The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip was a breath of fresh air for Real Housewives fans when it touched down on Peacock, but it’s becoming one of NBCUniversal’s biggest nightmares.
RHUGT Morocco — set to air last year on Peacock — has been sitting on the shelf for over a year because the season was embroiled in controversy.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey alum Caroline Manzo recently sued Bravo and other companies associated with making the series after claiming she was sexually harassed and assaulted by Brandi Glanville.
Gretchen Rossi, the one-time star of The Real Housewives of Orange County, is speaking out about whether she thinks the season will ever see the light of day, and it’s not the good news fans expected.
“It was quite the experience, but unfortunately it doesn’t look like it’s going to air anytime soon,” Rossi recently dished to the U.S. Sun.
“Unfortunately, they haven’t really given us a lot of information, so I’m sad because I really think it would’ve been an incredible season,” she added.
“From what we’re hearing from the network and from everybody, they said it was going to be just probably one of the best seasons,” said Rossi
RHUGT Morocco was poised to be a success
The rest of the cast for the show included Vicki Gunvalson, Eva Marcille, Phaedra Parks, Camille Meyer, and Alex McCord.
Airing the show after being in the can for so long would be a surprise because it seems like Peacock and executives at NBCUniversal would prefer the show’s season didn’t exist.
Before Manzo spoke out about the alleged incident between her and Glanville, details about it had spread across social media.
Manzo claimed in her lawsuit that Glanville sexually harassed her and took issue with producers for allegedly plying the cast with alcohol and encouraging or allowing them to help the ratings by sexually harassing other cast members.
Gretchen Rossi claims she saw what happened
Rossi, who was set to return to screens after years away, said that she was there and “saw everything” but didn’t disclose details because of the ongoing lawsuit.
“It’s really unfortunate what happened and I am sad for all parties involved,” she shared. “I am disappointed on how it all came down because it didn’t need to be at that level.”
The fate of the fourth season could hinge on the resolution of the lawsuit, but there’s a chance that producers could craft an edit of the trip that omits Glanville and Manzo.
Hey, we know that reality TV is heavily edited, and we’ve witnessed shows like Below Deck minimizing the presence of certain cast members after something comes up about them after filming.
The franchise didn’t slow down, with RHUGT Legacy — a reunion of the original Real Housewives of New York cast — airing last fall despite only filming months before.
RHUGT may have been canceled
Given the lack of updates about future iterations of RHUGT since, it’s possible that the show has been quietly canceled and won’t return.
Bravo seems laser-focused on nurturing its shows that aren’t doing as well as they once were.
Bravo is also expanding franchises away from The Real Housewives, which could indicate that the network is no longer prioritizing them.
In recent months, Glanville and RHONY’s Leah McSweeney have come after Bravo and Andy Cohen with their lawsuits, so we wouldn’t be surprised if the network started phasing out some of the shows.
RHUGT Morocco may never see the light of day. Seasons 1-4 are now streaming on Peacock.