“I’m not above whoring out my assistants. For business.“ – Jeff Lewis
I think one of the keys to understanding Jeff Lewis, central figure of Bravo’s Flipping Out, is that he just says stuff. The filter that ordinary humans have between thought and voice is just not so much there for this guy.
This came home to me this week. It wasn’t during one of Jeff’s many tirades or prissy monologues, however. It was a seemingly offhand remark that gave me what was akin to a Flipping Out moment of clarity. At Cole, a design renovation for a huge salon/bungalow property owned by “celebrity haircutter” Chaz, executive assistant Jenni took it upon herself to step through a window and onto a ledge to see what the view will look like when the redesign and window installations are complete.
It wasn’t the brightest thing to do in the world, as it turned out, as Jenni could have easily fallen off the roof and in fact there was a dicey moment during her expedition. Jeff, in his signature narcissistic semi-ironic style, says, “We almost killed Jenni. We would have been accessories.”
Okay, now here’s the key thing. The very second that he hit the word “accessories” he looked at his watch. Not to record the time when “we could have killed Jenni,” his loyal assistant of many years. But more likely because he barely listens to most of the words that spout out of his mouth, filter-free, and was looking ahead past this potential fatality to keeping schedule with his clients and the chaos of his life for one more day.
So, otherwise it was a typical week of Jeff fixating on minutiae (and some big picture stuff too, to be fair) and letting whichever employee was nearby – Sarah, Jenni, Zoila – take the brunt of The Jeff Lewis Experience. Special ire seems always to be reserved for Jenni, and it was particularly brutal to see Jeff let her have it when contractors were not present at Cole for a planned meeting. Jenni claimed that she had been told they would be there 15 minutes prior, but for fast food loving Jeff, it always has to be his way.
More thoughts on “Hard to Break Family”:
- “You’re not a good assistant” – Jeff to Sarah
- “He’s constantly designing spaces, so I’m designing this space.” – Jenni, on her “painted on” outfits
- The machinations involving Jeff and Sarah talking about how much free lunch was too much free lunch at Valley restaurant Casa Vega was one of the more entertaining aspects of this episode.
From Around the Web: Flipping Out, “Hard to Break Family”
- TV Squad: First he says the executive assistant (now COO?) is “too nice to people” and blames her for not calling Luis before the site visit. “Inefficient office — I’m sick of this [beep]!” yells Jeff. “No wonder I get nothing done all day long. You see why we can’t manage more than five projects? ‘Cause I got The Three [beep] Stooges working for me, that’s why.”
Some stats and info about Flipping Out, “Hard to Break Family”
TV SHOW – Flipping OutSEASON/EPISODE – Season 4, Episode 2
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – Bravo
CAST – Jeff Lewis, Jenni Pulos, Zoila Chavez
GENRE – Reality TV, Docuseries, Trashtastic TV
This review was originally published on TV Geek Army.