Lassus

I get it, sure. Perhaps it's subjective, and for me with Katie it's a body of work over time. But it's not like Raquel and Ariana. When, ever, did Katie ever do anything with Jo at all? Anyhow, again, I hear you. I don't feel massively strongly on it, I mostly feel bad for the weirdo and dislike Katie. But even if I don't like Katie she can't approach the toxic shittiness of Schwartz.

Badly

This is in fact both monetarily and.... monetarily. I don't see much else. Tom's lying and infidelity is abusive behavior. If you buy your wife the dress or car or vacation of her dreams and then cheat on her, you are not going out of your way to go above and beyond. I can be fair and say that I'm not sure we've seen him be terrible to his friends in the same way he was to Ariana. But for the above, the "I'll always be there for Ariana", that's NOT good or going above and beyond. It's just a creepy thought about future intrusive, showy behavior. Have you ever seen a Broadway show?

Regarding other matters: Ariana's friend's yellow/gold suit was awesome. I know the reaction is more split, but Katie's interaction with Jo was the horrible unjustified full-of-herself bitchiness that the anti-Ariana camp has been accusing her of. "You moved on someone I didn't want anyhow too fast!" Enough, Dark Cloud Katie. There was no need for Schwartz to push her at Katie, but he needed there to be a fight for the clicks. I think the hate for Jo is weird, she's not particularly lovable, but she's far far far more clueless and legitimately weird than evil, so. As above, Brock, while well-meaning, is simple, and definitely thought money = friendship, plain as day. I admit sympathy for Scheana. Tom WAS good to her when she was the outsider and she really is trying to play close - not duplicitously, but honestly - with each side; but she simply does not have the game for it.

Regarding Lala's "truth telling", this is 1000% coached by Bravo, I'd imagine. Someone somewhere in business attire decided on a NYTimes Pitchbot BOTH SIDES strategy for the season. They needed someone to close it off and make it work and tell their story. Only, hilariously, Tom went batshit and it ended up even better because now it will just add to the drama. They care over all - even more than whatever their preferred edits were - about eyes, and they will have them going forward. I am also of the opinion that the season delay is a hedged bet. They want and need Ariana, who is absolutely a beloved success, and they are delaying in order to hopefully have her back following her Love Island gig. I would love it if she tells Bravo they Had it Comin' and nopes out over the break. But it's a check and she's a performer, so I wouldn't really make any bets there myself.

It is the most popular show on Bravo. For it to be over would be insane. $$$ I understand that you think or want this to be true, but Ariana is massively, enormously popular. The show will last longer with Ariana than without Ariana, and Bravo is in the business of making that happen. Look at RHoNJ. Melissa and Theresa both back. There is no chance in this universe where Bravo willingly, actively decides to jettison Ariana.

Be curious if that can be proven. That exhibit 2 seems to prove she said he did, not when (or if) he actually did. Pretty sure that would require greater meta-data. Fully granted I'm basically making up both legal AND technical stuff here, but that's why the internet was seemingly invented.

I wonder what sort of threat Ariana has leveled at Tom regarding any recordings of her/them? A very very serious one, I'd imagine. They were together a LONG time, I have to believe it occurred at some point, if not multiple. I thought this was kind of a funny time-frame, I wonder a bit how it came about. Just barely over three weeks; not that I'm any kind of expert, it just seemed odd. Maybe it's nothing, but I like to imagine weirdness behind the scenes - another casting canceled, some fan in a corner office somewhere enabling it, etc.

This is not an invalid point. I think the caveat would be that these events occurring at 18 months in a ratty apartment in your 20s is certainly different from them occurring at 10 years owning a house at 40, though. Yes, I did not check the tape and those are certainly estimates.

I fully agree, but she might be one of those caretaker/savior types who just can't escape.

Sure! I guess I wouldn't get why if chorizo's OK as opposed to Mexican sausage, but there ya go.

I did wonder about this. My grandparents and ten trillion Roman Catholic relatives seemingly never in their life referred to anything EXCEPT kielbasa. EDIT: Although the article already confuses me with it's first sentence - - which would vaguely imply that all Polish sausage could certainly be referred to as kielbasa. And then number 2 in the list of Polish sausage isn't quite a sausage? And a few of the other ones are even called kielbasa also. Anyhow, my purpose is not to be combative, just that I still found the whole thing interesting and consistently weird (to me) while watching.

It is their most popular show. Anyone at BRAVO suggesting it be cancelled would be rightfully fired.

Pretty sure the years of reality TV attention turned him slowly but definitively from an actually decent self-centered guy to one of those narcissistic evil "I'm a good guy!" guys.

This actually makes sense. It's LAME of the Brewers and even a little surprising, but it does make sense to use the same terminology that the stadium uses. Thank you! I'm a little surprised none of the chefs randomly referred to it as kielbasa, though.

I also really like Danny, but whining about this immediately after you had just won $20,000 seemed kinda over-bitchy. It made me wonder if we're getting a pre-villain edit.

Not a crazy thought, but it certainly doesn't seem so. https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=f977441fd745688c&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS982US982&sxsrf=ACQVn0_5Ji074VJUhP_U704KZLdyrMrt5w:1714657854136&q=kielbasa&tbm=shop&source=lnms&prmd=isvmnbtz&ved=1t:200715&ictx=111&biw=1370&bih=639&dpr=1.25 It's very weird to me (and maybe no one else) but it just seemed so weirdly purposeful, like there had to be some actual reason.

I wish I could have posted this last night, but I have what may be the most important question in Top Chef forum history, if not the most important question in the history of television itself. Why, why, WHY were they able to drop BRATWURST and CHORIZO, and even PIEROGI, but they refused to use, even once, the term KIELBASA? "Polish sausage"? What am I not understanding? Help me, please, you're my only hope. Dziękuję

On to the episode! First off, Tom Schwartz's hat DIDN'T FIT and just made me hate him even more than his idiot one-night-stand bullshit with Katy and his super coked-out conversation with Jo, who he made actually seem normal. Scheana's conversation with Tom really made Scheana seem very, very adult even if it went in one tone-deaf ear and out the other. And he may be a douchebag, but at least he knows how a hat fits. Lala was a great example of how reality TV life has warped the brains of those on it. Her face while Daniel Wa was acting like a normal, mature, adult human being was as if she was being asked to divide by zero or explan string theory. Utter, complete, massive disconnect. 999% team Ariana (her conversation with Brock was awesome), although I do think some day when it's not 6 months old she may understand how every last person she knows cannot be AS ANGRY as she is for as long as she is. (Noting this from the face she made on the boat and her talking head after, regarding Scheana talking about Tom.) I felt kinda bad she didn't see the part of the conversation where Scheana read Tom (before the trip) regarding Ariana doing nothing wrong. Sane. The word you're looking for is sane.

Meh. Disagree. The wharf is massively lame, and I'm among those former residents and frequent visitors who find the complaints kinda overwrought. YMMV. I'd move back in an instant.

I lived in the Castro, but I loved the ride to make up for the chocolate I just bought!

It was more a response to the idea that he actually said these things a year apart from the reunion. I think that it's difficult to get into the brain of a weirdo liar scumbag, but I'm sure he thought he was in love with R. at some point. I think him being such a clueless hypocritical selfish drama queen is pretty hilarious; but him being legitimately sad about it - of course, for the most self-centered reasons - I find no massive reason to doubt it. I didn't mean for my response to be a YOU'RE WRONG, just an alternate opinion with some timeline confirmation.

It fell flat, because he's a fucking gross idiot, but this may have been an attempt to reference the Solomon tale of how to solve the custody debate of a baby.

To be fair, the time between the reunion and this whatever from him is like four or five months? Counterpoint: Very VERY low bar, and it's not hard to find endless footage of James being a massive asshole.

I get this, but talk is talk, especially beforehand and with drunk people. I'm not saying I want film (har) I just mean this is what I remembered, and it qualifies to me as a drunken makeout/groping. Maybe I'm just off as far as what I consider "clear". Unlike everyone else who's ever ended up on these shows?