Mention It All - The Other Woman Ambassador Program (RHONY, Rachel/Bethenny Interview)

Episode Date: August 21, 2023

Back after a blissful weekend spent not thinking about Bethenny Frankel, Dylan dives back into the three-part Just B interview with Rachel Leviss. He tackles Bethenny’s lack of transparency about paying Rachel, her lack of preparation for the interview itself, and Rachel’s puzzling plans for her own podcast. Earlier in the show, Dylan has some updates about RHONJ filming, and a few hot takes on this week’s RHONY. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Betches Media presents Ha ha ha laugh funny Mention It All A Bravo by Betches podcast We don't say that But now we said it With me, Dylan Hafer We're going to check me both

Hey everyone Welcome back to the Mentioned At All podcast I am Dylan Hafer And it is a new week Which means we have lots To get into You guys, I did it for you I went back into the trenches

Of the Just Be podcast And listen to parts two and three of the interview between Bethany and Rachel. Lots of thoughts, lots to get into. We have a new episode of Roney that I'm just going to, you know, touch on a little bit. But first, first, I want to talk about some new developments with Real Housewives of New Jersey. They are full speed ahead into filming for season 14. It feels crazy that we have come that far.

and we're starting to glean some new information from pictures and things that are being posted. Last week, the women were at Jen Fessler's birthday party, so love to see that she is back in the mix. I don't know if she's in the market for a full-time spot, but either way, she gave us a lot last season. I feel like she's going to give us a lot next season. And over the weekend, Joe Gorga's birthday party was down at the shore, and pretty much everyone was there. except Teresa. She actually was moving Gabriella into college over the weekend. So, you know, technically, we don't know whether she was invited, decided not to come,

couldn't make it, you know, maybe she was on the guest list for the birthday party and then, you know, had somewhere more important to be. but I'm not sure she would have been there regardless. But, you know, Jackie was there over the weekend. Danielle and Rachel are both back. Jennifer was there. Margaret was there. Everybody but Teresa has been, you know, showing up with the full group.

So that I like to see. And we also have two new women who have been spotted filming with them. And their names are Tiffany and Kayla. it's giving very like the 90s babies are arriving on housewives. Maybe they're born in the 80s. I don't know how old these ladies are. Tiffany was on the Amazing Grace season, I believe 27, if that means anything to you. I was never an Amazing Grace girly, so I'm not going to get too deep into it.

And she is also a former New York Jets cheerleader. Love to see it. She and Brandy Redmond can claim that passed together. And our other new lady Kayla is married to the founder of this company, Eat Clean Bro, and they both work there. Eat Clean Bro is like, I believe, I could have done one more Google on this. I believe it's like a meal delivery service specifically meant for like manly men or like gym dudes.

Because God forbid you get like a meal delivered to you. it's too girly or like, you know, doesn't have enough testosterone injected into the chicken breast. I guess that's what Eclean bro does. I don't really know. I've never, doesn't seem like something that would be terribly up my alley. But allegedly it's a thriving business and I'm happy for Kayla and her husband. And I'm sure we will get to hear all about it on next season of the Real Housewives of New Jersey

if she makes it through the filming process in one piece. So TBD on that. I don't like to get too into the weeds of what's happening during filming for these shows. I like to be surprised. I like to have, you know, events and outfits and, you know, feuds and stuff to discover and unpack as the season unfolds. But, you know, nice to know who's in the mix. Speaking of having things to unpack as the season unfolds, that I think is one of the biggest strengths of this new season of Roney right now.

I feel like every week we are really just diving. further into the depths of this group and this scene and everything that they have going on. And we don't know what to expect. We don't know where these women are going, who's getting in arguments with who. And it's exciting to see kind of bit by bit the layers being pulled back. And, you know, seeing Aaron's anniversary party this week and, you know, she and Jessel have apparently buried the hatchet and we'll see how that goes. But then size, is there and she decides to leave and she doesn't say anything to Aaron so now she and Aaron are going to have an issue. It feels like the ball of conflict is kind of being passed,

tossed around the group and now Sye has sort of stepped in it a little bit and I'm excited to see how that plays out next week. But I got to say, my opinion of Jessel has gone through such a radical change in the last couple weeks. Because after the first few episodes, it's not that I didn't like her or that I didn't think she was giving us anything to work with. I just felt like she was a little hard to get a read on. And it felt like she wasn't quite sure whether this was for her or how she was kind of existing within this group. And now I feel like she has settled into this space of just kind of being deliciously bitchy and like a little bit out of touch, but not in a way that feels problematic or, you know, distasteful.

But in a way that's just like, oh my God, what's going on in that brain? Her conversation with her husband Pavett about the preschool situation. I was laughing so hard. She's like, so the best thing about this one is that it's international. You know, they have branches in Sao Paulo and Shanghai and Hong Kong and New York. And Pavett's like, right, so we live in New York, so we don't care about either of those other ones. And she's like, right, right, right, right, right. But they're like, you know, teaching the kids Mandarin and, you know, Spanish.

and it's so amazing. And he's like, babe, these are little tiny children who barely speak English. I think their kids are like one and a half, maybe. Like, not even toddlers yet, if I recall correctly from my high school health class where they tell you like the different age ranges. Her kids are not even toddlers. And she wants them to be learning Mandarin. I don't know.

I, seeing Pavett's reaction to the $62,700 price tag, I don't know if that's per kid or if you get like a two for one. But that brought me back down to earth because, you know, in these circles, sometimes it's like, okay, I went to public school. I know that there are lots of people who exist in the private school world and there's nothing wrong with that. And, you know, everybody has a different thing that's right for them. But I'm like, $62,700 for preschool? Something about that ain't right. Like, ma'am, I don't know too much about Jessel and Pavitt's financial situation. But do they really have $62,000 worth of preschool money?

Because if they do, like, I mean, good for them. that's a lovely amount of money to to have. But on preschool? She's like, well, you know, so they get supplies, field trips. They get, you know, an iPad and a Mac computer. Right. So an iPad, I have an iPad. It's like, I don't know, 500 bucks.

A Mac is like, you know, top of the line Mac is like 2,000. You can get one of the line. for half that, I think. Jessel, do the math. Do the girl. The girl math is not mathing. It's like, right, okay. So you subtract 500 for the iPad, then 1,500 for the computer,

and then it's only 60,000. Like, what kind of field trips are you going on? What kind of snacks are being provided? I don't know. I know shit is expensive. I know New York is stupid, and it doesn't like, it shouldn't surprise me that that's a thing, but it's like, for preschool?

Like, preschool is important, I guess. But, like, I don't think I learned to read in preschool. I don't, they weren't, like, teaching you math in preschool. You weren't, I don't know, like, doing science, like, I don't, you're kind of just, like, hanging out. And doing activities, which is great. Which, I mean, activities are so important. And enrichment and, you know, like, learning Mandarin, I guess. But $62,700. I don't know.

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It's time for a little in-person spring treat. It's time for a trip to Ross. Work your magic. I'll probably be getting more into Roney later this week. So I don't want to get too in the weeds of recapping that episode. But I continue to really enjoy it. I continue to think that there is a lot to enjoy and appreciate and discuss there. so I'm excited to talk about it more.

But we really got to get into this Bethany interview. Oh, boy, this Bethany interview. So over the course of three episodes, it's about two hours and change. If you take out the ads, it's probably an hour 30, maybe even less. Look, I'm not one to judge podcast ads. We, you know, we're all here to make money. But there were a lot of ads, yes? I feel that there were a lot of ads.

When I was listening, it felt that there were a lot of ads. What's interesting, so in part one of the interview, which I talked about last week, if you haven't listened and you want to kind of get up to speed on the full conversation, you can go back and listen to that. But it's so interesting because a big part of part one of the interview, was talking about this money system. And this comes up again in the later parts talking about how the network has made a lot of money

off of Vanderpumperals doing so well this season. And her other castmates have cashed in. And, you know, Ariana's got all her brand deals. And, you know, Lala apparently made enough on the send it to Daryl stuff to put a down payment on a house, which apparently was the house that Brock wanted in Palm Strings. I'm like, Palm Strings. Palm Springs. I'm like, why is Brock catching strays? I don't care about the Palm Springs house.

Raquel, speak about what you know. But part of Bethany's whole, like, reality reckoning thing is that these people don't get paid for their contributions. You get your fee per episode for being on the show, but then when it is an outside success, like the season of Vanderpump rules is there's no kind of incentive structure or residuals or bonuses. And so this has been a conversation with all of these ads that we're hearing on Bethany's podcast and Bethany herself bragging about how millions of people have listened to these episodes with Rachel. And, you know, it's the number one podcast in the world, which it might be, I'm not like the Nielsen ratings. So a lot of people, their question is like, hmm, you're talking about Raquel not being paid by Bravo, but is Raquel being paid by you?

Because you're the one on social media being like, millions and millions and millions of people listened. And, you know, generally being a podcast guest is not a paid position. And I think, you know, it's usually normal to assume that somebody isn't being paid for an interview. And so in her comment section, Bethany has been saying, a lot of, um, a lot of vague things about how we don't know what's happening and blah, blah, blah, blah. So here's just one that I screenshot it as an example. Um, so somebody said she doesn't deserve abuse, but she, but was she paid?

Did you acknowledge the abusive things you've said to people? Well documented, we can start with Luanne. And what's the end game here? And she said, yep, I've acknowledged many times and I don't blame the cast. It's their job. What and if she was paid is something you don't and will never. know, just like what happens on reality TV, you will never know either. And she has said in other comments, basically, that we don't know what we're talking about when it comes to

whether or not Raquel was paid, Rachel. And my thing is, I don't feel like it's, you know, a God-given right to know what people are paid for various things in the world or how, you know, contracts are signed and XYZ. But if, you know, you know, you know, contracts are signed and XYZ. But if, you know, Bethany is on this whole crusade right now of trying to change the reality TV industry and trying to get people compensated for things or, you know, cared for in ways that they haven't been, why is this not an opportunity for some sort of radical transparency in that arena? If she's making all of these sweeping claims, I mean, she said in part one that Raquel got paid less for a season. of Vanderpump rules than her interns do, which first of all is just there's no way that's true.

But also, it's like if you want to make kind of like, wow statements like that, why don't you make a wow statement and say, yeah, I am revenue sharing with Raquel or Rachel on this podcast episode. Why not step up? If there's something, if you're doing something revolutionary and cool in the way that you're paying, you know, paying, your guest or something, wouldn't you want to be transparent about that? And wouldn't you want to work toward making that some kind of norm? So this is something that really, it makes me more and more confused the more I think about it. Because it's like, if you want to be the person who's out here fighting for all this stuff, then you should be the person who's being the most transparent. you should say I made this much money from my time on housewives.

You know, X, Y, Z, this, that, and the other thing. Because that's the kind of thing where if you want Bravo to be more transparent about how much money they're making, all of that is going to trickle down. You think in a union negotiation, people aren't, these rates aren't going to be out there and talked about. And, you know, going on a podcast could be part of that. I mean, there's all sorts of different, you know, clauses and, you know, different things. Bethany talks about the Bethany clause in Bravo contracts all the time where because of how successful she was a skinny girl, then Bravo was demanding a cut of anybody, any business that was promoted.

So she's, she brings this up even in this episode talking about how Tom Sandoval has these bars and they're on the show. And so, you know, he must be, Bravo must be making money off with that and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, if you're so focused on exposing everyone else's shit, why are you not being forthcoming about this arrangement? Because I think it's a perfectly valid question to say, hey, you're saying a lot of stuff about payment. So what's your setup? And I think it's a little, I think her, some of the comment responses that she's leaving

are a little bit just like icky and unnecessary. Speaking of icky, this one also got to me. Speaking on abuse at Bethany Frankel, when are you going to invite Luann on your podcast to speak her truth, her voice so you can apologize for slut-shaming her and abusing her? The treatment of Luanne in Bethany's last season of Housewives has come up quite a bit in the last few weeks about how, you know, that dinner in Miami,

if you remember the life was not a cabaret when she was basically yelling at Luanne about all of this stuff that she had gone through and saying that she had helped her. And Bethany's response to that was, I think saving her life was a good start. And I just find it really distasteful to go on with this narrative that you saved her life and she would have been, you know, in all of these terrible situations without you when you clearly were causing her stress and strife both on and off the show

even if you did something good. Even if you were the person who stopped her from getting in the car or doing something she would regret or whatever, it's like, right, so now you've turned around and you're wielding that against that person? I don't know. It's gross to me. And I, that's separate from the whole Rachel interview of it all, but I wish Bethany would kind of like reel it in on that because I don't think it's a good look for her. And I don't think it helps her cause or, you know, her cause in quotation marks because I have my doubts. But anyway, getting into some points from these last two parts, I didn't mean to get so passionate about these Instagram comments, you know, but, you know, sometimes the, The heart wants what it wants, and the heart wants Bethany to shut the fuck up.

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Bethany starts crying while she's reading off this litany of insults. And it's like, yeah, like this stuff is, it's rough stuff to say to another person. And I don't know. I don't really get what Bethany thinks she's doing by kind of making Raquel, like, face the music, because that's kind of what the reunion was.

And according to Bethany, the reunion was abusive. to Raquel, so it's like, right. So maybe we should not read verbatim everything that she had thrown at her once again. Bethany also says she, like, introduces this segment by saying, I watched the reunion and a couple episodes. So maybe it's like in a vacuum for me. Like maybe she thinks that she has some special, unique take on all of this

because she hasn't watched the show to know. know what's going on. She can't stop herself from saying over and over and over again. She says, I don't know you and I don't know what happened, but X, Y, Z. I haven't watched the show, so I don't know about Kristen. She honestly sounds like she barely knows how to pronounce Sheena's name. There are all of these moments throughout the show where she's reminding us again and again and again, how she doesn't know what she's talking about, how she hasn't spent any time actually like learning about the background of all of this stuff. She really is just cherry picking information and presenting it in a way that theoretically supports her narrative about this. I mean,

I don't even think she's doing a terribly good job of that, but it is like she's so wrapped up in this idea of Rachel was done wrong, the treatment was terrible, Yeah, she made a few mistakes, but like, who hasn't? And now this is reality reckoning. So Bethany asks Rachel if Tom has gotten as much hate as her. And she says she doesn't know, but, you know, the woman always gets the short end of the stick, which, you know, societally definitely is a thing. I think in this case, honestly, it's perhaps less about the woman getting the short end of the stick

and more about Tom's role in the group. And I don't mean that in the sense of, I think maybe in the spring when all of this was happening, she was getting disproportionate levels of hate. But when she talks about Tom staying on the show and continuing to film and X, Y, Z, it's like, right, because he accepted the terms of whatever contract they were going to offer him and you chose not to.

She tells us, I think it is extremely interesting. she says that she talked to, she talked about going back on the show and that what she wanted to come back for season 11 was not only for them to pay for her treatment at the meadows, which quite frankly was never going to happen. And I get why she wanted it. But I also, you know, automatic no, I think probably on Bravo's end,

but she wanted equal pay with Tom and Ariana for season 11. And this is where she really loses me in an on-paper sense. Because I have a lot of feelings about, you know, her emotional state and, you know, her journey and where she's going. And I agree. I've gotten a lot of, I've seen a lot of messages. I've gotten some comments that sort of Raquel doesn't deserve more hatred and she's been through enough and leave her alone and good for her for speaking her truth. And to be honest, I don't totally disagree with that. I think that we have expressed enough how bad the situation was. And I do think that we have sort of started to move on. But this is where I'm like, on what planet did you think that equal pay with Tom and Ariana,

who have been on this show for Tom for the entire 11 season run and Ariana for like eight or nine seasons? why on earth would they offer you equal pay? That's just not how salaries work. If I had a co-worker who had 10 more years of experience than me or 8 more, you know, Raquel's only been full-time on the show for two seasons, it would be bizarre if you were making the same amount of money as them. Like, I think Raquel, Rachel, is justified in asking for more, in stating her needs.

I mean, asking for them to pay for the treatment, I think it's a fair ask. I think, like I said, they were never going to say yes to it, but sure, I get why she asked. You know, she said they finally offered her security a few weeks ago after like a legal letter was sent. You know, when she was getting death threats in the spring, I think it's fair. I think she says that she was supposed to have a mental health professional. on set at the reunion available to her if she needed them. I think that is a totally good thing. I think more of these shows should have mental health professionals,

should have, you know, people with training and things like that available and accessible to the cast who is being put through these situations. But equal pay with Tom and Ariana just doesn't make sense. Like, I mean, in that sense, I don't know how. much she really wanted to come back for season 11. So maybe it was just kind of like a Hail Mary. I probably won't come back, but let me ask for this because if they say yes, maybe I'll feel like they see my worth or something. But it's like, yeah, I have to imagine that that offer basically got laughed off the table by the people at Bravo. I don't know. They do talk

more about ratings and stuff. And this is a really, um, another great Bethany moment in terms of her preparedness for this interview because you can tell she is, um, Googling in real time reading off the reunions, reading off about the ratings for this season. Um,

and she's like, Googling in real time, she's like, she's like, so I've heard rumors. that the show was failing. And, you know, okay, so you had two point million in the, in the demo. Okay, wow, okay, wow, Bethany, wow, that demo, wow, that's the sweet spot. I mean, in the peak, I mean, in, you know, you were getting like two million.

And I have to imagine. So you probably had like point two. And then this happened. And then you were two point, whatever, and all the viewing and, you know, the ratings. And, you know, so that's like ratings gold, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, okay, yes, we know that the ratings did better. But she also, Bethany makes a claim that back in the day, Bravo used to not let them see ratings for their own show. So they wouldn't know how the show was doing.

So then they couldn't like use that as leverage to know their worth to ask to be paid what they were worth. You know, you get it. You get the gist. she's saying basically that. But the thing for me is I'm just confused about that because I'm looking right now at ratings numbers for season one of Roney for season two. It's all out there. I don't know if there's a specific metric or something that we don't know about that they weren't sharing, but television ratings are pretty widely available. on like an immediate basis.

I mean, Bravo is a linear channel that gets ratings numbers on, like, Nielsen or whatever. It's right there. So I don't know what she's talking about. But neither does she really, I don't think, you know, nobody knows what they're talking about on this fucking interview. Rachel says she feels like, she thinks Andy violated, quote, some sort of HIPAA law by implying that she was medicated. at the reunion, girl, Google HIPAA. She mentions it multiple times. And, you know, I'm not a medical expert.

Even I knew that that wasn't right. And then, of course, people smarter than me are online, you know, outlining why that's not what HIPAA means. She says, one more HIPAA thing was when she got recognized by someone at the Meadows when she showed up for treatment. And then this person, you know, left the facility. before she did and leaked that she was there. I mean, that's shitty. That's a fucked up thing to do.

I still don't think that's HIPAA. Like, because HIPAA's about leaking some, like, your actual medical information. And Andy saying it seemed like maybe she was medicated, that's not information, that's a guess. And also, like, we all watched the show. It's not like a revolutionary guess to say, like, perhaps there was, you know, do you remember that OC reunion one year where Vicky was like clearly on X?

Like, okay. So what? I don't know. It's all of this. I just feel like the thing with Rachel is that I want her to be in a good position. And I feel like the thing that would likely get her there would be to actually take a step away from this. to really just disappear, to go live her life. And, you know, I'm glad she's not going back to Vanderpumpurals because that seems like it would be a really bad choice for her. But she says, Bethany asks what she wants to do next. And she says she wants to start her own podcast to share her side of the story and to bring on experts. And she says, quote, it's an area that's untapped because no one wants to talk about the other

woman. Like, okay. So you're, I'm a bit confused by this concept. Like, are you bringing, are you talking about like your personal journey and that's going to be talking about the other woman? Or is this like, is this like a podcast for mistresses? Are you going to have like Rachel Yucatel? Or like, I don't know, who else has a mistress? Everybody? Are you going to have like, Rachel, you could tell? Or like, I don't know, who else has a mistress? Everybody? are you going to have like, I don't know. I just don't. Like, really? That's what you're channeling all of this into? A podcast about the other woman? You're going to make, you say your brand has been ruined. You can't make money, you know.

So you're going to make your whole brand being like, let's validate the other woman. I don't know about that. I just don't know. I just... I don't know. Rachel, I want the best for you. And I don't know if that's... And you know what sucks?

As if it happens, I'm gonna listen. It's the worst part about all this. I listen to three fucking episodes of Bethany and Rachel trying to be like the most... More clueless than the other. I listened to them on 1.3 speed, so it didn't take quite as long. but I took, you know, fucking three pages of notes.

I don't know. We're never getting off this merry-go-round, are we? God, I still can't believe Tom told her that he was offered a producer credit for season 11. Be fucking for real. If that's true, Tom's an idiot. And if it's not Rachel's an idiot. Like, they're all idiots.

I guess that's the, you know, I've exhausted myself. I've run out of things to say. I have more to say, but I'll save 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. Mentioned at all is produced by Dylan Hafer, Sean Kilby, Jorge Morales Pico, and Rebecca Sousa McCatt. 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. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination

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Betches. Thank you.