Real Housewives of Rhode Island: How Bravo Cast, Created New Series
Dolores Catania, Rulla Nehme Pontarelli, Alicia Carmody, Kelsey Swanson, Jo-Ellen Tiberi, Ashley Iaconetti, Liz McGraw and Rosie DiMare of 'The Real Housewives of Rhode Island.'
Jordan Curtis Hughes/Bravo via Getty Images
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The smallest state with the biggest attitude is already making waves in the Real Housewives franchise.
Last May, Bravo announced that Rhode Island would be the latest addition to its repertoire, enticing viewers to see what the women of the teeny tiny state could be getting into. As it turns out, there’s a lot going on in the smallest state in the nation.
The arrival of the new series arrives amid the landmark 20th anniversary of the whole franchise itself, as The Real Housewives of Orange County debuted on March 21, 2006. It’s a monumental year for the reality television phenomenon that will later be celebrated with The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Roaring 20th special this year.
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NCBUniversal’s evp of unscripted content, Rachel Smith, tells The Hollywood Reporter that it was not a “conscious decision” to launch a new series, even though it’s such “an auspicious occasion this year.” Instead, The Real Housewives of Rhode Island naturally presented itself.
Creating a new Real Housewives is a tall task, one that can be birthed in many ways. Sometimes, Bravo comes across a new dazzling location that draws in interesting talents; in other cases, a promising cast member is all it takes to start building a new show.
The latter of which happened with Mary Cosby, the beloved star of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, Smith confirms. But with Rhode Island, she explains that a co-worker took a trip to the state and “was really struck by what an interesting ecosystem” the New England location had to offer.
“She saw people jumping on their boats and going to lunch. It was very visually aspirational,” Smith says, adding that upon some digging, they learned that The Real Housewives of New Jersey’s Dolores Catania, who appears on RHORI as a friend, had a connection to the women who now make up the main cast.
“That then led us to a kind of whole connection of women in Rhode Island that we found through this Dolores connection,” she adds. “We’ve really fell in love with them.”
Elizabeth McGraw, Kelsey Swanson and Jo-Ellen Tiberi on episode one of ‘RHORI.’
Scott Eisen/Bravo
When scouting out new locations for a potential Real Housewives, Smith explains that the network strives to “be representative of the whole swath and tapestry and diversity that is the United States.” Prior shows, and where they are based, also weigh into where a mint series could potentially spawn.
“We’re looking at how many Housewives we have in total, and what’s already been represented culturally, geographically, and how we can complement that,” she notes. Rhode Island has already been compared to New Jersey — and not just because you can drive to both of the states in roughly four hours.
The tight-knit community, family-forward ideals and Italian influences are all clear parallels, but the women of Rhode Island stand apart. Smith herself references one of the show’s key descriptors (“It’s a small state with a very big and distinct personality”) as a contrast, though the luxury coastal setting also naturally made the series optically stand out from other shows in Bravo’s discography.
“This is a show, visually, that’s on water. Living around water is very beautiful and distinct to look at,” she says. “We were all so taken with the visual when we were first casting [RHORI] and learning about the women; Like, Liz lives right on the water, and then she’ll go jump in her boat and meet her friends for lunch. Everyone else [on another Real Housewives] would use their car.”
As the Real Housewives has evolved over its two-decade tenure on air, what it means to be a Real Housewife has also certainly changed.
Rhode Island kicks off with Liz McGraw deeming herself the “Cannabis Queen,” as she and her husband own the state’s most successful cannabis dispensary; Rosie DiMare brings up a rumor that Jo-Ellen Tiberi is a “swinger”; and Kelsey Swanson admits that her boyfriend spends half of his year in Miami with his other girlfriend (and the cast speculates that she might have another boyfriend, too).
There’s certainly a lot going on, but the willingness to bare all for the cameras and leave no stone unturned in the women’s personal lives is representative of what is expecte