Mention It All - We Need To Talk Down Under (Below Deck, RHONY)

Episode Date: August 9, 2023

This week, Below Deck Down Under is unexpectedly in the spotlight after a pair of upsetting episodes. Dylan breaks down the entire situation, and commends Aesha and Jason for how they handled it—but not before he gives the Bravo scheduling team some notes. Later, he recaps this week’s episode of RHONY, where Brynn opens up and Jenna is accidentally messy. 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 Heyver Hey everyone

Welcome back to the Mention at All podcast I'm Dylan Hafer And I am excited to be back today Missed Monday's episode Because I was just a little bit Under the Weather You know

It happens to the best of us But that means we have even more To talk about today We're going to get into Roney a little bit this week's episode I thought was very interesting. But first, we've got to talk about what happened this week on Below Deck Down Under. Now, I have not really been keeping up with this season of Below Deck. I'm just going to say below deck. Below Deck down under is a whole mouthful. I get it. It's a lot. What they have done with the below deck scheduling is cruel and unusual

punishment to me specifically. And I think to some of you, I've been seeing some comments. I've been seeing some comments and things. They have been airing since the latter half of below-deck sailing yacht this past season. Two episodes a week, Monday nights back-to-back of these below-deck shows. And I just, this is a pace that I cannot keep up with. There are so many things happening in the world every week. We're watching Atlanta. We're watching New York. We're watching Crappy Lake. We're watching OC. We're watching I'm watching only murders in the bill. There's so many things

happening in the world and in the Bravo world in particular. Watch what happens live. Do you want me to watch what happens live or do you want me to watch two episodes a week of Below Deck? Because finding time for both is challenging. So I interviewed Asia before this season of Below Deck Down Under. Premier. I had a lovely time chatting with her.

I had watched the premiere, but I had not been keeping up on a week-to-week basis with this show simply because of the scheduling. I gotta be, I gotta be real. I think they've done the scheduling like that because now that Down Under is on Bravo instead of Peacock, they just have too many below deck episodes per year to only air one per Monday night per season at a time. So I get that they're probably trying to kind of run through these seasons a little quicker, but it's a lot to keep up with. But anyway, so we are, as of this week, seven episodes into this season of Blow Deck Down Under. And on Monday night into Tuesday morning,

I started seeing a lot of conversation about this week's episodes on social media. And so I knew I had to check it out. So I dipped back in. I watched the last two episodes. And oh, boy, it is, it's tough stuff. I honestly was getting pretty emotional watching the episodes. because this situation that's happening, if you, if you like me have been laxidaisical about this season of below deck down under, I will just sort of set the stage a little bit. So Aisha is the chief stew. Jason is the captain. This guy, Luke, is the Bosen. And we have the second and third stews are Margo and Laura. So basically on the first episode that came out this week, they have their crew night out, whatever. Margo is pretty drunk, as is, you know, par for the course. It is below deck.

How many episodes have we watched? People get drunk. You know, it happens. So on the car ride back to the boat, Margo is, you know, sort of fading in and out. She is lightly passed out, I would say, in the back of the car. And Luke is already sort of seeming to kind of not be picking up on the fact that she is, in fact, far too drunk to be any kind of sexual partner for the evening. And Aisha is picking up on that too.

And she's seeing that Luke is kind of not acting the correct way with Margo. So when they get back to the boat, Aisha basically puts Margo to bed and doesn't want Luke anywhere near her. And then the power goes out. It's a little weird. You know, it's hard to see. At first I was like, did production, like, turn the lights off? I don't know. It was weird.

Luke goes into Margo's cabin. She is passed out asleep. In the top bunk, he is butt-ass naked and he crawls in bed with her. And it is truly to watch it unfold like this is so strange. He leaves the door open. He's in bed. And the producer, we hear the producer. Hey, Luke, buddy, you know, you got to get out.

You got to get out. He's saying he doesn't want to get out. Margo's saying it's sleepy time. He gets out of bed. He again, fully naked, slams the door, production opens the door again. He slams it again. They finally get him out of the room. He goes into his cabin. He shuts the door, locks the door. Laura goes in there. It's a whole mess. So, so upsetting to watch. And the fact that production specifically had to go in there with a flashlight while the lights were off and basically drag him out of this room. Meanwhile, the other stew, Laura, is fully just throwing herself at Adam. He doesn't want anything to do with her. He's said this multiple times. They're in the hot tub. He's like, no, no, no. I'm good.

Thank you. He goes into his cabin. He gets on his bed on the top bunk, laying, you know, face down on the bed. And Laura climbs up into his bed. The producer has to drag her out too. The fact that this is happening in two separate cabins on the boat at essentially the same time from two different people. It was bizarre, bizarre to watch. And also, of course, quite upsetting. Aisha then goes into Margo's room, basically figures out what has happened. She's very upset by it. She wakes up Captain Jason. You know, she tells him, Jason wakes Luke up and makes him get off the boat, spend the night in a hotel. I really, the fact that Aisha, she said that she's been in a situation like this before. She doesn't want it to happen to anyone else.

The fact that she, you know, trusted her instincts to go wake up Jason and facilitate getting Luke off the boat so people could feel safe. The way this was handled, just from start to finish from Aisha and Jason was really, really kind of heartwarming to see. I think on below deck so much of the time, there are these situations that just feel like like they're sort of handled poorly or they're let to go on for just a little too long and it's uncomfortable. And there is always that question of when should production step in. Obviously, they are in this kind of constructed environment where they're creating a TV show. But at the same

time, these people are really doing their jobs on a real boat. So, you know, in terms of firing a crew member that falls to Captain Jason, but then obviously there's a separate. layer of in terms of somebody who is being employed on a Bravo show by this production company, it's always been an interesting sort of dual layer system and the idea of, you know, who is paying your salary? Who is, who does the buck stop with? Who gets to make these final decisions? And the fact that production stepped in, I think, kind of just enough to really stop anything worse from happening, but then from there on out, Aisha and Jason really stepped up and did what needed to be done.

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It's time for a trip to Ross. Work your magic. The next morning, Jason calls a crew meeting. He tells them right away that Luke is fired. And this is when things really start to take another turn because Laura, oh God. Laura is so distraught over what has happened with her dear friend who she wanted to get with and he turned her down.

This man, Luke, she is. is down bad for this guy, and it is so, so hard to watch the way that she is just incapable of understanding this situation, the way that every single other person on the boat, by the way, seems fully on board with what Luke did to Margo was fully not okay. It was not at all Margot's fault. You know, she, Margo says that she feels stupid for letting herself get so drunk. And this is, I mean, it's so tough because I think that is something that so many people go through, that they feel like they did something to, to let this happen to them or to put themselves in that position. And Aisha and Zarina tell her right away that she shouldn't feel like that, that it's not her fault. She talks to her mom and her sister on the phone and they're saying the same things to her.

It really was, it was nice to see in those moments how all of the women that she's speaking. to Laura aside. We'll go to Laura in a minute. But all of the other women were really uplifting her and being there for her and telling her, you know, what she needed to hear, which is that this situation really had nothing to do with her. It was all of this stuff that Luke had decided to do and that she didn't do anything to really put herself in that position. Meanwhile, Laura cannot keep her mouth shut. She's talking to everyone on the boat, including Margo about how sad she is that Luke is gone. She literally says, poor Luke and that he, you know, all of them are feeling bad about

this right now, but Luke is the one that's feeling the worst saying this to Margo, to Margo's face. And then when Margo tells her what happened, because she says she doesn't understand, she says that if he had come in her room naked, she would have been happy. And he would have been like, oh, yes, you know, come to me. And it's like, well, first of all, yeah, because you want to. to get with him from the start and he turned you down. But also, it's like that is not the situation that we're talking about right now.

Watching that first episode, you know, those coming back from the night out, Margot was blackout drunk, barely knew what was happening, passed out in her bed right away. This was not a situation where it was two people who were on even footing going into a situation like this. It's like the fact that Laura can't seem to wrap her mind around. that this is just categorically not okay. Even if Margo was so into Luke and, you know, they had had this ongoing thing or whatever, in the situation where she is blackout drunk and passed out in her bed,

that is still a line that he would get fired for crossing, rightfully so. And Laura, I mean, Laura, it just is, it's painful to watch the way that she is going about this. after the crew meeting where they find out Luke gets fired. She's immediately saying that she's sad for Luke. She asks if they can say goodbye. Jason says no. And she's, you know, poor Luke. And Adam is like, well, you know, I think it's more important for us to make sure that

Margo's okay right now. We got to, we got to take care of her. And it is, it's so nice to see everybody else on the boat kind of looking at Laura and being like, are you fucking serious? like right for real that's your response to this there's a literally again she talks to margot in the laundry saying that she's basically saying that oh you know nothing would have really happened you know luke is a sexual guy like we're all sexual people like i'm a sexual person like you know it would have been fine and it's like just no and i was saying this to someone like even if

even if this was her thought process and she was like, eh, I don't think it's that big of a deal. Why the fuck are you saying it to everyone on the boat? That is something I don't understand. In a situation like this, if you are somebody who like doesn't give a fuck and has these like wild opinions, why do you think it's in your best interest to go around saying them to everyone? Like keep your fucking mouth shut. Because then Margot's going to talk to Aisha and Aisha's going to talk to Captain. And then captain's going to be like, oh, that's not good. Margo, she said that to you.

And Adam, she did that to you. Okay, that's all I need to know. Laura, can you come in here? Yeah, you're fired. And that's exactly what he does. So she's like all upset. You know, she really thinks Luke should have gotten a warning. She asks if she can have a warning.

And it's like, bitch, you fucked around and you found out. You said everything that you were thinking with not a care in the world for anybody else's feelings, emotions, trauma that they're going through. And then you're like shocked that there's a real consequence that's not just like, oh, next time. Try to, um, like, no,

that was your chance. It's over. Nobody on this boat would want you around. You know, even like, you can tell Adam really is struggling with this situation with Laura because he doesn't want to be the one that's like, like getting her in trouble.

With Aisha, with captain, he's, he's like qualifying everything that he's saying. He's like, you know, I think maybe because I had been playful with her or whatever. Like I didn't, she didn't think I was serious or, you know, I don't want to get her in trouble. I just, you know, yeah, there is a little. It's like, no, even even the soft version that he's selling them is enough to get her fired. So it just is, it's wild to me that she thinks that all of this situation. is just like, oh, just give me a warning. Just give me a warning. It'll be okay. It's like, no. And I think this is, I don't know, obviously, there's a lot of conversation right now about

how these shows are made and, you know, whether Bravo and production companies are exploiting people and, you know, the sort of conditions around being on these shows. And this is a conversation that I think is worth having and is very, there are a lot of layers to it. Every situation is different. And I think in this specific situation, at least for once, it feels like things were really handled the best they could have been. And that has certainly not always been the case on Bravo shows. I mean, on Below Deck especially, I think because these people are living and working and spending 24 hours a day in such close quarters, we have had people on these shows who have been toxic as hell and have not been dealt with, I think, appropriate. or at least in the way that we would like them to be.

And that is, it's tough to watch sometimes. And it's, it's frustrating as a viewer and as a fan of these shows and somebody who wants things to be positive. Like I want, obviously I want there to be drama and I want there to be, you know, storylines and stuff on below deck. But there's a big difference between a love Pentagon or whatever the fuck we have this season. earlier on and somebody getting sexually assaulted in their bed. And I think this is, this pair of episodes, I guess, was a good kind of reminder that these things can be handled swiftly and in a way

that actually supports the best interests of the people who need to be supported versus just like, oh, that was some drama last night. Luke, why don't you go apologize to Margo or you know, like, let's have a talk. And I think there was, I saw some conversation that it was like, you know, certain other below deck captains or franchises might have handled this situation a lot differently and in a way that felt less appropriate. And I don't know. It's hard to know if that's true. But it did feel like in this case, Aisha and Jason and also production when they got involved were able to really take care of it and handle it in a way that honestly, I mean, just based on what we've seen in the past, I was surprised and I was pleasantly surprised to see both of them get fired by the end of this episode. There was no hamming and hawing on Captain Jason's part. And so, yeah, I mean, really tough stuff, definitely emotional. I would say if you haven't, if you haven't watched episode six and seven of Below Deck Down Under, I think it's really worth watching, even if you're just kind of dipping into this season. But also, it's tough to watch. So if it's something that is going to be

a really upsetting thing for you to see, then I think it's okay not to watch it. But I think it's good to know that on these shows, in these heightened environments where everything is on camera and everything is for the show, you can still be handling these situations in a manner that makes people feel seen and heard and supported. And I hope that in the future, I mean, I hope that in the future there aren't more situations like this. But beyond that, I hope that if or when there are, they can be handled in this type of way. Ready to soundtrack your summer? With Red Bull Summer All Day Play, you choose a playlist that fits your summer vibe

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I guess now we should move to Roney, which feels like, you know, a little. a bit of a dessert, I guess, after that meal that was below-deck down under this week. The Rony girls, they're spending one last morning in the Hamptons. Aaron makes her Shaksuka, finally. Bryn is going to London with her ex-fiancee Gideon, her third ex-fiance. Sye is still complaining about the food on the way out the door. I would say overall the Hamptons trip, it was a good kind of crash course into the world of this show, I think. It gave us a good kind of overview of everyone's way of handling things and everyone's personalities and how they fit together. Overall, I would say the food seems to be the biggest sticking point. The Shakshuka looked really good.

I was very surprised that all of these women had not had Sharksuka before. Like, this is not, we're in 2023. It's a food that people eat. Like, Sai was bewildered by the Shachshuka. She's like, it's eggs and tomato sauce. I'm like, yeah. It is delicious. With like some bread, you know, can you like soak up the sauce? What's not to like? Anyway, I don't know. The best part of this episode, I think, was getting to know a little more about Bryn.

And specifically, the scene when she was at the hair salon, hearing her talk about her experience being raised mostly by her maternal grandmother. She shares that her mom is white or her dad is black. So she was raised by her white grandmother in a pretty much all-white community and in a pretty much all-white community in Indiana. And because of that, she feels like she missed out on having a meaningful black community in her life until she started going to the hair salon every weekend when she was a kid. And that is, you know, hearing her talk about that side of her and that part of her identity, I think is really, it's really interesting to kind of add more layers to this cast. And I think when the cast was announced, it's like, obviously, you know, like, Roney in the past was quite not diverse. And

that was something that they obviously were had on their mind when they were casting this season. But this is like such a specific experience that Bryn has that's more complicated than just like my mom is white, my dad is black. And I think hearing her share about that and talk more about the fact that her childhood was pretty tough. And she doesn't have much family. And, you know, the family that she does have are assholes. So she doesn't really see them or talk to them.

And this idea of Thanksgiving being this time that most people. are spending with their families and super happy and, you know, you're doing X, Y, Z, great traditions. And Brin doesn't feel like she has that. She doesn't have a family to have traditions with. And so Sai deciding to throw her a friend's giving, or a Brin's giving, as they call it, I thought was really lovely. But before we get there, there's, you know, a bit more to talk about. Jessel and Pavit have this conversation that I thought was interesting. So first of all, they start out. They're disagreeing.

what type of preschool to send their children to. So she wants the private Montessori preschool, and he wants them to go to bum, bum, bum, public school. Wow, can you imagine? Wow, public school. I went to public school, so I don't know what New York public preschools are like,

but, you know, they seem to be kind of, like a little bit off in terms of their communication on a myriad of topics. I would say. Obviously, where to send your kids to school is an important conversation. It harkens back to the early days of Roney, which we're going to be rewatching soon. But more important than that, he's diagnosing sort of what happened with the ladies in the Hamptons, which I, as I was watching this, first of all, I think there is truth to what he's saying, which is that sometimes her tone, it can rub people

the wrong way. And, you know, it's not, she doesn't always, you know, say the right thing, XYC, which we have already seen a few times. There's this clip going around, which I think is from next week's episode, of her telling Erin that Tribeca is a nice up-and-coming neighborhood, which if you live or have spent time in New York in the last few years, is just like a comically, just like weird thing to say.

You know, she shows up to the Brinsgiving, and she's like, Aaron, babe, how was your grandma's memorial? It's like, Jessel, honey. How do you think the memorial was? It was sad. And then of course, you know, in the Hamptons, there's the stuff about the lingerie, which was a whole thing. But I think that the way that he is kind of giving her these notes on her communication, I think he's framing it in a way that makes it feel a little too broad. And I think the thing is, he's talking about the Hampton situation. Sir, he was not there. he's like, well, you know what happened in the Hamptons is you, you kind of act like a bitch sometimes. And so that's probably why people aren't loving you. And it's like, okay, first of all, maybe like tone down the rhetoric, just a, a petit bit. But speak for yourself. Talk about your own interactions as a couple. Obviously, there are things to talk about, you know, she's going to take them on a staycation. So maybe they can finally have sex. I don't know, more power to her. But like, I would just say, to pavit. I feel like you would get further. I was going to say bang for your buck, but that feels, oh, that feels like, I don't know, wrong. But like the conversation would go better if you were talking about how you feel sometimes when she speaks a certain way, not like, well, I bet all

these women think you're a bitch. Obviously, I paraphrase. But I just think, I think that this situation with the cast is so new. They're all still tiptoeing their way around each other and sort of figuring out where they all fit. And so, you know, then Jenna goes to errands and they're talking about Jessel. There's a lot of talk about Jessel. Earlier we have, you know, Sigh and her husband and Bryn talking about Jessel, which honestly, Sighs husband, David, honestly, has the most empathetic response to Jessel's intimacy struggles in her marriage, basically being like, I have no idea what it's like to have a baby, let alone twins.

So I'm sure that she is really, you know, going through whatever that entails. And it's tough to figure your shit out. And it's like, wow. This like white man in his 40s just perfectly prescribed everything that we've been sort of picking up from Jessel. Meanwhile, the women in the cast who are like supposedly her friends are like, you need to get fucked! Good job, David. I want to see more of him. I like David. But anyway, Jenna goes to Aaron's. They talk about Jusel as well. Apparently Jessel. Jenna tells Aaron that Jessel called the women cackling hags when they were shopping together, talking about their stuff in the Hamptons. And Jenna says that Jessel seems to mean well. She doesn't think there's anything malicious about her, but she doesn't always realize how she's coming across. And I think it's a little similar to what Pavit was saying about Jessel's tone.

But the thing is, Jenna can actually speak to what happened in the Hamptons because she was, in fact, there. Whereas Pavit is, like, guessing, it seems, how the women are reacting to her. But anyway, this sort of comes to a head because at the Brin's giving, which, you know, we don't get to see the whole thing of, Aaron is basically like, hey, Jessel. So I heard that you call this cackling hags, question mark. And this, I love, okay. I love the way that Jenna Lyons, whether she says unintentionally, has become like the bone carrier for this season. And she says that she doesn't want to be the potsterer and the producer, the confessional producer is like, then why did you tell her?

And she's like, I don't know. And I actually believe Jenna because I think that for somebody like maybe, Aaron or Brin, I think they have a little bit more reality TV brain where they're already the gears are turning of, you know, for Aaron, coming to the, the Brin's giving and saying, okay, I'm going to bring up to Jessel the thing that Jenna told me she said about us being cackling hags and I'm going to say it in front of the group so then everybody can have an opinion and then it's going to be this moment. I think that is Aaron's thought process, which I am good with. I like people who know what they're doing on reality TV.

But I think with Jenna, there is this kind of purity almost of like, oh, no, I didn't. Oh, oh, oh, oh, that's, oh, God. No, that's not what I'm. Oh, God. I'm curious to see kind of how she develops over a season or two on this show because I think for people who maybe haven't spent as much time watching or thinking about reality TV before they begin to do it, there can be that process of like, oh, well, I mean, they told us we were supposed to talk about what happened. So I talked about what happened. But I didn't actually connect the dots

of like, then you were going to tell the other person and then they were going to be mad at me and I was going to look messy. And so right now, I appreciate Jenna's naivete because I think it's bringing us some messiness that she wouldn't necessarily have subscribed to. And so, you know, if it was, if it felt intentional or if she knew what she was doing. But I'm interested to see as her time on Bravo progresses, does she sort of pull back a little bit and shy away from the mess that she can see coming? Or is she like, okay, this is kind of fun. I can get down with this because I hope it's the latter, obviously.

But I don't know. Overall, I enjoyed this episode. Brinsgiving, it's a hit. I'm excited to see what happens next. And, you know, maybe I'll even keep watching Blow Duck Down Under. Those two episodes a week though, damn. It's tough. These are the problems we deal with, you know, I guess it could be worse. But anyway, thank you so much everyone 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.

at all is produced by Dylan Hafer, Sean Kilby, Jorge Morales Pico, and Rebecca Sousmakat. Editing by Jorge Morales 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 for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th, the powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th, and the signature Southern Country Rock of Eric Church on July 19th. Tickets on sale now at Yamava Theater.com, only at Yamava Resort and Casino, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You in? Must be 21 to enter.

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