Mention It All - The Call Is Coming From Inside The SkinnyGirl Office (RHOA)

Episode Date: August 23, 2023

Dylan is back with one final Bethenny rant (for now), recapping her response to the response to her Rachel interview. It’s… a lot. Later, he catches up on the last few weeks of RHOA, toasting Cynthia’s return and politely requesting (read: begging) for some better storylines next season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

Welcome back to the Mentioned It All podcast. I am Dylan Hafer, and we are back with another episode. And unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you feel about this whole thing, Bethany is also back with another episode. She recorded a follow-up rant. to her Rachel interview. So I'm going to talk about that a little bit. I also finally caught up on Real Housewives of Atlanta.

I got to be honest, this Sunday schedule has been kicking my ass with Atlanta. Roney, Crappy Lake. Watch what happens live currently on hiatus. But it's just, it's a lot to happen on a Sunday night. So I was a few weeks behind on Atlanta, but I did catch up. So I'm going to get into that a little bit. You know, it's a good time to be on Bravo. There's lots happening.

And Salt Lake is coming back soon. Southern Charm. I'm really wondering, though, when we're getting our next Housewives trailer? Because it seems like Dubai, it's got to be soon. Potomac, it seems like, theoretically, should also be soon. There's a lot, there's a lot cooking. But for today, you know, we're talking Bethany, unfortunately again. We're talking Atlanta. This Bethany thing, I was hesitant to listen to her follow-up rant. And I mean, I was hesitant to listen to any of it because I, value my time. I mean, no, I don't. Who are we kidding?

But I did, I listened to her follow-up. And she, so she says that she doesn't care about people having negative opinions of her interview with Rachel or her more broadly. She doesn't care. You can be mean to her on TikTok and she loves it. It's like catnip for her. But the thing is, nothing says I don't care. Like hopping on the microphone and recording a 30-minute diatribe about people having opinions about you.

Like, I'm no expert in psychology or how people's brains work. I did take AP psychology in high school and I got a five on the AP exam. I also took child psych in college. It was like senior year. I needed another random credit. I can't say I paid a whole lot of attention. So that's where I'm approaching this from. I want to be upfront about my credentials.

But I just feel like if you, if your response to something is to publish an episode about it and to talk for 30 minutes about it and to get sort of worked up, I would venture to say that that suggests you care. You know, maybe you love it. Maybe you're happy that you're getting that attention because maybe you are, you know, a troll or a, you know, whatever that just thrives on that. But like, you still care. Even if you're not crying about it, you're still exhibiting feelings of caring.

But overall, you know, she responds to some of the specific questions about her interview and about, you know, the Vanderpumpurl situation in general. I mean, still the fact that she has never watched the show until recently and, you know, doesn't seem to particularly care about some of the facts that she's making claims about. It doesn't sit great with me. Specifically, my question, I talked about this on Monday's episode, but she won't give a real answer to whether or not Rachel was paid for being on her podcast, even though Rachel or somebody on her team said that she wasn't. The question is, you know, now that she has the number one podcast in the world, it's like, is she getting a cut of that ad revenue or something? And Bethany's response to that is a very smug, like, you don't know what I'm doing. So talk all you want. I love it. But you don't know.

And it's like, okay, miss union organizer. Like just don't tell us. Fine. That's fine. She also talks, which I think something that has come up a little bit in these last few weeks of reality reckoning combo is Bethany's kind of own role in the reality TV system, not as a cast member on the shows, but after she has been kind of in her, I don't know, boss bitch era, you might say, first having the show The Big Shot on HBO Max back in 2021. And then also this story that came out about how she was kind of developing or shopping around potential reality. show about women in Connecticut earlier this year. And she talks about both of those things on this episode, which I was interested to get her sort of viewpoint on those. The big shot notably seemed like kind of a shit show. And this was when she had gotten her big deal with Mark Burnett's production company. And she was supposed to be, you know, leading the charge on all these shows. She's like the executive producer. She is the show, essentially. And she tells this story about how when they were filming this show. It was November 2020, I believe. She says it was election day, but then it was also

Thanksgiving, but then it was also her birthday. So I really feel like this is a date that we could just find on a calendar. I don't know why it needs to be, you know, she's like, these people are missing Thanksgiving, but then it was election night. And it's like election night. It was famously like in the beginning of November. And I don't know. Her birthday is November 4th. So maybe that's, whatever. But she's like, we were filming at my house in Connecticut and I had never been there before. And I walk in and there's a hundred people there. And there's, you know, there's rings from the glasses on the tables. And I was just appalled because there was so much damage happening. But, you know, so I'm stressed about that. And it's like, okay, first of all, like, nobody in the world is going to be, you know, upset for Bethany that there were, you know, water rings left on her tables because she used her house as a filming location for a reality TV show. That's, you know, whatever. But basically, if you recall, if you watched this show, the first episode does take place at her house, but it's like this mixer type of thing where everybody's outside in the fucking freezing cold, you can tell. And then they come in, there's this challenge happening where they split up into teams and they have to come up with a thing.

And Bethany is basically saying these people had been, she pronounces it quarantining, which I like, that's like a fun little, you know, like, it's very like, I'm making myself a quarantini. what a time 2020 was. But so she's like, these people have been locked up in a cage for, for days. And then we get them in the house and they were there for hours. And we were filming all day. And it was like, 1 a.m., 2 a.m. And I asked the person, one of the producers, one of the people. I'm like, is this legal?

And they were like, well, it is. It's not legal, but it's not right. And I think she means to say, like, it is legal, but it's not right. That, I mean, if it's not legal, obviously, it's not right. Except like, I don't know, like marijuana. Who the fuck cares? But. So she's saying that these conditions were appalling and that she, you know, never wanted that to happen again and X, Y, Z, this, that, and the other thing.

And it's like, this story can't be told without the context that this was Bethany's show. It was Bethany's name on it. It was Bethany's production deal. Bethany was the executive producer. The buck stopped with Bethany for this show. even if she wasn't the one planning everything or whatever, she was in a position of power in this. And she talks a lot in this episode about how, you know, this reality reckoning.

It's not about her at this point because, you know, she's in a position where she doesn't have to be put up with these things. And she says, like, you know, I'm smart. I can take care of myself. XYZ. I wouldn't let myself be exploited, which first of all, I think is kind of insulting to a lot of the people that allegedly have been exploited. It's very like, you know, I wouldn't let it happen to me because I'm better than you.

But, you know, for all of these, like, shitty little people who can't take care of themselves, I guess we should have a union. But, you know, like, this was Bethany's show. So if the conditions were bad, like, maybe it wasn't fully on you, but it's on you at least a little bit. And then she also says with this show that she was developing earlier this year that she just, like, stopped wanting to be involved with it. And she realized that people were kind of trying to, like, box her out, which feels like a separate. thing, you know, the people working on this show, it's like, yeah, they probably were in three

Zoom meetings with Bethany and we're like, God, this lady sucks. That's different from like, Bethany deciding that she doesn't want to be a part of this system anymore. That's like, like getting bad vibes from your coworkers is different than being like, this, this industry must be taken down. And she says a couple times, there are a few things that she says where she makes comments like, you know, this was much. months ago. And, you know, if I knew that I was going to care about, you know, the conditions and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. She makes it very clear that this is something that she had not ever really thought seriously about or cared much about or, you know, really considered at all until

the last few weeks. And that to me is a little crazy because she was on housewives. She left housewives years ago now for the second time. She's been, she talks all the time about how she has, all of these, she's worked in reality TV for 15 years on every type of show. She was on the apprentice. She was on the house sweats. She was on a talk show. She was on everything. And it's like, if you really saw all of that and then we're in a position of power, you know, spin off, talk show, executive producer, all of these experiences. And you never, you, nothing ever rubbed you the wrong way. you never kind of like chafed at the industry until last month, this month, when you saw that there was a lot of attention happening on things like this and then

thought that you should get on TikTok. She talks a lot about the idea that she's not the right person to be leading this charge and is very like, well, if somebody else wants to do it, then like, be my guest. Like, if I don't want to do it, you think I want to be burning bridges I don't need to burn and having meetings with SAG and after. She met with both. SAG and AFRah. That's certainly a big undertaking,

considering that they're one entity. But it's like Bethany is creating all of this around herself. So for her to then kind of, for her like clap back to be like, well, if you don't think I'm the right person to do it, then like you step the fuck up. It's like, yeah, that's not actually. that's not actually how this works.

Like I, you know, I'm not going to be the one to go around with a clipboard and get signatures of housewives that want to unionize. But neither is Bethany. She's not doing that. She says that she, the idea that she's leading a charge against Bravo in quotations, she doesn't like that idea because she says it's not about Bravo. It's about the industry and it's about, you know, all of this stuff that's happening on all of these shows. but then these lawyers that she onboarded for this are sending all of these letters to Bravo and to NBC Universal. And it's like, if this is really about the industry at large and not about a corporate entity that you feel like you have beef with, you're not doing a very good job of making that work happen.

Like it kind of feels like you're very focused in one place. And I don't know what the end goal of that is going to be or how it's, it's going to pan out. But yeah. But she doesn't care. You know, people are going to say what they want to say. People are going to get behind their fuzzy microphones,

she says, and talk shit about her. And it's like, okay. You know, like those who live in glass houses. But she also, the last thing I want to bring up,

she talks about a couple of situations that she uses as kind of examples of production, dropping the ball and allowing things, unsavory things to happen on these shows. She talks about the naked wasted incident from way back when on Orange County where Tamara and a couple other people were basically, you know, sort of conspiring to get Gretchen really drunk. And then there was some, some iffy stuff about Tamara's son, Ryan, like kind of trying to like flirt with Gretchen, get with her maybe. That's, you know, that is a little bit questionable. But then she brings up the situation that happened

on Below Deck Down Under just a couple weeks ago. And she has, you know, that is a little bit of absolutely no understanding of what happened in this situation. She clearly has not watched the show. I think maybe she saw like a tweet about it. Maybe somebody slid in her DMs and she read half the DM, you know, after she took an ambient and it was like 1 a.m. So her, her read on this situation is that guy got in bed with girl and production did nothing and captained. And captain came down and had to fire him and everybody's like cheering on the captain, but why didn't production get involved? And it's like, Ms. Frankel, literally the entire situation was handled at the beginning by production. Captain Jason was asleep. Asia was not in that area of the boat.

It is literally the producer or the cameraman or whoever is that. the one that made him get out of bed and get out of the room. And if you watched it even once, if you watched it, you know, if you were in the next room making dinner and had like half an eye on the TV, you would know that. And it's like, why are you, I'm sure there are better examples that you could be using over 15 years, 20 years, however much reality TV has been created in our history. You could find some pretty good examples. And the fact that you are, using so wildly incorrectly this one that happened a couple weeks ago to try and prove your point, it's really, it really just shows like how little you have your kind of like actual mind wrapped around what's happening.

But I digress. I really, I just, I think we're going to be on a Bethany diet from now on. I don't know how much more we can talk about. 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.

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See you this summer. Switching gears. I'm happy to have caught up on Atlanta because I know I've been slacking on this season. And honestly, the last couple episodes have been, I think, a little bit of an uptick. there's been some good stuff happening. First of all, the return of Cynthia Bailey. She's back. She's hanging out with the group. She's showing up to events. She's in the confessional looking gorgeous as always. And I think Cynthia coming back at this point in the season has been such a breath of fresh air that this season desperately needed. Because it's like there's all of these

rough vibes happening between Marlowe and Candy and Drew. and Kenya and sure, like, it just feels like there's not like a big storyline to care about or a big feud happening. It just is kind of like all these women aren't quite getting along. And it's, it's a tough hang. And so Cynthia coming back and looking gorgeous and being in a little, a little bit of a dip, you know, her, she's gotten divorced from Mike. She's back in it. she's kind of trying to, I think, get her groove back a little bit. And having her back and getting to hear about that and seeing that she and Kenya are now in a good place after reconnecting post-girls trip. That I love to see.

I just don't, and nobody has any reason not to want Cynthia around. And I think with Housewives, this is something I've noticed the more time that I've spent watching these shows, watching the conversation around them, the social media. people have, I think, a chronic underappreciation of housewives who bring a level-headed, real kind of rational energy to the group. And I think it's easy a lot of the time to write these women off as boring or as, you know, not carrying their weight or not starting enough drama or not being messy enough. And obviously, everybody has to contribute, but I think everyone can contribute. tributes in different ways. And I think that that is a really crucial thing to understand about kind of how Housewives cast works together. Because you can't have six Marlows. You can't have six Keny's. That would be a fucking disaster. And I think that Cynthia is the kind of energy that this

cast maybe needs. They need kind of that central person who everybody sort of gets along with and is going to sort of be the maypole of the group. You know, everybody can kind of move around them. Cynthia is at Cherais' sip and see. I thought that was funny. Cynthia is funny also. We see her in these confessionals in these episodes. And the thing is, if Cynthia was coming back and she wasn't really like bringing much to the table or giving us much, we would not be seeing her confessions in these episodes. I feel like the confessional interviews are the place where you really see kind of how somebody's performance as a housewife is going, especially or if you're at like a friend or a guest because they might call you in to do an interview just kind of so they have it. You know,

it's like shooting all your coverage. You get everybody's thoughts, whatever. But if Cynthia was boring in the confessional chair, they would not be using it. She's not a full time. She's not, I don't know if she's even technically a friend. I don't know what kind of contract they gave her, because she's just, she's just here for a few episodes because next week is the finale already. But I'm liking Cynthia back. I think depending what happens for next season, I could see her slotting back in either a more full friend role or even a peach back. I don't know. Latoya and Shamiya are back to Latoya. I just don't understand why. I just don't understand. And this is what I feel like the last couple times I had talked about Atlanta earlier in the season.

I felt like they're just kind of, they're dredging up these storylines that don't quite click. I thought in Portugal when they were talking about what happened with Bolo three years ago, I didn't understand why this was a topic of conversation that needed to be coming back up on the show. I don't care if Drew and Latoya made out. I don't care who said it to who and then it became a fact, even if it was maybe a made up story. That is something that I just don't have the capacity to care about anymore. And Latoya is somebody who was a friend of for one season on this show.

It's not equivalent to Cynthia coming back. It's not equivalent to Drew. Like, miss me with that. And in the most recent episode, Chavez having her sip and see. It's a lovely event. She gets her must-haves of boho glam, bears, balloons, and fabulousness. No budget insight, of course. But Drew rolls up and sees this guy Anthony walking in.

And she won't even get out of the car. she's like, no, that's not cool. This is the guy. It's this guy who used to be Sherey's assistant, who accused Ralph of being gay last season. And then Drew says that they saw each other at a club. And she had taken her shoes off. Because I don't,

do people take their shoes off in the club? Like, okay, I know that's not the point of the story. But so then Anthony picked up one of Drew's shoes and threw it at her. But then. Candy confronts Anthony about it And he says that Drew got a reading from him Because she owed a coin And that Drew threw her bag at him

Before he threw the shoe at her And it's just And the police were called Drew says Like Real is this what we're talking about That this nobody Anthony is like derailing charades Beautiful event for her glam baby

and Drew is like stuck in the car because she refuses to come. It's like, enough. Enough. Go to the party. Avoid each other all you want. Why are we doing another hearsay storyline that feels neither here nor there? And it's like, yeah, Shire and Drew are not that close. There are probably going to be people at Sherey's party that Drew doesn't quite fuck with.

And I get what Candy is saying about how obviously Anthony is the one that seems a little more heated. up and maybe like he's kind of the shitter in this situation. But it's like, there are at least a hundred people at this party. Stand in a different corner. This show has been on for 15 seasons. We cannot be doing this. But then like 10 minutes later, we get this amazing moment where Bob Whitfield shows up with this woman that nobody has ever seen before. And they're in photos together with Cairo and the baby and Cairo's partner. I don't remember her name. But everybody trying to figure out who this woman in the photos is is absolutely priceless.

It is so funny to have Cynthia and Candy and Sonia and Kenya and Marlowe all looking at like, who's that? Like, is that Bob's girlfriend? They're like, no, I thought I knew what she looked like. And she didn't look like that. But she's old enough. But. Uh, and the reveal that this is Bob's full daughter that Shire herself had not known about until this moment on camera, despite the fact that this daughter woman, grown woman, was born before Bob and Shire were together.

That is television gold. Like five minutes ago we were talking about who threw a shoe at who at the club that Drew took off because we do that in public apparently. And then we get this like delicious moment of the women just not being able to take their eyes off of Bob and this woman. And it's like that is what we need. That is the energy we need. Apollo was there. Like this is the Atlanta that I enjoy and that I want and I need. and I know we're barreling toward the end of this season,

but I really hope for next season they can find a way to just kind of, just kind of give it like a shot in the arm and really bring it back. Because these last couple seasons, there have been some bright spots, and I think the cast still has a lot to give, but it's like we've got to just, we got to just find that spark again. And I felt like in those last five minutes, we saw it, and it was beautiful. Kenya saying that she met Bob Whitfield originally when he was cheating on Shire. And she didn't even know they were together. It's like, this is what I want. I don't know. I don't know. I'm happy to be caught up on Atlanta. I'll try to check in, you know, once or twice more in these last few episodes. But overall, you know, that's all she wrote for today. And thank you guys for listening. Thank you so much. 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. Mentioned at all is produced by Dylan Hafer, Sean Kilby, Jorge Morales Pico, and Rebecca Sousa McCat. Editing by Jorge Morales Pico, social media by Dylan Hafer,

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