When it comes to Ben and Lauren, these two are like Ken and Barbie and they are bringing on the feels for sure. Maybe it’s the practical jokes Lauren lovingly plays on Ben (as we saw in last week’s episode) or the forehead kisses Ben gives Lauren (at any given opportunity), but they are America’s favorite couple. And, they’re setting the bar for relationship goals.
I’ve been thinking a lot about love lately. Having left and relocated from a five year relationship earlier this year, it has been a subject I’ve both loved and hated. At thirty six years old I know exactly what I want but always have this nagging feeling my standards are far too high. But after watching Ben and Lauren’s episodes of Ben & Lauren Happily Ever After? and then seeing them together for our interview, my relationship goals have officially been set.
These two might be the cutest couple I’ve ever met and I swear to God if Hollywood gets the best of them I’m going to flip.
Ben and Lauren Happily Ever After? My latest obsession
Ben & Lauren Happily Ever After follows an intense season of the Bachelor where Ben (obviously) chose Lauren. I know what you’re thinking, the show is scripted, they’ll be divorced two months after they get married… I get it. We’re all jaded.
Let me be the first to tell you, these two are genuinely in love. The kind of love you dream about when you’re growing up, the kind of love movies are written after… the kind of love that made me drag two of my dear friends into a long and drawn out “What I Want in a Man” list session on the way to LAX today. Ben and Lauren have it. And now they’ve agreed to televise their special wedding day (which I am positive will break the internet).
My Interview with Ben and Lauren – The Cutest Freaking Couple on Earth
Our interview took place at the Disney Channel building in Burbank, CA where we screened the first episode of Ben & Lauren Happily Ever After?. Following the interview, Ben and Lauren came out and charmed us all off our seats. Not only are they smoking hot together, but they radiate love. They are making my list right up there with Johnny and June, Morticia and Gomez, Sid and Nancy and Bonnie and Clyde.
The Real Deal on Ben and Lauren
Ben and Lauren are NOT already married! So hang on tight because this might be the biggest wedding ever! They’ve both agreed to have the wedding televised nationally (which was no easy decision for them as it’s a very special day and they wanted to be sure they still had a special intimacy to the wedding).
I’m super excited for this union. I am SO TEAM BEN AND LAUREN!
The big moments on the show are truly theirs and everything is real. Lauren said,
The show has producers. That’s how a television show is made. There is a ton of footage and it’s cut down. I would say, and I would even say this with The Bachelor, when we’re getting ready to enter into a situation, maybe on the car ride, we’re going over what we might talk about. We just can’t sit there the whole time. So, some of the scenes that kind of fill the gap, definitely are mildly planned, but our big life moments, that’s just us.”
There are no surprises between these two. These two lovebirds are so in tune with each other that nothing throws the other off guard. They can be 100% real (well maybe the Renaissance thing threw Lauren off, but she took that one for team like a champ)! Lauren says,
There hasn’t been a time when we had to talk about what someone said to the cameras. We are very open and honest with each other and most of what is said on camera is what is happening in our life anyways, so we have probably already talked about it.”
Lauren is a legit prankster. The whole prank in last week’s episode where Lauren convinces Ben he has to sing the National Anthem for the Colorado Rockies was in fact 100% legit. Ben was crapping his pants the entire time. You can see it on his face when he realizes he didn’t have to do it, the look of relief. The poor guy! Lauren said she felt super bad when it came down to it, but I say well played Lauren, well played.
Now about that one time when she was caught in the act. Ben told us a pretty funny story about when Lauren made a tenacious attempt to scare him (startle). He told us,
We were in Indiana with my family a couple months ago and I see her crawl across the living room floor. And I can just see her feet scurrying behind her. She gets behind my parents’ liquor cabinet (and there’s a big window on the other side of the liquor cabinet). I’m on the other side of the window and she doesn’t think I can see her but I can see her feet sticking out. And so I just sit down. If she’s going to hide, let’s see how long she can hide for. I think she was there a good 10 minutes, just laying on the ground waiting for me to open the door.”
Then Lauren tells us,
But then he ended up scaring me! He saw me and he banged on the window. I was caught in the act.”
Ben is a legit Renaissance man. Shocking I know. Ben has been going to Renaissance fairs since he was a kid. I think this is hilarious. I freaking love Renaissance fairs. I don’t dress up, that’s a little too real for me, but I love seeing everyone else do it! The shows are great and I’m all over those turkey legs.
Ben revealed his love for Renaissance fairs to Lauren in this big dramatic reveal which in turn, she agreed to go…dressed up of course! Why Renaissance you ask? Ben said he loves the fairs because people go without judgement. Everyone can be themselves and just have a great time.
I think one of the coolest part is showing Lauren that people can just be completely, for lack of a better term, weird. Just be somebody else for a day, and everybody acts in character, and nobody’s judging you for anything. I think that’s the coolest part. You can go and just be something completely different, and then you go back home, you take off you costume and you’re mowing the lawn….”
They too battle the ever-so-dreaded holiday logistics debacle. I found it so ironic that this came up because just last week I had a minor melt down when the guy I’m dating said, “Oh and by the way, don’t even try to get me away from my parents during the holidays, my mom won’t have it.” Of course we’re talking a trifecta of states here, his family being in Houston, mine in Tampa and our homes in Atlanta. I was pretty eager to see how Ben and Lauren were attacking the issue. Lauren said,
I think we finally figured it out a little bit. Both of our families live in different places, and it’s just something that probably a lot of couples go through. You’re like, wait, what family do we spend it with? So his family’s in Indiana, mine’s in Portland. I think we’re going to alternate Thanksgivings. So this year we’ll spend Thanksgiving with my family and then next year with his. And then hopefully every Christmas, we’ll try to go to both places. That is the one great thing about this whole show. It’s allowed us to have a little bit more flexibility when we’re not filming. So we can take two weeks around the holidays and go to each separate household. That’s kind of the plan as of now.“
Love is hard. Especially when it’s on camera. Ben talks about love after The Bachelor,
The next day you wake up, and you start to realize how much all of the stuff that happened on the show is actually going to affect our relationship. My strategy was to tell her everything, right away, as truthful as I could. Let it sit, let it settle, and we’ll work through it as we went. I think I would tell any bachelor that ends up with somebody he really cares about, or any bachelorette, to do that.”
Fall in love with Ben and Lauren: Happily Ever After? on Freeform every Tuesday evening at 8/7 pm central time.
Follow #BenandLaurenEvent on Twitter for more details of this fun interview!
Also, stay tuned after “Ben & Lauren : Happily Ever After?” for the premiere of “The Letter” on FREEFORM. Four friends will be featured on each episode. One friend will receive a letter about something that others think they might need to work on. Throughout the episode the friend will receive help and guidance to work through challenges. While it might sound scary, the sneak peek we saw seemed quite encouraging. I feel like those who watch it may find some tangible and loving ways to encourage people in their own lives who are facing troubles.
I’ll be keeping up with Ben and Lauren as long as they are public. I adore these two. They’ve really put things into perspective for me as a single 30 something looking for love. I wish them the world and I’m totally rooting for all their dreams to come true.
