Real Housewives of Miami EP on Show’s Underdog Status, Julia’s Drink Throw

When it comes to the Real Housewives, Miami is Bravo’s hidden gem. 

After kicking off its first season in 2011, the show was brought to a halt in 2013, until the series was successfully rebooted in 2021. Eight years off the air, Peacock gave The Real Housewives of Miami a new life with a long-overdue fourth season.

After two years running on the NBCUniversal streamer, RHOM returned to Bravo in late 2023, where season seven is currently airing on Bravo weekly. Miami has everything viewers could ask for out of a Real Housewives franchise, but there’s a notable lack of presence and admiration for the franchise compared to its sister series’. 

In season seven, Alexia Nepola is grappling with her third divorce. Lisa Hochstein is reeling from the loss of her father. Julia Lemigova recently adopted twins with her wife, Martina Navratilova. Lara Pippin is navigating a messy breakup with Michael Jordan’s son. Stephanie Shojaee is a first-time housewife. Guerdy Abraira is learning how to live life after battling and beating cancer. 

There’s no shortage of drama from the main cast, and that doesn’t even include the “friends of” the housewives (women showcased in lesser, non “full-time” roles on the show), including Kiki Barth and OGs Adriana de Moura and Marysol Patton.

Through the first six episodes of season seven, ratings are up 14 percent on a comparable basis to season six. Still, the show is widely considered “underrated,” a sentiment fans have brought up that executive producer Matt Anderson understands. 

“I think that the fan engagement with this show in particular, because I think they feel in a way responsible for bringing it back, [fans] want to make sure everything is being done for it,” Anderson tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I like the conversation, because when people start talking about it, there’s more awareness about the show.” 

It’s hard to pinpoint what has led to Miami‘s “underrated” status, especially where the series is undeniably entertaining. Below, in separate edited conversations, Anderson (EP and founder of Purveyors of Pop) and Kathleen French (senior vice president of NBCUniversal Entertainment’s unscripted current production) address the show’s “underdog” reputation, season seven’s physical altercation between Abraira and Lemigova and which Latin pop star should join the cast. 

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When RHOM initially got rebooted four years ago, did you ever anticipate that it would get such a great reception from fans and successfully stay on air as a once “paused” Bravo show?

FRENCH Absolutely. We have done BravoCon [since] 2019, and anytime in any BravoCon [that] Real Housewives of Miami was mentioned, the audience would go nuts. There was such a fan fever for this show and it never died. The question I was asked all the time was, “When are you going to reboot Miami?” We knew there was an appetite for the viewers to see this show again.

ANDERSON I mean, we did it. Now, there are more episodes of the reboot than there are [of] the original. Once we crossed that threshold, it was like, Wow, we are on the other side of that equation, which is pretty amazing, because rebooting is a hard thing to do. We’ve seen it attempted time and time again. I would say we always knew the audience wanted it, because there was a very loud contingency during the interim period of fans constantly tweeting, asking, wondering where Miami is.

Miami is the pioneer of this new Bravo trend where shows are rebooting half or most of a cast, and sticking with a few OG players. Why do you think that this trend has really caught wind in the Bravosphere?

ANDERSON Having that baseline from legacy characters based into a reboot is an important piece to the equation, because you want to give [fans] something that is familiar to them. Because we were off the air for seven years, so much had happened in the lives of our OGs. They’ve experienced divorce, death, marriages, I mean really big life-changing things. That was a really key piece in the successful reboot of it. And then bringing in the new characters is also an opportunity to say, what does a new 2.0 Housewives mean? What could that be? And when we were looking at these incredible women, like Dr. Nicole Martin, she felt like a very 2.0 housewife. She was a doctor, she had her own career. She was coming to the table with an interesting husband and wealth and a beautiful house, but she had her own thing going. Same thing with Guerdy. She was an event planner, she had her own successful career prior to being on the show. And then when we brought Julia on, as an LGBTQ company — we’re actually the only LGBTQ company doing Housewives — for us, we’re like, “What could be the different thing that we’re doing?” And bringing in the first married lesbian housewife felt significant and felt important, because we’ve seen some bisexual women, but we hadn’t seen a married couple, so that felt really important to us. In bringing in new people, they all had to represent what could be different about Housewives going into the future. 

Another unique element about Miami is this ongoing use of “friends of” the housewives. Marysol, Adriana and Kiki are so integral to this group, which is different from other franchises, who sometimes swap out “friends” every year. Why do you think this trio fits so well on the show in the “friend of” status?

FRENCH We have friends on Beverly Hills as well that are core to the show. It depends on what the cast member themselves is comfortable with. In some cases, they may have children in the house that they don’t want on the show, or their own personal life. Like Jennifer Tilly, her boyfriend, Phil [Laak], is not interested in being on the show. When you have situations like that, it can determine how and when you shoot with a cast member. But it doesn’t mean they’re not as vital and important. It just depends on how [and] what they’re comfortable with, and how we follow their lead.

ANDERSON We call them “super friends,” because they are. They do interviews, they go on every trip, they’re almost at every cast event. I think that’s a little bit of our secret to the show, is their inherent integration and the dedication from the audience about the friends. I love it, because there’s a lot of talk of, like, “Give her her mojito! Give Marysol her mojito! Give Kiki her mojito! They’re doing so much, they should be full time.” And what’s funny to me is it doesn’t really affect their viewing experience, because it’s the same percentage that they feel this dedication to them. There are other good friends [in other franchises]. I think Kathy Hilton is a great “friend of,” I think Jennifer Tilly is a great “friend of,” but they’re utilized a little differently than we do on Miami.

Miami is arguably one of the most dynamic, drama-filled modern Real Housewives that Bravo has, but there are still fans that think that the show is underrated. Why do you think that Miami has this reputation of being underrated compared to other Real Housewives franchises? 

ANDERSON It’s a good question. I think that the fan engagement with this show in particular, because I think they feel in a way responsible for bringing it back, [fans] want to make sure everything is being done for it. And so the amount of engagement, whether it’s [fans saying] we should have all these promos and everything, Bravo is doing the same amount of promo for our show. But I like the conversation around it, because when there’s the conversation around it, people start talking about it and there’s more awareness about the show, to be honest with you. So, I don’t mind it. And there is something about being the underdog that gives you a chance to exceed those expectations, which I feel like this season does. And so when people talk about it, they’re like, “Oh my god, the wit or the humor, the amount of luxury,” there’s a lot of dialogue about that online, and I’m really proud about that. 

From the outside looking in, it appears like the marketing rollout varies by franchise. There’s been this conversation amongst fans that a Miami housewife wasn’t featured on Watch What Happens Live during the premiere, and it feels like the marketing strategy for Miami might be lacking compared to other franchises, like Beverly Hills or the new New York. Why do you think that is and do you agree with that?

FRENCH The reason why there wasn’t a housewife on Watch What Happens Live is that it was on hiatus during the premiere week. Andy did a throw to it from [the] Watch What Happens Live couch the week before, [saying], “Be sure and tune in next week to Miami‘s premiere.” So it wasn’t a strategy, it was a reality. It was just not available. And then when the show came back for episode two, Alexia and Marysol were on together. So we’re always promoting the show. They all get equal love. We love all our housewives. 

Do you agree with this sentiment that has been raised by fans that Miami is underrated?  

FRENCH Well, I think we have to build momentum. I think the show is back, we’ve had longer hiatus times between seasons, it’s now getting into a regular [schedule] of seeing a new season every year now, [and] I think that’s important for fan viewership. But even though we’ve had the show on the air [for] a few years, there still was a fairly long hiatus period, so it’s almost as if we’re rebooting a new series. And the momentum every season is building on itself. It’s been a strong, steady build, but I almost look at it like we’re building on a new franchise.

One of the key pieces of season seven’s story is this breakdown of Julia and Guerdy’s friendship. We had another pretty uncomfortable moment this season where Julia threw a drink on Guerdy. When a physical altercation like this occurs on The Real Housewives, how does production navigate when to step in?

FRENCH We have a strong code of respect in the workplace here. We respect it here at Bravo, we expect all our production companies to and also our cast members. There were strong conversations with Julia afterwards. If you saw Watch What Happens Live [on July 30], she said openly and honestly that there isn’t a day that goes by that she doesn’t regret having made that choice. She has apologized to Guerdy, she’s apologized to the production company. I believe her when she says she regrets having done that, so we take it very seriously. We definitely have conversations with our cast members. We don’t want to see that occur again in the future, and we expect them to do the right thing and take responsibility and apologize.

ANDERSON As soon as something like that happens, we gotta step in, because we don’t support any kind of physical altercations on the show. It’s just not a place that the show needs to go. We don’t need it. These are dynamic, intelligent, very witty women that can use their words in arguments. We stop it immediately. As soon as it happened, my producer called me, and the first thing I said is, “If Guerdy doesn’t want to be there anymore, release her for the evening.” The first thing is to try to make sure people feel safe in a situation. And the next day, we had a lot of conversations. I personally called Julia, I called Guerdy to sort of figure out, from their perspectives, what happened, [and] what is the best path to move forward. Because you want to make sure that everyone feels okay about continuing to shoot the show, because the show is only as good as the cast involvement. We can’t make people show up to a place that they don’t want to show up to, ultimately, and you want them to show up to a place that they want to be, so that they give the best versions of themselves. 

Were you shocked that most of the cast was more upset about Guerdy sharing her text messages with Julia, as opposed to Julia throwing a drink on Guerdy?

FRENCH I’m not sure that I saw it quite that way. I thought they were a little more stunned in the moment when the drink throwing happened, and I think that it was a different set of circumstances with Guerdy. I mean, she was on a stage making a presentation, so I think they were able to react a little bit more in real time. I think there was a little bit of a shock reaction when they were at Marysol’s wedding party.

ANDERSON There’s been some dialogue about that after that episode aired. This is an edited show, so we can’t show every reaction and everything that happens. Certainly there were people on the cast who were not thrilled about the water throwing, and they expressed that to Julia, [but] not everything always makes it onto air. Could there have been more of that? Possibly, maybe the audience could have been happier with that, you just can’t predict what the audience reaction is going to be, what they want more of or less of. And that’s a great thing for the reunion to tackle [which films Thursday]. There was definitely a feeling that they didn’t love the water throwing, but everyone was all in the same place at the same time with the text thing. And the further you get into [the] season, the longer they are under sort of that microscope of doing Housewives, and I think the reactions tend to start to amplify, because it is real life, but it is kind of a social experiment at the same time living your life on camera. I do think that their immediate reaction to the text messages was certainly more visceral at that point, but they were sort of running the marathon a little bit longer at that point too. 

Ahead of season seven, Dr. Nicole left the show, but she recently made a cameo. On that episode, Guerdy asked what she needed to do for her to return, and she said that it’s “TBD.” Is the door open for her potential return after this season and have those conversations happened? 

ANDERSON I could have run into scene and gave Guerdy a high five after she asked her that question. I’m like, “That is what the audience wants [Laughs].” It was such a great way of putting the question and I loved the way Nicole answered it. I actually just saw Nicole this weekend, and I was telling her and [her husband] Anthony [Lopez], “Everyone really loved the way the scene turned out.” And her answer is always the same, she’s like, “Never say never.” She really was going through a personal thing, and she decided to leave on her [own], but there is always a door open for Dr. Nicole. But it comes down to if she wants to do it or not.

We also have the new edition of Stephanie this season. She has a very, very loose connection to Nicole because she previously dated her husband, Anthony. Why was she the perfect new addition to come into this tight-knit group of women?

FRENCH I love the idea of having someone on The Real Housewives of Miami who’s in the real estate business, because real estate is a big thing in Miami, and I think that she represents it well. And she was such a great fit with the cast. I mean, she fit right in. She’s self-admittedly not a “girl’s girl,” but it’s interesting to watch her, over the course of the season, recognize and and want to be girlfriends with this good group of friends. And, to tell you the truth, my associate, Pamela Gimenez, and [I], we didn’t know that Stephanie had dated Anthony until weeks into the process. So that wasn’t part of the master plan, but Miami is a small town.

ANDERSON Well, that’s a big decision, because the dynamic had been locked in for three seasons, so bringing in a new element is always an interesting thing to do. I was really thrilled [about] the new dynamic and ideas and thoughts that Stephanie brought to the table. But it’s always a risk. You don’t know if they’re going to click, and Stephanie is a very bold voice. Her storyline this season, she talks about not having a lot of female friends. And so initially, [that] gave us a little bit of a pause, like, Oh, is she going to integrate? I mean, the essence of a [Real] Housewives show is that it is a friend group. We got on the phone with her, and it was very, in my mind, 50/50, whether she would be a fit, but she was so funny and so charming. I was like, Oh, she’s gonna be great. 

The whole news of her news, or data point, of her having dated Anthony didn’t even come to us until a second or third conversation where we’d already decided we were going to move ahead with her. And, you know, on [the] surface, it looks like, “Oh my God. They were like, Nicole’s up and Stephanie’s in, and he dated Stephanie, and she’s kind of her replacement.” That was never the trajectory of that, that was just kind of a happy accident. And it’s funny, because I saw Nicole and Anthony this week, and I just asked him what he thought, [and] he’s like, “I think she’s really great for the show.” 

What do you hope lies in the future for The Real Housewives of Miami? 

FRENCH I’m with you — I think [RHOM] is a little bit of the unsung hero on the Housewives franchise right now. I just want to see viewers find it, become fans and love the show as much as we do, because we just think it’s spectacular. We love the cast, we love Miami as a backdrop. It’s multicultural; these women are from all over the world. I love that the women are bilingual; they speak Spanish and English on the show. There’s so many things about it [that] you’re not going to see in any of the other Housewives franchises. And I want the popularity to grow. I think it’s a great series for us. 

ANDERSON Well, I have many hopes, but the first and most obvious would be that we go on for many, many seasons. These women have many more stories and diamonds to give us. A more specific hope would be I would love to get a Latin pop star onto the show. There’s a big music community in Miami, and it would be fun to get a big Latin pop star on [RHOM]. When I was a freelance showrunner for Real Housewives of Atlanta season two, and they let me into the casting process and showed me all the tapes, and I saw Kandi Burruss, I was like, “We have to get Kandi!” There was such a big R&B music scene there that [Kandi’s casting] would represent a vertical of Atlanta that had not been capped yet for Real Housewives of Atlanta. And I always think about that, because you have to service the city as well as the individual characters within it. It gives it uniqueness between each different iteration in the franchise. So, a lot like Atlanta, for Miami, I would love to see a Latin pop star. That would be my hope, so stay tuned.

Do you have anybody specifically in mind? 

ANDERSON I would love to get Shakira. How amazing would that be? There was a rumor that started about that, and I was like, I love this rumor. “Shakira, Shakira,” let’s do it! She has a house down there, she’s beautiful, she’s dynamic, she’s at an interesting point in her life, how amazing would that be? And you know what I love about The Real Housewives Miami is that there is a very strong Latin throughline through it, and I think that’s important to the show. And it’s also this next generation Latin American, which they call themselves the 200 percenters, where they think of themselves as 100 percent Latin, but also 100 percent American. I think that would be really interesting to get like a global Latin pop star that appeals in the same way. 

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New episodes of The Real Housewives of Miami air Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on Bravo. New episodes are available to stream on Peacock on Thursdays.