Reality Recap: Confrontation, Carl, another confrontation

Teddi Mellencamp recently rang the “good luck bell”, marking the last day of her radiation treatment after an exclusive, in-depth interview about her cancer diagnosis. A video of a pitchy Ashley Darby covering Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly” is going viral for all the wrong reasons. And if you have not seen acting coach Miguel Luciano’s impressions of all the different housewives, please pour yourself a cup of tea (or wine!) and settle in because he is spot on.

Internet users ride at dawn for Kenya after explosive scene with Brit Eady

This week’s episode of Real Housewives of Atlanta has the internet divided over who should’ve really been kicked off the show over allegations that Kenya Moore showed intimate photos of Brittany at the grand opening of her salon, the Kenya Moore Hair Spa, which I initially wrote about here. It was announced Kenya has been “suspended indefinitely” from filming the show.

Since then, Kenya went on an apology tour lite, which had most of the audience members thinking she was at fault. But after seeing Brittany pop off at an event held by Angela Oakley in the latest episode, (by the way, Angela has got some of her own mess going on with that husband and a child he is reported to have fathered outside their marriage), some people are starting to change their tune. Keyword, some. 

Essentially, the cast gathered for what looked to be a delicious dinner, but the meal was disrupted by a messy ass game of ask-anyone-a-question-and-they-must-answer it. While it started off being all in good fun, a pointed question to Kenya about why she’s “so concerned with happily married women” made the night take a sharp turn for the worse.

When Kenya referred to Brittany as a peasant and herself a queen, Brittany grew increasingly heated – at which point Kenya visibly tried to de-escalate, employing the grey rock method, which she likely grew skilled at during her volatile relationship with Matt Jordan. 

As the group was leaving the venue, Brittany started talking about her whip and her pistol and that’s when things got kicked up a notch. In confessionals, Porsha, Drew, Kelli and Angela all revealed to cameras that they felt like Brittany was doing a lot, but besides an invitation into a separate car, no one really said anything in the moment. Interestingly, social media users pulled up receipts of Brittany saying she’s never had a weapon in her possession and has never threatened anyone, but she was caught in 4K doing just that in this week’s episode. 

With Kenya not quite matching her energy, and Brittany appearing to be the aggressor, it pads the case for some people’s belief that Kenya has been vindicated. Again, keyword, some. Other social media users, though, happy to see Kenya finally meeting her match, recalled some of her most vile moments over the last several years, which I need not mention. But hey, if you like mess, you can watch this highlight clip of some of her shadiest moments.

Carl soft launches Soft Bar and prepares to catch heat from Lindsay

Over on Summer House, there are two storylines that need to be discussed. Three if we have space to get to Jesse Solomon’s weird toe-sucking shenanigans from last week’s episode, but I’m trying to avoid that.

First – the soft launch of Carl’s bar. Am I the only one that thinks a non-alcoholic bar is an amazing idea? I mean – I have attempted many dry month challenges and the one thing that always gets me is a waiter asking me if I’d like a bottle for the table. The answer is, almost always, unequivocally, yes. Because where can I go to have a traditional, elevated dining experience without the temptation of alcohol? And what might I have to drink that’s non-alcoholic that isn’t a simple club soda or sparkling water? So I think Carl is really onto something by providing people a dining and drinking experience without the temptation and ceremony of alcohol. Eat your heart out, Lindsay. 

But also – don’t? Because Lindsay, as much as it pains me to say this, almost had a moment of vindication in this episode. Almost. 

Lately on the show, Carl has been (super awkwardly) flirting with this girl named Lil (yes, Lil). She was at the pirate party, they took pictures, and it was equal parts cute and cringey. But this week on the show, at Carl’s soft launch family and friends event for his bar, Lil is there and explains to the group the nature of how they met. 

She said last summer, which would have actually been the summer of 2023, Carl was at an NYCFC soccer game and met Lil’s family, and then she slid into his DMs. Now, I need to give Gabby major props for immediately confirming the timeline on this. She didn’t waste any time probing, wanting to get confirmation to obviously relay back to her bestie Lindsay.

When Lindsay gets wind of this, she is pissed. Despite having moved on and being like, mega pregnant, she does still have a right to be upset that Carl was reportedly exchanging messages with other women at a point in time in which they were engaged.

However, Lil came out this week after her and Carl caught major heat on social media and clarified the timeline of the messages, sharing a screenshot to her Instagram stories of the exact date the message was sent, which was October 21, 2023 – after him calling the engagement off in August. She also had a very sassy message to accompany her receipt, which we love. 

 

We all know vindication is not something Lindsay gets very often, particularly as it pertains to her and Carl with almost the entire universe, and pretty much the entire cast, taking his side. And through her experience of being a vindicated woman until Lil shared this receipt, she did get like, a whiff. So she can hold onto that for now, at least. 

Garcelle Beauvais has an expletive-laden message for Erika Jayne

There appeared to be a bit of a pile on at the first installment of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills reunion, wouldn’t you say? With the women seemingly ganging up on Garcelle for a few reasons – first, her innate feeling that Dorit’s home invasion was a bit sketchy, her tiff with Erika (whose main storyline this season, might I mention yet again, was her rental apartment renovation), labelling her as boring, and Kyle, who is just generally enraged these days, it’s no wonder she storms off set at some point.

But before that storm off, Garcelle has a pointed message for Erika after she suggested she was not interesting, and she reveals that message to Sutton in her trailer. Essentially, it’s a big, fat, f-ck you to Erika. And to be honest, it’s a message I can get behind.

I think that at its core, what Erika is implying is that because Garcelle is not in the middle of a scandal, because she’s not in the middle of a divorce and because she’s not in the middle of financial woes, her life is boring. 

But what Garcelle does have going on is her blossoming career, an impressive feat for a woman past 50. She has her new beach house. She recently welcomed a new grandchild into the family. Why are these stories also not worth celebrating, talking about, or airing on TV? I think Erika is in her hater era, wanting just a sliver of the peace Garcelle enjoys daily – and that’s where her disdain for Garcelle is truly coming from.