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What we know about Bravo’s ‘The Real Housewives of Rhode Island’
The show premieres April 2, with the first-ever Fenway Park Bravo night set for April 17.
Who’s ready to see a Del’s frozen lemonade fly into someone’s face during a fight for the last parking spot at Providence Place Mall?
Hey, it could happen.
We’re less than one month away from the first-ever “Real Housewives” franchise set in New England — admit it: even the most jaded among you is curious.
After almost a year of waiting, Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island” premieres April 2 at 9 p.m. RHORI also marks 20 years of the franchise.
The Red Sox get into the swing of things by hosting the show’s cast at Fenway’s first Bravo Night April 17.
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Will Bravo’s Andy Cohen show up? If so, will he bring his BFFs Anderson Cooper and John Mayer? Will a classic housewives-screaming-match break out, ending the entire night abruptly with Sam Adams and Fenway franks thrown in faces and on the field?
These are questions we don’t know.
But here’s what we do know — about the show, the cast, and Fenway’s “Real Housewives” party.
The Cast
New England, meet your Real Housewives: A former local TV news anchor, a pizzeria co-owner, and Rhody’s “Cannabis Queen” among them.
—Early risers may recognize Rosie Woods DiMare, a former local NBC WJAR Channel 10 reporter, as Rosie Woods. She was part of Turn to 10’s “Sunrise Crew,” and started as a traffic reporter.
—Alicia Carmody: “Welcome to Rhode Island, b****, this is how we roll,” she says from an Adirondack chair, talking to someone off-camera in the trailer. Carmondy and her fiancé, Billy Kitsilis, run his restaurant Pizza Mamma in Cranston.
— Liz McGraw: the “dominant figurehead here,” we’re told in the trailer, as we see her in black leather boots driving a boat. (“I’m scary,” she tells the camera. “Boo.”) Per Bravo, McGraw is “Rhode Island royalty… the state’s very own Cannabis Queen.” With her husband, Gerry, she owns and operates The Slater Center, a pot dispensary in Providence.
—Ashley Iaconetti: she’s “not from here,” we’re told. “This is not the kind of people I’m usually around,” she says in the trailer. Iaconetti married Warwick, R.I. native Jared Haibon, on “Bachelor in Paradise,” and is now “acclimating to her new life in her husband’s home state,” per Bravo.
— Jo-Ellen Tiberi, we’re told in the trailer “knows everything.” Per Bravo, “Self-proclaimed town gossip Jo-Ellen knows everyone and everything worth knowing in Cranston.” The “aesthetic practice development manager … juggles a busy career with family life” with her husband Gary and their three kids, per Bravo.
—Rulla Nehme Pontarelli: “She’s a boss,” we’re told in the trailer. Per Bravo, Pontarelli “helms a financial empire as a Certified Financial Planner and Wealth Manager to some of the East Coast’s most distinguished families.” “I opened my own branch office, Royal One Financial Group, in the historic downtown area of Providence,” she says, per her website.
— Kelsey Swanson, a former Miss Rhode Island and University of Rhode Island alum is now a makeup artist, her Bravo bio says.“Kelsey has been in a 10-year relationship with one of Rhode Island’s most notable figures, enjoying the lap of luxury while keeping her social calendar full,” the bio notes, without naming her boyfriend.
— Also joining as a “friend” to the cast, is Real Housewife of New Jersey Dolores Catania. She “leaves the Jersey Shore behind to spend the summer in Rhode Island with her close friend, Liz McGraw,” per Bravo. Together, the two embark on a new entrepreneurial venture: a menopause gummy brand.
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See trailer here:
The Drama
As you likely learned in your media studies class, reality TV should always be taken at face value. View this show as you would a PBS documentary about life in New England. Take this as seriously as a heart attack.
… Kidding.
Let’s have fun with this and take it for what it is. Grab the popcorn.
After the premiere on April 2, the show will move to its regular time-slot Sundays at 9 p.m on April 5. Episodes stream the next day on Peacock.
RHORI looks into “the world of a tight-knit circle of Rhode Islanders who have deep community roots and families that go back generations,” per Bravo. Rhody’s real housewives will navigate “the murky waters of friendships, feuds, and shifting loyalties within Rhode Island’s tightly woven social scene.”
“I don’t think a lot of people realize what a very Italian community Rhode Island is,” executive producer Cohen said on The View last year. “You don’t mess with folks from Rhody. We have found a very Italian group and they’re hilarious and they’ve got big families.”
One trailer packages the Ocean State as an everybody-knows-everybody state full of secrets and drama. Tantalizing sound bites include:
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“Welcome to Rhode Island where nobody tells anybody the truth,” says one cast member, at presumably, a Newport polo match. “Everybody just lies to each other’s faces and talks s*** behind their back.”
“You may not know Rhode Island, but here, secrets don’t stay buried for very long.”
“Her husband’s a foot doctor, but I think he’s doing more than rubbing foot.”
In another trailer that dropped Feb 5, we hear an exchange aboard a sailboat, as the they play the drinking game “Never Have I Ever.”
“Never have I ever had sex on a boat,” one cast member says.
“I think you had sex with my ex on a boat,” another tells her.
“I mean, I think we had sex on land,” she replies.
We also see a beach picnic, where the group talks polygamy.
“I thought her boyfriend had another girlfriend,” says DiMare, the former Channel 10 news reporter.
She later tells the camera, “I’m a very nosy person. ‘Nosy Rosie.’ I have questions. I have follow-up questions. What do you expect from me? I used to be a reporter.”
Fenway Park’s Bravo night
According to the Red Sox site, the cast of RHORI will be at the Sox game against the Detroit Tigers on April 17 at Fenway Park. “Fans who purchase through this special offer will receive an exclusive Bravo x Red Sox sequin-accented jersey — bringing a sparkle fitting of the Housewives,” per the team’s MLB page.
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VIP tickets include a private pregame party with the Housewives, photo opps, live DJ, the Bravo x Red Sox sequin-accented jersey, light bites and a drink ticket and “a few extra surprises.”
Lauren Daley is a freelance culture writer. She can be reached at [email protected]. She tweets @laurendaley1, and Instagrams at @laurendaley1. Read more stories on Facebook here.
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