How BravoCon Did (or Didn’t) Address the Reality Reckoning

Photo: David Becker/Bravo via Getty Images

Between Scandoval, the lawsuits around Love Is Blind, and the allegations against Ramona Singer, the veil between reality TV’s audience and production has been well and truly pierced. The “reality reckoning� (and by extension former New York housewife Bethenny Frankel, who has become the self-appointed front woman of the issue) hung over BravoCon 2023 like a cloud. Fans brought it up during Friday’s “Ask Andy� panel, and again during the Vanderpump Rules producers’ panel. Singer’s absence was broached by a fan at the RHONY Legacy panel, despite Michael Rapaport’s best attempts to steer around the issue.

Vulture asked Bravolebrities in attendance if they had any comment on Frankel or her unionization efforts. RHOBH’s Erika Jayne declined to comment, as did RHOSLC’s Whitney Rose, Heather Gay, and Angie Katsanevas. “I haven’t looked that much into it, to be honest,� said Southern Hospitality’s Maddi Reese.

Reese’s co-star Joe Bradley couldn’t knock Frankel’s hustle, regardless of whether he agreed with her views on labor. “All I know is that she did a podcast with Raquel, and she gets a lot of backlash. But, you know, she’s a great businesswoman,� he said. “I work at a club, and she’s loaded. I probably wouldn’t be friends with her right now, but she’s kind of a legend.�

“Reading that article was a little difficult because I do know how hard the team, everybody, works to keep an open-door policy,� Vanderpump Rules producer Sheonna Mix said of the Vanity Fair exposé of Bravo’s production environment. “We don’t want to put people in environments or in situations they’re not comfortable with, we’re constantly checking in with them.�

Among the events that have cast doubt on reality television’s working conditions was an episode of Below Deck Down Under that saw two of the ship’s crew fired for misconduct. Producers had to intervene during Down Under’s most recent season on two occasions where cast members tried to get in bed with other castmates who didn’t give their consent. Captain Jason Chambers felt production handled the situation well. “It just shows how on-point the production was. They knew when to step in, they knew when to step out,� he said. “They didn’t interfere. They let me be the captain, still.�

In the end, BravoCon 2023 was never going to be the event where attendees grappled with the issues of labor in entertainment. When asked for his thoughts during Friday’s “Ask Andy� panel, Cohen said, “My thoughts are that Bravo — as we can all see — Bravo and the shows that are on Bravo bring millions of people so much joy, so much happiness. Which is why we are all here: to have fun.� The reality reckoning wasn’t even the sole labor dispute humming in the background. The whole event took place while SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP exchanged press releases over the production guild’s “last, best, and final offer.� It was also the period between mass arrests of protesting Las Vegas Culinary Union members and their upcoming strike. But all that was background noise compared to things like Brynn Whitfield breaking the escalator with her Louboutins.