Every Bravo addict has a love for WWHL so when I was able to score tickets to the Clubhouse, I knew I had to give a ‘behind the scenes look’ to our readers. I attended last Wednesday, July 27th with Ramona Singer and Travis Kelce as the guests of the night. Below is a summary of my behind the scenes scoop along with everything you need to know about Andy’s wild and unpredictable late-night talk show!
I was lucky enough to get two tickets and decided to take one of my close friends who is a fellow Bravo super fan as my plus one. I should also add that the photo credits on this page belong to him as he had the height advantage.
Guests are given a pretty lenient time to arrive; however we made sure to get there early to see the guests arrive and get the full WWHL experience. Fans who know where the taping takes place line up outside to catch a glimpse of celebs come and go. Ramona arrived with a burst of energy and is clearly a regular on the show as she recognized and enthusiastically greeted the doorman. We were also able to catch NFL player and star of the reality dating show Catching Kelce, Travis Kelce arriving:
Once inside, guests are ushered upstairs to a waiting room/bar area that is more house party than your average TV studio. Live shows generally have little contact with audience members; however as WWHL has such a small studio audience, guests are urged to mingle and have a drink beforehand. There is music going and with the bar in the background you almost feel like you are at an exclusive party vs. a TV taping. Most of the guests were charity winners and I spoke with a nice couple from St. Louis (Andy’s home town) who won their tickets through a silent auction.
Guests are offered their choice of three different drinks while waiting. One option is Andy Cohen’s signature cocktail ‘The Fresquila,’ which is exactly what it sounds like (a mixture of tequila and Fresca.) Despite it being the signature cocktail, I wasn’t feeling adventurous and went with the most girly drink on the menu, ‘The Mazel’ (vodka, cranberry and orange.) My guest had the Fresquila and despite a rough first sip, by the end of the night he said it was definitely growing on him.
The bartender was a very sweet (and good looking) employee and had a hint of that Andy Cohen charm. In between giving instructions on how the show was going to go, he warned guests that although they came with someone they may be leaving with someone else! I was able to chat with him a bit and we both agreed that he had won the lottery of jobs!
Despite the party atmosphere guests are given fair warning that this is a live show and that no heckling of Andy or the guests would be tolerated. If you’ve read The Andy Cohen Diaries, you know that Andy mentions intoxicated guests have shouted out answers during the game segment or tried to talk to him during the live taping. I’m guessing this part of the pre-show speech was added in after a few obnoxious guests made the obvious worth mentioning.
The clubhouse itself is incredibly tiny. The audience itself is only about 25 people and celebrity guests and Andy also reserve seats for their friends/family which is why most tickets go by auction. There is no laugh track or applause sign during taping so what you hear on TV is the small audience genuinely excited to be there:
It’s definitely a cool experience to see Andy interact with the guests during commercial breaks and you can tell he has a genuine relationship with Ramona Singer. As a huge fan of RHONY, I can say the Ramona you see on your TV is the Ramona that you get off camera as well. Ramona had multiple makeup artists touch her up during breaks and despite her saying there was too big of an age gap, there seemed to be a hint of chemistry between her and Travis Kelce:
During commercial breaks Bravo staff members (wearing Mazel gear) come out to refresh drinks and give everyone a chance to get out their phones and take photos of the clubhouse. As you can tell we took full advantage of this:
The guest bartender was the hilarious and talented Amy Phillips who gave her spot-on housewives impressions (she even did my personal favorite – the Shannon Beador!) The entire show is live and unscripted so I was genuinely impressed with how quickly Amy could think on her feet when asked what a certain housewife would say:
Also in the audience was Avery Singer who looked beautiful and very grown up (does anyone remember how young she was in season one?) Despite her looking like a mini-Ramona she was cool, calm and collected and as Andy pointed out, acts as the moral compass of the show:
The show (including the after show) goes pretty fast and is very well organized. Although we didn’t get a personal meet and greet with Andy (that’s usually reserved for the charity winners) we had a great time and would be back in a heartbeat.
AllAboutTRH would like to give our ‘Mazel of the day’ to Bravo for our tickets! If you come across them at a charity auction I would say they are definitely worth it. It is a very cool and unique experience for any Bravo watcher and is much more personal than any TV taping you will attend. Plus, it’s always more fun to play the WWHL drinking game in the Clubhouse with an Andy approved cocktail in hand – cheers!
What are your thoughts on our ‘behind the scenes’ look at WWHL?
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