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Jerry O’Connell Reveals The “Monster” Bravolebrities That Helped — And Hurt — His Marriage The Most

By Lea Palmieri @littleleap
Published Sep. 24, 2018, 5:00 p.m. ET

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Being a Bravo superfan has come full circle for Jerry O’Connell who is now hosting his own show on the network, Bravo’s Play by Play. Joined by pals Dave Holmes, Michael Yo, and Brendan Schaub, O’Connell now gets to do what he does best at home with his wife Rebecca Romijn, in front of the world: talk about Bravo shows.

So when he stopped by the Decider offices, we did just the same with him. From the Bravo shows that have helped — and even hurt, thanks to the love triangle of the year — his marriage, to as much scoop as we could possibly get out of him about Denis Richards’ wedding, and Dorit’s involvement in any potential drama there, O’Connell was as candid and excited to chat all things Housewives, yachties, and of course, the delicious drama, just as much as we are.

He filled us in on what we can expect from the new talk show, as well as the Bravo show he would bring back, and the one “nobody wants.”

DECIDER: Did you always feel comfortable expressing your love for Bravo, or did you have to ease into that?

JERRY O’CONNELL: When I first started watching Bravo about a decade ago, the only person I could talk about it with was my wife. That was it, then we became friendly with Andy Cohen, and I could talk about it with him. I stopped bothering him because I realized four to five texts during Orange County was probably not the best use of my limited time with Mr. Cohen. I used to call him Andy but I call him Mr. Cohen now that he’s my boss. Then as I became more comfortable in my skin I started to talk about it more at work more freely and openly, and now I’ll talk about it with anyone. That’s sort of how Bravo’s Play by Play came about. It’s like what if you put a bunch of people in a room who look like they weren’t Bravo fans per se, and you had them go in-depth on Bravo topics. We go really deep. I’m not even joking when I say this, it’s not so much what the Housewives are up to, and [their] shenanigans, and whether Bethenny was texting Carole too much. It becomes more a question about, how does that pertain to you and your life. Listen, when Bethenny and Carole were going through all that, we all have friends that text us way too much, and give us way too much information and want to call all the time. We all have that friend and we’ve all had friends who say that we have to stop texting them. In my case it’s Andy. So, it’s funny how these events that happen on all the Housewives shows really pertain to our lives.

It’s true. Just last week, I wanted an apology from somebody and they weren’t giving it to me and I was like you know what, I’m having a real Dorinda day. 

It’s really funny, I have to admit, as of late the storylines I’ve been sympathizing with are the people who won’t apologize for things that they’ve said. And also I sympathize with people who’ve been accused of maybe imbibing a little too much. It does touch a nerve with me. 

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How did the Bravo obsession start for you? 

I’m not sure this is the best for a romantic relationship with your spouse. We have a large television in our bedroom, which is where my wife and I do pretty much all of our TV viewing. Kids are asleep, and then we get a couple hours. I know we’re supposed to be intimate with each other for those couple of hours, and we are, the only difference is we’re also being intimate with Vicki Gunvalson, Kelly Dodd, and Steve Lodge. My wife and I are coming up on 12 years. You run out of things to talk about. I really found that the Housewives really brought us closer together. It’s really funny, and it’s really fun when opinions differ. We are both Team Carole though, isn’t that interesting? 

I was at first, but flipped to Team Bethenny during the reunion. 

Well yeah, that was her narrative that you were following and you were into it.

Which Bravo show has helped or hurt your marriage the most? 

Oh, I’ll tell you which has hurt the most, this is hilarious. [In his Borat voice] My wife…loves João of Below Deck Mediterranean. When we watch Below Deck Mediterranean, even when he was at the reunion a monster, that man was a monster, my wife was like, “He shouldn’t have to commit, he’s João.” I can see whenever he comes on screen, her face becomes flushed, her breathing becomes a little more rapid, whatever he does. Even if he’s just scrubbing the dumb deck, she’s [loudly laughs]. Even if he’s putting out the dumb slide, she’s giggling. So João hurt our relationship the most.

Who helped it the most? Currently on this season of Orange County there is a Househusband [Emily’s husband, Shane] who is very rude to his wife’s friends, demanding apologies, and yelling at them when they’re drunkenly leaving the house. I’ve had my wife say, “I could never imagine you yelling at one of my friends.” By the way, you think Emily’s friends get drunk and party? My wife’s friends are crazy, and they’ve been to our house, and they’ve been crazy. I’ve heard them into the night, I’ve gone to sleep, and I would never poke my head into the living room and go, “You have to get of here you tramps making all this drunken noise.” I would never, I would never.  Even if I felt it, even if I felt that which I didn’t, I would never say it. I do remember my wife saying, “I’m so glad you’re not like that monster.” 

What is the Bravo show you just couldn’t get into? 

Après Ski. There was no need for that show. I’m sorry to the cast members, I know they worked hard, they were in that resort for the whole season. Nobody wants a ski lodge. There’s nothing sexy about putting on layers and going out there. People want bikinis, price tags on those bikinis. They want…

Boats.

Boats, boats that are about to sink. They want Scary Island. You can take Après Ski and you can leave it.

If you could bring back a Bravo show which one would it be? 

The first Bravo show my wife and I bonded over, this is old-school: Showdog Moms & Dads, that’s how deep our knowledge goes. A lot of people reading this on Decider  were not even born when that show was out. I’m serious. It was basically Best in Show, but it followed around all the moms and dads of these dogs and it was hilarious. It’s funny to hear, this is before I knew Andy Cohen personally, but he shepherded that show as an executive. It was so funny to find that out and see our tastes have always been the same.

Is there anything else you know as much about as Bravo shows?

Well I play a lot of Fantasy Football, but I seem to lose at that so I don’t know if anyone should take my advice on that. I’m a father of two little girls, I can tell you pretty much everything there is to know about raising two girls up until nine years old.

Now the fun’s about the begin. 

Yeah, a lot of people threaten that. They’ve been really fun, they’re cute. They haven’t quite lost their minds yet. They love Bravo with us. They were asking all kinds of questions: am I doing the show with the Housewives, what am I doing, are you working with Andy Cohen? 

I know that you’ve been meeting a lot of the Bravoleberties lately too. Who’s more starstruck, is it you or them?

It’s definitely me. When I met and spoke with Lisa Vanderpump just a couple of weeks ago, I felt like I was meeting Meghan Markle.    

Was that before the Tom Tom review?

It was after the Tom Tom review. I did a review of Tom Tom where I made a lot of Bravo references and it went viral. I was shocked that Lisa and Ken Todd had read it and knew it. I was amazed. But I was really excited meeting them. And at the end of the day, I’m gonna drop a lot of bombs on you, it was at Denise Richards’ wedding, at the end of the wedding, LVP asked for my wife’s phone number and they’ve been text friends.

Did you see any of the Dorit drama?

I’m so afraid to talk about what I saw there, but it did seem to me more went on than just the wedding. I was not within earshot to tell you exactly what was happening. But I can’t wait to watch and see what I was not made aware of. But what I did see: beautiful wedding, impeccably planned, they did it hastily but man they didn’t skimp on anything. Open bar, not a cash bar, so it’s already better than my wife and my wedding, flowers were beautiful. It was an outdoor ceremony, gorgeous, on the ocean, at a mansion, Denise looked gorgeous.

Were all the Beverly Hills ladies there? 

There’s a part of me that wants to talk to you and everyone about what I saw and what I did, I want to gossip about all of it which is why everyone should watch Play by Play. But what I can’t talk about is stuff that hasn’t come out yet and I’m very scared of revealing that.

So tonight’s Orange County that’s going to be on, I saw it a week ago. I would love to talk to you about what goes down between Gina and Vicki in the coffee place, it’s crazy. But I have to remember what I can and can’t talk about. But I asked to get this close to the flames.

Is there one Bravolebrity you would be too nervous to meet? 

I’ve met pretty much all of them. I gotta say, there’s no one I’d be nervous to meet. I’ve even hung out with Captain Lee, stud of the sea, and I guess I was a little nervous before I met him. He came to visit LA and I was going to pick him up and take him out to Tom Tom and I was nervous that he wasn’t going to have an enjoyable night, just because he was my primary that night. I just wanted to make sure that he had a good night, so I was a little nervous but I wasn’t nervous after spending two minutes with him.

Bravo’s Play by Play airs Monday at 10pm ET/PT on Bravo. 

Where to stream Bravo's Play by Play