Stephanie Hollman, former cast member on The Real Housewives of Dallas, took to her social media just this week to spill RHOD production secrets, giving fans an inside peek into what it is really like to work for Bravo.
Stephanie opened up about what it was like working on RHOD on her Instagram Story, with Twitter user joyrosenberg sharing screenshots of two particularly interesting posts.
Social media fines
Bravo has long been rumoured to fine the Real Housewives and other talent for breaking a supposed social media agreement and Stephanie confirmed that was very much the case in her experience.
“I am proud to say that I was never fined, but have heard of people who I have heard lost all their bonus money on behavior,” she captioned a photo of herself with RHOD co-stars Brandi Redmond and Kary Brittingham.
Former Real Housewives of Orange County star Kelly Dodd discussed being fined for wearing a “Drunk Wives Matter” hat and posting about it on her social media in a podcast interview last year.
“I got fined for wearing a ‘Drunk Wives Matter’ hat, and I didn’t even buy it,” she told David Yontef’s “Behind The Velvet Rope” podcast, according to a write up from Page Six.
“It was given to me — and I didn’t wear it on the show,” she explained. “It was at my bridal shower, and I got dinged for that.”
According to Kelly’s interview, Bravo fined her almost $16,000 for the hat and other poor behavior. “I got $16,000, and they wouldn’t tell me why, but I know one of those reasons was wearing that hat,” she said. “It was general behavior [though], of why I got charged [$16,000].”
Filming schedule
Stephanie also opened up about the filming schedule, revealing that cameras are not around the Housewives as often as some fans may think.
In another Instagram Story, the former RHOD star revealed that the Housewives were given a schedule at the beginning of each week that would show exactly what they would be filming and who they would be filming with.
“You don’t have cameras in your house everyday. It’s very structured,” she explained. “You get a schedule at the beginning of every week that gives you specific times that you are working and who you will be filming with.”
Interestingly enough, Stephanie seemed to shut down rumours that the show is scripted, revealing that the longest days on the RHOD set were ones that involved the entire cast. “The longest days are the days that you do all cast scenes because you have to stay until something interesting happens,” she said.
Confessional interviews
In addition to filming the actual season, a big portion of being a Real Housewife involves those infamous confessional interviews. According to Stephanie, that was some of the most time-consuming portions of RHOD production.
“A single interview look will be filmed 3 to 4 times and you will be interviewed in that look around nine hours each time,” she explained. “You record interviews throughout taping and up until the reunion. You don’t get to see episodes until 2 or 3 days prior to it airing.”
She continued, “You have to have good behavior towards cast members in the media and online or you are fined. Filming is about 3-4 months long and you work 30-40 hours a week.”
It is pretty refreshing to hear Stephanie discuss what it is like to be a Real Housewife seeing as the production aspect of the show is one of the more interesting things about Bravo, hence the franchise’s rabid fan base.
Stephanie Hollman clearly feels comfortable discussing production and what it was like to be on RHOD and that has to be because her Bravo contract has expired. After all, Andy Cohen revealed at BravoCon just a few weeks ago that the network has no plans to reboot the series anytime soon.
The Real Housewives of Dallas aired for five seasons on Bravo between 2016 and 2021.
