The Real Housewives of New York City is going to look a lot different when it returns for season 14 on July 16, 2023. After the long-running reality show’s 13th season was panned by critics and fans, Bravo announced in March 2022 that the franchise was being rebooted with an all-new cast for season 14. The first promo and the official trailer for the new season were both released May 15, introducing fans to the six fabulous women who will be leading the franchise.
Next stop: a new era. An all-new season of #RHONY begins July 16th! pic.twitter.com/oL6diuS9mg
— Bravo (@BravoTV) May 15, 2023
The upcoming 14th season of RHONY will return on July 16, 2023, Bravo announced on May 1, and fans are ready to usher in the new era of the show, with a diverse group of women who lead fascinating lives in the Big Apple. A group of the former stars of RHONY were set to star on a spinoff series RHONY: Legacy, but that series has been reshaped into the fifth season of Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip on Peacock. HollywoodLife has rounded up everything we know so far about RHONY season 14, as well as Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: RHONY Legacy.
‘RHONY’ Season 14 Premiere Date
Bravo announced the premiere date for RHONY season 14 on May 1, saying the show would make a comeback on Sunday, July 16, 2023. The show will air at 9pm, so we believe it’ll air after new episodes of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. The show began filming in the fall of 2022, and wrapped in early 2023.
‘RHONY’ Season 14 Cast
Andy Cohen introduced the women joining RHONY for season 14 at the live filming of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen on the final day of BravoCon 2022, on October 16, 2022. The new cast includes Sai De Silva, Ubah Hassan, Erin Dana Lichy, Jenna Lyons, Jessel Taank, and Brynn Whitfield. Bravo revealed the following information about each new cast member:
- Sai De Silva is an Afro-Latina, born and raised in New York. She is the creative director of Scout the City, which originated as a passion project blog and quickly evolved into an online lifestyle destination. Scout the City chronicles Sai’s adventures of chic parenting from her home in Brooklyn where she resides with husband David Craig and their two children, London and Rio.
- Ubah Hassan is a Somalian model and philanthropist who moved to New York and made it her home. At a young age, Ubah fled to Kenya with her dad and brother, but later moved to Canada where she was spotted by a photographer and was subsequently signed by a modeling agency. Ubah is also an entrepreneur and the founder of UBAHHOT, a hot sauce company she built from scratch.
- Erin Dana Lichy is a funny, confident and candid New Yorker, raised in Manhattan as one of five children in a close-knit Israeli family. A born go-getter, Erin became a real estate agent at 19 and owns her own home renovation and design firm, Homegirl. Erin’s husband is an attorney and owner of Lichy Law. The couple share three children together and live in Tribeca. Erin is super sociable, loves being around others and is always up for a good time.
- Jenna Lyons is former President and Executive Creative Director of J.Crew Group, where she was widely recognized as the creative force behind the American retail chain’s phenomenal rise from floundering catalogue chain to one of the most coveted fashion brands in the US. Jenna is now Co-Founder and CEO of direct-to-consumer beauty brand, LoveSeen, and resides in New York City with her son Beckett.
- Jessel Taank is an outgoing and unreserved fashion publicist and brand consultant, known for thinking outside the box. Jessel, who is of British-Indian descent, met her husband, financier Pavit Randhawa, after they were introduced by a friend at a bar. Romance didn’t spark immediately and they remained close friends for years before they began to date. The two married in Mexico in 2014 and have twin boys.
- Brynn Whitfield is a brand marketing and communications professional. A cheeky “trophy wife in training,” Brynn has a penchant for interior design, fashion and hosting dinner parties from her (small but mighty) West Village apartment. Originally from a small town in the Midwest, Brynn was raised by her grandmother who taught her invaluable lessons about navigating life, owning her narrative as a bi-racial woman and the true meaning of hard work.
Lizzy Savetsky was also originally announced as a cast member, however, after filming started, she dropped out of the show, blaming “antisemitic” attacks. Lizzy was not featured in the promo for season 14.
Rumors About ‘RHONY’ Season 14
Allegedly, the RHONY season 14 cast dealt with some major drama during filming. As we said, in November 2022, Lizzy announced her exit from the show in the middle of filming. Lizzy explained that she was quitting the show because of anti-semitism. She said in a public statement, “As a proud orthodox Jewish woman, I thought participating in this series would be a great chance to represent people like me and share my experience. Unfortunately, from the time of my announcement in the cast, I was on the receiving end of a torrent of antisemitic attacks. As this continued, I realized that this path was no longer right for me and my family.” Andy Cohen later told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY that Lizzy’s exit from the series was “an unfortunate situation.”
However, other details have come to light about why Lizzy really quit RHONY. According to Page Six, Lizzy decided to leave the show after her husband, Dr. Ira Savetsky, allegedly repeated the N-word to producers while recounting a discussion between his wife and her co-star, Brynn Whitfield. Apparently, Lizzy, who is a matchmaker, didn’t want to set Brynn up on a date since she’s not Jewish. That caused friction between the two, per Page Six, and during a phone call conversation where they tried to hash things out, Brynn used the full N-word, and Lizzy allegedly believed that Brynn was going to tell their cast members that Lizzy used the word, as well. So, Lizzy’s husband reported the incident to the producers, but when he recounted Lizzy and Brynn’s phone call, he used the full N-word, according to Page Six. The outlet reported that although Lizzy’s husband apologized, that’s when “conversations began” regarding Lizzy’s exit. None of these reports have been confirmed by Lizzy, Brynn, or Bravo.
‘RHONY: Legacy’
Now, let’s get into all the drama surrounding RHONY: Legacy. Fans were so excited about the spinoff show, which was planned to feature all former stars of the franchise. From the start, Luann de Lesseps, Sonja Morgan, Jill Zarin, and Dorinda Medley were seemingly locks to be involved in the show. Two of the most iconic alums, Bethenny Frankel and Ramona Singer, publicly said they didn’t want to do the show. Ramona even called RHONY: Legacy “the loser show” in an interview with Carlos King. Dorinda clapped back at Ramona’s comments on HollywoodLife‘s Pay Attention Puh-Lease! podcast, saying, “I mean, I don’t think that she should have said that. I hope we’re not the loser show, I mean that would be terrible.”
On January 30, news broke via Page Six that RHONY: Legacy is allegedly canceled. Page Six, who cited sources, claimed that talks between Bravo and the cast members “officially collapsed,” and that the highly-anticipated show is “dead.” The outlet reported that Bravo “rescinded its offers to the talent.” However, Andy Cohen disputed this report on Twitter, immediately after Page Six published their article. “Don’t believe everything you read,” Andy tweeted, with the hashtag “RHONYLegacy.” Ramona told HollywoodLife in an EXCLUSIVE interview on March 1 that she had heard the show “is not happening.” Ramona also reiterated that she didn’t want to return to the franchise. “My life is so full, “I don’t really have room to be on TV,” she said
On May 15, Peacock confirmed that RHONY: Legacy will be RHUGT season 5. The cast of Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: RHONY Legacy includes Luann, Ramona, Sonja, Dorinda, Kelly Bensimon, and Kristen Taekman. The season will begin filming in June in St. Barts, which the women visited during season 5. It will premiere sometime after RHUGT 4, which is expected to air later this year, featuring former Real Housewives stars from different cities.