‘I love this in Vegas’: Cohen, ‘Housewives,’ ‘Bravolebrities’ back in town for BravoCon — PHOTOS
If Andy Cohen has his way, Las Vegas will be the permanent home of BravoCon.
“People ask me all the time in New York at ‘Watch What Happens Live,’ ‘When are you going to bring it back to New York?’ And I say, ‘I hope never,’ ” Cohen revealed Friday on the convention’s blue carpet at Caesars Forum. “I love this in Vegas. I think it makes so much sense for so many reasons.”
BravoCon — the three-day celebration of “Housewives,” hookups and everything else that makes Bravo’s reality shows such a hoot — returned this weekend after a year’s absence. The festival began in New York in 2019 and moved to Las Vegas four years later.
More than 150 “Bravolebrities,” as the channel’s stars are known, made the trip for panels, games and appearances in booths promoting various products, including their own.
Like something out of a community theater murder mystery, attendees at the shopping area known as the Bravo Bazaar merely had to follow the blood-curdling shrieks to find the action.
Fans could hardly contain themselves when Teresa Giudice (“The Real Housewives of New Jersey”) greeted them for Instacart or when Gretchen Rossi and Slade Smiley (“The Real Housewives of Orange County”) posed for photos at the Ring My Belle makeup booth. Jennifer Fessler (“The Real Housewives of New Jersey”) was there to sell her F.Major brand of leather pumps while Whitney Rose (“The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City”) promoted her Wild Rose Beauty line.
To celebrate 20 years of the “Real Housewives” franchise, a museum-like Housewives Hall displayed dresses worn by cast members, Denise Richards’ upside-down jacket, a Kim Zolciak wig and a pair of Kandi Burruss’ vibrating underpants that had what looked to be better security than those jewels at the Louvre.
With so much going on, BravoCon isn’t for the faint of heart — or the light of wallet.
Tickets sold out long ago at $307.04 for general admission and $580.82 for VIP, per day, plus tax. Three-day passes, which went for $672.61 and $1,463.52 before taxes, were long gone, as well.
A total of 20 Bravopaloozas — 75-minute cocktail parties where attendees could mingle with a small group of Bravolebrities — across the three days sold out in advance with tickets for each session priced at $264.46 plus taxes.
Cohen is taping five shows at Planet Hollywood Resort during BravoCon, including Bravo’s “holiday spectacular” at 8 p.m. Sunday. Tickets started at $200, plus fees and taxes.
And with a glass of wine topping $20 after sales tax and a 25 percent service charge, BravoCon’s many bars could drain bank accounts faster than most of the city’s table games.
AJ Jaffari, a 26-year-old attendee from San Jose, California, wore a self-designed jacket festooned with the faces of his favorite “Real Housewives” stars, several of whom had signed their names near their disembodied heads.
“This is my third time. I love coming back because I feel like it’s got all the Bravolebrities, all the fun,” Jaffari said. “You feel like you belong in a place full of weirdos, ’cause that’s kind of what it is. It’s just fun. Every year it’s fun. There’s never a bad time here at BravoCon.”
He was most looking forward to seeing “my ‘Salt Lake City’ girls” and “the ‘Beverly Hills’ gals,” all of whom showed up for a variety of appearances, as well as full-cast panels.
Other panels mixed and matched cast members. “Bravo Opposites Attract Presented by Vaseline,” for instance, which wasn’t nearly as scandalous as it sounds, paired Bravolebs from various shows for “Newlywed Game”-style questions.
Fans who couldn’t attend can stream all the action on Peacock.
As expected, Cohen, the unofficial mayor of Bravo Town, was everywhere on Friday.
Fans could sit for photos with a wax version of him from Madame Tussauds. He joined an outdoor DJ set by Meredith Marks of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.” He was the focus of two panels, and he crashed a third.
Cohen has been in Las Vegas since Monday, and he made sure to take his team to see “The Wizard of Oz” at Sphere.
“It is the most incredible live venue, I think, of the last 50 years,” he said on that blue carpet. “I’m so impressed by it.”
There have been a couple of attempts to make “The Real Housewives of Las Vegas” over the years, but the perfect casting never came together. The city has left its mark on Bravo in other ways, though.
“I’ve been at Bravo 20 years,” Cohen said. “Vegas has been such an important part of all of our shows from the beginning.”
His first meaningful trip to the city was as a producer on “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” when the original cast spent a month filming in Las Vegas.
“I was here with them for 10 days. I still haven’t recovered. It was so outstanding,” Cohen said. “But they showed me the best of what Vegas can be. I just absolutely love it here.”
Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4567.
