Local Star Valley couple Bryan & Jennie Drollinger stepped into the SVI Radio studio to discuss being in the running for America’s Favorite Couple. The Drollinger’s, who are currently in the process of producing a book and even a movie about their story, are currently sitting in first place in their group. The winner of the competition receives $20,000, which the Drollinger’s say will be used to help others find hope.

To support the Drollinger’s by voting for them as America’s Favorite Couple, click here. To learn more about their story, podcast and book, click here.

(0:05) SBI Radio Network, SWIFT 98, and The Spur, (0:07) catching up with a local couple from Star Valley (0:10) who’s in the running to be America’s favorite couple. (0:15) That’s Brian and Jenny Drollinger in the studio.
(0:18) Brian, Jenny, good morning, how are you two today? (0:20) Good morning. (0:21) Doing good. (0:21) Hey, appreciate your time coming in.
(0:23) This is kind of exciting, (0:24) in the running for America’s favorite couple. (0:27) Really cool backstory, (0:28) you guys have a book coming out on your story, (0:30) a potential movie in the works on your story even. (0:33) So just real quick, give us a real fast snapshot.
(0:37) Brian, maybe we’ll have you do it. (0:38) Tell us a real quick snapshot on the backstory (0:42) with you guys, it is pretty crazy. (0:44) Okay, so Jenny and I met in high school, (0:47) rival high schools actually up in Alaska, (0:49) almost 40 years ago, and went to a dance.
(0:53) My best friend and her best friend (0:55) who were dating at that time set us up at a dance. (0:59) And we met. (1:01) And we just went through a couple of years (1:03) of high school games, if you know what I mean, (1:07) back and forth.
(1:08) And we weren’t like boyfriend, girlfriend, (1:11) but we liked each other and we got together. (1:14) In fact, our best friends who are married now, (1:20) after a story of about 20 years of separation, (1:24) they’re the ones that actually got us back together again. (1:28) Kind of ironically.
(1:30) But we met each other and then I left (1:33) and went on a mission for my church down in California (1:36) and Jenny wrote me for a couple of years. (1:39) And when I got back, my parents had moved to Oregon (1:44) and Jenny was back down in Utah, (1:46) because that’s where she was from originally. (1:47) She was only up in Alaska for a couple of years.
(1:49) I told her it was so that she could meet me. (1:52) Of course, right? (1:53) Yeah, no, because she didn’t like Alaska (1:55) and we actually went up there a couple of years ago (1:57) for her first time since she’s been up there (2:00) so many years ago. (2:02) But anyway, I got back home off my mission in Oregon.
(2:05) That’s where my parents had moved. (2:06) And I called her as soon as I got back (2:08) and I said, I wanna meet you. (2:10) And she was going to school and working down in Salt Lake.
(2:13) And I had written some songs on my mission (2:16) and was gonna go down and shop them down there. (2:19) And so I went down there and she gave me, (2:22) obviously, we were talking on the phone. (2:23) When I went down there to see her, (2:26) the night before I talked to her (2:27) and then the day of when I went to the studio, (2:30) I had called her and the phone’s disconnected.
(2:33) Now, I didn’t know what was going on, (2:35) but I probably at that time thought, (2:37) she’s playing these games again. (2:39) Ghosting you again. (2:40) Ghosting me, whatever.
(2:42) And at that point, we didn’t talk for 32 years. (2:47) Didn’t, no contact, no nothing. (2:48) And it took 32 years for me to explain (2:51) that my roommate hadn’t paid the phone bill.
(2:52) And it wasn’t my fault. (2:53) I had no idea. (2:55) I wanted to see you and I actually walked downtown (2:58) trying to find you for over two hours, (3:00) started waiting, couldn’t see you.
(3:02) And that was it, that’s the end of our story. (3:03) And so that ended, you guys go on, (3:05) live your separate lives. (3:06) You have different families, different marriages.
(3:08) Things kind of go the way that they do sometimes (3:11) and you end up somehow through fate, destiny, (3:14) whatever you want to call it, you get back together. (3:16) And here you are now, almost, as you said, (3:19) 40 years after the fact and just loving life now. (3:22) Together, right? (3:22) With our best friends.
(3:24) With my best friend married to his best friend. (3:25) So it’s the four of us, actually. (3:27) It is such a cool story.
(3:29) And you’ve explained some of it more to me in detail. (3:31) When your book comes out later this fall, (3:33) all the details are in that book. (3:35) And so people are gonna have to definitely find that.
(3:37) So now you’re in the running for America’s Favorite Couple. (3:39) Jenny, tell us about America’s Favorite Couple. (3:41) How did you get involved with this? (3:43) I had multiple friends that would send me messages (3:47) on Facebook, social media, you guys need to do this, (3:50) you guys need to do this, you need to do this.
(3:51) I’m like, why would we want to do that? (3:53) As I got looking more into it, (3:54) with the script coming out and the book, (3:58) the novel, the podcast, I’m like, (3:59) this might be a good marketing thing. (4:02) Variety Magazine, you get a spread (4:05) and you get to tell your story (4:06) and producers will see that information (4:09) and it will be a lot easier for that exposure. (4:12) Not only the monetary value of the $20,000 (4:15) that you could win could help produce the book, (4:18) go through the publishing, this, that, and the other, (4:21) and it’s like, wow, this might be something we can do.
(4:24) So here we are, thank you to multiple friends (4:28) who shall remain nameless. (4:30) This is very uncomfortable for me (4:31) because I’m not like this person (4:33) likes to put myself out there, (4:34) but our story, I think, is so important and valuable (4:37) and it’s so, I don’t know why it gets me so emotional (4:40) and so tender to my heart (4:43) that we feel like we need to share our story, (4:45) that you can have happy endings (4:47) and it doesn’t matter how old you are, (4:49) that love can find you later in life. (4:52) Doesn’t need to happen when you’re, (4:54) well, it did happen when we were in our younger years.
(4:56) However, the timing wasn’t right (4:58) and so now that we’ve separated (5:01) and been different, lived different separate lives, (5:04) we are coming together now and learn those lessons (5:06) and the mistakes we made in the past (5:07) from all the misunderstandings, the drama, the assumptions. (5:10) So now we have our head on straight (5:12) and now we’re ready to tell our story (5:15) and help others have some hope and inspiration. (5:17) So that was my intent, putting our information out there, (5:22) trying to get the votes so that it will launch our story (5:25) so that we can keep going and sharing.
(5:29) So it’s not just the monetary thing. (5:31) We’re not going on a vacation. (5:33) Well, we do go on vacations, (5:34) but that’s not what the goal is for the money.
(5:37) It’s to perpetuate our story and play it forward. (5:41) Absolutely. (5:41) So this is a, America’s Favorite Couple (5:43) is a charity foundation, right? (5:45) And so Brian, tell us how people vote, (5:47) how that process works and everything with that.
(5:50) Well, we have a link and you can go on, (5:52) actually, a lot of it’s on Facebook, (5:55) but the, so Jeff Goldblum? (5:57) Goldblum, yeah, the actor, yeah. (5:59) The actor? (5:59) The Jurassic Park actor, yeah. (6:01) Jurassic Park, that’s right.
(6:01) And him and his wife are like hosting it (6:04) and I found out there were like 200,000 entries. (6:09) We’re in the top 5,000, but it just keeps on going (6:13) and then the top person gets the spread (6:16) and the variety, which is a big magazine (6:20) for the movie industry, which is really cool. (6:24) But one thing I wanted to say, (6:25) Jenny, she’s gonna start a podcast in September on, (6:29) her website’s called SecondChanceOnLove.com (6:34) and she’s gonna look for stories to highlight every week (6:38) for hope, for giving people hope.
(6:41) On second chances. (6:42) Yeah, other couples. (6:42) We’ll start out with ours and our friend’s story, (6:45) but then it’ll go to other people (6:48) and I think that’s really cool, but anyway, so.
(6:51) And the charity is Oceana. (6:54) Oceana. (6:54) And the LA Food Bank.
(6:55) LA Food Bank, yes. (6:56) So you can vote one free vote a day (6:59) and if you want to buy votes, you can do that (7:01) and the donation does go, like I said, (7:04) to Oceana and LA Food Bank. It is legit.
(7:05) And it’s a tax deduction. (7:07) Yeah, certainly, certainly. (7:09) So you can go to AmericasFaveCouple.org, (7:12) Americas Fave, F-A-V-E Couple.org, (7:15) search for the Drawlingers, D-R-O-L-L-I-N-G-E-R-S, (7:19) the Drawlingers, and you can read some of the, (7:22) more of the backgrounds, some more of the story, (7:24) you can vote.
(7:24) There’s a little bit in there. (7:25) And really help you guys get this thing launched (7:27) and moving forward and like you say, (7:28) the whole goal with this is to share your story (7:31) to help other people that are going through (7:34) or maybe have gone through similar situations, right? (7:36) Correct. (7:37) Yeah, there’s a lot of people out there (7:38) that we’ve met just in the last few years (7:41) that we’ve been married that went through the same thing (7:43) or similar situations.
(7:46) And it does, it’s fun, (7:47) because it actually does give people hope (7:49) that there’s something else out there. (7:52) Everyone that we kind of just kind of, (7:53) like how did you meet, how long have you been married? (7:55) Because some people think we’ve been married (7:56) for like 30 years. (7:58) Between the two of us, we have nine children.
(8:00) And so, and so they’re like, (8:02) oh, how long have you been married? (8:04) We’re like, oh, just about three years. (8:05) But we dated in high school, (8:07) we knew each other in high school. (8:08) Just like, hold on.
(8:09) This isn’t matching up. (8:10) So love can come to you at any age. (8:13) Luckily, we were able to find each other (8:15) and here we are and maybe we can help put (8:20) Star Valley on the map.
(8:22) That’s very cool. (8:23) That’s very, very cool. (8:24) So again, in the running for America’s favorite couple, (8:27) Brian and Jenny Drollinger of Star Valley (8:29) in the running for this.
(8:30) Go to americasfavecouple.org, (8:32) search for the Drollingers. (8:33) You can vote and help them with their cause (8:35) and their message. (8:35) Now, you mentioned the podcast (8:37) that you’re working on for the book.
(8:38) Tell us more about the book. (8:39) When does it come out? (8:41) Who’s writing the book? (8:42) I know you’re working with a pretty well-known author (8:44) on that, right? (8:45) Yeah, Tricia Goyer. (8:46) She’s a well-known writer, author.
(8:48) She lives in Little Rock, Arkansas. (8:49) She’s a Christian-based romance, (8:52) based on true story writer. (8:56) And I’m co-authoring it with her.
(8:58) So we’re working together on that. (9:01) It should be launched around October, November. (9:07) So yeah, we’re working on all the finite details with that.
(9:10) So it’s just a lot of fun. (9:12) It’s been a lot of fun. (9:13) And it’s actually, the script and the book (9:16) is like more of an 80s rom-com.
(9:19) We’re going back to the 80s. (9:20) I was gonna say, you were. (9:21) A lot of the 80s music.
(9:22) That’s okay. (9:23) You know. (9:24) That’s when we met, yep.
(9:24) Yeah, Jelly Shoes. (9:27) That’s fantastic. (9:28) Aquana, Big Hair, yeah.
(9:29) Well, you mentioned ghosting earlier. (9:31) And ghosting is a little different in 1985 (9:33) than it is in 2025, right? (9:36) I love it. (9:37) When you change your phone number.
(9:39) Love it. (9:40) That’s Brian and Jenny Drollinger this morning on SVI Radio. (9:43) And again, in the running for America’s Favorite Couple.
(9:45) Go to americasfavecouple.org for the details (9:47) and search for the Drollingers. (9:49) And you can vote free one time per day. (9:51) Or if you’d like to purchase votes (9:53) to help out the Drollingers (9:54) and support the charitable causes with the group, (9:56) you can do so as well.
(9:58) Brian, Jenny, anything else we missed (10:00) that you think you need to mention here while we got you? (10:02) So, the cuts. (10:03) There’s more cuts today. (10:05) We’re second in our group.
(10:07) But as we go forward, they have weekly cuts. (10:10) And so in September, do you know when in September, Brian? (10:13) Middle of September is when they’re going to actually (10:15) announce the first place winner. (10:18) So we have a little while to go.
(10:20) All right. (10:20) Well, we wish you the very best of luck. (10:22) That’s Brian and Jenny Drollinger this morning.
(10:24) It’s all part of the weekday wake up on SVI Radio.