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Former “The Real Housewives of New York City” star Aviva Drescher opened up about her time on the franchise in an interview for the “Real Housewives” episode of the Vice series “Dark Side of Reality TV”. A clip from the episode was shared to the Vice YouTube channel on November 7, where Drescher shared what it was like getting her contract for the show when she joined RHONY for season 5 in 2012.
“When I was first handed the contract, the financials are a joke. You don’t start off doing ‘The Real Housewives’ for money. It’s insultingly low, but the contract itself was horrific,” Drescher said. “It was basically saying ‘If we catch you making a number 2 on the toilet and we choose to air it, too bad. And if we want to air it for the next 20 years and give you no money for it, too bad. We own you, you get nothing, and we can do whatever we want.'”
Vicki Gunvalson Calls ‘Housewives’ Contract a ‘Deal With the Devil’
Drescher wasn’t the only franchise star to speak out, as “Real Housewives of Orange County” OGs Vicki Gunvalson and Jeana Keough also sat for interviews about their experiences, with Gunvalson calling the “Housewives” contracts a “deal with the devil.”
“So the first season, we got no pay,” Keough shared, with Gunvalson adding, “Season 2 I believe I got $5,000 for the whole season, not much money. I didn’t even have an attorney look over my contract, it was like ‘Yeah I’ll sign it.’ I had no idea what I was doing.”
Drescher went on to explain that she decided to take the risk and sign her contract, with the goal of being her authentic self. The producers, however, wanted the cast to play up their drama and arguments, as Drescher said those who didn’t “produce drama” would be fired from the show.
“I can promise you the cast on its own would never have an argument. I can assure you,” Drescher said of her RHONY co-stars. “We are grown women with children, and it’s not our first time at the rodeo of life. Even the ones who you think are the worst are a thousand times nicer than what you think they are. We don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings but we have to hurt someone’s feelings in the name of making a great show with great ratings.”
Aviva Drescher Talks Infamous ‘Leg Throw’ Scene
One of the most infamous moments from RHONY history took place at the end of season 6, when Drescher threw her prosthetic leg while in a fight with her co-stars.
While Drescher explained the leg throw as a way to “shut up” her castmates during the fight in a 2014 interview with ExtraTV, she claimed in a January 2015 interview with HuffPost that her move was in response to the network asking her “to be dramatic” on camera.
“I looked at being a ‘Housewife’ as being a job to entertain people,” Drescher said. “It [the leg toss] was a piece of entertainment. I think the highest ratings of the entire season was that episode… I tried my best. I felt an obligation to earn my keep.”
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Former ‘Real Housewives’ Stars Expose ‘Horrific’ Contract