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    Kyle Chan Is the Jeweler to Reality TV Stars

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    Kyle Chan is no stranger to Bravo viewers, and his work can be seen on celebrities, TV shows and even in an Oscar-winning film.Eagle-eyed Bravo viewers may know him as the man behind three different “Vanderpump Rules” engagement rings, or as the beleaguered best friend of the disgraced reality TV villain Tom Sandoval. But when Kyle Chan started selling handmade jewelry at the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk in 2010, he had no idea that he would one day parlay his small stall into a luxury jewelry business famous for its connection to the world of reality stars.Mr. Chan immigrated from Hong Kong to the United States when he was 13, and started making jewelry after taking a class in high school. “I fell in love with it, but I just didn’t have the money to continue, so I started all kinds of odd jobs,” Mr. Chan said in a phone interview. “I was a waiter. I was working at an airline. I did hair and makeup.”Eventually, he scored a job at a small jewelry boutique, which he managed for seven years before moving into wholesale. Then, in the early 2010s, he met Kyle Richards, the longtime star of the Bravo reality show “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” It was then that his career really took off.“She and her four daughters would always go to the Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market, so that’s how I met her,” Mr. Chan said. “She was very kind, and she would buy my jewelry, even though I would insist I’d give it to her for free. But she said, ‘No, no, no, I’d like to buy it, I want to show support.’”When Mr. Chan opened a retail store, some of his celebrity friends came out to support him, including, left to right, Jesse Montana, Ariana Madix, Tom Sandoval, Tom Schwartz and Scheana Shay.Robin L Marshall/Getty ImagesMs. Richards started wearing his pieces on the show, which premiered in October 2010, and posting about them to her millions of followers. When he graduated from making silver and gold-filled pieces into more luxury fare, she began carrying his designs at her since-shuttered Beverly Hills boutique, Kyle by Alene Too.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ Keeps Pushing Back TV’s Fourth Wall

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      Reality TV had long advised casts to pretend the cameras (and producers) weren’t there. But for the Mormon influencers of MomTok, the business of being on camera is central to the plot.The women of MomTok, the 20- and 30-something Mormon influencers who make up the cast of Hulu’s “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” built their livelihood on upsetting codes of conduct.The series’s first season was birthed in the wake of a “soft swinging” scandal involving some of its couples. A few of the cast members drink alcohol. Some abstain in keeping with the Church’s doctrine, but interpret its teachings on ketamine use more loosely.In the show’s second season, which finished airing this month, the group routinely flouted what, in eras past, had been a cardinal rule of reality TV: Don’t break the fourth wall.“It’s not a shock that I was a fan favorite,” Demi Engemann pointedly told her MomTok peers in Episode 6. The group had just learned she tried to persuade producers to kick off her co-star Jessi Ngatikaura to secure a higher contract for this season. “I feel like I’m an asset, I should fight for more.”That prompted Taylor Frankie Paul, the unofficial founder of MomTok, to push back about her own negotiations over the very show on which they were appearing.“I’m the that one that’s actually struggling because I’m open to the [expletive] world,” she said. “If anyone deserves to be paid more it’s me and I’ve never even asked for that.”

      @secretlivesonhulu The girls are fightinggg 🫣 #TheSecretLivesOfMormonWives ♬ original sound – secretlivesonhulu We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Love Island’ Contestant Yulissa Escobar Leaves Show After Racist Comments Surface

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      Yulissa Escobar, 27, was abruptly dropped during Episode 2 after clips of her using a slur in a podcast were resurfaced. The season’s debut week also saw tech issues.“Love Island USA,” the reality dating show that sends singles to an island villa to pair up in hopes of winning a cash prize, is known and often appreciated for its messy plots onscreen. But this week, as Season 7 of the show premiered, most of the chaos took place offscreen. Some offscreen drama also reached the show’s predecessor, “Love Island UK.”Contestant Dismissed for Racial SlursFor starters, one of the contestants, Yulissa Escobar, was summarily dropped from the show after video recordings of her repeatedly using a racial slur in a podcast interview were dug up by online sleuths and then reported by TMZ.The clips created an uproar among fans online before the premiere on Tuesday, but the series is aired with a one- or two-day delay, and Escobar, a 27-year-old Cuban American from Miami, still appeared in the first episode.Before the premiere, fans were vowing on X and TikTok to vote Escobar off the show as soon as they had the opportunity. On the first night of the show, Escobar was also criticized by some viewers for wearing an outfit that they deemed appropriative of Chinese culture and using chopsticks to pin up her hair. At about the 18-minute mark of the second episode, which was shown on Wednesday, the narrator, Iain Stirling, abruptly announced that “Yulissa has left the villa.” She had been paired with Ace Greene, and later in the episode Stirling noted that Greene was single.Escobar could not immediately be reached for comment. Ryan McCormick, a spokesman for Peacock, which streams the show, declined to comment on why the producers had removed her.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Mike White, ‘White Lotus’ Creator, Will Return to Cast of ‘Survivor’

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      Mike White, a noted reality-television aficionado, first competed on the show in 2018.Mike White, the acclaimed screenwriter, creator of the hit HBO series “The White Lotus” and reality competition show veteran, will be returning to “Survivor” for its 50th season.The “Survivor” host Jeff Probst announced White’s return on “CBS Mornings” on Wednesday.“In between writing and directing seasons of ‘White Lotus,’ Mike White is back,” Probst said.White first appeared on “Survivor” in 2018, during the show’s 37th season, and lasted on the island for 39 days, finishing in second place. Although “The White Lotus” wouldn’t premiere until three years later (White has said the show, an acerbic anthology series set at an exotic hotel chain, was partly inspired by his observations while on “Survivor”), he was already a well-regarded filmmaker, having written the film “School of Rock” and created the HBO series “Enlightened.”Conceived of and filmed during the Covid pandemic, “The White Lotus” became a breakout hit for HBO and catapulted White to a new level of fame. He won Emmy Awards for both writing and directing in the limited series or anthology categories for the show’s first season. The finale of the third season — which aired this spring and starred Parker Posey, Carrie Coon and Walton Goggins — was watched by more than six million viewers.Before “Survivor,” White competed on “The Amazing Race” with his father in 2009 and again in 2011. In a 2021 interview with The New Yorker, he attributed his love of reality television to its ability to distill real human behavior and conflict.“For me, as a writer of drama, I aspire to do what reality television already does,” he said. “To create characters that are surprising and dimensional and do weird” stuff and “capture your attention.”The landmark 50th season of “Survivor,” which is scheduled to air in 2026, will feature several returning cast members, including a Season 1 contestant, Jenna Lewis-Dougherty, and the five-time competitors Cirie Fields and Ozzy Lusth. Filming is scheduled to take place this summer. More

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      ‘Duck Dynasty’ Patriarch Phil Robertson Dies at 79

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      He founded the duck-call business that became the foundation of his family’s reality television empire.Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the hit show “Duck Dynasty” and the founder of a duck hunting gear business that became the foundation of his family’s reality television empire, has died. He was 79.His death was confirmed by his son Jase Robertson in a social media post late Sunday that did not specify a cause.Jase said on the family’s podcast last year that his father had early-stage Alzheimer’s and other health problems.Mr. Robertson was one of the stars of “Duck Dynasty,” an A&E series that stars his family — Mr. Robertson and his wife, Kay; their sons; the sons’ wives; an uncle and some grandchildren — and revolves loosely around their duck hunting gear business.Mr. Robertson was born on April 24, 1946, in Vivian, a rural town in the northwestern corner of Louisiana, as one of seven children.He attended Louisiana Tech University on a football scholarship and after receiving his bachelor’s degree in physical education and a master’s in education, spent several years teaching in Louisiana schools.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Love on the Spectrum’ Delivers on the Promise of Reality TV

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      The Netflix series, which follows a group of autistic people as they search for love in their hometowns, feels good to watch, but don’t just call it feel-good TV.You know the story: A superstar surprises a fan on a talk show, and the online crowd goes wild, sending the clip viral. But when the affable actor Jack Black surprised Tanner Smith on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” in April, a particularly poignant and joyful alchemy was conjured.“Jack! Jack! I’m so excited to finally meet you,” Smith exclaimed as they embrace. “You’re so handsome, you’re looking good, Jack!”“I love you on the show, and I can’t wait for the next season,” Black told Smith, referring to the Netflix reality series “Love on the Spectrum,” which recently wrapped up a memorable third season. “I’m so happy for you for having all of this success,” Black said. “To meet you in person is really amazing for me, too.”Smith is a beloved star in his own right. Online — his handle, tannerwiththe_tism, nods cleverly at his having autism — he has about 2.5 million followers. It’s a number that is not unusual among his castmates, all of whom are autistic.On the viral clip, one commenter called Smith “easily one of the most beautiful humans to walk this earth.” Another wrote, “This was a moment where humanity remembered what love, truth, and presence really looks like.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Reality TV Wades Into Cross-Generational Dating Pools

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      Bravo’s “Love Hotel” and ABC’s “Bachelor in Paradise” are widening the age range of prospective love matches.Age-gap relationships are nothing new when it comes to depictions of older men in TV and film plots. But a wave of recent releases, including “Babygirl,” “The Idea of You,” “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” and “Lonely Planet,” have zeroed in on romantic and sexual relationships between women in midlife and younger men.Two new reality dating spinoffs are now catching up. Bravo’s “Love Hotel,” which premiered Sunday, features three over-50 “Real Housewives” — Luann de Lesseps, 59, Gizelle Bryant, 54, and Shannon Beador, 61 — looking for love among eligible bachelors whose ages range from their 30s to their 60s at a luxury resort in Los Cabos, Mexico. (Ashley Darby, 36, rounds out the group of bachelorettes.)In the first episode Bryant asks Wale Alesh, 38, if he wants children. When he responds that he does, the cameras cut to Bryant in an interview filmed after. “Gizelle doesn’t have a uterus, so that means we aren’t compatible,” she says, speaking in the third person.Meeting Jay Bramble, 46, Bryant explained: “My three daughters are in college. I have the house to myself, so I just walk around naked.” He responded, “You’re living the dream.”Bryant, who is divorced and who dated the “Winter House” cast member Jason Cameron, 38, on a past season of “The Real Housewives of Potomac,” said it’s important that audiences see mature women living vital love lives. “Hey, ain’t nobody dead because they have, like, jumped over 39,” she said in an interview.Bryant added that the program gives the women a chance to show “we can spend whatever days we have left in a happy place with somebody that, you know, you really want to rock out with.”

      @bravotv Be cool, the wait for #BravosLoveHotel is over. #CountessLuann ♬ Luanns Right Back from Bravos Love Hotel – Bravo We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      When Kristen Kish, ‘Top Chef’ Host, Hits the Mute Button

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      The reality TV star and author of the new memoir “Accidentally on Purpose” on airplane snacks, tongue-scraping and the problem with women’s pants pockets.In her new memoir, “Accidentally on Purpose,” Kristen Kish reflects on her childhood as a Korean adoptee in Michigan, coming out as gay in her late 20s, winning Season 10 of “Top Chef” and struggling with anxiety.Yet Kish, who now hosts the Bravo competition series, is known for her laid-back interactions with contestants. “If my anxiety level was at a million growing up and being a young adult, it is certainly now in the hundreds,” she said. “It has drastically reduced because I’ve given time and energy to managing it in the best way I can.”Kish, 41, in her book recounts an upbringing filled with meatloaf, casseroles and Sunkist candies. Such down-to-earth predilections have stuck with her despite her upscale culinary career.“People ask what my guilty pleasure food is,” she said. “I don’t feel any guilt around anything. I want it, I like it, it’s delicious — I have no shame.”In a phone interview last month, the globe-trotting restaurateur shared her favorite travel snacks, how she keeps in touch with her parents and the thing you’ll probably see her doing while she’s cooking. These are edited excerpts.Fit Joy PretzelsOne of my favorite airplane snacks. The honey mustard flavor is specifically glorious, especially when you’re flying — you know how they say your taste buds go a bit muted. These are salty, there’s enough sweetness from the mustard, and the crunch is exceptional. I would rather eat five little packs of these over one meal they’re offering.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Love Island: Beyond the Villa’ Will Follow Season 6 Cast Around Los Angeles

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      Trying to capitalize on the success of the sixth season of “Love Island USA,” Peacock announced a series that would follow former islanders around Los Angeles.In its sixth season, “Love Island USA,” an American remake of the popular British dating reality show, found its footing with fans. That season, which aired on Peacock last summer and was hosted by Ariana Madix, a veteran of “Vanderpump Rules,” was the top-rated reality series in the United States for multiple weeks and a hot topic on social media. It also produced some of the franchise’s most memorable couples, many of whom are still together.Given that success, it was not a surprise this week when Peacock announced “Love Island: Beyond the Villa,” a spinoff series featuring some of the islanders from Season 6.Here’s what we know.How is it different from the original show?“Love Island USA” is a reality dating competition that gathers a group of contestants, called islanders, into a luxury villa — Season 6 was set in Fiji — and has them couple up, either out of true love, friendship or simply for survival. Single islanders are kicked out of the villa, and every so often viewers are given the chance to vote out their least favorite couple. The pair voted “most compatible” at the end wins a cash prize.“Love Island: Beyond the Villa” appears to be more of a straightforward reality show, without a competition element. According to Peacock, the show will follow several of the cast members “around Los Angeles as they navigate new careers, evolving friendships, newfound fame and complex relationships outside of the Love Island villa.”Who’s going to be on it?Almost all of the Season 6 favorites are slated to star in the show, including two couples that made it to the finale: JaNa Craig and Kenny Rodriguez, and Leah Kateb and Miguel Harichi. Kendall Washington, who split from his finale partner, Nicole Jacky, will also star in the show alongside Olivia Walker, Connor Newsum and the exes Aaron Evans and Kaylor Martin.Ms. Craig and Mr. Rodriguez, who made it to the Season 6 finale, are both part of the main cast for “Love Island: Beyond the Villa.”Eugene Gologursky/Getty ImagesIn something of a surprise, only half of Season 6’s winning couple was officially announced as being part of the show: Serena Page, who, alongside her partner, Kordell Beckham, took home the grand prize, will appear. But Mr. Beckham — the younger brother of the N.F.L. player Odell Beckham Jr. — is not listed as a main cast member.Ms. Page cleared up the gossip around Mr. Beckham’s absence rather quickly, replying to a fan on Snapchat, “He’s gunna be in it with me!!!” and saying that he could not be announced as part of the main cast because he had booked another role.Also missing from the listed cast was Robert Rausch, a veteran of Seasons 5 and 6 of the show, though Peacock’s announcement said other islanders would appear, so he might be on at some point.What else do we know?Peacock did not release a trailer or announce a release date for the show, but the streamer said it would be coming in summer 2025. More