Bravo Con Day 2: Ask Andy

Day 2 of Bravo Con kicked off with a session with Andy Cohen called "Ask Andy" moderated by his long time assistant Daryn Carp.  Daryn works on her own projects along with assisting Andy.  She is also host of the podcast Murders and Martinis.  I have heard her interviewed on other podcasts and she is really interesting and funny.  

Andy’s voice was totally shot!  He had filmed WWHL on Friday evening and you could tell that all the talking on Day 1 had taken a toll on his voice.

Below is a summary of his discussion with Daryn and the Audience Q&A that followed.

• Jeff Lewis' show "Flipping Out" was originally supposed to be about Jenny and her husband as struggling actors in Hollywood trying to make it in the business. Bravo fell in love with Jeff on the early footage and changed the direction of the show. Andy met Jeff for lunch early in Season 1 and Jeff asked how high do the ratings need to be to get a second season?  He was going to make it happen on reality TV!
• Shows he wished had gotten a 2nd season:  NYC prep, Gallery Girls, & Real House Wives  of DC
• Everyone laughed when Andy said "When the FBI asks to see raw footage of your show, you don't get a 2nd season"
• "Real Housewives" was a play on the name Desperate House Wives which was the #1 rated show at the time 
• They added "Orange County" at the last minute - Andy thought "we are never going to do a house wife show in another city"
• Andy announced the Real House Wives of Salt Lake City 
• Sitting next to Andy on WWHL is a big deal.  Some people get pissed about the seating arrangement.  Andy said that they typically put the person with the big personality on the end closest to the bar so the quiet person doesn’t get left out of the conversation.
• At the reunions, the people sitting next to Andy are not his favorites, they are the House Wives involved in the most drama
• The commercial breaks on WWHL can be a bit uncomfortable.  He has had housewives get really upset with him about the polls he had just taken on the show.  Remember when Alicia Silverstone was chewing up her food and feeding it to her kid?  Andy brought it up on the show and as he said "was very flippant about it" - he wasn't sensitive about it and he didn't realize Alicia didn't want to talk about it.  It was right before the commercial break and Padma from Top Chef didn't know Alicia was doing it.  Padma was shocked "what?!? why!?! huh!?!?" She started asking a million questions and Alicia got really upset so this made for a very awkward commercial break.
• What advice would he give to his younger self "Shut up" and "Get over yourself"
• Which house wife would he want to be stranded on a desert island with:  Teresa G because she is strong so she could kill stuff and build things
• Andy swears he has never been stoned on TV.  Its no secret that he is friends with the wacky weed but he takes his job seriously and he would never film under the influence.  He said that he is one of the few people still wearing gas permeable contact lenses.  he said these cause his eyes to appear red a lot.  he's always amazed when people will tweet out "he was definitely stoned, did you see his eyes?" because it is his contacts that make his eyes red.
• He has never hooked up with Anderson Cooper or John Mayer.  He joked that he and John Mayer have a special relationship - they are in love.  For those of you that don't know the Anderson Cooper story, someone tried to fix them up on a blind date.  When they were having the pre-date phone call, Andy asked about Anderson's mother, Gloria Vanderbuilt.  This is a deal breaker for Anderson so they never went on a date but went on to become besties.
• Which of his friends would he most like to see have a reality show:  Sarah Jessica Parker  
• Andy joked about always being SJP's date to the Met Gala.  He said it is not really Matthew Broderick's thing.  Occasionally they will kid around "Why are you my wife's date to the Met Gala?" "oh, yeah, I don't like those kind of things"
• He would let any of the house wives babysit.  Ben has met Kyle and Brandi (Dallas) and Teresa.  He has actually had play date with Ryan Serhan's daughter.
• He would have John Mayer give the eulogy at his funeral because "he is a poet"
• Who would take him to the prom?  Fredrick Ekland after that kiss last night! I basically made out with Fredrick at WWHL (my DVR stopped recording so I missed that!) or Tom Sandoval in drag
• Favorite guest of all times?  Oprah
• Why didn't we get a reunion on Summer House or Below Deck Med?  He only has control over the House Wives reunions not any of the other shows.
• The hardest part of fatherhood? Time management and the guilt that goes along with it.  He feeds Ben breakfast and dinner everyday.  Andy fits that in between the office, Radio Andy and WWHL 
• Holy shit moment on show:  Dallas this week - infinity dress & upcoming OC reunion.  He said "walk offs" on the reunion  are not as dramatic as they used to be, except Camille Grammar who was getting undressed and swearing as she walked off stage

The audience went a little overboard with Marry, Shag, Kill.  Here are his responses:

Marry, Shag, Kill - Men of Bravo

M-Kyle from Summer House

S-Jax from Vanderpump

K-Shep from Southern Charm 

Marry, Shag, Kill - Husbands of Bravo

Jim Bellino (OC)

Joe Guidice - Marry (so he could live in Italy)

Jim Marchesa (Jersey) - Kill him twice!

I'll call this one "Marry, Shag, Kill - Randos"

M - Prince Harry

S - Nick Jonas

K - Anderson Cooper

Plead the 5th:

He has never hooked up with a Bravo cast member

Reality show he wishes he was on?  Below Deck

Any regret on cast hires?  No regrets on any hire 

Jerry O'Connell was dressed up as Ken Todd in a blond wig and carrying a stuffed dog.  I wasn't quick enough to get a picture!

Bravo Con Day 1 - Southern Charm: Mind Your Manners

Now it's time to spill a little sweet iced tea from the folks at Southern Charm.  I picture Michael, Patricia’s butler, brewing sun tea on the grounds of the Jenkins Mikell House in Charleston.

The event was held in the Grand Ballroom.  This level of the Manhattan Center is also home to the Southern Charm bar.  Hanging above the bar is a quote from our famous grand dame, Pat Altschul.

I believe the bar was open all day.  It was very apparent by about 6:30 (Bravo Con started at 10:30!  The events later in the day were a little more rowdy like the "Battle of the Sexes" game show.   Many of the participants as well as the audience were "into their cups" as they say.

Since my strategy was to stay in the Grand Ballroom all day, there was quite a bit of downtime.  The events were typically an hour, then 45 minutes for the photo opp followed by a 30 minute break until the next session.  We did get the opportunity to see some cool things when the Bravolebrities would come out to film.  I am not sure what they were filming - promos for the next season?  spots for Bravo.com?  updates for the Bravo instagram account from Bravocon?  Who knows!

Cameron, Kathryn and Craig filming before the Southern Charm:  Mind Your Manners segment

Andy "The Godfather" Cohen checking in with the crowd to see how things are going

Southern Charm:  Mind Your Manners

Moderator:  Lea Palmiere, Decider.com

Participants:  Austen Kroll, Cameron Eubanks, Craig Conover, Kathryn Dennis, Patricia Altschul & Shep Rose

The group was introduced one by one to allow everyone to make a grand entrance.  Of course they saved the very best for the very last.

I am not familiar with the moderator, Lea Palmiere but she swears that she has written thousands and thousands of words about the cast of Southern Charm.  I know that moderating is hard but since my only other experience at BravoCon was Andy moderating the OG Housewives, this was a tough standard for Lea to live up to.  There were some awkward moments when she would ask a general question to the whole group and they all looked at each other not really knowing what to do.  I will say, I saw her moderate another event and she greatly improved from one day to the next.

Everyone loves Patricia's butler, Michael.  When Lea suggested that Michael become a full time cast member the crowd went crazy.  When Patricia was asked who she would loan Michael out to on the cast that needed the most help, she immediately answered "Cameron".  We all saw the episode where the woman from the Charleston Academy of Domestic Pursuits (or maybe it was Michael?) came over and she still had all of her kitchen wedding gifts in their original boxes.

Cameron told us that we didn't need to worry about Michael.  He is well compensated - "VERY WELL COMPENSATED".

At this point Patricia chimed in and shocked us all when she said "Michal makes more than the President."  A quick google search told me that The President of the United States' salary is $400,000 / year.  But, Patricia's statement could be taken two ways:  maybe Michael does make $400 grand but remember, Trump said as the President, he would take $0 salary.  I guess it is safe to say that Michael the Butler makes somewhere between $0 - $400,000 / year.  Either way, he is sitting around counting his Benjamins when he is not mixing up martinis for Patricia.

Michael has been with Patricia for 17 years - longer than any of her husbands.  When Patricia was living in NYC, her decorator (did you ever doubt that Patricia had a decorator?) called her up and said one of the ancient society ladies had recently passed away and Patricia HAD to get her Butler because once the word got out, every household in NYC and Long Island would be after him.  Before her warm body was even lowered into the ground, Patricia was on the phone negotiating with Michael on his new position with her.  Basically she stole Michael from a dead woman.  

Austin said he and Madison are doing well this week but next week may be a different story.  When asked point blank if he and Madison were back together, he avoided the question and would not give a firm answer.  When the guys were asked if they all get along with Madison now, Austin told us that Madison was at his house a few days ago and Shep called and wanted to stop by.  Even though Shep knew Madison was over he still came by and that made Austin so happy.  The two of them were able to sit in the same room and peacefully co-exist.  At this point Patricia chimed in and said "Yes, Madison told me about that - she had to bite her tongue".  Shep played Mr. Peaceful / Righteous (like on the reunion) and said "See, I am not going to play into that".  Things do not seem to have changed much at all.

Shep walked out looking like he had just rolled in from the duck blind

Craig is 5 months clean from Adderall.  He talked about how much better he feels.  His pillow business is doing very well. The crazy thing is apparently you don't even get a pillow! They were only selling pillow cases at the Bravo Con Marketplace.  Shep shared the wise advice with us that he gave Craig. "Dude, don't take it if you aren't studying for a test".

The group played a very interesting game of "Never Have I Ever".  After the moderator explained to the group how to play - raise you had if you have done whatever it is she says - the tea began to spill out of the glass.

Never have I ever . . .

Lied about liking one of my castmate's entrepreneurial ventures.

Cam admitted that she doesn't like Austin's beer.  Trop Hop is an IPA and she said she is more of a pilsner girl. She encouraged Austin to make a more girly beer.  He said the plan is to launch many more beers.  Unfortunately Trop Hop was not available to drink at Bravo Con because he cannot transport it across state lines.

Had sex at Patricia's house

Of course we know that Kathryn has had sex at Patricia's house a couple of times when she hooked up with Whitney but the surprise was that Austin, Shep and Craig had all had sex in the Jenkins Mikell house as well. "Everyone but me" Patricia said.  Apparently there are a couple of rooms above the garage that are "very nice" according to Craig.  When the boys go out in Charleston, Whitney would have people back over to the house after the bars closed down.  This is when the garage rooms got all of their action.

Hooked up with another Bravolebrity
We all know that Shep and Scheena have hooked up a few times.  They even talked about it on WWHL when they were on together and their moms were Bartenders.  I think they may have attended Jax and Brittany's wedding together.  The surprise to the rest of us was that Craig, Austin and Kathryn all had a notch on their belts as well.  Kathryn would not admit who or even what show the person was on that she hooked up.  She was asked twice!  Apparently Shep and Austin have hooked up with not just one but two Bravo Ladies.  We were advised to watch Summer House this upcoming season because they may be making an appearance on the show.  I am assuming that is where the hooking up will take place.

Have you ever turned down the advances of a Bravolebrity

I think we all saw the Instagram photo of the men of Southern Charm with Ramona in the Hamptons.  Apparently Ramona invited the boys to a party and there were other housewives at the party and apparently we have some very handsy housewives according to Craig.  No word on which franchise these ladies were from. I was going to assume NYC but I learned that Kelly Dodd met her Fox News boyfriend at a party in the Hamptons that Ramona invited her to so who know?  Maybe Kelly D was groping the boys.  I was going to say "she like's em young" but I think she and Shep are the same age!

Had an embarrassing video on the internet
Austin immediately stuck his hand up.  It took Shep a minute to remember his video harassing the woman collecting cans in NYC but he finally stuck his hand in the air.

Joined the mile high club
All of the cast looked at each other and no hands went up until Patricia slowly raised her hand.  The group was teasing her about her accomplishment.  Of course Patricia had to clarify that it was on a private jet - a private jet that had a bedroom.

Spilled something at Patricia's house
Everyone in the group raised their hand on this one.  PatriciaI brought up a story about Shep and Little Craig visiting her house.  Shep knocked over a "priceless" chair and broke the leg.  Little Craig grabbed the chair leg and they had to chase him all over the house to try to get the chair leg back.

Katherine is VERY single.
Cameron is never having another baby
Cameron and Jason have officially adopted Elvis 

Andy brough up Eliza Limehouse.  Shep said she was super sweet but very young.  Craig told us that they have a group text and Eliza texted them and said "Today is the first day in 14 days that I haven't worked, what are you doing today?"  The group just looked at each other and laughed and shook their heads.  I got the sense that no one responded to her. 

One of the questions from the audience was around the group's interesting southern family heritage.
Kathryn shared her great grandfather was assassinated by someone in Al Capone's gang related to moonshine and Moncks Corner.
This is what I found on the inter web:
https://charlestonmag.com/features/moonshine_over_hell_hole_swamp

Shep's aunt was in a documentary on PBS
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Boykin_Chesnut

Patricia has been busy taking care of Whitney.  If you saw on Instagram, Whitney was recently at the Mayo Clinic.  He was having rotator cuff surgery.  It has a 6 month recovery time.  She shared that Larissa (german actress / reality star / model from previous seasons) had come to "do whatever she does to make him feel better" for a week.  If anyone has recently rewatch old Southern Charm episodes you may remember Whitney's assistant from Season 1, Brandy.  Apparently Brandy jumped on Whitney's back in a "give me a piggy back ride" fashion.  The old man was thrown off balance and both Whitney and Brandy went down.  She fell on top of him and shattered his rotator cuff.

The most interesting tidbit came out when one of the audience members asked Austin where she could drink Trop Hop when she is in Charleston.  The boys listed a couple of their favorite bars and Shep said something a little vague that made me think he and Austin were thinking about opening a bar together.  He said something like "their may be a place soon you could come and drink beer and shoot the shit with us"  No one really caught it or asked either of them to elaborate.

Overall it was a cute, interesting discussion.  Mostly the ladies sat next to each other and behaved. They even looked bored at times. The guys were constantly talking to each other or talking over each other (especially Shep talking over Austin)  Again, nothing ever changes.

The guys got a few propositions from ladies asking question during the Q&A but since it was 1:00 on day one, the questions were pretty tame.  Its safe to say none of those guys slept alone if they didn't want to because there were plenty of fish in that sea.

Southern Charm was my first photo opp. I felt so awkward because I love the show so much but I didn't really know what to do.  Patricia was not there for the pictures which I totally understand.  She is almost 80 years old and to stand and take photos for an hour is a lot.  When I walked up Cam and Craig were talking to each other and Shep was talking to someone (probably one of the cute young Instagramable ladies in line.  I said "Hi guys!" and Shep immediately said "well hey there".  i think Cam and Craig kept talking to each other.  Either way, I was underwhelmed.

I am not sure if either Austin or Kathryn said anything to me.  I think I was so in awe of how tall they both were.  I am 5'8" and felt like a little person between the two of them.

I met a woman when I went to the Top Chef dinner on Sunday night that was seated next to me.  She came to Bravo Con to eat.  She attended both Top Chef Dinners, the Southern Charm Brunch on Saturday and the Bravopalooza Brunch on Sunday.  Different strokes for different folks I guess.  Anyway she said she LOVED the Souther Charm brunch.  She said that Patricia, Kathryn and Craig all stopped by each table and spent 10-15 minutes talking to the folks attending.  She said that Kathryn was VERY sweet.  She was very chatty and talked with them about her kids.  And Patricia was just as you expected - regal and graceful.  I mentioned that Craig was going to be in the Mercantile from 6-8 that night (the night we had dinner) - I had just seen him in the "Men of Bravo" session.  She said that Craig must be exhausted because overtime she had walked into the Market, he was in their manning his booth talking to fans and taking pictures with them. I think that everyone that interacted with the Southern Charm cast enjoyed their experience.  

Cameron must have left right after her appearance on WWHL because it was P's birthday and her party was on Saturday.

That's the sweet tea from Bravo Con on Southern Charm!  Next up "Below Deck"

If you want to check out all of my Bravo Con recaps (3 so far!), scroll to the bottom and click the Home button to go back to the main page of my blog.

BravoCon - Day 1 (Bravo All Star: OG Housewife Edition)

"Welcome to BravoCon!" a multitude of Bravolebrities relay through video during the opening credits of the 3 day event.  

In July when the tickets went on sale and sold out in less than 90 seconds, I never imagined I would hear those word -   especially after VIP 3 day tickets were immediately available on aftermarket sites for $10,000.

I was listening to a podcast in early November and the hosts were discussing attending BravoCon.  Just for fun, I opened the app on my phone for the original aftermarket site where the tickets became available.  I was sure these shady folks had some kind of deal with Bravo because this was the only site the tickets were available on within 2 hours of the Bravo site selling out.  I was surprised to see that the VIP 3 day tickets had dropped from $10 grand to a much more reasonable rate.  I had no plans for the next weekend so it took about .3 seconds for me to whip out my American Express and make the purchase.

The doors at BravoCon were scheduled to open at 10:00am on Friday for a 10:30am start to the festivities.  My plan was to arrive around 9:30 to get in line so I could try and score a good seat.  I had downloaded the BravoCon app on both my phones and my iPad and marked all of the events I was interested in attending and registered my wristband just to make sure I had a legitimate ticket.  When I arrived at The Manhattan Center, on my approach I saw no people waiting in line and a sign noting "VIP Entrance"

After I breezed through the metal detector and bag search, I entered the venue to find a group of 8 people lingering just inside the door.  The lobby of building was decked out in photos of many of the Bravo stars but otherwise, a boring theater lobby with more employees than Bravo fans.  I didn't realize at the time we were actually waiting for the elevator.  On the ground floor of the Manhattan Center is the Hammerstein Ballroom.  This venue would not be used until 8pm that night when Andy Cohen would be filming What What Happens Live in front of his largest audience ever and over 75 Bravolebrities.  We boarded the elevator  and ascended to the 7th floor to the Grand Ballroom.  This is where all the key events would take place and where I planned to spend most of the day.

Bravocon was held in 3 different locations.  The Manhattan Center held the 2 largest venues.  The other locations were actually a 10-15 minutes walk.  I actually did not attend any of the events in these other spaces except the Top Chef Dinner that I didn't realize I had purchased a ticket to attend until I received my email confirmation.  This was at the space on 28th street.  The other location  was on 29th Street - both located near 11th Avenue.  The Manhattan Center is near 8th Avenue so you are looking at almost a .5 mile walk west to get to the other two venues.  The 28th Street venue is the same location as where the Bravo Market hosted many Bravolebrities hawking their wares.

Craig giving his fans what they want - Pillows!  (actually pillow cases - I guess you have to buy your own stuffing!)

Arianna & Tom's cocktail book Fancy AF launches December 3rd

Once I stepped off the elevator, had my wristband scanned for entrance, I was directed to the VIP seating section.  There were 3 seating sections on the ground floor of the ballroom.  The two side sections were open seating for General Admission.  In the middle section, the first 4 rows were reserved for SVIP.  Row 5 started the VIP seating.  The good thing about being a party of one is that I had zero trouble getting a seat on Row 5 - ever.  The venue started to fill up as we moved closer to 10:30.  When the announcement rang out "Bravo Fans take your seat - the show is about to begin" a cheer went up from the crowd.  I was pleasantly surprised that we were only 8 minutes late when the lights went down.

First up was a panel discussion moderated by the King of Bravo - Andy Cohen.  Andy only moderated the really big name events.  It was only fitting since this was the Bravo All Stars: OG Housewives Edition.  These are the original Queens of Bravo! 

Of course, before we could get to the good stuff, we had to sit through the commercials.  Over the 3 days, I have come to loathe these commercials;  Blind Date, Cash Cab and Project Runway. (I guess Project Runway isn't doing so well without Heidi Klum because they were pushing it HARD)

OK Ladies (and possible 1-2 Gentlemen reading this), now it is time to spill the tea . . . 

Bravo All Star:  OG Housewife Edition

Moderator:  Andy Cohen

Attending:  Adrienne Maloof (BH), Caroline Manzo (NJ), Jeana Keough (OC), Jill Zarin (NY), Kim Zolciak-Biermann (ATL) & Kim Richards (BH)

Kim Richards was not listed on the published schedule - I am not sure if she was added after she rolled into town with Kyle to attend as her guest.

Overall, the ladies looked fabulous.  Jeana was almost unrecognizable, she has had so much work done on her face.  Adrienne has aged a lot since the first season of the Real Housewives of BH premiered but you could tell her face was recently tightened up.  Jill had her constant companion with her - her dog.  She even had the dog with her when she came into the Top Chef Dinner I attended! 

The only time I saw Jill without her dog was when she handed the pup off for the photo opp

I was typing furiously into the notes app on my iPhone so I wouldn't forget a single drop of tea.

I don't think I watched the OC the first season.  I think that New York introduced me to the Housewife Franchise.  Maybe Ramona is right in the Vicky - Ramona feud.  New York put the Housewives on the map?  I remember that Jeana had some weird situation with her husband - he was still living with her, but they were getting a divorce.  Now is the time to offer your congratulations to Ms Jeana - she signed her divorce papers LAST WEEK!!  Jeana and her husband were married for 32 years.  They were not together for 20+ of those years!  When Andy asked her about it she made a comment about security and wanting to be able to take care of him.  I don't know the whole backstory there but HOLY COW!  

Andy jokingly asked Kim Z-B if she was going to have another baby.  She dramatically paused and said "You will know in the next 6 months".  We all thought it was a teaser - maybe she was pregnant and that was when she was due.  Then she "got real" with us and said that all her babies with Kroy were born during football season so he never got a chance to really enjoy the newborn time with his kids.  They had already talked about trying for another child when he was done playing football.  She said she is 41 now and the clock is ticking so they are talking about it and will decide in the next 6 months if they want to try again.  She said it will have to be a boy because Arianne is about to kill her.  Andy also asked her about a psychic / medium (Mama Rose?).  She reviewed everything that Mama Rose told her that had come to fruition.  Andy asked Kim if her boobs were stable. (the "girls" were about to pop out of her jacket)  I think she didn't understand the question because she said they were paid for.

The "girls" on Kim Z-B are barely hanging in there!

Jill Zaran had her boyfriend and Ally in the audience. Ally just turned 26 or 28 and is working in the art world.   She received a masters degree from Sotheby’s in London.  Then Jill kicked into "Mom Mode" and pointed to her Instagram handle on the screen behind her and requested that if anyone knew a nice Jewish boy for Ally to send her a message.

I didn't realize that Delores C and Caroline Manzo have been friends for 30 years. Teresa always claimed that the reason Delores is on the show is because of her.  Caroline clarified that she is actually the one that got Delores on the show.

Andy asked Caroline why she looked so fabulous (just like he did on WWHL).  She was very coy and said healthy living / exercise blah blah blah.  I was shocked when I watched WWHL and she admitted she had a Neck Lift.  That was not divulged on Friday!  Someone must have had a chat with her because I am sure that is what Andy was getting at when he asked her that question on Friday.  Caroline gave an update on all her kids.  The daughter just opened her 3rd salon:  she has 2 in NJ and 1 in Westchester.  Christopher owns a pizzeria that was voted best pizza in NJ.  She also announced that Albee will be getting engaged soon.  When Caroline was asked about the Joe / Theresa Interview, she did not address the comment that Theresa made about her.  Instead she said that Joe looked at peace and she hopes Teresa finds happiness.  Andy asked if she thought Joe and Theresa cheated on each other.  She said "Yes" to Joe.  She was hesitating on answering about Theresa and all the other ladies jumped in.  I think one of them said "I hope so!" 

Kim Richards was as crazy as ever. She rattled on and on and took way to long to answer any questions or tell a story.  Maybe she wasn't totally drunk all those season because she acted exactly the same.  Someone did ask her if she ever thought about partnering with one of the other Housewives in recovery - like Luann or Lala(?) and make a public statement about supporting each other and "you can do it too".  First of all, are Luann and Lala really in recovery?  Luann's probation is ending soon and during the New York panel when they were discussing this, Tinsley kept yelling "And she can drink!" (She said this at least 3 times).  Lala plays around with it too - she doesn't drink but she still smokes weed or something along those lines.  Anyway, Kim rattled on for way to long about how she did initially do her sobriety publicly but has decided that her sobriety is just for her and she wants to keep private about it.  It was really confusing what she was saying.  All I could think was she was being private about her sobriety so she can be loose on her sobriety.  I know I am a horrible terrible person to question her sobriety but honestly I spent the first 10 minutes wondering if she was drunk.  That is when I came to the conclusion that she is what she is and that is goofy and spacy and scattered.  Which can be confused with being under the influence.  Anyway, she said she regretted the bunny incident and she wished she had the bunny back.  Unfortunately, Andy has the bunny in the clubhouse and he is not giving it up.  She also said that she is friends with Brandi G. again and that Kyle is in a good place with Brandi as well.

Of course, the ladies were asked if they would come back to their franchise.   I thought it was interesting that Caroline Manzo said it would be a “cold day in hell” before she came back.   I had heard that she was spotted at the Bravo offices and she was in talks with Andy about returning to the show.  Apparently they offered her a "friend of" role and she declined because she wanted to be a full time housewife - not a "friend of".

At the end of each panel discussion, they left 10 minutes for audience Question and Answer.  Nothing terribly exciting happened, except one guy brought a package of lunchmeat with him and asked Caroline M if she would throw a piece of ham on his face.  I guess that was a thing during her time on the show?  Andy welcomed the crazy fanboy on stage and I have a video of the event.

My first event at Bravo Con was as exciting and fun as I thought it would be!

In the Grand Ballroom after most of the events they offered a photo opp (opportunity).  On either side of the room there were two photo areas set up so the group split to line up on either side.  It was a total crap shoot because you didn't know which Bravolebrities would be on your side of the room.  It was also hard to guess how they would split up a panel of several people.  It typically was not the logical choice that I had worked out in my mind while I waited for the Bravolebs to comet.  I would hear cheers from each side of the room when we found out who we would get our photos with.  The line for photos was incredibly long so I walked over to just outside the photo area and snapped a selfie while the ladies took a photo with a fan.

While I was watching the fans take photos with Jill Zarin, I saw her daughter Ally standing a few feet away.  I caught her eye and said "Could you just die about what your mom said?"  She laughed and said she was used to it.

I went back to my seat on VIP Row 1 (I wasn't giving that seat up! That yellow jacket I wore was strategic - I could leave it on my chair and I could easily find it when I scanned the rows of seats!) A second later my new seat buddy arrived back.  We had met in the elevator.  She was just back from getting her photo made with the ladies.  Little did I know that there was a VIP line for photo opps as well.  Woot!  Woot!  I honestly would probably never have figured this out.  It wasn't until Day 2 when they made signs like they have at Trader Joes that Bravo employees held up to indicate the end of each line.  Even then, I may not have noticed that one said VIP and one said General Admission.  I fully thank and blame my seat buddy for my new obsession with getting photos after all of the events that would drive me the rest of Bravo Con.

Next up, I will be spilling all the tea on Souther Charm!

BravaCon Day 2: Get Sur'ved with Vanderpump Rules and my (almost) encounter with Beau Clark

(Stassi, Brittany, me & Jax - Ignore Joao from Below Deck on the end)

Well folks!  Here's my first official Bravo Con blog post.  I have been taking detailed notes during Bravo Con so I can spill the tea with everyone.  I wanted to write up the posts in order but due to unanticipated circumstances, I was unable to take notes during Get Sur'ved with Vanderpump Rules.  We will get to that story in a moment.  (disclaimer:  most posts will be MUCH briefer than this)

Get Sur'ved was the all cast event with the Vanderpump Rules crew.  It is the longest event at Bravo Con.  Instead of the typical panel discussion, this segment premiered the first episode of the 7th season of Vanderpump Rules followed by a discussion with the whole crew, including the queen bee - Lisa Vanderpump.

The Queen Bee arriving to a standing ovation with her canine companion Puffy

The event was held in the Hammerstein Ballroom.  Unlike other events I attended, they cleared the floor after the previous session.  I strolled back from my quick lunch at Chipotle and planned on getting a great seat and reading my People magazine for the next hour until the event started.  Instead I found myself in a group of about 30 people waiting to be let into the seating area.  While I stood and listened in on the conversations around me, I noticed a guy about 10 feet away holding court with a group of "kids".  This is how we middle aged women refer to the cute young instagrammable 20-somethings.
After 40 minutes(and a couple hundred people piling up behind us), security scanned our bracelets and let us in the seating area.  As I headed toward the front of the room, I saw a row with a break in front of it to let people pass by.  It was about 10 rows back from the stage, but you know I am all about the leg room so I sat down next to a woman I had briefly chatted with in the holding pen.  There was a chair between me and the gentleman next to me.  As I sat down, we made eye contact and I smiled.  He said to me "I am trying to save this seat".  I told him that typically isn't an issue from my experience - people are pretty nice at Bravo Con.  He then informed me he was saving it for Beau.  Of course, there was no last name needed.  It could only be the one and only Beau Clark - finance' of Ms. Stassi Schroeder.  I think I made a dorky comment like "Well, you will get no objections from me!"  I think he thought I was teasing him because he began to protest "No, seriously, I want to keep a seat for Beau so he can come watch - I work on the show".  That explained the bevy of young ladies hanging on his every word while we were smashed into the holding pen prior to the event.
Ladies (and possibly 1 or 2 gentlemen reading this), I was sitting next to an empty seat for Beau with one of the Executive Producers on Vanderpump Rules - Jeremiah Smith.  Of course, I immediately kicked into reporter mode (#journalism).  I jokingly asked him if he had the typical Hollywood story of starting in the mail room at CAA. (When I first moved to NYC my roommate was telling me about one of his classmates that was working in the mailroom and I was aghast - the guy had an MBA from Duke and he was working in the mailroom?!?!  My roommate explained that is where many Hollywood Moguls get their start.   (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hollywood-mailroom-secrets-caa-icm-uta-wme-257222)  Jeremiah actually started in the mailroom at UCA.  He then answered phones for a couple of years before landing a job in television.  He confided in me that Beau was worried about coming out into the crowd because he had practically been mobbed earlier in the day.  We chatted about how this whole thing must be surreal for Beau - he was just a regular guy with a regular job and then he starts dating Stassi and - BOOM - his world has been turned upside down.
At this point he calls Beau, "Dude, where are you?  I'm sitting out here all by myself - well I have made a new friend" At this point I fan girl yell "Hi Beau!"  Beau was in the green room with the cast and was going to watch from backstage.
When Jeremiah hangs up the phone, I immediately resume my interview because we only have 15 minutes until the premiere of the episode.  Jeremiah has been on Vanderpump from the very beginning as well as working on a host of other shows on Bravo and other networks.  One of his previous jobs was working in Reality TV development.  I asked what were some of the craziest pitches he ever heard.  He didn't give me specifics but he said when reality TV was in its infancy, the pitches were off the charts like "little people on a deserted island with 1 match and a package of bologna and they have to figure out how to get rescued".  Actually he didn't say all of that.  He said "little people on a deserted island" and I immediately started to think about how I would TOTALLY watch that.  Towards the end of his 2 years in development he said the pitches were more mainstream - along the lines of "you should really meet me and my friends - we would be perfect for reality TV".  I asked him if this season would be a turning point for Vanderpump since most of the cast was moving into adulthood - engagements, weddings, houses and possibly babies.  He said it definitely was and I would see it in the first episode. (And I did)
As Executive producer, he is the man that does all the interviews during the confessionals.  When you  hear someone asking the cast questions, that is him! (it happens in Episode 1)  I asked him if he has a relationship with any of the cast outside of work or if he has to keep it professional.  He says it is a situation where they are co-workers (actually he is their boss) and they know each other very well, but he's not inviting them to his kids' birthday parties.  (can you imagine that shit show?!?!)  He says he could see a time after the show where he does hang out with some of them socially.  (I think he and Beau are buddies).  I said, I guess if you spend 12 hours with someone every day, you don't really want to see them for a drink after work even if they are your best friend and he agreed.
He started out as a field producer where he would actually be on location with them filming.  They now have 3 crews that work full time on the show filming at different locations.  I asked if it was hard to find places to film.  He said there are 3 people whose full time job it is to scout locations for filming.  They have to secure 20-30 different places per week to film.  Vanderpump is lucky since they have all of the Lisa & Ken family of restaurants to film in and cast member apartments / houses.  The 20-30 locations aren't all places of business - they have to contact most of the places they film.  You can't just roll into a park while Katie and Stassi walk and set up a whole camera crew to catch their deep conversation while sitting on a bench and sipping their product placement drink of the week!  Maybe that is why they do so much filming in the parking lot behind Sur?  He said they try to find places that don't try to make money off them filming.  I thought that was crazy because those places get such a bump in business just from being on the show.  Half the restaurants I ate at in Charleston were featured on Southern Charm!  He said that is how they pitch it to the businesses.
At this point we hear a roar from the crowd behind us - we look over and see Beau, Ken Todd and Randall Emmett (Lala's sugar daddy) enter the balcony.

Randall Emmett, Beau Clark and Ken Todd

As executive producer one of his key jobs is to pull together the story lines for the show.  He and the field producers take very detailed notes and share those on a daily basis.  They have to do this because they don't start editing until all the filming is complete.  One big difference between Vanderpump (and most of the shows on Bravo) versus shows like The Batchelor or 90 Day Fiance' is the production team spends a lot of time building trust with the cast.  If a cast member opens up to them and they use that information inappropriately it ruins the relationship and the person shuts down which doesn't make for good TV.  This is very important as the cast members return from season to season. (And why on shows like 90 Day they always throw the characters under the bus - they are disposable - unless you are as thirsty as Darcy)

I asked him what was his favorite thing and least favorite thing about working on the show.  He loves the creativity of working in reality TV.  It is so much different than working on a scripted series where you have the writers input and the directors input.  He doesn't love the long hours - when they are filming he doesn't get to see his kids as much as he wants to.  He was very passionate about the people that hate on Katie on social media.  He said that she is very sweet and genuine and for whatever reason, that doesn't always come across on the show.  He said the trolling has taken an emotional toll on her over the years with the body shaming and hate that gets thrown her way.  He did say that she is doing great these days. This led to us discussing what possesses someone to troll these folks.  If you don't like Katie, don't look at her pictures!  No need to make hateful comments.  Its seriously horrible what people say to these people.  I get sick when I read comments on reality people's social media.

He asked what I did for work.  After my typical line "I work at Colgate - like the toothpaste" He told me his wife is very environmental and she has switched everyone in the family to bamboo toothbrushes.  He also said she only buys toothpaste in metal tubes so it can be recycled.  I could then proudly tell him that Colgate will be launching the first plastic recyclable toothpaste tube.  I also told him we have bamboo toothbrushes - at least I think Tom's of Maine does.

As the lights were starting to go down, I asked him "Was it really about the pasta?"  Jeremiah laughed and said, “yes it absolutely was just about the pasta”.  No sex, no drugs - Lala took a bite of Raquel's pasta - it was only about the pasta.  I asked if when he hears a line from one of the cast if he can get a sense if it will become Bravo Gold.  He said he does have a pretty good sense and when he heard James say that line (for those Vanderpump illiterate:  "It's not about the pasta Lala!") he knew that would be one of the lines of the season.  (Its actually one of the quotes featured on the exterior of the BravoCon venue but of course I don't have a photo!).  He said once they put that episode together, editing worked on it a bit more to cut down the time and when he watched one of the final cuts, the producers had left out that line due to time constraints.  THANK GOD they put it back in!  Otherwise, how would Bravo sell all that merch?

The lights went down and we watched the first episode.  Do you know how uncomfortable it is to watch a show sitting next to someone that created it? I was so conscious of when I laughed, how loud I laughed, when I clapped and when I cheered.  I wanted him to know I loved it but not come off like a total fan girl.

The cast had seen the first episode 2 days earlier so they knew what was coming.  I had not let myself watch the trailer for the season yet since I knew I would be watching the entire episode.  They introduce a new group of pretty young things - one with a surprising back story (audible gasp from the crowd).  The new season looks exciting and I can't wait for it to start!

The episode ended along with the panel discussion.  I asked Jeremiah if he was happy with the crowd's reaction. He was and asked me if I liked it.  I told him I loved it, shook his hand and told him I had a lovely time chatting and hopefully I would see him tomorrow.  (He is moderating a session with Stassi and Beau on Sunday afternoon.)  Meeting Jeremiah was such a wonderful, unexpected experience.  Many of you may be wondering why I didn't ask him more about the upcoming season.   As we were saying our goodbyes, a cute young instagrammable 20-something  walked by and recognized him.  She asked him if he was with the group in Italy and if Beau and Stassi had found a wedding venue.  Jeremiah replied "You will have to wait and see!".  

There are some things that you learn with maturity and trying to get someone intimately involved in a Reality TV show to spill the tea is one of those things!

Signing off from Bravo Con!

Telling Stassi I sat with Jeremiah and we were saving a seat for Beau

Part of the crew during the Panel Discussion

 The other part of the crew

Raquel (now a full time Sur employee) and Scheena's new man (she's in love y'all!)

All Hail the Chief (or how I ended up being a chauffeur in Swaziland) Part 2

In case you missed the first installment of this blog, here is the link.
https://runnerquest.blogspot.com/2018/02/all-hail-chief-or-how-i-ended-up-being.html

“So I know a great hotel” says the Swazi Chief.  “This hotel has covered private parking.  If you are driving a car with plates from Gauteng Province in South Africa, you don’t want your car sitting outside.”  So after a brief detour to visit another one of his four sisters, we head to the Park Hotel in Manzini.
True to his word, after a few twists and turns we were in the underground parking of the hotel.  After slogging up 2 flights of stairs with our luggage we arrived at reception.  I should have known we were in trouble when the receptionist flipped a few pages on her clipboard to locate a grid and took a pencil and made an X on two rooms.  I invite you to go on Trip Advisor and read the 9 reviews for this gem of a hotel.  TA does indicate that online booking is not available.  THAT IS BECAUSE THEY DO NOT HAVE A COMPUTER!  Ntombi, the Chief and I slog up a couple more flights of stairs and locate our rooms.  I quickly locate the window unit, crank up the AC and start shutting all the open windows.  Our luxurious room has a balcony, but unfortunately, the door will not close, much less lock.  After meeting with our Security specialist on the first day in the South Africa office, I have become super paranoid and this non-closing / non-locking balcony door seemed like the perfect set up for Ms. Reception to call her thug friends to come scale the balcony and slit our throats in the middle of the night.  Ntombi heads down to reception to discuss the situation.  She comes back to a key to a new room which we go to inspect.  The first thing I notice after checking to make sure the balcony door closes and locks is that the air conditioner is missing a knob.  I made a mental note to steal the knob off the AC in our old room.  We make the room switch and try to get some sleep so we are well rested for our big day of sightseeing.

Unfortunately, the AC does not work well in this room so we toss and turn all night until we finally get up at 6am.  Ntombi heads to the shower first.  Now when you are paying $35USD for a hotel room it is probably a bit too much to ask for all of your doors to lock AND for the shower to work.  This is how we found ourselves hunched over the tub faucet splashing our bits and pieces while trying to wash up with the random bar of soap we found laying on the bathroom counter (see photo of soap in trip adviser photos).  There we find ourselves at 6:30am all dressed up with no place to go.  Ntombi marches to the Chiefs room to instruct him that we will be leaving at 7:00am.  She knocks and bangs on his door but the Chief is nowhere to be found.  She ventures down to the lobby and finds the Chief sitting there in full Swazi regalia.  When she finally gets back to the room I am in a near state of panic.  Every time she is gone for more than 15 minutes I am convinced that she has been kidnapped (Thanks, Chris, the security specialist).  We pile into the car around 7:30 to begin our big day of sightseeing.
Swaziland is a beautiful country.  It reminds me a lot of Scotland with the beautiful green mountains and rolling hills.  One thing I learned is that Swaziland has one cell carrier.  When you enter Swaziland, if you don’t have MTN cell service, you go into a dead zone.  We had no way to google anything, Waze up some maps, nothing.  In this respect, we were very lucky we had the Chief with us.  He was our human GPS.  He knew exactly where everything was.  Granted many times his directions included “Go up” and “Go down” or “At the stop sign turn. . . .”  when I had no stop sign, but he got us where we needed to go.
Sightseeing in Swazi was a mixed bag.  We went to a safari park where they had about 10 animals.  We did see some cute warthogs laying by the fire in the camp getting warmed up.  We went to the Memorial Park but it was closed with a big lock on the doors.  We went to the Swaziland museum but the employee at the museum basically talked us out of paying the entrance fee.  I will admit, the one display case I could see from the entrance looked pretty sparse.  We did go to the Swazi Cultural Village.  Normally I tend to avoid these kind of things because I think they are a tourist trap and are just going to try to sell me a bunch of stuff made in China.  This one was really cool!  We started with  a traditional song and dance performance then went on a tour of the grounds that had traditional huts. Our guide explained to us where the different wives would live and the mother in law.  We saw the Swazi version of the “man cave” - the cow enclosure and how the women would have to bow and lay the food at the entrance of the close since women are subservient and are not allowed in the man cave.  This reinforced the impression we had gotten from the Chief.  We visited a couple of craft markets and met some lovely Swazi people.  Night 2 was at a much nicer hotel with working air conditioning and a buffet dinner.
The trip back Sunday was uneventful.  We took a different border entry back to Swaziland which was about an hour shorter (we didn’t have to detour to the Cheif’s home for him to get his iPad like we did on Friday.)  The crazy thing was about 1/2 mile after crossing into South Africa, the pavement ended and we ended up driving on a dirt highway for about 45 minutes.  They had signs and everything, just like a real highway, just no pavement.
We dropped the Chief off at his rental and went back to Ntombi’s sister to tell her about our hilarious adventure.
We never did get to the Palace in Swaziland.  Our Chief slightly exaggerated his position.  it seems the real connection to the Palace was through his sister who is a nurse for the 14 wives.  She informed Ntombi that there are no guests received on the weekend.  Oh, well, I have a cute olive bowl now!
I had a wonderful time on my Swaziland adventure.  I have a cute Christmas tree ornament to remember the trip by and Ntombi’s sister made me a beautiful skirt that I cannot wait to wear this spring.
Sorry for the lack of photos in this blog, but I am writing it on my iPad and can’t seem to access my photo gallery. So this is how I ended up being a chauffeur in Swaziland!

All Hail the Chief (or How I ended up being a chauffeur in Swaziland)

How did I find myself in the living room of someone I don't know in a country I had never been to watching the cartoon Kung Fu Panda?

It all started Friday afternoon . . . 

My weekend plans were to go explore a new country - Swaziland.  Swaziland is a landlocked country bordered by South Africa and Mozambique.  It is the only monarchy remaining in Africa.  My friend Ntombi invited me to visit with her - her family lives just outside the border on the South Africa side.  

We drove about 3 hours to a town called Mkhondo where Ntombi grew up.  Her father left Swaziland where he was employed by the King as a tailor at one of the local correctional facilities.  He was recognized as a gifted clothing designer in his youth - a born tailor - and the King sent him to London to attend formal tailoring school.  After many years in the King's service, he left Swaziland to move to South Africa because he didn't agree with the customs and cultures.  He opened his own tailor shop in South Africa where he dressed the locals until he passed away in 2013.

Prior to our trip to eMkhondo, Ntombi told me that her sister had arranged for us to have a tour guide.  The tour guide had connections at the Palace and we needed to bring a gift to present to the Royal Family.  I scratched my head as to what might be an appropriate gift to present at the Royal Palace.  I made a quick trip to Carrol Boyels - a South African designer of home goods.  I thought it would be recognized as a nice gift and if the Royal Palace didn't happen, I would have a cute bowl with a slotted spoon.

After a quick chat with Ntombi's sister and a phone call, we piled into my car and drove a few streets over in the neighborhood.  Ntombi directed me to stop and a gentleman wearing a white suit with gold trim and a black top hat climbed into my back seat.  When we arrived back at the shop I quietly asked Ntombi if this was one of her relatives.  She laughed and told me that this gentleman was our guide for the weekend.

After giving hugs to her sister, we jumped in the car and began our journey to Swaziland.  I quickly learned that this gentleman is one of the 300 chiefs personally appointed by the King.  This status helped us as we were quickly waived through at the border crossing.

Over the next three hours I was both entertained and slightly horrified by the stories I heard.  This gentleman has 4 wives.  I asked if all the wives lived in an area together, like the Brown Family in "Sister Wives".  He responded "the right hand did not need to know what the left hand does."

We stopped by the chief's home just across the border for him to pick up his iPad and briefly met his son.  As our journey continued, I asked if his son would be chief.  He explained to me that he has twin boys and this son is left handed.  It is forbidden for people that are left handed to be chiefs (or King!) so he was preparing his other son to be the next chief.

I asked what kind of work being a chief involves.  A quick google search on Sunday told me  that "While chiefs in other countries in Africa have been marginalised in the wake of democratic political systems, and now serve largely honourary functions, Swazi chiefs had their powers vastly increased with a Swaziland Administration Order decreed by King Mswati last year (1999).  .Chiefs in Swaziland have the power to try cases and even evict troublesome subjects.

He told a tale of a couple that came to him because they wanted to get divorced.  He didn't love her, she didn't love him.  Divorce is forbidden in Swaziland.  The chief asked if the couple had children - they had 3.  He pulled out a knife and laid it on the table.  He said "take this knife and go kill your children because it will be better for them than for you to get divorced".  According to him the couple is now happily married. 

I asked if being a chief is a paid position.  He said that it is not paid, it is up to the chief to figure out how to use the position to make money.  I took this as a sign that favoritism and corruption is probably alive and well in the chiefdoms.

He definitely liked to gossip about the king and the king's 14 wives, showing his inside knowledge of the royal family.  Each year the Palace holds the Reed Dance where young women from around the kingdom perform and sometimes the king selects a wife from the dancers.  One of the young dancers that was selected to become one of his wives was caught having an affair a few years ago and this gentleman shared with us that the offending man was actually her boyfriend from before she was selected to be the King's wife.  The wife has been kept in isolation at the Queen Mother's house since the affair was discovered.  The road was twisty and curvy so I kind of zoned in an out of the gossipy bits since I didn't really know who they were talking about and needed to concentrate on the road.  

I learned about a ritual called Incwala which is a celebration of manhood.  It takes place over a month long period of time with several different gatherings and rituals.  The culmination of the celebration is where the King is placed on top of a bull that has been treated by a local healer.  The bull's job is to pull all of the impurities and diseases out of the king so he will be healthy in the next year.  The bull is then killed at the hands of the men involved in the Incwala and slaughtered to feed the group.

Our first stop in Swaziland after getting petrol was at his sister's house.  I am not sure where his sister was but this is where I found myself sitting on a couch watching Kung Fu Panda with a chief from Swaziland and Ntombi.  After a few minutes the chief stood, said we were leaving and said, "I know a great hotel"

To Be Continued . . .