{"id":596922,"date":"2023-11-07T19:09:29","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T16:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/a-real-housewives-novice-spends-52-hours-at-bravocon\/"},"modified":"2023-11-07T19:09:29","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T16:09:29","slug":"a-real-housewives-novice-spends-52-hours-at-bravocon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/a-real-housewives-novice-spends-52-hours-at-bravocon\/","title":{"rendered":"#A \u2018Real Housewives\u2019 Novice Spends 52 Hours at BravoCon"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \u201cOh, honey, what are you doing here?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n This is the response, delivered in a \u201cbless your heart\u201d drawl, from a Memphis woman when I reveal that Top Chef<\/em> is my preferred Bravo series<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s Bravo light<\/em>,\u201d she scoffs. \u201cYou\u2019re not going to find any of that this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Her visible concern starts to subside when I defensively clarify that I am up to speed on the au courant Vanderpump Rules<\/em> and years ago spent the better part of a morning on Lisa Vanderpump\u2019s couch \u2014 with the former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills<\/em> star and<\/em> her Pomeranian, Puffy \u2014 but the truth is already sinking in. We\u2019re not one hour into BravoCon, and I am very much out of my depth.<\/p>\n

\n For those who still haven\u2019t tapp<\/a>ed into this booming subculture, BravoCon is a three-day weekend where eager viewers of Bravo shows pay to speak, mingle and take photos with the stars of the NBCUniversal cable network\u2019s various franchises. There\u2019s Southern Charm<\/em>, Married to Medicine<\/em>, a Summer House<\/em> or three, several iterations of yacht dramedy Below Deck<\/em> and, of course, the engine that keeps the U.S.S. Bravo slicing through a seas of commerce: The Real Housewives<\/em>. Nine domestically produced iterations of the show are on the schedule, as is one spinoff: The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip<\/a><\/em>, something of an island of misfit toys featuring former Housewives<\/em>, which drives viewers to sister streamer Peacock.<\/p>\n

\n If you watch any of the Real Housewives<\/em> \u2014 like the majority of the 25,000-ish people who descended on Las Vegas from Nov. 3-5 for this third iteration of BravoCon \u2014 or even if it\u2019s a cultural blindspot, you\u2019ve probably at least heard rumblings of it in recent months. Notable alum Bethenny Frankel, a one-time New York<\/em> housewife who was chummy with the network and its golden boy Andy Cohen as recently as early 2023, has been campaigning against Bravo \u2014 alleging mistreatment of talent and calling for a reality star union amid the WGA and still ongoing SAG-AFTRA strikes. Bravo has denied her accusations, and none of its current talent have openly joined her fight.<\/p>\n

\n But if you think that cast a pall on the festivities, you don\u2019t realize how deep Bravo devotion goes. Allow me to attempt to explain.<\/p>\n

\n DAY ONE<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n 9:14 a.m. <\/strong>The siren call of \u201cDon\u2019t Be Tardy for the Party,\u201d<\/a> among other Housewives-sung tunes, finds me before the line comes into view: several thousand devotees snaking a half-mile to the general<\/a> admission entrance at Caesars Forum. It\u2019s an ocean of pink, sequins and homemade merch. (Keep the dream alive, \u201cReal Housewives of Torrance!\u201d)<\/p>\n

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\"Andy<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>

\u201cIt\u2019s the most fun part of the weekend,\u201d says one ticket holder who logged ours at the BravoCon entrance where even Andy Cohen showed up. \u201cAll of the talent stops to talk for, like, a long time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Charles Sykes\/Bravo<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n 9:31 a.m. <\/strong>Knowing this couldn\u2019t be the line for the fourth estate, and seeing no visible media<\/a> entrance, I wander until I find my in. It has always been my experience that seeking out somebody with a golf cart and politely feigning importance with the word \u201cpress\u201d is the quickest solution to any queue. And so I enter BravoCon via a freight elevator that drops me backstage of the main ballroom. The exhilaration of being the only un-wristbanded person in this basic cable utopia doesn\u2019t last long. After some snooping \u2014 the VIPs are being treated to several kinds of sliders \u2014 I get nervous and approach the proper entrance to plead ignorance.<\/p>\n

\n 10:12 a.m. <\/strong>Jeff Lewis, out of the Bravo-verse since his design show Flipping Out<\/em> was canceled in 2018, moderates an \u201cAsk Andy\u201d panel. It is the first of countless appearances Cohen will make across the weekend, and he is greeted with a king\u2019s welcome. Lewis, on the other hand, is testy. He questions the sexuality of one housewife before suggesting another is \u201con food stamps, for fuck\u2019s sake.\u201d Cohen, an executive producer on all Housewives<\/em> shows, defends his brood but the damage is done. Various reactions to Lewis\u2019 comments will reverberate through Sunday. So while Flipping Out<\/em> probably won\u2019t be getting a reboot anytime soon, Lewis does share a reasonably prophetic nugget with the room: \u201cYou traveled far, maxed out your credit cards, drained your bank accounts, and it will be worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n 11:50 a.m. <\/strong>Jerry O\u2019Connell (no relation) and several husbands from The Real Housewives of New Jersey<\/em> gyrate, topless, with several dance ambassadors of the Las Vegas residency of Magic Mike<\/em>. They are the first of many, many shirtless men. <\/p>\n

\n 12:50 p.m. <\/strong>The cast of Vanderpump Rules<\/em>, a show about a group of friends who sort of work for the titular restaurateur, assemble to discuss what\u2019s happened since last we saw them, screaming at one another and\/or eye-rolling during their June reunion special. The main (read: only) topic is again the \u201cScandoval\u201d cheating scandal that captured a nation, rocketed the decade old show to No. 1 on Bravo\u2019s ratings rankings and earned a well-deserved Emmy nomination. It\u2019s arguably the day\u2019s marquee panel, and this room is out for blood. <\/p>\n

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\"Brynn<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>

Real Housewives of New York<\/em>\u2018s Brynn Whitfield, whose Louboutins momentarily took out a BravoCon escalator, shills sweatshirts and poses with fans. <\/span><\/p>\n

Jordan Strauss\/Bravo<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n 1:10 p.m. <\/strong>It should feel cathartic to watch Tom Sandoval, the cheater in the aforementioned scandal, relentlessly booed. In execution, it\u2019s kind of a buzzkill. Whether you buy into any of this or not, the enthusiasm from the fans has been otherwise heartening. Fortunately, the tension is broken by more shirtless men \u2014\u00a0Sandoval and co-star James Kennedy engaging in a push-up contest.<\/p>\n

\n 1:57 p.m.<\/strong> At the Bravo Bazaar, where the network and talent can peddle their wares, the tails of two exceptionally long lines intersect. One is for Real Housewives of Atlanta<\/em>\u2018s Marla Hampton, selling shirts bearing her prophetic catchphrase \u201cToday Drained Me,\u201d and the other is for New Jersey\u2019s<\/em> Teresa Giudice \u2014 no explainer needed!<\/a> \u2014 whose booth just says \u201cNamaste, Bitches.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n 2:37 p.m. <\/strong>My first mistake is missing a panel featuring the captains from Below Deck<\/em>, a series about the crews of various charter yachts. One skipper, Bellow Deck: Down Under<\/em>\u2019s Captain Jason Chambers, will rival only Andy Cohen as the weekend\u2019s most-mentioned Bravolebrity. His name is uttered in hushed conversations and screamed from stages by amorous women of all ages. <\/p>\n

\n 3:15 p.m.<\/strong> Bumping into Lisa Vanderpump \u2014 that is to say, after skulking in a corner for nearly a half-hour to grab a word \u2014 I ask her take on the Sandoval reception. \u201cPeople get so caught up in the television show and the drama of it that they look at these people like they\u2019re characters,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I also don\u2019t think Tom handled that right. Someone asked him what he would have done differently, and he kind of just went \u2018uh huh.\u2019 Explaining himself would have helped.\u201d In the absence of explaining oneself, there is always top removal.<\/p>\n

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\"Kyle<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills<\/em>\u2018 Kyle Richards stops for a selfie.<\/span><\/p>\n

Greg Doherty\/Bravo<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n 4:05 p.m.<\/strong> In most public spaces, signs alerting that one is being filmed is another indication of our dystopian surveillance state. At BravoCon, it is a welcome reminder that fame (or infamy) is just one unflattering edit away. The posture in the room goes rigid as a crew wanders through.<\/p>\n

\n 8:27 p.m. <\/strong>A throng hovers around one of two Vanderpump casino eateries, Vanderpump \u00e0 Paris, hoping to catch a glimpse of talent at a private party. I haven\u2019t the heart to tell them that the guests are ad buyers.<\/p>\n

\n 9:15 p.m. <\/strong>Day one wraps with a special taping of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen<\/em>, an awards show dubbed \u201cThe Bravos.\u201d Captain Jason accepts an award for owning a disco ball helmet. This goes over my head.<\/p>\n

\n 9:45 p.m. <\/strong>The Bravos aren\u2019t not technically over, but when a cameo by John Mayer is revealed to be three seconds filmed on an iPhone, I call it a night and leave before Real Housewives of Orange County<\/em> star Vicki Gunvalson cries during her acceptance of the \u201cWifetime Achievement Award.\u201d It would have been an honor just to be nominated.<\/p>\n

\n DAY TWO<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n 9:22 a.m. <\/strong>The media entrance is clearly marked, after all. My bad!<\/p>\n

\n 10:02 p.m.<\/strong> It\u2019s round two of \u201cAsk Andy,\u201d and who better to moderate than Rachel Lindsay? The media personality is best known for her tenure as the star of the 13th cycle of ABC\u2019s The Bachelorette<\/em> and, more importantly, her subsequent efforts exposing the toxic and often racist experiences she endured while participating on said franchise. This is the gravitas we\u2019ve been missing.<\/p>\n

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\"Rachel<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>

Rachel Lindsay with the cast of The Real Housewives of Potomac<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bryan Steffy\/Bravo<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n 10:28 a.m. <\/strong>Lindsay is diplomatic in her Housewives<\/em> questioning. Efforts to get Cohen to recast various iterations \u2014 she\u2019s got issues with Atlanta<\/em> \u2014 seem to get some traction and then Cohen finally mentions Ramona Singer, the Housewives<\/em> star booted from the BravoCon lineup after allegations of her racist behavior and remarks resurfaced in a Vanity Fair<\/a><\/em> piece. \u201cI think the most that we can say is that we shot Ultimate Girls Trip<\/em>,\u201d said Cohen. \u201cShe\u2019s on the show. She\u2019s not here and that\u2019s where we\u2019re at.\u201d (\u201cAnd I\u2019m OK with that,\u201d added Lindsay, eyebrow raised.)<\/p>\n

\n 10:55 a.m. <\/strong>These people are drinking<\/em>, by the way. Early starts are expected in Las Vegas, but so many attendees are already toasted. Two women in line to catch a glimpse of Real Housewives of Atlanta<\/em> star Shere\u00e9 Whitfield reveal that they are both drunk and high \u201con assorted substances\u201d as they show off their bounty: a sweatshirt that says \u201cBravo, Bravo, Fucking Bravo\u201d and a pillow from Southern Charm<\/em>\u2018s Craig Conover. \u201cIt\u2019s tasteful, don\u2019t you think?\u201d one asks, then confessing that she is perhaps too far gone to tell.<\/p>\n

11:38 a.m. <\/strong>BravoCon skews female, and it did not take long for the women to revolt against the gendered bathrooms \u2014\u00a0which I have zero problem with, by the way. Scanning one such men\u2019s room from a urinal, I see that I am overwhelmingly outnumbered.<\/p>\n

\n 2 p.m. <\/strong>In a panic to track down Bravo talent and executives for a different, less frivolous story, another opportunity to see Captain Jason speak escapes me.<\/p>\n

\n 2:37 p.m.<\/strong> Two cast members of The Real Housewives of the Potomac<\/em> exchange barbs on stage. Transparently anxious, I\u2019m assured by a man in my row that they\u2019re actually friends. The anxiety does not subside.<\/p>\n

\n 3:40 p.m. <\/strong>Somebody underestimated the appeal of the new The Real Housewives of New York<\/em> lineup. It\u2019s SRO, but a peak reveals that cast member Jenna Lyons did not attend.<\/p>\n

\n 4:20 p.m.<\/strong> Confident that I\u2019ve now got a reasonable handle on this sprawling talent pool, I ask a woman who came all the way from London about her main BravoCon objective. \u201cI just want to take pictures with as many people as possible,\u201d she says flatly. \u201cEven the ones I hate.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Captain<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>

Captain Jason Chambers, enigmatic star of BravoCon <\/span><\/p>\n

Chelsea Guglielmino\/Bravo<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n 7:21 p.m.<\/strong> It\u2019s the another taping of Watch What Happens Live<\/em>, and all eyes are on recently split Summer House couple Carl Radke and Lindsay Hubbard. Radke broke off their engagement just two months prior, after Hubbard had already been fit for a wedding dress! Cohen\u2019s attempts at diplomacy go nowhere. If only Captain Jason were here.<\/p>\n

\n 7:45 p.m. <\/strong>Ascendant Vanderpump<\/em> voice of reason Scheana Shay clears up the gossip swirling around the Con that her costar Lala Kent got together with Captain Jason at the previous night\u2019s Bravos after-party. Kent went back to her hotel, says Shay, while Captain Jason joined Shay, husband Brock Davies and several others at another hotel room hang to listen to Shay\u2019s latest record. It\u2019s the twilight of Day Two and Captain Jason, it seems, is still up for grabs.<\/p>\n

\n 9:14 p.m. <\/strong>Armed with Shay\u2019s insights that the real BravoCon dirt is going down behind closed doors, I bail on the \u201cBravo After Dark\u201d nightclub to eat a $9 shot glass of tiramisu in my hotel bed like an adult. Attempts to stream Below Deck<\/em> for Captain Jason research are thwarted by Wifi issues.<\/p>\n

\n DAY THREE<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n 9:45 a.m. <\/strong>There is not one atom in my being that longs to remain in Las Vegas or at BravoCon. But there is a panel called \u201cPat the Puss,\u201d and I am a professional.<\/p>\n

\n 10:11 a.m. <\/strong>\u201cPat the Puss,\u201d as a trio of women eagerly explain, is the signature dance move of Erika Jayne. It entails the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills<\/em> star, who sings with her own Las Vegas review, repeatedly gesturing to her crotch. A half-empty room awaits Jayne and said patting.<\/p>\n

\n 10:28 a.m.<\/strong> \u201cWe\u2019ve been talking about patting the puss,\u201d announces moderator X Mayo, as if approaching the crescendo of a church service. \u201cI think it\u2019s time that we pat it.\u201d The lesson begins. Twenty previously selected attendees join Jayne onstage as they and several hundred panel-goers roll their necks, bend over forwards, slap their thighs and pat whatever they\u2019ve got with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Looks more like fanning than patting, to tell you the truth.<\/p>\n

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\"X<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>

X Mayo, Erika Jayne, Mikey Minden and bystanders \u201cPat the Puss.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Nicole Weingart\/Bravo<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n 11:02 a.m. <\/strong>Like Moses, I wander the Bravo Bazaar once more, briefly consider the semi-tasteful pillow made by the man I don\u2019t know, and settle for a gratis bottled water at the Paris Olympics booth.<\/p>\n

\n 12:14 p.m. <\/strong>Michael Rapaport scream-moderates his way through a panel of former Real Housewives of New York<\/em> stars that could have been quite compelling given their shared histories with Frankel and Singer. Alas, it is a nothing-burger. Now I\u2019ll sit in traffic on the ride back to Los Angeles, cursing the actor who managed to not get killed until the third act of Deep Blue Sea<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n 12:32 p.m. <\/strong>During the walk to the car, passing the still-buzzing talent entrance, I suspect that I am once again missing an opportunity to unravel the mystery that is Captain Jason. But it is too late. For me, BravoCon is over. Day One, I drank the proverbial Kool-Aid \u2014\u00a0a canned sparkling hard tea from the stars of Summer House<\/em>. Day Two, I earned my GED in the nuances of intra-Bravolebrity dynamics. And on Day Three, my feelings can best be described by the only photograph I took\u2026 of this gentleman keeping faithful watch over Tom Sandoval shirts at the loneliest merch booth you\u2019ll ever see.<\/p>\n

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\"Tom<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>

TomTom hoodies, only $110 a pop.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mikey O\u2019Connell\/THR<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cOh, honey, what are you doing here?\u201d This is the response, delivered in a \u201cbless your heart\u201d drawl, from a Memphis woman when I reveal that Top Chef is my preferred Bravo series. \u201cThat\u2019s Bravo light,\u201d she scoffs. \u201cYou\u2019re not going to find any of that this weekend.\u201d Her visible concern starts to subside when…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":596923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1766509859-H-2023.jpg?w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[72905,64071,146827,76088,71984,9266],"class_list":["post-596922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-andy-cohen","tag-bravo","tag-bravocon","tag-lisa-vanderpump","tag-real-housewives","tag-vanderpump-rules"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}