Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Reality with the King is hosted by me, Carlos King.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm an executive producer who have produced some of your
favorite shows from the Real house Boss of Atlanta, New
Jersey and my own creation, The Love and Marriage Franchise
and Bell Collective. Every episode, we recap reality television from
the Real Housewives Franchise to The Bachelor or Selling Sunset,
(00:27):
in addition to celebrity guests, whether in the unscripted space
or scripted as well. Hey, rain drops on today's episode
of Reality with the King.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
I mean, we have an exclusive.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I haven't been this excited since I interviewed all the
celebrities that I do. But this particular person to me
is the gift that keeps on giving. She's the ape
housewife of the Real house BOSSI ors County. But no
all just aside, we have so much to get into.
She's my friend. I love me some Keiki Monique Lady.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Jumped to me. Gays and days give it up for
the reason for this season.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Hey, Kiki girl, Hey, what's going on?
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Kiki? How famous are you now? Please?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
I like trust me as I was like, I mean,
I'm like, are people sick of hearing my name? Because
I'm like, I feel like this is I feel like
I'm sick of hearing my name, But you know, I
guess everyone knows my name now.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
No, listen, you are the.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Most talked about non cast member in Real Housewive history,
which to me is super fascinating. But before we get
into the conversation about what's saying happening this season and
you clearing the air as well, I do want.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
To start with you, though, Kiki Monique, set the record straight.
Are you a blogger or journalist? I?
Speaker 3 (02:05):
You know what, I don't think I'm either one of
those things, but I wouldn't you know, I don't care
if people want to categorize me as those I'm fine
to take those labels. I just think that people have
a certain attachment or identity of what they believe a
blogger is versus what they believe a journalist is. And
I think we live in a world where creators have
sort of evolved, and I've become this sort of hybrid
(02:26):
of like, I like to give people news their nosey about.
That's my tagline, and I want to do it in
a way that people can absorb it. People can't absorb
news the way that we used to they have very short, limited,
you know, attention spans because of TikTok, because of these things.
And that's why my audience really loved me, because I
was able to give them, you know, really you know,
(02:48):
direct information in like sixty seconds or less. And I
was And my whole point was, I was always going
to source. I was always going to find references. I'm
not someone who typically you know, does blind items, does rumors.
That's not my niche. While I and I dealt to
that niche. I will read those things, It's just not
what I do.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Okay, So how did you get your star? Because you
are on.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Radio and the you co hosts a daily show, Reality
Checked with the Icon the Legend Real House Spots of
New York star Derinda. So, but like, how did you
get started in the business in terms of doing what
you're doing now?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
I mean I actually have a background. I did actually
go to school for journalism. So like that's not something
when people know because I don't talk about it because
my path really did skew from that. You know, I
spent a lot of years in corporate world doing not that.
And you know, I talk about this because you know,
I talk about my personal life a lot. I ended
up in a bad relationship, I got completely off track.
(03:47):
And the best thing that happened to me, I know
this sounds crazy, was COVID. COVID Lockdown was the best
thing that happened for me because I lost everything. I
lost absolutely everything. I had nothing, and the only thing
I had I learned TikTok. Everyone was on TikTok, and
at the time, you know, there weren't a lot of people.
A lot of people were doing dances and lip syncing.
(04:07):
I was like, I don't do any of that, but
I talk, and at that time, not a lot of
people were doing talking on TikTok. So I grew pretty
quickly because I was like, here, I'm going to talk
about pop culture. I'm gonna talk about your favorite reality shows.
Now everyone on TikTok does that, but in twenty twenty,
back then, it really wasn't like that. So I just started,
you know, reporting on that, and then I kind of
sort of switched over because I was like, I don't
(04:28):
want to just do reality TV, and I got into
you know, pop culture, true crime stuff, and I covered
the Johnny Depp trial, and that's where a lot of
my altors really got to.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Know me, and now you have a whole new legion
of followers who know you as the person that gave
the Real House Lives of Orange County the best storyline,
the most controversial storyline. I'll be a good bad since
Brooks allegedly lines about cancer like this is listen.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Kikimo nig Mus Singhy.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
You have resurrected this show, although it had three second
grade scenes then, but you have breathed new life into
this just by being yourself.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Let's get right into it.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Your name came up every single episode this season, starting
with episode one. I want to go backwards to baby
because I want you to really, you know, very succinctly
explain to us, how did you get in contact with
Katie Janella or how did Katie Janella get in contact
(05:34):
with you?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
To begin with, I always follow you know, new housewives
that interest me whenever they're announced. You know, here we
have this, you know, Asian beautiful woman joining OC. I
was like, of course I'm going to follow her, go
to follow her. She's already following me. I love that.
I'm sure you experienced that too. You know, you're very popular.
You follow people that are already following you and you
already feel like you have a connection. I think that
(05:54):
that's great. People are thinking I'm saying as a negative thing.
I'm like, no, I think that's awesome. And so, you know,
she writes, you know, I'm honored. I write back, looking
forward to the season, and so we just develop a
little rapport. I do host Reality Check on Radio Andy.
We obviously get bookings all the time, and I know
she wanted to come on our show because at the
(06:14):
time after her season, you know, Emily was saying she
lived in San Diego. There was a lot of things
that Emily was throwing out there. She was like, I
want to set the record trade about some things, and
I was like, come on. Her and Gen came on
my show. They were actually on Zoom, so we did
it virtually, but you know, I promoted the clips.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
It was great.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
After the show, she Katie threw me, her and Jen
on a group chat and was like, had so much
fun on the show. If you're ever in OC, hit
us up great flash forward. And then after that text exchange,
we then you know, continued to like, you know, just
have a little banter back and forth. I did go
down to OC separately, to have lunch with a friend.
(06:51):
And I was like, oh, you know, while i'm here,
let me hit up Katie and Jen on that group
chat and just let him know i'm here. I said, Hey,
headed to lunch. If you're around, you know, let's get
a drink or something. Jen was like, I'm in Mexico. Sorry,
I'm gonna miss it. Katie was like, oh, you know,
I'm running around. I'm shopping for the reunion. The reunion
was like two or three days away. She was like,
but I can you know, stop by. So I head
(07:12):
over to lunch. She stops by for lunch. We just
have a good old session, like we're just chatting, having
a good time. I was not there to be reporting
having off the rocker conversations. I was literally there just
like hanging out with people as we do in this industry.
We just make relationships.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
So you reach out to Katie Jen, I'm going to
be in the OC. You guys told me whenever I'm
there to let you guys know. I'm letting you know
Jen's in Mexico with her finance fiance Ryan. And then
that leaves you and Katie to have a one on one.
So in this one of the conversation. Is this the
(07:53):
setting where all of a sudden Katie just started dropping
all of these allegacious against people, you know, Gina allegedly
you know, calling out the fact that she's not wearing
that Katie is not wearing Asian designers, and she thought
that that was a dick to her. Is this the
(08:14):
same setting where she talked to you about what Gretchen
allegedly said to her at matstros and OC. Is this
the same setting.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Yes, it was all that same day. Yes, And again
it wasn't coming out and I made that very clear.
She wasn't saying, ooh, I want to give you this information.
I didn't want you to do anything with it. We
were having a chat about a bunch of different things.
Of course, I'm being nosy as you would. I'm like,
can I see your reunion dress? Oh? You know, we're
going into things, you know, like who do you know
who's filming you know this upcoming season? You know, like
(08:44):
just having chat. And then I don't know exactly how
it came out, but she mentioned she was having you know,
lunch or dinner sorry, with Gretchen and Slade, and that's
when this conversation came up now. Of course, at the time,
I think I said something like, oh, you were having
dinner with Gretchen? Is she going to be on the
next season? Because this is on October. Gretchen hadn't been
(09:06):
announced for this the season yet. So when she told
me that story and she was like, oh, you know,
did you hear about naked Wasted? I was like floored,
And I was like, that's crazy, But you hear I
hear crazy things every single day. I literally hear off
the record stuff, crazy rumors every day. I take it
in I'm like, whoa, that's crazy. And then we moved on,
(09:29):
and then she did bring up the Gina thing, and
of course I you know, I've been side eyeing Gina
ever since because I was like, oh my god, I
can't believe she did that, Like I thought, it was
really messed up. And then we went about our day
like she left. You know, we ended up there was
an US Weekly party a few weeks later. I was
doing red carpet for that. I was like, hey, you know,
(09:49):
I'll see you at the party. You know, we again,
we just continued banter, and also I had wanted I
really wanted her to succeed at the reunion. So I
you know, if I saw something online then I thought
would help her. I'd be like, hey girl, you know
check this out. You know this is you know, funny.
And we just had banters, you know, we'd send tiktoks
to each other. It was a really light relationship. The
only reason it eventually made it to a journalist was
(10:11):
because in January. Again, this is months later. I've sat
it on October, November, December. If I was messy, I'd
be telling people I literally left that lunch and like
didn't really think about it. But in January and this happened.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
So just so I'm clear, your one on one with
Katie happened October of twenty twenty four. Correct, okay, And
before we get into what happened in January, just to
clear things up, can you because I know that when
we watched reality shows, you got a film for hours
and things get edited down.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
So I want you to have the opportunity, Kiki, to just.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Clear the air, to stay out of your own mouth, unedited, uninterrupted.
What did Katie say to you about naked Wasted?
Speaker 1 (10:53):
And what Gretchen allegedly said to her at dinner?
Speaker 3 (10:57):
She said, did you know that at that naked Wasted
night that Gretchen had to go to the hospital and
she found they found drugs in her system, and I
was like, like, what do you mean? I was like,
there were drugs in her system? Did she get a report?
Did she go to police? Did she go to production?
(11:18):
And she was just like, I don't know. And I
was just like, how is this never come up? Like
I don't understand, like if if she why wouldn't And
she was just kind of like, I don't know. I
just none of it really made sense because I was like,
if that happened, I just feel like so many other
things would have happened, just logically. But I'm just kind
of like, that's crazy that she told you that.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Okay, to stop you there, did she tell you that
in this meeting in October that Jen and Ryan were
present during this conversation.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
See, That's what I don't think was clear. I don't
think I actually realized Jen and Ryan were also out
that dinner till later for some like maybe she said it.
I can't I honestly don't remember. I really only remember
her saying Gretchen and Slade, and then at some point
I did know that Jen and Ryan were also there,
(12:11):
but I don't know if I remember if it was
that day.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Okay, did did she intimate to you that Gretchen was
trying to get back on OC?
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Was was and talk to get back on OC? In
this conversation? You know?
Speaker 3 (12:30):
When I asked her, because I mean again, when she
initially said, oh, I went to dinner with Gretchen Slay,
of course I said like, oh, she gonna be on
next season? And she didn't answer, She didn't say anything.
But I always take those sort of non answers as like, oh,
maybe you know it makes sense, right, you're making allies.
You've come off a season where you know Jen is
not in a great place with Tamra. You're good friends
(12:51):
with Jen. We know how Gretchen feels. I understand why
the three of you would be at dinner, and so
it makes sense why they would be at dinner. And
I understand that people get friendly with, you know, all
sorts of housewives, you know, after their season to like
so you know, I was sort of fishing, but she
didn't give me any of that. I didn't know for sure.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Okay, when she told you the stuff about Gina did
when she mentioned that Gina question whether or not her
designers were Asian designers. How did she say it in
a way that made you feel uncomfortable? Did you feel
like the way she reported it to you it made
(13:32):
it appear that Gina said something racist.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Yeah, I mean I think that's why even if you
see in the episode the way I said it, I
was literally repeating it exactly how Katie said it to me,
because she was like, you know, like I was, you know,
I really wanted to feature Asian designers, you know, on
the show. And maybe this had been when we were
talking about her, like you know, RENI just I don't remember.
And I was like, oh yeah, She's like you know.
And then you know, one time I come into the
(13:57):
scene and I have an outf and on and Gina
looks me and goes, is that an age and designer?
And this is what she said to me. She said,
you know, I looked at the camera. I looked at
the producers like did you get that? And they were
just like and I was like, they didn't do anything
with it. They didn't show it. Why didn't they air it?
And she was just like I don't know, and I
was just like h and so like we just sort
(14:19):
of had that you know, brown girl, black girl fingers
like m you know, like what you do when someone
says something shady. And so that's kind of what I
walked away with that conversation feeling about Gina.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Yeah, Okay, while you were talking to her, did you
get the and I'm gonna get to January, But when
you were talking to her in this in this one
on one, did you get the sense that Katie was
telling you things off the record? You know, one thing
I know about conversations, sometimes you do a pinky swear
like what Drusidora, Angela Oakley and Shamia did right or
(14:52):
you say off the record? Were any of those things
said like to you from Katie?
Speaker 3 (15:00):
I don't think people ever have to say that with
me because I just I'm not someone that repeats like
you know, Like again, I have friendships with a lot
of these reality stars, and I've I always go into
every conversation really just assuming like I'm not gonna repeat this.
I don't really say off the record because unless I'm
coming to you, you know, as a reporter, and we're
like you know, and I'm investigating a story, I'm not
(15:22):
going to say like off the record, but you know,
she knows I'm not going to I would assume repeat it.
That's how I assumed. The reason I started to like
feel a little bit weird was because as we sort
of continued our friendship, she would send me some things
here and there, and I started wondering, like, does she
think I'm gonna do something with this information? I couldn't
really tell because you know, or is she just telling
(15:44):
me because she thinks I want to know? You know, fine,
Like I don't really know.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Yeah, because one thing I know, Look, I got said
this on my own podcasts. I'm friends with everybody in
the business, almost everybody in the business, right and I
know that when reality stars didn't DM me stuff, I
know that a lot of it has to do with
the fact that they want me to talk about it.
(16:11):
They don't necessarily say talk about this, but they send
me stuff. And because my platform isn't he says, she say,
I don't base things off of that. I just base
things off of what we're watching on the show, my
opinion on the shows. And obviously if a story is
big that you just can't ignore, then I'll talk about
(16:31):
it that way. But I never come to the table
like Ooh, someone's sending this DM or X, Y and
Z because I never want to get in the muddy waters.
Did you feel like, okay, hmm, should I keep it
to myself or should I talk to somebody? Because what
happened in January? You said you spoke into a fellow
(16:53):
journalist about it. So what happened where you felt the
need to talk about it to somebody months later?
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Yeah, I had no interest in doing anything with that information.
But when January was announced and it was announced that
Gretchen was coming to the Real Housewives of Orange County,
that is where I did get concerned, because now I
had a piece of information which I'm sorry if there's
if these allegations are true, that's illegal, and that is
(17:21):
I don't know. One, I want to get to the
bottom of there's any truth to this story, because like,
if so, this needs to be exposed. And two, like
we had just come off of that really dark Roney
season with Brinn and all of that, And I truthfully
was like if they were talking about this, because I
couldn't think of any other reason they were talking about
(17:42):
this at this dinner in October unless they were thinking
that this might be a storyline in the upcoming season,
and I said, this is just not something that I
think the viewers have the appetite for as a stomach
line when we just came of off that Roney season.
So I feel like I need to like either find
out if this story is true or not and like
(18:02):
just like put an end to it. And if it's
not true, like we can just like kill, you know,
debt it, or if there is truth in the story,
like we need to find out because this is actually
like it's it's illegal or it's defamatory, one or the other.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
And and you thought this way, you had.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
A conversation with another journalist. What was that conversation like.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
And this is where it gets muddy. And this is
why again, like when you see things repeated on different
platforms as it goes, the game of Telephone is really terrible.
But I spoke to one journalist journalist initially, I said,
can you help me, because again I'm independent, their legacy media,
they have more resources and access than I do. I
(18:46):
don't want this attached to me, and I also don't
want this story coming to light. I just want to
find out if we can find out if there's any
truth in the story that reporter, despite what was out there,
never repeated my name, never said even that he or
she who found this information and was able I felt comfortable,
comfortably came back to me that this story was not true,
(19:09):
and so I was like, that's fine. I'm comfortable with
the story not being true. And I don't really know
what to do with it from here other than hope
it doesn't come out in the next season. Speaking to
the other journalist, it's hard to get into because, as
you know, building relationships in this industry requires very intimate,
(19:33):
off the record conversation about a lot of different things,
and the conversation with the second journalist really was centered
around that. We were having a very sort of open,
back and forth discussion about a lot of different things. Again,
I won't get into because it would expose him, but
there was a reason why Katie's name came up in
that conversation. I can say part of it was him
(19:54):
trying to understand my thoughts on her and you know,
trusting her and that, and I said, look, and I said,
I really do like her. You know, we've had a
great rapport. There was this one thing, so I wasn't sure,
but I'm comfortable. The story isn't true, so you know,
I've moved on from it. But I will say like
that was like a weird story. I expected that conversation
(20:17):
to never leave that bubble of again off the record,
and unfortunately that conversation was taken back to Tamra.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
How did you find out that conversation was taken back
to Tamra?
Speaker 3 (20:30):
When Katie texted me at the end of February, I
was literally on the tarmac, my flight was about to
take off. I'm flying to New York for two weeks.
I get a text from Katie that says, are you
around to film today? At five? And I just did
a question mark and then she wrote, your name was
(20:50):
brought up on camera and I did an exclamation point
and I said who and what? And she said, you
know Tamra about Tamra And I said what was it about?
And she said I don't know. And I said, I'm
literally in the air for the next five hours. And
she was like, oh, shoot, well you know, let me
(21:12):
know when you can. I had no interest in filming.
I had no interest in being part of this. I'm panicking,
but of course I'm in the air because I know
I've told. Even though she said she didn't know what
it was about. I can at that point I know
that it had to be something regarding this because I
just told this other person. So I texted he admitted
he had told Tamra. So I'm freaking out, like, why
(21:34):
did you do this? Said blah blah blah, And I
go to New York. I have to get work done.
I'm just kind of like, you know what, I'm gonna
go go to New York and just do whatever. I'm
in New York. I don't hear from Katie again, so
I'm thinking, Okay, in denial, I'm like, you know what,
this is not going to be a thing. I'm going
to keep moving on, do my life whatever, come back
(21:54):
to New York. Like three weeks later, two three weeks later,
I'm at a party and I get reached out to
by Orange County producers and they're like, so, your name
has been repeatedly brought up on camera and you know,
and basically that was how they reached out. And so
at that point, I'm just like and basically what I
(22:17):
learned was like, my name was brought up on camera
and we're basically being told that you're spreading something that
was not told to you. It's not the truth. And
that's when I freak out because I'm like, one, I
didn't want to be involved in this, but two, I
have kind of two options at this point, like let
this narrative play out and I don't know what that means,
or they're given me the opportunity, which honestly I'm grateful
(22:37):
for because not a lot of people give this opportunity
to try to clear my name. And so I agree
to film, and that's pretty much it.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
When you agree to film, did the producers tell you
you are filming with Gretchen and Gina, because I'm assuming
you would have. I don't know if thought or would
have been positioned wanted to. I'm not clear some with
Katie since the information came from her, So how did
(23:07):
that come about.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
I believe they wanted me to film with just Gretchen
and what I said to them, and I don't even
know if I'm but whatever, I'm going to say it
because people may not understand I was only supposed to
film with Gretchen and I said, look, there were three
people at this dinner. Gretchen and Katie were two of them.
I don't know how comfortable I feel only filming with
(23:32):
Gretchen because this is someone who was also part of
the story. I would feel more comfortable if someone else
was there. And this is okay, and this is where
and again, this maybe been the messy part, but this
was the only way I thought I could clear my name.
I said, I have a piece of information also from
that lunch that nobody else would know and would prove
(23:54):
that this information was told to me. I would rather
her be there, and I'd rather tell her there in
that moment what was said, because honestly, I feel like
if I say it to her face, I'll know also
if there's any truth to that story. And so I
was really the one that pushed for Gina to be there.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Got it. Now, let me go back a little bit.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
The time you landed in New York, when Katie text you,
to the time that the producers contacted you. Did you
and Katie ever have a conversation during that window?
Speaker 3 (24:30):
I never heard from her again, And like, again, that's
why I kind of thought, like, this won't be a thing.
I had no idea, And in the time that I
was in New York, they had gone to New Orleans
and all that stuff that we see playing out had happened.
She never contacted me, told me any of that happened.
I had no clue any of that had gone down,
which is why again, while I'm watching it, it's shocking
(24:52):
because I'm thinking, well, girl, you could have like reached
out to me and said, like, you know, they're saying
your name, they're saying I said this to you, But
I never heard from her again after that day. I
had no clue how deep it had gone in New Orleans.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
When you got the cop on the producers, did you
have any communication with Katie before the scene with Gretchen
and Gina or even afterwards.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
I hadn't talked to no. I mean I never heard
from from Katie ever. Ever, again I did, like I
did speak with Gretchen. Oh well, I kind of spoke
with Gretchen only because again when this came out, now
Gretchen has reached out turn Sheena Shee, who I'm good
friends with Seena. Se are friends, and so then Sheena
(25:45):
because Gretchen's like, who is this person Kiki Monique who's
saying spreading these things about me? Because Gretchen at this point,
Gretchen thinks I'm just like some again crazy blogger who's
just spreading rumors about her. But she knows that I'm
friends with Sheena, so she's trying to like get to
the bottom. And I said, look, look, I want nothing
to do with this, like I promise you, like I
wasn't trying to like spread rumors, like I was just
(26:08):
trying to get to the bottom of whether the story
was real. Because also she is looking at me crazy,
like girl, like this is you know, like the whole
thing was like I was like, I want nothing to
do with this. This was not the opposite of what
my intention. Is happening right now.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
I want to ask you this because obviously you watch
the season. In the episode, just like we all have.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Right, they're in New Orleans the OC Housewives, and this
conversation does come up where you know, they talk about
whether or not Gretchen said these things once again. The
housewives call Katie to the carpet and they say, well,
call her, and Katie said she does not want to film.
(26:56):
Is did Katie ever contact you? Well, you know when
she contacted you, was that when you were on the
plane or was that after the fact.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Now, I was literally like all the tarmac about to
take off, so all of that conversation happened. So I
did respond to her. She reached out. She asked me
if I wanted to film. I didn't say yes or no.
I was again in shock. I was like, question mark
exclamation point, what is this about? What am I filming about?
What do you talk she wants? Because she wanted me
to get on the phone at five pm that day
to film something, but she wasn't telling me what it
(27:26):
was about. And I'm just like, but what is it about?
Speaker 1 (27:28):
In New Orleans? So she went to New almost when
she text.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
This was February twenty eighth. I got that text and
they didn't go to hold from March.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Okay, so let's cause you know we're getting somewhere here.
Katie texts you they want you to film in February.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
February twenty eighth is when I got the text.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
They found New Orleans in March. So when they said
reach out to her and she said she doesn't want
to film. She never contacted you at all while she
was in New Orleans.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
No, I never heard from her again after February twenty eighth.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
When you saw that moment, do you think again.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
I don't know Katie from a can of paint, right,
But I just I'm basing my opinions on her, like
me and the audience watching the show.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
But when you saw that scene in New Orleans, did
you feel like.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Katie was talking about you or her texting a month before,
or did you look at that say, oh my gosh,
Katie's line once again?
Speaker 3 (28:41):
No, I looked at it is she was sort of
telling half truth. I think that's like she said. I
think she was saying I reached out her, She's not interested,
which is true. I was absolutely not because I did
not get back, okay, But what wasn't true was saying
she never responded. Because that wasn't true. I responded and
I asked you what it was about, and you said
(29:01):
you didn't know, So that part wasn't true because I
if again I wanted to know, because if she once
she knew that this was all being brought out, I
do think again, I had been a really good friend
to her at that point. I think it would have
made sense for her to just be honest with me
and actually confront me and be like, girl, did you
(29:21):
go tell people about this? Because then you know, like
I would have been like, well, damn, like I did,
but like I was trying to like squash the story
because you know, but you know, like but I would
have felt yeah, I would have felt bad.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. So look, it's one of those
things too. Where and listen, this is me being in
the scene. And it's the reason why I make sure
as much as I can to not involve myself in
the sort of ragamuffin of the telephone game, because it
is tricky as dicey, based on this era of reality
(29:58):
television and social media and contact and people being in
contact with radio hosts, journalists, bloggers, anyone, because unfortunately it
does now become part of the storyline. When you received
that phone call for production and you did the scene
with Gretchen and Gina, when you left the scene, did
(30:20):
you feel like, oh fuck, what did I just get
myself into?
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Did I just ruin my career?
Speaker 3 (30:28):
I mean I think I felt that way from the moment,
I you know, even before I filmed, because I'm thinking, like,
I don't know how to navigate out of this, because
you know, my this is my brand, you know, and
like it's yeah, it's fun to be called quote gossip girl,
but nobody wants to think that they can't have conversations
with you that aren't going to be taken elsewhere. And
(30:50):
so that was the part that was really hurting me
because I felt like I was in this position where
I didn't put myself in this position. I didn't go
to a housewife. I didn't try to involve myself, and
I wasn't trying to bring this to camera, but someone
I trusted did and you know, it hit me in
the ass?
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Are you and the journalist friends today? Have y'all talked
about this?
Speaker 3 (31:12):
I don't know, you know, like I don't. I'm not
someone who likes to carry grudges, but you know, I
haven't heard from him, So I don't know.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
When you saw Gretchen and Gina's reaction in real time
in that moment, Keikey, at that table you told this information,
you saw the reaction, Did you believe that they were
telling me the truth?
Speaker 3 (31:43):
What I believed was when Gina told me her explanation
and that sounded like it made sense. And Gina has been,
you know ever since, like I've met her, you know,
I've seen her again, like she's been really kind and
so like I don't really feel like I have any
reason to like hold you know, hold that against her.
(32:06):
What I will say is in this, I mean not
to you know, hate on you know all reality stars.
All reality stars are like fibbers liars. It's it's like
it's kind of like built into their DNA. Sometimes it's
like they were just like exaggerating, exaggerating the truth or
like doing this. I don't know sometimes who's lying and
who's telling the truth. What I was trying to get
to at this point was I just want you guys
(32:28):
to know that I'm telling the truth so I can
back away and then you guys can fight amongst yourselves
about who's the liars and who's not, because like I
just want to like remove myself and just put it
out there and then back away. I don't know, Like
I think that there's multiple theories that could be true.
I just don't know, because again, it's hard for me
(32:50):
now when only one person keeps basically calling me a
liar to side with them, even right because you know
you're like, even have wanted to decide with you, you're still
calling me a liar, So then how can I side
you know, well, calling you Katie by saying she never
told me repeatedly over So it's like, if you just
admitted it, then like maybe we could get somewhere. But
I just don't know why she won't admit it.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Yeah, and that's the thing.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
I mean, Look, I appreciate you for being completely honest.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
No one's perfect.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
You have opted your mistake to be seen as somebody
who's honest about it.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Right. You're like, look, we had a conversation.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
I knew that it wasn't something that I should go
back and tell people, but I did tell a trusted journalist.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Listen.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
We've all done that, right, And for you, you just
felt like, Okay, this is something that I want to
share with somebody.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
I will say. What I do want the world to
know is this.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
It's one thing if key Ki Monique on her big
platform told Derinda, O.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Girl, guess what I heard. I heard. It's something that
to me would be different.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
It would be different if you use your platform like.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Other people do. And that's that's O shame. Where we listen.
We all have our platform that works for our brand.
I've been listening to you for years.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
You never based on my listening skill. Intimated secret conversations
for virality, right, and and and that.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Was the one thing I've really understood immediately.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Like, I think people are missing the fact that you
did not go on your own platform or on in
one's platform and publicly said this. You had an intimate conversation,
it got out, but knows to to to you even
knowing you would. And I think people also need to
understand this too. You are employed by Radio Andy, who
(34:51):
works obviously connection with Bravo, you know, Like I think
people need to understand that you're not somebody that is
just out there looking for the come up. You're employed
by Radio Andy, associated with Bravo, meeting the Angy Cohen obviously,
and they called you and you wanted to do your
(35:11):
due diligence.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
That's what I got from it. You could stop me
if I got it wrong.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
K K, that's the true because that's the thing I mean.
I think even Katie said herself, she followed me for
my true crime content. Obviously, if I hear something that
sounds criminal, I'm sorry. Like, if I feel a reason
that it needs to be investigated, I'm going to be
it needs to be investigated. And I did feel like
at the time once Stretchen was announced she was coming back.
(35:36):
If there was any truth to the story, I needed
to investigate and find out if the story was true, period,
like I and I was never going to publish it
on my platform unless I found there was You know,
I had a toxicology report that proved, you know, this
actually did happen.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Do you feel like you owe Katie an apology for
having an intimate conversation and you did go and tell
somebody else.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
I would say that, yes, I would apologize because the
minute I decided to put on my true crime reporter
hat and take it to investigate, I should have said, oh, girl,
I know you told me the story. I wasn't gonna
do anything with it, but I do want to investigate it.
I'm not going to publish it. And I should have
given her the heads up that that was my plan
and that was the one thing I should have done.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
Based on you watching these episodes, do you feel like
when it comes to Katie again, I'm basing my opinion
on Katie off of the episodes I'm watching with the audience. Obviously,
Katie the biggest mistake to me, and this is me
speaking as a producer who produced for twenty years.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Right, almost once your hand is caught.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
In the cookie jar, unfortunately, you have to own it immediately,
and it's just something you have to do.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
It doesn't feel good and it's tough, but you signed
up to be real and we want you to be real.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Do you think when it comes to Katie that she
just has a problem with owning the truth in the
moment because she's afraid of the media backlass on the girls,
or do you think just Katie is just a flat
out liar and this sociopath that she's being painted out
to be by the by some of the girls and
(37:25):
some of the viewers.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
I mean, before I probably would have just assumed that
she was like scared to get caught. Recently, it's felt
very like pathological because I'm just like this, this feels
unnecessary that the lengths we're going Now, I think it's
like she's at a point because what we know is
like it doesn't really matter what she does, her fans
(37:48):
will side with her. So now I think she knows
she can lean into saying whatever she wants truth or otherwise,
and her fans will make gymnastics to, you know, find
a way to like back her up. So I don't know.
I think it's I honestly, I can't even tell you.
I don't even know anymore because the person that I
met is not the person that I've experienced recently.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Do you have any intentions of going on Watch What
Happens Live this season?
Speaker 3 (38:20):
Oh my god. Well, the thing is, I've been on
Watch What Happens Live as a bartender twice, and I've
always whenever I go, I'm like, when am I going
to get on the chair. So it's not like beyond
the realm of me being like, you know, Andy Cohen
is my boss, like I you know, it's not like
I can't. I obviously always a'm like, hey, guys, I'm
going to be in New York like but like yeah,
but not because it's not it's something I do.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
You should be all.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
I want to see you there all the THURSD night.
Maybe that's the head of the brow. I do want
to actually, before I let you go, you're a busy woman.
But before I let you go, I do want to
ask you this. You're watching the episodes like we are,
based on you watching the episodes and based on your
interaction with Katie Face to face, Gina face to face,
(39:08):
Gretchen face to face, Thum and even Jen right just
being in communication with her on via zoom. What does
Keky Monique believe put on your true crime hat, put
on your producer hat, put on the.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Hat of a woman who's been around these girls.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Do you believe that Gretchen told Katie that she allegedly
did get drug the night of nacker Wasted while she
was at dinner with Katie.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
The only reason I'm going to give you two answers,
but I will answer. The reason I will say no
was because again, when I got back my initial information
and the information that I gathered, which I actually think
I said on camera, but they didn't play because there
was more to like it made sense, it didn't make
sense that she said it, and so I was like,
(40:08):
I feel like she didn't say it. But what I
do believe is that naked wasted absolutely came up at
that dinner. I believe the word hospital was absolutely used. Now,
whether someone heard hospital and made assumptions about why would
you go to the hospital and ran with it, or
(40:30):
whether they heard something specifically about being in the hospital,
that's the part I don't know, but I do believe
the word hospital is used at that dinner, and I
do believe naked wasted came up.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeahh no.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
Me and Alexis Malino even conversed about this on this
very podcast about whether or not the assumption of hospital
equated to maybe Katie thinking she was drugged, which listen
in Katie's offence, I will understand because you're only going
to the hospital, you feel like I'm assuming you felt
(41:03):
drugged or whatever. And look, Gretchen is caught on camera
mentioning the hospital twice, so it is it is plausible,
and that's why my theory is, I believe Gretchen did
tell Katie the hospital. I do believe that Katie may
have misinterpret interpreted, misinterpreted. I don't know, but that's what
(41:27):
I gather from it, which is why for me, I
think they both have been caught lying. I think Katie
has obviously been seen as somebody that says no, no, no,
no no.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
Then the next episode.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
Says, okay, I actually did do this right, And I
think because Gretchen got caught saying hospital twice, I do
believe you that the hospital thing was used again, whether
or not the word Ruth the drug was used. I
think will have to keep watching the season to to,
you know, hopefully find out that answer.
Speaker 1 (42:06):
Kickim on Nique, what would you like.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
To say to the Bravo audience to the rain drops
when it comes to you are are you okay?
Speaker 1 (42:14):
Have you been bullied online?
Speaker 2 (42:17):
Have people been mean to you in your DMS and comments?
Speaker 3 (42:22):
I mean, yeah, am I getting bullied? Absolutely? And like
have I just had to sort of like ignore it
and walk away, of course, And like, well, will I
always have this permanent stain attached to me because of this? Absolutely?
But you know you can't. I can't let that stop
my progress, you know, like I'm going to keep moving on.
You know, I have like rebuilding with you know, the
(42:44):
people that I care about in this industry the most,
people like you and the other people I have they
know me, and so I'm glad that I haven't ruined
those relationships because again, like all you have in this
business is your reputation, and I obviously care what obviously
followers and people out there who are viewing me, and
this might be the first introduction they have for me,
(43:06):
you know, is this show?
Speaker 1 (43:08):
You know?
Speaker 3 (43:09):
And so I have rebuilding to do and whether I'll
ever get it with a lot of people, I don't know.
Hopefully the bullying were tempered down, because look, we have
a whole other half a season to go. I'm hoping
that there's way more drama that is less interesting than me,
and then other people will start getting bullied. But you know,
I will say that, like I know, also other women
on the show are now getting bullied, and you know,
(43:30):
I just don't think that's fair because you know, I've
met now, I've met a lot of these women and
at the end of the day, they're all they're all cool,
you know, yeah, and you're cool.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
And look, I'll before I let you go, I do
want to remind the audience of this. You haven't held
yourself accountable, right you have said. Look, I apologize to
Katie because at the end of the day, she did
tell me something that I should not have repeated to people,
and you admitted that that was a mistake for you.
So I do want to be honest to understand that
(44:02):
you're not here doubling down on the fact we all
make mistakes.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
I think the lesson in this is not just.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
For yous, for me, for everybody that when it comes
to sometimes reality stars confiding in you, you do have
to sometimes ask yourself, am I being told this?
Speaker 1 (44:22):
To release it?
Speaker 2 (44:23):
Or you do Sometime I have to say I don't
or or sometimes stop and say, look, I don't want
to talk about any rumor or being heard because I
don't want my name mentioned. And I'm learning from this
situation that comes to you as well that look, maybe
sometimes it is our job, Kikim mo Onnique to even
tell reality stars, you know what, I don't.
Speaker 1 (44:46):
Want to hear it. Yeah, if I just, I just
I just do not.
Speaker 2 (44:49):
Want to hear it because what I don't want is
why I only told this person and then you become
the story. So look, guys, give Ki Monique a break,
cut her some slack.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
She's not the first, nor would she be the last.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
But I think for all of us at the end
of day, this is what this is where we can
we can rally together rain drops and Bravo listeners and
audiences and say, at least we got a good fucking
season out of it because I've enjoying.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
Yeah, I want people to at the end of the day,
like if I was not a part of this, I
would literally I was like I literally could sit outside
of myself and be like laughing about this is like
how crazy it is and ridiculous And at the end
of the day, it's just a show. And I think
a lot of people need to like go touch grass
and then come back and watch your show. But it's
not that serious. Okay, Katie's thriving, She's getting more followers
(45:43):
by the day. This is not hurting her at all.
She'll be okay. I promise you, yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
You'll be okay. I want to know you'll be okay.
This too shall pass. Listen, it's tough, and listen. One
thing I will say is this, at the end of
the day, you will be in the history books with people. Listen,
I can always fight things so like small a because
it ain't that serious, like it's reality Television's silly, it'sa whatever.
(46:12):
When it comes in season nineteen, just know you will
go down in the history books as the most talked
about person next to Katie Janella.
Speaker 1 (46:21):
Like, I just want you to know that.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
And at the end of the day, these are great
stories that you can have off the record at dinner.
Speaker 3 (46:28):
Okay, I am. I will say the only thing I do,
like I am questioning is like, you know, I know
that there was a source in my I did US Weekly.
I you know I talked about this in US Weekly
and in that at the end of it, there was
something about, like, there's more to this Kiky story that
you don't know, and I'm like, is there what do
I know?
Speaker 1 (46:49):
Now?
Speaker 3 (46:49):
I'm concerned? Are you trying to drag me into season twenty?
Please don't.
Speaker 1 (46:57):
Well, girl, listen, give your phone off top. I have
to call you back.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
Girl.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
You're still mentioned it sement.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
Just know that, but they also aside Kiki on Nique,
please let the rain drops and know where they can
find you. Follow you and support your amazing radio.
Speaker 1 (47:16):
Show, Reality Check with Derenda Medley.
Speaker 3 (47:19):
Yeah. Well, you can always follow me on all platforms.
At the Talk of Shame, I'm obviously TikTok and IG
are my two platforms that are my favorite, and weekdays
on radio and y Reality Check with Derenda Medley, we
talk about all things reality.
Speaker 2 (47:34):
Yay. Thank you, Nique, and listen, girl, I will see
you or hear your name on the next episode of
O See.
Speaker 3 (47:39):
Okay, I Love you.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
Reality with the King is executive produced by me Carlos King,
produced by Lizzie Nimitz and a partnership with.
Speaker 1 (47:53):
The Lack Effect Network.
Speaker 2 (47:55):
You can also find us on my YouTube channel at
be Carlos King on this bar