Welcome to Reality with the King. It's me Carlos Kings, the King of Reality TV and one of the most sought after executive producers in reality television with over ten years a production experience. Twice a week on Reality with the King, we'll sit down with my friends across the entertainment industry, recap our favorite reality shows and revisit unforgettable moments that we are still talking and tweeting about. Hey, rain drops from today's episode of Reality with the King.
He's back.
We got the icon Exach Peter from the No Filter podcast.
How's it going?
All?
It's going well? How are you? I have been talking to you in a sec I know it's been a minute.
I mean you're like all over the world. You are busy, you're just amath wait. Is it one hundred thousand subscribers on YouTube?
Yes, Welcome in an exciting year.
You have been killing it this year with the podcast, your amazing takes on the Forever sort of like ever changing case, what that's going on between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.
And you've just been doing.
So well, so super proud of you.
You're all over the world.
You're also on tour, and you have like a lot of stuff going on, so I appreciate you taking time.
Off a little on me, Zach.
Anytime I listen, I always love coming here and talking Bravo and spilling tea and crowning the losers as I see them.
Well, let's get started, because again, everybody who listens to your podcast, including me, knows that you do such a great deep dive into the legal world of things that are happening. You are like the Kim Kardashian of podcasting right now with your non law degree. But we appreciate you having the education of understanding the legal jargon that is happening around the world. So I definitely wanted to have you on because what we just discovered last week was that Real Housewives of Atlanta.
I guess I'll say former star right now.
Britt Adie filed a twenty million dollar laws to against the network, where she has claimed sexual harassment, hostile work environment, and a host of other things.
What are your thoughts on this as a viewer, as.
A person who has been following cases for the past couple of months, what do you think about what britt Eadie is alleging.
I mean, I think the allegations are a bit egregious. I think she's looking for a payday. She probably knew she wasn't going to come back anyway, because I just feel like the tone the public, like, did the audience want Kenya back? And I just know I think she knows that that's like a loose battle, that like Kenya is going to be the priority over Britt, especially, you know, considering I feel like that whole situation was such a mess.
And then when she came out and she was like, oh, actually the photos weren't of me, and it's like, well then what, Like I don't know. The whole thing was just so strange and confusing. But I mean, you have more of like the the network producer standpoint. But I always think that when a cast member tries to sue the network, or sue the production company, or sue their employer, essentially, it really is just kind of they're looking for a payday. We saw it with Liam McSweeney, we saw it with
Caroline Manzo. I feel like Britt is just like this is the era of people just trying to be litigious, and I don't think it's gonna work well for any of them. I mean, what's Liam McSweeney doing. Is her only fans popping off that?
Well? Does he have an OnlyFans?
Yeah?
Or remember she had an OnlyFans and she was like, look at my caboos. But she like put a big star over it so like you couldn't really see like it was.
It was a wild time. Did you subscribe to that?
I did subscribe to it. It was it was a little missy. I subscribed.
Listened.
I did, Brandy Glanville, Denise Richards, Liam McSweeney, I ranged them.
All got it.
I will say journalist Denise Richards was the best bang for your buck, Like she gave you everything, like what everything from you know, head to toe toes in the garden. You know you saw both sets of lips like she was just on full display.
Why is that?
Are you serious? Yes, listen, Denise gave everything.
I was like because like some of like Leah or Brandy, like they were a little more frugal and they would kind of like be a little cheeky, but no, Denise was like, you know, she was like full wild things.
This is extremely wild to be I honestly had no idea that the girls were doing this a lie and Denise Richards to no, that that's what you were doing, because I do remember her daughter had an Only Fans as well. I do remember that whole scandal. I did not watch her spin off, so I'm not sure that was covered on her show.
It was boring. It was kind of boring, like it was cute, but it was boring.
Like and the finale, the biggest like bombshell from the finale was that her daughter's car got towed, but we didn't even see it. She like called Denise at work and she's like, mom my car got towed or something like that, and Denise's like, well, well, you gotta pay your parking tickets, and like that was the climax. So listen, if you want a better climax, tune into her Only Fans and not her reality show. She should put Aaron on the Only Fans. I think that would really skyrocket sales. Listen,
she does have a hot husband. We you know, we all can't can't agree to that.
So when it comes going back to brit though, which there's conversations now Zach that Britt allegedly didn't file the lawsuit that she had. Her attorneys mentioned this to the network that it doesn't have a DOCU number or case number.
Excuse me again, I'm not.
Oh my Kim Kardashian just yet being the legal ego like you. But is all of that true or is that just more rumors?
No, So it appears that the lawsuit itself isn't an active lawsuit. I mean, listen, you can file a draft, you can send out a press release and like make an announcement in the press, but that doesn't actually mean that you have I mean, Blake Lively was a perfect example, right. She filed a CRD complaint, which was a civil complaint, it wasn't unofficial lawsuit filed. That gave that to The
New York Times and became a headline. And I remember when I first saw that, I was like, she's not actually suing him, but she's already made the allegations against him. She went through a number of protections so that you didn't really have to go through with the lawsuit until he came back swinging with his lawsuit against the New York Times. So Britt kind of seems like she was
doing something similar. It seems like she more of wanted the pr stunt, but also like, you're kind of when you bite the hand that feeds you, and you're making, you know, these big, egregious claims without any sort of evidence to substantiate them, and not even a lawsuit in and of itself.
Is the press even worth it at that point?
This is actually breaking news, zach I.
It didn't dawn on me that you're right in the sense of what Blake Lively did. It wasn't an active lawsuit. It was civil and the New York Times they published it, and it appeared to be what Justin is alleging was a smear campaign against his character.
Now that we know that Brient, we'll.
Just say a legend for now is an active lawsuit.
It was revealed the day after the taping of the reunion.
We found out that the Thursday, which is where they take some think was June fifth, that she wasn't there. She posted on her ansert story the same day that she did not show up, that the image wasn't her. The next day is when it was revealed through articles about this lawsuit. So, Zach Peters, you're right, this could allegedly be something to where it's all about this mirror campaign and maybe not even going through the court of law.
Because shit like this can get pretty expensive.
Yeah, so you're either really rich and you can afford like Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, you can afford to just rack up the attorney's fees and you know, kind of just piss the money away, or you have to get a lawyer that's going to take your case on contingency, which means if they whatever they win in the end. Like Tom Girardi, he was a lawyer that would do his cases based off contingency, so he would take forty percent of whatever his settlements were.
So have to have one of those too.
Like Liam McSweeney, I don't believe is bank rolling her own lawsuit. I'm pretty sure that's a contingency case where they think that they're going to get Bravo and NBC to give them some money and then the attorneys will recuperate their fees through whatever the settlement ends up being in the end. So I'm pretty sure that's what Britt was doing. Or she didn't get a lawyer to take on her case on contingency because they probably didn't think
she had a strong case. So and she'd listen, lawsuits are really expensive that you have the attorney's fees, you have the filing fees, you have so many different costs that come up throughout. I mean, look at Baldoni and Blake like that. That's not even going to trial until next year. So that's over a year in just attorneys fees and costs. Where kal levis is law suit against Tom Sandavan and Ariano Max that's still ongoing and that's not happening until November of this year is when we're
going to trial. So this whole time she's been racking up fees and paying costs out to fight Tom and Ariana in her revenge point case child.
We are just getting started. This is Reality with the King, and I'm Carlos King. Let's get back into the show when reality stars start filing these lawsuits, because it is something that appears to have been happening for the past couple of years. Whereas reality TV as we know, has been around, you know, for the most part, popularly right in the early two thousand, so let's just say over
twenty years of this genre. But what appears Zach is in the past five years, it does seem to be multiple cases like this that that just happens, you know, Black China, you know, sued the Kardashians. You know, she alleged that the Kardashians prevented her from getting a second season of her hit show, Robin China on e the Cardias.
These these are her words. Ac listen, you.
Can make any you can allege anything in a civil complaint. Ah, doesn't have to be true. We learned that from Blake Lagly, So.
That that's that's what's so fascinating about this to where it just seems to be something where it's happening more often than it did in the past. What do you attribute to this is it is it sort of like the reality star wanting to get the attention away from them and blame the production company, blame the network because fan favorites, right aren't doing this And what it appears to be is is people who may not have the best relationship with the audience on social media.
Yeah, so these lawsuits aren't particularly new, but what is new is seeing them come to light publicly. Right, So, what happens in a lot of these cases is there's a threat behind the scenes and the network just pays it out, pays out some sort of settlement, has them signed an NDA and it's sort of cut and drying, a done deal. And so those types of lawsuits have happened. I'm not talking about Bravo or NBC specifically, but like
those have happened for years. I mean one of the popular, the famous ones from like the early twenty tens was like Megan Hauserman and Sharon Osbourne on Rock of Left Charms School, where you know, Megan sued Sharon and VH one got involved and they had to like pull the footage so that it didn't air at the reunion because Sharon had allegedly assaulted Megan, and then they settled behind the scenes and so it didn't play out publicly the
way we're seeing these play out publicly. And I think, you know, to your point, we've seen someone like Black China who became very litigious and it kind of made a lot of way in the press, and I think now people are using it for clout and attention, and I think, listen, you also have to blame Bethany Frinkel, queen of the reality reckoning that real they went nowhere,
Like what a bust that reckoning was. But so but it encouraged people to then launch these lawsuits against the network, and then what I think happened is you had a lot of these ambulance chaser lawyers that are like, yeah, let's all jump in on this, let's all ride this way, hoping that they can kind of get some payouts from these networks. And so far, I don't know anybody that's fully been successful. Caroline and Leah, as far as I'm aware,
have their lawsuits that are still pending. Those haven't been settled, and those haven't been dismissed either. It's ongoing litigation, and I think, I mean, I don't think BRIT's even actually going to sue the network. I think she put the headlines out there, She got the narrative that she's some sort of a victim. She can excuse why she didn't have to show up to the reunion, she can excuse why she won't be on the show next season, and she can just make it seem like, you.
Know, she was trying to take down the network.
And who knows what her excuse will be at the end of the day when nothing comes of it.
Ladies Justin mcgaze and Bay Zach Peters, I mean, I really am learning so much today.
It ruins your career. Does it not like when you see somebody that sues a network. I mean it's kind of similar with like any employment, when you see somebody that sues their employer or has a history of being litigious. When you come in with your resume, it doesn't really make you the ideal candidate to then have another company hire you.
Well, if that's the thing, is one of those things where and I'm sure you agree with this, If something happened, then go for it.
Do you know what I mean?
Like if you have substantially I'm sorry, substantial evidence whenever you do something of that magnitude by all means, I think we all agree, is your US constitution to do so when what is happening though, that you and I are talking about is more so the conversation of it seems to be these buzzwords being used for the sake
of embarrassment and not particularly for justice. And I think that's the reason why it is becoming a tough pill for people to swallow, because the audience is trying to understand based on what we read and what we saw, and we saw your behavior, a lot of these things aren't adding up. And I think based on your due diligence, Zach with your coverage of Blake Lively and Justin Valdoni
and listen, you don't have to tell me, honey. I'm just saying I would hope that Justin Valdoni and his team are sending you flowers, will have sent you flowers, because between your breakdown of that case, I don't know who Justin Valdoni was until I saw the movie, which which, by the way, I may be a rare breeding this this is before the lawsuit.
I enjoyed the movie. I was like, I too, Okay, thank you.
I watched it on Netflix the night before the news broke. I literally watched and I was like, oh, it wasn't that bad, Like it was actually a fine, like it was a good movie whatever. And then the next day is when the New York Times article is published, and I was like whoa. And then little did I know how much this was all going to blow up. But yeah, I agree, I didn't even I didn't know who Justin Baldoni was.
I didn't really care. I never watched Jane the Virgin.
Yeah, I didn't watch any of his his prior work.
But again, my point in making the point that I'm making is the fact that your breakdown of that particular case really opened up my eyes and ears to the other side of the rationale of people doing this in terms of again, I'm not alleging anything but Blake, this is, this is what it is. But it was the fact that there's an alternative to this, and how about we
talk about the alternative? And I I think that's the reason why your take has been so successful, because it's people like me who are like, oh, I didn't think about that, and we're now seeing why things are, you know, not going as planned.
And a lot of it stemmed from Girardi and Erica and what we saw play out, because it was so interesting when she first filed for divorce in November of twenty twenty, and then the headlines came out that it was a sham divorce, and then, you know, we watched that play out that season and when I started to dig into the Girardi staff and I started actually looking at those legal documents and being like, wait, something does feel kind of off here, and like is she guilty?
Is she not guilty? Was she culpable? Was she not capable?
Here we are five years later, and ultimately Tom's on his way to prison, and so is his CFO. His chief financial officer is bookkeeper essentially, and they're off to prison, and Erica's not, you know. And it's because it was through looking at that case and looking at which cases or which allegation and seem to have some merit and
which ones didn't have merit, you know. And everybody wants to be a sut and strack and read an LA Times article and think that, you know, reading a few paragraphs with your readers on suddenly makes you, you know, like pretty savvy when it comes to the court of law.
But it was really through going through those court filings and talking to attorneys and talking to reporters and you know, really kind of diving into the nitty gritty of that that I was like, okay, and take a seat and go, you know, sell some more shirts on your online storm.
He's also part time comedian, so I do want to get into the Tom derady of it all. So he was sentenced to seven years for stealing millions from his clients.
Seven years in prison. He's eighty six years old.
He was convicted of stealing millions from his clients for over a decade.
I ran it to Erica Jane this past.
Holiday, and you and Isaac were one of the rare people who never thought she was guilty of anything.
And Erica was like, thank you for.
Having my back, and I'm like, again, I don't know you personally. I watched TV like everyone else, but I also have common sense and I just don't think she had anything to.
Do with it.
Do you feel like, when it comes to this Tom Gerardi case, is Erica Jane now vindicated and should those women who attacked her should apologize?
I think she was vindicated. She's still I mean, it's still an uphill battle. You have ambulance chasers like attorney Ronald Richards who are really just all over the internet trying.
To blow up every little.
Thing that happens in court and turn it into a headline because he wants us Weekly to, I don't know, give him another quote in another article that's going.
To go nowhere.
But when it comes to Erica, I feel like the Gerardi key stuff, for the most part, kind of seems to be behind her. She does still have some lawsuits that she's fighting off, but I mean, the more we dig, the less and less that they find that she's culpable for all of this. So I mean, if we can investigate her yet, you have to remember Ronald Richards investigated her for what almost a whole year, specifically just trying
to dig up dirt on Erica and her culpability. And again, we went through a trial with Christopher kimonas CFO, we went through a trial with Tom Girardi. Even Tom, I mean in a way, I know people are kind of torn about how his trial ultimately ended up because they're claiming he has Alzheimer's and dementia. They wanted him to serve his time in a care facility, and ultimately the judge was like, no, he's going to prison.
Lock him up.
So you know, I'm I do think that the women owe Erica an apology because I think they could have at least given her a little bit of grace to wait to see how things played out, whereas I think they were a little judgmental of her upfront before knowing all of the details. And listen it, you know, it was compelling TV and and strack her diamond.
So she got what she wanted at the end of the day. Wait a minute, she was a friend of that season and then she got her diamond. By the end of it, I never put to a two together. Yeah, ah with the Ladies of Beverly Hills will do for a diamond.
Ah.
But isn't it funny?
How But then by the end of this season, Sutton and Garcel.
Both totally buckled by the reunion.
They were so big about holding everybody else's feet to the fire and hold them accountable, and you got to answer questions, and then the second the heat turned on them, they folded, folded like a fold up chair.
Lack. Well, honey, there you have it.
So I want to move on into an announcement that doesn't have anything to do with the court of law, but it does have everything to do with the court of public opinions. Zach peter So Brent Whitfield from the reboot of The New York City house Wile quit the show and she released a statement where she says, after a lot of thought, I've made the decision to walk
away from reality television. Okay, we'll get to We'll get to be a second not just housewives, y'all, she said reality TV For now, the Real Housewives of New York City will always be one of the most fun chaotic and magical chapters of my life. I'm not sure the audience will say the same brand who I, Zach, you and I never talked about this, so I will love to get your opinion before we get to her decision to quit.
I enjoy Brian the first season of this reboot.
I thought she was fun, beautiful girl, wacky in the best compliment possible, A free spirit if you will. She arguably to me that first season of the boot was kind of the fan favorite. Everyone liked her because she was outspoken and just fun.
And then something happened.
But before we get to her decision to lead, what were your initial thoughts watching the first season of his reboot when it came to Brin.
And thoughts about the reboot overall, we're boring, but Brinn was actually interesting, like she gave the show, you know, some favor to it.
I don't sild her by Zach Peter, people.
Go ahead listen.
Season one, I think Brynn was very kind of bubbly, and people gravitated towards her personality. I always thought that Aaron was the strongest on the cast.
Overall.
I just feel like she's the most housewife, like, you know, potential, whereas the Jessel, I get that Jessel kind of has a role, Brynn kind of had a role. So what I saw them trying to do and you can tell me if you agree or disagree, but they I felt like they were trying to make Brynn the Bethany, right, the young one that's single, who's trying to build her business.
She's trying to be hungry.
But I feel like Brnn didn't want to fit into that mold, and so she kind of, you know, played a different character and listen. Ultimately, I feel like the fans really liked her After the first season.
I liked her. I thought she was fun and funny.
Yeah, no, I agree with you. As a producer.
When I saw the first season, I immediately say, oh, she's the Bethany of this reboot. She's single, no children, young, an entrepreneur, not the not the most successful in the sense of like monetary means, but but has a career and you want to root for her, and she happens to be quick witted.
So I agree with you.
I thought she checked every single box that was the Bethany Frankel. The first season of The Raal House Swats of New York City. My thoughts of Brinn after watching some of the second season, and and again I was very honest about this reboot is a boot. It just didn't work for me either. I thought she drank the kool aid. I thought she believed her own hype.
I thought she.
Was somebody who became a caricature of herself. She started to behave in a way that she thought the audience wanted to see.
And she lost me towards the very very end, obviously.
When she accused Uba of knowing about her SA situation, so knowing that that did not go the way she thought, knowing that the cast did.
I speak to her after the reunion, her.
Decision to quote unquote quit to me is sort of like this fall from Grace, because she had everything laid out to be positioned as a breakout star and to know that her last moments on retro TV is this I think my personal and professional opinion, I think she
knew she was not going to be asked back. And one thing I will give the network, they do allow the housewives to tell their own narrative about quitting or or leaving the show, Like Girl, if you want to say you quit and you hate us go about it. We're not going to release a statement, is it? You control your own narrative. But I think everybody knows that there was no chance in hell of Brant coming back.
No, I don't think I always saw her in Uba exiting the series after this season. Just with the way it ended, I just felt like neither of them came off very likable. And then the fact that like it was, I also just didn't even love how the network played up this big moment and it ended up just being a really dark moment on the show, and just Brinn was really bad at taking accountability and it just was not There was no way she was coming back.
So the fact that she even wanted to come out this is.
Like Katie Maloney mean, like I quit vander Pump Rules before they canceled the show.
It's like, no, you didn't. What were you gonna do?
Make Katie Maloney baloney sandwiches all day? No, thank you, No, you did not. They canceled the show because like you all got fired. Like just that's the reality. The only one I would believe was walking away from the show was Arion It because at that point she was booked and busy and really didn't need the show anymore.
I would like to try a Katie Maloney bolone. I want to add that to my writer when I'm traveling for these paid kicks. Okay, so I agree with you. I think when it comes to brand, that's what happened. What do you think is the future of the reboot? Should it just be done? Should they keep some of the girls, add new ones, mix and the old with the new cast? What is zach pe to take on this?
Cancel it?
We're good, cancel it you want to cancel? I mean, it's just here's the thing. We have so many shows and now they just announced Rhode Island and Ladies of London, Like, there are so many shows on the air that once we realized, like a Housewives show isn't working, it's okay to just scrap it like Dubai. Nobody's holding their breath for Dubai to come back, Like we're okay with letting that be a two season flop and move on from it. I think, Ronie, I just I don't think the name
helped them. I think that this should have been like a Ladies of Manhattan or make this Manhattan Moms, which was the original title of Ronie. Like, they could have made this some other version of the show Girlfriends of New York, Girlfriends of Manhattan, like just something that made
it newer and younger and fresh. And I think that would have kind of given some revival because I think the cast going in had expectations of what they had to be on the show, and then they also had to live up to the hype of what the show originally was. And New York was one of the best shows in the franchise. You know, New York really with Derinda and Ramona and Sonya and Luan and beth and like, they were just such heavy hitters. But they were heavy
hitters because they didn't know what the show was. There were no expectations, and you know, I know Bethany's come out on TikTok. They were so delusional that they really believed their own hype. They were like, yeah, we're socialites of New York, whereas most New York social life like scoffed at them. So I think it just it was a model that nobody knew, so it worked at that time.
So trying to recreated in today's you know, I also kind of feel like that's I don't know if you're enjoying Atlanta this season, but I feel like even Atlanta's not really living up to what Atlanta used to be, you know, and it's we have a lot of new faces and it's you know, I don't know, it's just hard to recreate housewives in today's era. And I think people feel like the model has kind of grown stale because you know, it's just it's it's not as it's
not as fresh. Like I don't think anybody's looking forward to the Vander pump Rolls reboot, Like people don't need a reboot this soon. You're in a rebootish wait ten to fifteen years and make people miss it, you know.
Yeah, No, I mean that's that's a good point.
I think the vand the Pump Rules thing too, it's way too soon, it's way too fresh. And I think when you look at the Real Housewives in Miami, I think the reason why that's working is because it did go on pause for a few years.
We did miss it.
And the most genius thing they did they brought back some some ogs and mix in a bunch of new women and it was a perfect mix. And that's why I think New York, to your point, should definitely be on an extended pause to allow the audience to miss it and then bring back.
Oh the new.
It worked for Miami, and I think that, to me is the test. And I would have done the same thing with Vanda the Pump Rules, honestly.
I think that's the best way to make and listen, you still have like Tom Schwartz that's still in that Vander Pump Rules running Tom Tom Delee. You could have found a way to you know, to keep him part of the franchise down the line and maybe find somebody else. I mean, I don't know if Katie Maloney's Blooney Sandwiches would still be around them, like that would have been an opportunity then too. So I feel like they had they just given it a chance to breathe and wait
for there to be a demand. But like right now, nobody is asking for Ronie. Nobody is like, yes, give me more, Brin, give me more, Uba, give me more. You know, Jessel and her boring parties like no, like, just give us a break.
Let us miss some of them and listen.
The Miami Ladies did really well because because for the six years that they were off the air, they would still meet up for lunch and take selfies together, and they knew how to tease the fans in the right way.
No, it was genius. It was genius. It was genius, and it clearly it worked. So Zach Peter, you never ever ever disappoint. Let the rain drops know what they can find. You follow, you support all of the amazing things that you are doing.
Yeah, and No Filter with Zach Peters streams five days a week, Monday through Friday. Streams weekday mornings on YouTube, and then it's available to watch on Spotify or to listen on Apple and all other podcast platforms. I'm also kicking off my Zactivated Tour, which is a live podcast tour eight cities all throughout the US. It kicks off in July, so you can get your tickets at No Filter Live dot com. I'm coming to Dallas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Seattle, Philly, New York.
Chicago, and it's fun.
We have like.
Leanne Lockin is going to be in Dallas, Jenny McCarthy is going to be in Chicago, Chloe Vich is going to be in Los Angeles.
So we have a lot of fun guests.
They're going to be at all of the different cities through No Filter Live dot com.
You are doing a splendid job and to see your growth happen so fast makes me so happy for you. I am a fan and I'm so proud of you and the work that you're doing and constant creator. Really take a page out of Zach's book because he definitely followed things that he was passionate about. And once you do that is when you're going to see more success open up for you because he's not chasing trends.
He was really following things that made sense.
And I saw it and I'm like, this boy is doing fantastic work. So congratulations Zach from all of your amazing works here.
Thank you, sir. You're welcome you to walk the bunk. All right, guys, Reality with the King.
We'll patch you back on the next one.
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