Welcome to the Allie on the Run show.
I'm your host, Allie Feller, and this is where I talk with people who are doing exciting things on the run and beyond.
From professional athletes and celebrity runners to the everyday amateur and back of the pack runner.
We are here to celebrate everyone and anyone who enjoys a life on the run.
So, whether you are running towards something big or away from something that's been holding you back, I am here to hold your hand and help you pick up the pace.
We've got a dream guest alert today.
I am so psyched to welcome Jackson Olson to the Alley on the Run show.
Jackson plays for the Savannah Bananas.
Surely by now you've heard of Banana Ball.
The Savannah Bananas are an exhibition baseball team.
They're often likened to the Harlem Globetrotters, but for baseball.
Their games aren't just about baseball.
They are putting on a show for the thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of fans that pack these sold-out stadiums.
They have full-on performances, including choreography, costumes, and audience interactions.
They are so fun.
And it's not a surprise that Jackson is one of the team's stars in so many ways.
You'll hear all about his road to the bananas in this episode.
But I know what you're thinking.
Allie. you famously don't know your way around ball sports.
And you're right.
I mean, I know baseball, but you're mostly right.
I do know dance, though.
I know choreography.
I know viral videos.
And I know running.
And this year, Jackson caught the bug.
He ran his first race ever the Disney Wine and Dine 5K this fall, and I have been so eager to get to talk to him about this new part of his life.
Unsurprisingly, Jackson is already training for his next race, a 10K, while figuring out how running fits into his busy baseball season.
Plus, Jackson is a huge Swifty.
He made Taylor Swift a Savannah Bananas jersey with her name on it and the number 13.
He's just waiting for the day he gets to meet her and give it to her.
Jackson's a star.
This was so fun.
Please enjoy this conversation with Jackson Olsen.
All right, friends, we are closing out 2025.
The best way I can think of Jackson Olson is here.
Jackson, welcome to the alley on the run show.
You're on a running podcast.
How do you feel?
I'm on a running podcast.
I actually just ran to get my keys, to get my AirPods, to make sure that we had no echo on this podcast.
And I was like, you know what?
I ran to my car.
I ran back and I'm like, I'm not out of breath because I've been running.
You're doing it.
Yeah.
Okay.
So do you identify as a runner?
Have you called yourself a runner at this point?
Never.
No, no, I am not.
I mean, two miles, I'm out of breath.
And so I've been running the last like three weeks because I'm training for this 10K for Disney 10K.
And the one thing I realized is I want to be competitive and, especially because it's Disney, a lot of people do know me there and a lot of workers do know me there.
And so I'm like, I can't just get like a, I can't do poorly.
Like I have to do well.
I can't embarrass myself in front of all those people.
And so I have been training like, like sprint, sprint training a little long distance.
Like I'll run, I ran, I ran five the other day, like really slow pace.
Not like the pace that I want to be running.
But yeah, do you have anyone helping you?
Or are you doing like, are you being coached, or is anyone?
And is anyone from the bananas involved, like your, your coach teammates?
Is anyone like hey, I've run a 10k before giving you advice, you're doing it?
No, no advice, no coach, I'm doing everything by myself um, and just trying to figure it out.
I mean, I'm also still a baseball player and so I'm a baseball player that needs to work out and be strong.
And so I also need to be agile.
And so I still have to work on that kind of stuff.
But then it's like baseball players don't run long distance.
They just don't.
You don't.
That's actually like counterproductive for baseball players to run long distance, because you, you need to be quick and quickness is the most important thing.
And running long distance doesn't necessarily make you quick.
But what I've realized is my heart rate, like whenever I'm doing baseball activities.
Now I feel great the whole time.
Like I feel amazing the whole time because my, I don't even know the like correct terms, but I just feel like my lungs are catching up.
They're not, I'm not like trying to catch them.
Like they're, it's, everything is working perfectly right now.
Have you started peer pressuring any of your teammates into joining you on the run or at races?
No, I have not.
This is one thing that, I mean, I do everything in my life with my teammates.
Like, we do everything together.
And I'm like, I need one thing.
I need Disney and running to be kind of my thing.
OK, perfect.
Well, I love that.
I was cracking up when you shared about the 5K that you did, which was the wine and dine.
And you shared that you thought you would be whining and dining along the way.
So so let's go back.
Let's go back in time a little bit when that was your first race ever, which was very recent.
When did that come into your life?
At what point did you say, hey, I want to run a 5K and this is the one I'm doing?
Where'd the idea come from?
Yeah, so the idea came from Jason, from Jason Retcher.
He's the Disney – he works with Disney influencers and he's like the VP of – i forget his exact title.
So if you're listening to this jason, i'm sorry um, but he always handles all my disney stuff.
So whenever i need to go to disney, or whenever i was going on the first inaugural cruise, he like set everything up, he's the man.
And so i told him.
I was like i want to go to disney.
Our season had just ended.
I was like i just want to go to disney and just like have fun.
And he was like well, do you want to run a race?
And i'm like uh no, I'm going on vacation.
I don't want to like.
I thought.
When he said that, my immediate thought was like why would I want to like not have fun at Disney?
Because racing would make it not fun, right?
And then I agreed to it.
I was like, all right, fine, I'll run.
I'll go.
And woke up at 3 am to go to the race because, as run Disney people know, you got to wake up super early.
And I woke up and I'm like, what did I do?
Like, I just want to go drink around the world at Epcot.
Like, what am I doing?
And I ran the race and I was like, oh my God.
I loved it.
That was the best thing ever.
I felt amazing the entire rest of the day.
The next two days I was like, I need to start running.
I feel great.
I was like, Jason, I need to run the 10K in January.
Can you, can we set it up?
And so people are right.
Like it is a bug.
Like you actually, it's you, it really happened to me where I'm like, I love it.
I love it now.
I just want to run races now.
Oh, you're going to end up doing the dopey challenge.
Aren't you?
Eventually.
OK.
Yep.
All of them.
What was your impression of the running community at this race, whether it was on the buses headed to the start or standing in the starting corrals?
What did you think of all this?
Yeah, I mean the cool thing about running a race and obviously I'm very new to it so I can't fully talk about it.
But like the camaraderie between people you're, everyone there is amazing has one goal in mind for that hour, two hours, three hours, whatever it is for the race.
They all are running and they all want to finish.
That's literally it.
That is the only goal.
Every single person in that entire corral, we all had one goal together.
I feel like sometimes in business or in work or in any part of life you're in, you don't have that common goal with everyone.
You might think you do, but everyone I was looking at was excited to run.
They were all stretching.
They were all talking about the race.
They were all talking about what you're going to see on the road.
And so it was cool.
Even though it was super early in the morning, I was like everyone has this common goal and everyone is happy and positive and they all want to do well.
They're all competitive.
And it's also fun because you see people in costumes that run Disney events.
But just the camaraderie between people and like everyone being super nice was cool.
OK, so then you immediately say, I'm coming back and I'm doing the 10K.
So tell us about how you're feeling.
6.2 miles.
You're doubling the distance.
Do you feel intimidated?
I mean, look, you're you're an athlete.
You're fit.
Like you said, running distance is different than what you do on the day to day.
But how does 6.2 miles feel to you and how are you feeling about getting ready for a 10K?
I'm excited.
I know it is definitely the longest I've ever, I've never run over five miles.
I actually had before two days ago.
I had never run more than 31 miles in my entire life at in one time.
And so definitely nervous.
But the one thing I'm really excited for is like I haven't been able to fully challenge myself in a long time.
Like obviously playing banana ball is tough and I'm learning these trick plays.
And like a challenge for me three years ago was learning between the legs throws, because that's my thing now with the bananas.
But now it's second nature.
Now I'm doing it.
I don't really like, yes, I have to work at it, but like I have it down to a science almost.
And so for the last two years, like I haven't really had the chance to fully challenge myself where I'm like, this is going to be extremely, extremely hard.
And I know for runners out there, like 6.2 miles is not a lot for a lot of people.
But for me, 6.2 miles feels like a marathon and a half because I've never done it before.
And I've never done anything close to it before.
So I'm very excited.
My mom is running it with me too.
And she's a runner.
She, my mom should, my mom should be the one on this podcast.
She's running.
Yeah.
She's run almost every day for the last like 40 years.
And she recently took up Peloton like three years ago.
She has like 3000 rides. on Peloton, but she still runs too.
So she is like the athlete.
So she's probably going to beat me, but yeah, we're, we're very excited right now.
We're trying to figure out if we're going to dress up or not, but.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
What are we thinking?
I know you're not going to reveal it now.
Like, that needs to be its own thing.
But, like, what gets you excited when you're thinking about a costume?
So, the problem is now that I'm a runner.
Yay!
Yeah, now that I'm a runner, I'm thinking about being competitive.
So, I'm not even thinking about the costume now.
I was a month ago.
I was like oh, we could be like.
We could be like all these Disney characters, or we could be Woody and Buzz.
That'd be so funny.
Like I would have wings, but now I'm like, no, we need to be like perfectly.
Like we need to be able to run fast.
And that is the goal.
I do not care about dressing up.
I'm not going to weigh myself down even a pound more than I have to.
I'm wearing a cutoff shirt with shorts and really good running shoes.
And my mom's like okay, i guess that's what we're doing, because i'm like, i know, at mile four i'm gonna be ditching all my costume if like, i'm very competitive, i'm very, very competitive, and so like, i don't know, i'm i'm excited to do that and i'm not.
Now my focus has shifted off of the costumes to now, like picking a time that i want to finish in and picking times that i want to like do all this in.
How have you learned about what you need to run?
You know, you mentioned wanting really fast shoes and all the gear and all of that.
How have you learned about how to be a runner?
Yeah, I want to be, I've realized that I need to, everything needs to be kind of tight on me.
I can't have any loose.
And that's how I've been with like working out too in the past is if I have anything loose on where it's not like perfectly tight to my arms or tight to my legs, or my shoes are a little bit untied.
Like when I've been running recently, when I have like a very tight cutoff shirt or like a tank top with like tighter shorts on, I like not feeling anything on my body.
Like I like not feeling the wind pushing anything back.
And so that's what I've been doing recently is like I wear very tight clothing when I'm running and it feels great.
When you just go out for a run on the day to day, are you listening to anything?
Uh yeah, a lot of taylor swift, a lot of um.
Yeah, i like i was.
I loved all american rejects too.
They actually performed at one of our games this year and i've always been a fan of them.
But since they performed and i got to make content with them, i was like, all right, i'm gonna just listen to their all their albums, and so it just fires me up.
It's like makes me feel like i'm like 14 in a garage band.
I'm like, let's go.
This is sick.
I'm running, i'm so fast.
Let's go.
Like um.
So yeah, I have my.
Uh, where are the?
I just got new beats uh, power beats that like wrap around my ear.
I've never really had anything like that before.
So they're, they're perfect for running because they're tight to my ears.
They don't, they don't like AirPods could fall out.
Like these things are just on there.
What is heavy in the Taylor Swift rotation now?
What songs are at the top of your playlist?
Well, if I'm running, it's all reputation.
So it's don't blame me.
It's all of those.
If I'm feeling like emotional sometimes when you're, i feel like it's weird because i feel a lot of different emotions when i'm running.
Sometimes i'll be like, all right, let's go, and sometimes i start thinking about like sentimental stuff and i then i listen to like right, where you left me from folklore, like i listen to like her sadder songs that actually make me run better and like um, i'm not thinking about the fact that i'm running, but i'm just going um, sometimes when i listen to like don't blame me or those kind of songs, or even like new romantics really, really upbeat, i get i start going too fast and then i'm like, oh god yeah, like i gotta stop, you need to calm down.
Yeah yeah, i was there good good good uh, i was doing.
Uh, your mom would appreciate i was taking a peloton class with uh last week, a peloton tread class, and the instructor it was an eras tour class and she played my tears ricochet and i like you know sometimes it just it's i was sobbing, i'm like trying to run and just absolutely crying on the treadmill.
So you know you're in good company here, both with taylor, with running, and you know sometimes we cry on the run.
That's part of it.
And speaking of peloton classes that have really good soundtracks, there's also a greatest showman, one and greatest showman, my favorite movie.
You can see it posted right there on my wall Um, and so I will listen to.
Actually it's a funny story.
When I was at Stetson, my last year at Stetson, I was playing baseball there and I realized probably halfway through the year, I was like, I'm not going to get drafted.
Like I had a chance last year, really good chance.
Um, but I just wasn't having a good year.
And so I started running around my apartment complex to just like get my mind off of everything going on and never stretched, never like took any running protocols, but I would just run and I would listen to greatest showman.
And I listened to like a million dreams.
And I remember this moment.
I remember exactly where I was.
I can literally picture the 360 in my head right now.
I was sitting, I got done with probably 0.5 miles and I was gassed after 0.5.
And I'm sitting there, I'm like, oh my God, like I need to do something with my life.
Like I need to figure this out.
Like a million dreams are literally keeping me awake.
Like I need to figure out what I'm doing.
And that was the moment where I basically shifted my mindset of, like I'm going to get a job and I'm going to work in the corporate world, work at a marketing job, because that's what I was getting my MBA for.
And it literally went from that.
And I was like no, I'm going to figure out how to make money on the side for a little while, because there's something else out there for me.
And all my teammates that day were talking about different job fairs they were going to and different jobs they were interning for.
One of my teammates was walking out in a suit going to an interview, as I was sitting on the ground like waiting and listening to Greatest Showman.
And I'm like, this is it.
Like I have to, there's something else out there for me.
And five months later, I got a job offer.
Well, kind of a job offer from MLB to go rank stadiums.
And that was the start of everything that happened.
It was that one day, finishing running having crazy thoughts of like I need to do something with my life.
So it's crazy.
Let's go back to that time a little bit more, because like you said, you got an offer.
You had an opportunity to go pro.
Can you talk a little bit about that and about why you ultimately turned it down?
Yeah, so I was playing in the Cape Cod League.
It's the most prestigious college baseball league from that team that I was on Hyannis Harbor Hawks.
There are seven guys playing Major League Baseball right now from that team.
And to say that, like, that's I don't even know how to really like relate it to anything else.
But like that is literally the, I don't think there's any other team in Cape Cod League history that has seven guys playing Major League Baseball on that team.
And I'm the eighth guy in the starting lineup that is not playing Major League Baseball, playing for the bananas.
But anyway, so I was playing really well.
And I was from this small little school, Hartford in Connecticut, and our shortstop was from Mississippi State.
And they were from Ole Miss, Texas, Tennessee, all these massive schools.
And I was playing the best on the team for a little while, for like a little stint.
And so a scout from the Diamondbacks, Arizona Diamondbacks, came up to me after a game and was like hey, check your email tomorrow.
Yeah.
I'm like, okay.
Okay. got an email, said, um, we would love to offer you a contract.
Please call me.
Like, let's have a conversation about this.
They're going to offer me $5,000.
And immediately I was like, heck yeah, I'm going like, this is it.
And I called my coach, called my dad.
$5,000 as a signing or $5,000?
As a signing bonus.
Okay.
Yeah.
Which is like nothing.
Then you get paid nothing at the minor leagues.
You get it's.
It would be the worst decision of my life if I accepted it.
But a lot of guys do accept it and they do go on to play major league baseball like not a ton of them that sign um.
But so i decided to decline it.
I was like nope, i'm good.
Uh, my coach said that i need to go back and graduate.
My coach and my dad both said i was going to get drafted the next year.
If i had a really good year, my senior year, i could have gotten drafted between the 15th to the 25th round.
That's like 20 times that signing bonus at least that i was going to be offered um.
And then COVID hit and the draft got shortened from 1500 players picked to 150 that year.
And so I would have been in like the like 500 to 800 range, probably like in that, maybe maybe earlier.
But 150 guys that were picked were all high school guys that were power arms like through really hard, and guys in college that were the guys that I played with.
Like the guys that I played with got drafted that year.
And they were like the 20th pick, like the 50th pick, and I'm like, I'm just not.
I was not in that unfortunately, and that's when everything like went not downhill, but everything baseball wise, I was like I'm done with baseball.
So So at that point, you know, before you sat down on the curb listening to the greatest showman, were you thinking like what kind of job am I going to have in corporate America?
You were getting your MBA.
What were you picturing?
Was there anything other than baseball that you were excited about?
Yeah, I mean, not at that moment.
No, my mom and I actually went on an interview.
We Went to New York City.
I was wearing a full suit.
Went to New York City with my mom and went to an interview.
And I don't even know what the job, I can't even tell you what the job was for.
I don't know if I could have told you what the job was for a minute after the interview.
And I was like, this sucks.
Like, this is not me.
At that point, I was making TikToks, but I wouldn't call myself an entertainer.
And I'm like, what am I doing?
Like, I need to get out of this room.
Immediately, the guy was talking to me.
And he was like, you're gonna we're gonna start you at this amount.
And then it was a lot about just the money of it.
And at that point, I care less about the money.
I was like, I don't care.
Like, if I'm doing something fun, I'll take a dollar.
And he was telling me all these dollar amounts.
I'm like, in 10 years, you could be making this much.
And I'm like, who cares?
Like I'm still gonna be sitting at a desk crunching numbers for And it was like a recruiting business.
So I was going to be cold calling all day at the start.
And I'm like no, I need.
That was kind of the moment in that interview where I was like I need to keep posting on TikTok every day.
Find out a way to make money on this thing.
No one was making money except for people in the Hype House and Charlie D'Amelio.
All of them.
I got like a $1,000 deal or something.
And I was like, that's sick.
But at that point, it was like, okay, this is... this is not my life.
I need to not be in corporate America somehow.
Not that there's anything wrong with it, but for me, I just knew I needed to be out in the world doing stuff.
And so, thank God, MLB came and was like we want you to rank stadiums, because if that didn't happen, I don't know where I would be right now.
And that was totally from you posting on TikTok and growing a following there.
Is that correct?
Exactly.
Yep.
So-
One thing that I love about you and that I think so many people love and appreciate, is that you are this like masculine baseball player, super athlete, who also loves musicals and Disney and Taylor Swift.
Have you always been really confident?
Like and again, this is. the impression I get from following you on the internet.
But you seem like you are super confident and secure in who you are of like.
Yeah, I can be both these things.
But you tell me, has that always been the case?
Have you always loved Disney and Taylor Swift and musicals?
Where did that part of you come from?
And I want to hear about becoming the person that you are today and being confident in your own skin.
Yeah.
So deep down, I've always been a fan of those things, I think.
I don't know, because I didn't give myself a chance to fully embrace it, because I knew I was a baseball player.
I was trying to play Major League Baseball.
I was getting offers from Major League teams.
I was playing well in the best college baseball league.
So all that stuff was secondary, like Disney, Taylor Swift, musicals like that.
I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no.
That's so lame.
That's not me.
That's so lame.
That's not what I actually thought deep down.
I just knew that I had to play that persona off in college baseball.
If I could go back, I would have embraced all of it, because maybe it would have made me a better baseball player, a better person to fully let loose and be who I was.
And maybe, instead of having Miss Jackson and rap as my walk-up songs, I would have had The Greatest Showman as my walk-up song.
I would have had That, and so that's what I like.
Tell the young kids now where, like I tell them all don't be afraid to be you like.
That's been in my bio for years and years.
Because it's so hard to not be who you truly are.
It is way harder.
So I thought it was easier to just like nope, I'm just going to play baseball and I'm going to be so cool.
And I'm going to be a major league baseball player, make all this money and like have a cool girlfriend, have cars and house and all that.
That was when I was like 13.
Obviously, every 13 year old's like yeah, I'm going to be rich and famous, whatever.
But then by the time I was in college it started to switch where I was like We would be at a bar as a team and Taylor Swift would come on and I would be like heck yeah.
And I would start singing to it.
There's videos of me dancing and singing and Taylor Swift at bars in college.
And everyone else would be like – they might jump in a little bit and be like oh like yeah, you belong with me.
But it wouldn't be like fully.
And now I'm at a point where I'm like –
Could give a you know what about what anyone thinks because it is so much more fun.
Like I said before, I'm going to Disney in an hour, two hours, whenever I'm going.
And I'm going alone and I'm meeting up with a guy, Cody.
He runs this t-shirt company called The Lost Bros.
It's like the best Disney shirts you can possibly get.
And he's gonna record stuff for me, I'm gonna record stuff for him.
Five years ago, if someone were to tell me you're going to go to Disney alone and make TikToks in front of everyone at the park.
No way.
That is not happening.
And now I'm at a point where I'm like, I embrace fully loving musicals, loving The Greatest Showman.
I mean, I have a Toy Story poster and a Greatest Showman poster behind me.
And I never think twice about being on a podcast like this or a Zoom with a big company and them being like wow, he's got those posters up there.
That's kind of weird as a guy, right?
To like those two things?
No, it's actually not at all.
But if you think it's weird as a guy, then it's easy to see that you are just not comfortable in your own skin.
And that's what I've realized, where it's so much more fun.
To do that, and I think there's a lot of athletes out there that are so scared to show who they truly are and what they like because of their teammates and their coaches, and they're trying to get to that next level.
And they're like, oh, well, if I like this, then I'm not going to get to the next level.
It's actually the opposite.
You're probably going to play better if you show who you truly are because you're more free.
When did you really notice that shift where you went from kind of keeping those things a little closer to the chest versus like Hell yeah?
I'm going to sing this song when it comes, like, I'm sorry.
If you're at a bar and love story comes on and you're not singing it, you're dead inside.
Like the ultimate crowd pleasing banger.
So what, I mean, is it just time?
Is it getting older?
Is it seeing that you can be like well-received and that you have this great audience?
What helped you get to the point that you're at now?
Yeah.
Well, I always go back to like singular moments.
And I basically what happened is I posted a story and I said, guys, what should I be for Halloween?
And everyone was like oh, you should be like Flynn Rider or you should be like Darth Vader, all these.
And then someone was like, I'll send you a greatest showman costume if you be P.T.
Barnum from the greatest showman.
And I was like, OK, maybe I'll do that.
And so before our Halloween party, I went in my bathroom in our apartment and I set up my phone.
And I made a TikTok about like a transition TikTok from me in normal clothes to me in a greater showman costume.
And I knew I was going to go in the locker room the next day and people were going to be like whoa, like that was weird.
And there were guys.
There were like three or four guys.
Obviously never, I'll never name names, but that would always always, always be saying stuff.
And the locker room was set up so I could see them across from me.
And they would always just be looking at me and like I could sense what they were saying, but I was always just like you know what.
It's all good.
Whatever.
I'm going to keep doing me because this is all going to pay off.
And so I made that video.
And that was the moment where I was like I can do anything because I just made a TikTok singing and dancing to the greatest showman in my bathroom, in my apartment in college.
I'm a college baseball player trying to get drafted.
Whatever, i'm gonna keep doing it.
And then i started like some people that have followed me for a while know i started doing like like dance parties on live.
Like i would go live and just like sing along.
It was almost like a jackson sing-along party and so i'd pick random songs people would send in and before like there were live battles and people sending you money like this is way before that.
Um, i was just trying to have fun on there.
And that was the moment where i was like all right, I'm fine with being me.
Like, let's let's do this, whatever.
That's so awesome.
And so just empowering.
And I hope lots of people take this message to heart, whether it's for themselves, for their kids, for loved ones in their lives, because I think you're exactly right that once you start living who you really are, everything's better.
Like you just show up better in everything that you do.
Yep.
This episode of the Allie on the Run show is brought to you by New Balance.
Now, at this point in the year, you've probably bought all of your holiday gifts already.
So I could tell you why you should treat yourself to a pair of New Balance Fuel Cell Super Comp trainers, or why the New Balance Ruffle Socks make a super cute stocking stuffer.
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So I would like to take this ad break opportunity to thank New Balance for their continued partnership and their support of the Allie on the Run show in this incredible community.
My partnership with New Balance has redefined for me what a true partnership can look like.
The team that I get to work with at New Balance, Kristen, James, Summer, they are so collaborative.
They have never once said anything along the lines of, well, what do we get out of this?
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So let's go to the next part of your career.
How did the Savannah Bananas come into your life?
Yeah, it's actually a really simple story, honestly.
If someone told me this story 10 years ago or before TikTok, people would be like, what the hell?
But I was working with MLB, ranking stadiums.
I went back to my hotel one of the times I was ranking and I was scrolling on TikTok, and three Bananas videos in a row popped up in my feed.
And I was like, this team seems really cool.
I posted a TikTok about them.
Jesse reached out and I was on the team.
And so that's literally, that's how simple, simply it happened.
We probably went on like four or five calls, like talking about different stuff.
And it started out, I was just going to go make content for them.
And then I had to tell Jesse on the call.
I was like, Hey, I played baseball too.
Like I played in the Cape Cod.
Like I got an offer to play throw.
Yeah.
And he was like, Oh, interesting.
And then I started playing third base and I played six games with them.
And then the next year I went on tour and Now we're here.
So my introduction to the Savannah Bananas was everyone sending me the video of you doing your walk up to.
I can do it with a broken heart because that was like that was my 2024 Anthem.
Like I go so hard for, I can do it with a broken heart still.
Uh, so that was my, and I'm like, what is this?
And, and then of course, like anyone does you just an hour later, you're just down a rabbit hole.
Um, at this point I'm like, I can do half the choreography you guys are doing.
Cause I've watched it so many times.
What did you know?
So you see these videos.
Were you immediately like, I want to be a part of this?
Where were you at?
Was it the light bulb moment of like, this is my next thing?
Or did that just play out over time?
It was immediate.
I mean, I've manifested everything that I've done.
I've manifested.
And I literally was just like, I'm going to play for this team.
I saw three TikToks in a row.
I saw one of our outfielders, Ty Jackson, who has literally the biggest energy tank I've ever seen in my entire life.
It never goes below 90.
He's always 90 to 100.
And I saw it and I'm like, this is so cool.
I saw Jesse and the LL Tucks.
Then I started, I didn't, the thing is, I didn't even research what it was.
I didn't even know, like you said, like I didn't even know what it fully was.
I just saw it happening and I'm like, I have to play for this team.
And I feel like if I started researching it and I started really getting deep into it, the excitement wouldn't have still been there.
I needed to, I live off of energy.
Like Jesse, our owner always says it.
Like I live off of what gives me energy.
And I saw them immediately.
The next day I made a TikTok about them.
And I didn't know if they were a college team.
I don't know if they were a pro team.
I didn't know if they had actual baseball.
I had no idea.
All I knew was that, hey, this is cool and I'm going to go for it.
And that was it.
What is your dance background?
Like, have you ever taken dance classes?
Never.
Just naturally gifted.
I had never danced before.
I did a walk up with my greatest showman coat on. my first ever walk up four years ago.
And that was the first time I ever danced.
And I did it in front of 5,000 people and I did it pretty well.
And so, like now I've become a good not good, but like I've become a better dancer, where I can actually like, do the moves in the middle of our game.
Every single game we do a three, two, two.
So in the third inning, the second batter and the second pitch me, our shortstop, our center fielder and our pitcher do a choreographed dance.
So it's just four of us every single time.
We have to learn a new dance every single day.
And so that's made me be able to learn moves and do them well.
We all have literally matching tattoos on our wrists and it says three two, two.
And then our position.
So like four stands for second base and that's what I play.
So we all have a map because that's like, that's what we do.
Like that is our, our thing.
And that's how the bananas got famous is the first three, two, two. it was a drop challenge.
So it was like the first time ever disrupting a pitch before you throw it.
And it went super viral, got on ESPN.
And that's when like everything kind of happened.
What is your all-time favorite walk-up that you've done?
Can you pick one?
Oh my gosh.
I have, there's so many.
You can pick as many as you want.
Yeah no, i'll pick one.
I'll pick one because of the story of it.
I uh, we were wearing rompers one game our first ever romper game and they had banana logos all over and i was like romper cool 80s 90s, like what could i do as a walk-up?
And i'm like, all right, bowling for soup, 1985 i'll wear a wig, i'll wear earrings, i'll have a boom box on my head and sit and have a microphone and sing 1985.
And sorry, i brought it to jesse and i was like this is my idea, i want to do it.
They got me a wig, they got me earrings, they got me like, all the stuff i needed.
We did the walk-up and it went super viral.
Bowling for soup saw, i still follow all of them and they follow me and it's just so cool that, like all of like that simple little idea can turn into something big, can go viral, can get the attention of the band and like that was that was really cool.
So It's only a matter of time Jackson.
Taylor's going to see it.
I know.
That jersey's going to get to her.
I know, I know.
It's going to happen.
Can you explain a little bit?
I've always been so interested in the creative process and how this all comes together.
Is there a full-time choreographer on staff?
How much are the ideas yours?
How much are they saying, Hey, we want you to do this song.
Like how does it all come together and how much time are you spending practicing baseball and how much time are you rehearsing?
Yeah.
So we do have a choreographer.
His name's Maceo.
He was actually came in fourth place on America's Got Talent. um he is like unbelievable best dancer ever but he is really really good at simplifying it and he gets really excited when we get it so like that's the one thing about a teacher or a dance teacher any teacher in the world like a dance teacher if they can show you how to do something and then you do it right and they get excited for you that's that's where you start to love it and so like with literally anything in life if someone gets excited when you do something well as simple as that Like, that's great.
And so that's how we learned from Maceo.
We get our, a lot of the videos we get on our phone, we get on, they send it on TikTok.
So a lot of the dances we're watching on TikTok and we're like, okay, that's the move.
That's the move.
That's the move.
And then Maceo, we show it to Maceo and he looks at it.
He simplifies it for us.
Cause a lot of the moves are like professional, professional moves and simplifies it.
We do it.
And yeah, that's how it happens.
And then we practice baseball way more than the dancing.
So that's a lot of people would not believe that, but we, our trick plays are so important.
And so we want to, if the baseball doesn't work, if the baseball isn't good, it doesn't work.
And so that's, that's kind of it.
I would say two thirds is baseball.
One third is choreography.
And then as part of the choreography, like blocking, because so much of the camera work is so important too that you're you know, when you're in these massive stadiums, you're performing to the crowd, but also to the cameras.
How much are you rehearsing that?
Like, are you on the field full out rehearsing?
That's the main thing.
So like the dancing is up to us.
If we can get the, we have to, it's on the players to get the dancing right and the moves right.
But in the rehearsal, it is literally about the camera blocking.
So we do rehearsal the day before any game and we have our camera guys come out and they have to make sure we're in the exact right position.
They'll literally pinpoint us to like one exact spot on the field to be.
And that's almost every time now, because now we have higher standards.
We have, 50 Cent coming out and we have to do a dance behind him.
We can't mess that dance up.
It's 50 Cent.
We have All American Rejects coming.
We can't mess that up.
We have the guy who played Hamilton performing My Shop.
And I'm like, we literally have to do this right.
And then the really important one was Big Time Rush came.
And it was four of us and them four.
And we were doing a dance that they do in their concerts.
And so they already had to dance down.
They had it perfectly down.
Usually performers that come, they just sing.
They don't dance.
And so we had to keep up with them and do it right.
Because that would be so embarrassing if the Savannah Bananas couldn't do a dance but the performer could do it.
And so that's the part now where when we have people come, we really, really need to be on.
And we need to figure that out soon.
Yeah.
Do you get nervous for the game, the dancing, the performing?
Do you get nervous for any of it at this point in your career?
No, I mean so on a fly ball.
When a ball goes up in the air, I'm almost automatic now where I'm catching it behind my back.
And so...
That's very difficult.
That is really, really difficult.
Now I'm at a point where I'll slide and catch a ball and throw the ball between my legs to first base.
The target is this, and I'm throwing it from 90 feet away.
That stuff is not... I'm not nervous about that at all.
I'm just not.
The dancing...
I am thinking about that all day.
I can't sleep at night because I'm thinking about the words to a song or the dances, or like freaking out over a walk up, because I really want to make it good.
And the things that go viral, I'm thinking in a viral sense all the time.
Things that go viral are the performances.
Yeah, the trick plays, sometimes they go viral.
That's more for the live crowd.
But if you miss a play, you miss a ball, the game keeps going.
And yes, if you mess up a dance, the game keeps going.
But that could have been a huge viral moment for the team, for you.
That could have gained a million new fans of Banana Ball.
And so that's kind of the way that my mind thinks usually.
Okay, let's talk about October 3rd.
Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl comes out October 4th.
You're doing your walk up to The Life of a Showgirl and you are nailing those lyrics.
Did you sleep the night, right?
It was the next day, wasn't it?
Like that was- It was the next day.
It was midnight and then we played a game at 7 p.m.
Yeah, okay.
So were you just up all night drilling those lyrics?
So I knew, oh yeah.
I mean, the whole, everything that happened in that Um, except for the flower bouquet toss.
That was all me.
Like the wearing the shirt that said, uh, who is Jackson Olsen anyway?
Like I knew that would make.
I knew that would make the video, but I was.
I listened to every song, the first like 45 seconds of every song I would.
I would like fast forward some.
And I found the three that were going to be the ones that I was going to do.
It was one of the three.
It was all polite.
They don't feel like life of a showgirl.
The other songs are great, they're just not they're not walk-up songs, and so i looked at those three.
I learned the words to every single, or i learned yeah, every single word to every song.
Those three and i picked because usually a walk-up's like a minute long, and so i went through and tried to find i could have done fate of ophelia easily.
This is before, like any of the trends, any of the like, the dances, all that stuff.
This is immediately when it came out and i was like okay um, Life of a Showgirl makes total sense because I'm the greatest they call me the greatest showman for the bananas.
And so those two characters meshed.
I'm like, all right, fine.
We're going to take out Phantom of Philae, Opalite.
I'll make TikTok to those, but I'm not going to do a performance to it.
And then I picked out the minute and it was that, it was the perfect minute to do it for.
And that was it.
And I learned, I learned everything.
So now I know every song.
How confident were you that you had those lyrics down by the time that started?
I listened to it probably three times and I, it was automatic.
I could sing the entire thing.
Wow.
That's, that's what you have to do now.
It's, it's, it's very like, there are songs that I had to do the intro to a beauty and the beast song for our, it was our very first thing we did all season last year.
It was to set the tone for the entire season and it was live.
And I was like, can't mess this up.
Can't, can't mess it up.
And the first word was my share, my was L or something like that.
And even that I was, I wanted to make sure I was getting the mouthing right.
And I was like, dang, that's like tough right there.
That's French like that.
I need to make sure I'm really emphasizing that.
And so I listened to the song like 10 times in a row and I got the whole thing.
So, like I can, I can.
I know the words, full words, to probably like a hundred songs.
Now where I can't, I won't miss a beat on any of them.
So how does it come together for game day?
Are you going to the team and saying, hey, this is the song I want to do?
Are they ever saying to you, we want you to do this song?
How does that come together?
Yep.
It's half and half.
It happens where they'll come to me and say, hey, we want you to do this.
Or I'll come to them and say, hey, I would love to do this.
And so it's literally 50-50, really collaborative.
And so yeah, I mean, my dream is And I'm not sure if this is possible, but my dream is to do have you seen The Greatest Showman?
It's my second favorite movie.
Yes.
Perfect.
And the first is obviously the Taylor Swift era Stewart movie now.
I mean, we haven't even gotten into the official Taylor Swift section of this conversation.
It's coming.
So, but yes, of course I've seen The Greatest Showman.
Yes.
Okay.
So the other side.
That is my dream to do.
Um, we started a bar we have a top deck at, and i'm not sure i think it would work better.
At our home stadiums we literally have a bar at the top deck, starting it there and continuing the dialogue all the way down, and i think it should be like me and a pitcher, and so i'm going up to bat and the pitcher is going up to throw and i'm trying to get him to be like on the bananas, like i want you to join the bananas.
Can you imagine like coming to the other side and being on the bananas?
Um, so I think that would be a really, really cool one.
We do.
We do every single thing the same way, like put the shot glasses down, throw them like, oh yeah.
Okay.
I love it.
That's my dream.
So where are you at with your season right now?
When do you officially get back into the, I guess the literal swing of things?
Uh, January 16th was our first day of training February 9th.
We go on a cruise with 2000 banana fans.
Which, yeah, you can imagine how crazy and hectic that is.
It's a lot of fun, but it's definitely hectic.
You're on the whole time, I'm sure.
Oh, even when you're sleeping.
No, but and then we start our season at FSU football stadium on February 28th.
Yeah.
Hell of a lineup for the season this year.
You're going to Gillette.
You're doing some big stadiums.
Let's talk about the moment that you got to play at Yankee Stadium, which was, I have to imagine, and you've shared quite a bit a dream come true for both young Jackson and adult Jackson.
What's the snapshot moment from that day?
What do you picture in your head when you think about playing Yankee Stadium?
Yep.
The moment I picture is me, and I have my arms around my mom and my dad, and I did a walk-up with them.
So it was a Taylor Swift song, obviously, you're on your own kid.
And I had, uh, seven friendship bracelets.
And so I started out with a, there was a little girl and I gave her a friendship bracelet.
And then there was a little taller boy.
He's probably like 10 and a 15 year old girl and an 18 year old boy and like a 25 year old.
And then it was my parents.
And so it was literally going up, like basically like showing the trajectory of life.
And finally got to my parents, gave him both friendship bracelets.
And, um, There was no plan for after that.
I had my arms around them and I just started crying.
My mom started crying and I was like, now what?
Now what do I do?
Yeah.
And so I'm like, I literally used our umpires for as like a tissue to wet my eyes.
And yeah, that's what I that's what I picture.
It was a dream.
It was my dream to play a Yankee stadium and it happened.
At what point, once you joined the bananas and you know four years ago like they were, they were taken off.
Like you said, you were seeing their stuff on TikTok, which is how you found them.
At what point did you feel a shift of like?
This is something massive, because you can't even get tickets to games now.
Like it is, it's huge.
The fandom is crazy.
When did you start to realize like, I'm part of something really special here?
Probably there were probably a couple of moments.
I mean, one of them was when we found out our first MLB stadium at Houston was sold out and we were like we're going to plan a sold out MLB stadium.
That's crazy.
The next one was, um, we got invited to be on the tonight show, Jimmy Fallon.
And it was crazy like that to, to have lines.
Like I was part of a five years ago, like thinking about this, if I was going to have lines be mic'd up talking to Jimmy Fallon on his show um, If someone told me that, I would be like no, there's no way.
How is that possible?
And so all of us after it, we all got in there and we were just like, that was crazy.
We were beating so fast.
We were all just like, that was the coolest thing ever.
We were just on Jimmy Fallon, guys.
We just did that.
And that was a big moment where we were like, all right, this is bigger than a lot of us thought.
Last night, I have a seven-year-old daughter.
And we were laying in bed last night.
And of course she just like wants to watch videos before she goes to bed.
And I was like, you know what?
I'm going to show you some videos.
I was like, I'm going to show you this guy that I'm interviewing tomorrow.
Cause she's, she's a dancer.
So I knew she would love it.
Um, and the Jimmy Fallon performance was her favorite.
She I mean mostly cause when the ums come out and they're shaking their butts like she, she goes hard for that kind of content.
We did do a rewatch of that last night and we were enjoying it.
Yeah.
That was fun.
All right, so what's still on the list?
Whether it is you know you described an idea that you have for a walk-up, which sounds great, but whether it is playing certain stadiums, going places, doing things like what's on your wish list.
Yeah, so there's something that I've been manifesting for a while now.
I made some videos about it and I can't even put it out there in the world of like wanting it to happen, because it's something I've wanted for a little while now.
And we're going to see at the end of this month if it's going to happen.
And yeah, so we'll just see anyway.
So that, yeah.
So that's the thing.
And so there's, yeah, it's weird.
It's like, I don't want to even say it and put it out there in the world.
But if you look at some of my latest TikToks that I've posted or content, you can probably guess.
But Yeah, I mean we're playing at Wrigley Field this year.
And that's exciting because I've always wanted to play at Wrigley.
That's like one of the meccas of baseball.
It's Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Wrigley Field.
It's super old.
I want to go overseas too.
I've never been out of the country, never been out of the country.
So to be able to play in like Mexico or Japan, that would be super cool.
So that's the number one, like out of the country, Wrigley Field for this year.
And then maybe next year, if we go out of the country, that would be super cool.
Okay.
I like these plans and getting Taylor at a game.
Like you, she has to have seen stuff by now.
She, okay.
Have you watched the doc?
Let's talk Taylor for a little bit.
Have you watched the docu-series the first two episodes?
I have not.
And I know because I've been out of town and I've been all over the place.
I was just at the army Navy game and I came back and I was like, all right, I got it.
Cause I just moved into this new apartment.
So I have to like get all my stuff together and unpack everything.
And I haven't watched like any TV at all.
And so now I need tonight.
Well, I'm going to watch tonight on my, um, iPad when I'm laying in a Disney resort hotel.
And that'll be that it'll really feel like I'm engulfed in the Taylor world doing that.
Yeah.
It's so good.
And especially like I feel like you'll appreciate because the second episode they really show a lot of the dancers and how the choreography comes together.
And it's really like, I feel like you'll, you'll appreciate it because there's.
Yeah.
I'm excited to watch similarities there.
All right.
If I had to ask.
You know, Taylor was asked recently when she was on Colbert.
He asked her what her top five Taylor Swift songs are.
All too well, right?
All too well, 10 minute.
I mean, it's got to be.
Do you have a top five?
A current top five?
Okay.
Okay.
This is really tough.
Okay.
I'm going to go from one to five.
It's easier to go like my favorite.
Cause then I don't want to forget my favorite.
So all time neuromantics.
Number one, I can listen to it all the time and it's just so happy.
So good.
Um, number two is probably the last great American dynasty.
I love that one.
It's just so like you can, you can really follow the story.
Okay.
Number three is, is probably Right Where You Left Me.
I love that one.
Either, no, three is either My Tears Are Very Caché or Right Where You Left Me.
So it's those two because those are two like the same, in my head, it's like the same vibe.
Four, I'm going to go five first is Cruel Summer.
I can't leave it off the list because like it's just too good.
It's obviously like mainstream.
And then Fate of Ophelia is probably four.
Um, your fate of ophelia video was the best one like, i know that there are millions now, but like the creativity, the and, of course, for people listening, if you haven't seen it, it was all done at disney world.
Every, every bit of it is relevant to whatever you're doing or you're with.
Like that, that was good, and so do you just have a super creative brain like Let's use that video as an example, right?
So Taylor Swift, Fate of Ophelia comes out.
The chorus dance goes viral because it's very accessible.
We can all do it.
Yeah, it's easy.
Yep.
But you took it and applied a Disney twist.
You combined your passions.
How did that idea come to you?
Yeah.
So, I mean, I had seen one girl did it where she just did.
So at Epcot, there's the land, the sea, and the sky.
So you got like Finding Nemo, you got Soarin', you got Living with the Land.
So you have three different signs in Epcot where it says land, sea, and sky.
So it's simple.
So she just did that the land, the sea, the sky and then put random clips of like Disney for the rest of it.
But I was like, no, no, no, no, no.
The first thing I literally immediately thought I was like I have to put a one up, a zero up, and then have the Epcot ball be the other zero for keep it 100.
So I thought of every single different thing.
And then for those sleepless nights, I was like, okay, Sleeping Beauty.
I knew that there were plush toys that were like Stitch or someone sleeping that i had seen in because if you're a real disney adult, you watch the vlogs of people and so i was like i gotta find the store where those sleeping things are.
So i found them, had a sleeping beauty thing next to me and so, like i just wanted to think, i want to short form content.
It can always be perceived as like it's so simple, it's so easy, but i want to do.
I want to do it in a way that's like so creative and so interesting that people have to comment on it and they have to be like I want to make content that I would comment on.
And so, like that video, I would have been the first one to be like.
This is so awesome because that's kind of how you have to do it.
So.
Okay.
So as a, a Disney aficionado favorite Disney park, favorite Disney ride, what do you got?
Oh man.
Favorite Disney park, magic kingdom, just because it's, it's magic kingdom.
I mean, it's like the, it's magic.
Um, and then favorite ride.
Probably... Honestly, it's really short, but Tron.
Tron is really fun.
Okay, it's short, so I can't say it's my favorite.
Guardians of the Galaxy, Cosmic Rewind.
And if you have September, oh my gosh.
Yeah.
Unreal.
Great answers.
Also my top two favorite rides.
Okay, I like all of these plans.
I like what you're doing.
I like what you're up to.
Uh, we have to do a follow-up once you've watched the docuseries, once all six parts are out.
I feel like we'll have to.
You know, we'll have to circle back.
What era are you in right now in your life?
Um always, i mean, i literally have it on my laptop right now.
I i'm not sure people can see it at home, but i have a banana and an reputation.
Oh, i can't.
I'm on my laptop.
I can't show you.
I'm like, if i turn my, if i turn this down, can you see i've got i have to live for the hope of it all on mine and midnight okay well, i have.
I mean, i have all these stickers.
If you want any of them, they're from the disney they uh, taylor nation and disney plus sent me, like the.
I saw.
I know you got the blanket, you got all the cool stuff in there.
I mean, how much do you want to nerd out on taylor?
Do you want to play my taylor swift game?
I've done this with only one other guest on the show, but it's all right.
So this is, we're just going album to album and you have to pick your top song from each album.
Okay, all right.
All right, debut.
You belong with me.
Is that her debut?
That's fearless.
That's fearless.
Oh my gosh.
Wait, her debut.
Oh, that's like, uh, Tim McGraw and those, or is that, yeah.
Um, uh, teardrops on my guitar.
Probably.
Is that, or is that, is that fearless?
I should.
Okay.
We're both doing great at this game so far.
I don't, I wait, hold on.
I've never been a debut girly.
No.
Yeah.
Wait, hold on.
Teardrops on my guitar.
Like people who are so upset that there's no debut.
It's Taylor Swift, right?
Taylor Swift.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yep.
It's, it's the debut.
Yeah.
Teardrops on my guitar.
Yeah.
I like that.
It's slow, but I like it.
Okay.
Fearless.
Either.
Love story.
Probably love story.
Honestly.
That's mine.
Yeah.
Uh, red.
Oh, Speak Now.
Speak Now.
I was going to say Sparks Fly.
Probably Sparks Fly.
Good answer.
Red, I mean.
22.
Overall Too Well 10 Minute.
Oh, yeah.
Okay.
All right, 1989.
New Romantics.
Oh, obviously.
Reputation.
Don't Blame Me is yeah, don't blame me.
Uh folklore, right where you left me evermore?
Oh, this is the one album that i, oh my gosh uh, this is the one album that i don't listen to.
Yeah, neither does she.
I mean evermore, what's the one?
Champagne problems, champagne problems.
Tis the dance season, gold rush ivy.
Don't make me name them all.
I know, I know.
I can't remember.
There's one that I listen to, but I can't remember the name of it.
Coney Island.
Nope.
Okay, do you want to skip Evermore?
No, I want to look at Evermore because I need to know the song.
Yeah, we can't.
No skips here.
Oh, Willow.
Oh, okay.
Midnight's.
Lavender Hayes, probably.
But I honestly only like the main part, like the in that Lavender Hayes, like I love that part of it.
I don't love the entire song, but like that part of it makes it for me.
Do you ever listen to her mashups? just like on youtube there's so many good ones of just like i had to do i had to do a mashup as a walk-up i had 15 songs that i had to do in for one walk-up so i had to keep switching between songs that was the hardest walk i've ever done but yeah i do listen to someone first um tortured poets uh you got 31 songs to choose from um Who's afraid of little old me?
Probably.
I did a couple of videos to that one.
I like the message behind it too.
So I like that one.
Yeah.
All right.
Life of a show girl.
Fatal Ophelia.
Got to be.
Six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11.
Wait, what did I miss?
That's only 11 albums.
Lover.
Oh shit.
Okay.
What do you got?
I love me.
Wait, that's one of her songs, right?
Yeah.
Exclamation point.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What's another one?
Cruel Summer.
Oh, Cruel Summer.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And also I love Lover.
Like I love that.
Me too.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, and I love the album.
I'm horrified that I just.
Oh, the album.
Yeah.
I mean, not not my best work.
Just kind of forgetting that.
OK.
Two shows that come up a lot in conversation about Jackson Olsen Dancing with the Stars and The Bachelor.
Give us an update.
Is there a world like I can't imagine that you'd be able to do Dancing with the Stars with your schedule, but you tell me
I mean, Derek Hough's all for it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
This is such a good non-answer.
That's the thing that I didn't want to talk about.
So we'll see what happens with that.
Okay, am I allowed to ask who would your dream partner be if you were on?
Someone actually made a video about someone?
Um, the people that part different uh duos they wanted to see i forget who was mine.
I mean, i think i would get along with riley just because i've seen her videos and i'm like i feel like that would yeah, that would work, um.
But yeah, i don't really i don't have a specific one.
It's like whoever they would give me, I would be cool with.
They would all be fighting for you cause you'll be really good and you'll be fine.
You'll make the best tech talks.
Okay.
And the bachelor.
What about the bachelor?
Yeah, I actually I had a call with them like three months ago, and that's a thing where I don't know if I would be good on it, just because, like right now in my life, I don't know if I would be good on it.
Um, And it is right in the middle of our season, like Dancing with the Stars is the end and this would be in the middle.
I don't know.
I don't know if I have that in me yet.
So maybe in the future if I'm still single, but.
Yeah, you know you make a lot of videos about being single and I just find it absolutely impossible to believe that you're.
I don't know how much time you spend in your DMs, but I have to imagine that they are overflowing with.
Ladies of all ages who are interested, but you tell me, what's it like in the inbox?
It's overwhelming.
I don't respond to 99.99% of them.
But there are a lot and I read them and I get a laugh sometimes out of them.
The part that is funny is when I get a message in my management group chat.
My manager is like hey, I want to let you know like we've been getting emails to Team Jackson of people sending you a PDF file of their dating profile.
And I'm like, oh, geez, here we go.
And so that's the funniest part when like, my serious manager is like Hey, just want to let you know we're getting these emails.
Is there a world in which that ever works?
Like, would you ever be like, yeah, let's see the PDF?
Absolutely not.
Only if it was a joke.
And I, a lot of them are serious.
Then a lot of them try to joke that it's a joke.
But I'm like wait, that was way too good to be a joke.
That's real.
That was, And so I appreciate the, uh, yeah, but yeah, it's kind of weird sometimes.
All right.
Before we get into our sprint to the finish round how are you feeling heading into another season with the bananas?
You.
By the way, you did a video at one point where I I forget what the twist ended up being, but where you made it seem like you were not coming back to the bananas, and it was stressful.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, I had to stress people out a little bit.
And so basically, it was it's all.
Not that I have a business mind, but I do have a business mind a little bit.
We had a fan vote and three guys from each team got to stay based on the fan vote.
And I felt confident in myself that I was going to get it if I didn't post.
But I was like, I want to make sure.
And so I made a video saying, hey, guys, I'm not with the Bananas anymore.
And then I made a second one where I was like well, if you don't want that to happen, then you got to vote for me at this link right here.
And so sometimes I got to bring my business mind into stuff.
Well, it's very impressive seeing what you've built.
How are you feeling heading into this season with the Bananas?
Very excited.
It's going to be another crazy one.
I have a really... good feel on how everything works now after being here for three, four years.
And so now it's like, okay, I know how everything works.
Now let's just do really well and perform really well.
Um, and that's it.
I mean, it's, how do you, how do I plus my trick plays and get those even better?
How do I make better videos?
How do we, how do I make videos with our guests that are going to come?
So it's, it's all of that.
Um, just trying to make everything better now.
You are living the life of a show guy.
Show guy, yeah, I guess I am.
Yeah, it's pretty impressive.
All right, let's get into our sprint to the finish round.
Are you ready to bring it home with some rapid fire questions?
I am ready.
What would your last meal on earth be?
Chicken parm.
We know the answer to this one, but favorite movie?
Greatest Showman.
Favorite TV show?
Either Friday Night Lights or The Office.
What food reminds you of your childhood?
Chicken parm.
Who would you want to play you in a movie?
Miles Teller.
Oh, I like that answer.
Do people ever tell you that you look like Justin Bieber?
No, I've never gotten that actually.
I've gotten Kenny Wormald from Footloose.
Oh, Kenny from Footloose.
Yeah.
But yeah, never anyone else.
I can see that.
No, I think that all the time when I watch your stuff that I think you look like Justin Bieber, like a clean Justin Bieber, you know, on a really good day.
Yeah.
What was your very first job?
First thing you ever got paid to do?
Canon counselor.
When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A major league baseball player.
First concert, best concert.
Ariana Grande, best concert, Taylor Swift, or a very close second, probably Coldplay.
Which Taylor Swift concert?
I went to the Santa Clara one.
That was my first one.
So that was, yeah.
Which Coldplay concert?
Was it the one?
It was the one, two concerts after the one.
Okay, biggest pet peeve chewing loudly favorite ice cream flavor chocolate chip cookie dough.
If you could take a class in anything, what would it be?
I would have learned how to play the guitar.
Favorite pasta shape rigatoni had that for dinner last night.
If you could go for a run with anyone, who would it be a run with anyone?
Probably you.
Oh, I'm down.
Let's do it.
I'll bring the energy.
You bring the soundtrack.
Perfect.
Okay.
Perfect.
In one word, how does running make you feel?
Energized.
Give everyone listening a reason to go for a run. it makes you feel better.
It makes your whole life better.
It makes everything.
It makes you more energized, more ready to just crush the day after you run in the morning.
And yeah, go run in the morning and I guarantee you feel better.
Have you thought about what running will look like once the season starts?
Definitely more short distance.
I will not, I will not be running six miles during the season.
That would be terrible on the knees for me.
But yeah, Yeah, probably shorter distance.
So maybe some 5Ks.
So I feel like when you decide that you're ready to run a marathon, you're going to want to run like the Disney marathon because that seems on brand.
But I think you should run the New York City marathon.
And when you are ready to do that, call me.
My dad ran that.
My dad ran a couple marathons.
And so did my sister.
He ran the New York marathon.
And so I definitely need to do that eventually.
Okay.
Okay.
We're putting it on the list.
Jackson, you are an absolute joy.
You bring so much happiness to people's lives.
And I'm sure you hear this all the time.
I hope you hear this all the time, but you are one of those people who's making the world a better place.
When I think there's so much scariness and division.
You for a living, you bring people together and it's just really awesome to see.
So keep being exactly who you are and doing exactly what you do, and have so much fun at Disney today.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for having me on.
This was awesome.
This was so cool.
I didn't even realize that it went an hour because it happened so quick.
We were yapping.
That's what we do.
Well, we'll have you back here after you watch the docuseries, after the 10K.
We'll have a lot to catch up on.
Definitely.
Awesome.
Sounds good.
Thank you so much for being here for this episode of the Alley on the Run show with my guest, Jackson Olson.
He's so fun.
Banana ball is so fun.
This was just a great conversation to end the year on.
I believe, unless something changes within the next 12 days, this is probably my last recording of 2025.
And what a great way to go out.
So Jackson, thank you so much for making the time and coming on the Alley on the Run show.
And thank you to all of you for listening, for supporting, and for being a part of this community.
For more from me.
I am allyontherun1 on Instagram and you can subscribe to my newsletter at allyontherunsubstackcom.
Thank you so much to New Balance for supporting this episode and supporting my work tirelessly year after year.
We're going to have some fun in 2026.
Get excited and go to newbalance.com slash running to treat yourself to something today.
I don't care if your holiday shopping's done.
You deserve something because, oh my gosh, we made it through 2025.
I had my doubts at times, but here we are.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you for listening to the show.
As a reminder, you have got this.
You're doing great.
And thank you for joining me on the run.
