Watch What Crappens - Special Guest Jill Zarin

Episode Date: July 18, 2012

Jill Zarin talks to us about RHONY, reality stardom, and much more... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.Our Patreon Extras: https://patreon.com/watchwhatcrappens See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

From Wondery and Audible comes Class of 88, a new podcast hosted by Will Smith. Before 1988, a lot of people didn't take hip-hop seriously. But hip-hop today touches everything from film to fashion to sports. So what changed? Follow Class of 88 wherever you get your podcasts. This episode of Watch What Crappens is brought to you by Gamefly. Go to Gamefly.com forward haha for your free 15-day trial. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Countess speaking. We have arrived.

She say la vie, c'est bon, c'est bon. She say la vie, c'est bon, c'est bon. She say la vie, c'est bon, c'est bon. Hey everyone, this is Watch What Crappens, a weekly podcast devoted to all that crap on Bravo. I'm Ben Mandelker from bsideblog.com and joining me as always is Matt Whitfield from Yahoo TV. Hi Matt. Hey Ben, what's up? Not much.

And Ronnie Karam from TVgasm. What's going on, Ronnie? Hey, everybody. Okay, everyone. So joining us now is a very special guest, our first ever actual Bravo Liberty. Ladies and gentlemen, the one, the only Jill Zarin, formerly of The Real Housewives of New York City. Hey, Jill. Yay, yay, yay, yay. Jill Zarin.

Yay. I like being the first. Yeah, you're a pioneer on our podcast. I do. I do. I like it. A trailblazer. What's going on, Jill? I'm a trailblazer. Well, you know, I'm alive. That's good.

What is going on? I'm just hanging. I'm just having a good time. I'm home in the city. Home is in the city this week, today. And my daughter's home from college and working the summer in Manhattan, so it's nice for me to come and visit her once a week. That's nice. Isn't that nice of me? Yeah.

No, just hanging. Hanging in bed today, working from home. Speaking of Allie, can you give us a quick update? How are Allie, how are Bobby, your mom, your sister, Ginger? We got to love all of you guys. Thank you. I love it. You and your mom needed a spinoff, but that's a whole other podcast. So why don't you just give us a quick... I'll tell you who to write to afterwards. Just kidding. Okay. Starting with Bobby. Well, you know, we're like attached at the hip. Still are.

Happily married. Even more happily now that I've been introduced to Fifty Shades of Grey, and I'm in love with that book series. Yeah, hell yeah. Yay. Holla. Actually, I should never say that word again after this. We all know who I'm talking about.

It completely ruined that word for me. It's ruined forever. Okay, so that word has been forever. So Bobby is great and healthy. Healthy, wealthy, and wise. All good. And then my beautiful daughter, Allie, she's got a summer job at AOL.

She's working on the Heidi Klum website. Okay. She is the one responsible for putting together all of Heidi's favorite things and editorially writing the descriptions and doing the editing of the Photoshopping and all that stuff. So what I give advice to all, you know, I speak at a lot of colleges, and I give advice to young people, graduating students. I don't care where you go. Give advice to all. You know, I speak at a lot of colleges, and I give advice to young people, graduating students. I don't care where you go.

With the exception of, let's say, Harvard, any other college, you know, it doesn't matter what degree you get. It doesn't matter what your SAT scores were or how well you did. You have to learn Photoshop, and you have to know how to do some programming when you graduate college if you want to get a decent job. Sounds like good advice. It doesn't matter how smart you are. It doesn't matter how smart you are. It doesn't matter how good you are or what your skill is. If you don't know how to do Photoshop or you do know how to do website programming,

you're going to get a better job. You really have to be able to make yourself look cuter in pictures to get a decent job. That's true, too. Absolutely. You know, you should know how to run your own blog and things like that. You really should. That's sort of the future. Life lessons.

Look what you guys are doing. Exactly. Look what you guys are doing. Look at what we're doing. We're a podcast. If I'm hiring people and they have that talent, they have an edge over somebody who got better grades than you did in school. I don't really care what classes you took. And how is your –

Anyway, that's what she's doing. And she goes back. I'll go through the whole thing and then she goes back to college in a couple more weeks. So hopefully in August she will stop working and come spend some time

with Mommy in the Hamptons because I won't see her until Thanksgiving when she goes to school. But she goes to school up in Tuckahoe, though. It's not that far away. No, no.

She's transferred out of Sarah Lawrence. Now she goes to Vanderbilt. Oh. Ah. Time for Bobby to buybilt. Oh. Ah. Time for Bobby to buy some racehorses down in Kentucky. Yeah. I'm for that.

I'm in on that. A girlfriend of mine, actually a mutual friend of mine in Ramona's, has like eight, ten horses down there and is always inviting me. So one of these days I'll get down there. I think we're doing the Derby. Never been to the Kentucky Derby. I want to do the Derby. I was just going to say, we're going to come do the Derby and wear hats with you next May.

Matt has a collection of hats. I got invited this year. I've been invited before. I've just never been able to get my tuch down there. You better go down there. It's always at a weird time. It's like in April, May. It's weird weather.

I don't know. I've never been able to figure it out. One of these days I'll figure it out. It's like on my to-do list. All right. And then ginger is fantastic okay you know thank god hasn't injured herself or anything like that and can you make her bark starting to get cataracts uh-oh can you make her bark right now make a bark all i have to

do is have ally walk in the room oh that's right that's right ginger does not like ally right you know what it is they're like brother and sister who love each other, but just are always fighting with each other. So she does it deliberately because Allie will walk in the room, Ginger will growl at her, I'll take Ginger off the bed as a punishment, and then she'll go back up on the bed because she's got steps, and then she'll start licking Allie's hand. And this is a routine that happens every day. This is an interesting insight into the Zarin household. Somebody's on the other side of my doorman.

Who could that be? Guys, I have to do this, but there's somebody at my door. Can you hold on one sec? Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, of course. Go ahead. Sorry. Let's get Suze on there.

Let's get Suze at the door. My mind is blown. Allie's got a boy caller. Oh, Allie's got a man. Oh, and Allie's indisposed. Okay. That was attractive. Sarah, will you let Allie's

boyfriend in? It's a boy. And put him on the phone, please, Sarah. You just elevated him to boyfriend. I actually think I know who it is, and I think he's gay, so there's going to be no sex going on right now. Is he single? Because I'm single and I need a man. Is he single? I think he's single, but I'll ask him.

He went to Sarah Lawrence with Allie. Then he's definitely gay. Then he's definitely gay, right? Actually, I think there was one straight guy that they were all fighting over there. They were all having sex with him. He got up Metro North at the wrong station. That's what happened. He meant to go.

I know. Oh, you guys know Metro North. Who's from New York? I'm from Westchester. Ah. Yeah, I'm from Katona. I'm from Katona. Katona.

Katona boy. Okay, so I think I covered every... Oh, and Gloria. Gloria is Gloria. Gloria is in Florida. Good. They came up this summer. Actually found them a bridge place so they could play bridge in the Hamptons, and I almost got them to stay more than a week, but it didn't happen.

And then they left. And now my dad's coming up this Tuesday for a few days for business, so he's going to come with me to Good Morning America when I do that gig. So I'm very excited for my dad to see me working. What's the deal with that gig? Well, it's a nice gig. It's not, you know, it's not like a big, big deal, but, you know, for me it's a nice thing. It's once a week where I go to Good Morning America Studios, which is in Times Square,

and it's called Good Afternoon America, hosted by Lara Spencer and Josh. And he is so cute, by the way. He's 6'7". That is not a joke. We're also obsessed with Lara Spencer because have you read her new book? Her book is amazing, by the way. Is it because I saw it?

I'm going to be honest. I haven't read it. I have no idea she's ever written a book. No, she wrote it about shopping. It's my favorite thing, but shopping garage sales. Yeah, it's shopping and it's decorating. It's nothing to's no reading it's my favorite thing but shopping garage sales yeah it's shopping and it's it's decorating it's nothing to do with reading she redecorated kathy griffin's uh place right yes yeah she's extremely talented and she's beautiful and she's kind and sweet and all that stuff and i got her some nice armani makeup today oh so she's gonna be happy

tomorrow uh all right so i got a good hookup so why why don't we, should we jump into some Bravo, or like questions for you about Bravo and stuff like that? Let's just throw ourselves in. Okay, so. Let's just all jump and hold hands. I want to know some gossip, and let us know what you can let us know. Like, what's the status of you and your former cast members, like Luann, Ramona, all of them? Well, Luann and I played tennis a couple times already this summer.

Uh-oh. Uh-oh. No, no, no, no. No uh-oh. And, you know, my tennis has gotten much better. And she's always been a good player. So now we're having, you know, 30, 40 ball rallies. So it's really fun.

Okay. She's got a beautiful, beautiful manicured... Well, first of all, her house is to die. And her land is even more to die. And her tennis court is just manicured and beautiful and perfect. I would expect no less. And as we found out on the show,

she's also a gymnast and she plays football and she plays... She's a hang glider. We can go there. I'll go there with you. The thing is that they really had nothing as Luann told me. There was nothing else. The show is about I was trying to explain this.

I was talking to my husband last night. We were watching it. The way I see the Housewives is if you could read someone's mind, this is what they're thinking. That's what the show's about. Because those little interviews are reading your mind. It's telling is what they're thinking. That's what the show's about. Because those little interviews are reading your mind. It's telling people what you're thinking. In normal

circumstances, you don't get to hear what other people are thinking about you or of you. Jill, when do those take place? How long after filming do those interviews take place? Well, that's a really good question. Let me ask you, how often do you think they do? what's what's your image well i would say like like maybe three times a season

and who else anybody else want to take a guess i'm gonna take a guess that it's all honestly like the week before the reunion tapes and you've got one more person there um i feel like i feel like there's like there's like three or four times and then if they need to pick up something, they do one more set of interviews because always later in the season, someone shows up in a different outfit for the first time. No, no. You're absolutely right. You're the closest to the truth. Who was that, Matt? That was me.

That was Ben. Okay. Okay. You're closest to the truth. What they try to do, they try to do weekly ones, but they never do. The goal is to do it once a week. But what happens is, and maybe in the very beginning of the season they could do once a week, but once the storylines start going, they have to chase the story.

If you have a choice between filming something that's important for a storyline or doing interviews, you're going to follow the story. And that's what always ends up happening. You never have a big enough crew. You never you're going to follow the story. And that's what always ends up happening. You never have a big enough crew. You never have enough people to do the show. So although relatively speaking to other reality shows, Housewives does have a very large crew.

It's got two full-time crews. It's still not enough when you have seven girls in the show. So with that said, they stack them up, and they'll take like two days every couple of weeks and they will make you you know stop stop filming and do interviews um and then at the end of the season they do multiple interviews to try to catch up and then when they start editing the show well they started in the show very early on but as they continue they do, they call it exactly what you said organically. It's called a pickup. That is what it's called.

And they'll pick up sound bites that they're missing. And what's really funny is when I've seen the show edited, no, sorry, when I've seen, we used to get the tape like a few days before the show aired, and it still wasn't finalized.

It still wasn't closed. So you would see the show, and in between two scenes, you'd see in black and white a sentence. And it would say something like, Jill says to Ramona, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know, whatever it said. And that's called a pickup line. And they will literally, if they have to because they don't have the sentence anywhere filmed, they will, you know, film it. And they will film and they will say to you, can you please say X, Y, Z. And it's never something, if they ask you to say something, it's never changing something. Just to clarify.

They're not putting words in your mouth. They're not putting thoughts in your head. Reconfess to that murder that you committed. Right. I mean, they're not going to say, you know, can you say you hate Ramona's guts if you don't hate her, you know, that you love somebody you don't love. It's going to be something that you would have thought.

In a certain way, so it makes sense. That's all. So I don't want you to think that they're editing the show. And when they ask you the questions during the interviews, do they, like, queue up footage and they, like, show you a scene to show you a scene to remind you of what happened? No, it's all through your memory. Bobby's calling me and calling in.

No, actually, my first season, I would say we had the best girl. Her name was Kira, and she had a memory like a hawk. So you remember, I have a scene in September, and then in January or February, they're asking me about it. Like, do you think I remember anything? And I have the worst memory anyway. I don't remember what I did yesterday. So Kira, I would say to her, well, what was I thinking? And she'll know exactly what I was thinking.

She'll say, Jill, this is what happened. Not that she's putting words in my mouth, but she knows me. So they don't show you clips, Jill? No, it's got to go by your memory. You have to try to remember how you felt about something, and that's really hard sometimes. So you just mentioned Luanne a second ago. Are you kind of suggesting that because the London trip was so incredibly boring, they had to try and make something of the footage? Yeah.

Uh-huh. It was funny. I liked it. Look, they're trying to tell a story. I know we need to fill an hour or 42 minutes here on TV each week. So we get that, but I don't think a lot of viewers out there understand the whole thing that people have been talking about since the beginning of reality where editing makes all the difference in the world. Can you speak a little to the editing? Yeah, well, there's no question.

Sorry, go ahead. No, I was just – I know that sometimes you've been vilified. A lot of people have been vilified a lot of people have been vilified just talk about editing in general and how different it really is i think i was the first so i got but i got it i got hit the hardest because people weren't used to it and now that everyone's like you know what when you said that we were i was on speakerfunding you made a joke about it at the time it was a very serious thing it was like an infraction of a code that I had made,

that people assumed what a horrible person I was, that I had the nerve to put Bethany on speaker phone and not tell her that Luann was there, when in fact, number one, she knew what speaker phone meant. All it meant was that no one told me that Bethany was being filmed. So I assumed that she wasn't because I didn't know I was getting a phone call from her. My scene that day was told to me that I would be filming with Luann a couple of different things, one of them being the bed scene where she and I were in bed together. Do you remember that? Yeah. That was the same day.

It was 12 o'clock in the afternoon when we filmed that scene. You know, we had to put the shades down and pretend that you know i put on my night night lingerie anyway so we were filming other stuff that day and then the phone rang and they told me to answer it and i was like i i didn't know who it was i was really like dumbfounded and when i answered it it was bethany i put we were in the middle of our fight and i put her on speakerphone because i didn't know she was being filmed. But Jill, that's crazy because it's insane because people that didn't read your blog

right after that, just casual viewers of the show and even diehard viewers that don't read the stuff on the internet, they would never in a million years know that. And I got killed for it. You got killed for it. I mean, you really got killed for it. Now, you know what? That wouldn't happen now. You see it all the time.

You see the housewives on speakerphone, and nobody ever says it works. I have a question, though. I have a question, though, with that whole speakerphone thing. So, Bethany, you put her on speakerphone, so Bethany should have known. But why didn't you just be like, hey, by the way, Luann's right here? I did. Well, this is what I said. If you remember, listen to this.

She says to me, is anybody there? Uh-huh. And I said, there are other people in the room. And she just kept going. So I didn't say it was Luann. You're right. And I could have and I should have. But the fact that I told her somebody else was in the room, well, who the hell else would be in the room?

She knows I'm being filmed. Do you think I'm sitting by myself? I mean, but in fairness, I should have said Luann. would be in the room. She knows I'm being filmed. Do you think I'm sitting by myself? I mean, but in fairness, I should have said Luann. And by the way, if you really want to out, Luann said to me, don't tell her I'm here. And I didn't listen to her. Do you remember that? Don't tell her I'm here.

And I said, I'm not going to do that. And I said, somebody else is in the room. Huh? Do you remember? How about the time when Ramona called up and you had her on speaker and Luann was there? Now, that was a crazy moment with the speakerphone. Oh, my God. I had no idea.

And again, I had her on speakerphone because we were filming. And I had to. Remember, she didn't have a camera on her. Well, I think that everyone who watches The Housewives talks on their cell phones differently now. Because I just assume that I'm on speakerphone. I also assume that we really are. But you know what? I really paved the way for a lot of different things that happened to me. And I'm sad that they happened to me. But if I help somebody else, I'm happy about that.

Well, look, we also need to point the finger here at Bethany because by you saying that there are other people in this room, I think that honestly, because I'm not on Team Bethany right now, I actually think that she took advantage of that opportunity so that she could then later point the finger at you. That's just my take. You know, that was such an ugly time, and there were so many regrets that I have about things that I did or I didn't do. And, you know, all I can say is that I truly do miss her in a lot of ways. There were things that I miss about her. I miss her funnyness. I miss her. She's so creative. And she's, you know, she's just, she's just, you know, I, you know, I do, I miss that. I'm sorry. I wasn't part of Brynn's life. I liked Jason a lot when I met him.

I never said anything to him about a red Ferrari. I don't know where that came from and certainly Jason's not that kind of guy anyway. But, you know, at the reunion, I don't know if you remember that, she couldn't find something to say to me, so she started saying stuff. And there were things that were so

hurtful, I'm not going to go there, but I just really am proud of her. And everything she said she were so, like, hurtful, I'm not going to go there. But I just really am proud of her. And everything she said she would do, she did, including getting her own talk show, at any expense. And believe me, there's dead bodies all over the place, I'm sure. But she did it, you know, and you've got to give the girl credit for that. I mean, she really did. She went from being just another reality star to, you know, she could be the next Oprah.

Why do you think she's been able to and a lot of the other like-ass swabs who have their brands have never had a chance? Well, the first thing is drive. Yeah. Because it's drive. It really is. I mean, listen, Bethany worked ten times harder than all of us after the show was done. Do you think it's because – do you think it has anything to do with the fact that she was probably, you know, the least well-off out of everybody?

I think that she was driven from that. Yeah, I do too. She really had something to prove. She wanted to prove it to her mother. She wanted to prove it to the people who said, you know, when she didn't win Martha Stewart, the one person she wanted to prove to was Martha and say, you made a mistake.

You picked the wrong girl. You know, that's all she wanted. She wanted Martha Stewart to, you made a mistake. You picked the wrong girl. You know, that's all she wanted. She wanted Martha Stewart to say, I'm sorry, I picked the wrong girl. And she did. Martha eventually came out and said it. Yeah, definitely. She said it, I think, on Andy Cohn's show. So, but, you know, there's not much to say except that, you know, a lot of people look to her now as a role model.

And, you know, that if you work hard enough, you know, you lot of people look to her now as a role model and, you know, that if you work hard enough, you know, you could have it all. And to her, that's what she has is having it all. Well, what about your relationships with Ramona and Alex and Simon and maybe even Cindy Barshop and Kelly Ben Simone? You know, all good. Really? I speak to, yeah, Cindy, I speak to on occasion and I'm sorry to get to film with her more seasons because I really had a lot of fun with Cindy. She was the outsider and didn't have any history with anybody, so it was nice. It was refreshing to have someone new.

Kelly and I go up and down in terms of talking. We talk for a few months, and we don't talk for a few months. She's busy going in her direction. I'm busy going in mine. Who else is left? Alex. Alex. I've spoken to Alex and Simon.

I called them when the show first aired. And I, you know, wanted to make sure. You know, I just called to check in on them, make sure they're okay. I was, you know, concerned. Believe it or not. Concerned. I was concerned about everything we'd been through. I was.

I felt very know, I felt very bad. I felt very bad that they will let go. I know that they made a living off the show. You know, listen, the truth is the show was a hobby for me. I didn't do it to make a living. It wasn't my livelihood. And I, you know, married to a considerably successful guy.

And although I've been successful in my own career and I've saved a lot of money myself, you know, Simon and Alex are much younger he isn't but she is you know considerably younger small children um and had for whatever reason lost her job at Victoria's Secret whether it was the economy or it was the show and she'd never enough time whatever the reason was she didn't have anything to fall back on so when they let us all go without warning you know they were sort of up a creek. Well, how did that, how did that happen? Do you guys hear about that stuff online or did they even have the decency to call you? Cause sometimes it just seems like everything happens on Twitter. You know, it's like, did you guys,

we got a phone call. Listen, we were, I knew, I knew, uh, I knew something was up and I knew something was up and I had told the girls that, and they didn't believe me. And I, unfortunately for them, turned out to be right. You know, for me, it was time to go. I knew it was time to go. I had shared my feelings with some people at Bravo that Four Seasons was enough for Bobby and that he didn't want to come back anymore. And that's not a secret.

That was in the newspapers in New York that Bobby and I were overheard discussing us not returning. So we want to come back to the show. Was this a ratings decision, do you think? Or do you think it just got so volatile that it was time to change it? No, you know what? Listen, I think that, I think there's, I think there's a lot of mixed messages that came out of Bravo, and I'm not sure exactly who it was from. I heard different things just like you did. I heard that it was because some people on Twitter, Andy Cohn two weeks ago gave a story to Advertising Age, which is a very respectable publication, and he said that ratings are like cocaine.

I think it was like something like it was about cocaine. Yeah, he said that it was about social media. You know, they follow social media and that was the main reason. Which is very scary to me because I know that nobody I know is on Twitter, personally. It seemed like an excuse because, quite frankly, there have been many housewives who have drawn the ire of many Twitter followers. Taylor Armstrong. Exactly. They've knocked on fire.

They've knocked on fire. By the way, I don't think she should be fired for the simple reason she needs the money. And after what the show, you know, to me, did to her family, she needed the job and they owed it to her, at least to give it to her, give her a job. But there were many housewives who had the air. The thing is, you know, for me, you know, from a business point of view, I have the most followers and the decision that they made, I don't know what the reason was. It could have been ratings.

It could have been, they gave mixed messages. To me, one of the messages that they gave was that they wanted it to be a classier, higher-end, more expensive type of lifestyle like Beverly Hills kind of show. So how did you feel about it? But then I watched the show, and I don't get that feeling at all. I mean, when they're in London and they're in London and they're, you know, gawking at a penthouse, you know, that I, you know, wouldn't even, that I, I've either stayed at, you know, I, it isn't of such a level that it's worthy of staying in that night to enjoy. Right. That's like a weekend. If you're rich, if you're rich, like, why do you care about a penthouse and a hotel? You live that way every day.

You live in something nice. Well, what about poor Sonia? I did not. It's not. So to me, right. And Sonia, you know, doesn't have any money. Let her enjoy her penthouse. You know, by the way, did you notice the resemblance, you know, in parties, which I thought is funny.

And poor Sonia has to take a hit for it. Last year, I was told that we were having a masquerade ball. And Bobby and I didn't eat dinner that night. And we go to this masquerade ball. Where is the food, Jill? Where is the food? And there's no food. And you know me about my food.

Oh, yeah. And then the girls go to another party from song and there's no food. And that's because it's not a real party. Ladies and gentlemen, Jill Zarin cannot just exist on Diet Coke. She needs some sustenance. Thank you. I appreciate that. It's like the production

crew told Sonya at the last second she couldn't just use craft services. Wait, what happened? Is that a joke? Yes. Yeah, I'm just joking. Oh, I didn't get it. You cannot take in this picnic table full of Doritos, okay, Sonya?

Would you ever have Sonya plan a party for you, Jill? No, but because I love to plan parties. You know, my reputation before I did Housewives was I always had the best 4th of July party in the Hamptons. If you go online and you type in my name prior to Housewives, the only thing I was on the Internet for were my parties. Well, Jill, I'm sorry, but now Madeline Stowe on Revenge has the best 4th of July Hamptons. Yeah, she does. Madeline Stowe on Revenge. Have you ever seen that show, Revenge? No. It's all about the Hamptons.

I did, but I think I saw it again. Well, no, you know, I don't have the parties anymore because the last year I had it, everyone crashed. It was crazy. Oh, wow. I gotta talk about ratings because we were just touching on that for a second. So I know, Jill, I don't know how deep you want to get into this, but I mean, it's fairly obvious.

The ratings are tanking this season for New York. They're averaging about 1.25 million viewers down significantly. Half the amount of viewers that tune into OC and Jersey. I just need you to speculate a little bit here. Why do you think that is? Is that because you guys are no longer on the show? Is it because people are tired? Do they not like the new cast members?

Go. Well, I think that if you read the social media, I think that what they're saying is they're angry. I think it's a backlash that Bravo, the first real housewife show was New York. I mean, they had OC, but the one that they put a lot of money behind advertising was New York. And by the way, that was because Project Runway went to Lifetime, and they had made a huge media buy.

And they had to spend the money. And they weren't going to do it on Project Runway. So they put a lot of money into promoting New York. They put us on the buses. They did all that stuff. And we got a lot of press, a ton of press. You know, I remember I was like the top 25 entertainers of the year in one magazine. I mean, it was just a crazy time for all of us.

And I think that the fans were angry. I mean, there were mainstays. Bethany and I were the mainstays with Ramona. And, of course, Bethany went on to do her own show. But, you know, it's hard to get rid of the main, you know, fire the main people. And every time it's happened in the past on a major show, it's usually been the demise. I mean, I made reference to Dallas in one of my blogs. Yeah, I was going to ask you about that.

You know, a lot of people related to that. And I wasn't trying to, I certainly wasn't telling people to boycott or not watch. I tell people I watch the show. I watch the show. So I'm certainly not encouraging anybody to boycott Housewives of New York at all. In fact, you know, I enjoy watching it because I know some of the girls. But, you know, they did that with Dallas, and they thought that they could get rid of, you know, main characters, and they realized they couldn't. You know, you just, you can't, you can't have people invest so much time and love or hate into fans, into their characters, and then just make, not even make mention of them when they left.

Like, we left. They never said that we went anywhere. They just pretended like we never existed. And that was like an insult. I think that was an insult to the fans. And I think the fans are telling the network, we're mad at you. And we're not going to watch your show anymore. That's what I think.

What do you think about the new cast? What do you think about the new girls? I think some of them are better than others. I'm not going to get into who I like and who I don't. I don't think it's important. It's important whether you like them or not. We don't like any of them. They're okay.

Really? You don't like any of them? Not really. It's up and down, I find. I like Carol, kind of. I kind of like Carol, too. But you're watching it. Yeah.

So, you see, that's all that matters is are you watching it. And I don't know, why do you think no one's watching it? Well, I do a podcast every week about it. I do a podcast every week about it, and I'm not watching it. I've missed two weeks in a row. Well, I'll tell you something. There was another girl. I'm not going to mention names.

There's another girl who had a weekly blog that got a lot of hits, and she decided after the second episode that she wasn't going to write about it anymore. And I always said this, you know, whether you have haters or lovers, when they stop writing about you, that's when it's over. You see, to me, you know, and I'm sure you know, I've had my haters and I've had people who haven't liked me, but they still write about me. You know, and that's really all that, when you're in the position that I'm in, you just want people to talk about you, good or bad, because that means you count.

If they stop talking about you, it's over. Do you know that there's a Twitter account called Blocked by Jill Zarin? I sure do. Who is it? Do we know who it is? I don't think it's anyone famous. It's Countess Luann. Of course it's not someone famous. We think it's Luann.

Yeah, I know. You guys have bad experience. I certainly do. And you know what? I did, for a while, block people because I'm a human being like everybody. And sometimes it would get to me and hurt my feelings when I would go on my Twitter and I'd have to read hate. Well, I'm sure. Or they would curse at me or hate about me or say nasty things about my family.

Listen, you can write whatever you want. It's a free country, but I don't have to follow it. And I have every right to block it if I want to. But now I don't have to block anymore because I have this new Twitter thing, Twitter program, that you can zip things. So if somebody writes something that, you know, somebody is a habitual writer of things that are not nice about me, I could zip them, but you won't know it. So they can still follow me. I just won't be able to see it. Oh, okay.

And if I don't have to see it, I don't really care what you're writing. All right. Yeah, exactly. You know, as long as it's not on my timeline, I don't care. Have you zipped any of your, have you zipped Ramona? As I said, the more they write about me, the more famous they make me, the more successful I am. And it's because of them. So now I have a question about Ramona.

All right, so you guys used to be friends for many years, right? And now you guys are, are you guys still friends, or what's going on with you and Ramona? We're good. We're good. We're actually in a very good place right now. Well, I Googled news to you, and it's like the first things that come up are good afternoon, Jill Zarin, and that's what I'll call it.

That's what it'll be called today. Good afternoon, Jill Zarin. I love it! Something about Ramona getting all pissed off at you because of comments you made about the Learning Annex, which, listen, I don't know what you said. I'll tell you what I did. I was on Good Afternoon America,

and they're asking me to talk about certain things, and I'm going to talk about them. That's why they have me on, just like you want to ask me questions. That's why you have me on. And I thought I was being funny. Obviously, she didn't think it was funny. So I really did, and I didn't mean to be mean. I wasn't trying to be mean.

It was obvious that what I said was true, and I just sort of said what other people were thinking. Just like Ramona says that she's known for saying things that other people are thinking. Yeah, you can be sorry all you want, but, I mean, it was ridiculous. There was, like, half a room there, and it was kind of embarrassing. So that's how we felt. I just said it. I just said what you were thinking. Yeah, exactly.

But I wasn't trying to. I'm not trying to start a fight with her at all. I'm not on the show anymore. We're mutual friends. There's no reason for us to be in a fight at all. But here's the problem with Ramona, though. The issue is she wants to be the person who always says, I'm up front. I'm telling you like it is. And then she can't handle it when other people do that in return.

I just had to put that out there. Well, I know someone else like that in my family. I'm not going to say who can give it, but they can't take it. I mean, you know, that's called giving it, but you can't take it. Close, close. But you know what I mean? Some people can give it and they can't take it. And most people can give it and can't take it.

You're right. Most people can't take it. Can we talk a little bit about last night's Real Housewives of New York City? Can we talk about Ramona versus Heather? Sure. Where does everyone here stand in that latest confrontation? Team Ramona or team Heather? Here's my deal.

Here's my deal. Every single week I flip-flop on Heather. Yeah, me too. Sometimes she's crazy and then other times I love her. And you know what? At the moment... Where are you this week? I'm riding high on Heather because she's chasing Ramona down and confronting her and making her

discuss the issues, because I hate when Ramona likes to punch and run. I can't stand that. Yeah, I thought it was actually hilarious watching Heather trail her around. I know, but I can't... You know, does anybody see a physical resemblance of the way she smiles to somebody on another Housewives show? Yes, and it's creepy.

It's creepy, bizarre. Who do you think it is? Well, I would say the Joker from Batman. No, no, no, no, no. I'm not even kidding. But no, there's another Housewife who smiles. Andy Cohen. No, who's got the same habit with the nose crinkle.

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Join Wondery Plus on the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Oh, Tamara? Tamara has that weird nose. Tamara has that. It's because she does it too. She scrunches the nose. It's the devil's crinkle. It's the devil's crinkle.

She's going to need her face done probably earlier than she would because she's wrinkling her nose. It's a habit. It's like a habit. You know what? I have to say, I was on Heather's side last night because I thought it was hilarious that she kept on chasing Ramona around. But that being said, when Ramona is telling you you're being fake and I'm speaking to you and you give me that fake smile, and then she gives that fake smile and says I'm not smiling. I know.

That's irritating. I know. I don't understand why Ramona would do that. I thought I was irritated. I was on Ramona's side, actually. Yeah, but I mean, what are you supposed to do? Just shut the fuck up, Ramona. I don't like you.

Get out of my face. But you know what bugs me about it, Jill? No, no, but it was. It was, you know what? She was talking out of both sides of her mouth. She was saying, you know, I thought we were past it. You know, she says, I thought we were past it. Why would we be past it?

You just completely didn't invite me to London. You're on my television show. Seriously. Think of it from a moment's point of view. You're going to get Matt mad. You're going to get Matt so mad. You're going to get Matt so mad. You're going to get Matt so mad.

You're going to get Matt so mad. You're going to get Matt so mad. You're going to get Matt so mad. You're going to get Matt so mad. You're going to get Matt so mad. And you don't invite me to London? No, wait, Matt. Wait.

Hold on one second. Because this is what happened when you were on. I remember, I think it was the last reunion. No, it was the last year Bethany was on during that reunion. Season three. And Ramona was accusing you of trying to get people to not film with Bethany. So now we come to this season, and that's exactly what this bitch Heather is doing with Ramona. You're right.

It's not filming with Ramona. Oh, I didn't think of that. It's such an obvious parallel. By the way, let me just tell you where that came from. I want to set the record straight on that, too, which I've set the record straight before, but I will set it with you guys. Please do. I have the worst memory in America, like the worst. And Bethany, just so you know, which you probably don't know about her,

has a memory like an elephant, meaning she remembers everything that she ever said and everything anyone said to her since she was born. I'm not kidding. And it's an incredible gift. No, no, it's an incredible gift because she could always use my words against me, and I don't even remember what I said. Now, I'm one of these people who just say whatever I'm thinking and don't remember. Is it probably true that I said at some point on the phone in anger, I don't want to film

with her? Sure. Did I mean it? No. And does she think I mean it? No. She knows I didn't mean it. Okay, but you are.

And by the way, Bethany, and I've said this, told me not to film with Kelly. Oh, snap. When Kelly first started, and I've said this before, when Kelly first started, I didn't know

who Kelly was, but Bethany did, as you know, in the history, they knew each other. And Bethany told me, if you don't film with Kelly, she won't exist.

And then they won't put her on the show. And I did whatever Bethany told me to do. But then Bethany filmed with her. So I said, well, if you're going to film with her, then I better film with her or I'm going to be out. I have a really important question here

because you just said that, you know, Heather kind of needs to watch herself because she's joining Ramona's show. Talk about the veterans and when the newbies come in and is there supposed to be some more respect there or is it just everybody is on the same playing field? Well, listen, Sonia says that there's a pecking order. Oh, yeah.

I mean, that I do remember, even though I have no memory. Ramona invites you to a party? And I got to tell you something. I never heard of something so ridiculous in my life until I actually thought about it and said, you know what? There's a little truth in that. A little bit. There's a little bit in that. A little bit. There's a little bit.

Not a lot. You know, it only gets you for maybe your first season. In other words, I was on before Kelly, but after the second season, I was on one more season than her. But after she was on a full season, I would consider us equal. I wouldn't say, well,

I was on an extra year. So I say you get away with that for the first year. And I think there's a learning curve. So there's no question if you get friendly with people who are already on the show, it's to your benefit because you're going to learn something from them. I have a question. This sort of

relates to this in terms of cast members and veterans and people being like the pecking order and stuff. If Bravo ever did a show where they brought back all the housewives together, former ones or new ones, and they all made you guys compete in some sort of Olympic Games of housewives, would you do it? Well, you know, it's funny. Andy Combe once made a joke to me. I think somebody said to him, you know, why don't you do a show with like Nene and Jill and Nikki, you know, like a desert island? And he said, well, if the ratings ever go down really far, we'll probably have to do it.

Well, then get ready because they're going to be calling you. I don't think they're calling me. I don't think they're calling me. But you know what? I would never say no to anything, but I would say it's highly unlikely that I would. I would like you to reconsider that. I personally would like you to reconsider that. I personally haven't asked me, so you'll have to call. Listen, you know what I find interesting that on Andy's

show with, you know, there's like literally hundreds of emails, if not thousands, the day of a housewife show asking about me, you know, to me, you know, and I know Andy sees it, you know, Andy, why is Jill off the show? And We want her back and all this other stuff. But it's interesting to me that yet nobody's been able to get a question on air on Andy's show. Because they block you, Jill. They are blocking you. It's not just me. I'm sure there's a lot of fans of Alex and of Kelly and even of Cindy who would like to know what they're up to.

And I just want to get an effect. even of Cindy, who would like to know what they're up to. And I just want to get an effect. It would be nice if Andy said, you know, I just want to give the fans of Housewives as a brand an update, also because there's so many foreign fans who don't even know what's going on and they're just watching the show for the first time. So it would be nice if Andy said, you know, I want to give an update, Jill's doing this or Cindy's doing that,

because there's no hard feelings as far as I'm concerned with the network. I mean, I had a great run for four years. I actually think that, you know, there's a serious problem there because, as you mentioned, the fans want to know what happened to you guys. What happened? Where are we all right now? Yeah, we read your blogs and we do all of that, but at the same time, like, Andy never— But that's you.

You know how many fans don't have computers, don't know we have a blog, don't have Twitter, don't have Facebook? What I'm saying is, like, I never felt you guys, who took this franchise to a whole new level, because like you said, New York really blew this up, not OC. This was New York. So my whole thing is, how—like, why didn't you guys get a proper send-off? Hello? I lost you. You there? I'm sorry. I missed it. Oh, no, why didn't you guys get a proper send-off? Hello? I lost you. I'm sorry. I missed it. Oh, no, I missed it.

You said blow to a whole new level. I got it. Yeah, so you guys took it to a whole new level, and I just kind of felt like Bravo didn't give you guys a proper send-off. Your fans want to know where you are and what's going on. I feel bad about that. You know what I mean? I don't feel, you know, the last thing I want to do is anything, you know, for them, but I want to do it for the fans. Do you know what I mean?

And I feel bad. I remember Andy said that we would love to have you on Watch What Happens when New York starts. Because I'm sure the fans will want to hear from you. And they never called. And it's fine. Blocked by Andy Cohen. You should start up a Twitter account. Have you read his book? Because he kind of glosses over you in the book. And it doesn fine. Blocked by Andy Cohen. You should start up a Twitter account. Have you read his book?

Because he kind of glosses over you in the book, and it doesn't, like, clearly there's stuff to say, and I feel like, I don't know why he doesn't, but he just glosses over you real fast. Well, here's what I want to say. I'm curious. What did he say about Bethany? Did he gloss over her, too? No, I don't think he glosses over her that much in the book,

because, I mean, look, she's – I don't know. I feel like he kind of sees her as – I think he owes her whole career to him. Of course. I mean, if it wasn't for Andy. Right, but she's also a cash cow for him, so it's kind of like a mutual thing right there. Let me ask you a question, though. Can I ask you guys a question?

Yeah. Of course. Do you find it weird that she hasn't been on as a guest on her show, and she hasn't been on his show to promote her show? In other words, Andy went all over the world to promote his book on every talk show. You know, Jimmy Fallon, every show he could get on, but yet he didn't promote his book on Bethany, and he was in California when his book came out and she was filming. And I find that she's in New York this week, and she's not on his show.

Well, I actually think that her, My thing is this. I think that her days are numbered. No way. Her show's getting picked up and she could be the next Oprah. Yeah, she's going to be doing fine, I think. Well, I'm not suggesting that she's not doing fine. I'm suggesting that her... And by the way, if she didn't do one more thing, she's fine.

I'm just saying... In other words, she made her money. All I'm saying is I think that her days with Bravo might be numbered. Oh, that's done. I think Bravo's finished. Look, what I'm trying to say is I think that Bravo Andy is kind of upset that she broke away from him and is moving on to work with Ellen. And I think that he holds grudges. And I think that he is now done with her because she's moving on. You know what's weird? He invited

her to his book party at Anderson Cooper's house, and she went. I personally don't think it's strange. I don't know. There's something weird going on. By the way, she tried to get... You know, she wanted to do a daytime talk show. Wait, she wanted to do a talk show on Bravo

first. She went to them first, and they said no. So they're like, you know, they made a mistake. They messed it up. They gave it to Kathy. What do you guys think of Kathy's show? Well, be honest. I feel like it should be

better considering who's involved. I think it's getting better. It only needs to be a half hour. An hour is way too long. I love her commercials. Her commercials are brilliant. But the rest of the show you don't love. I think she's brilliant, and we know a couple of the writers on it,

and they're really fantastic. I think a lot of it is just that Kathy is so uncomfortable. Well, they've got to cut that song out. That song is driving me up the wall. I don't like the song either. No, it's not that I don't like it. I like it. I just don't like song either. No, it's something I don't like. I like it. I just don't like to hear it 50,000 times. I'm going to make a bold statement right now. I actually think that Bravo

is in serious trouble right now, and I think the Housewives of New York, with that ratings drop, I think that we are at the tip of an iceberg here. I think you look at a lot of these new shows that they've launched in the past year around the world in 80 plates, bombed on a huge budget. By the way, they're all Andy shows. Right. And Misadvised is only scoring 400,000 viewers. I mean, a lot of their shows are... No, no, no. And that other show, hold on,

the other show got 200,000. It didn't even make ratings with the blonde girl who they're bringing back in two weeks. Exactly. And really, by the way, hurt Patty Stanger's feelings. If nothing else, they never gave her a heads up. They have every right to do whatever they want. Right, and Patty should be completely pissed. And she was, because it was a respect thing. That's all. She gave her life to the network for seven years, and for them to go behind her back

and to do another show two times with two different women, two different matchmaking shows one was misadvised with three and then the other one with one they never even said to her hey listen patty you know what we love you but you know we got to do what we got to do and you know what she would totally respect that she's a businesswoman but the crazy thing is the viewers and the fans are also recognizing that and i think that's why we're not getting on board with a lot of these new shows. Look, a lot of this is about, you know, Bravo to us is like Real Housewives. It's well, you're an educated consumer. You know, you're not like a typical network. I mean, I'm not putting down any of the networks, but not every network has such an educated audience. Right. And Bravo fans are diehard crazy fans that want to know everything.

So that's smart. And you can't lie to them. You can't lie to a Bravo fan. Right. And so the network is kind of doing that to this super smart fan base. And I think that they're really biting themselves in the ass. And it's really not going to pay off. I think that a lot of the new shows that are coming up are kind of doomed. I don't know. I gave my heart and soul

to Bravo. And the only resentment that I have is that I don't think that I was treated nicely when I was let go. I'm okay with them firing me because I was leaving anyway, but the way they did it, they could have done it in a different way. But I have no hard feelings. And let me tell you, they changed my life forever. And I will always be grateful. And I will only say the nicest things about that network because they did so much for me. I mean, think about it. They changed my life. If we're ever in New York.

You know, so they fired me. You know what? Who ever thought I'd get four years on the show? You know? That's right. Nobody gets four years on a reality show. Think about the amount of shows that you like and how long they last. Now, if we were to be in New York and we popped into Zarin Fabrics,

would we see you working behind the counter or are you not there anymore because you're so busy? Well, you know what? There was like two or three years that I was there with Brad, when Brad worked there. And I was really like diehard into it. But I admit I have ADD and it's hard for me to focus on one thing now. And being in a store is not, I can't do it. I've got to be moving and shaking. So I do pop into the store. If you let me when you're in New York, I'll try to be there when you come in, but I'm not there every day. By any means. And in the summer, you know, doing my best to have fun. I mean, I try really hard.

It's very hard. But I do. I try very hard to have fun. And I'm just teasing. And I'm playing tennis. And I, you know, I've got Todd English. Here's a little scoop. I've got Todd English coming to my house this week and staying with us with his

girlfriend. Very nice because he's cooking at an event in the Hamptons so he's staying with his friend Jill. I asked this of everyone who has a house in the Hamptons. Do you know Ina Garten? Ina Garten. Is that a joke? Another joke I'm not getting?

No, she's your neighbor in the Hamptons. Oh, Ina Garten. Ina Garten. She's your neighbor on Hamptons. Oh, Ina Garten. I know that name. Well, you should know her food. She's good. I do. I know that name.

I do know that name. I absolutely know that name. Well, you should. I live right down the block from the Countess. Okay. And I love to play tennis with her. As you know, I'm working on my brand, and I'm doing all that fun stuff. And you never know. You might see me on TV again.

Not only with Good Afternoon America, which was like, you know, a lot of people said, well, I planned it and I knew and blah, blah, blah. That's not true. I'll give you more scoop. You know, it only happened a couple of weeks ago. I got a phone call from one of the producers at Good Morning America who was now working on this project and said, you know, would you be available on Wednesdays this summer? It's a nine-week show until Katie Couric comes on. We got that. We got that. I love that. I know you did.

And I like it. I like it. Couric better anyway. It's cute. And by the way, I'm one of the few Alexis fans. I like Alexis. You have a soulmate in Matt Whitfield over here. I like her. I like her. You have a soulmate in Matt Whitfield over here. I like her. I like her. They beat up on her.

Heather is too mean to her. No, Heather, Heather's a, I like Heather and as Jill knows, Jill knows Chappaqua. Heather's local to us, right?

You know? Yeah, but that doesn't, that's not necessarily what they thought. Yeah, it does not excuse Tamara and Heather from being evil to a dumb girl.

Like, she's a weak little, I know. Okay, first of all, they're all dumb. They're all dumb. I're all dumb, okay? But I'm going to see... I may see Miss Tamara this weekend because she's hosting some kind of party in the Hamptons.

She's coming each time. You should tell Tamara to come on to watch where crap ends. I will fight her. You got it. That name, crap ends, it's a tough name to sell. Crap ends? It's an easy name to sell. Do you spell it with a C or do you spell it with a K? C. It's like happens. It's an easy name to sell. Do you spell it with a C or do you spell it with a K?

C. I think it's a change to a K. I got that. I got that, but I think it's going to be with a K. No, because then it's kind of like a Kardashian. Yeah. No, because then it's like Kardashian. It kind of looks like cereal at that point, you know?

Do you guys follow Kardashian? No. No, gross. Listen, after watching all you crazy ladies on TV, I can't take on a whole other network's worth of crazy ladies. This is the thing. If I came back to television to do reality, it would be real.

As real as it could be on reality, but it would be real. I can't stand... The show changed. It was never like this in the beginning. When Bethany and I were on, we were like, thick as thieves. No, and those were the, I mean, we were like, thick as thieves. I hate that these girls...

I'll give you something else that I picked up yesterday. Hold on. Who's here? Hi, Tori. Hi, sweetheart. How are you? Oh, I was having a party. She didn't know I was going to be on tonight. So they're all coming over. Oh, here's Ginger. Hold on. Oh, I think I heard Ginger. Say hi.

Oh, now she won't Hold on. Oh, I think I heard Ginger. Say hi. Say hi. Oh, now she won't say hi. She refuses. I scared her. Wait, what was I telling you? I had an inside story. Based on last night's show. It was based on last night's show.

Oh, based on last night's show. I'm watching the show, and this is the other thing that bothers me. The network cannot make a decision. They can't decide how the viewer is supposed to understand how these girls have met. You know,

so the first episode, they're all at Sonya's house and I think Luann brought them as her friends. Yeah. Then,

you know, Holler Girl is running around as if they're all BFF, you know, calling Carol Razzy, you know, like they've been friends for 30 years.

And Luann Pumpkinhead. Pumpkinhead. Whatever. Well, that's a mean name. That's not nice. That wasn't nice. But I'm just saying, you know, Razzie and all these, like, you know, endearing names that you only get when you know someone a very long time.

Right. It's totally fake. It's totally fake. But now they're all fake. They're all best friends. And when she's on the phone, and, but I don't know how else they would do it. That's the thing. But they're on the phone planning the trip to London.

Remember when she was in the office, and somebody was, I don't remember who was in her office. It was in Heather's office, and she's calling Razzy on the phone. I think Sonia was there, right? Sonia was getting business advice, and she's like, you know what? I'm going to London, and I want to invite my girlfriends for the weekend or whatever. And like, you know, sure, everybody just drops what they're doing in their life and runs to London for a weekend to play croquet and stand up like fools and say why you love something that you never even heard of. And then this is what was weird. At the party, at the anniversary party, by the way, who makes an anniversary party?

You know, 17 years was weird. So it's five. Okay. I yelled at Ramona. anniversary party, by the way, who makes an anniversary party, you know, 17 years was weird, so is 5. Okay? I'm telling you. I yelled at Ramona about 17, I got it, you know, and I happen to like Aviva. I think 5 is weird and she would tell me, I think it's weird too, they made me do it. And where is Fran Drescher

by the way, at her brother's anniversary party, I would like to ask. I think Fran's been filmed, so that's coming. I'm pretty sure she's filmed unless they cut her out. Oh, then I'm going to watch it again. No, no, but you'll know in the coming attractions, they would never not put that in the coming attractions. So listen, so this is what I thought was weird,

that the men were introduced on camera for the first time to the ladies. Now, they could have cut that out. In other words, they could have been introduced but then cut it out, so it appears that they all know each other. But then when Razzie, no, when Heavy introduces her hubby to Ramona and Mario and says, this is my husband, it's like weird because you just,

you sort of presented to me at the beginning of the season that you're all best friends. You expected to be taken to England on a trip, but yet you don't know my husband? Right. You're not giving me, I can't figure it out as a viewer. You know, I can't figure out, are they friends, aren't they friends? How do you fake it? You know, this is a reality show.

That's why it doesn't work for me, and that's why the viewers aren't watching. Okay, well, let me ask you this. Because they're not friends in real life. You have to be friends in real life. Yeah, I agree with that. That's my bottom line. You can't keep pulling these shows together of women who don't

know each other. It's not working. That's the bottom line. I'm figuring it out as I'm speaking to you. But wait, did you guys all know each other? You all knew each other in the beginning? Yes! I was the connector! Oh, I didn't know. Everyone, everyone, but hold on. I brought Luanne on the show, and Andy said it in his book.

I think Andy said I brought Ramona on the show. He had the wrong girl. I brought Luann on the show. Ramona I introduced to someone else. Bethany I brought on the show. And Alex, no one knew. She was cast for another show that didn't happen, so they moved her into this show.

And that's why she was the outsider for many reasons. Not only did she live in Brooklyn, and she was much younger than us, but she also didn't fit into our social circle, so it was easy for it to be, you know, four against one. So, but now, you've got these, you know, three girls against three singles who are not friends. Like, it would have been okay if the three singles were friends with each other. So then it would be three friends against three friends. Okay, can I ask you one question? Go ahead, Ben.

Oh, no. We're going into hour two, right? I know, hour two. It's too long an interview. Sorry, guys. I was going to say this, and then, Matt, you can ask your question, because I know you've been chomping at the bit to ask a question here. But I just think the real problem at the end of the day

is that the three women that they brought on just aren't that compelling. You know, Carol is smart, and she was actually very funny on last night's episode. Heather, you know, she's sort of like, she stirs the pot a little bit in terms of like she has this issue with Ramona. And Aviva seems just sort of like almost too normal to be on a reality show. Well, but it also makes the pros look like they're doing theater because they're so good at like, all right, let's fight.

All right, here's going to be our fight for the season. Let's go for it. And the other ladies are like, what? Well, this is the thing, right? Well, you know, this is the thing.

You can't have it both ways, guys. So Andy Cohn told us or, you know, told the press and the media or somebody told the media that the show had gone

to a dark place that they decided to recast after the reunion. Everything was fine after the last episode in June. It was after the reunion in July that everything changed and they decided based on their, you know, they do all these focus groups, that after the focus groups they had said that the show had gone too dark and gotten too mean and the girls were too mean to each other and the reunion was a disaster in their mind.

Meanwhile, the ratings were up, so I don't know why that was considered a disaster. Well, and sidebar, if we're going to talk about dark things, let's talk about Taylor Armstrong's husband, my God. I don't understand. No, no, but look at New Jersey. You can't get darker than these two siblings who are fighting and killing each other.

And physically, no, so do I. Possibly dating. But that's dark. So it's like a hypocrisy. You can't have it both ways. You can't say that the show is too dark and we want to have it nice, and then you bring on these nice girls

and then you say they're boring. What are you going to do? I think that it needs to be... Sorry. What do you want it... No, no, so what is it? Do you want it boring? I think if it needs...

No, I think that if it's going to be new girls, it has to be all new girls. I don't think it can be, you know, because that's what I'm saying. Luann and Ramona are like going into their old, all right, we're fighting. She's blackmailing you ladies. Let's go to La Androa. And they look like they're playing the cat skills where, you know, the other girls are like in community theater.

They need to, they need to have it. Did you read my blog? Did you read my blog about that? Where I said, if I have to believe that they made up, I'm going to vomit? No, no, really. I was like, how could Ramona and Luann make up after everything that had happened

between them in three minutes? I said, I'll vomit right here. Tamara and Gretchen, you know, that's just how it is. They're like, okay, we're out of a storyline. Let's go to lunch. Well, I happen to like the Tamra Gretchen being friends. I think it's funny. And Vicky's out. Vicky is out.

I mean, in real life, they are not talking. Now, how are they going to do another season? And what's going to happen without each other? I'm going to tell you, if they were smart, they would pay Gina Kehoe a ton of money to come back and team back up with Vicky to take on Tamara and Gretchen. And also bring on Rihanna and Lori. I don't think they'll do it. They don't like to go back. See, this is the thing. They're, you know, penny wise,

pound foolish, but it's a different expression. They would never eat their own mistake. They would never admit a mistake, the network, and say we have to bring someone back. They bring Gina back every year, so it seems like they wouldn't be so against it. She's at least in one episode. Who?

They bring Gina back in all the, you know, party episodes. I'll bring her back like once or twice a year. And they pay her, you know, I know. And you know what happened with that. The reason why Gina's off the show is because they were negotiating for money together, the three of them, Gina, Tamara, and Vicky. And then Vicky and Tamara took the money and told Gina not to,

that they weren't taking it. And then the network got rid of her. Yeah. But it does seem, though, that Vicky and Gina have come to some kind of agreement. They both screwed each other

over multiple times. And I do think that they are kind of... And, you know, I mean, I also have to say this. I think they're also the same age and like Gretchen is a lot younger than them. So I would like to see them team up and be friends again. That would be great. You're right.

They should bring her back. Gina loves a one-off check to show up at the reunion parties. I mean, girlfriend will take. Hold on, let me just say goodbye to my daughter. Everyone say goodbye to Allie. Hold on. Let me put you on speaker. I'm going to let you say goodbye to her.

Okay. Say goodbye. Bye, Allie. Bye, Allie. And Ginger. Fine me put you on speaker. I'm going to let you stay right out. Okay. Say goodbye. Bye, Allie. And Ginger. Fine. Where are you guys going? Okay. Where are you going? Mediterranean. Oh, my favorite. You look beautiful. You should see how gorgeous Allie looks.

Three guys who I'm doing an interview with. Come on. Ginger, you hear her? Just that. Don't fight everybody. Come on, little bitch you hear her? Just that. Don't fight everybody. Come on, little bitch. Come on. Nice night, honey.

Oh, thanks. You look good. Yeah, I'm in a night cam with no bra on. It's nice, right? That's why I made a friend. Don't worry. It's audio. Audio only.

Okay, chill, chill, chill. I didn't say no clothes on. I didn't say no clothes. Okay, so if the ratings are going to continue to tank for New York, and they're probably just going to keep dipping as the season goes on, what do you think is going to happen with the franchise at the end? Do you think that

Bravo would have the balls to cut everybody, or do you think they're going to try and retool it again and keep some of them, or are they going to wipe the slate clean? I think if they didn't have any emotion involved, and they did what was best for the brand and the business, they would, and I'm not saying they should bring back

the cast, like Dallas, and pretend the season never happened. And just pick up where they left off two years ago. And I think it would be ratings gold. I think that the fans want their girls back. No matter who they throw at them, they want New Yorkers.

They want Jill. And I'm saying this as not me. They want their Jill. They want their Kelly. And they want their Alex. Mostly they want their Alex and they want their Jill. Do you think that the other women

that you just mentioned would ever consider that? Or are they all done? I don't know. I think they would, to be honest. I know Alex. I think Alex done? I don't know. I think they would, to be honest. I know Alex. I think Alex would. I don't know. I think that given the right opportunity, anybody would do anything. You know that. For me, I really have moved on. I'm in a little bit different situation because of my husband and what we want to do with our lives. But you know

what? I'm never going to say no without having something in front of me to say no to. Right. But I do think that that is the best route for the brand and for the network. And then the second route is to really scratch it and start over. Yeah. Scratch it and start over. That's what I, you know. But this is the thing.

If they could have scratched and started over that's what they would have done this season goodnight Sarah, look at this we've been on the phone for three hours I'll see you tomorrow Sarah's gonna kill us by the way I'm on GAA tomorrow boys alright, excellent

we will promote it there was so many mean rumors around that oh Jill she's just on one time and she's making a big deal. No, I'm on again tomorrow. I wasn't lying. You know, it's like I'm not, you know. But I just didn't promote it this week. Oh, I didn't hear that.

I thought you just had the regular gig. Yeah. No, I got the regular gig. Exactly. I think there's one week I can't because I have to take out of college. But other than that, I'm good. I'll do it. Thanks for asking.

And I'll be on 8%. Oh, yeah. No, it's absolutely. All right. You have no idea how many that, I'm good. I'll do it. Thanks for asking. And I'll be on 8th and 10th. Oh, yeah, no, absolutely. You have no idea how many new friends I've made since I got that gig. Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure. You have no idea. Oh, yeah, you're going to be talking shit in club. I can only imagine how many new friends Bethany has.

I can imagine how many new friends Bethany has, too. Well, you know, if you need three handsome commentators to come on Good Afternoon America to talk about pop culture, you know where to look. Well, you know, you guys would be perfect for Kathy's show because she does take real people. Have you spoken to Kathy about doing her show? You guys would be perfect for it because you do have a real legitimate blog and a point of view. And you know Bravo so well. Well, I do these videos making fun of Bravo shows.

They don't like me very much. They keep banning me. Yeah, and Bravo PR follows what we do, and we talk a lot of smack about them, and we suggest what they should do for their shows, and I don't know that they're huge fans. But we talk smack, though. It's because we watch them. I know.

I know. Anyway, when we go off, I want to talk to you guys privately but off camera. Okay. Well, it's funny that you mention that because, you know, we've been doing this for an hour. We haven't touched on anything we really wanted to touch on, and it's perfect. What do you want to talk about? No, no, no. Your stuff was better.

Yeah, your stuff was better. This is a special one-off episode. I'm curious. What do you want to talk about? No, no, normally. What were the questions? No, no, it wasn't questions. Normally, we go through every single show.

This time, this is the Jill Zarin special, and I think it's going to be a special one-hour... This is going to be the number one downloaded thing on iTunes this week. Are you kidding me? It's going to be fantastic. I agree. Really?

I was not saying it disparagingly. Yes. Yeah, it's on iTunes. You're kidding. You'll tell me how you do? Of course. And I think Bravo's going to be totally pissed at us for getting you. Yeah, I think they will be.

Yeah. You better say nice things about me. Only the best. No more trash-talking me. I don't know what you guys have been up to, because I know what you've been up to. I know. You've been listening. And I'm just as smart as you are.

Well, you know, Jill, you have to understand, we're entertained by all this stuff that goes on. But we see your worst and your best and your worst. And we talk shit. That's what we do. We talk shit about each other when the other ones are gone. That's just how we're made. We talk so much shit about Ronnie.

You don't even know what we say about Ronnie. And honestly, at the end of the day, what it comes down to is we are diehard fans of New York. I know you are. Especially New York. And the fact that you are no longer on the show is the biggest bummer ever for us. Yeah, because what are you going to talk about? Gee, it's terrible. Well, we somehow, we make do.

We wind up throwing out some tangential things, you know. We didn't even get to talk about Sonya's toaster oven today. Oh, God. Wait, wait, wait. You mean the book? It sounds like she's making an actual toaster oven now. At first I thought she was making a book. Is she?

But now she's actually building a toaster oven. Maybe in some silo in New Mexico. This is the thing about Sonia. Sonia doesn't have a mean bone in her body. Yeah. And that's the truth. Well, she has crazy bones in her body. Well, she has a crazy bones in her body.

That's not being mean, but that's not a mean bone. If she does something, it's not it's out of ignorance, not out of malice. And that's the difference. Okay, can I just ask you a quick question? I mean, last season we saw Sonia stick her hand in her toilet to fish out a black bear.

And last night we saw her dunk her head in a bidet. What is up with her toilet fetish? Can we talk about that? Well, I didn't even associate the toilet fetish. You mean with the cell phone? Yeah, I remember that now. Just plumbing in general is a real problem. I'm trying to figure out why she didn't use the sink.

It's bigger and cleaner. And I didn't see her clean the bidet, but we're going to hope that they just cut that out. Yeah, we're going to hope. There were a lot of things that just did not make sense. We're going to hope and we're going to pray. I think she did it. I really think she did it for entertainment. She just wanted

to entertain you. She just wanted to make the fans laugh. And that's the thing like, would she have done that the first season? Probably not. But she did it. She sees herself as Lucy. And that's the thing, like, would she have done that the first season? Probably not. But she did it, you know, she sees herself as Lucy. And Lucy does things for laughs, you know, like walk stomping on the wine and, you know, all those silly things. That's how she sees herself. So she wants to make you laugh. And I love her for that. I like Sonia, you know, I'm on team Sonia. We have to wrap up here in a second, but because you just mentioned that, that does make me have a question for you. Do you think, I mean, and you can explain when you were on the show, but do people really try to take opportunities like that to do silly

things or to do mean things so that they can try and earn themselves another season on the show? Are you guys, are you guys like always auditioning for the next season? Um, I'm not because I'm not that smart and I don't think like that. But yes, they were definitely out of all the housewives and there's like 30 of them or whatever. There's definitely girls who are smarter and more calculating.

We won't mention names, but I'm sure you know who I'm talking about. Alexis. Some of us are more calculating. Some of us are more calculating who understand how these shows get made and what it takes to stand out.

Right. And you can see the ones who don't make it, you know, who end up leaving the show. I think a big, I don't know why the girl in Atlanta just got fired. Sheree. Sheree. How could you fire someone? The best two lines of the whole season was, you know, when she said, you know, Trump, what did she say? I'm rich.

I'm really rich. But that was in response to Sharae. I love that line. And then something about the face. Remember at the reunion? Fix those teeth. Fix that face. Fix those teeth.

Fix that face. Fix that face. I mean, how do you get better TV than that? How do you fire Sharae? She buys Sharae. I don't know. He buys Sharae. He buys Sharae.

How do you fire? You know what? When you're taking notes from NeNe Leakes, you do what NeNe Leakes tells, you know, if NeNe tells Andy to do something, he probably does it. Not really, though. I mean, maybe with Bethany, but I don't think so.

I don't know what kind of relationship they have, but I don't think it's what you think it is. I think NeNe runs that show. I think it's because she's too poor, Sharae. I mean, Sharae's gone, you know, I think it's what you think it is. I think Nini runs that show. I think it's because she's too poor, Sheree. I mean, Sheree's gone through, you know, I think she's just downgraded so much that Andy's like, no, no. What about the other girl? The model has no money either.

You know, like, not no money, but you know what I mean. Are you saying that the bail agency is not bringing in money? The Cindy Abel bar one is not bringing in money? And by the way, they're making a lot of money now. Yeah.

Well, Sheree is sitting on the floor. That bothers me. That bothers me that Sheree spent a lot of her own money to do She Buy Sheree for the show. And then she gets cut. And then she finally gets to the point where you're going to make money, same as me. You know, I literally worked for nothing the first year. And I spent I spent more than I made by far and, you know, having a wardrobe and then what they don't, what they don't compensate you for. And this is why movie stars make money, um, a lot of money when they're made, when they're working, because they have to have publicist.

Excuse me. Are you telling me, are they not paying for your hair and makeup on the show? They never did the first season or the second season. Wow, that blows my mind. Except in the interview. That blows my mind. And they didn't do it the first season at all. They didn't even want to pay for taxis the first season. You had to get yourself there.

Oh, my God. Well, that explains Tamara and the reunion. You know what I can't stand, Jill? Now they're paying for it. No, no, by the time you get to the fifth season, they're paying for it. But by the way, that was the other thing. New York with the guinea pigs. Because, you know, everything

the precedences was set with New York. Exactly. You know, raises and they, everyone, New York had to fight the hardest to get anything. And then, because they always said it was favored nations type of thing, you know? When you tell me stuff like that, it just makes me think that you got

a slap in the face and I'm tired of you apologizing for everything Jill stop apologizing I haven't apologized I swear to god I'm so sorry no I'm just kidding that was funny I'm so sorry I forgot to apologize I have not I've gotten stronger

I'm not apologizing anymore I stopped apologizing last season I did I swear but you know what but when I'm wrong I you know what? But when I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong. But when I'm not wrong, I wish people would believe me. You know? That's the hard part. Okay, well, let's pull the plug on this report right now.

We're going to keep on talking if we don't stop. And then you can tell us a few other things off the record that you wanted to share with us. I am so in trouble. I'm probably getting a legal letter tomorrow. That's part of the fun of it, isn't it? No, no, no. Don't get me in trouble, boys. Edit out anything you think I could get in trouble. I'm probably getting a legal letter tomorrow. That's part of the fun of it, isn't it? No, no, no. Don't get me in trouble, boys. Edit out anything you think I could get in trouble, please.

We will not do that. But I just – I mean you said that you had a few other things that you wanted to share with us before we wrap up. Off the record. All right. So let's wrap it up then. Jill, thank you so much for coming on our podcast. This was really fun and informative and juicy. And I don't think you actually said anything that would get you in trouble, to be honest.

Okay. And we might have to have you back after the New York reunion because it's going to be so boring and you'll need to liven it up with us. We'll have a podcast reunion. I think we're going to have to do it. I think we're going to have to do it. Maybe we'll do it live or something. Maybe we'll come to New York and we'll do it there. Why not? Oh my God. Maybe we should

have a reunion and I'll get Cindy and we'll get Alex and we can have our own reunion. I think? Oh my God. Maybe we should have a reunion and I'll get Cindy and we'll get Alex and we can have our own reunion. I think we should do that. We should have a reunion of all the ex-housewives and where they are now. How fun would that be? As long as you're there, that's all that matters. Oh, you guys are so nice.

You're going to make me cry. I can only imagine. I can only imagine. You're going to make me cry. I'm the nice one like Alexis Boina. We're signing off and then stay on the line. Okay, bye. Everyone, thank you for being with us. We are ending this now. Bye.

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