December 14, 2025 • 19 mins
Ben checks in with Mercedes date, Bryce, to get his honest take on their first blind date.
Ben is asking the tough questions…like why was Bryce’s Uber receipt time stamped after 2AM, and will there be a second date???
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
iHeart podcasts, bring you the Ultimate Summer of Love Tree.
This is famously available. It's famously available. I'm your host,
Ben Higgins, and I'm excited today because I've been anticipating
this conversation for a while now. To recap, I sent
Mercedes on a blind date to jingle Ball, and I
had my trusted spies Kathy and Deanna keeping an eye
(00:21):
on her. But today I'm finally going to get to
hear all about how the date went from the other side.
Please welcome back to the pod, Bryce or Not. This
is your first time here. We've talked about you though. Again,
if you haven't listened listeners to the episodes leading up
to this date, I got to go back and listen
(00:41):
to those. It's incredible. But Bryce, to kick things off,
you were highly recommended from some mutual friends of mine.
I personally think Mercedes is incredible and so I was
very excited to find her somebody that, if anything else,
(01:01):
was a good time, a good date, and you definitely
fell into that category. The night started, I was getting
pictures and getting some text the night started. You guys
basically were the same outfit.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, yeah, both had like a silk yeah, a silk
dress on a silk shirt on all black.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I think we kind of mashed that there pretty well,
which is good.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
We both had like heels, Onto had these boots with
like these like four inch hills on your side. Didn't
know how tall she was, so I was like, let
me just like show the six five and just be cool.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
You know. Yeah. It was fun. We looked we looked
good together.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I think you look good together, at least in the
pictures I got you. Also, I was excited for this
date because Mercedes is originally from Iowa. I'm from Hellena,
so I love the Midwest and you're from Kansas, and
I think there's something uniquely different. I would say good,
but I'm biased about a Midwesterner and so those things
(01:57):
usually I would always a tribute like kindness, being polite,
you know, usually not being too showy to a Midwesterner,
And I think that's an attractive, you know, trait to
some Were you excited about it because she was from
the Midwest, Like, did that help you out a little bit?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I mean when I found out that she was from Iowa,
I was like, okay, cool, we're gonna be same, same vibe,
you know, same upbringing type of values, which was cool.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
But you know, I mean that's kind of just how
we are grown up.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
So a lot of people can shift, and you know,
you can kind of get lost in the sauce. There's
a lot of people in LA where I'm from, who
are from the Midwest but may not be the most
Midwest vibes, if you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
So you know, I had to kind of fill it out.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
But she's she's great, man, Like, the values were pretty similar.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Yeah, i'd say, I'd say so that Midwest connection was there.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Now you've also both been on reality television. Did you
guys talk much about that?
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Uh? Not too much. I mean we started there.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I think the biggest thing was she just wanted to
know what show I'd been on, and I've been on
this show called F Boy Island, so that was really
coming out the gates hot, which she asked me.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
And so you know the good.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Thing about it is I came on that shows like
a nice guy, right, So there's f boys, half of
the guys are f boys, the guys are nice guys.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
So I was a nice guy and hopefully I showed
that on the date as well.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
But yeah, that was that was a fun intro conversation
of being like, Okay, well may look like a douchebag.
And I know I was on the show called Foy Island, Like,
let me just set the record straight here?
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Do you have to do that often?
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Now?
Speaker 1 (03:42):
On dates? Is kind of like setting the record straight?
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Nah? Nah?
Speaker 2 (03:46):
I think I tried not to bring up that show,
to be honest, just because it was like not great experience.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
It wasn't it wasn't a bob and so.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
But outside of that, I think that maybe I get
it judged pretty quickly based on how I look, so
instead of like getting that conversation hell on, what I
do is just I'm just myself, super just fun and
try to make the other person feel super calm and
peaceful and just put my best foot forward. So that
(04:18):
whole like oh shit, who is this guy? You know,
kind of falls away pretty quickly.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Now, you did a little conversation before the date really
kicked off with Mercedes on that is airing on Famously Available.
During that conversation you both said, Hey, if the night
goes well, we're totally open to have an end of
the evening kiss. Did that kiss happen?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
No, that kiss did not happen, and here's why you'd
be completely honest with you. It's a couple of different reasons. One,
I think I had like one on one time with
her for maybe thirty seve against the entire night. You know,
if it's one thing, I'm cool, Like if I knew
her and we had kissed before and we were surrounded
(05:07):
by hundreds of people, I would kiss her, no problem.
I don't care about that. But it's more so about
like her and what she's comfortable with and everything like that.
And she had kind of been open with me about
how she's kind of moving within relationships right now, and
so I kind of took that and was like, oh,
let me just be respectful and just you know, have fun.
Just focus on more of the fun. I sticked of
(05:30):
it and not trying to make it any like thing
too heavy.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah, this wasn't really a moment. I feel like I
would have to force the moment and I don't do that.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
No, you don't want to force it, and that never
goes well for anybody. Yeah, but let's kind of start
at the beginning of the date. Then talk about what
you thought of Mercedes when you first saw her. In person.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
So when she walked into the podcast room, I'll be
the first hand notes was that she's totally beautiful, totally
my time, cunning girl, A big fan, big fan of
how she looks. And then she had this big smile
and she walked in, so that was great too. Yeah,
I know, just from a looks perspective, from a vibe
perspective perspective, she carries herself with a cool aura I'd say,
(06:18):
like just strong, like she knows who she is. So
all of that came into the room and I was like, okay, cool,
this is great. She's she's on top of it. And yeah,
the connection was pretty immediate and you can you can
probably hear that on the podcast too.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
We had a good time and then I don't know,
it was just smooth.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
And then when we after we talked, we pulled up
the instagrams and saw like the mutuals, like that's always
a fun thing and we have a ton of mutuals,
so it was just like, okay, cool, and our universes
are connected in a way. So then we had a
lot of conversations with that, which made everything a little
bit more easy. I feel like on both sides.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Did you get to talk to Mercedes before the date started,
and there were some key elements that came up. One,
she was excited for the first date, but it is
different when you're surrounded by friends or people. Like you've
already mentioned, you had very few moments of just like
one on one time you took a sprinter van to
(07:23):
the show following the podcast that was full of people.
Mercedes said her biggest red flag would have been if
you paid more attention to everybody else than you did
to her. Was that something that you were conscious and
intentional about going into it or did that just happen
(07:44):
naturally because you're like, I only want to.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Talk to her.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, I mean, well one, I was there for her, right,
so it was nice. You know, I don't know how
to move with groups, right, So get into this sprinter band,
introduce myself. I'm a boom, and then make sure everybody
knows who I am and that we're all comfortable. And
then me and her sat next to each other, and
(08:08):
because there was so much traffic from Brent went to downtown.
We talked for probably like an hour and a half,
two hours, it felt like. And so you know, there
was moments where we would bring in a couple of
her friends that were on her season that were sitting
right in front of us just for like stories and stuff.
So it was fun to create a vibe where everyone
was laughing. And I was also able to kind of
(08:29):
touch face with her and get to know a lot
about her. And so I think hopefully she feels like
I played the sprinter part perfectly, which I think I did,
So we'll see.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Do you get nervous for first dates?
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Never? I used to. Yeah, I used to.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I used to when I was younger, But I think
now I just know who I am so much that
you can pretty much throw me into any situation. I'm
not going to be nervous, and I'll just be myself.
And I've seen with my track record of me just
being my of how it makes everybody else comfortable and
everybody else have fun.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
And so there's no reason to be nervous if I
know I can go into a.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Room and make that room better, like a better experience
for people just by being there. So that's kind of
why I'm not nervous. But I asked her if she
was nervous at the beginning. She said she was, and
then I said, hey, Okay, within like fifteen minutes, you're
not gonna nervous anymore. And it seemed like she was
over her nervous pretty quickly, so hopefully.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
That hopefully that was true.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
I get nervous. I mean, I I'm married, I haven't
gone I still get nervous for dates with my wife,
like I get maybe not yeah, like butter like I get,
I get real excited. The other night, we went on
a date and we got dressed up and she met
me downstairs, and I was like excited. I guess, but
first dates are always really hard for me. I never
loved doing them. That's why, I mean, one of the
(09:51):
many reasons why I'm so happy I'm married. I don't
have to go on those anymore. Yeah, it always felt
very intimidating. You did do a few things that stood
out to the spies that were really great universities. Went
to a gifting suite together and you were carrying her bags.
Is that something you offered to do? Did she ask
you to carry them?
Speaker 3 (10:11):
No? I mean, my girl is never gonna be carrying bags.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
If we're in the same room and I see her
carrying something, I'll carry it. If I have enough arms open,
and it was like a fun little gifting suite you
know that's more tailored to the girls anyways. So I
was like, if I can just grab her bags and
she's more free to be with her girls and run
around and like get all the gifts, and so I
was like, how, you know what, I kind of do
it without thinking, honestly. I mean, it's just been so
(10:36):
ingrained into my system that I see my dad and
how he treats my mom and it's just like, Okay,
well this is just what a man does.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Yeah, I mean it good.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
It's a good move, and it's a great move. I mean,
I think it would be a lot of fun to
see her be able to run around with her friends,
because I'm with you, those gifting suites there's a few
things maybe like a mug that I can pull out
of there, but yeah, that's usually not set up for them.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
We're in those from the way, So hey.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
That's that's a win. It's the one in itself before
we kind of dive into Mercedes as a person and
what you really thought of her. Because of how this
(11:22):
was set up, we do have details and information that
oftentimes people don't get from a first date, and one
of those is your Uber receipts. Your Uber receipt shows
that you got home about two am. So after the show,
did you all go somewhere?
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, So we went back to their hotel, like the
whole group. It was like, I don't know, eight of
us at the hotel and then we all, like the
girls got dressed, the guys got dressed, and then we
all went to this like and the hole in the
wall bar in Brentwood called Old Fellows or something like that,
(12:03):
and I had never been there before, but it was
really cool, Bob, and so we went in there and
we just sat and played games and talked.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
And it was a big group though.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
So that was the other thing too, Like it was
fun because it's a huge group and you know, everyone
knows each other from the Bachelor universe. Meanwhile, I'm just
getting thrust into this friend group, you know, because everyone
knows each other, which is fun.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
I actually really enjoyed it because I got I got
a lot of the tea.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
I was able to like, they're like talking about someone
and then she would like show me who the person
is on Instagram.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
I'm like, okay, God, I'm like getting ingrained into the world.
So that was fun.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
But then I had to end up going to a
studio session after that, so I think they went back
to the hotel and I had.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
To go to the studio at two am. Yeah, music
industry doesn't sleep.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
You have no goodness, gracious brother. Yeah, it's brutal. I've
got I've been asleep for about I would say about
four hours, five hours, about eight thirty is when I'll
be no way more than that, six hours before you
got got home. So let's talk a little bit about Mercedes.
(13:15):
You guys had this date, you went out afterwards, you
had to spend some good time together, but not a
lot of one on one time together. What stood out
to you about her? Was there anything that kind of
intrigued you or anything that turned you off? What was
your kind of your overall feeling as you left in
that uber to go back to work about Mercedes?
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Yeah, I mean the key takeaway was, you know, I
textually her right as I got into the uber and
I said, hey, like I really did want to kiss
you because we had talked about it on the podcast, right,
So it was like kind of like a thing that
maybe she wanted to happen or expecting and I just
never even had the I never really tried to make
(13:56):
this situation happen, And so I texted her just to
be like, hey, like I really did want to kiss you.
I just we didn't have like any alone time to
where it felt natural. But I had a fun time
with you, and you know, would love to come visit
you in Nashville. And because I'm in Nashville quite often
as well, so I'll.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Probably see her again.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
And you know that she texted back and was like, yeah,
she had so much fun, blah blah blah. So you know,
I think it went well, but it's tough to really
get to know someone when they're surrounded by eighty people
that they're friends with, you know, so you know, I'm
cutting her some and then her some slack, i'd say,
(14:36):
and just the fact that, like, I don't know how
much we.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Like bonded how to know about each other. But it
was cool and we.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
You know, the music was great at jingle Ball, so
people were dancing and the girls loved when Jesse Murph
came on, and it was so funny because one of
my best friends is her ex, and so we were
facetiming and while she was performing. All the girls got
a kick out of that because he was like throwing
an attitude about it. But yeah, so we've had like,
we had like a lot of fun moments. I'd say
(15:08):
the whole night was a lot more lighthearted and fun
than any type of serious but just based on the
situation at hand, I got to know a couple of
things of how she's you know, kind of changing the
way she's dating and with a lot more intention and
stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
So I was cool to hear, Yeah, she's a she's
a cool girl. Man, I have fun.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Like if she was in La I already have hung
out with her again, but she went she went back
to Nashville like the next morning or something.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
But I mean it sounded like if you text her,
you guys did exchange numbers, which is yeah, I think
a data point and a step so and has there
been any other communication since Friday?
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Yeah, we texted a little bit.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
I thought she was going to be on this call,
so I was like, I'll just talk to you on
Monday on the podcast. Like I don't know, I'm not
someone who texts a lot, so I was like, it'll
be fun for all be on the podcast. And talking,
but she's not on the podcast, so I guess I'll
text her after this. I mean, like, really the main
thing is what is there to talk about? Like she
doesn't like La and so she's not going to be
(16:12):
coming here too often, like unless she has like bachelor
stuff here. Yeah, I'm in Nashville, so I guess i'll
hit it from when I'm in National. And we have
a lot of mutual friends as well in Nashville, so
you know, it could be more of those things like, Hey,
I'm in town, let's see if this still is the thing,
(16:33):
you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah, definitely. And I mean I always think a second
if the first date just wasn't an epic failure. I
think a second date is always helpful just because it
does well one you know the person, you know, you're
not around a ton of people, even like a nice
little short hangout just to reconnect is helpful. The final
(16:54):
question I have for you, Bryce, I mean, it sounds
like you've already answered it. Would you be willing excited
to go on a second date with Mercedes if you
know the two of you aligned on location in time?
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Yeah, totally.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
I think I probably would have already taken her out again,
because you know, the one on one I think needs
to happen, so not the eighty on one.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
There was definitely more people on Mercedes side than your side.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
That night.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
You got absolutely thrown into the madness of a lot
of people knew knowing each other, which is a tough,
tough world to walk into. I totally get that, it's fun.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
I think I handled it pretty well and it ended
up having new friends at the end of the night,
which is cool.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
But yeah, no, it was a little bit more tough.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
No, I had to kind of like picking and choose
because one of the biggest things too was you could
tell that she was excited to see people.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
She hadn't seen it in a while, and it was
like kind of that fun.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
So she's trying to catch up with people, and I'm
not going to be the type of guy who's just
going to be standing behind you, like waiting for you
to talk to me.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
So I went on my own.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
There was a couple of the Golden Bachelor girls that
I talked to because my friend's mom was on the
first season. Her name's Leslie, and so that was really
fun to connect with them, and like we sent selfhies
to Leslie and.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
That was fun.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Got to hear more about the story from other people
and the Golden Bachelor, and then I knew some of
the iHeartMedia people who are with us. That was cool,
and so there was security blankets around.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
I'd say, sounds like you did great. I am I'm
thankful that you came on here to kind of talk
through everything. I hope there's a second date. My hope
is that at least, if nothing else, you guys get
to connect again, because you did walk into a really
tough kind of situation to navigate into connect during. You
guys did the best you could and for that, I
(18:55):
am thankful. As somebody set this date up by keep
us updated, let us know if you have any updates.
We appreciate you coming on and we hope you had
a blast at iheartsjingle Ball. It is a really cool event.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Yeah, it was super fun.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Thanks for having me and thinking about me and getting
me on here is I had a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Everybody that's been Bryce who just went on his first
date with Mercedes set up by the famously Available show,
make sure you tune into all the content about this
date coming your way. The pre interviews, the interview with
Mercedes and Bryce together, and then we're going to track
down Mercedes and get her on here at some point
soon as well. But until next time, I've been Ben,
(19:38):
We'll talk to you soon
iHeart podcasts, bring you the Ultimate Summer of Love Tree.
This is famously available. It's famously available. I'm your host,
Ben Higgins, and I'm excited today because I've been anticipating
this conversation for a while now. To recap, I sent
Mercedes on a blind date to jingle Ball, and I
had my trusted spies Kathy and Deanna keeping an eye
(00:21):
on her. But today I'm finally going to get to
hear all about how the date went from the other side.
Please welcome back to the pod, Bryce or Not. This
is your first time here. We've talked about you though. Again,
if you haven't listened listeners to the episodes leading up
to this date, I got to go back and listen
(00:41):
to those. It's incredible. But Bryce, to kick things off,
you were highly recommended from some mutual friends of mine.
I personally think Mercedes is incredible and so I was
very excited to find her somebody that, if anything else,
(01:01):
was a good time, a good date, and you definitely
fell into that category. The night started, I was getting
pictures and getting some text the night started. You guys
basically were the same outfit.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, yeah, both had like a silk yeah, a silk
dress on a silk shirt on all black.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I think we kind of mashed that there pretty well,
which is good.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
We both had like heels, Onto had these boots with
like these like four inch hills on your side. Didn't
know how tall she was, so I was like, let
me just like show the six five and just be cool.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
You know. Yeah. It was fun. We looked we looked
good together.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I think you look good together, at least in the
pictures I got you. Also, I was excited for this
date because Mercedes is originally from Iowa. I'm from Hellena,
so I love the Midwest and you're from Kansas, and
I think there's something uniquely different. I would say good,
but I'm biased about a Midwesterner and so those things
(01:57):
usually I would always a tribute like kindness, being polite,
you know, usually not being too showy to a Midwesterner,
And I think that's an attractive, you know, trait to
some Were you excited about it because she was from
the Midwest, Like, did that help you out a little bit?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I mean when I found out that she was from Iowa,
I was like, okay, cool, we're gonna be same, same vibe,
you know, same upbringing type of values, which was cool.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
But you know, I mean that's kind of just how
we are grown up.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
So a lot of people can shift, and you know,
you can kind of get lost in the sauce. There's
a lot of people in LA where I'm from, who
are from the Midwest but may not be the most
Midwest vibes, if you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
So you know, I had to kind of fill it out.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
But she's she's great, man, Like, the values were pretty similar.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Yeah, i'd say, I'd say so that Midwest connection was there.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Now you've also both been on reality television. Did you
guys talk much about that?
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Uh? Not too much. I mean we started there.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I think the biggest thing was she just wanted to
know what show I'd been on, and I've been on
this show called F Boy Island, so that was really
coming out the gates hot, which she asked me.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
And so you know the good.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Thing about it is I came on that shows like
a nice guy, right, So there's f boys, half of
the guys are f boys, the guys are nice guys.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
So I was a nice guy and hopefully I showed
that on the date as well.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
But yeah, that was that was a fun intro conversation
of being like, Okay, well may look like a douchebag.
And I know I was on the show called Foy Island, Like,
let me just set the record straight here?
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Do you have to do that often?
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Now?
Speaker 1 (03:42):
On dates? Is kind of like setting the record straight?
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Nah? Nah?
Speaker 2 (03:46):
I think I tried not to bring up that show,
to be honest, just because it was like not great experience.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
It wasn't it wasn't a bob and so.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
But outside of that, I think that maybe I get
it judged pretty quickly based on how I look, so
instead of like getting that conversation hell on, what I
do is just I'm just myself, super just fun and
try to make the other person feel super calm and
peaceful and just put my best foot forward. So that
(04:18):
whole like oh shit, who is this guy? You know,
kind of falls away pretty quickly.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Now, you did a little conversation before the date really
kicked off with Mercedes on that is airing on Famously Available.
During that conversation you both said, Hey, if the night
goes well, we're totally open to have an end of
the evening kiss. Did that kiss happen?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
No, that kiss did not happen, and here's why you'd
be completely honest with you. It's a couple of different reasons. One,
I think I had like one on one time with
her for maybe thirty seve against the entire night. You know,
if it's one thing, I'm cool, Like if I knew
her and we had kissed before and we were surrounded
(05:07):
by hundreds of people, I would kiss her, no problem.
I don't care about that. But it's more so about
like her and what she's comfortable with and everything like that.
And she had kind of been open with me about
how she's kind of moving within relationships right now, and
so I kind of took that and was like, oh,
let me just be respectful and just you know, have fun.
Just focus on more of the fun. I sticked of
(05:30):
it and not trying to make it any like thing
too heavy.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah, this wasn't really a moment. I feel like I
would have to force the moment and I don't do that.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
No, you don't want to force it, and that never
goes well for anybody. Yeah, but let's kind of start
at the beginning of the date. Then talk about what
you thought of Mercedes when you first saw her. In person.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
So when she walked into the podcast room, I'll be
the first hand notes was that she's totally beautiful, totally
my time, cunning girl, A big fan, big fan of
how she looks. And then she had this big smile
and she walked in, so that was great too. Yeah,
I know, just from a looks perspective, from a vibe
perspective perspective, she carries herself with a cool aura I'd say,
(06:18):
like just strong, like she knows who she is. So
all of that came into the room and I was like, okay, cool,
this is great. She's she's on top of it. And yeah,
the connection was pretty immediate and you can you can
probably hear that on the podcast too.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
We had a good time and then I don't know,
it was just smooth.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
And then when we after we talked, we pulled up
the instagrams and saw like the mutuals, like that's always
a fun thing and we have a ton of mutuals,
so it was just like, okay, cool, and our universes
are connected in a way. So then we had a
lot of conversations with that, which made everything a little
bit more easy. I feel like on both sides.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Did you get to talk to Mercedes before the date started,
and there were some key elements that came up. One,
she was excited for the first date, but it is
different when you're surrounded by friends or people. Like you've
already mentioned, you had very few moments of just like
one on one time you took a sprinter van to
(07:23):
the show following the podcast that was full of people.
Mercedes said her biggest red flag would have been if
you paid more attention to everybody else than you did
to her. Was that something that you were conscious and
intentional about going into it or did that just happen
(07:44):
naturally because you're like, I only want to.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Talk to her.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, I mean, well one, I was there for her, right,
so it was nice. You know, I don't know how
to move with groups, right, So get into this sprinter band,
introduce myself. I'm a boom, and then make sure everybody
knows who I am and that we're all comfortable. And
then me and her sat next to each other, and
(08:08):
because there was so much traffic from Brent went to downtown.
We talked for probably like an hour and a half,
two hours, it felt like. And so you know, there
was moments where we would bring in a couple of
her friends that were on her season that were sitting
right in front of us just for like stories and stuff.
So it was fun to create a vibe where everyone
was laughing. And I was also able to kind of
(08:29):
touch face with her and get to know a lot
about her. And so I think hopefully she feels like
I played the sprinter part perfectly, which I think I did,
So we'll see.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Do you get nervous for first dates?
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Never? I used to. Yeah, I used to.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I used to when I was younger, But I think
now I just know who I am so much that
you can pretty much throw me into any situation. I'm
not going to be nervous, and I'll just be myself.
And I've seen with my track record of me just
being my of how it makes everybody else comfortable and
everybody else have fun.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
And so there's no reason to be nervous if I
know I can go into a.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Room and make that room better, like a better experience
for people just by being there. So that's kind of
why I'm not nervous. But I asked her if she
was nervous at the beginning. She said she was, and
then I said, hey, Okay, within like fifteen minutes, you're
not gonna nervous anymore. And it seemed like she was
over her nervous pretty quickly, so hopefully.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
That hopefully that was true.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
I get nervous. I mean, I I'm married, I haven't
gone I still get nervous for dates with my wife,
like I get maybe not yeah, like butter like I get,
I get real excited. The other night, we went on
a date and we got dressed up and she met
me downstairs, and I was like excited. I guess, but
first dates are always really hard for me. I never
loved doing them. That's why, I mean, one of the
(09:51):
many reasons why I'm so happy I'm married. I don't
have to go on those anymore. Yeah, it always felt
very intimidating. You did do a few things that stood
out to the spies that were really great universities. Went
to a gifting suite together and you were carrying her bags.
Is that something you offered to do? Did she ask
you to carry them?
Speaker 3 (10:11):
No? I mean, my girl is never gonna be carrying bags.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
If we're in the same room and I see her
carrying something, I'll carry it. If I have enough arms open,
and it was like a fun little gifting suite you
know that's more tailored to the girls anyways. So I
was like, if I can just grab her bags and
she's more free to be with her girls and run
around and like get all the gifts, and so I
was like, how, you know what, I kind of do
it without thinking, honestly. I mean, it's just been so
(10:36):
ingrained into my system that I see my dad and
how he treats my mom and it's just like, Okay,
well this is just what a man does.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Yeah, I mean it good.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
It's a good move, and it's a great move. I mean,
I think it would be a lot of fun to
see her be able to run around with her friends,
because I'm with you, those gifting suites there's a few
things maybe like a mug that I can pull out
of there, but yeah, that's usually not set up for them.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
We're in those from the way, So hey.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
That's that's a win. It's the one in itself before
we kind of dive into Mercedes as a person and
what you really thought of her. Because of how this
(11:22):
was set up, we do have details and information that
oftentimes people don't get from a first date, and one
of those is your Uber receipts. Your Uber receipt shows
that you got home about two am. So after the show,
did you all go somewhere?
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, So we went back to their hotel, like the
whole group. It was like, I don't know, eight of
us at the hotel and then we all, like the
girls got dressed, the guys got dressed, and then we
all went to this like and the hole in the
wall bar in Brentwood called Old Fellows or something like that,
(12:03):
and I had never been there before, but it was
really cool, Bob, and so we went in there and
we just sat and played games and talked.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
And it was a big group though.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
So that was the other thing too, Like it was
fun because it's a huge group and you know, everyone
knows each other from the Bachelor universe. Meanwhile, I'm just
getting thrust into this friend group, you know, because everyone
knows each other, which is fun.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
I actually really enjoyed it because I got I got
a lot of the tea.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
I was able to like, they're like talking about someone
and then she would like show me who the person
is on Instagram.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
I'm like, okay, God, I'm like getting ingrained into the world.
So that was fun.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
But then I had to end up going to a
studio session after that, so I think they went back
to the hotel and I had.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
To go to the studio at two am. Yeah, music
industry doesn't sleep.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
You have no goodness, gracious brother. Yeah, it's brutal. I've
got I've been asleep for about I would say about
four hours, five hours, about eight thirty is when I'll
be no way more than that, six hours before you
got got home. So let's talk a little bit about Mercedes.
(13:15):
You guys had this date, you went out afterwards, you
had to spend some good time together, but not a
lot of one on one time together. What stood out
to you about her? Was there anything that kind of
intrigued you or anything that turned you off? What was
your kind of your overall feeling as you left in
that uber to go back to work about Mercedes?
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Yeah, I mean the key takeaway was, you know, I
textually her right as I got into the uber and
I said, hey, like I really did want to kiss
you because we had talked about it on the podcast, right,
So it was like kind of like a thing that
maybe she wanted to happen or expecting and I just
never even had the I never really tried to make
(13:56):
this situation happen, And so I texted her just to
be like, hey, like I really did want to kiss you.
I just we didn't have like any alone time to
where it felt natural. But I had a fun time
with you, and you know, would love to come visit
you in Nashville. And because I'm in Nashville quite often
as well, so I'll.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Probably see her again.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
And you know that she texted back and was like, yeah,
she had so much fun, blah blah blah. So you know,
I think it went well, but it's tough to really
get to know someone when they're surrounded by eighty people
that they're friends with, you know, so you know, I'm
cutting her some and then her some slack, i'd say,
(14:36):
and just the fact that, like, I don't know how
much we.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Like bonded how to know about each other. But it
was cool and we.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
You know, the music was great at jingle Ball, so
people were dancing and the girls loved when Jesse Murph
came on, and it was so funny because one of
my best friends is her ex, and so we were
facetiming and while she was performing. All the girls got
a kick out of that because he was like throwing
an attitude about it. But yeah, so we've had like,
we had like a lot of fun moments. I'd say
(15:08):
the whole night was a lot more lighthearted and fun
than any type of serious but just based on the
situation at hand, I got to know a couple of
things of how she's you know, kind of changing the
way she's dating and with a lot more intention and
stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
So I was cool to hear, Yeah, she's a she's
a cool girl. Man, I have fun.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Like if she was in La I already have hung
out with her again, but she went she went back
to Nashville like the next morning or something.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
But I mean it sounded like if you text her,
you guys did exchange numbers, which is yeah, I think
a data point and a step so and has there
been any other communication since Friday?
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Yeah, we texted a little bit.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
I thought she was going to be on this call,
so I was like, I'll just talk to you on
Monday on the podcast. Like I don't know, I'm not
someone who texts a lot, so I was like, it'll
be fun for all be on the podcast. And talking,
but she's not on the podcast, so I guess I'll
text her after this. I mean, like, really the main
thing is what is there to talk about? Like she
doesn't like La and so she's not going to be
(16:12):
coming here too often, like unless she has like bachelor
stuff here. Yeah, I'm in Nashville, so I guess i'll
hit it from when I'm in National. And we have
a lot of mutual friends as well in Nashville, so
you know, it could be more of those things like, Hey,
I'm in town, let's see if this still is the thing,
(16:33):
you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah, definitely. And I mean I always think a second
if the first date just wasn't an epic failure. I
think a second date is always helpful just because it
does well one you know the person, you know, you're
not around a ton of people, even like a nice
little short hangout just to reconnect is helpful. The final
(16:54):
question I have for you, Bryce, I mean, it sounds
like you've already answered it. Would you be willing excited
to go on a second date with Mercedes if you
know the two of you aligned on location in time?
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Yeah, totally.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
I think I probably would have already taken her out again,
because you know, the one on one I think needs
to happen, so not the eighty on one.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
There was definitely more people on Mercedes side than your side.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
That night.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
You got absolutely thrown into the madness of a lot
of people knew knowing each other, which is a tough,
tough world to walk into. I totally get that, it's fun.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
I think I handled it pretty well and it ended
up having new friends at the end of the night,
which is cool.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
But yeah, no, it was a little bit more tough.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
No, I had to kind of like picking and choose
because one of the biggest things too was you could
tell that she was excited to see people.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
She hadn't seen it in a while, and it was
like kind of that fun.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
So she's trying to catch up with people, and I'm
not going to be the type of guy who's just
going to be standing behind you, like waiting for you
to talk to me.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
So I went on my own.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
There was a couple of the Golden Bachelor girls that
I talked to because my friend's mom was on the
first season. Her name's Leslie, and so that was really
fun to connect with them, and like we sent selfhies
to Leslie and.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
That was fun.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Got to hear more about the story from other people
and the Golden Bachelor, and then I knew some of
the iHeartMedia people who are with us. That was cool,
and so there was security blankets around.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
I'd say, sounds like you did great. I am I'm
thankful that you came on here to kind of talk
through everything. I hope there's a second date. My hope
is that at least, if nothing else, you guys get
to connect again, because you did walk into a really
tough kind of situation to navigate into connect during. You
guys did the best you could and for that, I
(18:55):
am thankful. As somebody set this date up by keep
us updated, let us know if you have any updates.
We appreciate you coming on and we hope you had
a blast at iheartsjingle Ball. It is a really cool event.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Yeah, it was super fun.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Thanks for having me and thinking about me and getting
me on here is I had a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Everybody that's been Bryce who just went on his first
date with Mercedes set up by the famously Available show,
make sure you tune into all the content about this
date coming your way. The pre interviews, the interview with
Mercedes and Bryce together, and then we're going to track
down Mercedes and get her on here at some point
soon as well. But until next time, I've been Ben,
(19:38):
We'll talk to you soon
Hosts And Creators
Amy Robach
T.J. Holmes
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