Speaker 1: This is the most dramatic podcast ever and iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1: So the year was two thousand and two, Spring of
Speaker 1: two thousand and two to be exact. And I met
Speaker 1: this lovely, beautiful young blonde on the first season of
Speaker 1: The Bachelor. Her name was Trista Wren, and she didn't
Speaker 1: actually find love on that first season. She later became
Speaker 1: our first bachelorette. She was a runner up on Alex
Speaker 1: Michelle's season of the Bachelor and then became our first bachelorette.
Speaker 1: Of course, the rest is history and has been a beautiful,
Speaker 1: wonderful history, and she has become a dear friend of mine,
Speaker 1: as is her husband and two children. I should say,
Speaker 1: welcome to the most dramatic podcast ever. Trista, the Og,
Speaker 1: the goat, the godmother of the franchise. Yes to the Godfather,
Speaker 1: for without you, this thing wouldn't have ever worked for
Speaker 1: you or me. That's true. No, And I do say
Speaker 1: when I you know, whenever I talk about Trista, I
Speaker 1: call her the godmother because when people say, what was
Speaker 1: that lightning in a bottle moment that legitimized the show?
Speaker 1: Because we needed we needed the show. The concept was great,
Speaker 1: the idea behind it was actually really brilliant. But if
Speaker 1: we didn't have a true love story, then what's the point.
Speaker 1: And so you know, season three, we went through Alex
Speaker 1: Michelle and people think you were actually the second you
Speaker 1: were not. Aaron Bergee came next, he was the next bachelor.
Speaker 1: Then it was the first Bachelorette. And I say it
Speaker 1: took Trista in that love story to legitimize what we
Speaker 1: were actually envisioning.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's crazy. I mean I didn't feel that pressure.
Speaker 2: Of course, I was just there to find love. But
Speaker 2: you're right, I feel like even just watching, I don't
Speaker 2: know if you watched this season, I don't. I assume
Speaker 2: you do, maybe don't watch anymore, But.
Speaker 1: To be honest, I don't. I don't. I don't, I assumed.
Speaker 2: But I feel like a lot of people are craving
Speaker 2: authenticity these days, and I feel like Joey was able
Speaker 2: to give that back to people this season. And I
Speaker 2: think a lot of people, at least the people I've
Speaker 2: been messaging with, you know, fans of the show, are
Speaker 2: loving that. And so I have always felt that I
Speaker 2: always wanted authenticity and sincerity, and that's probably why I
Speaker 2: was attracted to my husband, because that's him. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I was just there to do my own thing, you know,
Speaker 2: buy love and thank god it happened.
Speaker 1: I always say, you know, again going we're going back
Speaker 1: many many years, two thousand and two, twenty two years ago. Obviously,
Speaker 1: there was an innocence and a naivete. We were all
Speaker 1: so innocent. I mean, I think about the things you
Speaker 1: and I were doing at the time, and we hung
Speaker 1: out all the time. I mean, the show was so different.
Speaker 1: There was no separation of church and state, and there
Speaker 1: was a beautiful innocence to it that is lost. And
Speaker 1: I don't blame anybody in particular because it's just the
Speaker 1: sign of the times. But how do we get that back?
Speaker 1: You know, can you can? Can that Genie be put
Speaker 1: back in the bottle where you have you know, legitimately
Speaker 1: sincere authentic reality TV? Again?
Speaker 2: Gosh, I don't know. I mean, that's a really good question,
Speaker 2: because I feel like with social media, you just it's
Speaker 2: really hard to do that. But you're right, looking back,
Speaker 2: we all hung out. It was me and Lisa and
Speaker 2: Mike and you and Jason Carbone and we were at
Speaker 2: Lisa's house like having drinks and going out to dinner together,
Speaker 2: like it wasn't. And obviously the people nowadays hang out
Speaker 2: with their handlers, right, so they have a producer that
Speaker 2: is like attached to them for the whole show, and
Speaker 2: they hang out with them. But I feel like it
Speaker 2: was You're right. We were so naive. We were just
Speaker 2: trying to figure things out, and I loved it, Like
Speaker 2: I loved being like a family with everybody. It's probably
Speaker 2: one of the best things to come out of the show. Obviously,
Speaker 2: you know, my relationship is the best thing to come
Speaker 2: out of the show. But the friendships. I feel like
Speaker 2: we were able to really really cultivate those friendships back
Speaker 2: then because we weren't worried about someone taking a picture
Speaker 2: of us and putting it on social media and being like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, is Chris Harrison dating Trista Setter or
Speaker 2: Trista Wren, you know, like because we were hanging out,
Speaker 2: you know, like, I don't know, it was just I
Speaker 2: love the innocent days and I wish we could get
Speaker 2: back to it, but I just don't know that that's
Speaker 2: possible with social media.
Speaker 1: I mean, flash forward to I went to Dancing with
Speaker 1: the Stars, probably to maybe root you on. I forget
Speaker 1: when it all happened, but somebody from the batchler was
Speaker 1: on the show and on dancing and Emily Maynard and
Speaker 1: I went, you know, I usually would go the Bachelor
Speaker 1: Bacherette of that season to promote it. And of course
Speaker 1: the tabloids are calling because I'd just gotten a divorce,
Speaker 1: and it's like, is Chris you know, did he you know?
Speaker 1: Is he dating Emily? Do you think there's something weird?
Speaker 2: There?
Speaker 1: Was he hitting on any of the dancers? And you
Speaker 1: know when we flashed back and I don't. I will
Speaker 1: say it was a very unprofessional time of the Bachelor
Speaker 1: and Bacherette. There were no rules because, like you said,
Speaker 1: we would stop taping and you would kind of come
Speaker 1: back with us back to the hotel or back to
Speaker 1: someone's house, and we were drinking tequila and traut. You know,
Speaker 1: there was no there were there were there were no lines.
Speaker 1: There were no professional lines where now it's like everybody
Speaker 1: has their compartment that they have to stay in totally.
Speaker 2: Well I mean, I mean we like put those lines
Speaker 2: there for our own, Like I wasn't ever going to
Speaker 2: like hit on you and likewise, and I wasn't ever
Speaker 2: going to hit on flies and likewise, do you know
Speaker 2: what I mean, like I for me, there were lines there,
Speaker 2: but that was our personal lines. There were no lines
Speaker 2: that had been divide I did. Because of the world
Speaker 2: that we live in.
Speaker 1: We were just having fun. You were allowed to just
Speaker 1: have fun, in which we did. We had an absolute blast.
Speaker 1: And you know, I think back and you can probably
Speaker 1: give more credence to this. You were also used more
Speaker 1: in that we were trying to build a franchise and
Speaker 1: trying to build a show. You were the first of something.
Speaker 1: You were the first bacherette while we had done a
Speaker 1: bachelor the Bachelorette at the time. You have to remember
Speaker 1: everybody was really controversial and it was really this lightning
Speaker 1: rod and this is why we had to choose a
Speaker 1: really strong, spectacular woman, which we did in Trista. But
Speaker 1: it was hot. But we used you in a good
Speaker 1: way of like, okay, Trista, what do you think?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: We would ask your opinion and you would almost help
Speaker 1: produce the show in a way that we would never
Speaker 1: do or they would never do.
Speaker 2: Now you're so right, it's so funny. I remember specifically
Speaker 2: a time with Lisa Levinson. She was basically, even though
Speaker 2: she was the EP, she was kind of my handler
Speaker 2: if you.
Speaker 1: Will, and and that's how crazy. Lisa So the executive
Speaker 1: producer on a television show was like the top of
Speaker 1: the top and they don't handle bachelor's and bacheorettes, but
Speaker 1: back then that's who was hands on with you. And
Speaker 1: that's just that's unheard of now.
Speaker 2: Unheard of, yes, completely, So they're always behind the scenes,
Speaker 2: you know, But she were. She was doing my interviews.
Speaker 2: Every time I was doing an im like I was,
Speaker 2: I was with her. So there was one specific moment
Speaker 2: where she was asking me all these questions. I was
Speaker 2: getting really annoyed with her and it was just taking
Speaker 2: forever and She's like, Okay, listen, I just need you
Speaker 2: to cry. And I was like, what, Like that's so stupid.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, but if I'm not feeling that, I'm like, no,
Speaker 2: I don't want to cry. But if that's what it's
Speaker 2: going to take, like, just ask me something to like
Speaker 2: get me emotional. But I'm not, like, I'm not an actress.
Speaker 1: But Lisa was funny. Lisa came from that that's soap
Speaker 1: opera world and the talk show world, and she was
Speaker 1: great at that and she you know, she would get
Speaker 1: in there and mix it up and do the interviews herself,
Speaker 1: and again they just don't, you know, executive producers don't
Speaker 1: do that anymore well.
Speaker 2: And also I feel like, you know, the handlers get
Speaker 2: really close to the leads, so they have super special bonds,
Speaker 2: and I feel like because of that, a lot of
Speaker 2: times the leads will open up more same with the
Speaker 2: rest of the cast, like you're going to open up
Speaker 2: more to someone that you have a bond with than
Speaker 2: you are to like somebody who you've never seen before.
Speaker 1: You mentioning that story reminded me of another story that
Speaker 1: you told me. I wasn't there because back in the day,
Speaker 1: you know, this is again two thousand and two, two
Speaker 1: thousand and three, we didn't travel. The show would go
Speaker 1: on dates and maybe pop out to Vegas, go to
Speaker 1: Hawaii or whatever, but we would always come back to
Speaker 1: LA for Rose ceremonies. That was home base. So all
Speaker 1: Rose ceremonies were back home. So I wouldn't go very rarely.
Speaker 1: I think the first time I traveled, honestly was Bob
Speaker 1: Guiney season, and so you I think it was Russ
Speaker 1: wouldn't that his name? You went to think maybe Sedona
Speaker 1: or something Yep, Okay, So do you remember. Do you
Speaker 1: remember the story about Russ and the kiss and how
Speaker 1: sick you were?
Speaker 2: I don't remember.
Speaker 1: Tell me it was the same thing where one of
Speaker 1: the producers was like, you were you were feeling terrible.
Speaker 1: You were really sick and feeling horrible, and you're like, guys,
Speaker 1: I just want this to be over. I just want
Speaker 1: to go to bed. Tell me how I can make
Speaker 1: this end. And they said, well, if you'll kiss him.
Speaker 1: Remember that.
Speaker 2: It actually sounds very similar to when I was in
Speaker 2: Hawaii with Alex Michelle. So he was sick in bed,
Speaker 2: and I think that I probably I remember going to
Speaker 2: his room just to hang out, but he was he
Speaker 2: was totally sick. These days, if someone was sick because
Speaker 2: of potential COVID, you would not be able to go
Speaker 2: to his room and just say hi, you know, so,
Speaker 2: oh yeah, I remember being an Alex. I do not remember.
Speaker 2: I have such a horrible memory. I mean, it's just
Speaker 2: it's just gone.
Speaker 1: This is what's crazy. I remember that. I think Alex
Speaker 1: was sick because you guys went on a helicopter ride
Speaker 1: and he got heir sick. He got heir sick. You're right,
Speaker 1: So the poor guy was throwing up puking and then
Speaker 1: they're like going for a kiss.
Speaker 2: So amazing. It's amazing looking back at that and knowing
Speaker 2: how many helicopters they've had on the show, and the
Speaker 2: first one ended up with the leap puking in it,
Speaker 2: So why do they constantly right?
Speaker 1: Why do we do this anymore?
Speaker 2: I know?
Speaker 1: You know, the most unromantic thing in the world is
Speaker 1: two is the air the hot air balloon ride, because
Speaker 1: what you're not seeing is the two or three other
Speaker 1: people shoved in this basket. Everybody is literally touching, you know,
Speaker 1: there's one there's a camera set up, and it's like
Speaker 1: it's the most unromantic moment ever, but we make it look.
Speaker 2: Very much produced.
Speaker 1: Yeah, very much produced. Going back to the naivete, I
Speaker 1: will still say your group of guys the greatest group
Speaker 1: of bachelors we have ever assembled. That has to do
Speaker 1: with a lot of things. I think the timing, the guys,
Speaker 1: the innocence of the moment. But it was a spectacular
Speaker 1: group of guys. I'm friends with many of them.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Actually Ryan was watching the finale with me, so Blakesley,
Speaker 2: my daughter, of course, wanted to watch this season because
Speaker 2: we met Joey at the Golden wedding, so you know,
Speaker 2: she's kind of locked in and she wasn't here. So
Speaker 2: Ryan watched the finale with me and he was saying,
Speaker 2: just that, you know, the girls on this season, there
Speaker 2: was a little bit of drama, but like in the end,
Speaker 2: what they were talking about, how was kind of like
Speaker 2: out of out of nowhere, it's never happened before. Was
Speaker 2: the word that the girls were actually like supporting each
Speaker 2: other in the end, the last two girls, and they
Speaker 2: were talking about, you know, the girls in their bond,
Speaker 2: and Ryan was like, I our season was the best,
Speaker 2: Like our guys were the best. Like everyone got along.
Speaker 2: He said. He remembers one of the guys saying he
Speaker 2: didn't know if it was Charlie, but one of the
Speaker 2: guys saying, if she doesn't end up with me, I
Speaker 2: really want her to end up with you.
Speaker 1: Like that does not say I think it was so Charlie.
Speaker 1: And Charlie was your number two who I actually ran
Speaker 1: into not too long ago in Las Vegas. Remember I
Speaker 1: think I told you about that, Yes, yes, yes, and
Speaker 1: we caught up. It was so wild. This guy came
Speaker 1: up to me. It's like Chris Harrison was like, holy
Speaker 1: crash Charlie just what a blast in the past. And
Speaker 1: of course Bob Guiney famously was on your season. You
Speaker 1: didn't choose Bob.
Speaker 2: I didn't. What were my friends to this day?
Speaker 1: Exactly? I yelled, well, y'all host the podcast together.
Speaker 2: Exactly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean think about that, and we and when
Speaker 1: we did your show, there was no such thing as
Speaker 1: a podcast, There was no such thing as a blog.
Speaker 1: We didn't have to deal with any of that crap.
Speaker 1: The worst thing we dealt with was maybe after the season,
Speaker 1: Entertainment Tonight or People magazine would try to do something
Speaker 1: that was it.
Speaker 2: You're right. I remember specifically going on gosh, what was it?
Speaker 2: The Today Show? With what is? Katie Couric was the
Speaker 2: person who interviewed me, and I was completely starstruck. And
Speaker 2: Matt Lowery that was really fun. And then of course
Speaker 2: they switched everything from NBC Today Show to Good Morning
Speaker 2: America for you know, for everything, of course, which makes
Speaker 2: sense because it's an ABC show. But that was really
Speaker 2: really that was really fun for me because you know,
Speaker 2: I was this Midwestern girl who had lived in Miami
Speaker 2: and it was all fun for me. It was it
Speaker 2: was It was a crazy whirlwind and that was kind
Speaker 2: of a little bit of icing on the cake because
Speaker 2: the cake was Ryan. I'm sure you're not being.
Speaker 1: Compared to cake well, and people have to like put
Speaker 1: in perspective if if the show is doing good now,
Speaker 1: that means it's averaging just under or just at three
Speaker 1: million viewers. Yeah, your show was over thirty million. Over
Speaker 1: thirty million viewers. It's hard to put in perspective. And again,
Speaker 1: it was a different time in television. I'm not comparing
Speaker 1: the two because you can't. Television is so different. But
Speaker 1: that's the point is there was no social media, but
Speaker 1: it was so big. And I will tell a story
Speaker 1: to try and put in perspective how big it was.
Speaker 1: There was this show called Alias with Jennifer Garner, Bradley
Speaker 1: Cooper and all these big stars that was on and
Speaker 1: that was on ABC. Was the big show. Trista and
Speaker 1: I went to the Super Bowl. There was the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl in San Diego with Tampa Bay and the Raiders
Speaker 1: were playing, and you and I were there, and so
Speaker 1: the biggest stars on the planet. You know, Jennifer Garner
Speaker 1: was huge at the time. When Trista walked in, the
Speaker 1: place shut down everybody that they were knocking, knocking, Jennifer
Speaker 1: Garner over to get to Trista, and it was just
Speaker 1: it was the level of stardom, the level of craziness.
Speaker 1: And back then there was no there wasn't a late
Speaker 1: night show. That It was actually at that Super Bowl
Speaker 1: when they announced Jimmy Kimmel was going to do the
Speaker 1: late night show. So you went on Jay Leno, you
Speaker 1: were on the Today Show. That would never happen. Now
Speaker 1: you got to go suck up to Kimmel. You got
Speaker 1: to go suck up to GMA and People met and
Speaker 1: People Magazine owns The Bachelor, so you're you know, People
Speaker 1: Magazine will never say anything bad about The Bachelor. They're
Speaker 1: always going to get the story that whole. You know,
Speaker 1: they're all in cahoots. That wasn't the case with you.
Speaker 2: Definitely not. And I did Howard Stern like Oprah. Oprah
Speaker 2: is where the wedding came from. You know, she she
Speaker 2: wanted to have the wedding on her show. It was,
Speaker 2: it was, it was massive. It's funny that I love
Speaker 2: seeing it through your eyes or hearing about seeing it
Speaker 2: through your eyes, because I don't remember that being Like
Speaker 2: what I remember about the Super Bowl was that I
Speaker 2: freaking got to sat next to sit next to Bradley
Speaker 2: Cooper because I was a massive fan of Alias and
Speaker 2: to this day too like freaking love him and Jennifer
Speaker 2: Garner too, Like I am huge fans. So that's all
Speaker 2: I remember about it is how starstruck I was. But
Speaker 2: you're right, it was. I think they said it was
Speaker 2: thirty one million people tuned into the final episode when
Speaker 2: we got engaged.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the biggest episode ever was Aaron Bergie's finale that
Speaker 1: was thirty three million. Your season is the highest averaged
Speaker 1: ever from start to finish.
Speaker 2: No, it you know, something that was definitely not expected.
Speaker 2: Like you said in the beginning, it was very controversial.
Speaker 2: I mean I got called every name in the book
Speaker 2: by the past. You know that I was going to
Speaker 2: look like a slut and who am I to be
Speaker 2: dating twenty five guys at one time and all this,
Speaker 2: So I probably went, you know, to the opposite extreme,
Speaker 2: like that moment when I was on the beach with
Speaker 2: Jamie and he was like, well, could I give you
Speaker 2: a kiss? And I was like maybe on the cheek.
Speaker 1: Jamie Blithe. So you think of the popularity of you
Speaker 1: and the show, and by the way kudos because I
Speaker 1: always say, of all the people that have been able
Speaker 1: to transition and stay relevant with the show, with the fans,
Speaker 1: with everything, it's you. You have mastered that and it's brilliant.
Speaker 1: And I say, is brilliant because you did not have
Speaker 1: social media good or bad. First of all, I would add,
Speaker 1: do you wish it was a different time? Say you
Speaker 1: had the stardom, the numbers, the press, everything, and you
Speaker 1: had you could be a social media influencer. First of all,
Speaker 1: you'd be a bajillionaire.
Speaker 2: But gosh, I don't think I could do it. Brian
Speaker 2: and I have talked about that. I am so sensitive.
Speaker 2: I would go on the message boards. So back then
Speaker 2: it was like the precursor to social media. It was
Speaker 2: message boards. So you go on ABC dot com and
Speaker 2: they would have a message board tab and you could
Speaker 2: click on all these different links about what people were discussing.
Speaker 2: And of course it was like Trista walks like a duck,
Speaker 2: and Trista has a baby talk and Trista this and
Speaker 2: that and the other thing. And I would look at
Speaker 2: everything because hello, I'm a curious human, and I would
Speaker 2: get upset. I do not think I would survive mentally,
Speaker 2: the social media terrors that they have to go through,
Speaker 2: Like the death threat that people get is ridiculous. It
Speaker 2: is so horrifying. Yeah, the hatred, I hate that. It
Speaker 2: is so much of it is about hatred. And even
Speaker 2: if it's like this much, that's.
Speaker 1: What you focus on on a lot of it is
Speaker 1: bots and stuff that don't they're not even yeah, they're
Speaker 1: not even real accounts. I mean, I went through that
Speaker 1: when I was going through my thing. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: used to it because I've been doing this for over
Speaker 1: thirty years. But you know, the death you get, death threats,
Speaker 1: you get hate, you get all this stuff. I've gotten
Speaker 1: that for decades. I just don't go on social media
Speaker 1: and cry about it. It's just it is what it is.
Speaker 1: But you go back and if sometimes if you look
Speaker 1: at those accounts, you're like zero followers, zero, you know,
Speaker 1: it's like they're bots. They're they're fake, but they are
Speaker 1: made to initiate and distir this crap up, and it's
Speaker 1: it is. It's horrible. It's tough to deal with, especially
Speaker 1: for someone like you. And I've always defended bachelor's and
Speaker 1: bachelorettes and people on the show because say what you will.
Speaker 1: I know you think you know what you signed up for,
Speaker 1: but you don't. There's no way to prepare you for that.
Speaker 2: No, you can't. You can think that you're going to
Speaker 2: be able to handle it, but you can't until you're
Speaker 2: in that position. And I want to go back and
Speaker 2: say thank you. That was very nice of you to
Speaker 2: say about staying relevant. I don't think I'm relevant that
Speaker 2: much these days because I am old and I'm the
Speaker 2: old gal, like you know, the OG that's what I say.
Speaker 2: The OG stands for.
Speaker 1: Hey, I'm telling you to this day. And literally I
Speaker 1: just went to I just went to Missoo where Lauren
Speaker 1: went to school, and inevitably it always happens, people come
Speaker 1: up and say, oh my gosh, my favorite season was
Speaker 1: Trista and that Firefighter. For some reason, they never remember
Speaker 1: Ryan's name. He's always the firefighter. But I'm telling you
Speaker 1: you to this day, which is remarkable because again this
Speaker 1: is twenty two years. That's essentially two generations of humans
Speaker 1: that have grown up. They still watch and know you
Speaker 1: and find you and find your season. That's really it
Speaker 1: really is remarkable.
Speaker 2: That's very sweet. I honestly think I have a thought
Speaker 2: on this is I just recently heard that your memories,
Speaker 2: the ones that you remember, are the ones that are
Speaker 2: tied to some kind of emotion. Right. So a lot
Speaker 2: of people, which I'm sure you get this all the time, too,
Speaker 2: watched the show during like difficult times when their mom
Speaker 2: was dying, or when they were having a baby, or
Speaker 2: they got together with a group of people and they
Speaker 2: put on their wedding gowns as like the party that
Speaker 2: you know, they were watching the Bachelortte finale. So I
Speaker 2: feel like so many people back in the day when
Speaker 2: it was innocent and people didn't talk about the editing
Speaker 2: and the villains and the you know whatever, the production
Speaker 2: of it all. It was more just about the love story,
Speaker 2: and I feel like people were emotionally tied to it.
Speaker 2: A lot of people at least were emotionally tied to
Speaker 2: it because of how they were watching, who they were
Speaker 2: watching with, and then of course the end result and
Speaker 2: that was, you know that we got married and are happy.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I love that. I love that people have
Speaker 2: this positive memory of all of it because obviously it's
Speaker 2: it's my happening.
Speaker 1: When people ask me about my time on the show,
Speaker 1: I say, I have no misgivings about it, and it
Speaker 1: was a blessing and one of the because of my
Speaker 1: relationship with just those people you're talking about. I hear
Speaker 1: all the time someone sits down and say, you know,
Speaker 1: I never got to talk to my mom or my daughter,
Speaker 1: but on Monday nights or Wednesday nights, was when you
Speaker 1: were on was was when we would connect and when
Speaker 1: we'd get together, or this is what we would watch
Speaker 1: in the hospital when my daughter was sick. And you
Speaker 1: hear a lot of those stories and you're right, it
Speaker 1: got them through tough times, or just kids that come
Speaker 1: up and say you were my childhood, which is really
Speaker 1: makes me feel old, but it's wonderful. It's like you
Speaker 1: like you were my childhood because my mom was always
Speaker 1: watching and so I would That's how I would come
Speaker 1: in and connect and so it is a It was
Speaker 1: a great thing for that and I relish and we'll
Speaker 1: always love and respect that connection that I had with
Speaker 1: twenty year's worth of people growing up and you know,
Speaker 1: going through these memories, it's wonderful. I want to talk
Speaker 1: about because you just said, Blakesley, watch the finale and
Speaker 1: watch the show. Was that the you did you go
Speaker 1: back and watch your show with the kids. Two kids
Speaker 1: by the way, mad Max and Blakeslee.
Speaker 2: Yep. Max is sixteen and Blakesley is almost fifteen. So
Speaker 2: two teenagers in the house, which is crazy town. But
Speaker 2: as you know, they have not watched our season, and
Speaker 2: they've watched a little bit of the wedding little snippets
Speaker 2: at least Blakesley has. Max has no interest whatsoever.
Speaker 1: He wants to play hockey and you know, go break stuff.
Speaker 2: Yep, exactly. He just wants to play hockey and be
Speaker 2: with his girlfriend. He's had a girlfriend since the first
Speaker 2: day of school who we love. Wow. Wow, I know,
Speaker 2: it's crazy, It really is crazy. So yeah, no, we
Speaker 2: haven't shown them, and you know, maybe someday, blake Sti'll
Speaker 2: look it up on whatever it'll be on and see it.
Speaker 2: Of course, we have VHS tapes and I've saved a
Speaker 2: VCR just for that purpose because I'm like.
Speaker 1: Right, exactly, I think it's got to be up somewhere
Speaker 1: I haven't looked, but it's got to be up on
Speaker 1: like Hulu or one of those sites I assume, you know.
Speaker 1: By the way, a little bit of Bachelor trivia, the
Speaker 1: first Bachelor baby was Max. Yep, he was and Max
Speaker 1: the first Bachelor baby was born July twenty sixth, on
Speaker 1: your birthday, which is my birthday. It was two thousand
Speaker 1: and seven, so we're a couple of years apart. But yeah,
Speaker 1: Max's boorn July twenty six I was so excited. I
Speaker 1: got so happy when I heard you, you know, had
Speaker 1: had Max on on a bird. It's like it just
Speaker 1: it was a full circle moment for sure.
Speaker 2: I mean, you couldn't plant it better.
Speaker 1: I thought he'd be named Christopher or maybe Maxwell Christopher,
Speaker 1: but you know that's fine.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, it's so crazy. And then like Blakeslee
Speaker 2: has a birthday with Andy Dorfman and Becca Krufrien. It's
Speaker 2: such a small world.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I guess there's thousands of us now, so
Speaker 1: it's bound you guys. I just want to catch up
Speaker 1: on how you're doing. You're now living in Denver, so
Speaker 1: if for those sad souls that are still going to
Speaker 1: veil trying to go by the firehouse to see Ryan,
Speaker 1: he is not there. That that always cracked me up.
Speaker 1: We would go skiing from time to time and we'd
Speaker 1: always see you guys, and we'd swing by the firehouse
Speaker 1: to see Ryan. And I mean a constant stream of
Speaker 1: people going to the firehouse to see Peep, to see Ryan.
Speaker 1: But you guys are living in Denver. How is life?
Speaker 1: How are you guys doing?
Speaker 2: Life is great. We decided to make the move because, well,
Speaker 2: first of all, Ryan had been commuting from Vale to Denver,
Speaker 2: which is like a two hour drive maybe for about
Speaker 2: two or three years. And even though he was like
Speaker 2: okay with it in his mind because he loves the
Speaker 2: mountains so much, he's like, I don't want to leave,
Speaker 2: it was the right decision. Like being in skier traffic
Speaker 2: because there's only two lanes on the highway most of
Speaker 2: the way, it is stressful. And he was going through
Speaker 2: lime disease at the time, which he still has, but
Speaker 2: he was really in a bad place in terms of
Speaker 2: his health at that point. So that was a big
Speaker 2: draw for us. His parents live like five minutes away
Speaker 2: from us, which is great. And then Max really wanted
Speaker 2: to change it up a little bit. He wanted kind
Speaker 2: of an elevated academic and athletic experience, and so we
Speaker 2: found an incredible school here and Blakesley's at an incredible
Speaker 2: new dance academy, our dance studio. So I feel like
Speaker 2: you know, we were in a very small town. Veil
Speaker 2: is a very small town, and really we we loved it.
Speaker 2: You know, we love the community. The mountains are incredible.
Speaker 2: They grew up skiing, you know, they can they can
Speaker 2: go on the mountain by themselves now, which is kind
Speaker 2: of unheard of who didn't grow up around it. But
Speaker 2: they're good there. It's just, you know, big cities offer
Speaker 2: a lot more opportunity and that was kind of the
Speaker 2: the catalyst for our decision was really thinking about the opportunity.
Speaker 2: So we're settling in. We still are finding our way
Speaker 2: and meeting friends, and who knows, we might maybe we'll
Speaker 2: stay here, maybe we'll go back to the mountains. Maybe
Speaker 2: we'll follow our kids wherever they go to college. Who knows.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I say, you don't know. Things are going to
Speaker 1: change so dramatically in the next three to five years.
Speaker 1: Everything will be turned upside down, or as I like
Speaker 1: to say on the show, everything is about to change.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're right, it's true.
Speaker 1: Where they go to college, what they end up doing,
Speaker 1: and it is it's a wonderful time. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of angst. You're going to get to that, like, Okay,
Speaker 1: where are they going to school and getting them there. Trista,
Speaker 1: Joshua was about to graduate. He's graduating. This may like
Speaker 1: he's out of school, yes, like he is twenty two
Speaker 1: years old and graduating cars.
Speaker 2: Well you can say that makes him twenty two. Well
Speaker 2: it's funny because people don't know this. But I sent
Speaker 2: you a text the other day because you know, as
Speaker 2: as going through moves, I'm still going through boxes. And
Speaker 2: I went through a box of Christmas cards and I
Speaker 2: sent you a text with two of your old Christmas
Speaker 2: cards with your cute little babies on them, as I
Speaker 2: did with like ten other friends. I was like, how
Speaker 2: cute is this? Like I save these credit cards? Are
Speaker 2: these Christmas cards? Just because I love seeing people's pictures.
Speaker 2: I love, you know, the connection to my friend. But
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, I cannot believe he's graduating college.
Speaker 1: I do like, I love this. This is like what
Speaker 1: you sent me.
Speaker 2: Look at those babies.
Speaker 1: I got the cutest text from Trista. This is what
Speaker 1: I love about Trista and just the show in general,
Speaker 1: that just the friends I've made or whatever. And this
Speaker 1: is still to this day and I don't even know
Speaker 1: where this picture is. This is of the kids in
Speaker 1: Italy when we were shooting in Italy. Yes, and they
Speaker 1: were walking down the street. This is what would have
Speaker 1: been Lorenzo Burghazy season of The Bachelor, and uh, you said,
Speaker 1: I thank you, thank you for sending me the old
Speaker 1: Christmas cards because I don't have these and I can't
Speaker 1: believe you did. But I appreciate it that when they
Speaker 1: got those my heart.
Speaker 2: I have sent them to you like in the mail.
Speaker 1: No, I mean, who's going to keep those anyway? It's like, no,
Speaker 1: I have the pictures, but it was. It just hit
Speaker 1: me and I'm like, oh, it just goes by so fast,
Speaker 1: it just blows by.
Speaker 2: I know, Chris, I don't know, like you've successfully figured it.
Speaker 1: Out, but I don't know about that.
Speaker 2: Well, yes you have, Yes, you have. You're happily married again,
Speaker 2: You're doing a podcast, you're doing married, all of these things.
Speaker 2: Your things are falling in line, which I'm so happy
Speaker 2: for you for. But I am really struggling with, like
Speaker 2: finding my identity, knowing that my kids are going to
Speaker 2: be out of the house because I've dedicated the last
Speaker 2: sixteen years of my life plus sixteen years plus to
Speaker 2: my to Ryan the family. Like I was a physical
Speaker 2: therapist and then with that to go do the show
Speaker 2: the show, and so I'm really struggling with it. It
Speaker 2: makes me really sad, just a wee.
Speaker 1: Lauren and I just did a podcast on this and
Speaker 1: we talked about it in depth of and I'm not
Speaker 1: putting this out there in the universe, but it's just
Speaker 1: it was a statistic of one of the leading causes
Speaker 1: of divorce, and that was the topic we were talking about.
Speaker 1: And how you know, as as a husband like Ryan,
Speaker 1: must be cognizant of the fact that you were going
Speaker 1: to go through something really traumatic and it's greed and
Speaker 1: it's real and you have to find yourself and both couples,
Speaker 1: both you know people and a couple need to be
Speaker 1: cognizant of the fact that it's big. It's big change,
Speaker 1: and it's big for the person that's been out working
Speaker 1: every day to understand that this person that's been home
Speaker 1: and grinding and driving to hockey and driving to dance
Speaker 1: and doing all these things now has to find space
Speaker 1: in this world. And it is it's very real, and
Speaker 1: I'm glad that you are cognizant of it and thinking
Speaker 1: of it, because yeah, it's it is going to be
Speaker 1: something you'll have to deal with for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I really haven't thought about it, like in terms
Speaker 2: of that. I did when I was doing my Better
Speaker 2: et cetera podcast, I did have someone, a grief expert,
Speaker 2: come and talk about grief, and she did talk about
Speaker 2: like different kinds of grief because it's not just losing someone, right,
Speaker 2: And so you're right, like I will, I will go
Speaker 2: through grieving and just knowing that, knowing what to expect
Speaker 2: because I am going to be a puddle on the floor,
Speaker 2: like I don't know what I'm what I'm going to do.
Speaker 2: Blakeslee and I are especially really close, and it's going
Speaker 2: to be so hard.
Speaker 1: I cry. I cried like a baby. Dropping both my
Speaker 1: kids off at college.
Speaker 2: I'm sure, I'm sure.
Speaker 1: And then now there's the last right like with Joshua,
Speaker 1: his last you know, lacrosse games are coming up, there's
Speaker 1: senior night coming up, there's graduate, all these things, and
Speaker 1: I mean, I got emotional. We went and looked at
Speaker 1: apartments because he's moving out of his you know, college
Speaker 1: and he's got to get an apartment in a job,
Speaker 1: and so we're in that phase of life and you're
Speaker 1: just like, so there's all these phases and they're all
Speaker 1: great and they're wonderful, and you realize you're blessed, but
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean it doesn't hit you in the heart. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I'm glad that Ryan's doing better because I know that,
Speaker 1: you know, you guys with a lime disease, which is
Speaker 1: such a bizarre, mysterious disease that goes undiagnosed for so long,
Speaker 1: which exacerbates what happens, and uh, we were all so worried.
Speaker 1: I'm glad he's doing good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's better. I mean he's he definitely had a
Speaker 2: lot of ups and down still and really would like
Speaker 2: to feel better at least most of the time. He
Speaker 2: says that he's about eighty percent. I would go to
Speaker 2: his doctor's appointments with him because he is so incredibly
Speaker 2: humble too, so he's not going to be like, oh,
Speaker 2: I don't want to complain about like whatever's going on
Speaker 2: with me, even if it's really significant. I would tell
Speaker 2: his doctors, like, you don't understand. He has an incredibly
Speaker 2: high pain tolerance. So if it was me that was
Speaker 2: going through what he's going through, I would be bedridden
Speaker 2: every single day and maybe even hospitalized, like he is
Speaker 2: able to get through through this because you're right, he's
Speaker 2: freaking superhuman. I don't understand it.
Speaker 1: I've said along if there was a category of greatest
Speaker 1: athletes ever to have been on this franchise in twenty
Speaker 1: two years, it's Ryan. I mean, he's the guy that
Speaker 1: he you know, played played college football, played professional football,
Speaker 1: could have picked up basketball. He's that guy. If you
Speaker 1: invent a sport the next day, he's the best at it.
Speaker 1: And it just it's crazy what a phenomenal athlete this
Speaker 1: guy is. I mean, that's why he was such a
Speaker 1: good firefighter. It's like, the guy is a freak. And
Speaker 1: so yeah, for when you see him knocked on his ass,
Speaker 1: You're like, oh my god, that is that's for real scary.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's very scary. So when he like actually succumbs
Speaker 2: to it and gives in to the fact that he's
Speaker 2: not feeling well, because usually he'll push through it. He'll
Speaker 2: be like, oh whatever, I'm still going to go to
Speaker 2: work and we're going to be doing twelve hours of
Speaker 2: training at the firehouse today, but I'm still going to
Speaker 2: go and oh whatever, I'm still going to skin up
Speaker 2: this mountain. And like, I have never understood it, but
Speaker 2: I'm grateful because had he not had the kind of
Speaker 2: tolerance that he has, it would have been even even harder.
Speaker 2: And it was and it still is. But thank you.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm glad you guys are good, and I'm glad
Speaker 1: life is good, and I so value a your friendship
Speaker 1: and of course your time to come on the show.
Speaker 1: I truly am one of the greatest gifts to come
Speaker 1: out of this franchise, and it was you and our
Speaker 1: friendship and the fact that you and I have stayed
Speaker 1: friends for wow, twenty two years. Now, twenty two years,
Speaker 1: like it's so crazy.
Speaker 2: I mean, and I think you were there the first
Speaker 2: day that I came for my interview at the office
Speaker 2: of you there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I just happened to be there at the
Speaker 1: old Telepictures Next Entertainment. Yes, yeah, that blonde hair.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh right, yes, this was it, the Spikey.
Speaker 1: Here blonde hair beautiful. Oh man. Well, I appreciate I
Speaker 1: so appreciate you, and give my love to Ryan and
Speaker 1: I'm glad you guys are doing great, and of course
Speaker 1: I will see you soon somewhere.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you, I I'm here, all of those sentiments,
Speaker 2: love you, appreciate you great well for you, and please
Speaker 2: give Lauren and the kids a hug for me too.
Speaker 1: I'll do it. Thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram
Speaker 1: at the most dramatic pod ever, and make sure to
Speaker 1: write us a review and leave us five stars. I'll
Speaker 1: talk to you next time.