The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

Where do I even begin? It’s taken me a while to get here because I’ve been so angry watching this season as the weeks went by. “You shouldn’t feel such strong emotions for reality tv characters”, I would say to myself. However, unlike scripted tv where it’s okay to dislike fictional characters, for the second consecutive year, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills has evoked this type of reaction in me. I screamed at the tv almost every week because once again, I felt insulted by the cast and production. Yes, this is reality tv and not some science journal. But still…I don’t want to feel like I’m being taken for a fool and be told what to believe, as viewer. How could these “real” people be doing such REAL horrible things to each other? Is producing a good show really worth losing one’s self?

My last blog ended with Denise and Aaron walking out of the “family BBQ” that Kyle hosted. This was all the way back in episode 8. Yep, that’s how long since I blogged about this this season. I just couldn’t. If you recall, without bias, Denise and Aaron didn’t want to entertain anymore conversations about why it was inappropriate for adults to have LOUD sex talks with their kids and friends so close by. That was a legit point raised so anything else was pointless. The women kept exclaiming that they wouldn’t have these talks in front of their kids. So why then were these mothers so hellbent on making it seem like Denise’s comment was accusatory? It just didn’t make sense given the fact they said they wouldn’t do it either. They all repeated, as if reading from a script, that Denise was open about sex talk with them last season, so her acting this way must be to clean up her image. WHAT F^CKING KNOBS! Denise had sex talk with adults, not her kids. They went on to say that Denise was mom-shaming them and making them feel like bad mothers. WHAT THE ACTUAL F^CK!? I’ll tell you why they wouldn’t (and won’t) let this go, “it’s Charlie’s kids”. Something they’ve kept saying as if that gave them the right (excluding Garcelle, Sutton and Dorit). This showed an utter disregard for Denise as a mother and her right to what her children are exposed. Disgusting! That is what mom-shaming is.

These women have a tendency of twisting the words of their target and intentionally misrepresenting how conversations took place. That way, their fans will agree with them and harp on the filmed attack, in real time. A perfect example would be the conversation Garcelle had with the women in Rome. Garcelle asked Rinna if she felt that her dancing barely dressed on Instagram is correlated to her daughter’s body issues. Garcelle asked this question because she felt guilty for her eldest son’s past drug usage. Everyone was at the dinner and heard what Garcelle said and meant, but as soon as Rinna got home, she literally twisted the conversation as she relayed it to her daughter. What’s funny was that Rinna’s daughter said she blamed Rinna at one point. The scene aired and Rinna used it as another opportunity to misrepresent what Garcelle said and meant to the fans. Had the unseen footage not air, many would still fault Garcelle. This was what they kept doing to Denise after the BBQ.

Kyle threw her hundredth event (it’s for charity, so I’m not mad at it) this season because that’s all she seemed to have going on. I mean, it’s not like Mauricio wasn’t settling the $32M fraud lawsuit against him around the same time or anything. The last time they saw Denise, she told them that they should find something else to argue about because they crossed a line and she was done with the conversation, that is, having to defend why she doesn’t want sex talk around her kids. I can’t believe the women went there and production allowed it. Then again, most of the production team are men. You decide what that means. This was now the introduction of two potential story arcs that the producers were betting on. What do I mean?

Last year, there were multiple rumours about the season not having any real drama. In fact, according to a source, the women were furious because Denise was always working and would show up late for scenes and leave early. So, Camille was brought back in because up until that event, the only drama that had any legs were Garcelle and Kyle’s and Denise against the women and she wasn’t playing that game. Basically, the season was passed its half mark in filming and nothing was happening. When the women refused to accept Camille, that’s when door number 2 opened for the low-base storyline we had to endure.

At Kyle’s event, we saw the return of “the town drunk” (LVP‘s words LOL, yea it’s mean but whatever), Brandi Glanville. She was super friendly to Denise and Aaron and they embraced her until she suggested they be a throuple. Yup! She came in with an agenda. After that night, we saw a scene that was clearly filmed after Rome of Brandi suddenly saying Denise screwed her over and shouldn’t be trusted. She proclaimed that she and Denise hooked up. This, she said to Kyle and Teddi. Kyle now made it her duty to be Brandi’s biggest advocate, putting everything she claimed to have stood for to the side, by declaring “Brandi is a lot of things but she isn’t a liar“.

The way Kyle made herself into the liar by taking that position because as we’ve seen in the past, she was one of the loudest opposers of Brandi and the one who yelled LIAR the most. So what changed? Does Brandi only lie when it’s about Kyle? As you saw from Kyle‘s own blog a few years ago, she was hurt by what Brandi was saying about her husband. In fact she cried “what about my children?” So by that token, what about Denise’s kids? The hypocrisy and cruelty was at an all time high. Teddi didn’t know Brandi from Adam, yet chose to believe what was said. They took this information like it was the Gospel according to John, and made sure they brought it up on the trip. Why? Why were they so invested in this particular part of the story?

Denise was caught completely off guard as Teddi did Brandi and Kyle’s dirty work, by humiliating her with this gossip in front of all the women. Denise denied it then and still denies it now. Guess what? I don’t give a damn! This wasn’t brought on the show organically. It was done in an effort to justify the women’s actions all season. Simply put, it was done with malicious intent. The women kept saying they didn’t care whether it was true or not yet they wouldn’t let it go. It’s like they were trying to convince themselves because they sure weren’t convincing me. The cast trip was a mess as Denise attempted to shut the conversation down with her “Bravo Bravo Bravo” line once more. We also saw one of the executive producers strategically edited in a scene to convince Denise to return to the dinner table after she called out the women, especially Kyle. Of all the things that happened, Denise felt most disappointed by Rinna. They’ve been friends for over 20 years but that meant to nothing to Rinna. She joined in on the attack on Denise and just kept going lower each time.

After agreeing to move on from Rome, Denise was a no-show at the final group events of the season. She had now realised what the women were doing behind her back, especially her dear friend Lisa Rinna. She made the right choice because it was obvious that moving forward for the other women, meant carrying what was discussed in Rome back to Beverly Hills and give Brandi more air time à la Teddi’s for the tv baby shower. Her goal from the start, to get back on the show. Since Denise soiled their plans, we saw the producer again, being edited in a scene, trying to persuade Garcelle into doubting Denise. Why? To what end? Wasn’t it already bad enough they followed a lie all last season to protect Teddi because Kyle made it so? Why did they want to do this to Denise?

As I mentioned in my very first blog of the season, it was obvious that Denise was the target. Maybe not in the way the season went down, but she was. When Teddi brought up the article published about Charlie taking Denise to court in New York with Erika so quick to get her husband on the phone to offer legal advice, I knew something was up. Denise probably didn’t realise it then either. Although, in that scene, she tried quickly shut it down. You see, Denise is a high profile celebrity and a lot of her personal life, unfortunately, has been splattered all over tabloid magazines because of who her ex husband is. The women and production saw this as an opportunity to make this season interesting. What they didn’t expect was that, unlike Lisa Rinna who would do anything for money, Denise would be shutting down every conversation and/or underact to not make the plot take off. This must have frustrated the producers because Denise was playing by her own rules instead of the rules according to reality tv. She has never played when it came to her kids and that is something everyone should laud.

As the season ended with a three part reunion, nothing else was uncovered. No one changed their positions, so it was a waste. It wasn’t even shocking to see Andy Cohen misrepresent what Denise said the nature of her situationship with Brandi was. Teddi was fired and I feel like Lisa Rinna and Erika Jayne should go next. We know nothing about them and with them gone, the show would have a completely new direction. Otherwise, I really feel like this may be it for me on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, unless something huge happens like one of the Girardi lawsuits re-emerging.

We could’ve had a great season with petty rich people drama but I guess money really doesn’t buy class. The glamour left the show after LVP peaced out but I didn’t expect this. With the season now over, Denise also announced she’s leaving the show and I totally support her decision. She was used as a punching bag by majority of the cast as well as production, which was undeserved. All this because she wanted to set boundaries for her kids. Everyone involved in this mess should have really thought it through because as she said, “I am f^cking Denise Richards” and she’s no one’s scapegoat.

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