Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, welcome back to Happy Hour. We have a
Speaker 1: very special guest on, none other than the man himself
Speaker 1: from Charity Season. Please welcome Aaron S to the podcast.
Speaker 2: Where's the confetti? Dude, no one really knows me. So
Speaker 2: when you say Aaron S, Welcome Aaron S to the podcast,
Speaker 2: I bet you half of Bachs nations like who that
Speaker 2: we're gonna?
Speaker 1: Well, well, yeah, I think I think after this episode
Speaker 1: everyone knows who you are.
Speaker 2: Maybe I would think.
Speaker 1: And you have a crazy story that we're gonna We're
Speaker 1: gonna get into all that. But before we do, how'd
Speaker 1: you get onto your fireman live? You live in San Diego?
Speaker 2: Yeah, live in San Diego, work in Oakland. I've been
Speaker 2: getting Greek for that lately, Guys like, don't you're not
Speaker 2: representing the city. I work in Oakland. I work for
Speaker 2: the city of Oakland.
Speaker 1: Oh oh wait, you're you're you're a firefighter in Oakland,
Speaker 1: but you live in San Diego. Yeah, how do you
Speaker 1: make that work?
Speaker 2: It's called the super commute, baby. Yeah. It's a way
Speaker 2: for me to completely separate work from life, and in
Speaker 2: my line of work and the mental capacity it takes
Speaker 2: to do what we do. For me that complete separation
Speaker 2: is exactly what I needed. So San Diego is my
Speaker 2: safe place. And then when I go to work, I
Speaker 2: do my work at Oakland.
Speaker 1: Are you Are you like on one day off too?
Speaker 1: Do you have the that schedule or is it different?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so every department varies. My fire department is a
Speaker 2: forty eight ninety six, so we're on for two straight days,
Speaker 2: twenty four hour shifts back to back, and then we
Speaker 2: get four days off. But supercommuters like myself, we'll stack
Speaker 2: our shifts like we'll trade. So I'll work my regular
Speaker 2: two days and then work someone else's two days, and
Speaker 2: then I get eight days off consecutively.
Speaker 1: Got it? That makes it make more sense. Where are
Speaker 1: you from.
Speaker 2: I'm from the Bay Area, born and rased Fremont, California.
Speaker 2: Shout out to my Freemont friends out there.
Speaker 1: Nice. Yeah, how'd you get on Charity Season?
Speaker 2: How the hell? You know what? This is a crazy story, Joe.
Speaker 2: I'm so happy I'm sharing it with you, of all
Speaker 2: people coaching star job, I mean, your first ballot, Bachelor
Speaker 2: Hall of Famer dude. So before I got onto the
Speaker 2: Bachelorette Man, I was casted for Joe Millionaire.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah they did. Yeah, I didn't watch it, but
Speaker 1: I know they remade that chant.
Speaker 2: It was a Fox revamp. They were trying to rival
Speaker 2: the Bachelor and Bachelorette from ABC. And you already got
Speaker 2: star studied cast like yourself and Serena. I hope she's
Speaker 2: all right, man. I heard she's not doing well. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: talk about poop babies. But yeah, man, I was casted
Speaker 2: for that show as the non millionaire boy, and girls
Speaker 2: were going to fall in love with me for who
Speaker 2: I was. And I was going through a pivotal time
Speaker 2: in my fire career where I wanted more out of
Speaker 2: my career. I thought I had the ability to reach
Speaker 2: out and help out a larger community and Oakland was
Speaker 2: number one on my list since I was twenty three
Speaker 2: years old, and I'd interviewed for them and they gave
Speaker 2: me a job offer. The day a Fox called me
Speaker 2: and said you got the spot as the non millionaire guy,
Speaker 2: and so I turned it down, went to academy and
Speaker 2: latter worled over to Oakland and I'm at the airport
Speaker 2: one day and ABC calls me and they're like, hey,
Speaker 2: are you interested in you know, maybe coming on the
Speaker 2: Bachelorette and I'm like, wait, this is coming out of nowhere.
Speaker 2: Get I hadn't watched this show in years. I may
Speaker 2: have watched your season, and I'm just saying that because
Speaker 2: you're right in front of me.
Speaker 1: I probably don't I appreciate it. Yeah that's all you
Speaker 1: had to say?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that was a white life. I shouldn't even
Speaker 2: have done that. Well, I watched tidbits right, Yeah, and
Speaker 2: you know I didn't really have any interest. I'm thirty
Speaker 2: four years old, and I do. I do want to
Speaker 2: shout out to one of the Reddit people that said
Speaker 2: that I look like I'm from the Nixon era. I'm
Speaker 2: way too old for this shit. Okay, thirty four years old,
Speaker 2: I get a call from AYBC. They say, hey, are
Speaker 2: you interested? Of course I'm interested, But who the hell
Speaker 2: nominated me or put my name in the man And
Speaker 2: it was my sister and her husband who had sent
Speaker 2: in all my information. And I'm one to create memories.
Speaker 2: If there's an opportunity to possibly find love, possibly make
Speaker 2: some lifelong friends, and possibly get to show you my personality,
Speaker 2: I'm going to do that hands down every time. And
Speaker 2: so I said yes, and you know, it was within
Speaker 2: like three or four weeks, you're living this normal life
Speaker 2: and then you're in the middle of thirty forty cameras and.
Speaker 1: You were able to and there was no issues with
Speaker 1: the Oakland Fire Department. You were able to stay on
Speaker 1: and keep the job that you want and everything.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was a whole nother mix because you know,
Speaker 2: being in the fire service, we have one of the
Speaker 2: only careers that you don't need to know us, but
Speaker 2: we've been respected for over one hundred years. We're probably
Speaker 2: the only entity in the United States that could literally
Speaker 2: walk into a stranger's home and instantly you're not judgmentally
Speaker 2: know that we're there to do good. And so I
Speaker 2: had I was I was stressed out about it. Man.
Speaker 2: I actually talk to my captain about this because we
Speaker 2: have an image to uphold and I don't know much
Speaker 2: about reality TV. I don't know anything about it actually,
Speaker 2: and so I didn't know, you know, what if they
Speaker 2: edited me this way, what if they edit me that way?
Speaker 2: And so it was a conversation I had with a
Speaker 2: captain of mine, and then it went up the ranks
Speaker 2: to our fire chief at the time, and then went
Speaker 2: to our legal team, and you know, me going on
Speaker 2: the Bachelorette was hinged on them saying yes or no,
Speaker 2: and they say, as long as you act yourself, you know,
Speaker 2: people are gonna hate you. There are people that hate me.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I would say majority doesn't hate me.
Speaker 1: Joe, No, I don't. I don't think you right now,
Speaker 1: at least you are not a hated character on this show.
Speaker 1: Well right now, I'm in a You're good, You're good?
Speaker 1: What you're thirty?
Speaker 2: Four? Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: Have you had any serious relationships before this show? What
Speaker 1: was dating?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: Why are you single?
Speaker 2: Yeah? You want the baby? Will give you the basic answers. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: I have worked my tail off from the time I
Speaker 2: was thirteen years old up until now. What people don't
Speaker 2: know about me was I was a ranch kid before
Speaker 2: I became a firefighter. I had my own ranching business.
Speaker 2: I managed cattle ranches, I had two horses of my own.
Speaker 2: I taught little kids horseback riding lessons, I trained horses,
Speaker 2: had a major barb wire fencing company, and all I
Speaker 2: knew was blue collar work. You know, when my friends
Speaker 2: were out partying and going to high school things, I
Speaker 2: was working at the ranch till dark and get my
Speaker 2: homework done on the weekdays to go straight to the
Speaker 2: ranch and work till dark. And that upbringing, you know,
Speaker 2: brought me to the man I am today and taught
Speaker 2: me some morals and values that are invaluable. And you know,
Speaker 2: as I've become to be this like thirty four year
Speaker 2: old man with this bushy beard, I've become picky because
Speaker 2: I've worked really hard to get to where I am.
Speaker 2: I feel like I'm financially stable. I've got a great career,
Speaker 2: and I love my family. I'm super tight with them.
Speaker 2: I've got a great friend group, and you know, the
Speaker 2: last thing I want is to bring my partner into
Speaker 2: something where they're not going to add to that. And
Speaker 2: you know, that's become harder and harder as I get older,
Speaker 2: is to find a partner that I that I truly
Speaker 2: think adds to my family and adds to my friend
Speaker 2: group and adds to me as much as I add
Speaker 2: to their family, their friend group and them. And so yeah,
Speaker 2: that's why I'm single going into the bat That's why
Speaker 2: I was single going into the Bachelorette, And that's why
Speaker 2: I was single going into Bachelor in Paradise. Got it
Speaker 2: because your boys a little picky.
Speaker 1: Got it? Okay, that's no wrong with that. I in
Speaker 1: those long hours. I used to I used to work
Speaker 1: in the produce market, so I would start at I'd
Speaker 1: wake up at like one point thirty two am and
Speaker 1: work ten twelve hour days. So I do get that.
Speaker 1: It's it's hard to have a social life when when
Speaker 1: you have those crazy.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, hold on one second, Joe, hold on. Apparently
Speaker 2: lights shut off in the bunker room. There we go. No, I,
Speaker 2: I actually you're you're in my story are actually a
Speaker 2: little oddly similar.
Speaker 1: My uh.
Speaker 2: I worked for my grandfather for a while, you know,
Speaker 2: a standard five and dime like a Ace hardware, and
Speaker 2: so you know, at a young age, I would always
Speaker 2: go there on the weekends and stock shelves. So all
Speaker 2: those produce guys out there, kudos. Do you do the
Speaker 2: Lord's work. You gotta the world's gotta eat.
Speaker 1: Man, world's world needs produce. So okay, So I was
Speaker 1: I was at it was Charities after after the Rowse show,
Speaker 1: and I saw Braided in the hallway and he's like, hey, bro,
Speaker 1: if you ever get down, if you get down to
Speaker 1: San Diego, Aaron S and I are doing a fishing trip,
Speaker 1: you should come and I'm like, well, I just that's
Speaker 1: just not that's not gonna align with what I have
Speaker 1: going on. But I appreciate. I appreciate the end.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then I want to say, maybe, like a month
Speaker 1: or two months ago, I see a clip of two
Speaker 1: bachelor guys almost drown in a f fishing trip, and
Speaker 1: it's Branden and Aaron s Yeah, what fuck happened? Yeah?
Speaker 2: What the fuck happened? Is right? Man? And and would
Speaker 2: you expect none other than Braiden and Aarones to sink
Speaker 2: about together? The answer is no, you clearly don't know
Speaker 2: Brandon and me. Well enough Braiden and I for those
Speaker 2: vocabulary freaks out there, But yeah, I've owned boats my
Speaker 2: whole life. I've been around ski boats. My family has
Speaker 2: a ski boat, and my dream since I was a
Speaker 2: kid was to own my own boat. My grandfather used
Speaker 2: to take me fishing to Alaska every year. That was
Speaker 2: the path to manhood in his eyes, in our family.
Speaker 2: And you know, for ten straight years I'd go to
Speaker 2: Alaska with him, Craig Alaska, to this lodge called King
Speaker 2: Fisher Lodge, and we literally fish for a week off
Speaker 2: the grid with a guy who built this lodge on
Speaker 2: his property, and it was a dream of mine doing
Speaker 2: a fishing boat. And I love the ocean. There's one
Speaker 2: thing anyone needs to know about me. I love the ocean.
Speaker 2: It's the most humbling thing nature can throw at you.
Speaker 2: And there's nothing more than I want than to either
Speaker 2: surf or be on top of the water. And so
Speaker 2: after you know, thirty four years, finally I get the
Speaker 2: money to buy this boat. I am stoked by the
Speaker 2: way about buying this boat. Talking to this guy, Braiden
Speaker 2: and I are going surfing in Orange County and I'm like,
Speaker 2: you know what, Braiden, I've been texting this guy on
Speaker 2: Craiglist about this boat. You want to go look at
Speaker 2: it with me? It'sim Fullerton. He's like, oh man, yeah,
Speaker 2: let's let's go look at it. Anytime you make a
Speaker 2: stupid decision, ninety percent of the time that stupid decision
Speaker 2: is pushed on you by a friend, right, Or you're
Speaker 2: going to make that decision because a friend is with you. Yeah,
Speaker 2: when you're by yourself, you're probably gonna walk away, just
Speaker 2: like a car when you go buy a new car.
Speaker 1: I think, do you think you would have walked away
Speaker 1: if Braiden was like, nah, bro, I'm out, I can't
Speaker 1: do it.
Speaker 2: Hell no, I'm not putting that on Braidon. Braid didn't
Speaker 2: buy this boat. But he's like my hype man, so
Speaker 2: of course it'll be like yeah, fuck yut, let's get
Speaker 2: this boat. We see it. This thing is beautiful. Pay
Speaker 2: for a whole inspection guy charges me five hundred bucks inspecs.
Speaker 2: The boat sends me a ten page report. All systems, ago,
Speaker 2: whole engine, bait tank, Everything on this boat is right perfect,
Speaker 2: ready to go. I bring it home. I start noticing
Speaker 2: little things on it that aren't working. The trailer's broken.
Speaker 2: I fix the trailer. The stabilizer flaps break the first
Speaker 2: time I take it out. I call a mechanic. I
Speaker 2: get that fixed. And these are all little orange flags
Speaker 2: right that start adding up. But in your stokedness, you
Speaker 2: kind of overlook some of those orange flags and you go, well,
Speaker 2: you know what, like I fix these things. You know
Speaker 2: now that this is fixed, then nothing else is going
Speaker 2: to break. Mind you, this boat is all It's from
Speaker 2: the seventies, and the gentleman who I bought it from
Speaker 2: it told me that he had redone it in his driveway.
Speaker 2: Fiberglass gel coat and stringers. Stringers are the backbone of
Speaker 2: a boat. Those are the ones that run down the spine.
Speaker 2: There's usually two of them that run down the spine
Speaker 2: of a boat, down the hole. And so, yeah, this
Speaker 2: is the crazy. If I would have brought this is
Speaker 2: the thing that kills me. If I would have brought
Speaker 2: my dad on this boat, I would have killed him
Speaker 2: that day. And so I joke around with these guys
Speaker 2: and I say, like, this was bound to happen. This
Speaker 2: boat was going to sink at some point, and I
Speaker 2: am so thankful that I sunk it with Braiden, my
Speaker 2: buddy Gavin, who's another firefighter, Braiden's dad, and Braiden's uncle.
Speaker 2: If I would have sunk it with anyone else, anyone
Speaker 2: else on this planet, one of us would not have
Speaker 2: come home. Okay is that crazy? Oh?
Speaker 1: Okay, So how far out are you and how does
Speaker 1: it sake?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so this is crazy. We're seventeen miles off shore,
Speaker 2: which you might as well take a spaceship to Pluto.
Speaker 2: There's no one out there. It's just us and everything's
Speaker 2: going fine. Man, we're having fun. We're being guys. We're
Speaker 2: peeing off the boat, jumping off the swim deck for
Speaker 2: people that fish or don't know how to fish. When
Speaker 2: you're going for dorado or tuna, yellow tel tuna or
Speaker 2: yellowfin tuna, you're looking for boilers in the water. So
Speaker 2: we get to a certain GPS waypoint, which is seventeen
Speaker 2: miles off shore. Everything's fine, and you're looking for kel
Speaker 2: patties or a bunch of boils in the water, and
Speaker 2: so we find Akelt Patty. We stop throwing throwing bait.
Speaker 2: At this point, I realized no one on the boat
Speaker 2: knows how to fish. So now I am a charter captain.
Speaker 2: My name is Aarones. I'm the charter guy. I'm here
Speaker 2: to make sure everyone's having a good time. So I'm
Speaker 2: baiting everyone's lines for them. We're throwing them to the
Speaker 2: kelt patties. First, kel Patty's empty. We're about three hours
Speaker 2: into this journey. Three and a half hours go by.
Speaker 2: We're at the second CLT Patty. Same thing, no fish bait,
Speaker 2: everyone's line for them. We reel up the lines. I
Speaker 2: looked at the ocean report. It said the wind was
Speaker 2: going to pick up at eleven. So I told the
Speaker 2: guy's next kel patty or boiler spot that we find
Speaker 2: like we're out of here. We're gonna fish it for
Speaker 2: a little bit. We're gonna turn around and bounce. We
Speaker 2: were lucky the sea was super calm that day. There
Speaker 2: was a wind swell, but the ocean's gonna have swell
Speaker 2: no matter what day you're there. And so the boats
Speaker 2: off were drifting next to the third kelt. Patty and
Speaker 2: my buddy hooks onto a dorado. Everyone goes to the
Speaker 2: front of the boat. My buddy lets the line go
Speaker 2: under the boat and then the fish runs around the prop.
Speaker 2: The boat's off. It's not a big deal. Why you
Speaker 2: have an outboard motor on a boat so you could
Speaker 2: bring the prop up if you get stuck in kelp
Speaker 2: or if a line gets crossed, you can lift the
Speaker 2: prop up off the back of the boat on tangle line,
Speaker 2: dropped the prop back down. You're good to go. Mind
Speaker 2: you this. I'm going to tell you this. But before
Speaker 2: I tell you this, three of the guys on that
Speaker 2: boat had stepped on the back of the swim deck
Speaker 2: while the boat was off. Prior to this event happening.
Speaker 2: All the guys on the front of the boat, Gavin
Speaker 2: has his line. I'd tell Gavin my buddy, Gavin, I said,
Speaker 2: let your line out. Everything's fine. I'm gonna lift the
Speaker 2: prop up, untangle your line. You're gonna real this fishion.
Speaker 2: Then we're gonna head home. Prop comes up, Gavin lets
Speaker 2: his line out. All systems a go until I step
Speaker 2: on the swim deck. The moment I step on the
Speaker 2: swim deck, the boat is completely underwater. In fifteen seconds gone.
Speaker 2: We don't have time to radio, we don't have time
Speaker 2: to get our phones, we don't have time for anything.
Speaker 2: And it is so unlike me to give a safety
Speaker 2: briefing for any of the activities that I do. That's
Speaker 2: just my nature. But I, for some weird reason, I
Speaker 2: had given them a safety briefing before they got on
Speaker 2: the boat. I showed them exactly where we were going,
Speaker 2: so some of them had texted their wives or family, like, hey,
Speaker 2: we're going out to this point. I showed them where
Speaker 2: the life jackets were, every little safety piece of that boat,
Speaker 2: where the radio was. It was on channel sixteen for
Speaker 2: the Coastguard. And luckily, Branden's dad, who won MVP of
Speaker 2: that entire experience, was listening to this absolutely abysmal safety
Speaker 2: briefing that I'd given the guys and remembered where the
Speaker 2: life jackets were, so he dove down and opened up
Speaker 2: the hatch. And really, those life jackets are what saved us,
Speaker 2: because all of a sudden you have, let me put
Speaker 2: this into perspective, you are having the time of your
Speaker 2: life with your closest friends, sharing an experience together that
Speaker 2: none of us really get. One moment. You're having that experience.
Speaker 2: In the next moment, Dude, you're floating in the deep
Speaker 2: blue three hundred feet I mean we're in.
Speaker 1: The treading water, seventeen miles.
Speaker 2: From offshore, no land in sight, no boat in sight,
Speaker 2: and it's three hundred feet deep and it was the
Speaker 2: the ocean. I'll tell you this. I'm a water dog, right,
Speaker 2: I was in some lessons as a kid, champion breaststroke artist.
Speaker 2: Here surf all the time, but the deep, deep ocean
Speaker 2: wants you underneath, so it pulls you in a way
Speaker 2: that I've never been pulled before. So just getting your
Speaker 2: life jacket on with all your like, let's start this over.
Speaker 2: Boat sinks, life jackets get thrown out the boat. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Braiden's tangled in fishing line, the fishing lines pulling him
Speaker 2: under with the boat his Dad runs, swims over to him,
Speaker 2: cuts the line off of Braiden. Braiden comes back up.
Speaker 2: We all strip our clothes off to our chonies, except
Speaker 2: for me. I kept my viory sweats on because they're
Speaker 2: hell expensive, and we put our life jackets on. But
Speaker 2: in that time, man, anytime that you weren't in a
Speaker 2: life jacket, it just felt like the water was sucking
Speaker 2: you underneath. Yeah, and what a help was feeling, right? Right?
Speaker 1: So you guys have your life Let's get to the point.
Speaker 1: You guys have your life jackets on. What's the conversation
Speaker 1: like what? Because yeah, what's the conversation?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's it's fight or flight. That the
Speaker 2: boat had two firefighters on it. Brandon was military, Dad
Speaker 2: was military. Uncle is a dispatcher for fire authority in
Speaker 2: Orange County, Right, so all of us come from a
Speaker 2: first responder background.
Speaker 1: Is everybody in physical like physical shape.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't say great physical shape, but you know, when
Speaker 2: you when I say we were in the water for
Speaker 2: three and a half hours, it becomes a mind game. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and he who wins will last. And if there's anything
Speaker 2: that you need to know about situations like that is
Speaker 2: fear's cancer. And so the moment fears spread, you know,
Speaker 2: that's when bad decisions are made. So to be honest
Speaker 2: with you, man, it was floating out there was scary,
Speaker 2: but the moment we all accepted that it might be
Speaker 2: the end for all of us, it was such a
Speaker 2: light tone. There were jokes being said, there was some laughter.
Speaker 2: We nicknamed the white cooler that we all held onto
Speaker 2: Wilson from Castaway. And you know, why die scared when
Speaker 2: you could die with your closest friends happy and laughing,
Speaker 2: you know. But I'll tell you one thing, man, I
Speaker 2: have huge guilt from the experience, right because you invite
Speaker 2: me to go do something that I'm not used to.
Speaker 2: I'm going to put my life on the fact that
Speaker 2: you know what you're doing and you're going to keep
Speaker 2: me safe. Right where I brought four of my friends,
Speaker 2: closest friends onto the boat with me, and it sinks
Speaker 2: and puts their lives in jeopardy. And so I got
Speaker 2: a lot of guilt because of it. That will never leave.
Speaker 2: That's something that always carry with me. But I still
Speaker 2: got them. You know. That's that's good.
Speaker 1: That that that that that's so scared. That's just a crazy, crazy,
Speaker 1: scary story. How so, how did you get saved? You're
Speaker 1: out there for how long? Three and a half hours
Speaker 1: treading water?
Speaker 2: Mm hmm. First hour and a half it was shock right. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we always have these bad dreams. We wake up for them, right,
Speaker 2: You're sleeping. All of a sudden, you feel his stud
Speaker 2: in your chest, right, and you wake up before the
Speaker 2: plane crafts or you fall off a building, before you
Speaker 2: hit the ground. You always feel the stud in your
Speaker 2: chest and you wake up. And so the whole top.
Speaker 2: For an hour and a half, I am believing that
Speaker 2: this is a shit dream, like this has got to
Speaker 2: be a bad, bad dream, and I'm just not waking
Speaker 2: up for some reason. And then I started dealing with
Speaker 2: some real ash shit, like I started shivering, bad, bad, bad,
Speaker 2: and then I started cramping up because all I had
Speaker 2: was coffee in the morning. And then I knew at
Speaker 2: that point, hour and a half into it, my time
Speaker 2: card got punched. And that's when that's when the realization
Speaker 2: of things being real really hit me. And you know,
Speaker 2: we we were all really in a survival mode for
Speaker 2: three and a half hours, and it was anything and
Speaker 2: everything we could do to stay warm. We all linked arms.
Speaker 2: The water was sixty eight degrees. Sixty nine degrees doesn't
Speaker 2: sound cold to you. No, it's cold listening to that.
Speaker 2: But you know what, are our bodies run at, Joe,
Speaker 2: like ninety seven something or ninety eight That cold water
Speaker 2: stuck in the heat right out of your body. And
Speaker 2: so we're linking arms to stay warm and staying close
Speaker 2: to stay warm. And you know it. It was only
Speaker 2: until a boat magically appeared at a kelt patty a
Speaker 2: mile away where my boat initially sank. They fished that
Speaker 2: same clt patty and came up empty, and one of
Speaker 2: the guys on that boat had binoculars and saw something
Speaker 2: shining in the water. And all we think is he
Speaker 2: was either the cooler or a belt, because we strapped
Speaker 2: belts to this cooler so people could link their arms
Speaker 2: in there. And he had mentioned to the guy driving
Speaker 2: the boat, like, hey, this is weird. There's something in
Speaker 2: the water, Like, let's go check this out. And so
Speaker 2: if they were going to turn around and go home,
Speaker 2: if they would have turned around and went home, you
Speaker 2: and I were not having this fun conversation, right, But
Speaker 2: the fact that they drove to what they thought was
Speaker 2: a debris like a debris field in the water is
Speaker 2: the only reason I am right here. That's the only
Speaker 2: reason three and a half hours. Man, I've maybe had
Speaker 2: two hours left before, you know, something like.
Speaker 3: Health wise happened or god forbid the man in the
Speaker 3: gray suit. There are some massive gray white sharks out there,
Speaker 3: huge for like submarines out there that could just swallow
Speaker 3: you whole.
Speaker 2: So there's so much going through your head when you're
Speaker 2: out there. But I always remember getting in that boat
Speaker 2: and just feeling this immense feeling of gratitude and thankfulness,
Speaker 2: and it definitely changed my perspective on life. Yeah, oh completely.
Speaker 2: I mean we joke around like, what's the craziest thing
Speaker 2: that's ever happened to you? I mean, has anyone? A
Speaker 2: majority of people in this world have not had a
Speaker 2: true life or death scenario, right, And I've been unfortunate
Speaker 2: enough to have that at work, but not to this magnitude.
Speaker 2: At work, I can get out of situations that are
Speaker 2: life or death through training, right. I rely on my
Speaker 2: training and maybe the guy's behind me on my crew.
Speaker 2: But when you're in a situation like that, helpless with
Speaker 2: no help coming, no cell phones, no radio, no nothing,
Speaker 2: it's a whole new mindset. It's a whole new mindset,
Speaker 2: and so that definitely reset some of the things that
Speaker 2: I'm going to do going forward and reset some of
Speaker 2: the things that I do. When it comes to you know,
Speaker 2: family and friends, we overlook a lot of things. We
Speaker 2: take things for granted. Life is really just an unstable
Speaker 2: deck of cards that we expect to be upright every
Speaker 2: time we wake up. When one of those cards falls,
Speaker 2: you know, your entire stack at fall. And we take
Speaker 2: that for granted all the time. So like just the
Speaker 2: little things Joe, like waking up in the morning and
Speaker 2: sitting on my porch and watching the sun come up.
Speaker 2: I take that shit for granted. Why because the sun
Speaker 2: comes up every day morning? Yeah, you know, but what
Speaker 2: if one day it's gonna happen to us, right? Life
Speaker 2: is life is life. We both know that you get
Speaker 2: at some point your time card is gonna get punched, right,
Speaker 2: And up until that point, you take all this stuff
Speaker 2: for granted. And it's only until you have this crazy
Speaker 2: scare that you start, you know, really truly appreciating the
Speaker 2: little things, man, just the heat and the sand, or
Speaker 2: the waves crashing or it's just it's wild.
Speaker 1: I've been doing this podcast for for a long time.
Speaker 1: That that is the craziest story I've ever heard. That's
Speaker 1: that's that's that's insane. I can't imagine. Well, I'm really
Speaker 1: happy you guys are alive. That's fucking nuts. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: you and Branden have to like, you guys are now
Speaker 1: bonded for for life. I would think so.
Speaker 2: Braiden and I were bonded before this shit even happened.
Speaker 2: We became best friends right off the bachelorette. The day
Speaker 2: he came home, we became brothers. And yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: if anything, this is another one one of those those
Speaker 2: pages and you know our book of friendship that binds
Speaker 2: our book even tighter than it already is. Yeah, this
Speaker 2: is you know, the one thing I'm thankful for is
Speaker 2: I didn't really know Bradon's family that well. And I
Speaker 2: can tell you right now and now after this event,
Speaker 2: I am his person, bro, Like I was just at
Speaker 2: I was just at a winery with his aunt and
Speaker 2: his mom, and I'm they literally call me their adopted son.
Speaker 2: So you know, there's there's always a silver lining to
Speaker 2: something that's that's kind of dark and scary. You just
Speaker 2: gotta let that door open for you, right and see
Speaker 2: what happens.
Speaker 1: I was not expected this is this was intense. I
Speaker 1: thought that I I w I when I watched this clip,
Speaker 1: I was like, that's insane. But like really hearing it
Speaker 1: from your perspective and from the person that was there,
Speaker 1: it's just that's wow. Wow.
Speaker 2: Like, let me ask you this, dude, Let me ask
Speaker 2: you this. And I know you're the question asker, but
Speaker 2: give me, give me at least one you. Have you
Speaker 2: ever in your life accepted death?
Speaker 1: Probably, Like I mean, I accepted the fact that I'm
Speaker 1: eventually going to die. But have I ever had no Probably? No,
Speaker 1: I would say no.
Speaker 2: And I'm trying to walk you through my emotions on
Speaker 2: you know that time period when we were in the water,
Speaker 2: because at that time, two and a half hours in
Speaker 2: with nothing in sight and no phone, no way to
Speaker 2: reach anybody, no land. I mean literally we're bobbing up
Speaker 2: and down these waves.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Life like just fucking lifeless, dude, just waiting for the inevitable.
Speaker 2: Right is if you let me ask you this, if
Speaker 2: you died today, if you accepted death and you died
Speaker 2: today at your age, would there be any regret, any
Speaker 2: regret whatsoever? Like I could have done more up until
Speaker 2: this point or I have so much more to give,
Speaker 2: I have so much more to do, I have so
Speaker 2: much more for the world to see.
Speaker 1: And I'm asking this, Yeah, I would say, I would say,
Speaker 1: I would say yes. I would say I would say
Speaker 1: yes to that. Yeah, I would say, There's a lot
Speaker 1: of things I could be better at, so it should
Speaker 1: probably work on those before I'm floating in the middle
Speaker 1: of the ocean. Well, big Joel.
Speaker 2: What I'm trying to say is life is one crazy book, right,
Speaker 2: And I get I'm fortunate or not fortunate enough to
Speaker 2: see a lot of death in my career. And the
Speaker 2: one thing that always gets me, man, it makes me
Speaker 2: feel super sad is when someone's on their deathbed and
Speaker 2: I'm right there next to them and they have regrets
Speaker 2: on what they could have or should have done in
Speaker 2: their lives. And so, if this story can tell you anything,
Speaker 2: we're lucky to be alive. We are. But any opportunity
Speaker 2: that you take to push yourself to learn something new,
Speaker 2: or if there's a certain thing that you haven't tried,
Speaker 2: you want to try try it because you never know
Speaker 2: when your book closes on you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, I think that's that's that's great. Advice, Joe. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but it's great. This this, this is this is really
Speaker 1: uh this is the this was really good. At least
Speaker 1: this was great. I mean insane. I'm not even speaking right,
Speaker 1: I'm not even making words.
Speaker 2: I mean, you're not even crying. What are you doing
Speaker 2: over there?
Speaker 1: You can't figure out your fucking light.
Speaker 3: I'm trying to impress the audience here, I'm in a
Speaker 3: really nice bunker to make me look like something I'm not.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, we have to we have to jump
Speaker 1: the paradise real quick. Before we do, I want to
Speaker 1: ask a real quick question. Answer it as quick as
Speaker 1: you could. The guy that inspected, inspector who inspected the boat.
Speaker 1: Is he to blame it all for any of this? No, okay,
Speaker 1: I just didn't know.
Speaker 2: It was like no, no, no, no, no. This is all
Speaker 2: bunch of orange.
Speaker 1: Flag freak in a freak accident.
Speaker 2: No one's at fault for anything. Man it We're lucky
Speaker 2: to be alive.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I just I don't know like boat lingo,
Speaker 1: and I'm not really you know, so I'm just curious.
Speaker 2: When you're not a Joe, you're not a botologist.
Speaker 1: I'm not a botologist, never have no it never will be.
Speaker 1: And after the story, I will never go on a
Speaker 1: fishing trip. I'm glad I live in a city. All right, Uh,
Speaker 1: let's jump to paradise a little bit. First thing I
Speaker 1: want to talk about is the most I think the
Speaker 1: most we've seen of Aaron s up until this episode
Speaker 1: has really been the little bit of beef that we
Speaker 1: saw with you and Pete, and we all saw the
Speaker 1: FP thing and that was weird. And now we kind
Speaker 1: of see why you guys don't really like each other
Speaker 1: at the mental hall. We saw it at the mental
Speaker 1: all So, I don't know, could you just dive into that?
Speaker 2: Yeah? There. I have a rule. There's a there's a
Speaker 2: rule that I go by. It's the free rule. There's
Speaker 2: three things that if you cross me, I'm a put
Speaker 2: you in the ground. You cross my family, you cross
Speaker 2: my friends, or you cross me and family is you
Speaker 2: know the girl I'm dating too, I consider them family.
Speaker 2: And Pete head straight up crossed me at the beach
Speaker 2: and I, whether you like me or not, I am
Speaker 2: very blunt. I will not hide from my emotions. I
Speaker 2: will tell you like it is. And words were exchanged,
Speaker 2: and he said what he said about me to Sam
Speaker 2: and I don't stand for that kind of shit. If
Speaker 2: you have something to say, stay for my face. And
Speaker 2: so we had a little bit of a heated exchange
Speaker 2: and I don't really know if he's ever had someone
Speaker 2: talk to him like that. And obviously that boiled over
Speaker 2: in the mentel all because no one really knew knew
Speaker 2: what had happened on the beach up until that point. Right, So,
Speaker 2: now that everyone's seen it, I think people are starting
Speaker 2: to understand why there was beef between Peter and I.
Speaker 2: But I'll tell you this, like, now you know, Peter
Speaker 2: and I don't have any beef, Like we've squashed it,
Speaker 2: forgive and forget.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So we had talked about it, talked about why
Speaker 2: I had said the things that I had said, and yeah,
Speaker 2: I got no bad blood for I'm not going to
Speaker 2: hang out with him on my days off, but I'm
Speaker 2: not going to shake his hand and give him a
Speaker 2: hug when I see him and ask him how he's doing.
Speaker 1: Well, that's good, and that's I'd like that. You guys
Speaker 1: are are cool now and that so far, that was
Speaker 1: one of the most genuine scenes I've seen on Paradise
Speaker 1: yet because it was it was an off the cough
Speaker 1: moment and I could just tell you were like, I
Speaker 1: don't care, this is who I am. We're going to
Speaker 1: have this conversation right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean sick. Sam and I on the beach
Speaker 2: so far have one of the strongest connections and it's
Speaker 2: just not hasn't been filmed or he shows.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's talk about that because we're really we're really
Speaker 1: not seeing you guys. So and this is the most
Speaker 1: scene as all the poop baby shit. But yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: how like what's going on there?
Speaker 2: I mean, I'll tell you this, dude, Like, there's literally
Speaker 2: no drama. And I'm my partner in life, whether it's
Speaker 2: on reality TV, on Paradise, and mind you, I didn't
Speaker 2: know how Paradise worked until maybe two or three weeks
Speaker 2: before when I watched the season prior and I went,
Speaker 2: holy shit, show like this is insane. And as a partner,
Speaker 2: as a man, I want my partner to feel safe,
Speaker 2: and by feeling safe, I want to make my intentions
Speaker 2: very prevalent for that person so they don't have any
Speaker 2: anxiety leading up to anything, you know, day one. Sam
Speaker 2: is probably the most ripped girl on that beach. Her
Speaker 2: and I both come from San Diego.
Speaker 1: We shared that from from from not being able to
Speaker 1: go to the bathroom for ten days or whatever it is.
Speaker 1: She's she's got a six pack. She's not even blowed it, Like,
Speaker 1: yeah she is.
Speaker 2: I can't say enough great things about Sam. She is
Speaker 2: such an amazing woman. She's beautiful, she's so driven and talented,
Speaker 2: and we instantly hit it off day one, and I
Speaker 2: wasn't expecting that. I I came on the beach with
Speaker 2: thinking that I wanted to explore my cowboy days with
Speaker 2: Brooklyn and in walk Sam and her and I really
Speaker 2: really bonded and it was just this really easy going,
Speaker 2: free flowing conversation from the moment she walked on to
Speaker 2: that beach until now. So you know, we we had
Speaker 2: talked and I said, hey, like, I don't want you.
Speaker 2: She left day one of Clayton season right night one. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I just wanted her experience on Bachelor in Paradise to
Speaker 2: be different, Like, let's get to know each other, Let's
Speaker 2: have fun. We have an entire month here to get
Speaker 2: to know one another before we both go back to
Speaker 2: San Diego. Let's build this solid like foundation together. We
Speaker 2: worked out every morning, and you know, things are going great,
Speaker 2: right now?
Speaker 1: You know, do you think do you think if she
Speaker 1: lived let's say she lived in New York, do you
Speaker 1: think you there would have been more pressure for you
Speaker 1: to speed things up?
Speaker 2: No, just because I think the ease of access of
Speaker 2: the accessibility of travel is so readily there at your
Speaker 2: fingertips that I'm I feel like that brings out more
Speaker 2: of an anxious attachment style to where you want something. Now,
Speaker 2: I truly believe some of the best things are ones
Speaker 2: that you have to work for and take your time in.
Speaker 2: But Paradise is a unique place. You have no outside
Speaker 2: you know this, right, I mean there's no outside influences. Uh,
Speaker 2: your your match or your your your connection is is
Speaker 2: there for just you and to get to know just
Speaker 2: you until the next guy or girl arrives, right, And
Speaker 2: maybe there's some be but it's it's an atmosphere that
Speaker 2: you're never gonna get ever again, right, unless you go
Speaker 2: back to Paradise.
Speaker 1: Are you guys at this point from what we've seen,
Speaker 1: are you guys exclusive? If if anyone else walks down,
Speaker 1: have you guys had that conversation?
Speaker 2: Yeah? And we we showed Hannah coming down to the
Speaker 2: beach and she had pulled Braydon and I and she'd
Speaker 2: asked me point blank are you happy? Like are you?
Speaker 2: Are you up for a date? And I just straight
Speaker 2: up told her like I'm right now, I'm stoked with Sam. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And the answer is no, Like I'm probably would say
Speaker 2: no to a date at this point. I mean, it
Speaker 2: would do it would It would do us an injustice
Speaker 2: by only knowing her for three or four days to
Speaker 2: go on another date when we've had like a foundation
Speaker 2: built that no one really saw yet.
Speaker 1: I'm with you, but there's a lot of people that
Speaker 1: and I I personally think that's that's the right way
Speaker 1: to do paradise if if you do feel something with someone,
Speaker 1: But a lot of people don't follow that playbook. As
Speaker 1: we see, are you so Sam? She hasn't She hasn't
Speaker 1: been able to go to the bathroom for ten days.
Speaker 1: But all you know, and there's some lightheartedness and some
Speaker 1: jokes about it, but in all seriousness, she may have
Speaker 1: to go home. And that's pretty much what she's telling you.
Speaker 1: What's going through your mind? You know, she goes home?
Speaker 1: Are you going home? If she goes home? Women have
Speaker 1: the roses what happens?
Speaker 2: Like what yeah, in my mind. You know, the first
Speaker 2: thing that came up was a dad joke like what
Speaker 2: a shit situation? Obviously, and you know, after Sam had
Speaker 2: mentioned she may be going home, I thought, you know,
Speaker 2: I there's no one else on this beach that I
Speaker 2: can't fake shit.
Speaker 1: Dude, all right, well, let's gonna stop you. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: stop you right there because we just don't know. Let's
Speaker 1: we have to wait and see how this all be.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's just wait to see how this winds up.
Speaker 1: Just just from that. Let's let's wait because I actually
Speaker 1: I don't know, and I and I and I do
Speaker 1: really want to know. And if you keep talking, I'll
Speaker 1: probably be able to figure it out. Did did any
Speaker 1: of you guys? Because when the guys, So, the guys
Speaker 1: have the roses first week, so you have the power,
Speaker 1: right to.
Speaker 2: Joe, do you guys really have power in this world?
Speaker 2: The answer is fucking know him run this ship. So, yeah,
Speaker 2: we had the opportunity to give the girls a chance
Speaker 2: to break our hearts. Yes, you're right.
Speaker 1: Do any of you guys have a conversation? Uh? Do
Speaker 1: do you guys have the conversation?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: Are are any of you worried that maybe any of
Speaker 1: these girls are just trying to get a roast first week?
Speaker 1: Is that something you're cautious of or you're just not
Speaker 1: even like playing that game?
Speaker 2: Dude? I at this point I got my blinders on,
Speaker 2: right because I I think I found love. So no,
Speaker 2: I didn't expect that at least, But then again, you
Speaker 2: only have a certain amount of days for trying to
Speaker 2: get to know everyone, and I don't really know everyone's
Speaker 2: true full intentions. Yeah, so no, I didn't really think
Speaker 2: there's any tom fullery going on, but come to find
Speaker 2: out there was.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, we're gonna play. We're gonna play a
Speaker 1: light hearted game. Who real quick, who are right now
Speaker 1: on the beach? Just because I want to know who
Speaker 1: are your guys?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: Who who are your guys in the beach that you're
Speaker 1: the closest with?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Who do you who? Uh? I mean obviously Braiden's
Speaker 2: Braid's my duties? What Joe, here we go, here we go,
Speaker 2: these damn lights. You know, I'm trying to be cool,
Speaker 2: I would say so Braiden. Braiden is my number one.
Speaker 2: Sean's my guy.
Speaker 1: I like Sean, Shawn's funny and Blake.
Speaker 2: You know what, Blake is hilarious, absolutely hilarious. He's he
Speaker 2: reminds me of a of a of Wells, but in
Speaker 2: a mine form. Like he just doesn't talk, you know,
Speaker 2: because you need. If you're stressed out, you just lay
Speaker 2: next to him. You won't say word to you, but
Speaker 2: you just lay next to him and you feel comforted.
Speaker 2: For some weird.
Speaker 1: Reason, He's always doing uh a safari or his wildlife.
Speaker 1: You guys modernate, You guys wind up being all on
Speaker 1: the trip together. I could see that. All right, let's
Speaker 1: jump in. Let's play this. Let's play this game real quick,
Speaker 1: and I'll.
Speaker 2: Let you go.
Speaker 1: All right, all right, rapid fire, first thing that comes
Speaker 1: your head. None of it matters anyway, So let's get it.
Speaker 1: Are you more of an introvert or extrovert?
Speaker 2: Extrovert?
Speaker 1: What would be your go to.
Speaker 2: Paradise cocktail, skinny margarita?
Speaker 1: What is the first thing you buy if you won
Speaker 1: the lottery?
Speaker 2: The house? For damn, that was the first thing that
Speaker 2: came up. That's a hard question, dude. I would make
Speaker 2: sure my entire circle of friends and family had all
Speaker 2: their houses paid for.
Speaker 1: What is your go to pump up song?
Speaker 2: Poof Lil Wayne steady mobins.
Speaker 1: What is one item on your bucket list?
Speaker 2: Bull riding? I'm doing that Thursday with Branden.
Speaker 1: Do you have you and Braden need to stop doing
Speaker 1: activities crazy? Do you have any deal Do you have
Speaker 1: any dating deal breakers?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Multiple cats, nineties choker chains, and you're not in therapy.
Speaker 1: What is your love language?
Speaker 2: Love language? Man? I am quality time.
Speaker 1: What is the first concert you ever attended?
Speaker 2: Oh, this is Jesus. It would be Toby Keith at
Speaker 2: Shoreline Amphitheater in nom View.
Speaker 1: What is your favorite dessert? What is the What is
Speaker 1: an important item to pack for Paradise?
Speaker 2: Wow? Clip loops? That sand is pot as hell? It is.
Speaker 1: What is one word to describe the rest of the
Speaker 1: season of Paradise?
Speaker 2: I mean, come on, dude, you just hand that's me
Speaker 2: on a silver platter. Bananas?
Speaker 1: All right? You know what you had me at? Frozen yogurt, Aaron,
Speaker 1: because I also love frozen yogurt. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for doing this podcast. Really appreciate it. Thank you to
Speaker 1: everyone for tuning in, and remember all new episodes of
Speaker 1: Paradise here every Thursday on ABC at nine to eight
Speaker 1: Central following The Golden Bachelor, or you can stream It
Speaker 1: stream them both the next day on Hulu, and make
Speaker 1: sure to tune into new episodes of Butchler Happy Hour
Speaker 1: every week. We're going to have some great guests on.
Speaker 1: We have all kinds of exclusive interviews. You don't want
Speaker 1: to miss them. Don't forget to subscribe. Thank you everyone, Aaron,
Speaker 1: thank you It will see you everyone next time.
Speaker 2: Thanks Joe