Sydney Sells Seashells by the Sea Shore

Sydney Lotuaco is back from the beach and here to break down the episode with Ben! We hear what she honestly thinks about Mike and if he’d make a good Bachelor.

She gets real about her kiss with Old Matt Donald and tells us exactly why she said Colton was a “bad kisser”. 

And we hear about the vibe on the beach when Kristian showed up. How did she handle being thrown into the middle of Bachelor world?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's been here with my co host this week, Sidney Latwaco. Uh.
Sidney and I wanted to dedicate this episode to September eleven,
UM and the memory of those who sacrifice their lives
and also UM served um before then on that day
and and for all of us since then. Some of

(00:20):
your listeners I know are currently in the military and
are so our veterans, and we just want to say
thank you. Yeah, I just want to take the moment
to pause and out of our busy days, even though
we're listening to this podcast, just to remember what happened
all those years ago, and remember where we are today
and honor those that have fallen. So we hope. Uh.

(00:41):
This podcast not only breaks down pattern and paradise, but
it also during afterwards and uh, in any moment that
you take a step back, sit down and thank those
who have given so much up for the life that
we get to live. So thank you, thank you. Let's
get started. This is the Benn and Ashley I Almost

(01:02):
Famous podcast with our radio. This week, like most weeks,
we're bringing you two very special episodes, and this week
we thought we'd do something different. We're gonna have Ashley.
As you heard on the first episode of Batchel in Paradise,
and they're gonna split up time and bringing guests from
each episode to help us co host, just so we

(01:23):
get a clear picture of what is actually going on
in the beach. On the beach, in the beach, whatever
you do on the beach. And this week, as you
heard the Giggles, my lovely, very likable and long standing
Batchel in Paradise contestant this season, Sydney is my co host. Hey,
Sydney Dinks Man, I'm excited to be here. Sydney, I

(01:46):
have no clue how to say your last name. Let's walkot.
You could say like Taco. That's usually my nickname. People
usually get around and just call me Taco. Yeah, is
it gonna be weird for this podcast? I call you Taco?
And we should start. I mean, we're talking about Bachelor
in Paradise. There was a lot of tacos to be
had there, so might as well started. Now. You don't

(02:07):
see okay, and on the Bachelor franchise, it feels like
you don't see people eating very often. In Paradise. It
feels like people are eating all the time. Is that
just something we seem to see or is it actually happening.
I feel like because on Paradise it's like kind of
a rolling footage, and in Bachelor it's like you go
on the day and then you go here and then
you take a break. Where Bachelor in Paradise you're kind

(02:29):
of just there all the time and you gotta eat
so um. Yeah, I think that's why you see us
eat a lot more. It's a little bit more relaxed,
I think in Paradise than in like Bachelor World. The
rumor is that the food in Paradise is really good.
It is very good, and then they make it for you,
which is nice to um, and you can kind of
order your own thing, and there's I guess, like a
secret menu that people we learned as um some old

(02:53):
cast mates came along, so you kind of like make
your own whatever you want and get creative towards the end.
I like the idea of this. Um that's it would
be dangerous for me. I'm a big chips and salsa
fame is fire. Paradise would be really bad for me. Hey,
if anybody's out there listening and going, who the heck
is Sydney, well you should know, but we should give

(03:15):
you a little update as well. She's from Virginia, recently
moved to Los Angeles, California. We'll talk about that. She's
known uh from Colton Underwood season of The Bachelor. Also,
she's been on Bachelor in Paradise. She hit it off
with Mike Johnson and then was interested in Matt Donald.
Matt Donald, though, chose Bree Barnes as we watched last night,

(03:35):
and Sydney unfortunately went home. Sydney, let's start here with
you personally. Yes, you live in Virginia and you've recently
moved to Los Angeles. What was the thought process? Um?
I actually figured that I wanted to move to l
A when I was on Bachelor, because I was living
in New York at the time, and I had been
there for like nine years, and I was sitting like

(03:56):
you just sit around and kind of think about your
life all day long, and I realized from not being
in like the rat race of New York and not
focusing on work, that I was actually unhappy there. And
it took me going on the show and kind of
being removed my life to realize that. And then I
was like, Okay, at least I know that when I
leave the show, no matter what happens, I need to change.
So l A was that changed for me? What are

(04:17):
you hoping you get out of l A? Like? What
are some of those things you you desire from the
West Coast? Um? I just wanted a new energy. I
was so over winter, and I think just naturally I'll
be happy or just one in sunshine. But I also
I want to keep dancing, I want to keep performing,
and I want to get more into that world in
the commercial part of things. So l A is the

(04:37):
place to do that. And I'm hoping that this will
be like the rocket ship into the rest of my career.
So yeah, good for you. Well, hey, how many people
do you know? We were talking before the podcast started.
You're hoping to meet some friends in Los Angeles. How
is the best way to be friend you in this world?
You know you can just DM me or in that

(04:58):
old work, I'm I look at my d m s
and I will respond. So yeah, let's be friend We
have the almost famous podcast has a lot of listeners
in the Los Angeles there, But feeling your dms are
going to blow up for multiple reasons. As long as
you're not private, then we can move forward. That was
the problem for before I was getting like date d
m s and I was like, well, unless I know

(05:19):
what you actually look like and you're not a predator,
I can't tell if you're private. So let's start there.
It's a good point publicize your step one has your
d ms just blown up during Paradise. It's always amazing
to me. You know, we go through the Bachelor, you're
there for either one week or I don't know, ten weeks,

(05:40):
but either way, you know, your social media following does increase.
But it feels like after Paradise it does it Does
it jump again or is it stay about the same.
I think it definitely took a jump when I because
I think you saw me a lot more in Paradise,
and you get to know people's personalities, and I think
people get to know you more and kind of feel
like they can easily talk to you like you know you. Um. Yeah,

(06:01):
so I definitely had a bump since Paradise, which they've
all been positive and great. So he doesn't hurt to
have nice messages, right, especially when you leave the show. Yeah,
I feel like there's only a few this season are
probably getting haden on, which brings me to some of
the main topics Before we break down this week's episode,
I want to talk to you about some of the
main things that have happened this season on Paradise and

(06:21):
get your perspective on it didn't. I have spoken to
Blake a few times um as a friend. A lot
of the stuff I just won't discuss, but one of
the shocking things that he told me was he and
you gotta feel for the guy in this moment he
told me, He's like, hey, everything did not go well,
Like I made some bad decisions. This is kind of
I'm summarizing what he told me. I made some bad

(06:43):
decisions with the Paradise, thinking like it was gonna be okay,
and it just wasn't like that. That was on me.
He's like, but the one thing I didn't expect and
the one thing that hurt the most was watching it
back and seeing how anti Blake everybody in Paradise was
because I thought they were my friends, Like I thought
I had friends, yeah on the beach. From your perspective,

(07:05):
did he have friends on the beach or did people
really just not like Blake. I think he definitely had
friends on the beach. I just think that as more
started to come out. People were like, oh, maybe this
guy is lying to us, And I think everyone just
kind of tread treaded lately with him. Um, I mean
I had, I mean, everyone knew deep down he was
a great guy, but he just kept making wrong choice

(07:27):
after wrong choice. So we were all kind of like, dude,
get your together, essentially. Um. So yeah, I mean I
was friends with him and I would hear him out,
but a lot of times he just made a lot
of bad choices and he I almost think that he
needed to have left Paradise to really figure out everything
he needed to, and he kind of just stuck around
I think, almost too long because it just kept getting worse. Um,

(07:49):
but you got a hand into him for at least, like,
you know, sticking it out and um, trying to fix it,
even though it didn't really work out in the end.
But I mean he had friends. I think it was
also hard because we were all friends with Kalin as well,
and she was giving us a big part of the
story that he wasn't giving us. So it was trying
us trying to figure out like who to listen do
and who's side to take. Essentially. Yeah, it's you know,

(08:11):
I think for Blake. I wonder if he would agree,
but I agree with you. It's like, all right, Blake,
he made a mistake. I don't think at your core
you're an intentionally bad human, Like you didn't go into
this to like hurt everybody in your weight. But then
it just did feel like this whole season of Paradise,
every decision he made was like the wrong, like there's
a right or wrong, Like he had a path in

(08:32):
front of you just seems like he just kept going
down the wrong path and then the wrong path, and
then they're wrong path, and it just he couldn't get
out of it. I think because he was just trying
to protect what he is image used to be in
like what he had before, where he needed to almost
start from like ground zero and build up, and said
he was like trying to get back to where he was,
like kept trying to climb, but get kept getting like

(08:52):
pushed off. So yeah, he just needed to rebuild, but
he was trying to like start from the middle. You
have a big storyline this season, said you was you
and Mike Johnson. You guys hit it off. You had
something now that ended a few weeks ago. My question
for you is it should or how would you feel
about Mike Johnson be the next Bachelor? I think he
I mean, I have so much respect for Mike and

(09:14):
we didn't get there obviously, but I think he would
make a wonderful bachelor. And I think that he would
be refreshing or refreshing bachelor. We haven't seen someone of
color yet. And not only is he that, but he
also is this like extreme light of a person. He's respectful,
he is fun, He has a smile of like the
best smile I've ever seen. I think he'd make a

(09:36):
great bachelor. What are like his best qualities? So we
didn't get to see a lot of them, and uh,
come off of the Bachelor. I was a Mike Johnson's
supporter for Bachelor, and then I said, hey, you know,
I haven't seen a lot of them in Paradise. I haven't.
I'm not invested into a story right now. So I
get why you know he could be a bachelor still,
But I don't know if he's the top choice. I

(09:57):
don't know Mike Johnson anymore. Sydney. You got to know
very well. What are some of his best qualities? He
has the biggest heart of I think anyone on that beach. Um,
he also has like he said this about me, but
he has extreme, like amazing core values and he is
like just a fun guy to be around. And he

(10:18):
wasn't there to like be on TV. He was there
to actually build a relationship and he represented that, I think,
and I found the most refreshing because I think the
problem with this season is a lot of us are
not a lot of us, but a lot of people
came onto the beach kind of with a plan for
themselves that didn't always pan out, where Mike was just
trying to be there for the experience of finding someone

(10:40):
for him to take outside of Paradise and be with.
So he was refreshing and that in that crazy beach.
I wonder, who do you think, Like, I wonder if
doing that kind of happening that mindset, which is what
you'd hope, would be the right mindset. Um I get.
I mean, you know, you come on this to try
to build relationship and find a relationship. I wonder if

(11:01):
that does better when you're the Bachelor or on the
Bachelor than it does in Paradise, because Paradise feels like
you need to be really assertive really on top of it.
It stresses me out because one week you're in love
and two days later somebody's walking down the stairs and
they take your love interest on a date. Like that.
Stuff doesn't sit well with me. And what do you

(11:22):
think do you think like maybe that mindset of hey,
I'm here to commit to search to find and then
if that doesn't work out, leave, do you think that
works out well in Paradise? I mean that was the
mindset I came into. Um. I think this is just
like depends on the person and what you are on
the show. For I wasn't there too um b S
and I wanted I was there to find a relationship

(11:45):
and I unfortunately didn't. I don't know. I think that
no matter what, you have to be aggressive in that
world too. And like obviously there's plus pluses to being
on the show and things come out of it. But
I think for me at least and for people like Mike,
I think that having an authentic experience is better than
trying to fabricate whatever um end goal you're trying to get.

(12:05):
But I mean, to each their own right, Like Paradise
is there's no roles and you can kind of do
whatever you want. Um, I guess choose how you're going
to operate and that very interesting environment. Speaking of to
each their own, then why didn't you and Mike work out?
I mean, you have like really good things to say
about him. Um, it felt like it was a good relationship. Um.

(12:28):
You know, one of my biggest complaints this season about Paradises,
I don't feel like I am able to see why
couples work and why couples don't work aside. Yeah, they've
been pushing aside. So I think everybody would be asking
if you if you think so highly of them, what happened? Um?
I think for whatever reason, Mike and I we connected
a lot, but we were on different pages as far

(12:48):
as where our relationship was. He was moving faster than
I was, and I wanted to. I kept pushing myself
to kind of meet him where he was at. Um,
because after he went on the day with Calin, he
kind of like be lined for me and like right
into like pursuing me. And it kind of was like
abrupt for me at first, because I was like, oh,
I thought you liked Kitlan, like you took her out.
I was a little confused, so I was kind of

(13:08):
just like playing catch up and um, I just couldn't
fully get there, and I out of respect for him,
and I know, like what he's looking for and what
he came here for. I was like, I don't want
to hold you back anymore, which is essentially why we
um kind of broke things off because he went to
the wedding with christ and Crystal and he had talked
to Angela and a couple of people that he was
interested in, and he had told me about it, and

(13:29):
I was like, well, it sounds like your heart's being
pulled in that direction. And he felt like he finally
was himself when he went to that wedding and was
able to get out of his head. And I was like,
I don't want to hold anyone back and I want
I don't want you to feel like you're not yourself
around me. So we kind of just like parted ways.
We had a conscious uncoupling, if you for other better terms. Yeah. Yeah,

(13:51):
it was like it was a kind breakup which mutual
doesn't always happened on Paradise, and especially doesn't always happen
as we get farther to the end, Hey, Sydney, I'm
gonna ask you a question, and then what we're gonna
do is We're gonna take a break to talk about
some of our great sponsors, and then when we come
back from the break, I'm gonna have you answer the
question so you get a little time to think about it. Sydney,

(14:13):
what was one or two or three or maybe eight
things that happened in Paradise that we haven't seen or
have not seen on the show that was exciting, intriguing, weird, different, funny, whatever,
Just some stories that the viewers didn't get to see.
Sydney will come back and answer that question in just

(14:33):
one second, but first, let's take a break. Sydney is
co hosting me. Well, let's go our taco. I feel
like I want to see your first and last name,
and uh, it's just gonna get really weird if I did.

(14:53):
I'm sorry. It's it's not good of me, It really isn't.
I just let me try, Let me try one time,
low twa. Yeah, there you go, taco. Um. Sidney was
once again one of the favorites in Paradise this year.

(15:15):
We saw her go home this week. We'll get to
talk about that in a second, but before we do,
I've asked Sydney, what are some stories from Paradise that
we didn't can see his viewers that we would have
liked the scene or that she would have liked been
shown Sydney. Do you have an answer? Yeah? I have
a few. Um One, everything that Mike and I talked about,
I feel like it would have been a refreshing um
part of Paradise where you actually saw, like, um, a

(15:37):
good relationship building and to human beings trying to connect
in this insane type of environment and actually being there
for the reasons I think Paradise is ultimately trying to
create UM. Also, there's just like funny moments throughout UM.
There is a moment where Nicole and I were teaching
JPJ how to dance, and we taught him like some

(15:58):
like hair flips and all kinds of wild moves. H
he is a one. He's like an alien honestly, but
he's pretty funny to watch dance. That was really really funny.
I mean, you saw a lot of moments of JPJ,
But there's millions more. Can you thank you for answer
that question? And I want to kind of fallow up
on that. Our listeners have been emailing us like crazy

(16:21):
and tweeting us, and then you know, Ashley and I
have talked about it a few times now. I met
JPJ once at the wedding. He was super nice. He
came up to me, he shook my hand, he said hello.
He made me feel welcome to a show that I
wasn't on. But we watch it back and it felt
like JPJ had like two weeks of breaking down, Like
it wasn't the JPJ that we knew and fell in

(16:41):
love with. What happened? Do you have any insight into
why all the things changed? This is what I didn't happened.
I think he fell in love with Tasha and didn't
know what to do with himself, and then I didn't
know how to express those emotions. I also think he
was being respectful to her because she's more of a
private person, and I think they had private moments together

(17:01):
where she didn't really want to have the whole beach
knowing about their relationship. So I think he was trying
to essentially keep them a secret or like keep them
to each other. And then he started seeing Derek kind
of come swoop in and on Tasia and start like
having um a relationship kind of build with her, and
I think he got overwhelmed and just kind of reacted
and we all saw how that ended up happening. Yeah,

(17:25):
you know, that's that's a good point. It's a good
lesson for all of us. Love makes us do some
crazy things. It truly does. And JPJ was legitimately you
believe in love with Taia. I think over heels sold out.
I think it was unexpected for him, and I think
he didn't know how to handle those emotions. And I
think he was there for fun and didn't expect anything

(17:47):
to come out of it and then fell head over
heels for Tasia. It's one of the best. You gave
us the best explanation for what happened. Then we've heard yet.
My thought is this, I wonder and I have no
clue Jpj's love story. You might, you know, I remember
if we go back. I don't know how many times
JPJ has been in love in his life, But if
you go back to like middle school, right, I don't
know if it changes from middle school to when you're thirty.

(18:09):
That first love, like when it hits you, it hits
you hard, and it makes you do weird things like
it does make you cry at unexpected moments, it makes
you text somebody thirty times a day. You call them
at every moment you get a chance to. You worry
about them every second. Like that first love, at least
for me, like shook me, shook me bad. I mean,
do you think that's what happened? Was it his first love?

(18:31):
I think so. I mean, you know, I remember talking
to him at the beginning and he had mentioned like
a girlfriend in college that he dated all through college.
It sounded like they might have been in love, but
not the way that he was in love with Titia. Um, yeah,
so I think it. I think it's exactly what you
just described. He kind of just lost control and couldn't
control his emotions and how he was reacting. And I

(18:51):
think that's because he was. He was in love. Love
does like love is as a really powerful deal, isn't
that Where we watched the show, We've asked it a
few times, like do you watch it for the drama
or do you do watch it for the love? And
last week we asked that question to our listeners and
they mostly came back with the drama, which is a
little bit unfortunate. But I do think the love is

(19:13):
the thing that keeps us watching, right that happy ending
after going through all the ups and downs that you
do watching these seasons. So yeah, I think that that's
the end goal of everything, and we're all rooting for
love beautiful look at us, Hey, um Sydney. We're going
to dive into the show now and what happened in

(19:33):
this week's episode, and it just happens to be that.
I think the very first thing we should talk about
is what's led up to this moment in this week,
and that's your relationship with Matt Donald. Um. Hey, Matt
has been really great to me. He messaged me on
Instagram and said he's a listener to the podcast and
he appreciates the nice thing said. And I think Matt

(19:54):
Donald seems like the type of guy that you would
love to take home to your parents, to your grandpa, arnts,
that you love to take to any situation, and he's
going to be great in it. Um. I think I
talked about last week. I think the whole like bring
up mom thing was a little bit much. I love
my mom. He really loved his mom, Like Sidney, you know,

(20:17):
break it down a little bit for us. Leading up
to this moment. Matt obviously had two wonderful women that
were both interested in him. He was doing this while
sabotaging himself by talking to about his mom and every
romantic sense, what told you to this guy? What made
you like him so much? And then I also want
you to like pick out him a little bit. He's fine,

(20:37):
he's heard me doing He still thank me for saying
he's a nice guy, because he is. I think he's
a great guy. But he's a good sport. He's a
good sport about this. But why did he talk about
his mom? Here's my thing with Matt. Yeah, Matt Donald,
he I think when he's a fan of the show. Um,
he came into it as a super fan of pantiler Nation,
so that kind of sunden behind. And he had only

(21:01):
been on Hannah's season for one night and he got
sent home. So he came into the end of Paradise.
All of us had been there a while, Plus all
of us had been on the show before. We were
used to the camera, as we were used to being
around each other. We're used to just kind of like
letting it all hang out, especially at that point, and
he was just so concerned about every little detail that
was going to come out of his mouth or how

(21:21):
he's going to be portrayed, and he kept being afraid
he was going to be the villain, and I was like, Babe,
there's no way that you as a person could ever
be the villain. I like, you just need to calm
down and be yourself. But he couldn't do it. So
I felt almost like I felt connected to him because
I just felt really like felt for him, and I
wanted him to have this experience because I I felt

(21:44):
similar to him when I went on Batchelor. I was
just like concerned for how I'd be portrayed and like
being afraid of saying the wrong things. But I learned
really quickly that no, as long as you're not like
a bad person, essentially you're going to be fine. And um,
he couldn't get past that, and then he was just
I guess his mom must give a crazy speech before
hes because he would not stop bringing up his mom.

(22:05):
I was like, Okay, I can't really get um in
an intimate place with you if you keep talking about
your mom, so let's like try to move on. But nope,
it is funny. I mean, I get it. I talked
about last week, you know it was brought up. Hey,
he'd only been there a night before. He wasn't comfortable yet.
I get the idea of I remember the first time
I watched it with my whole family, my grandparents and

(22:27):
uh and everything, and my grandma was watching me make
out on TV. Like it isn't it's not something I
desire or necessarily want. But if you're gonna go on
the show, you got to get over it quickly exactly
like you're there, you signed up for it. You and
he knew what the show was. He watched it every
week with his mom, So I just don't understand why
you struggled so much. But yeah, I mean, he's a sweet,

(22:50):
simple soul Matt Donald. Was he endearing like, I mean,
obviously you and Bree both found him at some level,
like you're attracted to him, You're to him. Was in
like was his worries and fears and daring um. At
first it was endearing, but towards like a few days,
you're like, Okay, come on, dude, like we only have

(23:12):
so much time here, like don't waste it, Like let's
make the most of it. And I think he started
to get there towards the end, and and then he
got again in his head when he realized he was
now in a love triangle and didn't was so concerned
with like how our feelings, which was like very sweet,
but I was like, dude, we also signed up for that,
like knowing that we're all dating multiple people, like we're

(23:33):
gonna be okay. Like he almost felt like he was
blake in this situation where he was doing all the
stage coach things but actually didn't do much besides like
kiss each of us after we had to basically do
it ourselves. So, oh man, if there's one, I mean,
this is almost humorous. And Matt, I hope you listen
to this episode because you have a guy, let's say,
like Dean, and Dean is one of my best friends

(23:54):
I loved and he's a good dude. But we know
Dean right, He's a little bit confused, he's a hard time,
but he's like super like he is super charming. He
is very honest. So Dean does not like really lie.
He knows like what he wants. He says it even
if it's like the worst possible thing to say in
the moment. And him and a love Dean in the
love triangle, I don't know if he can handle it,
Like he's not made for it. I don't know if

(24:14):
anybody is. But he like navigates it, and it's like
it gets messy because he navigates it so well and
he like can bring everybody along with him. But Matt
Donald in a love triangle is like literally like humorous,
like he's sunny. Yeah, it's like he's done, Like he's overwhelmed. Yeah,

(24:36):
he would be drowning. I know there'd be points where
like I was sitting besides him and then Bree was
on the other side, and he would just sit there
like twiddling his thumbs. He couldn't even talk. It was
it was rough. Well, okay, rough, We're gonna bring it
in here Matt Donald talks about his mom. Uh, you
are pushing him to try to get physical in some

(24:57):
type of way, even with a kiss. It a funny
kind of like pulled out scene, and all of a sudden,
the kiss happens and it flashes back to a moment
we're earlier this season, you mentioned that Colton Underwood was
a bad kisser, and it was agreed upon by I
don't know one or two other people there on the beach,
and it became a storyline, a headline. Um afterwards. All right,

(25:20):
First off, who's a better kisser, Matt Donald or Colton?
I will just say that there was more behind Matt
Donald's kisses than there were Colton's. What do you mean
by this? I think everybody owes a little bit more explanation. Yeah,
not to like kiss and tell, but to kiss and tell. Um.
I just think Coleton one, he was a virgin, which

(25:41):
is like we were all fine with that. I just
don't think there was a lot of passion behind the
kisses he was giving us, which too, like, I mean,
he didn't like us, so that could have been why
those kisses were not that passionate. Um, they weren't messy,
so they were clean cuts, not really passionate kisses. So
that could have been a lot of different elements. Um. Yeah,

(26:04):
for you ever like going home, because I remember during
might come as a bachelor, there was you know, you
do start to develop stronger feelings for others pretty soon,
pretty early on, you start to kind of know who
you're into it here or not. But then again there's
always surprises and you try to stay open to it.
But it is hard. It is really hard to be
at a cocktail party and you're kissing somebody and you're

(26:24):
enjoying it, and then somebody else comes around you start
kissing them and it's like not as good, and then
somebody else comes around the corner. I mean, it could
be like five people in one night, like Lazy Towards
the end of the name, sure, you get tired tongue anymore,
it's so much. And then like as the nights go on, Sydney,
I don't know if you can relate. I don't want

(26:45):
to mention any names, but there's like a couple of
girls that would eat like the snacks and so like
they'd have like the little hot dog rolls, and then
at the end of the night, like after four hours
of champagne and hot dog rolls, their breath is not awesome,
Like it is not fantastic. Mind is it probably either?
But then we're still kissing because it's the time that
we have. It's all we've using it wisely. Um, I

(27:06):
will say Colton has very good breath, which was at
least nice. Yeah, I could see that. There's a lot
of things that go into it. I think ultimately, Golden
and I just were in a match and it came
across in our kisses. So yeah, not to harp on
him anymore, but it just wasn't for me. It's fine,
it was it was something that brought attention, that that

(27:28):
brought its own attention, and even Colton tweeted about it,
talked about it, Catty tweeted about talked about it. I
think they laughed it off. I mean, if I'm Cassie,
I'm looking back at it and going I'm glad he
wasn't a good kisser to you because it's better for me.
But it's still it comes with its own you know,
when you're the bachelor, comes with its own criticism. How
good of a kisser you are? Uh, definitely gets talked about. However,

(27:49):
I don't think it ever got brought up with me,
meaning I probably wasn't. So you're killing it and the
kisses kissing de firement. I don't think I was, Like
I think I was so bad. You were like, yeah,
we're not gonna talk about it, like, yeah, let's beat
the guy up. Anyways. Okay, so Matt Donald and you
have your kiss. Sparks are flying, at least you think so.
And then we get to the rows ceremony and you

(28:10):
go home. How do you know? Um, Yeah, that last
road ceremony was pretty crucial for me and Matt to
ever push anything any further for like forward. Um, I
remember when Chris came in and was like, okay, so
cocktail parties canceled, figure your out and let's let's do this,

(28:32):
and I just again shaw saw Matt immediately shut down
and just like almost like have an internal freak out.
And I was like, oh God, I don't think he
knows what he's gonna do. So I remember saying to him,
I was like, listen, like as we're walking out, and
I was like, whatever decision you make, like make sure
it's yours, don't worry about like what your mom's gonna think,
or like what everyone's gonna think, or like what you

(28:53):
should do. Just like make it based off of like
what you want. So I think because I said that,
maybe it was um it turned to me going home,
So maybe I shouldn't have said that, but uh yeah,
but I think he had it coming to him when
rebroken with him the next day. So so we'll close
out this storyline and then move on the next. If

(29:14):
you are around on the beach, do you go to
the Fantasy Suits with Matt? If I was I think
that's what's next, right, fantasy Yeah, so if he chooses
you have a breathe and you're there. Obviously right away
broke up with him and said, hey, I don't think
we're feeling each other. What do you do if you're
in her situation? Um? Actually, I don't know that I
would have gone to fantasy suits with him, just because

(29:37):
he was so torn and so unsure. And I never
want to feel like someone's unsure about me, and I
never want to feel like I'm putting myself into a
situation where I'm like trying to convince someone to share
feelings for me. So I probably at that point would
have gone home myself. Yeah, when stuff gets real, Yeah,
then all of a sudden, crazy stuff starts happening. Um.

(29:58):
I have one comment to make Breeze a savage like
that like week or that night or whatever. In this
episode with Luke going up and being like, yeah, this
isn't gonna work and then walking back and just standing
there coman the way she did it and then walk
back and stood there and confidely stared at him. I
was like, this girl has major confidence. And also like

(30:23):
and everybody's laughing, Like I mean I'm laughing at home
because it's so yeah, very uncomfortable. Laugh Was it that
uncomfortable in person? Oh, it's horrible, And like no one
really knew what Luke was going to do with his
rose anyways, and then it kind of it was kind
of random that he picked three. We're all kind of like,
are you kidding? Like, first of all, Bree was in

(30:44):
this weird love China with that, and then he was like, anyways, Brie,
you wanna you wanna get out of here? I don't know. Um. Yeah,
So it was very uncomfortable. I think Luke was just
kind of floundering around, and I guess he want wanted
the fault with the supermodel as well. I didn't turn
out for him either. Super I mean, hey, Bree is
a supermodel. I don't know what like her status is
as a model, but we will not use supermodol because

(31:06):
I've heard it so much. It's just stop yeah, okay,
um yeah. So then Bree goes to the beach and
again in the storyline with then she does the same
thing to Matt confidently asks him to go home Sydney.
There's a few moments during this show when you know
one of the major questions we always get asked by listeners,

(31:29):
uh and friends and fans, is is the show what
it looks like on TV? And my my response is
always yes, it's it's obviously cut down and it's it's condensed.
But for the most part, when I watch it back,
I at least when I'm on the season's I feel like,
you know, that's what happened. And when I've been there,
there's a few moments when you're a contestant, uh, that

(31:50):
you're sitting there and something is happening, similar to the
Bree breaking up with Luke thing, and you go, this
is what people pay big money to watch, and I
have a front row seat, and it's awkward and it's weird,
but I'm here. Is that how that felt? I mean,
it's just like pure entertainment at its finest. Plus you're

(32:11):
just like exhausted and just been there forever, so you
you're just looking for things to entertain you. And I
mean that was, even though really sad to watch, it
was pretty entertaining. You see a lot of them a
couple that is not breaking up. And I want to
move on to next is the Demi and Christian storyline,
So give a little background information. Uh, we're doing all

(32:33):
these little summaries because the episodes are winding down. Uh,
Demmi had a relationship with Derek, mentions that she's in
love with somebody um back home. Christian comes to the
beach and romance flies. But they have their own issues
and their own things to work through, just like any
couple does. And on this episode we really start to
see all of it kind of coming to an head,

(32:54):
like these really tough conversations are getting done. After seeing
them on the Beach Sydney, you know, I definitely understand
where Dimmi's coming from. I I can't relate because I
have never had the confidence, um or the courage to
do what she's done. But but I am not interested
in the same sex, so I can't relate with what
she did, But I can imagine a little bit. I

(33:17):
think we all can of how difficult it would be
to come out, especially on nationally TV. So there is
some worries on Demmy's part about p d A and
of what people are gonna think and how people are
gonna feel. What's your perspective on the whole thing after
watching them on the Beach Date for so long? Yeah,
I mean, I think the thing with Demi and Christian

(33:38):
is like, ultimately the show is about finding love and
trying to be your most authentic self while you do that.
And I think with Demi finally deciding and realizing that
Christian was that person for her, that she was being
true to herself finally, and she was there to make
that connection happen and to really see it like through.
And I think Paradise is a perfect place to do that.

(33:59):
You have so much time time on your hands. You're
not worrying about work, your phone, emails, anything, You're just
sitting there and you're literally working on your relationship. So
even though it's this huge platform and it's like a
difficult and very vulnerable thing to do, it's almost like
one of the best places its places to do it
because that's what your main focus is and you can
really hash things out. So then by the time you
get into the real world where they're all these eyes

(34:20):
on you, you can kind of just be confident within
each other and just go forth and like hopefully have
a successful relationship together. I also found it just refreshing.
I think, Yeah, I mean, coming into this the beach,
did you realize how much time you're gonna have to
actually explore relationships. We see something that we never hurt
here in the real world, which is it's awkward sometimes

(34:41):
to hear, but it's a statement. We had a really
great conversation. I think it happened this week. Somebody said,
we had a really great conversation. Now I didn't know
if I'm going to propose to or not. It's like, wow,
like great conversation. But there's obviously these great conversations going
on for weeks and weeks and weeks, and you do
when you're here during this week of Paradise, you do

(35:03):
feel like you know these relationships well. And Christian and
Demi are starting to get to know each other really well.
Probably yeah, I think you're getting to the meet of
your relationships. It's not like out in the world you
kind of do this like dating dance, where you're you
do the whole show and tell and you take them
on these fancy days and you like try to be
your best self. Where Paradise you're kind of like your
true self and that you have no option but to
just like see if that works for you, if that

(35:25):
person as themselves is what you want in your life.
And it kind of just like takes away all the
fluff and you help. It helps you to figure out
like if this truly if this person is truly for you,
and if it's going to work outside of this the
there's an interesting parallel um between Matt Donald and Christian.
And so Matt Donald had been on the show for
one night and then he shows up to Paradise and

(35:47):
it's all new to him, right, He's like, holy cow,
I don't know this how this works. I don't know
how to date. And then you have Christian, who has
never been on the show before, who fell in love
with somebody on the show. And I think I would say,
is kind enough who loves Demmy enough to say I'll
go to the beach for you, like I'll do this
because of our relationship and what what it will mean

(36:08):
to you to be here without any experience. And she
dives right in like she's the one kind of coaching
Demi how to be intimate. She's coaching Demi how to
express feelings. She's also you know, she's so dove in
that Demmi is even like you're flirting with everybody, Like
if you're too nice to everybody, did you feel that

(36:28):
on the beach, there was there ever awkwardness with Christian
or she just a total like player, Like not players
the worst word to use their like did she just
totally dive in and and soaking in. No, she was
simply there to be with Demi, and I think we
all kind of needed her energy on the beach, especially
at the end of things. She is the chilliest person ever,

(36:51):
and I think we all saw how she is able
to ground Demi, where Demi is like this huge character
and she's awesome and funny and hilarious, but like she
brings Demi down to earth in the best way. And
I think that we all love seeing that. And Christian
is just like so easy to talk to you. And
she was also this like nice piece of reality that
we were all missing after being there for a month,

(37:12):
So we all kind of welcomed her with like arms
wide open at that point. It's a storyline that I
can't wait to see continue to play out. It is, Hey,
I'm telling you, like this is game changing, like this
obviously like this, you know, we know watching this show,
there's moments, you know. Last year was some of the
religion talk and some of the God talk and then

(37:33):
you know, then it became Hannah's you know her the
sex talk this year, uh, this season, Like this is
a moment that's bigger than the show, Um and Christian
and Demmi, I feel like I have done. I'm watching
it as I'm a fan, like I'm watching this fan,
I have no clue. As a fan I'm watching I'm
going they've communicated and prepped themselves for what's going to

(37:55):
happen next, like once the show ends really well because
of the time spent to get me in Paradise. Yeah,
I think I agree. Yeah, I think that's what we
all knew. It's like this is bigger than all of us.
Even Derek said that that, like, not only are they
being true themselves in their relationship, but they're going to
be able to show a true, like girl on girl

(38:16):
relationship that not a lot of people have seen, especially
watching the show. And I think it's refreshing and I
think it's what like America and the world kind of
needs to see. And I think they're doing a beautiful
job of showing that and really working through their issues.
And I think that after Paradise, they are going to
have this strong unit that they can go out into
the world and just be this like light and be
able to like show what a true relationship is, no

(38:37):
matter like whether that's man, woman, woman, woman anything, they're
just like what we're all looking for. Ultimately, at the
end of the day, love is the answer. Sydney, we
have a couple really successful couples to talk about outside
of christian In Demi. Um. We're going to finish this
by saying, I'm just gonna mention and if you have
anything to add on these couples, please chime in, like

(38:59):
anything interesting that you think the listeners would love to hear. Um.
But after the rose ceremony, Lucas goes home. Never happened before.
We talked about it at the very beginning of Paradise.
What would happen if somebody turned down the rose? Like
what goes on then? And what we found out was
that the question that gets brought up, does anybody want
to be with this dude? Yeah? No, going home? So

(39:22):
Luke s is going home? Uh you? Hay and Hayley
both had the opportunity and rev All had the opportunity
to accept his rose and just stick around. But at
that point it's coming so close to me and you're
probably thinking there's no point, right, Yeah. No, if that
was what any of us wanted to have um grown
something with, we would have done it already. So at

(39:44):
that point and we're like why starting out, I don't know,
No one wants rose right, no, And it's like kind
of like, I wonder what happened if maybe you, for example,
I didn't nowhere raise your hand, like, yeah, I'll take it. Whatever.
Why what was about Lucas where he didn't just didn't connect?

(40:05):
Why were you into this guy? He is really great
he I think he's one of those to start. I
think he's one of those conspiracy theorist people, and he
kind of came into Paradise with like these ideas of
what it was and what like he's being portrayed as,
and like, I think he just needed to chill out
a little bit. I think he's a great guy, du down.

(40:26):
I just think he was I don't know, trying to
fabricate this experience, especially at the end. It was a
little tough for him too, because he couldn't start from
like zero, He was kind of starting from like way behind.
And yeah, he just didn't do great in Paradise. Yeah,
it wasn't his thing, even his like social media like
commentsing cap you know, just look, it's too much pull back,

(40:48):
like a lot for you. You're good. Yeah, exactly. So
Lucas goes home, Rev goes home. We don't see a
lot of her. Um, she tries it, she gives it
her best shot, but it's just not for her. One
of my favorite people who I do not get to
talk to anymore, but who was on the season of
The Bachelor with me is Haley Ferguson. Um, Haley, you know,

(41:14):
I felt like I tried hard to find relationship. It
didn't work out for her. She kind of bounced around,
not because she wanted to, just because it's kind of
the cards that she was dealt. And then ultimately she
goes home. Haley just didn't. There just wasn't anybody there
for her, Like the JPJ saying, seemed like it could work,
and then there just wasn't anybody else. I was proud

(41:34):
of her though, because that was the first time she's
ever done the show without her twin, So it was
like the first time her stepping out on like on
her own, and she gave it her all, and yeah,
she just kind of came in too late, I think,
but she gave it a good showing, Like I think
she she for doing it without her sister, who I think.
I do think that was a big deal for her.

(41:56):
I think she did really well. She was honest, she
was vulnerable, Um, she tried and she pursued people. So
I mean, at the end of the day, you say, Haley,
good job, like you give it your best exactly. I
think that's what Paradise you have to do. It's like,
if you're going to be there, be there and like
give it your all, talk to everyone, figure out what
you want, figure out like what works for you, and

(42:17):
if not, like you can at least leave knowing that
you did everything that you could. Don't go there and
just like get a cocktail and chill on the beach,
because it's like, why are you there? Yeah, don't want
don't waste your time, No waste other people's time. And
I don't think she did any of that. So you're
taking up space and and you definitely didn't take up space.
You had a great showing on Paradise. You were a
blast to watch, not only because of the way you

(42:40):
handled really difficult situations, but because of your grace and
your interests and your curiosity and the way you coached
a lot of people through some really difficult things happening. Uh, Sydney,
I give you an A plus your effort because that
feels like you you tried hard, you just did great
in Paradise. Feels like you're playground and I hope we

(43:00):
can see you there again. We'll still be single, but
we'll see. That's a good point. Yeah, I'll see if
I figured out. A couple other couples that stayed together
during the road cere Money but ended quickly after the
Chris Harrison comes in Um and talks about it being
the last week of Paradise or the Paradise is ending

(43:23):
in a sense, and he asked the couples to make
the decision if they're gonna stay or if they're gonna go.
Chase and Angela decided to break it off. JPJ and
Tasha surprisingly surprisingly break it off. Tasha is the one
that pushes for it. Were you shocked? Um? That was

(43:48):
what that one was going to go either way for me? Um,
I think that I've never like I said this on
the show, I've never seen her laugh like that. I've
never been seeing her so happy around someone as she
was around JPJ. So for me, as her friend, I
wanted her. I want her to be happy. But the
thing with this experience is that it's it's like a
summer romance, and then you kind of have to get
to the end of summer literally and you're like, Okay, now,

(44:09):
what what is this going to look like in the
real world? And I think she's been married before, she's
been burned before, she went to the end of Colton season,
and she wants to make sure that something that she
is going to take outside of this and bring home
to her family again is going to be the exact
right thing and I just think at that moment, it
just wasn't fully there for her. I want to have

(44:31):
a little side discussion. In every week Sydney, we ask
our listeners UM two questions to respond to on Twitter
or through email, and we try to read them all
and kind of get their perspective and learn kind of
where we're at and what they're thinking. Here's the conversation
this week. It hit me after watching a montage of
JPJ and Tatia during the episode UM. First off, I

(44:52):
thought the montage was a little confusing. I didn't know
we were that invested in their story, like I like
their story, but they were trying to pull a tear
out of my eye and I was, I mean, this
is great, but like, yeah, I'm not feeling it anyways.
It's interesting to me that with Paradise, you have this
whole time to get to know each other, and it
is it feels like a long time when you're there

(45:14):
from everything I hear, and you do get to invest
in your relationship, and then there's this time limit. There's
this decision point where you say, we have to define
our relationship and take a step in some way. We
can't drag this out, we can't just continue like it is.
We have to say we're into this for the long

(45:34):
term or we're gonna end it now. So before we
get into what it's like on Paradise, I want to
ask you and our listeners, what do you think it
would be like if we did that in the real
world when it came to dating, Like what if we
set a time limit on like date one, where we're like, Okay,
I don't know where this is gonna go this, I
don't even know your name yet, but in one month,

(45:55):
if we're still talking, we have to define the relationship
like that. You think that's a good idea. I think so.
I think the problem with dating these days it's just
so like murky, and no one really knows what's going on.
Like half the time you're you can talk to a
guy for months at a time and you barely even
know his last name. Like it's just like weird. It's
a weird time to be dating. And I think that

(46:18):
as much as we can get rid of all the
fluff and just be like, Okay, is this this is
what I want? Is this what you want? I think
it's great. I think that it's hard to do that
because that scares people away, and in this experience, you're
signing up to do that. So I mean, I would
find that refreshing. I'm just not sure how we would
implicate that, But let's let's sporkshop some ideas. Yeah, so

(46:38):
please email us at but actually I hurt media dot
com or uh talk to us on Twitter and hashtag
almost in his podcast here's something interesting, uh. A couple
of weeks ago, we started an experiment where we asked
people what makes love work Sydney. So myself and a
couple others started asking older couples, couples have been together
for a while, new couples, people that are seeing goal, Hey,

(47:00):
what do you think love works? And the main answer
was it's a choice, meaning, Hey, you fall for somebody,
you respect, somebody, you appreciate, somebody, you have all those
things that you say, I like the person you are.
But ultimately, after fifty years, twenty years, ten years, a month,
there is a moment where you start to wake up
next to that person, if you're married or if you're not,

(47:21):
whatever you choose to do, you start to look at
that person at some point in the day and you
have to say, I choose to love you. So the
idea in this that you have to make a choice,
a decision to move forward or to not to choose
that person or not. It feels like we're close to
being really healthy. And this is why I say this

(47:41):
all Sidney. As I watch this week's episode and all
of a sudden, Chris Harrison comes in, he says, hey,
it's over. You gotta make a choice. And my first
reaction was like, oh, that's so weird, Like this feels awkward,
Like why are we putting Like why all of a
sudden people need to figure out if they're gonna get
engaged or not, or move forward or not. And then
I started thinking about it, and I'm like, I actually
think it is healthy. I think just yeah, we all

(48:02):
were all there for that, and I mean it just
why waste anyone's time. I think you've had enough time
to figure out the core of everyone. You spend a
lot of time with them, and it's like, yeah, let's
not beat around the bush. We're leaving here. And because
the problem is it's hard out in the real world.
I would assume with these relationships that they're like fun
and great when you're in the bubble of Bachelor Nation,

(48:23):
but when you're out in the world, you're going to
deal with a lot of issues and like working on
a lot of different factors. So I think that it
helps solidify you if that's what you're gonna do, or
it helps to like let you not have to do
that once when if you make the decision to leave separately.
So I think it's it's good. One thing, you know,
I've I've had been in a relationship outside of the

(48:44):
show with somebody from the show before, you know, after
my season at Bachelor, and one of the things that
really feels good. It really is healthy, and I still
will seek This is when somebody looks across the table
from you and says, I choose you, Like when you're
on this show and they're saying I choose us you.
That feels good, right, it's comforting, but you don't know

(49:04):
what happened, Like when you get off the show. It
is a whole new beast. And I think there is
a make or break moments where you do know if
you're right for each other or not. I think if
you decide to continue to say I choose you, it
can work. But whenever the seed of doubt starts to
slip in, of oh is there other things out there?
Oh is there other opportunities out there? Oh, there's so

(49:25):
much attention on me. My Instagram is blowing up, like
people are calling me all this stuff. Then all of
a sudden, the boise starts to slip in and you
start to forget the choice that you made on the show.
And that's why I think it's so important in this moment,
this week of paradise, for these couples to sit down
and say I choose you, no matter what happens, because

(49:46):
this isn't gonna be easy exactly. I think that's why
the engagement is the goal at the end, because it's
like a literal representation that you're choosing someone and you.
It's a reminder of those choices that you make every
time you look down at your hand and you're like, oh,
I said those things and I agreed to this. And
I think the more that you can have that solid
like contract with each other, the better you are going forward. Sydney,

(50:11):
You're are preaching well today. Um hey, let's take a break, Sydney.
We have a couple of really successful couples to talk about.
I think we covered all the couples that ended up
deciding after the Rose ceremony to to split up. I
think we have Matt and Bree split up, Chase and
Angel obviously split up. We have JPJ and Tasia to

(50:32):
split up. But we still need to talk Dylan and Hannah,
claimed Nicole and Chris and Katie. But before we do that,
let's take one break. We'll come back soon. Okay, we've
talked about the breakups, We've talked about the awkwardness. We've

(50:55):
had a great time with Sydney. She's been terrifically one
round of applause, like three fortunate podcast because then he's
killing it today. She's been awesome for us. Uh city,
Let's have a little fun and talk about the love
that we're seeing on Paradise. We'll start with the one
couple that was the shakiest, I think, Chris and Katie.
Chris and Katie seemed to be struggling. Katie's had her
own moments of like, we haven't always been able to

(51:16):
read Katie this season, she's had moments where it's like,
are you drunk or are you confused? But she's always
been interested in Chris ever since their love kind of blossom. Yeah,
and she's been a great supporter to him. Can you
break down the relationship? Yeah, So I think the biggest
issue that those two are having is the fact that
Chris has been on like a bajillion seasons and he's

(51:38):
gone from being like the villain, the guy that gets
almost engaged or I don't even remember, but like all
he's gone through all the steps. Also, he was there
when the show originated, which I don't think. I think
it's when it was a little more savage. So like,
I think he's gone through the gamut with this show
and he has a little bit of trust issues, which
I think anyone would. So I think that he has
very strong feelings for Katie, but I think he's also

(52:01):
scared to show those feelings and fear that something's gonna
blow up in his face again. UM. And I think
Katie is just the type of person that's very considerate
and like cares very deeply, and it's like kind of
helping him through that. But I think in what's happening
is she's not getting a lot back from him right now,
and it's hard for them to kind of meet in

(52:22):
the middle. So they've made little steps forward. I think
they're just moving kind of slowly together. When you're on
the beach, how aware are you of these like where
each couple are at? UM. I feel like I was
very aware because I had a lot of time just
like hanging out on my own. I was like front
row seat watching all the love happened, which was like great.

(52:43):
I mean, it's like refreshing to see UM. So I
think I saw a lot of it, so I was
pretty aware of a lot of the things. I also
was like friendly with all the guys and all the girls,
so I talked to a lot of the people, so
I had kind of like a good idea of where
everyone was at, which is kind of why I think
I was like the narrator for most season. But yeah,
I Katie and Chris, I was like rooting for them,

(53:05):
but I think they were they had a lot of
conversations that they still needed to have, especially at this point.
The watching this week's episode, there is a lot of
the time where I was like telling, like wanting to
tell Chris just talk like you're you're you know what
you want to say, You're not saying it, and you're
like I almost felt like there was a moment where
when he was like dragging this breakup out or whatever

(53:27):
he was doing, she was going to be like, but
I love you and I want to be with you forever,
Like I feel like you never could get to have
place of like any clarity. And I gotta give Katie
credit because when we just talked a second ago about
sitting with about like choosing somebody, even through like their
their difficulties, even through their confusing moments, what Katie did
in that moment was one of the most compelling scenes

(53:49):
I've ever seen in this franchise because she said, Chris,
I know what you're doing, but I care about you
and I know you care about me. I know you're difficult,
like I know you have issues, but I want to
be with you through those. That was really cool. That
was like a real life conversation that we got to witness.
It was I think Katie made that choice back when

(54:10):
Chris decided to choose her, so she got her validation.
She was like, great, this is this is it for me.
I'm going to push this forward. And then Chris, I
think was on that same page, but he was doing
the thing where he was like, no, let me just
sabotage this maybe and like almost testing her in a way.
And I'm really happy that she kind of like dug
her feed in and really like got what she needed
out of him, even though it was like a terrible answer,

(54:31):
like she's hit, but she I think she was just
like going with her gut and knew the man he
was and knew like that deep down that they were
right for each other. She was just kind of like
giving him a little grace in that moment. Yeah, she
did a great job, and I mean she she can
tell she cares about him, and it's good to see
them moving forward. Together because I think they're one of

(54:53):
those couples that don't quite have it all figured out.
But it feels like it's moving in a good direction
and there's gonna be big like hurdles in their way
as they try to move forward. Yeah, I think they're
working through a lot of the things that they need
to work through, so them when they're outside of this,
they're going to be in a better place. I don't
know how you could have an argument with Katie, though
in her eyes, I would be done. I think that's

(55:19):
funny why he didn't make any sense. He was at
the ocean was a lot less intimidating. Um, we're kind
of go in order here. They had a lot to
figure out. Clay and the coal kind of have. It
feels like they're right on edge. Said, I really don't
know how to read their relationship, and I need your
help for it. They've they've been good, then they've kind

(55:43):
of gone back and forth, and now it feels like
they're good ish. Yeah. Good ish is a great way
to describe what's happening right now. Um. I think they
were like solid from the beginning, and I was very
much on their team. I'm always like friends I'm obviously
friends with the Coal, but I was good friends with
Clay too, and I just love them together. I was
like their child, I felt like, so I was rooting

(56:04):
for them. I think what happened was Clay gone in
his head once Angela walked down that beach and it
kind of just like blew everything up for him. I
think that was the last thing he expected to happen,
and he didn't really know how to deal with it,
and he was trying to like maneuver this weird, weird
world that he was just thrust into. And I think
that's why he's so in his head. It's hard for
someone just to like jump in head first when they

(56:26):
know they have all these like all this baggage that
they're carrying now literally right in front of them. So yeah,
a little made it the whole time, like they're one
of what because I can't remember Chris and Katie day
one couple, they're like, oh, they were like a week
or two in, I think, but they were pretty early. Um.
But Clay and Nicole, I think they were like that
was the first date that Clay had. It was like

(56:48):
the second day there, I feel like, and they were
pretty rock solid from there on out. Yeah, I feel
like they have been saw this. I want them to work. Um.
I like the way they treat each other. I know,
a're so cute and they're just like goofy and he's
like this huge teddy bear and she's just like sassy,
fiery latinas. I don't know, I like it together. It works.

(57:10):
I just I don't have as a fan right now.
I'm watching it and I feel like they're the one couple.
I'm like, I don't know, I just don't see it
right now. We'll see, we'll see rooting for him though, exactly. Okay, finally, Um,
the King and Queen of Paradise, the couple that's been

(57:31):
together since the beginning. You don't see a lot of
them anymore because I feel like they're just either in
the boom boom room as we saw once, or they're
eating Exactly, there's a whole day we were like, where
the heck are Hannah and Dylan. They were I'm pretty
sure they're in the boom romer all days. Good for that. Yeah, Um,

(57:53):
Hannah g and Dylan have found love in Paradise. We
saw it this week on the One on one. Um,
they're so happy. Uh, they're they It feels like there's
not a lot to see because they're just good, and
it feels like they need to get out of paradise
now to move the relationship forward. Tell us Sydney, from
your perspective, what that relationship has been like. It was

(58:16):
rough at the beginning. We saw that part, but as
you in the seat that you sat in, like, what
was it like to watch this? I mean from an
outsider's perspective, all of us are like, it's obviously Dylan.
He's in love with you. He's been patient with you
as you've been going from like a couple of different
guys and dealing with all of Blake's bus At the time,

(58:37):
we were all like, it is Dylan just picked Dylan,
but she was so torn, so it's hard for us
watching it. We're like, he's obviously the choice for you,
but I'm glad that she eventually got there. But we're
a lot of us were team Dylan as far as
him choosing or Channa choosing him. Yeah, and then once
she did, I mean, it was kind of game over, right.

(58:57):
Did you feel the switch? What kind of in Let's
get me It's the theme of the podcast, But when
she said, Okay, I know there's gonna be other people
coming down the stairs. Some of them might even be
intriguing at some level, but Dylan, I and I think
she might even said these words, I'm choosing you, like
this is what I'm investing into you. Could you tangibly
feel the switch? And I think that one Rose ceremony

(59:19):
when she didn't choose Blake and she chose Dylan was
when the switch happened. And that's all Dylan needed needed
to like literally run for the hills and go straight
to like basically wanting to marry her um. And I
think at some point in paradise you have to kind
of choose, Like you decide there's people coming in. You
know that's going to happen, but like you can't just
get distracted. You kind of have to work on whatever

(59:39):
relationship that you have if you want to get to
where they got in the end, where it was an
engaged or hopefully that they got where they're at right
now and hopefully get to an engagement. But yeah, it
was just that one switch that they needed and they
were kind of like set from there on out, and
none of us how to worry about them anymore. You
brought up something that I think is interesting, the boom

(01:00:00):
boom room. So you know, a lot of people have
different ideas and different feelings on sex and physical intimacy,
and then you know, you add in cameras and millions
of people watching, and it enhances those feelings a little
bit in some way. At what point, because I think
everybody goes in saying, you know, I have some you know,
type of things I want people to see a Nazi

(01:00:21):
and you know, et cetera, like some privacy. I know
from my own experience, at some point that all goes
out the window, like it flies fast away and you
forget everything and you just don't care. In paradise, when
does that happen? Um pretty quickly. In Paradise, you're there
all day long with each other and you kind of
just stopped caring. I mean you're there sweating with each other,

(01:00:41):
eating at each other, talking about left and right like
all kinds of nonsense. So you're just kind of like
whatever at this point, like I'm here, I signed up
for it. I'll deal with whatever I'm portrayed as afterwards,
and you kind of just learn to live in the moment.
I think, and I think, Yeah, that's why people aren't
afraid to go to the booming room. I mean, you're
in the you to the moment. Why I like, stop there?

(01:01:03):
I mean I can think of one reason. Your mom my, mom. Yeah,
I mean, can you imagine if Matt Donald somehow, some
way made the choice, like how his anxiety in waymental
rightdown for sure, which is probably why I wouldn't have gone,

(01:01:26):
so so sad would be it would be the worst, funniest,
worst seen ever. Thanks. And then we've talked about Demi
and Christian and their relationship flourishing and moving forward in
a really good direction. Heyson, you have one more second here.
We always like to read user emails when we get time,
and I have two or three I just want to
throw at you. Let's do it. So there's a question

(01:01:48):
now from Valerie who set up PROMP for JPJ, and
Tasha says, so JPJ set up promptasa. I know they're
in paradise and can't go to the store to purchase things.
If someone sets up something like that, do you get
a producer to help? Um? Yeah, I think it's like
an art department thing where you you come up with
your idea, you can talk to your producer and then

(01:02:09):
they can kind of get the ball rolling. I mean,
I would love to go to like party City and
pick up my own stuff to leave the beach, but
we're not allowed to, so you kind of have to
have people set it up for you, the exit process
from Lexi, So I'm sitting here watching Patch in Paradise,
Alexi says, I can find myself each week wondering who
the heck packs the bag for contestants When some of
these paradise unexpectedly, they are always seen getting straight into

(01:02:31):
the limo. So how do they get their bags? Pack
these drive circles around and then let the contestants come
back and pack. I wish. No, there's these sweet handlers
that are with us through the whole process too, kind
of like our little moms, and they pack your bags
for you know, you hope your stuff ends up in
those bags. Um. I can say from when I left
Colton season, I lost a lot of stuff. Yeah, I

(01:02:53):
was not planning on leaving, but you know, you gotta
do what you gotta do. You gotta do what you got. Yeah,
it's true, though, I mean I guess for me, I
never got to fully experience that on the bachelort because
it was I was in Ireland for another couple of
days after I got s at home. But you do
travel the world with like one bag, and you have
a lot of people holding onto a lot of different

(01:03:15):
things of your and you just hope at some point
after like two months, that it shows back up, but
you don't know where. You have no idea, And Sydney,
I will tell you this is actually a credit to
the show. I lost a lot of things during the show,
and afterwards they found each and everyone that I did
get like a jacket and like a couple of things back,

(01:03:37):
and I remember texting and like this stress is here,
this thing is here. So they work with you. But
I mean, there are all of us are living in
one room with big suitcases, suitcases and all of our stuff.
It's kind of everywhere, so you end up losing stuff.
But I mean, it is what it is, which makes
me think maybe this show like secretly like takes something

(01:03:57):
just to freak you out a bit and then at
some point sends it back. I mean, definitely heightens the
drama when you're living out of a suitcase. Definitely heightened
the drama. Of course, it does um, alright, final question
here for you, Sydney. Yes, this is a cool one.
Jojo and Jordan's from Monica. Monica says, have we all
Have you all discussed the fact that Jordan reproposed to
Joe Jo Does this mean their first proposal proposal was

(01:04:18):
more like, hey, will you be my girlfriend? Rather than
will you be my wife? He even gave her a
different ring. What are your thoughts on this, Sydney. I'll
let you start and I'll finish. I think that I mean,
you grow in relationships, and I feel like they were
in a good place when they got engaged and they
were ready to start their lives together. But now they
have a completely new life together. And I think that's
Jordan and JoJo's way of saying, like, I still choose

(01:04:39):
you again, and I even know our lives are different,
and this is where we're at, Like, I still choose
you at the end of the day, and I want
to keep doing that. And I think that's like an
affirmation that everyone kind of wants in a relationship, and
it's a beautiful thing that he did. I agree. I
think it's awesome. I think after a few years of
figuring it out of knowing that they're still the one

(01:05:00):
getting busy. Like we said, tons of pressure getting thrown
on you. There's a lot of activity around you in noise.
I think the noise, no matter what it's, it's probably
almost impossible to block out all the noise. And so
even if you let the noise get in a little
bit and your relationship kind of separates or whatever, when
you can come back together and say I know I
still choose you, I think it matters. It's like, in
my eyes, it was like renewing the vows exactly. You know,

(01:05:21):
it's like renewing the proposal. It's freshening it up. It's
making it real again, because after a few years it
could feel distant and it was more than this time too,
or like she has a ring that he picked out
that wasn't like he chose from four He went to
the store and decided like what was her and like
what was them? And I think that's just like a
better way to solidify. Like they are together and they

(01:05:41):
love each other fully, and yeah, love winds Um super
pumped for them. I hope and wish them the best.
They're both great and obviously I think Jojo is amazing
and uh, you know Jordan is a stud, so good
for them. Alright, Sydney. Final two thoughts in the episode.
There's a big episode, a lot to talk about. I
really do all of our listeners and all of us here.

(01:06:02):
I heart really appreciate you stepping in and co hosting today.
It's been fun to kind of bring in contestants to
co host with us because your insight is a lot
better than ours could ever be. But you've been awesome,
So thank you, Sidney. Um, before you leave, there's two
storylines that didn't really fit into the mold of what
we were talking about, but we have to discuss them.
One is a sad one. Um, I guess both have

(01:06:23):
sad pieces, but one ends and happy ending. Blake and Christina?
Is it a real thing? Was he just looking to
fix his time? Like? What was that? Oh? I mean,
I don't know. My opinion on that was that if
Blake really felt that way about Christina, he should have
done that from day one and not come in and

(01:06:44):
be like I'm for Hannah, I'm Batisha, I'm over here
like he just if I'm Christina, I would be like
why now, Like after all of this, after all this mess,
we're at the end, like it's like too little, too late,
And I think that's exactly how she felt. And even
if it was genuine for like, I don't really know um.
I feel like he was just kind of scrambling at

(01:07:07):
the end and it wasn't fully like there um and
it was unfortunate. Yeah, it was just hard to track. Again,
it was one of those storylines. And I think it's
the theme Sydney. I think you all did a great job.
I think it was a theme of this paradise that
it was hard for us watching or viewers to understand

(01:07:28):
these relationships because I felt like there was so much
bouncing around in conflict and confusing things that it was
hard to track exactly what was happening at every moment.
For whatever reason, it felt more overwhelming to me this season.
And I've talked to a bunch of other people that
are very sold out on watching Bachelor in Paradise and
they kind of agree, like it's hard to track right
now exactly. Well, I will say, specifically for Christina and

(01:07:49):
Blake that was felt the same way me watching it.
Being there, I was like, huh, you're for You're doing
what now? So that one wasn't even showed for us.
I agree with a lot of the other relationships, you
didn't get to see them. But Blake and Christina weren't
really doing anything besides giving each other friendship roses, and
all of a sudden, Blake was like, Oh, it's Christine,
I'm in love with her. I don't know. It was weird.
Um so that one was panned out. Yea, so maybe

(01:08:11):
it just like what's exactly what happened on the show.
The next one is Connor and Calin have a romance
that blossomed after Dean left Paradise. Again. We talked about
Dean earlier. He's compelling, he's great, he's a friend of mine,
so I speak highly of him. Um so I'm biased.
But then he does a typical Dean move and he
leaves and then he comes back, which is not a

(01:08:34):
typical Dean move, which shows how much he cares. She's
in a relationship with Connor at the time, they seem
to be doing well. But you all knew. We all
knew at least watching Hey, she's gonna go back with Dean.
Did you know she was going back with Dean? Question.
I had a strong feeling that she was going to
go back with Dean. I think Connor is great, and
she was waiting to meet him towards the beginning. But
I think all of her feelings that she had for

(01:08:57):
Dean we're just kind of thrown on the Connor. So
that's why it kind of escalated really quickly. But it
wasn't fully. I think she was just like masking how
she was upset about Dean leaving and Connor was unfortunately
like took the front of that. Um. Yeah, I knew
deep down she was going to choose Dean. It's hary
not to choose Dean, I know. I mean he's great.

(01:09:17):
Even though he's like a hot mass, he at least
owns his hot messory. Yeah, he's like a he's like
a beautiful He's like a beautiful cockroach. You know, like
you want to hate him. You don't want to like
him at all, Like everything, like like a lot of
things he does, you're like nobody would be okay with this,
And then you look at him and you're like, gosh,
dang it, Like yeah he's not that bad. Yeah, yeah,

(01:09:40):
not that bad. But it works out in the end.
Whitney shows up the beach, finds out Connor isn't there,
and she goes back to the Vedanta in Porto Villarta
to find Connor and it feels like, yeah, it's gonna work.
Like it feels like it was the right thing, and
it all worked out in the end, two super hot
people just finding each other. And I think that was peopleful.

(01:10:01):
Who's people? I mean that when Connor takes off his shirt,
I feel all sorts of weird and he's like, no,
no fount on his body. It's insane. And he's like
six six. So my excuses, my excuse, My whole life
has been Hey, I work out a lot, I'm in shape,
Like you know, I'm not gonna take off my shirt
and you're gonna like, holy cal like that guy is ripped.
Like you're never gonna say that about me. But I

(01:10:21):
feel good about who I am, Like I feel good
about it. I've had moments like college was a little
bit worse than now. Um, but my excuses. I'm not
ripped because I'm six four, Like I'm tall, so like
it's hard for me to get the big muscles like
that happens to small guys, and like that's the thing
they got going for him, And like I can't get
the six pack because I don't have that body type.
That's what I'm saying. And then I see dorks like Connor,

(01:10:44):
dorks in a good way, like I like Connor of men,
but I get really jealous because that dude. I mean,
it's just he's got netics right, Like you can't even
balt You're like, dude, Mom, I know I do to
go back in the wom and figure it out. Gosh,
dang it. Yeah, Well, two beautiful people find each other

(01:11:06):
on the beach and love blossoms. Hey, that's been a podcast.
Any I think we're done. I'm at a breath. I'm tired.
That was a lot. Are you tired anything? I wanna
talk about anything? You want to promote? Uh? You want
to find friends in l A. You've moved to l A.
If anybody's listening and has any opportunities for commercials, acting,
modeling for Sydney and land me to dance at your wedding.

(01:11:27):
I didn't you do that any time in Paradise. I'm
here for all of it. So yeah, Hey, Sydney, you've
been the best taco. We appreciate you. Um Hey, we
said this every week. Just follow my lead. Trust me
on this. I've been been. I'm sorry. What all right?
Repeat after me, but use your name in place of mind. Okay,

(01:11:49):
I've been then, I've been Sydney and we'll talk to
you soon. Follow the Benn and Ashley I Almost Famous
podcast on iHeart Radio or subscribe wherever you listen to
podcasts