It's Ben a Week

Apparently, everything is a scam.

This week, Ben is solo—and he has a few things he needs to get off his chest.

It starts with a routine service appointment for Ben’s electric vehicle, a tire-protection package that was supposed to make tire problems worry-free, and the discovery that apparently tires can be too worn out to qualify for the protection Ben specifically purchased for his tires.

What follows is an increasingly ridiculous lesson in warranties, loopholes and why Ben is convinced we’ve all been hoodwinked.

But the scams don’t stop with cars. Ben takes on health insurance, dental insurance, airline loyalty programs, timeshares and the endless parade of programs that sound incredible when someone is selling them—until you actually try to use the benefits you paid for. 

Then Ben has another realization: maybe everything isn’t becoming more annoying.

Maybe he’s just getting old.

Because somewhere along the way, everyone started saying things like “that sent me,” “I’m sat” and “bruh”—and Ben would simply like to know where everyone is being sent, why nobody can stand up, and who decided this was how we’re speaking now. And don’t even get him started on 6-7. 

Finally, Ben addresses what he’s been seeing now that he’s on television: internet trolls, hate comments and the incredible amount of effort some people are willing to dedicate to something—or someone—they claim to hate.

Maybe we all need to spend a little less time being angry online and a little more time touching grass.

In this episode:

• Why Ben thinks everything is a scam
• The $4,000 tire-protection saga
• Getting told his tires were too worn to be covered
• The ridiculous workaround that followed
• Why warranties seem amazing until you actually need them
• Health insurance and the bizarre world of medical pricing
• Why Ben questions whether dental insurance is worth it
• Airline status and chasing benefits that never seem to materialize
• The family timeshare that keeps changing the rules
• “That sent me”
• “I’m sat”
• Why “bruh” needs to stop
• What the hell does 6-7 actually mean?
• The horrifying realization that Ben may officially be getting old
• Internet trolls
• Experiencing online commentary while appearing on television
• Why some people need to touch grass
• Ben’s new philosophy: live and let live

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

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Instagram: @itsbenaweek
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Website: itsbenaweek.com

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This week’s It’s Ben A Week is a little different—and considerably more serious.

Ben is joined by returning guest, friend, acting coach and criminal defense attorney Trisha LaFache for a conversation about sexual assault, college campuses, the criminal justice system and what happens when survivors believe the institutions designed to protect them have failed.

The conversation was prompted in part by renewed national attention surrounding allegations that a former Cornell University student was drugged and sexually assaulted by fraternity members in 2024. After a civil lawsuit brought new scrutiny to the case, prosecutors reopened the criminal investigation and said the evidence would be presented to a grand jury.  

Rather than attempting to determine guilt or innocence on a podcast, Trisha draws on her experience as a criminal defense attorney to explain the legal process behind cases like these: the difference between a university investigation and a criminal investigation, probable cause versus proof beyond a reasonable doubt, the role of prosecutors and grand juries, and why she believes an emphasis on “winnable” cases can create serious problems for sexual-assault survivors. 

Ben and Trisha also discuss the complicated role social media can play—bringing attention to cases that may otherwise receive little scrutiny while also creating pressure, misinformation and competing narratives before the legal process is complete. And Trisha shares something deeply personal: she is herself a sexual-assault survivor who never reported what happened to her. 

The conversation ultimately becomes less about any single case and more about what needs to change: creating spaces where survivors feel safe speaking, teaching young people about consent, encouraging bystanders to intervene, and making sure people know where they can turn when something happens. 

Since this conversation was recorded: On October 2, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that Attorney General Letitia James would serve as special prosecutor in the Cornell investigation. The allegations remain under investigation, and the outcome of the criminal process has not been determined. 

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

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What does it take to survive more than four decades getting paid to crash cars, jump motorcycles, work with fire, horses and helicopters—and occasionally die on camera?

Apparently, being scared.

This week, Ben sits down with legendary Hollywood stuntman, stunt coordinator, actor, director and author Corey Eubanks, whose career spans more than 160 movies and over 1,200 episodes of television. From The Dukes of Hazzard and Pee-wee’s Big Adventure to Fast & Furious, Transformers, Rush Hour, The Wedding Planner and Mission: Impossible, chances are you’ve watched Corey work without ever realizing it. 

Corey takes Ben behind the scenes of a side of Hollywood most audiences never see: stunt performers being hospitalized, friends losing their lives, actors insisting on doing their own stunts and productions attempting sequences where one mistake can have catastrophic consequences.

He shares what it was like doubling Tom Cruise, why Cruise really does perform many of his own stunts, and the wild story behind The Wedding Planner sequence that Matthew McConaughey’s team insisted he could perform—until Corey put him on a horse and discovered otherwise. The professional rodeo champion eventually hired for the stunt was himself dragged by a horse and sent to the hospital.  

Then there’s Corey’s most terrifying stunt: flipping a 21-ton prison bus three-and-a-half times at approximately 60 mph for Fast Five. Nobody could confidently predict whether the roll cage would withstand the impact, and Corey was concerned enough that he handed his life-insurance information to his children before filming. 

Ben and Corey also swap their own horseback stunt stories, discuss whether AI could eventually replace stunt performers, revisit Corey’s unusual path into Hollywood—including a little well-timed nepotism courtesy of his father, legendary game-show host Bob Eubanks—and talk about Corey’s transition from risking his life on camera to sharing what decades of stunt work taught him about fear, preparation and safety.

In this episode:

• More than four decades of Hollywood stunt work
• Why being afraid may have saved Corey’s life
• Losing friends in the stunt industry
• Third-degree burns, broken bones and concussions
• Doubling Tom Cruise
• How much of his own stunt work Tom Cruise actually does
• Working with Jackie Chan
• The Matthew McConaughey stunt that Corey refused to let him perform
• A terrifying accident while filming The Wedding Planner
• Ben’s own horseback stunt experiences
• Flipping a 21-ton prison bus for Fast Five
• Handing his life-insurance information to his children before a stunt
• Corey’s near miss with a helicopter blade
• The deaths and injuries audiences never hear about
• Whether AI could eventually replace stunt performers
• Working with Michael Bay on Transformers
• Growing up as Bob Eubanks’ son
• The nepotism that finally opened Corey’s first major door
• Jumping the General Lee on The Dukes of Hazzard
• Why Corey finally has nothing left to prove
• His book Dying for a Living
• What’s next for Corey Eubanks  

Want to learn more about Corey Eubanks, his incredible career in Hollywood, and the stories behind some of the biggest stunts ever put on film? Visit Corey’s website to connect with him, learn more about his speaking engagements, and purchase his book, Dying for a Living, where he shares stories from his decades-long career as a Hollywood stuntman. Visit: coreymeubanks.com

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

Joy is back at the ranch—and this time AJ is joining the entire episode.

Fresh off Ben’s Traitors: New Blood premiere party, the three chat about a week filled with friends, cocktails, cookies with Ben’s face on them, cakes with Ben’s face on them and, apparently, just about anything else they could possibly put Ben’s face on. 

But Joy’s visit brings back one particularly chaotic memory: the time she helped Ben and AJ move from Los Angeles to Texas during COVID.

After U-Haul informed them that their “reservation” didn’t necessarily mean there would actually be a truck available, the plan quickly unraveled. A Penske truck was secured, AJ’s car suddenly needed a driver, and Joy—mid-walk in Beverly Hills—somehow agreed to drive it to Texas.

What she thought would be a relatively manageable road trip turned into a 21-hour first day involving horses, dogs, a cat named Annabelle, a truck that could barely make it up hills, gas-station confusion, two panic attacks, fears of the cartel, sleeping in a horse trailer and discovering that simply reaching Texas did not mean they were anywhere close to Granbury. 

And the chaos didn’t end when they arrived.

Ben promptly learned how not to operate his new swimming pool by heating the entire thing to nearly 100 degrees, draining the property’s propane tank overnight and leaving everyone without hot water—all for approximately fifteen minutes in the pool. 

The conversation eventually makes its way back to the present: Joy’s obsession with Patrick the cat, why guests at Ben and AJ’s ranch eventually become unpaid farmhands, another koi pond rebuild, experiencing Ben’s television premiere together, and the people, animals and little things bringing everyone some much-needed joy.

In this episode:

• Joy returns to the ranch
• Recapping Ben’s premiere party
• The Whitney Houston cocktail
• Joy’s newest love: Patrick the cat
• The disastrous LA-to-Texas move
• U-Haul’s questionable definition of a “reservation”
• How Joy accidentally became part of the moving crew
• A 15-hour drive that became 21 hours
• AJ’s Penske truck that could barely climb a hill
• Traveling across the country with horses, dogs and a cat
• Joy’s two road-trip panic attacks
• Surviving El Paso 😂
• Sleeping in a horse trailer
• Finally arriving at the new ranch
• Ben accidentally heating the pool to nearly 100 degrees
• Draining an entire propane tank overnight
• Why Joy is allowed to stay longer than most houseguests
• The ranch’s three requirements for an indoor cat
• Experiencing premiere night together
• What is bringing everyone joy right now

🎧 Subscribe to It’s Ben a Week
New episodes every week filled with unfiltered stories, wild guests, and brutally honest laughs. Hosted by 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?
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It’s officially premiere week.

After months of filming, waiting, keeping secrets and counting down the days, Ben is just two days away from the premiere of The Traitors: New Blood—and it’s finally starting to feel real. 

This week, Ben reflects on what it feels like to finally reach a moment he’s spent years working toward. From seeing himself on billboards and magazine covers to getting recognized in public, becoming a meme and discovering just how deeply Traitors fans will investigate someone’s life online, the experience has been exciting, surreal—and occasionally terrifying.

But for Ben, this moment represents something much bigger than appearing on a reality show. After years of acting, auditions, rejection, photography, podcasting and trying to build a career in entertainment, it’s an opportunity to do the thing he’s always wanted to do on a bigger scale: make people laugh. 

And with plenty of new people about to discover the podcast, Ben gives everyone a proper introduction to the life behind the cowboy hat: growing up in Minnesota, moving to Los Angeles, acting, becoming a headshot photographer, barrel racing, meeting AJ, buying a Texas ranch over FaceTime and somehow ending up with more than 70 animals.

Then AJ joins Been There, Done That for a premiere-week check-in involving Ben’s now-famous cowboy hats, a potential new business venture, rescue kittens, a bakery employee who didn’t recognize Ben from his own professionally retouched photo, Ben becoming a meme, the temptation to read comments online—and, naturally, another complete redesign of the koi pond. 

The waiting is over. The train has left the station.

Here we go.

In this episode:

• The Traitors: New Blood premiere week
• What it feels like for Ben to finally reach this moment
• Why he’s trying not to wish the experience away
• Becoming recognizable in public for the first time
• Seeing himself on billboards, magazine covers and memes
• The good—and very bad—side of reading comments online
• Why making people laugh has always been the real dream
• A reintroduction to Ben for new listeners
• Growing up in Minnesota and moving to Los Angeles
• Acting, photography, barrel racing and podcasting
• Buying a Texas ranch over FaceTime
• Life with more than 70 animals
• AJ’s custom cowboy hats
• The bakery employee who didn’t recognize Ben from his own photo 😂
• Becoming a meme
• AJ’s advice about staying off Reddit
• Why Ben is rebuilding the koi pond… again
• Getting ready for premiere night

🎧 Subscribe to It’s Ben a Week
New episodes every week filled with unfiltered stories, wild guests, and brutally honest laughs. Hosted by 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 author, speaker and endurance athlete Risa August for an incredible conversation about what happens when the life you carefully planned suddenly takes a completely different road. 

For nearly seven years, Risa knew something in her body wasn’t right. Despite unexplained weight gain, headaches, changes in her body and eventually debilitating symptoms, she says she was repeatedly told by doctors that she was fine. Finally, Risa insisted on an MRI—and one week later learned she had a tumor at the base of her brain and a rare disease called acromegaly. 

Brain surgery removed part of the tumor, but doctors discovered the remaining portion was wrapped around her carotid artery and couldn’t safely be removed. Faced with radiation, lifelong medication and a body she no longer recognized, Risa found herself sitting on her couch in a pair of “gnarly gray sweatpants” wondering what her life was supposed to look like now. Then she asked herself a different question: What can I do? 

Her answer? Ride a bicycle from Canada to Mexico.

Risa shares how that 41-day journey changed her relationship with her body, perfectionism and the expectations she’d spent much of her life trying to meet. She also introduces Ben to “Bubba”—the name she gave the tumor she still lives with today—and explains why humor became part of how she reclaimed ownership over something that once terrified her. 

Ben and Risa talk about medical self-advocacy, resilience, humor as a coping mechanism, letting go of perfection, taking life’s biggest goals one tiny step at a time, and why changing your life doesn’t necessarily require changing everything overnight.

In this episode:

• The symptoms Risa experienced for nearly seven years before her diagnosis
• Why she finally insisted that her doctor order an MRI
• Learning she had a brain tumor and acromegaly
• Brain surgery, radiation and discovering part of the tumor was inoperable
• Why Risa named her remaining tumor “Bubba”
• Going from Ironman athlete to struggling to get off the couch
• The “gnarly gray sweatpants” moment that changed her perspective
• Deciding to bike from Canada to Mexico
• Riding for 41 days with only a handful of rest days
• Letting go of perfection and the person she thought she was supposed to be
• Why humor can be powerful during life’s darkest moments
• The difference between a huge life change and taking one small step
• Risa’s award-winning book The Road Unpaved
• Choosing what “living” looks like every single day 

Learn more about Risa and follow her journey:

Website: https://www.risaaugust.com

Instagram: @risaunleashed
 https://www.instagram.com/risaunleashed/

TEDx Talk — “How a Single Word CAN Rebuild Your Life”:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK9SITnpvcA

🎧 Subscribe to It’s Ben a Week
New episodes every week filled with unfiltered stories, wild guests, and brutally honest laughs. Hosted by 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 friend—and AJ’s former boss—Debra Berman, a powerhouse marketing executive whose career has taken her from advertising and consumer brands to serving as Chief Marketing Officer of JCPenney and Yahoo! 

Debra takes Ben inside the career journey that eventually brought her to the C-suite, from working on household brands like Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Maybelline and Bacardi to helping rebuild JCPenney’s relationship with its customers during a critical period for the company. She shares what it was like walking into a room of more than 400 employees on her first day, the importance of making leadership human, and how her team used bold marketing—including an intentionally typo-filled Olympics campaign—to get people talking about JCPenney again.  

Then Deb shares how an unexpected speaking engagement helped lead to an opportunity at Yahoo, where she joined during one of the most fascinating chapters in the company’s history. She and Ben discuss working alongside Marissa Mayer, the changing role of digital marketing, the eventual sale to Verizon, and how Deb discovered a certain employee named AJ who would become an integral part of her team—and eventually Ben’s husband.  

Deb also gets candid about navigating corporate America as a woman, the pay disparities she believes existed throughout her career, why becoming CEO was never the goal, and the advice she gives anyone wondering how to take the next step professionally. Her philosophy is refreshingly simple: stop obsessing over titles, do the work, stay curious, and choose opportunities that give you more than one possible path forward.  

Then on Been There, Done That, AJ joins Ben to reflect on working with Deb at Yahoo, why colleagues once called him the “Deb whisperer,” and the importance of truly listening to the people around you. The conversation expands into creativity, branding in the age of AI, why great creative work still requires human judgment—and ends with AJ revealing a little piece of Yahoo history: he’s the voice behind the Yahoo yodel.  

In this episode:

• Deb’s journey from advertising to the C-suite
• Working on some of America’s most recognizable consumer brands
• Taking over marketing at JCPenney during a major turnaround
• The intentionally misspelled Olympics campaign that got everyone talking
• Why career success doesn’t always happen on your terms
• How one speaking engagement unexpectedly led to Yahoo
• Working with Marissa Mayer and navigating Yahoo’s sale to Verizon
• How Deb discovered AJ inside Yahoo  
• Deb’s experience as a woman climbing the corporate ladder
• Why she believes women still have work to do when it comes to equal pay
• Why she never focused on becoming a CMO
• Three pieces of advice for anyone feeling stuck in their career
• Why AJ was known as the “Deb whisperer”
• Branding and creativity in the age of AI
• Why human judgment still matters
• The story behind AJ becoming the voice of the Yahoo yodel  

🎧 Subscribe to It’s Ben a Week
New episodes every week filled with unfiltered stories, wild guests, and brutally honest laughs. Hosted by 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?
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This week on It’s Ben A Week, Ben is back from three weeks in Europe—and before he can talk about the incredible vacation, he has a few things to get off his chest about getting there and back.

From overweight luggage and sweltering jet bridges to questionable international business-class service, missed connections, sprinting through the Philadelphia airport, getting separated from AJ, missing bags, and a compensation battle that came down to just four minutes, Ben has some thoughts for American Airlines. And yes, he fully acknowledges these are first-class problems.  

Ben also talks about the whirlwind following his Traitors: New Blood announcement, getting recognized in public for the first time, some interesting new auditions—and, most importantly, the return of the pumpkin cream cold brew.

Then AJ joins Been There, Done That to recap their unforgettable three-week European adventure aboard their friends’ yacht, KAOS. From thunderstorms at the Acropolis and dancing in Mykonos to helicopter rides over Santorini, visiting the hotel from The White Lotus in Sicily, drinking entirely too much sake in Capri, partying beside an erupting volcano, and making their way through St. Tropez, they revisit some of the most unbelievable moments of the summer.  

And because coming home to the ranch can never be simple, Ben and AJ introduce the newest member of the family: Sally the duck—who promptly disappeared for three days before staging a miraculous return from underneath a hay pallet.  

Airline drama, yachts, volcanoes, sake, pumpkin cold foam and a missing duck. Somehow, it’s all Ben a week.

In this episode:

• Life after the Traitors: New Blood cast announcement
• Ben’s first time being recognized in public for the show  
• Ben’s grievances with international air travel
• The 19-hour journey home from Europe
• Getting separated from AJ after a missed connection
• Why four minutes became a $300 argument
• Ben’s thoughts on airline status and loyalty programs  
• The proper way to order a pumpkin cream cold brew
• Three weeks aboard KAOS
• Zeus crashing their visit to the Acropolis
• Mykonos, Santorini and a helicopter adventure
• Visiting The White Lotus hotel in Sicily
• Ben accidentally taking 12 shots of sake in Capri  
• Club KAOS and an erupting volcano
• St. Tropez, beach clubs and an unforgettable Euro summer
• Sally the duck’s three-day disappearance
• AJ’s upcoming National Anthem performance  

🎧 Subscribe to It’s Ben a Week
New episodes every week filled with unfiltered stories, wild guests, and brutally honest laughs. Hosted by 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?
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This week on It’s Ben A Week, the secret is FINALLY out: Ben is officially joining the cast of The Traitors: New Blood, premiering September 17th on NBC and streaming the next day on Peacock!  

After months of keeping one of the biggest secrets of his life, Ben can finally talk about traveling to Scotland, entering the castle, and becoming one of 22 contestants on the first U.S. civilian season of the hit competition series. As a longtime fan of The Traitors, Ben breaks down how the game works, explains Faithfuls, Traitors, murders, banishments and the infamous Round Table, and shares what it feels like to go from binge-watching the show at home to actually becoming part of it.  

Ben also reflects on the journey that brought him here. Just months before filming, he recorded an episode about rejection and wondering when his next “yes” would finally come. Now, after one of the most mentally, physically and emotionally challenging experiences of his life, Ben opens up about feeling like years of hard work may finally be leading to his moment.  

Then AJ joins Been There, Done That to reveal what it was like keeping Ben’s secret, convincing everyone he was away filming a Christmas movie, and holding down the ranch while Ben disappeared to Scotland. They also talk about discovering The Traitors together, why AJ thinks he’d make an incredible Traitor, and what they’re most excited—and nervous—to see when the finished episodes finally air.  

The game has already been played. The secrets have been kept. Now it’s finally time to watch it all unfold.

In this episode:

• Ben officially announces The Traitors: New Blood  
• How The Traitors actually works
• Going from superfan to contestant  
• Filming in Scotland and experiencing the game firsthand
• Why Ben decided to say yes to reality television
• Looking back at rejection before getting one enormous “yes”  
• Why this experience feels like a major turning point
• What Ben can—and definitely cannot—reveal before the premiere
• AJ’s elaborate Christmas-movie cover story  
• Whether AJ would make a better Faithful or Traitor
• The nerves of waiting to see how everything was edited
• What listeners can expect from It’s Ben A Week throughout the season  

🎧 Subscribe to It’s Ben a Week
New episodes every week filled with unfiltered stories, wild guests, and brutally honest laughs. Hosted by 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, the secret is FINALLY out: Ben is officially joining the cast of The Traitors: New Blood, premiering September 17th on NBC and streaming the next day on Peacock!  

After months of keeping one of the biggest secrets of his life, Ben can finally talk about traveling to Scotland, entering the castle, and becoming one of 22 contestants on the first U.S. civilian season of the hit competition series. As a longtime fan of The Traitors, Ben breaks down how the game works, explains Faithfuls, Traitors, murders, banishments and the infamous Round Table, and shares what it feels like to go from binge-watching the show at home to actually becoming part of it.  

Ben also reflects on the journey that brought him here. Just months before filming, he recorded an episode about rejection and wondering when his next “yes” would finally come. Now, after one of the most mentally, physically and emotionally challenging experiences of his life, Ben opens up about feeling like years of hard work may finally be leading to his moment.  

Then AJ joins Been There, Done That to reveal what it was like keeping Ben’s secret, convincing everyone he was away filming a Christmas movie, and holding down the ranch while Ben disappeared to Scotland. They also talk about discovering The Traitors together, why AJ thinks he’d make an incredible Traitor, and what they’re most excited—and nervous—to see when the finished episodes finally air.  

The game has already been played. The secrets have been kept. Now it’s finally time to watch it all unfold.

In this episode:

• Ben officially announces The Traitors: New Blood  
• How The Traitors actually works
• Going from superfan to contestant  
• Filming in Scotland and experiencing the game firsthand
• Why Ben decided to say yes to reality television
• Looking back at rejection before getting one enormous “yes”  
• Why this experience feels like a major turning point
• What Ben can—and definitely cannot—reveal before the premiere
• AJ’s elaborate Christmas-movie cover story  
• Whether AJ would make a better Faithful or Traitor
• The nerves of waiting to see how everything was edited
• What listeners can expect from It’s Ben A Week throughout the season  

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