Real Housewives, Real Problems

Courtesy of Bravo As their fifth season begins, The Real Housewives of Orange County tell The Daily Beast how they’ve been forced to downsize their lifestyles—firing maids, selling McMansions, and paying off facelifts.

When Vicki Gunvalson began filming The Real Housewives of Orange County nearly four years ago, she would allow the camera crews into her home when she was wearing sweatpants and had thrown her hair up into a messy ponytail. She shared real, sound friendships with the majority of her fellow four castmates. And she had no idea that the way she acted on television—occasionally shouting out her signature rallying cry “Woo-hoo!” or indulging in one too many cocktails at a bar—could negatively affect her insurance business.

Things have changed. She burned the entire wardrobe she wore on the first season because she didn’t like how she looked on television. She now maintains what she describes as “working relationships” with the fellow Housewives. And she seriously considered not returning to the show for its fifth season—which premieres Thursday on Bravo—because she feared it was harming her real-life business.

“He did not want to come back this season, and I did,” Tamra Barney said about her rift with her husband. “He’s very private and conservative. We’re having a lot of financial problems, and he just didn’t want to expose that. You could see the frustration on his face when we would film.”

"I almost lost a very large client of mine—a $2 million client—because he Googled me and said he didn't like what he was seeing on the TV show," Gunvalson, 47, told The Daily Beast. "I never tell my clients I'm on the show, and I hope they don't watch it, truthfully. They're over 65. They don't understand—this.”

Courtesy of Bravo This, of course, is The Real Housewives of Orange County, a reality-TV show that follows women who lead extravagant lifestyles in one of the country's most affluent regions. But as the economic climate has shifted, so too has the focus of the show—leaving some of the Housewives facing some very real problems that go beyond scoring the latest designer bag.

“We have to buy into these characters, and if they’re going through a rough patch right now, I think it gives you more reason to root for them,” said Andy Cohen, senior vice president of programming for Bravo, which launched the program back in 2006. Since, other Housewives franchises have been spawned in New York, Atlanta, New Jersey, and soon, Washington D.C. The Orange County version saw its highest ratings ever during its fourth season, averaging 2.2 million total viewers, according to Bravo.

The upcoming season doesn’t stray from addressing the ladies’ financial woes—to a point.

In the first episode, Jeana Keough, a 52-year-old former Playboy playmate and real-estate agent, asks her 17-year old son, Colton, to help her make sure she doesn't make frivolous purchases. She admits she's bad at budgeting and has never had to think before spending money.

"You get your check and you're like, 'Money! Ahh! I gotta go buy something!' And you'll run to Nordstrom's as fast as you can," Colton says, rolling his eyes.

According to Bravo, Jeana’s divorce and a down real-estate market have prompted her to quit the show to focus on work full-time. (She will only appear on the first three episodes of the upcoming season.)

But reports circulated over the summer that Jeana was opting out of the show not because of her job, but because Bravo refused to up the ante on her salary.