‘Real Housewives of New York City’ season 6 a go; the ladies receive modest raises

Real Housewives of NYCFor those of you who were genuinely worried about the future of “The Real Housewives of New York City” with its current cast, you can now breathe a little easier. After complaints and threats of cancellation between the cast and Bravo, the matter has been settled, and the show’s sixth season can now begin production the way it was originally supposed to earlier this week.

So who budged more: The ladies or the Andy Cohen behemoth? The answer seems to be C: Both of them. Ramona Singer, Carole Radziwill, Countess LuAnn de Lesseps, Heather Thomson, Sonja Morgan and Aviva Drescher all agreed to return with what appears to be modest pay raises, but probably not the big paydays that they were hoping for back when they first went to battle over their salaries. (We still think the reports about NeNe Leakes making $1 million for her season in Atlanta lit a fire.)

What the ladies did end up receiving was something else in turn that is valuable in its own way: Financial assistance when it comes to hair and makeup, which does probably get expensive when you consider how many hoity-toity parties these women attend every year. Heck, some of them may spend just as much as their actual salaries to appear.

We’ve said this before, and we will probably continue to say it until we are passed out on the floor, blue in the face from talking to much: The salaries don’t really matter here as much as some people make them out to be. The things that really are the determining factor for these ladies when it comes to whether or not they do the show go as follows:

1. How many public appearances do I get out of this?

2. Can I launch product lines with this and become the next Bethenny Frankel?

3. Does my ego really need the stroking of millions of people week in and week out? (Okay, we’re joking about this one … sort of.)

We’re happy that this is resolved, but if you want to revisit an ugly time in the negotiations (if you’re into that sort of thing), we wanted to also make that available for you.

Photo: Bravo

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