Finding "The One" with Maddie Poppe

Ashley is hanging out with one of our favorite Bachelor in Paradise success stories: Chris and Krystal! They open up about their first time in the “boom boom room” and we hear Krystal’s honest thoughts on what happened with Demi’s break up with Kristian.

We revisit Bachelor history, Vienna Girardi the "winner" from Jake Pavelka’s season. She gets raw and honest about her miscarriage and has some amazing advice to anyone that has struggled with infertility.

And we talk to American Idol winner Maddie Poppe about how she knew her boyfriend Caleb was “the one” and what it was like dating while on Idol.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Benn and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast
with i R Radio. Hey guys, welcome to the Almost
Famous podcast. It is Ashley Solo. Ben left Napa yesterday
and I arrived in Napi yesterday where we are doing
this live from the Canarios Resort. It is stunning here.

(00:21):
It is like a little HDTV village. It's amazing. Every
house that you've ever wanted on hu TV it's here
in this little village and you can come and stay
at it whenever you are in the Napa area. We
are a NAPPA for Live in the Vineyard the Music Festival.
Avril Levine's here, Kelsey Bellerini, Marion Morris, Adam Lambert, which

(00:41):
is probably my favorite in that rundown and many more
so I hope to catch him while we're here. And
later we will be interviewing Maddie Poppy. She's the winner
of American Idol two thousand eighteen and she's here performing
at the festival. She met her boyfriend on TV, so
I think we can relate over that. We also have

(01:03):
a couple other great guests. We have Vienna Girardi. She's
going to talk about her recent plastic surgery that we
discussed a couple of weeks ago. Then we're gonna have
Joe and Candle and we're gonna talk about their living
situation now that they are living together as a couple
of a year and a half. We are also going
to have Crystal stop by to talk about Demi and

(01:27):
Christians breakup. They were at their wedding, so I'd like
to see if they saw some of their chemistry or
how they felt about this quick Bachelor in Paradise breakup. Alright, guys, Well,
we are going to take a quick break before we
get Vienna on the line, and I think we're gonna
get a little bit of an emotional interview out of her,

(01:48):
so stay tuned. Okay, guys, I have got Vienna Girardi
on the line. Welcome to the Almost Famous Podcast and
know you it's the first time you've ever been on. Well,
thank you for having me. Thank you so much. So
tell us a little bit about your life right now

(02:08):
post Bachelor. It's been man, it's been almost a decade.
Since a decade, it does not seem like it's been
that long. Wow, that is mind blowing. Um, do you
still see the effects of the Bachelor on your life today?
Do do people still come up to you? Not as
often as they used to, but it still does happen.

(02:31):
I you know, Halloween, I was still dressed up with
a wig and I still had people recognizing me. So
I guess my my smile kind of gives me away.
Has it affected your life overall, like the way that
some things will always get pressed and maybe you're dating life? Uh,

(02:52):
you know, the first few years after The Bachelor were
really difficult because it kind of affected everything, uh, friendships, dating, um,
even your career. I mean it's hard. People don't really
take you too seriously when you're a reality star. So
it took me a good five years after The Bachelor
to kind of, um see a change in that. Uh.

(03:15):
It's still affects it to an extent, but not as
bad as it used to. Um. When it comes to dating, yeah,
it was difficult because you never knew if people were
really dating you for the right reasons or not. I'm
saying with friends. Uh, luckily and it's been ten years.
So I have a you know, my boyfriend. I've been
together for two and a half years. We plan on
getting married and having you know, a couple of babies.

(03:38):
So love life wise, it's going really good. Uh. Friendship wise,
I have a really really great circle of women in
my life now, which was hard to come by. Um.
So that is something I just I hold very dearly,
is those friendships I have now. Um. And work wise,
I have my own recruiting company, uh, which is Change

(04:01):
of Pace. I started in about a year ago. And
I'm also doing real estate. So yeah, my real estate
company is actually will you accept this home? Oh my goodness,
that is amazing. Where can then where can people check
you out if they're looking for real estate? And from
what area? Dot accept this home? Dot com. I used
to have a buildboard up in Orlando and it was

(04:23):
me holding a rose and it said, you know, accept
this home and had like the rose was kind of
almost like the Disney one and it's kind of building
a house. So it was pretty pretty catchy genius marketing.
That is amazing. Um. All right, so it seems like
everything is kind of come together in your life, which
is I'm very happy for you, especially since there was

(04:45):
some rough years over there. But I want to know, um,
would you ever do reality TV again? He went back
and you did Bachelor Pad with your ex, So I
mean you're a risk taker in that department. Yeah, you know,
I'm not too big of a ristaker anymore. UM. You know,
it's been many years since I've done anything UM on television,

(05:06):
you know, related to you know, reality TV stuff. I
think the probably one of the only shows I would
even consider doing would be UM. My boyfriend I were
talking about this the other day. He actually used to
be a a professional basketball players. Seems like really athletic. UM
the not Survivor what's the one, amazing, amazing Race? So

(05:29):
I would do Amazing Race. I think that that is
a really cool show. I really went to it. I
didn't even know if it's still on UM. And Dancing
with the Stars, I know I wanted to do Dance
with the Stars always. I did get a chance to
dance on it, which is really fun. UM, But to
be able to compete on it in dance, I think
that would be probably the only two things I would consider.
I'm a competitive person, so I need to be on

(05:50):
something where I'm going to like work towards winning something,
and I don't want to win. A guy kind of
lost in that department last time, Well you've won, but
you also lost, Like, yeah, I don't think you were, Um,
so you have a new boyfriend. Can you tell us
a little about him, How long you've been together, how
you met? Yeah, we've been together for two and a

(06:13):
half years. We actually celebrated our tear anniversary. We went
on a trip to Europe for three weeks, which was
I'd never been. So he took me to my um,
you know, my grandparents are from. We visited his grandparents
in Bosnia, which is where he's from. Um, it was.
We went to Paris. It was just it couldn't have
been more perfect. We met though through mutual friends. We were,

(06:36):
you know, at a birthday party and kind of, you know,
looking at each other across the we were. It was
a late party and we're kind of looking at each
other and caught my eye and a friend of ours
kind of saw us looking at each other and she
introduced us and said, actually, you two would be perfect together.
And she was right, you know, then together ever since.
I remember going home that night and I called my mom.

(06:57):
I said, Mom, I met the man I'm gonna married.
And she's like what, and I was like, yes, I
met him today and he is perfect. I love those stories.
He's my ink to my gang. I'm you know, loud,
and I'm super fun and I love to be around people,
and he's calm and he keeps me level headed and

(07:19):
he you know, he doesn't feel my crazy when I'm crazy. Um,
we just we balanced each other so so well, it's
it's really really nice. That's so nice. You guys, we're
talking about having kids in the future, and you were
very open a couple of years ago and you had
a miscarriage of twins. They had twin twins US and

(07:40):
twin transfusion syndrome, which is when can you explain that
a little bit to our audience. Yeah, So there's a
couple of different types of twins. There's twins that have
their own amniotic sac and have their own placenta, right,
and the placenta is actually what UM feeds them as baby,
that's where the nutrients comes from. There's twin is that
share an amniotic sac and share a placenta. Then there's

(08:04):
twins that have their own amniotic sac but share a placenta.
So that's what I had. So my girls were in
their own separate bags, right, but they shared a placenta.
And sometimes what happens is UM kind of explain it.
So people can understand is think of like a vein
going from the placenta to the baby, right, and that's
providing nutrients to each of them each have their own.

(08:27):
One baby grew a much larger vein, so it's taking
a lot more of the nutrients than the other twin was.
So what happens is that twin now grows a lot
faster and bigger, and the other one doesn't get as
much nutrients and doesn't grow like it should grow. So
what happened was because the other twin grew so much bigger,

(08:47):
so much faster than the other one. My water actually
broke at five months early, so I went into labor
and unfortunately they weren't old enough to breathe, so they
were fully developed and they were born four weeks earlier.
They could have survived. It's it's still to this day.

(09:07):
I did four weeks later. Four weeks is all they
needed to be as four weeks older. Yeah, yeah, it
was a really traumatic thing. I had to um. I
had to deliver one and then I had d C
like they go in and they had to remove the
other twin um and I started going into septic shock.
UM after my water had broken, I refused to let

(09:31):
them go because they saw a heartbeats. So about two
days into it, um, they said, you know, there there's
no heartbeats, so we have to you know, you have
to give birth to one of these babies or we
have to go in and remove because you're going to
get really sick. And um, I ended up getting really sick.
I my fever went up to like one hundred and
four and just kept going. So I remember just like shaking.

(09:54):
My whole body was just shaking, and the nurses were
literally just like throwing ice on me, like backs of ice,
and um mm. I actually donated both my girls to
research to help you know, other mothers and them to learn,
you know, why this happens. And so uh yeah, it's
taken me a few years to kind of accepted because

(10:20):
it is the hardest thing is accepting it. And recently
we had fratern fertility testing done um to see if
I would be able to have you know, babies again.
Um And as of a week ago, all my stuff
came back normals, really really good news. Yeah, I'm so

(10:43):
happy for you. Yeah. So yes, I think we're gonna
start dying because you know, I want two or three
and I want him now. Yeah awesome. Um, well recently,
you you're pretty open about the plastic surgery that you had.

(11:03):
It was a tiny tuck, right, No, I had a
body Well. You know what's funny is I read the
US Weekly and how completely incorrect it was. I had
one procedure done actually and what was that not in?
What I did was it's called body scope body sculpting,
where basically they go in and make these little tiny incisions. Um.

(11:26):
Literally the incision is the size of your pinky nail,
like the tip of your pinky ails. How little the
incision is. Um. And they go in and they basically
just do a really small amount of light though. So
I had kind of like a pregnancy pouch on my
lower stomach. So they went in there and they removed that,
you know the fact that I had gained and then
you know, they did a little bit on my arms,

(11:47):
back my arms and the center of my legs and
behind my legs. Um, kind of just make me look
like I did before. Because during my pregnancy I was
having a really hard time eating. I was throwing up
a lot. So the doctor literally were like, just eat,
eat whatever you want, just eat. So I got into
a you know diet where I breakfast every morning and

(12:08):
I would snack and then I have lunch, then another snack,
and then dinner, and then I wake up in then
all night and have peanut butter and jelly sandwich and origin.
This sounds like a dream. So I started getting weight,
which was good, That's what I needed to But then,
you know, after my miscarriage, my body was kind of
still on that diet, so I kept still eating that way,
and then, you know, for the first year after that,

(12:30):
I was really really depressed and I didn't want to
work out. I didn't want to go out. I just
didn't want to do anything. Like I just wanted to
be this home body. I didn't want to be around people.
It was really hard for me. So then I just
kind of kept gaining weight. I got up to like
a hundred and fifty pounds, and just so you know,
on the show, I was a hundred twenty pounds barely.
I know, when people see me, you know, before the pregnancy,

(12:52):
everyone's like, why you're so tiny in person. I was like,
I know, TV really does make just like a lot
than um. So I just wanted that little bit of weight,
you know, taken off, just so I kind of could
look in the mirror and not feel um that loss anymore.
It's really hard because every single day I would I
would get up and I would get ready, and I
would look at myself, and every time I looked at

(13:14):
my body, I thought I would think of my girls,
and it just became this just pain every single day,
and I needed to not feel that anymore so I
can recover and I can move past it. And so
that's where we are now. You have you obviously were
kind of I don't want to say forced to be

(13:34):
honest about the miscarriage, but since you did deliver them
at five months, um, and you had already announced that
you're pregnant, you had to be honest with the following
about it. But there's a lot of taboo. I did
a whole Um. I have another podcast called I Don't
Get It, and we did a whole I Don't Get
miscarriages and all the taboos that come along with it,

(13:55):
and kind of how women just feel shamed that, you know,
you can't even announce your probably mine until three months
because of a risk that it may you know, fall apart.
Is there anything that you want to share with our
audience about just women and how frequent miscarriages are, and
how they should be able to just talk freely about

(14:18):
it because so many women go through it. I think
it's one and ten. What is it, one in five
women will experience it or something like that, something pretty
close to that. UM. I think the crazy number is
one in five pregnancies and in miscarriages. Actually, oh, that's it.

(14:40):
That was one of the five pregnancies will end in miscarriage.
Most miscarriages do happen within the first uh first month
or first three months usually. UM. To have a miscarriage
five plus months is pretty rare, and you kind of
see those in very rare situations kind of, you know,
with twins especially. I knew I was a high risk ignancy. UM.

(15:02):
But it is a taboo and you don't hear people
talk about it. Women do feel ashamed of it, which
they shouldn't. It's not their fault. And I think that
was one of the main reasons why I wanted to
open up and talk about it, is because when it
happened to me, I felt so alone. I felt ashamed
that I felt so I didn't know what to do,

(15:23):
and it wasn't until it happened that my mom started
opening up about her miscarriages. And you know, I was
an eight, I was a rainbow baby for my mom.
My sister was a rainbow baby. So my mom had
actually had a miscarriage before me, several after me, but
you didn't know, you know, I knew she had had
a miscarriage. I didn't know to the extent of the night.

(15:44):
Didn't know when they happened. I didn't know much about it,
you know, because she just didn't talk about it. So
I learned that, you know, she had had some long
miscarriages that happened months down the road when she was pregnant,
and then she had something happened early on, but she
had she had experienced the pain I've gone through, and um,

(16:04):
you know, hearing her talk about it, it made me
feel um if it made me feel safe, I didn't
feel ashamed anymore. I felt more comfortably able to talk
to her about it. Uh. And then after that, you know,
there was other family members and really good friends of mine,
because you know, the first couple of weeks after it happened,
I was in bed rest and I didn't talk about
it yet. It wasn't until after you know, that I

(16:26):
wrote the post and announced it and literally the shelves
had just been posted with UM a magazine about my
gender review and I'm thinking, oh my god. UM. So
my close friends and family knew about it, and people
started opening up to me and talking to me, and
it blew my mind that some of my best friends
that I know everything about had never shared it with me,

(16:48):
or shared it with anybody UM or family members had
you know, had these miscarriages and they don't talk about it.
And I, you know, I didn't understand. I said, why
don't Why don't we talk about this between each other?
I go, because now that we are talking about it,
we all are feeling a healing, like we feel like
we are healing finally UM. And I think even with
my mom, you know, talking to me about it, she

(17:10):
felt like after thirty years, she's finally now healing. And
a lot of things, especially with pain, we kind of
push it down. And you know, one thing, you know,
I did talk to a therapist UM for a little while,
and once they say is when when you push those UM,
those feelings down, the bad feelings, right, they actually create

(17:30):
you suppressing good feelings UM. And they create this UM
very like, I don't know how to explain it. Um,
they just make you very numb to anything good bad
doesn't matter. Um, And you don't want that to happen.
So she says, the best thing to do is talk
about it. It just talked about it. I know that
sounds so cliche, but it is talk about it. And

(17:53):
so I knew, being in the public eye, I had
to let people know what's going on, you know. I
remember in the hospital or not in the hospital. When
I first got out of the hospital, I was still
getting text messages and messages through fans telling them congratulations.
I like. And I had a couple of my girlfriends
who had sent me at sea gifts for for me

(18:15):
that I still haven't opened. I still have them. They
told me when they found out about the mistage. They said,
don't open the packages. You know we sent you, keep them,
save them. You will be a mom one day, and
when you became a mom, opened our presence for you.
So I still have those wrapped up. Never looked at him.
I don't even know what they are. UM. So I
knew I had to come out and I had to
talk about it. And when I did, the amount of

(18:38):
support and women who reached out to me and told
me about their own stories. Um they were really it
was really sad, but all of a sudden, I just
had this circle of women who we could support each
other and lean on each other and talk about things.
And there was also a lot of really positive stories.

(18:58):
There was women that would talk about their miscarriages and
now their rainbow babies or they've got three kids now,
and so then it created this just overflow of hope
for me and I realized it's not the end of
the world. And I know this sucks, and I know
it hurts, it's hard, but guess what, I'm still gonna
be able to be a mom one day. Whether I
have my own baby or I adopt the baby, I'm

(19:20):
still going to be a mom one day. Um. So
having those women a part of my life, um, really
was what helped me kind of pick myself back up
and keep going. I'm so grateful for you for sharing that,
and I think that so many other people need to
be as open about it as you because it does
help that healing process. And I just wanted to leave

(19:42):
by saying that the next time you're on this podcast,
I hope it's you talking about your rainbow babies. I
really and if you come on, if you want to
talk about the babes. Yeah, well, you know, we're we
are in the process of you know, trying but not
trying but still kind of shying, like you to pull
the goalie, but you're not doing as much effort as
they require. Possibly think we're not you know, planning it out,

(20:06):
but we're not preventing it from happening kind of thing.
So if it happens, I think we'll be really happy
it happens. But I think that sometimes when you put
too much pressure on it, that actually prevents you from
getting pregnant. So we're just you know, just letting you Yes,
it's enjoying the joy. Um. Yeah, and we know we've

(20:29):
discussed their options, and we've discussed adopting, which is definitely
something we'd be open to. I even told him even
if we have our own kid, I'd still be open
to adopting. Um. And I don't even care to adopt
a baby, you know, I'm okay adopting a toddler, you know,
I'm I don't know, I just want children really bad.
All right, Well, we really hope that you have that soon.

(20:51):
You're so sweet. I love getting to know you over
the past twenty minutes or so. Um like, I just
wish you to the very best. You're so sweet. Um.
All right, well, Vienna, thank you for joining us for
the first time on the podcast, and we hope to
talk to you again. Yes, I hope that it is
with some good news next. Al right, bye bye. We

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Ben Okay, Well, that was an amazing interview. I really
liked her, and now I have some other people that
I really like in the room, Joe and Kendell. But
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(23:48):
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and Joe. Last time we had you guys on, it
was July and you were kind of settling in your

(24:09):
new place together. How has it been living together? It's
been great. Yeah, it's been fun. I mean, like, are
you going to ever say anything other than that it's
been great? I mean, I mean you have one I
guess the only thing. We fight? I mean we getting
fights every so often. I feel like we're professional arguers.

(24:30):
I think that's how it is when you get to this,
like like a year and a half into a relationship,
there's just a lot more bickering because you're so comfortable
with each other that you don't keep any annoyances in.
Oh no, yeah, we're really open with each other. She's
she's a good arguer. So it's yeah, you know, sometimes
with drives me crazy. I can't. I'm the kind of

(24:50):
person that this is my tea. Okay, just six so
on the type of person that if if we're fighting,
can't quote a bad address me. Joe is always the
bigger person. I'm so stubborn. What I do is like
I'll leave the room. I'll go I'll go into then
and then I'll be like I'll be sitting there and

(25:12):
I'll be fuming, and then like half our way, I'll
kick the door back, and you make any sense, It's true.
It's funny. I feel like I over I analyze conversations
and like I remember every detail of it. So you know,
it's it's hard. It's hard to escape me being right

(25:32):
that I've been right, I've been right, Joe has been right.
I think two times Joe, I think he'll relate with
me in the way that like sometimes I'll say something
and Jared will pick it like he is so specific
about word choice. I'm like, okay, that is he'll interpret
it like one way. He's like, you said these words together,

(25:53):
and I'm like, that was not the connotation that I
was in Are you kidding me? Like, you know, I
didn't mean that. He's like, well, that's what you said,
and I'm like, are you kidding me? So I feel
like Kendle is the exact same way, where she's gonna
like analyze about intention. I'll be proving a point and
then she'll bring back like what I said, and she'll

(26:15):
just keep saying it, and I'll be like, all right, fine,
I said that and I didn't mean it. Don't even
know what I said. All right, I just said it.
I wish you know what's so great? I feel like
we just need to be more open about especially since
we're in like these public relationships where everything that they
see on Instagram is pretty and I'm not like, I
don't think you need to go on Instagram and be like,

(26:36):
our relationship isn't as wonderful as it seems to do
this to do that, but I think it interviews, it's
fun to be like, no, like, of course, it's not
fluffy and pleasant in our house all the time exactly.
I mean, we get along along easy for me to
say it's pretty latly, it's been pretty fluffy. I don't
think we've had an argument, but it's it's coming, and

(26:57):
you know, I'm gonna tell you we're traveling. So tomorrow
we're going to yeah, Japan, I don't know. I don't
know what you guys when this was recorded, they were
going to Japan. Easy fix. But we're gonna be doing
a lot of traveling that. We're going to Chicago for Thanksgiving. Yeah,

(27:18):
the first time. I'm actually going to Joe's families in
Chicago for Thanksgiving and for Christmas. What are you guys
doing Christmas? I think Joe's going to be coming come
into my place, so it's the first switch off. I
think we're going to do l A for Christmas. I
may stay in Chicago Christmas Eve and then fly out
on the morning because he were in l A all
the time and he doesn't get to see his family

(27:39):
as much. So but that's different with us. We have
both these coast families, so you know, one for one
once for the other. His parents are going to our
place for Thanksgiving. Now that's really it's really the in
laws get along. So well that's great, it's a blessing.
But I was like, but for Christmas, I don't get
my parents because my dad asked to work the day after. Okay,

(28:03):
so is this fair breakup? Right? Anyway, Let's go back
to your trip. You're going to Japan. You guys argue
more when you're in travel mode. No, but I think
after after the four weeks of traveling being together, Well,
we're together all the time exactly, but there are like
stressful times when traveling, especially in a country that doesn't

(28:25):
primarily speak English and trying to not knowing how to
navigate the bus, the buses or the subways or anything
like that. So you know, stresses will be high and
I'm sure that'll yeah. I just I just know I
know not to get into Joe's way when he chooses restaurants.
I love control. I've planned talk about what you were

(28:50):
telling me last night with the law recommendation. So you
guys all know A Lawn, the former executive producer of
the show. He's a massive foodie. You can follow him
at m is it food of a Lan on Instagram
and um, he goes to Tokyo or he goes to
Japan three times a year just to eat, you guys,
like he likes the culture at all, but he will

(29:13):
like make a last minute reservation like flight in reservation
if he can get in somewhere just to eat and
then he'll fly back like hours later. It's nutty. Well,
it's so it's so difficult to get into these restaurants
you need for So he gave me like thirty recommendations. Um,
and I couldn't get into like fifteen of them because

(29:33):
you need sixty days advances. In Japan, they don't ground there, Like, hey,
if you you need a reservation, yeah, like you, I don't.
I don't think you could just walk in. What are
we looking forward to eating? She's doing well? I mean
obviously sushi. I'm not a big role guy. I just

(29:55):
like to cut pieces the fresh salmon. I'm all about that.
Santa kinda loves salmon. Joe's really into tuna. I love
I love tuna. I think you're either a salmon person
or a tuna person. Yeah. I take tuna over salmon.
Oh yeah, yeah, well I take I think salmon over tuna.
Yeah yeah. I don't know there's a lot she's doing salmon.

(30:19):
I don't think there's a lot of salmon in Japan.
I don't think that's like the main fish. No, I
don't think. So it seems like an American fish. Yeah, yeah, okay,
so what are we going to do over there? And
then we got well, he's like, we have ramen. Then
you have like the traditional Japanese sandwich, which is like
they do it like on White Red. It's yeah, catsu

(30:41):
but like with Wago beef, that's gonna be really good. Um.
And then there's a pizza place that Alant actually recommended
and they say it's better than Naples, Italy, like and
it looks so good. Pizza. Well it's called like pizza
and pronounce it, but it's called pizza. Joe. You remember

(31:02):
how hard you were with interviews when you were first
a newbie on the franchise actually just talked about this
and now you just can't shut up. Yeah, I remember.
I remember. I like it. I like it. I remember
like you were one of the first people to interview
on the red carpet and you're like, so, how how's
it going. I'm like, it's good. I think that was

(31:23):
must have been your first set of like in person interviews.
It was. It was, and I was I was low key,
like really freaking out. It wasn't that I I you know,
I didn't have a personality. It was just I don't
know how to you know, use it. That looks amazing good.
I guess you guys the food of the lawn to

(31:45):
see this picture. Yeah, alright, nice? All right. Then you
told me last night that you're gonna do some Mario
Kart thing. Yes, Mario Kart. Um so you can actually
drive one of the Mario Karts and dress we want
to dress up as the characters. So I think I'm
going to be I see, I'm not as I don't
know a lot about Mario Kart. I think I'm gonna

(32:06):
be a mushroom when I dress up. Yeah, so that
should be fun. And that there's also um in Kyoto.
There's an island in near Kyoto where you can um
go hang out with a bunch of deer and they
have like hedgehog cafes. We can hold a hedgehog while eating,
eating or drinking coffee. They make really good coffee out there.

(32:27):
There's a lot of good I want to go, but
I feel like Japan is a place of people who
are like like specialized in things, you know what I mean.
And I feel like there's so much passion and dedication
to a specific field and it's passed down like through
generation to generation. So I have a lot of admiration
for like how like like perfected they are at each
individual category category of what I mean food, I think, yeah,

(32:52):
I think categories because like coffee it's taking very seriously,
sushi's taking very seriously. Ram and even salt. Like there's
a there's like a restaurant that like they just like
kind of showcase salt and then they have um soft
serve ice cream and then you make the ice cream
coote and then they sprinkle like a different kind of
like see salt down there. Yeah, it looks really okay.

(33:14):
So I've just decided that we're going to go on
a couple's trip together, and I want Joe to do
all the food and I want to go on a trip.
So I know I've complained about this multiple times on
the podcast. I'm sure, but Jared like doesn't have this
passion for food that I do. And it makes me
really sad. I See I didn't first, really I didn't.
I mean I would usually just eat the same thing

(33:35):
every day. I would make like rice and vegetables and
that's what I would and I'd be like happy with that.
But Joe has opened my eyes up so much and
now I find myself getting more and more bougie because
of Joe. I got really bos after our Italian trip
after our honeymoon. Um, how you feel about pasta? Like,
for sure, I go to Italy. I just buy stuff

(33:55):
at Italy now fresh pasta, imported stuff. Okay, I would
love to do this. Do you guys when you vacation
and you went to Europe together last last year, do
you feel more bonded after those trips? Oh? Definitely, said
you go through a lot. Yeah. Yeah, Europe was great too.
I mean we just walked everywhere and just exploring and

(34:18):
trying Amsterdam together. Amsterdam together, babe. Don't tell people what's
a space cake. It's a little it's a little like
an edible cake. It a little pomp with a little
bit of marijuana. That's fine, it's legal, it's legal. But
it was one of the most hilarious experiences. I mean,

(34:39):
I do, I do encourage encourage people, urging people of
age to try it. Yeah, it was. It was pretty well.
So I'll tell you this is something for the podcast
that's talked about here before. Because we're pretty pg and
squeaky clean. But Jared and I have both never smoked pot,
hadn't edible anything like that, and I kind of like,

(35:01):
I keep telling him now that it's legal, like I
don't feel like I'm breaking any law. I'm like, let's
just do it together once. It will be super fun
and we'll just do it in our apartment doors locked,
you knowlock, and he won't do it really. Yeah, but
I'm not gonna do it without him, like we do
it together or we we don't, we don't do it

(35:22):
at all. Yeah, I agree, you should. I mean, it's
it's not that it's a different perception of reality, is
what it is. Yeah, Well, Jared's paranoid in general. Like
he's paranoid and scared of pretty much everything. So I
don't know that he's going to have the best types
of things. You don't feel comfortable with it, and you
feel paranoid going into it, then it's not that you're
paranoid in general, like I can only imagine I'm a

(35:43):
paranoid person. But when you go to these stores now,
especially in l A, you could tell them like, hey listen,
I get paranoid, and then they'll give you a strand
that doesn't you know, he doesn't make you paranoid or
as paranoid as regular weed would. So all right, Well,
to wrap this up, I wanted to talk about the
Scene app for a second. You guys talked a lot

(36:04):
about it with Ben, and I'm a little bit unfamiliar
with it. Can you tell me what you learned in
the last podcast? So seen as we're actually really excited
to be a part of it. It's about it. It's
about transparent dating. And what I mean by that is that, um,
whenever you match with somebody, all all of your messages
and video chats are public for everybody to see. So

(36:27):
everybody else that's on the app can see your conversations
and see your video chats. It's yes, it is weird,
but that's why it's fun. It's definitely fun. I guess
you're going to be very careful about what you say.
It's not going to ever get creepy, which is why
it's the safest. Yeah, that's the point. And it's for
people that actually want to date. It's for serious daters. Yeah,

(36:49):
and it may be scary if you're shy. Once you
overcome that and you step out, what is it, Kendel,
the edge of your comfort zone? Life begins at the
end of your comfort had we got to hang out
more because our guys are both the exact same. Jared
is obsessed with his comfort zone and I'm always telling

(37:10):
him that quote in the Magic happens outside your comfort zone,
that circle and all that Demon's diagram that they have.
But even you love your you love your comfort zone.
Um no, I don't mind. I think you've gotten I
think since Joe has broken out of his comfort zone
so many times in the past few years, I think
now maybe he was pushed into Dancing with the Stars,

(37:34):
the ultimate non comfort zone. Yeah, that was it. I
mean for me, yeah, I had to like doing that
show was something I wasn't good at. I was so uncomfortable.
But you know, once you do it, it's like just
free now, you know. And one thing we can relate
talk all the time at the Stars would he loves

(37:58):
before it's it's it's such a great experience and as
everyone that's a part of that show is just so
so great to work with. Have you been watching Hannah Um? Yeah, yeah,
we actually went to the shows, the Halloween show. Yeah, yeah,
that was awesome. But I think she's doing great. I know,
I think Jenna just got voted off. Yeah, but um,

(38:22):
but yeah, to bring it back to the bring back
to the to the should Hannah get on the scene? Yes,
I mean I feel like I feel like one thing
is that being a part of Bachelor Nation and you know,
stranger to having a public relationship and for everybody to
see every step, the good and the bad of your relationship.
And I can speak for Joe and I felt like
our relationship got so much stronger the more transparent it

(38:44):
was and the more that we shared it with everybody. Um,
and so we found strengthen that with each other. And
so UM, I think that's the reason why we're talking
to Mike. He's um the founder of the scene up
and he initially wanted to create a reality TV show
out of it, and so he was talking with us,
and you know, we have this idea of spreading it
to allowing like so many people to have this experience,

(39:06):
um with dating and it brings it back to the
traditional form of dating too in a sense. Yes, and
and and you also do have the option to go
private and you can meet some of your really into
it's like you then you don't stay on the app
and keep chatting, you know, you go do your own
thing in the real world. Yeah, exactly, all right, Well,
the formal explanation of the Scene app is Scene app

(39:26):
is the next generation dating app for online daters fed
up with fake profiles and time wasters. Seen is the
first and only dating experience that offers complete transparency to
men and women looking for their perfect match. Transparent dating
means a new, innovative and honest approach to dating, which
allows singles who are serious about dating an opportunity to

(39:49):
match on real human connections and chemistry. And that means
more real connections. So if you're tired of relying on
a contrived profile and a set of my look like
me but not quite like me pictures, um Scene reveals
a potential partner's complete personality, charisma, and let's you choose,

(40:11):
let yourself be seen enjoy the safest, most positive and
respectful dating environment ever created. All right, guys, thank you
for joining me, Thanks for explaining Scene, and have fun
on your trip to Japan. I can't wait to hear
about the food. Oh yes, we will, yes, okay, great,

(40:34):
I'll be looking out for those and I will also
look out for the pictures of you guys being Mario
Kart thank you for joining me here on the almost
in his podcast, I'm sure you guys are tired of
being here, but we appreciate you every time. Oh no,
we love being here. Thank you. All right bye, Now

(40:56):
we have another wonderful bachelor alum. Guess your bachelor lum. Now,
Katie Morton, how does that feel like you're done? Like
you were engaged? So like you Well, if it doesn't last,
then you can go on another show. Just we don't
want that to be the situation. So I'm just gonna
stay alone. You're just gonna stay alone. Let's just say,

(41:16):
I'll say a lumb for life. Okay Um. I like it.
I feel I feel like it's a relief. Amazing. I
made it all right. I have a list of rapid
Fire questions for you because Ben went and he did
a whole serious convo with you in the last episode.
Did he get dark? I maybe I did. Well, we're

(41:38):
gonna be light and fun right now with the Katie
rapid Fire, which is apparently my specialty. I think you
get to know somebody just as well with the rapid
Fire as you do deep dark combos. Perfect, okay Um,
your first your favorite physical trait of Chris's dang his hands,
his hands, hands, hands down to explain, describe, I like

(42:01):
manly hands. I like the nail bed. I like the
how big they are. I don't know, man, something about
those hands understandable. What was your first impression of Chris
in two words? First impression pretty? Who's this? Who's this?
That's good? That's worse impression, He's hot. Who was the

(42:24):
person or persons that you told the producers that you
wanted to see in Paradise? Oh? Um, I said I
want a silver Fox. That was exactly what I said.
I said it in my intros. So then well I
got one a silver Fox. Were you talking about anyone
in particular? At one point? I thought, and I think
I said this on the podcast before Peter Krause, okay,

(42:46):
because I was like, I don't know there's any other
Silver Foxes. There was Peter, there's a Rachel's whole season.
I felt that there were older guys. Yeah, yeah, it's
probably the last one with older guys. Okay, So you're
looking out for Rachel's EAPs. You mentioned to Jared during
a help I second dating that you and Chris basically

(43:07):
you go watch TV all day long stuff on the
couch and then you go to dinner, and those are
your visits with each other, which I love. What was
the last show? What was the show that you binge watched?
You watched, you binge watched anything? Or do you watch
this movie? It was called Fractured, and I was scared.
I was scared it was called Fractured. It was really
in mind. It was one of those mind mystery movies

(43:30):
where you don't I really didn't know what was going
to happen at the end. And that's one movie that
I can say I actually got through because I really
wanted to know what was going to happen. I was
on the edge of my seat. But I hated that
he was leaving the next day because then I didn't
want to be at my house with myself. I was like,
oh no, when I walk into my house with my
finger shaped like a gun, like, who's there? Was you

(43:50):
have a scary break in? I did? Yeah? I do? Okay?
I talking about that. Um I am it was the
day I was supposed to leave for Paradise. Oh my gosh.
It wasn't um. It was someone who was homeless and
on a lot of drugs, so Luckily it wasn't someone
who was a fan or anything like that. I know
people were worried about that. It was someone who wasn't

(44:12):
in their right mind, and that was really scary for me.
I was supposed to be home, but by the grace
of God, I was not. He went into my room
knocked all of the stuff that I had packed for
Paradise onto the floor. Um had trashed my house. He
put a lot of Aquafina bottle labels on my floors,
on my wood floor, stuck at them. All this to
my floor like a puzzle. Weird, creepy. Did I hear

(44:34):
something about like him dancing, Yeah, so my neighbors. He
was like screaming, yelling. My neighbors saw him. He was
smashing vases outside. UM, and he was apparently dancing around
and then dancing in my house. I guess the police
came in and got him. Um. He had tried to
take four dollars from me, which was sitting right next
to my MacBook pro. He took the four dollars and

(44:55):
threw it in the bush angrily. That's that's just what
I heard. Didn't take the map, didn't take the mac.
He was like, screw this MacBook pro. I want four dollars,
and then I want to get rid of it quick.
That's when you know he's not in his right mind. Absolutely.
You you kind of alluded to the fact that you
got through fractured the movie because you often fall asleep

(45:15):
while while watching movies with Chris. Yes, what was the
last movie you fell asleep during? That's a good question
because typically I can't even get to the first line
of the movie. I'm not okay, I'm not kidding, I'm
I am so as soon as the movie's on, Chris
turns the lamp off, and as soon as the lamp's off,
I'm off. I swear. It's like the lamp goes off

(45:37):
and my eyes shut and I try so hard. I
think there's part of me that you know how, You're
almost like half asleep, And he's like, are you sleeping?
I'm like no, and I get up really fascinated. I'm
not sleeping, and I get really defensive about it. I
laid back down and I and I'm sleeping again, but
he too, I like, I wake up, but I lie
to him. I'm like, I'm not sleeping at all. What
are you talking about? Get off my back? I get

(45:59):
sort of defensive and embarrassed to when I keep falling
asleep during movies because we just can't do it anymore, right,
I don't even know even if it's like relatively early,
like seven thirty or something. Midway through, I'll be like, oh,
I'm so cozy, and just like something about falling asleep
to a movie is so comforting. It's so nice. But
I don't know why I get defensive and tell them.

(46:19):
I tell him I'm not sleeping so funny. Um, okay,
So what did you guys do after you go and
fall asleep on the couch or you watch TV? What
kind of restaurants do you usually go to? Oh? Um,
lately Italian, which I never used to go to. Um,

(46:40):
I never ever went to. That's so interesting. That's like
the go to really in my family and with Jared
and I too. Oh yeah, like a lot of and
it's also really romantic. Um. I was a big like
I would always go to Mexican restaurants, but he Chris
likes fine dining. And only reason I don't like it

(47:01):
is because I have to get ready. Sometimes you gotta
get ready, but then once I'm ready and stuff. I
love the experience um and the Italian food that I've
tried a lot of the times. We went to some
really nice Italian places in New York when we were
there and in Chicago, and it's so beautiful and a
lot of the two of the restaurants we went to,
we got to see them make pasta in front of us,

(47:22):
which I thought was really really cool. So I have
a suggestion for your next day at night, because since
I went to Italy, we've I've become a food snob
and I just get fresh, organic um imported pasta from Italy.
So when he comes to visit you in l A,
go to Italy, get all the imported things and like

(47:43):
make dinner together. And what I craft now in our kitchen,
to me, is better than what we go out to get.
Really yeah, okay, cool, alright, Katie, My last question for you,
because you dressed so well in Paradise and you're dressed
so cute right now in front of me. Where is
your go to place to shop? Show me your every time,
show me your memo has clothes that you can go

(48:04):
out in, and they also have really lounge clothes. I
like wearing oversized things because then I can eat more
so mood amazing my kind of girl. All Right, Katie,
thank you so much for participating in Ashley's rapid Fire.
That's the way I'm gonna say it from now on,
rapid Fire, and next up we'll have crystal amazing. Thank you.

(48:27):
Thank you. To use this season to elect benefits through
your York place, mostly will know open enrollment as a
decision time for healthcare coverage. Doing this that as a
great reminder that I have to do this over Thanksgiving break,
something I do with my dad every year. Just Okay,
that's a spiel, but it is also the perfect moment

(48:49):
to reassess your life for insurance needs as well, another
thing I should probably go over with my dad and
at home at Thanksgiving. Thank you for so to properly
provide for your family. Most people need ten times the
life insurance coverage than what they get to their jobs,
which means that your employer life insurance is leaving you underinsured.

(49:11):
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(49:34):
if you leave your job. Well, that is good, good deal.
And Policy Genius doesn't just make it easy to get
life insurance. They can also help you find the right
home and auto insurance and disability insurance to all that
is very important to have, especially if you have a family.
Um you can buy, you know, gifts for the holidays

(49:56):
that you can hold in your hand and put under
the Christmas tree. But truly you can see yourself with
policy Genius and you can get amazing insurance at the
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to double check your life insurance options and then go

(50:17):
to policy genius dot com and get quotes and apply
in minutes. Policy Genius the easy way to compare and
buy life insurance. All right. Next up, I want to
bring in my friend Crystal Nielsen. She's been on the
podcast a ton lately, but I figured since she's up
here in NAPA as mine as well. Get her opinions

(50:38):
on the hottest of all Bachelor topics in the past
couple of weeks, and that has been the breakup of
Demi and Christian. Hey what that girl? Hi? Alright? So, um,
were you expecting to see the end of Christian Demi?
You know, I wouldn't say that I was really I

(51:02):
remember at our wedding. Yeah, that's where I was. Was
the first time that I heard that they were dating
and there was the same sex relationship. It was the
first of history for the Bachelor that was televised, publicly
known and one they're being a dozens in the past,

(51:23):
just that I've heard, I've heard through the vine. Well, yeah,
there was something were like like bisexual. I think like
Jamie was one. And did she ever huk up with
somebody from the show? Not that I'm aware of, Oh
my gosh, But Christian wasn't from the show. She wasn't
you know, she was a regular person if you will.

(51:43):
But but I will say, going back to your question,
was that was my first time hearing about the same
sex relationship. It was actually on my wedding day and
I was like what And I was the whole time,
I was like, how is this going to play out?
My mind was freaking blown for like a solid the
any days. But it was your mind blown because she

(52:05):
was able to bring on someone the whole thing, the world,
the whole thing. It was just something I did not
see coming, and that it was someone that wasn't from
the show that they've been dating prior to filming. There
was just so many uh areas around it that were
so out of the norm. Um. But I will say
watching unfold, I thought it was really beautiful how it

(52:27):
really came to be. Yeah, I mean they were so
routable during their season. Was definitely there. The feelings were palpable. Yeah,
and I think that um really seeing Christian just felt
so authentic to me. I really liked her and I
was I was really rooting for them. But coming off

(52:48):
the show, I remember saying, like when we were there
at reunion at the final taping, I was like, look,
there's a lot of pressure that comes up being a
bachelor couple. I'm sure as you know, and they're all
very young and this is very new and they are
dealing with a lot of hate, a lot of pressure,
a lot of exposure, and not to mention Demi was

(53:12):
just figuring out if she what her gender preference was
in a relationship, So I think it was just probably
a lot to deal with and process. Um. I think
it was a give giveaway that in the past month
or so there had been no Instagram content on the
two of them. Help. I second, Katie had actually said

(53:34):
that she doesn't want to post photos with Chris because
she feels like it'll lead on the audience sort of.
She's like, I'm not going to pose until I feel
solid with you. So I think that's like very mature
and authentic. So I'm you know, Demi obviously wasn't just

(53:54):
posting pictures with Christian for the likes. But yeah, I
think that was a giveaway a little bit that they
were on a rough road. Yeah, I think that there's
just a lot of I mean, of course, if you
don't see couples together, especially coming off of the show,
when you're really being celebrated, like that is your time

(54:15):
to get the love, get the support, and just be
proud of your relationship, especially because they were really setting
history that Um. I was really surprised that I hadn't
seen anything any interaction of them together, So I think
it makes sense, um, and I just wish them the best.
I think that they're just figuring it out. And you
know who you should really interview as Christian. I would

(54:37):
love it. I would love to hear her perspective. Let's
write that down, because nobody has been like pulled into
the world like she was. Oh, talk about flipped upside down.
I mean, just the magnitude of it. I would love
it to talk with her be so good, so good,
let's book her right right out like our next episode.

(55:03):
That would be amazing. So yeah, I mean, I can't
say that I am surprised just because of what the
lack of what we've seen lately. But it's sad. It sucks.
I was rooting for them hard. It was really fun
to watch the relationship. Um. But I also had this

(55:23):
pondering question that has kept thinking of during the season
and after their engagement. I was like, if they were
to have continued to date in real life over the summer,
would they have ever gotten engaged? Well? I think that.
I mean, honestly, a lot of couples and I think
if Chris and I would have met in real life,

(55:45):
we would have got after you know, that's basically like
every other of course in that environment where and for
those the listeners who don't know or you know, I'm
sure you do because you listen every week, right know,
like from the knowledge perspective, but they can't know from
the emotional Yeah, you are just you are supported in

(56:08):
such a way, especially for Chris and I. I mean
you are just hand almost hand had this amazing support
of this relationship to blossom and thrive, and like everyone's
behind you, everyone's rooting for you, And I mean it's
an incredible feeling, honestly, I mean it really is. And
you find yourself in these situations where I mean when

(56:30):
you and Jared came down, actually was you were there?
It was actually a you know, memorable day in our relationship. Okay,
so why was that a big day in your relationship
with Chris? So after you guys got engaged, UM, all
the producers pulled all of us to have like important
conversations about you know, hey, we're more than half with

(56:51):
your paradise. Where do we see this relationship going? Do
we see yourself getting married in kids? And Chris and
I decided that night to um go into the boom
room for the first time the first time and for
those who don't know, one camera instead of twelve. Alright,
and what do you think the camera person, not the

(57:12):
Cara person, but I guess the person up in the
control room. Do you think they watched? Of course they
watch it. We could see the camera following us. Really, yeah,
we were kind of into it. Okay, it's kind of
like that we're doing a sex tape exactly. Hopefully it'll
never Actually we're like, it won't get out. The footage

(57:32):
could have got out under the covers though, right under
the covers. No, we were on the balcony, Ashley, but
under watching everyone at the campfire. You were watching everybody.
I mean we were there. You had the windows pulled
the curtains, so we were in the room all the
way at the very top, which has it is a

(57:54):
beautiful room with like an open there's no windows like
it totally opened the whole room. You were in the
offt oh, I thought you were talking about the other
boom boom room that has like a little bit of
a curtain. No, no, no, we were okay, all the
way up top of the tree house, so basically anybody
could walk in to like go get some snacks. In
the refrigerator. No, we were at the very talk I know,

(58:15):
but that doesn't have a door or anything. It doesn't
He couldn't see you if they were getting a snack
in the refrigerator. I will say that that night was
an amazing night, an amazing night, and it just happens
to also be the day that you got engaged. You
waited a bit, you waited a bit. It was like

(58:36):
we did, Yeah, we waited it great. There was a
lot of built up, you know, like we were ready.
So what made you so? Thank you? Actual I inspired
the romance? Oh my god, thank you conversations. Why did
you do it then and not wait for the fantasy suite?
You know? I think we just didn't know how much

(58:56):
time was going to be left in Paradise. And I
think just for Chris and I was really we just
wanted to spend a night together and not even so
much just have sex, but we just wanted to see
what it would feel like too for me to wash
up all my makeup and crawl in bed with him,
to brush our teeth together, to fall asleep, like does
he snore? Can we sleep together? Like? Are these things compatible?

(59:17):
And I needed to know that sooner than the night,
I could potentially get engaged to someone like I needed
the next day exactly, I needed to have a little
more of like that realism in the relationship. All right, well, Crystal,
we talked about one hot topic and you gave us
a very fine al right. Next up we have Maddie Poppy.

(59:46):
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(01:01:55):
we have a very special guest. Maddie Poppy, the winner
of a American Idol in two thousand eighteen, is now
here in our office and Maddie, welcome to the almost
in this podcast. Thank you, thank you very beautiful office.
You know do you here at that the cast? Was
it called the Casares Ranch? What's the ranch called? Yes,

(01:02:21):
right here in Napa Valley. Maddie. Um, you have been
on reality TV two shows, actually The Voice and American Idol,
and you met your boyfriend Caleb. I did it was
The Bachelor mixed with American Idol to say, you guys
were the winner and runner up and you got together

(01:02:43):
and that is actually not the only time it's happening
on American Idol. But it's still so much fun that
you like developed a reality relationship. So I think you
kind of understand this totally. Yeah, so you're a Bachelor fan.
I don't watch every season because, like lately, I have
not been able to watch because I'm I'm never in

(01:03:04):
one in the same place every Monday night. I love that.
I do know every it's every Monday night. But um,
but like I've definitely watched, um you know, I catch
I catch an episode or like the season every now
and then you follow yes lightly, yes, Okay, So how
do you feel like your relationship now is? Is it

(01:03:27):
got more scrutiny because you guys met on the show
and because the fans of the show want you guys
to be together. Yeah, for sure. Um, the pressure is
definitely there. And also like I can't imagine people who
you know, like people who are on the Bachelor Bachelorette,
the pressure that they must feel to stay together even

(01:03:48):
if like after the fact they know like it's you know,
this isn't gonna work or something. You know, I'm lucky
that I do. Actually, you know, I I do feel
like my boyfriend and I will work out, you know
plan you recently called him the one. Oh yeah, that's everywhere.
That's really weird. But um, yeah, I can't imagine the
pressure that I would feel if I was just like

(01:04:11):
because like we can't you know, if we broke up.
I can't imagine. But you know it's interesting because you
said that, Um, you know that do you think that
we have a lot of pressure. But you guys were
able to date in former relationship while you were actual
competitors on the show. Yeah, how does that work? How
is it not jealousy? You know what. I'm gonna be

(01:04:33):
honest with you. I think if he would have won,
I would have been extremely jealous. So I think it's
good it worked out. Just girls get jealous, you know
what I'm saying. Um, but he didn't really want to
win or not, because I mean, honestly, I don't know
that this sounds terrible, but I don't know that he
would have been the best winner because I don't know
if he would have been able to like do all

(01:04:53):
the you know, Disney is tied in with ABC and
so you have to put on the Mickey ears and
be like, let me tell you about the magic of Disney,
you know what I mean. So I don't know that
he would have been able Hello, record label guy who
with Disney, Hollywood Records. Hollywood Records, Um, the former label
of the Jonas Brothers. That's right, that's right. But anyways,

(01:05:14):
I don't know that he would have been able to
do all that, you know what I mean. It's just
be harder for a dude, I think. But yeah, honestly,
it never really felt like a competition show. It was
more like summer camp, because that's how it feels filming
The Bachelor or the Bachelorette, not Bachelor in Paradise. Bachelor
in Paradise is a more regular emotional Yes, oh it's

(01:05:39):
opposite for up. Yeah, okay, well Crystal here, who's sitting
in had a little bit more of a tumultuous time
during the Bachelor, but that's a different conversation. You um
were on the Voice as well, and I feel like
your story is so um, it's so incredible. You did
alive and you did a live performance for the judges

(01:06:00):
on the Voice, nobody turned around. You were eliminated right
there on the spot and then American Idol was it?
Lionel Richie said like, you need to be part of
this competition and then you want it. What in the
world how is it so inconsistent? First of all, you
do great research. Really, I don't know if you were
you actually watch or you just look U up, But
either way, it doesn't matter. You're great. A lot of

(01:06:22):
people be like, so what's your name? Oh? Well, I
mean I just need to let you know here, um
heart Idol in Virginia, you can have a heart on
your license plate. So mindset heart idle from like two thlen.
So do you still watch I don't watch it the
past like five seasons. I get it, I get it.
It's okay, I don't. I haven't watched Pasty David Cook

(01:06:42):
performed at my wedding. Wow, oh my gosh, that's big time. Um.
The question was about the voice. How is it so inconsistent?
It was super embarrassing. First of all, your talent is
mind boggling. Your voice was made to be famous. None

(01:07:05):
of those judges to turn around. I think if Kelly
Clarkson had heard you, she would have turned around. Now,
I gotta say something though. That's so sweet, But I
gotta say I wouldn't have turned from me either. That
was I didn't think it was very good performance at all.
Like watching it, I was cringing and like, first of all,
that show is very different from Idol because on that
show they have so much control over you and um,

(01:07:28):
you know, they pick your outfit and your song and everything.
Idol is literally like okay, just show up and do
whatever you want. Um, And I think that's what was
so different. You know, I didn't get my guitar when
I was on the Voice, so I was super awkward
and I didn't know even who I wanted to be,
what genre I wanted to sing. I was if it
would have worked out, then it wouldn't have been good.
The age difference was a year and a half between

(01:07:48):
the I Know and that, and it's crazy how much
I kind of grew in just that little amount of time.
But I was devastated after that. Of course, I thought,
you know, Idol was going off the air like that
same season, so I was like, well, that was my
last opportunity and that there it was. Came back so quickly,
came back. Yeah, not even give it what maybe not
even two points? I know? Um yeah, I just wasn't ready. Honestly,

(01:08:15):
I can't sit here and say, yeah, screw the Voice.
You know, they didn't turn around for me. I think
a lot of people want me to be like because
some people ask like, yeah, do you wish what you wish?
You could tell Blake Shelton now, and I'm like, well,
I tell him you were you were right. I wasn't
ready then now, uh And yeah, not being biased right
now because you're in front of me. But I've always

(01:08:36):
just understood the appeal of Idol more than the voice.
I never got into it. And this is a girl
who had heart Idol in her license plate. That's amazing
and that means a lot. I mean, I think that
that show has had so much success because they let
people be whoever they want to be. You know, when
you package something together and then you put out into
the world, you can't you can't expect it to continue

(01:08:59):
to you know, thrive in the way it did when
you know, when that person was surrounded by a team
real crazy yeah and just controlla yeah. But I mean,
don't get me wrong, like that show obviously has been
on for so many seasons because but nine people love it.
I feel like it's more a TV show and less
of a launching pad for artists. Oh for sure. It's

(01:09:20):
not about the artists. Yeah, I mean that sounds really bad,
But it's not about discovering Kelly Clarkson. You know, it's
about oh the banter between the judges, and they have
such a great lineup, you know, obviously that's so entertaining
because it's like a reality TV show for these stars already,
you know, um, I want to go back to your

(01:09:41):
boyfriend for a second. Just Caleb, Caleb Lee Hutchinson, and
he's an artist of course, still working in Nashville. Um
but he um he and you met on the idol.
You've been together for a year and a half, and
I saw that you post a monthly post on in
a Graham saying we're still together. Just letting you know

(01:10:03):
because the fans will always speculate. We were just talking
about a bachelor couple who broke up and we all
speculated that it was coming because they hadn't posted of
each other in a month. So how do you feel
about the pressures of keeping up your relationship on Instagram?
And since it's that's something that we as a bachelor
family have to deal with all the time, totally. I mean, man,

(01:10:26):
we can relate on so many levels because um yeah,
it's like I feel like we will like joke around
on Twitter or something, and then the next day, like
if we don't post every day, you wouldn't believe the comments.
They're like some will be like, well she's pregnant, and
others will be like they're done for good, you know

(01:10:47):
what I mean. Like it's just that no, I mean,
there's so many expectations, and it's like, you know, it's
just become kind of a joke, Like that post was
a total joke because I was just like, you know,
I don't care. I'm happy my relationship. I don't think
I need to let the world know every five seconds,
you know, keep them updated on you know, what's happening
with us, because yeah, and Instagram is a big highlight

(01:11:08):
rail of a relationship anyway, it's just all butterflies and rainbows.
But and then of course if we were to show
some realness that people be like, oh, they're on the
rocks totally. And you know what. The thing that kind
of sucks about being a musician nowadays is that you're
not just a musician. You have to be a social
media influencer. Yeah, that's kind of every condision of entertain

(01:11:30):
you know, like anything you want to do, you know,
if you want to keep it up, that platform on
social media is so important. And if you don't have
a presence there, well, I mean it's one thing if
you made it in the nineties and you're like, you know, justever,
but for people up and coming, if you don't have
a social media platform, it's like you're just you're certainly

(01:11:54):
not appealing to the millennial crew. But it sucks because yeah,
it's exhausting social medi is exhausting mentally everything, you know.
Last thing I want to talk to you about is
your new single bring It Home, featuring former American Idol
alum Philip Phillips. It's now available and you can get
tickets for upcoming tour. Who are you going on tour with?

(01:12:15):
I just finished the tour. You just finished the toy.
You can get tickets to something else I don't know yet,
all right, but we'll check out where she's going to
next on Maddie Poppy dot com. That is m A
D D I E P O p pe dot com.
And your album came out in May. It's called Whirlwind.
If there's one song on Whirlwind that you want people

(01:12:37):
right now to open up their Apple music too, what
do you want to be? It's called not Losing You
and and it's charting on the radio. So that's the one.
Keep streaming it so we keep moving up. All right, Well,
thank you, Maddie, so nice meeting. You are the second Um,

(01:12:58):
you're the second American I'll be having this podcast, And um,
it was Yeah, it's very cool. We were here in
Napa for that one as well, the Country Music Festival.
Very cool. Thank you very a wonderful guest. Well, thanks
for having me. This was so much fun. I like
your shoes. You got some platforms in this converse. They
were hard to find. All right, bye, thanks, all right,

(01:13:24):
we'll talk about a jam filled show, guys. We had Crystal, Katie, Maddie, Poppy,
and we also talked to Joe and Kendall I mean Dawn.
We covered a lot in one episode here at Live
in the Vineyard in Napa Valley. It's been a wonderful
time talking to everyone and just chilling out with some wine.

(01:13:46):
We help you guys enjoyed it too, And the next
time you hear from Ben and myself we will be together.
Promise you that I know you guys like those episodes.
When we get to you know, have our original host time.
So thank you guys for listening. Love you so much. Goodbye.
Oh I've been Ashley. Follow the Benn and Ashley I

(01:14:07):
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