E960 - Love Island Exclusives w/ Vanna, Perfect Match S3 Cast, Maddie and Tae, and Mormon Wives Reunion

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Viall Files – Episode E960

Title: Love Island Exclusives w/ Vanna, Perfect Match S3 Cast, Maddie and Tae, and Mormon Wives Reunion
Release Date: July 1, 2025
Hosts: Nick Viall, Natalie Joy, Jared, Ethan, and the Household

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1. Introduction and Episode Overview

In this special edition of The Viall Files Reality Recap, host Jared kicks off the episode by welcoming listeners back, especially those tuning in over the Fourth of July weekend. He highlights key attractions, including the upcoming reunion of "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" on Hulu and recaps past episodes featuring guests like Jeremiah, Hannah, and Jalen. Jared sets the stage for an exciting episode filled with insights from Love Island’s Vanna, the cast of Perfect Match Season 3, country music stars Maddie and Tay, and a special discussion on recent reality TV dramas.

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2. Hosts' Personal Stories

Jared’s Heartbreak Story ([02:14] - [04:03])

Jared opens up about his first heartbreak from the sixth grade when his girlfriend Kelly broke up with him via an answering machine message. Reflecting on the painful experience, Jared shares:

"Nick, this is Kelly. You're dumped." ([03:39])

Natalie empathizes, teasing Jared about his youthful romantic woes and the lasting memories of that breakup.

Nick’s Hairstyle Journey ([05:07] - [06:20])

The conversation shifts to Nick's decision to buzz his hair, inspired by Brad Pitt and Justin Bieber. Natalie teases Jared about the transformation, comparing it to Britney Spears' infamous haircut.

"I think of more of a Brad Pitt moment." ([04:03])

Nick humorously recounts his struggle to maintain the buzz, emphasizing the challenges of DIY haircuts during COVID.

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3. Discussing Reality TV Casts and Dynamics

Perfect Match Season 3 Cast Insights ([07:06] - [09:08])

Jared introduces the latest cast of Perfect Match, highlighting familiar faces like former lovers Clayton Eckhart and Rachel Recchia. The hosts discuss the dynamics between cast members, expressing hope for couples like Rachel and Freddie from Love Island UK.

Anna Wintour and Vogue Controversy ([09:08] - [12:46])

The hosts delve into a conspiracy theory surrounding Anna Wintour stepping down from Vogue due to Lauren Sanchez's appointment as Co-Vogue. They dissect tweets from Yashar Ali and debate the plausibility of the theory, ultimately expressing skepticism about Wintour’s potential resignation.

"I personally do not believe that Anna Wintour would give Lauren Sanchez the Co-Vogue." ([12:46])

Natalie adds her perspective, underscoring Wintour’s dedication to Vogue’s future.

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4. Interview with Country Music Stars Maddie and Tay

Introducing Maddie and Tay ([21:00] - [22:00])

Country duo Maddie and Tay join the show to promote their new album "Love and Light," sharing their journey in the music industry and their admiration for the podcast.

"That's why I love listening." - Maddie ([21:07])

Building a Healthy Relationship ([22:00] - [25:29])

Maddie and Tay discuss maintaining a loving and supportive relationship amidst the pressures of fame and parenthood. They highlight the importance of honest communication and understanding each other's perspectives.

"Let me understand where you're coming from so I can see it from your side." - Tay ([25:31])

Navigating Parenthood ([36:07] - [38:27])

The conversation turns to parenting, with Maddie and Tay sharing their approaches to raising their children. They emphasize fostering independence and emotional strength in their kids.

"Be full, be balanced, like, be herself. And then the right person will just come along." - Ethan ([36:17])

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5. Parenting and Relationship Insights from Maddie and Tay

Balancing Career and Motherhood ([43:16] - [44:39])

Maddie opens up about her struggles with endometriosis and the challenges of trying to conceive, highlighting the emotional rollercoaster of pregnancy.

"How did you meet your husband?" - Jared ([33:14])
"I met him through songwriting, actually, through the industry." - Ethan ([33:14])

Handling Tantrums and Discipline ([38:16] - [41:24])

Maddie and Tay discuss their strategies for managing their children's temper tantrums, emphasizing patience and understanding while setting firm boundaries.

"I'm like, I see you're really upset, and when you want to calm your body and you want to let me know what's going on, I'm happy to help you, but I can't help you when you're acting crazy. Okay, bye." - Maddie ([39:04])

Life Lessons for Their Children ([36:16] - [38:27])

They reflect on the lessons they've learned from past relationships and how they plan to impart these values to their daughters, focusing on self-worth and balanced relationships.

"Be full, be balanced, like, be herself." - Ethan ([36:17])

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6. Interview with Vanna from Love Island: Experiences and Challenges

Vanna’s Reality TV Experience ([48:00] - [55:27])

Vanna shares her tumultuous experience on Love Island, detailing the emotional impact of returning to the U.S. amid social media backlash. She describes feeling overwhelmed by negative comments and the pressure to maintain her public image.

"It was really, really hard when I was seeing all of it." - Vanna ([48:39])

Dealing with Haters and Mental Health ([53:36] - [55:00])

Vanna discusses the cruelty of online harassment and the importance of having a strong support system. Maddie and Ethan reflect on similar experiences, emphasizing resilience and self-love.

"I had a moment where I just broke down crying." - Vanna ([50:10])

Show Dynamics and Production Insights ([65:00] - [89:00])

The discussion shifts to the behind-the-scenes aspects of Love Island, with Vanna providing insights into cast dynamics, producer influence, and the editing process. The hosts and guests analyze how producers shape narratives to create engaging television, often at the expense of authentic interactions.

"Sometimes reality TV stars who come out of this experience with nothing but love and attention and adoration, that really fucks you up." - Jared ([57:50])

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7. Analysis of Production and Show Dynamics

Producer Influence and Cast Behavior ([74:00] - [88:10])

The hosts and Vanna dissect the role of producers in Love Island, debating how producer interventions can alter the natural flow of relationships and create drama for ratings. They discuss specific instances where producer involvement may have heightened tensions or influenced cast decisions.

"They are too controlling with their influence in the villa." - Jared ([75:53])

Reality vs. Edited Reality ([88:00] - [89:00])

Agreements are made on how editing can distort reality, making genuine relationships seem forced or highlighting conflicts that may not organically exist.

"They just did not put that part in there at all." - Vanna ([84:51])

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8. Conclusion and Upcoming Episode Teases

As the episode wraps up, Jared teases future content, including the "Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" reunion and additional insightful episodes featuring past guests. The hosts encourage listeners to catch up on previous episodes for more engaging discussions and_relationship advice.

"Make sure to check out the reunion of the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives which I am hosting in the Women Show Up Deliver." - Jared ([97:03])

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• "Nick, this is Kelly. You're dumped." — Jared ([03:39])
• "I think of more of a Brad Pitt moment." — Natalie ([04:03])
• "Be full, be balanced, like, be herself." — Ethan ([36:17])
• "It was really, really hard when I was seeing all of it." — Vanna ([48:39])
• "Sometimes reality TV stars who come out of this experience with nothing but love and attention and adoration, that really fucks you up." — Jared ([57:50])

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Final Thoughts

Episode E960 of The Viall Files offers a deep dive into the lives of reality TV stars, their personal journeys, and the intricate dynamics of show production. With heartfelt personal stories from hosts and guests, insightful interviews, and candid discussions about the impact of fame and media scrutiny, this episode provides listeners with both entertainment and valuable relationship wisdom.

Transcript

[Nick]

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[Jared]

That means 90s prices on juice pouches.

[Nick]

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[Jared]

What's going on everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the Vile Files Reality Recap edition. I am your host N Happy fourth of July weekend. Happy Secret Lives of Mormon Wives reunion special day that comes out, I think tonight. I don't mean sometime today. Maybe it's already out when you're listening to it. Check it out. It's on Hulu. If you're up and early listening to it, you might have to wait a few hours. Programming note before we kick off this explosive episode, this will be the last episode that we are releasing this week. Enjoy your family. Enjoy the holidays. Enjoy celebrating America. If you need some podcasting content, God knows we have put out a lot lately. So if you haven't listened to everything, be sure to check it out. We have the Jeremiah episode, the Going Deeper episode that dropped last week. I think everyone in the world listened to that, but if you haven't, be sure to check it out. It's definitely something you do not want to miss. We also had Hannah last week. We had Jalen last week. So it was definitely a full Love island bash. Later this episode we have Vanna in studio in la. She is already back in the States. She is here to talk about all the tea that's going down in the villa. Give us the inside scoop of the most recent dumpings. You know, dumping is such a brutal word. It's how I was first broken up with. I think I've told you the story.

[Natalie]

She said, I'm dumping you.

[Jared]

Sixth grade. My girlfriend Kelly, her twin brother was my best friend. And by girlfriend I mean like we just, we put a label on it. We didn't hold hands.

[Natalie]

I really, I feel like that's a conflict of interest for you and your buddy.

[Jared]

Well, I mean I was able to have a sleepover, you know, but.

[Natalie]

You dirty dog.

[Jared]

I know, I know. Anyway, my friend Tim, so I thought, so I thought also decided to have a crush on her. And then my family and I, we went to go see the Mighty Ducks in the budget theaters, you know, large Family. So Mighty Ducks was in the budget theaters, and when we got home, this is the days of the answering machine. So you'd come home and everyone got to hear the messages, and my family gathered around the answering machine, and the message was, nick, this is Kelly. You're dumb. Aw.

[Ethan]

Did you cry?

[Jared]

Sobbed.

[Natalie]

You did?

[Jared]

Well, my mom actually was, weirdly, not in town. I think she was at my cousin's baptism or something, which was rare for my mom to fly. Uh, and I. When she got back in town, I sobbed in her arms. And the moment I heard it, I was just embarrassed. But it was a devastating heartbreak.

[Natalie]

What did your siblings do? Did they, like, laugh at you or were they.

[Jared]

I think they were just kind of like, whoa. She had to call and apologize.

[Natalie]

She did?

[Jared]

Yeah. Her mom made her call because she thought it was kind of rude.

[Nick]

Well, yeah. That's a crazy way of phrasing.

[Jared]

It was Nick. I'll never forget it. Nick, this is Kelly. You're dumped.

[Natalie]

Wow. And did you ever see Kelly again?

[Jared]

Oh, yeah. Yeah, all the way through high school.

[Maddie]

Wow.

[Jared]

I think for a hot second in high school, she. She tried to win me back, but I had.

[Natalie]

You said no?

[Jared]

I said no.

[Natalie]

Well, if you're watching this episode, then you will know that Nick had a Britney Spears moment. And he does, but. And he did buzz his head.

[Jared]

I think of more of a Brad Pitt moment.

[Nick]

Oh, well, maybe Justin Bieber more.

[Natalie]

I just say Britney, because Britney kind of was, like, shaving her own head, you know? And like, that's. That was kind of what you did.

[Jared]

Do you think people pay to get their hair buzzed?

[Natalie]

Yeah.

[Nick]

Yes.

[Natalie]

Yeah.

[Jared]

So easy.

[Natalie]

Most people.

[Jared]

I think that is fun.

[Nick]

Danny pays to get his hair buzzed.

[Jared]

Why?

[Nick]

Because it's hard to do. I remember during COVID I tried to buzz his hair, and it was really difficult for me.

[Jared]

What part was.

[Nick]

It was, like, all uneven. Well, first of all, it's really scary. Like, I was really scared that I was going to hurt him the whole time.

[Jared]

But you put, like, a guard on it. Correct. Like you. They have. You know, you're.

[Natalie]

He's like, no, I took a knife to his head. I thought that's what.

[Maddie]

Maybe.

[Nick]

I don't know.

[Jared]

Well, your average hair clippers have the. Have those plastic guards. They, you know, they go from, like, half again. It's like. I don't know what. It goes from 1/2 to 1 to 2 to 3, to 4, to 5, 6, 7, 8.

[Natalie]

Nick had just watched one too many Brad Pitt. You know, he recently. Brad went back. He went back Shaved or buzzed. And Nick's been watching a lot of Brad Pitt videos, and I think he got inspired.

[Jared]

Well, I did it for Special Forces. It's. Honestly, it's. It's the summer cut. It's clean. It makes me feel a little dangerous. Like, I got the curly hair. It's fluffy. I think sometimes when my hair gets too long and curly, like, people don't take me seriously.

[Natalie]

He just wanted to be like, the dogs. You know, we shave the dogs.

[Jared]

It is summer is nice to just wait, you know? And I posted a picture on the gram, and feedback seems to be pretty positive.

[Natalie]

Yeah, yeah, Yeah.

[Jared]

I wasn't sure if my wife would think I was attractive anymore.

[Natalie]

He was very nervous. He was like, I think I'm gonna.

[Ethan]

Are you?

[Natalie]

And I was like, I just don't remember what you look like with a shaved head. Like, I just am nervous.

[Jared]

Well, the first time I did it in years was during the pandemic, when Natalie and I were.

[Natalie]

When we were just talking, when we.

[Jared]

Were hanging out early in our courting relationship. Early Covid. Yeah. When everyone was just like, I'm bored. I did it for the first time with Natalie, and she told me how hot I looked. And then later in our relationship, I felt like she admitted that she was exaggerating how hot I looked.

[Natalie]

It was Covid. You know, everyone needed to feel good. I was just trying to help you feel a little good.

[Nick]

And she was like, it's not. It's not gonna happen again. It's fine. This is.

[Natalie]

Yeah. I was like, this is just, like, a Covid thing. He'll, like, grow out of it.

[Nick]

This will never come up again.

[Natalie]

He'll never do it again. And then he did it for Special Forces, but then he wore the hat, like, the whole time on Special Forces Winter Warfare. You couldn't even see your badass shaped head. And now here we are. Third time's the charm, and I actually do like it. I think you do look good. Yes.

[Jared]

Good. Well, in addition to Vanna, we also have country music stars Maddie and Tay with us to promote their new album that's already out. They're also huge Love island fans, also fans of the secret lives of Mormon wives. And so they're here to break that down with us. They'll be joining us. Shortly. Before they join us, we have the cast of Perfect Match that was launched last week, and we have some familiar faces, most notably former lovers.

[Natalie]

Oh, good.

[Jared]

Clayton Eckhart and Rachel Recchia are in the cast together. And in the. In the cast photo, they're like, he has his hand on her leg.

[Natalie]

I think that was probably, like, a little, you know, a little comfort maybe for the both of them. You know, they just were like a familiar face, you know, maybe they just. I think they both realize that they're friends.

[Maddie]

They can't.

[Jared]

I hope so.

[Natalie]

I really wanted Rachel. I hope it plays out this way that her and Freddie from Love Island UK end up together, because I loved him so much on Love is Blind.

[Jared]

If you guys haven't watched Love is Blind uk. He was a hottie. He was. He was Love island hottie.

[Natalie]

Why? Past tense?

[Jared]

Well, on the show, I mean, I don't know.

[Natalie]

He still is. Current day.

[Jared]

Well, from what I saw, whenever he filmed it, he was. He was Love island hot. Like, it was. We were like, oh, you should. Are you sure you want to be in the show?

[Natalie]

You know, who. Who is on? Who's J.R. from the Ultimatum.

[Nick]

Remember that guy and Sandy.

[Natalie]

Oh, are they Sandy? I didn't see Sandy yet. Dang.

[Jared]

She's gonna break some hearts.

[Natalie]

Interesting. I wonder if they're trying to run that back.

[Nick]

I hope not.

[Natalie]

I hope.

[Jared]

Wait, J. Wait. Junior. The one Sandy was in a relationship with? The one who's really salty with us? Yeah.

[Nick]

Yes.

[Natalie]

We also have Juliet Porter.

[Jared]

Who?

[Natalie]

From Siesta Key. I love her. I loved Siesta Key so much.

[Jared]

They have a Siesta Key person on the show?

[Ethan]

Yes.

[Natalie]

Juliet Port. Icon. Legend. Reality TV legend. Apparently she said she was, like, in the interviews for Summer House, and they gave it to Lexi instead of her, which, you know.

[Nick]

Oh, interesting.

[Natalie]

Yeah. I do think maybe for the next season, they need to dip back into some. Some reality TV pool.

[Nick]

Well, you know, AD A lot of Temptation Island.

[Jared]

Yeah. Do we even care? Like, spoiler alert.

[Natalie]

I think they did that on purpose.

[Jared]

Why?

[Natalie]

Obviously, because they're. They got engaged, and then now she's pregnant, and I think it was just like, they want to live their life, so they're like, hey, she got pregn. She's pregnant? Currently. Yeah.

[Nick]

That confused me. I was like, oh, my God. Wait, did AD and her fiance already.

[Natalie]

Break up and they're both on Perfect Match together?

[Jared]

What? What a twist.

[Nick]

Why isn't anyone talking about this?

[Jared]

I feel like that. Isn't that a summer show? Okay.

[Natalie]

Yeah. August 1st.

[Jared]

Cranking August 1st content.

[Natalie]

August 1st. It'll be nice to see Rachel Rekia again on our TV screens. You know, I agree with that. Yeah. We also have a conspiracy theory that has rocked the nation that I do believe in, and it is that Anna Wintour has stepped down from Vogue because they put Lauren Sanchez on the COVID of Vogue. And she was like, this isn't how this works.

[Jared]

Like, so she, like, quit her job.

[Natalie]

I think she was like, this isn't going to work for me.

[Ethan]

And, like, it's.

[Natalie]

And then they were like, we're. You know.

[Jared]

That doesn't make sense, though. Yashar Ali, I don't know if you guys know him, but he is a very influential person online. He just. He gets the real scoops. He's. Well, is an actual journalist, but he's an. He's responded to these rumors. Whatever the company that is owns Vogue magazine. His response was, Anna Winter has more influence to this company than the president of North Korea. And he wasn't kidding.

[Natalie]

And basically that was part of his tweet was, I'm not kidding.

[Jared]

He was really like. And I'm not kidding. He's like, I'm not. Like, I'm not exaggerating. I'm not just saying this. Like, he. I mean, that he's.

[Natalie]

Do you feel like Jeff Bezos has more money than the.

[Jared]

Oh, it doesn't matter how much. I mean, Jeff Bezos certainly has enough money to buy this company. And if he bought the company, then, sure, he could do whatever he wanted, but if he, you know, if he doesn't buy the company or if he's not paying off, like, other board members, even then, like, just. Just being one of the richest men in the world doesn't get you to just tell people what to do. You actually have to spend that money.

[Natalie]

You don't think he spent that money.

[Jared]

But how did he spend it? Spending it would mean buying the company in which he wants to have more influence than the most powerful person in the company.

[Natalie]

I don't know. I think it's. I believe it because remember when Justin Bieber revealed his fight with Haley and he was like. And I told her she'd never make the COVID of American Vogue because even Justin Bieber knows how hard it is to get the COVID of American Vogue. Like, you have to. There has to be so, like, you have to work for it. There has to be so many things.

[Jared]

But you think it's more believable that.

[Natalie]

Like, I don't think Anna Wintour is like, sure, let me give it to this billionaire's wife.

[Jared]

I'm just saying. I don't. I don't. I think that's more believable than her quitting over, like, because of this. That's how she's gonna go down after this illustrious career.

[Natalie]

Well, she says anybody in a creative field knows how essential it is to never stop growing in one's work. When I became the editor of Vogue, I was eager to prove to all who might listen that there was a new, exciting way to imagine an American fashion magazine. Now I find that my greatest pleasure is helping the next generation of impassioned editors storm the field with their own ideas for supported by a new, exciting view of what a major media company can be. And that is exactly the kind of person we need to now look for to be head of editing chief for US Vogue. Anna Wintour went on to explain that many of her responsibilities at Vogue would remain the same, including paying very close attention to the fashion industry, into the creative cultural force that is our extraordinary Met Ball, and charting the course of future Vogue worlds. I personally do not believe that Anna Wintour would give Lauren Sanchez the COVID of Vogue. Nothing against Lauren Sanchez. It's more so, like, you have a lot against. It's just more so that, like, and I don't know her, pat her. Her career endeavors and what she has done in her lifetime. But, like, I only know of her as Jeff Bezos wife. And that's not how you get the COVID of American Vogue.

[Jared]

He's very influential, for sure. Well, they got married.

[Nick]

What did you think of her dress?

[Natalie]

Boring. Honestly, I was like, the fact that it was custom by Dolce and Gabbana and that's like the best we got. It felt like she honestly got it off of, like, Iraq in a. In a small town. There was just nothing to it. That was giving custom and, like, brand and like, one of the most richest people in the world, you know?

[Nick]

Yeah, no, I. I agree with you.

[Natalie]

Did you see the invitations?

[Nick]

No.

[Natalie]

Oh, my God. It was the most insane thing I've ever seen.

[Jared]

Listen, it's obviously as ridiculous, you know, it's a wedding of opulence, which we would all go if we were invited. Just like Orlando Bloom and Cindy.

[Nick]

Well, didn't they. Did they rent out the holes?

[Jared]

What? And Tom Brady.

[Nick]

They, like, rented out the whole city.

[Natalie]

Did you see Leonardo DiCaprio? Like, would not show his face.

[Jared]

Did he go?

[Natalie]

He went. But he wore a hat and, like, pulled it completely down over his face. Did not show his face at all for any photos.

[Jared]

He still wanted to go, though. He's there for the party.

[Nick]

But Lauren Sanchez did reveal that she slimmed down for this wedding, losing a whopping three and a half pounds.

[Jared]

That's a good poop.

[Natalie]

My God.

[Tay]

Wow.

[Jared]

I'm just like. That was a Headline Congrats to Jen Affleck, who went into labor at a salon. Did they. Did they have. Has she had her baby?

[Nick]

Do we know if she went into labor then?

[Jared]

But has she announced it?

[Nick]

She has not announced it yet.

[Ethan]

All.

[Nick]

All we know is that she went into labor three days ago in the nail salon, but there has been no announcement. I'm sure there will be by the time this episode airs, though. But, yeah, nothing yet.

[Jared]

But before Maddie and Tay show up, there are also rumors circulating that Rachel Kirk Connell is being considered as an ex bachelorette. And I feel like this is mostly probably just a silly rumor right now. They don't even know who their next bachelor is. They don't even know who's going to be running the shows. So they're a long way away from thinking even like, actually considering who their leads are. Maybe there was a conversation had. But, like, I also find it hard to believe. I mean, I think she'd be a swell choice. I also think that despite, like, you know, what Bachernation thinks of Matt James right now, I think he still has a good relationship with the show itself. And I think unless, like, I don't think it would stop them from, like, picking Rachel if they thought she was the absolute best choice and there was no other choice possible and she was a slam dunk home run, I think they would do it. But I also think there's, like, consideration of, like, do we really want to. You know, it's. It's kind of an f you to a former Bachelor. I think they generally try not to do that, but I think she'd be fine. But also, Victoria Fuller, if you're going to go to the. Well, if you're going to go back to the old cast, there is only one option and one option only. And her name is Victoria Fuller, and that would be must see television.

[Natalie]

So true.

[Nick]

I think Victoria would be a great choice. I think Rachel would be a great choice. But do you. Do you actually think it would be a big slap in the face to Matt because he broke up with her? I feel like he's kind of also like not slap in the face.

[Jared]

I just think it's talking about it. It's just. It's just drama. I don't know if they really want to bother with.

[Natalie]

They already have. I mean, we. We broke this news weeks ago, but the, the. The Golden Bachelor now is, you know, his taste on.

[Jared]

Well, we're getting out. Yeah, we. We kind of broke it a while ago, but people are starting to pick up on the story.

[Nick]

You know, bad.

[Jared]

Yeah. All right, well, Maddie and Tay are here and they are about to join us to talk some Love island and get their thoughts on secret lives. They are up next. And then later this episode, Vanna from Love island will join us as well. But right now it's Maddie and Tay. Well, it's time once again to remind you how great Helix mattresses are. If you are considering upgrading your mattress or even if you're not considering it, you should. If you don't have a Helix mattress, it's the greatest mattress ever made. We are obsessed with our Helix mattress. We have also gifted it to family and friends and they rave about it. We have Helix mattresses in all of our guest bedrooms. And every time we have company, our guests wake up and go, what was that mattress? I slept on? It is incredible. And then we go ahead and hook them up with a mattress.

[Natalie]

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[Jared]

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[Natalie]

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[Jared]

Obviously one of the most meaningful things I get to do in the show is hear people's stories about the relationships and problems they have and hopefully try to help them from time to time. But sometimes it doesn't feel like I'm able to help. And there was this one listener who recently wrote in. They wrote in and said, I love my partner but I have zero interest in sex. It's killing me. I feel broken. Well, first off, obviously we know she is not. We've had this conversation on the show before. It could be biological, it could be your brain chemistry at play.

[Natalie]

Luckily, there's a little pink pill called Addi. It's the first FDA approved treatment for frustrating low libido in certain pre menopausal women. It's not about fixing you, it's about helping you feel like you. So go to addy.com to learn more. That's a d d y I.com and get back to feeling like yourself.

[Vanna]

Addy or Flabanserin is for premenopausal women with Acquired Generalized Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder HSDD who have not had problems with low sexual desire in the past who have had low sexual desire. No matter the type of sexual activity, the situation or the sexual partner, this low sexual desire is troubling to them and is not due to a medical or mental health problem, problems in the relationship, or medicine or other drug use. ADDI is not for use in children, men or to enhance sexual performance. Your risk of severe low blood pressure and fainting is increased if you drink one to two standard alcoholic drinks close in time to your ADI dose. Wait at least two hours after drinking before taking ADDI at bedtime. This risk increases if you take certain prescriptions, OTC or herbal medications or have liver problems and can happen when you take Addi without alcohol or other medicines. Do not take if you are allergic to any of addi's ingredients. Allergic reaction may include hives, itching or trouble breathing. Sometimes serious sleepiness can occur. Common side effects include dizziness, nausea, tiredness, difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep and dry mouth. See full PI and medication guide including boxed [e-mail] PI.

[Jared]

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[Natalie]

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[Jared]

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[Natalie]

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[Jared]

Beer.

[Maddie]

Yay, y' all. I'm so excited. I y' all have been on our list of like dream podcasts for like. I'm so excited.

[Jared]

We are excited to have you both.

[Ethan]

I love Yalls dynamic.

[Maddie]

It's just. That's what I was gonna say. That's why I love to listen.

[Jared]

Like, I'm glad we are recording. We will put that in for sure.

[Maddie]

Definitely. Let's gas, y' all.

[Jared]

And Tay, welcome.

[Maddie]

Thank you for having us.

[Jared]

We're so excited to have you. Yeah. Anyways, you're talking about how great our show is going to be.

[Ethan]

No, really incredible. I love your guests. I love your dynamic. No, truly, you've been so excited. This has been like bucket list for ours.

[Maddie]

Oh yeah, we like, we had a list and we're like, these are our dream podcasts to go on. But also I think it's so like y' all are in just such a healthy, like loving relationship and I just think that's refreshing. Like, I know there's, there's like a handful a couple podcasts out there, but I just like that y' all just go in like all the way there. There's you ask questions, not too much.

[Ethan]

Sugar coat that everyone's thinking, you know what I mean?

[Maddie]

And I dig that.

[Ethan]

I can be the type of person that just is like, I'm not gonna ask it. I'm not gonna go there. And y' all do that for me. And it Makes me so happy.

[Tay]

Yeah.

[Jared]

Yeah. I've always, like, excelled in uncomfortable.

[Maddie]

It's.

[Natalie]

He does.

[Ethan]

And.

[Maddie]

Yeah. Where does that come from?

[Ethan]

Awkwardness. My husband's very similar.

[Maddie]

Yeah. He. Josh is so sick.

[Jared]

Generally not caring what people think of me.

[Maddie]

Yeah, I suppose. What a superpower. Cause I feel like I got that superpower. I think it was, like, becoming a mom and then, like, getting our freaking hearts broken, like, over and over again for, like, in the business, in the music business.

[Jared]

I feel like motherhood probably would help with that because, like, you just can't. There's, like, a. Well, mom, Natalie's mom. Natalie's always had, like, a mama line energy ever since I met her. But, like, early in our relationship, I think we've told this story before. We are in line at Prince Street Pizza with some friends, and, like, you know, it was like, late at night, so people were drinking, and some lady girl, whatever, was like, do you host a podcast? And I'm like, yeah. And this is, like, years of five years ago. She's like, oh, well, I don't really like it, but a lot of. She was like, I know a lot of people listen to it, but, like, I don't like it. And I was like, you know, whatever. I'm just kind of, like, deflecting.

[Natalie]

Yeah. I'm like, did anyone ask?

[Maddie]

See, that's my energy.

[Natalie]

Oh, yeah.

[Maddie]

When it comes to my husband or my best friend, you were going down.

[Ethan]

So that's when you saw the mom. A bear energy.

[Jared]

Yeah. I was like, damn.

[Natalie]

You're like, I definitely think since having River, I'm definitely more like, I don't give. Like, I don't feel.

[Maddie]

I don't. I just can't. I don't even have any less. I'm so freaking tired.

[Natalie]

Same.

[Maddie]

And my mental load is, like, at capacity. Like, there's even sometimes for shows where I'm like, I can't do my hair today. Like, I just can't do it because my brain's already just fried for the whole damn day.

[Ethan]

I know. I literally went and just got my hormones checked because I was like, I think I might be in pre menopause crazy right now. My poor husband's like, yeah, maybe you should go.

[Jared]

There have been a couple of times I was like, I know, let's let it go.

[Ethan]

I know the labs are normal. So I'm just a crazy mom.

[Maddie]

You just have something else, like a protective energy.

[Jared]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

And just like, you just don't have time for bullshit anymore. And I think that's where we get, like, because we. I mean, we've been best friends in a. In a duo for 15 years. So, like, when there's just, like, bullshit that's unnecessary, we're like. Like, we. No, we don't have time for this. We got kids.

[Ethan]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

We're ride or die. We know what we want. Like, just, you know.

[Jared]

Yeah, I think I've always. Yeah, I think. Yeah. I've never really had the patience for.

[Maddie]

Yeah. And that might be where that superpower of, like, not caring comes from. Because I used to care. I used to care way too much.

[Natalie]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

And just. Just, like, people pleasy and, like, I don't know. I think that was just, like, the role I took on in my family for a long time, and now I don't. I don't care to please anybody but my. Damn.

[Natalie]

It's such a freeing feeling to just be, like. To, like, read comments or, like, hear something and be like. I'm like, okay.

[Maddie]

Oh, my gosh. Next.

[Tay]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

Don't care. Can't care.

[Jared]

Also, like, when we. When we get the pleasure and opportunity to interview reality TV stars. As someone who's been in that world before, like, I also. They should want those questions because it's an opportunity to address any criticisms or misconceptions about them, so.

[Ethan]

Absolutely.

[Jared]

You know, and I never want to, like, we always want to make our guests feel comfortable, but we always. We just want to ask it in a way where it's just, like, you know, you want to.

[Maddie]

Oh, I love it.

[Ethan]

Absolutely.

[Maddie]

I used to be, like, not great about uncomfortable, like, conversations, and now I've, like, gotten so much better. I just. I think I approach it less emotionally.

[Natalie]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

Now that I'm, like, a little more regulated of a human, it helps everybody.

[Ethan]

Let me help you. Help me.

[Maddie]

Yeah. Help me understand where you're coming from. That's what we. If we're ever, like, not seeing eye to eye, that's the language we use. Like, let me understand where you're coming from so I can see it from your side.

[Ethan]

It's like a marriage, honestly.

[Maddie]

Yeah.

[Jared]

We're.

[Natalie]

We're huge fans of y' all.

[Maddie]

Truly.

[Natalie]

I mean, every night and every morning is a song that I think I've, like, dedicated to Nick every time I. I listen to him. Like, by the way, this song is for you.

[Ethan]

Oh, my God.

[Natalie]

So truly. I love that song so much. Obviously, Love and Light came out in May.

[Tay]

Yes.

[Natalie]

How are y' all feeling about that? I, like, the. The response has been amazing. I see it everywhere. Like, it's doing so well. How Are y' all feeling.

[Ethan]

Feeling good?

[Maddie]

Yeah. So good. It's been a labor of love. Like, it took about three years probably to like, put the record together. It's like you can have two babies before an album comes out. I think we did and we did. I had a baby, she had a baby, and then we had an album. Like, it's nuts.

[Natalie]

But do you feel like by the time it's ready to come out, is there ever a party that's like, oh, wait, well, now, like. Like I feel differently. Or maybe we should change some songs or take switch out. Like, do you ever feel that way?

[Ethan]

I will say I feel like I felt that on every single record but this one. Yeah.

[Maddie]

There's so much confidence.

[Ethan]

I feel like by the time we had released previous records, life had just happened. We had moved on. I was like, not in a relationship anymore, you know, as life does. Yeah. But I feel like with this record, there's a song on it called Chasing Babies and Raising Dreams and it's basically just about, you know, feeling the pull towards your career, which once was your baby and then your real baby and just choosing that. And I feel like it's just so present in our lives that I feel like we are genuinely. This is the first record that we are actively living.

[Maddie]

Living. Yeah. Because it's like you write the music, like, die from a broken heart. Like, T was going through the gnarliest breakup of all time. And by the time like the music video came out and all that, she was healed and married. Yeah. And that was a gift because like. Like, how gnarly would it be to be going through the heartbreak and singing that song, you know, and thank God that was a hit in 2020, so I didn't really have to go like, you know, expose her. Dang. Heartbreak like that.

[Jared]

But how did your now husband, when the album came out, obviously I'm sure he listened to it. Like, is that like, is he just like, chill cuz he gets it or is there like an awkward conversation? Be like, so listen, like, I'm totally fine now. It's like, man, you were really up.

[Tay]

Yeah.

[Nick]

For real.

[Maddie]

I was like, dang.

[Ethan]

I didn't really like.

[Tay]

Yeah.

[Ethan]

I will say I genuinely think my husband's very, like, in touch with his feelings. He's like, kind of like, you just.

[Maddie]

Like, goes right in. Not a man.

[Ethan]

Yeah. Not afraid of. Of anything. And I was the type of person, like, I just didn't want to write about things the past because I didn't want to relive it. And I Think he truly taught me, like, the beauty in that because he's also a songwriter and he has the most, like, beautiful heartache songs, even though we're, like, happily married. And so I think he's always inspired me with that. But he's never watched the music videos because there's two music videos where I be kissing some people.

[Maddie]

Oh, I never volunteer.

[Ethan]

And he's like, absolutely not. Like, every time we're nominated for an award and they play like, the music video on the screen, he's always just.

[Maddie]

Like, oh, I remember. No offense to the guy, but there was a song called Friends don't that we had. And we had. It was like the first music video that we were, like, kind of spicier and had, like, a sexier outfit because we started when we were 18, so everyone looked at us as, like, little babies. And we were like, we're freaking 25 over here. Like, living our lives, like, just being, you know, grown ass women. And so we were like, let's spice it up a little. And then they're like, okay, so T's love interest is, you know, this situation. And then Maddie's. And I was like, because I. Me and my husband, we've been together since high school. So we've been together 15 years. Like, as long as in high school. Yeah, we met in high school. And I am still just crazy about that man. He's so great.

[Jared]

What year did you meet in high school?

[Maddie]

Sophomore year. And we had our.

[Jared]

What was your first dance?

[Maddie]

Oh, our first dance.

[Ethan]

Oh, gosh.

[Maddie]

Well, I. I don't know. I think it was homecoming. I think it was homecoming. And it was probably like a lot of Lil Wayne because I grew up in Houston, so it was like, you know, they did not play country music. The dances were like, you know, shaking and getting down. He was like, ooh, she throwing that ass.

[Nick]

That's my wife.

[Maddie]

I think it was like every. I do remember, like, our. Our first, like, day. Ish. I mean, in high school it's like, so different, but, like, it was a Friday and there was a football game the next day or something. But the county fair had just came to town. And so we're like, we're gonna go to the fair. And so, like, before he went to, like, go get on the bus, he, like, kissed me right in front of the library. That was our first kiss. And I was like, floating on cloud nine. And then he almost missed his bus. But he did. He made it, and it was fine. And then we went to the county.

[Ethan]

Fair and we all made out in the zipper.

[Maddie]

Oh. We made out in every single ride. Make out in. I remember that impressive carnival. He had braces, and I was still like, you know, the zipper.

[Natalie]

Your mouth was all bleeding. You're like.

[Maddie]

Yeah. You know that ride where, like, you go. You're, like, in a cage, and it's, like, upside down. We're just, like, locked the whole time. It was kind of impressive, honestly.

[Jared]

Did you guys ever break up? Yes.

[Maddie]

It was so hard. He was my biggest love.

[Jared]

It probably was a blessing, though.

[Ethan]

Like a movie. Yeah.

[Natalie]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

It's like, we were together for a year, and then we started getting really serious for high school. I mean, it makes sense now, but, like, his family and I were super close, and we just, like, we were just locked in. And then now him telling me his perspective, like, years ago, he was like. I just got really freaked out because I, like, wanted to just be a high schooler and focus on track and football and just, like, be free and not be tied down. And, you know, and he was like. It was all like. I didn't know what the hell. I just thought, that's what you do in high school.

[Ethan]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

He love you, Jonah. But he had no game. And I loved that about him, but, like, he would. I don't know. He did pick up a couple girls, but, like. Because he's just, like, silent. Like, he's the quiet guy in the room that's, like, just hot and just, like, sitting there. So, you know, girls will be going over there. But we broke up because he. I guess he just, like, wanted to be independent. I don't know. But we had a class together, and we sat across from each other every day for, like, a year. It was horrible. And I, like, it just. It was a heartbreak that would not go away. And I just was like, I just can never get over him. But then we made some fun memories because I dated, like, her boyfriend. Yeah.

[Ethan]

I am, like, the worst wing woman, because my radar, especially back in high school, was just like.

[Maddie]

No, but you were a fun. She was here for the fun. But, yeah, there. There was a couple.

[Ethan]

There was this one time.

[Maddie]

Are you gonna tell the baseball story or the crystal meth story?

[Tay]

Oh, the baseball story.

[Ethan]

Oh, my God.

[Jared]

Okay. We didn't do.

[Maddie]

We didn't do crystal meth, but I was kissing somebody that didn't. I didn't know that.

[Natalie]

And you're like, I feel weird.

[Maddie]

Yeah.

[Ethan]

I was just trying to be a supportive best friend because when I met Maddie, she and Jonah had broken up, like, maybe six months prior.

[Maddie]

Yeah.

[Ethan]

And you were just so heartbroken.

[Maddie]

Still, she would.

[Jared]

How'd you guys meet?

[Ethan]

Through a vocal coach.

[Maddie]

Yeah, In Dallas, Texas. So, like, she's from Oklahoma, I'm from Texas. And Dallas was, like, the halfway point between our hometowns. And just literally, by divine, like, timing, we met through this just vocal, and.

[Ethan]

We were just instantly best friends. I mean, we're, like, three months apart. Grew up miles away, but just like Earth, essentially. Share, Share a soul oh, yeah I.

[Maddie]

Feel like a thousand percent we are.

[Ethan]

One but when I met her, she had shown me this picture of her and Jonah, and she was like, I just miss him so much. And I was like, when did y' all break up? She was like, six months ago. And I was like, oh, y' all are definitely gonna get back together, but in the meantime, let me hook you up with some of my friends.

[Maddie]

Oh, she was.

[Natalie]

She.

[Maddie]

She had, like, five guys on the line at all times. If she wasn't in a relationship, if she was in. She was locked down.

[Ethan]

But, like, a loyal gal.

[Maddie]

She was.

[Natalie]

You had a roster.

[Maddie]

She had a roster.

[Ethan]

Thank you.

[Maddie]

She was a heartbreaker. I was the heartbreak.

[Jared]

How did you meet your husband?

[Ethan]

I met him through songwriting, actually, through the industry. He produced Love and Light. The record. I mean, like, half of the record.

[Natalie]

Yeah.

[Ethan]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

Most of it.

[Ethan]

Most of it, yeah.

[Maddie]

It was the first time we got to have him produce, because you should tell a story. But for the second album. Or was it the third album? Was it the Every Night, Every Morning?

[Ethan]

Second.

[Maddie]

Second album? Josh was in the, like, talks to be the producer, but T and him were kind of having a fling, and she's like, I don't really want to be hooking up with our producer. Like. Yeah.

[Ethan]

So I had to choose.

[Jared]

I was like, so I was gonna marry him.

[Natalie]

Boom.

[Ethan]

Essentially. Yeah. And then eventually, she's like, I'll give.

[Nick]

Him a job later on.

[Maddie]

I'm in the long game.

[Ethan]

I'm here for the long game. Yeah. No, but it was like, we had met when we were both, like, recently out of a relationship, the die from a broken heart relationship, which was, like, three years long. So I was just. Just heartbroken. And obviously, in that stage, you're not looking for love.

[Natalie]

Right.

[Maddie]

She was back to her Ross.

[Ethan]

I was back to my roster. And then Josh showed up, and I was like, he's so cute, but I'm just not looking for anything serious. And he was in a similar boat, but we just kind of started hanging out and then fell in love. Yeah.

[Maddie]

No. What had happened was she was like, we. I Was going and watching Harry Potter like every night at his house.

[Ethan]

And I was a lot more rated R than that.

[Maddie]

Oh, yeah, I'll keep a PG though. She's like, we were watching Harry Potter and then what, what he, what did he say to you? Oh, he said, I think we need to like, chill because you're not the girl that I can just hang out with. Like, I'm. You're a girl that I would want to marry.

[Ethan]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

And then she like got super freaked out and almost ran off and I was like, this is the one.

[Natalie]

Stop running down.

[Ethan]

And then he locked it down.

[Jared]

Now that you are happily married, the song, the breakup that really messed you up, do you like, do you look back and like laugh about like how sad or messed up you were about it? Or do you like. Yeah. Or does it still hit home?

[Maddie]

Because the line in the song, it says like, I'm gonna.

[Ethan]

Don't say I'm gonna laugh about this someday. Cause you didn't see the way you drove away. And I am very much laughing.

[Maddie]

Yeah, Yeah. I mean, we're there now.

[Ethan]

Hindsight's 20 20. He was just so not the one for me, but I was just head over heels and. Yeah.

[Maddie]

And you just don't see it like, at the time, you know.

[Ethan]

Totally.

[Maddie]

But I. I would still like to sucker punch that. Like, if I got one punch for someone and, you know, one free punch. One free punch, no repercussions.

[Natalie]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Maddie]

I'm like, there's like maybe three people that I would love to just, you know, but it would need to be like someone else. I mean, I'm not that strong and I need it to hurt. Yeah, exactly.

[Natalie]

And that's.

[Tay]

What?

[Ethan]

Kind of tall.

[Maddie]

Yeah, he's tall. I'd have to like, get on a lot.

[Natalie]

Stay right here.

[Maddie]

Yeah, I'll be right, right back. Also, I think we're to the point in our lives, we're like, I have grace for this man now because I'm like, yes, you freaking destroyed my best friend's heart. And like, we're such an asshole. But it was like such an important part of your story.

[Ethan]

Such an important part of the story.

[Natalie]

What do you feel like? Obviously you have a three year old daughter. What do you feel like that breakup taught you that you can like pass down to her when she goes through her first breakup?

[Ethan]

I love that question.

[Maddie]

I'm gonna be crying on this podcast.

[Ethan]

I think something for me, I know where I was mentally in that relationship and I just didn't know my worth. I didn't love myself. I wasn't, like, giving myself what I expected a partner to give me. You know, like, you're looking for a partner to give you, you know, stable, connection, love, joy, guidance, you know, all the things a partner gives. And I wasn't giving myself any of that. And so I think I want to teach Leighton to, like, be full, be balanced, like, be herself. And then the right person will just come along and, like, support you in that, you know? Yeah.

[Maddie]

Yeah. I love that.

[Ethan]

Oh, thanks.

[Maddie]

I know. Having a little boy, I'm like, I think we're going to have different conversations, and I'm also terrified about it. You know, like, we talk about it. I'm just like, please don't be a heartbreaker. But you're so cute. So she's going, you know, figure it out. I know. I know. And I did tell my husband. I'm like, if we have a girl next, like, I'll take, you know, the. The birds and the bees talk, you know, with the. I don't know, because then, I don't know. I want to do a lot of things different than how, like, we grew up, but I also. I don't know. It's gonna be hard.

[Natalie]

Do you feel like. And maybe you can answer this question better since you have both, but do you feel like you kind of parent and we only have a daughter, but do you feel like you parent your daughter a little bit differently than your son?

[Ethan]

I can see. I mean, Chapel's eight months old. I can see a world where I would.

[Natalie]

Yeah.

[Ethan]

Yeah. I think, obviously, just like. Like, I'll throw Chapel in the dirt a little more. I mean, I'm gonna be in the dirt, too, but I think just stuff like that just kind of, like what they're into. I don't know if I'll parent them any differently as far as roles go, because I actually remember growing up, I have two older brothers, and I. My parents just kind of assumed that anything the boys did, I could do, too. And I just think as girls, you know, you just need a little bit more boundaries. And so I think.

[Maddie]

And same safety and safety.

[Ethan]

Just emotional guidance, you know? And I think that that's probably what I'll do.

[Maddie]

Yeah.

[Ethan]

I don't know. I'm probably gonna screw it up.

[Maddie]

Oh, we're both gonna screw it up together.

[Natalie]

All gonna make mistakes.

[Maddie]

I don't know.

[Jared]

You know?

[Maddie]

Yeah, I know.

[Ethan]

Exactly.

[Maddie]

And just try. Listen. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

[Natalie]

We're very deep in our tantrum stage.

[Maddie]

Oh, yeah.

[Natalie]

We're there to navigate.

[Jared]

Oh, I have no Patience for it.

[Maddie]

I peeled the damn banana this morning. I peeled the banana wrong at the wrong minute.

[Tay]

No.

[Maddie]

Millisecond.

[Natalie]

Oh, he wasn't ready, bro.

[Jared]

I. I mean, I'm definitely a softie with river, but when it comes to, like, temper tantrums, she's definitely way more of a softie. I'm just like, she'll get through it.

[Maddie]

See, that's what we're doing. Like, I. I just. I let him. I'm like, I see you're really upset, and when you want to calm your body and you want to let me know what's going on, I'm happy to help you, but I can't help you when you're acting crazy. Okay, bye. And then he gets more mad.

[Jared]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

I'm like.

[Natalie]

I'm always like, would you like a sip of water? Would you like a hug? It's usually because, you know, she's also in a little bit of, like, her biting stage hurting, you know? And so we're trying to navigate, like, how do you.

[Maddie]

Oh, yeah, I know, dude. Forest did that to me one time in public, and I was like, I'm leaving. I'm so embarrassed. But it's like, as a parent, your job, like, you can't just, you know, lash out at your kid or anything, but. And also, they're just testing. They are like, how far can I go?

[Jared]

And then I know, like, when she's crying, like, she's not hurt. She's.

[Natalie]

Yeah. Like, knowing the difference.

[Jared]

And when she gets what she wants.

[Maddie]

It'S like a want, not a need.

[Ethan]

Yes.

[Maddie]

Yeah. I know. The not, like, the drama. Oh, my gosh. My husband is way better about being, like, firm with Forest, and he does not play. But I'm like, the softy that's like, sure, you want to come sit on the counter and eat some strawberries with me? Whatever. And Jonah's like, get him off the counter. That's not good. I'm like, sorry. He was gonna scream, and I just wanted.

[Jared]

Are you buying them things they don't need?

[Ethan]

Yes, for sure.

[Maddie]

I am a really good. I needed for a long time, so my manipulation tactics are real good.

[Unknown]

She needs a slide.

[Maddie]

I know.

[Jared]

She needs that trampoline.

[Maddie]

I know, I know.

[Natalie]

It's like, when it's raining outside, you gotta have stuff for them to do inside. Oh, yeah.

[Ethan]

Clayton has a bike that's, like, three sizes too big for her, but she needed it, you know?

[Maddie]

I think I'm lucky with my boy in a way that, like, sticks, dirt, rocks in a bucket. That's like, two hours right there, you know, and, like, naked, barefoot in the yard, like, and he's so happy, so he's saving me a lot of money. He likes just Nature's free.

[Jared]

Yeah, I was just playing with, like, literally, sticks and dirt.

[Maddie]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. I know, I know. But when we go to the store, I typically do always get them a prize. If now I'm like, if you're acting a fool, you ain't getting.

[Natalie]

You can get.

[Maddie]

No, no. But if you're respectful and you list.

[Jared]

As soon as River's old enough to do chores, she'll be working for everyone.

[Ethan]

Oh, okay.

[Maddie]

Absolutely.

[Ethan]

See, that's where we're at now. And it's so much fun. Leighton has a little chore chart, and every morning she, like, makes her bed and puts her clothes in the hamper, brushes her teeth.

[Maddie]

Wow.

[Ethan]

And she's all about it.

[Maddie]

Like, she's so independent, though. Like, she's. She's been that way since, like, before she could walk. She, like, just wanted to do everything on her own. She just, like, miss Independent. And then I keep telling T, like, with a boy, I think it's just boys and girls are so different. Like, boys with their mamas, it's like they are so strong and do everything on their own and freaking break and build, you know, all the things, but they just, like, melt to their mom. And so, like, I. Yeah, he. He's independent sometimes, but then he's just like, you know, kind of just always wants me, and I'm like, that's what happens.

[Ethan]

I feel like it's hard. Both my babies were al dente. They were very, very undercooked.

[Natalie]

Okay, when did you have them?

[Jared]

How al dente.

[Ethan]

Okay. Al dente. So Leighton was 28 weeks, born at £2. Chapel was 32 weeks, born at £3. So I never carried a baby bigger than £3, which is, like, so kind of bizarre.

[Jared]

Little nerve wracking.

[Ethan]

So nerve wracking, traumatizing. I mean, just like, as if pregnancy couldn't be hard enough, you throw that kind of stuff on top of it. But they are so healthy now, and I'm so thankful. But I do feel like sometimes the rules go out the window because I'm like, you were, like, almost dying at one point. I gotta give you everything you ever want. But that's kind of true.

[Natalie]

My sister Amanda, she. She has a daughter. She's now 10. Her name is Scarlett. And she had tried IVF for forever. Had 12 or 14 miscarriages. And then when she got pregnant with Scarlett, they Were like, this baby only has a 10 chance of living. And they gave her 10 chance pretty much the entire pregnancy. Like, they just. So she was like, I could never get excited. I never bought anything because it was just like, sure. Like, oh, you made it to 14 okay. You're not. You won't make it to 15. Like, it just everybody. And so now she's kind of in that mindset of, like, I almost didn't have this baby. Like, I will give this baby whatever she wants.

[Ethan]

Absolutely.

[Natalie]

So I kind of, you know, I. I try not to operate under that.

[Ethan]

It's hard.

[Maddie]

Not.

[Ethan]

It's hard, but it's like, you just love.

[Natalie]

She did.

[Maddie]

But you just, you know, you want.

[Natalie]

Them so bad, and then you have them, and you're like. You're just so precious.

[Maddie]

Were y' all trying, or was River a surprise or.

[Jared]

It was more like a, if it happens, it happens. Yeah.

[Maddie]

That's how we were. Yeah. And it first go, right. I need to be very careful.

[Jared]

A few months into being engaged, and, like, I'm a little older, and it was more like, I don't even know if this shit works anymore.

[Ethan]

Why does every guy think that?

[Jared]

Well, I mean, like, because I never, you know, I've never, you know. Thank God. Never had the, you know.

[Maddie]

Yeah.

[Natalie]

Pregnancy scare.

[Maddie]

Yeah.

[Jared]

You get to a certain age, you're like, well, why have I not gotten.

[Maddie]

I know. Is there something wrong? I started getting a little nervous before we started trying because I have endometriosis, and I've, like. We've managed it pretty well since, like, I got diagnosed and, like, figured out kind of how to keep it under control, but I was nervous. I was like. Because both of us have had history of, like, gnarly cysts rupturing on our ovaries and all this crazy stuff. Just all kinds of issues, which are very normal and common, unfortunately. But. But I told T. I think it was, like, November of 2022. And I was like, we're gonna start trying. She's like, okay. And then December after Christmas, we were just having so much fun for Christmas. And then January rolls around.

[Natalie]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

Merry Christmas. So January rolls around, and T. Or maybe it was before because I found out I was pregnant. Like, January 4th or something like that.

[Ethan]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

And T. I went over after Christmas, and we were just playing with Leighton and hanging out, and she was just, like, looking at me weird. I was like. Just like, she knew something that I didn't know. And I was like, you didn't ask me.

[Ethan]

No, but I thought she was gonna Tell me that she was pregnant because she just knew.

[Maddie]

I had no idea. And I took a test, like, a week after, and I was freaking pregnant. And I was like, how did you know? She's like, I don't know. I just, like, had this, like, feeling about it.

[Ethan]

That's right.

[Maddie]

Oh, yes, exactly. It was so magical, so sweet.

[Jared]

All right, should we talk some love island and get to Vanna?

[Natalie]

Yes.

[Jared]

All right, let's bring in V Anna. We spend so much time caring for the skin on our face, but what about our neck? And with summer in full swing, your neck and chest are more exposed than ever. Whether you're rocking sundresses, swimsuits, or strappy tops, or for me, going shirtless, your neck is out there for the world to see. And it's one of the first places that shows signs of aging. That's why Go Pure Beauty created their revolutionary Titan and lift neck cream, perfect for your summer skin routine. Powered by clinically proven active ingredients, this advanced formula is designed to visibly firm, smooth, and rejuvenate the delicate skin on your neck and chest in as little as four to eight weeks.

[Natalie]

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[Jared]

Well, you know, we're not big on trends, but we are big on clothes that feel good and last. And that's why we keep going back to Quint, because they have everything from your classic basics, reliable things you must have in your wardrobe, to some incredibly unique pieces you're absolutely going to love. Quince has the stuff you'll actually wear on repeat. Like, they're breathable flow Nick polos that I'm absolutely obsessed with and been weari them all summer long. They're crisp cotton shirts and comfortable, lightweight pants that somehow work for both the weekend hangs and the Dress up dinners.

[Natalie]

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[Jared]

Welcome to the show. Glad to have you in studio. Our first love islander in the studio this season.

[Tay]

Really?

[Jared]

Yeah. Well, yeah, I love that everyone's been in Fiji in lockdown, but I guess with however you know, they did it, you know, with your, your guys exit, we got, you know, you're in LA.

[Tay]

Home and flown home real quick.

[Natalie]

You're like, I'm getting on that flight immediately.

[Tay]

Yeah.

[Jared]

Let's just decompress your journey quickly and then we'd love to talk with you just about your overall experience. And obviously, even though your time was brief, you, you certainly got to know all of the people there and I'm sure, you know, you got an inside scoop to what everything's going on. So I'm sure everyone listening hear your perspective on everything. Love Island. But how are you feeling being back in the States already?

[Tay]

Oh, gosh, I'm really happy to be home because obviously girl's been going through it and I didn't even know. I just barely found out. But coming back and seeing, like, actually having my phone, my first phone call I made before touching social media was to my mom. And she had said to me, like, maybe don't go online until you're home with me. Me. And I was like, wait, what? Why don't go online? So what do I do now? I go online. I go online. Yeah.

[Jared]

It's like the. Whatever you do, don't look behind you.

[Maddie]

Yeah.

[Natalie]

You know there's a train wreck.

[Tay]

Yeah, exactly. I'm Gonna turn around every time. But I immediately get online, and it was obviously things that I did not expect to see, and it was really. It was really, really hard when I was seeing all of it. And I was in the hotel room with Coco. Coco. And Coco was getting, like, a lot of love, but I was getting so much hate. And I was trying to be, like, I didn't want to pull her experience down, you know, So I was trying to, like, stay high spirited because she doesn't know what I'm going through, you know? And I just. I had a moment where I just broke down crying. And I'm honestly so grateful for Coco that she was there, because she was. She sat and prayed over me. And I really feel like in that moment, it was like a pivoting moment, and I kind of put my phone back down, and I was like, okay, thanks, mom. Definitely should not have looked at that because I was so far from home, and I just couldn't wait to get back home. And the more that I got on my phone, the more that I saw it, and even the texts that I was seeing were like, hey, congrats for, like, being on the show. But, like, I'm so sorry, you know, like, there wasn't just a. A good text without the following, but I'm like, sorry of, like, what you're going through through. So that almost, like, pushed the magnitude of the situation. And I could tell that my family and my. My team, I got at home, they were doing some major damage control too, before I even got back to my phone. So they had definitely helped a ton. It was crazy to see, like, it was just not what I was expecting to come back to at all, you know, like. Like, as a girl, we're all. I don't want to say insecure, but we do have our little things that we think about ourselves and, like, that we see in ourselves, themselves. And all the. The things that these people were pointing out to me, like, I never saw in myself. Like, they're kind of pointing out, like, new insecurities, I guess. They're not. Like, I'm. I'm okay. Like, I'm very secure in myself. There were just things that I never looked in the mirror and, like, didn't like that about myself. And most of the things that people thought I got done, like my. My cheeks and my chin, my lips. Lips, duh, duh. Got my lips done. And I. I like my lips. Lips, but my cheeks and my. My chin, I've had for life. So that's.

[Natalie]

Born with it.

[Tay]

Born with It. Exactly. So I'm like, you guys are calling me out for things and saying that I filler in things that, like, you don't like. But I was born with it. And people were saying, like, overfilled. You guys, I was sleeping on a feather pillow. I was having an allergic reaction every single day.

[Maddie]

Oh, my gosh, I'm allergic. It's the worst.

[Tay]

I can't sleep on a feather pillow. So basically I woke up every day. My eyes were swollen. Of course my whole face is swollen. That's why I looked overfilled. Not making excuses for myself.

[Jared]

But you look. You look stunning right now.

[Maddie]

No feather pillow last night?

[Tay]

No, no, absolutely not.

[Jared]

Leia's sitting right beside you. Leia, can we get the. In studio? Vanna's looking incredible.

[Nick]

I assume Vanna looks amazing.

[Ethan]

Of course. No surprise.

[Nick]

Stunning person.

[Tay]

I don't need a mental institution.

[Nick]

I texted Justin. I'm like, what do I look like sitting next to V?

[Tay]

Shut up. Whatever.

[Maddie]

The haters are just. I mean, how do you. You hate on someone that beautiful and sweet?

[Jared]

I don't know if this is going to make you feel any better, but a long time ago I was on TV and I used to think I was a pretty swell looking guy. And then I went on TV and I was like, I'm hideous. Like, I. I got compared to my doppelganger, according to the Internet, was an old John Lithgow. Can you bring up John Lif. Gal. Also the. The villain in Ghostbusters too. Can you bring that photo up? Show van. This is what the Internet said I looked like.

[Tay]

No, they always say, like, you're your own worst critic. Oh, no, no. People are way cruel. Oh, it's brutal out here. It's brutal.

[Jared]

It's been all up for me. So, you know, listen, when. When the haters, when they start hating early, they tend to come around.

[Maddie]

Yeah.

[Tay]

The funniest part is I had like two minutes of screen time. I'm like, really? Like, what?

[Jared]

Well, honestly, though, in some ways a silver lining. You made a mark. Like, you're memorable. For what? Who? You know, what do they say? There's no. No press is bad press.

[Natalie]

Like, regardless, your ass is the craziest thing I've ever seen in my entire life.

[Tay]

Thank you. I work. I literally, I actually work my ass off.

[Maddie]

And that's why they stay mad.

[Jared]

And Ace was super appreciative.

[Tay]

They can't say. They can't say anything about the. About the booty. People have actually said stuff about that too. They're like, yeah, but it's, like, not real. I'm like. It is though. They. I feel like you get fake lips and they think everything on your face is fake.

[Ethan]

Yeah.

[Tay]

And then you get. I, of course I got my boobs done. I'm just a girl.

[Jared]

Listen, I grew a beard and the Internet accused me of having facial reconstructive surgery.

[Ethan]

Oh, my God.

[Jared]

The truly true story.

[Tay]

Oh. Apparently to the people on media, I've been getting filler in my face since I was like 14. And my mom is my injector and she's done, like, all. She actually did my chin implant too. I'm like, what are you. What are you guys talking about? You guys, my mom's a stay at home mom. Never had a job in her life, and now she's this surgeon.

[Natalie]

Injector doesn't have the ability to get filler and injectables.

[Jared]

Your mom catching shrapnel here.

[Maddie]

I know.

[Ethan]

That's gotta feel real flattering though, that people think your butt is fake.

[Maddie]

Like, that'd be so good.

[Ethan]

Heck yeah.

[Tay]

Yeah. Oh, the same thing is like, my, like my. My cheeks. I'm like, to me, that's a compliment, you know?

[Natalie]

High cheekbones.

[Tay]

Yeah.

[Jared]

You know what?

[Tay]

If people think it's fake, it. That means it's good enough that it looks like it could be fake. So.

[Natalie]

Yeah, then I know it might feel really loud on the Internet, but I feel like what your, like, friends and your family think of you is obviously all that matters. The Internet's always gonna Internet. It's always gonna be loud. It's always gonna be jealous. And I think it's obviously incredibly hard to block out, but, like, you gotta block it out. You're a bad. You know you are.

[Tay]

Like, thank you just so much.

[Natalie]

I know it's the hardest thing to do because people tell me to do it too, but it's like you just can't give a about them.

[Tay]

No, and seriously, like, we talked a lot about that. Like, me walking out and having all that hate, my support system is what pulled me back so fast.

[Ethan]

Fast.

[Tay]

So it honestly is. I can't picture. I can't picture coming back and not having that. So the. The people that don't have that and they are coming back to the hate. Like, not even just from Love Island. It's so scary and people really need to. I wish people could get it together because words hit. They really hit so hard. Like, really, really hard.

[Maddie]

Could you be. Could you imagine being such a loser that, like, at 3pm on a Tuesday, instead of maybe working or doing something productive. You're out here blasting someone on the Internet that's just living their damn life. I'm like, what a cruiser.

[Jared]

It's crazy. You do have to remember, though, something, Vanna. One, well, a couple things with Love island being like the number one reality show on TV right now. Like, that is just a product. It just. So many people watch it. And two, Love island has a very young audience. When I was catching a ton of hate back in the day, I've told this story a few times, but it really made me laugh. Laugh. I was like, considered the most hated man in America for. For. For a moment, right? And then no way. I blocked. I blocked a couple people early on. Then I just kind of stopped. I just stopped blocking. I was like, whatever. And then years went by, right? Five or six years go by, and I got this message on Twitter, and it was from this young lady, and she was like, nick, can you unblock me on Instagram? I'm sorry for calling you. It was like an ugly. But then she goes, but in my defense, I was 12 and it really made me laugh because again, you just don't know. Like, a lot of the people online spewing some of this crazy are like, 13, 14, and where are their parents?

[Maddie]

What the hell? That's a whole nother story in a grown ass, man.

[Jared]

They just don't. You don't. Again, you don't know who's behind those keyboards. And it's just like. And I also will say I'm always grateful of the hate I got early on because it was. It truly was nothing but up from there. And I think sometimes reality TV stars who come out of this experience with nothing but love and attention and adoration, that really fucks you up. Honestly, like, it feels really good at first, but it's a drug. But, like, it all kind of just like settles down and all goes away. And then, you know, I imagine you're going to stay in the business and you're going to be back on TV and you're going to influence and you'll have an audience. But, like, this shitty experience you're going through right now, you'll be like, harder for it, right? And, like, eventually all the people who go on Love island got nothing but fans. Like, everything evens out, right? Eventually they're gonna do something, they're gonna catch some heat and they won't know how to handle it. But meanwhile, this, like, shitty experience will actually give you a lot of perspective. You probably don't even realize. I don't Know if that's helpful, but I, I, I think you're gonna be all right.

[Tay]

Me and my mom kind of had this conversation and honestly through like middle school, junior high, I was bullied pretty badly. And then through high school, I started social media. And people on social media are cruel. That's just how they are. But I always said those junior high, dumb junior high bullies that were just a blip, they kind of prepared me for social media. So I feel like social media already being cruel before, this whole experience prepared me for it. Now it's just like a different magnitude. So I feel like I've slowly been preparing for this. You know, like it's hard, but it, I was prepared, like I was, didn't want it to happen, it wasn't preferred, but, but when it did come, like I handled it, I think.

[Ethan]

Well, I'm so glad that you had a friend in that moment that knew to pray for you. Cuz I feel like that's Maddie and I's relationship. Like you just, you need somebody that, that's going to be that like prayer warrior for you. And I truly feel like all of those comments that you felt like had a hold on you that you were reading when you came out of the villa. The moment that she prayed in Jesus name over you, those were released because they have to, they can't stick around. So I'm just going to keep praying that for you. And I'm sorry that you're. But I can tell that you are just like as Natalie said, a bad B, I, T, C, H. And this is only going to be capital B. All the spellings only going to be better for you to piggyback off of what everyone said.

[Natalie]

Yeah, well, you had initially coupled with Ace in the beginning when you had. When you walked into that villa and you kissed all of those men blindfolded. Was TJ that awful of a kisser? Like, I felt like you were kind of, and along with some of the other women were like kind of skipping him. You were like, honestly, fuck this guy.

[Ethan]

Or maybe he's breasting.

[Tay]

I tried, yeah, I tried to kiss, I tried to do it. I just, I don't know, I couldn't get into it. And there was no like sexual chemistry at all. And even when he took the blindfold off, we still really didn't have much chemistry. Like I thought that we could get there and they cut out so much of the stuff that I wanted to be seen.

[Jared]

Like what?

[Tay]

Like I had many, I had many conversations with TJ about come on the RBF one people were already talking about. We talked about on after son and he was just really dry. And I said, like, I felt like I was a comedian. He was just throwing tomatoes at me. Like, the jokes were not ever landing. We had very different humor, you know, like, ain't funny to TJ at all. And I learned that. I learned that. But honestly, this. It was the same thing with Ace. Like, you guys. They did not. None of those men in there thought I was funny. And I'm so used to the guys in the outside, I guess, that tell me how funny I am and, like, they just think I'm hilarious. So going to that I'm like, wait, like, why? I don't know. Why do they not think I'm funny? Like, what's happening here?

[Jared]

I feel like Ace, like, thought he was the funniest guy in the villa and was this like, he was like telling people what they could laugh about is Ace. I mean, because, like, a lot of the people, like all us fans are seeing a guy who almost like, has control over the villa. And Taylor Nick seem to be like his two main minions, but he really seems to have an overwhelming amount of influence in the villa. Is. Is the. Do you sense that there, like some of the other people we've talked to have.

[Tay]

Asia's has a. He's a really big personality. So where his, like, energy does flow, it sets like the. He's kind of the group leader. Yeah. So if he's in a bad mood, it like vibrates like every. Everybody. And then when he's in a really good mood, he can get everybody in a good mood. So, like, I do. I do understand that.

[Natalie]

Wait, were you originally, like, did you know, going into this experience you were going to be a casa girl? Or did you like.

[Tay]

No. Oh, my gosh, no. So basically I was in. I probably shouldn't even be saying, like, a lot of this. I was in LA because I face them. Like, they would have flown me out by now. You know, like, I'm going to la. I'm gonna go out to la, hang out with my friends.

[Natalie]

Yeah.

[Tay]

I'm on a week bender. Okay? Five days. Not a. Not a week bender. I'm on a five day bender in la, tired as hell. I go home, they call me and they're like, vanna, can you fly out tonight? Oh, what are you talking about? No, I can. No, I can't fly out. No, I can't fly out tonight. I didn't spray tan myself. I didn't pack. No, I can't. So then they said, what about tomorrow? And I'm like, you know what I might be able to do tomorrow? So I ended up flying out. I basically had like 24 hours to pack all my stuff, fly out. Right when I land, they put me in a van and they're like, you have 20 minutes basically to get ready. And I, you guys, I'm a high maintenance girly. Like, I'm a high maintenance girl. I like to. I like to be able to. I'm like, what are you talking about? My eyebrows Take me 20 minutes. Each eyebrow, like, nice shot. No freaking shot. I'm doing my makeup in the bus. We end up getting there. I take off my little fuzzy headband and I. I'm like, I don't have any of my hair tools. I took my hair out of my two braids, so the bottoms are like straight. And people are making like the Utah girl comment. And I'm like, I didn't have my. My hot tools. Like, I couldn't do anything. And they were just like, you look great. Just get the shots done. So my, like, intro shoots, I had 20 minutes to get ready and it was like a mess. I was like in panic mode the whole time. But I get all my shots done, my intro videos done, done. I go to sleep. I wake up at like three something in the morning because we have to leave by like 5:30 in the morning. Like, I go to sleep after my intros, wake up casa more.

[Natalie]

What?

[Tay]

Like, what are you talking about? Yeah. So I'm running. So basically my thing was land, did my shots, went to bed, wake up, casa, no pressure. And all the other girls had been there for two to three weeks.

[Ethan]

Oh, yeah.

[Jared]

Wow.

[Tay]

So I know, I'm like, I wonder who they like, put me here for. I was thinking like, it was a tj. It was like a TJ plant. Like, I don't know what's going on.

[Natalie]

Who was like most year type out of the guys?

[Tay]

Probably one of the other guys in Costa more that I didn't even get to see.

[Ethan]

Yeah.

[Tay]

Honestly, when I saw those guys walk in and then they were like giggling. They had jokes. Like, they were funny, you know, like, if one of those guys were in there, I would have been nails in the freaking ground. Like, I'm not going anywhere.

[Jared]

How. How tall is Nick and Taylor? It's hard to read because it seems like, you know, all the casa guys seem like tall giants. And that's usually how. That's like a reality TV trick. It's like usually when they're casting for love competition Shows producers, like, they all know you girlies like tall men. So they're just like, well, I don't care what his face looks like. We're just gonna. We like, six two is short in reality TV for men.

[Ethan]

Yes.

[Jared]

But it seems like. Yeah. So I'm curious, like, the, you know, the main guys in. In the villa, you know, again, Ace, I don't know how tall he is, but the casa guys seem real tall. Like, what? What's. Can you give us some perspective? Because it is kind of hard to tell watching a show.

[Tay]

Oh, I thought. I did not by any means think that Nick or Taylor Austin. I didn't think any of them were, like, short at all. Like, I'm not even a height girl. You know, I'm five' four. So any guy to me, I'm like, you know what? If you're taller than me and heels, like, I really don't care. But then when they put us on those platforms on the last night of, like, who was getting knocked out, and they put the casa and the villa guys, like, one by one, I was like, oh, this is cruel. Like, this is cruel. They made them look so small. My favorite scene, one of those guys was six, eight. He was huge.

[Jared]

Chris Paul's and that to go talk. And it was like, he's like.

[Tay]

Oh, my gosh. I haven't seen that.

[Nick]

He was walking, like, as far away from Chris as possible. As they were walking, he knew.

[Ethan]

Wait, I have a question. How do they. You know how sometimes when the Bombshells walk in and you're. And they look like they could pair together, how come they can't get together? Are you told that you can't?

[Tay]

I didn't come in as a bombshell, so I really don't know. Like, I came in with a group of girls.

[Ethan]

Right.

[Tay]

So I.

[Natalie]

But if you wanted to couple up with, like, one of the other casa guys, that was an option for you.

[Tay]

I was. You guys. I was there for, like, two days.

[Jared]

Yeah. Part of it is just like, the casa guys are in casa and then. Or vice versa, but it's like they're.

[Ethan]

Not actually there together. That makes it.

[Tay]

I already have a group chat with the Casa boys. We're all trying to go to Scottsdale. I love those boys. There's so much.

[Ethan]

There you go.

[Maddie]

Okay. When you're on these shows.

[Tay]

Shows, yeah.

[Maddie]

When do you eat? And also, like, is it good or is it just trash food? And you're just like, I can't wait to get out of here.

[Tay]

The boys made us breakfast every Morning. And it was actually, like, really good. They'd make some bangers, like, different choices of, like, blueberry chocolate, pancakes, and then scrambled eggs, bacon. They did the nines for breakfast and then for lunch. We were basically meal prepped. Like, we were bodybuilding, like, chicken every day. Different kind of chicken, but that's fine because my mom loves to make chicken. I felt right at home. Thanks, Mom. It was usually kind of bland, but, like, nothing some salt and pepper couldn't fix. I was okay with it. I was fine with it.

[Jared]

What was your read on some of the rest of the cast? I think, obviously, Huda's made quite the impression on the cast. And now after last night's episode, Shelly seems to, you know, like, Shelly got mad at Huda during the challenge. Heartbeat challenge. America seems to be split on one half. A lot of people are Team Shelley because they understand. Understand her frustration with Huda since Huda was, like, just so kind of like, hey, when she was paired up with Jeremiah, it was like, leave my man alone. She. She was quick to, like, set very rigid boundaries, not only with Jeremiah, but with the rest of the cast. And it was like she was, like, staking her claim. And then now, then, then during the Heartbeat challenge, she's this. She is making moves on Ace and some of the guys, and she's able to twerk that body in ways that, like, it seems like no one else in the island is able to do. And so Shelly took certain offense to it, which I kind of get because it seems kind of hypocritical. On the flip side, the hood of fans are out there. It's just like, hey, listen. The whole villa was, like, saying, listen, you can't close off like this. You can't close off. Challenges are challenges. Loosen up a little bit. And then now that she's loosening up, now they're, like, coming for her. So I. I kind of see both sides, but I do feel like it's an accompany, like, a culmination of. Of, like, listen, like, Huda seems well intentioned, but, like, every sentence out of her mouth seems to start with an I, where it's just like, I. I do this and me this. It's just she very. She's very focused on her immediate needs. And I. I've been there. Like, I think we've all gone through stages in our life where it's just like, we can't see the forest through the trees. And I. I feel like she's very well intentioned, but I do feel like she's such a Big person personality, and I think it's wearing on her cast. And now that, like, she is, you know, grinding on Ace, now that him and Shelley are almost closed off, I think she's catching some heat. But anyways, being in the villa, kind of just getting the vibe from everyone. How. How do you read what people are saying?

[Tay]

Right. Might be a controversial opinion, but I. I love Huda, and she was one of the only girls. Some of the. Some of the girls in the villa I didn't even meet because they didn't want to, like, talk to me or, like, really approach me because, like, Costa girl, you know? But Hooda was one that really approached me and, like, looked at me, wanted to get to know me, and talked about, like, meeting me on the outside. She was really, really nice. And. But besides, completely besides the point, even if she did not do that, I think the thing was in the beginning, when she was super mad that other guys were, like, touching up on Jeremiah, whatever, she didn't know the girls. Do you know what I mean? So it was like a. I don't. I don't know you. I don't know, like, what you're trying to do. Like, she didn't know them, but then being in the villa and, like, doing the same, they do those challenges over and over and over again, and they're always. They're always crazy. They're always wild, you know, And I think they know every, like, who's. Who's for who at this point, you know? So I think that she almost let her guard down in a way. I don't know how to. Yeah, I don't know. I don't think that she was like, I'm gonna take Ace in the same moment. I think that she was just like, we go crazy in all these challenges, and maybe she took it slightly too far. I don't know. I've only seen clips of it. I did not watch the episode. I'm not going to lie. I haven't even seen, like, half the clips of, like, that I'm in, so.

[Jared]

Yeah, but you got the gist of it. Yeah, I mean, it was basically. She was just. She. She was fully into the challenge and she was not thinking about everyone's going.

[Tay]

All out during the challenges. And honestly, if she's got it, she. I don't know.

[Natalie]

I will say, though, I mean, I think the fact that she. Obviously, they were all kind of bringing one person to, like, the front to do, like, their last one big one on type of thing, and I felt like there were a lot of other men she could have chosen other than her so called, like, best friend since the beginning. Her sister's like, man, you know, there's Pepe, who she like, seems to have interest in. There's all the new casa boys who like, obviously they're with these new people, right? They have only known for three days. Like, I felt like they, there were people she could have gone for to do this, like, big performance on and she chose her bestie's man, which. And it seemed like, you know, at the end of it, when Shelly and Chris were done, they kind of got up and it was like. And I think Shelly even said this, like, Huda was still going. She had turned around and was like, yeah, shaking her ass on people.

[Tay]

They cut something out there.

[Natalie]

Yeah, they cut something out there.

[Jared]

Let's be clear. It also takes two. And Ace was still going too. And I, I just, like, Huda made a mistake, but it wasn't malicious. And I think it's. Ace is in more responsibility for protecting that relationship than Hooda is.

[Natalie]

I think there's less of a ability for the, the people who are being pulled to protect the relationship.

[Jared]

Ace matched with Amaya, sat her down and was basically like, don't touch me.

[Tay]

That was still the. No, that still to me makes no sense. Wait, no, Loki. That's kind of what happened with me. No, but they didn't put in the conversation with me and Ace though, because I pulled Ace the day after we had coupled up and I was like, I think we're just, we're just friends, you know, like, are you feeling that vibe? And he was like, yeah, like, I, I caught that drift. So I was like, okay, perfect. But they cut out that whole conversation. And like me and A.C. really, we did have some amazing conversations too, that they cut out. While it's on my head. I was so mad that they didn't put my end scene when I was leaving. Why? So when he, when he chose Iris, Ariana asked me, vanna, like, how does that make you make you feel? And they didn't put any of it in. And I basically stood there and I was like, you know what? Like, he made the right decision. Like, me and this man were fighting for conversation and chemistry. Like, it just was not there. And all the girls in the back were like snapping and they're like, that part, whatever. Like, they were all like dying laughing, but it was almost like kind of like a laughing, like, bummer. But like, he definitely did the right thing. And I was so curious. Like, I wonder how they edited that And I go and I look. I'm like, oh, they just cut it. Like, they didn't. They did not put that part in there at all. And then when I went on after sun and they're like, what happened, like, with tj? And I basically said that there's, like, not, like chemistry there. People were. Seem to be confused, but I was like, they would have put that in. There was no context to anything of, like, why me and TJ move the way that we did. But it was like we just weren't compatible, really.

[Natalie]

Y' all just weren't compatible. He just isn't. He just isn't a guy who. Who knows humor didn't get.

[Ethan]

Get your jokes.

[Tay]

I don't think he likes any jokes, period. Oh, they all are like, no, they're all. They did not like to laugh. They don't even like to smile.

[Jared]

What do you think?

[Tay]

Or like a slow burn.

[Jared]

What do you make of Nick and Sierra?

[Tay]

Gosh. Honestly, I'm pretty sure in the last episode or like two episodes ago, he kissed, like, Alandria. And that. That, to me was shocking. I was really, really shocked. Shocked because he was talking about how much he missed Sierra. And when he got voted off and we were all like, what is happening? He said, like, what he wanted his, like, goodbye to be to Sierra and everything. Like, that was the only thing that he was thinking about. And it was like a big deal to him. So I thought that they would go the long. The long mile. I thought that they would make it to the end. So when I saw that clip of him with Alandria, I was like, what is actually happening here?

[Maddie]

What is.

[Tay]

What is going on?

[Ethan]

The lip biting was crazy.

[Jared]

He seemed to really lean into it where Alandria seemed very. Almost like a reluctant participant.

[Ethan]

I mean, at least from the edit, because he was very verbal about how he felt about her, and she was kind of just like, well, my.

[Jared]

My big. My big theory of this season. Because a lot of people are. A lot of the fans are frustrated with how the show went about Casa Amor. You know, it seemed like there was a lot of producer involvement. A lot of the recoupling. It just was not your typical cas. More experience to the point where, like, it just never felt like, you know, being a casa girl Vanna, like, you really even had a shot to really. It's like you guys were fighting for your lives. Recoupling, you know, you couldn't really make connections. But my theory, right, is my. I think Ace is such a big presence in that villa. And not only Is he a big presence? He's. He's, you know, to credit to him, he's very. He seems emotionally mature. Like, you can't convince him to do things. I don't think he's very easily manipulated, in a way, and I think he's. He's manipulating some of his ca. Then he has his.

[Ethan]

Yeah.

[Jared]

His minions like Nick and Taylor. I think producers were worried that Ace would have too much influence in Casa in a way that, like, they're like, you know what? We're gonna have to, like, make some moves and disrupt this flow, because Ace is, like, almost making it too difficult for them to, like, make the show they want to make. And I feel like that's why you see producers doing it. Because I will say, like, even though we get frustrated at what might be producers involvement, I think sometimes we don't realize that some of the people they cast were where it's just like, these are norm. They're just normal people. You guys are all casting. Right. And then sometimes if you get, like, someone who really is disrupting the normal environment, like, the energy. These are very, like, this environment that they've created is very. It's. It's very beautifully and very specifically structured to elicit these emotions. And when you have someone with such a strong presence like Ace, it can really disrupt things.

[Ethan]

Yeah.

[Jared]

And I feel like that's why maybe they've messed with Casa more as much as they did. I don't know.

[Tay]

I think they always have to have, like, one person or, like, two people like that each season. You know, it's like on the. On the Bachelor, there's always like a. I don't want to call Ace the villain, but there's always, like, one person that's super controversial, you know, like, in every series, and it almost makes it entertaining. And that's, like. I think we all kind of knew, like, Ace wouldn't be going anywhere the whole time, because that's him. That's him. He's going to be there to the very end because.

[Jared]

And it kind of seems like the type of person who. Who. He's really charming, very likable. Like, you know, he's the guy in the friend group. Like, everyone's friends with him.

[Ethan]

Yeah.

[Jared]

But, like, he also seems, like, in a good way for producers. Like, he definitely just, like, wants to be famous. And if I honestly feel like the producers. When Nick and Alandria got voted off, I bet they didn't tell Alandria much because she seems. I don't know. I'd love your Opinion on her because she seems fantastic. Really, like, just like a really grounded person.

[Tay]

I love.

[Jared]

I loved her where I feel like they pulled Nick aside and they were like, listen, America's loving you guys. I really think you should, like, lean into it and give them a shot that, like, Nick was just down. Like, I feel like they can tell him anything that, like, that, like, this will make you famous and he will be down.

[Tay]

I think Nick liked Alandria from the very beginning. And I will die on that hill. Even if you watch the past episodes, she walks by, he's like, darting, like, watching her like a hawk.

[Ethan]

Yes, Say that.

[Tay]

And they just have good. They have really good chemistry. Like, I thought that they had more chemistry than when I would watch Alandria and Taylor talking. When I watched those who talk, I, like, was. Was kind of like. Like, they built up a good friendship, but it's almost like a. Like a friendship. Like, I. I honestly, I can.

[Jared]

What's your. I mean, Alandria, honestly, like, she seemed, I mean, truly, like, perfect. She, like, she was great.

[Tay]

That's a woman. That's. That's.

[Jared]

She, like, has it all. Why? Why. What's your opinion on why she's single right now and having a hard time making connections and, like, what's wrong with Taylor?

[Tay]

I think Alandria is just very, very mature. And it's almost like the reason that I couldn't find a guy out there, like, on the show was because he wasn't out there. And I do not think that her guy is out there at all. I think she needs to find a guy that is literally, like, off the grid, has his shit together and is a man.

[Ethan]

I think so.

[Tay]

And is looking for love for, like, the right reasons. And I think that I can't picture her with one of those guys there.

[Jared]

Right. I think she's, like, above, like, reality.

[Tay]

She's so with it. Go with it.

[Jared]

Is Glenn Powell single? Like, Like, Michael B. Jordan? Who is he dating these days?

[Maddie]

This is so interesting. Just like the reality, like, the behind the scenes of reality TV is so intriguing to me because it sounds like, like, for us, record making a producer is very important. It sounds like a producer. You have to have really good producers on shows to make it good tv. I mean, because it's like they can tell a contestant, like, hey, nurture this relationship. Hey, this. This person, like, that's going on behind the scenes, like, that we don't see well.

[Jared]

I mean, I think the best reality TV producers, I mean, every good producer would want to not do anything Right. It all comes down to casting. But, like, once you. Once you have your cast, you don't know how people are gonna, like, be around cameras. You don't know if they're gonna come in and edit themselves or be too worried about their Instagram followings and things like that. So, like, once they get the cast and they kind of see what they got, then, like, maybe there is some maneuvering. But I think I. I think they don't want to. But sometimes I think, you know, like, I think I saw. I. What I liked about last night's episode. It was like, all right, the end of, like, Friend Island. I mean, there's too much bonding and friendships. I was. I love that Iris finally went to Sierra and said, I don't know. If I were you, I would be pretty pissed at Nick. Like, you guys hooked up, you had sex, and now he's making out with your friend.

[Ethan]

And then it finally clocked in her. She's like, oh, yeah, maybe I should be.

[Jared]

Yeah. And it's just like, you know, and it's just like, right now you have a bunch of cast who, like, a lot of them, the main ones are just. They don't want to ruffle feather. They just, like, everyone get along. I'm cool. I'm chill. And, you know, it makes for really boring television. And so sometimes when producers see that, that's when they start getting more involved than they otherwise would like to.

[Ethan]

That's why I'm curious to know if the. When Nick and Alandria got dumped from the villa, if it was an audible that they called to bring them back, because I wonder if they were just like, okay, everyone loves these two so much, so we're just gonna.

[Natalie]

Do, you know, any.

[Tay]

I mentioned that. I said. I said the same thing. I was like, they probably heard that those two. It was those two getting dumped. That could have been, like, an actual. And then they heard it was Nick and Alondra, and they were like, oh, I don't know. Like, they're not going anywhere.

[Natalie]

They're not going.

[Tay]

I don't know, man.

[Jared]

I know what I want to ask you. When you guys first coupled up. When Nick got sent home, right?

[Tay]

Yeah.

[Jared]

When Jaden picked Austin. There is a moment, right, right after when the guys got up to, like, console and say goodbye to Nick, a lot of fans picked up on the fact that before Ace walked up to Nick, he kind of looked at Jaden and kind of gave her, like, a. What the fuck was that? Kind of like, how could you not vote for. For Nick? Did any of you all notice that at all? Or, like, how in. In that moment, did. Did Ace give Jaden any kind of, like, attitude or, you know, blame her a little bit.

[Tay]

A little bit. But they had that conversation, and she was like, I think Ace is mad at me. And he was like, he's. They cleared it up that he wasn't. But no matter who she would have picked, like, somebody prominent was gonna go home, you know, so it just. It just felt to be Nick. And honestly, it being Nick in a laundry that felt. That fell in everyone's favor, you know, because picture would have been Austin. It would not have had, like, the impact. And they couldn't have paired up that well, you know, which. Even I was like, oh, dang, I wish I would. Like, I was kind of sad that Nick was leaving, you know, because I wanted to get to know Nick a little bit better. But I feel like I had, um. I had a hard time there my first day. I don't want to say wasted, but I did try to grow that relationship with Ace. And then I realized there was, like, nothing there. And then day two, I tried to grow with tj and I was like, oh, no, maybe there's nothing here too. And then at that point, I had, like, a day left, basically, and Nick was gone. So I. It was just basically, like, I didn't have the time to, like, come back from, like, what I had done. But even if, like, from the beginning, if I would have chose to couple up with somebody else, I just don't know if it would have been any different. Just because nobody. Nobody there was matching my freak. We were just very different levels.

[Maddie]

Slim picking.

[Tay]

No, no. Yeah, it was. It was. No, actually, I'm like, there was, like, not a lot of smiles going on in there, but there was also not a lot of sleep going on in there. So maybe that. Maybe those go hand in hand. Everyone was just a little bit tired and a little bit grumpy.

[Jared]

Who were some of the more standoffish women from the villa?

[Tay]

I didn't even talk to Shelly at all. Amaya approached me right away. Tell me how pretty I was. Like, so freaking sweet. Honestly, all I can say is, like, how much her and Huda did stand out to me. I got tossed looks kind of from, like, a couple of the other ones, but those two really did try to, like, come and, like, console me, but I was like, I'm, like, happy as hell. I'm like, no, I'm good. I realized how hard it was going to be to spray 10 in there, I'm like, oh, bye. It's fine. I'm okay. Life is going to be okay.

[Jared]

What about Alandra?

[Tay]

At first I think she thought that we were going to be like a little bit tough on her, I guess because she kind of mentioned that, like, I was not expecting you guys to be that nice, but I was the first one to get up and like go hug her, like when I saw her. And me and her did spend a lot of. I probably spent more time with her than a lot of the girls in college casa. Once she got in there kind of, she was kind of picking my brain a bit and she was kind of pushing me to like go have those other conversations with everyone else because, like, putting my eggs in one basket wasn't going to do like a lot for me. But I'm like, even if I put like a couple eggs here and a couple eggs here, just my eggs are just not where my eggs are being wasted, you know, like, where, where's my man? Where's my boy?

[Jared]

But yeah, it was a tough situation. Would you go back if you got the opportunity to go on, like love is next season? Like, you know, obviously, despite your, you know, the challenges you've had in the brief time you're on it, like, do you still have an overall positive reflection of the experience and would you go back?

[Tay]

I'd have to be prepared to go back for sure. But honestly, I don't know. I think it would come down to how I was feeling in that moment. Like I really, as of right now, like you guys, I'm so fresh off of this. Like I just, my feet just barely touched down in la. I like still having an out of body experience. Like I don't know what's been going on. Like life is passing so fast right now and so much has happened. Like I'd have to see in the moment, like a year from now or however long it is, like to see how I'm feeling in that moment. But right now I'm just happy to be really home, like home with my mom, you know.

[Jared]

Any final thoughts, Vanna? Anything that we didn't get to ask you that you wanted to talk about or share with us, our audience, they.

[Tay]

Caught a ton of conversations with me and Jaden. Me and Jaden had some funny conversations that I was like, oh, they might, they might cut that up and I might look kind of like I was dogging on TJ a little bit.

[Natalie]

But maybe they'll put it in like the after sun.

[Jared]

Yeah.

[Natalie]

Or something.

[Jared]

It's tough cuz there's just so much. There was a lot of missing characters.

[Tay]

There's so much context that was left out of, like, the conversations, you know, but the biggest one to me was the. When Ariana asked me how I felt that he chose Iris. And they didn't put that in there. Like, they. They cut it up really oddly. Well, even when you're watching the clip, I've seen memes of myself being like, why is Vanna so damn jolly to be going home? Like, because I was. I was okay with it. I was completely fine with it. I was probably, like, the only one. Like, if they did, the girls did choose me to stay, I would feel so bad. Like, I would feel terrible because I did not have one connection. Connection in there. And, like, I made a joke. Like, I was in there for four days and didn't make a connection. And I had more chemistry with the guys standing behind me that were getting voted off. Like, I had more chemistry with them in, like, two seconds than I did with any of the guys in the house, so.

[Jared]

Well, we certainly felt like we made a connection with you, and we appreciate you coming on. For any of the people listening who want to follow you and show you some love, whether that's on. On Instagram or Tick Tock, where can they find you, Vanna?

[Tay]

All across the board, just at Vanner.

[Jared]

Okay. All right, Vanna, thanks so much for your time. Thanks for taking the time. We had so much fun. Even though it was a brief time on Love island, and we appreciate you answering our questions.

[Tay]

No, I had so much fun. Thank you for having me.

[Jared]

All right, take care.

[Maddie]

I'm gonna get all of our fans to go to her page and be like, you're beautiful.

[Ethan]

We love you.

[Maddie]

Our fans are really sweet and they'll cancel out all them haters.

[Ethan]

I know, I know.

[Maddie]

That is a.

[Jared]

The.

[Maddie]

The behind the scenes of. Because I was so intrigued, I loved, like, because I did watch when you were on Bachelorette and then you did Bachelor, right? Yeah, well, yeah. So, like, that, like maybe five or six year span. But anyways, good era.

[Jared]

They.

[Maddie]

Yes, it was on fire. Like, just great characters for the couple years. But I feel like you got villainized, like, really quickly. Like with. It was Caitlyn season.

[Jared]

Yeah. No, Annie's was the first season.

[Natalie]

Annie's.

[Maddie]

Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so it's like there's always like an automatic villain that by, like the first or second episode, you know, like, who they're trying to get everyone to hate or whatever. And I think it's interesting, like, Because I remember T was like, really what you need to know about Love island is Huda is crazy. And I was like, okay. And so. But it was cool to like kind of hear, you know, her perspective of like, oh, she was actually the most welcoming. And like, what people don't see about the person who's like the crazy one.

[Jared]

Or the villain, they focus on storylines too.

[Maddie]

Yeah.

[Jared]

So like Huda was giving a lot of obviously energy.

[Ethan]

Energy that like one episode where she like literally crashed out.

[Jared]

Yeah.

[Ethan]

But everything's good now.

[Jared]

You get siloed into like personality. So like they focus on moments. Right. All of us have good and bad moments in a day. Like have a camera on you 24 7. Imagine like the off putting facial expressions automatically cancel. You can take those and choose what, what should those facial expressions show and not show.

[Ethan]

And things line it up with completely different dialogue. Like, I know they do that too. They. They get someone rolling their eyes and.

[Natalie]

Someone was just put it somewhere else about hot dogs.

[Ethan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Maddie]

Oh, yeah, yeah. It's all in the edit. It's just so interesting. I, I thought it was cool that you were kind of bringing up like just people that like the, what the perspective is like underneath the whole villain moment. I guess.

[Jared]

Yeah. I mean, it's like it's not. I mean, again, it's villain used lightly. It's just. But a villain is a star of the show. Without a villain, you don't even have like, you can't have a good reality TV show or a movie without a villain. You need something to root against. That's why I always like. Did you watch Hannah Brown's Season of the Best?

[Maddie]

Oh, we watched that. We were on tour with Carrie Underwood that year and we. Religious name Luke. Yeah, that guy.

[Jared]

But that's the thing. Like, I'm not trying to like, he, he had a lot of problematic things he said and he was an ultra villain. But that's, that's season's great. Not good if he's not on there.

[Maddie]

I know.

[Jared]

You know, because I don't know.

[Maddie]

Tyler Cameron's hot enough to carry a whole.

[Ethan]

Oh, I love seasons.

[Jared]

You know, he was great and I love Tyler. But like it's. You have to have those types of like the tension.

[Maddie]

You got to have the like. Yeah. And then it just makes it way more interesting.

[Jared]

But yeah, I do love hearing those perspectives. Like Vanna's where it's just like, you know, who knows, who knows why Shelly seemed to be more standoffish with her? You know, maybe Shelly was having two bad Days in the day that, you know, Vanna got to hang out with her or. Or maybe they're just like, maybe Shelly is getting protected by her relationship with Ace and things like that where, you know, Shelly's just mostly quiet.

[Ethan]

Yeah.

[Jared]

You know, so you don't really. We see Shelly and we're like this beautiful, you know, classy, you know, person and so, like, there's just nothing. You don't have anything bad to say about her because we're just not, you know, but like, you know, you know, it's like you're getting a snippet of these people and, you know, you're not really getting the whole package. And most of them are probably fine people. One thing I'm fascinated. I will love your lady's perspective last night when Huda was talking to Chris. And we all know that Huda's a mom, right? And Chris was just like, hey, I want to be like, just, you know, you being a mom, it's cool. No opinion. But then they were talking about what they're going to do after the show and Huda was like, as soon as my lease is up, I'm moving to la. And I wanted to hear more of that story because I was. Was this more like. Because we, we know that her, her. The father of her child is like taking care of Huda's child right now. He's like posting content.

[Ethan]

Very supportive.

[Jared]

He's very supportive. But like, is Huda not taking the kid? Yeah.

[Maddie]

Because that's against the law to move your child without.

[Jared]

Without, I mean, two, your parents have to be in alignment. And she mentioned that her and her co parent would both move. Have. Well, that's the thing. They didn't say. They just said. She just mentioned they had a conversation. But like, it was. I was just more like, who. I want to know, are you moving without the child?

[Natalie]

I know.

[Jared]

Or like. Or is he. I think, is he coming?

[Ethan]

Lots of those decisions are questionable.

[Maddie]

Yeah. You know, because as moms, I guess, I mean, she is.

[Jared]

She's like, you're just gonna go to LA and be an impulse, like, for sure.

[Maddie]

Because children are like. For me, being a mom is like, has been the highlight of my life life, like in like my whole world revolves around my baby in the best way where I'm like, everything else in my life is richer because I have this giant love for this human. So I'm like, my plans adjust to what's best for me and him and my husband rather than what's best for me. And maybe I don't know, because there are times where we want to do things for ourselves or whatever, and it just is, like, not the right decision. I don't know if that would be. I mean, going on tour is hard enough. Like, when we're like, we were just. We were only gone for two days on the road this last weekend, and we were like, if we go one more day, I'm gonna be, like, a sobbing mess and no one's gonna want to even come to the show because I miss my baby so much. So I can't even imagine, like, moving.

[Jared]

I'm gonna be like, Hooda. If you are listening or anyone who knows Huda and you're listening to the show, don't move to la.

[Maddie]

Choose your baby.

[Jared]

Before we let you go, do you, do you want to do, like, a power ranking of Love Islanders who like.

[Ethan]

Who I like the most?

[Jared]

Sure. Yeah.

[Ethan]

Or what? Do you.

[Jared]

Yeah.

[Ethan]

Is that what you meant?

[Jared]

Sure. However we want to base it on, and it includes anyone who's already been kicked off.

[Ethan]

Okay.

[Jared]

Do you want to start from the. Start from the top or the bottom?

[Ethan]

Yeah, let's start from the.

[Natalie]

Your favorite or your least favorite?

[Ethan]

I mean, my current favorite is Landry.

[Jared]

Yeah. I'm number one.

[Ethan]

I feel like she's Love Island's sweetheart. Like, America's sweetheart.

[Jared]

She's seems exceptional.

[Ethan]

Yes. And then I just think Nick's funny just because he's so, like, memeable. And like you said, he's committed to the bit. That's what we say. Like, when you're, like, in it for the. The good bit. Yeah, that's him.

[Natalie]

Amaya Papaya is high on.

[Jared]

Amaya is number two for me.

[Ethan]

Amaya's sweet, but I feel like sometimes she's hard to watch.

[Natalie]

I love her singing in that.

[Ethan]

Yeah.

[Natalie]

In that glam room by herself.

[Ethan]

And the clip where she's like, I almost ate this whole box of chips. I'm like, she's so relatable.

[Jared]

Part of my list is based off of how I think these people are in real life outside of the show. And again, this is no disrespect for. They all seem like totally fine, nice people. But I, I, I respect Amaya's. She's a true friend. She is in a world where everyone's calling themselves a girls girls these days, where, like, everyone's I'm a girl girl, you know?

[Maddie]

And, like, you're like, no, it's only.

[Jared]

Like, you're only a girl's girl when, like, you aren't threatened by anyone. But she truly is home.

[Natalie]

Charlie.

[Jared]

I just feel like there's more to that. I would love to put every other instance she has like stood up, she has spoken up, she has defended her friends. Eve, like she. I don't know. I just. She seems like a real ride or die even.

[Ethan]

Yeah. When Taylor voted for Clark, I think she was like, what is wrong with you?

[Jared]

Yeah.

[Natalie]

Yeah.

[Jared]

And I just. I just.

[Maddie]

You.

[Jared]

She shows herself. She's not editing herself. Like this entire cast has their friends managing their social media and she doesn't. And like in the most what innocent way where she showed up like a real reality TV star who like showed up for the experience and not necessarily to be famous.

[Ethan]

Okay, then I. Then she's definitely higher on my list. Okay, bye.

[Jared]

She's so sweet.

[Ethan]

And then I love Sierra. I think Sierra.

[Jared]

I really like Sierra too.

[Maddie]

We have a song called Sierra and I always feel bad because even if it's a nice Sierra. Sierra.

[Tay]

It.

[Maddie]

We wrote it about a mean Sierra and I always. There's. There was a girl in the audience the other night that I think her name was Sierra. We met her in the meet and greet and I was like, we're gonna hear a song tonight and it's not about you, I promise.

[Jared]

I would put Jeremiah up there though too.

[Ethan]

Jeremiah's sweet. Very sweet. I thought Hannah was fun to watch. Like, she was definitely entertaining to watch for obvious reasons.

[Jared]

But yeah, I would just put Nick and Taylor on the bottom of my list only because I. I people and I just think they're following Ace too much.

[Ethan]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

The minion.

[Jared]

Yeah. And I just. Nick theme is very likable. But I just wish he's not just like. I mean he's. He's a good looking boy.

[Ethan]

You think people will vote Ace off?

[Jared]

I don't.

[Natalie]

I think America is all in cahoots of like, Ace will not get that money. I think everyone's like, he's.

[Ethan]

Even if he stays on, they're not going to vote. That makes sense.

[Jared]

Yeah. I. I would be shocked if those two win.

[Natalie]

I think Nick and Sierra will be probably win at this point. They're the only couple that's like actually.

[Ethan]

A couple that's been there and you know, it's funny.

[Natalie]

Tested their relationship.

[Ethan]

Exact. It's always the relationships that I've like been through the most. But they find their. Like even when he came back from Casa Amore and she was just like sobbing and then they're like. They reunited and it was really sweet. And that in that moment I was like, they're definitely going to Win like that solidified it.

[Jared]

I just don't think there's any chance they're going to stay together after the show.

[Ethan]

But do they ever?

[Jared]

Yeah. I mean, our winning couple last year, Sierra and Serena. Cordell and Serena.

[Natalie]

Janae and Kenny.

[Jared]

Janae and Kenny. That's Powerpuff Girl.

[Natalie]

Leah and Miguel.

[Ethan]

Miguel.

[Jared]

Yeah, they're all together.

[Natalie]

Wow.

[Jared]

Yeah.

[Ethan]

Well, that was a special season.

[Jared]

It was, but I just. I actually believe in Ace and Shelly. They actually seem like a really cute couple.

[Ethan]

They seem like best friends.

[Jared]

I just don't think there's any way Nick is settling down any anytime soon.

[Maddie]

That's just the tea.

[Jared]

I just. He's 24. He's great looking.

[Ethan]

Yeah.

[Jared]

Too good of a flirt. Just like this. This is not a man who's looking.

[Ethan]

For a. I did think it was funny that she like had both of the curly headed, like blue Eyed Boys. It was so funny. They were standing right next to each other and she definitely has a type.

[Natalie]

And love and Light is out.

[Ethan]

Yes, that's right, it is out.

[Natalie]

Go stream it. Anything else you want to promote? Are you on tour shows coming up? What's going on?

[Maddie]

Yeah, we've got a lot of shows for the rest of the summer. In the fall, the Love and light, everything's just Maddie and Tay trying to think. What else?

[Ethan]

Just life. Just raising babies, chasing dreams.

[Maddie]

Literally, that's what we're doing.

[Jared]

Well, it was so great to meet you. Please come back. Congratulations on all the success. This was so much fun. All right, we're going to wrap up here for today's episode. We will pick up Bravo when we are back from the break. Thank you again to our guests Maddie and Tay, along with Vanna. If you are bored in the meantime, well, tonight, don't worry. Make sure to check out the reunion of the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives which I am hosting in the Women Show Up Deliver. It's an absolute dramatic episode you are not going to want to miss. Check that out on Hulu and if you're still bored after that, there are plenty of episodes to go back and listen to, like our Ass Nick episodes or conversation with Jeremiah, Hannah, Jalen. So much that we've recorded. All of you Love island fans out there, be sure to check that out. I think that's it. Have a great happy and safe fourth of July weekend. We will see you back next week on Monday. Until then, bye. Bye.

[Unknown]

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