TheRealT

Who said Maci was a straight-A student? Even if she did get straight A's in high school, she went on to attend community college for 5 or 6 years without graduating. Not exactly academically impressive. If she did get good grades in high school, I would assume that her high school wasn't that challenging. I know she was a cheerleader and I can believe she was popular, but I don't buy that she was/is this overachiever, which is what she acts like. She has achieved pretty much nothing besides being on a reality show for a decade. And she's not the "supermom" she likes to think she is. As many have pointed out, a "supermom" would make healthy meals for her son whose diet she was so intent on monitoring (especially if she didn't have a job and had a husband with no job who is very hands-on with their kids). I really hate Maci. Exactly. Actually, Taylor could be seen as less dumb than Cheyenne for getting knocked up by Corey since she was at least in an actual relationship with Corey, while Cheyenne got pregnant during a one-off sexual encounter that, by her description, lasted for a minute or two.

I wonder what the NY baby food ladies thought they'd get from Cate. I can see how someone whose brand includes the word "mom" and who has 3.5M SM followers would seem like a good marketing partner, but I wonder how many of Cate's "fans" are the type of moms who would buy expensive (I assume) fancy baby food. I would think the primary customer for that kind of thing would be relatively educated, well-heeled moms, probably mostly women in their 30's. Is that Cate's audience? I can't see a college-educated 32-year-old mom worshipping Cate or closely following her parenting advice. And fancy baby food seems like a very niche market in general. I would think that most parents who don't want to buy regular baby food just make it themselves since it's so easy. In her promotional post, Cate describes the process as "shopping for organic, GMO-free vegetables, boiling them, and putting them in bags." She doesn't even realize how ridiculous that sounds because that's more work than she's done to make a meal since she was a teenager.

Yeah, I didn't get that either. Don't most moms have to make food for their children? If you have a blender/food processor (which I assume she does), I wouldn't think that making food for your baby would be that big a deal or much different from making food for the rest of the family. Especially if you have nothing else to do. Cate seems to let Tyler do a lot of the hands-on childcare, so she could at least attempt to pull her weight in the family by cooking, managing the email account for Tierra Reign, etc., etc. But she doesn't. And I don't believe for one second that she was slaving away making baby food and ensuring that all the ingredients were organic, GMO-free, whatever. Seriously, hahahahahahahaha! Aren't they always eating take-out from styrofoam containers? I can't remember any scene of either of them cooking anything. A) as someone said upthread, Cate is waaaaay too lazy to to that and B) it's a joke to believe that she'd have even the slightest idea about what was healthy or even, probably, that she'd read the label on a jar of baby food. That's not Cate at all. She and Ty grew up subsisting on school lunches and stale bags of Cheetos they found behind the couch, so I'm sure they think they're doing really well if they feed Nova a kid's meal from their favorite take-out place (probably with a huge sugary drink). It would be great if, instead of pretending to be interested in her kids' nutrition for a storyline on her reality show, she actually took a real interest and spent even an hour educating herself on how to feed them a more healthy diet. She has the money to hire a consultant of whatever kind to advise her (since that would be easier than researching/reading herself). She could plant a garden on her land. She could afford the time and money to identify and visit local farms/farmers' markets/stores where she could buy organic and/or locally grown produce. Etc., etc., etc. These people have no real interest in anything besides masturbatory SM usage, despite all the money and opportunities at their disposal. Every single "interest" (besides living a Kardashian-style life on whatever level) is faked. It's so fucking sad. I know, right? I love how Amber is all, "Now that Belgian!Matt has taken the lie detector test, I can move forward with falling in love with him. The first step was to translate information about my various mental health disorders for him..." What. The. Everliving. Fuck? It's 1000% OBVIOUS that Belgian!Matt has serious issues. Imagine meeting someone from another country online, not even sharing a language in which you're both fluent, moving to their country for 3 months, and then having them be like, "I'm insane. Also, I need you to take a lie detector test to prove that you're here for the right reasons. Great, now that you passed the lie detector, I can give you more detailed information about how crazy I am. Also, don't do anything to piss me off, even slightly, or I can't be responsible for how I respond." Yikes! Are they still together?

Yeah, I understand viewing being married to one person for life as an ideal, but a) I seriously doubt that none of them are divorced and b) it's really cruel to basically be like, "Yeah, I get that you're miserable, but, whatever..." And it's not even like they gave any constructive advice about how Josh and Mack could address the issues Mack was upset about. They didn't suggest counseling (even with a minister), they didn't advise her on how to communicate her needs to Josh, nothing. They just kept telling her that Josh loves her (even when he's treating her like shit) and put all the onus on her to "make it work." If her mom were a wiser/smarter woman, she would get that Mack needs a partner who will take care of her (at least somewhat the way her mom coddled her all her life) and would realize that Josh isn't that person. Even with the 3 kids, Mack is still young, attractive, and pliable enough to be a trophy wife to some older guy with a savior complex. She's pretty simple and I think she'd be really grateful to someone who gave her emotional support and helped her raise her kids, so I think it'd be relatively easy for her to find someone she'd be happy with. Instead, she's wasting more time with Josh, possibly even having more kids, which will just make it harder for her to move on from him eventually.

I would assume that Josh plays no role whatsoever in planning or using contraception, probably not even with his side pieces, and certainly not with his wife. Mackenzie is pretty dumb and has dealt with a lot of emotional turmoil since they got married. I wouldn't be surprised if she messed up with her birth control out of ignorance/stupidity and/or "kind of accidentally" got pregnant when she and Josh were having problems or she was feeling bad and thought/hoped a baby would make things better. Also, I have been appalled at how her friends and family encourage her to stay with Josh, even when she was articulating what a shitty husband he is and how unhappy she is and always has been in the marriage. Josh bought her some flowers and set up a scavenger hunt (where he spent no time with her for the whole day) and they were all, "He really loves you and he's trying! I think you're just pushing him away because you're scared! [Other stupid bullshit]" I thought it was particularly sad that her dying mother told her she really hoped Mack would make things work with Josh. So she probably will keep trying for years, quite possibly having more kids, until Josh leaves her or does something so egregious that her "support system" has to admit that he's irredeemable.

I think Cate and Tyler feel very forced and orchestrated and careful. They are both trying so hard to project an image of being "together," but they aren't, especially Cate. But they're so far from "together" that they can't even fake it. They would have probably been better off moving far away from their friends and family, so they at least wouldn't have had all of those people draining their resources and capabilities, on top of their own inherent challenges and deficits. In terms of their relationship, IMO, it's obvious that the thrill is long gone for both of them, especially Tyler. I think Cate tells herself that she's still "madly in love" with Ty, but, in reality, he makes her feel bad and inadequate and she totally gets that he isn't "madly in love" with her. Also, she resents him for "forcing" her to give Carly up. (and for not being as devastated by that choice as she was/is) I think he feels put upon and unappreciated and rueful for all he could/should have had if he weren't saddled with Cate. Hopefully, they'll get divorced and find (at least more) happiness apart once the MTV gravy train pulls into the last stop. That too. Tyler is no "hard worker" in reality, but, compared to Cate... He has an inflated idea of his own accomplishments/talents/skills, so he's even more put out about that than he should be. In reality, Cate contributes just as much/probably more to their main source of income and, though Ty certainly does more in terms of childcare/household management/running their company, he's not really setting the world on fire in any way. It seems like Gary has parlayed his (smaller) MTV paycheck into a bigger, longer-lasting "empire" than Ty and Cate have. Gary doesn't have an army of addicts and fuck-ups leeching off of him, but still. I also don't get why Cate is on a "career" kick rather than just declaring herself a SAHM. I assumed it was for a storyline. She also seems to feel pressured by Ty to "do something" or "make something of herself." I thought it was telling that he didn't trust her to manage the email account for their company (which couldn't possibly get that much traffic). He knows that she's a lazy, irresponsible shit. She knows it too.

I forgot to rant about how UTTERLY RIDICULOUS it was for Gary to be having a birth control talk with Amber and Belgian!Matt as if they were horny teenagers. And how even more ridiculous it was for Amber to be giggling as if she were some high schooler. And how even more more ridiculous for Belgian!Matt to be giggling as if he were some high schooler when, in fact, he is a decade or more older than Gary and has multiple kids. What? The? Everliving! Fuck? OBVIOUSLY, Amber is insane and Belgian!Matt is most likely a grifter/insane/both, but WTF is wrong with Gary? If he feels like "The Talk" is necessary with these two adults who have at least 4 kids between them, why is he so cool with (effectively) endorsing this as Amber's new "relationship," even to the point of introducing B!M to Leah on Day 1? What's the point of Gary maintaining a "good" relationship with Amber if he can't leverage that relationship to even say, "Sure, Amber, I'll drive you to pick up your new bf you met on IG. I think we should hold off on introducing him to Leah, though. He'll be here for 3 months, so why don't you take a few weeks to get to know him, then we'll discuss having him meet Leah? That will give us enough time to see whether you're pregnant yet and whether he can maintain a facade of normalcy for at least a short while... You can still FT with Leah once or twice during the trial period and you can just tell her that you can't be assed to drive over to see her in person because you're tired or depressed or whatever. She'll never know the difference!"

It's really unfortunate that Amber is surrounded by enablers (Gary and Kristina, MTV, her brother, whatever Matt she's on at the moment). At the rate things are going, she's just going to keep spiraling downward. I thought it was beyond ridiculous that Gary drove her to the airport to pick up Belgian!Matt. She didn't want to draw attention to herself so she sat in the car with the MTV crew filming everything? Ok. I think Amber just doesn't like to drive because she's a) lazy and b) on drugs most of the time. I think it's highly unlikely that Belgian!Matt has a job. And he probably doesn't spend much time with his kids either. That's why he was more than happy to drop his whole life to go hang out with a crazy, violent reality TV star in another country.

She's already hurt him in the dread cutting incident (that we know of). She's also filed a questionable (IMO, based on her behavior before and after) protective order against him. Chris is as stupid as she is to keep fucking with her. The longer they drag out this "tortured romance," the more likely Kail (as the crazier one, IMO) is to escalate the stakes, possibly doing some serious damage to Chris/herself/their kids/others. Kail can get very nuts/emotional and she has a very wide nasty/vindictive/abusive streak. I think she has the potential to go waaaaay off the rails, especially if she's dealing with the stress(es) of losing her MTV income, being pregnant with/caring for more babies on her own, Chris cheating on/hurting her again, etc., etc. Kail is crazy and embarrassing herself in this "relationship," but Chris is playing with fire more than she is in a lot of ways.

I agree that Jo and Javi should make Kail pay child support to them. Until he wised up, Jo was even paying her and, shockingly!, Kail was an asshole until he forced her hand, at which point she continued to be an asshole, but at least she signed off on him not paying anymore and gave him back some of his money. I think Javi still pays child support to her. I think they both have a (misguided, IMO) that a "good man" or a "good dad" shouldn't take money from his kid's mom/should provide for his kid. I agree with the latter part of that, but they both provide for their kids, financially and otherwise. Since Kail makes much more money than they do (and the kids probably spend more than 50% of the time with their dads), she should pay. Gender should have nothing to do with it. Also, she won't be making all this money forever and I guarantee that the nanosecond she is legally able to get child support from them, she will do so and won't care even a little bit if it's difficult for them. This is something I've seriously questioned. Is it "normal" for a 28-y-o woman with 3 young kids to spend so much time on SM posting and reacting to stupid shit? I know that 30ish adults and parents like SM, but a lot of the stuff she does seems so juvenile and-- just stupid. It's one thing to creep on one's ex, but it's another to post stupid, trashy comments and get in fights with strangers over bullshit. Or is it? Wouldn't most 30ish suburban moms be embarrassed to be so-- stupid? (apart from not having the time) I'm asking seriously.

Yeah, I didn't understand why Taylor needed to go to the gyno with her. I'm also beyond bored with her "storylines"- 'Ryan is such an ass. And he's high!,' 'I have PCOS!,' 'Ryan is so irresponsible!,' 'Look how cute my kids are!,'Ryan is late- AGAIN!' She's become expert at hiding her real drama, which I don't blame her for, but it's boring. That's what I thought too. There is an approximately 2.4% chance that Cory and Taylor will still be together when their baby turns 2.

I think Amber probably told him Dmitri was from Belgium and Gary was like, "Belgium? Where's that?" and Amber was like, "It's near France. He speaks French." (which, obviously, she didn't know until Dmitri told her (probably several times)) So Gary came away with the vague idea that "Belgium" is somehow related to France, like maybe it's part of France or it's near there or something? I doubt he has the intellectual curiosity to do a "Siri, what is Belgium?"

Did Maci actually write a book of poems? That's hard for me to imagine, but you can't have a poetry book ghost written, can you? Well, I'm sure you can, but is that a thing? Has Maci ever released a poem she wrote or mentioned writing poetry?

That was hilarious. It was obvious Cate hadn't so much as spent 30 minutes googling "school for vet techs" and as the vet tech was talking you could basically see the thought bubbles over Cate's head going, "What, math? Seriously?" "You mean I'd have to study and stuff?" "How long do I have to let her talk before I ask whether there's some career where I can just play with animals?" This is basically Amber's pattern with OriginalRecipeMatt, nuMatt, and now nunuMatt. Wow. She didn't meet nuMatt online, but I believe they didn't interact much while they were working on the other show and only "connected" after she went home. Then he flew out there and never left. Just like OriginalRecipeMatt and nunuMatt. It makes sense that no one would "fall in love" with Amber unless he only had to deal with her on Face Time calls, but still. And who goes to visit someone in another country whom they met online for 3 months? MAJOR red flag based just on that (for both of them). And nunuMatt is leaving his kids for 3 months to go hang out with someone in another country who a simple Google search would tell him is insane and a serial domestic abuser. He could even find hours and hours of film footage of her showing how insane, abusive, and violent she is. If you were "dating" (or whatever it's called) someone in another country whom you met on IG and they told you they have been on a reality show for 10 years, wouldn't that be the FIRST thing you would do? He had to have signed a release for them to put him on the show, right? So there's no chance that he was unaware that Amber is on an MTV show. They have MTV in France (even the Belgium part). I really, really hate Maci too. She absolutely thinks she's smart and intellectual. Remember how she put on airs for years while she was pursuing an Associate's degree for years (which I don't believe she ever got)? She's always so snotty and superior, when, in reality, she's a trashy chick who got knocked up when she was in high school and lucked into reality TV "stardom," which paid her enough money to be "successful" and land a catch like Taylor (after 2 trap babies) because she supports him financially. Ryan is a shitty person and an even shittier father, but the one thing I always liked about him is how he sees through Maci's bullshit and hates her.

OMG, can you imagine being on lockdown with Amber?!?! In all seriousness, nuMatt is lucky that he's gotten away from her because she would be a nightmare to live with these days.

I have no respect for nuMatt (I won't even call him by his name), but Gary and Kristina need to come the fuck on with blaming him for Amber having to deal with the consequences of her domestic violence. She. Is. Not. A. Victim. Period. It's not ok for her to go nuts and physically threaten nuMatt AND James because she's upset or whatever. Not at all. Not even a little bit. And nuMatt doesn't have to focus on "helping" the lunatic who chased him and his baby with a machete. He is right to be primarily focused on his and his son's well-being. Fuck Amber. And, again, I don't like or respect nuMatt at all, but at least he's not a violent psycho and he takes reasonably good care of his son (who would probably be dead or living with Gary and Kristina if he had to depend on Amber). Yeah, I couldn't understand why it was a problem for her to be on the computer while she was sitting with them (and they were filming their TV show and talking to each other while ignoring Nova (and Vaeda across the room in a high chair)), but it was ok for her to eat while watching the computer in the other room. Seriously, before Vaeda turned a year old, Cate went on how many overnight trips without either of her kids? A lot. Like more than most moms usually do within the first 10 years of their kids' lives. And it's like any excuse will do- "My friend is going to court for domestic violence," "I'm tired," "I want to talk to my mom," "I have a taste for fried chicken." Geez. Why the hell does she want to have another baby?

Yeah, I agree that the missing cellulite is due to Photoshop, not a bodystocking. I actually think this photo is better than the one with the horse, not that it matters in terms of how stupid it is for her to put either/any of these photos out or how ridiculous it is for her to pretend that someone stole that one photo. I truly don't care if Kail (or anyone) wants to get nude pregnancy photos taken (no matter how bad they are), but I question why Kail, someone who is a public figure, would choose to make those photos public, then pretend she has a problem with that. I have no idea why she'd be "saddened and humiliated" by the 2nd photo, but (presumably) proud of the first one. She's obviously fine with the public seeing nude photos of her (has been for years), so why is she suddenly "humiliated"? Is she "saddened" because she (allegedly) didn't get paid?

How would some nefarious person even get her unpublished Icelandic nudes? The photographer had access to the shots, but would she really leak one months later without Kail's permission? Why? Apart from the photographer, why would Kail share the photos with anyone else? Well, I know why she might, but why would she share them with anyone she didn't trust implicitly (since she was so concerned about her privacy)? How would she not know to whom she had sent the pics? If she sent them to a bunch of people or everyone she knows, how can she be surprised that someone disseminated them? Kail has been a celebrity of sorts for long enough to understand that it's stupid to give random people nude photos that she wants to keep private. I'm pretty sure that almost no one would be interested in nude photos of me, but I know that. She's just so ridiculous with the "my team" nonsense and faking a leaked nude photo story (when she already released a nude photo from the same shoot). She's literally a wannabe Kim Kardashian (without the real money or fame). Yawn.

If the fainting was real, it was probably the result of some drug(s) she took. (or was late on taking since she unexpectedly left the house) Or, just as/more likely, she faked it to 1) avoid talking to Gary/the cameras about what happened during her "anger management" session and 2) quickly flip the situation around to get Gary and MTV staff focused on her and her oh-so-fragile well-being. Amber is SUPER DUPER manipulative, which Gary knows, but he continues to play into it because he thinks that's what's best for Leah. Also, I think he genuinely has a soft spot for Amber, who he understands is truly crazy. He's known Amber since she was literally a kid and he was a few years older, but probably not much more mature. She does have a sad back story of poverty, abuse, etc. and she can be a decent person at times (more so in the past than the present). I get why he cares about her and it speaks well of him as a human being, but, IMO Amber is a lost cause. Like 90% of the TM girls, her life is going to take a sharp turn for the worse when the show ends and the money dries up. I hope Gary and his family don't get too caught up in her (further) downward spiral. Kristina should make him make firm agreements now that Amber will never come to live with them, he will never give her more than $X, etc., etc. I thought this was a joke at first. Obviously, nuMatt has never been pregnant himself, so what professional expertise does he claim around pregnancy? He should create a a game about how to work your way from the crew on a C-list reality show to the cast on an A-list reality show. The game could feature perils like getting your ass beat or being denied the top salary on the show and bonuses like a free trip to NYC or an unlimited charcuterie board.

It really is disgusting how MTV has handled Amber's abuse. And it's not like any of this is surprising to anyone since Amber committed the exact same type of abuse (physically attacking her partner while he was holding their child) on MTV years ago. And she was (rightly) charged with abusing the children in both of those cases because she really was terrorizing and endangering the children. No one was being mean to her or treating her unfairly to hold her accountable for her actions. I know it will never happen, but at the reunion I would love for Cate, Maci, and Cheyenne to be asked whether they would be understanding if someone (who, in all fairness, was suffering from "post-partum" and who was dealing with people on- and offline being mean to her) chased them with a machete while they were holding their child. Or if they'd be ok with such a person hitting/slapping/screaming at them while they were holding their child. Again, it would be really important to stress that the attacker was suffering from post-partum AND that people were being mean to her. Because that makes all the difference. Also, I love how Amber lied to her "good friends," claiming that nuMatt was lying and manipulating, but she couldn't get into the details for legal reasons. Then when that bullshit was blown up by the receipts nuMatt recorded, her "friends" were like, "Well, obviously, Amber was wrong, which she acknowledges (sort of), but I can't believe nuMatt recorded her [to protect himself and his son from her abuse and lies]..." These people are vile.

Yeah. The scene where they were discussing how Leah's mom is talking about committing suicide was waaaaaaaaay too much. I'm sure that some of Leah's classmates watch the show. She shouldn't hear about Amber's suicidal ideation from kids at school, but that's how it might go down since they seem to sometimes do this weird thing of talking about issues that affect Leah on TV, but not to her. I like Gary and Kristina, but they are kind of dumb and have a somewhat old-fashioned view of mental health. Gary seems to think that if he can get Amber to stop talking about how crazy she is, that will prevent Leah from inheriting her mental illness. He had a somewhat weird reaction when the discussion about Leah possibly having panic attacks came up. He was adamant that didn't want anyone to talk about "panic attacks" because it might make Leah think she's just like her mom and she's going to have the same problems. It's reasonable to be leery of putting potentially self-fulfilling labels on kids, but his concern seemed to go beyond that. It seems like he thinks if you don't talk about mental illness or "give in" to it (or seek help) that it will go away. I know he means well, but he could be implicitly sending Leah a message that he'll be upset/disappointed if she ever feels like she needs help with mental health problems. I know he reluctantly agreed that it might be good for Leah to see a counselor, but I feel like he might implicitly and explicitly encourage her make it a short-term thing and/or discourage her from escalating her treatment if she/her counselor felt like she had some more serious problems to address. Ditto. It's weird/sad that all of these girls' career aspirations are basically being professional celebrities- clothing lines, foundations, being SM influencers. Only they're not really celebrities, so they won't be able to do any of that stuff once the show ends. Why didn't any of them pursue normal careers, like being an accountant, or a nurse, or a kindergarten teacher? They would have really benefited from having an easy, well-paying job while they got their training and entry-level experience and by the time the show ended they'd have very nice nest eggs, as well as good job prospects for the future. Instead, most of them have put all of their eggs into the "D -List Celebrity" basket and they're lucky if they have houses that are paid for.

Amber is a sick, horrible person. But MTV is arguably worse for attempting to turn her domestic violence against her partner and son into some kind of inspiring "squad" narrative (with the "squad" being people who aren't even friends, who are barely coworkers). It was all so forced, on top of being disgusting. And I think they skipped the obligatory "If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, call this number..." So does DV only count if the victim is female/the perpetrator is male? Violence toward men and baby boys is ok? Disgusting. Also, STFU, Maci. NuMatt is a "narcissist" for not wanting to be beaten or slashed with a machete? For wanting a safe, stable home for his child? She got a restraining order against Ryan for threatening to harm Taylor, a verbal threat when he wasn't even in Taylor's presence. Imagine if he had chased Taylor with a machete. Imagine if he had done that while Taylor was carrying Maverick. And you can't even argue that Amber is a better parent than Ryan, so it's more important to keep her in James' life. She and Ryan are probably about on par as parents, except I don't think he has ever chased Bentley with a deadly weapon. I hate Maci.

I actually think C & T mean well as parents, but they have an incredibly low bar for "good parenting" because they compare their kids' childhoods to their own. In their minds, their kids are incredibly lucky to live in a nice house and have tons of toys, clothes, etc. On top of that, their kids aren't subject to their parents disappearing (on drug benders, going to jail, etc.) while they're left to fend for themselves. Their kids don't see them getting dragged away by the police, see them smoking meth, get molested by their druggie friends while they're passed out on the kitchen floor, etc., etc. So, to them (because they're severely damaged and still don't understand the trauma they've suffered or how it's affected them), their kids are living a dream life that couldn't possibly be traumatic since it's so much better than their childhoods and they're (at least relatively) fine. Allegedly.

I don't think Randy or Chelsea's mom (what is her name? Lois? Mary? I feel like it's one of those and the other is a joke, but I'm not sure) would forbid their daughter to become a doctor or whatever. What I meant is that if they had a daughter who (for instance) wanted to go to Ivy League schools and become a corporate lawyer in NYC, that would "go more against their grain"/be harder for them to easily integrate into their organic lifestyles/comfort levels/etc. than a daughter who got knocked up as a teen and found a "Prince Charming" to marry before she turned 25. If they had an NYC corporate lawyer daughter, they'd be like, "Why do you want to go to Yale? It's so far away! U of South Dakota is a great school! Why do you want to live in NYC? It's so noisy and dirty! When are you going to get married? Your sisters already have kids and you don't even have a boyfriend!" etc., etc. Not to say that they wouldn't love such a daughter and be generally supportive of her, but I think they'd have a harder time with someone like that than with Chelsea. I think Chelsea is basically a huge success story in her family, with her career with MTV and the attendant opportunities and landing Cole.

I doubt that Kail thought it was funny because it showed how fucked up her relationship with Chris is (which is why I thought it was funny). She probably thought it was funny because it highlighted how complicated and interesting their relationship is.