A Dramatic new Dating Show

a spa. Yes, But I'm glad you're home. I'm glad you're back. By the way, thank you for giving me a mention while I was gone. I loved what you said about how we take time to do things that are important to each of us, to have girls trips, have guys trips, and I like missing you. It's nice to miss you. It was one of the things that I loved quickly about you is that your friends are dear to you. You make them a priority along with your family, and that was clear that, Hey, you still

need to keep your life. I'm going to keep mine. They will blend clearly, and that's one of the beautiful things about a relationship, but we also got to keep our separate lives going for our individuality but also to feed our soul in those ways. And I love that.

It's an important balance to find because I do think people sometimes you walk that dangerous line of thinking opposites attract and then you wind up with somebody who you have nothing in common with, Like you have to like to do the same things, but at the same time, you have to have your own things, because it's exciting to tell somebody about your day and to show them something you love and teach them about it. And in

this case, I loved tequila and girlfriends. But anyway, we also talk about I could go on a rant about this, but you know what we talk about a lot is the difference between a girl's trip and a guy's trip. Like I always say, when me and my girlfriends go on a trip, the activity is talking, right. We are talking the whole time. We are diving in like how

is your marriage, what's going on with you? We get deep, we probably cry at some point, and then when you come back from like a guy's golf, Guys base their trips on an activity, right, So our activity is we're going hunting, we're going fishing, we're going golfing. So we have an activity and around that there might be some talk possibly that goes deep. But we have an activity, whereas your activity is we're going to be together and just talk. Well, we could really dig into all this.

It might be a whole episode on its side. Do this someday because it is fascinating and how women talk and will actually well, I don't want to go too far, but we will get into this someday. I think sleeping arrangements are very interesting to me, and that I don't want to scratch the surface, because once we get going, we will dive into this rabbit hole. It is award season, Elsie. You are obviously deep into this world, having worked at entertainment tonight for the better part of a decade. Well

you are too, mister. You did money Red Carpets for Team I did actually a little known fact because very little of you watched this, but I was on the Red carpet for TV Guide. I executive produced and hosted the Red Carpet for TV Guide for many years. So obviously did the Globes, the SAG Awards, which were last night. The Grammys and the Oscars. Those are the big four of the redheaded step children. The SAG Awards are kind of the lesser known, lesser talked about publicly but privately

within Hollywood. It is a very time honored tradition because it's so personal. It is the Screen Actors Guild. Well, what's interesting is a lot of people are saying that this awards show last night was just a really good show, like that the speeches were fun, that it was just enjoyable to watch. I mean, of course, we get into the most dramatic headlines every week, and what's more dramatic

than a bunch of actors in a room together. But you and I wanted to talk about it because it's interesting too, Like one, you know, we talk about both being in TV, not just the content itself, but how people receive it. And we were wondering how many people were going to watch these SAG Awards because it was live streamed on Netflix's YouTube channel. I went and checked it had almost a million views as of Monday morning. What do you think, mister ratings guy? You always follow

the ratings. You follow TV ratings for a long time. I mean, look, I know a certain show that doesn't get three million viewers. So for something online to get a million viewers, and that's really kind of where the standard is now. So it's interesting to me that they have leaned into and you said they're going to come on Netflix next year, on lave next year, it's going to be live streamed on Netflix's main I mean, not

just on Netflix. It's look, we've both seen this business go through so much change over the past couple of years. I mean, I don't think people don't awards shows like the Oscars the Emmys, even though you have the biggest stars in the world. I don't think they're going to ever get the numbers they once did, but people do still talk about it online. I mean, it kind of sucks for the broadcast networks because people don't watch the main show and that's where they get their advertising dollars.

But and I'll be as we're about to sit here and talk about it, you and I did not watch the SAG Awards. We're just looking at the clips this moment. Ironically, I was on Netflix. I was watching the new season of Drive to Survive, which I'm addicted to, which is phenomenal, and I'm not even a car guy. I just love the soap opera storylines of it. I think it's a great reality show. But yeah, I was on Netflix but

not watching the SAG Awards. Yes, and look to your point is it's not a novelty anymore to see the big stars. When I was growing up, and it's not that long ago, the only time you could see big stars Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, George Clooney, whatever was if you tuned in to the Red Carpet, if you tuned into the Big Show. Now, it was the only opportunity

to see them in kind of a natural moment. I mean, interviews aren't the most natural, but an interview, yes, at the time it was novel, and now it's not even noiving a speech because of social media, because of you know, just just this saturation of ways that we can get to these celebrities. There are very few that have kept their distance. I mean, you don't hear a lot of Tom Hanks, But even a guy like Tom Hanks, I've

seen him. I've seen him on the round table, I've seen him doing certain things now where I just see him more so if I see him on the Red Carpet, it's not like, oh my gosh, I haven't. I haven't seen this guy speak outside of this movie in a year. And even Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise was on Netflix's special last night. He was on Drive to Survive. When else would you ever see Tom Cruise? A guy like Tom Cruise? But he was in the pits of the Mercedes drivers

last night. He was not at the Sagoars. He was not. I don't know if he was nominated. Actually, if not, he should have been for Top Gun. Was he? I don't think he was nominated Top Guns should have been nominated. I'm not sure. I'm gonna have to look this up really quick. But anyway, so people don't watch it as much, but the little, you know, speeches still go viral. We still talk about the red carpet looks. By the way,

shout out to my personal faves. I don't know if he looked up the looks, but Zendea, Quinta Brunson, Haley Lou Richardson from The White Lotus looked at me saying given a shout out to a couple of guys. Austin Butler rock in a great suit and Eddie Redmain had like a big bow tie situation and I enjoyed it. So there were some good looks. Zendan Quinton Brunson just never missed. What were there two of my favorites? What were the big storylines? Because you know from the Golden

Globes we kind of got a hint of things. But now when you get to the SAG Awards, you get those through lines from award show to award theme. Yes, at which I do love. There tends to be a theme that comes out of an award season because the same movies are nominated in each show, and so you kind of see the same people and you get these stories.

And the one that I am loving this year is actually across a couple of different properties, and you got to see it at SAG because they award TV and film, right, But is this theme of a second chance later in life?

We saw Brendan Fraser when Last Night for the Whale and you know, Star of the Mummy, Star of School Ties and all these movies when he was like young and mussle and then we didn't see him for a long time and now he's come back in the Renaissance and he spoke in his speech he won about the courage to hold on and to keep going and to put one foot in front of the other and that things will happen. And then Kihui Kwan, who we all

know from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. He was a child star, he was in the goonies, and then he basically said there were not, unfortunately terribly opportunities for him as an Asian actor in Hollywood, so he disappeared for decades, and now decades later he's back winning as a first the first time ever an Asian actor has won in Best Supporting for Everything, everywhere, all at once, and he gosh, I mean, he's tearing up in his speech talking about again how he got this chance and

he didn't think it would happen for him. And then Jennifer Coolidge wins for the White Lotus cracks everybody up. And she's a woman who is the hottie Stiffler's mom in American Pie. She's been legally ever disappoints in her speeches. No, I mean from every speech I've heard, I hang on every word is. I never know what's coming out of her mouth next. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's sentimental. I love her speeches. She's She's been a great breath of

fresh air this awards. But listen to what you just said. I love that, a breath of fresh air, fresh air from someone who is I think Jennifer Cooldge is in her sixties and she's talking about how she's getting this second chance. And by the way, as we all know in Hollywood, opportunities for women tend to get less as they get older. Yeah. So it's just been this beautiful, like inspiring thing of it doesn't have to be over.

And I love that because I mean, I always try to tell myself, I can't wait to see what's next. The best is yet to come, and what you know, well, let's let's be real, Chris Harrison, you're seventeen years older than me, is the best? What's yet to go? I'm excited. It's funny. I just texted this to my daughter this morning, that when you wake up and life gives you a clean slate, I find that an excite time. She just went through something where she has a clean slate in life.

So did I emotionally when you and I went through what we went through, and while it sucked, and I would not wish that on anybody, and I didn't want to go through that that way. I relish a clean slate in life and sticking with your passion, sticking with what you love and going for that is I think extraordinary and it takes a lot there. I was watching golf yesterday. There's this thirty seven year old man, Chris Kirk, who won for the first time in eight years. He's

thirty seven. That's really getting old as far as professional golfers. On the PGA tour. You're kind of hoping to get to fifty to get to that senior tour. And he's not a big star, And so what is it within certain people that they will just continue to grind and go with this passion. I feel excited about a clean slate. And I don't know if Jennifer Coolidge felt like that that way, because she's been, you know, staying in this business. But I just find it interesting. I think we view light.

We all view life is very linear, right, which makes sense because it's time and it happens linearly as we see it every day. But your career, you know, I don't know. I grew up thinking and my parents weren't wrong for this, but like work hard and do well and work your way up in your industry. But acting, especially the business weren't in, is so not linear. Like you can have zero opportunities and then all of a sudden everything can change, or you can be like a

child star and then the opportunities fade away. So it's not linear. And I think they're showing like this award season is showing a change in Hollywood, like a celebration that you can be older and still be doing exciting new things. And I love that because gosh, if we're not like continuing to grow and evolve as people and get better and experience more and learn, than what else are we doing? You know? Life is like the stock market. It's like it's a roller coaster ride. It's not this

slow ascension straight up. There are severe ups and downs. You did tell me the other day, you said that you texted your dad that you were really happy right now. I did, ye. I am as happy as I have ever been in life. Love professionally. I love having this podcast. I love having this platform. I love doing it with you. I love that a woman stopped me in the gym this morning and said, Chris, I'm listening to your podcast. I love hearing from you. I love hearing from Lauren

and so I love the impact this is head. So I love where we are right now. Yeah, and this too shall pass and change yes and on to the next. Oh. I saw this great quote from Tom Hanks. Let's circle back too on that panel. Yes, And he said that this thing that sticks with him is this too shall pass in both ways, like, this too shall pass. If you're going through a tough time, at shall pass. And if you're going through a good time, that will pass too.

So enjoy the moments and appreciate where you're at. Yeah, when the critics are crushing you, this too shall pass. But he said, when you win an oscar, this too shall pass. Yes. Very interesting. One bone to pick with the SAG Awards. I've always had this issue with the SAgs, which I have covered. I've been on the red carpet. Here comes the drama. I'm a member of SAG. Are you you are too? So where do you think I'm getting my health insurance? We are both SAG after members.

I have been a SAG member for many years. They never recognize reality TV shows. The SAgs represent and celebrate TV and film, and they've just never given into the reality World. And I remember back in the early two thousands when we were really crushing it, Idol was crushing it, some of these other shows were really picking up steam, and I thought they were going to give in like the Emmys did, and they just never have relented in that way. So there's no reality TV categories. None. None.

That's such a good point, because yeah, it's SAG AFTRA, I mean, which they combined years ago to include like radio televisions. Well, I promise Ryan Seacrest Bergier on me, felk. I mean, we're all SAG members. You have to be by the way, because shows, I mean to explain it, the way shows work is their union shows. So you have to be a union member in order to work

on these shows. And you're right, there's no reality TV kind of that's my only bone to pick, and I think that is obviously it's it's something a part of the industry that was we were the call girl, oh if you will of the business. Sure, people love to sleep with us, but no one wanted to talk to us in the morning. They didn't want to bring you out to dinner, they didn't want to take us out in public. That's how people looked at reality TV. I'll never forget the way the president of ABC spoke of

The Bachelor in those early days. It was like almost apologetic, And now everybody's kind of leaned into it, and even some of the biggest stars in our business are doing reality shows. So I'm kind of shocked that the SAgs have just never gone that direction. Well, we have talked before too about I mean, I'm looking up at at our mantle right now. You have an Emmy nomination for

when you hosted Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. But I when I was covering the show, always had a bone to pick with the Emmys about the fact that The Bachelor, you guys never won, were you ever even nominated, never nominated for anything in any category, which is nuts. You're the number one reality TV show, the work the crew did, the production value of The Bachelor, it is nuts that it was never nominated. It takes a big campaign.

We never leaned into the campaign of it all. I mean, look, the politics of it is this, and I'm surprised we didn't at least get nominated. I agree with that, but if the people this is hard politically to say. If the person that's running the show is not very popular in this business, You're not going to get the votes.

You're talking you're talking about saying body. I'm just saying anybody, any show, if the person running it, the person that created it, is not a popular person and somewhat disliked in this business, you're not going to get the votes. Bruckheimer did amazing Race. They won at nauseum, to the point where I was there one year and people were kind laughing because American Idol was the Michael Jordan of reality TV for a while. It should have just won

every year. It was just, yeah, it changed television. It changed all kinds of things about our business. And it you know, it wasn't winning year in a year out. It was amazing Race, not that amazing Race. Wasn't a beautiful show and shot well and all that. But I was disappointed that we didn't win for direction art, you know, even some of just the peripheral awards. But yeah, No, Bachelor was just completely ignored during awards season, and they

leaned into it for a while. All of a sudden, warners like, oh, we're gonna try and win an Emmy. I'm like, no, we're not. Like if if you didn't win By. Now, if you weren't recognized by now, clearly you're not liked, you're not going to be nominated. Well it's you and Tom Cruise. I'm just confirming here in the SAG list. Okay, top Gun Maverick was nominated for stunt on Somble in a Motion Picture. I remember. It's only, of course, like performance nominations for the SAG Awards, it's

about acting that stunt. What was that category, stunt onsemble. I didn't even know stunt onsemble was a thing, but that when top Gun Maverick did not get an ensemble nomination overall, wow, um, Tom Cruise not nominated. It's it's always interesting to me awards shows struggle to acknowledge the biggest movies there are. They don't. That's why the Golden Globes got it right. It's a cocktail party and we don't care. The foreign press Hollywood forign press is like,

we don't care. We're just we're going to bring the biggest stars in the world, whatever movie they were in, we want them on the red carpet. Well, there was a lot they got wrong, so a lot they need to work on, but they got the big movie thing. Right. But one of the things that the SAG's got wrong is not representing reality shows. Speaking of reality shows, there is a new one on the horizon. It is out. It's on Fox. It is called Farmer Wants a Wife. You have worn a plaid shirt for it here. I

have warned plaid shirt to look like a farmer. And we are authentic because we're shooting this in Austin, Texas. We moved here just for this. No, So I watched Farmer Once a Wife. We watched it separately, actually to get because we didn't run to watch it together so we could get our thoughts on this. It immediately gave me Chris Souls vibes right back. Took me back to the day with Farmer Chris Souls who lived in Iowa. Farmer and I went to his house. We shot there.

We were in Iowa, and the closest town, my hotel, was a good hour away from his house. And that was a small town. So the closest he's coming to a Starbucks, a good bar, a restaurant. It's an hour away. So I get this life of farmer needs a wife because farmer ain't meeting anybody unless it has four legs and some hoofs. So it is difficult, I get it. So but it took me back to that show, which I loved. I loved doing that with christ Souls Farmer

Once a Wife. We sat down, we watched it. It instantly gave me the Bachelor meets Yellowstone vibes, but with four bachelors. And you're right, I thought of Christuls too, because it made me realize how real his struggle was. These guys, these four guys on Farmer Once a Wife, they're kind of farmers, ranchers. I don't know the difference between, like they have cattle, I don't know. But they are living in the middle of nowhere. One guy says his

closest neighbor is two miles away. I'm telling you that's I went to Chris's house. It's that's legit. And and by the way, it's not even getting on a road. You're getting on a dirt road then to get to someone else's right. So I have to give this show credit on that. I believe it was something I did struggle with when covering Bachelor Bachelorette, was believing the reality that these people were actually struggling to find love, like

I'll never forget sitting interviewing. I used to interview the leads on their first photoshoots, so before filming had started. They're taking their promo photos as the Bachelor Bachelorette, and I'm sitting there with the wonderful Jojoe Fletcher, who we love. But at the time I had to say to her, I'm just meeting her, and I said, I gotta ask you. You know you're I think she was twenty four. You're

twenty four, gorgeous, You've barely gotten out of college. You're beautiful, you're fun, you're kind, You're really struggling to find a date. This is you're really struggling to find the one. I mean at twenty four, you've barely You're not even like you've barely been looking for the one yet you haven't even put in that much time. So that was something

I struggled with believing on the show. Jordan Rodgers would argue, yes, but with these guys, I mean also, there are four guys all in their thirties, Hunter, Alan, Ryan, and Landon. Those are your four farmers. And the way this is set up, they've they've already done at This is interesting because getting into these shows is always the difficult part as a producer, And so what I liked is they've done some some leg work already. They've shown these guys

some films, some tapes, some pictures, what have you. They narrow it down to eight, So we start with eight, then they narrow it down to five that first episode, and those five are immediately moving in with these farmers, not to the glorious mansion you know in quote unquote Malibu, you're moving on to their farm immediately. They're going straight to hometowns. Yes, so they basically kind of did interviews

on paper and then narrowed it down. You do not pass goo, you do not get an overnight fantasy suite, and you're not get a balloon ride or a nice beach. You're going straight to the farm. Straight to that. Honestly, I mean they are literally shoveling, Yes, and we're probably going to bleep out me saying that, but I don't know how manure they're They're shoveling manure metaphorically and literally right away. You rarely ever cuss. It's kind of sexy

when you do. Wow, Well, we're gonna take a time out and come benou so well, yeah, and they get right into it. And also, like I said, these guys are all in their thirties, so I really the believability factor on this show for me was pretty high in terms of I felt like this is real. These guys really have not been able to find someone. Also, all the contestants were a little bit older. Which look, I'm not saying, of course, in your twenties you deserve to

find love and you should be looking for it. But if we're talking about if we're basing this around the narrative of I haven't been able to find love, I find it more believable with people who are a bit older, because I think you've literally spent the time searching. Well, I've done. I did little research on this show. I wasn't aware it's already in thirty five countries Farmer once a Wife. Yes, it's already around the world, and so it's sometimes a concept will either be created in America

taken around the world, like the Bachelor Bacherette. But sometimes we get a foreign concept and international concept and bring it to America. And so this has worked around the world and now oddly it's just coming to America. You would think a show like this would have started here

because we're you know, we're so into the heartland. It always brings up that interesting fish out of water scenario in dating, where you're you have the country boys and then you have these women from La New York, you know, cosmopolitan in their high heels, their beautiful white tennis shoes, walking through the muck and the mud. And it brings up an interesting point in relationships, is it? And do you believe in birds of a feather stick together or

do you believe in opposite attract? Oh, we were just talking about earlier. Yes, um, are you asking me? Yeah? I mean, and I think I think maybe both are applicable at times. Well, I think that you have to find someone who challenges you, like someone who maybe and maybe balances you out, has qualities other like you are much calmer than I am, so I'm less dramatic, which is great for us. But you know, I think, as I said before, I think it's about finding someone who

likes to do the same things. Maybe your personalities balance each other out, but you have to be in common and how you like to live on, what you want to get out of life, how you want to live your life, like that's the big question for these people. Do you want to really come live on a farm? Right? And do you really want to be shoveling the ship every day? Because this is real and I love that

they dropped them right in the middle of it. I also kind of you know, another criticism of people on reality dating shows has been are they just in it for the fame? But these guys, I'm like, yeah, there's no fame here and these are their real jobs. I mean, one guy's like, I am a fourth generation farmer. This is my family's farm. I was thinking. No part of me was thinking, oh, these guys are just trying to move to LA and get a career as an influencer.

Like I believe that this is what they're really doing. There was one thing that stood out to me because I felt like it was standing out to you, Oh you're watching it, thinking of how I was watching. Yeah, can you think of what that was that stood out to me? Where I'm like, oh, she's she's gonna talk about Oh it's a little but I wrote it down to the stupid saying red, next thing say stupid, But I didn't understand them. I think one guy said, did

you write it down. What were they What did they say? So? One farmer said, Ashley's just cuter than a speckled pup sleeping under the shade of a wagon wheel. Okay, now say it is if you would actually say it, Ashes just cut and a speckled pup sleeping under the shade of a wagon wheel. This is when you're born in Dallas, Texas. Side comes out. Chris will say things, you guys, and

I don't know what they mean. The one that gets me every time is you will say, is if, like, in all seriousness, I'm so hungry I could eat the crotch out of a loafly and duck. I do say that from time to time. What does that mean? I don't Honestly, I don't know, and I don't know where it came from. They were just sayings in my family. Um, yeah, crotch happier in clam. There was another saying that I have used before. He got it slightly wrong on the show.

More nervous than a cat and a roomfull of rocking chairs. It is a I think the correct redneck saying is more nervous than a long tailed cat and a room full of rocking chairs. But that was Also, I just knew. I knew that was going to stand out to you, those redneck sayings. I didn't even know a long tailed cat was a real thing. Farmer wants a wife. Yes, I look it again, it felt very real to me.

I'll be interested to see what happens. The question also for these farmers is like, on the very first episode, one of the guys, one of the first women he picks is the woman who says she's from New York and she's never even touched a horse. And I'm thinking, Okay, well, buddy, we see what your problem is. And that's also the question, right, can we pick correctly for ourselves? Well, I'm in. I will continue to watch. I'm curious to see how this

social experiment goes. And speaking of where we're gonna go, we're going to take a break when we come back. Speaking of Fox, Jenny McCarthy is going to join me on the show today. She's on the panel of Mass Singer. She has her own podcast, slash radio show. She always has something great to say, and I can't wait to dive in with Jenny McCarthy when we come back. Jenny McCarthy, Oh, are you welcome to Welcome to the most dramatic podcast ever. I could not wait. Can I tell you what sex dinner?

You calling in from the mood lighting behind you? The blue. Now, there's two sex stands in this house, but this one is for broadcasting. Okay, go great. What where are you? I'm in my basement in which sat in Saint Charles, Illinois, which is about an hour and a half outside of Chicago, and if you will, close to pretty much rural Illinois. You know, Laurenzima, my fiance is from Elgin. Oh my god, that's like literally twenty minutes. You guys are neighbors. That's

why you're both phenomenal people, good Midwestern women. Congratulations on another season of The mass Singer. Thank you very much. I'm so lucky and blessed because this show is like, it's finally something where I can feel proud well, and it gets to the point and I don't think you ever fully do this, but you can also relax a little bit in that you know it's going to come back.

You know, I remember that tipping point of The Bachelor, when you are in the middle of taping You're like, I wonder if we'll do this again once you get to the point where you can actually enjoy the fact that you're already going to know it there are another season's on the way. Is exciting, it's it's absolutely but you know, in show business the show might go on, but you might not. So you think our show is going to go on without Jenny mccarthur, You're out of

your mind. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You know, the biggest blessing has been people around the country coming up to me and saying, wow, you know, for the first time in a very long time. Sometimes ever, my child has left their computer at their phone comes in next to me to watch this show like we did back in the old days. My son likes to say, back in the eighteen hundred, think of a crazy concept getting together as a family and watching just a fun show,

right right. And you know it's fun because you know people are in mask and they might be a famous young YouTuber that you know, us old folks might not know. But then you know, we get Dick van Dyke, which we cry, all of us adults know. Do you want to know a secret that I do? Only Lauren Zema knows this. Now I'm going to tell you. Okay, they reached out to me to be on the mask thing or this season. What, Yeah, well you didn't do it?

Why well, I don't know if we should spoil it that I didn't do it, but um, because I might be just taking off one of the animal heads. True, you could be you could be no. I I they approached me. It is the same casting director that that used to cast Dancing with the Stars, and so I knew her. I've known her for quite some time, and she reached out to me and thought, hey, you know, this might be a good fit for you in this kind of comeback tour. And so that they approached me. Chris,

do you sing? I don't? I mean I do. I sing loud, but not well. And that's that that was leading me to the question. And obviously that's something that the majority of celebrities will worry about, is Hey, I suck at singing, and it's okay because the show is an entertainment show. So it's people like Gronkowski was on right and he made it like almost three rounds. I think he didn't make it three rounds because he was

so magnanimous, he was so had so much fun. He had the audience, you know, in the palm of his hands. So it's really just a matter of if you're having fun, then the viewers having fun. Are they tweaking the voice at all? I mean we do, Do we get a little auto tune? No? Because it is, after all a game show, you know, son, You're right, there are Yeah, there are standards and practices involved, and lawyers get involved, and it has to be all on the up and up. Now.

Mind you, this is coming from someone that has to mouth Happy Birthday at parties because I can't sing right. But I will say the one thing that is different as a panelist, as a judge, they don't really have the speakers near us so the house can hear it. So that's why a lot of times we're leaning in interesting. Yeah, I get that with a little harder. That's why when I watch it at home, I'm like, of course it's so and so you can hear it a lot clearer.

But we take the beatings from you know, you guys on Twitter. It's okay that that just makes for the fun. But that happened to me a lot during the Bachelor, is that, like you said, the speakers would be for the crowd and oftentimes somebody was a low talker, and I couldn't hear, and I would miss little jabs and little things, And you don't realize when you're in that moment.

It's just hard to pick things up in that audience is loud and there's so much going on, and the producers are talking in your ear, So there there is a lot. I have a behind the scenes question though, Yeah, so I love the show. Yes, it would have been better if it were me taking off a pandahead this year and just watching your reaction. But when you guys are guessing, when the panel is guessing, who's who? Who is it? Is that just you guys riffing? Are their

producers telling you? Because it cracks me up when you're like, I think it's Barack Obama. I think it's Beyonce, Now it's Bono those Obama is not going to be on this show. Listen, if the producers were giving us, it's us reaching when we really don't know or can't figure out someone like those. A lot of times, when like I can't remember that actress's name, I don't want to

butcher it right. I don't want to be a meme forever, so you'll pull out a name that no one that everybody knows that everybody that everybody like, is it Charlie Throne therein? Damn it totally? And well, you know, Ken Jong's got this whole thing now where he's just terrible and it's works. You know, Well that's the thing. If you're going to be so bad, you got to be consistent. He can get away with it one hundred percent. Now, mind you, I am very competitive, even though it's a

fluffy game show. I still like compete to get the most right, Like we had golden ears that were given away, yes, and I was like, what we're going to compete is due who gets them? I mean, I'm literally out of my mind. Are there any side bets going on with the judges? No? They I think they've given up pretty much because I'm really that good. You're just dominating. Well, this is the thing. I'm sure those bozo's only read Google alerts about themselves, where as me, I'm a pop

culture you know, the expert. I you know, just having to do radio for seven years doing celebrity news, you learn about everyone's dirt. So when there's clue packages going on, I'm like, oh, I know, who got a divorce recently, or I know who went through that traumatic thing. You pick up on all those things, whereas they really only know about themselves, which I like to make fun of themselves for them. Speaking of your show, that's the last

time I saw you. I was trying to think the last time we were together, and it was at your show in New York at the XM Studios. It's been a while since I've seen you pre COVID all those crazy I know, so it's been a while, so it almost seems like a blurry dream those years doesn't hit missing you, and I always just speak so highly of what an amazing person you have always been, and you're

always such a good supporter. I am gonna I'm gonna do a little titbit of about you Tube for a second, which was Chris came on on the view and I think you're on for a whole week. I was, Yeah, my daughter and I came out, but yeah, I co hosted for a week for a week, and he was so incredible. Of course, it's very good at what he does. But we thought me and Cherry were like, oh my god, we love him. We need to have him as the

first male co host on the view. So we went to bat Me and Cherry were like, we do need the first male calls. It's gotta be Chris. Gotta be Chris. He's amazing and you we were so freaking good. It was so great to have this male perspective. But you did it so well, and I just feel like, now looking back, it would have been the meanest thing. If I've got you right, that would have been a special kind of hell. You introduced me too. But you know

what's funny. I I came out there because so Barbara Walters had this kind of go to executive producer Bill Getty, and you know Bill. So Bill kind of ran the view and he was the behind the scenes guy, and then Barbara was there. So Barbara brought me in that week to co host with you, thinking they were possibly going to add a guy and that I might be that person, and say they brought me in for the

week to kind of just try it out. And so that actually was a topic of discussion for a little time with Barbara and with Bill and this obviously before Barbara left. It was so fun and it was fun back then, you know, it really was fun back then. Yeah, things got contentious but it remained fun and level headed exactly. Well. The interesting thing is behind the scenes on that is you know, when they hired me, they said, you know,

it was a little too polarizing this show. We want to bring a pop culture person to make it light and fluffy. Right, there's no one fluffier than myself. I could like to fluff you are fluffy, you know, nothing too serious and um. Within the first week of you know, bring some pop cultures fun, Barbara was like, I miss fighting. I missed the debate of politics, and they brought it back in and I was After a week, I was like, oh no, this is not it is not for me. Yeah,

this is not. I'm out the best thing you ever did. Oh my god. It's you know, it's like I'm one of those people that you know, um, you ever have those like drunk relatives at the holidays and you kind of get I have, like, you know, trauma. Being in an Irish Catholic family from Chicago, there's always somebody that you're just like and that's what you know, that kind of fighting always made me feel like I have a hard time watching shows that are you know, that kind

of brutal. But you watched and you one thing that we had common. You watched The Bachelor and Bacherette back in the day, and you were into that show, and that those shows can give you that uncomfortable feeling. There's that new show on Fox, Farmer Wants a Wife. I know you love it. I do too, and I know you watched it. There are those uncomfortable moments, but it's somehow all out of love and so you don't feel

so bad. That is absolutely correct, you know. And it's also you have a little bit of compassion for looking at our youths, you know, looking at the younger generation of like having to go through it, like you know, that's easier than someone that's kind of being really vicious and mean. And you got you got these farmers. This guy's poor guys are like in the outskirts of nowhere, and these women are coming in from Ellie'd be like you, Jenny McCarthy rolling up to a ranch in her heels

like scoop and poop and bail and hay. I mean, good luck. And guess what that farmer would have got me because we have a ranch where we do all that kind of stuff, and not necessarily we don't have animals on it yet, but it's we love it. Like the reason why I left La were two reasons. I wanted my son to not be raised by a bunch of crazy people in LA. There's just too much, you know,

it's chaotic. But also I was almost forty and still looking for love, and I was like, you know, in la Um, I just there were so many guys that either if you're if you're forty in LA, you have to date sixty because the forty year olds can date twenty. Right, So I'm like, I don't want to slow down and watch a reel of fortune, yet you know I want to. I have so much in me still and the down to earth feelings I got from Midwest guys. I'm like, you know what, I'm going to go back home and

see if I can find somebody back there. So there is something with this show that I feel like I was trending way before the show, whereas like there's a lot of people that are leaving the big s right, you know, looking for love in and moving to these world places. Well, the show has had such success, and you know, in speaking of your success, and I love the fact that you made a concerted effort to find love.

And that's and if you think, okay, this is v Ginnie McCarthy, sex symbol, Playmate of the Year and she left to make a real effort to find love. That should tell everybody something that you make it a priority. That's right, You absolutely make a priority. Not everyone could pick up and leave, you know, their jobs, but I mean I didn't have a job either. My agent was like, you're what you're leaving, but you can make it a priority wherever you are. I don't think you have to leave.

But to your point, to your credit, I love that. And when you found Donnie, and this is what I'm going to say, an underrated love story. The two of you just man, y'all just fit. I love I love you guys together, and I love what y'all have done. And it's not that you're you know, you're prior relationships were pretty public and you thought, okay, you know, Jenny and Jim could work. They're cute. I see it. And then when you see you and Donnie, you're like, oh,

that that works totally. You know, it's every day. We still get butterflies. We talk about it, we text and FaceTime at least, look, he just texts me right now, I love you. It's constant. We FaceTime sleep together like he's He literally reminds me of me. If there's such thing as mirrors in relationships. Even my family and my friends are like, oh my god. And it you know, it took a long time. I remember putting it out there to the universe saying, you know, okay, I'm done

having to cook anybody like. I don't want anyone medium, rareer. I want them well done. They learn their lessons like I've done the work here now. So the universe bring me the level of vibration that I'm at because I kept bringing guys in that I have to pull up to my vibration I can make. I'm like I just and he turned out to be everything. Speaking of farmer once a wife, because those ladies are making a big commitment to move. Donnie did that for you, right, he

moved to Chicago. I never I And by the way, Chicago doesn't seem like that bad. But when you say Saint Charles, Illinois, which is you know, we've got a main street. It's mom and pop stores. He's an E's Coast guy. He's a city guy. But when he came here. He said, you know what, I've always fell in love with the main street small town and he's like, Illinois corn fields are different than you know, other kind of rulers, but just corn everywhere. But he fell in love. He

literally I said, do you ever want to move? He said, I can never. There's this there's this love. There's this down to earth sensibility. You know what it is. We live our life here. We don't work our life away. We live our life interesting. It's so wonderful, feel like what I get from the show. When I watched it too, I was like, oh, just it. I have a feeling those are going to be a lot of girls are

going to want to date farmers after this. Well, and I to your point, I think it's important for the woman or you know, I guess there's four. If they end up with four, that will not be the square peg in a round hole. Hopefully these farmers will see, don't just get a city girl to get a city girl. It's a girl that you don't need to, as you

put it, bake any further. Like she's actually willing and ready and is a mirror image and ready to blend into this life because you can get the opposite of that, and it won't work. You know, it won't work real quick because when you it's kind of like if you've ever gone on vacation thinking it will destress your mind and you realize, oh, my mind came with me, right, you know, going to a small rural city, your mind

actually is louder. So if you haven't done the work on yourself, those farmers are going to see a real quick that they picked, you know, looks over love if they don't pick right. You're also an amazing parent. And lately you have been talking about twenty year old and we both our kids are about the same age. I have a twenty one year old nineteen year old Evans what twenty twenty? Yeah, twenty it's crazy. And he's venturing off into the world of music only one time so far,

but it is for love. For what he loves music or he's using music to find love. He fell in love. Well, this is the story and I'll make it quick. Yes, his heart got broken by his girlfriend. His girlfriend him, and so he was devastated and put and he's such a big hearted, loving teddy bear. He mourned and put all of his love into this love for his crush.

They's head Forever, which is Selena Gomez, and he wrote these beautiful lyrics and he called me in the room and he said, will you take a look at this love song I wrote for Selena Gomez? And I'm like, oh, that's those are nice little words. I love that. That was very sweet, patted on the head and left. The next thing I know, Johnny said, oh, I'm gonna have

him like sing to this song. And I'm like, really he sings like me though, and he's like, He's like, he sounds really good and those the words are sweet. And the next thing I know, my ex husband who shoots music videos, like, let me put a music video together. And while we've got um, he posted his first song called um it Doesn't Matter under Evan Asher, so if you want to check it out. But Selena Gomez hasn't contacted him yet, this is a great story to follow

up on. Oh God, and every single every two hours he asked me if I've heard from Selena Gomez. That's funny. Well, so I guess it begs the question then, because I am in this camp too with my kids of how far you go? Right? You want to help your kids. You want to push their dreams and goals and all those things, but there's a point where you could, you know, get diminishing returns and you can almost hurt them at times. And you know, Donnie obviously very well connected the music world.

You are connected in the media and so and it sounds like your ex husband has jumped in. So that's a lot you have to try and weigh. That was that difficult for you, guys? No, because I know that music isn't necessarily his passion. He loves He's in college right now for videography. He does really good job with his YouTube channel, Gaming USA, and he films. He loves filming that whenever I see a spark in him, I will put everything I've got behind it. Yeah, this was

a family affair to help heal someone's heart. You know, this is this is more or less why we all came to there's a family because my stepson, his stepbrother. I wrote the melody, the music to it, and so it was a family affair of just you know, making even feel better and wanting him to send a song

to his crush. This is like the new age dysfunctional Partridge family completely And you know, It takes a lot for me not to just like call her agent or publicist to say, how don't you just so it's you know, I'm not like pounding social media yet. Yeah, but I'm like, let's just give it a few weeks of let's give it like a good month and see if you can just do this and reach out and you know, maybe you'll get a follow or maybe you'll just get a heart.

It sounds like you are in a wonderful place in life. You just seem like you have this balance. This even this about you is that accurate? That is one hundred percent accurate. I'm so grateful every day. I'm like, I'm so grateful. I love I love myself, I love my family. I'm grateful for health, I'm grateful for my job. It's just I'm really at that place. And it took a lot of work because there's been a lot of a lot of crap in my life that I have put up with. But it's you know, it's not how you

get knocked down, it's how you get up. And I just keep getting up. Yeah, I was tell my kids, it's a roller coaster ride. It's not just this simple straight ascent that life doesn't treat you like that. It's true, and you know, and you get your feelings hurt. And the thing is, you don't run away and quit. You just get up and keep going. And I felt like I'm always going to be a juggernaut. You know, I'm just gonna just keep Oh you don't want me, I'm

going I'm find someone that does. I'm gonna keep going. You know, it's been thirty years in this business. You know when I've read numerous Oh, her fifteen minutes are up, her fifteen minutes are up. Well, I'm still here. I'm not betting against you, thanks Chriss. I'm still leading at Wahlburger's. Damn it. By the way, I when I was shooting Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? In Vegas? I would we would shoot. I would stay at Caesar's. But it's behind it's actually kind of in front of balleys, and

we've shot behind ballot, we shoot into the night. We'd get done inevitably on our way home, it's like, well, there's Wallburgers. We'd stop grab a burger. And by the way, it's a good burger. It's a good burg I'm gonna give it a little promo Wallburgers. Yeah, it's a good burger. Tell Donnie, I'm giving. I'm a plug. I totally will to. Speaking of plugs, I do want to ask you a question about the Farmer Show, Jennifer. What do you think

of her as a host? I spoke to Jennifer, and uh, she's going to be on one of the shows this week as well. She was great, I was, I thought, and I told her this, it's easy. It's easy to look like a fish out of water in those moments you get the country singer. I get it, it's a country show, but it's not that simple to blend in. I think she did a great job. I told her, I want more nettles. They didn't give me enough. They didn't give me enough. She came on screen, so she is,

by the way, lovable, likable, all those things. But sometimes you don't read that on screen. Yeah, you absolutely do. Like the fact everyone was excited to see her. I mean, she's one of those people. It's like, I'd love to meet someone that doesn't love Jennifer Nows because because then she's just someone who hates puppies. I mean, how do you not trite Jennifer Neddles. She was She was great

and she is lovely. She's talented as can be. But I told her it is not an easy thing just because you're a country girl to come on a country show. She she did it. She did it very well. She's talented and you know what she really is. You know what's interesting, Chris With these dating shows too, it's like, in the beginning, you see these farmers like, oh my god, I get be doing all these girls. Oh my god,

with all these girls was so much fun. But then you see that turn when it gets hard to let people go, and that's you know, it's a very humbling moment for to watch. Well, we used to tell The Bachelor, it's like, yeah, you're all excited, you're dating thirty girls. That means you're breaking up with twenty nine people. That's that's that's what's going to happen. And remember you're only going home with one, so everybody else here you're gonna have to say goodbye to and break their heart or

be dumped by them. And that's exactly. I like the girl that in the first episode where the farmer's like, hey, I'd love for you to stay on my farm and She's like, yeah, no, I'm going back to New York right, good for you. Well, the one thing I do love too is like they've got the farmers and they've got the girls, and it's like a two way street. So the girls get to look at the farmers and go, I'm more into you than you. Yeah, you know. So they get to kind of choose who they want, and

then the farmers counter near it down. From there they decide where they're going to Cowboy up right and the girl there's a girl. I want you guys to keep up Cassidy Joe. I got a kick out of her Last bunks Bunk, Cassie Joe, Last bunk, Yeah, Cassie Joe, speaking of spunk, You're just the best, and I so appreciate you coming on. I've missed you. Our paths across many times in this business, and I've loved every moment we've had a chance to work together, beside each other,

beyond each other's shows. You're just one of those people in life. Every time I get to bump into I'm so happy you too. I hope you know that I mean that, And I'm always like I want to do something now. Chris he's so talented and so down to earth. We just we must have been related in another life because it's just too easy. It is. It's been phenomenal. I'm glad we've had the chance to work to you, and I'm so excited by the way the ratings are

crushing it again for massing Or. I was really nervously looking at it because I knew you were going to be on the show and I'm like, Okay, I hope the premier is big, and it did. It premiered huge again, and we've got great theme nights, you guys. The theme nights are out of this world this season. Jennifer's on right, Jennifer Nettles is a guest panel She's a guest panelist this season. And we've got the like eighties themes, DC Heroes, Sesame Street, and New York Theme is this week, so

you may check it out because it's really really fun. Well, the only thing that would have made it worse is if I had been there taking off the awesol lot head. Oh, I hope you do come one season in the future. Never know, you never know. I do know this. I appreciate you and thank you so much for being on the show of course, of course, thank you so much. I'll talk to you soon, my friend, you got it

by hunt My thanks to Jenny McCarthy. Just one of those people that I have been blessed to get to know in my career and just love her to death. Just always positive, always a pleasant person to be around and work with. And now that she's gone, I want to give her a shameless plug because she has a new line, a lip gloss line called Formless Beauty. If you want to check it out, go to formless Beauty dot com. And pretty interesting about the mass singer, and

it was funny. I hadn't even thought about being offered that till she was coming on the show, and it raises the question would I ever do it? I'll never sing, never to anything. I love music. I do love to sing. I'm not great at it, but I can get through it. Like anything. The timing has to be right, so we will see. Maybe I'll be taking off that panda head someday. But thanks for joining us today, and thanks to my guest Jenny McCarthy. Just the best, and you are the best.

I appreciate you being with me each and every week here on the most dramatic podcast ever. I will see you next time because we have a lot more to talk about. Thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram at the most Dramatic pod Ever, and make sure to write us a review and leave us five stars. I'll talk to you next time.