February 4, 2021 • 22 mins
Matt James goes IN DEPTH with Ben and Ashley and opens up like you’ve never seen him before!
He spills some intimate details about the girls in his season and drops a major secret about Hannah B!
Plus, we hear some insight on who he might choose as his final pick.
This is some scalding tea that ONLY gets shared with trusted members of Bachelor Nation, and we’re letting you in on the secret on the Almost Famous Podcast!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous in Depth.
Hey guys, welcome to the Almost Famous podcast. We have
another mini in depth today and man, are we excited
to have the man of the hour Matt James joining
us and my husband Jared will be filling in for
Ben and then couldn't be here. I'm like, plan, I'm
(00:21):
honored to be planned b behind Ben. I feel like
I'm playing j um Well Matt. Jared has been fan
boying over you for the past five weeks now, so
I thought that he would be the perfect person to
come because like he literally he like gets smiley watching
He's like, man, this guy, this guy got it. Dude.
(00:43):
You just got like great vibes about you. You know,
like you're authentic, You're You're endearing. I think that's your
best quality. You're so endearing. I love Ashley and I
were talking about before the season about how you weren't
a part of the franchise beforehand, and I feel like
I love that now because watching you go through this
process for the first time along with the women, I
(01:05):
feel like creates a bond between you and your girls
that previous leads haven't had. Yeah, I feel that I
feel thank you, Jared, I, Um, there there was times
where I was I would tell the women, I'm like, listen,
like it might look like I don't know what I'm
doing because I don't like I'm figuring this out like
y'all are, and and and being able to bond on
(01:27):
that was nice just because I felt like they didn't
feel as much of outsiders as as someone might have
if someone had been in their shoes and been on
the other side. And I was just dealing with everything
that came up like any normal person would if if
they were thrown into the Phrakes. So uh, Ashley saw
that during our our love story reading that you know,
(01:48):
that's I don't think that's something that you can prepare for,
regardless of that you've been on the show or not.
So uh, it was. It's been a lot of fun here.
Were there any instances where you were like, oh man,
it would have been very helpful to have had more experience. Um,
I'll say that for the rose ceremony, Like the rose
ceremony is the most daunting thing for me, Like I
(02:15):
I get short of breath because it's just like I'm
sending women home for the most part, who are incredible
women who I could see myself with, but there's only
one one ring at the end of it. It's like,
how do I tell you that you're not my person
without like crushing you? And there really isn't a way
to do it, and that was that was tough. Um.
(02:35):
I don't think that there would have been a way
to prepare for that. We're talking about how endearing you are.
I think one of the most endearing qualities is that, like,
you have all the elements in which you could be
like a total player, but you don't have a player
bone in your body. And even the producers when they
were telling me about you beforehand, they're like, I think
this guy is far more innocent in relationships and dating
(02:58):
than we thought he'd be. I think you need to
be smooth to have that, and I don't have it.
You know. It's like, uh, I just I just try
to act as normal as possible, and it's hard when
like things are happening that are are not normal. But
I think that I doubled down on just how I
(03:19):
was raised and and the conversations I had with Wells
and Ben and Sean Low before the fact, so that
I would have some sort of idea of how they
handled it, and um, the short answer is im perfect.
It's an imperfect process for for everybody knows you've got
to find how it works for you. There's no one
on the right way to do. Everyone has their own
(03:41):
way of figuring it out. What was the best piece
of advice one of those guys gave you. I think
the best advice I got was just it's so basic,
h Tyler is just like you know where your feet are,
and that's just like basically saying, be yourself. And there
would be conversations that I'd be in where someone would
pose a question and I'm just thinking of my head, like, Okay,
(04:02):
how could I give the most articulate, like poetic, thoughtful answer,
But like I don't have that, you know, and like
all I have is like my lived experiences and like
who I am as a person. So my answers were
just candid, and it's like it might not have been
what they were looking for, but it was what they
needed to hear through. Tyler. You struck up a relationship
a friendship with Hannah Brown. Did you ask her for advice?
(04:24):
And what's the status of your friendship now? Hannah is
my girl? I I talked to hand on a regular basis.
I actually met her her new boyfriend, who's incredible and
thanks for spilling the tanks for giving some confirmation there. Yeah,
he's he's awesome and and she's happy and she deserves
to be happy. And the questions that I was asking
(04:46):
her were just like what to expect? How did you
know when you were feeling something? And she was just
a sounding board and it was It meant so much
to have someone like that who's again been through it
on through the highest highs and low flads of what
uh what can come with with putting yourself out there?
And uh, it made me more equipped for what I
(05:08):
was bound to handle. Did she at all suggests that
Heather Morris come on the show? I don't know. No, wait,
we're not gonna. I think I'm talking about the girl
from Glen Alright, So yeah, did she have influence because
Heather and her are so close. Um, it wasn't something
(05:33):
I was aware of, you know, I was just a
shock when she pulled up, as everyone else was. And uh,
I think that it makes for a very interesting conversation
next week. Oh yeah, I mean it makes for great TV.
How did you how did you and Tyler become friends?
I don't even know. Wait for so so. I was
(05:55):
a year older than Tyler, and but Tyler graduated high
school of semester early. He was he gray shirted, so
like like instead of going into his springs uh semester
as a senior in high school, he graduated in the
fall and he came to Wake as a freshman because
he's so smart. What no, Uh, Tyler is actually very smart.
(06:19):
People don't give him enough credit. He was he was
He was the a CEC debate team champion. Wow. Good
for Tyler. He has the he has the hardware to
prove it. He got his masters from the f a U.
He's he's sharp. But but no, I was walking it
to his dorm and I saw him walking in with
(06:40):
all the stuff. I introduced myself and like, yo, you
must be the new QB because he's he's huge. He's
like six five, like two thirty. I'm like, listen, we're
going on a trip to South Carolina. I was with
like a few of other guys on the team. Never
met him in my entire life. I'm like, would you
want to join us? He's like, yeah, let me just
put my stuff down. It's just stuff down. We could
have been like anybody, gets in the car with us,
(07:01):
ride six hours with us down to USC and we
had one of the best weekends of our life. And
that's far our friendship. So Tyler's extremely good looking six
four quarterback, graduated high school early because he's so intelligent.
Head of the debate debate team. Yeah, screw this guy.
He's like two perfect, he's got a rescue Yeah, he's
he doesn't give himself enough credit. Yeah, he's actually really smart.
(07:25):
That's awesome. Speaking of Tyler, did you have any issue
with him selling shirts with your naked body on it?
That was so funny that picture. I had no problem
with it because that picture brings back so many fond
memories of just spending a very tough time and in
not only our country's history, but in Tyler's life together.
(07:47):
That was like a like a month or so after
his mom had passed, and we were just trying to
find any way to entertain ourselves. And we freaking got
a tarp from his uh, from his shed. We put
don dish soap all over, we had the hoses running,
We had the neighborhood's biggest slipping slide everyone was it
was it was a blast, like we were just trying
(08:09):
to find ways to entertain ourselves. Tyler's mom was actually
the one who nominated you to be on The Bachelorette
Claire's season, Um, and then you did. You spent I'm assuming,
like just months in that quarantine crew, um, kind of
just being there for him. What was it like in
that house because on Instagram and on TikTok we see
(08:30):
it was just like looks like fun and games, but
I'm sure there was a lot of heavy moments as well. Yeah,
I wouldn't have gone on the show if it hadn't
been for Tyler's mom, Um, And she was so adamant
about me being part of this experience because she saw
what he did for Tyler and the man that he
has continued to become into as he dealt with everything
(08:52):
that he did with his relationship with Hannah and going
out there and putting himself out in the open and
airing out a lot of the things that he's probably
never spoken about. And I just felt like I owed
it to her after everything that happened, to see it
through for her, And who would have thought that I
would end up in this position as the bachelor. But uh,
you know, I was out there for Claire season and
(09:14):
in a hotel quarantining ready to go to the mansion.
And that week everything hit the fan of the country.
The a C, the n C doul A tournament ended,
they canceled, uh, Premier League soccer. Like when I saw
these things happen, I'm like like, I'm like, how are
we gonna show with all this other stuff? And then
they send him home and uh, that time in the house.
(09:34):
To answer your question, actually was it was? It was?
It was. It was big because Tyler would never say it,
but um, I think he enjoyed having us around, and
I think his his brothers enjoyed having us around, because
you know, when you go through something like that, how
do you cope? How do you how do you move
(09:55):
past that? And you gotta surround yourself with people who
love you and care about you. And that's what he
did it and um and ultimately you know, we we
we drove each other crazy and we had blow ups,
but the culmination of that was just like strengthening our
friendship and and just building a bond that is can't
be broken. Maybe it was kind of like his mom's
(10:18):
the angel just kind of bless you with that lead
role after all of it. She had to have something
to do with it, No one, no one, Miss Cameron.
If she had anything to do with what's taken place
that those past six months after coming back from California,
it had to had her touch on it, because the
way that things fell into place, it just couldn't have
been anything else but a miracle. To be honest with you,
(10:41):
that's amazing. I want to know when you got the
phone call about being the Bachelor, because I'm not gonna
toot my own horn, but I'm gonna too my own horn.
I called it. I told her a week before you
(11:02):
were announced, because we were talking about we were like,
who's the next Bachelor? And I was like, I think
they're just gonna pull Matt off Claire season to make
him the Bachelor, And so I was right. Um, So
was it a build up? Did you start getting phone
calls from producers saying like, hey, we don't really know
what's gonna happen, but would you at all be interested?
(11:24):
Or was it just one day they called and really like, hey,
do you want to be the Bachelor? Yeah? Basically it
was the Ladder, like I just because I hadn't heard
from anybody in a while. And I'm just like, dang,
I guess like I'm not gonna be going on the
bachelorret Like I'm gonna be headed back to New York
getting back to work with commercial real estate. And I
got a call from a number that I had I
didn't have on my phone, hadn't spoke to this person ever.
(11:46):
And they're like, Hey, I'm so and so from whatever,
uh you have a second talking to me? How did
you feel about being the badge player? And I'm like what,
Like I'm not supposed to be on the back strett,
Like what are you talking about? And they're just like no,
like how did you? And I thought it was a
joke and I'm like no, I'm like thank you, and
I'm just like that was a weird call. And then
(12:06):
the next day I got a call back. It's like, hey,
like we talked yesterday, like just wanted to make sure
that this isn't something that you're actually interested in. And
I'm like, wait, y'all serious and they're like yeah, because
it was such like a random like I feel like
that process is like like you write an essay you have,
like your your freaking middle school teacher, right, you let
(12:27):
a recommendation like I don't know what the process was
to applying or be in that person. So when I
was going through it for myself, it just seemed like
too surreal for it to be that much of an
easy flowing thing. But I guess they had done their
homework for me being on the Mastaurette and it worked
out your season more than ever we have gotten asked
(12:52):
do the producers make you keep certain girls around for
a while, because there's no way he wanted to keep Victoria.
So I'm not going to ask you that question directly
that would be inappropriate. However, how relieved were you when
she left? You know, to be honest with you, actually, UM,
(13:14):
I was reacting to information in real time, like and
every when everyone's fouting this information out, I'm finding it out.
And UM, you just hope that when you're going through
something like this, everyone's respectful of one another, because when
it starts to bleed, when your actions starts to affect
up people and they're removing their tone and their willingness
(13:36):
to be open, and that's when I've got to say something.
And up in and made aware to me that that
was going on. Then it makes my job easier because
it's it's it's something you've got to act on, and
it's it's it's it's it's it's just a tell, tell
that they can be part of that that journey for
you anymore. So it's unfortunate that that's how people had
(14:00):
to leave. You know, I don't think Anna's a bad person.
It's uh, it was a last and judgment, it seems,
and I'm hoping that she could learn from it and
going forward it's not something that she ever has to
deal with again. Yeah, his Anna, as he notes, is
definitely not a bad person. Um, we need to give
our other co host, who is not here currently because
(14:22):
he's doing a big book tour for his book. Um,
but he has recorded a couple of questions for you,
so they're going to play that audio. Let's do it. Well.
My first question for you, Matt is, uh, you know,
we we talked way before the season started about how
you can control your reaction and you can kind of
explain that, uh to actually what we kind of talked
about there. But obviously, uh, you know, a headline came
(14:46):
out this last week. Uh, that said, you know, Ben
Higgins says, Matt James has no clue what's going on,
And we talked about that. You know what I meant
is that, hey, when you're as the lead in the house,
you don't know all the things happening with the content essence.
You don't see it, you don't hear it, you don't
experience it. So until it's brought to your attention, you
have no clue what's going on in the house. That's fair,
(15:06):
That's just what happened. So my question for you is this,
when did you finally find out that there was a
toxic environment going on the house? And then as you
walk through the next steps to take, like how did
you process through that? What was the right thing to do?
How are you going to confront it? Uh? And then uh,
were you overwhelmed in that moment that that feel heavy
(15:27):
to you? Wasn't confusing to you? Or do you have
a pretty clear idea of what you wanted to do?
That's a great question. Um, thank you. Then you stumped Matt.
I'll say this that, Um the first thing Ben said,
I mean he's spot on whenever. Uh, that that's part
(15:50):
that's par for the course in the world that we're
in now is is people are gonna take your words
and and they're gonna spin them into things that aren't
the context that they were meant and me and been
uh talking a regular basis, and we had a conversation
about that, and and there was no offense taken to
that article because what he was saying was right, Like,
I didn't have an idea what was going on in
the house, you know. And when I did have an
(16:10):
idea is when I acted on it. And that was
that following day at the Rose ceremony. And to his
question about, um, how did you what steps did you
take in terms of knowing the proper course of action?
The biggest thing I wanted to do was I didn't
want an H and Victoria to feel like horrible people,
you know. I didn't want to alienate them. I wanted
to make sure that you went about this in the
(16:31):
right way so that it's a teaching moment and it's
not h this attack on them, because I don't think
that's the proper way to go about anything. Just in
my life, whenever someone's taught me a lesson or whenever
someone's brought something into my attention, I've been the most
receptive when it's in love, and you know, that's how
I tried to approach those conversations, just like making them
aware of how they made people feel, and that you know,
(16:55):
going forward, that probably isn't the best way to to
navigate a relationship. And unfortunately we don't have that luxury
of time to you know, have that second chance because
there's a bunch of deserving women who have done everything
the right way, who who deserved that time, and and
and honestly, wasn't that difficult of a decision knowing that
I have these incredibly women who are waiting to get
(17:18):
to know me. Well, I'm gonna wrap this up by
doing something that my mom used to do with us
when we were having crushes on people. She said that
you can't stay the person that you love's name without smiling.
So I'm going to run off some of the girls
names that I feel like we're going to make your
top five ish and I want to see how starright
(17:38):
of a phase you can keep Alright, ready, hold on,
hold on, hold on, Let me let me take a
deep breath. Let me just say, with Ben's voice coming through,
did anybody else think that was like the voice of
God for a second. Dar, I'm just like, yeah, I
was like, oh, this is the moment right here, God
has spoken to me. All right, you got your smiles out, okay,
(18:06):
pipera Brie, Abigail, Oh god, oh he bumped his head. Um, Rachel, Rachel,
(18:28):
he really had to try, but you had to try
too hard. There he's trying. He's good, Chelsea, chel Oh, wow,
smile there too, Victoria, the big all we got him
comes back? All right. Not you're a pleasure. You're a pleasure,
(18:54):
and we just feel like you handle everything with such
great grace and warmth and we're so proud to call
you the president of our franchise right now. It's it's
been it's been wanting to be, uh in this position,
knowing that you know, people like yourself and Jared and
(19:16):
Ben and Sean have been in similar positions, and um,
all all I try to do every week is is
the best that I can do, and I fall short constantly,
But um, it's it's been a learning experience and I'm
hoping that uh it paves the way for people who
look like me to be in this position more often.
So well, I think your best is good enough. Man,
(19:37):
You're awesome, So thanks for joining us. Thank you so much,
keep for having me. Bye. Well, I guess it's only
appropriate that I wrapped this interview up because who the
hell knows when I'm going to be on Almost Famous again.
(19:58):
This is my last chance to plug Help I Suck
a Dating another I Heart Radio podcast with myself and
Dean unglerd as the host. So if you're ever looking
for just like a little casual dating talk, some laughs
and living and loving, check out Help I Suck a Dating,
you can find it wherever you listen to your podcast,
which is right now. I thought that you would wrap
up with like talking about what your fan fanboy dreams
(20:21):
were achieved. I know, I I kind of did fanboy
a little bit over Matt Dude. He's just awesome. He's
so endearing, and I forgot to ask him the most
important question of all, which is I'm curious if the
investment invested in Game Stop this past week. But I'm
glad that we're able to talk to him for a while.
He's just an awesome, awesome guy, and and I love
him and Tyler's friendship. I remember first watching the Quarantine
(20:45):
Crew and being almost like yeah, and it was like,
what is this, what's going on there to like always
have their shirts off, but learning more and more, not
say having your shirts off is terrible, but like as
someone who doesn't have six you know, as a guy,
it's a little jealous. Yeah, it's like I want to
look like those dudes put a shirt on your embarrassing
me um. But learning more and more about their friendship.
(21:07):
I I just love it. I love Tyler and Matt's
friends friendship and and everything it represents, and and uh,
it's it's it's cool. It's just really cool. And I
love that Matt's a bachelor and not I don't want
to put down previous bachelors, but it feels like it's
been a little while since we've had someone like Matt
(21:28):
as the lead who's like not but like put together,
you know, I mean, like he's a man, you know,
like Matt's a man. Yeah, Jared smiling while saying that, Yeah,
I like, I like, you know, I don't know how
it's because I don't want to put down other people,
and and that's not my intention. It's just it shows
how much I love Matt as the lead. Like that
(21:51):
dude is a he's a man. Yes, he has women
and men just kind of being like, that's what i'd
want to be with or that's what i'd want to
be Oh totally yeah. Um, so we're just wishing him
the best of luck. Uh and it was really cool
talking to him for a while. All Right, do you
(22:11):
know how we signed off on this show. I've been
I've been Jared. I don't know why I said it twice.
Apparently I've been really Jared say it three times. I've
been shared, I've been Mr Ashley I you guys, that's
the actual name of his business, And I've been Ashley
hikeneddie Haven by guys. Followed the Benn and Ashley I
(22:34):
Almost Famous podcast on iHeart Radio or subscribe wherever you
listen to podcasts.
This is Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous in Depth.
Hey guys, welcome to the Almost Famous podcast. We have
another mini in depth today and man, are we excited
to have the man of the hour Matt James joining
us and my husband Jared will be filling in for
Ben and then couldn't be here. I'm like, plan, I'm
(00:21):
honored to be planned b behind Ben. I feel like
I'm playing j um Well Matt. Jared has been fan
boying over you for the past five weeks now, so
I thought that he would be the perfect person to
come because like he literally he like gets smiley watching
He's like, man, this guy, this guy got it. Dude.
(00:43):
You just got like great vibes about you. You know,
like you're authentic, You're You're endearing. I think that's your
best quality. You're so endearing. I love Ashley and I
were talking about before the season about how you weren't
a part of the franchise beforehand, and I feel like
I love that now because watching you go through this
process for the first time along with the women, I
(01:05):
feel like creates a bond between you and your girls
that previous leads haven't had. Yeah, I feel that I
feel thank you, Jared, I, Um, there there was times
where I was I would tell the women, I'm like, listen,
like it might look like I don't know what I'm
doing because I don't like I'm figuring this out like
y'all are, and and and being able to bond on
(01:27):
that was nice just because I felt like they didn't
feel as much of outsiders as as someone might have
if someone had been in their shoes and been on
the other side. And I was just dealing with everything
that came up like any normal person would if if
they were thrown into the Phrakes. So uh, Ashley saw
that during our our love story reading that you know,
(01:48):
that's I don't think that's something that you can prepare for,
regardless of that you've been on the show or not.
So uh, it was. It's been a lot of fun here.
Were there any instances where you were like, oh man,
it would have been very helpful to have had more experience. Um,
I'll say that for the rose ceremony, Like the rose
ceremony is the most daunting thing for me, Like I
(02:15):
I get short of breath because it's just like I'm
sending women home for the most part, who are incredible
women who I could see myself with, but there's only
one one ring at the end of it. It's like,
how do I tell you that you're not my person
without like crushing you? And there really isn't a way
to do it, and that was that was tough. Um.
(02:35):
I don't think that there would have been a way
to prepare for that. We're talking about how endearing you are.
I think one of the most endearing qualities is that, like,
you have all the elements in which you could be
like a total player, but you don't have a player
bone in your body. And even the producers when they
were telling me about you beforehand, they're like, I think
this guy is far more innocent in relationships and dating
(02:58):
than we thought he'd be. I think you need to
be smooth to have that, and I don't have it.
You know. It's like, uh, I just I just try
to act as normal as possible, and it's hard when
like things are happening that are are not normal. But
I think that I doubled down on just how I
(03:19):
was raised and and the conversations I had with Wells
and Ben and Sean Low before the fact, so that
I would have some sort of idea of how they
handled it, and um, the short answer is im perfect.
It's an imperfect process for for everybody knows you've got
to find how it works for you. There's no one
on the right way to do. Everyone has their own
(03:41):
way of figuring it out. What was the best piece
of advice one of those guys gave you. I think
the best advice I got was just it's so basic,
h Tyler is just like you know where your feet are,
and that's just like basically saying, be yourself. And there
would be conversations that I'd be in where someone would
pose a question and I'm just thinking of my head, like, Okay,
(04:02):
how could I give the most articulate, like poetic, thoughtful answer,
But like I don't have that, you know, and like
all I have is like my lived experiences and like
who I am as a person. So my answers were
just candid, and it's like it might not have been
what they were looking for, but it was what they
needed to hear through. Tyler. You struck up a relationship
a friendship with Hannah Brown. Did you ask her for advice?
(04:24):
And what's the status of your friendship now? Hannah is
my girl? I I talked to hand on a regular basis.
I actually met her her new boyfriend, who's incredible and
thanks for spilling the tanks for giving some confirmation there. Yeah,
he's he's awesome and and she's happy and she deserves
to be happy. And the questions that I was asking
(04:46):
her were just like what to expect? How did you
know when you were feeling something? And she was just
a sounding board and it was It meant so much
to have someone like that who's again been through it
on through the highest highs and low flads of what
uh what can come with with putting yourself out there?
And uh, it made me more equipped for what I
(05:08):
was bound to handle. Did she at all suggests that
Heather Morris come on the show? I don't know. No, wait,
we're not gonna. I think I'm talking about the girl
from Glen Alright, So yeah, did she have influence because
Heather and her are so close. Um, it wasn't something
(05:33):
I was aware of, you know, I was just a
shock when she pulled up, as everyone else was. And uh,
I think that it makes for a very interesting conversation
next week. Oh yeah, I mean it makes for great TV.
How did you how did you and Tyler become friends?
I don't even know. Wait for so so. I was
(05:55):
a year older than Tyler, and but Tyler graduated high
school of semester early. He was he gray shirted, so
like like instead of going into his springs uh semester
as a senior in high school, he graduated in the
fall and he came to Wake as a freshman because
he's so smart. What no, Uh, Tyler is actually very smart.
(06:19):
People don't give him enough credit. He was he was
He was the a CEC debate team champion. Wow. Good
for Tyler. He has the he has the hardware to
prove it. He got his masters from the f a U.
He's he's sharp. But but no, I was walking it
to his dorm and I saw him walking in with
(06:40):
all the stuff. I introduced myself and like, yo, you
must be the new QB because he's he's huge. He's
like six five, like two thirty. I'm like, listen, we're
going on a trip to South Carolina. I was with
like a few of other guys on the team. Never
met him in my entire life. I'm like, would you
want to join us? He's like, yeah, let me just
put my stuff down. It's just stuff down. We could
have been like anybody, gets in the car with us,
(07:01):
ride six hours with us down to USC and we
had one of the best weekends of our life. And
that's far our friendship. So Tyler's extremely good looking six
four quarterback, graduated high school early because he's so intelligent.
Head of the debate debate team. Yeah, screw this guy.
He's like two perfect, he's got a rescue Yeah, he's
he doesn't give himself enough credit. Yeah, he's actually really smart.
(07:25):
That's awesome. Speaking of Tyler, did you have any issue
with him selling shirts with your naked body on it?
That was so funny that picture. I had no problem
with it because that picture brings back so many fond
memories of just spending a very tough time and in
not only our country's history, but in Tyler's life together.
(07:47):
That was like a like a month or so after
his mom had passed, and we were just trying to
find any way to entertain ourselves. And we freaking got
a tarp from his uh, from his shed. We put
don dish soap all over, we had the hoses running,
We had the neighborhood's biggest slipping slide everyone was it
was it was a blast, like we were just trying
(08:09):
to find ways to entertain ourselves. Tyler's mom was actually
the one who nominated you to be on The Bachelorette
Claire's season, Um, and then you did. You spent I'm assuming,
like just months in that quarantine crew, um, kind of
just being there for him. What was it like in
that house because on Instagram and on TikTok we see
(08:30):
it was just like looks like fun and games, but
I'm sure there was a lot of heavy moments as well. Yeah,
I wouldn't have gone on the show if it hadn't
been for Tyler's mom, Um, And she was so adamant
about me being part of this experience because she saw
what he did for Tyler and the man that he
has continued to become into as he dealt with everything
(08:52):
that he did with his relationship with Hannah and going
out there and putting himself out in the open and
airing out a lot of the things that he's probably
never spoken about. And I just felt like I owed
it to her after everything that happened, to see it
through for her, And who would have thought that I
would end up in this position as the bachelor. But uh,
you know, I was out there for Claire season and
(09:14):
in a hotel quarantining ready to go to the mansion.
And that week everything hit the fan of the country.
The a C, the n C doul A tournament ended,
they canceled, uh, Premier League soccer. Like when I saw
these things happen, I'm like like, I'm like, how are
we gonna show with all this other stuff? And then
they send him home and uh, that time in the house.
(09:34):
To answer your question, actually was it was? It was?
It was. It was big because Tyler would never say it,
but um, I think he enjoyed having us around, and
I think his his brothers enjoyed having us around, because
you know, when you go through something like that, how
do you cope? How do you how do you move
(09:55):
past that? And you gotta surround yourself with people who
love you and care about you. And that's what he
did it and um and ultimately you know, we we
we drove each other crazy and we had blow ups,
but the culmination of that was just like strengthening our
friendship and and just building a bond that is can't
be broken. Maybe it was kind of like his mom's
(10:18):
the angel just kind of bless you with that lead
role after all of it. She had to have something
to do with it, No one, no one, Miss Cameron.
If she had anything to do with what's taken place
that those past six months after coming back from California,
it had to had her touch on it, because the
way that things fell into place, it just couldn't have
been anything else but a miracle. To be honest with you,
(10:41):
that's amazing. I want to know when you got the
phone call about being the Bachelor, because I'm not gonna
toot my own horn, but I'm gonna too my own horn.
I called it. I told her a week before you
(11:02):
were announced, because we were talking about we were like,
who's the next Bachelor? And I was like, I think
they're just gonna pull Matt off Claire season to make
him the Bachelor, And so I was right. Um, So
was it a build up? Did you start getting phone
calls from producers saying like, hey, we don't really know
what's gonna happen, but would you at all be interested?
(11:24):
Or was it just one day they called and really like, hey,
do you want to be the Bachelor? Yeah? Basically it
was the Ladder, like I just because I hadn't heard
from anybody in a while. And I'm just like, dang,
I guess like I'm not gonna be going on the
bachelorret Like I'm gonna be headed back to New York
getting back to work with commercial real estate. And I
got a call from a number that I had I
didn't have on my phone, hadn't spoke to this person ever.
(11:46):
And they're like, Hey, I'm so and so from whatever,
uh you have a second talking to me? How did
you feel about being the badge player? And I'm like what,
Like I'm not supposed to be on the back strett,
Like what are you talking about? And they're just like no,
like how did you? And I thought it was a
joke and I'm like no, I'm like thank you, and
I'm just like that was a weird call. And then
(12:06):
the next day I got a call back. It's like, hey,
like we talked yesterday, like just wanted to make sure
that this isn't something that you're actually interested in. And
I'm like, wait, y'all serious and they're like yeah, because
it was such like a random like I feel like
that process is like like you write an essay you have,
like your your freaking middle school teacher, right, you let
(12:27):
a recommendation like I don't know what the process was
to applying or be in that person. So when I
was going through it for myself, it just seemed like
too surreal for it to be that much of an
easy flowing thing. But I guess they had done their
homework for me being on the Mastaurette and it worked
out your season more than ever we have gotten asked
(12:52):
do the producers make you keep certain girls around for
a while, because there's no way he wanted to keep Victoria.
So I'm not going to ask you that question directly
that would be inappropriate. However, how relieved were you when
she left? You know, to be honest with you, actually, UM,
(13:14):
I was reacting to information in real time, like and
every when everyone's fouting this information out, I'm finding it out.
And UM, you just hope that when you're going through
something like this, everyone's respectful of one another, because when
it starts to bleed, when your actions starts to affect
up people and they're removing their tone and their willingness
(13:36):
to be open, and that's when I've got to say something.
And up in and made aware to me that that
was going on. Then it makes my job easier because
it's it's it's something you've got to act on, and
it's it's it's it's it's it's just a tell, tell
that they can be part of that that journey for
you anymore. So it's unfortunate that that's how people had
(14:00):
to leave. You know, I don't think Anna's a bad person.
It's uh, it was a last and judgment, it seems,
and I'm hoping that she could learn from it and
going forward it's not something that she ever has to
deal with again. Yeah, his Anna, as he notes, is
definitely not a bad person. Um, we need to give
our other co host, who is not here currently because
(14:22):
he's doing a big book tour for his book. Um,
but he has recorded a couple of questions for you,
so they're going to play that audio. Let's do it. Well.
My first question for you, Matt is, uh, you know,
we we talked way before the season started about how
you can control your reaction and you can kind of
explain that, uh to actually what we kind of talked
about there. But obviously, uh, you know, a headline came
(14:46):
out this last week. Uh, that said, you know, Ben
Higgins says, Matt James has no clue what's going on,
And we talked about that. You know what I meant
is that, hey, when you're as the lead in the house,
you don't know all the things happening with the content essence.
You don't see it, you don't hear it, you don't
experience it. So until it's brought to your attention, you
have no clue what's going on in the house. That's fair,
(15:06):
That's just what happened. So my question for you is this,
when did you finally find out that there was a
toxic environment going on the house? And then as you
walk through the next steps to take, like how did
you process through that? What was the right thing to do?
How are you going to confront it? Uh? And then uh,
were you overwhelmed in that moment that that feel heavy
(15:27):
to you? Wasn't confusing to you? Or do you have
a pretty clear idea of what you wanted to do?
That's a great question. Um, thank you. Then you stumped Matt.
I'll say this that, Um the first thing Ben said,
I mean he's spot on whenever. Uh, that that's part
(15:50):
that's par for the course in the world that we're
in now is is people are gonna take your words
and and they're gonna spin them into things that aren't
the context that they were meant and me and been
uh talking a regular basis, and we had a conversation
about that, and and there was no offense taken to
that article because what he was saying was right, Like,
I didn't have an idea what was going on in
the house, you know. And when I did have an
(16:10):
idea is when I acted on it. And that was
that following day at the Rose ceremony. And to his
question about, um, how did you what steps did you
take in terms of knowing the proper course of action?
The biggest thing I wanted to do was I didn't
want an H and Victoria to feel like horrible people,
you know. I didn't want to alienate them. I wanted
to make sure that you went about this in the
(16:31):
right way so that it's a teaching moment and it's
not h this attack on them, because I don't think
that's the proper way to go about anything. Just in
my life, whenever someone's taught me a lesson or whenever
someone's brought something into my attention, I've been the most
receptive when it's in love, and you know, that's how
I tried to approach those conversations, just like making them
aware of how they made people feel, and that you know,
(16:55):
going forward, that probably isn't the best way to to
navigate a relationship. And unfortunately we don't have that luxury
of time to you know, have that second chance because
there's a bunch of deserving women who have done everything
the right way, who who deserved that time, and and
and honestly, wasn't that difficult of a decision knowing that
I have these incredibly women who are waiting to get
(17:18):
to know me. Well, I'm gonna wrap this up by
doing something that my mom used to do with us
when we were having crushes on people. She said that
you can't stay the person that you love's name without smiling.
So I'm going to run off some of the girls
names that I feel like we're going to make your
top five ish and I want to see how starright
(17:38):
of a phase you can keep Alright, ready, hold on,
hold on, hold on, Let me let me take a
deep breath. Let me just say, with Ben's voice coming through,
did anybody else think that was like the voice of
God for a second. Dar, I'm just like, yeah, I
was like, oh, this is the moment right here, God
has spoken to me. All right, you got your smiles out, okay,
(18:06):
pipera Brie, Abigail, Oh god, oh he bumped his head. Um, Rachel, Rachel,
(18:28):
he really had to try, but you had to try
too hard. There he's trying. He's good, Chelsea, chel Oh, wow,
smile there too, Victoria, the big all we got him
comes back? All right. Not you're a pleasure. You're a pleasure,
(18:54):
and we just feel like you handle everything with such
great grace and warmth and we're so proud to call
you the president of our franchise right now. It's it's
been it's been wanting to be, uh in this position,
knowing that you know, people like yourself and Jared and
(19:16):
Ben and Sean have been in similar positions, and um,
all all I try to do every week is is
the best that I can do, and I fall short constantly,
But um, it's it's been a learning experience and I'm
hoping that uh it paves the way for people who
look like me to be in this position more often.
So well, I think your best is good enough. Man,
(19:37):
You're awesome, So thanks for joining us. Thank you so much,
keep for having me. Bye. Well, I guess it's only
appropriate that I wrapped this interview up because who the
hell knows when I'm going to be on Almost Famous again.
(19:58):
This is my last chance to plug Help I Suck
a Dating another I Heart Radio podcast with myself and
Dean unglerd as the host. So if you're ever looking
for just like a little casual dating talk, some laughs
and living and loving, check out Help I Suck a Dating,
you can find it wherever you listen to your podcast,
which is right now. I thought that you would wrap
up with like talking about what your fan fanboy dreams
(20:21):
were achieved. I know, I I kind of did fanboy
a little bit over Matt Dude. He's just awesome. He's
so endearing, and I forgot to ask him the most
important question of all, which is I'm curious if the
investment invested in Game Stop this past week. But I'm
glad that we're able to talk to him for a while.
He's just an awesome, awesome guy, and and I love
him and Tyler's friendship. I remember first watching the Quarantine
(20:45):
Crew and being almost like yeah, and it was like,
what is this, what's going on there to like always
have their shirts off, but learning more and more, not
say having your shirts off is terrible, but like as
someone who doesn't have six you know, as a guy,
it's a little jealous. Yeah, it's like I want to
look like those dudes put a shirt on your embarrassing
me um. But learning more and more about their friendship.
(21:07):
I I just love it. I love Tyler and Matt's
friends friendship and and everything it represents, and and uh,
it's it's it's cool. It's just really cool. And I
love that Matt's a bachelor and not I don't want
to put down previous bachelors, but it feels like it's
been a little while since we've had someone like Matt
(21:28):
as the lead who's like not but like put together,
you know, I mean, like he's a man, you know,
like Matt's a man. Yeah, Jared smiling while saying that, Yeah,
I like, I like, you know, I don't know how
it's because I don't want to put down other people,
and and that's not my intention. It's just it shows
how much I love Matt as the lead. Like that
(21:51):
dude is a he's a man. Yes, he has women
and men just kind of being like, that's what i'd
want to be with or that's what i'd want to
be Oh totally yeah. Um, so we're just wishing him
the best of luck. Uh and it was really cool
talking to him for a while. All Right, do you
(22:11):
know how we signed off on this show. I've been
I've been Jared. I don't know why I said it twice.
Apparently I've been really Jared say it three times. I've
been shared, I've been Mr Ashley I you guys, that's
the actual name of his business, And I've been Ashley
hikeneddie Haven by guys. Followed the Benn and Ashley I
(22:34):
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