The Viall Files - E1195 - Taylor Frankie Paul's Exit, DWTS w/ Giada De Laurentiis, RHOSLC, RHOC & Traitors

Episode Date: September 29, 2026

Welcome back to The Viall Files: Reality Recap!    It's Nick's birthday!! Everyone, wish him well!! But before you do that, we've got a great show for you. Giada De Laurentiis joins to get into thoughts on DWTS, cooking, air-fryers, and more! Meanwhile, we discuss the most recent episodes of RHOSLC, RHOC, and Taylor Frankie Paul's announcement that she will not return to The Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives. Plus, Xavier from Traitors: New Blood stops by to talk about his exit from the castle. You won't want to miss it! "Stop doing things that scare you…" HEY! YOU! DO YOU NEED DATING AND RELATIONSHIP ADVICE?  Email [e-mail] and be a part of future Ask Nick episodes!   Want ad free episodes and incredible bonus content?  Start your 7 Day Free Trial of Viall Files + here: https://viallfiles.supportingcast.fm/    Subscribe to The ENVY Media Newsletter Today: https://www.viallfiles.com/newsletter  To Order Nick's Book and/or learn more about the show, go to: https://viallfiles.com   THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: Kalshi - Download the Kalshi app and use code VIALL to get $20 when you trade $20. Fi - Right now, Fi is offering our listeners up to 30% off and free shipping when you visit https://fitracking.com and enter promo code VIALL. To advertise on this podcast please email: [e-mail] or go to: https://advertising.libsyn.com/theviallfiles   Timestamps: 0:00 - Intro 11:45 - Mormon Wives Update & Fallout 24:06 - Giada Joins 58:52 - Teen Moms Sports Parents Show 1:11:14 - RHOSLC & RHOC Recap 1:39:00 - Xavier Joins 1:53:09 - Outro Episode Socials: @viallfiles @nickviall @nataliejoy @giadadelaurentiis @xavierscruggs @susiecevans @jsotos1 @justinkaphillips @the_mare_bare @baybaeee

What's going on everybody? Welcome back to another exciting episode of the Vile Files. Reality Recap Edition. I'm your host, Nick, joined by my wonderful, supportive, fabulous wife. But it isn't about me because it's Nick's birthday today. Yeah. She's 64. Indeed.

Oh, I thought it was me 24. Oh, well. There was only one person plucking gray hairs out of their head this morning. And it wasn't me. That is so true. Oh, that is so true. I have been obsessed with finding my little gray hairs. Is it, do we pluck them?

I'm pulling them. I don't care what it. They bring their friends. I'm just, we're getting rid of all of them the second I see them. Gosh. I sometimes paint them. I'm plucking them, but Nick is embracing them. So there is the difference between us.

Look at that. Because I say they're blonde. Because I have blonde hair. Yeah, it's easier for blondes as they get grayed. It hides. It hides as well. Wasn't that a thing? A touch of gray?

Wasn't that a thing for a minute? I think it is a thing. A little salt and pepper. Still a thing. No, it's still a thing. It's definitely still a thing. It's still hot, for sure. Well, our patriarchal society has allowed men to age more gracefully than...

We have allowed. We have allowed. We are up at the lake. We did a little last minute trip for Nick's birthday. And brought the fam up here, even though we are leaving soon to go out of the country for age of attraction. So it felt like a lot, but I was like, you know what? It's all I ever want for my birthday. All he wants for his birthday.

Although he did tell me he wanted some other things for his birthday that will not be repeated on air. Is she like anything else? I was like, well, he's like, well, you're asking, I'll go down the list. If you really want to know. You're taking orders? Like you're crazy. Not order?

No, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Thank you. like course correcting but like yeah we get it not like you have to yeah exactly would Sean say wifely duties

exactly I will say the second that I opened up the Rolex I was like this is going to be a tough birthday for Nick like how do you follow the Rolex you know it's just this is an exercise of love languages you know like I just I don't I definitely failed this year and it no no no it was all I ever wanted to be

at the is the lake I think I had a great birthday. Like, if I spend every birthday for the rest of my life at the lake, like, watching my kids and join the lake and, like, hanging out with my wife, I'll have the best birthday anyone could ever have. Oh, yeah. Beautiful. Quality time over material goods. And Natalie wants jewelry and bags.

And, like, that's how she, you know, because, like, she knows, like, I hate it. And I, in a good way. Like, you hate gifts. Yeah. But, like, I don't get, like, we talked about this on her birthday. I don't get it. So, like, my willingness to. do that for her. She feels that

like, you know, like, when I got it for her, I text her, I must be obsessed with you. Because there's no way that I would give this to anyone. I'm not. But enough about me. It's your birthday. But, like, that does nothing for me. You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't want, like, it makes

receiving, like, a material gift? Yeah. I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, it doesn't, it's just, my body responds differently. But this, like, is, is, is, is, is, is like a Rolex. also it costs a lot of money to fly so like you know the monetary value kind of the second that we have to get the twins out of lap seats and start buying them seats on an

airplane it's going to be really why I don't know why I thought y'all were driving oh my I have no awareness I have no awareness it's like an hour flight of from okay it's it's a quick flight for us most of the time yeah it would be a longer drive and what I I honest, that is a good question of like, what would you rather do? Would you rather do a long, like, 10 plus hour drive with three kids or, like, bring three kids to an airport, do the whole, like, what would you rather do? Well, right now, I'll tell you, a short flight is definitely easier right now. There might be a point when they get older. Will it both be fun and might arguably?

Certainly less expensive, but maybe. Yeah. A 10-hour drive. is a lot. Yeah, I love a road chip, but I sort of start to max out at seven hours for... This would be like 11. Yeah, that's tough. I, now this is giving, it's giving more context. With three kids who are in car seats who just constantly want to get out of car seats. Absolutely. Last week, Natalie and I had to drive four and a half hours to get the twins their passport so we could take them out of the country because like it was like a last minute thing.

So we had to like wake up. I had a flight out of L.A. to get their birth certificates. Then we had to drive to Atlanta. to get their passports. Because only certain places can do last minute requests. And there's a whole thing. You have to have a ticket ready to go. It's a whole, you know. Are they like the cutest little passports ever?

Oh my God, Dove's passport? It's crazy. Dove has her eyes open. She looks like a model. Like she makes... It's giving model. You serve it? It pops in like the, it's like unbelievable.

The other one's like, oh. And they're like, oh my God. Dove? Yeah. What are you? Wow. Yeah, Doves, eyes are open, Iris is sleeping. And then Rivers-

Yeah, I'm gonna send in the groove jay. Rivers, I literally do not remember her ever looking like this, ever. So that's interesting. I just saw the photo and oh my gosh. You saw the photo. It is, yeah, it is the cutest. Like all of them are so cute, but like, oh, okay, model. No, dove is serving.

Serving. Right, you? Serving. Bro, I got baby food, bro, y'all can't do this to me, bro. But also, like, who is River? Do you see that in the middle?

Like, who is that? River? I was like, wait. The pouty lip on Iris is, er, yeah. Yeah, it's Iris. So cute. Oh.

They're so cute, you guys. This is the cutest passports I've ever seen. I know. But anyways, that was a journey. traveling with a four-hour drive with two newborns. Yeah. It's a lot. It'll take that baby fever right out of you, Jim.

If you're looking. I got to see my little nephew in a little wedding tux this past week. It was so... Aw. It's like a little squish mellow. I just want to pop him. Eight months. Oh, my God.

He was in a tuxedo. So cute. So he looks like a miniature penguin. I call Iris Mushmush. because she's a little bit. That's the vibe it gives. She's like gooey. Oh my gosh.

Really gooey. Actually, speaking of Nisa Nephews, I was in Scott's deal this past weekend for a girl's trip and I get a call from my family and you know when you pick up the phone and you can tell something's wrong. Like I just like immediately start crying because I'm like, who is it? Who's in the hospital? And my nephew who's six years old, he was climbing in a tree, fell out and broke his arm, had to get surgery.

I know. I was like sick to my stomach. Because the first, he's like the first. He's like the first grandchild and like I was he was born during COVID times like we were all kind of like under the same roof I feel like I was just so much there for the first year and I I was like it was like devastating

but I guess like you guys River is obviously at the age where she's climbing stuff and things like that but she's a climber she's a daredevil It's so scary You don't live with anxiety We got this like a fairly small playground In our backyard and has a tube slide and she climbs on top of the tube slide

and we'll stand on top like it's incredible it's also incredibly dangerous and it's yeah so it's like do not do that but it is really hard though because I really try to walk the line of like you want them to you know be fearless and like try new things and learn from the mistakes and stuff

but then it's also like you don't want to be too it's tough no but like yeah river's a bit of a daredevil and on wood I hope she doesn't but yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. How does he,

but does he like love his cast? Is he getting everyone to sign it and like pick his color and stuff? So he'll get the like the hard cast in a couple days and I'm going to be going home in a week. And so you guys, I've never had a tattoo in my life, but my brother's getting a tattoo for this. Like he was like, if you're brave, like I'll get a tattoo for you. And now my nephew's trying to talk me into getting a tattoo. And I'm low key like, maybe I do it. Wait, you have to.

I've never. I've, I know. I'm like. Get a little cast. Just get a little cast. It would be a cute little. I know. I feel like.

First and only tat. Yeah. I would do it for him. Like literally love him. So yeah, if you guys have ideas, send him my way. A little cast. A little cast. Or maybe just like his initial.

That's crazy. Yeah. Maybe just like his initial or like maybe the year he was born or his birthday. Get the one down your neck. Yeah. He wants me to get a wiener dog and a hot dog bun. And I'm like, I think no. You might have to rethink this little Tom

You could just find that on Amazon Like a temporary tattoo and do it And then get his reaction Being like Yeah Yeah I mean it's one that last six weeks Like a you know Okay

Okay Yeah So I might be a tatted girl soon All right well we have a jam pack episode lined up for you today World Renowned Chef And Dancing with the Stars Competitor Giata de la Renta

joins us sadly she was eliminated But we still get to talk with her about her experience and obviously her being a world-in-owned chef and me being a fan of cooking. I'm very excited to talk with her all things cooking in the kitchen. But she's a fascinating person and we're just excited to get to know her a little bit better. I know we didn't get to on Dance with the Stars, but hopefully we will hear and just obviously talk about her experience on dancing with the Stars. We also have Xavier from Trader's New Blood, who was also recently eliminated. And Jimmy and I talk with him about his experience.

So fully jam-packed. Plus, we have Real Housewives of Salt Lake City to unpack. Real Housewives of O.C. And a new reality TV show that I am very excited about. We'll talk a little bit about. We'll have some parents on. And by parents, I mean, it's team moms. And it is the world of the culture of, is it fair to say crazy sports parents?

Yeah, it's giving dance moms for sports. It's like high, they call it high. performance it's like middle school kids who are like not going to actual school but they're going they all think they're going to be professionals and the parents are my people by the way it's produced by kim kardashian which i feel like you know she knows she knows reality tv there's a whole culture of this and like it's so crazy and the fact that it's crazy you know it's like these are parents so they found a bunch of parents to say yeah i want to do reality tv come into my house you know what i'm saying this wasn't a bunch of 22 year olds going on

Love Island being like, you know what? You know, Yolo. I'm fascinated by it. So we'll talk a little bit about that. We have two of the parents joining us this week. The Schofelds? Schofields? Schofields.

Schofolds? The Schofones. The Schophones from team moms will be joining us. So it is a jam-packed week. We do have to address some secret lives of Mormon wives, which is only to say I'm just I'm glad this is happening. Last week, Taylor Frankie Paul announced that she was stepping down and outside of all the discourse back and forth

between the two of the ladies, I guess I'm just glad that like this, you know, it's, you know, she's finally taking at least a pause, you know. I think one thing we can all agree on is that, you know, and I think Taylor would agree that she's not in the best place right now. And it just, the struggle I think we've talked about this, right? You know, we love this show. We've tried to cover this show.

It's been hard to talk about. because like some of the stuff they're talking about is this it's real shit it's it's serious stuff and it's just been like you know that's not what we're looking for when we're talking about these shows you know it can get you know sometimes heavy heavy content like comes on these shows you know obviously real housewives of salt Lake City episode one had to you know you know address the passing of mary's son you know sometimes these worlds heavy things happen in reality TV because heavy things happen in life, but this is a little bit different because it's ongoing. And I think just the struggle I've always had is this like what I'm most confused about always is the internet discourse between

the cast. But like Jimmy and I talked about this on Plus, I think I empathize with the women because like this has been their whole world, is this is to go online and to be active online and to share their lives and to continue their show on the internet. Because like, Secret Lives and Mormon wives, I think you could argue was one of the first shows, if not the first show, to take internet personalities and turn it into a compelling reality TV show. Like a lot of networks have tried this and a lot of them have failed. And those playbook of these women being so like, they were just so good at it, right? You know, a season would come out. They would start arguing online. They would start, you know, unfollowing and not following. And it would, we all become

fascinated by this and when this serious stuff happens they still have that same playbook because that's all they know how to do and it's just i feel like it got weirder and weirder you know and that was that was going to be my question because i don't have the previous seasons for context i was wondering what made the show so good and compelling and successful early on and then like when did it go left i think it went left with this domestic so it was like a clear definitive like this is we've lost the plot because i mean keep in mind like the show started with the whole swinging scandal, right? And that in itself was heavy, but heavy in a like, hey, they can do what you want to do. Maybe not be my life, but like, no one's, in theory, no one's being hurt by the

swinging scandal. You know, maybe families were being ruined, but like families get ruined all the time type of thing by people making choices. So, like, it started off that way, and then it kind of went from there. But it also, I mean, the first episode was the body cam footage from the police. Yeah, that's, you're right. So it's like, that's true. Yeah. I mean, to answer your question, Jimmy, They really Yeah They leaned into their chaos Sounds like

But the whole premise was Can Taylor Turned a New Leaf You know It was like And and then And then the relationship But Dakota was Yeah

It really Honestly I don't think any of us Know What the show Was supposed to be about It's just captivating It seems

Which it's good TV It's good TV Well you realize now After You know They were walking A very fine line And

And Some people feel like that line has been crossed. I'm not like, I'm not team anyone here, but I do like, I want to acknowledge that like whatever, like, whatever you think of Michaela, you know, in terms of her leaving the show, it's, it's evident that she is trying to do the right thing. You know what I'm saying? Like she, you know, she's announced that she's donating, I think, her, I'm assuming her salary for Mormon wives to charities for domestic, you know, for, for kids in domestic abuse. But like, you know, it's very difficult.

when your whole world in business is wrapped around this show. And a lot of people in this business try to convince themselves to not do the right thing because again, like sometimes that choice, you know, there's some real consequences to doing the right thing sometimes.

So again, this is not to say I'm team anyone, but I do, like, it's clear that she's trying to do the right thing and it's a very difficult for her decision that she's trying to make. And I commend her for doing what she thinks is the right thing

because you see far too often in the space, people not do it. Yeah, it sounds like her morals still appear to be intact, at least. Yeah. But I don't know. I don't know the future of the show. And quite honestly, I don't know if the people making the show know the future of the show and the women on the show, you know, know the future of the show.

Because it's just, it's kind of a mess right now. My high take is it's going to take a roast of Taylor Frankie Paul in like a decade. And everybody's going to squash the beef. It's like a playful squashing of the beef. beef, air it all out, kumbaya at the end. You know, I just hope that... Does that not happen in this world?

I don't know. I just hope that Taylor, I think Taylor just needs to take a beat and take, look after Taylor. And I hope that she has good people around her. And I hope people give her permission to just take a break. Because I think right now, even the fans,

you know, now the fans are arguing whose fault it is, who's ruined it. And it's just like, come on guys. Like, just stop. Well, also, on some, like, some real shit, like you said, how. there are consequences with doing the right thing. Like, it is daunting to, like, step out of the limelight when we're all in a game of relevancy.

So, like, that is, that is scary to do. I also think that their decisions need to be based in their genuine morals and, like, in their reality, not based on, like, performativeness for the internet. Like, I think Michaela is stepping away and being, like, I'm stepping away and then not circling back when Taylor left. I feel like it speaks to how Michaela feels about production, about the show, beyond Taylor, Frankie Paul, because if Taylor were the issue, she would return. But I think she is, like, standing true to her morals because she's like, no, I'm not coming back at all. Like, point blank period. This has gone on too far, too long. Yeah.

Where I feel like people take, like Taylor, like, I don't want to say it. But I think people say, oh, I'm logging off. Like, I'm taking a break. And they post that thinking that people are going to be like, oh, good. job like I'm proud of you but it's performative and like I think really the reality is people need to be taking serious breaks for their own mental health and for the well-being of their children not to appease an audience and piggybacking off that I saw that Taylor Frankie Paul had her assistant like posting for her yes and her assistant was like making day in the life videos and like tagging

herself which I think the internet thought was like strange and it's like just yeah it's like yeah just just get all. Like we don't we don't need to see Like what your assistant has to share Like just everyone just needs a break I just what I just don't know why she feels like she has to There must there has to be it's scary it's it I feel like you know there's when that's all you know you know And I feel like there might be someone in her ear

Yeah I just I want her to have I I don't know who's in her day to day life I just I just hope that everyone who needs assistance in this situation I hope they get it. Yes. I also think this is like an interesting point in history where we've never been so online where like reality is beyond just what's in front of you. Like actually Nick has given good advice to me before where he's like don't go where you shouldn't be looking for, you know, people talking about you and things like that. He's like like if you just don't look, it doesn't exist kind of a thing. But we are living in an era where your emoji online and your little like avatar

online exists beyond what you're doing in the real world and I feel like Taylor, Frankie, Paul and like all of the women wives, like their online persona lives lives online and it's like the worlds are blending.

It is hard. It's really strange. It's really hard to know that there are active conversations about you, disparaging your character and to be like it's not my business. It's really hard. Yeah. It's hard. It's hard. It's hard. But it's necessary if you want to have longevity in this, yeah, like the name of this game.

And I guess at any career, it really is longevity. And the hardest thing to do, especially in entertainment, is to stick around. And the only way to do that is to keep, like, keep your sanity. But yeah, it's hard to do. It's hard. That's why I credit so much to sports. And I was with team, what was team moms. Like, I'm curious to see how that plays out because, like, you learn at a young age, like, trial by,

you got no choice, but like you chalk up stuff to noise. You don't let that get in the locker. You don't let that enter your mental state. Yeah. No, I'm interested in the show because I think there's going to be a lot of things you're going to see with these parents. And you're going to see like a lot of intense behavior. But some of it, you know, I'm curious what Jimmy thinks. Some of it I'm kind of down for.

Yeah. There's like a comfortability in that chaos that like you grow up in, you know? Just like like like, I mean, I think I've said like my, my, my, I was in the sixth. grade and I joined this like wreck baseball team this was this wasn't like a club this wasn't intense this was anyone can play you know just sign just pay $25 and anyone can play and my baseball coach was like this former minor leaguer oh practice one I'm in the sixth grade 10 minutes in he's screaming in my ear I don't know what but he's screaming spitting you know not spitting but like he's so close that he just probably got a lip in and my parents were like on the side

you know and they were like listen to your coach and he ended up being my coach for like four years and taught me how to play baseball and i have like a i have a like a soft spot in my heart for this man i haven't seen in three decades but he he taught me a lot about like yeah being a competitor and like grit and like yeah and tough love and that that that's helped me immensely in life and there's like and if that shit happened today he probably would have been arrested yeah i think about that stuff all the time. Yeah. I mean, it looked legit.

Coach is throwing basketballs at you, like, it was just another Tuesday. That's crazy. It really wasn't, though. I mean, Y'R. So, Coach Sharkey, man, like, did what he had to do. You can't be throwing, you can't, yeah. But yelling, I don't know. But he wanted me to snap the damn pass.

He wanted me to throw the ball harder. Yeah. So you're showing you how you want to. I'll show you how to get the ball from one end to the other. No, I know. Like, it's, yeah, you have, you have some love. for those heart. One of my favorite, my dad was like my basketball coach as a kid and one of my favorite

quotes that he like ever said to me was and it was when I would think that I know everything and I was like being a little smart ass and he'd be like, I taught you everything you know about basketball, not everything I know about basketball. Get in line. And I'd be like, yes, sir. That's a bar actually. That's good. That's good. That's pretty good. That's really good. All right. Well, the show will continue. And it continues. with Giata de Laurentis, the Dancing with the Stars competitor and world-renowned chef. She joins us next to talk about her experience on Dancing with the Stars, and hopefully it will

learn a thing or two about being in the kitchen. She's up next. In addition to a jam-packed episode, we also have a great week lined up for you. Tomorrow we're back with a special reality recap. We have Kelly Ben-Simon, one of the OGs of Real Housewives of New York, but she's not on Roney anymore. She is on the Golden Life with some of her other iconic peers. and we catch up with Kelly.

I really enjoyed my conversation with Kelly. She's obviously one of the iconic original OG Roney Housewives. And I just didn't know what to expect when it comes to the Golden Life. But after talking to Kelly, I'm very excited about this show. And I think you will be too. So check out that episode with Kelly Ben Simone. Giotto, welcome the show. Hey, hi, guys.

Thanks for having me. How are you? How's your heart, having been eliminated from dancing with the stars? Are you hanging in? Oh, man. It took me a few days to kind of, I don't know, not feel so sad. I didn't realize it would be such an emotional roller coaster, to be honest. Yeah.

No, it definitely hurts. It stinks. It definitely stings to be eliminated. Yeah, no, I hear that. And you strike me as someone who's like, you know, highly successful, a competitor, you know, like in it to win it, so to speak. So I imagine, like, yeah, that must have been a disappointment. Yeah, I'm not an athlete. Like, there are definitely some.

Olympic athletes, gold medalists actually this season. So I'm not that competitive, I guess, but yeah, I'm pretty competitive. I don't think, you know, I think in order to be somewhat successful in life, you got to be somewhat competitive, right? Something got to drive you. And so, yeah, and there haven't been many times in my life where I've been criticized so, I don't know, so openly in front of so many people, especially on something that I don't do well, which you would think because I wasn't a dancer and I didn't really know anything about dance that I would take it a little bit better, but I didn't. It didn't feel good. Yeah, I don't know if I

ever, ever trained to be able to take online criticism well. I am curious because, you know, we're so excited that Dancing with the Stars has kind of found this kind of new era, right? And it's very online focused and we're seeing the dancers and the couples create content. But I am curious. I didn't realize it. It's been kind of a tough go. Are people very critical of the dances? Like, what has been the harshest critique that you were kind of found to be a little unexpected. Actually, I think people were really lovely online, to be honest. I think, you know, for the most part, I think that a lot of like women and people in my age group, I think when you get to your 50s, it's sort of a different, it's like you have less time

in front of you than you have behind you. And that's a weird psychological thing that happens. You guys are all super young, so I get that it's hard to. understand, but like you really start to realize your mortality and you stop doing things that scare you. You just do. Why? Because it's so cozy over here. You get comfortable in your own space, you know, and so you don't really want to do anything that kind of shakes that. And so I think that there were a lot of lovely, lovely comments. I think the comments before my first dance were that pointing out my age and that I was the eldest person to compete. And then,

that kind of like, hey, this isn't really for you. This is more a young person's game. So kind of like, can you just get out of the way? Which I get because, I don't know, I think it is a young person's game. It really is. I mean, it's a lot of stamina. No days off. You're rehearsing so many hours a day.

And honestly, when you get older, your body just doesn't recoup in the same way you do when you're younger. So it totally makes sense, right? But then, after my first dance, I think because I couldn't believe I actually did it, so I broke down when I was with Julianne. And I think I was so emotional because I knew my daughter was watching live and I don't know, it just overwhelms you a little bit. And so after that, I felt like I got a lot of love. Good. So that was really lovely to see. So I think it's just sort of a roller coaster that I didn't realize it was going to be such a roller.

And honestly, I didn't realize there was so much social media around it. I think it's the social media has amped up season after season after season. And it's all it's an all time high now. So it's funny that you you pointed out obviously your peers and where they come from because when I remember when I was on it a long time ago, you know, I had Olympians, at professional athletes. And the thing that I struggled with the most that surprised me was the live studio audience. Right. I, you know, I knew it was a TV show. I knew. would be aired and viewed by millions. And I didn't really think much about that.

But like when I got on the dancing floor in the live studio audience, that made me nervous. My question for you is someone who you cook in front of an audience often. You know, did that in any way prepare you to dance in front of the live studio audience where you felt like that helped you out? Or were you like me where it just like I've literally never done anything like this in terms of a performance in front of people? And that I really struggled with that. Honestly, Nick. And by the way, I heard it's your birthday, so happiest birthday to you. Thank you.

What a way to spend your birthday. I'm thinking about my mortality too. Not yet, dude. Not yet. Anyways, I thought it did. I really, really went into this thinking. I've done live television. I've done live performances.

I've done this stuff. So I think I get it. You don't. I didn't. Until I got out there. Even honestly, the dresser. rehearsal, they tried to like amp it up a little bit. But once you really get in there and I watched the first person on the first episode go, my heart's sake. And I thought, holy shit,

I don't know if I could. And it's not just, I don't know about when you did it, Nick, but it wasn't just the crowd on the stage, but behind the scenes, there's so much energy. Especially that first night, there were so many TikTokers, so much media, like cameras and I really going so, there was so much going on for those full two hours that by the time you get on that dance floor, I was like, it's going to explode. Like I felt like all of that energy, all that tension, all of that excitement, all of the adrenaline was just going to like come out of me like a volcano I couldn't control. And lo and behold, it did.

So yeah, you think you got, I thought I got it, but I didn't until I actually was there. And then when you get there, you know, you're trying to be in the zone. and you're trying not to pay attention to the package because they kept telling me if you pay attention to the package, it'll throw you off your game and you won't remount, like all this stuff. So you're trying to keep all this stuff in your head. And I think I had a moment of disassociation, truly.

Like you start dancing and you literally, I felt like I disassociated with my mind and my body were not together in that dance. That's so valid. Makes a lot of sense. In the, after your first dance, you shouted out your daughter and said like, I did it.

It was so sweet. What conversations have y'all had since then? And like, do you feel like this has kind of brought the two of you closer? Definitely. You know, there's something, my daughter loves all things acting and musical theater and Broadway and all that. And she has gone to college to do just that. The one piece that she never quite mastered is dancing. And so I think for her, she was like, mom, you should do this because I feel like you're doing something that I have.

always wanted to do, but I'm too scared to do. So maybe if you take the first leap, I will take the leap. She's always said she wanted to learn to dance, but she's like, why do it now? I feel like I'm so good at this other stuff. I don't want to be bad at something. And I think the lesson to be learned is, I think also because she's seen her mom achieve most of her life, it's good for her, although it's as painful as it is for me, for her to see me not achieve it something and get eliminated earlier on, which I think she didn't think was possible. Wow. And so I think it's, in looking back on it,

I feel like maybe it will help her take risks in her life without feeling horrible if she falls flat in her face doing it. Is there a little pressure as a parent in that moment to recognize that and put on a good face? Definitely. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.

I think that, you know, it's a, as you know, it's a very vulnerable show. you have to literally crack yourself open and be okay with the amount of criticism that comes your way. And I think that leading up to it, there's a lot of, you know, I'm sadly a perfectionist. And so I wanted to be like really good and I realized, oh shit, I'm not going to be really good at this. And I think that that's the scary part, as I'm not going to be good at it, everybody's going to judge me and I'm going to look like a moron. That's what was going on in my head. So I think that when Carrie Ann for the first dance gave me a six,

I was like, oh my God, it like built up my self-esteem, I think, enough to get me to week two. You and Allen had a real fun relationship, but you also, you guys posted, you guys having a little bit of a confrontation or just a little disagreement. Healthy friction. Happy friction.

Yeah. I think, you know, it's funny, I did a podcast earlier today with Alan and they asked the same question. Alan's like, you know, and I think he's right. When you're both perfectionists, because Alan is also a perfectionist, I mean, he wouldn't be doing what he does if he wasn't and he wouldn't be at the level he's at. Yes, I think you feel pressure. I mean, yes, it's supposed to be fun. But for the second dance, we had, I had four days, four days to learn a new dance of which, you know, I've never learned a lot. I don't have any dance backgrounds. So all I knew was the tango. And then it got thrown out the window and he was like, no, now you don't bend your knees.

Now you dance on your toes. And I had a broken toe. And I think for me, I was like, wait, what? I thought it was going to, the second dance would be easier because I did all of that rehearsals for the first dance for almost a month. And then I realized, yeah, I felt like when you got, well, I thought when you got one dance, the second, the third, the fourth,

sometimes it would come a little easier just because you got the first one. No, what I just realized is that completely totally different dances and that if it took me almost a month to get the first dance, I think I realized the day one, like, oh my God, I have four days for the second dance.

How am I ever... And I think that fear, because it's all driven by fear, at moments got the best of me. But I think Alan, I don't... Alan and I never got mad or frustrated with each other. I think we got frustrated with ourselves in the sense that Alan was trying to figure out,

how do I teach this woman quickly? Right? And I was trying to figure out, why am I not learning this faster? Like, what is wrong with me that I can't seem to learn it faster? And I think those two combinations sometimes seemed like we were having a tense moment. But really, Alan was, I hate to say this, but like my therapist the full time. Like literally my therapist. I love this part of the Dancing with the Stars, which is the relationship between the pro and the in the celebrity.

Because you're right. It's so, it is intense. And Alan, the whole group, the pros, they take this very seriously. It is their passion. It's their livelihood. And, you know, and we talked to Sharner about this. Like, you know, not every, you know, celebrity is the same in terms of their interests or passion level. And you're right.

They all, you know, all of them on some level have achieved very high levels. and they're very good, they're very used at being good at things. And I think that it is a learning curve with every couple to kind of figure out how to best work with each other. And yeah, I think the best relationships are the ones that have a little bit of friction because you both know you care. I'm sure Val has a lot of fun, fun stories about. Because like Val, he's intense, you know, and we love that about him.

But he expects a lot from, you know, it's like, I don't care of your celebrity. You showed up, you're here, you're a dancer, now and like that is how that... Yeah, you accepted this challenge. Now, freaking step up and do it and don't complain about it. You know what I mean? Like, I totally get that.

And I think for most people who accept the challenge, they just want to look good doing it. Like they just do, right? And you care so much. And when two people care so much, that stuff does happen. And I think, you know, and I felt like, oh man, I'm going to let Alan down too because this is his profession. I don't want to make him look like a jackass either. Right? And so, and he's constantly was sending me texts like, I believe in you. You have to believe in yourself. You know, it's going to be great. We're going to be great. Just believe in yourself. Like, I'm not kidding when I say, he was a therapist and lots of affirmations have came in all the time. I could never have imagined that. Never.

Yeah. I wanted to say, I think your career is really impressive and I think it's unique because a lot of people can be like really good at something creative or artistic or, you know, in your case, being a chef and cooking and things like that. Or you can be like really good at business and finance and you've found a way to do both. And it sounds like you're a perfectionist. And I'm like, like, how do you manage doing both and have a career where you're both being creative but also just like being so well known and like and kind of popping up everywhere. I mean, making on to dance with the stars like, sure you went home week too. But I'm like, just to get on that stage is so impressive. And like, how do you have that the brain that does both sides of it? Well, the creative side of me is the passion side of me. The business side has been

sort of, I've had to force myself to kind of learn it. I never really cared about that side of it, to be honest. But I've had to learn to care about it. And I think to build my self-confidence, I had to learn the business side of what I was doing. Because I felt like if I didn't really understand, for instance, what a P&L of a restaurant. If I couldn't read the P&L, I really didn't know my business very well. And I needed to understand. And this is sort of the same issue I had at dancing.

I felt like I needed to understand the steps. Like, why am I taking these steps? And what does it lead to? Very much like reading a P&L and the business side of things. And Alan kept saying to me, you need, don't worry about where it leads. Don't worry about the next step. Don't worry about it.

Just follow the feeling in your body. And I have to say that one of the things I learned is that I have allowed myself over the years to move too much into the headspace and the business side and not tapped into enough over the years where I started into the feeling of it all. Because food and cooking is a feeling. It's an emotion. right? And I've allowed myself to get too far into the headspace of the business side, which is sort of alienating that other artistic side. And I think Alan reminded me, hey,

your body knows it. Your mind doesn't need to know it. Doesn't need to explain it. It's just follow the feeling that you have. And funny enough, with me, he said it was the first time he ever had a celebrity right down the steps. We literally wrote it down on a piece of paper. every step. And when he first started with me, we were in New York and I just dropped off my daughter at college. And he made me write it down. I thought, this is a waste of time.

What am I writing down? I don't even understand what I'm writing. And lo and behold, you guys, that's how I got the tango. I read it over and over and over. And somehow it seeped into my body. And the two were aligned. And I think we didn't do that as much for the salsa because we didn't have time to do it.

And it sort of created a little bit of a disconnect for me and a frustration, I think. You know, hearing you talk about the balance of business and creativity, Giata, it really hits for me because I turned 46 today. But I run my business, you know, so much of what we do is the creative space. When I got into entertainment, I left the business world. And as a young kid, I wanted to be a cartoonist for Disney. And I had a real creative side. But I got away from it and went into the business world.

And I got out of it. And I, you know, I was kind of taking a chance to myself. And I could, you know, I really didn't have a job at the time. And it was fun to really tap in this creative space. And I felt like I got funny or more creative. And now that I have like all this responsibility and running a team, I've, I've thought this many times in the past like couple years. I feel like I'm getting less funny.

I'm getting less creative. And it's because I, you know, I feel like I'm always like, I'm always having to worry about the problems or, you know, the, the business side of thing. And it's such a challenge I feel like I face constantly trying to juggle, you know, running things versus staying in that creative space. So my question to you is how, I know it's a challenge, but how have you been trying to maintain that as you struggle trying to juggle all aspects of your career? Well, I think it's something that I try to do every day. And really what it means is for me is to let go of the control and allow other people that have been around me for a while that I trust, try to take over some of those spots.

And that's really, really hard. When you care so much and when you've worked so hard to build something, you get it in your head that you're the only one that can make this happen. And if you want it to succeed and continue, you're the only one that can do it. But honestly, that's just a falsehood that we tell ourselves to keep ourselves, I think, important, but there are other people that can do it. And other people do care. And I've found ways to allow people into the business so that they do care and they build on that and they take off some of the things off my plate so I can be more creative. And I have to tell you that after

COVID was when I really started to realize, oh wow, I'm just, I'm spinning. I'm spinning and I'm not enjoying it anymore. You know, and I left Food Network and I like, I was just like, I need it all to stop for a minute. Like, I just need a moment to breathe to figure out, wait, can I go back 10 steps and see why I got into this business in the first place? What was it that I loved so much? Because I feel like I've gotten away from what I loved so much. And you almost feel like you're going to hit a roadblock at a certain point, right? Because you aren't being as creative.

The stuff you're not allowing, I know this sounds a little weird, but you don't let the universe talk to you anymore because you've blocked it out. because we've really learned over the years to really use the mental part of everything. And we stopped getting in touch with the creative side, which is the other side of our brain. And I feel like maybe over the years I felt like that wasn't as important anymore. But I realize that is all that I am, really.

I'm really this teacher that is inspired by her homeland, by the people there, by other people around me and that I've stopped listening so much or I did stop listening because I was so worried about the dynamics of a P&L and the business side. So I think it's really important for us,

especially now with all that's happening in AI, is that we remember our humanity and what makes us special and what makes us special is our creative sides. And we all have it. And we all can tap into it. It's just that we have to make conscious decisions every day to tap back into that.

How did you get started and being a chef and cooking. And, yeah, how did your, what's your origin story? I moved to the States when I was seven years old from Italy. Okay. And my grandfather had a pasta factory or his parents had a pasta factory in Naples before World War II. So he sold pasta and sauces when he was a kid. And then World War II happened and everything sort of collapsed in Italy.

And he went into the war and then went to Italy, became a movie producer. My family really has been in the movie. business for over 60 years. And my grandfather made Oscar-winning movies forever and ever and ever. And my grandmother was an actress. And so then we moved to the States because he made movies here in the U.S. And then, but in the background, we were always a family of cooks. And my first love was making pizza with my grandfather when I was five. And over the years, I found myself not loving the movie business and but loving to be around food and that's where I got sort of my um that's where I felt somewhat of importance in my family because Italian fan was very loud and my grandfather was very

like domineering and so um I ended up going to cookie school after college and I ended up just cooking and then eventually becoming a private chef and then eventually found myself doing some magazine stuff. And really I got my start when Food Network saw my profile, my family's profile, my grandfather was getting a lifetime achievement award at the Oscars. And I made Adelrenta's family lunch at his house with all my family. And they saw that. And they asked me to put myself on tape. I did that. And my career sort of just blew up from there. And everything happened from there. All my television shows, my restaurants, my cookbooks, my partnerships, everything just kind of of went from there. That's incredible. I love to cook. I'm the cook in my family. He feeds all of us.

What do you cook? Thank God for him. How lovely. Lots of things. I don't have the most expansive palette. I like to say I'm really good at cooking the things I like. Okay. Fair enough. A topic came up over the weekend. We're up at the lake house with my parents and I'm used to cooking with culture salt. And I like to put a lot of salt on my steak. I was like, yeah, we need more salt. my mom had a big bag of sea salt. And I was like, you don't have kosher salt. And she was like, what's the difference? I'm like, I honestly don't know.

But I always cook with culture salt. What is the difference? Well, sea salt is in, it's way more intense, right? It comes from the sea, so it's incredibly salty. So if you were to use the same salt, if you were to use the amount of kosher salt that you use normally with sea salt, you would not be able to eat it. It would be way too salty. It was saltier last night.

It was saltier. It had to have been saltier because sea salt is way more intense. And so what I, yeah, so kosher salt also tends to be coarser. So when chefs like to use it because it isn't as intensely salty as sea salt is, but it's also got a texture to it so that you don't have to measure. You can just feel the granules between your fingertips, which is why a lot of chefs love using kosher salt. so they can use more of it and it spreads evenly and it cooks really well.

So sea salt also when it's put over heat intensifies even more. So that's why a lot of times we don't cook with a ton of sea salt. What we do use is sea salt for our pasta water to give it that really intense flavor. God, I feel like I learned so much right now. This is great. Thank you. Yeah. So we use it for pasta water. We do not use it for cooking and especially not steaks. Because the steak, it penetrates it, right? Okay. So you want it to stay on, on, you don't want it to go too deep into the meat because it will ruin the texture. You want it to stay right on the surface. A kosher salt is really great like that. Okay. What is your daughter's favorite thing that you make? Probably Bolognese. Traditional bologna from Bologna. Oh my gosh. Sexy. Yes, but she does not cook at all.

Wow, that's your favorite too. We're having homemade pizza tonight. My mom's really been in the, she makes a good. Does she make dough? Yeah, she makes everything. She's a great baker. I learned my cooking from my mom. But yeah, she.

And then I also learned how to make a homemade tomato sauce from my ex-Italian girlfriend. I love that. I love that. Shout out to Vanessa. See? See, that's great. I love that. Yeah, it's great.

I love it when an Italian woman can leave her mark and you take something from it and move it into a whole new family. She really did. It's so easy. That and the kale salad. Yeah, the kale salad. The kale salad changed my life. Amazing.

I love that. Before we let you go, we want to play a little fun cooking game, kind of the green flags and red flags of cooking if you don't mind playing along with us. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My first question, green flag or red flag, breaking the pasta. before you put it in the water. Red flag. Okay.

I mean, unless it's long, long, long ones, then you could break it, but not the regular air friars. Oh, red flag. I bought an air flyer. I bought an air fryer once when everyone was talking about it, used it once, and I was like, never again. Was it the oven kind, though, or was it like the? I don't know.

It doesn't matter. Listen. I'm a pure, I won't even use a microwave. It's a big difference. There's so much stuff that you're adjusting when you use those things, you guys. Yeah. I'm a big fan. I'm canceled in chef culture.

Okay, what about a Les Crucette? Did I say that right? Oh, yeah. Love. Oh, yeah. Yeah, Dutch ovens. Awesome. Girl dinners.

Oh, absolutely. Green light. Sorry. Thin. What is thinned fish? These are like TikTok viral ones. Tin. Tinned fish.

Tinned fish. Like sardine, and anchovies. Green light. I love those. Yay! Squeeze bottle, olive oil. No.

Plastic? No. Absolutely not. That's what you said about that, the plastic. You were like, it's been sitting in this plastic. Also,

listen, can I just say something? We do use them in restaurants, but it goes fast. Like, we refill them several times a night. For most people, it's sitting on their counter for a long time, and it's usually sitting next to the stove, which means it's heating up that plastic.

So hello, but no. And also it doesn't... No. Buying pre-cut fruit, red light. Yeah, 100%. It's like Nick's biggest gear. Why are you spending the extra money? And I don't know what cutting board it was cut on.

Thank you. What nights they used, like cross-contamination. The freshness is out the door. 100%. You don't even know when it was cut. Yeah. What about oil in your pasta water? Well, it's a red light most of the time and it's a green light if you're making lasagna. Say more. Why? Well, because lasagna sheets, if you're cooking them and you don't put a little bit of oil in the water, they all stick together.

So how are you going to peel those suckers apart? You got to peel them apart. Why is it a no-go on the other pasta? Well, because you're literally making the starch fall off the noodle. So then when you add the sauce, it slides. So you know how sometimes you go to certain types of restaurants, and the sauce is fooled at the bottom? It's because they pre-cooked the pasta and put a bunch of oil in it. So you will never be able to mix the two together.

And the whole point is that the sauce sticks to the pasta. And it will never stick because you've just made it slippery. Okay. Wow. What do you feel like is the biggest misconception? right now with cooking, with, I don't know, I feel like you have so many tips and tricks and you know so much and I feel like there's so many people on TikTok. Or like the biggest cooking trend or the biggest cooking trend that you hate. Yeah. The biggest cooking trend that I, well, I certainly don't

like air fryers. Okay. Then that's a huge trend. My gosh. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. But I use it all the time. I know, but like, I'm a single solo girlie. So I just like, I'll put like, I'll put like, really just quick, easy meals. Like it's so, it makes my life so easier. You can make a quick and easy meal with a frying pan. Yeah, but then if I'm avoiding like a little oil, you know, it's just like still gets the crisp of something crispy. Yeah, but you can, you can use an oil spray if you want.

I guess my point is this. With those types of shortcut cooking, it comes with a lot of junk you're putting in your body, right? So we need to start controlling. Well, yeah. What is on an air fryer? How come you can cook with no oil? I don't know.

It doesn't matter. The heat, have you ever smelled what they smell like? That high heat with all that plastic and all of those like... Smells like an airport. Codings. It does. It's terrible. It's terrible.

And you're eating it every day. Susie. They've got glass ones. I'm scared. I'm going to send you a link. I'm going to DM you and be like, can I use this one? Send it to me. Okay.

Giotto, we know you have to get going. Before you do, what's next for you? Please let us know all the great things that you're doing. I know you have some restaurants. Tell us where people can find all the great stuff. Well, you can find a lot of cooking tips and all sorts of stuff that I'll help you cook fast without, you know, an air fryer on jodzy.com. We'll get Susie the book, yeah. Yeah, yep.

And I have a great, like, gluten-free pasta that you can get at sprouts and on Amazon. Anyway, I just think I would just, the thing that I love the most about what I do is to teach people how to sort of impress themselves. You can cook for one just with very few things. And a skillet is really all you need to make a really great dinner. I promise, I promise. Okay. Yeah, like my, like Natalie's sister's, her partner, he's a chef. And I used to always make garlic bread with like garlic salt or whatever.

And then he just like cut some garlic salt. sauteed in butter and like, it was like, oh my God, that's so much fresher. Doesn't take any much, no much longer prep. And it was just like, it changed the game. I love, I love talking to people. And it's way cheaper. Yeah, I love talking to people, like people who know how to cook and learn those little things.

It's like you can pick so much. Yeah, it's great. But you can do all, you can learn all these things. Like at this point, like, you can find it on social media, YouTube. Like, we didn't, when I was growing up, I didn't have the ability to do that. Nowadays, we can inform ourselves. We can be better. We can take better care of ourselves.

The infos out there. Giatta, we appreciate you. Love to watch you on Dance with Asar. So sad that it was a short run. Me too. It was a great run nonetheless. Good luck with everything. We appreciate your time, Gianna.

Thank you. Thank you so much, guys. All right, bye-bye. You better throw that air fire in the trash, Susie. I'm scared. Okay, but they have glass ones, you guys. I'm going to get the glass one. I'm going to DM her.

I think you should DM her. You don't cook, period? Oh, no, I do cook. but it's just so much easier to do like an air fryer everything like if I'm I feel like I'm always in a rush and it just makes everything so good and crispy but not the not the oven ones

like the oven ones I'm like that's giving soggy but like the ones where you close it up like ooh I love I wouldn't know I'm sending in a text well it was great to talk about Giata she's absolutely a sweetheart it's again it's a it's a deep lineup of competitors this season So tough competition

It's tough competition You know I think you know back in the day You know you would be like you know what You would you would hopefully You get a couple Maybe older competitors And you assume

Well I'm gonna be longer than them But now it's just like again Like everyone Every lane has its niche And you have the Guillermo And you know You have the Andes from last season It's like

No one can be underestimated I have a question How What's weighted more heavily the judges votes or the audience? The audience votes for sure. I don't know. I don't know. Listen, they're making TV, so I think, you know, no one knows how it works, which I think

is a benefit to how they make TV. I think it gives them a little wiggle room. But I think when it comes to, like, voting, I think there's kind of some FCC rules and regulations around that. But I also feel like the fact that it's not solely based off of the votes and no one knows how it's weighted, gives the show. They get to puppet. Right? I feel like it gives them some flexibility.

It has to. Especially because there's no cash prize, right? Or is there a cash price? It's not a cash prize, but you make more each week, you advance. And if you make it to the finals, you make a considerable more amount of money than everyone else. Okay. Yeah. Then I think you're probably in the clear to make a little... But the finalists make the same. Same with The Bachelor. Like, since there's no cash prize for winning, they can manipulate things. Whereas other shows like Love Island where there's a cash prize, there's like a lot of rules. Oh, it's kind of like Dancing with the Stars. There's an open to manipulation.

Well, I mean, people do win money. Money is on the line. But yeah, I don't know. I don't want to be, you know, but it is, it is fascinating. Listen, I think the winners always make sense. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's not like you're like, who, you know, why? I mean, there's sometimes some controversy as things get towards the end. But at that point, like, you know, when Whitney, last season was eliminated. She easily could have made the finals and know what about it I. But at that point,

it was a pretty deep, you know, it was a pretty deep cast of people who really had done well. So we'll see. It's a lot of great names left. And there's another episode tonight. So we're excited to see who advances

and who goes home. Jimmy and I will be there. Yeah. Devaphas will be there talking to some of the competitors. Who are you excited? to talk to the most. Gierramma. Gosh, Gierma's gonna be great.

I feel like Tyler Cameron, I hope we get to talk to Tate too. I'm like, can she come around the press line with him? It's pretty sliver. I bet you can make that happen. I bet you can make that happen. Well, teen moms is a new show. It's out on Paramount Plus,

and I don't know if it's captured people's attention yet, but it's certainly captured ours. It is a show about the... Baseball moms. But, like, it's... I don't think it's limited to baseball. I think a lot of these sports Every major sport, I think, has these hyper-competitive leagues.

I have a buddy whose sons are in hockey. They have two boys, and I think they're really good. I mean, my friend, he's like, he's a level-headed pair. They have two boys. Every weekend, I think, like, almost every weekend of the year. They're in different spots because they all travel regionally. And so, like, they have to go to, like, mom takes one, dad takes another. They play their games, and, you know, now it's so intense, you can, like, watch games online.

A couple years back, they had two parents having a fair on the road trips. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. They need a show. They need a show. But like, think about it. Like, every weekend, you're traveling with, like, the mom, you know, and like of a different family. And you're spending all these weekends together.

And there's a community, right? There's an intensity. There's a relate, you know. There's a lot of that. There's a lot of that, honestly. There's a lot of the, you know, they want their kid to get a little more. playing time. Maybe they want him up in a batting order. Like, get your flirt on.

Oh, my. I see. A lot of that. Oh, yeah. I got some crazy stories from back in the day. These leagues are hiring like, you know, real coaches. They're making real money, you know. Like some of these leagues are costing tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars to join. Well, yeah. So my brother coach is one of the most well-known AAU basketball programs in the country who like Derek Rose, Anthony Davis, a lot of like top NBA players from Chicago came through. And nowadays, because of the NIL rule passing in college of athletics, high school kids can now get paid. And parents hear this that their kids are getting offered

$30,000, $40,000, $50,000. There's a kid that plays in California. They got $100,000 from Nike to go from Under Armour to Nike's program. So parents are aware of this. So like, it's even crazier now. There's high incentive for your kid to play and play well. I feel like this show also really shows you like the quote unquote bad reputation that like boy moms get you know when boy mom's like he's my little boyfriend

or they always like make it weird and I feel like this is what because these moms are so just like oh my sons they're just such good baseball players and like it's just what it's but like it's the parents' perspectives or just family members perspectives we

we have a family friend and this was like a a while back but they were like They were talking to one of our friends about their relative. And the way they talked about it was crazy. Because it was just like, they were like, he is so good at his sport, you know. And his, I think some kind of relative was like some kind of Olympian at some point in their life. I don't know. And the way they were telling it to our friend is if he was like training for the Olympics.

And our friend was like, oh my God, is he like training for the Olympics? and the family member was like, yeah. And I know the kid, you know. He's real. I'm sure, he's just like a good high school kid. He's not like he's, he's told, you know, like, but the family member. The family member hyping him up was this like, you know, it was all in love. It was all just love and hyping him up.

But the way this person told the story was as if they were like, like, on a training path to be the Olympian. And I was like, they're just good at high school. Just a good kid. Yeah. But the way these parents are like, you know, he's, yeah. The way they'll talk about their kid as if like they're going to get drafted, you know. My uncle did that with my cousin who's playing Division III basketball,

which is like, you know, an accomplishment, happy for him. But like, you know, again, there's always levels to this. And he's telling me about all these things and what he's going through. I'm like, do you know who you're talking to? Like, yeah. I love, I love my cousin. But like, come on. I'm like, trying to get education here.

Yeah. It's always crazy. Just like how people see their, you know. I mean, with the river, right? Like everything she does, we're always looking at each other being like, is she exceptional? Or is she just growing up and we're seeing it for the first time? Like, she's really fast. Did I tell you I had a call with her teacher.

Did I talk about this on the podcast? I had a call with her teacher and I was just like, I just want to know obviously, how is she doing? You know, she gets in the car after school and it's kind of, they say to like, like let your kids decompress after school and to not be like, so how was your, how was your day? Who'd you talk to? Would you eat for lunch? So I just like don't say anything. And then she doesn't really say much either. So I don't get a lot about her. So I had this call with her teacher. I'm like, how is she doing? Like what's going on? She was like, first of all, I have to say, like, y'all have done a really great job with her. She is the best manners that I've ever seen.

She's so polite. And they were like, she's very empathetic. If there's ever a kid who's sad or crying, she's the first to go over to them and offer them a hug. She plays with everybody. She's not like she'll play with boys. She'll play with girls. Like she's open to play with whoever. And she was like, and she's always singing. And it is.

And it's so cute because now she sings this little song about, how does it go? I grew up very religious, right? So I grew up around religion my whole life. Very comfortable with religion. I'm not a very religious person anymore, but I'm still incredibly comfortable with it because it was the core of my childhood. And despite other people not having always a positive experience in that space, I was lucky enough to have one.

We haven't been raising River with any type of religious background. We're just, it's not part of our life. We chose to send River to a Christian base school, mostly just because we were comfortable to school. And I put River to bed the other night, and she started singing, This is the day the Lord has made. So like hearing my daughter sing about the Lord, Like, I've never spoken to her about the Lord was kind of a trip.

It was kind of adorable. And it was just, like, really cute. But, like, it was a trip. Yo, Tiber on this, I, my parents, I wasn't able to, like, get into religion at all because Sundays were for basketball. So, like, I could have, right? So, like, by the time my parents got to me, I was the fourth son, they were like, I ain't go lie. Like, he's not going to be able to go to church. He's got games to go to.

Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. They took it very serious at a young age. If your children were to show, like, exceptional abilities and dedication to whatever sport it is, whether it's like soccer or competitive cheerleading, gymnastics, whatever it might be, would you guys be open to relocating your lives so that they could get into a prestigious program like this? Like, these people, I think these people move to Arizona to do this. Probably not. But, again, I don't, I've never, you know. You haven't been there?

I think I would. Like for like, let's say, what if they were really good at golf and you lived like up north where it's cold all the time? I would want to move to like Florida or Scottsdale where they could train year around or something. So Jimmy would do it. It's like a simulator. But again, like I don't have a child yet. I don't know. It's tough.

Like I think it's a weird precedent to send with your kid that you're going to uproot the whole family's life for the kid in this dream. Because it's like, what if your other kids have like they're good at other things that involve like being in a different place? Do you have other kids? that's that's another variable also like you know listen i i you know my life has been more about like i didn't have this i didn't have that i'd see i still figured it out like i think there's there's i think there's ways to still invest in your kid and and give them every opportunity to be great without without necessarily doing that but like so i don't think i would so again my parents by the time they got to me they told like i made a deal with them like i i saw the way my brothers all had to

work a job after school if i just dedicate that time to train for basketball is that okay okay and they made that compromise with me. Would y'all do something like that? Yeah, I mean, but it really all depends on the why and if I believe they'll back it up, you know, type of thing. I had to guarantee that I would get a scholarship to pay for college. So it worked out, but it was a gamble. Were there any, like, checks and balances, like, in terms of a job, you know, like how,

you know, like, job, you have to train. Yeah. Like, I had, like, I would be gone from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., Tuesdays, Thursdays, Yeah, I would definitely, like, you know, obviously we're, we're as of today in a position to be financially secure, like, you know, when I was a kid, if I wanted something, my parents were like, well, I can't afford to give that to you, so go mull on, you know, and that taught me a lot of, like, good work ethic at how to earn things. I'm in a position that if my kid wants to dedicate their energy and time to a passion of theirs, and they show a willingness to be great, and they show

willingness to outwork their peers. Like, I will definitely want to support that. I want my kids to understand the value of how to earn something and work towards something. And it doesn't always have to be a job. And if you're in a position to, like, you know, teach them a lesson and allowed them to focus their energy on the things they have a passion for, then yeah. Yes. Like, because I think as a parent, all I want my kids is to be passionate about something and

and want to be great at something. That's it. Can I, I don't care what it is. Can I, I know, I know you're going to say, I don't care. But if you could, in a perfect world, is there like a selfish desired hobby or passion for your kids? Like, obviously, I want my kid to, like, hoop or, like, play golf or something.

Or, like, would you want your kid to be a singer or? River really likes singing. So, like, I think we'll definitely give her, like, a chance to take some singing lessons. She sings constantly. She really, I mean, and I don't know if it's like, it's our first kid. I don't know if it's something every two-year-old does. According to her teacher, it's unique. She also, like, makes up songs a lot.

And I don't, like, she... Oh, she freestyles. She dies. She'll be like, the trees are waving. She freestyles all the time. They are saying, hello. It's like, she just makes up these songs and we're like, oh, that's beautiful. She talks and songs.

That's great. Oh, that's so sweet. That's so sweet. I think it would be cool if, like, my daughters were into soccer, you know? Yeah. Maybe I wasn't a big golfer, but I think it'd be dope if one of them picked up golf. If they get good at golf, they get into all the Ivy Leaks. Could you imagine if Dove, like, became a golfer and she was like the one who...

I think at least, One of them is going to be a really great athlete. But she's the one who's like, reminds me so much of my dad. Wouldn't that be crazy? Think about that. If your kid gets good at golf, you're going to watch them play at the most beautiful locations in the world. Like just country clubs, warm weather, sitting outside in nature. River will come in the Astoria now, the studio now.

We have a studio obviously at home and here at the lake. And she'll come in and she'll sit. Now she's old enough. She'll sit behind the mic. And I'm like, River, let's go. She's like, Dad, I'm working. You should interview her. Oh,

hear her radio voice. So, there's a part of me that, like, you know, I talk for a living. I have this show. I'm a big sports fan. I think it would be really cool

if my daughter grew up as like a woman in sports talking about sports, covering sports. You know, I think that's like a kind of a dream job I have for one of my daughters. Would you cool?

That's really cool. Yeah, I think as a parent, I hope, whatever they want to be into, I'll be into. But yes, to your point, I think any parent feels lucky and blessed to share passions with their kids. Obviously, I'm going to cook for my daughters.

I hope at least one of them enjoys it where they want to do it with me and it becomes something we do together, you know? Yeah, joint hobbies and stuff. Whatever it is, you want to enjoy doing with your kids. My mama didn't have any daughters, so she would always thank me for going shopping with her because I love buying clothes and shit. I love that. That's great. Yeah. The show is called Team Moms.

It's on Paramount Plus. It is, I've seen the first episode. I'm super into it. Team as in T-A-M, like team. Yeah, not teen. Not team. Team. That is another show out there.

Well, maybe. Make me. But it's parents. It's moms and dads. It's not just focus on the moms. It's also focus on the dads too. And it really gets into the, what is it, a very intense culture of child athletics and how the parents move within that space.

We also had the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. Now, it really felt like that we were getting into a season. Obviously, we had the very sentimental and very meaningful episode of episode one talking about the passing of Mary's son. But now we're fully into the drama. And we got their taglines, finally, which I think we just need to run through because I fear... I'm obsessed in the taglines. I'm obsessed.

I fear they're really very corny. But it's the delivery. It's the way they drop the mic after it's serve. And serve. Lisa says, I put a song in my heart to replace the knife in my back, which... Pretty good. That one's pretty good. Heather, I don't kiss and tell.

I publish and sell. That one's also pretty good. Pretty good. A bar. Meredith, this year I'm turning up the base and showing off my new face. Did she get plastic surgery? She did. She got a facelift.

And she's coming out. And she's like, I did this shake. It's like good for her. Yeah. This one, I do not. This one I do not understand. It is Whitney's and she is, I've always been a rose, but now I'm in full bloom. Like, aren't.

I thought she's just something like thorns or something. No, I know it's her last name, but I don't understand like full bloom. It's vague. She thought she ate. Confused. Mary, in my darkest times, I found the light. Sheik. Angie, I have a sharp tongue, but it never makes for a dull moment.

Kind of boring. You know. And then Bronwyn, you collect rumors. while I'm collecting designers. Who do we feel like was the best and who do we feel like is the worst? I love that one though. Well, Wittany's was the most vague.

Yeah, I don't like Whitney's. And it's crazy. And Angie's was kind of like been there done that. What's crazy and what we've learned about like talking to all these housewives that we interviewed is like they do so many of these and a lot of them, maybe they come in with their own,

but a lot of them are just producer written. And they say, they say five, 10 of them and then they find out which one they used like when the show airs. I would hate that. Oh, that ruined it for me. I don't remember who, which housewife it was that was telling us. But they were like if they would if there was one that they didn't really like, they would read it in a like boring tone or something so they wouldn't use it.

In my mind, they're up to like 1 a.m. the night before like trying to figure out the best bar. They're like locked. Like, don't bother me right now. I'm getting my tagline down. They're reading. I'm doing the mirror. Straight up. Listening to Eminem to get inspired.

How did we, I got to start. How did we feel about Brawin buying the hotel for her boyfriend? I caught that. Hated. I clock that. I did not like that. That's not, we don't think that that's not empowering woman.

No. No. Your younger boyfriend who's like coming out to spend a weekend with you and she's like, he's obviously not staying at the house with Todd and my mother. So I got him a nice hotel room that I'm sneaking into. Also, I kind of judge. him for not wearing hockey skates. Oh, when they were skating?

What was he one? He wore. Was he wearing the blue ones? He was wearing the toe picks. It's something only you would notice. I didn't even clock that. How much younger is he? And what do we know about?

Not much younger. No, I mean, Robin's 40? He's 32. He's 40, he's 32. Wait, what? He's what? 32, she's 40. There's only an eight-year age difference.

He should be able to afford in a hotel room. Exactly. Like, I mean, the other side of this is like, if this is just for funsies and neither of them are playing the long game, then yeah, sure. I mean, if I were a guy, I'd let a little cougar fly me out. Sure. Well, they are broken up. If it's just for funsies. By now.

Yeah, that's fair. This is actually a unfortunately, like, common hurdle, I feel like of mine. Like, if I want to see a friend fly out and get a hotel, like, do it. Or is it, can I get the flight? you get the hotel or vice versa. Where are the expectations on that? No, listen, that is a, it's a tough conversation to threat. Because, like, you can't get brokey.

You can't do that. But it's also like, I don't want to, you know. I'm not paying for luxury vacations. Yeah. Right. I'm not to sugar daddy either. Right. But.

I see that. But, you know, she is getting on a plane. Oh, bro. She's coming to see me. Like, I want to, you know, make it a worthwhile endeavor. And you might get late. If you, it's like, but I don't want this to be transactional either. If you want me to come visit, you better pay for my flight and you better pay for my hotel.

If you want me to come to you. If I'm taking off work, if I'm canceling plans with my girlfriend. Going through TSA. If I'm going through TSA, if I'm trying to find my. At least get the coffee in the morning or something. Like just a little small gesture to show me that this isn't like entirely transactional. That is a double standard. And I don't care, you know, what direction we go, patriarchy, matriarchy.

I just feel like that is a double. That is a double standard that needs to maintain, I feel like. That should never go away. I agree. I agree. You know, and it's just like, it's just not the same when Bronwyn's like, I got, I bought him a hotel room. Versus like a guy being like, babe, I got this. You know, you just enjoy yourself, kick back, get yourself a glass of champagne on the trip, you know.

I can't believe Jimmy's making girls get their own hotel rooms. No, I don't. Shame on you. I always think about him like. The gentleman move is. to offer the hotel room because the implication is like you don't listen we're going to have fun

I don't know what's going to happen I'm not I'm not expecting anything here's a nice hotel room right if we happen to enjoy ourselves and we don't use the hotel room so be it I can afford not using this hotel room but I don't want you to feel that pressure yeah that ends up that is the respectful route

Rowan's like I need this hotel room because we can't fuck at my place yeah literally I totally never reasons literally I say good for her, Brolin. Good for you. Enjoy yourself. But then I remember I got shaded because the hotel I got one time wasn't as nice as the hotel.

Another guy got her. I was like, fuck her. I'm out. No, no. No. Yeah, that was bullshit. Ick. That's not being grateful.

If you're comparing the hotel room, another guy got you, ick. Yeah, that is a little crazy. What do you guys think about new housewife Ashley Kwa? I love any housewife that has more money than you. to know what to do with and 10,000 square foot is insane and that view was incredible. I'm also obsessed that she, she doesn't know what her husband does for a living, but he's like always in Florida and she's also obsessed with his nipples. What are just three things that I feel like are wild to say while you're walking into a group

of people? Is it unfair to suggest that he's participating in criminal activity? In what world do you not know what you're either, either he works for the, he's CIA or he's a criminal. I don't think you're the only one thinking that. Or double lives. What have they taught us? Maybe.

Maybe he's an only fan model. There's a lot of money to be made in this world. There's also a lot of money to be made in Florida. In Florida. Yeah. A lot of people go there for a lot of different reasons. I will say, I respect the relationships that like don't, you know, Nali and I, we need each other.

We are. It's so funny, Victoria. Yeah. Victoria was talking to us. Victoria Fuller was talking to. about like our relationship or something. And she was like, what y'all have, like, not a lot of people want that, you know? Like, y'all spend a lot of time together.

Like, y'all do everything together. And that's great for y'all. But, like, some people enjoy when their husband takes business trips and they're gone for the entire week. Some people want that and they look for that in a partner. Yeah, it's true. That's true. That's my high take. I like clingy.

I like, like, like, always wanting to be with each other. Like, that's the kind of, that's how my parents were. weird that you say that because like the word clingy makes me feel like i don't like clingy i don't like being hung on like i'm not a i don't like being suffocated so that to me that yeah that's a thing that's a fine line between maybe not like by definition of what clingy means but like i want that yeah i want to feel needed right i want to feel enjoyed but like there's something different about like the action of clingy that's different than what i but like if i get invited something i want you you to want to come with me and I want you to come with me and vice versa. I want to go to grocery

shopping together. I like that shit. But also clinging can mean so many different things. Like two people could be completely independent and thriving. But if one of them just wants a little bit more time together intimacy, like the word clinging can get thrown out pretty quick. And like, and I think immediately it is giving like, you, I don't want to be clingy. But like, sometimes it's just the level of, it's compatibility. It really is. It's. It's. Like, what do me and this person want the same amount of cling? Because if one of you wants more, not going to work. When we talked about love language is at the beginning, like, I am huge on quality time.

So, like, that is why I prefer clingy. Now, again, the definition of clingy, I have to feel like various personal. Well, that's when I ask you about birthdays that you had a hard time with. But, like, as, and you said it's because I was alone. Yeah. And any birthday that I had, like, as an adult where I was kind of, like, alone, you know, like, I always had friends to hang out with. But it felt.

It just put stuff in perspective a little bit. Yeah. Where you just like versus like people who are just like, you have to celebrate this day with me. You know? Yeah. That's like it. Rocks. Actually.

Yeah. I don't. Speaking of being alone, you have Whitney and Justin and their relationship and Whitney. Interesting. Can I just say I don't get it? Yeah. What is happening there? So they're separating but not separating.

She's just going to a different room? But I kind of. kind of understand a little bit. I think that there must be something going on that they're like protecting us from. But I do understand the sentiment of like, okay, we actually think we might want to separate, but also we don't want to disrupt our entire family dynamic before we know how we really feel about this. So it feels like a little bit of a trial run, the separate rooms. Like it seems like they're heading in that direction, but they're trying to do it responsibly.

How old are their kids? I don't know. as certain age like co-parenting at that point has got to be Listen I mean Gotta be tough I just don't get I've never been a subscriber of the Trial Breakups

Like If you're gonna work on a relationship You gotta work on the relationship Working on how it How to break up How to break up It's like when is it ever you turn You know what I'm saying?

It never you turns Wait Gina didn't Gina Oh yeah Yeah they did do like a little They like lived separate moved separate. They like moved too fast. That was that was different with Gina because her, if I remember correctly, her partner is a co-parent and there was some things going on with his partner's co-parent and it was causing a lot of friction

in the relationship. And they had a plan. That's kind of what I'm saying. They had a plan and a reason like maybe right now it's causing too much short-term problems. So like the thing that was confusing for us is because they were so committed. to each other. The naysayers were kind of like, then why you're moving out. But like, they at least had a reason. Whitney and Justin, it's their business. So they got involved in business together and then Justin kind of. Yeah, you fucked up or something. More or less turn it into an MLM allegedly, but don't believe me on that. And so that's kind of what happened. Sure. Sure. Which can definitely like, you know, there's some trust issues. It's just more like,

what is moving into a different room? gonna yeah solve you know separation other than being like I want to see if I like having more room in the bed you know like

which you might find you like yeah I don't know maybe it works for them I guess we'll have to see I did love that they are all accusing Meredith of wearing wigs along with her facelift

first he had Whitney who is I think obviously being petty and being messy in her ITM being like also the wig. But then we had Ashley, new friend of, like offer to like make her a wig or something or green wig. Like what I know in Utah, obviously, extensions are a part of their culture. But it's like it's majority white women in Utah. And I feel like historically, none of my friends are wearing wigs that are white women. Well, my mom has had to lean into wigs because she's like getting older. Her hair is getting thinner. Her hair loss. She's like, yeah, she's, you know, having some confidence issue with that.

So I think older women have like kind of definitely looked into the wig department, maybe more than younger women, I would say. Honestly, the wig looked amazing. I was like, do I need one? Because it was gorgeous. In that vein, Whitney's on her apology tour. Do you think she's going to apologize for the wig comment to or no? You might have to.

We're going to have to find out when Meredith finds out about the wig. Yeah, which would be at the reunion. Reunion. Well, is it okay to talk about Meredith's face? because she's talking about it. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. It's beautiful.

It's best facelift. Really well done. I felt like I had the best response, which is before they showed the side by side, as a casual, like, just watching, not looking for anything, I didn't notice the facelift. And I think that's a good thing. And once they showed the side by side, you're like, oh, pop off, queen, she looks great.

But you know what I'm saying? Like when you saw, you were, like, when you see someone have a bad facelift, you're like, why do they look different? Yeah, like Whitney was like, oh, her hair is different, you know? But like Meredith, kind of you're like, did you moisturize today? You know, like? Yeah. Is that a new under eye, concealer?

Yeah. It looks fresh. It looks very fresh. It didn't change her look though. It just changed. Yeah, no, it didn't change her look at all. It just elevated her skin texture, I guess you would say. It was beautiful.

Listen, I, whatever Brad Pitt is doing to age, I want that. So I feel like it's something. I would. get one at the appropriate time. You would get a facelift? I'm about to be a candidate for a facelift. If I could benefit from it, I feel like Brad's had some work done, no? Has he?

I don't know. I haven't seen him recently. Let me look it up. I don't know. I don't know if I'd go as far as like a facelift, but definitely maybe some. I think you can find some Botox here. Wow, he does look great. I don't think a facelift.

Yeah, but Google, Google Brad Pitt facelift. Not that that would be accurate. But I think... You know what it looks like to me, if I'm being honest, and this is... I know we shouldn't be, like, speculating. There's before and after, and to be honest, it looks like Brad Pitt

dabbled in filler and then got his filler dissolved. Yeah. That's what it looks like to me. Yeah, and it's like, oh, he got a facelift. It's like, no, he just dissolved his filler. He's looking great. I've decided for my 30th birthday,

I'm going to Turkey. What are you getting in Turkey? A little hair transfer? Yeah. I feel like by 30, it'll be, you know, time for that now. Are you losing your hair? That's not.

But I feel like by 30 it'll make sense. You might not lose your hair, period, Jim. Yeah. I feel like it'll start getting there. Well, we support you and whatever you decide. What's your mom's dad look like? He had gray hair. Did he have hair?

drank a lot of wine. Yeah. And then you're good, bro. You might be good. Give it time, you know? All right. Then I'll get Botox at 30. I support.

30 seems a little young, Jim. Does it? I don't know. I think I got started. I want to be proactive. you know. I don't want to like do it before it's too late. Once you start noticing, um, lines that don't go away, you could dabble in a little baby Botox, you know? Only if you want to. I don't want to do that.

So anyways, Whitney apologized at the end. It felt very sincere. It felt like the group was like, you know what? Thanks for saying that. Meredith, the other hand, is like, no. Yeah. I do not accept it. I don't blame her, honestly. Why? Because she gets to choose when she gets to get over that. That's fair. the apology. She was crashing out on her on a public forum.

Like, you don't get to walk that back after just because he was drunk. Like, maybe, I guess she's going through stuff, but like, you still said what you said. Like,

I'm going to get over that when I decide to. Okay, but here's my question. I'm with you. Like, I'm not going to get bullied into an accepting apology. I'm not ready for. But my question is,

what do they have to do? Uh, I, upset a civil thing once. And I was like, right away, I was like, yeah,

sorry about that. I realize that my bad. And right off the jump, I apologized. And it was like, they caught my sibling off guard. Yeah, because they were fully on planning and yelling at me. Yeah, you want to argue for a second and they get an apology. And like right away, I was like, yeah, no. And it was like.

I think the immediate apology saved it. No, no, no. My point is, it was like they wanted to get out what they wanted to say. And I guess my question is, like, how many, but if all you can do is just re-apologize and keep apology. Because, like, that comment was like, again, you know, so it was like 20 minutes of them still getting out what they wanted to say and me, like, repeating again, sorry about that, you know? If all you're going to make them do is, like, apologize, like, is it because you want them to apologize multiple times? Is there something, do you not believe the apology?

You know what I'm saying? It's the sincerity. It's the fact that the other cast members were saying, like, she does this, she says things and then she walks it back all the time. for me it's one of those like time time don't have to heal this one i'm have to like see your actions play out like okay yeah yeah keep you out of arms distance but like keep an eye on you did meredith say that like hey i i just got to see it with actions not words no meredith was essentially just like i don't fuck with you at all i don't like you see i feel like merrith would have been better served if she's like yo i appreciate the apologies but at this stage in our relationship i i need to see with

actions and not words before i really accept it because it doesn't feel real right now rather than being like, fuck you bitch. You know, because that's not helping anyone. Well, then, like, Meredith looks like the, you know,

because everyone else is down for the apology. And then Meredith is almost like ostracized herself. And I think if she would have just said that, people would have been like, well, that's fair. That's fair. You know. Right. We need those.

He doesn't have a track record. Does Meredith have a history of not accepting apologies when people finally. Oh, yeah. Apologize. See, that to me, like, I don't have all,

the lore I watched last season, but I feel like some people just want you to like sit in your shit. And even if like, and I understand sitting in your shit for a little bit. It's like, okay, you messed up. You have to like pay the consequences. Like you said, sometimes people just want to yell at you or they want to get it off their chest. But if you're not willing to acknowledge when somebody's like, hey, I was, I don't stand by what I said. I messed up. Like if you were that person that is constantly just like not accepting apologies, then I'm like, you're kind of a, you're kind of like, you're so annoying. Like that's just so. Yeah, there's like a penance sometimes.

They both have a track record for this. It's kind of what I was getting at, where it's just like, it gets annoying where you know that the person's just like, wants you to do with some kind of penance. Yeah. You know? But I agree that I'm like,

she shouldn't be forced into accepting it, but also like she could have totally come out looking like, not a hero, but she could have looked like, wow, oh my gosh, like she handled that really well. If she had just said, I'm not ready.

Give me time. Let me show you. Like, she could have looked so good, and instead she just alienated herself. Do you guys think Lisa Barlow handled it better by essentially being like Whitney and I have always had a thing when they have always actually hated each other? The ball analogy? Is that? Rubber band. Maybe they've had a thing outside of the show, outside of filming.

You know, it's an unspoken thing. I know. I kind of appreciate it. Like, when Whitney was crying, what did Lisa say? She said, basically she was like, she said, like, you know, I hear, your voice. She acknowledged that it felt sincere. And then that, you know, it almost like Lisa kind of felt bad for, you know, I don't think she handled that pretty well. Lisa, unlike Meredith, like Lisa is, you know, she has her ways, but like she doesn't, honestly, she doesn't seem to

hold a grudge. Almost the opposite. She's like, as long as long as we're cool, I'm cool with you. Hey, people do not play about Lisa Barlow, I learned. I said, I made a funny video talking about her little intro, they're like, do not come for our mother. I was like, y'all, I'm just laughing. I'm just laughing. We'll compare that to Vicky and Carmela in O.C. I mean, that was, I like that. Carmela is eating Vicky up.

Yeah. Well, that's because Carmela, she's a wrestler. She's a competitor. She's literally been in the ring. There's some chatty Kathy. He's not going to intimidate her. And Vicki, I love her. And again, I think she deserves some kind of.

of like comeback player of the year award. But she has the energy of someone who, dare I say, you know, bullies other people, you know? She definitely has a like, this is what I think, get over it. Yeah. Like. Just a mean girl tendencies. It's very big energy.

It's very matter of fact. If you're not used to that type of confrontation, people will just be like, ah, you know what. But like, Carmela's like, no. And usually the only way to deal with someone with Vicky's energy is to, fight fire with fire. And that's when you see someone like Vicky, like she doesn't know,

Vicky doesn't know how to respond to someone meeting her energy because I think so many people in this world don't have the ability to meet her energy. So when it happens, she has no plan B. You know what I'm saying? She has no counterpunch. I bet deep down,

I bet deep down she respects though. Deep down she's like, game respects, game. Yeah, I definitely think Vicky respects it for sure. But she has no counterpunch to someone matching her energy. She's going to have no option. but to respect it, at least in my opinion, I'm like,

you can't be met with that and not respect it. I mean, Carmelis said, I hope she has some reputable life insurance because I'm about to drop kick an OG. So good. That's crazy. That's a bar. That should be her intro. That's a bar. Yes. That should be her true.

What do you think about grandma, Tamara giving her granddaughter a Gucci purse? I wish I had a grandma like that, yo. Same. I think my first thing, would be to be uncomfortable with that gift because I don't want my kids to be a snob. As a child though?

Oh, okay. As the parent. That I respect. That being said, I'd be figuring out what else I could get. If it taught, like, I wouldn't want her to know the true value of it. I would just want her to know

it's worth a lot and it needs to be taken care of. And if she could show me that she knew how to take care of it and recognize that it was, it had value. And that thing that had value needed to be taken care of, And I think it could be a good gift. But I wouldn't want her to have the gift as like a materialistic status symbol. That would make me uncomfortable.

I think even pivoting it to make it like, this is something from your grandma. Like this is a really special gift because it's from like her collection. You know, like you could try to, I don't know, make it like that. But I don't think I would want my daughter having a Gucci purse at you. Yeah. From the, I hate, see, I didn't even think about it from the parents' perspective, but like, from y'all's perspective, I would rather not a material gift like that at such a young age then. Yeah. I'd rather a basketball or like a microphone or something useful, like you can play with and practice or take outside or a concert tickets.

Question. You, you strut into a high school gym, a high school Friday night basketball game, and your 13-year-old daughter brings in a Gucci purse. Do you, how many people in that gym think you're kind of a bad parent? I'm not letting her bring it. Well, let's say you do. I'm not letting it bring it. I feel like majority of people wouldn't think it's real. Yeah, you know.

That's so true. What if everyone, everyone knew it was real. It is real, motherfucker. Do you think people would think you're kind of a bad parent? Yeah, it would honestly, it would dominate conversation. It would be a thing. It would be like, you see someone's daughter had a Gucci person. My only reason for wanting anything nice, whether it be purses or jewelry or shoes or whatever it is, is to pass down to my daughters.

That's like the only, right? It's like I feel like the things that I've gotten from my mom have not been anything of that sort, but it's been, you know, little pieces of jewelry that aren't worth much, but like have this story behind them. And that I feel like is the coolest thing ever. And so, but once they get old enough to wear it, they understand that. Like, her granddaughter, what, is 13? How old is she? Again, not old enough to understand the true value. Not old enough to, like, take it to the mall with her friends and not be like, yeah,

like, it's a Gucci purse. My grandma got it for me. I feel like a lot of them do understand. Although, also, I will say it is OC. And I'm like, the culture, first of all, in Los Angeles and in, like, Orange County is so different from where I grew up. Like, if somebody walked into my high school with it, designer purse. It's like, oh, you went to New York

this summer with your family and you guys shopped. At Canal Street. Yeah. Exactly. Like, we would not think that it's real. But since living out here, I do think there is a part of it that's kind of normalized in the, like, West Coast culture. I guess it depends where you show with that purse. Like, at a high school basketball game,

people are going to look at you kind of sideways. Well, she's 11. So how about middle school basketball game? They don't look at you kind of sideways. Like, it just is what it is. Now, if you're walking down Beverly, Hills. Yeah, cool. Oh. But maybe in high school, Calabasas or whatever. Yeah.

Yeah. Like, it's more normalized out here. They probably have Birkins. Yeah. Baby Birkin. And they probably grew up seeing their moms have such luxury designer purses. Like, my mom, I've never seen my mom own anything luxury or designer. So it's probably normalized. Is this what people say when they say, like, don't go Hollywood? Is this what they're referring to? Like, don't, you know.

Probably a part of it. Yeah. subscribe to these things. I don't, you know, because I always wrestle with that. What do you mean don't go Hollywood? What the fuck you're worried about? When your head gets too big.

Well, when you start prioritizing the wrong stuff and you start like, well, you're from the Midwest. Like, LA is just very, it's a very different place.

You know what I'm saying? It's fast. It's fun, but it's not like, I never, I always get almost like offended where it's like, who the fuck do you think I am,

I'm going to go to L.A. And also become a new person. But it is different. It sounds like it's these kind of like principles and like little things, like tendencies maybe. Yeah, but to even, yeah, I guess it's a slower, less like, I don't know, I guess materialistic, I suppose. Yeah.

Yeah. I don't know. All right. I'll keep my attendance up for that then. Yeah. Keep them up. Well, speaking of not letting people go Hollywood, we have Xavier from Traders New Blood joining us who was recently unlimited from the show. But he's with us to talk about his unceremonious exit, what he thinks about it, what he thinks about the players left.

And who he thinks might actually take the cash prize. It's Xavier up next talking Traders New Blood. Xavier, welcome to the show. Hey, appreciate you for having me. Glad to be here. Well, we're excited to talk with you. I guess just how you feeling, how you decompressing, you know, from both like just the experience. And now that we've gotten to see the episode, how's it all feeling?

Yeah, it's feeling good. Obviously, in the moment, it was so frustrating and just disappointing and I'm pissed off. and angry, all of those emotions come into play. But now, after decompressing a little bit and you start to see how, you know, you can second guess every aspect of the game, you kind of get to take a deep breath and appreciate it for what it is. So I'm good now. That is good to hear, and I'm glad you've been able to reflect.

But to get into the weeds, I'm sure kind of like to your point, you probably racked your brain and spent a lot of time, like, wondering how would I have played it differently? Yeah. You know, hashtag no regrets. But like it did, like, for whatever reason, it didn't work out. So like, what would you have done differently? And why do you think it went wrong?

Yeah, I don't think I would have done too much differently. I felt like I needed to come out playing offense, especially when I was pinned up against one other person, right? It's a twist early on in the game. You find yourself wanting to play under the radar in the traders early on. But there, there's no aspect. of doing that when it's a 50-50 chance within the first couple of days.

So I'm trying to play offense a little bit and I know if I can get Katie banished, then I don't have to go through any of these tests that the traders may set. I'm already up in that turret and we're moving on. So I think I was trying to get Katie's name a little bit out there. I obviously had mentioned it to a trader in Tamika. And I had already thought about, okay,

if I'm going to say Katie's name, it might get out to a traitor. And if it does, I need reasoning to back that up. And I felt like the traders would want to see characteristics of somebody that's ruthless, somebody that's willing to do whatever it takes, somebody that's not just going to sit back and kind of wait to see what's going to happen to them. So that was my thought process about playing offense as soon as I found out that I was an accomplice. But not too many regrets, man. I felt like I did a good job kind of make a relationship.

with a lot of different people early on, which would have helped me. But just kind of a tough situation there. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And like, yeah, the benefit of hindsight. But yeah, it's a difficult decision. And I don't know what I would do. But like, isn't it interesting thinking like, because, you know, it makes a lot of sense.

You talk about the traders like, hey, I think they'd want to see someone like cutthroat. And as it turns out, it almost seems like, they're like, you know, like, we just kind of want someone who's going to like do what we do. You know, it's like, it almost like they're like the two traders were intimidated by the prospects of like this guy's, he's making moves. Can we control them? Almost. You know what I'm saying? Like it almost feels like that, right? Yeah. And I almost felt like naturally because of who they had chosen between me and Katie, two totally different personalities, a huge age difference. I felt like that they were going to want somebody that they could control because whoever came in

the turret as a traitor was already going to be at a disadvantage two to one. And that their opinions, especially with Joe and Tamika being older, that they were going to feel like they could control the conversations, the narratives, the opinions of somebody else. And they weren't going to be able to do that against me or with me. I was going to second guess everything. I was going to at some point knowing I was probably going to have to backstab one of them and throw one of their names out too to make sure that it was going to

going to be one in one, whether it me and Tamika or me and Joe to even things out. So in the long run, looking at it, they probably made the right decision. Interesting. Maybe they do. But like, however, do you think now that we've thought this through, what would you have done differently? Like maybe, like, you probably know what happens? But like, what if Katie's playing us? You know, like, what if Katie is like one step ahead and she's just like going to play like, I'm just sweet, I'm just sweet Katie, you know? Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And like, you did the courtesy of like, I'm going to show you my cards. Let me know if you want to roll with it.

And they were like, nah, respectfully. I think that's what's interesting because you almost have to think of the game from not your perspective, right? Like, you're naturally going to think this is what I would do if I was a traitor. This is what I would want to see if I was a traitor. These are the moves. But you have to think what would Joe and Tamika want to see or what would who I don't know is traitors, what would they want to see?

Because I didn't know it was Joe and Tamika. And so that early on in the game, too, you're considering what your strategy should be with people that you don't know who they are. Right. And because it's so early in the game, you don't even have a sense of who it might be. And so it's just interesting kind of playing that back

in some of those conversations. And you guys didn't even know some of the stuff off camera, as far as those conversations that you have create relationships that can affect the game too. Yeah. And to your point, like, when you think about it, I imagine like when you're put on the spot and I'm like, give me like a strong opinion about this

kind of nuanced thing where you don't know all the players, you're just going to come up with things like, I don't know, that just, I'm getting bad vibes. Like this whole show is based off of vibes and like, you know, trust our guts and everything. but like in a pressure cooker situation, I think it's easy to like really lean into your gut, but your gut's pretty like on the fence.

There's no, yeah, there's no evidence. And I think that's where I felt like I could be an advantage having played, you know, baseball my whole life. I love the St. Louis hat, by the way. You know, I see you wrapping. Shout the cards, baby. Yeah. I'm a brewer fan, bro.

We St. Lunditics over there. St. Lunditics. No, I think. Like being in that pressure cooker a lot throughout the course of my career plan and also as an analyst is like, okay, that should give me an advantage knowing that I'm not going to let my emotions get too high. I'm not going to make a crazy emotional decision. I'm going to sit back and see what's going on, read people. You know, everybody says that they're good at reading body language and being trustworthy coming on to the show. But like that's literally what I do for a living. So I felt like that was an advantage kind of. looking at everybody, and I was making early connections with different types of people that I felt like other people weren't doing. Because you naturally come into the game kind of clicking up, right? Like you gravitate towards certain people.

I was like adamant about not doing that. Like I was trying to figure out who are the people that ain't trying to click up with nobody. I'm trying to figure out who you are. It's interesting you brought up your athletic background as an advantage to your strategy. because we were talking about with the celebrity traders how I think Rashad Jennings, the football player, has an advantage of like handling pressure environments and keeping cool, common collected in his poise.

But no pun intended, do you, or entirely intended, actually, do you feel like you might have just swung for the fences instead of, you know, just playing it cool? Because I feel like there's a tough line between overthinking and critical thinking. Yes, yeah, 100%. I'm with you on that.

And I think, you know, I kind of told myself if I'm going to go down, it's going to go down being more on the aggressive side and trying to dictate my own future instead of just wading back and being overly patient and, you know, looking at it at a 50-50 chance. And if I lose some test that maybe I didn't have a hand in, oh, then I'm going to be regretting this even more. So that was kind of my thought process. That makes a lot of sense. And I imagine your athletic background plays are all. Like, And I'm interested to see how Rashad Jennings does because I know him personally. And it's going to be fun kind of watching how he goes about it with a football mentality.

Yeah. But like there's this, you know, when you go on these shows, there's like this, there's, you know, listen, a lot of people go on these shows and it's just like, you know, and forget about the editing, but just like feeling like you made an impact in the production because, again, like a lot of it, it's just luck, you know, it's a crazy world. and to your point, Xavier, you're like, at least I'm going to go, at least I'm going to get my at bats,

pun intended, you know? Because like, sometimes people like show up to the game and they're like, yeah, sorry, like we didn't need you. You know, like, I'm swinging. You showed up, but you're a relief pitcher and we didn't get to the 10th. I could talk funds all day. Anyways, yeah, so that makes sense.

On that point, like I felt like with me being thrown the curveball of the accomplice thing, I felt like it was, sorry for the pun, I felt like it was, it was gonna be one of those situations to where I'm gonna make an impact no matter what. So like, let's figure out

kind of the best way to go about it. And I know, I know at least there's gonna be a ripple effect in this game. You guys have seen this stuff, like not just the traders, but on so many reality shows, one impact affects the rest of the season at times. So I think that was cool for me to know too,

is like, we didn't see the accomplice thing in previous seasons. So seeing it and how it was going to affect everything else was kind of cool to know from the jump. Yeah. Do you in any way feel like your decisions in the kind of like the offensive game

that you played against Katie, she's dealing with some heat now? Do you feel like in any way that might have spoiled her experience or is it just like All's Fair and Love is in Traders type of thing? Yeah, all's fair and love in game. And I just feel like

knowing that it was Casey, that they ended up choosing, I actually didn't have any, you know, remorse or any bad feelings towards Katie. And I want to see her win now. Like, I want to see her go out because who I'm going out against, that's the person I want to see you end up coming up with victory. I lost the World Series champ, you know? Yeah, yeah. If I lost, I lost two the best, right? That was kind of my perspective on it. And if there's anybody, I'm looking, I'm looking at the traders. Like, you made the wrong decision. I want to see you guys get out next. Is there anybody else that's a faithful that you like the way the, like the game they're playing or that you think could go the long run?

Yeah. I liked seeing Abby Lee come in. We didn't know she was an astrophysicist, but obviously her kind of having this gameplay and strategy of almost playing dumb. And I can see her asking a whole lot of questions early on and just trying to almost play that innocent, um, I'm trying to figure things out type of way. The same thing goes for, I liked Michael's gameplay early on. I thought like he came in aggressive as a faithful. And you could tell that he was going to build trust early on because he wasn't afraid to speak his mind.

And I think that gained a lot of trust within faithfuls in the game. It was like, okay, he might put a target on his back, but at the same time, it feels like he's speaking truth. every time he opens up his mouth. What about, is it Christie, the older lady who was adamant that Madeline was going out? Thoughts on her? Yeah, Christy, I was the one that first met Christy coming into the train station. She was the first person I met, and I had the sense that she wanted to be a faithful

coming into the game. And I felt like with her, you know, southern swag, that southern charm, I felt like she was telling the truth on Madeline. at least what she heard. Now, obviously, that was not what she said, and that was not, and she was not a traitor, but I still felt adamant about her telling the truth and playing the game as a faithful.

So I felt good about who she was. I just have one final question. I don't know if Jimmy has another, but I'm always, and I ask this question to anyone who's been in the castle, how's the food? The food, I thought the food was all right. Like the food was decent inside the castle.

Now, we had moments outside of the castle in which the food was not necessarily great. And you have to remember, I'm comparing it to something different too, because I've been in TV and broadcast, and I played at the highest level where you get steak and lobster after every game. So it was a little bit different, right? So I'm enjoying the food in the castle. At other moments, I'm not enjoying the food. I would rate it at a seven or eight. If you're lucky enough to consistently be able to eat whatever you most enjoy.

Yeah. And then you're at the mercy of someone else serving you. Right. Thanks for answering the question. I'm not a huge fan of like the English, Scottish menu. A lot of sandwiches, man. Peas and bread and biscuits. A lot of bread sandwiches.

Like eggs sandwiches. Mayo sandwiches. I'm a real snob. Yeah. I'm like the other food was good. Just give me a real meal, right? Xavier, we appreciate it taking the time, man. Sorry, you had a brief stimp, but I'm glad you went down sweating.

You definitely made an impact, and I'm glad you got to go on and enjoy the experience. Thanks, Scott. I appreciate you. I like the game you played. I want to say they wanted a role player, but you was a star player, you know? Exactly. They want nobody taking their shine. You already know.

Hey, loved watching you, too. I loved watching you too, man. It was fun. I appreciate you, yeah, Xavier. Your best of luck, buddy. Thanks, guys. All right, take care. All right, bye, bye. Oh, well, that will deal it for today's episode.

Thank you to our guest, Giata DeLerantes and Xavier from Traders New Blood. We appreciate them and we appreciate you guys all. Before we, and I just have to say, you are a... Happy birthday. Yes, everyone's saying, no, you truly are like the biggest protector, provider, leader in every sense of the word. And we are so lucky to have you in our lives. We feel you when you're not around and you are home. So I love you so much.

We too. Oh, it's very sweet. And now everyone's saying, Happy birthday. Happy birthday to you. I'm looking for love at all the wrong places, man. I don't need this right now. Bro, I found it in the gram.

Get on Instagram. You never know. So true. You should not tell me that. And I'm going to start thinking I got love in the DMs again. You got time to figure it out, man. All right. You're at like you're 28.

I hope. Yep. Yeah. Slow you roll. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye-bye.