Ben is fresh off a trip to Mexico and immediately reminded why Facebook might be ruining his life. In this episode, Ben spirals (just a little) over online political fights, racism disguised as “memes,” performative outrage, and why arguing on social media never actually changes anyone’s mind.

Fan-favorite guest Sherri Harris returns for Season 2 and brings one of the wildest stories yet — a terrifying heart scare that leads to an ER visit, an ambulance ride, a wildly incorrect diagnosis, and a crash course in America’s broken healthcare system… all while uninsured.

The episode also dives into body image, beauty standards, plastic surgery honesty, nipple nightmares, pain pills, bad restaurant behavior, dirty bar glasses, and why Ben officially hits his Breaking Point with customer service everywhere.

It’s funny, unfiltered, slightly unhinged, and deeply relatable — because sometimes it really has Ben A Week.

🎧 Subscribe to It’s Ben a Week
New episodes every week filled with unfiltered stories, wild guests, and brutally honest laughs. Hosted by actor, photographer, and professional barrel racer Ben McDonnell.

📍 Listen & Subscribe:
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🔗 Connect with Ben:
Instagram: @itsbenaweek
TikTok: @itsbenaweek
Website: itsbenaweek.com

💬 Want to be on the show?
Submit your story or pitch at itsbenaweek.com

This week, Ben goes solo and gets real about something we all deal with but rarely talk about: rejection.

From career disappointments and missed opportunities to being ghosted, iced out, or simply left on read, rejection shows up in ways both loud and subtle. Ben opens up about a recent week that hit harder than expected, how setting high expectations can backfire, and why rejection hurts even when you think you’re “used to it.”

Ben reflects on early experiences of rejection, from growing up feeling different to navigating acting, friendships, relationships, and creative careers where “no” often comes without explanation. He shares why ignoring people can be more painful than hearing no, how social media fuels comparison, and why rejection often feels personal even when it isn’t.

This episode is part rant, part therapy session, and part reminder that rejection doesn’t mean failure — it often means redirection. Ben talks about learning when to sit in the feeling, when to let it go, and how not to let other people’s limitations talk you out of your dreams.

If you’ve been feeling stuck, overlooked, or discouraged lately, this one’s for you.

🎧 Subscribe to It’s Ben a Week
New episodes every week filled with unfiltered stories, wild guests, and brutally honest laughs. Hosted by actor, photographer, and professional barrel racer Ben McDonnell.

📍 Listen & Subscribe:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon | Wherever you get your podcasts

🔗 Connect with Ben:
Instagram: @itsbenaweek
TikTok: @itsbenaweek
Website: itsbenaweek.com

💬 Want to be on the show?
Submit your story or pitch at itsbenaweek.com

This week on It’s Ben A Week, Ben should really be saying It’s Ben A Weekend.

After an unexpected Arctic blast hits Texas, Ben opens the episode iced in, frustrated, and fully spiraling as ranch life meets extreme weather. From frozen pools and broken automation systems to a three-foot koi fish recovering in the bathtub, nothing about this weekend goes according to plan.

Ben breaks down:

• Why Texas is absolutely not built for Arctic weather
• Frozen pools, non-functioning Jandy systems, and panic at four degrees
• A massive imported koi fish going belly-up and being moved into the bathtub
• Why drastic temperature swings stress koi more than cold water
• Ranch life realities no one prepares you for
• Why homeownership might actually be a scam
• The $17,000 boat engine mistake that still haunts him

Because the roads are iced over and no one can leave, Ben is joined by the only guest available — his partner AJ Sarcione.

Together, they dive into:

• Being snowed in and forced to slow down
• Texas fashion during snowstorms and finally wearing winter clothes
• Preparing animals for extreme cold and running generators
• Why generators, space heaters, and extension cords are non-negotiable
• Their first brutal Texas freeze in 2021 and being wildly unprepared
• Scooping pool water to flush toilets during a nine-day outage

The episode then shifts into a deeper conversation about humanity, outrage culture, and the pressure to perform beliefs online.

Ben and AJ talk about:

• Why no one deserves violence — regardless of politics
• The dangers of social media turning everything into a war
• Whether creators owe public statements on every issue
• Having real conversations instead of performative posting
• Meeting people where they are instead of demanding alignment
• Why empathy and dialogue matter more than choosing sides

They wrap the episode with a reminder to stay warm, be kind, and remember that real conversations don’t happen in comment sections.

🎧 Subscribe to It’s Ben a Week
New episodes every week filled with unfiltered stories, wild guests, and brutally honest laughs. Hosted by actor, photographer, and professional barrel racer Ben McDonnell.

📍 Listen & Subscribe:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon | Wherever you get your podcasts

🔗 Connect with Ben:
Instagram: @itsbenaweek
TikTok: @itsbenaweek
Website: itsbenaweek.com

💬 Want to be on the show?
Submit your story or pitch at itsbenaweek.com

Throwback Thursday.

With Season 2 officially underway and new listeners joining, I wanted to resurface one of my favorite conversations from Season 1.

This episode with comedian Urzila Carlson is funny, honest, and exactly the kind of conversation that defines It’s Ben A Week. If you’re new here, this is a great place to start.

___________________________________________

This week on It’s Ben A Week, Ben sits down with Urzila Carlson — global comedy powerhouse, Taskmaster trauma survivor, and certified expert in both sarcasm and swearing.

Originally from South Africa, now based in New Zealand, Urzila has taken the comedy world by storm with her Netflix specials, unfiltered stand-up, and razor-sharp takes on everything from LGBTQIA+ to not ending up porn. She’s a scene stealer in her new movie Kinda Pregnant, but first — we need Ben to get the name right! 

The episode opens with a full breakdown of:

• Ben’s latest FedEx meltdown while trying to ship coral for his reef tank
• The broken customer service loop that left him yelling at a robot

Then Urzila joins and they dive into:

• Her journey from South Africa to Texas to Auckland
• Swearing in comedy, why the word “cunt” shouldn’t offend you
• The time she broke her collarbone on Taskmaster 
• Why airports are built to enrage you (and why pre-boarding should be illegal)
• What it's like shooting Kinda Pregnant with Amy Schumer
• Why lesbians might have it easier than gay men in public
• How comedy handles swearing, slurs, and cancel culture — and what it gets wrong
• Parenting while touring, and being confused for Ursula the Sea Witch

🔗 Follow Urzila Carlson:
Website: www.urzilacarlson.com
TikTok: @urzilacarlson
Instagram: @urzilacarlson
Netflix Special: Overqualified Loser on Netflix
New Movie: Kinda Pregnant 

🎧 Subscribe to It’s Ben a Week
New episodes every week filled with unfiltered stories, wild guests, and brutally honest laughs. Hosted by actor, photographer, and professional barrel racer Ben McDonnell.

📍 Listen & Subscribe:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon | Wherever you get your podcasts

🔗 Connect with Ben:
Instagram: @itsbenaweek
TikTok: @itsbenaweek
Website: itsbenaweek.com

💬 Want to be on the show?
Submit your story or pitch at itsbenaweek.com

🎧 Subscribe to It’s Ben a Week
New episodes every week filled with unfiltered stories, wild guests, and brutally honest laughs. Hosted by actor, photographer, and professional barrel racer Ben McDonnell.

📍 Listen & Subscribe:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon | Wherever you get your podcasts

🔗 Connect with Ben:
Instagram: @itsbenaweek
TikTok: @itsbenaweek
Website: itsbenaweek.com

💬 Want to be on the show?
Submit your story or pitch at itsbenaweek.com

This week on It’s Ben A Week, Ben is joined by one of the longest friendships of his life — his childhood neighbor and lifelong friend, Maria Hynan. From growing up together on a lake in Wisconsin to navigating rebellion, mistakes, growth, and parenthood, this episode is a full-circle conversation about where we come from and who we become.

Ben and Maria reminisce about meeting at five years old, fighting like siblings, rearranging Ben’s room every summer, Taekwondo classes, stolen fish from a pet store, and the chaos of growing up together. But the conversation quickly deepens as Maria opens up about her teenage years, strict parenting, rebellion, addiction, a life-changing pregnancy at 18, and how becoming a mother ultimately saved her life.

Together, they talk honestly about breaking generational cycles, redefining parenting, and what it means to give your children a childhood they don’t have to recover from.

Topics include:

• Growing up on a lake and spending every summer together
• Childhood fights, Taekwondo classes, and the infamous pet store fish incident
• Strict parenting, rebellion, and acting out as a teenager
• Maria’s pregnancy at 18 and the moment everything changed
• Quitting drugs and cigarettes cold turkey for her unborn child
• Becoming a young mother and finding purpose through responsibility
• Breaking cycles of emotional and psychological abuse
• Raising children with honesty, openness, and compassion
• Letting kids learn without repeating the same trauma
• Ben reflecting on staying true to his passions from childhood into adulthood
• Saying “why not me?” and building the life you want out loud

The episode closes with the return of Breaking Point, where Ben spirals over rumors of a possible Hannah Montana 20th anniversary concert and Maria shares her frustration with people lacking basic self-awareness — especially when it comes to body odor.

This episode is funny, emotional, raw, and deeply nostalgic — a reminder that some friendships don’t fade, they evolve.

🎧 Subscribe to It’s Ben a Week
New episodes every week filled with unfiltered stories, wild guests, and brutally honest laughs. Hosted by actor, photographer, and professional barrel racer Ben McDonnell.

📍 Listen & Subscribe:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon | Wherever you get your podcasts

🔗 Connect with Ben:
Instagram: @itsbenaweek
TikTok: @itsbenaweek
Website: itsbenaweek.com

💬 Want to be on the show?
Submit your story or pitch at itsbenaweek.com

This week on It’s Ben A Week, Ben sits down with his longtime friend Greg for one of the most personal and grounded conversations yet. Greg opens up about welcoming a new baby, surviving the devastating Palisades fires, and what it’s really like when your home is suddenly at risk — or gone — overnight. From evacuating through smoke-filled streets to navigating insurance chaos, grief, and gratitude at the same time, this episode blends humor, heartbreak, and honesty in a way only It’s Ben A Week can.

The conversation also takes its usual chaotic turn — covering dad jokes, fitness burnout, wellness trackers, goat lore, and a truly infuriating scam that sent Ben straight to his breaking point. Heavy topics, real laughs, and the reminder that sometimes all you can do is get through the week.

In this episode, we cover:

• Greg welcoming his second child and adjusting to life with two kids
• Living through the Palisades fires and evacuating under extreme conditions
• What it’s like when your house survives — but everything inside doesn’t
• The emotional math of what you grab when you have minutes to leave
• Insurance nightmares, under-insurance, and financial fallout after disaster
• Community support, survivor’s guilt, and rebuilding after trauma
• Ben’s childhood home burning down and shared disaster experiences
• Fitness culture burnout, trainers from hell, and wellness tracking fatigue
• Ben getting scammed out of $1,000 and hitting peak rage with Wells Fargo
• Breaking Point: deferred mortgages, Zelle scams, and letting it all go
• Ben There, Done That with AJ returns for 2026

🎧 Subscribe to It’s Ben a Week
New episodes every week filled with unfiltered stories, wild guests, and brutally honest laughs. Hosted by actor, photographer, and professional barrel racer Ben McDonnell.

📍 Listen & Subscribe:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon | Wherever you get your podcasts

🔗 Connect with Ben:
Instagram: @itsbenaweek
TikTok: @itsbenaweek
Website: itsbenaweek.com

💬 Want to be on the show?
Submit your story or pitch at itsbenaweek.com

Season 2 of It’s Ben A Week is here.

Hosted by actor and photographer Ben McDonnell, It’s Ben A Week is a weekly comedy and culture podcast featuring candid conversations, unfiltered storytelling, and honest takes on relationships, identity, career chaos, and whatever the hell just happened this week.

Season 2 launches with a refreshed look, elevated production, and a sharper creative focus — blending solo episodes with guest conversations from comedy, television, and pop culture.

New episodes every week. Welcome to Season 2.

🎧 Subscribe to It’s Ben a Week
New episodes every week filled with unfiltered stories, wild guests, and brutally honest laughs. Hosted by actor, photographer, and professional barrel racer Ben McDonnell.

📍 Listen & Subscribe:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon | Wherever you get your podcasts

🔗 Connect with Ben:
Instagram: @itsbenaweek
TikTok: @itsbenaweek
Website: itsbenaweek.com

💬 Want to be on the show?
Submit your story or pitch at itsbenaweek.com

Season Two is officially here.

On the first episode of Season 2 of It’s Ben A Week, Ben returns after a three-week break feeling recharged, reset, and fully ready to level things up. With a brand-new studio, upgraded set, new artwork, and a fresh intro, Ben reflects on the wild first year of podcasting and what’s next for the show.

Ben opens the episode talking about:

• Taking a much-needed break and realizing how strange it felt not recording
• Writing notes in his phone when things happened and not having the podcast outlet
• The brand-new studio, elevated vibe, and “sexier” Season 2 look
• Hitting the Top 10% of video podcasts on Spotify last season
• Why Season 2 is about refinement, confidence, and clarity

Ben then recaps an unforgettable holiday season, including:

• Attending Kathy Hilton’s iconic Christmas party in Beverly Hills
• Paparazzi outside the house and champagne vending machines
• Paris Hilton DJing in her childhood home
• Walking away with an unreasonable number of Labubus
• Why it felt surreal for a Simple Life superfan

After reflecting on the energy shift from the Year of the Snake into the Year of the Fire Horse, Ben invites listeners to lean into change, momentum, and going after what they want in 2026.

Then, Ben is joined by his partner and frequent collaborator AJ Sarcione to officially kick off Season 2.

Together, they dive into:

• A chaotic LA weekend that included charity galas and exclusive parties
• Traveling over the holidays and unexpectedly getting COVID
• Cancelled New Year’s plans and being stuck at home by 10 p.m.
• Launching a brand-new segment: Breaking Point
• Ben’s rant about guests bringing alcohol to parties — then taking it home
• AI videos becoming indistinguishable from reality
• Jeff the Possum’s viral rise to over 4.5 million views
• Christmas cards, QR codes, cat food inserts, and postal chaos
• Merch, shipping costs, and why “free shipping” is a psychological scam
• A photography client dispute that spiraled into online harassment
• Setting boundaries in business and choosing clients intentionally
• Letting go of chaos from 2025 and moving forward with clarity

The episode closes with a reflection on boundaries, control, growth, and protecting your energy — setting the tone for what Season 2 of It’s Ben A Week is all about.

🎧 Subscribe to It’s Ben a Week
New episodes every week filled with unfiltered stories, wild guests, and brutally honest laughs. Hosted by actor, photographer, and professional barrel racer Ben McDonnell.

📍 Listen & Subscribe:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon | Wherever you get your podcasts

🔗 Connect with Ben:
Instagram: @itsbenaweek
TikTok: @itsbenaweek
Website: itsbenaweek.com

💬 Want to be on the show?
Submit your story or pitch at itsbenaweek.com

This week on a special Bonus Episode of It’s Ben A Week, Ben couldn’t bring himself to leave a single Tuesday empty — so he returns with friend, spiritual guide, and fan favorite Eleven for a short but powerful New Year energy reading and manifestation session.

Together, Ben and Eleven reflect on the end of 2025, the emotional weight of the year, and why most New Year’s resolutions set people up to fail. Instead, they offer a softer, more realistic approach to change — one rooted in awareness, compassion, and patience.

Eleven breaks down:

• Why 2025 was the Year of the Wood Snake and how it forced us to shed old identities
• What “peeling back the underbelly” means for relationships, careers, friendships & self-worth
• How 2026 — the Year of the Fire Horse — will bring speed, clarity, creativity, and illumination
• Why creators, entrepreneurs & rebels will thrive
• Why illusions will dissolve quickly next year
• How to prepare spiritually, emotionally, and practically

Ben shares his take on resolutions:

• Why extreme goals fail
• Why small adjustments work
• Why you’re allowed to “mess up” in January — because the true energetic new year begins in February

Then Eleven pulls cards for the collective (shaman, hunter, apocalypse), unfolding themes of intuition, clarity, sovereignty, transformation, and new beginnings.

This mini-episode is grounding, mystical, funny, honest, and the perfect companion as you step into 2026 with intention — and compassion.

🔗 A NOTE FROM ELEVEN

As you step across the threshold into a new year, this reading may have stirred something familiar—a truth rising from the last of the Snake’s shedding, or the first spark of the Fire Horse calling you forward. For those who feel that pull, Eleven extends an invitation to deepen the journey.

She is opening space for 1:1 sessions designed to support anyone ready to explore their personal path, clarify what they’re carrying into 2026, and anchor the intentions that want to take form in the year ahead.

Listeners can book a session here: https://www.bringsoul.life/portal/Hom

A new year offers a new map. Eleven is here to help you read it.

🎧 Subscribe to It’s Ben a Week
New episodes every week filled with unfiltered stories, wild guests, and brutally honest laughs. Hosted by actor, photographer, and professional barrel racer Ben McDonnell.

📍 Listen & Subscribe:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon | Wherever you get your podcasts

🔗 Connect with Ben:
Instagram: @itsbenaweek
TikTok: @itsbenaweek
Website: itsbenaweek.com

💬 Want to be on the show?
Submit your story or pitch at itsbenaweek.com

This week on It’s Ben A Week, we’re celebrating 50 episodes, one full year, and the end of Season One with a special highlight reel. Whether you’ve listened since the beginning or joined somewhere along the way, this episode captures the wild, emotional, hilarious, chaotic, meaningful, and unforgettable moments that defined 2025.

From crying with mothers who have lost children…
 to screaming about Starbucks foam…
 to talking Bravo, Beyoncé, grief, scandal, relationships, sex toys, ranch life, Christmas trees, and Jeff the Possum…
 to interviewing directors, comedians, producers, influencers, and your own family…
 this year has been a rollercoaster — and this episode is the ultimate montage of it all.

Enjoy a curated collection of the moments listeners replayed the most:

• The unhinged rants
• The heartfelt breakthroughs
• The shocking confessions
• The funniest disasters
• The guests who inspired us
• The stories that changed you
• And the episodes that made It’s Ben A Week what it is today

Ben also pops in throughout to reflect on:

• What he learned this year
• What surprised him
• The moments he’s most proud of
• And the unexpected ways this podcast has shaped his life

It's the perfect ending to a year  — especially for Ben.

🎧 Subscribe to It’s Ben a Week
New episodes every week filled with unfiltered stories, wild guests, and brutally honest laughs. Hosted by actor, photographer, and professional barrel racer Ben McDonnell.

📍 Listen & Subscribe:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon | Wherever you get your podcasts

🔗 Connect with Ben:
Instagram: @itsbenaweek
TikTok: @itsbenaweek
Website: itsbenaweek.com

💬 Want to be on the show?
Submit your story or pitch at itsbenaweek.com