When talking about the guilty pleasure side of television, The Real Housewives always makes it to the list. With 21 international adaptations and 27 spin-offs, this franchise has managed to create a whole universe of its own.
Seen on television since 2006, Real Housewives is a reality show that centers on the luxury-filled lives of rich women living in a particular city or region. A total of 11 US states have had their own Real Housewives series, with the first international adaptation being The Real Housewives of Athens.
From Africa to Dubai, many other regions have released their own version of the reality show. Everything from the women’s professional lives to their personal lives is filmed by the crew at all times. The different housewives also hang out regularly and perform group activities to add more entertainment to the series.
Over the years, Real Housewives has had many instances that made viewers believe that these Bravo shows could most likely be scripted. While we’re yet to find out if Real Housewives really is just a drama-filled, staged show, certain clues prove that the franchise might be more controlled than you’d think.
Is Real Housewives Scripted? An Inside Look Into What Goes On Behind The Scenes
Bravo first announced that it would be releasing a reality show focused on affluent housewives back in 2005. Since then, the RH franchise has grown tremendously in popularity, with new faces and new regions becoming a part of this world.
Inspired by the likes of Desperate Housewives, the reality show was aimed to document the glamorous lives of those living in modern cities. However, just because it’s inspired by a drama series doesn’t mean it’s going to be following a script like the actors from those shows.
Many of the crew members from the Real Housewives franchise have been asked about the authenticity of their interactions, and although they may seem too intense, they are often real feelings and not any written dialogues.
To make sure that they’re able to obtain enough excitement and drama for the shows, the producers at Bravo instead try to guide the cast on what they’d like to see them talking about. They’re informed about the topics beforehand, so Bravo is the one who starts the fire in these dramatic conversations.
The wives of this popular series also have to follow a set of rules that are designed to keep the show relevant and up to the standards set by the producers. Some of these rules include interviewing each of the housewives before they’re cast on the show.
The Real Housewives: Wives Have To Audition For The Show
Just because someone’s rich doesn’t mean they’ll be immediately cast on The Real Housewives. They have to have the innate ability to create drama and problematic situations to be a perfect cast member. Unlike Big Brother, these wives are people who know each other, giving the cast a whole list of things they could talk about.
Even the friends of the wives have to be interviewed if they’d like to be a part of the new seasons. Changing hairstyles, taking a vacation without informing, and hiding phone calls, are all prohibited if you’re signed up to be in a Real Housewives show.
Phone calls have to be kept on speaker so that the viewers can hear what the wives are talking about. Sanya from Real Housewives of Atlanta had claimed that Drew would intentionally act more sensitive and start fighting out of nowhere just to gain attention.
Since they’re paid for each season, these wives have to make sure that they stay entertaining if they want to be included in the next season. The friends of the wives are paid per episode, which explains why some friends create drama frequently and try to return for as many episodes as they can.
Coming to the wives’ legal battles, most of the different shows choose to address the lawsuit to make the show more exciting. Jen Shah’s arrest had the most amount of coverage, with the crew making sure that they were documenting every bit of her life before she was sent to jail.
The housewives also have to be available for reshoots if needed, which are done when the clip they filmed didn’t have the amount of spice the directors were going for. This adds a bit of fakeness to the show since the wives would have to recreate the scene once again.
The Real Housewives franchise isn’t fake, and the interactions aren’t scripted. Instead, the Bravo producers guide the wives on what to talk about and the rest happens on its own.
