Why Andy Cohen did not want me on ‘RHONY’

No hard feelings. After Andy Cohen admitted that he was not initially interested in her as a real housewife, Bethenny Frankel explained what really happened behind the scenes.

“The reason Bravo did not want me, Andy Cohen did not want me, was because I was already in a reality show,” Real Housewives in New York City alum, 50, said during the Thursday, Oct. 21 episode of her “Just B With Bethenny Frankel” podcast. “So I had a little – basically no – consciousness. Like, I was no one, but for him it was: ‘You had an existing profile’, which means they wanted it to be real.”

In his new book, Not All Diamonds and Rosé: The Inside Story of the Real Housewives from the People Who Lived It, author Dave Quinn writes that the Bravo director, 53, told him he did not want the Skinnygirl founder to be on the show in the beginning.

Bethenny Frankel and Andy Cohen Bravo (2)

“Andy talks openly about having some bad decisions,” Quinn said Us Weekly exclusively on Monday, October 18 prior to the publication of the book. “He was not really interested in Bethenny.” She had been on [The Apprentice], and it was this idea of, ‘Will it be a shark-hop moment to have another reality star on the show?’

Frankel participated in the first and only season of Apprentice: Martha Stewart, a spinoff that aired in the fall of 2005. She eventually finished the series in second place and lost to Formerly Silvia. Although the show was not as popular as the original Apprentice, it did technically Place for Yes famous writer.

“They wanted it to be real people in New York who are not famous, who did not have an already existing profile,” Bethenny Ever After alum explained on his podcast and added that newer members of Real housewives from Beverly Hills the cast would not have fared well in the early years Housewives franchise.

(LR) Tinsley Mortimer, Sonja Morgan, Bethenny Frankel, Ramona Singer, Dorinda Medley, Luann de Lesseps and Carole Radziwill. Patrick Ecclesine / Bravo

“Therefore Lisa Rinna did not come on for years, ”it Naturally thin The author claimed about the former soap opera star, 58. “Andy used to say to me, no, he was not interested in her, and I used to say, ‘She would be great’.”

The Real Housewives in New York City premiered in March 2008, while Beverly Hills debuted two years later. As Frankel pointed out, original RHOBH contributing Kyle Richards and Kim Richards were former child stars, but they had not performed for many years when the show premiered. Actresses who had worked as adults – including Rinna, Garcelle Beauvais and Denise Richards – did not join the series for several seasons.

Quinn, for his part, thinks the decision to hire Frankel was brilliant. “I think we can all agree that Bethenny really just – it was such a lightning rod the first season,” he said. U.S. “She works. I think she’s a big reality star.”

With reporting by Christina Garibaldi

Listen to Getting Real with the Housewives, your one-stop destination for Housewives news and exclusive interviews