Originally Posted by Actuallyterrified
Made this account for the sole purpose to give some insight to Ben and his character from an encounter I had with him January of 2010. I sat next to Ben in a 5k 6max event, we got along, mentioned to him that my friend and I were doing a horseback trail/beach riding excursion. He laughed said he might be interested, we exchanged numbers and I busted a few levels later. I text him that night telling him the price/time and he says why the hell not, and so it was set.
Next day comes and the van comes to pick us up, he seemed excited said he hadn't ridden a horse in years, we had that in common so I guess we were a little nervous. I tried to joke around a bit telling him that the professionals ride with both legs on one side, and I hope to be that good one day. Few people laughed but I thought it was funny and thats all that matters lol. So we get to the horses, everyone gets on, and we are off. The 1st 10 min is a slow beach walk, and I'm behind Ben, and my friend behind me. I was snapping pics and videos to send to friends (this is before snapchat) and then out of nowhere Ben swings his legs to one side, and starts riding side saddle. I took a 8-10 second video of this, we had some laughs, and I put my phone away. We finish the trail and are back at the hotel bar in about 90 minutes.
This is the part that I will never forget and has truly stopped me from befriending strangers, or at least made me more wary. I pull out my phone and start showing some pictures, I told him I would text him photos of him because as he put it "my friends won't believe I did this". I get to the video of him riding side saddle. My friend and I start laughing our asses off, as you can imagine how hilarious this looks. He gets red almost immediately. "Delete that **** right now" "That is the gayest thing ever I don't know why I did it" At first I thought he was kidding, but he reassured me, "If you don't delete that I will break your phone" and he grabbed at my phone. I told him to relax, and what was the big deal. He said he was "big online" and that if the video got out people would talk ****. Looking like he was about to cry, I took my phone, deleted the video in front of him, he made sure it was fully deleted, then said "I knew something was ****ed up about you guys" and walked away.
I had only occasionally thought about that night, until I saw Doug Polks video talking about dealings with him. I would randomly google his name, and see him doing well in tournaments, online and live, and was some what happy for him getting his **** together. Now reading and hearing about him again prompted me to tell this story, and at least give another perspective of Ben Tollerene.
- AP