Mention It All - Ramona vs Eboni & Wendy vs A Hot Mic Ft. Jared Alexander (RHOP)

Episode Date: October 24, 2022

Dylan starts the week by chatting with Jared Alexander, writer at The Grio, about the latest round of RHONY discourse. Ramona dragged Eboni K. Williams once again in a new interview, but what’s her real goal here? Then, they recap this week’s RHOP, where Wendy’s hot mic moment isn’t the only fourth wall break to deal with. They discuss why the Potomac women are such professionals, and whether this season is really showing a new side of Robyn. 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, boo. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Mention at All podcast. I am Dylan Hafer, and I am excited to be kicking off this week with one of my favorite

returning guests. He is a writer at the Griot, of course, the fellow bravaholic and a good friend of mine. Please welcome back to the show, Jared Alexander. Hi. Hi, Dylan. How are you? I am good. I am excited to have you.

you on today because not only do we have a great episode of Potomac to talk about, but there has also been some, uh, some drama brewing in, in the New York Housewives universe that I feel like you are uniquely equipped to help me break down. Yeah. Oh, well, the one of, so I was with you for a lot of BravoCon weekend. We were in the trenches together. And one of those moments that we shared at BravoCon was speaking to Ebony K. Williams, who in the past week has been kind of back in the conversation in a way that I'm not sure she really expected

nor necessarily wanted to be. Yeah, we certainly did. And I feel like too, just like the energy with all the Rony women who were there, because if you think about it, like the entire last cast was there at BravoCon. And the energy seemed really great. So, yeah, as the news unfolded the following week, it was really interesting.

It's the Rony cast, obviously we're talking about the Rony cast that we have was on season 13. It's they're in an interesting place because at BravoCon, it's like Luann and Sonia have their spin-off thing coming up. So that was kind of what they were there mainly for. And then Leah is on Girls Trip 3. So that's, you know, coming up soon. Ramona and Ebony don't necessarily have Bravo projects in the works. that we know of, but obviously Ramona was on girls' trip last year and Ebony, I mean,

they all live here too. So it's the kind of thing where like, if they're around, why not come to the Legends Ball? You want 140 Bravo Labs, invite everyone. But it is kind of funny, like, hearing Ebony say that Romona was lovely to her at the Legends Ball and then knowing that she had already recorded this podcast interview with Carlos King, where she essentially blames the entire 13 year downfall of Roney O.G. On Abney Williams going to HR, it's like, maybe you didn't need to say hi at the Legends ball. Right.

And it certainly was quite the episode. And I think first off, like, and we love Carlos, it's been crazy how this podcast, like, is creating story. Like, he just gets them, which is clear and just the work that he does. And, like, I mean, you could go through like 10 of like the most amazing housewives moments in the first like five years over Housewives. and he's kind of the reason for it. But he really gets them to feel very comfortable

and kind of just lets them say what they want to say. And then you get kind of results like this sometimes, which were, it was a disappointing listen, but again, I'm sure we'll get into it. There was certainly a response from Ebony. Well, it's kind of odd with Ramona because it's been over a year now since season 13 of Roney finished up.

And aside from seeing her on girls' trip a little bit later in the year last year. Romona hasn't had a platform really since then. She doesn't have a podcast. She's not doing any other show that we have seen or that have heard about. So she's really just on Instagram posting her stories, shaking her ass in Abiza. And that's pretty much all we've gotten from her in the last year. Whereas for most of these Bravo Lebrides, they're either still on their main show or they're hosting a podcast or they're writing a book or doing a press tour or something. So for Ramona, it really is kind of interesting to think about the fact that she hasn't had an audience essentially in a year. And she's never, that's a new thing for her.

And so she gets on this podcast. And obviously she talked a lot about Ebony, but I also was really interested in what she said about Roney Legacy, because the news we got at BravoCon was that legacy is definitely still happening, but they haven't really done anything about. out it yet. It hasn't been cast. Decisions haven't been made and they were focused on the reboot first. And now that that's been cast, Legacy can kind of have its moment. But Ramona is playing coy about whether or not she even wants to do it. I wrote down this quote from her that I'm just going to read because it sounds like Ramona. She says, I've been there for a long time. I mean, never say no, never say never. But I also feel like the legacy, how can it be really good? The people

who they're going to bring back are people they didn't want to renew anyway. So now what are you going to call it the loser show, the loser legacy. And like, I understand what she means. Like, I, especially, Ebony is very clear in her, on her response episode about this, she literally says, we were all fired. That's the truth of it. Like, Bravo didn't want any of us back for Roney. But the thing is also, I'm like, if they ask Ramona to do legacy, there is no way in hell she is going to turn down that check. So why are you out here putting out? I feel like she's kind of putting out like preemptive damage control in case they don't want her because then she's like, well, I said I didn't want to do it anyway.

That's exactly it. And I feel like she's also still operating in that mode of, you know, like in between seasons when it's consecutive, like a normal healthy franchise. It's like you always say that they're always like, I don't know if I'm going to come back. We'll see. But I feel like this is very different. It's been like a year, as you said. And it seems like, you know, they purposefully do.

didn't really start any work on it until hopefully right now as we're sitting here recording this. Yeah. So to drudge up a lot of that old stuff, which it seems like most people have moved past at this point in that cast is like it was quite the decision. But that loser legacy quote was hilarious. And that's like the Ramona that I think we all fell in love with. Right. It is kind of a strange strategy to me.

Aside from her having plausible deniability, if she doesn't get invited on, she can say, well, I didn't really want to do it anyway. But in terms of putting on a good show for the network, who is going to be casting in the coming weeks and months, not only are you saying you don't really feel excited about the idea of the show, but you're also rehashing all of this stuff about what happened with Roney in the past and with Ebony particularly, which obviously Romona has plenty of fans. there are a disappointing number of people who heard this interview and we're like, you get them, girl, go off, sis, about Ramona. But like, I have to imagine from a network standpoint and when they're looking at kind of

the wider optics of how they're going to cast this show, having Ramona back out there retreading all of the same territory about political correctness and, why is this woman stopping our show and she just so happens to be black, but I've never said or done anything racist in my life, that isn't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't think that's the energy they really want to have around legacy. So it's like if we were just getting fun, kooky Ramona, and she was like doing an interview where she's like, I love my life, I love my, I go on dates, I get, I have a good time. I travel. I go to lunch. That's the Ramona I would think would be more likely to be cast on legacy. But when she's still kind of out here spreading this stuff about what went down

a year ago, it's like, I don't know if this is what anybody is looking for. Right. Absolutely. And especially because there was such like a one-two punch of the last season of Roney and then Ultimate Girl's strip one, I feel like there was a lot of like just a souring feeling about Ramona in general that like, but time has. passed. Like, things have cooled down. It felt like she had a great time at BravoCon. Like I would, if I was her, probably not bring that up.

Like you said, I would just like, try and just keep things level and just like talk about my life and where I'm at and everything because I think we're always going to love Ramona. You know what I mean? Like, we're always going to want to see her on TV, at least a part of her. But there certainly was, there were so many things that led to that Rony decision that I'm sure we're all not going to be privy to,

but we can't sit here and act like we all weren't miserable watching the last season. Like it was, and the ratings kind of showed it. Yeah. And I think it also just when you have this 13 year decade plus franchise where Ramona's been there the whole time, Luann's been there the whole time, Sonia almost the whole time, whether or not Ebony had anything to do with the specific reason that the reunion was canceled or the show kind of got put on pause, it doesn't

make you look great as the OG veteran to be like this one person came in and our show was so fragile that because there was one HR complaint about something that I didn't even do, it tore down the whole thing. It's like, I don't think Bravo would have scrapped your whole cast if they were like super, super satisfied, but there happened to be an HR issue. Like, that's not actually It's not how these things were. We've seen examples of other shows that have been able to evolve kind of like if you look at Jersey is a great example I think that like we had some really tricky seasons like you think of everyone talks about the season with the twins like but it really has evolved and changed and even I'll give Teresa and Melissa of course like credit for this the women

who were there for longer like did have to play ball with the new women like a Margaret like a Jen like a Jackie etc like they may not have always gotten along but it helped the show evolve now and that it's just as strong now almost as it was earlier and it just seemed like um again, you could feel however you want about Ebony and if she was a right fit and if it was the right tone for the show and all these things. But it's just hard to believe that one person could bring down an entire show. People say the same thing about Leah and I have a hard time with that too. Yeah. In terms of the Ramona focusing on the future thing versus looking back to the past, I kind of feel like somebody who's done a really good job of that. And obviously it's not the exact same situation. But I feel like Fadra coming back on this ultimate. Girls Trip round and doing, you know, all the press and being at BravoCon. I feel like she has done a really excellent job of kind of making people forget about the circumstances under which she left her original show for better or for worse. Whether you, whether you love Fadra or think she should never be on Bravo again, when, for the most part, when people see Fadra on girls' trip,

they're just loving the energy that she's bringing and they're loving kind of of her vibe and her confessional moments and all of this stuff that made us love her in the first place. Whereas Ramona, it's a little bit like, you know, it's like move on. If you actually want people to move on, then you have to be the one to move on. Right. Absolutely. And I think it's going to be interesting again, too. We saw that tease of three. And even in that two minutes alone, like there was a big, I felt like the audience was receptive. And I was like, I'm excited to see Leah again. And I couldn't tell if it was like because those women were like, again, like playing ball with her. But I was like, it just felt like the Leah that, you know, audiences fell in love

with in her first season. Like you couldn't, Leah was everywhere. Everyone was obsessed with her until they weren't. And I just feel like the audience, of course, is fickle. I certainly am. I feel like I changed how I feel all the time. But you would think that she would again, like not touch that and just kind of keep things easy and calm because again, like the audience changes. so much. They really were so excited to see Ramona to see all the Rooney women, honestly, at Bravo Connolly. That's how it fell in the room.

Yeah, totally. And I think, you know, like with Ebony, she talks about on her podcast, like, she's moved on. This was over a year ago for her. She's doing other stuff. You know, she's starting a show with the Griot that I think premieres today. She has a new book. She obviously has her podcast.

Like, Ramona is the one who's kind of sitting there in her misery. Right. And she kind of spells that out in the podcast hilariously a little bit where she's like

go to work a little bit like I haven't even been thinking about this. We had a great time at BravoCon. And I think also the thing about Ramona is I think that she was

just kind of talking as she does about like cryptically kind of and not really like she was like Ebony made all this stuff up and then I was completely exonerated

like I didn't say all those things when like these are widely reported investigations that happened. Like you could like read the variety report that came out last year already. And even still, I feel like Ebony didn't, wasn't out here doing press or really spelling it out like she wound up doing in the podcast. But a lot of them were claims that weren't even from her that were from,

which I thought was a really interesting look at like, you know, there are black people who work on these shows who aren't on camera who may have felt a certain way. So, and I think it's hard as an audience to remember that it is a workplace. So I see the inclination for a lot of people on Twitter to be like, like Ebony had to go to HR, but it's like, no, this is work. And if anyone felt uncomfortable in the workplace, you would go to HR, you know? Right.

And right. The idea that it's a TV show and there's cameras and we're kind of supposed to be living vicariously through them, it makes us feel differently about it than a normal workplace. But when you think about all of the people and, you know, with a show like this, there are six or seven women on the cast, but there are dozens or maybe even more people who work on or around this show. It's like, for all of them, it's just the job. It's their job, and they have to be there and they have to, you know, they deserve to be in work conditions that are, you know, acceptable and supportive and protected. And yeah, I think, like Ebony

told on her podcast, she talked about that day that they were having lunch at Luanne. House in Sag Harbor and she got asked to leave basically. And then it was after she left that there was this story or she heard that Romano made the comment about this is why we shouldn't have black women on the show. And it's like, Ebony is very upfront about the fact that she wasn't there for that. So she, it wasn't her complaint or like she wasn't the one kind of initiating that incident. And it's like, yeah, like, okay, Ramona can deny that she said it, but that's not coming from Ebony. Ebony's saying right now that she wasn't there.

And it was also other, again, there were other pieces at play, it seems to. Like, I totally had forgotten about that page six article with Heather in it who like did wind up corroborating things. So like, I feel like, again, to blame it all on one, the one black person who's ever been on the show is, it just, I just think it way wasn't a smart move ultimately, but B, it just was like really disappointing. And then it's subsequently disappointing to see, again, people kind of like, eat it up and be like, go get her because it's like, if you zoom out, like, what are you

really saying? Like, what is that? What? Like, right. At the very least, I feel like we should all be able to agree that there is more to the story than just Ramona Singer mouthing off on a podcast for 30 minutes. Whether or not she would look good at the end of the day, that's up for debate. But like, I feel like we should all.

be able to, you know, put on our critical listening skills. I'd be like, hmm, it sounds like there could be more to this. Right. It seems like, yeah, there could be a little more. But it definitely was, it was nice, I think, that she was able to break it down. Again, it is weird because it's like years old stuff. But, and again, I'm sure there is a, there's one big truth. But what I found interesting about Ebenez is that she never, I don't know,

She never took, she took ownership of a lot of things, I guess. I don't know. Like, she never was like, oh, yeah, like, we were best friends or, oh, yeah, this. She just kind of broke it down as best as she could. But it wasn't like, I think a lot of people online were acting, like, Ebony was, like, coming after Ramona on her podcast. But, like, no, Ramona said all this stuff. It's, like, almost, like, kind of, like, incriminating stuff,

like that Ebony would just make up something just to take Ramona down. And she really just used that time to defend her. underself, but... You can't come for the attorneys on Bravo. You know, you gotta be a little smarter if you're gonna play that game. Who do we have? We have like Emily Simpson.

We have a Meredith Marks, I guess. Meredith Marks. Meritth Marks explaining Jen's legal situation to Heather and Whitney last week. I'm like, girls, you don't know anything about this yet? Like, she got arrested a year ago.

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Learn more at Windows.com slash student offer. While supplies last, ends June 30th, turns at AKA.m.m.S.C. Okay. Switching lanes a little bit. let's talk about Potomac. We are now three episodes into this season. It feels like there's a lot going on. And we pick up where we left off at the dance studio,

this God-forsaken dance studio that they all just need to, like, get the hell away from. But we get two really different fourth wall break moments at this dance studio. Because we start off with Candice speaking to Eric, the producer. Which your meme last week killed me. She's like, it's like Ariel when she gets her voice back. I need Eric. I'm like, I hope Eric gets a nice little bonus for this.

Me too. So you can tell that Eric's energy is like, please, please, please don't involve me in this. Like, because Candace is very deliberately, she is messing with the, you know, construct of the show that Giselle has brought up this thing. They're having a conversation on camera, which is a normal scene. And Candace essentially calls cut and is like, no, this isn't going to be, this isn't going to be the scene. I'm going to go have the scene with Eric, the producer, who we're never supposed to see or hear from or think about the fact that he exists on camera. And what's funny is that you would think in a situation like this, it would be like a Bravo, Bravo, Bravo situation

where Candice doesn't want it used. But then at the end of her little conversation with Eric, she very specifically says, don't cut out my fourth wall. I want it all in there. Essentially, she's laying the groundwork for suggesting that production slash Giselle slash whoever have kind of cooked up this scheme that Chris is going to be the bad guy this season.

And I thought that was very interesting because her saying, leave this in, And then they do. I'm like, what's, what's happening? I'm scared. Right. And it was, again, talk about, in connection of what we were just talking to, talk about women who play ball with each other.

Like, they just think Potomac, the strength of it is that they just, like, show up. And it feels like they go to work and it's fun and all these things. But this moment, I think was so powerful because of that. I, you know, I'm like very much a basset hound. And a Gisselbryan apologist. So this is like my civil war. Like this season is like really hard for me. But I think that, like, it was so powerful again that she said, like, no, leave that in.

And because we've seen fourth wall moments before. And it is, like you said, it's different than because Bravo, Bravo, at least like the first time and the second time, a lot of it was like her saying it, saying it, saying it until production would step in and be like, listen, just keep going. Like, we're not cutting. Whereas, like, she just kind of got up, went right to it. And then was like, no, and also leave that in. And these women also have, I think in Potomac have been. and around moments. I mean,

the husbands have really been in the mix a lot in the show. So I think I could see how Candice could feel like, oh, no, this is a pattern. And like, not my Chris.

And she certainly let Eric know who she thinks could be the target again. Even though we haven't seen Michael Darby. He's like, he's gone, it feels like. I was thinking that during this episode when Ashley went house hunting

and she was with like her brother, somebody, I was like, oh, I wonder, are we just not, is Michael Darby, like, not filming this season? I don't know, but I can't remember if we see him in any. I feel like she did an interview somewhere where she said, she pretty much confirmed he doesn't film. Again, I could be wrong about that, but I'm pretty sure she did. And, I mean, also, the thing about Ashley is that, like, we're going to get story from her regardless. And which that's been fascinating, too. I think there's been lots of question of, like, who is Ashley without Michael?

because Michael has been such a strong when people say quote unquote storyline or whatever it feels like it's been hers but she's another one who I think is just a pro like I could have watched her house hunt for her entire episode honestly right I could watch Ashley Darby

talk to a wall like I feel like you would still be getting story but once Candice leaves the dance studio the rest of the women are kind of like shell shocked of what's just gone on and I love that Giselle is kind of like downplaying what happened.

She's like, oh, I think she left because she had a stomach ache or something. Like, I think she just wanted to leave. She wasn't feeling well. I'm like, Giselle, you literally were sitting together talking. You brought up her husband and then she got up and left. It's like, I don't think she had a stomach ache. Right.

And she stormed out. And the women saw it. At least Ashley and Wendy did, it seemed like. Right. But so Wendy, professional that she is, immediately changes the subject to her Nigerian lounge. And then right on cue, we're back talking to about Mia's cancer, no cancer situation. Giselle is like, Mia, I texted you.

Why didn't you respond? And they go and talk. I was actually, I was impressed how quickly they were able to kind of squash their beef. I thought Giselle did, you know, a good job of kind of owning that in the moment, whether or not she really regrets anything that she said. to Mia, I think that's a different question. But I was like, okay, good, good for Giselle checking off one box of somebody who's mad at her. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that she, I think Giselle does. There have been moments. I know it's hard to remember. This is my like, Giselle Bryant,

apologize, side coming good. But she does own things a lot of times, or at least sometimes she needs a little nudge, like, a Robin told her, like, the way you approach that was wrong. The delivery was wrong. And she did own that. And she made sure to bring the tower up cupcakes in the room with her too, which was so funny to me when they went to the dance video to break it down. And it did feel like Mia was kind of disarmed by it. It wasn't expecting this, but did accept it. One thing I will say about Giselle, I think, is that she does communicate to you in the moment. Like, yes, she, you know, there is a lot of, like, gossip and a lot of sneaky stuff.

But, I don't know. It doesn't seem like she's a type of housewife who says one thing to your face and thinks another thing. Like she really will say everything there. And I think that in a moment like this tricky moment, what that Mia's in right now, I'm sure it was appreciated. Yeah. And I also think with Mia, it's, she's just starting her second season. And I think she had a fine first season, but not like an all-star performance.

There is a thing of like somebody like Mia doesn't want to end up in a position where she doesn't really have very many friends in the group. And I think this thing with Giselle, it's like if you, if Giselle gives you an opportunity to squash this three episodes into the season. It's going to make the rest of the season potentially a lot easier for you versus starting this feud and then you really have to keep it up. And I think so, I think it's like smart for Mia to kind of accept that apology, especially when you have Robin and Wendy in the next room who are both also essentially talking shit in the same exact way, just a little bit less aggressive to her face. In Wendy's case, of course, she,

yelling at Robin. So Wendy is yelling at Robin for calling Mia a liar. She's like, stand in your truth, stand 10 toes down in your truth. And then 20 minutes later, leaving the building, Wendy caught on Hot Mike telling the producer that they all know Mia is lying. And okay, so I've seen people online in the whatever 12 hours since this episode aired. People are already calling into question whether or not this was a genuine hot mic moment or whether it was staged for some kind of storyline that Wendy knew she was being recorded. And here's my thought about this. Wendy did not have a reason to plan this as a storyline because the thing is in the context of the show, unless a producer tells Mia that Wendy said this, or unless Wendy tells somebody that

she said this, nobody on the season is going to know that this is what she's been saying. It's not going to come up until the reunion or like if Mia's on watch what happens live, maybe they'll ask her about it. But it's not giving storyline in the way that it would if she had told somebody else in the cast. And so I think there is this kind of thing where people are like, oh, they know they're wearing a mic. And it's like, right, but they're wearing a mic for like six hours. and they're saying a lot of stuff that isn't going to make it on to the show. So to me, it doesn't have that quality necessarily.

Like, Lisa Barlow's hot mic situation, I think there's more of a case to be made that it's like, oh, she kind of knew it might make it in. But like, it can be a hot mic even if there is a producer that you're talking to in the room. Absolutely. And she clearly was on her way out. And I totally agree with what you said.

if it, you know, if it was going to move story along, then that would have been told to someone or someone would have overheard it. And we've had other hot mic moments on Potomac. I mean, there was that Michael won in season four with the producer. Like, I feel like also, just like with Salt Lake, if there could have been a camera on Wendy in that moment,

if they really were going to use it, don't you think? Even if it was like, I don't know, behind a door, like with Lisa Barlow, I think we would have seen it. But I feel like it was literally such a last minute thing. Like she was walking out the door. and said it. It to me felt real. But I do think what's maybe tripping people up

is that Wendy is really just like taking it on the chin online. And like I saw she like quote tweeted it and was like, oh my gosh, like I got caught, which I think is the right way to do it. I think to go and be like I did it now. You know what I mean? I think that's the right way to play it. But that doesn't mean that she planned this all along

just because she's kind of just taking it on the chin, you know? Right. And especially because it only makes when, Andy look bad. It's not the kind of thing where she's not exposing something about Mia. She's not talking shit about the other women in a way that's going to make them look worse. It's like, it literally only serves to make her look messy and like a bad friend and like she's being a hypocrite. And so there's just no reason Wendy would even go along with planning that as like a story moment. But either way, I'm like, this season of Potomac is not lacking for storylines so

far. We have plenty going on. We have plenty going on. Like, we get scenes that are barely even really worth, like, recapping. But, like, Candice's whole egg retrieval situation is a whole thing that is just like, I'm glad she's sharing that. It sucks that she's not having an easier time with it. You know, Ray and Karen getting a manicure together. It's like, this is, it's what dreams are made of. Karen is. Karen saying, I was very sad to miss Ashton. Ashley's TikTok class. The tiki-talkie, I think, is what she said. Oh, my gosh.

No, it definitely, I feel like I was thinking about this too. Like, there's something about, I think, when you have a strong cast, I just love the pace of Potomac because, again, I could watch these women. I could watch Karen and Ray get a manicure. Like, I can watch Candace just in her house on FaceTime with her doctor. Like, I can really just sit in those moments. And I feel like it just harkens back to old. cultural housewives that we don't want to get anymore.

Like, I feel like, not to compare it to Beverly Hills, because I know we're almost, the long night is almost over, but it's like, we don't get those moments. Like, I would love to just see Crystal in her house for seven minutes in a package, just with her kids sitting down on the sofa, but I feel like we're constantly running to like group event, group event, group event, which seems like it's sometimes a directive from fans, if I'm going to defend production. Like, I feel like for a while there, fans were like, we need more group events. Like, where are the group events?

but you kind of need those moments like when you fall in love like I feel like all of Jersey like especially with the Manzos, the Gorgas and the Judas like you fell in love with them like in their kitchen and the like Tuscany themed kitchens you know, the Laredas like you just yeah that's how you get real stakes

you know. Yeah I like I feel like this episode actually in particular had a really good balance because the whole dance studio thing at the beginning was this kind of shifting chaotic group scene where there were different you know dynamics and different arguments happening.

But then the rest of the episode is really all these solo or one-on-one scenes that really do move the story forward a lot. Aside from, you know, Candice with her egg stuff, Ray and Karen, Robin having that pre-up conversation with Juan, which was a very sticky little dynamic of like... Very. Like, the fact that they had a pre-up the first time they got married, and now Juan is acting like he doesn't understand why she would want it this time.

It's like, do you have amnesia? Like, are we not? He's... Pretend amnesia. He's acting like it's this, like, bizarre thing to ask for, and it's like, you literally... It's the same thing you did before. Right.

The exact same thing. But, again, like, that's a scene that you love. Like, I don't... Again, like, that's a scene that, like, you would think... Maybe I'm watching you'd be kind of bored by, but these are just people who we've known for seven years now, And it's fun to watch them, you know, just like I can watch Chris and Candace fight in a car for an entire season. And we love Dr. Wendy talking about the hair loss.

I think that's something that probably a lot of people are, you know, can relate to. And it's a nice thing to see kind of get that attention. But then in the back, the back third of the episode, we move into these one-on-one scenes that are really important. We have Robin and Mia sitting down at lunch where, you know, they kind of have a little bit of a, a little bit of a makeup where Robin is, you know, digging for more information about Mia's health. And Mia's like, okay, I can understand why you have those questions. And it's like, okay.

We just need everybody in the cast should at this point just get like Mia's full medical records delivered to their house. So they can all just sit down, take a peek, and be at peace with what they know. It's like, when is it enough? But seriously, I think that there's been some. much chatter online. People are like, oh my God, like, Robin has activated this season. Oh, my God, like, I love this Robin.

And I just kind of feel like I've always loved Robin. And I feel like this is how Robin moves. Like, I do feel like we've had so, especially in the earlier seasons, like, you know, the big umbrella moment. Like, Robin has played a big part in the show. And I think just because maybe she isn't the most combative or the messiest or the loudest, that doesn't make her, that doesn't mean, like, I almost sometimes compare her to like Dolores Catania in a way who

she has her Paterson, Dolores, but like for most of the show, she's pretty much kind of rides in the middle. But you can't, again, you need housewives like this. And again, I'm just happy that some people are finally seeing the light, because I just think Robin is a great

housewife. I think it's an interesting dynamic in this cast because Ashley and Giselle are both messy in a louder way, or you know, kind of pot stirring or, you know, bone carrying whatever you want to call it. But they're kind of obvious in the way

that they do it. There's not a lot of subtlety when Giselle is bringing up something messy. It's, you know, you're throwing a grenade into the room. Whereas Robin, I think, does it in a little bit more of an artful way where she's going to go to lunch with Mia and they're going to talk about two of the biggest storylines, which is Mia's cancer, no cancer situation, and then pivoting into the Candace and Chris and

Giselle and what happened with Ashley. And I think that's, scene is so important, but you're not, it doesn't feel like messy, messy. But what is messy is the Potomac editors who, because Mia is like, Mia just has to have her fingers, you know, in the pot or whatever. And she's like, well, you know, during Karen's spring, spring to fling taco party, Chris was staring at me the whole time and it made me feel uncomfortable. And we get multiple shots from this party that feature Mia and Chris and the Chiron that just says,

Chris, not looking at Mia. Oh my God. What a, what a blessing these Potomac editors are. It was hilarious. The Potomac editors are truly top tier. It was such a funny moment. You also have a great Mia, by the way. That was hilarious.

But I just think that like there was so much question. I feel like from the fans, because we had a bit, they waited a bit, like after the reunion, before they started filming again. As to whether or not we wanted Mia back or not, I am, for one, I have to say, I'm so happy Mia is back.

Because I think, I don't know, she is messy. It does seem like if she's not lying, she certainly is stretching the truth a lot. But I like that in a house like this. Last episode was like very amusing. Like I just found myself like really giggling at the absurdity of it and how Robin just was like,

I'm not going to even touch that. Like I'm not even going to go there. I think the thing with Mia is, that she's messy in a way that feels not just messy in terms of like drama, but messy in like a sloppy way where she isn't tying up her loose ends and she's playing fast and loose with the truth in a way that is going to be easily verifiable and just kind of talking out of her ass a little bit and it's like, you know that it reminds me at their panel at BravoCon when

when Ashley or when Robin when Robin was making a comment about Ashley's divorce situation and she was like well Juan and I living together after we got divorced was only because we were broke so it's a different

situation with Ashley because she and Michael have money and when Mia it just goes so are you saying that she only married Michael for his money and it's like everybody's like wait, what? She literally didn't say that. That's not even what she was implying. And I feel like she kind of does that on the show too, where she loves to get in the situation, even if she has no

leg to stand on, even if it doesn't involve her, she is going to have her kind of little moment in the sun. And I feel like this thing of now she's saying that Chris was staring at her, it's like, girl, what? You're only going to cause problems. You're only going to get Candice to to hate you. It's, what good can come from this? But at the end of the day, she's going to be involved in the storyline. Right. It's like she herself, her own entity is like two rounds of telephone. So like, Mia hears something. It like goes through this weird system and that it comes out totally different. Way worse. Like I remember that happened last, on the first trip last season. I forget what she relayed that Jazeel said about Wendy. That was not how, oh, she was like,

oh yeah, you called her a weak bitch. But she did not say those words. at all. I think she said something. She was like, oh, if you're going to crumble every time. But she heard it, like, I don't know, did this weird cycle in her brain and then it came out that way. Her- It's just so funny to me. Mia's mind is just like on tumble dry constantly. It's like, woo, woo, woo, she's either like, she's at the joint chiropractic, just getting adjustments in her brain. Oh my gosh. And talk about it. Does that, I mean, I'm sure we got into it, but it's interesting. Her Twitter presence is very early Candace, almost worse, but it's like, she's on there. She's certainly tweeting.

We need somebody too, because I was going through all the Potomac tweets this morning and Giselle, Robin, and Ashley have all not tweeted a single time about this season yet. And I'm like, can we, I know, like, I know you don't want to be like disaster on Twitter, but can we get like some some shady comments or anything? Like, I need some more reactions. Giselle, if she isn't posting those TikToks, or if she isn't posting on Instagram, she's not tweeting.

I feel like Robin used to tweet a little bit and like certainly Ashley, but yeah, it seems like they are not doing that. I do think it's interesting. Actually, one of my features for the Greo when I talk to them about this at Robicon, I do feel like they feel like it is to the detriment of the show sometimes to tweet about it

or to, like, they, I feel like, are very old school and wanting to let it play out. as it is, and then we'll speak on it accordingly. But it does make for fun, especially with Potomac, I think, because they're really good at tweeting. Like, at least Candace is. Like, I know she's a disaster, but her tweets are funny. She's like a wordsmith.

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Yeah. And that's a thing about Candace. She's so good at that. Exactly. And I do think with this season, it's like we knew what some of the big storylines were going to be in terms of Ashley's divorce, in terms of whatever's going on with Robin and Juan. But we don't really have an idea of how those storylines are going to play out. You know, so it's like we know kind of what the subject line of the email is, but we don't know kind of who's talking to who, who's on which side, who's going to be getting along at the end of it. And I think that that is such. a good thing for a Housewives season that it's like there are things I'm excited to see but I don't know what they're going to look like and with with some of these seasons I think with Beverly Hills in particular a lot over the last few years it's like we've had such an outline of what the of what the points are going to be in the season that it's like okay they're going to go to this

place and then these two are going to have a fight here because we know it got filmed and it was on Instagram and then there were leaks about this part of the season and we know that they're not getting along with Kathy like I love that this season we're we know certain kind of vague threads of what's going on, but I don't know from episode to episode what's happening next. And I think that it just makes me so excited to watch it unfold. It's refreshing, especially, again, like you said, because we've been in this weird era where there are a lot of leaks,

which isn't necessarily the fault of production, especially with Beverly Hills. I mean, I get why. But I think even with that panel, Dylan, And like, I just found that panel to be as wild and as truly crazy as the Salt Lake City panel was and unhinged. I feel like the Potomac panel was like the perfect balance of like they were shady to each other. But it really showed them as like a unit. Like they really did like talk about their work in such a, I think, beautiful way and their respect for each other.

Like there was a moment where Giselle was like saying how proud she was of Candice and now she uses the platform and her singing like and how they like, even though they fight together, like they ride for each other that cast. And there was no any other entity, any other franchise, Ravel Leopardy is coming. Like if you come for one of them, you come for all of them type of thing, which was really, really great to see. And I think it's kind of the secret sauce that they have there. Totally. They know that they can't do it alone.

And, you know, as much as ego is fun sometimes on these shows and you want to have the big personalities and the people who are kind of like a little bit cocky sometimes. when it comes to making the actual show, it has to be a group effort. And I think Potomac does that better than anyone. And oh my God, I just love these girls so much. I know. Thank God it's back.

We were really in a drought there. Like, it had been a long time. And I'm just so excited that they're back. And I think, too, I wrote about this too. I think the pandemic really helped Potomac in a way. Like, I think people had the time to binge. And I remember the women said that a lot of fans would go up to them at BravoCon.

and be like, oh my God, I binge you all throughout the pandemic. And obviously, season five was like a lot in a lot of ways. But I think it really just got a lot of people on board. And it was so nice. I don't know how you felt to see like the fans. And I didn't go to the first BravoCon, but the fans were all over them. That panel was huge. Like, they were huge stars.

I actually, I tweeted about this during the weekend that at BravoCon in 2019, they didn't have a Potomac panel. Not all of them were there. I know Giselle was there. I remember seeing Ashley. Maybe a few of them were there for sure, but they didn't have like a dedicated Potomac panel. They were just kind of doing random things throughout the weekend.

And so that Sunday morning of BravoCon when the Potomac panel was like the first thing, when they opened the doors to the venue and immediately there were just like hundreds of people flooding into the line for the Potomac panel, it's like, oh yeah, this is what they deserve. this is where they're supposed to be. It's so dumb. This is really like a reality TV show, but I'm like, I'm proud. I know.

I kind of help them feel proud. It was so fun. Exactly. And I'm glad I got to share it with you. And I'm glad you were able to recap with me today. I know. I have to say we had so much fun. And it also was so great to see even people come up to you

and like love the content you share. And like it was a really, I think it was, I know there's been a lot of said about ProvoCon online. It certainly wasn't Fire Festival, but it was a really exhausting, really fun weekend. And Sunday felt like the cherry on top for sure. Exactly. Jared, thank you so much for being here.

Tell everyone where they can read your stuff and follow you and all of that. Yes. So I write entertainment at the Griot. So you can see all my coverage there. I did a lot of BravoCon coverage. So be sure to check it out. And you can follow me on Instagram at the Jared Alex. And then you can follow me on Twitter at Hey, it's Jared. Hey, with you wise.

Amazing. Thank you so much. And thank you everyone for listening. Don't forget to rate, review, and follow the show wherever you listen. You can follow us on Instagram at Bravo by Betches. 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 Sousmecate. Editing by Jorge Morales Pico. Social media by Dylan Hafer. Guest booking by Dylan Hafer and Ali Friedlander. Be sure to follow. Follow at Bravo by Betches on Instagram and Twitter. All.

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