Mention It All - The Devil Works Hard, But The Traitors Casting Team Works Harder (RHOC)

Episode Date: September 21, 2023

Dylan is back for a solo Thursday episode, and he starts with a few more thoughts about RHOSLC and the Meredith Marks of it all. Then, he gets into the cast reveal for season 2 of The Traitors, which is wilder than we could’ve imagined. Later, he recaps RHOC’s last episode in Mexico, where Heather Dubrow reaches a breaking point. 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 Mention at All podcast. I'm Dylan Hafer, and it is time for a little Thursday catch-up. This week has felt so chaotic. You know, Monday had Ryan Bailey on. The great Ryan Bailey, his podcast is so bad it's good. is now a Betches podcast. He's been crushing it all week with some great guests. He had, he had an Emma Julian from comments by celebs on his most recent episode. Love them. Go check it out. If you haven't already been listening, I was on his podcast earlier in the week. Also,

of course, yesterday we had the one and only Meredith Marks. And okay, so when Meredith was booked to come on the show, it was just, you know, a week or two ago. It wasn't like this has been on the calendar for months, but of course, I was happy to have her. I've been very fortunate so far this season to get three of the Salt Lake ladies three weeks in a row. But, you know, there wasn't any particular reason why I was thinking that this would be an important week to hear from Meredith. And then when I watched that episode, I watched the episode on Monday, night. Very late. I was very tired. Just, you know, setting the scene. And I'm like, okay, I'm coming home. I've got to watch this episode. Got to, you know, figure out what I'm talking to Meredith about at,

you know, 10 a.m. the next day. I press play. I don't think I had a, I had a big old grin on my face. I don't think it left my face the entire 45 minutes. Oh my God, that episode of Salt Lake And as I'm watching, of course, that dinner unfold at Carrie Grant's former estate, as Lisa tells us, I'm realizing that I'm going to get to talk to Meredith after this episode, of all episodes, I'm going to get to unpack the rumors and the nastiness, and you can leave truly, truly, timing like I've never experienced before. So I was very excited to get to chat with Meredith. And if you haven't listened to that episode, I would highly recommend

because, I mean, Salt Lake. Salt Lake, man, firing on every cylinder. And even some cylinders that I don't know if we knew existed yet, these last couple episodes have been really, really good. And I always was hopeful that this season would be sort of a refresh, a reset on Salt Lake City. But at the end of last season, it really felt like we were in a tough spot. And I wasn't sure how they would be able to kind of pick the ball back up and get going again after everything that happened with Jen. And, I mean, props to the casting team, props to all the producers.

everyone who works on that show and props to the fucking housewives because they are knocking it out of the park right now. Angie Kay is flailing, throwing everything at the wall and the way that it is coming across is really just something to behold. Lisa's being Lisa, Mary Cosby is being Mary Cosby. Heather is, you know, in the bedazzled baseball cap too drunk at the dinner. Whitney is, uh, she's doing something. She's, she got a big old spoon. She's stirring that pot. Like her life depends on it. And Meredith, of course, you know, sort of the Pistice de resistance on this week's episode, but I mean, I just can't say enough good things about Salt Lake right now. And I think it's also important to note, we are still just finishing up the first day,

of this Palm Springs trip. The first day, that entire episode, plus a little bit of the episode before, was all day one. We have a lot of season left to go with Salt Lake, and I hope that these women are, you know, running a marathon, not a sprint, but, you know, they're certainly keeping a good pace right now,

and I'm very excited to what happens. I'm going to talk about OC in a few minutes. Another strong season. I think they're, uh, they had their best episodes, I think, earlier in the season, but, you know, that trip to Mexico still happening. But first, I want to talk about the announcement this morning of the cast for season two of the traders on Peacock. There were some rumors, some rumors, and no nastiness earlier in the week about who was going to be on season two of the traders. Of course, they announced earlier this year that

season two would feature a cast fully made up of celebrities, or as they say, on this press release, reality icons and notable figures, whereas if you recall, season one had half reality icons and notable figures and half civilians, if you will. And I think a lot of us watching felt like the civilians were a little bit at a disadvantage, and other than a couple of them didn't really make that much of a dent in terms of the, you know, memorability of the season. So we have now the full cast of 21 contestants. And I'm just going to, I'm going to read down the list. Some of these people I don't know. So if, you know, sorry, I can't watch everything. But we've got somebody named Carston Bergey Bergerson from Love Island USA. I don't think people watch the USA, if I recall correctly.

Chris C.T. Tamborello from the challenge. Again, the challenge blind spot for me. We've also got Johnny Bananas from the challenge. So I do know who that is. But, you know, there's, it's a whatever. Dan Giesling from Big Brother, Deontay Wilder, a boxer, allegedly. Akensu from Love Island, UK. I do know who Aken Sue is. Janelle Prisina from Big Brother, a true icon. John Burkow? Wait, wait, wait. I'm looking at this press release and it just says UK Parliament. Is that a TV show or is that like the parliament? John Burkow, I'm sorry, I'm Speaker of the... John Burkow is a British former politician who is Speaker of the House of Commons from 2009 to 2019 and member of parliament between 1997 and 2019. Oh my God. A member of the Conservatives. a party. This is like, wait, wait, I'm sorry.

This is like, they cast like British Paul Ryan on the traders. Huh? How did he get in here? Wait, I'm sorry, this is a revelation that I've had just now. Speaker of the House of Commons? What is Shiree Whitfield

going to have in common with him? This is why. I thought it was crazy when Sean Spicer was on Dancing with the Stars. There's a British version of the Traders. This isn't. Wow, this is, this is blowing my mind right now. I'm sorry, if this isn't hitting for everybody else, pardon me, but Speaker of the UK House of Commons for 10 years.

Imagine if like Nancy Pelosi was on the Traders. But like the UK version, because you have to swap, I guess. Oh my God. That is wild. Sorry, I have to recover. Moving right along, we're only halfway down the list. We've got Kevin Kreider from Bling Empire. I like Kevin.

Larsa Pippin and Marcus Jordan. Larsa Pippin and Marcus Jordan. That is, wow. Both of them. The thing that's curious about that to me is that Larsa doing a competition show doesn't seem like something she would be particularly into. And that's the thing with Traders. Watching season one, the format is a little bit tricky.

It's not even just like a show where you show up and do competitions and then you go back to your room and then somebody gets voted out. You have to like deceive people and think through things. well, deceiving people she might be good at. But you have to lie. She might be good at that. I'm very curious to see Marcus. I've met Marcus a couple of times in Larsa's presence. They do their podcast together now.

Wow, that is fascinating. Maxim Chmarkovsky from Dancing with the Stars. That's kind of a fun random pick. Mercedes, MJ Javid from Shaz of Sunset. I'm happy for her. Parvety Shallow from Survivor, another queen. Peppermint from Rupal's Drag Race. another queen. Pilot Pete Weber from the Bachelor. Fadre Parks.

Sandra Diaz Twine from Survivor. Another queen. Shiree Whitfield, Tamara Judge, and Trish Al-Canatella from the real world, Las Vegas. This cast list, I got to say, there have been so many reality mash-up shows that have happened this year. And most of the time when I look at the cast lists, I'm like, okay guys what are we doing here we're really scraping the bottom of that barrel we got a we got to come up with something else but this list maybe maybe this is only for like the people whose brains are pickled the same way that mine is but the fact that you have tamra sherey sandra fadra parvety peppermint mj Larsa Pippen Janelle from Big Brother

This is a pretty stacked cast I'm a little taken aback almost There are a few sneaks, a few randos in there You know Mr.

UK Parliament But this is This is really something to be excited about I think I believe they're just now filming the show So it says on the press release that it's going to return early next year.

But wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Clearly I only skimmed this list before now because peppermint. This is good. This is some good fucking food. And boy, am I hungry. I'm ready for this. Bring it back.

Surrey, who won season one of the traitors, she's on Big Brother now. The world is crazy. Everything is upside down. Everybody else is on strike. Wow, I want this show now. Early 2024. Bring it back now. So good, so good.

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couch. Done hoping it looks anything like the picture when you tear up on that envelope. It's time for little in-person spring treat. It's time for a trip to Ross. Work your magic. But speaking of Tamara Judge, we are, we have a couple more episodes left of O-C before we get to the reunion. And this week, we are still in Mexico. Vicky is there, of course. We pick up where we left off, which is basically that Jen is mad at Tamara. Heather's mad at everyone because everyone seems to be mad at Heather. there's a lot of finger pointing going on this episode. You know, Jen is very upset because she has been told by Tamara that she ruined her family and Ryan fucked, you know, half of New York, aka half of cut fitness.

Tamara, after Jen leaves the table, is like, what? You know I never sugarcoat anything. If you can't be honest with her, you're not real friends. That she says that Vicky always fucks up her life. Like, damn. Vicky is in an interesting position here because she's not really involved in any of the drama, but at the same time she kind of can't help herself. She's like sticking her nose into Jen's

relationship. She's telling Gina to shut the fuck up. She's weirdly comforting Heather by the end of the episode. It's, the vibes are strange in Mexico. But you know, Jen and Taylor have a nice little moment. They call Ryan. Ryan reassures her that what Tamara said about him sleeping with another woman for a year is bullshit, you know, TBD on that. The thing that really makes me sad is that Jen is saying in this moment that she wishes her marriage would have worked. And look, I mean, I'm sure lots of people feel this way about lots of relationships for lots of reasons, and that's valid.

but Jen is dating seriously someone else and they're talking about marriage, they're talking about moving in together, they're blending their family, they're in this serious position, and she's still saying, I wish my marriage would have worked. I regret that it didn't. I made choices I regret. I feel like if you're going to be, if you're all in on your relationship to somebody else, you got a, it's a red flag if you're still hung up on, oh, I wish the marriage would have worked. Vicky also, Vicki says she left her husband for a loser and she'll always regret it. These women, just because the relationship after Don didn't work out doesn't mean the answer was stay with Don for another 20 years. It's wild to me. I clearly I've never been married or divorced, so maybe I'm speaking out of Turkey.

here, but like, Vicky really still regrets divorcing Dawn? I just, I, I don't know. I feel like these aren't decisions that you make lightly. Even if the, the relationship that you used as a rebound or a crutch or a coping mechanism didn't work out, doesn't mean that the correct answer would have been staying in the marriage. And I, I feel that strongly for Vicky and I, you know, it doesn't seem like Jen was that happy in her marriage. Maybe she's, she felt she had stability, but that's not the same thing. And I hope that she wouldn't sacrifice her happiness just for stability. But, you know, I don't know.

So there's this thing that's happening in the group with Heather. And it does feel like there are a lot of threads that are being traced back to Heather in a way that doesn't necessarily feel genuine. there's this story about what happened at BravoCon where Emily heard from Heather that Tamara was talking shit about Emily and Gina. And so that's one thing. But then Emily misremembers or mishears or forgets or whatever and says that Heather said, that it was Shannon talking shit about Gina and Emily. So then she tells Shannon. And then Shannon freaks out at Heather for telling a lie about what she was doing.

And then when Heather corrects Shannon and Emily and says, no, I never said it was Shannon. I said it was Tamara because it was. Then Tamara is angry at Heather for pointing the finger at her. But there's no, I mean, I do feel in that. situation that Heather is right in thinking that it doesn't seem like there is a winning scenario for Heather unless she had a time machine and could go back and just not tell Emily in the first place that Tamara was talking shit about her. But then if Emily found out a different way, she would be mad at Heather for not saying

anything. It is a weird kind of vicious cycle of blame where Heather didn't necessarily. do anything wrong, but at the same time, I think any person in the circle would find something to blame her for. Meanwhile, Gina doesn't feel like Heather has been a great friend to her. You know, Heather wasn't following anyone on Instagram until 10 minutes ago. That's a, I mean, that's kind of a separate thing. I don't think there are so many people who are weird about their Instagram followings in this world. I always think when people, try to analyze with celebrities or bravoleberties or whoever about following and unfollowing

and refollowing and whatever it's such a stupid thing to put emphasis on because half of these people don't even run their own Instagram half of these people don't even really use Instagram except as kind of a promotional tool shit happens you know I remember there was for a long time when Lala and Randall were together, they had talked publicly about how they didn't follow each other on Instagram, and they had decided not to because they felt like it was healthier for their relationship not to follow each other. Whatever. You can have thoughts about that. You can think it's weird. You can think it's shady. It doesn't matter. That's what they said. But then, you know, every few months, somebody goes on Instagram and they quote unquote discover that Lala is not following Randall and vice versa. And then all it takes is one tweet or one Reddit thread or one comment. Lala unfollowed Randall, trouble in paradise, yada, yada, yada. And then it becomes a story.

And then you're relying on somebody remembering or finding the place where she said that they never followed each other. It's just stupid. There are a lot of explanations for it. like, if Heather doesn't want to follow her whole cast on Instagram, they can be annoyed by that, but I don't, that's not something I need to care about. But I do think it plays into the broader idea that they all feel like Heather is Miss superiority complex. And this is, this is what, what Taylor brings up later in the episode. Good sleep is everything. That's why Ali's science back support is made with a blend of melatonin

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She leaves this lunch basically is like, I'm done, I'm not going to do this. You guys are all just like gagging up on me. Heather goes in Talkster or Taylor goes in Talkster. she's basically saying you don't get as much of a hall pass as much leeway as these other women because they think that you think you're better than them but taylor actually goes a step further and says that they feel inferior to you and i think that's something that is actually worth thinking about that sure is heather somebody who gives off an air of elitism and isn't always the most down-to-earth person? Yeah, of course. I think she would copped to that. But also, all these women on the cast have known her now, other than, I guess, Jen and Taylor. They've known her for years. They're all on the same show. They all are getting a lot of the same opportunities. Even if Heather kind of gives off that vibe sometimes, they're all on the same

level when it comes to the show. So maybe there is something there of somebody like Gina or somebody like Emily feeling internally like they are trying to compete with her. I mean, certainly they're not all on the same level in terms of their personal wealth. And so I think that's actually an interesting point that Taylor brings up that it might be partially what Heather is doing, but it might also be something that these women need to go figure out about themselves. Because at a certain point, if Heather's sitting there and sipping her drink is going to make you feel like she's up on her high horse, that might be something you need to deal with on your own. Not everything can be Heather's fault.

And look, I don't think that Heather is like, you know, has completely clean hands this whole season. It has done nothing to deserve people being frustrated with her. I mean, she participates in the Housewives game just like anybody else does, and we need her to, so it's a good thing. But it does feel like in certain situations like this one, it is a little bit like, what is she supposed to do? I don't know. It's tricky. It's tricky. And what's even weirder is later in the episode when they're sharing their intentions and what they want to do and

I think it's nice. Emily says she wants to get to know Jen more outside of just her relationship drama with Ryan. I think that's a good goal because I hope Jen sticks around next season. And I hope that we can get some storyline from her that's not just like everybody thinks my man is shitty. This is when we have more, you know, Heather, BravoCon, telephone, XYZ, that there's another layer to it that Tamara says Heather called the whole cast losers. And that she, you know, she didn't want to sit with them or whatever. And the fact that Heather's clarification to this is, I wasn't talking about you guys. I was talking about Noella and Jen. This being Jen Armstrong, who she and Noella were both one season housewives last year. Oh my God.

I don't know if Noella or Jen are watching this season. for their sakes they probably shouldn't be. But this is very, that New Jersey reunion when it's like, oh, you called her raccoon face. And Teresa's like, no, she was talking about Kathy. It's like, no, I didn't call you a loser. I called those other two girls that we pretended to be friends with last year losers. Noella and Jen really catching strays.

but hey, you know, I guess it's a mark of relevance that they're being mentioned another season after they've left. Jen Armstrong, I never think about. Noella, I do still kind of wonder what we could have had if she had stuck around for another season, but alas, not to be. But while this whole New York conversation is happening, Vicky gets up and leaves the table and she's apologizing to the restaurant stuff because, you know, she hates the fighting. It's just not in her nature.

and we get an absolute chef's kiss montage of Vicky screaming at people over the years. And this is what I love about the Bravo community, because one week we can be honoring Vicki Gunwilson with the first ever Wifetime Achievement Award and, you know, bring her to the verge of tears in appreciation for her contributions. and the next week, the Orange County editors can be absolutely clowning her. And that's balance. Vicky, for all her housewife contributions, she's not perfect. And the editors know that and see that.

I appreciate it very much. But it is strange. When Heather goes to talk to her, Vicky is like crying about how Heather is being treated. And it's like, Vicky, when did it? Like, what? What? Vicky, all of a sudden, choosing to care so strongly about what's going on with Heather is certainly a choice. It's like, you just got here. This is one of those things. It's like, Vicky's not really on this season, but then when she is, it's like, okay, what are we doing here? And it's like, why are you sobbing about this. But anyway, Heather says she's done with the show.

TBD on that. I hope not. But, you know, they've got some work to do. And I'm excited for the reunion. But yeah, that's about it for today. Thanks so much for listening. Don't forget to rate, review, and follow wherever you listen. You can follow us on Instagram at Bravo by Betches. And until next time, be cool. Don't be all like uncool. Mention It All is produced by Dylan Hafer, Sean Kilby, Jorge Morales Pico, and Rebecca 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. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari.

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