The Valley Fans Are Losing the Plot
The Valley Recap
The Valley
Season 2, Episodes 6 & 7: “Behind Closed Pantry Doors” / “Ring Around the Rumor”
Grade: B+
We’re recapping two episodes this week, so there’s a lot to cover. But also, there’s a lot to cover in the fandom! Believe it or not, Bravo fans can be annoying at times. And sometimes, they can be racist! This is not a shock to anyone who has spoken to Bravo fans who “love” Real Housewives but don’t watch Atlanta or Potomac. But that’s nothing compared to how they treated non-white cast members on the predominantly white shows.
Like right now, where Jasmine Goode is under attack from the most annoying women you’ve ever met in the comments of every official Bravo Instagram post or on TikTok or elsewhere on social media. As it turns out, this is not Jasmine’s first reality show rodeo. She was also on The Bachelor. And The Bachelorette as one of Rachel Lindsay’s advisers. And on a bunch of other reality shows. Somehow, this is a problem for viewers of this show. They think she’s thirsty! Do any of them bother to call Zack thirsty? The person who Nicole Scherzinger said has “wanted to be on reality TV his whole life”? Do they call Stassi Schroeder thirsty for being on the family edition of The Amazing Race in 2005? Or a show called Queen Bees in 2008? Of course not!
But the worst part of the criticism is judging her for having been on The Bachelor to pursue Nick Viall. Clearly, it was only for “clout1,” right? Never mind that people can be bisexual. Never mind that Jasmine has discussed dating men before she met her girlfriend (of four years!) Melissa. Never mind that no one has accused Gabby Windey of the same thing when she was on The Bachelor before too. I know there’s different rules for Black women on Bravo, but let’s not try to be so obvious with the racism, ladies!
Anyway, let’s move on to last week’s episode. We pick back up in Santa Barbara, where Brittany is MAD AS HAYULL that her life has to be on display and Nia and Danny get to hide shit. I can understand being mad, but to quote Keke Palmer, “This is a great conversation, wrong scenario!” Being mad at Nia and Danny for not sharing enough of their lives on TV is perfectly fine. Being mad in this situation, where Nia downplayed Danny being drunk (when everyone knows he’s drunk anyway!) is silly, especially when Brittany has literally attacked people for trying to bring up Jax’s alcoholism and drug abuse on screen for years.
The next morning, everyone leaves Santa Barbara without speaking to one another. Sounds just like a horrible trip I had to Temecula once. People who leave the rental house you’ve paid for without bothering to help clean in the morning suck, they’re not your friends! But I’ve digressed.