Mention It All - Kymanda’s Divorce Drama & Andy’s Housewife Beef (Plus RHODubai)

Episode Date: June 12, 2024

In a post-Valley/VPR world, Dylan tackles the soft spot in the schedule by sifting though assorted Bravo drama. He breaks down the gossip about Kyle and Amanda’s alleged impending divorce, and shares the exclusive tea Betches got about Andrea’s wedding in Italy. Then, he gets into Andy’s random feud with Carole Radziwill, and why her critiques of Housewives feel kind of silly. Later, he recaps this week’s episode of RHODubai, which is struggling just a bet to get back in gear. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Ha 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, both. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Mention It All podcast. I'm Dylan Hafer.

You know what the deal is. It's Wednesday. It's actually, maybe you don't know what the deal is because it's the first Wednesday in a good long while where we don't have the Valley and we don't have Vanderpump rules. And we are just, we're blowing in the wind with this Bravo schedule right now.

You know, it's a work in progress. It's a question mark every week. But we do have the Real Housewives of Dubai, which is now airing on Tuesday nights. I was just as confused as perhaps the rest of you are. Or maybe you're smarter than me. I want to give you more credit than that. So Real Housewives of Dubai, season two, the regular night that it is airing is Tuesday night. Therefore, the episodes are on Peacock on Wednesdays. It is Wednesday right now. they pulled a little bit of a fast one because the premiere, of course, was last week on a Sunday night. I think they just wanted to give this show a little bit more of a premiere lead-in boost. So it was airing after Real Housewives of New Jersey. Obviously, it's been a long time since Dubai has been on. Look, they're tinkering around with the schedule over there at Bravo. We got the Summer House reunion wrapping up tomorrow night. God, I'm going to miss it.

they're going to get right back into filming, I hope. But then we have, we're going to have a little bit of an interesting time for the rest of June. And then we have OC coming second week of July. It can't come soon enough, really. There's like a million dollar listing LA is coming back. I'm sorry. I just, you know, below deck med. I've, I don't know what to do about below deck these days. You know, the last time, the last time I talked about it, I'm trying to think. You know, this is some tea from the vault. The last time I talked about Below Deck was actually an episode you never got to hear because there were audio issues. There was a technical problem.

But maybe we'll talk about Below Deck in the future. I don't know. Do people still watch Below Deck? I know that people watch Below Deck, but it feels like it has fallen out of the Bravo. What's the word? Like out of the canon of like Housewives Bravo devotees where I feel like it used to be like if you watched Housewives and you watched Vanderpump and you watch Southern Charm and you watch Summer House, you also watched below deck. And now it just feels like there's more of a separation where it's like there's the people who watch below deck. There's the people who watch million dollar listing and Top Chef and what other shows are there.

Project Runway? Is that still happening? And then it's like the girlies. And like I feel like this is for the girlies. And I don't know if the girlies are watching below deck in 2024. I'm sure some of you are. I don't mean to say that girlies can't watch below deck. And I'm one of the girlies. It's not a, it's not like a gender thing. It's like a vibes thing. Like the girlies watch Fander Pump rules. The girlies are watching Dubai, I think. I hope. Are you watching Dubai? Please. We got to watch something. I was actually originally supposed to have Lisa Milan on this episode. There were some scheduling complications, so I'm hopeful that I will get to talk to her later in the season. Dubai, still just heating up. I'll get to that episode a little bit more. First, I want to talk about a couple

more timely things that have been happening. First, an interesting announcement from Bravo this morning that they are bringing a new fan experience called the Diamonds and Rose experience by Bravo to New York and L.A. this August. It's going to be August 2nd in New York and August 9th in L.A. And I got the press release about this a couple days ago. And it sounds really, it sounds interesting. It's definitely different than anything they've done before. They're partnering with this company called Bucket Listers that does immersive kind of custom experiences. And I'm reading up the press release because I don't really know exactly what this is going to be. there's a wait list right now that you can join. The tickets have not gone on sale yet, but if you go to

at Bravo TV experience on Instagram, there's a wait list for New York and a wait list for L.A., so you can join that. I don't know what the tickets are going to cost. I don't know how many of them there are. I don't have all the details. But here's what it says. It's a fully immersive cocktail bar concept that will book guests for one-of-a-kind, over-the-top evening, a true celebration of all things, Bravo. So it says, upon arrival, prepare to be greeted by vibrant hues, decadent diamonds, and a gallery of Bravo-inspired art. There's going to be themed cocktails and mocktails,

Bravo Easter eggs, curated menu of signature Bravo bites, flex your trivia skills, recreate iconic one-liners, photo moments, a fandomonium historical archive themed table-side gaming and a collection of exclusive merchandise. Sounds fun. I don't know.

Look, I just, I know people, because there's no BravoCon this year, everybody is Jonesing for their IRL Bravo fix, and Bravo is doing some interesting things, and this is one of them. So if you want to get more info, go to that Bravo TV experience thing to join the wait list. Look, they just sent it to me. I'm passing along the information. Maybe it'll be amazing. Maybe it won't. But, you know, we'll find out together. Will I be there? Who knows? Okay. Next, I want to talk about an interesting little kerfuffle that's happened in the public sphere this week, between Andy Cohen and Carol Radzwell.

How fun. How random. In 2024, we live in a society. Wow. Okay. So Andy, if you missed it, was on the cover of New York Magazine last week. It was, you know, a whole profile with some interesting photography, let's say. And there was one anonymous quote in the article that I believe they identified as being from a former New York housewife who was fired from the show, which, like, if you're going to do an anonymous quote and then it's going to be identified within that kind of narrow parameter, it's probably not going to stay anonymous. Let's be real. But anyway, here's the quote. The show went from silly humor about middle-haged women getting drunk and being delusional about their status and having funny, petty arguments, to housewives investigating and doing opposition research and making up false storylines and leaking stories on each other.

this anonymous source also criticized Andy's baby shower and Rina telling everyone to dance for Andy, saying, quote, I just thought it was such a cringe moment because that's the dynamic. Everyone just dances for Andy Cohen. Like, okay, bitter much? First of all, if you want to talk about how Housewives has changed in the last 18 whatever years, I think that is a totally fair conversation. think it's an interesting conversation to have. I think that there are, you know, you could write a whole dissertation and someone probably has or is working on it at the moment about sort of the contours

of the Housewives universe and how things have changed over 18 years and all the different permutations of the Housewives format and kind of what that means from a society lens. There is truly like so much real estate to cover there. And I think it's always interesting to me when people paint the kind of evolution of the format as an inherently negative thing. Because, of course, it's not good that, like, you know, Jen Shah was doing crimes and then was using Bravo as a platform to, like, you know, make herself famous. Like, that's not something that we should aspire to have on every show, of course. But, like, I think that the changes in housewives have also just kind of mirrored.

larger changes in society, which you might not like, but I don't think that it's just a housewife's thing. Like the idea that in 2008, it was just some like kind of delusional, wealthy, middle-aged women getting drunk and arguing with each other. And now it's this like bigger, more layered thing with, you know, scandals and investigations. It's like, I think part of that also is just because of the celebrity culture and the way that the way that our society has kind of formed full fandums. I mean, I just read a press release about this Bravo fan experience that probably is going to sell out in five minutes. And it's like, that's why these shows have gotten so much more heightened. Because it's not just, you know, Ramona Singer being followed around the Upper East Side with a

camera. It's a multi-million dollar industry. And anytime there's financial opportunity and there's, you know, high stakes and a lot to be gained or a lot to be lost, you're going to get those kind of dynamics that are, I think, more intense and more like, I don't know, just more there's more writing on it. Somebody else can write that dissertation. I have no interest in going to grad school. But anyway, so Andy was on the radio this week and he was on with John Hill. And somebody asked, I think, maybe John asked, I don't listen to this show. But he asked if he knew who it was. And he basically was like, oh yeah, duh, it's Carol Radzwell. And he was like, first of all, it's very obvious because there aren't that many New York housewives that have been

fired, period, and especially not ones that would say something like that. And he said that he thought it was weird that she even remained anonymous because of all the things that she said about him over the last few years publicly that are, you know, just as negative or just as critical. And that it's like, okay, like, why when New York Magazine comes a calling, are you like, can you protect my anonymity. So then Carol responded to a clip from the podcast on Twitter, and she said, hey, Carol here. Someone can make a truthful observation, and there's always one short-ish dude waiting to be offended. At this point, why would any normal person use their name? They're all so vindictive, which I believe is the point of the quote and confirmed by Andy's

nasty response. Oh my God. I do have to respect Carol's just like lack of fucks to give at this point. Because I feel like for a long time, you know, prior to the Rony reboot or even when when Legacy was being discussed, people were like, Carol, come back. What if, what if they brought back Carol? Like, you know, relatable queen down to Earth Queen. She, you know, she could call everyone on their bullshit. And it's like, Carol, you know, I enjoyed Carol on Housewives in her time, but she is so far past the like being in the applicant pool of people who want to come back to Bravo. Like that ship sailed for her.

I don't know if that ship ever really was in the harbor for her after she left, but it definitely sailed years ago, if so. But it's just like so, God, one shortish dude. Like, damn, it's about the height. Yeah, I mean, I don't really think that Andy's response was nasty. I mean, I think if anything, like Carol kind of fired the first shot. and then Andy responded a little bit, but it's something where, like, I just think it's kind of amusing that, you know, Andy isn't really getting into it or being messy with many Bravo personalities, and I do think that

this dynamic is pretty entertaining. But anyway, I mean, Carol Radzwell, she still has a lot of feelings, and she thinks it's embarrassing that people are dancing for Andy, whatever, to each their own. Girl, winter is so last season. And now Springs got you looking at pictures of tank tops with hungry eyes. Your algorithm is feeding you cutoffs. You're thirsty for the sun on your shoulders. That perfect hang on the patio sundress. Those sandals you can wear all day and all night.

And you've had enough of shopping from your couch. Done hoping it looks anything like the picture when you tear open that envelope. It's time for a little in-person spring treat. It's time for a trip to Ross. Work your magic. When you finally find your thing, you want the whole world to know about that thing. So you use a thing called Canva to make it an even bigger and better thing. Whether you want to create flyers for that thing, make presentations for that thing, or design merch for that thing, you can do anything.

So people can see your thing, feel your thing, love your thing. The next thing you know, it's a thing. Canva, the thing that makes anything a thing. In another little corner of Bravo drama, you may have noticed that there was a lot of chatter in the last few days, week or so, about Kyle Cook and Amanda Petula and are they getting divorced and what's happening with their marriage. There was, you know, a Des Mois post that they were headed for a divorce. There was like a video of Kyle allegedly, you know, getting cozy with someone who wasn't Amanda. We actually got an exclusive statement to Betches yesterday from a, source close to the couple, and I'll just read the quote. It says, Kyle and Amanda are very much together. Well, Amanda, so, okay, so this week in Italy, I think tomorrow is Andrea's wedding. And so there was a lot of speculation. Kyle was already in Italy. It was like, is Amanda going to be there? Who's going to show? You know, are they okay? And so here's the quote. While Amanda was sadly not able to make it to Andrea's

wedding. They have another destination wedding in Italy this summer, and they're looking forward to spending time away together. It's killing Kyle that he can't be with her right now as these rumors circulate. Look, this is all I know. So this was posted yesterday on Tuesday, and I was getting some texts and some DMs that's like, what's up with this? What's the T? And I'm like, I don't have the T. You read the quote? I read the quote.

The quote is the quote. Look, people just want to know all the details about what's happening with Kyle and Amanda. And I think the thing, the thing is to me, what's happening with Kyle and Amanda is probably what's been happening with Kyle and Amanda the entire time that we've watched their relationship on TV, which is it's not perfect. There are some moments that seem iffy, but until they, you know, until they or if they are, you know, I don't know, I don't know the future. But until the point in time where they're like, we're not going to make this work. there's not really any real update. It's like, okay, they're a couple that has their problems, and we've seen those problems on TV.

And if those problems are something they're willing to keep working on, then it kind of is what it is. And so I don't want to be just like, I don't want to just deflect and be like, oh, I'm sure it's all fine, who cares? But at the same time, it's like, if you have a couple in your friend group that is like kind of always fighting, and they always seem like it's like, oh, God, again, really. At a certain point, it just kind of stops being interesting.

If it's not a situation that seems so, you know, like dark and problematic, it's just kind of like they're always bickering and it doesn't seem like they always like each other. It's like, okay, there's Josh and Tiffany going at it again. Like, yaha, can't wait to hear the aftermath of this argument. And it's like, okay, if they tell us they're getting divorced, then they're getting divorced. But until then, it's like, congratulations on your like sometimes happy marriage. I don't know. I don't know.

I feel like sometimes when I am, when I don't care that much about a storyline or a rumor or something that's happening, I feel like it can come across like I'm like trying to like protect someone or I'm trying to like. you know, quiet the chatter. And I'm like, I don't, I just don't give a fuck. It's that simple. I'm like, at a certain point, if there's not new information or extra information or like some development, it's just kind of like, okay, we'll see what happens next season when they film it and then when it airs eight months from now. And until then, it's kind of like, okay, I'll keep, we'll keep reading the tea leaves. We'll keep reading between. the lines on social media and you know we'll see this episode is brought to you by prime obsession is in session and this summer prime originals have everything you want steamy romances

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want to belabor the point of, oh, it's been so long since their first season because it's like, yeah, okay, you know, calendar McGee over here. Like, yo, two years, what a long time. We, we know. We know how time works. But I do think that it's interesting because it's been two years since the first season aired. So they have, it feels like they have a lot of work to do to kind of get us back into the cast and the group and what's happening and who likes who and who hates who and if they hate each other, why do they hate each other and whatever. But thinking about when they started filming for this season, it was I think like February of 2023.

And so it hadn't been that long in the group timeline, or at least it didn't, not as long. And so I almost feel like there's like extra work that needs to be done because it took so long for the season to air that I do feel, I felt like in the premiere we kind of were dropped right in and it was, I felt okay about that. And I think that episode two, I was starting to, I was starting to strain a little bit to be like, wait, why don't they like each other? Like, what's the, like, Brooks in Stanbury just being, like, calling each other like two-faced bitches at Tallien's party? I'm like, right, right, right. So they don't get along. But what is, why?

What's up? I thought that in the premiere, Chanel did a good job of kind of reestablishing her issue with Zara. And then I think in this episode, you know, they kind of came back together and Ayon wrote that letter to her. And, you know, that beautiful letter, it's like, dear Dr. Sara, she's like, girl, not doctor. Do you want to be called doctor or not? Look, I think it is a hilarious bit to refer to her as Dr. Sara when she does not, in fact, possess any kind of doctorate or, you know, medical degree. I think coining yourself Dr. Sara is objectively hilarious. I don't think that she sees it that way.

I don't think that it is hilarious to her. I think that it is the world in which her mind lives. But like, I liked that they were able to apologize to each other. I liked that we were able to get kind of like a two-way dialogue apology going. because I think that's something where when you have such a long break between seasons, yeah, there's stuff that's happened in between filming times and there are things that are left over from last season. But I also think that this season is probably going to work the best if we can approach

something like a clean slate. Because at a certain point, it's like, yeah, there were meaningful conflicts in season one, but there's not anything that I've like spent a lot of time thinking about in the last year and a half where I'm like, oh my God, I can't wait to see the continuation of this issue between Lisa and Stanbury. Like that's not something that I'm like up at night being like, oh my God, I can't wait to see how this develops. And especially I would imagine that they're hoping for some first time viewers this season who either are just catching up on season one or didn't even watch season one and are like,

what's this. So I think, you know, I like to see that Ayan and Sara are at least seemingly not going to let this entire season kind of just boil over into an existing issue with them. You know, the victim thing, it was bad. It's, you know, not great. I actually, I am really liking Talene in these first couple episodes. I think that her vibe seems like fun and, like a little bit lighter maybe than some of the other women, but not, she seems a little messy. You know, she is inviting everyone to her party, which I appreciate. Not everyone can say the same. She has a cute daughter. She has an interesting husband. Like her husband's family, like built all of Abu Dhabi or something. I don't know. There's like some,

I always, like with this show in particular, I'm like, I don't. I don't know exactly where the money is coming from for some of these ladies, and maybe it's better that way. But she's like, oh, yeah, my dad has a law firm in Abu D.C. I'm like, and what are they doing? Do we want to know? I just, I'm not so sure there. But Talene is very good friends with Brooks, seemingly. They're like dropping some breadcrumbs to make it really seem like they've been friends for a long time.

I don't know how authentic that is, but I do. appreciate that they seem to have some kind of history and it's not just like they've met each other last week before cameras came up. But we see, so Brooks has the glass house spa, which is like in, in effect now. And she's stressed. Caroline Brooks seems like she is going through it a little bit, in a way that is kind of being masked. Like I don't think she really wants to be going through it or wants people to know that she's going through it. But basically, it seems like we are, we're picking up a thread in just these first couple episodes that Caroline Brooks is allegedly drinking a lot because she is stressed and then is kind of popping off on people and blowing up these situations.

And I don't, I, oh, it's, the energy is a little bit tough. It's a little bit weird. So Brooks and Stanbury have existing issues from season one. Brooks is like not happy to hear that Taleen is inviting Stanbury to her party. She's like, but she was, but she said she saw your crotch at the Beyonce concert. How could you? And this, this is something where, okay, so we're at the party. Brooks and Stanbury are like mean mugging each other from across the room, but then eventually they come together and they're like, oh, bitch, I love you.

You're such a bitch, but I love you, bitch. it's like okay we're on pins and needles here it's like this is this could go sideways very easily and then they go outside to have this conversation with teline and it feels like Brooks is supposed to be the one like moderating the conversation but then when when teline and stanbury are like oh yeah we're fine we got over the you know vagina bianca thing we talked about it who cares Brooks kind of can't let it go on Tilleen's behalf. She's like, no, no, no, no. But you said this about my friend.

She's like, she's like trying to stir up this thing. And it's annoying to me because it's like Teline is the new girl. She is doing the thing that I think any new cast member should do, which is that she is that She's having her little moments of tension or of conflict or of disagreement with different people in the cast. But then she's taking one step forward and one step back where she's kind of smoothing over the hills. So she doesn't create any major obstacles to her kind of integrating with the group. But it feels like Brooks is fighting a battle for her that she doesn't even want to fight. It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no.

We got to talk about this. And it's like, no, we don't. And I, oh my God, I laugh so hard when Stambry's like, it's trying to, it's like trying to have a conversation with Jabba the Hut. Oh my God. Caroline Stanbury is funny. I don't know. I, I'm curious to see kind of like where Brooks's trajectory goes this season because it feels right now like out of everyone in the cast, she's in a little bit of a dark place and maybe she's not ready to confront that. but it makes me nervous. It makes me nervous because we've got a long season to go.

I like Lisa's stuff with her mom. Like, I think that's going to be really interesting to see kind of unfold. I like a personal storyline like that. Caroline and Sergio's dynamic is just weird. The fact that, so Caroline is going on a college tour trip to the U.S. with her, her daughter and her ex, her daughter's father. and Sergio is like about to have an emotional breakdown because he's like oh my god you're going to be on this plane for such a long time with your ex and what happens if you it's like she's not going to like fuck him on the plane are you okay I don't know I mean I feel like people in season one were very critical of their dynamic together and I don't necessarily like I don't have an issue with it

just think that it's a little bit strange that he is like kind of making her feel bad for like doing this objectively like normal and good thing with her daughter it's like yeah okay get a life go go to the mall or something like go shopping go get a hobby get a job what about a job again I don't know what any of these people do for money like gun to my head I don't know um But yeah, I mean, I think with Dubai, right now I feel like I'm at a solid like six, six and a half out of ten. And if that sounds like a bad grade, I don't intend it to be a bad grade. I think I need a little more time to really like get sucked back in. But I think that there are a lot of good pieces there.

And I hope that the rest of this season and the next few episodes especially can kind of like up the ante a little bit on the group dynamic to where it feels like every time they're together is kind of like that like electric chemistry where it's like oh something's going to happen and I need to tune in because I think this episode I think the premiere had it. I think this episode fell a little bit short but we'll see where we go from here. But I'm watching and I hope you're watching because I think there's enough there's enough there, there, that there's something there. And that's that on that. And there you go. Whatever. That's all for today. The last episode for this week is actually going to come out on

Friday so I can talk about the Summer House Reunion Part 2. You know, we're working with the schedule they give us and I don't want to let that reunion slip through the cracks. So that's what we'll be back with. But in the meantime, make sure you rate, review, and follow the show wherever you listen. You can follow us on Instagram at Bravo by Betches. And hey, 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 Sousmacat. 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. Pay off your home. Travel for Life. Drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly

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