you could really
woo the ladies saying that you're into nuclear engineering. I'm
not even I'm not being sarcastic, like, yeah, that sounds
(05:23):
so smart. That's like a real fancy job. Okay, all right,
keep that I would I wouldn't throw that out there
more often. All right, maybe I should be leading with
that I was a nuclear engineer. Sure. Okay. So you
get signed up to be on the Bachelor by a
friend of the bachelorette and then you show up in
a cat costume. And we've been saying multiple times in
(05:46):
this podcast that you had your finest moment in the
cat costume and I feel like the strongest chemistry you
ever had with Katie in it. What did it have
magical powers? Did you feel like you had like a
like a song on on it was? You know, maybe
it was the fact that I, uh yeah, it had
magical powers and I got to kind of hide a
little bit in the cat suit. It just, uh I
(06:10):
came out guns blazing, and when you're in a cat suit,
you can either you know, be full confidence and go
for it or you know, kind of hide. And I
went full confidence with it. Uh yeah. But I think
that that probably was one of our best nights, was
was me and the cats. It was just it was
a lot of fun. We were both cracking up um
and it was just funny and that that was the
(06:30):
goal of it. It wasn't It wasn't supposed to be like, hey,
look at me, I'm in a cat suit. It was
just I hope Katie laughs. I just wanted to make
her laugh. Basically, you, if you were to describe yourself,
You're you're hard dude to figure out. I'll be honest,
We're gonna get that in a bit. And I think
it's like a compliment, like I would take it and
I say that with like, um, you're you're obviously very intelligent,
(06:55):
you're good looking, you're musically talented. Um, you show up
in a have to which I could say all those things,
it also could say the opposite of all those things,
you never know. Um, how do you describe yourself? Wow,
that's a great question. I so if I had to
describe myself, I would say that I one thing I
(07:17):
pride myself on, especially on this show, was being very genuine. Um.
And you you you know, you hear people saying like, Oh,
this person so and so is here for the wrong reasons,
blah blah blah. I came on in my goal. I
wanted to fall in love. That's why I went on
the show. That's why I want on both shows, and
I wanted to be the fullest version of myself and
(07:38):
I did that. I showed up. I brought my whole self,
my goofy, music, fun, loving whatever self. Um So, I
think I would like to say them genuine is one
thing you can say about me. Uh yeah, you got
a little annoyed this week or so we here in
our hot topics when Lance Bass said on Nick Nick's
(07:58):
podcast that you perhaps were there for a music career. Yeah,
come on, Lance Bass. Um So, I was annoyed with
Lance Bass for saying that because I love Lance Bass
and I was so excited to meet him, and we
had like some really good conversation and we were really friendly.
Um and I was just like kind of in all
of him obviously. And then as I remember it, all
(08:21):
the guys were kind of standing there from Katie season
because none of us had seen any of the episodes,
and of course we're like, what happened? Like, we showed up,
We lived this crazy experience, you know, we had all
these emotions, and now we want to know what are
they showing? Like what do we look like on TV?
So I think all of us were kind of asking
questions about the show, and then I was like, oh,
did my song make it? Because I wanted to know
if I was on the show at all. I didn't
(08:42):
even know if I was going to show up on
TV at all um, And so it wasn't like, hey,
I want to start a music career. It was just
I was genuinely interested if they showed my song or not. Um.
And so it was, Yeah, I was really worried going
onto both shows. We'll really just bachelor atte that people
are gonna say, oh, he's here for their own reasons,
he's here for a music career, blah blah blah. Because
(09:03):
you've just seen that so many times that people say that,
and so I am sensitive about that. And that's why
having one of your heroes say it, it's just like
it's a bummer. You know. It definitely stung coming from him.
But the cool thing is all the people coming out
of the woodworks to defend me and being like Connor
is one of the most genuine people I've ever met.
(09:23):
Like his music was great. It wasn't just me walking
around being the annoying asshole with an instrument. It was
you know, I want people to sing along. I want
people to have fun. That's why I play music to
bring people together, not to show off and be like, hey,
look at me, I'm a musician. It's to make people
laugh and that's why I play music. Um. And so
it was cool to see a lot of people from
(09:44):
my season, a lot of people from Bachelor in Paradise
and a lot of strangers just come out and say, um, yeah, no,
he wasn't there for that reason. He was there too,
you know, fall in love and if he played songs,
that's just part of who he is. Yeah, it's Uh.
I want to talk to you about some of them
for a second, because I lee Thomas's storyline is one
that's being highlighted. And um, it feels very quick these days,
(10:07):
how a narrative can get created, you know. So we've
watched this as fans and seen uh and I want
your inside. I thought you'd be a guy that talks
about it. Where like Thomas shows up the bach thread
and we're like, hey, he wants to be the Bachelor, Like, well,
who doesn't, um, And it seems like everybody at least
knows that's in the back of their head. And he
goes on Paradise, he walks down the beach and like
right away, you know, the sharks attack and he's you know,
(10:31):
pushed aside and uh and kind of defined by the
narrative that he had from the show. And you've now
experienced how quickly this narrative we created, Like you see
how dangerous that can be for for Thomas. Even this
week you said something like, Hey, I don't trust anything
comes out that guy's mouth. What is it that we
aren't seeing? Because if it's just that he wants to
be the Bachelor that's the biggest issue people have with him,
(10:54):
then like I say, yeah, I knew thirty guys like that, Um,
so what is it that we're not them that that
the bachelor thing was never the biggest issue, Like that
was just kind of a small part of it. So
what else say is that I pride myself on being
a very genuine person, and what I get from Thomas,
(11:15):
at least on the show was that I couldn't figure
out who he genuinely was a lot of times it
felt like he was saying what people wanted to hear,
and a lot of times we he would just lie,
like we called him in some direct lies. And so
that's where it really graded on me, because the one
thing I ask from people is just like, be yourself.
(11:35):
Be genuine. If you're an asshole, be that. Don't hide anything,
you know, just show up as yourself. I could never
figure out who Thomas actually was, and so I was
going to try to give him another chance on Bachelor
in Paradise, but he kind of just showed up and
did the same sort of thing, right. I just did
not feel any genuine nous from him. So I definitely
(11:57):
interested in giving him another chance of meeting him in
real life and talking to him. But yeah, yeah, yeah,
I guess lives are hard to like show, right, It's
hard to trace back on tell them and you show like,
oh you told me this since secret or you told
me this on the side. Now I'm you did that
enough and enough in me that makes more sense. Yeah,
But like Ashy and I are watching this and we're
like we don't know what to get, like what's wrong?
(12:17):
Like why people much? Yeah? He just changes his story
a lot based on who he's with and who he's
talking to. Interesting. Is there anybody else in the Paradise
cast that you feel like is it represented to their
utmost on the show? Um or a storyline that you
feel like a lot of content is missing. Yeah, well,
(12:41):
there's so much that happened and we only get to
see such small parts of it. Especially on Bachelor Paradise.
There's just so much happening every single day. It's crazy
to see what doesn't make it in Weirdly, Um, Carl
for me got a redemption in Bachelor in Paradise because
I came in that a little bit on TV. Yeah.
I came in ready to be mad at Carl still
(13:01):
because we left and you know, when he left, I
was all piste off at him. And then we kind
of just sat around and talked with him, and he
became one of the guys with Katie's guys, Like, we
all had some good discussion with him, talked things out.
He was really genuine and honest with us, and I
really started to like the guy a lot. And there
was a moment when I was really sad and I
was just kind of sitting by myself being sad boy
(13:23):
on the beach, playing my guitar song um, and he
came up and sat next to me. You know, there
weren't cameras or anything, was just an off screen moment.
He came up and sat next to me, and it
was just like, hey, play me a song, like I'd
love to hear any song he wrote or something like that.
And we just had this cool little moment where he
wanted to hear a song. We sat and talked and
it was nice. So yeah, sweet, we don't get to
see enough of that. He still comes off to me
(13:44):
as the guy that was on the Bachelor, Like I
like him more, but he's still like m He's definitely
a good fault. So it's good to know, you know
that he had that moment. Now we're gonna get into
your whole story line of Paradise, and before we do
want to ask you you know, you've obviously had a
very accomplished career. Um, you probably don't have a hard
(14:05):
time dating. You've got thrown into this world now and
you're talking to us, you're talking to Nick or I
don't even know if you're talking. You're just talking to people, um,
all the time now about this show and now you've
experienced Paradise. What do you make of it all? Like,
I mean, it's it's gotta be a it's yeah, in
(14:29):
a word, it's pretty surreal, definitely, especially since it all
happened so fast as in you know, Bachelorrette was only
a few months ago, and before I even saw the
outcome of that, I was already on Bachelor Paradise meeting
a bunch of Bachelor people who had seen on TV.
So I was star struck. When I showed up. I
was just like, oh my god, Like, I get to
(14:49):
meet you and you this is so cool. Um, it's
it's crazy, and and a couple of things that I
take away from it, or that every person I met, Uh,
they were so much cooler in real life than on TV. Really,
like everyone's more attractive and cooler in real life. Something
you guys, you guys. The coolest it really is you
(15:13):
meet me in person and you just get a fully
fleshed out version of them rather than just a small,
tiny moment on television. So that's one of my biggest
takeaways is just like it's it's it's very curated what
you see and it's really cool to meet these people
in real life and realize that, oh they're awesome people,
even more awesome than I would have thought. Now we
(15:40):
see you having a thing with Marissa early on. Was
there anybody else that you were kind of talking to
or we're interested in that. We didn't get to see
you talk with Uh. Yeah. So I went in really
really excited to meet just sen Um. I was, Yeah,
it talked about her a lot in my interviews and
if you saw my Little Paradise song, I had her
(16:02):
name in the Paradise song um, and so I was
really excited to meet her. And we had a conversation
the first day that was really good. And then she
and I both kind of coupled up pretty quickly, right
like she had Ivan and I had Marissa. I don't
know if they're going to show this or not, but
I actually did end up writing a song for just
Senda because I was really crushing on her, and then
(16:25):
you know, hit it off with Marissa and just sending
hit it off with Ivan. But when things kind of
switched up with Marissa, I still found that I had
some pretty strong feelings for Jasna, and so I wrote
a song and shot my shot in a pretty big way.
And that, you know, there's so many things happened that
that's that doesn't I don't think it makes it into
the cut. But yeah, a little off screen moment. Okay, well, Connor,
(16:49):
like this is not technically a spoiler, because you can
do the math on it, on the dates and all
that you kissed that girl in the odd and at
mentell all and you liked it and you asked for
her number, and that was taped in July. So I
just have this inkling that maybe Paradise doesn't go in
(17:11):
the most positive direction for you, like maybe you don't
find love. Did anything happen with that girl because we
did here in the aftermath that she was a hired actress,
so like they're really putting you through the ringer. Well, um,
there's okay. So the hired actress thing. They asked for
volunteers to kiss me and she volunteers, so she was
(17:36):
She was really pretty. So I got her number and
we definitely talked in FaceTime to bid. But you know,
she lives in l A. I live in Nashville, so
I think, uh, for now, we'll probably just be friends.
But she's pretty amazing. I mean, finds love in Paradise,
I would celebrate it. If he doesn't. I'm not worried
about the guy, like at all, Like, uh, he lives
(17:57):
in Nashville one and he's going to be the most
popular are do in the US because Nashville is the
bachelorette capital of the world. None of how my buddies
treated it once we got them with our show at Nashville,
I'm not worried about him. Um, thanks, thank you now.
Um yeah, so we see this most sery play out.
I want to dive into a bit for you. Um,
(18:20):
you seem heartbroken, especially this week. UM, I don't know
what to ask first about your outfit and why you
decided that was a good idea. I think it was
a feature, just just to be clear kind of. I
think it is a fantastic idea, like if I went
to Paradise. I've always had this philosophy on this show.
(18:41):
I know I'm not the most fashionable. I know I'm
not gonna look as good as everybody else in suits
and all those like outfits that they put on. So
like my strategy and Paradise would be to be ridiculous
and just to like where whatever it takes. That feels
like you picked it out of like a thrift shop.
That was one of those moves. I respect you, So
(19:02):
I guess I'll start there. Where did you find that outfit?
Why did you just said that was a good idea,
and why did that. Do you think this is gonna
be something I wear as somebody's looking for their husband? Okay,
let me answer does in order? I think I found
it on Zara online and I saw it and I
was like, oh my god, I want to wear that. Uh.
And I had one of my best friends here in
(19:23):
Nashville helped me plan out all my outfits for both
Bachelor at Ambaschelor in Paradise, and I showed her that
outfit and she said, no, you are not wearing that
on television. And I said okay, and then I took
it anyway. And that morning I was looking through my
clothes and I was kind of bummed because you know,
the date with Mercenarilly, and I was like, we're going
(19:44):
in guns blazon. Let's do it, baby, full confidence. Let's
put on something that makes me feel I don't know
about sexy, but it makes me feel confident. At least.
It didn't make you feel confident or were you just you?
I looked at that outfit and thought you were like, up,
I give throwing in the towel, right, But you felt
great in it? Oh? I felt great. I felt like
(20:07):
I looked good. I felt like I was rocking and rolling.
I felt like everybody was checking me out. I was like, hell, yeah,
I take some confidence to rock a rock a onesie
like that. We're just gonna go for it. Uh. And
so I threw it on and I felt great, and
then I went and started my stuff. I like you,
I know you. Actually, I feel like you don't like
(20:27):
the outfit. I didn't love the outfit for the reasoning
that you. I feel like, if you it was not
a seducing outfit. And perhaps in the moment, I was
hoping that maybe like you would be more in a
seductive mode. But seductive isn't really my my m O.
I am a goofball. I know who I am. If
(20:48):
somebody doesn't accept me, my doctor isn't either. I was
gonna stay like you and I both to relate with this,
Like if you and I are trying to show up
to the beach and be said active like, we're gonna
fail miserably. It's gonna be awful for both of us.
Now here's the other things. Yeah, well, I have to
say this. I have to have to say this. I
(21:10):
trump you as far as embarrassing outfit choices in Paradise
because when Jared dumped me in Paradise like and he
left like the time that it was for real. Um,
I was wearing an I'm a Kim shirt referring to
I'm a Kim Kardashian with a high waisted skirt, and
Jade knew that he was gonna dump me, and she
(21:32):
was like, I don't know how to tell her. She
should probably change her shirt because it's going to be
even more demoralizing. So she didn't. And now, in hindsight,
I think it's absolutely hilarious. I was wearing I'm a
Kim shirt in that moment. But you know, now that
I remember all this, now I'm saying salute to you.
So I mean, just a little piece that we've never
(21:54):
talked about. I'm all for it because in high school
I was the guy in the football locker room who
would like get changed for football practice and be having
on like the banana hammock that was like leather and
just like wait until people commented, or not leather, leopard, sorry, leopard,
(22:14):
like one of those things that the Magic Mike guys.
I feel like that would translate over to Paradise where
I would be the one that would show up in
a wild outfit. Because if somebody's attracted that and can
giggle about it, then I'm like, hey, we've got something.
But if you just want me to be like ripped
and show off all the time, I'm never gonna be
(22:35):
able to sustain that. Like I'm I'm I got about
a day of that maybe, And I would like to
see a picture of you in this leopard print banana hammock.
I hope that exists. Bring out the sluice. Well. The
other thing is Marissa and I and I don't think
you got to see a lot of this. We were
goofballs together, Like we would just sit there and crack
(22:58):
each other up about the dumbest and like literally our
conversations were hysterical. Just and me, Demi and Marissa sat
in the pool the day before talking about the dumbie
You've ever heard. It was so funny and we were
like I was crying laughing with those two. And so
I knew that, like Marriss' is a goofball too, and
she would you know, I wasn't trying to seduce her.
I was just trying to truly, we wouldn't know that
(23:19):
because we see her as like this, you know, like
whoa like really sensual comes on just talk about Leopard
with her boobies in that left outfit. No, she's she's
so gorgeous and hot, but she's also so like just
fun to talk to and she's a goofball. We didn't
(23:39):
get to see that. That's frustrating that. I feel like
that would have added to the element for us, is
being like, hey, now I get my town are so upset,
Like it had a lot of fun, like of course
he doesn't have Marrissa like her and really have such
a bigger thing going on, but we didn't get to
see your connection. Yeah, and that's why that's why I
was so nonchalant and non worried about her going the date,
(24:00):
because I knew the connection that Marissa and I had,
and I thought, I honestly thought, uh, well, I don't
think there's any way that Riley is gonna like have
a connection like that with her. There's just no way.
Like we've hit it off, we cracked each other up,
we've like cried laughing and stuff together. So I really
wasn't worried. Um, and then I got worried after that.
All right, Yeah, so let's talk about that moment and like,
(24:22):
how your heart felt. Did it sink when you heard
it they went to the boom boom room. I honestly
didn't know if that was a rumor or not until
I watched the episode, So I heard it. Yeah, so
I heard that rumor. Uh, you know, Taj told me.
But then I also heard that maybe they just like
(24:43):
cuddled or maybe they didn't even go to the boom
boom room. So when I was there, I wasn't I
was also scared to ask people. I'm not gonna go
up to people and be like, hey, did they go
to the boom boom room? Like that just wasn't my Like,
it wasn't for me to know. If she wasn't going
to tell me, I guess so my heart definitely sank.
And that kind of changed my perspective because Merris and
I had that conversation the next morning, and I thought
(25:05):
we were still on. I thought things were still good
to go. And then like, even if she liked me
and Riley, I was okay with that, like we would
figure it out. Um. So, based on the conversation we
had that morning, I thought that she still really liked
me and wanted to pursue things. And then the that
whole rest of the day, she spent her entire day
with Riley like right next to him, and I was like, oh, okay,
(25:30):
like I'm starting to make sense of this. But I
that night when I talked to her, I basically had
to break up with myself for her, Yeah, because I
was like, I just I think she was afraid to
hurt me, and so I couldn't really get a straight
answer out of her. I was like, you know, but
after the whole day, it became pretty apparent, and then
(25:51):
they kind of showed up to the Bond Fire together
and I was like, okay, like I think I understand
what's happening here. So that special secret date that you
were trying to set up on campus never happened. Mm
hmm no, because you know, once I found out that
she like went to the Boom Boom room and then
saw the way she was just hanging out with Riley
(26:11):
the whole day, I was like, oh, I don't I
don't even think she would want to go on a
day with me tonight. But I had some cute plans,
like I was had. I had like a list of
ideas of the dates I was going to take her
on that night, you know, just trying to figure out
like what I could do on the beach and whatnot?
Well were they I wanted to do? I thought a
wine and paint night could be fun, like where we
(26:32):
just set up canvases on the beach and paint and
drink wine. Uh. What else? Did I have a taco
night where we just tried a bunch of different types
of tacos? Uh an ice cream bar or something like that?
We talked about ice cream and I had drunkenly eaten
up a ton of ice cream like two nights before. Uh.
I think there are a couple of others, but I
can't remember, just like fun little beach dates now not
(26:55):
to like I mean, I only asked this so to
give our the viewers and the listeners little bit more detail.
I've I've been shocked this season. And maybe it's just
because I'm more into this season and it's been a
while for Paradise, but you know, with the pain of
seeing people ding other people, I asked to actually last
ye because like, how does this happen? Like how are
you okay? How do you process through it? Um? Yeah?
(27:18):
And she said I'm not You're not okay with it,
and she kind of explained, but for you, Connor, as
you're seeing this happen, and now you're seeing this person
that you care about and that you're interested in come
to a bonfire with somebody else right in front of you,
and that in this environment it's acceptable. Still not okay,
Like still not doesn't mean it doesn't hurt, but still okay.
Like what are you feeling during that? Yeah, I mean
(27:43):
the confusing because there's not just one emotion you're feeling, right,
It's a lot. It's a mix of confusing emotions. And
I was still trying to make sense of everything because
I hadn't heard from her directly what was happening, and
so I think what I was feeling was just kind
of no, there was no anger at all. It was
just a little bit of sadness and a little bit
of like, well I was kind of excited about this,
(28:03):
but and now, and so that that like kind of
disappointment about this really could have been something like like
like I love the connection we had, and so it's
it's just that kind of like let down of realizing, uh,
you know, what's happening. And then also that's mixed in
with kind of almost still fresh off the breakup with
Katie Thurston of just feeling like, well, here we go
(28:24):
against someone not picking me, like someone just not like
just not getting chosen again. So having that add on
to that kind of just made me feel like, well,
what's what's wrong with me? Like? Why why do I
always not get picked on the beach or wherever it is?
And so I know that's international thought, but that's always
what pops up when that sort of thing happens. Um,
(28:47):
So that was definitely part of it. Would probably be
a bad HOSTS if we didn't ask um how your
psyche is doing with the whole kissing thing, because let's
be clear, really just meant that it was a chemistry thing,
not a skill thing. We hope that you didn't ever
interpret it otherwise. Oh, I definitely interpreted it otherwise, don't
(29:10):
worry the life. I literally came back from bach Thor
and I was like, I'm a terrible kisser. I that
thing on the TELLL. I texted my a couple of
exes and I was like, am I a bad kisser? Like?
So I was very much in my head, especially once
I got back and watched all the episodes. Got back
(29:30):
from paradise and then saw all the people talking about
me being a bad kisser and whatnot. Uh, and so
it's I won't lie. I'm very much in my head
when I kiss people. Now I am you know, I
wish I could just relax and kiss somebody. But always
in the back of my mind, I'm like, am I
doing a really terrible job? Like is this awful? Like
she hates this, blah blah blah. Like we're getting past that, though,
(29:54):
we're getting through that. Your pillow does not judge you,
just like it's the safest place. You appreciate that, Okay, practicing.
And I'll also say that, um, once you meet the
right person, it doesn't really matter how good of a
kiss who you are, Like it does maybe at times,
but like I'll kiss Jess, like when I have bad breath,
(30:18):
I'll kiss Jess, like walking to the the door, give a
little smooch and give it. Like once you meet the
right person, man, that that goes away. You should just
feel confident someone's gonna somebody's gonna fall in love with you.
And and that kissing thing about the window pretty soon
fix that's really beautiful. All right, we have just a
(30:47):
few more minutes left with you. But I do want
to ask about one couple whose relationship we saw kind
of fall apart this week, is Kenny and Marie with
the whole Demi triangle. There anything more to that that
you'd to add in and like, are we did? You?
Were us confused about Marie's message to Kenny as as
(31:09):
he was um? I think, yeah, I don't really know.
I can't speak on where Marie's head was at, but
I got to say I'm sure she was probably interested
in Kenny but just didn't want to lock it down
after you know, however many days it's been um. And
then I think I think obviously Kenny got a little
bit pissed and went off and was like, all right,
(31:29):
get then I'm gonna make out with Demi. Uh So
it was maybe not the clearest communication between them type
of thing. I don't think. I think Kenny probably took
it a little harder than Marie meant it to be taken. Um.
But also it's it's a confusing place, the beaches, and
you're running along not a lot of sleep. You know,
(31:50):
you might be hungover, drunk or anything like that. So
it's just it's a lot of times hard to process
emotions and what people are saying in real time. So
weird happens all the time. YEA, Now close up here,
I have a final question. I asking my final question.
You probably has a rapid fire for you prepared, Yeah,
(32:10):
but I want to ask him a question before we
get into it here. Um, Connor, you're dude from Nashville, UM,
who is up to a lot, who has a lot
of a lot of curious things that you're You're a
lot of things that you're curious about in life. And Um,
you go on this show, you come off the show,
(32:31):
and I would say that from our perspective, you should
I'm not gonna tell you how to feel, but I
would say, hey, you should have some more confidence maybe
than when you walked in, Like, Um, you've got a
lot of good attention. People have been very interested in you.
You've taken your your your hits, and and you're gonna
stand back up and walk into it. How are you
doing today? If you're explained what it feels like to
(32:52):
be Connor Brennan walking into Nashville, Tennessee as a man
that's been on this show and is now um getting
back out there. How how do you feel? How are
you personally, Uh, that's a really great question and thank
you for asking. Um it's been I will be honest,
it's been a roller coaster. It's been mostly great with
some with a couple of loads here and there, Like
(33:13):
last week with the Lance Bass thing, not just him
saying it, but then all the people coming out and
saying terrible things initially about me wanting to be there
for music. I was really down. I was really really
had a terrible day. I basically just laid in bed
all day. I was really like sad and pressed. And
then the next day this overwhelming amount of support and
love and like my mom made a Twitter account just
(33:35):
to tweak something nice to me, and just like so
many people saying kind things, and I was like I
was being stupid yesterday. I'm so lucky. I'm so incredibly
like grateful for what this experience has given me. So
that's why I'm right now, That's why I'm back at
is just like, how lucky am I to have gotten
to be on this show, to have met such incredible people, um,
(33:55):
and to have been able to really learn things about
myself and come out with so it's more confidence. I
am a hundred times more confident than I was walking
in with that cats. I was terrified. I thought I
was getting sent home night one. And so it's just
like seeing the changes in myself over the past few
months has been crazy. So it feels really really great,
(34:15):
and I'm mostly just just a lot of gratitude for
everything that this has been. It's, uh, it's interesting because
those are the things that we think back on. Actually,
I talked about it even offline a lot like where
you go on you think you can be let go
on night one and you are now all of a
sudden thrust in this whole new world but you never expected.
But that changes you for better and allows you to
(34:37):
meet people, actually meets your husband, and I still think,
you know, meeting my fiance came from you know, the
show and her trust, her mom's trust. That I wasn't
like some weirdo message you understand, but like life will
make sense over time. I will say this, we warn
everybody because you're not the only one that deals with
There's people listening to deal with it. The hating, the trolls,
(35:01):
UM don't stop necessarily, UM, but you become a little
more resilient, you grow, you grow some grit some character
over time. But you're not alone in that, and I
want to shoot that with you. Is actually I talked about,
you're not alone in that. We both we're in it,
We've been through it, we'll still be in it. Um,
So stay strong, buddy, Thanks for coming on. Now pass
it off to Astley to close this out with rapid
(35:24):
fire because she's great at it. Thanks, but I really
appreciate that. It's really fun when we wrapped with this. Okay,
So what is say you are, you know, doing a
set in Nashville, you're doing your music thing. What is
your go to cover song Walking in Memphis by Mark Conan?
So good? Yeah, oh good? Who was the Bachelor alum
(35:48):
that you wanted to see in flirt with a Paradise
but you didn't get it? Other than Ashley Brittany Calvin
for sure from that season? Okay, very good. Uh let's
see she was in your song, wasn't she? She was?
She was? Yep, and just send you a Nabigail. Okay.
(36:08):
So then what about who is a celebrity that you
wish you could slide into their d ms and get
a response from. Oh wow, that's a really good one. Um. Okay,
not in a romantic way. But I did, um d
m Olivia Rodrigo because Wells posted this photo of saying
(36:29):
that I was like the Olivia Rodrigo of Paradise or
something like that, and I d m Olivia and I
was like, Hey, we should write a song to make
Wells cry. So that's my She's such a great songwriter.
No she didn't. What was your go to order at
Wells's bar? So? Wells would make this spicy margarita that
(36:50):
I would go for every time, and basically progressively every
day I would tell him to make it a little
bit spicier, so he put a little bit more like
Hallapenia in there. So by the end I was just
like coughing every time I drank k It was great,
got me alive, It's perfect. Um. Do you have you
ever used a pickup line? Oh? God, I'm sure I'm
(37:11):
sure I have at some point. I'm really really bad
at just walking up to like a girl in a bar.
I can't do that sometimes. That's you know why I
play music so people come talk to me because I'm
too nervous to go talk to people. Um. But if
I was gonna use a pick up line, it would
probably be something, Matthew. It would be a pun, A
dumb pun, for sure, because you're very funny, as we
saw in that one episode, Thank You. Arguably, what's your
(37:35):
favorite food? Favorite food is ice cream? Hands down? Love
ice cream. I could he did every day. I actually did.
He did every day for like a year once, so big.
What's your favorite flavor? Then? Pretty basic? I like cookie dough.
I gotta be honest. I love a big chunk of cookie,
though chocolate's my favorite, so I'm very basic as well.
And then my last question for you is what's your
(37:55):
most embarrassing moment of all time? Of all time? Oh
my god, um, shoot, put me on the spot with
that one. I don't know if I'm gonna be able
to think of that spot. Um, there's one that's in
your head right now that you don't want to share
because you just need to share it. I actually I'm
(38:16):
blanking out completely right now. What have I been very
embarrassed by? Um? I went to France, uh with my
girlfriend at the time. This was like a few years ago.
Went to Paris. We went to the Louver. Was awesome.
I got really drunk on wine the night before I
had a bottle of wine each or something like that.
We go into the louver. So I am crazy hungover
(38:38):
in the loop, just like hating my life, but seeing
this beautiful art and being like, wow, this is great.
I'm so hungover. I feel like death. I want to die.
And so we go to the little like the little
coffee stand in the louver uh, and we're gonna try
to get some coffee and like a croissan or some
sandwich or something like that to bring me back to life.
And I have been trying to learn a tiny bit
of French, like just enough to order, and so I tried.
(39:02):
I tried to order something in French. It came out
in Spanish because because I know a little bit of Spanish,
so I ended up saying something in Spanish with a
French accent, but also completely wrong in both languages. And
so I like walked up, tried to order something, came
out in Spanish, and the guy, like this French guy
just like stares at me and all of a sudden,
(39:25):
like my girlf at the time looks at me, She's
like what what did you just say? Like what just
geve out of your mouth? And I literally just like
let her order and I just like slunk away and
like like slumped my head down. I thought you were
going to the guy that would have been a better story,
and then I borrowed on him. Yea. The nothing makes
you dumber than than the day after a night out. God,
(39:47):
it's makes you question everything. Um. Hey, h Connie, thanks
for coming on man, thanks for spending the time with us.
Wishing the best. We hope you come back on again.
Um and uh and break down some episodes with us
or just chat life. Um, it's been a pleasure. Ashley,
(40:08):
it's been so fun. So thank you for being here
and for giving us your time. Connor, you have been
a joy to get to know, especially over the past
four to five minutes, because I feel like we really
have gotten to get to know you more so, Connor,
you have to follow our lead. I've been Ashley, I've
been Connor, and I've been been Thanks for joining the
Almost News podcast. Job followed the Benn and Ashley I
(40:32):
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1. The Podium
The Podium: An NBC Olympic and Paralympic podcast. Join us for insider coverage during the intense competition at the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. In the run-up to the Opening Ceremony, we’ll bring you deep into the stories and events that have you know and those you'll be hard-pressed to forget.
2. In The Village
In The Village will take you into the most exclusive areas of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games to explore the daily life of athletes, complete with all the funny, mundane and unexpected things you learn off the field of play. Join Elizabeth Beisel as she sits down with Olympians each day in Paris.
3. iHeartOlympics: The Latest
Listen to the latest news from the 2024 Olympics.