Mention It All - Who’s the Delusional Bravo Icon of the Year?

Episode Date: December 30, 2025

On the last video episode of 2025, Dylan is closing out the year with his Bravo Awards, handing out trophies for everything from the “thank you for your time” exits he’s begging to see in 2026 to the flop comebacks that happened in 2025. Dylan also breaks down which housewives improved the most this year, who’s truly owning her sophomore season, who’s still on the rise, and why it was objectively a terrible year to be named Todd. Then it’s time to honor the most delusional behavior, the most painfully awkward sprinter van rides, and the reunion moment that deserves a permanent spot in the Bravo Hall of Fame. And yes, Dylan crowns a Housewife of the Year to end it all. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Go to the BravoByBetches YouTube page to watch full length episodes every Tuesday: Youtube.com/@BravoByBetches Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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See Home Depot.com slash price match for details. everyone, welcome back to the Mentioned at All podcast, and we have made it to our final episode of 2025. For today's episode, we're doing something a little different to mark the end of another great year on Bravo. We have a list of categories with some winners, some honorable mentions, maybe some losers, too, but we are going to go through and talk about some of the best, worst, most ridiculous, most memorable Bravo moments and people from 2025. So without further ado, let's get right into it. And we are going to start with a category that maybe isn't the most illustrious, but we have to talk about it nonetheless. And this is the thank you for your time award for the Bravo

Liberty who can kindly exit. And so when I was putting this together, there were quite frankly a lot of options. There's a lot of people that I am excited not to see on my screen in 2026 or hoping not to see on my screen in 26. You know, some things have already been decided. Some people have made their announcements. Some things are still up in the air. So I have three choices for this one. I couldn't decide. First of all, Julia Lemagova, Real House House House of Miami. She's been on for four seasons. And I think that's enough. I think we've seen enough. Thank you for your time, Julia. Thank you for giving us, you know, memorable quotes like, Islarsa! I will miss doing Julia's voice. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, do love the accent. I will not miss kind of much else. Allegedly, if she doesn't return to

Real House of So Miami. Still up in the air, we don't know anything about casting for season. God, what would that be season eight yet? But TBD in the New Year, but Julia, thank you for your time. Next, this one, I mean, truly, Jacks Taylor. Jacks Taylor has left the building, and it feels great to be able to say that. Season two of the Valley was really a little. low point in the Jacks Taylor saga. And that is saying something because Jacks Taylor, his trajectory on Bravo over the course of a decade plus has been mostly low points. There have not been a lot of highs. I mean, there have been a lot of, um, there's been a lot of highs, um, in the sense of his, you know, state of being. But there haven't been a lot of highs in

terms of his behavior, in terms of his treatment of the women in his life, in terms of him, you know, really owning up to his actions and mistakes and making amends and positive choices. But this was a particular low point. Season two of the Valley, watching him go away to rehab, if you're listening, both of those things in big quotation marks, because he didn't really go away. and I don't really think it was rehab. His presence, even when he was not physically present, loomed large over season two of the Valley. And it was just like a fucking downer. And it was announced, you know, at the end of the season that he is not going to be coming back.

And, God, good riddance. Thank you to, thank you to everyone who contributed to Jack's not returning to season three of the Valley. Because you know what? That show does not need him. There is a lot going on with that cast. We're going to be getting more of Lala and Schwartz. in the new year for better or for worse. So, Jacks, thank you for your time.

And the third one, this is, I feel a little bad, but I wanted to put it on here. And so I'm gonna. Bryn Whitfield, thank you for your time. I mean, really all of the, all of the new Roney cast kind of fits in this bucket. We're gonna get some of them back, I think. We're not gonna get others of them back.

But I think it was tough because season one, she was kind of a standout. and season two just fell through the floor. And she, you know, had the good sense to announce her own departure after her second season wrapped up. And a year later, nothing has happened. There hasn't been there. They're allegedly about to start filming.

Nothing has happened thus far. But Bryn, I think she's spending more time in London. Happy for her. If she's like back with that weird guy who is maybe going to have a baby with her, happy for her. Thank you for your time. And those are some people who can kindly exit. Moving right along, our second award, the Alexis Bellino Memorial Flop Comeback Award.

Alexis did it last season on Real House of Orange County. So it was only right that we focused on our most recent flop comeback on Real Housewives of Orange County. That being won Gretchen Rossi. Now, Gretchen, of course, was, you know, an important figure in the kind of original golden era of Orange County. She went to Bass Lake. She was naked wasted. She, you know, she got with Slade the housewife hunter. We watched it all the first time around. And so when they brought back Gretchen after more than a decade off the show, it was intriguing. It was, you know, exciting to some, dismaying to others. If you've kind of kept up with Gretchen over the years, maybe, like I have, maybe I wasn't super

excited to see her back on the show. But I was curious, you know, and it didn't go great. It's hard to see someone who is so stuck in the past of what has happened. And, you know, we've seen it on New Jersey. We've seen it on other shows. A great Housewives storyline is probably not going to be focused on something that happened over a decade ago on a show that you, you know, left and came back to. And it was frustrating to watch throughout the season, Gretchen. I feel like she had opportunities to to forge a new path for herself on this show. But she just kind of chose to keep going back to the Tamara stuff that happened in, what, 2011? And I don't care about that anymore.

I've moved on. I think everybody else has moved on. And that's to say nothing of the tweets, the posts, the LGBTQ anti-Rhetoric going around. I don't really want that on my screen. So congrats to Gretchen Rossi on coming back for season 19. And may you also not be on season 20, because that was indeed a flop comeback, in my opinion. So good, so good, so good.

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That's OLLL-Y.com. Moving into a more positive light, we're going to talk about a couple of housewives who have had really good years. And first of all, I want to go for best sophomore season to Salt Lake City and Bronwyn Newport. Bronwyn, when she joined the show last year, you know, she had a little bit of an interesting time of it on her first season. She really stepped in it with some of the ladies. I thought she still had a pretty solid season. People liked her. You know, the fans liked her for the most part.

But in her second season, I feel like Bronwyn has really quickly turned it around and cemented herself as, a core part of this group. When you look at this cast right now, it feels like everybody kind of has the role that they play and everybody is fitting in in a very particular way to this group. And the fact that Bronwyn in her second season really feels like a central figure in this cast and somebody around whom, you know, storyline can be built and, you know, things. can be handled and moved through and, you know, picked apart. Like, this is a cast that because this show has been so strong, they have not had a lot of cast turnover. And that could make it really difficult for newbies to kind of sink their teeth in and get a foothold. But she has done a great

job. And after two seasons, it's kind of hard to imagine the show without her. And I, I think that if she wants to stay around for a long time, she probably will. And I'm very curious to see how her recently announced separation from Todd is going to impact her vibe on Salt Lake City moving forward, but I'm excited to see it and she has had the best sophomore season. Okay, in a similar vein, our next category is the most improved housewife. And this is somebody who I think has also had a pretty great sophomore season this year. She's in the midst of it right now. And that is Real Housewives of Potomac's Stacey Rush. Stacy, when she came on the show last season, It was a little bit like, what is this person?

What's the deal here? She's kind of divorced, kind of has a boyfriend. That seems weird. The whole thing about her and T.J. Not being intimate last season really just sucked a lot of oxygen out of her storyline. It felt like the women didn't know how to react to her. And indeed, it feels like they still don't. But Stacey at that reunion.

was a revelation. And that reunion, if you're checking the calendars, did happen in this calendar year. 2025 started with the Potomac reunion. It's ending with Potomac on the air. I think Stacey is having a great season because the thing is with Stacey, the women don't all love her. They still have a lot of question marks around what's happening with her relationship with her formerly estranged husband, who she's now back with.

according to her, Timo, Timo. The way they call him Timo just makes me laugh. Tia has issues with her. Ashley has a lot of questions. Giselle's trying to poke holes in every balloon. But still she rises. And she's going to rise every time. And watching her especially in the last several weeks on Potomac, just body Kiyarna in every interaction they have. Her, you know, when she says the ring, is cloudy and she's like cloudy compared to nothing. When Kearna says she wouldn't trust her around her husband and she says, you don't have one. And when she said, Toodle do, get out of here. Stacey's an icon and she is building that iconography every week. And it has been so fun to watch. I love seeing her dynamic with Wendy this season. I just am enjoying Stacey so much and she has brought so much

fun this year. Her QVC clips that have been going around the internet, every single one of them. I have to stop and watch, usually more than once. Stacey has quickly risen to be a really, really solid housewife. She is an excellent personality, and I think those women are going to have they're going to have some work to do in terms of how they handle Stacy because I don't think she's going anywhere. The next category, it's the Who Is Todd Award for Worst Performance by a Todd. This has been a tough year for Todd's on Bravo. Alexia from Miami, divorcing a Todd.

Bronwyn from Salt Lake City, separated from a Todd. And Candy Burris, our beloved, you know, Atlanta icon, no longer on housewives, but still in our hearts. Also separated from a Todd. Now, I think by default, I have to give this award to Bronwyn's husband, Todd,

because he has given us the most material to work with this year. You know, candy has not. been on Real Housewives of Atlanta now, you know, in a couple years. On the most recent season of Miami, we, uh, we heard a lot about Todd Napola, but we did not see much of him. Um, and it was, you know, up and down and Alexia was giving him another chance. And then she wasn't. And we were talking about him. And she was saying, don't talk about him. A lot of up and down. I don't think he's a great guy. But Todd, uh, Bronwyn's husband, every time he shows up on camera. And he does show up on

camera. That's the one thing I will say is that he is putting it out there. But what he is putting out there, it's not good. It's not good. The way that he speaks to her, the way that he interacts with her, treats her, handles her. It's not pleasant to watch. And it doesn't seem like it would be pleasant to experience. And so I applaud Bronwyn for figuring out that that is not what she wants in her life. And making some tough decisions, worst performance by a Todd goes to Bronwyn's Todd. Moving right along, a delusional icon of the year. Now, I, something that I really have always enjoyed is a delusional woman on my TV screen. Some of my favorite housewives, I mean, my all-time favorite, Shiree Whitfield, delusional icon. Alexis Blino, in her original

run on O.C, not, we're not talking about the flop, comeback, her original days when she was hosting on Fox 5 when she was talking about being a woman of God delusional icon. There have been many throughout the years, but nobody right now is doing delusion like Brittany Bateman. She is going to make it happen come hell or high water. She is working on things with her daughter. She's breaking up and getting back together with Jared Osman 46 times a year. She's a new cabaret icon. She is trademarking high body count against everybody else's wishes. She is ting, ting, ting, ting, ting in her way into a spot in all of our hearts, or at least our meme folders. Brittany has had an interesting year, and I don't think she's had the best year, but I also don't

think she's had the worst, because I think that she is, you know, even if you can make fun of her, she's an easy target. I don't know how much the women on her show actually care for her. she's going to be there and she's going to make her voice heard and she's going to tell Meredith that she didn't get to see her daughters for three years. And so Brittany Bateman, delusional icon of the year, honestly, keep it up. I love to see it. Next, speaking of Stacey Rush, the Stacey Rush Award for Still Rising, this is somebody who has been through adversity on her show, who has borne the brunt of a cast-wide take-down effort, and kind of come out the other side, like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, TBD, her exact future on Bravo.

But Katie Janella, I think, was able to take a lot of lemons and make a little bit of lemonade this year in a way that a lot of people wouldn't have been able to do. Because the way that her season on Orange County went was real tough. She basically was bullied out of the group halfway through the season after that live. detector fiasco at Emily's house. You know, she was accused of talking to bloggers. I mean, she did talk to bloggers. You know, she did some of the crimes, but I think the punishment was maybe a little severe. And I think that was reflected in the way that fans watched this season and, you know, reacted to what Katie was going through. And by the end of the season, it really felt like

the women on her cast had made a bit of a miscalculation in how they handled the Katie. situation. And at that reunion, you could tell because, yeah, Katie got some heat from the rest of the cast. You know, we, we got into it a little bit. But so much of the attention at the reunion was focused on everything that Tamara had done wrong, everything that Gretchen had done wrong. Every, you know, the situation between, you know, Shannon and Tamara and, you know, stuff with Jennifer and all of that. Like, there was so much else going on that at the end of the day, it almost felt like, wait, I think that this was a win for Katie just because most of the attention was not on her. And since that reunion, you know, Vicky is coming back to Housewives next season.

And we have seen photos of Vicky and Tamara out together with Katie Janella. And I think if Katie has Tamara and Vicky on her side, she's coming back. And I think that those women, I don't think that necessarily they're all going to welcome her with open arms. I don't think that they need to. I don't think that that's what the show needs. But I think that Katie did enough to show that she probably belongs in this group for another season. And I think she's going to be rewarded. So congratulations for Still Rising.

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Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. Now we have a pair of awards I'm going to give out that are related to car rides because we see so many car rides and sprinter rides and journeys and voyages on our screens. And so first of all, I wanted to shout out the most awkward car ride of the year.

And this was on Real House, of Miami in Milan, when Lisa and Larsa's son Preston were there to walk in the Philip Pline fashion show. And this was at the height of Lisa and Larsa's disagreement, shall we say, over Lisa's decision not to unfollow Marcus Jordan on Instagram when she was asked to. And the car ride from the airport to the hotel in Milan, where they were all sitting in the back of this SUV knee to knee. It was close quarters of Larsa, Lisa, Jody, and Larsa's son Preston. Man, that car ride was just uncomfortable to watch, and I can't imagine being there for it. It seems like Larsa and Lisa have mostly worked out their issues, which is nice to see, but it was

interesting to watch while it lasted. And then I want to give an award for the most ridiculous car ride of the year. And that goes to Kelly Farrell on Atlanta in her custom pimped out sprinter. Van with her name on the screen eating. She had a table and she was eating waffles and a little bit of charcutory. Nobody's doing it like Kelly Farrell. I don't know exactly what the finances are looking like. I don't know exactly what the arrangements are looking like. But she is living a life of fabulosity that I enjoyed seeing this season.

And I do wonder, you know, kind of how Kelly is going to grow into her role on the show. but if she has that customs sprinter van behind her, I believe that she can do anything. I guess now, speaking of Kelly, I'll give up the award for the newbies of the year. I was trying to pick one, but then I settled on that I think the biggest newbie success of the year was what they did with Real Housewives of Atlanta and a trio of newbies in Shemia, who of course we already knew, Angela Oakley and Kelly Farrell. They really did a great job of showing up on Atlanta this season and feeling like they belonged and bringing both a fresh new energy to the show, but also fitting in with what

they already had going in a way that just was fun to watch and I think has a ton of potential. And yes, there was another newbie on this season of Atlanta. Her name was Britt Edy and I'll just say, the less said about her the better. It is kind of crazy how she, you know, with what went down with Kenya, had a massive impact in the overall trajectory of that franchise. and it already feels like she doesn't exist. By not showing up to the reunion, she sealed her own fate.

But these other three new ladies, I'm excited to see next season on Atlanta, and I think that they have potential for years to come. Now back to Miami for our best reunion moment. Now, nobody does a reunion stunt like Adriana Demora. And sometimes they land. Sometimes they don't. But this year, she pulled out,

all the stops when she dropped the bomb that she and Julia had had an intimate moment a few years ago on the cast trip in the Hamptons. And that's not all because she said she was in a bad place. She was in a bad place. She was cheating on Martina with a Haitian mortician. And she also said that she had to buy a coffee maker as a gift. And the way that Adriana sort of just hijacked that reunion and made it all about her, it could have really not worked, but the way that it went down, it was such a fascinating moment. And the Haitian mortician mortician is just something I will never forget. And, you know, Adriana sometimes doesn't know when to stop. The way that the, the, she tried to continue the Haitian mortician stunt at BravoCon in a way that just totally fell

flat. But on that reunion, in that moment, we were infinite. It was just a beautiful thing to see. So congratulations, Adriana. You're, you're not a full-time housewife, but you're a winner in my eyes. And then we're getting toward the end here. A couple more to give out. This one is the emotional moment that I didn't expect to actually make me emotional. But it did. And this was on this season of the Valley when they were in Hawaii and when Luke proposed to Kristen on the boat. And, you know, for all of the for all of the years that we've been through with crazy Kristen, the ups, the downs, the breakups, the cheating, the lies, the fights, the drink dumpings, the slaps. Kristen found her fairy tale.

as a beautiful baby girl. She seems happy. And when she was on the boat, when Luke was behind her, and he had said like, oh, there's a dolphin to get her to turn around. She goes, where, where, where? She was so excited to see a dolphin. And then she saw a ring. It was just nice.

It was nice. And I think that there are some people who I watch on my TV screen for 12 years. And when something good happens to them, I'm like, yeah, good for them. With Kristen, somehow. somehow it clicked and it made me emotional and I hope are we going to get to see a wedding? We better get to see a wedding. I don't know. Congratulations to Kristen and Luke though on the moment that made me emotional this year.

And now to round things out, what a year it's been. And I want to give out the award for the housewife of the year. And this is somebody who a few years ago, I would not have believed that she was even back on housewives, let alone putting in a performance like this. But the housewife of the year has to be Mary M. Cosby. The first lady herself, Reverend Mary M. Cosby, she has had such a wild trajectory in the last few years on Salt Lake City. But she is just, nobody's doing it like her. She gives great sound bites every week. She has gas, but don't you dare say she's farting.

She was on this podcast. one of my favorite interview episodes of the year, everybody just loves Mary M. Cosby. She got the biggest ovation at BravoCon, which I think says a lot. And she is providing so much comic relief and, you know, actually insightful commentary every week on Salt Lake City, but also comedy. She's asking, who is Jared? Who is Joao? who is this? She always wants to know who everybody is and she doesn't know and that is what we love

about her. But Mary Cosby, great here. She's beaten the cult allegations, I guess. And, you know, I can't wait to see more from Mary from Sister Mary in 2026. And I can't wait to be back with all of you in 2026. What a ride it has been this year. Thank you so much for listening, watching, subscribing, following, commenting, DMing, everything. I have enjoyed it so much, and I can't wait to hit the ground running next week when we will be back in January. So don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you watch and listen. And until next time, until next year, be cool. Don't be all like uncool. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars.

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