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Patrick McDonald, a former producer of The Real Housewives of Orange County and other Bravo shows, including The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Vanderpump Rules, is telling all about his time with Bravo.
While comparing Tamra Judge, 58, to Shannon Beador, 62, looking back on his interaction with Kyle Richards, 57, and sharing details about the moments that led up to “Scandoval,” which saw Tom Sandoval, 43, and Rachel “Raquel” Leviss‘ affair being exposed to his then-girlfriend, Ariana Madix, 41, Patrick accused Lisa Vanderpump, 65, of a setup.
“I don’t agree with a lot of the things that Tamra does on the show, but in real life and working with her as a co-worker, she’s like, lovely,” Patrick began on the August 25 episode of Juicy Scoop. “She’s a delight to work with. She’s very professional. She shows up on time. She says ‘thank you.’ She treats people with respect.”
According to Patrick, Tamra also talks to the young girls who work as personal assistants.
“She’s like chit-chatting with them … [But] Shannon, she’s not like that. And most of the time she’s like, kind of melting down because of some crisis that she’s going through,” he shared.
Moving on to the idea of a pause, Patrick explained the concept as “a very carefully crafted corporate buzzword that is strategically used to manipulate, control, and prevent fired cast members from speaking out about any mistreatment or problematic situations they may have faced while filming a Bravo show.”
“And it works,” he continued, “because fame is a hell of a drug.”
After a cast member’s contract isn’t renewed and they’re going through the realization that they’re losing their job and the perks that come with it, Patrick said they’re teased with the idea of a comeback.
“Most of the time, that’s not going to ever happen, but they dangle it in front of everyone to stop them from speaking out once they leave the show,” he explained.
Regarding the time he spent filming RHOBH with Kyle, Patrick had all good things to say about the series OG.
“Kyle is the most warm, welcoming person — one of the most of all the housewives I’ve ever worked with,” he gushed. “You walk into her home, it feels very warm. It feels like there’s a lot of love there. You see her interact with her girls. They love her so dearly. They’re so fiercely protective of her. And you can just feel the love in that house.”
“You see the way that Kyle talks to the people that work for her, and they love her so much. Everyone that works around or for Kyle loves her because she treats them all so well,” he added. “Kyle is a freaking delight. She was one of my favorites to work with.”
Patrick also worked on Pump Rules season 10, before “Scandoval” broke, and had an odd interaction with Lisa.
“We’re filming at SUR, and Raquel is coming in because she’s late for work. So where was she? And she slept at Sandoval’s and Ariana’s out of town … and so while I was talking to Lisa about it, before we filmed that scene … We’re just kind of speculating on it. Is there something there?”
After the scene involving Rachel and her late arrival was filmed, Patrick said Lisa wanted to talk more about the suspicions he voiced to her beforehand, which Patrick found bizarre — until he realized that Lisa had secretly called Tom and allowed him to eavesdrop.
“She wanted him to think that we were starting to question something about him. Because at this point, Lisa was very frustrated because she was not a part of the show anymore … But I caught her red-handed.”