Arie & Lauren Talk Bachelor Proposal Mistake, Having Twins and Drama with Call Her Daddy
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- You initially asked when I was to marry you. - I'm like, I'm not sure. And they're like, well, production wraps today. You better figure it out. - It's kind of a big decision to make by the end of the day. - That's the one thing that every twin mom told me, get them both on the same schedule. Because if you don't, they will alternate all day and night. They decided that it would be really funny to make fun of baby Lessie. And they would say stuff about her being on a stripper pole. The next sentence would be about BJs. - You're like, this is a baby.

hey real quick before we get started if you could leave us a review for the podcast it actually helps out so so much it takes literally two seconds just to say hey love this podcast it's really easy really fast it would mean a lot to us now let's get on with the episode what's up dudes and welcome back to the unplanned podcast we've got lauren and ari lyondike did i pronounce your last name correctly yes

We actually met you guys through our friends down in Bella, which is crazy. I'm just now realizing that. I'm just now realizing I've been thinking your last name was pronounced wrong this whole time. I was like, most people do. Yeah, that's a tough one. Lauren and Ari, they met on The Bachelor. They're entrepreneurs. They just came out with a dating or a dates app, which is super cool. They're just like, they're doing a lot of cool stuff. There's also content creators on social media. So,

I'm really excited for this interview. Oh, realtor. Yep. I was your realtor. Yes. You were our realtor. So you guys are keeping yourselves busy and you guys have three kids. That's, that's insane. I honestly do not know how you guys do it. Now that I think about it. You just figure it out. Yeah. As you go. Oh my gosh. I would need a lot of naps. Okay.

It's funny, like we start off most episodes asking the couples on the podcast with us like how they met and you guys have the most unique how you met story like ever. Like how many people, how many people do you know, Abby, that met like on TV? Actually one other couple. We met a couple that got married after sex. Oh, actually, yeah, you're right. We did meet a couple. That's crazy. That is crazy. You guys are like

Yeah. Yeah, they were unmarried at first sight. Coming from us, that's got to be really crazy. They're still married. It's been like eight years. Yeah. Oh, wow. That's incredible. But that's like the crazy part about you guys is you guys are happily married, like have three children. Like, I don't know. It's crazy that, I don't know, when I thought about The Bachelor, I was like, oh, yeah, none of those couples work out. But like you guys clearly did work out. So that's really cool. Yeah, I think we are rare. Yes. I just looked today because there's like a post that came up because a couple broke up. And I think there's five couples.

25 seasons of The Bachelor. Holy crap. 25. Yeah, because there's a lot of spin-offs for The Bachelorette. Yeah. I told Matt, I said, I don't think those count because the odds of, because then there's like the same amount of girls as boys, right? Yeah, on Paradise, yeah. So I think yours is more impressive. Yeah. Does that feel like it was another lifetime ago? Like that whole thing? Yeah. I mean, our reality is so different from the show now, so it's kind of weird to even think we were ever there.

Did you guys know each other before the show or did you like meet on the show? We met before the show. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, you did. It was it was like we know each other. Right. We just met at the racetrack and took a picture together. And I was dating somebody at the time. We had no idea that I was going to be a bachelor. I had no idea. She she didn't know that she was going to show. And then what was it like six months later? I mean, it was like three months later. Yeah.

Yeah. So three months later, he had been removed from the show for five years. And then I went to a casting randomly because my friends talked me into it. And they're like, you're going to be on the show. Watch Good Morning America to find out who the bachelor is. So I'm watching Good Morning America. And then he walks out.

and it was just like the craziest coincidence because i was expecting it to be one of the guys from the season before and then it just happened to be the guy i met yeah how were you the bachelor five years later i don't even really know to be honest i feel like um what happened was there was a producer in the house who i really clicked with and he became the executive producer and he'd always been trying like lobbying for me to be the bachelor and he's like hey if i ever become the ep like you're the guy

And so I don't know what exactly happened behind the scenes, but there was this other frontrunner. His name is Peter. And there was some sort of controversy over a contract. And last minute, I would say two weeks before filming, they dropped him and then they put me in. Two weeks? Yeah. So none of the women that were cast were actually cast for me. So that kind of was... Wait, you don't think I was cast for you? I guess I wasn't. You weren't. You weren't cast for me. Whoa. Weird. I never realized that.

So they gave me like a lot of insecurity going into it cuz I was like none of these women are actually Like have been interviewed to for me to be their potential mate, you know Yeah, and that was baby Becca she's 22 years old they wanted to have that huge Only one last-minute wait, how old were you on the show when I was 36 I think okay

So that was a big age gap. And that's not like what you lead with when you meet someone. You're not like, hey, how old are you? You just assume that everyone's going to be sort of in your age range that's on the show. But they wanted to make that a thing. So she kind of withheld her age until we were on a date. Oh, it was a surprise. Yeah.

I was like, I'm really feeling this. And she's like, by the way, I'm 22. And I was like, wow. How did that make you feel? Old. Can I tell you guys a secret? So right after Abby had Griffin, we were actually, we were in Flagstaff. And we were just like, we didn't have a lot going on. We're like, what TV should we watch right now? And we're like, wait a second. We're like, we got to watch Lauren and Ari. I made Matt promise to never tell you guys that.

I'm so sorry. Did I actually promise that? Yeah, I'm going to fight about you. Oh, my gosh. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. We did watch the season. Oh, my gosh. Cringe. I'm sorry. No. I think it's crazy. Like, that experience, like, knowing you guys so many years... I mean, how many years ago was that? Five or six years. It's like you'd never guess that that was, like, how you guys met. I know. It's so wild. Yeah. It's crazy. It's really cool. That first night, I was like...

a mess. Like I was so nervous. Someone asked me what I'm excited about and I said excitement. It's going to be good. Okay.

Okay, reality TV scares the crap out of me because anything and everything you say will be used against you or could be used against you. And it's like, it's so reassuring, like knowing like when we do social media, if we say something stupid, we'll just like cut it out of our video. But like you guys, you essentially sign your life away, right? When you're on a show, like you've signed all this paperwork for anything you say on camera, like you can't keep them from posting that. Like they're going to put it in the episode.

especially if it's something crazy that they can use to get more viewership or build controversy or just make a more entertaining show. Right. Right. I've been on stuff where I'm like, Oh man, they edited that so cool. Like I'm glad they did that or how they did that was so like awesome. And then I've been on like the bachelor where I'm like, wow, well they really didn't mean no favors there. You know? Cause it's like, it's interesting. Like where you fit in reality TV, it's all about like a storyline.

So like if you're the good guy or like the runner-up like somebody to root for you're just gonna get this like magical edit but if you're if you're Villainized or if you're trying to hide something. Yeah, it's interesting like we as soon as we got together Post show the editing changed. It was like episode three or four and I'm like, oh, this is looking dark. I

Remember that? Not really remember. I do. Clearly. I was like, it was like because they edit sort of, they finish the season and then they start editing everything. So they don't edit as they go.

Really see how it ends so that they can tailor it. That's good storytelling. Yeah I mean like that's cool You want to begin with the end in mind and like tell that narrative but then that's also scary for you guys You're like, I don't know how the frick I'm gonna be depicted on this show. Yeah That is so crazy. Are they okay when you're on the show like no phones I'm guessing like can you even check email? Can you scroll on the internet like that's gonna mess with your mind. I

Yeah, you're just hyper-focused on your relationships. Yeah. At first, it sort of gives you anxiety, but then it's actually really nice. I know. I didn't want my phone back. Really? Yeah. Like, they set me free in the airport to go home at the end, and I was, like, lost. I didn't even know what to do. Whoa. You're so, like, in tune with conversations. You're, like, very, I don't know, like, interesting people.

like you're self-aware. I think you're just in the moment. And then when you get home and you get back on your phone, you sort of lose that. So it is kind of an interesting experiment. Yeah. What was the gap between like the show being filmed and then like when it was aired? It was like a month. Yeah. Did you have to like hide? Yeah.

Wait, really? Yeah, it was cool. They fly you to like an Airbnb. Like one car picks you up, you know, they keep us separate. And then they have somebody in the house and they kind of watch you. Wait, there's someone in the house? At first. Well, they come and meet you there. Meet you there. And they bring you food. Yeah, they order your food. They text you. It's kind of like a honeymoon. Yeah, but you're not allowed to leave the house.

Even though we did. You can't leave the house? You can't leave the house, but we did. Where do they keep you? In an Airbnb. Yeah, Airbnb. In Scottsdale? No, LA. So we would meet in like a mutual location so no one could see where we were going. So then your family knew that they had to know that we weren't.

Yeah, okay. What was that like for you though? Cuz you got cast for another guy? I didn't even think about the timeline I guess but like no one's really I now I'm convinced that no one's really cast for anyone really I feel like they're just cast for who they are and making good TV and

Like I always thought like there's a head of casting her name is Lacey and I was like, you know Lacey's gonna match me with somebody because she knows me But then I was like wait a second. I don't think they really care It's about who's gonna make good TV, but then how did like okay? Here's my question though. If people aren't cast for a specific person then all these girls going on The Bachelor are

like why did they randomly all decide they like this guy you know like how does that happen i think it's just like this competitive angle it's like you're a hot commodity so like everyone just wants that one guy he's the only guy there it's like the last man on earth you know wow yeah and you don't have your phones and and like are they i don't know i just envision them like pushing alcohol all the time on people like hey you want to drink like is that a thing too or no like it

I mean, they're always offering, that's for sure. But I wouldn't say they're like pushing it on you though. Okay, gotcha. They're like, hey, do you want a glass of wine? We're going to go do an interview. I'm like, yes, please. Maybe three.

What was the casting like for that? It was so simple. Wait, it was a live? It wasn't, like, online or anything? No. I had just moved to Dallas, and my friends all lived in Virginia, and they're like, oh, my gosh, it's going to be in your city. Go over there and check it out. Let us know what it's like. It was in Dallas? Yeah. So I, like, went to the building, expecting there to be a line around the building, and there were a total of, like, 30 people inside the building.

And there were girls dressed up in costumes. There were people doing some wild stuff in there. And I just came in like after work one day and I was like, hey, I'm here. Was anyone else from your casting like cast for the show actually? I don't know. There was one other girl from Dallas. I don't know if she was there with me or not. Well, you went through casting too then obviously. Actually, no. So I had like randomly, I'd never been on TV. I'd done like...

some small little cameos as a racing driver, because that's what I did before reality TV. And I had actually dated somebody

who was in local news when I was like 20 and she ended up becoming a producer for The Bachelor and I just randomly ran into her at a coffee shop and she said, oh, hey, it's been 10, like it's been so long. I'm like, oh, what do you do now? She's like, oh, I'm a producer for The Bachelor. And I was like, well, I'm single. So if you need me, it's kind of like joking. And then she called me a couple weeks later and was like, hey, do you want to be on Bachelorette? And I was like, sure, let's do it. So it was really cool, actually, because it was so

like by chance you know yeah like organic i guess yeah i never watched the show yeah i know and that's why you've dated so many girls listen so this became like a thing in the show the ex-girlfriend was the bachelorette's like producer that was with her every day so it was really kind of weird because i was like does she know does she not know and it turned out she didn't know and that pretty much

you know, do you think that was done on purpose? Oh yes. It became part of the show. Yeah. Yeah. So it was like, but anyways, that's a long story, but that was like, that's how I got on the show. It was just kind of interesting. And I had never seen the show before. So yeah,

I like walked into this house and you know, I'm like, I'm not the fittest guy. I'm just like average dude. You know what I mean? These guys are doing like pushups and like tanned up, you know, like not eating any carbs. And I'm like in the corner, like drinking cappuccinos. I feel like the bachelorette vibe has to be totally different. Oh yeah. Oh, it's just like a bunch of meatheads, you know? Just like, that's so funny. And they were all scared to talk to her too, which is so funny. And that was like the one thing I wasn't scared of. I don't know. They were like nervous.

I would be really excited to talk to her. I think when you go on a show, a lot of people, the casting process could be months. And so this is like this huge anticipation. And then you get there and there's all these cameras and then people are like a little like, you know? Yeah. And I had just gotten asked like a week ago and I fly in. Yeah, you didn't have all the time. And I'm just like, what's all this? Cool. You know?

Yeah. But like, okay, the show, I remember Abby would want to watch The Bachelor with me back in like college. And I was like, I don't know. It just seems kind of like scripted or like, it seems like they're, I don't know, like things are made up. But like, is there anything scripted at all? Or is it all just like actually what's happening? You know?

I'm so curious, like how much is curated for TV? Well, I think Ari and I have talked about this. We think that there's just so much content to work with that they can really make it look however they want. But also on his side of things, they do have like certain things that he needs to say as the bachelor. But as the contestants, there's nothing that's scripted.

Really? Oh, so they do tell you like, say this. I think the contestants experience is a lot different than the lead. The lead is almost like a place marker. You could put anyone in there and they just build this narrative where it's like, okay, you're going to walk into this room and your wife could be in that room. And then they, they, they're talking to you based essentially like how they want you to talk. You know what I mean? So you, you begin to be in this sort of world where,

where they're like, okay, we really want to make them feel comfortable. So you should give them some confidence and say these things, you know? Yeah. And so I forgot about that. So do you inspire? They inspire you to do certain things. Yep. Okay. I'm sorry. Is that not like crazy? Like,

It was weird. Okay, we watched the season. It was weird seeing you like kiss other people because I'm like, I'm like in my mind, I'm like Ari's married, but like we're back in time. We're back in time. I'm seeing you like make out with all these girls and I'm like, I'm like, is that like, what is that like when you're, when you're the bachelor? Matt genuinely wants to know. I'm sorry. What is that like, man? Yeah.

It's, I mean, at first. Okay, at first. I mean, you're single. Yeah, you're single. Okay, as a single guy. At first, it's like so cool. You're like, this is like pretty rad, right? This is pretty awesome. Like, I basically, you know, this is like a cool experience. But then you're like, wait, I got to break up with like five women. Oh, gosh. Then another two. Then every day you're breaking up with somebody. So then it's like a little taxing because you're like, I don't want to be unemotional because it gets a little bit like.

So I don't know. It feels weird. It's dating like 20 women at the same time, right? It sounds amazing, but it's not that great. Well, yeah, that would be, I would throw up every time thinking about like having to like, someone's going to cry in front of you and you're just like, every day, like think about thinking about kissing someone that you don't want to kiss. Oh, like how do you get out of that?

Yes, the first night. We wanted to know. We've only kissed each other, actually. We've literally only kissed each other. What? Literally. That's so cute. That is really cute. We started dating in high school, simpler time. Oh, I love that. I do. That's amazing. Quite the contrast. He's gone around a lot. Hey, come on. Come on. Come on.

It was my job. It was your job. It's my job to kiss all these women. I guess I'll do it. I don't know. But that's the difference. We were like 17 when we met. How old were you guys on the show? I was 25 when I got on the show. Oh yeah, that was a big question. Like the age gap. I'm sure people do get sick of talking about that. No, it doesn't really come up. I don't think it really affects us much. Yeah. He's very immature. The only time...

- True. - He's very immature. - You seem very young. - I think it's more like the only time it really gets in the way is when we talk about like music or movies or something. And she's like, oh my gosh. - He'll be like, you know that movie, everyone knows it. I'm like, absolutely never heard of it. - I wasn't alive. - Wait, is it 10 years, 11 years? - It's 10, yeah. But like sometimes we cross into that 11. - Oh really? - You know, because I was born September. - So is that a couple months? - Yeah, two months.

But, um, yeah, it's, I don't think it really, that was a big thing on the show. The age gap. Yeah. Not for us though. But not for us. Yeah. I mean, wasn't that like what made you like unique was like, this is the oldest bachelor we've ever had. Oh, you were the oldest bachelor. I was like, that is actually not true. Cause Nick Vial was a year older than me when he was a bachelor, but he just looks younger than me. Cause he doesn't have gray hair. Oh,

Oh, so you had gray hair, so they're like, oh, this bachelor. Exactly. It was a lie. I know. Two years before that, he was a year older than me when he was bachelor, so whatever. How old was he when he was bachelor? 30. He was 36, but I was 35 when we started filming, and then I turned 36. So it was like six months or whatever. And seeing Ari, I guess, are you even seeing him kiss the other girls or no? Because you're like, we're watching it on TV. No, I was.

How are you seeing him kiss other girls then if you're not like getting to see the episode, right? Because we're watching the TV show seeing all these different make-outs happen. No, I was there. Oh, you're seeing it live? Is that what you mean? I'm confused by your question also. Wait, wait, wait. There's other girls in the room while you're making out? Yeah. Yeah, we're all at the same house. What? In the beginning. We'll be like, you know, over there on the couch. They were all coaching me on how to make a move on him.

sure it's not weird because no you didn't know then that you were gonna marry him and no one else knew that you none of us really even knew him at that point we're all like all these girls stuck in the house together so it's just like a big sorority and all of us are just having the best time with each other and then we're like oh yeah this guy's here like we're all dating him cool like you know it's just like the second thought yeah living with that many girls for the beginning like as much drama as you would anticipate or was it where were you guys like friends no i

No, I think the house was kind of divided in two different groups. But for the most part, we were all friends. I wouldn't say we had any drama, though. That's good. Yeah. Wow. I'm just so fascinated by this. This is just great. Especially because we've only been with each other. So then I'm like, man, we might both... Matt's like, that sounds like so much fun. We both might suck at kissing. We just have no idea. You guys are probably great at kissing. You've kissed so many people, but we have not. Only Ari, not me.

Hey, come on. You're not that innocent. Well, in comparison, I'm an angel. I'm an angel. Okay. So I think like, okay.

Craziest part of the show is again seeing in retrospect you guys together and then end of the show comes and I had heard I think like either Abby told me or Bella told me or somebody I heard through the grapevine that essentially you Initially asked one else to marry you and so when that's happening, I'm like I'm like the only good TV like And like so I guess

What was it like to have something so personal on TV? And again, you don't have any control of what gets posted. You don't have any control of what makes it in the episode. Like, what was that like to have just everything and you can't control it? For both of you, I guess. Yeah, for both of you guys. Yeah. Well, I mean, control is like, that's the hardest part is like, you don't control the order of like the fantasy suite dates. You don't control, you control who goes on dates, but-

I can't give her every date. I got to also date other women. It's part of the show. He actually gave me two one-on-one dates two weeks in a row and no one had ever had that. Yeah, true.

So there was like, you know, I wish there was more control and obviously time. Like my thing is like, I wasn't, I'm like, I'm not sure. And they're like, well, production wraps today, boy, you better figure it out. You know what I mean? So it's kind of a big decision to make right by the end of the day. Right. And we were all like sick. It was like, we all got sick off whatever food they were feeding us over there. And so it was just like the last week was just like a real opportunity.

Obviously a tough one. Yeah. Yeah. For those of you that may not know, I already proposed to a girl that was not Lauren. What was the time gap between... Coming back to her? Wait, I don't remember the show as well right now. Like how... Did the show end and it was like you guys were going to get married?

Or did, how did it resolve? No, no, no. I think like in the show, they build in to where you, you see, you see the proposal and then they have, and they have Ari in like real time. We weren't watching in real time. It was like you in real time. And then you're with like Lauren, right? And it's like, okay, this is actually what happened. And they like play back all the, we've actually never seen the endings.

So I don't, we don't know. No way. So you just didn't watch it. Cause you're just like, you know what? Been there. Yeah. You know, at that point we had to go on after the final rose and everyone had just watched the ending. So we mentally just couldn't handle watching it and then going on. Oh my God. Yeah. It was bad. I knew it was going to be bad, but it was really bad. It was worse than we thought. Like how so? Well, I think like, you know, obviously you make that call.

Obviously you don't feel good about what you did, you know, you're like shoot I shouldn't have made that decision or I need more time or why didn't I what I do that and I think the biggest thing is like When I was like, nope, I'm gonna call Lauren We're gonna I'm gonna see if I can work it out with her then I like clued production in on it and that was kind of I thought that would be good for us because I thought they could help tell a story and

it just kind of backfired really. Yeah. It turned into the story being about the next season, like propelling it into being successful rather than highlighting the story that was already there, you know? Wow. Yeah. They kind of, they were like, they kind of pitched as like, we're going to roam romanticize this. Like she was a person you were always supposed to be with. So we're going to watch you run back to her. And then it's going to,

let people know like why you made the decision. And then they kind of cut all that out. And then they just made me, they just like air like a super long breakup scene. And then it was like cut to Lauren and now we're together. And people were just like, they're like, what? You know? So I think they, I think they kind of in hindsight, we should have just done that all privately. Yeah. And,

And so it could have been like you ended up with Becca on the show and then people end up finding out, oh, he actually ended up with Lauren and it's not on the show. Yeah. Because I like watching that. I felt bad for you. I was like, this sucks to where like he has no control over what they're pushing out. They're going to just tell the narrative that makes them the most money and boost the viewership. And they did a great job. They really did. I mean, like on their end, like they're like, yeah, like screw Ari. Let's just do whatever is going to get us more views. Mm hmm.

And so I just felt, I was like, dang, that like, that sucks. But I was also like so glad that even though it,

You know you you guys went through all that like I was like happy that you made the decision in your heart that you knew It was right and now like you guys are so happy and have three kids. Yeah, well, it's honestly okay, you know, I'm glad that it happened that way Yeah, yeah, I think it really like bonded us because we had this us versus the world mentality and it just you know, I think it would have been different if

Let's say I picked Lauren off of the bat. I don't know if we would have had that bond together because we're like, no, we got to stick together. Everyone doesn't really know our story, but we're going to show them because we love each other so much. Because you got a lot of backlash after. Yeah. So we're like, we're just going to. You did too? Oh, yeah. I was a homewrecker. Oh.

What? That's crazy. I hate that. The crazy thing is like people don't understand that he was never with her that time between when filming wrapped and when it aired. Like they're not living in the same state together. They're doing what we did only like one or two times. I think they saw each other for like a weekend and

But they're not together. And I think people see it as like, oh, they're engaged. They're together doing everyday life. And then you just came in and ruined it. Yeah. But it's not like that. And when, okay. And when like you, cause here's what made me so mad is like, of course they do this for TV. Of course they're trying to like get the views on TV. They make you like go to the spot as if like you think you're getting proposed to. And then they make Ari like tell you in that like super like romantic spot, which looks like it's proposal scene. Yeah. And just like,

That's how they do it every season. And breaks your heart, which I don't, I've only watched, that was the only season of Bachelor I've actually watched all the way through. I just would like sneak in when I was like eight years old. I'd like watch my mom watching The Bachelor. Eight years old? Little Matt. How long have you been doing this? I watched The Bachelor with my mom here and there. You've been doing it 20 something years. Oh, wow. This show has been going on for a while. But no, yeah, you get to that spot. Like, did you think you were getting proposed to right then? I feel like, I don't know.

I don't know. It was so hard. Oh, that's making me sick to my stomach to even think about that. At that point, like the week leading up to it, I just had this bad feeling about it. And then the day of, I think I had convinced myself that it was me. And I had to. You know, I had to go give this speech telling – like spilling my guts out. So I can't go into it being like –

It's probably not me but still say all of that, you know Yeah the worst part was like I was kind of waiting for Lauren to say some stuff to give me some reassurance for some reason she was always like kind of like a unicorn to me like she was like so beautiful and like but I always I never really was like she's so into me like I never felt like She is you know

we're going to be life partners. Yeah. Because I was, I was missing a couple like things for her to say. And when she walked down, I, the, the, everything had already been emotion ring. It's been picked, you know, we know who first is, we knew a second is like, so when she walks down and she delivers that speech, I'm like, this is everything I've ever wanted to hear from her. And I was like, I knew at that moment that I was in the wrong, but I felt like the, like,

huge pressure of the bachelor and production and 300 people there and everything is like it's too late for me to do anything you know but I knew kind of in that moment like as soon as I walked away I was like I made a mistake and actually even on the show I said I closed the door and I said I love you I didn't even realize I did that yeah so yeah it's kind of wild

Can't imagine that pressure and the producers are they trying to like steer you down a certain path? Are they like oh hey You should kick this girl off But this girl you should keep her on and they're like they want to keep like the the mean girl on to keep the show Keep the drama go and keep it more interesting I feel like in the MIT in the beginning in the middle of the show They definitely have personalities that they want to keep on like okay like hey if you keep you keep crystal on another week Then you can bring another girl to Paris, you know, oh, you know Are you kidding me?

But then towards the end, they really do want you to make the decision that's best for yourself. Yeah. But I think that you're doing these interviews and they're like always highlighting. Yeah. You know, the good things about somebody, like why they would make a good fit for you. And it was always sort of this thing where, um,

Lauren, they were like, I remember this one comment. It still kills me. They're like, Lauren's like the Ferrari dude. She's like, I know you love fast cars, but she's not a car you drive every day. She's like, and I'm like, Becca's like the dependable minivan. Something that you can just like...

What? What is this? I kind of feel like this is different from cars. I'm like, I'm a car guy. I appreciate the analogy. They tried. They tried. But like, this guy's a race car driver. We got to relate to him. You got to get to it. Like, how can you

I'm still dead about that. I'm still dead about that. It was this camera guy. Did you feel like you were like, I don't want to use the word slave, but did you almost feel like, like you can't, you can't really leave. You can't, you know, you're, you're stuck in wherever they have you. You can't, like when you're in these different countries, I'm sure you can't just go explore if you want to explore. Oh no. Right.

They own you. The time you're there, they own you. They tell you what to do. You have to be up at this time, right? Like, did you almost feel like you were a slave to the bachelor? I don't want to use like dramatic words, but... Yeah. I mean, you definitely feel like you're in captivity. I mean...

I mean, you're their biggest asset. They can't just have you going out in town. Yeah. You know what I mean? You don't have a phone. Yeah. You don't have money. They control everything. They control... We don't even know what time it is. We don't know what time it is. What? No. I mean... You don't have a watch? No. You can't have a watch. You can have a watch, but like... I mean, they don't tell us what time it is. I mean, you ask them what time it is and there's some resistance like...

What time is it right now? Oh, it's late. They won't even tell you what time it is. You're kidding. Like when's the last time I ate? I feel like it was six hours ago. I don't know. I just remember in the house, like we would be up till, I don't even know, like 3 a.m. I didn't know what time it was, obviously. So I had no idea, but we were up super late. And I just remember when it was time to wake up, the lights were just like fluorescent and they would just turn on all of a sudden. And I'm on this, like probably a bunk bed, like this thing.

I fell off the top of it one time. What? Yeah, it was just like an experience. But it was still fun. I appreciated the whole thing. I didn't feel like a slave. Maybe he did. Oh, yeah. It was like I felt like a slave. I got used to it. You're more controlled maybe. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think any reality TV, they did this in Traders too. I feel like they keep you tired.

You know, they feed you, obviously, but, like, I feel like keeping you tired, you know, gets to, hits your, like, emotional side. Oh. So that if you're tired and you're hungry and it's been days of filming, it's like you start breaking down about the littlest things. And they love it. You know what I mean? They're like, yes. Yeah, I was going to say, it must not have been too bad of an experience because you've done reality TV since. I don't know. Have you done any reality TV since? Not more than just, like, an episode. No.

Here and there. But I haven't done like an actual full show. Oh, like on what? What did we do? We did... What was that one called? Oh, the Long Island Medium.

Whoa. Yeah. That was interesting. Whoa. I'd be too scared to do that. Did she actually figure stuff out about you guys? She did, yeah. She was a little bit more in tune with me, and I was bummed because Lauren really wanted to go. She was the one that's like, come on. I'm like, I know I'm a skeptic, but I feel like she singles out the skeptics. You're kidding. Some of the stuff did apply to me. Yeah. I wanted to go see if she could...

Talked to my grandpa. Whoa. And she described him perfectly. It was so weird. She's like, is your daughter's room in your house normally colder than the rest of the rooms? Oh, yeah. And I was like, yeah. And she's like, it's because your grandpa's watching over her. I'd be way too scared to go in there. It gave me chills. I was like, what? Her daughter DM'd us and was like, oh, your twins are boy-girl. Yeah.

She's like, my mom said they were. My mom said they were. Yeah. Yeah. Her daughter DM'd us. Oh, by the way, if you want to know your genders, here they are. Wait, we actually had. It was not a medium. It was a psychic. How do they describe themselves? Somebody on a brand trip that we were on was like, I think they were someone. I don't know if there's one plus one or if they were just on the trip, too. But they were just like in a conversation. And she said that she. Yeah, I was pregnant with Griffin. And she's like, he's got blue eyes. And we're like, he's a boy and he's got blue.

- I mean, blue eyes? - I'm like, look dude, I got dark brown eyes. These are really dark brown eyes and Abbie has green eyes. So like our kids not gonna have blue eyes. Griffin has freaking blue eyes. - That's so crazy. - Unless they change. - That is so weird.

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So you go on a show at the Long Island Medium. What's another one too? This is like so fascinating. House Hunters? Yeah, we were both on that one. House Hunters. But it was mostly about him. Real estate. And you guys were looking for a house? No, I was the realtor. Oh, cool. Cool. Okay. What's another one? I feel like I've done random ones.

We did we're doing one for ABC it's called the game the game show show it's actually out in like a couple weeks It's a whole like Docu-series about like finding love on TV and like where it started versus where it is now It's kind of about all the different series at ABC's come out with mm-hmm. So that's pretty cool. We did that Lauren cried What else did we do?

Yeah, we went to us like listen to your heart have you ever heard it was only one season It was kind of a mix between the voice and the bachelor. It's pretty bad It was like a mix between the two watch me go find all these Now we're gonna go binge all your TV shows Are they paying you for these or do they just like do you just get yeah, yeah a little bit. Oh, they do. Yeah, it depends. Oh

Yeah, it depends because I've heard I saw like some tick-tock pull up the other day of someone who was like I went on I've gotten to debt to be on The Bachelor like they bought all these clothes for the show And I guess they went on the show but like they they spent like everything they had to basically bike a wardrobe Yeah, the contestants aren't paid. Oh only the only the lead is really that's Work for all that time. My boss was like you have to go. Yeah

He's like your job will be here when you get back. That's awesome. That's nice. And then you ended up being gone a very long time. Yeah, I was gone the whole time and then I came back and I just couldn't work anymore. I was like, I tried it for like, I don't even know, a week. What were you doing at the time? I was doing technology sales. So I was like going into office buildings and talking to people, but

It was just like too weird. Like thanks for holding my face was out there So like a lot of people were asking me what happened and then I'd go cry in the bathroom cuz he had just broken up with me So sad I couldn't talk about it for that's so ever gosh. Yeah, that's okay It's been a long time now you've grown a family

Yes. I can't even believe you guys. We're good at that. Yeah, you got twins. Oh, we are done. You're done having. Yeah, Matt asked me the other day. He was like, do you think they're having more kids? I was like, no. Did you see their YouTube video? Yeah, we're not doing it anymore. The vasectomy video? Oh, you guys posted a vasectomy video? It was recommended to me, actually. Really? They're like, you need this. It was an iconic thumbnail. We legit almost filmed inside the room, but I was like, eh, too close. Oh, my gosh. Too close.

That is hilarious. Was that painful? Yes. Oh, really? It was very painful. Well, okay. Not for everyone, though. Just for Arnie. Yeah. I have like some...

What is it called? Resistance to lidocaine. So it doesn't really work on me. Why do I kind of feel like I didn't feel... I felt everything. No. Yeah. Lorna's in the room with me. We're just hilarious. We, funny enough, did a test where it tells you things that you might have genetically going on with you. And it said that lidocaine probably won't work for him. And we just forgot. And he went and did that.

Is that what they use, like, after birth when they're giving you stitches? Lidocaine? Maybe. I don't know. Because my doctor's like, I think there's something wrong because I've given you as much as you could have. I was like, I can feel everything, ma'am. And she was like, I don't think you're tolerating. Like, I don't think that it's working. I think it is lidocaine. Did you have a epidural? It's called, what is it? Yeah, but it wore off before I put it on. Not all the way, but it was just a bad situation. I think it is.

But, yeah, I was like, I can, I was like, I know that you're putting a stitch in right now and now you're out. And she's like, I think that it's not working. Cause she's like, have you gone to the dentist? And like, is that what they use at the dentist? Lidocaine? Normally. I'm like talking about myself now.

I think I have the same thing. So I realized you mentioned while we were talking that you were a race car driver. I totally forgot about that. Are you like, do you race at all anymore? Like how long did you do that for? No, not really. I did it for 20 years. Okay. That's a long time. I know. I'm 41. 41. And so like my whole life was that, you know, I, I.

As a kid, I would go to the racetrack with my dad and I was like, that's all I wanted to do. So, um, I did it for a long time. And when we first got together, I was still racing. So we went to Australia. We got to go all over the place and race a little bit. But ever since I had kids, it's just like not the priority, you know? Yeah.

I was a professional until 2008, until the real estate crash. And then ever since 08, it's more been like a race here and there for fun. But it's not my actual profession. Gotcha. Gotcha. But for a while, it was like your full-time thing. Like that was how you made an income was like racing cars. Yeah, it was awesome. That is dope. That is cool. That is really cool. I raced in the Indy 500. And so I checked off a lot of this. Wait, what? The Indy 500? Yeah. I don't even like watch NASCAR or anything, but I know what that is.

Yeah, so the Indy 500 was probably like the biggest race I did. My dad won it twice, so he's like the legend over there. Your dad was a race car driver? Yeah. Whoa, that's dope. Yeah, so now it's just like another lifetime. How sick would that be if one of your kids ends up racing cars? I have a feeling that Senna will be. It's going to be Senna. She loves watching racing with me, and she'll get on like a little race

We have like a bumper car. She can maneuver that around anything. It's like insane. She got in and just figured it out right away. Yeah, she's like, oh, forward, back, forward. She's like, this is in her DNA. Lux is like, I'm not crying. Lux has zero. He's not going to be the one. It's not going to be Lux. I feel like it's going to, I'm going to say it right now. It's not going to be Lux. It's probably going to be Santa. And unless he's just obsessed with like animals. So I feel like she's going to do something in that.

- Cute, I can't wait to figure out like what Griffin's gonna do. - I know, I'm like, I've already decided, you know what? - Not race cars. - He can do whatever he wants to do. But like, I'm really hoping that he either loves surfing, skateboarding or snowboarding because like I love those sports so much. And if he liked one of them, then we'd like,

- Bond. - We have so much fun. - Let's work on walking. - Yeah, we're gonna work on walking first, but we'll get there. Okay, what does your day to day look like? Because I know obviously you're a realtor and you guys both do social media full time. I'm always seeing you guys posting your stuff. I don't know, what does your day to day look like? I'm so curious. - Three kids.

Better little. Yeah, you have three little kids. Well, it's always different. Yeah, it's always different. We wake up early. Yeah, we wake up early. We have our coffee. Or like he has coffee and I have something else in the morning. You don't drink coffee? No. Wait, with three kids you don't drink coffee? I don't need it. I'm a spaz. Wait, really? You don't?

- Coffee, wow, okay. - No, so we have our time in the morning first, then we get the kids up, we do breakfast with them. I work out every morning, I try to every morning and then-- - Like at like six? - No, like eight probably or nine if I take Alessi to school. Then we work, I try to hang out with the kids like when they're awake and then work again when they're napping.

And then we do family time for dinner and yeah, that's pretty much it. Lauren like has like so many things going on with different brands and I'm basically full on with the app right now. I would say that's more my full time job. I kind of put a pause on real estate this year to focus on it.

And it's been rewarding and it's really cool to see other people go on these like dates and like get the feedback. I loved watching your guys' video about the date. It looks so cool. And people just ate that up. So it was cool. Yeah. Talk about your app because it's really cool. We've done a date. We've been on a surprise date. We're due for another surprise date. Yeah, you guys got to go. Yeah. Explain for our viewers, for people that don't know what Duo is, explain what that app is.

- Do you wanna go for it? I always do. - It's called Dates on Duo. - Dates on Duo. - Wait, yeah. - So the app is Dates on Duo, as you guys know. We created it to kind of replicate our experience we had dating on the show. So couples that sign up for the premium membership, they go for dates where neither one of them know what they're doing.

Normally it's an activity first and we like to like put people in situations where they can learn something new about each other or that challenges them in some way just to kind of like bring a new dynamic into their relationship and Then the second portion is usually a meal of some kind. Yeah, so it's free to download There's like tons of like we call it date spiration and the you can swipe kind of like a tinder feature like on dates that you like And there's just like hundreds of date. We just like I

Release location-based dates. So if you're in LA or Phoenix or in Chicago, you'll see like date ideas that are around you And so we're slowly rolling that out for the rest of the country, but yeah, it's cool I think it's it's fun to like for us on the back end We can see because the app asks you like hey take a take a photo in this moment or whatever so we get to see what the people are doing on the dates and right now we have 15 date planners that are

they're really good. And these dates are happening all over the country. And so I go on the backend and I like check out all the photos that they're taking. And it's like, so cool to see couples like experiencing new things and having a good time. Yeah. There's a lot of social media stuff too. And I like, that's my favorite part about it right now. It's just seeing like the reels that they put together of like their dates and stuff like that. Yeah. I feel like the logistics behind an app like this had to be like

almost a nightmare to figure out because I'm like, it was for like our experience. Like we just got, it just said, uh, let's heat things up. And then it just had a location and there was like a little preface. It was like, this is going to seem sketchy, but Jason will be there or Justin. And it was like, just trust us. And so I was like, well, this is literally like a TV show. Yeah. We did pull up. It was a sketchy location. Yeah.

We had no idea. It was so... We were blowing glass. It was like at like a thousand degrees. Like what was a thousand degrees? I didn't know that we could do that. Like I didn't know that we'd be qualified to like blow glass. And now we have four beautiful glass pieces that we made. It was so...

- So cool, and you do this all over, wait is it globally? - No, all over the US. - In the US. - In the US. - Yeah, so you can download it globally, but the premium feature where we plan a date for you is just US. - Oh, okay. - Yeah, so we plan dates all over the country, obviously. - Alaska. - And even Alaska, which is wild. - Yeah, wait, what are some of the coolest ones? - Oh my gosh. - Like in Alaska, what do they do in Alaska? - Like dog sledding. - Are you kidding me? - Like you could do-- - Ice fishing. - Ice fishing. - That's dope.

We've done like trapeze dates where you learn how to do trapeze That was like one that I sent a friend on that. I thought that would be cool for him Oh, yeah, we sent a couple to circus class where they learn how to be in a circus Oh one more risque one was he we sent a couple figure drawing where you draw a nude figure and

Wait, like you get naked and then there's a naked model. No, someone's naked and you're drawing them. Wait, wait, wait. Wait, but this is a surprise for both of them? They explicitly said we want the weirdest thing ever. We want something really weird. Were they married? They're like, think tantric. And I'm like, okay, these two are freaks. Like, we're going to send them doing something. Think what? They're like tantric. What is that? I said the same thing. It's like, like, uh, like, uh.

How do I describe it? I don't even know. It's still actually. Do you want me to Google it so you don't have to come up with your own definition? It's about sex. Well, I saw one of the... It's like holding poses and like holding yourself back from going. Oh, my gosh. Oh, wow. They really sent it. They really wanted to go crazy. So you guys are like, bet. We will send you to go draw a naked person. Yeah, but they wanted something kind of off the wall. Yeah. Something different. That's hilarious. I'm just saying it's yoga.

Well, there is tantric yoga. Okay, maybe I need to find a different one. That's cool. Whose idea was that? There was a spicy suggested one we had. We were like, because we didn't, we got the app and you know, you have to sit the, we almost go to a sex shop. I was like, Matt. Wow, we could do that. We've never been to one.

That would be the closest I've been to his Victoria's Secret. Finds out we're the most boring people in the world. Yeah. Whatever's happening is working because you're always pregnant. You gotta knock this off. I'm really getting an IUD. Oh my gosh. So have the app. You're kind of doing that full time now? Yeah, full time.

It's fun. Well, as well as being a dad. Yeah, like, yeah, exactly. Everything else. I feel like that's like taking up the majority of my time. I'm building his man cave. He's jackhammering every day now. True. Oh, you have a man cave. While trying to get a man cave. Are you allowed in a man cave? Am I allowing one? Are you allowed in it? Oh. Is it just for you? Oh, we haven't talked about that yet. Yeah.

I mean, I think I am. Have to set your boundaries. Of course. Of course. What are you doing with it? So we have a property. We bought this place a couple years ago and had this barn in the back, but we don't have horses. So I was like, it'd be so sick to make it dark and moody, put all my cars in here, race simulator. Wait, you have multiple cars? Are you a car collector? Well, I have...

Old Indy cars that I raced and then I have like a couple cars Lauren bought me a car in there his dad's car Yeah, my dad's race cars. My dad wants a place to like put his race cars. How many race cars are we talking? He's got he's got three Okay, and I have one and then I have like my high school truck that Lauren loves. Oh my gosh She wants me to get rid of this thing so bad You know

Yeah, it was like the first car that like I felt like I bought new. Yeah. And so I think it's sick. You bought a new car in high school? No, right after high school. Oh, okay. Matt always makes fun of me because I'm like attached to my high school car and it broke down. This thing was a piece of crap. It couldn't even make it down like the road. It was a Chevy Malibu. It would break down all the time. It couldn't really go up hills very well. She would like stop. But she loved this car. Like she just really, really liked this car. I had that car for 10 years. As soon as I left for college, my brother like...

killed the car. Oh, yeah. It was, it couldn't go on highways. So I couldn't take it to college with me. It was that bad. Like it, like literally we couldn't go over like 40 and it was like, yeah, it was time.

You may call me for that all the time. I love my Chevy Malibu. Switching the subject. We also watched another one of your TV shows. This isn't weird. It was airing at the time. It aired The Traitors. Yes. Which service was that on? Did we watch that on Hulu? Peacock. Peacock? Yep. We got it on. We watched Peacock. I think your brother has Peacock and we just like, we signed in on our TV. So we're like, ah, we'll watch Traitors on Peacock. And, uh,

Well, I don't want to spoil the ending but like Matt binge-watched we yeah like four episodes It's become like very popular. Oh, yeah, I didn't think I didn't know you know, you never know It's a new show so you're thinking like okay, it could gain some popularity But it's it's up for like an MV MVT or MTV movie People's Choice Awards No, it's an MTV

I don't know, whatever. A lot of people watched it. Accolades. Yeah. And I'm like, I was stoked that people enjoyed it. I love doing it.

It was kind of the same feeling of doing The Bachelor, though. Like you were kind of in captivity doing reality TV and it was long hours, but made it to the end, made it to the finale. Yeah. And it was an experience. It was a really cool concept because wait, this was like season one of it, right? Yeah. So season, so first season and it's been, it's aired in different countries and it's really worked there. So they brought it to the U.S. Okay. And apparently it's, it's been re-upped for season two, but it'll be different cast. Okay. Yeah.

And the game will change a little bit so somebody can't use the same strategy as this season's winner. Gotcha. Yeah, we kind of give a little like yeah, so in the game essentially like 20 people show up to a castle in Scotland and three people are selected to be traders and From that moment forward the whole group is trying to figure out who the traders are. Yeah every night there's somebody banished by your peers and

And if you banish a trader, that's like a good thing because at the end, if you are faithful, which is the other side of the coin, the 17 others, you split the cash at the end. But if there's a trader amongst you, they get to keep all of it.

So the whole thing is like trying to figure out who's being deceptive. And, you know, you pick up on little things that you're trying to like grasp for straws because you don't know anything about anybody. So you're just kind of like, you know what? You look a little suspicious over there. Like, I don't like your face. Or they just don't like you. They're like, you're a traitor. Yeah.

Yeah, like you, you know, you were, I don't even know. It's like the dumbest things came up and I'm like, okay, sure. As long as it's not me, this guy's going home. It was so funny watching as a viewer because there was like one guy in the beginning of your show that was like, we, I mean, I just knew as a viewer that he definitely was not a traitor, but he just like would not stop talking and everyone on the show, everyone on the show was like, this guy has to be a traitor. Yeah, yeah. Vote him out. Well, it's kind of cool.

- That's cool 'cause like wasn't like half TV person, like people who have been on TV before and then half were just-- - Yeah, so I was cast because you know, they're like, oh, if he could deceive

If he could deceive this, you know, the women, 30 women, he could definitely be a traitor, you know? And it was kind of personalities like that. They had a Brandy from the Real Housewives. They had, who else was that? Reza from Shaw's. Wait, there was Brandy and who was the other like? Kate, Kate Chastain. Yes. Below Deck. So it was always a Ryan Lochte personality.

you know, the Olympic gold swimmer. Yes. You know, he was in that scandal where he lied about getting robbed. I didn't even know that. See, I didn't know anything about all the other contestants. We literally just watched it because we're like, oh, Ari's on a TV show. Let's watch it. Like, we were just like, I don't know. Every person there had something about their backstory

that made them suspicious. Really? That's cool. I didn't even know that. We had no idea. See, and I don't even understand like reality TV that much because I haven't watched a lot of it. Like I've never been a reality TV person really, but...

Like, I guess, how is the show different than other shows? Like, isn't there, like, a show called Big Brother or shows where other people vote? Someone was from Big Brother on there. There were a couple of them. Yeah. I mean, every show has a different concept, I think. And this is kind of an interesting one because it's a competition show, but it's really, like, a social experiment. Yeah. Because they're, like...

You have to get together. There's no influence from producers. They're just like, okay, who do you think is deceptive? Like, who don't you trust and why? And you're like, well, I don't trust Abby because, you know, she looks kind of funny.

Honestly, Matt would be terrible on this show. I would suck. There's nothing to go off of. Matt is such a, like, can't lie. I'm such a bad liar. Like, oh, you know, they'll just come up with the weirdest things and then, like, one person says it and then it, like, goes through the whole group. That's what's interesting. They're like, everyone's convinced then. Yeah. My favorite was that guy, Quentin. Every single week he would say, it's Kate. And no one else would be on his side. He's like, it's Kate. Yeah. Yeah.

I don't know. Some people just had it out for each other. Dude, I just felt so bad. Should we talk about the ending or no? Is that bad? You can talk about it, yeah. Dude, I just felt so bad for the people at the end that were so convinced that they were going to get all that money. Yeah.

at the end. Yeah, she took it. Like, what? Oh, I just felt horrible. You know, I just, I know she like backstabbed me and then also obviously took all the money. Yeah. Cause we were like, you know, that was so dirty. We were like, we were going to split it together. And then so dirty. She threw it in the fire, which is like basically to like keep the game going. And I was like, oh no,

Are there parts from these shows that are cut that like you lived and you're like, how the frick did they cut that? Like it's like integral to it. I was so mad at the end. But it's not the narrative they want to show. So they're going to cut sections just to show their narrative, right? Yeah. That's very frustrating. Really? That always happens. Really? It would be interesting. See, what's cool about it is that like as a viewer, you know who the traitors are. But it'd be also interesting if you like, if we didn't, if the viewer didn't know too. I don't even know if that would work though.

Is there anything that you can share? I don't want to get you in legal trouble, but like, is there anything that you can share that was like, this happened at this point, like in a show and it pissed me off because like they didn't show it like this whole. Oh, of course. Yeah. So, so during the traders, there was another contestant, Amanda, and she was going through IVF and she couldn't afford it. And her thing was like, I want to win so I can afford IVF. And I was like, okay. I was like, if I win, I'll pay for your IVF. Like I'll pay for it.

Like if we win together, you can have my share. Because at the time I was a faithful. So then Sari, who won the game, she's like, now I'm a traitor. And now like, I know I'm probably going to win. I'm getting close. She's like, what are you going to use the money for? And I was like, I'll probably pay for Amanda's IVF. She wasn't on the show at this time. She's like, oh, that's nice. And then we get down to the end. She goes,

And then she's like, we had the other two convinced that we were all faithful. So they were thinking we're all splitting the money. So we go around the fire and she goes, I want to keep going to banish. And then, and then I was like, well, we're, we're all faithful. She's like, well,

It's clear you don't need the money because you have your house in Hawaii. How would she know this though if you guys don't have your phones, right? Oh, because people just know. They all knew. They all know. Because that's the bad part about being... One of the TV personalities. Yes, because they watch your YouTube.

You know what I mean? Oh, yeah. So you're like, they know everything about you. So she's like, well, you know, you clearly don't need it. And she's like, we're going to, I'm just going to put my vote in to banish you because like, we need it more. Like, I'm a nurse. He's going to be a dad. You know, they're going to be a dad, like two of the people we're expecting. And I was like, she did me so dirty because she,

She knew I wasn't going to use that money. You weren't going to keep it anyway. I wasn't going to keep it, you know, but I was like, ah, she just wants to win it all. She's getting greedy. Yeah. And then they didn't show that whole part. They didn't show any of that. No. That's right. That's right. Cause I didn't. Yeah. Cause I feel like that was like, so like part of the story. Oh my gosh. Yeah. They just skipped over the whole thing. Yeah. But then how did they even like. People were so confused. I quit the game. Oh. And then because I was like.

I'm like, she's going to, everyone's going to get me. You know what I mean? But hold up. Is there any way that you could have told the other two people like, banish her? Like, or would you get in trouble? Obviously, like, how do they keep you from saying, yeah, the concessions? Okay. She just screwed me over. Hey, banish her. She's, she's not a faithful. She's a traitor. You can't say it. It's not against the rules. If you're a traitor, you can't say like, you're a traitor. Would they go after you like legally? Cause like, that's like, there's a lot of money on the line for the show. So like, could they go after you legally? How much did they win? Quarter of a million. Dang.

That's a lot of money on the line. Yeah, it's money. Crazy. That was an exciting ending though, honestly. The next reality show though, Lauren's going to go on because I want to watch it. Yeah, what are you going to do? Not traitors.

Now you guys make me want to go on a reality show. Even though I'm like, you know what? We could get freaking screwed by a reality show. But now I'm like, this would be kind of cool. No, how long do you have to be gone to film? We were considering maybe doing Amazing Race. We would love to do that together. We've talked about that. Yeah. That would be fun. But we have to be away from the kids for a month and you can't even like, I don't think you can even face that. A whole month? I would crumble. No shot Abby would do that. We were gone for three days on a cruise and Abby was crumpling.

for three days. I was like, dude, it's three days. We'll see. It was actually really sad. Matt goes, I feel like I'm never going to get you back. Aww. I was like, can we just unplug? I was like, being a dad. I was like, look, dude, I love our kids. I love our kids so much, but can we just focus on us for three days? I'm the same way. I kept looking at pictures. I was like, crawling while we were gone. Aww.

- Aw, that's heartbreaking. That's hard. - Yeah. Watch me cry about it now. - Don't. - No, it's okay. - No, even for our anniversary trip, we took like a three day trip to a different island from Maui. And like after two days, I'm like, okay, I could go back to them now. - It's hard 'cause it's like you're thinking about them constantly. And so then all of a sudden you're like thinking about them, but you can't see them. - But all you want when you're in it every day is to have that time away. - Yeah, I'm like, give me one minute. Catch my breath. Let me go to the bathroom.

Like it's hard. That is the tough part about parenting. I feel like when you, when you're like in the early stages of being a dad or a mom, it's like you, some, you may sometimes long for that freedom that you used to have. And you're like, man, I'm just like a different, I'm like a different version of myself now. Like I wish I could go back to us before kids. But then like,

like things just like evolve and they change and it almost just gets better. So like you're probably feeling like the beginning, you know, like the being a dad for the first year, it's a huge transition for anyone. Yeah.

I feel like it's a bigger transition to go from zero to one than like one to three for us, for example. Gosh, one to three. I wake up in the morning when he wakes up and then I'm feeding him breakfast. And then it's just like, yeah, like all this time that he used to have for me, it's just gone, you know? And it's cool. I love him so much, but I'm just like, wow, like that, my life is very different now. Very, very different. I sent her this thing on Instagram the other day. It was like... If you don't have kids, we can't relate. Yeah, it's like...

if you don't have kids and you can't like get your stuff together and get all your stuff accomplished and your goals and your dreams like what really say they're tired and they don't it's so sad but true but it's cool though like how it can give you new perspective yeah while like I

Don't know while you're so busy like being a parent some sometimes it almost like makes you I don't know really plan out. Okay. I only have this much time So I need to get this done Turn it on. Yeah, it's one of those things where it's like you go from like not doing as much to doing way more But then you're more productive I guess because you're busy. Yes. Yeah, we're the same way. We are like I

We get so much done in a day and it's like we have way less time than a non-academic. I used to be late to everything. And now I can get ready in like 15 minutes. We're still late to everything. Okay, yeah, we're still working on that. We're still late. You're still late at work. No.

Not because I'm getting ready. That's true. Because I'm optimistic about time. How do you guys like being content creators? Like, when did you decide, okay, we're on this TV, we've been on TV shows, maybe we should just, like, make our own show, like, post on social media and see how that goes. Like, was that, when did you guys decide that? I feel like it wasn't really ever a decision that we made. I feel like we were kind of thrust into it. Really? So, like...

Yeah, because at the end of the show, there's people are so curious eyes on us. Yeah, I think honestly, we did it not really realizing we were doing it, but we wanted to tell our story after we saw how the show played out. Yeah, we're like, okay, they didn't show any of our relationship. They didn't show my personality at all. And I'm like, we kind of want to have our own narrative. So we just started like showing people what we were doing. And we're like,

I don't know. It was just funny. Like at the time we weren't really thinking of it this way, but we were kind of hoping people would come around and like just see who we were for who we are instead of,

us on the show you know yeah it's very different and how do you like that does it feel good to have like control of yeah of the narrative yeah it's much nicer to have control yeah yeah people are like oh man I just like never knew that side of you it was like so cool to see your family and your dynamic and how you guys parent yeah so it's fun it's totally fun and we love looking back at like old YouTube videos

because like we document, you know, just family stuff and like milestones. And it's like so fun to go look back at when Alessi was like just first walking or like capturing that stuff on film was like,

I think when you are a content creator, you're so used to getting your phone out, your camera out, and getting a moment. And I think since we do it every day, we can still be in the moment and still capture it. I think a lot of people struggle with, oh, I don't want to put my phone out because I want to be in the moment. But I think the more you do it, I feel you can do both. And it's still fun to watch all those videos back. Yeah, that's true.

Now that you're parents, it's funny. I was talking to Ari before the podcast. I was like, is there anything that I should bring up or anything that I shouldn't bring up? And he mentioned something that happened with, I guess, another big podcast a couple years ago. Wait, is this why he said don't bring up?

I'm bringing it up. I'm sorry. I said, if you want to get Lauren fired up, bring up this. So he mentioned that like call her daddy had like said some like just, I mean, they had an episode. This is like five years ago, right? Why did you even mention that?

Because I want to call them out because it's BS. We've never talked about it. We're calling them out right now. We're calling them out. Calling them out. You know what I mean? Yeah. What happened? So can we explain what happened? Because look, okay, I'm sure they probably forgot they even had this on their show five years ago or four years ago, whenever this was. But essentially, from what I gathered from what Ari told me,

You guys were pregnant with Alessi and you guys, I think Ari had been like doing these like silly cute videos where you're like talking as if you're Alessi. No, it was just a caption. Oh, it was a caption. It was like a bump photo and then he would do, like we would like alternate every other week where we'd write the caption from baby Alessi.

Our baby lion, like at the time. So we would kind of be like, okay, today we're the size of a watermelon. Good. Cause like, I love watermelon. It was just like stupid things like that. Like your book. Exactly. That's where my book came from. That's where the idea for the book came from. Okay. So we would do that every week and just like update people on the status of like what happened in our lives with the pregnancy every week. And they, they kind of did it after she was born though.

No, they didn't do it while we were pregnant. Because we continued her page of baby pictures of her. We'd do it every week. Be like, hey, that was like first week on earth. This week we walked for the first time and things like that. And they decided that it would be really funny to make fun of baby Lion Dyke or baby Lessie on the podcast. And they were talking... I don't remember what it was because it was so long ago, but I was really pissed because they would talk about her...

And then they would say stuff about like her being on a stripper pole or like there would be like the next sentence would be about like BJs and just like really inappropriate things. And I'm like the people that are listening to this. You're like this is a baby. Classless. The person, like the people that are listening to it, I'm like they're not parents probably. And like if they were, they would be really disturbed by a baby being mentioned next to another sentiment like that.

No, that would make me. Yeah. I was like, was this a guest on the show? No, this is the host. This is a weekly thing. Every week. They're like, baby, a baby. Oh, they made it like every episode. It was like a segment in there. And they use your name. Yes. They want less ease. Where is this? The current host of call her daddy or the old her and the other one together.

That's so inappropriate. So anyway, I he was like don't do anything about it. I was about to hire a lawyer I wasn't gonna bring attention to it cuz I didn't want it to like grow even more I mean like in a weird like sexualizing your child Honestly, it was just like in big trouble for doing that Yeah, okay, but I never said anything cuz he's like if you do something about it publicly it's gonna make it That's always the fear. You're like, are you gonna feed the fire?

Yeah, I'm like... Am I going to draw eyes to it? Is this what they want, honestly? Do they want to have, like, a public feud with me or something? So I was like, all right, I won't pay any attention to it, but...

We felt that way too. I don't want to get too into it. It's too recent. Sorry. Should I not even talk about it? It's one thing to talk about us. Whatever. But your baby? I feel that way too. Come make fun of me, but don't talk about my daughter. That's where it drew the line for us. But it was like a weekly segment. It was so weird. I actually did meet with a lawyer. And then he was like, don't do it. He's like,

What was it? Barstool Sports is like the whatever behind it. Yeah. He was like, they get cease and desist letters all the time and they post them and make fun of them. Oh, really? Yeah. I probably would have made it worse, honestly. Yeah. Yeah. So I was like, all right, well, hopefully this will blow over.

People still remember though, obviously. That is the most infuriating thing when like you have to wait, like when you're, you want something to blow over, but it's just like, you're just like living through it. Waiting it out. That's hard because it was like a reoccurring thing. It wasn't like every week. Yeah. I feel like our skin is like way tougher too. I feel like that we're timing. You guys have to be so tough. And I was postpartum. I just had a baby. Oh gosh. No one can mess with the postpartum.

You guys must be this one of the toughest people out there like after going through reality TV where they can just do anything to you Like you guys must be so tough. Yeah. Okay. Actually, here's a good question How do you feel about I've always been told all publicity is good publicity But then you go through something like that and you know, this sucks, right? What's on the April Fool's joke did not go over well, then he did it again. I don't know Two really bad maybe three times wait what happened the first time I did three times

No. Yes, you did. You taunted them again and you like did a video of bread in the oven. You're like, oh, just kidding. I was making, wow,

It was a really bad pregnancy April Fool's day. The first one was like a pregnancy one. You know, like she had ate a lot that night. She can push out her belly. Wait, this was a prank on you or on your audience? No, just on the audience. Okay. Very bad. Don't do it. Don't ever. Wait, why were they? Oh, because you weren't actually pregnant. Look, there was no pregnancy. This is before Alessi. This is before any of my friends had fertility struggles. Like I learned really quickly that a pregnancy joke is not good.

Just never do it. We were very, very new to social media. No, new to just being like, that was like highly sensitive. So I'm just saying that that was bad. No, that was bad press. Oh, you got like a bunch of very bad press. Oh shoot. And it didn't, it wasn't good. Like, you feel like that was not helpful. I feel like I could have done without all that. Weird.

We could have been okay without all this. No, because like, yeah, when we've gotten hate, like people be like, well, bad publicity is good publicity. I'm like, I don't freaking think it is. Like this sucks, dude. This really sucks. Yeah. I feel like your world, like you guys are, obviously we're not very big on TikTok. We maybe do a TikTok once like a month. I don't even know. But I feel like on TikTok, things spread like so fast. That is true. It's the most negative one. Negative stuff on there goes like way quick. It's stitches and duets. It's stitches and duets. You got to take those off.

Yeah. Because anybody can just like just take a three second clip of you. Now people are going to hear us say this and they're like, oh, they don't have it on. We're going to screen record it. No, we don't have. No. Oh, we're going to take it off. No, no, no. The thing is it's just it makes it so easy because someone can in one minute someone can go, I want this three second clip of Matt and Abby saying this and then they can just go on a rant.

and then boom, post it. Like it takes them one minute to do it. When if you want to screen record, you have to go through all these steps to screen record and make your video and put it in an editing software. And it takes, that probably takes 30 minutes. So TikTok makes it easy. It makes it really easy for people to hate on other people. I got you. There's more hoops on other platforms. You'd have to like,

Download it and then edit it. Yeah. It can't all happen in the app as much. Right. Yeah. And I also think the algorithm makes drama thrive like in a way. Oh yeah. Because. And like the search bar. Yes. That is an issue. That's ridiculous. If you had one piece of advice to give to somebody that just found out that they were expecting twins, what would you give them? I'll let you take this one. Hmm. Is that a tough question? No. I mean, let me think about it first. I think.

Oh, man, there's just nothing to prepare you. Were you? Yeah, that's gotta be such a wild moment. I would just say... Don't be afraid to get help. Honestly, I would say the biggest tip when you have twins is to get them both on the same schedule. I feel like that's the one thing that every twin mom told me and I was like, okay, like, sure, like, I have a lessee on a schedule. But the important thing is to

If one baby wakes up to eat, you wake the other baby up to eat. And that is the only way you'll stay sane because if you don't, they will alternate all day and night and you'll never sleep and you'll never get a break. So I would say that is my biggest piece of advice. Yeah. We live and die by the schedule. Yeah. Wow. Especially in the beginning. It was like we had a chart. It was like, yeah, we had a whole binder. We would document every diaper, every bottle, every nap.

Everything. That was survival. Yeah. Yeah. Did you guys do sleep training? We did. Did you guys do taking care of babies? We did, yeah. Taking care of babies, yeah. We did that too. She's great. Yeah, she was good. Griffin is sleeping great. I fought it for so long. So Abby, it was funny. You have to. Abby just didn't, like she couldn't like let Griffin cry for even like 30 seconds. Well, here's the thing. I was listening to social media more than I was listening to like research. Doctors and research, yeah. And so then I was like, this is evil. And then I was like,

And something, he's not happy either way. Like he's way more happier now. I put him down in his crib. He's like smiling up at me. Well, you can vouch for me. Like when Griffin would cry the second, I would sprint to his room and go get him in the beginning. And then as I learned that like, no, you have to like let them like figure out like to grab their binky, put it back in their mouth. And so I was like, okay, maybe we let him cry like a minute or two on his own to see if he can figure it out. And there'd be times where he wouldn't and there'd be times that he would. But I was trying to, we kind of like tried to do the Ferber method at first. And then eventually it was like, oh,

Well, we just did taking care of babies. We didn't stick to it. We just kept, I kept caving. Because Abby was caving. But with the Furber Method, I mean, with taking care of babies, because she has all this research and facts to back up why you're doing what you're doing. It feels loving. It doesn't feel like you're neglecting your child. Yeah, you know it's like, you know that you're helping your child. It's a good balance. Now he sleeps so good, so we're on the same page. So we're becoming scheduled people too. No, we are. Months later.

And we used to make fun of people like you guys. We'd be like, people keep looking on a schedule. Like, what's up with that? That's so stupid. Like, you don't need a schedule. Now we're like, I'm so sorry. Can we work around his second nap? I mean, it'd be so bad to the point where my brother would be like, well, we're going to have a little birthday party, you know, for. Oh, yeah. We'd have to be like. He'd be like, sorry. It's at 1.30. They're down for a nap at that time. Say, rework your birthday party and then we'll talk.

I feel like it's so funny because we've known you guys now for like a year, a little over a year. And we've like never gotten a chance to just like sit down like this and talk. This has been so much fun. But like,

Is there anything else that you want to share as we wrap things up? I don't know. I still have a million questions for you. I really enjoyed this. I feel like you answered so many questions about reality TV for me. But yeah, any other things you wanted to talk about? I don't know. We got to get you guys on a TV show. That'd be cool. I'm in. If you guys can get us on a TV show, we would so do it. Yeah, we're going to pull all the strings.

That'd be so much fun, you guys. We could just make our own. That'd be fun. Oh, yeah. We could do that, too. Create our own TV show. Let's do it. Easy. Let's do it.

Yeah, look, we got the lights. We got four freaking cameras. I know Matt's got all the setup covered. Oh my gosh, you guys. Yeah. That would be, that'd be so fun. I just, I still can't believe, like I mentioned like six different like things that you guys do. And I just. Well, I briefly mentioned your book, which we should actually give a shout out. Yeah, you're an author too. Yeah, thank you. I'm like, you're a freaking race car driver, author, real estate agent, social media personality. It's really cute. And we need to get it. Why?

I wasn't done. I wasn't done. Reality TV personality. Yeah, well, you can go home with one. I'm going to purchase a book on my own. Thank you. We'll have one right there. Yeah, the book is Baby Shelly and it's only available on my website. I need to get it on Amazon. Oh, you got to get it on Amazon. I really do. I really do.

Yes, they came out kind of the same time and so I'm more focused on that. It's so cute though So it's like telling your child that they're gonna get a sibling exactly. Yeah, but it's like from the baby's perspective right in the womb Yeah, so cute Yeah Yeah, you know, it's so funny. I wrote it and then as you know, unless he's gotten older I've kind of figured out what she likes and I'm like keep it short for the parents cuz we don't want to read a lot and

Flaps. Kids love flaps. Let's do that. You know what I mean? And it just kind of evolved. Cute. It's a really cute concept. Well, you guys should check out Ari's book. Definitely download their app, Dates on Duo. So cool. I'm so glad we got there. We need to plan our next surprise date. Or we don't plan it. We need to book it. But I feel like we could talk to you guys for hours. But thank you for being on the podcast. And who knows? Maybe we'll have you guys on again in the future.

Thanks for having us. It's been a lot of fun talking to you guys. Sweet. Awesome. If you haven't already hit the subscribe button, hit the like button. It really does so much for us as well as leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. That just like really helps out the podcast. So we love you guys. We'll see you in the next episode. And as always, three, two, one. Peace out. Peace out, dude.