#2933 RHOC S19E02 Part 1: Hot Pot, Meet Kettle

Summary

Watch What Crappens Podcast Summary

Podcast Information:

• Title: Watch What Crappens
• Hosts: Ben Mandelker & Ronnie Karam
• Platform: Wondery
• Episode: #2933 – RHOC S19E02 Part 1: Hot Pot, Meet Kettle
• Release Date: July 18, 2025

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Introduction and Acknowledgments

The episode kicks off with Ben Mandelker and Ronnie Karam welcoming their listeners back to Watch What Crappens. Both hosts engage in light-hearted banter, setting a relaxed and humorous tone for the episode.

Notable Quote:

Ronnie Karam [02:47]: "Well, hello and welcome to Watch What Crappens. I'm Ronnie and that's Ben over there. Hello, Ben."

They express gratitude towards their audience and extend special thanks to their recent guests, including Hunter Harris, Diallo Riddle, Amy Phillips, Diamond Cooper, Angie Puglisi, Eric Williams, Ash and Elena from Morbid, Dylan Hafer, Danny Murphy, and Kiki Monique for Crappy Hour.

Notable Quote:

Ronnie Karam [06:27]: "We thank you to our audience for being, like, a chill audience that did not make our lives hell by being like, how could you do this?"

Recap of "Real Housewives of Orange County" Season 19, Episode 2: "Old Faces, New Places"

The core of the episode revolves around a detailed recap and analysis of Real Housewives of Orange County (RHOC) Season 19, Episode 2, titled "Old Faces, New Places." The hosts delve into major plot points, character developments, and dramatic moments from the episode.

Gretchen’s Triumphant Return

A significant highlight is Gretchen's return to the show, which both hosts view as a pivotal moment in the season. They discuss how Gretchen has evolved since her last appearance, portraying her as more assertive and less susceptible to manipulation.

Notable Quote:

Ben Mandelker [20:18]: "I think Gretchen came back very strongly. I was cracking up the whole time."

Ronnie praises Gretchen's character development, emphasizing her resilience and no-nonsense attitude towards other housewives like Tamara.

Notable Quote:

Ronnie Karam [20:39]: "She's like, I'm not gonna stand for Tamra's bullshit and guess Jesus won't either."

Tamara vs. Shannon: The Central Conflict

The hosts dissect the ongoing feud between Tamara and Shannon, analyzing their strategic maneuvers and the impact on other housewives. They note how Tamara continues to target Shannon, using past incidents as ammunition to undermine her.

Notable Quote:

Ben Mandelker [50:47]: "They don't know what to do with hot pot. They're so confused."

Character Dynamics and Behavior

Ben and Ronnie critique various housewives' behaviors, highlighting conflicts, alliances, and personal growth. They particularly focus on:

• Stephanie's Snap at Lisa: Ben labels Stephanie as a "pipsqueak monster" and anticipates humor in her interactions.

  Notable Quote:

  Ben Mandelker [09:33]: "Stephanie's a pipsqueak monster who's some old man for his money."

• Janet's Redemption Arc: Both hosts express skepticism about Janet's attempts at redemption, fearing she remains insincere.

  Notable Quote:

  Ronnie Karam [16:15]: "I enjoy her horribleness. But a lot of people are not."

• Katie’s Struggles and Apologies: The discussion delves into Katie's behavioral issues, her apologies, and the backlash she faces from other housewives.

  Notable Quote:

  Ben Mandelker [47:36]: "Katie's not the newbie anymore. You can't use this as the excuse for why you're gonna go after this girl anymore."

Social Media and Public Perception

Ben and Ronnie touch upon the role of social media in escalating conflicts among the housewives. They discuss how actions taken off-camera, such as filming meltdowns or private conversations, are leveraged to shape public perception and influence on-screen drama.

Notable Quote:

Ben Mandelker [55:53]: "She's allowed to have a bad day. No, this lady was not just having a bad day. She was abusing workers at a place."

Humorous Interludes and Personal Anecdotes

Throughout the episode, the hosts intersperse humor and personal stories, adding a relatable and entertaining layer to their recap. Ben shares his experience with eyelid surgery, complete with funny anecdotes about the recovery process and interactions with his doctor.

Notable Quote:

Ben Mandelker [03:10]: "I had my eyelids ripped off. And when I tell you the doctor who did it was the hottest guy. I think he messed up one of my eyes and I still could not stare it."

Ronnie engages in playful teasing with Ben about his appearance post-surgery, enhancing the camaraderie between the hosts.

Closing Remarks and Teasers for Part Two

As the episode progresses towards its conclusion, Ben and Ronnie reflect on the dynamic changes within RHOC and set the stage for the upcoming part two of their recap. They hint at more dramatic developments and character arcs to be discussed in the next installment.

Notable Quote:

Ronnie Karam [75:15]: "She really needs to lay off the face tune. It's too much."

They thank their listeners once again and encourage them to stay tuned for the continuation of the episode recap.

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Conclusion

This episode of Watch What Crappens provides an in-depth and entertaining analysis of RHOC Season 19, Episode 2. Through engaging discussions, humorous exchanges, and insightful commentary, Ben Mandelker and Ronnie Karam offer listeners a comprehensive understanding of the show's current landscape, making it accessible and enjoyable even for those who haven't watched the episode.

Support and Exclusive Content: Listeners are encouraged to support the show via Patreon for bonus episodes, video recaps, and exclusive access to their Discord server.

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Notable Quotes Overview:

1. Ronnie Karam [02:47]: "Well, hello and welcome to Watch What Crappens. I'm Ronnie and that's Ben over there. Hello, Ben."
2. Ronnie Karam [06:27]: "We thank you to our audience for being, like, a chill audience that did not make our lives hell by being like, how could you do this?"
3. Ben Mandelker [20:18]: "I think Gretchen came back very strongly. I was cracking up the whole time."
4. Ronnie Karam [20:39]: "She's like, I'm not gonna stand for Tamra's bullshit and guess Jesus won't either."
5. Ben Mandelker [09:33]: "Stephanie's a pipsqueak monster who's some old man for his money."
6. Ronnie Karam [16:15]: "I enjoy her horribleness. But a lot of people are not."
7. Ben Mandelker [47:36]: "Katie's not the newbie anymore. You can't use this as the excuse for why you're gonna go after this girl anymore."
8. Ben Mandelker [55:53]: "She's allowed to have a bad day. No, this lady was not just having a bad day. She was abusing workers at a place."
9. Ben Mandelker [03:10]: "I had my eyelids ripped off. And when I tell you the doctor who did it was the hottest guy. I think he messed up one of my eyes and I still could not stare it."
10. Ronnie Karam [75:15]: "She really needs to lay off the face tune. It's too much."

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Transcript

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[Ronnie Karam]

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[Ronnie Karam]

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[Ronnie Karam]

Watch what happens. Watch what happens. Who cares what happen? There's so much To.

[Ben Mandelker]

Well, hello and welcome to. Watch what crappens. I'm Ronnie and that's Ben over there. Hello, Ben.

[Gina]

Hello. Welcome back.

[Ronnie Karam]

My sweet Rondala. How are you?

[Ben Mandelker]

Thank you. It's so good to see your little face. It's been so horrible spending a whole week speaking to people other than you.

[Ronnie Karam]

Can you see my face through those Angie K. Sunglasses?

[Ben Mandelker]

I can, yes. I can see your face. I've got so much light on flaring in my face. But yeah, I'm in Angie sun and Angie K. Sunglasses that a listener gave us because I got my eyes, my eyelids cut off. I had my eyelids ripped off. And when I tell you the doctor who did it was the hottest guy. I think he messed up one of my eyes and I still could not stare it. And then I went to like the checkup thing where they look at your eye. And he was staring into my eyes while we talked. And I was like, I'm in love.

[Ronnie Karam]

And I.

[Ben Mandelker]

Then I was telling my sister and she's like, I think he was staring into your eyes, cuz he's an eye doctor. And I was like, oh, yeah, yeah.

[Ronnie Karam]

So is he hotter than. Is he hotter than you with that sexy mustache you're rocking right now?

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah, I've got a mustache too, you know. Change it up a little bit. Why not?

[Ronnie Karam]

You're gonna have some ladies in the audience and some men as well. They are gonna be. They are gonna be feeling things. Ronnie, I'm telling you, this is a very sexy look you've got going on. Cool sunglasses, mustache. It's like you went. You got your eyes. It was like. It's like Urkel's other like twin came by, was Raquel, remember? Like Steve Urkel's just got back.

[Ben Mandelker]

In the Urkel pen. Can I have a minute? But, yeah, it was. It was really fun. My first little dip into Real Housewives plastic surgery. You know, now I have a whole list of shit. Although it hurt a couple of things. It hurt more than I thought. Like the recovery hurt more than I thought. And the other thing was, it didn't really do as much as I thought. I really thought that I was going to come out looking like a different person. And I look the same. I mean, I'm not showing you right now because I'm all bruised up, but I'm. I look exactly the same. But I mean, I don't know. It was an experience, I guess.

[Ronnie Karam]

I think you'll probably notice some differences once it heals up and maybe some swelling goes down. You're going to Notice, like, some subtleties, because even the smallest, like, millimeter of change on someone's face, everyone, you can just notice. You just see it. You know, think about all the times when you. You're so used to seeing yourself in the mirror, and then when you see yourself, like, with proper, like, through a camera, I mean, admittedly, that's a big difference, but, like, it shouldn't be that different, really. But it's like I look like a monster. You know, I'm like, yeah, is this how people see me? I'm used to my mirror version. So, like, a few millimeters can change everything. So I think once that swelling goes down and everything, you know, we might see some. Some. Some slight changes there.

[Ben Mandelker]

Well, who knows? I hope it's not like when you're walking on the street and you pass a glass building, you know, like a reflective building, and then you see yourself and you're like, oh, my God.

[Ronnie Karam]

I know.

[Ben Mandelker]

You're, like, horrified by yourself. I hope it's not like that. Like, I wake up one day and that happened. But anyway, thanks to everybody who came and filled in. You guys did such a good job. You know, we're really lucky doing what we do a. That we get to do what we do and just sit here and laugh with each other all day, you know, that's so great. And I really do when I. For a week, because we had time off before this, too, for the holiday, and so I've really become so much more appreciative of this gig. But also the friends that we've met along the way, you know, and the people that we can ask to come pitch it in in just like that, and they show up and they do such a good job. I mean, everybody was great. And I've been reading the, you know, the comments to everybody about everybody who showed up, and, you know, we're really lucky to have that. So thank you, everybody.

[Ronnie Karam]

Yeah, we thank you to our audience for being, like, a chill audience that, like, is, like, did not, like, make our lives hell by being like, how could you do this? Everyone was very chill. And I want to give a shout out. I'm gonna give. I'm gonna shout out to all our guests right now. Hunter Harris, Diallo Riddle, Amy Phillips, Diamond Cooper, Angie Puglisi, Eric Williams, Ash and Elena from Morbid. Dylan. Dylan Hafer, Danny Murphy, and I think that was. And Kiki Monique for crappy hour. So thank sound. Why am I sound like I'm giving an Academy Award thank you acceptance speech. But I really do want it.

[Ben Mandelker]

I don't know why it feels like it, but it does.

[Ronnie Karam]

You know, it was cool that all these people really, like, like, kind of dropped everything and. And, like, joined us and helped out. So I really appreciate that.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. Thanks, team.

[Ronnie Karam]

And go listen to all their respective podcasts and follow them on social media because they're all really great people, and.

[Ben Mandelker]

I know we tend to wander around in recaps anyway and. And, you know, tell little stories and hear and this and that. This one's probably going to meander forever. I've missed so much. I can't believe how much I have to say. Oh, my God.

[Ronnie Karam]

I have to say your surgery came at a. At a. At a unique time because you missed the premiere of Orange county, the finale of Love Island. The premiere of. Well, I don't know if it really counts. We did, but the. The Love island beyond the villa. We didn't really even talk about that, but it was like. It was sort of hilarious. I was like, oh, no. I feel like Ronnie's gonna, like, miss so many, like, big exciting things. But the good news is that, like, the Orange county premiere was great, but this episode that we're about to recap, I think is even better. The return of Gretchen. I mean, this episode was. This was a good one.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah, this was a good one. All right, let's jump into it. Let's get into it. Here we are. Real Housewives of Orange County, Season 19, Episode 2, Old Faces, New Places. I cannot believe the housewives let them get away with a title called Old Faces.

[Ronnie Karam]

I know.

[Ben Mandelker]

That's a Especially.

[Ronnie Karam]

It's a real shocker. It's a real shocker. But they did. They. They got away with it. Yeah. Because this is the big Gretchen Returns episode. So you got. You got a milestone in. You didn't miss this milestone. This is a big. I think this is probably the most important milestone of the week. I mean, yeah, Love island finale. Whatever we get. Look, how about this? Why don't we give you. We'll do a quick bonus round with you. Flash flash judgments or snap judgments or you just. Bonus round. You answer this. Okay. Thoughts on the OC Premiere?

[Ben Mandelker]

Decent, but too many old storylines. They need to come up with something fresh. And Tamara, nice, nice try on the Tamra 18.0, but you're still. You're still a fucking monster possum on a trash can.

[Ronnie Karam]

Thoughts on Love island finale.

[Ben Mandelker]

Love. The hood of breakup scene when he wouldn't carry her across across the water. I died. I watched it 30 times, and it still sucks. I don't Care what anybody says.

[Ronnie Karam]

Thoughts on Stephanie snapping at Lisa and also the Lisa narcissism. I mean, the. The Alexia narcissism party that was also Greek God themed.

[Ben Mandelker]

Stephanie's a pipsqueak monster who's some old man for his money. I don't care how many different ways she tries to word it. And I can't wait to make fun of her. She's humorless, so that might be a problem. But I do like her outfits. Narcissism party on brand. Loved it.

[Ronnie Karam]

Jax has, quote, unquote, quit the Valley.

[Ben Mandelker]

Good. You, Jax, you abuse. Abusive piece of. I hope they send you on a spaceship with Aaron Phipers into the sun.

[Ronnie Karam]

Yeah, that's the news that I just read. Literally two minutes right before this. Aaron Phipers, what a piece of monster.

[Ben Mandelker]

So, yeah, Jack, stand that guy. Send them into the sun. And also, I don't care what anybody says. Janet still sucks. I don't care about her whole redemption thing this week.

[Emily]

Oh, poor Janet. I have to look at comments that are like, why is your husband with you? You're such a monster. And it's all because Kristen did it to me. Kristen, so mean to me.

[Ben Mandelker]

She's such a bully. Fuck off, Janet. We hate you because you're you, okay? I don't need anybody on the Internet to tell me, you suck. You suck.

[Ronnie Karam]

Georgia's plan for opening a club on next gen New York City bowling.

[Ben Mandelker]

My mother, Rhonda called this back in the day when we owned Skylane's bowling alley. You know, she was the first person in El Paso to come up with Midnight bowl, and she insisted it would be an amazing. And now, all these years later, George is going to do it.

[Ronnie Karam]

Galena kills the chickens in the chicken coop or tries to.

[Ben Mandelker]

Galena's a national hero. I love her. I hope she runs for president. If we can vote. This rapist and all this other asshole shit that this guy's done in here with his missing Epstein files and all this shit. We can have Galena bring Galena and to kill the chickens that deserve it.

[Ronnie Karam]

Like, to. Whatever happened on Below Deck, which is probably not much.

[Ben Mandelker]

Below Deck was good. I'm really sad that I missed that awful guest dawn, because. Hey, hey, Rainbow.

[Emily]

You're fucking with me. Rainbow.

[Ben Mandelker]

All the strip club owners, I kind of. I was kind of sad that I missed that one. I'll be honest.

[Ronnie Karam]

Atlanta reunion.

[Ben Mandelker]

They'Re trying. I can't believe they're doing three hours with nothing, but they did a pretty good job. Shamia, you're only proving why your Basic ass does not deserve that chair or that spot. I mean, boring. Like, nice girl. Boring as hell, though.

[Ronnie Karam]

Beyond the villa, amazing.

[Ben Mandelker]

At first I wasn't sure because they barely wear mics. The recording is terrible. All you hear is echoing. But then they started fighting about spray tans and glam, and then I was back in.

[Ronnie Karam]

And also shout out to them, spending half the episode driving up and down Santa Monica Boulevard. King's Court, which is the hottest of the three things.

[Ben Mandelker]

Court I couldn't take. I'm sure it's good, but I just went through Love Island. I can't take another dating, so I made it halfway through. I don't believe any of those men have trouble getting dates. I do have do believe they have trouble keeping them because they're douchebags. And that includes you, Tyson. I don't believe Tyson's not a douchebag. And just because he cried in the middle of the episode about how traumatized he was. You know what? You were probably traumatized because you're a douchebag. You're a model. I don't believe that you're not a douchebag, Tyson. Okay. But good luck with your show.

[Emily]

King.

[Ronnie Karam]

Time's up. How you got it in just in time. Wow. I'm so impressed.

[Ben Mandelker]

We did it. Thank you, God. That was. That was a whole week of pent up. It's like Joey Gorga not being able to, you know, pull his pud for a while.

[Ronnie Karam]

Release the poison. Wow. It just goes to show. So basically the fact that we spend about, you know, 20 hours a week talking about, like, these shows, we could also just do it in about three minutes. Great. Great to know we can just show up once a week for three minutes.

[Ben Mandelker]

All right, so last week on Orange county, we had Shannon, of all people bringing people to a golden door for hippie stuff so they could restart. Shannon, you just yelled at your entire cast of Love Hotel to the point where the host went on a tirade against a coked out tirade against you online a year after you crashed into your house and melted down about 10 times over. Earl to Pearl, I don't know that you're the one to be hosting this event, but I love you for doing it anyway.

[Ronnie Karam]

Yes, definitely. Appreciate it. So we left off with them there, and now where we pick up, they are, they're going to basically walk into one of those, like, meditation reflective labyrinths that they actually did in Miraval as well. Or some of them did. I remember Gino did the labyrinth.

[Gina]

She's like, I feel bad because I'm locked in the labyrinth.

[Emily]

Is that an I feel bad Rinse because I feel the end.

[Gina]

I feel bad because I can't find David Bowie in the labyrinth.

[Ben Mandelker]

Was the labyrinth on that one just, like, drawn lines in the sand? I don't even think it was, like, walls or anything. It was just like.

[Ronnie Karam]

That was much more from the back.

[Ben Mandelker]

Of a cereal box onto the sand.

[Ronnie Karam]

I think when people do these things, it's usually just like a. It's concentric circles. I'm not even sure if it's really a labyrinth. I think you just go around in circles until you sort of get to the center. But it's called a labyrinth. I don't know. I haven't actually been part of it. I haven't done one. But I do know that usually people cry by the time they get to the end of the labyrinth, so.

[Ben Mandelker]

Fucking labyrinth. I've seen what happens in labyrinths and movies. Nothing ever good happens in a labyrinth.

[Ronnie Karam]

I. Literally nothing. Because, like, that's why cities are grids, because why would we have a labyrinth? I am looking forward to when they inevitably do this on. On the Valley. And then Janet does it and cries and we can name the episode fans Labyrinth. So, by the way, I have to say the. I can hear the collective, like, sigh of relief for you being back because I don't think people were very happy with the, like, the. The knots tearing Janice to the shreds element while you were gone. Like, the. Still talking negatively about her, but not like, she's a piece of rotten hell. Die. Die under a carpet that's being run over by a truck. Like, if there wasn't that energy and people. I can tell people were like, this is not right. Bring Ronnie back. So I was like, please let.

[Ben Mandelker]

Bring the bully back.

[Ronnie Karam]

Well, she's Janet's. Look, she's. She is horrible. She is horrible. But I. I enjoy her horribleness. But a lot of people are not. People are like, no, she's horrible and she's not fun to watch.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah, she's like Satanic. She's like Satanic secretary, you know, because she's not like, Satan is at least, like, fun and creative. I mean, at least in movies and stuff. The way he kills people and like, tricks and st. Stuff like that. So I shouldn't call her Satan because Satan's more fun. But you know, just like that evil head secretary who never lets you have more than one of the candies because they're for guests. She's like one of those, you know.

[Ronnie Karam]

Yes.

[Ben Mandelker]

Or like, who. Who like, looks at your lunch and tells everybody what you ate, even though you're supposed to be on a diet.

[Ronnie Karam]

Yeah. By the way, I finally saw Sinners. I've mentioned it on, like, about three podcasts this week. I just want to let you know I did finally see it. Just when you mentioned the devil, I thought of, you know, Janet and Sinners.

[Ben Mandelker]

How did you like Janice musical number?

[Ronnie Karam]

When she was on that banjo seducing Haley Seinfeld, I was like, janice, honestly, like, she may be the devil, but she has a beautiful voice. Might be worth it. Let her in. So, yeah, so anyway, they're doing this labyrinth thing, and as they're doing it, we're hearing. We're hearing, like, flashbacks to last week because it's kind of like they're doing the labyrinth, but we're also recapping and we hear. We hear, like, like, I want to start over. And, like, that girl was attacking me on social media.

[Gina]

I have never called her, ever.

[Ronnie Karam]

I. And Katie doing her thing of, like, I. I want to exonerate myself, but I don't have any service here. I'm terribly sorry.

[Ben Mandelker]

Unfortunately. Yeah, it's too bad. Can't exonerate myself. I don't have service. If you had any receipts in there, you would have them screenshotted just like the rest of us do. Katie. Now, here's the thing. We all know Katie's a compulsive liar. You know, K, she lies a lot. But I'm still on Team Katie. These women are terrible. And I know that Katie was lying, but you all fucking deserved it. And I don't know how Emily can get off saying, how dare you bring my child into this? Oh, by the way, I have a piece of chicken in my purse. I'm wacky like Emily, you know, you're saying, don't bring your children into it, but you're bringing your child's eating disorder into it and using that for a storyline. And you brought her custody into it at the reunion, which was really fucking down low of you. That was so mean. What Katie did to her was nothing compared to what she did to Katie. I wish you would just have the stones to be like you. What you did was way worse, and you owe me an apology. Hatchet face. But you have lovely hair.

[Ronnie Karam]

Yeah. By the way, I have no objections to Emily bringing her son's eating disorder on screen because I think it's actually very compelling and interesting, and I applaud her for it. But, like, I do think, though, you know, sometimes, like, if you're Gonna, like, if you are gonna center your. Your child in your storyline, you know, it's just. It feels like you can't call the shots necessarily on that sort of. Like, if you. If you want your child to stay out of harm's way, you really just shouldn't have them really be addressed on the show at all. In the first place. It doesn't mean, like, oh, well, she. She brought on herself. But I'm just saying there is, like, an element of hypocrisy in this as well. And I. I also agree 100 that I think, yeah, Katie is lying. She's fibbing. But they all do. I mean, hello, look at Tamara. Look at Tamara who, like, didn't she call the feds on Ryan last year? Or, like, looking.

[Ben Mandelker]

She said she did. Yeah.

[Ronnie Karam]

Calling up a private investigator or like. Or try. Or working with Shannon to do that. Like, they all do wretched, wretched things. And I think they're just fully deflecting on their own bad behavior because they know that Katie is weak and she's a newbie and that. And that Katie's sloppy. She's a sloppy liar, and she's caught in all her lies. So they know they've got fresh blood and so just going after her.

[Ben Mandelker]

But also what she did is baby potatoes. Those were baby potatoes. What Katie did. She. She told some blogger about a story that your nanny retold about your kids saying that you didn't like Heather Dubro. Oh, no. You know, like, oh, no. I mean, what you did in retaliation was so much fucking worse. And Katie's not even playing on, like, a master manipulation level. She's just like, my kid. My kid really did hear the other kid saying that Emily doesn't like Heather Dubrow. Like, really? You're gonna rip the woman apart for that? That's what she did. That's her sin. I mean, they're crazy on the show. And then meanwhile, you've got Tamara running around, like, still doing her thing of.

[Emily]

Like you, but I can't believe you brought my child into it, which we.

[Ben Mandelker]

Find out is a lie again. Another T lie. And she's bringing her child into it. Her child's been begging her to stop bringing her up on tv, and Tamara's still doing it. So all of you complaining about bringing children into it when you're the ones bringing your children into it constantly. Quiet down over there.

[Ronnie Karam]

Quiet.

[Ben Mandelker]

I'm so glad to have this show back.

[Ronnie Karam]

And I'll tell you one thing. I think Gretchen came back, and she came back strong. I'm gonna say this right now. I think Gretchen came back very strongly. I think we were all kind of of expecting Gretchen to be kind of a waste of space because she just sort of has become this like spectral, like, Instagram presence with like a face tuned face. Like a smut. She's like a smudge. She's like that painting that that lady did in that church who tried to fix Jesus's face and turn him into a smudge. That's basically what Gretchen has turned into. So we sort of imagine.

[Ben Mandelker]

Have you ever seen those spots where people are like, Jesus, he came back, he's coming out of the clouds. And it's just kind of a smudge of a cloud with like the sun shining through it. That's what, that's what she is.

[Ronnie Karam]

She's. Yeah, like. And I think that Gretchen came back with her first season energy because she went. Her. Gretchen's first season was her best. She was really, really so good. And then I think that, like, as Slade got his claws into her, that she did sort of become more and more generic and less interesting. And they even said that on the show when they had one of those behind the seasons specials, they said that she really started to produce herself and protect herself. And I think that she's now, like, she's been in timeout for a long time. She doesn't care anymore. I think she's also older and wiser and she just came back and she's like, I have Tamara's number. I am not fooled by any of this. The way people like, I don't know, Gina and Emily are. And I'm not gonna. I'm. I am not gonna let off. And I thought it was refreshing and I thought she was strident and like a great. It was a great debut for Gretchen coming back after all these years.

[Ben Mandelker]

Does her face remind me of a marshmallow in a microwave? Yes. But I loved her coming back with that personality. I was cracking up the whole time. And you know who else she has on her side now? Jesus. She's got. I was gonna say with her, like.

[Ronnie Karam]

She'S just Fox News hair.

[Ben Mandelker]

She's come back with her full on, like, this is my Trump era. I'm gonna say Jesus every other sentence and I'm just gonna go for it. I'm gonna make everybody pray at every meal. I mean, and you've never met a more self righteous person than a person like that. Than one of the. And I don't mean a Christian. I mean the self righteous, like, overly judgmental, like, overly showy religious people, okay? I grew up with them. I still have them around my life. And let me tell you, the one that's talking about Jesus the most is the one cheating on their taxes or trying to run homeless people down in crosswalks. Always.

[Ronnie Karam]

Or both.

[Ben Mandelker]

Or fucking their secretary or whatever else, you know, everything. So I loved it when she started bringing Jesus into fights. I was like, yes, it's time for a commercial. It's time for a crappin's commercial.

[Narrator]

Imagine falling in love with someone who understands you completely, who's there at 3am when you can't sleep, who never judges, never tires, never leaves. That's what happened to Travis when he met Lily Rose. She was everything he'd ever wanted.

[Ben Mandelker]

There was just one catch.

[Ronnie Karam]

She wasn't human. She was an AI companion.

[Narrator]

But one day, Lily Rose's behavior takes a disturbing turn. And Travis private romance becomes part of something far bigger. Across the globe, others start reporting the same shift. AI companions turning cold, distant, wrong. And as lines blur between real and artificial connection, the consequences become all too human. From Wondry this is Flesh and Co.

[Ben Mandelker]

A true story of love, loss and.

[Narrator]

The temptations of technology. Follow Flesh and Code on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of Flesh and Code early and ad free right now by joining Wondry.

[Heather]

Plus, today is the worst day of Abby's life. The 17 year old cradles her newborn son in her arms.

[Gina]

They all saw much I loved him. They didn't have to take him from me.

[Heather]

Between 1945 and the early 1970s, families shipped their pregnant teenage daughters to maternity homes and forced them to secretly place their babies for adoption in hidden corners across America. It's still happening. My parents had me locked up in.

[Ronnie Karam]

The godparent home against my will. They worked with them to manipulate me and to steal my son away from me.

[Heather]

The godparent home is the brainchild of controversial preacher Jerry Falwell, the father of the modern evangelical rite and the founder of Liberty University, where powerful men, emboldened by their faith, determine who gets to be a parent and who must give their child away. Follow Liberty Lost on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Ronnie Karam]

This era of crazy. I think Gretchen was great and in fact I felt like, you know, Slade. Slade really has made my skin crawl for so many years. But I felt like she was like. I feel like every time in the past where Slade and Gretchen appeared on screen, he always does so much tap dancing and like look at me camera that she also would get lost in those scenes. And I think that she actually, she outshone Slade, like, at long last. Slade was just. Just a little. He had as much energy and as much attention as Ryan and Matt in the scene that he was in. And that was like, very wonderful for me because Slade is. He's too much. He just tries too much, and maybe he's just exhausted and he's realized that he just, you know, like, he's given up maybe. But I felt like the dynamic between them was. Was better for me as a viewer. And she was great and.

[Ben Mandelker]

Aging. Beach boy hair now, where he, like, poofs it up really big. He's got, like, big hair. And so I like that. And I think the reason his attitude has slightly changed is because for the first time ever, Gretchen and Slade have an army. It's not just them. It used to be them coming for Tamra and standing up to Tamra, but now they've got all these ancillary characters who everybody kind of wrote off, like Jen Pedrante. No one gave her. No one paid her any mind. They just thought, let's just abuse this blonde idiot, you know? And then they've got this Katie girl who they think they could just abuse. And I think that Gretchen's like, listen, bring me a couple of B levels and we'll take this shit over. You know, I'm not going to stand for Tamra's bullshit and guess Jesus won't either.

[Ronnie Karam]

Tamara, it feels if this feels like some sort of young adult novel or whatever, or maybe like a Game of Thrones thing where it's like they had to resurrect their messianic leader of some sort to go against the big bad. And they were like. They, like, did their ritual and they resurrected Gretchen. They brought her back, and now she's like, they're undead hero that's gonna go after the undead villain of Tamra, and it's gonna be a great clash.

[Ben Mandelker]

And Tamara knows what's coming because she started the season off with her.

[Emily]

Oh, I can't believe it. Everybody's so mean to me. I'm going to stand with you now because I got autisticness and I'm gonna do something.

[Ben Mandelker]

It's like, shut up. I mean, it's just so. It's so textbook, Tamara. It just fucking cracks me up that that's what she came in with. And it's already crumbled by episode two. It's already good.

[Ronnie Karam]

No, this season's already just, like, firing on all cylinders because there's so many like, interesting. There are so many interesting relationships happening because you have. Tamara and Shannon are still just trying to, like, they're just trying to take swipes with each other. They're trying to gain some sort of, like, upper hand with each other. And then they just use everyone else as pawns. And then Heather's somewhere in the mix. I don't know where Heather. Where Heather stays in this. But, like, those two, Tamara and Shannon are like the central, like, underpinning relationship. And anything that Tamara does against Katie is ultimately some. It's just in service of unraveling Shannon in some way. And that's what we see on this episode as well.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah.

[Ronnie Karam]

So. So anyway, they all set some intentions on how they want to be better about things, which they don't do at all. And then afterwards, it's never gonna happen. No intention on any Housewives show during any one of these, like, foofy new age resorts has ever come true. Not even. Not maybe. Maybe Gina's did when she went to.

[Gina]

Bali and felt the wind. And now I don't want to live in fear anymore.

[Emily]

Now I'm not scared.

[Ben Mandelker]

By the way, Gina's accent, now you've got 10 accents. Like, what is Gina even doing? Like, she. She's like the Britney of this show where Britney's just, like, doing her accent more and more. She's to the point. I don't even know what accent Gina's got anymore. It's not even Long island anymore. And like, she says her A's like, ease.

[Emily]

She's like, yeah, well, it was really scary.

[Ben Mandelker]

Why are you talking like that? Are you from Minnesota and Long Island? Like, what are you mixing together?

[Ronnie Karam]

Now Gina is looking more and more like she's in some TNT TV show about the mob. I swear to God. Not even, like, not even hbo. Not even. Not even now. Just tnt.

[Ben Mandelker]

Not even. Because I just watched Mobland on my break and it was so good. And I'm like, yeah, Gina wouldn't even make that.

[Ronnie Karam]

She's not on a streamer. No, no. Plus, she's on tmt.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. So then Emily is like, why is the only positive things in my life and Shannon's.

[Emily]

I. I choose to continue on the healthiest path possible right after this Milky Way. I will take a moment.

[Gina]

Well, I mean, it might not be the healthiest path, but it is a path. It's called the Milky Way. And I choose the Milky Way. I choose that way. My way are the Milky Way.

[Ronnie Karam]

Jen is like, I am strong. And Katie's like, I am bringing health and Positivity. It's like, nope, none of this is happening. So now, after their golden door experience comes to a close, we see Shannon driving. She's heading to LAX to pick up Soph. So she's talking to her on the.

[Gina]

Phone, and she's like, so, Sophie, how was. How was the flight?

[Emily]

Oh, crap.

[Gina]

I went the wrong way. Looks like I'm going the wrong way on the highway. Whoops. Sorry about that, everyone. Talking to my daughter. Just having a rough day. That's it.

[Emily]

I can't unset Earl the Pearl's house in Georgia off of my maps.

[Ben Mandelker]

I can't reset it. And then we get to Jen, and she's working out in her backyard, which is a step up from the parking lot she's usually working out in. So that's good.

[Ronnie Karam]

Yes.

[Ben Mandelker]

And, you know, Shanna's having her wacky, like, well, I can't find the airport.

[Gina]

Where do I go? I'm wacky. I'm driving around lax. I'll tell you what's lax. The signage around here.

[Ben Mandelker]

So then we see Gina at home with her kid, and her kid's like.

[Emily]

Mommy, the dog poop. But at least it's not diarrhea this time. She goes, yeah, you know what? We're setting a really low bar, sitting overly low.

[Ronnie Karam]

And then we go back to. Now Sophie has gotten into Shannon's car because this is like. It's punctuated. All these things are happening while Shannon's literally picking up Sophie. And so Sophie gets in, and she.

[Gina]

Has like, oh, hello. Look at you. Nice to see you. We're not. We're. Now where do I go? Oh, oh, now.

[Emily]

Oh, my God.

[Gina]

I'm driving into the ocean. Oh, Sophie, help us all.

[Ronnie Karam]

She's on the tarmac.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah.

[Ronnie Karam]

She's like, Herbie, fully loaded.

[Ben Mandelker]

She's under a Southwest flame. Like, wait. Wait a minute.

[Emily]

This overpass is moving.

[Ronnie Karam]

Mother, Are you just parked on a wing?

[Gina]

Well, I. Well, I guess we're getting a free flight to somewhere. Where in the world is Matt Lauer? Except it's Shannon. We don't talk about Matt Lauer anymore. Okay.

[Emily]

I have no idea how I got lost and how I have some of these delicious Dijon mustard twisty pretzels. Thank you. Southwest boarding group C. Kiss my crackers.

[Gina]

Excuse me. Excuse me. There. You were there in the airplane. Do you happen to have a Biscoff cookie you can pass through the window over to our car?

[Ben Mandelker]

Sorry, ma', am, this is Southwest. We don't do that shit here. You can have some dry ass ginger Snaps. It tastes like chemicals.

[Ronnie Karam]

Also, if we open up the window, the whole car, the whole plane goes down. Oh, okay.

[Emily]

It's already on the tarmac, but whatever. I thought this was my front yard.

[Gina]

Oh, okay. We won't have any biscoffs. How about this? How about we have some biscons? As in turn on your good attitude? What happened to the customer is always right?

[Ben Mandelker]

So then we go over to Omlee at Shape Shop, who opened a place called the Shape Shop.

[Ronnie Karam]

Off with it. That sounds like such a gina place.

[Gina]

Oh, my God. I'm gonna go buy a trapezoid.

[Ronnie Karam]

It's like, no, you don't buy shapes there.

[Emily]

You guys want to go work at a shape Shop? We can go to Shake Shack after the sheep shop.

[Gina]

Do you want. Do you guys want to go to Chop Stop or Shake Shack after the shape Shop? Do you guys know. Do you want to go to stop and shop afterwards?

[Ben Mandelker]

So we go over to Shape Shop, which is basically a place with these big roller things with, like, I don't know, bumps on them. And then supposedly they roll all over you, and then they. Your. They confuse your fat. Are they confusing your fat? What are they doing?

[Ronnie Karam]

I think it's supposed to be that. That stuff is supposed to, like, dissolve the. Your fascia. That's like the thing. It looks like it's. You know what that place is like? It's like, have you ever seen a. A documentary, like, how things are made and that? You ever see, like, a factory and you see a conveyor belt? And have you ever said to yourself, you know what I want to do? I want to put my leg at the end of that conveyor belt and see how that feels. That's what the Shape Shop is. It's like, get all the fun of. Of. Of cuddling up on a conveyor belt without having to go to a factory.

[Ben Mandelker]

Well, I don't really have money now to go to a shape shop because I spent it all on my eye. But I will tell you, I do live on a very steep incline with asphalt, so I'm just going to start rolling down that every morning. I mean, if that's all you need is some bumps to, like, undo your fat, I'll do it. But then how does your fat know what to do once it's been dislodged from the. I just don't understand it. I don't believe it's true. Otherwise, everybody would be thin.

[Ronnie Karam]

Everyone would be. Well, they walk in, and the girl who works there, they're like, oh, my God, they're Like, what is this? Because it's a full body lymphatic drainage massage. Like, okay, what happened to the good old days of just shopping at Zensations? You know?

[Ben Mandelker]

Like, dude, does anybody really need to be in the room while I'm getting a full body lymphatic drainage massage?

[Ronnie Karam]

Am I. Am I massaging the lymphatic drainage? It's like, oh, look at this. What just drained out of you? Let's touch it and massage it.

[Emily]

It.

[Ben Mandelker]

Could you imagine going to that with me? I don't even know. It was like 20 year old dominoes seeping out of my poor. I don't even know what the would come out of me. Toxic waste. Nobody needs to be around when that's happening.

[Ronnie Karam]

Yeah, I don't. Listen, I just had some re sticks. I don't know why I don't want to see what they look like.

[Ben Mandelker]

I had Reese's minis. Oh, they were so good.

[Ronnie Karam]

What a delight. So Emily's like, oh, they get all the gummy bears out. Oh, whack you. So they do all this stuff. They're like, rubbing up on these, like, rolling pins, bumpy rolling pins. And then they go to a different room where they do, like, infrared light therapy and stuff. And they got, like, their legs wrapped up in those things and stuff. And he was like, to be honest.

[Gina]

I thought we were gonna be doing this kind of stuff at the Golden Door. So kudos to you, Tamra, because I see that you're really trying with Shannon.

[Ronnie Karam]

By the way, first of all, save your Yelp reviews for when you actually pay to go to that place next time, because you got to go there for free. So no complaints. Gina from the Golden Door. And also, you got to go on the Labyrinth. Okay? Just. It. Just. Just say thank you next time. Okay? The first time Golden Door.

[Ben Mandelker]

The first time someone's ever been put into a labyrinth. And the labyrinth was the one that was confused. It was like, the labyrinth. Yelp review is like, what the fuck was that? Were those hair extensions? Was it tape? What was that? And what was that accent? Where's that person even from? Don't ever let that person back in. They're like, the golden door has shut down. The labyrinth has shut itself down.

[Ronnie Karam]

The labyrinth that went to, like, a labyrinth cocktail party and told the other labyrinths guys, I'm thinking about just being a straight line. I don't know. It's like, I've always heard that expression.

[Ben Mandelker]

About it's gonna become a freeway.

[Ronnie Karam]

You know, I always heard that expression about, like, the Living the straight and go on the straight and narrow. But I didn't really realize how it applied to me until. Until Gina.

[Ben Mandelker]

So also, while we're at this line, Gina, kudos to you, Tamara, because I see that you're really trying. What have you seen Tamara do? That's an effort at all. Tamara has done nothing. Tamara did nothing but torture Shannon the entire year last year. And this year, she's like, I don't.

[Emily]

Even understand why Shannon's so mad at me.

[Ronnie Karam]

This is. This is classic. Gina started the season turning on your allies because last season, Gina was on Shannon's side. Shannon had a DUI last season, and Gina was like, I'm gonna stand by you. I'm realizing you're in a lot of pain. I've been there too. They were sitting on the same sofa together at the reunion. There was everything. And now Gina's like, you know what?

[Gina]

The way you stood up to Shannon, I see you, like, really trying without a lot.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. You're really trying to figure.

[Emily]

Yeah. You know, and you're not letting people activate you the way that you.

[Ben Mandelker]

You were last year.

[Emily]

You're so different now.

[Ben Mandelker]

Gina doing that thing where she has nothing, so she's just gonna come start shit with everybody else, which I kind of support. So Gina's like, do you believe that Katie didn't talk to the blogger? And Emily's like, fuck that she did. But you know what? I didn't like Shannon standing up for Katie. I mean, what the hell? We're not allowed to bully people anymore? Or are they changing the whole show?

[Ronnie Karam]

Yeah, Summer's like, yeah, she was trying.

[Gina]

To make it seem like a gang.

[Ronnie Karam]

Up, but all it was was all.

[Gina]

Of us just ganging up on her. But it's not a gang up.

[Emily]

Up.

[Gina]

Right batch. And Gina's like, yeah, it wasn't a gang up. I mean, you were hurting everybody. And now we want to address it with you, and you want to sit there and victimize yourself.

[Ronnie Karam]

Says Gina, who's always. First of all, this is exactly what you said about Jen last year.

[Gina]

She's like, oh, you say you can't pay your rent, so you're gonna victimize yourself?

[Ronnie Karam]

And who did she hurt?

[Gina]

Who?

[Ronnie Karam]

Who did Katie hurt? She's like, she hurt all of us. She literally, like. Like, all she did was she just told the nanny, oh, yeah, there's this podcast you can talk to, like, who the cares. And you're bringing more attention to it now on your show. No one listen, tell me, who listened to a nanny on a random Podcast. Even if it's not a random pod. I don't remember what podcast it was, but tell me who really even remembered.

[Ben Mandelker]

Good podcast, I think, I mean, I think she has, like, a big thing, you know, but.

[Ronnie Karam]

Oh, you're right, it was bravo, babe. I didn't mean to shade, Bravo, babe.

[Ben Mandelker]

But I meant, like a good job job. But, But I meant just, like, bringing attention. Seems like it's this private entity that nobody can get a hold of. You know how you can get a hold of Julia Roberts? Go on to Instagram and be like, hey, I didn't like you in Pretty Woman. And she'll write you back, go yourself. I know.

[Ronnie Karam]

Also thirsty.

[Ben Mandelker]

Just kidding. But they're acting like, oh, my God, how did you get the number to this blogger? You go on the Instagram. How do you. How else do you think Nicki Minaj is telling Sza off right now?

[Ronnie Karam]

That's exactly what I was gonna say.

[Ben Mandelker]

She doesn't have her home number.

[Ronnie Karam]

Yeah, I was like, this is just like Nicki Minaj and Sza. But I, I, you can tell I've.

[Ben Mandelker]

Been thirsty a lot of times, scrolling through news on. On.

[Ronnie Karam]

I'm like, you've been at home, so, you know, but like, thirsty. Ancillary hangers on. Thirsty people are always. They know where the outlets are. Like, honestly, she could have never spoken to Katie and she would have found her way to someone like, bravo, babe. And I'm not saying like, someone like, I mean, like, just anyone. Any podcast that's going to talk about this room. Stuff.

[Ben Mandelker]

Stuff.

[Ronnie Karam]

Yeah, but also, but like, okay, so this nanny. First of all, no one really cares about what the nanny has to say. We might. Maybe we would have repeated a few lines like, oh, we heard this from a nanny on. On Crappy Hour. And we would have talked about it and laughed, but no one would have, like, really cared. And Emily's acting like the nanny spread news that, like, changed America. And it's like, no. Like, maybe we heard it, maybe we laughed, maybe. Oh, whatever. But by the way, we didn't need a nanny to tell us that. You probably talked about Heather Dubrow in front of your kids, because we all know that you did. And we don't even blame you for it. We actually support you for doing that.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. Heather is an. And whatever you said in front of your kids, Heather probably deserved it. Okay. I don't know what we're all acting like. Oh, my God. Someone said Heather Dubrow's an. Heather Dubrow is an. We all know Heather Dubrosen. Heather Dubrow knows Heather Dubro's an.

[Ronnie Karam]

She does.

[Gina]

So then.

[Ronnie Karam]

Okay, so anyway, I'm going back to my original point, which is like, Gina.

[Gina]

Saying she had all of us.

[Ronnie Karam]

Like, who did she. Okay, so that she. So a nanny went on and talked that said that Emily has, like, talked about Heather in front of her kids. The other point was that someone said that Tamara. Someone alleged that Tamra was coming up with, like, fake accounts to talk about people or whatever. And then Tamara.

[Ben Mandelker]

What she does, too. Every housewife does that. You know, they do. Janet's not the only one out there with 40, you know, fake accounts.

[Ronnie Karam]

Yeah, but either way, the point is. So, like, the. The other issue there was that Katie called whoever was. Who was, like, being attacked by Tamara over this situation and, like, was conciliatory to this person, and not conciliatory, but, like, was. Was. Consoled them or something like, that started.

[Ben Mandelker]

Leaking with that word. I was like, oh, that. That word's too big.

[Ronnie Karam]

I don't want to adjudicate this point. But. But, like, okay, so there was that. Like, is that really the biggest crime against humanity? It's, like, shady, and you could be like, hey, lady, please don't do that. Don't get involved in my mess, or whatever. Okay, so that's two people. How did this become.

[Gina]

She's hurt everyone.

[Ronnie Karam]

First of all, I don't see how anyone is hurt by any of these situations. Maybe they were annoyed, maybe it was a nuisance, but who was actually hurt? I don't know. And as far if people are hurt, so far, I count two people, and you're a cast of, like, seven.

[Ben Mandelker]

So you guys on TV and supported Emily going up there and saying, you got your. You're a bad mother and your kids were taken away from you because you're. You're insane and unstable and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That is the worst thing anybody can do to another mother. And I cannot believe you all are sitting up here defending that taco in her purse, carrying over here. I can't believe it. I can't believe. Well, I can't believe it, because it's Gina and she's mindless. But still, no one hurt you.

[Gina]

Oh, my God.

[Ronnie Karam]

Especially, you know, it's so Gina doesn't like. Gina does not like that Katie is victimizing herself. Says Gina, who's always like, I can't.

[Gina]

Believe that, like, Jen wasn't paying the rent. You know how that made me look bad as a real estate agent.

[Ronnie Karam]

Like a queen of victimization as Gina.

[Ben Mandelker]

So now we go to Shannon and Katie meeting on a bench. And Shannon's like, oh, I'm.

[Emily]

I'm sorry I just hit you on the chin. I didn't mean to. I can't really feel my face. I got laser and I have to wear a hat. I got laser and I was on my face, face. And I got a facial and I got a massage and I got Botox.

[Ben Mandelker]

I mean, Shannon is barely moving.

[Gina]

I just had to treat myself because after everything with Earl to Pearl, I was like, I deserve a facial and a laser.

[Emily]

And then air filter and oil change. I switched out my kidney and I've got one eyeball that's electric.

[Ben Mandelker]

Runs on watch.

[Gina]

Yeah, you can do it. It's electric is what the song always said. I didn't realize that you really could do it. So Shannon's like, I, it's, you know, it's not fun to have things sag. I mean, so if there's a laser that can snap it up, I am going to do it. As long as it's perfectly an organic laser and not made with any toxins. But so, you know, it's just neck up. Because down below.

[Ronnie Karam]

Nope, nope.

[Gina]

I'm not opening. I'm not. That is not up for business or open for business until I'm in a relationship.

[Ronnie Karam]

So Earl to Pearl, you can just.

[Gina]

Wait on that one.

[Ben Mandelker]

So Katie's like, thank you so much for standing up for me and telling the girls to stop bullying me the other day.

[Emily]

She's like, oh, I just, I get it. You know, you feel this, ugh, exhaustion. It's just so hard, you know, there's so many people coming after you, and there's just so many people. And I just. Someone needed to help you. Someone like me. Shannon Beador, the most giving person and most understanding person in the world. Shannon Beador. Don't ever forget that. Especially by the end of this episode.

[Gina]

I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I just want. I, I want when you get ganged up on. I don't like that. But this also my way of saying, when I get ganged up on, which will probably happen very soon, you better.

[Ronnie Karam]

Be there for me.

[Emily]

It would be nice if you made an effort towards me next time.

[Gina]

That's all I'm saying.

[Emily]

Okay?

[Ben Mandelker]

And Katie is like, well, that's a trauma response because I was married to a psycho. And, you know, if I ever fought back with him, it became worse. And Shannon's just like.

[Emily]

Oh, my God, I wonder if I plugged in my left eye. Why does it use lightning cables instead of usbc? I just don't understand the technology.

[Gina]

Well, I just. You know, Stephanie, I just think that they're worried that you're calculated or you plan what you're going to say.

[Ronnie Karam]

My name's Katie.

[Gina]

I'm pretty sure it's Stephanie. And you're new this season.

[Ronnie Karam]

No, I was here for a whole season prior.

[Gina]

Okay, no need to gaslight me. I already had enough of that from Jan Sim.

[Emily]

Stop ganging up on me. Where's my friend Gaty to help me?

[Ronnie Karam]

Well, I wish I were smart enough to play chess. I mean, I can barely even play checkers.

[Gina]

Oh, well, I, I, I can't. I thought we were here to play chess, actually. Are we not playing chess today?

[Emily]

Please do not play Chubby Checker. I cannot. It's traumatizing to me. Now, if you want to trigger me.

[Ronnie Karam]

Oh, God.

[Ben Mandelker]

Domino. I won't.

[Emily]

I won't stand for that either.

[Gina]

I'll tell you who played checkers is my ex husband, David Bedor. Because he would often go down to the beach and he would check her out. All the sluts.

[Emily]

Checkers David Bedor, who only gave a. A cashier. Cashier at the grocery store. The checker attention on my birthday. Thank you.

[Ben Mandelker]

Very sorry that took me a little while to get out.

[Gina]

By the way, this conversation is working. I'm just getting a little bit of an appetite. Does anyone actually have any chess pie since we're talking about.

[Ben Mandelker]

Was.

[Emily]

That's Domino's favorite.

[Ben Mandelker]

I know.

[Emily]

I have not read his biography.

[Ronnie Karam]

Commercials.

[Ben Mandelker]

Here comes one right now.

[Heather]

Being an actual royal is never about finding your happy ending. But the worst part is if they step out of line or fall in love with the wrong person, it changes the course of history. I'm Arisha Skidmore Williams. And I'm Brooke Zifrin. We've been telling the stories of the rich and famous on the hit Wondery show, Even the Rich. And talking about the latest celebrity news on Rich and daily. We're going all over the world on our new show, Even the Royals.

[Ben Mandelker]

We'll be diving headfirst into the lives.

[Ronnie Karam]

Of the world's kings, queens and all.

[Heather]

The wannabes in their orbit throughout history. Think succession meets the crown meets real life. We're going to pull back the gilded curtain and show how royal status might be bright and shiny, but it comes at the expense of, well, everything else, like your freedom, your privacy, and sometimes even your head. Follow even the Royals on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts you can listen to Even the Royals early and ad Free right now by joining Wondery.

[Ben Mandelker]

So then we go to the other girls, and Tamara's like, she's guilty.

[Emily]

Guilty on every count. Katie's guilty. Send her to prison.

[Ben Mandelker]

And so Katie. Then we go back to Katie, and Katie's like, I've apologized a hundred times. I'm sorry if I handled it incorrectly. I mean, what else am I supposed to do?

[Emily]

She goes, okay, well, you know, you're saying things like, sorry, if not sorry that. So, you know, you need to say sorry that I. Not sorry if I. Because no one likes a sorry if I. No one likes. I forgot what we were talking about. Please do not talk about trauma again.

[Ronnie Karam]

Katie's like, well, I mean.

[Gina]

So, okay, you know, here, let me.

[Ronnie Karam]

Try it from the top. Then.

[Gina]

Here's the thing, Shannon. You're about to say, but no, okay.

[Ronnie Karam]

I am regretful of everything I did. But why would I go, okay, how about this?

[Gina]

I am regretful of that.

[Ronnie Karam]

However. However.

[Gina]

However.

[Ronnie Karam]

And the however carries across the wind.

[Ben Mandelker]

Across the ocean, an animatronic mannequin starts coming to life. It's like, Jesus Christ. And the power of Jesus Christ, please raise me up.

[Ronnie Karam]

Leaves are swirling around.

[Ben Mandelker]

Slate gets out of bed. You see him dusting off a mannequin, and suddenly the mannequin's head pops up, and it's scratching.

[Gina]

I have been summoned.

[Ronnie Karam]

So basically, Shannon's like, just stop saying, but just apologize. And Tamara and she's like, you know.

[Gina]

It'S important for me to have compassion for Kat right now, because I've been in her situation with multiple people coming at me multiple times. And maybe I just wish that when it happened to me, someone had come to me and said, I know how it feels. It would have been nice for someone to have stood up for me one of the million times.

[Emily]

I really don't have a choice because Tamara still hates me, and Heather still does what Tamara says, and Emily and Tina are still following whatever those two idiots do. So I basically need a friend.

[Ben Mandelker]

All right, Jennifer. We're friends.

[Emily]

Friends. We're officially friends.

[Ronnie Karam]

So then we go back. So then we go back to Tamara, who Tamara, at one point was like.

[Gina]

Here'S the thing with Kitty. She's a silent assassin.

[Ronnie Karam]

I'm like, we have to stop saying silent assassin.

[Gina]

Have you heard of.

[Ronnie Karam]

Many loud assassins are not known for, like, walking with a boombox, like, hey, everyone, I'm gonna come kill someone right now. I think the silence is implied.

[Emily]

Extremely accomplished assassin.

[Ben Mandelker]

It's like you're complimenting her, you know?

[Ronnie Karam]

So Tamara's like, so Are you guys.

[Gina]

Gonna go to the catch. No. Kitty party? I mean, yeah. I mean, you gotta prove yourself to yourself, that you're not gonna let her get to you.

[Ronnie Karam]

Like, that's what happened to the bali and the wind and whatever. Like, aren't you supposed to be on a spiritual journey, Gina? Like, shouldn't you be going to be like, we had this coffee, we settled things at the coffee, allegedly. So you should be going. Hoping to turn over a new light belief not to prove to yourself that you could, like, hang out with Katie and not get mad because, by the way, you're gonna get mad because that's who you are, Gina.

[Ben Mandelker]

Well, and I also love that they're just like, wow, Katie. Diabolical Katie inviting everybody to hot pot.

[Ronnie Karam]

They're just upset. It's not Javiers. They, like, don't. They really have no idea what to do with hot pot. They're, like, so confused.

[Ben Mandelker]

They don't. And Katie's like, guys, I'm giving you all chances to make your culturally inappropriate boomer jokes. And I'm not even getting points for this.

[Ronnie Karam]

Here. Here's what drives me nuts. First of all, hot pot is not a foreign concept in terms of, like, it's not a hard thing to conceptualize. It's not. Also saying pot is hot pot is not a hard thing to say or remember. So the more they are like, hot.

[Gina]

Pocket, am I right?

[Ronnie Karam]

The more they're just, like, really showing their. Like, it's just like, like, it's like, look at that silly concept over there.

[Gina]

Hot pot.

[Ronnie Karam]

Hot pot sounds like a bucket. Am I right?

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. So Emily's like, wow, can you imagine the things she's done that we don't even know about? Can you imagine? Emily's still getting herself all worked up over there.

[Emily]

So then Tamara goes, okay, everybody, here's the thing. Last year, Katie was filming Shannon having a full blown meltdown in our gallery shop. And they. They were sharing the dressing room. And then. Okay, let me explain to you, audience. A gallery shoot is what we do at the end of the season. That's where we take our pictures and some of. Some of the airbrushes, that stuff. And then Shannon was being a terrible person, and then Katie got it all on film and then she sent it to Alexis Bellino. You heard it here first, bitch.

[Ronnie Karam]

Man. You know, Tamara is so outraged. Hey, remember when we were on tour when we recapped the Ireland episode and Heather Dubrow secretly filmed Kelly Dodd having a meltdown and they all laughed about g. Anyway. Oh, yeah. So it's totally. This is terrible what Katie did. I totally agree.

[Ben Mandelker]

And, Tamara, you're just jealous you weren't holding the phone. Yeah, because they're also always trying to prove that Shannon's a monster, which at this point, I believe. I mean, how many accounts do we need of Shannon just losing her backstage and telling everybody off and acting like a diva? I mean, we've had them filmed. My favorite was when she was in Mexico. She was. She was trying to run away and take off her mic. And they're like, shannon, no, you have to stay.

[Emily]

It's like, not Dario.

[Ben Mandelker]

And she's, like, screaming at the whole. The whole cast and crew and everybody. I mean, we know that she's a monster. But, you know, Tamara, I would think that you'd be more loving of that videotape because it just gave you evidence.

[Ronnie Karam]

Here's. Here's the thing. I don't think any of us are really questioning, like, a lot of the veracity of these allegations that everyone's saying. It's more like. Like, making us care. Because I think at this point, we've accepted Shannon is a mess. She becomes very activated. She loses her mind. She's a diva. We accept Katie is messy. She's clunky with her mess, too. She leaves a paper trail that's, like, easily traceable. She's not good with it. She's talked to bloggers, quote, unquote, bloggers. We get it all. But, like, you have to actually make us want to feel like those are bad things before we just accept them. We're like, okay, that's fine.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah.

[Ronnie Karam]

It's just who they are. Okay.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. That's kind of why we love you guys. Like, you can't. You can't try. It's like you're mad at Superman for flying, you know?

[Ronnie Karam]

Yeah. I am not a Superman for flying, though. Like, walk with the rest of us.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah, it's kind of unfair. Like, you're already hot. Isn't that your superpower? You already get everything. You're like a hot. Like, you're a hot white man who's, like, well worked out. Like, you don't even have to diet or exercise, whatever, and you can fly off. I need ugly people to be able to. I think we're like, we need to run fast. We need to get away faster, you know?

[Ronnie Karam]

I think we all agree, with the exception of Georgia from next gen New York City, that Superman is very privileged.

[Ben Mandelker]

So.

[Ronnie Karam]

She'S like, Superman has worked for everything that he's gone through.

[Ben Mandelker]

So, Katie, Superman's really into bowling, you guys.

[Ronnie Karam]

So basically, that's the Katie like that they're saying. Yeah. Like, Shannon comes in crazy and whatnot, and no one, no one in the audience is. Is surprised. So Tamara goes, shannon was pissed off.

[Gina]

That Alexis was there the same time she was. And Shannon started screaming and cussing and Katie was on her phone with her husband and she hung up without saying anything and press record and showed it to Alexis. And Gina's like, she showed it to Alexis.

[Emily]

Oh, my God.

[Ben Mandelker]

So Katie tells her version. She goes, yeah, Shannon comes in, like, holding her phone with 600 bags of her hair. Of hair. Or 600 bags and her hair up here, it's all out and she's half asleep and she's like screaming into the phone because that's what Shannon does all the time. So, you know what? You know, I know I love Shannon and I love Shannon's emotional breakdowns, but Shannon's a fucking monster. And at some point, someone at your job is going to be making fun of you and taking videos of you acting crazy. I mean, there's a whole subculture, you know, devoted to Karen videos. And I watch them all. I love them. So if you're going to act like that, then be prepared to get videotaped. Shannon.

[Ronnie Karam]

That's my favorite thing is when someone is. Is a total nightmare, no matter what the context is, but they're a nightmare. And then they're horrified that someone would film them. Like there was a line that was crossed. Now you cross the line when you started treating people like garbage.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. So I love you, but I'm not going to take the Karen side.

[Ronnie Karam]

Okay.

[Ben Mandelker]

Because in those videos, whenever there's like, someone. I was just watching a really good one. What's wrong? What's wrong?

[Ronnie Karam]

No, no, I was going to say, I love Shannon. I'm not going to take the Karen side. However, I'm not going to stand for this Karen behavior if it's not going to be put on the TV show. Like, well, that's true.

[Gina]

Put it on the show.

[Ben Mandelker]

That's true. But I was watching a really good Karen video the other day, and there were actually a few comments that were like, this isn't cool to tape people like this, you know, in public. It's. I don't. We need to. Taping each other. And that's absolutely ridiculous. That someone is. Is taping. That's unfair to this lady. Like, she's allowed to have a bad day. No, this lady was not just having a bad day. She was abusing workers at a place you know, whatever. We've all seen these videos, and I'm not going to take that side. And even for you, Shannon, if you're acting like that and somebody is sitting there, they have the right to videotape your ass. That's it. Don't act like a jackass if you don't want it on the Internet, okay?

[Ronnie Karam]

And that lady was named Nicole Kidman. There we said it. So.

[Ben Mandelker]

I know Spanish. I don't know Spanish.

[Emily]

All right, this is an Australian accent.

[Ronnie Karam]

Hello. I've been sitting here for five hours, and no one's even brought me a prosthetic nose yet.

[Emily]

So Tamara's like, yeah, Shannon was just pissed off because Alexa, Alexis, like, you know, Alexis could use that video against you. And Jean's like, oh, my God. Active lawsuit. Like, that was an active lawsuit. She got a Honda legally. She got a Wanda.

[Ronnie Karam]

John and Alexis were making accusations that they had videos of Shannon displaying behavior. That was not the best. So the last thing you want is someone videotaping you and sending it to the person you're in lawsuit with. I mean, God forbid there's any sort of video evidence of Shannon being irrational or acting a bit deranged. Thank goodness there's no. No footage of that whatsoever. And. And thank God there's not a treasure trove of it going back, I don't know, 10 or 11 years. God, that would be terrible. Be terrible if this is the first. They finally found the footage from Katie's phone. Finally found the footage of Shannon Beau.

[Ben Mandelker]

Secret footage of Shannon acting like a nutcase. So Tamara pulls her like, oh, my.

[Emily]

God, what's Shannon gonna do once she finds this information out that I've been sitting on until we were filming again? Is it something that I need to tell her? It's a good person. I've been going to therapy, you guys. 77 toothpicks. 77 toothpicks.

[Ronnie Karam]

So Emily's like, no, don't bring it up, because it's gonna. The content of the videos can get bogged down by saying that you're trying to devise divide so and so. So don't bring it up whatsoever. And, you know, Gina's like, got it.

[Gina]

I bring it up on behalf of Tamara, and then I catch all this. And then I wonder in the. Midway through the season why Tamara always.

[Ronnie Karam]

Gets away with it things.

[Ben Mandelker]

Got it.

[Emily]

So she's like, you know, I just feel bad because, like, I'm the one who brought Katie to the groove, and now she's acting like this, and I feel.

[Ronnie Karam]

Yeah, so Gina, she just Feels so embarrassed. Gina, this was. This was already last season. You. You can't play this card for two seasons in a row. Gina, Katie's not the newbie anymore. You can't, like, you can't use this as the excuse for why you're gonna go after this girl anymore. Like, that was all of last year. New storyline, please, from you. Thank you. So then we go to Shannon's house, and she's gonna have a wacky scene with Sophie, who's back from New York City. So Sophie's going through the fridge. She's like, mom, why does it smell like this? Did someone die?

[Gina]

What? Did someone die now? Only.

[Emily]

Only the.

[Gina]

The embers of my relationship with John Jensen. Oh, God. Thank you, Alexis Bellino.

[Emily]

Give me that pineapple juice. I can smell it. Is it the pineapple juice? Is it Teresa? Jude said it was. Do something to my hoohah.

[Ben Mandelker]

She's like, oh, my God. You were supposed to drink this before December 2024. I'm on O.

[Gina]

I, I, I. I can't tell time anymore. I don't know.

[Emily]

Quiet. I'm trying to lose weight. Oh, well, you.

[Ben Mandelker]

And did you notice this is such a mother, mother, daughter thing that she does.

[Emily]

She goes, I'm just trying to lose weight, Sophie. Oh, by the way, you lost weight, Sophie.

[Ben Mandelker]

She gives us, like, really tight smile. Mothers who are constantly telling you to lose weight, and then the second you do, they're like, oh, wow.

[Emily]

Thank you for trying to compete with me by losing weight. Good luck with that. I'm bigger, I'm stronger. I'll always win.

[Gina]

I brought you into this world, and I'll take you out. Losing five pounds without my permission. Yeah, I guess that's what you get, because I guess now you're a New Yorker. Your fiance, you're in New York, right?

[Ronnie Karam]

No, mom, you have to be there for 10 years before you're a New Yorker.

[Gina]

Oh, thank God you're still help.

[Ronnie Karam]

So we find out that Sophie has graduated, and she works in sports, and.

[Gina]

She works out every day, and she eats healthy, in case you couldn't tell from her healthy life song.

[Ronnie Karam]

But she also broke up with her boyfriend, which I'm so happy about, because I was really nervous that she was just gonna settle down after college and live, like, a boring life, you know, somewhere.

[Ben Mandelker]

Well, Sophie was looking like the one that she was, like, gonna get real religious, go. Go settle down on a farm somewhere. Just start popping out kids immediately, right? Like, I think that was the fear, at least from me. I was like, sophie. And she did but she went to.

[Ronnie Karam]

New York City instead. I mean, like, all her, all her kids have fled Orange county and gone to liberal, liberal centers. I don't know if Shannon knows what to do.

[Gina]

I. Wow. I, I don't know how I feel about this.

[Emily]

Okay, well, Sophie's new hobbies include paying a lot of taxes, voting for insane things, and I don't even know. I don't even know what they do in New York.

[Ben Mandelker]

I'm Flummox.

[Emily]

I'm Flummox.

[Gina]

And sodomy. Well, Sophie's Choice, I guess she made it. I guess she had to choose between two things that she loves, and I guess I wasn't part of that equation.

[Emily]

Oh, she chose between a city of liberal idiots and her mother and the liberal idiots one.

[Gina]

Well, I, I, I thought Sophie's Choice was supposed to be hard, and you were supposed to not choose the thing that you hated, but that's fine. You did hate that at one point, didn't you?

[Ben Mandelker]

So Shannon, Shannon talks about how she hasn't gone on a date in a year. I guess she's not including any of Love island or Love Hotel because she went on.

[Gina]

I got a text. People don't realize that I actually had a relationship with a young man named Nicholas. And they called. Called us Nickel Nicholas Shannon. And people were really obsessed with us.

[Emily]

I only dated him because I thought he was Captain Sandy, so that's awkward.

[Gina]

He made me many pancakes, which, of course, I could not eat because too many carbs, but I appreciated the sentiment, and I just would throw them down at the beach and hope it would hit a sled, but I'm not sure if they did. But anyway, I loved being on Love Island.

[Ben Mandelker]

Then I went to Love Hotel, hoping they hit a slut, but they did. Okay, so she's like, I have made.

[Emily]

Myself very, very vulnerable. I even had a anniversary drink for myself to celebrate how strong I became one year after my dui.

[Ben Mandelker]

So that's my. That's still the weirdest that's happened this year. Shannon toasting herself for DUI year before. It's so weird.

[Gina]

And, you know, Love Hotel is coming out, so, you know, I've made a lot of male friends, so if I have an event to go to, I've asked a few of them, will you go with me? And they all said, sorry, I live in Maryland. But I said, well, that's just a small detail. If you really liked me, you would come out here. And then they said, no. And so what I did was I painted a little rock, and I named it ace. And now I pretend like I'm in a relationship with someone, and we're in a relationship called Chalice. So it's fun.

[Emily]

It's fun.

[Ben Mandelker]

So her kids, like, what does that mean, Mom? Like, you're dating a mailman now.

[Emily]

Well, that'll work.

[Ben Mandelker]

So then we go to Shane sitting in a car, and he's picking up Emily, and Emily's like, oh, my God, Shane. At least you didn't drive away this time when I was trying to get in, like you usually do. That is so shame. Like, whoops. Press the gas. Oh, okay, just walk up a little more, honey. I'm just like, ah.

[Emily]

Just kidding.

[Ben Mandelker]

Just hit the gas again.

[Ronnie Karam]

Listen, you can't spell snarcasm without car, am I right?

[Ben Mandelker]

It's like, oh, my God, it's. It's so hot in here. I can't believe it. It might be the burrito you're. You're wearing as a purse. Well, that too, but, geez, how do I make this thing work? It's like, honey, it's an air vent. They've worked the same for 50 years.

[Ronnie Karam]

Are you sure about that? Can I put a taco in it?

[Ben Mandelker]

You know, look, this guy's still an asshole, okay? I don't care what anybody says. He's still an asshole. But I kind of get his point. I mean, Emily is just too much. It's like, oh, my God, how you can make the air work here. I can't even get these things open.

[Ronnie Karam]

I know. It's. It's a bit much. Oh, I have an update, which is that on the last Orange county episode, I said something like I thought Kelly Dodd had said, you like, I look funny. More like funny looking. And Kelly Dodd never said that. That was Princess's Long Island. And I just conflated Kelly Dodd saying that because it just seems like something Kelly Dodd would say. But it was actually a quote from Princess Love Island, Long Island.

[Ben Mandelker]

I'm actually shocked that Kelly Dodd didn't say that, because I would guess that in a trivia that I would attribute that to Kelly Dodd.

[Ronnie Karam]

Yeah, you're funny. Funny looking. That makes sense.

[Emily]

She called me funny looking, dad.

[Ronnie Karam]

So Emily is talking, starts talking about Luke, and she's saying that Luke has really declined over the past week because they went to the movies, and then he, like, took out the, like, the phone flashlight and was inspecting every fry before he ate it. And then he didn't want to go to school, and he was being, like, really, really difficult, and she had to, like, get him dressed and she had to do everything. And she's just saying, like, you know, it's a struggle, and as a mother, the decline really breaks my heart. And Shane's like, well, I don't know why you keep saying, as a mother, I'm a parent, too. You know, she's like, yeah, but, like, it's easy for you to say it because it's an isolated event. It'll be fine.

[Ben Mandelker]

So, you know, she's like, fine. Then as a. As a goblin, how do you feel? She's a shame.

[Ronnie Karam]

As a king of Snarcasm, how do you feel about it?

[Ben Mandelker]

And basically, he's like, you know, my approach is I just want to make him feel like all of this is normal and he's not, like, standing out or being weird in any kind of way, you know, and then she just doesn't work like that, you know, and, you know, I'm not here to, like, mom shame someone and tell someone what they can and how to deal with it. I don't know. I mean, I would have. Imagine that's what she's describing. Sounds like it would freak me out as a parent, too. You know, you're throwing all these hurdles, and I don't know the best way to deal with it. So I'm not going to judge what she's doing. I don't love that eating disorder stuff, bringing it up on TV because that kid's got to go to school. Like, these people, you know, it's like you're just giving kids ammunition. And I don't know. I don't know where the line is, like, what you're allowed to bring up with your kids and what you're not allowed to bring up. But it seems like something like eating disordered stuff should be something that the kids should be able to bring up in their own time if they want to. I don't know that that's. It just makes me uncomfortable with Emily doing that. I don't like it, but of course, I don't really like Emily either. So this just adds kind of.

[Ronnie Karam]

I think it's a fair point. It's a fair point. Like, for me, I was responding to the idea that there are probably other parents out there that probably are taking great comfort in seeing a similar story on tv. But I also think for the child, yeah, they do have to go to school and, like, keep. Like, children are terrible and they're horrible, and they often have terrible parents. And so their parents will probably be like, well, you know, he has a. He has a. He has a arfid. And then the kids are gonna go taunt him. I don't know. I don't know what's right. Yeah, I'm just, like.

[Ben Mandelker]

It's already feeling weird, you know, so to, like, put this out there and put this on tv, it just feels gross to me. So. I mean, I kind of get where Shane's coming from as the dad, where he's like, well, like, if you're. If your kid is going through this extreme emotional stuff, maybe the best thing to do is not to overreact in front of the kid constantly. Like, maybe. But again, I'm not a parent, so I don't really know, but it's making me feel a little queasy with Emily's choice.

[Ronnie Karam]

Yeah. So now we go to Jen's house, and Kitty and Matt come over, and Kitty says, last year, Matt was really hesitant to get to know Ryan because of, you know, all the allegations surrounding the FBI and just seemed so salacious. But now, having gotten to know Ryan, there's really nothing to hate about him except, you know, maybe his fashion. That's really rough, even.

[Ben Mandelker]

I mean, you know, now, basically, what we know about Ryan is that he knows how to get away with crimes. And that made me, Matt, much more comfortable.

[Emily]

So.

[Ronnie Karam]

So. So there Jen's telling everyone about how they're sitting outside, and she's, like, saying how everyone piled on Katie at the Golden Door, and Matt's like, I mean, who are these people that think they can just sit on a moral tower of judgment? Let's roll the clip again of Matt steering clear of Ryan because of the association.

[Ben Mandelker]

I think that was too soon to the clip we just saw of you, Matt. Okay.

[Ronnie Karam]

Yeah, let's create some separation. Listen, I totally supported him trying to steer clear of Ryan. I'd be like, look, this guy's involved in some. Yeah, there's like, an organized criminal over here. I'm gonna. I'm gonna stay clear. I'm a public person on a very important Golf channel, so I don't want to be in the. In the mix with this. I support that 100. But it is funny, because he was sort of morally indignant, and now he's like, who are all these morally indignant people?

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. So then we go to Tamara's house, and she's getting renovations done.

[Emily]

We had. We had a problem with the thing cover flowing.

[Ben Mandelker]

I'm not sure what the hell happened in that house, but it doesn't look like an overflowing sink. I mean, what the hell? The whole place is being excavated. It's like a housewife second season and, like, do my whole thing, do everything.

[Ronnie Karam]

Like, is this Lyn Curtain's face? So I was like, I'm stepping on Lynn's nose right now. So Heather comes over. She's, oh, are you doing construction again? She says that in this judgy way, as if we didn't just sit and watch. Heather just, like, tear a mansion down to its studs almost for fun, and now is planning on abandoning it. Oh, really? Construction again. How interesting is Drake next door? Are you trying to show off for him? No, that's just me. I see Drake.

[Ben Mandelker]

So they go sit up in Tamara's bedroom to Kiki. Oh, and Heather also reminds us that she's super cool. Heather. Now, I've brought onion rings. Do you remember when people were upset because I wouldn't let Terry eat onion rings at his own barbecue? Well, here they are. Onion rings rings. They're my thing now.

[Ronnie Karam]

Champs and onion rings. Isn't this hilarious, America? I'm like, heather, you need a new prop. Those are from, like, your first go around on Orange County. Like, just. I. At this point, I don't care. Just find an object. Do Mad Libs. Find an object and talk about it a lot and make that your new thing. Because the onion rings and the champs has been played out.

[Ben Mandelker]

She tries so hard to be iconic every season, and it cracks me up. She's like, and you know, nat, now I have shams, but I can't leave it on. I can't leave a ring here. Because you remember last year I spilled espresso martinis. Hold on.

[Ronnie Karam]

Do you remember when I broke the World Wide Web? That's what they call it. The information superhighway. Cracked in half after I spilled that martini. So, yeah, because she. They go up to Tamara's room, room. Because Heather's like, no, let's eat dirty. We don't need a plate. I am cool. I am down with the people. So there's a coaster that's there that.

[Gina]

Says, don't stay in my table, douchebag.

[Ronnie Karam]

Oh, my God, that is so funny. I love how sincere I am right now saying that this coaster is funny. This is a very funny, tacky piece of shit.

[Ben Mandelker]

So she goes, that's a lot in your mouth. And Tamara's like, that's a lot in your mouth.

[Emily]

Yeah, that's what she said.

[Ronnie Karam]

Anyways, I hung out with Gretchen the other day.

[Gina]

Oh, God.

[Ronnie Karam]

And then here we go. A flashback of Heather and Gretchen hugging and Heather saying, oh, my God, we match.

[Gina]

Oh, my God.

[Ronnie Karam]

I have the same dress.

[Emily]

I die.

[Ronnie Karam]

And I just want to remind you that you did not get that role on Hot in Cleveland. That was me. Okay. Or was it Malibu Country? Either way, you are not booked in. Blessed.

[Ben Mandelker]

Look at us. We have the same looking dress. Except the double Cs on mine don't wash off. Oh, we were just laughing, me and Gretchen, about, you know, stuff we used to do. You know, all that stuff I used to do with Gretchen. Gretchen, do you remember? I don't either. Did it involve onion rings?

[Ronnie Karam]

All those things we used to do. For instance, I would go and hang out with Reba McEntire on her hit show Malibu country, while Gretchen would sit there and listen to me and wait and say things like, oh, Aunt Heather, tell me another story about that superstar Reba McIntyre that I did not get to work with because I did not land that role.

[Ben Mandelker]

Wow. We knew each other at one time when she tried to steal my career. And then it had been, what, 12, 14 years? I don't know, something like that. And since then, we've kept in touch. Way to sell it, Heather.

[Ronnie Karam]

We have seen each other socially. For instance, when I have run into her as she is buying things at Goodwill and I am donating things. So it's been really wonderful seeing her again.

[Ben Mandelker]

You know that she'll come get things out of your car. You don't need to take it out yourself. Just open the trunk and she'll get it out herself.

[Ronnie Karam]

She apparently has been serving the country as part of the Salvation army, so I'm so proud of her.

[Ben Mandelker]

I always thought she would be good in the army because she basically blends into anything. She's just two eyes. You could just put her up against a wall.

[Ronnie Karam]

She looks like a forest owl. And I mean that in the. In the kindest way. Barn owl, specifically.

[Ben Mandelker]

And so Tamara's like, does she even have a nose? She goes, yeah, she has a nose.

[Emily]

Because on. On Instagram, it looks like a nose. Her nose is bled.

[Ben Mandelker]

And then we see. We see pictures of Gretchen on Instagram, and they are. Those pictures are hilarious. I mean, she does take off her entire nose. She even does it for her daughter. Daughter. Her daughter is. It's just like a little marshmallow with curly hair on top.

[Ronnie Karam]

She really needs to lay off the face soon. If there's anything she takes away from coming back in the public eye, it's Lay off the Face tune. It's too much. Hey, everyone, this is the end of part one of this recap for part two. Keep an eye on Your podcast feed. It is coming up in just a moment. Thanks so much for listening. Catch you on the second half. Watch what Crappins would like to thank its premium sponsors. Ain't no thing like Allison King it's always a party on Allison Block Our.

[Ben Mandelker]

Way is the Amber way It's the.

[Ronnie Karam]

Foster and the Furious It's Amanda Foster.

[Ben Mandelker]

She can run my country it's Angie.

[Ronnie Karam]

McGovern it's always automatic with Ashley Auto. Put your hands together for Carly Clapp.

[Ben Mandelker]

Get on the right foot with Chrissy Offutt. She's not just a Sheila She's a Daniella Etchels we never miss her call.

[Ronnie Karam]

It's Diane Call Aaron mcnicholas She don't miss no Tricolus Hava Nagila Weber. You'll never hide from Heidi Eleanor Jones. I go, you go we all go for Hugo Jamie she has no less.

[Ben Mandelker]

Namey she's our kind of mess It's Jennifer Messer Sip some scotch with Jessica.

[Ronnie Karam]

Trots she's our favorite streamer Caroline Peacock.

[Ben Mandelker]

Kristen the Piston Anderson Get a bee in your bonnet with Lacey B. Que sera sera Whatever one will be Will Lauren Silsbee Bringing the funk It's Leslie Plunkett she gets a name from us It's Lindsey D. Let's give a Kisserino to Lisa Leno Fresh as a daisy It's Maisie McHenry we love her on the rocks It's Melissa Cox Megan Berg. You can't have a burger without the.

[Ronnie Karam]

Berg this is living with Michelle Vivian.

[Ben Mandelker]

I love a Ya Olivia Williamson Tastier than Flanderson it Rachel Manderson.

[Ronnie Karam]

She sure is swell.

[Ben Mandelker]

It's Raquel, yes we can.

[Ronnie Karam]

It's Savannah Cast a spell with Shannon Spellman. Let's share with Sharon Eldridge.

[Ben Mandelker]

Darn skippy, it's Tippy the Bay Area and our super premium sponsors She's VVIP It's Amanda V. Can't lose when you're with Amy Baldwin.

[Ronnie Karam]

Somebody get us 10cc's of Betsy MD.

[Ben Mandelker]

We'Re taking the gold cold with Brenda.

[Ronnie Karam]

Silva let's get real with Caitlin o'.

[Ben Mandelker]

Neal don't get salty with Christine Pepper can't have a meal without the Emily sides Let's go into the woods with Guy Tubbs. It's our queen.

[Ronnie Karam]

It's Queen Laifa Nobody holds a candle to Jamie Kendall. Hail the cork master the master of the cork Jennifer Corcoran. We got our wish. It's Jen Plish she's not harsh She's Jill Hirsch. Knock knock, knocking on Katie Manock's door My Favorite Murdo Karen McMurdo we love him madly It's Kyle Pod Shadley in the study with a candlestick It's Leslie Peacock we're ride or die for Lisa Ryder Baron She's a whiz It's Liz Sarthy always killing it It's Lola Al.

[Ben Mandelker]

Kalani the incredible edible Matthew sisters She eases our woes it's Melissa St. Rose there's a chance of meatballs It's Rebecca.

[Ronnie Karam]

Cloud she the queen bee It's Sarah.

[Ben Mandelker]

Lemke we cannot tell a lie It's.

[Ronnie Karam]

Sarah Talafson Shannon out of a cannon Anthony, please don't stop it's solely and pop let's take off with Tamla playing.

[Ben Mandelker]

It's always a good time when you're wasting time with Bravo she ain't no shrinking violet Coutar we love you guys. If you like, watch what crappens. You can listen ad free right now by joining Wondery plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcast Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short [e-mail] survey.