Scandal-Plagued ‘Real Housewives’ Season May Never Air

More than a year after filming ended, Peacock remains undecided on whether or not it will air The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Morocco, a source from NBCUniversal has confirmed to The Daily Beast.

The season, which features an all-star cast of Real Housewives veterans, was set to be a reunion of some Bravo greats, including Orange County alums Vicki Gunvalson and Gretchen Rossi. But filming hit a snag when cast members Brandi Glanville and Caroline Manzo left the trip early after Manzo accused Glanville of sexual assault. Earlier this month, Manzo filed a lawsuit against NBCUniversal, Peacock, Bravo, and production companies Shed Media and Forest Productions over alleged misconduct.

While Peacock still weighs whether it will shelve the season, some cast members have begun to spread their own theories. Camille Meyer, who rose to fame on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, took to Instagram to say she “[doesn’t] believe” it will ever air. Meanwhile, Gunvalson went on fellow cast member Glanville’s podcast last week and claimed the “head of Bravo” told her it will not air.

A spokesperson for Peacock shut down Gunvalson’s claim as inaccurate, while RHUGT: Morocco executive producer Barrie Bernstein told The Daily Beast she thinks cast members are just “listening to the rumors.” Even Gunvalson herself backtracked, telling The Daily Beast “no” when asked if she was told by Bravo that the season will not air.

“I have NO idea. It’s up to the network,” Gunvalson told The Daily Beast. “It was just my assumption. I really have no idea.”

A spokesperson for Glanville declined to comment.

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The decision to keep the season in post-production purgatory comes after Peacock moved up the airing of RHUGT: RHONY Legacy to December 2023, despite filming the New York spinoff months after the scandal-plagued Morocco season.

Andy Cohen previously commented on the season’s prospects during BravoCon in October, saying there were no plans to pull it from the schedule. “It’s there, it’s done, and I hope everyone sees it soon,” he told TheWrap.

Since then, the network has publicly remained mum, despite the cast’s looser lips. In the wake of Manzo’s lawsuit, Meyer commented on an Instagram post that the cast “all think Caroline has gone too far with this lawsuit.”

“I wasn’t in the bathroom when the so called alleged event happened,” she added. “What I did see was the two ladies laughing and getting along.”

According to Manzo’s lawsuit, on the third night of filming in Morocco, Glanville mounted Manzo, “holding Manzo down with her body.” The suit alleges that Glanville “forcibly squeezed Manzo’s cheeks together and thrust her tongue in Manzo’s mouth, while humping her.” Eventually, Manzo was allegedly able to free herself and go to the bathroom, “overcome and distraught.”

Glanville then entered the bathroom along with cast members Alex McCord and Gretchen Rossi, according to the lawsuit. Glanville “forced her vagina against Manzo’s buttocks,” the suit claims, before pinning her body against the door. Manzo’s lawsuit further alleges that Glanville pushed her face onto Manzo to kiss her, before Manzo was finally able to exit the bathroom.

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In the days following the alleged assault, Manzo felt pressured by production and her fellow cast members to make nice with Glanville, the lawsuit claims, but she eventually decided to leave the trip early. Glanville, too, was sent home. The season finished filming on its normal schedule, while in the post-season, some cast members have filmed confessionals.

This isn’t the first season of Ultimate Girls Trip to be mired in controversy. Season 2 cast member Marco Vega sued the network last year for allegedly enabling sexual harassment and abuse, claiming Glanville abused him as well. Glanville has taken to Twitter to fight both accusations, claiming she’s “completely innocent.”

If Peacock does end up axing Ultimate Girls Trip: Morocco entirely, it will be a historic move for the Real Housewives franchise, which has never had to scrap a season. But it wouldn’t be a reality TV first. In 2009, VH1 shelved its reality dating series Megan Wants a Millionaire after airing three episodes when contestant Ryan Jenkins was accused of murdering his ex-wife. Jenkins also filmed a season of VH1’s I Love Money, which went unaired as well.

For now, it’s unclear if Ultimate Girls Trip will continue; NBCUniversal has yet to greenlight another iteration of the series, which has aired four seasons since its November 2021 debut.

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