Art imitating life. Or, one artistic mind inspiring others. Yes, James Kennedy earned that title this season. Nothing beats his quirky zingers in confessional. And the leaked Vanderpump Rules reunion trailer gave us a new slew of insults from the DJ towards cheating pariah Tom Sandoval.
Sandoval has dealt with a lot of public backlash since news of his affair with Raquel Leviss broke. There have been boycotts of his restaurant, Schwartz & Sandy’s. Members of the public also flooded Yelp with poor reviews of the eatery he opened with bestie Tom Schwartz.
Attendance at his Sandoval & The Most Extras concerts plummeted as well. Presumably, Raquel is no longer attending either. Sandoval must be feeling the public’s scorn for cheating on Ariana Madix. But Vanderpump Rules fans aren’t done yet.
Queens of Bravo graced us all with documentation of what went down at one of Sandoval’s recent gigs. Noticeably, the mustache is gone. Even more noticeably is a trio of concertgoers holding up signs meant to troll the frontman at the event.
The Instagram account posted a picture and video from Sandoval’s concert. Three members of the crowd are holding signs reading, “Worm with a mustache,” and “Poo Poo head,” and “Team Ariana.” James can be credited for the first two of those zingers.
Queens of Bravo captioned the post, “Somebody buy them drinks all night!” VPR alum Jax Taylor jumped in to comment. He’s been very vocal in criticizing Sandoval. Count Kristen Doute, and Lala Kent in that group as well.
Jax’s comment got a lot of responses in agreement. He wrote, “dude your voice is f—ing awful people pay for this?” Indeed, Sandoval’s poor vocals are a whole other element. There really isn’t much that he is not being trolled for right now. To that point, some followers suggested Sandoval is the victim of bullying as a result of the signs.
Catch the Vanderpump Rules Season 10 finale on Wednesday 9/8c on Bravo.
TELL US- WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE SIGNS? DO YOU CONSIDER IT BULLYING? HOW MUCH LONGER WILL THE PUBLIC GIVE SANDOVAL A HARD TIME?
Eventually, after the series paused, Andy Cohen announced that RHONY would be split into two different shows. One would feature an entirely new cast of ladies, while the other would be a “legacy” version featuring the series’ original Housewives and familiar faces. Needless to say, after months and months of waiting, RHONY: Legacy still hasn’t happened, and fans are begging to know why.
In March 2023, reports began circulating that Andy and Jill Zarin were at odds following the “thirsty” dig he took at the star on Watch What Happens Live. During negotiations for legacy, Zarin tried to use this to her advantage but ultimately lost out altogether.
Jill says she didn’t cause the show to be axed
Sources close to the other women involved said Jill’s attempt to have a massive payday sent the series in the gutter. “[Jill] pushing for a big payday was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” they said, while Jill’s source has denied those claims. “It wasn’t about the money. Jill just wanted all the women to be paid the same. They started at the same time.” But now, Jill is speaking for herself. 2
“’Legacy’ didn’t happen because it just wasn’t meant to happen, that’s the truth,” Jill said to Page Six.
“It has nothing to do with me. It has to do with the producers and what they decided to do. I don’t really know.”
Despite how often Andy or her co-stars have called her thirsty, the RHONY OG says she’s actually quite quenched. “I don’t miss it,” she said. “I’m a big fan. I love watching it but that was a chapter of my life that’s closed and I’ve opened up a few new ones.”
If you’re a fan of Jill and still missing the OG on your screen, you can still stream Season 2 of Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip and keep hoping for a Zarin return to New York.
The rebooted Real Housewives of New York City premieres July 16, 2023, at 9/8c on Bravo.
TELL US – DO YOU WISH LEGACY HAPPENED? WOULD YOU HAVE LIKED TO SEE JILL ON THE SHOW?
The premiere of Real Housewives of Atlanta Season 15 introduced us to new friends, lovers, and intro photos — new everything. But, unfortunately, it also introduced us to the fact that Shereé Whitfield’s new romance with Martell Holt will drive the drama this season. Between Shereé’s new boyfriend and her newly introduced friend Courtney Rhodes, Shereé has built an army of agitators ready to spice things up this season, for better or worse.
A birthday bashing
THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA — “Who’s Gonna Check My New Boo?” Episode 1501 — Pictured: Sanya Richards Ross — (Photo by: Moses Robinson/Bravo)
Episode 2 picked up right where the premiere left off — at Aaron Ross’ $100,000 40th birthday party. If it weren’t for Sanya Richards-Ross reminding us every two minutes that it’s her husband’s birthday, you might have forgotten why they’re all dressed up in their Harlem Nights attire. There’s so much drama happening at this function that it’s hard to focus.
In one corner, Kandi Burruss is trying her hardest not to headbutt Courtney. In the other corner, Kenya Moore is trying to tell Shereé about the DM she once received from Martell. Kandi had also previously shared a rumor that Martell was dating someone else in Atlanta, putting Shereé’s new relationship entirely on blast. So, Kenya and Shereé assembled all the ladies to sit down and sort through the mess.
The Martell of it all
The real meat of this episode was the conflict between Martell, Shereé, and Kenya. After being accused of sliding into Kenya’s DMs, Martell tried to show his Instagram DMs to prove that not only was it innocent, but it happened back in 2020. No one cared about Martell’s receipts. No one was buying it. So, he got defensive and threw some major shade at Kenya, commenting that she probably accepts every DM request she receives.
You can’t come for the shade assassin like that and just walk away unscathed. So, Kenya immediately started arguing with Martell. She shouted at him, “Once a cheater, always a cheater,” and honestly, she’s not wrong. Either way, Martell fighting with Kenya at the party is probably not how Shereé expected her boyfriend’s RHOA debut to go. She needs to take him off camera and gently remind him that he isn’t competing for a peach. Just go stand in the corner and smoke a cigar with Aaron and Ralph Pittman.
During the fight, Kenya delivers a poignant statement to Shereé regarding Martell’s behavior. She said, “He’s talking to me like he’s eventually going to talk to you.”
That comment should have made Shereé pause. Unfortunately, it didn’t, and at this moment, it became clear that this is one of those Housewives fights that’s just too heavy to be fun.
Later in the episode, Kenya and Shereé meet to discuss what happened at the party. Kenya shares her feeling about Martell. She thinks he was being too aggressive. Kenya does not want to be cussed out by a man, and she’s made that clear several times on this show over the years. Can you blame her? On the other hand, Shereé thinks that Kenya is being reckless with her language by publicly painting a Black man as “aggressive.”
Shereé’s concerns are valid, but Kenya is also one thousand percent correct that she shouldn’t have to be yelled at or berated by this man. It’s a sticky situation, and neither backed down from their stance. There’s no way this plot point isn’t going to rear its ugly head again this season.
Drew makes her debut
After missing the premiere episode, Drew Sidora makes her big Season 15 debut. It turns out Ralph wasn’t completely lying about her whereabouts. She really was dealing with a family crisis. She reveals that she was in Chicago visiting her dad, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. He’s living in a nursing home, and that’s putting stress on her entire family back home.
In five minutes, we learned more about Drew than we have in her entire run on the show. She’s traded in her “Drop It with Drew” nonsense and seems to be delivering an honest, vulnerable storyline. She’s also pursuing a music project with Ralph. It’s a little passion project, and seeing Drew being so authentic is refreshing. It’s like she’s finally gotten into the groove of how to be a Real Housewife.
During these scenes, she and Ralph seem to be better than ever. Drew is speaking positively about her marriage. It’s a different vibe than what they showed in the previous seasons when Ralph disappeared to Tampa. We should be happy to see their loving little household, but it’s uncomfortable watching them knowing what we know now about their looming divorce.
Biscuits or bullets
THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA — Pictured: (l-r) Kandi Burruss, Todd Tucker — (Photo by: Steve Dietl/Bravo)
Last week, Todd Tucker was working on writing a script for a movie. This week, he’s back in his restaurants alongside Kandi. Episode 2 brought us to Blaze Steak and Seafood as the dynamic duo sampled some new foods for the menu.
Here we are, thinking this is just another mundane Kandi and Todd restauranteur scene to fill the hour. It seemed like one of those scenes where for a moment, you can focus less on the show and more on refilling your drink and scrolling through Twitter. However, a producer enters the scene out of nowhere, breaking down the fourth wall like a wrecking ball.
“Are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?” the producer asked Kandi. What elephant? Oh, the fact that your cousin is sitting here with a massive brace on his arm because he got shot in the restaurant by another employee, and it’s been all over the headlines? Yes, that elephant.
The producer pretty much forced Kandi and Todd to talk about the shooting at Blaze. In their confessional interviews, the Housewives weighed in on the restaurant drama, with Shereé making an iconic quip that we don’t know if we’ll get biscuits or bullets when dining at one of Kandi’s restaurants.
First, Courtney showed up at Aaron’s birthday party, ready to squabble with Kandi. Now, we have producers jumping into the scene to nudge Kandi into talking about the drama at her restaurants. Season 15 has officially made Kandi the longest-running Real Housewife cast member, but they’re going to make her work for that title this season.
TELL US – WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS ON RHOA SEASON 15 EPISODE 2? ARE YOU TEAM KENYA OR TEAM SHEREE? DO YOU THINK KANDI WOULD HAVE TALKED ABOUT THE RESTAURANT SHOOTING IF THE PRODUCER DIDN’T PROMPT HER TO DO IT?
The most recent rock was flung from Lenny’s camp. He accused Lisa of planting a “listening device” in his car. Clearly, Lenny believes he’s important enough to spy on. Lisa responded to Lenny’s latest claim on her Instagram Story and took the opportunity to throw her rock on Mother’s Day. Queens of Bravo shared the post.
You would think two responsible parents with children could at keep their mudslinging under the radar. But that wouldn’t garner either of them the attention they seek, so here we are.
Lisa isn’t having Lenny sway the convo in his direction with those pesky car-spying allegations. She wrote a message to her followers and called his implications “mean and calculated.” Lisa added Lenny’s unnecessary attempts to make her look lousy resulted from “pure deflection.”
She added, “He deletes any comments that go against the truth which are most. He was caught cheating on a mic. It shocked the country.” Ma’am, one second. Which country did it shock because I think we might have just dipped our toes in Lake Hyperbole.
Then Lisa went after Lisa 2.0, aka Katharina Mazepa. Lenny had chided Lisa for her active social life in lieu of having small children. But Lisa wonders why it’s okay for Katharina to go out “several nights a week.” Probably because Katharina doesn’t have children? Not sure that point went to Lisa, but she’s still playing.
“[Katharina is] working overtime using my divorce, suffering and Lennys [sic] court filings to get news stories for themselves otherwise noone [sic] would care,” Lisa explained. I’m not sure anyone cares about this divorce more than any other Bravo divorce, but … go on.
“I simply respond to defend myself,” Lisa admitted. Isn’t this why we hire lawyers? Lisa also wants you to know Lenny asked for baby #3 in front of “friends” a few days before he was busted with Lisa 2.0.
Lisa added after Lenny was clocked on camera, he bailed two days later to “start a new relationship with someone I suspect he has something for a long time who was around us and in my home for years.”
Despite Lisa moving on with Jody Glidden, she is still “living in hell.” “I’m still being bullied, lied about and provoked. Now by his girlfriend, mom, and more of her friends. These are such mean people,” she wrote.
In conclusion, Lisa just wanted to be left alone to enjoy her Mother’s Day, but obviously had to get all of this out before doing so. Team Kids.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK LENNY AND LISA NEED TO GO PRIVATE WITH THEIR FIGHTS? DO YOU THINK THIS RESPONSE WILL HELP LISA?
Disengaging, but still living together. Due to financial logistics, Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix are still living together under the same roof. It’s a challenging situation for Ariana. She has already survived a very public and humiliating break-up thanks to the disregard Sandoval and Raquel Leviss had for anything but their lust for each other.
Ariana has all the public support behind her, and her life is settling after the huge reshuffle. She is dating NYC based personal trainer Daniel Wai. Professionally, the Something About Her co-owner was also cast in a Lifetime movie.
Yet, there remains the issue of Ariana and Sandoval’s $2 million home in Valley Village. They purchased the luxury home in 2019, during happier times. Now it’s hanging like a dead-weight, twining the former couple together.
Ariana had ‘great memories’ of the house
An insider exclusively told Life & Style that Sandoval and Ariana are no longer sharing a bedroom. But having to cohabit with her ex-boyfriend is no less of a “nightmare” for Ariana.
“Tom and Ariana bought the $2 million in 2019 when everything was going well in their relationship, and now it’s all gone to hell,” the insider said on May 8. “Even though they avoided each other, being under the same roof was like living in a nightmare.”
It was previously revealed that Sandoval and Ariana were communicating through a mediator. That individual helped them, literally, navigate around each other in the home, sharing their comings and goings.
But it’s not just about avoiding Sandoval. Ariana is troubled by the fact that Sandoval and Raquel hooked up in her home. On one occasion, the former beauty pageant contestant slept over, or “dipped out,” when Ariana was out of state for her grandmother’s funeral.
“Ariana hates the thought of Tom and Raquel hooking up in various rooms. The house had great memories, she loved living there, but he and Raquel ruined that for her,” the insider added.
And that’s the issue. The inescapable ghost of mistresses past.
Catch the Season 10 finale of Vanderpump Rules Wednesday May 17th at 9/8c on Bravo.
TELL US – WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO TOM AND ARIANA’S LIVING SITUATION? HOW WOULD YOU DEAL IN THIS SITUATION?
With so many stories of reality TV stars cheating on each other or divorcing, it’s nice to get a wholesome story every now and then. Love is Blind in particular could really use the wholesome coverage after reports of the “emotional warfare” the stars went through.
Couples matched on reality TV shows are pretty infamous for their lack of endurance. Most contestants end up finding love after the show with non-contestants. It makes one question the validity of such dating competitions in the first place. So, again, it’s quite refreshing when a couple like Zack Goytowski and Bliss Poureetazadi are still together for their one-year wedding anniversary.
Zack and Bliss met on Love is Blind Season 4. Zack was involved in a love triangle with Bliss and Irina Solomonova. After Zack and Irina realized they weren’t good together, she encouraged him to pursue Bliss once more, and Bliss and Zack were married by the Season 4 finale.
To celebrate their first anniversary, the couple took a week-long cruise over to Europe. The couple broadcasted their week of romance on Instagram, with Zack making a heartfelt post saying how he was “already in awe of Bliss” when they were married. “But over the next year I would learn she is so much more than I ever could have imagined.”
He went on to praise everything he loved about his wife, including her tenacity, resilience, loyalty, and how she always finds beauty in everything. “She is everything I was looking for and things I didn’t even know I should have been looking for. I feel so honored and proud to call her my wife … It was incredibly difficult to keep this a secret for the last year.”
Here’s hoping for many more happy anniversaries to come! Perhaps we might even see Zack and Bliss on a less disastrous Love is Blind reunion.
TELL US – WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON ZACK’S CELEBRATION OF HIS WIFE? DO YOU THINK ZACK AND BLISS WILL KEEP THRIVING TOGETHER?
What’s with the over-explaining? Gina Kirschenheiter of Real Housewives of Orange County is responding to the weight debate on social media. Some of her fan (I mean hater) feedback questions how she lost recent weight. Gina insists she’s healthy and not on a weight loss drug, and decided weighing herself would be the proof. Is it?
Gina you look fine; haters gonna hate. Going on the defense just makes people question. And if you feel healthy in your own skin, and confident in your own skin why are we having this conversation. I’m not sure bringing the scales into it is going to prove…
What does Gina say?
We appreciate that you’re eating. Yay! Gina says on Tick Tock, “I’m a size 6. If I wasn’t eating I would be a 2. Go kick rocks.” She added, “I am very healthy, very average,” and “and it’s not my fault that you want to try and make something that’s not there, my friend.”
Last month Gina told People “I haven’t talked about it with anyone really.” She added, “People keep saying to me on Instagram, ‘You’ve lost weight, are you on Ozempic?’ And I want to be like, ‘No, I just stopped drinking!’ So I’m excited to finally get my story out now.” There we have it – Gina wants to talk about it.
Truth be told, I don’t know how these ladies are losing weight after cutting the sauce. Gina, Kyle – I quit drinking four years ago and I think it upped my donut intake. Good for them for making healthy choices they are comfortable with, but if the National Institute of Health comes out with a study on how abstaining from alcohol equates to weight-loss I’m calling bs.
The orange-holders of Real Housewives will be back on our screens June 7th. Watch for the return of Tamra, her tension with Heather, the jealousy of OG Vicki, and now we know Gina’s story is somewhat based around lifestyle choices.
TELL US – IS GINA WASTING HER BREATH ONLINE? IS S17 GOING TO BE A “RETURN TO FORM”? WHAT ARE THE OTHER STORYLINES GOING TO BE?
Okay, Ms. Whitfield! Should we call you grandma? No, that’s not right – it’s glam-ma (AKA Gorgeous Glam-ma). Sheree Whitfield of Real Housewives of Atlanta is back on the air, but she is also in family mode celebrating Mother’s Day.
Sheree’s middle child, and only son Kairo became a father last July with girlfriend, Alina Baber. Sheree is talking glammahood, telling People, “I always hear people say that being a grandparent is so much different than being a parent; that the love you have for that grand-baby is unique, and I definitely understand that now that I’ve experienced it.”
Sheree’s new love, Baby Mecca Joie is making an appearance on her Instagram along with a photoshoot with her daughters and son. Sheree posts, “To be a queen you must know how to raise queens” alongside Tierra and Kaleigh. Adding to her Sheree-isms she says, “Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling.” True. It either calls you, or it comes a calling. Either way, babies are a blessing.
Sheree’s extra special pic of Mecca talks about the love she feels for her. And the baby is wearing She by Sheree to boot! So where did this baby’s name come from? “Kairo came up with the name, it means the center of his world.” And “not only is Mecca the center of his world, but she’s the center of his joy” (speaking to Joie).
And grandpa?
In terms of family, Sheree said, “Having Mecca … brought another level of closeness and love.” This sentiment brings to mind that ex-husband, Bob Whitfield is now a grandfather. No official word from Bob yet, but Bob’s website says, “The only thoughts to share are the ones that have meaning.” We will quietly assume those include his granddaughter.
Back to the bone collector, the ladies are supporting her in the comments of her posts. But will they be supporting her this season? Will the tension between her and Kandi settle? Will they co-sign her new man?
You can watch Sheree and all the ladies deliver on RHOA Season 15 on Sunday nights on Bravo.
TELL US – ARE YOU WATCHING RHOA S15? WILL THE BONE COLLECTOR DELIVER? CAN YOU PICTURE SHEREE AS A GRANDMA?
