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AWARDS SEASON | 51ST DAYTIME EMMY AWARDS NOMINATIONS
Yesterday and today, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) announced the 51st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards nominations were announced. This show will honor the best in U.S> daytime television programming in 2023. The award ceremony is scheduled to be helf on Jun 7th, 2024 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in LA and will be broadcast live on this date at 8pm ET on CBS and will be available on Paramount+ for live streaming and on-demand.
As we do throughout Awards Season, we share our predictions in bold, the ones we correctly identified as winners are in bold italics and winners that we didn’t predict are in italics. On the night of the event, we will share who we predicted correctly as well as those we didn’t that won.
DAYTIME DRAMA SERIES
The Bay, Popstar! TV
The Bold and the Beautiful, CBS
Days of our Lives, Peacock
General Hospital, ABC
Neighbours, Freevee
The Young and the Restless, CBS
LEAD ACTRESS IN A DAYTIME DRAMA
Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke, The Bold and the Beautiful)
Annika Noelle, (Hope, The Bold and the Beautiful)
Michelle Stafford (Phyllis, The Young and the Restless)
Tamara Braun (Ava, Days of Our Lives)
Finola Hughes (Anna, General Hospital)
Cynthia Watros (Nina, General Hospital)
LEAD ACTOR IN A DAYTIME DRAMA
Eric Braeden (Victor,The Young and the Restless)
Scott Clifton (Liam, The Bold and the Beautiful)
Thorsten Kaye (Ridge, The Bold and the Beautiful)
John McCook (Eric, The Bold and the Beautiful)
Eric Martsolf (Brady, Days of Our Lives)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DAYTIME DRAMA
Jennifer Gareis (Donna, The Bold and the Beautiful)
Linsey Godfrey (Sarah, Days of our Lives)
Courtney Hope (Sally, The Young and the Restless)
Allison Lanier (Summer, The Young and the Restless)
Emily O’Brien (Gwen, Days of our Lives)
SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DAYTIME DRAMA
Robert Gossett (Marshall, General Hospital)
Bryton James (Devon, The Young and the Restless)
Wally Kurth (Justin, Days of our Lives)
A Martinez (Nardo, The Bay)
Mike Manning (Caleb, The Bay)
DAYTIME TALK SERIES
The Jennifer Hudson Show (syndicated)
The Kelly Clarkson Show (syndicated)
Tamron Hall (syndicated)
Turning the Tables With Robin Roberts, Disney+
The View, ABC
GUEST PERFORMANCE IN A DAYTIME DRAMA
Linden Ashby (Cameron, The Young and the Restless)
Ashley Jones (Bridget, The Bold and the Beautiful)
Alley Mills (Heather, General Hospital)
Guy Pearce (Mike, Neighbours)
Dick Van Dyke (Timothy, Days of our Lives)
WRITING FOR A DAYTIME DRAMA
The Bay, Popstar! TV
The Bold and the Beautiful, CBS
Days of our Lives, Peacock
General Hospital, ABC
The Young and the Restless, CBS
DIRECTING FOR A DAYTIME DRAMA
The Bay, Popstar! TV
The Bold and the Beautiful, CBS
Days of our Lives, Peacock
General Hospital, ABC
The Young and the Restless, CBS
DAYTIME TALK SHOW HOST
Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro, The View
Kelly Clarkson, The Kelly Clarkson Show
Mark Consuelos and Kelly Ripa, Live With Kelly and Mark
Akbar Gbajabiamila, Amanda Kloots, Natalie Morales, Jerry O’Connell and Sheryl Underwood, The Talk
Tamron Hall, Tamron Hall
ENTERTAINMENT NEWS SERIES
Access Hollywood (syndicated)
Entertainment Tonight (syndicated)
Extra (syndicated)
LEGAL/COURTROOM PROGRAM
Hot Bench (syndicated)
Judy Justice, Amazon Freevee
Justice For The People with Judge Milian (syndicated)
The People’s Court (syndicated)
We The People with Judge Lauren Lake (syndicated)
CULINARY SERIES
Be My Guest with Ina Garten, Food Network
Family Dinner, Magnolia Network
Selena + Chef: Home for the Holidays, Food Network
Valerie’s Home Cooking, Food Network
What Am I Eating? with Zooey Deschanel, Max
CULINARY HOST
Lidia Bastianich (25 Years with Lidia: A Culinary Jubilee, PBS)
Valerie Bertinelli (Valerie’s Home Cooking, Food Network)
Eduardo Garcia (Big Sky Kitchen with Eduardo Garcia, Magnolia Network)
Emeril Lagasse (Emeril Cooks, Roku)
Sophia Roe (Counter Space, Tastemade)
Buddy Valastro (Legends of the Fork, A&E)
ORIGINAL SONG
“Shine” (General Hospital, ABC)
“Unexpected Truth” (Unexpected, Hulu)
“We’re Home” (Reconnecting Roots, PBS)
COSTUME DESIGN/STYLING
African Queens: Njinga, Netflix
The Bold and the Beautiful, CBS
The Jennifer Hudson Show (syndicated)
Sherri (syndicated)
HAIRSTYLING AND MAKEUP
African Queens: Njinga, Netflix
The Drew Barrymore Show (syndicated)
Sherri (syndicated)
The View, ABC
The Young and the Restless, CBS
LIGHTING DIRECTION
General Hospital, ABC
The Jennifer Hudson Show (syndicated)
The Kelly Clarkson Show (syndicated)
The View, ABC
CASTING
African Queens: Njinga, Netflix
Days of our Lives, Peacock
General Hospital, ABC
Start Up, PBS
The Young and the Restless, CBS
TRAVEL, ADVENTURE AND NATURE PROGRAM
Animals Up Close with Bertie Gregory, National Geographic
Extraordinary Birder with Christian Cooper, National Geographic
Guy’s All-American Road Trip, Food Network
Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild, NBC
Street Somm, Tastemade
INSTRUCTIONAL/HOW-TO PROGRAM
Fixer to Fabulous, HGTV
Fixer Upper: The Hotel, Magnolia Network
Hack My Home, Netflix
Martha Gardens, Roku
Windy City Rehab, HGTV
LIFESTYLE PROGRAM
Downey’s Dream Cars, Max
George to the Rescue, NBC
Growing Floret, Magnolia Network
Homegrown, Magnolia Network
Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones, Netflix
ARTS AND POPULAR CULTURE PROGRAM
Billion Dollar Babies: The True Story of the Cabbage Patch Kids, Vimeo
King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch, Netflix
Off Script With The Hollywood Reporter, SundanceTV
Oprah and “The Color Purple” Journey, Max
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors, PBS
Working in the Theatre, AmericanTheatreWing.org
EDUCATIONAL AND INFORMATIONAL PROGRAM
African Queens: Njinga, Netflix
Harlem Globetrotters Play It Forward, NBC
Ireland Made with Love, PBS
Leveling Lincoln, PBS
What Really Happened: America’s Wild, National Geographic
DAYTIME SPECIAL
Culture Quest: Ukraine, PBS
Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade, ABC
97th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, NBC
Recipe for Change: Celebrating Black Men, SpringHill
Unexpected, Hulu
SHORT FORM PROGRAM
Catalyst, LinkedIn News
The Dads, Netflix
Hollywood Atelier: Rob Pickens, The Hollywood Reporter
How Una Pizza Napoletana Became the No.1 Ranked Pizza in the World, Eater
Temple of Film: 100 Years of the Egyptian Theatre, Netflix
WRITING TEAM FOR A DAYTIME NON-FICTION PROGRAM
African Queens: Njinga, Netflix
Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild, NBC
Reconnecting Roots, PBS
Super Animals (syndicated)
Team Rubicon, Roku
OUTSTANDING MUSIC DIRECTION AND COMPOSITION
African Queens: Njinga, Netflix
Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones, Netflix
Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild, NBC
Mysteries of the Faith, Netflix
Temple of Film: 100 Years of the Egyptian Theatre, Netflix
WOAH! | JOEY LAWRENCE
For those of us that grew up in the 90s, many of us remember watching Blossom and Joey Lawrence with his "whoa" catch phrase. He appeared in a number of series throughout this time as well as maintaining a music career, going on Broadway and of course being The Walrus on Season 8 of Masked Singer!
We wanted to take some time to catchup with him to find out about his career, the importance of oral care, his podcast with his brothers Matthew (Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Mrs Doubtfire, Hawaii Five-O) and Andy (Bean, NCIS: Los Angeles, Hawaii Five-O) as well as his upcoming movie and other projects!
ATHLEISURE MAG: You've had a great career that has included Gimmie A Break!, Blossom, being on Broadway in Chicago as Billy Flynn, The Masked Singer, and more! What do you love about being an entertainer?
JOEY LAWRENCE: It's always been sort of my calling and I was very lucky at a young age to have an opportunity to explore that passion of mine. My mom was just influential in seeing that love that I had for the arts and just going, alright, let's see if we can make this happen. It just came about in the most amazing way, and then being able to go to New York and audition for commercials at the age of five years old, and get a lot of those commercials and then go on the Johnny Carson Show and have the reaction be what it was on that and lead to a deal with NBC, which led to give me a break and all the other shows that I ended up doing. It was just sort of an amazing thing that happened and 43 years later, to be able to still doing it, is truly a remarkable thing, quite a journey.
AM: What have been three of your favorite moments in your career that made you smile?
JL: The explosion of the whole WHOA thing on Blossom and the whole Teen Idol thing was an amazing moment. I know a lot of people sometimes look back on that stuff as not so great when they experienced it, but for me, it was really amazing. The fact that I'm able to still work even past all that is great. It was that explosion, and still to this day, all these years later, two decades later, people still walking around saying that word and how it still has transcended time. It's seen all over popular vernacular today. That was a pretty cool moment to have that happen to a character that I played become so iconic like that. Being on Broadway was great. The whole different world of being able to utilize my love for singing and acting at the same time was really great. Also, having a number one record was really cool, writing a song at 16 - having a hit number one on the charts. Experiencing that was great and the other top moments are hopefully yet to come.
AM: Achieving a great smile means that you make your oral care a priority. Why did you partner with LISTERINE?
JL: Well, to me, LISTERINE truly is the benchmark of oral care. I actually use LISTERINE – it's been in every medicine cabinet in my house growing up, and now is in my home and used by kids.
AM: What is your oral care routine and how did you turn your woes into "Whoas"?
JL: I have red, irritated gums, so I religiously care for my whole mouth. I use an electric powered toothbrush and I floss basically almost after every meal, but certainly in the morning and at night. Then I follow it up with my favorite LISTERINE mouthwash – Clinical Solutions Antiseptic Gum Health from their newest line of superpowered products. It is actually incredible and it really works. Truly, I used the Antiseptic Gum Health mouthwash for one week and I started to see a difference – it literally made me go “WHOA!”
The LISTERINE Clinical Solutions line was developed with dentists to tackle and help prevent top oral care issues, and so I’m very excited to see what other people think because I think they're gonna feel the way I do.
AM: It seems like you and your brothers - Matthew and Andy continue the good vibes, smiles, and fun conversations with your podcast, Brotherly Love. Why did you want to launch it in this format and what can we expect when we're tuning in?
JL: That's what we do. I mean, our thing is just escapism, right? We want people to come in and just have some fun, take your mind off of things. I feel so many times people forget the the true essence of entertainment, which is to entertain, and we get bogged down in making it mirror exactly what's going on in our lives. But so many times, I don't want to watch something that's mirroring exactly what I'm going through, because that's life. I want to have a little bit of escapism. People have never really seen us like this, which is kind of cool. When we've worked together in our careers, it's always been with scripts. This is no scripts. This is actually how our inner dynamics are and we're dinner table conversation, we're not a specific podcast based on a certain idea or ideology. We talk about anything and everything that friends and family would talk about over a dinner table. I think that's what's really been the reaction so far and why people have enjoyed it so much. We never really thought it was going to turn into this. We really did it during the COVID lockdowns to just have something to do because like everybody, we thought the world was ending, and we got to do something. The reaction to it has been incredible. To see the rise of this little baby pod, the pod that could as we say, has been humbling. It's been really, really neat. I think we're like the 45th ranked pod overall, which is really crazy. There's like 5 million pods out there. So, you know, this little pod that me and my bros do to have this much love thrown at it, it just really feels great. We're just so thankful the community that supports us is pretty dope.
AM: Tell us about your upcoming film, Heart Attack.
JL: We’re doing it with Fox and Tubi. Big action movie, which I'm excited about. I haven't done a lot of action - I did a little bit on Hawaii Five-O and CSI New York, but I really haven't although I've loved that genre so much. Big fan of Die Hard and these movies growing up as a kid so to be able to jump into this sort of genre is going to be really, really cool. It's a nonstop juggernaut from page one with a clock that ticks – your classic action movie stakes, but it really is cool. it's all set in the hospital. It's going to be a lot of fun. My baby brother, Andrew, is actually going to direct it, which is gonna be fun because he's a great director. We're gonna have a lot of fun. We're going to shoot that later this year, and really looking forward to it.
AM: How do you take time for yourself when you're not focused on projects, navigating personal and family schedules, etc?
JL: You just have to make the time, right? Life is about making time for things, that's what you got to do. It's easy to say we don't have time, right? It's easy to say, Oh, I don't have time to get that workout in, or I don't have time to floss. You have to figure out a way to do it. There's always time. I feel like where there's a will, there's a way. I live my life like that - we'll figure it out. There's a way to figure something out, I don't ever feel like nothing is, you know, can't be accomplished if we put our minds to it, just figure it out. So I try to live my life that way every day and you know, I fail sometimes, like everybody, but I also succeed sometimes. When you succeed, it feels good and that motivates you to continue to work hard and try to fit everything in. That's what I try to do.
AM: Are there any upcoming projects that we should keep an eye out for that you would like to share?
JL: There's a lot of exciting stuff going on. We have a sequel to our Christmas movie that we did together, the brothers and I, Mistletoe Mixup, which was actually the number one Christmas movie on Amazon in 2021. The sequel is coming out later this year, so we're excited about that. It's actually funnier than the first one, it really is, so we're very excited because he first one again, we did it sort of as an independent project, and Amazon picked it up, and then it just did so well. It was their number one movie for Christmas a year and a half ago. So, then we were like, wow, well, we got to try to make it good now. So, you know, the sequel, we had a lot more time to do it and we're excited about it. So that's coming out. We're actually working on a scripted series together for the first time, since like the early 2000s, which is crazy. That is something that is in the late stages, so we're excited about that. There's a couple other exciting things that will be on tap soon, but you know, and I'm working with LISTERINE, so that's like top of the top and super excited.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | LISTERINE Clinical Solutions
Read the MAR ISSUE #99 of Athleisure Mag and see WOAH! Joey Lawrence in mag.
IN GOOD TASTE | CHEF TOM COLICCHIO, CHEF KRISTEN KISH, AND GAIL SIMMONS
We're excited this month's cover of Athleisure Mag is graced by Chef Kristen Kish (S10 winner of Top Chef, Fast Foodies, Restaurants at the End of the World), Chef Tom Colicchio (A Place at the Table, The Simpsons, Billions), and Gail Simmons (Royal Pains, The Best Thing I Ever Ate, The Food That Built America). We sat down with them ahead of the S21 premiere of Bravo's Top Chef Wisconsin. We talked with Kristen who is on the other side of the judging table as a host as well as her fellow judges Tom and Gail! In our interview, we spoke about the impact of this iconic food competition show, their approach to judging the dishes, what they hope viewers and fans enjoy when watching this show, and why filming is a bit like Summer Camp!
ATHLEISURE MAG: We are so excited to be able to talk to you guys as we have been fans of the show ever since the beginning! We have interviewed each of you individually over the years on various projects that you have been involved in, but to be able to have you guys as our cover for this month and to have you all together as S21 premieres on March 20th is amazing!
What was the dish that you fell in love with that made you realize that you wanted to be in the culinary industry?
CHEF KRISTEN KISH: Oh wow! Well I can tell you the first thing that I ever made when I was 5!
AM: Yeah!
CHEF KK: It was a chocolate pudding, but there was no chocolate or pudding. I saw my mom make Thanksgiving gravy and she would thicken it with cornstarch slurry and she would refrigerate it. It comes out and it looks gelatinized and so when I started watching cooking shows before I had any concept of food, flavor, or actual technique, I was like, “I could make a chocolate pudding.” So I had soy sauce, thickener, and cornstarch. I did that and it sat in the refrigerator and my dad came home from work and gave it a try and he said it was great and off I went!
AM: Oh my goodness, I love that!
GAIL SIMMONS: That’s a good dad!
AM: That was sweet. And Tom!
CHEF TOM COLICCHIO: It was no particular dish. I’m actually writing a book called Why I Cook.
AM: Nice!
CHEF TC: During the pandemic I was doing a lot of these Zoom cooking classes and I kept coming back to certain themes. There were 2 things in particular, both around my grandfather that I think led me to food. One, at a young age, I used to fish with my grandfather and I was responsible for 2 things – one cleaning all of the fish and crabs and clams before my mother and grandmother cooked them and my second job was keeping my grandfather awake on the ride home. So that was always fun! That meal, because it was a larger meal, it was 20 people around the table and I think that somehow I took away from that was that’s what food does, it brings people around the table. That was probably more important than the food itself.
Then I struggled as a kid with ADHD. I wasn’t diagnosed back then and my children are all clinically diagnosed and I found that cooking was something that I could figure out very easily. It came very easily to me. Once I started working in the kitchen, all that chaos just cut through the clutter in my brain and I was able to hyper focus on my cooking.
So it’s not a particular dish, but those are the 2 sort of memories that led me to a career of cooking.
AM: I love that. Gail?
GS: Again, I also don’t think that it was one particular dish, it wasn’t that one moment. My mother was an amazing cook when I was growing up and she had a cooking school that was run out of our house and wrote a column for our national newspaper of Canada as a way to be able to stay home and also work while her children were small. I had 2 older brothers and there was a lot of noise in our house. I think that it was just watching her do this all the time! She ran these classes in our house so there were always people in our home, she was always entertaining and I just saw how much pleasure it gave her and everyone and how fulfilling it was for her to nourish people and to feed people.
I remember that this wasn’t a real dish, but my favorite thing to do as a child while my mom was in the kitchen cooking was to put my little wooden stool at the sink and she would put a big pot in the sink and let me just invade her spice cabinets and I would squirt a bit of this and drizzle a little bit of that and take a big wooden spoon and I would make soup. It allowed us to be together and it gave me such purpose in doing that with her and it was just this imaginary game where I could be a chef and I think that that was sort of that feeling where this was just something that could sustain others and make me feel great and I just sort of loved that feeling of being in the kitchen.
AM: Wow that’s such a memory.
Well, Gail and Tom, you guys have been on Top Chef for 21 seasons and just seeing everything through this food competition, what initially drew you to being part of it and what do you hope that fans are getting out of it when they are watching you guys?
GS: Drew us to be a part of it. I don’t think that either of us were drawn to being part of it because when we started, it wasn’t a thing. There was no food competition reality shows. There was Iron Chef Japan, but obviously that was a very different kind of competition. So this was a real trailblazer at the time and when they came to both of us, neither of us knew what they were talking about, nor were we that interested necessarily because it didn’t seem like a rational thing to do with your career at that moment. I was working at Food & Wine Magazine and actually Bravo came to Food & Wine to partner with them, to teach them about the restaurant and food world and to help them with sort of part of the prize and to learn about the industry. They said, well in exchange, if we like one of your editors, we’ll put them on the judging table to represent the magazine as this partnership. I was chosen to be that person, but I very clearly remember that when my publisher gave me that news, I was sort of terrified!
AM: Gulp!
GS: But I was doing it for my job and I knew that I would still have a job after even if no one liked the show. I had this totally different job with the magazine and this became a side thing to try out to sort of – as a lark. But I knew that Tom was doing it and I had known Tom for many years. But more importantly, the magazine really trusted him. He was a Food & Wine Best Chef, James Beard Award Winner, and I knew that there was going to be a moral compass to the show because of that. So we headed out to San Francisco with very little expectations and I think that that has been the greatest surprise that it exceeded anything that I could have imagined!
CHEF TC: For me, I said no 3 times before finally being coerced into saying yes. I got a call from the producer who said they were doing a show and we think that you would be great. There was a show around that time that featured a chef and it wasn’t a competition and I was like, I don’t want to do that. Then they sent me some DVDs of Project Greenlight and I loved that show.
AM: Same!
CHEF TC: So they sent someone to get me on camera and they asked if I could come in for a screen test and I said no I’m not going in for that. There was a documentary done by a producer from ABC News on the opening of Craft so I sent them that and they said, they wanted to make an offer.
Part of the reason that I said yes and my wife always says that I shouldn’t tell that story, but I will! I got tired of going to food festivals and I’m sitting next to Bobby Flay and he signs 300 books and I signed 20 and I didn’t think that it was because he had a better book, it was because he was on TV!
GS: That’s a great piece of the story! Like if you were living in NY at that moment, everybody knew Tom Colicchio!
AM: Absolutely.
GS: He was the NY chefiest chef! He was the chef-y-chef and still is to the end! But he was such a NY icon, and there wasn’t like a history or a precedent yet where there were chefs that had huge national followings except for the few that were on Food Network. You had Bobby, Emeril, Wolfgang, and that was sort of it. So I think that that sort of recalibrated things.
CHEF TC: What I hope that the viewing audience gets from what we do is that – one thing that just drives me crazy is when people think that there is some kind of game that we are playing. That we are trying to promote one person over another. We don’t care who wins. I’m not a fan.
AM: We can see that when you’re talking on the show.
CHEF TC: Right. I’m not a fan, I’m there to do a job and to be as honest as possible. I hope that that comes across. We’re not playing favorites, we’re not saying that a woman won last season so a man needs to be in this one. No, we don’t care. We judge on the food and that’s it. The only thing that I asked the producers from day one is that judges make decisions. So far, we have made every single decision.
GS: And we have never regretted one either!
CHEF TC: Right! There is that little disclaimer that they say that they help us. If we’re stuck, they’ll say, “well you said this or you said that – what do you think about this?” But they don’t make the decision.
AM: It’s more like running the tape.
GS: Yeah!
CHEF TC: Exactly! It’s kind reminding us of things that we’ve said and trying to get us to discuss. But that happens so infrequently! It happened in a few finales where we were really stuck and because also I think in the finales we pay more attention to it because there is so much on the line and some of them were so close that it would just come down to –
GS: Tiny nitpicking things.
CHEF TC: But, yeah, that’s it.
AM: Kristen, we love that you won Season 10 and it has been great to see you come back for various guest judging, but now you’re on the other side as a host! How do you feel about that and what does it feel like to know how it is on both sides of the table?
CHEF KK: I mean – it’s still a wild thing to know that this is happening! But you know, I will say that having competed, guest judging and obviously when I was done with my season, developing a relationship with these two that went far beyond then the actual show itself, like coming back into it already felt like you were coming back into a family setting. You see producers that have been there since my season and long before, these 2 obviously, I’m very familiar with and so as new as the position was, me coming in and being with these people wasn’t a new thing. So that brought a lot of comfort. I think really the main difference between competing and judging and now hosting is that I get to be part of the whole thing! I get to experience all of the chefs and all of the different variations that they are and regardless of how long that they are there, I get to be there for the whole thing which is pretty fantastic! I also get to say that, “you’re Top Chef!”
GS: For us, where we stood, filling Padma’s (Top Chef, Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi, Waffles + Mochi's Restaurant) very high heel shoes, there were very few people that we thought would fit all of that and I think that in a way, it was a very obvious choice to us. Especially because, we knew that we didn’t need to bring in for the 21st season, someone who had never been part of the show before.
AM: Right.
GS: It only made sense because we had created this massive family of 300+ chefs over the seasons who have gone on to such success that it would only make sense to bring someone in who had already been part of it and Tom and I were not the ones that were making the decision, let’s be clear about that. We were involved in the conversations, but it was just so natural and it made such great sense, because she has become such a leader in the industry because she won a season and went on to just – I mean, we have been sitting there being so proud of her for a decade watching as a friend! So, it just felt like the most natural, possible choice.
CHEF TC: I had conversations with the producers and no other name came up!
AM: There you go! We were so happy when we heard that it was you!
CHEF KK: Me too, me too!
AM: What did you guys love about being in Wisconsin for this season and where would you like to see it go for the next one?
GS: Wisconsin was interesting. We were just talking about this. We have been to every corner of this country at this point and we have been abroad, you know our last season, our 20th season Top Chef: World All-Stars was a massive milestone by being able to shoot the entire season in London and in Paris. That was extraordinary, but coming back home to the heartland, we hadn’t explored the Midwest. We were in Chicago in 2007 and that feels like it was an eternity ago especially in the life of restaurants. So I think that it was great to be able to go back to that part of the country and to explore its foodways (Editor’s Note: In social science, foodways are the cultural, social, and economic practices relating to the production and consumption of food. Foodways often refer to the intersection of food in culture, traditions, and history.), its indigenous culture, its agriculture, its history, the immigrant populations that brought so much of its food culture, and I don’t know, we had the greatest time! We ate a lot of cheese, we drank a lot of beer.
CHEF KK: There was a lot of custard!
GS: Oh yeah, frozen custard was obviously a highlight.
CHEF KK: I mean, thinking about where to go, I have only been to Milwaukee and Madison so the possibilities on my end – I mean wow, there’s so many places that we can go far and wide. But even from their perspective, they can speak to that, but after 21 seasons, there are just countless places that we can go and there are just so many options.
CHEF TC: The best parts of the show and they don’t get enough credit, the producers do such a great job. They’re on the ground 4 months before production starts, digging through, looking at different foodways, looking for interesting locations and really sort of teasing out some of these challenges. The team spends so much time doing it and yeah, we do a little bit of research. I mean, Gail does all of the research on the restaurants. I just tag along!
GS: I know where to go for dinner afterwards!
CHEF TC: But they do such a great job of researching for us and every season, it’s just beautiful because that location becomes its own character.
AM: Yeah.
CHEF TC: It becomes a real backdrop for everything that we do. Wisconsin was so great and the people were really friendly and so easy to work with.
GS: Coming from London, London was extraordinary for all the reasons that it was extraordinary, but London –
CHEF TC: Britain didn’t care about us!
GS: The UK doesn’t have Top Chef!
AM: Right.
GS: Their culture is all MasterChef all of the time.
CHEF TC: And the Queen died.
GS: Then the queen died in the middle of our season.
AM: Yes, that’s right!
GS: So then they really didn’t care about us. It was sort of refreshing, I liked that, but we were completely anonymous, no one cared, no one made a fuss over us, but sometimes you want a little fuss. I mean, you just want people to care that you’re there – just a little bit. Although I think it made us work harder and it challenged us in the best way, but coming back to Milwaukee – they were like – I mean, they were ready to welcome us with open arms! And that felt really nice.
AM: Love that!
And what about the 15 cheftestants this this season? Is there anything that we should keep an eye out for or what you were excited about or whatever you can share?
GS: I think that it’s really interesting that they’re fun, they’re all really good people, and they have great stories. Again, our casting team does the most amazing job because you think it’s just about casting the 15 best cooks that you can cast, but there are so many factors beyond that and our industry has changed so much and I think that it’s sort of a chicken and egg situation. Did we help mold the industry trends or did the industry trends help mold the show? I think that there is such an interesting interplay there, but you know, the diversity of our cast now versus 12 seasons ago in all senses right? Obviously people of color, we have always had a 50/50 women to men ratio which let me assure you is not the ratio in the real industry
CHEF TC: That’s right.
GS: It is such a massive undertaking casting people who are not only at the top of their game, but all have stories to tell and all can cook and talk at the same time, have perspectives and points of view that will carry over to our audience. It’s just an amazing thing the cast every season and the people that we meet and what we learn about them. I think that this year you will see a few really interesting things. Obviously stories from parts of the world from where they come from, their origins that we have never seen before which definitely is played out on their dishes and also, we’re talking a lot more about what it is like to cook with a disability in the kitchen. Which, this isn’t something that we have faced in a big way on this show. The chef who is actually from Wisconsin, Chef Dan Jacobs, the local chef and he has an amazing story to tell and I just think that it ups the level of appreciation for the craft.
CHEF TC: I think that this season, the chefs were somewhat a little inconsistent. One challenge, a chef would do amazing and then the next challenge it was – what happened? It was just hard to figure out –
GS: It kept us on our toes!
CHEF TC: It could have been nerves.
AM: Just looking at your face, we can see how you didn’t understand how that could happen.
CHEF TC: It was just so hard to understand because there were these ups and downs. But it was a great season and it was a lot of fun.
CHEF KK: It means that the challenges were very good though.
CHEF TC: Yeah, yeah.
CHEF KK: Because it challenged different parts of you and you couldn’t consistently be great at everything.
GS: And the same person wasn’t always on top.
CHEF TC: Yeah, it was an interesting season and there’s some fun stuff! We had a Sausage Race!
AM: When I saw that, I was like yes! Because I’m from the Midwest originally – I’m from Indiana!
GS: Oh!
AM: I was like what? They’re sharing the Sausage Race from the Milwaukee Brewers?
GS: It was the best! It was low hanging fruit. That kind of sounded dirty, but you know what I mean!
AM: Yes!
This season each episode is supersized for 75 mins. There wasn’t a Quick Fire in the first episode, the way immunity is handled – so what are the different twists that we can expect from this season?
CHEF KK: You know, I think that I’m really the most excited that I think midseason that’s after Restaurant Wars or something like that – that Tom and Gail are also part of the Quick Fire. So all 3 of us get to have the same conversation.
AM: Oh wow!
CHEF KK: Include it into the deliberation if you need it. It’s also nice to have the company and to have a little bit more time with them. So for me, that was one of the more fun changes that happened to do it with them.
AM: With the Elimination Challenge on the first episode, each of you had a task that the 15 cheftestants were divided to create 1 of 3 dishes. What was the thought behind the soup (Kristen’s Challenge), the roasted chicken (Tom’s Challenge), and the stuffed pasta (Gail’s Challenge)? Which we loved all of those.
GS: I think that we see patterns over the years right? We have been sitting in these chairs for a really long time Tom and I, longer than we want to admit and we see patterns in cooking. We see trends come and go, but even in the foundations of cooking, I feel that we and our producers have seen things that recur in good ways and bad, over and over again. There are certain foundations and techniques that every chef should have mastered long ago when they get to this stage, but amazingly, they get to the Top Chef Kitchen and it’s not that they don’t know how to make a roast chicken –
CHEF TC: Mmm
GS: And we know that they do it beautifully in their own kitchens.
CHEF TC: Mmm
GS: Or not.
CHEF TC: Mmm
GS: Some of them not.
ALL: Hahaha
GS: But it trips them up and they freeze and so we just wanted to first of all, put them in check and also, make sure that they understand that they shouldn’t be calling it in because something that seems really simple that we see so often on the show can be problematic and also for Kristen, I think that it was a great introduction for the first challenge because she had such a vivid memory in her season.
CHEF KK: We had to make a soup in order to make it to Seattle in the first place. So I cooked for Emeril in Vegas and there were 5 or 6 of us. You had to get his stamp of approval on the soup before you went on. So that was an easy choice for me!
CHEF TC: Roast chicken – if you’re a chef of this caliber and you can’t make a great roast chicken, maybe you need to rethink what you’re doing!
GS: Yeah!
CHEF TC: But also, there’s a certain maturity that you attain when you’re cooking for years, when you’re comfortable enough to leave something alone. I wanted to see who was going to over chef it.
AM: Right!
CHEF TC: Right? Versus having the confidence to just leave the roast chicken alone. I thought that it was a good way to start.
AM: Love that!
We all have our favorites whether it’s Restaurant Wars or certain guest judges that come in. What were your exciting moments of this season?
CHEF KK: Restaurant Wars was awesome! Restaurant Wars is fantastic and I love it so much. If I could ever go back in my life and redo one thing, it would be Restaurant Wars. I let it go.
GS: It ended up ok!
CHEF TC: I think you did alright!
CHEF KK: I just want to prove that I can do it! But it was nice to be part of it from the other side and now to be able to watch it when I see that episode – to see the thought process and the strategy that was played because I didn’t think about it in that way. So, throughout the season, I’m learning a lot about how to compete on Top Chef and I’m never going to do it again in terms of competing on Top Chef. But to also learn a thing or two with different perspectives and great chefs around the country who have something to teach us as well.
GS: I love all the challenges that take them out of the kitchen to cook in weird and wonderful places – on a farm, on a beach, in a baseball stadium. I think that it just changes everything and it gives us energy and it inspires us. But I also think that learning – everywhere we go as we obviously say – there are foodways, there are local traditions that we get to learn about and over the last several seasons gratefully, we have incorporated the indigenous foodways of everywhere we are – in Portland (S18), in Houston (S19), and certainly in this season in Milwaukee and I think that it really helps you take a step back from the way you think of food in the modern kitchen and in that sort of modernist way and we think that the way that we think of produce and agriculture gives us so much perspective as cooks.
CHEF TC: One of my favorite challenges was the Door County Fish Fry.
GS: Oh my God, wild!
CHEF TC: And the reason being was that there was this guy that does fish fry’s, probably 300 a year and he had a very specific way of doing it. We were all in the parking lot actually watching this happen and if you watch it with chef eyes, you’re like, “this is ridiculous. Why are you doing this?” You’re going against everything that you are taught. But the guy has been doing this a long time and it blew my mind that the chefs weren’t really paying attention to what he was doing. They were just like, I’m going to do it my way.
GS: Or I can make it better!
CHEF TC: Right, I can make it better. Yeah and it was interesting to watch.
AM: Oh wow!
CHEF TC: We also at some point, they were all calm and then you saw them all come to this realization that they really should have listened. Should have paid attention.
GS: They definitely should have paid attention in math class that day!
CHEF TC: Yeah.
AM: What can you tell us if anything about the finale that we should be looking forward to?
GS: I don’t know what we can tell you about the finale – there is a finale!
AM: There you go! There’s going to be people there.
CHEF TC: There’s people there.
GS: It’s not in Wisconsin. Every year it’s always a little different.
AM: So Tom, you always say that shooting this show is like Summer Camp.
CHEF TC: Yeah!
AM: What do you mean by that?
CHEF TC: Well I didn’t go to Summer Camp, but if I had –
AM: Neither have I.
CHEF TC: You go to Summer Camp, you have those friends. You see them for 6 weeks in the summer and you go back every summer and you see them. When we do this show, there’s probably 150 people on a crew these days. There has probably been about a quarter or 50 that have been doing this for 10+ years and so you see your summer friends. These are our summer friends and you hang out with them. You go out to dinner and a bunch of us play instruments and we get together and play so it’s fun!
GS: There are a lot of campfires!
CHEF TC: Yeah and it’s a fun get together and you fall right back into relationships as soon as you get there. It’s just immediately you’re right back into Summer Camp.
AM: What instrument are you playing?
CHEF TC: I play guitar!
AM: That’s what we thought!
CHEF KK: He’s very good!
GS: I play the cowbell! I’m joking!
AM: Kristen, what are you playing?
CHEF KK: If there was a keyboard, I would be playing.
CHEF TC: We’re going to get you a little accordion!
GS: Oh yeah!
CHEF KK: I will learn to play the accordion!
CHEF TC: Absolutely, we’re going to get you one so you can play.
AM: When we’re in the kitchen, we always love our favorite playlists while we’re making our dishes. What are 3 songs that you like listening to when you’re cooking?
CHEF KK: I don’t know if there is a particular song. But in my restaurant kitchen, there’s certain kinds of music that we go with the Beyonce, Whitney Houston vibe.
GS: Wow.
CHEF KK: Everyone loves it – it’s not politically drawn any which way.
AM: It’s just good sounds.
CHEF KK: It’s solid music. A lot of Earth, Wind, & Fire as well. At home, I listen to Van Morrison because I have great memories of my dad. My mom in the summertime in Michigan, all the windows in the house open and spring cleaning starts and my dad has like a CD player in the kitchen and it would blast through the house – Van Morrison – so for me, I always like to listen to Van Morrison.
AM: Tom?
CHEF TC: God, It all depends on what I am in the mood for.
GS: Yeah.
CHEF TC: I often cook with reggae and Grateful Dead - Anthony Bourdain just rolled over one time in his grave because he hates them, but it all depends. I do like cooking with music especially when I’m home.
We do have music in the kitchen here in NY at Craft, I stay out of it! I walk down there sometimes and I’m like, what the heck? But it’s like, do whatever you want.
AM: Gail?
GS: I would say the same. I love when I can be in my zone in my kitchen. I don’t like talking to people when I’m cooking, it's my quiet happy place. Everyone in my house knows that it’s my space. It’s not to say that I don’t speak to my family. I can also get them involved. But when I am in a rhythm with music, it really is my meditation in so many ways that that zone that you get into – but I listen to all kinds of things depending on my travels, where I have been, what’s happening in the moment. My husband actually works in the music industry. He creates playlists so there’s always playlists on my Spotify made from him. It also depends on my kids. My daughter has very strong opinions about the music so when she comes home she’ll often change it, but I just love a rhythm when I am cooking for sure.
AM: My last question has 3 parts, and is part of our feature, THE 9LIST 9M3NU, this month, it looks at: a) why you enjoy cooking in the Spring; b) what are spices that you enjoy cooking; and c) for Tom and Kristen, what are 3 dishes that we can enjoy are your restaurants and Gail, what are 3 dishes that we could enjoy if we were at your home?
GS: That’s a big 3 part question!
AM: We did this recently with Alton Brown and he got such a kick out of it!
So what do you love about the Spring when you are creating your dishes?
CHEF KK: I’m just excited to be out of fall! Because growing up in a 4 season kind of place, Austin is very different. I had to learn what food seasons there were. You had two tomato seasons – there’s a long story behind that. But you have 2 tomato seasons, 2 strawberry seasons. But I mean, for any season change that happens, by the time fall is nearing an end, I can’t do any more with squashes. I’m ready for the green fresh and the vibrancy! Now that my wife has started gardening, she has a whole Spring list that she is excited about. I’m excited about the fresh stuff at home and to be out of the fall vegetables!
CHEF TC: This time of year, morels, peas, and asparagus, fava beans, and rhubarb. I just shot photos of a book that I’m working on yesterday and it was Spring. There’s nothing happening in Spring right now although we had some great weather, but nothing is coming out of the ground yet. But in California, it’s already Spring and we had a bunch of stuff there that we shipped in. You know, it’s my favorite time to cook. I think that part of it is that it is Spring Renewal and you’re coming out of the winter, food becomes lighter, fresher, greener. The flavors are something that I really enjoy!
GS: I think that there is a reason that if you think about the rhythms of the world, like even in religion – Passover, Easter, or Eid, they all happen in the exact same time of year for a reason because it’s renewal, it’s celebration of the Earth and all of the waking up of the world again and so Spring is absolutely the best time of year to cook. All of the early berries and the rhubarb. All of the peas – I could eat peas all of the time, every moment of the year! But I don’t because they are so much sweeter and I like to eat them in the Spring and asparagus. All the fresh herbs, everything comes to life and I just feel like there is so much flavor there and you don’t realize until you get to cook with them, how much you have missed them through the cold winter months!
AM: Very true!
What are 3 spices that you like cooking with?
CHEF KK: Ooo someone else take this first so I can think about this one!
GS: Not together, but right now that I have been leading on a lot, sumac, smoked paprika, and cardamom. Again, not together!
AM: Right.
GS: But they are 3 spices that I find really add dimension to whatever I’m cooking.
CHEF TC: I love sumac! I always forget about sumac.
GS: I’m going to bring you some! I’m going to bring you some! I just received this giant pint container of the most beautiful sumac that I have ever tasted.
CHEF TC: Spice wise, pepper, black pepper, and long pepper which you don’t see a lot of. Fennel seed, I just can’t get enough of that!
GS: Oh me too!
CHEF TC: I absolutely love it, it’s one of my favorites. Gail and I are lovers of licorice, right here. The black ones, not the red stuff that’s candy. Actual licorice is my favorite.
GS: Ooo White Taragon is my favorite!
CHEF TC: Fennel – wild fennel fronds woo!
GS: Delicious!
CHEF TC: It’s the best!
CHEF KK: I agree on the black pepper! However, I like to toast my black pepper. So I toast my peppercorns before they go into the grinder. It just adds a whole other dimension of flavor. One of my favorite spice blends is Montreal Steak Seasoning.
GS: I love you for that answer!
CHEF KK: It’s so good!
GS: If I didn’t love you before, I love you now!
CHEF KK: It’s so good, so yes – Montreal Steak Seasoning.
GS: On everything? No matter what or just on meats?
CHEF KK: No, I do it on vegetables.
GS: Salty, smokey!
CHEF KK: I have it as a finishing salt on certain dishes. I don’t do it at my restaurant, I do it at home.
GS: I don’t know why it’s called Montreal Steak Seasoning.
CHEF KK: I don’t know either!
GS: It’s not particularly Montreal spices.
CHEF TC: It’s like why is that rice that San Francisco treat?
GS: That’s a really good question! It’s a mystery of the universe!
AM: Ha!
The last part of the question is for Kristen and Tom, what are 3 dishes that our readers should try at your restaurant that you would suggest for our readers to come and have?
CHEF KK: One of Arlo Grey's most popular dishes is this beautiful Malfaldini Pasta not that it was done intentionally, but I cooked these mushrooms several times and it just so happened to be a mushroom that got me my first win on Top Chef, but people love to come to the restaurant to try it. It’s like a 4 day sauce that you dehydrate and rehydrate it and it’s just humble white button mushrooms.
There’s this Crispy Rice dish which is my ode to crab fried rice in a lot of ways.
There are 3 dishes that will never change those two and the Lime Sorbet which has pink peppercorns, coconut, and people really love it and it’s like the dessert palette cleanser.
AM: Tom
CHEF TC: Well, it depends on the restaurant!
AM: Well choose your restaurant!
CHEF TC: So Small Batch out in Garden City, LI, I would say the Braised Chicken Thighs. We do it with semi-dried tomatoes, soppressata, lots of sherry vinegar, roasted garlic confit and really good.
Craft NY, the Braised Beef Short Ribs are the go-to there and any of the pasta dishes that we make are really good. We make them all by hand at Craft.
Then Temple Court, the Roast Chicken is really good! It’s a Spring roasted chicken with lots of garlic, ramps, and mushrooms.
AM: Gail, if we were to go home with you, what would we have for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner?
GS: Oh wait, now I have to give you a whole day? That’s a lot of things!
AM: Well, it’s 3 dishes!
GS: Alright, sure, ok! That’s fair!
Alright, I’m a big egg person so I would always make you eggs in the morning. I like just a simple, well I like eggs anyway that you give them to me, but one of my favorite ways is just a really simple soft scramble with some chives and a little parmesan. But I’m very particular, I hate when eggs are overcooked. I don’t want them undercooked.
CHEF TC: You hate the Spanish Fry.
GS: I hate – well I love them in a Spanish Tortilla but the fried egg with the crispy edges – I like it when the egg yolk is still runny.
CHEF TC: Ok.
GS: You know what I mean?
CHEF TC: Alright!
GS: There’s a delicate balance, but for a scramble or an omelet, it really drives me nuts when you get that brown crust on top! A soft scramble means cooking it slowly. People just want to pummel an egg and that’s not nice to the egg. So that’s what I would make you for breakfast.
For lunch, lunch is kind of random – it’s not like I’m making elaborate lunches! But maybe I would make a roasted chicken with some spring vegetables or make you a really big fresh salad with a beautiful piece of fish on top.
For dinner, my family, we love soups all year around. We make a lot of soup and braises as well as stews because it’s really great for families to eat and to make in big batches! But now that it is Spring, maybe I need to get out of that.
I’m trying to think of dinner because I don’t have a signature or a restaurant so I don’t have to cook anything ever more than once! I love that as a cook, I can make whatever I want.
AM: That’s right!
GS: So I think that it really depends on the time of year and where I’m coming from. Every time I’m coming back from a trip, I bring back with me these memories of a favorite thing that I was cooking then so I just got back from a trip from Quebec and all I want to eat now is Maple Syrup on everything. So, I might make you a very traditional Quebec Tourtiere which is a savory meat pie with a beautiful golden crust. It’s sort of like a chicken potpie, but it’s a little heavier. Or maybe a Tarte au Sucre which is a traditional Maple Sugar Tart – for dinner – just tart!
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | FRONT COVER Stephanie Diani/Bravo | PG 16 - 39, BACK COVER + 9PLAYLIST COLLAB David Moir/Bravo |
Read the MAR ISSUE #99 of Athleisure Mag and see IN GOOD TASTE | Chef Tom Colicchio, Chef Kristen Kish, and Gail Simmons in mag.
THE BACHELOR S28. E11. | HOW DOES IT ALL END?
Apparently, 22 years ago today, the first The Bachelor aired which was a historic moment for this series. In addition, tonight, apparently whatever happens with Joey Graziadei, will also be a first and historic as well! So with those notes from Jesse Palmer, it sets the tone for the rest of the night! We’ll be watching the finale as well as checking in with the studio audience for After The Final Rose! Joey walks us through his relationship with Kelsey as well as Daisy. You can tell that he has a lot of love for both women who are very different from one another.
We see that Joey’s family has assembled to assist him with his decision! He lets them know about the 32 women who were on his season and he fills them in each on woman. His mother, sisters, brother-in-law, and uncle are eager to meet the women, but also hesitant about what could happen to Joey as he finalizes his decision.
The first meeting is with Daisy and she shares her story on how they met, and how she arrived to the mansion. She shares what it has meant to be with him and says that a lot of that has to do with how he was raised and the support that he has from them. His sisters pull Daisy to the side to get to know more about her. They have great vibes from her and then they sit down with Joey to get more intel from him so that they can see how they make sense with one another.
Daisy and Joey’s mom also have a chat and you can see how they would get along with one another as well. It seems like everyone sees her as a fit.
Next up is Kelsey! They spend a moment together before they connect with his family. She feels the weight of what the day means and how important it is. You can see the ease between her and his family which is a great way to see how they could fit together. His sisters take time with her and they find out that marriage for her may not be something she is 100% ready for. But she also says that she could see herself marrying him. They like her and see how amazing she is and she has great energy; however, they have a concern about what it means in terms of her rediness in getting married. They note that Daisy is all in and ready, but Kelsey seems to have a bit of hesitancy. So now he knows he needs to have this conversation with her so he has clarity. They chat and it seems like he found the answers that he needed.
He takes Daisy out on a date as this is the final one before decision day. They have a spiritual date where they cleanse the spirits. Daisy wants to tell him that she loves him and she hurts because she feels that he is not sure of her as he is juggling 2 women at the same time. Daisy gets into her head as she wonders if it will be her ultimately. At their nighttime portion of the date, she decides she needs to get out of that headspace and tell him how she feels so that she is being 100% vulnerable so that he has all the information that he needs to make his decision. They talk about the date and what happened as well as how it made her feel. They also talk about how she felt meeting his family. She tells him that she loves him and she’s glad that he is in the loop on everything that she is feeling. She feels that she didn’t get the validation that she was looking for. But after hearing her say that, his responses to her are very measured as Daisy let us know in her confessional. She feels that if she had to be 100% honest, it will not be her.
So Daisy felt unsettled, but he has moved onto his date with Kelsey. It’s their last date as well as the final one he will have on this show. Their date is a spa date and they can enjoy this time together and to relax. It’s a fun date and you can see how easy it would be with them.
Back at Daisy’s, she’s feeling all the feels and not in the best way as she is thinking about the date that they must be having.
Back at Kelsey’s, they’re enjoying their nighttime together and the debrief on the date as well as what she felt when she met his family. In addition, they talk about her marriage response and why she answered it the way that she did. She tells him that she just wants to be with him.
Well, it’s decision time! We’ve been inching our way to this moment and yet there are still some twists and turns ahead. Neil Lane arrives and they select a ring and he talks about how he feels in this moment. We see Kelsey dressed and making her way to the spot; however, we see Daisy and realize that she has a lot of misgivings. She feels that her last date was a bit off and that he was trying to prepare her for the day.
It seems like Kelsey is on a mission and she makes her way to Kelsey’s room! We thought that she was going to Joey’s! They trade notes on their dates, getting validation, and how they feel. We can see how uncertain Daisy feels about everything is. But, ultimately, she says that she will follow it through because what is Kelsey is not the one chosen?
Back in Tulum, Joey is at the spot where conversations and a proposal will take place. Kelsey and Daisy arrive in the same car together! Daisy meets Joey first in her power red dress. They both talk about what they have enjoyed about the journey - while at home, we’re all shocked at these twists that have been peppered in this final episode. Daisy lets him know that she knows he will not pick her as she knows that she is not his person! She opts to walk out on her own without being walked out - power move in a power dress!
We can’t wait to see what happens and then we get to know a bit more in After the Final Rose! Joey is sad about what happened, but at the same time, he wasn’t going to choose Daisy so now he’s focused on Kelsey. They also talk about what loved about their experience together as they have gotten to know one another more. He tells her that he is choosing her and that he is in love with her as well! He gets down on a knee and proposes to her and she accepts! He also gives her the final rose!
Now that we have seen everything, we’re now in the After Show! We see Joey and Jesse says that he could not have imagined how the day would end for him. Daisy comes out and talks with Joey and Jesse about when she realized that it wouldn’t be her in the end. She mentions that when Rachel was sent home, she remembers seeing a look between Kelsey and Joey that let her know that they had a connection. She even remembers that when they threw the rock into the fire, she knew he couldn’t picture a future with her past that date. She felt validating in watching eveything that her intuition was right.
Seeing Kelsey and Joey together is great! You can see their connection and energy and now they can officially share with everyone! In addition, it is revealed that Jenn will be the next The Bachelorette which we’re so excited about!
JOEY FINAL ROSE WAS GIVEN TO | Kelsey
Each night during this season, we will tweet about The Bachelor and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!
Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.
We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!
THE FINAL ROSE GOES TO
PHOTO CREDIT | The Bachelor Contestants/Richard Middlesworth
THE BACHELOR CONTESTANTS
Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.
MAKING THE WORLD HAPPY WITH MUSIC MARTIN GARRIX
We're always thinking about the upcoming festival season and we have a number of people that we hope to see on stages we're heading to! Martin Garrix is a legendary international EDM DJ/Producer with residencies around the world, that we love rocking to. His passion for bringing people together with his music and those that he has collaborated with is undeniable! Just in the last few days alone, he has dropped tracks, revealed his full sets for performances at Amsterdam Dance Events - ADE last fall, and has announced his summer residency in Ibiza which he is currently in the midst of his South American tour. This artist is constantly on the move and we took a moment to find out about how when he fell in love with music, how he approaches creating his music, collaborations, recent releases, his residencies, and how he truly loves when people are able to enjoy his music and the vibe he presents!
ATHLEISURE MAG: When did you first fall in love with music?
MARTIN GARRIX: I have always loved music. I grew up in a musical household and started playing guitar by the age of 8. However, the moment I fell in love with electronic music was while seeing Tïesto perform at the 2004 Summer Olympics, for the Opening Ceremonies. They were airing this on tv, and I remember my mom calling me over to come and watch it. The energy that I felt from the music was amazing. After that, I started experimenting with electronic music myself.
AM: How would you define the Martin Garrix sound?
MG: I would say it’s energetic, uplifting and melodic. The most important thing for me is to make people feel something with my music.
AM: What's your creative process when it comes to making your music - where do you start and how do you get inspired?
MG: I can get inspired by basically anything, and inspiration can come at the most random moments. That’s why the voice notes app on my phone is filled with me most random moments. That's why the voice notes app on my phone is filled with me humming new song ideas while I’m on the road. Then when I get into the studio I usually start with melody lines either on guitar or piano. Especially the songs with lyrics they always start with a guitar and vocal or piano and vocal and then afterwards I produce it out. I much rather start with stripped-down versions so the song is strong on its own and not relying on the production. I really enjoy the songwriting process and have a soft spot for beautiful chord progressions and melodies. If the song sounds good with just a vocal and guitar, you can produce an electronic version, rock version, anything. Every song starts and ends differently. I do need to be in my own home studio to finish a song, that’s the place where I work the most comfortable and know the sound system the best.
AM: You have collaborated with a number of artists from Bebe Rexha, David Guetta, Dua Lipa, Khalid, Usher, Tïesto, to name a few. What do you look for when it comes to creating with other artists?
MG: I really need a certain connection with an artist, otherwise I can’t be in the studio with them making music together.
AM: We’ve been fans of your music since Animals and have enjoyed In the Name of Love with Bebe Rexha, Scared to be Lonely with Dua Lipa, Summer Days featuring Macklemore and Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy, and Carry You with Third Party, Oaks, and Declan J Donovan. What are 3 of your favorite songs?
MG: It's impossible for me to choose. All my songs have different memories attached to them which make them special to me. Of course Animals will always be special because that song really kickstarted everything for me. At the moment I’m really loving playing the new songs live and seeing the crowd’s response to it.
AM: I’ve had Carry You on a loop since it came out! What's the backstory of the song and how did it come together?
MG: The song was in the making for quite some time before we released it. Third Party and myself created the lead melody a year ago and I premiered it during Ultra Music Festival. After that it become a staple in my sets and I even used it as intro to my sets every now and then. The response from the crowd has been amazing every time I played it, so we just had to finish it. The vocals from Oaks and Declan really pushed the song to another level and I’m super proud of the end result and the responses we have been getting so far.
AM: Last fall you dropped Real Love with South African singer/songwriter Lloyiso. You guys teamed up here in New York and created this song. How did this song come about and why were you so excited to work with him?
MG: I found an Adele cover from Lloyiso online and was immediately blown away by his amazing voice. I reached out to him, but due to travel schedules and visas we weren’t able to meet in person for two years. We finally hit the studio together when we were both in New York and recorded Real Love there. He has one of the most amazing voices I’ve ever heard.
AM: You just dropped Breakaway with Mesto and WILHELM. How did this song come about?
MG: Mesto has been a really good friend of mine for years and we have worked together before. We had an early version of the song which I also premiered at Ultra and we both played it in our sets throughout the summer. A few weeks ago we decided to finish the song and added in vocals from Wilhelm.
AM: A few days ago you dropped your 3 hour set, IDEM for ADE from last fall and we thoroughly enjoyed it! What's it like to perform at that event, especially being in your hometown?
MG: ADE is always a special one for me as it is in my hometown. It had been 4 years since we last did my ADE solo shows at the RAI and it was so special to bring them back. We always have a show for all ages as well which is so amazing. The young kids have the craziest energy! It’s also very special to be able to invite all my family and friends to the show and celebrate together after, that doesn’t happen often.
AM: How do you approach putting your setlists together and what's that process like?
MG: I don’t have a fixed setlist for my shows as I like to feel the energy and responses from the crowd and play whatever song feels like the best fit for that moment. As a starting point I have my intro and last song. Of course there are certain songs that can’t be left out of my set, and I usually have some new music lined up that I would like to test.
AM: Ushuaïa Ibiza just announced that you are back for a residency that will run Jun - Sep! What are you looking forward to for 15 Thursdays this season?
MG: Performing at Ushuaïa feels like coming home. It’s been the same team we have been working with for years and no matter how many shows I’ve done there, it will never not be special. It’s the perfect opportunity for me to test out new music and I’m really looking forward to the shows.
AM: You travel a lot! Just looking at 2024, you rang in the New Year in Bali. You hold residencies in Ushuaïa Ibiza and Omnia and Wet Republic in Vegas. You also have festival dates for Creamfields in Hong Kong and Ultra Miami along with your personal show schedule and special events like Saudi Arabian Grand Prix to name a few!
Where are some of your favorite places to perform?
MG: I am currently in the middle of my South American tour and the love I am getting there is overwhelming. People really know how to party and bring energy which is amazing. I also did an India tour last year which was absolutely crazy. A big part of my most loyal fanbase is over there so that always makes it special. But to be honest, I'm super grateful to be able to play in all these amazing countries. I'm still nervous for the shows because I want every show to be the best and for everyone to have a good time.
AM: What are 3 things that you must have when you're traveling to feel like you have a bit of home with you?
MG: I don’t really have those items to be honest. For me my headphones, laptop and phone are the most important items to have with me on the road.
AM: Do you have any pre-show routines that you do prior to hitting the stage?
MG: I usually like to wind down a little before the show, go through some of the songs I have lined up and then I’m all good to go. I don’t have any superstitious things I do before I get on stage or something.
AM: Do you have any post-show routines that you do after coming off the stage?
MG: I’m usually on a high and like to debrief some things with the team in the dressing room.
AM: When you're on stage, if we could bottle the feelings that you have, what would it be?
MG: I honestly wish I could share it with you because it is the most amazing feeling ever. It’s a burst of adrenaline and happiness mixed together.
AM: You founded STMPD RCRDS back in 2016. Why did you want to launch your label and what should we keep an eye out for as we head into the Spring and the Summer?
MG: I wanted full creative freedom over my music which was the main reason we started STMPD RCRDS. We quickly also started signing other artists and the label grew into this creative hub for all kinds of artists. I’m so proud of the label and all the amazing artists that are releasing on there weekly. We have signed really talented artists like Eleganto, Mesto, DubVision, Julian Jordan but are also releasing S.Salter which is neo-classical music for example.
AM: How do you stay in shape as we're always looking to add to our fitness routines?
MG: This can be a challenge for me, but the last couple of months I have found a routine that really works for me. I try to eat healthy and be in the gym almost every day for a workout. I also really enjoy sports such as padel and wind surfing whenever I have the time.
AM: How do you take time for yourself?
MG: It’s difficult but I do try to take time for myself to do sports or spend time with family and friends. As weird as it may sound, making music is also something I really like to do in my time off. It’s my biggest hobby so making music really doesn’t feel like work to me.
AM: Are there any projects that you can share that we should keep an eye out for that you're working on?
MG: We released Carry You and Breakaway as surprises the past two weeks, but there are two more releases coming up the next two weeks because we are releasing an EP called IDEM. The EP has the same name as the live show because it represents the period leading up to the show where I premiered and played all the songs that will be on the EP. The next release will be Biochemical together with Seth Hills.
AM: What do you want the Martin Garrix legacy to be?
MG: All I want is to make people happy with my music.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | Louis Van Baar
Read the FEB ISSUE #98 of Athleisure Mag and see MAKING THE WORLD HAPPY WITH MUSIC Martin Garrix in mag.
BMF | HEATHER ZUHLKE, KELLY HU, & MORGAN ALEXANDRIA
Season 3 of STARZ's BMF premiers on Mar 1st. There are light spoilers in this interview, so make sure that you catch up on what you've missed of this Detroit crime family show that is based on a true story of brothers Demetrius Edward "Big Meech" (Demetrius Flenory Jr) and Terry Lee "Southwest Tee" Flenory (Da'Vinchi).
We took some time to sit down with BMF's Showrunner, Executive Producer, and writer, Heather Zuhlke. We wanted to know more about her background, how she came to this show, and what she is looking forward to in terms of this season!
ATHLEISURE MAG: We have been such a fan of your work since Southland and of course on POWER so congratulations!
HEATHER ZUHLKE: Oh thank you!
AM: What kinds of stories are you drawn to in terms of writing and Executive Producing?
HZ: Oh yeah, always character driven. Things that touch us really on a soul level! I love – I mean, Southland was never about the case, it was about the people. This show is marketed as a crime and family drama, but the heart and soul of BMF is the family aspects – the blood family and the street family. I think that people really relate to those themes because family is so universal. It’s heightened in our story because your brother is a drug kingpin, your son is a kingpin, so everything is heightened!
AM: I live in NY now, but I grew up in Indianapolis, so I’m familiar with the BMF story as they were in Detroit.
What drew you to being involved as I knew you signed onto the second season and now you’re a Showrunner and helming everything for this season.
HZ: So my journey started – gosh, 9 years ago when I met Randy Huggins (The Unit, Criminal Minds, Star) on the original POWER along with 50, and Randy hit me up and said, “hey, will you be my number two Season 2?” Randy really empowered me on set to produce and to get to know everyone. Then he unfortunately had a health complication right after we wrapped Season 2 so 50 asked me to step in and so this has been so much more for me than a job, because we’re carrying on Randy’s legacy and honoring his vision! And again, this isn’t just a TV show, or a job, we’re really a family.
AM: Obviously, the first 2 seasons were amazing, and the 2nd had me at the edge of my seat with the finale. We had the pleasure of watching the first 3 episodes of the 3rd season and it’s beyond exciting to see what’s going to take place.
What are you excited about for us to see in this new season?
HZ: You know, I’m really excited about the collision of the streets, hip-hop, and pro sports! What you saw in episode 3, there are some big moments for the fans.
I’m also really excited about the finale and the way it pushes story forward and there is going to be another big moment. I’m really excited for the world to see Russell Hornsby (The Affair, Fences, Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector) who plays Charles Flenory and he has his directorial debut which will be for episode 7 and Randy Huggin’s daughter Ms Haven Huggins is making her acting debut in that episode too!
AM: We can’t wait to see how it all plays out! The season is off to a great start and being a fan of yours for such a long time, it’s awesome to see how you bring your worlds to life and your style. It’s great to see you in this show that touches all the points of prestige TV!
HZ: Thank you for being a fan as we do it for you guys!
In addition to chatting with Heather, we also wanted to talk with the cast for them to share their thoughts on being in this show and what we can expect from this season. We sat down with Kelly Hu (The Scorpion King, Dietland, Arrow) and Morgan Alexandria (How to Get Away with Murder, Twenties, This is Us).
ATHLEISURE MAG: It was so exciting to watch the first 3 episodes from the screeners and to get right into it after how Season 2 ended! It will be exciting to see how this season turned out!
Before we dig into that, why were you drawn to BMF?
MORGAN ALEXANDRIA: For me, I was really excited. Obviously, it’s a great story, it’s a true story, and I know of a lot of people who know a lot about the story as they grew up around it and that type of thing. So, it’s legendary in that sense. I’m not going to lie, I was so nervous to play a cop, because it’s one of my things that I’m like, “ah, I don’t know with all of the jargon and so forth!” My team pushed me, I pushed myself and then I was like, the writing is so good and then joining it was such a blessing! Being able to work with Kelly was such an honor, seriously! It was so much fun! She made it so fun!
KELLY HU: We had a lot of fun on set! It’s such a great show and it’s really well done and it’s well written. The actors are amazing and 2nd Season when I came on, I got to do almost all of my scenes with Steve Harris (The Practice, Law & Order: Organized Crime, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty) who was so much fun! It was nuts! And this season, I get to do all of my scenes with Morgan and we had a blast, seriously! We got pretty close on this.
AM: You can definitely see the chemistry between you and how you’re connected. It made it fun to watch. After I finished the screeners, I wanted to know what happens in the remaining part of the season between your character’s dynamic, because it’s always fun to see the interaction between you on screen.
Kelly, for our readers who need a bit of a refresher. Where do we leave Detective Veronica Jin and what can we expect from her this season?
KH: Well in the 2nd season as I mentioned, she had partnered with Detective Von Bryant. They had their thing going, and that went beyond the police partnership and he got in trouble and she was trying to help him out and got sort of dragged down with him. This season, she’s really trying to save herself and him!
AM: Morgan, this is your first season and we’re just getting introduced to Detective Colbie Anderson! What can you tell us about her?
MA: She’s really an interesting character. For me, there is really a dichotomy going on between her and her internal feelings. She’s a wealthy girl, she comes from a really great background, but she’s still connected to the streets in a sense that she wants to save everyone and try to make a change within her own community. It’s not always welcomed, but we’ll see, you know?
AM: Seeing you guys as partners this season, it’s fun to see the dynamics and how both of you are unveiling certain things about your characters, what can we keep an eye out for that you’re able to share?
KH: I think that we start off the season where Morgan and I are very at odds with one another because of this background that she has as this rich girl. If people saw how I entered into Season 2, they’ll see sort of the same thing going on with me and Steve. You know, me being the new girl and now Morgan in this season, and how things have turned and I sort of get to switch and become Steve’s character where I am testing her all of the time, but then you can watch as we go through the season on how our partnership really blossoms.
MA: I would say that for my character, Anderson, it’s just a lot of proving herself. Not even necessarily of whether she can do the job, but just her background alone makes a lot of people standoffish.
AM: We can’t wait to see how it unfolds. We’ve been a fan of both of your careers in other projects and it’s really cool to see your dynamic together!
IG @kellyhu
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDIT | STARZ/BMF
Read the FEB ISSUE #99 of Athleisure Mag and see BMF | Heather Zuhlke, Kelly Hu, & Morgan Alexandria in mag.
BRAIN HEALTH IS KEY | ALTON BROWN
This month, we had the pleasure to sit down and talk with Chef Alton Brown who is known as a TV Personality, super informative food scientist, author, voice actor, and cinematographer. Growing up, we enjoyed watching Food Network's Good Eats so much, which examined the origins of ingredients, and shares culinary customs and shared recipes with us. In addition, we enjoyed watching him host Iron Chef America on the network as well as Netflix's Iron Chef: Quest For An Iron Legend.
His passion behind the science of food, as well as its history, is always exciting to learn about. We took some time to find out about brain health, how he got into the industry and his partnership with Neuriva.
ATHLEISURE MAG: I have been a fan of your work ever since 1999 when I saw the first episode of Good Eats on Food Network!
ALTON BROWN: Oh wow! You were in grade school?
AM: Hmm ’99, I was in college!
AB: It’s funny, it still sounds recent. When I hear someone say 1999, I’m like that’s not too far away!
AM: Same! I was born in ’79 so I don’t feel it’s that far away!
AB: I graduated from high school in ’79!
AM: We’re always talking about health – fitness, gut, mental, and we don’t always get to brain health. But that is an important component as well. Why is it important to you?
AB: Well I really started to think about it a lot when I was thinking about the fact that I was going to turn 60 soon. I studied nutrition so much and I have read so much about it – I have probably forgotten a lot but, I hadn’t really spent a lot of time thinking about what my brain actually needed from me from a culinary standpoint, a supplemental standpoint, an exercise standpoint, or any standpoint. So I started doing a fair amount of research from a few years ago reading peer review papers and I have always enjoyed research. When I got a call from Neuriva, I was like, I already know what is in there, because I have already read papers on ashwagandha and papers on NeuroFactor and so it was very clear to me very quickly that they were very into the science, as was I. That’s how that started and that’s how I got interested in learning about what brains need and they are very complex organs. They do need things and a lot of what it is that they need, is that we need to feed them. The rest, I think supplementally helps.
For me, I break it down into exercise, quality sleep – which most of us do not get – as sleep is gigantic and really almost more important than exercise, nutrition, and what I call – brain stretching. For me, I always need to be in a state of always learning about something that I don’t know. It’s about studying and not just reading for fun. I have to have the ability to actively acquire information.
AM: Yeah, like putting the pieces together.
AB: Right, or my brain gets lazy. It does the equivalent of cracking a beer and sitting down in front of the TV if it’s not actively learning. That’s my brain – not me!
AM: Of course not you!
AB: I’m not a beer person!
And the other part is supplements. When I was studying nutrition from a brain standpoint, I thought there are a lot of things that I would like to get, but it’s just hard to get in food. You can, but not easily because you would have to eat a whole lot of something that you don’t want to. So I break it down into those 5 parts. I try to learn and now that I am in my 60’s, I need to try to learn enough so that my brain can continue to go for perhaps a little while longer.
AM: So what is Neuriva?
AB: You mean the actual supplement itself?
AM: Yes!
AB: Well, there are several of them. They have different things in them, but really, it’s a matter of adding, so the original Neuriva has this thing called NeuroFactor which is an extract from coffee berries – not the seeds, the berries. It also has Phosphatidylserine which is a phospholipid which supports cell membranes especially in the brain. So those 2 chemicals together – originally they were obtained from animal sources and then someone figured out how to get them from soybeans so it’s vegetable derived now. But those 2 things together formed a core of the two nutrients that I was interested in that I couldn’t just get.
You can get coffee berries for your beverage, but you need a lot and I’d rather take them in this supplement. On top of that I don’t really like the way that it tastes. For the Phosphatidylserine, it’s just almost impossible to get. So, those 2 things help you do maintenance for connectivity and cell membranes and then they added Neuriva Plus which brought B6 and B12 to they party. They are very symbiotic vitamins for brain health with those others. Then when Ultra came out, that added an extract from a member of the ginger family – Galangal – there are 4 different kinds of Galangals in the ginger family. They are wonderful for enhancing alertness. I like that one because it also works symbiotically with caffeine. It doesn’t have caffeine, but it works with it and I am a coffee person, so I have moved to that. It’s the same package plus the B Vitamins, plus that extract so it’s kind of like, you can get the base model or the extra! Of course when they come out with their next one, I don’t know! Because now that they have used Ultra, I told them to be careful about that as when it's out, what are you going to do? I mean what’s next, Super Ultra?
AM: Just hearing you talk about how you delve into the base parts of how things come together, how did you come to the culinary industry?
AB: I was a filmmaker, cinematographer, and director for TV commercials. I watched food shows and back in the late 80’s and the 90’s, I thought that they were boring and I knew that I wasn’t really learning anything. It was like, I have another recipe, great. But I don’t know why and I don’t know why any of this works?
I wanted shows that were more exciting and more visual. I wanted to know more on why that was going on and no one wanted to make that show.
So I quit and I went to culinary school. When I went to culinary school, I realized that they weren’t going to show me why either. Luckily, there was another college in this little town I went to for culinary school in Vermont and they had a library that we could use. So they would publish their chemistry reading list and I just went and started studying it because unfortunately, science is the answer to just about everything. There’s a science play everywhere, not necessarily for matters of the heart, but everything else.
So I think that I got addicted in a way that was chemical to telling those stories and to get people excited and to get people to be curious. It sparked in me a curiosity engine that I wouldn’t want to turn off.
AM: We love hearing about people's routines! What are 3 things that they enjoy doing, having, enjoying/being in the Morning, Afternoon, and at Night. We call this 63MIX ROUTIN3S.
AB: This has very much come out of my brain studies.
AM: I assumed!
AB: As a matter of fact, I'm not naturally a routine person. The only routine that I used to have was that I will stumble out somewhere and I will find coffee. When I went to bed, where I got to bed – at that time, everything was about work. I would work until 4 in the morning and then when I got up, I did it all over again.
So now with this routine that I have, it's about sleep and I have a bed time! I have a bed time. I have a bed hour that I have to get to bed during. Somewhere between 10:30 and 11:30, I must be in bed.
I can’t look at a screen at least 2 hours before then. It screws up everything. I can read, but it has to be a book. I have to get that sleep!
I also have a time that I get up and it’s no later than 6:30 in the morning. Because the morning to me is like stolen time it’s before you have to do things for other people. I’m working on my first collection of essays and memoirs stuff right know which has been a very challenging thing right now. I write better in the morning and I edit what I wrote at night better at this time. So that's a very big one.
My wife and I, Elizabeth, do not eat after 8pm at night. If that’s not enforced, you automatically set a clock where it forces at least a 15 hour break for the next day which puts me off my schedule for breakfast!
And then the other thing that I won't call a routine is that I used to say, ok, I'm going to workout. It's like, I have to put on clothes that I don't like.
AM: No 3-piece suits!
AB: It depends! I knew that it would be an hour and a half and that I would hate it. So instead, I have learned to break it up into chunks. I do micro workouts! I try to do 3 of them everyday. One of them has to be weight related. It doesn’t have to be a lot of weight.
One of them has to be 100% cardio. It can be fast - or when we're in NY, we have an apartment here and we live in Atlanta. If there is a coffeeshop that I want to go to like when we have our apartment here in NY, as opposed to picking the one on our block, I’ll pick one that is 3 miles away. So I earn -
AM: You earn that coffee!
AB: Yes! So there's always a cardio, there's always a weightlifting and this is going to sound so stupid, but my wife read this book called Breathe and convinced me that the entirety of my life, I had been breathing wrong. I don’t meditate because it makes me fall asleep, but I literally stop and work on nothing but breathing for half an hour.
AM: Breathwork is so important!
AB: Well I never knew that! I just thought that is was eh?
AM: I started doing it about a year ago and it really is effective!
AB: I was like, I'm already breathing! But the truth is, I'm a scuba diver and when I got the scuba diving training when I was much much younger, breath control was such a huge huge part of making your air last and not sinking all of the time, so it reminded me of that training that I went through and it's incredibly effective both mentally and physically! Two years ago, I wouldn't have been into it!
AM: It has been such a pleasure to chat with you and to be able to meet you and being such a fan of Good Eats as well as other shows that you have been on!
We enjoyed interviewing Alton and in addition to having time to talk with him, we enjoyed an intimate dinner party with him and the Neuriva team that would fuel our brain health.
Over our four course dinner at Hearth, Chef Marco Canora's (founder of Bone Broth brand, Brodo) Tuscan-American farm-to-table restaurant in the East Village of NYC, Alton walked us through each of the dishes! Of course, he provided the science behind them and why they are effective. Our first course was the Ribollita. It's an honor to share some select notes highlighted by Chef Alton from this special dinner.
AB: I’m so excited that we’re sharing this intimate dinner party together and as we enjoy our various courses, I’m going to tell you a bit about the brain nutrients that are involved in the dishes that we’re going to enjoy! The brain needs a number of nutrients for its health and you can get those outside of a supplementary way. One of the ingredients is coffee berries – I like coffee but I don’t like the berries and I’m not a fan of the taste and another one is Phosphatidylserine which is a lipid, a phospholipid that we used to get from brains in animals and now we get them from soybeans. It helps to build and maintain cell membranes and I want this stuff, I need to get this, and I can’t get enough of it in food. Then, all of a sudden there was the original Neuriva formula which I believe only contained those two things. So I knew it was the supplement for me as I wouldn’t be able to get enough of it in food.
So not too long after that, I was called up by them and I thought yes, get your scientists on the phone because I want to talk about white papers and everything. So it happened very naturally to partner with Neuriva and it’s been a couple of great years. I have been taking the product for awhile now and Ultra happens to be my favorite because it works really nicely when the caffeine hits.
We have a very stimulating evening ahead and we also have what I like to call instead of a Tasting Menu, a Thinking Menu as we talk about food. Everybody knows what the Mediterranean Diet (Editor’s Note: The Mediterranean Diet is a diet inspired by the eating habits and traditional food typical of southern Spain, southern Italy, and Crete, and formulated in the early 1960s.) is as it can be a bit loosey goosey and sexy and cool. It has had some great effects. From that is another diet that emerged from it known as the DASH Diet (Editor’s Note: Known as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, it is a flexible and balanced eating plan that helps create a heart-healthy eating style for life) that some of you may not have heard of that is a version of the Mediterranean Diet that was designed specifically for people that were fighting hypertension problems. So if anyone with us was in the 80s we used to have these things called Graphic Equalizer Stereos that turned things up and down on different parts of the soundwave and that’s what that diet did. It went for the hypertension part and removed salt and then it did some other things. Then in the 2015, Martha Clare Morris came up with the MIND Diet (Editor’s Note: Known as The Mediterranean – DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay Diet combines portions of the DASH Diet and the Mediterranean Diet which have been shown to improve cognition) and it takes the same componentry of the Mediterranean Diet and changing it up for our brains. What would our brains want out of that diet? It’s a little bit different as it emphasizes some other components that might not have been as focused as much. For instance, all the diets have fruit! No one is going to talk bad about fruit. The MIND Diet says, you know what? The brain really wants dark berries. Blueberries - eat your blueberries. Have more olive oil, eat more leafy greens. No one is going to say anything bad about these things either. The MIND Diet has more poultry, even more than fish! There is a substance in poultry called choline (Editor’s Note: Found in poultry, this prevents abnormal storage of fat in the liver, which ensures proper body metabolism and efficient utilization of nutrients. It also supports the proper functioning of the nervous system and ensures its harmony.) which is really hard to get anywhere else, but in good lean, protein meat. Choline has a lot to do with enhancing the way that phospholipids work in the brain and our membranes as well. The good news is that unlike other diets, red wine is on the MIND Diet currently. There is some research for that. Tonight, we’re going to eat 4 courses. We’ll try to enhance and bring to the party, some of those foods that are incorporated into the MIND Diet and we’ll talk about it course by course as we go through it.
We are very fortunate to be at this restaurant! Hearth is one of the best restaurants in NY and I have known Chef Marco Canora for many years. There are brilliant, brilliant cooks here. Chef Michael Keough is here tonight and I hope he will come in and say something to us in a bit. I had some questions for him this morning and he was so gracious about answering about things that are on tonight’s menu.
Our first course is going to be a soup called Ribollita. If anybody has spent time in Tuscany, this is a soup that you would have seen there. It's a basic - I hate to say the word the word but here it comes – rustic soup. What this one does is it’s going to hit one of the major notes and chords of the MIND Diet – beans! When we talk about green beans, we’re also talking about dry beans. This is a bean soup in vegetable stock and we will be enjoying those vegetables tonight! There will be carrots, there are some onions, and I believe there is some cabbage in there. This also has some sage and garlic infusion. The cool thing about this in its traditional form, is that is bread based. It is thickened usually with moistened bread and always served with crisp, giant croutons on top. There is also a dusting of parmesan cheese. But most of the flavor will be coming from those beans. That’s going to guarantee that we are getting those beans that we want. Of course you can enjoy the bread as well as the olive oil which is also perfect for this diet as well.
We enjoyed this hearty soup which was flavorful and nourishing. It really set the stage for the next portion of our meal which was a Pizzocheri, a ribbon pasta.
AB: As we continue on in the MIND Diet, the next course is a Pizzocheri. We don’t talk much about mushrooms in brain health and brain support, but there’s a lot of research that suggests that we should be focusing on them a lot more. They’re good for our bodies, our planet, and our brains. This Pizzocheri is topped with a little bit of fontina cheese and what we’re getting is some great vegetation with the cabbage and some brain healthy mushrooms that are not currently listed on the MIND Diet, but I think that they will be in the next few years and a whole grain pasta which is a perfectly acceptable way to get your grains.
This was yet another dish from the night that was filling an full of nutrients that are beneficial to our health. We all agreed that this was something that we would enjoy eating throughout the winter! Where the first, second and the fourth course are dishes that are currently on Hearth's menu, but were adjusted to have the brain health specific ingredients that are part of the MIND Diet, our third course is a recipe from Alton Brown that we were excited to try as we know his love for chicken!
AB: We are at the Main Course event for tonight! This is my recipe and it is actually a conglomeration of two of my spatchcock recipes. I like to cut the back of my chickens – some people call it butterflying, I think that spatchcock is far more sexy! So this features a couple of Middle Eastern spices that I am a big fan of, Aleppo pepper and Za’atar that I know that you all are very very familiar with. So we’re getting our poultry in which is definitely on this diet. But also, we’re taking in our greens from another chicken dish of mine, a Sesame Glazed Dark Greens which it is being served with it tonight. I believe we’re going to have a Black Kale and 2 other greens, I’m not sure what they ended up with tonight, but it is 3 very different organic greens. They have been sauteed and it’s whatever they got from the market today. The sauce is a straight forward pan sauce that are the drippings from the chicken with a little bit of butter and poured right over the chicken. This is something that I like to do once I got into the MIND set of the MIND Diet which is combining various things that were in the diet to support each other. I love chicken, it’s my favorite meat. There are days where I don’t want to eat my greens and I try to hide them – I will tell you that! But because they are brought together by the lemon glaze with sesame, it unites the dish in a really handy way! So I hope you enjoy it and smell it!
Without a doubt, this is a chicken that we could have again and again! The greens were also something that we want to put in our rotation as well! We have the recipe for both of these dishes that you can make for yourself for Alton's Butterflied Chicken with Aleppo and Za’atar as well as his Lemon Sesame Glazed Greens!
Of course, we ended this amazing meal with dessert and enjoyed a Tangerine Almond Cake.
AB: Dessert! Believe it or not, on the MIND Diet, desserts can be had especially when they contain nuts! Nuts are a big part of this diet because nuts have a lot of fantastic fats that are not only good for your body, but also for your brain. It’s the phytochemicals that are still being studied as we speak. This is an almond with most of the cream off to the side and kumquats. Of course, they are a great source of Vitamin C and so this is a dessert in the Italian style where the accent is really on the flavor of the ingredients rather than an added sweetness. Enjoy!
We enjoyed being able to chat with Alton as well as to be invited to his dinner party to enjoy a great meal as well as one that benefits our brain health!
We also learned about the brand's 30-Day Brain Health Challenge, an easy and fun way to redefine cognitive potential and establish a brain-healthy routine. This allows consumers to choose their Neuriva of choice and taking it for 30 days to help support up to 7 indicators of brain health, including memory. You can also download the Neuriva Brain Gym app, to play stimulating Brain Games daily and see the results for yourself.
IG @altonbrown
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 60, 65 + 67 Discovery+/Good Eats: The Return | PG 62 Neuriva | PG 69 - 73 Netflix/Patrick Wymore |
Read the FEB ISSUE #98 of Athleisure Mag and see BRAIN HEALTH IS KEY | Alton Brown in mag.
KINGS OF THE STRIP | PENN & TELLER
When it comes to taking in an amazing show in Vegas, Penn & Teller have been the dynamic duo sharing their magic act for decades. They have entertained countless fans whether they're at the the Penn & Teller Theater at the Rio, traveling around the world, or their CW show, Fool Us. Penn Jillette shared how they got into the industry, their Vegas Residency, their TV show, and their partnership with Mucinex.
ATHLEISURE MAG: When did you fall in love with being entertainers, magicians, and comedians?
PENN JILLETTE: We both started working before we met each other, and Teller was doing magic when he was five. I started juggling and doing shows when I was 12.
AM: What was the moment that you realized that you wanted to work together?
PJ: We met through a mutual friend during a show, and Teller was still a high school teacher outside of Trenton. I don't know if we ever really decided to work together, I think it's still on a trial basis.
AM: You have your Vegas residency at Rio at the Penn & Teller Theater! What does it mean to you to be able to perform on stage and what are some of your favorite memories?
PJ: All we ever wanted to do are tricks for people, and I also have all the love in the world for Vegas, but we don't care that we’re in Vegas. I mean, it's our home now and we do a lot with the community. But we want to be wherever the Penn and Teller theater is. We will be there. We just love doing the show every night. I mean, it's what we do.
AM: What are 3 of your favorite tricks?
PJ: That's really difficult! I'd have to say the three newest. The next thing we're working on is what I think we're always most excited about. I think everybody's kind of like that.
AM: You are so busy from your residency, to your show Fool Us on the CW, and all of your appearances, how do you approach your health and wellness while you are on tour?
PJ: We try the best we can to eat well, I'm a vegan so that helps a little bit. We also try to get rest and do that kind of stuff. I'm pretty conscientious about not doing anything else when I'm on the road. When you're on the road, you're not traveling. You're doing shows and that's a different thing.
AM: Why did you partner with Mucinex and how have you made Mr. Mucus disappear?
PJ: It is actually a product that I use, which is very important. I didn't choose Mucinex, my doctor did! Mucinex also offered us to do a live show in Grand Central Station, which is really fun. Its cold and flu season and we all just want those pesky cough and cold symptoms to disappear, so we jumped at the chance to make Mr. Mucus - the epitome of mucus, cough, and congestion go poof! As to how we made him disappear - well it was either smoke or mirrors, one of the two.
AM: Tell us about your Grand Central Terminal Vanderbilt Hall event that took place on Feb 7th?
PJ: It was nice! It was back to our old street performing days. I like people just wandering in as they're walking by. It's kind of a nice thing.
AM: We have used Mucinex for well over a decade. Why is Mucinex 12-Hour your go-to for cough and chest congestion?
PJ: It’s what my doctor recommended! Mucinex 12 hour DM is always our go-to for cough and chest congestion, the last thing you need when you’re trying to present on stage. I love that it takes one pill to get a full 12 hours of relief, unlike other medications that last only 4, so I’m set all day as I go from rehearsals to shows.
AM: Tell us about Fool Us as it has been going on for 10 seasons! What is the format of this show and what is it like to work with various celebs that have appeared in the episodes with you?
PJ: Well for those who don't know, it's a show where the best magicians in the world come on. We don't know who it’s going to be. So they do a trick for us and they do it once, and if we can’t figure out their trick, then they win. And it's really that simple and also that impossible. It's a wonderful feeling. You get into magic not because you want to fool people, but because you want to be fooled. And we luckily have a whole organization in place just to find people who can give us that feeling of wonder.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | Michael Simon
Read the FEB ISSUE #98 of Athleisure Mag and see KINGS OF THE STRIP | Penn & Teller in mag.
THE BACHELOR S28. E10. | THE JOURNEY CONTINUES + WOMEN TELL ALL
We have a bit of a cliffhanger from last week and it’s also the Women Tell All on tonight’s The Bachelor. Jesse Palmer lets us know that Susan and Kathy will host the Bachelor Nation The Golden Hour - we can’t wait for this to launch so we can hear from them as what a great duo! We get to see some of the viewing parties which is always fun.
We finally have the women on the stage so that we get to know more about what took place during the season. Thinking back that there were 32 women and how far we have come, it’s been a great season so far.
Of course, there are always dramas that need to be talked about as the tape is run back and the women are able to chime in. Lea doesn’t come off so great - she looks surprised that everyone reminds her of her involvement and she walks off the stage for a time. We get to the bottom of the source of the conversation between Medina, Sydney, and Maria. We then delve into the issue between Maria and Jess.
We then get to hear from Lexi in the hot seat who left early back in Montreal. You could see that she really liked Joey Graziadei and it was sad when she decided to leave. She acknowledges that he is a great guy and she felt seen and heard by him. People loved learning about her story and how she has dealt with Endometriosis.
Next in the hot seat is Jenn that we hoped she would make it all the way to Hometowns. It’s sad to see her see their relationship and how it ultimately played out. She shares that when you realize that it’s not happening, you sit back wondering what could have been done, what happened to the alignment etc? Of course, with her going all the way until almost making it to Hometowns.
As each person talks, we’re thinking of who will be the next The Bachelorette. Up next for the hot seat is Maria. We see how their relationship progressed and that she is sent home. They also talk about her family and her bond with her father. She also talks about the disconnect between her and Sydney because Jesse wanted to know what happened. As they talk about it more, Maria ends up saying that she doesn’t appreciate the bullying that took place online at Sydney and Lea and that she doesn’t like, support, or condone it! She even gives them a hug.
We go back to last week’s episode when Joey reads the note about needing to talk with Kelsey. He says he’s confused about why the note is there and how things could have gone wrong. Kelsey arrives at Joey’s suite and she tells him that she cares about him and wanted to tell him how much she misses him when he’s not there. Although this is great to hear, leaving a message that says, “We need to talk,” has put him in a bad head space. We know that we will see the rose ceremony and then we will see the person who was sent home tonight on the stage as well! It’s a great way to keep everyone tuned into this episode.
We’re back in Tulum as Kelsey, Daisy, and Rachel make their way to the rose ceremony. He gives a rose to Daisy and then another to Kelsey. He walks Rachel out and does not give her a rose. They chat for a bit and he lets her know it would be wrong to keep her there if he is not feeling the way he should be with her at this point. We know what he did tell the remaining women that he was falling in love with her.
Seeing Rachel looking beautiful on the couch with Jesse after watching how her relationship ended is heartbreaking. Hearing her talk about although it has been tough, she had tears of sadness and joy watching everything back. Joey finally makes his way out to see them and sits with Rachel. He lets her know that he cared about her and that when he realized he couldn’t go further, there was nothing else he could do.
They also talk about the awful hateful racist comments that Rachel received and how the other women received hateful comments too. Jesse lets everyone know that they love the conversations that they see, but there is no place for those hateful conversations!
Joey gives his first impressions from night one when they were in the house and he says that hey were all amazing. He talks with the women and says what he loves about them. He’s asked if he has single friends and in addition The Golden Bachelor contestants remind him that their single dads would be great as well. Joey asks about some of the women to see how they are doing - we find out that Kelsey T was able to connect with her father after not speaking with him for so many years. He also says that people forget that many moments take place that he never saw and so to be able to see them, it adds new awareness to everything. He says Rachel and Maria made him laugh the most during the season. We also enjoy a series of bloopers!
But we have a sneak peek of what the final episode will be and it seems like it’s definitely going to be an emotional one.
JOEY GAVE ROSES TO | Daisy, Kelsey
JOEY DID NOT GIVE A ROSE TO | Rachel
Each night during this season, we will tweet about The Bachelor and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!
Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.
We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!
WHO WILL GET THE FINAL ROSE
PHOTO CREDIT | The Bachelor Contestants/Richard Middlesworth
THE BACHELOR CONTESTANTS
Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.
THE BACHELOR S28. E9. | OVERNIGHTS + HOMETOWNS
On tonight’s The Bachelor we’re continuing on with another key portion of the process, Fantasy Suites. We know that this episode is going to be a doozy and we’ll see how it all comes together now that we’re in Tulum. We have Daisy, Kelsey, and Rachel. We hear from each of the women about how they feel about the process and this important week with Joey Graziadei.
Susan sits down with Rachel and it’s a bit like sorority house mom vibes as she’s talking with her. How could you not want to hang out with Susan and feel good about yourself? To have the ability to get great wisdom from someone while also sharing the Bachelor Nation experience with them is great. Susan’s best piece of advice is that if she really wants to be with him, she needs to open up and to be vulnerable.
Their date will be in a lagoon and they will dive off of various levels that are around it. They jump off of different platforms until she falls in an odd way into the water. She ends up going to the hospital to get checked out, but ultimately, she ends up being ok! They talk later on and he wants to make sure that she is ok and she apologizes for what happened during the date - he lets her know that it was unforseen and it’s ok. She opens up more with him and she shows her vulnerabilities.
He gives her a card and lets her know that although their date was cut short, he wants to spend more time with her in the Fantasy Suites. They explore their villa and she looks forward to spending time with him off-camera. He wakes up the next morning with Rachel and we can definitely see them together as a couple. She told him that she loved him and she let him know that she loved how he took care of her. In Joey’s confessional, he says that he is falling in love with her.
There are still 2 more dates for him to navigate. Over the last few episodes, we’ve started liking Kelsey as we’ve gotten to know her. Leslie from The Golden Bachelor arrives to give her some advice. She hears her story and lets her know that she needs to be present when she is with Joey. She also lets her know that as much as she should enjoy her time with Joey, she needs to also realize that there is a possibility that she may not be chosen ultimately. Leslie tells her that she wishes that she didn’t feel so confident when she was going into the experience with Gerry as ultimately, she wasn’t chosen. She wouldn’t wish that feeling on her worst enemy.
Joey and Kelsey are finally on their date! They take a boat out to see the animals in the ocean and dive in. You can see how comfortable they are with one another. This could be a match - this season, The Bachelor definitely had a great crop of women as it got closer to the end. As they continue on to their dinner, they both talk about how much they have enjoyed spending time with one another. Kelsey tells Joey how she chatted with Leslie and the advice that she gave. He also talks about what it was like for him when he was with Charity and what happened to him on The Bachelorette. He tells her that he has felt that he has been falling in love with her for a long time and he knows how real it is. He knows how he feels and wants her to know. She accepts going to the Fantasy Suites.
We see them making breakfast together the next morning and they definitely look like they would be a great couple too. She tells him that she is in love with him. She’s going to hold onto everything that she has enjoyed as she waits to hear from Joey.
Daisy is looking forward to her date and is a bit anxious. Sandra tells her that she should stop thinking about the anxious vibes, she tells her to stay focused and she needs to talk with Joey. She needs to stop thinking about the other women who are still in this process.
We’re on the last date of the week. Daisy is nervous and knows she needs to be open and to express herself. She greets him and gives him an extended kiss. They take a ride with an ATV through Tulum.
We see Kelsey battling her thoughts about where she sits in the midst of the dates that have been going on. She even references her conversation with Leslie and how she needs to have a wall up.
Back on Daisy’s date, they enjoy some champagne in the jungle. They talk about Hometowns and she lets him know how much she loves him. They continue on with an outdoor shower so that they can clean up and get a bit closer.
They continue onto their dinner. Daisy lets them know that she had a great time with him. She lets him know that she gets frustrated with herself because she’s an emotional person. She lets him know that she overthinks things a bit. She tells him about her past relationship and how she would get shut down when she felt a certain way and expressed it. She loves that he is so emotionally available as she feels safe and seen. He lets her know that talking it out is an important part to being in a relationship so that the person you are with feels special. He lets her know that he is falling in love with her and they continue on to Fantasy Suites.
So 2 women have been told that he is falling in love with them and we know that someone writes a card saying that they need to see Joey.
It’s the next morning and we see Daisy and Joey together in bed. He says he loves being in that moment and they both say that they are falling in love with one another. She feels super calm and assured.
We see Kelsey continuing to feel confused about what is going on and whether it will be her. Joey feels that he has no concern that the women are there for him and he has no doubts. Kelsey goes by his room, but he is not there. So she writes him a note letting him know that they need to talk prior to the rose ceremony. She feels that she would rather leave now than have her heart broken. Hoey arrives later that day and finds the note that she left.He spirals a bit as usually a note saying “we need to talk,” tends to be something that doesn’t end up well.
The Tell All is next week. We’ll also get to know more about what happened with Kelsey.
JOEY GAVE ROSES TO |
JOEY DID NOT GIVE A ROSE TO |
Each night during this season, we will tweet about The Bachelor and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!
Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.
We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!
AFTER HOMETOWNS
PHOTO CREDIT | The Bachelor Contestants/Richard Middlesworth
THE BACHELOR CONTESTANTS
Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.
THE BACHELOR S28. E8. | WELCOME TO HOMETOWNS
It’s Hometowns fortonight’s The Bachelor! We start off in Kelsey’s hometown in New Orleans. She shows Joey Graziadei things that she likes to do there. They ride bikes, take walks, and just enjoy being in one another’s company. He asks her to just be in this moment fully. After a great day date, they make their way to Kelsey’s home and he meets her brother, sister, and father. They catch up her family on their travels, dates, and more.
Kelsey’s dad Mark chats with Joey and lets him know that Kelsey means a lot to him and that he needs to feel about her, the way that he does. He then chats with Kelsey to see how she is doing. Kelsey’s sweetness and ability to understand what she wants in life is really great to see. You can see how great Joey and Kelsey could be together.
Joey moves onto Rancho Cucamonga for Rachel’s hometown. He has a connection with her because he spent a lot of time in Hawaii and she is from there. Rancho Cucamonga is what she considers her second home. She spends time with him to let him know what Joey can expect with her family as well as how to interact with them to respect them.
There is a fun luau at Rachel’s aunt’s house. She has a lot of her family there and Joey impresses everyone with the greeting that honors her mother, eating the pig ear, and just being sweet. We can’t help, but notice that her dad, Hakim continues to give long side-eyes and even when Joey talks with her mother, she lets him know that this isn’t traditional and she doesn’t like that there are still 3 women in the mix. We know how important family and their approval is to Rachel so it’s going to be interesting to see if she will continue forward. Hakim tells Joey he doesn’t want Rachel to be hurt and he’s not happy that there are 3 women still in the mix. Both parents feel that Rachel needs to protect herself.
When Joey talks with Rachel, it’s clear that even with her parent’s feelings, they are going to continue to navigate this journey.
Joey’s 3rd Hometown takes him to Becker, Minnesota to meet Daisy. He knows that if she can’t see him with her family, then it’s going to be a deal breaker, so the stakes are high. We finally get to see the Old Christmas Tree Farm that she talked about. They did activities and then her friends met up with them and Daisy let them know that she’s really happy with him.
Joey meets her family and they share how their relationship has been. You can see that she has a great support system. Even her mom realizes that Daisy is not being as vulnerable as she needs to be to progress further with Joey. Her dad echos the same sentiment. It’s in these conversations that she finally realizes that she needs to get into this to truly know whether her and Joey can actually work.
Well, we’re in Niagra Falls and it’s the final Hometown which means, it’s time for Maria. They have a fun boat ride to see the falls up close. They talk about how she almost left last week and that makes him unsettled as it’s not an issue to have doubts, but to be so quick to end things! As she tells him that that that was a mistake, he learns that she has never brought someone home. This is another concerning aspect, but he also knows how much family means to her.
Maria’s family has been the ones that we wanted to see. Maria’s dad says what he feels and lets Joey know he doesn’t want his daughter hurt. He also talks with Maria about needing to be vulnerable because Joey is a good guy. She didn’t tell him that she was falling for him - could that be something that sends her home?
All the Hometowns had great families and it was nice to see how they could envision being with one another.
The ladies arrive for the rose ceremony and we know that 3 roses will be given out tonight. Joey thanks them for the Hometown dates that took place over the week. He feels confident in his decision and is about to hand out the rose when Maria pulls his aside and tells him that is she falling in love with him and that she doesn’t want to regret not telling him as she should have done it at her Hometowns. When Rachel asked what that was about, she says that she didn’t know but would tell her one day. He gives roses to Daisy, Kelsey, and Rachel.
Jesse Palmer tells Maria that he’s sorry and she can take as much time as she needs to say her goodbyes. Maria doesn’t understand why she wasn’t chosen. Interestingly enough, next week, they’ll be in Tulum and Joey in the women will navigate Hometowns. We also see that The Golden Bachelor contestants will be on the episode as well.
JOEY GAVE ROSES TO | Daisy, Kelsey A., Rachel
JOEY DID NOT GIVE A ROSE TO | Maria
Each night during this season, we will tweet about The Bachelor and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!
Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.
We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!
AFTER HOMETOWNS
PHOTO CREDIT | The Bachelor Contestants/Richard Middlesworth
THE BACHELOR CONTESTANTS
Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.
THE BACHELOR S28. E7. | THE LOVE CONTINUES
On tonight’s The Bachelor we’re in Jasper, Canada and we hear Joey Graziadei talk about how his experiences have been as he’s on a motorcycle. The views are stunning and with 6 women left (Daisy, Jenn, Kelsey A., Kelsey T., Maria, and Rachel), we’re that much closer to Hometowns! The women explore Jasper.
Jesse Palmer and Joey get a bit of tennis in as they catch up on what’s been going on and how he is navigating in Hometowns!
As the women debrief, they note that they have all had a 1-on-1 and that not everyone will get a second one. Daisy gets the 1-on-1. Emotions are high with the women as they can appreciate that dates are happening, but it’s also a feeling that they want to have that time with him alone as well. We see Daisy and Joey horseback riding and as always they have great banter. But he wants to make sure that he finds out more so that he is making the right decision. They continue their date with a hot tub as they continue to talk through everything.
Back at the house, another date card arrives with Kelsey T., Maria, Rachel, and Jenn are on a group date at the great outdoors. That means that Kelsey A. will have the 1-on-1 date.
Back on Joey’s date, Daisy says that in full transparency, she likes him a lot, but she is not there yet. She can see how they are great together and she sees that they can be together. But at least she is being honest. It seems like even with everything that she said he still gave her the rose. He’s definitely taking a gamble on whether this will end in a match as there is a world where she doesn’t accept his proposal.
On the group date, they meet a Lumberjill and learn how to cut wood with an ax, use a saw, and so much more. They meet Anita Jezowski who is a noted Lumberjill which we have included in Athleisure Mag previously. The women rock their plaid outfits and do a number of wood events and skills. Maris is not loving it. Kelsey T. won the competition and everyone sees Jenn snag a kiss when he is in the midst of his confessional.
The group date continues back at the Fairmont Jasper Lodge with the 4 women that were on the group date. He knows there’s a tough decision with the group rose. He chats with Jenn and she feels better that she let him know how she is still in the running and that she shouldn’t shy away from continuing on. Each woman wants to talk to him about their relationship, Hometowns, and their family. Kelsey T. drops that her dad doesn’t know where she is right now!
Maria talks with him and says that she doesn’t want to bring someone to meet her family and that he’s kissing other women and that she doesn’t know if she can do this. He’s shocked as their date last week was so good - which I can understand why it would carry over to the date and going onto Hometowns. Ultimately, Maria decides to stay, but Joey didn’t give a rose as he can’t come to a decision. He hugs the women go by and we see Joey walking around Jasper ahead of his 1-on-1 date with Kelsey A.
They navigate the town together and then they learn about a Polar Plunge taking place at a local lake. Kelsey A. is game and super excited. They plunge and you can tell she’s loving it and stays in much longer than what we would have stayed in!
Back at the lodge, Maria feels bad that she had the conversation the way that she did with Joey because she wonders if she may be going home because of it. She wants him to know that she is there for him. Back at the dinner date, Kesley A. and Joey bond over their family dynamics and ultimately, she gets a rose - or is she says, that Hometown rose.
The women were looking forward to a cocktail party, but Jesse lets them know that Joey doesn’t need to talk to anyone, he is ready to go straight to the ceremony. Only 2 roses will be given out tonight. Before he hands a rose out, he takes a few moments with Maria to find out where she is out (while the other women stare as they don’t have the ability to have a final conversation). Rachel gets the rose. Maria gets the final rose. He sends home Jenn and Kelsey T.
JOEY GAVE ROSES TO | Daisy, Kelsey A., Rachel, Maria
JOEY DID NOT GIVE ROSES TO | Jenn, Kelsey T,
Each night during this season, we will tweet about The Bachelor and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!
Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.
We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!
THEY’RE GOING TO HOMETOWNS
PHOTO CREDIT | The Bachelor Contestants/Richard Middlesworth
THE BACHELOR CONTESTANTS
Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.
AWARDS SEASON | SAG AWARDS WINNERS
The 30th SAG Awards will take place on Feb 24th and for the first time will be streaming globally on Netflix. Our predictions are in bold, the ones we correctly identified as winners are in bold italics and winners that we didn’t predict are in italics.
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
American Fiction
Barbie
The Color Purple
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper – Maestro
Colman Domingo – Rustin
Paul Giamatti – The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer
Jeffrey Wright – American Fiction
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Annette Bening – Nyad
Lily Gladstone – Killers of the Flower Moon
Carey Mulligan – Maestro
Margot Robbie – Barbie
Emma Stone – Poor Things
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Sterling K. Brown – American Fiction
Willem Dafoe – Poor Things
Robert De Niro – Killers of the Flower Moon
Robert Downey Jr. – Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling – Barbie
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Emily Blunt – Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks – The Color Purple
Penelope Cruz – Ferrari
Jodie Foster – Nyad
Da’Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
The Crown
The Gilded Age
The Last of Us
The Morning Show
Succession
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
Abbot Elementary
Barry
The Bear
Only Murders in the Building
Ted Lasso
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Brian Cox – Succession
Billy Crudup – The Morning Show
Kieran Culkin – Succession
Matthew Macfadyen – Succession
Pedro Pascal – The Last of Us
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Jennifer Aniston – The Morning Show
Elizabeth Debicki – The Crown
Bella Ramsey – The Last of Us
Keri Russell – The Diplomat
Sarah Snook – Succession
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Alex Borstein – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Rachel Brosnahan – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Quinta Brunson – Abbott Elementary
Ayo Edebiri – The Bear
Hannah Waddingham – Ted Lasso
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Brett Goldstein – Ted Lasso
Bill Hader – Barry
Ebon Moss-Bachrach – The Bear
Jason Sudeikis – Ted Lasso
Jeremy Allen White – The Bear
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series
Uzo Aduba – Painkiller
Kathryn Hahn – Tiny Beautiful Things
Brie Larson – Lessons in Chemistry
Bel Powley – A Small Light
Ali Wong – Beef
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series
Matt Bomer – Fellow Travelers
Jon Hamm – Fargo
David Oyelowo – Lawmen: Bass Reeves
Tony Shalhoub – Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie
Steven Yeun – Beef
Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series
Ahsoka
Barry
Beef
The Last of Us
The Mandalorian
Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
Barbie
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
John Wick: Chapter 4
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
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LET THE MUSIC PLAY | RAWAYANA'S BETO MONTENEGRO
We're always about good vibes and keeping them going. As we think to warmer days ahead, we caught up with lead singer Beto Montenegro of RAWAYANA who has released 4 studio albums, and received a nomination for Best New Artist of at the 18th Latin Grammy Awards in 2017. They're currently taking a break from their World Tour which will continue next month. As we're always on the hunt for great music, we took some time in the midst of the band's busy schedule to find out more about who they are, how they came together, their sound, those they've collaborated with, and their partnership with Old Parr scotch.
ATHLEISURE MAG: When did you fall in love with music?
BETO MONTENEGRO: It's because music makes me happy, it makes me smile. I feel it is the best tool to express my point of view about life.
AM: When did you realize that you wanted to do this professionally?
BM: After I realized that we had a big community waiting and asking for new music from us.
AM: When did you realize that you wanted to come together to create RAWAYANA?
BM: We really just did it for fun. There was no real plan to “create” it.
AM: How would you define the RAWAYANA sound?
BM: I think it’s an eclectic mixture of Caribbean sounds influenced by pop music.
AM: You were nominated as Best New Artist at the 18th Annual Latin Grammy Awards back in 2017, what did it mean to you to have that distinction?
BM: I don’t like to pay attention to awards. I feel that art or music is not a competition, but in a way it felt cool to be recognized by the industry so we had such a good time spending time with a lot of friends in the business.
AM: What have been some of your favorite collaborations that you've had musically?
BM: Danny Ocean, Elena Rose, Natalia Lafourcade, Micro TDH, Mr Eazi… all our collaborations are amazing.
AM: You've released 5 studio albums and most recently '¿Quién trae las Cornetas?' (Who Brings the speakers?) tell me about this and what we can expect from it.
BM: It’s an album about cycles and new journeys. For us the music and RAWAYANA is about a journey, so the music is a very important part in our journey. It’s a very personal album but also the union of like-minded people making music and having fun in the studio.
AM: You just finished a tour here in the US and you already have dates lined up for next year, do you have any routines that you do right before a show to get ready to hit the stage?
BM: I warm up my voice in the shower.
AM: Do you have routines that you do after the show so that you can come down from all that energy?
BM: I really don’t have one. It always changes on nightly basis.
AM: You have a nice breather now with it being the holidays. You created a cocktail in collaboration with Old Parr known as Old Parr Rawy. How did your partnership come about and tell us about this drink?
BM: We’re thrilled with this partnership with Old Parr to bring even more golden moments to our music. The brand is an icon in Latin America, and just like the whisky, our music is a fusion of different sounds, flavors, and rhythms, so we know our fans will be just as excited to raise a glass of Old Parr with us. Also, we wanted to give our fans a taste of home during the Holiday season by creating a cocktail inspired by Venezuela and the fusion of flavors we create as a band—The Old Parr Rawy.
AM: How does this drink tie into the band and your sound?
BM: The Old Parr Rawy is a delicious and easy-to-make cocktail made for everyday golden moments this Holiday season – from enjoying the energy from a concert to toasting with our closest friends. This cocktail is a fusion of different flavors, sounds, and rhythms, like our music.
AM: How will you spend the holiday season?
BM: With my childhood friends and family!
OLD PARR RAWY
INGREDIENTS
· 1.5 oz Old Parr Aged 12 Years
· 1 oz Grapefruit juice
· .5 oz Maple syrup
· .25 Lemon juice
· 3 Dashes of angostura bitters
PREPARATION
Fill a cocktail shaker with Old Parr Aged 12 Years, grapefruit juice, maple syrup, lemon
juice and ice. Shake the mixture thoroughly, then pour into a serving glass. Top with 3
dashes of angostura bitters.
IG @rawayana
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | PG 52 RAWAYANA/Facebook | PG 54 Team Diageo
Read the JAN ISSUE #97 of Athleisure Mag and see LET THE MUSIC PLAY | RAWAYANA’S Beto Montenegro in mag.
ONE LAST RIDE | STARZ HIGHTOWN - REBECCA CUTTER, DOHN NORWOOD + ATKINS ESTIMOND
We've enjoyed seeing everything that has gone down in Provincetown, MA in STARZ's Hightown! With the 3rd and final season premiering on Jan 26th, we get to see how the story wraps up with our favorite characters whether they're fighting crime and giving voices to victims or bulding their criminal entrprises. The complicated lines of the characters and the way that lines get crossed is a big draw in watching this show.
We had the chance to sit down with Rebecca Cutter (The Mentalist, Gotham, Code Black), Creator, Executive Producer, Showrunner and Writer of the show. We also talked with Dohn Norwood (Hell on Wheels, The Sinner, Mindhunter) and Atkins Estimond (Lodge 49, Inside Man, Swarm) to talk about what they love about this show, their characters, and more.
There are light spoilers of the 3rd season. So if you have yet to watch the previous seasons or have not watched the 3rd season, you may want to watch prior to reading our conversation about the final season of Hightown.
ATHLEISURE MAG: We’re such fans of your work as we enjoyed Gotham and Code Black. What kind of stories are you drawn to telling?
REBECCA CUTTER: I think that I am always drawn to crime dramas because I sort of love the structure and the kind of engine that it gives and always with really character driven stories. To me, just plot or just action is very boring unless you care about the people in it and why they are doing the things that they are doing. In Hightown, no one is just doing their job. They are always fulfilling something in them. So hopefully, it makes it interesting.
AM: When we had the chance to screen the final season, it was such a treat to see how everything has come together. What were you hoping to accomplish in this season?
RC: I think that I thought that it was important to look at what the inevitable end was to these characters? What do they deserve? What is their endgame? What is their final form? So it was kind of working backwards from their final form and then seeing how they got there.
AM: Where did you get the inspiration for Season 3? The characters are amazing as you’re drawn to their intricacies.
RC: You know, I had so many stories to tell and knowing that it was the end, I was like, “great, I get to leave it all on the table.” There was the story of the missing woman is something that I have been playing with in my head for a long time in other projects where I tried to write a feature about that.
There has been a lot of things that I was excited to do and knowing that this was the final season, now was the time!
AM: What do you want fans of the show to walk away with after watching the finale?
RC: I think that I want them to feel and to get the sense that everybody has reached their final form and that whether you hate or love them, that that was the place for them to end! I hope that they got to feel that they watched a great crime drama with a lot of twists and turns.
AM: How many episodes total will be in this final season as I know the screeners we have access to have 6 episodes?
RC: 7.
AM: Oh great! Because when the 6th episode ended, I was like, “wait, there has to be more – we can’t end with this!”
RC: Yup!
AM: What is your favorite moment from this series?
RC: From the whole series?
AM: Sure!
RC: Oh my gosh! I could not pick one, and one moment is from the finale!
AM: Whichever you want to choose!
RC: I will say that I directed the finale and there are a ton of great moments. I don’t know, I just loved the whole pilot because we shot in Provincetown and we recreated a whole Pride parade and It was before COVID, so we had this huge crowd and Jackie (Monica Raymund) finding the body on the flats was the exact vision that I had in my head so that was pretty special to see. Because I grew up going to that place. So to see exactly what I imagined on the screen was very special.
AM: Are there any upcoming projects that we should keep an eye out for that you’ll be involved in?
RC: Oh yes! Well I am going to have another show on STARZ network called The Hunting Wives and we start shooting that in March. I’m super excited about that!
AM: Well we can’t wait to see that show as we know people loved the book and I know that Malin Åkerman (Billions, Soulmates, Dollface) is starring in it, which will be amazing! And our team can’t wait to see the final episode as there are so many questions and we appreciate you creating such an amazing show over these past 3 seasons!
We always enjoy hearing why those who create a show want to present a designated story and how they hope that viewers will have various takeaways. But we also wanted to talk to those who played key characters so that they can share their insight!
ATHLEISURE MAG: It’s a pleasure to talk with both of you, Dohn and Atkins, as I have been a fan of your work outside of this show and obviously in this one too.
ATKINS ESTIMOND: Thank you!
DOHN NORWOOD: Thank you!
AM: What drew you guys to want to do this show?
DN: Employment ha!
AM: Ha ha that’s always good!
DN: Right? It’s always good! Aside from that, there’s great writing and it’s always good to be part of shows where you’re not having to justify a lot of your lines and things like that. There’s fully developed characters that are grounded and based in real things and it’s what I feel that most actors feel like they’re looking most forward to in their characters and the types of roles that they’re going to do.
AE: All of what Dohn said! Yeah I mean, it’s a great story. The crime genre is not new, but this is definitely a fresh take on it and that was exciting and also, when I saw the people that were attached, I was like, absolutely! That was a greenlight all the way!
AM: Exactly!
Where do we leave your characters in Season 2 and where are we picking them up again in this final season?
DN: I think that they did a good job of seeing us just a little further along but not majorly. That way we can piggy back on what was there before, but not right on top of what we just did. The audience, whether it’s a new one jumping in or the old audience that is very interested in seeing what happened next, it’s still tantalizing and just enough intrigue to go and see what’s happening and for the questions that are posed to be filled in on the following episodes.
AM: I really enjoy the dynamic that both of you guys have especially when you’re in the same scenes together. How do you both go about preparing to play these characters?
AE: Well you know, it’s easy when you have someone as talented as Dohn to work with! But yeah, I feel that we find ourselves in interesting moments and obviously we’re on different sides of the law and there are so many points for our character where we differ and I think that it creates very interesting moments. The set up is so easy that when you get in there, it’s very easy to make those moments really cook because all of the points are already there. You can just walk this thing in on its own.
AM: You know what I also loved is that after watching the screeners we had access to, your characters particularly have vulnerabilities that you guys are showing that maybe we haven’t really seen in the previous seasons. Also, mentorship is an interesting theme and you both show it in different ways which is really interesting to see. It was one of the favorite things that I liked seeing from both of you in this final season.
What were your favorite moments in playing this show whether it was in an early season or in this one?
DN: Mmm that’s a good question.
AE: Yeah it is.
AM: We’re in the hard stuff now!
DN: There’s things that build up and accumulate and we’ve been waiting for the bubble to pop and I can’t give away too much, but it's some things that really got aggressive in this season and it’s good to see and feel and to get to that place with my character. His other facets and dynamics on who he is and how he deals with things. What lines he’s willing to or not willing to cross and how that is changing for him and how it is for everyone else!
AE: Yeah! Osito has had some moments to be vulnerable, to be weak, and that has been something that I have really enjoyed. A lot of times when we see someone who is bad or a bad guy, it’s just that they’re bad and always bad no matter how many times we come across them – that’s what happening! But with him, there are so many other things happening and you’re seeing so many sides of him and I have been able to do so many cool things with this character that I didn’t know that I would be able to do as an actor. I have had countless moments where I thought, this is so awesome!
AM: There have been a number of times where I go back and forth with your character where we know he does bad things, but he is also a nice guy.
AE: I know right?
AM: Now that this is coming to a close, is there anything that we should keep an eye out for that you guys are working on that you’re able to share?
DN: Contractually can’t say as where we are at this point, I can’t share because someone would email me at this point – so don’t say nothing haha!
AE: I have a project that is coming out on Netflix, A Man in Full which is an adaptation of a Tom Wolfe book. I’m not sure when it’s coming out, but it should be at some point!
IG @dohn_n
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDIT | STARZ/Hightown
Read the JAN ISSUE #97 of Athleisure Mag and see ONE LAST RIDE | STARZ Hightown - Rebecca Cutter, Dohn Norwood + Atkins Estimond in mag.
9LIST STORI3S | MARIA STEN
NEW YEAR, N3W YOU
THE BACHELOR S28. E6. | OH CANADA
On tonight’s The Bachelor we’ve made our way to Montreal with Joey Graziadei. He shares how he has been holding back a bit and he doesn’t like it as that’s not who he is. He also says that his personality isn’t really one that is energetic and he feels the pressure of presenting himself a certain way.
Jesse Palmer meets with the women to let them know how important the week is and that there are 3 dates for the week. It will kick off with a group date - Daisy, Katelyn, Kelsey A, Jenn, Rachel, Lexi, Lea, and Jess. That means that Kelsey T and Maria are getting the 2 1-on-1 dates. For the group date, they are given clues to go from one location to the next to find him. He lets them know that he is happy to see them, but that he is battling the varying emotions that he is feeling.
After walking around the city, the group date arrives at a restaurant where they make their own poutine with varying topics. A number of the women felt uncomfortable to watch the other women as they interacted with Joey. During the cocktail hour, the women talk amongst themselves to express how they feel unsure about what is going on and seeing what is happening between him and others. When Joey arrives and asks them how they are feeling, he can tell that they are sad and feeling a bit awkward. He reiterates that he also feels unsettled and that he knows that that is something that they are feeling too. By being transparent, he gives them that space to feel their feelings and to let him know. He gives a lot of time for each of the women so that they can share and connect with him. Jess has been a bit on edge the entire time and you can see it in every interaction she has with him or when she is talking with the other women. Daisy encourages her to talk with him.
Jess lets him know that she is falling for him and he lets her know that as good as that sounds, he can’t envision being with her and so he walks her out to send him home. He knows he made the right choice, but he feels awful that he crushed her. He comes back to the women of the group date and lets them know that he sent Jess home.
The group date rose is given to Jenn - not a surprise!
With the group date out of the way, the first 1-on-1 date is with Kelsey T! Their date involves them training to be part of Cirque du Soleil. Apparently, their training will allow them to test how they trust with one another as they do the various drills.
We also see Lexi and Maria chat as we can see that Lexi doesn’t like the timeline that was presented to her especially because of the health issues that she has which already has a certain level of concern for her. Maria empathizes with her and agrees that no one is right or wrong in what they’re saying/seeing, but what works for him, may not work for her.
For their dinner date, we know that the two will continue to talk in-depth about themselves as well as where they are at. Kelsey T lets him know that she had a lot of nerves going into the date. He acknowledges that he felt that and he apologizes that he didn’t handle the spins well. She explains that her family is tough and that she was close with her father growing up, and then he stopped talking with her for a while. Her father wanted her to focus on religion and he didn’t support her going to college. So since she didn’t follow the religion, she couldn’t stay with him. This let her view relationships differently and she has trust issues with people in general. She lets him know it is a work in progress and she shares how they have begun to try to come together again, and although she likes it, he still missed her growing up as an adult. She tells him that she wants to be loved and she wants a husband and that what she is feeling feels right to her. He gives her a rose.
The final 1-on-1 date is with Maria! A butler arrives to let her know that Joey is ready for her and they hop in a limo to tour around the town. You can definitely see the good vibes between them and this is why we have felt that she is in the running for Hometowns. Of course she arrives at Claudette and meets the designer of the namesake line. She is going to pick up a dress for her night out. They take a luxurious ride in a helicopter and enjoy champagne as they look at the city.
They continue to dinner and they share how they always have a great vibe with one another. Maria explains how important it is to her for the person that she is with to be transparent and to mean what they say. She lets him know that she is falling for him in ways that she didn’t expect. They dance with one another to Feist and she receives the rose as well.
We see Lexi head over to Joey’s room to talk with him about what she thought about the timeline that he laid out. But due to her infertility, she has a quicker timeline and she thinks it’s unfair for her to stay when she is on a different timeline then him. He agrees with her that their date in Malta was amazing and he knew that when she shared where she was at, he may have to consider having children earlier - which wasn’t in his plan. But he understands where she’s at and why she has to leave. He walks her out even though he can see her as his wife.
With Lexi leaving, Joey is shocked as he wanted to have more time with her. He’s concerned about other people leaving that he doesn’t want them to. With 3 women holding a rose, other women are unsettled as the pressure is building. He also lets them know that he is happy to have the women there and he knows how important it is to find his person. His ability to share his vulnerabilities should also encourage the women to check in with him to ensure that they are connecting as it is happening with other women.
Jenn brings him by the women to play piano with him and the other women shift uncomfortably to see their interaction with one another.
Joey lets them know that there will be multiple women who will be going home. At the rose ceremony, only 3 roses are being given out! Daisy, Kelsey A., and Rachel receive the final roses of the night.
JOEY GAVE ROSES TO | Daisy, Jenn, Kelsey A., Kelsey T., Maria,
JOEY DID NOT GIVE ROSES TO | Jess, Katelyn, Lea
Each night during this season, we will tweet about The Golden Bachelor and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!
Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.
We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!
WHO WE THINK IS GOING TO HOMETOWNS
PHOTO CREDIT | The Bachelor Contestants/Richard Middlesworth
THE BACHELOR CONTESTANTS
Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.