The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - Excuses Instead of Apologies (RHUGT EP 5 Recap)

Episode Date: September 9, 2026

Ben and Lauren are back to recap all the drama from alter ego party at the Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip! We dissect every costume, we break down Vicki’s gloomy mood, and we go along on Kyle’s journey of learning the true meaning of a “circle jerk”. Plus, Lauren explains why Luann is the “perfect Housewife”. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Behind every night spent making the kids' lunches, there's a lot of suspense. Will they finally eat the veggies? Will the pastos survive the first bite? Will the lunchbox come home empty, half full, or come home at all?

And will you finish episode 8 before you're done slicing the cucumbers? Get Bell Pure Fiber Internet with Craved Netflix and Disney Plus from $94 a month. Price guaranteed for two years on Internet with a two-year term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.ca for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. I survived nine months in captivity, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the survivor files.

Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable, abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. These are stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. I chose option B. I'm Julie Pinero, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word Solita, trading the pity for possibility. Listen to Solita on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

If your bookshelf and your for-you page are equally important to your personality, welcome home. Pro Society is a weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for anyone who thinks Pride and Prejudice and Love Island to serve the same level of discourse. Each week, we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and pop culture. with your favorite writers, book talk creators, and plenty of overthought opinions. Yeah, I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed. Listen to Pro Society on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's the U.S. Open, which means the tennis world is about to lose its mind, and I'm here for every second of it. Join me, Renee Stubbs on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast as I break it all down.

The matches that matter, the drama that doesn't, and the stories everyone's talking about. No cliches, no sugarcoding, just host analysts from... someone who's actually been there. Coco looking real good. Her serve looks so much smoother than it has in the past. I was really happy to see Eager back to what she looked like a couple of years ago when she was winning dominantly. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Ben and Ashley I, Almost Famous Podcast with IHart Radio.

Welcome back to Almost Famous. It's Ben and Lauren back together to recap another episode of the All-Dashley. Ultimate Girls trip. This episode, Lauren, was full of drama. We're still at the alter ego party. There's a lot of drama at this party. Yeah, this is stretching on. I know. I was like, am I missing something here?

Did I, like, watch the same episode twice or something? This party is filled with it. I guess alter ego is bringing out lots of drama in these people. And also, people's costumes were hilarious. I'm sure you already went over it last week when I wasn't here. But do you have a favorite costume? I like Michael Jackson a lot Michael Jackson

Yeah Was Michael Jackson there? Oh The 50 cent one Cynthia is dressed as 50 cent And of course Luann who is it loves Boys all shapes and sizes

Loved love that 50 cent She was like okay Hello 50 cent though Dressed up real nice Really really great Yeah it's Mary Cosby That I think

Is Michael or at least look like it to me. And if it wasn't going for Michael Jackson, then she did a good job. She calls her stuff Wonder Woman. I don't see that. I see Michael Jackson. Okay, we'll just go with that.

We'll go with that. There are some interesting costumes. Who's your favorite? I kind of like Porsche's Stepford wife one. I thought that was cute, cutesy at least. It didn't really make sense. everyone was giving her crickets when she would say what she was. But I thought it was cutesy at least.

What about Vicky? Vicky stood out to me. Oh, Vicky. I'm starting to feel bad for Vicky. For a little bit, I was like, hey, Vicki, you're a bummer. Yeah. But now I'm starting to understand why she's a bummer. She had no friends at the party.

I felt really bad. No anybody. And her outfit was like not working. She said it was like a rat's nest on her head. Yeah. No, I felt really, really sad for her. It's kind of like. I don't know.

I feel like she didn't go in there. Like the first episode, she didn't really like, she wasn't open to all the experiences. She wasn't like having fun. So now she's stuck in that I'm not having fun mode. And then no one wants to hang out with her either. And she's like,

I'm so tired. I just want to go home. This is so boring. No one wants to talk to me. Um, she looked like she literally looked like she was going to a funeral. I mean, was she like Jackie O at a funeral is what they said.

So really, really depressing. I felt really sad for her. And people are like, she deserves it. She doesn't have any, at least the people I talk to, they think that she deserves to have no friends. But I don't see that. I think she's just depressed. Do you know why they think she deserves to have no friends?

I mean, that's a pretty terrible thing. I know. They say that she's, you know, obviously a housewife conniving, a liar, attention seeker, you know. She's a housewife. She's a housewife. Besides, she's like of them all the rest, except for Ashley. I like that we have to like preface this now with like, she's like all the rest, except for Ashley. Yeah, absolutely.

We can't love her in there. Yeah. Not like this. We are still at the alter ego party. The interesting things, what we're going to highlight today, obviously, if you're listening to this, you watched that ultimate girls trip. And so you don't need us to break down every scene, every moment. But there are some things that stood out. And one of the things that stood out to me was the story arc of Lisa.

during this episode. And I think it's best done if we talk through that story arc in kind of one complete block here. It starts with Teresa, who obviously carries a lot of weight in the franchise. It feels like she's a leader amongst the housewives standing up and saying to us that she was going to have Lisa's back that somebody did it for her.

And she remembers how that feels. Yeah. I think we can all relate. When someone stands up for us, it feels good. It makes us know, hey, you like me. Maybe you love me. It's nice.

It feels supportive. And she says she's going to have Lisa's back. A little bit of the backstory of this, Lauren, I think the question that viewers that are just now recently turning into Housewives would ask is why does Lisa need to have her need to have somebody have her back? Like, what has she done? What is the storyline that makes her such a hot topic? Yeah. I think what Lisa's really dealing with in this, I don't know about like the initial seasons, but I know currently her reunion's airing. So she's seeing all of the current things that these other women are saying about her, alluding that, you know, she has had a facelift with absolutely no proof. So there's these new things coming out and she knows that none of those girls are on her side. So she's like, this is extra awkward because we're watching this reunion in real time. as they're filming this season of Ultimate Girls Trip. So I think it's extra awkward.

And I think it is nice maybe to show these other women, the Salt Lake City cast, like, hey, I've made friends on this Ultimate Girls trip, and maybe you guys don't know who I really am, but these new ladies do know who I am. That's kind of the mark at the beginning of this episode. We start to feel for Lisa. Like, it feels like she is one amongst many in the Salt Lake City group.

We've also had exposure to the Salt Lake City group. We've also had exposure to the Salt Lake City housewives at this point. You and I have both finding out that this group of housewives is very spirited. They argue. They don't necessarily even talk to each other, it seems like, very much. If you go back to the white party, remember, there's a group of Salt Lake City there, and they were kind of the ones causing the drama. Yeah.

Oh, they were not holding back. They were like, do you want to know the real Lisa? blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah I mean I feel like they they've kind of band together against Lisa and I think we see that at the conclusion of this episode that maybe we as ultimate girls trip viewers and not Salt Lake City viewers that that maybe they are correct in their and their Lisa hates yeah well I mean we see in a moment here we got to talk about the sexual escapades that they're claiming one of the women's ladies,

husbands participates in. Kyle does not know what a circle jerk is. No. I'm like, how have you lived on this earth for however many years and not even heard the term circle jerk? And the amount of times I had to be

subjected to hearing that term during this episode was unbelievable. It was a lot. And every time it said, you have like that I just I think I have like the visual brain so you're like hey help me like what are they saying and then you like put a picture in your mind it's not like exactly like my ideal way of spending an afternoon.

Absolutely. I just the urgency that Kyle needed to know what a circle jerk was was crazy to me. Like what is it? What is it? What is it? Is this the most interesting thing

you've heard in a really long time maybe because she's like sober and not at these parties? If she hears anything, it's a little bit interesting. She's like, oh, my God. That's so crazy. Yeah, yeah.

Because there's a lot of questions going on as Kyle's trying to figure this out. Like, is it male and female participating? Is it like a party favor? It's not just men. It's just a sexual group activity with mutual masturbation. Yeah. But, you know, I would think it's just for men. Wait, what's it called when,

there's like all the only boys at a party and there's no girls. It's a big circle jerk. That's what I would say. That's where I would have heard of it. It's like. Sausage party circle jerk, something like that. Yeah. Like that's where I would have heard of it.

Like in high school, people are like, you know, joking around making like, you know, in the text like, oh, it's going to be a sausage fest. Like stuff like that. It's interesting. It is this whole thing.

The only reason I bring it up, Lauren, is not because of the hilarity of like Kyle not knowing what it is or Teresa not knowing what it is or people talking about it or the idea of it. It's that this is a real claim that was allegedly made during this Salt Lake City Real Housewives season that has become an act like in my life this has always been a comedic locker room. We could call it joke made amongst friends. And honestly, I don't. don't even know if my mind ever went to the fact that like maybe they're like real things.

I'm sure like in the world, the world does a lot of things. Maybe it is because they're from Salt Lake. So maybe that's a very Salt Lake thing to do that we're not really familiar with. But they're like really mad about it. And I always always like really upset. It's like you know I'm just saying words. Like I'm not, I don't mean this. I'm just saying words.

But I think what they're just saying is that Angie's husband is gay or like we, they flippantly throw around all these accusations just like I flippantly throughout throughout that I, that she got a facelift and nothing's real. We're just saying circle jerk sausage parties, facelifts, nothing's really real. We're just kind of all girls yapping. That's what I'm getting out of this. It's like,

Lauren, I feel like that could have just been a man. We just said there. Like that, those three things. And like, that's a visual right there. Yeah. Yes.

Okay. So that's what I'm getting is that these Salt Lake City women are just, you know, accusing each other of crazy things. And none of it seems. seems real to me. Okay? Yeah, like none of it is accurately real.

I mean, the facelift stuff was obviously brought up when it comes to Lisa. We saw the flashbacks through reunion. Those are just claims being made. They're all being thrown out there. And I think the evidence is that she spent a lot of time in Miami, and they believe that if you're in Miami, you're getting plastic surgery. That's, I guess, what you do when you go to Miami. I've been to Miami many times.

It's not been my story. Maybe it's everybody else's. but they're saying these things about each other. If we concluded on this Lisa thought when it comes to the setup with the housewives, it just seems like a lot of them in Salt Lake City just really don't like each other. Yeah, the group isn't like an old school group of friends,

kind of like what we see in Rhode Island where like everything goes back and back and back. It's just kind of like they mishmosh them together and they just, there's no connection there, especially with Lisa, who's the outlier. But the terms that they're, throwing out like, you know, a circle jerk and all that stuff.

Just kind of reminds me of like a slam pig like that we're familiar with. Yeah. It's just words and it's just to be mean. And that's really it. Behind every night spent making the kids lunches, there's a lot of suspense. Will they finally eat the veggies?

Will the pasto survive the first bite? Will the lunchbox come home empty, half full or come home at all? And will you finish episode eight before you're done slicing the cucumbers? Get Bell Pure Fiber Internet with craved Netflix and Disney Plus from $94 a month.

Price guaranteed for two years on internet with a two-year term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.ca for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and held captive for nine months. I survived, and I've spent my life exploring

how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the Survivor files. I just remember, This low, taunting voice next to my ear saying, shut up, don't say anything. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up, without a doubt, he was going to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed, and I just started screaming.

They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. But these aren't stories about what's taken from them. There's stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. I chose option B. I'm Julie Pinero, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can see.

say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word solita, trading the pity for possibility. Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people and they were like, you smiled at us. Not a lot of people smile around here. It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is and not the lies you're sold about it. It can be a time where you push your limits, change your mind, or wake up to a new version of yourself. So we're Whether you're a solo travel veteran or you're too nervous to book your first trip, I hope you listen to Solita on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If your bookshelf and your for-you page are equally important to your personality, welcome home.

This is Prose Society, the weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for thought daughters, pop culture obsessives, and anyone who thinks Pride and Prejudice and Love Island deserve the same level of discourse. I'm Eli Rallo, and every week we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and the conversations everyone can't stop having. I'm going to have to look up this story. I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed. From bestselling authors and your favorite book talk creators to the latest pop culture moments, nothing is off the table. It's like if you can hide some real messages inside compelling characters, then that is a Trojan horse. Whether you're looking for literary deep dives, smart pop culture conversations, or

a community of readers who love to think a little too much, you're in the right place. Listen to pro society on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you between the pages. By age 11 or so, at least 70% have a phone. Middle school is a different world than the one we grew up in. I'm Dr. Joy, and this is therapy for black girls. We spend real time on it in our surviving middle school run, bringing in a child psychologist

and a psychiatrist who's raising two black girls a vivor. his own to talk about what's really going on with our kids right now. So it's literally physiological and neurological and psychological and psychological chaos happening all this end up. We got into group chats and gaming, friendships and bullying, and how to tell the difference between healthy monitoring and the kind of surveillance that erodes trust. There's belonging. You could think of belonging as I can be myself and I can still be accepted.

And then there's fitting in. Spitting in says I have to change who I am in order to avoid rejection. Then we turn the conversation toward the fathers, sitting down with therapists Keir Gaines on Black fatherhood and what it means to raise a daughter through this stage. You don't have on shorts, so you can't do flips, you have on the dressy up across your legs. That's the range of this run, from screen time to identity to the fathers doing the work at home. We have to get off her device. But the reality is there's a lot of life out there that we don't want you as your adults in their lives to miss out on.

This has been our surviving middle school run. Brought to you by the people who spend their careers, thinking about exactly this. I'm Dr. Joy. Listen to therapy for black girls on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. We would never on this show say that anybody should use these words towards somebody else.

It's not kind and it's not nice. But in the Real Housewives world, this is what's getting thrown out there at each other. Yeah. And like you said, I think a lot of them are just words. They might try to justify it with facts. but they don't like each other. So we're kind of on Lisa, I personally am on Lisa's side for a lot of this episode, trying to give her the benefit of the doubt until the very end,

which I said it was, you know, I think it's important to group this Lisa conversation all up in one because the ladies are standing around, they're holding her hand, they're having her back, but then it comes time for the end of the episode where everybody is on the buses, the crew, the producers, the executives, and the cast. And Lisa is nowhere to be found for a long time. Yeah. Not uncommon, really. I remember days of Bachelorette where somebody would be a historic, like, late all the time

because they're a little more high maintenance. They take longer to get ready. They sleep into the last minute. That isn't the problem. However, I do remember that every time those late occurrences happen, there was an admittance of I was late. Again, I hate this about myself. I don't know why I keep doing it.

And an apology where you're like, it's all good. We'll move on, not a problem. That's the thing. I think the moment there was Lisa didn't seem to have any empathy or sensitivity, remorse, acknowledgement of her making everybody wait on it. Not to mention it wasn't like they were just driving to the next city. They were waiting for a flight.

So as someone who has like flight anxiety who likes to be at the airport like four hours early I'm one of those people, I would be livid at her for making potentially missed their flight, not being able to get all the accoutrements that you need before your flight. So I would be, first of all, I'd be mad at her. Jazell, pissed.

Giselle, you don't want to mess with. Like, because she, most people would be like, oh, where were you? But she was like, the hell was going on. Why didn't you tell us what was happening? Unacceptable, rude, rude, rude. And then she's like, I'm starting to see her true colors.

We already knew from the other girls that Lisa was, quote, a liar. But now we kind of know that she's just inconsiderate, which is, you know, extremely rude when you're dealing with these, this group of high maintenance ladies. And apparently her excuse was that her, it seemed all over the place to me, her excuse. It wasn't really even like, it wasn't an apology.

It was an excuse. I don't have a lot of sensitivity for moments like this. You know, if you're making your spouse weight, they can confront it. You're making, you know, your friend's weight. These are, in a lot of ways, strangers. And you're making a lot of people. late to something and people might have flight anxiety. There might not be an acknowledgement of how much somebody in that bus really wanted to get

to the airport early. There were some of the worst excuses I've ever heard. In fact, it starts out with, I'm not going to say anything. And it's like, I don't know if you have that ability. That's so true. She's like, no, not right now. I'm not saying anything. I'm not dignifying that with a response, blah, blah, blah.

It's like, what do you mean? You're the one in the wrong here. Yeah, that was outrageous. She was like, I'm not going to say anything. I'm like, then it's going to be a really awkward ride around the country for the rest of the time if you don't just say something. It's one of the interesting personality traits where everybody else can be on the same page. Like 100 people can be doing the same thing and you're the one person doing it differently yet you still believe you're right. I know, it's so true.

I'm I'm similar to that. and just with Hunter, I have a hard time being like, I'm sorry. I'm not with periods, you know? I'm like, I'm sorry, but. And then the whole explanation, like, I need you to hear me why I thought that way. And, but I would never be that way if all these people, you know, experience the same thing. And I was, it was so obviously my bad, you know, but I wouldn't be, sorry, but I had a way for this girl, this girl and my makeup.

And she, the end of this is she wanted. her hair makeup done, it went over and she goes, keep going. I can't arrive ugly. That's it. These people can wait on me. It kind of makes me mad. And I think that's what that moment was for.

Was not mad at her necessarily? I wasn't the one late. It just frustrated me. And this real housewise franchise does that so many times to me where I like, I feel something inside Lauren, where I'm like, I just want to yell through the screen.

I was watching. watching that scene, I go, Ben's going to hate this. Ben's not going to like this because you're, I feel like you're a timely person in your apologetic person, which are two things that were not witness in this episode. I would have had more anxiety if I, like, if I was Lisa, just walking down the stairs, knowing I'm about to get on a bus of people that I've just disappointed. Yep, daggers. Just absolute.

But she could have been embarrassed. Some people react with embarrassment with being like defensive. She was getting defensive. But some of these ladies were not having it. It does bring up the question, Lauren. Who started you on? Well, I would say this is going to make me question everything that Lisa does from here and out. But I wouldn't like say, oh, I'm not close with Lisa anymore because she was laid one time, you know?

I would still have to see more evidence. It just made me like, okay, let me just see, you know, what else she does. but it seems like she's a little more self-absorbed than we thought. Because I really, really liked her up until this point. But everyone said, be weary. Be weary. Hey, somebody else you really like this whole time is Lou Gean. You've been a big fan of her.

You get her. You understand her. We kind of see this core group of real housewives ladies that are on this road trip navigating all the new entrances. And this episode was full of new people coming about. It was a cluster of, you know, Atlanta's past and present coming to this party and us as non-viewers of Atlanta up to this point trying to catch up. We see what they consider to be icons of the franchise. Kim Zolziak is there.

We see Nini come back. We see Lisa Wu. did not get mentioned in the speech. I would be very offended, honestly. And I understand why I'd be sad. I'd be like, oh, I really didn't make a splash and probably make this whole thing my personality and the fact that Nini, the woman that was carried in

by naked men didn't remember me would make me sad. For sure. I think it was just a mistake. I do. But it would make me sad. And I think I historically, go into scenarios feeling like my presence matters less than what maybe others would think or that is the reality of situation. And so that would just be like an ability for me to justify.

Yes, I actually don't know if I belong here. I totally hear you Ben. That makes so much sense. And then she's probably thinking I've been forgotten. The best thing I can do now is absolutely confront her and then maybe people will actually remember me because I I'm going to be in this episode even more. Because if she actually didn't forget her, she probably wouldn't even made the cut. You're right. I mean,

she would have been like out there, like waving her hand up in the air. Yeah. Hey, I'm here. I don't mind her confronting her. I would have probably done it in a different way. Just like,

hey, you didn't mention me. Do I not matter to you? And you'd be, and you would still have the same reaction. She'd be like, girl, I don't have time for this.

Yeah. This was not my own purpose. This was an accident. Behind every night spent making the kids' lunches, there's a lot of suspense. Will they finally eat the veggies? Will the pasto survive the first bite? Will the lunchbox come home empty, half full, or come home at all? And will you finish episode 8 before you're done slicing the cucumbers?

Get Bell Pure Fiber Internet with Craved Netflix and Disney Plus from $94 a month. Price guaranteed for two years on internet with a two-year term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.com for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and held captive for nine months. I survived, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the Survivor Files. I just remember this low, taunting voice next to my ear saying, shut up, don't say anything.

Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up, without a doubt, he was going to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed, and I just started screaming. They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. But these aren't stories about what's taken from them. There's stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts.

On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. I chose option B. I'm Julie Pinero, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word Solita, trading the pity for possibility. Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people. And they were like, you smiled at us. Not a lot of people smile around here.

It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is and not the lies you're sold about it. It can be a time where you push your limits, change your mind, or wake up to a new version of yourself. So whether you're a solo travel veteran or you're too nervous to book your first trip, I hope you listen to Solita on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. If your bookshelf and your for-you page are equally important to your personality, welcome home. This is Prose Society, the weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for thought daughters, pop culture obsessives, and anyone who thinks pride and prejudice and love island deserve the same level of discourse. I'm Eli Rallo and every week we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and the conversations everyone can't stop having. I'm going to have to

look up this story. Someone says. Someone says. From bestselling authors and your favorite book talk creators to the latest pop culture moments, nothing is off the table. It's like if you can hide some real messages inside compelling characters, then that is a Trojan horse. Whether you're looking for literary deep dives, smart pop culture conversations,

or a community of readers who love to think a little too much, you're in the right place. Listen to pro society on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you between the pages. Self-care September is here, which means it's time to rethink what self-care actually means. Yes, self-care can be a long walk. It can be in everything's shower. It can be putting your phone on, do not disturb, but sometimes it's actually about sitting with the uncomfortable stuff and understanding your patterns, your boundaries, finally figuring out while you keep doing things that you swore you would never do again. I'm Gemma Spag, the host of the psychology of your 20s podcast, and each week we unpack the psychology behind the experience.

experiences that shape your 20s, from relationships and friendships to money, anxiety, confidence, attachment, just becoming more comfortable with who you are. Unlike the quarter life crisis, which is depicted as the collapse, the quarter life reinvention is the expansion and growth of something. When we develop the ability to be happy by ourselves, nobody else can take that from you. So this self-care September, don't just take care of yourself. Get to know yourself as well. Listen to the psychology of your 20s on the IHeart Radio app.

Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Later on in this episode, Lauren, we do have the hilarity of 50 cent seeming to woo every woman in the building. And that's where I was going to ring up Loua Ann. Your girl Loua Ann loves yourself some 50 cent this episode. Any resemblance of a man she will throw herself at. And that's what I love about her. I think it's such a funny personality trait.

she she's hilarious and we see in the previews for the next episode and kind of towards the end of this episode everybody starting to get a little annoyed with Luanne and her tendency to make everything a song yes i mean that she's an entertainer of course she's an entertainer but i was actually talking to my friend who knows every single ounce of housewife history about luan and how the best thing about about Luan and a trait that I wish that we all had almost is that you can say anything to her and she will take it as a compliment. She's never offended. You could be like that song was horrible. She'd be like, yeah, but, you know, even, you know, like even Louvitton makes mistakes, you know, so she'll think that she's fabulous no matter what, which is a person who is meant to be a housewife,

you know, she's not offended. She's not crying at parties because someone didn't say her name. that's why she's the best housewife for me. Let's kind of go back to Lisa for a second because after the Lisa confrontation, we see Kyle Lisa and I believe Vicky talking amongst each other about the confrontation, but we also at the same time see the housewives of Potomac, Potomac chatting.

There is one, they're kind of talking about how there is one person missing. Karen, how do you say the last name? Huger. Huger. We have an update for those that are kind of trying to catch up on why the former cast member Karen Hugar was not at the party. Yeah.

So she was arrested in March of 2024 charged with the DUI and DWI. And she actually went to prison, which I don't know. I'm not very well versed in DUIs or DWIs or anything. Do people actually go to prison for that? I always thought it was after multiple or if it was at a certain toxicity level. Or if they were in like really like obviously driving drunk is endangering the public. Yeah. That's all this the case.

But if they were like recklessly driving, I think that could add to it. So I again, I'm with you where it's like I didn't know that a DUI or DWI sent people right to prison. but she there has to be a little bit more to the story. I think she got out a little bit early, but basically she's on her sober journey now. So she thought being around all these women drinking would kind of be a trigger for her. So she decided to not go to the ultimate girls trip reunion here, which makes a lot of sense for me that would probably be very,

I'm so tired of the word triggering. I'm so sick of it. But it's it's the proper use of it in this term. Yeah. And we got to respect her sobrivol. and her path to betterment, but I'm with you. But she's missing. And so if anybody was wondering where she was at during this,

we did want to bring clarity. The Maryland jury then found her guilty on all charges except reckless driving. And so Karen was released early from the Montgomery County Detention Center in Maryland on September 2, 2025. Okay. So I'm trying to see here if we have... have her yeah okay so she had a DUI and DWI

negligently driving a vehicle in careless and imprudent manner endangering property life and person as well as recklessly driving a vehicle is was what she was charged with let me just quickly see how many times this has happened to her so I understand as you do that I am going to continue on with the Vicky moment. So Vicki, as we mentioned, has not really enjoyed the ultimate girls' trip. I don't think that that's what the girls' trip was meant to be. I do think they wanted this show to be enjoyable at some level for each person participating a reunion of sorts. And Vicki stands out to me in such a large way is because this whole season started at her

house. She was the original host. you were looking up. Did you find out how many times it happened to Karen? I did four incidences. So there you go. You were right. Yeah. Yeah, that would put you in prison. That'll do it. Four alcohol-related driving cases and slash arrests. That'll put you in prison. She did not learn her lesson. But yes, back to Vicky. She had a little more pep in her step while she was in her home of the OC. And now we're losing her. Yeah, we're losing her. And she leaves the party early. I respect the move. Absolutely. And Kyle was like, hell yeah. Let me get out of it.

here too. I leave every party early. No matter how great of a party it is, take no offense when you invite me to your party if you look up and I'm gone. I will leave that thing. Irish exiting. Absolutely. Every time. I've said it so many times, one of the phrases I live by socially is the George Costanza, leave when you're on top because after that, it's not getting any better. Absolutely, been for sure. And you had a really big wedding, right? You had a lot of people at your wedding. Did everyone come up to you and say goodbye? Or are you just like, please just leave because I'm trying to enjoy myself. Most people just love. And that's good with me. I respect it. You came. We conquered. Now you go home when you want to go home. I told my wife this on our wedding. I said, I want people leaving when they feel like they're having the best time so that when they wake up in the morning, they go, how great of a time. I told, I told my wife this on our wedding. I said, I want people leaving when they feel like they're having the best time. So that when they go, how great of a time. time was that not oh my gosh

I'm so tired last night really dragged on no get out of there go home enjoy the moments in your bed because there's very few moments very few days where I'm not in my bed by 9 o'clock 830 8

so I respect Vicky for it it doesn't feel like a big deal I think it's expected at this point that she will be kind of on the outside looking in when it comes to the social aspect of this. We've already mentioned Lisa holding up the bus. And so let's kind of close our thoughts

Lauren with we kind of see the previews for the next episode. They're going to do a lingerie party. This must be a big thing. They're going to do a 90s neon game beach party and then the lingerie party. It feels like this lingerie party is like known.

It's kind of like the white party. People know of it. You kind of want to be invited. I don't know if it's both men and women attending the lingerie party. I wouldn't think so. It seems to be all women that we've seen, unless this is a change. But I think it'll probably be all women. What would men wear to a lingerie party? Yeah, that's a question.

Like, I don't know. Like the Speedo. I was like a smoker's jacket for some reason. I'm just thinking of like Playboy. Yeah, yeah. You would think of like Hugh Hefner maybe like with the boxers. with the smokers jacket on top. That could be a look.

I like it. But I think it'll be all women. Anyway. But yeah, we're seeing people get irritated by Luann, classic. And then a little more Lisa Shade by Larsa Pippin. Was she a household? Yes. Miami.

Okay. Miami. Well, it makes sense. They're in Miami. We do get to see an appearance from Kelly Ben Simone, who was broke down the podcast with We love it. A lot of these names I hear and they've been like mythical creatures to me because like I know their names. I'm like, why do I know Ben Simone so well? Now I'm learning all of them.

You're seeing them. You're meeting them. You stay in this world long enough. Lauren, you're going to be surrounded by them. Isn't that exciting? You've become one of them. Who knows? Maybe.

It seems to be the track of any co-host I get is they leave me for, you know. Something. Hopefully. Hopefully. I'd love some much. money. Yeah, that'll be nice. That'd be so good. I'd be proud of you. Miami does look like it's going to be fun, but we do see in a lot of the preview, kind of an annoyance with Luann. I don't know how real it is. Previews can be just highlighting the one moment. Somebody

said something. But this ultimate girls trip is continuing. The ladies are gathering, bringing in familiar faces from the past and the present. we're still waiting for hopefully an appearance from our very own. I'm losing hope at this point, but we'll see. I am losing hope too. I don't see it. The women are partying at Dorinda's Bluestone Manor, and Andy Cohen shows up.

What do we call him again? Our game master or something? Our dark lord is there, and everyone wants to win his affection. So that'll be very fun to see. but it seems like it all collides at Bluestone Manor based on all the trailers. So keep showing it.

Is that the conclusion of the season? I'm not going to say yes because I don't know, but it seems like it's all coming to a close there or the drama really happens there. Yeah. Feels like the real Housewives fan base has enjoyed another season of the Ultimate Girls trip. We have as well.

We're learning as we go alongside of all of you who are either legendary watchers of the show experts in each city and location or newbies like us who are just being exposed to the characters, the cast, the drama, the behind the scenes, the personalities, and the things to come. So stay here, listen to us as we break down the Real Housewives, Ultimate Girls Trip, leading up to the Real Housewives of Rhode Island. Season two, my wonderful co-host, Lauren, will be joining us the whole way. she will be sharing her insights, her humor.

She'll be learning new definitions of terms that we've been using since high school. It's exciting here. We have a great time. But until next time, I've been Ben. I've been Lauren. Bye. Follow the Ben and Ashley I, almost famous podcasts on IHeartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. I survived nine months in captivity, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them.

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