Be careful what you wish for — because it might just come true. Rachel Goldberg (Shiri Appleby) found herself caught in the middle between her maybe-boss/bestie Quinn King (Constance Zimmer) and Quinn’s maybe-boss/former flame Chet (Craig Bierko) on the June 13 episode of UnREAL.
To say that things were getting messy as the first night of filming commenced would be the understatement of the century.
Thanks to Chet’s power play to control Everlasting‘s new suitor, football player Darius Beck (B.J. Britt), all of the ladies found themselves strutting about in bikinis.
First on Quinn’s agenda was to get Ruby, the black activist, and Beth Ann, the Confederate-flag-bikini-clad Southerner, in a catfight — and it would have worked if Jay (Jeffrey Bowyer) hadn’t stepped in and defused the situation by convincing Ruby she could do more good if she kept quiet for a bit. (Rachel undoes some of Jay’s influence later.)
About five minutes into filming, it became clear that Chet and Quinn had very different visions for the show and decided to each shoot their own version and see which one the network execs preferred. And while they bickered, Rachel opened a care package of psych meds from her mom, which she promptly threw in the trash. As you do.
Beth Ann Goes Topless
In a bizarre twist, Beth Ann (who was sporting her Confederate flag bikini for her first meeting with Darius) freaked out upon learning he was the suitor because pretty much everyone from her hometown worshipped him. Beth Ann made the most of an awkward situation after Rachel forbade her from changing into a non–racially charged swimsuit.
“I dreamt of meeting you about a zillion times and I definitely wasn’t wearing this in any of those dreams,” Beth Ann told Darius. “If what I’m wearing offends you, there’s really only one thing I can do, and it’s this.” That’s when she took off her top and Quinn jumped for joy. Conscious of his main goal to rehab his image, however, Darius responded like a perfect gentleman, removing his own shirt and putting it on her to cover her up.
That was about all Ruby could stand. She changed into her “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirt, called Darius a p–sy several times and confronted him. As one might expect, however, Ruby’s activist message wasn’t making for the best TV, and Tiffany, a white woman who had been carefully cast as the “wifey” and whose dad happened to own a football team, was sent in to break it up.
The Battle for the Wifey
Little did Darius know, however, that Tiffany had already made quite an impression — on Romeo, his manager. In an attempt to foil Quinn’s casting plans, Chet convinced Tiffany to “go big or go home” by hooking up with Darius’ friends.
Since Chet had allowed Darius to bring a small entourage (something Quinn would never have permitted), Tiffany’s mission was easy. Just as she was beginning to — well, the technicality of what she was beginning to do really wasn’t that important — Rachel stormed in and broke it up.
That’s when Tiffany confessed that she thought her dad had set her up to talk to Darius in an effort to get an edge during upcoming contract negotiations. When Rachel assured her that was not the case, Tiffany realized what a huge mistake she had made and set out to change her ways and win Darius’ heart. Meanwhile, Rachel did her best to convince Romeo to keep his mouth shut about what Tiffany had done with hers.
Fortunately, the one-on-one time with Tiffany and Darius went extremely well. They laughed. They flirted. They even talked about her father. “I know your dad owns the team that happens to be the biggest competition in the league,” Darius said.
For her part, Tiffany found a little fire and asked, “When are you going to get out of the box and start using your legs? Your footwork is terrible.” He stared at her, clearly impressed, and she beamed back. This was the stuff that TV dreams were made of, at least according to Quinn.
Rachel Makes a Play to Oust Chet … and Quinn
Caught between Chet and Quinn’s alternative versions of the show and frustrated by the latter’s increasingly tight reins, Rachel tried to talk to Quinn, who listened about as well as she usually does. “It takes an iron spine and a steady hand to do this job,” Quinn noted. “Maybe your mother was right. We all know you’ve had episodes. You’re great until you’re not.”
Rachel took this in and decided to try to get rid of them both so she could resume her role running the show. To do that, Rachel paid a visit to network exec Gary and reported the fighting between Quinn and Chet. “You just need to send them home and give them some time to cool off,” she reasoned. “I can do this. I’m ready.”
Gary then showed up on set to see the two versions of the opening of Everlasting, and was unimpressed with them both. He then revealed he had decided to put someone else in charge who could actually run things properly — and a man named Coleman Wasserman entered the control room.
“He is the one in charge now,” Gary said as Rachel tried her best not to die of shock. Everyone stormed out except for Coleman and Rachel, and he took a moment to let her know that he was well aware this was not exactly the reshuffling of management that she’d had in mind. “This is going to be fun,” he said.
Tell Us: How do you think Rachel is going to react to her new boss?
UnREAL airs on Lifetime Mondays at 10 p.m. ET.
