Real Housewives of New York City fans were shocked by the news that Carole Radziwill is returning to the show — and so was her former costar Dorinda Medley.
“I’m surprised I knew nothing about it, and we’re quite close,” Dorinda, 61, said during the Monday, March 2, episode of her Reality Checked show on SiriusXM. “So she kept it very — her cards very close to her chest.”
Bravo announced earlier on Monday that Carole, 62, will be returning to RHONY as a “friend” of the Housewives for season 16 alongside Jessel Taank, Erin Lichy and Sai De Silva. She previously starred on the series for five seasons from 2012 to 2018.
“I don’t know if she knows any of the girls,” Dorinda continued, adding that she thinks Carole could be a good “bridge” between the original and newer versions of RHONY. “I think that Carole’s just a New York character, and she’s very close to Andy [Cohen] and she had such a great comeback on Watch What Happens Live and BravoCon, and I think the show needs a character, something to sort of unify it back to the old a little bit.”
The Traitors alum went on to say that she was also “surprised” by the fact that Carole will only be a “friend” rather than a main cast member.
“I think she should be full-time,” Dorinda explained. “But a ‘friend of,’ that’s too little. She should be … I don’t know if I could as a full-time Housewife go back and be a ‘friend of’ with these new girls.”
In addition to Carole’s return, Bravo announced on Monday that three new Housewives will join the RHONY season 16 cast: Hailey Glassman, Erika Hammond and Daisy Toye.
The news comes after Bravo rebooted RHONY with an all-new cast following season 13. Brynn Whitfield, Ubah Hassan and Jenna Lyons, who appeared in season 14, will not be returning, and neither will Racquel Chevremont, who joined in season 15.
Carole’s return came as a particular surprise to Housewives fans because of her rocky history with Andy, 57. While the two were originally close, their dynamic changed in 2018 when she argued he was supporting Bethenny Frankel over her at the season 10 reunion.
Years later, Andy said wasn’t impressed with how Carole announced her exit from RHONY, telling Not All Diamonds and Rosé author Dave Quinn, “She is not the person I used to know.”
Last year, however, the pair seemingly squashed their beef when Carole joined Andy for an episode of WWHL. Three months later, she appeared at BravoCon.
Despite all that, Dorinda said on Monday she still didn’t think Carole would return to the Bravo fold in an official capacity. “I didn’t see that coming because, you know, after she left, she didn’t seem to like it anymore. You know what I mean?” she told cohost Kiki Monique and guest Kate Chastain.
Dorinda added that she hadn’t spoken to Carole since the news broke and found out when everyone else did.
“I mean, if she wanted to tell me, she would tell me, right? … Someone else texted,” Dorinda explained. “I think it’s going to be interesting to see because the girls are a lot younger. And it’s a different world than the world she was [in]. She really kind of knew us. But I just don’t know. I don’t know the new show anymore.”
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