April 8, 2024 • 36 mins
Chris is going back to the very first season of The Bachelorette and catching up with Trista Sutter!
Hear some secrets revealed from the season that changed everything 22 years ago, and why Chris believes her contestants were the best group of guys the franchise has ever seen.
Plus, we get an update on Trista’s husband Ryan, and how they’ve handled his health challenges as a couple.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the most dramatic podcast ever and iHeartRadio podcast.
So the year was two thousand and two, Spring of
two thousand and two to be exact. And I met
this lovely, beautiful young blonde on the first season of
The Bachelor. Her name was Trista Wren, and she didn't
(00:24):
actually find love on that first season. She later became
our first bachelorette. She was a runner up on Alex
Michelle's season of the Bachelor and then became our first bachelorette.
Of course, the rest is history and has been a beautiful,
wonderful history, and she has become a dear friend of mine,
as is her husband and two children. I should say,
(00:44):
welcome to the most dramatic podcast ever. Trista, the Og,
the goat, the godmother of the franchise. Yes to the Godfather,
for without you, this thing wouldn't have ever worked for
you or me. That's true. No, And I do say
when I you know, whenever I talk about Trista, I
(01:04):
call her the godmother because when people say, what was
that lightning in a bottle moment that legitimized the show?
Because we needed we needed the show. The concept was great,
the idea behind it was actually really brilliant. But if
we didn't have a true love story, then what's the point.
And so you know, season three, we went through Alex
(01:27):
Michelle and people think you were actually the second you
were not. Aaron Bergee came next, he was the next bachelor.
Then it was the first Bachelorette. And I say it
took Trista in that love story to legitimize what we
were actually envisioning.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, it's crazy. I mean I didn't feel that pressure.
Of course, I was just there to find love. But
you're right, I feel like even just watching, I don't
know if you watched this season, I don't. I assume
you do, maybe don't watch anymore, But.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
To be honest, I don't. I don't. I don't, I assumed.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
But I feel like a lot of people are craving
authenticity these days, and I feel like Joey was able
to give that back to people this season. And I
think a lot of people, at least the people I've
been messaging with, you know, fans of the show, are
loving that. And so I have always felt that I
(02:23):
always wanted authenticity and sincerity, and that's probably why I
was attracted to my husband, because that's him. But yeah,
I was just there to do my own thing, you know,
buy love and thank god it happened.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I always say, you know, again going we're going back
many many years, two thousand and two, twenty two years ago. Obviously,
there was an innocence and a naivete. We were all
so innocent. I mean, I think about the things you
and I were doing at the time, and we hung
out all the time. I mean, the show was so different.
(02:57):
There was no separation of church and state, and there
was a beautiful innocence to it that is lost. And
I don't blame anybody in particular because it's just the
sign of the times. But how do we get that back?
You know, can you can? Can that Genie be put
back in the bottle where you have you know, legitimately
(03:19):
sincere authentic reality TV? Again?
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Gosh, I don't know. I mean, that's a really good question,
because I feel like with social media, you just it's
really hard to do that. But you're right, looking back,
we all hung out. It was me and Lisa and
Mike and you and Jason Carbone and we were at
Lisa's house like having drinks and going out to dinner together,
(03:46):
like it wasn't. And obviously the people nowadays hang out
with their handlers, right, so they have a producer that
is like attached to them for the whole show, and
they hang out with them. But I feel like it
was You're right. We were so naive. We were just
trying to figure things out, and I loved it, Like
(04:07):
I loved being like a family with everybody. It's probably
one of the best things to come out of the show. Obviously,
you know, my relationship is the best thing to come
out of the show. But the friendships. I feel like
we were able to really really cultivate those friendships back
then because we weren't worried about someone taking a picture
(04:28):
of us and putting it on social media and being like,
oh my god, is Chris Harrison dating Trista Setter or
Trista Wren, you know, like because we were hanging out,
you know, like, I don't know, it was just I
love the innocent days and I wish we could get
back to it, but I just don't know that that's
possible with social media.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
I mean, flash forward to I went to Dancing with
the Stars, probably to maybe root you on. I forget
when it all happened, but somebody from the batchler was
on the show and on dancing and Emily Maynard and
I went, you know, I usually would go the Bachelor
Bacherette of that season to promote it. And of course
the tabloids are calling because I'd just gotten a divorce,
and it's like, is Chris you know, did he you know?
(05:08):
Is he dating Emily? Do you think there's something weird?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
There?
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Was he hitting on any of the dancers? And you
know when we flashed back and I don't. I will
say it was a very unprofessional time of the Bachelor
and Bacherette. There were no rules because, like you said,
we would stop taping and you would kind of come
back with us back to the hotel or back to
someone's house, and we were drinking tequila and traut. You know,
(05:31):
there was no there were there were there were no lines.
There were no professional lines where now it's like everybody
has their compartment that they have to stay in totally.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Well I mean, I mean we like put those lines
there for our own, Like I wasn't ever going to
like hit on you and likewise, and I wasn't ever
going to hit on flies and likewise, do you know
what I mean, like I for me, there were lines there,
but that was our personal lines. There were no lines
that had been divide I did. Because of the world
(06:02):
that we live in.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
We were just having fun. You were allowed to just
have fun, in which we did. We had an absolute blast.
And you know, I think back and you can probably
give more credence to this. You were also used more
in that we were trying to build a franchise and
trying to build a show. You were the first of something.
You were the first bacherette while we had done a
(06:23):
bachelor the Bachelorette at the time. You have to remember
everybody was really controversial and it was really this lightning
rod and this is why we had to choose a
really strong, spectacular woman, which we did in Trista. But
it was hot. But we used you in a good
way of like, okay, Trista, what do you think?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Right?
Speaker 1 (06:43):
We would ask your opinion and you would almost help
produce the show in a way that we would never
do or they would never do.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Now you're so right, it's so funny. I remember specifically
a time with Lisa Levinson. She was basically, even though
she was the EP, she was kind of my handler
if you.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Will, and and that's how crazy. Lisa So the executive
producer on a television show was like the top of
the top and they don't handle bachelor's and bacheorettes, but
back then that's who was hands on with you. And
that's just that's unheard of now.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Unheard of, yes, completely, So they're always behind the scenes,
you know, But she were. She was doing my interviews.
Every time I was doing an im like I was,
I was with her. So there was one specific moment
where she was asking me all these questions. I was
getting really annoyed with her and it was just taking
(07:38):
forever and She's like, Okay, listen, I just need you
to cry. And I was like, what, Like that's so stupid.
I'm sorry, but if I'm not feeling that, I'm like, no,
I don't want to cry. But if that's what it's
going to take, like, just ask me something to like
get me emotional. But I'm not, like, I'm not an actress.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
But Lisa was funny. Lisa came from that that's soap
opera world and the talk show world, and she was
great at that and she you know, she would get
in there and mix it up and do the interviews herself,
and again they just don't, you know, executive producers don't
do that anymore well.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
And also I feel like, you know, the handlers get
really close to the leads, so they have super special bonds,
and I feel like because of that, a lot of
times the leads will open up more same with the
rest of the cast, like you're going to open up
more to someone that you have a bond with than
you are to like somebody who you've never seen before.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
You mentioning that story reminded me of another story that
you told me. I wasn't there because back in the day,
you know, this is again two thousand and two, two
thousand and three, we didn't travel. The show would go
on dates and maybe pop out to Vegas, go to
Hawaii or whatever, but we would always come back to
LA for Rose ceremonies. That was home base. So all
Rose ceremonies were back home. So I wouldn't go very rarely.
(08:56):
I think the first time I traveled, honestly was Bob
Guiney season, and so you I think it was Russ
wouldn't that his name? You went to think maybe Sedona
or something Yep, Okay, So do you remember. Do you
remember the story about Russ and the kiss and how
sick you were?
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I don't remember.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Tell me it was the same thing where one of
the producers was like, you were you were feeling terrible.
You were really sick and feeling horrible, and you're like, guys,
I just want this to be over. I just want
to go to bed. Tell me how I can make
this end. And they said, well, if you'll kiss him.
(09:35):
Remember that.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
It actually sounds very similar to when I was in
Hawaii with Alex Michelle. So he was sick in bed,
and I think that I probably I remember going to
his room just to hang out, but he was he
was totally sick. These days, if someone was sick because
of potential COVID, you would not be able to go
to his room and just say hi, you know, so,
(10:00):
oh yeah, I remember being an Alex. I do not remember.
I have such a horrible memory. I mean, it's just
it's just gone.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
This is what's crazy. I remember that. I think Alex
was sick because you guys went on a helicopter ride
and he got heir sick. He got heir sick. You're right,
So the poor guy was throwing up puking and then
they're like going for a kiss.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
So amazing. It's amazing looking back at that and knowing
how many helicopters they've had on the show, and the
first one ended up with the leap puking in it,
So why do they constantly right?
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Why do we do this anymore?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I know?
Speaker 1 (10:36):
You know, the most unromantic thing in the world is
two is the air the hot air balloon ride, because
what you're not seeing is the two or three other
people shoved in this basket. Everybody is literally touching, you know,
there's one there's a camera set up, and it's like
it's the most unromantic moment ever, but we make it look.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Very much produced.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Yeah, very much produced. Going back to the naivete, I
will still say your group of guys the greatest group
of bachelors we have ever assembled. That has to do
(11:18):
with a lot of things. I think the timing, the guys,
the innocence of the moment. But it was a spectacular
group of guys. I'm friends with many of them.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yeah. Actually Ryan was watching the finale with me, so Blakesley,
my daughter, of course, wanted to watch this season because
we met Joey at the Golden wedding, so you know,
she's kind of locked in and she wasn't here. So
Ryan watched the finale with me and he was saying,
just that, you know, the girls on this season, there
(11:48):
was a little bit of drama, but like in the end,
what they were talking about, how was kind of like
out of out of nowhere, it's never happened before. Was
the word that the girls were actually like supporting each
other in the end, the last two girls, and they
were talking about, you know, the girls in their bond,
(12:09):
and Ryan was like, I our season was the best,
Like our guys were the best. Like everyone got along.
He said. He remembers one of the guys saying he
didn't know if it was Charlie, but one of the
guys saying, if she doesn't end up with me, I
really want her to end up with you.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Like that does not say I think it was so Charlie.
And Charlie was your number two who I actually ran
into not too long ago in Las Vegas. Remember I
think I told you about that, Yes, yes, yes, and
we caught up. It was so wild. This guy came
up to me. It's like Chris Harrison was like, holy
crash Charlie just what a blast in the past. And
(12:49):
of course Bob Guiney famously was on your season. You
didn't choose Bob.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
I didn't. What were my friends to this day?
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Exactly? I yelled, well, y'all host the podcast together.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Yeah, I mean think about that, and we and when
we did your show, there was no such thing as
a podcast, There was no such thing as a blog.
We didn't have to deal with any of that crap.
The worst thing we dealt with was maybe after the season,
Entertainment Tonight or People magazine would try to do something
that was it.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
You're right. I remember specifically going on gosh, what was it?
The Today Show? With what is? Katie Couric was the
person who interviewed me, and I was completely starstruck. And
Matt Lowery that was really fun. And then of course
(13:40):
they switched everything from NBC Today Show to Good Morning
America for you know, for everything, of course, which makes
sense because it's an ABC show. But that was really
really that was really fun for me because you know,
I was this Midwestern girl who had lived in Miami
and it was all fun for me. It was it
(14:02):
was It was a crazy whirlwind and that was kind
of a little bit of icing on the cake because
the cake was Ryan. I'm sure you're not being.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Compared to cake well, and people have to like put
in perspective if if the show is doing good now,
that means it's averaging just under or just at three
million viewers. Yeah, your show was over thirty million. Over
thirty million viewers. It's hard to put in perspective. And again,
(14:37):
it was a different time in television. I'm not comparing
the two because you can't. Television is so different. But
that's the point is there was no social media, but
it was so big. And I will tell a story
to try and put in perspective how big it was.
There was this show called Alias with Jennifer Garner, Bradley
Cooper and all these big stars that was on and
(15:00):
that was on ABC. Was the big show. Trista and
I went to the Super Bowl. There was the Super
Bowl in San Diego with Tampa Bay and the Raiders
were playing, and you and I were there, and so
the biggest stars on the planet. You know, Jennifer Garner
was huge at the time. When Trista walked in, the
place shut down everybody that they were knocking, knocking, Jennifer
(15:25):
Garner over to get to Trista, and it was just
it was the level of stardom, the level of craziness.
And back then there was no there wasn't a late
night show. That It was actually at that Super Bowl
when they announced Jimmy Kimmel was going to do the
late night show. So you went on Jay Leno, you
were on the Today Show. That would never happen. Now
(15:45):
you got to go suck up to Kimmel. You got
to go suck up to GMA and People met and
People Magazine owns The Bachelor, so you're you know, People
Magazine will never say anything bad about The Bachelor. They're
always going to get the story that whole. You know,
they're all in cahoots. That wasn't the case with you.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Definitely not. And I did Howard Stern like Oprah. Oprah
is where the wedding came from. You know, she she
wanted to have the wedding on her show. It was,
it was, it was massive. It's funny that I love
seeing it through your eyes or hearing about seeing it
through your eyes, because I don't remember that being Like
what I remember about the Super Bowl was that I
(16:26):
freaking got to sat next to sit next to Bradley
Cooper because I was a massive fan of Alias and
to this day too like freaking love him and Jennifer
Garner too, Like I am huge fans. So that's all
I remember about it is how starstruck I was. But
you're right, it was. I think they said it was
(16:48):
thirty one million people tuned into the final episode when
we got engaged.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Yeah, the biggest episode ever was Aaron Bergie's finale that
was thirty three million. Your season is the highest averaged
ever from start to finish.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
No, it you know, something that was definitely not expected.
Like you said in the beginning, it was very controversial.
I mean I got called every name in the book
by the past. You know that I was going to
look like a slut and who am I to be
dating twenty five guys at one time and all this,
So I probably went, you know, to the opposite extreme,
(17:25):
like that moment when I was on the beach with
Jamie and he was like, well, could I give you
a kiss? And I was like maybe on the cheek.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Jamie Blithe. So you think of the popularity of you
and the show, and by the way kudos because I
always say, of all the people that have been able
to transition and stay relevant with the show, with the fans,
with everything, it's you. You have mastered that and it's brilliant.
(17:53):
And I say, is brilliant because you did not have
social media good or bad. First of all, I would add,
do you wish it was a different time? Say you
had the stardom, the numbers, the press, everything, and you
had you could be a social media influencer. First of all,
you'd be a bajillionaire.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
But gosh, I don't think I could do it. Brian
and I have talked about that. I am so sensitive.
I would go on the message boards. So back then
it was like the precursor to social media. It was
message boards. So you go on ABC dot com and
they would have a message board tab and you could
click on all these different links about what people were discussing.
(18:34):
And of course it was like Trista walks like a duck,
and Trista has a baby talk and Trista this and
that and the other thing. And I would look at
everything because hello, I'm a curious human, and I would
get upset. I do not think I would survive mentally,
(18:54):
the social media terrors that they have to go through,
Like the death threat that people get is ridiculous. It
is so horrifying. Yeah, the hatred, I hate that. It
is so much of it is about hatred. And even
if it's like this much, that's.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
What you focus on on a lot of it is
bots and stuff that don't they're not even yeah, they're
not even real accounts. I mean, I went through that
when I was going through my thing. You know, I'm
used to it because I've been doing this for over
thirty years. But you know, the death you get, death threats,
you get hate, you get all this stuff. I've gotten
that for decades. I just don't go on social media
and cry about it. It's just it is what it is.
(19:34):
But you go back and if sometimes if you look
at those accounts, you're like zero followers, zero, you know,
it's like they're bots. They're they're fake, but they are
made to initiate and distir this crap up, and it's
it is. It's horrible. It's tough to deal with, especially
for someone like you. And I've always defended bachelor's and
bachelorettes and people on the show because say what you will.
(19:56):
I know you think you know what you signed up for,
but you don't. There's no way to prepare you for that.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
No, you can't. You can think that you're going to
be able to handle it, but you can't until you're
in that position. And I want to go back and
say thank you. That was very nice of you to
say about staying relevant. I don't think I'm relevant that
much these days because I am old and I'm the
old gal, like you know, the OG that's what I say.
The OG stands for.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Hey, I'm telling you to this day. And literally I
just went to I just went to Missoo where Lauren
went to school, and inevitably it always happens, people come
up and say, oh my gosh, my favorite season was
Trista and that Firefighter. For some reason, they never remember
Ryan's name. He's always the firefighter. But I'm telling you
(20:44):
you to this day, which is remarkable because again this
is twenty two years. That's essentially two generations of humans
that have grown up. They still watch and know you
and find you and find your season. That's really it
really is remarkable.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
That's very sweet. I honestly think I have a thought
on this is I just recently heard that your memories,
the ones that you remember, are the ones that are
tied to some kind of emotion. Right. So a lot
of people, which I'm sure you get this all the time, too,
watched the show during like difficult times when their mom
(21:20):
was dying, or when they were having a baby, or
they got together with a group of people and they
put on their wedding gowns as like the party that
you know, they were watching the Bachelortte finale. So I
feel like so many people back in the day when
it was innocent and people didn't talk about the editing
(21:41):
and the villains and the you know whatever, the production
of it all. It was more just about the love story,
and I feel like people were emotionally tied to it.
A lot of people at least were emotionally tied to
it because of how they were watching, who they were
watching with, and then of course the end result and
that was, you know that we got married and are happy.
(22:04):
So yeah, I love that. I love that people have
this positive memory of all of it because obviously it's
it's my happening.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
When people ask me about my time on the show,
I say, I have no misgivings about it, and it
was a blessing and one of the because of my
relationship with just those people you're talking about. I hear
all the time someone sits down and say, you know,
I never got to talk to my mom or my daughter,
but on Monday nights or Wednesday nights, was when you
were on was was when we would connect and when
(22:33):
we'd get together, or this is what we would watch
in the hospital when my daughter was sick. And you
hear a lot of those stories and you're right, it
got them through tough times, or just kids that come
up and say you were my childhood, which is really
makes me feel old, but it's wonderful. It's like you
like you were my childhood because my mom was always
watching and so I would That's how I would come
(22:54):
in and connect and so it is a It was
a great thing for that and I relish and we'll
always love and respect that connection that I had with
twenty year's worth of people growing up and you know,
going through these memories, it's wonderful. I want to talk
about because you just said, Blakesley, watch the finale and
(23:15):
watch the show. Was that the you did you go
back and watch your show with the kids. Two kids
by the way, mad Max and Blakeslee.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Yep. Max is sixteen and Blakesley is almost fifteen. So
two teenagers in the house, which is crazy town. But
as you know, they have not watched our season, and
they've watched a little bit of the wedding little snippets
(23:44):
at least Blakesley has. Max has no interest whatsoever.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
He wants to play hockey and you know, go break stuff.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Yep, exactly. He just wants to play hockey and be
with his girlfriend. He's had a girlfriend since the first
day of school who we love. Wow. Wow, I know,
it's crazy, It really is crazy. So yeah, no, we
haven't shown them, and you know, maybe someday, blake Sti'll
look it up on whatever it'll be on and see it.
(24:14):
Of course, we have VHS tapes and I've saved a
VCR just for that purpose because I'm like.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Right, exactly, I think it's got to be up somewhere
I haven't looked, but it's got to be up on
like Hulu or one of those sites I assume, you know.
By the way, a little bit of Bachelor trivia, the
(24:43):
first Bachelor baby was Max. Yep, he was and Max
the first Bachelor baby was born July twenty sixth, on
your birthday, which is my birthday. It was two thousand
and seven, so we're a couple of years apart. But yeah,
Max's boorn July twenty six I was so excited. I
got so happy when I heard you, you know, had
(25:04):
had Max on on a bird. It's like it just
it was a full circle moment for sure.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
I mean, you couldn't plant it better.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
I thought he'd be named Christopher or maybe Maxwell Christopher,
but you know that's fine.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Oh my gosh, it's so crazy. And then like Blakeslee
has a birthday with Andy Dorfman and Becca Krufrien. It's
such a small world.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Yeah, well, I guess there's thousands of us now, so
it's bound you guys. I just want to catch up
on how you're doing. You're now living in Denver, so
if for those sad souls that are still going to
veil trying to go by the firehouse to see Ryan,
he is not there. That that always cracked me up.
We would go skiing from time to time and we'd
always see you guys, and we'd swing by the firehouse
(25:48):
to see Ryan. And I mean a constant stream of
people going to the firehouse to see Peep, to see Ryan.
But you guys are living in Denver. How is life?
How are you guys doing?
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Life is great. We decided to make the move because, well,
first of all, Ryan had been commuting from Vale to Denver,
which is like a two hour drive maybe for about
two or three years. And even though he was like
okay with it in his mind because he loves the
(26:19):
mountains so much, he's like, I don't want to leave,
it was the right decision. Like being in skier traffic
because there's only two lanes on the highway most of
the way, it is stressful. And he was going through
lime disease at the time, which he still has, but
he was really in a bad place in terms of
(26:40):
his health at that point. So that was a big
draw for us. His parents live like five minutes away
from us, which is great. And then Max really wanted
to change it up a little bit. He wanted kind
of an elevated academic and athletic experience, and so we
found an incredible school here and Blakesley's at an incredible
(27:02):
new dance academy, our dance studio. So I feel like
you know, we were in a very small town. Veil
is a very small town, and really we we loved it.
You know, we love the community. The mountains are incredible.
They grew up skiing, you know, they can they can
go on the mountain by themselves now, which is kind
(27:24):
of unheard of who didn't grow up around it. But
they're good there. It's just, you know, big cities offer
a lot more opportunity and that was kind of the
the catalyst for our decision was really thinking about the opportunity.
So we're settling in. We still are finding our way
and meeting friends, and who knows, we might maybe we'll
(27:48):
stay here, maybe we'll go back to the mountains. Maybe
we'll follow our kids wherever they go to college. Who knows.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Yeah, I say, you don't know. Things are going to
change so dramatically in the next three to five years.
Everything will be turned upside down, or as I like
to say on the show, everything is about to change.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Yeah, you're right, it's true.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Where they go to college, what they end up doing,
and it is it's a wonderful time. There's a lot
of angst. You're going to get to that, like, Okay,
where are they going to school and getting them there. Trista,
Joshua was about to graduate. He's graduating. This may like
he's out of school, yes, like he is twenty two
(28:27):
years old and graduating cars.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Well you can say that makes him twenty two. Well
it's funny because people don't know this. But I sent
you a text the other day because you know, as
as going through moves, I'm still going through boxes. And
I went through a box of Christmas cards and I
sent you a text with two of your old Christmas
cards with your cute little babies on them, as I
did with like ten other friends. I was like, how
(28:51):
cute is this? Like I save these credit cards? Are
these Christmas cards? Just because I love seeing people's pictures.
I love, you know, the connection to my friend. But
oh my gosh, I cannot believe he's graduating college.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
I do like, I love this. This is like what
you sent me.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Look at those babies.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
I got the cutest text from Trista. This is what
I love about Trista and just the show in general,
that just the friends I've made or whatever. And this
is still to this day and I don't even know
where this picture is. This is of the kids in
Italy when we were shooting in Italy. Yes, and they
were walking down the street. This is what would have
been Lorenzo Burghazy season of The Bachelor, and uh, you said,
(29:29):
I thank you, thank you for sending me the old
Christmas cards because I don't have these and I can't
believe you did. But I appreciate it that when they
got those my heart.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
I have sent them to you like in the mail.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
No, I mean, who's going to keep those anyway? It's like, no,
I have the pictures, but it was. It just hit
me and I'm like, oh, it just goes by so fast,
it just blows by.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
I know, Chris, I don't know, like you've successfully figured it.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Out, but I don't know about that.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Well, yes you have, Yes, you have. You're happily married again,
You're doing a podcast, you're doing married, all of these things.
Your things are falling in line, which I'm so happy
for you for. But I am really struggling with, like
finding my identity, knowing that my kids are going to
be out of the house because I've dedicated the last
(30:21):
sixteen years of my life plus sixteen years plus to
my to Ryan the family. Like I was a physical
therapist and then with that to go do the show
the show, and so I'm really struggling with it. It
makes me really sad, just a wee.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Lauren and I just did a podcast on this and
we talked about it in depth of and I'm not
putting this out there in the universe, but it's just
it was a statistic of one of the leading causes
of divorce, and that was the topic we were talking about.
And how you know, as as a husband like Ryan,
must be cognizant of the fact that you were going
to go through something really traumatic and it's greed and
(31:00):
it's real and you have to find yourself and both couples,
both you know people and a couple need to be
cognizant of the fact that it's big. It's big change,
and it's big for the person that's been out working
every day to understand that this person that's been home
and grinding and driving to hockey and driving to dance
and doing all these things now has to find space
(31:22):
in this world. And it is it's very real, and
I'm glad that you are cognizant of it and thinking
of it, because yeah, it's it is going to be
something you'll have to deal with for sure.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Yeah, I really haven't thought about it, like in terms
of that. I did when I was doing my Better
et cetera podcast, I did have someone, a grief expert,
come and talk about grief, and she did talk about
like different kinds of grief because it's not just losing someone, right,
And so you're right, like I will, I will go
through grieving and just knowing that, knowing what to expect
(31:54):
because I am going to be a puddle on the floor,
like I don't know what I'm what I'm going to do.
Blakeslee and I are especially really close, and it's going
to be so hard.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
I cry. I cried like a baby. Dropping both my
kids off at college.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
I'm sure, I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
And then now there's the last right like with Joshua,
his last you know, lacrosse games are coming up, there's
senior night coming up, there's graduate, all these things, and
I mean, I got emotional. We went and looked at
apartments because he's moving out of his you know, college
and he's got to get an apartment in a job,
and so we're in that phase of life and you're
just like, so there's all these phases and they're all
(32:33):
great and they're wonderful, and you realize you're blessed, but
it doesn't mean it doesn't hit you in the heart. Yeah,
And I'm glad that Ryan's doing better because I know that,
you know, you guys with a lime disease, which is
such a bizarre, mysterious disease that goes undiagnosed for so long,
which exacerbates what happens, and uh, we were all so worried.
(32:55):
I'm glad he's doing good.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Yeah, he's better. I mean he's he definitely had a
lot of ups and down still and really would like
to feel better at least most of the time. He
says that he's about eighty percent. I would go to
his doctor's appointments with him because he is so incredibly
humble too, so he's not going to be like, oh,
(33:19):
I don't want to complain about like whatever's going on
with me, even if it's really significant. I would tell
his doctors, like, you don't understand. He has an incredibly
high pain tolerance. So if it was me that was
going through what he's going through, I would be bedridden
every single day and maybe even hospitalized, like he is
(33:39):
able to get through through this because you're right, he's
freaking superhuman. I don't understand it.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
I've said along if there was a category of greatest
athletes ever to have been on this franchise in twenty
two years, it's Ryan. I mean, he's the guy that
he you know, played played college football, played professional football,
could have picked up basketball. He's that guy. If you
invent a sport the next day, he's the best at it.
And it just it's crazy what a phenomenal athlete this
(34:07):
guy is. I mean, that's why he was such a
good firefighter. It's like, the guy is a freak. And
so yeah, for when you see him knocked on his ass,
You're like, oh my god, that is that's for real scary.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Yeah, it's very scary. So when he like actually succumbs
to it and gives in to the fact that he's
not feeling well, because usually he'll push through it. He'll
be like, oh whatever, I'm still going to go to
work and we're going to be doing twelve hours of
training at the firehouse today, but I'm still going to
go and oh whatever, I'm still going to skin up
(34:38):
this mountain. And like, I have never understood it, but
I'm grateful because had he not had the kind of
tolerance that he has, it would have been even even harder.
And it was and it still is. But thank you.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
Well, I'm glad you guys are good, and I'm glad
life is good, and I so value a your friendship
and of course your time to come on the show.
I truly am one of the greatest gifts to come
out of this franchise, and it was you and our
friendship and the fact that you and I have stayed
friends for wow, twenty two years. Now, twenty two years,
(35:19):
like it's so crazy.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
I mean, and I think you were there the first
day that I came for my interview at the office
of you there.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Yeah, yeah, I just happened to be there at the
old Telepictures Next Entertainment. Yes, yeah, that blonde hair.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Oh my gosh right, yes, this was it, the Spikey.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Here blonde hair beautiful. Oh man. Well, I appreciate I
so appreciate you, and give my love to Ryan and
I'm glad you guys are doing great, and of course
I will see you soon somewhere.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Thank you, Thank you, I I'm here, all of those sentiments,
love you, appreciate you great well for you, and please
give Lauren and the kids a hug for me too.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
I'll do it. Thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram
at the most dramatic pod ever, and make sure to
write us a review and leave us five stars. I'll
talk to you next time.
This is the most dramatic podcast ever and iHeartRadio podcast.
So the year was two thousand and two, Spring of
two thousand and two to be exact. And I met
this lovely, beautiful young blonde on the first season of
The Bachelor. Her name was Trista Wren, and she didn't
(00:24):
actually find love on that first season. She later became
our first bachelorette. She was a runner up on Alex
Michelle's season of the Bachelor and then became our first bachelorette.
Of course, the rest is history and has been a beautiful,
wonderful history, and she has become a dear friend of mine,
as is her husband and two children. I should say,
(00:44):
welcome to the most dramatic podcast ever. Trista, the Og,
the goat, the godmother of the franchise. Yes to the Godfather,
for without you, this thing wouldn't have ever worked for
you or me. That's true. No, And I do say
when I you know, whenever I talk about Trista, I
(01:04):
call her the godmother because when people say, what was
that lightning in a bottle moment that legitimized the show?
Because we needed we needed the show. The concept was great,
the idea behind it was actually really brilliant. But if
we didn't have a true love story, then what's the point.
And so you know, season three, we went through Alex
(01:27):
Michelle and people think you were actually the second you
were not. Aaron Bergee came next, he was the next bachelor.
Then it was the first Bachelorette. And I say it
took Trista in that love story to legitimize what we
were actually envisioning.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, it's crazy. I mean I didn't feel that pressure.
Of course, I was just there to find love. But
you're right, I feel like even just watching, I don't
know if you watched this season, I don't. I assume
you do, maybe don't watch anymore, But.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
To be honest, I don't. I don't. I don't, I assumed.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
But I feel like a lot of people are craving
authenticity these days, and I feel like Joey was able
to give that back to people this season. And I
think a lot of people, at least the people I've
been messaging with, you know, fans of the show, are
loving that. And so I have always felt that I
(02:23):
always wanted authenticity and sincerity, and that's probably why I
was attracted to my husband, because that's him. But yeah,
I was just there to do my own thing, you know,
buy love and thank god it happened.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I always say, you know, again going we're going back
many many years, two thousand and two, twenty two years ago. Obviously,
there was an innocence and a naivete. We were all
so innocent. I mean, I think about the things you
and I were doing at the time, and we hung
out all the time. I mean, the show was so different.
(02:57):
There was no separation of church and state, and there
was a beautiful innocence to it that is lost. And
I don't blame anybody in particular because it's just the
sign of the times. But how do we get that back?
You know, can you can? Can that Genie be put
back in the bottle where you have you know, legitimately
(03:19):
sincere authentic reality TV? Again?
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Gosh, I don't know. I mean, that's a really good question,
because I feel like with social media, you just it's
really hard to do that. But you're right, looking back,
we all hung out. It was me and Lisa and
Mike and you and Jason Carbone and we were at
Lisa's house like having drinks and going out to dinner together,
(03:46):
like it wasn't. And obviously the people nowadays hang out
with their handlers, right, so they have a producer that
is like attached to them for the whole show, and
they hang out with them. But I feel like it
was You're right. We were so naive. We were just
trying to figure things out, and I loved it, Like
(04:07):
I loved being like a family with everybody. It's probably
one of the best things to come out of the show. Obviously,
you know, my relationship is the best thing to come
out of the show. But the friendships. I feel like
we were able to really really cultivate those friendships back
then because we weren't worried about someone taking a picture
(04:28):
of us and putting it on social media and being like,
oh my god, is Chris Harrison dating Trista Setter or
Trista Wren, you know, like because we were hanging out,
you know, like, I don't know, it was just I
love the innocent days and I wish we could get
back to it, but I just don't know that that's
possible with social media.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
I mean, flash forward to I went to Dancing with
the Stars, probably to maybe root you on. I forget
when it all happened, but somebody from the batchler was
on the show and on dancing and Emily Maynard and
I went, you know, I usually would go the Bachelor
Bacherette of that season to promote it. And of course
the tabloids are calling because I'd just gotten a divorce,
and it's like, is Chris you know, did he you know?
(05:08):
Is he dating Emily? Do you think there's something weird?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
There?
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Was he hitting on any of the dancers? And you
know when we flashed back and I don't. I will
say it was a very unprofessional time of the Bachelor
and Bacherette. There were no rules because, like you said,
we would stop taping and you would kind of come
back with us back to the hotel or back to
someone's house, and we were drinking tequila and traut. You know,
(05:31):
there was no there were there were there were no lines.
There were no professional lines where now it's like everybody
has their compartment that they have to stay in totally.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Well I mean, I mean we like put those lines
there for our own, Like I wasn't ever going to
like hit on you and likewise, and I wasn't ever
going to hit on flies and likewise, do you know
what I mean, like I for me, there were lines there,
but that was our personal lines. There were no lines
that had been divide I did. Because of the world
(06:02):
that we live in.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
We were just having fun. You were allowed to just
have fun, in which we did. We had an absolute blast.
And you know, I think back and you can probably
give more credence to this. You were also used more
in that we were trying to build a franchise and
trying to build a show. You were the first of something.
You were the first bacherette while we had done a
(06:23):
bachelor the Bachelorette at the time. You have to remember
everybody was really controversial and it was really this lightning
rod and this is why we had to choose a
really strong, spectacular woman, which we did in Trista. But
it was hot. But we used you in a good
way of like, okay, Trista, what do you think?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Right?
Speaker 1 (06:43):
We would ask your opinion and you would almost help
produce the show in a way that we would never
do or they would never do.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Now you're so right, it's so funny. I remember specifically
a time with Lisa Levinson. She was basically, even though
she was the EP, she was kind of my handler
if you.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Will, and and that's how crazy. Lisa So the executive
producer on a television show was like the top of
the top and they don't handle bachelor's and bacheorettes, but
back then that's who was hands on with you. And
that's just that's unheard of now.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Unheard of, yes, completely, So they're always behind the scenes,
you know, But she were. She was doing my interviews.
Every time I was doing an im like I was,
I was with her. So there was one specific moment
where she was asking me all these questions. I was
getting really annoyed with her and it was just taking
(07:38):
forever and She's like, Okay, listen, I just need you
to cry. And I was like, what, Like that's so stupid.
I'm sorry, but if I'm not feeling that, I'm like, no,
I don't want to cry. But if that's what it's
going to take, like, just ask me something to like
get me emotional. But I'm not, like, I'm not an actress.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
But Lisa was funny. Lisa came from that that's soap
opera world and the talk show world, and she was
great at that and she you know, she would get
in there and mix it up and do the interviews herself,
and again they just don't, you know, executive producers don't
do that anymore well.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
And also I feel like, you know, the handlers get
really close to the leads, so they have super special bonds,
and I feel like because of that, a lot of
times the leads will open up more same with the
rest of the cast, like you're going to open up
more to someone that you have a bond with than
you are to like somebody who you've never seen before.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
You mentioning that story reminded me of another story that
you told me. I wasn't there because back in the day,
you know, this is again two thousand and two, two
thousand and three, we didn't travel. The show would go
on dates and maybe pop out to Vegas, go to
Hawaii or whatever, but we would always come back to
LA for Rose ceremonies. That was home base. So all
Rose ceremonies were back home. So I wouldn't go very rarely.
(08:56):
I think the first time I traveled, honestly was Bob
Guiney season, and so you I think it was Russ
wouldn't that his name? You went to think maybe Sedona
or something Yep, Okay, So do you remember. Do you
remember the story about Russ and the kiss and how
sick you were?
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I don't remember.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Tell me it was the same thing where one of
the producers was like, you were you were feeling terrible.
You were really sick and feeling horrible, and you're like, guys,
I just want this to be over. I just want
to go to bed. Tell me how I can make
this end. And they said, well, if you'll kiss him.
(09:35):
Remember that.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
It actually sounds very similar to when I was in
Hawaii with Alex Michelle. So he was sick in bed,
and I think that I probably I remember going to
his room just to hang out, but he was he
was totally sick. These days, if someone was sick because
of potential COVID, you would not be able to go
to his room and just say hi, you know, so,
(10:00):
oh yeah, I remember being an Alex. I do not remember.
I have such a horrible memory. I mean, it's just
it's just gone.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
This is what's crazy. I remember that. I think Alex
was sick because you guys went on a helicopter ride
and he got heir sick. He got heir sick. You're right,
So the poor guy was throwing up puking and then
they're like going for a kiss.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
So amazing. It's amazing looking back at that and knowing
how many helicopters they've had on the show, and the
first one ended up with the leap puking in it,
So why do they constantly right?
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Why do we do this anymore?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I know?
Speaker 1 (10:36):
You know, the most unromantic thing in the world is
two is the air the hot air balloon ride, because
what you're not seeing is the two or three other
people shoved in this basket. Everybody is literally touching, you know,
there's one there's a camera set up, and it's like
it's the most unromantic moment ever, but we make it look.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Very much produced.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Yeah, very much produced. Going back to the naivete, I
will still say your group of guys the greatest group
of bachelors we have ever assembled. That has to do
(11:18):
with a lot of things. I think the timing, the guys,
the innocence of the moment. But it was a spectacular
group of guys. I'm friends with many of them.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yeah. Actually Ryan was watching the finale with me, so Blakesley,
my daughter, of course, wanted to watch this season because
we met Joey at the Golden wedding, so you know,
she's kind of locked in and she wasn't here. So
Ryan watched the finale with me and he was saying,
just that, you know, the girls on this season, there
(11:48):
was a little bit of drama, but like in the end,
what they were talking about, how was kind of like
out of out of nowhere, it's never happened before. Was
the word that the girls were actually like supporting each
other in the end, the last two girls, and they
were talking about, you know, the girls in their bond,
(12:09):
and Ryan was like, I our season was the best,
Like our guys were the best. Like everyone got along.
He said. He remembers one of the guys saying he
didn't know if it was Charlie, but one of the
guys saying, if she doesn't end up with me, I
really want her to end up with you.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Like that does not say I think it was so Charlie.
And Charlie was your number two who I actually ran
into not too long ago in Las Vegas. Remember I
think I told you about that, Yes, yes, yes, and
we caught up. It was so wild. This guy came
up to me. It's like Chris Harrison was like, holy
crash Charlie just what a blast in the past. And
(12:49):
of course Bob Guiney famously was on your season. You
didn't choose Bob.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
I didn't. What were my friends to this day?
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Exactly? I yelled, well, y'all host the podcast together.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Yeah, I mean think about that, and we and when
we did your show, there was no such thing as
a podcast, There was no such thing as a blog.
We didn't have to deal with any of that crap.
The worst thing we dealt with was maybe after the season,
Entertainment Tonight or People magazine would try to do something
that was it.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
You're right. I remember specifically going on gosh, what was it?
The Today Show? With what is? Katie Couric was the
person who interviewed me, and I was completely starstruck. And
Matt Lowery that was really fun. And then of course
(13:40):
they switched everything from NBC Today Show to Good Morning
America for you know, for everything, of course, which makes
sense because it's an ABC show. But that was really
really that was really fun for me because you know,
I was this Midwestern girl who had lived in Miami
and it was all fun for me. It was it
(14:02):
was It was a crazy whirlwind and that was kind
of a little bit of icing on the cake because
the cake was Ryan. I'm sure you're not being.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Compared to cake well, and people have to like put
in perspective if if the show is doing good now,
that means it's averaging just under or just at three
million viewers. Yeah, your show was over thirty million. Over
thirty million viewers. It's hard to put in perspective. And again,
(14:37):
it was a different time in television. I'm not comparing
the two because you can't. Television is so different. But
that's the point is there was no social media, but
it was so big. And I will tell a story
to try and put in perspective how big it was.
There was this show called Alias with Jennifer Garner, Bradley
Cooper and all these big stars that was on and
(15:00):
that was on ABC. Was the big show. Trista and
I went to the Super Bowl. There was the Super
Bowl in San Diego with Tampa Bay and the Raiders
were playing, and you and I were there, and so
the biggest stars on the planet. You know, Jennifer Garner
was huge at the time. When Trista walked in, the
place shut down everybody that they were knocking, knocking, Jennifer
(15:25):
Garner over to get to Trista, and it was just
it was the level of stardom, the level of craziness.
And back then there was no there wasn't a late
night show. That It was actually at that Super Bowl
when they announced Jimmy Kimmel was going to do the
late night show. So you went on Jay Leno, you
were on the Today Show. That would never happen. Now
(15:45):
you got to go suck up to Kimmel. You got
to go suck up to GMA and People met and
People Magazine owns The Bachelor, so you're you know, People
Magazine will never say anything bad about The Bachelor. They're
always going to get the story that whole. You know,
they're all in cahoots. That wasn't the case with you.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Definitely not. And I did Howard Stern like Oprah. Oprah
is where the wedding came from. You know, she she
wanted to have the wedding on her show. It was,
it was, it was massive. It's funny that I love
seeing it through your eyes or hearing about seeing it
through your eyes, because I don't remember that being Like
what I remember about the Super Bowl was that I
(16:26):
freaking got to sat next to sit next to Bradley
Cooper because I was a massive fan of Alias and
to this day too like freaking love him and Jennifer
Garner too, Like I am huge fans. So that's all
I remember about it is how starstruck I was. But
you're right, it was. I think they said it was
(16:48):
thirty one million people tuned into the final episode when
we got engaged.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Yeah, the biggest episode ever was Aaron Bergie's finale that
was thirty three million. Your season is the highest averaged
ever from start to finish.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
No, it you know, something that was definitely not expected.
Like you said in the beginning, it was very controversial.
I mean I got called every name in the book
by the past. You know that I was going to
look like a slut and who am I to be
dating twenty five guys at one time and all this,
So I probably went, you know, to the opposite extreme,
(17:25):
like that moment when I was on the beach with
Jamie and he was like, well, could I give you
a kiss? And I was like maybe on the cheek.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Jamie Blithe. So you think of the popularity of you
and the show, and by the way kudos because I
always say, of all the people that have been able
to transition and stay relevant with the show, with the fans,
with everything, it's you. You have mastered that and it's brilliant.
(17:53):
And I say, is brilliant because you did not have
social media good or bad. First of all, I would add,
do you wish it was a different time? Say you
had the stardom, the numbers, the press, everything, and you
had you could be a social media influencer. First of all,
you'd be a bajillionaire.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
But gosh, I don't think I could do it. Brian
and I have talked about that. I am so sensitive.
I would go on the message boards. So back then
it was like the precursor to social media. It was
message boards. So you go on ABC dot com and
they would have a message board tab and you could
click on all these different links about what people were discussing.
(18:34):
And of course it was like Trista walks like a duck,
and Trista has a baby talk and Trista this and
that and the other thing. And I would look at
everything because hello, I'm a curious human, and I would
get upset. I do not think I would survive mentally,
(18:54):
the social media terrors that they have to go through,
Like the death threat that people get is ridiculous. It
is so horrifying. Yeah, the hatred, I hate that. It
is so much of it is about hatred. And even
if it's like this much, that's.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
What you focus on on a lot of it is
bots and stuff that don't they're not even yeah, they're
not even real accounts. I mean, I went through that
when I was going through my thing. You know, I'm
used to it because I've been doing this for over
thirty years. But you know, the death you get, death threats,
you get hate, you get all this stuff. I've gotten
that for decades. I just don't go on social media
and cry about it. It's just it is what it is.
(19:34):
But you go back and if sometimes if you look
at those accounts, you're like zero followers, zero, you know,
it's like they're bots. They're they're fake, but they are
made to initiate and distir this crap up, and it's
it is. It's horrible. It's tough to deal with, especially
for someone like you. And I've always defended bachelor's and
bachelorettes and people on the show because say what you will.
(19:56):
I know you think you know what you signed up for,
but you don't. There's no way to prepare you for that.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
No, you can't. You can think that you're going to
be able to handle it, but you can't until you're
in that position. And I want to go back and
say thank you. That was very nice of you to
say about staying relevant. I don't think I'm relevant that
much these days because I am old and I'm the
old gal, like you know, the OG that's what I say.
The OG stands for.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Hey, I'm telling you to this day. And literally I
just went to I just went to Missoo where Lauren
went to school, and inevitably it always happens, people come
up and say, oh my gosh, my favorite season was
Trista and that Firefighter. For some reason, they never remember
Ryan's name. He's always the firefighter. But I'm telling you
(20:44):
you to this day, which is remarkable because again this
is twenty two years. That's essentially two generations of humans
that have grown up. They still watch and know you
and find you and find your season. That's really it
really is remarkable.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
That's very sweet. I honestly think I have a thought
on this is I just recently heard that your memories,
the ones that you remember, are the ones that are
tied to some kind of emotion. Right. So a lot
of people, which I'm sure you get this all the time, too,
watched the show during like difficult times when their mom
(21:20):
was dying, or when they were having a baby, or
they got together with a group of people and they
put on their wedding gowns as like the party that
you know, they were watching the Bachelortte finale. So I
feel like so many people back in the day when
it was innocent and people didn't talk about the editing
(21:41):
and the villains and the you know whatever, the production
of it all. It was more just about the love story,
and I feel like people were emotionally tied to it.
A lot of people at least were emotionally tied to
it because of how they were watching, who they were
watching with, and then of course the end result and
that was, you know that we got married and are happy.
(22:04):
So yeah, I love that. I love that people have
this positive memory of all of it because obviously it's
it's my happening.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
When people ask me about my time on the show,
I say, I have no misgivings about it, and it
was a blessing and one of the because of my
relationship with just those people you're talking about. I hear
all the time someone sits down and say, you know,
I never got to talk to my mom or my daughter,
but on Monday nights or Wednesday nights, was when you
were on was was when we would connect and when
(22:33):
we'd get together, or this is what we would watch
in the hospital when my daughter was sick. And you
hear a lot of those stories and you're right, it
got them through tough times, or just kids that come
up and say you were my childhood, which is really
makes me feel old, but it's wonderful. It's like you
like you were my childhood because my mom was always
watching and so I would That's how I would come
(22:54):
in and connect and so it is a It was
a great thing for that and I relish and we'll
always love and respect that connection that I had with
twenty year's worth of people growing up and you know,
going through these memories, it's wonderful. I want to talk
about because you just said, Blakesley, watch the finale and
(23:15):
watch the show. Was that the you did you go
back and watch your show with the kids. Two kids
by the way, mad Max and Blakeslee.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Yep. Max is sixteen and Blakesley is almost fifteen. So
two teenagers in the house, which is crazy town. But
as you know, they have not watched our season, and
they've watched a little bit of the wedding little snippets
(23:44):
at least Blakesley has. Max has no interest whatsoever.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
He wants to play hockey and you know, go break stuff.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Yep, exactly. He just wants to play hockey and be
with his girlfriend. He's had a girlfriend since the first
day of school who we love. Wow. Wow, I know,
it's crazy, It really is crazy. So yeah, no, we
haven't shown them, and you know, maybe someday, blake Sti'll
look it up on whatever it'll be on and see it.
(24:14):
Of course, we have VHS tapes and I've saved a
VCR just for that purpose because I'm like.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Right, exactly, I think it's got to be up somewhere
I haven't looked, but it's got to be up on
like Hulu or one of those sites I assume, you know.
By the way, a little bit of Bachelor trivia, the
(24:43):
first Bachelor baby was Max. Yep, he was and Max
the first Bachelor baby was born July twenty sixth, on
your birthday, which is my birthday. It was two thousand
and seven, so we're a couple of years apart. But yeah,
Max's boorn July twenty six I was so excited. I
got so happy when I heard you, you know, had
(25:04):
had Max on on a bird. It's like it just
it was a full circle moment for sure.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
I mean, you couldn't plant it better.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
I thought he'd be named Christopher or maybe Maxwell Christopher,
but you know that's fine.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Oh my gosh, it's so crazy. And then like Blakeslee
has a birthday with Andy Dorfman and Becca Krufrien. It's
such a small world.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Yeah, well, I guess there's thousands of us now, so
it's bound you guys. I just want to catch up
on how you're doing. You're now living in Denver, so
if for those sad souls that are still going to
veil trying to go by the firehouse to see Ryan,
he is not there. That that always cracked me up.
We would go skiing from time to time and we'd
always see you guys, and we'd swing by the firehouse
(25:48):
to see Ryan. And I mean a constant stream of
people going to the firehouse to see Peep, to see Ryan.
But you guys are living in Denver. How is life?
How are you guys doing?
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Life is great. We decided to make the move because, well,
first of all, Ryan had been commuting from Vale to Denver,
which is like a two hour drive maybe for about
two or three years. And even though he was like
okay with it in his mind because he loves the
(26:19):
mountains so much, he's like, I don't want to leave,
it was the right decision. Like being in skier traffic
because there's only two lanes on the highway most of
the way, it is stressful. And he was going through
lime disease at the time, which he still has, but
he was really in a bad place in terms of
(26:40):
his health at that point. So that was a big
draw for us. His parents live like five minutes away
from us, which is great. And then Max really wanted
to change it up a little bit. He wanted kind
of an elevated academic and athletic experience, and so we
found an incredible school here and Blakesley's at an incredible
(27:02):
new dance academy, our dance studio. So I feel like
you know, we were in a very small town. Veil
is a very small town, and really we we loved it.
You know, we love the community. The mountains are incredible.
They grew up skiing, you know, they can they can
go on the mountain by themselves now, which is kind
(27:24):
of unheard of who didn't grow up around it. But
they're good there. It's just, you know, big cities offer
a lot more opportunity and that was kind of the
the catalyst for our decision was really thinking about the opportunity.
So we're settling in. We still are finding our way
and meeting friends, and who knows, we might maybe we'll
(27:48):
stay here, maybe we'll go back to the mountains. Maybe
we'll follow our kids wherever they go to college. Who knows.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Yeah, I say, you don't know. Things are going to
change so dramatically in the next three to five years.
Everything will be turned upside down, or as I like
to say on the show, everything is about to change.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Yeah, you're right, it's true.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Where they go to college, what they end up doing,
and it is it's a wonderful time. There's a lot
of angst. You're going to get to that, like, Okay,
where are they going to school and getting them there. Trista,
Joshua was about to graduate. He's graduating. This may like
he's out of school, yes, like he is twenty two
(28:27):
years old and graduating cars.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Well you can say that makes him twenty two. Well
it's funny because people don't know this. But I sent
you a text the other day because you know, as
as going through moves, I'm still going through boxes. And
I went through a box of Christmas cards and I
sent you a text with two of your old Christmas
cards with your cute little babies on them, as I
did with like ten other friends. I was like, how
(28:51):
cute is this? Like I save these credit cards? Are
these Christmas cards? Just because I love seeing people's pictures.
I love, you know, the connection to my friend. But
oh my gosh, I cannot believe he's graduating college.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
I do like, I love this. This is like what
you sent me.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Look at those babies.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
I got the cutest text from Trista. This is what
I love about Trista and just the show in general,
that just the friends I've made or whatever. And this
is still to this day and I don't even know
where this picture is. This is of the kids in
Italy when we were shooting in Italy. Yes, and they
were walking down the street. This is what would have
been Lorenzo Burghazy season of The Bachelor, and uh, you said,
(29:29):
I thank you, thank you for sending me the old
Christmas cards because I don't have these and I can't
believe you did. But I appreciate it that when they
got those my heart.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
I have sent them to you like in the mail.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
No, I mean, who's going to keep those anyway? It's like, no,
I have the pictures, but it was. It just hit
me and I'm like, oh, it just goes by so fast,
it just blows by.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
I know, Chris, I don't know, like you've successfully figured it.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Out, but I don't know about that.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Well, yes you have, Yes, you have. You're happily married again,
You're doing a podcast, you're doing married, all of these things.
Your things are falling in line, which I'm so happy
for you for. But I am really struggling with, like
finding my identity, knowing that my kids are going to
be out of the house because I've dedicated the last
(30:21):
sixteen years of my life plus sixteen years plus to
my to Ryan the family. Like I was a physical
therapist and then with that to go do the show
the show, and so I'm really struggling with it. It
makes me really sad, just a wee.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Lauren and I just did a podcast on this and
we talked about it in depth of and I'm not
putting this out there in the universe, but it's just
it was a statistic of one of the leading causes
of divorce, and that was the topic we were talking about.
And how you know, as as a husband like Ryan,
must be cognizant of the fact that you were going
to go through something really traumatic and it's greed and
(31:00):
it's real and you have to find yourself and both couples,
both you know people and a couple need to be
cognizant of the fact that it's big. It's big change,
and it's big for the person that's been out working
every day to understand that this person that's been home
and grinding and driving to hockey and driving to dance
and doing all these things now has to find space
(31:22):
in this world. And it is it's very real, and
I'm glad that you are cognizant of it and thinking
of it, because yeah, it's it is going to be
something you'll have to deal with for sure.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Yeah, I really haven't thought about it, like in terms
of that. I did when I was doing my Better
et cetera podcast, I did have someone, a grief expert,
come and talk about grief, and she did talk about
like different kinds of grief because it's not just losing someone, right,
And so you're right, like I will, I will go
through grieving and just knowing that, knowing what to expect
(31:54):
because I am going to be a puddle on the floor,
like I don't know what I'm what I'm going to do.
Blakeslee and I are especially really close, and it's going
to be so hard.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
I cry. I cried like a baby. Dropping both my
kids off at college.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
I'm sure, I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
And then now there's the last right like with Joshua,
his last you know, lacrosse games are coming up, there's
senior night coming up, there's graduate, all these things, and
I mean, I got emotional. We went and looked at
apartments because he's moving out of his you know, college
and he's got to get an apartment in a job,
and so we're in that phase of life and you're
just like, so there's all these phases and they're all
(32:33):
great and they're wonderful, and you realize you're blessed, but
it doesn't mean it doesn't hit you in the heart. Yeah,
And I'm glad that Ryan's doing better because I know that,
you know, you guys with a lime disease, which is
such a bizarre, mysterious disease that goes undiagnosed for so long,
which exacerbates what happens, and uh, we were all so worried.
(32:55):
I'm glad he's doing good.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Yeah, he's better. I mean he's he definitely had a
lot of ups and down still and really would like
to feel better at least most of the time. He
says that he's about eighty percent. I would go to
his doctor's appointments with him because he is so incredibly
humble too, so he's not going to be like, oh,
(33:19):
I don't want to complain about like whatever's going on
with me, even if it's really significant. I would tell
his doctors, like, you don't understand. He has an incredibly
high pain tolerance. So if it was me that was
going through what he's going through, I would be bedridden
every single day and maybe even hospitalized, like he is
(33:39):
able to get through through this because you're right, he's
freaking superhuman. I don't understand it.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
I've said along if there was a category of greatest
athletes ever to have been on this franchise in twenty
two years, it's Ryan. I mean, he's the guy that
he you know, played played college football, played professional football,
could have picked up basketball. He's that guy. If you
invent a sport the next day, he's the best at it.
And it just it's crazy what a phenomenal athlete this
(34:07):
guy is. I mean, that's why he was such a
good firefighter. It's like, the guy is a freak. And
so yeah, for when you see him knocked on his ass,
You're like, oh my god, that is that's for real scary.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Yeah, it's very scary. So when he like actually succumbs
to it and gives in to the fact that he's
not feeling well, because usually he'll push through it. He'll
be like, oh whatever, I'm still going to go to
work and we're going to be doing twelve hours of
training at the firehouse today, but I'm still going to
go and oh whatever, I'm still going to skin up
(34:38):
this mountain. And like, I have never understood it, but
I'm grateful because had he not had the kind of
tolerance that he has, it would have been even even harder.
And it was and it still is. But thank you.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
Well, I'm glad you guys are good, and I'm glad
life is good, and I so value a your friendship
and of course your time to come on the show.
I truly am one of the greatest gifts to come
out of this franchise, and it was you and our
friendship and the fact that you and I have stayed
friends for wow, twenty two years. Now, twenty two years,
(35:19):
like it's so crazy.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
I mean, and I think you were there the first
day that I came for my interview at the office
of you there.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Yeah, yeah, I just happened to be there at the
old Telepictures Next Entertainment. Yes, yeah, that blonde hair.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Oh my gosh right, yes, this was it, the Spikey.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Here blonde hair beautiful. Oh man. Well, I appreciate I
so appreciate you, and give my love to Ryan and
I'm glad you guys are doing great, and of course
I will see you soon somewhere.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Thank you, Thank you, I I'm here, all of those sentiments,
love you, appreciate you great well for you, and please
give Lauren and the kids a hug for me too.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
I'll do it. Thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram
at the most dramatic pod ever, and make sure to
write us a review and leave us five stars. I'll
talk to you next time.
Hosts And Creators
Lauren Zima
Chris Harrison
Popular Podcasts
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Decisions, Decisions
Welcome to "Decisions, Decisions," the podcast where boundaries are pushed, and conversations get candid! Join your favorite hosts, Mandii B and WeezyWTF, as they dive deep into the world of non-traditional relationships and explore the often-taboo topics surrounding dating, sex, and love. Every Monday, Mandii and Weezy invite you to unlearn the outdated narratives dictated by traditional patriarchal norms. With a blend of humor, vulnerability, and authenticity, they share their personal journeys navigating their 30s, tackling the complexities of modern relationships, and engaging in thought-provoking discussions that challenge societal expectations. From groundbreaking interviews with diverse guests to relatable stories that resonate with your experiences, "Decisions, Decisions" is your go-to source for open dialogue about what it truly means to love and connect in today's world. Get ready to reshape your understanding of relationships and embrace the freedom of authentic connections—tune in and join the conversation!