It’s the most glorious time of year for hardcore reality television fans – BravoCon! You know, the three-day fan event in Las Vegas where all of the most beloved (and loathed) reality celebrities come together to hook up with each other, meet their dedicated fans and spill more tea. While the event wraps today, there is already a whopping amount of gossip out in the open from the event.
So, without further ado, let’s get into everything we’ve learned from BravoCon 2023.
Bravo Daddy Andy Cohen
Andy Cohen is the reason this whole thing is happening. While we know him as the host of talk show Watch What Happens Live, he is one of the driving forces behind the entire Real Housewives franchise. Not only is he the host of the reunion episodes of each version, but he’s also the executive producer across the board. These days, Andy is synonymous with the Bravo universe and no BravoCon would be complete without his cheesy grin beaming around the place.
With his big dog status in the Bravo world, he’s the one to go to for any burning questions. This time around, he weighed in on the rumour that fan-favourite new housewife Jenna Lyons would be leaving The Real Housewives Of New York City.
“There is a narrative in the press, but we haven’t had any serious conversations,” he explained to Hollywood Life.
“I hope she does stay.”
Andy also revealed that despite having close relationships with a bunch of the Real Housewives gals, only one has been lucky enough to meet his 19-month-old daughter Lucy.
Who was the lucky gal? Real Housewives Of Salt Lake City‘s Whitney Rose.
“I got to meet her at the Clubhouse,” Whitney told E! News.
“She’s a daddy’s girl. And I got a little kiss and a little hug. I was so honoured to be the first Housewife to meet Lucy. She’s gorgeous, and Andy’s such a good father. So sweet.”
The Real Housewives Of Beverley Hills
Over the last couple of months, there has been constant speculation that RHOBH‘s Kyle Richards had split with her husband of 27 years Mauricio Umansky. While they both vehemently denied these claims, Kyle recently referred to her separation as a divorce during an interview on the BravoCon red carpet finally confirming what fans had suspected for a hot minute now.
“Going through my divorce, all that has made me stronger but it definitely changes you as a person,” she told TooFab.
Later in a panel, Kyle spoke more openly about this new stage of their relationship.
“We love each other very much and we are family no matter what happens,” she said, getting teary on stage.
“We have a very strong family unit. My three girls still live at home, only Farrah has her own place. It’s still like, ‘Who’s gonna be home for dinner tonight?’ in the family chat.
“Mauricio was busy doing Dancing with the Stars so he wasn’t around as much. We’re trying to figure it out. We know we love each other.
“I just want to say, a lot of people think, ‘What are you doing? Fix everything.’ Obviously, that’s what I would want. This is not my idea of my fairy tale, clearly. Anyway, I do appreciate all your support,” she concluded.
Vanderpump Rules
Even if you’re not a fan of reality television, you’d know of the Vanderpump Rules tea from the latest season. In short, cast member Tom Sandoval – who was in a nine-year relationship with co-star Ariana Madix – had an affair with their other co-star and pal Rachel ‘Raquel’ Leviss.
It was a bombshell that set social media into overdrive.
People referred to the incident as “Scandoval” and counted down the days until the cast would reunite for the reunion episode, which subsequently popped off weeks later. Then, Rachel went on Bethenny Frankel‘s podcast ReWives with Bethenny Frankel to dish her side of the story.
It was a lot.
So, you can understand why Tom Sandoval didn’t entirely get a welcome reception when he stepped foot on stage at BravoCon on the first day of the conference. In fact, he got booed so loudly that it was the talk of the town. When asked by Entertainment Tonight how that made him feel, Tom put on a brave sunnies-wearing face.
“Ah so warm and fuzzy inside,” he joked.
“When you feel like people hate your existence. When some guy gets on stage and goes ‘so Tom why would you come here, like literally nobody wants you here and nobody likes you’. So that was a little rough.”
Ooooft. Say what you want about Mr lightning bolt necklace but he certainly has thick skin. Especially since he agreed to come back for Vanderpump Rules Season 11 which covers the aftermath of the cheating scandal.
“I’m trying to go through all of these times in my life without drinking or smoking cigarettes. I’m not smoking weed either,” he explained when asked about what he’s doing to move on.
“Things like this make you appreciate the small things, like walking into a room and people smiling at you and saying ‘hi’. Taking the time to really appreciate the little subtleties in life you take for granted. They’re more important than you think.”
But speaking of the lightning bolt necklace, dedicated fans couldn’t help but notice he wasn’t wearing his iconic piece over the weekend. You know, the now-infamous symbol of his secret tryst with Rachel.
“That necklace is gone,” Tom said to E! News.
“I have a different lightning bolt necklace—it’s white gold versus yellow gold.”
When asked about the OG pendant, he told the reporter that “Ariana ripped it off” his neck. YIKES.
Considering his relationships with both women are well and truly over after the scandal, I’m not surprised that old mate decided to wear a different necklace for the occasion.
And as you’d expect, things aren’t entirely peachy between the former long-term lovers.
Speaking to E! News, Ariana claimed that Tom talked shit about her on the carpet to the press.
“He came on this press line and called me ‘stank face’ right after,” Ariana said when asked if she expected an apology.
“So I don’t think he was planning to [give me an apology].”
Below Deck
Ah yes, it’s time to dish the dirt of my personal favourite franchise of the bunch – Below Deck. Say what you want about it but I will go to my grave saying that Below Deck is the best and least contrived reality show.
Anyway, the biggest bit of news for the fandom was that our sweet straight-talking Captain Lee Rosbach is stepping down from his post on Below Deck Mediteranian due to medical issues. It’s sad to see him and his quippy one-liners go but the silver lining is that he will be replaced by Below Deck Adventure‘s token Aussie, Captain Kerry Titheradge.
Speaking of Aussie captains, Below Deck Down Under‘s Captain Jason Chambers had a little bit of a cheeky smooch with one of the Real Housewives hotties.
According to E! News, he shared a kiss with The Real Housewives Of Dubai star Caroline Brooks.
“I’ve already gotten in a little bit of trouble last night. He kissed me. I guess I got lucky,” she said.
Lucky INDEED.
Captain Jason – who has been nicknamed “Captain Cutie” by fans – also met up with Vanderpump Rules star Lala Kent.
“We have met. We have exchanged… we have communicated,” he told Page Six. But while he was playing coy, his chief steward turned matchmaker Aesha Scott chimed in.
“He would la la love some Lala.”
Aside from his romantic exploits, Captain Jason did give some insight into his relationships with staff members Luke Jones and Laura Bileskalne who were fired for inappropriate sexual behaviour towards their coworkers while on the job.
“I’ve stayed in touch,” Captain Jason told E! News.
“Because we’ve all got the opportunity to grow from it. And you can’t just push everyone away as a captain.
“I need to actually hold on to those people. Even in season one, I kept on with the crew, always in contact and see how they are. You don’t want to set and forget. Everyone’s got an opportunity to grow.”
Summer House
In the latest season of Summer House, we saw Carl Radke break off his engagement with Lindsay Hubbard after he proposed August 2022. But three months before they were due to walk down the aisle, the news broke that they’d split.
In an Instagram statement, Lindsay said that she felt “humiliated by how it went down and simultaneously heartbroken that it happened in the first place” and heavily implied that she felt blindsided by Carl’s decision.
So, as you’d expect, she was super worried about running into her recent ex at the convention.
“I was so nervous, I really was,” Lindsay said, per E! News.
“I had a lot of anxiety going into it. You don’t know what questions they’re gonna ask, you don’t know what you’re about to enter into. It’s one of those situations where I’ve been dealing with my emotions privately and with my friends and family, but when you’re in front of thousands of fans on stage, you don’t know what kind of emotions are gonna pop up. Am I gonna cry? Am I gonna get angry? Am I gonna be a little snarky? I chose the latter.”
Thankfully, Lindsay said that she’s now doing super well and is excited to put herself out there.
But of course, there are always two sides to every story. Speaking to PEOPLE, Carl denied that Lindsay could have been blindsided when he broke off the engagement.
“I firmly don’t believe she was blindsided because we’ve had these conversations,” he said.
“We had a really rough summer and I think people will see that.
“But it just shows the gravity of the situation when I really deep down felt like I needed to have a conversation with her about where we were at in our relationship and moving forward with the wedding.”
Carl also denied claims he called production to make sure to the Summer House production team caught the break up on camera.
“I did not call production to set her up. I don’t decide what is being filmed on Summer House. I really don’t. I just respond to what’s being requested.”
The Real Housewives Of Orange County
One of the juiciest appearances of the weekend was Real Housewives Of Orange County star Shannon Beador.
On November 2, just two days before the convention kicked off, Shannon was sentenced to three years probation and 40 hours of community service after she was arrested for drinking under the influence and a misdemeanour hit and run on September 17.
At BravoCon, she touched on how she’s dealt with the situation.
“I’ve spent the last month, which I really had that amount of time, focusing on myself,” Shannon said to E! News.
“I went to a behavioural wellness place with an alcohol component in it and I’m eliminating and have eliminated a lot of the toxic and unhealthy things in my life, so I’m really looking forward to moving on and I’m excited about it.
“I never drink and drive,” she added. “I’m the Uber girl. But you know there were a lot of unhealthy things going on in my life and I did drink more alcohol.”
Oooft. Hasn’t this been a doozy?
That just about wraps up all the drama from BravoCon 2023. But if you haven’t got enough reali-tea to tide you over, you can catch up on all your favourite Bravo shows on Hayu.
