In This Episode
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Ira Madison III And we’re back with an all new episode of Keep It Real. I’m Ira Madison, the third host of your regular podcast, Keep It. Keep It Real is our semi-regular Friday reality show Bonus podcast. This week we are joined by Teddi Mellencamp, formerly of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, currently on the podcast Two Ts in a Pod, which she hosts with Tamra Judge from Real Housewives of Orange County fame. This is a fun interview. Teddi comes in with some hot questions for me at the beginning, and I think you guys will have some fun. Listen, I did try to get the Two Ts here at the same time, but one T still better than none. After that, Kendra James, one of our producers here at Crooked, who is a Bravo stand like me, joins me for a Bravo, Amy. And we are also going to talk about this current season of The Real Housewives of Orange County and of course, all the drama going on with Shannon Bradshaw’s hit and run DUI. That happened this week. We’re still developing Keep It Real, by the way. And I would love to hear from our listeners what you want to see in this bonus pod, people you love us to talk to, segments you might be interested in. So let us know in the comments. And I will be right back with Teddi Mellencamp. Okay. Our guest today is a former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, a fitness guru and co-host of a very successful, very fun podcast, Two T’s and a Pod, which she co-hosts with Tamra Judge. I am ready to get into all of it with Teddi Mellencamp.
Teddi Mellencamp Hello. It’s it’s so nice to meet you outside your tweets.
Ira Madison III Ha, ha.
Teddi Mellencamp Because, well, I could find one recent one, but I feel like your last Twitter may have been, like, deactivated or something, so I couldn’t go back in to see you dragging me. So I was like, I remember, but I can’t fully remember. So I’m like shit.
Ira Madison III How often have you hopped on like a podcast talking Bravo? And you’re like, All right, let’s get down to business about what you were saying about me a few years ago. Well.
Teddi Mellencamp I mean, here’s the thing. We all have strong opinions and I can laugh at it, but I always get a little hesitant when somebody asks for an interview with me, when I’m like, clearly they had a lot of issue with me before. So I’m like, I texted my publicist, I’m like, Why does he want to do this? Am I coming in hot?
Ira Madison III Promise this is not a setup. What’s funny about that is I feel like and I’ll ask you a bit too about because you’ve been rewatching some Housewives episodes for the podcast. I feel like there’s so much Housewives, so much bravo and content that it’s like you’re firing off tweets while you are watching a show when you have these strong opinions. And then truly, it’s like when like what season? Like 14 is coming up now. I truly have no idea what I even thought when I was watching that show anymore, you know? And like, do you feel like you have sort of, like, forgotten like what it was like when you were on the show? Like, even just like being online after an episode aired. Do you feel like you’re far enough removed from it? Well, I mean.
Teddi Mellencamp I always say, like when I’m watching now is somebody not being on the show? I’m like, You’re only as good as last week’s episode because when I’m watching, I am. My opinion changes from week to week. I might be like, Oh my gosh, she’s driving me nuts this episode. And then the next one, I’m like, Oh, I love her. She, you know. So everyone has to turn around. But I mean, I think that, you know, in hindsight, getting fired really helped me find my voice. And figuring out what it is that I want is like believing in what I say and feeling comfortable with being recorded or filmed or whatever it may be, and just kind of coming out of my shell a bit. So I enjoy it. But I also, you know, I’m trying to have fun with it too.
Ira Madison III I’m talking about, you know, finding your voice and sort of being comfortable with being recorded a bit more now. Would you say that you’d think that you would do things a little bit differently if you were to return to that show or any other sort of reality show that filmed your life?
Teddi Mellencamp Oh, for sure. I mean, I think that I when I first started, I went in wanting to be perfect. Like, I remember like at one point my kids held up like a bottled water. I’m like, No, no, you can’t have plastic. We got to, you know, like, I just tried to control too much because I just was so new to it and so fresh. And I’m like, what? In hindsight, I’m like, Why did I do that? Why did I add all that extra stress to myself? And I think there are times where you see my snarkiness, you know, like there is a part where I like, say to Lisa, like, Oh, sorry, I couldn’t carry out your plan. And like, you just you see me fight back. But I wasn’t my natural, like, overly opinionated self, I don’t think.
Ira Madison III Hmm. What would you say in watching these other Housewives shows? You noticed that maybe newer housewives are like things that they do that you sort of remember like, oh, this is what I was thinking when I was getting into the show. Maybe don’t do that. Like, maybe in the new rhony or something, you know, like you’re noticing people trying to sort of make themselves something for the camera.
Teddi Mellencamp Yeah. I mean, I think like even watching Jessel, you can tell she’s like, always trying to deliver that sound bite, like she’s trying to get that zinger. And I think that’s why sometimes she is. I mean, she’s good television, but sometimes that’s why she isn’t relating to the other women because she’s already in her head planning the next funny thing to say. But they’re like, are you missing the social cues? What’s going on? They’re getting offended. But can you see yourself and other housewives? And I think whether you were on a show or not, that’s the interesting part of watching it. Like, I’ll watch Erin on Rhony. And I’m like, okay, I’m probably most similar to her. You know, like, I would get my feelings hurt. I tried too hard to host an event. I wanted things to be perfect, and then I would get offended over things where in real life I would have been like, Go kick rocks. I don’t care out. You know, like, I don’t take things that personally when it comes to my friendships and my day to day life.
Ira Madison III Mm hmm. I will say that I do use a meme with you constantly when texting with friends, and it is the one of you waiting for Dorit
Teddi Mellencamp I mean that meme. I’m like why? Could I have worn a different outfit? If I would have known that was going to go forever. But I was so fresh. Like, that was such to beginning. I really didn’t know what to do. And I was just sitting there forever. And I’m like, What does one do? Like, I do like a second drink. Like then all of a sudden I have a drinking problem. I’m sitting here just drinking alone. I’m like, I can’t. I’m just not going to do it. So I remember like looking up and being like, What do I do? And they were like, What would you do in real life? And I was like, I would leave. And they were like, Then leave. No one’s holding you here. And I was like, Well, great. I’m out. Thank you for that, you know? Around the time I just sat at this empty restaurant, like, trying to look like I’m doing something when I can’t really be on your phone. You’re just like.
Ira Madison III Yeah. Yeah. Well, that’s that’s interesting to hear too. You know, you sitting there and then you’re like, waiting, you know, to do a scene with Dorit, and then you’re like, with the producer, What am I supposed to be doing? And they’re like, Well, what would you do? Do you think that sometimes there’s a push and pull even in just someone’s mind of like, Well, I’m here to do this scene and I need to make this work for the show or whatever we need to get done for the day. But then there’s also the like. If you want to be authentic, I would leave this fucking restaurant right now.
Teddi Mellencamp Here’s the thing, the way I kind of always felt about it, like, listen, we’re all we all get a call sheet. We all know what time we’re supposed to be there. And if you’re not there on time, it’s disrespectful to the other person. So I had reached out, I contacted, you know, we all we all know how it works. And especially like, you know, nine times out of ten, the reason the women would be late was because they were glam ing. And I’m like, sketch for earlier. Like, this isn’t my problem. My time is as important as yours.
Ira Madison III Mm hmm. So you are starting a rewatch of Beverly Hills for the podcast. And it’s interesting, you said you’ve never seen, like, the first season of the show. What is that like going back and sort of discovering, I guess, things about people you’re friends with now?
Teddi Mellencamp Well, I haven’t even started. I we’re doing it on Friday. And so I like to watch right before because if not, then I need to watch twice because my memory care, Jane, whatever it is. So I’m like, okay, so I haven’t even gotten there yet. I did go back during the season that I was really getting pummeled and watched her. I think maybe it was season six. It was like the season with Brandi and like the Munch out like that or whatever season now. Yeah, I watched that for like my own reference after I saw what happened to me. But other than that, I have watched these. I’ve seen clips and stuff, but I feel like it’s going to be definitely interesting and we’ll see different sides of everybody. I mean, everyone talks about how like iconic season one Camille is. And I was like, Well, I never saw that Camille, so I’m excited to see it.
Ira Madison III You know, she switched it up a bit from season 1 to 2 after, you know, she got pummeled by, you know, the audience. They didn’t like how she was on the show. How did you how would you say that watching season six, you know, like after you were done seven, how did that sort of change your perception of the show or just sort of like you being able to see like how some of the women who were your coworkers like seeing how they operated in a season that you weren’t on?
Teddi Mellencamp I think that the biggest thing that I learned, which I don’t regret in the way that I did it, as so oftentimes the women would would talk a certain way in their confessional and be a different way in scene. I do feel like I was pretty transparent throughout. Like if I had an issue or if I found something out, I wasn’t necessarily the one that would go gossip behind somebody’s back, I was coming to them and I may have done it completely awkwardly and in my deadpan voice and using my hands and, you know, whatever it may be. But I really tried to be that person, whereas a lot of people you see are good television because they’re good in their confessionals. But anyone can be coached in a confessional, not by.
Ira Madison III Confessional gangsters, is what we call them.
Teddi Mellencamp You know, you’re not really that funny in the moment. What’s going on here? Or you playing to be funny or is this? You know.
Ira Madison III Yeah, well there’s a writer’s strike now, so maybe next season won’t have as many quips.
Teddi Mellencamp Oh, yeah, we’ll see, we’ll see.
Ira Madison III You recently talked about Bethenny Frankel podcast, the interview that she did with Rachel Leathers from Vanderpump Rules. I guess what are your thoughts on Bethenny is, you know, spearheading this, you know, unionizing of reality TV and, you know, sort of what do you think about her spearheading this while also the conversation about her possibly taking advantage of Rachel in this interview?
Teddi Mellencamp I mean, I’m all for, you know, certain unionization, but all I’ve seen so far are things towards Bravo. Like, if we’re talking about all reality television, then what about Bachelor Love Island or all of these different shows? And at the end of the day, I don’t think her interview with Rachel really had anything to do with unionizing reality television. I think it had to do with getting her podcast to hit number one, utilizing a person, leading a person to give an interview to her, and which I don’t think behooved Rachel. I don’t think she did anything differently than any network or production company or anything like that. It actually only made Rachel look worse if she really wanted to set up the interview to show Rachel as a human being, she could have really had the harder conversations about like, well, you know, how how are you feeling? What? What steps have you done to better yourself since we all make mistakes? But let’s also be clear, your mistakes didn’t happen on camera. They found out after filming. So you can’t blame production or you can’t blame Bravo for this affair. That didn’t happen on the show. It happened behind the scenes. And it just came out and they picked up cameras again. That’s on you.
Ira Madison III Mm hmm. Yeah. And, you know, there’s a lot of conversation, too, about, you know, what she was called by her classmates and things like the reunion after they found out these things. But, you know, that’s also. Wouldn’t you say something that you sign up for knowing that if you’re putting your life out there and you’re working with other people, if you piss someone off like they have a right to tell you exactly how they feel about you.
Teddi Mellencamp Well, my question is seeing looking back and seeing what Bethany said about Luann, I forget what it was that she was a slut.
Ira Madison III When she called her a whore. She fucked everyone in New York.
Teddi Mellencamp Yeah. You know, so like. And that is Bethany saying that to someone who had nothing to do with her own personal relationship. So I want you to imagine Bethany goes away because her grandmother’s passed away. And her ex-husband, who was her current husband at the time, had sex with one of those women. What kind of evisceration do you think Bethany would have given them at the reunion?
Ira Madison III She might have killed them.
Teddi Mellencamp So let’s be clear. Do I think that the online hate got to be too much? Absolutely. It was out of control. Do I think that some of the cast members took it a little too far on social media when they should have just been quiet and waited until the reunion? Of course I do. But in Ariana’s case, in the moment, it’s fresh, it’s new. She’s upset. She said something harsh and it is what it is. But at the end of the day, that wasn’t even Rachel’s complaint. Her complaint was, I shouldn’t be making what, season nine and season ten cast members who have been doing this that long is making, and that’s just not how it has ever worked. And you didn’t do it on camera.
Ira Madison III There’s that too.
Teddi Mellencamp You could have if you would have come out and said, Listen, I am so sorry. I am so sorry. I don’t know. I don’t know what is going on with me. I clearly messed up Ariana. I am sorry I hurt you. I am sorry that this happened. And, like, really just came out and apologized and took accountability. She could have been capitalizing financially as well. Tom is a villain, and he’s still capitalizing on it.
Ira Madison III Yeah.
Teddi Mellencamp So you just need a better negotiator, Rachel. But coming out of the end of that podcast, after not really taking accountability, saying I wasn’t really that close with, you know, this person, La la la was just, you know, got money for her merch on Send it to Daryl. It just made it seem like, oh, like this isn’t what I want to hear. I want to hear your back story. I want to hear how women could grow from this. Are the the things that lured you in or just be straightforward like the rest of us that have been on reality television. I like fame. I want to be bigger on the show. And I thought f ing one of the stars would help me set Lisa relatable.
Ira Madison III As a host of a Bravo, you know, podcast. There are also so many other Housewives ones who join you on your show, but also people you know, who have sort of started their own sort of ventures. What would you say are some of your maybe favorite ones and what would you also say is something that you think a housewife could learn if she wants to, like, start a podcast like this, you know, and like how to sort of differentiate it from everything that’s out there.
Teddi Mellencamp For me, the biggest thing is do your research. You know, I remember we had Andy on to talk about his book and he was like, Thank you guys so much for actually reading the full book before having me on. I think so many, you know, podcasters, the example, Bethany, not going back and watching Vanderpump Rules or saying, oh, she mentioned three times and her most recent one, I never watched the show. I didn’t do this. I didn’t do that. Like, if I’m going to have a housewife on and I’m going to interview them, you’re going to bet I am going so deep down the rabbit hole that I have everything prepared. And then that way I can have a voice. I’m not just going off of what I’m reading on Reddit or online or what you tweeted about me or, you know, whatever it may be, I’m actually going off my own gut. And that’s why I try not I want other Housewives podcasts to do well, but that’s why I try not to listen too much because I also don’t want sometimes if I hear something, then it’s like stuck in my head and then it will start to. Become my opinion when it’s not necessarily mine. So I try to like keep a separate. I support everybody else, but most of the time I tend not to listen.
Ira Madison III Hmm. And, you know, you talked about having Andy Card and talking about his book. You know, what’s it been like maintaining, I guess, a working relationship with Andy and then also Bravo, you know, just sort of like in your post Housewives life, but, you know, still also commentating on it.
Teddi Mellencamp You know, I think that I try to always make sure that I give credit where credit is due. They did I mean, they did do a lot for me. The fact that I was given that platform, the fact that I came on and was able to honestly showcase my business, my life there. Yes. Are there things I could have done better? Of course. But is there things I don’t? There’s nothing I look back on and go, gosh, you know, like, I’m so mad at them for this. So there’s no real ill will. So I try to be respectful of not ruining things. For people watching the show that haven’t watched. I try not to give too much away in advance, but I make sure to have big opinions when things are actually airing and showing and just try to have fun with it. And Andy is great and we text and we have fun and you know, it’s it’s all good.
Ira Madison III And how do you manage? You know, your co-host is on Real Housewives of Orange County now. Like, how do you manage those interpersonal relationships that she has with, you know, sort of the women on her show? You know, like if she has or says something about like Vicki or you say something about one of her coworkers, how does that sort of play out in your life?
Teddi Mellencamp I mean, we pretty much just I just tell her, like, don’t listen to the ones that don’t listen to me recap Orange County. Like, it’s just. It’s just going to add, like, because I can’t give her perspective anyway. So it’s better for me not to for her not to listen, because then she’s not going to get her feelings hurt. Because I said, like, Tim, there’s some stuff this season. Not not the best. And so I’m going to say it. And but it doesn’t mean that I love her any less or I don’t think she’s excellent television or that I don’t appreciate her so much as a co-host. I mean, Tamra is reality television gold because she can make stuff happen. People all of a sudden care about Orange County again. That’s huge. Yeah. And she’s got to take pride in that. And I. I love her as a co-host. I love her as a friend. But, like, I’m like, don’t listen to me. Recap Orange County. And yeah, you know, some of your favorites are not mine and vice versa. And it’s the same with, you know, with Beverly Hills.
Ira Madison III Mm hmm. Um, great. I have one last Beverly Hills question. Yes. Now, have you seen this Morgan Wave music video?
Teddi Mellencamp I have.
Ira Madison III What were your thoughts?
Teddi Mellencamp I mean, I think that. I think I comment like. Something along the lines of like, if you can’t beat them, troll them, or whatever it may be. You know what I always have said as all of this has played out, you know, all of our social media, I’m like my job on it. And I got heat for this too. I’m like, But my job on Two Ts In A Pod is to recap things that are playing out on television or talking about people I truly do not know. But once I see things airing this next season, I’m Beverly Hills. I will discuss what I’m watching, but I’m not going to discuss like my interpersonal friendships because I think that’s crossing a line. You know what I mean? Like in the moment, like once Beverly Hills airing everything is fair game.
Ira Madison III Yeah.
Teddi Mellencamp But me just reading the tabloid fodder, I’m like. Nah. Not happenning.
Ira Madison III Exactly. Well, thank you so much for being here, Teddi.
Teddi Mellencamp Of course. Thanks for having me.
Ira Madison III Yeah. I hope this was I hope this was painless. You know, it was lovely to have you here.
Teddi Mellencamp It was painless. You’re just like you pull up your old Twitter.
Ira Madison III Always delete the evidence.
Teddi Mellencamp Like, I can’t find. I’m like Sue, can you find like, no it’s gone. I’m like dang it.
Ira Madison III Coming up, Kendra James joins me for a Bravo AMA. And we get into this current season of The Real Housewives of Orange County.
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Ira Madison III All right. I am back for another Keep It Real AMA. And this time we have Crooked’s Bravo expert, Kendra James joining me.
Kendra James And I am ready to talk justice for Archie.
Ira Madison III Okay, so it is wild that we are recording this right after Shannon Beador from Real Housewives of Orange County did a hit and run in Newport.
Kendra James Yes.
Ira Madison III The TMZ footage is out. This is wild. I don’t even know what I imagined I was imagining like. There’s this episode of Passions where Ivy was trying to stop Teresa from marrying her son Ethan, as she drove through a church. And that’s what I was thinking of, because I just kept thinking, She’s hitting our house. What is happening here? But it’s it’s like she’s. It’s like the car is playing skee ball. She hits and it zooms.
Kendra James So I had seen the damage to the town house prior because someone said, okay, there’s a black woman on Tik-tok who appears to have driven down to Orange County last night and took pictures of shit. So I had already seen the damage to the house and like, thank God, like in all seriousness, like, obviously this woman should not have been driving while drunk. There are Ubers, even in Orange County. But it does. It looks like it was minor damage. And just to like the brick foundation of the house. And now that I’ve seen the footage where this woman just comes careening around a corner and drives straight into the house. She’s so lucky. She’s incredibly lucky. And to have the dog in the car, too, like I. I don’t know. This season clearly has had an effect on her. And I’m like, in a way, I get it. But again, you have an Uber.
Ira Madison III Yeah. Well, let’s talk about this season of Real Housewives of Orange County, which I just binged this weekend. And because I have free time now, so I benched it. This season, it is great.
Kendra James It’s Oh, it’s the best it’s been in years.
Ira Madison III Yes. First of all, it’s Heather, Debra’s best season ever, I think.
Kendra James Yes. And I am a Heather Dubrow stan. I love that woman. I know. And I understand that that’s not popular.
Ira Madison III I like I like her a lot. And I think that what’s great is she’s always been this sort of larger than life, sort of, you know, very boozy, very, you know, like this. This is a performance I’m doing. Yeah. Housewife and housewives are always great when they’re up against a wall or someone is attempting to take them down and they either flounder or they rise to the occasion.
Kendra James She’s playing it perfectly.
Ira Madison III The attempt at takedown of her by Emily and Tamra has failed miserably.
Kendra James No. And Emily’s a smart woman. I understand why she thought she could do it. But the thing is, Emily is not getting a rise out of her. Heather is just.
Ira Madison III No.
Kendra James Just whatever she’s like. You heard rumors about my marriage, okay? I don’t care. I don’t care.
Ira Madison III Yeah.
Kendra James It’s beautiful. It’s a masterclass class. Theresa Guidice could learn something.
Ira Madison III She could. Teresa always reacts angrily. She’s throwing things that if Teresa were just like, who cares?
Kendra James Yeah, she wouldn’t be in half the trouble. She may have spent much time in jail, but that’s besides the point. I was going to say, this season of Orange County, like, the chemistry is just like, really, really working for me. And to have I hate to call a DUI, like the pay off is the wrong word, but it is like it is the cap off of the season that you would almost expect if you have been watching Shannon Badawi’s arc for years.
Ira Madison III Mm hmm. So Shannon is a housewife who I believe maybe it was a Louis postman on Twitter has said she has never had a good season on this show, and that’s what makes her compelling. I think she is She’s so frustrating and uncomfortable to watch on TV. But it does it is what makes her compelling to watch. And she’s always been a person who has, you know, tried to protect her life from the cameras while also craving the cameras. It is so interesting to be like a housewife, but you desperately want to be on TV, but you also want to hide so many things in your life.
Kendra James People say that, like other people, are keeping it from the cameras. No, honey, every man that you have dated does not want you keeping that like this at some point. This is you.
Ira Madison III She already had a marriage fall apart on the show. She already had cheating rumors that she tried to hide with her husband, David, coming out one season. And so here she is with a new relationship. And newsflash, before this season even started, we knew that that relationship was over.
Kendra James Mm hmm.
Ira Madison III Mm hmm. It’s just is you’re watching a train wreck unfold that you’re just seeing, like, how this relationship is not going to work. It’s such a sad season for her. And she’s what’s what’s also ironic, too, is that this season has had her fighting with Gina on the show because Gina had a DUI three years ago. And Shannon is always bringing it up on camera, how she helped her, how she had to call, call, you know, like her boyfriend to stop CPS from taking Gina’s kids away from her. And now to end the season. Where you are in a DUI.
Kendra James I hope Gina is looking for her little black book. I hope she got. I hope she called Gina. Like, I’m I’m very upset that the reunion film two weeks ago and I know Tamara and Teddi, we’re talking this morning on their new episode of Two Ts in a Pod about the DUI. The DUI supposedly happened sometime on Saturday night. Tamara said that she spoke to to Shannon in a conference call on Sunday, and Shannon said nothing about what was going on.
Ira Madison III Of course.
Kendra James Yeah. And then Teddy was asking, like all of these follow up questions, which I was like, that’s like, you don’t know this woman. That’s messy. You wouldn’t. And like, you’re trying to get Tamara to talk about this. You wouldn’t even talk about Kyle and Mauricio. Like who, that’s supposed to be Your friends.
Ira Madison III Obviously, you all have just listened to my fun spicy interview with Teddi Mellencamp. Spicy? Because she starts out the interview by saying, I remember your tweets about me.
Kendra James Oh, she’s going to remember this episode now.
Ira Madison III And what’s funny is I try obviously, you know, I tried to get the two Ts, Tamra and Teddi, but, you know, Teddi was Teddi was fun all on her own.
Kendra James Yes. Yeah. I don’t know. I just. This is such, like, a sad situation for Shannon, and, like, it’s been talked about, sort of like, under the table and hinted at on the show for years that her drinking. She does this? Yes. She gets very, very drunk and either, like, makes decisions or makes phone calls that she doesn’t remember. And just to have it really coming to a head on this season is sad. It is. It is really sad. And I, I hope she can take some time off and come back healthy.
Ira Madison III Yeah. Yeah. Which is sad, though, because I do want Gina to have that confrontation with her on the show next season, But she probably does need to not be on the show.
Kendra James Well, when is that ever stopped one of these women?
Ira Madison III I know and it is sort of dark, too, because um, and we’re going to get to the AMA right after this. It is it is kind of dark because it reminds me of Karen Huger on Potomac. Right. There’s always the stories that Karen Huger also gets you like she’s she’s she’s prim and proper on the show. Does it really drink? But when she drinks at night, she drunk, dials the cast and spills on her business.
Kendra James We’ve seen that fire ball on camera. I love Karen, though.
Ira Madison III That’s why she hates Robin.
Kendra James Yes. I love Karen, though. And that is, that’s one of my favorites.
Ira Madison III Yeah. Yeah. I don’t think Karen is going to be driving into any buildings anytime soon, but you never know. It’s the Grand Dame just in the driveway. But, wait, does the Grand Dame even have her license? Didn’t they have that whole story? It was taken away. It was taken away because of her DUI.
Kendra James But I will say it’s a long drive to get to Potomac from where any of those women live. So they are doing a lot of driving.
Ira Madison III All right. Let’s get into some questions. Okay, RHONY just had its reboot and that is successful. Sort of successful. The ratings aren’t quite there yet, but I think that it’s it could be gelling into a good show. I’m excited for the reunion. I do think that the season could maybe have been shorter. They don’t have a lot to talk about and it reminds me that the first seasons of a lot of the earlier Bravo shows would be like six episodes.
Kendra James Yes.
Ira Madison III Or eight.
Kendra James I mean, I think Dubai is Dubai. And then the return of Miami, I think are both good examples of that. With with New York specifically, I think a lot of that like stuff that we were getting in the first three episodes was Remnants from Lizzie Savitsky. I think her name was. I’m like.
Ira Madison III Yeah.
Kendra James If I had been. If I, not that I’m telling other producers how to do their job, I would have cut that stuff out. I would have like given them a clean slate and then we probably would have had like ten episodes instead of whatever we’re doing now. There’s just like a lot of that didn’t seem to matter.
Ira Madison III No, especially the catch fights and the other stuff, but things that things really seem to kick off for the show once they went to Erin’s Hamptons house.
Kendra James Yes. Yeah. erin is a very polarizing figure.
Ira Madison III Erin is annoying. Sai is very grating. They are both sort of becoming the villains on this India trip.
Kendra James Yeah. Ubah came alive. Which.
Yeah, she did.
Kendra James I appreciate it, because I knew Uber had something. Because Ubah, I don’t know if you watched My Unorthodox Life on Netflix.
Ira Madison III I did not. Was she on it?
Kendra James So she was on it for a hot second. And the woman on My Unorthodox Life was helping her like market and brand her hot sauce.
Ira Madison III Ubah Hot?
Kendra James Yeah, the woman on My Unorthodox Life, now she. I don’t want to call her a scammer. I don’t want to call her a grifter. I’m just simply going to say I believe there is more to that story. And so to have Ubah interacting with this woman who clearly has a lot more going on, I came into New York and I was like, This woman has something because she’s willing to interact with crazy. And I think pulling the sunglasses off of Aaron’s face immediately, like the fact that she immediately jumped to that. I want to see more.
Ira Madison III She’s ready to box.
Kendra James Yes. Yes.
Ira Madison III But the question that we have here, the first one is could Real Housewives of Atlanta benefit from a RHONY style reboot? And could any other Bravo show benefit from a reboot like that?
Kendra James The women of Atlanta have had a few off seasons, much like the women of O.C. had.
Ira Madison III Mm hmm. I don’t. This was the most off.
Kendra James Yes. I don’t think we need to get red. I think we need to bring in a heavy. We need to bring in a heavy hitter. We need, like, not that any of them would necessarily ever do it. We need a Monica. We need a Cardi B. We need like, we need a someone who can match with Kandi, I think, and set Kandi off in a way that is different from the way that, like Drew activates her or like this, whatever that cousin’s name is. I don’t care if the cousin is activating Kandi because I don’t care about the cousin.
Ira Madison III They don’t respect her.
Kendra James Right. Exactly.
Ira Madison III I think it reminds me of and I wish that Yolanda Hadid had never gotten sick because I feel like she’d still be on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. But it reminds me of the way that Yolanda came in and sort of activated Lisa Vanderpump because she was so wealthy and like had had more stature in Beverly Hills than her. And that shook up Lisa in the way that nobody else really did on the show. And you need someone who Kandi respects at is also bawling more than her. Kandi is always like, I’m worldwide. You need someone who is intergalactic.
Kendra James No, I agree. But yeah, I don’t I don’t think a reboot is the answer there. I think we need to take maybe a little bit of extended time off the way Beverly Hills had and just think about what we’re doing. We just need to sit down and think and honestly.
Ira Madison III Listen, I’m not saying that, you know, there aren’t black women in Atlanta who can add to this, but I also think that, you know, not to Kim Zolciak it, but, you know, they added some diversity to Beverly Hills because that was like an all white show, maybe, I think, diverse for Real Housewives of Atlanta. I don’t think it necessarily needs to be a white woman in the mix. But, you know, like a Latina woman, you know, like someone someone else with in Atlanta where we can get a different culture that’s going on in there, they’ll bring a different flavor to the show, something that you thought Sanya was going to bring. But all she really does it say pop, pop, pop and make her make a food with her family. Sonya has got to go.
Kendra James She and I don’t like to say that given the end of the season, but Sonya has got to go. Like, I just. I need her out. I will say what Married to Medicine taught me, which I did not know, is that there’s a huge Indian population in Atlanta. And I’m like, Can we attach to that? Not with that woman, whatever that woman’s name was, because she was horrendous.
Ira Madison III She was horrible.
Kendra James Who was that? Oh. I can’t remember.
Ira Madison III But but you see, that’s how bad she was. Yes, that’s how bad she was. Her and her husband, they were doing the most.
Kendra James Oh, I disliked them so much.
Ira Madison III I think other shows that would benefit. It’s so interesting because I feel like. Isn’t that what people want it for? Vanderpump Rules before Scamdoval happened. They said they said everybody. Yeah. Bring in new waiters who are actually broke and starving. And then Scamdoval happened and they were all thirsty for camera time again. So that is great. And I think next season is going to be interesting. We’ll see. I’m like, I don’t want to hear about Scannable ever again, but I know that we’re going to get at least two or three episodes of it up top. Yeah. What other shows? I don’t know. I feel like Southern Charm has found a way to reinvent itself a bit. In a way that. In a way that is interesting.
Kendra James Are you watching this season?
Ira Madison III I have not started yet, but.
Kendra James Yeah. The it starts off with your regular players, all the people that you know. I think the smart thing that Southern Charm has done is sort of extend it further into that. Like I would call it a second tier Bravo universe with your Summer Houses, your Winter Houses, all of that. So they make themselves more relevant by being connected to that world because frankly, like I think there was coming a point with Southern Charm where it was like. Shep, you’re a 45 year old man. And it’s just it’s not cute anymore. It’s not cute.
Ira Madison III Was it ever? It’s wild to me that he ever even had a show called Relation-Shep.
Kendra James Let’s let’s not let’s not put that out.
Ira Madison III One season.
Kendra James Of us bringing that back.
Ira Madison III One season. I do think expanding out into some extra people would help. One thing I love about Miami is the fact that you have so many friends of them. It feels like a full cast. So we need people like that. The other shows, I don’t really know if there’s any other ones that need like a full scale reboot. I mean, I still think that. I still think like a new married to medicine. What would’ve been fun? Like Tiffany Moon, you know, because people liked her. I liked Tiffany, and people online had always said do of Married to Medicine in.
Kendra James Dallas.
Ira Madison III In Dallas with, with Tiffany.
Kendra James Mhm.
Ira Madison III Yeah.
Kendra James I see that I would have liked, I would have watched another season of Dallas with her. I really would have. But I think Kam ruined everything for that franchise.
Ira Madison III She really that show got it. Got too dark. The problem is a lot of them just get too dark, you know? What housewife are you currently most suspicious of? Like who’s going to be the next Teresa? Erika Jayne? Jen Shah? Honestly, before we got to the darkness of this season with Shannon, every time she talked about her business and wanting to increase it on the show, part of me was like, Is she going to do something shady to make more money? I never quite know what she’s talking about. Whenever she’s having these business meetings or she’s visiting the doctor, talking about the thing that she wants to push.
Kendra James That’s fair. That’s fair. I don’t you know what? No one is like jumping to mind immediately. What I will say is that I do assume that Don Juan knows things that we will never know. Don Juan knows where bodies are believed buried in Atlanta. Don Juan knows things about Andy Cohen that Andy Cohen probably doesn’t know about himself like that. That is the man who I think could bring down any bravolebrity at any time.
Ira Madison III Where is a city that you would like to see the Real Housewives franchise venture, too?
Kendra James So my top. And they would never happen because old money, true old money would never actually be on this show. I would love Greenwich. I would be like Greenwich, Connecticut, I should say lifestyle porn, real wealth. The downtown of Greenwich has just a freestanding Hermes store. Like what? We don’t even have that in OC, Heather would be so at home. But yeah, no, I’m I think my next franchise, I do really want that level of wealth and aspiration and like lifestyle porn that I am not getting. I don’t get that in OC. I don’t get that I’m on Salt Lake. I don’t really get that on Atlanta, even. Even though those women do have like some some quality money. Definitely not getting that on Potomac and I’m getting a little bit on New York on the map but it’s only coming from really from Jenna and a little bit a little bit from Aaron, I guess. But yeah, Greenwich.
Ira Madison III Of course, just all you know, because she’s accused of coming from a rich family.
Kendra James Of course. Of course.
Ira Madison III That, by the way, is so funny to me because it’s it’s a new kind of like weird stereotype, just the fact that, you know, every like Indian foreigner must be obscenely wealthy.
Kendra James Right. And like, I believe her that she probably had you know, everyone has a hard time when they moved to New York at first, I believe her that that was the case. I think that the push back was coming from the fact that everyone assumed she was directly trying to compare her story to Sy and Jared, who had objectively terrible childhoods.
Ira Madison III Yes, I think people assumed that because they’ve all been playing trauma bonding Olympics. Yeah.
Kendra James Yeah.
Ira Madison III And that needs to stop, I hope next season. Next season, you bitches know each other well enough. I don’t want to hear any more sad back stories.
Kendra James Yeah, and I will applaud them all for being, Erin aside, a little bit like the rest of them are actually pretty emotionally cognizant and they really like come to those conversations like ready to empathize. But then they’re just like pushing too much and posturing too much. It’s it’s a lot.
Ira Madison III Mm hmm. I feel like if you’re if money would be great for housewives. Yes. But I also feel like you want to get, like, a flavor and our culture. Like, what’s fun about Miami is like, it feels like it’s so completely different from the other cities. You know, it feels like it’s you feel the Miami Heat screen. And I’m trying to think like where else in the country or something. What I love to see maybe like a like a Mexico City or something like something, something like that. It wouldn’t be too close to Mexico or maybe like a European country, you know?
Kendra James Well, Lisa is apparently taking us to Europe at some point with some hotel show that has been announced. But they tried to do they tried to do Southern Charm. Southern Charm NOLA and I would watch a Real Housewives.
Ira Madison III Housewives there.
Kendra James In New Orleans. Yeah, because every time Gizelle has taken Gizelle from Potomac has taken us to New Orleans. It’s been a good time. Yeah, New Orleans is definitely one. I would also do a Bay Area situation where it was actually diverse. Like you had maybe someone from Oakland. You had maybe like some Chinese Americans, you had some like rich tech people. I would I got. Could be interesting.
Ira Madison III I think I said I think I remember an interview where someone had said, like because they’d had $1,000,000 listing San Francisco for one season and, uh, or Silicon Valley or whatever it was. But I think part of the problem was those really rich people didn’t really ever want to be on camera, etc.. But I think now. With the way things have gone with reality TV and stuff like so much time has passed that you would get some people in like Oakland, S.F. whatever, who would want to be on the show, you know.
Kendra James And then like also that brings probably the true crime back into it because we know there taxes.
Ira Madison III Yeah. Okay, good. Get an Enron. Okay, Get get something. I would love to see that.
Kendra James Yeah. I am saying, like until the the DUI incident, I was kind of enjoying like this, this softer side of seers, like Real Housewives era, where we’ve come out of like Homeland Security showing up on camera. And the conflict is a lot more based in like interpersonal relationships stuff. It’s been a nice break.
Ira Madison III Yes. Now, we don’t need the FBI every season. No. All right. So thank you for joining me, Kendra. I mean, well, we’ll be doing keep it real semi-regularly on Fridays. So obviously you will be back.
Kendra James This has been a dream. We’ve never been on my talking Housewives. It’s never happenned.
Ira Madison III We haven’t. We haven’t.
Kendra James Producer Chris is looking shocked.
Ira Madison III Season six of Keep It. Anything can happen. All right. That’s been Keep It Real. Our second episode of our special reality show Bonus podcast for Keep It. Thank you to Teddi Mellencamp for joining. Thank you to Kendra James for joining and I will see you next Friday with a new episode of Keep It Real.
Ira Madison III Keep It is a Crooked Media production. Our senior producer is Kendra James. Our producer is Chris Lord and our associate producer is Malcolm Whitfield. Our executive producers are Ira Madison the third and Louis Virtel.
Louis Virtel This episode was recorded and mixed by Evan Sutton. Thank you to our digital team, Megan Patzel and Rachel Gaewski and to Matt DeGroot and David Toles for production support every week.
Ira Madison III And as always, Keep It as recorded in front of a live studio audience.
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