Wednesdays - Introducing Hayu Presents...

Episode Date: July 16, 2026

Hayu Presents... is the ultimate deep-dive podcast celebrating the biggest personalities, wildest moments, and most iconic shows from the Hayu reality TV universe.Across 12 unmissable episodes, host Dean McCarthy explores everything from unforgettable reality romances and legendary Housewives to fashion disasters, one-season wonders, show-stopping performances and the most chaotic holidays ever captured on camera.Featuring superstar guests including Luann de Lesseps, Mark-Francis Vandelli, Elizabeth Day, the cast of The Real Housewives of London and Paris Hilton, each episode is packed with hilarious games, exclusive behind-the-scenes stories, unexpected revelations and sharp pop culture commentary.Whether you're a lifelong reality TV obsessive or simply love great entertainment, Hayu Presents... is your front-row seat to the moments, personalities and drama that made reality television a global phenomenon.Out Now. Search Hayu Presents... to listen to the rest of the Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's Melissa here, and I want to tell you guys about a podcast that I genuinely think so many of you are going to love. If you listen to Wednesdays, you'll know we love a bit of pop culture, a bit of celeb gossip, and let's be honest, we love a reality TV show moment. So this feels very unbrand. Your favourite new podcast is called Hey You Presents, hosted by the brilliant Dean McCarthy, and it's the ultimate deep dive into the biggest personalities, wildest moments and most iconic shows from the Hey You Reality TV universe. Dean is joined by an incredible lineup of guests including Luanda Lassup's Mark Francis Vandelli, Elizabeth Day, Paris Hilton and the cast of Real Housewives of London. They get into behind-the-scenes stories, unforgettable reality TV moments, iconic fashion disasters, and all the drama that made these shows so addictive. Whether you're a lifelong Housewives fan, obsessed with reality TV,

or just love hearing brilliant stories from people behind some of the most iconic moments on screen, you're going to have so much fun listening. Here is a sneak peek of the show for all you Wednesday's listeners. Enjoy. Hey You Presents is out now. Hello, I'm Dean McCarthy, reality TV expert and all-round Hayu superfan. And I'm so, so excited to welcome you to our first episode of Hay You Presents. We wanted to start by celebrating 10 years of Hayu and 20 years of housewives.

And I could not think of a better expert to take us through the universe. The woman who knows that no matter how many times you need to start over, it's always possible to build a successful legacy. She's a journalist, author, reality TV lover, and superstar podcaster, Elizabeth Day. Oh, my goodness. Thank you so much. What an introduction. I should endeavour to live up to it.

You do. I mean, I take this very seriously, as you know. So if I can do anything to continue the epic legacy of all HAU content, I will do. I'm a really willing ambassador. So we first met at the Hey You Fan Fest in London. Yes. And I remember just seeing this glamourg on. I was like, who is this gorgeous woman?

And it was Meredith Marks. Then I walked in. It was a mirror. I was like, that's me. And then hi, Elizabeth. It was a mirror. And you were interviewing Andy Cohen. Yes.

Oh my gosh. I love that we met then. That's so appropriate. Yeah. I was interviewing Andy Cohen, our Lord and Savior. And I'd been lucky in that I'd had a warm up because. Hey, you did me such a solid and got him to come on How to Fail, which is my podcast. So on the Thursday, I think it was, I interviewed him and I did that classic thing of,

I saw him walking down the corridor to the record and I was like, oh my God, it's you. And obviously it is him because I was expecting him. But I just was so moved because he has provided me with so much entertainment, but also so much witnessing of my own experiences. that I distilled through housewives. It's sort of how I measure out my life. So I was so grateful that he came on and it was an amazing conversation.

Now, you'll know this. He's really smart and he doesn't suffer fools gladly. No. So I did notice, like the first five minutes he was kind of sussing me out and then he realized that I am a superfan and then we got into it. And by the end, I felt we really connected.

And so then I went to Hayey Fan Fest and I was interviewing him on stage, which was another amazing, life highlight. I mean, hey, fan fest. Let's just talk about that for a minute. Oh my goodness. I'm still not over it. I took my friend Daisy, who's as obsessed as I am, and we met many of the housewives. And she came away saying, they are so nice. She's like, they're nicer than some of my friends. They are. They're so charismatic and interesting and interested. They're just these extraordinary race horses of entertainment.

They really are. When did you get into it? Like we're here now as mega superfans, both of us. When did this start for you? I can date it almost exactly because I was going through IVF at the time. So it was 2014 and I was in a difficult marriage to someone who is now my ex-husband, very housewives coded off me. Sounds like a plot.

Sounds like a plot. I'm watching Potomac. Yeah. And I was going through fertility treatment. And that was really difficult. And there was hardly any information about it back then. It's hard to imagine because it doesn't seem that long ago. And yet it was so long ago in this reference.

Because I didn't know very many people who'd gone through IVF. And when I went to my local bookshop, there were no books about IVF. It was all kind of mother-baby books. And I discovered the real housewives of Orange County. And back then in the UK, there was no such thing as Hay You, the Dark Days, B-H, before Hay-U. I don't know how we survived. But we survived because there was a channel then called ITVB, which was a digital spin-off of ITV.

And they would randomly play old seasons of Real Housewives. And I just so happened to alight upon a season of OC, which featured Megan King Edmonds. And she was going through IVF. Yeah, of course. It was the first accurate portrayal of IVF I had ever seen on screen because she was filming herself doing the injections. Wow.

And I felt so represented in that moment. It opened the door to this fabulous, camp, brilliant, funny, hysterical universe. But it also, for me, that story reveals that there is this serious undertone to it, which is representation. And it wasn't just IVF. It was also women of a certain age who weren't getting the roles in scripted drama. Where else could I turn to to see widows embark on their dating trajectory? or, you know, divorcees going to jail. Like, there was just nothing like that on scripted TV.

And female friendships as well. It was such a radical thing to show female friendships in that way at that time. So that's the first time I got in. That was my gateway drug. That was a gateway drug. And it's such a aspirational look into people's lives that are so different to what most of us actually live. Yes. Which is exciting as well.

Absolutely. I love watching portrayals of that. kind of elevated fabulosity. Would you ever do housewives? I don't want to see how the sausage is made. I want to eat it. Yeah, I want to eat the sausage. And that would be my tagline.

Mine would be, I might be from down under, but I always end up on top. So good. Thank you. Mine would actually be, I'm named after the late queen, but this queen is always on time. Oh, that's good. I think the best one. I thought about it. I think Lisa Vanderpumps.

Yes. Life isn't always rosé and diamonds, but it should be. Yes. I feel like that's a good one. It's good because it's the very ethos of what Housewives is. Totally. Let's get into the big legacy stars. Who are your top legacy stars for the Heyy Universe?

From all time. Yeah. Definitely Countess Luann. Yeah. Kenya Moore. Oh my gosh. Yes. Thank you for saying that.

Yes. Thank you. Thank you for acknowledging it as the act of bravery that it is. the current climate. She obviously had a terrible last season and was taken off air, and I understand the reasons why. But she gave us gone with the wind fabulous. Oh my goodness. She embodies so much of what a great housewife should be for me.

I just could not stop watching her. And she has a sense of humour about it. Yes. Vicky Gunvelson, I think, and Tamara have to have a place there, even though they are dialed up too high on the shriekometer for my for my pleasure. Van der Pump, Rina. I also love Candy Burris from Atlanta. I'm not a Nini Stan. No, I know.

But she was the character who launched a thousand gifts for which will be forever grateful. I see her every day on my Instagram. Every day. Every day. If I were to do a PhD on reality TV and hey you and the housewives in particular, Housewives started becoming really popular

with a much broader audience during the pandemic and there's a thesis that it is because of gift cult culture. Because people were sending gifts of the Housewives without actually knowing what it was, but it represented something that they wanted to convey. And then they started watching the shows. I would believe that for sure. You know, I'm a little bit obsessed with Bethany Frankel. I adored her on Housewives. I just thought she was brilliant. And she had that whippersnapper wit. Yes. And she also went through real stuff, like quite very traumatic divorce and shared it. She has translated that smartness.

into becoming a TikTok sensation. And she realized early on that the way to get a huge following was to say controversial things and be really out there. And she's done it incredibly well. I feel like Captain Lee and Captain Sandy are also in my legacies for me. And of course, Jason, because he's so good looking. Captain Lee 100%. He's someone that you want as your dad that you can really turn to and rely on.

He's like the Yoda of the hay you've. Totally. Housewives is kind of the gateway drug. Where'd you go after that? After that, I think I went into Vanderpump Rules because they did a beautiful spin-off pass from Real House Lise of Beverly Hills into Vanderpump Rules. And to begin with, I thought, I'm not sure about this because it's so different from Housewives. And once you realize that the point of it is, at least back in the day, people in their

20s living in Scuzzy apartments trying desperately to make a living and to break into the entertainment industry, but they're being waitstaff while they're doing it. Yep. Then you get it and then it's incredible. Totally. And then I definitely went on a boat. Yeah, so all of the below decks, including Below Deck adventure. Actually got my husband into Below Deck.

The two that he's ever watched are Below Deck and Vanderpump Rules. And then I watch Summer House, Winter House. I watched the kind of one-off seasons. What game of crowns? Yeah. That was amazing. I sort of watched them all. I'm loving how the Vanderpump Rules family are now

graduated and they're living in the valley. Yeah, I watched the Valley too. It's really good. It's so good. And Shars of Sunset, I loved too. And I love that they're doing the Valley Persian style now. Love it. But reality TV doesn't always feature authentic people.

Like, they know that the camera is there. And that can lead to its own kind of interest as a viewer. But with Shaz of Sunset, I felt they are all, almost all of them, living their authentic truth. Yes. And I've found it history. Historically fascinating, that there is this community of Iranians who ended up in L.A. after the revolution.

And there was one bit in the first or second season, I think, where a group of them traveled back to Iran and it was so incredibly moving. You've got to get into Southern Hospitality and Southern Charm. Oh, sorry, I watched those two. So good. Watch those two. They are so good. So good. The fact that Justin from Southern Hospitality is dating Charlie from Southern Charm, who we got to know because she was dating Craig Conover, who was once dating Pegg de Sorbo from Summerhouse.

I mean, it's just a beautiful, it's like one of those whiteboards in a detective series where you're just drawing all of the lines between the various suspects. I'm obsessed with the Summerhouse drama that ensued after last season. Isn't it wild how these shows can have such an impact on pop culture? And an event between two reality stars can become. an actual pop culture moment. Isn't that insane? It's beautiful. It's beautiful, thank you.

Because I'm so beautiful. Because you and I spend so much time joyously in this world. We know so much about it. And the world at large can be quite dismissive of that a lot of the time. And then a story will break through. And suddenly we're the experts that people turn to. It comes to us. Like, let me tell you.

Scandival. Obviously, huge example of that. I remember where I was when I found out that scandalval. It was like, it was a generational moment in time. I was so shocked. And then the summer house of it, wow, I can't get enough of it. I can't get, and I know we're dealing with real people's lives. And I just want to acknowledge that, that there's clearly so much emotion involved.

What's so interesting in the age that we're now watching, Hey, You, is the social media dialogue that accompanies it. Yes. So so much of the content creation is coming from these incredibly talented Instagrammers and TikTokers who are putting together the dots and sharing their breadcrumbing investigations with us. So we get to experience it on the show, then in real time, then with the reunion. It's so multifaceted. I have to say Salt Lake City, what I love about Salt Lake City, because they're one of my favorite franchises. Yes, of course.

Every episode, every scene is a banger. Yes. So true. There's never just a chill minute or anything. They'll go for a coffee and it'll be a fight. Yes. And also, cinematically. The way that it is filmed and edited, I mean, all of these shows are so brilliantly edited and put together.

But Salt Lake City, the finale of the penultimate season, was it season five, where they uncover the internet personality of Monica. class member. And they're all on the beach and there are these stills from that shoot that are like Caravaggio. The life is stunning. Absolutely stunning. And convey so much relatable emotion. I think that's a thing. So yes, they can have unhinged fights. And, you know, one of my husband's boring complaints will be, oh, but it's just women fighting. I'm like, no, it's not. And it really annoys me when people say that and I find it sexist. Like it's actually not. It's about the underpinning a friendship. And real friendship is about rupture and repair. And I think there's been some research done that watching these shows is good for our mental health because it shows us fallouts and then a rebuilding because these shows hold you accountable. Not only within the friendship group, whether we're talking about Housewives or Summer House or Below Deck, but on screen because they have to do confessionals. which is kind of therapy, right? They're being asked to look back over their own behaviour.

And I find that so fascinating. Imagine being one of them and then seeing a confessional of one of your friends and then they just shred you in the confession. Would that be wild? It's basically just like you said, you get an insight into your friend's therapy session. Like the recent season of Beverly Hills, Amanda Francis finding out the Rachel Zoh.

Didn't actually like her all along. She's like, I had no idea. I know. Did you like Amanda? Okay, so my arc with Amanda Francis started off, saw her, she was introduced as the author of Rich as Fuck. Right. They showed the book cover and she explained what it was about. I went away and I downloaded that immediately.

I listened to it on audio. Then obviously, my relationship with her dipped massively because she seemed so entitled. But I did find her deeply compelling to watch because I loved that intergenerational. a relationship that we got between her and the other women and how the other women were actually triggered by her was fascinating. Then I ended up absolutely loving her again by the reunion. Because at the reunion...

Redemption. She practiced what she preaches. She stayed super calm and in her centre. She had receipts for everything. And every single point she was bang on. And I really want her to come back for a second season, but she's saying she's not. She's saying, you're right about that.

And she even presented those receipts very beautifully. It wasn't aggressive. She's like, actually, I think you said that on camera. Like really calmly. And they're like, she's like, absolutely not. And then they'd have played the exact same. That's it for this week, Wednesdays. But God, don't you just fancy some more, Melissa?

Yeah, I'd really love a follow-up to some of those dilemmas. I want to know what happens. Well, then, tini's, we have got some news for you. We have launched a premium version of Wednesdays. Now, listen, subscribers get access to the podcast. add free with bonus episodes. It's pretty amazing. It's also packed full of dilemma follow-ups, which we love, and some of our more personal stories and recommendations. And it's super easy. You just listen on your favourite app. How cool is that? Amazing. And all the info is in the episode

description and in our Instabio.