Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, welcome back to bet your Happy Hour. I'm Joe,
Speaker 1: I'm Serena, and we are here with Sam m from
Speaker 1: Gen Season. He was just announced on the cast of Paradise. Sam,
Speaker 1: Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2: Hey, thanks for having me. I appreciate it, of course.
Speaker 1: Of course. Where are you located?
Speaker 2: Located in Merle's Inlet, South Carolina.
Speaker 3: It's probably fifteen minutes south of Myrtle Beach.
Speaker 1: Okay, how far is after we got married in Charleston?
Speaker 2: Okay, all right, so probably an hour and a half
Speaker 2: from Charleston.
Speaker 1: Yeah, how hot is it over there? Right now?
Speaker 2: It's hot. We've had a lot of rain recently, probably
Speaker 2: last two weeks.
Speaker 3: I think we've had more rain than I've seen probably
Speaker 3: the last two years. So it's, uh, whenever the song
Speaker 3: comes out, the humidity is way up, so it's we're
Speaker 3: feeling it over here.
Speaker 1: Nice. You what do you do for a living?
Speaker 3: So I'm a general contractor, mainly residential, so we were
Speaker 3: home builders out here, and yeah, Mark market's good.
Speaker 2: We stay pretty busy doing that.
Speaker 1: Nice.
Speaker 4: Do you have like a busy season, like a summer
Speaker 4: busier for you?
Speaker 3: Guys? Honestly, there's no such thing as a slow season
Speaker 3: with us. I think there's a lot of builders in
Speaker 3: our area, and you just try and find the right
Speaker 3: one that you can get in then and get in with.
Speaker 3: And then whenever you do that, you're You're never slow.
Speaker 3: There's always something that needs to be done around here.
Speaker 1: Are there hurricanes by you?
Speaker 2: There are there's They're not as bad.
Speaker 3: Honestly, Charleston gets them worse than us by the just
Speaker 3: the way that the state curves in. Usually Charleston catches
Speaker 3: the brunt of it and then by the time it
Speaker 3: gets to us, it's just the backlash of it, which
Speaker 3: can be tough. But I think we're due for a
Speaker 3: pretty bad hurricane season this year.
Speaker 1: Do you when you when it comes to building, do
Speaker 1: you have to obviously you have to keep that in mind.
Speaker 1: Eithery're like do you use like I don't know, like
Speaker 1: special what what are you happening at?
Speaker 4: Joe has never built anything in his life, Like he
Speaker 4: can't even like hang something on the law.
Speaker 1: False information.
Speaker 2: I don't buy it. I don't know there's a code.
Speaker 3: So depending on what we're doing, if we're just doing
Speaker 3: handyman stuff, then there's no inspector or inspection required.
Speaker 2: But usually with the stuff that we do.
Speaker 3: There's a counting inspector that comes out and make sure
Speaker 3: that everything is is up to date. That way, we're
Speaker 3: not getting you know, we're not getting in trouble and
Speaker 3: they're not getting in trouble either, So it got it all.
Speaker 2: Works all right.
Speaker 1: Let's uh, we'll pivot to is this your Is this
Speaker 1: your first podcast?
Speaker 2: First podcast? Yeah, I appreciate it. I feel honored.
Speaker 1: Nice. Nice, Okay, so we're gonna pivot to The Bachelor.
Speaker 1: You're at You were on gen season. We didn't get
Speaker 1: a chance to talk to you, so how did you
Speaker 1: How did you make it on to that first season?
Speaker 2: Yeah? That was It was kind of crazy. Actually.
Speaker 3: I think there was a moment after I had come home.
Speaker 3: It was late one night and I saw something pop
Speaker 3: up on Instagram. I saw it and I thought this
Speaker 3: would be kind of wild right here. And then I
Speaker 3: did it, and I honestly forgot all about it. And
Speaker 3: then it was probably a month later somebody from casting
Speaker 3: reached out to me and they said, hey, what do
Speaker 3: you think about doing an interview? And I thought it
Speaker 3: was a joke actually, And a few months later I
Speaker 3: ended up on the show and out in LA and here.
Speaker 2: We are nice.
Speaker 1: Okay, so you are I would. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: it's safe to say you were kind of the villain
Speaker 1: of your season up until the very end.
Speaker 3: I think it's very safe to say yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 3: think it's safe to say that yeah.
Speaker 1: Uh we yeah, we recapped the show. I feel like
Speaker 1: we try to be fair and call it how it is.
Speaker 1: I don't remember what we said about you. I don't
Speaker 1: think we went in too hard, but if we did,
Speaker 1: you know, I apologize. I do feel like there is
Speaker 1: like people usually are never as bad as they may
Speaker 1: come across on reality TV. So when your name got
Speaker 1: mentioned for Paradise is like, I was like, that totally
Speaker 1: makes sense, Like he's going to get a redemption story.
Speaker 1: But I guess on Gen season what went wrong.
Speaker 3: I think a few things went wrong, and I think
Speaker 3: starting with Jen and I that point, I was probably
Speaker 3: eight months out of a failed engagement, and you don't
Speaker 3: understand kind of the things. I don't think I processed
Speaker 3: the situation probably the best way that I should have.
Speaker 3: I kind of just I'm one of those guys that
Speaker 3: you get knocked down and you just get back up,
Speaker 3: and you keep going, and you keep pushing and I
Speaker 3: don't think I ever took the time to really process
Speaker 3: the pain that came with that. So whenever I got
Speaker 3: stuck into a position of feeling those same feelings that
Speaker 3: I had once felt before, I felt like I was
Speaker 3: constantly reminded of the just the turmoil and.
Speaker 2: Everything that had happened.
Speaker 3: So recently, and it really just allowed, or it didn't
Speaker 3: allow me to be vulnerable in the way that I
Speaker 3: wish I could have been in that moment, and even
Speaker 3: in a few other moments, I think I was looking
Speaker 3: for validation.
Speaker 2: I was looking for credibility.
Speaker 3: I wanted it to be something that I knew if
Speaker 3: I put my heart out there that she would pick
Speaker 3: it up.
Speaker 2: And ultimately, that's not the love that I actually believe.
Speaker 3: In, you know, I believe in being completely vulnerable, and
Speaker 3: I think that's the that's the most special thing about
Speaker 3: a relationship. So I think just being unable to see
Speaker 3: that in the moment and in that environment is chaotic
Speaker 3: and as stressful as it is. Uh. Yeah, I fell
Speaker 3: super short with her towards the end of it all.
Speaker 3: Everything else, I think, I'm so I'm one of five.
Speaker 3: I've got four siblings, I've got two sisters, two brothers.
Speaker 3: I'm the oldest, the oldest boy, and I think there's
Speaker 3: just a level of protection that's kind of it's just
Speaker 3: kind of been instilled in me from the you know,
Speaker 3: from the very start of life with me. So I
Speaker 3: think out there it's not about making friends. But also,
Speaker 3: as you guys both know, in that environment, as crazy
Speaker 3: as it is, and no outside communication with anybody, you
Speaker 3: kind of at least for me, I had to make
Speaker 3: friends with somebody to be able to try and I
Speaker 3: think kind of decompress. It was a lot more stress
Speaker 3: than I had anticipated. Having a mic on the entire
Speaker 3: time and cameras in front of your face. You almost
Speaker 3: feel like you couldn't even breathe to a certain extent
Speaker 3: without somebody, you know, somebody looking right over your shoulder.
Speaker 3: So I think with all of that, I made friends
Speaker 3: out there, and just so having the friends that I
Speaker 3: made were like with.
Speaker 2: With Aaron, that was that was a tough one.
Speaker 3: He I think the way that he went about some
Speaker 3: things I didn't agree with. But that was also my
Speaker 3: first roommate, so I understood his heart and where he
Speaker 3: was at, and I knew that he was trying to
Speaker 3: do the good thing or do the right thing and
Speaker 3: just didn't have the I just don't think the way
Speaker 3: that he went about of it, the way he went
Speaker 3: about it was necessarily correct, and I just wanted him
Speaker 3: to know, like, Hey, you know, I'm with you.
Speaker 2: I've got your.
Speaker 3: Back, and in the moment, you don't know what all
Speaker 3: that's going to look like and how it's all going
Speaker 3: to unfold on TV.
Speaker 2: And kind of the same thing with Thomas.
Speaker 3: I know that I looked like the ring leader in
Speaker 3: it all, but really Thomas had said something to me
Speaker 3: the following week, which was, hey, have my back, And
Speaker 3: I think walking through the amount of life that I
Speaker 3: have that I've been in situations where people didn't have
Speaker 3: my back. So it's kind of one of those things
Speaker 3: that I do take over the top when somebody says
Speaker 3: that to me, I want them to know like, Hey,
Speaker 3: whatever this looks like, whatever this might bring, I've got you.
Speaker 3: And ultimately that's kind of what stuck me, you know,
Speaker 3: in the situation that it did, And it doesn't make
Speaker 3: it doesn't make every action that I made correct, because
Speaker 3: it definitely was, and I think my delivery can be
Speaker 3: a bit abrasive and it just comes really from a
Speaker 3: level of protection with with a lot of people and
Speaker 3: a lot of people that I care about, and being
Speaker 3: able to see that back on TV was something that
Speaker 3: I I could really take a step back from and think, Okay,
Speaker 3: I need to I need to change the change the
Speaker 3: delivery on all of that.
Speaker 2: Right there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to ask, where do you think
Speaker 1: as a as a person and a future partner? Where
Speaker 1: you have grown since Gen season?
Speaker 3: So I think first and foremost, I've just allowed myself
Speaker 3: to process the pain from my past relationship with my
Speaker 3: ex fiance. I think I was able to just understand
Speaker 3: that sometimes that's just the way the life.
Speaker 2: Goes, and it's not fair and it's not right.
Speaker 3: But you've got to you've got to maneuver through that
Speaker 3: because I don't ever want to bleed on somebody that
Speaker 3: didn't cut me. And that's an area that I felt
Speaker 3: like I had and you know, in my future after that,
Speaker 3: right there was just not being able to process my
Speaker 3: not not even not being able to process my emotions,
Speaker 3: just being so afraid to talk about them and let
Speaker 3: people really get close to me, and fear of being hurt,
Speaker 3: and then understanding that like the love that I want
Speaker 3: is you know, it's not that, and I can't play
Speaker 3: that safe card with everybody, and one day somebody will
Speaker 3: pick up what I put down, and whenever that time comes,
Speaker 3: then whether I get my heart broke one time or
Speaker 3: a hundred times, it all makes sense.
Speaker 1: One day, did you I don't. I don't remember exactly.
Speaker 1: But did you tell Jen that you loved her or
Speaker 1: you were falling in love with her?
Speaker 2: Yes? I did?
Speaker 1: Do you do you? Do you think those feelings were
Speaker 1: real or do you think you were caught up in
Speaker 1: the moment.
Speaker 2: No, I don't think I was caught up in the moment.
Speaker 3: I think from everybody else's eyes, it definitely looks like that,
Speaker 3: and I understand it.
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't try and argue with anybody about that.
Speaker 3: I think our relationship was a lot different than what
Speaker 3: anybody saw, and I do think the environment is definitely
Speaker 3: everything's very enhanced, and I think it's.
Speaker 2: A little bit of both.
Speaker 3: But I think where I was at I was more
Speaker 3: in love with the fact of the way that she
Speaker 3: chose me, and I think the way that she looked
Speaker 3: me was something that I always paid attention to, which
Speaker 3: is something that I've always longed for, and so I
Speaker 3: think a little bit of both. The feelings were definitely
Speaker 3: real in a very enhanced situation and and yeah, so
Speaker 3: it's probably a little bit of both.
Speaker 4: There had to have been some satisfaction with how everything
Speaker 4: played out in regards to your feud on camera with
Speaker 4: Devin and then his sort of post season downfall.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, everything comes what.
Speaker 1: Shore we watching, I feel like it's like a game
Speaker 1: of throne.
Speaker 3: You know, everything comes with the cost, And even for me,
Speaker 3: I think not necessarily stupid down to his level. I
Speaker 3: don't think a lot of people got to see the
Speaker 3: way that why I reacted the way that I did,
Speaker 3: But everything comes with a cost, and ultimately it's easy
Speaker 3: to see that. Yeah, I could find satisfaction in it.
Speaker 3: But even though the Jen and I didn't end on
Speaker 3: great terms, for her to have to go through that, like,
Speaker 3: I know what that's like. I know what it's like
Speaker 3: for somebody to say all those things and then the
Speaker 3: moment gets there and they're gone and it's it's not important.
Speaker 3: So I think that's another thing that validated my feelings
Speaker 3: towards her, was that the satisfaction wasn't what everybody expected
Speaker 3: it to be.
Speaker 2: From my end, it was really more.
Speaker 3: I think I had a little bit more compassion with
Speaker 3: it because I just felt so sorry for her, because
Speaker 3: I remember myself in that moment, you know, in a
Speaker 3: moment very similar to that of just things not adding up,
Speaker 3: and that was I just don't wish that upon anybody.
Speaker 3: And even like I said, even though we ended the
Speaker 3: way that we did, I think the truth always comes
Speaker 3: to always comes to light. You can hide hide it
Speaker 3: for as long as you want, but it always comes
Speaker 3: full swing. And unfortunately it did, and it you know,
Speaker 3: it hurt her as well.
Speaker 1: Have you Have you spoken to Jen since your season?
Speaker 3: I sent her a message after AFR and just told
Speaker 3: her like, hey, you know, I know that we didn't
Speaker 3: end on good terms, but you know, I just feel really,
Speaker 3: you know, I feel awful for you and I hate
Speaker 3: that you had to go through that, and to go
Speaker 3: through that on live television.
Speaker 2: Uh, and really just had no choice. Was there's a
Speaker 2: level of.
Speaker 3: Just helplessness out there and you could see it on
Speaker 3: her face. I think the whole world saw it. And
Speaker 3: for me, who doesn't, you know, I did know her.
Speaker 2: That sucks.
Speaker 3: I don't I don't want to see that from anybody,
Speaker 3: no matter what our situation might look like I just
Speaker 3: don't wish.
Speaker 2: That upon anybody.
Speaker 1: Did you respond?
Speaker 2: She did. She responded a few weeks later, and she
Speaker 2: left you.
Speaker 1: She left you read for a for a few weeks.
Speaker 2: She went on vile files.
Speaker 3: I feel like in this world there's nothing that I
Speaker 3: can really stay or do. Everything comes across is very disingenuous.
Speaker 3: And I think before she ever even responded to me,
Speaker 3: she went on bile files and I think tried to
Speaker 3: take a crack at me for it, and and really
Speaker 3: I just came from a place of like just sincerity.
Speaker 3: I felt awful for it, but it's it's the way
Speaker 3: the things go. But she ended up responding.
Speaker 2: She just said, thank.
Speaker 3: You, sorry, I've been busy with all this, which I'm
Speaker 3: sure there's a there's a level of truth there, and
Speaker 3: I think there's also a level of like she probably
Speaker 3: saw my message like, yeah, I'm not responding to this
Speaker 3: guy right here.
Speaker 2: So you know, I get it. I see it for
Speaker 2: what it is.
Speaker 1: Nice. Well, I mean you got you definitely seem like
Speaker 1: you have a good head on your shoulders. I know
Speaker 1: it's it's we all go on reality all of us
Speaker 1: have been on reality TV. You know, I didn't experience
Speaker 1: the level of hatred that I'm sure you did, like
Speaker 1: you definitely in that, but it's true, like people, I
Speaker 1: don't I don't think people realize the volume of people
Speaker 1: that are giving you hate all at once. And it's
Speaker 1: tens of thousands of people that I'm sure are sending
Speaker 1: you d ms that are all like you know, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure I'm sure you get some love, but a
Speaker 1: lot of them are mean and just like it's brutal.
Speaker 1: So then, you know, you really it would make it
Speaker 1: make wouldn't make anyone not want to go back? Right?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Why did you make the decision to come back on Paradise?
Speaker 3: I think I think I owed it first and foremost
Speaker 3: to my to my family and my friends.
Speaker 2: I owed it to my community and also owed it
Speaker 2: to myself.
Speaker 3: That was it wasn't easy, and it wasn't easy for me,
Speaker 3: but it really wasn't easy for my family either to
Speaker 3: listen to what I had to say whenever I first
Speaker 3: got back, and then to watch it all unfold on TV.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm sitting there like, holy shit, I don't know.
Speaker 3: I don't know what to do right now. So I
Speaker 3: think to be able to to be able to watch that.
Speaker 3: It definitely hurt. It hurt watching my mom, you know,
Speaker 3: lose sleep at night, my brother in law loose sleep overnight.
Speaker 3: We're the type of people that are very protective. We
Speaker 3: all know who we are, we all know where we
Speaker 3: come from. I think just to watch it all get
Speaker 3: destroyed on TV was it was super tough and you
Speaker 3: don't know what you don't know, and the filming aspect
Speaker 3: of it was a lot of fun. And that's what
Speaker 3: I think I felt bad for was that nobody else
Speaker 3: but me got to experience that. All they got to
Speaker 3: experience was the hate and the backlash on it. And
Speaker 3: my friends and my family they went to war for
Speaker 3: me the same way that I would do for them,
Speaker 3: and that's just kind of the way that we move
Speaker 3: out here. You know, we'll fight first and then ask
Speaker 3: questions later. And it doesn't make it. It doesn't mean that
Speaker 3: everything I did was justifiable or anything like that, but
Speaker 3: in that moment, they did their best and they did
Speaker 3: everything they could to make sure that they knew that
Speaker 3: they were in my corner. So I think, coming back
Speaker 3: to it all, I was definitely kind of betting on
Speaker 3: myself a little bit, and I still am. Everybody did
Speaker 3: not like the idea of me going back, and I
Speaker 3: really didn't even make a decision until three days before
Speaker 3: I flew back out to Costa Rica, just because of
Speaker 3: there's a level in which that I can control only
Speaker 3: so much of the way that things will be portrayed
Speaker 3: out there. And I think putting my faith and trust
Speaker 3: into the hands of the same people that kind of
Speaker 3: twisted some things last season was something that I just
Speaker 3: I had a tough it was a tough time trying
Speaker 3: to swallow that pill right there. But I went back
Speaker 3: out there bet on myself, and I think I did
Speaker 3: a good job. I think I did, you know, I
Speaker 3: think I did what not necessarily what I even accomplished
Speaker 3: to do. I just feel like this will be a
Speaker 3: time that America gets to see the person that I
Speaker 3: actually am and not what they think they know.
Speaker 4: What was your goal going into Paradise. Did you have
Speaker 4: like a plan or something you were like, I want
Speaker 4: to do this differently this time, or.
Speaker 2: Find My goal was to find find that person.
Speaker 3: There were some people that I was really excited to
Speaker 3: or that you know, I was really excited to meet
Speaker 3: on Paradise, and I think that's where my head had
Speaker 3: to be at first, and then you know, whatever happens
Speaker 3: from there. I can also control the you know, control
Speaker 3: my emotions.
Speaker 2: A little bit more.
Speaker 3: And and Paradise, as you guys both know, it's it's
Speaker 3: a different it's a different vibe out there. You're not
Speaker 3: chained down, you're not forced to be put in these environments.
Speaker 3: And I think that's what was so difficult for me
Speaker 3: to first go around, was that I couldn't remove myself
Speaker 3: from the situation, which is what I was so used
Speaker 3: to doing. If there was ever any conflict, I just
Speaker 3: wouldn't deal with it, and I could leave it, I
Speaker 3: could leave it all. And on the Bachelorette they stick
Speaker 3: it right in front of your face and you can
Speaker 3: only do so much out of there. So with Paradise
Speaker 3: also too, you know, the person that you're in a
Speaker 3: relationship with, that's your sole priority, and is long is
Speaker 3: that she feels you the same way that you feel her,
Speaker 3: and there's really nothing, there's really nothing to worry about.
Speaker 3: And so yeah, I think first and foremost was meeting
Speaker 3: the people that I wanted to meet, and then second
Speaker 3: was remembering that my friends and family back home they
Speaker 3: didn't support me going back out here. I just wanted
Speaker 3: to make sure that I did my best to make
Speaker 3: things a little bit easier on them.
Speaker 2: You know, this next go round.
Speaker 4: Who was on your list of people that you were
Speaker 4: interested in meeting?
Speaker 3: Okay, so there was only one and it was Ali
Speaker 3: Go from Grant season.
Speaker 4: Okay, nice.
Speaker 3: After the season on the Bachelorette, I didn't reach out
Speaker 3: to anybody because you don't know what people think about you.
Speaker 3: Some people can see reality TV, and there's a lot
Speaker 3: of people that can't see passing.
Speaker 2: I think this guy's the world's biggest piece of shit.
Speaker 3: And and I'm like, if I saw what I saw
Speaker 3: on TV, I would agree with you.
Speaker 2: I understand it. But that's also not me.
Speaker 3: So she was somebody that we had spoke a little
Speaker 3: bit before Paradise and uh and she was just super
Speaker 3: sweet and stuff, and I figured that would be a
Speaker 3: great girl to go meet out there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I could see it. I can see that.
Speaker 1: Really, I can't really, Yeah, what do you see? That's
Speaker 1: not what I would have. No, she's just like a
Speaker 1: she seems like a feisty New Jersey girl and you're.
Speaker 4: You picture with like a sweet Southern bell.
Speaker 1: I mean, well, that just makes a little more sense
Speaker 1: to me because you're, you know, from South Carolina or
Speaker 1: you live in South Carolina and you have more of
Speaker 1: a mellow tone to you, and but you know, opposite track, you.
Speaker 3: Know, Yeah, I do think I do think too. People
Speaker 3: don't know me as well as they think they do.
Speaker 3: And honestly, the feistiness was something that I liked. I
Speaker 3: think I want somebody that can. Usually I stay pretty
Speaker 3: much in my place about ninety percent of the time.
Speaker 3: But if I ever, you know, decide to wander off
Speaker 3: the beaten path, and I need somebody that can, might
Speaker 3: you know, smack me with the stick and say, hey,
Speaker 3: you know, straighten up a little.
Speaker 2: Bit as well. So I think there's balance to a relationship.
Speaker 3: I want, you know, my partner to have her voice
Speaker 3: and understand that what she says is important, whether that's
Speaker 3: telling me to straighten up or you know, hold her
Speaker 3: hand or whatever it is. Like, it's just kind of
Speaker 3: one of those things I wanted. I want the fightiness
Speaker 3: because that's you know, also me to a to an.
Speaker 1: Extent, was was there anyone in your family that was
Speaker 1: like fucking go back on, like like support it, like
Speaker 1: wanted you to give it another try.
Speaker 2: I think so. My in my immediate family.
Speaker 3: No, in my my cousin though I ran into him
Speaker 3: honestly a few days before I was supposed to leave,
Speaker 3: and I hadn't made up my mind yet, and I
Speaker 3: was telling him about it, and that's exactly what he said.
Speaker 3: He's like, dude, fuck it go. He's like, you've already
Speaker 3: learned this. You know, you've already learned the hard way
Speaker 3: one time. And if it happens again, you know, look
Speaker 3: at you now, he said.
Speaker 2: You know, that's what he said.
Speaker 3: He said, you came out on you know, it was
Speaker 3: definitely tough, he said, but you came out better. Maybe
Speaker 3: not in the eyes of America, but you as a
Speaker 3: man came out better and you can handle it.
Speaker 2: And now if it.
Speaker 3: Happens again, like you know what to expect and anything that,
Speaker 3: you know, if it's even better, which I couldn't imagine
Speaker 3: going much worse, I feel like I set the bar
Speaker 3: pretty low. So like this time around, it's kind of
Speaker 3: one of those things, he said, you know what to expect.
Speaker 3: If they do it, so what, and if they don't,
Speaker 3: then it'll all be worth it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And the good thing about Paradise is like the
Speaker 4: audience loves the redemption story, and rarely is it like
Speaker 4: someone has a really rough go on Bachelor and Bachhrett
Speaker 4: and then comes on Paradise and it goes worse. I
Speaker 4: can't think of the time that that's happened. Hopefully, hopefully
Speaker 4: you're not the first.
Speaker 1: One look at Nick Vail like there's someone who I
Speaker 1: think he he was. I didn't watch the season, but
Speaker 1: villain villain, Yeah, on his season, then he went to Paradise,
Speaker 1: got a redemption story, the mad him the Bachelor, and
Speaker 1: now he got a fucking bag for his podcast.
Speaker 2: Like there you go, yeah, yeah, I mean it happens.
Speaker 2: I do think that.
Speaker 3: Different energy this time around. I was super skeptical even
Speaker 3: walking in. You know, whenever I walked into Paradise, I
Speaker 3: expected for there to be people that embraced me. I
Speaker 3: expected some people to kind of hold me at an
Speaker 3: arm's length because they didn't know what to expect. And
Speaker 3: then I expected the other, you know, the other group
Speaker 3: of people to be like, fuck this guy right here,
Speaker 3: this guy sucks. And and I understand it, I really do.
Speaker 3: If I saw what everybody else saw, I agree with it.
Speaker 2: I agree with it.
Speaker 3: But that's so far from who I am, and then
Speaker 3: getting to Paradise and everybody was just so warm and welcoming.
Speaker 2: It just felt different.
Speaker 3: Things just super easy to kind of move out there,
Speaker 3: and uh, I think it'll be good this time around.
Speaker 1: Nice. Yeah, I think that's that's That's a nice thing
Speaker 1: about going back on one of these shows is like
Speaker 1: everyone gets it right. Like there's a lot of people
Speaker 1: that they don't truly, like they don't understand the filming
Speaker 1: process and the reality TV of it all, so they
Speaker 1: see you kind of as one person and they they
Speaker 1: hate you. But everyone here kind of knows like, Okay,
Speaker 1: like you know, he made he made some mistakes, doesn't
Speaker 1: make them look good, but like this guy really that bad.
Speaker 1: Like this guy is not like you called yourself the
Speaker 1: biggest piece of shit in the world is how you
Speaker 1: came across. But like really not really like you know,
Speaker 1: like it's not like you weren't that bad, you know, Like,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 3: People keep saying that I got a tough time. I've
Speaker 3: got a tough time believing it. And maybe that's just
Speaker 3: me because I hold myself to a pretty high standard. Uh,
Speaker 3: living in a small town where I do, your reputation
Speaker 3: is everything, and having a big fan. If you don't
Speaker 3: know me, you probably know one of my sisters. If
Speaker 3: you don't know them, you probably know one of my brothers.
Speaker 3: My parents graduated in this area right here too, so
Speaker 3: you know my last name. There is a reputation that
Speaker 3: I like to keep, and I think maybe that's why
Speaker 3: I just took it such. I took it to heart
Speaker 3: so much watching it all back, because I thought, this is,
Speaker 3: you know, outside of embarrassing. It wasn't even somebody that
Speaker 3: I didn't like. It was somebody that I just absolutely
Speaker 3: hated on TV. And it makes things a little bit
Speaker 3: difficult to try and you know, to try and convince
Speaker 3: anybody otherwise.
Speaker 2: But but yeah, that's just that's the nature of the beast.
Speaker 4: If I remember correctly, your family was active on social
Speaker 4: media and defensive view during the season. Do we expect
Speaker 4: that this season as well? Or do we have new
Speaker 4: boundaries in place? What's the vibes at family dinner?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 3: No, everything is everything is it's it's cool, calm, collected.
Speaker 3: Think I wouldn't want to put them through what I think.
Speaker 3: There's a level of responsibility that I had to take
Speaker 3: with it all, and knowing that I did put them
Speaker 3: through some of that, even though that some of it
Speaker 3: was unwarranted, there is a level of accountability that I
Speaker 3: had to take and watching my you know, my friends
Speaker 3: and my family go to war with everybody.
Speaker 2: But this time around, no, it's it's just not worth
Speaker 2: it. It's not worth the.
Speaker 1: Well, you'll never beat the internet, right, You're just never
Speaker 1: going to be You're just out, You're out gone for sure. No,
Speaker 1: you never.
Speaker 2: Exactly, it's not worth it. It's not worth it.
Speaker 3: Also, anybody that you know wants to believe everything they
Speaker 3: see on reality TV, it's probably somebody not really worth
Speaker 3: arguing with. And I think that's kind of the level
Speaker 3: that we all got to. And it doesn't mean that
Speaker 3: you don't take what they say and try and make
Speaker 3: yourself better.
Speaker 2: It just means you filter everything.
Speaker 3: But but yeah, so this time around, there's going to
Speaker 3: be none of that.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I think I think your situation was also
Speaker 1: a little worse too, because you know, you were you're
Speaker 1: one of the better looking guys in the season. You
Speaker 1: have a connection with Jen, you're kind of like.
Speaker 4: You're also going up against her other connection.
Speaker 1: And you're but you're like you're kind of like like
Speaker 1: episode one a lot of people are looking at you
Speaker 1: as like this is going to be the hero, this
Speaker 1: is going to be the stop. And then when it flips,
Speaker 1: everyone's like, ah, it's like so much worse because you
Speaker 1: are kind of like a little bit on this pedestal.
Speaker 1: And then it's like the fall from that, it's like, oh, it's.
Speaker 4: Tough, tough.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's how it goes. It's it's just how it goes, though.
Speaker 2: And I learned so much, honestly about myself.
Speaker 3: I think in that environment right there, understanding that I
Speaker 3: can't fight ten thousand people, you know in my DM
Speaker 3: saying this, and that you just have to learn to
Speaker 3: get over it and you really have to solidify into
Speaker 3: who you are and remember to keep growing and keep pushing.
Speaker 3: But like I said, it's just filtering everything. He had
Speaker 3: something to say that was mean, if there was a
Speaker 3: lesson in there that I could take and apply to myself,
Speaker 3: than I would and then the rest of it I
Speaker 3: would just throw out the door. But people's opinions and projections,
Speaker 3: they're just like it's just not mine to carry. And
Speaker 3: that was the point that I had to get to
Speaker 3: and just saying this isn't worth it. Take what you
Speaker 3: can from it, make yourself better, and then after that,
Speaker 3: you know, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4: How has the response been since the cast has been
Speaker 4: announced and it's out there that you're going back on TV?
Speaker 4: Oh no, oh, he's shaking his head, you know.
Speaker 3: So I haven't looked at I haven't looked at a
Speaker 3: whole lot. I don't get as involved in it as
Speaker 3: I think I did when I whenever I first got back,
Speaker 3: because I was so excited about it all. I think
Speaker 3: this time around, I'm more just letting, letting the cards
Speaker 3: fall as they do, and really, nobody's going to know
Speaker 3: anything about me, and you know, until July seventh, and
Speaker 3: whenever that happens, then we'll see what the response is
Speaker 3: like then. So for now, it's still a lot of hate,
Speaker 3: but it's it's probably fifty to fifty now because of
Speaker 3: you know, what Devin did and blah blah blah.
Speaker 5: So it's uh, yeah, yeah if if before before we
Speaker 5: let you go, what is what is one thing you're
Speaker 5: hoping the audience learns about Sam as a person after Paradise.
Speaker 2: I think that I'm just kind.
Speaker 3: I think that's what I want people to see, is
Speaker 3: that I'm very kind and much more soft spoken than
Speaker 3: what anybody knows. Also, my emotional intelligence might be a
Speaker 3: little bit deeper than what everybody thinks as well, so
Speaker 3: but I think ultimately it is just that I'm kind.
Speaker 3: That's what I want people to I want people to
Speaker 3: remember the way that they felt whenever they talked to
Speaker 3: me or whenever they were around me. I think that's
Speaker 3: kind of my what I aspire towards in life is that,
Speaker 3: you know, how do you want to be remembered? I
Speaker 3: want I want to be remembered as that guy that
Speaker 3: made somebody feel good, somebody feel confident, and.
Speaker 2: The exact opposite of what they all saw a year ago.
Speaker 4: Can you give us one word that you think describes
Speaker 4: this season of Paradise.
Speaker 2: Messy?
Speaker 4: Okay, I would like to hear that.
Speaker 1: I'm Sam really appreciate you taking the time out. I'm
Speaker 1: rooting for you. I hope this all goes well. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I appreciate you, guys, seriously, thanks for having me.
Speaker 3: This is my first podcast, so well, I'm glad it
Speaker 3: was with you, guys.
Speaker 2: I appreciate it.
Speaker 4: We were happy to have you on and you did
Speaker 4: great and I'm sure we'll see you again soon as
Speaker 4: the season starts there.
Speaker 2: I'm sure you will for sure.
Speaker 1: To our listeners, thank you so much for tuning in
Speaker 1: the bet Or Happy Hour. Make sure you download and
Speaker 1: subscribe to a podcast.
Speaker 4: We'll have new and exclusive interviews coming your way. Thanks
Speaker 4: for listening. Bye,