This is the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast with iHeartRadio.
Hey guys, we welcome to the Almost Famous Podcast. Today we welcome Ben back from his paternity leave. Wasn't long enough, right, Ben, I.
Mean, it fell not long enough for me.
But then when I look back on all the great content that you put out here and that you had your guest host help this is a mad then it does feel like a long time. A lot happened. I mean I watched The Bachelor this week and realized the last time I did a Bachelor breakdown with you on the Almost Famous Podcast, I think was like week two.
Yeah, there was like twenty girls left, and now we're at hometowns. You missed like the whole boring chunk of the middle that you and I always try to get through, and you joined us in the episode that I always feel like it rams up, which is the one in which we eliminate the girls down to the hometown girls.
You're right, You're right. I stuck in at the right moment. You know that's we did this on purpose nine months ago, that we'd say let's have baby at the perfect time.
You know what.
This is a little side comment about birthing times. I have now had a baby in the summer and a baby in the winter July and January. And if I had to choose, I do like the baby being born in the winter better because it's so much harder to with like well, especially with two, have the bundling, the transferring from the house to the car and the car to like the store and all that when you can't have them bundled up in the car seat. I know, it's so ridiculous. I think you will soon understand what
I'm talking about. All I'm saying is that with the newborn phase, it's a cocoon phase, right, So like all you're doing with that baby is sitting in the house and being cozy, and that's a winter thing.
We have started family walks, so three days ago we started to do walks around the neighborhood.
It will be.
It's something that we were doing fairly consistently now. It's fun for Jess, it's fun for our dog, it's fun for Winny. But yes, I agree, we've talked about it. It was nice the week that when he was born, it was like five degrees in Colorados. We just stayed inside and had nothing else to do. It was wonderful. It's weird after like, what are we about? Two weeks into parenthood? Now we kind of feel like we're in
the groove, right, let's get her outside. Just just went to the grocery store for the first time today, very nerve wracking experience.
Oh she did, but the first time buy her with the baby? No, okay, just by yourself.
Yeah, we're ripping the band aids off of the like new parent freak out mode, and we're trying to figure out slowly but surely not too fast, how to get into life, uh, and how to keep things going. It's been a blast. I'm loving every second of it. And then you know what I found out, and I don't know how you do it.
Ashley.
Obviously, this week was me catching up with The Bachelor, going back through some episodes, going back through some notes, making sure I was up to speed on everything.
Even with a newborn.
Finding some time to sit down and watch The Bachelor is not as easy as you would think.
Oh yeah, because when you have like your little time, you're like, oh, what am I going to watch? It's like, oh yeah, that's what I have. The Bachelor episode and I have to like study it. Yeah, so, and you need to full attention for the hour and a half. Bravo to also Jess for taking walks at this point, because like, yeah, she's a she got torn apart a little bit and she's back at it. She's she's an athletic girl.
Yeah, she's got drive.
Actually, we are here to talk about The Bachelor today, though this is obviously the week leading into hometowns. When I caught up some episodes, you did have some of these disagreements. You told me just a second ago that this season you thought was kind of the boring parts in the middle. I know that when you and I talked, this wasn't a season that you were ecstatic about, kind of maybe two weeks ago, but you did have Zachary
Reality as a co host and a guest. They disagreed with you that this season actually has been really good and has been something.
To engage within.
Has your opinion changed at all after this last episode?
Well, not as a whole, because like I thought that those few episodes the past couple weeks were so draggy that like that like doesn't compare to any prior season. I've never felt such a drag before, and now that we're on this episode. I'm like, Okay, now we're like a back on track to feeling like sit in the episode. You know, it's not like the most exhilarating thing. It's not like other seasons past are, but like, you know, cannot wait till next week. I have to get my screener,
you know, like is it Friday yet? Is in my back in bucks? I'm not gonna feel like that, but I'm like at least like engaged while watching the episode.
Yeah, and.
This was Yeah, so this was my favorite episode thus far. And this has nothing to do with Grant. Like Grant like every week proves that he's like so incredibly sweet and he seems like he's gonna be the greatest husband. There's just something about this season that just like hasn't collicked with me, and I think a lot of people out there, but I don't think it was it's Grant. It might have to do a storytelling, It just might
be a combination of things. But like I just if he's out there listening, like I think he is such a kind man and he seems to have just the sweetest heart.
Yeah, and I'm.
Sure that you kind of took that away with some of his conversations this week too.
Yeah, you know, I think my read on Grant I've been able to share it in a while is I think you said everything.
He's kind, he has a sweetheart.
I do think conflict is maybe an uncomfortable position for him. Yeah, and sometimes as the lead of the show Bachelor or a bachelor, most of like a lot of the role is navigating conflict and kind of being the mediator amongst the house and amongst your relationships. And it does feel like he kind of wants to take the nice route out of that and just tell people how great they are and that everything's fine, when I don't know if that's helping. I also don't know if it's helping build
deeper relationships. However, there has been some conversations, especially this episode, that I think we did get the rawness of Grant, and I think that shines. I want to start, though, breaking down this episode with asking our producer to pull up because now we're down to the final four, to pull up Ashley myself, our final four. When we broke down the women at the very beginning, We're going to talk about that at the end, kind of revisit who we thought would be here.
He's not.
Yeah, we didn't do good.
I'll start out Ashley my first out of this episode, and it's hilarious. We see a scene with Jesse and Grant golfing in Scotland, a dream for many golfers. Grant swing is not terrible, but goodness gracious, you know what it reminds me of. It reminds me of those Disney movies when they used to like play basketball, and you would watch it because you're a basketball player yourself, you'd be super excited for it. And then you're watching, You're like,
these people have never shot a basketball in their life. No, Grant isn't to that level.
He does.
He is able to make contact, but you can tell this dude has not golf many times and they're trying to make it look like he has. I mean, this dude is what we call in the golf world like he's raw dog in it. He has no gloves on, so he's like he has no golfing glove on. He has a very nice, wide, unbalanced swing. He swings out of his shoes. You can see it. His short game is is questionable, and I love that that's what they chose for him to do because I bet they gave him.
They're like, tomorrow you're gonna go golf with Jesse and he's like, I've got five times in my life, and.
I goold, it's gonna look awesome.
Do you think that they like really did much then just hit one ball?
They played one hole.
It rained the whole time, and they weren't that well at the end of it, and then they're like, great round.
And I guess I just don't like when they do a scene like that with Jesse from your Bachelor experience, do you actually play a whole game?
No, goodness, no, there's no way.
The show's like, hey, you know what, Jesse and Grant take three and a half hours and go play.
I know, okay, go enjoy yourself. We're just gonna feel it. It's a scene, Cetter. It was. It's wild. It was hilarious.
I enjoyed watching it because I was like, poor Grant obviously doesn't play this game and Jesse does. Jesse's a good golfer, he has a good swing, he's a lefty, he's just.
A well I was gonna say he's just an athlete, but actually so it was grand so professionally both of them. Did you guys go to Scotland on your season with Kid Ireland? Ireland? Okay, it's just Ireland. I wasn't stributed to Ireland in Scotland.
No, just Ireland.
Well, that was my big takeaway at the beginning of this episode because as a golfer, I just thought it's funny. We can move on from that conversation because not anybody listening. There's not one person that was like interested in what I just talked about. So let's start breaking down the episode.
And obviously the date cards this week are very meaningful because we still have some people who have not had a one on one date, which means if they don't get a one on one date this week, they really won't have a one on one date for the whole season. Because yes, the final three all get one on one dates, but those are not they're meaningful, maybe more meaningful than but they're not actual one on ones. They're kind of
just the format of the show. You know you're going to get a date if you're down to the final three. This is the last time Grant can show Zoe, specifically that he cares to have some time with her by giving her a one on one and what happens Ashley, she does not get one. But Juliana also didn't have a one on one yet either.
And technically Letia had a one on one of sorts because you miss this week, but she had a three on one date and then he took her on the dinner portion, so I think they had on one on one date. They had that intimacy, but this was her like first full day date. Juliana getting the date was not shocking to me.
That why this season has there been so many people not have one on ones? Is the season cuts shorter?
This is a good question because this is weird. There's always one.
He didn't dump anybody on a date either. He didn't dumb any one on a one on one.
If if you go back through past seasons, if the format of the show works, and if the lead agrees to it, and I said I've said this before, when it comes down to deciding who's going on one on one, you sit down with the producers before the week starts and you said I'd like to bring them in them on like so and so and so and so on on one on one. The producers will say, hey, you brought so and so on one on one two weeks ago. That's going to be their second one on one and
these people don't even haven't even had one yet. Would you like to bring one of the people that haven't had one yet? Or would you like to give this person their second one on one? And you, as the lead, get to say, now I want to bring them on another one on one, and those other people I don't really care to go on one on one with them right now. But if everybody kind of gets one and one person gets two, there should still only be one person this week that hasn't been on a one on one yet.
So why three?
Things get crazier when you say that. When when Latilla got her you know, one on one date night thing, that was because Beverly whent Home was an appendicitis, So Beverly was even supposed to have that date and Latia wasn't supposed to have it. So then that would mean that would mean that Litia, Juliana, and Zoe all wouldn't have had a one on one going into this week.
So very interesting.
I don't I don't necessarily know if the filming was cut short by a week, that would make sense. I would answer everything. If there was one week less of filming, then producers, can you check this out for us?
The season did start later than usual too, it was the end of January.
The math just ain't mathing anyways.
We we did get Juliana on on one on one this week. We also are going to see Latian on one on one this week. Zoe is not going to get one this week. It is a very uncomfortable spot for Zoe to be in, and I understand it. I understand why should be questioning everything. I would be understand. I'm understanding why she's going why am I still here? If this is how we're going to play this out. I'd also so understand how she takes it very personally. In fact, Ashley, I would say Zoe handled this better
than really anybody else I've seen. Yes, she brought up the concerns, and she kind of communicated to Grant that she felt pushed aside. But she didn't make it all about herself, even though she really could have.
She could have, and she was supposedly like villainous earlier in the season, and now she's really backed off. The girls are accepting her, and she's not creating any drama. She's not even being very dramatic about this, which is very nice and I'm sure very appealing to him.
Maybe it was a test.
Maybe it was like Zoe, I like you enough to bring you to hometowns, let's see how you react and not getting what.
A while away to test?
Yeah, should we just jump into the Juliana date.
I would love to jump into the Juliana one on one date. The card says this Ashley, and I'll let you take it away from here.
Juliana, our love is a.
Fairy tale, so she's gonna get the Cinderella date of her season has one and every season, I am jealous this sea. This year they take a private was a plane in our helicopter and they go to a castle and she gets to pick out a gorgeous gown. He gets fitted for a tucks and I am even more jealous than usual here because then they go to a Bridgerton ball where she gets announced like miss Juliana is something her big debut. I'm like, oh, this is amazing.
They have like the formal dancing. I love this, and there's not much to mention, like obviously they have good chemistry, like this was not like something we were worried about that I was gonna be awkward or anything between them everything, because even he says up front of the date, he's like, I'm really physically attracted tour, just needing to see if
there's like more depth there, and yes there is. She reveals at dinner that there was some there was somebody who had an addiction problem when she was She doesn't really give a date rain though. We don't know if this is like with her childhood or this is current, because the way she acts seems like it's more current than in her deep past. Do you agree with.
Me, I don't.
I think it's been a lifelong journey for her. I also I had to really like respect this moment. And people can obviously speak of these things in any way they want, but sometimes you have these kind of conversations come out and you can tell that the person doesn't really want to be talking about what they're talking about and naming the people that you know they're naming, and you can tell that the producer are like, Hey, you should talk to Grant about this. This is a huge
part of your life. This is a very difficult like season for you. He needs to know about it if you're going to be engaged at the end, And I get why all those conversations are had, so they're not like saying anything that's not true. If you're going to get engaged in the end to this guy, he should probably know about this this season of your life, that's
been such a marker on you. However, some people have a lot of discomfort and talking about say it was her mom, her dad, her grandma and uncle, a friend, whatever it be. They're like, I don't really they didn't sign up for the show, so I don't really want to call them out here. She obviously put her foot in the ground with the producers. Got to respect her for this, and she said, I'll talk about it. I do agree that it's important for me to speak of,
but I'm not going to mention who it was. You're just going to talk about somebody close to me and he's going to be able to get through it. And I got to respect that because I always I love when people own the decisions they make, because a lot of times, you know, we come back afterwards and they're like it was all editing or the producers made me do it. I'm like, you had every right to stick your foot in the ground and say I'm not going
to do it that way. And Juliana obviously did, and I gotta just give her credit for that.
Good job, Ben, That is a good nuanced pick up, because I think like, as an audience, you're like, oh, but who with it? But who is it? And you're not thinking like she would really fought to protect the whole family.
Yeah, she loves this person obviously still and she cares about him and she doesn't want to, like, you know, crush him. And that that's just something that I think is admirable. Not that when you mentioned somebody's name, it's not because again, this is your own personal decisions to make. But I'm glad that she obviously felt strongly that she didn't want to call it person out and she said, nope, guys, I'll tell him what I need to tell him, and then anything else we can talk about afterwards.
And then she said that her bubbly personality, all the laughing, all the smiling, is often a mask, like something that she's put on to have like a strong, tough front, when she's actually like very sad inside. And we'll go and retreat by herself and to be honest, I'm like, Okay, well, I thought that you're like smiling, overly happy, even smiling when you were tittling on a girl last week was weird. And now you kind of know why this is.
This is actually an act.
And that makes me realize that I probably like her more than I thought, because I was just like, she just seemed too phony last week to me, And now I'm like, oh, okay, well she acknowledges it's phony, and it's a protection mechanism, yeah.
And it's also another.
I want her to have the space to be real and share where she's actually at. And if she's not feeling great, she doesn't have to. This is a hard environment to not feel great with it. It's kind of like being a radio morning host every day, right. You can't have a bad day, even if last night was the worst day of your life. You can't jump on air and just kind of be downtrodden and out. You have to pick it up because m it's life, it's your job, and so I want her to be able
to have that space. I also, though, again have to give her credit that she saw this and said, well, I'm not I don't want to be a burden to this experience or to anybody else. Even though I'm not feeling great, I'm going to try to turn it on to keep this thing as fun for Grant, fun for me, fun for others as possible. That's a big it's a big decision she's making, which makes me actually say this, she's my front runner after this date going into hometowns.
Okay, so it's just obvious to me that it's between her and Latia. Yeah, like that's just who he's going to have that extremely hard time deciding between and leaving this episode, I think that it's Latia, Like to me that that seems like the connection that's stronger. But yeah, obviously in a few weeks he's completely paralleled out.
Yeah, well we see that coming up.
For the sake of this conversation, ashually, we obviously have a big group date that sits in the middle of this with a lot of drama. But let's jump to the Latia one on one to kind of compare the two.
Yeah, I think that's bad to the group date.
I will say this again, a great date, the most honest conversation that I've seen the two of them have, or any I really have. Seeden Grant have all seasons.
And like the best conversation we've seen on The Bachelor, like for sure all year, but like a memorable one, like one that I might like remember from seasons from now is the one about her Mormon faith exactly.
It's a It's one that feels like it transcends the show. It opens up.
Life outs to life outside of this show.
They both dug deep within this conversation to pull out things about their lives personally. There was emotions brought in. As much as we love to know that these conversations exist throughout the whole season, they don't, and honestly, sometimes they do. Some seasons we feel like every conversation that's had is intentional, it's meaningful, the right questions are asked, both people are opening up, and some seasons we don't
get it at all. Right, Some of the Bachelor seasons that we've talked about that maybe didn't hit the mark for us were because we never felt like there was a real conversation from start to finish. We don't know anybody any better. Everything was surface level. This was not surface level. This was a good conversation. The date itself was a beautiful date. The two of them obviously have
a great connection. They're very comfortable with each other. I agree with you that she would be the other person right now, that would be at the top. But I will say this, for as healthy as that conversation was between the two of them, I would not put her over Juliana, because they will become a thing.
A thing, Okay, it has to. I mean, if your family, well.
It may not from his point of view, become like the point of view, it might not from her point of view, but it will become a thing with the family.
If she's giving us these hints of how her family dynamic is, I'm not saying right or wrong. And in the past, if she's traditionally dated people within her faith tradition consistently and now she's stepping outside of that and now she's coming to hometowns, the family is not I'm not going to say it's they're even gonna have a problem with it. They're just gonna have a lot of questions that will that will not help this relationship have
a sturdy foundation. Things will be questionable from that point on. Okay, So I have.
Some questions for you, But before that, I want to make just a few little things I noticed. So one of the things that we get asked about a lot, like, I don't know about you, Ben, but if I ask, are my Instagram following for behind the scenes questions from the from the show? A lot of them want to know, do you guys talk politics or religion before you know, getting down on one knee, And I said that I think usually it's probably a fantasy, sweet type of thing.
But from your point of view, especially since you do have a great faith, is that something that you brought up on dates during the show or is that something that kind of steered you away from.
First off, I love that politics and your faith get thrown into the same bucket.
They're both private conversations that you don't want to air out to.
Sometimes.
Yeah, no, faith was a huge conversation within the season that I was a part of. We always talked about it because nothing makes sense within my life without my faith. So if you take my faith away, there's just a lot of like open questions and open holes on like why.
Do you do what you do? And yeah, why do you say what you say?
And the I mean so like it had to be I don't want to say it's a part of my personality. But it's one hundred percent a part of like my every breath moment, like my value system, like my morals, how I view others people even in breakups, like I wanted them. I wanted the woman to know, like I still believe they are a child of God.
And so that.
Doesn't mean I'm just dismissing them or that I think they're unattractive. I just am not feeling it romantically. Faith was a huge part. It just was never shown, and I don't really know why. Maybe to the producers it wasn't a story they wanted, or it wasn't as interesting as other conversations that we're having politics because of my I think political like fire was, I was less interesting. I mean I would talk about it. If somebody asked me, like what do you believe about X y Z? I
would tell them because they asked. But it's not like my driving force, Like my faith oftentimes is the catalyst to why I believe politically what I believe, And so if you understand my faith, yeah, you're probably gonna understand me, which probably helps you understand that like how I'm you know, what I believe politically, Yeah, so I don't remember having like, hey, what do you think about this guy or this girl, or you know, what do you think about that wall.
I don't remember those conversations, but I do remember talking about like my belief in humans often.
Okay, So when she tells him that she's Mormon, I had two things. Actually, I knew that this conversation was going to come up, but I didn't remember that until like she was like I was like, oh my god, that's right, she's Mormon, and this conversation was coming. I have two questions for you. How much do you know about Mormon's dating outside of their faith?
I mean, I know quite a bit about the Mormon Church.
So do they typically date outside not typic Definitely not typically?
But is it does it?
Is it usually an issue with the family if they do?
Okay, it would be a it would be issue would probably be the best word to use. Yes, it would be a conversation.
Okay.
And then are you surprised that someone of the Mormon faith would go on the show?
You know you have this kind of like, I mean, obviously I know enough about the Mormon church to uh speak to it. Incredibly generous people, an insanely close community, like the very tight knit community, and the Church of Latter day Saints is the one of the biggest givers of funds too in g o's around the world, like just insanely generous. And so, you know, I think I'll
say this, I'm going to make an assumption. This would this would be like a really big topic that like like religious studies would have to like go into.
I would say, with this.
Kind of new era of this new generation coming up within the Mormon Church, I think we've seen them be more accepting of being in the social scene, right. We just we're seeing more and more people put their faith out there, talk about it and go on shows or have shows.
You know. So I don't know, I am.
I would say the one thing here that is interesting to me that I would have probably asked if I was grant just because of my lack of knowledge, would have been that question, well.
Would I have to convert to Well, no, it would be the question.
Of you would have been you obviously know that I'm not a you know, a practicing Mormon, and so for you to come on this show, like what was your expectations of me and our relationship when you came on the show, knowing that I didn't practice this same faith.
So obviously she has to be okay with the thought.
Yeah, that would be my assumption.
That's what I'm getting to is like, I'm assuming that she thought about this, that she walked through this. Maybe she never knew how far she would go, and so she's like, I'll just confront it when I need to confront it. And this seemed like a good time. But I would have asked that conversation if I was Grant, like what were you thinking?
Then? I mean, this is a big deal, right, Also.
We get from this conversation that, I mean, the standout moment to me was that he has a faith in God for sure, and just so emotional. He gets so emotional. I feel so emotional when he says that, you know, he really wants to have dinner at the table with his family and that he didn't really have this when he grew up. He would take his dinner to his bedroom and eat alone and then talk to God in those moments, and I was like, I'm destroyed.
How beautiful is he?
Well, it's beautiful that he has a relationship with God and that that's what and you know that in those moments he wasn't like I'm going to go and like play a video game and seclude myself further into like all this whole life, but that he reached out and it was so faithful still like and I mean faithful about like his future and his belief in God and all that, and that he craved connection.
I mean some would say that God speaks the loudest in the quietest of moments, and it sounds like Grant spent a lot of time in quiet, And I think when you slow down and spend some time in quiet, I think God shows up, or at least you can hear it. And so there's probably even though Grant didn't really speak of his strong like I wake up every day, like he kind of like spoke to this checklist that he would have to do to say that he had a strong faith.
Yeah, he said, I don't have my nine PM prayers.
Yeah, from my perspective, his you know what, Like from what I've heard from there, his faith is so strong, yeah, And that the checklist isn't at all, at least within the Christian tradition, something that is a marker of how strong or how weak your faith is. It's those quiet
moments that you've spend with God. And so I'm listening to Grant there and I'm like, dude, like you've had you have had this, Like there's a reason that you're kind, that you're considerate, that your introspective, that you seem to be caring so deeply for the women that are involved in this process, even though this process is so goofy.
You you recognize the humanity that exists with than these women and as a result, like we're seeing that as as a lead, and like that's what's making you a good lead because I can tell you care, which I will.
Also say is probably why the ending is so bad. Hard for him, like a man o man. He doesn't realize how much he's going to care, and that could.
Be a problem.
Ben Ben Ben. It was like in that moment, I was like, I'm so glad this guy's the bachelor, and then in the back of my mind, I was like, how could he?
How could he?
How does he go from this conversation too? I don't know if I'm going to pick her and it's not like just her, Like how do you go from like this is this beautiful moment? This is beautiful moment. I can't say it any other way to being like I'm going to make a decision so frivolously, like just so.
I think we see a lot.
I'll tease this for the rest of this season and and hopefully the Bachelor's producers are listening to this and can like give us a little high five. And I mean it when I say this. I think the last few episodes of this season are going to be memorable, captivating, incredible storytelling and really like where you're on the edge of your seat hoping for that episode to drop next
week because you want to know what happens. I think we're about to get a really raw version of Grant that I am excited to see.
He's going to be so uncomfortable. He hasn't really been uncomfortable yet.
Yeah, he's about to get out of this like kind of like smooth from good looking guy like he's he's had that the whole season and it's been great. I think we're about to see Grant break and that's I mean, I've been there. That's when the season gets real, and I think we're about to see it.
Ashlely, for the.
Sake of time, we got to jump to this group day Now, there's obviously some drama that comes up at this group date, circling around a topic that's been the.
Topic for the last few weeks here.
Zoe doesn't have a one on one this week, so we come into this group day kind of expecting her to be the main focus of this group day. However, to everybody's disappointment, at least the cast, she wasn't because there's one other person that's feeling pushed aside. Actually, after weeks of engaging in this show, and after weeks of talking through this with co hosts and fans of the show, at any point during this group.
Day, did you feel like Carolina was doing one anything wrong? That's the best way I know how to describe it. And two are you annoyed by her?
Or do you get it? Well?
I've defended her a lot, thinking that like the girls were to a certain extent like ganging up on her, especially when like a lot of the issues started with her relationship with Rose and Rose telling her something weird and them saying that she was monopolizing time when I actually thought that she needed to use the time to get some answers. This is probably the episode in which I'm like Okay, Carolyn, I you probably do need to chill the hell out. I still think that there might
be a little of reaction. The only overreaction I really felt was Dina was like, do you not have free will? And like because she wanted her to admit that she had the free will to tell Grant, Hey, I'm just having a sad moment, but please don't don't give your time to me, because I want you to give your time to the other girls. We should all be having time. I was like, Okay, well, like Carolina says, not in the history of the Bachelor, has anybody said, oh, please
don't give me your time. I would much prefer all our time to be equally divided. Please go back to the other girls while I'm having this sad moment. Like, that's the kind of thing where I was like, you know, I still can see I understand Carolina's point. If he's coming to her, he's going she's going to take advantage of the time. Now. I didn't care for Carolina in this episode because I think this was like the first time where she wasn't a She really wasn't a team player.
There's a difference between getting more time with the lead because of like this and that, but like for you to be like, oh, you know, I'm just down and out, So I'm just gonna sit out on the activities. That is kind of begging for that's just begging for special treatment. And Grant is kind of too nice not to give into it.
Yeah, well I think he has to give into it. I mean one of the fears is the lead, and it's been this way. I've talked almost every lead is these group dates at the end get really awkward because there's only five people on them, and all five of these women you've probably other than this.
Is four and was there four but four or five, I don't know.
You have a one on one with all of them.
So you have these close relationships and now you're like at the end and you're like, let's still have a group date. It's very awkward. It's a very weird environment. Uh and it and it just feels tough. And so one of the hopes I remember, at this exact date during my season, all of us were standing together and I said, here's a deal. This is awkward and this
is weird for all of us. Yeah, this is going to be so much easier if we just slap on our good attitudes and try to have the best time possible, because if not, this could be like rough. We all know that, we all we all know we're walking on this like fine line between all of us getting mad at each other and falling into the deep end. And so can we just put on our good attitudes for
this thing and have the best time possible. Yeah, And that's kind of what your hope is as the lead for this date specifically, is can we just get through this because none of us really want to be here doing what we're doing today. Well, so for Carolina to pull this kind of sit aside, I get it from her perspective. She's just down, like she doesn't want to be there. She's making it very well known. She's kind of like this is pointless.
I'm watching it, no, you.
Know what I mean. She does the opposite of Juliana, like she can't put on the happy face.
She can't put on the happy face.
And she says this thing to Grant where she says, I just see all these other relationships far past ours, and so I'm wondering what I'm doing here. And I think that's what she's really feeling, is she's sitting there going, am I just sticking around for a Row ceremony because maybe it's just better for me to leave now in this moment because he obviously cares more about some other people that are on this show right now.
Yeah. The issue with her is that she's always needing validation. Every week, she needs a new solo moment with him to get validation, and she's just constantly feeling like, are we not up to par? Are we not up to part? I was like, I just like, maybe you're you Just if that's how you're feeling, you're just not connecting.
Yeah, yeah, maybe you're not at the par and you should go home, which from me watching it this week, I felt like she wanted to go home. I think she, in a sense wanted Grant to tell her, Hey, you're right, let's just call it here. You're good, Like pack the bags, get out.
Of here, okay.
But I don't think her ego can handle wanted to handle getting eliminated at a Rose ceremony, which is maybe why she wanted to continuously have one on one time with him. Be Like, if it's gonna end, it's gonna end with us too. Right here, I am not getting eliminated at a rose.
That's fair too.
Then yeah, then show off and say no, I'm out, Like, hey, this is this is it for me?
Peace out, everybody. I'm sending myself home.
The rest of the conversation around this drama, it did feel like the girls are over. They're exhausting themselves on a topic that is not worth focusing on too much. Yes, she's taking up some time. However, it feels it did feel like, at least from what we saw on the show, they are isolating her. They're not really letting her say anything without it being the wrong thing to say. I think they're frustrated with her. And then the argument of that somebody will give up their time for somebody else
out of fairness is absolutely ridiculous. That's never happened, it never will happen, and you don't think of stuff that way.
Now I understand the crux of what Dina was trying to say, which is like I stood up for you. I didn't understand while the other girls had an issue. I was trying to be understanding of you, and now like you've crossed my line, like you have been absolutely ridiculous. And then it's nice to see them makeup in the final you know scenes of the show in which we can we can quickly go through who gets eliminated. We would have said that we were shocked to see Alex
leave a couple weeks ago. She's the classic had the first one on one situation where we get like very tied up with the person who goes first, and we're like, that's the one that sets the precedent right, and it feels so strong because we haven't seen him really have a one on one with anyone else, any like sort of long term, in depth conversation with anyone else, so we immediately think that that person is gonna they've got it right, but she has fallen down the steps, so
to speak, over the past few weeks. And then Sarah Fina I always kind of knew last week. It was like, oh, this is a date, they're gonna have fun, but she's not getting to hometowns. And then Carolina, you know, she that's it. It was it was time, and I think that he did take some of the warnings from the other girls to heart when it came to.
Her final thoughts.
As we close out this episode, Ashley's top four was Zoe Alex, Carolina, and Nissi, so she had one of four. My final four was Zoe, Alex, Alisha, Rebecca, so Zoe is the one that got us into the final four for both of us. Finally, this season has been rushed. There was only twenty five women, seven of them sent home on the first night, four in the second. This is an unusual situation because historically the Bachelor is nine to thirteen episodes. Joey had eleven, Grant will only have nine.
Thirty women are usually standard.
So, yes, we were right, there is a unique The math is mathing because it's a unique season.
For the Bachelor. Shorter, less women, less women being eliminated.
You know what, you guys, you should have had an extra episode and not given us a women tell all. I'm sure there's a woman tell all coming our way and we're gonna be annoyed by it. Also, last thought, Zoe, she's got to be one of the very few people in Bachelor history you get to hometowns without having a one on one date. Should be the first. Yeah, I don't think she's the first, but she's one of few. All Right, well, guys, we are going to go to
an episode with Alicia. If you remember her, she was a shock elimination week two, so stay tuned for that episode and we'll be back with more this week.
Until then, I've been Ben and I've been Ashley. Bye.
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