The Making of the Ariana Madix Episode [VIDEO]

Hello daddy gang, I'm going to give you a little behind the scenes today. I have a huge, huge interview coming up. And I realized that throughout the past couple of years. I don't really show you guys what I do in order to make an interview happen or an episode happen. And how it comes to life.

With interviews, there's so much that goes into it that you guys don't see. I have got a lot of people that have wanted to see the behind the scenes. I just got confirmation and locked in the date that I am going to be interviewing Ariana Maddox for her first ever podcast. Regarding all of the Vanderpump drama in two weeks, I'm very excited. I'm also like, I wouldn't say nervous.

Like, the anticipation is building, because I know so many fucking people want to hear Ariana speak as we should. She deserves to speak her truth and speak about what happened. But to be the first podcast, that's also a lot of pressure to make sure that this interview is fucking perfect. And that I am prepped in a way that makes her feel comfortable and she can just do her thing. And I create a really good environment for her to feel like she wants to open up and talk to me about something really personal that's going on in her life, even though the whole world knows about it.

So I obviously saw all this drama going on. I used to watch Vanderpump Rules. I haven't watched it as often in the past few seasons just because I have, like, kind of fallen off. But the minute that this drama started, I did tune back in. The goal is obviously to have Ariana on.

So I had my team reach out and as we reached out, their team also was reaching out, so it worked out perfectly. They were like, we want Call Her Daddy to be the exclusive podcast that Ariana goes on. We were like we would love that we want to only have her on as well.

In two weeks. I'm going to be recording this podcast with Ariana on a Monday, and we will be turning it around and putting it out on that Tuesday. That's not normal for me whatsoever. I usually like to record a week in advance. That way, we have time to edit, make promos, TikToks, social assets, all the things.

But this one's going to be more of a record and upload and don't really edit it. And I think that's probably for the best because I don't really want to edit her at all. I think what she's going to say is what she's going to say. But again, I just want to humanize her of like this is her personal life, she is a reality star. But I think the importance of this episode for me is to make sure that we're respectful of the fact that, like, this person just went through an extreme heartbreak. And it's very public.

So come join me as we get ready for Ariana Maddox to talk about all of the cheating scandal that has quite literally taken over the world.

So my booking team was speaking to her booking team, and my publicist was speaking to her publicist. I didn't want to have Ariana on if we had to release it after the reunion. I always try to think of myself like, as a consumer, you're like, there's going to be three fucking episodes of this reunion. I'm sure we'll have gotten it all. But to all of your credit, everyone was like, Yeah. But Alex? I feel like the reunion is not going to be a place where she's going to be able to speak openly and vulnerably, and emotionally.

Let's go upstairs, come on. So my point was, I never want to do an episode that's like, We fucking know Alex. We saw all the drama. I hopefully pride the show on, like constantly being in the zeitgeist, at the top of relevancy.

When you want to hear about something, call her daddy is going to talk about it. And all of you were like, Yeah, you fucking bitch, have her on, like, what the fuck?

Thousands of people being like, absolutely have her on. Even when I've released guests recently, in the comments of the new guests or the episode, they're like, but where's Ariana? This is going to come out literally the night before the reunion night. I need to start conceptualizing, like, what do I want this interview to be? We're going to start brainstorming questions.

We have not gotten screeners for the reunion, they don't have currently the full edit yet. So by the time we record with Ariana, we may have seen the first part of the reunion. But I won't have seen the whole reunion. Which I don't think is that big of a deal. Because I can still just ask Ariana everything about how she's feeling. The reunion was filmed a month ago. Ariana has been seen with a new guy.

The first step of how this usually starts is. I will get on with my team that works at Call Her Daddy and I will basically pitch to these two team members. What I envision the episode being and what I want to focus on. And then they take notes on everything I'm saying, and they'll transcribe it and they'll start formatting what I said. For now, I'm just going to word vomit everything that I'm thinking of, that I want to ask her, that I want it to be about.

And then after this Zoom, I will start watching the show and taking notes on, like, what I see from this season and then we'll get back on. After all that is transcribed, they'll build out more of my thoughts, they'll write more questions of their own that they like. And then we'll sit and we'll strategize, and we will continue to workshop the interview.

And then it's game time, we immediately have to get into the drama. I want to make sure that we're structuring this in a way that someone that has no fucking idea about this drama. As universal and global as it's become. It is still like, weirdly, kind of niche. Like, if I'm asking certain people, some people are like, I think I saw that in like the New York Times. But like, I didn't read the piece because, like, I don't know about that shit. So when we start the interview, I think we have to first lay out who she is.

We need her to tell the full story. Your partner, you found out, was having an affair with one of your friends. That is like a universal theme that we don't even need to explain too much yet. Let's go to the beginning.

Walk us through, who gave you the phone? Can you tell us what you saw on the phone? The storytelling of this will be the biggest part, and it should immediately basically be the first thing that we're talking about. Like, I think we have to get that granular with it because it will then infuse more of a personal interest into the story.

I think Raquel this is one of her best friends. So this is a whole different level of betrayal. We wouldn't even focus on her if they weren't friends, apparently. And it's still a rumor that Ariana and Tom got together because Tom cheated on his previous girlfriend. Oh so did Tom cheat on Kristen to then be with Ariana?

And it's the classic like, Well, you lose them, how you got them, like he cheated on his ex to be with you. You still need to ask about that, because that's something like I would want to know. So obviously, viewers want to know her mental health, about how she's feeling, about how she also feels.

And this has to be a whole section, write this down, this has to be a whole section about the internet. Partaking in a traumatic event that just happened in her life. I want to talk about how many of her castmates are publicly speaking on this. I think every single castmate has gone on like 10 fucking podcasts. But we also need to infuse interest in, like, Who is Ariana?

The structure is going to be different than most interviews because we're going like backwards. Like, I want to start with the story because I think that's where immediately people will connect. And so I think we just need to outline and start from there. We have two weeks.

Take these notes, put it in a document, outline, storytell, and then we can start to carve out. Like the actual details of. Like, that's like the base outline and the themes bars everyone.

What a job, okay, guys? We are officially one week out from the interview, We've done a lot of research and we've started formulating the questions for the entire interview. Today, I'm heading into the office to zoom with someone from my team. So that we can write the intro to the episode and then continue working on the questions to make the episode the best that it can be. So let's go to the office.

Okay, yeah, delete this so it will say Vanderpump Rules is a reality TV show.

Let's maybe not say some bitch or some chick off Instagram.

Maybe we don't even say, and the season is still airing. No, it won't be by the time you upload this, but now the news has leaked. So after the video, when you saw, when you were watching this video.

It's such a violation and betrayal and disgusting feeling you get over yourself when you realize something like this. Was your anger in the immediate moment equal towards them both? We need to understand what that conversation was like because it seems like he can potentially be like a gas lighter.

I thought, like, a lot, I literally went to a bridal shower today. When I told everyone I was interviewing this person, everyone was freaking out, so excited.

My last almost edit to myself for tomorrow as I head into this interview is I obviously have my questions of where I want to go. I think with it, but my gut is telling me that this conversation is going to probably be best.

If I put my interview cards down and yes, I can try to like, go based off of what I thought would be the best format. But I think it's almost going to be best. If I treat this like I'm talking to a girlfriend, post her finding out she got cheated on.

Call Her Daddy. Has so many people that go back and listen to episodes three years later, two years later. And it's the themes that are universal in this situation that I'm realizing.

I know a lot of my listeners and viewers don't watch Vanderpump rules, and they just have seen like the light headlines. As much as I'm involved in this drama because I've watched all of it, I'm realizing this literally looks like I'm in a garden.

Tomorrow, in this interview, it's almost like, very important for me to focus more on the themes cheating, betrayal.

Loyalty, a broken friendship, distance, secrets. Every time I'm discussing something with her.

We're actually really just getting underneath the themes and the feelings and the hurt, like I've been cheated on, so it's like talking as if we're girlfriends.

So that other people can feel like they can relate to this story, it's more about how we speak about it, which will probably be the most emotional conversation she's had to date. Because a lot of the shit that she's done is like, ten minutes on air and you're out. And so that doesn't allow for you to actually elicit any real long form emotion.

And like, connecting things and having, like, a natural human discussion that, like, can go anywhere. I care most about the daddy gang, and so as an interviewer, how do I make Ariana feel so comfortable?

And help her do the best interview she can do. Number two How do I fulfill the audience that maybe listens or doesn't listen to? Call her daddy? Which is like the people that are obsessed with vanderpump and want all the tea. And then number three.

And, most importantly, how do I fulfill the daddy gang that doesn't watch any of this shit and doesn't care? Everyone's been cheated on, everyone's been backstabbed by a friend, everyone has had issues with a partner.

And that is the crux of the interview is making it a universal topic and talking to Ariana in ways that we can all relate to. And we've all been there. And then this episode can live forever.

Don't get into the weeds, focus on the facts. Someone was betrayed, cheated on. There was an affair with a best friend.

Good morning, it is the morning of the Ariana interview.

I'm really excited. I don't usually do interviews this late in the day, so I'm just going to be sitting around waiting, Hi guys, it's the day of the interview.

And I'm going over questions right now. We're reconstructing the entire fucking thing.

This is my pre-interview meal.

Yeah, a bacon, egg and cheese with pro-tip cream cheese. It's so good you can never go back.

You can never go back.

I was nervous at first. If something's getting over-publicized, that's our nightmare. We want to make sure that we're doing things that haven't been covered. But I do think we're going to get a very different take from her.

Thank fucking God, I watched this season. Because I feel like I can put my fucking cards down and be like, let's go, I can talk about the whole fucking thing. What was it like, listening to try and justify? Oh, that was something that people said at the bridal shower that I was at yesterday.

A lot of the women were frustrated. I think it's the most easy cop-out when men say that they weren't having sex as if it was just Ariana's fault. And I think that's such a trigger for women, it's so weak.

Why weren't we having sex? They always use it as this easy excuse, but we didn't have a connection. Why?

She had to check your iPad. I wouldn't want to fuck you either, maybe start acting right and then you guys will have sex blaming her on. He's lost his mojo. It's 12..

And she's coming at 2.

30.

Crunch time the day of when I'm actually picturing myself, saying these things out loud. Usually, you kind of do an overhaul of the document and you're like, I would never say that.

Or, like, we need to follow up here. Also a lot of deleting things because I'm like, I don't need to have that written down. I know that's where I want to go. This is such a weird interview because there's so much that keeps coming out.

So just making sure we're up to date and everything's relevant. If she's talked about something too much, we don't need to go there.

It's since been revealed that he got you both into couple therapy as part of his eventual plan to end the relationship. You said you hadn't considered ending the relationship before all this came out.

Were you truly happy in that relationship? I keep feeling like I have to nervous, shit my pants.

Erin's like, Oh my God, stop, it's the truth. I get like the jitters before interviews where I'm like, Oh my God, do I have to shit? I also feel like I really need to get my hair to be a little less like curled.

Right, like, I can look nice, Yeah, you can look nice, right? Like, watch the daddy games. Alex, we're losing you. You curled your hair for this interview.

And so my lawyers called me and they were like, so you can watch the reunion. They'll send it to you in embargo, which means like, they'll send it to me, watermarked.

So basically, I wanted to see the episode. But then I was like, what I realized is, fuck that. I didn't want to watch the reunion because what I knew is I want to ask her about the reunion. But if I clicked open on that tab and anything I asked her, even remotely, seemed like she knew that because she watched it. I was getting sued for a million dollars, so I was like, you know what? I'm going to bank on myself being good enough at my job that now I have a clear conscience of like, I can ask anything about the reunion that I want and everyone will know legally.

Like, I never even saw the reunion, so it was just me asking, and like, you can't sue me? So now I'm hoping it's like someone on their team could watch it and be like, Has she watched the reunion?

I don't know if it's just notecard-wise.

I'm going to have a thick stack. I'm like, Welcome Ariana. Also new Merch, new preview. Yeah, I think this is good.

Yeah, hot mama.

So it's TBD. If we're going to be also getting fucked up during this interview, we like both start crying and like, get so emotional.

Welcome to the new space. I never wear mascara in interviews, really, some I do, and I feel like every time I do mascara, I clearly am doing something wrong. Because by the end of every fucking interview, my mascara is down my face. But I just looked at myself on camera and it looks like I'm asleep, so I think, I guess I have to go with.

I would rather look awake than asleep, and that's just the tea. I also never wear eyeliner. But apparently they need some new lighting, like I don't really look like I'm with it. Since the last interview, we've changed the chairs, the lighting.

Oh my God, like it's totally different again. You're so right, No? Since the last interview, we've literally changed the lighting, the color of the chairs used to be orange, and we've changed some of the things on the set.

In the Uh.

Like, in the background, yeah, in the background, it's a whole new world. Come on, Aaron.

Let's go.

So let's get into it. Are they just following her everywhere?

Okay.

Oh my gosh. What's crazy about today is they've been going like in driveways, whereas usually they'll like, be on the street and then they like, don't. Today they've been like in driveways. I feel like it got worse, okay?

Over the last, like week, yeah, it's the photo you posted today. Oh yeah, it's so funny. I can already tell. You're such like a normal fucking person that's going through the whole world and talking about.. ..

It's so weird, it's like, Dude, I have so many questions, I've only ever seen it like on TikTok.

You know what I mean, dude? I know that's why I want so like, IRL, it's so cute it is.

It's cute, right? It's college, should we pour? Yeah, let's pour some more.

Let's pour some more. Sometimes I feel like, like, maybe we'll set something up where it's like, actually like, or like a good day, like a good day to do it right.

You're obviously like details that people want, but I also know there's people that don't know all the drama. So I'm like, we don't need to get too in the weeds of like.

Let's close the door.

Should we have more rosé? Yeah, can we have a little bit? Yeah, let's pour more rosé.

Cheers, Well, cheers, thanks for having me so fun.

So fun, we did it.

Love you, bye, bye, bye.

I'm gonna pee my pants, I'll be right back. Oh my God, I just opened my phone and the first DM. If Alex Cooper has Ariana Madix on call, her daddy, I will actually die dead.

Death, Goodbye, If Ariana comes on your show, I'm dead. Well, we definitely give the people what they want. There were so many things that I before the interview had doubts on of, like, why the fuck?

This doesn't make sense. And then her being like, Oh my God, and then her being like, you have to understand, like you're hearing parts of this. But like then, he said, he tried to break up with me. No. We had a deep conversation and then he took me out for Valentine's Day, brought me fucking flowers. Like she connected things of, like the ups and downs of a nine-year relationship.

You start to be like, of course, that like, you know what I mean, like everything, she said, made sense. And I think for fans of this whole drama, I think they're gonna be happy. Please text me because I'm gonna be probably up all night and ask me any questions. When you're looking through this footage. Okay, we got this, please text me.

We're gonna kill this. Get yourself a coffee, I'm up, let's go baby woo.

Everyone knows we're always gonna like, go for it, and I'm seeing people being like, EW, is she gonna have fucking Tom Sandoval on?

Maybe no, maybe maybe, that's what I will say.

Number one, I know we all watch reality TV for drama and like fun, and it's like, whatever. But meeting her Ariana is truly, I would say, one of the sweetest, most normal people I've had in this studio. Like, actually felt like she was like my middle school best friend, that I'm like, I wanna, like, protect you. I literally offered her to live in my guest house. Did you hear me outside? I was like, Do you need a place to live?

Like, seriously, you never know. And I think what I really loved is when she dispelled the concept of like, this isn't fake. This is my life. But what I will say is, I think there was a lot of new information that I think is really hard to get new information at this point in the game. The New York Fucking Times has written about this. CNN, like everyone has done something on this, and this is the first long-form interview she did and we definitely got more information. So that's a win. I'm tired.

I'm fucking tired, I wanna go eat, I like that. No one knows where the Call Her Daddy studio is. This actually happened one more time with Hailey Bieber, but it was at the different studio and I didn't go outside because I saw paparazzi.

I didn't see the paparazzi at first and then I was like, Well, here we go, so you know what? It's all good, but overall I think it's a 10 out of 10. Then we're on to the next week.

This is why, also this business, and I think it's important to share this with the daddy gang. By the time everyone watches this, I will be on to the next episode and that's the fun. But also kind of unforgiving part of this industry is. I don't even get to pause to go through what you guys are going through, which is watch it. I'm producing the next thing, which is the next interview tomorrow.

So I'm excited that I get to give this to everyone. But we're on to the next. This scandal of all scandal is hereby over. Go watch, call her daddy. It's a great fucking interview.

Okay, Illy, on to the next, next, next.