The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - Hiding Behind A Mask (Real Housewives of Rhode Island S1 E6)

Episode Date: May 4, 2026

Ashley may not have been able to make facial expressions during the mascaraed dinner, but that didn’t stop her from being in the middle of a lot of drama with Rosie and Kelsey! We dive into the ramifications of Kelsey’s break-up with her “sugar daddy”, go to a doll party, and fight the urge to trauma bond. Plus, we address recent claims made by a cast member that Ashley doesn’t hang out with the rest of the ladies!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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listen to learn the hard way on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is the Ben and Ashley I, Almost Famous Podcast with IHart Radio. Welcome back to the Almost Famous Podcast. We're back with another recap of The Real Housewives of Rhode Island Episode 6. We've got mansions. We've got masks. Messy comments. This episode has it all. And it's also reminded me for the first time in over a month of my life, Lauren, why I don't watch these type of shows. Are you fired up? I'm over it. He's checked out, guys. It's only me now. There is so much to unpack with this one episode. They like jammed it all into one. It's so much.

Yeah. It made me... Okay. I have to be careful here to not be so one-sided when it comes to watching this show. I know. Yes. Obviously, we're watching it and breaking it down because of our beloved Ashley being a part of this show. But we are breaking it down holistically for every character and every person watching.

I didn't realize when we tuned in to episode. one, that six weeks into this, every episode was just going to be people arguing with each other about different topics at different times. Yeah, yeah, the same topics over and over at different times. I mean, that's, uh, that seems to be Kelsey's M.O. honestly, because she, it looks like she's the one that's hanging on to certain things. And it appears as if Jo Ellen is kind of letting go and kind of being the bigger person. We're getting a dive into Joe Ellen's life besides, ruining Rula's, which Brian is doing for her, not Rula. So it looks like Kelsey's the one that's hanging on all these old fights.

It is. That's a good point. I would say, I felt fine. I'm just going to come in unfiltered. I felt fine about the Rula situation the whole time, just because I think Brian's up to something. And so I understand that she's hurting, and I understand that it's not ideal to have on TV. Why she said yes to it will always be a question that I want to ask her one day. But it's kind of been this, hey, I want your eyes to be open to the fact that there is something going on. If you're okay with what's going on, tell us you're okay with it.

We move on. If you're not okay with it, like it seems like you're not so far, then let's keep digging in until your eyes open up. Yeah. So that's why I've never really had an issue with the rule of thing. 100%. It's not really a fight. It's more of like just bringing to light some.

information. Yes. This episode, we do start at Liz's house. Kelsey tells Liz at this moment that the relationship has run its course. Yes. Not a shocker to any of us. We knew this relationship was on the fringes, at least, because we saw that other guy. What's his name?

The other boyfriend? Billy? Billy. Yeah. We saw Billy show up for the last few episodes. So we knew something was happening. in her relationship in the house that she was staying in. But she does open up to Liz at the beginning of the episode.

Yeah. She says that the, I'm going to call him Sugar Daddy. Yeah, I like that. I'm going to call him Sugar Daddy. They were holding each other in bed, discussing their future. And she's like, I think this is run its course. And he essentially goes, I'm glad you finally realize that. I can't wait for you to get out of my house

so I can get a younger model in actually. I'm sure he's been waiting for her to come to this for a long time. How would that make you feel? I'd be so embarrassed. I'd be so embarrassed because I'd be like, oh, yeah, I'm just like his hot, kept woman laying in his bed waiting for him to come home from his other conquests. And I'm thinking that like, oh, I'm this hot shit.

But really, he is peers. he's been waiting for her to come this conclusion on her own. And that's embarrassing, kind of. And she says that, what did he say that? That was like, ooh, that he's making the right decision. And that she found out, I guess recently that there was more women in his life than, like, he let on. So she found out that there was, um, it wasn't just like another girlfriend in Florida. There probably have been many, maybe others in Rhode Island.

I'm sure they'll be coming out of the woodwork soon. And I guess that's why she was like, I can't just keep waiting around. Is there a difference between one and three? Not for me. Okay. I just didn't know. Like in that world,

is there a difference between having one, you know, person on the side or three? It didn't feel like it was ever an issue, no matter how many it was. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe it was someone that was like,

she found out that was like close to home or younger. And then she was like, oh, They're getting younger than me now. Speculation only, allegedly. This is a big, though, moment for the show. It does create the storyline where now Kelsey is off on her own, at least at that point we thought she was,

trying to figure out life. We then flashed to Rosie's house. She's just talking to Rich about how she's going to the mansion with the girls, and she hopes that it goes well because it went well at the polo match. Not a lot to it other than just talking about if they're going to be in a good mood or not around her. And she's just going to try and be herself.

This episode, I think, underlying could have a theme of... Childhood trauma? Yeah, childhood trauma and current trauma. Joellen and her sister, Jen, are shown shopping during this episode. Joelan starts talking about the recent passing of her grandfather. and the impact he made on their lives. This brings up a lot of feelings about their childhood and the memories that they have.

This was a little foreshadowing, I felt like, towards, you know, for the rest of the episode. Mm-hmm, yeah. They talk about how, well, we don't really know what Joellen's mother did to her. She's just saying that she didn't give her any love or show her the same love as Jen and that Joe Allen's friends and her husband

give her the love that she requires. We don't really know yet. Oh, yeah, and they talked about how her mom sent her to, like, a behavioral place, like kind of like one of those camps for like really bad people, like arsonists and stabbers, she said. So in Joellen says that she was just doing basic teen, you know, drinking maybe. I don't really know. She doesn't say, but she wasn't on the level of arsonists and stabbers.

Yeah, she didn't maybe. blondeish. It felt like it was not the right move. But it's going to be interesting. I saw this part. It's kind of been a storyline. Yeah. We saw Joeline's mom come into the house at one of the episodes.

They obviously are still talking. They're still reasonably close. Yeah. It's going to be very awkward, I feel like, for Joelle's mom to be watching these episodes. Yeah. I mean, the little teaser we have with Joel's mom is she was like, I showed love the way that love was showed to me or like that's what my parents did. So the generational trauma is definitely going to be a theme here.

And I guess you could also get into that with Alicia and her dolls, you know? That's something weird. The dolls do help us kind of push towards the rest of the episode, which happens at a mansion. It's a Newport mansion. The ladies are writing in style and a Royce. They pull up to a 100-year-old, 43,000 square feet, 18 bathroom, 29-bedroom mansion in Newport. It's a dull tea party, like theme, at least at the beginning. Ashley comes back with the pigtails.

Yes, she comes back with the pigtails and also holding her dirty, dirty old new-bound sneakers in her hand as she rolls up. I'm like, can you just, for once be uncomfortable? you know, like she always has to have her jacket, well, her snacks, and yeah, why didn't she, like, put them in her suitcase or her bag? Probably because they didn't fit and she goes, oh, I'll just carry them. A normal person, but like, I'll get a bigger suitcase or I'll have two bags. She's like, I'll just carry these disgusting sneakers around. Classic Ashley, you know. It's good to see, however, there is that moment where you're like, Ashley, you know what show you're on.

Can you fake it? Just fake it. Just for this. I'm not asking for your character to change, your personality change, but you're in a Rolls-Royce, step out of that thing. I know. I know. That was my only note for that scene, really.

I saw her carrying the shoes, and I go, wow, she really couldn't just pretend for a minute. She can't. She can't pretend for a minute. The tea party theme is doll themed. I think that's fantastic. And also, dolls do creep me out. But Ashley's very into this theme. He loves it.

Yeah. Yeah, they use her commentary on all the dolls that she's had grown up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ashah would love any, like, childish sort of thing. So that's why her and Alicia kind of get along. Yeah, she still has her, so many dolls, so many dolls in her room still at home. Lauren, I think up into this point, the episode is fairly tame. We've set the stage for a few things, right?

We get a little bit of a glimpse into Joe Ellen's upbringing. We obviously understand that Kelsey is now single. And I don't even know if we can say living alone or moving off on her own. We find out later that that is not the definition of what she's actually doing. She's getting financially supported to just have her own space is more or less the... He literally paid her to get out of the house. Yeah. He said, hey, I'll give you any amount of money if you get your own apartment.

I'll pay for everything. You just can't live here any longer. Yeah. And in so many words, that is what happened. And she can say, are we over exaggerating there? Honestly. Based on what she told us, that seems to be what happened. Even if it looked like a normal breakup, a normal breakup does not require financial support

afterwards. But she did make a good point. I will say this, that if they were married, she would leave with a lot more. So I get that. But guess what? He didn't marry you. So you don't get that. There's no way that dude doesn't do a pre-nup.

He's a lawyer. He comes from a lawyer-judge fan. family, yeah. So I'm sure, she might have agreed to get something out of this, but you're 10 years in and there's been no signs of marriage. And so I don't know why marriage was ever the expectation that you thought you had. And Lauren, I'd make the argument that she lived in his home for free for 10 years. That might have been payment enough. Yeah, that's true. And I would be kind. I would be kinder to this. situation if she didn't attack other people for things that she does not have. We'll get into that, I guess, when we get to the rose, the fight at the, the masked dinner where Liz delivers all these different masks to the girls and then she hands them out. And of course, she gives Ashley the worst mask. Now, I think that is hilarious, her sitting there not being able to eat or drink or make

any kind of face. And Liz set, I think Ashley is Liz's. least favorite around the table, which is okay. Like they're not extremely close. So she's like, here's the shittiest mask. But then I think, according to Ashley, this evening and this trip of the mansion, Liz and Ashley got closer. So that may have switched later on.

Yeah. It's a brutal mask. I don't know who picked it out. I mean, I think Liz did. It's brutal. It's really bad. You cover up everything and you're like, hey, Ashley sit in a mask that has no breathing. parts to it and just sit there like it's it's it's comedy honestly just watching actually sit at dinner

like fully covered in this mask without the ability to make any facial expressions to feel so awkward and weird it i want to flash back though a little bit because everything was tame up until the moment where the doll party begins and we've mentioned it before, but for, and there must be more to the story than I understand, but these ladies really don't like Rosie. They really don't.

Other than Ashley, I don't think Rosie has a friend in that group. And not just friends, they have people that are very open to make Rosie feel worse about herself without saying a word. And it happens when Joellen walks out and looks at Rosie and says, hey, you look like a stripper.

How can that come out of someone's mouth? Even to my best friend, I wouldn't say you look like a stripper. And I was so, I mean, it wasn't a great outfit. But it was for a tea party. It was for a doll tea party. You can wear whatever you want to a doll tea party. I haven't attended like strip clubs in my life. But I would imagine that strip club outfits don't look like that.

Maybe like at the beginning of the night before the clothes come off. Like they wear like a hat and like a little like a little like a. she kind of looked like I'm not going to remember the name what's the person Little Bo Peep yes she looked like Little Bo Peep that would have been the proper diss if you wanted to dis Rosie on her

outfit but I think she really came into this mansion trip as like I'm just going to let them say whatever they want and I'm just going to like ignore everything so she didn't seem bothered by it she kind of just is very relaxed like she told her husband she's like

I'm just going to try and be me which is more quiet than I have been so That's what she's doing. Taking the hits. Taking the hits to try to fit in. Yeah. She's not enjoying this experience so far. Just in general, we're six episodes deep,

and it feels like Rosie's confidence has gotten crushed. The light is draining from her eyes. Celebrate your pride with the station that's as bold, vibrant, and diverse as you are. I heart pride, Canada. From dance anthems to pop icons. It hits from 2SLGBTQ plus Canadian artists. It's the soundtrack that keeps life loud and proud. Just ask your smart speaker to play IHart Pride Canada.

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You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

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The adult party is what it is. They're kind of talking about Rula a little bit, but they're like, let's just save the Rula for when Rula is here. basically. Yeah. And that's, it is respectful to the situation ahead. There is a moment where Alicia cannot pronounce the word facade.

And it's great. It's great. And it's great. It also is, for me, a reminder of, hey, what,

who, like, what exactly is happening here? We have a bunch of people trying to make life work. One can't read the word facade. Like, One is now living outside of her big mansion for the first time. Like, let's just set the stage for this dinner party where everybody gets a mask chosen by Liz, a note attached to it.

The masks range in beauty and glamour. And then you do have Ashley's mask, which is a full-faced plastic mask that's painted gold. Yeah. And I don't remember the reason why Liz gave her. when she said it's because she like hides or something. She hides, I think. Yeah. But I think they start around the table delivering all their sad stories.

I don't know. Do they start with Alicia or they start Joellen? I think it's Joellen. They start with you. Yeah. And Joellen talks about her mother, which we already talked about. And then I guess we go to Alicia. Was there anything else to that?

I guess the biggest drama was that Alicia said she was homeless. And it seemed to be. incorrect, according to Liz. Yeah, she's her, her memory of her childhood is corrected by Liz. Mm-hmm. And she lived with her grandparents in apparently a very lovely house when her dad left, when Alicia's dad left. And I know that down the line, this becomes an issue between Liz and Alicia.

I think they get in an argument out this down the line because how dare you tell me about my life experience? You know, like, yeah, you were kind of there for it, but like maybe it was more traumatic for Alicia than, you know, just living with your grandparents. I kind of feel bad for Alicia. They always tear up to be like the stupid one and discrediting everything she says. Liz is like, I'm trying to save you from looking stupid because Everton in Rhode Island knows your story and you can't lie and make it sound sadder than it is.

The problem is, I mean, there is some wisdom to this if you were in Liz's shoes where you go, okay, she's already said it on TV. It's already going to be shown. me correcting her doesn't make it look any better. That really only makes me look like the person that knows it all and is correcting. And so, you know, I don't know if you've ever had this happen, Lauren, but I have close friends in my life who I've known since I was six years old. This reminded me of one of those moments where, you know,

the friends are sitting in the room and you think you have your people there, your backers, and then you say something and you're quickly, corrected by one of them just out of them trying to prove themselves right. And it hurts deeply. Yeah. Because you're sitting there going, wait, you're a friend of mine. You're supposed to have my back. Now, was Alicia homeless or not? I don't know. It's how she remembers it. And it's the story she wants people, wants to tell and wants people to hear. Is that right or wrong? It's not dissimilar if she is over-exaggerating to what they've jumped down Rosie's throat for saying her house is going to be bigger than it is. Very good, Ben. That's a very good comparison. I have been watching. That is so true.

Yeah, it's like, homeless is the wrong word. Maybe 5,000 square feet is the wrong word, you know, but it's similar and that's what they want to portray. I do know, like, Ashley likes accuracy. So she will do this to our friends all the time. Like, she will say, no, that's not true. Like, you only dated him. They's like, oh, I dated him for 10 years. It's like, you dated him for six years. Because remember we were here and that's when he asked you out for the first time. Like she needs the accuracy and then she'll disrupt like big grandiose stories. So maybe Liz is one of those people that really likes accuracy. That could happen.

And it's also maybe why Ashley, as she is presented with explaining her trauma as a childhood. This whole thing feels weird to me, Lauren. Let's pause here. The whole concept of this is, I guess, to trauma bond, to bring them closer together through their own traumas. that feels very unhealthy to me, especially in a group of people who currently still have things that will be traumatic in two years for them. And they're choosing to live within them. I'm thinking, you know, marriages that are falling apart. You know, parents that they're not close with.

Parents are dying. Financial issues. Yeah. Like they're living in the midst of this. Yet they think like, and this feels crazy to me that the start of building a relationship. relationship with each other will be trauma bonding with each other. And as a result, typically, when you do group trauma therapy, somebody's trying to one up the next person. It could be why Alicia said I'm homeless. It could be, you know, like you try, you're like, but you get to Ashley.

They're all scared of looking like Ashley, which is basically like, oh, not a lot happened to me. And why is that such a terrible thing? Because one life is harder, makes the other person's life more valuable. It's like they made her look silly. And I know Ashley wasn't crying because she's actually scared of when someone dies. Like we're all going to go through it. It's going to be traumatic. That's not why she's crying. She's crying because she's uncomfortable. But this is an uncomfortable experience going around the table and waiting for your turn to say to try and won up a sad story. And she just knows she's going to get crickets at the end of it. So I feel bad for her. I feel about they look stupid. They made her look stupid. But it was a very small

blip in the episode because they move right along to Rosie and then they start attacking Rosie. Yeah, I think for us watching it and for Ashley, it's going to be a big moment in the episode. I do think when you are just a fan, you're going to say, you know, it was a blimp. Yeah. But Ashley, the part we have to respect here, and it is why this episode was lacking in fun for me was one thing that, I think we need to celebrate in life is people not trying to create stories to get attention. Yes. And one thing we see in Ashley there is that she's not trying to create a false narrative to get more attention from the group. She would be much more likely to bond with them over something

enjoyable or shared interests or shared empathy than she ever would to say, hey, I'm going to sit here in my moment and lie about something so that the group will respond in a way that makes them feel something towards me. I don't want them to feel something towards me when it comes to me being the victim. I'm not the victim here. I don't have any experiences of a victim having being like a victim. And I'm not going to try to create a narrative to become a victim. And that dismiss in a lot of ways diminishes the real stories that people have of trauma. If I am going to create my own. Yeah. Ashley actually said that verbatim. She goes, I didn't want to discredit them

and by trying to make my OCD sound bigger than it is because it would be insulting to them in their stories. Like Liz had a very traumatic story and Joe Ellen's relationship with her mother and so on and so forth. And Kelsey, apparently her relationship with her

ex is traumatic. But yeah, so she was like, I didn't even want to attempt to say anything and that made me uncomfortable as well because it doesn't seem to compare to a lot of those things. Well, there's wisdom And I think this comes with being married, being a mom, having good friendships, having a close sister, having good parents. There's wisdom in knowing when it's your time to speak out and speak up and also stay silent and be the listener.

Ashley's listening. I guarantee you she could go around and say, that's what that person said. That's what that person said. However, it's not my time to speak up and try to one up anybody here or try to even explain anything that's not going to make sense. going to be the silent partner here who is listening to the stories of these women. That's healthy. But when we start to say everybody needs to have their story, that's when it gets unhealthy and it's coming from an unhealthy place.

Yeah. Really? What would have been beautiful here? I don't think Ashley, like, communicated in a way that maybe would have been the perfect segue. But what would have been really nice is if all these ladies would have, like, rallied around Ashley and said, hey, like, congrats to your parents.

They're still married. They showed you love and care and support. Congrats to Jared on letting you feel safe and comfortable in your household and your marriage. And Ashley, congrats to you for making decisions that, you know, have been following along with this dream that you've had of being a mom and being a wife and being a daughter. And like, congrats to these things. You don't need the trauma to relate to us. But what we want to say is, like, let's lift your parents up because maybe they haven't heard it and just say, well done. So very well said, Ben.

I wanted to say something similar to that, but obviously you crushed it. Yeah, they just, they heard her say that. I'm like, oh, actually, and also if she was to say, like, I just want to say, like, this isn't my place. Like, I hear you guys. They would be like, of course, Ash is not talking again. She's not letting us in again. It's like there is nothing to let you in. and I just want to respect you guys.

So that's all. Very well said. It does flash quickly to a comment that's made to Rosie. And it's taken, I guess, by the Ashley Rosie team as disingenuous. Yeah. Backhanded. Backhanded. And Ashley does speak up in this moment.

Yep. What did you feel about it, Lauren? Like kind of walk us through. Okay. So Rosie talks about her anxiety. Very relatable. obviously not. I think she talks about like being perfect for her mother.

Something long on to that. But then it flashes to Kelsey being like, wow, Rosie, that was like really, that was nice because I felt like you were being genuine for once. And then Ashley and Rosie are like, what do you mean for once? And then they're like, come on, just accept the compliment. Just accept it. Why did you have to flip it? How about you just said that was really genuine of you, Rosie? I really liked hearing that rather than, for once, you've actually said something.

There was a way to say it. It was obviously backhanded. And I just can't see it in another way. I can't see it from Joel's point of view where she was like, just accept the compliment. Can you? No, because we've all had those things said to us multiple times in so many ways of, you know, the backhanded compliments, the. the comments that are said and you can read through the lines.

Yeah. You can't let that fly. No. And I'm in those moments as I've gotten older, they have been the moments that I've spoken up and said, what do you mean by that? Like elaborate on what you're actually trying to tell me. Because I would have appreciated a lot more if you would have just directly said,

I feel like you've been lying to me since the day we've met. Then I would, hey, it's nice that you're finally being genuinely. genuine for once. That's a, you know, it feels like a stab. It feels like a prick after many pricks with the knife in your back and just going, I'm exhausted. Those comments exhaust me. It's exhausting.

And you have to speak up in the moment. And then they do. They say, why would do that? And they're like, just accept the compliment. But why genuine for once? And so then they go back. It ends. Rosie defeatedly says,

thank you, I accept it, but then they're still like, I can't believe you did that. And then Ashley and Rosie go back to their room and they're obviously debriefing and they're going over like, what did I miss there? Like, how did we misinterpret this? I don't understand. And then Kelsey and Joellen are listening outside the door. Like, doors closed, obviously on girls trips. This happens every time you're rooming with your best friend.

You go back to the room and you talk shit about the other girls. It's not science, okay? Like, like, that's what you do. And then Kelsey and Joel and are listening through the. the door, Ashley and Rosie debriefing, and then she comes in and are like, Kelsey's like, why didn't you just say this at the table? I gave you every opportunity to talk about this at the table. She was, I did. I said, why would you backhanded compliment me like that? Like, she gave her the opportunity. And she took it. So she's acting like she didn't already talk to her

about it and only talking behind her back. I hated that. And Kelsey is like, as she goes, please give me examples so we can like squash us. What are the examples that she lied about? And she said the square footage of her house. What? It's still a thing. So let me get all these points.

Why Kelsey hates Rosie. She didn't post her on Instagram. She didn't tag her on Instagram. She lied about her, the square footage of her house. And she asked about her boyfriend. Is that correct? Those are the three reasons why Kelsey doesn't like Rosie. So what's the issue here?

I can see from Kelsey's side where the question about her boyfriend came off as mean-spirited. Yeah. That's the one point here where if you watch the flashback, the Bravo is so good at doing. Yeah. You watch it back and you go, I feel like if I was to assume what Rosie was trying to get at, I think she was trying to get at sparking a conversation about Kelsey. and her multiple partners and make a judgment call based on that. That's the one part here.

Square footage of house. I don't think any of my friends have ever told me the accurate square footage of their house, big or small. No. Even the builder doesn't know, okay? The job with Rosie, I don't know who to, I mean, I don't really care. But it's nothing that is attacking Kelsey herself. Like, Rosie isn't attacking Kelsey, so I don't know why she's mad.

So she elaborated maybe on the square footage and she said she took a health break for her job because she had colitis. It's not directly affecting Kelsey. And that's where I'm like confused. It's not like she's being mean towards Kelsey. And if it's only because she asked about her holliamorous relationship, then that's, then don't get it into a relationship like that if you're expecting not judgment, you know? Yeah, there was a kind of as we started this season, there was this kind of tone that. Kelsey's relationship was going to be off limits almost. Like her boyfriend was never going to show up to filming.

It wasn't really going to get talked about. But obviously it has gotten talked about because that's what this show seems to be is talking about relationships and all the craziness that happens in our relationships. And we're supposed to watch as viewers and go, hey, that seems good or that seems bad. Yes. So you're not going to get away from it. And so Rosie maybe was the first one to open up the door to talk about it. But it was going to get talked about anyway.

just because of, you know, this situation that we're in and the show that you're on. We know that. And now you've gone through a breakup. So you're talking about your relationship. And you're talking about the details of this relationship in a way that we've, you know, not heard before. It also is this, there's like wisdom, Lauren, you know, you said it where on a girl's trip, you go back to your room and you talk about everything that's happened.

Yeah. There's wisdom and kind of choosing who you can feel. into. And Ashley and Rosie in that moment are confiding in each other because they feel kind of like their own little island right now. And that in a lot of ways is healthy. You need to bounce your thoughts of somebody going, hey, was that, did I read that wrong? Did I overreact? Did I underreact? Should I have stood up for myself? Should I not have? Like that's just processing with somebody. It doesn't feel unhealthy. What would have been unhealthy is if they would have said, hey, three other girls that we know can all agree with us.

Yes, girls, come into the room and let's all talk about the one person that's sitting on the outside listening. That would have been unhealthy and mean. Yeah. I also kind of like got this very like mean girl gang up mentality. Like I, when Kelsey and Joel walk in the room and then Ashley asked for specifics, they talk with the square footage, Kelsey is like, Joe, Rose is like, I don't care anymore. Like I'm really, I'm really.

exhausted from this. And then Kelsey's like, she's not fighting back. This is calm rosy. And then she was like, come on, Joe, come on Joe. Like, follow me. Follow me out. I am the leader here. Follow me out. And like you said earlier before we started recording is basically these, like Liz, Liz, Joe Allen and Alicia, I guess, aren't going to attack each other because they're actually very scared of each other and they're scared of pissing each other off. So they're going for the two girls on the outside who really don't have as many ties to Rhode Island and the inner workings of their families and the relationships and everything. So they're allowed to attack those people. So I feel like maybe Kelsey wants to attack someone else and she just can't. Like one time,

for example, I was with my friend and Ashley and I was so mad at my friend, but I couldn't like piss her off. So I couldn't like attack her. So I kind of just like picked Ashley to be mad at because I'm allowed to be mad at her, you know? So you kind of like fight with someone that is a common denominator. Yeah, I mean, I think you're hitting on it. And Kelsey's choosing the common denominators because she also doesn't want to go after the women in that, you know, group of three powerful, you know, kind of like patriarchs of the show. They're the ones that are together.

And so you're picking on the two people on the outside. Yeah. And they're not really picking on Ashley. I don't want to throw Ashley into this. She's getting comments, but everybody's getting comments on this show. She doesn't feel like she's getting crushed. But what I'm wondering is they want Ashley to open up so badly. Is it because they want her to open up so that they can crush her?

Because so far, the one thing I haven't seen is true support throughout the season from friends yet. So the more somebody opens up, the more I feel like they open themselves up to criticism and things that are really like personal to them that you don't see somebody open up really. That's why this trauma bonding thing was so weird to me. And then everybody rallies around and says, hey, you've got this.

You know, you can, it feels very unhealthy. Yeah, that's why I know while filming, they were really pushing Ashley to give us more. Like, there's got to be more. There's got to be more. And she's like, I don't know how many times I can say there isn't more because they wanted to use it against her

and have it come up with the other girls and then there'd be actual drama rather than just like defending the fights with Rosie over nothing. I hope that I'm not again just looking at it from this one perspective. Yeah, I mean, I think we are. Are we really?

Because I just, I really tried to step out and I'm like, if I was watching Kelsey yell at Rosie, would I be like, what is she mad about? as someone who was not a fan of Rosie and Ashley. Yeah, I mean, I still think that's the question. I do think actually that is a genuine response from the viewership of Kelsey. What are you actually mad about? Like, what has caused you to be so angry at Rosie here?

Hey, I'm Tori Webster and I host That Digital Take. If you've ever wondered how the internet really works from influencer culture to digital marketing and pop culture, this is your inside look. Each week, I share what's actually working online, the behind the scenes of building a career as a creator, and real conversations with people shaping the industry. Think of it like your big sister guide to the digital world. Follow that digital take on IHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts. 2%. That is the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter, and on my podcast, 2%, I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness, and building.

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And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast.

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We also have AIDS on the table right now. So, Oh. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah.

For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Now, do we want to talk about the new things that are coming out as of this week? Because we're almost at the end of the episode. And I know there's like interviews going around of Kelsey. Yeah, we definitely can. Yeah.

You want to touch on it? Sure. So this interview with Kelsey came out. She did a podcast with two guys. I don't remember the podcast. Page six. Page six. So they said, basically, are you, do you hang out with Ashley or the question?

Then Kelsey said, I've DM'd her. I've reached out. She doesn't respond to my DMs and that she keeps to herself. And then she treats this as a job. She films and then goes home. And I know that no one has invited Ashley to hang out besides Rosie and Rosie and Ashley hang out. And if Kelsey would like to hang out with Ashley, maybe an invite would be great. But also, Ashley doesn't have a lot of time.

Okay? She's got two little kids. She's working almost every hour of the day. If Kelsey, you know, wanted to hang out with Ashley, she probably should have asked and go to check. cheese with her kids. Rosie goes to Chuckie cheese, goes to all like the trampoline parks and stuff. She just like infiltrates Ashley's life. There's not a lot of time to go get on a little boat and have lunch every day and have your seats picked out of your lemons. Very different stages of life here. Maybe that's why her and Liz get along. They're not in the same stage of life,

but they have the same like time on their hands. I don't think if she actually wants to hang out with Ashley. I think she just said that as like a little, a little jab, you know? Allegedly, there's receipts where there has been complete correspondence back and forth on direct messages. Yes. That the idea that Ashley has ignored Kelsey's, you know, messages is just not true. She would never ignore a message from someone she knows personally. And it is a weird, it is kind of a weird argument to start where it's, hey, this mom of two, doesn't hang out with us during the day like everybody else.

Again, here's where my frustration happens, Lauren. Ashley or not, instead of criticism there, how about we turn it to support for, wow, Ashley, I'm sure would love to take a boat ride and drink wine for five hours of her day. That would be amazing. Yeah. It's not an option in her life.

or she's intentionally chosen to stay at home with her kids and be around her kids when she's not working. So her time is limited. Just like millions of Americans listening, time is limited, especially in the toddler to infant stages of life. Let's celebrate that instead of criticizing, because here's the one thing.

If we were in an interview and they're like, who do you hang out with? They're like, oh, I hang out with Ashley every day. Her and I have the best shopping sprees. We do the best bow rides. We live that luxurious lifestyle. As a friend of Ashley, I would call her up and say, check yourself, kid. Go home. Go home. Like, be at home. I know it's maybe not the most luxurious, but it's the best thing for the people that you've brought into this world and it's the best thing for you. Yeah. I mean, there's definitely a fine balance. I mean, that's how you hang out with your friends.

You like, hey, do you want to go see this cartoon in the movie theater? We can hang out a little bit and we can have our kids watch the movie. I know Joe Allen is very kind and she understands because she has little kids too. And she reaches out and says, like, we could go to a park or something. And that's not even just in the show that's in real life. So it's kind of just like understanding the season of life that she's in and just like kind of being aware of that and not taking it personally. Not everything is about you. And it's a level of empathy that I think.

I would love to watch on this show would be a level of empathy to the situations of life everybody are in. And also realizing that, and Kelsey, you've made decisions that have put you in the place in life you're at. That's fine. Those are the decisions you have made. I'm not going to criticize you for the decisions you've made to get you here. However, the only moment I'll stand up for a friend or one of these other people is when you start to become critical of the life decisions they've made that are different than yours. And that's what's happening here.

That's exactly. That's the issue here. I don't know, I don't know Kelsey personally. We could get along famously. But what we are seeing is this, that she is judging everyone else and not, and kind of like taking the spotlight away from her and her relationship. And the fact that she like doesn't know what a principal payment is or how to pay for health insurance and anything.

And these are things she's admitting herself. Like, this is fair game here. Like, she is not having... The world's about to get hard. The world's about to get hard, and she's pushing and yelling at other people. I think maybe that's what we're seeing here. I want to like Kelsey, but everything she's coming out is making it seem like her shit don't stink one. It probably stinks real bad.

The question I have, and maybe that this could... Is Ashley just the easiest target, right? She's the biggest name that's on the show right now. Yeah. she has the easiest accessibility to make a headline with anything she does or anything somebody says about her. So as a result, is there any strategy here to just pick on Ashley because you know that people will listen when you pick on Ashley? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it gets you in, it'll get picked up by more places if you mentioned her name. It's just not fair to,

it's just not fair to like bring her up. She's not doing anything to you. There's nothing personal. I think people really enjoy Liz and Kelsey now and they're becoming bigger names because they're such personalities on the show. And I think they're realizing that they have a lot of power now too. And they feel like they can say anything now, even if it's just, oh, Ashley isn't the biggest personality, which apparently makes her worse than everyone else. That's kind of what they're getting at. Like, oh, she doesn't talk as much, which means we're better. That's what we're seeing here come out this week with like podcasts and interviews and stuff. And it's hard to watch because like she's not doing anything to you.

So just like leave her alone. Get out of each other. Surreal Housewives of Rhode Island right in your face. Hey, we do see the preview for upcoming episodes. We see the women at parties. Ashley and Rula crying. We see more about Kelsey's boyfriend. This is I think Billy.

Yeah. Who's talking about how tough life has been with her. her a part of his life for the last 10 years. I don't know how long it's been. We also see Ashley getting fired up a little bit. It looks like at Audrey's yelling at everybody just to stop screaming and stop fighting and stop arguing. She just wants to have a lovely time, you know?

Like she is out of the house with adults drinking wine. She wants to just have a lovely time. And every time she's filming with them, it's not that. So it could be a reason why she also doesn't say yes to any invites to hang out because she's like, why would I say yes to some free time if I know what I'm getting myself into, which is just a bunch of us yelling at each other. That's it. Yeah.

Oh, and that one guy from page six was like, you'd think she'd be calling you guys to come to Audrey's. That was a dumb comment. It was just dumb. It was just dumb. It was just dumb. No, you can address it. But like, I thought that was just a very weird comment for him to make given the moment in the circumstance. Yes.

It didn't even track. Doesn't make sense. What was he trying to get? She's the biggest name already, and we already know this. And so you would think, what, having, reaching out, like, please come save my coffee shop was stupid. Yes. And it's outrageous. It was, I don't know what he was trying to get at or point to.

No, it wasn't even on Kelsey's side. It's like, it was just a dig at Ashley for absolutely no reason about a failing coffee shop. And it's not even failing. No, it's not. It's doing great. Let's close with this. Lauren, we do see a hint for a future episode where Rula is in the room. She looks absolutely defeated and she's saying Brian was arrested for tracking her.

The women are kind of responding with, what are you going to do? But this is like a big, that's a big story. I'm very much looking forward to that. Is it illegal for me to track my wife? I've never, I'm not doing it just to be clear. But I didn't know if that's illegal. I track my husband, so it's okay. But I track him with Life 360, Fine Friends, all that stuff.

Yeah, I guess I did, she did make, like, have me sign up for fine friends. And she asked me to track her, I think. You have to accept it. So, yeah. I like, I love tracking in a relationship. It just makes it easier. It's like, hey, when are you going to be home? I don't have to ask.

I see where you are. But yeah, it was definitely an illegal tracking. He put a tracking device on her car, I think. I'm looking forward to that because it's already a dumpster fire of a relationship so we can kind of just watch that go. This is all legend. Yeah, so he allegedly put a tracking device on her car without her knowing, which I'm assuming is the illegal part of this and why he was arrested for it.

Yeah, she didn't consent to be tracked. Okay, that makes sense to me. My theory of why he did it is, I guess, to see when she was going to be home or where she was going to be so he could be out with his mistress. I don't think he didn't trust Rula. I think he wanted to see how much time he would have, with his mistress. Ooh, that's a theory and a half, Lauren.

I didn't think of it that way. Goodness gracious. Well, all this is yet to come in the season ahead. Yes, this week was not my favorite episode. Stressful episode. Yeah, it felt toxic and unhealthy and weird and hard for me to watch because there was no comfort or support for the traumas that were being communicated and then also no understanding for.

everybody involved in the room to actually get to know each other better. So this just felt almost dirty and heavy. I am ready to get back to polo matches and bus parties and drinking and talking about life. Yes, absolutely. I think the rest of the season will be great not discounting it. This was not for me personally. I agree. Yeah, I want more fun episodes.

I hope we don't have any more snarky interviews coming out this week, but I have a feeling we may see some maybe on vile files. Oh, goodness. I'm sure now as the season continues to become more and more popular, in fact, I think they're nominated for a Critics Choice Award, the cast, and then for the whole show itself. What an incredible few weeks Real Housewives of Rhode Island has had. For as critical as I was about this episode, they must be doing something, right?

Yep, the ladies are loving it. It's funny to see all the positive feedback because as Ashley was filming, she was like, I don't know what they're going to do with this. I don't know. And it's look what's happened. Critics choice. Yeah. It's blowing up.

It's blowing up just like we are here at the Almost Famous podcast. We'll be back next week, breaking down episode seven of the Real Housewives of Rhode Island. This week we have breakdowns of Farmer Once a Wife headlines. We're still covering the court hearings with Taylor, Frankie, Paul, if they actually happen or not, but we'll be giving you all the info. It's going to be a packed week here on the Almost Famous Podcast, but we're excited to talk with you about it. So until next time, I've been Ben. I've been Lauren. We'll talk to you soon.

Follow the Ben and Ashley I, Almost Famous Podcast on IHart Radio. or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey,

or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliford Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it.

Listen to the Cliford Show on the iHeard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. 2%. That's the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter. And on my podcast, 2%. I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange modern world. Put yourself through some hardships and you will come out on the other side a happier, more fulfilled healthier person.

Listen to 2%. That's TWO% on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick a hear, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild. I mean, it was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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