Mention It All - The BravoCon 2023 Deep Dive

Episode Date: November 7, 2023

Fresh off an exhausting weekend in Vegas, Dylan returns to the studio for a breakdown of all things BravoCon. He recaps the good, the bad, and the ugly (Nick Alain’s decor), rating the panels, revealing behind the scenes WWHL moments, and discussing the most eligible bachelor in town—Captain Jason. Finally, he shares his sweetest interaction of all time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

Welcome back to the Mention It All podcast. I am Dylan Hafer and freshly back in New York City from a wild weekend in Vegas. Today, we are talking. All things, BravoCon. it was a whirlwind few days in Sin City, and I got to say, I am, I'm just, I'm just not made for Vegas. This was my, this was my first trip to Vegas. And I, I could have predicted that it was not going to be my most favorite place to spend time. And I was right. You know, I would have, I would have been correct about that. Las Vegas is a deeply cursed place, I think. If you, if you live there or you,

or you love being there, I love that for you. But it. But it's, It is, it's an interesting environment. So I arrived on Thursday afternoon. So I had some time to explore. You know, I was getting my bearings before, of course, the BravoCon Madness started on Friday. First of all, in Vegas right now, I don't know what it's usually like. Right now, it's a fucking mess because Formula One is happening there this week, next week, sometime soon. So streets are torn up, closed, sidewalks are rerouted. You have to cross over 55 damn bridges to get anywhere. They're constructing stands and bleachers and whatever Formula One requires all over the strip. Like the Formula One track or course or whatever goes down Las Vegas.

Boulevard. So it's an absolute nightmare to get around anywhere. Add to that, it's BravoCon. There's a lot of people there. There's a lot happening. The first night I was there, I ended up at Vendor Pompapery. I went into this weekend with essentially no plans outside of attending BravoCon. You know, I had tickets to a few of the Watch What Happens Live tapings. That was kind of, my entire plan for while I was in Vegas. So I was like, okay, like, it would be fun to go to one of the Vanderpump locations, but I don't know if I'll be able to make it happen. Obviously, I could have predicted that that was going to be a popular option this weekend

with all of Lisa Vanderpomps fans descending on Vegas at the same time. But Thursday night, I ended up there. I showed up with my friend Jared, friend of the podcast, and we were like, okay, like maybe we'll wait for a table. We got lucky. We had friends that were already inside, and they came out and got us, so we didn't really have to wait.

But Vanderpump-Aparri is definitely a step up from any of the L.A. Vanderpump establishments. It's just a little bit classier. It feels like there was a little bit more love and care put into it. Like when you go to Sir, there are certain areas of Sir that are really, you know, Nicolianified or, you know, sort of have that sexy uniqueness to them as, you know, you would guess from the name of the restaurant. But there are also parts of Sir that kind of look like they got

added on like the Weasley House or like they sort of were just like afterthoughts or like they didn't get the latest renovation yet. Whereas when you go to Van der Pompaparri, it's, it's decorated within an inch of its life. There are, you know, enormous throw pillows that you have to move out of the way to even sit down. There are chandeliers that defy description. There are giant tassels hanging from things. There are stone dogs that are wearing like diamond necklaces, but also because I guess it's the holiday season, and they're also wearing red ribbons around their neck.

There are, on the bar area, I posted a picture the other day. There are these metal umbrellas just cropping up out of the bar that I don't know the design philosophy behind that. Somebody said that it's like, oh, it's supposed to be like it's a rainy day in Paris. And it's like, okay. So why is there a copy? umbrella on the bar. Like, I don't know. The Nicolane Vanderpump style is, it's just not quite my taste, which is okay. I have to say, the drinks I had at Vanderpump-A-Pri were pretty good. I'm willing to admit it.

I had a few of the Vanderpump 75, which, you know, it's, it was more like, less juice with, I think, some vodka in it. I don't even know. Gin maybe. Let's just say the alcohol was not the foremost flavor that I was tasting as, you know, evidenced by the fact that I can't remember what alcohol it was. But it was good, you know, a nice little, I came with a little rose in it. And then we were talked into ordering the shot flight, which they call the artist's palette. And that name is, you know, apropos, because it's a rainbow sort of experience. So there's a blue shot. There's a green shot.

There's a yellow shot. There's a sort of purple shot. I think it was six. Six in total. They're all different. You know, there's one that's like a bourbon. There's one that there's a couple vodka. There's a tequila.

I think I drank the blue one. it was stronger than I expected. I was thinking it was going to be like, you know, Kool-Aid vibes. No, it tastes like a shot of vodka with some sweetness to it. But yeah, the artist's flight was probably not necessary, but, you know, when it's, when in Vegas and when they're doing last call and when you, I don't know.

So it became last call, which was not very late. It was like 1130, 11.30. It was not after midnight. Last call. And then they turn on the lights. This reminded me of, do you remember in high school, if you weren't like the homecoming dance or something and you're in the gym and at a certain point of the night, it's like, you know, probably like 10 p.m. or something. It's like, okay, like dance is over. Lights on.

And it is the most terrifying thing. it feels like you just, you know, put a black light on a hotel room bed. It's like, oh, oh, your light flashes before your eyes. That's what it felt like to be at Vanderpampampari when the lights turn on. Because seeing all of that, you know, sexy kind of prision, nickel décor decor in fluorescent, like halogen light bulbs. That is not what God intended. It just feels like it's, it's like at that moment, I realized that I wasn't in the real Paris.

God, the Paris hotel and casino is such a strange place. So over the weekend, they not only was it three days of BravoCon, they also taped a full week of Watch What Happens Live specials. and the venue for those tapings was the Paris Theater. So basically, you walk right past Vanderpampa, Paris. I have to say it that way every time. That's the name. You walk right past there and you go through a little hallway and you're at the Watch What Happens Live Theater.

So I, over the weekend, spent quite a bit of time in the Paris. And if you haven't been there, if you have been there, you already know. if you haven't. So you walk inside and in Vegas it's like all the casino. The casinos basically are the hotel lobbies. So you're walking through this casino and the ceiling is not that tall, but it is painted like a blue sky with fluffy clouds. So it could be 9 a.m. It could be 9 p.m. It could be 2 a.m. and you're in this weird, like, inside bubble with a million slot machines and a blue sky and one leg of the Eiffel Tower, or maybe three legs, three legs of the Eiffel Tower, the fake half-size Eiffel Tower, jutting through the ceiling. And so you're walking through this thing and you're like, okay, it's like blue skies, but it's kind of dark.

And there's, you know, cigarette smoke everywhere. Like I said, this was my first time going to Vegas. It didn't occur to me that there was anywhere in America that you could still smoke indoors. And then let me tell you, oh my God, I feel like I need an oxygen mask. Some places more than others. So Bravo Khan itself was at the Caesar's Forum, which was a lovely event space. It was like really nice on the inside. The bathrooms are gorgeous.

There's like chandeliers. There's really nice carpet. So last year it was at the Javid Center in New York. And the Javid Center, how can I put this? It's kind of a shithole. It's giving airplane hanger. It's giving warehouse a little bit. Like they've tried to make some of the spaces feel like they're, you know,

ready for prime time. But like it's just, it's not that girl. Caesar's Forum absolute upgrade in terms of the space. And overall, it worked really well. I think doing BravoConn and Vegas, the biggest problem with doing BravoConn and Vegas is just that Vegas kind of sucks. But also, Vegas is such a good place to do big events like this. And it felt cohesive.

It was a little smaller than last year, I think. I heard there were like less people there. Like they, not like they could. sell tickets, but the capacity was smaller. But also some of the spaces were more spacious in and of themselves. So like the Bravo Bazaar area where everybody has their little shops set up was so much easier to walk around. Even when there were long lines of people doing meet and greets and stuff, it just felt

like there was more room to breathe. And I think in New York, that's always something that's going to be tough. There were more people last year. It just kind of, it felt like it was tough to even just like get from point. point A to point B. And this year, I didn't feel like that was a problem. I know they also, they had people register online for photo op time slots, which last year you just showed up and lined up. So I don't know. I didn't do any of the photo ops. So I can't speak to the availability of the time slots or, you know, how the experience was once you got there. But it was, it was nice that

there weren't lines a thousand people long waiting for a photo with Kathy Hilton that they probably weren't going to get because the time slot was only 30 minutes. That I think was a win. I hope people got all the photos they wanted to. But overall, great space. So to get from Caesar's Forum to the Paris Theater, which was my kind of like nightly, my nightly odyssey. So first of all, you have to walk across a large parking lot. Because the forum, Caesar's Forum, is set back like a block off of the strip, whereas the Paris is on the strip. And so you walk through this like long, kind of like weird street, the sphere is like right off to the side. That was cool.

They really should have done much what happens live in the sphere. Can we make that happen next year? Bravo events team if you're listening. Tell you two that they need to get out of town that weekend and do watch what happens live in the sphere. That's what I want. But no. So to get from the forum to the Paris, you walk through this long parking lot area and then I found the quickest way, the most direct way. Because like I said, getting around in Vegas is a nightmare.

And the first day that I did this, I didn't realize my little short. And so I walked, I had to cross, I crossed the strip, walked like all the way through Caesar's Palace, which is just, just don't. And then had to cross back and then had to like, what, you know, go up and escalator, down a flight of stairs. I don't even know. The best shortcut, well, the best in terms of timing, but probably the worst for my spirit was going through the horseshoe. So the horseshoe is attached to Paris, but is, um, Far bleaker. And like I said, Paris isn't, Paris is not, not bleak. But the horseshoe, oh my God. We accidentally ended up in the horseshoe on Friday night at like 1130.

Oh, God. That, that was scary. Because most of the casinos at the very least, when it gets later at night, it's kind of dark in there. So you're like seeing all the lights from the slot machines and, you know, there's, you know, ads everywhere for like the Miranda Lambert residency or whatever the fuck. But it's like you're not really seeing everything. You know, it's like Vanderpompari. It's better viewed kind of in the in half light. You go to the horseshoe. It doesn't matter what time it is broad daylight in there.

And it, I think everybody who, everybody who smokes a pack a day or more is staying at the horseshoe because, oh my God, unbearable, unbreatheable air. But so anyway, the best way to get from Caesar's Forum to the Paris Theater is through the horseshoe. And then there's this little like side part of the horseshoe that's like a food court. And also there's a human bodies exhibition. I didn't know we were still doing those. But yeah.

So you kind of just cut through. And then suddenly you're in Paris. There's this like shopping hallway off of. the Paris casino where like Martha Stewart has a restaurant. There's a no boo location. There's also a very bad pizza place that I did kill an hour between. Watch what happens live tapings. But no, it was just getting around Vegas. I could talk for an hour and I won't because I have actual stories. I have actual things about actual Bravo Con and actual Bravo Lebrides that I do want to talk about because I didn't want this to just be an episode of me

ranting about Vegas, but also I kind of did. So that's what we did for the first 15 or so minutes. But now, now, now, now, let's talk. 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. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack.

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. On 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. The thing about the panels at BravoCon is that every show is in a different place in their calendar, in their cycle. And so the panels a lot of the time, the energy, the vibes are sort of dictated by what place the cast is in right. now, what they are able to talk about, what they have to talk about. So, for example, Atlanta and Orange County finished airing their seasons, you know, in the somewhat recent past, and have not started yet filming for their new seasons. So they have a past season to talk about. They have all sorts of sort of general stuff to talk about. But there's no real updates. And especially, you know,

some of these casts are, you know, closer than others in real life. For some of these shows, it's kind of like, oh, yeah, we haven't really seen each other since the reunion. So, yeah, the fun season. I did not go to the Orange County panel. You know, the scheduling was tough. I was in and out of the press room the first couple days. So making it to all the panels, I mean, even if I wasn't, making it to all the panels is psychotic and also sort of impossible. They really need to invent the time turner from Harry Potter for BravoCon.

even though I was in Vegas for four days and I feel like it took a year off my life. So if I had a time turner, I think I would truly be like a pile of ashes right now. But suffice it to say, Potomac had the best panel of the weekend. And this was not shocking to me for a couple of reasons. So first of all, their premiere was on Sunday night. They have a whole season that we haven't gotten to see yet that is waiting for us to take a bite and to dig into. And so they have a lot of stuff to sort of tease and have fun with. And there's a lot of energy that maybe we don't have all the context for.

But it's kind of fun to see like, oh, okay. Interesting. Good to know. But also that cast is just so damn good at this. They are so good at being fun and shady and a little bit heated, but also playful and just funny. they have the best energy because, you know, Karen is like, oh, you know, like, you know, Giselle, her flop business, you know, her, her every hue she couldn't keep track of, but, you know, we're on good terms right now.

We're in a good place. Candace still hates Giselle that much is clear. Charisse was there. It's clear that Robin's going to have a tough season, I think. But, yeah, Potomac, best panel of the weekend. Hands down. Also, Rachel Lindsay, former Bachelorette, moderated the Potomac panel, and she was so good. She, I think, for sure, for me, was the best moderator of the weekend. She also did one of the Ask Andy sessions. And she just has the best mix of, like, you can tell that she's genuinely a fan of all of these shows, particularly Potomac.

but also she has the hosting capability to make it feel like she's almost sort of the bridge between the fans and the cast and sort of asking what we want to know, but also, you know, keeping the energy kind of cohesive and positive. And that's the thing. Like, to moderate these panels, the energy is specific because you don't want somebody who's like only a fan, that you have to have that kind of. of, it's a skill. I mean, you're hosting. You're, it's a, you're moderating. It's a, and Rachel just knocked it out of the park. I was so happy that she was there this weekend. Vanderpump Rules panel

was probably the most anticipated of the weekend. And of course, so they have finished filming their season. And we got a little sneak teaser of it. It's going to premiere in January. So they're in a little bit of a weirder place for a panel right now because they're not doing press for the season yet. We haven't seen a full trailer. It's a little early. It's a little early. And so they have this whole season, and we obviously know that there's a lot of tough emotional stuff happening within this cast. But we can't really get into it in a meaningful way. So it's like, of course, we're going to get an update on Ariana and how she's doing and an update on James and Allie and are they going to get married? And we're going to get an update on, you know, Sheena and whatever.

And but when they're talking about the actual season itself, it's just a lot of like, oh, it was really tough or like, oh, it was, you know, it was hard. But, you know, it's going to be really good. And it's like, I believe them. Like, it's not that I think that's a bad thing. But it's just, you know, not every show is sort of in the same position to really give a juicy panel. One thing that I have mixed feelings about at BravoCon is the booing. and the response to the booing.

Because, look, does it suck to think that people are there in person and going to get booed by like 5,000 people? Does that seem like it's hard? Yeah. But also, if people want to boo Tom Sandoval at BravoCon, let them boo Tom Sandoval at BravoCon. Like, who cares? Tom Sandoval knows that that's what he's watching. walking into, or he should at least. So there's a difference between booing in a panel when there's 5,000 people in the room and walking up to the microphone for the Q&A and being like Tom Sandoval,

you're like the scum of the earth, whatever, like that is different. But what bothered me this weekend was that a lot of the moderators and stuff, if there were like any, if there was any booze or negativity coming from the crowd, they'd be like, no, no. No, no. No, we're not doing that. We're not doing that. Let's keep it fun. We're all, we're all Bravo fans. And it's like, shut up. Leave me alone. Let me live my truth. You know, I, not that I was out there booing, but, you know, Karamo moderated the Vanderpump Rules panel. And it's like, I'm not particularly sure that he's watched the show. But it's like, it's like, let it happen.

He mixed up Tom Tom and Schwartz and Sandies, and that was tough. He was like, hey, guys, how's Tom Tom going? They're like, oh, good. He's like, oh, did you get it open? It's been open. I don't know. I can't. The Southern Charm panel was also interesting because their position in the season right now

is that, you know, they're a little over halfway, probably with their season airing. They have not taped their reunion yet. And it's been an intense season. And you could tell that they kind of were probably told not to get too deep into it and to save some stuff for the reunion. But because the stuff that's happening on this season is so tough and so raw for some of them, they kind of couldn't help themselves. And the energy between Olivia and Vanita versus Taylor, it ain't good.

It doesn't seem like we've made a lot of ground there. And also, Austin and Taylor sort of got into it a little bit because it came up, this whole thing of Taylor saying, on the show that basically Austin told her to lie or to not say that they had made out or, you know, Define, hooked up, whatever. By the way, I've been catching up on Southern Charm. I got behind for a few weeks. You guys, it's so good. We'll talk more about it. We'll get into it.

But so Taylor was saying something at the panel about how Austin told her to lie. And Austin's like, I didn't, I didn't tell you to lie. Like, you can't. Taylor, Taylor. I don't. I don't. I didn't tell you, I didn't tell you to do anything. And they were sort of like, they were sort of getting into it. And I was like, okay, this is good. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. But it's tough because Austin even mentioned, he was like, you know, like, you know, wait for the reunion. So I am, I, I don't know if they have the best panel of the weekend, but I do know that I left that panel a lot more excited for the Southern Charm reunion because I think it's going to be really, I think it's going to be really tense. and TBD on whether that makes a great reunion,

but I think it's going to be really interesting to watch how everyone handles it. And I think there's clearly a lot of unresolved stuff with that cast. And I think that's the right energy to go into a reunion with. So I'm hoping for good things there. The split New Jersey panels, that's something that has happened now two years in a row

where the cast has been split down the middle, They're paired with their husband, so it's still, you know, two full panels worth of people. But interestingly enough, this year, I think I might have mentioned this last week when I was looking at the schedule. So the first jersey panel, which you could say is team Melissa, it was Melissa, it was Margaret, it was Jen Fessler, it was Rachel Fuda, and it was Danielle Cabral. So Danielle is on that side of things right now. And then the other Jersey panel, which was on Sunday, was Teresa, Jen Aiden, Dolores, and Jackie. Things have done, been shook up in Jersey. It's, um, the vibes are a little weird right now.

Obviously, we've heard over the last, you know, couple months that Jackie and Margaret had sort of a falling out during filming for the season. And it seems like not only that, but that Jackie has been getting a lot closer to Teresa and maybe sort of there might be an element of wanting to preserve a position on the show. And that maybe Melissa and Margaret feel like Jackie has sort of chosen to try and secure a place on the show over the friendships that, you know, maybe were more real or more. healthy. But yeah, so that's, it's a weird vibe because similar to Vanderpump rules, they have filmed a whole season. There's no trailer. There's no teaser. We got like a tiny bit of footage, like a one minute clip that they showed at the panels, but it wasn't really anything. You know, John Fuda called Teresa a has been. That was L.O.L. But there's not a lot of context that we have to go on here. But what I was expecting going into these panels, because last year I don't think I made it

to both of them. I was expecting that both panels would be very pro whoever was on stage. So I was thinking the Melissa and Marge panel would have a very pro Melissa and Marge crowd. And I was thinking that the Teresa one would have a very pro-Theresa audience. I mean, that it would make sense. It's very divided. And that was true of Melissa's panel. At Melissa's panel, it felt like most of the crowd was really there for her, would, was mostly fans of Margaret. The new girls got a lot of love. And at the other panel, Teresa, I think most people, you know, at that panel still were

still like Teresa. And the thing is, even if you're not like team Teresa, you can still acknowledge that she's an iconic housewife and an OG and all of that. But Jen Aiden is very divisive. and that room was not as positive toward the people on stage as I had expected. There was, honestly, it was kind of a chaotic energy. And that was, I think, the last panel on the last day. So, you know, people were a little drunk.

People were a little tired. There was, maybe the energy wasn't the freshest and maybe that didn't help. But it was, it was a little bit of a hectic vibe in the room. And Jen Aiden, I think she is so entertaining so much of the time. But at this panel, it was driving me nuts the way that she was taking up for Louis, defending him even more than Teresa was. Any time somebody mentioned Louis, there was a question about Louis, people were booing, Louis, Jennifer was the one piping up and telling everybody to shut up, defending him,

saying he's a great man. The story about how he was allegedly pursuing Alexia before he ever got with Teresa, that came up and Jen, you know, was dismissive, like she had an explanation for that. It's like, is Jen Aiden on Louis' payroll? Like, why is she so hyped up about defending him? Not that she shouldn't, you know, like him or be his friend or, you know, want to defend him. that's fine. I don't think that's weird. But it was like, this is a lot. And like, even Teresa seems, you know, maybe Teresa just was a little checked out, perhaps. But this thing that I saw on Twitter yesterday, this account team Jennifer Aden posted proof that Melissa and Margaret hired seat fillers to attack Teresa. These are the instructions that seat fillers were sent. And it's this,

It's this screenshot of a bulleted list. Your alias. Let's give you a fabulous Bravo-inspired alias. How about Bravo's biggest fan? We're a glittery badge with your alias to let everyone know you're here to have a blast. Two, boo for Teresa Judice. Whenever Teresa Judi speaks or is mentioned, give a cheeky, playful boo. Make it sound more like a playful boop rather than a mean-spirited boo.

Let's keep the atmosphere light and entertaining. Three, applause for Melissa Gorga. Every time Melissa Goreg has mentioned, give her a round of applause. Imagine you're her biggest fan and show your support with enthusiasm. Four, act surprised. Whenever there's a dramatic moment, act surprised. Gasp and clutch your invisible pearls. Channel your inner drama queen and bring the drama to life.

They also tell you to high five fellow fans and to maintain a positive vibe. Okay, so this is, the word proof is doing a lot of work here because this screenshot is, it's just a screenshot of this list. It's not an email from one person to another. It's not a, it doesn't have anyone's name on it. There's no, there's no paper trail. I'm like, this is a, I could, I could type that up right now and screenshot it and it would be the same. Look, could this have happened. Sure, sure.

It could have. Sure. But let me just say, there were thousands of people in that room. And the way that the vibe felt was split enough that Melissa and Margaret would have had to hire a about a thousand seat fillers if they were responsible for that. I'll just, I'll just leave it there. Ready to soundtrack your summer? With Red Bull Summer All Day Play, you choose a playlist that fits your summer vibe the best. Are you a festival fanatic? A deep end DJ, a road dog, or a trail mixer. Just add a song to your chosen playlist and put your summer on track.

Red Bull Summer All Day Play. Red Bull gives you wings. Visit redbull.com slash bright summer ahead to learn more. this summer. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime Originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories, and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice. Off campus, L, every year after, the love hypothesis, Sterling Point, and more. Slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. On top of all the panels and everything like that, to watch what happens live tapings were so, so much fun.

The bravos, which already aired on Sunday, I would definitely recommend watching them on Peacock if you haven't already. It was such a surreal experience being at like a Bravo awards show. And so we show up and the tickets were like assigned by the whatever. Like I didn't like choose my seats when I was going. So I'm like, okay, I'm looking at my thing. I'm like, okay, this is where I'm sitting. And they're like, okay, so you're going to be in this row, that seat.

I walk in. So because it's an award show, it's not like watch what happens live where they have the guests on stage. It's like all the Bravo Labs are seated in the audience in the first four rows. And then I'm in the fifth row, dead center behind Adriana Damora and Joe Bradley from Southern Hospitality, who are seated next to each other. The seating chart is so funny because it's like half of the Miami cast, but then some of them are another row ahead. And then Joe and Maddie from Southern Hospitality and then more Southern Charmed people on the other side. And then like the Summer House cast is like in front of them. And if I look to the other side, I see Dr. Nicole.

It just was such a, it was such a random smattering. Joe Bradley and Adriana seemed to really hit it off, I will say. During the commercial breaks, it was fun seeing them interact. like Adriana and Kiki and Gertie were speaking French to each other during one of the commercial breaks. And it was, it really seemed like they were gossiping about someone. And I don't speak enough French to catch that. But God, I, you know, if I could be a fly on the wall. But also every time there was a commercial break.

So it was a taping. It wasn't live, but we were, you know, they were taking commercial breaks and, you know, resetting and everything like that. And every time that we would go to break, like, like, Half of the Bravo Lebrides would get up to, like, go to the bathroom or walk around or whatever. And after the first commercial break, you know, the producers are like, hey, guys, like, you know, try and stay in your seats if you can. Andy comes out on stage. And he's like, you guys, we have to keep this moving. He's like, we can't start until you guys are back in your seats.

and you can't be out of your seats every single time we go to break. Did it help? No, not really. There was one, at one break, like the entire Salt Lake City cast got up and left. And then they had already started back up when they came back in. And Andy was doing a segment where he was like out in the audience. And so Whitney and Heather and Angie and Lisa are like creeping behind Andy while he's speaking into the camera. It's like, oh my God, this is such a shit.

show. Angie also. So they asked us not to have our phones out during the taping because, you know, it's a, it's a live TV special. Obviously, they were doing a lot of crowd shots, particularly of the areas where the Bravo Lebs were sitting. And so they were like, you know, you can have your phones out on the commercial breaks, just like not during the show and like don't, don't film anything, whatever, which is exactly what it's like when you go to watch what happens live in the clubhouse, by the way. So they make this whole announcement, they make a couple, like the audience coordinator, Rachel, who's amazing. She brings it up. There's like a video of Andy telling us not to have our phones out. And then the opening number, which if you've seen it, it's like Andy doing this

like showgirl number where he's singing and dancing. Who is the one person in the audience who has their phone out? I'll give you three seconds. Angie Katzenavis. I look over and she, if you could, God, I wish I had like, I wish I had taken out my phone and gotten a picture of her. It is full Amy Poehler in the jingle bell rock scene in Mean Girls. Phone up in the air, like bouncing in the chair, so excited, filming the whole number. And I'm like, Angie, you just got here. You're on season one. You're, you like barely made it into the cast.

put the damn phone away. I'm like, if, if Kenya and Kyle and all these, like, you know, legends are putting their phone away and being polite and watching the show, Angie, put your, put your damn phone away. It did make me laugh, though. God. Angie Kay, what a, what a trip. I got to see Angie Kay's husband up close and personal. He was not wearing a hat the day that I saw him, and he looked a little bit like pit bull. Love that for him. But the bravos were really great. One of my favorite shows, though, so I got to go to, I went to four out of the five tapings. So I went to the Charming House Rules one, which is fun.

It's like a good mix of that younger cast. I went to a dynamic duo's one, which aired, I believe, Monday night because it was Vicky and Teddy's Squash That Beef. So Vicky got really mad because Teddy asked where she was on January 6th. And then at the end of the Squash That Beef, which did not get squashed, Teddy said, Maybe Vicky is triggered by somebody who has actually had cancer. So Teddy then left the stage. And Vicky, I don't know how much you could tell this while watching the show.

Vicky was so mad. The entire show, the whole rest of the taping, the squash that beef was at the very beginning. Vicky was like seething, fuming for the rest of the show. And on the commercial breaks, there was like one commercial break where she was basically complaining to Andy the whole time. Andy's got like his cards there. He's in the middle of hosting a show. And she's like complaining to him. She's saying, you know, she needs another drink.

She wants to take a shot. She's complaining to production. It's like, Vicky was really, really bothered by the Teddy situation. Like more so than you could tell on TV. and I thought that was fascinating. And then the other one that I went to on Sunday night was Bravo's showgirls. I'm not sure exactly which day that's going to be on Bravo, but I had no idea what to expect. Because to be honest, when I was putting in for tickets, I just chose the earlier one on Sunday because I was like, I'm going to be really tired.

I know. And so I'll just do the one at six and then I'll be done. So I was like, show girls, I don't know, whatever, could be fun. let's just say the showgirl theme itself was loose, but that was for the best because it was an amazing show. I was so lucky and fortunate to be in the front row. And it was 16 women on stage, 15 housewives and Sheena Shea. And it started with Adriana doing a performance, a Vegas-themed performance of her hit single, Faya,

which was just magical. Sonia and Luann were there. who else was there Ashley and Chiselle were there now I'm like Marlowe was there Crystal was there I feel like I'm like slipping into Lisa Barlow

Lisa Barlow was there so they did this game they did this game where all of them I guess had to submit fun facts about themselves prior and then they had printed out each person's fun fact on like a big playing card and so Andy would

pull out the card and people on stage had to guess whose fun fact it was. And so some of them were like a little lame, but the first one that gets pulled up is like this person had a flirtation with Owen Wilson. And so immediately it's like, okay, there's all these like boss bitches on the stage. There's like, you know, people with Hollywood connections or whatever. So we're going around, we're guessing. And Sonia is like, oh yeah, like I slept with them a few times. And, you know, doggy style, you know, she's like, Sonia was just like off her rocker. But then Andy's like, Sonia, like, that wasn't your fun fact.

That was somebody else. Because like Andy knows the answers. It's like, Sonia, that wasn't yours. And then Ashley Darby raises her hand. And the look on Ashley Darby's face when she's realized that seemingly she and Sonia have maybe shared a partner. was unbelievable. It was so chaotic.

Lisa Barlow's fun fact was that she knows how to play the flute. And then of course, of course, of course, they bring out a flute and are like Lisa play the flute. It didn't go great. She's like, oh my God, I didn't think you would choose this one because I thought I felt my fun fact about Stephen Tyler was better. We never did get to hear the fun fact about Stephen Tyler, sadly. And then in the after show, they did a round of karaoke roulette with Bravo songs.

And so Lisa Barlow did good as gold karaoke. Marlowe did Sheik Salee. It was great. You got to watch these. Watch What Happens Live specials when they're all up because they really are so good. But it was just, it was a wild weekend. It was so much fun. Captain Jason was the bell of the ball all weekend long.

He had multiple segments on the bravos like jokes about him. Adriana said at the showgirls show that they went on a few dates when he was in Miami Luanne claimed that he was flirting with her he and Lala posted pictures together Ashley Darby maybe something went down there I don't know

Captain Jason who knew I mean yes but also like people are fucking obsessed with him I guess that really just goes to show that the summer house Southern charm male contingency is like a little bit ran through. Like we've kind of,

we've kind of exhausted our options there. So we need more like hot single straight guys on Bravo, apparently, except for like, do we? Do we really? Because they're almost never good news. I mean, look at how many hot guys we've had on below deck over the years. And most of them turn out to be like steaming garbage. So Captain Jason is maybe a diamond in the rough,

but there's not much else good happening. To close out, I just want to share the sweetest, the kindest interaction I had all weekend was with Shane Simpson. Shane, okay, so we were in the press room and Emily and Gina were paired together on the red carpet. So they were, you know, doing their press for like an hour. The carpet was huge. There were a ton of people in there. So Shane is like just hanging out while Emily is doing her thing.

He's wearing a t-shirt that said, I heart my housewife. And he's kind of just, you know, chilling, minding his own business. And he comes up to me and he said, are you Dylan? I was like, yeah. And he's like, I love your podcast. You know, I really like listening to it. He was saying that he loves hearing what people have to say about the show, both good and bad.

And that, you know, he listens to a lot of these podcasts. He was like telling me, you know, some of the other people that he was like hoping to meet excited. Like, we have the nicest conversation and he was so, so warm and friendly and kind. We took a photo together and sweet, sweet, sweet Shane is a little bit standing on his tiptoes. But he that, it was the most unexpected thing because, okay, I have never. I've talked to a lot of Bravo, Lebrides, housewives, whatever. The housewives are never like, oh, yeah, I listen to your podcast. If anything, they would be mad if they did, probably.

So to have Shane acknowledge that he listens. And to be fair, he said he only listens to the OC episodes, which I'm fine with. So, Shane, you might not hear this. But that really did make my weekend. And on that note, truly, truly, truly, truly, truly. And this sounds so corny. But one of my favorite parts of BravoCon is meeting people who listen to the show, who follow Bravo by Betches, who follow me,

who just are Bravo fans and want to talk about this stuff and want to hear about this stuff. And truly, people being so nice and so supportive is one of my favorite things about BravoCon every year and this year was the best yet. If you came and said hi this weekend, just know that I appreciate it so, so much. And if you weren't there this weekend, I appreciate you too.

I mean, it was an amazing weekend. I definitely will have some guests on in the coming weeks who were also there this weekend. So I'm sure there will be some stray Bravo con tidbits in the upcoming episodes. But truly, what a weekend. I need to go to sleep for like, you know, 47 years at this point. But we did it. We fucking did it. Thank you so much 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. you can follow me at Dylan Hafer. 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 Sousmacat. Editing by Horace 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.

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