September 17, 2024 • 25 mins
Ben and Ashley tackle a complicated and unexpected headline in Bachelor Nation! How did Bachelorette winner Devin Strader’s legal issues (and restraining order!!) slip through production??
Ben gives us some insight on how The Bachelor background checks work, as we try to work through the facts of what happened in Devin’s past, and what that means for the future of The Bachelor.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast
with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Hey guys, welcome to the Almost smous podcast. Today Ben
and I are getting together to talk about some shocking
news that hit the internet yesterday. Devin has some serious
legal issues in his past.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
It's uh, there's a lot to break down here. So
this is a breaking news Almost Famous podcast. We're gonna
start doing these more because it just feels like these
some of this stuff can't wait till like next week's headlines,
and today is definitely one of those days, according to
Reality Steve. Reported by Reality Steve and then broken down
at little further by Bachelor Data. That's where I'm getting
(00:44):
a lot of my information from.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
But also now an article with Hollywood Reporter, which we
know is like a very legitimate entertainment news source.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yeah, it's just kind of coming across the airways. But
Reality Steve is we have to give him credit for
being the original one to break this.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Because the girl she's set in him the info right,
the ex girlfriend who he has the restraint that she
has a restraining order against Devon.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
It's a pretty wild story. So here is the story.
Devin who ended up with Jen at the end, and
then obviously had his moment on Life television that didn't
go well for him, and then tried to post a
thirteen many video that didn't go well for him. Has
now had more news come out here as of the
last twenty four hours that is also not going well
for him. And there's a lot of people involved in
(01:29):
this actually that we need to talk about that it's
not going to go well for But here's the headline.
Bachelorette star Devin X had a restraining order against him
in twenty seventeen. This took place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
So it happened back in the college years. Twenty was twenteen,
it's twenty one, okay, So while having a restraining order
out on him, he still came to her door, banged
on the door several times, starts screaming at her, and
then later that evening made a fire out in the
street outside of her apartment complex and apparently made the fire,
(02:10):
was lighting the actual restraining order on fire. She also
had her tire flattened and when it was being changed,
you know, when like TRIPLEA came to change or whatever,
Devon came outside and began laughing at her in like
an obnoxious way. Ultimately, he pled guilty to charges of
criminal trespass and simple criminal damage to property of less
(02:36):
than five hundred dollars. He received one year of unsupervised
probation because of this.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Like what, like, let's take a pause there, just for
everybody to process the information they just received. So Devin,
there's three three I think we should break this down.
The first, let's talk about Devon and obviously these actions
(03:07):
are so bad and at some level even hard to process,
just that he did all of.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
This, but he did this after the restraining order was
put on it. Like, what did he do to get
the restraining on to you?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
If we knew what he did?
Speaker 1 (03:27):
We know.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
So here's my first way breaking this down. I don't
think any of us, anybody out there listening, needs us
to go into just how terrible these acts are, because
I think that's obvious. He had a restraining order against them,
broke the restraining order, and then decided to vandalize and
torment this poor woman to a place where obviously there
(03:49):
was more law involved. But let's stop for a second
outside of that the obvious, and say, why did Devin
go on the show.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
After knowing that this was out there about him, and
then this could easily come out in public knowledge.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
That's my first thought, And maybe that's an incorrect way
to think of it, but I'm thinking, all right, dude,
you obviously have a past that you shouldn't not be
opening up millions of people to learn about. So let's
before we talk about how he got on the show,
let's talk about his decision to say, yeah, you know what,
I'm going to go on this show.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yeah, well, I mean, it's just weird. It's just also
proves that he was really hungry for some attention, so
hungry for attention that he perhaps didn't mind this coming
out about him. Okay, so that he, like I want
to feel, I feel like he like swindled her into love.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Now, yeah, Like originally, if I'm honest, my thought was
he did love her. Maybe he did still, I don't know,
but he was very into her, and that he wanted
this to work and it didn't work, and he just
handled everything past it not working very poorly from a
respect perspective, from an adult perspective, from showing any type
(05:05):
of maturity, he handled those things poorly. That was how
I thought of this whole thing was he loved her,
it didn't work out, and then he handled everything afterwards
like a child. Now, with this news coming out and
also his thirteen minute video, my perspective has changed to
(05:25):
be he played her this whole time. And I'll add
in this which will probably not be received well, the
group of men on this season were so bad that
he somehow came out on top.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Yeah, and especially after seeing the Golden Bachelorette and this
group of amazing.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
We can't compare the two. Those two cannot even be compared, Like,
they can't even They're two totally different categories.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
There's gotta be they have the capability of finding great people, right,
the young man.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
He's a great man. Your husband's a great man. Look
at him.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
They found him, they found you, They found a lot
of great people. But like, what is it casting that
sucks or or do is this generation which is a
decade younger? Now? A decade has passed since you and
Jared were casted cast Sorry.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Maybe Devins six years younger than me? That only six
years younger.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
That's not really generational, is it.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
No, he's six years younger men? Yeah, Okay, so that's
the first thoughts here this no matter what generation, Let's
be clear, no matter what generation, what time, what era,
how far we go along this this back, the backing
(06:57):
of what's happened in Devon's life is never should never
be on the show, right, Like this is not a
new generational thing where it's like, yeah, you know what,
the new generation just really likes to vandalize cars and
break into their ex's houses and have restraining orders put
out against them and break those restraining orders. Like that's
never going to be okay. So the fact that he
(07:18):
even ended up on the show as wild to me.
So that's a transition into talking about how he got
on the show. Yeah, Ashley, you've been on this show.
I've been on this show. The amount of effort put
into learning about my past and knowing whatever diseases I
carried or did it carry, and all the blood work
(07:38):
done and all of the investigation done into my history,
they knew everything about me.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah, they do a full background check, full psychological checkup
exam and then yeah physical exam. So insane that this
would have fallen through the cracks. The restraining order was
later sealed. It was sealed that I guess that means
like the X was like, Okay, I'm over it. Whatever
you can pretend it never happened. I don't know. That's
(08:06):
pretty generous after what he did. Then it says, but
the burglary for the arrest AFFI David, that is still
in the public public record, so they would have been
able to find that the bachelor, whoever the heck does
the background checks, so they would have found that he
had a burglary arrest. And if you look into the
(08:28):
burglary arrest, it discusses the restraining order, so it really
is public record, like all of it.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
If Reality Steve can find this, and how much time
it took him, I know, and Reality Steve obviously got
tipped off, so he knew he was invested, like well,
looking into something that was existing because of his ex
or whoever that tipped him off on this. But if
he can find it, the show can find it with
all the resources and the tools that they have available.
(08:55):
So let's talk about this for a second. I I
have a hard time imagining. In fact, I would go
as far as saying it's just not possible that the
show did not know of this record.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I think that I've a were a guess. I think
that they saw the burglary hster, which should have been
enough to be like, oh, we can't cast this guy.
I just think that they probably didn't look into the
paperwork that said that it had to do with, like
with the rest training order had been present as well.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
But how Ashley, So what you just said was they
saw a burglary area, which I'm saying it's.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Still nuts that they would have been like, Okay, you're
still allowed.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
On, and that they would allow Jin to end up
with him.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
I like that they wouldn't at some point say hey Jen, yea,
by the way, like this Devin dude, Like I know
you're into him and he's into you and all this stuff.
I mean they've done that. They did this for me
where they're like but like I don't know if she
is right for you, Like you need to ask yourself
that question.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
They could have twisted the story around like Top four.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Like how did they let this go through? And for
Jen to enter into this blind to his past. The
one thing that I always had trust on as a
lead was that the show had my back one and
I still believe they did. And I still believe they
do even though I questioned that at times, but they
(10:31):
still have my back and that all of the people
that were there that were showing up that they had
checked on like that. I was, you know, like, yes,
I needed to learn as much about them as possible. Yes,
I need to ask every question that was available to
me in the time that we had to try to
understand and learn who they were as people to see
if we were a match together. I never once questioned
(10:54):
if I had asked, Hey, have you ever been arrested
and if so for what, Hey, which you know outside
of everything else, Like have you spent any jail time?
Like that was never even a thought.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
So we have had people on the show that have
had DUIs. You know, I'd say a number. Now, what's
interesting about this legal issue is that this has to
do with dating. This has to do with a romantic
relationship in which this guy went crazy.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Let me be clear, Mistakes happen, and you learn from
those mistakes, and I'm hoping there's some grace there to say, Hey,
what happened, tell us more about this. We saw this
on your record, We saw this when we were like
doing the background check. Tell me a little bit more
so to help me understand like what you've learned from
that and how you've grown from that and who you
(11:44):
are today. The show knows enough about you to know
if you've actually grown from this or not. I'm not
saying that you know, mistakes don't happen. They do. And
I'm not saying that people that have made mistakes and
grown from those mistakes should not end up on the show.
I mean, look at Zach Clark for example, right, I mean,
the dude there's a great example of somebody has a
(12:06):
really bad and hard pass and has said, hey, I
need to learn from this, I need to grow from this,
and I'm gonna help others do that. Zak Clark should
one hundred percent beyond the show. He is a representative
of how we transform as humans. However, Devin and I
would I mean, I would say I would love to
find a way that he's represented growth, But nothing about
(12:28):
his behavior from the time of the breakup with Jin
to now has shown that he's grown from this. The
show knew that they know him. So how does he
get through the cracks here?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
I have really no idea, Ashley.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Can we go as far as to say that they
set gin up?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
You think that that they were like they started this
season and they thought this guy is going to get
really far and we don't want a happy ending for her.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
I actually don't think they ever expected Devin to get
as far as he did. I think I think if
we talked to them, they'd be like, yeah, we didn't
think that was go through. We've had some issues, you know,
as you know in the last few years where the
Bachelor's had controversy and you know, some were talked about
than others. We've had contestants go through controversy, some were
(13:17):
talked about than others. I don't know what to do
with this information other than say, we've said it before,
and casting has had people come on where their background
has either been you know, had a racial you know,
racist bias to it. They have come out and there
(13:38):
has been you know, records reported post them on the
show that people have talked about this should not ever happen,
Like what is going on?
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Right?
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Like?
Speaker 3 (13:51):
How is casting letting these people get through? This season
had and not all of them have been proven true,
but this season has had We won't mention names because
they have not been proven true. This season had multiple contestants.
In fact, I would say more than four who when
you look into their backstory, people are coming out fairly
(14:13):
valid sources saying this is this guy is not good news.
So what happened this season with Jen we're casting? Either
just put turned a blind eye to any background check,
or they didn't do them in general, or they were
negligent and just said, yeah, you know what, I see
the background check, but like you're good.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
They have to like hurry through this casting or something.
Did they did the Golden Bachelor set them back? I mean,
I'm not I'm not even being sarcastic here. They really
had a full schedule and they were filming The Golden Bachelor. Yeah,
the Golden Bachelor. Sorry, if I s a bachelor the
Golden Bachelor around the time that like casting would have
taken place.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
So I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I mean there's somebody, there's one person that's like in
charge to background checks though, so that just doesn't make sense,
like that that's their job, their sole job. I think.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Sure, this is also you guys just.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
A throw in there. I'm reading this reality Steve article
more thoroughly. And yeah he had a DWI too.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Yeah, it's it's not he doesn't have a clean record.
If it. But if this now the standard, like what
is what is not allowed on the show? If this
is all out on the show, then what is you know,
what is not allowed?
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Typically, I don't love to force anybody's hand to speak,
because there's a lot of topics that people maybe just
don't aren't. I like people to talk and say stuff
publicly when they're in the know and when they're knowledgeable,
and when they're coming from a place that they actually have,
they feel like they have a genuine, genuine and authentic
(15:48):
word to share.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
This is what a source close to production is telling
Entertainment Weekly. We take the safety of our contestants very seriously,
and we make every effort to conduct through diligence as
exhaustive as our vetting process. Is this projective order to
not service in our searches.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Huh what do you what background checks are you doing?
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Then reality Steve said that he like has this information
confirmed through Louisiana Police.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Yeah, third party that I want to talk about with Jen.
If I was Jin, I'd be fuming right now. Fuming
now granted, I'm I'm also you know, she's on Dance
with the Stars. I'm hoping she's you know, healed and
recovered and realizing that she dodged bullet here and that
(16:50):
she's like actually going to be in a really good
place and that you know, this breakup yes hard and tough,
and then the traumatizing moment of having to watch it
back on national television with him sitting next to her.
All that to be said. If I'm jin, I'm like
really mad.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
It's so mad. I don't even know how they can't
make it up to her, Like even this we didn't
sing with the stars, it doesn't make it up to her.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
No. I mean again, okay, Jen, We'll make it up
to you by spending the next three months of your
life on a show for us as well.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
I know. And it's like it's not like they could
be like we'll have you on Paradise and like, well
make sure that you find the love of your life.
It's like she's like, I'm not putting that trust into
you guys again, And I'm sorry. I just also want
to correct myself. It wasn't the police that reality. Steve
has it confirmed by He has spoken to a few
lawyers in Louisiana who, like obviously, can go into the
legal records of Louisiana and.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Yeah, Ashley again, I have a This show has been
so good to me in so many ways, and I
always want the show to be its best. Yeah, this
is a very This is just a really dark spot
and time for the show, and I hope that they
(18:09):
approach it. I hope this doesn't just like get pushed
under the rug and moved on from like other things
have happened, you know with the show. This for the
sake of our trust in the show as fans and
as viewers and as past contestants, like this is you know,
I take you know. I want to know that the
(18:31):
show does protect their leads and that the people on
the show are people who are ready for love and
also a good match for the lead. So the show
I hope takes this very serious and that this isn't
(18:51):
something they just say, yeah, you know what we want, Sorry,
we won't even confront it. I want to know what
they're doing where their background checks do pull up burglary,
vandalism and restraining orders.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
I also just want to say, like I'm gonna get
the benefit of the doubt and say that it truly
this is the issue with whoever is doing the background
checks I don't think that they let him on knowing this,
I really do That's that would be nutty and that
would make them look bad, and they don't want to
look bad.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
I don't know. Yeah, you're right. I mean I don't
know how to.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Even like because they are had issues in the past
about like letting so and so on. Like remember Lincoln
from Becca season, he had some X that was like
this is like this guy's not good news, kind of
creepy whatever, And I just that was every time they
have like a casting issue, like where somebody has had
some sort of record, it always makes them like not
(19:49):
look that great and people make a big deal out
of out of course. And I just think that with this,
like this is like the heaviest of all issues that
I've heard of from the show, and I just don't
think that they would want to have anything to do
with it. So I just don't think it was got
That's shocking.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
That's shocking to me. If reality Steve can find it,
I don't know how the show couldn't find it.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
What if he gave him gave them wrong info, what
if he like gave it Bronx as a security number?
This No, like that would come up too, like this
is the number of so and so.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Yeah, I don't know. Ash, it's just not good. It's
not good, and I feel bad for jin as viewers.
I'm I'm on edge a little bit, like I don't
even know how to like really put words to it.
But it's it's that feeling of do I have to
now be not only watch the show and celebrate, criticize,
(20:53):
do all that stuff to all these contestants, but also
be a little concerned about their background story. If like
they're actually capable of entering into this relationship on national television,
that's that's a heavy lift one, you know, one that
I don't know how to answer. But it's just not good.
And I don't know how it slipped through the cracks,
(21:14):
and if it did, if we're going to give them
the benefit of the doubt, which I'm not ready to
necessarily do, because I just don't know how they were
so negligent in finding it.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Wouldn't it be even more negligent to put them on knowing?
Speaker 3 (21:29):
That was My point is, like, I don't there's I
don't know, there's nothing good, Like there's no excuse here
outside of the failure maybe of the person doing the
background check and that person needing to be like asked
why and what happened. I just know that from my
time for me personally, they knew everything about me everything,
(21:52):
And I don't know how at this point in the
seasons of The Bachelor they don't contin you to know
everything about these contestants because, like you said, they don't
want this, this controversy is not good for this show.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Well, we should ask some contestants that have currently gone
through the whole process whether or not they like met
with that For us, we like met with somebody who
to me felt like a criminal background person, like that
was their sole job.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Right.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Maybe they've left this in charge to somebody like it's
always been assistant or something. Oh it's always been a
third party. There you go. So maybe they are doing
it internally now and it really did slip through because
they're not professional.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
That's a bad decision. Every background check I've ever had
to receive in my life, at any level, this would
show up on like this isn't this, This isn't this
isn't a like a There's not a lot of different
versions of background checks. Now, there are a few. There's
state background checks, there's federal background checks, like there's there's stuff.
(23:01):
You know, it's different like criteria for how in depth
you go. But this would have shown up well.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
I mean it does say that the restraining order was sealed,
but the burglary should have been there.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Yeah, goodness, gracious Devin continuing to stay on the headlines. Uh,
and at some point he won't wrong. I was.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
I was so I'm so embarrassed. I was swindled by him.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Goodness, Ashley, I have.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
A really bad picker sometimes when it comes to show guys.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Huh. Yeah, I do feel like I want to like
kind of tell you I told you so, because I
feel like i've I'm usually semi on top of this stuff,
like oddly, like I am like, hey, I don't know
about this dude, and you're like, no, he's great.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
It all started with Jeff Home, Guys. I loved Jeff Home.
I thought he was absolutely the dreamiest, most perfect little
boyfriend she could have ever picked. And then we've heard
so much otherwise. Anyway, Well, at.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Least you did well in your own personal life. Hey,
we'll say this not good, nothing good about it. I
am I'm sad, as I said for jin the show
needs to This sounds like something we've said so often,
and like typically it has meaning and depth, but like
(24:25):
the show needs to do better. We need to know
and the leads need to know that this stuff will
not be a problem because in your dating life, if
you are outside of the show, you would have asked
the questions or you're like to get to the point
where you're like, yeah, this isn't good. And because you're
on the show and you aren't on social media and
(24:45):
you don't have access to the Internet, and you can't
research these people and you can't google the person that
you've been dating for a few weeks, you leave it
up to the show to do that for you, because
they take that away from you. And if you're going
to take it away from me and these contestants, then
we got to hope that you've done the work to
make sure that these people are a good fit. That's
(25:08):
the breaking news. That's all we got. There's not a
lot else to say about it other than it's not good.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
I can't wait to hear from John.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Yeah, goodness, and I hope we get to Anyways, until
next time, I haven't been I've been Ashley.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Say you guys
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Follow the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcasts on iHeartRadio,
or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.
This is the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast
with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Hey guys, welcome to the Almost smous podcast. Today Ben
and I are getting together to talk about some shocking
news that hit the internet yesterday. Devin has some serious
legal issues in his past.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
It's uh, there's a lot to break down here. So
this is a breaking news Almost Famous podcast. We're gonna
start doing these more because it just feels like these
some of this stuff can't wait till like next week's headlines,
and today is definitely one of those days, according to
Reality Steve. Reported by Reality Steve and then broken down
at little further by Bachelor Data. That's where I'm getting
(00:44):
a lot of my information from.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
But also now an article with Hollywood Reporter, which we
know is like a very legitimate entertainment news source.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yeah, it's just kind of coming across the airways. But
Reality Steve is we have to give him credit for
being the original one to break this.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Because the girl she's set in him the info right,
the ex girlfriend who he has the restraint that she
has a restraining order against Devon.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
It's a pretty wild story. So here is the story.
Devin who ended up with Jen at the end, and
then obviously had his moment on Life television that didn't
go well for him, and then tried to post a
thirteen many video that didn't go well for him. Has
now had more news come out here as of the
last twenty four hours that is also not going well
for him. And there's a lot of people involved in
(01:29):
this actually that we need to talk about that it's
not going to go well for But here's the headline.
Bachelorette star Devin X had a restraining order against him
in twenty seventeen. This took place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
So it happened back in the college years. Twenty was twenteen,
it's twenty one, okay, So while having a restraining order
out on him, he still came to her door, banged
on the door several times, starts screaming at her, and
then later that evening made a fire out in the
street outside of her apartment complex and apparently made the fire,
(02:10):
was lighting the actual restraining order on fire. She also
had her tire flattened and when it was being changed,
you know, when like TRIPLEA came to change or whatever,
Devon came outside and began laughing at her in like
an obnoxious way. Ultimately, he pled guilty to charges of
criminal trespass and simple criminal damage to property of less
(02:36):
than five hundred dollars. He received one year of unsupervised
probation because of this.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Like what, like, let's take a pause there, just for
everybody to process the information they just received. So Devin,
there's three three I think we should break this down.
The first, let's talk about Devon and obviously these actions
(03:07):
are so bad and at some level even hard to process,
just that he did all of.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
This, but he did this after the restraining order was
put on it. Like, what did he do to get
the restraining on to you?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
If we knew what he did?
Speaker 1 (03:27):
We know.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
So here's my first way breaking this down. I don't
think any of us, anybody out there listening, needs us
to go into just how terrible these acts are, because
I think that's obvious. He had a restraining order against them,
broke the restraining order, and then decided to vandalize and
torment this poor woman to a place where obviously there
(03:49):
was more law involved. But let's stop for a second
outside of that the obvious, and say, why did Devin
go on the show.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
After knowing that this was out there about him, and
then this could easily come out in public knowledge.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
That's my first thought, And maybe that's an incorrect way
to think of it, but I'm thinking, all right, dude,
you obviously have a past that you shouldn't not be
opening up millions of people to learn about. So let's
before we talk about how he got on the show,
let's talk about his decision to say, yeah, you know what,
I'm going to go on this show.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yeah, well, I mean, it's just weird. It's just also
proves that he was really hungry for some attention, so
hungry for attention that he perhaps didn't mind this coming
out about him. Okay, so that he, like I want
to feel, I feel like he like swindled her into love.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Now, yeah, Like originally, if I'm honest, my thought was
he did love her. Maybe he did still, I don't know,
but he was very into her, and that he wanted
this to work and it didn't work, and he just
handled everything past it not working very poorly from a
respect perspective, from an adult perspective, from showing any type
(05:05):
of maturity, he handled those things poorly. That was how
I thought of this whole thing was he loved her,
it didn't work out, and then he handled everything afterwards
like a child. Now, with this news coming out and
also his thirteen minute video, my perspective has changed to
(05:25):
be he played her this whole time. And I'll add
in this which will probably not be received well, the
group of men on this season were so bad that
he somehow came out on top.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Yeah, and especially after seeing the Golden Bachelorette and this
group of amazing.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
We can't compare the two. Those two cannot even be compared, Like,
they can't even They're two totally different categories.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
There's gotta be they have the capability of finding great people, right,
the young man.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
He's a great man. Your husband's a great man. Look
at him.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
They found him, they found you, They found a lot
of great people. But like, what is it casting that
sucks or or do is this generation which is a
decade younger? Now? A decade has passed since you and
Jared were casted cast Sorry.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Maybe Devins six years younger than me? That only six
years younger.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
That's not really generational, is it.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
No, he's six years younger men? Yeah, Okay, so that's
the first thoughts here this no matter what generation, Let's
be clear, no matter what generation, what time, what era,
how far we go along this this back, the backing
(06:57):
of what's happened in Devon's life is never should never
be on the show, right, Like this is not a
new generational thing where it's like, yeah, you know what,
the new generation just really likes to vandalize cars and
break into their ex's houses and have restraining orders put
out against them and break those restraining orders. Like that's
never going to be okay. So the fact that he
(07:18):
even ended up on the show as wild to me.
So that's a transition into talking about how he got
on the show. Yeah, Ashley, you've been on this show.
I've been on this show. The amount of effort put
into learning about my past and knowing whatever diseases I
carried or did it carry, and all the blood work
(07:38):
done and all of the investigation done into my history,
they knew everything about me.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah, they do a full background check, full psychological checkup
exam and then yeah physical exam. So insane that this
would have fallen through the cracks. The restraining order was
later sealed. It was sealed that I guess that means
like the X was like, Okay, I'm over it. Whatever
you can pretend it never happened. I don't know. That's
(08:06):
pretty generous after what he did. Then it says, but
the burglary for the arrest AFFI David, that is still
in the public public record, so they would have been
able to find that the bachelor, whoever the heck does
the background checks, so they would have found that he
had a burglary arrest. And if you look into the
(08:28):
burglary arrest, it discusses the restraining order, so it really
is public record, like all of it.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
If Reality Steve can find this, and how much time
it took him, I know, and Reality Steve obviously got
tipped off, so he knew he was invested, like well,
looking into something that was existing because of his ex
or whoever that tipped him off on this. But if
he can find it, the show can find it with
all the resources and the tools that they have available.
(08:55):
So let's talk about this for a second. I I
have a hard time imagining. In fact, I would go
as far as saying it's just not possible that the
show did not know of this record.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I think that I've a were a guess. I think
that they saw the burglary hster, which should have been
enough to be like, oh, we can't cast this guy.
I just think that they probably didn't look into the
paperwork that said that it had to do with, like
with the rest training order had been present as well.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
But how Ashley, So what you just said was they
saw a burglary area, which I'm saying it's.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Still nuts that they would have been like, Okay, you're
still allowed.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
On, and that they would allow Jin to end up
with him.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
I like that they wouldn't at some point say hey Jen, yea,
by the way, like this Devin dude, Like I know
you're into him and he's into you and all this stuff.
I mean they've done that. They did this for me
where they're like but like I don't know if she
is right for you, Like you need to ask yourself
that question.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
They could have twisted the story around like Top four.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Like how did they let this go through? And for
Jen to enter into this blind to his past. The
one thing that I always had trust on as a
lead was that the show had my back one and
I still believe they did. And I still believe they
do even though I questioned that at times, but they
(10:31):
still have my back and that all of the people
that were there that were showing up that they had
checked on like that. I was, you know, like, yes,
I needed to learn as much about them as possible. Yes,
I need to ask every question that was available to
me in the time that we had to try to
understand and learn who they were as people to see
if we were a match together. I never once questioned
(10:54):
if I had asked, Hey, have you ever been arrested
and if so for what, Hey, which you know outside
of everything else, Like have you spent any jail time?
Like that was never even a thought.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
So we have had people on the show that have
had DUIs. You know, I'd say a number. Now, what's
interesting about this legal issue is that this has to
do with dating. This has to do with a romantic
relationship in which this guy went crazy.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Let me be clear, Mistakes happen, and you learn from
those mistakes, and I'm hoping there's some grace there to say, Hey,
what happened, tell us more about this. We saw this
on your record, We saw this when we were like
doing the background check. Tell me a little bit more
so to help me understand like what you've learned from
that and how you've grown from that and who you
(11:44):
are today. The show knows enough about you to know
if you've actually grown from this or not. I'm not
saying that you know, mistakes don't happen. They do. And
I'm not saying that people that have made mistakes and
grown from those mistakes should not end up on the show.
I mean, look at Zach Clark for example, right, I mean,
the dude there's a great example of somebody has a
(12:06):
really bad and hard pass and has said, hey, I
need to learn from this, I need to grow from this,
and I'm gonna help others do that. Zak Clark should
one hundred percent beyond the show. He is a representative
of how we transform as humans. However, Devin and I
would I mean, I would say I would love to
find a way that he's represented growth, But nothing about
(12:28):
his behavior from the time of the breakup with Jin
to now has shown that he's grown from this. The
show knew that they know him. So how does he
get through the cracks here?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
I have really no idea, Ashley.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Can we go as far as to say that they
set gin up?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
You think that that they were like they started this
season and they thought this guy is going to get
really far and we don't want a happy ending for her.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
I actually don't think they ever expected Devin to get
as far as he did. I think I think if
we talked to them, they'd be like, yeah, we didn't
think that was go through. We've had some issues, you know,
as you know in the last few years where the
Bachelor's had controversy and you know, some were talked about
than others. We've had contestants go through controversy, some were
(13:17):
talked about than others. I don't know what to do
with this information other than say, we've said it before,
and casting has had people come on where their background
has either been you know, had a racial you know,
racist bias to it. They have come out and there
(13:38):
has been you know, records reported post them on the
show that people have talked about this should not ever happen,
Like what is going on?
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Right?
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Like?
Speaker 3 (13:51):
How is casting letting these people get through? This season
had and not all of them have been proven true,
but this season has had We won't mention names because
they have not been proven true. This season had multiple contestants.
In fact, I would say more than four who when
you look into their backstory, people are coming out fairly
(14:13):
valid sources saying this is this guy is not good news.
So what happened this season with Jen we're casting? Either
just put turned a blind eye to any background check,
or they didn't do them in general, or they were
negligent and just said, yeah, you know what, I see
the background check, but like you're good.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
They have to like hurry through this casting or something.
Did they did the Golden Bachelor set them back? I mean,
I'm not I'm not even being sarcastic here. They really
had a full schedule and they were filming The Golden Bachelor. Yeah,
the Golden Bachelor. Sorry, if I s a bachelor the
Golden Bachelor around the time that like casting would have
taken place.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
So I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I mean there's somebody, there's one person that's like in
charge to background checks though, so that just doesn't make sense,
like that that's their job, their sole job. I think.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Sure, this is also you guys just.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
A throw in there. I'm reading this reality Steve article
more thoroughly. And yeah he had a DWI too.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Yeah, it's it's not he doesn't have a clean record.
If it. But if this now the standard, like what
is what is not allowed on the show? If this
is all out on the show, then what is you know,
what is not allowed?
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Typically, I don't love to force anybody's hand to speak,
because there's a lot of topics that people maybe just
don't aren't. I like people to talk and say stuff
publicly when they're in the know and when they're knowledgeable,
and when they're coming from a place that they actually have,
they feel like they have a genuine, genuine and authentic
(15:48):
word to share.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
This is what a source close to production is telling
Entertainment Weekly. We take the safety of our contestants very seriously,
and we make every effort to conduct through diligence as
exhaustive as our vetting process. Is this projective order to
not service in our searches.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Huh what do you what background checks are you doing?
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Then reality Steve said that he like has this information
confirmed through Louisiana Police.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Yeah, third party that I want to talk about with Jen.
If I was Jin, I'd be fuming right now. Fuming
now granted, I'm I'm also you know, she's on Dance
with the Stars. I'm hoping she's you know, healed and
recovered and realizing that she dodged bullet here and that
(16:50):
she's like actually going to be in a really good
place and that you know, this breakup yes hard and tough,
and then the traumatizing moment of having to watch it
back on national television with him sitting next to her.
All that to be said. If I'm jin, I'm like
really mad.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
It's so mad. I don't even know how they can't
make it up to her, Like even this we didn't
sing with the stars, it doesn't make it up to her.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
No. I mean again, okay, Jen, We'll make it up
to you by spending the next three months of your
life on a show for us as well.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
I know. And it's like it's not like they could
be like we'll have you on Paradise and like, well
make sure that you find the love of your life.
It's like she's like, I'm not putting that trust into
you guys again, And I'm sorry. I just also want
to correct myself. It wasn't the police that reality. Steve
has it confirmed by He has spoken to a few
lawyers in Louisiana who, like obviously, can go into the
legal records of Louisiana and.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Yeah, Ashley again, I have a This show has been
so good to me in so many ways, and I
always want the show to be its best. Yeah, this
is a very This is just a really dark spot
and time for the show, and I hope that they
(18:09):
approach it. I hope this doesn't just like get pushed
under the rug and moved on from like other things
have happened, you know with the show. This for the
sake of our trust in the show as fans and
as viewers and as past contestants, like this is you know,
I take you know. I want to know that the
(18:31):
show does protect their leads and that the people on
the show are people who are ready for love and
also a good match for the lead. So the show
I hope takes this very serious and that this isn't
(18:51):
something they just say, yeah, you know what we want, Sorry,
we won't even confront it. I want to know what
they're doing where their background checks do pull up burglary,
vandalism and restraining orders.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
I also just want to say, like I'm gonna get
the benefit of the doubt and say that it truly
this is the issue with whoever is doing the background
checks I don't think that they let him on knowing this,
I really do That's that would be nutty and that
would make them look bad, and they don't want to
look bad.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
I don't know. Yeah, you're right. I mean I don't
know how to.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Even like because they are had issues in the past
about like letting so and so on. Like remember Lincoln
from Becca season, he had some X that was like
this is like this guy's not good news, kind of
creepy whatever, And I just that was every time they
have like a casting issue, like where somebody has had
some sort of record, it always makes them like not
(19:49):
look that great and people make a big deal out
of out of course. And I just think that with this,
like this is like the heaviest of all issues that
I've heard of from the show, and I just don't
think that they would want to have anything to do
with it. So I just don't think it was got
That's shocking.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
That's shocking to me. If reality Steve can find it,
I don't know how the show couldn't find it.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
What if he gave him gave them wrong info, what
if he like gave it Bronx as a security number?
This No, like that would come up too, like this
is the number of so and so.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Yeah, I don't know. Ash, it's just not good. It's
not good, and I feel bad for jin as viewers.
I'm I'm on edge a little bit, like I don't
even know how to like really put words to it.
But it's it's that feeling of do I have to
now be not only watch the show and celebrate, criticize,
(20:53):
do all that stuff to all these contestants, but also
be a little concerned about their background story. If like
they're actually capable of entering into this relationship on national television,
that's that's a heavy lift one, you know, one that
I don't know how to answer. But it's just not good.
And I don't know how it slipped through the cracks,
(21:14):
and if it did, if we're going to give them
the benefit of the doubt, which I'm not ready to
necessarily do, because I just don't know how they were
so negligent in finding it.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Wouldn't it be even more negligent to put them on knowing?
Speaker 3 (21:29):
That was My point is, like, I don't there's I
don't know, there's nothing good, Like there's no excuse here
outside of the failure maybe of the person doing the
background check and that person needing to be like asked
why and what happened. I just know that from my
time for me personally, they knew everything about me everything,
(21:52):
And I don't know how at this point in the
seasons of The Bachelor they don't contin you to know
everything about these contestants because, like you said, they don't
want this, this controversy is not good for this show.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Well, we should ask some contestants that have currently gone
through the whole process whether or not they like met
with that For us, we like met with somebody who
to me felt like a criminal background person, like that
was their sole job.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Right.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Maybe they've left this in charge to somebody like it's
always been assistant or something. Oh it's always been a
third party. There you go. So maybe they are doing
it internally now and it really did slip through because
they're not professional.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
That's a bad decision. Every background check I've ever had
to receive in my life, at any level, this would
show up on like this isn't this, This isn't this
isn't a like a There's not a lot of different
versions of background checks. Now, there are a few. There's
state background checks, there's federal background checks, like there's there's stuff.
(23:01):
You know, it's different like criteria for how in depth
you go. But this would have shown up well.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
I mean it does say that the restraining order was sealed,
but the burglary should have been there.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Yeah, goodness, gracious Devin continuing to stay on the headlines. Uh,
and at some point he won't wrong. I was.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
I was so I'm so embarrassed. I was swindled by him.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Goodness, Ashley, I have.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
A really bad picker sometimes when it comes to show guys.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Huh. Yeah, I do feel like I want to like
kind of tell you I told you so, because I
feel like i've I'm usually semi on top of this stuff,
like oddly, like I am like, hey, I don't know
about this dude, and you're like, no, he's great.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
It all started with Jeff Home, Guys. I loved Jeff Home.
I thought he was absolutely the dreamiest, most perfect little
boyfriend she could have ever picked. And then we've heard
so much otherwise. Anyway, Well, at.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Least you did well in your own personal life. Hey,
we'll say this not good, nothing good about it. I
am I'm sad, as I said for jin the show
needs to This sounds like something we've said so often,
and like typically it has meaning and depth, but like
(24:25):
the show needs to do better. We need to know
and the leads need to know that this stuff will
not be a problem because in your dating life, if
you are outside of the show, you would have asked
the questions or you're like to get to the point
where you're like, yeah, this isn't good. And because you're
on the show and you aren't on social media and
(24:45):
you don't have access to the Internet, and you can't
research these people and you can't google the person that
you've been dating for a few weeks, you leave it
up to the show to do that for you, because
they take that away from you. And if you're going
to take it away from me and these contestants, then
we got to hope that you've done the work to
make sure that these people are a good fit. That's
(25:08):
the breaking news. That's all we got. There's not a
lot else to say about it other than it's not good.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
I can't wait to hear from John.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Yeah, goodness, and I hope we get to Anyways, until
next time, I haven't been I've been Ashley.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Say you guys
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Follow the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcasts on iHeartRadio,
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Hosts And Creators
Ben Higgins
Ashley Iaconetti
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