You are listening to the Reality Steve podcast with your host Reality Steve. He's got all the latest info and behind the scenes juice on Matt season of The Bachelor and interviewing some of your favorite reality stars. Now, here's a reality, Steve. What's up, everybody, welcome to podcast number twenty three. I'm your host reality. Steve, thank you all for tuning in. A Temptation Island centric episode for you this week. We've got one of the couples on recorded separately because we don't know.

What their situation is. We got Tom Gibson and we've got Chelsea, Orkut, Tom and Chelsea, season three, Temptation Island every Tuesday night on the USA Network and we'll get to that momentarily. Exciting news from the 90 day universe, a new series, 90 Day The Single Life is streaming now exclusively on Discovery. Plus, six, 90 day singles are back in the dating pool and ready for a second chance at romance.

Will it leave them lovesick or sick of love? 90 day, the single life, the hot new series streaming now exclusively on Discovery plus one, as I said, this is a Temptation Island centric episode.

It's on every Tuesday night. Season three just started two weeks ago. Only two episodes in. You can check it out on the streaming. If you haven't seen the first two episodes, I would suggest tuning into the show. It is very good. Um, is it a little out there in terms of the concept? Sure. But I think you ask anybody who went on the show, they really learned a lot about themselves, whether or not they ended up staying together or not.

Out of the eight couples, there were four couples on each season. Only two of them are still together. But there is a lot to be learned on this show. I think Mark Wahlberg, our guest two weeks ago, is a great host. I have said I think he would be a perfect fit for the Bachelor franchise. Hell, most people think he's a knockoff, Chris Harrison, anyway, and even looks like him a little bit.

So I don't think bachelor level hire him, but I still think he's a good choice.

But I really I hope you guys are all watching and I'm going to keep drilling into your heads. We're going to have a guest on every week from the show, but usually it'll be about a 20, 25 minute interview on the back end of whoever my guest is because we didn't have one last week. We put them on we put two on this week. And now we're back to probably one guest a week from Temptation Island. And just talk about the episode, talk a little bit about themselves and kind of go from there.

But a good start so far to the season. Really enjoying it. I hope you all are, too.

As for Bachelor World News, if you saw me tweeted out yesterday, I did get the confirmation that Bachelorette I had heard about a week and a half, two weeks ago that New Mexico was what they were zoning in on. And as I was hearing, like they're getting away from Canada. It's going to be New Mexico. And then yesterday, I got the confirmation of the Grande ah, the Hyatt Regency Tamaya, which is about 20 minutes, I can't remember twenty minutes or twenty miles out a little bit north of Albuquerque.

But that's where they're going to film and it's going to start mid to late March like they usually do. What we don't know right now is who's hosting the show and we don't know who The Bachelorette is. I had a ton of you a ton ask. I thought you said Katie was The Bachelorette. I'm like, yeah, I did like a month ago. And ever since then, I've told you numerous times Katie is no longer the bachelorette. She was their planned one that they were going to go with.

Then everything got turned upside down and bachelor world with everything going on in the social media aspect of it, with Rachel and Matt and all the cross hairs and stuff, and they had to change it. They're going or they're going to change it. They haven't decided who yet. But as soon as I hear anything, who's hosting the after the final rose this weekend don't know yet. Who's hosting The Bachelorette when it starts filming in March? Don't know yet.

Who's going to be The Bachelorette? Don't know yet. This stuff could come literally. It could come in. I could find out first. It could be dropped by a media outlet that says, you know, we found out that someone's out hosting after the final rose.

If I see that on a media story all retweeted so you can see it. But I don't know if I'm going to find out before, like, you know, place like people or US Weekly or something like that. They might find out first in terms of who's hosting and stuff like that. So I will keep you updated. You'll know as long as you follow me on social media, you'll know if you're listening to this podcast before one o'clock Eastern Time on Thursday and you haven't signed up for clubhouse download the app, you have to have an iPhone to do it.

If you have an Android, it's not going to work. It's a fairly new app, so it has to be invite only. I understand I'm still confused a little bit on how invite only works. Hopefully you guys can tune in today. If not, because clubhouse is starting to get really big. Pretty soon everyone's going to be able have access to it. It'll be really easy for us to do more clubhouse stuff and anybody that's following me can just listen in.

But if you can somehow get an invite from somebody that you know that's on clubhouse, have them invite you, download the app, create a screen name, follow me at Reality, Steve on clubhouse, and then you just have to get an invite to somebody from somebody. And you can listen in today, 1:00 Eastern, 10:00 a.m. Pacific. We're just me, Olivia Creedy and Keisha, who is a big fan of mine. And I didn't even go to class earlier this week that her whole business started because of listening to me.

And they'll be hosting it will have people on from vaccination. Ashley Baby is going to be there and we're going to talk. If you haven't seen club, it's a really cool app, really cool networking app for people as well. So check that out. But anyway, I want to just get right into it. Temptation Island, Chelsea and Tom or one of the four couples. And like I said, I don't know, spoilers for this season.

I'm not asking questions and hoping that they slip up. And, you know, you'll listen to both of these and maybe you'll have formed an opinion. I I think you can form an opinion both ways and be like, oh, yeah, I just listen to that. And I could totally tell that they're broken up or you can listen to it and be like I could totally tell that they're still together. I, I found things that they say in both interviews pointing to both directions that they are together or they are broken up.

So I don't think there's anything definitive here. Maybe I missed something because I was doing the interviewing. I was listening to their answers, but. I can't tell definitively where they're at in their relationship, and that's good because I don't want to know and as I say, at the end of the pod, guys like, look, I'm sure I'll hear as we get closer to the finale, I'm sure I'm going to end up hearing some spoilers about who stayed together and who broke up and who left with who.

If they broke up, did they leave with a single? I'm sure I'll hear towards the end of the season. I'll never reveal it on this podcast, but I don't want to know in episode two, it would it would really ruin it for me if I found out who broke up and who still together.

I just I want to see this thing play out. So two really good interviews, an interesting couple, and I hope you enjoy it. So here we go with podcast number two. Twenty three. OK, let's bring him in. He is one half of the Tom and Chelsea couple on season three of Temptation Island, currently airing on Tuesday nights ten nine Central on the USA Network. It is Tom Gibson. Tom, how are you doing?

I'm good, Steve. Thank you for having me on. I'm honored to be here.

We've got a lot to talk about before we get to Tuesday night's episode of I want to give you an opportunity to just tell people a little bit about yourself, who you are. We saw stuff in the intro video, but it's you know, there's only an hour show and they got four couples need to get to and eight people needed to do so.

Just a little background yourself where you grew up, schooling what you're doing now. Just give everyone kind of the lowdown on Tom Gibson.

Sure. So I'm originally from the East Coast. I grew up in New Jersey. I went to Seton Hall and got a degree in psychology. And after that I started working in finance and I worked at Merrill Lynch.

This was like during the, um, the financial crisis. I started there in 2008 and it was a really, really wild time to be working in finance. I was with Merrill when they got bought by Bank of America.

I went through that whole transition and then I wanted to make a career change when I was in my late 20s and I wanted to get into acting. So I put my self through acting school. I went to the William Esper Studio in New York City. I did at night while still working. And then I got my graduate from that conservatory program. I left the corporate world and I started a career in acting. I acted in New York for about two, two and a half years.

And then I moved out to L.A. about two little over two years ago now and have been in L.A. And that's where I met Chelsea in L.A. Know she's also from the East Coast. We met on the West Coast and yeah, we like literally fell in love pretty quickly and we did together. And then, I mean. Yeah. And then I guess the kind of shows tell the rest of that story. But yeah.

I mean, you know, it's interesting, it's an interesting story of where you're from and and you mentioned acting. Now a lot of people are going to be like, oh, well, great, he's a professional actor. How do I know what he said? The show is real and what isn't. Is there is there a way to determine, like, your sincerity on the show now knowing that you are an actor?

I mean, you know, I'm not acting. This is healthy. I don't want to use I want to be sure I don't give any spoilers. But yeah, Kelsey and I were are we are a real couple. Yeah. And yeah, I mean, it's not I'm not playing a character. I'm playing myself. I am I'm being truthful. It's you know, it's not a scripted show. It's it's you know, I don't know what else to say.

People I mean, people I think have always kind of had the concern with reality shows like how real is it? And people that know me personally. Are you asking me like, is this real or is everyone an actor?

And I feel like, you know, as much as everyone on the show tells everyone, like, no, we're not actors or even though I am an actor, I'm not acting.

Yeah.

You know, I think that it's up to people to take, believe it or not.

So tell everybody how you ended up in the casting process for this show. Was this done or pitched through an agency that might represent you or were you guys? Because I asked this to every couple who's ever been on that comes on the podcast. It's usually, yeah, we got reached out to buy or I got reached out to by a casting department that saw pictures of me or saw pictures of me and my girl or whatever the case may be. How did it happen for you?

You know, it's a great question.

It wasn't it wasn't something that my agency thought out. It was actually through Kelsey. Kelsey, she's a bit of a social media influencer, if you will. She has a pretty solid following. And yeah, someone on the production side of Temptation Island reached out to her through her Instagram. And we were together. We were in the car in Sacramento taking a little road trip. And she got to the end and they were like, are you available for a call real quick?

So I, I was in the car. She's like, oh, I just got reached out to for a reality show. And so I pulled the car over because we're in Sacramento at reception. So I pulled over so we could like your and it was explained to us pitch to us for the show was what it was about. And if we would be interested, you know, in like interviewing for to be on it.

So we said we'd think about it. We got back to L.A., I think the next day, one or two days later, and we watched I had never seen the show before. So we watched the first season and. I was to be honest, I'm not a huge reality television fan, but I really enjoyed the show. It was like I felt drawn. I kept watch, like I enjoyed it. We've enjoyed it. I think in two days we watched the entire first season.

And due to the fact that, you know, the problems that our relationship had, which were not new, but were we did have issues with them, with trust and her thinking I was too flirty. So I was like, the show would actually be perfect for us. It really addresses what our problem is. And it's a great opportunity to go to an amazing island, have fun, and hopefully we can be a stronger couple so that we we talked about it.

We weigh the pros and cons and then we decided, yeah, let's let's let's go forward. And then we went through the entire rigorous interview process, the screening process, which was a lot of fun.

And yeah. And then ultimately they decided to cast us in the show.

So before we get to, you know, the issues of you guys relationship, something I want to ask that I ask a lot of the couples is when you first got to the island or first met the other couples, I don't know if it was when you boarded that yacht. I don't know when exactly you met the other three couples. Maybe it was on the yacht where they were. They shot that. But in the early going, whenever the early process was of you seeing Julian and Kristin together and Kendall and Erika and Corinne, Erin, give me a little bit of a breakdown of your first impressions.

If you remember what your first impressions were of the couple, start with Julian and Kristen.

Sure. Well, OK. Well, when I first saw Julian like Dan skyjacked. Yeah, I started doing some push ups in my hotel room immediately.

Yeah. This is obviously like such a you know, he's got a great build, these very fit. So that was just my just seeing him. Kristen's obviously stunning. So I was just like, wow, they cast some really beautiful people on this show. Yeah.

So we literally started like working out in our in our room together.

We got the bands out, Chelsea started doing squats, I started doing push ups and that was my first impression.

What about Kendall and Erika?

He was my first person of Kendall and Erica. I felt that, Erica, I felt like they weren't on the same page when they got to the island, that they were there for that their reasons weren't aligned. I don't think they were on the same page. Yeah, that was that was my initial reaction, I think. I think maybe after the first dinner, it was a pretty pretty as soon as I met them, kind of like I had that I got that impression.

And then Corey and Aaron. Korean, Erin, I thought it was it was funny, I originally, when they were giving everyone's names, I thought Corey's name was Kendall and I was like, I'm going to remember it by saying, all right, he looks like a Ken doll.

And then it turned out that the Korean National. But, yeah, I was I looked at them. They're they're both beautiful. Great, great couple. He's such a sweetheart. He's a really, really, really genuine good guy. And my initial reaction, though, my very initial reaction, it did change. But my initial reaction when I saw them as a couple was that. I felt like that it was going to be rocky for them.

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Well, getting back in the game, leave them love sick or sick of love, 90 day the single life, the hot new series streaming now exclusively on Discovery plus. Yeah. First off, the Ken doll is actually that's pretty. I didn't even think about that. But yeah, Corey does look like Ken Doll for sure. And then, you know, just watching last night's episode, clearly, Corey, I guess, of the four guys, unless it was just editing and they didn't show you or Kendall or Julian struggling as much, Corey clearly seems to be the one struggling the most with this process already, you know, kind of freaking out that, oh, my God, Aaron chose I'm forgetting I'm blanking on his name.

But the soccer player. Oh, my God. He's she's going to connect with him immediately. And I was like, whoa, dude.

Like, we're three days in and you're already almost kind of a hot mess. I was like, I felt bad for the guy because I'm like, how is he going to make it a month if this is where he is on day three?

And I think I think even one time, I think before the Devils in Angel's Party started, we got a clip of Julian and and Kendall in the kitchen.

And even Julian said something like, man, we got to get our boy Corey's head straight. I think he even said that.

And yeah, they seem to and I'm sure you saw it. It just seemed like he really kind of maybe before that party started, I think it was after the date picking and before that party started with the girls, Corey was kind of out on his own island and just really bothered by, I guess, seeing Aaron for the first time, you know, choose a guy for a date.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's pretty accurate. I don't want to give any spoilers. Obviously, this journey is really amazing to watch.

You know, I saw it firsthand. And you guys are going to get to see, you know, from where he starts to where he ends up. It's really incredible to watch. And but yeah, I mean, it was you know, we all three of us, you know, took it to the side at some point and we were like, you know, trying to have a pep talk with them. I think he and I don't want to speak for him.

But from what I want, I know I think it was more, Aaron, kind of really spearheaded going on the show. And he was you know, I think he reluctantly went along. And so I think he was just kind of very I mean, we were all out of our element. Obviously, it's not it's not normal to be surrounded on an island in a villa with beautiful people and cameras all around. It's kind of, you know, it's no one's element, but especially for Corey, I feel like he was kind of.

It's really out of his element in the beginning, and he is his the issues he had going in, which was, you know, not feeling completely adequate for Erin. It was kind of not realized that, like put in his face a little bit when he saw her select a soccer player and his whole thing was like worrying about she's dated athletes in the past and now she's selecting an athlete so that we all it's a very, very real it's very real emotions we're all feeling.

So, you know, it's you as you watch it, you're seeing a very trim, trimmed down, edited version you're seeing in our commercials like forty two minutes. Whereas for us it's it's days and we're going through these experiences. And, you know, it's it's hard when you see if you have insecurities about maybe she wants to be with an athlete and then she goes and asks an athlete and then you're being asked, how do you feel about that?

And of course, it's very, very it can be very painful. And that's what we're seeing. And I tip my hat to Cory because he was you know, I think he handled himself like such a gentleman, such a so well, well-spoken. And he he really. You know, he's very self-aware, and he even said in last night's episode, he said that he had the realization that he felt that maybe he was overreacting and that it's just take it one day at a time.

And and I think you guys are really going to really I mean, it seems like everyone's already sympathizes with him because he's such a human, got such a good heart. And I feel like you guys are just going to really continue to to want to see him try.

Well, you mentioned Corey and Aaron's relationship and saying that Corey kind of is there a little bit reluctantly. We saw Chelsea on the episode last night specifically say I can remember if it was on her date with Blake or it was before they went on the date. But she basically said, like, I didn't want to be here. Like this was this was Tom's idea.

Was that exaggerated or was that is is that you were the one that had to do the convincing. And if it was the case, how did you convince her that this is what you guys needed to do for your relationship?

It was I mean, somewhere in the middle. I mean, I presented why why I thought it would be good for our relationship. We kind of weigh the pros and cons. She did say, like, I don't I don't know if we should do this. And I said, look, you know, if this is going to be if you think this is not going to be good for us, then we won't do it. You know, I don't want to do it if you're you're reluctant at all.

Let's so let's say it took us a couple of days to decide. Like after we watched the show, we we really talked about it a lot. And we came to it was a mutual decision. I didn't I didn't like to make her do it or say we're doing this at all. It was it was a mutual decision. I just simply put out the pros and cons and I said, this is why I think it could be good for us.

So did that kind of I don't know. Did that kind of get you last night when you heard her say that on the episode like that?

I didn't want to be here like this is his doing it made it seem like it was all you.

I know it really made it sound like, you know, that like I dragged her there. But we all agreed to be there. Everyone signed their own contract. Yeah.

You know, was I did I did. I think it would be good for our relationship. Yes. And that I present that to her. Yes. But obviously when she said that, I did feel like it was a little misconstruing what actually happened.

OK, so was this I mean, was this a thing where your goal coming into this was I'm doing this because I want to prove to her that, yeah, maybe I might be a flirt, but my heart still lies with her. Is that was that like your thought process going into this? Like, why did you think this was a good idea for your relationship? Because it's not normal, let's be honest.

Right? I mean, of course, it's not normal. But what you said is, was my mentality are we had an amazing relationship. And the one issue we had was when we would go out in public. And I mean, the narrative of me being flirty is kind of being hammered to death a little bit. I think it's a little exaggerated. I mean, I'm not I mean, in two episodes you've seen I'm not like the most flirty guy.

I'm just, you know, I try to be friendly. But that was an issue that we had. And with everything the world falling down, we hadn't had an opportunity to go out in public and kind of confront that issue in our relationship. So it was kind of like swept under the rug, being just together, she and I. So it was an opportunity that I saw. I was like, all right, here's here's a chance I can prove to you and show you that I'm going to be faithful to you.

You know, I'm not someone I've never cheated in my life. I mean, I've been single for most of my twenties, but I never in my relationships, even if they were short term relationships, I never cheated. I'm never one to like to lie. And like, if I want to see other people, I end the relationship and I move on. So my my hope was to convince her that I went on the show and you can see that I can be in these parties and I can do, you know, dancing and drinking and being friendly with these women.

But I'm not going to do anything. I'm not going to I'm not going to sleep on. Even if I can hook up, then I'm going to be respectful of you. And then in my mind, my hope was that, OK, she'll see that and then it will help her kind of, you know, understand that like when we're out of the party, I'm socializing, then it doesn't mean anything. I'm still going to go home with her.

She's cool. I love she's who I want to be with.

OK, so the flirting thing, like you said, is a little is being hammered home pretty, pretty hard on the on these two episodes. Yeah.

I mean that was kind of like. Crux of our storyline, it's kind of how we like what is your issue, why are you why you guys want to come to the island?

Well, our issue is that I'm too flirty, so but I mean, in reality, I'm not like, you know, I'm not the most flirtatious person in the world by far.

I'm just I think I'm just finally one thing that I did notice and I and I talked about this with Mark when I had him on a couple of weeks ago, was the fact that you are you and Chelsea are the biggest in terms of age discrepancy on the show? I don't think there's any other couple that's more than two years apart. And it's not like you guys are a giant age difference. It's eight years.

Has that ever played a role in your relationship or.

No? No. And I actually listen to that. So that was great. I mean, every time I hear Mark talk, I feel like I'm getting.

Yeah, yeah. He's amazing. But no, I mean, our age difference never, really, never really played a factor at all.

Have you have you usually dated younger and she's dated older or is this a first for each of you in terms of eight years.

I've usually dated younger. She's she has dated older. I don't know if it's I think she's had like three other, like, serious relationships. And I believe one of them was older. But yeah, I mean, it's kind of the norm.

It wasn't it wasn't like, oh, how are we going to make this work? I'm thirty seven. You're twenty nine. It was not really an issue at all. I'm kind of. Like, because I got a late I'll change careers in my late 20s, it always was kind of like a like a restart in a way. So I feel, you know, when I'm hanging out with twenty six twenty seven year olds, I don't feel like I'm ten years older than all of them.

I feel like I'm one of them. Gotcha.

So about Monday's episode, just wanted to fill us in on a couple of things that we saw. And there may be things that we we didn't see that I like asking about the dates itself. You picked Lauren as your first date and. I'm trying to remember I mean, obviously, I've seen I've seen both first episodes, I think I watched them twice. I get the screener and then I'll watch them when it airs. But I don't remember a ton of you talking to Lauren before you asked her out.

Maybe it wasn't shown. But what ultimately what made you choose Lauren as your first date?

Well, they did show one clip of us speaking in the first episode is very brief. I mean, usually the conversations they show tend to only gain in 30 seconds to a minute. Yeah, it's like really, really juicy stuff. But she was very sweet, very kind girl.

And we had I don't want I don't want to get too much away because it's still that's you know, that's still going on that storyline.

So I'm trying to pick my words carefully so I don't accidentally put my foot in my mouth.

But I don't want to be spoiled either. I don't I have no idea what happens either. And I and I don't want to know. But OK, so we can get off the lawn thing. If we don't want to go down that road.

I can I can I can touch on it, you know. But what what we did have a really good conversation. She was very, very sweet. And she has a lot of worldly life experience or she lives on a boat for a few years. She lived in an RV. She was. So I found myself very you know, when we have conversations, it was very interesting. I found her interesting to speak with, whereas a lot of times, you know, if you don't have a lot in common with someone or if they're not.

Nothing to really talk about, then I kind of just can't. But she was just very, very fascinating. I found her to be OK.

Was there anything on the. But you guys went diving and got to swim with fish. Was there anything about that date that we didn't see, maybe some behind the scenes funny moments from that that we didn't get to see?

I was like, I've got my belly flop was pretty funny. My attempt. I attempted to dove.

And it was it was so funny because he's a Lorens, an amazing swimmer. Unfortunately, we couldn't really use much of the underwater footage because I am not. And my facial hair kept making the goggles like not airtight.

The water was getting through and I looked like someone drowning. So you didn't really see any of the underwater, but he's like a little mermaid. And so we both dove at the same time. I could see how she was facing exactly perpendicular down to the water and I was horizontal to it and in my time slowed down and I said all like. Right. So I thought that was pretty funny.

When you saw Chelsea pick who was. Oh, Blake for her first date was were you I mean, you obviously don't know much about the guy singles other than their intro just by Blake's look. Were you I mean when I saw it, I'm like, he kind of looks like Tom or he's kind of I mean, were you surprised at all?

Were you like, oh, no, I see why she picked him, even though you didn't really know much about him, where you were like, I can see it.

No, I made sense. I think I said it, too. I think in one of the one of the interviews they showed in the last episode, I said, like, it makes sense. She you know, he's I think he's the oldest or one of the oldest are the guys there. And he's a little bit more you can see a little more experienced less. I said he's she's into men, not boys. I was just trying to be cute, but yeah.

You know, he seems more of like a man who's kind of, you know, established, knows what he wants and what he's doing in life. Whereas a lot of some of the other guys look a little bit younger, more like recently out of college fraternity life. Yeah. So I felt like that made sense that, you know, if I had to guess anyone, I would have guessed.

And can you can you clear up the it seems like obviously there's a lot of things that we don't get to see as an audience. And I felt like.

The miscommunication with Meyer at the Devils and Angels Party, or I felt it was a miscommunication because something seemed off about that, I don't know if you want to call it an argument or disagreement or whatever it was, but she was she was bothered by what you said.

But I didn't really understand. I mean, I was kind of on your side because I didn't understand what she was mad at unless I missed something.

And it was a misunderstanding 100 percent. It was. I mean, I think that was the first or second night where we had met the singles. So we were playing Truth or dare this truth or truth just to get to know one another, kind of like ice breakers. And I think Matty was the one who asked me, you know, what's your goal for being here? What are you trying to get out of? You're talking here on the island.

And my response was that I wanted to my hope is that I live here and Chelsea and I are a stronger couple, that we we grow from this. And Maia said that said, when I said that, she said, no, your goal is to find your best match. And I should have handled myself a little bit better here, but I. That in the beginning, I was very, very concerned, I guess you would say that like context and how I was worried, I didn't want Chelsea to see something taken out of context at a bonfire.

And then so in my mind, I was like, I need to clear the you know, make it clear that, no, I'm not here to find the girl that's best for me. I'm here to leave with my girlfriend. So I think that's why I kind of retorted a little bit sharper than I should have.

And then what they don't show was like the next scene in the kitchen was not like right after it was kind of, you know, maybe like 30, 40 minutes later. So I had to keep my world drinking. I that moment I wasn't like I wasn't angry at Mya or had an issue with Maya. It was more about me trying to set the record straight, that this is why I'm here, more like the camera. So that like. Nothing can be misconstrued or taken out of context, but my mind was offended by that.

And so then when I walk in the kitchen, there's like this little commotion and drama that I didn't even I didn't realize there was an issue. And so then she kind of confronted me. And at first it took me like a couple of seconds to, like, figure out what she was talking about. If you look at it, you are kind of like speechless. I didn't actually know what she was referring to. And then I realized it.

And, you know, I mean, I get what she was saying. She had her opinion and it's fine. But I guess my point was saying that. You know, there's no general guideline goal of what everyone is here for. Everyone determines their own goal, like what my goal is. Does it mean that's the right goal for everyone else? Some other people might be there to explore other single women, to find out if they're with their best match.

But that wasn't Chelsea. And I had had a lot of conversations about this before going on. And that wasn't the intention. We weren't there to explore other people, to find out if we're right for each other. It was to to kind of test me, mostly test for me to see if I could I can be faithful and not and not cheat.

Yeah. And Maya took it as essentially a singles are not worth your time. And it just got kind of. Yeah.

And that's not what I meant at all. Yeah. I was the single girls. They're the most part like almost all of them are like amazing, like great incredible women. Obviously beautiful. Very I was surprised how, how incredible they were because I thought I kind of going in there that it was going to be more like spring break type girls that are just there to, like, get wild. And that I was going to have to kind of like stiff arm them.

But they weren't like that at all. They were actually very thoughtful, very compassionate is not the right word. But like, you know, they weren't crossing any lines unless you kind of invited them to. So they were very respectful for my boundaries or everyone's boundaries. And I I really admire them for that.

And honestly, I could tell in that conversation, I mean, it seemed like it maybe I read it wrong. It seemed like you were pretty hammered.

Oh, yeah.

During that conversation, I was like I was like Tom's kind of slurring and his eyes are almost closed. Like he seems a little hammered during this conversation.

My eyes my eyes are kind of squinty to begin with. I don't have the biggest eyes, but when I drink, they pretty much look shut.

OK, so I'm going to look like I have my eyes closed most of the show, unfortunately.

But yeah, no, I mean, we're always there's often a lot of drinking going on.

And finally it just about the. Bonfire, we only saw two last night, so I'm assuming that means, you know, we pick up the episode next week, we'll see the girl, the the finishing up of who didn't get it.

It was Aaron and Aaron and Kristen. So we don't see and then we'll go to the guys.

But they did show Chelsea a clip and Erica clip. Chelsea sees the clip of this networking event that I don't know if you were thinking like going into that first bonfire. I'm sure the guys are always constantly thinking, what do I think the show is going to show my girlfriend? Did you have anything in mind? And when you saw it play back on Tuesday, were you like, yeah, I can see why they showed that clip? Or was there something else that you were like?

Oh, I'm surprised they didn't show that one big question or even going it like going into that bonfire.

Do you remember thinking, like, I wonder what they're going to show her. Oh, yeah, I mean, you're always wondering what they're going to show, and I was trying to be on my best behavior and I wasn't trying to grinder or do anything that was too gratuitous.

Yeah. So I wasn't I wasn't so much worried. My my bigger concern was things being taken out of context that you can kind of because the way these bonfires are structured, it's, you know, it's a glimpse. But what they showed her was at least a good portion of that conversation. It didn't seem like to chopped up or anything. And I wasn't talking about anything that she and I hadn't already spoken about like that. That story was kind of the genesis of what brought us to the island.

It was the first time we had gone out like a real party environment. And it was, I think I find it a networking event. And my mistake was I didn't introduce her as my girlfriend.

We had started going out maybe like a month or two months prior, and it was just new for me and I wasn't used to. Doing that, so I kind of was just talking to her, talking to this girl online and I was networking, she was a producer and we exchanged social media contacts and. Chelsea got very upset and didn't introduce her as my girlfriend, which rightfully so should have. That was that was a mistake on my part, but that was the first of a few times where we had issues out in public.

And so when I'm speaking to the singles, they were all trying to, like, get to know us and understand what brought us to the island. So when they showed that I saw Chelsea, that that that that's what she had seen. I didn't really I guess that makes sense.

And let's be honest, I mean, your clip was pretty tame compared to what they showed, Erica. Like I mean, you didn't have yours was just words. It was just talking. But it did make Chelsea. Emotional, it made her cry and it brought up her insecurities, and were you surprised when you saw her react that way to the to the clip that they showed? Because it wasn't anything bad. It was just a conversation you were having and retelling a story, a story that you say is something you Chelsea had talked about numerous times.

So when you watched it, were you surprised that she was like that? She got so emotional over it and she talked about these insecurities that I always have.

And or were you not surprised?

I wouldn't say I was surprised. You know, Chelsea, one of the things I love about her is that she's so in touch with her emotions. She's a very she's a very emotional human being. So it doesn't you know, she can access her emotions so easily. She can watch a commercial for crying because, you know, it's a touching commercial.

So that coupled with the fact that everything's heightened on the island, you know, emotions are, you know, right now talking to you. I'm feeling like I'm bringing myself back there. I'm starting to feel that a little bit. It's a you're you're putting not just yourself out there for the world to see and putting yourself in line. You're putting your relationship on the line. And and the biggest thing in relationships, the number one factor, I think, is her relationships to succeed is communication.

And you're put in a situation where you're stripped of the ability to communicate with your partner. So I completely understood why she got a little emotional. You know, we had we had just only been separated maybe because that was two days from when we had been separated. So it was still fresh and. So I wasn't surprised, but I would say that I guess to to wrap things up with Chelsea and you and the relationship in general through two episodes, it is something to wear.

Chelsea has insecurities about I guess maybe I'm already mixing it up. If she brought it up about past relationships where she has always felt I don't she always has that feeling of insecurity. I don't know if guys have cheated on her in the past or what it may be. I will ask her. I will ask that of her when I speak to her. But I it seems like that is the biggest thing that she just is it does she is she one of these that needs assurance?

A lot of is it a words of affirmation for her?

Is it quality time? We talk about love language.

It seems like maybe with this insecurity she just needs to be, I don't know, reinforced every once in a while to, hey, you know, I'm I'm with you.

I'm your guy or I'm with you or whatever it may be. Is that what it breaks down to with her and in your relationship?

You know, I don't want to speak for her. Yeah. I, I think feel that there is a lot of accuracy to that, that there is. And I bought myself for not being more aware of that. And in the beginning, you know that. It was so funny when when we were married and tested and the producers were asking us like love languages, and I guess it was in my circle of knowledge, I didn't I never knew what a love language was.

So I said, what's your love language? I said something like, Oh, I'm silly and goofy. Like, I didn't know what they meant. Yeah. And they like, you know, they giggle and they explain like, oh, no, there's like five different love languages.

It's words of affirmation.

Did you end up taking the test? No, there's a test.

Yeah. It's like it's a bunch of questions that you answer and then it gives you what you are like. It's either your love language, either quality time, words of affirmation, gift receiving or whatever. And I forget the other two.

Sorry, I'm not good at this either, but I took the test because I wanted to see what I was and I was quality time. This was about nine months ago. I took it, but yeah. OK, so you never took it. But did you find out. Yeah. You found out hers was words of affirmation I'm assuming.

I mean I guess so. I knew it sooner. Yeah.

I mean we never it was never explicitly discussed like oh this is my. Yeah. This is my love language. It's interesting and I guess I don't wanna talk to her again. But when we first met I'm a very I love language is a touch. I'm a very lucky person. I like I just like hugging. I like massages. I'm very that's my love language. So when I first met Chelsea and we started dating, she was never she had told me she was never really used to so much, you know, like cuddling and physical affection like that.

And she. Like, I brought that out of her, so I don't know if maybe love languages or something that evolve over time or adapt, but I had not I didn't have knowledge of like, oh, this is my my love language, not necessarily hers. What is hers? Let me find out. And, you know, words of affirmation. If I had, I known that I would have made more conscientious effort to put that into effect.

Well, Tom, it's we're only two episodes in. It's starting to get interesting. I'm sure we're going to see some debauchery at some point on that island with somebody.

But we're we're we're all excited. I've been a fan of the show for the first two seasons. I enjoy talking to the couples.

I know it's kind of tough to, like, talk about it only in the you know, what's been shown. You don't want to give anything away. And I certainly don't want you to give anything away. But I really appreciate you coming on. I want to say good luck, but you already know what happens this season.

So I just want to say enjoy the show and we'll definitely be watching.

And I appreciate you coming on in. Awesome. Thank you, Steve. I appreciate you having me. You got it.

Well, thank you to Tom for that. That was a really good interview. And these interviews are tough, especially in the early going, because you have to sit there and that he can only answer by what is shown. So far, he's never going to give details about what's upcoming. And I get that it's tough and I don't know their status. Now, the fact that I recorded with both of them today separately doesn't mean anything. I mean, I can tell you right now.

Well, I'll give you my thoughts after you hear the the Chelsea interview, which is coming up right now. All right, so here is the other half of the Tom and Chelsea couple from season three. It is Chelsea Orkut, correct?

Yes, Chelsea Arpad. Hello. How are you? I'm good. Very good. Thanks for having me. How are you?

I'm good. And let's kind of just get started right away here. Kind of the same way I started with Tom.

And in terms of just because the show is only an hour long and about 42 minutes with commercials and we have four couples that they need to introduce at the beginning of every season, which is eight people just give people a little bit of a background on yourself that that we don't know how you grew up, where you grew up, your schooling, what you're doing now. Just give people an update on a little bit more about Chelsea Orka that we just don't know from the show.

OK, awesome. So I grew up in South Jersey in the middle of nowhere, and I went to school for business marketing at Warner University and Pennsylvania. I always knew that I wanted to do something creative in the arts or sing, dance, anything like that. So I moved to New York and I pursued music for a little bit. And then I moved to L.A. two years ago. And I've been here ever since and I haven't really been doing music as much as I've been doing more commercial than anything.

So right now with covid, I'm not doing as much as I would like, but I'm still taking the acting path for now.

It's this is very similar to Tom's career path. I mean, New Jersey acting moved to L.A. two years ago. Like it's almost crazy that you guys did that until you got to.

Exactly. And the craziest thing is when he saw that I was from New Jersey, he was even more devout leading me, because at first we both were like, yeah, whatever. Like, we weren't really our friend was trying to set us up. So we didn't really, you know, try that hard because our friend reached out to me multiple times and then he was actually with Tom and he was like, you need to reach out to this girl.

Like, you guys would just get along and really mesh well. And so he finally reached out to me and he saw on my Instagram that I'm from New Jersey and that's really where we connected. And then hearing our stories after meeting. We are very similar in that way where we left the corporate world and went into the arts. Yeah.

And he explained the story of how you guys got involved in the casting process of the show.

This was a phone call that happened in a car ride in Sacramento. You pull over to the side of the road, something along those lines.

He you seem to remember that.

But, yeah, when you because I've always asked this to all the couples that have come on, like, how did you guys get cast for the show or how were you initially reached out to was it through an agency or did somebody just hit you up on Instagram? And it's usually, oh, somebody from casting saw us on Instagram as a couple or something like that. But he said you were the one that got contacted about it. So were you when you got contacted, were you aware of Temptation Island?

Had you watched anything or. No. So I had. I had never heard of it before, and I was on my Instagram and I had a message from a producer and it was funny because I normally don't even really look at, like message requests. And for some reason I looked at it and I was like, oh, this is interesting. And I read it. And it's like the way they try to sell it to you is like you're going on a vacation.

It's like all paid and it sounds amazing. So I'm like, there's a catch. And I was in the car with Tom and we were on our way to the Sequoia Forest. And as we were driving, I literally have like one bar. I literally had no service at all. So I messaged and I'm like, oh, we would love to hear more about it. So she was like, can I call you, like, right now?

And I'm like, oh, man. Like, I don't know if we're gonna have service in five minutes. I'm like, you can call me right now, but if you call me in five minutes, I will have to pull over on the side of a mountain basically. And we called her just because she needed to know very quickly. So we had to talk to her within that time frame of like ten minutes or else she was probably going to move on.

So we called her to get the logistics and really figure out like what kind of show it was, because we have never heard of it before. And she told us about it. And I like I'm obviously very emotional, if you can't tell. So I'm like, I don't know if I could do this. I can't imagine, like, you being with 12 single girls in bathing suits jumping all around, like, I don't know if I can do this.

And so we didn't talk about it for like the rest of that day just because I was like, so upset. I was like, damn, if I'm upset now, nothing even happened. Like, this is not a good idea. So and he made valid points saying, like we were in a pandemic for literally eight months of our relationship. And before that we were only in the real world for four months. So he made valid points, saying that we can go here and I can prove to you that you can trust me.

Like this is like the ultimate test. Like I will be surrounded by beautiful women in Hawaii on vacation, drinks, food, alcohol, whatever. And I'm like, yeah, I guess you're right. Like it it makes sense because I don't know when the world's going to go back to normal and are we just going to be in quarantine for a year of our relationship and never really see each other in a social setting. So that was like our that was our take on it.

It's like this is an opportunity for us to see how we are in a social setting and partying and not being around each other and just see what happens.

Well, having been a fan of the first two seasons and talking to a lot of the couples, I think every couple has been on my podcast at least once. I'm always interested. I think one of the fascinating things about this show, I know it is. For the most part, I think last season has kind of changed things, but for the most part, the women in the couples really seemed to bond with each other. And I think I believe I even saw something online recently of you, Aaron and Erica, together and saying, yes, you know, saying you miss Kristen.

So it looks like the girl bonding has happened between the four of you. I don't you know, we're not getting into spoilers or anything that happens of who's still with anybody or what the case may be. But I want to go back to the first time that you met them. And was there anybody that if you can put yourself back in that position, was there anybody in the in the four couples, Kristen or Erika or Aaron, that when you first saw them and you first laid eyes on them, you were like, I, I vibe with her more or I don't know about her or I guess maybe even your first impression of the couples in general.

Well, I really feel like right away I knew that I was going to vibe with Aaron. I feel like a lot of my friends are similar to her and I could just tell her personality. I was like, I'm definitely I'm like Ali very laid back, like kind of friend. I'm like, well, whatever you want to do, I don't care. So I feel like she reminds me of a lot of my friends were like, they're to planners like a little progressive, like in the best way.

And I feel like I knew that she and I were going to bond. I feel like I knew that Erica was a sweetheart right away. Right when I met her. I knew she's just like an amazing person. And I felt like I was like, oh, I feel like Kristen might not open up. I feel like she's going to be like, well, this girl, stop talking because I feel like she seemed a little bit closed off, like when we first all met.

And I'm like, very like, hey, what's going on? So I feel like I wasn't sure how to feel about Kristen until, like maybe two days after. And I'm like, OK, like, you know, she's nervous. It's just a crazy circumstance. So I was like trying not to judge anyone, you know what I mean? But I just was like I knew that I was going to be friends with Erin for sure. Gotcha.

Um, in terms of going on this show, it was interesting because on Tuesday night's episode, you are I can't remember if it was on your date with Blake or if it was pre-date where you were just talking to Blake, but you made it pretty clear, like I didn't want to be here. This was like, yeah, yeah. Can you explain more about that? Like, obviously you had to ultimately sign off on it. He did drag you on for sure.

But like, what did you mean when you said it was this was Tom's idea.

I really didn't want to do this. So I'm saying I didn't want to do it because I felt like deep down inside, I was like, I feel like we might not be strong enough to go through this, even though I believe that Tom can get through this. And I was like, I just don't know if we're strong enough, though, because we were only together for 11 months and most of it was in court. And I'm like, this just this just could go like blow up in our face.

So I was like, I just don't think this is a good idea, because if it doesn't work out, I'm not ready to lose you. Like, I don't know what's going to happen on the island, but I'm still like the thought of losing you is like breaking my heart and I don't want to go there and risk it. And then he's like, I'm not going to I'm not going to cheat on you. Like, that's not going to happen.

And it's like if we both said if we found someone else and we fell in love with them, then we're not meant to be anyway. But other than that, like, he's like, I'm not going to be with anyone else. Like, I love you. I'm going to show you I can go and have fun and hang out with beautiful women and that's it.

And I'm like, OK, like, oh, I don't want to go, but like, I'm I'm obviously going to do it, like, let's do it. And I was like, just doing it. I feel like I that was like a step for me of like trust. I'm like I'm like agreeing to this. I feel like that's the first step to building the trust that I felt like I lost.

So but by doing that, is it is it going into the show, is it all on Tom at that point? Because it almost seems like you're going in like. All right, well, this is Tom's test. And does that. It's tough to say. I know, because we can't talk about future episodes or whatever, but was your mindset like. Well, I'm just not going to if Tom if this is a test for Tom and he claims that he can go through this and deal with 12 women hitting on him and being drunk and whatever and being in bikinis, then certainly I can't get involved with anybody else and I'm not going to fall for anybody else.

Like, what was your mindset going in to see?

The whole thing is I didn't really think about what could happen with me. And that sounds very naive. And it was because I was, like, so worried about what he was doing. And that's like something that I learned. Like, I need to just worry about my own actions and not worry about other people's actions because I can't I can't make them do something. And, you know, ultimately I'm only in control of my actions and I can't I can't worry about what other people are doing.

So I really learned a lot about myself when I'm talking about like, oh, I'm worried about what Tom's doing. It's like, well, why not just focus on yourself and, you know, like meet some friends and have a good time. And this is how I'm building trust with Tom. So me worrying about what he's doing all the time is not healthy, you know, and I remember the first episode Mark went over with every couple.

What were your rules? I've forgotten what you guys said. What were your rules going in? Our rules were not kissing anyone and not to have anyone in your bed and not having sex with anyone.

OK. Well, we've got ten more episodes to see if those rules get broken or not, but yeah, so you've got so OK, so you guys actually set those rules. Obviously, there were other couples, Kendall and Erica, I don't believe had rules. I mean, I remember Kendall saying, oh, no, we don't have any rules. So, yeah, they didn't have any rules. OK, so it is interesting.

I mean, it is it's kind of fascinating when you think about it, because you guys set strict rules like nothing. No, no, nobody. No, no sex. You're not even going to kiss anybody. And Kendall and Erica are going on that. I am like, hey, whatever happens happens. Like, it's really weird. I don't even know how to take that.

I think that Kendall and Erica were not on the same page because it's like even if Tom and I didn't have a bull's eye, he still would be true to who he is. And he I don't like you know, I don't think that the rules were necessary. And I feel like in real life, this doesn't make sense, because in real life, this is not real life. So I feel like the rules for me made me feel better about myself, that I actually knew that I didn't think Tom needed them, but it made me feel better.

But I feel like Erica. Not having rules, she's like in her mind. I mean, I don't want to speak for her, but I feel like she's like, if you love me, you won't do this, you won't hurt me. So that was her thing going into it, I think. Yeah. You know, yeah. And if you love someone like you don't want to have sex with them or you don't want to you don't want to kiss someone or, you know, maybe it's a mistake.

It's just like not having rules. You shouldn't really need rules, I guess.

So your biggest issue going in, based on what we've seen in the first two episodes is this. Tom's a flirt. And I it makes me it makes me feel insecure when he does this. And, you know, you don't want to skip ahead to the bonfire yet, but essentially that was your biggest issue in the relationship, is you felt insecure had you been cheated on in the past, because I think you even mentioned it at the bonfire, that that's kind of the way you've always felt in relationships.

Yeah, I feel like in my relationships I'm very motherly. Like I really I want kids and I want a family. And I feel like like I baby, you know, I believe my my got my men or something. I don't know. I feel like I cater to them. Not not as much as as Erica because Erica like the way she thinks she irons and does. It's not like I want to be helpful and whatnot, but like I also I try to like draw a line.

But it's really hard when you want to, like, make someone else happy. You just want to do whatever you can. But I feel like. I don't know, is it? Well, let's circle back to the episode a little bit in terms of your date, because when you know, when I was talking to Tom about, you know, he chose Lauren, I'm like, I don't remember a lot of time that they showed you with Lauren.

So, you know, you know, tell me why you picked her and stuff like that. And he gave me an explanation with you and Blake. You know, we got, I think, two pretty decent conversations of you talking to Blake. And it seemed like everything that he liked to do, you like to do. So it's clear why you picked Blake and we all knew that you were going to pick him when the episode happened. It was just because of the way it was edited and the way we saw it, like, yeah, yeah, it made sense.

He also has a kind of a resemblance to Tom, I think, you know, I was like, OK, I kind of see that there's a type there.

But is there is there anything that we didn't, I don't know, see as an audience as to.

Your decision as to why to go, why you want with Blake first. I just felt like I was talking about how Blake reminded me of one of my really good friends from home, and I in my mind, I was like, oh, this is perfect. Like I met someone. Like, he reminds me of one of my best friends and I can go on dates with him and have fun and, like, not have to worry about anything.

And so that's why I chose him, because we had so much in common. And, you know, we're both like very family orientated. And I feel like we have a lot to talk about. So I knew that taking him on a first date, we would just be able to continue our conversation because it's very hard to really talk to really talk in these, like situations that we're in because of the cameras. You can really only talk to each other if the cameras are on you.

So it's really hard to get to know someone.

Was there anything that happened on the date itself that obviously there was a lot of time spent with the ziplining and stuff like that that we didn't get to see? That was maybe a funny moment or anything like that. Something we.

Oh, my gosh. That that literally was the funniest date because Blake was making a drink and he was like a little we're both nervous, obviously. Like, it's just a weird situation of cameras in your face. And he's like making a Moscow mule and he's like shaking it and open. Like, it literally exploded all over us. And I was like, this is such a great icebreaker. This is hilarious. And he felt like I was going to be upset, but I was like, it's a little bit of liquid.

It will dry up like we're literally in Hawaii under the sun, who cares? And that was like such a good moment because it was like, you know, don't take anything too seriously. Like we're just here to have fun. Like, I'm not going to be mad because my makeup is now running down my face. So that was like a really funny moment. We had a lot of fun.

Obviously, they said we know you picked Blake when you saw Tom pick Lauren.

What were your thoughts? My thoughts were she seems really sweet and cute and I felt like maybe his type, but I really don't know if I know his type. So I was not worried. I was like, oh, I hope they're fun. I didn't really think about it too much because I don't want to get my head, you know, like, oh, I wonder if you like or, you know, is attracted to her because she's cute.

So I was just happy, like he said that she was interesting and they had good conversation, which they don't show that obviously in the episode. But I knew that I was like, okay, so good conversation. And she's cute.

Yeah.

It's just even just even picking the first dates and watching the first dates was again, as a viewer, it's like some guys walked up there and you know, I remember gosh, who was it when, you know, when Kendall chose Alexis, we see Erica react the way she did, like oh she almost started walking down already and he's holding her hand as they're walking back.

And she felt completely disrespected by what Kendall did. Was it was it more or I mean, you can say it. Did you think, Erica, in that in that moment was overreacting to what Kendall did, or were you put off by what Kendall did or how he did what I was put off one hundred percent.

That is ridiculous. Like holding her hand. I mean, you guys just met yesterday.

Yeah, it's uncalled for. It's it's I don't agree with it. And that would make me upset, too.

Well, she does she does spell her name ex and I think that needs some handholding. I've never heard Alexis spelled that way. And it's it's.

Mind that. Yeah, I didn't know that.

So you see why I don't I've never seen that ever. OK, so you guys had your dates. Tom has his dates. When you watch the episode on Tuesday, what did you think of the Devils and Angels party now that you've seen more than you probably knew or whatever? I don't know.

Now, I. I picture that, you know, I picture that. Yeah. Nothing surprised me when you saw the Tom Tamaya.

I don't even know what you want to call it, Tom. As as I said to him, I go, Tom, I may be misreading it here, but you looked hammered when you had that conversation.

And he's like, yeah, he goes, yeah, I was.

But yeah, he said it was more of a miscommunication when you saw it. On Tuesday, were you like I think she kind of took that the wrong way, or I can kind of see why she took it the way she did.

What was your thoughts on it? I feel like I understand they're there to also find love or whatever their reasoning of being there, I get it, but I'm just. Confused as to why she if someone's telling me a reason why they are doing something like Temptation Island. Oh, I'm going to stay with my girlfriend so that I can be faithful, I will say, OK, that's awesome. I want to be like, I wouldn't question that. You know, I don't think that's fair.

And Tom, like, he's telling you why he's here, accept it. And then he's he's here. He's going to get to know you. That's why he's here. But he also loves me and he's probably going to leave with me. And like, I don't know why she would be so offended by that when she knows that they all have girlfriends, all the guys like. Yeah, it was an interesting reaction and I yeah, I didn't quite understand that I was kind of on Tom's side on that and she's like, you know, saying the singles aren't worth your time.

And I was like, I don't think unless there was anything that I didn't see. Yeah, that's not that I that's not what I saw. But before we get to the bonfire part, there's something I do want a.

Talk about with you, I'm not going to say I did a giant deep dove on you, but I was like, OK, Chelsea and Tom, I don't want to look up some stuff here. I am fascinated by the fact that you are on the cover of romance novels.

That is awesome. I said I saw that and I'm like, wait a second. And this wasn't even a deep dove. This is strictly this is right there on your Instagram account from the late, late 2019. But how many of those romance novels there, seven covers that you are on, how many of them have you actually read?

I've never read any of them. Oh, no, I know my mom has them.

She actually ordered them off Amazon. And I'm like, are you going to read it? She's probably not here yet, but maybe one day, maybe one day.

Since I actually have them out, I want to know what mail order miscreant is about. I'm very curious to what.

Oh, my God, I don't even know the titles or anything. I just think they're hilarious sometimes. So I don't remember any off the top of my head. But they come up with very clever. Oh yeah. Titles and they crack me up.

So yes, some of the titles are Mail Order Miscreant Lord of Night Secrets of an Autumn Afternoon, The Gift of Marqise, a lady never tells. And when the Bluestocking meets her match, I don't even know what that means.

This does not sound like romance novel. So. Oh, my God, how does one get involved in how like how did you get that gig? Obviously, you said you work with your enacting and you work in entertainment. And how did you come across that modeling gig? I. How could I feel like I applied for it on one of the one of the websites for like modeling gigs and and I got it and that it didn't hide it, like kind of the way Temptation Island kind of tricked you with their initial email.

It wasn't like. Paid modeling gig, it was strictly like you knew what you were doing with. Yeah, it was for romance and obviously like romance novels. Yeah. Did you get to be. Did you get to meet Fabio? No, no.

There's like a new a new Fabio though. But he's like blond. He's literally like a big Ken doll. It's crazy.

OK, all right. So yeah, I found that on your Instagram. I thought that was pretty cool because I can't say I've ever met anybody that did romance novel modeling.

Yeah. And I wanted to know if you actually read the books and you apparently haven't read them one day.

Yeah, one day. OK, so bonfire on Tuesday night, you know, obviously the only ones we saw so far are you and Erica, the clip that we showed that they show of Tom was pretty tame in terms of what you want to compare it to Erica's. It was very tame.

But what they showed, I talked to him about it, this networking event, he told it, you know, it seems like that some I think he even said, like, this is something this this story that I told to the women was nothing that Chelsea and I haven't been over before. So this was something that. Yeah, and this but because it was pretty tame. And then I saw you get we all saw you get emotional over it.

What brought out those emotions? Why did that trigger you to bring you to that level of emotion watching that clip? So since you don't really get to see the full conversation that I'm having with Mark when I saw the clip, I'm like, yeah, that's exactly like he's just telling them what we went for, a why we're here. Like, they don't know me and they have their opinions. They can say whatever they want. That doesn't bother me.

But then we get into, like, my insecurities and it's like a whole other conversation. And it looks like I'm getting so emotional because of the clip. And it's because Mark's really bringing out my my past traumas in my relationships. And that's what we're talking about. And it's like has nothing to do with Tom. It's like I'm talking about past relationships have nothing to do with him. And I'm crying because I'm like, damn, like I feel like I'm talking about this my past relationships, which are so terrible.

And I'm here on Temptation Island and I feel like I have a good man. So I don't want to make him look like he's doing something wrong if he's not. And in that clip, he wasn't doing anything wrong. And then I'm crying and it makes it look like I'm crying. Maybe because he he made me feel like then he didn't. It was completely. A different subject, talking about different whole different relationship. What is this I mean, just out of curiosity, we only got to see a little bit of it in your conversation with Mark.

What are these past traumas from your relationships? Was there is a cheating or is it I it's like a combination of things like I've had relationships, I had amazing relationships, I was in an awesome relationship in high school. And then things got rocky when we went to college. And ultimately we broke up. And that was like one person that I could say, like that was like my first true love. And then after him, I've never like I've had other boyfriends like dated here and there that were nice.

But I've had two relationships that were very toxic, very toxic, mentally abusive. And it's like I, I never, ever had a healthy relationship. Like I have with Tom, so I feel like I just feel like that is that was like my biggest thing with Tom is that you need to give me a minute to get used to this amazing relationship because I'm used to everything being so toxic, which is really a hard thing to do, apparently.

And that's where your insecurities stem from, just things that happened in past relationships. And you just feel like I think you even said it.

I might be mixing you up with Erica, but in terms of what you said, but that you just don't feel, I don't know, all there at times and or that you're not worthy of it.

I feel like I know. I feel like for me, I feel unappreciated sometimes in my relationships. Not, you know, the one that I had with Tom, not not him. I'm saying in the past, it's been very hard for me to. Really, like, let down my walls, I guess, and like really fall in love with someone because each time I would eat someone, it's like the wall got higher and higher. So then you know that I need time.

And it's like I just have this huge wall up and it's like I'm trying to just realize that he is a good guy and there's nothing wrong. And I was like trying to find things that was wrong with him. Oh, so it's just crazy. But like, what am I going to do? Like, this is too good to be true.

Self sabotage. The relationship happens.

Yeah, exactly. That's what I literally was doing so.

Well, I mean, it's going to be an interesting ride. I'm sure we're going to watch it all play out over the next 10 weeks. Chelsea, thank you so much for coming on and and doing this. And obviously, you already know how this all plays out. So I don't want to say good luck or anything because there's no reason to. I there's a lot to be had here. It's either, you know, we'll see what happens.

But I'm really looking forward to watching your guys relationship and seeing what happens here. And I appreciate you being so open and honest in this conversation as well.

Of course. Thanks so much for having me. Thank you. So thanks to Chelsea for coming on and. Talking about their relationship, the thing that I was talking about in between the two podcasts was. Like I said, there's no spoilers here, I'm not trying to trick them into saying something that might give it away because really I don't want to know. But just by talking to them, of course, you're going to form opinions. But after listening to Tom and now after listening to Chelsea, I think you can find parts of their answers, both of them.

That you could point to and be like, oh, they're totally still together, but I also think you can find parts of their answers, like, you know what?

I don't think they're together. So I don't think that that those podcasts gave anything away. Now you can guess and say like, oh, I think they're together and they might end up together. And then you're like, oh, I was right.

But I don't think there's anything that definitively either of them said in that podcast where you're like, oh, no, I can totally tell it's one way or another.

I couldn't. And there were certain things that they said. I was like, oh, interesting. And then they would say something else. I'd be like, oh, interesting the other way. But I was that was that was great hearing from them. And I think that'll probably be the only time. We have a couple on the same podcast every week. From now on, I'll have one person from the couples and then we'll have singles obviously down the line as well.

But we're going to have one person from the couple on the back end of whoever my relationship is over my relationship, whoever my podcast is with.

It'll be the last 20, 25 minutes, however long the interview takes. But this one, because we didn't have anybody last week, thought we'd have them both on this week. And I thought I thought both of them were were really good. And I'm really curious to see about where the relationship goes, because I could see both things happening.

If you told me right now they're still together, I'd be like, yeah, I could see that. And if you told me right now that, no, they broke up at the end of this thing, I'd be like I could see that. So but yeah, we'll see where it goes. So I hope you like that. I, I can't emphasize enough how much more I like the show than The Bachelor. The Bachelorette. And the more I like it, that's why the less I want to be spoiled and the less I want to know about these couples, because I think it would really ruin the process for me.

Granted, as we get closer to the finale, I probably will end up hearing stuff from somewhere. But in episode two, no, I don't want to know. We got ten episodes left. It's way too early for me to know what happens at the end of this thing. I think as we get closer to the end, I'll probably end up hearing some things. I'll be like, OK, I'm I'm OK with knowing it won't come out in the podcast and I'm not going to share it.

But I'm OK with knowing about maybe some of the outcomes as we get closer to the end. But now, no, I don't want any spoilers about this and I hope you don't either. But it's on every Tuesday night on the USA Network. Ten, nine Central. Check it out. It's season three of Temptation Island. Really looking forward to talking to the other couples on this show, Corey and Erin, Kendall and Erika, Julian and Kristen.

It's going to be really interesting because I think they're all different and kind of the same in a certain way. So great show. Hope you're all enjoying it and tune in. So please subscribe and review an Apple podcast as well.

Thanks again to Tom and Chelsea for coming on. I will have their Instagram accounts linked in today's column if you want to check that out. And on my Instagram story, when I release that the podcast is up, I'll have both of their Instagram accounts linked there if you want to follow them. So for Tom Gibson and Chelsea Orkut, I'm really Steve, thank you all for tuning in. And we will talk to you next week, Jim.