Chapter 62: Should She Go Back?

Published Oct 3, 2024, 4:00 AM

Should she go back to Vanderpump Rules? No, we’re not talking about Rachel… find out WHO in today’s episode!

Plus, Rachel is uncovering this week of VPR feuds.

This is Rachel gos Rogue.

Welcome back to another episode of Rachel Goes Rope with your host Rachel, Savannah Lovis and your co host Juliet Juliet's joining me today and we are talking about the most recent headlines in the Vanderpump Rules bravosphere and it's meant to be just fun, lighthearted. I love picking Juliette's brain on what these headlines mean, why they're being put out there, What if there's like a hidden motivation behind it? So let's get right into it. So the first one for you, Juliette. Gray's Anatomy cast celebrates the series turning twenty one with vander Pump Rules theme song. This is by Entertainment Weekly. The cast of Grey's Anatomy celebrated the start if It's twenty first season by recreating the iconic intro of vander Pump Rules, complete with slow motion shots and cocktails. The video featured Gray's stars and parodied vander Pump Rules characters while nodding to the medical dramas milestone of turning the legal drinking age. Fans, including vander Pump Roules. Cast members reacted excitedly to the playful crossover, Juliette, what do you think the purpose of this crossover would be?

Okay, so let's look at this for a minute. Because from a PR perspective, first and foremost, when you're talking about anything, it's your job to get people's eyeballs, right. So in this show, any show they're trying to get people to watch, how do they do that. They have to get to people, reach people in their places. In today's world, it's so much on Instagram and TikTok, So how do we get there? They need a headline and they need something catchy. So, first of all, twenty one years makes me feel really old because I remember watching the very first one and I loved this show. And I think you have to remember too that those people that started on that show, they're much older right now, right, And so I actually, I'm sorry, I haven't done my reading. I don't know if this is the finale, if this is the end, or if they're looking to extend, or there's going to be spinoffs. But at the end of the day, they're trying to connect with a diverse crowd and they're trying to get a headline. How many times can you go out there and say to the media, if you're Gray's Anatomy, Oh this is our storyline. Oh this actress, she's doing this, that or the other thing. Like, people have read it all. They've done it all in twenty one years, so they've got to find new ways to get new headlines. So here's a perfect thing to take a pop culture phenomenon which scanned of all was and connect it to VPR and recreate something. And it was. It was lighthearted and fun. So the VPR fans are going to jump on and talk about it. Their Gray's Anatomy fans are going to jump on it. So it is a positive overall fun hunt, if you will, that gets the headlines and makes news to point eyeballs back at both shows ultimately, but this one was designed to point the eyeballs back to Grey's Anatomy.

Yeah, great, great point.

I think the positive press is a huge motivator behind it, and I think a crossover like this also bonds the actors from both series to give a nod to each other and maybe even like collaborate in the future.

I don't know about collaborate, but possibly, but I will say, Yeah, here's the thing about the entertainment business for the most part, it's old school, like you should, and most do approach it with a little gentlemanly style. Now, in the hip hop world, sometimes the beefs draw the headlines, and so even the best of friends will have a beef just to make headlines and draw sides, which reality TV does quite well, also creating the beefs and creating the dramas between the talent and actually, what that movie that just came out, what's her name? Ryan Reynolds's wife, Blake Lively and that whole film. They brought all that drama to get the stories. But for the most part, if somebody shouts out something, the recipient recipient in the entertainment world is going to be positive where they can. So there's this George Clooney Brad Pitt poke fun but shake hands. People like that camaraderie. So to your point, when the two shows gave a nod to each other, they're both going to reciprocate something positively. Now, what I don't know about collaborating people. What used to be the case is none the two worlds should meet. If you were a reality star, you were the redheaded step child kind of and the rest of the industry looked down upon you and didn't want to have anything to.

Do with you.

But I think over the years, first of all, reality television has become a guilty pleasure for a lot of the everybody out there, So now there is a little bit more crossover. And actually, to illustrate that even further, it used to be the same thing for film and television. A film star would never do TV. Now you've got Matt Damon doing a series on Netflix, like that never would have been but now okay.

Yeah, like that, a movie star would never do TV.

Correct, anybody in movie would never do TV, and then TV and movies would never give a reality star at the time of day. But now the lines have blended and crossed over more. And I think a lot of that is because of the Internet, because of the access, because of the eyeballs, and our job in the PR world is to get people paying attention.

Do you think also, Gray's Anatomy is like embracing that soap opera miss of the structure of their own show and is giving a nod to Vanderpump Rules because it is like a very soapy reality TV show.

Yeah, it's funny to say that, So I was actually the unit publicist for Days of Our Lives for ten years, so it doesn't get more soapy than that. But you are one hundred percent right when you look at the structure of actually both shows, vander Pump and Gray's Anatomy, there is that kind of as the Grandmas used to say, I'm watching my stories right, like the way that they have the stories all the way through and the way they back and forth. So I think I happen to be somebody that I just don't think about classifications anymore. I think whatever makes good entertainment and what makes people happy, whether it's through escapism because they get away from their world or I just binge watched three seasons of Hacks and think it's one of the best television shows I've ever watched, and I loved it. So I think whatever gives people joy, I think it's we're past point of having to categorize things so much. That's just my opinion.

Okay, next one for you. Juliette Ariano Mattox weighs in on vander Pump Rule's uncertain future and the only co stars she talks to this is from a news and she mentioned in this interview that she's in touch with only a few cast members, specifically Katie Maloney and Sheena Sheet. Despite the ups and downs of the series, she feels positive about her personal growth and future endeavors.

However, she expressed.

Mixed feelings about what lies ahead for the show and the dynamics among the cast. Arianna has been very successful with her career endeavors, specifically hosting Love Island USA. Do you think that she should return to vander Pump roles or do you think that she should just walk away and continue in this trajectory is to.

Consider, First of all, nobody from the outside knows what her actual circumstances are meeting, financially, personally, so the decision should be fully hers. But I think that for her brand, she's done a very successful job moving away from how she was portrayed on vander Pump Rules, and I do not think she should go back. People are embracing her, people are loving her, She's getting a lot of opportunities, She's got the network behind I think she has a good team behind her, so I would say no, But then again, it all comes down to a personal's preference and with their personal circumstances are financially, and if an offer is good, let's not forget. It's still a huge PR play too, So whatever she does is going to make massive headlines. If she says no, I'm not going to come back, and then she comes back for one episode, that's going to reshape everything. Yeah, from the PR side.

Reality Tea came out with an article that says Tom Sandval was mocked online after a video surface of him performing at a wedding with his cover band Tom Sandval in the Most Extras. The clip, shared on TikTok showed him performing Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon, with viewers criticizing his vocal performance and questioning whether the couple paid for the gig. Some fans commented on his parents self importance, while others humorously compared his gig to ex girlfriend Ariana Maddock's recent success on Broadway. Okay, what do you think of this headline?

Julia?

I mean right, because I think the way I'm interpreting, they're saying, did the couple, the wedding couple pay to have them or did Tom pay to perform? Right?

That's what I think.

They're trying to stay there, And in today's world, anything is possible. I doubt he paid to perform. He could have volunteered to perform because it does make a headline for him.

I think there's super fans out there that would pay for any cast member to come to their wedding. If, like the modal bride and the groom are both like fans of the show, I could see them paying Tom sandeb On the most extras to be there. So I don't know, but it's interesting the contrast between Tom's career and Ariana's Broadway success and just really honing in on the vast different paths that they have both taken.

You've talked about in the past that there's the antagonist, there's the villain, there's the hero. It's the same in a PR headline, right, So literally, when they're if there, everybody wants to talk about Ariana's success, it's easy to stomp on the down trodden, which Tom.

And or you.

It's much easier to go the negative path for a headline too, to show the juxtaposition of the different cast members. That's the press of just looking for pithy comments that they can make in comparison so it doesn't surprise me.

Next one from Bravo. Ariana Maddox reveals the best advice Andy Cohen recently gave her. Ariana Maddox shared hosting advice she received from Andy Cohen before her gig on the Love Island USA Reunion. Andy encouraged her to be herself and make her mark while hosting. Arianna appreciated the advice as she views Cohen as the king of reunion shows. Although she found the experience challenging, she embraced the role and balanced offering her own opinions while remaining neutral. I could see how Arianna's experience on the vander Pump Rules reunion stage would help her host the Love Island USA Reunion.

Totally agree with that, And all experience helps you for the next one. And how many seasons was she on the show? I don't know. Was she on VPR do you know?

Eight?

Okay, that's eight years of practice. On the other side, that's only going to help her see the perspective of what's happening on the news show for her to host and put input.

Yeah, yeah, And this is a different type of show than vander Pump Rules too, Like Love Island is about being in a relationship and staying in a relationship till the very end, and that's how you win the cash prize. And that dynamic is very different than Vanderpump Rules, where it's just following these people supposedly allegedly. And so for Love Island usay, it's more of a competition show.

I would say, yeah, I would agree. And the thing to remember for both Ariana and the cast the reunions of these shows, they're like your final statement. So it's you don't know how you're going to get if, or how or when you're going to be seen or heard from after that. You don't know if the press is going to love you or hate you. You don't know if you're going to get picked up to do any other kind of a show. You have no idea, So forget what really actually happens on a reunion and amongst a cast. As an individual, that moment in time and how you react and the things you see would be the very last thing people see and hear of you. And it's also then what you can perhaps use to catapult your next fifteen minutes of fame into something.

Geez, you just saying that, I'm getting flashbacks to my final minutes on banner Pump Rules in my final interview and how I left that and it was more of a breakdown confession. Also, the producers were hounding me, and I really did feel uncomfortable and I was sharing things that I didn't want to share, but I felt I don't know, I needed to at least save my part and say that I knew I needed help basically, and that's how I left it.

So your final stamp on a show means a lot.

Yeah, I think I said this last week. What you weren't here too is I think when you and I talked to Heidi and you can really see there are people that are cut out with a plan to do reality TV and there are people that aren't. And you were not. You didn't know what to expect. You didn't come into it going Ooh, I want to do reality TV to become famous. You went in on a set of circumstances and you had to learn your way through. And that's saying of the kind of doggy Dog or Survival of the Fittest on these shows is the people that play the game and get it, they get something out of it. The people that it's done too. And I don't like to say that because you're not a victim, and I'm not painting you as a victim or anybody in your circumstances. But if when you're not really expecting it and it's not what you set out to do, it gets muddled. And yours was very muddled because there was real feelings and real relationships. So I feel like in your situation with vander Print Rules finale, everybody on the left side of that room came with an intention to get that Lurst word, to get their stamp in how they're going to turn that into their moment right, Like it was just could you have if you weren't in the state of mind you were at where you were having a mental health breakdown and realizing you needed help. Could you have reacted differently if you were in a different headspace where you fought back, But that's not where you were and you didn't set out to be there. I feel like the other people that were sitting there, they all had a very different agenda.

Yeah, it's so apparent now looking back, especially thinking back to like how ferocious Lala was in.

That reunion and then right.

Off the bat we see her contact me on the show on the New season. And I don't want to talk about this too much, but the point is I really wasn't cut out for reality TV. And these people went into that reunion with intention to Like.

What did Tom say?

Oh? Tom said, I'm about to be annihilated and he knew that every single person was preparing to annihilate me.

That was the goal.

And I I'm just not someone who sets out to annihilate people and I'm not going to act that way. So yeah, I'm just not cut out for a reality TV Okay, let's move on.

Yep.

Frederick from Million Dollar Listing is developing a new real estate series with Pump Rules producer. This one's by Reality Tea. So Frederick is teaming up with Evolution Media, the producers of vander Pump Rules, to create a new real estate series based in Miami, offering unfiltered behind the scenes looks at the business. Frederick, who has sold over twenty five billion in residential real estate, promises the show will be innovative, inspiring, and joyful.

Innovative and joy doesn't make a lot of PR headlines. I don't know. My guess is that they're going to build some sort of a formula where the agents that are under him have their drama, and there's dramatic clients that come in to look, and maybe there's bidding more so in order to create something exciting to watch. There's these shows on HGTV where it's like buying a house on an island. But we watched that like a fall asleep into fantasize of where we would pick our second house or third house. But there's no drama. It is literally two clients walking through looking at four properties. I don't think that's what this is going to be. I think this is going to be more like Selling Sunset and those kind of shows. And he has drama with the staff has drama. Some of the clients bring drama. But and I don't think if you were going to create something that wasn't dramatic, you would go to Evolution.

Yeah, very true, very true. I could see them doing the same formula or similar formula inspired by at Selling Sunset because that show has been so successful.

The other thing that could happen is since they partnered with Evolution is maybe it's a Lisa vander Pump and the Bar sort of scenario in the restaurant. So maybe he's going to be the patriarch and the agents are going to be the new vander Punt Rules. Maybe that's another take.

That's very similar to Selling Sunset, where the Oppenheim twins are like the patriarch and the agents are the ones that need to make the deals and the drama between all of them.

Do they date to the agent's date, No.

But they follow their dating lives.

It's mostly women agents, which would make sense for the structure of the two.

Yeah, so it seems to be a trend that we are moving from the bar and the restaurant for drama to the real estate world and office. So it would make a lot of sense for them to cut through all these other similar types of shows to go to the vander Punt Rules producer and see producers and see what kind of show you're going to get out of it. That's going to break through the noise, it's going to set it apart, that's going to catapult the drama, that's going to capture the headlines. Who knows, Maybe they'll do a photo shoot that copies vanderprint Rules like Gray's Anatomy did, Right, It would make sense if you're going to go for something different to go to the people that are the best at that category.

Do you think that with the popularity of real estate shows and selling Sunset has been talked about so much, do you think the audience is still interested in that type of genre or do you think there's like a saturation point that we're reaching.

That's a very good question, and it's hard to say because I don't actually watch those shows. However, they are still making headlines, right, So I see the headlines, and I think when it comes to drama, the setting is secondary. So it really depends on the cast. Are they attractive? Are they worth telling stories? You have your feisty person, your villain, you're problematic, do they cast that well? And then what are the relationship dynamics and where can it go? Because all of those bring headlines.

I would argue that it would be the other way around, because what interested me the most was Selling Sunset was seeing the million dollar properties and the different areas in LA that were very like exclusive and it was like a little snapshot into the lives of these people with like extreme wealth. And then the same with the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. You see like this extreme wealth and the glamour and like all of the the glitzy things and the esthetic things and the visuals, and I think that's what drew me in, and then the drama for me was secondary. So maybe it's just life dependent on the person that's viewing it is.

And I think and I agree with everything you just said, because that's why even with the Housewives franchise, the ones that I choose to watch or did watch were Beverly Hills, Orange County, and New York because I felt a connection there. So to your point, yes, does the background mean something. It does because it adds to the depth of the show, and you find the things that you're interested in seeing, and people want to or they migrate towards things that they are interested in or hope for or dream But still, at the end of the day, in all of those shows, all of those shows are picking great places, and so they're picking expensive homes and showing that. I still think it's going to come down to what makes the show successful is going to be the drama between the talent, and even if the background draws you in, is the drama going to be enough to keep you attached?

True? And now I'm thinking of the secret lives of Mormon lives, and it is the drama that brought people to that show and the word of mouth of that type of drama, and so I could totally see that point.

That's supporting your point, Juliet.

Yeah, and I think Mormonism has been something that has intrigued people very very long time, like the same as the Amish or cult living or anything that's different, and they happen to have been, for the most part, quite secretive about those sort of things. So that makes the voyeur come out to us and wanting to know more about it and then to unleash it and see the wild things that were in the Mormon Why. So it was already dramatic that these are people that it's okay to have multiple relationships with in open marriage and all these sort of things, But then you take the extremes that were on that show and that the drama between those people is what drew everybody. And more importantly, from my perspective, the drama from that cast is what made the headlines, which is what made people go back and tune in. So word of mouth definitely started it and the intrigue, but then what sustains it are the headlines and the stories that get told from the pr Okay.

This is our last headline for today's episode. This one's from Bravo. Are Ariano Mattos and Lala Kent still feuding? Ariano Mattos revealed that she and Vanner pomp Rule's co star Lala Kent are still not on speaking terms following their fallout during season eleven. Arianna expressed her over Lala's comments from the reunion where Lala accused her of acting superior after her breakup with Tom Sandoval. Arianna admitted the remarks were painful, but emphasized her effort to live authentically. While their relationship remains strained, Ariana is still closed in contact with Kitty Maloney and occasionally.

Talks to Shina Shee.

I think it's interesting that Bravo's putting out this headline specifically because Bravo is pushing this narrative that Ariano Maddox and La La Kent are still feuding.

And that means that they're trying to.

Make an interest and still create this rise for the fans to be interested in what's going to happen during filming.

Yeah, that's a very valid point. It's fishing for interest, right are people buying it, or people interested to people care. But look again, there's so many variables. We don't know. If arian is I'm not going back to Vanderpunt rules, then what's the point of that headline?

Wait? Aren't they filming though?

Supposedly, but we don't know who's filming. Like every time the last two seasons when they went back to film, we saw stuff people were capturing behind the scenes stuff.

We haven't seen any of that that's true.

And we also don't know who's actually filming because rumors have also been that there's new cast members coming and they're like testing out new people. I don't know, you've got more insight, like you should ask some of the people we know that just recently they asked people to film.

So that I thought the latest was that they've started filming.

But I've seen a headline, but we haven't seen any footage to back that up.

Interesting.

Yeah, and we don't know who that they is either, So I don't know. But your point is a very valid one from a PR perspective. Good on you, Rachel Is. That was one hundred percent setting up for something next. But the challenge right now is there's so many variables. We don't know what's actually factual and happening, because there's been rumors that they've gotten new cast members and they were trying out new people, and then they were going to try the new people with the old people, and then there was that there was going to be a small like a shorter truncated version of the Ogs and then leave. But maybe they finally got them under control and they're not speaking about it.

Yeah, that for me, that would be a first. That would be a first for sure.

But you could dig in and find some scoop on that one.

Yeah.

And then for pr perspective, like in what ways might a portrayal of a friendship feud on a reality TV show impact their careers outside of filming.

I don't think really anything. For the most part, I don't think a feud goes outside of now. The one thing that's the wild card in this situation is that the Bravo fans pick a side, right, and so once they pick aside, if you're on the opposing side, they could throw tomatoes at you, so to speak, or get getting your Instagram and be mean to you whichever side you're you're on. But I don't think it really has anything to do with the outside as much as it has to do with the keeping the storyline going. So I think really the feuds give layers. Again, what I'll say from a pr is if somebody is just reporting on whatever is happening on a show, there's only so much they can report. When you break that wall and you get to talk about people personally, there's more depth, there's more layers. Now there's a feud, oh to the things that appeal with people psychologically where they wish they were. Remember why people watch television in the first place. It's escapism. It's to get away from the things that they're unhappy with, and then when they find something they relate to, then they come all in. So all of that plays into the drawing people in and the headlines to point the eyeballs to it. So it all is orchestrated and it all makes sense. We just don't know who the big the plan maker is. We don't know what's in their head right now, but it is definitely all tools of getting us to wonder and be interested.

This is what's going on with Mormon wives. They're all really playing into the feud online and smart on them. It's like mom talk. That's the whole premise of The Secret Lives and Mormon Wives. Yeah, I think it will get picked up for a season two.

I think. So it's gotten a tremendous amount of buzz and it's had really positive reactions. And again, what they're doing is they're taking the word off the page and putting it in the real world so that you go to lunch with your girlfriend and your girlfriends, oh my gosh, did you see that? And people are talking about it that way, which is the same, which is what happened with scandabal right. It escaped the little tiny bubble that was in it became worldwide news, so everybody was talking about it as they were hanging out with their friends. And if you can get that is the golden ticket because that is when people are more. People are going to tune in and it's going to shoot up your.

Ratings because you're like, oh, you're watching that show too, Like now I need to watch it so that I know what you're talking about when we hang out.

Exactly one hundred percent. And the again, why people watch these things, whether it's to relate, or it's to escape, or just to enjoy something that's outside of your world. If you make that so that it's addicting and it's enjoyable, people they get fanatic about it, right, they get rabid, which you've experienced. So, but that's what draws more people in, and then all of a sudden there's going to be viewing parties and Halloween costumes and all of that sort of stuff.

Yep.

Yeah.

And it's a great way to expand your audience too by doing it on social media.

Yeah, which is a whole other tool.

You're right, totally.

Yeah.

I think they know what they're doing for sure, that's right.

And then you get everybody posting and reposting. And that's the big difference from a PR standpoint. We used to have to put all those stories out right, and we used to have to work to put them out My goodness, anybody can post anything on social media and then everybody swells behind it. They agree with the opinion, they don't, and then they tell two friends and they tell two friends. So social media takes it to a completely different movem.

Okay, thank you so much for joining me, Julia. I always enjoy hearing your PR expertise.

I think today was fun.

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