Trouble in Bachelor in Paradise with Arie and Lauren

Chris knows stories about Arie that no one knows and now he’s telling Arie’s wife!
 
Arie and Lauren open up about struggles in their marriage, having more children and vasectomies.
 
Plus, Chris weighs in on the Vanderpump scandal with a fascinating perspective.
 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the most dramatic podcast ever and I heart
radio podcast. Welcome to the most dramatic podcast ever. I
am Chris Harrison here with Lauren Ziema, and we have
exchanged the home office in Austin, Texas for this office
in Dallas, Texas. Up here in Dallas, seeing family, spending

(00:21):
some time with the family, but that's not going to
stop us from hitting these headlines, huge headlines this week.
And coming up a little later on the show, I'm
going to talk to Ari Liondike and his beautiful wife,
Lauren Burnham. You know what I never asked, is it
Lauren Burnham Liondike. Now she just just didn't change her name,

(00:42):
right Lauren. Oh, there you go. So we will talk
to them a little bit later on. But first, the
biggest headline of the week, and you are just chomping
at the bit for this, the vander Pump rules blow up,
I mean Mount Vesuvius style blow up. This is huge,
But I am not educated in the ways of the pump,

(01:05):
so I'm going to my expert, Elze. I absolutely love
that you just called it the pump, because nobody calls
it that. But no more importantly, you did just grasp
the reality of this though you called this the Mount Vesuvius.
I was dming with some I'm a Bravo hollock. I
love the Housewives. I've been watching them for years. Actually,

(01:27):
I was a Housewives watcher long before I was ever
a Bachelor watcher. And I've been dming with some of
my other Bravo hollicks and we're talking about how this
is in the grand scheme of Bravo fandom. This is
one of the biggest Bravo stories ever. But I want
to catch everybody up. And another thing I love about
Chris Harrison is because Chris is the type of guy who, like,

(01:49):
he gets into the gossip with me. You know, he
gets into it. Obviously we're on the most traumatic podcast ever.
If I bring him to brunch with my girlfriends, he
wants to hear what's up. Well, there's one of two guys, right,
there's one or two in this world that will They
either act like they don't care. Like the guys that
come up to me is that, oh, I never watched
the Batchelor about Tourette. I don't know anything about it.
Then they proceed to talk to me for an hour
about every detail or just lean into Yeah, I do care.

(02:13):
I want to know. This is juicy stuff. I know.
I come back from a girl's trip and he's like, so,
what's going on with everyone? What's happening in everybody's marriages?
So I'm talking to him about the Vanderpump Rules stuff
and I'm catching him up. But basically, what's happened here,
And part of the reason we wanted to bring it
up is because this dramatic headline brings up some major

(02:33):
relationship discussion points. What has happened is Arianna and Tom.
They are a long time couple on Vanderpump Rules. They've
been together almost a decade by the way. I've interviewed
them both together many times, and this breaks my heart
a little bit because I always thought, gosh, they're so
in love, they're so happy, they're so cute together on
red carpets, and at the time I adored them both.

(02:54):
But I gotta give a specific shout out to Arianna
because she's always been really mature and smart and cool
in ground it and fun. So Ariane and Tom together
for years and years on Vanderpump Rules, a show full
of drama and relationship incest, where everybody's dated everybody. Then
this season were four episodes in and it has come

(03:15):
out that Tom was having an affair with another cast member, Riquell.
Now not only is Tom cheating on Arianna, but Raquel
is Arianna's friend, is both of their friends, but has
said in interviews, you know, all these clips are resurfacing,
has said that Arianna is a quote true friend of hers,

(03:37):
that Arianna is the person who welcomed her into their
friend group. And so it comes out that Tom is
cheating on Arianna with Raquel, and that it has happened
in their own home, that allegedly Tom and Raquel have
hooked up in the other room while Arianna was sleeping.
Tom is in a band, Raquel has been to the

(03:59):
shows with Arianna cheered him on from the crowd. And
another twisted, little alleged detail that's come out allegedly Tom
and Raquel have matching lightning bolt necklaces that they have
allegedly worn together in public to stay connected, even though
it's all a secret. So this is dark. I mean
that that to me, there's little things and we're going

(04:21):
to talk about this that take it to a dark level.
If you are going to the links of let's have
something that signifies our affair, our relationship, because to them
it's a relationship. That's what this is signifying. Then what
are you doing? Why? Why are you staying in this
relationship with Arianna? Why are we just creating this whole facade.

(04:42):
The other thing about Raquel and I'm throwing up the
air quotes, you can't see it. Her name's Rachel allegedly
really Rachel. So everything about this woman is fake and cheating.
Come on, I'm oh, I'm team Arianna. I've I have chosen.
I am on team Arianna, Tom and Riquel. They have

(05:04):
made their bed and they're laying in it. Literally. Wow,
good dad joke as always. Yeah, well you know we
were talking about that, right, because that's the thing. It's
one thing to me to cheat. Look, I'm actually not
the biggest Like I'm sure everyone listening to this podcast
has been cheated on at some point, and probably when
we were younger. We all did dumb stuff. Who even

(05:24):
let's take it back to high school, who didn't like,
wasn't talking to one boy while they were dating? It? Like,
we all make mistakes, and we've all been subject to
other people's mistakes. But there's a different level to it
when someone is allegedly one of your best friends, and
I mean she Raquel's doing the press for the show,
citing Arianna as being this person who's been so good

(05:44):
to her all while sleeping with her partner and allegedly
in their own house. It takes it to another level.
And say, your partner's bringing someone into your home and
it's a stranger. This is her friend. Now you are
You've been hurt by two people. Arianna has. She's been
hurt by her partner and her friend. So that's the

(06:08):
double whammy here, and I think that's what adds. I
mean this feeling of frankly disgusted for people. What's worse?
Which betrayal is worse? Which betrayal is worse? Yeah? Is it?
Is it the man you love or is it your
best friend? Arianna and Raquel, I would say our friends,
but not best friends, but I will if it was

(06:28):
a best friend. I'm putting myself in this situation. I
actually think I would feel more and betrayed by the
best friend. I'm a big like women like I mean,
I love you, but I think friends are like our
soulmates in life. My female friends have been there for
me through everything and will continue to be there for me,

(06:51):
and I love you more than anything. But at the
same time, it's like there's that bond. I think I
would feel more hurt because I would feel like, you know,
we've somebody who pointed out to me the other day
it's funny. They're like, Okay, do you think you know
your partner, But think of how long you've known your partner.
Like you and I have been together five years. I've
had some friends at this point for almost twenty years.

(07:12):
So as much as I love you, I think the
betrayal that's actually a longer relationship that friendship. What would
you say, You're not wrong. That's why I was just
interested to see if you know, while you were staring
me in the eye, if you would say that, no,
I see what you're saying. I mean I feel the
same way. Look, I have had friends because I grew

(07:34):
up here. I'm actually in my hometown of Dallas. As
we set off the top, I'm I have friends that
grew up with here in Dallas because I lived and
grew up in the same area since I was five
years old. My best friend in the world. We met
in sixth grade and so we were at ten eleven
years old. So it's been forty some odd years. We
have been through everything, growing up, adolescence, making our stupid

(07:56):
teenage mistakes, college, you know, deaths, marriages, divorces, you name it.
So yeah, so when someone like that betrays you, there
is a depth to it that's on a different level.
And it's not to say that, Tom, if you're listening,
you're off the hook, pal, It's not about that. It's
just that I understand what you're saying about. There is

(08:19):
a level to a friend betraying you like that. It's
crappy when a partner does it. But as you said,
there's there's also different reasons that happens. And you can
get into it and go on and on about you know,
it takes two to tango and all that. But I agree,
I don't think you're wrong there. And I think this
young woman, Raquel Rachel rick Atchell, I think she's in

(08:40):
way over her head because she is now like she's
a newer cast member on the show. And the other
women on the show who are supporting Ariana, and again
you and I we are, we are supporting Ariana in
this but they are, so they have a really strong
bond and they I think, Raquel, what tells me that

(09:02):
she's in over her head? This is specific, but I
get the sense that she was getting some excitement from
this cheating. I mean, as cheating often is. But but
it's little things like wearing the matching necklaces. Oh, we
have this little secret together. It's things like doing it
and doing it, doing it in their house. It's things
like that she would go to Toma's band's shows with

(09:23):
Arianna and dance with her and look up at him.
And it's the daring to get caught. Is that what
it is? You think they were like wanting to get caught.
It's the thrill of public sex. It's the is someone
going to find us? And somehow psychologically, on some level,
hoping you get caught, hoping it all blows up. When

(09:43):
it does, it's not pleasant, and you be careful what
you wish for. But on some level, look at the
things they were doing, like you said, those are things
that scream I hope we get caught. I hope this
gets blown up. I mean, because those are all really
big steps. They weren't going out of their way to
keep this thing hidden. And to me, that again is
when it's an indicator to you of like a relationship

(10:04):
can't come back from this because the person wasn't sorry,
wasn't feeling bad, isn't guilty about what they did. They
were reveling in it. Yeah, that's a great, great way
of putting it. And that begs a question. And you
and I kind of have talked about this before. Are
their levels to cheating when someone takes it to your house,

(10:25):
your bed, like Tom and Arianna and Raquel did, and
or goes to your vacation home whatever it is, does
that make it worse? And I think I feel it
doesn't make the act worse, but it makes the pain
worse for the person being cheated on. It makes that
victim feel even lower, even more degraded, and just another

(10:51):
level of disrespect on top of already being cheated on.
I would say for the victim, here gives you some
clarity though, Like it's one thing if somebody of course
their levels to cheating, and I, like I said, you
never know what's going on in someone's home. You and
I have said that before. But let's take the example
of if someone I don't know if they cheat on
you one time if they are so sorry, if you

(11:12):
were going through a rough period whatever, versus somebody who's
continually brought people into your home. That shows you the
truth of that person, right, Like, I think that gives
you a clear sign, gives you some clarity of get
out of this because that person not only made a mistake,
but disrespected you as part of it and wasn't afraid
to hurt you, like, didn't think about you know, if

(11:33):
you're cheated and you have guilt and you're trying to
make up for it, that's one thing. But if you
did it in this way where not only were you cheating,
but you were actively doing things that would hurt the
person more, that shows who you are as a person.
So Tom came out and made a statement. So he
has spoken. Tom has spoken, but the way he's spoken
has been heavily criticized. And that's another thing we got

(11:55):
to get into. He makes this statement, and look, I
will also say I think today there's so much social media,
so much commentary. Any statement as a celebrity, any statement
you make on anything, is going to be criticized. No
one releases a statement on anything they're going through that
isn't met with I love that. I hate that. Right.
Nobody's ever said, oh great, no, get I get their

(12:15):
point now. Some one says perfect statement, Yeah, apology one
percent accepted. Great job on that. Nobody says that people
have to weigh in. But the big thing about Tom's
statement that everyone's pointing out is he does not mention Arianna,
the woman he's cheating on. That is a little bit

(12:36):
of a gaff. That's a little bit of a miss there, Tom.
I'm not sure what publicis helped him. I'm sure it
was someone from Bravo, is my guess. And that's the
interesting layer to this that I want to jump in.
As soon as you're done with this, Tom point of
the rest of his statement might take on it. Oh okay, well,
So to catch everyone of his statement is basically he says,

(12:58):
Tom also owns a restaurant, so I guess people have
been leaving really rough yelp reviews on the restaurant and
coming maybe for his family and his friends. So he
makes a statement saying, look, I know I've disappointed everyone.
I am sorry for that, but please don't come from
my family and friends. And also the restaurant might have
my name on it, but as it has other employees.
I have other partners. Please don't come for the restaurant,

(13:18):
and then he says, I will take I need time
to address everything else. Now, I actually thought about us,
because you've talked about people needing time, and you've said,
you know many times with both yourself and The Bachelor.
You're like, people need time to process and address things.
So give me your take. Well, yeah, I mean, first
of all, I do agree with whin your life, even
if you have blown it up, which Tom clearly has.

(13:40):
The decisions they've made together, he and Raquel Rachel, they
clearly have blown their own lives up. So are you
still afforded that time? Sure? I mean he still needs
time to unwind this. Talk to Ariana, talk to family,
talk to friends, deal with your own inner circle, your
own self, and then come to the public. You don't

(14:01):
owe the public anything. I know, he's on Vanderpump rules,
and you have signed a certain part of your life
over to that Bravo nation. But still, but I took
it as probably got a call from the producers. I mean,
let's just say I've been a part of a show
for two decades and certain things like this happened along
the way. I my guess is he probably would have

(14:24):
been advised by a producer or two or an executive. Hey,
how about you don't speak until we do this publicly?
How about until we get the Bravo cameras up and running.
Let's just keep this in the can and let's not
make anything else public. So that's how I felt about
the rather obtuse non statement that he made of just

(14:44):
give me a moment, because we will see this play
out on Vanderpump Rules aka The Pump. You're being so
nice and saying they advised him, don't you think, I mean,
he's under contract. Don't you think they would have told
him don't say anything. We're filming this because, by the way, allegedly,
yes Bravo did, according to reports, go grab a camera
and get rolling on this whole thing. Yeah, thank I mean, look, yes,

(15:05):
you're under contract. Can they actually enforce that and make
this guy not speak? No, you can live your own life.
You cannot. There is no contract that will keep you
from speaking on your own life like this. The lawyers
and the executives will sure try to make him feel
like that's the contract, and they're they're going to be
threatening him, and you're in a vulnerable situation. That's how

(15:28):
this is playing out right now. Well, I will also
say maybe there's the element too if he's thinking like, okay,
if I want to keep my job, I don't you know,
I better let the cameras roll and not say anything.
But you know, I want to go back to one
thing you said, which is he doesn't owe the public anything.
It's I would argue against that because I think and
you and I have felt this. I mean, you are

(15:49):
in a different position because you're a host versus a contestant,
or not a contestant, your well, your host versus a contestant.
But also on a show like this, on vander Pump
Rules or Real Housewives, the premise of the show isn't
a competition. You know, you're on for one or two seasons.
It's you're filming and sharing your whole life. And so
I think the conundrum there is I think the public

(16:12):
does feel owed something because they're like, hey, man, we
commit to caring about your life, we commit to watching
this show you're on, and to the fandom of you
and supporting you. And you know, they've come to his restaurants,
they've supported him and his endeavors. They've gone to his
band's shows, and so I think they do feel owed something. Well,
I agree, I don't get me wrong. Does the audience

(16:34):
do the fans have that appetite? Do they feel like
they deserve some answers? Yes? But does Tom as an
individual and now going through this as just as a
human being. Because again, these doc you follow along shows
like Housewives, like vander Pump Rules Like it's very interesting
because there's also a real life going on there. There's

(16:57):
real employees from his restaurant. There's real family being affected.
I don't know who Ariana has in her life, but
now they're being affected by this. So there's a lot
to unravel. And I guess maybe the better way to
put it is, yes, you the audience has owed something.
Maybe the timing can be dictated by those people involved,

(17:17):
giving them a chance to figure this out. But trust me,
Bravo could not run get the cameras fired up fast enough. Well,
vander pumb Rules Is last season had gotten a little criticism,
it wasn't so interesting anymore. So the show is definitely
back what you wish for. Well, you know, but that
brings me to another thing. Is it be careful what
you wish for, or some part of me wonders not

(17:42):
that this was done on purpose, but look, these people
have been on TV for a long time. And that's
a conundrum of being on one of the doc you
Follow shows, right is your life has to keep creating
the drama over and over and over again. And you
wonder why you see X number of divorces on the
Housewives shows, or you know, we've had a million and
one breakups and makeups on vander Pump Rules. There's been

(18:03):
other cheating on this show before. I don't know. I've
honestly wondered about it with you and I before because
I've thought like could I Like people have asked me,
would you ever go on Housewives? And I think to
myself that that's such a risk of your real life,
you know, would you do it? Would you ever be
on a doc you follow reality show? I would be

(18:23):
the Harry Hamlin of the doc You Follow show with
Lisa Runna. Would you would rarely ever see me or
hear me? We'll stop in a little thirty second, Hi,
how are you? You'd actually be a lot like Harry
Hamlin because he made dinner for the ladies many times exactly.
That's perfect. I'd come in for some girl chat and
then I would exit stage left the cheating stuff. And

(18:44):
that kind of leads us to our other big headline
of the week, and that was the Chris Rock Live
Netflix special that aired this weekend. First of all, it's
a big deal that Netflix did a live special, first
one they've ever done. I love the jokes kind of
in the pre show that they have reinvented leave it
to the tech industry to reinvent live TV and doing
a live Saturday night, live comics show. But with that said,

(19:10):
it went off very well. There were some production glitches.
They don't quite have it down yet. But it's interesting
that Netflix and some of these streamers are moving to
the live event space. They've already done sports, now they're
moving into a big special like this. Very interesting. But
everybody knew Chris Rock was going to talk about the
infamous Will Smith Oscar slap for the first time. Brilliant

(19:32):
that he is waited, he's contemplated, He's to a day.
I'm almost like I think it was this week a
year ago. Because the Oscars are coming up. That's all
that also makes this very interesting. I don't know if
we'll get into this today, but the oscars are upon
us and he just released this special, so very interesting.
But the fact that he kept this to himself, as

(19:55):
he said in the special, I'm not going to be
a victim. I didn't go to run to Oprah and
Gail King and do all the interviews of what was me.
He waited for this moment to own his platform and
what he was going to say, and I thought he
did a brilliant job at it. You and I were
talking about this a little bit because he said, if
you all, if anybody hasn't watched the Netflix, specially yet,
Chris Rock's news stand up. We watched the whole thing

(20:16):
very much, you know, laughed at a bunch of it.
You know, he's one of the most brilliant stand ups
of all time. But he said, I'm not a victim,
and I agree with him, and I admired that he said,
you know, I didn't want to victimize myself. And I
can't dictate how he feels, but I was watching him,
you know, we waited till the end. At the end
he addresses the Will Smith thing. He kind of peppered

(20:38):
a few little jokes about it throughout and then he
really addressed it at the end, and when we were
watching what he said at the end, I still felt
real pain from him. It still felt to me like
maybe he didn't play the victim, but you know, he said,
Will Smith is way bigger than me. He came after
me like he and I never did anything to him,

(20:58):
and so I felt, you know, you were a victim here.
You were a victim of someone assaulting you on live
television in front of millions of people, affecting your career
in a way you didn't ask for, and I felt
pain there. You're spot on. First of all, this was
my interpretation of when he uses the word victim. I
think what we see in society today is everybody is
a victim, everybody runs to victimhood is used. He didn't

(21:23):
want to use it. Obviously, he is expressing being a
victim on this show. And here's what I think he
did a brilliant job of you're right. He gave these
great little teasers throughout the special that you knew it
was coming. Just in case you forgot, he would just
drop a little note it's a little easter egg of
like hey, just wait, we're going to talk about Will
Smith in a little bit. So that was brilliant. I

(21:44):
thought he did a good job because you're right, he
is a victim and he's hurt. You can tell he
was emotional about this. There was this great line that
he was able to walk of the gravitas the seriousness.
Will Smith, as he said on The Specialist, someone he
looked up to, he loved and appreciated as an artist
and as a person, and this person violated him, assaulted

(22:06):
him in the grandest way. And yeah, it hurt him.
And so I love that the feelings and emotion and
the realness was there. He didn't just joke it away.
But at the same time he was able, in the
Chris Rock fashion of being brilliant, made it funny, and
he was able to weave comedy into something that was
not funny and was brutal and really affected him. I

(22:28):
think Arsenio Hall, who was they did it was kind
of weird. This is the part that kind of lost me.
On the Netflix thing they did from the Comedy Store
in la a pre show and a post show. The
actual special was in Baltimore. Why we couldn't line these
things up, I don't know. And that was even a
joke at the very beginning of the monologue, but Arseneo
Hall was a part of it, and he said something

(22:48):
very poignant. The special was brilliant as it was. You
didn't need the last ten minutes, but with that last
ten minutes, it's pretty groundbreaking, and I think it's something
if you do nothing else and just watched the last
ten minutes of this special to see the emotion, to
see how Chris expresses one of the most iconic moments.
I mean in the last what twenty fifty years, if

(23:11):
we all watched on TV, Yeah, in a dark way,
an infamous moment. Maybe I'm still thinking about it. I'm
trying to remember if I was. I wasn't really laughing
very much during the Will Smith part at the end,
but also I didn't expect to be, and like, like,
I laughed a little bit, but I was sort of
just more captivated and enthralled by what he was going
to say. I mean, yeah, you want to talk about

(23:31):
what we're talking about, taking time to say what you
want to say. He waited a year, and we'd heard
little bits that he'd been practicing these jokes at different
stand up routines as he was working towards the special.
But it's funny how these two stories tie together goes
back to the pain of cheating, right, because one thing
Chris Rock talked about was he said, well, Jada hurt

(23:52):
Will more than I ever did. He said, this all started,
you know, because Jada and Will did a discussion on
Red Table Talk talking about how and how she had
gotten in an entanglement. And he said, like, you know,
I think it was kind of known. Will Smith was
feeling a lot of pressure from that. People were bringing
it up a lot, and some people looked at this
Chris Rock moments, maybe his breaking point. But the cheating thing,

(24:17):
you know, we're talking about it from these two different perspectives,
and it's funny how I don't know it's both things
are also I'm trying to they both walk that line
of like I'm sitting here asking myself, gosh, am I
am I too captivated by this vander Pump Rules thing,
because these are real people and these are real feelings,
and I feel bad, although I feel a little bit

(24:37):
better because with the vander Pump Rules crew, they're all
really leaning into it on Instagram too, like her friends,
Ariana's friends Katie and Lala are like we ride at dawn,
we ride for Ariana. We are going, we are coming
for these people. So they're very much leaning into the
drama too, which is smart for the show. See as
I said, I'm team Arianna. I write it down too.
But the Chris Rock thing I thought was very well done.

(25:00):
You're right, the last ten minutes. I don't recall laughing
much because even in the comedy there was pain, and
there was again this gravitas to it all that didn't
make it haha funny, but he did a good job
of trying to weave that comedic genius into it. It It
reminded me a little bit of Chappelle, who, as you know,

(25:21):
I couldn't be a bigger fan. I think he is
an absolute just brilliant comic, maybe the best there is
right now. And he does a good job of always
not as much making you laugh as making you think
in a comedic way, making you look at something from
a completely different angle. And I think Chris Rock did
a great job because, and this is something you and

(25:42):
I discussed. As a comic, you're not often the subject, right,
there's observational humor where even Chris Rock talked about his
wife on the show. He joked about his daughter on
the show, But this was about him. This is something
that happened to him, and it was such an iconic,
infamous moment, not an easy thing to try and spin
into a comedy routine, right, Like he made jokes about

(26:04):
Meg and Markle too, or he made jokes about Lulu Lemon.
But when you're it's one thing when you're talking about
a brand, a big different thing or person other than yourself.
It's another thing to be the news yourself and to
make jokes about it. And I think, you know, the
Meghan Markle stuff is probably going to get just as
many headlines that was. You know, he went after him
pretty strong, he did. I if you all haven't seen it,

(26:25):
he basically questioned whether some of the things that happened
to Megan Markle that she has said, we're racist, we're
racist interesting to me because Meghan Markle and Prince Harry
have that deal with Netflix. So I mean, I guess
I do admire Netflix for keeping in differing opinions amongst
the various people that they're working with. You know, it's
you and you mentioned Dave Chappelle. Look, I don't agree

(26:47):
with everything that Dave Chappelle feels. I don't agree with
everything Chris Rock or everything Megan Markle and Prince Harry feel,
but I think it's important to discuss people's different opinions.
And I'm also interested to see how a live special
on Netflix did. Now we're getting all industry, but I'm like,
how did the live special do? Because they did make
a lot of jokes about I think the opening joke

(27:08):
that was made was like, this is the final death
knell of broadcast television. Yeah, that was dark. And that's
the thing is. I watched immediately just because I wanted
to see what was the production value on Netflix? How
are they going to lean into doing this live? I
thought it was very weird that pre show in a
completely different city. Why wouldn't you just do it in
Baltimore backstage or whatever. It was just so weird. I

(27:30):
think it was Ronnie Chang was hosting it said that too.
He's like, why are we doing this? Makes no sense
at all. He's like, but we have double satellites. We've
doubled the cost to this thing. So it was really weird.
And then they tried to you know, you could just
tell it was someone who probably hasn't not done a
lot of live because it was like the staged pre
can shot of walking up to his dressing room. Obviously
it was pre shot. And then there was the weird

(27:52):
thing where they dropped in on Jeff Ross, who I
guess was warming up for him Chris Rock in Baltimore. Yes,
it was weird. It was like it was kind of convoluted,
kind of hard to follow. But at the end of
the day, everybody just wanted to see Chris Rock, wanted
to hear what he was going to say. This has
been such an anticipated moment, not just for Netflix, but
for Rock to come out and finally speak on the

(28:13):
eve of the Oscars and how this will play out
now heading into Oscar week will be very interesting and
I just I thought he handled it really, really well,
about as good as you possibly could considering the circumstances. Well,
you know, it's interesting too to see now can Will
Smith come back from all this? And I'm also going

(28:35):
to ring it back to the Vanderpump Rules Crew, which
is a lot of fans online are saying, like loll
Raquel Rachel that she she did this. You know, she's
she started as a fan of the show, and then
she wound up on the show, so she's just trying
to further her career. And I don't know, it's if
you spin it perfectly, if you're someone who's on a

(28:56):
reality show and you are a villain, I don't know
you can always I do. I think people can always
have a redemption story. I'm not ruling Rock Heel or
Tom or anybody out yet because I will say, as
a longtime fan of Vanderpump Rules, a lot of people
have cheated on a lot of people on that show
and they've come back and we've fallen in love with them.
So certainly, not now and I'm not saying it's okay,
but years from now, they could have a redemption story.

(29:18):
And actually, the people that you're talking to, Ari Liondyke
and Lauren Lendyke, Ari somebody who I feel so differently
about now than I did years ago. Easily one of
the most controversial bachelors ever was Ari Liondyke Junior and
the infamous swap the Jason Mesnick that he pulled if
you will, and it will go down and did go

(29:39):
down as one of the craziest moments in television reality
television history, and there are things you don't know about
that about Ari and I a moment that happened before
he was the bachelor that could have changed everything. I'm
going to give you that story in so much more
on the backside of this break. We talked to Ari

(30:00):
and Lauren Lindyke right after this Welcome back to the
most dramatic podcast ever. Chris Harrison. Here, as I said
before the break, we have a very special guest, actually
special guests today. He was on the Bachelorette Emily Maynard

(30:25):
season went on to become the Bachelor and maybe the
most controversial bachelor ever, as he made the infamous swap
to his now beautiful wife Lauren, and they are now
parents of three, which begs the question, Ari and Lauren,
Welcome to the show. How are you taking forty minutes
out of your day to do this with three kids

(30:46):
a babysitter that we love. Yes, and you caught us
at naptime, so it's actually a pretty good time during
so we planned this in the afternoon. So you guys
were really doing this during naptime? Ye? Yes, How are
the kid Let's just get it out of the way.
How are the kids? They're great. Yeah, they're really great
big babies. They're starting to talk now and lux yes,

(31:07):
yeah there. And how's big cis a lessie? She is
a three ager. She literally bossed us around, but you know,
we're trying to figure out this whole parenting of a toddler.
And she's very opinionated but super sweet and cute, but
she is very How old is a lessie now? Almos?

(31:27):
Okay before going on nineteen? Yes, I'm already seeing the
future and it looks terrified. I think I don't want
to scare you already, but you know I have one
teenage daughter. Um, you should be scared. Yeah, you should
be scared. You know. It's It's funny, is it wasn't
the the high school in going into college years. It

(31:50):
was really I think the worst time for girls is
going through the middle school age. It's those early teenage
years that were the most brutal for kind of bullying
and people changing and you know kids, you know, a
girl's growing up faster than the other girl. That was
probably the toughest time. It really wasn't those high school years. Yeah,
I remember that as a girl. That was the toughest

(32:12):
time for me too. Elsie my lord. It was funny
because when she came into Taylor's life, She's like, I
have not remembered this world since I went through it,
and you know, jumping into Taylor's life and she was
already a teenager, She's like, wow, that is there's a
lot going on. But yeah, y'all have get to look
forward to two X. But how is life like? How

(32:35):
is life for you guys with three kids, with trying
to you know, social media. I see you guys, and
everyone looks happy. That's not life. What's what's life really like?
I mean, we've definitely been through some trials. Yea. I
think it was really hard when the twins were firstborn
because we were figuring out how to balance twin newborns

(32:55):
and a two year old at the same time. So
we had some rough patches. But in a good spot
now and yeah, everyone seems to be happy these days,
which is really nice for a change. Yeah, we're in
this incredible sweet spot right now. I feel like because
the babies are starting to communicate, they're getting a lot easier,
we're being we're spending more time with each other, and

(33:15):
it's just it's a lot better than it was about
a year ago, which is pretty tough. When you say
you're going through rough patches. What is that as parents
but also as a couple, what is that? Well, I
don't think anything really could have prepared us for becoming
parents of twin newborns. You know, it sounds hard, but

(33:37):
we also were looking at the silver lining part of it.
We're like, oh, it's gonna be so fun. We're gonna
have twin babies, Like, how cool is that? And then
we get into it and we're not sleeping at all.
We were getting like one hour of sleep at a time.
We were sleeping in separate bedrooms because we were trying
to allow of one of us to get sleep one
night and then the next night we would switch. So

(33:58):
we were kind of just like two ships past in
the night for a while. That's a good way to
scratch it. Yeah, we didn't make any time for each other.
You know, I think we're like, we were sleep depriabe. Also,
I think at that point you your temper is just
a little bit like your fuse is short, you know,
a little bit of bickering and then you know, the
sex life kind of goes out the window there for

(34:19):
a while. And by the way, all those things you
just mentioned happened when there's one baby and you guys
have had three and then obviously the twins, so it
exacerbates all of that. I can only imagine. I didn't
even go through that, so I can only imagine. Yeah,
that is the things you do, and it's funny. You
laugh as a parent, You're like, what am I doing?

(34:40):
How have these little beings completely changed and up into
my life that I can't control anymore? You were completely
out of control. Yeah, it was hard, but it got better,
It got easier, and we prioritize our relationship. We made
sure that we spend time with each other away from
the kids. You know, we had my parents watch them,

(35:00):
or you know, we hired help to like give us
a little bit of a break, and that was really
a much needed Yeah. I think Ari was really good
about that too. He kind of forced me to do
that when I maybe wasn't ready to do that in
the beginning. But he's like, we need to do this
for us. Let's you know, hire a babysitter and go

(35:21):
have a date night, or you know, leave them for
a weekend and we'll go have some time just us.
So I think I'm grateful now that he pushed us
to do that, because at the time I was a
little annoyed because I wanted to be with the babies
all the time. Yeah, I think that's like natural, you know, yeah,
but it's important. I was going to ask you guys,
how you are keeping it going because people say, oh,
you got to keep dating. You got to get that's

(35:41):
easier said than done, especially when you're in that wheelhouse
of the newborn to three years old. It's just easier
said than done. And so how did you guys make
that time or did you just make sure, like just
find those little moments. Yeah, I think we did a
little bit of both, right, Yeah. I was definitely definitely
a scheduling like a date night or like mat being like, Okay, hey, Wednesday,

(36:03):
we're gonna have my mom watch the babies. It's going
to be rough for her, but we need to go
to lunch and just like decompress, you know. I think
it's just like making the time, I think is the
biggest thing. And they're just sticking a lot of couples
we know do like a weekly thing. We didn't really
do that, but but yeah, just making the time one
thing amazes me. After you guys have been married, you know,

(36:24):
so long in the kids and I know you on
this different level now, but you guys are not immune
to rumors still about you. And it's funny there's this
still this poll to this other world. There's like breakup
rumors and all these things hit the tabloids and I'm like, whoa,
It's like, it's funny. I kind of forget that you
guys were still a part of that. But those rumors exist. Yeah,

(36:49):
they come up frequently, actually do Everyone's like, oh my gosh,
you're breaking up. Please don't tell me you're breaking up.
And we're not breaking up, but yeah, there apparently someone
thinks we are. That's true. I think there's a couple
Instagram pages out there that always push that out to
drive some traffic to I mean, to be honest, Ari
has a history being flaky, so you know, everyone just

(37:16):
like waiting for that moment. Yeah I changed my mind.
Yeah right, have three kids later. But it is funny.
I see those rumors and I'm like, oh, man, um kids,
you have three and this might be a really tough
time to ask, but will there be more? Honestly, we've

(37:38):
been saying no, this whole time, but we've thought about adopting. Yeah,
maybe in the future. And I honestly think I pulled
the trigger too fast on the vasectomy. So you got
a vasectomy, I did. I got a vasecto me. Lauren
was in the room, which was hilarious. By the way,
I recommend all the dads out there, if you're going
to get a vasectomy, leave your wife at home, full stop,

(38:00):
full stuff. On this interview, rewind Lauren was in the
room for your vasectomy? Yes, why, why? And how well
my doctor allowed it was the first mistake. I just think,
well why, I thought, why did you want that to happen?

(38:22):
First of all? First of all, I mean she birth
you know, three beautiful babies and twins, So I felt
like it was my duty to go in there and
just sack up for better luck, to suck it up. Buttercup, No,
I mean, look, I understand you getting the vasectomy. I've
been down that road myself and been there and done that,

(38:43):
and so I know it's a rather emasculating moment when
your stuff's just kind of laying there on your stomach
and they're working and kind of caught a rizing and
cutting your vast deference tubes. So, Lauren, where are you
during all this? Give me your play by play. Well,
first I was sitting at his feet, just, you know,
minding my own business. And then I saw him turn

(39:05):
around minding his business, Yeah, his business. He started turning
white and he started pulling his hair out. So I
was like, okay, maybe I should go hold his hand
and like talk him through this. Chris, I mean, I
know now, but apparently I have some sort of what
is it a version? Not a version, but I'm immune
to Lydakane. Oh basically Lydaican doesn't work on me. So

(39:28):
they didn't deaden you, or couldn't deaden you. It did
not deaden anything. I felt, all, man, that's no fun
at all. Yeah. So he's having a really hard moment
and his doctor's just there singing chestnuts roasting on an
open fire. Well, thanks for setting me up, because I
doubt it was a very hard moment for him at
that time. Um, sorry, that was too easy. So he

(39:53):
goes through this, you're sitting there, and you know they
patch him up at the end. I've you, guys, a
the only couple I've ever known to be in the
room together during a vasectomy. That is that's amazing. Only
you guys, I know, we do everything. It was super
embarrassing because you know, you're just on this table and this,

(40:15):
you know, they're like did you shave and I'm like yeah,
She's like, well he didn't shave good enough. And then
a nurse is like, oh god, I'm just like this
is weird. My ex was not in the room with me.
I did mind solo and luckily the latt kane worked.
But right as we're about to start, the doctor said, hey,
I have this new nurse practitioner. Do you mind if
she sits in? And you know whatever, I don't care.

(40:35):
At this point, I'm splayed out on the table and
this young girl comes in and she proceeds to turn
fifty shades of white, and I mean she's about to
pass out. Clearly this is the first time she's ever
seen this, And the doctor looks over and gave some
excuse off, like you need to go get me something,
as she kind of wabbled out of the room before
she passed out. But that was, yeah, it was I

(40:57):
did it with a total stranger, so probably have been
better if I'd done it with my significant other. Something.
A bonding experience. We're still laugh about it today. I mean,
what a date night, hebe, Let's go, let's crack a
bottle to our new app, The Sect to Me Date.

(41:24):
Speaking of embarrassing moments, when people ask me, what's one
of your most embarrassing moments ever on Bachelor Bachelorette, it's
always my Ari story. And I don't know you and
I have never talked about this Ari. You were on
the Bachelorette Emily Maynard season. We were in Aruba. So

(41:45):
we're talking three four episodes in so three and a
half weeks of taping. I should really know who's on
the show by now, especially when someone's semi famous or
has a famous family. We're sitting around the table. I
think it was Jeff Holme. I think maybe Sean was there.
You and I start, I came by. I don't if
you remember, I played golf and I came by and
decided to have a couple of beers with you guys

(42:07):
and just chat. And so we're chatting and you start
talking about race cars and I said, oh, yeah, well,
you know it's funny. I just went to Indy to
the Indie five hundred and I did a ride along
in one of those indie cars. It was amazing. And
I'm telling this story and Ari pipes and he says, well, well,
who was your driver? And I said, oh, it's this
guy Ari Liondike Junior. Yeah. It was one of those

(42:34):
things where I should have clearly known who he was
by now, and there was no there was no graceful
way to back out of this moment. I mean, it
was the cat was out of the bag. I had
already made an ass of myself and are just looked
at me and was like, I'm I'm Ari Liondike j
He didn't say jackass, he didn't say dumbad. He just

(42:55):
said I'm Ari. And I felt two inches tall. I
felt like such a moron. It's okay, you never forgot
me after that day. No, that was that was but
well we've been dear friends ever since. But that was
easily the most embarrassing moment. I just put my foot
in my mouth and oh, yeah, this guy Ari linedyck
June you've probably never heard of him and more. But yeah,

(43:15):
it was actually a hilarious moment, Lauren. True story. So
this is like, I don't know, six months before the
Bachelorette when Ari was on it. I was just happened
to be at Indy and me and Makai Peiffer, Jerry
Rice we did this cool thing where we got to
do a ride along at the Indie five hundred and
you don't have any say who drives you. It was
you and uh like day Hamilton something like that. Yeah,

(43:37):
And so they just throw they throw the throw the
fire retardant helmet on you and all this other stuff
and they just they yell at you and they're like
get in the car and they strapped you in. I
didn't know if this guy had been on a three
day bender. I didn't know if he was angry at
his ex girlfriend and wanted to fly into the wall.
I'm just you really put your trust into these guys
that are gonna slam you around the track at two

(43:57):
hundred miles an hour. Yeah. Yeah, that's so cool. I've
actually done it a couple of times too. It's a
really awesome experience. Yeah. It's funny. Funny when you pull
up your phone and you're like, oh, look here's the picture,
and you had you were standing in front of the car.
I'm like, yep, that's me. I did, I said to
the picture, and You're like, you are such an idiot,
but I know that is obviously in your blood. And

(44:20):
for quite some time after the show pre Kids, you
were into trucks, you were racing, still breaking your bones,
putting your life a danger. At what point did you
say or was it Lauren that said, Hey, I kind
of need you here at dinner time and beyond, so
we kind of have to rethink this. Yeah, I think
it was more like the dad guilt of like leaving

(44:41):
the family. We tried to do a couple of racism
bring everyone, but it just didn't turn out well. I
think we took a Lessie to a race and she
was like up all night. I got like two hours
of sleep, and I'm like, I can't perform, you know,
at the same level doing this. So then I would
go without her and I would just go by myself,
like a race Nashville a few years ago, and it

(45:02):
just felt I just felt like a little bit of
dad guilt because it's not my profession anymore, you know.
I make a little bit here in there, but it's
not like that's my living. So if it works out
to where I race in the future now and then
I'll do it, but for this phase of life, I
definitely need to be home, you know, Lauren. One thing
I've never talked to you about was the end of

(45:23):
ARI season, and not to go far back and bring
up an awkward time for all of us, but I've
never heard the story and maybe I'm sure you've talked
about it. When he chose Becca, I was so immersed
in that, and I was so in this with Ari.
I was not in this with you. What was your
world like? What was your take immediately after? I've never heard.

(45:45):
I mean, obviously it was really hard for me. I
was heartbroken, but yeah, I mean I just remember it
was actually my birthday the day he broke up with me, too,
which made it even work. What a cruel bastard? Who
does that? Who? I know? Rude, But no, it was
just like a really hard time. It took a while
for me to process it, and you know, it was

(46:08):
New Year's Eve and I feel like I was finally
over it, and then he DMed me you didn't have
like a women's intuition sixth sense about you that it
wasn't over. Well, I mean when I left, I told
everyone that I said that he's making a mistake, and
I think by the time he realizes it, it'll be
too late because I will have moved on by then.

(46:29):
So I held out for a little bit, thinking maybe
he would reach out. But by the time he did,
I was like, Okay, well I'm going to move on now.
And that was just about the time he caught me,
so it was like, yeah, any longer I probably would
have I guess to set the timeline, it was probably
about a month after shooting. I'll never forget when already
called me. I'll never forget that. I remember where I

(46:52):
was sitting. I was in my office at my home
in La when are he called me and to tell
me he was having these thoughts and really wanted to
go seek you out. And what did I tell you? Not?
You not your best supporter at the time. No, You're like,
this is not gonna be good for you, man, this
is gonna be really bad. I said, I have been
better be sure. I remember you saying something like you

(47:14):
better be sure, like this better be worth it, Like
you know, obviously you're being put in this position, um
as a lead of this this network network show, and
there's a lot of opportunities that can come after this,
but kiss all those opportunities goodbye. But I did. I
was because I had been through this with Jason Mesnick.
He did the same thing, and obviously again it worked,

(47:35):
so it was the right play. But I said, there
is a price to pay for this, and if you're
going to do this, it can't be a whim. It
can't be a hey. I just want to see you
better know. And one thing I always loved about you
at that moment are as you said, I know in
my heart, I know, and I'm willing to give it
all up because that's what essentially happened at the time.
Obviously you have now become one of the more beloved

(47:58):
members of our family, but at the time you did
you gave it all up for that chance, just a
chance to talk to Lauren. Yeah. No, I think that's
like the thing that people always like not even mentioned
like it didn't like they don't ever realize. At that moment,
I knew that it was going to be, you know, bad,

(48:20):
bad for us in the beginning, but you know, honestly
for us, we loved each other so much and when
we did get back together, we spent months together doing
happy couple. I don't know, how do you describe that?
You know, of course the sneak aways. Yeah, so, you know,
we we had formed this bond and we knew it
was going to be a controversial finale, so we were like,

(48:42):
it's kind of us against the world, and that really
pull us together. And after the show, we really felt
like we didn't really have many supporters, so we just
had to lean on each other. Yea, and that really
strengthened our bond. Well, that's either going to kill you
or cure your cure you. I mean, you're either gonna
make it or not at that moment, right, I mean, y'all,
but y'all did y'all bonded together? Can how open can

(49:03):
I be with Lauren on the line here about telling
Ari stories? You can be very okay. I don't have
to ask her to step out of the room because
I've never told this story. Nobody knows this story except
for Ari myself. Well in one young lady on the
Sunset Boulevard knows this story. This is so Ari. Obviously

(49:24):
post Bachelorette Emily season, he and I become friends and
it was there was a while obviously between bachs or
you know, the Bachelorette. Then when he became the bachelor,
so we hung out a lot. We're fairly similar in age,
so we got along really well, became good friends. He
was in town and I said, hey, let's go out tonight.
So I go pick him up at the hotel. We
go out to some bar on sunset in LA and

(49:45):
we're sitting there having some tacos, drinking some tequila, having
a great time. These three or four really attractive women
kind of sit in the booth next to us. They
they clearly know who Ari is immediately, and I mean
their eyes widen and it's like they just saw a
buffet and so lo and behold and we're about to
shoot the show. I mean, so he is the bachelor.

(50:08):
So this is think God before really camera's videos and
all that stuff went crazy, or else you never would
have been the Bachelor. This would have been a disaster
for me too, because these girls come over and they say,
we're gonna buy you guys some shots, and we're like, okay, whatever,
what's the harm in that? And they buy shots and
they said no, no, no, we're going to do them

(50:29):
off your body. Wait the show. This is right before
the show is right after bachelorette, after bachelerette, before he
became before we started taping the Bachelor, but he was
already named the bachelor. We knew he was going to
be the guy. So this is not a good look
if it ends this story. I swear I'm told her
this story. So this might break you guys up. So

(50:51):
this is not This is not a good look if
we get busted. So they say, no, we're going to
do these shots off you and Ari and the shy
guy he is. Says great, pulls up his shirt, lays
on the table in this diner, in this restaurant, laying
across the table, shirt up, and the girls are putting
shots on his belly button and they are doing body

(51:13):
shots off of Ari, half naked in a restaurant in
the middle of La Yes, I was very simple at
the time. I will say I was very one hundred
percent you are he was about to be the bachelor.
But how great would that picture have been of you
and I and you? Because I was like sitting right here,
his body's like this, and the girls in front of
me doing the shots off of him. That would have

(51:35):
been a good look, buddy. Oh so funny. I'm kind
of disappointed that didn't get out right after your season.
That's true. I mean there's probably surveillance video that's somewhere
somewhere Sunset Boulevard at two am, some dive bar. My

(52:05):
other sad unfortunate Ari stories. I tried to hook him
up on a date. Okay, I need some dirt on
this because I feel like you left a lot out
of this, out of the story. I did. So my
history with this person is I went on one date,
no connection. I didn't know this person. It was a
blind date, and nothing happened at all. We kept in touch,

(52:30):
we became friends, and she said, Hey, I'm moving to Scottsdale.
Is there anybody single that you think maybe I should date.
I got the guy for you. I got a great
guy single. He's a good dude, and so yes, I
did hook Ari up. This girl did turn out to
be a playboy playmate. Chris, you're not making me look bad.

(52:51):
I feel like this. You know it's okay. Yeah, but yeah,
that was another time when I've really I don't know
why we're friends. I've really tried to rule in your
life over and over again. Oh no, what was even
more funny about that? Relationship. We dated for a few
months and it was going pretty well, and then she's like, yeah,

(53:11):
I just never worked out with Chris, and I was like, wait, wait,
record scratch, yeah. I like when I hooked you up
the first time, I think I failed to mention that
we had gone out once, because you know, as soon
as you hear that and your buddy has been on
you're like, that's all I can picture now, not going
to do it. I didn't want to ruin it before
it ever started. But speaking of dating, by the way,
I'm excited for this new venture. You guys just launched

(53:34):
the app called Duo. It's not a dating app, it
is a date app. Ye give me, give me before
I talk about Laura and I Elze and I going
on our date, give give me the flyover of what
exactly Duo is and why did you guys do this?
So Duo is a date inspiration app, So when you
first open it, it's free and it gives you all

(53:56):
different kinds of date cards where you get different inspiration
for things you could do by yourself, and we've curated lists.
You can order things to do at home. And then
also there's a surprise date portion where Ari and I
will actually plan with our team a surprise date for
whoever signs up. So we send you on an activity.
You have to unlock the second portion by answering your

(54:17):
question about the first, and then we send you out
to dinner. And we're kind of trying to give people
the experience that we had when we first started dating,
where a lot of things were a surprised Yeah. I
mean obviously The Bachelor, I feel like is such an
interesting experience because you're doing these dates that are so extravagant,

(54:37):
but also there's a complete surprise to you, so they
do bond you. Like, let's say you have a fear
of heights and now you're doing something that kind of
pushes your boundaries. If you do it as a couple,
it really does strengthen that relationship. I think it does
like push that envelope of moving you forward. So that's
kind of experience that we wanted to give to our users,

(54:58):
and I think it's working out really well so far.
You guys tried to do that to Lauren and I
on our day, you sneaky little devils. So Elz and
I we did one of these dates that you guys
curated for us, And first of all, let me just
say it is awesome. It really is that you know,
quote unquote bachelor experience, where all we knew was how

(55:20):
to dress and that when we were going to be
picked up, and where the first stop was going to
be just a hint, you're going to a pink building.
That's all we knew. And Lauren and I walked into
something we'd never done before and it definitely pushed our
boundaries of this cool art class. Now I'll let you
guys explain how that art class is going to be
very interesting. But the whole date experience really was spectacular.

(55:45):
But we walk in there and there's this really lovely
young lady, And then explain what you guys were actually
trying to set up for us. We just wanted you
to experience your own sort of Titanic moment. You know,
it was optional to draw the person there nude or clothed,

(56:06):
and then also to take that inspiration back home with you.
We wrote you a little card that said, you know,
now that you've practiced, you know, would you like to
And there was a no, not you know, would you
like to draw each other? And said no, just kidding,
this isn't The Bachelor, you know, a little pun on that.
We did go home and h and I drew Lauren

(56:26):
and um, you know, Lauren, you should have drawn Ari
during his vasectomy. That would have been the picture. But
so we told our our model please remain clothed. We're
on a date. But it was I mean, honestly, the
date was curated so well. We had the music, we
had some great wine. You guys know us well, we
had a beautiful bottle of wine. And then after that
we got in a car. We had no idea where

(56:47):
were we're going. We went to this amazing restaurant in Austin,
Texas called Hestia, which, ironically, and I said this on
this story that I posted, I'd never been. I'd never
even heard of this restaurant. And it was this magnificent
eleven course meal, wine pairing. We just had the best night.
And again it was all thanks to you guys, all
thanks to the duo app. I love this idea of

(57:10):
a surprise date and it could be curated as high
or as low as somebody wants it. Yeah, it's completely
dependent upon the user's budget. So they can put you know,
fifty dollars and we can set something up special for
any sort of amount, because it's really about the thought
that goes into it, and there are plenty of things
to do on a lower budget, and then they can

(57:32):
be you know, the sky's a limit as well. We
can do extravagant dates as well, but we do want
to let people know that really it's within their control
in their budget. Well, and what I loved about it
was it's easy for one of us to surprise the
other one. That's usually how a date works, or a
surprise works. It's really impossible for both of you to

(57:52):
be surprised, you know. And that was the magic of
the night, was us getting ready together talking. You know,
it's kind of like again like the show, we're discussing,
what do you think it's going to be? What do
you think they'll they'll do to us? You know, Laura,
my girl is LZ was She's like, I don't love heights.
Maybe you're gonna throw us off a building, Maybe they're
gonna you know, who knows what they're gonna do. And

(58:12):
so just the anticipation in the talking allowed us that
hour or so getting ready to talk, then going there
not knowing what we were walking into. And then even
after just talking about what we just experienced together. So
the whole night just really put us in such a
great place. So I love the idea of you guys
doing this. Thank you. I'm glad you guys had a

(58:33):
good time. And I do want to say for everyone
out there, if you do sign up for a date,
you can put the criteria for whatever you would like.
Chris ask for something weird, so we send, but that's
not that's not really where we send everyone. But yeah,
it's really like, for example, my parents are you know,
they just requested a date and they said, we want indoors, simple, romantic.

(58:57):
They're like, basically like, make it us boring us false well,
and we're like, okay, you know, like if you are
not don't want to do anything that will put you
outside of your comfort zone, We're not going to force
it upon you. But some people are like, I want
to do something thrilling, I want to do something off
the wall, I want to do something I've never done before.
Then our creative minds really have to get to work.
So there is definitely a date out there for anyone.

(59:20):
I did say, you can't make it weird enough. That
was It was awesome, It really was congratulations to you guys.
I think it's going to be a huge hit. I
think it's going to really be accepted well across the
country because it's everybody's chance to to play long and
be a part of something that all of us kind
of knew very well. And it is that pushing the

(59:42):
boundaries creativity, being a part of something you're not sure of,
and then bonding together. It was awesome. Oh great. Yeah,
we're so happy that you loved it. And you guys,
y'all have a million things going on, I know other
than that, and that's why I appreciate you guys taking
a little time today during nap time to pull this off. Yeah,
we appreciate you and you're and obviously it's awesome that

(01:00:04):
you and Lauren got to go on a date and
we love your support and you know, it's it's been
it's been awesome. Like we've been friends now for so long, Chris,
it's like insane to think of how long now we've
known each other. And it's just really cool to see
where you're at in your career. And we always will
succore you well. I appreciate and you guys always have,
by the way, and I want to send you both

(01:00:25):
love because from day one when everything was going on,
you guys were there, and you guys spoke up and
you never shied away from the love and support, and
so Laura and I adore you guys, and it has
been amazing to kind of we you know, we'll FaceTime
with Ari and Lauren from time to time. You know,
we're having this really calm, nice dinner, drinking a glass

(01:00:46):
of wine, and then we zoom in or FaceTime into
y'all's life and it's just kate honest, naked kids running around.
There's like kids hanging off of you. It's like a
jungle gym and it's funny. Then we like turn off
our FaceTime and Elsie and I just look at each other.
I'm like, wow, wow. But it is that beautiful chaos

(01:01:10):
though the noise is good, isn't it. Everyone always says
that that you know is kind of thick. Yeah, that
you miss that chaos, yeah, And so we're trying to
soak it in. Our babies are only little one time,
so it's so true. It's hard. But everyone that we've
talked to that has kids that have grown up always
say that, So I don't remember, you know Joshua, who

(01:01:31):
you know is now twenty one years old in the
junior my oldest in college, and it's like, I don't
remember him banging pots and pans on the floor anymore.
I don't remember the crawling in this screaming and the
getting up in the middle of the night and throwing
up all over me. All those things that at the
time make your relationship really difficult. But then you look
back and you're like, damn it, those were the good times,

(01:01:52):
Like that was the good stuff. And so I'm glad
you guys admit, yeah, there's those times when it's really difficult,
but you got to look at each other and just
laugh because that's the good stuff. Totally. Yeah, we're very
grateful for everything they've got going on, even if it's hard. Well,
and it's amazing to have watched you guys, and watch
al grow but then now obviously get to know you

(01:02:12):
and love you, Lauren is especially just as this family,
this beautiful family, and to watch the kids grow up
and to do it from afar is great. Well, you're
welcome to come over anytime, Chris if you want to babysit,
and you know that's a date night. That's a duo date.
We're gonna return this to you. Elsie and I are
going to come to Arizona. We're gonna babysit for a

(01:02:33):
night and you guys go have a date night that
the show. I would do that in a heartbeat. Well, guys,
thank you so much. I do. I appreciate you taking
the time. I know you've got a million things to do,
so I'll let you go, but love you both dearly.
And you know Elsie and I are always here for you,
all right, We love you too. Thanks Chris, say hey, Lauren. Bye.
My Thanks to Ari and Lauren for taking time out.

(01:02:54):
They have three beautiful kids, but they have their hands
full with Senna, Lux and Alessie. And luckily it was
now time we got to spend some time together. And
it is amazing. And that's one of the things I
always say about why I will always be grateful for
my time on the show, because there are real friends
in my life because of that show, and I could
never begrudge that. And Ari is one of those people

(01:03:17):
that from the moment I didn't know who he was
to now we have become such good friends. And to
have watched his family grow has just really been a
privilege of mine and now to be a part of
their lives again. It's just one of those beautiful things
that came out of this crazy show that I will
always be proud of. And I'm proud of this podcast
and I thank you all for being a part of

(01:03:38):
it today, and I hope you'll join me next time
because we have a lot more to talk about. Thanks
for listening. Follow us on Instagram at the most Dramatic
pod ever, and make sure to write us a review
and leave us five stars. I'll talk to you next time.