Andy Cohen Tells All About ‘RHONY’ Cast Changes

Andy Cohen made a few changes to the cast of The Real Housewives of New York City after the series’ sixth season. In addition to the exit of Aviva Drescher, Ramona Singer was demoted and Bethenny Frankel returned.

According to an October 23 report by E! News, Cohen spoke of the changes to the cast during a recent Ask Andy session.

“The thing transpired in her kitchen… I went over there to convince her to come back to the show and she had different ideas about things she wanted to do… I kind of said, ‘I don’t think that those are good ideas.’ I said, ‘I have a good idea,'” Andy Cohen revealed to his assistant, Daryn Carp. “And then I brought it up and she’s like, ‘OK, I’m listening,’ and then I really told her all my reasons and I could tell that she was seriously going to think about it. We had a very long talk about it and we had a couple more long talks about it and then she said, ‘I’m in.’ We had a deal.”

Frankel has a strong personality, and so do many of the women, but Cohen is excited to see who she bonds with on the show. “I think the Heather-Carole thing is a coin toss,” he said of Frankel’s possible friendships. “I think she and LuAnn, weirdly, will get along given their history. I think the rest are up for grabs.”

As for the recent rumors claiming Jill Zarin may return as well, Cohen said fans shouldn’t hold their breath. Although Zarin has been quite open with the fact that she’d consider a return, as The Inquisistr reported, Cohen isn’t on board with the idea.

“I doubt it. I think we might have a little bit of a cast mutiny if Jill came back, sadly,” Cohen explained. “There’s a story in my book where I talk about, no one knows this either, there was a plan for Jill to come back last season for one scene, and it was my fantasy that this scene would happen. And it didn’t work out. At the very last minute, it didn’t work out, and that story’s in my book.”

Regarding Drescher’s exit, which The Inquisitr reported on last month, Cohen said, “I think that that was a situation where we listened to the fans.” Drescher made waves when she threw her prosthetic leg during the Season 6 finale. Unfortunately, as controversial as she was, fans didn’t enjoy her odd behavior.

Andy Cohen has not yet revealed a premiere date for The Real Housewives of New York City Season 7.

[Photo via Twitter]