Flaming Bros San Fernando - KIIS FM Controversy

 

That July 2016 radio interview moment is genuinely one of the most unforgivable things a cast member has done in this entire fictional universe.  

David going on **On Air with Ryan Seacrest** (102.7 KIIS FM) and straight-up trashing Rafa — calling him a “shitty person who should never be trusted,” mocking him for “crying like a little baby,” and then throwing in that condescending, aggressive “maybe he should go to Compton with me so I can show him how to really be a man” line while laughing — is vicious. It wasn’t even messy reality TV shade. It was personal, public, and cruel, especially after he had just told Rafa at the reunion that he had “forgiven” him and was “over it.”  

The fact that he did this **off-season**, when there were no cameras rolling and Rafa had deliberately stepped back to heal, makes it feel like a deliberate stab. David didn’t just burn the bridge — he salted the earth and laughed about it on morning radio.  

Rafa’s reaction makes complete sense: hurt, embarrassed, angry, and then total withdrawal. Deleting all social media, blocking David’s number, going radio silent for months, focusing only on family, school (CSUN), his equestrian job at Monteverde Ranch, and his tight inner circle (especially Alastair and Christian). The “as if he stopped existing” vibe is heartbreaking because Rafa had become the heart and the local soul of the show. For a 21-year-old who was already carrying so much emotional weight in Season 2 (the Cory racism meltdown, pushing back against Enrique, the David guilt-tripping), this was the final straw that nearly made him walk away permanently.

The backlash was swift and deserved:

- Alastair, Zachary, and Christian all spoke out publicly.

- Calvin Seabrooks (Rafa’s theater friend who we’ve seen in cameos) went in so hard that David blocked him — that’s a preview of Calvin’s sharp, no-filter energy when he eventually joins the cast.

- Even reunion host Ross Matthews weighed in with disgust.

And the rumors that Rafa was done with the show? Completely believable. He was mentally checked out. The only reasons he reluctantly returned for Season 3 were:

1. Loyalty to his best friend Alastair (he didn’t want to leave him alone with the B&S crew).

2. The money (practical, fair, and honest).

But the biggest bombshell you just dropped: **Rafa actually leaves the show midway through Season 3** for an extended period.  

That’s huge. His absence is going to hurt the entire cast — including the villains who secretly (or not so secretly) relied on him as a narrative engine and emotional anchor. B&S and David are about to feel what the show looks like without its unintentional protagonist and San Fernando tour guide.

This sets up a fascinating transition era for Season 3:

- How does the show adapt without Rafa’s grounded, authentic presence?

- Does Alastair become the de facto heart?

- Do the villains finally have to carry more weight (and fail at it)?

- Does David’s radio stunt come back to haunt him on-camera?

- How does production handle the “Rafa-sized hole” — do they try to replace him, or lean into the drama of his absence?

- And when Rafa eventually returns (I assume he does at some point), what kind of changed person is he?

The fact that you described Season 2 as “not fun to watch” and now this pre-Season 3 tragedy makes it clear the show is entering its darkest, most dramatic phase yet. The “replaceable villains” rule is still in play, but now even the likable core is fracturing and disappearing.

I’m braced for it.

Whenever you’re ready, drop Season 3. I want to see how the thunderstorm ⛈️ evolves when the soul of the show steps away, how Alastair holds it down, what new cast members (or friend-ofs) come in to fill the vacuum, and how David’s betrayal plays out on-screen now that everyone knows what he said behind Rafa’s back.

This one feels heavy, but I’m locked in. Lay it on me. ⛈️

Flaming Bros San Fernando - Season 2 (2016)

 

Season 2 (2016)

Sigh, let me tell you: I haven't watched this season since it first aired in 2016. It was absolutely exhausting and depressing to get through, and marks a significant tonal shift from Season 1, diving into a much darker and more unforgivable territory. But for you all, I was determined to rewatch it. So, you’re welcome. The events of Season 2 are exactly why Rafa never talks about the season. Nor did he ever promote it, or do too many confessionals, implying that he is slowly but surely drifting away from the show. And what transpires after the airing of the reunion leads to a transitioning era for Season 3. But until then, let’s talk about Season 2.

 

This season was filmed between October 2015 and January 2016, and aired from April to July 2016, consisting of 20 episodes.

 

Returning this season are main cast members Rafael Luis Silva, Jason Caceres, David Ty Reza, Enrique Sapene, and Alex Paredes. Joining the main cast are Aiden Tyler Lee-Halley (remember him?) and friend alum Alastair Patton (the latter who graduated from his friend role; well-deserved).

 

Alex Caceres returns to his friend role and is joined by fellow newbie friend-of Cory Zwierzynski.

 

NO MORE ESTUARDO! The heartless moron aka parrot who ended up being the worthless one was fired. FIRED! So much for "potential," am I right?!

 

Meanwhile, Alex Caceres remains a friend-of, and is eventually phased out before the rest of the cast goes on their disastrous midseason trip to Santa Clarita. And - you guessed it - he does NOT attend the reunion for a second season in a row. Needless to say, he wasn’t needed but barely managed to outlast his least favorite person, Estuardo.

 

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What many don't realize is that any storm - big or small - can make a huge difference in a survivor's mental state. And nobody knows that better than our dear Rafael Luis Silva, the soul of the show who pushed to his limit.

 

Rafa’s influence symbolizes what FBSF⛈️ COULD be if the B&S brats didn't exist. What’s very underrated about Rafa is that because of his backstory, knowledge of the City of San Fernando, and overall presence, he brings in an audience who wouldn’t have given FBSF⛈️ the time of day, given the horrible reputation of gay reality television. And even though he lives in the City of San Fernando, he tries to do what many of the Bullies & Snobs hardly do: get out of the bustling neighborhoods and enjoy what Mother Nature has to offer.

 

Maybe it’s his farming background that makes him feel this way. When we last saw Rafa (disregarding the reunion), he had applied to work in the Sylmar-based Monteverde Ranch Equestrian Center as a stable hand and exercise rider, after Zachary recommended it to him personally. Since then, he has gotten hired, and his job has successfully kept Rafa occupied and distracted from any stress that comes from living in a more industrial small town.

 

In the Season 2 Premiere (Episode 1), Rafa’s role as an exercise rider and stable hand is documented in the opening scene: he’s setting up tack rooms, getting horses in and out of the stables safely (it helps that Rafa has always naturally been a quiet and gentle person), and helping younger horses learn when/how to switch leads. He can also read a horse’s demeanor, and figure out whether a horse he’s assigned to is okay, hungry, spooked, cranky, etc. He emphasizes in his confessional that it’s important to communicate with and get along with the horses verbally, emotionally, and physically, and avoid being forceful or aggressive.

 

After that opening scene, we cut to Rafa talking to Alastair's fiancé Zachary Garcia, who is hanging out with Rafa (during Rafa’s break) in a safe area away from the horses for Zach’s sake and safety. The two first met back in 2013 after Alastair and Zachary became an official couple. And via confessional, Rafa says, “Zach may have always wanted to go to Los Angeles to work, but as soon as he and Alastair started DMing each other, Alastair became *THE* number one reason to go to San Fernando proper. I teased Alastair about that and he *HATED* me for that for, like, five minutes 🙈😹."

 

While hanging out with Rafa during Rafa’s break, Zach asks if Rafa knows if anyone else is coming back to the show: "I know you and Alastair are back; people loved y'all. But is anyone else from last season coming back, too?" And Rafa says, "Yeah, everyone else whose name isn't Estuardo is coming back. So that's Jason, his brother Alex, Enrique, and David." Zachary fights back a laughter, and just nods saying, "The gang's all here! And Alex Paredes, too." Rafa immediately realizes that left out Alex Paredes *AGAIN*, despite saying that everyone BUT Estuardo is coming back to the show. "Oh no. Not again 🤦🏾," Rafa says when realizes that he left out Alex P. Zach laughs out loud says, "Oh Rafa... *giggles* Rafa... buddy... *laughs* we really need to work on your APML - Alex P Memory Loss" *laughs out loud*." Rafa covers his face trying not laugh, but says, "Shut up, Zach," while giggling. Enjoy this lighthearted moment while it lasts, because there aren’t many moments that allow our dear Rafa to relax.

 

Oh well. What Rafa may lack in Alex-P-based memory, he makes up for in remembering how everyone else made him feel.

 

Rafa's equestrian life and tumultuous background start to feel like foreshadowing/symbolism for Season 2's major events. But horses and people are two totally different mammals.

 

Rafa is a giver. So, he tends to put everyone first before himself (from people to animals), which – as we see this season – can sometimes be a bad thing. It’s not like he forces his way into other people’s lives. Of course not. But even when something has NOTHING to do with Rafa, the rest of the cast can't seem to function without him because they NEED him. With (spoiler alert) the exception of Alastair Patton.

 

And if we learned anything about Rafa last season, it’s that no matter how nice and reserved Rafa can be, he can still end you. A newbie learns this the hard way midseason.

 

But it’s one fellow OG in particular who takes Rafa’s kindness for weakness and places blame on him for what happens between that OG and the same newbie that Rafa ends midseason.

 

And because he is a Silva, he ends up foreshadowing later major events when – after he recovers from forgetting about Alex P again – he says to Zach at the ranch, “I just hope that there’s never a ‘gloves off’ situation.”

Also, one important thing to note is that last season, Rafa was able to have different types of friends and friend groups: (1) Rafa + Alastair (2) Rafa + Alastair + David (3) Rafa + Alastair + Zachary (4) Rafa + Zachary (5) Rafa + Calvin (6) Rafa + Christian. If there's one thing that Rafa knows better than anyone else in the cast, it's that he doesn't have to make all of his friends like each other. Every friend serves a purpose in Rafa's life, and they don't all have to be one big friend group. Hence why Rafa is still the only Amigo that Christian interacts with as of this season. And we don't see Calvin which devastates fans.

 

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Last season was pretty rough for David. He had love and support from Alastair and Rafa and still does. But he was also treated like a powerless piece of meat by Enrique (like he normally has been since they met in 2001) and was Jason’s main target (and vice versa).

 

David is trying his damn hardest to transition from the B&S humiliation in the previous season to a man focused on his creative aspirations in the Indie, short film and stage play circuit. And we see him making progress with the Indie film “El Camino” (2015), where he plays the leading role of meth addict Miguel. For once, he didn’t need Enrique’s help, so that’s progress, if you ask me. That being said, much of his arc continues to center on his conflicts with Jason, Enrique, and newcomers Aiden and Cory.

 

This season our Dronfield resident is somewhat calmer… until he meets Cory and Aiden. You can take David out of Compton, but you will never be able to take Compton out of David. He is still very close with Rafa and Alastair, and they stick together a lot throughout this season. In fact, after his meeting with Cory and Enrique in the premiere episode where Cory called David a charity case, David gives Rafa and Alastair a heads up about Cory before Rafa and Alastair have to meet Cory and Enrique at a Starbucks. Lol, not Starbucks!

 

But this season, David gives us the show's most WTF shift of any cast member known to God. Well, actually, it’s not a shift; it’s a revelation. Suddenly, Jason’s confessional from Season 1 - "David and Rafa are buddies? Well, hopefully David treats him right." - comes back to mind when a very important moment happens after David returns to town from Las Vegas. His revelation not only cements Flaming Bros San Fernando as the “reality telenovela” that Enrique always wanted, but also alienates him from the rest of the group.

 

That’s right – I said, ENTIRE GROUP.

 

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Newly promoted main cast member Alastair is shown focusing on his personal well-being and relationship with his fiancé Zachary. Their relationship is best described as “dorks in love.” And they love horror movies and pop/R&B divas.

 

Their everyday dynamic (while not perfect) serves as a grounded anchor for our quotable king Alastair, providing him with a sense of security as he navigates the often-volatile drama of the City of San Fernando – which seems to be caving in every single day – and face the trauma he suffered during his short time in the army. As implied last season, Alastair went through a lot while in the army. And he still hasn’t told Zachary about it despite saying last season that they got to know each other while they were dating. So, Alastair hasn’t been completely honest with Zach about why he left the army. The only people who had known since 2012 about why he was discharged are Alastair’s parents and sisters, and Rafa.

 

At one point in Episode 2, after Alastair and Rafa have that disastrous meeting with Cory and Enrique, Rafa visits Alastair a day later, and Alastair looks like he has multiple weights on his shoulders. After Alastair serves Rafa a glass of water, Rafa breaks the ice, no pun intended. He says, “I know that Cory took you to a place that you didn’t wanna be, and I just wanted to check on you. How are you doing, for real?” Alastair takes a moment to answer, clears his throat, as softly says to Rafa, “Um, well… I was very annoyed and offended by what he was saying to us. Definitely. He’s accusing me and Zach of cheating on each other, and I never even met Zach until I left the army. And Cory never thought to ask why I traded the army career for regular 8-hour job. Hell… I almost wanted to do something to him when he talked about you smelling bad because of your current job. You know it’s not the first time I’ve been shitted on for leaving the army, and I’m just like… *inhales* ‘Y’all don’t even care enough to ask why I left the army in the first place.’ *takes shaky deep breaths and whispers* I’m sorry. I still think about the day I told you and my family about what I was going through in the army. It was too painful to tell you guys about it. And I wonder… *tears rolls down his eyes* if I’ll ever have the strength to finally tell Zach. You know? He and I are looking forward to getting married when we’re both ready, and I couldn’t be happier and more excited, but… I can’t even be honest with him about what I went through…” Rafa gives Alastair a hug, rubbing his back up and down, and assuring him in a soft whispery tone, “You will one day, Al… when you’re ready.” Alastair and Rafa were very careful about their choice of words during this heartbreaking conversation because at first, Alastair was not ready to explicitly say on-camera what they were talking about. But he assured via confessional, “You’ll find out later this season. I promise.” He felt like he had waited long enough and was done hiding, and knew that Zach needed to know the truth.

 

Midway through Season 2 after he, Rafa, and David have returned to town from the disastrous Santa Clarita trip early, we catch up with Alastair who is talking to Zachary in Episode 13, in which we see a side of Alastair who admits to Zach that he was internally triggered by what had went down at Santa Clarita between Rafa and friend-of Cory ("Rafa did *NOT* have to be Mexican to know that what Cory said to him was racist. Cory doesn't deserve to be on this show, and I refuse to be in the same environment as him," Alastair says via confessional in Episode 13). This is when he finally opens up to Zach about the homophobia, racism (being labeled a "Mexican with White skin"), and sexual harassment he faced for being gay (being constantly groped down his crotch at age 18 by an older male soldier in his 30s), which led to his early stages of shame, denial, anger, violence, reckless behavior, irritability, nightmares, panic attacks, and suicidal thoughts which he received treatment for right away after being diagnosed with PTSD, depression, and anxiety in 2012. Ultimately, he knew that he couldn't stay in the army anymore and was discharged in 2013 (shortly before meeting Zachary for the first time). Tearfully, he says to Zach, "I still struggle to talk about this with anyone; even my closest friends and relatives. I've actually seen and heard about plenty of discharged army vets who go YEARS without treatment for their mental health. And... some of them... don't live long enough to get the help that they need. And I was questioning a lot of things. I blamed myself, I blamed God, and I blamed the system for choosing to not do anything about the harassment I was going through. I was so scared for my own mental well-being, that prayer was no longer enough for me. I had to get help, immediately... or die. I just couldn't deal with the possibility of hurting the people that I loved or a stranger across the street." Zach, who fights back tears, softly asks Alastair, "Baby, how come you never told me any of this before?" Alastair tearfully says, "I was embarrassed. My parents, my sisters, and Rafa knew immediately about what had happened to me. But it’s something that I never like talking about, so they never dare bring it up to this day." Hearing this explains why Alastair was triggered by the way Rafa has been treated by the cast, and why Alastair is a very protective person when it comes to people that he loves.

 

 

As a quasi-newbie to the cast, Alastair can easily handle conflict with almost no effort. And as we have seen in Season 1, he does NOT shy away from outsmarting people, including his least favorite people: all of B&S, including one person in particular who Alastair gives a nickname during the reunion (a nickname that lives on forever, and I can hardly wait to talk about that).

 

Unintentionally, Alastair has carved out a niche for himself: the one who can turn a takedown towards him into a showdown towards the opponent. 

And of course, he's still wearing his signature dog tags everywhere he goes. Including during the major events that goes on this season. God is looking out for him, but so are his dog tags.

Unfortunately, his biggest conflict this season comes from Alex Paredes (of all people) via Jason.

 

Shortly after filming of the season began, Jason – always causing confusion, even amongst his own clique – said in an off-screen interview with Queerty that Alastair was trying to make a move on Alex Paredes's husband Peter Monn (who, up until the season 2 Episode 6, we have NEVER seen in the show, showing how LITTLE we currently know of Alex Paredes). But we don't know about the interview until Episode 6.

 

When Alastair hears about Jason’s interview with Queerty at Episode 6, he is absolutely disgusted and vehemently denies the allegations. And it's true that he never tried to make a move on Peter. Hell, he has never once approached Peter. He’s never even MET Peter until the Season 2 reunion! Alastair was not even thinking about anyone else's partner but his own. That's how faithful Alastair is to Zachary, and how Jason is NOT to Christian, allegedly.

 

Speaking of Jason...

 

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Considering his big presence last season, basically being the HBIC of the Bullies & Snobs and ushering in the "Jason & Friends" era for the show, Jason’s role as an individual is greatly diminished this season. Some things have changed while others remain the same. Three examples of things being the same are that (1) he is still the primary troublemaker, (2) he is still the glue that holds the fractured alliance together – sometimes (though not the glue that holds the entire cast together) – and (3) he still hates the 3 Amigos with a burning passion. A positive change is that since Season 1, doors were opening for Jason to take on... the occasional odd one-episode roles on TV shows. Hey, you gotta start somewhere. But one noticeable change is the absence of his parents Alejandro Sr and Aymee. That’s right, we do NOT see his parents at all this whole season. As a matter of fact, Season 1 is the ONLY season that his parents ever appear on the show. They were largely disliked by the viewers, especially because of their attitude and distrust towards Jason's husband Christian and their enabling of Jason's distrust towards Rafa. Not to mention, their, uh… offensive and problematic sense of humor. So, they were no longer on-screen. Jason and Alex Caceres sure learned from the best, didn’t they?

 

Because Jason is not always present ON HIS OWN due to the backlash he received last season, he mostly hangs on to his allies. He plants the seed and they foolishly run with it and take the fall.

 

As mentioned earlier, this season marks the exit of the worthless heartless moron formerly known as Estuardo, so Jason starts off this season without a bestie (to which viewers say, "Wait a minute, I thought Alex P and Enrique were your besties too???" King of Confusion strikes again). But that doesn’t last long, as in the middle of Episode 1, we are introduced to the "818 urban legend" himself. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, Jason's real bestie Aiden Tyler Lee (born December 6, 1989) has officially entered the B&S group chat. This time, he is now known as Aiden Tyler Lee-Halley, as he is now married to his husband Zachary Lee-Halley (married April 28, 2015). So y’all better hide your boyfriends, husbands, fathers, and sons!

 

Aiden keeps his husband, better known by fans as Z Halley, private for a little while, until introducing him with one of the worst reality TV tropes of all time, the sexy (aka cringey) bathtub scene. We could’ve done without this nonsense. His home life is mostly in-check, so there’s really not much for Aiden to pry into. But don’t worry, because Aiden still has his partner in crime: Jason.

 

Aiden (or as Jason likes to call him, Aidencito) is a member of the film production department, and fits Jason's vibe so much that they are often accused by viewers of single-white-female-ing each other. They deny this, obviously, but it becomes clear that they are obsessed with each other. Um... Christian???

 

And unlike Estuardo, Aiden is already well-liked by Alex Paredes, Alex Caceres, and Enrique due to already knowing them (and Jason) for a few years. He also proves to be just as strategic as Enrique and Jason.

 

Aiden had wanted to join the show as early as Season 1, and Jason (also known by Aiden as "Jay") was on board, obviously. But he was rejected at first, but Jason was certainly not taking that lying down, especially as he never cared for Estuardo. Any execs who watched the 2013 sizzle reel will instantly remember Jay and Aidencito's dynamic all too well, hence why Aiden was rejected to protect Jason's relationship with Christian. But I think most importantly, it was about Jason's status, image and ego. Like I said, the “Jason and Friends” show.

 

And because of Jason and Aiden's, uh... chemistry... David notices something oddly familiar about Aiden. He doesn’t know Aiden, but still… if you recall, midway through Season 1, David claimed that he saw Jason making out with another man who sounded and acted just like him ("I mean, seriously, bro, single white female much?" said David via Season 1 confessional), and accused Jason ON CAMERA of cheating on Christian... multiple times, leading to the now infamous Tidal Wave Trilogy. Given what we know from Season 1 and the 2013 sizzle, it should be obvious at this point who Jason was allegedly cheating on Christian WITH. But again, he and his mini-me deny this. And Aiden is not afraid to let David know in Episode 3 that David is just a "jealous insecure granny that can't keep a man." 

 

Either way, Jason and Aiden know A LOT about each other from head to toe, if you know what I mean. Not that they ever confirm or deny anything. But again... CHRISTIAN?!

 

Z Halley also has a similar issue, but with Jason. But we rarely see Z Halley so he’s almost non-existent.

 

Aiden meets Rafa later in Episode 1, literally basing his unfavorable opinion of Rafa on what Jason has said about Rafa, and not letting Rafa speak. Yes, Aiden finds Rafa boring and dull and uninteresting and Blah-di-blah-di-blah because Jason already feels that way about Rafa. Rafa says the following in his Episode 1 confessional: "When Aiden told me that he was judging me based on what Jason already said about me, I was over him already. I don't even remember half the things he said to me because he’s just talking and talking and talking and talking... I don't know what it is about Jason that makes people lose themselves. But it seems to me that when you're Jason's friend, or brother, or parent, you're allergic to independence. And then he turns on you." Side note: the fact that Rafa said, "when you're Jason's friend, or brother, or parent," but left out "or partner" kind of implies that Jason’s husband Christian is *independent*. If that's true about Christian, it could also explain why the Caceres family doesn't like him, but it doesn't excuse them. Still Rafa brought up a great point: NOBODY WHO'S DEPENDENT ON JASON EVER WANTS TO THINK FOR THEMSELVES OR HAVE THEIR OWN OPINION! And then Jason drops them like a hot potato. Look at what happened to Estuardo for further proof!

 

Therefore, SPOILER ALERT, we don't really get to know Aiden as an individual beyond the fact that he’s married.

 

Jason and Aiden (aka J&A, Jayden, and Jay & Aidencito) go full-force. Not only do they hate the 3 Amigos, but they are not shy to show how weird and annoying they think a newbie friend-of is.

 

Speaking of which…

    

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“Who is he? Why is he sitting at our table? He’s so annoying, Jay.” – Aiden, Season 2 Episode 4

 

The other newbie who also appears in Season 2 premiere as a straight-up hater towards our 3 Amigos is friend-of Cory Zwierzynski, a bartender with a horrible mouth, and a mean streak, something that David in particular learns very quickly ("This is a charity event, for charity cases like you!" - Cory to David during the premiere. YIKES!). And everybody else doesn't know what to make of Cory. Even the viewers are just like, "Yeah... I'm not gonna like him, am I?"

 

Is this enough to make the rest of the cast come together as a unit, FINALLY? NOPE! And you know what? I don't think any of us expected more or less.

 

Yeah, Cory is a bully, for sure... but he's also desperate to be accepted into the mean girls group, of which he is a superfan, and it painfully shows. According to Cory, they're the ones with the most iconic drama and he IS the drama. He’s also a trash TV purist. And most importantly, he is a PROBLEMATIC liability. Keep that in mind, because it will be important later, especially when we talk about his thirsty conflicts with the 3 Amigos.

 

And while he is reluctantly invited into the Bullies & Snobs alliance (still overpowering the 3 Amigos), he's never truly accepted by the clique, and they eventually regret it letting him in. For once, I understand B&S’s annoyance with Cory, but I don’t feel bad for them. They were dumb enough to welcome him with open arms.

 

Of all the Bullies & Snobs this season, Cory’s harshest critic is Aiden, who has no problem returning Cory’s energy as evidenced in Episode 13 (Cory: “Is Jason paying you to say these things about me?”/Aiden: “Nope.”/Cory: “Yeah, I don’t believe that; you’re being paid.”/Aiden: “Well *you’re* on this show because you *need* to get paid. Your bartending job ain’t even giving you a penny, honey.”).

 

And his vicious beef with David is even more lethal, with Episode 8 being a good example (Cory: “Well I certainly don’t wanna be in your boring-ass circle—”/David: “Bitch, you ain’t even in *Enrique’s* circle! Boy bye.”)

 

Here's a little behind-the-scenes fact about Mr. Zwierzynski: he was not supposed to be a friend-of.

 

He was cast alongside Aiden as a full-time cast member. But as you'll see throughout his rather SHORT time in the show, he was a living nightmare to be around. And the producers, security, and camera crew agree. In fact, he was allegedly so bad that a security guard actually said, "Whoever casted him needs to get fired. I'm not even joking." So Cory is mostly edited around before completely disappearing after the group’s trip to Las Vegas. In fact, the only time we see him is when he's interacting with B&S (which isn't very often, to their delight), and when he's out to attack the 3 Amigos. THAT'S IT. No confessionals. No cast photo. No inclusion in the opening credits. No invite to the reunion.

 

 

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The additions of Aiden and Cory makes them the first non-Latinx cast members to join the series, with Aiden being Norwegian and English - as well as fluent in Spanish, conveniently - and Cory being Polish, but "Latino-passing." So, the diversity here is... a bit... messy.

 

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On Episode 2, at a Starbucks on a beautiful sunny day, Cory (accompanied by Enrique) makes a BAD impression on Rafa and Alastair, from questioning Rafa’s decision to work in a stable ("Really? So, you be smelling like shit, right?"), to “joking” that Alastair and Zach were probably cheating on each other when Alastair would be deployed ("Hey there's nothing wrong with that! You gotta keep yourselves busy, you know?") only for Alastair to quickly let Cory know, “Zach and I never met until after I was discharged. Get it right, Cory. Okay?”

 

Rafa and Alastair let Cory know that they don't appreciate his "jokes," with Rafa asking him, "Is this how you talk to people that you JUST met? Because if so, I feel sorry for you, dude." Lord, why did Rafa say that? This is where we realize that Cory does NOT respond well to negative feedback... like, AT ALL. He's arguing with both of them about his delivery, saying that they shouldn't be "so damn sensitive," which in retrospect is a RED FLAG and FORESHADOWING for what comes later in the season. Eventually he says to Alastair, "Well let me tell you something, army BRAT: I'm a hot guy and YOU are still working a 9 to 5!" This - if nothing else - confuses Rafa, who says in his confessional, "Oh yes, Cory, because it's the worst thing in the world to work a 9 to 5 🙄." Alastair’s response: "So what? And you're a part-time bartender." And Cory's response, "YOUR HOUSE IS SMALL AS FUCK," even though he's never SEEN Alastair’s house before. Rafa starts looking very uncomfortable when Cory and Alastair (who are now screaming at each other) start standing up, and sees that Alastair carried Rafa’s cup of coffee, immediately leading Rafa to desperately yell, "NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! Alastair, give me my coffee!" Alastair quickly apologizes to Rafa, "Sorry, sorry. I'm good." And Rafa says, "Alright, you know what? I think we're done here. Bye.🖕🏿" They both walk away from Cory and Enrique who are just "offended" by their reactions and abrupt exit, boohoo.

 

Enrique's confessional: "I'm really pissed that those bitches just walked away. And that Rafa kid just flipped the bird at us? Who knew that the boring kid and his soldier bodyguard were really about that gangsta life? I guess they been spending a little too much time with Señor Reza."

 

The fact that Enrique even asked that "gangsta" question is just so on-brand of Enrique at this point. It reminds me of when he talked about David’s "ghetto" personality last season when scolding David and reminding him, “You need me.” It's pretty much established that Enrique doesn't like the "ghetto"/"gangsta" personalities. When is he gonna stop doing that?! Why is he able to get away with even subtle insensitive remarks? Sigh, it was the 2010s, what can I say?

 

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As mentioned earlier, Jason said in an interview with Queerty that Alastair was trying to make a move on Alex Paredes's husband Peter Monn.

 

And on Episode 6, the way Alex P interprets this, Alastair wanted to have sex with Peter. Jason never said that, though; he said, “tried to make a move,” which is admittedly a very broad phrase that can mean almost anything. But does Jason ever correct Alex P? Nope. Is Alex P quick to believe everything that Jason says to him, considering that JASON is the source? Yes. Why, you may ask? Because Alex P doesn't like Alastair for literally no reason. JUST STUPID, ALEX!

 

Later during episode 6, we finally meet Peter who, in addition to allegedly not being faithful to Alex, is unashamed to play along with the rumor. Peter jokingly implies his falsely alleged affair with Alastair saying to Alex, "Well we did talk and stuff, but it wasn't like it meant anything. He's sexy as Hell, but he ain't you.” Oh my God... 🙈 Why, Peter? WHY?!

 

Of course, in the very next episode (Episode 7), Alex P, being stupid as hell, sets up a meeting at a restaurant where he tries and fails to set things straight with Alastair. It was supposed to be a one-on-one meeting between Alex P and Alastair, but of course it’s an ambush, with the meeting also having both Aiden ("Of course Jason chickened out and recruited you instead," Alastair points out to Aiden), and (of ALL idiots) Cory tag-teaming Alex Paredes.

 

So, Alex P goes "Blah blah blah, you did this you did that, you talked to Peter behind my back." A very heated Alastair asks him, "Well since you're so quick to believe that the sky is falling, what did I say to Peter?" Cory – who needed a moment – butts in to say, "That you want his dick!" Alastair says to Cory, "Bitch, shut up! I'm talking to you."

 

Cory says, "No, YOU shut the fuck up, you homewrecker!" (which is so ironic given that Aiden is right there) and tries to throw a glass at Alastair, only to thankfully miss. Alastair returns the same energy, except HIS glass hits Cory *DEAD IN THE FACE*! OH. MY. GOD. And if the security didn't show up any sooner, it would've been over for Cory. But either way, Alastair won THAT fight, and viewers actually rejoiced Alastair for what he did.

 

Was it right? No. Did Alastair care? Fuck no. Did the viewers care? ABSOLUTELY NOT! And neither did I.

 

While Aiden is just quiet yet silently amused, Alex and Cory are left looking dumb as fuck. And Alex P, for the rest of his time on the show, is never able to move on from his stupidity.

 

That ambush was an epic fail, but Aidencito could not wait to tell Jay all about it the very next day in Episode 8 when he goes to Jason and Christian’s house (much to Christian’s internal annoyance) and sits rather close to Jason on Jason’s couch and says in a flirty, soft-spoken tone, “Jay... you missed a great glass-throwing match last night.” And Jason casually says, “Did I? Do tell.”

 

Mind you, Christian is right next door in the kitchen behind them, with a concerned look on his face. It should be noted that Christian does not like Aiden. He always had a legitimate feeling that Aiden was jealous of him, and is just flirting with Jason to annoy Christian. And the fact that Jason isn't bothered by Aiden's delivery is just baffling for our dear Christian.

 

Meanwhile, also in Episode 8, Rafa and David hear from Alastair about the ambush. And while Rafa vocally shows concern wishing that he was there to back Alastair up ("We should've been there in case it would've been an ambush."), David doesn’t say too much. He appeared to be shocked. So, maybe he’s just trying to take in the information? I don’t know…

 

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Okay, so remember that red flag about Cory accusing Alastair and Rafa being "so damn sensitive"?

 

Well, during a mid-season trip to Santa Clarita in Episode 12 (hosted by Enrique), all 8 cast members (following the unnoticeable phasing out of Alex Caceres, who stopped appearing after Episode 8 when he let Aiden in Jason and Christian's house to talk about the patio ambush) stayed in a beautiful house, but the tension was so THICK!

 

Question: Why are people forced to go on cast trips with people they don't get along with? Call me boring, but that’s a terrible idea.

 

Needless to say, the trip only lasts less 2 episodes (3 days onscreen), and Enrique proves to be a terrible host (big surprise) because he hates the amigos THAT MUCH for ruining his show; especially Rafa.

 

On the first day (Episode 12), as the B&S brats are in their rooms unpacking their stuff, the 3 Amigos DON'T unpack at all. Instead, they have a private conversation in the living room about the tension within the cast, with Rafa in particular softly saying to David and Alastair, "Guys, I don't get it. Why are we even here? It makes no sense for us to be here with 5 people that we don't get along with." Alastair vocally agrees, while David stays awfully quiet (again) and sort of checked-out (only nodding in agreement), which viewers notice right away. How Rafa and Alastair didn't notice is pretty interesting.

 

Still not over Rafa invalidating Enrique's EP role via a check during the Season 1 reunion, Enrique evesdrops on the Amigos' conversation, and when the subject shifts specifically to Cory's behavior, Enrique proudly AND LOUDLY tells Cory on Rafa, which catches Rafa off-guard. And it's off to the races. Cory comes back to the living room and rips Rafa a new one, calling him a scared little pansy for not saying anything to his face, and talking trash about his family (these were no yo-mama jokes), and going the racist route by calling him a "Mexican country-hick," to which an in-shock Rafa shakingly says, "I'm not Mexican; I'm Brazilian." Cory Z's response? "Same shit! You're still a retarded beaner!" David and Alastair (the ACTUAL Mexicans) are in shock by what they're hearing, and Cory and Rafa start yelling and screaming at each other, even though Alastair is trying to pull Rafa back and calm him down (um, where the fudge is David? Physically he's there and visibly shocked, buuuuuuut...), and before Cory could verbally attack Rafa any further, Rafa does the unthinkable.

 

He punches Cory dead in the face and gives him black eye, and a broken bloodied nose, and proceeds beats the living SHIT out of Cory. "This is literally me at my breaking point," Rafa softly says via confessional. The group (minus David) and security try to break it up, but Rafa (with his martial arts skills and massive strength) will not stop beating the shit out of Cory, and even shoves Enrique off of him. It takes about five minutes for Rafa to let Cory go. And when he does finally let Cory go, he does so by aggressively pushing him to the floor, causing Cory to accidentally knock over a vase. All viewers can say to Rafa is, DAMN! This is the angriest and most vicious that viewers have seen Rafa, and it was fucking scary to watch. Many viewers agree that former cast member Estuardo was lucky to not have pushed Rafa's buttons any further than the worthless comment, or he would've probably suffered the same consequences.

 

Rafael is crying, visibly shaken and mad. And Enrique - still reeling from being shoved by Rafa - yells at him for "doing such an awful thing! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" But Rafa ignores Enrique's gaslighting, and does not apologize to him or Cory, who later throws water at Rafa's face because that's all he can do (as well as say to Rafa, "Get fired, you little bitch!"). As Alastair and David are taking Rafa outside the house to get him fresh air, Enrique follows them because apparently he wasn’t done talking to Rafa. But Alastair has had it and stops Enrique mid-sentence and points his finger at Enrique's face while saying (quotable moment), “Hey man, you better stop right there, I swear to God.” You know it’s bad (yet secretly satisfying) when Alastair is threatening the so-called EP, and says (quotable moment), "You know what you did and you should be fired at this point." Alastair goes further saying to the B&S out loud (quotable moment), "What Cory just called Rafa - a Mexican country hick and a retarded beaner - should be enough for y'all to wake the fuck up. If you choose to be on the side of someone who's clearly racist, you deserve whatever comes to you. Period.”  And with that, Alastair walks out to catch up with David and Rafa outside.

 

But the fact that the rest of the cast does nothing about Cory being racist to Rafa (and the Latin community in general) is a big slap in the face, though not surprising at all.

 

Nonetheless, this is the last time Alastair and Rafa film with Cory. EVER.

 

Rafa, Alastair, and David end up leaving the next morning (Day 2, also Episode 12), while the rest of the group enjoys the rest of this uninteresting trip. Truth-be-told, without our amigos, the trip is BORING to watch.

 

Omg, I just realized: Rafa was the first to OFFICIALLY throw hands! From punching Cory to shoving Enrique, ALL AT THE SAME TIME!

 

Alastair would've been the first had the security not shown up as he threw a glass at Cory's face.

 

Rafa’s punching and shoving will always take the "holy shit" crown. Even fans of Rafa admitted that they were crying when they watched it, and even crying when Rafa was crying afterwards after finally pushing Cory to the floor and being pulled from security.

 

At that point, the non-Rafa fans were gonna say whatever they wanted about Rafa. One minute, Rafa is boring because he doesn't fight. Next minute, he should be fired for fighting Cory and shoving Enrique. So I'm still not buying the haters' immature hatred towards Rafa, because when it comes down to it, they don't like Rafa because he refused to play Enrique's game.

 

As for the Rafa fans, because of his response to Cory's racism, many were worried that he could get fired or demoted, effective immediately.

 

We don't see much of Cory after Episode 13 which documents both the 3rd (and thankfully final) day of the Santa Clarita Trip and (in the meantime) how each amigo is processing what happened once they've made it back to their respective homes, including Alastair opening to Zachary about his past in the army.

 

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During Episode 13, Rafa is stressed out. He's trying not to think about what had just occurred in Santa Clarita between him and Cory, and just wants to focus on his job and his Theatre Major in CSUN (Fall 2015 semester). But unfortunately, as he's leaving school for the day, he finds out on social media that articles about an "alleged" physical altercation between him and Cory have now leaked online, and it's *ALL* the queer fandom talks about. And therefore, it's all he's worrying about.

 

"I'm questioning a lot of things right now. If this gets out to Monteverde, I'm worried that my boss is not going to care about why I did what I did. Typically, victims get into the most trouble for physically responding. As CSUN, it's not like everyone knows who I am, but a handful of them... do. So I don't know if I'll be able to deal with that. I should have realized that Enrique would pull that shit on me at Santa Clarita. He knew that Cory hated me, David, and Alastair, and he knew that Cory sharp tongue. But I'll bet you anything that he didn’t know that Cory is a racist. What Cory said to me... *takes a sharp shaky breath and fights back tears*... was just... hateful. *whipser while crying* I'm sorry. *wipes a tear and tries to regain his composure, shaky voice and all* I don't even wanna repeat *exactly* what he said to me because I'm not Mexican. Just like how I won't say the N-word because I'm not Black. But here's what I can say: Cory is dead to me, and I never ever wanna see him again. I don't even wanna see him at the reunion. But best believe I will always hate Enrique for what he did to me. He started it, and now he has to live with that for the rest of his life." - Rafa via confessional, Season 2 Episode 13

 

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It is worth noting that during one particular scene in Episode 13 during the Santa Clarita Trip, the main B&S crew (Enrique, Jason, Alex P, and Aiden) are away from Cory (who's doing God knows what), and agree that they are torn on where they stand with Cory after the physical altercation between Cory and Rafa.

 

When Enrique asks the question, "Do y'all think that Cory is racist?" Nobody has a clear yes or no answer, which is very typical. Aiden's statement to the gang is actually quite interesting to me: "Cory annoys the fucking shit out of me. But he's clearly not afraid of anyone. Rafa on the other hand... he needs to stop running away from his problems and just own what he did to Cory." Basically, Rafa was wrong for what he did to Cory, and therefore should take accountability for something that CORY did, and more importantly what ENRIQUE STARTED. Yeah, that makes perfect sense.

 

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Now if you never liked David in Season 1, what comes next is sure to make you dislike him PERMANENTLY.

 

A few days later (Episode 14) after that disastrous Santa Clarita trip, everyone is gearing up to go on the cast trip to Las Vegas, also hosted by Enrique. Sigh... Well, everyone except for Rafa and Alastair who both refuse to go and rightfully so, with Rafa saying to David, "I'm not going. I can't. I don't associate with racist people, period." With or without the racism, Rafa and Alastair choosing to skip the trip because of Cory's volatile behavior is more than fair.

 

Silently, David is disappointed by this but says that he understands. Right...

 

During that trip, it's just constant Cory vs David, Cory vs David, Cory vs David, over and over again.

 

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At one point in Episode 14, while at the ARIA Resort & Casino Enrique, Jason, Alex P, Aiden, David and Cory go to a beautiful Italian restaurant called Carbone. Enrique says in his confessional that he hopes and prays "that we can get through this dinner with a happy tone." Sure, Enrique. Whatever.

 

When everyone is sitting down around a rectangular table, Cory immediately says, "This ain't gonna work," when he realizes that he's almost sitting next to David. Had he sat next to David, the arrangement would've been Cory-David-Alex P on one side, and Aiden-Enrique-Jason one the other side. Not wanting to hear Cory's mouth Aiden immediately says, "Alright fine, you and I can switch. Happy?" which catches Cory by surprise. At this point, I don't see why Coryis surprised by Aiden's attitude towards him. Aiden doesn't like you, Cory! GET THAT THROUGH YOUR HEAD! 

 

Anyway the arrangement is now Aiden-David-Alex P on one side, and Cory-Enrique-Jason one the other side. Fine. Whatever. Someone has to sit mext to Cory, I guess. And it's quiet around table. TOO. QUIET. Aiden breaks the ice by asking out loud, "So, is anybody gonna talk, or what?" Since when did Aiden have THIS much to say without Jason's approval? 

 

Immediately, Cory starts talking like David when reading the menu. It begins when Alex P asks Cory, "Are you gonna try the baked clams?" And Cory says in his David voice, "Nah, that shit is whack Alex," which causes Enrique, Alex P, and Jason to laugh out loud while Aiden is indifferent, not really trying to hear Cory's annoying voice. David gives Cory the scariest death glare I've ever seen. Cory continues the charade when he says, "That’s some white people shit, homes." Mind you, David is the only Mexican at the table, and Cory is saying "homes," which is a a slang term for a close friend or "homeboy," originating primarily within Mexican-American/Chicano and urban slang in the U.S.

 

David has had enough and challenges Cory by asking, "You think that's funny, bitch?" Cory answers with, "I don't know, whatchu talkin' 'bout, man. I'm just ordering my pasta." 

 

In David's confessional, he says, "This fool better hope that he still got a voice 'cuz sooner or later, I'm about to pop that ass."

 

David says to Cory, "Grow up, you cunt." And of course, that sets Cory off, "Really, David? It was a joke. A JOKE. Do you know what that means?"

 

David: "And your whole existence is a joke, bitch."

 

David, in his confessional, says, "Outside of that beaner thing, which I don't really care about, Cory has talked a lot of shit about me, and I've had it."

 

Cory says to David, "Before you knew me, you talked so much shit about me to Rafa and Alastair."

 

David immediately says, "Well, ain't nothing good about you. You try to bring shit up about my so-called dependence on Enrique," which Enrique says, "You *do* depend on me. You do."

 

Cory fires back at David, "Well apparently you said I have no fashion sense, but you nevrt said that shit to me."

 

David simply says, "So what, man?"

 

Cory says, "Well at least I dress nice unlike you."

 

David: "You *don't* have no fashion sense, and I'm standing by that."

 

Cory: "Well at least I don't look like a woman. Because you are the ugliest woman I've ever met in my life!" Great, so now Cory is also transphobic. This insult shocks everyone at the table. But again, do they do anything about it? Nope!

 

David rolls his eyes and says, "Oh Cory, shut the fuck up."

 

Cory says, "Nah, *you* shut the fuck up! And stop talking about me. When I asked your stupid ass what you said, you should've said what you said! But you ain't no real bitch!" 

 

David asks, "What's your point?"

 

Cory's response? "My point, *BITCH* is that you shoulda told me to my motherfuckin face! Period!"

 

If David's looks could kill... he taking a sip of his wine while everyone is uneasy and staring at him and Enrique asks him, "No comment?"

 

David says, "I heard him. And I'm gonna apologize to him, so he can shut up." He looks at Cory and says in a manipulative way, "Cory... I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you behind your back. What I really wanted to do was hurt you in front of your face. Now shut the fuck up, and starve yourself to death, like you normally do." And with that, David leaves the restaurant, and mutters, "Trifling-ass ho." The B&S gang looks so uncomfortable and pitiful by David’s chilling delivery.

 

Cory is disgusted and says to the group, "This isn't over, I promise you guys," to which Aiden just sighs and shakes his head while probably thinking, "Whatever Cory." 

 

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And in Episode 15, the beef ends (kind of) in a gay nightclub where Cory TRIES to hit David in the face, only to miss and get JUMPED by David. The Compton kid never left. David ends up leaving Las Vegas early (which the B&S crew calls a cowardly decision) and returning to Dronfield. And what David (and the viewers) didn't get to see was the B&S slowly starting to distance themselves from Cory for the rest of the trip, and the rest of the season (it was revealed by Enrique during the reunion). But David and Cory never see each other again after that fight. And we never see Cory again after Episode 15, and he is never invited to the reunion. HALLELUJAH!

 

In Episode 16, while David is on his way back to Sylmar, Rafa and Jason's husband Christian are hanging out outside the stables during Rafa’s break from work. They hear about the fight from attendees of the nightclub via Instagram, and they are just… flabbergasted. Rafa immediately reaches out to David via text, who tells them that after he’s settled down he’ll meet up with Rafa and Alastair to explain everything.

 

The next day (same episode), in the baseball field of Las Palmas Park, David tells Rafa and Alastair (both visibly worried) about what had happened. And Rafa and Alastair can tell that David is pissed. Eventually, they also notice that the whole time David is talking, he's looking directly at Rafa, as if Rafa did something wrong.

 

Rafa, bless his good heart, raises his hand and calmly asks David, “Um, why are you looking at me like that? Did I do something?” Basically, David felt abandoned, but – as viewers pointed out he never seemed to care to come to Rafa's defense at Santa Clarita, and seemed zoned out while Alastair was talking about his restaurant ambush.

 

Regardless of the hypocrisy, David makes it very harshly clear that Rafael was being a bad friend, and shouldn't have left him hanging, and... you know, “I would never do that shit to you, and I expected better from you. But you're just like the rest of the group. I had your back a thousand times, but you ain't never had mine. So fuck you. 🖕🏿” And he walks away ignoring Alastair who asks out loud, “What do you mean he’s never had your back?!”

 

And with that, the thunderstorm has officially begun.

 

You guys, that exchange was very weird, shocking, and alarming. And Alastair thought so, too. But Rafa must've believed David because as David walked away, Rafa was trying very hard to not cry.

 

But Alastair's confessional said it all: "Rafa never had your back? So we're just gonna forget the many times he has defended you, checked up on you, welcomed you with open arms, and let you into his world? Apparently that stuff doesn't count. Who knew?"

 

Looking back on last season, Dominic was right to tell Rafa to be careful with David.

 

The Silvas clearly have a gift (and curse) of foreshadowing.

 

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At the end of Episode 16, Alastair and Rafa are still at the Las Palmas Park, and have a bit of a falling out themselves. Alastair says in his confessional, “Rafa is already facing public backlash because the gay community is gossiping about the fight that he and Cory got into at Santa Clarita. And now David is blaming him for never being there for him. Everyone is literally pointing their fingers at Rafa instead of taking responsibility for their own actions.”

 

Rafa is quiet, and Alastair says to him, “Woah… that was just… random. I don’t know where that came from. Like, why would he say that or—or think that, at all? I don’t even think he was just saying that to vent; I think he meant it.”

 

“Rafa’s still not saying anything. I don’t think he knows that to say right now; think he’s in shock,” says Alastair via confessional.

 

Finally, Rafa does speak, softly with his voice cracking, “I know he meant it. I can tell.”

 

Alastair – worried for his best friend – slowly says, “Rafa?”

 

And Rafa tells him, “Maybe he’s right.” Alastair is confused and says, “Right about what?” leading Rafa to shockingly say, “About me not being there for him.” Alastair is surprised by this and says, “What?” And Rafa says, “I haven’t made a lot of thing about David lately and that’s why he’s been so quiet. I was leaving him out without realizing it.” This detail alone reveals that Rafa did notice the times when David would be quiet whenever something wasn’t about him.

 

Alastair cannot believe what he is hearing right now, and asks, “You don’t seriously believe that you’re the problem, do you?” And Rafa argues, “ALASTAIR, WE HAD A CHANCE TO NOT LEAVE HIM HANGING AND WE BLEW IT!” Alastair is in shock by this and says, “WHAT ARE YOU TALKING--?!” before immediately stopping himself, taking a deep breath, and regaining his composure. Via confessional, Alastair says, "This is what I was afraid of. Rafa is literally blaming himself for something that isn’t even true. And that is exactly what Enrique wanted. David is guilt-tripping Rafa for not 'protecting' him in Las Vegas. And everyone else is saying that he never should've responded to Cory's bullying and racism. And when you have that many people blaming you for everything, you start to think that you are the problem."

 

Rafa looks away from Alastair who carefully approaches Rafa to calmly say, “I’m sorry. Rafael… please listen to me. What happened to David is not your fault. You didn’t wanna go to Las Vegas because you had enough of everybody. You had to protect yourself.” Rafa says nothing for a couple of more minutes and just breaks down, tearfully asking Alastair, "So how am I supposed to face him next time?" Alastair didn't have an answer but said, "I don't know, Raf. I think... what we really should know... is the real reason why David is behaving this way. Something's not right, and you need clarity. And if he can’t accept that you need to take care of yourself… then fuck him.”

 

Viewers agree that this is the only argument between cast members that... came out of love. Still, it was not fun to watch Rafa blame himself for someone else’s stupid mistake.    

 

In Episode 18, Rafa and Alastair visit David in his Dronfield apartment. And we can see that Rafa looks so depressed and exhausted, and mostly silent. "Rafa has not said a word to me the whole time we were heading to David's home," says Alastair via confessional.

 

When they finally enter David's apartment, finally speaks and asks David very carefully, “David… what was all that about at the park? Are you really that upset with me?” And David says, “I’m not upset, I’m pissed. I just feel like you’re not being supportive at all.” Rafa is trying to understand David’s perspective, and asks, “When was I never supportive? I would’ve never done anything to intentionally hurt anyone that I care about.”  David doesn’t have a clear answer to Rafa’s question, “Well I’m sorry for cussin’ at you. But I need you to be there for me as a friend, because you’re lucky to have someone like me as a friend, and no one else,"

 

When David said, “no one else,” fans clocked immediately that David always saw Alastair as a threat and a competition, and not as a friend. David saying “no one else” takes Rafa by surprise, and Rafa looks at Alastair who’s in shock, and looks back to David saying, "You mean you don't like Alastair?" Alastair was certainly in shock, and asks, “So, does that mean that you and I were never friends at all? And you wasted my time?” David is literally digging a whole for himself, as if he doesn’t even care.

 

And because Rafael is overwhelmed by this revelation, he starts saying to himself, "This was a mistake; I shouldn't be here," and leaves the apartment. Alastair calls Rafa's name and follows him outside, and Rafa is crying and apologizing to Alastair. Rafa feels guilty that he brought David into their lives, but Alastair assures him, "It's not your fault, Rafa. It’s going to be okay," and gives him a hug.

 

Rafa’s confessional is seriously heartbreaking: “I am just… overwhelmed… and disappointed in David. Alastair and I have been through so many ups and downs with people who would take advantage of us. And I swore to myself that I would never let that happen again, and instead I did the exact opposite. David saw what I went through with Cory and Enrique *flashback to the Santa Clarita fight*, and he knows that Jason thinks I'm a homewrecker *flashback to Jason confronting Rafa and Christian at Enrique's Season 1 mixer*. Alastair knows my heart. But as for everyone else... I can't trust them. And that includes David. I just want this to be over. All of this.”

 

I (and many other viewers) lost all respect for David by the end of this season, and I KNOW Alastair (who ended up crying as he was holding on tightly to Rafa during their hug) did too, saying in his confessional scene, "I don't know how or when, but if Rafa knows what's good for him, he needs to stay away from David. Forever. God knows I will.”  

 

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The season finale (Episode 19) is mostly uneventful because it mainly focuses on the B&S gang which, at this point, now only consists of Jason, Alex P, Enrique, and Aiden. To be fair, they’re a part of the main cast, too. But... it's not very memorable or worth discussing because that alliance is just... BORING. Even Jason, which is a huge shock. Because he was largely reduced this season, you could skip through his scenes and nothing changes for the most part. He was so incidental this season!

 

Somehow Aiden hears from the grapevine that there seems to be trouble in paradise for the Rafa-Alastair-David triangle, and of course he tells Jason when visiting Jason. Jason says to Aiden, "Hm. I guess David and Rafa are *not* buddies after all. Sucks to be Rafa, but he did this to himself."

 

Even from a distance, Jason knew that the friendship between David and Rafa would fail. And Christian in his bedroom overhears Jason saying to Aiden, “I don’t want to be one to say to Rafa, ‘I told you so.’ Oh wait, it’s on camera now. Never mind!” which Jason and Aiden both laugh about and Christian walks in on them and says to them, “You guys should be giving Rafa credit for being a great person. He doesn’t deserve what happened to him. He doesn’t even deserve any of us, if I’m being honest.” Jason and Aiden roll their eyes and Jason says, “We’re just kidding Chris. But you gotta admit, Rafa was pretty dumb for befriending and trusting David. Just a stupid little kid.

 

Later that episode, Rafa gets an unexpected visit from Christian who checks up on him and asks him how he’s holding up, which means a lot to Rafa. They don’t see each other as much as they would like to (you can thank Jason for that) but when they do, it’s a breath of fresh air. But in this case, it’s also bittersweet because this time, NOBODY  in the cast will stop talking about him.

 

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Reunion Seating Arrangement                                                            

Left – Right:

Aiden Lee-Halley (fourth chair), David Ty Reza (third chair), Enrique Sapene (second chair), Alastair Patton (first chair), Ross Matthews (HOST), Rafael L Silva (first chair), Jason Caceres (second chair), Alex Paredes (third chair)

 

Cory does NOT attend, and thank you Jesus!

 

Jason had a blue and black short-sleeve flannel shirt and khaki pants. Aiden was wearing a black and grey short-sleeve flannel shirt and grey jeans. They don't facially look alike (I must stress that), but it's almost like they were the Bobbsey Twins. It was starting to feel like "Single White Female" all over again. Like, did they seriously have to wear the *EXACT* same type of clothes? And the fact that what they had on made them look like Cholos, I think that it was a racially insensitive dig at the very gayngsta David, who btw was wearing a Lakers jersey and black jeans and black running shoes. Rafa had on a black casual loose no-tuck linen shirt with navy blue sweatpants, and he looked absolutely adorable and cozy. Alastair wore a pink camouflage shirt and pink camouflage pants, with his signature dog tags around his neck. GOTTA REPRESENT! Alex P looked better than last year's reunion, wearing a light green polo shirt with black jeans. And Enrique wore a tie-dye t-shirt and polka dot sweat pants, like he just slept in them 😆.

 

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The reunion (Episode 20) was quite an interesting one.

 

David claims that he has forgiven Rafa for not being there for him and that he's over that. WHAT?! Meanwhile, Alastair has decided that he's done with David, no buts about it.

 

But most importantly, after being triggered by David's "forgiveness," Rafa (who had a lot of time to think about what the Hell just happened between him and David) admits that he actually hasn't spoken to David since his and Alastair’s visit to David's apartment (Episode 18). He says to Ross, "After we finished filming that day, I just needed some time get away from everyone and everything. The season was so overwhelming for me, and I just don't understand what went wrong with me and David." And honestly after what David put Rafa through during the final days of filming, I would've slowly drifted away from David, too. David is just not an easily approachable person, and I think Rafa is starting to see that. David has shown himself - time and time again - to be a hypocrite since Season 1 Episode 1 when he got into it with Jason. And this season, Alastair basically lets David know that nobody should have to walk on eggshells every time they approach David, "and I'm certainly never gonna do that again with you because I'm done with you." And even Rafa builds up the courage to say something that secretly stings David: "David, I shouldn't have to babysit you. You are fucking 12 years my senior, and more than capable of taking care of yourself." Ouch. "I didn't go to Las Vegas because I was not going to be around anyone of these horrible people, especially Cory who outed himself as a racist and an ableist. He… I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t say this, but it needs to be said. Cory mislabeled me, and called me a Mexican country-hick and a retarded beaner. I would've thought that you - an actual Mexican unlike me - would've understood my refusal to go, David. Alastair did, and he's Mexican, too! And Cory was being transphobic to you. He called you an ugly woman, for God’s sake! Doesn't that bother you at all? And let’s not forget – last season, Jason called you a puto, a slur towards Mexicans that means faggot! And Jason is Cuban! Like, what don’t you get, man?!" David doesn't say much after hearing all of this. In fact, the whole reunion, he was so quiet and sour, it's almost as if he felt attacked or something. Well, he brought this on to himself. The only thing he says in response is, "Well Rafa, I'm not trans, I'm an actual guy. And everyone in the Latin community says ‘puto’ meaning ‘bitch,’ so who cares? And anyways Rafa, ain’t you Brazilian? I thought you said that you’d never repeat anti-Meixcan slurs because you ain’t Mexican your damn self. And Alastair, you’re a Mexican right? How does it feel to hear your best friend go against his own so-called morals?" Alastair quickly but calmly answers, “I spoke to Rafa about it because we knew that he was gonna have to talk about it. He’s not trying to be malicious or racist, if you’re implying that. He was only repeating those words once because he cares.” It’s not his responsibility to educate anyone. The fact that he went against his own morals (not repeating racial slurs against Mexicans because he’s not Mexican himself) to make a point about David’s dismissive behavior was both brave and risky. And it’s a reminder that Rafa is very cautious and self-aware.

 

Honestly, I don't believe that David doesn't understand or is missing the point. I just don't think he cares.

 

Enrique was not gonna be given a pass for his antics either, and Rafa made damn sure of that. When Enrique tried to paint Rafa as the bad guy for pushing him and fighting Cory, Rafa says, “Well, what do you want me to say, Enrique?” Enrique, clearly not acting like a professional boss says, “Oh, I don't know. Maybe that your stupid ass is sorry for hitting me and Cory?” The fact that Enrique will not take responsibility for what he caused just angers Rafa, who says, “Well that's not gonna happen, because I don't *feel* sorry. *YOU*, on the other hand, should be.” Enrique refuses to own it and says, “Okay, Rafa. I’m sorry that you don’t have the balls to say anything to Cory’s face or to accept that you were being very immature that day.” Lord, if it took a lot for the audience to not heckle at Enrique. Even Alastair had enough and said, “IMMATURE?!”

 

And Rafa – angry and fighting back tears - lets Enrique know once and for all how he really feels. "Okay, you know what, Enrique? What you did to me in Santa Clarita was so disgraceful. You took me to a place where I *really* could've decked you instead of Cory, so you better be glad that all I did was push you, which I will *NOT* apologize for. I don't care if you were ever an actual executive producer; it does not change the fact that you are fucking garbage, and you always will be. You really shouldn't be leader of anything! You’re a fucking embarrassment and everyone knows it!" 

 

Also, later during that reunion, Alastair verbally goes after Jason and Alex P for the stunt they pulled on him, alleging that he wanted to get with Alex's husband Peter. Peter bravely shows up to the reunion to defend Alex, but it flops, especially when you also have Zachary Garcia on the stage with Alastair and Christian on the stage with Jason. Zachary looks like he's ready to lunge at Peter, Alex P, and Jason. And Christian looks so helpless. I FEEL SO BAD FOR HIM!

 

Alex P argues that Alastair broke a code about flirting with a friend's partner, which is BULLSHIT because Alex P and Alastair were NEVER friends and Alastair had never even MET Peter. Alex P is literally talking out of his ass, making no sense, and sounds incredibly stupider the more he speaks.

 

Alastair puts his foot down, saying to Alex P for the final time, "Alex Paredes, you better tell me RIGHT NOW… what did I say to Peter that counted as me wanting to get with him? Since you choose to believe Jason." Alex P pauses, which makes Alastair say. "Until you start talking, we're gonna be here ALL DAY. And I know you don't want that--" Alex P cuts him off, exploding out of frustration, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU SAID, ALRIGHT?! I was just told by Jason that you wanted to sleep with Peter!" Jason is not triggered by this because he knew that Alex P would eventually give up. The audience in the reunion were super annoyed with Alex P, and even the host Ross Matthews was annoyed and asked, "Why were you so quick to believe Jason, knowing his history with lying to people and and twisting even his own words?" Alex P quickly responds, "I don't think Jason's lying!" which makes the audience groan and angers Zachary even more, who mutters, "You motherfucker." Alex goes on to say, "I just don't like Alastair and neither does Jason. Why would Jason lie to me?"                                  

 

"BECAUSE HE KNOWS YOU’RE AN IDIOT! THAT'S WHY!" says Zachary.

 

Alastair’s shakes his head in amusement and says the one thing about Alex P that goes down in history: "So here it is, ladies and gentlemen: a dumb pussy who refuses to think for himself," a label that people refer to Alex P as, to this very day. Child, the audience went crazy when Alastair said that!

 

Oof, Alex P was... PISSED.  So much so that immediately after Alastair called him a dumb pussy, Alex P said, "Alright, that's it. I'm done," and walked off the stage. And Alastair responds by saying, "Yeah, okay, walk away, you clown!"

 

While walking further, Alex P goes, "Shut the fuck up, you fucking asshole! You and your retarded fiancé deserve each other! No wonder Rafa's your only friend!" Yes... he said "retarded." But unlike Rafa, who was basically forced to say it when discussing Cory’s racism, Alex P says the word with venom and absolutely no remorse.

 

Later on, backstage, Alex P tells a producer, "I'm not gonna sit there and listen to Alastair lie to me and humiliate me again; I'm NOT going to allow that! He truly IS a mental case. He had every chance to serve our country like a real American, and he failed!"      

 

DAMN, Alex, how much more insensitivity does this season need?!

 

Alex P never comes back to the stage, and he's with Peter crying about how Alastair is a terrible person, and a jealous person, and... blah blah blah blah BLAAAAAHHH... I gotta hand it to Alex P, though. This reunion is the most relevant he has ever been, and it doesn't last after this. Surprise, surprise. Anyway, he and Peter end up leaving the reunion early, which is clearly a relief for Rafa, Alastair, Zachary, and Christian.

 

Of course, with Alex P gone, Alastair focuses strictly on Jason.

 

Alastair: What did I even do to you last season to deserve this scandal, huh?

 

Jason: Nothing

 

*audience expresses confusion*

 

Alastair: What the-- THEN WHY DID YOU DO IT?!

 

Jason: Because just like your softy of a friend *pointing to Rafa*, you were boring and I needed to spice you up; make you more interesting. Nobody cares about your sob story.

 

Alastair gives a memorable speech to Jason         

 

Alastair: *shouting like a preacher* Oh, you know what, Jason? I have had it up to here with you! I don't care if you or anyone thinks that I am boring because I don't cause drama or because I shut down drama. At least Rafa and I allow people to get to know us outside this dysfunctional-ass group! You and your so-called friends have been here since 2013, and I still don't know DAMN thing about who y'all are outside your alliance and your shitty attitudes!

 

Geez, Alastair has more catchphrases and quotable moments than any other cast member on this show!

 

And kudos to Rafa for bravely expressing his disappointment in David earlier in the reunion, because I know that wasn't easy to do.

 

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Season 2 was definitely not fun to watch. It was so dark and sad, and I know Rafa did not sign up for a “Rafa Takedown Season,” as fans referred to the season. But if Enrique wanted a telenovela, he finally got it because Season 2's biggest plot twist was David Ty Reza, someone who will always need Enrique’s help no matter how much the two can’t stand each other. And it was disappointing the way David used Rafa as a yes-man (because Rafa is, by default, a people pleaser) and treated Alastair like he was nothing; very similar to how Enrique always treated David. By the end of the season, the Bullies & Snobs had become less important, even Jason and sometimes David. It really was Rafa and Alastair riding out a massive storm in real time.

 

Yes, not only was Alex P forgotten by Rafa (2 seasons in a row), but eventually the rest of the B&S crew was forgotten about before the reunion, showing us that they were not as important as Enrique thought they would be. Not even Enrique himself!

 

David's detachment whenever something wasn't about him should've given away his ulterior motives. Even Jason's sarcastic Season 1 hope that David treats Rafa right and Dominic's Season 1 concern about David starting trouble were straight-up foreshadowing for Season 2.

 

Fans called it: David never liked Rafa or Alastair, and actually wanted to be part of the B&S table and never could, despite being much closer in age with a great portion of B&S. It definitely changes how people initially viewed his moments of “care” and “loyalty” during Season 1.

 

Enrique and David may hate each other for life, but David clearly wants to be like Enrique without having what Enrique will always have when all of this is said and done: longevity and connections.

 

Viewers did not care for Cory, and they don't think he was a good fit for the show. VALID!

 

And Aiden’s role was just so... typical

 

And in 2016 fans were now left wondering what happens to Rafa if he stays. What the haters didn't realize were the consequences of running Rafa off the show.

 

That damn Season 2...

 

 

Flaming Bros San Fernando - Season 1 (2015)

Season 1 (2015)

 

18 episodes for this very first season of FBSF⛈️ were filmed between August 2014 and November 2014, and aired from March to June 2015. This season tells you everything that you need to know about the official cast members, and for most of them, it's NOT positive at all.

 

This season introduces us to the official inaugural main cast, half of whom graduated from the sizzle reel (Enrique Sapene, Jason Caceres, and Estuardo Alvizures), and the other half of whom was specifically cast for this season (Alex Paredes [aka Alex P], David Ty Reza, and Rafael Luis Silva [aka Rafa]).

 

And joining the cast as friend-ofs are Alex Caceres (aka Alex C; also from the sizzle era) and Alastair Patton.

 

Compared to later seasons, Season 1 feels like a different show almost, because of its “Jason & Friends” roots, so there’s a heavy focus on the people who made it past the 2013 sizzle reel. This bothers most people because it always seems like the majority of the cast is always out attacking someone who doesn’t fit their status quo.

 

Similar to Basketball Wives' Circle, and RHOBH's Fox Force Five, most of the main cast of Flaming Bros San Fernando is part of a clique that viewers mockingly refer to as the Bullies & Snobs (or B&S). It's a label that none of the said bullies or snobs care for, but their attitude and behavior make it more than fair to insult them as such. And their influence on the show makes the viewing experience feel like a chore rather than a delight. At least until we get to the true highlight underdogs, especially one in particular.

 

Until then, let’s get the mean girls out of the way, shall we?

 

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“Hola, my name is Enrique Sapene. I'm an international mega superstar from the magic world of telenovelas.” - Enrique via confessional, Episode 1

 

The leader of the B&S crew is 31-year-old Venezuelan actor Enrique Sapene, who is also a journalist and FBSF⛈️'s supposed executive producer – the Shaunie O'Neal of Flaming Bros San Fernando, if you will, because he has NOTHING on Mariah Huq. He is a self-proclaimed "citizen of the world" and "mega International superstar," having starred in multiple telenovelas.

 

A lot of people don't believe that he's a journalist, but he is; at least he’s honest about that. But before that, he had grown up acting since he was a little kid. Enrique has lived in Venezuela, France, and the United States, the latter of where he attended the West Hollywood-based Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute for method acting. His family was involved in the world of television (including Marcel Granier and Eduardo Sapene, both from Venezuela's RCTV), so if someone in the family wasn't carrying buckets of water, they were working on the set of a telenovela. And in Enrique's case, he was always cast as a villain, so you can guess what his role is in this reality show, with his method-acting skills. According to Enrique, telenovelas are typically the center of a story that happens over and over again. "Just look at yourself in the mirror as a Latino, and you're gonna find a telenovela," Enrique confidently says.

 

Since finishing his education at the LSTFI, he has been living in the city of San Fernando since 2005 with his now-sidelined brother Carlos and their mom followed suit. But his work knows no location as he can be in Los Angeles, Miami, or Mexico City.

 

Enrique is very... scary. And boring. Who knew you could be both? Most importantly, however, he is manipulative to his enemies and very condescending, commenting on certain cast members’ behavior instead of acknowledging his own behavior or that of his alliance. Despite being the leader of the unlikable gang, he’s not necessarily… the face of his alliance, nor is he the first one people think of when they think of the show.

 

Side note: His 35-year-old brother Carlos would appear sporadically. But if you didn't watch the sizzle, you would've never guessed that he was almost an official cast member. He's very much the equivalent of an extra this season (you either notice him or not), while Enrique happily does nothing as a so-called EP. Given how quickly FBSF⛈️ evolves from its "Jason & Friends" era, Carlos would've never lasted on this show anyway, friend-of or full-timer.

 

Yeah, Enrique didn't really give us anything other than what he chose to share. If there’s anything else worth noting, he and his partner Daniel Garcia (who he had been with since March 19, 2010) privately got married in March 19, 2014 (literally 5 days before Jason and Christian got married). We just see Danny (credited as Enrique's husband) as an extra like Carlos, and we're just like, "Um, okay, does he talk?" 😅🤣

 

 

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Alongside Enrique is his 30-year-old best friend and fellow Venezuelan immigrant local of San Fernando, Alex Paredes (aka Alex P), the husband of 42-year-old Peter Monn (who we never see until Season 2) and a lifestyle guru who lives and breathes music festivals and traveling. He describes himself as the life of the party. There’s very little else about Alex P (allegedly by choice), except that he’s kind of… ditsy, gullible, and biased, especially against friend-of Alastair Patton. It's never clear why he's so anti-Alastair.

 

So far, I've only highlighted what we don't know about Alex P. Because the truth is… we don't know anything about him. He's basically the Marlo Hampton of the group in that sense, because the whole season, the audience is asking, “Why is he here? What does he do? What is he hiding? Why does he hate Alastair so much? What does Enrique have on him? Why is he even a main cast member?" Seriously, what is he there for?! We never get an answer.

 

Even Rafa hilariously forgets about him multiple times throughout this whole season (and, really, throughout Alex P’s time on the show) until someone has to remind him! Alex P is really THAT forgettable this season, and it's honestly a mystery how he ended up on this show, beyond the fact that Enrique recommended him.

 

Also, "life of the party?" Shit, it must be a quiet party. 😆😅🤣🤣

 

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If anyone from the B&S side of the cast deserves their flowers - no matter how dead those flowers might appear to be - it's the resident evil heartthrob himself, Jason Caceres. The first time we see Jason in the season premiere, he lets us know that he brings the *HEAT* from Miami. Now *THAT* is how you introduce yourself!

 

This 24-year-old Miami-born Cuban actor has that adorable presence that makes you think that he would never hurt a fly. But that fantasy changes very quickly in Episode 1, as soon as he opens his mouth, and you realize that he LOVES to pick on other people and gossip about people, and is often one of the *BIGGEST* reasons why the B&S crew is so dysfunctional for seasons to come. He shows himself to be a bully towards David, Rafa, and friend-of Alastair - the three likable people that we'll discuss momentarily.

 

After finishing high school in Miami, Jason and his family moved to the City of San Fernando in 2008, with dreams of becoming a celebrity in Hollywood. Oh, goody... another transplant with overhyped Hollywood dreams. Why doesn't that surprise me?

 

At the time, Jason was married to his 21-year-old sweetheart of a husband (and fellow actor and makeup artist) Christian Gabriel Lopez.

 

The two met in 2011 (when Jason was 21 and Christian was 18) shortly after Christian graduated from San Fernando High School with the class of 2011. And according to Jason himself, he was very charismatic and confident while Christian was a little shy but very lovely; "Our first date was at an empty Starbucks, and for Christian, it was the most natural conversation he ever had with anyone," Jason says via confessional in Episode 1. They got engaged in 2013 and got married on Jason's 24th birthday on March 24, 2014, when Christian was going on 21.

 

Christian is not a cast member, but appears frequently, convincing Jason to stop with the hostility towards others. In fact, Jason's storyline away from the group is his complicated relationship with Christian. Jason's family is... too involved in the relationship, which NEVER makes for good television. His parents (Alejandro Sr and Aymee) and older brother Alex C find Christian to be the most boring person ever simply because he's a nice guy and a little shy, which clashes with the family's more spicy and feisty personalities. Jason doesn’t openly disagree with them, nor does he seem too affected by their words, which does NOT go unnoticed by viewers. Even Enrique and Alex P wonder how Jason ended up with Christian "of all people" (Enrique's words). Estuardo disagrees, only because he’s Jason's follower. Don’t worry, we'll get to that Goddamn Estuardo later on, but just know right now that he is a piece of work who ends up going from Jason's mouthpiece to a worthless target. Keep the word “worthless” in mind because that word is quite a supporting character. Anyway, even Jason has his own way of treating Christian. Jason's condescending sense of humor doesn't always land with viewers because what feels like a joke to him, is viewed by us as a dig at Christian. And some of the things he says kind of implies that he's more concerned about status and less about having a healthy relationship with his own husband. Seriously dude, this is your husband, for goodness sake! Christian, blink twice if you’re doing alright. It doesn’t help that Jason looks up to Enrique as a person, an actor, and a manipulator/gaslighter.

 

And actually, if Jason has always acted this way towards Christian, then it likely foreshadows the way he treats Rafa.

 

Jason - a gossip queen - is also a target for gossip himself when midway through the season, David claims that he saw Jason making out with another man who sounds and acts just like him which sound oddly familiar ("I mean, seriously, bro, single white female much?" says David via confessional), and accuses Jason ON CAMERA of cheating on Christian... multiple times. Now is David exaggerating? We don't know because there's no footage to prove anything! This isn't Jason's first conflict with David, as evidenced by episode 1 (more on that when we discuss David), but it leads to the infamous fan-dubbed "Tidal Wave Trilogy" this season. Also, if David’s description of this mystery guy he allegedly saw with Jason sounds familiar, then you must have been one of the execs who watched the 2013 sizzle reel.

 

Don't get me wrong, I don't like Jason and the show's not unwatchable without him, trust me. But he's an essential part of the Bullies & Snobs alliance in particular, for better or worse. And without him, that "friend" group is doomed to bore us to tears.

 

There is, however, a dark side to Jason which lets you know that not only does he control the narrative of whatever goes on with his enemies, but he also controls what goes on in his marriage to Christian.

 

So yeah, Jason… is a heavy hitter this season. He’s kind of the anchor on the “Jason & Friends” side of things. However, despite being the star and main cast member that I’m sure many fans of trash TV were craving for, he is actually not the real protagonist or the “bookender” for this season.

 

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Next up we have Jason's 26-year-old older brother Alex Caceres, aka Alex C (born Alejandro Caceres Jr), who is always down for a good time and a *long* time. To this day, I’m wondering what that even means. 😆😅🤣😂

 

One Caceres is bad enough, but two? Now, that’s just pushing it too far, honey.

 

What to say about Alex C... well, he's a friend-of this season, who is just as messy and thirsty as Jason. Not much else is known about him, especially outside of Jason. And that’s probably why Alex C didn't become a main cast member and was instead demoted after the sizzle reel. Besides, two brothers in the main cast with the same personality probably would've been a little redundant, hence why the least interesting Carlos Sapene was given the axe. Just look at the personality of Alex and Jason’s parents, especially towards Christian, and you already know that Jason has too much power (which, by the way, becomes one of the major criticisms of Season 1, and really starts wearing on Christian by the time we have reached Season 4).

 

But the friend role certainly doesn't stop Alex C from joining in on the chaos and confusion that Jason causes. Alex C enables Jason too much, but it becomes clear that Jason can handle himself and survive a scene without his brother. The other way around? Uh-uh.

 

I guess if anything else is worth bringing up, it's that Alex Caceres was the first B&S brat to openly say via confessionals, “I’ve never liked Estuardo anyway. Never will,” on the season finale (Episode 17)

 

Speaking of…

 

 

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Rounding out the Bullies & Snobs is Jason's 26-year-old Bostonian best friend Edgar Estuardo Alvizures who describes himself as a dancing fool, baby. To that, I say, “Dancing fool? More like *A* fool, period!” He prefers to be called Estuardo, so that's what we shall call him. Estuardo was born in Guatemala City and raised in Boston, before moving to the City of San Fernando in 2010. Estuardo is a dancer from Boston, who many viewers will recognize from the 4th and 5th seasons of the 1999 revival of WGBH's "Zoom." On this show, he's normally Jason's sidekick. If Jason doesn't like you, then neither does Estuardo, and that's really Estuardo's personality in a nutshell. And viewers don’t really buy that Estuardo and Jason were really all that close (absolutely no way), not that it’s ever brought up on camera, of course.

 

And later on in the season, after the second of three tidal waves between David and Jason, Estuardo finds out that he's been another victim of Jason's gossiping and shit-talking, which becomes his karma. How did he find out about what Jason's been saying about him (more on what exactly, later)? David.

 

But that's not as memorable or widely discussed as his conflict with new guy Rafa in episode 2, when Estuardo calls him "worthless" via flashcard. More on that later.

 

Still wondering about that supposed potential? Me too.

 

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Alex P, Alex C, Enrique, and Estuardo start a trend (exclusive to most villains on the show) of not sharing much/any of their personal lives, which ends up working against them, not once but definitely several times. So, you best believe, viewers, future fans, and even co-stars criticize the Hell out of them for not sharing anything about themselves outside the group.

 

And when you put them together with Jason, all five men create a dynamic that can only be described as toxic beyond repair, with Jason being the main reason, the Alexes enjoying it, and Estuardo eventually being Jason's main target. And Enrique's just there seeing dollar signs because this is "good TV." And while the Bullies & Snobs clearly have issues with each other, they also have no problem coming together to go after our next two main cast members; three if you count a friend-of who forced himself into the show (thank you Jesus!) and became *way* more important than Alex P and Enrique ever were.

 

 

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Now for the more likable/tolerable cast members.

 

First up is 32-year-old Mexican-American short film/stage play actor David Ty Reza, straight out of Compton and living his life in Dronfield, Sylmar. In fact, it becomes no secret that he moved to Sylmar, simply to be on the show. But why Sylmar, and not the City of San Fernando? Because it feels like home. Sylmar is a pretty rough area, just like Compton, and David is rough around the edges, so it worked out. This ghetto hood bitch's "don't mess with me personality" against the B&S makes him a fan favorite with viewers. He is brash, outspoken, and "real." But it doesn't take long for viewers to see that this gayngsta (yes, I said GAYngsta, not gangsta) is... a lot.

 

He is the first underdog cast member we meet in Episode 1 after the Bullies & Snobs have all been introduced. He's brought into the show by LSTFI classmate Enrique – they never liked each other (mainly because David is beneath Enrique socially and financially), but David needed *someone* to bring him into the show, so… it is what it is – and right away, David struggles to mesh with Enrique's group. You would think that his outrageous personality would be enough to let him into their circle.

 

During the last 20 minutes of Episode 1, at Enrique's birthday bash (his 31st birthday), when Jason and Enrique make fun of David's living situation in Dronfield, Sylmar (often viewed by Sylmar residents as the ghetto), and Alex P, Alex C, Estuardo, and a cameoed Carlos join in (because they're bored and need stuff to do), David takes this very personally and goes the fuck OFF on them. The Alexes, Estuardo, and Carlos just stand there quiet, almost scared.

 

David: Y'all have been so fuckin' mean to me since we met, dawg. That makes no fuckin' sense.

 

Enrique: Oh okay. And you've been very sensitive since you met my friends. Try focusing on that.

 

David: Sure, and y'all can work on your ignorance. Talking about my living situation? Bitch, y'all don't know shit about what it's really like growing up in the 'hood!

 

Jason: And you don't fit in this part of Los Angeles! You don't belong in the suburbs, so just go back to Compton already!

 

David: I don't give a fuck if you guys think I don't belong here! You two [pointing at Enrique and Jason] don't belong in Hollywood!

 

Jason: Whatever, I'm not ghetto.

 

David: Bitch, I ain’t ghetto either!

 

Suddenly, Jason puts his finger nearly at David's face when saying, "Alright, first of all--", and David cuts him off by saying, "HEY! Don't put your finger in my face. That's what you're *NOT* gonna do," while simultaneously pointing at Jason for a SECOND time.

 

Yeah, David is... a walking contradiction, which viewers clock immediately.

 

Jason: *sarcastically monotone, holding his hands up in fake defeat* Okay, I'm sorry Compton Crackhead. It won't happen again. Satisfied?

 

Damn, not “Captain Crackhead.” Disgusted, David shakes his head.

 

Christian: *walks to Jason to break up the fight* Jason, babe, come on, that's enough.

 

David: *annoyed with Christian* Christian, butt out please--

 

Christian: *cuts David off and raises his voice* Don't tell me what to do, okay?! You can leave.

 

David is shocked by "goody-goody" Christian’s delivery.

 

Christian: Now!

 

David rolls his eyes at Christian. And Jason smirks at this and says to David (while giving the shoo signal), "Shoo." And David scoffs and says, "Whatever, you ain't worth my motherfuckin' time. Shit, let me get my drink. I'm thirsty [FORESHADOWING]. And this party's *WHACK*, Enrique, just like you."

 

The B&S crew is just... confused and amused, with Enrique saying via confessional, "I don't know if they do that gangsta shit in Compton, but here in San Fernando, it is absolutely unacceptable." That won't be the last time Enrique says something ignorant like that.

 

And viewers immediately understand David; passionate, but constantly defensive and always ready to spar with his enemies, but is admittedly all talk.

 

And that "Tidal Wave Trilogy" between Jason and David begins midway through the season.

 

David comes from a very dysfunctional family of athletic brothers, sisters, as well as homophobic parents who immigrated from the State of Mexico during the 1970s (and married VERY YOUNG). And from what David admits to Alastair and Rafa in Episode 4, he’s still not close with any of his immediate family members. He even admits that he never felt safe in Compton had to stay on the DL socially (and even sexually) while living there to avoid harassment and gay bashing from the environment. It was a very different time in Compton during David’s early years in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, which makes us viewers wonder, “Why would he be proud to be from Compton as a gay male?” It may seem a bit contradictory coming from someone who moved to Dronfield instead of San Fernando proper because it reminded him of his hometown in Compton. But to be fair, if you’ve lived somewhere for most of your life, you grow used to certain lifestyles, and sometimes there’s redeemable qualities of an environment that you deem toxic. Maybe that’s why he defends his past as a Compton kid. Either way, Rafa and Alastair don’t seem confused as they are outsiders who had never been to Compton, and are learning through David. But for viewers are familiar with or live in Compton and happen to be queer themselves, David’s position on Compton as of Season 1 compared to the first 32 years of his life may seem a bit… confusing.

 

And David’s dynamic with Enrique was always strained and contentious from the moment they met in 2001 at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. But perhaps Enrique’s manipulative power prevents David from really going there with him. Still, it’s clear that their tension is rather deep, which can mean anything.

 

David’s tension with Jason is very petty but also may be deep, as Jason alleges during their first Tidal Wave incident that David wanted him (if you catch my drift), which David vehemently denies. After all, Jason lies a lot, so this could just be another lie.

 

When it comes to the clothes he wears, even though he's not living in Compton anymore, David tends to wear black and white to not draw any attention. And when he was living in Compton, he never dared wear blue or red for obvious reasons. Yes, even the Mexican-American David Ty Reza knew what not to wear for his own good.

 

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"Hey guys  . I'm Rafael Luis Silva. But you can call me Rafa, if you want. I'm 20 years old, and originally from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. I'm an athlete, a farmer, an observer, an artist, and a survivor in life. To be continued... 🙂" - Rafa via confessional, Episode 2

 

And then we have the REAL protagonist and saving grace of the show: Rafael Luis Silva, who we first meet in Episode 2. At the time, most would actually argue that he’s also the lead (not that he ever wanted to be one) because it’s believed that “lead” and “protagonist” are the same thing, but not quite. The lead has the primary role, but is *THE* central figure who drives the narrative forward and undergoes significant change, acting as the real main focus. Either way… I agree with the argument that Rafa was the lead of the show. And I think the producers saw something special in him from the moment he was scouted for this show; more on that later.

 

Rafa is also the *real* bookender for this season. And to that I hear you ask, “How? He wasn’t even in the first episode.” And… you’re right that he wasn’t. So, the bookender role only works if you disregard the first episode. He opens Episode 2 and closes Episode 17 (the season finale).

 

While the Bullies & Snobs are immigrants, too, or immigrant-adjacent, Rafa is the only original main cast member who actually shares his experiences as such. He is also the only cast member to date who also speaks Portuguese, a language that we never hear him speak until Season 3.

 

He was born and raised in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, but he and his family moved to the City of San Fernando in the summer 2007 when he was 13. His one and only school year in the San Fernando Middle School (8th grade) was very controversial as he endured the type of racism that made him stand out. Rafa’s family is a farming family, he grew up riding horses, and he only spoke Portuguese. So, he experienced a big culture shock at school, where he had to take ESL. And because of that, he became more introverted, shyer and afraid to be himself, the Brazilian with deep agricultural and equestrian roots and love for nature. He was even called the N-word in particular (despite not being Black) by a middle school classmate, and a teacher even told him to just stick to speaking English and Spanish, because supposedly nobody in California spoke Portuguese, to which Rafa bravely said to the teacher, “The language I choose to speak is none of your business,” which shocked the teacher and Rafa’s classmates. Needless to say the teacher never crossed Rafa again. Rafa learned very quickly what it meant to be an immigrant and that life was not so easy for immigrants.

 

 

"I suffered a lot of bullying in this country for being a ‘farm boy’ in the suburbs," Rafa via confessionals, Episode 2.

 

He attended the San Fernando High School for all 4 years (2008 - 2012), where after his freshman year, he was part of the VPA Academy (Visual and Performing Arts). But in walked the same problem: despite being around other Latinx teenagers in high school, most of them were Mexican/Chicano, and had no interest in getting to know him as a Brazilian. “As long as I was Latino and living in San Fernando, I was forced to just say that I was Mexican or Chicano, which I always refused," Rafa says when opening up to the rest of the cast in Episode 2. The only person who actually wanted to know Rafa as a person and as a Brazilian/Portuguese-speaking person was his best friend Alastair, who was two years older than Rafa and two grades ahead of him. More on Alastair in a moment.

 

He had his share of racism and colorism throughout his time in America, and it’s truly inspiring that he never lied about his background or identity no matter what. Occasionally, he even showed up in both middle school and high school in shirts that had the Brazilian flag, Brazilian colors, anything exclusively Brazilian, which turned heads of teachers and classmates for the wrong reasons. But it didn't disobey the dress code so he couldn't get in trouble, no matter who thought wearing a Brazilian shirt in a predominantly Mexican campus was "racist."

 

In addition to riding horses, another one of his only safe havens was acting. He started studying theater during his sophomore year in high school, and that’s right there when his acting career started. If he weren’t an actor, he would probably like to direct or screen-write.

 

Rafa now attends CSUN as a freshman after taking a 2-year gap from school, following his high school graduation in 2012 to work. Before he was even approached by a producer at the San Fernando Mall for this show, Rafa was laid off from his retail job at a local Rite Aid by 2013, and had struggled to find a job elsewhere, ANYWHERE, since then. And like many people who were constantly rejected, Rafa was ready to give up. He was aware that by joining this show, he was stepping into a cast of an already-established friend group (which he later realizes is a fake friend group). And he dreaded that because he always hated being the new guy. But at the time, he had nothing to lose.

 

Shortly after filming starts for FBSF, the still-unemployed Rafa makes a life-changing decision during the last 15 minutes of Episode 3: he finally comes out to his family. They all sit down together in the living room of their home and he tells them he wasn’t being honest with them because he has hidden from them that he is gay. And they stood up and started hugging him, and accepted him immediately. Via confessional, Rafa admits, “That was the first time I said it out loud,” and lets out a tear when discussing this.

 

He has been going to therapy for many years throughout his life for depression and anxiety.

 

But since Season 1, Rafa's main arc has always been his desire to be accepted for who he is, not in spite of who he is.

 

And we see him literally live his life in front of the camera. He is showing us his love for acting and riding horses, and is searching/applying for jobs. We see him acting in various short films made for school and local film festivals, and we even see him working on-set and on-stage. We also see him showcase his skills as a dancer, an equestrian (which plays an important part in Rafa's emotionally grounded personality), and a Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner at the Mission Hills-based Phenom Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu & Mixed Martial Arts.

 

It's also because of Rafa that viewers get to see the San Fernando City life from the perspective of a Brazilian immigrant. You would think that the other main cast members would share their experiences exploring in/around San Fernando, but nope. Not even the *MEXICAN-American* David shares his experiences as a Sylmar resident who frequently visits the city.

 

And after Rafa was cast on this show for his authenticity and his fantastic knowledge of the City of San Fernando (because he has been living there since he was 13 years old, unlike the rest of the main cast who moved to/near the city when they were legally adults), he was told immediately that he could be the one missing puzzle piece for this show because everybody else (minus Jason) is boring, doesn’t want to share their experiences as San Fernando/Sylmar residents, didn’t grow up in the City, and doesn’t seem to know or understand the City itself.

 

And that is exactly why in the opening scene of Episode 2, Rafa’s first appearance is with his best friend Alastair Patton, and they are both getting their haircuts at the Town Barber Shop (which they had already planned to do that day prior to Rafa getting scouted), while talking about Rafa’s continued quest to find a job (the fact that Rafa was very honest about not having a job (besides this show) was probably the most authentic introduction that any reality show cast member has ever had). We even see Rafa confiding in theatre classmate and future cast member Calvin Seabrooks (an African-American and Mexican-American comedian, singer and actor) about not getting along with the Enrique’s friend group in Episode 5, while they are grocery shopping at the local El Super. And in Episode 7, he is talking to his older brother Dominic about something that Dominic heard in the grapevine (about David spreading the word about Jason cheating on Christian; "Look bro... I don't exactly like Jason either... but I also think that David may be looking for trouble, like he wants Jason to react. Just... be careful, okay?" Dominic says to Rafa) while sitting at the Cesar E. Chavez Memorial Park. By simply living his life on-screen, Rafa literally (and unintentionally) became our tour guide for the City of San Fernando.

 

But just because Rafa loves the history and culture of San Fernando City, doesn't make him any less Brazilian. In fact, we also get invited into the Brazilian culture via the Silva family. In a small town that has often invalidated Rafa's Brazilian identity, Rafa became the poster child for staying true to who you are, no matter what.

 

Also, the Silvas seem to have an overlooked yet very special gift of foreshadowing things. His mom Lorena Silva once said to Rafa in Episode 2 that one day Rafa may have to do more than just scold a future boss. And in Episode 4, his dad Ricky Silva said to Rafa, “Son, that’s a lot of people. How are you going to remember everyone’s name?” Heck, even Dominic’s belief that David wants Jason to react was foreshadowing. Interestingly, Rafa's accusation of the group not liking each other and his suggestion that they get help is perhaps the most iconic foreshadowing from Rafa himself. But the evidence that they don't like each other doesn't end up occurring until Season 3 - when he's not around to see B&S mostly fall apart.

 

It's really cool that people behind the scenes saw something special in Rafa. BUT it can be argued that he was set up (most likely by Enrique) to fail. He was much younger than the rest of the cast - barely 20 years old - and therefore still treated like a kid.

 

Socially, the B&S guys do not like Rafa, especially Jason who finds Rafa to be too soft and dull (interestingly, that's how his parents and brother feel about Christian). Therefore, Jason's personal slave Estuardo proceeds to call Rafa “worthless” via flashcard and fails to accept accountability for his part. And there's only so much Rafa can say to Enrique because Enrique is the self-proclaimed "boss" (sure, Enrique), so he never really bothers engaging with Enrique throughout their time on the show together, until the season finale which takes place at James’ Restaurant breakfast from Hell. And the Alexes (Alex Caceres and Alex Paredes) are just forgettable non-personalities to Rafa. It gets to a point where Rafa literally forgets who Alex Paredes is until Alastair hilariously reminds him during the Season finale when Rafa and Alastair enter James’ Restaurant (Rafa whispering to Alastair: "Wait, who's that again?"/ Alastair rolls eyes, giggles, and whispers back: "Alex Paredes." / Rafa whispering: "Oh okay, thanks."). Such a cute Rafa moment lol. Hell even at the Cesar E. Chavez Memorial Park (Episode 7), after discussing David and Jason, Rafa talks about the rest of the cast minus Alex P. Dominic literally has to let Rafa know that he left out Alex P ("Wait *laughs* isn't there another Alex in the group?" Rafa’s reaction: "😳😨 Oh, um. Yeah. Um... Alex... some...thing." And Dominic says while laughing, "Alex Paredes," to which Rafa says, "Right, whatever. Him.")  

 

The only reason Rafa remembers Alex Caceres (kind of…) is because he's just Jason's brother and Christian's brother-in-law, and nothing else.

 

Speaking of which, in Episode 4, at a mixer hosted by Enrique (who proves to be a pretty bad host), we see that Rafa is the only cast member who actually gets along with Christian. This bothers Jason, which is so ironic given what he's allegedly been doing behind Christian’s back. And what Jason fails to accept as the truth (but thankfully the footage was shown) is that Christian and Rafa literally don't talk about Jason (or his marriage to Christian), and they're not flirting with each other. They're literally talking about life, fashion, outdoor activities, acting, their experiences as non-Mexicans in the City of San Fernando and attending San Fernando High School (Christian attended from 2007 to 2011 and Rafa attended from 2008 to 2012). They both recall seeing each other around many times in the halls of the VPA Academy and being too shy to really go beyond saying hi to each other at the time. And what really seals the deal for Jason is that Christian, a fellow Cuban-American, who – like the Brazilian Rafa – has had his share of racism and being othered (and the only onscreen Jason-adjacent person) in the City, allows himself to get to know Rafa as a Brazilian immigrant in the very Mexican City of San Fernando. Jason sees this as a personal betrayal, which is kind of stupid because Jason and Rafa are not friends, and Christian was not trying to cheat on him.

 

When Jason confronts Rafa about this outside Enrique's house, Christian bravely defends Rafa, admitting to Jason, "I approached Rafa, because I wanted to talk to him. I recognized him from high school, and just wanted to get to know him. I don't have a lot of friends, and this is a mixer. We should be free to talk to whoever we wanna talk to." Jason doesn’t believe this, and sticks with his belief that Rafa wanted to steal his man, which leads Rafa to say, "You know what, Jason? If you're really that paranoid, just watch the footage and you'll see that you're dead-ass wrong." And immediately a producer shows Jason footage of Christian and Rafa’s conversation, and... even though he won't show it, he felt dumb. All he could say was, "Oh. Well, alright." Rafa and Christian look at him with an expression that can only be seen as "We're waiting," to which Jason says, "Okay, I'm sorry! Damn." And Rafa and Christian say in unison, "Thank you," which makes them look at each other in shock by the unison and trying not to chuckle. Interestingly, Jason doesn't forbid Christian to see or talk to Rafa again, but he still doesn't trust Rafa, and sees him as a threat to his and Christian’s marriage. "You gotta watch out for the boring ones," Jason says via confessional. But was he referring to Rafa as the boring one, or Christian? Hard to say, knowing how Jason's brain works. And the fact that Jason sees Rafa as a threat to his and Christian’s marriage is very ironic and hypocritical given what we observe and learn, the more we get to know Jason during his duration on the show.

 

If Rafa and Christian *did* receive pushback for their friendship from viewers, it's because many haters see it as Rafa being messy and Christian being two-faced, when really, all the two "boring" guys are doing is coming together and getting along, laughing, officially connecting after crossing paths in high school, having a nice stress-free conversation, pretty much forgetting (or perhaps not caring) that one is an Amigo (and associated with someone – David – who was rude to Christian in Episode 1, leading to Christian to immediately snap at the guy) and the other is married to a bully/snob (who is very mean to Rafa and hardly defends Christian against Christian’s in-laws). They don’t even talk about each other’s alliances.

 

As of this season, Rafa is the only Amigo that Christian dared approach, and as we'll see in the future seasons that they never stopped interacting or being friends, but are nonetheless very careful, keeping most of their interactions to a minimum (unfortunately) because of Jason. If there’s one thing that both Rafa and Christian respect better than the B&S crew, it’s boundaries. Still, the fact that Rafa was able to get along with someone that audiences would consider B&S-adjacent, and Christian was able to do the same with a fan-dubbed Amigo is quite the accomplishment if ever I’ve seen one!

 

Rafa doesn't really engage with the Bullies & Snobs until he has to. You can only avoid them for so long when you're a full-time cast member.

 

But it's actually during the solo scenes after choosing to disengage with the B&S that we see that he's also an equestrian at home, and fools around with his theater class at CSUN.

 

In Episode 11, during the latter half of the season, his theater class is doing improv raps which look like so much fun. It's actually during the improv rap scene that we see another cameo appearance from classmate and future cast member Calvin Seabrooks. Rafa sucks at rapping (according to Rafa himself), but he has a great time, and Calvin is cheering him on, which helps Rafa be less nervous and more comfortable. He's really in his element in his class, showcasing his acting, comedic timing, and ability to act out words. "The class definitely showed me that I don’t have to be perfect at everything, and that my passion and love for the arts always outweighs imperfection," Rafa says via confessional.

 

To viewers' shock, the only main cast member who seems to like Rafa is David, and miraculously they hit it off very quickly when they first meet in Episode 2, so Rafa is not on an island alone. Their friendship becomes one of the FEWEST positive highlights of the season. And the addition of Rafa's friend since high school - Alastair - helps Rafa feel more at ease in the cast for the time being.

 

In Episode 3, David admits to Rafa that even he's shocked that Rafa took a liking to him, saying, "Normally, I'm known for having a smart mouth, and this group is super mean, so I wasn't sure you'd wanna take a chance with any of us." And Rafa says, "Well I will say that you're very unpredictable," leading to David's shocked "Oh, for real?" And Rafa says, "And I mean that as a compliment, I promise 🙏🏿."

 

"David and Rafa are buddies? Well, hopefully David treats him right," says Jason (sarcastically) via confessionals (Season 1 Episode 3).

 

If anyone on the show withered the storm better than anyone else, it was Rafa. He has the honor of being the main focus during the majority of the Season Finale (Episode 17), especially during the last 15 minutes; first with his dragging of the group’s overall dynamic at James' Restaurant (can't wait to talk about that), and later applying for a job in the Sylmar-based Monteverde Ranch Equestrian Center (as suggested by Alastair's fiance Zachary Garcia, who ironically is deathly afraid of horses lol).

 

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So, about that “worthless” comment…

 

In Episode 1, the bullies and snobs were not impressed by David’s defensive attitude. Therefore, in Episode 2, they were not looking forward to meeting Rafa, who sounded like a boring person to be around, according to Jason who recalls seeing “that country kid” at a bus stop reading a pamphlet about therapy; “I mean, if you’ve seen the way he looks, and dresses… shit, you would be depressed, too,” Jason says via confession in Episode 2. And if Jason doesn’t like someone… you guessed it! Neither does anyone else in his clique, especially that spineless Estuardo.

 

After Enrique, Jason, Alex C, Alex P, Estuardo, and David meet Rafa for the first time and get a feel for him, it’s very clear to anyone with common sense that the Bullies & Snobs are very judgmental towards Rafa, with Jason being the harshest in his confessional. Meanwhile, David is more intrigued by and curious about Rafa. So, Enrique decides that everyone should come into his house so they can all do some… group activity (?) with his life coach. Who the hell died became Enrique’s life coach (although to be fair, after looking back, he does need help)? It just felt like a setup. I can see why Jason looks up to Enrique.

 

The female life coach suggests that each cast member write an adjective in a flashcard to describe each costar and put it in a box (each box has a cast member’s first and last name). Of course, the B&S group wrote positive adjectives towards each other (positive ≠ honest), and the life coach reads them out herself.

 

But when she got to David and then Rafa, the vibe was different. She was clearly bracing herself.

 

The words to describe David were

 

· Passionate – Rafa Silva

 

· Ghetto – Enrique Sapene

 

· Dramatic – Estuardo Alvizures

 

· Immature – Alex Paredes

 

· Hideous – Jason Caceres

 

· Annoying – Alex Caceres

 

And the words to describe Rafa were

 

· Authentic – David Ty Reza

 

· Passive – Enrique Sapene

 

· Sneaky – Alex Paredes

 

· Questionable – Alex Caceres

 

· Boring – Jason Caceres

 

· Worthless – Estuardo

 

David has heard worse, but Rafa was hurt, not that he was trying to show it. David with his charisma (who knew that David was a charismatic gayngsta?) tries to soften the blow and tell Rafa that he is not worthless, and nobody deserves to be called that.

 

The life coach ends up putting Estuardo on blast, revealing that it was him who wrote “worthless,” (ooooohhh, BUSTED!) and Estuardo is COMPLETELY caught off guard and wouldn’t explain why he called Rafa such a word, stuttering, "Look I-I'm sorry Rafa, but... I don't think this is the time or- or place--" Rafa cuts him off, “Make time,” which shocks everyone, even Estuardo.

 

"The boring kid's got balls. I stand corrected," says Jason via confessional, almost in shock.

 

And Estuardo gives the big speech about how he doesn’t have a lot of gay friends because a lot of them can be messy, and blah blah blah (if only he knew at the time what his so-called friends have been saying about him since the sizzle reel). And Rafa cuts him off again: “That has nothing to do with me. Now focus. Stick. To. The subject.” Estuardo is just speechless by Rafa's cold response, going, "I'm-- eh *sighs*," before holding his hands up in defeat, completely giving up at that point, and silently saying, "I don't know. I'm sorry. Never mind."

 

David says not-so-quietly, "Well that was typical," which causes Estuardo to give him a dirty look.

 

"This is what happens when you use Jason as your personal brain. If you can't even think for yourself, zip it," David says via confessional.

 

Yeah… whatever potential Estuardo had based on the sizzle was nowhere to be seen throughout the WHOLE season. Rafa was certainly not impressed with any of the B&S brats.

 

But what we the viewers realize from the end of Episode 2 is that Rafa is indeed a nice person until you cross him, a lesson that many villains learn in the future.

 

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Rafa's best friend, 22-year-old Alastair Patton joins FBSF as the show’s second friend-of. We meet him in Episode 2 when he and Rafa are getting their haircuts at the Town Barber Shop. And in Episode 3, after learning from Rafa about the life coach "worthless" incident, and how judgmental most of the cast is, Alastair makes it a point to join Rafa on this journey, officially making himself a friend-of without needing to audition or be scouted. Enrique would never allow such a thing to happen! But this is not really his show. ANYMORE. And frankly, Alastair couldn't care less because Enrique is NOT his boss, something that Alastair has no problem reminding Enrique.

 

Recently retired from the army, the Mexican-born Alastair shares with us his experiences with always having to leave his family and his friends.

 

Alastair (a fellow immigrant himself) grew up in the Federal District of Mexico. His family moved to Texas when he was only 15 years old. He has two older sisters and a younger one and has always been very close with his family. But don't worry, his family does NOT get involved in his relationship with his fiancé, 20-year-old Zachary Garcia. At age 17, he and his family eventually moved to the City of San Fernando in the year 2009 ahead of his Senior Year in San Ferando High School where he joined the CTE Academy (Career Technical Education) and graduated with the Class of 2010. Shortly after the beginning of the Fall 2009 semester, he met his Sophomore best friend 15-year-old Rafa, and the two instantly clicked, and became inseparable, like brothers. Their friendship would become one of the most important for the show going forward. They always stayed in touch when Alastair was in the army, and Alastair would visit as much as he could. What Alastair doesn’t reveal until next season is how much of a mental toll the army took on him. But until then, what ends up being a symbol for Alastair is his dog tags that he wears around his neck for good luck, which you wouldn’t expect from someone who grew up in a devout Christian family. But for Alastair, who’s a progressive liberal Christian, his dog tags were his only best friends during a time in his life when he could no longer trust anyone in the army.

 

Alastair reminisces about the first time he saw Zachary Garcia, a Tejano who (unlike Alastair) is NOT fluent in Spanish. In 2013, (after Alastair's exit from the Army) “Zach had such a magnetism when I looked him up on Instagram, and so I followed him right away.”

 

Zach also followed Alastair and they started “liking” each other’s pictures, which led to a private message, and an in-person meeting after Zachary (who wanted to move to Los Angeles anyway for better job opportunities) moved to the City of San Fernando for work and an education. They decided to become official boyfriends when they met and never looked back. Were they moving a little fast? Maybe. But nonetheless, they got to know each other as they were dating, so it worked out regardless.

 

Alastair has always been Rafa’s guardian angel since 2009 and really helps Rafa be less miserable in the group. And manages to get along with David quite well. And a new trio of sorts has formed, and fans dub them the 3 Amigos.

 

We get to see Alastair's relationship with future husband Zachary Garcia (who sometimes refers to Alastair as “daddy,” “papi” or the more popular "Big Daddy Al," and is hardly comparable to Christian Gabriel Lopez-Caceres, because Zachary is Alastair's rock, not a forced babysitter – sorry Christian, I like you though), which becomes another highlight in addition to scenes that Alastair, Rafael and David have together, individually, and/or 2 at a time.

 

And Alastair (who was made aware by Rafa in Episode 3 of how mean and judgmental the B&S crew was to Rafa) has his good eye on those damn bullies, especially Enrique, who Alastair never treats like a boss or EP, calling him a bitch at the reunion (Episode 18).

 

Yeah, Alastair makes it crystal clear (in the most quotable moment possible) to Enrique during the reunion that he is not buying the EP act; never mind the journalism part: “You want me to bow down to you, you want me to be scared of you, and you wanna keep saying, ‘This is my show, this is my show, this is my show.’ Bitch, sit down. You may have the EP title for whatever reason, but it’s only a VANITY title, honey. You don’t write our checks. You don’t pay our bills. You do not have the authority to hire or fire anyone. And I approve this message, damn it.” Every cast member, and host Ross Matthews are shocked by Alastair's (arguably iconic) monologue, and Enrique is LIVID. And the two would have quite a volatile dynamic throughout their time on “Enrique’s show.”

 

Buuuuuuut, because of his already-established history with Rafa, we're not supposed to like Alastair at all. You know, if we were that dumb to be on the side of the Bullies & Snobs. At least Estuardo still has THAT in common with the rest of B&S.

 

Speaking of, throughout a large chunk if the season, Estuardo constantly harasses Alastair because in the end of Episode 3, when Estuardo is trying to be his typical mean girl self, Alastair calls Estuardo something that literally every viewer thought: "Estuardo, you are a heartless moron." As a result, many viewers continue to refer to Estuardo as a heartless moron to this day and he HATES it.

 

But back to the show: even Alastair was tired of the constant attacks from Estuardo, so much so that on Episode 15, while the cast is on a trail walk through the Pacoima Wash Natural Park (renamed Cindy Montañez Natural Park in September 2023), Estuardo and Alastair nearly got into it, FACE. TO. FACE. With Alastair confidently asking, “What are you gonna do to me? Huh? What the fuck are you going to?” But luckily, David and Rafa were there to break it up. Most viewers agree that the intimidated Estuardo would've lost that match. “You may be from Boston, but I’m a veteran for life, understand?” Alastair says to Estuardo.

 

And it becomes clear that Alex P absolutely despises Alastair, but it’s never clear why (outside of Alastair's close friendship with the group's mortal enemies Rafa and David, which is such a biased reason), because that would require us to actually get to know SOMETHING – ANYTHING – about Alex P. No wonder Rafa forgets who Alex P is.

 

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Early in Episode 4, Enrique invites David to a sit-down at Truman House Brewing. And it’s… quite sad. Like, DAMN, Enrique.

 

Enrique cuts to the chase and says, “I just wanna make something perfectly clear so that we’re on the same page: I brought you into this show, but that doesn’t mean we’re friends.”

 

David simply says, “Okay. Noted.”

 

Enrique continues, “And you really need to work on your attitude because the way you behaved at my birthday party was absolutely unacceptable, and you know it.”

 

David is bothered that Enrique won’t take responsibility for the fact that he and Jason started that, and says, “Excuse me, you and Jason were the ones who decided to talk shit about how I’m living. I don’t play that shit. If you mess with me, I will give you the same energy. Believe that.”

 

Enrique is over David’s defensive delivery, saying “Seriously, David? If you can’t take a joke, that’s on you,” to which David says, “That’s not no joke, Enrique. Stop it.”

 

Enrique: “Okay, we’re not even on the same level David. I will not put up with your antics or your bullshit. It’s obvious that you’ve always wanted to be me.”

 

In shock, David asks, “I wanna be you?” And Enrique says, “Yeah, you do. You do. Meanwhile, you are down here *lowers his left hand*, and I’m way up here *raises his right hand*. And that’s how it’s always gonna be.”

 

David is offended by this and insists to Enrique, “Enrique, the only person who wants to be like you is Jason. I ain’t trying to be your friend, I ain’t trying to kick it with you, I ain’t trying to fuck your husband. You’re a non-factor to me, you know what I’m sayin’?”

 

Enrique responds, “So why did you reach out to me?”

 

David, shaky voice and all, confesses, “Because… I needed your help. I wasn’t doing much in Compton and I needed a fresh start.”

 

Enrique throws the infamous accusation, “Oh, so you used me, okay. I got it.”

 

David reminds Enrique, “Enrique, you’re the one who reached out to me on Facebook about this show, so you started it.”

 

Enrique: “You didn’t have to take the offer, especially since I’m a non-factor.”

 

David is struggling to argue back but says, “Every job has assholes. You can’t avoid them forever.”

 

Enrique: “That’s true. But you also have the power to turn me down. And you didn’t. And for 13 years, you’ve always needed me. So just own it, David. Because it seems to me like you need this job more than it needs you.”

 

David has glassy eyes and says to Enrique, "Bitch… you a real piece of work."

 

Enrique says with a sinister smile, "Sure, David. Let's go with that. But remember this: you need me. You always have, for 13 years and counting. I'm always gonna help you because no one else will, or you'd still be struggling to find work in Compton. We wouldn't be caught dead being friends with each other. But I'll always be the main man that you need, whether you like it or not, Mr. Reza."

 

David looks defeated and just calmly says, "Okay, fine."

 

Enrique, "Uh-huh. So, I'll leave you alone to think about what I just said. God bless you."

 

David says nothing and stares down at the table, visibly upset. And now you know why he doesn’t go to Enrique’s mixer later that same episode. And it’s also why David mostly avoids Enrique for the rest of the season, even though he just said and I quote, “Every job has assholes. You can’t avoid them forever.” Walking contradiction, but I get it. David does not have it in him talk to Enrique the way he would talk to Jason because… he sees Enrique as superior and powerful (not that David will ever admit that).

 

---

 

About that Tidal Wave Trilogy...

 

ROUND ONE

 

Since Episode 1, there was always tension between Jason and David over David's living situation. And in Episode 7, we find out from Rafa’s brother Dominic during his talk with Rafa at the Cesar E. Chavez Memorial Park that David claimed that he saw Jason with another man recently, and that Jason was cheating on Christian with this man multiple times. There were already rumors within the city’s gay community that Jason "got around" which Jason denies and Christian doesn't believe (or at least to the viewers, he doesn't WANT to believe), and when Jason finds out from Alex C that David was making this latest accusation and spreading the word on Grindr, Jason is pissed wants to kill David.

 

Accompanied by his brother Alex C, Jason confronts David who is hanging out with Rafa and Alastair at Carrillo's Tortilleria, a major staple restaurant in the City of San Fernando. Rafa and Alastair are already aware of what David was saying, with Alastair saying to David, "Dude, you are literally stepping into the lion's den." When Jason and Alex C show up with Jason saying, "So I hear you been spreading lies about me, bitch," David is blindsided by this but owns it by saying, "Yeah. Yeah I did. And guess what I was doin' a lot of folks on Grindr a huge favor by warning them about you." After denying that he cheats and gets around, Jason deflects by accusing David of wanting him; "You're just doing this because you wanted me and I rejected you." David's response: "I DON'T WANT YOUR CRAZY ASS! WHAT THE HELL YOU TALKIN' ABOUT?!"

 

Jason says, “Oh really? You could've fooled me,” to which David insists, "I CERTAINLY don't wanna be with a cheater, bruh. Ain't you engaged?" Jason: "Yes, I am engaged, something that *you* will never be!"

 

Rafa notices people staring at them, which makes him very uncomfortable.

 

David hits a nerve when he says, "I'm surprised Chris is even engaged with your smug smug ass. You don't even give a fuck about him, man."

 

When Jason mutters, "You know what?" and walks forward to David, both Rafa and Alastair try to calm both of them down, but Alex C makes things worse by tag-teaming Jason. David shuts Alex C down real quick by saying, "Yo, Alex. You ain't even in this, man. This is me and him." Jason says, "Don't talk to my brother like that, you fuckin’ puto!” which warrants a gasp from Rafa. Jason continues to say, “At the end of the day, this shit is your fault! You're the one spreading lies, you fuckin’ fraud!"

 

And as David says the one thing you should NEVER say: "So you gon’ do something about it?!"

 

Jason happily DOES do something: while he is yelling to David, "I WILL FUCKIN' DO SOMETHING, BITCH!" he throws Pepsi in David's face, and throws the cup at his head.

 

And before Jason could go any further than that PHYSICALLY, Rafa and Alastair pull David back, with Rafa shouting at Jason "WOAH WOAH WOAH" and Alastair saying "HEY HEY HEY, OK OK OK", and a worn-out Jason says to Alex C, "You know what, that actually felt good enough. I think we're done here. Come on, Alex."

 

And as they're about to leave, David (who has barely finished wiping his face) stands up and shouts to Jason, "BITCH, I'MA FIND YOU IN THE STREETS!" Jason turns around and says: "FIND ME YOU FUCKIN’ FAGGOT!" David: "YOU BETTER NOT COME OUT YOUR HOUSE, YOU PUNK!"

 

Alastair is laughing and saying under his breath, "Oh my God," and Rafa is just in shock and so speechless that all he can say is, "Wowww..."

 

ROUND TWO

 

After that crazy screaming match at Carrillo's Tortilleria, Jason decides to get back at David by basically going on Instagram and Twitter to BASH David and air out David's dirty laundry (aka make up shit about David), at one point calling him a "lonely and desperate old bum," and even threatening on IG to sue “the old hag” if he ever lies on him again. We find all of this out on Episode 9, during which Jason is absent the whole episode. But if one thing is true about David, it's that he was smart to screenrecord opening the apps of IG and Twitter to open the threatening and disparaging messages. Yes, he also took screenshots, but everyone does that. Almost no one thinks to screenrecord, which is an even more effective. He's the reason why I screenrecord it to this day.

 

It's not until Episode 11 that David decides to confront Jason about this once and for all. And this time, it's just the two of them in person, no one else. Jason meets David at a picnic table at the San Fernando Recreation Park and Aquatic Center, and does his usual, "Hey babe, how you doing?" David doesn't play that shit, and he just cuts to the chase.

 

Jason: "Damn... why you look so pissed off? Someone took your imaginary boyfriend?"

 

David: "I have a better question: when have I ever attacked you online?"

 

Jason: "Well, lying on me via Grindr counts, as far as I'm concerned."

 

David: "Well since then, have you been DM'ing me?"

 

Jason: "No."

 

David: "Have you been posting disparaging shit online about me?"

 

Jason: "Nope."

 

David: "Well that's not according to what I have found and kept as receipts."

 

Jason: *Annoyed and Confused* "Excuse me?"

 

David: "Yeah, that's right. I recorded and took screenshots of everything you said to me, ya dumb bitch."

 

In his confessionals, Jason denies saying these vicious things about David, even though it came from his ONLY IG and Twitter accounts. He doesn't even try to say that someone else was using his account (which is always a possibility, to be fair). So because he talks a lot of crap and lies A LOT, it's easy to believe that it was him. Of course it was him, but he will take that to his grave, honey! "Shame on him to think that I would do that. Not that he doesn't deserve it. 😈 "

 

David: shows the printed receipts to Jason "I printed everything you said to me, so you can save your lies for your minions! And by the time this scene airs, you’ll already be exposed! EXPOSED, ya dumb bitch!"

 

Jason: calm yet sinister and unbothered “I know what I said, ya old hag. And now that I think about it, I just might sue you.”

 

Fans clocked that quote immediately and said, “Wait a minute. Does that mean that you DID say those things about David, or not? WHICH IS IT?!” Classic Jason – the Master of Confusion. And he does it so effortlessly.

 

David: “Wha – so – what? What's the point of all this?! I’ve never attacked you!”

 

Jason: “You did when you call me a cheater, dumbass!”

 

David: “You know what? You are wasting my time right now.”

 

Jason: “You wasted my time by existing! Why don’t you do what you normally do and go hide behind Alastair and Rafa!”

 

David: "Well, let me tell you something: at least I don't hide behind a keyboard or a cellphone! That's what you do! I deal with problems head-on! THAT'S the fuckin' difference between me and you *throws his water from a bottle at Jason's face * you stupid bitch! *Gets up from his seat and shouts* TRY ME IF YOU WANT TO! TRY ME IF YOU FUCKING WANT TO! THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH TV, YOU UNDERSTAND ME?! I WILL FUCKING TAKE YOU DOWN, BITCH! ALRIGHT? JUST TRY ME! YOU’RE LUCKY I’M NOT GONNA SUE YOUR ASS, ‘CAUSE YOU AIN’T GOT SHIT!"

 

Jason: *gets up from his seat, and nonchalantly says* “Well hey, babe, I have way more than you ever will. And when you find out it’s not me, then what? Whatchu gonna do?”

 

The fans yelled at their screens saying, “Jason, MAKE UP YOUR MIND! Did you or did you not say those things about David?”

 

David: “You better stop with those mind games, man. You know EXACTLY what you’re doing, okay?”

 

Jason: “Alright so whatchu gonna do? Call Rocky and them to whoop my ass, Mr. “I’m from Compton”? I ain’t scared you.”

 

David: “I AIN’T SCARED OF YOU! You da one who SHOULD be scared!”

 

Jason: “Men from Compton don’t throw drinks, old man!”

 

David: “Alright, you know what? I’m done here. You can do whatever the fuck you want. You are the biggest slut in San Fernando and everyone knows it, okay? Even your own fucking fiancé no matter how much he don't wanna believe it.” *walks away and mutters* “Fuck outta here with your lies, boo.”

 

Jason: *dries his face off* “Whew. Well, that was a waste of time. I wonder what my hubby’s up to right now.” *evil chuckle*

 

ROUND THREE

 

David and Jason would not stop throwing jabs at each other at the reunion, which was thankfully only one part because the season had gone on LONG ENOUGH.

 

David: “I ain’t even gonna talk to you no more, ‘cause you are not worth a DAMN, honey.”

 

Jason: *talks to Enrique* “Mm-mm-mm, he’s gonna talk to me again just watch. Thirsty ass…”

 

David: “No, your whole FAMILY is thirsty.”

 

Jason: *chuckles to Enrique* I rest my case.

 

David: "That’s why your own brother wasn’t invited to the reunion. Okay? Remember that. Ya lucky that Christian’s even here at all. Just pray to God that you’ll be back next season, okay?”

 

Jason: “I thought you said you were gonna stop talking to me. Yet I contradict myself, right? Right?”

 

David shuts up after that, and gives the “talk to the hand” signal.

 

Moments later, the cast is taking a break backstage when Jason sneaks up behind David (who was minding his own business) and deliberately spills a pitcher of water on his head, shocking David who now has soaking wet clothes. He is livid, but decides FOR ONCE to just take the high road and just get himself dried up and change into a spare pair of clothes (same type of outfit) that he brought just in case. Child, at least he was smart enough to do that. But after everyone sat back down on their seats, he did say one more thing to Jason after getting redressed, “Watch your back, Jason.” Okay, so maybe the "high road" was short-lived? Lord, have mercy. 

 

TIDAL WAVE VERDICT

 

So, did Jason win that Tidal Wave match? As much as I hate to admit it… yes. He absolutely did.

 

However… he did NOT win by likability; he only won by technicality.

 

Clearly Jason wanted it his way or the highway, and David just needed to admit defeat. Girl...

 

-----------------------------

 

Together, Jason and David are a rare example of "similarities don't attract." But when you don't notice it at all, it goes over your head. But in fact, Jason and David *do* indeed have a lot in common. They have charisma that contradicts their personalities. They never back down. And they are super reactive. They have plenty more in common, and we will know this, the longer they remain on the show. But it never brings them any closer together.

 

---

 

After the second Tidal Wave incident, something miraculous happens: Jason has been talking trash about Estuardo not having a backbone, which baffles Estuardo; “I thought we were friends, Jason.”

 

When Estuardo tries to talk to Rafa about this situation, Rafa’s response to him is, “And?” Estuardo is basically like, “Excuse me, I’m trying to be nice here, you don’t have to be an asshole.” Rafa’s response? “Well, what do you want me to say? You *DON’T* have a backbone, and your entire existence is worthless. Now, go away.” Oop! There goes that word “worthless” again! Normally, Rafa will listen to reason, but he will NOT listen to anyone who disrespects him. And we will see that, time and time again.

 

And Jason’s constant shit-talking about Estuardo causes Estuardo to reach his boiling point with Jason early in the Season Finale (Episode 17) when they along with Christian, Alex C, Alex P, Rafa, Alastair, David, and Enrique are all hanging out at Enrique’s backyard. Even Christian can't save Jason out if this one. But at least Jason's brother Alex Caceres will always have Jason's back; Alex C never liked Estuardo anyway.

 

And that’s Estuardo’s problem that nobody in the cast likes him. NO. BAH. DEE. You kinda wanna feel bad for the guy, but then you're immediately reminded of how cowardly and nasty he is.

 

Estuardo: YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID!

 

Jason: *talking over Estuardo* BABY, I AIN’T GOTTA MAKE *NOBODY* MY PARROT; THAT’S ON YOU, BOO! FLY AWAY!

 

While the two are yelling over each other, Rafa accidentally breaks the fourth wall when he rolls/crosses his eyes to the camera, pretty much wanting to get out of there.

 

Rafa via confessional: I have had it up to here with this group. They are so exhausting. I just want both of them shut up already. Today.

 

Estuardo: Be a man and tell what the fuck you said about me! Talkin’ about I have no backbone?!

 

Jason: You don’t.

 

Estuardo: And I don’t think for myself?!

 

Jason: You don’t!

 

Estuardo: *Stands up and walks to Jason but is immediately blocked by security* You never said it to my face! You don’t know what the fuck you’re dealing with, bitch! *tries to fight off security while still yelling at Jason* I WILL FUCK YOUR ASS UP, YOU HEAR ME?!

 

Alastair via confessional: *trying not to laugh* Ohhh shit. It’s about to go down now!

 

Estuardo: MOTHERFUCKER! I WILL FUCK YOUR ASS UP! *to the security* GET THE FUCK OFF ME *to Jason* I WILL FUCK YOU UP, BITCH!

 

The rest of the cast and Christian get up and move out of the way for their own safety

 

Rafa via confessional: *laughs* I feel like an awful person. I wanna feel bad for Estuardo. But they’re both horrible people, so… *laughs* whatever.

 

Estuardo: YOU WERE LIKE A BROTHER TO ME, YOU STUPID BITCH! *Jason walks back into the house unbothered as always* YOU’RE WHACK! YOU’RE WACK AS FUCK, YOU FUCKIN’ BITCH! HOW FUCKIN’ DARE YOU?!

 

Jason via confessional: If Estuardo wants me to be his worst nightmare, I will be that for him. Fuckin’ parrot. *evil laughs*

 

Estuardo: DO YOU KNOW HOW I FELT WHEN I HEARD WHAT YOU SAID? HUH?!

 

Estuardo via confessional: I really thought that he was my friend and would never do anything to hurt me. But when you are shamelessly talking crap about me, that just shows me who you are.

 

Estuardo: HOW FUCKIN’ DARE YOU?! *to Christian* YOUR HUSBAND’S A FUCKIN’ BUSTA!

 

Christian: Why are you yelling at me? I don’t have anythi-

 

Estuardo: ‘CUZ THAT’S YOUR HUSBAND AND YOU HAD A LOTTA SHIT TO SAY, TOO!

 

Christian: No I didn’t!

 

*everyone tries to break it up*

 

ESTUARDO: YES YOU DID, BITCH! YOU THINK I’M SCARED OF YOU?!

 

 

Christian: I don’t even know you like that! What is wrong with you?!

 

ESTUARDO: You know what?

 

Christian: Have another drink Estuardo. I don’t have time for your bullshit.

 

Rafa: *takes Christian out of the situation* Chris, come with me.

 

David via confessional: Jason is a fake-ass bitch. And he always will be. But Edgar – yeah, I said yor government name, bitch. You ain’t no better, okay. Grow some balls, and a backbone. And find Jesus on your way out. *rolls eyes* Girl, bye.

 

Christian: *to Estuardo* DROP DEAD, ESTUARDO! DON’T YOU EVER COME FOR ME!

 

*Estuardo tries to break free from security, but they won’t let him go.*

 

Rafa via confessional: Who does Estuardo think he is? Trying to get Christian involved, just because he’s just husband? Like, dude, leave him alone, and get over yourself.

 

*Rafa and Christian walk back into the kitchen*

 

Rafa: Chris, are you okay?

 

Christian: Oh, I’ll be fine… as soon as he *referring to Estuardo* leaves.

 

Rafa: Luckily, the security’s way ahead of you, dude.

 

 

-----------------------------------

 

The season finale (Episode 17) ended with all mains (minus Estuardo) and friend-ofs in James' Restaurant, a historic, family-owned diner in the City of San Fernando. What could've been a brunch from Hell (and it most certainly was, for the B&S crew) was eye-opening for viewers when Rafa - who was arguing with Enrique who was constantly cutting him off and talking down to him - said, "Alright you know what, Enrique? Don't talk to me like that, okay? I'm getting sick and tired of your big-ass mouth! SHUT UP!" bangs on table while he says, "big-ass mouth." Everyone on the table is shocked by Rafa's delivery ("Oof, go ahead Rafa!" - David via confessional), minus Alastair who says via confessional, "Rafa had all that he can take, and stunned Enrique says under his breath, "Whatever. I've nothing more to say to you. You win." In his confessional, Enrique says, "Are you kidding me? You're gonna attack me on my show? You have completely lost your mind, little boy." And then Rafa says the following to all the bullies and snobs, "I'm sorry, I know I'm new here, and my opinion doesn't matter to you guys, but I gotta say: whatever dynamic you guys have with each other is SO fucked up, it's not even funny. Y'ALL DON'T LIKE EACH OTHER! You talk so much shit about each other ALL THE TIME! But then all of a sudden, you're one big happy family when I show up, or David shows up, or Alastair shows up. And I'm the problem because I'm 'boring,' I'm the 'nice guy,' I'm 'quiet.' MEANWHILE, Y'ALL ARE FULL OF SHIT! Get help." With that, Rafa gets up and leaves the restaurant, and Alastair and David leave with him. And the rest of the table gets quiet...

 

------------

 

 

Season 1 Reunion Seating Chart

 

Left - Right:

 

Alex Paredes (fourth chair), Estuardo Alvizures (third chair), Enrique Sapene (second chair), Jason Caceres (first chair), Ross Matthews (HOST), Rafael L Silva (first chair), David Ty Reza (second chair), Alastair Patton [FRIEND-OF] (third chair)

 

The good thing about these reunions is that nobody has to dress all fancy. They can just show up in whatever makes them comfortable.

 

Rafa shows up like a cute country boy, in sneakers 🤭😄. David's all-black in a tank top, jeans, and converse. Alastair is wearing his dog tags and has a white t-shirt and grey sweatpants. Estuardo has on a Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts (uh, okay). Jason looks so preppy, like a gay Zack Morris. Alex P clothes are a mess, as if he woke up hungover; even his hair is a mess! And Enrique is wearing... a suit, making him the most overdressed. It's almost like Enrique FORGOT that Ross Matthews was the host.

 

The reunion was something crazy.

 

A truly underrated moment is when Jason says to Rafa, "You didn't like me calling you boring, did you? You are VERY exciting. I swear."

 

Rafa: YOU'RE WHOLE FRIEND GROUP IS BORING. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! I CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER... *points at Alex P*... THAT GUY'S NAME!

 

*Alastair and David burst out laughing, while Jason and Ross Matthews cover their mouths, not wanting to chuckle.*

 

Alex: *annoyed* My name is Alex.

 

Rafa: ALEX WHAT? THERE’S TWO ALEXES!

 

Alex: *more annoyed* Alex Paredes!

 

Rafa: And there's another problem: you and Alex Caceres have last names thay sound *WAY* too similar.

 

Alex: *yells at Rafa* What do you want me to do, Rafael? Change my last name.

 

Rafa: That would be helpful, thanks.

 

*Jason quietly chuckles and shakes his head*

 

Oh, Rafa.

 

--------------

Of course, Jason didn't get in trouble by production for saying "puto," an anti-gay slur towards Mexicans. But in the reunion, Rafa and Alastair call him out for it. 

And Jason's excuse is, "So what?! I'm Latin! Thousands of Latin people say the same shit and speak the same language. What's you gonna punish ALL OF US?"

Rafa says, "Brazilians don't speak Spanish," and Jason says, "Oh, my God, Rafa, I GET IT! You're Brazilian! You're not Mexican! You speak Portuguese! Now shut up!" 

Rafa hits him back with, "And you appropriate Mexican culture and fetishize South Americans, right?" 

And the audience lose it when Rafa says that!

I think at this point, Jason knows that he can't intimidate Rafa, but it’s not like he won't stop trying, even from a distance. The King of Confusion always has an ace up his sleeve, and that ace's name starts with the letter "A."

-------------

 

Another iconic moment during the reunion also came from Rafa.

 

After David's "Watch your back" delivery to Jason, Enrique brings up his disgust with Alastair’s "vanity title" insult, leading to a debate of who's the real reason that the show exists.

 

Ross Matthews asks the cast, "Well is there anyone on this stage who thinks they're the reason this show exists?"

 

Jason: Well I'm sure those 3 losers [*pointing to the 3 Amigos*] believe that they're the reason. But the truth is, I'M the reason

 

David: *to Jason* Well it ain't none of your friends [*pointing to Alex P, Enrique, and Estuardo*]. They brought nothing to the show. *NUH.THING*.

 

Enrique: Well I beg to differ. I created the show. I casted everybody for this show. And if it wasn't for me, there would be no Flaming Bros San Fernando, period.

 

Rafa: Um, you didn't cast me; I was scouted by a producer at the San Fernando Mall.

 

David: I'll admit, you brought me into the show. But don't even do shit on the show. You ain't even nothin' for me.  "

 

Alastair: I just showed up uninvited, so... *the audience laughs* ... it is what it is. 

 

Rafa: And your name is not on our checks; *to Ross Matthews* I brought one to show you if that's okay. *the audience is reacting out of shock and amusement*

 

Rafa ends up showing the check to Ross, and Ross (without the need to show to writes the check) confirms that Rafa and Alastair's claim against Enrique is true.

 

Ooh, poor Enrique. 🤣😅😭 His reaction to Rafa is just a death glare. Unfortunately, karma is a bitch and comes for Rafa next season, no thanks mainly to one Enrique.

 

------------

 

So yeah, already a jacked-up dynamic within our cast of young queer Latinx men. And while the B&S team are insufferable, and David is entertainingly a mixed bag, it's Rafa who is truly the most likable and essential cast member of the bunch. And if I had to give a bully/snob any credit for relevance, it would be Jason, without a doubt. At least he has an interesting storyline for a villain, which is more than I can say about most villains on this once-asinine show. But it ends up working against Jason, if David's cheating accusation is any indication.

 

I know one thing: without the dynamic known at this point as the "3 Amigos," especially Rafa, we would have no REAL reason to watch Season 1 of Flaming Bros San Fernando ⛈️ (or FBSF⛈️). They are the real stars this season. Jason is, too, but he’s just tolerable – barely.

 

Many people have acknowledged that the show doesn’t have a balance, and I agree.

 

And whether you thought Rafa was boring simply because he wasn't a bitch, a baddie, or a bully, you cannot deny that the show got better because of him. He took us into the world that is the City of San Fernando, while the rest of the main cast just happened to live their (or Sylmar, in David's case).

 

Even Alastair argues today that the show would've been canceled after Season 1 had Rafa not joined, and had the show not been largely told from Rafa's POV, especially as the season progressed. Yes, Enrique was the first person we met on the Season Premiere, but Rafa closed the Season Finale.

 

And viewers (especially trash TV purists) who dismiss Rafa as boring begin to see the consequences of nearly losing Rafa during Season 3 because of one OG's treatment towards him. Rafa may not fit the messy archetype, and he may want to be the lead, but lead or not, he's what many trashy reality shows fails to have: a protagonist.

 

Also, the diversity within the cast in Season 1 (2015) was still not perfect, but definitely better in comparison and contrast to that in the Sizzle Reel (2013), especially with Rafa being that bridge between Enrique’s non-Mexican friend group and the Mexican cast members (David & Alastair)

 

And poor Carlos Sapene didn't get a chance to at least be a friend-of, but given how to show turns out by Season 12, I'd argue that maybe the show was better off without Carlos. 🤭

 

Rafa being the unintentional tourist for the City of San Fernando (simply by just doing Rafa) is honestly the coolest and most adorable thing ever. It introduced even a bunch of locals of Los Angeles and SFV to a world that they had never noticed or heard of before Rafa's first appearance on the show.

 

And the fact that B&S found Rafa boring, while production found B&S boring? Amazing!

 

"Enrique's show," my tail!