The competition for a spot on The View is infamously tough. Now one almost host is spilling the tea on her audition!
In her new memoir, Love Me as I Am, Garcelle Beauvais did not hold back when writing about her experiences with the hosts at the time. Garcelle was asked to try out for the ABC series in 2015 after Rosie O’Donnell left, and of course, jumped on the opportunity! But while she may have been excited for the chance to live out her talk show host dreams at first, she confessed in the book that the test run was a terrible time, all thanks to the co-hosts! The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star recalled of Whoopi Goldberg:
“I was shocked and appalled to see how testy Whoopi was with the show’s producers. I was embarrassed and disappointed, to say the least. It was cringeworthy! Here I was the eager new kid in class and I ran smack dab into the reality of an uninviting workplace. There was a brief nonchalant recognition that I was the co-host up to bat that week. No greetings or welcoming niceties, just a hey and they continued on with the [top-of-the-morning] meeting [with producers]. Okay.”
Not exactly a warm welcome for her, it seems!
Related: Garcelle Leaves Andy Cohen STUNNED With Shady Sex Life Joke!
Although The Jamie Foxx Show alum believed she nailed her audition, she was not entirely sure since “nobody” said anything to her afterward — not even to provide some sort of feedback. She said:
“The energy was cold, unfriendly and standoffish. The atmosphere was so opposite to my friendly nature and definitely not what I had expected or hoped for.”
During the test taping, Garcelle felt like the other ladies “contradicted” everything she said, so she ended up changing her approach. Rather than immediately sharing her opinions on a topic, she “would just settle for piggybacking on whatever that said.” Man, that’s exactly what viewers like us don’t want to see! And anyway, the Bravo personality noted that approach backfired on her, too!
But the worst part about her experience? The 55-year-old claimed that Rosie Perez actually kicked her leg underneath the table in the middle of the conversation! As Garcelle describes it:
“It was a shut-the-f**k-up-bitch, you’re-talking-too-much signal kick!”
Whoa!
Later on, the two chatted off-camera where she claims Rosie actually admitted she struck her in order to get her to stop talking. What?! Garcelle said she was basically proud of it:
“‘Girl, you know, I just wanted you to know that you needed to be quiet. I thought you were gonna go on too long. You know, we have a system here and we know when the other one is about to talk. So I just wanted to stop you from talking too much.’”
Unsurprisingly, The Real host was stunned by the move, wondering:
“What kind of system is that where grown women kick each other like f**king mules? Was this a new type of morse code or something? GTFOOH!”
Has there been secret kicking going on all this time that we haven’t noticed?? Man, we need to rewatch some of those old Rosie Perez episodes…
Despite the less-than-favorable time on the show, Garcelle told Page Six that she and Whoopi have made up after recently reconnecting:
“I got reintroduced to Whoopi, and I think sometimes you don’t get a second chance like that. Sometimes you have to be open for a reintroduction. She’s an icon. And I get that. I would never take away from her in terms of what she was able to do in the industry way before a lot of us. So kudos to her for that.”
On whether or not she told Whoopi about this part of her book, she shared:
“Of course I addressed it with Whoopi. She didn’t remember. But I told her because I didn’t want to go into the film like I was bamboozling her. That’s not my thing. So it was important that she knew that was in my book. We’re all good now.”
As for Rosie? Garcelle revealed that she has not been in contact with the Birds of Prey actress since. Can’t say we blame her!
Are you surprised to hear it was this awful auditioning for the show? Drop your reactions to her confessions in the comments (below)!
[Image via The View/YouTube]
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