Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, welcome back to Betchler Happy Hour. I'm Joe
Speaker 1: and I'm Serena, and we are here with none other
Speaker 1: than Mark Anderson. You're the only one I say I've
Speaker 1: said their last name just because it's just it just
Speaker 1: goes just flowing to Mark Anderson.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a good name.
Speaker 3: You know, a lot of celebrities have to change their
Speaker 3: name when they become celebrities because they just need a
Speaker 3: better name.
Speaker 2: You definitely wouldn't. Mark Anderson is a strong one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that works, Thanks, mom and dad. Right, So what's
Speaker 1: going on, Mark? How are you?
Speaker 4: I'm doing great. Thank you for letting me join in with.
Speaker 1: You, of course, of course. So let's uh, let's kick
Speaker 1: this thing off with your daughter. So your daughter goes
Speaker 1: on the Bachelor. How do you feel about that at
Speaker 1: the time?
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, I mean I hadn't really watched I hadn't
Speaker 4: really watched Bachelor, Bachelorrette the series. I think, you know,
Speaker 4: it'd been on TV and I walked through. I just
Speaker 4: don't really watch a lot of TV. But Kelsey had
Speaker 4: called and said that she applied for a show, and
Speaker 4: it was it was in the summertime, like we were
Speaker 4: going to Hilton Head, for a vacation. He said she
Speaker 4: couldn't go because you know, she had interviews and stuff
Speaker 4: she had to do for that. And uh. And then
Speaker 4: my youngest son, Matthew, and I were down in New
Speaker 4: Orleans and Kelsey said that she got selected and she
Speaker 4: was going to be on the Bachelor, and and we
Speaker 4: were all excited, you know, we kind of had a
Speaker 4: good time, and then you know, we get out, we leave,
Speaker 4: and Matthew and I were driving back home and I'm
Speaker 4: like on the on the phone looking up Bachelor to
Speaker 4: get an idea what she's getting into, you know, and
Speaker 4: you see these little short video snippets of a girl
Speaker 4: in a hallway having this emotional, distressful moment and cry
Speaker 4: and and you know, so my heart sinks, thinking, oh,
Speaker 4: what is she getting into? You know, But it was
Speaker 4: you know, it was great. She got to come home
Speaker 4: right before she left, and we just kind of hung out,
Speaker 4: went to a movie and stuff, and I had to
Speaker 4: had to film some video stuff with her, and but
Speaker 4: it was really neat, you know. And I told her
Speaker 4: how proud of her I was, you know, that she
Speaker 4: was going off to do some some great things, and
Speaker 4: told her how she was much stronger than I. You
Speaker 4: know that that she was going out and you know,
Speaker 4: going to give her.
Speaker 1: Did you give her any advice or.
Speaker 4: Just yeah, yeah, I said, you know, just be yourself.
Speaker 4: You know, let your heart guide you. You know, the
Speaker 4: biggest thing is just be yourself. And if you yourself,
Speaker 4: there's no surprises, there's no you know, everything just works.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's always the advice I would give anyone to
Speaker 1: that goes on the show. It's just like as simple
Speaker 1: as it sounds, it's like, just be yourself, like and
Speaker 1: that's it. And if it doesn't work, it doesn't work.
Speaker 1: But then you don't have to like look back on
Speaker 1: it and regret anything because you were where you were right.
Speaker 1: So Kelsey makes it the hometowns. Did you have any
Speaker 1: idea what that was? Did she did she prep you
Speaker 1: before she left? Like if I go, if I make
Speaker 1: it pretty far, like you may have to you may
Speaker 1: have to come, you may have to be on TV. No.
Speaker 4: I got I got like a phone call for a producer.
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying, Hey, you're setting up hometown
Speaker 4: visits and uh and it was you know, at first,
Speaker 4: I get a phone call and they're saying because I
Speaker 4: hadn't heard from Kelsey, you know, and in today's age,
Speaker 4: that's a tough thing. You know, Like she would be
Speaker 4: driving around, she'd be driving around her car or up
Speaker 4: running and she'd call me up and say, hey, I
Speaker 4: just got this weird feeling and you know, yeah. So
Speaker 4: it was always kind of like, I don't know, communication, yeah, yeah, always,
Speaker 4: and it was weird not being able to talk to
Speaker 4: her and not be able to you know, hear from
Speaker 4: her or know where she was at. So it was
Speaker 4: you know, to hear from somebody saying, hey, Kelsey's doing fine.
Speaker 4: So it was nice to hear that she was fine. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So you see her for the first time and with
Speaker 1: how communication for however long it is, and you meet
Speaker 1: the man that she potentially is going to get engaged to.
Speaker 1: Are you okay with it? Are you happy? Like? What
Speaker 1: are you? How are you feeling over it?
Speaker 4: That was you know, I was worried about the hometown
Speaker 4: visit because The Golden Bachelor was airing while she was
Speaker 4: off filming, right, So I was I was kind of
Speaker 4: gauging stuff off The Golden Bachelorette and I'm watching it
Speaker 4: and like I was getting all this, you know, my
Speaker 4: own internal I don't know, corrections to myself. I guess
Speaker 4: like I was getting some inspiration from watching The Golden Bachelorette,
Speaker 4: Like it was it was fantastic to see people in
Speaker 4: my situation out looking for love, you know, And so
Speaker 4: I was watching that, and then we went down for
Speaker 4: Kelsey's hometown and when she walked in, it was just like, oh, finally,
Speaker 4: you know, because it'd been a while I hadn't seen
Speaker 4: her and didn't know what she was up to. Joey
Speaker 4: walked in and it was like a it was like
Speaker 4: a perfect first impression, you know, like you could tell
Speaker 4: the way they walked in. You know, he was just
Speaker 4: graceful with her and you know and patient let her,
Speaker 4: you know, get her hugs in and say hello to
Speaker 4: the family that she hadn't seen for a while, and
Speaker 4: then he just kind of fit right in in conversation
Speaker 4: and it just it was a it was a really
Speaker 4: great it was a really great experience for a first impression,
Speaker 4: Like it.
Speaker 1: Was well, I mean, look it looked like watching it,
Speaker 1: you know, I remember watching him being like, yeah, this works,
Speaker 1: and and and watching that whole season to Serena and
Speaker 1: I mainly me, but it was pretty evident that Joey
Speaker 1: was going to choose Kelsey. Yeah you think, yeah, how
Speaker 1: is it? How is it now? After you know, all
Speaker 1: said and done, they're engaged. Just Joey fitting into the
Speaker 1: family as everything.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, this summer, we were out in the
Speaker 4: Hilton Head for a week, you know, and so he's
Speaker 4: meeting my brother and his wife and family and and
Speaker 4: we're just hanging out, going to the beach, playing golf,
Speaker 4: you know, and it was it was fantastic fit right in.
Speaker 1: Going in golf. Who's better, Well, not me because Joey's
Speaker 1: pretty good, right, huh. Joey's a pretty good golfer, right.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, ye. So it was my brother and Matthew,
Speaker 4: Joey and then my my brother's brother in law Alan.
Speaker 4: It was the was that that went out golfing. So
Speaker 4: it was like Alan and Joey were playing that. My
Speaker 4: brother was kind of the one given Matthew and I
Speaker 4: lessons as we were playing. So we just played eighteen
Speaker 4: and crack and it was it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2: Nice.
Speaker 1: So so then so the show airs, Hometown airs, and
Speaker 1: now there's going to be this spin off from The
Speaker 1: Golden Bachelor to the Golden Bachelor att and a lot
Speaker 1: of people are throwing your name out there. That was
Speaker 1: like one of the biggest things in Joey's season was
Speaker 1: Kelsey's dad needs to be either the Golden Bachelor or
Speaker 1: on the season of the Golden Bachelor. Att So what
Speaker 1: was it like hearing that and were you Were you
Speaker 1: ready for it?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I wasn't. I don't know how you can be
Speaker 4: ready for that. I mean, it was a it was
Speaker 4: a huge surprise for me. Like I was more worried
Speaker 4: going into that hometown, you know, the filming of that, Like,
Speaker 4: I was worried that, you know, I didn't want to
Speaker 4: be the reason that Joey wouldn't pick Kelsey. You know,
Speaker 4: if Kelsey picks him, Like she stayed there, so it's
Speaker 4: a parent that she liked him, right, she thought there
Speaker 4: was something there. So you know, I'm there to support
Speaker 4: Kelsey one hundred percent, you know, and I didn't want
Speaker 4: to be the reason why he would say no. Like
Speaker 4: so there's a little stress of you know, a little anxiety,
Speaker 4: but it all went great, you know, I mean, it
Speaker 4: went great. So my experience with that and then all
Speaker 4: of a sudden, all this internet starts up and like
Speaker 4: I'm not a big social media person. You know, like
Speaker 4: I had Facebook because my kids had Facebook when they
Speaker 4: were little, and they were playing like farm Ville and stuff, right,
Speaker 4: so I had to like send them animals and cows
Speaker 4: and farm stuff. I don't know, it was it was crazy,
Speaker 4: but we had social media to follow our kids, to keep,
Speaker 4: you know, checking on them what they're doing. And it
Speaker 4: was we were watching the Hometown episode. We were down
Speaker 4: with Kelsey at her place and uh and Kelsey's on
Speaker 4: her phone and as where as it's airing, she's like,
Speaker 4: oh my god, you know, she's like Dad, She's like
Speaker 4: telling me, I don't even know it's you know, it
Speaker 4: was just it was crazy.
Speaker 1: So as a result of Hometown's airing and you're getting
Speaker 1: all this love on social media and Kelsey's you know
Speaker 1: telling you like, hey, like you're you're going viral. Well,
Speaker 1: what what's the craziest story you have for us from there?
Speaker 4: Well, it was, you know, as we're watching it, it
Speaker 4: was Kelsey's like, Dad, there's thirst straps about you. Like
Speaker 4: it was a it was a commercial like right after
Speaker 4: like the first part aired, and she's like, to ad,
Speaker 4: there's thirst straps. I was like oh, and then she's
Speaker 4: like no, really, and so she starts playing it and
Speaker 4: she's like recording it. You know, I was like, oh
Speaker 4: my gosh, like I don't know, it was it was
Speaker 4: really crazy. But like after it aired, we got home,
Speaker 4: like I started getting mail, like letters to my house.
Speaker 4: I got really my phone calls, registered mail that I
Speaker 4: had to go sign for at the post office, Like.
Speaker 1: They said, what were these letters? Where were people writing
Speaker 1: to you?
Speaker 4: H It was a little variety of stuff, you know,
Speaker 4: like like like an introduction, you know, like saying, oh,
Speaker 4: you know I lost my spouse or you know, my
Speaker 4: husband passed away or which, you know. I was getting
Speaker 4: a lot of a lot of stuff on Instagram and
Speaker 4: and like my my stuff was always private, you know,
Speaker 4: like I just never really shared anything. I didn't think
Speaker 4: anybody'd be interested. And like I put something on there
Speaker 4: like once a month if that, you know, yeah, cook
Speaker 4: a brisket and take a picture of it, you know,
Speaker 4: like share it with the kids. So it really but
Speaker 4: then of a sudden, I'm getting all these messages right
Speaker 4: and there was it was it was just I mean
Speaker 4: it was supportive, you know, like a lot of people
Speaker 4: were bringing up about you know, being on the Golden Bachelor,
Speaker 4: and yeah, and then they announced the Golden Bachelorette, you know,
Speaker 4: and so it was really, you know, it was neat,
Speaker 4: like I mean, it was just a lot of attention
Speaker 4: that I just like, I personally am not used to that,
Speaker 4: Like I don't like, I don't thrive on that like it.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I guess it's kind of shocking.
Speaker 4: It is. It's overwhelming. It's shocking. I'm not a you know,
Speaker 4: I'm not an about me kind of person. So it
Speaker 4: was very overwhelming, you.
Speaker 3: Know, like didn't make you nervous at all that people
Speaker 3: had your home address, like strangers had your home address.
Speaker 4: Yeah, a little bit, but the Internet, like everything is there,
Speaker 4: Like yeah, I mean I got was a there was
Speaker 4: a real estate I said, wow, I'm kind of surprised
Speaker 4: you found my address, and she goes, oh, I'm in
Speaker 4: real estate. You know. She was like, honey, I'm in
Speaker 4: real estate. I have more information on you than.
Speaker 2: Oh my god.
Speaker 1: I mean it's true. I mean honestly, like that's why
Speaker 1: all like people are always like worried about like their
Speaker 1: information being stolen, but like it's all out there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, you know, like having to shred all your mail,
Speaker 4: nobody wastes her time with that anymore. You know, it's
Speaker 4: too easy to get it on the internet.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if somebody really wants to hack you, they'll they'll
Speaker 1: figure it out.
Speaker 3: So hometowns ends You're viral on the internet. Kelsey's doing great.
Speaker 3: You're doing great. Lots of love in the Anderson household.
Speaker 3: They get engaged. We see that you go out for
Speaker 3: the live finale of Joey's season the after the Final
Speaker 3: Rows special. What was that experience like being there in
Speaker 3: the audience with a live audience, everyone knows who you are.
Speaker 2: What was the response like.
Speaker 1: And there's also and there's also Golden Bachelor women there.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, some of some of the Golden Bachelor women
Speaker 3: are there as well, which I'm sure you got to
Speaker 3: meet them.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, it was Uh so we were sitting, we
Speaker 4: weren't out in the audience for the majority of the
Speaker 4: of the episode, and then right before the rose ceremony,
Speaker 4: we got to walk out, and as we walked out,
Speaker 4: there's just like clapping and cheering, and I start looking
Speaker 4: around like like, who's you know? Who just got here?
Speaker 4: And uh, it was you? Yeah, And so we go in,
Speaker 4: we sit down. You know, my other kids are there
Speaker 4: with me and and and so we all get our
Speaker 4: seats and uh, and we sit down and you can,
Speaker 4: you know, I'm looking around and I can see back
Speaker 4: over this way is a group of the women from
Speaker 4: Golden Bachelor. Of course, Joey's family was like right across
Speaker 4: the little aisle from us, and uh, and then we
Speaker 4: got to watch the proposal, which was like that's the
Speaker 4: first week saw yeah, which was really nice. Yeah, it was.
Speaker 4: It was great, you know, and to see that, you know,
Speaker 4: as a parent, like I didn't. I didn't watch my
Speaker 4: kids on a date, not like you know, not on
Speaker 4: a TV episode for sure, right, But and I was
Speaker 4: I wasn't sure if it was something I wanted to
Speaker 4: watch because I've never seen my other kids go on dates.
Speaker 4: I didn't, you know, I don't. I mean, I'm worried
Speaker 4: about them, right, I stay up, I do you know,
Speaker 4: I check on them.
Speaker 1: But yeah, but the idea of watching it just doesn't
Speaker 1: even seem real.
Speaker 3: It's like, right, like, yeah, you would never get that
Speaker 3: kind of access to your children's dating life.
Speaker 4: Yeah, like at all, Like who wants really, you know,
Speaker 4: but truly, who wants that? You know? Like they don't
Speaker 4: want to see mine.
Speaker 2: Well, you guys.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and but it was it was it was such
Speaker 4: a fantastic thing, you know, to watch that blossom and
Speaker 4: it just reinforced that that feeling that I got when
Speaker 4: we're at Hometown's, you know when it started airing, to
Speaker 4: see that progression of a relationship, you know, and it
Speaker 4: was it was just it was very reassuring, It was
Speaker 4: very it was just it was great.
Speaker 3: You seem to have a very positive perception of the
Speaker 3: journey and Kelsey's experience, which totally makes sense because she's
Speaker 3: happily engaged to Joey, who's wonderful. Did you have any
Speaker 3: hesitations though for her going on the show or when
Speaker 3: she came off engaged?
Speaker 2: Was there any parental nerves there?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean there is. I mean, you know, it's
Speaker 4: a one it's a TV show, right, it's a reality show.
Speaker 4: It you hope that the connections that are made are strong,
Speaker 4: but it's a it's like a bubble, you know, and
Speaker 4: what real life starts starts happening once reality really hits
Speaker 4: that reality show. It sometimes it doesn't work, you know,
Speaker 4: there's too many stressors or outside influences. You know. Luckily
Speaker 4: for them, they started that couple counseling immediately and it
Speaker 4: helped him tremendously. The communication piece was great. You know
Speaker 4: that Joey's a fantastic speaker, like he he's a wonderful communicator, right,
Speaker 4: he listens and he speaks, you know, and and pays
Speaker 4: attention like. So like the match of them, I think
Speaker 4: is is is just right. Like and had Kelsey not
Speaker 4: gone on the show, she would have never met Joey. Yeah,
Speaker 4: you know, it's just the odds of odds of those
Speaker 4: of those two meeting in any other situation that it
Speaker 4: wouldn't have happened. So, you know, having talked with Kelsey
Speaker 4: and Joey a little bit about that, you know, like
Speaker 4: that was an opportunity. You know, they took that opportunity
Speaker 4: and it and for them it was you know, it
Speaker 4: was right, it was it was they got that magic right.
Speaker 4: So and that's some you know, that's it's uh enlightening
Speaker 4: thinking about it. I mean, all the stuff on the
Speaker 4: internet was saying, you know, a mark for Golden Bachelor
Speaker 4: and all this, and and I was under you know,
Speaker 4: I thought I'm not old enough. They were all like
Speaker 4: sick up, you know, and here.
Speaker 1: I was going to ask, have you have you have
Speaker 1: you thought about yourself as golden? What does that mean?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: What does golden even mean?
Speaker 4: I don't know. I mean, yeah, I guess it's like
Speaker 4: an older time like gold it is it if you
Speaker 4: can sign it for a arp at fifty five? Is
Speaker 4: it fifty five?
Speaker 1: And up?
Speaker 4: I don't like, you know, like.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's more of a season of life, is
Speaker 3: like a specific age.
Speaker 1: Okay, So so moving then towards your journey. So you know,
Speaker 1: all this goes down and people like Mark for the
Speaker 1: Golden Bachelor and then Joan becomes the Golden Bachelor. Att
Speaker 1: how sure were you that you were ready to go
Speaker 1: on her season?
Speaker 4: I don't know if I was. I don't know if
Speaker 4: I was sure, like right away, I mean it was exciting,
Speaker 4: you know, and the thought of it was great, like
Speaker 4: I had to go, Like I had the hardest conversation
Speaker 4: with my children before I even said yes, uh, And
Speaker 4: that was to ask them if it was okay for
Speaker 4: me to date because I'd never done that, right, like yeah,
Speaker 4: and you know, and and to ask them if it's
Speaker 4: okay for me to date? And then the second follow
Speaker 4: up question was is it okay for me to date
Speaker 4: on TV? You know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's a big second classig one.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but you know it was had any one of
Speaker 5: them said no, like I'm not ready for that, I
Speaker 5: wouldn't have Yeah, but it was like the hardest thing
Speaker 5: for me to do was was to ask my children
Speaker 5: that permission, and you know, not to say that I
Speaker 5: don't talk to them or I don't you know, encourage
Speaker 5: them to tell me what they think, or.
Speaker 4: But for me to say, you know, I'm looking for
Speaker 4: someone beside your mother, right, and you know, just to
Speaker 4: reinforce with them that I can't replace her. I will
Speaker 4: never replace her. She will never be replaced as their mother.
Speaker 4: But I had, you know, over the course of six years,
Speaker 4: thought well, what have I have? I kept them from
Speaker 4: having that someone that they can relate to, someone that
Speaker 4: they can talk to to confide in, you know, because
Speaker 4: I hope that they would feel comfortable enough to talk
Speaker 4: with me about anything. And I think for the most part,
Speaker 4: they do. But there are things that a mother would
Speaker 4: talk to a child about just because it's the mother.
Speaker 4: I mean, like it's a it's a different thought process, right,
Speaker 4: Like brains are wired different between men and women, and
Speaker 4: you know that that mother figure is I think is needed.
Speaker 4: So you know, I thought maybe I was preventing them
Speaker 4: from having that outlet, right, that that source of communication
Speaker 4: and confidence, you know.
Speaker 3: And what was their response when you asked them for
Speaker 3: that permission?
Speaker 4: Oh, they're all yes, absolutely, go you know, like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, very supportive, very very supportive.
Speaker 4: And you know, but it was like I asked my kids,
Speaker 4: and then I called my mom, I called my brother,
Speaker 4: I called my sister in law, my mother in law,
Speaker 4: and my brother in law you know, and asked them,
Speaker 4: you know, said hey, look is what I'm thinking about doing.
Speaker 4: What do you think you know, because you know, it
Speaker 4: was something that they had to know, you know, for
Speaker 4: my in laws to have encouraged me to date just
Speaker 4: seemed you know, and that was early on, Like you know,
Speaker 4: my sister in law she's like she's like a sister,
Speaker 4: you know, like she's she's great, but she always she
Speaker 4: always had marketing to get up. And he just wanted
Speaker 4: you to to date. She wanted you to meet someone,
Speaker 4: She wanted you to take care of somebody. She wanted
Speaker 4: you to enjoy life, you know. So so to have
Speaker 4: somebody pushing me like that, I mean, it was it's
Speaker 4: just great support.
Speaker 1: So then yeah. After hearing all their their love and
Speaker 1: support and their acceptance of the whole idea of you
Speaker 1: going on, were you yourself hm ready? After that?
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, I learned a lot watching the
Speaker 4: Golden Bachelor, so and that was really kind of like
Speaker 4: I had hard time. I had a hard time with
Speaker 4: with being okay with dating because I was, you know,
Speaker 4: my Denise was in my heart, you know, she filled
Speaker 4: it completely, and how do I make room for someone new?
Speaker 4: So the enlightening part of the Golden Bachelor was to hear,
Speaker 4: you know, the people on this show talk about how
Speaker 4: you know, it is okay to love someone, it is
Speaker 4: okay to move on and have someone else in your life,
Speaker 4: you know, to enrich your own life with someone else.
Speaker 4: It's empowering.
Speaker 6: It's enlightening, you know, you know, and and just time,
Speaker 6: you know, six years was yeah time?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: If so, So you agree to do it. America wants
Speaker 1: you more than anyone. You step out of the limo
Speaker 1: and you and you see Joan.
Speaker 3: Oh wait, trek real quick, Kelsey is in the limo
Speaker 3: with you. Yeah, yes, yes, what is the ride? What's
Speaker 3: that conversation to the mansion? Like she's done it before?
Speaker 3: Now she's doing it with you, You're going to be.
Speaker 2: Stepping out of the level. What is that car ride?
Speaker 4: Like, you know, the car ride and the whole process
Speaker 4: through it. Like I didn't ask Kelsey about, you know,
Speaker 4: what should I expect. I didn't talk to Joey about
Speaker 4: how is this going to be? How, you know, what's it?
Speaker 6: Like?
Speaker 4: What am I gonna They didn't really offer it, and
Speaker 4: I I did not ask it because I didn't want to.
Speaker 4: Like the most important question that I had asked Kelsey
Speaker 4: is do I need to bring towels with me? You
Speaker 4: know when I got to back towels in my suitcase
Speaker 4: too because I'm running out of the room. She was like, no,
Speaker 4: you don't need towels. So you know, that was like
Speaker 4: my big, my big question for you know, And then
Speaker 4: well that's that.
Speaker 1: See that like that's insane to me that your daughter
Speaker 1: just went out of the shelf and your only question
Speaker 1: was should I bring towels? Wild?
Speaker 4: Because you know, I wanted that experience, right, that's fair
Speaker 4: because I had to develop that experience. I had to
Speaker 4: you know, go through the go through the whatever journey
Speaker 4: that was, and I didn't want to, you know, I
Speaker 4: didn't want to know, I didn't want to. I didn't
Speaker 4: want to expect something and that and not not not
Speaker 4: get that but see something else. You know, it was
Speaker 4: just better for me to experience it first.
Speaker 1: Makes sense. I I I get it, I get it.
Speaker 1: Who do you think was more nervous in that level ride?
Speaker 1: You or your her?
Speaker 4: On me? Yeah? I was like, yeah, I mean we
Speaker 4: were just how we're laughing and joking, and you know,
Speaker 4: when we pull up and and they opened the door
Speaker 4: and Kelsey got out and walked up, and you know,
Speaker 4: I could see him, I couldn't hear him. And I
Speaker 4: saw Kelsey talk and I'm like, what she's saying because
Speaker 4: I had no idea, you know, and then all of
Speaker 4: a sudden I saw her, you know, waved me up,
Speaker 4: and uh so then I get out and then it's
Speaker 4: just a big blur, right like, yeah, it's just a
Speaker 4: big blur. Had no idea what was going on. I
Speaker 4: don't know what I said. I know what I wanted
Speaker 4: to say. I think I mumbled something, but.
Speaker 1: That that first, that first night, Yeah, I think that's
Speaker 1: how majority of people feel like that when they when
Speaker 1: they get out of the limo and and and see
Speaker 1: the Bachelorette for the first time, or or the.
Speaker 4: Back of the mansion, like you know, you walk up
Speaker 4: into that setting like they're like romance novels and like
Speaker 4: centered on that right there, just that one tiny little experience,
Speaker 4: Like it's incredible. Like if you could pick a place
Speaker 4: to do a first date like that would be it.
Speaker 4: Just the life.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Like it's like if it's like Disney, It's like
Speaker 7: it's like a Disney Yeah, Disney.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Did you feel a spark between Joan that first day,
Speaker 1: first night?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean yeah, like anytime anytime I talked with Joan,
Speaker 4: there's a spark. Yeah, you know, because she's just that
Speaker 4: kind of person. She's a wonderful just a beautiful woman,
Speaker 4: like inside out, like she's just fantastic. She's so articulate.
Speaker 4: She like yeah, I mean just fantastic, fantastic. You know.
Speaker 4: She would talk to you and at first, you know,
Speaker 4: going in, I didn't know if I was the first person,
Speaker 4: last person, But when I got up there, it was
Speaker 4: like it was just her and on and every time
Speaker 4: speaking with her, it was just her and me, like
Speaker 4: you never thought about anybody else because she made me
Speaker 4: the most important person there.
Speaker 1: That's a good sign.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was. It was, It was. It was great.
Speaker 1: Did you feel any pressure when you walked into the
Speaker 1: mansion and a lot of the guys knew who you were?
Speaker 4: Yeah, well yeah I had. I was, Yeah, I was
Speaker 4: nervous about that because, you know, I was like, oh,
Speaker 4: what's everyone? You know?
Speaker 8: Yeah, one, you don't know, You're gonna walk into this
Speaker 8: room with a bunch of guys and they're all like,
Speaker 8: you know, you don't know if it's testosterones like raging
Speaker 8: or whatever, you know, because because of course I'm.
Speaker 4: You know, doing some searches for you know, bachelorette you know.
Speaker 4: But it was, it was great. Like once I walked in,
Speaker 4: I got over the nerves of Kelsey being there and
Speaker 4: you know, and stumbled through talking with Joan and went
Speaker 4: inside and just you know, everybody was already in little
Speaker 4: groups talking and I was like, well, there's a lot
Speaker 4: of guys here, and started talking to a couple of
Speaker 4: people and kind of made my way outside because it
Speaker 4: was a nice, cool weather, you know, and got outside
Speaker 4: and walked up to the bar and nobody had said
Speaker 4: anything to me, you know, up to that point of oh,
Speaker 4: are you that mark? You know, like and then I'm
Speaker 4: on at the bar and I hear, oh, I knew
Speaker 4: you were going to be here, and it was Keith. Right.
Speaker 4: Keith's like he walks up and he's like, yeah, I
Speaker 4: knew you were going to be here, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 4: you know, like, don't tell anybody.
Speaker 1: I forget. Keith is like a Bachelor fan. Keith like watched.
Speaker 2: Yeah, super fad Keith Keith.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's like the super super fans.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 4: Wowbody was asking, hey, Keith, what do we what is that?
Speaker 1: Keith?
Speaker 4: What is it?
Speaker 2: That's so funny.
Speaker 1: I love that between Keith and Charles's spreadsheet. That's where
Speaker 1: everyone's getting all the information. Yeah, so we see. I
Speaker 1: want to ask you this because it's like, Okay, so
Speaker 1: you're in your so called golden years, but but you've
Speaker 1: you've lived a ton of life, right, you have a
Speaker 1: ton of life experiences. And then you're sitting there talking
Speaker 1: to Joan. I think you guys were on like the
Speaker 1: front steps or whatever, and it's when you guys have
Speaker 1: like your first kiss, Like, are do you feel like
Speaker 1: you're sixteen again?
Speaker 4: Yeah? It was more like like thirteen or fourteen? Yeah,
Speaker 4: it was. Yeah. I was nervous because you know, you
Speaker 4: get to the point where you don't really notice the
Speaker 4: cameras and stuff on. You just kind of like waited out.
Speaker 4: And it was easy to do that with Joan because
Speaker 4: she's just right there and she just fills right and
Speaker 4: you know, it was we're just playing the game. I
Speaker 4: was trying to keep things light, you know. Some of
Speaker 4: the guys had talked about how, you know, they wanted
Speaker 4: to make sure they got this in and it was
Speaker 4: like some heavy stuff already, and I was like, it's
Speaker 4: kind of you know, and like when we first met,
Speaker 4: you know, I said something like you you know of me,
Speaker 4: I know of you, but we don't really know each other, Like,
Speaker 4: you know, we don't really know each other. So I
Speaker 4: tried to keep it light, try to keep things easy,
Speaker 4: but let her know stuff about me, right Like I
Speaker 4: spent twenty four years in the army and I got
Speaker 4: to I got to spend like eleven of those years
Speaker 4: in Germany, you know, So it was it was an
Speaker 4: easy thing to say, you know, do some flash guards
Speaker 4: and see if she can guess what I'm saying. You know,
Speaker 4: but her family's Dutch, it's pretty close, yeah, And so
Speaker 4: I asked her if in German, if I could give
Speaker 4: her a kiss, and she guessed that I said cuddle,
Speaker 4: and then I told her I said, well no, and
Speaker 4: I showed it to her as I was reading it. Right,
Speaker 4: it's actually if I can give you a kiss, yeah,
Speaker 4: and uh and she said, well yes, and so we
Speaker 4: kissed and then she said, you could have said that
Speaker 4: in English. So I said, that's what I said it
Speaker 4: in English. We kissed again. So it was nice. I mean,
Speaker 4: it was just it was fun, it was playful. It
Speaker 4: was just it felt very natural, right, like it was nice,
Speaker 4: like it just it just like it just progressed into
Speaker 4: it nicely.
Speaker 1: Your your relationship with Joan up until this point seems
Speaker 1: very seems very natural. It really does just seem like
Speaker 1: it's it's just you two.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well yeah, because you know, I mean to me,
Speaker 4: it felt like that, yeah, you know because when I
Speaker 4: when I'm spending time with her, it was just her
Speaker 4: and I. It was it was just us. Yeah, So
Speaker 4: you think about that a lot, you know, You're like, oh, well,
Speaker 4: you know, but then everybody, you know, somebody I like
Speaker 4: to talk about, you know, and but it's it's okay,
Speaker 4: you know because when when I'm with her, she's my girlfriend, right,
Speaker 4: like yeah, like we're dating. So it was just it
Speaker 4: was it was just interesting, like you never experienced anything
Speaker 4: like that in life except for there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was gonna say, how how are you handling
Speaker 1: how are you handling that thought process of when I'm
Speaker 1: with her, she's my girlfriend, but also in the back
Speaker 1: of your mind there's other guys that are experiencing that
Speaker 1: at the same time. Is that throwing you off at
Speaker 1: all or or it's kind of like you've accepted that
Speaker 1: that's part of this process.
Speaker 4: No, I mean, honestly, you just have to accept it,
Speaker 4: you know. If you don't accept that and kind of
Speaker 4: work work your mind to fit that. Right, if you
Speaker 4: don't accept it, that's where the aggression comes out, Like
Speaker 4: the you know, there's just too much stuff that comes
Speaker 4: out from that. Like if you think about dating someone,
Speaker 4: if you go out with someone, you don't know if
Speaker 4: they just had a date with someone else yesterday on
Speaker 4: a first date, Right, you don't know what their past
Speaker 4: dating history is. I mean you could, I.
Speaker 1: Guess, but when you first shouldn't.
Speaker 4: Yeah, right, But like if you don't, you don't know them,
Speaker 4: you don't know who they just dated. I mean it's
Speaker 4: kind of yeah, kind of the same thing. Yeah, I
Speaker 4: mean that's the way I That's the way I worked it, right,
Speaker 4: And then when I was with her, we were boyfriend girlfriend,
Speaker 4: you know. And it was kind of funny because as
Speaker 4: guys would go out on their on their first on
Speaker 4: the one on one dates and they'd come back, it'd
Speaker 4: be like, Hey, are you talking about my girlfriend? Because
Speaker 4: they just finished a one on one, so she was
Speaker 4: their girlfriend until there was another date, right, so it's like,
Speaker 4: is that my girlfriend you're talking about? It was just
Speaker 4: kind of a yeah, lighthearted this, you know, likes break
Speaker 4: the tension or the stress of it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I kind of kill a little bit of the awkwardness.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly what did this experience overall so far meant
Speaker 3: to you. It's your first time really getting back in
Speaker 3: the dating scene, and you're sharing this experience with Joanes,
Speaker 3: someone who has also been through the experience of losing
Speaker 3: a spouse. You seem to really be able to kind
Speaker 3: of connect and bond over that. Was that a big
Speaker 3: part of your relationship in this journey for you?
Speaker 4: It was I mean, you know, like and we got
Speaker 4: to talk a little bit after after we did the
Speaker 4: mentell all but Beryl, after the men Barrel. We got
Speaker 4: to talk a little bit and sit. You know, I
Speaker 4: knew that that John had died of cancer, and you know,
Speaker 4: and I just wanted to convey to her that, you know,
Speaker 4: having that commonality, you know, we both lost a spouse
Speaker 4: to a horrible disease and knowing that process firsthand, you know,
Speaker 4: I just wanted to be there to help her, to
Speaker 4: support her when whatever she needed, you know, and for her,
Speaker 4: I wanted her to know that when she has those
Speaker 4: days where she thinks back on it, I understand that
Speaker 4: because I have those days as well, you know, like
Speaker 4: where you think back and you can get you know,
Speaker 4: you could have some pretty deep thoughts about it, get
Speaker 4: emotional about it, and that's okay because that's a part
Speaker 4: of it. And I understand that. You know, it's had
Speaker 4: I had I gone through a divorce, it would would
Speaker 4: have been different.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: It could have been a it could have been a
Speaker 4: not so not so good divorce where there's like animosity
Speaker 4: and you're just happy to be rid of them and
Speaker 4: you're like, not, finally I'm free, right, And it's it's
Speaker 4: like that instantaneous Okay, Now I can go focus on
Speaker 4: me and you know, meet someone new that's right for me.
Speaker 4: But when your spouse dies, it's like, that's not your choice.
Speaker 4: You know, you didn't choose that, it just happened. And
Speaker 4: and you try to hold on to that because you
Speaker 4: know you lost something that you that you wanted for
Speaker 4: the rest of your life, you know, but you've lost it,
Speaker 4: so you want to you want to kind of hold
Speaker 4: on to it, not and not lose it because that
Speaker 4: was what you wanted, you know. But eventually it with time,
Speaker 4: you know, you start to miss things, and you know,
Speaker 4: it's just nice to have someone else to be able
Speaker 4: to talk to and to share things with. You know.
Speaker 4: Love is love is a fantastic emotion. You know, it's
Speaker 4: a feeling, it's an emotion. It's it's like a sense,
Speaker 4: you know, and and it should be there, right, everybody
Speaker 4: needs love?
Speaker 1: Yeah. Did it make it easier to strip out camera
Speaker 1: knowing that it was for stand up for All?
Speaker 4: Yeah? So I had a lot of reservations about that.
Speaker 4: You know, we walked in, we walked into this theater
Speaker 4: and some big old t stage. You know, we're like,
Speaker 4: we got a fashion show, right, but just the way
Speaker 4: going just yeah, I was definitely hopeful, but we're standing
Speaker 4: up at the at the far end of this of
Speaker 4: the this runway, you know, and then all these Chippendale
Speaker 4: guys come out, you know or like God, and you know,
Speaker 4: immediately I'm like, I'm not doing this. I just like,
Speaker 4: I'm not going to do it. Yeah, I'm not doing it.
Speaker 4: And uh but I'm you know, we're going through the
Speaker 4: stuff and they teach us. They bring out some some
Speaker 4: original Chippendale dancers and uh so they're teaching us a routine,
Speaker 4: you know, and throughout this whole teaching like, we're all
Speaker 4: doing it and having fun, and and I'm thinking, yeah,
Speaker 4: i am not you know, this is not me, Like
Speaker 4: I don't go to that. I don't like I just
Speaker 4: it's not me, you know, like yeah, and then they said, yeah,
Speaker 4: so you'll be you'll be doing this dance for Joanes.
Speaker 4: She'll be out there, you know, and so at this
Speaker 4: one point you'll walk up and I'm like, there's no
Speaker 4: way I'm going to disrespect this woman, right like, and
Speaker 4: so I was just like I'm like, yeah, I'm not
Speaker 4: doing it. And then you know, all of a suddenly
Speaker 4: and now it's but it's a benefit and it's a
Speaker 4: benefit for stand Up to Cancer. It was like mic drop.
Speaker 4: You know, it's like just the instantaneous added hands drop,
Speaker 4: let's go there we go. Yeah, it was it was
Speaker 4: you couldn't like it just turned up. It turned from
Speaker 4: I'm not doing it till you can't keep me off
Speaker 4: the stage. You know, it meant a lot. You know,
Speaker 4: they said they're trying to raise money for awareness and
Speaker 4: stand up to cancer. Is is all about awareness, right,
Speaker 4: like get the word up. The more the more people
Speaker 4: you touch with the word of early detection, just the
Speaker 4: greater the survival rate is. You know, and it's not
Speaker 4: a it's not a survival you know, you're not You're
Speaker 4: not talking about survival for for eternity, right, You're talking
Speaker 4: about for right now. You know, it's just cancer just
Speaker 4: destroys and that the treatments that are there, it destroys
Speaker 4: the body. And you know, it's a it's a tough
Speaker 4: thing to get through. You know, you can you can
Speaker 4: put it off, you can delay it, but so many
Speaker 4: times it comes back and you know you can just
Speaker 4: fight it again and keep fighting it and keep fighting.
Speaker 4: But if you're not checking and you're not finding out
Speaker 4: if there's something there early, it's already so late stage
Speaker 4: that you know, there's so little that you can honestly do, so,
Speaker 4: you know, as a as a program, like one hundred percent,
Speaker 4: I'm one hundred percent there for it, just as Joan
Speaker 4: said that she was, you know, it meant a lot
Speaker 4: to her as well. So yeah, it changed that attitude quick.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, it changed the age. I'm sure for a
Speaker 3: lot of the guys about the day in a good way.
Speaker 2: It was oh yeah, a good way.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: And I'm telling you there's some I think there were
Speaker 4: some ringers in that too.
Speaker 2: Some fantastic performances.
Speaker 4: There were. There were performances I think that had done
Speaker 4: that before.
Speaker 2: I think so.
Speaker 3: Possibly professionally possibly, I think so too.
Speaker 4: In fact, I think somebody. I think somebody packed some
Speaker 4: gold under rus.
Speaker 1: Really Yeahathan Jonathan, Jonathan Jonathan that the lady did it before,
Speaker 1: Like John that was in he was in his run
Speaker 1: right there?
Speaker 2: Surprisingly skilled.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, Mark, you want to play a quick game,
Speaker 1: just a little rapid fire get to know you?
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, all right, let's do it rapid.
Speaker 1: Fire with Mark. What musician would you love to see
Speaker 1: perform that? Or alive that or alive?
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, Taylor Swift?
Speaker 1: Okay, me too. What's your favorite food or cuisine.
Speaker 4: Buffet.
Speaker 1: What's your go to comfort movie or show comfort?
Speaker 4: It's a wonderful life.
Speaker 1: My mouse. What's one thing you would tell your younger
Speaker 1: self's keep at it, keep doing what you're doing. What's
Speaker 1: your favorite way to unwind motorcycle? What's a deal breaker
Speaker 1: for you?
Speaker 4: Mm hmm someone who's not kind?
Speaker 1: If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
Speaker 4: I don't know. My son asked me that all the time.
Speaker 4: I'd love to fly.
Speaker 1: What is your go to drink at a bar?
Speaker 4: Moscow mew.
Speaker 1: What's a piece of advice you've received and never gotten
Speaker 1: and never forgotten? Never gotten?
Speaker 4: Makes today a great day?
Speaker 1: What is the most adventurous thing you've ever done?
Speaker 4: I don't know. I've done a bit done sky been
Speaker 4: repelling the helicopters.
Speaker 1: And you stripped on TV.
Speaker 4: The gold Bachelorette the first Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1: What's an accomplishment? You are very proud of my children?
Speaker 1: What's your love language?
Speaker 4: Big touch?
Speaker 1: If you could describe Jones season of The Golden Bachelor
Speaker 1: in one word without spoiling it, what would it be?
Speaker 4: Incredible?
Speaker 1: I like that.
Speaker 3: Charles's spectacular, but a lot of positive adjectives, which is
Speaker 3: good because usually in the regular seasons it's like drama.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, Mark, honestly, thank you so much for taking
Speaker 1: the time out of your busy day. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you, Joe, thank you, sir Any, thanks for coming,
Speaker 3: and for all of our listeners, be sure to continue
Speaker 3: to tune in to Bachelor Happy Hour. We have more
Speaker 3: recaps and exclusive interviews coming your way.
Speaker 1: Bye bye,