Landing in Paradise with Rachel Recchia

Former Bachelorette and Paradise contestant, Rachel Recchia, joins Ben to recap episode 4 of Bachelor in Paradise!

More Goldens have arrived, and things are heating up! But how do we feel about seeing the Goldens take body shots?? 

Ben has a hot take about Kat and Dale’s quarrel, and we try to get to the bottom of “deaded it”. 
Plus, some couples are sharing their hearts, while others share their gum, and we’re breaking down every dramatic detail on the Almost Famous podcast!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast
with iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Welcome back to Almost Famous. It's been I'm here and
I have an incredible co host today and we have
a lot to break down. Bachelor in Paradise is happening.
Episode four of Paradise has just aired a few minutes ago,
and we're here right now to talk about everything we saw, experience,
think and feel. And we have not only a former

(00:28):
paradiser but one of America's favorite bachelorettes along with Now,
I think I'm gonna call a reality star because I
don't think we can just consume this within the Bachelor world.
Rachel Rekia, thank you for co hosting with me today.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Hi Ben, thank you for having me. I'm so excited.
I have so many thoughts. Oh, lot to go over.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
I have zero doubt when Rachel comes on that she's
gonna have thoughts.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
Oh, I'm prepared with my notes. Always so much to say.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
And I ask for a co host. Rachel's my top choice.
But Rachel, before we jump into this together, because we're
on the same team today, I do have to interview
you for a second.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
Of course, I expect nothing less.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Now it has just come out that on August first,
there's a new Netflix show called The Perfect Match that
you're going to be on along with Clayton Eckerd.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Who would have thought those two names? I went back
in the same sentence you did.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Yeah, somebody's gonna try to bring that back. If somebody's
gonna try to make that happen, Rachel, I know you
well enough, but I'm not gonna claim to know your
ins and outs in dating and your lifestyle choices. I
know you well enough to know that I like you,
and I appreciate you, and I respect you, and I
get excited anytime we're going to be on the same

(01:54):
trip together because I know you're a good time. I
watched the trailer for The Perfect Match. It looks what's
the I'm going to say the word sexy, promiscuous.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yes, very out of my element. Netflix is very sexy.
It's like too hot to handle, Temptation Island, and then
randomly like there's Bachelor people there. But I like to,
you know, I try to step out of my comfort
zone a little. I think I did that. So, yes,
the show is very different I think from what the

(02:28):
Bachelor audience is used to.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
I don't we're not going to spend a ton of
time on this. I think it's gonna be a great show.
I'm very excited to watch it. We're gonna be breaking
it down. Actually right here, I'm almost.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
Oh god, god, Yeah, okay, So I can't wait to
hear your thoughts. I'm actually kind of scared.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
But yeah, I mean, I'm going to say it, like
I feel it. We're going to protect you.

Speaker 3 (02:50):
I was gonna say, you better say nothing bad about me.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
I was an angel the whole time I was an angel.
It did nothing wrong.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Did you feel I mean, I feel like I would
have felt this way, But you know, being the lead
on such a huge franchise like The Bachelorette, do you
feel more hesitant kind of going on these other shows
when somebody's like, hey, get in a bikini and let
somebody take a body shot off of you. Which I
only say that because we just saw that during this
episode of Paradise. Yeah, Like, would you feel a little

(03:19):
bit more reserved than others or do you feel like
you just still.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
Dove in Well, I definitely dove into the best of
my ability. I don't think The Bachelorette is something that
ever held me back, but I still do have a
job as a pilot and a teacher, so I definitely
keep that in the back of my mind. I never
did anything really that the audience hasn't seen me do.
Like if I kiss a bunch of people, they've already
seen me kiss thirty two So nothing too bad. But no,

(03:49):
I was really excited to like jump in and I
hope you guys enjoy it, and I can't wait to
hear the thoughts.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
I can't wait to watch it. Last question, I only
know you and I won't even say who it was
to date one person post bachelorette or have any type
of fling with them. Is this show about finding love?
Like you go on to it hoping that you find
your perfect match or is it more of a it's
a good time, let's just do it.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
Well, I think for the most part, like a lot
of people just go on for it's like paradise, kind
of like the Vibes. But our season actually we have
an engagement and a baby, multiple engagements, so it's like
this season was supposed to be a fling, and when
you go into it like that, I think that's when
serious things happen.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
So you could be engaged right now, you could be child.
I don't know you anymore.

Speaker 3 (04:41):
I know you do you do?

Speaker 2 (04:43):
I don't know?

Speaker 3 (04:44):
But yeah, No, this is definitely their most serious season.
That's why I think they brought in Bachelor people and
people from more serious shows, because they wanted that kind
of vibe and they got it. But still sexy.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Well, we're gonna be excited watching in August first on Netflix,
perfect match with our girl Rachel and Clayton. Who knows
there could be a new a rekindled fling happened, which
would be even more mind bowing, which I'd have so
much to say, and I probably wouldn't protect Rachel at
that point, but Rachel, let's dive into.

Speaker 3 (05:17):
Yeah, enough about that. So many thoughts. I want to
know your opinion on this season two, and that's.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Where I want to start. I want to start with
kind of the overarching let's like regroup, catch up. It's
episode four. The Goldens are now on the beach. We're
seeing relationships deepen, We're also seeing relationships start to dwindle
and fray. Overall you've been in Paradise, You've watched yourself
in paradise. My thoughts have always been this. I don't

(05:48):
hate the modernization. I do. I do not like the location.
I will say that it's very confusing for me. Compared
even four episodes in, It's hard for me to track
where people are at what they're doing. I miss people
just being on the beach, lounging, swimming, chasing whatever they
were chasing. I miss the bugs. I miss seeing like,
really beautiful people smack bugs off their faces in the

(06:11):
middle of the night. I love that. I think it's
a great element of the show that people enjoyed. I
don't now. I'm getting used to the like kind of
the filming and how it's edited and the modernization of that.
I don't hate it as much as I used to,
But I will say this, I am still four episodes
in discombobulated while watching the show because I don't feel

(06:34):
like I understand what's happening and where people are kind
of like mingling, and as a result, I lose touch.
Because I used to love it when somebody would watch
walk down the stairs of like the cabana room, and
I would know that, like, hey, there's significant others making
out with somebody in the pool, and they're gonna walk
right up on them. I miss that part of it.

(06:55):
I don't know what this resort looks like right.

Speaker 3 (06:58):
It's almost like, as a viewer, you could walk around
the old villa and know exactly where everything was. Yes,
I'm so happy I was on Paradise before this, Like
no shade, Well, I'm gonna probably shade a little bit.
But I like you said, everything has to be updated right.
The way we were doing stuff was a little bit behind.
I think we could have still done an update in

(07:21):
a Bachelor way. What I don't like is it feels
like it's trying to be not the Bachelor anymore. And
that's where I feel like it's just not like doing
well for me. I don't like the dream sequence thing
that they're doing this little like I don't know. I
like the editing. I like that they get to have
you know, Ac, that's great for them. I like that
they're eating on camera. Amazing. But it's just a lot

(07:44):
of change at once, and a lot of change with
the Goldens coming in and with the cast. I feel
like getting the short end of the stick of six
couples total, Like how do you find options in that?
And now the couples are all locked in because there's
no one there. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
No, I'm with you, I'm tracking. I agree with everything.
They've slowly eliminated the dream sequence more and more. I
can tell yeah to the audience, being like, this is
just distracting from the show. I personally, Rachel, you might
hate this. I loved watching you have bugs like I

(08:25):
loved watching have crabs while they're trying to use their
morning constitutional. I loved seeing like the most put together
social media influencer who's always like looking clean and nice,
sweat through their bikini and no, I agree, like I

(08:46):
loved it. I thought that was the best thing.

Speaker 3 (08:48):
I miss seeing the people on the beach looking so
to shovel and then the new fresh person coming down.
You could tell who's been there the longest. Now everyone
looks fresh. Yeah, this isn't fair, Like you need to
look at their and you need to have bugweites on
your face and sand in your bed. Yeah, that's paradise.
Eating French fries, like surviving off round fried food. It's

(09:10):
just definitely not paradise.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
No, And I think from a viewers standpoint, one of
the things, you know, as the show became more influencer
focused and as people came off The Bachelor and Bachelorette
and made their own name for themselves by doing whatever
they'd on social media, and as everybody comes back home
and they are beautiful people who you know, can take
a beautiful picture and mark it up. I think it

(09:33):
was the thing saving the show for those same people
to have to go to the beach and for the
viewer to go, yeah, you're still pretty, you still look great,
but you're also very human. And like Sam's story last
year or two years ago was so good, Like she
didn't poop for what ten days? That's amazing. That's so
good for the show.

Speaker 3 (09:54):
That's what I was saying. And I think the reason
last year I feel like I got so much hate
was because it was in tandem with the goal in
the first Golden season, so people were like, this is
so stupid compared to the Golden I'm like, that's the point.
It's been stupid every single season. You guys are just
forgetting it. And now I'm like, it's kind of not
as stupid anymore. It's kind of just like I'm watching
couples lock in day one, and now I feel like

(10:16):
everyone kind of knows how to play the game. M
h I feel like that's what I'm watching, watching people
try to produce themselves. Yeah, some things did surprise me,
like the Jeremy and the SUSI. That was wild. I
loved that. But some of it is just like, Okay,
you guys know how to do this, and I'm watching
you play a game.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, let's dive in. Let's dive into this episode. We
have all the couples, all the people on the beach.
We had the same introu that we've had as the
last episode, with a lot of winking. It's cute, it's great,
it's fine, it's fun. Everything looks awesome. It's a cool
way to do it. I we kind of started this episode.

(10:55):
We started out slow with the water aerobics and oh
you missed.

Speaker 3 (10:59):
The whole Jonathan and April in purry.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
Yeah, okay, go ahead and talk about that. I do think, actually,
you're right, that does play into kind of the big
Row ceremony moment. So I do think this is a
foreshadowing of what is to come.

Speaker 3 (11:14):
I mean just kind of crazy, Like I think Paradise
is like even for me. I feel like I when
I was there, I had a lot of connections, Like whatever,
I wasn't the most solid. But I hate this constant
pushing of this golden and young narrative. I feel like
we're seeing the peak of it right now, Like I

(11:34):
feel like this is where it's coming from, and I'm
just not into it. I don't like it.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
I don't like it. I mean I don't I've never
liked it. I won't say that I wouldn't be interested.
If April and Jonathan actually made out, I would be like, Wow,
that's crazy, not a great Like I don't want to.

Speaker 3 (11:52):
See it, like we can make TV in so many
other ways.

Speaker 2 (11:54):
Like I don't know it does. It does make me uncomfortable.
And one of the reasons is, and you've been around
them with me. We know so many of these Golden Ladies.
I don't know as much of the Golden Men because
there's season happened and we haven't done as many things together.
But I know so many of the Golden Ladies. Well.
I respect them so much, and they are such motherly figures,

(12:17):
like they they sent Winnie my daughter, like a huge
gift when she was born, you know that, and it's
an incredible gift that she still plays with so sweet,
like when we're together they're so like encouraging and such
good listeners. To see those same women on the beach
and to know just in my mind that they're going

(12:40):
to be pursued by somebody my age or younger makes
me uncomfortable in so many ways, and I don't think
viewers want to see it. Now Again, I'm a hypocrite
because I did say at some point during this episode,
I think April would be really down to make out Jonathan,
and it would honestly feel a little different for me

(13:02):
because I know April as well, and I know she'd
be really down to like probably make out with Jonathan literally,
so like that doesn't feel as weird to me, but
that's a one off scenario.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
I love April having her like share a moment like
I do, but I also am like, Okay, if you
had rules reversed and this was kat Is Oh and
Captain whatever, this would be not okay. So like I'm
trying to put it in that perspective where, like I

(13:34):
do get age gap relationships, no problem with them, but like,
I don't want to view the Goldens in this light.
Like I thought they were there for advice and I
love that they're like being crazy and doing body shops
like I love that, but it's making me look at
them different, and I don't want to. I want to
keep this image like Santa Claus in my head of them,

(13:55):
like you're perfect.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
You're like my wife. She watches The Golden Show because
there's a purity to it that she loves, and she
can like invest into these people and be like, I
just want to see you thrive and find your everlasting love.
But the switch would be like she doesn't I think
view them in the way of you just want to
hook up, like you just need to get laid again.

(14:19):
Interesting thing though, April, you could tell me if I'm wrong.
April's like strutting around into bikini. She's looking good, She's carrying.

Speaker 3 (14:26):
It well, like yes, she has shook great.

Speaker 2 (14:29):
She's showing it off like she is there too. She's
definitely the one with the youngest energy. Now we do
have other relationships, obviously you did the water aerobics were
just was just a good filler, nice and fun. We're
gonna kind of skip through this episode. You stop me,
Rachel wherever you think. Hey, there's a big moment. I'm

(14:51):
really bummed and I hate when the show does this
and I feel like they've done this more over the
last five years than ever before. I feel like they
haven't completed story I and so I invest into a
story and then there's like a twist that I don't
even see coming or understand that's a twist. It just
feels like I missed out on something. And I felt
like that with the RJ Natasha scenario. I know that

(15:13):
maybe she had mentioned hey, like he's funny or whatever,
and it didn't feel like the connection was as strong
as maybe he since it was, But in my mind,
watching this episode and watching everything so far, they had
something good enough to continue on with this potentially you know,
leave this beach together and so well spoiler alert, like

(15:35):
she doesn't give RJ the rose he goes home. What happened?

Speaker 3 (15:39):
I know? I want to say. I do think Natasha
was very openly interested in Gary. And the thing about
the Goldens is I feel like they're not like I
need to get a rose. They're like, I'm interested in
this one person, like kind of tunnel vision, and they
don't really want to get him. Am I wrong? Like
I kind of felt that way watching Leslie, and I'm like,

(16:02):
I feel like, once they like something they kind of
just go all in, which is respectable. I feel like Natasha,
which is more gary. You No, I liked Margin more,
but there was more potential there.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
Yeah, I mean it felt like there was actually something there.
I never saw the gary thing coming. You mentioned that
it feels like people nowadays are playing the game more
than they used to it. It sounds like what you're

(16:34):
saying too, is the Goldens just haven't played the game,
Like they don't know how to play the game, so
they don't know to stay open and to kind of
date around.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
It could also be because they know what they want. Yeah,
Like maybe it's like it could be either, but yeah,
we're watching game players versus like newbies, Like we've never
seen anything like that before.

Speaker 2 (16:54):
It's like the old school paradise back in the day
where it just started and you had that's where you
had a lot of the like like weddings coming from
because people would invest right away. And that was one
of the things the show struggled with. It got boring
because all these couples would couple up and they'd be like, no,
you and I to the end and it was beautiful,

(17:15):
but it was kind of like the middle of the
season got so boring because everybody was just like enjoying
each other's company on you know, the beach, right, and
it seems like the stage the Goldens are in. Well
you mentioned this, you know Gary showing up. Gary Levinson
shows up. He's a big personality. He's full of a
ton of joy. He's from Jones season obviously of the

(17:38):
Golden Bachelorette. You know, those big personalities will always stand
out on the beach. He seems in very he comes
in very confident. I did not see the Leslie relationship happening.

Speaker 3 (17:51):
I didn't either. I was gonna say that, I wrote,
no chemistry. She likes to dance. Leslie could love anyone
when she's dancing like that. I got.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah, it just felt like it missed it the whole time. Now,
the show did a good job, like with the rain
and the dancing and the you know dips and the toils.
It made it look beautiful, but it just never felt
like the whole time I watched, and I said, is this,
it feels like I'm not watching what they're trying to
communicate to me. It feels like it misses it. Even

(18:24):
you know they like usually you can tell they're in
the conversation. The dancing part like it is what it is,
but during the conversation you can usually tell if there's
chemistry or not. And I watched this and it did.
It felt like two people on a first day that
would leave being like, hey, I think you're great.

Speaker 3 (18:40):
Yeah, like two friends set them up. They're both hopeless romantics.
I feel like they're similar in some sense, but I,
just like you said, I did not get any sort
of chemistry with them.

Speaker 2 (18:51):
I want to keep on Gary for a second, Rachel.
You know, he's a huge personality. I think Bachelor Nation
has always known him as this bubbly figure, and I
think he is. I'm not gonna say I don't know him.
I'm assuming he is. We saw Gary after the rose ceremony,
after Natasha gave him the rose. We saw this, I
would say, an other side of him, not the bubbly, welcoming,

(19:14):
like come give me a hug, good morning type of person.
He is either really into Leslie and really nervous about
ruining whatever is happening there, or he is really not
into Natasha and giving hold her the cold shoulder. So
I say all this for you to comment on it,
and also for me to ask the question because you've
been to Paradise. I haven't. Why would he say yes

(19:36):
to her rose if he wasn't at all into it?

Speaker 3 (19:40):
And it's so hard to watch them again, like you said,
because they are not playing a game. And even when
he accepted Natasha's rose, he was like dancing up there,
and like you said, the first thing I thought was, Okay,
well we missed something, like they're clearly getting on so
much better if like Leslie was like, okay, well we
had the date, so it's the right thing to do
to give him the rose, like she's thinking in that way.

(20:01):
But the morning after Natasha comes up, she's like, oh,
you guys had like a chance to talk. And he
definitely was disappointed that he was matched with Natasha, and
you could see it. And I think Leslie was disappointed
as well with her day. So I'll be interested to
see what happens with them.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
It seems like I expected Gary to either decline the
rose and hope that Leslie gave it to him, or
if he did accept the rose the next morning to
be very brutally honest with Natasha and say, hey, I
know last night I played out the way it did
I just want to be honest with you. We don't
have something here. I'm very interested in Leslie and kind

(20:39):
of free her up to not stand there and do
the thing that I've been stuck doing so many times,
which is, you know, you stand by their side and
be like, uh so what are you having for breakfast?
What are you? What are you into? And then ignoring
you and you feeling about as you know, an inch
big that's such a terrible feeling.

Speaker 3 (21:00):
I think we could say the same thing for Leslie though,
because Kim wrote that amazing like no or the poem.
The ending was weird because he said I think you're
my number one until something changes, which was not romantic.
But she still sat there and was like, oh thank you,
Like why didn't she say something and kind of cut
it off. So I think it'll be definitely interesting because

(21:22):
we're watching definitely two people who I don't see have
chemistry find their way back to each other. Maybe I
don't know.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
Yeah, it'll be interesting. It's the storyline to follow, other
storylines to follow. Some quick hits here, Kathy's you know
body shot, big deal. Love Kathy. She's amazing, She's amazing,
and she's so good on TV. Mm hmm, definitely didn't
know how to do a body shot.

Speaker 3 (21:48):
I loved the way she did it, and I love
the way she got like right on top of him
and everyone else there being like, oh, the young people
would never do that because they're so cautious of like image,
and but they like. I love Kathy. She's bringing something
to the beach that I will be so disappointed if
we do not get her for the whole season.

Speaker 2 (22:07):
I'm with you, Kathy would be the one to get
me into trouble if I was on the beach with her,
Like she would be the one to be like, hey, Ben,
let's go rip shot to the bar, even though she
supposedly has never taken a shot in her life.

Speaker 3 (22:18):
I looks like that one pretty easy.

Speaker 2 (22:21):
Yeah. I have a hard time believing that she has
not tipped them back her with.

Speaker 3 (22:26):
This champagne in the hot up like. I love her.
I love her so much.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
She's great in g The only thing that could have
made it better was Susan being there alongside of her,
because the two of them are absolute clown show and
the sweetest, most carrying, great women. And I'm so glad
so far that we have not seen Kathy with a
younger man, because that would have broke my heart in
so many ways.

Speaker 3 (22:50):
I just don't think she would. No, I think I
really don't.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
No, she's too she she still sees her. I mean
she is, she's a mom, she has kids, our age
like she just could never go there. We've talked about
the Leslie and Gary day, We've talked about Natasha and Gary.
I think it's time, if you're okay with it, Rachel,
to dig into what I find to be the most

(23:15):
non shocking I guess part of the show, which is
this Cat and Dale blow up.

Speaker 3 (23:22):
I wanted to talk to you about that.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
It's not shocking to me. I don't know where we
have forgotten things along the way. I don't know where
we thought things would be different now than it was.
But there's so many parts of this that I had
to write in my notes. Don't be too judgmental, because

(23:46):
there's so many elements to this dynamic that just makes
me cringe and go, what are you thinking?

Speaker 3 (23:53):
Okay, I'm interested. I feel like we might have different
opinions on this.

Speaker 2 (23:57):
Okay one, I'm with Kat. This dead thing, this debbit
thing is very confusing. It's it's very odd to me.

Speaker 3 (24:05):
Ben, I had to chat GBT debtit. I had to
look it up.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
My question to you, because I'm typically less likely to
be in the know on cool new things happening in
this world. I've always been slow when it happens with that,
and so this debit, I'd never heard of it. I'd
never like thought of it. I think I knew what
it means, meaning like it's over, move on. However, if

(24:33):
that's is that what it means, let me be clear.

Speaker 3 (24:35):
I actually I guess it kind of means like we
took care of that, like it's over. It's like early
two thousands slang is what it says, Like when has
anyone ever used that? And so many times, not only
with Kat he did it in the bedroom, he did
it in his interview. Like I mean, I didn't get

(24:56):
to see enough of Dale and clar season obviously because
he was gone in a day. But now I'm seeing
del like what is wrong with you?

Speaker 2 (25:03):
Kind of one hundred percent? Well that was my point
it Okay, so let's sit on the debt it because
he does kiss somebody else, I don't even have a
problem with that. It's paradise. It happens, it's part of it.
You do what you gotta do.

Speaker 3 (25:19):
I think they should kiss more people with you.

Speaker 2 (25:22):
Stay open, go kiss, go have fun, see what fits,
see what doesn't. And then at some point in the
season it feels like a natch. Always a natural transition
to be like, hey, you know what, I don't want
us to leave alone. I want you to be here
with me. But at the start, I'm always confused at
the relationships that are like, nope, you and I only.

(25:43):
I think it's very fair. However, by saying that, I
also will say that I think both sides need to
be very open and honest about that. That they're kissing
other people, that they're dating other people, that they're still
into each other. It's a very weird dynamic. It felt
like to me the course of this argument that Dale

(26:03):
was wanting to end it or thought they had ended
it without actually asking if the other person involved was
okay ending this conversation and moving forward. It felt like
he was almost forcing it, being like, hey, it happened,
it's over. You gotta be okay with this. Move on.
When Cat's sitting there, and I will say my criticism

(26:23):
the Cat is she gets very upset very quickly, and
she doesn't clearly communicate that, Hey, I don't want to
move on from this because I am hurt by this.
I thought we had something more than special and I'm hurt.
So she didn't. I won't say she did that perfectly,
but it felt I don't want to use the word

(26:44):
manipulative because I know that, but I've already used it.
It felt like a forced closure to a scenario that
the other person had not signed off on closing.

Speaker 3 (26:56):
I agree, And to be fair, I was on Bachelor
Comparadise with Kat the way Catherine Izzo would blow up
on a drop of a dime. I'm seeing such a
mature cat. I'm so proud of her. I messaged her.
I was like, I just watched the episode and I
was I didn't know who I was watching. She was
like so clearly telling him that she's upset not because

(27:19):
of the kiss, but because he wasn't honest and she
wanted this open communication. And I think he was upset
I guess because of the timing, Like they kept arguing
about the timing and that in his world they keep
things so close and they don't say their relationship problems
and like First of all, Dale, you lied on camera

(27:40):
because you said you guys kissed once. Lie, she's gonna
see this back, Like do you not think there are
cameras here? And second, it was kind of giving, like
you said, not manipulation, but I think when people tell
their partner we need to keep this between us. We're
not supposed to be talking about this. It's given, like
you know you're wrong, and you just don't want her

(28:02):
to go ask other people because they'll tell her you're wrong,
Like he wants to kind of just never have this
discussion again.

Speaker 2 (28:09):
It's not fair to cat And that's why I was
hesit to use the word manipulation. I don't exactly know
what it was more than just it felt like he
tried to control the narrative that at this point should
not have been controlled. It didn't need to be. It
didn't need to be an issue. I think if the
two of him sat there and said, hey, I'm hurt

(28:29):
by this, and he said, I did this, but I'm
still very interested in you, and what that kiss led
me to was to know that I still want to
come back to you, I think this gets a lot easier.

Speaker 3 (28:43):
He could have just been like, listen, it was day two, Like,
I'm sure if someone else wrote your name down that
you would have also done it. If not, that's okay.
But I chose you. This is what I did, like
I'm only interested in you. And then maybe you have
the conversation of we're keeping this closed now, not going
to see other people. It's a perfect time for it.

(29:03):
But like you said, he got angry. He told the
boys about it. He got mad at her because of
the timing of it, and then it carried on into
the next day and that night after the.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
Ropes, it felt like he was trying to say the
same thing. If he came up with a better argument,
I think I get more on his side, But felt
like he was saying the same thing the whole time.
It felt like, even when he was talking to Gary
at the bar, he was doing this thing where it's
like and we just come from different places, and I'm
wanting to ask him, or I wish Gary would have
asked him, what do you exactly mean by that? Because

(29:37):
coming from different places doesn't change the fact that somebody
you care about his hurt. When somebody care about his hurt,
if you care about them, you spend a little more
time listening and trying to figure that out and coming
up with some solution or at least walking through it.

Speaker 3 (29:53):
Or an apology or ownership to some degree, he took.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
None, none, none.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
I think yeah, like he wasn't even meaning like. I
think we come from different backgrounds. I think he kept
using that word. What I think he meant is, in
my family, we don't talk about our relationship problems with
other people. And you did this in front of a camera,
and you're doing this before a Rose ceremony. And I
think that's what he was saying. That's what I got,

(30:22):
and that's what I wrote down.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
I'm confused. I will I will say this whole thing
that mostly Dale's reaction. Now, I do think Kat, from
your time on Paradise to now, like just there's a
big difference in how the response looks. And I will
say also, she didn't perfectly communicate that she was hurt
and say how she was hurt. But Dale's response to

(30:49):
her is at this point, and I think we'll get
more clarity as the season goes on. At this point,
it's nothing short of confusing to me. And also it
feels like he's protecting something like defending himself. In a
way that doesn't it doesn't fit. It doesn't feel like

(31:09):
he's properly or intelligently defending himself so that she has clarity.
It just feels like he's like, no, stop talking about it,
you're hurt, it's over. We'll all move on.

Speaker 3 (31:20):
But then she tried to move on, like right after rose,
she was like he haha, he was like no, no,
like he got mad about it again. Like we're missing
something with Dale. He's not being honest to the camera
with how he feels. And I think that's why interviews
are so important, like to be honest if you don't
want to be honest with Kat. But like now we're
all confused.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
Like you said, we haven't seen obviously, the episode just
came out. It's always interesting to see the viewer's response.
I'm assuming the viewer's response is going to be very
much in kind of feeling like we're feeling where it's Hey,
this felt unhealthy, it felt weird. It didn't feel like
the start of a good relationship. Which we'll skip forward,

(32:01):
like we have all episode here. Why would she give
him the rose? And then that's a part that confuses me.

Speaker 3 (32:09):
I think Kat has grown so much like truly, but
I think at the end of the day, like Dale
is probably the only one that she really is like
sexually attracted to and interested in, and she in her mind,
like I think, kind of likes a little bit of
like the drama and toxicity, like not to a full extent,
but I think there are some couples that kind of

(32:31):
like that a little bit, and I think Kat could
be one. Not trying to speak for her, but I
know couples that love to fight and then get like
be fine.

Speaker 2 (32:40):
After yeah, fight and then because.

Speaker 3 (32:43):
Yeah, literally, I think Kat has a little bit of
that vibe.

Speaker 2 (32:47):
Yeah that makes sense, I mean it does. It, Just
it's it's unfamiliar to me, Like, yeah, you know, I
walk a very safe line. I'm like, I don't want
to fight and I don't want to have to figure
out how to make up if we do fight. So
I watched this and I feel uncomfortable. And that's why
I had a lot of shock, honestly, when she gave

(33:08):
him the rose. It also feels like a decision now
watching the previews for future episodes that she will I
don't regret, but that probably wasn't a great decision. It's
just going to cause more drama and turmoil in her life.
A couple couples that have no drama in turmoil. Alex

(33:28):
and Andrews seem to be clicking around really good.

Speaker 3 (33:31):
I love them. I love Andrew personally. I love Alex.
I think she's so different than like a lot of
people we see on reality TV. She's very refreshing. I
see this as a couple.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
Now. I just want to bring something up. Okay, you
can disagree with me, please, do you feel it. I
think she's a lot more in him than he is
into her.

Speaker 3 (34:01):
I think Andrew is very nonchalot like I've seen him
like be, not like personally, but like I know him,
I feel like and I think when he's into people,
he's not very like, I don't know, super forward. I
feel like he likes to like hang back a little.
I think he's also a little bit burned from his
time with Teddy in Paradise, and I think he's trying

(34:24):
to like not seem all into soon because he did
get that edit of like he couldn't get over Teddy
and they met so fast. So I think he also
has been here enough where he knows what he's doing
and thinking about that and thinking about things.

Speaker 2 (34:38):
He's more hesitant.

Speaker 3 (34:40):
Yeah, justin as well. I think you see with like
these seasoned you know, Paradise people, like they're kind of
a little bit more hesitant to like make a big move.

Speaker 2 (34:51):
That's that's fair, and that that would answer a lot
of my questions. I just see her kind of like
saying things like I go to bed at nights, I
see you next day. He goes, that's sweet, and I'm like, dude,
like it's a big comment.

Speaker 3 (35:05):
Yeah, I think he's just playing it a little sake.
I do think he'sn't her, but we will see.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
I hope he is. I love the couple if it works. Yes,
Jeremy and Bailey, we barely see them.

Speaker 3 (35:17):
I don't like I love her not any fact that
he still hasn't told her what he did that is
grounds for absolutely never talking to him again. And she's
watching this now for the first time.

Speaker 2 (35:32):
Do you think she will ever know until she watched
it back.

Speaker 3 (35:35):
I don't know. And I'm just a little bit also
upset with Alex because isn't that your best friend? Like
I would be sprinting to Joe's room to tell her
like that is an insane thing to know and not
tell her.

Speaker 2 (35:51):
Yeah, you're right. We don't see a lot of in
this episode. We do see them swapping gum.

Speaker 3 (35:57):
In sunburn and just talking.

Speaker 2 (35:59):
No, the iHeart team really wants us to talk about
the idea of them swapping gum, sharing gum, making out
gum goes another person's mouth. I have never experienced that.
It's honestly something I would not do with my wife.
If I mean, if her gum fell in my mouth,
I'd be like, hey, this is yours, or I'm throwing
it away. It's not something I particularly am going to enjoy.

(36:22):
It's not something I'm going to be cool about, or
would I give it back to them or share it
with them any longer? My wife and I would not
be That's just gum is a bacteria ridden substance that
is meant to do clean up whatever it is that's
going on in your funky mouth at that time, truly,
And the.

Speaker 3 (36:41):
Way they passed it like it wasn't even like a
They were like mouth to mouth. And then she goes,
there's no flavor to it, So you're just chewing this
piece of gum that has all the food he just
ate stuck to it with no flavor and then passed
it back.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
You're not into it either, No, I think.

Speaker 3 (37:01):
It's absolutely repulsive. And I also I'm just so mad
at him that anything he does right now is making
me pissed.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
Oh so he's like, he's your villain number one right now?

Speaker 3 (37:08):
Ye us? Are you the way he just did her
so dirty? Like you went on a date? You almost
gave your ross, Susie. She goes on a date and
you have when he's talking to Shabby in the corner
call her up right now, I was like, you're nuts,
you're crazy? Shoot or shoot? Come on. I'm sorry. I
know we haven't talked about last episode together, but I'm just.

Speaker 2 (37:30):
Like, no, please keep going.

Speaker 3 (37:32):
This is good over it? Like I'm sorry, Jeremy, Like
I met him once, like seem like a good guy,
but that was just crazy. And then to be cuddling
with her on the couch sleeping, passing gumback like no,
and then you still haven't told her?

Speaker 2 (37:46):
Yeah, I mean, so let's play this out, listeners. I
think would appreciate this. He never tells her. Let's just
let's just play it out that she doesn't ever know
that he said the things he did. And then also
went after easy the way he did. She they're still together,
let's say at the end, happily they better not be.
Do you get upset?

Speaker 3 (38:08):
Like I love her, she's an angel baby, like she's
like the queen of the beach, like all the boys
love her, Like I hate that for her, Like I
don't know, I just think it's so disrespectful.

Speaker 2 (38:20):
Yeah, I it's weird too, because it's not. I mean,
I think you come at it from this place of
protection because you love some of these women, you know
some of them, You care about him, You've been there.
The show isn't making it as big of a storyline
as I think they could, meaning it doesn't feel like
they're lighting the switch to blow this thing up, like

(38:43):
they're kind of just secretly being like, yeah, Jeremy did
what he did, and I do feel like it's a
big deal at least, as we said at the beginning,
if he wanted to date other people, fine, but I
think Paradise has always been best served when communication is
honest and open, and he should we should hear him
have to tell Bailey, I'm still into you, and Susie's

(39:05):
out of my mind and I don't want to pursue
her any longer, or we need him to tell her. Hey,
I haven't stopped talking about thinking about Susie since the
moment she left, and you and I are not going
to make it, but we should see that conversation have
to happen.

Speaker 3 (39:18):
I think he said it at the Rose ceremony. I
think to Jonathan, he goes, I'm second guessing my decision. Now.
I hope that Susie stays and takes this rose. And
and on top of like you calling her right after that,
like this is a huge story, and you do make
a good point. The fact that they are not blowing
it up does make me maybe think that they're together,

(39:41):
because when they protect a couple, lets together.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
Yeah, I mean that's and so the great part will
be the after show if we have one.

Speaker 3 (39:50):
I know, because I genuinely don't know. I only know
Jill's like little worlds like that. So I hope they
have a reaion. I'll be front row.

Speaker 2 (39:59):
Let's talk about your girl, Jill. Let's give her a moment. Ear. Obviously,
Jill and Ashley are good friends. You love Jill, and uh,
Jill is one of those people that I think if
I was on the beach with her, she would be
like a safe, fun just like one of those people
that light up a room and bring positive moments to

(40:21):
any situation she's in. I want her so badly to
find love on this beach. It does. It feels like
she gets pushed aside. I don't know why. It feels
like these guys don't. I've done some live events with Jill.
She's gorgeous, she's funny, she's witty, she's smart, smart, she's engaging.

(40:43):
I don't get why some one of these guys is like,
that's my girl, Like that's it.

Speaker 3 (40:47):
Genuinely. It's funny because watching back I told her, I'm like,
I feel like she would have hit it off with
Kyle from the very beginning of the season, the one
who everyone was like, who is Kyle. I'm like, he
just seems so like smart and mature and to earth,
and I feel like Jill needs like an intellectual guy.
That's funny, And I think a lot of these guys
on the beach, I would say Justin would have that too,

(41:10):
but they're also such good friends. Jill knows two guys
that are on the beach currently. Yeah, I don't think
they gave them a recipe for success with only having
six couples.

Speaker 2 (41:20):
It's too little, too little, But it's still even with that.
I mean, I'm with you, I even with that. When
Ashley told me that Jill was coming back to Paradise,
my first thought was, goodness, I hope this one works well.

Speaker 3 (41:33):
I thought she was engaged when she was there. I'm like, oh,
she's engaged. I had a feeling. I had a feeling.

Speaker 2 (41:39):
I hate it. I hate it. But her story isn't finished.

Speaker 3 (41:43):
No, but she's with Sean. Yeah, so I already know her,
like I without knowing. If I watch that happen, I'd
be like, all right, So she's in a dark place
right now. Love you Sean. He knows I love him.
But she even took her rose and said, I love
the opportunity to be here next week.

Speaker 2 (42:00):
Oh yeah, brutal.

Speaker 3 (42:02):
You're pissing off.

Speaker 2 (42:03):
Yeah, that's brutal. And so we'll follow her along. We're
gonna pause here on the breakdown of the show. We
still have a few things to get to. The rose ceremony.
Jonathan's moment trying to figure out if he's gonna stick
around or not. Our girl, Hannah Brown, she's a Bachelorette,
just like you were. She was announced to be in Paradise,

(42:24):
she was given a title. Really before this whole competition
thing starts with this season, I thought we'd see a
lot of her. It to me, it feels like they
hired her on for a position that they don't know
what she was gonna do, and they're trying to throw
her into most random scenarios and it just doesn't fit.
It's weird to see Hannah Brown in the background of Paradise,

(42:48):
passing out champagne and making like doing some like random interview.

Speaker 3 (42:55):
We're not even seeing interviews of her. I'm seeing so
much of Wells, which I love. While was his interviews
are incredible, Like I think he's such a crucial part
of Paradise. But Hannah is known for being outspoken and
funny and crazy, and we're getting none of that, like
not even an interview clip, not even her going up
and like laughing with the girls. Like I feel like

(43:16):
they're not utilizing her at all. She's so funny.

Speaker 2 (43:20):
It's it's very odd to me. It's felt odd when
they announced it, because I mean, I love Wells, I
love Hannah. I think she's great, But I was like, hey,
Wells is enough here? Like this beach doesn't have room,
there's only six couples for everybody. What is Hannah going
to be doing? And the show, you know, had some

(43:40):
fancy title like Champagne Hostess or whatever it was, or
Bubbly Hostess, And then we watched this season and my
thought is why is she there? And that's not because
it's the diss on Hannah, it's just what is she
doing there?

Speaker 3 (43:53):
Is? Yeah, I think there could have been like so
much utilized because I think we needed some feminine energy.
We have Jess, we have Wells. Wells gives the best advice,
but I think Hannah in a girl chat, Hannah leading
dates or or meeting them on dates, I think there
could have been so much more. And she's so funny
and chaotic. Yeah, they're definitely just I think fumbling with

(44:15):
Hannah a little bit. For sure.

Speaker 2 (44:16):
We should see Hannah on every day. We should see
her in every day, at least stopping by the table
and you know, doing the random funny here's your two champagnes.
How are you guys doing right? Saying something ridiculous and leaving.
We should at least see that we're getting none of it.
It's very odd.

Speaker 3 (44:34):
I think the audience sees it as well. I've seen
a couple tiktoks about it, and like everyone was so
excited and now it's like, I want to see my girl,
and I see her teaching Leslie how to use a megaphone.
Like that's all I saw. I think, yeah, passing out
maybe one champagne so sad, you know, I want to
see more, all right?

Speaker 2 (44:53):
And closing here, Rachel, I should ask you first, any
thoughts that we haven't covered before we get into to
the Jonathan Rose ceremony scenarios, anything that you felt that
stood out to you.

Speaker 3 (45:08):
Nothing really, I feel like I kind of went over
the most of it. I do love going into the ceremony.
I do love the footage from the rooms of everyone talking,
kind of like the hitting camera. I think it's giving
a lot of insight that normally, like when you're in
front of a big camera, you don't get so before
the row ceremony, like Cat crying and having that moment,

(45:28):
and I did like to see that.

Speaker 2 (45:30):
So that's good. It's true. I mean, yeah, and you
see it even with the guys when Nancy comes in
and Gary's talking about you know how well endowed she is.
And I don't think they know they're being filmed.

Speaker 3 (45:45):
And I love that because you genuinely forget. I experienced
this for the first time, and I'm like, oh my gosh,
like you literally just like you're filming so much you
forget that there's something in the corner.

Speaker 2 (45:55):
Yeah, it's good to have this moment. It's really good
because you're gonna get the more like authentic, like very loose. Hey,
there's six guys in a room talking about what girls
they're into conversation and not so put together. To put
together gets old. I want to see Gary be like
I noticed something about Nancy and all the guys are like,

(46:17):
I didn't do. I think it's funny. I think it's
you know what, not like it. I think it's it
feels a lot more like my real life than anything
else that's happening.

Speaker 3 (46:27):
Agreed. Now the Rose ceremony.

Speaker 2 (46:40):
Okay, so we're in the Rose ceremony. Now, we obviously
have to mention. The easiest Rows of the whole season
so far is the Spencer and Jesse Rose. They seem
to be never shown because I think they're just one
of those quiet, steady couples. They are one of those
couples to go back and talking about the beginning that

(47:01):
maybe would have the conversation of like, hey, I'm so
into you that it would crush me if you date
anybody else, And they both reciprocated those feelings, and they
could like be the the Jade and the Tanners, the
Ashley and the Jared's, like those couples that just work forever,
which is fun to watch. I have always been in
the camp of I know they might be boring, I

(47:24):
know they might not have drama. I want to see
more of them because honestly, I watch this show not
only to see people make fools in themselves and to
say things like debt it, but also to see love
come out, like to see love actually work from the show.
That's what makes this show so great is there has
been real relationships happen and new humans being born, and

(47:48):
we don't see enough of them.

Speaker 3 (47:49):
I don't think, no, they completely kind of It reminds
you of like Brandon and Serene and those couples that like,
do you genuinely make it at least for like some
like portion, but yeah, it's like the only time you
see them is when they're doing, like their couple advice
for people like you never genuinely see them talking, and
we know, like being on the show, you have so
many conversations that don't get like shown. And I would

(48:12):
love to see them having like deep conversations about like
family and what they're looking for, even if it's for
a second. I agree. I would like to see more.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
Want a cheer for them and root for them, but
it's hard to and you don't see them. Here's the
rundown of the Roses this episode. Chrisa gives her rose
to Brian. That's not a shocker at all. At this point,
it seems like they're a very steady couple. Bailey gives
her rose to Jeremy, Alex gives her rose to Andrew.
Natasha gives her rose to Gary. We've spoken about how
big of a moment that was and kind of confusing

(48:42):
and what that led into. Leslie then gives her rose
to Kim. We'll stop here to talk about Kim for
a second. Captain Kim. At first, April thinks Captain Kim
is very into her and that was missing the mark
he is. He's perfect for the show, he's not made
for ally television. No, he's such a good so serious

(49:05):
and so direct that I love to watch him because
he makes every moment a little awkward and.

Speaker 3 (49:12):
He's so confident about it, even if.

Speaker 2 (49:14):
He's so wrong, like he didn't have Leslie's rose. If
Natasha doesn't give her rose to Gary, Gary has Leslie's rose.
So when he said I'm going to be getting Leslie's
rose and I'm not going to be pursuing anything with April,
he was so wrong. He got lucky.

Speaker 3 (49:29):
And then he wrote it in his little poem again
that he was so confident and he knew, like, oh
my goodness, yeah, no, he definitely is not meant for TV.
But you know, we need all kinds of characters.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
Oh, I think he has nothing. He has nothing wrong
about him. He's not hurting anybody in the process. I
respect his honesty, but goodness gracious, he just has a
way to make things a little bit weird. Yes, agreed,
And I appreciate it because I am right in that camp.
I think gives her rose to Keith. It feels like

(50:02):
a friendship is forming between Kathy and Keith. Jess gives
her rose to Spencer. Not a shock there. Jill gives
her rose to Sean. Is she happy to give her
rose to Sean in this moment or is this a
but grudgingly like I have nothing else to give.

Speaker 3 (50:19):
I feel like at this point Jill is so mad
at Jonathan that anything that you know can work. Besides that,
she's kind of just like, all right, I'm gonna give
this a chance and pray for men tomorrow. Like that's
a bybe I got. I think she was definitely invested
in Jonathan, and that did confuse me. So I think
this is more of a we both know, we're just

(50:39):
like waiting for something better to come along.

Speaker 2 (50:43):
Fair enough, Kat gives her rose to Dale. We've talked
about it. It's very still up in the air in
that relationship. It's a good relationship to have in Paradise
because it does bring drama. I don't love the path
that the preview you seem to put this relationship on.
It feels like it just gets more hurtful and more sad,

(51:05):
and I don't want it for either of them. But
after Kat's last time in Paradise and how she publicly
said how much it hurt her, I don't want more
pain to come. Paradise should be kind of that like
Resurrection show where you reinvent yourself, you give yourself a
better light. You come out of the ashes and you say, hey,

(51:28):
I know what you think I am. I'm somebody different.
And it feels like pat or Kat is on a
path kind of walk down a similar lane that she
did two seasons ago.

Speaker 3 (51:38):
I think she is, from what I've seen, getting like
a redemption arc and she has it, but it is crazy,
like you guys have. Kat was wild on my season
and so I again don't wish her pain with this
Dale situation, but if it keeps going down this path,
I do think she kind of might be the victim
in it. But again we'll wait and see.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
April gives her rose to Jonathan. Jonathan is sticking around.
Based on the generosity of April, there was no romantic
communication for this rose being given. She just really likes
this guy and thinks he's the best and has straight
up told him, hey, if you if I was younger,
I'd jump your bones. And I think what she's really

(52:18):
saying there is you deserve your chance. And so he's
sticking around for another week, which is good for the
show because he kind of has that Andrew Spencer first
season of Paradise vibe where you're like, he's a nice guy,
he's attractive. It feels like he's gonna friend zone a
lot of people.

Speaker 3 (52:35):
Well, so with Jonathan, it's like, Okay, I think there
all comes a time where everyone needs to be like
all right, like maybe this isn't for me. It feels
like Jonathan is not giving anyone a chance. Yeah, just
like Alex and then like no one else for the
rest of the time, and then take a rose from
a guy, and like all the Golden Women were saying,
now we're down a guy. We have three men. So

(52:58):
you took that rose and you're still not open to
giving people a chance. I hope we see more next episode.
Hopefully he goes on a date and it opens up,
but I'm not seeing it.

Speaker 2 (53:08):
Yeah, this the Golden Men that go home? R j
C K Jack go home. It is the question I
want to I mean, it does seem like the show is
now in a weird position. It just doesn't feel like
the show wanted to be in this position. It seems
from a production side to be a very unbalanced moment

(53:28):
where there is so few golden Men when when you
have so many people women and men going, we need
more men here, Like this isn't looking like we wanted
it to. There has to be more Golden men coming,
I would expect, right.

Speaker 3 (53:43):
Hopefully, I mean, but we've already gotten two Golden women arrival.
Like it's truly not fair I think for them or
the young cast, Like how small this is, Like it
feels like they all got the short end of the stick.

Speaker 2 (53:57):
I actually wonder and this could be a real price
problem if the show had a hard time get convincing
men from the Goldens to come on, and they had
their like group and they had pictured out, Hey, this
is how we're going to make it through and then
the Jonathan scenario threw them off and they don't have
a like anybody else hanging out the hotel.

Speaker 3 (54:18):
Why didn't they like send a young person down, Like
why didn't they send leya down with the road?

Speaker 2 (54:23):
It's a great that could have been.

Speaker 3 (54:26):
Like an incredible like, oh my god, like Leah knows
what she wants or I mean, she's the only one
we've seen that's coming in like this week. But it
just seems like an easy thing to do instead of putting.
But they wanted that age gap grows.

Speaker 2 (54:40):
They it's what it was. I think they did. I
think the show knew it would cause enough of an
upstir to make the press and the headlines and to
make people possibly tune in and go, what kind of
chaos is happening on this show?

Speaker 3 (54:54):
I agreed.

Speaker 2 (54:55):
You know, obviously they bring it Nancy. So Nancy's one
more golden woman. She's a hot commodity. We see every
man on the beach kind of go. I'm into that.

Speaker 3 (55:06):
Heads are turned for Nancy.

Speaker 2 (55:08):
You know, I've said on the podcast before, Nancy's from
the same place I am in Indiana. She grew up
in the same lake, and I know in Nancy's family
really well. I know Nancy. I love watching Nancy and
Paradise because these men are trying to flirt and be
like is it breakfast in ben She's like, we're not
sleeping together, and I'm like, that is very on.

Speaker 3 (55:27):
Par I love her. I'm excited to see who she
hits it off with.

Speaker 2 (55:33):
It's tough. I think it's going to be hard in
Paradise for Nancy, especially with only three men left. Now.
You mentioned Leah coming to the beach, you mentioned Nancy
coming to the beach, we have really towards the end
of the episode, for me, it was a lot of
filler space to kind of figure out who's going to

(55:56):
stay together and who's not. And obviously the Dale in
the cat scenario, so is the overarching storyline to the
end of this episode, because they kind of split ways
once again after the rose ceremony to say this isn't working.
We see Gary kind of turn down Natasha, and Natasha's
kind of out on her own looking to see who
she could possibly connect with, which is just brutal. I

(56:18):
think to watch any of these Goldens feel lost, I know, I.

Speaker 3 (56:23):
Don't want to watch them be sad, Like that's why
I love The Golden Bachelor.

Speaker 2 (56:27):
I don't want to seem and they do seem sad.

Speaker 3 (56:31):
It's hurtful no matter what age, especially if they're not
dating as much as like we are, Like this is
their one chance to really go down and meet people
who are willing to like date and like to see
anyone get hurt. It's so sad.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
If I was them, I'd almost be in the mindset
at this point too, like, hey, we have like four
more days together here, Like, doesn't look like any of
us are get in roses. Do you girls just want
to party, like, let's just go have.

Speaker 3 (56:56):
Far genuinely, And I would like to watch the I'd
like to watch them have to do rose ceremony and
then be in the champagne lounge with Hannah Brown and
having fun. Well the kids have the drama, and then
we just get like glimpses of them partying like that's.

Speaker 2 (57:09):
What we want, and having the most like beautiful judgmental
conversations about everybody dating, like they kind of commentate it.

Speaker 3 (57:17):
That's what we need.

Speaker 2 (57:18):
It'd be amazing because we get Kathy just you know, unveiled,
with enough champagne in her to loosen her lips, Natasha
saying what she says, Hannah Brown guiding the way that's ivy.

Speaker 3 (57:32):
Yes, it should be completely separated and they just don't
have to worry about going home and they can make
their connections organically, and then at the end we'll see
if there's couples.

Speaker 2 (57:41):
I love it. Faith Martin also arrives at the beach
One more Golden Girls, six Golden Women, three Golden Men,
which leads us to the previews for the next episode. Uh,
previews don't tell me much, but Rachel, really I think
the most interesting part of this and where I think
I've always your opinion on is this money element added

(58:03):
to Paradise? First question, do you like it or not?

Speaker 3 (58:09):
I think again, going back, like it's too much, too
soon for me, like it is, And maybe it's because
I've been there and I just hold this show in
such a high regard. It feels like they're like, all right,
let's change every single thing and see what sticks. And
I just don't like it. I don't like that they're
changing to try to be other shows.

Speaker 2 (58:29):
I'm with you, it does. I think we talked about
it a few weeks ago. It does feel like they're
like there to too late. One. It's not revolutionary. What
the Bachelor always had was this kind of upstanding above
reproach exactly, content that made us all go love is possible,
even in the wildest ways. I really now. I'm four

(58:52):
episodes in, I really hate I don't like the money element.
I think it. I think it ruins this show to me.
It is distracting me. It also makes me question everybody's motives, which,
going back, the beauty beautiful part about Paradise was it
was relatable because we knew your motives have to be
pretty pure to stick around in a place that is

(59:13):
so uncomfortable only with the hope of finding love. Now
you have air conditioning and money.

Speaker 3 (59:20):
No, genuinely, and I think it's okay whatever, Like it said,
it's going back to the OG bachelor pad days. Then
I want to see every single person knowing that when
they walk in, I want to see how they act
different knowing that. But now I have like, I don't know,
it's just too much, too soon. I don't like it.
I think it's so unnecessary bachelor's fantasy. Like you said,

(59:43):
it's this love, and it's this it's OG. It's the
first that it's a first dating show, and now it
feels like you're trying to be like everyone else. Now
we're like lost everything that we've had. And then Paradise
was our one, like funny, humorous, like got to have
the cheesy intros and we don't have even now nothing
is the same. There's no bachelor to it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
It was an escape to laugh with and at people
and then go, I like you like at the end
of Paradise, get married. Yeah, it's amazing, Like it had
so many good elements. The money to me, Rachel distracts
from all of it. I also, I don't know. I

(01:00:26):
don't know the why, because if the why was to
intrigue viewers one, they saved it for way too long
in the season. You've lost all the viewers. If money
was going to be your big you know, catch them
all and and kind of like you said, people, we
don't know how people are going to respond. It could
break up really beautiful relationships. Half million dollars is not

(01:00:48):
nothing like. It could definitely change the dynamics of the
Spencers and Jesse's if all of a sudden, a half
million dollars is on the table and they have to
decide between each other after a few weeks of knowing
each other. I just don't know the why it hasn't
been clearly communicated to me and why this money exists
and what it's for. I would I would be less

(01:01:11):
upset with this season, and I still am watching it
and I'm still intrigued. I'd be less upset with this
season if I didn't have this kind of cloud over
the whole thing so far, being like, but when is
the money going to be introduced and what's that going
to do? Because it feels like a whole different season than.

Speaker 3 (01:01:26):
Me, and people are not going to be coming down
to the beach anymore, Like that's the point of periodise.
I want to see bombshells. I want to see people
like breaking out and breaking up or staying together, like Okay,
now there's no more bombshells. And we have all these
instable like or whatever couples like Jail and Cat. Yeah,
they're going to be competing. They're fighting, like Jill and Sean,

(01:01:49):
who are not Like, how did we get to this
point where we don't have solid couples. Jeremy hasn't even
told Bailey, and now we're going to play for.

Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
Half a million dollars doesn't make it.

Speaker 3 (01:02:00):
I don't like it. And are the Goldens doing these games?

Speaker 2 (01:02:03):
I have no idea, Like I said, we have not
that we have not gotten any communication on what this
many means. We're four episodes in, uh what episode five?
They're going to drop the bomb and be like, oh,
by the way, you've been here the whole time and
it hasn't been ideal, but you're here for a half
million dollars. It feels so odd to me. It feels
like they wanted to do this and they were trying

(01:02:24):
to land a sponsorship, and they finally landed a sponsorship
last week. They had some sponsored date by the movie
and they're like, Okay, now we can offer a half
million dollars without it, we didn't have it, but now
we got a half million to offer these people.

Speaker 3 (01:02:37):
Yeah, I feel like, yeah, it's just too much. It's
too much change for me. It feels like they're trying
to be Love Island in a way. But the challenges
from the preview didn't even look like Love Island challenges,
where it's like let's test chemistry and get drama going.
It was like they were like doing these survivor challenges,
like why am I watching tribal console and like a

(01:02:59):
Love Island end, where's the engagement's? Like where is Neil
Lane in this preview? Like this is not the Bachelor.
I don't like it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:07):
I don't want to see Rachel Rekia stand on one
leg for thirty minutes and see if she survives it.
I don't want to see it. It's not interesting to me.

Speaker 3 (01:03:15):
Let's switch out Jesse and Jeff probes, like I too
much at once, too much once, and maybe I'm coming
from like being old in the franchise, like I want
things to be the same, but no, no, no, I
don't like it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:28):
That's the best part about having a podcast is if
you are wrong and people don't agree with you, they'll
tell you, but they they also I think we're speaking
to most listeners and watchers right now. From most of
the polls and the comments and the feedback that we've received,
people are feeling very similar to to how we are

(01:03:50):
right now about this season, Rachel, as we close up here,
any final thoughts based on the preview, based on what
we've talked about that we did not cover.

Speaker 3 (01:04:02):
Oh, I'm glad we got a chance to talk. I'm
glad we're on the same page. This has been great.

Speaker 2 (01:04:07):
Okay. I love to do this with anybody that has
a big moment. First Off, congratulations. Anytime you're asked to
be back on television, it is a big deal. It
means you are after Why should people starting August first
on Netflix start watching Perfect Match?

Speaker 3 (01:04:24):
Well, it's gonna be great. There's never been anything like
it before. It's like the Dating Avengers. All your favorite
people from across reality universe are coming together and it's
actually different than any other season they've done. So it's
gonna be exciting. And I'm on it and.

Speaker 2 (01:04:39):
You're on it. I was hoping you'd just say, like,
watch it because I'm here. You can watch Rachel and
Clayton August first on Netflix Perfect Match. Rachel, thank you
for coming on Almost Famous talking about Bachelor and Paradise
episode four. We will be talking to you again soon
and also the Almost Famous podcast will be breaking down

(01:04:59):
the Perfect Match every week and talking about all we see, experience, feel,
and do.

Speaker 3 (01:05:05):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:05:06):
It's gonna be great. So if you're into Rachel and
all these reality stars coming together to see if love
can be formed, make sure you tune into the Almost
Famous podcast. Rachel, thanks for joining us.

Speaker 3 (01:05:18):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:05:20):
Follow the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcasts on
iHeartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts