Introducing Hayu Presents...

Hayu Presents... is the ultimate deep-dive podcast celebrating the biggest personalities, wildest moments, and most iconic shows from the Hayu reality TV universe. Across 12 unmissable episodes, host Dean McCarthy explores everything from unforgettable reality romances and legendary Housewives to fashion disasters, one-season wonders, show-stopping performances and the most chaotic holidays ever captured on camera. Featuring superstar guests including Luann de Lesseps, Mark-Francis Vandelli, Elizabeth Day, the cast of The Real Housewives of London and Paris Hilton, each episode is packed with hilarious games, exclusive behind-the-scenes stories, unexpected revelations and sharp pop culture commentary. Whether you're a lifelong reality TV obsessive or simply love great entertainment, Hayu Presents... is your front-row seat to the moments, personalities and drama that made reality television a global phenomenon. Out Now. Search Hayu Presents... to listen to the rest of the Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:34Speaker 01

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• 0:51Speaker 02

  Hey, guys, it's me, Jamie here. Now, if you know me, you'll know I absolutely love a bit of reality TV. Not as much as my wife, but I love it. Okay, the drama, the iconic moments, the ridiculous one-liners. Honestly, it never gets old, and I cannot get enough. So if you are anything like me, I've got a podcast I think you're going to be obsessed with. It's called Hey You Presents, hosted by the brilliant Dean McCarthy, and it's basically the ultimate deep dive into the biggest personalities, wildest moments, and most iconic shows from the Hey You Reality TV Universe. You're gonna love it, okay? Across the series, Dean chats with some incredible guests, including Luann Dula Ceps, Mark Francis Vendeli, Elizabeth Day, the cast of The Real Housewives of London, and even, wait for it, the Paris Hilton.

• 1:33Speaker 02

  They get into everything from unforgettable reality romances and legendary housewives to fashion disasters, behind-the-scenes secrets, and all the moments that had us completely hooked. It's funny, it's nostalgic, full of brilliant stories. And honestly, whether you're a total reality TV addict or you just love entertainment, I think you're really gonna enjoy this. Okay, trust me on that. So here is a sneak peek of the show for you all, great company listeners. Enjoy.

• 2:06Speaker 03

  Hello, I'm Dean McCarthy, reality TV expert and all-round Hey You superfan. And I'm so, so excited to welcome you to our first episode of Hey You Presents. We wanted to start by celebrating 10 years of Hey You and 20 years of Housewives. And I could not think of a better expert to take us through the universe. The woman who knows that no matter how many times you need to start over, it's always possible to build a successful legacy. She's a journalist, author, reality TV lover and superstar podcaster, Elizabeth Day.

• 2:37Speaker 04

  Oh my goodness, thank you so much. What an introduction. I shall endeavour to live up to it.

• 2:42Speaker 03

  You do.

• 2:43Speaker 04

  I mean, I take this very seriously, as you know. So if I can do anything to continue the epic legacy of all Hey You content, I will do. I'm a really willing ambassador.

• 2:55Speaker 03

  You really are. So we first met at the Hey You Fan Fest in London.

• 3:00Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 3:01Speaker 03

  And I remember just seeing this glamazon. I was like, who is this gorgeous woman?

• 3:05Speaker 04

  And it was Meredith Marks. But then I walked in.

• 3:09Speaker 03

  It was a mirror. I was like, that's me. And then, hi, Elizabeth.

• 3:13Speaker 03

  And you were interviewing Andy Cohen.

• 3:14Speaker 04

  Yes. Oh my gosh, I love that we met then. That's so appropriate. Yeah. I was interviewing Andy Cohen, who, our Lord and Savior. And I'd been lucky in that I'd had a warm-up because Hey You did me such a solid and got him to come on How To Fail, which is my podcast.

• 3:30Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 3:30Speaker 04

  So on the Thursday, I think it was, I interviewed him. And I did that classic thing of, I saw him walking down the corridor to the record. And I was like, oh my God, it's you. And obviously it is him because I was expecting him. But I just was so moved because he has provided me with so much entertainment, but also so much witnessing of my own experiences that I kind of, I distill through Housewives. It's sort of how I measure out my life. So I was so grateful that he came on and it was an amazing conversation. Now, you'll know this, he's really smart and he doesn't suffer fools gladly.

• 4:08Speaker 03

  No.

• 4:09Speaker 04

  So I did notice, like, the first five minutes, he was kind of sussing me out. And then he realised that I am a superfan. And then we got into it. And by the end, I felt we really connected. And so then I went to Hey You Fan Fest and I was interviewing him on stage, which was another amazing life highlight. I mean, Hey You Fan Fest, let's just talk about that for a minute.

• 4:28Speaker 03

  Oh my goodness. I'm still not over it.

• 4:30Speaker 04

  My, I took my friend Daisy, who's as obsessed as I am, and we met many of the housewives.

• 4:37Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 4:37Speaker 04

  And she came away saying, they are so nice. She's like, they're nicer than some of my friends.

• 4:44Speaker 04

  They are. They're so charismatic and interesting and interested. They're just, they're, they're these extraordinary racehorses of entertainment.

• 4:55Speaker 03

  Yeah. They really are. When did you get into it? Like, we're here now as mega, super fans, both of us. When did this start for you?

• 5:03Speaker 04

  I can date it almost exactly because I was going through IVF at the time.

• 5:07Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 5:07Speaker 04

  So it was 2014 and I was in a difficult marriage to someone who is now my ex-husband, very housewives coded on me.

• 5:14Speaker 03

  That was very housewives. Sounds like a plot. Sounds like I'm watching Potomac.

• 5:18Speaker 04

  Yeah, and I was going through fertility treatment and that was really difficult. And there was hardly any information about it back then. It's hard to imagine because it doesn't seem that long ago. And yet it was so long ago in this reference because I didn't know very many people who'd gone through IVF. And when I went to my local bookshop, there were no books about IVF. It was all kind of mother, baby books. And I discovered The Real Housewives of Orange County. And back then in the UK, there was no such thing as Hayu, The Dark Days, BH before Hayu. I don't know how we survived, but we survived because there was a channel then called ITVB, which was a digital spin-off of ITV.

• 6:01Speaker 04

  And they would randomly play old seasons of Real Housewives. And I just so happened to alight upon a season of OC, which featured Meghan King Edmonds.

• 6:10Speaker 03

  Oh my goodness.

• 6:11Speaker 04

  And she was going through IVF.

• 6:12Speaker 03

  Yeah, of course.

• 6:13Speaker 04

  It was the first accurate portrayal of IVF I had ever seen on screen because she was filming herself doing the injections. And I felt so represented in that moment. It opened the door to this fabulous, camp, brilliant, funny, hysterical universe.

• 6:29Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 6:30Speaker 04

  But it also, for me, that story reveals that there is this serious undertone to it.

• 6:37Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 6:38Speaker 04

  Which is representation. And it wasn't just IVF, it was also women of a certain age who weren't getting the roles in scripted drama. Where else could I turn to to see widows embark on their dating trajectory?

• 6:50Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 6:51Speaker 04

  Or, you know, divorcees going to jail. Like, there was just nothing like that on scripted TV. And, and female friendships as well. It was, it was such a radical thing to show female friendships in that way at that time. So that's the first time I, I got in. That was my gateway drug.

• 7:08Speaker 03

  That was a gateway. And it's such an aspirational look into people's lives that are so different to what most of us actually live.

• 7:15Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 7:15Speaker 03

  Which is exciting as well.

• 7:16Speaker 04

  Absolutely. I love watching portrayals of that kind of elevated fabulosity.

• 7:24Speaker 03

  Would you ever do Housewives?

• 7:25Speaker 04

  I don't want to see how the sausage is made. I want to.

• 7:28Speaker 03

  Eat it.

• 7:28Speaker 04

  Yeah, I want to eat it.

• 7:29Speaker 03

  Just want to eat the sausage.

• 7:32Speaker 04

  And that would be my tagline.

• 7:33Speaker 03

  Mine would be, I might be from down under, but I always end up on top.

• 7:38Speaker 04

  So good.

• 7:41Speaker 03

  Do you like?

• 7:41Speaker 04

  Mine would actually be, I'm named after the late queen, but this queen is always on time.

• 7:47Speaker 03

  Oh, that's good. I think the best one.

• 7:50Speaker 04

  Not that I thought about it, but it's.

• 7:51Speaker 03

  I think Lisa Vanderpump's.

• 7:53Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 7:53Speaker 03

  Life isn't always rosé and diamonds, but it should be.

• 7:56Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 7:56Speaker 03

  I feel like that's a good one.

• 7:57Speaker 04

  It's good because it's the very ethos of what Housewives is.

• 8:01Speaker 03

  Totally. Let's get into the big legacy stars. Who are your top legacy stars from the Haider Universe?

• 8:06Speaker 04

  From all time?

• 8:08Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 8:08Speaker 04

  Definitely Countess Luann.

• 8:10Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 8:10Speaker 04

  Kenya Moore.

• 8:11Speaker 03

  Oh, my gosh, yes. Thank you for saying that.

• 8:13Speaker 04

  Yes, I feel like.

• 8:14Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 8:17Speaker 04

  Thank you for acknowledging it as the act of bravery that it is in the current climate.

• 8:21Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 8:22Speaker 04

  She obviously had a terrible last season and was taken off air, and I understand the reasons why. But she gave us Gone with the Wind fabulous.

• 8:31Speaker 03

  Oh, my goodness.

• 8:31Speaker 04

  She embodies so much of what a great housewife should be for me. I just could not stop watching her. And she has a sense of humour about it.

• 8:39Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 8:40Speaker 04

  Vicky Gunvalson, I think, and Tamara have to have a place there, even though they are dialed up too high on the shriekometer for my, for my pleasure. Vanderpump.

• 8:51Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 8:52Speaker 04

  Rinna. I also love Candy Burris from Atlanta. I'm not a NeNe stan. No, I know. But she was the the character who launched a thousand gifs, for which we'll be forever grateful.

• 9:03Speaker 03

  I see her every day on my Instagram.

• 9:04Speaker 04

  Every day.

• 9:05Speaker 03

  Every day.

• 9:05Speaker 04

  If I were to do a PhD on reality TV and Hey You and the Housewives in particular, Housewives started becoming really popular with a much broader audience during the pandemic. And there's a thesis that it is because of gif culture.

• 9:20Speaker 03

  Oh, wow.

• 9:21Speaker 04

  Because people were sending gifs of the Housewives without actually knowing what it was, but it represented something that they wanted to convey and then they started watching the shows.

• 9:28Speaker 03

  I would believe that for sure.

• 9:30Speaker 04

  Fun fact.

• 9:30Speaker 03

  You know, I'm a little bit obsessed with Bethenny Frankel.

• 9:33Speaker 04

  I adored her on Housewives. I thought she was brilliant. And she had that whippersnapper wit.

• 9:40Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 9:40Speaker 04

  And she also went through real stuff, like quite very traumatic divorce and shared it. She has translated that smartness into becoming a TikTok sensation.

• 9:53Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 9:53Speaker 04

  And she realised early on that the way to get a huge following was to say controversial things.

• 10:00Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 10:00Speaker 04

  And be really out there. And she's done it incredibly well.

• 10:04Speaker 03

  I feel like Captain Lee and Captain Sandy are also legacies for me. And of course, Jason, because he's so good looking, but.

• 10:10Speaker 04

  Captain Lee, one hundred percent.

• 10:11Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 10:12Speaker 04

  He's someone that you want as your dad, that you can really turn to and rely on. He's like the Yoda of the Hey You verse.

• 10:20Speaker 03

  Totally. Housewives is kind of the gateway drug. Where'd you go after that?

• 10:23Speaker 04

  After that, I think I went into Vanderpump Rules because they did a beautiful spin-off pass from Real Housewives of Beverly Hills into Vanderpump Rules. And to begin with, I thought, I'm not sure about this because it's so different from Housewives.

• 10:36Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 10:36Speaker 04

  And once you realise that the point of it is, at least back in the day, people in their twenties, living in scuzzy apartments, trying desperately to make a living and to break into the entertainment industry, but they're being waitstaff while they're doing it.

• 10:50Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 10:50Speaker 04

  Then you get it and then it's incredible.

• 10:52Speaker 03

  Totally.

• 10:53Speaker 04

  And then I definitely went on a boat. Yeah, so all of the Below Decks, including Below Deck Adventure.

• 10:59Speaker 03

  Adventure.

• 11:00Speaker 04

  Actually got my husband into Below Deck.

• 11:02Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 11:02Speaker 04

  The two that he's ever watched are Below Deck and Vanderpump Rules. And then I watched Summer House, Winter House. I watched the kind of one-off seasons, what, Game of Crowns?

• 11:13Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:13Speaker 04

  That was amazing.

• 11:14Speaker 03

  Amazing.

• 11:15Speaker 04

  I sort of watched them all, yeah.

• 11:16Speaker 03

  I'm loving how the Vanderpump Rules family are now graduated and they're living in the valley.

• 11:22Speaker 04

  Yeah, I watched the valley too.

• 11:23Speaker 03

  It's cool. It's really good.

• 11:24Speaker 04

  It's so good. And Shah's of Sunset, I loved too.

• 11:27Speaker 03

  Love.

• 11:27Speaker 04

  And I love that they're doing the valley Persian style now.

• 11:29Speaker 03

  Love.

• 11:30Speaker 04

  Love it. But reality TV doesn't always feature authentic people. Like, they know that the camera is there.

• 11:38Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:38Speaker 04

  And that can lead to its own kind of interest as a viewer. But with Shah's of Sunset, I felt they are all, almost all of them, living their authentic truth.

• 11:47Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 11:48Speaker 04

  And I find, I find it historically fascinating that there is this community of Iranians

• 11:53Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:54Speaker 04

  who ended up in LA after the revolution. And there was one bit in the first or second season, I think, where a group of them travelled back to Iran and it was so incredibly moving.

• 12:04Speaker 03

  You've got to get into Southern Hospitality and Southern Charm.

• 12:06Speaker 04

  Oh, sorry, I watched those two. I watched those two.

• 12:10Speaker 04

  Watched those two. They are so good.

• 12:12Speaker 03

  So good.

• 12:12Speaker 04

  The fact that Justin from Southern Hospitality is dating Charlie from Southern Charm,

• 12:19Speaker 03

  Right.

• 12:19Speaker 04

  who we got to know because she was dating Craig Conover, who was once dating Pegg De Sorbo from Summer House. I mean, it's just a beautiful, it's like one of those whiteboards in a detective series where you're just drawing all of the lines between the various suspects.

• 12:35Speaker 03

  I'm obsessed with the Summer House drama that ensued after last season.

• 12:40Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 12:41Speaker 03

  Isn't it wild how these shows can have such an impact on pop culture? And an event between two reality stars can become an actual pop culture moment. Isn't that insane?

• 12:52Speaker 04

  It's beautiful.

• 12:53Speaker 03

  It's beautiful, thank you.

• 12:54Speaker 04

  Because it's so beautiful. Because you and I spend so much time joyously

• 13:01Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 13:01Speaker 04

  in this world. We know so much about it.

• 13:05Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 13:05Speaker 04

  And the world at large can be quite dismissive of that a lot of the time. And then a story will break through and suddenly we're the experts that people turn to.

• 13:15Speaker 03

  Yeah, it comes to us.

• 13:17Speaker 04

  Like, let me tell you, Scandival, obviously, huge example of that.

• 13:21Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 13:21Speaker 04

  I remember where I was when I found out about Scandival. It was like, it was just a generational moment in time. I was so shocked. And then the summer house of it, wow, I can't get enough of it. I can't get, and I know we're dealing with real people's lives and I just want to acknowledge that, that there's clearly so much emotion involved. What's so interesting in the age that we're now watching Hey You is the social media dialogue that accompanies it.

• 13:49Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 13:49Speaker 04

  So, so much of the content creation is coming from these incredibly talented Instagrammers and TikTokers who are putting together the dots and sharing their breadcrumbing investigations with us. So we get to experience it on the show, then in real time.

• 14:09Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 14:09Speaker 04

  Then with the reunion, it's, it's so multifaceted.

• 14:13Speaker 03

  I have to say Salt Lake City, what I love about Salt Lake City, because I'm, they're one of my favourite franchises.

• 14:18Speaker 04

  Yes, of course.

• 14:19Speaker 03

  Every episode, every scene is a banger.

• 14:21Speaker 04

  Yes, so true.

• 14:23Speaker 03

  There's never just a chill minute or anything. They'll go for a coffee and it'll be a fight.

• 14:27Speaker 04

  Yes, and also cinematically.

• 14:30Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 14:31Speaker 04

  The way that it is filmed and edited, I mean, all of these shows are so brilliantly edited and put together. But Salt Lake City, the finale of the penultimate season, was it season five?

• 14:43Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 14:43Speaker 04

  Where they uncover the, the, the internet personality of Monica, the class member. And they're all on the beach and there are these stills from that shoot that are like Caravaggio. The life is stunning, absolutely stunning and convey so much relatable emotion. I think that's the thing.

• 15:04Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 15:04Speaker 04

  So yes, they can have unhinged fights and, you know, one of my husband's boring complaints will be, oh, but it's just women fighting. I'm like, no, it's not. And it really annoys me when people say that and I find it sexist. Like, it's actually not. It's about the underpinning of friendship and real friendship is about rupture and repair.

• 15:25Speaker 04

  And I think there's been some research done that watching these shows is good for our mental health because it shows us fallouts and then a rebuilding because these shows hold you accountable, not only within the friendship group, whether we're talking about Housewives or Summer House or Below Deck, but on screen because they have to do confessionals, which is this kind of therapy, right? They're being asked to look back over their own behaviour. And I find that so fascinating.

• 15:55Speaker 03

  Imagine being one of them and then seeing a confessional of one of your friends and then they just shred you in the confession. Wouldn't that be wild? It's basically, just like you said, you get an insight into your friend's therapy session.

• 16:05Speaker 04

  Like the recent season of Beverly Hills, Amanda Francis finding out the Rachel Zoe.

• 16:10Speaker 03

  Didn't actually like her all along. She's like, I had no idea.

• 16:14Speaker 04

  I know.

• 16:14Speaker 03

  Did you like Amanda?

• 16:15Speaker 04

  Okay, so my arc with Amanda Francis started off, saw her, she was introduced as the author of Rich as Fuck.

• 16:22Speaker 03

  Right.

• 16:23Speaker 04

  They showed the book cover and she explained what it was about. I went away and I downloaded that immediately. I listened to it on audio. Then obviously, my relationship with her dipped massively because she seemed so entitled, but I did find her deeply compelling to watch because I loved that intergenerational

• 16:44Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 16:45Speaker 04

  relationship that we got between her and the other women and how the other women were actually triggered by her was fascinating. Then I ended up absolutely loving her again by the reunion.

• 16:56Speaker 03

  The reunion.

• 16:56Speaker 04

  Because at the reunion.

• 16:57Speaker 03

  Redemption.

• 16:58Speaker 04

  Redemption. She practised what she preaches. She stayed super calm and in her centre. She had receipts for everything and every single point she was bang on. And I really want her to come back for a second season, but she's saying she's not.

• 17:12Speaker 03

  She's saying she's not. You're right about that. And she would, she even presented those receipts very beautifully. It wasn't aggressive. She's like, actually, I think you said that on camera. Like really calmly. And they're like, she's like, absolutely not. And then they'd have played the exact clip.