Content warning: This episode includes discussion of suicide, suicidal ideation, mental health and homelessness. Please take care while listening.

This week on Pop Therapy, we go below the surface with Joe Bradley from Below Deck Mediterranean - and it goes far deeper than the edit ever could. Behind the yachtie lifestyle and reality TV storyline is a life shaped by instability, survival mode and a fierce determination to do better.

Joe opens up about his early life, the sacrifices his mother made for the family and the inconceivably dark days that followed the loss of his career and home. These were the moments that shaped him and he's not afraid to talk about it.

Yachting for Joe became not just a job but a way out. We unpack what it’s really like to have your lowest moments, relationship mistakes and drunken nights out judged in real time by the internet.

And yes, we go there. Joe answers the V and Kizzi questions that are probably burning inside of you too - with honesty, accountability and a lot more nuance than a reunion couch would allow.

This is a conversation about resilience, self-reflection and what happens when you stop running from your past and start rewriting it. About public perception, private pain, and the quiet work of becoming someone you can live with - and eventually build a future with.

This is Pop Therapy at its best: reality TV, minus the mask.

Catch Joe on Season 10 of Below Deck Med airing now on Hayu, Bravo and Peacock.

Follow him on IG at @joebradley_

Follow the show at @jana.firestone or get in touch online at www.janafirestone.com

Watch this and all other episodes on YouTube at POP THERAPY PODCAST

This episode was filmed and recorded by the brilliant Angus O'Loughlin at SESSION in PROGRESS

Thank you to our wonderful sound engineer Sam Talbot for all of his incredible work and support. You can work with him too! www.samtalbot.com.au

In this episode of Pop Therapy, I’m joined by fellow psychology graduate and reality obsessive, Amanda from Bella Talks TV for a deep dive into the psychology of the Bravosphere.

We unpack what’s really happening beneath the storylines - the fandoms, the scandals, and the production choices (that we may or may not agree with).

We talk about authenticity as Bravo’s most fragile currency, how social media now drives the narrative as much as producers do, and why controversy fuels loyalty, outrage and obsession in equal measure. We also get into the evolution of franchises like RHOC, what happens when cast dynamics shift and why real connection is the difference between iconic TV and viewer fatigue.

This one’s about more than what we’re watching. It’s about why we care - and what reality TV reveals about us.

Get all the latest TV updates from Amanda at:

IG: @bellatalkstv

YouTube: @bellatalkstv

Podcast: Bella Talks TV

Follow Pop Therapy at:

IG: @jana.firestone

YouTube: @poptherapypodcast

Website: www.janafirestone.com

Thanks as always to our legendary audio engineer, Sam Talbot! You can work with him too - at www.samtalbot.com.au

This week on Pop Therapy, Cat from Worm with a Mustache is back to pull apart the Bravo universe at its most unhinged. We dig into Jen Shah’s release and what it really exposes about fandom, forgiveness and the questionable appetite for a redemption arc. We get into the rising questions around Lisa Barlow’s business empire, the slow unraveling of Kyle and Amanda under reality-TV pressure, and why every Bravoleb suddenly thinks a DJ booth is their path to reinvention.

Then we head to Beverly Hills and Vanderpump Rules, where authenticity is the storyline Bravo can’t manufacture. Erika Jayne’s emotional vacancy, Rachel Zoe’s unexpectedly star o the rise, the franchise’s creeping stagnation and the spark of hope in newcomers like Boz all go under the microscope. We also unpack representation and the emotional weight Garcelle was being asked to carry, and the way politics and pop culture are bleeding into each other more than ever.

Fast, sharp and full of cultural x-rays, this episode gets right to the psychology of why we watch and what the drama reveals.

Find Cat at:

IG: @worm_with_a_mustache

TikTok: @worm_with_a_mustache

Follow the show at @jana.firestone

Watch full eps on YouTube at: @poptherapypodcast

Or come and say hello at www.janafirestone.com

Thank you to our wonderful audio engineer Sam Talbot, who you can work with directly right here: www.samtalbot.com.au