Yesterday, I entered a portal into Bravoland, where everyone has beachy waves and drinks rosé instead of water. For the premiere of the new season of “The Real Housewives of New York City,” Bravo invited press to the Wölffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack. At the boozy lunch, I sat next to one of the many, many reality-TV podcast hosts who were there. She said the Bravo podcast market is so congested that she’s found more success recapping shows like “Love is Blind UK.” Bravo chairman Frances Berwick spoke about the Hamptons’ importance to the show—except for Quogue, she winked (a running joke from an earlier season of RHONY).
I was there to pay my respects to Andy Cohen, one of our first Hamptons Ten subjects. But the energy around the show drew me in, and I’m also rooting for two acquaintances who are part of this season: Carole Radziwill and Daisy Toye. Radziwill’s comeback to the show is a big deal for Bravoheads, who screamed during the screening when she navigated alternate-side parking in her busted old Jeep. I met Daisy, who’s Martha Stewart’s longtime makeup artist, years ago when writing about her famous boss. Daisy’s warm and has an incredible work ethic; you have to be pretty hardcore to please Martha for 17 years. Martha appears in this season so much that she’s almost like the eighth housewife. “She can’t help herself,” says Daisy.
In today’s newsletter, for paid subscribers: a spilled-milkshake fracas; the chaotic scene at the public auction for Libbie Mugrabi’s mansion; the return of “The Black Hamptons”; a full report on the merch at the Hampton Classic; and all the sold-out items of the summer, including Dotti estrogen patches and yes—Ambien.
