E899 Going Deeper with Emmy and Will

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Viall Files – Episode E899: Going Deeper with Emmy and Will

Release Date: March 12, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode E899 of The Viall Files, host Nick Viall delves into the tumultuous relationship between Emmy and Will, two cast members from the popular reality TV show. Joined by co-host Natalie Joy and the Household, the episode titled "Going Deeper" provides an unfiltered look into the challenges Emmy and Will have faced both on and off the screen. This comprehensive discussion sheds light on their personal struggles, the impact of reality TV dynamics on their relationship, and their perspectives on castmate interactions.

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Background of Emmy and Will

Emmy and Will have been in a relationship for almost four years, celebrating their shared birthday on March 12th. Their journey began when Will, an F45 trainer, responded to Emmy's birthday story while she was dating someone else. Over time, as their individual relationships faltered, Emmy and Will found solace in each other, leading to their current partnership.

Notable Quote:

"We're 31 and 27 on Wednesday." – Will [05:05]

Initial Nervousness and Expectations

At the episode's onset, both Emmy and Will express their nervousness about discussing their relationship publicly. Will admits to fearing that he might not meet the expectations set for him, while Emmy counters by asserting her emotional stability despite appearances.

Notable Quotes:

"I think maybe I've put a lot of expectations that this will be a good way to really tell my story." – Will [03:16]

"My heart's happy. It's sunny and pretty in LA." – Emmy [03:58]

Challenges Within the Cast

A significant portion of the conversation revolves around the internal drama within the cast. Emmy and Will discuss how they often feel targeted by other cast members, leading to misunderstandings and conflicts. They highlight instances where rumors were circulated, impacting their personal and professional lives.

Notable Quotes:

"Brad enjoys inflicting pain on others." – Will [27:22]

"A lot of the time during filming, it just was hard to listen to half the people that were talking to us because we're..." – Emmy [06:45]

Handling Rumors and Miscommunication

Will opens up about past mistakes, including oversharing concerns about their relationship with friends instead of addressing them directly with Emmy. This led to the spread of false rumors, which the couple now confronts.

Notable Quotes:

"I used alcohol as a vice, and I kind of drank too much, and I overshared to good friends of mine about concerns that I had with the relationship." – Will [09:44]

"Our lives aren't like, even the real." – Will [73:29]

Impact of Reality TV on Personal Lives

Emmy and Will discuss the blurring lines between their real lives and their portrayed personas on reality TV. They emphasize the constant scrutiny and the inability to maintain privacy, which has strained their relationship and personal well-being.

Notable Quotes:

"Our lives aren't like, even the real." – Will [73:29]

"Knowing what's going on inside your body can be very important and go a long way to a happier and healthier life." – Host [00:49] (Note: This quote seems misplaced but reflects general wellness discussion)

Struggles with Castmate Relationships

The episode delves into specific conflicts with castmates Brad and TJ, detailing how manipulative behaviors and false allegations have created rifts within the group. Emmy and Will express frustration over the lack of support and the spread of destructive rumors.

Notable Quotes:

"I think Brad enjoys inflicting pain on others." – Will [27:22]

"They are the kind of people that also, like, keep us totally involved in your relationship." – Emmy [21:09]

Personal Growth and Future Aspirations

Despite the ongoing challenges, Emmy and Will discuss their commitment to each other and their personal growth. Will contemplates stepping back from reality TV to focus on his legal career, while Emmy expresses her desire for a healthier group dynamic within the show.

Notable Quotes:

"I have to think about my relationship and what's left of my legal career after all this." – Will [48:46]

"I just like to see it for the best." – Will [81:53]

Conclusion

The episode concludes with Emmy and Will reflecting on their experiences and the lessons learned from navigating a relationship under the microscope of reality TV. They advocate for honest communication and express hope for a more supportive environment in future seasons of the show.

Notable Quotes:

"I'll always support Emmy and her position in the show." – Will [46:46]

"Our lives aren't like, even the real." – Emmy [73:29]

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Insights and Takeaways

• Communication is Crucial: Will's admission of oversharing highlights the importance of direct communication in relationships, especially under public scrutiny.

• Impact of Reality TV: The pressures and manufactured drama of reality TV can severely strain personal relationships, leading to misunderstandings and mistrust.

• Navigating Rumors: False rumors can have lasting effects on personal and professional lives, emphasizing the need for truth and transparency.

• Personal Growth vs. Public Persona: Balancing personal aspirations with a public image remains a significant challenge for individuals involved in reality television.

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Key Takeaways

1. Direct Communication Prevents Misunderstandings: Emmy and Will's experiences underline the necessity of addressing concerns directly within a relationship rather than seeking validation from others.

2. Reality TV's Role in Personal Conflict: The show’s production and the behavior of castmates like Brad and TJ exacerbate personal conflicts, making it difficult to maintain genuine relationships.

3. Support Systems Matter: Having reliable support systems outside of the show can mitigate the negative impacts of on-screen drama.

4. Future Directions: Both Emmy and Will contemplate reducing their involvement in reality TV to focus on their personal and professional lives, signaling a potential shift in their future relationship dynamics.

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This summary captures the essence of Episode E899, providing listeners with an in-depth understanding of Emmy and Will's challenges and insights without requiring prior knowledge of the podcast or the episode.

Transcript

[Host]

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[Emmy]

You're crazy.

[Host]

How your heart will.

[Will]

Physically, it's beating pretty fast. I'm a little nervous to be here, but it's good.

[Host]

He looks nervous, everybody.

[Will]

It's the best nervous.

[Host]

He looks nervous.

[Will]

Well, I also threw my neck out on the airplane, so if I.

[Guest]

That has a lot to do with.

[Will]

Yeah, well, if I went at anything that anyone says, it's not what they're saying. I think it's physical pain.

[Host]

Are you out there nervous?

[Emmy]

No, not at all.

[Host]

Okay. Why are you nervous?

[Will]

I think it's just been really dramatic, like me not going to the reunion. And I knew that this podcast was coming up, and I think that maybe I've put a lot of expectations that this will be a good way to really tell my story. And if that, you know, I'm hoping that I can do that. And if it. If I don't meet those expectations, that's sort of what I'm nervous about more than anything else.

[Host]

Whose expectations are you trying to meet?

[Will]

My own.

[Host]

Okay.

[Will]

My own.

[Host]

All right.

[Emmy]

Yeah.

[Guest]

I mean, how's your heart?

[Emmy]

My heart's great. I'm doing great.

[Guest]

Are you?

[Emmy]

No, I am. My heart's good. But, like, what, like, for, like, what. What do you mean? Like, my heart?

[Host]

We just ask that question a lot. It's a fun, loaded question. I'm like, well, how it's interpreted, however you want to interpret it.

[Emmy]

My heart's. It's happy. It's sunny and pretty in la.

[Will]

I mean, Emmy's always a ray of sunshine, so I really am.

[Guest]

You're gonna get the same answer to that question.

[Host]

So I guess. Where. Where would you like? I mean, it sounds like you kind of came in with, like, I've been in your position before in the sense that I had been nervous about an appearance or maybe an anticipated appearance where I felt like I needed to maybe address or at least wanted to address certain things. And I kind of, like, replayed that conversation over and over and over in my mind and things like that. So to that end, what are the things that you hope when we get done here? Some points that you hope to at least Address and cover.

[Will]

Well, I think, you know, I think we could talk forever about what happened in the season and, you know, get into the nitty gritty and that's. I don't know. That would be useful. But. So I think for me, I just kind of want to hear what you have to. To say and maybe what you have to ask in your impressions, because I think that'll be a good starting point to try to address, like, the multitude of things that I. I feel like I have to say.

[Host]

How long you guys been dating?

[Emmy]

For almost four years.

[Host]

Almost four years.

[Emmy]

Yeah.

[Will]

It's our birthday on Wednesday. We have the same birthday.

[Host]

Yeah, we have the same birthday.

[Emmy]

We have the same birthday. March 12th. It's two days.

[Will]

So we take a trip every year. This is our fourth trip together.

[Host]

Is that how you guys started dating, or did you find out, like, after the fact?

[Emmy]

Will was my F45 trainer. And I just remember I posted on my birthday and you responded to my story. I was dating someone else at the time, and you responded to my story and you were like, oh, my God, we have the same birthday. And I was just like, no way. And he sent me a picture of his license, and I was like, that's cool. And then see on Tuesday at the.

[Guest]

Workout, okay, you're like, cool, bro.

[Emmy]

And then a few months late. I mean, honestly, three months later, we started seeing each other.

[Will]

Yeah, we. We had like a rock. Not a rocky start, but it was not like, one day, are you gonna be my girlfriend? And then we started dating.

[Emmy]

No, it was very much so.

[Will]

Like, Emmy was seeing someone else, I was seeing someone else. And then those relationships didn't work out, and we sort of kind of fell into each other's arms a little bit.

[Host]

And then was it like a run in? Or did someone reach out and be.

[Emmy]

Like, hey, we just always kind of ended up at the same place. But we never admitted that we just.

[Will]

Liked each other and liked each other. It was like 4am with a bottle of wine on a porch, and Emmy looked at me and said, you know, we're just friends. And then we started hooking up, so.

[Host]

And you said, challenge accepted.

[Will]

Yeah, I said, yeah, okay.

[Emmy]

Yeah.

[Guest]

But for how long?

[Emmy]

Yeah, about a minute.

[Host]

It seems like you guys have been like, the center or at least part of the drama of the cast. Sometimes it feels like maybe the drama makes sense or maybe like, you say something you shouldn't say or yada, yada, yada. Or sometimes it does feel like maybe like you guys are like, just like a target of the Rest of the group. It does feel like sometimes that I'm.

[Will]

Glad that comes across on the camera at times.

[Host]

At times it's like, it's.

[Emmy]

You know, I mean, we've known this group for so long, so to ever think that 90% of the time their intentions are in good faith and because they care is bullshit. So, like, a lot of the time during filming, it just was hard to, you know, listen to half the people that were talking to us because we're.

[Will]

Like, well, I think, too, we've noticed, you know, our castmates get a little camera drunk. And I think they've become, in this third season, very aware of what it means to have a storyline, what it means to be able to get screen time, and that if you are on the offensive, you're not on the defensive. And I think relationships are easy targets. And I think maybe that's what you've seen a lot of, is that maybe for viewers, it's been interesting to see, you know, why are they still talking about this? You know, why. Why are they so riled up? That's certainly how I felt.

[Host]

Yeah. And then, you know, Emmy, I'm reactive. You are. You definitely. I. Objectively speaking, I probably don't do the relationship any good because your peers seem to know that if they rile you up, you're immediately good television. Like, if you see a preview and you're having one of your, you know, things that you do, I'm. I'm locked in. I'm like, oh, all right. Well.

[Will]

Well, it's funny. Emmy's mom has been saying. Well, she said, like, after watching this season, that Emmy's been having those sort of, like, she's like. I'm like, yeah, like, not meltdown, because I think that's mean. But Emmy is very reactive, emotionally reactive. She's always been that very.

[Emmy]

I'm overstimulated so easily.

[Host]

Okay.

[Will]

Which why, for me, like, when I see her do that, it's not. For me. My alarm bells don't get off because Emmy is just like a reactive. She feels deep. So I don't. I'm not alarmed. That's just who I know her to be. I mean, it is alarming to see your girlfriend cry like that.

[Emmy]

I don't really suppress any emotions. I definitely feel them when I'm having them.

[Host]

We feel them, too.

[Emmy]

And then I feel fine the next day because I literally got them all out, and I'm like, you know, after my scene at Republic, I literally went to Father's Day dinner with my dad afterwards, and I Was like, hey, okay, so, okay.

[Host]

There seems to be, like, a lot of things about your guys relationship that feels untrue or unfair as it relates to some of your peers and castmates have. Have directed towards you guys in the relationship. However, it also seems like there's also things that maybe have happened or, like, that may have some truth to it that maybe, like, almost like, puts you guys in a bet. It's like, if one thing's true, then they must all be true type of thing. So maybe let's address the things that, like, maybe you guys have had to work on.

[Will]

Yeah.

[Host]

Or maybe things that you've had to apologize for as it relates to maybe how you guys have treated each other. I think maybe the criticism that's directed your way sometimes is maybe like, things you may have said behind Emmy's back. How much of that is accurate and true?

[Will]

You know, I think the starting point is very accurate, and it's something that I'm, like, deeply apologetic and shameful of. And, you know, I was going through a really. Well, first, I just don't want to, you know, I want to explain myself without sounding like I'm excusing myself. Like, I'm not saying at all that behavior is like, okay, it's definitely a mistake on my part, but, you know, I was going through, like, a really stressful time. My life was changing. I was just like, just had surgery. I was in a lot of physical pain, yada, yada. There's a lot of good reasons, but it doesn't really matter, you know? And I came back to Charleston and I used alcohol as a vice, and I kind of drank too much, and I overshared, and I overshared to good friends of mine about concerns that I had with the relationship. Like, I thought that maybe we were growing apart, and I was worried, you know, that Emmy was focusing on the wrong things. And that's something. That's a conversation I should have had with Emmy. And I know that. And I think that it was a nice moment for me, if there's any silver lining to it, to recognize my own failure. And then, you know, to go to Emmy and say, like, look, I messed up, and we should have had this conversation. I should have come to you about this. And then it actually let us talk more deeply about our relationship and our feelings.

[Host]

So it wasn't like you were going around town just, like, holding up a poster, being like, if you want to hear some shit about Emmy, I'm the guy to talk to. This was a isolated one off venting Session.

[Will]

It was two weekends where it happened. It was like, sort of back to back.

[Host]

Okay.

[Will]

And it wasn't like, I think when you say, like, oh, well, was talking shit about Emmy, especially on a TV show, you just get to throw it out there. And then you have to sort of prove a negative that you. That it wasn't talking shit when it sort of.

[Emmy]

It was talking behind.

[Will]

Yeah, it was. It was cousins to that, but it wasn't me just telling anyone that, like, I hate her or I think she's a bad person or that.

[Host]

There's definitely a difference between.

[Will]

Yes.

[Host]

Talking, venting about your relationship doesn't. Again, doesn't make it okay. Versus, just like, there are people who do talk about their partners, you know, and there are people, like, they're just.

[Emmy]

Not on a TV show for the world to see it.

[Host]

Well, I don't. I don't even mean, like, in a defensive way. I just mean there are people who, like, go out and just, like, will roll, you know, like, they'll be out with the girls or out with the guys.

[Emmy]

Yeah.

[Will]

Like, I hate her.

[Host]

Some will come out, and then, like, someone's, like, rolling their eyes about their boyfriend or being or. Or talking about their, you know, their wife or girlfriend be like, oh, she's. Oh, she sucks, or whatever.

[Emmy]

Yeah.

[Host]

And there's a difference between someone who does that on a basis behind their partner's back versus, again, like, sitting down with a group, you know, seemingly friends and venting about your partner, which, again, you can still cross a lot of lines doing that. But I do think the framing is important. Both those are. Are two very different situations, because I. I do. I've seen both happen. And, you know, people who just, like, openly just talk about their partners, to me, I think that's one of the. I mean, like, that's, you know, I mean, I mean, that's as much of a violation as cheating to me. In some cases. Like, if you're going around just, like, thinking this is someone who has your back.

[Will]

Yeah. Emotional.

[Host]

You're just, like, out there. Just like someone says, like, no, they.

[Will]

Fudgeing.

[Host]

Hate you. Versus someone who, again, who is just, like, sitting down with some friends and thinking it's confidence and then venting. But maybe it sounds like you were also liberated or something.

[Will]

Yeah. No. Well, I remember in these conversations is always like, I love Emmy, and I'm concerned about these things, and I'm worried that maybe we're growing apart. And part of the issue is one, like, I. I don't. I didn't. Have friends when I went to law school that really understood us or our relationship. So I didn't have that outlet when I was, like, in school. So I'd come into Charleston for the weekend, and it was, like, on my mind pressing. And then I, you know, added alcohol to the mix and blurred the lines of. Of sort of who and where it was appropriate to have these conversations. But they weren't just to. To strangers. They were to our co workers that have known me and Emmy for years. And I think some people who brought it up said, like, oh, he's telling the whole town. Even one of my clients, or, like, one of my friends. But clients, those clients and friends are like, one of them was Naomi Olindo from Charm, who was my pen pal in middle school, who I've known for years. But, like, that sort of context wasn't added to the conversation.

[Host]

Gotcha.

[Will]

You know, and one was, like, somebody's roommate who I worked with behind the bar Republic for years, who knows me and Emmy well. And I was. I was sort of, like, leaning in to those relationships to try to say, like, I just wanted someone to be like, no, you're stupid. Like, this shouldn't be a concern.

[Host]

And how did it get back to you?

[Emmy]

He told me how quickly, Pretty much immediately.

[Host]

Like, he said, hey, I've been, like, venting.

[Emmy]

He came to me, and he basically was just like, I, you know, expressed to others, you know, issues that I was having in our relationship, and I feel bad that I didn't come to you about it. And I think for me, what the biggest issue at hand, like, at the time, none of my friends came to me about it, so it didn't seem like it was this crazy thing. You know what I mean? I was like, oh, you just vented to some of our friends about it. That's fine. No one's come to me about it. I personally keep my relationship between Will and myself. I call my mom, I vent to my mom. That's basically myself. But for me, I was like, I mean, I was pissed. But no, no one. None of my friends came to me about it. They just happened to bring it to me almost three months later.

[Guest]

I mean, there was some things that people were saying and obviously, like, you never know what's true, what's exaggerated, what gets thrown in there for an extra little, like, flair. But did. Was there anything that your castmates were telling you that he said that he had not openly said to you?

[Emmy]

No. Will basically said everything that my castmates said to me. My castmates obviously use A little bit more intense terms.

[Guest]

Yeah.

[Emmy]

Like, anorexic. He hates, like, kind of went. Really?

[Guest]

Yeah.

[Emmy]

And I'm just kind of like. I mean, going deeper into who I am. Like, I've struggled with my own image and body issues, and I'm almost 17 months sober right now. No, I am March 1st. I was 17 months sober. And, you know, for me, this was the first time that, you know, I've really gotten myself healthy the right way. Cutting out, drinking, working out, doing all the things. And in the past, when I had lost weight, it was probably not the healthiest way. And so Will was just expressing concern because he was up at law school and wasn't here with me going through these motions when I was, like, in the heart of, you know, going through my healthy new lifestyle. And he was venting to others, being like, is she okay? Like, I just. I'm not here. I'm asking the people that are closest to her about this. You know, I feel like there's a distance in our relationship, and it, you know, it's the first year of law school, and I just.

[Will]

And I think, too, like, I've always been hyper aware of it because I, like, I love her and I care about her, and in the past, like, I've had to throw her scale out before because when I don't.

[Emmy]

It's fine.

[Will]

Yeah, okay. Sorry. But, like, she, you know, she. She's can become obsessive, and I was worried. I was seeing this change, and I was hoping that it was attributed to this lifestyle style, but I. I just didn't know. And I was sort of going to the people that are around her the most and saying, like, am I crazy? Do I need to be concerned?

[Host]

Have you confronted any of these people who kind of went behind your back and turned what in your mind? Again, like, lesson learned. But it sounds like what you're saying was in good faith.

[Will]

No, I. I mean, I think. I think the time and the place was inappropriate of me. And, you know, I'm just willing to fall on my sword. Like, what I did was not right. I should have gone to Emmy about it. Going and trying to confront these people isn' to me, like, the point of this all. I think the point of it was just to learn from this, to. To figure out how to communicate better in my own relationship. And, like, going for vengeance or trying to hold someone accountable for.

[Emmy]

Maybe get a therapist.

[Will]

Yeah, doesn't.

[Host]

Sure. I mean, I.

[Will]

It doesn't make my relationship go for.

[Host]

Me, but just more like. Yeah, like, you know, my.

[Will]

My Number one priority is in relationship with Emmy. So. And. And these people, you know, this was never an issue until the cameras came out.

[Emmy]

Like, I. And can't emphasize that enough. I really can't emphasize that enough.

[Host]

It was like one of those things where it was like, wait, where was this?

[Emmy]

This happened at the end of March.

[Will]

Well, some people also decided that they were going to save it for the cameras, and they wouldn't have conversations with us. They wouldn't hang out with us.

[Guest]

Wait, who are those some people?

[Emmy]

Just so you. I mean, this happened at the end of March, and this didn't get brought to me until the end of June. Just so you guys know when cameras were rolling. Yes. Like, so, like, the way that it worked, like, these people knew about it. Brad, tj, and I'm giving Maddie and Michaels an exception to this because one, Maddie didn't owe me anything at that point. We were just rebuilding our friendship. I didn't have. She doesn't owe a conversation with me about it. And two, Michaels didn't have a relationship with Will, so I can understand where Michaels felt uncomfortable. And Michaels and Maddie did not want to speak on it. You know, it's Brad and TJ who have a relationship with Will and I for three years now, who know the both of us, who had every opportunity to have said something to us between the end of March and before filming started and even when filming started, it was like, yeah, they had a conversation with Will, but then they love to be like, you know, we're closer to Emmy. Okay, then where was my conversation with you guys? The dinner table at the lake house with 12 people around us, eight cameras and a production team behind us. That's when you finally want to bring up something that, you know is something I've definitely like. Like, was hard in our relationship that, you know, because you've been best friends with us. I'm like, you want me to sit here now and be calm? I'm going to lose my shit.

[Guest]

Like, that's valid. Did you not feel like Michael's being one of your closest friends? And did he not say, was he at the bar when you came in? Did you not feel like that was a little bit of a betrayal from Michael's just, like, not coming to you as your friend, being like, hey, I don't know your boyfriend, but he did say this. And, like, I'm your friend first because.

[Emmy]

It was on the clock. I think that Michaels felt like it was manager Michaels now. My circus, not my monkeys. This is not my relationship, not my business. Like, I don't know Will like enough to get involved in it. Michael's also wasn't even 22 years old yet when it happened. He's a baby. He's 21. Like, he's learning life himself still. So I give him a lot of grace for that.

[Guest]

Once those cameras are rolling, he sat you down.

[Emmy]

Well, that was once. It had already been brought up on camera for the past week. And Lake, when Lake came to him at the front door, that was the first time he realized that people were talking about it. He did not say anything.

[Will]

And once the toothpaste is out of the tube in front of the camera, it's like.

[Emmy]

It's kind of like, yeah, it's gotta deal with it.

[Will]

Yeah.

[Emmy]

And Michael's coming to me one on one. I respected that. I didn't lose my shit. I stayed very calm. I was like, this is great conversation. It's once I have an awe and I get it. Like, I get it. But these are supposed to be, like, my real friends. Like, not just, like, my show friends. Like, these are people who we vacation with and spend our free time with the other nine months of the year. And for me, I was like, you really think I'm going to think this is authentic? If you're going to sit me at a table right now on Lakesburg? This is a classic Bravo move right here.

[Guest]

Did you feel the contradictory between. When you did sit down with Michaels in one on one, where he was like. You were like, yeah, I've known about this. He. And he was like, well, why didn't you tell me? Did you not feel the like, well, why didn't you tell me?

[Emmy]

But that's what I'm saying. I'm like. And what I tried to explain, I don't know if the viewers got this, was like, my relationship is between Will in myself. I'm not gonna go around yapping about our relationship.

[Will]

My bad.

[Emmy]

It's because I'm like, I'm not. I know how this. I know what job I have. I know what career this is, and I know how evil our castmates can be. And I know how they can twist narratives, and I know how they can mess with people's storylines in their lives. And I don't trust them to a certain degree, especially with something that's so valuable to me, which is, like, my relationship with Will. This isn't some funny, like, game to me. This is my life. This is the person I've been dating.

[Will]

It was my mistake to not think this would ever come onto the TV show. Because I think it was just naive of me. And in seasons past, I think the producers were very clear that, like, if it doesn't happen when we're rolling, we're not really too concerned about it.

[Emmy]

Always have been said that.

[Will]

Yeah. So just stupid of me to think that we weren't gonna have to litigate this four months later.

[Host]

It feels like, yeah, I feel like that that's how things start in good faith.

[Guest]

I'd also imagine producers went around and were like, what's kind of been going on? And they like, well, Will came and was yapping about Emmy.

[Emmy]

Yeah. They always sit down with us before we start.

[Host]

It's also a fine line, though, too, right? Like, devil's in the details. You're a lawyer. You know that, right? Like, it's just like, if it doesn't. Unless it happens on camera, we don't care about it. Well, it happened on camera once they bring it up on camera, and then once they bring it up on camera, it happens. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's.

[Will]

It's hard, though. I'd rather it have happened on camera, because then you have all the context. But when the story's told months later.

[Emmy]

And I've already gone through all the emotions and process this and healed the issue in our relationship, and then it's like, okay, I'm on a TV show now, and this is three months later. Right. I know how this show works. You have to film it for 10 weeks. You have to go in your green screens then for the next six months, and then you have to go sit at a reunion in February. And I'm like, okay, this happened in March. This is 10, 11 months later now from an issue that, if it would have been during filming, would have only been, like, eight months later. So it's like, I really don't get to just put a lid on what happened. It's like you have to keep reopening it and living it and go. And I'm just kind of like, oh, my God. And like, no one was listening.

[Host]

She'll never talk behind her back again, man. You really had to.

[Will]

Not, not. Not due to any TV show. I think the idea is that I learned my lesson the first time, but the. The thing that I think hurt me the most was that no one came to me either and was like, yo, well, what's up? Like, why? Why'd you do this? Are you okay? Is your relationship good? Even just in, like, hey, you had concerns three weeks ago, four weeks ago. How's your relationship doing? What's the update. And instead I think it was like, oh, let's put a ribbon on this. This will be a great storyline for me that where I can go on the offensive this next season. I don't have to talk about my life. I don't have to be interesting. I can just kind of take, you know, take this rotten flesh and throw the hyena.

[Emmy]

Brad and tj.

[Will]

Yeah.

[Emmy]

I mean for me, because they're like, well why didn't you come to us? And I'm like, you're still the ones that brought it. You're still the ones that brought it to me. I don't still did it. You can't tell me that you felt uncomfortable and all of a sudden at Lake's birthdays when you finally feel comfortable.

[Guest]

Like, yeah, I don't know if you need to be told this, but those two people are not yalls friends.

[Will]

Yeah.

[Host]

Like TJ for sure.

[Will]

Well I think when he said because.

[Host]

TJ's talks we can get into TJ.

[Will]

But I think they both have flaws.

[Guest]

Yeah.

[Emmy]

Oh trust me. I mean Brad's just job of hiding it.

[Will]

Okay.

[Host]

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[Will]

I think there's one in particular that enjoys hurting people.

[Host]

Not tj.

[Will]

I think, I think, yeah, I think Brad enjoys inflicting pain on others.

[Host]

Really?

[Emmy]

I think.

[Will]

I don't. I don't know how else to, to explain his behavior.

[Host]

What, what makes you say that?

[Guest]

Like, I mean, does this go back to the bomb that was Dropped at reunion. Or is it further back?

[Emmy]

I mean. No, exactly.

[Will]

I think hindsight's 2020 for sure.

[Emmy]

I mean, it all starts from the very beginning, which was in season one. Funny. Me, Maddie and Will, we kind of brought these cheating allegations to Brad, being like, we know that you slept this woman.

[Will]

And, well, he was home wrecking a relationship.

[Emmy]

Homewrecking a relationship. When this woman was dating another man.

[Host]

Bradley was.

[Emmy]

Bradley was. While Bradley was seeing Maddie's best friend. And these two women worked together at Republic. And so we outed Brad for that. Maddie then says that she saw him getting a BJ behind the Republic alley. She outs him for that. Brad is very. Now, listen, I'm pretty sure those are both. I know the first one's true. The second one, I'm like, okay. And so Brad's pissed off, and six weeks before we start filming season two, his client and him, you know, essentially.

[Will]

He found a girl.

[Emmy]

He found a girl that had gone out with Trevor one night. And the girl, Sammy, the real story is she went out with Trevor and she actually made out with his friend at the bar and went home with his friend, never Trevor. And for the next six weeks, Brad and this girl were conspiring to get her to hang out with Trevor again so that they could make.

[Host]

Brad was coaching her, setting people off.

[Will]

He was coaching her to cheat.

[Emmy]

And. Yes, coaching her. And when that didn't happen, that's what.

[Will]

The tech show at the reunion, that's the text that Andy saw is Brad saying, I found a girl who's going to break up their relationship.

[Guest]

And Maddie and Trevor.

[Emmy]

Maddie and Trevor's. And just so we are clear in the group chat is myself, Will, tj, Joe, Bradley, Mia, Hilario, and Bradley Carter himself. So just so we know, and this.

[Host]

Is the thing that Maddie was really upset about in the beginning. In the reunion.

[Emmy]

Yes. And I came to Maddie the night before the reunion because I just have had too many crazy things dropped on me on the stage, like with the cameras and everything. And I had so much. Will wasn't there either. Will didn't bring this to Maddie. Will wasn't in the room.

[Will]

I was in a meeting downstairs, and I walked into the hotel room, and I was like, oh, no, this is happening, isn't it?

[Emmy]

I was alone with Maddie. Joe wasn't even there. And I looked at Maddie and I said, has Joe told you the truth about what Brad did? And she goes, no, what are you talking about? And my heart's, like, beating out of my chest, and I'm like, Brad conspired with Sammy and lied. Trevor never cheated on you with Sammy. Brad made it all up. You were right the entire time.

[Host]

How did Brad get away with.

[Emmy]

Because he's a manipulative.

[Host]

He definitely was not the focus.

[Emmy]

He's a really good liar. He's a really good lie.

[Will]

The story also, like, it's not just that he found this girl and he coached her to try to break up the relationship. When that didn't work, when Trevor wouldn't do it, it he said, well, we can just say that you made out with him. If you go on camera, I'll bring you around the cameras. You say it, you can't prove a negative. And then we'll see what happens.

[Guest]

That's like, some.

[Emmy]

Now you know why I freaked out all season.

[Guest]

Like, freaky level that he's capable of doing that. And, like, doesn't really have. I mean, he showed zero remorse for that at the reunion. He was like, listen, I can take accountability. And, like, that was up. I'm sorry.

[Emmy]

He. You know, what was really just Rich is like, he's so good at lying. We forgot the truth during filming. Like, it wasn't until we went to a dinner. I remember, like, Brad saying something and Will being like, what? Like, he was so good at. Like, we forgot that. That it wasn't even real. The people that were, like, aware of it forgot that it wasn't even real. And before we filmed the season two reunion.

[Will]

Yeah.

[Emmy]

TJ was texting Brad saying, I'm going to out you for making up the Trevor Sammy cheating rumor.

[Will]

I need a storyline for the reunion because I'm worried I won't make it to season three.

[Host]

So I have.

[Will]

I have three options.

[Emmy]

He was texting Brad himself, and Brad.

[Will]

Said, well, he Sundays I have three options. I can either.

[Emmy]

No, he doesn't say I have three options.

[Will]

Well, this is what he was telling me.

[Emmy]

Well, later on, he does.

[Will]

He says, I can either out Joe and Luann, who have hooked up. I can out you for the Sammy thing, or I can talk about this cheating rumor I've heard about Mia and her boyfriend, and he picked the Luann things that it had the most steam because it's connected to another Bravo show. And that's what he went with.

[Host]

That's crazy.

[Emmy]

And so full circle. Then, you know, we start filming season three, and I'm like, okay, it's gonna be all, wait, wait.

[Will]

But on the text messages that. Oh, yeah, from the reunion is texts from Brad to Emmy saying, I can never be the same kind of friend that I. Or from my friendship with TJ is ultimately broken. Cause he would threaten to do this.

[Emmy]

Like, he's gonna out me for this. Like, I would have never told him. Like, and I'm like, you know, Will and I aren't innocent of this either. Like, we were complicit in knowing the information and not speaking up. But we didn't conspire with Sam. If you watch season two, you don't see any scenes of Will and I.

[Will]

Like bringing her around.

[Emmy]

Bringing her around or anything.

[Will]

We had our own stuff going on.

[Emmy]

We had our own shit going on. But I mean, it's messed up.

[Guest]

So you're saying that Joe Bradley knew about this and he also never told Maddie?

[Emmy]

Yeah, I'm, I, I'm the one that told Maddie and she literally.

[Host]

Just how long did Joe know for?

[Guest]

He's not in the original group message.

[Emmy]

The group message. This happened April.

[Host]

Why wasn't that address at the reunion?

[Emmy]

It was a short reunion. They cut a lot of it. We, I mean, all this was spoken about, but only so much was made the cut.

[Will]

I think Joe will say anything that people want to hear to their face sometimes. And you know, that means he's gotta stay friends with everyone. Which means he's not ever gonna turn his back on Brad. He's too scared even if that. And he's not gonna tell Maddie what she's doing.

[Emmy]

Well, not just that. I think more importantly, the thing with Joe is that how do you tell the woman you're dating? By the way, I was complicit in a fake cheating rumor against you and your ex boyfriend.

[Will]

And I think too, like, I just wanna address like, sure. But our complicity, like, I screen's messed up. We felt horrible about it and we felt like we were carrying this around for a long time.

[Emmy]

Yeah.

[Will]

Since we've gotten closer with mad with Joe and their relationship, like, we really became real friends with them. And I really love Maddie. Watching what happened to us this season. And knowing that Maddie went through that herself made me knowing the truth of.

[Emmy]

What she went through.

[Will]

Yeah. Like when I came up to the hotel room and Emmy was doing this, like, I just, I started crying to Maddie because I was like, I just, like, I can't imagine what you've been through. And I like, I'm so ashamed that I was even. I even had touched this and like knowing what I know now. And I hate that that it was my own pain that made me realize this because I think that's not really a great quality to have to be hurt yourself. To do the right thing, but sure.

[Host]

Part of life. How old is it? How are you?

[Emmy]

I'm 26. Almost 27.

[Will]

We're 31 and 27 on Wednesday.

[Emmy]

Don't say that now we're 26 and 30.

[Will]

Yeah.

[Host]

You're definitely old enough to know better.

[Will]

No, no, I had a few Peter Pan years, so this might be a good thing.

[Emmy]

It's not just that. I also think you kind of get wrapped up in the game. Like, sometimes you get wrapped up in the whole. No pun intended, but production of it all, you just got wrapped up in it. And. And I think for some people, for Joe, probably, his motive was, Trevor's a shitty dude. I don't like him anyways. He cheated on you once. You shouldn't be in this relationship. Like, I don't really care. And for Brad, it was, I'm going to ruin your relationship because I'm vindictive and spiteful and I want to see you miserable. And so it was two different motives with the same conclusion.

[Guest]

So how much of the rumors about you in law school cheating stem from Brad?

[Will]

It was hard because I think we never really knew what the rumor was or anything about it. And it came up at that Vegas dinner, and we were actually told by production, like, this is. There's no proof to any of this. If you talk about it or try to address it on camera, it's going to gain traction and it's going to stay a storyline. Right now it's so dumb that we hope it gets cut.

[Emmy]

Like, just, like it's not a big deal.

[Will]

So, you know, we. We were actively discouraged from talking about it, from trying to address it or anything. So we never really figured it all out until.

[Host]

I imagine you so didn't want to talk about something.

[Will]

Well, it was.

[Host]

It was.

[Will]

It was, like, ridiculous.

[Emmy]

Well, it's just like back to season two.

[Will]

Well, that's what I was gonna say is that, like. I think what people don't realize is that this all came out, like, supposedly this was a rumor, started at the law school in February, which was the Exact time Season 2 was airing, January.

[Emmy]

And February of last year.

[Will]

So people are watching a show where it's like, oh, yeah, Will hooked up with a girl in a bathroom. And then that's somehow the same exact rumor. So in my mind, it's just this one rumor sort of getting regurgitated through a TV show into a game of telephone. Yeah. Into, like, an environment that doesn't understand reality tv, that doesn't know who I am. And it's Easy to just say, oh, yeah, that's Will. That's the thing. I'm not even sure that that was the rumor at the law school. We had a phone call with Austin's girlfriend before, so we didn't think, like, this was getting discussed on a TV show anymore. And then we were like.

[Emmy]

We heard that they were phone. I had a phone. So let me clarify this. Will texted Austin's girlfriend's brother the night of prom, the night before the night. Was it the morning? The day of prom? Because all of a sudden, shit's getting fishy. Everyone's acting weird. I'm trying to mend my relationship. My, like, relationship with TJ and Brad. They're acting weird as shit. And I'm like, something's going on.

[Will]

We also heard that they filmed a scene about the cheating room.

[Emmy]

Yeah, I'm like.

[Will]

Thought this was, like, off the table.

[Emmy]

And we're like, what the hell are they doing? So we're like, okay, let's call.

[Host]

Oh, you must have had total anxiety.

[Emmy]

We don't know what's going on. So we're like, okay, what do we do? We're like, this is gonna text Ali's brother. So Will text Ali's brother.

[Will]

Well, that's where we thought this rumor came from. So I'm like, okay, this is a person who's just graduated law school.

[Emmy]

The whole time, I.

[Will]

You know, I just. As a professional courtesy, as a law student, said, like, I don't want to involve you in this thing. Like, I just feel like I need to ask you personally. And if you tell me you're not involved, I'm gonna make sure that we don't mention you or your name anymore.

[Host]

This is your friend, colleague. The person who was.

[Will]

This is.

[Guest]

This is Austin's situation.

[Will]

The girlfriend's brother, who we had assumed that the streamer came from.

[Emmy]

And he said it's the only link between Austin and the law school. And we. No one ever told us where this rumor came from, so we were guessing.

[Will]

I texted him, just saying, like, look, I want to protect you from sort of what reality TV can be as a professional courtesy. And what happened is that Austin wasn't supposed to be dating Ali because they have sort of a weird history.

[Emmy]

Really weird.

[Will]

And the family does not like him. And he was like, oh, first off, I didn't even know that they were dating. That's not good. And second, I've never heard anything but great things about you at the law school. I've never heard this rumor anywhere. So Allie, like, is her brother Then.

[Emmy]

I guess reaches out to her and is like, what the hell is going on? And Ali ends up calling me. And this is before, literally right before I go to prom. She tells me Austin was encouraged to exaggerate the rumor or to make it more juicy.

[Host]

Encouraged by whom?

[Emmy]

People. People probably with some headphones understood that basically she was like, this isn't true. Like, he's just been encouraged to talk about it for juiciness. And I'm like, yeah.

[Will]

And at this point, we. We were so, like, tripped up. And we. It was sort of. We felt so David and Goliath about it. We recorded this conversation. So we have the receipt of Ali.

[Emmy]

Saying, I don't trust anyone. I was like, I'm recording this.

[Will]

So we have Ali, we have Ally. Recording started telling us that this rumor is complete bullshit. So that's. That's us walking through the finale. We know our friends are fishy. We know that this is sort of come out of nowhere.

[Guest]

You also know that they're willing to do whatever it takes.

[Will]

We know that we're willing to do whatever it takes storyline. And so, like, when you watch the finale and the reunion, that's where that's sort of the prerequisite, like, facts. And also it's to understand, like, where our heads are at.

[Emmy]

This rumor really flopped with Austin after Vegas. I mean, if you guys watch the episode when they're at Run Club, Austin's like, I don't know anything else going. I don't know.

[Will]

I just kind of make sense based on the phone call.

[Emmy]

And he's like, I don't know anything else. And then, then Brad and teacher, like, we will go, got this. We're going to take this truth and we'll build two lies. And this is going to be magic. That's why at the finale, it makes more sense now why, when we went to go talk to Austin, TJ and Brad came around because Austin probably didn't believe the rumor anymore at that point because he was like this.

[Guest]

All of them saying you walking away means you're guilty is. Is. I mean, just the biggest crock of shit I've ever heard in my life. It's like, you're walking away because it's like, this is nonsense. And no one. This isn't productive.

[Emmy]

Craig walked away when, like, he got accused of Paige cheating on him. And that scene last season, I'm like, people walk away when it's so dumb. Why would you give it any breath?

[Will]

Well, also, what TJ and Brad tried to do was bring in stories of my Peers in law school and try to use it as ammunition to make it true. And some of these stories are. Are incredibly sensitive where I was helping people out who were going through, like, difficult situations that I did not want to then expose or talk about their situations on camera. Like, I let a girl stay at my apartment when me and Emmy were filming the reunion together. Emmy knew about it.

[Emmy]

Season 2 reunion. We were up in New York.

[Will]

Emmy knew about it.

[Host]

That's the. That's the girl.

[Guest]

That's the. You let a girl stay in your place for weeks.

[Emmy]

It was two nights.

[Will]

Who's just a friend that happened to be a female in a situation where. Yeah.

[Emmy]

I mean, she was in a bad situation, and she was moving into the apartment complex. And you said. Said you can, like, put your boxes in my apartment.

[Will]

Here are my keys if you need to sleep on the couch. Because. Because I know that you're going through a lot. Go for it. It's probably. It might be a better place for you.

[Guest]

What did you make of Mia saying you were the most unfriendly person she's ever met and you would never offer for someone to sleep?

[Will]

Rich, coming from Mia.

[Emmy]

Yeah.

[Host]

Can I come to Will's defense for that? It's just, like, I'm a dick to some people and nice to others. Just because I don't like you or I don't, you know, whoever you are, doesn't mean I haven't been nice to other people.

[Will]

Yeah. But Mia is also not very friendly. So if she's, like, the. The gauge of friendliness, then the gauge is a little broken.

[Guest]

Okay.

[Will]

You know.

[Guest]

Okay.

[Will]

But I. You know, Mia's sassy, and she'll be the first person to tell you, I don't have empathy. I'm not an empathetic person.

[Emmy]

Yeah.

[Will]

You know, she will fully admit that. So for her.

[Host]

But one person decides, like, how. How the world treats me is how, I guess, apparently.

[Will]

Yeah.

[Guest]

Yeah.

[Will]

But you know it. So that.

[Emmy]

Yeah.

[Will]

So then it's like, to litigate this issue with people that are betraying us, that are supposed to be our friends based on this, like, prerequisite situation that's, like, incredibly complex and difficult to. Then when a camera's in your face, like, go through all these steps about why we feel this way because.

[Guest]

Well, it's also, like, clearly you two made decisions within your relationship, like couples do all the time, and someone got wind of something that y'all decided to do and decide, like, thought it was their position to, like, interrogate the two of you about it. Where it's like, you're like, no, I. I was there. I knew she was staying. I was, like, on board with her staying. Like, we have no.

[Emmy]

And I don't regret it. I would. I would do it over again. I don't care about the outcome.

[Guest]

Like, but it's like, they. They feel like y'all. They deserve for y'all to come to them and tell them every decision that the two of you make in your relationship.

[Will]

And. And then when they have concerns, they don't ask. It's just like an isolate and ambush.

[Emmy]

Yeah, they want to.

[Will]

They want to isolate us from the group. Group. Stir up the hottest pot of tea that you can find and then splash it scaldingly hot into our faces. And then watch Emmy cry and watch me walk away. And they figured, hey, that's a good recipe for tv.

[Emmy]

Yeah, it's a great recipe. I can't.

[Will]

Honestly, I can't blame them because it also worked pretty well.

[Emmy]

They're the kind of people that are also, like, keep us totally involved in your relationship. Tell all of us. But, like, shame on Will for telling anyone about your relationship. I'm like, will also, like, yeah, we're really.

[Will]

We're really worried law school is gonna be hard in your relationship. And then it is. And then it's like, how. How dare you let this be hard on your relationship?

[Guest]

So where did the. Like. Does law school have a prom? I wasn't aware that was a thing.

[Will]

It's called Barrister's Ball.

[Guest]

Okay.

[Host]

See, I told you.

[Will]

Yeah, it's like, a thing. Every law school has it.

[Host]

It's.

[Will]

It's essentially just, lawyers want to party, too.

[Guest]

I get it.

[Emmy]

Yeah.

[Will]

Lawyers love party.

[Emmy]

You know the funniest thing? Will didn't even go to the Barrister's Ball.

[Will]

Yeah.

[Host]

He didn't even go where you took.

[Guest]

So that was the whole.

[Will]

You didn't buy a ticket. Yeah, like, that. That's just a. Just total crock. And then if you look at, like, what the finale was in the setting, like, in my mind, I'm like, imagine all of this is true. What were they setting Emmy up for?

[Emmy]

To be humiliated? They're expecting this to be true, so they're expecting me to invest my time into making a law school prom reenactment, you know, during filming, and then for my friends in the middle of this prom to drop, hey, by the way, Will cheated on you with the girl that he brought to his law school prom. Bam. And I'm just kind of like, you guys are up.

[Guest]

Well, it's Kind of what Maddie said, where it's like, you know, when I guess TJ Comes to her and is.

[Emmy]

Oh, yeah.

[Guest]

And she's like, oh, my God. So she's trying to throw a prom to make up for the fact that he took someone else to his law prom.

[Will]

No, I. I wanted Emmy to come to my law prom with me.

[Emmy]

I was skiing my dad in Aspen.

[Will]

She didn't tell her dad the weekend, and he booked a trip to Aspen for them. And I was upset with her. I was like, I really want to take you. And then I was sat at home.

[Host]

So how did you end up in the show in the first place?

[Emmy]

Needed, not me.

[Will]

Yeah. So I.

[Host]

Your fault.

[Will]

It's actually. It's really. It's sort of complex. But I was managing and bartending and modeling in New York, and Covid hit, and I came back to Charleston, and I had, like, an LSAT book on my desk for years, because I'd always wanted to go. And I dusted it off, and I was like, all right, I gotta make ends meet, you know, in the interim. So I started working at Levis bars. So I worked up the street at this place called First Place, which is now Lamar's. And I was seeing a girl at the time. And this is the same.

[Emmy]

You don't have to get. That's. It's gonna be very complex.

[Will]

But it was the girl, Reagan, from season one, and then that was the girl that I was seeing before Emmy. But this. We could do a whole podcast on this.

[Emmy]

We would need, like, a whole.

[Host]

Like, you guys got on this show.

[Will]

So they saw. They saw me and Reagan sort of hooking up, and they. We were both sort of eccentric people, and we were working for. For Leva. And they were coming to shoot sort of like, not like a pilot, but, you know, they were doing their.

[Emmy]

Test the waters.

[Will]

Yeah, they were testing the waters and interviewing, And I was like, this seems fun. It sort of fell into my lap. I never wanted to do reality tv, and it was never a dream of mine. I, like, still feel a little cringe that I'm doing it. But me and Emmy had just started seeing each other, and they were filming the intro, and Emmy was blacked out drunk. And I was like. She kept coming up and distracting me. Cause we were doing this big, long show.

[Emmy]

I could ruin all the scenes.

[Will]

And so everyone had to get their marks right, because it was like they were filming all 10 of us in one long shot, which I don't think made the final edit, but it was a cool concept. But Emmy kept coming up and distracting me, like, right as it was mine and they'd have to reset. So I was like, like, who is.

[Emmy]

This blonde girl keeps ruining all the scenes?

[Will]

So I was like, emmy, you gotta get outta here. And we were like, bickering. And then I put her in a. In a pedicab and she went home.

[Emmy]

And Trevor drove me home. No, I'm kidding.

[Will]

No. Yeah. And then her contacts fell out and she came back and she's super blind. She was like, velma in the bar.

[Emmy]

He's mixing the story up a little bit.

[Will]

So much. But these. So whoever was shooting this was like, who's that girl? And what is this relationship between Will and Emmy? And then Emmy got casted shortly after.

[Host]

Okay, and then what is your relationship status with the show as of today?

[Will]

It's difficult for me. I think the clearest thing for me is that I'll always support Emmy and her position in the show. I think that I've probably ruffled some feathers by probably. I've certainly ruffled some feathers by not going to the reunion. Yeah, it's something, you know, I'm not. I regret it a little bit.

[Guest]

What was the ultimate decision?

[Host]

Yeah, like, why. I mean, for the critics who are listening to this now and saying, well, why didn't you just go to the reunion and plead your case there with all your peers and give them a chance to, you know, respond and yada, yada, what would you say to that?

[Will]

Yeah, it just.

[Emmy]

He didn't trust that they would tell the truth.

[Will]

Yeah, I think we were just starting because of the way that the show had portrayed me in our relationship. It felt like that I would have to dig my. Dig myself out from under a mountain. And the, the ways that I would address it would need, like a long form segment just to try to break down all the nuances. And. And on top of that, the people on the stage I knew are just very interested in whether or not they're making it to the next season and are sort of willing to say or do whatever they wanted.

[Emmy]

That fight.

[Will]

And. Yeah, and it was just gonna be a bloodbath. It wasn't like I could come on here and explain to you guys, like, hey, this is what happened, and we could have, like an engaging conversation. It would've been sort of two steps forward, one step back. Two steps forward, one step back. And these people, they aren't my friends anymore. And they were going to be on that stage and try to act like we were still friends and use that as a position of power to engage in a conversation with me that I felt was ultimately a, A fake conversation. And I also just like my mental health at this point couldn't take it.

[Host]

It sounds like you're not sure what your, your future holds. And it almost sounds like you're not even sure if you even have the opportunity to come back if you wanted to. But if you did, where do you stand? If you were given the opportunity to put water on the bridge and come back to season four, even though you didn't show up, would you say yes? Or are you still on the fence?

[Will]

I'm still on the fence. I think, I think there's some conversations I need to have about how the show is filmed. And I also think that the two most important things in my life right now are my relationship and what's left of my legal career after all this. But I just don't see reality TV as a format where relationships thrive.

[Host]

Yeah, no, you're definitely, I think you're the exception, not the rule if you are in a relationship.

[Will]

Yeah, I think there's a lot of people.

[Guest]

I mean, we had Taylor Greene on recently and she said she mentioned to you guys that before season one, your relationship would probably be under fire. Did you think it would be this intense?

[Will]

We didn't think it'd be this bad, but we probably should have.

[Guest]

Yeah.

[Emmy]

Sorry.

[Host]

I mean, Spencer and Heidi might be the only couple that's really made it.

[Will]

Amanda and Kyle. And they've gone through the ringer and.

[Host]

Honestly, I don't know how they make it.

[Will]

Yeah.

[Emmy]

I mean. Yeah.

[Guest]

Brad recently posted.

[Emmy]

He blocked both of us so we don't see anything.

[Guest]

Well, it's made its way onto some fan pages. He posted a picture in front of a law school saying like Law School 101 girlfriend.

[Will]

I applaud his, his commitment to trying to make me feel bad.

[Emmy]

Took a field trip.

[Will]

Yeah, he took a field trip. I think it's funny because I'm not.

[Host]

Sure he took a field trip to take this.

[Guest]

I think it is so weird that these people are so invested in your relationship.

[Will]

You know, I think he's, you know, I'll just say that he's, he's probably taking a picture on the outside. I'm not sure he would. He could get in, but.

[Host]

Super weird. I mean, listen, I, I get it. Like, people cheat. There's rumors circulating about all types of people, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And like it's like the age old question, right? Like if you have a friend you've heard a rumor about infidelity between, you know, two people who are dating. Like, do you say something or do you not say something? Right. That's always like a debate. Right?

[Will]

And like, unless it's like cold, hard evidence you walked in, whatever.

[Host]

I mean, you can debate. It's not. My point is, like, it's not even close that, you know, there's a lot of opinions about whether you should say something or not for the. For the people who say it too. Right, right. But for the people who say, you know, you should say something. And I think there's a time and a place where, like, you know what? I think the truth needs to prevail. Fudgeing. Just put it out there. It might not be received well, it might. You might burn some bridges by you just speaking your truth, but, like, sometimes maybe the truth needs to get out. But there's a difference between doing that and, like, fucking making your mission and your whole life and becoming invested in the story and, like, making sure that whoever you believes you, it's just like, wait, what?

[Emmy]

It's crazy.

[Host]

Like, how do you. Who gives a.

[Will]

Well, then it's like, who are you? Other than the fact that you've attached yourself to this story and it just becomes really weird.

[Host]

And people do. I mean, Brad's not the first person in the world.

[Emmy]

He won't be the last either.

[Host]

Their whole existence about, like, making sure other people believe some kind of rumor that has nothing to do with them. I don't know why people.

[Will]

Yeah, that's also not true. And has never had a single receipt.

[Emmy]

None of our actual friends that aren't on the show, none of my girlfriends came to me. No one ever heard any of this? No.

[Host]

Even if they did come to you, I mean, I'm just saying, like, there's a difference between asking you a question and being like, hey, babe, what's up?

[Emmy]

Versus like, for me, that was the craziest part too. And I don't know if it made the cut, but I literally said it took Mia 24 hours to hear that Will talk shit about me. You think it's gonna take seven months to hear that Will's cheating on me and taking other people to the. There's gonna be pictures, there's gonna be text messages, there's gonna be a roommate. There's gon evidence. You think it's gonna take seven months? I'm like, shut up.

[Guest]

I mean, the fact that TJ1 of EM was like, I'm gonna make this my life mission and came up with nothing. If he showed up to the Reunion with not one ounce of proof or a new life to any of the rumors, which just feels really nasty to me that, like, people still had the audacity to raise their hands when Andy questioned, like, who still thinks Will cheated on Emmy?

[Host]

Oh. Then the girls who were laughing, laughing.

[Emmy]

Oh, my God.

[Guest]

Yeah. That was really mean girl energy between Grace. Grace and Lake is real mean.

[Will]

Yeah.

[Emmy]

She's just spoiled and she doesn't know life.

[Will]

Yeah. She also doesn't understand our dynamic. Like, she's been here five minutes and.

[Emmy]

The girls are not tight. That's my biggest issue with this season. There was no investment in having a girl's night and getting us all getting to know each other and us having our own. We never had one scene where it was just like the girls filming together. And for me, I'm just kind of like, I'm not gonna get to know these people in these different environments. You know, Grace and Maddie, I've known for a long time. Mia didn't film besides the last three weeks of filming, you know, because she was in Trinidad. She was gone. And so for me, I was like, I don't know who Molly is.

[Host]

I honest. Be honest, keep forgetting who Mia and. And Grace are. I kind of like, oh, my God.

[Will]

Grace is iconic, though. So Grace is iconic. I don't know if I'm let that one.

[Host]

And maybe she is. I just don't.

[Emmy]

Grace is iconic in every episode. She. Grace means well. Okay. Grace means well like, at the end of the day. Yeah.

[Guest]

I know it was hard, the three of them laughing at you as you're like, breaking down about a friendship.

[Emmy]

It's like, I mean, you know, Michael's was a real one during all that. You know, he def. There's. It didn't make the cut, but he stood up for me and was like. He was yelling at Molly at one.

[Guest]

Point, but, yeah, Molly didn't get one ounce of airtime.

[Emmy]

Yeah. And I'm not going to give her any here. But, you know, I just, you know, from my wish, you know, for next year is that there's actual girls who want to be on the show, women that want to be on the show, that have their own identity and that don't have to leech onto mine, that can make their own statement and be interesting by themselves, who are a little bit more mature and actually captivating and interesting.

[Guest]

Yeah.

[Emmy]

And that fit well with the group and will last for a long time. Because if I'm going to be with you for a long time, I.

[Will]

You know, let's be honest.

[Guest]

I mean the girls got to stick together. I think that's what makes great television. Is like a group of girlfriends that you can tell at the end of the day they do love each other and there is love there. But like they fight like any relationship. There is just none of that.

[Emmy]

Your cast. Mia's taken the bitchy title. No one else can take it. We need other different personality types.

[Guest]

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[Host]

Maybe I'm just going back here but the scene where you got really upset maybe about you didn't take shifts, the pocketing, the dress.

[Emmy]

God.

[Host]

And then you walk in and you're like doing.

[Guest]

You made it so much worse.

[Emmy]

Well, I will start, I will start.

[Will]

Yeah, that, that we'll explain.

[Emmy]

So let me give you full backstory. Saturday night I. This is before the shift, I start getting really sick. It's like midnight, I can't swallow anything, my throat's killing me. I'm like crying. We're sleeping out at Will's parents house. It's like now like two in the morning and I'm like, will just give me nightcool, give me something. We have to film tomorrow. Like I need to sleep, I need to sleep. And Will gives me like two night quill and so I wake up and I'm like in a fucking trance. Don't know what I. I'm hot, I'm cold, I'm overstimulated. We tried filming with Will's family that morning. I'm like crying in his mom's bathroom. I'm like, I don't feel good, I feel really sick. And they're like, you don't have to go to work. And funny enough I'm thinking to myself, I don't trust that my truth will be told that I actually called out sick. So I'm gonna go to work. You know, Maddie's now DJing, she's not working. And one of the other girls has called out sick. Siobhan's gonna be alone. I'll go work with her so she doesn't have to work alone. Lol. And I end up going to Republic. And you know, you see the scene of me leaning against the bar and I look at Will and I give my thumbs up to him and it's because he's making sure I'm okay because I felt like such. And Siobhan pulls me aside, is like, hey, can I talk to you? And this is a girl that has like been my girl at Republic. Makes me cookies every week. She's flown me down Wawa from New Jersey before. Like. Like, this isn't just like, my co worker. And she's like, I need to ask you a question. And I'm like, okay. Like, you look so nervous. Like, what's up? And she's like, so you know you're an ambassador for Revolve. I guess I. Now I'm not on tv, so I can say the brand you're ambassador for Revolve. Like, you get commission every month, and you have an affiliate slink. Like, are you using your monthly commission to pay for the dresses? And so then you can pocket that money and go spend it wherever you want, want, or are you using your link so that you get commission off of purchasing the dresses and making, you know, 10, 15% off the dresses? And I'm dumbfounded. I'm like, I.

[Host]

Immediately Already on my will side now hearing you tell the story, I'm like, I don't.

[Will]

Well, this.

[Host]

So I would have been like, who cares?

[Will]

Just my. My interjection into the scene was like, all of a sudden, someone's like, emmy's upset. I'm out at the bar, and my brother's coming to film for the first time. And so I'm, like, trying to text with him. I'm, like, nervous. He's got to come get mic'd up and stuff. So. So I see Emmy. I walk in. She's giving me, like, the don't fucking come over here eyes. Like, the. I got this. Like. Like, just stay out of it. Stay out of it. So I walk up.

[Emmy]

Here's another thing they're gonna do. They're gonna. Will's getting involved in work drama. I'm like, I don't need that.

[Will]

So I. I walk up, and she's explaining the situation. I'm like, so this didn't happen? Like. Cause I'm like, if it didn't happen, this is all so dumb.

[Emmy]

Well, I'm also reacting really big.

[Will]

But then I look at the situation, and I go, all right, this is two. Two. Two girls fighting about a work issue. I'm coming in as, like, the man who's in law school now that's gonna try to, like, adjudicate their dispute when I have no dog in the fight. Like, it's just gonna be me mansplaining to them, like, how they need to resolve a work issue, and I don't work there anymore. And I said, like, it's probably better if I let them solve this issue on their own. And then I'm there for Emmy Afterwards, I'm just thinking me and Emmy filmed a hour long scene afterwards where I was consoling her and me and my brother were talking to her about the situation.

[Emmy]

But that, I mean, in the moment, in the moment, in the moment, I was really like, oh, you are so dumb for being such a smart person. Just so you know. But I was also like, at the.

[Will]

Same time, it didn't look good. I, I know that I was like, I. I could have probably rubbed her back or kissed her on the forehead and that was.

[Host]

No, but I mean that, that's a lot.

[Emmy]

I'm also clocked in at work and I mean, my whole thing was they don't show, but I pull up my affiliates link. I show her everything I've ever been gifted. I show her everything that's been bought, bought in that month so that she could see that I didn't, like, use my link to get commission. I show her everything and I show her the actual invoice where I use, like my amex to buy it. And what got to me though was she was really intense and was like, I need to know if I'm getting over. And I'm like, I am a VIP server on an equal platform like everyone else. I am not the agm. I am not the VIP leader. I'm a VIP server. I order these dresses for the girls because I want to do a kindness to Michaels to help him out, have his load be easier. And I know everyone's dress sizes. I know Maddie and Eva need an extra, extra small. I know that we can't have bra straps showing. You can't have Midra showing. Like.

[Host]

And the big alleged crime that you may be getting commission.

[Emmy]

No.

[Will]

Yeah. Using her affiliates link was the.

[Emmy]

Was I might just be getting commission.

[Will]

That would have been a good idea.

[Host]

I mean, like, I don't seem, seems stupid if you didn't.

[Emmy]

In the moment, I'm thinking, damn, your.

[Host]

Friend should have been like, girl, get your.

[Emmy]

Get your other VIP server said to me, one of the VIP servers, Julie, came up to me.

[Host]

She goes, it's kind of weird that they would be like, she's like, you.

[Emmy]

Buy my VIP server, Julie? She came up to me and she was like, you know, Emmy, you spend all the time, the effort looking for the dresses, picking them out, ordering them, doing our returns for us.

[Host]

Did you get in commission cost anyone?

[Emmy]

No, no, it wouldn't cost anyone.

[Guest]

The amount of times that I use my own codes for things to buy. I wasn't even thinking myself is, like.

[Emmy]

Kind of dumb at the moment I was like, that's kind of smart.

[Host]

But that's all the more reason why I would have the exact response that you have, which would have been like, I don't know and I don't care. But like, huh? Yeah.

[Guest]

Was there a part of you that wished you would have been like the. Like, no, I didn't.

[Emmy]

I was so, like, I was so fucked up on NyQuil. I was so exhausted. I was so tired. I was. The audacity to me, because she's not on the show and it's in the middle of our shift at work. And the response, no matter what, was going to be like me freaking out and disrupting the workplace. So I found it inappropriate to begin with. And secondly, I was just like. Like, what the. I was just like, cuz I have something.

[Guest]

Your response was great. Your response was awful.

[Host]

When does. When does filming start up again?

[Emmy]

They haven't told us yet, but usually it's like mid May.

[Host]

And if you don't come back, she's.

[Will]

Going to be fighting on her own.

[Host]

Brad's going to be like, you said I was evil.

[Emmy]

I don't give a. Eventually, Will's going to graduate law school and be a lawyer.

[Host]

How much time do you have left?

[Will]

I've got one year. Okay, more year. And then I got to pass the bar.

[Host]

Were you worried about your peers making fun of you for being on the show?

[Will]

Yeah. And it. It's gotten really bad at this point because of the season where, like, I am now, like, struggling to sort of have privacy at school where I've got female peers that I love studying with and doing projects with that are really intelligent students. Nope, I can't. I literally can't be at the school, like, alone with a female. Or else I see like, ensemble pages of him, Will's. Will's at the school with a girl. And it's like, I'm literally just trying to get an A in this class, but it's not that simple anymore and it's made it sort of uncomfortable for me.

[Host]

Yeah, that's unfortunate.

[Emmy]

And what's also so dumb too is like, I don't think. I don't know if people know this, but like, Will broke his ankle like last New Year's. He had to get surgery and a plate and six screws put in his ankle. He couldn't even drive a car. So I was living with Will.

[Will]

She was my.

[Emmy]

Living with like six weeks, driving him to school every day, bringing him lunch. Like, I was at that. He could. I'd have to get his Knee scooter out so he can knee scooter around. Like, during this said cheating, rumor, accusations. I'm like, will can't even drive a car. He can't even do anything without screaming in pain. I mean, look at him when y'all.

[Guest]

Think he's a girl.

[Emmy]

Look at him when he has a little neck tweak. Like, you think with a little ankle pain, like, he's gonna wake up in the middle of the night and, like, scooter, like, are you kidding me? So it's just pathetic to me.

[Guest]

Do you think TJ Plays the victim?

[Emmy]

Oh, yeah.

[Host]

We need to talk about tj.

[Will]

I think. I think tj, he's built his entire identity around the show, and I think that he. He's wanted to be on reality TV for a long time. I think he. He wanted to be on Charm for a while before this show, and I think maybe he's just. It makes him insecure when he then watches himself back on the show, and he's just very hyper aware of how much time he's getting. Like, screen time.

[Host]

Screen time may be true, but it doesn't, like, justify.

[Will]

But I do think that it. It. Well, I get what you're asking. Is he just that kind of person in general?

[Host]

Maybe you guys can clear some things up for me, but it's my understanding that Joe was blackout drunk.

[Emmy]

Yes, he was.

[Host]

And that no one's disputing that.

[Emmy]

No one's disputing that Joe was blackout drunk.

[Will]

I see where you're going, and I.

[Host]

Just don't know why we're having a conversation at all about this topic given that one person was blackout drunk.

[Will]

Yeah. Just wasn't.

[Guest]

And doesn't remember.

[Host]

And doesn't remember.

[Emmy]

Damn.

[Host]

And that, like, the fact that TJ Is, like, pushing this narrative when Joe's like, listen, I don't know what happened. Maybe something happened. Maybe something didn't happen. But I don't remember. And if, like, sure, I don't know what happened. But, like, it seems on the reunion, like, tj, you know, is obviously very emotional.

[Emmy]

And, you know, Joe had a girlfriend at the time.

[Host]

Whether he had a girlfriend or not, he's blackout drunk. And why is TJ Able to victimize himself when, like, the real question is, is, like, what the. Were you doing?

[Will]

Yeah. And I think what's also wild is that he. It wasn't some secret. Right. He was vocal to. In Charleston about this thing with Joe.

[Emmy]

Like, when it happened in the summer of 2021. Just to clarify.

[Will]

So I think, you know, I Think at some point he's saying, like, I. I didn't really tell anyone other than Brad. Like, that's not true.

[Emmy]

He's been talking about it. Season one, season two, season three. It's always been a conversation.

[Guest]

So there were like, you and your friend got the reunion. Who said that he had. You know, Austin said he told him, and then Maddie said he told her.

[Host]

TJ's in here crying. It's all fucked up because of his feelings. And like, I think it kind of went out with your friend. He got blackout drunk. Something happened. He doesn't remember. You tell everyone about it, which is.

[Will]

Like, I don't think you're off base.

[Host]

I just. I'm just like, very disturbed by, like, what's being ignored versus, like, the narrative TJ is pushing and how it's.

[Will]

It's such a. It's such, like, a difficult. I think it's because, like, I. You know, it's hard. It's hard. It's hard to talk about these things. And I think maybe we don't talk about it at enough. But, you know, I had never, I guess just being so wrapped up in it all, I had never really, like, taken a step back and seen it like, that way.

[Emmy]

And it's weird we didn't because it was never TJ pulling the moves. It. The accusations were Joe was pulling the moves, if that makes sense.

[Host]

But this was all coming from tj.

[Emmy]

Exactly. But that's what I mean, you know, That, I think, is where it kind of became. I don't know why we never thought of it like this. I mean, because we've talked about it for three years.

[Guest]

I mean, he didn't. You have Joe being sitting at the reunion, being like, dude, like, I guess.

[Host]

I'll take your word for it. I was blackout drunk.

[Guest]

I mean, well, he's kind of like, that. You're. You were spread like, I had a girlfriend. You were spreading this rumor about me. And like, he was like, well, that's how I felt. And, like, I was hurt.

[Emmy]

And why didn't you go to him? You know, back to the whole case in point. Like, go to the person in the situation where you have the problem with, like, for me, I was like, you should have gone to Joe. If you created a narrative that Joe's in love with you over it, you should have gone to him asking his intentions behind it. And when it finally came out that he didn't even remember it there, like, you spent three years creating a false narrative over something that originally came from you to begin with. You know, it just to me, felt like a lot of what, like, confusion. Yeah.

[Will]

I mean, I've always thought that, like, if it's true. True, it's wrong. If it's false, it's wrong.

[Guest]

Yeah.

[Host]

Right.

[Will]

Right.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Will]

I think that's, like, the simplest way to put it.

[Host]

And I just don't know why TJ is able to, like, milk this storyline for a storyline where it's just like, bro, like, you seem like the bad guy in every version of the story.

[Emmy]

He doesn't care if he's the bad guy. He just wants to be on tv.

[Will]

I've always felt really bad for Joe through the whole thing, so I. I can't imagine how difficult it's been for him to navigate.

[Host]

Yeah. And I was curious as you guys. You guys know the situation.

[Emmy]

Used to be best friends with them, so we actually know everything about these people up until probably the last six months.

[Will]

Yeah. A year.

[Emmy]

I used to know their every thought, like, literally their.

[Will]

Yeah, we all had each other's locations for, like, three years straight.

[Emmy]

Hung out 24 7. Joe Bradley lived one floor above me in my apartment complex. Season two, when Will was at Joe Bradley's apartment, he was one floor above me to the left, literally.

[Host]

So. And we're. You would say you're not friends with anyone at this point?

[Emmy]

No, I mean, that's a little. I mean, I am texting Michaels right now as we speak. I mean, I'm like, this with Michaels. I think, Michaels, your first season on a TV show, it's a big learning curve.

[Will]

You and Maddie are really close now, too.

[Emmy]

Maddie and I are really close. I've been texting.

[Host]

You guys have bonded over these false allegations.

[Emmy]

Well, I think we both, like, we've gone through a lot together, and we haven't always been on the same side. Especially, I mean, season two, we definitely were really butting heads. And now that I've experienced kind of what it's like to have everyone just attack your relationship, I'm just like, I can't believe.

[Will]

Yeah, I don't know how she did it.

[Emmy]

I don't know. I can't believe you didn't cry. I can't believe you kept it together so much. Like, you know, and I have a lot of empathy, and I have a lot of respect for Maddie, and I have a lot of love for her, and I. You know, she's someone who's been on this show with me from the very beginning, and she's someone that I want to always have her to lean on. Me, too. Going Forward. Like, we figured it out and we are not each other's enemies. I want her to be, like, one of my closest friends. Like, she's a true girls girl. She means well and she will ride for the people she loves. And, you know, do you think her.

[Guest]

Or Michaels would have your back in a room full of people who don't?

[Emmy]

Yes, now I do. And the issue was at first, first was that Maddie thought that Will did cheat on me because of her experience with Trevor in season two. So all season she thought that I.

[Will]

Before she knew, before she knew the.

[Emmy]

Truth, she thought like, oh, this is. This happened. Emmy's blindly in love because this is what she had convinced herself. And once I dropped the bomb that Trevor never cheated and she was gaslit and lied to so that she could understand why. I don't believe anything at all that's being said to me. She finally was like, oh, my God, like, Will didn't cheat on you. Trevor didn't cheat on me. Like, what? That's why she's like, what's even real anymore?

[Host]

And so where do you think she's gonna stand with Brad?

[Emmy]

Yeah, no, me and Maddie are.

[Host]

Do you think Brad's gonna get his next season? I mean, I hope so. Like, how?

[Will]

I mean, I think karma will.

[Emmy]

I don't need to do any digging.

[Will]

That's my thing with Brad. And he, like, makes these posts and everything. And I just don't feel the need to engage. Cause I think if you. If you go out into the world and you act that way way, you'll in one day, you'll get what's coming to you.

[Host]

No, I get that. But I mean, even just if we're just talking pure tv, Maddie will want to. You know, I'm just saying, like, it's. I mean, you got half your cast, like, coming up with storylines for the sake of storylines. Well, there is a storyline now, and one of those storylines is one person. The cast is making up storylines to.

[Emmy]

Hurt, to ruin other people's lives really threatens the show. And it threatens Are mental.

[Host]

I mean, honestly, everything. I mean, spreading rumors about you or other people that are involved you. It really, you know, for all the people who misuse the. The term gaslit, it really, like, that's.

[Will]

On the nail on the head of gaslit.

[Emmy]

No, no. A picture of Bradley Carter is next to that definition in the dictionary. Like, literally. I've never seen a man so quickly gaslit.

[Will]

Well, I think it also hurt. I think it hurts the show as a whole, because I don't think anyone who's involved, you know, top to bottom. Once there to be.

[Host]

It only works once.

[Will]

Yeah.

[T Mobile Announcer]

The creation of it to all be.

[Will]

Lies of something that's fake. The idea and what we had always hoped for from the start doing the show was that, you know, we were a really tight friend group and we wanted to go through the ups and downs of being friends together. And I think that was always the plan. And somewhere along the way, I got sidetracked. And I think it's been bad for everyone. I think everyone in some way is going to be hurt by. By that, and it's just really unfortunate.

[Host]

All right, do you feel. How do you feel right now?

[Will]

I feel good. I. You know, it's. It's hard to relitigate these things again and again. I think people don't understand that. That about reality TV is that your life is not your life. Your life is over and over and over and over again to audiences. And then it's hard. People comment on sort of how it's documented and, you know, what do you.

[Emmy]

Mean, Will didn't cheat on Emmy? There's. How do you just have fake cheating rumors? That doesn't happen. Yeah. If you're in the real world, may maybe like.

[Will]

And, and our lives aren't like, even the real.

[Host]

I mean, people are bored.

[Emmy]

People are bored and our lives too.

[Will]

Like, I think, you know, my. My life, my whole life isn't this show. Like, I have school and. And. And stuff like that. And these. The problem is now they've. They've bled into each other in a way that. That's been tough. And I appreciate being able to go on something like this, with this sort of format and have these longer conversations because I think they're important, and I think that it complements the sort of the show world very well because you get this more nuanced take and you get the ability to. To really speak about who you are and maybe not just the caricature of you that. That people see in a limited context.

[Host]

That's also tough, too, just because, like, I imagine, you know, you guys have spent the past hour and how many minutes, like it's flown by defending, you know, rumor this or rumor that. But like, you, you know, like, every couple, I mean, you guys have your. I'm sure your relationship problems. I don't know. I'm sure shit has happened in your relationship. And it's like a weird thing because everyone knows no relationship's perfect. And you're sitting here like, well, that didn't happen and this didn't happen and that's not.

[Will]

And then it's like if we were to be honest about any other issue, then it. Does that get piled on to the fake ones or is that right? So it makes it, it makes it hard for us to want to be.

[Host]

Even open up about the shit that.

[Will]

Does happen because we were always like, we were always super open to talk about this. Like, if we had filmed all of that stuff about, you know, me inappropriately over sharing, I would have loved to have that conversation in different terms. Like, and to really talk with, you know, Brad and TJ and my friends about it. But you didn't have issue is that. Yeah, it, it blew up at a, at a, a big dinner where I wasn't there. And it's like, okay, well how do I have this conversation now? Because it seems like it's already been pre written for me when what my role in it is and was. It was really disappointing for me and it made it the season. As it kept airing, I felt more and more of that, that other people were telling my story and it then it made it hard for me to actually want to tell, tell the real story of us. And I don't think we really got a chance to talk about like our.

[Emmy]

Fights and our lives grew legs and then we didn't even have the opportunity to address the lies before everyone else gave it legs. And it's like, what, like what have you built out of a simple explanation.

[Guest]

That you would have just asked? I applaud the two of you for being able to get up and go and film the show and do it.

[Emmy]

Thank you.

[Guest]

It's not something I would ever want to do.

[Will]

It hasn't been easy. Easy.

[Guest]

I, I can't imagine that it has. But I, I do want to ask you if Grace Lilly saying like, maybe this career isn't for you, when you were kind of opening up about like just how hard this has been on you did that.

[Emmy]

I think I just wanted the audience to understand because I think a lot of times they forget that there is such a production behind what I go through and that you don't just live it once. You live it so many times over and over and over again. And a lot of what you see during the season is me realizing we are at a big dinner table at Lake's birthday. This isn't some cute little side issue. This is the season. I've realized everyone's been talking about this for the past three weeks. This is the season. This is the storyline. This is it. I'm the target. This is going to be the. I just. And that's where my pan. I'm like, it does.

[Host]

It does put your outbursts into context.

[Emmy]

But that's why the season, like, it's.

[Host]

Like your, Your, Your freak out seem to come from you having like this.

[Will]

Like this oh. Moment.

[Host]

It's not about Will mic'd up realizing, like, oh, I. Oh, I.

[Guest]

It is an ambush.

[Emmy]

You guys have been talking about this for three weeks. Oh, you've all your scenes last week.

[Will]

Yeah. And I think she's realizing, okay, we're gonna have to talk about this forever.

[Emmy]

Forever for.

[Will]

And in that moment, she's, you know, playing 20 steps ahead in the chess game that is. Can be the show sometimes.

[Emmy]

And that's my biggest thing. It's like, that's why every time I freak out, I'm literally like, I can't. They can't just leave us alone. Like, I can't get a break. And it's because I literally don't get a break every day. I have to talk about it.

[Host]

I mean, but fair or not, there it is.

[Emmy]

It's my career, though, that I just.

[Host]

I mean, that's, you know, some of the people I know in Bravo world, like, I, you know, to Nellie's point, like, I couldn't do what they do.

[Will]

Yeah.

[Host]

I'm not even willing to do what they do. And they are professionals. And it, like, there's hazard pay, so to speak.

[Emmy]

I wish I was dumber. So I didn't know exactly what I was going to go through, because everything I knew I was going to go. Go through, I've went through.

[Host]

It's almost like you have to, like, separate the person and the character, and you have to be okay with being the character and then allow people on the outside world to not know the difference.

[Will]

Yeah, I, I think for me, I've especially this. This season struggle with that so hard that I really question whether this is the right thing for me. And I, When I look at Emmy, I think that she's a star and. And I just think that she. It's hard for her to put her relationship in that context. If it was just Emmy, you know, the servant republic, then I think she could do it, you know, 10 times over.

[Host]

But I mean, it does kind of feel like, yeah, that this is where you guys are at in life.

[Emmy]

Yeah.

[Host]

You're in law school, you're working at a bar, and then the show's being filmed in this moment in your life. And it seems like the show has been able to just.

[Emmy]

He's disregarded Emmy. He hasn't cared.

[Host]

You know, like, you have this. You got law school and really kind of taken almost like this Legally Blonde kind of like, you know, you're in law school, and you have the. You've planned out your guys together. And, like, I don't think there was a scene where you talked about, like, proposing or something, and it was very.

[Will]

Much like, yeah, you've decided I sounded pretty silly.

[Emmy]

It's like a reward.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Emmy]

You know what's so funny, too? And I don't know, like, the viewers wouldn't know this, but, like, Will and I are very neurodivergent. Like, I was legitimately diagnosed with ADHD when I was five years old. I was put on 20. 20 milligrams of extended release Adderall when I was five. I have been on Adderall for 22 years.

[Guest]

Damn.

[Emmy]

So for me, like, just so we know, like, I'm.

[Host]

I'm also.

[Guest]

So y'all are in good company.

[Emmy]

Just so you know, like, I am a very. Like, I deal with sensory processing issues. Sensory. Like, I am. Am a little special sometimes, and I get overstimulated. I could feel the mic on my back in some scenes, and I'd literally be tweaking out, like, because it was falling down my back while I'm in the serious conversation. Like, the lighting is blinding my eyes. You saw how many times I took my sunglasses off of my conversation with Michaels. And, like, Will also is a different version of.

[Will]

Yeah, I just say things weird sometimes, but.

[Emmy]

And I think they take it.

[Will]

I gave him plenty of ammunition, and I can only blame myself for that.

[Emmy]

Because it sounds like we have no chemistry. And I. I'm like, to the viewers, probably at this point, you guys seem.

[Host]

Normal enough after 90 minutes of talking.

[Will]

I would hope so.

[Emmy]

Thank God.

[Host]

I think you feel better. You feel less nervous. Yeah, I feel better.

[Will]

You know, I. It. It's. You know, I think. Thank you guys for giving me the forum and. Yeah, you know, I think we could talk forever, but I don't know if that's gonna make it any.

[Guest]

I mean, is there anything that you feel like you didn't get off your chest?

[Will]

No, I feel better.

[Host]

Okay.

[Will]

I feel better. I think that's the best.

[Host]

I mean, clearly, you overthink. Yes, I know. So, like, you've done a good job. I don't. You know, and don't think. And don't sit there and replay this in your head over and over.

[Will]

I'll try not to.

[Host]

I mean, it's just.

[Emmy]

I mean, I think like one of the last little bits and pieces that bothered me the most of this season was seeing how one sided they tried to make my relationship with Will and how they try to make it look like I was so obsessive over it and Will couldn't give it. As if it's a one sided story.

[Will]

Where Emmy wears the pants a lot.

[Host]

Yeah, well, it's one thing I've learned about reality TV and I've been in this business for a long time is things have a way of coming around and it's always the long game. And the people who do make tv, you know, they know what they're doing. And even if it was the last scene in the finale of the prom where that whole group kind of bizarrely followed you and ganged up on you while you guys were supposed to have this like one on one conversation with, with Austin, I really think painted a picture of what the real dynamic of this relationship is and, you know, don't know what holds the future for you on this show. Sounds like Emmy, you're back for sure. But like, things have a way of flipping itself on its head and maybe Bradley or TJ might have to be in a different position.

[Will]

Yeah, I think I'm very lucky that Emmy is such a, she's very glass half full kind of person. So I just think going forward, no matter what happens with the show or, you know, who's involved and who's in the hot seat, I think that, you know, I, I try to borrow a page from Emmy's book, which is just to see it for the best.

[Host]

Well, thanks for showing up for this. Yeah, we appreciate it. Thank you guys for listening. Hope you guys enjoyed this episode. We'll see you tomorrow.

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