#bravocon2023

In my post about BravoCon I wrote that I thought the other women felt threatened by Monica Garcia.

Turns out I was right, but for very different reasons.

I thought that they were threatened because she was clearly the MVP of the season.

But I must say that it’s completely understandable that the women feel like they can’t trust her.

It’s understandable why they avoided her on BravoCon.

I was so annoyed by the interviews Heather Gay, Whitney Rose and Angie Katsanevas were making, deflecting awkwardly away from the questions.

Now, however, I’m so impressed by how there were no leak to the press about the iconic twist at the season finale.

I’m so impressed and thankful.

As there were no leaks to the social media, this finale was able to truly shock and surprise us. It has been a while since we got that level of shocking revelations.

Well, there’s Scandoval… But still!

So, I’m grateful that they gave lousy answers in their interviews.

I also wrote that Monica was like Brandi Glanville of Salt Lake City, and I still stand by that.

Brandi had chaotic energy, many has called her a liability for Bravo, and Monica might be the same.

While it was an incredible turn of events in season 4, there’s no doubt that it’s nearly impossible for Monica to return next season.

Where do you go when no one trusts you?

And I think the reason why they exposed Monica the way they did, was because they’ve been traumatized, terrorized, and villainized by Jen Shah for years.

For instance, Jen was the boy who cried “wolf” when it came to racism.

Whenever she was unhappy with one of the ladies, she started spreading racist rumours about them.

It was a pattern with Jen.

I’ve seen a lot of reactions among fans claiming that they treated Monica the way they should’ve treated Jen.

But maybe this was them taking a stand.

In the end of a year I like to reflect on the Bravo year we’ve had and try to break down the most memorable moments from the Real Housewives franchise.

Sadly, I couldn’t think of one single moment on season 15 of RHOA that could compete with the other shows. Not even with honourable mentions!

But not only that! Multiple fans reported on empty seats at the panel for RHOA at BravoCon!

That is a cause for pause. This is bad.

How the former It show on Bravo, the legendary RHOA, end up being forgettable and irrelevant?!

Kenya Moore claimed to have some answers for us in her interview with Carlos King, though. She simply said:

“Choices. Casting choices.”

When Kenya and Porsha Williams joined the show, they had to go through tests and a lot of filming before they were earned with joining the group.

Being a housewife was like getting into a high society club, but then Bravo started to give out the title to just about anyone.

It’s no longer a privilege to be a housewife.

And it doesn’t seem like the women on the show wants it good enough or appreciate it enough to give their blood, sweat, and tears.

It has become deflecting, deceiving, acting, and lying. Kenya actually broke the fourth wall in Portugal and told the women that they were ruining the show.

Drew Sidora and Marlo Hampton were awful additions. They’ve been allowed to lie on the show, and it has been infuriating to watch.

I felt like Sanya Richards Ross had potential as she’s funny and showing her life and adding something unique to the show, she hasn’t wowed me.

And don’t get me started on Courtney Rhodes.

I was one of those who thought that Marlo deserved a chance of trying out as a housewife, but the only reason she was upgraded was because the casting was in shambles.

How did it come to this?!

Jenna Lyons was absent from BravoCon and it might have been because she’s booked and busy.

But is she too busy for RHONY?

She was at a fashion event with Jessel Taank during BravoCon, but Jessel eventually showed up in Las Vegas while Jenna was missing in action.

And after the interviews she has been doing since RHONY wrapped, I’m worried.

It would be just my luck if my favourite housewife from the reboot didn’t return for the next season.

I would be absolutely gutted if she left after only one season.

But the women were ganging up on her about the silliest of things. And at the reunion Ubah Hassan made it seem like Jenna had no real friends on the show.

She said that none of the women had wanted her to join the show.

It therefore worries me that this wasn’t a very pleasant experience for her.

When she was at her most vulnerable after fixing her teeth, Erin Lichy threw her under the bus and made it seem like she thought she was better than the rest of the group.

When she was on “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon, she tried to avoid the question about her returning to RHONY, and when he pressed, she answered:

"I don't have an answer. I genuinely don't know."

The audience was begging her to do it, and Jimmy agreed. He said that the fans loved her.

She’s undoubtedly one of the better additions to the reboot.

She admitted that doing the show was a tough experience, and for someone who appears both very guarded and vulnerable, it must be exhausting to expose yourself.

However, she did a great job telling us her life story even if the other housewives didn’t value it very much.

Sadly, it looks like Jenna is going to be one of those one and done housewives, but what a one hit wonder she will end up being.

Crystal Kung Minkoff is not one of Jeff Lewis’ housewives.

He made several shady comments about her, but when she responded in an interview, things took an unexpected turn.

Jeff, who had been putting Monica Garcia from RHOSLC down, was also making rude comments about Crystal.

For instance, he said that Crystal didn’t say a word in the premiere episode for season 13 and it was the best thing ever.

When in an interview Crystal was asked about his comments, she answered that “he’s a cocksucker”.

I somehow can’t seem to find that interview, but I know it was said because it kind of shocked me.

I was taken aback and was thinking: “Is that okay…?”

And as I was looking at the comments on Twitter (yes, I still call it that), it seemed like the fans were split on whether it was homophobic or not.

However, Jeff went on his radio show and cleared it all up.

He had reached out to her after learning that she was upset with his jokes, and she had responded:

“I was just wondering why you seem to hate me or be obsessed with me, but Tracy whom I adore vouched hard for you and said you’re a regular old cocksucker, so all good.”

After texting with Jeff, Crystal did interviews on the red carpet and said that he was a bitchy guy who wanted to be a housewife and would never be one and called him a cocksucker.

While some fans called it homophobic, Jeff said on his radio show that he didn’t view it like that at all. He thought it was funny.

Actually, Crystal’s response had given him a newfound respect for her after she came back at him.

He’s intrigued by her now.

We can’t be more offended than the offended party.

I like Crystal. I do enjoy her solo scenes with her family way more than her in group scenes, but I’m hoping that will change.

Jennifer Aydin always seems to get herself into trouble.

Last year she was caught in an incident with the Gorgas in the lobby. This year she got into it with a fan.

A fan asked Jennifer during a panel if she could crawl any further up Teresa Giudice’s ass, which set off both Jennifer and Teresa.

Their only reply was that they were friends and friends supported one another. But when the fan was storming off, Jennifer said:

“Hey! Hey big boy! Big boy with the big mouth. Teresa’s gonna say something to you.”

She also called the fan a “whale” who “waddled out”. The audience had stopped laughing at that point.

And Andy Cohen was not happy about it.

“Oh, this is very disappointing. I don’t like this. I don’t like this … That’s a fan that paid to be there.”

The fan had posted a video on social media that she didn’t regret her question or the way she asked it.

She wanted to provoke them, and Andy acknowledged that.

“[The fan] asked the question: ‘Why are you so far up Teresa’s a**,’ it’s not nice … But it doesn’t deserve making fun of someone’s size. They’re not saying: ‘You’re a horrible person.’”

He wanted Jennifer to apologize for her comments and was disappointed that she double down on her body shaming comments.

On Twitter Jennifer had posted this:

“My daughters would never start with something rude, and if they did, [they] would deserve a response- & they know that. You can’t be rude to someone and then be shocked when they say something rude back. Actions have consequences.

“Disappointed that they said something so rude and that they deserved it. That’s exactly how I feel. Bad behavior has repercussions. So Live and learn and just Be Nice!”

Sometimes Jennifer is just a straight up asshole. Why couldn’t she just apologize?

It’s been addressed that Jennifer isn’t among Andy’s favourite housewives, and as the fans now are outraged by her body shaming, one might wonder:

In the trailer of season 13 of RHOBH Erika Girardi talked about making music again and admitted that she feared that no one would want to work with her.

Here we are, a documentary about Erika’s journey back on stage – in Las Vegas.

At one point it gives me a bad taste in my mouth.

Are we ready to forgive and forget how insensitive she was with that scandal? Are we really going to celebrate her now?

On the other hand, lives goes on.

And if Erika has been found innocent of any wrongdoing with the Tom Girardi case, then who am little me to stand in the way of someone trying to get her life back on track?

But Erika spent most of the time in the documentary complaining and struggling with the production.

And it’s hard for me to like her.

It’s hard to like someone as cold and detached as Erika is from human emotions.

She’s talking about how life was with Tom and how he had hurt his family too, but it won’t make me forget about how she manipulated the story.

And this show isn’t something you’ll be completely neutral to. You will either stan as a fan or mock it like a hater.

And Sutton Stracke kind of mocked Erika’s show.

When Page Six asked if she wanted to go to Erika’s Las Vegas show, she answered: “I’m very busy.”

She wasn’t the one who brough up the embarrassingly low prices on the tickets, someone in the audience did.

But Kyle Richards didn’t appreciate that Sutton was putting Erika’s business down like that.

“[…] It was so mean-spirited that I was like, ‘That is showing me a whole other side.’ You don’t do that to someone’s livelihood.”

Erika must already know that she has a long road ahead of herself.

Therefore, it was mean to act like that show was beneath her time.

Before the premiere of season 13 fans were beginning to speculate that Kyle Richards had faked marital issues for a storyline.

To see the sad expressions on her daughters’ faces in the season trailer, I’ve a difficulty believing that Kyle would ever do something like that to them.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned by watching RHOBH throughout the years, it’s that she loves her family.

Kyle loved Mauricio Umansky and their family. She adored him!

After fans had speculated for weeks about Kyle’s ring and tattoos, an article suddenly came out announcing that Kyle and Mauricio were separating!

They were quick with releasing a statement, saying that:

“Any claims regarding us divorcing are untrue. However, yes, we have had a rough year.”

But right before the premiere of season 13, Mauricio said in an interview while being on Dancing with the Stars, that him and Kyle were in fact separated.

Kyle was immediately seen with Morgan Wade after Mauricio’s announcement.

Was it a retaliation to him walking around holding hands with his partner on DWTS, Emma Slater?

On WWHL she said that the pictures of Mauricio holding hands with another woman hurt her feelings.

She suspected that something was going on between them.

In their statement they said that they asked for privacy as they worked through their issues.

But it doesn’t seem like they’re working things out.

When she was interviewed by TooFab on BravoCon they asked if this was the new Kyle, she said:

“I’ve gone through a lot the last year that does change you, you know. Losing my best friend to suicide changed me. Going through the divorce made me stronger, but it definitely changes you as a person.”

Is it just me or was that a Freudian slip?

As far as I know, that’s the first time she has ever used the word “divorce” while addressing this situation.

She has always denied any rumours of separation or divorce, but here we are with Mauricio admitting that they're separated, and now the D-word.