Mention It All - The Bravo Lawsuits Keep Coming (Plus Top Chef!)

Episode Date: April 8, 2024

Dylan is back from vacation, and today’s episode is full of updates from every corner of the Bravo-verse. In New Jersey, Rachel Fuda takes a shot at Tre on social media, while Vanderpump Rules is under the microscope with a new lawsuit from Faith Stowers. Dylan breaks down what we already knew, and the new info that could make this a big deal. Then, he catches up on the first few weeks of the Top Chef season, and weighs in on the new elements this year. Finally, he discusses some tragic news from a Housewives OG. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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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 Heyver

Hey everyone Welcome back to the Mention It All podcast I'm Dylan Hafer And welcome to another week In a weird Bravo landscape where there's only one housewives show airing

And I don't even really feel like talking about it Where we are April is a month and we're doing it. I'm not going to talk about Potomac today. We'll check in again next week after they finish up their reunion. But right now, we are

kind of freestyling. We're going to catch up on Summerhouse later this week. I'm excited to dive back into that season. Of course, we've got Van der Pumper Rules in the Valley. More on that later. I am now caught up on Top Chef. We're going to talk about that today

in a little bit. We've got some some other items of business to attend to first. But, you know, it's a fun time. It's what a time to be alive, truly. Last week, we got a new cast photo for New Jersey to celebrate us being one month away from the season premiere. This, to me, I'm a little bit like, what are we doing here? You already put out the trailer. You're using the recycled cast photos from last year.

We're not going to pretend like photoshopping them onto a new background at the Jersey Shore boardwalk is something to be excited about. Right? Like, it's literally the same pictures, the same outfits, the same glam. I understand that the job of the marketing and, you know, comms department is to like get people to watch these shows. We're already going to watch the show. So when you could tell that all the women have been sent the same photo. at, you know, noon on a Thursday. And I'm like, hey, girlies, post this.

Here's the suggested copy for the caption. Look, I get what they're doing. I just don't know why couldn't this poster have just been ready when the trailer came out. We still have a month to go. Like, we're not going to have new episodes of Jersey to talk about until May. Basically a full month away. But the one thing about this little poster drop tease, post, is it a poster? Is it a cast photo? The one silver lining in this sort of like nothing

burger of an event was one Rachel Fuda who posted this image on her Instagram, just like all the other girlies, except for she made one, one slight little tweak. She made a little crop. And Teresa Chudice does not appear in the image posted on Rachel Fuda's feed. you guys I squealed I actually saw this so last week I was away for the second half of the week

I was in Charleston you know beloved city of of Southern Charm and Southern hospitality I was at a tennis tournament in Charleston I'm a big tennis fan if you aren't aware and I literally was like

you know I I was watching the tennis. I was in the moment, but then I would, you know, I would like look at my phone every so often. And kind of just check in, you know, make sure the world didn't end. There was an earthquake while I was there. I was like laughing at earthquake memes and the bleachers. But at one point, I pull up my phone and I see this image. And I'm, I'm squinting at my phone because I'm sitting in the sun.

And I'm like, there's something off about this. I'm like, one, two, three, four, five. this shady lady cropped the photo with no Teresa. And obviously, you know, people have wildly differing feelings about Teresa Judice online. Whatever side you're on, to me, this is fucking exciting. Because what have we been saying for years in Jersey? It's the Teresa and Melissa thing. We can't keep doing this.

We can't keep going back to this place. and seemingly this season, Melissa and Teresa are pretty much hanging it up with each other. They're not going to go there. It's not worth it. But somebody still has to go there. And you know who's going there right off the bat? But a month before the show even starts, Rachel Fuda. She's back for a second season.

I think that she is primed to have a good season. And I think whether or not you like her, whether or not you agree with who she cropped out of the photo. this to me is star behavior. And I think that we should not be, we should not be looking for people to just agree with us on these shows. We should be looking for people to make a statement. And cropping Teresa out of the cast photo

when you repost it on your Instagram is a fucking statement. So Rachel Fuda, hats off to you. I hope that the rest of the season of New Jersey is giving messy in the same way. But that's all for now that we have for New Jersey. Jersey. I'm like, that's all. Bye guys. Five minutes. We're good. No, we have more to talk about. The next thing to talk about is a little bit, it's a little bit tricky. It's a little bit tough.

And this is that last week, Faith Storhers, formerly of Vanterpump Rules cast acclaim. Faith Stowers filed a lawsuit against the production companies of Vanner Pump Rules, Bravo, and Bravo's parent company, NBC Universal, discrimination, retaliation, and other claims saying that she was, quote, subjected to racism, sexual harassment and physical assault in just her first season. I feel like this exists in the same world as the other lawsuits we've seen recently. There is clearly a feeling among people who have been, who feel they have been wronged, that now is a time to kind of come back for some being made right.

But I do think it's important to know. I don't think that this suit from faith really is that similar to the things that we've seen from Leah, from Brandy Glanville. Because with faith, I think the story that we first talked about in 2020, it really goes to something deeper. And it's less about the, it's less just about the network practices that, you know, some people think need to be reformed and, you know,

probably do to a certain extent. And a lot more about the things that faith, Faith's fellow cast members did to her and said about her and put her through. And so a lot of the stuff in this lawsuit goes back to those things that we talked about in 2020, which, you know, if you don't recall, I'm not going to, you know, go through the full rundown. But essentially, when Faith was on the show the first time around, there was a situation where Kristen and Stasi were, you know, joking about calling the cops on faith and saying that she had

committed Grand Theft Auto. And basically, it turned into this whole thing where in the climate of summer 2020, this was no longer viewed as a laughing matter, as it shouldn't have been from the start. And this is when Kristen and Stasi were fired from Vanderpump Rules. Brittany and Jacks left the show later that year, not directly connected to this situation, but I think, you know, it's all happening under the same roof. And now, a few years later,

I think it's worth noting that this is happening just a few weeks after, Kristen is back starring on a Bravo show. Lala is also a major focus of the complaints that Faith has made in the lawsuit, and, you know, Lala is still thriving on Vanderpump rules. She never really got any of the same consequences that the rest of them did. And this I think is interesting. The Lala stuff I think is sort of the biggest new information, or at least new to me.

If somebody has been deeper in the Give Them Lala lore over the last couple of years, you might already know about this. But I just want to read this. I'm going to read this part. I'm reading from page six just so I don't get this wrong. So separately in the stout, Stowers also claims she was a victim of sexual harassment and physical violence, noting she developed feelings for Pump Rule star Lala Ken, and producers allegedly forced them to share a bed on a cast trip. Quote, production, pressured Ken and Stowers to get intimate and touch each other sensually on camera. All of this was greatly distressing to Stowers. And then Faith alleges at one point in the suit that when her relationship with Lala, you know, deterioration. She says Lala allegedly pulled a knife on her, quote, holding it to her neck and threatening to cut a bitch with cameras rolling.

What? What are we doing here? What's this? If there's truth to this, sorry, if there's truth to this, obviously it's extremely disturbing and upsetting and problematic. I don't know if there's truth to this. I don't have any more information than what I just read. I certainly, all the stuff with Kristen and Stasi was pretty true. So TBD on this, but I think that this suit feels like it has a little bit more,

I don't want to say it's more important than the others that we've talked about, but I just think it ties back into real societal issues. and problems with how people are treated. And, you know, faith feeling like or even being told that she was cast on the show to add diversity and then really being treated badly, at least in some part, due to her being a black woman, you can't separate those things. And even if not everything in this suit turns out to have happened exactly the way that she's alleging, I think it's fair to say that there was a lot of mishandling of her being on the show.

So, I don't know, I kind of hope she gets something. She's accusing NBC and Evolution, the production company of trying to cover up the incident with Lala. She claims she was discouraged about speaking both to the police or the media. I think that at the end of the day, it is a good thing when everybody feels like, they have their voice and like they can tell their truth. And so kind of whatever comes of this, I'm glad that she feels like she can talk about it. But yeah, I guess we'll see kind of where that goes. I think it's, it's tough. I mean, the valley and Vanderpump rules are, I guess, going strong. So it's, you know, do what you got to do, Faith. And I think it is also worth

She has the same attorneys that have been working with Bethany and, um, we'll see. We'll see. I think a big, a big, a big, a big, a big, a big, a big, a big, a big, a big, I know that's not a satisfying conclusion, but, you know, this, this story has not been. So good, so good. Everything you want for summer is at Nordstrom rack stores now and up to 60% off. Stock up and save on the brands you love like Vince, Sam Edelman, frame, and free people. Join the Nordy Club to unlock exclusive discounts. shop new arrivals first and more.

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Those sandals you can wear all day and all night. And you've had enough of you. shopping from your couch. Done hoping it looks anything like the picture when you tear up on that envelope. It's time for a little in-person spring treat. It's time for a trip to Ross. Work your magic. Shall we talk about Top Chef? I think we shall. So we're three episodes into the season. If you are not, if you're not caught up, get caught up, three episodes, two last chance kitchens, which is important. We will be talking about Last Chance Kitchen. But yeah, three episodes in, we're in Wisconsin, Milwaukee, to be specific.

And I think this season is off to a great start. This is, of course, coming off of a season 20 that was historic in numerous ways. The World All-Stars format was just pretty epic. There's no other way to say it. We were in London. We were in Paris. It was Padma's last season. So I think that coming back to this season,

I felt like it was a time for Top Chef to kind of, I don't know, go back to its roots is the right word, because I don't think they need to like, you know, strip it down. But I think going back to a sort of, normal season of Top Chef, where they are, we're meeting new people, we're seeing lots of cool things, we're in a place that most people wouldn't think of as this, you know, culinary destination. And we have a new host. And I think that Kristen Kish is doing a pretty excellent job right off the bat. Tom and Gail and Padma had a rapport and a dynamic. And a lot of

that I think is hard to replicate in any reality competition show. I mean, I think that they are sort of a gold standard of people who are doing this work. And so I think for Kristen to come in, we still have Tom and Gale, of course. I think that casting someone from the Top Chef background was a really, really smart choice on the part of, you know, pretty. I guess, the network, whoever makes those choices. Because Kristen is able to offer a bit of perspective that even Padma, you know, as masterful a job as she did on this show, Padma, Tom, and Gail don't have that sort of homegrown experience with the competition being in the competition.

And I thought that the way that Kristen handled the sort of intro to the season, you know, they ask everybody, oh, who has, who's been? been nominated for a James Beard Award, who's worked in a Michelin Star Kitchen. We see a lot of hands go up, but not all of them. And the way that Kristen followed that up by saying, now who didn't raise their hand? Just know that when I came on Top Chef, I had worked three cook jobs and one, and I was a sous chef. So Kristen saying right off the bat, she didn't have this prestigious resume. She wasn't, you know, opening her own restaurants. She was. kind of an underdog on her season.

And then on top of that, she got eliminated. She went through Last Chance Kitchen. She won. She came back. She really has that breadth of experience to speak to anything that somebody is going through in the competition. And so I'm excited for that dynamic. I think it's already playing out really well. And I think that because Top Chef is sort of like a well-oiled machine, like they do what they do so well.

it's really benefiting Kristen because she doesn't have to come in here and do too much. This is not a show where it feels like the host is expected to sort of perform. I mean, as obsessed as we all are with Alan coming on traitors, this is a completely opposite job. Kristen's job is to go in there, to be knowledgeable about what she does, to present these challenges and these guests and these, you know, cultural things that they're touching on in a capable way, which she's absolutely doing. And she's a judge. You know, she's doing a great job judging.

We've seen her as a guest judge in prior seasons. She's not really new to this. And so I think it's been great to see her kind of just fall right in line and do a great job. And I think that this season with the chefs, likewise, has a really strong. crop of contestants, of chef testants, as we say in the kitchen. One of my things, I've talked about this with the past couple seasons that I've recap Top Chef. I think that they are the best in the business when it comes to casting a diverse, interesting, really, really talented group of contestants. And I think that extends in so many different directions. And I think that extends in so many different

directions. I mean, we have Dan, who is dealing with this degenerative disease that he has opened up about in the last couple episodes. He decided to share with the rest of the contestants at the end of episode two about this disease that he has. It's similar to ALS, where he is, he's slowly losing this motor function. He wears braces on his legs. He, you know, he has these symptoms that he's dealing with on a daily basis. And I, This show makes me goddamn cry every season. Watching him open up about that, watching Rosica, who I think is a standout already on this season,

talk about her being queer. We have Kenny who went home in episode three, but he was so excited and proud to rep his Vietnamese cuisine. We have Kevin, who has been on Top Chef France, Kevin. I love that it's Kevin with an accent on the E. Everybody just calls him Kevin, but I feel like we should be saying like Kevin. Right? He's very handsome. As you might recall, I tend to have top chef crushes. And my main top chef crush so far this season is Mani. Mani is from Mexico. He, um, his food looks amazing. He won the first week challenge with a posole that really made me. Maybe I'm a little posse. And I might be watching right now. But Mani is very good, very talented.

And he was in the bottom three this past episode, which really made me nervous. Because there's nothing worse than when you have a Top Chef boyfriend. And he gets sent home on, like, episode three. And then you're like, what are we doing now? I have to develop a new crush. Like, that was the love of my life. And now I have to have a new love of my life for the rest of the season. Or you could just watch the show.

But like, whatever. Manny's one of my favorites so far. I'm very into Michelle. our pit master, our barbecue chef extraordinaire, who by way of being a barbecue chef, a lot of the more kind of technical, more sort of fancy things, I would say that they're being asked to do, are a little bit out of her comfort zone, but she's doing a great job. Episode three, she won the elimination challenge at the Top Chef Cheese Festival. She, I think, is really one to watch. And also, I just, I love her energy.

Amanda is kind of fun. She says that people say she sounds like Darya. I think she's kind of giving Kamala Harris, or maybe like that that girl in TikTok who does the Kamala Harris impression with the laughing. Yeah, it's kind of giving that. But whatever, she's fun.

Rosica, who I mentioned before, I think that she is a sort of a top contender starting off the season. She won the main challenge in episode. two, which was the bar snacks team challenge, which is really interesting. Again, like I said, I think that Top Chef is best in the business when it comes to casting and storytelling with the contestants. And I also think that they are best in the business when it comes to creating unique,

interesting, exciting, surprising challenges that are both, really highlighting everything that the region has to offer. You know, the cheese and the Dorr County cherries in episode three. In episode two, they're doing a quick fire with hops because beer is also a big thing in Wisconsin. This bar snacks challenge, I think, was so smart. They're in teams of seven, if you haven't watched the episode, and they have a list of traditional bar snacks that they have to make elevated dishes with.

And so it's a seven-course tasting menu. it's like pickles, popcorn, potato chips, pretzels, olives. That's so smart. And you can do so many different things with all of this. And the person who I was the most skeptical of was Rosicaa, who had pretzels. And she was like, I'm going to make a pretzel dessert. Great love. I love like a peanut butter pretzel, like ice cream situation.

But no, she's saying that she's doing something with mustard in it. And for, okay, to be perfectly. honest, I don't love mustard. So I'm like a little bit like, I don't know if I would like really be into that. But Rosicaa wins the damn challenge. That's always, I think it's so great when somebody comes on Top Chef and they have an idea that sounds objectively like not a good idea, especially to my unrefined palate. And then it's like, no, you did exactly what you were supposed to do. You came in with something creative. You surprised everyone. you impressed everyone.

And that's what being a top chef is all about. God, I am on my soapbox right now. Do you see the way I talk about this show? Back in the first challenge, I also thought what they did was really smart where the first challenge they split up into, not groups, but they drew names of judges. And each judge asked for a different thing

that people usually have trouble with on top chef. So Kristen chose soup. Gail wanted stuffed pasta, and Tom asked for a perfect roasted chicken dish with light meat, dark meat. And I thought that was so fun too. Off the back, getting a little bit of, I thought it was a good chance for Kristen to sort of, there was a little bit of judge's personality within the challenge. So I thought that was great. And it was interesting to see different people with different challenges. And then the way they handled that, because it is a little bit tough comparing, you know, who made a better soup to who roasted a better chicken. The bottom three then had a 20-minute cook-off with the leftover, anything that was left in the kitchen

from everybody cooking their initial dishes, which is just kind of diabolical, but also like, I love that. 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. Erasing thoughts and restless nights won't stand a chance. Find Ollie Sleep Solutions for the whole family at Ollie.com. That's

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ago. It's like Young Gravy mixed with an Andy Samberg, obnoxious SNL character. Do you see the vision here? If you've watched it, you'll watch it. You'll see. get it. He's bringing a cowboy hat and these like oversized glasses. He goes home first, which first of all, he sucked. He was annoying. He was like, uh, you know, pasta's not my thing. I hate pasta. Oh, you know, Tom's hats suck. My man, it is episode one. What do you think you're here to do? But anyway, he goes home. Episode two, Valentine goes home. First of all, great name. I don't know, the background of it. Valentine. I love it. So Valentine, gets into Last Chance Kitchen. He walks into Last Chance Kitchen. He's the only one there.

Where's David? No mention of David. Instead, we have this man, Sue, who walks in and he is the 16th contestant on the season, Tom tells us, and they are doing something with Last Chance Kitchen that is so, so twisty and so sneaky. And I just don't know if I'm I am behind it. It just feels a little bit like, this is Top Chef. Top Chef is a well-oiled machine, as I said. It works. And the thing about when something works, if it ain't broke, you usually don't fix it.

And it feels like with this guy Sue that they are, the idea is that he is this like stealth under the radar contestant who is going to compete on Last Chance Kitchen and then like shock everyone and get back in, it feels like they are duping us with Last Chance Kitchen because if he doesn't win, it's going to be so underwhelming and it will be like he never existed in the first place. Meanwhile, I just want Last Chance Kitchen to be about the last chance in the kitchen with our eliminated chefs. So Sue has now won, spoiler, the first two challenges in Last Chance Kitchen. So he sent Valentine packing. He sends Kenny packing with a eggplant parm with stinky cheese. And I just, I just want to say, I have nothing against Sue. Sue seems like a

cool guy. He obviously seems like a talented chef. Why not just have 16 chefs on the season? I was expecting almost when I heard that there was a surprise last chance kitchen participant. I was expecting it to be someone from a past season who like got sent home really early or something. And, you know, now they're they're coming back to win it all. They've done that on like drag race before. But no, it's just like a. another random guy. So we'll see. You know, I think Top Chef has earned my trust and my recognition that they usually know the right thing to do, but I'm a little bit, I'm a little bit hesitant.

And I'm curious if you're watching Top Chef this season, do you feel a little bit cheated by Last Chance Kitchen? Or do you feel like it's a fun new edition? Because I just don't know yet. So we'll put a pin in that. The other change this season, which I don't really have an issue, issue with is that immunity is no longer coming from quick fire wins, but rather if you win an elimination challenge, then you get immunity for the next elimination challenge. I don't know. I see both sides of this. I don't really have an issue with it. I think the immunity oftentimes

ends up being a little bit of an afterthought anyway. Like, sure, it's nice to know that you can't go home, but also, like, I would love to look at the, the data of Top Chef seasons passed and see how many times the winner of immunity really likely would have gone home. Because I just feel like it's like, you know, cream rises, immunity rises to the top. I don't know. Like, I don't, I didn't think Rosica was in danger of going home. Whatever. We'll see how that plays out.

I do like the quickfires, though. and they have cash prizes for them, which is cool. I hope that the quickfires don't start feeling stupid. Because that's the thing with Top Chef. Nothing feels stupid. And I appreciate that because I don't like to feel stupid. And I don't like to feel like I'm investing my time in stupid things. I wanted to stay smart.

If I wanted something stupid, I'd watch like chopped. No disrespect to chopped. But it's like I want to watch people make good food. I want to watch talented. iconic chefs making food that I want to try. Or sometimes food that I don't want to try, but I still understand. You know, anyway, we'll check in on Top Chef, you know, here and there. I'm very invested in this season now, and I know some of you are as well, so I don't want to just abandon it.

I'm not going to be doing the full weekly recaps this season, but, you know, it's happening and it is important. To finish off this episode, I just want to acknowledge that Lori Peterson a couple days ago on Instagram posted that her son, Josh Waring, passed away after a long, long battle with addiction. She, if you are unfamiliar for God, she's an original real housewife of Orange County. It truly goes back to the first days of the first days of the first day. franchise. We saw her really going through it, you know, even back in those early days of the show when Josh was a teenager. They were already struggling and, you know, he's been through a lot. He has a daughter. Lorry posted, I just think, the most beautiful caption, the most beautiful tribute to

her son over the weekend. So I would really, I'm not going to read the whole thing because I won't be able to get through it, but I would really recommend going to look at that. There were so many lovely comments on this post, you know, from Housewives. I'm just scrolling through right now. It's Gretchen, Tamara, Lizzie, Kelly Dodd is in there, Gina Keough, Joe, Joe De LaRosa, Slade Smiley, wrote a long thing, just Peggy Tannos. really this hit me in a way that I was not expecting

but it was so tough and so nice to see the support I just I'll read the comment from Andy because I thought the comment from Andy was I don't know Lori I'm so sorry this is heartbreaking you tried so hard to save him and by sharing

Josh's story you wound up educating people around world about the tragedy of addiction for those who are touched by it. May Josh's memory be a blessing to you always. Sending your family all my love, heart. I think something that I have always felt about real housewives, and I've talked about this with some guests and things, is that one of the things that I think is really cool and really special about this franchise and this sort of whole thing is that it, exposes us to so many different realities. And we see so many struggles and triumphs and situations that different

people are going through. And of course, some of it is silly and, you know, lighthearted and first world problems and all of that. But over the years, we've seen so many people struggling with so of any really real things on real housewives. And I think that Lori, going all the way back to the first days of this franchise, Lori and what her family went through is just the exemplification of that. I hope their family is doing okay. I can't imagine going through this. Um, but you know, I think Andy's right. Hopefully somebody saw that show, somebody saw what they were going through and got some hope or some inspiration or,

you know, something. And, you know, it's a struggle. It's a struggle. And I, you know, I hope that Lori and everyone is doing okay. But that's all for today. I know, sorry to end on a downer. I just, I wanted to acknowledge that. Thank you so much for listening, truly.

you can like review so and until next time be cool. Don't be all like uncool. Mention It All is produced by Dylan Hafer and Shannon Sassone. Editing by Shannon Sassone. Social media by Dylan Hafer. Guest booking by Ali Friedlander.

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