March 16, 2023 • 45 mins
Ben and Ashley are hanging out with Jess Girod, who's ready to share an exclusive look at what it was like to be one of Zach's contestants!
She's helping us recap the Women Tell All, and has some JUICY behind the scenes secrets to share.
We hear the real story on Anastasia and her "boyfriend", what really happened during her final conversation with Zach, and we find out if we'll see her in Paradise!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Ben and Ashley I almost Famous podcast
with I our Radio. It's time for the almost Famous podcast.
Yes we're back doubling up. This week got my wonderful
co host Ashley Iken Eddie and another co host for
two episodes. Ashley, how pumped are you to have Jessica
(00:21):
Gerard on the show right now breaking this all down
with us? I am so excited to have you here,
jess because one you're at Woman till All so you
can give us all the inside dudes. And two you
know you're bringing back body glitter. And three you were
like the huter row pit character of the show a
couple weeks ago when you're like, I am not going
(00:45):
to beg for you. Yes, thanks, guys, I'm so excited
to be here. Thank you for having me. Are you
nervous that Ashley and I are just going to absolutely
be so tough and so mean and so just grueling
out on the show hard. I went through a whole
season of the Bachelor, so I think I can take
you guys too, So we're big fans of you. In fact,
(01:08):
when we found out that you're going to be on
the show with us, we're very excited and we asked
to have you help us break down the Women Tell
All and then you're gonna come back for a separate
show and kind of give us an in depth about
you in your life. And so right now we're going
to jump right into the Woman Tall All. We're gonna
skip all the backstory of who you are and what
you're about, and we're gonna say that for a special time. So, Jess,
(01:31):
you were at The Woman Tall All to start this out,
to give our listeners a little perspective, tell us what
the Women Tall is like, like the leading up to it,
not being on the show, not being in the seats
that obviously, your butt is gonna get so sweaty because
they're plastic and there's light shining on you and there's
no breathable room. Uncomfortable, very uncomfortable. Yes, your butt bone
(01:53):
is truly aching. After those four times. I remember, I
remember I had when I was the bachelor. I would yeah,
when I was announced or something as the bachelor, I
had to get up from my seat and step up
onto stage. And I remember being so nervous because I
could tell that, like where I was sitting was just
covered in sweat, and I was thinking I was going
to be the guy to walk up on stage with
(02:15):
a different colored you know, back backspot than my sue. Okay,
so Jess walk us through like the trailer and the
lead up and everything going on. Yeah. So it was
a really rainy day that day, and I remember I
kept repeating it. I was like, is this foreshadowing something
like is this going to be a very chaotic day?
(02:35):
It was plouring rand I think that there was like
a really bad store in California or something, but that weekend.
But it was so surreal. I've never been in like
a fitting room or like I don't know what's kind
of technically calling room, Yeah, dressing room. Yeah, I've never
been in a dressing room before like that. I've never
you know, had my makeup touched up and you know,
(02:57):
gone all pampered. So it was definitely like I was
getting really nervous and I was like, oh gosh, this
is like the real deal. And like going into the
Warner Brothers studio, I was like, I've never been there before.
I don't know anything about it. I just was cool.
I was like, what's been filmed here? Like I want
to go explore all of these buildings. But and it
was really cool seeing everyone, and everyone was excited and nervous.
(03:19):
We were all kind of on the same page, and
we knew we were gonna see Zach and at that
point I knew I was gonna get a hot seat,
so I was just I was like freaking out. It
was just so many nerves and all in one and
in a very rainy day, so I was like, oh gosh,
I don't want my hair to get messed up. Well,
you didn't have much to worry about when it came
(03:41):
to talking with the girls, so you probably really got
to sit back and just listen for a couple of
hours before Zack on stage. You really you had no
drama with the girls. You barely on air. You didn't
really involve yourself except for with the little drama between
Brooklyn and Kat. You seem to depend cattle bit in
that moment. Yeah. Did that feel good that you got
(04:04):
to not have to involve yourself in girl drama? Yeah?
So I feel like in general, I don't really involve
myself with drama. Like in the real world too as well.
I will always defend myself if I feel like I'm
in a position where I need to or someone else
at the time, you know, with Brooklyn and Kat, I
(04:24):
felt like that was between them and it wasn't really
my place to get involved. But there were points where
I defended her because Kat is a good person and
she meant well, and you know, she was owning up
to her mistakes and I felt like it was being
dragged out. But you know, I don't think that it's
my position to voice an opinion that I'm not in
something that I'm not involved in. So it was nice
(04:46):
to sit back and not be involved when everyone was
like screaming at each other. I think there was like
some clips in my face where I'm like, I'm just like,
oh gosh, like everyone in my ear. Yeah. Ashley and
I always say this because one of the questions you'll
get asked the most now for the next I don't
I mean, how many who knows how long of your
life will be? Is it real? Like is the show real?
(05:09):
And what Ashley and I always say is it is
very real. Like I never felt like I was told
or scripted or given a list of things what to do.
And there's a very few moments where you're watching things
happen in the mansion or on the road or at
a tell all and you're like, I cannot believe I'm
getting a front row seat at this, because nobody that
ever watches this will ever believe it. Yeah. No, definitely.
(05:33):
When I was sitting there and when everyone was kind
of like voicing their opinions rightfully, so I was like, Wow,
this is just as intense as it is on TV
as it's in person. It was crazy. But I feel
like everyone when you're in that position, you want your
voice to be heard and you feel like, you know,
you don't want it to be overshadowed. So everyone's kind
of pitching in and so it was very chaotic and
(05:57):
entertaining to watch. So and it was even more entertaining
and watch on TV because I was like, oh my gosh,
I forgot that was said, and that was said, and
I was like laughing at all of it. It was
kind of funny and crazy. But well, let's go down
the list of big moments, big dramatic moments between the girls.
So first up, well there's the Anastasia thing. Yeah, let's
(06:22):
go with Anastasia. So Annastasia and Carlie and that drama.
Do you feel like Anastasia was getting like for lack
of a better word like pounded on stage or do
you feel like you know there was like a side
that wasn't being told. Yeah, So with Anastasia, she had
(06:45):
two different points that we were being addressed to her.
The microaggression, which I feel like that was handled very well.
That needed to be said and we all need to
be educated on that. So and I feel like she
handled that well and she apologized and owned up to it.
And then the other side was the following and being
there for the wrong reasons. And you know, I'm even
(07:08):
though I say out of drama, I do believe that
everyone should be voicing their opinions and do I believe
that should be in a respectful way always that I try,
but it may not always come across that way. I
think for the most part, everyone was able to vocalize
what they needed to say. I don't really know how
(07:29):
I feel about her having a boyfriend. I don't think
that that's true personally from what I'm from what I
know from her, I think she's a great girl. I
don't think she would risk losing a job and all
of that if she had someone at waiting for her
at home. And I think she's still single, so if
she had a boyfriend, I don't think she's dating them now,
but um so, I don't know. I don't really think
(07:50):
that that part's true. But I think she handled herself
well and I respect her for that because that's a
really tough position to be in when you're getting accused
of this and you can't really defend yourself without any proof. Yeah,
I mean you can't. It's been a storyline now for
a few seasons where somebody comes into it with a
boyfriend or a girlfriend and it does it feels like, Hey,
(08:12):
if you did that, No, probably not smart, but I
could see that you'd be dating up to the show
and exploring your options. We've said that. I think that's fine,
but you can't prove really if you're wrong or right,
or if you're doing it or not. You know, we're
getting into the drama a little bit, and I think
your insight is going to be so valuable to help
(08:33):
us get perspective. Two questions for you, one just to
give us some idea. Did you have your own dressing
room before Women Tell All? Or are you with the
group of women in one dressing room hearing all of
the chatter before the show? I was in a dressing
room with my one of my really good friends, Jen
just knows Jenne be on the show. I call her Jen.
But we were just hanging out, hyping each other up, like,
(08:58):
you know, just catching up. I haven't seen her in
a while, so I we didn't really I was helping
her just like discuss. I knew she was gonna you know,
educates on microaggression, so we're kind of like talking about
that topic and you know, I was asking questions, learning
more about it and you know, understanding it better. And
so we had really good, meaningful conversations. We weren't really
(09:21):
gossiping about the girls or anything. And like, because a
lot of the drama that happened, I don't know if
it's pre planned or not. I think everyone was just
kind of vocalizing it as they went, So you know,
we didn't get to foreshadow of any of that. You know,
that's interesting. Yeah, So you know, the drama isn't exactly
where a producer comes in and says, here are the
(09:42):
conversations I want you to bring up, and I know
you're going to bring them up. It just happens because
people want their moment. They're angry or they're upset and
they voiced them on a stage and then we see
how it plays out. And that's what makes women tell
all beautiful and also sometimes very awkward. Speaking of awkward, Ashley,
I want to know if you had a feeling about this,
(10:05):
and Jess, I want to hear yours as well. This
is the first time I can remember ever, you know,
on the Bachelor franchise, a franchise that holds himself to
a very high standard, and I think this season especially
feels like a throwback. It feels like, you know, a
really good season of not a ton of drama, a
lot of character development, a lot of tough breakups. It
(10:29):
feels like maybe of a season six years ago. But
this was the first time I've ever heard the show
introduced next week as sex Week. I'm pretty sure that
that's because Zach coined it himself, right, He said something
along the lines up, I know this is Fantasy Sweets Week,
which is basically sex week, but I don't want to
(10:50):
participate in that. Yeah, okay, so it doesn't feel weird
to you two that it's called sex week. Now, it's
not fantasy seek, it's not they Jesse made a point
of saying like Zach coined it as sex week, so
it's only going to be called that this season as
a sort of joke. Okay, good. I didn't want to
(11:13):
keep going, maybe imagine. Yeah, I don't think it should
keep going. I thought it got weird there for a second,
but okay, that's it, Ashley, back to the girl's drama. Okay,
So the other like sort of villainous person we had
this week this year was Christina. Tell us a scoop
(11:34):
on Christina in the house. We know that she got
kind of a bad rap because she kept talking about
her time with Zach. You know, like if people are like,
we don't really want to hear about your time with Zach.
He's even really self centered about this. Was that who
she was or was there more to her? Do you
think that she got eliminated too early? Yeah? So Christina
is one of the women in the house that I
(11:54):
actually didn't spend that much time with. It kind of
how it worked out, like she got that one on
right away, and then um, I had a group day,
and then we had the football day and her team
once and then she had the after parties. So I
didn't want get to spend how much time with her
from what I gathered, Like, you know, I think she
really does mean well. UM, I think she just was
(12:16):
unaware of, you know, maybe some comments that she made
in the house that maybe made people uncomfortable. UM. I
personally was never in a conversation with her long enough
to where I could point those things out. UM. I
think she's she's kind, and I don't think that she
intended to go into this butting heads with anyone. And
I think that's very obvious with how she kept trying
(12:38):
to apologize and speak on her part. But UM, I
just from what I heard from the other women, she
did make them uncomfortable and she did put them in
positions where they, you know, wanted to remove themselves from,
which is unfortunate. But thankfully, like I never got to
experience it. So um, it's just kind of hear hearsay
(13:00):
from what I got. Can you can you elaborate on
how she made them feel uncomfortable? Um? Yeah. So I
know with the situation when Charity got her her group date,
Rose and Christina you know kind of took her a
moment from her and was you know confused and why
and you know all of that it really upset Charity
(13:21):
and rightfully. So I think if I got that group
date rose and someone said they were confused why they
didn't get it, I would be like, what, Um, so
it's just situations like that. Um, I think she was
free to open to really talk about it. But it's
a time and place when you can, and like those
are the moments that like aren't yours to take? Makes sense?
(13:45):
So I'm curious because you said it a few times now,
you stayed out of a lot of this, like it's
here say to you, right, you're not seeing this, you're
not a part of it, but you're around a while
so you're obviously there for a lot of these experiences.
How did you stay out of it? Like? What was
Was it just luck? Was it kind of your personality?
Would you do? Yeah? So pretty much my whole life,
(14:09):
I've always been in positions where, um, you know, in
college or in high school as a youth group leader
or in college as a new member educator with inclusion
and stuff like, I've just always been able to understand
people's perspectives on situations. And you know, there was a
part like in the Bahamas where I tried to speak
(14:31):
up about the Kylie and Honestasia situation, and I was
told that it's not my place too, so I think
then moving on, like, I just kind of realized it's
not m am. I allowed people. I'm allowed to say
not people told you that you weren't allowed to get
involved in that drama. Yeah, so they're either having her
(14:52):
best interests they're not. You hear, either do it or
you don't. It's one of those which I understand it's
not my place to speak on. So it was just
one of those things where I like, if I wasn't
passionate on something, I wasn't going to the voice in
my opinion. But I guess it's luck. When the whole
thing with Kat and Brooklyn happened, I did speak with
(15:13):
her privately about it and explained to her how it
was wrong. And you know, we were roommates, so that's
how I was able to do that because we were
together in a room or else that would have been
filmed and aired, but we were. So it's just I
guess it's luck in those situations. Well, that brings up
(15:40):
I feel like my third and final point of intense
girl Drama, which when I say intense, you guys probably
had the least amount of drama that we've seen in
a lot of seasons, which was nice for us I
think as an audience, it was in my perspective and
probably for you as a cast as well. But yeah,
I want to get into Kat and Brooklyn a little bit,
(16:00):
because Brooklyn doesn't seem over it, and it didn't even
happen to Brooklyn. It happened to Charity. Charity was the
one who you know, had to go on a date
after a guy already kissed Kat and Charity, yeah, she
was just like all right, um, I mean that's not
the nicest thing, but also moving on and Brooklyn, just
like a Kat said, just days later, kept bringing it up.
(16:23):
Why do you think Brooklyn had such a thing after
Kat back a couple weeks ago. My theory was that
she was just very intimidated by her, as I felt
like she was the obvious frontrunner there. We were very wrong.
You know, in that moment, a lot of the women,
including myself, we're very confused why Kat did that. You know,
(16:48):
we are dating the same man, so you know, you can,
you have the right to speak to him, but again
time and place, so all of us were confused. I
remember when when Kat walked away all them and looked
at me, and they were like because me and cart
close and they were like, well, why is she doing that?
And I was like, I have no idea, Like she
didn't run that by me, So we were all confused.
(17:10):
And because I think Brooklyn, you know, has a voice
and she's not afraid to use it, and that's one
of her really really good friends. I think she she
wanted to be able to speak for charity when charity
wasn't present because she went on her date, and maybe
Kat's response wasn't fitting what Brooklyn needed, and so Brooklyn
(17:30):
kind of kept it going. You know, I think Kat
she did, I know, Kat apologize and she was doing
her best. I don't really know why the drama continued.
I you know, it wasn't it wasn't a lot of
it's hard off, but we all agreed that like it
was the wrong thing to do. But did it need
(17:52):
to be continued into a multiple day conversation. Probably not. Yeah,
And really we didn't say of anything there. On the
Women Tell All stage, Jesse used that as a lead
in to solving these problems further and Bachelor in Paradise,
how much did you hear the word Paradise be thrown
(18:13):
around at Women Tell All amongst the girls, amongst the producers,
because a lot of the times we feel like Women
Tell All is kind of an audition tape for your
spot in Paradise. Yeah, I you know, heard it here
and there, but I think I don't know, I don't
really know I answered that question. I'm gonna be honest. Yeah,
(18:41):
Paradise turn around a lot. I don't know if some
of those the women's intentions were to you know, get
a spot on Paradise or not. I didn't really put
that much thought into it. But for the most part,
the drama that did happen on the show, there was
never a resolution to it, and so I think a
(19:01):
lot of the women, regardless of Paradise or not, they
went into it wanting to get that resolution. And we
may not have seen a resolution really, but I think,
you know, that's something that they can work towards in
para on Paradise or a camera was. We're all friends
and really close, so you know, Jess, I have to
pause here for a second, because we do. We do
(19:23):
get to interview a lot of people coming off the show,
and everybody's great when you get to meet him, you
seem to have a very level head on your shoulders,
which oftentimes from a viewer's point of view, goes, she's
too good for this show or she's too good for
this experience. And right now, as you're answering these questions
and talking through, you know, situations that you weren't involved in,
(19:47):
and you're doing it in a really graceful and kind way,
which makes me go, yeah, she is. She's probably too
good for this show. But the show needs people like
jes to come onto it because they are great people
to have be ambassadors for the show. So if Paradise
came to you and said, hey, Jess, this might not
(20:08):
be your cup of tea, this might make you feel weird.
It's going to be a whole new environment, but we
want you to try Paradise right now, what would you say? Yes?
So I knew going into this. I think one of
my biggest fears when I was going said yes to
the Bachelor and was, you know, running towards it, was
are these women going to be nice to me? Like?
(20:30):
Can I handle that? And you know, thankfully we got
a season that everyone for the most part was kind
and respectful, to each other. And I am someone that
if the opportunity is given to me, that means I'm
ready for it. And I would definitely do Paradise if
there is someone that I was interested in. I'm a
(20:51):
hopeless romantic and you know I'm looking for love and
I'm looking for that opportunity. Yes, I'm not someone that
brings drama to the able, but that doesn't mean you
can't you're not qualified or good enough to find love. Um.
You know, there are so many great personalities that and
you know everyone brings something different to the table. And
(21:12):
you know, whereas I might not be the loudest in
the room, that doesn't mean I'm not a good friend,
and that doesn't mean I'm not a good partner, and
that doesn't mean that I'm not capable of being just
as deserving to be there. So I don't think anyone
is too good for the show because I think that
takes away from the other women. I think it's more
so that it's just a different personality if Jess isn't
(21:36):
on Paradise. Actually I'm right, I know I'm not happy
if I don't get to watch Jess, and I have
a fireside of me like you guys saw that with Zach,
like when I when I was crying and I like
kind of a little laugh in there like that, Like
my best guy friends texted me and was like, that's
the laugh that I know you're about to like go
(21:57):
off and you're like holding it Like I like, I
have that side to me, like a very passionate and
fiery side. I just I'm not going to bring it
out if it's not organic, and there was never a
moment like I'm not going to force him. I want
to watch the screen and be like I recognize that person.
I don't want to be like confused. So well, that's
a perfect segue then into your hot seat, you know,
(22:19):
to get us started on the hot seat, Jess, give
us perspective. You look back now and your time with
Zach and your time on the show, and you're fresh
off of the woman, Tell all, what did you feel
for Zach? What did you think was there now with
hindsight now maybe different during the experience, but now with hindsight,
what did you feel towards him, like when I saw
(22:42):
him walk out or just looking back on your time
on the show, was it was it as real as
you thought it was? Yeah, so you know, I really
did have I like word it a lot on the show,
but it was the way I described my feelings for
Zach was I had a really big crush on him,
and that's pretty much as far as we took it,
(23:06):
and watching it, you know, I felt very validated in
what I was feeling, because I mean I was seeing
myself fall for him, and um, that's what I felt
and that's what I remembered. So it definitely was like
a refresher. I think there was a part where, like
in the Bahamas, he said like just be strong and
like hold out like pretty much just not verbatim, but
(23:29):
it's kind of what he meant, and like it just
was like validating to know, like, yeah, what I felt
was real and it was reciprocated. And you know, although
the exit wasn't it did it felt very one sided,
like looking back, like I wasn't alone in the relationship
that we had, so watching it it definitely brought those
emotions of like validation but also just like oh that sucks,
(23:51):
like didn't work out, but like I think he's great
and I'm there was never any hard feelings and you know,
I wished him the best, but it was definitely hard
to watch it and be like, yeah, like I did
feel that, and you know it was real. There had
to have been a little hard feelings after you left
(24:12):
so abruptly after this argument, where like you guys just
didn't see eyed eye at all. And as an audience,
and I think you feel the audience response, we were
all like, Zack, how can you not see why she's upset?
It's very obvious. And as somebody who was on the show,
Ben and I talked about this, you know during that
(24:33):
episode that you left, where like, it really does take
a one on one for you to feel comfortable in
opening up, because if you start a serious conversation like
with ten fifteen minutes of one on one time on
a group date, it just doesn't feel appropriate. So was
there more to the conversation that we didn't see on TV? Yeah,
(24:55):
the conversation, so it kind of thundered around my nerves
with him and me not being comfortable, and that was
why my argument was I just needed time And I
addressed this literally night one, sitting with him on the
steps in front of the mansions, I was like, I
get nervous around men that I like, I it's something
I'm I'm not like I learned to love about myself,
(25:16):
and I'm like, I can't help it, but this is
who I am, and you know I can say and
i'm this is how I am. And he thought it
was cute, and I like he was just like, that's
so endearing. And so I never felt like there was
a reason to worry about it and like change who
I was because I thought he accepted it and it
was okay. And you know, all the women like we
(25:37):
get close, they knew about it and they comforted me
about it and they were like, that's what makes you
just like you have nothing to worry about. So I
was like, oh, okay. And then going into estonia, I
was like, something is off, Like I don't like he's
given me all this reassurance, but there's no actions following
the words that he's giving me, So like what what
could be the reason? And the back of my mind
(25:57):
it was like, is it my nerves? Is it? Might
like is is he seeing that as a red flag?
But also he's never told me, he's never mentioned that
as a red flag to me before, so that would
be very dishonest of him if that if he were
to bring that up now. So that's why I was confused,
and I think that's why the conversation, like we were
(26:17):
butting heads because I was like, if this was a problem, why,
Like I'm confused, Like that's you know, you thought that
that was endearing and you liked that about me up
until this point, And like if if he had told
me that sooner, what could have happened? And if you
knew that I'm nervous and I, you know, take a second,
why wouldn't you give me that time for me to
(26:39):
get comfortable. So it just was like, I'm confused. There's
a solution to this here. I don't understand. What's the confusion.
So yeah, but when you looked back, or even when
you're not looking back, even when you're sitting in the
back of like the dump vehicle, did you wonder if
I didn't bring that up tonight, would I still be Oh?
(27:01):
Of course I wonder that. Because so in the moment
when I got sent home, like in reality, not watching
it back when I came home, I was so confused,
Like explaining it to my family, I was like, I
don't I don't understand. And when I watched it back,
I was like, I think My biggest takeaway was he
was that upset, like there was no emotion when I
(27:22):
was talking to him. I thought I was in the
wrong for a while until the show aired and I
saw his reaction and I got to actually watch like
how he was speaking to me, in his facial expressions,
I was like, maybe I wasn't in the wrong. And
so it took me a while to kind of process
the situation because when you don't watch it back and
(27:45):
you're relying on your memory in a situation where you
were already anxious and nervous and feeling all these things,
you don't really remember clearly, and so on the hot
seat when I was watching it, and I that's why
I was like more smiling than crying, because I was like,
I was just proud of myself because I didn't remember
half of that, and you should be proud of yourself.
(28:06):
Your hand, you handle yourself so nicely. That scene. I
saw a meme last night. It was awesome. Maybe last
it said it had a picture of you standing there
(28:27):
talking to Zach and I said, how I can't I
forget the start of it, But pretty much the point was,
how in the world would this girl expect to get
a date on a dating show, like, like, why in
the world would she think that a date was should
be given to her on a dating show. I thought
it was so good, Like, yes, of course you wanted
(28:48):
a date. You know. It brings up the point we've
said it all season, and I know you listened to
our podcast every week, so you've probably heard it. But
you know, he said, I don't think Zach's a bad dude.
I don't think he's a bad bachelor. I think he's
there for the right reasons, and I think he really
wants to find love. I think the only critique, which
(29:10):
is again very minimal compared to most seasons that we watch,
we critique pretty heavily, is that it felt like he
just wasn't hearing some of the messages and words that
the women were communicating. And maybe their response, and I
want you to respond to this, Jess, would be that
he already knew that he was going to send these
(29:30):
people home before they voice their concerns, like maybe before
it even went into it and they voice their insecurities,
he just had bad luck, and as soon as they
opened their hearts up to him, he had already decided
they were going home. And so it just played out
terribly on television for him, or he really was not
hearing what you were saying. And you know when you
(29:51):
watched when we watch your moment back, what I was
hearing was this girl just wants to spend more time
with you. She really likes you, she's interested in you,
she just wants to get to know you better. And
she's like almost complimenting you by saying, I just I
just want to be around you more, which is a
great compliment. So Jess, knowing the concern or the critique
(30:12):
that people are giving Zach, knowing that you're in that situation,
one of the examples of that, what would you say?
You know? Honestly, I think it's a bit of both.
I think he you know, he has a good head
on his shoulders, so I think he has an idea
if this is his person or not, so regardless of
(30:32):
the conversation, if he's if he knows in his heart,
he's going to make that decision. However, I think there's
a factor in it of you know, he could he
could have worked on how he listens and how he
approaches conversations. You can still send someone home, but do
it in a you know, a caring and compassionate way.
(30:55):
But also it's hard to judge him when in his position,
Like how do you do that when someone is so
invested in you? Like, it's just it's a hard position
to be in. But um, you know, I obviously I'm
watching the show and I see how he handles some
conversations and he could have he could have easily done
it way better. And I'm sure he's watching it and
(31:15):
thinking the same thing. But you know, I think because
he has that good head on his shoulders, he knows, Okay,
I don't like this, like or not. I don't like
but this girl might not be my wife, my fiance,
so I'm going to send her home. This is awkward
that she's kind of venting to me about her life,
but kind of gotta do it. So Yeah, sometimes in
(31:39):
those conversations, I feel like he's lacking sensitivity. Do you agree? Um? Yes,
I mean I'm speaking on my position. I think, you know,
he even brought that up at Woman's till all that
he wasn't understanding my point, and I think it could
have been such an easy solution. There was a point
(32:01):
where I was like, I hear you, I hear what
you're saying, Like, can you hear what I'm saying? And
all he had to do was like, maybe I wasn't
articulating what I was saying. The best way I could
have stopped saying one on one probably yeah, But I mean,
you know, he could have also been like, well, what
do you mean by that? Let's figure it out, let's
come to an understanding. And he wasn't. He kind of
(32:23):
just in his head figured out or kind of came
up with an idea of what I'm trying to say
and then stuck with it instead of trying to dig
deeper into understand So, speaking for myself, I think he
could have been more sensitive, and I feel like his
apology kind of sounds like he would agree to that
as well. Let's jump in to the other couple of
(32:45):
hot seats that existed. Some of them celebratory charity, right,
some of them a little tougher like Greer. You know,
greer situation is interesting to me Ashley as a more
of a curiosity. I don't think there's anything wrong obviously
(33:07):
with Greer approaching um something that she did on social media.
You know, she defended a black face post that was
really you know, probably why she was in the hot seat.
It was most It was most of the conversation. I'm
intrigued at how this happened though for her and not
(33:27):
happening with Eric from last season, who was Gabby's choice
at the end. Well, I think it's obvious what happened here.
I think they got a lot of flack for not
addressing it with Eric when I was watching the scene
with Greer and having wondering, like trying to rack my
brain on whether or not they brought it up at all. Yeah.
(33:50):
So I can't say that they did it or not,
but I know that if they even did, it was
a small little blip on the radar. Yeah. Um, so
I think that that's why Jesse said, like, we're not
really good to address things like this on the show,
so we want to really make a point to do
so right now. Okay, So you think it was a
response like learning from mistakes previously, it was a response
(34:10):
to get better this time. That's fair, that's great. I
appreciate that insight. So, Jesse, you were in the room.
You you know Greer a lot better than we do
because we've never met her. What's your take on the situation? Um,
what's your take on the response from the other women
and from maybe even grew personally if you're able to
(34:30):
be around her. Yeah, So, I mean, that's a very
tough conversation to have, and it's even tougher for someone
to grow from it and be able to speak on it.
So I'm like, I've props to her for being able to,
you know, admit to her wrongs and speak on that.
And I think a lot of the women, you know,
(34:52):
we're really proud because, um, you know, I know that
she when it happened, when it came out, she wanted
to address it, and I think she made like an
Instagram story or something about it, which you know, she
did that on her own. And I respect that a
lot because I think a lot of times in this
franchise and just in general, people don't like to admit
(35:15):
when they're in the wrong and don't want to have
those uncomfortable conversations that bring a lot of controversy. And
for her to kind of want to write her wrongs
is very highly respectful and it was the right thing
to do. I'm really glad she got to address it.
I'm really glad that this franchise address that they're not
(35:38):
good at addressing this, and I think that speaks volume.
And I'm hoping that we can continue going towards that
direction of correcting each other and holding accountability for us.
But I thought Career, you know, spoke her truth and
did her best, and she is a great person at heart,
and you know, I know that that took a toll
(36:01):
on her, and um, so I I respect her for
being able to go up there because that's that's nerve racking,
and everything she was saying was coming from the heart
to what I to my understanding. So it's very well, Um,
that's really well put and just you know, a genuine response.
(36:22):
And and I'm glad that you and Ashley both pointed
out that the show acknowledged that they aren't good at
this and that they wanted to approach it. And so
I think with that, I say, well well done. Well
Kat sat in the hot seat, not a lot there
to discuss in depth. It felt like it was kind
of just a cyclical conversation um that had existed already
(36:43):
on the show, and there wasn't you know. The beauty
of that is that Kat now has a better relationship
with her mom, which is huge. So let's jump into charity.
Charity obviously a fan favorite, somebody just recently gone home,
somebody that's still close to the viewer's heart, somebody to
also celebrate. Jess, tell us about charity. What do you
(37:04):
know and see in charity? Charity is just a ball
at sunshine. She truly like what is so great about
her is she is just as kind and generous as
you see on the show as she is in person.
I remember in London, you know, she was going through
her own issues and she still took the time to
comfort career and I feel like that says a lot
(37:25):
about someone to take away you're what you're going through
to be there for someone, And I just like that's
in her nature. It's what she does her job, and
it's what she does with her friendships. And I respect her.
I think her being the boucherette is a phenomenal choice.
I sent over a devotional book for her to take
(37:47):
on her journey. She is a woman of faith and I,
you know, I'm excited for her. I she is so
deserving of love. And you know, it was heartbreaking to
watch her hometown episode. Me and my mom are both
going on the couch. Her family is so beautiful, and
you could just tell, like with the community that she
surrounds herself with, that she just is a very good person.
(38:11):
And you know, we need I mean, we've always had
good people as leads, but you know it's good to
continue to have someone that can speak so well, can
treat people so well. And you know, I think she's
learned a lot from this season with you know, how
Zach approached things, and I think she's going to be
able to take that and be in a phenomenal bat shot.
(38:34):
We've had mostly good leads, mostly nice leads. Season twenty
had some issues, but for the most part, we've had
some incredible people. That's a self deprecate I can't wait.
I can't wait to watch her. I'm so pumped because
I do I think, you know, being somebody of faith,
being somebody there for the right reasons, learning from not
(38:55):
the multitude of mistakes that Zach made. I don't think
there's like a plethora of things that he did wrong.
Yet I'm worried about what's so excited for next week?
I don't know, but I think it's she's just gonna
be an incredible bachelorette and h I'm ecstatic. I didn't
expect it shockingly, like I did not know she would
(39:17):
be named the lead, But I'm really glad you did.
I think all for the Top girls really are almost
equal in their running, and I think I would have
been equally as excited for any of them that were
crowned Bachelorette. Just do you think that that Charity was
really genuinely surprised when she was in that dressing room
and they brought the camera and Jesse in oh one
(39:39):
hundred percent, So where I was sitting, it was Charity
Brooklyn and then me and Jesse kept repeating like we
have a surprise for it's going to change a woman's life,
and yeah, we were kind of like looking around at
each other. I're looking at Charity because I was like,
they would be crazy not to, you know, offer it
to her. So I was like, do you know what's
going are you bout bachelrette? And she was like, they
(40:00):
didn't tell me anything. I don't know what's going on.
And she was like she literally goes, no, no way.
She's like, there's no way, and I was like, oh okay.
So we had no idea. So we were kind of
like trying to figure out what was going on, Like
I think I came up with the idea of like
maybe someone's gonna get chosen from the audience and gets
to like hang out with Zach. Like like I was like,
what is this because we all left, and you know,
(40:22):
Charity left with us, so I like, I didn't think anything.
I went into Pressed right after, so I didn't see
that they took her to a different room or anything,
but we were all walking towards the exit together. So
I was like surprised too watching it back, and you
know that was her genuine, humble reaction to it, and
(40:42):
you know you could tell she was like thinking, they're
playing a game, you know, and so that was really
cool to watch and special. Okay, well we want to
talk more to you, but before we wrap up the
Women Tell All episode, got to talk about bloopers. The
bloopers were on points. There have been years and years
now of disappointing bloopers. These ones really lived up and
(41:06):
it wasn't just the blooper real At the end, Jesse
also showed about three scenes and including that like twerking
scene so good. It really showed a lot of personality
with the girls, and that's the kind of footage that
people asked to see and they really delivered and showing
them during women's at all And I really I always
(41:26):
say it way too often, but if only they peppered
some of those scenes throughout, I agrees, people would get
so much more attached to these characters, really feel like
they get to know them better. Like that scene where
Zach thought that it was mold m o led wine
was amazing. I was sorry, mold wine, but it's actually
(41:50):
really good. Yeah, I agree. I feel like a lot
of the episodes they did kind of like the the credits,
they would show like little bloopers and stuff, which I
thought was funny. But I agree, like, you know, showing
our personalities more so people can kind of like relate
to us and kind of you know, form a special
(42:13):
bond with you know, the contestants and want to continue watching. Um.
But those bloopers were hilarious in the twerking scene, like
you just see me like breaking out, and I like
ran scion because I was like I cannot be a
part of this, like I will not. So I was
watching them do that and I was dying laughing and
they all did really really good. I was like, you
(42:33):
guys look great. Yeah, I know. I started squeezing my
butt cheeks back and forth. I was like, can I
do this? And then there's a tortillas slaps. Yeah. I
was on a plane. I was just going back and
forth a little bit. Yeah. Yeah, I didn't do it
up but maybe later. And then there was a cute
like tortilla slapping thing. All of them are very good
demonstrations of what we actually do to pass the time
(42:55):
when we have no phones, no TVs and all of that.
Then the tarantula, we must talk about. This tarantula was
that in the Bahamas? No, that was in the mansion
and well, I wait, no, I think I'm wrong. There
was something wrong and there was some bug that was
in the mansion. They didn't play it, but like we
(43:16):
were like all freaking out, and I think Mercedes was
the one that went and grabbed it. Um and I
don't grab a tarantula, and you don't call it a bug.
It wasn't a tarantula. It was like it was like
a really I kept saying, it was like an oversized ant.
It was like a really big ant. I don't know,
you have the Beatles, the big Beatle. I forget what
the kind of beatle like the like the floor, the
(43:37):
palm beetles or something like that. They're they're massive, they're
all over. I'm not familiar with California insects, but whatever
that was, I'm thankful it's not in Porta because it
was so so ginormous. Like, oh, that's not fun. Yeah,
I don't think they showed that. It's Uh, the mansion
is amazing. Is an amazing place. It's beautiful. It's luxuria
(44:00):
is that also has doors open all day long with
lights on inside, so you can imagine what that looks
like by the end of the day. Jess. To close
up here, final question for you again. We're gonna be
bringing Jess back for an end depth episode to get
to learn all about Jess because I have a feeling
we're gonna be watching more of Jess in the coming years,
(44:20):
which we're pumped about. But before we get there, Jess,
if you know what happens at the end, just say it.
I can't talk about it because I know what happens.
If you don't know what happens at the end, what's
your theory on what happens? And I'm not giving up
this tradition what happens during Fantasy Suite Week. I do
know what happens perfect, don't talk about it all right.
(44:40):
We'll be back next time with Jess doing an in
depth episode. Until then, I've been been, I've been, Ashley
and Jess. Who have you been, I've been, Jess. Yes.
Follow the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcasts on
iHeartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts
This is the Ben and Ashley I almost Famous podcast
with I our Radio. It's time for the almost Famous podcast.
Yes we're back doubling up. This week got my wonderful
co host Ashley Iken Eddie and another co host for
two episodes. Ashley, how pumped are you to have Jessica
(00:21):
Gerard on the show right now breaking this all down
with us? I am so excited to have you here,
jess because one you're at Woman till All so you
can give us all the inside dudes. And two you
know you're bringing back body glitter. And three you were
like the huter row pit character of the show a
couple weeks ago when you're like, I am not going
(00:45):
to beg for you. Yes, thanks, guys, I'm so excited
to be here. Thank you for having me. Are you
nervous that Ashley and I are just going to absolutely
be so tough and so mean and so just grueling
out on the show hard. I went through a whole
season of the Bachelor, so I think I can take
you guys too, So we're big fans of you. In fact,
(01:08):
when we found out that you're going to be on
the show with us, we're very excited and we asked
to have you help us break down the Women Tell
All and then you're gonna come back for a separate
show and kind of give us an in depth about
you in your life. And so right now we're going
to jump right into the Woman Tall All. We're gonna
skip all the backstory of who you are and what
you're about, and we're gonna say that for a special time. So, Jess,
(01:31):
you were at The Woman Tall All to start this out,
to give our listeners a little perspective, tell us what
the Women Tall is like, like the leading up to it,
not being on the show, not being in the seats
that obviously, your butt is gonna get so sweaty because
they're plastic and there's light shining on you and there's
no breathable room. Uncomfortable, very uncomfortable. Yes, your butt bone
(01:53):
is truly aching. After those four times. I remember, I
remember I had when I was the bachelor. I would yeah,
when I was announced or something as the bachelor, I
had to get up from my seat and step up
onto stage. And I remember being so nervous because I
could tell that, like where I was sitting was just
covered in sweat, and I was thinking I was going
to be the guy to walk up on stage with
(02:15):
a different colored you know, back backspot than my sue. Okay,
so Jess walk us through like the trailer and the
lead up and everything going on. Yeah. So it was
a really rainy day that day, and I remember I
kept repeating it. I was like, is this foreshadowing something
like is this going to be a very chaotic day?
(02:35):
It was plouring rand I think that there was like
a really bad store in California or something, but that weekend.
But it was so surreal. I've never been in like
a fitting room or like I don't know what's kind
of technically calling room, Yeah, dressing room. Yeah, I've never
been in a dressing room before like that. I've never
you know, had my makeup touched up and you know,
(02:57):
gone all pampered. So it was definitely like I was
getting really nervous and I was like, oh gosh, this
is like the real deal. And like going into the
Warner Brothers studio, I was like, I've never been there before.
I don't know anything about it. I just was cool.
I was like, what's been filmed here? Like I want
to go explore all of these buildings. But and it
was really cool seeing everyone, and everyone was excited and nervous.
(03:19):
We were all kind of on the same page, and
we knew we were gonna see Zach and at that
point I knew I was gonna get a hot seat,
so I was just I was like freaking out. It
was just so many nerves and all in one and
in a very rainy day, so I was like, oh gosh,
I don't want my hair to get messed up. Well,
you didn't have much to worry about when it came
(03:41):
to talking with the girls, so you probably really got
to sit back and just listen for a couple of
hours before Zack on stage. You really you had no
drama with the girls. You barely on air. You didn't
really involve yourself except for with the little drama between
Brooklyn and Kat. You seem to depend cattle bit in
that moment. Yeah. Did that feel good that you got
(04:04):
to not have to involve yourself in girl drama? Yeah?
So I feel like in general, I don't really involve
myself with drama. Like in the real world too as well.
I will always defend myself if I feel like I'm
in a position where I need to or someone else
at the time, you know, with Brooklyn and Kat, I
(04:24):
felt like that was between them and it wasn't really
my place to get involved. But there were points where
I defended her because Kat is a good person and
she meant well, and you know, she was owning up
to her mistakes and I felt like it was being
dragged out. But you know, I don't think that it's
my position to voice an opinion that I'm not in
something that I'm not involved in. So it was nice
(04:46):
to sit back and not be involved when everyone was
like screaming at each other. I think there was like
some clips in my face where I'm like, I'm just like,
oh gosh, like everyone in my ear. Yeah. Ashley and
I always say this because one of the questions you'll
get asked the most now for the next I don't
I mean, how many who knows how long of your
life will be? Is it real? Like is the show real?
(05:09):
And what Ashley and I always say is it is
very real. Like I never felt like I was told
or scripted or given a list of things what to do.
And there's a very few moments where you're watching things
happen in the mansion or on the road or at
a tell all and you're like, I cannot believe I'm
getting a front row seat at this, because nobody that
ever watches this will ever believe it. Yeah. No, definitely.
(05:33):
When I was sitting there and when everyone was kind
of like voicing their opinions rightfully, so I was like, Wow,
this is just as intense as it is on TV
as it's in person. It was crazy. But I feel
like everyone when you're in that position, you want your
voice to be heard and you feel like, you know,
you don't want it to be overshadowed. So everyone's kind
of pitching in and so it was very chaotic and
(05:57):
entertaining to watch. So and it was even more entertaining
and watch on TV because I was like, oh my gosh,
I forgot that was said, and that was said, and
I was like laughing at all of it. It was
kind of funny and crazy. But well, let's go down
the list of big moments, big dramatic moments between the girls.
So first up, well there's the Anastasia thing. Yeah, let's
(06:22):
go with Anastasia. So Annastasia and Carlie and that drama.
Do you feel like Anastasia was getting like for lack
of a better word like pounded on stage or do
you feel like you know there was like a side
that wasn't being told. Yeah, So with Anastasia, she had
(06:45):
two different points that we were being addressed to her.
The microaggression, which I feel like that was handled very well.
That needed to be said and we all need to
be educated on that. So and I feel like she
handled that well and she apologized and owned up to it.
And then the other side was the following and being
there for the wrong reasons. And you know, I'm even
(07:08):
though I say out of drama, I do believe that
everyone should be voicing their opinions and do I believe
that should be in a respectful way always that I try,
but it may not always come across that way. I
think for the most part, everyone was able to vocalize
what they needed to say. I don't really know how
(07:29):
I feel about her having a boyfriend. I don't think
that that's true personally from what I'm from what I
know from her, I think she's a great girl. I
don't think she would risk losing a job and all
of that if she had someone at waiting for her
at home. And I think she's still single, so if
she had a boyfriend, I don't think she's dating them now,
but um so, I don't know. I don't really think
(07:50):
that that part's true. But I think she handled herself
well and I respect her for that because that's a
really tough position to be in when you're getting accused
of this and you can't really defend yourself without any proof. Yeah,
I mean you can't. It's been a storyline now for
a few seasons where somebody comes into it with a
boyfriend or a girlfriend and it does it feels like, Hey,
(08:12):
if you did that, No, probably not smart, but I
could see that you'd be dating up to the show
and exploring your options. We've said that. I think that's fine,
but you can't prove really if you're wrong or right,
or if you're doing it or not. You know, we're
getting into the drama a little bit, and I think
your insight is going to be so valuable to help
(08:33):
us get perspective. Two questions for you, one just to
give us some idea. Did you have your own dressing
room before Women Tell All? Or are you with the
group of women in one dressing room hearing all of
the chatter before the show? I was in a dressing
room with my one of my really good friends, Jen
just knows Jenne be on the show. I call her Jen.
But we were just hanging out, hyping each other up, like,
(08:58):
you know, just catching up. I haven't seen her in
a while, so I we didn't really I was helping
her just like discuss. I knew she was gonna you know,
educates on microaggression, so we're kind of like talking about
that topic and you know, I was asking questions, learning
more about it and you know, understanding it better. And
so we had really good, meaningful conversations. We weren't really
(09:21):
gossiping about the girls or anything. And like, because a
lot of the drama that happened, I don't know if
it's pre planned or not. I think everyone was just
kind of vocalizing it as they went, So you know,
we didn't get to foreshadow of any of that. You know,
that's interesting. Yeah, So you know, the drama isn't exactly
where a producer comes in and says, here are the
(09:42):
conversations I want you to bring up, and I know
you're going to bring them up. It just happens because
people want their moment. They're angry or they're upset and
they voiced them on a stage and then we see
how it plays out. And that's what makes women tell
all beautiful and also sometimes very awkward. Speaking of awkward, Ashley,
I want to know if you had a feeling about this,
(10:05):
and Jess, I want to hear yours as well. This
is the first time I can remember ever, you know,
on the Bachelor franchise, a franchise that holds himself to
a very high standard, and I think this season especially
feels like a throwback. It feels like, you know, a
really good season of not a ton of drama, a
lot of character development, a lot of tough breakups. It
(10:29):
feels like maybe of a season six years ago. But
this was the first time I've ever heard the show
introduced next week as sex Week. I'm pretty sure that
that's because Zach coined it himself, right, He said something
along the lines up, I know this is Fantasy Sweets Week,
which is basically sex week, but I don't want to
(10:50):
participate in that. Yeah, okay, so it doesn't feel weird
to you two that it's called sex week. Now, it's
not fantasy seek, it's not they Jesse made a point
of saying like Zach coined it as sex week, so
it's only going to be called that this season as
a sort of joke. Okay, good. I didn't want to
(11:13):
keep going, maybe imagine. Yeah, I don't think it should
keep going. I thought it got weird there for a second,
but okay, that's it, Ashley, back to the girl's drama. Okay,
So the other like sort of villainous person we had
this week this year was Christina. Tell us a scoop
(11:34):
on Christina in the house. We know that she got
kind of a bad rap because she kept talking about
her time with Zach. You know, like if people are like,
we don't really want to hear about your time with Zach.
He's even really self centered about this. Was that who
she was or was there more to her? Do you
think that she got eliminated too early? Yeah? So Christina
is one of the women in the house that I
(11:54):
actually didn't spend that much time with. It kind of
how it worked out, like she got that one on
right away, and then um, I had a group day,
and then we had the football day and her team
once and then she had the after parties. So I
didn't want get to spend how much time with her
from what I gathered, Like, you know, I think she
really does mean well. UM, I think she just was
(12:16):
unaware of, you know, maybe some comments that she made
in the house that maybe made people uncomfortable. UM. I
personally was never in a conversation with her long enough
to where I could point those things out. UM. I
think she's she's kind, and I don't think that she
intended to go into this butting heads with anyone. And
I think that's very obvious with how she kept trying
(12:38):
to apologize and speak on her part. But UM, I
just from what I heard from the other women, she
did make them uncomfortable and she did put them in
positions where they, you know, wanted to remove themselves from,
which is unfortunate. But thankfully, like I never got to
experience it. So um, it's just kind of hear hearsay
(13:00):
from what I got. Can you can you elaborate on
how she made them feel uncomfortable? Um? Yeah. So I
know with the situation when Charity got her her group date,
Rose and Christina you know kind of took her a
moment from her and was you know confused and why
and you know all of that it really upset Charity
(13:21):
and rightfully. So I think if I got that group
date rose and someone said they were confused why they
didn't get it, I would be like, what, Um, so
it's just situations like that. Um, I think she was
free to open to really talk about it. But it's
a time and place when you can, and like those
are the moments that like aren't yours to take? Makes sense?
(13:45):
So I'm curious because you said it a few times now,
you stayed out of a lot of this, like it's
here say to you, right, you're not seeing this, you're
not a part of it, but you're around a while
so you're obviously there for a lot of these experiences.
How did you stay out of it? Like? What was
Was it just luck? Was it kind of your personality?
Would you do? Yeah? So pretty much my whole life,
(14:09):
I've always been in positions where, um, you know, in
college or in high school as a youth group leader
or in college as a new member educator with inclusion
and stuff like, I've just always been able to understand
people's perspectives on situations. And you know, there was a
part like in the Bahamas where I tried to speak
(14:31):
up about the Kylie and Honestasia situation, and I was
told that it's not my place too, so I think
then moving on, like, I just kind of realized it's
not m am. I allowed people. I'm allowed to say
not people told you that you weren't allowed to get
involved in that drama. Yeah, so they're either having her
(14:52):
best interests they're not. You hear, either do it or
you don't. It's one of those which I understand it's
not my place to speak on. So it was just
one of those things where I like, if I wasn't
passionate on something, I wasn't going to the voice in
my opinion. But I guess it's luck. When the whole
thing with Kat and Brooklyn happened, I did speak with
(15:13):
her privately about it and explained to her how it
was wrong. And you know, we were roommates, so that's
how I was able to do that because we were
together in a room or else that would have been
filmed and aired, but we were. So it's just I
guess it's luck in those situations. Well, that brings up
(15:40):
I feel like my third and final point of intense
girl Drama, which when I say intense, you guys probably
had the least amount of drama that we've seen in
a lot of seasons, which was nice for us I
think as an audience, it was in my perspective and
probably for you as a cast as well. But yeah,
I want to get into Kat and Brooklyn a little bit,
(16:00):
because Brooklyn doesn't seem over it, and it didn't even
happen to Brooklyn. It happened to Charity. Charity was the
one who you know, had to go on a date
after a guy already kissed Kat and Charity, yeah, she
was just like all right, um, I mean that's not
the nicest thing, but also moving on and Brooklyn, just
like a Kat said, just days later, kept bringing it up.
(16:23):
Why do you think Brooklyn had such a thing after
Kat back a couple weeks ago. My theory was that
she was just very intimidated by her, as I felt
like she was the obvious frontrunner there. We were very wrong.
You know, in that moment, a lot of the women,
including myself, we're very confused why Kat did that. You know,
(16:48):
we are dating the same man, so you know, you can,
you have the right to speak to him, but again
time and place, so all of us were confused. I
remember when when Kat walked away all them and looked
at me, and they were like because me and cart
close and they were like, well, why is she doing that?
And I was like, I have no idea, Like she
didn't run that by me, So we were all confused.
(17:10):
And because I think Brooklyn, you know, has a voice
and she's not afraid to use it, and that's one
of her really really good friends. I think she she
wanted to be able to speak for charity when charity
wasn't present because she went on her date, and maybe
Kat's response wasn't fitting what Brooklyn needed, and so Brooklyn
(17:30):
kind of kept it going. You know, I think Kat
she did, I know, Kat apologize and she was doing
her best. I don't really know why the drama continued.
I you know, it wasn't it wasn't a lot of
it's hard off, but we all agreed that like it
was the wrong thing to do. But did it need
(17:52):
to be continued into a multiple day conversation. Probably not. Yeah,
And really we didn't say of anything there. On the
Women Tell All stage, Jesse used that as a lead
in to solving these problems further and Bachelor in Paradise,
how much did you hear the word Paradise be thrown
(18:13):
around at Women Tell All amongst the girls, amongst the producers,
because a lot of the times we feel like Women
Tell All is kind of an audition tape for your
spot in Paradise. Yeah, I you know, heard it here
and there, but I think I don't know, I don't
really know I answered that question. I'm gonna be honest. Yeah,
(18:41):
Paradise turn around a lot. I don't know if some
of those the women's intentions were to you know, get
a spot on Paradise or not. I didn't really put
that much thought into it. But for the most part,
the drama that did happen on the show, there was
never a resolution to it, and so I think a
(19:01):
lot of the women, regardless of Paradise or not, they
went into it wanting to get that resolution. And we
may not have seen a resolution really, but I think,
you know, that's something that they can work towards in
para on Paradise or a camera was. We're all friends
and really close, so you know, Jess, I have to
pause here for a second, because we do. We do
(19:23):
get to interview a lot of people coming off the show,
and everybody's great when you get to meet him, you
seem to have a very level head on your shoulders,
which oftentimes from a viewer's point of view, goes, she's
too good for this show or she's too good for
this experience. And right now, as you're answering these questions
and talking through, you know, situations that you weren't involved in,
(19:47):
and you're doing it in a really graceful and kind way,
which makes me go, yeah, she is. She's probably too
good for this show. But the show needs people like
jes to come onto it because they are great people
to have be ambassadors for the show. So if Paradise
came to you and said, hey, Jess, this might not
(20:08):
be your cup of tea, this might make you feel weird.
It's going to be a whole new environment, but we
want you to try Paradise right now, what would you say? Yes?
So I knew going into this. I think one of
my biggest fears when I was going said yes to
the Bachelor and was, you know, running towards it, was
are these women going to be nice to me? Like?
(20:30):
Can I handle that? And you know, thankfully we got
a season that everyone for the most part was kind
and respectful, to each other. And I am someone that
if the opportunity is given to me, that means I'm
ready for it. And I would definitely do Paradise if
there is someone that I was interested in. I'm a
(20:51):
hopeless romantic and you know I'm looking for love and
I'm looking for that opportunity. Yes, I'm not someone that
brings drama to the able, but that doesn't mean you
can't you're not qualified or good enough to find love. Um.
You know, there are so many great personalities that and
you know everyone brings something different to the table. And
(21:12):
you know, whereas I might not be the loudest in
the room, that doesn't mean I'm not a good friend,
and that doesn't mean I'm not a good partner, and
that doesn't mean that I'm not capable of being just
as deserving to be there. So I don't think anyone
is too good for the show because I think that
takes away from the other women. I think it's more
so that it's just a different personality if Jess isn't
(21:36):
on Paradise. Actually I'm right, I know I'm not happy
if I don't get to watch Jess, and I have
a fireside of me like you guys saw that with Zach,
like when I when I was crying and I like
kind of a little laugh in there like that, Like
my best guy friends texted me and was like, that's
the laugh that I know you're about to like go
(21:57):
off and you're like holding it Like I like, I
have that side to me, like a very passionate and
fiery side. I just I'm not going to bring it
out if it's not organic, and there was never a
moment like I'm not going to force him. I want
to watch the screen and be like I recognize that person.
I don't want to be like confused. So well, that's
a perfect segue then into your hot seat, you know,
(22:19):
to get us started on the hot seat, Jess, give
us perspective. You look back now and your time with
Zach and your time on the show, and you're fresh
off of the woman, Tell all, what did you feel
for Zach? What did you think was there now with
hindsight now maybe different during the experience, but now with hindsight,
what did you feel towards him, like when I saw
(22:42):
him walk out or just looking back on your time
on the show, was it was it as real as
you thought it was? Yeah, so you know, I really
did have I like word it a lot on the show,
but it was the way I described my feelings for
Zach was I had a really big crush on him,
and that's pretty much as far as we took it,
(23:06):
and watching it, you know, I felt very validated in
what I was feeling, because I mean I was seeing
myself fall for him, and um, that's what I felt
and that's what I remembered. So it definitely was like
a refresher. I think there was a part where, like
in the Bahamas, he said like just be strong and
like hold out like pretty much just not verbatim, but
(23:29):
it's kind of what he meant, and like it just
was like validating to know, like, yeah, what I felt
was real and it was reciprocated. And you know, although
the exit wasn't it did it felt very one sided,
like looking back, like I wasn't alone in the relationship
that we had, so watching it it definitely brought those
emotions of like validation but also just like oh that sucks,
(23:51):
like didn't work out, but like I think he's great
and I'm there was never any hard feelings and you know,
I wished him the best, but it was definitely hard
to watch it and be like, yeah, like I did
feel that, and you know it was real. There had
to have been a little hard feelings after you left
(24:12):
so abruptly after this argument, where like you guys just
didn't see eyed eye at all. And as an audience,
and I think you feel the audience response, we were
all like, Zack, how can you not see why she's upset?
It's very obvious. And as somebody who was on the show,
Ben and I talked about this, you know during that
(24:33):
episode that you left, where like, it really does take
a one on one for you to feel comfortable in
opening up, because if you start a serious conversation like
with ten fifteen minutes of one on one time on
a group date, it just doesn't feel appropriate. So was
there more to the conversation that we didn't see on TV? Yeah,
(24:55):
the conversation, so it kind of thundered around my nerves
with him and me not being comfortable, and that was
why my argument was I just needed time And I
addressed this literally night one, sitting with him on the
steps in front of the mansions, I was like, I
get nervous around men that I like, I it's something
I'm I'm not like I learned to love about myself,
(25:16):
and I'm like, I can't help it, but this is
who I am, and you know I can say and
i'm this is how I am. And he thought it
was cute, and I like he was just like, that's
so endearing. And so I never felt like there was
a reason to worry about it and like change who
I was because I thought he accepted it and it
was okay. And you know, all the women like we
(25:37):
get close, they knew about it and they comforted me
about it and they were like, that's what makes you
just like you have nothing to worry about. So I
was like, oh, okay. And then going into estonia, I
was like, something is off, Like I don't like he's
given me all this reassurance, but there's no actions following
the words that he's giving me, So like what what
could be the reason? And the back of my mind
(25:57):
it was like, is it my nerves? Is it? Might
like is is he seeing that as a red flag?
But also he's never told me, he's never mentioned that
as a red flag to me before, so that would
be very dishonest of him if that if he were
to bring that up now. So that's why I was confused,
and I think that's why the conversation, like we were
(26:17):
butting heads because I was like, if this was a problem, why,
Like I'm confused, Like that's you know, you thought that
that was endearing and you liked that about me up
until this point, And like if if he had told
me that sooner, what could have happened? And if you
knew that I'm nervous and I, you know, take a second,
why wouldn't you give me that time for me to
(26:39):
get comfortable. So it just was like, I'm confused. There's
a solution to this here. I don't understand. What's the confusion.
So yeah, but when you looked back, or even when
you're not looking back, even when you're sitting in the
back of like the dump vehicle, did you wonder if
I didn't bring that up tonight, would I still be Oh?
(27:01):
Of course I wonder that. Because so in the moment
when I got sent home, like in reality, not watching
it back when I came home, I was so confused,
Like explaining it to my family, I was like, I
don't I don't understand. And when I watched it back,
I was like, I think My biggest takeaway was he
was that upset, like there was no emotion when I
(27:22):
was talking to him. I thought I was in the
wrong for a while until the show aired and I
saw his reaction and I got to actually watch like
how he was speaking to me, in his facial expressions,
I was like, maybe I wasn't in the wrong. And
so it took me a while to kind of process
the situation because when you don't watch it back and
(27:45):
you're relying on your memory in a situation where you
were already anxious and nervous and feeling all these things,
you don't really remember clearly, and so on the hot
seat when I was watching it, and I that's why
I was like more smiling than crying, because I was like,
I was just proud of myself because I didn't remember
half of that, and you should be proud of yourself.
(28:06):
Your hand, you handle yourself so nicely. That scene. I
saw a meme last night. It was awesome. Maybe last
it said it had a picture of you standing there
(28:27):
talking to Zach and I said, how I can't I
forget the start of it, But pretty much the point was,
how in the world would this girl expect to get
a date on a dating show, like, like, why in
the world would she think that a date was should
be given to her on a dating show. I thought
it was so good, Like, yes, of course you wanted
(28:48):
a date. You know. It brings up the point we've
said it all season, and I know you listened to
our podcast every week, so you've probably heard it. But
you know, he said, I don't think Zach's a bad dude.
I don't think he's a bad bachelor. I think he's
there for the right reasons, and I think he really
wants to find love. I think the only critique, which
(29:10):
is again very minimal compared to most seasons that we watch,
we critique pretty heavily, is that it felt like he
just wasn't hearing some of the messages and words that
the women were communicating. And maybe their response, and I
want you to respond to this, Jess, would be that
he already knew that he was going to send these
(29:30):
people home before they voice their concerns, like maybe before
it even went into it and they voice their insecurities,
he just had bad luck, and as soon as they
opened their hearts up to him, he had already decided
they were going home. And so it just played out
terribly on television for him, or he really was not
hearing what you were saying. And you know when you
(29:51):
watched when we watch your moment back, what I was
hearing was this girl just wants to spend more time
with you. She really likes you, she's interested in you,
she just wants to get to know you better. And
she's like almost complimenting you by saying, I just I
just want to be around you more, which is a
great compliment. So Jess, knowing the concern or the critique
(30:12):
that people are giving Zach, knowing that you're in that situation,
one of the examples of that, what would you say?
You know? Honestly, I think it's a bit of both.
I think he you know, he has a good head
on his shoulders, so I think he has an idea
if this is his person or not, so regardless of
(30:32):
the conversation, if he's if he knows in his heart,
he's going to make that decision. However, I think there's
a factor in it of you know, he could he
could have worked on how he listens and how he
approaches conversations. You can still send someone home, but do
it in a you know, a caring and compassionate way.
(30:55):
But also it's hard to judge him when in his position,
Like how do you do that when someone is so
invested in you? Like, it's just it's a hard position
to be in. But um, you know, I obviously I'm
watching the show and I see how he handles some
conversations and he could have he could have easily done
it way better. And I'm sure he's watching it and
(31:15):
thinking the same thing. But you know, I think because
he has that good head on his shoulders, he knows, Okay,
I don't like this, like or not. I don't like
but this girl might not be my wife, my fiance,
so I'm going to send her home. This is awkward
that she's kind of venting to me about her life,
but kind of gotta do it. So Yeah, sometimes in
(31:39):
those conversations, I feel like he's lacking sensitivity. Do you agree? Um? Yes,
I mean I'm speaking on my position. I think, you know,
he even brought that up at Woman's till all that
he wasn't understanding my point, and I think it could
have been such an easy solution. There was a point
(32:01):
where I was like, I hear you, I hear what
you're saying, Like, can you hear what I'm saying? And
all he had to do was like, maybe I wasn't
articulating what I was saying. The best way I could
have stopped saying one on one probably yeah, But I mean,
you know, he could have also been like, well, what
do you mean by that? Let's figure it out, let's
come to an understanding. And he wasn't. He kind of
(32:23):
just in his head figured out or kind of came
up with an idea of what I'm trying to say
and then stuck with it instead of trying to dig
deeper into understand So, speaking for myself, I think he
could have been more sensitive, and I feel like his
apology kind of sounds like he would agree to that
as well. Let's jump in to the other couple of
(32:45):
hot seats that existed. Some of them celebratory charity, right,
some of them a little tougher like Greer. You know,
greer situation is interesting to me Ashley as a more
of a curiosity. I don't think there's anything wrong obviously
(33:07):
with Greer approaching um something that she did on social media.
You know, she defended a black face post that was
really you know, probably why she was in the hot seat.
It was most It was most of the conversation. I'm
intrigued at how this happened though for her and not
(33:27):
happening with Eric from last season, who was Gabby's choice
at the end. Well, I think it's obvious what happened here.
I think they got a lot of flack for not
addressing it with Eric when I was watching the scene
with Greer and having wondering, like trying to rack my
brain on whether or not they brought it up at all. Yeah.
(33:50):
So I can't say that they did it or not,
but I know that if they even did, it was
a small little blip on the radar. Yeah. Um, so
I think that that's why Jesse said, like, we're not
really good to address things like this on the show,
so we want to really make a point to do
so right now. Okay, So you think it was a
response like learning from mistakes previously, it was a response
(34:10):
to get better this time. That's fair, that's great. I
appreciate that insight. So, Jesse, you were in the room.
You you know Greer a lot better than we do
because we've never met her. What's your take on the situation? Um,
what's your take on the response from the other women
and from maybe even grew personally if you're able to
(34:30):
be around her. Yeah, So, I mean, that's a very
tough conversation to have, and it's even tougher for someone
to grow from it and be able to speak on it.
So I'm like, I've props to her for being able to,
you know, admit to her wrongs and speak on that.
And I think a lot of the women, you know,
(34:52):
we're really proud because, um, you know, I know that
she when it happened, when it came out, she wanted
to address it, and I think she made like an
Instagram story or something about it, which you know, she
did that on her own. And I respect that a
lot because I think a lot of times in this
franchise and just in general, people don't like to admit
(35:15):
when they're in the wrong and don't want to have
those uncomfortable conversations that bring a lot of controversy. And
for her to kind of want to write her wrongs
is very highly respectful and it was the right thing
to do. I'm really glad she got to address it.
I'm really glad that this franchise address that they're not
(35:38):
good at addressing this, and I think that speaks volume.
And I'm hoping that we can continue going towards that
direction of correcting each other and holding accountability for us.
But I thought Career, you know, spoke her truth and
did her best, and she is a great person at heart,
and you know, I know that that took a toll
(36:01):
on her, and um, so I I respect her for
being able to go up there because that's that's nerve racking,
and everything she was saying was coming from the heart
to what I to my understanding. So it's very well, Um,
that's really well put and just you know, a genuine response.
(36:22):
And and I'm glad that you and Ashley both pointed
out that the show acknowledged that they aren't good at
this and that they wanted to approach it. And so
I think with that, I say, well well done. Well
Kat sat in the hot seat, not a lot there
to discuss in depth. It felt like it was kind
of just a cyclical conversation um that had existed already
(36:43):
on the show, and there wasn't you know. The beauty
of that is that Kat now has a better relationship
with her mom, which is huge. So let's jump into charity.
Charity obviously a fan favorite, somebody just recently gone home,
somebody that's still close to the viewer's heart, somebody to
also celebrate. Jess, tell us about charity. What do you
(37:04):
know and see in charity? Charity is just a ball
at sunshine. She truly like what is so great about
her is she is just as kind and generous as
you see on the show as she is in person.
I remember in London, you know, she was going through
her own issues and she still took the time to
comfort career and I feel like that says a lot
(37:25):
about someone to take away you're what you're going through
to be there for someone, And I just like that's
in her nature. It's what she does her job, and
it's what she does with her friendships. And I respect her.
I think her being the boucherette is a phenomenal choice.
I sent over a devotional book for her to take
(37:47):
on her journey. She is a woman of faith and I,
you know, I'm excited for her. I she is so
deserving of love. And you know, it was heartbreaking to
watch her hometown episode. Me and my mom are both
going on the couch. Her family is so beautiful, and
you could just tell, like with the community that she
surrounds herself with, that she just is a very good person.
(38:11):
And you know, we need I mean, we've always had
good people as leads, but you know it's good to
continue to have someone that can speak so well, can
treat people so well. And you know, I think she's
learned a lot from this season with you know, how
Zach approached things, and I think she's going to be
able to take that and be in a phenomenal bat shot.
(38:34):
We've had mostly good leads, mostly nice leads. Season twenty
had some issues, but for the most part, we've had
some incredible people. That's a self deprecate I can't wait.
I can't wait to watch her. I'm so pumped because
I do I think, you know, being somebody of faith,
being somebody there for the right reasons, learning from not
(38:55):
the multitude of mistakes that Zach made. I don't think
there's like a plethora of things that he did wrong.
Yet I'm worried about what's so excited for next week?
I don't know, but I think it's she's just gonna
be an incredible bachelorette and h I'm ecstatic. I didn't
expect it shockingly, like I did not know she would
(39:17):
be named the lead, But I'm really glad you did.
I think all for the Top girls really are almost
equal in their running, and I think I would have
been equally as excited for any of them that were
crowned Bachelorette. Just do you think that that Charity was
really genuinely surprised when she was in that dressing room
and they brought the camera and Jesse in oh one
(39:39):
hundred percent, So where I was sitting, it was Charity
Brooklyn and then me and Jesse kept repeating like we
have a surprise for it's going to change a woman's life,
and yeah, we were kind of like looking around at
each other. I're looking at Charity because I was like,
they would be crazy not to, you know, offer it
to her. So I was like, do you know what's
going are you bout bachelrette? And she was like, they
(40:00):
didn't tell me anything. I don't know what's going on.
And she was like she literally goes, no, no way.
She's like, there's no way, and I was like, oh okay.
So we had no idea. So we were kind of
like trying to figure out what was going on, Like
I think I came up with the idea of like
maybe someone's gonna get chosen from the audience and gets
to like hang out with Zach. Like like I was like,
what is this because we all left, and you know,
(40:22):
Charity left with us, so I like, I didn't think anything.
I went into Pressed right after, so I didn't see
that they took her to a different room or anything,
but we were all walking towards the exit together. So
I was like surprised too watching it back, and you
know that was her genuine, humble reaction to it, and
(40:42):
you know you could tell she was like thinking, they're
playing a game, you know, and so that was really
cool to watch and special. Okay, well we want to
talk more to you, but before we wrap up the
Women Tell All episode, got to talk about bloopers. The
bloopers were on points. There have been years and years
now of disappointing bloopers. These ones really lived up and
(41:06):
it wasn't just the blooper real At the end, Jesse
also showed about three scenes and including that like twerking
scene so good. It really showed a lot of personality
with the girls, and that's the kind of footage that
people asked to see and they really delivered and showing
them during women's at all And I really I always
(41:26):
say it way too often, but if only they peppered
some of those scenes throughout, I agrees, people would get
so much more attached to these characters, really feel like
they get to know them better. Like that scene where
Zach thought that it was mold m o led wine
was amazing. I was sorry, mold wine, but it's actually
(41:50):
really good. Yeah, I agree. I feel like a lot
of the episodes they did kind of like the the credits,
they would show like little bloopers and stuff, which I
thought was funny. But I agree, like, you know, showing
our personalities more so people can kind of like relate
to us and kind of you know, form a special
(42:13):
bond with you know, the contestants and want to continue watching. Um.
But those bloopers were hilarious in the twerking scene, like
you just see me like breaking out, and I like
ran scion because I was like I cannot be a
part of this, like I will not. So I was
watching them do that and I was dying laughing and
they all did really really good. I was like, you
(42:33):
guys look great. Yeah, I know. I started squeezing my
butt cheeks back and forth. I was like, can I
do this? And then there's a tortillas slaps. Yeah. I
was on a plane. I was just going back and
forth a little bit. Yeah. Yeah, I didn't do it
up but maybe later. And then there was a cute
like tortilla slapping thing. All of them are very good
demonstrations of what we actually do to pass the time
(42:55):
when we have no phones, no TVs and all of that.
Then the tarantula, we must talk about. This tarantula was
that in the Bahamas? No, that was in the mansion
and well, I wait, no, I think I'm wrong. There
was something wrong and there was some bug that was
in the mansion. They didn't play it, but like we
(43:16):
were like all freaking out, and I think Mercedes was
the one that went and grabbed it. Um and I
don't grab a tarantula, and you don't call it a bug.
It wasn't a tarantula. It was like it was like
a really I kept saying, it was like an oversized ant.
It was like a really big ant. I don't know,
you have the Beatles, the big Beatle. I forget what
the kind of beatle like the like the floor, the
(43:37):
palm beetles or something like that. They're they're massive, they're
all over. I'm not familiar with California insects, but whatever
that was, I'm thankful it's not in Porta because it
was so so ginormous. Like, oh, that's not fun. Yeah,
I don't think they showed that. It's Uh, the mansion
is amazing. Is an amazing place. It's beautiful. It's luxuria
(44:00):
is that also has doors open all day long with
lights on inside, so you can imagine what that looks
like by the end of the day. Jess. To close
up here, final question for you again. We're gonna be
bringing Jess back for an end depth episode to get
to learn all about Jess because I have a feeling
we're gonna be watching more of Jess in the coming years,
(44:20):
which we're pumped about. But before we get there, Jess,
if you know what happens at the end, just say it.
I can't talk about it because I know what happens.
If you don't know what happens at the end, what's
your theory on what happens? And I'm not giving up
this tradition what happens during Fantasy Suite Week. I do
know what happens perfect, don't talk about it all right.
(44:40):
We'll be back next time with Jess doing an in
depth episode. Until then, I've been been, I've been, Ashley
and Jess. Who have you been, I've been, Jess. Yes.
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