Real Housewives of New York City Salary Standoff: The Inside Scoop on the Cast's Alleged Money Demands

Exclusive details on the behind-the-scenes tug-of-war as the cast angles for a bigger payday

By Sharareh Drury, Alexis L. Loinaz, Melanie Bromley May 10, 2013 8:32 PMTags
Real Housewives of NYC, RHONYMichael Rosenthal/Bravo

The ladies of The Real Housewives of New York City are no strangers to making tall, outré demands in the show—but are they now turning that hardball play on the network that made them stars?

Reports have surfaced that the show's gals—Carole Radziwill, Ramona Singer, LuAnn de Lesseps, Heather Thomson, Aviva Drescher and Sonja Morgan—have hit an impasse with Bravo over a purported behind-the-scenes tug-of-war, with the cast demanding that the network either jack up their salaries or watch them collectively walk out on the show.

The rancor supposedly stemmed from grumblings that the women were unhappy with their contracts and decided to band together in a supposed attempt to eke out a bigger payday.

Sources exclusively tell E! News that while the show isn't in danger of getting yanked, its stars have reportedly been anything but silent about their supposed salary gripes.

"The show is not getting canceled," an insider exclusively confirms to E! News, revealing that both Radziwill and Thomson have already signed on for the next season.

The other castmembers, however, are a different story.

"Aviva is demanding more money and considers herself the ‘Lisa Vanderpump' of New York City," our source adds. "Ramona wants more money—she wants to get paid what Nene [Leakes, from Real Housewives of Atlanta] is getting paid."

De Lesseps, meanwhile, "is on the chopping block in the worst of ways and is so desperate to stay on the show, she is willing to take a pay cut," the insider claims.

As for Morgan, the star reportedly "isn't sure she wants to return, and they are trying to get her to stay."

Another source tells E! News, "The women know the end is near but they think they can make one last power play and get bigger dollars before the show ends."

However, our source adds, "The reality is that the show's rating have sunk since Jill [Zarin] and Kelly [Bensimon] left, and the new cast members aren't doing the numbers the network hoped for. I think the network would just as soon scrap the entire show and retool it because it's not generating the revenue and ratings they need."

E! News has reached out to the stars' reps, who have so far remained mum. A rep for Bravo declined to comment.

(E! and Bravo are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)