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Welcome to the Almost Famous podcast. We are getting started with one of the most anticipated and one of the most excited seasons that Ashley and I have ever entered into. It's now the time for the Golden Bachelorette. This is something that we've waited for that first a part of our life. It was just a dream and now we're actually in it. The season is airing and we're here to break down episode one of this season. It's Jones season of the Golden Bachelorette. Ashley is with me. Ashley, Hello,
your thoughts, feelings, emotions. As you enter in and you turned on your television to watch this beautiful episode.
I was really excited to watch it. It was just as captivating as I hoped it would be. And I was really sad that there was a rose ceremony at the end of it, because I thought that they really made us so am I was connected to these guys so quickly. After we watch the video of their families doing shout outs, I was like, Oh, there's no way that they're going to eliminate any of these guys. They're gonna have Jesse come in and be like, guess what there was ceremony tonight.
But there was.
And I will say they did a good job of not really eliminating anyone. They didn't highlight anyone who was eliminated. So the guys that did leave, I didn't really have any impressions of you.
Could have said it better. Let's start from the beginning. Joan as our Golden Bachelorette. Fantastic choice. Now it just feels like the obvious choice. There are so many incredible women on the last season of The Golden Bachelor, but it just feels now with everything that Joan has beauty and grace.
It's grace.
I was gonna say that she has wisdom. You can tell even in her time with her family and her interview. She's slow to speak, quick to listen seriously, she has a story to back her up. She's gorgeous. I think it was like the obvious choice. Now it feels that way now again, I want to preface it with say, there was some amazing women, and there's some other obvious choices that she could think could have picked, but Joan
in this role fits. Yes, She's It's like when she enters into camera, especially in the moments where she is the bachelorette. It's captivating at some level, right, Like it's like almost a show stopping Like it feels like she glows.
Somebody said it was like royalty, and it does feel like that. She has this composure and it's the elegance and grace. It's like a it's like a Grace Kelly thing. Yeah, she's very calming and she just seems like no drama. She seems truly like there for you, being.
Like, oh the top. No.
No, I don't think there's enough that we could say about Joan that would even fit who she is. I think if you met Joan in person, which you and I have gotten to do, you would be as captivated and you would sit there and be like I could talk to you for two hours because you have a lot of wisdom. Yeah, and she is slow to speak, quick to listen. So Joan is a great choice. She shines. I think she is a in a sense, like she almost looks like the savior of the show. Not that
the show needs saving right now. I think it's in a fine place, but it just feels like she's going to thrive in this role. It's incredible that they found somebody like her to lead this, And then with that same breath, I'll say it's incredible they found so many incredible men to do it as well.
Yeah, and I love the way that the guys are very much the way that the women were at first. It's there's a camaraderie. They want to be friends, They're to have fun together. There's not going to be any sort of and I don't feel like there's gonna be any sort of animosity. They go in there and they're like bros. And there's just so much less tension. And I really think that has to do with perspective and talked about it on Garious season. It's just like these people,
they just they've lived more life. They know what's important and they know like, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work.
Yeah.
I think it's a good lesson learned for all of us as we watch it is as you get older, what do you trend towards? And it's not the drama and the fighting and the competitiveness. It's the camaraderie. It's the community, it's the shared respect, it's the mutual support. We've seen it with both seasons now and I'm sure there's gonna be some animosity. There's a bunch of people living in the same house together for the next few months. Things will pop up that annoy you about somebody else,
and maybe we'll hear about that. But the level of drama compared to other seasons like The Bachelor or Bachelorette, will be a lot more minimal. It won't be a highlight. They can't make it a highlight. We've been There's been some bad moments here for production. I think over the last few weeks when it comes to Gin's ending, and then obviously with the missed opportunity to tell Devin not to even come on the show. You know those things
you know, we've talked about that we've been critical. I will say this episode specifically, and I'm hoping it continues for the rest of the season, was so well done. It was an incredible episode to watch. We got to learn so much about these contestants and such a short amount of time. And as you said, the reason that we were so captivated, so intrigued, and so into these people was due to how they set up the show, and it was absolutely incredible. I didn't want to roast
ceremony either. In fact, I don't know how she's going to have rost ceremonies because it feels like they should all just hang out together and just continue on their merry way for the rest of time. And I have to give credit there and say, this is just a really good episode. This is a good, well done episode, from the storytelling perspective, to the arc of the episode to helping us get to know these contestants a little bit better.
It felt so good to watch.
I do have to say that maybe it's just easier to create this closeness that we feel towards them because they have these pasts, you know, like they're telling the story of their decea spouse, they're telling the story about their kids. And when we watch packages and stuff with the Bachelor Bachelorette, it's kind of like, Hi, I'm so
and so I'm looking for love. You know. Well, there's, of course, there's like a lot of depth and stuff, But I just think that there's something about people already having these families formed that probably make you feel like they're just a mushier. They don't come across ever as like victim stories or like, oh, here's my sap story, which of course, I you know, I feel for all of the ones that we've seen in the past, it's
a discredit them. It's just that like for uh, like the cast as a whole, because they all have like they just they just seem like they have like more depth at this age, which is perhaps, Yeah, I don't know, do you know what I'm saying, Well.
I'd hope they have more depth they have.
Some more years, Okay, So like I just think that it's maybe it's where I am in life. Seeing packages about like these dads and their kids just makes me feel really oh yeah.
I think part of it too, actually is just a change. Again, I'll go back to how the show is made, and I think it's a change in how they storytell and what used to happen on the show is kind of through those entry packages, we get a taste at a piece of the bigger story from these contestants. And now what we're doing is we're waiting until those one on one dates kind of as they sit at the cocktail part or they sit at a one on one like dinner for the contestant to actually open up and tell
their story. And a lot of contestants do have a story and they do have depth, but the show, for whatever reason, on the Bachelor and Bachelorette wait until those one on one moments to tell the audience, and they used to in the entry packages give us a taste of that story, and so we go into it being like, Hey, I want to learn more about that person because I know they have a story to tell and we kind of anticipated when they would expand on it more with
the lead. And I think that's what they're doing with the Golden Bachelorette.
More upfront story, more.
Upfront storytelling it. They don't wait until the end. They get us at the beginning, and so the whole time, now we're going to be captivated by each one of these contestants and go, you have such a story. And yes, not all of them got to tell Jen on night or Joan on night one. Not all of them got to expand on that story on night one, But what our hope is that they get to at some point throughout.
The season and we get to learn a little bit more.
But like, okay, so what I was really trying to say is like, look at you and me going into The Bachelor and the Bachelorette. We had nothing really. I mean, yes, you had some things, you had some traumas, but like you didn't have anything that you were like, you know, you where you're like, oh, you know, like my wife passed away or like, you know, everything was just kind of like, oh, I am looking for a spouse, like
you're just like Fresher. Yeah, And I will say I'm not describing this well, No, you're doing fine.
I will say that when we're on the show, though, there were some stories that like other men on The Bachelorette that had and they would share that with us, you know, kind of as we sat in the hotel or sat in the house and it was just us. The lead wasn't there, and they'd be like, yeah, you know what, like my mom passed away like two months ago and it's been really hard for me, but she always wanted me to go on the show. And Caitlyn
wouldn't know that story yet. And so when they had their one on one date, I will say one of the cooler moments was when they would have their one on one date and the guys would you know, be kind of sitting around. We'd be like, hey, you're you gonna have to share that with her tonight and they're like, yeah, I am, it's going to be hard because you know,
I don't really want to cry on national television. We're like, hey, you just got to go through it, like just do it, Like she needs to know this, you need to like talk about this. And it was this cool moment of support. So the stories have always been known way before the lead maybe even know Zone. And I think that's such a fun part of this Golden Show so far is we know these contestants better already than most of the contestants on gen season because we've heard a lot of their stories.
I just want to clarify it doesn't mean that you have to have a sad story to be a great guy.
No, but we all have a story. You all have a story.
Everybody has a story of some level at some capacity.
Yeah, you don't have to have a sad, sappy background.
Just knowing their stories, like I just want to know their stories.
Yeah, exactly.
The show did a great job at that. These men are as incredible as we thought they were through their pictures. There is depth, there is a handsomeness, There is you know this like suaveness to so many of them, and then there's the big personalities, there's the fun personalities. There's the personalities that you just love to have on these seasons because they make everything a little bit better and just having them there makes it a little more fun
to watch. So there is a great group I think of men on Jones season at every you know, at every level.
And before we get into the guys that really stood out to us, let's talk about well, just let me just make my own little comment. You know what this show has been missing for so many years, the soft rock, those soft rog hits like the one that we got from Phil Collins slash I'm not sure it was Genis sister Phil Collins in.
The beginning of the episode.
Those old jams really give you some feelings. And they used to do that all the time, and now they've a limited eliminated it, but they bring it back for the golden part of the franchise, and I think we need to infiltrate more of that music.
Into the show, into the main show.
I love it so much. Okay, guys, the first guy out of the limo, he's he's quite the character. It's Pascual Pascal Pascal. He's the Frenchman and normally I'm not like swooned by a French accent, but he has it like he's totally got it. And he owns a salon slash medspa, which just tracks so perfectly for him. Look, they're not gonna get married, he's not going to get super duper far. I don't see them having a deep, deep connection. But he's a really fun character for us.
I also will say some of the people that stood out to me, I'll just name him.
Some of the names here, obviously Keith, who ends up with the first impression, Rose Mark who obviously you probably just Mark.
He gets better and better the more we see him. Goodness Ashley just really is the fact that you don't understand this is like, I understand it.
I understand it.
I go back to though, my comment weeks ago that says this show is going to be a problem because all these handsome older men are going to come out there and all these eighteen to forty five years yeah, and all these girls are gonna be like, goodness, gracious, their dms are about to get dangerous.
I mean it, I'm worried for these guys.
They're gonna be like, I don't even know what a thirst trap is and now of a sudden, I'm getting pictures I never I don't want to see.
Listen, can we just talk Do you want to talk about Mark an hour later?
We'll talk about Mark later. I really like Michael just because he was nervous and I understand that.
Michael Michael nervous. Uh yeah, that was cute. I'm trying to put a plate a face to the name because a couple of them said they were nervous. I know Jordan was super. Jordan was very subconscious about his nervous entrance, which I saw him stumble, but it was like, no big deal, No, it's fine.
The final person that I'll bring up just after.
Night one that stood out to me that I just love and I want to hang out with, and it just feels like so many of my best friends because they just seem to make life a little bit more fun is Jack. Jack has to get some credit here. Jack is an amazing commentator. He has huge, just awesome energy, he has confidence, he has swagger, and he is hilarious.
I want to know more about Jack. I want to see more about Jack, and I hope Jack's around a while, just because it does I feel like what I like in Jack is He's not the type of guy that would just say yes to going on this, Like he took a little convincing and then he got there and he's going to make the most of it. Like you know, when we talk about on this show, I think it took this.
Man a little convincing. I think he was like TV is for me.
Sure, maybe that's true, dude, But you know when we give the life Advice segment and we talked about be where your feet are, it's such a good piece of advice. Just be where your feet are at all times. It helps you stay present. I feel like Jack's saying would be be where my feet are and then make it the best. And I think he's just gonna make this so much fun. It might be annoying to some people because he probably is having such a good time just being there, but I don't care.
I like it.
I also like, I loved how he cooked for her, so he's a caterer. He cooked for her for their one on one time. That would have won me over for sure. And then he's sang Sinatra coming out of the limo and he's like, well, there are my two talents singing and cooking. Yeah, he's really fun. I again don't think that they're like gonna be endgame, but he's
a great character for us to watch. Love it And Okay, so for me, I liked Chalk, who has the weirdest name, but brought her chok noodle soup chicken noodle soup because she's known for her chicken noodle soup. And he just had a really nice comming demeanor.
Yeah. Sure.
I also of course loved Jonathan, who is a hottie. He is the one who's divorced. He has two kids. His kids look on the younger side. He's sixty one at the same age he he just seems like full package.
He what about God Like, he's a pretty handsome man.
Guy's kind of weird to me. Guy is he he's the the ear doctor, right, Yeah, he's a little he's a little u. Yes, they're all handsome. He's very good looking, but he's a little he's a little awkward. Right now, we'll see it. Keith, Okay, we'll talk about Keith. He comes in with the station waggage with the luggage dropped on top. He is from Jose, California. He's been a
single dad for twelve years. You were talking earlier about how his wife had problems with addiction, so let him be like just the primary parent for the past twelve years, has three girls, and again liked his demeanor, and obviously so did Joan as he got the first impression Rose there is a warmth to him. I see him getting pretty far. There's a lot of girl dads in this bunch. There was the guy from Florida was another girl dad that I really felt connected to. His name is slipping me right now.
But oh Dan.
Dan loved Dan and he adopted his first child and was a single dad for fourteen years. Really I really liked him. But yeah, let's see anybody else before I can move on to you know, my fave Mark who actually, to be honest, Dan and Jonathan are up there with Mark for me, but I think.
That Mark is just hold up, hold up, let me pause here this.
I just want to take a second for all the listeners and highlight my just the best co host possible for the last eight years. Did you do you hear what she just did? She goes, is there anybody else been before we talk about Mark? And then she just starts talking about Mark. She just it's going she cannot help herself. Literally, she brings it up, like, Hey, is there anybody else that really stands out to you, Ben, because I really have this person I want to talk about,
and then she just goes by the way. Mark's amazing and he's awesome, but there are some people that shocked me that kind of got to it's just absolutely incredible when Ashley, she's just so easy to read. I know you want to talk about Mark so bad, and I just want to pause you on that because I think Gary and Charles k also are like would stand out to me from this episode. I think they'll be around a while. I think they're gonna be big characters this
season and I really like them. Now, Ashley, the floor is yours. You can take your next twenty minutes and talk about Mark.
Well, Ben, I want to mention that Gary is the life of the party. I enjoy watching him as well. He's going to be so fun And when his daughter came on screen with his grandchild, adorable. That whole segment is so so sweet.
Yeah, you can't do that to me.
Yeah, I know this is rude, it's so evil.
Yeah, you can't make me cry watching this show. Like that's it's so stupid for me to still be crying watching a bachelor show at this point in my life. Yet somehow they got me again. And when like that came up, that little segment happened, like there's just tears of joy coming down my face and like tears of sentiment and love, and it's like this is I literally sat here and they're like, this is the stupidest thing, Like the show can't keep doing this to me.
Sentiment is a word that I should use more often on this podcast. It makes a lot of sense. Okay, But ben that video segment, it would have been great for the opening of episode two, like, hey, guys, you made it through the row ceremony. Now let's see who's missing you back at home. You've been gone for a few more days. But it was like, hey, guys, you just saw everybody like five days ago, you know, because I'm in the hotel for like four or five days.
Let's show this video right before I eliminate like five of you. Yeah, that was tough, but it was all for the storytelling.
Okay.
Yeah, So so Mark is it? Okay? I can talk about Mark right now. Yes, Yeah, So he's fifty seven, so they really made an exception for him because he was Kelsey's dad. They also totally made that exception because they want him to be the next Golden Bachelor if he is not the winner of this. And we see from the scenes in the next episode that at some
point Jones says I love you Mark. But my theory is that, I mean, she could say this as like an endearing thing in her top three or whatnot, saying like I love you because I love you as a person. I love you, but you're not the one. I don't know that they would really put that in there if he really was the final one. So I'm actually going to say that he might not be the final one, but he's definitely going far and he's definitely going to be the next Golden Bachelor if he's not the winner.
Actually, do you find him handsome?
Of course, he is so handsome, But it's his demeanor, Ben, I know I keep using that word. There's something about his presence, but there was a couple guys that had very similar presences. But it's the combination. And I also just trust him because he's Kelsey's dad too. You know.
We feel like when you see Mark on television. Do you just get a little like tingly.
No, you mean Tinkley in the heart, just like giddy? Yeah, warm, warm, he's warm. Yeah, he sounds a little dirty. Oh is that what you're referring to? No, so okay, I thought you were trying to get dirty for a second.
Goodness, Ashley, we've done this for eight years. When it was the last time I tried to get dirty, When it was the last time I tried to say, you have to say something that weird, I was like giddy.
Good No, no, no, he's no. I just I just you find he is a true diamond in the rough. Not that this is a rough batch. It's definitely not that they're all golden diamonds in the rough or whatever. But yeah, but he is. He's a TV star, guys, he's a little He's a Nicholas Sparks character in like an older Oh, it's like Knights of Rodanthe If you guys remember the one with Diane Lane and Richard Gear.
It was like the Nicholas Sparks older version, and it's it is pretty much better than a lot of the other younger versions of his mind stories.
But yeah, okay, bye, before you say something weird, Let's continue on. It is an incredible group of men. I'm so excited for this season. I don't I don't just say that to say, like, I think this is going to be an incredible season of emotion. It's going to be an incredible season of story. It's going to be incredible to see the arc of Joan's journey. And I'm really excited is the wrong word here. I'm very happy that Joan is given the space to be honest about
her emotions along this journey. That she's struggling now and she feels guilty. I think that's probably going to be very relatable to many, and I also think it's just a very real feeling. And I'm really excited that she is taking the space to say it, you know, because I think it gives these men whoever are left at that point a chance to step in and not console her, but speak with her about it, ask her questions about it, give her confidence within it. I think that's going to
be a really powerful time. Whenever that episode airs or however long that kind of feeling exists for her. But it's a real feeling, and what you and I I always talk about on this show is we want authenticity and we want genuineness. I think we got it from Jin. I don't think we got it from anybody else on her season. I think those two things were very much missing.
But I think when it comes to this journey with Joan, authenticity and genuineness are going to be there the whole time, which I think the Golden Show needs because obviously the last season of The Golden did not end well, did not go well, and I think Jen feeling like she can or Joan feeling like she can admit this and talk about this publicly with these this group of men, will build even a deeper connection with whoever she ends up with at the end, if she ends up with somebody.
So I'm very excited Ashley here in the final minutes, let's talk about the scenes for the rest of the season. Your thoughts, your predictions, your feelings.
Okay, So besides the I Love You mark, what stood out was well, Gary makes an appearance, which I wasn't sure we're going to say, just because his story did end kind of odd. I also thought that it was interesting the way that there's somewhere in the season where she's like, eh, maybe I'm not ready for this. Maybe my person isn't here. I'm always going to feel like this angling of guilt about dating anyone after my husband.
Totally relatable phase that she seems to go through. But it does seem that she ends up with somebody because she goes. Up until this point in life, I'd only loved one person, and now I love too. So I think that she does end up with somebody in the end, but I'm sure they're going to try to make it seem like she doesn't. We don't see any like engagement.
Preview because I ruined it for him. They can't keep showing it because I know who it is. Remember with Devin, I said, Oh, that's definitely Devin.
Yeah, that's right, you're arking at that. Yeah, I'm gonna say I would really love her not to get engaged. I just think that it's like after the passing of a spouse of thirty three years, to get engaged to somebody after six weeks, four to six weeks of knowing them. I just think it's nice to actually not and especially after we saw what happened with Gary and Teresa, let's just make them a really happy couple.
You would be okay, with that, so you would still celebrate. Yeah, okay, cool. Final comment I have agreed with everything you said is where in the world are they at at the end of this season?
Because where the clouds are in the clouds? The pool is above the clouds. Yeah, where is that? That's cool?
That was the coolest they could Why haven't they done this? They just found this place? Now they should always have a finale in the clouds.
It's amazing, Heaven. It's going to be such a fun season. I cannot wait to keep talking about it with Ashley. It's I think just the excitement towards this Golden Show has not at all gone away from me, and I know it hasn't gone away from Ashley, and this is gonna be just an incredible season again, so happy for Joan an incredible choice. I will say this with confidence. We should all just one hundred percent get behind Joan.
Like I know that maybe some people were jaded after the last season, knowing Joan being around Joan, It's going to be incredible and it's going to be something special and we should just celebrate the fact that all these men showed up and that she showed up for our entertainment. And also for their love story. So until next week when we break down the second episode of The Golden Bachelorette, which were so pumped for.
I've Been Ben, I have Been Ashley Bye.
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