Mention It All - Is The SUR Era Of Pump Rules Officially Over?

Episode Date: February 7, 2024

Dylan kicks off today’s episode with the latest news on Kyle and Morgan’s bizarre relationship, and another update in the Kim Zolciak saga of brokeness. From there, it’s time for a Vanderpump Rules recap, and Tom Sandoval is back in the picture (yayyyyyy). It’s a decent episode, but Dylan has some existential questions about where the show is headed, and how it’s any different from the upcoming spin-off, The Valley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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See Store Online for details. Betches Media presents. Ha ha, laugh, funny. Mention It All, a Bravo by Betches podcast. We don't say that, but now we said it. With me, Dylan Hafer. We're going to check me, though. Hey, everyone.

Welcome back to the Mention at All podcast. I'm Dylan Hafer. It's Wednesday. We've got a new episode of Vanderpump Rules to talk about. I have some existential questions about what's going on over in the Vanderverse, if you will. We've got some news updates. We've got some things to get into. to, you know, I'm just sitting down to record. And the first thing I see is that Charlie DeMilio and

Landon Barker have broken up after a year of dating. What are we going to do? I'm so sad. I'm so sad. I'm kidding. No, the actual news, if you will, today is Kim Salsiak, sells skincare line cashmere collections amid crippling financial woes with Croix Beerman, our friend Francesco Vicarty at page six writing this beautiful headline. Gotta mention the crippling financial woes. So Kim posted on Instagram that she has sold her beauty line to 310 nutrition, which is known for its meal replacement options. It's unclear how much the brand sold for, but in honor of the acquisition, the new owners

are offering a 25% discount sitewide. Francesca writes, the sale of cashmere collections is Zilsiak's latest attempt to get out from underwater as lawsuits from credit cards, car companies, and more bear down on them. Look, I am not an expert in the mergers and acquisitions field. I don't know the exact particulars of Kim Zalsiak's business arrangements. I don't think that this is the influx of capital that perhaps she might want it to be. She says, I can't wait to watch the brand's growth. Here's to your future filled with endless possibilities. Look, this is a woman who is selling used handbags and shoes on her Instagram story

and having people pay her via cash app. This is not like a billion dollar deal. It's a fire sale. She's starting to sell the bricks that the house are made of. And look, I wish her the best. It sounds from the phrasing like she is not going to be involved with cashmere collections from here. But the thing is, with these Bravo LeBriti beauty brands, there are so few of them that actually become something real.

And I'm not saying that they make zero dollars for them or that they're like complete flops. But, and this is true of most celebrity lines, not just housewives, not just Bravo Labs, but it's like, who's out here talking about give them la la beauty in the year 2024? We've heard about what happened with Giselle in every hue. You know, it was in Target and then it wasn't and now it's nowhere. Who is checking for Kim Zolziak Bierman's cashmere collections skin care line? I just, I don't see it for them. And this is also, I guess this is separate from her makeup line.

Like, I just, I think the, um, the market of people who ever, but especially now, are being like, you know who's pearly, fresh skin? I'm trying to get on the level of Kim Zulsiak-Bearman. I just don't, I don't see the market. Maybe it's a very few years ago type of thing, but I just don't. I don't know what the, I don't know what the end game is there. But also, we have updates, thank God, on Kyle Richards and Morgan Wade. They're fine.

They're fine, you guys. Everything is fine. And by everything, I mean, they're still friends. They're just friends. They're good friends. There, of course, had been speculation in the last couple of weeks after seemingly they had removed each other from their Instagram feeds. You know, some posts that were there before aren't there anymore. And so people get to get to chattering.

But over the weekend, Kyle was in Nashville. She attended one of Morgan Wade's shows at the Country Music Hall of Fame. She was taking videos. She was having a good time. And then Morgan posted a story with Kyle in it and said, P.S., Kyle and I aren't fighting. We're still friends. We're good. And Kyle reposted it and said,

must have been a slow news week. I love when Kyle, Kyle loves to do that little like, uh-huh, gotcha at the press where she's like, must have been a slow news week. If people wanted to comment on my relationship with Morgan Wade, and it's like,

Kyle, respectfully, you've been in this game a really long time. You know that there is a lot of attention on your relationship with Morgan. And I get that some of it is people reading into things, people wanting to know maybe more than is actually there. But also, it's because your relationship is a little weird. And you're single-ish for the first time in your entire adult life. Like, it wasn't a slow news week.

It was us trying to get to the bottom of something that has seemed really cryptic and weird and is currently playing out on a reality TV show about your life. So, slow news week. I don't know. It's like, get over it. People care. But what we really got to talk about today is Vanderpumpurals. And Vanderpumperals, of course, is, um, it's carrying a lot of weight this season. The premiere, I thought, you know, I talked about it last week. I thought it was decent. I thought it was solid. I thought it was not perfect, not mind-blowing. But in, you know, in the sense that not every episode can be the best episode of all time. I thought the premiere was just fine.

And that's kind of how I felt about episode two. I think that I am definitely more on board with it this season so far than some people. But I also think that you can feel the edges kind of where the story can go and where these characters, not characters, these people, kind of what they can give us. And I think, obviously, in the premiere, Sandoval was not there until the very end. We saw him arrive back at the house. He's been in New Zealand. He's been, you know, filming Special Forces, World's Toughest Test. He wanted to be punished. It was the toughest thing he's ever done. I'm like, okay, this is deeply uninteresting to me. I don't watch Special Forces, World's Toughest Test.

for a reason. I just, I don't need to hear about him getting like punched or crying or carried or whatever. But so he's back. The situation with Anne and the assistant is, I don't even have words. It is so like, watching it for two minutes is so draining. And I just can't imagine living like that. And we're all talking about, oh, this assistant, Anne, she's a saint. I said she deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.

I stand by that. And of course, yes, that seems like a nightmareish job. Watching her greet Tom and get the message about the birthday party and then text Ariana. And then Ariana comes into the kitchen and she's like, hey, did you get my text? And Ariana's like, oh, yeah. My answer is no to that. I will call the cops.

And so she has to be like, hey, Tom, sorry. Yeah. So she said, the back and forth of it all, it just seems so draining. And that's the thing with Tom and Ariana, without even having to choose sides or get into the deep complications of everything that happened with Scandival and with their situation, it just is not a healthy dynamic or it can't be for either of them. And so a little later in the episode, Ariana is talking to Lala about, you know, not wanting to leave the house and how she doesn't want to move out until they, they sell the house together and she doesn't want Tom to buy her out of her section because then she'll feel like Tom is getting off easy and it's this, you know, house that they bought together. And I really have mixed feelings about this because I get, I get why Ariana feels that way. I get that she doesn't want to sort of give in to what Tom wants in this situation. But I also just feel like she's making her life harder.

And that I understand that selling to Tom would make his life easier. But I feel like in that situation, the better decision for Ariana would be to just focus on herself. What will make her life easier? What will make things quicker for her? And if Tom wants to give her, you know, X amount of money, if she can, I think that's the thing. If she can get that number to a place that she was comfortable with to just take the money and run. And she could be out of that house next week. But I think, I don't know if maybe this is reading into it too much.

I have a feeling that if they had any actual financial conversations about him buying her out, that he was probably trying to lowball it. that, you know, kind of trying to get like the, the least possible dollar amount for the half of the house that she owns. And so I get, I get why she's hesitant to do that. But at the same time, it's like, she's talking about her new boyfriend coming into town and they're spending all this money to stay other places. And then Tom wants to have people over for his birthday. And she's like, I'll call the cops if there's noise after midnight. It's just not, it's not like a positive environment. And I feel like especially if you're in a position where you're trying to move on, it's like, just do what you can to move on. I don't know. We're seeing kind of similar threads.

I talked about with Ashley on Potomac and Lisa and Lenny, their situation on Miami, this kind of like, this thing of like, what do you do when this relationship that was your home and your home was tied up in it? What do you do when it ends? Kind of what's your next move? and, you know, with Ariana, she's in a very different position than somebody like Lisa Hawstein because she is, she's the big earner in the picture now. So it's like, you could find, you could find like a sick apartment for less than your, I don't know, I don't know how much of mortgage is in Valley Village. But I just think, I don't know, I want to see her out of there. And I know that she's still not as we, as we talk about this, other than the fact that she's in

New York. So I just want her to get out. Tom getting his white noise machine so Ariana can't overhear what he and his friends are saying. It's like this is, this could be like a 2000s rom-com with like Jennifer Aniston and, you know, Owen Wilson or something. Where it's like two people that break up in the house and then obviously by the end they realize that they're supposed to still be together. It's giving like the breakup. But I don't know. I just, I want her out of the house. But Anne, sweet Anne, she's doing her best.

Prayers up to Anne. I believe Anne is not working for Tom Sandoval anymore, so good for her. Good sleep is everything. That's why Ali's science back support is made with a blend of melatonin and L-Dienine for both kiddos and grown-ups. So when your mind won't switch off, you've got something that can help. You're racing thoughts and restless nights won't stand a chance. Find Ollie's sleep solutions for the whole family at Ollie.com.

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ends June 30th, terms at aka.m.s slash college PC. I thought this was a great episode for James and Allie. I really enjoyed Allie's presence last season. I think James is kind of in a better spot than he's ever been before. And seeing them just on their, on their cute little walk around their neighborhood of Burbank, you can hear the planes flying overhead. They're talking about their dog situation because James misses Graham Cracker.

Graham Cracker was taken by Raquel, and now he's just so sad picturing Graham in the, quote, cactus-infested land of Arizona. The whole Raquel storyline thus far in the season is really kind of fascinating because there's this thin little thread of the idea that Raquel is obviously not there, but sort of. of in the picture in a way where it could, she could come back, she could return. She and Tom Sandoval could have this life together. You know, he's staying, he still, still loves her and still wants to have a future with her. And I just don't, you know, I don't think that that was really super real at the time that they were filming this. You know, we saw it with Lala last episode where I, I had that theory that basically they had her. send that voice note to Raquel, kind of just to leave the door open a little bit. But when Tom is talking

to this dude Jason in his kitchen, and by the way, the fact that it's episode two, and we're already kind of bringing in these random side characters just for Tom to have somebody to talk to, it's going to be a long season if we're doing that every episode. So I really hope that we're not getting like Jason and Billy Lee and, you know, randos that we've never seen before as like, like, like Tom's friends all of a sudden. But he's saying he's still in love with her. He hopes there's a future. And it's just like, my man.

Come on. The best thing, though, that he says when he meets up with Schwartz is that a big part of the reason that he got sober was because Raquel is in this treatment center where he knows that she can't be drinking. So the last thing he wants to do while she's in this facility. is to be out drinking and partying because he figures that they can do that together when she gets out. And when he said that, I'm like, look, I know that Raquel was not in a treatment center for like alcohol drug addiction. Like that's not why she was away.

But to think about and say out loud on camera that you're like, oh, like, I know I'm, I'm sober right now because I don't want to be a dick, but then like, God, I can't wait to party with her when she comes back. This man is either lying through his teeth or he is like so much more ridiculous than I even realized. It's like, what are you talking about? You're not going to have this like moment with Raquel when she comes back from Arizona where she just wants to like go out dancing with you. That moment, it's over. First of all, you're going to get drinks thrown at you anytime you go out in public. Like, I don't even know where you think you're going out.

That people are going to be like, oh, like, Tom and Raquel. Woo! People aren't going to, like, follow you around with, like, a sparkler bottle. People are going to be, like, taking pictures of you in the club, trying to make you look bad on Reddit. But also, it's just like, that's not based on everything that played out over the course of Scandaval. It's like, that's not your story. That's not what it's going to be. It's not going to be like, oh, yeah.

this cool chick Rachel that I fell in love it that's going to come back from treatment. And then we're just going to like ride off into the sunset. It's like she's in Arizona. Yes, at this treatment center, but also her family is like begging her not to go back to L.A., not to talk to Tom, not to go back on the show. Like, she is, she's out of the picture. And I think the quicker he realizes that I'm not going to say that like he will redeem himself, but at least he won't seem so pathetic.

he won't seem so like delusional about the reality that he's living in where it's like, babe, this is over. That's not happening for you. I don't know what is happening for you, but it's not going to be, it's not going to be your redemption arc with Rachel. Raquel. They're very committed to calling her Raquel. I was surprised that Sandoval even is calling her Raquel on the series.

I think that must have been a production thing because I feel like he calls her Rachel. He's like, that's my girl. and she wants to be called Rachel, so I'm going to call her. Her name is Rachel. I don't know. So good, so good, so good. Everything you want for summer is at Nordstrom Rack stores now. And up to 60% off.

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Did you guys know that pump closed? End of an era. Ten years. Tom, uh, Ken wants to retire. It's crazy to me. So Lisa's saying that part of the reason, so they're closing pump because rents are skyrocketing. So it would be astronomically expensive. And also, Ken wants to retire.

So if they committed to another 10 years of pump, Ken would be working in his 80s and Lisa would be working in her 40s, which cute. Okay. I don't know what the meaning of like working really is because so, okay, if they could only sign a 10 year lease or nothing for pump, I get it. Close pump. Who cares? Sir is like the spot for the show. Tom Tom is better anyway.

You know, you've got other options. I feel like pump was kind of like the Malcolm in the middle of those establishments. geographically and like, I don't know, vibes-wise. But then Lisa posts on Instagram, she's like, she's like, RIP pump, but don't worry, me and Nicolane have a new spot coming, Wolf, you're going to love it. It's going to be sexy. I think this is the one in Tahoe, which is like previously announced, but does, does Ken get to retire while Wolf is still popping?

I mean, she has like two spots in Vegas. She's opening another one. Like, the whole like Ken doesn't get to retire thing is a little bit like L. O.L to me because I'm like, I don't think anybody's like demanding that Ken show up at the office at 9 a.m. on Monday. Yeah, maybe he like makes an appearance looking a little waxy at at Sir every once in a while. But like, I don't think, I don't think Ken is like working per se. Anyway, I do hope he enjoys a nice retirement. I haven't seen much Canada this season.

And you know what we haven't seen much of this season? And this is what I really wanted to talk about. We have not seen a lick of Sir. In the opening credits, which are very glossy this season, I think they filmed it on a drone. I saw some behind the scenes footage. Lisa is still in Sir, but we have not seen

I don't think a single scene in these first two episodes that's actually taking place at Sir. The first episode, they were at Tom Tom for that kind of group reunion night where James was DJing. This episode, obviously, they go to the pump kind of closing night event. Tom Schwartz is behind the bar. Lala's wearing this, like, sort of ridiculous, not even backless, like, back and sideless purple sequin dress, like a very like Jessica Rabbit-looking. dress. But we have not been to Sir. And it has been a few seasons since they finally sort of cut the bullshit and stopped pretending that these people work at Sir, which I think at the time when

it happened, everybody was glad. Because there had been a few seasons there after the show was really established, after these people were like bona fide reality TV stars, where they were still sort of keeping up appearances on the show of like, oh, Sheena, sheena's training. the newbies at Sir, you know, Jacks and Sandoval were behind the bar forever. There was that one season a couple years ago where Ariana was like

trying to find herself again and she asked Lisa to come back and work some shifts at Sir. And it just felt, it felt fake. And as I am not one to throw out like, this show's fake, this storylines fake, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But there was a point where it was like, no, these people don't,

these people are not waitresses. But I think it felt like over the last couple years, we still were like drawn to sir in a way, that there were still these, that there were still these moments where we would sort of congregate at sir or like, you know, Charlie and Ali were working there and Raquel was working there a little bit. I don't know if Ali ever worked there, actually. That might be wrong. But, you know, we had sort of like the newbies were still working at Sir a little bit. We would still go there for pride. Maybe there would be like a DJ night or a brunch thing.

But so far this season, and I know we're only two episodes in, so maybe next episode will be at Sir, and this will be like a stupid rant in a week. But it just, it feels strange that all of a sudden this kind of, this spot that is, was where this show was born and has kind of been the anchor for it in a lot of different ways over the years is just sort of fallen by the wayside. And I have mixed feelings about that on this. show. I think, you know, in a way it makes sense. These people don't really have a reason to be hanging out at Sir. But what I was really thinking about as I, you know, thought about this a little

bit more, is that if this show, if we're finally acknowledging that this show has evolved past sir in any meaningful way, what the fuck is the Valley? What are we doing with the Valley? this Jackson, Brittany and Kristen show that's coming this spring that we got that god-awful teaser for. Because I don't know if you remember, but a few years back, I think this was like right around the beginning of the pandemic before the kind of Vanderpump Rules mass firing in 2020. There were rumors, there was development, whatever, around a spinoff that basically is what the Valley is now. But at the time, Vanderpump Rules was in this era where they were bringing. bringing on all these new people who were working at Sir. That was the season where Sheena was supposed to be training people.

That was when we had Dana and Max and Brett and Charlie and Danica. God, do you remember Danica? Just barely. But, okay, that season of Vanderpump Rules. It didn't work. But it made sense that if that was the route they were going with Vanderpump Rules, that it's like, oh, we're bringing in this new crop of servers. We're going to be, you know, kind of we're staying at Sir for Pride.

we're staying at serve for see you next Tuesday, then this spin-off show would have been kind of the OG crew of Vanderpump moving on to the next phase of their life. And, you know, maybe you were excited for that, maybe you weren't. But at the time, it was like Tom and Ariana, Tom and Katie, Jackson, Brittany, Stasi, Kristen, the whole crew would have kind of graduated onto this next show. But what ended up happening was Vanderpenterpenter. Trump rules went back in the direction of focusing on the, you know, established crew,

minus the people who got fired in 2020. But then they still now, in the wake of, I guess, Scandival and people caring more, have decided to go with this other concept. But in the years in between, the original show has gotten closer to what the other concept was supposed to be. So now I'm thinking about it and it's like the Valley really just seems like it's sort of the Vanderpump Rules leftovers. And I already, you know, I don't think I would be that excited to watch a Jackson-Britney show kind of no matter what. But the idea that Vanderpump Rules is already basically a show about these like older, you know, 30s, dipping into 40s people navigating these phases of relationships and breakup. and buying houses and all this stuff.

I'm like, so why do I want to watch Jackson, Brittany and Kristen and a bunch of randos do that? Because when we tried to cast randos on Vanderpump Rules a few years ago, it didn't work. So I'm like, I, you know, maybe the Valley is just not for me, and that's okay, and we can move on. But who is it for? Because if it's for fans of Vanderpump Rules, then Van der Pumper Rules is right there, and it's giving you, it's the same thing.

I don't know. This is a topic I feel like we will be revisiting throughout the season, and I'm interested to get some guests on here and to have opinions of different people of sort of what is the larger meaning of Vanderpump rules. And I don't mean in like a philosophical sense because like it's not that deep. But I'm curious. I'm certainly curious. And I, we will see how this develops. I am, I'm happy to see. I feel like Schwartz is exhibiting some light signs of growth this season. he, I think, is holding his own in this post-Skandival, Tom and Tom kind of villain era. I think he is being smart about how he is positioning himself in the early stages of this season.

As somebody who is not, he's not, like, ditching Tom Sandoval completely and distancing himself fully. He still is friends with him. He still is, you know, going to show up to his birth. and he's going to, you know, sit down with him and talk about what happened. But he's very much not rolling over and just being like, oh, yeah, man, you know, I love you. We're all good. Whatever. You know, he's, he's really holding Tom Sandoval's feet to the fire a little bit about kind of

his low-key abandonment of Schwartz and Sandys and saying that he wishes he should have done more. When Tom's like, man, special forces was so rough. And Schwartz is like, well, I would have rather done that than deal with this shit show at the bar. Damn. I don't want to give Tom Schwartz like too much credit. I mean, as Ali says, she really wants to get in there with his birth chart and give him some sense of direction in life. But like, I kind of am into his dynamic with Sandoval so far this season, which I was not expecting. You know, from the reunion, from that watch what happens last.

appearance that Ariana was so mad at. I was expecting Schwartz to kind of be like an idiot on this season. And so far, it's kind of the most I've ever liked him.

I don't know. We'll see what happens. I mean, the Schwartz and Sandy's of it all. It's like, I just, especially if it's true that the other partner isn't letting them film there this season, it's like, where is this going?

Tom Sanneville, like, wants to go back to the bar, but it's like if we can't go back to the bar, we as in like the camera crew in the audience, it's like, okay, who cares? We're going to end up back at Sir at this rate. But of course, Sandoval is having his little birthday hang.

And he has cleared with Ariana that it's going to be about 12 people and that they'll be gone by midday. I'm like, okay, whatever. That's like a normal 40-year-old birthday party. You don't need to be having like a rager until 6 a.m. And it is such a cast of characters. like discarded doll island. Billy Lee is there.

Schwartz drops in. James comes and Allie stays in the car. So I saw a couple people being like, why would Ali even come in the car if she doesn't want to come inside? I think they're going to emo night after, which like emo night is the whole thing. We'll talk about it next week, I think. But like, Ali literally being like,

don't take too long because I'm staying in the car because I don't even want to be like dipping my toes into the energy of allowing Sandoval into my space. I, Ali Lubber, People's Princess, she's crushing it, she's doing a great job. Go girl, you're, love you. She's doing great. But James is so right that when he walks into this party, it's like, who are these people? this guy that is going up to him and being like, hey, yeah, man, I just feel like he made weird things with me and Katie.

And James is like, who the fuck are you? And that's what I'm saying. I mean, this season with, this season with Sandoval, it's like, I'm not mad that he's on the show because I think it makes sense to follow kind of both sides of the story with this breakup and this scandal. but also like I just I'm not going to I'm not going to be bothered to care about some of these like interloper kind of people and I hope that they don't keep shoving them in our face

because it's going to be a long season if that's the case. If I want if I want Rando's of L.A., Randolph 40-year-old man of L.A., I would just watch the Valley. It's going to be fun when that show comes out. Don't you worry. But anyway, that's the episode for today. Don't forget to rate and review and follow the show wherever you listen. Thank you so much for listening. We'll be back tomorrow with a fun guest episode.

And until next time, be cool. Don't be all, like, uncool. Mention It All is produced by Dylan Hafer, Sean Kilby, Jorge Morales Pico, and Rebecca Sousmakat. Editing by Jorge Morales Pico, social media by Dylan Hafer, guest booking by Dylan Hafer and Ali Friedlander. Be sure to follow at Bravo by Betches on Instagram and Twitter. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars.

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