Podcast 214: So much Southern Tea; Unpacking the RHORI reunion; Is Scheana strategizing?

In episode 214 of Cocktails and Gossip, Amanda and B spill so much Southern tea it could fill the Charleston Harbor. They unpack the RHORI reunion, dive deep into Southern Charm drama with Shep, Craig, and Austen, dish on Madison LeCroy's latest moves, and ask the big question: is Scheana Shay strategizing her way through Bravo?

Topics Discussed

• Southern Tea — A mountain of tea from the South to kick off the episode
• RHORI Reunion — Unpacking the Real Housewives of Rhode Island reunion and all the revelations
• Southern Charm Drama — The latest between Shep Rose, Craig Conover, and Austen Kroll
• Madison LeCroy — What Madison is up to and the Charleston tea surrounding her
• Scheana Strategizing — Is Scheana Shay playing a strategic game on Bravo?

Mentioned in This Episode

Shep Rose, Craig Conover, Austen Kroll, Madison LeCroy, Scheana Shay, RHORI cast

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Frequently Asked Questions

Alicia asked for more. Alicia asked to have her name on the deed, to be given a fair prenup, to own part of the family businesses, to have access to money, and on a smaller level, she asked for a romantic proposal. Billy refused to give her anything. No name on the deed, no significant ownership of any of the businesses that Billy owns, no access to money, no legal protection, no revised prenup that would protect her.

The proposal, Billy's proposal to Alicia, was hostile and patronizing. Instead of making her feel cherished, he pulled her current engagement ring off her finger and jammed it back on. Essentially, he was mocking her request for a romantic proposal

Welcome to Cocktails and Gossip, the podcast where we drink cocktails, but you better believe we're gonna spill the tea. We chat reality TV, celebrity blinds, and the hottest tea from bravoandcocktails.com. And as always, it's all alleged and just for fun. We do not verify our blinds. I'm V. And I'm Amanda.

Let's get into this week's tea.

What's up, Cocktailers? Hello, Amanda. Hi, B. Hi, Cocktailers. I just wanted to say, for those of you guys who are on Cocktail Party, and those of you who have joined Discord, I've been traveling a lot. This month is kind of crazy with just little trips here and there, and I will log in to Discord and the conversation's just going, just going without me there, and I love it. We've had a bunch of new folks come on and be part of the conversation. It's been a lot of fun, so thank you guys. And honestly, that's what Discord's for.

I'm in my DMs. There are times I do go on Discord, but I'm manning the DMs, 'cause we gotta make sure we get that tea, and boy, the DMs have been on fire. Fruitful. I mean, they're always fruitful, but we love when Monday, I was like, "Oh my God, Nonstop."

So Much Southern Tea

Yeah, it has been. And so on that topic, we have a lot of Southern Charm gossip for you guys this week, so we'll get to that in a little bit. We had the Rhode Island season finale. I have not yet watched McBee Dynasty. You guys know I'm a little conflicted about that because of his behavior, but I do wanna see what happens with the prison situation. And then the other thing is West from Summer House will not be on next season. Cocktailers knew this. Not sure if we'll talk too much about this 'cause there's so much else going on, but that was pretty big news.

And most of you are still really engaged in it. I love to beat a dead horse, but a lot of you are asking us to talk about other stuff, and we will. This week we are diving into other stuff. 'Cause we had that bonus episode, and go to Instagram and look at my account for my opinions.

Definitely. Okay, so let's start with Rhode Island. So Kelsey hosted this trip to Block Island, which is really close to the coast. It sounds like it's only an hour ferry ride, to try to mend fractured friendships and end the season on a high note. And all the husbands, boyfriends, fiances, the gentlemen came. I wanna go there. It looks heavenly.

I haven't been to Rhode Island in years. I've shared with you guys that my grandfather, my mom's dad, was from Rhode Island. He died when I was a baby, but he had three siblings. So every year we would always go visit my aunts and my uncle and my cousins, and sadly they've all passed now, and I still do have second and third cousins there, so I really need to go. It looks gorgeous. But can we start with Liz and Jo Ellen? 'Cause I got a lot to say about this.

So the two of them were the most at odds. They had a very tense meeting when they first got to Block Island. Ultimately, they hugged it out, kind of agreed that it would be water under the bridge. We heard Jo Ellen call her and Liz's dynamic like an abusive relationship. They agreed to start over. But a cocktailer said something to me this week in the DMs, and it just clicked. And shout-out to all of you cocktailers because really, you write the pod for us. Very often somebody points out something that I don't necessarily pick up on, but then once they say it, it totally changes my perspective. Shout-out to having an open mind and changing your opinion when you learn new information.

Everybody should try it. Okay, so they said to me, "B, I really wanna know what Liz said to Joe Ellen at the dinner." So at the dinner where Rosie's husband was singing. By the way, I heard you say to Tracy on the bonus pod, I also was like, "Why didn't they say to Rosie, 'Oh, sorry about that'"? They said it to Ashley when they were at Audrey's for a trivia.

It's so strange to me. The only thing that would make any sense is that Rosie was upset about it and did bring it up, and it just got cut. Because of anybody that was owed an apology for anything, Rosie's right up there, and her husband, for the way that they acted at that dinner. But anyway. So I digress. So the person said, "What did Liz say to Joe Ellen at the dinner where Rosie's husband was singing?" Because they argued outside, they went back in, then Liz pulled her hair. They were going back and forth, and then Liz whispered something to Jo Ellen right before Jo Ellen got up and stormed out and got in a car and left.

So the cocktailer says this to me, and all of a sudden my mind goes, "You know, Liz really did treat her horribly." Even if Liz was annoyed, we can all agree that it was overblown. And Jo Ellen had the conversation with her husband, said in confessionals that she really wants to make amends. So they meet up. And Liz doubled down and was terrible to her at the meetup. Decimated her character. And everything about who Jo Ellen is as a person, as a friend.

So then what did Liz whisper to her? 'Cause it really got me thinking. Jo Ellen is somebody who stands up for herself. She is not a doormat. She will go toe-to-toe. So you have this strong personality, Jo Ellen. You have this strong personality, Liz. Jo Ellen's standing toe-to-toe with her, but then Liz whispers something to her, Jo Ellen completely leaves, and then is begging to just let it be water under the bridge. So now I have to ask you, is it true that Jo Ellen just thinks of her like an older sister and loves her, and although they have an abusive relationship, she wants to make amends? Or does Liz know something that she whispered to Jo Ellen that Jo Ellen is like, "Oh, shit, I cannot not make up with her, 'cause I can't have her say what she whispered to me"?

Well, I mean, even bullies have bullies. Not that I'm saying that JoEllen is a bully, 'cause I don't actually think that she is. So maybe it's better to say even tough cookies have bullies, people who can get to them. Until you said something just now about Liz possibly having something on JoEllen, I had been kind of clocking it more as Liz was queen bee, and JoEllen wanted to fall in line, because JoEllen doesn't really have any strong allies. And Liz is kind of it for her. JoEllen gets along with everybody pretty much, except Rula. But if you think about it, Rula was barely a character this first season. So it could just be that JoEllen is falling in line, but this is Rhode Island. But couldn't JoEllen have swerved and brought Alicia to her side, and I don't think she's particularly scared of Kelsey. I think Kelsey is clearly closer with Liz, but she's also friends with JoEllen. JoEllen could've went a different way, and I wonder if she just didn't wanna go that route, I don't know.

It's very interesting 'cause it didn't occur to me until you said something. Well, 'cause we also saw Rula and Liz meet up for a lunch, and Liz expressed how pissed off she was about Jo Ellen and how she thinks Jo Ellen's shady. And Rula was like, "I'm so glad you're finally..." So maybe Jo Ellen caught wind of that, and she was like, "Oh, no, I'm not gonna allow Liz to team up with Rula. Liz is my friend. I'm gonna swallow this and let it go because I'm not having those two against me." It could be something like that. More of like a power play against Rula.

Right. But again, this is Rhode Island, and these people go so far back. She knows something. Rhode Island is so small. So I think you could be right. I think it'll be really interesting to see where everyone falls out next season. 'Cause I think Alicia is kind of over it, and the amount of fan love for her is probably putting her in the best of all the situations of everybody coming in. But that doesn't always play well. We know about the sophomore slump, so I hope that doesn't happen.

Unpacking the RHORI Reunion

But Alicia's also said she doesn't feel like she can really trust Liz anymore. They're publicly still fighting, commenting on each other's posts after Liz's Watch What Happens Live. So we're gonna see that at the reunion. But the most recent comment I saw Alicia do was after they filmed the reunion. So whether they made amends there or not, Alicia is going into season two pissed at Liz. So stay tuned.

So we'll see. Okay, let's unpack the Rula, Brian, the video, Joellen situation. So Joellen is pissed because she's being called a liar, so we see her go to Rula's room, which I actually thought the way that both of them were kind of quiet and calm and kept soft-spoken voices, felt like a more productive conversation and demeanor for them both. But we have her in Rula's room, where she's essentially demanding that Brian and Rula stop calling her a liar, and says she'll stop talking about it. She's like, "I have proof. I can give it to you if you want it. If you don't, that's fine. This ends here. I will stop." Just very matter-of-fact, but also with compassion, 'cause she says, "I know how hard this must have been for you." But literally at the same time. But I'm not a liar.

Right. Downstairs, Brian is talking to Joellen's husband, Gary, and Gary is saying, "Hey, Brian, whatever you do is your business, but my wife is now kind of dragged into this." And Brian says, "I messed up." He admits that the video is real. At the same time, Rula's upstairs not denying it, but just pushing it away, doesn't wanna see it, doesn't want to acknowledge that it exists. We actually had a little post about the actual video that I thought I would read for you guys. This is something that we got directly from a cocktailer.

It said, the title was, I Saw The Video. Regarding the video of the Rhode Island husband cheating, it says, "B, I saw the video. It's weird and very damaging. A friend of the mistress or one of Joellen's friends is just sitting in her car outside the mistress's condo, filming while they're groping each other right in the front door. They're all over each other, and the husband leaves, and you see him get into his car. It's indisputable, and it's at least five minutes of them all over each other. Anon, please."

Ugh, the foot. And I love you guys just refer to him as the foot in my DMs. Here's my thing. Again, we have Joellen's strong personality - some would say controlling, commanding, whatever word you choose to use, which is why I find her rolling over with Liz odd. But in any event, I'm not sure why in this case Jo Ellen's taking it personally. I completely understand not wanting to be called a liar, but it isn't like anyone in the group is saying, "Oh, Jo Ellen is a liar." Do you know what I mean? It could just also be that she's like, "Am I crazy here?" Like, there is this video that not only am I being called a liar for, but everybody else is just kind of acting like they hope it goes away.

Yes. And I mean, I also understand Rula not wanting to speak about it. Yes, they're on a reality show, so Rula, knowing her husband had an affair, evaded filming, avoided it, and it's Jo Ellen's job to bring this to the table. And I'm no fan of the foot, but what is he supposed to do? Nobody's going to want to sit at dinner and talk about the video. So I guess what she wants Rula to do is watch the video on camera, or say, "No, you're not a liar." I don't know.

In any event, Jo Ellen's role is complicated because the question is was she trying to help Rula confront reality or was she doing her job as a reality star? And obviously Rula feels it's the latter, that she was just trying to embarrass her on camera. And I find Rula's reluctance human. The impulse is to protect on national television, and especially because these people are new to it. I'm hoping that Rula is more open second season.

Well, yeah. I guess there's a lot to address here. First, there's what is actually happening with Rula and Brian, and why they were saying conflicting things at the same time. Why Joellen is so adamant about not being called a liar, and then what Joellen's intentions are. First of all, I think Joellen is happy to be the person to stir the pot, but I don't think she wants to necessarily be the villain and be blamed for breaking up a marriage. I was having this conversation with my husband, I asked him, "I'm curious what you would do. If you found out your friend's wife was cheating, would you say something? Would you show your friend the video?" And my husband said yes. That actually kind of surprised me, because a lot of people would say no.

I think I would do it as well, but would I show it with zeal and zest? No. Would I show it to other people? Definitely no. And would I leave it alone after I told that person about it? I definitely would. Because I believe that it's up to them with what they wanna do with that information, and that's where I think Joellen's kinda crossed a line. I would agree with that. Even on a reality show, it's enough, it's been presented. Yes, and it's like she just bulldogged it a little too hard. Can I add something? Her and Rula went out to eat, and Joellen was like, "I can get evidence. I can get evidence. Do you want me to get evidence?" And what is Rula supposed to say in that moment? "Well, if it's true, no, I don't wanna know." Rula didn't say to her, "Hey, Joellen, you get me evidence, I wanna see it." Joellen said to her, "I'm gonna get you evidence." And there's a differentiation there. Rula didn't ask for it. It was almost shoved down her throat, to where if she said no, then it was, "Oh, see? She's in denial." So Rula couldn't win.

That's true. I'm in no way defending Brian. Believe me. I don't think anybody is in this situation. And why is Rula upstairs not necessarily denying it, but not acknowledging it, and Brian's downstairs admitting it? I think that Rula and Brian had privately discussed and made a plan to deny, deny, deny, deflect, deflect, deflect. Brian's clearly not a man of his word, and I think he realized he'd look stupid. Well, I have another thought about this too. Either he realized he'd look stupid denying it when there's clear proof in multiple forms, pictures, videos, social media, or maybe he was hoping to make Rula look stupid and admitted it on purpose knowing that she was planning to deny it, and then that just makes her look dumb. What do you think?

Well, I can see him doing that because I don't think he's a person of strong character, and I think he'd be fine making her look dumb. But I also think that Rula has plausible deniability. Nobody in the group has physically shown her the video, even though Joellen has tried to. And so she can say whether she knows about it or not. Yeah, it could be that. At the dinner, of course, we get a question game, which started lightheartedly, and you could tell everybody at the dinner is going into that wanting to have fun, not wanting to fight. It turns a little awkward as some of the questions start about who's most likely to backstab you and smile in your face, and whose spouse does the most embarrassing things in public. And then of course, Rula kind of gets cornered with that whole situation.

And you have Alicia shouting, "Oh my God. It's like God wanted you to read this question. It's about your husband and his cheating." Alicia is so naturally funny. Poor Rula is so clearly uncomfortable, and then Brian says something like, "Well, it took a lot. You had to swallow your pride." And she was like, "My pride?" He's like, "Ego. You had to swallow your ego." And she's like, "My ego?" Like, what? And the thing with Brian and Rula, you could cut the tension with a knife, and it reminds me so much of Teresa and Juicy Joe when the rumors were he was cheating, and they were denying it. It's the sweating, the avoiding eye contact, the wife being annoyed, but being like, "Love you, babe." Not that Rula's exactly doing that, but you know what I mean. And there was that close-up of him, his arm around her, holding onto her really tight. It made it feel like he's trying to puppet her.

Yes. And then it's clear things aren't good. Later in the episode, we get to the arrest, which we will discuss, but I first want to focus on Alicia and Billy's engagement. He re-proposes to her after nine years to try to replace a less romantic proposal. And all the couples are in their rooms getting ready, and the ones that see them are excited. And in the moment, I was like, "Oh, this is nice." But then there's this account, and it's Lauren Napolitano PsyD, and she is a therapist. She gave us an interpretation of Rula and Brian, and now she gave a really interesting interpretation of Billy's proposal that I want to share, because it changed my perspective. So she had a series of slides, and this is what it said.

Alicia asked for more. Alicia asked to have her name on the deed, to be given a fair prenup, to own part of the family businesses, to have access to money. And on a smaller level, she asked for a romantic proposal. Billy refused to give her anything. No name on the deed, no significant ownership of any of the businesses, no access to money, no legal protection, no revised prenup that would protect her. The proposal was hostile and patronizing. Instead of making her feel cherished, he pulled her current engagement ring off her finger and jammed it back on. Essentially, he was mocking her request for a romantic proposal. This relationship seems abusive. His businesses, his home, his accounts, his total financial control. He does not treat Alicia as an equal. He does not value her happiness. He does not want her to have financial autonomy or security. Billy isn't incentivized to make Alicia happy, because he knows that she can't leave him. Because she has no legal protections, no access to money, no assets, Billy thinks that Alicia can't and won't leave him, and that's his plan: to keep her dependent, under his thumb, and without any power or autonomy.

And Lauren Napolitano finishes her slides by saying, "I hope Alicia is investing every last penny from her Bravo paychecks so she can get out from under Billy's financial control." And then she finishes by saying, "What do you think of their relationship?" I think it's harsh. I absolutely see what she's saying, but I have to tell you that - and I think this is me being naive - when I'm looking at Billy, he seems to really enjoy Alicia, and they're playful with each other, and they have a banter, and I don't really see him as the big bad wolf. But everything that Lauren Napolitano's post says is true of what he has done throughout the course of their 10-year relationship.

Okay. Well, woof, as Tracy would say. I hadn't seen that post. It definitely has me thinking. If we think the worst about Billy, all those things could be true. I just don't think the worst of him yet. I think the proposal was rushed. I think he was like, "Oh, I have this opportunity. I'm gonna take it." If he had had a little more time, I think he would've given her another ring or something. Well, no, I just mean on camera. He's like, "I have this opportunity to do something big and grand." I'm just gonna play devil's advocate. To what? Make himself look good in front of the audience? Well, partially. Because if it was about her happiness, he had nine years, and he's a man of means. He can get a ring. And I don't even think she needed a new ring, so I don't even wanna go there 'cause that's a materialistic side.

I just got the feeling that it was a little bit of a rushed thing. It wasn't something that he'd been planning for a long time. What actually gave me a little bit more pause is when he kept saying, "This is a reset. This is a reset." And I'm like, wait a second, why do you keep saying this is a reset? Why do you guys need a reset? I get it, if some people don't ever wanna get married, that's fine. But he did say that she is written into his will. I think we would all feel better for Alicia if she takes that money from Bravo and invests it, and has some of her own money. I think we'd feel better for her if she pushes to have some sort of written agreement. There's a lot of ways that she can legally protect herself without getting married, assuming Billy agrees to it.

A lot of people don't wanna get married for whatever reason. I literally know people like this in real life who are not married but have provided clear legal paperwork for each other that outlines what's to happen if they break up, if they die, if they get sick. So I think the jury's still out. I think Lauren could be right. I just don't think that I'm quite seeing and feeling that yet. But Billy, we've got our eyes on you. We're watching. Alicia's a treasure. I think all of us feel naturally protective of her. Financial control is something that most of us have seen in our lives, especially when it comes to people being scared to leave relationships. It's a real thing, and there could be an element of that, and we're watching you, Billy.

I agree with you. I liked Billy. Reading this post, I was like, "Wait a minute. Oh, my gosh." I also noticed at the end of the aggressive engagement, she said something like, "Oh, we'll re-propose in nine years." And Billy did say, "Or we can just get married." I almost get the sense that he wants to get married. And she's more hesitant. So there's that point, which Lauren didn't include in her post. And then I remember when they had the conversation and she wrote that silly thing, 10% of the businesses. And he said, "I have an estate plan. You're written in it." I think that something that Billy should do, and hopefully is off-camera, is having his attorney come over and sit down and show her everything, and having it not only be in the event that he dies, but also in the event that they split.

Right. And like you said, you can make these protections. So my hope is that being on this show brought all of this to light. Alicia may have never said these things to him, and he may not on a conscious level have thought, "Well, she gets nothing if we break up." That's all possible. Because life gets busy and you have a child and your day-to-day, and it may not be purposeful. So if it's not, now after this first season, he knows her wishes. He's obviously seeing fans speculate. Sorry, Billy. And that's it, so now do the right thing. And I hope that we go into season two with her saying, "You know, whatever it is," but that brings us back to not questioning Billy essentially. 'Cause I do like him. I don't think he's this terrible, awful person, but I do think that there are questions there as to his intention.

Yeah. And Lauren's post reads like she knows or has been in a situation that is similar and sees that there could be a sinister side to this. It makes it feel like she's had some sort of personal experience along those lines. Because I don't know how she can know that he's coercive based on what we've seen. Okay, so let's talk about how the show ends. In typical Housewife form, we get the here's what's going on with each of the Housewives. Then bam, it shows how Brian got arrested. Of course, cocktailers knew that he got arrested for putting a tracker in her car, and we had heard bugging her house as well. He told us they were WiFi expanders, essentially. So cameras get picked back up when Brian got arrested. We have a lot of really great sources in Rhode Island who know these women. They give us a lot of real-time updates. You can see where essentially everybody but Liz and Jo Ellen go to Rula's house to discuss this. She doesn't say very much. She just says she doesn't know what she's gonna do. She says, "He said that he did this because he didn't want me doing drive-bys to this other woman."

At the point of filming, there had been a restraining order, which is an automatic thing that happens when there's any kind of domestic violence charge. She said, "I don't know why he would be doing it, but he just said maybe it's 'cause you were gonna go by her house." So at the start of the season, we posted all this intel before any of us knew who they were. And I have a master post, but I have to refine it with all of the tea because we really had the whole season in posts. We love you, Rhode Island cocktailers. Please do the same for Season 2. So as we were reposting it, I was getting DMs and emails from people who seemingly are friends of Rula or Brian, but more so Rula, saying she didn't realize it was a domestic charge. She didn't realize it was a crime. She basically wanted to know if there was a tracker and that everything between them is fine now.

So this was at the beginning. However, the mistress has been very active on social media, saying her piece. We know that now they're both suing each other. And I do believe that Rula, throughout this season and throughout what the mistress has shared, and dare I say Bravo accounts putting stuff together and posts from her at her house and all of these things that us and other content creators have put online, I do believe that Rula got a better sense of the timeline of the affair. I think she realized as the season went on that she was being lied to by Brian. Because we see a clip from the reunion where Andy goes, "I have to imagine after the arrest things are hard," and she stone-faced says there is no forgiveness. This is painful every single day. We haven't seen the whole reunion yet, but that clip was in stark contrast to the beginning of the season where her friends and family were clearly getting the word out that everything's fine and they're a solid unit. And also what we saw on Watch What Happens Live.

Yes. But that was earlier in the season. So stuff's going on. They're both suing each other. There are lawyers involved. Evidence is coming out. Rula is learning everything now. She can't hide from this news anymore. Brian has given Rula reason after reason not to trust him, especially if what Joellen said in the post video is true, that the mistress picked him up from jail. Joellen has no reason to lie about that at this point. And Joellen is not a liar, and she'll tell you. But I don't think she really is a liar. No, I don't either, honestly. Brian had admitted everything, and so something's messed up. I know it's so hard when they have young kids. But Rula, if she decides to leave him, is gonna be okay. My worry for her if she stays with him is, how does she sleep? How does she ever get a shred of trust in him again? If he goes out with his friend from college and says he's gonna be home at 10:00 but ends up being home at 11:30, there is no way she is going to be able to sleep.

Bottom line is, if she doesn't leave him now, it's only prolonging the inevitable. This isn't just an affair. This isn't just he stepped out of the marriage. He had a long-term affair. He admitted to it. He lied about it. On camera, he admitted it to people who are her acquaintances. She's not even best friends with everyone in that room. He then was arrested for tracking her. The lies. The woman picked him up from jail. The lies on the lies on the lies. It just seems like if she pulls the plug now, she'll just be doing what's gonna end up happening inevitably at some point.

Right. And also Joellen says in a reunion clip, "So it's not true that he was still married when you were pregnant with your first child?" Because remember we heard that Brian cheated on his first wife with Rula, and him and his first wife split. So I'm just saying. Well, if that is true, which you and I have definitely had this conversation, there's something that Rula doesn't wanna talk about, about how the relationship started. If your bish therapist theory that Brian might have something that he's holding over Rula, let's hope it was that, and that Joellen just announced it on national television, and that there's nothing else left that is a secret. That's actually Lauren Napolitano's theory too. Oh, it was? Interesting. Let's hope it's that. We got the reunion this Sunday. And that there's nothing else. Okay, so let's move on to Southern Charm, 'cause we have a lot, and now I'm getting worried that we even have enough time 'cause we have so much tea to share with you guys on Southern Charm. We'll make the time.

Okay. Where do you wanna start? So we shared with you guys exclusively on Cocktail Party that Gaston, Taylor's boyfriend, was caught cheating on her in February. Would you like to read the post from February? Yes. I would. February 24th, 2026. The title is, Spotted: Late Night Creeping in Charleston. The post says, "Southern Charm's Taylor Ann Green's boyfriend seen getting into his car with another girl late-night on Valentine's Day." You asked for a picture and the person said, "No pic, but he was getting into a dark Tesla on King Street and opened the door for her. It was on King Street around midnight across from The Nickel Hotel. She was brunette." Mind you, Taylor was in New York City for a work event. And the person says, "By the way, I did try telling her directly, but she didn't seem to care."

Southern Charm: Shep, Craig, and Austen Drama

So I have it on good authority, and I'm allowed to say, that part of the evidence Taylor used to prove it was our post. Charleston's such a small town, and she's friends with Leva. There's security cameras on all these places. I wouldn't be shocked if she was able to confirm it. That's speculation on my part. So she had this and other proof that he was cheating. In any event, they're split. We then hear she's back hanging out with Shep. We also hear that she's hooked up with Shep. We heard that she was filming, but this is trickling in during filming, and your girls have been busy. We had the summer house. We had the Rhode Island. So this is all trickling in and I'm keeping my notes. And Monday morning, we wake up to Taylor on a layover. They were headed to Maui, at a layover in Atlanta. They had a delay. They were spotted. So Rod, Taylor, and funny enough, Sally, were seen in the airport headed to Maui. We got a bunch of tea on that we're gonna break down for you.

But I also wanted to clarify that you may have seen Charlie and her boyfriend, Justin, from Southern Hospitality traveling on the same day, but they landed in Cabo, Mexico. And this caused a lot of confusion 'cause people are like, "B, you told us they were in Maui." I said, "Well, the main cast is in Maui, but Charlie was not invited on the trip." You may say, "Why was Charlie not invited?" Yes, she's been filming a little bit, but this tells me clearly she's not main cast. She was not asked to go on the vacation. Her boyfriend is on Southern Hospitality, and love him or hate him, Craig is the star of Southern Charm. Her best friend is Sally, who is very far up Austen and Craig's behind. So if Charli's in a serious relationship with Justin, Justin's not gonna want her palling around with Sally, Craig, and Austen. Kind of leaves her to be an outsider. Do I know if she'll be on Southern Hospitality next season? No. But if it comes back for another season, I'd be willing to bet we see her there.

And it also makes sense how Taylor was able to slide in. More tea came in last night that when Taylor broke up with Gaston and started reconnecting with Shep as, quote-unquote, "friends," he put a good word in to get her back. And with Charlie not really hanging around with the crew, it seems there was a void that Taylor stepped into. And got the Maui plane ticket. Back to Taylor and Gaston, which is actually apparently how his name is pronounced. Everybody could see the red flags.

Okay. I'm bummed to hear that Charlie is not a main cast member. We don't know this 100%, but it feels like she's choosing her boyfriend over her own spot on the show, and history tells us that is not a good decision. Yeah, but huge tea that we got this week is intel from a cocktailer. Talk about we got eyes everywhere. This is a cocktailer who was on the plane behind Taylor and a producer. Taylor and the producer are having this juicy conversation. Funny part is they were sitting in coach while Sally and Rod were up in business class. So here are some of the things the cocktailer overheard.

So first was about her relationship with Gaston. Said he was a yeller, not like Shep, but way worse. There had been tension with Sally. She said that if Sally had come to her about Gaston as a friend and not as an antagonist, she would've listened and checked his phone. She said she missed a lot of red flags about him as a result. She didn't think Sally's intentions were pure, which is why she didn't listen. I could see that, because Sally did come at her very aggressively. And correct, Sally and her are not friends, but it wasn't just Sally. A lot of people on the cast, and it wasn't just Shep. Essentially everyone on the cast was like, "This guy is not a great guy." Red flags were radiating from this guy. He didn't wanna film with the cast, which is a huge tell that he had stuff to hide, or he didn't wanna be so recognizable that people would send DMs to bravoandcocktails.com to let them know he was spotted getting into a car after midnight when Taylor was traveling to New York.

Right. So she purposely put her head in the sand. That's on her. She could blame her and Sally not being friends, but it wasn't just Sally, it wasn't just Shep. It was a lot of people, and the town in general. In any event, Taylor is done hopefully with Gaston. And by the way, guys, we know that this was legitimately a cocktailer overhearing, 'cause you're gonna hear that some of the parts she's like, "I couldn't really hear." So it was either this or this that they were saying.

Okay, so Taylor was also talking about interesting dynamics with her and Shep. The producer and Taylor were saying they both feel like Shep has a good soul and he's a good person. Said that he's still stuck in his usual ways, which means probably womanizing, drinking, et cetera. Producer asked if she thought she could be with him, and Taylor said he was with another woman last night, and that's not what she wants for herself. The cocktailer said that part was hard to hear, and that Taylor either said her parents are begging her on her hands and knees to be with him or not to be with him, but it was hard to really hear.

She posted a picture of herself, her parents, and Shep out to dinner on the anniversary of her brother's passing. So clearly her parents like Shep. But I would have to imagine that her parents can like Shep while still be wary of her getting involved in a romantic relationship. No matter how much mailbox money a man has, if I know that he has cheated on my child, and I know that the person is a notorious Peter Pan, I am not gonna be on my hands and knees begging them to be with a person who had cheated on them repeatedly. And there was even that whole period where she wanted to get back together after he cheated and he didn't want to. But there's more.

Oh. So Shep hooked up with a woman the night before, so we're not surprised by that. But what is surprising is that right ahead of the Maui trip - God I love these Southern Charm people - Taylor was spotted making out with Whitner at Share House in front of everyone. So where my head goes is what came first? Did Shep hook up with the woman and was Taylor like, "Fuck him. I'm drunk. Whitner's drunk. We're gonna make out"? Or did Shep sleep with the other girl after? Either way, it hasn't been discussed yet, and it will be discussed in Maui. So she broke up with Gaston. She started hanging with Shep again. They hooked up. He's still in his old ways. I don't know what happened first, Shep hooked up or she made out with Whitner. I'm kind of guessing that she made out with Whitner almost as a like, "Yeah, you're gonna go with that girl? Then I'm making out with Whitner." And now Shep hasn't discussed it with Whitner or Taylor at all, and now they're all in Maui together.

Yeah. I think Shep would've slept with that other chick regardless. I think we can all agree to that. I'm gonna say something that I'm actually surprised to say. I don't actually hate the idea of Whitner and Taylor together. I have not historically been the biggest Taylor fan. I do feel though, I think she just really wants to love someone and to be loved and to be in a stable relationship, and it seems like Whitner could give her that. I actually agree with you, and I feel the same about Taylor, but that's also because of the Austen and Olivia situation where we really were like, "Ugh." And time has passed, and we're over that, and I like Whitner.

Madison LeCroy and the Charleston Tea

Yeah. And it will make for very good TV, especially because this is kind of a crossroads for Shep. Shep really could take this opportunity to finally settle down. I think if he proposed tomorrow on the beach in Maui, Taylor would say yes, even if he proposed with a shark's tooth pushed into a ring. I just don't think she will get pulled back into an uncommitted situation with Shep again. Girl, agree. There's more that was overheard. It sounds like also she's trying to repair or establish a relationship with Madison. I don't remember her and Madison having a lot of tension, but it's been a little while. I don't either, but what I'm thinking is perhaps when Taylor hooked up with Austen, maybe Madison sided with Olivia. But Olivia's not on the show anymore. Time has passed. Madison is in a great place. She's happily married. She has her new baby. I think she's fine hanging around Taylor.

I don't think they have a ton in common, and Madison has been filming the last couple years with Sally, so she'll kind of be the middleman between them. But that's pretty common on this cast. So I think Taylor can get back in a friendship with Madison, no problem. Can we talk, though, about the crazy parallels between the Taylor-Olivia-Austen situation and the Amanda-West-Ciara-Kyle situation? It's more like Vanderpump. They're all friends, right? But Ciara and Amanda were friends a lot longer. And yes, I suppose you could compare Taylor and Shep's relationship to Amanda and Kyle, but again, longer. And we've also known Amanda and Ciara longer.

Right. We only knew Taylor and Olivia for a couple of seasons, so it's different in that way. I think the biggest difference is it stopped. It stopped, and they were like, "We stopped." It was essentially a one or a couple time thing. Austen and Taylor were like, "You know what? Unless we're really gonna make a go of this, we can't do this." And they both realized this wouldn't be more than a hookup, so this is stupid to do. And that's what West and Amanda should've done. Exactly.

Okay, more from this conversation. Taylor also said she had a recent conversation with Craig. Sounds like they bonded. Maybe they're having a blossoming friendship, but Taylor is worried about what Shep might think. The producer was stressing to her these are all her friends, and Taylor was like, "Yeah, I've got good relationships with Austen and Shep and everyone. I've learned so much after two years." So I'm assuming they mean that because Craig and Shep are friends, is it weird for Taylor and Craig to be friends? I don't think they mean romantically. It wouldn't surprise me if Craig went after a long-term ex of one of his close friends. I know there's a lot of crossover with relationships in Charleston, but Craig has never really been into that. Especially 'cause she just made out with Shep, and then she made out with Whitner. I don't see Craig going down that path. I could be wrong, though, 'cause he's very single, so maybe if he just saw it as a hookup, she's a beautiful girl, whatever.

That picture that you posted of Shep and Craig tan drinking in the water in Maui, the words add to cart did come to mind. Oh my God, you guys love add to cart. Shout out to Tracy. I mean, I would always go for Craig. Both of them, you can tell they've been putting in some work in the gym. Yeah, I don't think there's anything with Craig. Can I say one thing? 'Cause you and I had a conversation that a lot of cocktailers actually didn't agree with. We said we felt, a while ago, that there's not a lot of men who can have strong platonic relationships with attractive women without crossing the line. I wanna throw out there that Craig is an exception. He's very good friends with Madison. But again, she's not single. So it does beg the question, if she was single, do I think he'd hook up with her? Yeah. But it's Austen's ex, and I still think he would, so I still think we're right. Or is Craig an exception?

My husband does listen, and I tell him about this conversation. Well, I spoke to my husband after it and he was 100% on board with yours. He was like, "Absolutely, no lies detected. It's an impossibility." So now my husband just pulls up every time he sees something that further proves his point, he's like, "See?" Yeah, exactly.

Okay. So the one thing about if Craig and Taylor were to become friends, I would think it would be really funny to watch them kind of flame Shep together, because Shep doesn't get much of the heat. He doesn't get made fun of much. That may be Craig's purpose. And the other thing, if you remember, the reason that Taylor and Craig had a big issue was because back when she was dating Shep, and Craig and Paige were on the path to marriage, she on camera accused Paige of cheating. And Craig hated her, wanted nothing to do with her. Well, now that relationship is no more. He probably is like, "Whatever. She's right. Paige did break up with me." I'm not saying the cheating part, but... No, I know what you meant. I'm excited for Southern Charm.

I think that we're gonna get a really good season. It's funny because we have so much intel. It's nice to have intel that's 100% right, but it's also nice to have intel where we know. We know she made out with Whitner. People saw it, guys. I heard this from more than one person. It was on King Street. We know she hooked up with Shep. We know she's back filming. But we don't know how it ends up, and I kind of love that for us. Obviously if her and Shep are in a relationship or her and Whitner are in a relationship, it's hard to hold it. But we won't know what happens exactly. Does that make sense?

Is Scheana Shay Strategizing?

No, of course, because I think it's fun to know what we know because then we can watch and look for the signs or look for that first spark that we see with Taylor and Whitner on the screen. I just think it enhances it, and I know you guys do, too, or else you wouldn't be Cocktailers. So I'm sure you saw pictures from the weekend. Jasmine from The Valley married her fiance. Apparently, the wedding was in New Jersey. A lot of faces that we recognized. Critney, Kristen, Brittany, Zach - Critney. They were in the wedding. Jesse was there. Scheana was also in the wedding. I don't think I saw Lala or Michelle. Both of the brides looked absolutely beautiful. Gorgeous.

No cameras were up. It was not filmed. It is not because Jasmine and her wife didn't want it filmed, from what I hear. We got an email that Jasmine may be cut. I'm thinking that might be the case or perhaps demoted. Either way, it seems odd to me that she'd be back full time and we'd have zero footage of the wedding. And they've been engaged a while. I know you set your wedding date, but you could've set it around filming. Something interesting for us to keep our eyes on is while Brock was at the wedding, a lot of you guys have been saying that they've been spending time apart. We know that Scheana's name was not in the email we got for The Valley for next season, but there was a carousel of family photos that I saw from a recent trip to Hawaii, and I'm not saying Brock wasn't there, but she didn't... And I don't follow them that closely. For whatever reason she doesn't pop up in my algorithm that much. And I didn't see in her carousel of 10, 12 pictures. It was her. It was Summer. It was her parents. I didn't see any Brock. I don't know if that means anything. I don't know if it's an attempt for it to look like it means something to try to get back on The Valley. I'm just saying people are noticing, so we'll keep our eyes peeled. Duh, peeled.

She is very savvy when it comes to reality TV and what will make a good storyline. I could see her trying to make it look like something's wrong even if it's not, just to get back on TV. Well, that's what I'm saying. That's kind of where my head goes. I could see it too. And she's gotta need a job. The money's drying up. We love you guys, and till next time. Happy summer, everybody. Is it officially summer? Oh, I don't know. It feels a bit. We don't know. Happy summer whether it is or isn't. Happy summer. Bye, guys. Bye.

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