Bravo has provided so many iconic moments over the years that have stayed in our brains all this time later. Southern Charm, Top Chef and the Real Housewives franchises have been nothing short of memorable when it comes to the juicy television that they produce. Some are funny, some are silly, some are emotional, and some are just downright shocking. All in all its been a wild ride on a network that used to be just about the arts and Inside The Actors Studio.
Along the way we’ve witnessed several embarrassing interviews that were beyond cringeworthy. Many of them took place on network exec Andy Cohen’s show Watch What Happens Live or at one of the bevy of Bravo-related reunions that he’s hosted. Even as tough as they were to watch they became part of television history that will forever be replayed on YouTube and various social media platforms.
So let’s take a fond look back at some of the ones that we still look at with one eye open – and brace yourself because its going to be a deliciously awkward ride.
Andy Cohen slams LeeAnne Locken at the ‘RHOD’ reunion after her many racist words
Real Housewives of Dallas star LeeAnne Locken has arguably been the most polarizing cast member of the bunch as she’s usually the one at the center of drama between she and her costars. She met her match, however, in season 4 newbie Kary Brittingham who had no problem putting her in her place time and time again much to the delight of the other cast members (particularly LeeAnne’s frenemy Brandi Redmond).
That didn’t mean LeeAnne would go quietly as Kary kept calling her out. The way she did it though was very controversial as the OG star kept making comments deemed as racist as the season progressed. One jaw-dropping moment happened when LeeAnne called Kary a “Mexican” to Stephanie Hollman but did so in a way that came off as derogatory and degrading.
This, along with many other things, left Kary in tears at the reunion where she couldn’t even look at LeeAnne. Andy, who usually tries to stay neutral in these sort of situations, left that at the door as he constantly went after LeeAnne for her words where she couldn’t really back anything up.
He even fact checked her when she said that she sat on Julio Iglesias’ lap during the season which meant she couldn’t be racist towards Mexicans. Julio, is not Mexican, leaving LeeAnne again stuttering for her words. She exited the series after that although some fans think she was fired for everything that went down in S4.
Debra Winger awkwardly shuts down Andy Cohen on a cringe ‘WWHL’ episode
Andy Cohen has had many legendary names stop by his New York City Clubhouse on Watch What Happens Live over the past decade including Meryl Streep and Oprah Winfrey. Debra Winger was added to that list in late October of 2018 where things went awkwardly wrong during a segment that is known to be very cringy.
She played a game called Plead The Fifth where Andy asks a variety of celebs three questions where they can only refuse to answer one. The first question was an easy one where she named Harvey Weinstein as the “biggest pig or misogynist in Hollywood,” which wasn’t too surprising given all the accusations hurled against him at that point.
Then Andy brought up her apparent rocky relationship with Terms of Endearment costar Shirley MacLaine and flubbed before he could even get the question out. He said that she wrote about their time together in her book which she corrected by saying that it was Shirley that did, not her. “Let’s try to get something straight,” she then said leaving Andy looking like the actual definition of the sad face emoji.
It only got weirder from there as Andy then asked Debra who her favorite on screen kiss was between John Travolta, Richard Gere and Robert Redford. ‘I don’t remember. Do you remember someone you kissed 30 years ago?’ I’m like, ‘If it was Robert Redford, I would have remembered,'” Andy recalled during a separate WWHL interview before following up with, “But anyway, I’m still a big Debra Winger fan.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHrl91vWdgY
Kelly Bensimon walks off ‘RHONY’ reunion after Bethenny Frankel’s tough questions
Kelly Bensimon was in the hot seat during the Real Housewives of New York City’s season three reunion courtesy of host Andy Cohen and four of her costars (Bethenny Frankel, Ramona Singer, Sonja Morgan, Alex McCord).
Her antics during their trip to “Scary Island” was cause for concern regarding her mental health but also confused and infuriated some of them as she would not stop insulting the SkinnyGirl founder about her career and her claims that she was trying to “kill her”. This of course led to Bethenny’s infamous GIF of her screaming “GO TO SLEEP! GO TO SLEEP! YOU’RE CRAZY” towards her.
So naturally a good part of the reunion was about this where Kelly again dropped major claims that she was forced to go on the trip and that what she went through with the four women was called “systematic bullying”. Bethenny, who has a history of destroying many of her cast members with her words, reached her breaking point with Kelly and exclaimed that she had “psychological” issues and that the group was trying to reason with her as if what she was saying made sense.
Kelly then walked off the stage but Bethenny kept going by saying that talking to her was like talking to Humpty Dumpty” which made LuAnn De Lesseps, a friend of the model at the time, giggle.
Nicki Minaj looks shell shocked when Andy Cohen asks her about men’s privates
Andy Cohen, as previously discussed with his Debra Winger incident, is known to bring shock value to his late-night chat fest. He did the name with Nicki Minaj where he asked her a question that left her speechless and some people livid.
Her version of Plead The Fifth started out very juicy. Andy asked her if she knew anything about the Beyonce/Jay-Z/Solange elevator incident while using a reference point of her and Bey working together on the “Flawless” remix. Nicki said she knew nothing more than he did so the father-of-one moved on.
“You once rapped that you got a big fat a** and big d***s follow,” he then said before asking her a question that left her jaw on the floor. “Who has the biggest d**k in the music industry?” Awkward silence before the “Super Bass” rapper gave her very honest answer.
“I’ve never seen anybody’s p**is in the industry actually. I saw one p**is for ten years and that’s all I’ll say about that.” The privates that she’s referring to was her former boyfriend Safaree Samuels who could’ve actually been a good answer to give as he had his own leaked photo scandal a couple of years back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoSDSBuSKio
Briana Culberson destroys mother Vicki Gunvalson’s boyfriend Brooks on ‘RHOC’ reunion
Vicki Gunvalson’s love life has been one of the many storylines Real Housewives of Orange County fans have tuned into ever since she made her debut on the show nearly 15 years ago.
Her most controversial relationship to date was with now ex-boyfriend Brooks Ayers for many reasons that leave no one saying, “Whoop it up!” For one, he allegedly faked cancer which left many of her costars in shock and disgust. But it gets way worse than that.
Vicki’s daughter Briana, who has appeared alongside her mother since the show’s first season, stole the season 8 reunion when she categorically destroyed Brooks over some very serious accusations. She claimed that he had a conversation with her husband Ryan and told him to hit her if she ever acts out of line. In a move that was nothing short of eye-opening Brooks admitted to saying that leaving Briana even more infuriated and everyone else disgusted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIZXDFom8GY
He eventually exited the set leaving Vicki in tears as she was torn between the accusations and still being in love with him. She came to her senses years later and dumped him for good. Now she’s engaged to fiancé Steve Lodge where he hasn’t done anything near close to what Brooks did years back.
Lala Kent and James Kennedy get banned from ‘WWHL’ after drunk appearance
Vanderpump Rules stars Lala Kent and James Kennedy made an absolute mess of themselves when they appeared together on WWHL in 2015. The show’s censors had to work overtime as they would not stop cursing as the show progressed, particularly during a segment called Who’s That Man Getting a Tan?
Andy was visibly frustrated and even scolded them for their outrageous behavior while live on air. “Is there any way you could stop cussing? I swear to god,” he said to the Bravolebrities. “You’re driving me nuts. I’m not kidding. It’s happened like eight times.”
“I was really excited about having them on the show, especially James because he’s been so entertaining on Vanderpump Rules this season,” Andy said in a later interview. “And he was really excited about being on. The bummer is that I talked to him before the show, and he said, ‘I’m so excited about being on the show. I didn’t sleep last night. I’m so excited,’ and then, it was just gross. They didn’t stop cursing, and I was really irritated. The viewers hated it. They were cursing so much, whoever our censor is, they’re very liberal, and every time you say a curse word, they block out the sentence before, the sentence after, so it’s like the whole episode was on mute. And it was very irritating. And it just left a really bad taste in my mouth.”
Andy even went above and beyond with his annoyances and revealed the bad news to their boss Lisa Vanderpump. “She texted me that night and said, ‘I don’t have a TV. What happened?’” Andy said. “I texted her back and said, ‘Let me put it this way. They made Jax [Taylor] and Kristen [Doute] look like Michelle and Barack Obama.’”
Lala and James appear to have smoothed things over with head honcho Andy as both of them have made multiple appearances on WWHL since that awkward night.
Brandi Glanville’s NSFW claim about Joanna Krupa’s bodily odors
If there was a photo next to the definition of “no filter” in the dictionary then Brandi Glanville’s face would be on it. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star made headline news when she dropped a revolting claim about Real Housewives of Miami’s Joanna Krupa during a memorable 2013 WWHL episode that also featured Mark Consuelos and Andy Cohen’s parents.
A little context before dropping the OMG bomb. Brandi had accused Joanna of breaking up RHOBH costar Yolanda and Mohamed Hadid’s marriage. Krupa had denied the allegations but said something vicious about Brandi during that particular WWHL episode. “No wonder her husband left her,” referring to the downfall of her marriage with Eddie Cibrian.
“Oh, ok. Well Mohamed did tell me that her p***y smelled,” Brandi then said leaving Mark so shocked that he fell onto the floor and Andy’s parents looking like they wanted to get the hell out of there.
Joanna eventually filed a lawsuit against Brandi in 2015 which was settled two years later. “I want to apologize to Joanna Krupa for the statements I have made about her. I regret making such statements about Joanna Krupa; I also certainly never intended my statements to be taken so seriously and out of proportion.” Brandi said in a statement. “I apologize as I never wanted my statements to affect Joanna Krupa’s reputation and I wish her nothing but continued success in life.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kl2z8FGcPQ
Vicki Gunvalson loses her mind at the ‘RHOC’ reunion and her costars can’t help but to laugh
Vicki Gunvalson has had her fair share of meltdowns both on RHOC and its reunions each year however her most recent one takes the crazy cake for sure.
The “OG of the OC” was demoted to a friend of a show for the first time in 14 seasons which was one of the many reasons why she flipped out during this particular reunion. “Stop the cameras! This is about my job, my career, and my show that I started 15 years ago!”, she was heard screaming backstage.
Then she and Kelly Dodd got into it for what seemed to be the millionth time. The former friends had a major falling out during season 13 that resulted in nasty and vicious accusations thrown from both ends with Vicki claiming that Kelly did cocaine at the reunion later that year.
Andy had no problem messing with as her anger continued to boil the reunion. Her claims that she lost real estate clients due to Braunwyn Windham-Burke’s behavior on the show was then slammed by him who brought up how she showed off her crooked nipples and many other revealing things on the Bravo franchise in comparison.
Kim Zolciak flips out after the ‘RHOA’ ladies continuously ask her about her on screen behavior
Kim Zolciak was in the hot seat during most of the season 10 Real Housewives of Atlanta reunion over the harmful allegations she said about her costars. She claimed that Kandi Burruss wanted to “lick her b*x”, alleged that Kenya Moore’s husband Marc Daly wasn’t real, got herself in a messy situation with NeNe Leakes over her daughter Brielle Biermann filming in her bathroom (and claiming there were roaches in there) and much more.
And none of the women at the reunion, minus Porsha Williams and Sheree Whitfield, would let up on her. Kandi, NeNe, Kenya and Cynthia Bailey reached their boiling points with her after she kept denying anything she said even though most of it was captured on film. Kim even accused NeNe of parking in handicap parking spaces which left her fellow OG castmate screaming this infamous line towards her: “WHERE IS YOUR SCOOTER?”
The Don’t Be Tardy star then stirred up even more trouble backstage when she said the following to Andy. “That b*tch knows I’m not racist. NeNe knows I’m not racist.” It got worse from there. “This whole racism thing in this day in age is bullsh*t. Everyone of those motherf*ckers on that couch owe this world a f*cking apology for this racism sh*t.”
“They already tried to claim that sh*t long ago. Nobody bought into it then because the social media wasn’t there and racism wasn’t f*cking all that real,” she continued. “You know it.”
Kim later issued an apology after she received a ton of backlash for her words. “During the last RHOA reunion episode, I made a comment that confused and offended people. I sincerely apologize,” she said in a statement to US Weekly. “Edited out of context, I understand why my remark angered people. Racism is a sad reality in the United States. It has been prevalent throughout our country’s history. Let me be very clear, I do NOT support, tolerate or put up with any form of racism, hate or other discrimination. My love for ALL people runs deep — I am open to all and always have been.”
Titus Burgess tells Andy Cohen to keep his show going after Eddie Murphy diss
Titus Burgess was not having it with Andy Cohen during his July 2019 appearance on WWHL alongside Laverne Cox. Andy took a fan question that was about Titus’ Dolemite is my Name costar Eddie Murphy regarding the “funniest or craziest” thing he’s done on set. Simple enough, right?
The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star had nothing but nice things to say about Eddie in response. He called him “brilliant” and said that he was looking forward to a whole new generation of fans who may not know about the iconic comedian discovering him.
Then Andy questioned Titus on if he chatted with him during their time filming in reference to Eddie being “problematic” for the gays “at one point.” Titus was quick to catch what he was doing and again spoke highly of the Beverly Hills Cop star by saying that they did speak and discussed his movie Dreamgirls and how he should’ve won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor that year.
“Any troubles he may have had with gay people I guess are gone because he loved me,” Titus then said before making some hilarious faces aimed at the show’s host. “What are you saying Titus?” Andy asked which he quickly responded with, “Keep going. It’s your show.”
Titus spoke ill of Andy after his appearance by calling him a “messy queen” on Instagram. “He should remember his talk show isn’t an episode of the real housewives of Atlanta!” he said. “It’s a place where artists come to talk about art and have a little fun. NOT a place to rehash old rumors or bring a star negative press.”