I attended a "book reading" with Andy last night, which was actually just a Q&A, and he was very open and answered everyone's questions. I'll address only HW related questions. He also spoke on his personal life, the book, and other projects not HW related.
- When asked who was the most difficult hw, he didn't miss a beat saying Jill Zaren. But, he said that she was worth bringing back for the UGT and that other hw who were difficult will never be back. No one followed up by asking which ones.
- He believes Erika but thinks that her behavior and her reactions are a problem and that she's not doing herself any favors. He said he doesn't know when she started to really understand the situation, but he believes it was after it was all said and done. He said that even when he heard the rumors that Tom was borrowing money, etc, he had the same reaction that Erika did, that it must just be a business thing that Tom would deal with. He said, "the plane was still flying," and "the guy had Gavin Newsome praising him," and that, "Tom was more than just a respected attorney, he was THE attorney and one that was very much respected."
- Someone asked him what he'd diagnose Mary with. He said that she's a gift from the casting gods and that he's not qualified to diagnose anyone w/ anything, but keep watching because she gets "even more Mary." He also told a story about when she was living in NYC 10 years ago (when she was supposedly dying in a hospital) that she belonged to the same gym as he did and that they would wave to one another. He has no recollection of that, and so when they met at the reunion, Mary was pissed that he didn't know her.
- I haven't seen the WWHL and I don't even know who these people are, but he said the episode the other day with Kyle Cooke & Amanda Batula was painful to film.
- He said that he went in so hard with Candiace because he truly wants her to grow, and he thought that if he pushed her hard enough, she'd have a moment of realization, but that it didn't happen.
- Niki Minaj came in with her own questions and he didn't give her any rules, he just let her do her thing.
- Someone asked if he ever told Rinna to get a better house (so weird), and he said he loves her house because it looks authentic, cozy, and for a family and he loves that she doesn't feel the need to upgrade it for other people. He also said she was a great addition to the show.
- Someone said that Ramona is ruining the UGT and half the audience broke into applause and he was genuinely surprised by the reaction. He said, "But if Ramona wasn't there being Ramona, what would the ladies talk about?" And the audience replied, "They'd find something!" And he actually took a minute to think about that and then agreed. *fingers crossed* ---A little off tangent here, but there were several older Jewish women who were praising him and saying that he is a great representation for the Jewish community and that he shows the world "mazel." I'm not Jewish, so I was kind of surprised by this. I would love to hear what our Jewish members think about this, especially in light of Ramona's behavior this year during RHONY and then casting her in UGT.
- He acknowledged that the show had a blind spot on diversity for a long time, but going forward, diversity will be central to all shows and that it's true that Miami will have an actual lesbian, Julia Lemigova, who is Martina Navratilova's wife.
- He said he's watched SLC 7 times this season and it's "amazing."
- He also said the first 4 episodes of OC are really good and he's only seen 1 episode of NJ and it's "something" and he thinks the season will be explosive.
- It's true that NYC is on hiatus and that they are very focused on casting and bringing it back. They are listening to feedback and deciding what to do to keep it RHONY but enjoyable. He said filing in NYC at the height of COVID, and during a politically charged election, with only 5 cast members (he regrets not having a 6th), while everyone, not just the HWs, was pretty miserable, just wasn't a good atmosphere for filming a reality show.
- He dismissed the rumors about Kathy holding out for money and said to stop reading TMZ.
- He said he was pleasantly surprised by the positive reaction that Sutton received and he thinks the audience really appreciated how she was the only one to go up against Erika.
- He said that having Stu flip on Jen is really, really bad for Jen. He said she, however, maintains her innocence and he thinks that she believes she is innocent and will not face charges. Someone asked if it was true that her lawyers asked Bravo to re-edit and remove some scenes. His body language implied that that was true, and then he said, "what's filmed is filmed."
- Someone asked why they don't do better vetting. He said that clearly, they vet just enough!
- He doesn't get too into the other Bravo shows and mainly just watches the HWs.
- He was very chummy and receptive to all questions and a really good sport during the Q&A. He was the exact opposite during the book signing.
** Edit to add another!
19. Someone asked what B's condition was to return and he said he wants to tell everyone but Bravo won't let him and that even getting the sentence in the book that she had a demand was a win for him. But he let the questioner have a guess and she said that she thought B wanted producer credit. He said, "Nope, that's not it!"
**Edit to add another! 20. Circling back to Erika, he said if she knew, she’d have to be really stupid to go on TV and record “It’s Expensive to be Me,” and that Erika is many things (this sounded a bit negative) but stupid isn’t one of them.
That's all I can remember right now!