Ben Sets Mercedes Up On A Date!

00:00:00
Speaker 1: iHeart Podcasts bring you the ultimate Summer of love Tree. This is Famously Available. I'm your host, Ben Higgins, back with you on Famously Available in Today is an exciting day because we're all on the journey, listening and staying tuned for the journey of Boston Guy Boston Man, I think we called him at now. Hopefully we get to be on a new journey with Mercedes, because today we are setting Mercedes up on a date. Let's talk about it with the star herself, Mercedes Mercedes, You're in Los Angeles right now, getting ready to attend Iheart's jingle Ball.

00:00:41
Speaker 2: Correct. Have you ever been to jingle Ball?

00:00:44
Speaker 1: No?

00:00:44
Speaker 3: I haven't. I'm super excited.

00:00:47
Speaker 1: It is awesome. It is an incredible event. You're gonna have a blast. It is one of those moments. I don't know if you have many of these anymore. You do a lot of cool stuff, but it's one of those moments you're like, hey, this is really fun that this show that I was on allows me to do this kind of stuff. Yeah, in my life, while others are out there, like probably like friends of ours are out there in the audience paying for their ticket, sitting up in the nosebleeds.

00:01:16
Speaker 2: You're going to be like a rock star.

00:01:18
Speaker 3: I know. I'm so excited. I'm definitely feeling very blessed to be in the situation that I'm in. For sure.

00:01:24
Speaker 1: It's super fun and I'm pumped that you're there, and I'm pumped that you're there with iHeart. But we do have to talk about what's happening tonight, but before we dig into the nitty gritty the details of jingle Ball and you're not only going with friends, but there's other reasons why you're there. Our listeners are curious, did you ever hear from Boston Man again after our final kind of conclusion interview?

00:01:52
Speaker 3: Not a thing. He's in my like though, which is like really annoying, but no likely. Yeah, I'm like, get out if you're not talking to me, get out of.

00:02:01
Speaker 1: Here, right, I mean, it's just yeah, it's like that. I mean, I feel like when I was single and trying to do my best at flirting, I would never claim I was great at it. That would have been a way to like, initially flirt would have been to just like go and like somebody's pictures, do it enough and then send him a comment and be like, hey.

00:02:21
Speaker 3: What's up. Well that's how it started, too, like because you know it started on Instagram, so it's just like, yeah, he's just still liking, which I don't know what signal he's trying to send doing that.

00:02:31
Speaker 2: But how do you feel about all this now?

00:02:35
Speaker 3: I'm honestly like very over it. I feel like I'm at peace with everything, but the there's definitely still mixed signals. And I also it was all so confusing and didn't make sense, and I definitely think like something happened like I went a little FBI me and my friend, and I think there was another girl m.

00:02:57
Speaker 1: Okay, which again disappointing. Yeah, but as we've talked about, totally fair.

00:03:05
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, no, absolutely, it's just like if that was the situation, like just let me know, rather than being like making up other excuses, you.

00:03:14
Speaker 1: Know, I agree with that. I do think there is a level, Mercedes, where you are an understanding human. That's why I'm so excited for you to find somebody that appreciates you. The word that comes to mind is like a cool girl, but I feel like that diminishes actually who you are a little bit, Like you're better than just a cool girl. You could have handled it if he would have openly communicated with you, I don't. I think people get nervous that the person can't handle it. Yeah, and so you can. You wanted to open communication. You gave him every ability to openly communicate. But I think that's a great quality that you have, is you could have handled it and like understood and maybe even gone back at him a little bit and then be like, hey, you led me on or whatever. But at least you could have the conversation without it like absolutely blowing up.

00:04:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, for sure, but that's in the past. On to better things, right.

00:04:12
Speaker 1: Oh, speaking of better things, we got so many better things. You are at jingle Ball and you are going on a date tonight.

00:04:21
Speaker 3: I don't know how to feel. I'm excited. It's like a full on blind date. Like I asked for his Instagram and they told me no, and I'm like, it's a.

00:04:31
Speaker 1: Oh because I have his instagram right here. I'm looking at it to stop. Okay, you may give you a few hints. Yeah, he is. He is very handsome, like very handsome, and he is in good shape, like physically fit. You can tell that man does the.

00:04:54
Speaker 3: Gym, works out.

00:04:54
Speaker 1: It takes care of himself, takes care of himself that I will tell you what do you want to know what his bio and his Instagram says. I don't think you can search that right, No, okay. It says between living the dream.

00:05:10
Speaker 2: And chasing it?

00:05:12
Speaker 3: Okay, is that it?

00:05:14
Speaker 2: That's all? Well? He's also.

00:05:19
Speaker 3: No, that's good. That's cute.

00:05:21
Speaker 2: He also sits.

00:05:22
Speaker 1: In the C suite, which means he is the COO of a very respected company.

00:05:30
Speaker 3: Okay, well good. It sounds like he has all together a little bit.

00:05:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, athletic.

00:05:36
Speaker 3: What's his hair color? Dark?

00:05:39
Speaker 1: Yeah?

00:05:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's dark. It's dark. It's like a dark brown.

00:05:44
Speaker 1: And I will say there is not an obnoxious amount of shirtless picks on his Instagram, which is a good sign. There's a few, but it's like they're respectable, like hey, we're at the beach kind of thing. But like there's no like mere selfies and his without his shirt on, which I think is a good sign.

00:06:03
Speaker 3: It's a very good sign. Green flag, green flag.

00:06:06
Speaker 2: Yeah. How do you feel about tattoos?

00:06:09
Speaker 3: I like tattoos?

00:06:11
Speaker 2: Good, all right, that's fair, Mercedes. He nervous, Yeah, a little bit.

00:06:21
Speaker 3: I mean it's like a blind date. But I don't know. At the end of the day, Like, I'm just really excited and I love that, Like I have all my friends here too with me.

00:06:30
Speaker 1: I want to talk about that tonight at jingle Ball with you. You have Katie and Zach. Katie is a great friend to you. Justin Glaze, Grant Ellis, Jonathan Johnson, Joe and Serena, Jess, Drad and Gabby l Nicky are going to be there as well. With you, Gabby and Jess and Katie and you. You've done trips together, You're great friends. It's gonna be a blast. But I do think, you know, in some of the dates we've set up already on this show with other people, uh, there has been this kind of balance between when you're there with friends, how do you give them attention and enjoy the moment with them while also giving your date attention and you know, seeing if there's anything there.

00:07:18
Speaker 2: How do you plan on doing that?

00:07:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, honestly, I was talking to Jess about that because I'm like, I'm going to see you guys having fun and be like I want to be with them, but then also like I'm on a blind date, so I have to like figure out how to do it. I don't know. I hope he's like just because Zach's gonna be there too, So like I hope like we can be like in a group setting too and like all hang out and see how he like just jumps in with my friend group and how everything works. But obviously I'm going to like have like make sure he feels like welcome and seen. So I don't know, I'm just gonna have to like figure it out in the moment.

00:07:52
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, it is a balance, though, I think there's nothing more attractive than a human. I remember this when I met my wife on some of our first initial hangouts with groups of people. One her desire to introduce me to people like that was a big deal, Like I could tell she was excited to introduce me to people. But also when she hung out with my friends, her ability to kind of be her own solo human and mingle without meaning to stand beside her and like coach her up or you know, it was cool to look off and look in the crowd and be like, oh, there is Jess talking to one of my friends and they're having a blast.

00:08:41
Speaker 2: Like that's a big deal to me.

00:08:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I also think like that, Yeah, I would agree when that when someone can like go up, not do their own thing, but be able to like hold themselves and not have to have you like right there all the time, I think that's very attractive.

00:08:54
Speaker 1: For sure, it's super is it's going to be a super fun evening. I have high hopes just that the date's fun. I think this is a good guy. He's obviously handsome. He I will say, he is very excited for tonight. Is yes, we have here at the show. He is very excited, and he hopes that you know, this could be a fun evening and maybe more dates to come, but we'll have to see how tonight goes first. Now, you do have a big friend group. There is there anybody specific that you really hope he wins over? Or is there is there anybody in this friend group that we just mentioned that you feel like will be a tough win for him.

00:09:43
Speaker 3: No, not really, not a tough win. I feel like everyone. I feel like maybe Jess, if I had to choose one.

00:09:50
Speaker 2: She is like Puerto Rican and she's a little sassy, yes.

00:09:54
Speaker 3: And she yes, she's yeah, she's sassy, but she also like I don't know, like she's all always like telling me like you're not good or you're not good enough. They're not good enough, you know what I'm saying. Like these things, I'm like way up here. So I feel like if I had to choose one person, it would be Jess would be like the hard win. But even she's just going to be like, have a great time and talk to anyone, so it'll be fun.

00:10:16
Speaker 1: We're going to set up some wing women for you, and it's not people in your immediate friend group. We're going to be talking to them here very soon, and they're going to be there spying, giving me all the insights tonight on how things are going. But also their really only job is to accurately depict who you are, which is somebody great, And so they're going to make sure that everybody there knows you're great. Hopefully not to an annoying extent, but if that's even a thing. Are you when you go on a first date? You this is your second first date in a few months. I mean goodness, we've really picked up steam here. Do you plead pre planning questions? Do you think through what kind of things you want to ask him? Or are you just going in and winging it?

00:11:07
Speaker 3: I just go in and wing it. But honestly, I feel like I should have some questions, especially if you like, I don't know, because I feel like this is like a different situation too, But I don't know. Usually I just go in and wing it and just like feel the vibe and like I kind of just like follow their lead, like on where they want, like depth wise, you know, like what they want to talk about, just kind of follow their lead.

00:11:28
Speaker 1: So is there anything specific that you'll be paying extra attention to. I mean, I gave you a lot of info. I'm going to give you a little more info towards the end of this show, okay about him, But is there anything that really is going to stand out to you right away?

00:11:44
Speaker 3: No, not really. I think the biggest especially in this situation and like going into like with my friends, I think it's one thing that I'm going to really look at is like how we interacts and how he just like jumps in. I feel like that like says a lot.

00:11:58
Speaker 1: Okay, here's some more information on him. Okay, he's thirty years old, Okay, he lives in Los Angeles. How does that feel so far?

00:12:09
Speaker 3: Age? Great? La? I mean that's fine, I'm here all the time.

00:12:15
Speaker 1: Like you, he's been on reality television before the Bachelor, not saying what show? No? Oh, okay, if he was on the Bachelor, would that be a problem.

00:12:29
Speaker 3: No, No, it wouldn't. I want you. You can't tell me what show? No, because then I'll look him up. Dang it.

00:12:39
Speaker 2: I'm not going to tell you what show.

00:12:41
Speaker 1: It did feel I mean, if I'm honest, Mercedes, it felt like your initial reaction was this is a problem.

00:12:47
Speaker 3: It's not a problem because I'm very open, but like, if you sat me down and asked, like my perfect whatever, like being on reality TV, probably wouldn't. But that's also like kind of shallow of me because I've also been on reality TV. So like, it doesn't actually matter. I don't, I don't care.

00:13:06
Speaker 2: I'm glad we just talked through that together. That was good.

00:13:12
Speaker 1: He's a mortgage broker okay, and co owns a music distribution label.

00:13:19
Speaker 3: Okay, So maybe he visits Nashville too. He's in music.

00:13:24
Speaker 2: I bet he's heard of Nashville.

00:13:25
Speaker 3: At least he's definitely heard of it for sure.

00:13:29
Speaker 1: He's passionate about music and makes his own plus DJs for fun.

00:13:35
Speaker 2: On the side.

00:13:36
Speaker 3: I think that's great.

00:13:37
Speaker 2: And it's a side hustle for him. This is not He's not.

00:13:41
Speaker 3: Like, so he's a mortgage broker, is that what we said?

00:13:44
Speaker 1: A mortgage broker and co owns a music distribution label. Music is very It's something he's very passionate about. And so tonight, I'm only telling you this to help you is obviously tonight is all about the music at jingle Ball and the celebrit of the seasons, and so this could be a great evening for the two of you because you're just listening to the thing he loves.

00:14:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, for sure. And also I think green Flag like no matter what it is, if you It's so crazy because I actually was just talking about this with some of my guy friends because they're like, what's something that you want in a man? And I was like, I want him to be passionate about something outside of his job. So like he has his job, but then you have something that like you're super passionate about in love.

00:14:28
Speaker 1: So j my wife and I were just talking about this at lunch like an hour ago, on how our marriage operates, and we not I mean, we love each other so much. She's the coolest, but we run like two separate lanes sometimes, right, she has her own deal. I have mine. I try to stay as familiar with her deal as she does mine. But there's days where she's at work and I have no clue, you know, the thing she's doing. But it's awesome that we get to come together and talk about it.

00:14:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, end of the day.

00:15:00
Speaker 1: It helps us, I think, stay very healthy as a couple. We also can stay very curious about each other because things are always changing and it's nice to have somebody like that you that you know something that she's passionate about that I can get behind. Now, my final question for you is if you had a goal for the end of the night, what would that goal be?

00:15:25
Speaker 2: And let's let's say this date goes well, that.

00:15:29
Speaker 1: It's going, let's say well, but there's still like some questions on how well. What would be like an outcome that you would at the end of the night with all your girls like giggle, scream and shout and be excited about.

00:15:43
Speaker 3: I think just like looking back at the night and being like, oh my gosh, that was so fun. I think like that's my number one priority is just like having fun getting to know him tonight. And then obviously like, best case scenario is we like vibe and then maybe there's.

00:15:56
Speaker 2: Another date, another date. That's great.

00:15:59
Speaker 1: Okay, Mercedes, I'm pumped for you. Have a blast at jingle Ball. It's an incredible event, an incredible evening. It is full of just like the coolest moments of you know, artists and getting to meet people, have fun with your friends, have a great time on the date itself. I do have one challenge for you, Okay. My challenge is very easy. My challenge is to introduce him to the group of bachelor people right away to make sure he assimilates and he's familiar with people. Even though it is your first date, you are probably I'm assuming, the only other person he would even know, and so you're like his sidekick as well.

00:16:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, I definitely want to make sure he feels like welcome and like safe and can talk to anyone. So definitely we'll be doing that.

00:16:47
Speaker 1: I have a blast. This has been famously available with Mercedes. We're gonna follow this date now throughout the week. We're going to get interviews from friends of Mercedes, maybe even the person she's going on the date with. Uh, and then we're gonna be talking to Mercedes herself, so stay tuned to famously available. We're getting started this holiday season with some cheer I believe.

00:17:11
Speaker 2: I can't wait to catch up with you, Mercedes. Have a blast night all right by