We know that cast shakeups are inevitable in the world of The Real Housewives, but there’s never been a shakeup quite like the one that happened on The Real Housewives of New York City. After season 4, they got rid of half of the cast, and it’s truly one for the books. Jill Zarin, Alex McCord, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, and Cindy Barshop all got the axe, clearing the way for Aviva Drescher, Carole Radziwill, and Heather “Holla” Thomson to enter the group. And in the new tell-all book, Not All Diamonds and Rosé: The Inside Story of the Real Housewives from the People Who Lived It, we’re getting some major tea about how some of the cast handled the show’s overhaul all of those years ago.
Dave Quinn, the book’s author, interviewed over a hundred Housewives and insiders to get loads of behind-the-scenes revelations. Looking back on the cast shakeup between seasons 4 and 5, Ramona Singer, of course, had something to say. As originally reported by the New York Post, Ramona told Andy Cohen amid the firings, “You have a lot of balls to fire half the cast.”
In the book, Andy also reveals that fashion icons Alex McCord and Simon van Kempen didn’t react well to being let go. They took it the hardest. Andy said, “[They] went for blood after we didn’t pick them up. They became incredible thorns in our side.” The Bravo boss continued, “Simon left his job and started a website called BravoRatings.com, where he analyzed our ratings. He would live-tweet Watch What Happens Live and troll my guests. It was a brilliant — albeit seemingly time-consuming and not at all profitable — way to try to get under our skin. Then Alex starts a vlog where she would critique episodes of New York Housewives and talk about areas where she thought that production had gotten involved. It was unprecedented. I’ve never seen anything like it since.”
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Starting a website called BravoRatings.com sounds eerily similar to spearheading an “I Hate Jill Zarin” blog. And no, BravoRatings.com is no longer active. Could you imagine if he was still running it?
Unfortunately for us, Alex and Simon didn’t provide an interview for the bombshell book, so we won’t be hearing their side of the story. Although they had a bitter exit from RHONY, these days, they seem pretty content with their life away from reality TV. They moved their family back to Simon’s home country of Australia. Alex earned a master’s degree in psychology. Other than a random, one-off appearance on Watch What Happens Live a few years ago, you don’t hear much from Alex or Simon. They seem like they mind their own business down under.
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TELL US – WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT ALEX AND SIMON BEING BITTER ABOUT LEAVING THE SHOW? WOULD YOU WANT TO HEAR THEIR PERSPECTIVE ON BEING LET GO FROM RHONY?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]