May 9, 2025 • 23 mins
Ben and Ashley are breaking down the latest in Bachelor Nation headlines! We know more details about the plan to extort Clayton Echard with a fake pregnancy, and Ben has a major apology for his fellow former lead.
Ashley has a theory about the Bachelor Nation social media account.
And, we dissect what makes an effective Bachelor audition tape… starting with Ashley’s!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Ben and Ashley I almost Famous podcast
with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
It's almost famous podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
We are here today to break down the headlines happening
in Bachelor Nation. And there are some big ones, big ones.
Speaker 4 (00:15):
Big ones. There's a huge one that was a huge one.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Let's kick it off with what I believe is the biggest. Actually,
I want to preface this was saying there is so
much I want to say on this issue, so much
that originally because I think of the confusion, the severity.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
The.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
How radically weird it was, I honestly didn't know how
to even like review it or analyze it here when
this first happened years ago, I think I never did.
I didn't do a good job personally of giving Clayton
Ecker the benefit of the doubt because I was like this,
(00:56):
there's no way this isn't true. This is so crazy,
there's no way something this crazy is happening.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
Too crazy that you couldn't script it right.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
You couldn't script it. And so now as we come
to a conclusion on the matter, there is still so
much I want to say in support of Clayton, but
also questions I want to raise and ask about this
situation because it still feels so crazy to me that
this is true.
Speaker 5 (01:23):
So let's let's yeah, get let's get into it, and
then we're gonna have to have you explain what kind
of questions are.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
I don't think I could even say him, because I
feel like I could give myself into trouble saying him.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
That's why I'm sitting here. Come, I don't know. Here
we go. Here's the headline. I'm gonna read a word
for a word.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Con artist Laura Owens charge with seven felonies for lying
about pregnancy with Clayton Eckerd. This is according to the
San Francisco Chronicle. Now listen to this con artist Laura Owens,
who's the daughter of radio legend Ron Owens, is charge
(02:01):
with seven felonies for lying about pregnancy with Clayton Eckerd.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Ashley. Please take it away before I get myself into trouble.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
So I want to spread hearst here.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
I read somewhere that she made up seven pregnancies. But
this is about Clayton's case. This is this this week,
this big headline was that Clayton is off, you know,
like that it's been proven by the court that she
was lying about the twin pregnancy that she said that
she had with Clayton, even though Clayton said that that
(02:37):
would have been impossible as they never had intercourse. There
was some oral stuff going on during their hook up,
but there was no intercourse. But she said that she
was pregnant with twins if you guys don't remember the story,
and that she later misscarried. But she was like asking
for she was asking for the what's it called? Like,
(03:02):
oh my god, how am I blanking on this? The
parental support, child support and stuff from him? This week
it came out the court ruled that she is a
big fat.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Liar, right, Okay, So we'll pause there to ask my
first question.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I know it is okay to ask.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
At what point don't you have to have kids? Like
she would have had to have the children to then
get parental support?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Right? So yeah, how did.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
She think this was going to play out? The confusing
part to me again, I'm going to filter my questions.
I know a lot of you out there going this
is crazy. How did this even happen? And your your
questions are valid. I just don't want to say in
publicly because there is a you know, I guess the
court case is over, but there is a conclusion now
and hopefully everybody can move on. But my first thought is,
(03:49):
how did she think this was going to end? Like,
how did was this going to play out to where
she won this case? Because you're in the court, they
don't just say, hey, we'll take your word for it.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
They investigate, are you pregnant? Are you not?
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Is it Clayton's child? Is it not Clayton's child? Is
it Clayton's twins? Is it not Clayton's twins? Do these
twins even exist? These are the questions that would have
been asked, and at some point you would have had
to prove that all of this is true. Now, I
didn't hear seven. I heard three other cases.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
Okay, well this was supposed to be twins. So maybe
she was always saying it's twins.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
It's this is And so I think now's the appropriate
time because I'll be honest about me personally and about
Bachelor Nation in general. I think due to some very
wild circumstances that we just talked to Clayton about. You
(04:45):
can go back and listen to it in his life
right coming off the show and during the show, he
did get you know he was, as Nick Files said,
the human punching bag.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
He got hit on.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
All sides, and it felt like this was a very
chaotic season for him him and I did not give
him the benefit of the doubt. I don't think Bachelor
Nation came in wild support of him, because I do
think this was one of those situations to give the
excuse here where it was so ridiculously outrageously crazy that
we're like, there's no way this has no threat of
truth to it, because what human would make up these
(05:18):
lies and take it to court knowing that an investigation
would pursue and still sticking by the story that yes,
I am pregnant with twins, so that's and so I
think at least me personally said there's no way this
isn't true. So I'll take this time yeah to say
I am sorry, Clayton.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
I am sorry to I am very.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Sorry because I did jump to conclusions based on the circumstances,
and again, one of many times in my life, I
was wrong on what I thought happened, and then it
happened from an outside perspective with somebody with limited knowledge
who probably shouldn't have shared an opinion in j or
(06:00):
all on this, but that's kind of my job here,
is to read the headlines and share an opinion. And
again I think, as I look back, I shared the
opinion I did because this seems so crazy, and now
that it has proven to be this crazy, in this
outlandish and this wild, and this is something you couldn't
script that he'll probably make millions upon millions of dollars
(06:21):
some because somebody's going to pick this up for entertainment.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
This is a lifetime story, a lifetime original movie.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
And he should make millions on it. I was wrong,
and I am sorry, and I want to come public
and say that because I was not one of those
that stood by his side since the beginning, and now
I want to share that I feel. I feel bad
about it, and I'm also still in shock that this
situation ever happened.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
Okay, but Ben, you are making yourself sound way worse
than it was. Like we've believed him for quite some
time now, and even when we were skeptical, we were skeptical,
We were never in full belief.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
Of this stuff.
Speaker 5 (07:00):
We were STiMi thought that there was maybe some truth
to it.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Had to be some truth to it. This can't be
that crazy without having true to it.
Speaker 5 (07:09):
I think like you and I were like, but was
it really just I mean, sorry, sorry, I know this
is trying to be a PG program usually, but like,
was was it really just oral?
Speaker 4 (07:20):
She's going to pretend that she got pregnant on oral?
Speaker 2 (07:23):
That was some of the questions we asked.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
And I thought at the time we were going down
a path that was helping this thing make sense. And yes,
I would say I was more skeptical. I was never
sitting here with you privately or publicly being like there, Clayton, gosh,
this is he's so messed over here?
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Why would he do this?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
No, we were like what more skeptical, But I think
our skepticism came off of wanting to believe her, for one,
because who would take this to court unless there was
some truth to it? And it wasn't true? And so
I would say this is one of the wildest stories
to ever happen on the headline for the almost famous podcast.
(08:02):
In the last nine and a half years of doing this,
this has to go down as like one of the
craziest headlines.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
I agree, it probably is the longest lasting crazy headline
we've had.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
All right, next headline is this F one fans slam
Bachelor star for flashing drivers at race. This is how
you cause Arek is the quote that I'm going to say.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
That's come for me. It's going to wreck.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
You flash somebody going about two hundred miles an hour.
Speaker 5 (08:45):
You're right, that's extremely dangerous. That's not a laughing matter.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
No, it's crazy anybody. Yeah, goodness, please don't do that
to me.
Speaker 5 (08:53):
Ever, this headline is so overdone. When I read it,
just as they intended when they wrote it, I was like,
how disgusting, Maria. That's awful. There are children there. That
is extremely distracting. It's just kind of piggy, right, Well,
it really wasn't that bad. When I went to go
(09:14):
watch the TikTok, uh the she does, I don't think,
she says in the comments in response to people saying
this is gross, she said, I didn't actually do it,
And when you watch the TikTok you can tell she
didn't actually do it.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
It was just like a montage of them showing like
how crazy they were at the F one.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Race.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
It was like not a big deal.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
So she didn't really flash him as what we're.
Speaker 5 (09:38):
Saying, I don't think, so, I mean based on like
the view that I see on TikTok No. Also, she
says in the comments, she didn't so I kind of
believe her.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
I believe her on this one.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
All right, fair enough, here we go.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Next headline is this The Bachelor's Madison pruit Trout. Madison
Preuit Trout has a new book coming The cover is
now released. It's all Dare to Be True.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
I'm looking. I think the article says that she's had
two books.
Speaker 5 (10:05):
Come out, and I'm like, this is her second, but
I'm like, no, this is their third, her third, It
is her third. Okay, yeah, Mattie has her third book
coming out.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
It's crazy.
Speaker 5 (10:14):
She's only twenty eight years old. I feel like Maddie
is so beyond her years. She had made for this moment,
come out in twenty twenty one, The Love Everybody Wants
in twenty twenty three, and this year she will have
Dare to Be True come out. People had the exclusive
first look on it, and she says that she knows
(10:36):
how it feels to be stuck, bound by bound by lies,
burdened by past mistakes and shame, confused by the noise
in the world around me. Before I wrote my first book.
Before even The Bachelor, I chased a version of myself
that I believed would lead to a happier, freear me. Instead,
it led me into deeper confusion. So that's why she
wanted to write the book. She wrote it for the
(10:58):
woman who was tired of proteid performing, who is exhausted
at trying to be someone that she's not.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Whoa sounds like every Bachelor contestant, male and female. We
could all read that and benefit from it, can Yeah,
Speaking of books, Golden Bachelor lum Gary Turner has a
juicy wow. It's always good when they add that in.
There a juicy new book coming. The cover was also released.
It's called Golden Years.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Oh, I didn't know.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
This subtitle is what I've learned from love, loss and
reality television.
Speaker 5 (11:34):
Who the heck doesn't have a book? Gary is going
to be yeah, you're right me. He is going to
chronicle the grief of his wife Tony's death death in
this book, and then he's going to of course talk
about his unbelievable experiences on The Golden Bachelor and the
(11:55):
life lessons that he took away from both. So it's
not just a tell all about what happened behind the scenes,
but also a book for those who are dealing with grief.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
We're excited for Gary and Maddie. It is always a
big a constument to come out with a book.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
It takes a lot of work, a lot of time,
a lot of effort, a lot of what.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
I don't have a book. It's too much focus.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Ben, I would love to hear it.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
I would love to, but.
Speaker 5 (12:20):
You know, I get so overwhelmed because I just I
love to write with a voice. Give me two pages,
be great. I could probably write a column, but I
could never just I could never sit there and be like,
now you have to fill two hundred pages, Ugh, Astley.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
I can't wait till the day you come out with one.
It's gonna be amazing.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Here's a wild headline.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
I know nothing about this guy, but the subtitle to
this headline is she found a way to downgrade you
hate to see It is the quote and the subtitle
the headline is this are Rachel Kirconnell and Zane Hijazzi date.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
Who Zaaneazzi is. He is a social media star, though,
so do I have to look him up? These are
like breaking news headlines.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Guys.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
They were just sharing things. Like, neither has posted anything
that confirms their dating. But Zayan did share something on
May six. It was a photo on his instat story
showing his legs and a woman's legs intertwined while sitting in.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
The backseat of a car.
Speaker 5 (13:29):
Then the two swapped one of their shoes, his her swap, okay.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
And then people have decided to go full.
Speaker 5 (13:37):
Detective mode and like pieced together the outfits and the
shoes that Rachel was wearing and that he was wearing
in other incest stories on a trip to South Carolina.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
For a friend's wedding. That's what we got. That's that's
all we got.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
I don't know nothing. You know nothing about this guy.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
So let me look at this guy.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Now take a second.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
Oh good, Oh okay, So he has two point eight
million followers.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
So he has to be legitimate.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Legitimate as in, like he's a known figure.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Yes, no, Like he has to be the best dude
ever because he has.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
You have your own opinion on mail influencers. I know,
and he is a straight up male influencer.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Yeah cool.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
I don't know what he's known for, like what his
shtick is.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
He does have a podcast called Unfiltered.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
His face is very familiar.
Speaker 5 (14:33):
To me, but I don't know much about him, and
I'm sorry if this shows my mi millennial.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Yeah, yeah, it shows your age definitely. All right.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Well, doesn't feel like people are thrilled on the dating relationship,
and people also aren't thrilled with ari Lyendyke Junior right now.
He talks about being roasted for breaking up with Becca
Koufrin for Lauren and then recently he showed it looks
like the People magazine cover that says the Bachelor betrayal.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
It's really he is not.
Speaker 5 (15:10):
He's looking back on Becca and saying, Wow, what a
time we had. And he does look back on the
People magazine cover and says, I remember hating the photos
they chose. I think he didn't like the photos that
they chose, because I might be rotting into this quote,
but I feel like he was like, oh, they're just like,
(15:32):
it's not supposed to make us look like the joyful,
happy couple, because we're supposed to sort of look like villains,
So they kind of chose crappy pictures of us. And
I'm looking at the picture and I'm like, you know what,
it's not the best picture of you guys, he does.
It does feel like a lifetime ago. But look at
us now, we have our fourth kid on the way.
(15:53):
He said, he knew that we were gonna be roasted,
and but we knew what we had and I couldn't
have made it through with it outer.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
And here we are. It's just like seven years later,
like it's.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
More of a it's more of the their low, their low,
as the young kids would say.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Yeah, I mean I think that went down in a
very It wasn't supported by Bachelor Nation, is what I
should say.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
And now they're very supported by Bachelor Nation.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
They definitely turned the corner there. Speaking of support for
Bachelor Nation, unseen audition tapes are finally dropping. Here's where
and when to watch this. According to the Bachelor Nation,
(16:46):
it's always been something that I think.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Would be a good idea.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
They're hilarious, they're wacky, they're weird, and it helps us
get to know the people even better. I wish they
would be shown like on a portal as each cast
member is announced, so that we could watch them then,
so we'd be like, oh, this makes you make more
sense to us.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
But they're dropping Ashley to us more.
Speaker 5 (17:07):
Okay, So Bachelor Nation is kind of like the overarching
account website Instagram blahlah blah that like shows extra content
and Bachelor News. Somebody is new is running it over there,
and people are catching on. I think there's somebody new
running it because there are some good ideas that are
popping up and people are making comments in the comment
(17:29):
section saying like, wow, you guys are really like spruce
it up over here, like way to go for the
new admin. They're doing this, and they're doing this LTK thing.
To talk about that on another date, but right now,
they are releasing the audition tapes that nobody's ever seen,
starting on May fourteenth on their YouTube series. It's gonna
be a new YouTube series. It's called The Bachelor Audition Tapes.
(17:52):
They have them from Joey Hannah. They're gonna be starting
with Joey's Hannah, Gabby. They have Charity And I texted
Ben last night. I was like, man, they really like
they've they've really forgotten our generation. It's all good. I mean, like,
you know, I like to should be in show love
a little bit. You know, it was success stor It's fun.
I feel a little left out. Because my audition tape
(18:13):
was quite something. It was insane, and they were like,
this girl's insane, let's get her on the show. But
I said that back in our day, nothing was digital.
I sent in mine on a flash drive in a
FedEx envelope, so I don't know that they have those
just sitting on a desk. They probably had some digital
dropbox for these fresh new youngins.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
What about you.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
I mean, I didn't think of it that way.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
I was like, oh, this is weird that all these
things are being announced and you know, I don't know
anything about it, and that's fine. I think we've come
to terms with that. But I didn't think, oh, I
wish mine would be shown because mine was so ridiculously
bad and I put zero effort into it. Yours is
great and actually really fun to watch. I sat on
the deck and like at a lunch break, and answered
(18:58):
questions that my bot, like one of the my bosses
was asking me. And there was even like somebody in
the background like sitting chilling too, and I had like
my white tube socks on. I remember that, So I
don't really care. I don't think it was that interesting,
but I think this is a good idea, and I
do wish they would show yours. I bet they do
end up showing yours, mostly.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Because they're gonna rip it from my Instagram.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Yeah, because yours is so good. It is iconic, Like
yours is so.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
Good, you're very sweet.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
It's iconic. But it never really been seen. No, I
did post it on Instagram five years ago, and yesterday
at our almost famous text jut Chain, I went and
I scrolled scrolled gold back and I copied and paste
the link so everybody could see it. I'm reading comments
from our producers right now. They want me to introduce
a clip so they can use the audio right here
(19:48):
in the podcast. So, guys, this was me getting out
of the limo, hoping that the Bachelor was going to
be Jeff Home.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
It was actually my sister with a plate on her face.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
I talk about really cringey stuff about how I'm a virgin,
and because I knew that was gonna get their ears
price still, I went through a whole series, like a
whole season in three minutes.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
So and here cute Amadia.
Speaker 6 (20:17):
Ooh, here I'm Ashley Conneddi. I'm twenty five, I go
to Syracuse University. I'm about to graduate in August with
my masters in broadcasting.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
I love football, food.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Cooking, pop music, especially boy bands, and I can't wait
to know more about you.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
I'll see you inside. I love everything about pop culture.
Speaker 6 (20:39):
I love storytelling, and I know this is not something
that you're supposed to be on a first date, but
I'm such a pisces, so I'm optimistic and so dreamy
and hopeless romantic almost to a fault. I feel like
that's the reason why I'm not that much of an
experienced dater, because there's no romance in today's society. Guys
are always like do you want to hang out? Instead
(21:00):
of do you want to go out with me? And
I just feel like I should be treated like a princess.
I know it's cliche, but I just really want that
fairytale romance. I'm so excited that you're here in my hometown.
This is great Falls Park. I usually like coming here and.
Speaker 5 (21:16):
Getting a whole bunch of food and just sitting by
the water.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
I think that's the perfect date.
Speaker 6 (21:21):
Well. As much as I'd love to spend the night
with you without cameras, I have to tell you something
and I don't tell many people this. I'm a virgin Ashally,
please accept this Rose. Yes, I'm a pretty good writer,
but I'm having a hard time writing the story of
my own romance ABC.
Speaker 5 (21:40):
I'm hoping you'll help me write the first chapter. And
then I have another producer of ours saying did you
hire a videographer? Well, actually, I was in my capstone
at grad school at this point, so that was like
our internship month and a half, and I was a
sports concentration, so I didn't have my DC capstone the
way that the hard news kids had. But my good
(22:02):
friends were in DC, and you know, my parents' houses
a half an hour from and we had access to
all our school's camera equipment. So one day she came
over with the with a nice big camera, a huge tripod,
a couple love mics, and we did the damn thing.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
As becka Couperin would say.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Yeah, yours is great, it's worth watching. It's you know,
this is a great project. I really think this needs
to become a thing before every season starts, so we
get to know people better. Hey, that's all the headlines
we have for you today. Some big ones out there,
some ones that I was wrong in my skepticism on again,
(22:42):
I want to apologize for that, but we'll continue to
bring you headlines the good, the bad, the ugly, the tough,
the difficult, the weird, the chaotic, because that's what Bachelor
Nation does. So until next time, I've been Ben, I've
Been Ashley.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
See you guys.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Follow the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast on
iHeart Radio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts
This is the Ben and Ashley I almost Famous podcast
with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
It's almost famous podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
We are here today to break down the headlines happening
in Bachelor Nation. And there are some big ones, big ones.
Speaker 4 (00:15):
Big ones. There's a huge one that was a huge one.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Let's kick it off with what I believe is the biggest. Actually,
I want to preface this was saying there is so
much I want to say on this issue, so much
that originally because I think of the confusion, the severity.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
The.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
How radically weird it was, I honestly didn't know how
to even like review it or analyze it here when
this first happened years ago, I think I never did.
I didn't do a good job personally of giving Clayton
Ecker the benefit of the doubt because I was like this,
(00:56):
there's no way this isn't true. This is so crazy,
there's no way something this crazy is happening.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
Too crazy that you couldn't script it right.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
You couldn't script it. And so now as we come
to a conclusion on the matter, there is still so
much I want to say in support of Clayton, but
also questions I want to raise and ask about this
situation because it still feels so crazy to me that
this is true.
Speaker 5 (01:23):
So let's let's yeah, get let's get into it, and
then we're gonna have to have you explain what kind
of questions are.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
I don't think I could even say him, because I
feel like I could give myself into trouble saying him.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
That's why I'm sitting here. Come, I don't know. Here
we go. Here's the headline. I'm gonna read a word
for a word.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Con artist Laura Owens charge with seven felonies for lying
about pregnancy with Clayton Eckerd. This is according to the
San Francisco Chronicle. Now listen to this con artist Laura Owens,
who's the daughter of radio legend Ron Owens, is charge
(02:01):
with seven felonies for lying about pregnancy with Clayton Eckerd.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Ashley. Please take it away before I get myself into trouble.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
So I want to spread hearst here.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
I read somewhere that she made up seven pregnancies. But
this is about Clayton's case. This is this this week,
this big headline was that Clayton is off, you know,
like that it's been proven by the court that she
was lying about the twin pregnancy that she said that
she had with Clayton, even though Clayton said that that
(02:37):
would have been impossible as they never had intercourse. There
was some oral stuff going on during their hook up,
but there was no intercourse. But she said that she
was pregnant with twins if you guys don't remember the story,
and that she later misscarried. But she was like asking
for she was asking for the what's it called? Like,
(03:02):
oh my god, how am I blanking on this? The
parental support, child support and stuff from him? This week
it came out the court ruled that she is a
big fat.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Liar, right, Okay, So we'll pause there to ask my
first question.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I know it is okay to ask.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
At what point don't you have to have kids? Like
she would have had to have the children to then
get parental support?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Right? So yeah, how did.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
She think this was going to play out? The confusing
part to me again, I'm going to filter my questions.
I know a lot of you out there going this
is crazy. How did this even happen? And your your
questions are valid. I just don't want to say in
publicly because there is a you know, I guess the
court case is over, but there is a conclusion now
and hopefully everybody can move on. But my first thought is,
(03:49):
how did she think this was going to end? Like,
how did was this going to play out to where
she won this case? Because you're in the court, they
don't just say, hey, we'll take your word for it.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
They investigate, are you pregnant? Are you not?
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Is it Clayton's child? Is it not Clayton's child? Is
it Clayton's twins? Is it not Clayton's twins? Do these
twins even exist? These are the questions that would have
been asked, and at some point you would have had
to prove that all of this is true. Now, I
didn't hear seven. I heard three other cases.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
Okay, well this was supposed to be twins. So maybe
she was always saying it's twins.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
It's this is And so I think now's the appropriate
time because I'll be honest about me personally and about
Bachelor Nation in general. I think due to some very
wild circumstances that we just talked to Clayton about. You
(04:45):
can go back and listen to it in his life
right coming off the show and during the show, he
did get you know he was, as Nick Files said,
the human punching bag.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
He got hit on.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
All sides, and it felt like this was a very
chaotic season for him him and I did not give
him the benefit of the doubt. I don't think Bachelor
Nation came in wild support of him, because I do
think this was one of those situations to give the
excuse here where it was so ridiculously outrageously crazy that
we're like, there's no way this has no threat of
truth to it, because what human would make up these
(05:18):
lies and take it to court knowing that an investigation
would pursue and still sticking by the story that yes,
I am pregnant with twins, so that's and so I
think at least me personally said there's no way this
isn't true. So I'll take this time yeah to say
I am sorry, Clayton.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
I am sorry to I am very.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Sorry because I did jump to conclusions based on the circumstances,
and again, one of many times in my life, I
was wrong on what I thought happened, and then it
happened from an outside perspective with somebody with limited knowledge
who probably shouldn't have shared an opinion in j or
(06:00):
all on this, but that's kind of my job here,
is to read the headlines and share an opinion. And
again I think, as I look back, I shared the
opinion I did because this seems so crazy, and now
that it has proven to be this crazy, in this
outlandish and this wild, and this is something you couldn't
script that he'll probably make millions upon millions of dollars
(06:21):
some because somebody's going to pick this up for entertainment.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
This is a lifetime story, a lifetime original movie.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
And he should make millions on it. I was wrong,
and I am sorry, and I want to come public
and say that because I was not one of those
that stood by his side since the beginning, and now
I want to share that I feel. I feel bad
about it, and I'm also still in shock that this
situation ever happened.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
Okay, but Ben, you are making yourself sound way worse
than it was. Like we've believed him for quite some
time now, and even when we were skeptical, we were skeptical,
We were never in full belief.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
Of this stuff.
Speaker 5 (07:00):
We were STiMi thought that there was maybe some truth
to it.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Had to be some truth to it. This can't be
that crazy without having true to it.
Speaker 5 (07:09):
I think like you and I were like, but was
it really just I mean, sorry, sorry, I know this
is trying to be a PG program usually, but like,
was was it really just oral?
Speaker 4 (07:20):
She's going to pretend that she got pregnant on oral?
Speaker 2 (07:23):
That was some of the questions we asked.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
And I thought at the time we were going down
a path that was helping this thing make sense. And yes,
I would say I was more skeptical. I was never
sitting here with you privately or publicly being like there, Clayton, gosh,
this is he's so messed over here?
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Why would he do this?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
No, we were like what more skeptical, But I think
our skepticism came off of wanting to believe her, for one,
because who would take this to court unless there was
some truth to it? And it wasn't true? And so
I would say this is one of the wildest stories
to ever happen on the headline for the almost famous podcast.
(08:02):
In the last nine and a half years of doing this,
this has to go down as like one of the
craziest headlines.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
I agree, it probably is the longest lasting crazy headline
we've had.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
All right, next headline is this F one fans slam
Bachelor star for flashing drivers at race. This is how
you cause Arek is the quote that I'm going to say.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
That's come for me. It's going to wreck.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
You flash somebody going about two hundred miles an hour.
Speaker 5 (08:45):
You're right, that's extremely dangerous. That's not a laughing matter.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
No, it's crazy anybody. Yeah, goodness, please don't do that
to me.
Speaker 5 (08:53):
Ever, this headline is so overdone. When I read it,
just as they intended when they wrote it, I was like,
how disgusting, Maria. That's awful. There are children there. That
is extremely distracting. It's just kind of piggy, right, Well,
it really wasn't that bad. When I went to go
(09:14):
watch the TikTok, uh the she does, I don't think,
she says in the comments in response to people saying
this is gross, she said, I didn't actually do it,
And when you watch the TikTok you can tell she
didn't actually do it.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
It was just like a montage of them showing like
how crazy they were at the F one.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Race.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
It was like not a big deal.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
So she didn't really flash him as what we're.
Speaker 5 (09:38):
Saying, I don't think, so, I mean based on like
the view that I see on TikTok No. Also, she
says in the comments, she didn't so I kind of
believe her.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
I believe her on this one.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
All right, fair enough, here we go.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Next headline is this The Bachelor's Madison pruit Trout. Madison
Preuit Trout has a new book coming The cover is
now released. It's all Dare to Be True.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
I'm looking. I think the article says that she's had
two books.
Speaker 5 (10:05):
Come out, and I'm like, this is her second, but
I'm like, no, this is their third, her third, It
is her third. Okay, yeah, Mattie has her third book
coming out.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
It's crazy.
Speaker 5 (10:14):
She's only twenty eight years old. I feel like Maddie
is so beyond her years. She had made for this moment,
come out in twenty twenty one, The Love Everybody Wants
in twenty twenty three, and this year she will have
Dare to Be True come out. People had the exclusive
first look on it, and she says that she knows
(10:36):
how it feels to be stuck, bound by bound by lies,
burdened by past mistakes and shame, confused by the noise
in the world around me. Before I wrote my first book.
Before even The Bachelor, I chased a version of myself
that I believed would lead to a happier, freear me. Instead,
it led me into deeper confusion. So that's why she
wanted to write the book. She wrote it for the
(10:58):
woman who was tired of proteid performing, who is exhausted
at trying to be someone that she's not.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Whoa sounds like every Bachelor contestant, male and female. We
could all read that and benefit from it, can Yeah,
Speaking of books, Golden Bachelor lum Gary Turner has a
juicy wow. It's always good when they add that in.
There a juicy new book coming. The cover was also released.
It's called Golden Years.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Oh, I didn't know.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
This subtitle is what I've learned from love, loss and
reality television.
Speaker 5 (11:34):
Who the heck doesn't have a book? Gary is going
to be yeah, you're right me. He is going to
chronicle the grief of his wife Tony's death death in
this book, and then he's going to of course talk
about his unbelievable experiences on The Golden Bachelor and the
(11:55):
life lessons that he took away from both. So it's
not just a tell all about what happened behind the scenes,
but also a book for those who are dealing with grief.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
We're excited for Gary and Maddie. It is always a
big a constument to come out with a book.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
It takes a lot of work, a lot of time,
a lot of effort, a lot of what.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
I don't have a book. It's too much focus.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Ben, I would love to hear it.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
I would love to, but.
Speaker 5 (12:20):
You know, I get so overwhelmed because I just I
love to write with a voice. Give me two pages,
be great. I could probably write a column, but I
could never just I could never sit there and be like,
now you have to fill two hundred pages, Ugh, Astley.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
I can't wait till the day you come out with one.
It's gonna be amazing.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Here's a wild headline.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
I know nothing about this guy, but the subtitle to
this headline is she found a way to downgrade you
hate to see It is the quote and the subtitle
the headline is this are Rachel Kirconnell and Zane Hijazzi date.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
Who Zaaneazzi is. He is a social media star, though,
so do I have to look him up? These are
like breaking news headlines.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Guys.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
They were just sharing things. Like, neither has posted anything
that confirms their dating. But Zayan did share something on
May six. It was a photo on his instat story
showing his legs and a woman's legs intertwined while sitting in.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
The backseat of a car.
Speaker 5 (13:29):
Then the two swapped one of their shoes, his her swap, okay.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
And then people have decided to go full.
Speaker 5 (13:37):
Detective mode and like pieced together the outfits and the
shoes that Rachel was wearing and that he was wearing
in other incest stories on a trip to South Carolina.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
For a friend's wedding. That's what we got. That's that's
all we got.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
I don't know nothing. You know nothing about this guy.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
So let me look at this guy.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Now take a second.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
Oh good, Oh okay, So he has two point eight
million followers.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
So he has to be legitimate.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Legitimate as in, like he's a known figure.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Yes, no, Like he has to be the best dude
ever because he has.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
You have your own opinion on mail influencers. I know,
and he is a straight up male influencer.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Yeah cool.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
I don't know what he's known for, like what his
shtick is.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
He does have a podcast called Unfiltered.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
His face is very familiar.
Speaker 5 (14:33):
To me, but I don't know much about him, and
I'm sorry if this shows my mi millennial.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Yeah, yeah, it shows your age definitely. All right.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Well, doesn't feel like people are thrilled on the dating relationship,
and people also aren't thrilled with ari Lyendyke Junior right now.
He talks about being roasted for breaking up with Becca
Koufrin for Lauren and then recently he showed it looks
like the People magazine cover that says the Bachelor betrayal.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
It's really he is not.
Speaker 5 (15:10):
He's looking back on Becca and saying, Wow, what a
time we had. And he does look back on the
People magazine cover and says, I remember hating the photos
they chose. I think he didn't like the photos that
they chose, because I might be rotting into this quote,
but I feel like he was like, oh, they're just like,
(15:32):
it's not supposed to make us look like the joyful,
happy couple, because we're supposed to sort of look like villains,
So they kind of chose crappy pictures of us. And
I'm looking at the picture and I'm like, you know what,
it's not the best picture of you guys, he does.
It does feel like a lifetime ago. But look at
us now, we have our fourth kid on the way.
(15:53):
He said, he knew that we were gonna be roasted,
and but we knew what we had and I couldn't
have made it through with it outer.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
And here we are. It's just like seven years later,
like it's.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
More of a it's more of the their low, their low,
as the young kids would say.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Yeah, I mean I think that went down in a
very It wasn't supported by Bachelor Nation, is what I
should say.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
And now they're very supported by Bachelor Nation.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
They definitely turned the corner there. Speaking of support for
Bachelor Nation, unseen audition tapes are finally dropping. Here's where
and when to watch this. According to the Bachelor Nation,
(16:46):
it's always been something that I think.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Would be a good idea.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
They're hilarious, they're wacky, they're weird, and it helps us
get to know the people even better. I wish they
would be shown like on a portal as each cast
member is announced, so that we could watch them then,
so we'd be like, oh, this makes you make more
sense to us.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
But they're dropping Ashley to us more.
Speaker 5 (17:07):
Okay, So Bachelor Nation is kind of like the overarching
account website Instagram blahlah blah that like shows extra content
and Bachelor News. Somebody is new is running it over there,
and people are catching on. I think there's somebody new
running it because there are some good ideas that are
popping up and people are making comments in the comment
(17:29):
section saying like, wow, you guys are really like spruce
it up over here, like way to go for the
new admin. They're doing this, and they're doing this LTK thing.
To talk about that on another date, but right now,
they are releasing the audition tapes that nobody's ever seen,
starting on May fourteenth on their YouTube series. It's gonna
be a new YouTube series. It's called The Bachelor Audition Tapes.
(17:52):
They have them from Joey Hannah. They're gonna be starting
with Joey's Hannah, Gabby. They have Charity And I texted
Ben last night. I was like, man, they really like
they've they've really forgotten our generation. It's all good. I mean, like,
you know, I like to should be in show love
a little bit. You know, it was success stor It's fun.
I feel a little left out. Because my audition tape
(18:13):
was quite something. It was insane, and they were like,
this girl's insane, let's get her on the show. But
I said that back in our day, nothing was digital.
I sent in mine on a flash drive in a
FedEx envelope, so I don't know that they have those
just sitting on a desk. They probably had some digital
dropbox for these fresh new youngins.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
What about you.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
I mean, I didn't think of it that way.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
I was like, oh, this is weird that all these
things are being announced and you know, I don't know
anything about it, and that's fine. I think we've come
to terms with that. But I didn't think, oh, I
wish mine would be shown because mine was so ridiculously
bad and I put zero effort into it. Yours is
great and actually really fun to watch. I sat on
the deck and like at a lunch break, and answered
(18:58):
questions that my bot, like one of the my bosses
was asking me. And there was even like somebody in
the background like sitting chilling too, and I had like
my white tube socks on. I remember that, So I
don't really care. I don't think it was that interesting,
but I think this is a good idea, and I
do wish they would show yours. I bet they do
end up showing yours, mostly.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Because they're gonna rip it from my Instagram.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Yeah, because yours is so good. It is iconic, Like
yours is so.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
Good, you're very sweet.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
It's iconic. But it never really been seen. No, I
did post it on Instagram five years ago, and yesterday
at our almost famous text jut Chain, I went and
I scrolled scrolled gold back and I copied and paste
the link so everybody could see it. I'm reading comments
from our producers right now. They want me to introduce
a clip so they can use the audio right here
(19:48):
in the podcast. So, guys, this was me getting out
of the limo, hoping that the Bachelor was going to
be Jeff Home.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
It was actually my sister with a plate on her face.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
I talk about really cringey stuff about how I'm a virgin,
and because I knew that was gonna get their ears
price still, I went through a whole series, like a
whole season in three minutes.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
So and here cute Amadia.
Speaker 6 (20:17):
Ooh, here I'm Ashley Conneddi. I'm twenty five, I go
to Syracuse University. I'm about to graduate in August with
my masters in broadcasting.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
I love football, food.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Cooking, pop music, especially boy bands, and I can't wait
to know more about you.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
I'll see you inside. I love everything about pop culture.
Speaker 6 (20:39):
I love storytelling, and I know this is not something
that you're supposed to be on a first date, but
I'm such a pisces, so I'm optimistic and so dreamy
and hopeless romantic almost to a fault. I feel like
that's the reason why I'm not that much of an
experienced dater, because there's no romance in today's society. Guys
are always like do you want to hang out? Instead
(21:00):
of do you want to go out with me? And
I just feel like I should be treated like a princess.
I know it's cliche, but I just really want that
fairytale romance. I'm so excited that you're here in my hometown.
This is great Falls Park. I usually like coming here and.
Speaker 5 (21:16):
Getting a whole bunch of food and just sitting by
the water.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
I think that's the perfect date.
Speaker 6 (21:21):
Well. As much as I'd love to spend the night
with you without cameras, I have to tell you something
and I don't tell many people this. I'm a virgin Ashally,
please accept this Rose. Yes, I'm a pretty good writer,
but I'm having a hard time writing the story of
my own romance ABC.
Speaker 5 (21:40):
I'm hoping you'll help me write the first chapter. And
then I have another producer of ours saying did you
hire a videographer? Well, actually, I was in my capstone
at grad school at this point, so that was like
our internship month and a half, and I was a
sports concentration, so I didn't have my DC capstone the
way that the hard news kids had. But my good
(22:02):
friends were in DC, and you know, my parents' houses
a half an hour from and we had access to
all our school's camera equipment. So one day she came
over with the with a nice big camera, a huge tripod,
a couple love mics, and we did the damn thing.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
As becka Couperin would say.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Yeah, yours is great, it's worth watching. It's you know,
this is a great project. I really think this needs
to become a thing before every season starts, so we
get to know people better. Hey, that's all the headlines
we have for you today. Some big ones out there,
some ones that I was wrong in my skepticism on again,
(22:42):
I want to apologize for that, but we'll continue to
bring you headlines the good, the bad, the ugly, the tough,
the difficult, the weird, the chaotic, because that's what Bachelor
Nation does. So until next time, I've been Ben, I've
Been Ashley.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
See you guys.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Follow the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast on
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Hosts And Creators
Ben Higgins
Ashley Iaconetti
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