S02.E07: The Cougar in the Room

[Jules2307]

I'm curious about the rift within Caroline Fleming's family, which she says was a consequence of her divorce. Wonder what happened there..why would they support him over their own daughter/sister?

I'm sure there are many reasons but from my Hello! magazine reading days, Rory Fleming is loaded. And he (and his family firm) were funding the renovations of her family castle. She came up with the idea of renovating the castle on a reality where she came off as spoiled and entitled and he came off as long suffering. Shortly thereafter, Caroline announced she was bored and that was the end of the marriage. She followed up her marriage by having a child with Nicklas Bendtner, a footballer who is also a disaster of a human being. If she were my sister, I'd also be asking people's opinions of her boyfriend if I hadn't met him yet.

And then with the champagne and the legs up on the others shoulders....it felt very "romantic weekend" like. I mean, how does that conversation even happen? "Hey girl, you wanna come over to my room and take a bath with me? No, its the same tub you have in your room, but we can have some champagne and some candles and put our legs all over each other, it won't be confusing at all"

I went on a bachelorette party weekend with some friends. The bride and I had a lot of champagne and we ended up finishing it off in the Jacuzzi in her suite. Never though did I ever lift my legs over each other. That is what turns it from drunken fun to a romantic trip to the Jacuzzi

Edited October 22, 2015 by OnceSane
fixed quote tags

[yourmomiseasy]

2. Juliet - awww Juliet is so mad that Marissa is able to social climb better than she can.  I can't believe she actually has a blog about style and people look at it for tips....so strange.  Also strange that her husband is home for one night, they go to a fancy retreat and she basically looks homeless.

 

 

Her 6 year old daughter probably ghost writes the blog.

 

I remember baby food being a diet thing way back in the day....this had to have been 20+ years ago when my sister was in high school.  How funny is it for dumb diet trends to come back around......soon everyone will be injecting tapeworms (which would actually be an amazing weight loss idea if they weren't so bad for your health and impossible to get rid of)

 

It seems a little silly, because I was actually looking at the calorie count on a jar of baby food and it was 110 calories....for a tiny jar of what is likely tasteless food that doesn't seem like a dietary triumph.

 

I was under the impression Caroline S. was eating some sort of carrot soup that looked like pureed baby food...it seemed like there was a lot of it in a big bowl.

 

I think the tapeworm diet was already really a thing.  It might have been some other parasite though, but I remember idiots swallowing a parasite as a diet.

[RCharter]

Her 6 year old daughter probably ghost writes the blog.

 

 

Well, her 6 year old daughter has a better sense of style and actually combs her hair so that works.

[MyAimIsTrue]

I finally caught the episode and just want to know what the hell is wrong with Annabelle. She looks so haggard and old, much older than in the first season, and at one point she kept sniffing and rubbing her nose which made me wonder if she's on something.

[sasha206]

I finally caught the episode and just want to know what the hell is wrong with Annabelle. She looks so haggard and old, much older than in the first season, and at one point she kept sniffing and rubbing her nose which made me wonder if she's on something.

 

I was thinking the same thing.  She looks awful.  But I didn't think she was much to begin with.  

 

Marissa, I loved her the first season.  Her style was classy, impeccable.  This season she seems so full of herself.  It seems she's achieved a level of success (or her husband has) and moves in a circle now that she views herself above all at the table.  And suddenly she's dressing like she shops at Forever 21.

 

What's up with the hair situation this year?  The only one who seems to have an actual style is Caroline S, and even her hair is looking shaggy.  I can't for the live of me figure out how the hell Juliet was ever a stylist.  She looks awful all the time.  

[nyxy]

Actually I believe Marissa said in her TH last week that she didn't like CF's boyfriend because he had been rude or mean or something to her, although she didn't specify then.  And at this point no one has seen these eps yet so it didn't "get back to (CFs) family" via this show.  If I were CF I'd be having a similar fight with my sister.

 

 

I wish I'd watched it more closely...because I really think Marissa pulled something clever and managed to do some damage control to her own image. Speculation:  I think Caroline was upset with Marissa over two separate things which  Marissa fused, possibly deliberately, managing to direct attention away from her own behavior in the process. The first was Marissa's cougar insults ("lock your children"...and "she likes little boys") in public- namely, in a group of women who are being filmed. That's the part that CF  (correctly IMO) said was inappropriately public. As you say, CF's family would not have to wait for the airing of the show to  hear it...but I can imagine it being  public enough, even at the time of filming, for it to get to them. Caroline F is no stranger to press coverage, and i the Danish press in particular could be taking an active interest in what was being filmed. Her being called, in effect, a predator, would be just the kind of thing tabloids could run with & what would upset her family. And I was also trying to say that an even wider audience would hear it later, when it aired.

 

And IMO  Marissa's saying something about Caroline's bf to Caroline's sister was a separate issue...and that thing eventually got back to Caroline's family. I have a feeling that this second issue was not something Caroline would have confronted Marissa with on camera. But it's the one that Marissa has been focusing on, with the result that we all get to hear of her intimate friendship with CF's sister. Also, it's easier to excuse sharing one's opinion of a bf in a private convo with a friend than it is to excuse insulting someone gratuitously at a public event. So it's in Marissa's interest to get everyone talking about the BF, and she's succeeded. Caroline absolutely would be better off fighting directly with her sister and not with Marissa if that the gossip about the BF was the bone of contention. But I really think it's not -  the bowling alley comments are why Caroline wants to confront Marissa IMO.

 

Marissa in "apologizing," deliberately confused the two. Her excuse for the cougar-related comments was that Caroline's boyfriend threw her out of  a cab. So now the bf's supposed character failings are part of the story and a huge distraction. My question was how does his throwing her out of the cab (if he did) justify her insulting Caroline F for being predatory to young boys? She's saying, "Your boyfriend was mean to me, and that of course provoked me into calling you a sexual predator, given that he is so much younger than you"? It is a stupid and illogical excuse, even if he did throw her out of the cab....but it succeeds in deflecting from what Marissa did in the alley, so I guess it worked. Attention drifted away from her comments in the alley and turned to the boyfriend and from that to problems within CF's family.

 

On the question of how Caroline F is handling Marissa's disclosures in general: I agree with various posts here that she'd be better off not dignifying any of them with a response. But she probably felt trapped into addressing the cougar insults at least, since those would probably go public soon & could take a nasty turn. I also wonder if Caroline is oversensitive about her image as a mother. From the very first scenes it was clear that she was going to highlight her role as a mother (eg the whole school night thing). Her mothering was a matter of public discussion at some point: one reason cited in the press for her break up with Rory Fleming is that he wanted to send their son to boarding school and she didn't.

Edited October 23, 2015 by nyxy

[Cheetosandchoc]

OMG guys! did you know pink Himalayan Sea Salt is one of the most important ingredients in life?!? I feel so bad for all the people in the world who don't have access to Pink Himalayan Sea Salt. Like, someone should start a charity or a foundation or something to raise awareness and give all the poor people access to Pink Himalayan Sea Salt! 

[TheFinalRose]

OMG guys! did you know pink Himalayan Sea Salt is one of the most important ingredients in life?!? I feel so bad for all the people in the world who don't have access to Pink Himalayan Sea Salt. Like, someone should start a charity or a foundation or something to raise awareness and give all the poor people access to Pink Himalayan Sea Salt!

 

 

I bought a bottle of Pink Himalayan Sea Salt at Trader Joe's over the summer and I was attracted to it mainly because it was pink, and I thought it was pretty. I have had a good time since then grinding it over my food. I had no idea I had purchased such a luxury item. You can imagine my delight with myself when she made that comment.  

 

haha

[nyxy]

I'm sure there are many reasons but from my Hello! magazine reading days, Rory Fleming is loaded. And he (and his family firm) were funding the renovations of her family castle. She came up with the idea of renovating the castle on a reality where she came off as spoiled and entitled and he came off as long suffering. Shortly thereafter, Caroline announced she was bored and that was the end of the marriage. She followed up her marriage by having a child with Nicklas Bendtner, a footballer who is also a disaster of a human being. If she were my sister, I'd also be asking people's opinions of her boyfriend if I hadn't met him yet.

Thanks for the background- really helps give perspective. Maybe she's trying to shrug off the spoiled image in this show,. She seems to want to be seen as an unpretentious down-to-earth single mother who throws herself into housekeeping and child-minding. All of that could be for the show, of course, And there's little sign of the  400 million or so  she got in the divorce settlement.

I read of another reason for the divorce: he was pushing for their son to be sent to boarding school, whereas she wanted him to live with them,.

 

The Caroline known to the Danish press seems so different from the one we're seeing on the show.

 

You inspired me to start looking, and I see how the footballer earned his reputation.  But I'm also seeing how little there actually is either on Caroline or on her family- in English, anyway. A teeny tiny fraction of what any celebrity or tv personality would attract here in the U.S. So I'm still confused by many things in her past.

 

To begin with, there's the question of her title. I thought Caroline Fleming lost her title because she married Rory Fleming. That suggests the family didn't approve of him. But in episode 7 I thought I heard her say that their family rift began when she *divorced* Rory. So that seems odd. Are they mad at her for being with him or for not being with him? .

 

I also didn't know  a family could just take away someone's title...esp if she was born with one, as the baron's daughter. Both Carolines referred to her being titled without mentioning this little glitch, so I wonder if the info of her having been de-titled is just plan wrong. Or if the Carolines are hoping to no one will find out about the un-titling - which would be uncharacteristically naive, esp for Caroline Stanbury. 

 

                                                     .

 

 .

Edited October 24, 2015 by nyxy

[RCharter]

I bought a bottle of Pink Himalayan Sea Salt at Trader Joe's over the summer and I was attracted to it mainly because it was pink, and I thought it was pretty. I have had a good time since then grinding it over my food. I had no idea I had purchased such a luxury item. You can imagine my delight with myself when she made that comment.  

 

haha

I got mine from Target...classy!

 

She has a cookbook out, I wonder if she is coming out with a line of coconut oil and pink sea salt so that we all can live like a baroness.

[princelina]

What's up with the hair situation this year?  The only one who seems to have an actual style is Caroline S, and even her hair is looking shaggy.  I can't for the live of me figure out how the hell Juliet was ever a stylist.  She looks awful all the time.

 

Agreed on the hair situation!

 

I looked at their Bravo Blogs for the first time and there was a photo gallery of the ladies in their hunting daywear and nighttime outfits for the weekend.  Next to each was a list of designers for each item (such as Cape: Burberry, etc) but on Juliet's pages you are told to visit her style website to see what she is wearing :)  Hehehe

[TheFinalRose]

I looked at their Bravo Blogs for the first time and there was a photo gallery of the ladies in their hunting daywear and nighttime outfits for the weekend.  Next to each was a list of designers for each item (such as Cape: Burberry, etc) but on Juliet's pages you are told to visit her style website to see what she is wearing :)  Hehehe

 

 

 

Ha, I looked at that Bravo slideshow of the shooting weekend fashion and it's all Chanel and McQueen and Burberry and then you get to poor Miss Julie and she's like shown in one thing and its from Zara.  She really is the poorest of the bunch.  

[Jules2307]

I'm sure there are many reasons but from my Hello! magazine reading days, Rory Fleming is loaded. And he (and his family firm) were funding the renovations of her family castle. She came up with the idea of renovating the castle on a reality where she came off as spoiled and entitled and he came off as long suffering. Shortly thereafter, Caroline announced she was bored and that was the end of the marriage. She followed up her marriage by having a child with Nicklas Bendtner, a footballer who is also a disaster of a human being. If she were my sister, I'd also be asking people's opinions of her boyfriend if I hadn't met him yet.

 

thanks for the background- really helps give perspective. Maybe she's trying to shrug off the spoiled image in this show,. She seems to want to be seen as an unpretentious down-to-earth single mother who throws herself into housekeeping and child-minding. All of that could be for the show, of course, And there's little sign of the  400 million or so  she got in the divorce settlement.

 

I read of another reason for the divorce: he was pushing for their son to be sent to boarding school, whereas she wanted him to live with them,.

 

The Caroline known to the Danish press seems so different from the one we're seeing on the show.

 

You inspired me to start looking, and I see how the footballer earned his reputation.  But I'm also seeing how little there actually is either on Caroline or on her family- in English, anyway. A teeny tiny fraction of what any celebrity or tv personality would attract here in the U.S. So I'm still confused by many things in her past.

 

To begin with, there's the question of her title. I thought Caroline Fleming lost her title because she married Rory Fleming. That suggests the family didn't approve of him. But in episode 7 I thought I heard her say that their family rift began when she *divorced* Rory. So that seems odd. Are they mad at her for being with him or for not being with him? .

 

i also didn't know  a family could just take away someone's title...esp if she was born with one, as the baron's daughter. Both Carolines referred to her being titled without mentioning this little glitch, so I wonder if the info of her having been de-titled is just plan wrong. Or if the Carolines are hoping to no one will find out about the un-titling - which would be uncharacteristically naive, esp for Caroline Stanbury. 

 

                                                     .

 

 .

I believe, and I could be wrong about this, she lost her title when she got married because that's just what happens. Take Princess Diana (or really, Diana, Princess of Wales). She was born Lady Diana Spencer because she was the daughter of an earl. When she married Prince Charles she became the Princess of Wales (aristo equivalent of taking your husband's name). Diana had 2 sisters, both of whom married "commoners" so her sisters went from being Lady Jane and Lady Sarah to Mrs. Jane Fellows and Mrs. Sarah McCorquodale.

I don't know for sure that Caroline F wasn't stripped of her title but it seems more than likely that Danish rules are the same as British rules.

[NewDigs]

Maybe (probably) I missed something but I'm not understanding why CarolineF was in such a snit about her family finding out that she's dating anyone no matter what their age. Isn't she a papparazzi target? I'd be surprised if very many of her escapades go unnoticed. Seemed to me to be a bogus bitch with Marissa.

Could have done without the shooting but did notice Annabelle doing that emphasized "t" thing too.

Also not buying that Jules and Marissa's tub-thing delayed the meal by what CarolineS reported as 4 and 1/2 hours. No way!

Julie needs meds, stat.

These women are kind of boring.

[ScoobieDoobs]

Still really hating the blaring/annoying music in this show.

 

Hate to be a party pooper, but this show is pretty much doomed.  The ratings are sinking like a stone.  Right now they're at the cancellation level.

 

Annabelle looks like she's aged a thousand years.  Could it be she's hooked on meds since the accident -- or something else?

What's up with the hair situation this year?  The only one who seems to have an actual style is Caroline S, and even her hair is looking shaggy.  I can't for the live of me figure out how the hell Juliet was ever a stylist.  She looks awful all the time.  

 

Maybe we ALL should have a gay accessory around to style our hair at every single moment, from the time we wake till we go to sleep -- just like her.

[nyxy]

I believe, and I could be wrong about this, she lost her title when she got married because that's just what happens. Take Princess Diana (or really, Diana, Princess of Wales). She was born Lady Diana Spencer because she was the daughter of an earl. When she married Prince Charles she became the Princess of Wales (aristo equivalent of taking your husband's name). Diana had 2 sisters, both of whom married "commoners" so her sisters went from being Lady Jane and Lady Sarah to Mrs. Jane Fellows and Mrs. Sarah McCorquodale.

I don't know for sure that Caroline F wasn't stripped of her title but it seems more than likely that Danish rules are the same as British rules.

Oh thanks so much- that would explain it perfectly.  I didn't even consider that it could be something that simple & automatic when I saw all those references to her "giving up" her title to marry Rory, or "losing" her title because of the marriage. As in this piece, which is titled "The daughter of Baron Niels Luel-Brockdorff, who gave up her title to marry Fleming",

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3026946/Princess-Mary-s-close-friend-Danish-model-Caroline-Fleming-star-second-series-reality-dubbed-biggest-celebrity-catfight-caught-camera.html#ixzz3pWPDo5GD

 

It sounded like he was the issue. But of course it makes sense that marrying anyone at all- not Rory in particular- would lose her the title she inherited at birth; any titles she could have thereafter would have to come from her husband.

 

I wonder if she officially got the title back when she divorced him-  but probably not, in this hypersexist system.

[balshureen]

 

Maybe (probably) I missed something but I'm not understanding why CarolineF was in such a snit about her family finding out that she's dating anyone no matter what their age. Isn't she a papparazzi target? I'd be surprised if very many of her escapades go unnoticed. Seemed to me to be a bogus bitch with Marissa.

I think it's more that Marissa told the sister that she didn't like him, rather than she was dating someone younger.  I assume everyone in Denmark knows who she is dating.  But I don't fault Marissa for being honest with her best friend, but Caroline F. may never really trust her after that.

 

Apparently she met Bendtner when he appeared on her reality show while she was still married to her husband, the husband whose money was funding her family pile's renovation.  He was 21, she was 34.  I think she's really sensitive about the age issue based on that past relationship.  And quite frankly, that kind of age difference is much more significant than a 40 year old woman dating a 30 year old, not just in terms of years, but in terms of maturity level.  I can see where her family may question her judgment after leaving her husband and falling into another relationship with someone so young.  And then lather, rinse, repeat.

 

 

[TV Diva Queen]

 

 

The bath scene was gross, but then I hate baths. I wondered if it was Julie's idea? I'm starting to get the impression that our little Miss Sandwich studied how to be a reality tv star during the break between seasons and she's employing every trick in the book for screen time.  Then, at the same time, she is such a frickin space cadet I don't know how she keeps herself, much less four kids, alive.  

 

 

Another reason to love her. I think she is the only reality tv woman I've ever seen who actually eats bread and butter, toast/butter, a big slice of cake without acting like she's horrified at herself.  Also, Caroline's reaction to Danish Caroline's third grade love sonnet was hilarious: "Let's hope you don't break up next week." I love that she throws cold water on said goopiness without apology. Cem seems like such a nice sweet man. He must be pretty awesome if even Caroline seems to enjoy his company. 

 

When the season started I didn't understand why some people disliked Marissa but as time progresses I am seeing why. Does she ever talk about anything other than how right she is, how awesome her life is, and how many friends she has?  Also, who is she to tell Caroline that she isn't impressed by her boyfriend? Meow. That would hurt my feelings to hear that, and it's just obnoxious. And, she should not wear her hair in a bun .... it's not flattering.

 

I enjoyed the settings this week. First that little British clothing shop...all warm and cozy with the nice old salesman. Plus I love all that shooting gear, the tweeds and the caps and the Hunter boots and socks. A nice change from watching women shop for short shorts and bikinis. Then Stoke was beautiful too, with the dogs and the countryside and the old pub. Very nice.  

What made it even funnier was that the boyfriend's sonnet was referring to the maybe the world exploding if he and CF are not together.  LOL, and then CS says "Let's hope that you don't break up next week".  hilarious.  

[FozzyBear]

I can't even with a middle aged woman upset that her parent's only impression of her boyfriend will be that someone else doesn't like him. Then get off your ass and introduce him to your family and let them form their own opinion! What the hell! I'm starting to think that the problem is that CarolineF is emabarresed of her new love.

[tenativelyyours]

I think that deep down Caroline Fleming knows how ridiculous she is with her public dating.  But I also think she was trying too hard to bring the drama.  She bragged (and brags as the season goes on) how open and strong and non-conformist she is.  Telling tongue lapping Juliet how she is going to fix her because La Phlegm has acheived perfection .  But then makes faces aimed, to me, right for the cameras during the bowling.  Faces that made me think she was trying to have her first bowel movement in days and it was not going well.  And aimed always towards the cameras.  Even when it meant turning sideways once that I thought odd.

 

But she is definitely someone who wants to be famous.  And is willing to be infamous to do it.  But I think she does not want anyone else to find her outrageous in a bad way.  She can be naughty and "quirky" but you can only mention it in a positive "oh I wish I could be more like you" kind of way.  That is why Juliet snuggling up against her ass so hard was such a delight.  But I felt she was definitely trying to create the typical reality show drama with Marissa especially when she refused to ever let it the freak go.  I can see being annoyed with Marissa.  But what I found with La Phlegm was that she would say she was one thing and then really act in another.  It was sort of like she thought she was on a VH1 show.  One of those that start fights over deliberate misconceptions, followed by declarations of never associating with the newly established nemesis and ending with a dramatic hair pulling caterwauling fight that started when a third party insists on throwing a social event to "sit down and talk this out".  I'm not sure if Marissa saw that and was willing to play along just enough to have some story but then refused to follow down the silly path as La Phlegm wanted her to.  Or whether Marissa just didn't care in the end.

 

It does make me wish to have her sister come on if there is another season.  Ditch the Stansbury sister-in-law.  Espeically since if it airs in the same timely fashion her eyes will be so pulled back she'll look like Joe Scarborough on the morning after President Obama has a diplomatic triumph.