Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Season 15
The Show…
Season 15 saw two new housewives; Rachel Zoe and Amanda Francis.
The season started slow with heavy focus on Amanda Francis who was quite a bore and felt like she was a bit of a scammer. The women were all curious about Amanda and her background but it took a long time for her to actually start revealing stuff, I was especially interested in the cult stuff, which panned out to be a bit of a snore (perhaps it was how she told it), as well as some focus on her business which she made as clear as mud.
Tension built between Kyle and Dorit which was fueled by Kyle who pushed her agenda for the show, this became the big blow up and saw a divide between the groups in Italy.
We saw the vulnerable side of Rachel talking about her divorce, of Bozoma who talked through her IVF treatment, to the happy celebration of her engagement.
It was an interesting season but I felt it was heavily dominated by Kyle attacking Dorit with her dogs - I did find that the whole season was aggressively hostile and I’m surprised Dorit held it together as well as she did with how she was being constantly slammed.
The Housewives…
* This list is in order of my favourites and is based on -only- what we saw on the show.
Rachel Zoe
A new addition to RHOBH Rachel is level headed and caring about those that she is involved with, she seems like an actual grown up with the teen flare that my child tends to gravitate towards. Her family are lovely to see on the screen with the relationship that the three of them have seeming to be caring, loved, and full of fun.
Through this season we saw Rachel grow into a powerhouse and my favourite of the housewives with her nurturing of Dorit and offering that level headedness, supporting Dorit as a friend.
My only gripe with Rachel is that she seemed a little too over dramatic in regards to her ex introducing his girlfriend (from what I understand, of a long time) to the children. You can’t control what your ex does any more than what you can your partner.
Bozoma Saint John
A fantastic powerhouse of a woman who was willing to show a vulnerable side to her with all the inside information about her IVF treatment. I enjoyed her story and seeing the human side of her beyond the superficial side that most of the housewives put out there.
Boz showed support for Dorit throughout all the episodes from a stand point of a professional and very intellectual woman. She is a woman who supports her friends in a way that you should.
She calls out Amanda during the season and her business, akin to being a cult itself, which was my thought on Amanda - she took what she learnt in a cult and used that to create her own in the guise of a business.
Dorit Kemsley
I found Dorit to be uncomfortable through the previous seasons, last season she started to fall into her own and her style in fashion was much more to my liking. However this season she blossomed into her own independant being but as a result she and her divorce became the target.
I feel Dorit in this season grew up and became a person who wanted to live her life, to enjoy life, surround herself in people who supported her.
Kyle targetted Dorit in this season and used her clout to bring in other housewives to attack her, by the end they were accusing Dorit of being hostile, but after episodes of being attacked of course you’d be much more guarded. She wanted to talk one-to-one with Kyle and try to settle things but Kyle kept bringing in her attack dogs, using the group to do her dirty work. I felt really sorry for Dorit this season, but loved to see her start standing on her own two feet - such a lovely weirdo.
Erika Jayne
Formely my favourite of the housewives and continued to be my favourite through the start of the season, but she very swiftly fell once she became one of Kyle’s attack dogs. Over night it seemed she went from being a down to earth sensible person who saw reason, to a hostile woman looking for any little thing to attack Dorit with.
In the episode that triggered all this we saw her saying Dorit told her to shut up and put her hand in her face - this wasn’t true, Dorit barely rose her hand and, I feel, quite politely asked her to not interfere so she could deal with Kyle’s questions.
Personally I feel Kyle had a word with Erika off camera and threatened to remove her from RHOBH if she didn’t side with her - that and/or the whole thing was orchestrated for drama with the producers to keep Erika relevant.
Very disappointed.
Sutton Stracke (Brown)
She started strong this season with cutting out the drink, supporting her friends and trying to make amends for how she’d been in the past.
As the season went on she bounced around through friend groups and loyalties though, eventually falling on being one of Kyle’s attack dogs. I believe it was Garcelle who said that Sutton will do anything to be close to Kyle and I feel this season she did just that.
Kyle Richards
Oof. From the get go she was gunning for Dorit and frankly I feel she’s trying to get revenge for the text message last season, wants to be friends with PK more than she does Dorit, and it partly hoping in siding against Dorit she might be able to rekindle things with Mo.
It’s heavily speculated that Kyle is a ‘secret producer’ or even has one in her pocket, which gives her a lot of power and also, I feel ruins the show.
I feel that Kyle is very insecure; she doesn’t have a career or real income herself, her husband is leaving her, and her children are moving on - she’s trying to find something that makes her relevant and relies entirely on this show.
She pushes for the housewives to tell their drama, the troubles in their life, but if you touch a topic (Morgan) that she doesn’t like it gets shot down and is a ‘no go area’ for the show. I think frankly she ruins the show for me — and I was very tempted to put her at the bottom of my list…
Amanda Francis
… However that’s where Amanda sits, the latest addition to the show. As mentioned before she was in a cult and I feel she’s built a business using the skills of the cult leader, she doesn’t actually sell anything of substance. If you believe something good will happen to you then it will, and she will teach you how to believe correctly.
One redeeming feature of Amanda is that even though she wasn’t getting on with Dorit she turned up to support her, to be a friend, while her actual friends didn’t show up (Kyle and Erika - Sutton, but she’s not really a friend) and Erika didn’t even have the decency to let Dorit know! Amanda really redeemed herself in this episode, almost to the point that I’d put her above Kyle.
Friends…
Jennifer Tilly
Jennifer Tilly has always been my favourite of the friends, she’s so kooky and friendly, and doesn’t seem to really care about the social norms that everyone else clings to. She’s amazing. I’d love to see her become a Housewife although I’m aware she is a very busy person and still works hard.
I feel this season she took quite a few hits from Sutton and I do question that friendship that they have, Sutton treats her like crap.
Kathy Hilton
Last Season Kathy started to become a little more erratic (which I mean in a good way) and less like everyone else, this season she continued down that path and I am really enjoying seeing her on screen more.
In this season I feel that Kathy didn’t agree with what Kyle was doing, but Kyle played the “sister card” so Kathy reluctantly agreed to what Kyle was saying. The facial reactions that Kathy gave throughout this season said a lot more than the words she used.
Natalie Swanston Fuller
We didn’t see a lot of her but what we saw I enjoyed seeing. She seems to be a sex positive woman who isn’t confined by social norms to shy away from talking about sexual interactions. I feel she would be a very welcome addition to the housewives.
In the Italy episode I feel Kyle attacked her, even based on the video you could see that Natalie wasn’t lying, she owned up to what was said and said she thought it was a joke. Part of me wonders, although Natalie isn’t British, but if the American society really don’t understand banter and a good laugh.
I would love to see more of Natalie and learn more about her.
All images are sourced from Bravo TV
Final Thoughs…
On Reddit there was a suggested new list of Housewives; Rachel, Dorit, Bozoma. I’m 100% onboard with this and would watch this. The drama that Kyle has been bringing isn’t enjoyable drama, it’s hostile, vindictive, it’s damaging. The way Erika switched was ugly and really cast her in a horrible light. I feel in this season beyond all the women (even Kyle) joining up against Amanda and questioning her manifestations, there wasn’t a lot of drama so Kyle created drama towards Dorit under the guise of her being a friend and caring. I feel the words that Kyle picked were used to garner support from PK and Mo, while demeaning Dorit and casting her in a bad light which doesn’t help her in a divorce, Kyle said everything she could other than “You’re a bad mother” which I was half expecting throughout.
