Melina22

And this is one of the reasons I couldn't watch GoT. 😬

That really is a great interview! -The costume designer talks about how IRL Anna tended to dress mostly in black, mainly so she could wear the same things over and over. The designer didn't actually have a high opinion of Anna's taste. -Julia actually met with Anna! Afterwards she admitted to people that she still didn't know who Anna was. -For Vivian, the costume designer says she used fairly high end clothes but mismatched patterns and textures, and didn't iron things. -The actress playing Neff loved her wardrobe and it helped her get into character. As an aside, over the series Neff really grew on me. I sense the actress who played her could be really hilarious in the right role. She'll probably be really big.

I'll check it out!

This was an interesting episode. Up until episode 7, I was really enjoying Vivian, or rather Anna Chlumskie, but her portrayal is starting to wear on me. She's so OTT that at times she seems unhinged, to the point you wonder why her husband wants to be with her. She seems exhausting. Still, I'm enjoying the show.

What an enormous baby! 😁 I'm glad I know all this actually happened or I wouldn't believe it. No wonder this story has fascinated so many people. The most astonishing thing for me is that a young woman in her 20s (or any age really) would have the nerve to just go around lying to rich and powerful people like this. I realize she felt totally entitled to everything she took, but you'd think she would have stopped just out of fear, but she seemed fearless. Not only did she genuinely not care what anyone thought of her, but she seemed oblivious to the consequences of her behaviour as well. No wonder people were convinced... they just couldn't believe anyone would have the nerve to lie right to the faces of so many famous and influential people, or risk getting caught doing it, because no normal person would ever do that. Episode 7 and I'm still really enjoying this show, even though I know how it turns out and I'm absolutely loving Julia's portrayal of Anna. I think it's brilliant, voice included.

Up until now I thought this show was really throwing shade on Rachel, but this episode seemed to even things out a lot. Obviously Neff is still blaming Rachel and not Anna, but that's realistic. Sometimes it can take years for someone to stop believing the lies of a malignant narcissist, despite what everyone around them is saying.

I don't understand why Neff now has no film money. All she paid for was one dinner. How much could that even cost? $200?

Well, that was dramatic. I wasn't ever sure if Todrick was or wasn't telling the truth. It's amazing Carson at 52 won a physical comp against a younger dancer! I wonder if Carson's strange position helped him win. Oh Lamar. The part of his brain that should be trying to understand BB is probably taken over by how upset he is to be missing the Super Bowl. (a/k/a the Superb Owl Competition.) I was surprised Cynthia believed Todrick so fast then didn't listen to Shanna defend herself. But they were both Housewives right? I imagine that felt very familiar to them, wringing every bit of drama possible out of a situation, to achieve maximum ratings. For once, even Carson looked mildly exasperated.

So were Todrick and Meisha telling the truth? Is there any part of what they said about Shanna that was a lie?

I'm sure it is helpful to the families to have her full admission of guilt. Like them, I'm not sure that her admission is without guile or manipulation. When I froze the screen to read more details of her admission of guilt parts of it seemed very extreme, like she was going way OTP in her efforts, like she was performing repentance, for whatever reason. I guess none of us can know for sure. If she stays in prison, I guess it doesn't matter. If it leads to her being released, then it does.

I agree, but I think it was also that she was mysterious and weird in her affect and behaviour. I can see how this could fascinate bored rich people. Also, apparently she could be fun to be around. Finally, her perceived billionaire status threw a huge halo over everything. It made blunt and strange seem mysterious and exciting. She was able to fool extremely suspicious people from all walks of life, so she was certainly more than just rude and annoying. For me, the psychology around how she succeeded so well is just as fascinating to me as getting a gorgeous glimpse into the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. It's a tie. 😁

That's a great article. I'm surprised but happy to see how many of her friends on the show correspond to real people. And that Chase is based on a real person. I was shocked to see she had apparently scammed a total of $275,000. I thought it would have been waaay more, like in the millions. I suppose a lot of what she got from people was given voluntarily, and can't be considered stolen. (Although it's certain they wouldn't have given her the time of day if they'd known she was penniless.)

That's interesting! I sensed the various friends were based on real people only with different names. Certainly the general gist of the story was the same. Having read the book and seen various documentaries, I'm very satisfied with the portrayal of Anna in this show, right down to the accent that appears to annoy several people. Julia's whole affect and way of speaking is SO close to the real Anna. The expressions on the faces of journalists doing the real interviews are so similar to what we see on the show... half annoyed, half fascinated.

I was really surprised that they changed the real story so much. It's a long time since I read the book but I feel like they've made up lots of characters. For example the reporter who's one of the main characters... I could be wrong but I don't think she's real. The same goes for the various "friends". I'm only on episode 3, but so far only Anna seems to be real, apart from a brief mention of an ex-friend called Rachel. Someone called Rachel Williams wrote the book I read. She was a journalist.

The book is called My Friend Anna, by Rachel Williams. I assume she's the Rachel in this episode. The whole thing at the Paris hotel where Anna can't pay for the room and she and Val get locked out actually happened to Rachel when she was staying at a fancy hotel in Morocco with Anna and friends. Long story short, Rachel got stuck with the whole cost and it ruined her financially, at least temporarily. I can't remember where I saw the documentary. It might have been Dateline or 20/20. I can't remember. But I'm sure there's lots on youtube.

This show is SO GOOD! I saw virtually no media ahead of starting it, and for now, I'm glad. Nothing was spoiled.

2 episodes in and I'm absolutely loving this show. At first, I was really thrown off by the way they've changed the actual story, having read the book and watched the documentary, but now I'm happy to just go with it. Julia is fantastic as Anna. My favourite thing about Anna Schlumskie is the way she still has her real face. So mobile and expressive. I love it. Gorgeous scene in the guest cottage - it made you feel and smell what being ultra-rich is like, in a way most shows don't. I'd love to stay there. I'm going to have a hard time not binging the whole series this weekend. I want a wardrobe that's nothing but gorgeous caftans! Failing that, I'll settle for a week on that yacht.

Carson as HoH should be fun to watch.

I really enjoyed this episode. People are really playing. Except Lamar. At least he didn't vote Julie out. 😁 Julie's heels hurt my brain. The rest of her looked great though. "I sadly to evote..." Fun callback to the Cookout, Todrick. (I'm a bit obsessed with his bleach shirt. I sort of hate it and sort of love it.) Chris Kirkpatrick went out on such a high note! I was very impressed with him. I wanted more details on why Chris Kattan wanted to leave. They never really addressed it. Cynthia and Shanna seemed genuinely upset to see him go. Everyone did, really. Why was Lamar clapping so loudly during the fight? That was strange. (But overall he's adjusting to the house way better than I expected.) Carson acted as the peacemaker as expected. Before this season I expected him to be way more narcissistic and egotistical. Shanna yawning before the HOH comp! That was weird. And then her loud vagina remark on live TV! 🤣🤣

What does this mean? 😂😂

Ick, yes. Very bad. And then he had to try to sleep with someone who snored loudly, which he clearly couldn't do, despite appearing to be on some heavy night meds. Hannah Chaddha on RHAP last night said she was dying to meet up with Chris outside of the house, to make friends and introduce him to others. Despite everything, he could end up being glad he put himself through all this torture. But you're absolutely right about BB giving emotionally and physically challenged people very little leeway or dignity. Let's hope they improve on this. (They can't get worse than dropping Chris Kattan on his head!)

Once in awhile on Survivor, someone self-evicts because their physical or mental health gets so bad they can't take anymore, and even Jeff can't fault them on it. That's how I feel about Chris Kattan. He appeared to be utterly wretched in there, both physically and mentally,and I'm sort of relieved he left. Hopefully he still managed to make some friends in there, and he'll be able to enjoy these friendships once the dust settles from this season. Someone upthread suggested the ski lift comp was the last straw for him, after he was forced to go through painful contortions to get undressed, and then he couldn't even complete the task. It reminded me of how about 6 times in the last few years I've committed to doing some activity (tubing behind a boat, jetskiing, swimming in a strong ocean current, going on a tough hike...) only to discover too late I had wildly overestimated my abilities to do them in my current post - pandemic, not to say ancient condition. Fortunately both Chris and I survived. I hope he does exit press. I'm curious to see what he's like when he's not exhausted and in pain. ETA Great post, Nashville. You put your finger on it exactly.

I forgot this! I can't figure out why we didn't even get a number, unless he actually broke various rules and they didn't want to embarrass him by disqualifying him. For one, he got in the tub with most of his clothes still on.

Meisha gave the nicest nomination speech I've ever heard. It sounded genuine too, although there's no question she won't rest till Carson is gone. Cynthia is so astonishly beautiful! Her face is so classic and perfect. She's keeping an extremely low profile though, not showing a lot of her personality. Halfway through the show I paused it and googled Shanna. I couldn't for the life of me remember why this lovely, sensible women was so notorious. It's really hard to picture her getting into bar fights or dating Hell's Angels. Did these things really happen? Poor Chris Kattan spent the episode having literally no clue what was happening, then disappeared during a comp for health reasons. Not good. 😩 I was shocked Lamar did so well in the comp. It's so hard to figure out who he really is.

If it's true it's sad but I guess no one will be shocked. One of my daughters (the only one who shares my BB obsession) told me she's having a hard time watching this season because she feels so awful for Chris Kattan all the time. She'll be happy if he leaves.