I had to wait till it was in reruns, but I’ve finally seen the episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills with the famous dinner blow-out involving medium, Allison Dubois.
What started as a tense but potentially pleasant girls’ night, turned into a dining room brawl.
The ladies already had some issues between them, but the introduction of psychic readings into a potentially explosive situation only made things worse. Add giant cocktails to the mix and look out.
From an entertainment perspective, the show was great. Seeing Dubois suck on her electronic cigarette and look knowingly around with each exhale was amusing. But what she had to say to the other guests was more shocking than funny.
Granted, she was somewhat goaded into doing readings at a dinner party, where as she pointed out, she was ‘off the clock’. Maybe the other ladies shouldn’t have been so insistent about getting a sample of her work. But who could blame them?
A famous medium was at the party who made it clear to all of them that she had access to information they might want to know. Of course they wondered if she ‘saw anyone’ around them.
As it turned out, Dubois ‘appeased’ the Housewives and delivered some rather scathing messages, apparently from loved ones passed. The messages were not well received.
I don’t know whether anything Dubois related was accurate or not. From the looks of it, the message about an unfulfilled marriage may have been more useful to Camille Grammer at the time, than to Kyle. But that’s not my point here.
I think what this episode makes so clear is that psychic readings aren’t really party tricks. By that I don’t mean that you can’t have psychic readings at parties. I’ve been hired to read at many parties, and have often read for friends and families at parties I attend.
What I mean is that doing readings in front a group of people always brings the risk that something you don’t want publically revealed is suddenly the topic of the gathering.
If you have a reader at a party, consider giving them a place of their own away from the main crowd. If people want to bring their friends to sit with them they can, but the reading doesn’t have to be shared with the entire group. In fact, it’s usually better if it’s not.
And if a guest at a party you’re at turns out to be a reader, go ahead and ask about their work. But it’s probably best not to ask for a reading from them in front of everyone. You really don’t know what might come up, and as evidenced by the Real Housewives, it might be more than you intended.