Heated Rivalry
Season 10
Episode 4
Editor’s Rating
3 stars
***
Jesse asking West if he can pursue Ciara has the entire boys’ room in a collective tizzy.
Photo: Bravo
Oh, happy day [gospel choir repeats, “Oh, happy day…..”] that we don’t have to talk at all about the dissolution of Kymanda. Other than Kyle’s brief apology and Amanda taking a couple of shots at her “perfect relationship” at the singles’ event, most everything was quiet in this real-time divorce. Maybe it’s because Kyle was at his family reunion (it was in New Hampshire in case you didn’t peep the “Live Free or Die” swag). So, he and Amanda spent a week apart, so they are in a much better space once the group reconvenes the next weekend and everyone goes to celebrate DJ Kyle Cooke’s gig in the Hamptons. Amanda stays home sick, which she actually seems bummed about, but…
Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep … We interrupt this recap to bring you the first-ever Newbie Report, where we report on the newbies! First up is Levi, who hasn’t had even a single line or confessional since the first episode. She did wear a corn costume to the first party, but, like the hard kernels at the bottom of the bag, there’s something about Levi that just isn’t popping. KJ is similarly low-key, especially in the group settings, but when he can have a one-on-one convo, he really shines, like talking to West about his anxiety, talking to Ciara about their upbringings, or talking to Bailey about his famous (but perhaps infamous?) father. KJ also blends in well with the boys, but he’s going to need to form some deeper bonds, either romantically or platonic, to really secure a room next summer.
We haven’t seen much of Mia, but so far I love everything about her, whether it’s when she says, “[The breakfast you’re making] smells really good, West. It’s taking too long, but it smells really good,” or when she is at the single’s mixer event and she ting, ting, ting’s her glass like Britani Bateman and then tells everyone to stand up and start mingling and fucking meet someone already. Solid work, Mia. Blending right in and bringing drama. No notes. However, she is dating a chef, and both Mya 1.0 and Danielle dated chefs on the show, and we know how fans feel about them. At the same mixer, we meet Dara, who is West’s ex. I know nothing about her, but she is hot and she reminds me of my favorite Hasan Piker TikTok. It seems like it’s not until next episode that she gets, to quote Carl Radke, in the mix.
That leaves us with two newbies: Bailey and Ben. I think they have the most staying power, but they also seem diametrically opposed. Bailey is cute, funny, game, and cried at her very first dinner, which seems like she would be a great addition to this show. Her bestie Levi may be holding her back, and she hasn’t gotten into the established group dynamics. But every time we’ve seen her talk about Kyle and Amanda’s relationship, she has been spot on, which belies a kind of emotional intelligence that is a good trait for any potential practitioner of the reality television arts and sciences. I’m sensing potential, but I’m going to need to see a bit more.
Finally, there’s Ben. I have to say that for a reality TV vet, I’m not seeing that potential, that drive. Take Lindsay Hubbard, for instance. She shows up first at the singles’ mixer and then at the house for the weekend, and she is reporting for duty. [🫡] She’s asking for the gossip, she’s meeting the new people, she’s asking West about what is going on with him and Ciara. She is pushing story, producing drama, making this mother-fucking show because she has a child that needs to be fed, clothed, and pampered, and she is not going to miss a single solitary paycheck. She is flirting with Ben because, well, he is blindingly hot, but also because she knows that it’s great content that everyone at the network will want to see and she’ll get some more followers for her next Hellman’s mayo deal. (I also love how Lindsay says that now that she has a child, she isn’t a ticking biological clock anymore, so she doesn’t have to search for “the one,” she can just be a ho again, like in the old days. I am so happy to have messy, hook-up Lindsay back in this house.)
But we’re talking about Ben. Lindsay (hold on, I’ll get back to Ben) says that Ben is very hot, but she never knows if he’s flirting or not. Bailey and Levi said the same thing a couple of episodes ago: they can’t tell if he’s engaging or if he’s just handsome and nice. I think that is the problem with him on the show in general. Is he just hot and nice and kind of boring? Is he holding something back? He even said that when he was on The Bachelor (in Australia, so it barely counts), the producers had to really draw it out of him. Well, don’t be a trouble for another set of producers.
So far, Ben’s biggest accomplishment has been in the looks department. Have I freeze-framed several bedroom surveillance camera shots of him in his undies? Maybe. Bailey says that every morning in the house, Ben goes for a little swim and then wraps himself in a towel, and it makes her hotter than Dunkin’ coffee spilled right on your crotch. She also adds that West does this, too, but it doesn’t hit the same way. Okay. Bailey needs to back the fuck up. As far as I’m concerned, West has the perfect body for a man. (I know that West’s mom reads these recaps, so Dr. Wilson, please skip to the next paragraph.) Yes, West may not have visible abdominal muscles. He might not be as lean as Carl, who is in the middle of prepping for the New York City marathon, but I would much rather spoon up against West than either of those guys. What West has are guns so big that Pete Hegseth tried to give him a job. He has a chest so broad and pillowy that I could fall asleep there even on the darkest night. He has a belly that is just enough to say, “I like to stay fit and active, but I like to have fun. And are you saving those pizza crusts, or do you not eat them because the crust is my favorite part, and I will happily provide them with a good and caring home.”
Ben may not be as hot or as charismatic as West, but the one glimmer of hope I got is when he returns home from a night out with the boys and says to West in front of KJ and Kyle that Jesse asking for permission to kiss Ciara was absolutely insane. Yes, Ben! Spread that mess. He’s referring to a scene that happened earlier when West, Jesse, Ben, and KJ are all chilling in the boys’ room, and Jesse essentially asks West, “You don’t mind if I make out with Ciara, do you?”
West replies, “Is that in the works?”
Jesse says, “I don’t know. If anything, I think it would be drunken for fun.”
West gives him a look that is so insane that he was just placed on a psychiatric hold for 72 hours. KJ says the question is wild and then West just says, “Whatever.” I don’t think he even registers it as a real question until Ben drunkenly brings it up at night. In the kitchen, all the boys, minus Jesse and Carl, who weren’t there, think it was an insane question. And of course it is. Jesse is going to make out with West’s ex? Someone he clearly still has feelings for? Jesse wants to make out with her? Come on, bro. Jesse’s justification is that he’s looking for something serious, like Ciara, but West isn’t, so West should move aside and let him have a shot. I’m sorry, that’s wild. Are there not enough girls in the house/the Hamptons/New York/America/the world/the universe? You need to go after your bestie’s ex?
The crazy thing is, there is no way that Ciara would ever. Yes, she is letting Jesse get close, and just in this episode, they pose in the universal prom photo stance (boy behind, arms together in front), they cuddle in bed, and they laugh when Jesse makes a joke about her giving him a boner. It’s cute, but it’s giving brother vibes. It’s giving Jesse is an honorary Bed Sore Sister vibes. It is not giving “I’m actually thinking of dating this man” vibes. Also, Ciara would never because she hates the drama. Even if she was attracted to Jesse, I don’t think she would bother because she doesn’t want all of that attention from the house or to create any friction with West, with whom she does seem to be vibing. Also, as West says in his confession, he doesn’t think Jesse can handle Ciara, that she would eat him alive. Based on the preview of the next episode, that seems like the most likely of all scenarios.
In another instance of Lindsay doing her job, she gets West to tell her about Jesse’s question and then says that Jesse was probably doing it in the room full of the single guys to mark his territory. I don’t think Jesse is that mercenary, but thank you to Lindsay for adding that excellent reading to the table. After his chat with Lindsay, West feels like he needs to bring it up with Jesse. They’re chilling in the pool float, and West, who likes conflict like Elphaba likes buckets of water, brings it up in the most gentle and passive-aggressive way possible. He first asks Jesse if it’s all jokey or not. Jesse says that they’re vibing, they’ve always had a good friendship, and she’s hot. West tells Jesse that all of the boys thought the question was crazy. Jesse tells him that it’s been a long time since they dated, and West again says that everyone — but not him, no, never him — thought the question was inappropriate. West says, “On paper, you asked your boy if you could make out with his ex … most people in my position would think you were a weirdo for asking.”
He’s right. Most of the people do! Just as West is hiding his true feelings behind how other people would react, Jesse is hiding his true feelings behind jokes, like, “Wouldn’t it be funny if they made out?” But it’s something Jesse is really thinking about. In his confessional, Jesse says he wrote a song about a best friend that he’s falling in love with, how he’s always harbored these feelings, and now they’re growing into something he can’t ignore. The producers ask him if it’s about Ciara, and he laughs and says it’s not. What if it’s about another friend, one he can always be honest with, one who he jokes with all the time, the one he had instant chemistry with, the one he’s shared a bed with, cuddled with, discussed plans of their future with. What if it’s about a man with a perfect body who loves pizza crusts? What if Jesse’s song is secretly about … someone else?
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