lisalionheart

Besides Kyle, Amanda, and Carl with LoverBoy (which wouldn't have been so viable without the show), I don't think any of them really have jobs outside of being on reality TV at this point. Lindsay's PR company's Instagram hasn't posted anything since 2019. I doubt Ciara's done a nursing shift since she started with Summer House. Luke's jewelry and Mya's cookies are kind of in the same category as LoverBoy--businesses that make most of their money (at least at first) via the show's fans.

I'm an editor and I think you are spot-on here. An aggregation piece would be read by the PR shop at a major tech company but would be pretty unlikely to make it in front of the CEO. The exception is if she is really aggressive about monitoring herself--or if it was a really voice-y, snarky piece that somehow went viral. But the headline suggests it wasn't the latter. I don't look down on Rachel for her career. I know a few Rachels who are good people, who like to write and research but aren't really reporters, and who have a place in the digital media ecosystem. I wouldn't want the career but it's not bottom-feeding--it doesn't seem like she's spreading conspiracy theories or misinformation or something. Also if a freelance writer I reached out to told me that she was on her honeymoon, I absolutely would not stop emailing her about writing unless she had said no to several potential assignments in a row already.

I would wager that he was in a hotel room overnight while production talked him into going back. I feel for him. There has been so much progress in talking openly about mental health problems, but it often seems to have a lot of caveats: that we're talking about garden-variety depression and anxiety, that people mostly talk about it as something they've overcome, that it not create any burden or irritation for others. The thing is that mental illness is very often a pain in the ass both for the person who has it and for the people around them. Malia talking about how he should have sucked it up really pissed me off. I don't even particularly like him--but that doesn't mean his anxiety isn't real or that he was being lazy or wanted to create a problem for everyone else.

These women wish they were Real Housewives. Most of the housewives are better than this most of the time. The most interesting part of this group for me was the way the alliances changed. At first Bianca, aka "Tatas for Trump," seemed to be besties with Erica Rose, the former Bachelor contestant, and the two of them were fighting with that brunette Jessica. Then Erica Rose and Jessica seemed to start shunning Bianca. So weird.

I also just recently discovered this show after finally getting Apple TV+. I love it--it's laugh-out-loud funny and compelling, and I think that their quarantine episode was the best I've seen. Really looking forward to the new season.

I think his first name is Stephen and that Stravy is his nickname. His name is Stephen Traversie--S-travy.

Hannah's use of it is obnoxious and would grate at me, but it's not gendered. She's using it for both men and women. If Pete starts calling his male co-workers "sweetie," then I will agree there is a double standard here.

He says that if he had known, he would have handled it--but then also praises Kate for not "throwing Ashton under the bus." He seems to think more highly of people for not telling him what's going on, even as he says he wished he'd known what had happened. It's an attitude I find troubling.

Yes, that's true. But in her talking heads she spoke extremely dismissively of her ankle, as though Caroline were overreacting.

Brian's knee is exactly why I hated that Kate rolled her eyes last year at Caroline's ankle. Yes, Caroline was a lot, but you can't be cavalier about infections in the tropics. And normally I love Kate.

I really like these "DCC in Motion" videos they are posting, but I hate the way they're produced. The effects are really distracting, at least in this video and in the one with Maddie. I found the one with Maddie particularly difficult to watch because of all of the bursts of sunlight.

People quit jobs, even when it's inconvenient for the workplace. It's a cost of doing business. Nobody else's safety or livelihood was on the line here. If they Lee really thought he needed her to stay longer, he would've asked. But he seemed both happy to see her go and happy to be able to complain about her going. Indeed, production probably *wants* at least one cast member to quit or be fired every season. They clearly always have people around as backup characters, and bringing someone new mixes up the dynamic. (Hence the second half of the season looking, frankly, more interesting than the first.)

I think Abbi was taken aback because she expected to go out with the crew that night. I can understand why she might have hoped to have a fun last night, and I can understand why it didn't happen. But I disliked the way Captain Lee in particular talked about her. Yes, it sucks that they are now down a person. But he said something like, "She's not cut out for yachting," as though it's an insult and something she hasn't realized. She did realize it! That's why she left! And not being cut out for yachting doesn't mean she isn't tough or a hard worker--it just means it wasn't for her. It isn't a moral failure. Plus, the captain and Ashton had already complained that she wasn't doing a good job! It's in their best interest to have an employee who wants to be there and is good at the work. I think that seeing things through is overrated. That doesn't mean you can be a flake or quit at everything the first time it gets a little hard--but if she was so miserable, wasn't great at the job, and has the ability to leave, why stay?

I wish she would have shown a little more concern, but I also have to imagine that she sees this sort of thing pretty often. It's very physically demanding work and the women are also trying to stay quite thin. It must be easy for them to overexert themselves beyond what they have the calories (and hydration) for. I don't think they're passing out left and right, but it must happen a few times a year, and most of the time the girls are probably fine afterward.

It would be one thing if he did this privately. But it's totally different to present this conversation as evidence for something in a reunion episode of a nationally aired TV show. It was completely unnecessary for him to jump in on that using a casual conversation as evidence for such a sweeping claim.

I love that about her. I didn't have strong feelings last year, but now I'm a big fan. It find it a little unsettling when they have smiles plastered on their faces at all times.

I like this video, particularly Molly confessing to be a sweater (as am I), but besides maybe Kristen, this isn't so much "self-care" as "grooming." What I really want to know is Maddie's hair routine--I know not everyone likes it, but it's goals for me.

I think each of them can only miss so many things--even if it's not explicitly stated, that seems to be the expectations. Kathryn had already missed the event where Ashley showed up. I also think that Naomie would be pretty OK financially without the show, particularly given her family business, whereas this is probably extremely important to Kathryn's financial well-being.

I've been to Colorado and I've been to Dubai, and I'll definitely take Colorado (in fact, I have a trip there coming up soon). I thought Dubai was awful. I do feel for Kathryn. Her job is being on this show, so I understand why she might feel like she has to go on a trip that she might not be totally comfortable on ... and also, frankly, she needs to flounce occasionally or she doesn't have much of a role. Either way, it would've been nice for Austen to ask her if she was comfortable--I can't imagine he didn't know about her history.

I think it's probably in the neighborhood of $5k-$6k per month, if it's first, last, and broker's fee. The broker's fee is something like 15% of the yearly rent total.

Better questions would be great, but they'll still need to coach people not to say, "I do think," "I definitely think," "It is possible." I don't like it when the production questions are so obvious. It's better when it can feel like the person being interviewed was having a real conversation with the producer.

I really just want the producers to do a better job of coaching everyone on how to answer questions. (I'm sure they are trying!) I hate it when you can tell that person on screen is restating the question--"A girl definitely could get cut tonight." "I do think a girl could get cut tonight." "It is possible a girl could get cut tonight." Kelsey Lowrance was really good at making her on-the-fly interviews seem natural and candid.

But it was a great reality TV question. I also loved that she stayed in to eat the leftover pizza. Every time I watch this show, I marvel at the fact that no one ever seems to need some alone time. It was nice to see someone say "I can't be around people anymore today." So: I think I like her. I'm not really into Kyle's new business as a storyline. But I would be interested to know how the summer house situation (and the stress of filming) is affecting Paige, Hannah, and Jordan at work. Would love to hear from an insider at Betches what's going on between them and how their co-workers are reacting to seeing the show. ETA: Jordan saying that Danielle is the "rental" and Paige is the "Lamborghini" is so, so gross. I don't like how Danielle has treated Amanda, but I also don't like how Jordan is treating Danielle (who in all honesty should be out of his league).

I'm going to give him a bit of a pass. His father *just* died. When my mother died, I handled it pretty well--but the biggest thing was that my patience was just a lot thinner than usual. If we saw him do this stuff again a year from now, yeah, I'd agree. But when you're grieving and in a high-stress environment, the things that would already rub you the wrong way become even more grating. And he doesn't have much ability to retreat and recharge himself, given where they work. When Caroline first started talking about her parents as narcissists, I had a hunch that she was part of the online world of armchair diagnosing people you don't like as narcissists. Her saying last night that she is "the scapegoat" seemed to confirm it--she's using all the lingo they use. It's a kind of bizarre subculture. Of course, lots of people truly are narcissists--but there's a bit of a subculture in which people constantly affirm each other that they receive bad treatment. Her parents may be truly awful, but her own behavior makes it hard to gauge. And I do think that Kate and Josiah were unnecessarily awful by doing the speaker thing. They weren't the best to her, but they were pretty good, and they gave away some of the moral high ground here.

Eh, everyone on this show is on it for the TV exposure, even if they are yachties at heart. There are other jobs on yachts, and other kinds of boats. They don't need to do Below Deck if they don't want to be on TV. Tahiti is hard to get to from the mainland US--much harder than the Caribbean. Also, it's the rainy season in Tahiti--probably not when most guests want to spend the time and money to venture there. I'd bet that return Below Deck guests get a bigger discount than new guests. I was all set to dislike Rhylee, but I agree that she's facing some pretty misogynistic and condescending treatment from her co-workers. Any workplace where people give you shit for asking questions so you can do your job is not healthy. Now, if we had indication that she was asking the same question over and over again, that would be different. But they keep reminding us she is 4th on the totem pole. The greenest person is supposed to be asking questions and getting trained. If Chandler isn't giving her instruction from the get-go, the responsible thing for her to do is ask questions and make sure she's doing things right, not just hope that she understands. That's one way people get hurt. (There was a great episode of the podcast Invisibilia about how an oil rig increased safety by creating an atmosphere in which the tough-guy crew could ask questions and admit mistakes.)