VH1’s show Couples Therapy is exactly the kind of trashy television that gives me life. It pumps the blood in my veins, it is the air that I breathe. If I was a raccoon or maybe a bear, I would flip over the garbage can that Couples Therapy is concocted in and I would roll around in it for hours. That’s how I feel about this show. I want to rub this nasty piece of trash show all over my body and reek of it for days. Anyway.
If you were sleeping on this show, wakey-wakey, because alums of Ilene Chaiken Sucking The Last Sour Drops From The Diseased Teat of Her Dead Show – and by that, I mean The Real L Word – Whitney and Sara are here and they’re ready to process their baloney “issues” on television. Insert supercut of Whitney and Sara fighting outside of clubs and having sex on camera set to George Michael’s “Careless Whisper.” But seriously, if you missed the season with Courtney Stodden, you missed something amazing.
Saint Courtney Stodden
As the recapper for this show, I want to be 100% upfront: I do not dislike these people. Like, at all. I probably should, because all the other homosexuals I know straight-up loathe The Real L Word and everything that is even slightly related to it, but I ate that shit up like a goddamned Kraft Dinner. If you think reality television at its pure cheesiest is “ruining” modern media, that’s fine. Go watch Masterpiece Theatre and read your Dickens. I’ll be here enjoying the literal goldmine of hilarity that is C-to-D-list celebrities being paid to pretend-cry and stir up sloppily edited drama!
Speaking of C-to-D-list celebrities, let’s meet everyone who will be living together in this fake house. The cast of players is made up of Ghostface Killah and a “model/actress” who is not his main partner, a lady with gigantic lips I have never heard of because the ONLY Real Housewives that matter are in New Jersey, the lady with gigantic lips’ personal assistant, her milk toast guy, Jon minus Kate and 8 and the woman he is hooking up with, Our Ladies Whitney and Sara, Farrah from Teen Mom, and Farrah’s Chin Implant. Farrah’s Chin Implant is probably the most active player in this show, as it moves around her face and then absorbs itself a number of times throughout the forty minutes. I don’t know what it says that by the end of this episode Whitney and Sara were the most well-adjusted and “normal” and barely had any screentime. When I say they barely had any screentime, I mean their talking heads were about the other housemates’ issues. They dragged Whitney out to comment on Ghostface Killah’s resistance to therapy, since she is clearly the expert on a complete stranger who she had dinner with once’s feelings about vulnerability and the therapeutic process.
Part of this therapeutic process is living together in a fake house, having group therapy sessions with other D-listers, and being recorded while you cry. You’d think people would question the professionalism of this whole system, but Dr. Jenn Berman is like, “Of course I’m a professional! That’s why I’m treating my patients on a fucking reality show.”
Just cash those checks, Jenn. Cash cash, bang bang.
Highlights of the straight people introducing themselves include Ghost referring to Kelsey as “Kelly” and having to correct himself, Kelsey describing herself as a “model, actress, singer, songwriter,” Big Lips getting excited about the size of her closet in the fake house, and Big Lips’ Man saying that Ghost has “hip-hop flair” and he is “very anxious to get on the Internet and listen to some of his music.” Big Lips’ Man fucks with Tupac but he doesn’t fuck with Wu Tang? Well, at least he skis.
Then Whitney and Sara show up! We get a supercut of them fighting outside of clubs and a shot of the bathroom where they first banged on New Years Eve.
Whitney: Happy New Years to this guy.
Yo, let me switch to Tenth Grade Sleepover Mode and whisper a confession in my cami and pajama bottoms: I am all about these two. I was Team Sara all through The Real L Word, since Day Numero Uno. I cried at that goshdarn wedding. I was Team Whitney Get Your Shit Together because Whitney is a people pleaser and I am a people pleaser and sometimes I was like, wow, I get her. I love these ridiculous fuckers because they are ridiculous. If I laugh hysterically when Sara says she knew she loved Whitney from the moment they fucked in a bathroom, it’s because that’s AMAZING and I find it super entertaining and if these two want to make their money from entertaining me, I am all about it.
Also, Sara’s new bangs. DAMN, GIRL.
Whitney says they are both trying to be king of the jungle but they haven’t figured out who the king of the jungle is. I’m not sure why that was the metaphor for their relationship that Whitney picked, but maybe they like to fuck to The Lion King soundtrack, I don’t know.
We try to time our climaxes to the first chorus in Hakuna Matata.
Their other major issue is that their clothing company, which is apparently t-shirts with pictures of them on it, is not doing great. Since I’ve only heard of this brand through Sara and Whitney’s Instagram accounts, this was not a shocking piece of information. Look, I’m a twenty-something in the creative field. We’ve ALL got friends who started their own “company” by writing their brand name in a black shape and printing it on some beanies. The non-success of the Sara-Whitney endeavor is only slightly sadder because they technically have a bit more weight, having been on some reality programming and all.
They don’t immediately hit it off with the other housemates, since Ghostface Killah thinks they’re going to jump his girlfriend (??? Should we even call Kelsey his girlfriend? We are all in agreement that he is really not into her at all, right? Like, she is clearly blackmailing him, right?) because obviously all lesbians just want to fuck all women, always, as we are absolute FIENDS for it. Kelsey says that would never happen because a) Whitney doesn’t want to have sex with a cockatoo and b) Kelsey does not believe in gay marriage, or gay people. Can’t wait for the homophobic drama to be as forcibly stirred up as possible!
But hey, how could I forget Farrah and Farrah’s Chin Implant? Farrah is introduced with clips from her sex tape, and then shows up without her boyfriend, whose name is bleeped out because he is trying to erase every single aspect of himself that could possibly be attached to Farrah in the future. Actually, rumor has it that Farrah hired a fake boyfriend to get on this show, and he’ll probably show up at the last minute for an extra juicy finale. This would not surprise me in the least, and it would be AWESOME. Farrah cries about how Bleep is not there and everyone stares at her uncomfortably, except for Whitney who is a Grade A People Pleaser and seems really upset on her behalf. Sara looks at Farrah with all the enthusiasm of someone attending a sixth grade violin recital following a pap smear. Also, let’s be honest, the real victim here is Farrah’s Chin Implant, who had no choice but to take center stage in this sad downward spiral.
FREE ME FROM THE CONFINES OF THIS FLESHY PRISON!
Well, until next time, kids, when Jon minus 8 and Kate will bring his bloated carcass into the spotlight, when Ghost trots out another member of his harem, and when Whitney and Sara will continue to somehow be the most normal people here.
LIVING FOR THIS SHOW RIGHT NOW. LIVING FOR IT. you are doing the world a great service.
I have no intention of watching this show and every intention of reading these recaps.
It’s The Real L Word all over again.
You used a Judy bad girls club gif! do you watch that show too?
& I got lost at the cockatoo mention, I can’t tell if that was inserted as sarcasm or actually said
100% my sarcasm but i WISH someone had called her a cockatoo. my hope for this show is that someone refers to kelsey as a cockatoo before the finale.
Not gonna lie, I don’t like either of them, though I do not wish them any ill will. I feel like the main issue with these two is that they were no longer on TV? Eh, maybe I’m just a cynical jerk.
whitney on this show = kid in candy store. this is the best.
KATE YOU HAD ME AT THE JUDI GIF!!!
For reals, VH1 has the most fucked up and ridiculous reality shows ever. I was such a fan of Tool Academy…
Am I crazy? Maybe so.
This show is my number 1 guilty pleasure and I got my 13 year old niece hooked on it too. Am I a bad aunt?
However, SHE was more mad about Ghostface’s ‘girlfriend’ s views than I was. Well done
OMG speaking of people from TRLW, did everyone know that Romi got divorced from Rusty?
Ehh, Dusty.
yeah, totally. too bad they didn’t go on this show first though, because can you imagine how many of kate’s #1 interests that could’ve combined and the beautiful art that could come out of it
I GUARANTEE YOU I AM THE #1 SHIPPER FOR ROMI/DUSTY AKA RUSTY AKA ROMUSTY AKA DUSTOMI. I GUARANTEE IT. NO ONE CARES ABOUT THEIR RELATIONSHIP MORE THAN I DO.
they are everything that is beautiful about reality television, they MADE A CHRISTMAS SONG and released the second worst music video of all time. they are the human version of a mcdonalds fryer that hasn’t been cleaned in 9 years. they are perfect.
McDonalds fryer, haha. That was the perfect analogy. Kate, nobody cares about their relationship more than you do INCLUDING them apparently. :)
Interview with Romi
http://www.liberalamerica.org/2014/01/05/stories-sexuality-reality-star-romi-klinger/
I’d go through my entire stash of haterade if I had to hang out with Romi on the regular. Talk about short attention span theater. She made me hate makeup, and jewelry. Who takes credit for the feather earring trend? White trash has been rocking a 70s era roach clip as earring at county fairs since the early 80s. The terrible jokes that she found “hilarious” spilling from the mouths of her rotating cast of greased bros are burned into my grey matter for all time, and I’ll never forgive her. End Romi rant.
Not only that, but she’s apparently back with Kelsey now. Home girl does not waste time.
Kelsey was hot on that show…
I wouldn’t kick her out of bed for eating crackers, but gosh does she not come across as the smartest person.
I do wonder how much of her ditziness was scripted. She’s really sweet and seems sincere too. I hope Romi and her make it work and that she doesn’t screw her over again.
Yeah, I can’t believe Kelsey took her back.
Yeah, I should have said that it was on the show that she came off kinda dopey. You can’t trust the editing on “reality” shows. She’s seems like a totally nice person though.
ugh, thank you for writing this recap
I lost it at Farrah’s weird whisper crying.
I confess: I miss TRLW
Just watched this episode. Love this couple.
1.) It’s milquetoast, not milk toast.
2.) Sada with bangs looks like Manny from Degrassi Junior High.
3.) I believe Sada and Whitney’s incessant bickering is authentic. This makes me hope that this show takes a turn towards American Horror Story and features a duck lip orgy with too many camera smiles.
3.) Does anyone actually believe that Farrah has a boyfriend any more than we believed she accidentally made a sex tape with a professional porn star? Sure, we’ve seen men make hasty escapes on her, like abandoning her at a hotel room in Teen Mom, but thanks to such incidents we’ve all seen the level of hysteria she can cultivate at the drop of a chin. If this had really happened, she would have burned down the group house, probably while screaming at her mother on the phone and buying a tiny dog for Sophia. She’s the new Heidi and Spencer, compressed into one plastic form. Of course I will watch her wreck all over my television.
This is going to be awesome.
OMG #2 yes yes yes.
i haven’t even watched this program and i’m hooked, i proper cackled at your descriptions and was astounded that you managed to be insightful about reality television, bravo dude!
Kate, if you wrote a book titled “Kate’s Absurd and Hilarious Metaphors for Celebrities She Both Loves and Hates” I would order advance copies for all my friends.
I’m sincerely happy that you enjoy watching this show because it makes your recaps all the more fun. and I won’t watch the show but i’ll be all over these. I hate when people write recaps and you can tell that they hate the show, like don’t do this to yourself. I was going to say that I’m happy to see sada?sara? and whitney together but they are in therapy soooo……oh hey! I’m watching janelle monae’s cover girl commercial as i’m writing this, is it ok to say that I think its awesome for a queer woc to do this? Is she out? she looks awesome! (yes, i drank too much coffee)
This is beautiful. I am ever so thankful for being able to watch the eps on Vh1.com….now I really need to find a link for the older seasons! Courtney Stodden? I’M READY.
“If you think reality television at its pure cheesiest is “ruining” modern media, that’s fine. Go watch Masterpiece Theatre and read your Dickens. I’ll be here enjoying the literal goldmine of hilarity that is C-to-D-list celebrities being paid to pretend-cry and stir up sloppily edited drama!”
This. Love.
I sincerely love this show. I think its main appeal in contrast to other reality shows is that the idiocy gets instantly smacked down by Dr. Berman. My amateur armchair diagnoses of the couples’ emotional immaturity get mirrored on the show before the hour’s over. So gratifying…Jenn Berman 4ever, scrubz 4never.
This is the real reason I’m getting married to a gringa and moving back to ‘merica. I need trash like this back in my life. Til then, I will be a loyal reader of this column.
I am a shameless reality trash watcher and I was hanging/laughing on your every word with this article. Too funny!
But how can you fuck with RHO New Jersey but not ATL?! They both bring the ratchet and I am all about watching that life.
I must be tired because I read that as shirtless reality trash watcher. But, if you ever decide to become a shirtless reality trash watcher, no judgement.
::Gasp:: How did you guess I was watching TV naked? Caught again.
Oh Kate, you make me feel better about my love of trashy, trashy reality television. I want you to recap all the shows.
Kate, thanks for comin’ through with this. I’ve the previews and have been dying to get the latest on Whitney and Sara. With no T.V.,I have to watch my trash tv shows online. Unfortunately VH1 is not super reliable for online viewing. But, now I have this wonderful recap to read. Thanks for the hilarious stuff! Seriously.Love.It :)
“the ONLY Real Housewives that matter are in New Jersey.” Wrong. The only ones that matter are in Atlanta.
okay okay you guys got me. i love atlanta too but there’s something about guido culture and reality tv that really does it for me (i also am fucking obsessed with mob wives and jersey shore, if that explains anything)
I wanted to quote my favorite lines from this article, but I was too drunk from my brand-new drinking came called “Take a Shot Every Time Farrah Fake Cries Crocodile Tears”. It was fun.