This season of The Real Housewives of New York City definitely threw us a curve ball. It took some time to get used to the idea that we would no longer be following the antics of the OG cast — which included Ramona Singer, Bethenny Frankel, the Countess Luann de Lesseps, and Sonja Morgan — but they will live forever in our hearts and in the archives of Peacock.
Season 14 of the popular reality TV series was considered a reboot, and we were introduced to six all-new fabulously successful wealthy socialites: Sai De Silva, Ubah Hassan, Erin Lichy, Jenna Lyons, Jessel Taank, and Brynn Whitfield. And we’ve had some laughs with them, although I don’t see them falling down twice in Mexico drunk on tequila – at least two of the new cast members don’t drink. Sigh.
So far we have learned that there was a rift between Sai and Erin before the show even began production, Sai and her husband have not had sex since the birth of their twin boys — who are now two years old — Sai grew up in poverty, Ubah has her own hot sauce company called Ubah Hot, and the latest episode (episode 4) was an absolute treasure trove of information about the lovely brand marketing professional, Brynn – which we were kind of expecting (the title of episode 4 is “The Most Brynnteresting Girl in the Room”).
We see Brynn having her hair done, which she says she has weekly, and it takes 3-6 hours (!). In this scene, Brynn explains to her stylist — Nadia — the significance of growing up a bi-racial child being raised by her caucasian grandmother, who was advised to take young Brynn to have her hair straightened and relaxed, which also became a weekly thing. She reveals that this was her “only to exposure to the black community, to black women. And I saw how beautiful black women are, how strong they are, how funny they were… It’s funny, you know, I think my grandmother was just taking me there to make my life and her life easier. Little did she know that it had a massive impact.”
It turns out that Brynn was raised by her grandmother because there was some severe neglect in her home when she was a baby. She recalls a time when she wasn’t picked up and her diaper wasn’t changed for days. She gets extremely emotional when talking about this and it’s implied that we will learn more in episode 5.
We have established early on that Brynn is flirtatious with every man she meets, and we see her being quite coquettish with the chef at a Thanksgiving dinner party thrown in her honor — which Sai calls Brynnsgiving — until Sai says “he’s married.” We see Brynn in confessional say “I love a man who can cook, I can’t cook. Maybe that’s why I’m not married yet.” There is this brand of self-deprecating humor throughout the series coming from Brynn. This could mean one of two things: she takes it all in stride and prefers to laugh at the situation — after all, she is herself a catch — or she’s using her humor to mask deep pain. Not that I’m a therapist or anything.
Then we learn that Brynn is planning a trip to London with someone called Gideon, whom she refers to as her “third ex-fiance.” (Again, !) I wonder if she got to keep all those engagement rings.
So, who is Gideon?
A long-time New Yorker, Gideon Lang-Laddie was born and raised in London. He works for a company called The Agency, where his “expert negotiating skills and penchant for cultivating long-lasting relationships with clients and colleagues alike make him perfectly suited for The Agency’s culture of collaboration.” He currently resides in Los Angeles, where he works for a private equity firm. He even started a charity to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer research. And it looks like he enjoys and knows a lot about fancy expensive cars and high-end real estate. So, there’s that.
Coming from someone who apparently knows Gideon, Erin shared in her confessional, “Gideon. I wish she would get with him. Just I don’t know why he’s so cute. He is a nice Jewish guy who’s also very cute.”
But, who is Brynn’s boyfriend?
If you find out, please let us know. It apparently is not Gideon, as Brynn described the two of them as “consciously uncoupled.” But wait – all hope is not lost. Brynn stated, “There’s a 20 percent chance I might marry him and it’s increasing.”
But, you know, they could just be working a second engagement into the plot of the show. Maybe he’ll propose to Brynn in the next episode, amid the backdrop of Big Ben or The Palace of Westminster on the left bank of the Thames.
In my opinion, it seems like they would both be lucky. Can you just imagine how beautiful their hypothetical children could be?