While some people have tried to distance themselves from the divisions that come with a connection to President Donald Trump, Netflix’s new reality show embraces the ties that tie the series to Mar-a-Lago, using it as the ultimate status symbol.
Members Only: Palm Beachwhich premiered Monday, focuses on a group of women navigating the social hierarchies and private clubs of Florida’s wealthiest suburbs. Few clubs have more exclusivity and fame than Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, which has become synonymous with the state’s high-end social scene.
In the first episode, viewers meet Maria Cozamanis, who also goes by the name DJ Tumbles. Cozamanis tells some of the other women that she’s going to be a DJ at Mar-a-Lago next weekend for the “Wine, Women & Shoes” event. The annual event is a benefit for Big Dog Ranch Rescue and includes a celebrity dog fashion show.
In a confessional interview, Cozamanis noted that there are many ways to introduce people into Palm Beach society. Hers, she said, was “the back door to Mar-a-Lago as a DJ.”
“Her name is Tumbles and that worked in my favor. Sometimes people look down on me because I’m the DJ, but the funny thing is when they find out this bitch has money they look at me completely differently,” Cozamanis said.
But Cozamanis doesn’t just work at Mar-a-Lago. She posted on Instagram in June that she attended a celebration of Rosalyn Yellin’s birthday at Trump’s club. Yellin also recently helped organize the America First Gala Celebration at Mar-a-Lago, for which she serves as sponsorship chair.
Yellin makes frequent appearances at Mar-a-Lago and even posts photos with the president.
“It was a beautiful and elegant Halloween in Palm Beach. What an honor to spend Halloween @themaralagoclub [with] President of the United States of America,” Yellin posted on Instagram.
Cast member Romina Ustayev knew Yellin from her days in Pennsylvania, when Ustayev’s cousin took Zumba classes at Yellin.
“She went from Zumba to Mar-a-Lago,” Ustayev says on the show.
Ustayev begins her free time on the show by reflecting on how far she has come since childhood. She tells Kim Kardashian about her appearance, but said she didn’t “grow up sexy” and was made fun of for her bushy eyebrows.
“Thank God I look like Kim Kardashian now because I couldn’t go to Mar-a-Lago with those eyebrows,” Ustayev said during a confessional interview.
Viewers got a glimpse of Mar-a-Lago from actress Hilary Musser’s home, but those hoping to get an inside view of Trump’s exclusive club will be disappointed as the show was not allowed to film inside. However, Trump’s club is a source of drama on the show.
Ustyev’s clothing style is under scrutiny as it is inappropriate for the Mar-a-Lago social scene. When Yellin took Ustayev to the Red, White and Vogue event at Mar-a-Lago, she said Ustayev wore a dress she advised him against.
“The photo of us with the Marines went viral. People were saying what you were wearing was disrespectful to the Marines and the charity got in so much trouble,” Yellin said on the show.
The first episode sets the series up to follow Ustayev’s attempts to break into the Palm Beach social scene and Mar-a-Lago is used as the ultimate status symbol. After playing pickle ball, Cozamanis tells Ustayev that it’s not enough to “show up at Mar-a-Lago at night”, and says that Yellin cares most about his social status at Mar-a-Lago.
“Have you ever been invited to Mar-a-Lago by Rosalyn on a normal day where she can invite you as a guest?” asks Cozamanis. “These lunches, she invites her ‘real friends’, she invites you when there is a ticket to buy and you buy your place at the table.”
Taja Abitbol, one of the main cast members of the series, spent years going to Mar-a-Lago. Although not a member herself, she has ringed in the New Year there before, attended events and weddings, and her husband, former Yankees pitcher David Cone, has participated in Trump’s golf tournaments.
Abitbol, whose son attended the same school as the president’s son Barron Trump, previously said News week that politics hasn’t hurt Mar-a-Lago’s popularity in Palm Beach. It’s still one of the most exclusive places and she said “everyone wants to be there.”
“I think since he became president, there is so much greater demand for Mar-a-Lago membership,” Abitbol said. “[The Trumps] It definitely added to the panache of all of Palm Beach and what I call the Fantasy Island lifestyle.
