Speaker 1: This is the most traumatic podcast ever and iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 2: Hi, I'm Bethany.
Speaker 1: Chris Harrison, Bethany Frankel, and yes we just if you
Speaker 1: listen to the first part with Bethany, I'm glad you
Speaker 1: clicked over to listen to the rest of the story.
Speaker 1: As they say, as we've got to know each other.
Speaker 1: What Bethany and I We literally just met about an
Speaker 1: hour ago, But I also feel like we're best friends now.
Speaker 1: I feel like that exactly. I've always had this crazy
Speaker 1: amount of love and respect for you, and partially that's
Speaker 1: due to my fiance Lauren Zima, who thinks you are
Speaker 1: just the most amazing woman in the world. And she's like,
Speaker 1: trust me, you are going to love Bethany when you
Speaker 1: get to talk to her, because Lauren interviewed you a
Speaker 1: bunch while she was at entertainment tonight. So I am
Speaker 1: glad we finally got to talk. And I feel like
Speaker 1: this is the first of mini convos we will have.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you'll know that, Yeah, now we know each other.
Speaker 2: Don't you think it's interesting that podcasts. Since doing podcasting,
Speaker 2: you can even know someone like you know them through
Speaker 2: the industry. But now until you talk to them through
Speaker 2: this form, do you really know them? Like we talk
Speaker 2: superficial people. What restaurant did you go to? What are
Speaker 2: you working on?
Speaker 1: Not like what?
Speaker 2: Yeah? A lot of bullshit.
Speaker 1: Everything I hate about La. You know what life is like, La,
Speaker 1: Where you're sitting there, you're talking to people, there is
Speaker 1: no depth and you're just looking over the person's shoulder
Speaker 1: to see who else is in the room that you
Speaker 1: can talk to. But podcasts we dive into this stuff.
Speaker 1: And one thing that Lauren and I were talking about you,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't weird. We weren't in bed at the time,
Speaker 1: but we were talking about how parallel our lives are.
Speaker 1: We're both engaged. You have a fiance, so do I.
Speaker 1: Yours is a little bit different. Laura and I are
Speaker 1: actually going to get married, right.
Speaker 2: And similar ages.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're a year a fifty one? And how old
Speaker 1: is your fiance?
Speaker 2: He's seven years younger, so he's turning So Lauren's younger
Speaker 2: than me? Did I add that wrong? Fifty two? Yeah,
Speaker 2: he's all I know is he's turning forty six. Oh
Speaker 2: she's younger too. How old is she? Not to say?
Speaker 1: I can say she's thirty five? But did you didn't
Speaker 1: get into this with the idea of we're getting in,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get married, you don't really care if you
Speaker 1: get married.
Speaker 2: I'm a like, you're with someone and you want to
Speaker 2: know how much they're committing to you. And there's like,
Speaker 2: and I don't want to say this in the wrong way,
Speaker 2: like it's not a goalpost, but it's sort of the
Speaker 2: next step and how serious are we about each other?
Speaker 2: And it's a commitment. Also, we're long distance, yeah, so
Speaker 2: so there has to be some sort of binding commitment
Speaker 2: to make that worthwhile. It's not been easy, you know,
Speaker 2: to be long distance, but in a way it's also
Speaker 2: been easy. It's annoying more than it's not easy, Like.
Speaker 1: How do you do it? Well, here's the I assume
Speaker 1: you're your East coast. He's West.
Speaker 2: No, No, that would be impossible. He's Boston. But it's
Speaker 2: still a pain in the ass, like it sounds. It
Speaker 2: might as well be Florida, Ohio. It doesn't matter. You're
Speaker 2: still getting in a car four hours or three hours.
Speaker 2: So I moved closer in Connecticut to Boston, which does
Speaker 2: make a difference when you're driving. But the point that
Speaker 2: I really do want to make is that as when
Speaker 2: we're younger, we have these ideals about what it's all
Speaker 2: supposed to be. Like it's like, what are we doing
Speaker 2: for dinner? And what are we doing here? And we're
Speaker 2: one and we go to your parents and we go
Speaker 2: to my parents, and we parent the same way and
Speaker 2: we do the same right. So when you get into
Speaker 2: a relationship when you're older, it's weird and selfish because
Speaker 2: you both have your own ways of doing things and
Speaker 2: you both have your own life. But if you talk
Speaker 2: to most people that are really successful relationships, they're kind
Speaker 2: of saying, like this person lets me be me, I
Speaker 2: let them do them. We have nights with our friends,
Speaker 2: we do our own thing, like he travels. I mean,
Speaker 2: I hear all these different things. And it kind of
Speaker 2: is like a dirty secret that a non traditional relationship
Speaker 2: is not is kind of good like some people. I've
Speaker 2: read articles where people don't even live in the same place.
Speaker 2: That it works because I get my time with him,
Speaker 2: my time with my child, my time with my business,
Speaker 2: and then our time all together for blending and like
Speaker 2: there are these little silos and then there's when everything's together.
Speaker 2: So sometimes it sucks because it's like you're always in
Speaker 2: the calendar and it's annoying, but you're really free to
Speaker 2: do what you're doing and not feel torn when you're.
Speaker 1: Not togethern No, it does. We just had this conversation
Speaker 1: last night. We were talking about people that live apart
Speaker 1: and that there are even, you know, marriages, longtime marriages
Speaker 1: where they don't live together. And I'm like, well, I
Speaker 1: don't want that, like Laura and I do live together.
Speaker 1: But I was like, you know what, I get that,
Speaker 1: and she's like, so do I Like, I can totally
Speaker 1: see that non traditional thing working.
Speaker 2: Because another human being is annoying. They're not you same
Speaker 2: no matter what they do is annoying.
Speaker 1: And especially what I guess what her point is, or
Speaker 1: what the point she made was, especially when you get
Speaker 1: to a certain age, right, we get certain ways we are.
Speaker 1: I am not an easy human being to live with
Speaker 1: anymore at fifty one, because there are things I just
Speaker 1: love to do, I want to do and I don't
Speaker 1: want to give that up. And yeah, that's selfish and
Speaker 1: you do have to compromise. I get it and all that,
Speaker 1: and so does Laurence. She gets it, but we're very
Speaker 1: careful about these are the things she loves, which Bravo
Speaker 1: is one of them, and these are things I love.
Speaker 2: You can't make a dog a cat, right. Paul falls
Speaker 2: asleep a nine thirty at night, Like I'm not out
Speaker 2: tripping the life fantastic, right, But we're just different people.
Speaker 2: And I wanted I went to launch my forever young
Speaker 2: wine do a shoot in Santrope and he didn't come.
Speaker 2: I used to feel guilty, like not asking him to
Speaker 2: come to do this thing. And it's not for Paul,
Speaker 2: and it's not for me because I don't want to
Speaker 2: be doing I don't want to be dragging him around
Speaker 2: and I.
Speaker 1: Want to be both gone and had a crappy time,
Speaker 1: and you would have felt guilty trying to. Lauren just
Speaker 1: came with me to this golf tournament last week. I
Speaker 1: was in Fort Worth, really good friend of mine. Oddly
Speaker 1: his name is Chris Harrison too, but that's a different
Speaker 1: story altogether. But so I was at this golf tournament
Speaker 1: and again drinking party in it's all day. She came
Speaker 1: up because a lot of the wives took part in
Speaker 1: this thing, and I just saw her and she's miserable.
Speaker 1: She hated it. It was just and you're thinking about it, yeah,
Speaker 1: and then now it's taking me out of having a
Speaker 1: good time, and I know she's miserable and she was
Speaker 1: just trying to do the right thing. And we love
Speaker 1: the fact that we can look at each other and say, Babe,
Speaker 1: I don't want to do this, and I'll say, now, great,
Speaker 1: don't do it.
Speaker 2: Go do your thing right fully. Get that so right.
Speaker 2: The only rub with the long distance becomes when you're
Speaker 2: together and alone, like it might not be on a weekend,
Speaker 2: it could be on a Monday and Tuesday, and then
Speaker 2: everyone feels the need to make it like perfect, and
Speaker 2: it's like the small honeymoon where if you're working you
Speaker 2: feel guilty. So there is a little bit of a
Speaker 2: time and the way you manage it and what it means.
Speaker 1: So you feel more pressure when you and Paul are
Speaker 1: together because it's like, okay, this is our time.
Speaker 2: Yes exactly, and it's and then you feel self conscious
Speaker 2: if something's going on or something's going on with work.
Speaker 2: So interesting finding that balance, which also though I've struggled
Speaker 2: with in relationships where we are not in different cities,
Speaker 2: sometimes I don't know how to who in this relationship.
Speaker 2: Thank God, I know who I am, like what my
Speaker 2: life is in the past, I have immersed into someone
Speaker 2: else's and then we're a wee and I don't understand
Speaker 2: what to do on my own. I like to be
Speaker 2: alone a lot, like not all a lot. I'm a recluse,
Speaker 2: like a line.
Speaker 1: Where did that come from?
Speaker 2: My father was always alone. My father was to think
Speaker 2: about my father, there was a stain in the leather
Speaker 2: chair behind his head from watching horse races all day long.
Speaker 2: He was always alone, with the exception of like going
Speaker 2: after a race to dinner with you guys. Like he
Speaker 2: was always home alone, and my mother was home alone
Speaker 2: all the time till four o'clock in the morning. And
Speaker 2: I was an only child. So like, I don't know
Speaker 2: if that's genetic, if that's the models I saw, because
Speaker 2: I didn't really live with them for most of my life.
Speaker 2: But I am a natural born reckless.
Speaker 1: It's a very fall it's a very healthy thing to
Speaker 1: be able to be alone with yourself and be satisfied
Speaker 1: and be happy. Mine came from the bachelor bacherette world.
Speaker 1: For twenty years, I traveled the world, and I would
Speaker 1: typically travel by myself and live by myself. You know.
Speaker 1: Every now and then my wife or kids would come
Speaker 1: or whatever. When I started dating, you know, Lauren would come,
Speaker 1: but for the most part, for twenty years, you know,
Speaker 1: the crew would go and I would try to come
Speaker 1: in later because I would try to stay home as
Speaker 1: much as possible. So you know, I would fly to
Speaker 1: South Africa by myself, be put in this crazy beautiful
Speaker 1: resort by myself, and I had so much time alone
Speaker 1: that it became I became okay with it.
Speaker 2: Oh and also, though I think, fame and you change
Speaker 2: because people look at you differently and want to talk
Speaker 2: to and your body language changes, and you just retreat
Speaker 2: a little bit because going out becomes something very very different.
Speaker 2: Going out could be like a public appearance. If you
Speaker 2: your friends said to you, let's go to the food
Speaker 2: and wine tasting of Milwaukee, and you just show up there.
Speaker 2: They're tasting food and you're doing a public appearance.
Speaker 1: Right you are taking pictures, and that's funny. You say that,
Speaker 1: people say, oh, have you changed or I'm like, you know,
Speaker 1: the the noble you know answer you would love to
Speaker 1: say is no, I've never changed. I'm the same guy
Speaker 1: was when I grew up in Dallas. But you do
Speaker 1: change because you got to protect yourself and you protect
Speaker 1: your time, and you become pickier with your time and
Speaker 1: who surrounds you because you're right. When I go to
Speaker 1: an event or you go, you know you're going to
Speaker 1: take pictures, You're going to have conversations a lot of
Speaker 1: the same conversations, people asking you the same questions. And
Speaker 1: it's great, that's what they know you for and I
Speaker 1: don't have a problem with that. But yeah, if I
Speaker 1: take a trip, it is going to be a little
Speaker 1: bit different than what my friends are going to experience.
Speaker 2: Your right, so your body language changes. You know, I
Speaker 2: used to be a person that would talk to the
Speaker 2: two top next to it. I still do it sometimes now,
Speaker 2: but if I do it, that means that the two
Speaker 2: tops at the left isn't going to start talking to us.
Speaker 2: And now we're having a group party and Paul is
Speaker 2: a very private.
Speaker 1: Person, and you find there's that time and night where
Speaker 1: people start drinking, and there's that tipping point in the
Speaker 1: night too where you're like, okay, I'm.
Speaker 2: Out or one person. Yeah, I was like literally half
Speaker 2: nude in a spa yesterday and a girl said hi
Speaker 2: to me, and then three other girls because one person
Speaker 2: is open the thing and I'm not complaining either, it
Speaker 2: just changes that you become closed off because if you're
Speaker 2: open to one person high, then so many people like, Oh,
Speaker 2: she's so open, she's just like us, and we're just
Speaker 2: all having a party while she's naked in a sauna,
Speaker 2: and you feel a little self conscious, you feel insecure,
Speaker 2: and you feel like, are these people like looking at me?
Speaker 2: And what does she look like naked? And or her
Speaker 2: boobs real? And like you just start to get paranoid
Speaker 2: in your mind about what other people are thinking, because
Speaker 2: they're probably.
Speaker 1: They're real and they're spectacular everybody. I just want you
Speaker 1: to know. Let's just let that be said. Now, would
Speaker 1: you ever, I mean, with all this said, if you
Speaker 1: had this perfect world and you lived in Boston or
Speaker 1: Paul lived in Connecticut, would you guys, would you live together?
Speaker 1: Would you take that step?
Speaker 2: I mean, we would live together. And we do pretty
Speaker 2: much live together, and we are connected all day long,
Speaker 2: and I mean that in a way where it's not
Speaker 2: like we're long distance. We're it's too much. We're fifty
Speaker 2: times a day talking about everything and we're now working
Speaker 2: on this YouTube thing together, which is actually really fun,
Speaker 2: just like you guys are working together to interesting but
Speaker 2: we're like minded in being anti social, very creative, like
Speaker 2: entertainment adjacent. He's produced a bunch of movies and that
Speaker 2: he's a real estate developer. So and it does, even
Speaker 2: though it sounds cheesy for Paul and myself, life partner
Speaker 2: sounds really accurately. He's a great, okay, partner. He's just
Speaker 2: a great partner in life. He's very supportive, he's very loyal,
Speaker 2: he's he's just he's a good life partner. So I
Speaker 2: don't say that to people like this is my partner.
Speaker 2: That's cheesy. I'm just saying it to you if you're
Speaker 2: asking the definition, that's.
Speaker 1: What you know without it's such a great that's such
Speaker 1: a healthy thing. And again you wish if we could
Speaker 1: give people advice that are getting into this game when
Speaker 1: in your twenties, thirties, whatever, being able to truly define
Speaker 1: your relationship the way you want it, whatever that means
Speaker 1: and looks like to you do it.
Speaker 2: It's also what are you coming into it from your
Speaker 2: your fiance. Lauren was not ever married.
Speaker 1: Before she was no she was divorced too, but no kids.
Speaker 1: No kids, but also different also did not want to
Speaker 1: have kids. Love's mine, but I also understood that that
Speaker 1: was my choice to have kids, it was not her.
Speaker 1: And so she does love my kids and appreciates that.
Speaker 1: In God, she's amazing her effort and all that, but
Speaker 1: I also try to understand that that wasn't her life choice.
Speaker 1: They are still, you know, my children, so I try
Speaker 1: to you know, and they're older now, they're twenty one
Speaker 1: and nineteen, so it's a whole different dynamic than if
Speaker 1: she came into the picture and they were nine and
Speaker 1: eleven years old and we're doing you know, dance lessons
Speaker 1: and going to plays and all that stuff still.
Speaker 2: And so she came in though not going through a
Speaker 2: wretched child custody divorce.
Speaker 1: Right, My divorce was clean. I had been divorced for
Speaker 1: eleven years. My ex wife was already remarried, so it
Speaker 1: was as easy of an injury as it could possibly be.
Speaker 1: And my ex actually loves Lauren more than she loves me.
Speaker 1: They actually will talk and text, and so it's a
Speaker 1: very very healthy situation, thank God. Like, because I have
Speaker 1: friends and I'm sure you do too, where it's just
Speaker 1: a nightmare and you can't even talk to your ex
Speaker 1: or whatever, and that it's I feel for those people.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm saying what you're walking into is affected by
Speaker 2: what you're walking out of. So yes, I was coming
Speaker 2: out of a ten year divorce on a two year marriage,
Speaker 2: and the models I saw as my mother and my
Speaker 2: father and my stepfather were horrendous and wretched and divorce.
Speaker 2: So I was coming out of a hall of fame
Speaker 2: to use that word to get the term again, divorce
Speaker 2: like very, very very the worst experience of my life
Speaker 2: by far. So I'm now walking into a relationship. I'm
Speaker 2: not like skipping down the road to be doing documents
Speaker 2: and legally being married, like it would make sense to anyone.
Speaker 2: I experienced the most trauma I've ever experienced in my
Speaker 2: life in getting my marriage and divorce. So that's another
Speaker 2: reason I don't want to say that because that doesn't
Speaker 2: sound all fun. But that's another reason why someone might
Speaker 2: not ask me as often like why are you married yet?
Speaker 1: Well, perspective, Yeah, your perspective, you have a scar tissue.
Speaker 1: I mean I always tell people, you know, everyone shows
Speaker 1: up for your wedding and there's the congo line and
Speaker 1: the chicken days, and hey, all those people aren't out
Speaker 1: the divorce proceedings when you're sitting there with the mediator
Speaker 1: and you're going over and you're basically dissolving a company,
Speaker 1: and that's what a divorce is. You're exactly you're dissolving
Speaker 1: a company and breaking it apart. And I'm like, and
Speaker 1: I vividly remember having this moment with a lawyer of
Speaker 1: just sitting there with my ex and you're breaking things
Speaker 1: apart and going through everything, and I'm like, h this
Speaker 1: is a far cry from that big celebration we had
Speaker 1: seventeen years ago. So you definitely have to take that
Speaker 1: perspective and that knowledge into the next relationship. You'd be
Speaker 1: crazy not to.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I do transactional business deals all day long,
Speaker 2: and there's something about that what comes with that that
Speaker 2: I just it's counterintuitive to me. I understand marriage for
Speaker 2: a reason, like you're going to have kids or for
Speaker 2: this reason, or religion or convert a million reasons, or
Speaker 2: you're twenty four and you want to be protected and
Speaker 2: you want to know. When you're this age and you
Speaker 2: have your own career and your own life, it's hard
Speaker 2: to contemplate legally being married. Just based on what I've
Speaker 2: been through. I understand it, I condone it. I'm just
Speaker 2: saying it's hard to like be like, I've got to
Speaker 2: do this right now, this.
Speaker 1: Has to happen well. And that's how I felt when
Speaker 1: I got engaged. I mean, first of all, Whenlauren and
Speaker 1: I started dating, you know, she knew I didn't really
Speaker 1: care one way or the other. Marriage was not a
Speaker 1: priority for me. Again because I had been married, you know,
Speaker 1: I did the thing where I had kids and all that,
Speaker 1: and she had been married too and had the big wedding.
Speaker 1: So neither neither one of us were really thinking, date,
Speaker 1: let's get married. Things just progressed. And that's how I've
Speaker 1: loved this relationship so much, is that it's just taking
Speaker 1: its own course. And we've never said to ourselves what's next,
Speaker 1: When when when you know, and so it's always just
Speaker 1: kind of hit us of you know what, it's time,
Speaker 1: it's time to stop, right, you know, Like for six
Speaker 1: months nobody knew we were dating. Then we went public,
Speaker 1: and then we took this step and got engaged. Then
Speaker 1: we decided to get married, and we're doing it on
Speaker 1: our own time. And we've been together for five and
Speaker 1: a half years, and it just it makes sense. It
Speaker 1: makes sense to us us, yeah, exactly, And if it
Speaker 1: doesn't make sense to you. God bless you call. I mean,
Speaker 1: whatever floats your boat at this point in your life, yep,
Speaker 1: I totally get it. Live together, live apart. Life's tough enough.
Speaker 1: Be happy for crying out loud.
Speaker 2: I agree, I could not agree more. And work and
Speaker 2: in relationship.
Speaker 1: Yeah and well, And I think both of us have
Speaker 1: been blessed enough to have been successful in our lives.
Speaker 1: That you get the power of saying no and the
Speaker 1: ability to say no is a wonderful thing.
Speaker 2: Isn't it amazing? It's it's it's I mean, I wrote
Speaker 2: a book called The Place of Yes, but the no
Speaker 2: I say no so much more than I say yes. Honestly,
Speaker 2: it's just a very it's nice to what you have
Speaker 2: to get to this age to realize what you really
Speaker 2: do want to do and you realize you my life
Speaker 2: is not defined by a full calendar. It's almost like
Speaker 2: I hate when it's full. And we're trying to say, really,
Speaker 2: only do things that you love. Like Really, to have
Speaker 2: that discipline and be able to have the luxury of
Speaker 2: only doing things that you love because you work to
Speaker 2: that point is really a blessing.
Speaker 1: Housewives, do you still have love in your heart? Fruit?
Speaker 1: For that franchise.
Speaker 2: It's not the it's the experience. Like I love the comedy,
Speaker 2: the ridiculousness, and I was always the Greek chorus. And
Speaker 2: I'm always in this position where I get to be
Speaker 2: who I am talking to this audience about this show
Speaker 2: that I'm observing around me, and I'm very good at
Speaker 2: directing that sort of traffic and I love this. I
Speaker 2: will say something. My father may be the Hall of
Speaker 2: Fame horse trainer. I am the hall of Fame of
Speaker 2: that sport. Like being in the middle of a reality
Speaker 2: show like that, navigating all of this that is literally
Speaker 2: my wheelhouse. But what And I'm also I'm excellent at
Speaker 2: navigating the media. It's not that I'm not good for it.
Speaker 2: It's not good for me. So I don't want to
Speaker 2: do that with people that I don't really I may
Speaker 2: not care for them, And then I have to live
Speaker 2: out this argument that's public for three months about something
Speaker 2: that I don't care about with a person I don't
Speaker 2: care about, and do a media tour about it. And
Speaker 2: it's really trashy and really toxic. And the name of
Speaker 2: housewives is a zero sum game. Someone is always winning
Speaker 2: and someone's losing. When you're doing it, you're someone's and
Speaker 2: you may not know who it is, and it may
Speaker 2: be you. And if you don't know who's it's you.
Speaker 1: That's if you don't see the sucker at the poker table,
Speaker 1: it's you.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying. You're the fish. So that's what
Speaker 2: it is. There's and so it's always like kill or
Speaker 2: be killed, and I just don't want to live like that.
Speaker 2: But I you were the gy.
Speaker 1: You were phenomenal at being what I would call the narrator.
Speaker 1: We had people on the show that they were just
Speaker 1: so good. It's summing up exactly what everybody's seeing, and
Speaker 1: you need that person. Yes, you can observe it on
Speaker 1: TV because it's a very visual medium, but to have
Speaker 1: somebody comically and intelligently narrate that and some it all upill.
Speaker 1: That is the brilliance of Bethany. That is the brilliance
Speaker 1: of a person like you is you can observe, take
Speaker 1: it in, digest it, and then articulate it perfectly so
Speaker 1: it is funny, poignant, and stirs the pod a little bit.
Speaker 1: That is You're right, that is a unbelievably difficult person
Speaker 1: to find in a show. So with that said, are
Speaker 1: you because there were rumors because that you were in
Speaker 1: a video that you I don't think it was even you.
Speaker 2: That this is a good little experiment because we get
Speaker 2: to like show that these citizens journalists make things true.
Speaker 1: The Real Housewives legacy video that you weren't in that.
Speaker 2: No, I'm sitting here with you, Chris Harrison in my
Speaker 2: basement with a power just went out. I'm not in
Speaker 2: Sane Bart's but everybody thinks I am. And somehow you
Speaker 2: know me. I'm thinking, how do I monitorze? There's no
Speaker 2: way for me to They think I'm there, and Bravo
Speaker 2: gets to seem like they've put me on this second show,
Speaker 2: but so no, I'm not there. I'm right here. And
Speaker 2: Bravo's done something really smart because they've been able to
Speaker 2: pay these women one week's salary is four months out,
Speaker 2: get a season out of it, and they're gonna get
Speaker 2: six episode. Yeah, it's brilliant. Yeah, And you would ask
Speaker 2: me like people always ask me when I go back,
Speaker 2: like I talked to Paul about it yesterday. There's a
Speaker 2: number to go there right now, get on a plane
Speaker 2: right now. There's a number, but they can't pay it.
Speaker 1: Well, that's that I feel the same way about the
Speaker 1: bachel when people ask me. And again, as you said
Speaker 1: on your show, I was like, you said, never say never,
Speaker 1: and I will never say that. My mom taught me
Speaker 1: don't ever close a door because you just never know
Speaker 1: what will happen in life. And yeah, there's a number,
Speaker 1: and there's other things that would help Yours.
Speaker 2: Is about a number. So mine's a full number, like
Speaker 2: it's a number.
Speaker 1: Well, mine was a number, and there were several factors
Speaker 1: that needed to take place. Those factors actually took place,
Speaker 1: those things have happened, so now it really is about
Speaker 1: a number. That and there would be some conversations as well.
Speaker 1: But yeah, of course. I mean if they came and said, look,
Speaker 1: we've we've lost sixty five percent of our audience, please
Speaker 1: come back and help us reinvent and save this, and
Speaker 1: I'd be like, Okay, let's start the negotiations if you
Speaker 1: want to actually fix this.
Speaker 2: But what about this. Here's here's the other thing, like
Speaker 2: Samantha or Kim Katroll went back for one scene, but
Speaker 2: they have marketed it like she's on the whole thing.
Speaker 2: So I keep getting I've gotten asked in the past season.
Speaker 2: It's like from producers just one lunch, one dinner. I'm like, oh,
Speaker 2: and you're not going to market that, like I've been
Speaker 2: in every scene of No, there's no I've you this
Speaker 2: is not a win for me exactly, which is like,
Speaker 2: this is a win for them. That's why you didn't
Speaker 2: hear any from Bravo dispelling the fact that I'm in St.
Speaker 2: Barts right now. There's been They've been quiet as mice
Speaker 2: over there. No one's saying Bethany is not in Sant
Speaker 2: Barts because they know they're not stupid. They want the
Speaker 2: viewer to think Jill and I are getting on a
Speaker 2: plane to go to Saint Bart's. And also, I think
Speaker 2: it's liberating. Years ago when I went back and Andy
Speaker 2: Cohen said what's it going to take? And I and
Speaker 2: I really didn't want to go back at all, but
Speaker 2: I then said, I'm going to give you a number.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna give it to you. You come back with
Speaker 2: it or not, and that's the only way I'll go back.
Speaker 2: You weren't allowed to say that would be like I
Speaker 2: misconnecting with the audience and I miss all this stuff. Now,
Speaker 2: I think there's a liberation to being like, yeah, there's
Speaker 2: going to be a number.
Speaker 1: Well, and this is relatable to the everyday person you
Speaker 1: know who's going through whatever, because your employer, the job
Speaker 1: will play on your emotions. Bethany, you don't you want
Speaker 1: to do this because of this franchise. I've been so
Speaker 1: much to you and these girls, and just do what's
Speaker 1: right and you do it. And it's like they're not
Speaker 1: doing it for those benevolent, overreaching reasons. They're doing it
Speaker 1: for a number as well. They're doing it because Bethany
Speaker 1: Franco means ratings. They're doing it because that promotion will
Speaker 1: sell tickets. So it's not okay. And they and I
Speaker 1: saw this all the time. They still do it to
Speaker 1: this day to play on former bachelors and bachelorettes. We
Speaker 1: changed you, you know, be grateful for the life we've
Speaker 1: given you.
Speaker 2: This. Oh I get that to Bravo major. I'm like,
Speaker 2: I made Bravo too. They got a different caliber of
Speaker 2: women after my Skinny Girl deal. I believe every.
Speaker 1: Time I went the negotiations with my boss, it's you
Speaker 1: know you, aren't you grateful for this? I said, dude,
Speaker 1: I think we've been both beneficial. It's been a pretty
Speaker 1: good franchise for you.
Speaker 2: Too.
Speaker 1: For twenty years, I've worked my ass off and I'm
Speaker 1: pretty good at what I do. You're lucky to have
Speaker 1: had me as well.
Speaker 2: It's good for you, Chris, Chris go.
Speaker 1: Both ways well, which is the reason why we ended
Speaker 1: up getting a divorce.
Speaker 2: But right, No, but you're not. I'm not in any
Speaker 2: actor just I'm acting like the person that they're like,
Speaker 2: am my door begging me? No, No, there's an open
Speaker 2: invitation over there if I decided to get paid whatever.
Speaker 2: But no one's calling me today to be like please
Speaker 2: come back.
Speaker 1: It's just a conversation though. But you understand the way
Speaker 1: the game is played that this is a even playing field,
Speaker 1: and it's a conversation that would be had of I'm
Speaker 1: not in bolden to do anything for you. You are
Speaker 1: not embolden to do anything for me. We're right here,
Speaker 1: so this is this is going to be fifty to fifty.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but yours is not gross. Yours I have done.
Speaker 2: I have done a rints like yours is not. Yours
Speaker 2: is different. Yours is like your host journ a suit.
Speaker 2: You're protected. Mine is going back into a swamp pit.
Speaker 2: So I need to be paid to be climbing into
Speaker 2: a pile of.
Speaker 1: Ship and it affects you because it does affect your
Speaker 1: personal life.
Speaker 2: Disgusting and so I really don't want to do it,
Speaker 2: and I'm not going to do it. That's why it's
Speaker 2: just but there is a number to get me to
Speaker 2: do it. I'm saying it's astronomical. It's not astronomical. It's big, though.
Speaker 1: But we all have a number. I mean, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's going on in the world of sports right now
Speaker 1: with Live Golf and the PGA Tour. These guys had
Speaker 1: a number. Lionel Messi was offered four billion dollars to
Speaker 1: go play in Saudi Arabia. So we all have a number. Okay,
Speaker 1: we all have a number, but mine's like yeah, I'm yeah,
Speaker 1: is yours four billion?
Speaker 2: No, I'm saying no. I didn't mean mine's big. I'm
Speaker 2: saying I don't really want it. I don't know. If
Speaker 2: I really want to do it, it'd be fine. It's
Speaker 2: it's a game. We're playing a game in our own minds. Yeah,
Speaker 2: like that, like ABC is not sitting outside your door,
Speaker 2: up bag, They're not right, same story. You just know
Speaker 2: the number, you know what's going on over there, and
Speaker 2: you know so that there's like a friendly conversation with them. Overall,
Speaker 2: it's a dance. You still are saying stuff. You're saying,
Speaker 2: we're very similar, Like I'm still saying that when you
Speaker 2: go and watch it Evans Live. It's a trap every
Speaker 2: time you go on. It's a question to make you
Speaker 2: look bad at somebody else. But it's okay. I'm playing
Speaker 2: the game right.
Speaker 1: Well, it's our job and it's what I love to do.
Speaker 1: I mean, I love TV, I love hosting, I love producing.
Speaker 1: I will continue to do that no matter where it is,
Speaker 1: and it is what we love to do. It just
Speaker 1: so happens that our stuff gets displayed and gets prominently
Speaker 1: put out there for the world to digest and do
Speaker 1: with it what they please, especially when you are the subject,
Speaker 1: when you are one of the cast members.
Speaker 2: I don't think we're going back you and I I
Speaker 2: don't think so.
Speaker 1: I would say there's close to a zero percent chance.
Speaker 1: It doesn't make any Honestly, it doesn't make much sense
Speaker 1: for either one of us business wise. I don't think
Speaker 1: it's a good business move for you to go back
Speaker 1: to Housewives. It's not a good business for me to
Speaker 1: go back to a show that is not doing well
Speaker 1: because the chances of turning around or in this day
Speaker 1: and age of network TV or slim and none. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's dying that franchisical pressure.
Speaker 2: Will be on you. I did that and I was
Speaker 2: all and thank god it went back up. But that
Speaker 2: was a different The b is back and it felt pressure,
Speaker 2: and like, now you go back, right, you know? I
Speaker 2: mean Lauren Michael said it best you have to make
Speaker 2: an exit to make an entrance. But are you going
Speaker 2: back and making an entrance back there? I mean it
Speaker 2: could go either way because you'd get a big number.
Speaker 2: And who cares? Like if you got a big enough
Speaker 2: number and you go back and the ratings don't change,
Speaker 2: what the hell do you care it?
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter.
Speaker 2: You know, no one saw it. Who cares?
Speaker 1: I look at it like getting back with an X
Speaker 1: that you've been married to for twenty years. You know
Speaker 1: what it's all about exactly. You know how unhappy you were,
Speaker 1: you know all the pitfalls, So why would you go
Speaker 1: back and do that again? So it makes no sense
Speaker 1: business wise, emotionally, relationship wise. But all I've ever said
Speaker 1: is that door, you know, is I would just never
Speaker 1: say never, but for you and now Yeah, there's bigger
Speaker 1: and better things on so many fronts. It would be.
Speaker 1: It feels like a backstep for both of us.
Speaker 2: It does, and also the reason you brought up that
Speaker 2: it's not good business for either. Bravo can chop up
Speaker 2: this chicken fifty ways and make chicken salad, make chicken broth,
Speaker 2: and make chicken stuff. Same thing with The Bachelor. It's
Speaker 2: the Bachelor on Tuesdays, it's the Bachelor Pizza Night, it's
Speaker 2: the Bachelor Vaication. Just chop all the shit up together
Speaker 2: and make make walk chicken and broccoli like they can
Speaker 2: make anything they want, poll uck supper every night and
Speaker 2: rechurn and churn and still make have an advertising budget.
Speaker 2: They come in, they'd have to pay you for that
Speaker 2: big show. It's not doesn't make economical sense for them either,
Speaker 2: because your head is still knowing what your value was
Speaker 2: then money money wise, that they don't have it that
Speaker 2: way anymore. That's why they can get girls for one
Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars to rip each other's limbs off for
Speaker 2: a week who were fired and need to be relevant
Speaker 2: and need that hit because they'll do it and they're
Speaker 2: all going to be even crazier because they need the hit, Like,
Speaker 2: it's just not economical sense to.
Speaker 1: Be like, let's pay Bath to get back in that
Speaker 1: lion's den. Yeah, it would take a lot.
Speaker 2: I like the conversation and I like the job. And
Speaker 2: Paul literally Paul and I have fictitious conversations where Paul
Speaker 2: would never even put Paul's never been on it would
Speaker 2: never be on any TV with me, never. He's no
Speaker 2: upside from a very private person, very private family. But
Speaker 2: we'll even play what his number is. I'm like, okay,
Speaker 2: but I go back and you have to come with me,
Speaker 2: what's your number? And we do it all the time.
Speaker 1: Well, I just thought too, and then just dropped the
Speaker 1: other day in my interview with Larsa Pippen and Marcus Jordan, okay,
Speaker 1: and I asked Marcus if he was going to be
Speaker 1: a part of the show and he said yes, probably so,
Speaker 1: and I thought I got off. I got off the
Speaker 1: podcast and I told Lauren, I go if I'm an
Speaker 1: executive or a producer at Bravo, I am losing my
Speaker 1: mind that I have Michael Jordan's son for free, for free,
Speaker 1: essentially dating Scottie Pippen's ex wife, Like I own this story.
Speaker 1: Now I own Michael Jordan essentially and Scottie Pippen in
Speaker 1: this story. I hope, and I hope to God that
Speaker 1: Marcus is bending them over backwards asking for money, because
Speaker 1: if he's not, he's crazy because he can.
Speaker 2: And they really can't pay him what he's worth, and
Speaker 2: they really really won't. I don't think he's getting.
Speaker 1: Any I mean, think about that.
Speaker 2: I know. But here's the weird thing about Housewives and that, Yeah,
Speaker 2: those type of stories aren't as big as you'd think.
Speaker 2: Like whenever you're on the Housewives in the first couple
Speaker 2: of years, you're like, oh, I'm best friends of Madonna,
Speaker 2: so we're gonna go to this event and let's shoot Madonna.
Speaker 2: He shoot Madonna. It's not like Jamie Curtis being on
Speaker 2: Beverly Hills. It's not who cares. Yeah, and people become
Speaker 2: different there too, Like in my mind, Kelly ben Simone
Speaker 2: had a lure. She was married to Joe Bensimon. She
Speaker 2: gets on that show, she's she's another whack job in
Speaker 2: New York City, Tinsley Mortimer, the big, the big taffita
Speaker 2: wearing New York socialite. She gets on that show and
Speaker 2: everybody becomes like just a person.
Speaker 1: It's story driven. It's all about the story that's being yeah,
Speaker 1: being driven, and the drama and all that. But I
Speaker 1: just I love the fact that it's a good get. Oh,
Speaker 1: it's a good get. It's a great story because that
Speaker 1: will continue to be dramatic. I mean, that's that relationship,
Speaker 1: and obviously it's what they will do to that relationship, right,
Speaker 1: it's it's how you will produce around that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well he's gonna have to be smart and his
Speaker 2: family is gonna have to be like what do you do?
Speaker 2: But like, no one really cared about Kelsey Grammar except
Speaker 2: for how it pertained to Camille, is what I'm trying
Speaker 2: to say. He's a much bigger celebrity, one of the
Speaker 2: highest paid actors of all time on television. But like
Speaker 2: it didn't matter that he was in that episode. He
Speaker 2: was filler, which is weird. Someone becomes different there. I
Speaker 2: don't know why that. It's just fame is not as
Speaker 2: important on reality TV as the whack of doodles that
Speaker 2: are on it.
Speaker 1: That's so true. Speaking speaking of we are two of
Speaker 1: the biggest whack of doodles you're ever going to run into.
Speaker 1: I have so enjoyed this day, me too. I look
Speaker 1: forward to it. And the best part about Bethany and
Speaker 1: I is we had no idea what we were going
Speaker 1: to talk about. We had no rundown, and we are
Speaker 1: both so fullish that we just talked for an hour
Speaker 1: street And if you didn't shut us up, if the
Speaker 1: producers weren't telling us to stop, this could go on
Speaker 1: for hours.
Speaker 2: It could be a marathon. One hundred percent. Nobody learned anything,
Speaker 2: and no one's smarter for it.
Speaker 1: So make sure there's This is kind of a two
Speaker 1: part series, So make sure you go to Bethany's podcast,
Speaker 1: and you're going to hear kind of the first part
Speaker 1: of this. And then obviously you've already if you've made
Speaker 1: it to this point and survived, you've listened to this
Speaker 1: as well. But listen to both podcasts because I think
Speaker 1: they are both unbelievably insightful and very different. But we
Speaker 1: have to do this again. We must do this again.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we should continue it where you and I
Speaker 2: do it with somebody else that's also on iHeart and
Speaker 2: have a stupid conversation with them.
Speaker 1: It would have to be someone who's really going to
Speaker 1: be strong and could fit in this dynamic duo the
Speaker 1: business mind of Bethany always cranking.
Speaker 2: Always, I can't help it. Awesome, Chris, thank you so much.
Speaker 2: It's so fun.
Speaker 1: Thank you and I'll talk to you soon. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1: Follow us on Instagram at the most dramatic pod ever,
Speaker 1: and make sure to write us a review and leave
Speaker 1: us five stars. I'll talk to you next time.