Daily Roundup 3/26 – Grant’s Finale Thoughts & Interview with Ben Frisone from the “Joe Schmo Show” – Reality Steve

You are listening to the Daily Roundup here as part of the Reality. Steve Podcast, I’m your host reality. Steve, thank you all for tuning in on this. What day is it? Wednesday, geez. Finally, as you can hear, I’m back at home. This doesn’t sound like I’m recording into my phone. At least it shouldn’t, and today got a couple of final thoughts on the Bachelor finale, but today is going to be an interview.

With the subject of the Joe Schmo show that aired its finale last night on TBS. His name is Ben Rizone. If you watched the show, you know who I’m talking about. We got an interview with Ben coming up today on the daily roundup, and we will get to all that momentarily. This podcast brought to you by Pretty Litter Spring is in the air.

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That’s pretty litter.com/reality Steve, to save 20% on your first order and get a free cat toy pretty litter.com/reality. Steve Terms and conditions apply. See site for details. Before we get to the interview with Ben Fra Zone from the Joe Schmo Show, if you have not watched it, I suggest going to tbss website.

You could download it there. They aired the finale last night. And really for a show like this, which is basically a prank plate on somebody, you’re just waiting for that final reaction and. Man, Ben couldn’t have been a better trooper for everything. It was just, it was a very positive ending with so much negativity going on on social media and the world for that matter.

It was just really cool to watch an ending to the show like this and to see, yeah, this guy didn’t lose it, isn’t mad at anybody. And here he is, what, almost three years removed from filming that show. You’ll hear him on today’s podcast just. Just a super nice guy that I think you’ll, I think, I think once you hear this interview, you’ll realize why they did pick him to be the subject of the show.

Just seems to be very just listen to the interview. I do wanna say a couple things about Grant and Juliana as I gathered my thoughts flying home yesterday and looking all over social media. There were, there were a couple things that I wanted to point out. Number one. As is the case every season when it comes down to social media stuff.

Remember, I don’t know, a few weeks ago, a month ago, Laia went on that influencer trip with a bunch of former alumni, Gabby l Nikki. She went with Katie Bigger charity, Lawson baby Jess. Are we still calling her baby Jess, by the way? Her name’s Jessica Gerard. Jess Gerard, but I guess everybody knows Rose Baby, Jess, a couple other people, I think.

I think, I think maybe Mercedes was on that trip as well. But at the time, I mean, look, I knew the ending of filming Grant chose Juliana. But obviously the question became, did he make a switch? Did he change it to Latia? And then when people saw Latia on those influencer trips with the other women, some people were convinced, oh my gosh, this totally means she’s the final one.

I looked at it completely opposite. To me that was even more confirmation that Grant wasn’t with Latia, because I don’t think there’s any way the show would’ve let Latia hang out with so many former alumni and be so public about it. You could hang out with former alumni, but you gotta keep it kind of on the dl.

And Latia was just out there. Every single girl in that party posted stuff on their social media. Ariel was in it as well. She was at the, after the funnel rose. I just, to me. That was just, that was just more confirmation that he didn’t choose Latia, nor was he with Latia. But again, if it, if one person thinks it could be something else, then that means it’s not definitive.

Something on social media is not 100% definitive, and that’s always what I’ve tried to tell people. And, but for me, yeah, that was, that was. Something that really pointed in the direction of Yeah, she’s definitely not with Grant. ’cause the show would never let, I mean just think back. Just think back to every winner ever on the show of the winner of the bachelor season, have you ever seen them hanging out with women from other seasons and doing an influencer trip while the episodes were airing?

I’ll give you till the end of time to answer that question because the answer’s no. It hasn’t happened. Somebody might have run into somebody somewhere. Somebody might have seen somebody out somewhere and taken a picture. This was a completely planned. Let’s invite Latia, a girl who’s still on the show right now with a bunch of us alumni.

It was just, it, it, it screamed. Now obviously every single girl on that trip was well aware of what the ending of the show was. There’s no way they didn’t talk about it. And most of those women were at the, after the funnel rose on Monday night supporting Latia. But I think it is possible to support Latia support what she had to say to Grant.

The day of the final row ceremony and what she said on stage on Monday night, and it’s also possible to support Grant and Juliana as they navigate their relationship going forward. You don’t have to choose sides, which I think I saw a lot of yesterday. Everyone’s like, why do we have to, you know, we’re so sad for Latia.

Why can’t she be our bachelorette? Ugh, grant did her so wrong. But then you saw Grant and Juliana’s engagement and it seemed like a nice engagement. They seem really into each other. He’s moving to Boston for her for at least a year, I guess. Like why can’t there just be two truths in all this Latia having her truth in saying what she said to Grant and Grant, and Juliana also being very happy.

It doesn’t mean Grant and Juliana have to be miserable because of the things that he apparently said to Latia. Back at episode two and back on the night before the final Rose ceremony day. So that’s something that I wanted to point out. The other thing was Grant and Juliana made the media rounds yesterday, did a lot of interviews, and there’s one, most of ’em, they said the same thing in all of them.

They didn’t give any answers that were like, oh my gosh, did you see this? However, there was one answer that did stick out to me and it’s nothing like it was so like. Eye popping, but it is something that I think a lot of fans need a reminder of because I beat you over the head with it every season, but people don’t seem to listen to me.

You need to hear it directly from the contestants and Grant and Juliana did an interview with Jessica Rad laugh from glamour.com and she asked Grant about that final conversation and letting Latia speak her mind before he told her he wasn’t her guy. She said. Did you ever think of saying, Hey, before you start, let me tell you that you’re not the right one.

Not in those words, of course, but before she poured her heart out to you, did you think about stopping her from letting it get that far, knowing she wasn’t the final one? And Grant said, of course, I thought about it multiple times, but the audience has to be aware that there are other powers in play when it comes to being the Bachelor.

There’s a protocol, there’s a whole team that says. This is the way things are done. I’m the 29th bachelor. There were a lot of bachelors before me. I think if you look back, you see the formula of what it is. You allow the person to speak and then there’s a, but I don’t know if that’s for a dramatic thing, but I know that I did the best that I could.

If I could rewind, I probably would be a little more stern and not try to make everybody around me happy. Translation. He had to let Latia speak. Bottom line, we know this. This isn’t news. I tell you this. Every season up until Joey’s season, when they had that wonky, Kelsey and Daisy arriving together, and Daisy had already determined in her own head that she wasn’t being picked.

So she was basically telling Joey, you know, thank you for the time, but I know you’re gonna pick Kelsey in the history of the Bachelor. They have never let the Bachelor go to the final woman’s room early or. Stop her before she starts talking at the final Rose ceremony. Never on the Bachelorette. They let ’em do it all the time.

We had a string of like five or six seasons in a row where the bachelorette literally got to go to the guy’s room the morning of or the day before and say, Hey, just to let you know, I’m not picking you. But on The Bachelor, I don’t know. It’s because they want to embarrass the women. They want a more emotional reaction from the women.

But it’s never happened. So for those saying like, and, and you know, not to call her out, but Gabby l Nikki on Instagram stories on Monday night absolutely called quote unquote grant out for doing that. And basically said, no way do you let that woman pour her heart out to you and not tell her beforehand that she’s not the one.

And it’s just like, come on, Gabby, you were part of the show. Maybe she doesn’t understand it, even to this day. She doesn’t understand how this show works, but I’m sorry. It’s never happened in the history of the show. They’ve never allowed the Bachelor to go to the woman’s room that he is not gonna pick the morning of or the night before and say, I’m not picking you.

And they’ve never allowed the woman who ended up finishing in second place to show up and him stop her mid-sentence or whatever, they always let her speak so the Bachelor can give his speech and then say, but. It’s always worked that way, and Grant answered the question exactly how he should have without throwing production under the bus.

He’s basically saying, look, I had to do what I was told. This is the way the show works. This is what they want you to do. I wish I could have been a little more stern and not try to make everybody around me happy. That’s the pressure you’re under as a lead. You’ve got a whole crew of team telling you what to do.

And you’re a one man show, who, they’re doing a show about you and your love journey. You’re not gonna piss them off. You don’t want to piss them off. So he went along with it, but he went along with it, as did the previous 28 Bachelors before him all basically did the same thing. So let’s not give Grant shit for letting Laia speak her mind and him not stopping her and telling her beforehand, because it’s never happened in the history of the Bachelor.

All right, let’s get going. Here’s my interview with the Joe Schmo Show Ben Fr Zone. Alright, here he is the man of the hour. He is the subject of the Joe Schmo Show. This season on TBS, you saw his season come to a dramatic conclusion last night. It is Ben Fr zone. Ben, thanks for coming on man. Thank you for having me.

Wow, that was one hell of a journey. And before we get into anything, I want to say right off the bat something that since I started watching the show has become a part of my life. Do you know any times just randomly I have walked by my dog or just looked at my dog and said, bu he just, for no reason whatsoever.

I mean, it is unreal. Just, and I’ll even do the sign and the dog dog has no idea why I’m doing it, but. My gosh, it’s stuck in my head. Just curious outta curiosity, once you got home, did it ever float in your mind at night? Did you ever say it to people?

No, not honestly, not really. But it has become something of a greeting now, so yeah,

people do just say

Shaya ho

Now, just outta curiosity again, since the show has been airing, ’cause obviously this was filmed.

A while ago, I believe, just based on the, mm-hmm. Just based on the masks that were being worn by production. Now that it’s airing and people have seen it, are people, if they see you out, are they saying it to you? Are you being recognized when you’re out? How’s it been?

I, I’ve yet to be recognized out and about.

Yeah. So, but I mean, I, I do have some dms, you know, people send me messages on Instagram or Facebook, but, no, no in-person interactions yet.

So nobody’s, nobody’s stopped you and said, Hey, you’re the guy from the Joe Schmo show. Nobody yet. No. No. Alright, so let’s, let’s get into it. And, you know, I was gonna ask you, I mean, the people that have contacted you, I’ll ask you this, what is the, what is the number one question you are being asked by people that maybe have reached out on dms and stuff?

What is, what is the number one thing they’ve been asking you? Because I think it might be the same question that I have, but I’m curious.

I guess, you know, the, there’s one that’s a blanket and it’s just, you know, what was it like? Like

yeah,

that’s like the generic one, but then I honestly, second, second highest question is want to go to dinner. Oh,

oh, oh, really? Okay. So women are sliding into your dms. Got it. Got it. So mine was more show related because I am very interested in the, in the aspect of this and kind of the, the whole behind the scenes and how it worked.

Mine was, was there any point during the show, during this filming where you really did think. Man, something is off here. Like I, maybe you didn’t think like I’m having a whole show dedicated to me, but we did see that one challenge where you say, this isn’t real. Right. I’m being pranked when what’s his face was throwing his shoes into the, into the wood chipper.

Yeah. Was there, outside of that moment, ’cause I don’t even think in that moment you actually thought, Hey, I’m having a show made about me. This is all fake. I think you just kind of said like, wait, what? This is, this isn’t real. Right. Like when. Was there any point during the show, like before the ending, and you were told everything that went on, did you ever, like at night just sitting around going, something’s off about all of this?

That’s, so, that is definitely one of the, you know, higher on the list ask questions.

Yeah.

But you know, I, I always say, I’m like, I, I, I felt like it was weird, you know, I knew something was, I knew something was off. There were moments where I was like, okay, this wasn’t real. But then, you know, the actors and the producers and everybody just keeps on keeping on.

So then I’m left in this situation where I’m like, you’re just going to the next one. It kind of passes your brain. And then at night, like you said, at night, I’m thinking. All strategy. I mean, I was in it, you know? Yeah. I was, I thought I was, you know, the big strategy guy.

Yeah. You thought you were the goat.

You thought you were the goat is what you thought. You know, when I was watching and I’m sitting here going, like, I, I, I, I don’t think that he, it’s very hard to be like, oh, I know this whole show is fake and it’s all, it’s all being made surrounding me. Nobody would really begin to think that you might question, what the hell is this?

And. Is this show even real? But I don’t think anybody would ever come to the conclusion that everybody around me is fake. So, but when it was going on, obviously you’re developing real friendships, especially with someone like Maya Natasha, her real name, but you know, it’s going on and you’re obviously wanting to compete and winning the game.

How about once you were eliminated and you were sent to the loser’s house? Did, were you thinking like. I know your mindset was, I need to get back in and win this competition and get back in and try and win. But when you were eliminated and before, you know, as you were eliminated and sent to the loser’s house, were you at a point where you’re like, damn, this thing’s over.

I got, I’m not gonna win this thing. I totally thought I’m better than all these people and I, I thought I’d win.

Yeah. So, it took the wind outta my sails for sure. You know, losing, getting eliminated. But then they took me up, they showed me that video that there was a loser’s loft, and I was like, oh, okay.

This is, I was, I was kind of happy to get to see everybody again, you know, get at least that social aspect.

Yeah.

But yeah, and then, then in the losers loft when they came back in and Kat was like, you’re gonna be competing in the challenge. I mean it, it really did it. Like a wave came over me of anxiety.

I’m like, oh man, now, now I’m back in this thing. I gotta compete again.

I know people watching at home, since we all are watching the show, knowing that there’s a prank being played on you and. There’s probably people sitting at home that are just like, man, how’s he not catching onto this? He’s sitting, he’s sitting here talking to a goat every day while everyone else is, you know, strategizing and being told what the script was for that day, but the goat stuff every day.

Having to film that were, was there any part of you where there’s just like, this is the weirdest game show I’ve ever seen, even though you hadn’t seen it since it wasn’t a real game show.

Right. So there, there were times I had told Maya and some of the other characters. I’m like this, this whole goat thing in the morning.

I think they’re messing with me. Like, why do I have to, you know, everybody else gets, I thought at the time that everybody else had this carefree breakfast. Yeah. You know what I mean? But I was the one guy that had to go down and I. Take care of the goat with no reward basically.

Yeah. No, it, it was just, you know, sitting at home we’re just like, ah, is this guy not picking up on it?

But yeah, you, you wouldn’t in the moment, ’cause who would think that somebody would, would choose this. Now, obviously that brings us back to the fact that, how old are you, Ben? I am 31. You’re 31. I’m significantly older than you, but I was a huge fan of the first three seasons of the Joe Schmo Show. I’m actually I’m good friends with Ingrid from season two, which happened to be my favorite season.

I, you know, she, I’ve talked to her about it a lot in the, in the past and, you know, with, with you and you doing this show. Clearly you probably never saw those shows, but I’ll ask you. Did you ever wa, obviously you’ve probably maybe gone back and watched now, but have you ever seen, you had never seen any of the Joe Schmo shows the previous ones,

right?

I, I had not seen any of the Joe Schmo shows. No. What about it was a little bit too young?

Yeah, I was gonna say, that’s why I asked how old you were. So those were probably when you were like young teens? I would think 13. 13, yeah. Early

teens. Very early teens,

yeah. Have you gone back and watched by any chance?

I did. I watched Matt Kennedy Gold Season. Yeah, I just finished, gosh, a couple weeks ago.

Oh, okay.

And season two seems like it’s hard to find.

Yeah. It’s only, you basically have to, I think you have to Google Joe Schmo show season two on YouTube, and then it’s like. 10 different episodes that you’re gonna have to watch on YouTube, but yeah.

They’re there. It’s a really funny concept. It’s all based on a fake dating show. You know how the Bachelor and Bachelorette, I’m sure you’ve heard of those shows before. Lap

of Luxury

Yeah. Like that. Exactly. And then the third one was to do with like, that was like military stuff or just like a.

Something like along those lines. But the second one was very funny. Just a, an overabundance of sexual innuendos.

Right.

The dating show. I mean, it was really, really, really well done. And but so you hadn’t seen any of those. What about jury duty? The one that became, that, that became a hit the last couple years on Amazon Prime?

Yep. I’ve seen, seen it.

You did see that. So after, wait, did you, have you seen, did you, had you seen that before you went and filmed Joe Chibo?

So Joe Schmo was done filming before jury duty was out.

That’s right. That’s right. Okay. Okay. So you have, but, but you obviously went and watched it. What did you think of jury duty?

Yeah, I thought it was, you know, I thought it was good, you know, an original idea. It was really funny. You know, I liked the characters. I liked, you know, like I, people with the Joe Schmo show, they just like seeing the reactions of Matt. Yeah. And, you know, and Ron? Sorry, it’s Ron. Yeah. Ron. Yeah, Ron.

Matt was.

Season one of Joe Schmo, right? Yeah. So when, when you watched, by the way, have you, have you ever contacted any, did you ever contact Matt reach out to him or Ronald?

No, I don’t think so. No, you should. I would like to talk to some of the other Joe Schmos. That’d be cool.

Yeah, no, I think you should. I mean, I, I think they would, I, I’m sure that they would answer you and just be like, yeah, we all went through this.

We all went through this thing. So post filming, everything happens. And we’re gonna get to the, you know, the, the ending and the reveal and all that. But just I want to again, pick your brain about post filming. Actually, let’s, let’s, let’s go to the finale once you find out,

okay. It’s

all about you and you get the $200,000 prize, right?

And you found out everybody else is an actor. Was there any part of you that was upset or mad at all or felt betrayed?

No.

Not, not in the, in the moment, like right when it happened? No.

Okay.

Later that night, like when I’m alone and you know, all the thoughts and then all the different situations that happened, run through your mind.

You’re like, then you start to feel a little weird and then quickly I brushed it off.