Oscars Outsider - Scandoval w/ Mike Green (VPR S10 E1-4)

Episode Date: March 7, 2023

This week Craig and Dylan are joined by comedian Mike Green to discuss the beginning of Vanderpump Rules season 10 and #Scandoval that rocked the Bravosphere Find Dylan on substack at https://dylanferguson.substack.com/ [https://dylanferguson.substack.com/] Find Mike on instagram at @mikegreen.onlyfans [https://www.instagram.com/mikegreen.onlyfans/] Music by FASSounds [https://pixabay.com/users/fassounds-3433550/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=112194] from Pixabay [https://pixabay.com//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=112194]

Hello and welcome to the Bravo Outsider podcast. The podcast where the only rules are Vanderpump Rules. I'm your host Craig Midwinter and with me as usual is Dylan Ferguson. How's it going today? Yeah, going pretty good. Yeah, I've moved locations since the last time we recorded. I'm not in L.A. anymore. I'm in Montreal.

I'm still not reunited with my stuff so I don't have my good microphone just yet. That'll be next week. You'll just have to assume that my voice sounds a lot more, has a lot more baritone. is a lot more convincing. You've gone by coastal. Yeah, I've gone by coastal. Yeah, exactly. Coasts are just a matter of opinion.

A state of mind. Yeah. Each week we bring on someone who lives their life blissfully unaware of the ongoing chaos of the Bravo Cinematic Universe and subject them to it in order to get their takes. And to ruin their life. This week's outsider is comedian and young legend Mike Green. Mike, how's it going? It's going great.

I'm happy to be an outsider this week and good to see you guys. It's been a minute. And Dylan, I know you, I didn't even realize you'd been in L.A., but while you're still in L.A. phony, okay, the way you're talking now, like, oh, my other mic is in L.A. You must have fit right in. Oh, yeah, totally. I picked up a few cues while I was there. I was just taking notes on how to be the most annoying person possible everywhere I went.

And I'm glad to know that it's panning out. It's working for me. So, Mike, before we get into things, do you want to just tell us, about your relationship with reality TV and kind of any sort of context you had going into this? So I was obviously swept up in reality TV, you know, in the early, like the dawn of reality TV changed all of us. We weren't ready for that, like Survivor. And then, you know, I think after that it was, it sort of tapered. And then like first couple seasons of Jersey Shore, that was like the last thing that I feel like I was really into reality TV wise. But it only took a couple of seasons of

that to be like okay i get it like it's not gonna just seeing people be people like i don't need this and that's like the real housewives this is stuff that really had zero interest to me and i didn't really understand i had to look up when you asked me to watch vanderpump rules that i didn't understand the scale of the bravo um universe as you described it so um yeah basically like i i've been i've been out the game for a long time as soon as i started watching this i was like oh yeah i know what this is i know how this feels and what i'm supposed to be feeling and It was fun to watch. I don't know if I'll stay in it after this talk,

but I did get all caught up on the drama, and it's easy to get caught up, you know. Yeah, for sure. So as those of you who are tapped into the happenings of the Bravo world, you can probably guess we're talking about Vanderpump Rules this week. Before we get into the big news this week, Mike, I wanted to get your kind of untainted impressions of the cast of Vanderpump Rules, who you might have been introduced to in this week.

these episodes. So I'm going to just name some of the players in the game and feel free to Google a picture of them if you need to like refresh your memory. But first off, the matriarch Lisa Vanderpump. Okay. So yeah, that she, I like her, but it's like you see her the least of, of everybody, I feel like. And but she was a, I did a little Googling to figure out she was, so she was on housewives of whatever, L.A. Like was that? Beverly Hills, yeah. Beverly Hills, okay. And so I guess she was just popular enough to spin it. So I like her in the way she interacts on the show, but I also kind of like her because I just see that she's very savvy

and that she managed to spin off and figure out, oh, I can kind of get this reality TV sort of payday and be an executive producer, but not really have to be on camera and put as much of her own shit in the streets as much. So I like her. She seems like a savvy lady. Yeah, not only did she spin off this show, which like you said, she's producing. it's also like promotion for our restaurants. Exactly.

She takes place of her restaurants, which she owns. So yeah, you hit the nail on the hand, a very savvy business person. Yeah, I didn't, yeah. Sir is, I figured that out quickly. And then I sort of realized from the intro, I'm like, oh, there's like two or three restaurants. I feel like she's pumping all of them.

So genius move. Yeah, when Dylan and I were talking while he was down in L.A., he was describing Sir as being basically like a Disneyland type experience. for people in the Bravo fandom. So she's definitely done a great job of, you know, turning the brand and drama in her favor. On to Tom Schwartz. I see that on our Zoom call, you've put yourself on Team Schwartz. Well, I had to, I figured I got to play into it a little bit.

You know, like I said, these are not the shows that I've watched. And I've made a choice in my life that, like, I don't need to be involved in other people's pointless squabbles. but that is the only reason you watch these shows, right? So, okay, if I'm going to watch it, I'm going to get into it. And yeah, I'm fucking Team Schwartz. He seems like a cool guy. I like that he's into the restaurant, so he's trying to start the restaurant.

And I mean, I think he was pretty in the episodes that I saw, at least. I'm sure if I watched all 10 seasons, which I can't believe there's 10 seasons of this, I'd be like, oh, like he's, he was sort of a jackass. He deserves to get divorced. But like, coming in where I'm coming in, he seems to. to be doing his best to honor Kristen. No, Christian is the babe that wants to make out with him. What's his ex?

Oh, that's, yeah, Katie. Yeah, he seems to be doing his best to honor Katie's wishes as they, and take, you know, responsibility for having overcommitted himself in this restaurant, which probably led to the divorce and all that. So handsome guy, like his vibe, seems like he treats his friends. Well, didn't make out with the, with the babe. Raquel. What's his name?

Yeah, James is. James is an ex. when he totally could have. So, I mean, I do ultimately believe that they are still going to because, and you mentioned there's been some goings-on off camera, and I almost Googled it, but I figured you guys can catch me up. So I hope that's what's going on, because he seems like a good dude deserves to make out with a young babe, I think.

Well, it involves one of the people that you mentioned, that's for sure. Lala Kent. So Lala is exactly what I feel like. The reason I chose not to get involved with this phase of reality, Like she's, she's hot, but she's, she's, you know, she's, she's, she's on here for fame. She just says all the things, like, all this stuff about, like, in my circle, like, I have no room for, like, forgiveness or anything. It's, it's all these buzzwords and stuff. Like, she, I'm not saying she isn't a real person, you know, she's, but in many ways to me, she's not a real person.

She's, like, sort of a caricature and the epitome of what an L.A. phony is and what people, what is wrong with society. That's so harsh. Got it. Yeah, no, that's a pretty, like, accurate spot-on assessment of Lala, I would say. And what is her relation, like, it's unclear to me who, like, at first I was trying to figure out, or are these somehow all Lisa Vanderpump's kids? But, like, La La La is definitely not. In a way.

Yeah, in a way, they kind of are. But so as this actually, when it started, pretty much everyone on the cast was a, like, a server or a bartender at Lisa's restaurant. Vanderpumpin. The first like several seasons, they're all working there and then after the show was big enough where they didn't need to work there, they still pretended like they worked there for a few seasons to just like keep up appearances and it just

wasn't working. So now they don't even show them working with the exception of a few of them that are actually still working there. Gotcha. Sheena. Sheena is like Lola, but maybe I feel like a bit more honest with her. Like she has a podcast that seems to exist to do nothing but stir shit and like cash in on it. So I kind of respect her a bit more.

She's definitely, I mean, she's a bit too-faced because there's no doubt that she wants, she wants Tom to just start hooking up. But then I don't really know. Like I can't really, I don't know. I don't have enough background to see how close she ever really was with Katie. So I can't tell. Like if she was better friends with Tom all along than she ever was with Katie, then I guess it's all fair play. She probably would have a negative opinion of Katie and feel like.

She was a bridesmaid at Katie's wedding. So, I mean, they were somewhat close, but she has always kind of been a bit of an outsider to the core friendship that should, the core friendship that dominated the Vanderpump rules like social sphere for the majority of its run, which is mostly gone now. But yeah, she has kind of existed as an outside agent and probably an unpopular opinion, but I think Sheena is like one of the hardest working people on Bravo. Like, like you said, she's got a podcast that she's like focused, just using it to stir up shit. And she's always like even during Banderpump Rules shitty seasons, she's always been trying really hard to be an agent of chaos. So I love that. Yeah, she knows like a reality TV professional.

in my books. Like, she's doing the show's dirty work by trying to stir shit up, by, like, trying to get Tom Schwartz and Raquel together. Like, she's,

yeah, she's doing the producers' dirty work in a way. She's, uh, she's making the show happen. She's a professional in that sense, in my opinion. Yeah,

absolutely. Uh, Peter Madrigal. Um, Peter. Which one is Peter? He looks like a pirate. I don't know.

I got to look about. Peter, it's fair that you would forget. Very fair that you forget him. He's the most forgettable. Oh, Peter. Yeah, Peter. No, the guy, oh, yeah, he's a Dizzler.

I mean, at least based on what I saw, I mean, he's got a ponytail and he's the manager trying to bang a server. And, yeah, I mean. It's basically all there was to say about Peter. Yeah, every season. Yeah, I didn't have a lot of, I didn't have a lot of esteem for him. I'm surprised. I kind of thought that, like, oh, this guy must not have featured heavily in the show ever before

because he just didn't seem like an interesting dude. So believe it or not, he was in episode one, season one. And he hasn't been a constant feature all the way through. He's legit a guy that is just continuing to like grind it out at Sir and is like a manager there. But he was one of the main cast in the first season and has just kind of like popped up here and there. So it's interesting having not seen him for probably. two or three seasons to have him show up in like a substantial way this this time around right well that that kind of makes me like him a bit more i guess that he's one of the ones who's actually like

trying to live some semblance of a normal life as opposed to just rolling into the i have a little bit of vanderpump fame yeah i mean he is trying to leverage that there's a scene a few seasons back where he had tom sandibals starring in this space like the science fiction movie that he was trying to make Oh, I forgot about that. Insanely bad. So he's working, he's grinding, but he doesn't really, like, have the savvy to do it in a way that is really effective for him. He's, well, for starters, Craig, let's get that movie on the Plex server for all of us to watch. And, yeah, I can see that.

Like, he just doesn't seem like he knows that. Like, A, he's not a baby. It's easier for any of the women who can literally, like, Katie, not Katie, the James X, literally, literally, she can just go around and say, saying like, do you want to make out? Like a lot of the female characters, their preoccupation with making out is enough to like make them a star. Whereas if Peter was just like,

oh, he's talking about making out. They'd have had to fire him already, you know? So it's harder for him. I mean, he has been consistently hitting on servers way younger than him for like over a decade now. And this season we see Lisa like kind of gesture towards the idea that it might be inappropriate for. I think Craig the first time she's ever done done on camera.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. And I love how she, Lisa says, like, it's not 2012 anymore. Like, she's talking about the Nighttoe movement specifically. Yeah, yeah. Like, maybe in her, like, ultra-privileged enclave up on the hills and castles looking down on the peasantry, like, you know, those, in that world of rich vampires,

maybe they never realized that, like, you know, power disparities and sexual predation can, like, exist prior to, like, Harvey Weinstein's trial. Like, they just didn't know before. But I think, you know, most people in the, like, the real world realize that. So it's really funny to have her say, like, it's not 2012 anymore. Like, what the... Most people do that wasn't okay in 2012 either, but okay. How about DJ James Kennedy?

So, okay, is he Lisa's relation at all, or is he just the guy who's always been DJing there? No, he's not. He's friends with her son, though. Okay. He's also her friend's son. Okay, because, yeah. She's friends with his mother, which is, I think, think partially why she's she is very mothering towards him right she's it wasn't just that they have

they both have accents i did think that they seem to have like a somewhat deeper connection which i was struggling to understand if they because then i then the names are different obviously and there were things that made me think oh it can't be uh directly a son but um i mean he seems uh he seems he seems also like a sort of a holly you know like uh he's he's he's djing and he's he's got some sort of alcoholism that i can't tell without having seen the other scenes i can't tell if there was ever like a full on like, pardon me, went to rehab situation. But I mean, he's in love with the girl he started dating three weeks ago and moved her in right away. Like there's, he's some sort of psycho, if nothing else. I think, uh, seems like he could be a nice person and a good friend to,

to his friends. But, uh, definitely, I mean, he's not, uh, he's not living in the same world that, that the rest of us are. Yeah, I think he's like the funniest guy on the show for sure. And, And he's like truly an agent of like toxicity, which I love to see on on screen. So yeah, I'm hoping that his relationship with Ali, his new girlfriend, comes to a point where it becomes interesting to watch. Because right now she is like, she is so flat on on screen. We'll see if she's so weird for her to come into it because she's not dating this guy that she just met. she's dating the guy from banner pump rules right off the get-go yeah she's on camera and stuff so like i i don't know if she's flat as much as she's trying to not immediately be called crazy by the

entire world right so she's saying things like oh well he fucked la la when he was with his ex well like yes it it hurt me to hear that but i have to sort like she's very she's moderate and everything but uh you know i don't really falter for that um and yeah everything i was saying about james like i agree he he's funny and whatever but like he's definitely yeah like agent of chaos makes sense if that's your assessment of him because he's uh he's probably a guy where most things have worked out and will continue to work out for him one way or another so you know what what what does he give a shit yeah for sure uh how about ariana maddox riana she is the other tom's wife uh yeah yeah yeah long time partner uh yeah i mean in the first four episodes she like i was

struggling to place her when she was on because she doesn't really do too much and she just seems like very nice i mean she's a rider die with like obviously the the other tom's marriage fell apart because of his commitments to the restaurant stuff and she's she's the one who's sort of stuck by her man even though this guy has a restaurant and some ridiculous band that he's he's shilling out crazy money for so i mean whether that just makes her naive or maybe that like you know if i watch them for 10 episodes yeah i think i'd probably understand that um she's a she's a real rider die um she seems like she's good friends with she seems like she gets along with the most people which makes me think that she's not just like naive that she actually maybe is is is one of the more

grounded real people like she seems to be able to talk to katy as well as you know sheena as y'all i don't know if she's going to be friends with her shana you know whatever anyway yeah she seems like she's she gets along with everybody and she's nice yeah she she would definitely be the most grounded person on the show i would say and uh tom sandival so i don't respect his band uh i don't i don't know i can't tell if anybody else does um based on the little bit i saw or or his yeah i mean and like i you see him sort of just like he has a look he's a he's a beautiful man and i could see he if he wants to be a rock star like go go for it i guess but i mean in the little bit i saw he seems like he's sort of like a karaoke

singer who's paying a ten-piece band to come practice with him um So, yeah, I don't know. He seems like a good friend to Schwartz, though. Seems like they got similar, you know, outlooks on life, and they'll do mushrooms together, and I like all that. But, yeah, I don't really have a ton of esteem for him. He seems like, yeah, maybe he just, this guy was just a server at Vanderpump back in the day,

and that's why he's got 100,000 saved up to throw at this restaurant. Yeah, essentially. Yeah, he was a bartender. And a reality DB star for a decade. That's kind of the K-Faid Pires. they don't mention the fact that they're getting paid to be on TV as well. Yeah. So in other Bravo news this week,

Real Housewives of Atlanta star Drew Sedora filed for divorce against her husband Ralph Pittman after winning a literal race to the courthouse by 61 minutes. This would have been the big story on a typical week, but the cast of Vanderpump rules had other ideas. This week it came to light that Tom Sandoval was cheating on his girlfriend of nine years, Arianna Maddox, with co-star Raquel LeVos.

in a long-term affair that allegedly started at Coachella last year. Mike Dylan, any initial thoughts on this? Okay, so that means that because they talked about people were saying that Tom Schwartz made out with her at Coachella. Yeah. But that's where that's what it was. It was the lines were crossed. Yeah.

Yeah. So it was the other Tom. The other Tom. Wow. I don't even know what to say. Dylan. How do you feel? well this is why we're here right this is like an emergency episode this is the scandal ball i feel has like

even broken beyond the bounds of just regular vanderpump fans like it's like uh it's it's kind of a it's kind of a big deal and uh yeah i'm here for the drama i think um to go back a little bit to like our first um episode that we did Craig you were catching me up on what happened to the premiere of this season of Vanderpump rules which i hadn't seen yet at that point uh And it just didn't sound super fascinating to me because you're saying there's like an increased focus on Raquel and her relationship with Peter. And like you mentioned, it's like that's not the most attractive way to draw me into like, you know, the current realm of Vanderpruil's in the post-purge world of post-Stasi and Jackson, Kristen. You know, if you're saying you're going back with the original cast members being featured, but the original cast member, big feature are going to be Raquel and Peter.

It's like, I'd be like if you did like Star Wars episode 10 and you'd be like, it's about the guy who looks like a dick who plays an obo in a jazz band and in Quadronero or something. Like there's a, there are original cast members, but there are original cast members. Like Raquel said she showed up as James Kennedy's, like beauty pageant girlfriend, like just, you know, do I, February, like not very communicative. just making sentences very slowly with like a Vin Diesel-esque speed and just like generally appearing to have the IQ of like an oyster or something was not instantly like a dynamic presence on screen and as mentioned neither was Peter so I'm glad they got rid of that pretty

quickly you know in the second episode they have that little breakup scene which is just a microcosm of why this was a bad idea in the first place like during the little breakup scene. They don't know what to say. They're both avoiding eye contact. They both managed to spill their drinks a little bit while they're like shaking and try to talk. So I was not too stoked about that.

But as the season has moved on a little bit, I was surprised to see that Raquel started to become a lot more of an interesting sympathetic character to me. I mean, there's more of a spotlight on her. And she's obviously going through a bit of a crisis point in her life. I think maybe the two things that have most defined her as someone entering her adult life, her relationship with the worst person in Los Angeles, James Kennedy, the white Kanye. I doubt he still calls himself that. And her participation in beauty pageants.

They both came to an end. You know, she finally left James. She was forced out of beauty pageants because she turned like 27. So obviously she's just She's a horrendous, desiccated old crone at this point. Just unfit for human eyes. Just a husk of a person just fit to wander the Moors and wail. But so obviously she's going through some sadness.

She's going through a hard time. And as a consequence, she's being a little more revelatory. She's opening up a little bit more. We're starting to see a lot of her anxieties about, you know, somebody being a person in their 20s who just had a break up and is trying to figure out who they are and realizes they don't really know what their life is and feeling like other people around them have their lives together and they don't. I think that's a very easy thing to empathize with and makes her a lot more of a relatable character.

And she's showing a little bit more of personality. So she's actually becoming, to my surprise, more of an interesting character. Yeah, I think like it's interesting to me that this is the trajectory that she's been on. And you're right, it does like work with her because she definitely does, not have like star energy like a lot of the other personalities on there. So I think the only ways that she would become interesting is to become a sympathetic character. But this turn of events absolutely craters that. So it'll be interesting to see how she responds like this.

I am, I'm curious as to what you think about how like fans are engaging with this type of behavior because people, when this sort of thing happens, like, people are always calling for them to get removed from the show and just rallying against them. That's what they're there for. That's what they're there for. Yeah, that the producers are loving it. I mean, right? Like, they can't, they're not going to take her off the show.

Like, this is, I mean, I just came in to it. So it's funny for you to hear that she was just sort of a boring, like, whatever, because I can totally see that. But, like, I didn't get any of that. So let's get into a little bit of a timeline in terms of how this affair, how this, how this news broke. So on Wednesday night, Raquel and castmate Sheena were appearing on

Watch What Happens Live, which is Bravo's late night talk show where they bring on guests to talk about the shows that aired that night. Meanwhile, Ariana and Tom were giving

an interview to discuss how stable their relationship was and various things prior to Tom Sandoval's band performing in L.A. There's social media video showing Tom performing he's singing 5,000

miles by the proclaimers doing a call and response with Ariana in the crowd and sometimes shortly after that his phone falls out of his pocket on stage and Ariana grabs it to make sure he doesn't step on it. Ariana starts scrolling through his phone and finds a screen recording of

a FaceTime call that he had with Raquel where she was masturbating and then she messages Raquel says you're dead to me then calls Sheena to let her know what happened following the watch what happens live taping. Sheena confronts Raquel allegedly shoving her into a wall and hitting her and giving her a black eye. And TMZ eventually reports on the breakup on Friday, which sent social media into a tailspin.

You've got the minute by minute on this. You should write the novel on this, like the in cold blood style. That's crazy. Dramaticization of it. Was Arianna literally in the venue and like finding, like, finding. this and like people there must be sort of fan for you you must be able to see her sort of react to like this masturbation video or no um yeah so uh apparently this all happened in front of fans um and yeah that's when she discovered the video in front of in front of everyone that was there

that's crazy yeah so i mean my reaction to the news basically was uh uh just like considering that I was kind of warming up to Raquel, but, uh, you know, not totally. This was like, this was like when Henry VIII wins the battle of Agrignon. And it's just like, or was it, Agencourt. Anyway, it's in like the Shakespeare plays. He's always been like laying around doing no fuck all, just being a disappointment for two plays. And then suddenly, boom, huge fucking triumph. She earned her stripes there.

I think this is a great, uh, is a great. Yeah, this is like Shakespeare. It is. It is. I just find it amazing because she was very, very entitled when she had her confrontation with James at the dog park and was sort of saying, you know, I can't believe you hooked up with Lala right when we started dating. Like, how dare you. I was so faithful to you. And like, that just shows how crazy people are like that she, because she knew she's, you know, more culpable than him, but had no problem twisting the knife in it.

How is she more culpable than him, though? She's single. Well, it's, oh, my interpretation of it was that she'd been doing this with Sandus. of all for oh no no this this is an overlap no yeah yeah so it started at Coachella last year so oh right okay that's the timeline yeah it went on for about um I guess like nine months 10 months 11 months I don't know when is Coachella okay you're right less culpable but a different kind of culpable in that she was she was being a home wrecker so to speak um with with what I like in my outsider assessment was like that one of the most stable couples

that looked like on the show. So, um, yeah, different kinds of scum. I think it's interesting because Tom Sandoval is someone that has always got a pretty good edit, even when he was at the center of, uh, previous infidelity, uh, rumors with his, uh, former girlfriend, Kristen Doughty. Um, and with Ariana, too, there was the Miami girl. Yeah, Miami girl, which, you know, he totally slept with her.

That was like, obvious. So it's not the first time he's cheated for sure. sure. But they sort of crossed over it in the show, like this Miami thing is like never sort of I think the show is very sympathetic to him. Yeah, they they definitely like lean into it for for the drama but he has always managed or at least most more recently he has managed to get kind of the level headed guy like edit. Um, so that's why it is really interesting to see this come because he's had he's been on a streak of being kind of the nice guy here. Yeah.

Right. Which is relatively easy to do in this group of people because like everybody's done done shit in this group of people. That's, you know, part of the drama, part of the fun, but it's like a tight friend. It's part of the job. Yeah, it's part of the job. It's part of the job description. And that's why they're, that's why they have this. That's why they have this show.

So I feel like this is like just Raquel finally getting in on it a little bit. And since she's the one who's single, I think in a certain. sense like you know she's getting back on her feet a bit and uh like the responsibility for not fucking up tom's relationship uh falls in on tom's feet like that's he is locked our relationship he's the one sure who who trashed it uh yeah Raquel's being messy for sure uh right it absolutely all these people have been messy at some point and Raquel's a lot younger than most of them too right she's in her 20s like Tom's at least 20 years older than her he's got to be about 40 at this point like the original cast members are pushing 40 at this part.

They've all had their messy period in their late 20s. Raquel, newly single, trying to figure out her identity is like, is going through her messy period now. And part of me feels like, that's kind of her right, you know.

I guess that's true. Not that I don't feel bad for Ariana. Of course I feel bad for Ariana. Like that's, that's really shitty for her. But, and this is going to cause tons of problems, of course. But I just think those problems fall out.

Tom Sandibald's feet. That was his responsibility to not do that. True. I mean, Raquel also, now that I know a bit more context, she must be thinking like, okay, well, like, I know he's probably done Miami girl and at least a couple other infidelities, too. So she just thinks, I'm one of many. I'm not like, I'm not, I'm not breaking. I'm not, I'm not the one corrupting him here. He's got his own problems. And she wants to play the game a little bit as she watched these people do it for like a decade before her. So I guess that makes a lot more sense. Yeah. And again, he's like 20 years older than her. Like, who is he to be corrupted by by her like it's really his fault too for screen recording the masturbation call you never

you never do that yeah you have a hidden folder i mean that's just that's that's that's that's that's it's interesting that you bring up the that point because i think like um there is a lot of a lot more anger seems to be directed at Raquel online than it does it always works out that way right that's usually how it works though the homework record framing so that's part of why i'm a little defensive towards Raquel, I think, because people tend to just, like, throw the home record, the woman who is who is part of the infidelity under the bus in these situations, especially when it's somebody like, Tom and Arianna, who people have been fans of and have gotten to know for so long, they're so used to being together. So naturally, there's sympathy towards them as a couple as a unit.

Yeah, yeah. Some other notable tidbits that kind of came out about this. So I guess Raquel was living with Tom and Ariana for a bit after breaking up with James. And this affair happened on a number of occasions in Tom and Ariana's house while Ariana was sleeping in the next room over. And at one point, Ariana apparently caught Tom coming out of Raquel's room at 4 a.m. And he told her like he was just getting her water. and apparently that passed past the sniff test but I mean if it's been going on for this long

you're not going to get away with it forever like if it has been like nine months or something it's shocking that he actually hasn't slipped up significantly before like eventually you will if you're going to carry on that lot especially when you're doing it in your own home that seems yeah so it's a serious thing and apparently they want to they want to be together Tom has been seen going to Raquel's apartment since this news broke, making late-night visits.

They've had for months now matching lightning bolt necklaces that is supposed to represent their love for each other. And Tom said that he's been unhappy. I don't know. It's lame. How did that, again, I'm saying like, yeah, how was nobody else clued into this? that it bloated like they're wearing magic necklaces and nobody called that out before yeah it's it's pretty wild and rickle spent christmas with tom in st louis and um yeah i don't know how that worked but yeah again it's surprising that the lid wasn't blown off earlier yeah so i mean

that that makes it really puzzling that she was so like i think i want to make out with schwartz tonight i think i want to make out with shorts tonight because she has to know that that would then ruin that whatever she's got going with sandal would she have been sitting it as as a as a as a deflection is oh yeah i wasn't sure how the timeline mapped up with what we've been seeing in the first four episodes so would she have already been sleeping with sandable in these episodes we've been saying yeah so i guess there's theories that the breakup scene or the scene the date scene with peter at the restaurant the really awkward date that they've got where Raquel breaks down and is crying about the pageant stuff.

Yeah. That she was, that was in the midst of when the affair started. And that's what was causing her true emotional turmoil there. All right. I see. And from what we've heard on social media as well, I'm not sure what the source on this is, but all of Tom's band knew because they would hook up after. their practices in their practice space.

Wow, they're getting paid. They're getting paid to keep their bills shut. I think, yeah, they're getting paid for their silence. Yeah, that's finally starting to make a bit of sense. That is wild. I mean, it's funny, because I didn't really have much of a compulsion to go on with the show, but now I have to at least watch episode five to see how this is handled. Like, this will come out like today or tomorrow or something?

Yeah, so on Wednesday night is when it airs. Yeah. got so much more fascinating. You know, there's one person who's salivating over this it's Lisa Vanderpump. Yeah, well,

yeah, exactly. It's production. So Andy Cohen has already like kind of express his glee at this situation. Sure. Vendor Pump rules is thriving right now.

So this season is pretty much like in the bag in terms of production. But when production got wind of things breaking, they got the cameras out and have been rolling on the cast ever since.

And apparently the hope is that these events will get tacked on to the end of the currently airing season. Yeah, I hope so. Oh, so tag on to the end, but they won't, they won't sort of break in with, with footage from this week's, uh, what was the talking show that you mentioned? Like that's what happened. Oh, watch what happens live. We'll definitely be talking about it.

I think Lisa Van der Komp is on at some point this week. And so they'll definitely be talking about it. but Vanderpump rules. But they won't recut episode 5 of Vanderpump with a little bit of talking. Like we won't get that immediate payoff on all this scandal inside the show. No. So, but everyone is going to be watching it for signs and trying to like see,

figure out who knows what. So the rest of the season is likely going to play out like a big mystery for fans. Everyone's going to be looking for clues and, uh, trying to figure out who knows what. That's, that's where the, the interest in this is is going to how it's going to drive this season until we get to the end

whenever they put together however they're going to sort of try to wrap this up right my question to you guys is based on the episodes that we have watched who do you think knew that this was happening do you think schwartz or sheena or the production team schwartz makes sense to me uh just because how close he is to sandoval and like how long loyal. He has like a puppyish loyalty to Sandoval. And that would make sense.

And the whole like will they or won't they thing about him making out with Raquel at Sheena's instigation would make sense as a kind of cover for his buddy as a deflection for that.

So that would make sense to me beyond that I'm not sure. Yeah, for me, I would say Sheena would make the most sense just based on what I saw with her tightness with Raquel. But then when the news broke, Sheena punched her out or something, gave her a black eye. Then I guess that makes it sound like she was taking it back to. So yeah, I don't know. I mean, maybe just the, I don't know if she's a character, but like the girl that Raquel was folding cutlery with. Oh, yeah, Charlie.

episode two or three. Charlie, like she seems like she's, she's a small character, but I feel like she probably knows a lot more than people think. That would make sense. She seems really tight with everybody. Yeah,

well, Charlie unfollowed Raquel and Tom Sandoval on Instagram once this bro. But that could be damage control. Yeah, that's true. Craig, you're fucking Batman when it comes up. I love that.

I love that you have that information on talk. Like, let me just check my files all, you know. Yeah, I don't know if I, I don't know if I think shorts would like just because they're super tight buddies. You would think that, but like that that might be the kind of thing you hide even from your buddy because it is going to undo your marriage. It's going to do undo everything in Tom Schwartz seemed like genuinely like worried about keeping their marriage together. As he said, like my marriage is already a cautionail tale.

Yeah, like he seemed like he really had faith in them to keep going. So I don't know. I mean, people had to know, though, because like you said, they don't appear to have been that clever about it or even that sneaky, like hooking up where the band can know about it, wearing a matching necklace. Like, even if that was just like, hey, we'll do this on the download. It'll be something we both know. Like, you had to know somebody else was going to notice at some point,

comment on it, and then you were going to be spinning your lies. So probably people figured it out. I mean, we'll find out, I guess, only at the end of the season. That's such a shame. I would really love to see that play out now. Yeah, I think that production definitely knew. Just doing a bit of a rewatch in prep for this episode, the tail end of the season premiere,

there's a montage showing what's happening this upcoming season. And there are some carefully placed clips of Tom Sandoval and Raquel that kind of allude to this sort of thing. I feel like someone in production was hedging their bets So this information might come out and was is planting the seeds So obviously we'll see as the season evolves how much how many clues we get injected into this And how it kind of factors into the edit But I'm sure that someone in production knew especially if like you guys say they were not

Especially sneaky about hiding it Yeah. If anyone, if there was anyone in their like within that hemisphere that that knew about this outside of Tom and Raquel, then production would immediately know. They are exceptional at their jobs and their job is to like find information and use it strategically in order to create a narrative. And get them drunk and interview them at length. Like that's the other thing is I could see Raquel not have been able to keep a very tight lip on it when she's just in the interview chair for an hour straight. And like, especially you see her double fisting in the interview chair.

She's like, we've got two drinks at once. Yeah. She's definitely like as a 25 year old, you think you're so much more clever than you are. I could see like her saying like, oh, I was so coy about that comment. And production is writing like, you know, lines between the two of them and like already drafting the storyline just based on her sort of trying to be sneaky. Yeah. So one thing that came out over the weekend, there was a popular leak Instagram, if you're unfamiliar, or Twitter account that said Raquel had fired her initial PR team, which was the same PR team that Tom Sandoval uses and hired a crisis PR team to handle the situation and advised her to say that the FaceTime was recorded without her consent in order to position herself as a victim in this.

And just today I saw posts on Instagram where that that is the story that is emerging now that she's making this statement. It'll be interesting to me to see, you know, since this was kind of foretold in a leak, how people respond to that. Yeah, that's kind of like I In one hand Admired the strategy But also if they are actually in love And she's and they're gonna try and be together Then she can't just to spare herself in this moment

Throw him under the bus as you know Someone who like I believe that would just be called like sexual assault Like trafficking you know those those without consent that would put him in all water So she might not really be able to stick to that if they want to actually be together for any serious thing Yeah and I think like there's a a I think it would be a lot easier for her to use this to her advantage for her career as a reality star. If she is able to be just a messy person on TV, that's exactly what they're going to want to keep her for. So hiring a crisis response team seems, it doesn't seem productive to that goal.

in my opinion. I would be a bit more understanding of actually Tom Sandoval hiring a PR team because his two restaurants with Tom Schwartz are so tied to him as a brand. Like he has made his name a brand. And so anything that he does has repercussions on those restaurants. And so far, the only statement that he has put out has been, And take your anger out on me, not my restaurants. There's other people that are my partners that don't deserve any of this.

But buddy, you like, it's your fault for making your name, your brand. Like you could have created some distance if you're, you know, if you don't want the the shit that gets flung at you to hit your restaurant. Yeah, when you turn yourself into a brand, you live by that sort and you can die by that sword. When times were good, you wanted people coming to the restaurant because you're Tom sand of all nice guy so now that you're tombs and a little bad guy you can't be mad if they stay away yeah for sure and i don't know that it actually will drive that much traffic away i think yeah i think the people that are you know like to yell about this stuff on instagram are actually a

a uh a vocal minority i think that a lot of fans of bravo are actually a lot smarter they realize that, you know, this is, this is why we watch. There's a need for this and have an appreciation for the messiness. Right. And also, I mean, it sounds like that, like my impression is, no, it says, oh, they're in this happy marriage, but like, how long have they been together in this, in this long-term relationship correct? Nine years.

Nine years. Yeah, you know what? In L.A., like that, they had a pretty good run, I think, you know, like, maybe it wasn't going to survive much longer, you know, especially with, yeah, the stress of the opening the restaurant. So people get on with their lives there and tell to, you know, try and find happiness. I'm not saying that him and Raquel will be super happy together, but, you know, these things, these things are often finite, you know. Yeah. That's why I say, like, I feel for Ariana, but like the fact that she's, this whole time, she's resisted, like getting married or

having kids, which I think there was a subplot at one point that signed ball wanted kids and she doesn't want to do that. That's starting to look kind of smart. Like, I'm sure she's probably going through a lot of a lot of pain right now, but, you know, maybe in 10 years in the future, she's going to look back and be like, oh, thank God that happened. Like, uh, because the guy was a cheater and, uh, and I'm glad that I didn't invest, like, a marriage and children into, into this relationship. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And people are rallying behind her. I think like the smart thing for Ariana to do is rush to get that sandwich shop open with Katie so that she can capitalize on all this sympathy. Yeah.

Another interesting thing that happened or interesting to longtime Vanderpump fans is that Kristen Doughty has come to Ariana's side and is functioning as like a support person for her during this. Kristen Doughty, for those who haven't been watching this show, was Tom Sandoval's ex-girlfriend. She was one of the original cast members and was while she was on the show maybe one of the most magnetic. person on on bravo or at least the most um chaotic person on on the show yeah vanderpren misses christin a lot um and uh and also like i think we have enough information now to say that like tom was definitely starting his relationship with ariada well he was still in a relationship with christin oh yeah for sure when the show started yet like he said him and christian were in a bad relationship uh like a toxic relationship and then uh christin was upset about him getting

friendly with Arianna, the new bartender, and he's like, why are you getting upset about? And then they're instantly dating as soon as they break up. Seems suspicious. Yeah, and then... It's so crazy. Sorry, I just, I'm still getting over the fact that I thought more of these people had a direct relation to Lisa

Vanderpump. It's so weird to me that they're all just staff, but like from 10 years ago. But it's like, it seems like in the normal course of a show, they just keep making it about the new staff, but this show has made the choice like, no, we're just sticking with these people no matter what they do. Yeah, well, they've made a few attempts to do that when things were kind of getting stale and they just never really panned out.

And honestly, the original cast has kind of delivered, even if it hasn't been so much in the past like season, season and a half. They have a great track record of creating drama. So people still want to see them. So they remain the focus. They're really interesting personalities. Like, it's fun to watch. they hit on a good cast from the start. So even as like maintaining the illusion that their workers in a restaurant became untenable,

nobody wanted to stop watching those people. Yeah. So one thing that I saw, apparently People Magazine got intel that Kristen Doughty is in talks with production to return in order to confront Raquel over this, as long as she gets Ariana's blessing for this. So we could see Kristen Doughty come out of the penalty box and return to our screens. Chris and Doughty is really great at confronting people. So she's definitely like the person for this. She was responsible for flying Miami girl out in order to confront Tom Sandoval early on in his relationship with Arianomatics. So I would personally

love to see her make a return. I don't think she'll shoot her shot if she gets it and I don't think she'll miss. Oh yeah for sure. Yeah, that'd be a great cameo to throw in. Yeah. So do you either of you guys have any more thoughts on the Scandivall? No, great moniker though. I didn't. I'm a big fan of Scandival as a hashtag. That's yeah, someone who doesn't have a podcast definitely came up with that because that's a little bit of a mouthful. I was worried it was going to trip on No, I'm blindsided by it as a as a as the casual fan who came in and It's uh, this is this is what this is what we watch reality TV for though right so it yeah that's it was only gonna end one way

So let's talk about any other highlights from this season so far Mike anything stand out to you out of the episodes that that we watched Just like that the juvenile like commitment to like making out being such an prevalent story was just hilarious to me and exactly like I mean I do have time

my day I could watch this but this is why I don't want to because it is engrossing and you always get into it until you realize you're watching people who mean nothing to you or should mean nothing to you and have no bearing on your life

will never help you and you can't help them you're watching them talk about who they want to make out with the same thing said by any sort of narrative fiction though it's just these people actually exist and you know they have some chips in the game. They're real people. True.

Yeah, I was going to say the stakes are higher in a fake, but like not really, the stakes are non-existent in a fiction thing, whatever, unless you buy into it. But, you know, it's just, there was one line when they were sort of trying to figure out Katie, not Katie, yeah, no, Katie. Yeah, no, I guess Katie was trying to figure out how much of a hand Sheena had played in like trying to get Tom to make out with, with Raquel. And she said, like, Raquel's not,

isn't smart enough for this. she couldn't come up with making it with Tom on her own. It's just like, this is the absolute, like, drama. The, the, the, the, the gravitas behind, like, making. It was, it was just amazing to me. And, uh, that, that type of stuff overall is the highlight of this. And, yeah, I am, I'm glad I got to watch these four episodes.

Yeah, Katie said that Raquel is not diabolical enough to come up with this on her own. She's literally the human equivalent of cotton candy, which is a great bird for Raquel, honestly. Like, Katie did great job coming up with that one. but also like Raquel fucking showed her like apparently she is much more diabolical than you thought so yeah she kind of made her eater words on that yeah Raquel has been like the subject of some some historically great burns another one that comes to mind I think it was Lala that called her a Bambi-eyed bitch yeah

again on point yeah actually since this scandal broke Lala has a makeup line and one of her things is like the Bambi-eyed bitch line and she's put it on clearance as a as a jab to Raquel so any other highlights Mike no like I said I found the whole interesting the whole dynamic of Lisa as this matriarch interesting and one other highlight was I guess his name is Greg the older gentleman who's partners with the with the Tom's restaurant I love him because like he's in it's as you can tell he's in it as little as he can possibly be i feel like he has no it like he's just he's this he's this man who's like why can't i run a business with these like he's he just

wants to literally just wants to make his money um and uh i like him a lot i like that he he got the tom's to sign this deal which seems like ridiculous then like they're paying him rent so i like he he seems like a savvy guy and i i i appreciate he's stuck dealing with these uh sort of overgrown i don't want to call them all overgrown children but yeah he's he's they're trying to get get his bottom line right and they're out there talking about making out and his struggle with that was really a highlight for me and and it seems like uh Lisa is like circling that business like a shark too. Oh yeah. You know, going in it. That's where you see like the Lisa being the, uh, like we said, the, the craven business woman. Like the she's she knows her business and you know, she smells blood

in the water and she's, uh, the other restaurants featured in the show are all restaurants. that that she's part owner of. This new one, Schwartz and Shandy is not yet, but she seems ready to strike in there and seems like she's going to try to convince the Tom's to buy out that guy so that she can get the stake in that instead. Yeah, and honestly, like probably smart for everyone involved.

Obviously, this guy is struggling to, you know, run things with the Tom's. And Lisa has a proven track record of being able to monetize, reality TV stardom. So it probably would make the most sense. She knows how to to herd the kittens that are Tom and Tom. You said Sandval already has a restaurant? Yeah.

So there's Tom, Tom, and that is the restaurant that Tom and Tom have with Lisa Vanderpump. And this new one that they're trying to get up and running is Schwartz and Sandys, which is one that Lisa is not involved with. they are trying to sort of break out on their own. Right. I'm going to look up Tom Tom. I didn't realize that was also them. Okay, well, that's good to know.

Tom, Tom. All right. Dylan, how about you? What about your highlights? Yeah, we covered a lot of them. Just turning back to the thing with Lisa, I think she is being a little bit of a mastermind and a bit of a villain, I think, so far in this series.

I think sometimes from a certain angle, Lisa is like the villain of the show. And I think you see that in the way that people are treating Raquel's breakup, like early on in the episode. Of course, the Revelations may be insist on a rewatch to reinterpret everything we've seen. But you see Raquel's friends being like, oh, you know, it's good you got out of that relationship. He was cheating on you and stuff. And, you know, James Kennedy is a piece of shit. So it is good you got out of it. And then when she starts crying around Lisa, Lisa is like,

like oh you still love him and Lisa just the way that she constantly coddles James Kennedy and gives him like opportunity after opportunity and second chance after second chance no matter how much he like hurts everybody around him is like the one of the worst indictments of her uh and that like in that little world they live in too uh and the other thing i want to say kind of related to that is just like the revelations about a Randall, little Harvey that come in early. In the early episodes, like, that's very upsetting, but also, like, not surprising at all, that, you know, Lala's ex was, you know, a little Harvey Weinstein, which he just, like, kept doing for years and years, apparently, I guess, until he was outed by feminist icon 50 Cent.

but that's just like more evidence and just like how they're like little like West Hollywood Beverly Hills world despite how like much they're obsessively patting their backs about like their inclusivity and having their right politics and stuff is still like a very like festering closed world that can probably use a lot of sunlight shined in on it so just kind of a general observation that there's like a lot more rot showing around the edges of this environment they're in.

Yeah, it's interesting that you brought that up. I think like there's a scene, I think it's in like episode two where Lala has a conversation with Lisa about the, the Randall's scandal. And it's really like hard for me to really give any sympathy towards Lala because she's built her brand on being this proud mistress who, like people are constantly like hey look there's a red flag on this guy and her just being like yep I don't care and then now she's trying to pretend like she was caught off guard. Not really working for me.

Yeah, I mean she mentioned some sort of elaborate thing that he did to like Matt where he's like was there something with this fake couple psychiatrist that he took her to and that gave him the vouch. Yeah. Don't get me wrong. I don't have a lot of sympathy for either and she definitely I feel like, knew what she was into but it seems like there might have been another level of her trying to get to the bottom of it and he actually went out of his way to like hire hire someone to fool her for sure like I think you also have to reckon with the fact like not saying that that that that's not

true that there's tons of red flags that she willfully ignored but there's also like the whole power dynamic of like how he had like a whole staff and like people and he was paying and like was you know he had all the power of this relationship to to to manipulate people that he wanted to So, you know, I do it, even though, like, Lala was probably, like, playing more innocent than she actually was. She's still a victim in the situation as well. Other than that, I'm also invested in seeing how things play out between Katie and Tom Schwartz. Because, you know, things haven't gone totally stealth yet between them, but they seem to be tilting in that direction. And you can see that Katie is, you know, Katie's not an idiot and she's got a bit of an edge to her.

She is planning her battle strategies. She is ready to go to war. And like she might have been joking about like running train, but she, I don't think she was joking about like, well, his, you know, the new bartender he just hired is pretty cute. Like she's planning strategies to, to like hurt him if it comes to that. and Tom Schwartz being the absolute milk toast funny duddy, like wishy-washy dude that he is, is absolutely not going to be ready if it comes to war. Like he's just going to be like making his puppy dog faces

and padding her out while she's going to be like planning a whole season long campaign against him. So we'll see how that turns out. Yeah, I think so this was the only highlight from the season that we didn't talk about that was on my list. Tom and Katie's relationship has been a lot more compelling to watch for me than I was anticipating. I was not expecting to actually see some real emotion, like some real like pain come to the surface when they talk. But whenever they do sit down, it's it's always like it feels very raw. There was the whole, you know, is this, was it worth it conversation?

where they're doing one of their soft openings and Katie confronts or has a conversation with Tom and he's like, oh, can you believe it that this is finally open? And she's like, well, was it worth it? Yeah. And he's like, oh, no, I didn't like, I don't want it to seem like I was putting the bar before you. And she's like, well, you put everything before me.

Like, you never chose me. And that is true from everything that we, we have seen previously on this. And I don't think that, I think that if there's anyone that is, you know, less calculated than we thought Raquel was, it would be Tom Schwartz. I don't think, like,

I don't think he has two sides to him. I don't think there's Tom Schwartz that we see on camera and off camera. He's always trying to, like, put on this, like, good guy thing. And I think it's pretty transparent, actually, in previous seasons that, you know, he's a bit of a scum and, like, completely self-interested. And we have seen since season one where he puts his own interests ahead of Katie. And so this is definitely like real feelings that we see when she has that conversation. Yeah, for sure. They have some very direct and cutting dialogue there, which is, it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

And I think, like, one thing that's interesting is she is, she seems way more, or she is directing a lot of anger at Sheena. And this just feels like to me, we've seen season after season, she would get mad at Schwartz and it always kind of blows up in her face. she's always painted as you know katie katie the bitch like that she's got a bitch at it for you know nine years anytime that she gets mad at schwartz because he's just so good at playing this like goofball aloof guy and it's like teflon and so yeah i think she is finally smart enough to realize like you know i can't get mad at this guy i'm gonna get the bitch at it again coming out of this relationship i'm going to direct the anger at at sheena and it's landing a lot better for her i think Yeah, like I said, she has a battle plan.

She knows what she's doing. Yeah, I think, I think Katie is a very smart, like, there's a reason that she has been on the screen for nine, ten years. And it's, you know, it's not because she's like has something about her that is especially likable. It's, you know, that's, that's not true about her. She is very abrasive. And that's one of the things that I think sets her apart from the rest of this cast. she's got a bit of an edge to her and um yeah but she is she's very very smart i think and um it'll be interesting to see how this relationship with tom evolves and um how things go

between her and china all right unless you guys have any final thoughts i think that about does it? I think I'm good. Yeah, I think so. Awesome. Well, thanks again, Mike, for joining us. Do you want to let everyone know where they can find you? Yeah, I'm on Instagram at Mikegreen.com.com. I also just made a TikTok channel, not for myself personally, but for the Combe Battle Real, which is a TV show that I produced last year. That we produced more or less just like for sort of Bell 5, which is like, you know, sort of I want to call it public access, but like it was, it was, they gave us money to make it and it lived on their platform exclusively. But now it's off and I'm kind of trying to figure out if anybody else will give us money to pick up the old episodes or just get any following. So yeah, I made a TikTok for a comedy battle rea.

And you can watch clips of the show on there. And then it'll also let you know where you can watch full episodes. Awesome. And Dylan, how about you? Yeah, as always, you can hear me talking about horror movies on the podcast, Mind Over Splatter. And I've got a substack to where I read about movies. Awesome. That is it for the Bravo Outsider this week. You can find us on Instagram at Bravo Outsider. We've also got a website, bravo outsider.com, and we'll see you next week.