Permission To Bully! Bethenny Frankel Named Producer Of ‘RHONY’ Season 8
Guess who has more power on The Real Housewives of New York?
Reportedly, Bethenny Frankel has been named as “an uncredited producer” for Season 8, and along with creator Andy Cohen, will call the shots on how “she is portrayed.”
“She is acting as a producer and if she doesn’t like you, you’re off the show,” one source close to production tells the NY Daily News. “You saw what happened with Kristen (Taekman) and Heather (Thomson). Bye-bye, see you later. She didn’t like them.”
One could point out that Bethenny doesn’t care for LuAnn “snake in the grass” de Lesseps, and she’s still there. So how much clout does she have?
The source explained, “It’s come down to what she talks about with her shrink in her therapy sessions that air. Last year she made the show do a contracted four sessions with her psychiatrist and the point was to soften her image and bring out the violins.”
During focus groups that were held to preview advance cuts of RHONY, viewers thought Bethenny was popular, but also “hard and tough and unapproachable,” which she wants to change.
Good luck with that, it’s hard to have it both ways. But one thing you can have is more money – if you wait to sign a contract with Bravo and earn flat fees per scene. Here’s how it works according to a source at Confidential.
“Ramona (Singer) signed for $20,000 a scene last year, and ended up making a lot more than she would have with a flat fee,” said the source. “She’s taking that deal again and she’ll end up making more. They control you four out of seven days a week for four months, so she makes a bundle. Especially since she is always on.”
The word is Bethenny will likely gain a $500,000 bump in pay for this season, an upgrade from her $1 million contract last season.
And lastly, the source is saying that a production memo has gone out to the women that Bravo is hoping to “keep it classy” this season.
Excuse me while I get up from the floor from laughing so hard. Bravo and “keep it classy” are words that don’t usually go together.
“They have asked the girls not to be disorderly in public, not only during filming, but off-camera too,” explained the insider. “Some of them have been known to get drunk and be carried home. They don’t want it anymore.”
However, it’s what the fans are used to, so why stop now? Sound off. Tell us what you think.
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I am so lucky to combine blogging with my guilty pleasure of watching reality TV. I read all the comments and respond to most. Feel free to reach out to me. If you like fiction, I have two published novels: Three Days in Purgatory and A Reason to Run.