The Viall Files
E870 - Traitors w/ Wells, Baldoni Keeps Suing, Matt and Rachael Breakup, RHOSLC Finale + Michael Imperioli
Tue, 21 Jan 2025
Welcome back to The Viall Files: Reality Recap! Soooo… TikTok is back. And so are we! Today we discuss Justin Baldoni suing Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, Matt James and Rachael Kirkconnell breaking up, Bob the Drag Queen being eliminated, the depression of slow walking, Southern Charm, White Lotus, the Sopranos, AND the explosive Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Finale. Is Lisa Barlow a hypocrite? Was Whitney Rose in the wrong? And did we cry with Angie Katsenevas? “And that’s the whole gaslight thing about it.” Justin Baldoni’s Lawsuit Against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds: https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/01/justin-baldoni-sues-blake-lively.pdf OUT NOW! Listen to Humble Brag with Cynthia Bailey and Crystal Kung Minkoff. Available wherever you get your podcasts and YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@humblebragpod https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/humble-brag-with-crystal-and-cynthia/id1774286896 Start your 7 Day Free Trial of Viall Files + here: https://viallfiles.supportingcast.fm/ Please make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode and as always send in your relationship questions to [email protected] to be a part of our Monday episodes. Follow us on X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheViallFiles Listen To Disrespectfully now! Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disrespectfully/id1516710301 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0J6DW1KeDX6SpoVEuQpl7z?si=c35995a56b8d4038 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCh8MqSsiGkfJcWhkan0D0w To Order Nick’s Book Go To: http://www.viallfiles.com If you would like to get some texting advice on Office Hours send an email to [email protected] with “Texting Office Hours” in the subject line! To advertise on the show, contact [email protected] or visit https://www.advertisecast.com/TheViallFiles THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: Quince - Upgrade your closet this year without the upgraded price tag. Go to https://www.Quince.com/viall for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order! 3 Day Blinds - Right now get quality window treatments that fit your budget with 3 Day Blinds. Head to https://www.3DayBlinds.com/viall for their buy one get one 50% off deal on custom blinds, shades, shutters, and drapery. Rocket Money - Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to https://www.RocketMoney.com/viall today. Helix Sleep - MLK Flash Sale- through the 22nd, Helix is offering 27% off sitewide + 2 FREE Dream Pillows with all mattress orders! Go to https://www.HelixSleep.com/Viall Timestamps: (00:00) - Intro (00:21) - Matt and Rachael (10:53) - Justin Baldoni (40:22) - Household Headlines (50:01) - Southern Charm (01:01:51) - Traitors with Wells Adams (01:37:20) - Michael Imperioli Joins (01:47:59) - RHOSLC (02:00:50) - Outro Episode Socials: @viallfiles @nickviall @nnataliejjoy @wellsadams @realmichaelimperioli @ciaracrobinson @justinkaphillips @the_mare_bare @leahgsilberstein @dereklanerussell
Chapter 1: What happened between Matt and Rachael?
What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the Vile Files Reality Recap Edition. I'm your host, Nick, and Matt and Rachel broke up over the weekend. Sad.
Didn't see that one coming. Did not see that coming.
Did they break up or was he hacked? So true. I mean that was the strangest breakup post I've ever seen in my life.
Like three hours after posting a cute reel of vacation.
And then to use the photo from The Bachelor which that was like the craziest fucked up season ending known to mankind.
Yeah we'll get into that in a minute but I will say, in Matt's defense, public breakups are hard. Not a lot of playbooks for it. But I don't know who he was getting advice from. Definitely wasn't his buddy Tyler.
But I feel like they've just created such a relationship outside of The Bachelor. And I feel like they've tried to push themselves away from the franchise as much as possible.
And then they use that photo.
They don't go to any events. They don't talk about it at all. I feel like neither of them hang out with anyone from the show. And so it's so weird for him to use that photo.
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Chapter 2: Why is Justin Baldoni suing Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds?
It's just like, you come up to him and like, let me just pray. for you, on you, above you, all around you. Can you read it, Leah?
Yeah. So he posted this and the caption was, Father God, give Rachel and I strength to mend our broken hearts. Give us a peace about this decision to end our relationship that transcends worldly understanding. Shower our friends and family with kindness and love to comfort us and remind us that our joy comes from you, Lord. And then he put a broken heart emoji.
Did we even know that he was this religious? Because I wasn't aware. I mean... This photo is also like, it almost looks like a screenshot. It didn't come from the archives?
This is giving... Plagiarized prayer? Yeah, this is giving theology with Rachel's name put in.
Can you break this down for us, Leah? Break down the timeline for us.
First, Matt posts a video of him eating pizza. And Rachel is in this video of him eating pizza. And it appears to be from their trip to London.
I think it's important to note that Matt has made a career post-batcher out of being a food influencer. The last time I saw Matt was in New York. Me and my cousin, we were like, hey, we're going to go slice a pizza. And there was Matt just like also getting a slice of pizza and like giving his review. And so, yeah, he's full on doing his thing, you know, committed to the bit.
And so like this gives like, hey, I have this content that we recorded. Don't want to waste the content. So I'm still going to post it regardless of our relationship status.
So I actually don't think that that's what happened.
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Chapter 3: What are the latest updates in Southern Charm?
I think what's even more interesting is that the day before he posted the breakup, he congratulated Lindsay Arnold on her boob job. Oh.
Oh my God, I forgot about that.
Which is so interesting because I feel like we've never seen them have any sort of like... We know they were partners when he was on Dancing with the Stars.
Did Lindsay post about it or something?
Well, she's been kind of doing a like, come with me as I get this boob job. And it's been very like, she's been very open with everyone. But I just feel like they haven't shared any sort of like relationship on social media. Or maybe I just haven't been following along. But it's like...
I'll be honest, even if they shared a relationship, she's married.
I think it was more so the comment. The comment was, L-M-A-O-O, congrats with two balloons, which the two balloons emoji choice was interesting. Could have put, you know, I feel like equally as worse, watermelons, milk jugs. Milk jugs.
Baby bottles. LMAO is also like a no congrats.
I think sometimes, you know, us men should just... Not.
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Chapter 4: What did Wells Adams say about his experience on Traitors?
if you're a part of the conversation fine but I'm just saying I don't know their relationship but for ultimate violence purposes that if I ever saw my boyfriend commenting that on a girlfriend's breast augmentation post the way he would be skinned alive it's the two O's and the LMAO and the balloons that like
it's giving fuck boy it yeah there's there's boundaries yeah natalie you solved it he was hacked he was hacked it's the only explanation for all of this this is crazy behavior for someone who's like seemingly just been like unproblematic chill and chill but it's been four days and he hasn't said anything maybe exactly the hacker he got access is like i need to relax that was a lot yeah could you imagine though if that is the case and it's like
in a couple of days it's like all of that wasn't real but wasn't no but rachel was commenting she was like yeah he wasn't his sister her sister also puts well assuming that they remain broken up a bow on i think people forget you know matt and and rachel got together their relationship Matt Season of The Bachelor being the first black bachelor.
We all know what happened with Chris Harrison no longer being the host. But like, you know, Rachel kind of obviously made the mistake that she made and we're not going to like get into it.
But I thought that AFR as a response to, you know, what was going on with George Floyd tensions being what they were, like was the most disgusting display of performative like social justice that I think I've ever seen. And like the way that Rachel was like
crucified on live TV so that the franchise and the people dealing with what was going on could feel better about themselves and then fans of Bachelor Nation at a time where everyone was like posting their black squares and things like that and you know being performative allies like I thought it was really sad how Rachel was treated and again that's not to say that she didn't make the mistake that she made but the response to what happened and I've had conversations with Matt since then I mean I
I'll never forget that night. I thought it was really gross behavior on the part of a lot of people during that time. But anyways, I wish Rachel and Matt the best. I hope that they move on, you know, and maybe Matt needs a crash course on Internet efficacy. But, you know, weird. Anyways, speaking of weird, Justin Bodoni is continuing to sue everybody.
He filed a lawsuit, I think over the weekend, another one after he filed a lawsuit against the New York Times. I mean, man, this guy, I'm more just like kind of surprised by the internet in general and the amount of people who are just trying so hard not to believe Blake Lively in this situation. Maybe it shouldn't be surprising to me, but it is.
The amount of people I have commenting on my posts being like hashtag Team Justin, A, I'm like, I know these are those bots.
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Chapter 5: What insights does Michael Imperioli share about White Lotus?
You're sneaking. Yeah, it's a fake.
It's a fake. You're implying that it's disingenuous and it's a way to kind of insert yourself into a community where people should otherwise think that you're the enemy, which I thought was an interesting choice of words. Maybe a Freudian slip. I don't know. This next part is wild.
Are you brave enough to be vulnerable, to reach out to another man when you need help, to dive headfirst into your shame? Are you strong enough to be sensitive?
to cry whether you are hurting or you're happy, even if it makes you look weak?
Are you confident enough to listen to the women in your life, to hear their ideas and their solutions, to hold their anguish and actually believe them, even if what they're saying is against you? Oh, my God. And will you be man enough to stand up to other men when you hear locker room talk?
When you hear stories of sexual harassment, when you hear your boys talking about grabbing ass or getting her drunk, will you actually stand up and do something so that one day we don't have to live in a world where a woman has to risk everything and come forward to say the words, me too?
I mean, like the self-own and the way this guy, man, is telling it himself. Like, again, people, if you're listening to this, ask yourself, like, if this man really bought into this, you know, would he be handling this the way he is, the way he is? You know, again, the evidence about his retaliation is pretty laid out pretty clearly.
And what's crazy about Justin's lawsuit, it's again, it's all, it's just a tons of text messages of just trying to paint Blake in a bad light. It's just like debating whether there's messages about bringing Taylor Swift in, talking about as if he were bullied into using parts of their song, whatever. Blake always had a producer credit in this movie.
It's incredibly common for people with a producer credit or big name actors to have input. To like share their ideas. And Justin's whole narrative is centered around that Blake shouldn't have been sharing ideas or she was too high maintenance.
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Chapter 6: How does TikTok's recent closure impact creators?
It does not answer the questions about Justin's behavior and specifically the retaliation of which is still going on. It's so obvious about the bots. It's still obvious that the people he was paying back in August sure seem like he's still paying them and they're still doing the exact same thing.
He definitely hasn't fired them, that's for sure. Yeah. Why fire him now? You still need him. Because so much of what they talked about was about not...
flying under the radar, not getting caught, being covert about how it comes across. And honestly, I don't even think they use bots. I think they're far more sophisticated. That's why it costs $25,000 a month to keep these people on their payroll.
What's also crazy is that he went to leave L.A. and called the paparazzi to make sure they shot him.
Play that. Do we have that?
He reminds me of Frank Booth from the David Lynch movie Blue Velvet. And the girls that'll get it will get it. You ever seen Blue Velvet, the David Lynch movie? No. You wouldn't like it. But he reminds me of Frank Booth.
I mean, it's so obvious he called the paparazzi because there's it's this place in LAX after you walk up the gates. And as soon as Justin comes up to escalator, the TMZ reporter immediately goes to him. There's no like pause. There's no like, oh, my God, it's Justin Baldoni. It was like they were doing a scene, you know?
Wait, listen. How are you doing? Grateful to be with the family. Grateful.
All right. I know it's a tough time for you. How do you get through this?
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Chapter 7: What are the implications of Shep Rose's breakup?
constantly does things like hire his friend regardless and others debate whether this friend that justin hired was an actor or not actor justin claims he was i know blake didn't but once again if you're a man who understands the plight of women and wants to make them feel comfortable wouldn't you hire a woman to play that doctor you know like why is he hiring his male buddy
Again, there's this example after example of how Justin is not the ally he claims to be. He's not the feminist he claims to be, even though he made his whole plan. And also, if you really are an ally, you don't have to yell it. You don't have to scream it. You don't have to talk about it all the time. You just do it.
You just do.
You just do it when it comes up, when the opportunity presents itself. You support the people you love.
I mean, it's the classic saying, actions speak louder than words. And clearly, like, his actions are not.
Well, and also you can just do without having to broadcast it. Like if you are an ally, if you are a good person, if you are somebody that's dedicated to helping other people, you don't have to talk about it every single time.
The amount of people online talking about this alleged Deadpool scene and acting as if like Ryan Reynolds was inappropriate for cracking some jokes. I mean, I don't know what it would be like. to be in Blake and Ryan's position, right? Like what they tried to do is try to finish the job.
They tried to, again, it wasn't like, oh, Justin started making all these people feel uncomfortable and she threw a big fit about it. No, she tried to squash it, tried to get things back on track so everyone can go back to work and just hope that they wouldn't retaliate. That was their ultimate goal. And then, so they tried to, I guess, I don't know, deal with it.
I mean, for all the people who are claiming that Ryan allegedly was mocking Justin Baldoni, if that's true, again, how does that make Blake's accusations less credible? I would do that and more if I were in Ryan's position. I would absolutely mock the guy. I would want to fight back any way I could. They're probably limited in ways they can fight back.
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Chapter 8: What are the main takeaways from the RHOSLC finale?
It's just crazy.
I saw this TikToker, Saatchi, who said, it feels like he's acting. It's a dangerous game that a lot of men will go into where they're kind of telling on themselves for overdoing it. Yeah. In regards to him.
I don't know. For all the Team Justin people out there, I don't know. You're kind of telling on yourself. It's not that hard. And again, go look at his engagement video. This is a man who spent 30 minutes acting and performing skits that had nothing to do with his relationship and made the woman that he was about to propose to sit there and just watch him act.
It was a Justin Baldoni performance about Justin Baldoni, featuring Justin Baldoni, starring Justin Baldoni, directed by Justin Baldoni. Honestly, I don't even know his wife's name. For a man who wants to elevate women and hold up women and showcase women, boy, his wife sure lives in the shadows.
Also, that photo of them supposedly in the basement during the It Ends With Us, they sure looked fucking happy to be in the basement. They're all like, woo!
And they could have left.
So happy. If you're shunned and sent to the basement, wouldn't you be like,
But again, maybe you were shunned because you made Blake and her entire team feel really uncomfortable. Her entire team, like Jenny Slate and Landon Skinner, and her hairdresser, her assistant, Colleen Hoover, all come and back up Blake's story. But people want to still find reasons not to believe her. It's shocking to me. And also, Brandon, I didn't realize he was the same actor in 1923.
He's an absolute badass in that.
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