#50: The Real Tea About Reality (w/Stephanie Carolina)

Okay so Jay and Stephanie somehow start by complaining about surviving triple-digit Arizona heat before immediately taking a detour to Miami, where Stephanie explains how a bachelorette party ended up with strangers sending the bride thousands of dollars for drinks. Naturally, this leads to a debate about Miami 10s, Type A vacation planners, and whether anyone actually enjoys planning group trips.

From there, things completely derail.

Jay defends his decision to permanently move his birthday to the summer, admits he once made all of his friends go around a table and say something nice about him, and shares why airline passengers who sleep in aisle seats deserve to be investigated.

Then the conspiracy theories begin.

The two dive headfirst into reality TV, exposing how producers stitch together confessionals, feed cast members iconic one-liners, and manipulate storylines, all while breaking down the newest Real Housewives obsession and asking whether any reality show is actually... reality.

As if that wasn't enough, they somehow end up talking about cheating scandals, friendship loyalty, fake apartments, second families, the outrageous price of Subway sandwiches, and why absolutely nothing feels real anymore.

It's chaotic, it's hilarious, and somehow every tangent makes perfect sense... until it doesn't.

Transcript

Tucson Heat And Travel Check-In

SPEAKER_04 0:06

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to Dose of Delusion. It is me, your host, Jay, and I am back again with probably my favorite, and not just because she's been a repeat host, but I literally had the best conversations with her, both on and off the pod. I'm here with Stephanie Carolina. I uh Carolina, Carolina.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Carolina.

SPEAKER_04 0:25

Carolina?

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Carolina. Carolina. You're right.

SPEAKER_04 0:28

Carolina. I'm here with Stephanie Carolina. Um, and I couldn't be more excited. We are here in the disgusting, I shouldn't say disgusting, that's rude. But I'm here in the very, very hot Tucson, but suffering in the sweat and the heat. And I don't think I'd rather be suffering with anybody else other than Stephanie. Stephanie, how are you? Tell us. Doing well.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

I'm so happy to be back. Always love traveling with you and enjoying this dry heat right now. Just, you know, sucking the moisture out of our skin. Whenever the fun out of being together.

SPEAKER_04 0:58

That was really open to can on the microphone. I try to hide it. Uh aluminum shortage. I have to get my Diet Coke in before this aluminum shortage happens. Um, anyways, no, so dry heat. Yes, it is a dry heat. Um, I guess that does make it obviously a lot less bare, a lot more bearable. Yes. Because what like 108 here is completely tolerable versus like 98 over on the East Coast. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Like literally, I feel like I'm suffocating.

SPEAKER_04 1:28

Yeah, yeah. But it's still, I I got a bloody nose yesterday, and I'm pretty sure it's because of how dry it's been.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

Okay. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 1:34

I was like, what is going on here? Like, I take care of my yeah. Well, maybe not, but what is happening here? Um, no, so yeah, we're here in Tucson. It's been a lot of fun. Of course, we're doing another work team, which we love to do. Um, I'm not, I'm not, listen, I'm not gonna sit here and shit on the city of Tucson because that would just be really rude of me. But I haven't, I don't think I love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

Me either. Not yet. Like, I'm sure that there's other parts of Arizona and maybe like the more touristic parts, but like nothing about this makes me want to stay here.

SPEAKER_04 2:08

Well, there are other parts of Arizona that I like. I mean, I did go to school in Scottsdale, the Phoenix Valley. I have visited there. I used to have family that live there. I think I've gone a couple times for like concerts and whatnot. Back where I used to live, we didn't get a lot of concerts. We do now, but we didn't before. So we would drive this five and a half, six hours from El Paso to the Phoenix Valley. So I've just been out there quite a bit. I enjoy it. It's just as hot and just as dry. But I feel like it's just a much more like I feel like Tucson got over trying to remain a small town. Excuse me, Phoenix got over trying to remain a small town, and now they're just obviously for decades now been headfirst into big city.

SPEAKER_03 2:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:47

To where I feel like Tucson is like gripping onto we want to stay a small town, and I don't love it.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

It's like fighting against them, honestly.

SPEAKER_04 2:56

Yeah, I can't, I can't stand it. Yeah. Um, anyways, uh, what have you been up to since the last time we chatted?

SPEAKER_01 3:03

Um, yeah. Tell me. I don't know, because actually it was like a week ago, maybe.

SPEAKER_04 3:08

It was a couple of weeks ago.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

True. I did go on a bachelorette in Miami. It was amazing. Can I say I used to think it was so cringe when

Miami Bachelorette Money And Aesthetics

SPEAKER_01 3:16

people would do like buy the bride a drink? Because I'm like, well, I don't know the bride.

SPEAKER_04 3:21

Are you talking about like on socials? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Yes. And then they would put like a Venmo link, right? Yes. And I'd be like, okay, well, if I knew someone, maybe I'd send them like money for a drink. When we were out there, so many people sent money, obviously, because my friend is so loved, and we got $2,000.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

So we went out, we bowled out first night completely free. I think we hit up two different places. I don't think it was as expensive as everyone made it seem, but we also had like amazing planners, super type A. It was super interesting because everyone was type A, but it worked. Oh, it really worked. You don't really have to worry about anything. So it was amazing. Miami 10 for 10. I loved it.

SPEAKER_04 4:00

You know, it's funny. I have um I have a friend of mine, Alejandra, my little Miami darling. She um she loves Miami. She's one of those where like this is not a dig or a slight of her whatsoever, but you know how they say, How do you know if someone's a vegan? Don't worry about it. Yeah, they'll tell you. It's like, how do you know if some how do you know if Alejandra's from Miami? Don't worry, she'll tell you. But she does it in the most classy way because she's a very classy girl. In fact, she's so classy that, like, you know, I love a dive bar. Alejandra would not be caught dead in a dive bar. And if she were to even come within five feet of a bar that may be on the verge of being a dive bar, she's still dressed to the nines. She is glamorous. She, I mean, body tea, everything amazing. But she loves her son, Miami. And she's always talking about it. She visits often, which I think is really sweet, very family-oriented girly. Um, I think she's there right now, actually. But she's always telling me how she's like, Oh, you think DC is expensive? Miami's more expensive. Oh, for sure. Really?

SPEAKER_01 4:52

A couple years ago, I actually went with Brian, my man's, and we were at Club Live. And I think one drink was maybe $40 something dollars.

SPEAKER_04 5:03

That's a bit much. Yes. See, oof.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

And it was like, I want to say, maybe a shot of something.

SPEAKER_04 5:10

See, there was this bar, and I'm not, I don't want to slip away from Miami or DC, but there was this bar when I first moved from El Paso to San Antonio, Texas, and it was called Paramore. They're closed down now, so I don't give a shit about talking shit about them.

SPEAKER_03 5:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:21

But I went there, it was one of the first times out. I did have a friend that I knew well who's an area, so I didn't really know anybody except for him. So we went out, we saw a really great drag show, and then I ordered a a drink in San Antonio, Texas. And yes, it was a double, and it might have been gray goose. It might have been gray, and it was like I think it was a double vodka soda, and I think it got gray or absolute. Uh, and it was $60. And I said, This is outrageous. This is San Antonio, Texas. Yeah, I don't care that it's a double, and I don't care that it is that it is uh a new bar. No, like top shelf or whatever. Okay, you know, but I was just like $60. That was like, who the fuck do you think they are? Fast forward a couple years, they got closed down for a lot of other reasons that were also financial related. So we call that karma. Yeah. Anyway, so $40 for a drink in Miami, that's wild.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

A shot.

SPEAKER_04 6:11

A shot, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

But yeah, some of the drinks were cheap, and it all depends on like where you go. But again, everyone was dressed to the nines. The only thing is all of us are from Jersey, which is New York adjacent. We always say a Miami 10 is not a New York 10, not an LA 10, not a Houston 10, right? And everyone's chest was just so like perked up. And I'm like, damn, I couldn't have tapes in my boobs any higher because my chin is already sitting on bed. So no shade to them. Um, again, it's a look, right? It's like what you're around. I think by the end of the trip, we were like, damn, do we all need to get boob jobs or something? But then we came home and the reality set in. We don't need boob jobs in New Jersey to that extreme. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:51

I mean, that is that is, I've heard nothing, nothing differ about Miami and a plastic surgery out there. And I'm sure it's also a little bit more affordable because of the market is saturated.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 7:02

I remember years ago when I went from I have a family friend who mind you, this was 20 years ago. Yeah, she went to Houston, Texas to get a boob job and it cost her $5,000, which was a lot back then for augmentation or enlargement, whatever the proper term is. And when I went to Scottsdale, where also the market was saturated, we're talking in 2006, it was like 1,500, 2500. Wow, 3,000 tops for a quality boob job because the market was saturated in Scottsdale. So I'm sure in Miami it's not as expensive for the passenger, but they make it up for the drinks.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

They do, absolutely, and all those bottle girls make a lot of money. Like they'll come over and they'll be like, by the way, the gratuity on the bill. I don't get that. So you have to step on top of it. And we're like, huh? It's a whole big thing. But I really had a lot of fun. We went to so many different places, and I'm like, oh my god, every single place, amazing food, amazing vibes, great music. And honestly, you can go to like a shitty place as long as you're with really good people. I think you're gonna have fun either way.

SPEAKER_04 8:02

Thank you for saying that. I I think vibes are a lot. Yeah, uh, maybe that's another one of the reasons why I don't mind a dive bar. Also, you saying everyone's like dressed the nines. I don't have an in-between. Either I am wearing like a tuxedo or a full-on like three-piece suit, yeah, or I am in a tank top and shorts, you know what I mean. So the my friends, both male and female, who find that beautiful, you know, ups. I don't know what where you would call it.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

What do they call it elevated every day?

SPEAKER_04 8:35

Those like more power to them. And I would love to get to that level. Maybe, maybe I'll put more effort into that um in the second part of this year. Who knows?

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Uh, but um then you really can't lean into the scent beads.

SPEAKER_04 8:47

I can't lean into the what?

SPEAKER_00 8:49

Scent beads for the wash for your clothes.

SPEAKER_04 8:52

Bitch. We'll get to that in a second. Scent beads. But fuck, we'll get to it right now. So I've talked about this before, listener. You know that I love my fast fashion, the Amazon, the Fashion Nova machine. I I love that shit. And we were at the store the other day buying detergent so we could wash our clothes here at this hotel that we're at. Um, like the Plevians. But, anyways, we uh and she was like, Oh, Jay, you should try these downy scent beads. And I was like, I hear that's not really good, like for your clothes because it can ruin your clothes. And she was like, your nine dollar fashionova shirt. And I was like, bitch.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Mind you, he throws his clothes out after one use. I do. Not his fault. They just don't hold up. They like warp in the wash.

SPEAKER_04 9:31

I do. I'm not trying to be wasteful. I think I'm getting the intended use out of it. Like the Half-Life has gone long, gone at Xpired. Um, anyways, I don't know how we got on that. Oh, but Miami.

SPEAKER_03 9:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:45

Uh so that's so cool. Uh, I need to do that. You said earlier about something like type A personalities. So, how do you think that works in a group? Because I I

Type A Friends Make Trips Work

SPEAKER_04 9:56

like for work, and you know exactly what I do for work, so it is constant coordination. It is spinning plates nonstop between not just relationship management and hotels and airfare and funding and reservations and like I mean, everything is is a shit show that outside of work, I try to do the most littlest planning of coordination ever. So I can shut my type A off. How do you and your group of friends do that?

SPEAKER_01 10:25

So, not all the girls are necessarily my friends directly, but I will say having people that are type A around you makes things really easy because you know, all right, if you're type A, you're always thinking of something else. Something that you're like, did this type B person think about? Did they forget it? Is it like, you know, uh on the back burner? Or if everyone's type A, everyone's already thinking about stuff and they're jumping into action. All right, this isn't getting handled, I'm gonna handle it right now. You know, like cleanup, you have this, I have that. We don't even have to like talk about it. You just are doing it, and no one like steps on each other's toes. So it's really interesting because it was 12 girls. That's number one a lot. Number two, everyone was like, good luck. But at the end of the day, it really was awesome. I definitely was one of the only type A friends growing up, so it became difficult because I was burnt out at a certain point. And I'm like, so if I don't plan anything, nothing's ever gonna happen. And other people ended up taking over, friends group sort of kind of became apart. So to see that kind of thing, I'm like, wow, that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 11:21

Uh a more power to you, you know. Uh I had a I haven't gone on any group trips with my various fan groups that I've made in DC, but prior to that when I was in San Antonio, we I did a lot of group trips with them. And there was mainly one person, Lindsay, who love her because she is she's like the mom of the group, kind of, right? And but she was really big on the planning and got to the point where I'm like, girl, you've made me the Venmo friend and I love it. Just Venmo request me what it is. I mean, I think even one point I just screened my my credit card number to her and be like, do what you need to do, right? Let me like even I think I think even at one point I bought like four other people's tickets to an event, and then I was like, collect the money for them so they can pay me. I have to screen my credit card number across the beach with my security code. I'll cancel it after with my security code, screamed it out, bought all the tickets, yeah, and then I was like, find out how much people owe me and let me know when they pay me.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Perfect. I mean, we also use this thing called splitwise. I don't know if you ever heard of it. Super easy. People would just put in exactly what it's for and the amount, and then it would do the math to split it for everyone.

SPEAKER_04 12:23

Splitwise is great for a big group. I get offended when three people use it and we're friends. Yeah, literally. I'm like, why can't we just nickel and diamond or take care of each other? Yeah, exactly. No, but like Lindsay, we'd go on all these trips and she would like find the Airbnb, plan the food, make the shopping list, plan the shopping trip, get all the receipts total out of telling send everybody what it is. And also, she did kind of well financially too. So she would just like pay for it all up front. Um, and then at the end of the day, like she would just send Venmo requests throughout the trip. And sometimes I'm like, I don't think these trips would have happened if Lindsay had not done it. So, Lindsay, if you're at where's the camera? Lindsay, thank you. We love you, we miss you. Um, yeah, you're awesome. Uh, but yeah, so the group trips are crazy. I recently went on a it's been it's been a year and a half now, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

Um recent in your memory, though.

SPEAKER_04 13:09

It is recent

Travel Compatibility And Vacation Burnout

SPEAKER_04 13:09

in my memory for a lot of other reasons because this individual and I have just really split. Um you can't travel with everybody. No, you know, and I've never really experienced that. I guess I've just been lucky and blessed.

SPEAKER_03 13:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:27

But I did go to a trip last November with someone who I realized we are not travel compatible. This individual more, and it's not that she traveled poorly, we just didn't match.

SPEAKER_03 13:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 13:38

You know, no matter how if I'm going on a vacation somewhere, I don't want to have to come back and like catch up on a rest from my vacation. Yeah. And this person was, oh, we're going for three days. I want to see every square inch of the city and attraction and surrounding suburbs in those three days. So we're waking up at 5 a.m. to get to the coffee shop that I saw on TikTok.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

And I'm like, bar, club, another club, no rest, another club. That I'll do that.

SPEAKER_04 14:03

That I will do. Lady Gaga, I will do that. But it is not gonna be breakfast, brunch, coffee shop, walk, breakfast, brunch, lunch. Like, no. Yeah, no, I'm waking up at noon. Okay. God. Um, so I'm glad you had a great time with all those things. Thank you. What do you think? Um, what have that was dramatic? Um, what have I been up to? Uh trying to lose these next uh 10 pounds so somebody will notice it. That still doesn't happen. It's cool. I'm not mad about it. It's fine. Um I oh yeah, we had a 4th of July, right? Is that the holiday?

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Yeah, last weekend.

SPEAKER_04 14:38

I actually had a blast.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Really? What did you do?

SPEAKER_04 14:41

So much fun. Um well, actually, let me backtrack a little bit. First, we went out for my birthday, which I need to set the record straight for people out there. So a lot of people who've known me for

Summer Birthday Logic And People Pleasing

SPEAKER_04 14:51

a very long time know that my birthday is actually in January, right? I'm in January. And I was very proud of that for years. I think I'm a through and through Capricorn. Somebody came on one time, even a couple of years ago on a podcast who's really big into astrology and zodiac. It was like, oh, like your sun, your moon, your house, your whatever everything about you is is Capricorn. Like you don't usually see a three for three Capricorn. I'm like, I know. Uh but then I moved to the East Coast.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 15:20

And it was my birthday. And that one, I didn't know that many people at that time, and we had a really small little friend group, and it was freezing. It was winter time. And, you know, I hated me. Some friends from San Antonio even came to visit me. We went to New York for a day and a half, and it was freezing. And I'm just like, I can't enjoy myself like I can on a Texas winter where it's like, oh, it's 65 degrees. Oh no, it's winter, right? I absolutely hated it. So I was like, hey guys, listen, I'm no longer celebrating my birthday. You guys aren't buying me dinner, it's not happening. I'm celebrating in June. Yeah. My half birthday. But as far as anyone from this point forward knows, I'm only gonna say June 18th because no one wants to hear half birthday while you're celebrating your growing ass man. So that June of 25, I celebrated my birthday. It was so much fun. Um, and then again, this this June. But I want you guys to know that I am not out here like trying to have two birthdays. In fact, this last January, um, first of all, I changed my birthday everywhere I could change it. Every social media, every website, everywhere that would legally allow me to change my birthday, I changed it. And I didn't accept anything on January. In fact, my one of my closest friends who lives with me, she was like, Want to go to dinner for your birthday? And I was like, No, I'm truly not gonna celebrate my January birthday. So in June, uh uh some friends were out of town, they came back into town and we went out to a nice dinner. They really celebrated me. I felt really nice. It was great. We had dinner, ice cream, movie, board games. Then went out to the bar after. We just had an absolute blast. It was so much fun. Um, but hung out with that same group of people for the holiday, 4th of July. And girl, I don't think we ever celebrated so hard. I don't know why. I'm not saying I'm celebrating America by any means, but I celebrated. Who is what East Coast?

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Yes, yeah, like you're from Texas, right? So you would think you guys are as patriotic, and maybe you are like in your own way, but something about an East Coast summer and then an East Coast holiday like that, blown out of the water.

SPEAKER_04 17:24

Bitches love summer.

SPEAKER_01 17:25

They do, and I'm also a January baby, but growing up on the East Coast, it was always like if someone came out for my birthday, they really loved me. It's cold, there's snow, it's uncomfortable because you want your fit to look cute, but then you're like, I have to throw on this giant coat that's gonna ruin my entire fit. No outside pictures, unless you're really like, all right, committed to the bit. But I've been thinking about doing my summer birthday, so maybe I will.

SPEAKER_04 17:49

Okay, now I'm not gonna say this is not a dig on you, but there's the people pleaser in me, which I tell you has bit me in the ass so many times. I need to stop being such a people pleaser. I am getting better about it though. Yeah, I understand. If you come out on my birthday, that means you love me, but also please don't come out of my birthday. Stay home.

SPEAKER_03 18:06

Oh, I agree.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

No, I trust me. There's years I haven't even done anything because I'm like, I feel bad. And then and then my friends are like, no, but we want to. So I've had surprise parties before just because they're like, we want to celebrate you and we know that you will not go out of your way to ask us.

SPEAKER_04 18:18

And I'm like, Oh my god, that's so sweet.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

I know, I actually cried. And then they all walked like went around the table and told me why they love me.

SPEAKER_04 18:24

Okay, hold on, hold on. I gotta, oh my goodness, I'm about to embarrass myself. First of all, I love a surprise birthday. I don't think other than my parents throwing me one when I was 18, I've never had a surprise party. I'm pretty sure if I have, and I'm forgetting, guys, I'm so sorry. But I I've always wanted one and I love throwing that for people. I threw one for my best friend a few years ago. Uh, I love, you know, going over to somebody's house and completely decorating their front door with the whole thing at five o'clock in the morning to wake up first thing. I I adore it. But it's funny how you say you made them go around the table. Did you make them or did they just do it?

SPEAKER_01 18:58

No, they just did it.

SPEAKER_04 18:59

So I bought a bell, like the bank bell, like thing.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:03

And I bought it as a joke because I was like, all right, I'm gonna buy this bell and I'm gonna walk to the bars, and when there's no bartender, I'm gonna whip it out of my pocket and ding it. And every time they're like, people will come out from the office and be like, what the fuck? I'm like, uh, can I order? And they're like, where'd that bell come from? Like, it's a whole little bit.

SPEAKER_03 19:19

Okay, I like it.

SPEAKER_04 19:19

But one day we're out in my apartment and I was hosting like a pregame or something inside a big massive kitchen island, and we're all there, and I was like, hey guys, I got the bell and I was like, ding, some say somebody say something nice about me. And I made everybody go around around the island and say something nice about me and hit the bell, and it was really fulfilling.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

So now I feel like maybe you have a Leo placement.

SPEAKER_04 19:42

I thought we were friends. I'm offended.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

Not a bad thing.

SPEAKER_04 19:46

Girl, I have to be a Gemini now.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Really?

SPEAKER_04 19:49

No. My new birthday is a Gemini.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

But I feel like half birthday would be July, because isn't that my half birthday?

SPEAKER_04 19:54

June. Well, January is one, June is six. Am I doing it wrong? I can't change my birthday again.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

You're gonna go six months from that. Well, my birthday is seven.

SPEAKER_04 20:04

I can't. My birthday is No, you already passed. Yeah, my my I cannot change my birthday yet again. Can't do it.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Next year. You'd be like, I'm actually a Leo. Everyone tell me why you love me. This is my number.

SPEAKER_04 20:17

Oh my gosh. Uh yeah, I made him do that. It's so much fun. But then take the heat off of me. I also now do it for other friends, so I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

I know.

SPEAKER_04 20:25

I know.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

I love it though.

SPEAKER_04 20:28

Oh my god. No, so yeah, I had a little birthday dinner. It was super nice. And now Max and Serena, they're absolutely amazing. I do think they're foreign spies, but it is what it is.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

Not your business.

SPEAKER_04 20:38

I know. If anything, I'm gonna give them something to report. It's gonna be interesting.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

We love the Americans, as all the FIFA Cup people said.

SPEAKER_04 20:45

I'm gonna be so outlandish, they're gonna get fired by their handlers because they'll be like, there's no way this is true.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

Yeah, you're lying.

SPEAKER_04 20:50

They're gonna be like, you haven't met him yet. Um, and then Fourth of July, we just we just had a blast, hopped on a plane, came here, and I've been jet lagged ever since.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

I know, me too.

SPEAKER_04 21:00

Absolutely outrageous.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

I mean, I do feel like I rested enough last night after this monsoon, but at least it's nicer outside.

SPEAKER_04 21:08

Today is gorgeous. I cannot wait to be out and about and do do our things. But something I have been doing is uh binge watching. First of all, I hate on because today we're recording on Sunday. I don't know when you're gonna hear this listener, but do you get these screen time notifications on your phone every Sunday?

SPEAKER_01 21:26

Me?

SPEAKER_04 21:26

Yeah. Everybody gets them. I think everybody gets them on Sundays.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

Oh my gosh, yes, the screen reports. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_04 21:32

Or it tells you how much time Yeah, which I don't want to know. Excuse me, big burp. Um my TikTok and Instagram have been through the roof because much like everyone else, even though they may pretend or not want to admit it, I'm addicted to reels and TikToks and short form media. I it's the great way to pass time. I love it. But that got me thinking that's probably another reason why I'm obsessed with reality

Short Form Addiction Meets Reality TV

SPEAKER_04 21:56

TV.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Valid.

SPEAKER_04 21:59

No, it's more real. That's what I wanted to discuss because I am a To say I'm a reality TV junkie, but uh there's that reality reality verse, whatever you want to call it, is so massive when realistically my reality TV consists of two to three Housewives franchises, um, occasionally watching or binge watching below deck and uh certain game shows like traders. I'm obsessed with traders.

SPEAKER_02 22:31

I never watched it.

SPEAKER_04 22:32

You already haven't watched traders? No, I sent an audition tape in for traders.

SPEAKER_02 22:35

Really? You should.

SPEAKER_04 22:36

I know I did. Oh, you did already? Yeah, I wasn't selected. Oh, but I'm gonna try again. Yeah, because traders is it's always been celebrities. I think the UK does normal people, but America finally, for the first time, they did a normal people season, and so I sent it in. Wasn't selected. It's fine.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

It's fine. They got you on the next one.

SPEAKER_04 22:52

I also kind of figure out how it was gonna take 30 days off of work, but I would have made it happen.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

I figured out holiday season. What holiday season?

SPEAKER_04 22:58

I know, right? Can we record in December? We're only working like three days in the office, anyways.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

You always put me on to really good shows, though. Yeah, literally every single time.

SPEAKER_04 23:07

I put you on to JFK.

SPEAKER_01 23:09

Yes, love. But you put honestly, there's a like a list, there's a running list.

SPEAKER_04 23:13

You need to still watch other ones like voicemails for Isabel. If you guys want to cry, you're like, it's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

Also, guys, I love spoilers. Sorry.

SPEAKER_04 23:20

I know.

SPEAKER_01 23:21

People don't like it, but I love it. It like forces me to want to watch it.

SPEAKER_04 23:24

You're still gonna watch it. Like I'm still gonna watch. You know the ending, but you still want the journey.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

But that's the thing, yeah. I want to see how they get through. Number one is that, and number two is I'm like, there's always something that is gonna be missed in a summary that while I'm watching, I catch. And I'm like, oh, that's fun. Easter egg.

SPEAKER_04 23:38

I love it. No, uh, but Housewives, I've been obsessed with Housewives, and right now the new franchise, the latest franchise is Rory or Real Housewives of Rhode Island, started from the beginning of there. They girl, I did not expect that to come out of Rhode Island, but uh I think the show kind of got off on an awkward start because a lot of times what I've seen from these premier seasons, or what are they called, like pilot seasons, episodes ones. There we go. Yeah of these uh franchises is a lot of the cast doesn't know each other. Two or three, you know, you have one or two people that are friends, one or two that are friends, and yeah, I feel like this cast started off with already deep-seated issues, and they all kind of knew each other. And when we were watching on episode one, we get drama that is two, three, five years deep thrown into our faces where I almost feel like I need to go back and catch up on negative season five, four, three, two, and one to start actual present-day season one. But it was fantastic. I was obsessed with it, and because it's a new, a new production, a lot of producers and whatnot are coming out of the woodwork on that work on reality shows and saying this is actually what happens. And I feel like, am I being duped? Yeah, which we all know reality is absolutely truly reality.

SPEAKER_01 24:53

But I think it's changed, right? Like throughout its history now, like same thing with keeping up with their Kardashians on E versus once it got placed on Hulu, right? They had more control over what they could put out, so you just saw like a whole different size, even like the filters that they would use were just so different. And you're like, well, this isn't as juicy as when they didn't have control over whatever narrative they were putting out.

SPEAKER_04 25:16

No, for real. Actually, I saw something about that where they were interviewing Kim, and they were saying, you know, asking how they feel about taking over. And she's like, I think having a full control. She's like, for example, the fight between Courtney and Kim.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

Courtney inspect her face and her makeup just stays blue ball.

SPEAKER_04 25:35

He would not let that air. Really? He would not have let let that air, but the Kardashians were able to leave that in.

SPEAKER_00 25:41

I'm surprised.

SPEAKER_04 25:42

Yeah. So things like that. She was like, that really was, you know, really helped us with the show because we were able to put that out there and kind of gave that gave us more content and whatnot to to focus on. Um, but anyways, no, I uh so what are you seeing online that like you're like, am I being

Producer Tricks Frankenbites And Fake Wit

SPEAKER_04 26:01

duped compared to so it's just I I like I just saw something recently, a producer saying, Are reality shows scripted? He's like, No, they're not scripted. Storylines are suggested and are pushed. But she goes, We record for 30 to 60 days at a time. We also record some people outside of that window, essentially give the house buds. Hey, we're gonna record for these are 30 days, right? Uh depending on availability, sometimes they'll record a few housewives on a different 30-day bracket. There obviously majority of it's overlapping, but some will start a week or two earlier, some will finish a week or two later. Also, if there's a big event that's happening that ties into what was happening at 30 days, they will bring the crew back, the production crew back to record. Then all those little on-the-fly interviews that we see, they are recorded, a lot of them over the span of months, even though they're wearing the same outfit, the same hair, the same makeup, they're recorded over the span of months. And the the cast aren't typically seeing the footage. They're not showing the footage of the being like, okay, how do you gonna respond to this? They're just reading it back to them. So they're saying, hey, this happened at the party, you said this, and this person said this. Oh, and by the way, they said this in their confessional. How do you want to respond? And they'll do that, but then that's not the end of it. So after it's all done and the production company is putting everything together, they're actually frank, they're called Frankenbits, if I recall correctly. They're Frankensteining all of these bits and pieces of sentences to form, so even those confessionals are not authentic.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

Oh my gosh, I have no idea about that.

SPEAKER_04 27:32

Yeah, and then the one-liners and the zingers and the funny things, that's what this production was saying. That's where we do feed, we do feed them uh a line or a comeback or a whatnot to say. And she goes, and we encourage them to like reword it, rephrase it, using their own words. She goes, but most often they just completely repeat exactly what we say.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

Interesting. I always thought they were like witty.

SPEAKER_04 27:51

I'll just not as witty as we thought.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

Yeah, white refrigerator.

SPEAKER_04 27:55

Right?

SPEAKER_01 27:56

Was that authentic?

SPEAKER_04 27:57

Iconic. Actually, it's funny brought that up because this whole production was saying there are a few that are like authentic, essentially earlier, the earlier ones. I could see. But it's people like that, like Nene, um, and even also from the same social array, Who Gonna Check Me Boo? Yeah, right? Where now everybody wants a one-liner, and every reality show is doing it. I was just watching something the other day with uh do you know who Katya the drag queen is?

SPEAKER_01 28:22

No, I don't.

SPEAKER_04 28:23

Trixie Mattel? Yes. Okay, so Trixie and Katya. They're always if you've seen if you've seen Trixie, yeah, look them up. If you see if you've seen Trixie, you've seen Katya because, first of all, they're a beautiful duo. Katya struggled a lot with addiction, and Trixia has stood by their side. They've done a lot of productions together. Then Katya will leave because of obviously the addiction. Then he then Katya comes back. They're they're an amazing duo. But, anyways, no, Katya was on a podcast I was watching recently, I forget what it's called, the Wild Wild West or something like that. And he was saying that it's really hard for him to watch reality TV because he's been on reality TV and he knows that none of it's real, that it's all pushed and faked. Um, he goes, even when he was on drag race, you could tell that these drag queens were trying so hard to have an iconic line. And they would say it three or four times just so that the camera could hear them or they could get a reaction and they just wanted to be the next t-shirt or the next hat or the next meme.

SPEAKER_02 29:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:17

Yeah. So I'm like, that's so disappointing, but it is nice, you know, knowing that the OGs were legit, like who gonna check me boo with a white refrigerator. God, I love those vocal stands.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

Uh, I've been seeing that with Love Island, though. Like someone was saying, I haven't watched this recent season, I only ever watched the last season, and I binged it like right towards the end. And I guess there was like a lot of things that that season had said that was like comedic or whatever. And they're like, Oh, the guy Dylan definitely like is very cognizant of where the cameras are and like his posture and everything that he'll do. Like he's trying to be like a gif. And then they also said this other person, I can't remember right now, but they're like, they're trying to get one-liners in to like have them carry, you know, whatever fashion, I don't know, some sponsorship for a commercial or something, and they're like, just none of it's hitting because it's inauthentic.

SPEAKER_04 30:03

Yeah, also it's probably not fitting into the national conversation, exactly, you know, like so it might fit for his narrative, but not for like the group's narrative. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what I would do. I don't know if I could do as much as someday I was like, I think I would have so much fun on a reality show, but I can tell you right now, I wouldn't have a one-liner, I have fucking facial reactions, yeah, that I can't control for the life of a little have no poker face, I don't, but I sort of gotta love it.

SPEAKER_02 30:32

What you see is what you get.

SPEAKER_04 30:34

True, and it does work in my favor sometimes, but there is no way that I could keep a straight face, and I'm so unserious. I am so unserious. It it is it is absurd. Even one time my boss she called Sim for a meeting, and obviously I wasn't happy with what was happening, and so she was asking for everyone's feedback, and I was like, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good. And she looked at me and she was like, Jay, as long as I've known you, you've never been lost with words, you've never been a loss of words. And I was like, did you write? Here's what I hate about this plan. Oh my god. It was oh oh my god, speak I got called out the other day on my flight. Uh but in a funny way, like the flight attendant was laughing at me because so I again

Airplane Etiquette And Public Rudeness

SPEAKER_04 31:15

I'm not bougie. I just was I was able to upgrade for first, upgrade the first, and a very large, tall, handsome black man also ended up picking a seat and he picked an aisle seat. Now, what frustrated me is if you know that you're going to knock out for the entirety of a flight, pick the window.

SPEAKER_03 31:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:34

Right? So he picked the aisle seat, he knocks out, he must have been about six four, six five. So even though we're in first class, his knees were touching the seat behind him. It was a three and a half hour flight. I had to get up to potty and I tapped him on the shoulder, was like, excuse me. And he didn't like that I woke him up. And he like huffed and puffed, and I slid past him, whatever. Then I come back from the potty and I tapped him on the shoulder. I'm like, excuse me. And then he was like, I'm sleepy, just walk over me. And I'm like, sir, I don't like what if we had turbulence and you wake up and my pelvis is in your face. You know what I mean? Or you want to or if I go the other way, you want to be, you know, you know, face to face with my forbidden Cheerio? Like, no, I don't think you do. So excuse me, we're on a fucking plane. You want to get a good night's sleep? Go to Katari Airways and get a lay down seat. Anyways, so we sit down. Well, the lady comes to get our order for our food because we're our meal, and she went to wake him up, and I was like, Oh, no, don't wake him up. He's a little grumpy. And then she like smirked at me, and then of course, we get our meals. I'm eating, and he wakes up and he was like, Oh, what happened? And I said, I told him not to wake you up because you were grumpy. The flight attendant saw me.

SPEAKER_03 32:44

And I was just like blink.

SPEAKER_04 32:48

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 32:49

Um, I didn't know.

SPEAKER_04 32:51

Yeah, I hate people like that. I was like, come on, just just be a kind person.

SPEAKER_01 32:54

Yeah, like you're in a public space.

SPEAKER_04 32:55

First of all, so this is American Airlines. Like, fucking relax.

SPEAKER_01 32:58

We're not even like this isn't even Delta, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:00

Like, this isn't even Delta. This is American Airlines. Calm down. You upgraded because you you've flown five times just like I did.

SPEAKER_00 33:07

It was 38 bucks.

SPEAKER_04 33:08

Literally, it was a little more than that. But literally, yeah, slightly more than that.

SPEAKER_00 33:12

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_04 33:13

Actually, I was shocked at how cheap it was. When I once upgraded first class for a three and a half hour flight, um, I think I got it for like 190, but typically it's like 349, 359. Yeah, so I was like, score.

SPEAKER_01 33:26

The cheapest I've seen is 98, and it was like a four-hour flight. And I was like, oh, I need like a four-hour flight.

SPEAKER_04 33:32

Damn. Uh, I want to know your algorithm. Um, anyways, no, so the reality TV. So I've been watching Housewives. I've been obsessed with it, especially Royal Housewives of Rhode Island.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

Favorite character, because I haven't pulled up here.

SPEAKER_04 33:44

On Rhode Island,

Housewives Receipts And Being A Girls Girl

SPEAKER_04 33:44

Joelan. I'm obsessed with Joelin. And I again, I need to let the record show that I have been obsessed with Joelan from episode one. And the thing is, people like her on all these, on all these franchises, like the internet hates them. They talk shit. Oh, they're an authentic, or they're just rude. They're just that they're just a mean girl. They pretend to be nice, but it's truly a mean girl. And then what happens is they're just a realist one. Yeah, they're the ones that are getting accepting the least amount of scripting and the least amount of production. And then fast forward a couple of seasons, they are the gem. They're their center, you know. I don't know what it's for that clam, their center clam. I have loved Jawn from the absolute beginning. First of all, her husband. Oh, I need to see.

SPEAKER_01 34:25

So from looking at the cast, I feel like the person I've seen the most by not watching the show, Dolores. She's all over socials. Why is that? Can you feel me in?

SPEAKER_04 34:35

So Dolores actually did not record as much at all. And we don't know the true reason why she was in the first episode a little bit, and then there's a lot of speculation as to she was like, I think Dolores, if I recall correctly, I think Dolores has a little bit of notoriety to her. Oh, and so the rumor has it was like the cast was using Dolores or the show was using Dolores to pull in viewers, but never had any intention of actually having her film.

SPEAKER_03 35:00

Interesting. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 35:01

Then the other half of the internet was saying, Oh, it's because Dolores didn't like XYZ on the cast and refused to record with them. We don't know, we don't know the true drama there. But um, Joel is my favorite. I think she's gorgeous, first of all. She has a little bit of a raspier, deeper voice, but you know, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 35:15

I do love that too.

SPEAKER_04 35:16

Um, her husband is is gorgeous, and he supports her and stands up for her without getting too far into the drama. Some of the other husbands on that show, like any franchise, can get a little too involved in the drama.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

Stay out of girls' more business.

SPEAKER_04 35:30

Yeah, but oh, here's one thing I liked about her. So the whole storyline of Joel's storyline is what Ali Um Rula's husband is clearly having an affair on her. It is absurd. If you ever watched, if you watch the season, if you're gonna watch it, all right?

SPEAKER_03 35:44

I'm going to.

SPEAKER_04 35:45

He's having a massive affair on her throughout the entire season. And earlier in the season, Joelyn's like, Rula, your husband is cheating on you. No, he's not. She's like, I have proof. Rula's like, no, he's not, no, he's not, but fine. Give me more proof that way I can understand what's happening. And Joelyn's like, girl, I'll get you the receipts. And Rula's like, do it. And Joelan did. And she got receipts for everything. But every time Joelyn would bring it to Rula's attention, Rolla was like, You're lying, you're lying, you're lying. This is fabricated, this is AI, this is fake, this is whatever. And Joelyn's like, girl, no, it's not. Yeah. Well, that got turned into the fact where she started accusing Joel and just being a liar. Joel was like, All right, I'm dumb being a girl's girl. First, I came at you with the intention of being a girl's girl. Now, if you're gonna trash me and call me a liar, I'm gonna prove to you that I'm a lying, which in turn is gonna prove to you and everybody else that your husband is having an affair and you're being an idiot about it. And she did. She made that her entire storyline for the entire season, and then it gets to the fucking reunion, excuse me, reunion girl has more evidence than the FBI ever has on anybody. It was court documents, it was photos, it was videos, it was statements, it was blocking receipts, it was police reports, it was divorce documents. And she was just like, she was like, you know, Rola, when's your anniversary? We were married, when's your anniversary? We got married into the year 2011. What day? Why do you need to know that? And she was like, hmm, are you married right now? Of course I'm married. What's the day? Well, let me see. Hmm, because according to this, he was still married when we see you. But it was ridiculous. Oh my god, it was absurd.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

Yeah, I need her PI.

SPEAKER_04 37:23

Her PI? She is the PI. Is she really? No, but and she's not FBI. But like the memes that came out after the reunion were like Joelle in like an FBI coat, you know. Yeah, she did all this on her own.

SPEAKER_01 37:34

I love that. Yeah, I hate that that happens though. Like, have you ever been on a side where you're like, this person is doing you so dirty and the other person just does not care?

When Telling The Truth Backfires

SPEAKER_01 37:43

Like, you like you end up looking bad in that situation by telling them the truth that they're getting done dirty.

SPEAKER_04 37:49

No, I haven't. I I I mean, thankfully, I shouldn't say unfortunately I haven't. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

No, it is honestly a great thing to not have to be in that situation because then also you end up where if you've done it before and then you see it happen again with maybe like a different friend, you're apprehensive to be like, hey, am I gonna say something? I don't know how they're gonna react. Like they may be like negative repercussions to this. They may never talk to me about their person or their person may not want me around anymore because like you're trying to like stir up drama, and it's just the truth.

SPEAKER_04 38:19

You know, there is a similar situation that I was in that I looking back in retrospect, actually, I don't know if I would have changed it because that's not that way it happened. I was new to a friend group, not even that new, but newish to a friend group. We had a great time. I knew everybody loved them all. In that friend group was a couple, and uh they'd been together for like nine years at this point. And I was made aware that he was cheating on his girlfriend. But I did at that at that moment in time, I didn't have like a stronger connection to either one of them. So I was more of a that's just none of my business. Like I know Hey, then I know, have your fun. This is your this is this is what you're doing, sir, and your relationship you're dealing with. It is what it is. Well, um, as it came out and it exploded, and it was a lot of drama within the group. Over time, I ended up becoming really, really close with the female in this relationship, or that former relationship, I should say. And now we're super, super close. So a part of me feels guilty that I didn't say anything, but I don't feel I should hold myself accountable to today's standards because that wasn't the standard at the time.

SPEAKER_02 39:30

Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:31

You know what I mean? So even again, going back and redoing it, I probably still wouldn't have made the same decision because we weren't that close.

SPEAKER_01 39:37

That's valid. I feel like you were in the right place and you made the right decision.

SPEAKER_04 39:41

Yeah. Yeah. I would I didn't want to get caught up in that drama, yeah, ridiculousness.

SPEAKER_01 39:47

I have. I don't know if I would go back and do it again, but tell us.

SPEAKER_04 39:51

So put it in the book.

SPEAKER_01 39:52

Put it in the book, the burn book. I mean, growing up, I feel like it's much more like high school era, college era. And it was more like I had a friend that I had grown up with, and he was dating this other girl, and I adored her, like super cool. So when I'm driving and I see him coming out of his ex-girlfriend's house, and I stopped my car because he basically would be like, Steph, like if I, you know, bring her around, just make her feel welcome in the group. I'm like, of course, even if you had an ass, I would have done that. He's car awesome. And I stopped and I literally was like, What are you doing? Like, I had to scream out of my window, like, what are you doing? He's on the porch and he literally is like sho shushing me, shoeing me away. And I'm like, Oh my gosh. So then I had gone, and I basically, and again, my longer standing friendship had been with him just from like, you know, middle school growing up and whatnot. And then I'm like, but no, like I have to tell her. Like, I would want to know if I was in this position. So I go and I tell her, and it became sort of kind of like a rift, and then um sort of kind of like, oh, I think I could have trusted you. She ended up finding so she ended up being her own detective and found so much more information, and they did stay together for a little longer, but then it was like neither of them really spoke to me as much about the relationship stuff, just because it was like maybe I was like a reminder of something that had passed, right? And they were able to mend it, and I had no involvement, but I don't know, it was just really weird, and I was like, Oh, I don't want to do that, so I pick and choose.

SPEAKER_04 41:24

You can't trust those people though. I mean, I years ago I got involved as with it with this guy who I ended up falling in love with. We had like a five-year thing off and on, off and on, because we we we got together, like it all started with you know a simple little one-night stand, ended up not being a one-night stand. I think a lot of people can identify with that related to that, I should say. And it was it was great, it was beautiful. I remember going over for you know the the one thing and ended up staying and watching an entire movie with him and cuddling, yeah. Uh, and we kept seeing each other. It was near the holidays. Then a few weeks into seeing each other, he invited me to Friendsgiving, where I went and I made stuff, and then I met all of his friends who would pull me inside and be like, Oh, like you and so-and-so are amazing. We haven't seen this happen. Like, well, he's really great. Yeah. Initial stages, but of course, that's what I'm saying outside, uh outwardly, but internally, I'm like, this is the one.

SPEAKER_00 42:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 42:21

But then he would ghost me. I'm like, okay, cool. And then a few weeks later, you'd come back in my life, but the next planet, I'm like, hey, you don't own an explanation. Like, we're not dating. Part of me is like, I'm gonna be mature about it, but also date me. Like, yeah, date me. Like, come on, putting it out there. We'd go back to the same thing we were doing. We'd pick up where we left off, and then he would ghost me six months later again. Um, but then I didn't find out. Oh, and then we did Friends miss, same thing, met all of his friends. It wasn't until a while into this that I'm finally venting about him, also because he was a little bit of a kind of not fully out. Okay, but I'm venting about him to a bartender friend of mine, and she's like, Wait, who? Where? How? And she's like, Does he have a nephew named this? I'm like, actually, yeah. He said his nephew does this. She goes, Well, his nephew is my boyfriend. This guy's not gay. This guy has kids. This guy's married. And I was like, What? And then sure enough, after some conversations, he was, and I'm like, but all his friends knew that too.

SPEAKER_01 43:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:19

You know what I mean? Did he have like a dupe apartment or something? No, uh, I still don't know what his wife does. I have I'm assuming ex-wife, they finally went through a full divorce. Um, I'm assuming she was military.

SPEAKER_03 43:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 43:31

I'm not sure, but she was out of town a lot. Wow. A lot, a lot. And uh yeah. So I it it was a shocker. And then I was like, well, wait a minute, like I met all these people who did know that. And I'm like, well, shit, I hope I got friends that are that good too. Literally. Like apparently.

SPEAKER_01 43:52

So I asked the apartment thing because I've seen on like TikTok or something that apparently New York Fire Department at one point, like one entire firehouse would put in like seven bucks because there were so many of them, and they would have it be like an apartment they'd pay for in New York to just smash. So they would take women there and be like, Yeah, it's my place. It was fully furnished, looked real. Like, you know, they'd have actual stuff that they would all use to shower and whatnot, and they were married.

SPEAKER_04 44:16

Nothing is real anymore.

SPEAKER_01 44:17

Oh, it's so insane.

SPEAKER_04 44:19

So it's a respectable smash pad.

SPEAKER_01 44:21

Can we say that though? Like back in the day, didn't people have like whole second families?

SPEAKER_04 44:25

That's because you could afford it.

SPEAKER_01 44:27

But even then, like it's just never been real.

SPEAKER_00 44:28

I guess that's already smelled, right?

SPEAKER_04 44:30

Actually, you're right. I did see something. I saw two memes recently that my friend sent me. Uh, but it was like, you know, back in the

Second Families Then And The Economy Now

SPEAKER_04 44:36

day, if you had a male, like if you were a dude that had a dude roommate, you were gay because no one you no one needed to live together.

SPEAKER_00 44:44

Yes. Someone said I did see that meme. Was your meme? And it was like the economy is so bad, no one even questions if you're like, what's it like gay with a same-sex roommate? Because you need a roommate. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:55

And then the other one that I saw, or a story or whatever, is it's like, tell me how my father worked in a factory his whole life, making minimum wage, and could afford to have two households and two families.

unknown 45:09

Literally.

SPEAKER_01 45:10

I'm like, wait, what? One of my friends had to take care of her grandpa's like house stuff once he passed away, and he kept a ledger of every single expense he had in his life. They were like, he was very frugal. He left them each so much, like just below $100,000. Insane. He had, I think, maybe 10 to 11 grandkids. That's a lot of money to leave. Yes. He saved a lot of money. And they found in the ledger, honestly, the house was $11,000. Three-bed, two-bath house in New Jersey. $11,000.

SPEAKER_04 45:42

I don't even know what that's like. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:44

I'm like, what?

SPEAKER_04 45:45

Man, this economy. And I mean, uh, I got I'm that I don't even want to talk about it. It's it's disgusting when I even look back at stuff when I was, I remember, I remember when I was, it was, I think it was right after 9-11. Was I driving yet? No, a couple years later I was driving. But uh, I remember when gas prices started going up and thinking, oh no, gas is a dollar fifty a gallon. What am I gonna do? Then I was like, well, at least $20 will still get me more than half a tank. Like that was a dollar fifty a gallon. Like absurd. I'm gonna go five dollar. Did I tell you what I did at Telbo the other day? No. All right, this is actually the twenty years ago. So it was like three years ago, I was um every year I have to like renew

Fast Food Sticker Shock And Taco Bell Loyalty

SPEAKER_04 46:33

my contract. Okay, and uh it never fails that there is an issue with pay, and I never plan for it, right? And so, or I do plan for it, and I plan, you know, for a month or two without pay, but then I go three months without pay. So things get a little tight. And uh I went to Subway thinking, okay, well, I'm not gonna go out to you know, Le Diplomat twice a week now and spend a hundred dollars on a meal until my paycheck starts coming in. And so I said I'm like good dollar footline. They have $5 anymore. I got a regular tuna, which I love my Subway tuna. You know, I did add avocado to it. It was it was like $14 or $15. I was like, I'm sorry, I only got one sandwich.

SPEAKER_01 47:16

She's like, and yeah, I believe I think I was at like Taco Bell or McDonald's, like one of those.

SPEAKER_04 47:23

Watch yourself.

SPEAKER_01 47:24

No, no, no, no. And I'm like, this will easily be three bucks. Crunch prop Supreme is my go-to. I love her. I went to pay. I'm like, what did you say? $12, $13? Doll hairs, like actual ones. And they're like, yeah, are you using the app today? I'm like, no, I'm not letting you take my data and then charge me a bunch of money.

SPEAKER_04 47:44

Yeah, and like it's a recession that I will not tolerate any um negative talk about Taco Bell Taco Bell. Other restaurants, um, first of all, Taco Bell has a great value menu though, too. I think so. A cheesy beaten rice burrito, serve it to me all day on my orifices. That spicy potato soft taco, cannot get enough, and it reheats well. I am trying to get into. I was following my beloved podcast Patreon host, comedian genius, uh Michelle Collins, one who inspires me to do everything. For years, she put out her Taco Bell order, which was a crunch wrap supreme at spicy ranch, double toasted. That way, when you get it home, it's still crispy. She has since shifted to no meat only. She said that meats make a little makes a little tooth like diaper heavy.

SPEAKER_00 48:30

Okay, I can see that.

SPEAKER_04 48:31

Um, I also like the meat inside of it. Somebody else also told me to swap the meat out for chicken, and I would add a lot of extra protein.

SPEAKER_03 48:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 48:40

But a crowd trap supreme. Yeah, so I also did a video one time on Taco Bell menu items and if I would date them. So you can go check that one out.

SPEAKER_01 48:48

I need to see that. Who would you date, number one?

SPEAKER_04 48:52

For Taco Bell menu items? Well, the man I'm gonna marry is a Crotchrap Supreme.

SPEAKER_01 48:56

Oh, perfect.

SPEAKER_04 48:56

In fact, I would go under the ninth of a uterus assault and could carry its baby. Direct quote from the video. Direct quote from the video. Um no, but yeah, nothing is real anymore. Reality TV, firefighters, and their apartments. I do want to see this. I hope it's like furnished nicely, though.

SPEAKER_01 49:13

Who knows? Maybe they make it look like a bachelor pad, but they apparently, according to this entire TikTok fiasco, had it for a couple years.

SPEAKER_04 49:21

Do you think they have like photos on the wall and they're like, oh, this is my great uncle?

SPEAKER_01 49:25

Do you know what? They probably could. And they could even have like a picture of all the guys at the firehouse to really like play it out. Oh, then were apparently it was so many guys, they were just putting seven bucks. Seven bucks a month.

SPEAKER_04 49:37

That's hot. No, they they really they really could because like in my home, you've never seen my apartment. Uh, I I don't know what it is about me. I don't put personal photos on walls. Yeah, I do art, not expensive art, but I do like decorative wall photos and frames. My animal, my my dog, my animal.

SPEAKER_00 49:57

Love it.

SPEAKER_04 49:58

My my baby my baby boy Fitzgerald, big blowing up artistic photos and uh things like that on my wall, abstract stuff. And then throughout the apartment, I might have little five by seven, four by sixes frames where I might put where I used to put pictures of my friends and me. Now, even those are of my dog because what I have is a digital frame by the front door that cycles photos. So in my apartment, there are no personal photos whatsoever. But it still looks real it still looks like like. I know, guys. I also don't pay anything to live in.

SPEAKER_01 50:34

You're like, yeah, we broke in.

SPEAKER_04 50:36

So my flipper. I feel like I feel like I could get away with that. Yeah, because that's that is how I keep my apartment.

SPEAKER_01 50:42

Just put the rotating photo still.

SPEAKER_04 50:45

Well, there's so many people on there. Like, I'm not in all those photos at all.

SPEAKER_01 50:48

It's valid. I have no pictures, but I also am like still furnishing and like decorating and stuff. But I'm trying to think, like, even back, I think I might have one photo, Max.

SPEAKER_04 50:59

One photo? One photo. Just get the rotating photo of right.

SPEAKER_01 51:02

I just I don't know if it feels like narcissistic. Maybe I'm gonna like flip side. I'm gonna have a photo shoot and just blow myself up.

SPEAKER_04 51:08

I went to okay, so I was on a what is it called? A humanitarian mission back when uh Harvey, Hurricane Harvey hit the Gulf.

SPEAKER_03 51:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 51:17

And we were out there and we ended up doing the most manual labor I've ever done in my life. But we were helping people like clear out their homes so that the people could come in and redo their floors and fix the flooding. And we were in a upper middle class neighborhood. It's Houston, so you know there's a lot of wealth there. But we're talking four three to four thousand dollar square foot homes that were newer. We went to this one lady's house, she was Asian, and her entire we didn't we didn't go upstairs, but the entire first floor was nothing but massive blowing up artistic photos of her or paintings of her, all self-portraits. Yeah, like black and white. Who gonna check me?

SPEAKER_01 51:57

Exactly. It's my house. Exactly. Walk in, you know where you are.

SPEAKER_04 52:00

Exactly. You know, case in point. So we thought that was just really funny. Well, actually, we talked a lot of shit about it, but now looking back, I'm like, I fucking paid a mortgage. Yeah, and I'm doing exactly what I want to fucking do.

SPEAKER_01 52:12

Exactly. I am art.

SPEAKER_04 52:13

Yeah, I am art, as I should say more often. Um, but yeah, I cannot believe that firefighter. I gotta look into that. I have to look it up. I have to look it up right now. Is there pictures? Did they leak?

SPEAKER_01 52:25

Uh, I don't know. Let's see.

SPEAKER_04 52:28

Firefighter N Y F D apartment, N Y F D. Let's see what they say. Oh wow. That's not reading. I'm reading the wrong thing. Um, I don't know. I I think I sort of I don't I don't think I know how to Google, so I ruined that.

SPEAKER_01 52:48

It's definitely like a TikTok thing. I'll have to find it and show it to you.

SPEAKER_04 52:51

Which I will probably find it because, like I said, I have been obsessed with the short form. I mean, everything's on there. Yeah. Literally every, you know what I started doing recently? Tell me. No. All right. So I'm sure you haven't even noticed this. On Instagram, since everything is meta

Meta AI Hacks For Reels And Comments

SPEAKER_04 53:05

now, right? And AI. On Instagram, if you go to share the video with somebody, have you noticed that there's a spot where it's like you can ask AI a question about the video?

SPEAKER_03 53:17

No.

SPEAKER_04 53:17

Most people just completely ignore it.

SPEAKER_03 53:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 53:19

So what happened was it was one of those videos that was like, oh, here's 10 things you need to do to be, you know, more productive at work, or 10 things, 10 different 10 phrases you need to use to speak better to your subordinates. And it was, I noticed that I I went to the video and I asked the meta and I was like, Can you can you um tell me what these 10 things are? And it's like, sure. And then it extracted the audio and listed them out.

SPEAKER_00 53:47

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 53:48

That's cool. And I the reason why I figured that might happen is I saw one of those videos, so I went to the comments to see if he put them in the comments, and he well, somebody finally did. And someone was like, Oh, the hero we didn't know we needed, and he had like thousands of likes. And I was like, I bet you that he did. Yes. So now every time I come across one of those videos that has a list in it, I do that, copy and paste it right into it, and I have been getting just lots of attention.

SPEAKER_01 54:09

Oh, I love that. I do love getting like so many likes on a comment. I'm like, I got 30,000 likes on this comment. I'm like, this is a good thing. I have one like that.

SPEAKER_04 54:17

I have a few, I have one right in your house. I have one that was when you when you're an intro when you're extroverted, you take your extroverted child on, but no, it said when you're trying to avoid the the hotel photographers, yeah, but your kid, Colonel and then it showed like this kid must have been like three, maybe four, and he was just having a field day and posing and posing by the pool by the like coffee shop for this photographer. Yeah. And then I put a comment saying, My favorite thing they witnessed is introverted parents with extroverted kids. That one went viral. I love kind of crazy. I kind of like it.

SPEAKER_01 54:51

My most viral one is actually mean, but I'll say it anyway.

SPEAKER_03 54:55

Tell us.

SPEAKER_01 54:56

This girl had posted like it's like a photo thing on TikTok. And the first one was like when you manifest Jacob Alordy as your boyfriend, and then like the next one is a reveal. And I was like, manifest a little harder.

SPEAKER_00 55:09

He did not look like him. I'm still getting legs on that soon.

SPEAKER_01 55:16

He like resembles him, but from such a distance. And it's like the moment you look at him for more than a second, you're like, that is not Jacob Laura.

SPEAKER_04 55:23

He's just tall. That reminds me of people that are like, oh, people say I look like Beyonce.

SPEAKER_00 55:27

And I'm like, Do you look like Shalissa? Do you know where that's from?

SPEAKER_04 55:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:32

One of the housewives used to say that. Who said that?

SPEAKER_04 55:34

Who said that? Do you know what I'm talking about?

SPEAKER_01 55:35

No, I don't. Oh. She used to always be like, Oh, I look like Beyonce. And someone would be like, She looked more like Shalissa. And then they had to put a really old picture of Beyonce and her. Oh.

SPEAKER_04 55:45

No, I have not seen that. Um, that is absolutely people do that. Or also when people post, I had some somebody did it recently, a former colleague of mine, and I probably should have commented, but I don't want to be fake and it got me thinking maybe I'm delusional and I haven't lost any weight, or going to lost that maybe from like my big toe or something. Because the weight, unless somebody is scamming my scale just to piss me off, like super gaslighting me.

SPEAKER_01 56:12

I did that to my cousin when I was like nine.

SPEAKER_04 56:14

Bitch your psycho.

SPEAKER_01 56:15

She had like just had a baby. She was like staying with us, like the little apartment downstairs, and she's like, Yeah, I'm working out, blah, blah. And it was an old skill, and I just like scaled it over. And she's like, Oh my gosh, I'll have sat down. And she came upstairs to like tell my parents, and I started dying laughing. And I had already told them that I had done that. And she was like, She was so funny.

SPEAKER_04 56:36

People like you are the reason why I'm going crazy right now.

SPEAKER_01 56:39

I was literally just a child. I don't think a digital scale do that now. Have you heard about the digital scales that are connected to like apps?

SPEAKER_04 56:44

Yeah, I have one.

SPEAKER_01 56:45

Okay. This girl who was a babysitter was like, someone was talking about it, and they said that they get the notification when someone weighs themselves. And the girl was like, Oh my god, I babysit every time I step on that scale, the mom is getting me right.

SPEAKER_04 57:02

Um, but no, so I again it's kind of this whole this whole little five-second interaction on Facebook got me thinking about well, maybe I'm this delusional. So I my friend was like, oh, this is me last year

Weight Loss Numbers And Feeling Delusional

SPEAKER_04 57:18

tired and not want to play with my kids and blah blah blah. But then we had my last son, and I decided I wanted to be around for a very long time, and this is me now, you know, 35 pounds lighter. And I was like the office Pam and be like, throw the same photo. Oh, right, and I didn't obviously, yeah. Unlike you, I don't post mean comments.

SPEAKER_01 57:37

No, but I wouldn't lie in that situation either. That's the thing.

SPEAKER_04 57:39

Like I wouldn't be like, you look great, because that's and and then it got me thinking, I'm over here getting upset as we talked about last last pod, that I was like, no one's noticed my weight loss, which is now 12 pounds. And I'm like, okay, well, maybe, maybe, maybe the universe is maybe this is karma for something that I did.

SPEAKER_01 57:57

No, but like I told you, no one notices until it's after 20.

SPEAKER_04 58:00

Until it's 20, and you're like, I meant to say 40.

SPEAKER_01 58:02

No, but this is what I'll tell you. Sometimes the numbers like we see are delusional. Like, I was at a weight at one point where I'm like, oh, I think I need to lose 20 pounds. And when I would tell people my weight, they'd be like, no, like you look fine. Maybe they were lying. I have no idea. But when I lost that weight, I'm like, oh, I still need to lose 20 pounds.

SPEAKER_04 58:18

But did I tell you, like, I don't know if I told you, but like after I had when I first had that 10-pound weight loss, I was like feeling myself and posting pictures. Did I tell you that? No, girl, I was so humiliated because you know, I don't ever post myself like nude or naked. I don't like if my investigator out there, because I'm pretty sure I'm still under investigation. I don't, I don't okay. Um, but I do have the close friends feature. Yeah. And so when like when I saw that number drop on the scale, like I felt so good. And then I would post like a risque photo. Yeah. Maybe my pants were unbuttoned a little too low. You know what I mean? So you could see my freshly groomed areas. Uh, then also like I was at work and I would like live my work shirt in a bathroom, and I was posting, like I was feeling myself. You have no idea. So then I did all that, and then I find out that okay, I was wrong and I haven't lost like any weight or whatnot. And then I felt like humiliated because this is how you know it's all in my head that nothing has changed physically about me, but because the number was lower, I felt like a million fucking dollars. Isn't that amazing? To strangers, like there's people my close friends that I just met. And I just felt really fucking delusional. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:40

And so, so how would you feel though if you did then get to a weight where everyone's, oh my god, you look great, you look great. Would you then be like, like some people are like, why is everyone telling me I look great? So I look terrible before, and then you're like, No, it can't be both.

SPEAKER_04 59:51

I would, I don't think I would ever feel that way. And I know that somebody had said at one point in time where people are like, it's not about the number, and someone's like, it is like if you know in your past that there is a number that makes you happy, go for that number. Yeah, like it's it's not all about the number, no, but the number matters, and it makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:06

There's a proportions too, right? Waist on skinny.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:10

I know. I'm just I don't know. It was it's it's a lot that I'm working through right now, and it's it's a struggle. But I know you can do it.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:21

I think you look great, but I know you want to be sexy.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:25

Oh my god, we're gonna get into therapy hour right now. No, we got time for that. Um, but anyways, I think I'm hungry.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:35

Are you sick still?

SPEAKER_04 1:00:37

Are you what?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:38

Are you sick still?

SPEAKER_04 1:00:39

I don't know. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:40

She told me it'll be like, I don't feel like that.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:42

Yeah. Um, anyways, I'm surprised we were even I was even able to come down and pod today because I don't know what happened. Like I I got I did not get that bug that is going around that it's giving people the explosive runs.

Pride Plans Bugs And Desert Skin Care

SPEAKER_04 1:00:55

Uh, do I kind of want to get it? I mean, I am gonna go celebrate San Diego Pride in a week or so. I wouldn't mind being, you know, but I gotta tell what girl, I don't want to jinx myself because like what if I get it like on day one of Sunday and Friday? Like, are you kidding me? I couldn't let I need to time it. I think I would need to get it on Tuesday evening so that it could run through me on Wednesday and Thursday, and then I could wake up looking snatched on Friday and enjoy Friday, Saturday, Sunday looking four pounds lighter and thinner.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:29

You would be so dehydrated, but thin. And then pass that what about the temperature here? You need to laugh, you need to slug so that you're skinky, but also like radiant.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:41

What is slug?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:42

Slugging. It's like when you put on a moisturizer and then at the end you finish it off with an occlusive to hold everything in so you don't lose any moisture on the outside.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:50

Oh, I'm kind of slugging right now because of how dry it is here. What are you losing? Uh Cetophil.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:57

Cetophil, and I just like grease myself up like a chicken tender from like neck to toe. It is ridiculous. I know I've heard of it, I've heard about the petroleum.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:09

Um, I don't know how I feel about that. Just because it's like the shower.

unknown 1:02:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:13

Shower gets really med doesn't make this water well. Not super happy about that. Nobody cares about this. Anyways, uh, let's wrap. Let's wrap. I want to go off and explore. Maybe we'll change our opinion on Tuesday. We'll see. Listener, wish us

Wrap Up And Where To Follow

SPEAKER_04 1:02:28

luck. Um, give us an update if you have maybe some recommendations. Recommendations. We're we're gonna be here again. I think we're gonna try to sneak in one more before we leave, right? Yeah, we definitely should. Um uh Stephanie, thank you so much. This is so much fun. Actually, no, love doing it in person. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:42

I know.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:42

Virtually is also fun too.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:43

Yeah, I enjoy. Thanks for having me back. I love it.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:46

Listener, we love you. Take care. Uh, don't forget to follow uh me at BJ Allday, the podcast on TikTok at Dost of Delusion Podcast. And of course, don't forget to follow Stephanie Carolina at Slopes with three S's and nine four. She always says I'm gonna put it up on there, and I just haven't. But one day I will. It's gonna be great. Um, we'll see you guys later. Take care, bye bye.