W was it, was it ever a point of like. Man, I, even though we just did, you know, we kinda hugged it out with everybody. Everybody introduced themselves to me. We hugged it out. Was there a party that felt like maybe they are still acting and I’m never gonna hear from these people anymore.
It’s like, Hey, we just completed a job onto the next thing. And then you were just like, well man, I thought we did develop some sort of friendship. Was it any of that, like you were worried that maybe these people really didn’t care to keep in touch with you once filming was over?
No. You know, I, I always, I had the feeling that everybody was, you know, interested in keeping in touch.
And, you know, as long as I was interested in keeping those channels open, everybody would be, you know, friendly and cordial. And we stay, you know, messaging on Instagram and tagging each other and, you know, it’s not like we’re working out together every day or anything like, you know what I mean? But we’re fr we’re all friends.
And I think you’re on the o you’re on the opposite ends of the United States, right? Exactly. I think most of those people live in la And you’re in, you’re in Pennsylvania or where are you? Oh, Baltimore, right outside of Baltimore. Yep. Yeah, you’re outside of Baltimore. Okay. So yeah, I mean, it’s just, I think I did see on your Instagram feed that somebody, one of the, one of the people was in town, right?
And Yeah. You hung out
with Corey Podell came to town recently for a music festival in Baltimore. I mean, sorry, a movie festival in Baltimore.
And Corey was, Corey was the fake
producer.
Fake producer, right? With the tank top?
Yeah. She always was directing me down at the goat every morning.
Oh yeah.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Yeah.
And then have you seen Natasha or Maya since filming ended or no?
Yeah, we did, we ran into each other once in Baltimore after filming ended. And you know, once again, we went out, we drank, we had some beers and everything was good.
The other thing I wanted to ask you was the Mr.
Danish character was pretty funny to me, but yeah, again, again, in the moment, and look, I know you didn’t know until the very end when you were told, but in the moment when you’re sitting there having this conversation with some guy named Mr. Danish, who isn’t talking and is speaking through somebody else again, are you just like, what is happening here?
Why isn’t this person talking to me? Yeah. Or why can’t like. Why do I have to talk through somebody else? Just what, what was your thought process of Mr. Danish when you met him?
Right. So, you know, this, this, this game, to me, when they described it to me, it had this. Mystery around it. Like I knew what it was, but I didn’t know what it was.
And Mr. Danish, he was the maker of the game and like they said, raised on an island by goats. And you know, he, he did, he honestly did, he had this very powerful presence. Like he really felt like he was somebody huge when he came.
Yeah. And he is, you know, he is wearing his sunglasses. He seems like a cool cat.
Yeah. Bruce
Bake. We stayed in touch on Instagram. He is a good guy.
Yeah. No, that was just, it was really, again, I thought they did it. I, I thought they did a really good job. It took me a few episodes because I was so into the earlier seasons. I, I will admit it did take me a few episodes to get caught up and to get with the other characters that they had cast.
I guess the one disappointment I had was why wasn’t lip Nikki part of the reveal at the end? Do we know? I don’t know,
to be honest. I don’t know that.
Yeah, why didn’t he? It wasn’t, he there. Everybody else showed up.
Yeah. And Barbara, Barbara wasn’t either. That’s right. Barbara wasn’t either. Yeah. I didn’t, I didn’t know if you knew I poor Barbara, man.
She, you know, she was in there and out of there.
Yeah. She got dragged out. Yeah. Yelling and screaming and then they never, and they never brought her back. Maybe she had another, maybe she had another gig rolling or something like that. But you know, it’s funny, you know, ’cause I’m watching it and at the end.
You know, it’s all fun and games for nine episodes. Then you get to the 10th episode and, and like you said, the audience is basically just waiting to hear, to see the reaction. Is he gonna be mad? Is he gonna be upset? Is he gonna be pissed off in any way? How is he gonna take it? And finding out. Right. And.
It was, your reaction was, was very genuine. Like all season, you’re, you’re a very likable guy. Everyone I think was cheering for you. At, at the end when the reveal happened, your reaction was kind of what I expected. I fully expected you to give the money to Maya, just the way you came across on television, the way you carried yourself.
I knew you weren’t gonna take the money for yourself. So I was, that was great to see. Then to give the money, you know, to give the money to Maya. Like I said, I thought it would happen. And then it was nice to see obviously, that you got the $200,000 prize. What have you done with the money since invest?
Oh, yeah. You know, little bit investing some savings. I put a payment towards the principal of my mortgage for this whole condo I own. Nice. I I’ve done a lot. I mean, I got a cat, so that’s been a little bit of money. But, motorcycle I bought and wrecked.
Oh geez, you wrecked it.
Yeah. I almost didn’t make it to the premiere of the show.
It was crazy. But cashed the motorcycle and now I got an old truck, so that’ll keep me safer.
I was gonna say, now that you mentioned that, I think I did see on your Instagram, you. Trying to think in my head. Like you in a hospital, right? I’m assuming that was from a motorcycle wreck or was that something different?
That was something different, yeah. Oh, it was,
it hurt again for something else. Okay.
Yeah. Yes. Oh,
what was the what? So what did, what was the motorcycle wreck? What did it end up happening?
So I was driving down the road on, on the way to work in the morning, and a deer just came out in the middle of the road and I hit the deer and.
I was going about 40, 40 to 50 miles an hour. Did you get thrown
from the Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh
gosh. Yeah. It was, yeah, that was brutal. Elbows were everywhere.
Oh my gosh. When do you ever, do you keep in touch with Kat at all? Any, is she on text chain? Yeah, we,
we have sent a couple of dms back and forth, you know, she’s high profile though.
Yeah. Yeah. Not joking in a real way, but yeah. You know? Yeah. So we’ve messaged a couple times and she’s really, she was always really nice and down to earth.
Is the is the cast in and of itself, have you guys planned any sort of, Hey, let’s, I know you’re on the East Coast and they’re on the west Coast, but has, has there ever been any sort of, let’s.
Let’s plan a weekend together. You know, Ben, come to LA and we’ll all hang out again just for, you know, a weekend or anything. Anything like that.
There’s always, you know, everybody’s always saying, you gotta come back. You gotta come back. And I, I do plan on making it back to California. We were, you know, always, there was always talks of a premiere party or an after party or, you know, like a reunion, something like that.
So I, I really hope to see everybody again. You know, I, I miss ’em all.
Yeah. I wanna go back to the beginning real quick because I usually ask this to everybody who comes on my podcast. That was a contestant on a reality show is how did it happen for you? Like, how did, did, did someone reach out to you? Was there something that you re responded to that you saw about being on a reality show?
How, like, how did they find Ben fr zone outside of Baltimore to appear on the show?
Right? So, it, it was on an online dating site, you know, I got swiped as they say. And it was just a person, you know, using the site as a way to, you know, I guess see people. And they were like, Hey, you know, I’m a casting agent.
Would you be interested on being on a reality television show? And I was like, yeah, that sounds fun. And that’s how I got the ball rolling. And. You know, interviews and all sorts of stuff, and finally they were like, you’re the guy.
So what’s funny is on a show like this where the prank is being done on you, they can’t tell you, or maybe they were just selling you.
Hey, during the interview process, were they telling you this is a show called The goat, this is how it works, it’s a game show you can win money? Or did they keep that from you?
Yeah, they kept that all from me. Oh. It was like, I mean, I knew it was basically a house based reality competition show. That’s what they gave me.
That’s, that’s like what I was really operating off of. House based reality television show.
But they didn’t give you any, really any other details other than the Probably a money, money prize. I’m assuming they told you that there’d be a money
prize. Yeah, and you know, it’s funny ’cause I’m just not the kind of guy to ask questions.
So you know exactly
why they cast you best.
Yeah. Some people are like, some people are like, well, what did they tell you it was, and I’m like, I don’t even know if I asked to be honest. Like, I was just like, let’s go, dude. Let’s do this.
And knowing that now, it’s like no wonder you were the guy that they choked, you didn’t question anything.
Yeah.
That is, that is great. I mean, it was, it was quite a wild ride watching all this and the ups and downs and the eliminations and then. Getting back into the show, but just again, Ben, you’re such a likable guy. Thank you. I, I think the ending when everybody watched it last night is, is probably thinking the same thing as me.
Like, man, this was just, I mean, it was so much negativity, especially on social media and in the world right now. This is a show that when the final reveal happens, you just. You feel really good. The amount of tears, like I don’t think, even though they are actors, I don’t think any of those people were faking tears.
I really do feel like it was a genuine connection that you guys had developed you yourself as well. And it was just. It was just such a positive ending to a show, and I think that’s what we all kind of need in times like this, just a show that doesn’t have people sniping at each other, or just social media banter back and forth and calling people names.
It was such the perfect ending to this show. Man. I, yeah, I thought it was great.
That’s great. Thank
you. No, it, no, you were, you were a, you were a trooper. You could have easily just been like, man, you know, and I, I, I can’t even imagine what it’s like to be. In that situation, because it was a form of the Truman show.
Since then, since then, have there ever been any times where maybe, you know, obviously we’re far removed from filming happening, but when you went back home, was there ever a point of view that was like, even though it seems crazy, like am I being watched right now? Am I being someone following me? Am I being watched?
Did that ever cross your mind, like,
no. No. Never.
Anything like
that? Huh? No, I, I’d say I dealt, you know. I dealt with it very well. I, I think, you know, I just, I know it was a show and I was just, God, some, some weird odds that I, I was the guy that landed this. Yeah. Well,
yeah. But I think I did see, again under Instagram, did you get a goat tattoo?
Yeah, I did.
You did on your, on your leg or? Yeah. Isn’t it on your thigh? It’s got a,
it’s got a gold chain with the 200,000 on it.
Well, that, I mean that. There you go. That is, how long did that, how long did that tattoo take to get?
I think it was like three hours. About three hours. Okay. It’s American traditional did,
it, did obviously the person who did the goat tattoo, I, I.
When did you do this?
Yeah, so I, I did it not long after the show was finished. Shout out. Transmission Tattoo in Baltimore. Yeah. And Andy gave me the tattoo and he was just, I was, I just told him, I was like, Andy, you know, I want to do this thing. It’s, it’s the goat, like, you know, like the best of all time.
And I thought it’d be cool if he was wearing a gold chain. And Andy didn’t ask any questions either. He was just like, okay.
That’s what I was gonna say is just like, obviously you couldn’t tell right. The tattoo artist, this is why I’m getting it. So you just had to make up a story. ’cause he’s probably like, I mean obviously tattoos can be, he’s probably like, this is kind of random, but whatever.
I’ll do it. This is what you requested.
Yeah.
But since the show has aired and is on tv, have you gone back to that guy and told him, Hey, by the way. This is why I got this goat tattoo.
Yeah. I haven’t, but, okay. That’ll be a good idea. I should, I should head down there.
Yeah. You need to at at least, you know now that, now that the show is over,
Because now you know, he, you know, maybe don’t wanna give it away.
Maybe he’s watching, but I, you know, I’m wondering if he’s, I’m wondering if he’s watching and being
Yeah.
Thinking back to, oh, wait a second. This is that guy I gave the goat tattoo to. Yeah. No wonder.
You know, I’ll, I’ll, I’ll post the tattoo and the show’s all over.
I thought, I, I thought I did is something, how did I see that?
How did I know that? Did you post something on Instagram? I have no
idea how, honestly, I, I, I wanted, I was just about to like, start looking through my Instagram. Like where did he, I I know I, I know I right now,
because I was like, there’s no way I would’ve known that, Ben, we’ve never spoken before now, but I feel like I saw it on like one of your videos as I’m scrolling now.
No, I don’t.
So I, I took down some pictures of me that were just like, where I was in really good shape, just ’cause I was like, oh man, these probably shouldn’t be out there. It may have been in one of them.
Okay, maybe that’s what it was. And if
you started following me early.
Maybe that’s what it was, but but anyway, I mean this was, like I said, it was, it was a hell of a finale last night.
I hope a lot of people watch it. If they don’t, you can go I’m sure on tbs.com, download it, watch this season of the goat. And even though it does, you know, it’s almost like we all know what’s happening at the end. Just like a movie like Titanic, it doesn’t take away from the first nine episodes and everything you went through.
’cause I don’t think, I don’t think anybody can have the emotional reaction. Right to the finale. If you did not invest the time into the first, you know, nine episodes, you know it, or 10 episodes, it just, you had to see how you got there with each and every character. For you to feel the way I felt at the end of the show where I was like, wow, that was a really, really cool ending.
So yeah,
and the bond between me and Maya had to be like formed, you know? Yeah. Everything that she saved me from elimination and all the things that she did for me, I was like. This, this is the right thing to do.
Just one last thing with Maya. Was there really anything, like, what made it, what made the connection with Maya out of anybody else in the house?
Like, I, I’m, I’m totally forgetting the characters’ names right now. I mean, I haven’t, I haven’t pulled up here, but let me just, what’s, what’s his face? His name Braxton. I was gonna, him, I was gonna call him Dax. But Braxton, you know, you kind of, kind of. Bonded with him in the beginning, you guys were boys or whatever, but what was it with Maya that made you gravitate towards her?
Yeah, so, you know, I, you gotta remember all the characters, they have their own like plots and storylines and she was supposed to be like my confidant.
Yeah. You know
what I mean? And she obviously, she did a really good job of like making me feel like, you know, I could trust her and that we were the allyship in this game and, you know what I mean, like.
That’s true. Yeah. Obviously point.
Yeah.
She’s really, but you still had to, wasn’t
hurt.
You had to be receptive to her. Yeah. Yeah, that too. I mean, but you had to be receptive to her because she could have put on her act of, I gotta become this guy’s ally. And you could have just been like, oh, I see her as a threat.
I wanna get her out of this game. I mean, right. Yeah. There is a possibility that could have been the case, but yeah. Nah, sense
if you’re from the four one, oh, we don’t play, we don’t play games.
Yeah, there you go. If
you’re, if you’re from Maryland, we roll together.
Now you mentioned that you know that little, the comments you made about Maya, was there anything that you thought could romantically happen with Maya, either during or post show?
Because you’ve seen show mans on TV all the time,
right? Right. Yeah. There’s reality show mans all the time. I mean, I may have been hopeful, but I don’t think. Anything was gonna happen. Okay. Nothing did happen, so.
Alright. I know, I know people are interested in it. I know that verify, you know, people are just like, I wonder if there was something there or,
oh yeah, that’s, that is the number one ask question actually is the Maya stuff.
How are you and Maya? Yeah, my, oh my gosh.
Yeah. That’s great. But anyway, Ben, thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate it. Joe Sho finale aired last night on TBS, everyone. You have the ability to go check it out as well. Again, Ben, one of the best endings to the show. These reveal shows, these Joe Schmo reveals are, are very, very heartwarming.
All of them have been great, and to see you handle it as well as you did. Congratulations on winning the $200,000 and congratulations on being the goat. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having me on the podcast. You got it, man. Thanks.
Have a good one.
Thanks so much to Ben for coming on. Really appreciate it.
I hope you guys saw the finale last night on TBS. If not, you can still go check it out. The kid is just very, you can just tell he is very naive to the whole process, very innocent, and I just appreciate him taking the time to talk about this. I hope you guys watched it. Like I said, for the first few episodes, I couldn’t get into it, and then as we got towards the end of the season, it was picking up more.
You see the connections with the contestants developing more and you’re just waiting for that moment, like. How is he going to react? What is going to happen? Is it gonna be sadness? Is it gonna be, is it gonna be upset? Is he gonna be stern? Is he gonna, you know, start f bombing everybody on the crew? You just never know.
And I think Ben handled it about as well as you could. It was just a, it was just a very. Very happy and positive ending something we all need in this world. So thanks to Ben for coming on. Thank you for all listening. I really appreciate it. Follow me on Apple Podcasts. Also rate and review, but you gotta hit play.
It’s the only way it counts as a download. The Sports Daily will be up in an hour from now. Check that out and we’re gonna do your Finer Reader emails until Bachelor in Paradise Starts. Final Reader Emails of the season is gonna be up on my website later on today around about nine 30 ish. Eastern Standard Time.
Thank you very much for listening. I really appreciate it, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.
