Today.

On the TMZ podcast.

Hello and welcome to the TMZ podcast. I'm Charlie Cotton, and today I'm joined by Brendan Jeffery on the man behind the Vanderpump Rules story.

The story that never ends. I think I said that last time too.

I mean, it never ends.

They keep giving us stuff.

I know. So we're going to talk about Vanderpump Rules, which is back shooting. We're going to talk about Elon Musk versus Mark Zuckerberg. This fight may actually happen, and it may actually happen in the Coliseum in Rome.

Crazy.

And finally, we're going to talk about that viral story. A lady in Thailand got her leg severed by one of those...

Elevators. It's like an elevator. An escalator. It's like.

An escalator that moves along the ground. Travelator, I think they called. Travel...

Either way, it was very painful for her.

I'm sure it was painful either way. Off the top, though, Vanderpump Rules is back shooting. Tell me what you know. Who's shooting? What are they doing?

Tell me everything. They started filming on Wednesday, officially filming on Wednesday. We know that Ariana and Katie were filming. But it was interesting. The Paps were getting all these pictures of other cast members filming, and we were like, Well, there's one... Well, there's two people missing. We haven't seen pictures of Tom and we haven't seen pictures of Raquel filming yet, right? It's strange. We've confirmed that Raquel is still in this mental health facility. The new development, though, that we know is that she's actually currently negotiating with Bravo for a return. We understand from sources that she's actually going to get out of this facility soon. I feel like it's going to be within the next couple of weeks, truthfully, the way I... From the person that I spoke to, that's the sense I got. So she's in negotiations. They're very early stages. They only started negotiating with Raquel this week because they knew the rest of the cast was obviously ready to film. So they got their deals out of the way. And then they said, Once those are done, we'll focus on Raquel because they knew she's going to be in this facility for X amount or more weeks or a month or whatever it actually is.

But we were told soon. So a majority of them are filming. We know Tom Sandoval signed a contract and is ready to return filming, but we just learned yesterday, late yesterday, that he's actually filming, he's been in New Zealand, filming another show for Fox.

And.

You watch the show, right?

Yeah, it's like that special forces show. It's called World's Toughest Test, where basically they try to break you physically and mentally. But mental is a big part of it, too. They try to make you cry, push you to your absolute limits. I like the show. I've watched it. There's an Australian version. There's a UK version. I love watching it because it's the opposite of something I'd want to do.

They're the It sounds like a good show for Tom Sandoval. And so.

They're going to try to break Tom Sanderville. I think he's the perfect candidate for it. Now, on Raquel, is it problematic that they are trying to negotiate with someone who's in a mental health facility because of something that happened on their show?

Yeah, we've talked to multiple people close to her, people close to the show, and everyone is on the same page in the sense that they know her mental health is the number one priority. So they're not going to rush her to come back. Obviously, the production wants to have her back. I mean, she is the centerpiece to the drama and the scandal. But I spoke to someone yesterday very close to the show who told me, Listen, just so you know, they started filming Wednesday. I was told tentatively right now they're supposed to film until at least around the first week of September. So they have time. They have what? Four months. I was told by someone yesterday, even if Raquel came back in the last month they would still be fine with that.

But how can you shoot this week, not knowing if she's going to show up? How do you make those scenes make sense when you're... Are you talking about Raquel?

How do you... They're definitely talking about her. And Harvey and I talked about this yesterday in the sense that how do you shoot a show without essentially the star of the show? Because everyone wants to hear from her. But I think there's ways to do it. And from a producer's point of producing standpoint, it's almost like, Okay, great. People are going to watch the show. You know they're going to watch the show. If they have to wait eight episodes to see Raquel, they're still going to watch the show. Right. Even if they're watching James and Lisa and other cast members talk about the scand of all. It's also exciting because you get the build up to, Okay, maybe next episode we're going to get Tom.

And Raquel. But you need.

That pay off. But you.

Need Raquel. You need Raquel. And so she hasn't signed on the dotted line yet. No. I have never ever heard of anyone in reality TV show history needing to go to a mental health institution, retreat, facility, whatever it is. I have never heard of anyone being that affected by something that happened on air, off camera too, but on air. So for them to slowly cajole her to sign again because they need her, if anything bad was ever to happen to her because of this show, with them having really strongly encouraged her, like, No, come back, please. Even though she's been suffering for so long, they'd be in big trouble, wouldn't they?

Bravo. Yeah. I mean, they'd be responsible, I would assume.

So that's got to be a concern, the legal side, the.

Moral side. Right. So they're not going to pressure her. Again, I've spoken to people on the production at the network, and they're all on board with Raquel's team. And I get, I mean, Raquel wants to come back. And she said that to Andy during that reunion when they did the one on one interview, she said...

So why is she still at the retreat? The thing then? Do we even know.

Where she's at? We don't know where she's at. And I've asked people close to her what exactly? Because I'm curious what exactly she's doing at this retreat, right? Is she getting? I'm sure there's some counseling therapy component, but is it similar to the places that have been reported? Because obviously, a few months ago when she first entered, there was all these rumors that she was more or so at a spa.

Yeah, she's not at Club.

Med or is she? A five star spa that was almost like a hotel. But those do exist and people do go to them to clear their head and stuff. I don't know. I wonder, I don't know factually, I wonder though, if she had more trauma, past trauma, even before Skandival, and she's just working on everything. So Bravo.

Is like, That's not on us.

That's not on us. Yeah. So I don't know what it is. But the person that we spoke to yesterday was very adamant that it's coming soon, where she'll get out. I'm sure we'll hear from her in some way, whether it's through an interview.

Look, she got on the show in the first. She worked her way on the.

Show in the first place.

She wanted that show bad. She wanted to be famous. And now she is. I would be surprised if she didn't capitalize as much as she can on this situation, unless she's really sick.

I think we were talking about this in the newsroom the other day. I think that we went through several months now where it was, Oh, my God, obviously feeling really bad for Ariana. It's horrible that anyone gets cheated on. But also from the Tom and Raquel standpoint, they've received so much hate, especially online, social media. I mean, people just coming for them. It's brutal, relentless. At what point does the tide start to turn? And Riquel and Sandoval can start capitalizing on the scandal, too. I mean, Arianne has been capitalizing on it, right? She came out, she said she made over $200,000 something just on merchandise for the sandwich shop that her and Katie are going to open up. God knows how much money she's made. She's done a Bick razor commercial. She did the Lay's potato chip commercial. I mean, those are major brands. They have to be paying her a good chunk of money for these spots. So at what point is the tide going to start turning for Tom and Raquel? There's going to be people that are going to want them to be the face of a product or something as crazy as it sounds.

And they will obviously probably get backlash from the Arianne supporters. But maybe the tide is turning now. Look at, we see Tom doing this other show.

Exactly. Tom is capitalizing on it.

Raquel just isn't yet. Smart move by Fox. So I don't know. I think when Raquel comes out, I think there will be people that will approach her for a podcast, a book deal, but not a book writing necessarily just about the scan window. I think Riquel could lean into what I went through and one of those life journey experiences.

Or get her own show. She could be the bachelorette when Tom breaks up with her.

Hey, listen, if you're a producer and you're smart, you could go for Raquel next.

The cameras stopped rolling on Vanderpump Rules, and that's when it all got real. I'm Jax Taylor. And I'm Brittany Cartwright. And we are talking about everything on our podcast, When Reality Hits. Marriage and parenthood, friendships and feuds. Definitely feuds. And life before, during, and after Vanderpump Rules. So listen to and follow when reality hits with Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright. At Apple podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Okay, onto our next story. This is just the most perplexing. I just don't get this story at all. Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, I guess the fight is on. Everyone's saying the fight is on. Now it appears that it might be on at the Coloseum in Rome. The Minister of Culture reached out to Mark Zuckerberg, who basically said, We're interested in holding the fight here. Zuckerberg passed it on to Dana White in the US. Who then got back in touch with the Minister in Rome. Elon Musk is tweeting about it, saying, The Coloseum wants us. Is this really where we are? This seems like such a fictional.

Type story. It's crazy. Crazy to me because the Coliseum is such a historic landmark. One of the seven wonders of the world. I guess if your government official is over there, this is great for them in the sense of for the tourism board. It's a good ad. You're going to bring a draw to their area. But I don't know how they can do it because isn't there some a historical... I know you can tour it and stuff, but if you think about it, they would have to build a stage. You're going to be bringing in all of these patrons s that are going to be watching the fight. However, I know Dana White, isn't he like, really... The big thing with him is the pay per view. Is that what they call it? I'm so bad with these things. Yeah, pay per view. Pay per view. You'd make your money back. You'd make your money back. Right. So is it going to be more of they're going to just more have it, like, the direct people that are involved in the fight not really have a crowd.

No, because you need the spectacle. You need the crowd because you're having it at the Coliseum for the spectacle. The Coliseum is where people ripped each other's heads off. Isn't it where Lions ate men? I've seen the movie Gladiator. I've seen what happened there, maybe.

A lot's happened. What was it? The Lizzie Maguire movie was filmed there. That's the last time I can.

Think of it. That's not what I was thinking about. That is not what... Brendan, would you be one of the... The Coliseum was made in Jesus days, in the early, early 80s. Would you be one of those guys, like, Kill him in the stands?

I don't know if I would even go, but I don't know. You'd be like, Rip his arms off. Rip his heart. Would you do one of those guys? Yeah, sure. But I think it's weird. They usually do these fights in Vegas, right? That's the alternative. For the most part. But now we're going to go to the Coliseum.

Well, rearly also Vegas and America has all of these laws sanctioning different... There's such a different weight class. Elon is so much bigger than Mark that it's hard to get the deal done. It'd be easier to get the deal done if it happened in Italy rather than in Vegas.

What is crazy to me is, one, the Coliseum concept, but two, Elon and Mark, these are two of the richest men in the world. And I would never... Elon makes sense to me. Mark Zuckerberg, when I think of Mark Zuckerberg, I think of this nerdy guy. Never in a million years would I think of him wanting to be a part of a fight at a Coliseum.

Maybe we've just proved that the fight's a good idea because I can't believe that Elon would want to do it. Because Mark Zuckerberg, yes, he's a scrawnier, but he is a martial artist. He knows J ujitsu really well. Elon never works out. He's a bigger guy. He's an older guy. I just think that Elon's musk is getting into this fight. He got into the Twitter deal in terms of, he doesn't know what he's doing. He's messing with something he doesn't know. He's he'd get his ass beat.

I'm surprised Elon has the time to do this. I mean, he's running Twitter up in San Francisco.

Twitter, SpaceX. He's got so many Tesla. He's got so many... I don't know where he finds the time.

It'll be interesting to see how it pans out. I'm curious. I'm curious. And I'm curious if the government officials there are going to gage now what the reaction is. Are people there going to... Are locals going to be opposed to it? Again, it's money for them. It's going to bring in a lot of money.

I'm with you that this is a good ad. Whether or not the fight takes place in the Coliseum, me and you are talking about the Coliseum on the TMZ podcast. And God knows that's where people get their travel advice from. So it's good for tourism anyway, because I looked at videos of the Coliseum. Oh, that is pretty.

Cool there. It's a really.

Cool space. It's a good ad anyway. So good on them for reaching out and starting this.

Stay tuned to see what happens.

On to our last story. A story has gone viral because a lady in Bangkok who was running for her flight at a Thailand airport, she was going through one of those horizontal escalators, the travelator, as they're called. It's like a walking... They're fun. They're fun. I like doing it in the airport. Well, she apparently tripped over her bag and got lodged in the escalator itself. One of the plates looks like it was broken where the conveyor belt goes in. So her leg got sucked into there and it got severed off. And she's.

Trying to get it. Makes me not want to take one of these again. Yeah, but they are really fun. I saw a woman once get sucked into an actual escalator, but this is obviously a walking thing. So when I first looked at it, I'm trying to figure out how this even happened. An escalator later made sense because the woman was in front of me and her clothes got caught and started not sucking her in it, it shut off. But this is a whole different level. And what's weird in this situation is the authorities haven't fully explained how it all went down. It's a little bit murky.

It is very murky. You know what I find murky about it? The photos they released, there's not a drop of blood anywhere. And I'm like, This woman got her leg got severed. Her suitcase, the escalator, nothing's got in. I was like, They cleaned up in this middle of.

This tragedy? If I'm her, though, I would already have a lawyer because I'm assuming she's going to...

Well, they said, Look, we're going to pay for all your medical bills. Great. But if the escalator is at fault...

She had to get her leg amputated.

Oh, my God. Could you imagine? I've been to this airport in Bangkok, which makes me relate to this story. Also, I work at an airport every day. I work at LAX trying to find celebrities to interview.

I think you should stop. If you take these, don't get on them anymore.

Well, I stand next to escalators all day. And the amount of escalator accidents that happen all day, all day, escalator accidents. You wouldn't know it unless you just stand by an escalator all day. But the number one thing is people dropping their bags, their bags falling, and then almost like a bowling ball hitting someone on the way down. I see that all the time. Also, old people, but also young people, old people falling backwards.

On escalators happens all the time. That I have never seen, but I've always wondered because you know how at the edge they're spiky, imagine how painful that is. Do they scream when you.

See it? Oh, yeah. And there's blood and that stuff. But the first thing, and not to call myself a hero, but I spring into action because I'm so used to it happening. And I press that button, the first thing I do is press that button.

That emergency button.

That emergency button is the first... Because people don't really think of that. People just run to rescue the person, but the button is the.

First thing. You got to stop it first.

So you don't get sucked into these things.

God, maybe Elon Musk can invent something new where we don't even have to think about these kinds of...

He's busy, bro. He's busy training.

Again, though, it's weird. You think of how many of these you take, and I guess just because of the fact that it's flat, I don't know. And now she's had her whole.

Leg in. I love those flat things. It's so fun to walk backwards on them.

They're fun because when you get on them, they're already moving. So then if you're walking at even a faster rate of speed, you feel like you're on... You feel like a legend. It's fun. You feel like you're on the treadmill when they film the commercials and they make it could seem like they're actually running. But they're really in front of a green screen and they're running on a treadmill or something. It's like one.

Of those. Are you flying anywhere for July fourth?

No, I'm here.

Okay, so no escalator, no escalator, high tinks.

No, but after this, I think I'm going to walk around them. Okay.

Take.

The stairs.

Yeah. All right, Brendan, have a good long weekend.

Have a good weekend.

You too, mate. All right, guys, we'll see you guys all back here on July fifth. Have a good July fourth, everyone.