Is it called “Bravo” because you could get a rousing “clap”?
We’re told that the stars on a number of Bravo’s reality shows have to sign an “STD clause” promising not to sue the network if they get one or more of a long, enumerated list of itchy infections while filming.
Sources familiar with the contracts say that Bravo washes its hands (thoroughly) of the potential diseases so that it doesn’t get sued if bed-hopping stars pick up something nasty while taking part in its shows.
Network insiders, meanwhile, assure us that such provisions are common across all networks, especially on dating shows.
We hear that the contracts also officially warn stars that their fellow combatants aren’t tested for sexually transmitted diseases.
By contrast, ABC has previously revealed that it tests contestants on its long-running dating shows “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” for STDs. Those shows make the 50 finalists for spots in the competition get screened for sexual diseases.
It seems that Bravo’s hit “Vanderpump Rules” is a particular hotbed of disease because of its particularly hot beds.
In 2015, one of the show’s stars, James Kennedy, called co-star Jax Taylor — who has slept with a number of the women on the show — a “dirty, dirty boy” on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live” and added, “It’s called herpes!”
Taylor denied the accusation in a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” interview.
In 2010, “Jersey Shore” creator SallyAnn Salsano said during a Hollywood Reporter roundtable that producers handed out herpes medication Valtrex “like M&Ms.” She said, “Hey kids, it’s time for Valtrex!’ It’s like a herpes nest. They’re all in there mixing it up.”
In the same conversation, “Celebrity Rehab’s” Dr. Drew Pinsky said, “The network requires me to do stuff with my patients that has no relevance to anything.”
Reps for Bravo declined to comment.