Tag Archives: New York City

The Housewives of New York: Ranked

Posted in Entertainment, TV by

It’s the Big Apple’s time to shine!

When I first started my foray into Real Housewives, I was fairly adamant that I wasn’t going to watch Real Housewives of New York because the snippets I did see didn’t tickle my fancy at all. Additionally, my impressions of Ramona and LuAnn from RHUGT weren’t the greatest, so it was a city I was happy to skip.

But then I had no other cities to watch, and my love for Real Housewives proved too great, so I started the second ever franchise with little expectations, and to be honest, I actually really enjoyed it!

Thought I’d trigger a fanbase by including a picture of the new RHONY over the OG’s.


It’s important to note that these rankings will take into consideration the original group of women that made up RHONY as well as the iconic women who appeared in the reboot. So from the wonderful eccentricities of Alex McCord, to the most Brynntesting girl in the room Brynn Whitfield…

Let’s get to ranking!

23. Ramona Singer
I find Ramona to be an abhorrent human being, and I’m one of those Bravoholics that can’t excuse poor behaviour and bad human qualities because “they’re entertaining”. Sure, she was entertaining at some points and she had some iconic moments, but she was so blatantly rude and condescending to literally everyone and tried to pass it off as ‘just being honest’. Good riddance tbh.

22. Luann de Lesseps
If you were to ask me who the most overrated housewife is, I’d say Luann. Luann seems to have such a big following among the Bravoverse and I truly don’t get it. While not as rude and condescending as Ramona, Luann makes up for it in grand delusion and not in the fun kinda way either. I’m surprised she’s noticed that other people exist in this world to be completely honest, so this is why she finds herself ranked so low. 

21. Cindy Barshop
The first one season wonder of this list, Cindy was just kinda there. While I did agree with her that a ‘pecking order’ among the group was ridiculous, Cindy just didn’t mesh with the group and it came across on screen very clearly. Being cropped out of the group photo really sealed the deal as well.

20. Leah McSweeney
How Leah could go from such a fantastic first season, to the most abysmal sophomore season is beyond me. Initially, I liked her young, free-spirited energy, and she was a great addition to a significantly older cast. And then the popularity got to her head, and she made young and free-spirited seem like a bad thing to the point of being unbearable. Oh well. At least I can thank her for bringing Brynn to our screens since she’s the sole reason RHONY had to be recast.

19. Sai de Silva
I personally have a bad taste in my mouth when it comes to ‘influencers’ so immediately I was wary of Sai. Turns out I had every reason to be. She was just so unbearable to watch, so I can’t imagine how unbearable she is to be around. The only praise I’ll give her is that every cast needs a villain, and with some refining, she could be a good one.

18. Erin Lichy
Erin’s beautiful and she looks like she lives a fancy, interesting life, but homegirl needs some lessons on how to be a bone collector because her pot-stirring ways were so obvious and they flopped nearly every time. I’ll cut her some slack that it was her first season and they had big shoes to fill, so hopefully she finds her footing more in her second season. Also I’ve never been so sure that someone has bad breath before.

17. Ubah Hassan
Ubah had a great start for me, being a beautiful, strong and outspoken woman that radiated classy model energy, and she finished off the season fairly the same. And then she had one of the worst reunion performances I’ve ever seen, which tanked her position on this list. Here’s to hoping she makes a snappy recovery in her second season.

16. Jules Wainstein
I actually really liked Jules. I thought she was beautiful, was great with her kids, and had an interesting story to share. Of the one season wonders (Eboni excluded for obvious reasons), I thought Jules was the most deserving of a second season. I couldn’t stand Bethenny bringing Jules’s eating disorder up, and also couldn’t stand that Bethenny had an issue with Jules mentioning she was Asian because if you’re not a POC, you don’t get how race plays into simple aspects of life. I hope Jules is living her best life now.

15. Jill Zarin
For the first couple of seasons, I really liked Jill. She was fun to watch, seemed to live an elite New York kind of lifestyle, and she was kinda quirky. And then her atrocious performance in season four happened, and that really dropped her down the list. Also, Jill’s unquenchable thirst for being featured in the spotlight is both hilarious and pathetic and gets really annoying sometimes.

14. Sonja Morgan
Sonja is a really popular housewife among the Bravoverse, and while I get why others may like her, I just couldn’t get behind her. Her shtick of being an older woman living as if she was a 21-year-old horny sorority girl got old very quick, and it became extremely embarrassing to watch all of her drunk antics. I will, however, applaud her for being the only one to acknowledge and accept Eboni voicing her struggles as a black woman in season 13.

13. Aviva Drescher
Let’s be honest: Aviva is iconic. Maybe bar Bethenny, Aviva was the sharpest with her words, and she could effortlessly read a bitch as made evident with her ‘white trash’ spiel. Her backstory of how she lost her leg was also very interesting. I don’t even need to mention the leg toss because that goes down in history, and rightfully so. Iconic. Simply iconic.

12. Kelly Killoren Bensimon
I lowkey love the crazy, unhinged housewives, and Kelly was New York’s version of this archetype. I mean, it wasn’t called Scary Island for no reason. Kelly was beautiful, but almost every word she spoke made absolutely no sense, but you could tell in her mind she thought she was spitting hard facts and truths. God bless her, that wonderful action verb of a woman.

11. Eboni K. Williams
I compare Eboni to Tiffany Moon of RHOD, in that their respective casts were never really confronted with the topic of race on their shows until they showed up. Eboni was the first black woman to be featured on RHONY, and she was unapologetic about that fact, looking to educate the women on black culture as well as explain to them the harsh stereotypes she faces as a black woman. Sure, she was a bit condescending, but I also think she should be proud that she’s a strong, intelligent black woman, and if others find that intimidating, that’s on them.

10. Bethenny Frankel
Bethenny was a hard one for me to rank, considering that I really liked her on the show, but despise her outside of it. The difference between Ramona and Bethenny, however, is that Bethenny was at least likeable during her tenure on RHONY. She was that bitch of the show, most of the season’s storylines revolved around her, and she was essentially always guaranteed to get first chair at the reunion. Her anti-Bravo antics currently can get fucked, however, and I’m sick of seeing her stupid face eating in her TikToks.

9. Jenna Lyons
I had preconceived notions of Jenna Lyons, and those led me to believe I wouldn’t like her. However, the images of a stonefaced, monotone boss-like figure were dashed when this sweet, gentle woman spoke for the first time, and I almost immediately fell in love with Jenna. I do believe she’s holding back, however, and would love to see more of her authentic self next season.

8. Jessel Taank
I started off not liking Jessel, especially with the Christmas tree lingerie fiasco, but then her fun side shone through, and she showed why she was the main girl for season 14. Her ability to stand up for herself, while also talking with this almost sweet naivety made her really likeable, and I can’t wait to see more of her next season.

7. Alex McCord
Oh my sweet Alex McCord. I don’t know how I’ve coped without you for so long. At first, I was indifferent to the eccentric Alex who couldn’t bear to be away from her man for more than 30 seconds, but then I grew to love her as she became more confident in her voice, and her reads were just so iconic. (“You are in high school!” anyone?) I will never forgive Caroline Manzo and Brandi Glanville for preventing us from seeing Alex’s grand return in RHUGT.

6. Heather Thomson
I saw Heather’s grinning face floating around Housewives Twitter before I started RHONY, so with that in mind, I assumed I wouldn’t like her. But I really liked both sides of Heather’s personality: the sweet and nurturing side that would refer to her friends as ‘mama’; and the no-nonsense ratchet side that so effortlessly dragged Aviva. I also really admired her strong business acumen, and her efforts to relate to Eboni. I will never forgive Leah McSweeney for ruining a potential Heather comeback in season 13.

5. Kristen Taekman
Every Housewives city will randomly cast a young, pretty housewife to change up the dynamic, and Kristen was New York’s version of this archetype. What makes Kristen different, though, is that she was super likeable, shady when she had to be, could defend herself when she needed to, and was just like the sweet girl next door. Her comeback performance on RHUGT also just goes to show that sometimes the ‘forgotten’ Housewives are some of the best Housewives.

4. Tinsley Mortimer
I didn’t know anything about Tinsley before RHONY, so finding out that she was the It Girl of New York and also lowkey inspired Gossip Girl was super fascinating. I love the sweet, non-confrontational but can get into it when needs be (more on that later) Housewife archetype, and I found Tinsley to be a version of this. Her personal storyline of wanting to find love was just so captivating, and how could you not be on her side with this? It’s just a shame she left halfway through season 12, because that was shaping up to be her best season yet.

3. Dorinda Medley
Like Radzi says, “When Dorinda is bad, she’s so good!” I had unfairly grouped Dorinda in with Ramona and Luann so I expected not to like her, but I ended up loving the Meddler so much. You had weet and sober Dorinda, who was very motherly and nurturing, but then you get martini Slurinda, who would just verbally eviscerate anyone for no good reason. Mix that together and you have yourself a top tier Housewife. In saying that, I could see why she was ‘put on pause’ at the end of season 12.

2. Brynn Whitfield
If I could pick any Housewife to be my spirit animal, it would definitely be Brynn Whitfield. Brynn is flirty, sexy and confident, willing to use her sexuality to her advantage whenever she wants, but also has a serious side that serves as a good friend and someone you don’t want to mess with. And that is basically describing myself. Learning more about Brynn’s backstory and her family dynamics also make her one of the more fascinating Housewives across any city.

1. Carole Radziwill
As mentioned before, I love the sweet non-confrontational but still don’t mess with me Housewife archetype, and that describes Princess Carole. An underrated Housewife IMO, Carole could hang in there with the heavy hitters like Bethenny and come out relatively unscathed, but she could also stay out of the drama while providing humourous commentary. Her personal backstory as a widow was also very interesting to watch. If I’m going to be honest, Carole won me over when one of the first things she says on RHONY is “I don’t hate children. I just can’t stand when mothers get together and that’s all they talk about”. Iconic.

Can you believe it? Over four years, I have finally finished all of Bravo‘s Real Housewives cities! (Excluding RHODC, but that has one season so it doesn’t really count.) I won’t know what to do with my spare time anymore! Someone send help!

– by the Black Widow

#NKinNA16: Part 1 – Just Us Two

Posted in Lifestyle, Travel by

You knew another holiday post was coming… I couldn’t be contained to one continent.

Ever since my last trip to the US of A, I have been itching to get back onto those heinous, long plane trips to explore something different. Meeting her on my last trip on Contiki, Kate and I began planning our next holiday, having been bitten by the travel bug badly. One would think that after exploring the southern half of USA that we would head off to do something different, like Europe or South America. But as we looked into our European options, something told me that I had to do the rest of the USA that I didn’t touch with my previous trip.

A few discussions later, and Kate and I had decided that it was time for us to explore the northern half of USA. Squeezing in small visits to Salt Lake City (solely to visit my grandad and other family members) and Nashville (because it’s my damn favourite city in the world), Kate and I decided to do Contiki’s Grand Northern tour – the opposite of the Grand Southern that we did last year.

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What began as a discussion in early January of this year recently turned into reality, and on August 26, 2016, Kate and I flew out of Sydney and touched down in Los Angeles to begin our trip – #NKinNA16 (Nikki and Kate in North America).

On our plane trip, we were sat next to a handsome man returning home from an Australian trip to go back to work as a physical education teacher. We were quick to befriend the friendly chap, and this would set the tone for the next six weeks.

Our first stop in USA was Salt Lake City, Utah, which would serve as our jetlag stop after getting absolutely no sleep whatsoever on the plane. As mentioned in my travel posts from last year, I have family here which is the only reason why I would come back here because it’s the most boring city in the world, so it was nice to be back. We spent our first night napping, eating, and sleeping some more, all the while fighting the crippling jet lag that had hit us.

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On our second day, we were graciously shown around by my cousins Aidan and Elle, and her husband Nate. Our first stop of interest? Cheesecake Factory, of course. And while Salt Lake doesn’t have much to offer in the form of sightseeing attractions (unless you consider Temple Square a sight…), it does have some great shopping. However, this was our first stop, and I wasn’t about to blow all my money on my first city.

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After exploring this boring city – and catching some pretty damn cool Pokemon along the way – Kate and I bid farewell to my cousins and the next day, caught up with my uncle, aunt, grandad and his wife. As my sole surviving grandparent, I have a special bond with him, and was happy to sit there and listen to all of the stories in his life. With a lunch-time flight, we left Salt Lake and moved onto our next stop – Nashville, Tennessee.

This city is my favourite city in the world, and one of the reasons behind this would be Two Bit, a bar that encourages you to play free-to-play video games while you eat, drink, and be otherwise social with the people there. With friendly staff, good food, and Nintendo 64 on tap, this is probably my most favourite bar in the world, or at least in North America.

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A quick visit to the Johnny Cash Museum and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, it was night time, and I had the privilege of catching up with a long time friend Emma, whom I hadn’t seen in almost eight years. Isn’t it amazing how small the world is, and how great long-lasting friendships are? I can’t expand on how great both of the aforementioned museums are. It doesn’t matter how many times I visit the Johnny Cash Museum, I will cry every time. And I thoroughly enjoyed the new Blake Shelton exhibition at the Hall of Fame and Museum.

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The following day – after another mournful visit to Two Bit – we flew to our last destination as a duo before starting our Contiki tour… the infamous New York City, New York. Now, I had never been to NYC before, so this was my first time. As per usual, I was expecting great things from this city since everyone goes on about how bloody fantastic it is.

And boy it was.

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With three nights and two days in NYC, we had a lot of touristy stuff to accomplish. The first on everyone’s NYC list should obviously be Central Park, so with the help of a very informative hotel receptionist, we boarded a hop-on-hop-off and saw what NYC had to offer. After visiting a couple of museums and quite literally chucking a spreadie in front of someone’s tomb, Kate and I explored Central Park the only way one should: via horse carriage.

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The horse’s name was Snow White and she was a friendly girl, albeit a bit scary when her big chompers were out to play. The carriage rider showed us all the celebrity hot spots around Central Park, and where certain films were filmed throughout the park, and we sat in this carriage for a full 50 minutes looking around this beautiful landmark.

Our Central Park visit was followed by the most important New York City attraction of all: visiting the Tiffany’s. So many floors of diamonds and jewelery and more diamonds and more silvery goodness. Urrrrrgh. With a quick visit to the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center, our first day in NYC was done.

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Next up: Times Square. In my sweet and humble opinion, Times Square is its own world in a world. Words cannot explain just how fascinating Times Square is, so I hope this expertly taken panoramic shot can do the trick.

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Another personal check off on my bucket list was to recreate the Sleepless in Seattle scene at the top of the Empire State Building, but when I got to the top, it looked a lot more different than I had expected… so I had no idea what I was doing. At least I go to stand at the same place as the legend himself Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan the uber babe.

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After some much needed sustenance, a random visit to the Museum of Sex ensued. Yes. You read that right. There is an actual thing called a Museum of Sex. I don’t really have to explain what was in the Museum of Sex, but I should say that if you’re expecting a watered-down version of a sex museum, then you would be wrong. The first thing you walk into is an old-school style painting of vaginal penetration. Yep.

It’s tradition that the day before your Contiki tour starts, you meet the night before for a “Kickstart” meeting. Basically the tour manager just gives you the 411 of what you’re doing, gets you to sign these emergency forms, and Bobsurbloodyuncle. Finishing our time in NYC off at the kickstart meeting, Kate and I bid farewell to the beautiful city of NYC with some mediocre af Thai food and bed.

This was just the beginning of my adventures, so stay tuned for more #NKinNA16 travel spam, as Nikki and Kate take North America.

– by The Black Widow