Game, Set, Matt

Blake Horstmann joins Ben and Ashley to break down the premiere of Matt James’ season of The Bachelor! And we get his honest reaction to Peter and Kelley’s break-up! 

Ben shares a moment that reveals who Matt truly is and how he’s handling the pressure of The Bachelor. 

And Ashley tells us how Matt changes his behavior when he’s with his boys vs with the ladies. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Benn and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast
with IR Radio. Hello, guys, welcome to the Almost Famous Podcast.
Matt's premiere episode. Wow. Um, pretty standard first episode. UM.
Loved the way Matt just naturally fit into the role.
But we're gonna recap that in a little bit. First,

(00:24):
we just wanted to say a quick hello to the
one and only Benjamin Higgins. Hello, what's up? Ash Well?
This is an episode to remember. It's gonna be a
great season. We'll have two great seasons back to back.
How lucky are we, Ashley. Today we have a huge
podcast in front of us. We're gonna break down the
episode with Blake Hortzman. Um. I don't know if you've

(00:44):
been watching on Instagram, but he loves breaking down these episodes.
I think he's gonna be great at it today with us.
And the one thing you get with Blake because he
doesn't hold back, and so I think I think we're
gonna have an interesting, uh breakdown today. I'm pumped for it.
We'll give our means on that a little bit. But
actually we do want to tell everybody out there listening
the holidays are over, Yes, but it doesn't mean you

(01:07):
still can't get yourself really cool gifts. Uh. We have
almost Famous merchandise for sale right now at my fan
threads dot com slash almost Famous. Yes, we have our
own merch line. We had some stuff available at our
live show when we were able to do live shows.
Not only is this just almost famous merch, so of

(01:29):
course Ben is included in this, but like Ben's company,
my fan Threads is doing the merch. So you're basically
supporting Ben Higgins in two ways of by purchasing some
merch It's really fun stuff. And because our podcast name
is just like kind of universal, you can wear this
and just you know, just really, Hey, what's up? I'm

(01:49):
almost famous? Almost aren't we all just almost famous? There's
a good country song out right now about being famous
in your hometown. Uh, and it's incredible. It rings true
to worse Ondiana, right, Like you know, everybody there, everybody
has a reason to be there, everybody has a story
to tell, and I think it's the same for anybody
out there listening. So yes, go to my fan threads

(02:10):
dot com slash almost Famous, Ashley before we take a
break here and bring Blake on. I just had a
really emotional moment in my life. You want to hear it?
Oh my goodness. Yes. So I'm a fan of the
Dan Lebotard Show. I don't know if if if Jared watches,
or if you watch this this is it's a really
interesting show. Uh. Dan Lebotard's on ESPN, which is obviously

(02:33):
owned by Disney, and he's been on for ten years.
And the cool thing about Dan Lebotard is he his dad,
Um immigrated from Cuba and is able to be on
the show with him. His dad is an amazing character.
They named Poppy Well. Uh. ESPN and Dan are parting
ways after today. Uh. So they did a really cool,

(02:54):
like you know, send off where they kind of back
you know, showed all the episodes in the past and
good memories for all of us who have tuned in
and watched it and got in our sports knowledge and
pop culture knowledge from the show. But guess what the
very last thing Dan Lebotard had to do, like very
last thing before he went talk about who his favorite
lead on The Bachelor was. No, no, no no, he had
it close. He had to announce that The Bachelor is

(03:16):
airing on ABC tonight and he was so frustrated. He
even says he's like, this is ridiculous. The day before
I leave a ten year tenure, I have to talk
about the Bachelor. Well, hey, we're here to talk about
the Bachelor. We're gonna keep talking about the Bachelor. If
we didn't talk about the Bachelor, that would be weird.
So we're gonna take a break. When we come back,
we're a Blake Hortsman on breaking down this week's premiere

(03:38):
episode of Matt James season has promised our next guest
is somebody who is familiar with breaking down the episodes.
In fact, he does it every week on the Behind
the Rose podcast. You can listen to that wherever you

(03:58):
listen to podcast. He also doesn't on his Instagram. He
was born and raised in a small town of Bailey, Colorado, Colorado.
Blake Hortsman joins us right now. You would know him
from season fourteen of The Bachelorette, and at that point
he fell for Becca Koufrin. We're going to talk about
that in here in just a bit, but until then, Blake,

(04:18):
how you doing well? Man? Thanks for having guys appreciate it. Hey, Blake, Okay,
we want to we want to recap the episode with you,
and then there's a couple of headlines that we'd like
to talk about that you pertain you. So okay, let's
do it. I played all those headlines on you, Ashley.
For the record, I can't. I'm not too innocent in

(04:40):
all this, alright. So top of the episode, very standard, right, um,
except for the fact that that that that that's never
you know, done a season before. But for some reason,
it felt like we've all known him, right, Like I
felt very familiar. Is it just because like we're part

(05:01):
of like the Bachelor family and and it's somewhere or
another maybe we've talked to him, or do you think
that it's because he just is is natural on the camera. Um,
you know, I do think it. Maybe it could be
because we're in vachination and you know, we kind of
see everything and we've seen I've seen every you know,
promotion and all that kind of stuff. But also, I
mean he was, you know, obviously the Quarantine Crew. I

(05:21):
feel like kind of made Matt like in a weird way,
like the Quarantine Crew was his season in a weird
way where I think just the you know, the like
regular fans out there who maybe don't follow social media
as much, those kinds of fans are don't know Matt
like we do, and it's gonna be interesting to see
him kind of developing us like learn, you know. And
I feel like we actually got a lot of him tonight,
which is pretty cool. What do you think of him
as the Bachelor? Um? You know, So, I'll be honest,

(05:44):
I was worried because obviously when you start, whether you
don't you go on the Bachelor. Out of the Bachelor,
you kind of get a taste for like how the
it works, the experience kind of is, and you know,
from Matt, I'm like, oh my god, it's just gonna
be like sink or swim for Matt, you know. But
I think the beginning of the episode that kind of
you know, had that sit down with Matt and Chris
and they were able to ask some questions. So I
think they're they're aware of that, you know, and they're

(06:04):
gonna try and reduce him to the audience. But also,
like I just hope they don't like take advantage of
him not really understanding how the process works, if you
know what I mean. I was a little worried for him. Okay, well,
you mentioned the quarantine crew, and I just have to
say that I feel like the Math that we see
on TV is like so much more buttoned up and
gentle than the Math that we see in the quarantine crew.
I think that with Tyler he may get a little fratty.

(06:27):
You know, he's with his boys, but like this is
Matt with the ladies, and I love this Matt with
the ladies. Like he's he just seems very approachable, uh
so gentlemanly. This this Matt was is so fantastic. Not
to say that the other Mats fan not fantastic, but
you know, he's very sy and I think I think
he did he looked he did, he handled Night One fantastic.

(06:48):
I could tell he's a little nervous, of course, like
everybody is, um, but I thought he handled a fantastic
And I agree. I think I hope it's almost not
two buttoned up. Like I hope he lets the guard
down a little bit, you know. I hope he's able
to show more of a of as you know, he
gets more comfortable in the process. Um, I guess we'll see. Well,
is it weird that I say that I feel like
this is more him than than the Matt that's with Tyler.

(07:10):
Sometimes I feel like he's just ease, a little bit
more innocent. Then he comes across on social media. Um,
I don't know. I think the more you like you
hanging with your boys is more you than you around
cameras with producers in your ear the other parts more him.
But that's not a bad thing, you know, that's not
a bad thing. It's uh, you know, there is something
about the nerves being endearing though. I think that's one

(07:31):
thing that we can take away from night one from
Matt is Um, it's relatable. Uh. He isn't used to this.
There's no practice in this. Uh. He didn't do the
big l A media tour right, and we have to
consider that too. That helped prep me. Like you go
and you do g M A, and you go and
do today's show, and then you sit down in a
room and you have a hundred different media outlets throwing

(07:52):
questions at you, and you have a suit on while
you do it, and you're starting to feel like the bachelor.
You're starting to really get into that like whole mindset.
He doesn't have that, Like he goes right in a
nimicole and with no of none, no media experience, no
celebrity or really like seeing. You know, typically we get
like the paparazzi shot of the Bachelor Bachelor walking out

(08:14):
of Good Morning America. He doesn't have that moment, and
so this is his first experience with a red carpet
and cameras and Chris Harrison and beautiful people walking up
to him, and I find that fun. Like, I think
that's really exciting to watch because his reaction, Yes there's cameras,
and yes, he's gonna be buttoned up. Like, I think
we can all know that Matt James is gonna be

(08:34):
so buttoned up for as long as he possibly can
until the show in a sense breaks him away from
the button up nous. But we get to kind of
watch this journey unfold, and I think we should all
expect that. I think it's gonna be a blast. Yeah. Yeah,
I like that's a good point because honestly, if you
look at if you kind of like step away and
look at it, Matt has a lot against him, you

(08:56):
know what I mean, Like he has a lot. I
feel like he doesn't have a ton of advantages going
into being the Bachelor in this episode, to be the pandemic,
whether he didn't have a season before so like the
fact that I think he's got so much against him
and he's still gonna succeed. I think says a lot
about Matt. There's two things I didn't mention that I
thought I raised a brow because of they didn't mention
that he was friends with Tyler and that's how we

(09:18):
know him. And they also didn't mention that he had
He didn't specifically mentioned that he had been signed up
for Claire season. They alluded to it. That's a good point.
I was afraid of that, honestly, I was like, are
we gonna know Matt the Bachelor or Matt Tyler's best friend?
I was afraid of that, you know, But I think
you're right. I think they didn't mention athlete. I didn't mentioned,
you know, the NFL thing. They didn't mentioning that. It
was like they wanted us to get to know them Matt,

(09:40):
you know, as the Bachelor, which I like. I thought
that was a great move. I love the way that
they said when you know, you know, and it was
just like, oh, he was in our interview room and
we knew mm hmmm. I've heard that chose him not
because he was Tyler's best friend, right, I mean, uh,
I mean to be quite frank, like he doesn't need
Tyler right now, Like he needs to be Matt and

(10:01):
he needs to invest in the show. Like which is
a crazy part of the show. You're you're kind of
pushed away from your friends, you don't have any confidence
around you. But he's no longer Matt from the Quarantine crew.
He is Matt James the Bachelor. And I as actually
just said like I want them to highlight Matt James,
like I I don't need I don't need Matt to
be somebody's sidekick. Like this isn't that He's not that anymore.

(10:24):
He is he is gonna flourish and run this show
on his own. Well, one really like crucial part of
the show is how the show really started, and it's
Matt James sitting down with Chris Harrison and discussing Matt's
concerns and his nerves going into being the Bachelor. Is
not he's worried. You know, obviously we're three white people

(10:45):
sitting here talking right now. But I learned a lot
in that moment of how real the concerns are. That
he won't please anybody that he doesn't know who's gonna
be on his side and he's gonna make one side
mad and make the other side mad. It it felt
like of me, Like Jessica looked over at me as
we were watching the episode and she goes, that felt
like an incredibly real moment, like and it was really

(11:08):
it was really, Like it's always fun when the show
highlights those real moments where mask like, Chris, I just
need to hear from you, like, what do you think
of this? Because I'm concerned. Yeah, I thought. I thought
it was a fantastic conversation, and you're right, I gave
us a peek into There's already a ton of pressure
being the Bachelor, and being the bachelor, you know, the
lead of like one of the biggest sellasion shows on
tell you know, one of the biggest shows on television,
so just to add even more pressure, and it seems

(11:30):
it felt like he was adding it kind of onto himself,
you know what I mean. I felt like he was
carrying a lot of weight on his shoulders, and with
that conversation he was able to like that um, and
I think maybe it did help. And it seemed to help,
you know, after, you know, Chris, like, how do you
feel like I feel I feel better. So I'm glad
they had that conversation and they showed it. Yeah. The
only thing, and this is such a nitpick about the conversation,
I wish he would have just come over to his

(11:50):
house and been like, hey, let's chat before rather than
having him, you know, pretend I don't know. I'm sure
the limos were about to arrive, but like for him
to act as if he never talked to Harrison and
all that before night one. I just wanted them to
like have like a cozy entrance for him. Yeah. True,
And I see what you're saying. It did seem a
little scripted at the beginning to get to the conversation,

(12:12):
but then the conversation was real. Yeah, exactly. The other
thing that just made me feel like, oh, this guy
hasn't gotten through this before was his conversation with his mom,
because while it was important, you can tell there was
like two people being like, oh my god, I cannot
believe we're talking about this on camera right now. This
is so odd. I could tell his mom was his mom,

(12:34):
just I could look like a little nervous and uncomfortable,
which I don't blame her, you know, because she didn't
go through hometowns, you know, she didn't go through any
of that, so it's kind of weird. But I thought
that was an interesting conversation too, because she basically asked like,
like one was the last thing you were vulnerable and
that literally couldn't think of it. He was like, I
don't know, it's been a long time. And I was like, oh, boy,
buckle up, buddy, because it's gonna be Yeah, you're gonna
get vulnerable. My uh. You know, my parents didn't have

(12:57):
hometowns either during Caitlin season, and so the very first
time time that they saw me on camera was as
the Bachelor, like weeks well, a weekend to it. We
came to Worth, Sudiana, and I remember like, look at
my parents at one point, be like you just gotta
try to be normal, Like you guys are so nervous
right now, you're My dad is sitting up all straight
with the perfect posture. You know, they've decorated the house

(13:20):
for this. I was like, this, that's great. But you
can see it in Matt's conversation with his mom and
it was probably the one part that you know, I
was most worried from Matt going out because it seemed
they're like, we are going to get a robot, Like,
we're going to get somebody who just says the right thing,
who tries to keep conversation going. It's a little forced,

(13:41):
a little awkward, and this is him with his mom.
Just wait until the women come. But let's transition here.
But let's take a break first. We're gonna talk about
the women next and kind of seeing Matt's guard in
a sense, maybe go down. We'll be back with the
almost famous podcast. Yeah, okay, so let's talk about the

(14:07):
women coming out of the limos. Wow, this is when
he started to relax, you know, I would say, almost
right away, we started to see a map that felt
so natural in this role. Um, I think that he
I just think that it was pretty perfect, right, Yeah,

(14:28):
I think yeah. I was even surprised, Like it's hard
that night one. You know, it's hard, there's so much,
so much pressure, And that's the I think, I would say,
the night one, that's the only time really for me anyway,
that it felt like it was a movie production. There's
like cameras everywhere, there's thirty producers and it's just like Mayhem.
And that's the only time I felt where it was like,
oh my god, like is this real? For me? Was

(14:49):
Night one, and I thought Matt handle like great, and
I think you're like right away because the conversation he
did have, you know, with Chris and his mom felt
a little robotic, but I felt like right away with
the women, he felt super comfortable, you know, um, and
that's huge, and I hope, I hope he continues that way.
For sure, it didn't hurt that you had women, I
mean coming out with like gusto, Like there was a

(15:10):
lot of confidence displayed on Night one from the women. Now,
a lot of them obviously nervous. I think most of
them are. They've been locked in quarantine for I mean,
I think it's probably been a week to five days
at this point. They're just getting released to the public.
They meet Matt James, who was a good looking fellow
who stands like six ft five. The guy's massive, he's
in his suit. There's lights, there's cameras at action. But

(15:31):
these entrances were some of the best, I guess more shocking,
Like I think most entertaining entrances that I've seen in
a long time on this show, at least that's my opinion,
would you guys agree. Yeah, I enjoyed it. Yeah, I
thought they were pretty good. I thought started like really
normal right the first like three or four. I was like,
they're just going up there saying hi to Matt and
that's it. And then all of a sudden, like completely

(15:52):
switched and there was a bunch of gimmicks and fun stuff.
I feel like that was intentional. I think those five
women who had slow entrances for them are going to
be the front runners. Um. I also think that Matt
perhaps was more at ease once the girls started coming through,
because he was like, oh, look, you've never been doing
this before either me. They were both new here and

(16:13):
it was like a common bond. Yeah, that's pretty cool
to see. He was like that. I can't remember which
girl was, but she was like, sorry, I'm shaking. Man's
like so am. I We're both you know, like we're
both super nervous right now. That was a cool moment. Well,
obviously some of the entrances that will get talked about
and that we need to talk about. Uh, there is
a vibrator that shows up on night one. Uh it
becomes a highlight of the whole episode. I mean, that

(16:34):
thing is everywhere, and there's innu windows consistently throughout the
episode about this vibrator. We also have somebody show up
in lingerie and asked Matt to pick out the dress uh.
And finally, I think the third one that stood out
to me, and you guys might disagree with this, but
somebody I'm very envious of because they kind of have
this confidence that I did not exude on Night one.

(16:57):
They had a kind of a stillness and a calmness
about him. It's in Jay who shows up in the
pizza UH delivery car and locks the door, walks back
around the car, unlocks the car, pulls out the pizza,
and still has her wits together. I mean that those moments,
you gotta remember how nervous these girls are and for
her to keep her like mind at ease enough to

(17:18):
know what to do. They're like, I wouldn't even know
how to hardly open a car door if it was
Night one all over again. I so I camlely agree
with you, Ben. That was actually my favorite, not because
of the pizza and all that, but because she handled
herself so well and she was like no way. She's like,
no way, that just happened, you know, and then she
walked back around. I thought she handed itself fantastic. That
was I think like her entrance, like her not the gimmick,
but like her entrance was was one of my favorites.

(17:41):
Let's talk about the vibrator, because I think the vibrator
was funny to him right off the bat out of
the limo, but I think it was not funny when
she continued the theme throughout the night. I see I
actually did. I think it was funny just because the nerves.
I think she calmed a lot of people down. I
think also her personality, like if somebody else, let's say

(18:01):
Victoria for example, she I feel like she rubbed a
few people the wrong way. If she had the vibrator,
I think would be mad. But I thought I think
her name was is it Katie? Is that Katie was
the one with the vibrator? Yes, Okay, I think she
like personality wise, I don't think she was like. I
think she just seems friendly, like I don't think she
was doing it to like piss people off. So I
like some of the any one who's here and there,
like I thought that. I mean I loved when Matt
looked at it, lost his train of thought and started laughing,

(18:21):
like I thought that was fantastic by Matt really showing
some of his personality. I like that. Yeah, because what
do you say, like, hey night, vibrator, Like I don't
know you, you just lost this train of thought, you know.
But maur certainly didn't like when she was tapped with it.
I can't I can't believe the drama she made about
it though, Like she tapped me with the vibrator. She
told that to everyone. It was like, no, you should

(18:44):
have more of a sense of humor. I think that's
a red flag that Mary might be taking everything too
seriously in the future. Yeah, I would have laughed about
it to the Vibratory. I would say I watched it
and on my notes here it's a sign of things
that come from Mari. I'm going to be very interested
in watching her story because if that is something that
gets under her skin, it is a long road ahead
of your girl, Like there is gonna be thing after

(19:06):
thing after thing, Like you almost just have to pick
your battles in your mind and say, is this something
that really like I want to get upset about now
or do I want to save this for the moment
that like this really gets heated and and really gets
ugly now tapping them with a vibrator like it's it's
I think, I don't know, it's weird or like funny

(19:29):
or like it just makes you giggle, like I don't know.
It doesn't like it doesn't make you mad, Like there's
nothing about that that like gets you heated up. It's
just it's just something. Well. Uh, one of the hidden
gyms that I want to talk about right off the
back here. There's a lot of women that came in,
I mean so many. When they stood up at the
road ceremony on night one, I looked around, like that
is a massive group of women. But somebody that stood

(19:50):
out to me, uh, not exactly in their entrance, but
with their story is Maggie. Maggie's from Ethiopia. She's thirty
two years old. She's a model, uh, absolutely beautiful. Now.
Her story is something that's super intriguing, and I'm really
excited to get her on the podcast at some point
because I want to know what it's like to be

(20:11):
in the United States for I think it was eight
to nine years now, um, to come over here for
school to be a pharmacist and somehow, some way. I
have no clue if that they didn't share it, share it.
She ends up on this show absolutely wild, But I
am now convinced she's a front runner because I think

(20:31):
Matt loves stories and I think he loves hearing the
heart and the soul of these women. So yeah, she's
she jumped off the screen at me. She's gorgeous. That
accent like it works both ways. Men love accents to
you know, not just women, like she jumped off the
screen of me. And I mean, it is pretty wild
to think that. Like I think in her bio it's
and some about her winning the lottery basically to come

(20:53):
to America and then she basically went to lottery again
to go on the Bachelor. It's a wild story. Yeah,
I'm super excited to hear here. And I'm sure she'll
get a one on one at some point, I hope. Yeah,
she carried herself with a lot of grace. I really
got good vibes from her. Another story that we heard
was from Abigail. Abigail is deaf. Um. She has a
cochlear implant, so she's able to hear well enough and

(21:14):
she speaks um pretty you know, pretty much clearly, you
wouldn't really pick up the fact that she was having
a hearing um. She has a hearing problem um. But
she she talked about that with him, and she also
talked about her relationship with her sister and the way
that he looked at her before going in for that kiss.
I was like, oh, he is feeling it and he

(21:36):
was definitely having like oh, I'm the bachelor is kissing
on the first night, Like okay, I think I'm gonna
go for a moment. I loved seeing it evolve. Yes,
that's so, that's so true. They had this like weird,
not awkward, but it was like it was so awkward.
It was like that first kiss awkward. Can I kiss you? Can?
I not? Like Yeah, it was just like they kind

(21:57):
of looked at each other and she was like he
gonna kiss me and and he was like is she
gonna kiss me? And then she kind of started talk
again and that's like you know what I and just
went in for it, which I thought was fantastic. Yeah,
but again, yeah, they're them together. I so she's my
preseason faith. Like even before I watched this episode, I
was like, I think I don't know something about her,
like smile sometimes I feel like you can just sometimes
somebody's a good person. I could be wrong, I don't know,
but I felt like he was super comfortable with her

(22:20):
for some reason. I just felt like he let his
walls down more than anybody else. Um he did that night,
you know. So I'm excited to see they're they're connecting involved.
I don't think we can downplay that kiss either, Like
I don't think Matt James is somebody that wants to
go kissing too many people this season. In fact, I
could almost go as far as saying I know that,
like I I believe uh and and am fairly certain

(22:41):
that this isn't something that he's just gonna throw around
to fill awkward space, Like he's not just gonna kiss
because the conversation is weird. So this kiss on night one,
after a few minutes minutes of knowing each other, I
think is a big deal. Obviously she gets the first
impression Rose as we all know, but a big deal
for like of the storyline that they're going to have

(23:02):
because I think Matt James is smitten right away and
all he needs is to be smit with one person,
especially I like, yeah, I zoom her to top three already.
I feel like our top three is almost I mean,
given the past few seasons have had sleepers who make
top three. But if I had to choose, these are

(23:22):
my top three, and I want you guys to give yours. Rachel, Bree,
and Abigail. So that's that's almost those those are so
I'm gonna go top four hometowns. I was going home town,
but I also have Bree, Rachel, and Abigail in there.
And then I think, who's the girl that was from?
She had the truck, the pickup truck. She was North Carolina.

(23:43):
Yea her name, I know. I was trying to think
of her name. I can't remember it. But I think
she the hot the sweet tea thing was super sweet,
and he seems like they seem to click, and I
think she might be the fourth inning. I don't know
what to order, but I think that's the fourth that's Kayla, Kayla, Yes,
I think Kayla. Yeah. So my top three. I'm never
good at this. I lose every time him and in fact,
most of the girls I choose go home the second week,
but I believe that I'm onto something this week. My

(24:04):
top three right now are Abigail, Maggie, and Sinai, and
then I'll throw Rachel in as number four. I I
was just so into how into Rachel was to Matt, Like,
I just thought that was the cutest thing ever. And
I think she really likes him, and so I'll use
that as my top four again, that's Abigail, Maggie, Sinai,

(24:27):
and Rachel. I love Rachel. I loved her dress, I
loved her makeup, I love her face, I love her
just personality, her vibes. I loved how moved she was
by the prayer because the prayer did a lot for
me too. I thought that was a beautiful way of
starting the night and something we've never seen before. And

(24:48):
it just did feel, as Rachel said, so authentic. Yeah
she like didn't she like tear up almost like after
his prayer. Yeah, that stood out to me too. I
was like, Okay, Like she seems super genuinely. I like her.
The prayer was a really pivotal point in the show. Um,
because I think it's set the tone for who Matt
James is right and what he's looking for. I think

(25:09):
all these women right away knew Matt is a man
of faith. Um, that his faith is gonna hopefully, uh,
well it is going to guide him with you know,
good decisions, bad decisions, gonna still gonna guide him no
matter what through this experience. And it also shows what
he's looking for. He's looking for somebody to probably uh
come into his life with him and share that faith.
Helped grow that faith, uh, explore that faith, and it

(25:32):
was a great way to start this season. Um and
and here it might be the thing that surprised me
both right, Like, my faith is very important to me.
I honestly never thought about starting my season out with
a prayer. Never crossed my mind, never even considered it. Now,
say what you want about that whatever. But for a
guy to do that with no experience, with no prep

(25:56):
for this, super nervous and says, no, this is how
I'm gonna do this, like this is gonna be me
from day one, I thought was an incredible thing for
us to see him do as the Bachelor. Yeah, I
I really enjoyed it. And it was he nailed the
prayer too, because sometimes I think a prayer it can
alienate some people on occasion, like if you say it wrong,

(26:17):
but he it was never like I hope that I
find it why. It was like, I hope we enjoyed that,
you know, it's all about we like really was able
to like bring people and I thought it was fantastic too.
And I didn't expect to like it, and I did
loved it, loved it. Uh. And then another person that
I think is worth mentioning about like having a strong
right off the back connection would be Bree, who you know,

(26:37):
Blake and I put into our top threes fours. Bree
was the person I thought was going to get the
first impression Rows and was the person that I was
comparing his conversation with Abigail too, because I just felt
like both were deeper conversations. He was really connecting looking
at them in a way that he was like, I'm
feeling this with Bree. He was relating to her on

(27:00):
the fact that they both come um, they're both by
racial and they just seem to have very similar backgrounds.
Both of their parents were divorced and they had issues
with romance because of it. So I really thought that
was going to lead him to the first impression Roles.
But I'm happy with with the fact that I would
have been happy with either of the two of them

(27:20):
getting it. Well, let's move on to pause here for
a second. Talk about things now that we know about Matt.
We've now gone through the entrances, the ones that set
out to us the start of the show. But some
of the things now that we know about Matt is
that he's a Christian. He was raising a Christian household
and he believes that still to this day. Also that

(27:43):
he's very close with his mom, and his mom and
dad separated when out of young when he was young,
and the relationship with his dad isn't as much there
and uh, I don't know to what extent yet, but
it's not there. It's he didn't obviously have his dad
show up to the show. Uh, he speaks about kind
of being really close with his mom, so he kind
of are getting the hint to him and his dad
are not too close. Now. This obviously is a story

(28:07):
that you know, Like as we talked about the beginning
of episode, we thought we knew a lot about Matt,
but this was something I didn't know and something that
takes a lot of vulnerability. As he asked for in
the women. He asked for himself right away is to
share some things that are probably the hardest for him
to speak about. Yeah, I mean, I I was surprised
how because I know, like you said, we don't really

(28:27):
know Matt going in UM, and I was surprised how
much we already got to know about Matt, like within
the first episode. I really feel like I got to
know a lot about him. I think there's still more
to come, but yeah, I mean that's one thing that
I didn't know. I didn't even honestly, I didn't know
his faith was as prominent in life as it is,
you know, And so I think it's I think it's
great to see this side of Matt. I know we
touched on earlier, but it was just amazing how within

(28:48):
this episode I feel like he was He got to
be so routable, uh so well liked, and people have
never met him before. Just it's it's it's really crazy
how attached I feel to him and how much I
want him to find love through knowing him for an
hour and twenty minute TV time. I even we even

(29:09):
got to see a little goofy s out of that too,
Like I love there was one moment where I was like, okay, man,
that's when he was playing chess and he like moved
that one piece likeng and that girls like can you
do That's like, no, I'm just playing, just making sure
you know how to do it. I was like that
was like sometimes when you're too nervous, you don't mess
or joke around like that. You know. So I think
that show that he was like relaxed a little bit
in the role, and I was like, okay, like that
was a funny move. You know, just those little things

(29:29):
sometimes we Uh. I think it's almost promised that we're
gonna have two really good seasons back to back at
the Bachelorette now the Bachelor. But some side topics that
don't really fit into anything but that are obviously gonna
be big storylines that we need to bring up and discuss. Uh.
Cynthia Raleigh, uh daughter Kit is now on the show.
Uh Kit came in. Cynthia Raley is obviously known uh

(29:53):
in the fashion world. She's a huge name. Uh. Kit
is obviously the one that kind of goes against Victoria,
Queen Victoria saying no, I'm the president of the CEO.
You know, whatever was going on there, Uh, what do
you think about somebody that are you know, she's considered
a socialite already in New York. I think that's something
that mentioned. What do you think of somebody that's already

(30:14):
a socialite coming onto the show with the name that
she has. Is gonna be a lot of attention on her.
Obviously we're talking about her, and she really don't have
a big part in this episode. Yeah, not really. I mean, yeah,
the Victorian kid thing, I think's gonna go that might
be the two on one this season. You know, I
feel like that's gonna be fun to watch. But I'll
be honest, I, you know, reading her bio and the
socialite thing, I was like, oh my god, this girl
is gonna be super I don't know the word I'm

(30:35):
looking for, Like you know, I'm calling yeah, exactly, Like,
but honestly, I didn't think she came off as about
I thought she was pretty sweet and everything. But we'll
see if she can, you know, keep that up with it,
because I think her and Victoria are going to have
a pretty big feud. Um. Yeah, I mean all, you're right.
I think she's gonna I think she's gonna have a
bigger part the rest of the season than she did
this episode. Yeah, but I also feel like she'll be

(30:56):
the person that we're really rooting for against Victoria, because
Victoria was already driving me nuts the first night, and like,
sometimes the villain can be funny at first, but like
I didn't find her funny whatsoever. I love the way
Kit was standing up to her. I love kids a
sense of confidence. She she might be a little boogie um,
but she really does. She like knows herself and she's

(31:18):
not going to put up with any crap. I think
she's really pretty and she's only twenty one. She definitely
comes across far more mature, at least in the way
that she can't handle herself now emotionally, we'll see. Yeah,
I thought it was super You're you're right about Victoria.
Like I think some villains sometimes can be like a
bit charming and kind of likable. But I'm I'm scared

(31:41):
for Victoria. I don't think she's going to come off
that um. So it's gonna be interesting season to see her. Yeah. Yeah,
but she's the kind of villain who like she was there,
like she she put herself there and gave herself this
persona right off the bat on purpose. Yeah, I agree,
she's not she's backing away from episode and I don't
think it's just always shocking to me. Every season is
still show ox me, like, and I think it shows

(32:03):
a lot about your character. Right. We've talked about with Tasha,
we talked about it with Claire, We've talked about it
season after season. But you know that Matt James has
a massive night in front of him with Todd trying
to talk to every single one of these women. He
is going to be exhausted, like understand what his role
is right now, Yet somebody still chooses to interrupt him

(32:23):
two or three times or however thinking that like that
is the right thing to do at that point in time.
I will say this for anybody watching the show. When
somebody does that, your alert system should go off and
go I gotta keep my eye out for this human
because they are about to cause havoc. It happens every
time and somehow there they do it year after year
after year. Um, and it's just not okay. It's not

(32:45):
respectful of Matt, it's not respectful of the other women.
It's exhausting, and ultimately, like at some point, like Matt
has to look at Victoria and be like can you
just not for five minutes, like just give me breath. Well.
Another big story to discuss here is Heather M. Heather
M shows up in the highlights and the kind of
the recap at the end of the episode. Do you

(33:06):
think she shows up to the season. I mean, it
looks like she does. She shows up to be part
of the season for sure. Whether or not she's let in,
we don't know. It definitely seems like she's not the
only girl that shows up beyond night one too, there's
another girl. It seems like she has closer ties to
Matt with Heather. I'm thinking because she's such close friends

(33:27):
with with Hannah that she was like Hannah was encouraging
her to do it and uh and thinking that they'd
be a good match. But not coming on night one
is a no no. You if your Heather, you try
to come on on night one and that'll be fine
and totally fair. Yeah, I agree, I think I mean
she must become I mean, yeah, you're right, like she

(33:48):
must obviously come on to try and be on the show,
whether Matt lets in or not, or that you know,
she gets a rose or not. But that's the only
I was trying to think of like a connection between it,
but it really is only Hannah be like, I don't.
I don't know if Heather's maybe hung out with Matt before,
you know, pre show, like it's some kind of event
or something and she hit it off. Um maybe, and
maybe that is there's something we don't know. Me they
did have like a connection at some event or something,
But as far as I know, Hannaby is the only

(34:10):
connection they really have. So it's gonna be interesting to
see how that plays out. And then the final one
is Tyler eventually makes an appearance. Now we just talked
about Tyler earlier. Uh, you know what how Matt was
going to manage you know, being known Kyla kind of
as Tyler's friend for a while now being the Bachelor.
But Tyler does come onto this season, what are your thoughts?
I mean, I'm not shocks, you know. I I figured

(34:30):
Tyler would come on, and I try and like think
of it, like there's been a lot of people who
come on. I mean there was Um for hand, Toby,
it was like Demi, uh and someone else. Can we
remember they the best friends up? Yeah, So I don't
want to read into it too much, like, oh, look,
they're trying to bring Tyler into steal some of Matt's spot,
Like I'm not trying to think of it, as they
were really close even before shows. So it's even better
than bringing in like Demi for Hannah because they've known

(34:52):
each other for years, you know, and so I hope
hopefully they do have an actually good conversation and they
get advice some things. So, but what I'd want for
Tyle or it is for him to come in later,
like when we get to top six or whatever, so
we can actually get a good evaluation of what he
thinks of his remaining ladies. Did it seem like he
came in super early? I couldn't tell. Probably, I don't know.

(35:12):
I feel like it's probably gonna be middle middle at
least like ten or something. Those screeners always always confused me,
and I'm always up in arms. Yeah, they say something,
there's a word taken out of place, and all of
a sudden, I'm watching for it all season. You know,
there's an ambulance that comes up and somebody's sick and
it ends up just you know, being nothing. But uh well, okay,
let's end this thought with this Blake. We're gonna bring
you back after the break to talk a little bit

(35:34):
about you and break down some headlines with you. Um,
but to sum up this episode, I want to hear
your ratings and your final thoughts. So anything we didn't
get to please share and also give your rating on
the premiere episode of Matt James this season. Uh, we'll
start with Blake, So you want like rating of the
one to ten, one to ten, reading of one to ten.

(35:56):
Let's see. Honestly, this was a good It was a
good first episode, I think mostly because I got to
know Matt more than I thought that I would. I
thought it would be, you know, sometimes this first episode,
since we already know the lead, we get more of
like the girls. But I thought I really got to
know Matt here. I'm gonna give it a solid heart ache.
I'm gonna give it a hard ache because I always
gave him from proven So I'm gonna give it a
hard eight. Crap, you took my number. I was going

(36:18):
to give it an eight to I would normally give
an episode like this a seven. I feel like, you know,
it's a little too methodical Night one at this point,
but I'm giving it an eight because it did do
such a good job at getting us attached to Matt,
and it really highlighted him. Um. As far as Matt
as a bachelor, I'm going to give him a ten
so far in this episode, I would give it an

(36:39):
eight and a ten as well. Matt being the Bachelor's
a ten. Considering everything um that went on, I thought
it was a great episode. I really enjoyed getting to
see these women. I thought, unlike last season, at the
very beginning, I felt like we really got to know
more of the personalities of these women right off the bat,
Like there's some women that I could like that sit
out to me that I know the names of after
week one, which I didn't know until Week four of

(37:01):
last year. You know, of the Bachelorette season, A great episode.
I'm looking forward to it for the future. Uh, let's
take a break here. When we come back, we're gonna
have Blake on still to talk about his life and
everything going on with the rumors of Becka Koufern and
his opinion on the Kelly and Peter breakup. We'll be back.

(37:30):
We still have Blake on. Blake. Uh, here's the headline
from US Weekly. I'm gonna read it to you and
I just want to hear you, respond, says Blake Hortzman.
Collapsed back at and I quote stupid comment after supporting
Peter Webber amid split from Kelly Flann again. Wait what
what's the headline? Let me repeat it. This is a

(37:53):
good moment for us. You're gonna learn about it as well.
It's according to US Weekly that yeah, it says Blakesman
collapsed back at stupid comment after supporting Peter Webber amid
split from Kelly Flann again. Let me read it to you.
Bachelor Nation bros. Blake Horseman took aim at an insensitive
comment after showing his support for Peter Webber amid the

(38:14):
Pilot split from girlfriend Kelly flannagain. Keep your head up, brother,
Horseman thirty one commented beneath Webber's a breakup announcement, to
which one Instagram music replied, this is a stupid thing
to say to someone. The Bachelor in Paradise a lump
fire back. What you said is a stupid thing to
say to someone. God, they would read an article about anything.

(38:35):
I had no idea that was even out there. I mean, yeah,
I just wrote. I just wrote under neath you know,
like when you know what I would do it under friends,
you know, um pictures And I was like yeah, keep
your head up. And somebody was like, that's stupid thing
to say, like really, like, I feel like, but you
just said it's a stupid thing to say. Um. Yeah,
these situations are always really hard and tempers are high

(38:56):
and everything because you know that everybody's got their faiths
and you know, so it's always always get funny. Anytime
I comment on somebody's photo in fascination, I get some
kind of their stagecoach joke in there. I get so
many saying something so I'm used out there. So I'm
glad you could respond to it. Appreciate that. So do
you know anything about their breakup? No? I don't, Actually,

(39:17):
I really don't. Uh. I was shocked when I remember
waking up in the morning I saw the post. I
was like, oh my god, like I had I feel
like they were just going to move in in New
York and I don't know, I guess, uh, I think
they'll obviously something's gonna come out. I think it happened
just so fast that something must have drove into that.
It wasn't really and they didn't even take time, like
you know, some people be broken up for like three
months and then post a picture and like you know,
and you know, a post with a caption and everything.

(39:39):
But that was quick. So I mean there's no hope
of getting met together. I feel like then they didn't
think there was any promise in that. So I don't know.
It's interesting. We'll see what happens, but I don't know anything.
All right, Well, Ben and I are going to discuss
more about their breakup later in headlines, um, but more
headlines pertaining to you. Last week, we discussed how Rebecca
Koufrin revealed on her Instagram M stories that your date

(40:02):
during her season was her favorite. It was a little
shady towards her ex beiance Garrett. How did it feel
to see that up there? I mean that date was
a lot of fun. Okay, that day was great. If
you guys remember like we got to break all of
like no shade to Ri but like we gotta break
all of our stuff, you know, and like kind of
like quote unquote like get rid of the memory of

(40:24):
Ari so she can move on. Um. So I know
the date was fantastic, list and I think I think
people right into it, like they do everything. We're did
into it a lot, and you know, it wasn't like
what's your romance most rantic date. It was like literally,
what's your you know, most fun date, and like she
said that one. So but I mean, yeah, it was
fun date. So it's felt good. I guess it was
a fun day. And I agree that was probably my
favorite day, one of the my favorite dates, um that
I've done, if it, whether it be Bashade or paradise.

(40:45):
So did that stir up any sort of like d
m NG between you two, Well, we've we've been in
you know, contact like d M s and stuff, and
like we're friends, you know, so it's not like we
haven't d M before. But of course I was like, okay,
like I reposted it. Actually I think I think I
reposted it. Um, So yeah, of course we like talk
on um. I mean, I know we asked you this
last time and it was also a post breakup, but like, no,

(41:09):
no rekindling there. We're still just friends. We're still just friends.
Uh that is that where that ends? Still just friends? Yes,
still just friends. But it is pretty cool to see
how the support out there. A lot of people wanted
to get back together. I've been seeing that like crazy,
Um no, we are still just friends. I think I
can speak on behalf of us that we are shipping this,

(41:30):
but we also may be shipping you in a lease
who have been spending a lot of time together. And
I know that last time we asked you, you guys
were also still just friends. But it seems a little
bit more suspicious now because of all these ins stories
you've been posting. Now were we really are? Me and
e lisare like really close friends. Um. I met her
at the Bachelive on stage, and then she came to

(41:50):
my my DJ set out there in Scottsdale, and we
just became friends and over you know, the pandemic, we
talked here and there. Um. And now she's just a
good person and you know she's she's she She's always
somebody easy to talk to and can be there for you.
And so she's just been there. And then I just
happened to be out in Scottsdale for a golf tournament
and I went and hung out with her and she
made me a funny Christmas ugly Christmas start with my

(42:11):
face on it. That kind of know. Me and me
and a Lis are just friends. We always have been. Um,
she's great. Sorry, we can confirm she's been great to
us in the podcast. Yeah, she's been awesome really since
the beginning of this podcast, kind of supporting us, help
us out, and then coming on and sharing wisdom and
advice with us. So hey, we love Elise. Also we
we as well, Ashley and I are just friends with her.

(42:32):
But like any time I hang out with anybody, you know,
any any female, any of the opposite sex, I'm dating,
you know, hooking. You know so well, you lead yourself here.
What was the last time you went on a real date?
I mean, I keep my dating history private, actually super private.
We did watch the football game together this weekend. In fact,

(42:52):
we did, yeah, I mean had a big date this weekend. Okay, Well,
you guys and we asked Blake a whole bunch of
questions about whether he would ever do Bachelor in Paradise
or anything in the franchise ever again during our in
depth episode, which is you know, it's an evergreen episode.
If you guys didn't catch it back in April, you
can go back and listen to that now. It was

(43:14):
April sixteenth release and Blake, um, I have no further questions. Okay,
I blame all of this on you asked you and
Jason started this back of thing. So that's on you.
It should continue to if I if it's up to me,
it should just keep happening until it happens. Well, hey, everybody,
if you want to hear more of Blake uh in

(43:34):
his co host Eric, make sure you listen to Behind
the Rows. That's everywhere you can listen to podcast. Blake Horseman,
thanks for coming on, thanks for sharing the time. Uh,
and we'll be talking to you, I'm sure again sometime soon. Yeah, absolutely,
thanks guys, appreciate good sing by. We're back with another

(44:00):
breakdown of Bachelor headlines. They continue to flow in and
we continue to talk about him. This week's top headline
is one that we've hinted at discussed, but we're shocked
by Uh. Bachelor's Peter Weber and Kelly Flannagan split. The
quote is these moments in life always hurt this. According
to US Weekly, we're real the only ones that were

(44:21):
shocked by this. Apparently there have been signs on their
social media, but I guess I don't keep enough tabs
on them to know that they hadn't been featuring each
other lately. I did have a little red flag go
up in my head during Christmas week when they weren't
spending Christmas together, But I was like, hey, nine month relationship,

(44:43):
I don't know. I don't think you have to spend
or there's an expectation to spend Christmas together nine months
in Yeah, and but I heard something. I don't know
if it's true or not. Our listeners always know this
more than we do sometimes, but I heard that Kelly
Flanagan was ring Peter Webber like face socks on Christmas. Really. Yeah,

(45:05):
so I guess this was a thing. And so it's
obviously happened in a short amount of time where things,
you know, maybe they're rocky before, and this just was
kind of something happened that kind of made it made
them decide, hey, this isn't for the best. But yes,
I would say that you and I both are shocked. Like,
without social media, this seemed like a couple who had
made it through quarantine, who were traveling together, who were

(45:29):
obviously connecting each other's families. It was surprising to me
that they are no longer in a relationship. Yeah, and um,
apparently one of the dividing moments for them was like
the move to New York, because I know that in
our hot topics in the past few months, we've been
talking about how they planned on moving to New York together,

(45:51):
but that somehow created a point of division for them.
So who knows what what's there? You can of course
dissect and lies. There two separate Instagram posts Peter posted
on the thirty one December, Kelly posted on January three.
It seems like they're on good terms. Kelly says that

(46:14):
they are in two different stages of their life and
saw their future paths differently, and then Peter said that, um,
you know, they decided to go their separate ways. Love
can make you feel on top of the world. It
can make you feel pain, you wish you didn't didn't
have to that didn't have to exist. Um. He said

(46:35):
that they have countless beautiful memories. The relationships simply didn't
work out. Kelly is someone that he'll always have a
special love for. So we don't have details. Of course,
you know, they're not gonna air right away what happened. Um,
but they seem on good terms. And of course Peter's mom,
Barb had to speak up on the half of the

(46:57):
break up and she had to do it public, so
she wrote under Peter's Instagram saying love can be fickle,
and it is not for the timid. Those who have
experienced it know this all too well. But it is
better to have loved and lost than have never to
love at all. Our hearts ache for you too. Kelly

(47:20):
will always have a piece of our hearts and we
wish her only the best, Mom and Dad. I'd also
like to take a second here and say that I
found out this week that barb is on Cameo, so
she might be the old is the only parent that's
ever gone on the show that that has a cameo
or a own brand per se for herself. I think

(47:40):
that Barbara costs as much as Jared and I do
on cameo. Well, there you go. I don't know how
that makes you feel. Uh Well, this headline is one
that I'm glad we're talking about. There was rumors and
there's questions about Zach Clark, who obviously Tasia pickni in
and who is now happily engaged to Tasia. Um you know,
there was drinks shown of him, that he was shown

(48:03):
drinking something during the show, and some people wondered, well,
if you are sober, how are you drinking on the show. This,
according to people, Actley what we got. Well, he was
always drinking apple cider or ginger ale, And I'll tell you,
apple cider and ginger ale sound a lot more appealing

(48:23):
than the champagne that they give you at rose ceremonies.
Do you remember the taste of that champagne? It is
the cheapest champagne. Oh, it's so bad. It has a
specific it's a specific taste. And every time I have
a glass of champagne on the set of The Bachelor
or whatever, I get thrown back to a rose ceremony

(48:44):
and like having those the ease like that like post
traumatic stress and sorry, bad term, but you know what
I mean of going through a rose ceremony and that
sweet relief of getting through. So it's just one of
those tastes that's so nostalgic to me, just not good.
And now I'm rambling. The bottom line here is Zack
never drank. And there was a moment I think it

(49:07):
may have been the Top four Rows ceremony when Tatia
said that she got handed a glass of champagne and um,
she said no, she sent it back and asked for
some apple cider to join Zach and drinking and not drinking,
and she said that that was one of the moments
that she knew when she just made that impromptu decision.

(49:28):
How sweet. Well, um, yes, it is true that the
you know what, My theory is that the champagne, it's
just saved over season the season, like why are you
buying brand new Basso champagne every season? So there she
could be champagne on there from like Bob Guinea season
that now we're consuming, which hey, champagne might be better
at I don't know for vintage. Yeah, I don't call

(49:52):
it that. Well, this headline is one that's been talked
about all weeks, but not shocking to anybody who is
in Batch nation who has been on the show, or
anybody's ever watched the show. However it is, it has
been an interesting story to see unfold. The headline means
this Chris Harrison not leaving Bachelor franchise despite move to Texas. Yes,

(50:14):
the move to Texas is confirmed, but Chris Harrison is
going nowhere. Yeah, this is just no. You don't put
these two together. Just to let you know, they only
film about two weeks in l A. And in those
two weeks, well, Harrison stays in his house because his
house is very close to the Bachelor mansion. But um,

(50:35):
most of the production crew stays in a hotel those
two weeks anyway, So if Harrison is getting rid of
his California house, and I would assume that he's probably
gonna have someplace he keeps there, um, even if he's like,
you know, downsizing. He films maybe a total of one
month out of the year in l A on a

(50:56):
typical non COVID year, So I think that he can
keep his primary home in Texas and fly out to
wherever they're shooting, which, let's hope starting I don't know
next Bachelor season they're able to travel again, but who knows. Anyway,
you guys, Uh, logically, this makes total sense for him

(51:19):
to be able to live anywhere he wants in America
and continue to be the host of The Bachelor. Yeah,
I mean there's so many positives living in Texas. L A. Obviously,
um is gonna look different here post pandemic than it
did before. There's a lot of people moving, and a
lot of stars do travel for work. Ryan Seacrest is

(51:41):
one of those. You know, he's like by coastal. He
goes from l A to New York for the Ryan
and Kelly Show, and then back for American Idol and
his radio show there. This isn't shocking, UM, but Matthew
McConaughey lives in Texas, definitely, So Chris Harrison is from Texas.
He's moving back to Texas to be closer to his family.
Good for him. He also has um a new or

(52:03):
it's I don't know if it's completely now, but you
know that he has that bar. He's a big brewery
that he's pertinently invested into. So good for Chris Harrison.
He's not going anywhere. You have to worry about that
bachel Nation. That guy is here to stay and he
just doesn't age, so why would we want to go?
Well better with age so much sexier now than he
was a decade ago. The this headline reads, and it's

(52:23):
one that we've been interested about, kind of behind the
scenes and waiting to update you on until there is
more information. UM. Kind of communicated, but Ryan Sutter opens
up about no longer feeling alone amid mystery illness. Well
we still don't know what he has, which I cannot
imagine how that feels to be going through. But he

(52:45):
said that he learned a lot about resiliency this year.
He said. For years he's followed this ideal laid out
by Gandhi that strength was measured by an abdominable will.
He says he pushed himself to develop a mindset where
he would never give up, never give in, never give
off any sign of weakness. He did this mostly on

(53:06):
his own, choosing solitude as his practice. UM but he
said he had a few breakdowns, that fewer. He said
that he had a few breakdowns um but mostly he
said he internalized difficulty and distracted himself from the presence
through physical exertion. He says his work for him. He

(53:29):
said he felt confident resilient until this year, and this
year he says that he's learned to ask for help,
to lean on people around him. He said that Trista
has developed a has developed a medical strategy to aid him,
and he says that though he believes that there is
a tremendous value in strong will and self reliance, he
says he now realizes that sometimes those things are romantic excuses.

(53:55):
So like nice ways of being stubborn, He says that
it is sometimes necessary to let others in and to
ask for help and to be able to accept it.
We're with Ryan will continue to keep everybody updated as
we hear more. Uh it is good to hear that. Uh.
He you know, his strength internally has continued to show through,

(54:16):
and then he doesn't feel alone. Being alone has to
be one of the worst feelings any human can feel,
and so worth Ryan and anybody else out there. Really
during COVID, that's feeling alone. That's just not fun, and
so reach out for help when needed. Uh. We have
another kind of surprising illness that's hit Bachelor Nation. Bachelorette
alum Emily Maynard reveals she was diagnosed with Bell's palsy

(54:39):
while pregnant with fifth child, now Ashley. I have recently learned,
uh how common Bell's palsy is. I. I you know,
I've had a friend whose father had it as when
we were children. I was kind of shocked, like when
it happened, right, your face kind of lose has a
lot of weakness, and your muscles kind lose their ability

(55:00):
to function. But it's more common, uh people than I knew.
And well, Emily Maynard has announced that she had Bells policy. Okay,
so exactly my feelings. I was like, oh my god,
Emily had Bell's policy or she has Bells policy. That's
so serious. You know. I was just thinking that this
is like a really big deal and I was gonna

(55:22):
last her whole life. But apparently it comes in um
increments or like it's often just temporary. Nobody knows the
exact cause of the condition, which is super crazy. But
she had it while she was pregnant. Um had to
wear a patch. But it seems like she's fine. Now,
I mean was your was your friend's dad like just
all of a sudden, like one day he had strength

(55:43):
come back to his face. Yeah, it's kind of a
more gradual process. I remember, so, like, you know, you
start feeling like the twitching and the ability for your
face to kind of function again. It comes back slowly,
but it's coming for it to. It's it's most of
the time temporary, at least that's according to the Mayo Clinic. Um,
but it is it isn't uncommon and uh, but it's

(56:05):
still I mean a very scary, a very scary thing
to have happened when your face, you know, kind of
loses his ability to function in the ways that you're
normal with. Uh. Well, bachelor um Lauren Bushnell and country
singer Chris Lane reveal their babies sex. Uh this according
to Good Morning America, well what a cute gender reveal.

(56:27):
So they're having a boy. And if you guys saw
on Lauren's Instagram, she posted a video of them finding out.
So they set up a golf ball that was filled
with a powder, blue powder, and Chris hit it off
the tea and it exploded into you know, a little
blue smoke, and he was gigging out. It was so cute.

(56:50):
It's it's like we see so many of these gender
reveals these days that it's like, well, yeah, right, but
like this one actually gave me feelings because this man
was so excited about having a boy. Did you watch Ben?
Is that that you can watch? Right? That's not Oh yeah, no,
that's not weird of course. And I mean the best
thing is he says he has his own little golfing buddy. Now,

(57:12):
so uh, one of the yeah, I mean come on that.
You know, my my dad and I are getting ready
for the Diamond Resorts uh tournament here in just two
short weeks. One of the coolest things is he caddies
for me because we've grown up playing so much golf together.
That's like one of the things that we get to
do that we share that we can still do. You know,
when I was young and he was younger, and now

(57:34):
that he's older and I'm getting older, we can still
do it the same way we did it before. Like
I think Chris is spot on, Like one of the
coolest things you can do in life is played golf
with your son or daughter. But it's really fun to
go out and play golf with your dad. It really
helps bond you and and I know I always look
forward to it. So congratulations to Chris and Lauren. A
baby boy is on the way. Hey Ben, how do

(57:55):
you feel about gender reveals? They're great for the grand
but I don't know if I can do one. Well, yeah,
they're for the graham. Um, I didn't know there were
a thing before social media, but I mean they work right,
Like it's a fun thing to do. I'm sure one day, uh,
if all goes well, I'll be able to have a

(58:16):
gender reveal of some sort. Um, It'll be fun for
the family. I think one of the coolest parts about
a gender reveal is probably the celebration with family afterwards.
Like the whole moment of like, you know, finding out
as cool, but it doesn't you know, maybe it does. Parents,
let me know if I'm wrong. It doesn't change anything.
Like you're gonna love that child the same way if

(58:39):
it was a boy or a girl. But it's exciting
to find out the gender. Uh, and then celebrate whatever
that you know the child's gonna be with your friends
and family. I mean it's kind of fun. Another reason
I have a party. Yeah, I feel like I kind
of need a private moment. That's fair to Well, you
can have it. We'll see, we'll play it by your
maybe for the first one you do it and for

(59:00):
the second one private moment, who knows. Anyway. Moving on
to our last headline, The Bachelorrett's Mikey Tinarelli. Now here's
something funny. I was just looking up Mikey Tinarelli last evening.
Now it wasn't because of his engagement. It was because
at least Dell Bomb had posted on her Instagram she
was at some market shopping and she saw this like

(59:21):
wet heated pad, so like it was a path that
you got wet and then you heated it and it
went on your body and helped relieve like muscle pain.
Why you would want a wet he I don't. I
don't know that yet. I think I think the package
said moist, which is just a really awkward word to
use in marketing. But um, anyways, the cover of this

(59:44):
package had Mikey on it, and I was like, I
know I recognize this guy, I just don't know how.
And so I was researching it, found out was him,
and then find out that he's engaged to Kate Wood
and it quote is best day of my life is
according to people, very happy for Mikey. Um. I was
down in Bachelor in Paradise too with Mikey. He within

(01:00:04):
an hour picked my sister up and carried her into
the ocean. He had a big crush on her for
a little bit. Okay, well maybe not a big crush,
but he had immediate attraction to her, and it was
funny because that is not her type. Um. But anyway,
I am very happy because this is a guy that
you could tell really wanted a wife and family and

(01:00:26):
now he's got it. So good, you know, good luck
and best wishes for them. They got engaged at Nubs
Nobe in Michigan, like right on the ski slope, so
it's very very sweet to see this. It's actually nubs knob.
We've been there, Okay, but you get it. Well, Hey,

(01:00:47):
happy for Mikey, happy for Kate, Ashley, tell me this.
We've now broken down the episode. We've watched the premiere episode.
How excited are you for this Sason of the Bachelor? Well,
I'm very excited for Matt's too, hopefully find love. I'm
a little bit worried that he's gonna freaking freak out

(01:01:10):
and like he's gonna get scare himself off, don't we all?
I mean, hey, it's it just happens during that show.
In fact, I was talking to a couple of posts
or past Bachelor's um during the episode and the agreement
with all of us, we're all saying the same thing, like, hey,
it really looks like this hurts him. And knowing Matt,

(01:01:31):
you know, I know it hurts him, but he does
break down. But here's the truth, so does everybody else.
Like nobody makes it through this thing unscathed, unemotional. It's
one of the in a sense, the most beautiful parts
of the show is it pulls out raw emotion. Now
when that emotion is manipulated, not cool. But when that

(01:01:52):
emotion then transforms into a love story, or it transfer
forms into one of these contestants becoming a better human,
it's really really cool. And I believe that Matt is
a great human going in, he'll be an even better
human going out. Uh. And I'm super pumped for this
uh this season. I think it's going to be absolutely incredible. Well,
one thing I can say I'm sure of is that

(01:02:13):
he does not leave this experience not having experienced love.
He's definitely gonna fall in love. I think he will too.
That man has a big old heart, and I think
he has some contestants that I'm super excited to see
their stories uh kind of uh transform and involved in
front of our very eyes. Well. Hey, with that, this

(01:02:34):
has been another episode of the Almost Famous podcast. Yes
this is Matt James. Week one premiere episode will be
back next week with another episode of the Almost Humis podcast,
breaking down Matt James. Second episode that is promised to
be something incredible. With that, I've been Ben and I've
been Ashley. Guys, follow the Benn and Ashley I Almost

(01:02:55):
Famous podcast on iHeart Radio or subscribe wherever you listen
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