By Drew Grant 5/20 12:45pm

The Real Housewives of New York City

The cast of RHONY, approximately. (Bravo)

Real Housewives of New York City Will Go On: Cast Filming in NYC, But What’s the Headcount?

Despite the finger-biting anxiety of the last two weeks, when negotiations between Bravo and the members of The Real Housewives of New York City broke down, causing the network to threaten cancellation, it looks like all’s well in the RHONY world after all.

Reports have seen the women out and about together with a camera crew at various NYC locales, including the studio of celebrity trainer Will Torres.

But the question remains: will all the Real Housewives be making it back for the next season? Read More

By Drew Grant 5/13 11:37am

Exclusive

RHONY, Season 5 (Bravo)

Exclusive: RHONY Contracts Still Unsigned as of This Morning; Tensions Still Running High for New Season

Last week it looked like The Real Housewives of New York City could get shut down for good when all six of the cast members refused to sign their contracts. Shooting for the series was supposed to commence last Wednesday (according to several news outlets), but was delayed when negotiations stalled.

Thank goodness it might not be over. According to Deadline, RHONY ladies Carole Radziwill, Ramona Singer, LuAnn de Lesseps, Heather Thomson, Aviva Drescher and Sonja Morgan all received modest pay increases, though how “modest” that money is definitely on a case-by-case basis; Ramona Singer made $500,000 last season and was holding out for a million, while a source close to the negotiations told The New York Observer that The New York Post’s quoted “average” payout for a housewife–$65,000–was “in the ballpark” of what was being offered this time around.

According to an industry insider, however, none of the ladies have officially signed their contracts yet, so don’t be jumping for joy just yet. Read More

By Drew Grant 4/09 7:20pm

High End Preppers

Aviva Drescher (Michael Rosenthal/Bravo)

Investing in the End of the World: Cash-Flush Preppers Try to Up Their Odds of Disaster Survival

Aviva Drescher’s first child was only 1 month old when the planes hit the Twin Towers on September 11. The Real Housewives of New York City star—a lifetime New Yorker—watched the events unfold with horror.

“I just wanted to protect my young,” she told The New York Observer, adding that her anxieties soon expanded. What about biological warfare? If terrorists could kill thousands of people with a couple of box cutters, what would happen if the Ebola virus was dropped in Central Park?

She began preparing for the worst.

“I bought body gear, really expensive body gear, like the kind used by the Army. I went online and researched gas masks. I bought a gas tent for my baby. I was so crazy that when I took my baby out, I would keep a gas mask in the stroller. I stocked up on Cipro,” she said. (Cipro is used to treat people exposed to anthrax.) “I bought a bunch of giant rafts to go down the East River. Though I know,” she sighed, “all the big shots will probably have private planes and helicopters.” Read More

By Drew Grant 12/18/12 9:21am

SoulCycle

SoulCycle

Dark Night of the Soul

There are things the Transom considers red flags. One is the word “exercise” in any context not involving our First Amendment rights. Another, we recently discovered after a SoulCycle date with Real Housewives of New York City star Aviva Drescher, is the phrase “lock-in shoes.”

As in, once you’re on, you are not getting off. Read More

By Drew Grant 10/26/12 6:34pm

Feminist Counterpoint

Housewife Aviva Drescher and social critic Camille Paglia (Getty Images)

Aviva Drescher Responds to Camille Paglia’s Love of Feminist Housewives

Two weeks ago, feminist Camille Paglia did an interview with Salon.com in which she came out as the world’s biggest fan of The Real Housewives franchise, calling it “a revelation of the deep truth about female sexuality.” She added:

It’s like the Discovery Channel—sending a camera to the African savannah to watch the cheetahs stalking the gazelles! What you’re seeing is the primal battles going on among women. Men are marginalized on these shows—they’re eye candy, to use Obama’s phrase, on the borderlines of the ferocity of female sexuality.

We decided to call up Aviva Drescher, RHONY’s newest villainess (though we still think she’s very nice), to get her reaction to the compliment. Read More

By Drew Grant 6/20/12 10:00am

Menace to Society

Cassandra Seidenfeld, Randy Kemper, and someone trying not to fall over. (Patrick McMullan)

Menace to Society: Where Are the Hamptons, Anyway?

There’s a reason that the Hamptons Jitney is the one bus that New York’s elite will deign to place their fancy tushes on. The air-conditioned anti-Greyhound actually showed up on time Friday afternoon, and the nice lady who came to take our credit cards gave me two cartons of lemonade and a bag of Bachmann’s Party Mix.

Because it’s not a party without Bachmann’s Party Mix.

I made sure to grab a window seat because I was determined to keep an eye on the road. It was time for me to figure out where exactly the Hamptons were. The last time I ventured a guess, it was deemed so clueless that my publicist, R. Couri Hay, had to step in, spinning my ignorance as some kind of adorable party trick. Read More

By Drew Grant 5/23/12 5:31pm

RHONY

Housewives drama! (Bravo)

Real Housewives Pre-Show Drama: Sonja Morgan Accuses Aviva Drescher of Phony Philanthropy

Last night at the Harboring Hearts Spring Gala at the Rubin Museum, Real Housewives of New York star Sonja Morgan sniped about her new co-star, Aviva Drescher, calling the latter out for only joining charities after she knew she would be on the show.

“We all went to one of her SoulCycle events, but she wasn’t really involved with any charities,” the ex-wife of JP Morgan told The New York Observer. “I ran into her ex-husband (Harry Dubin) and he was just as surprised; he said Aviva never did any philanthropy.” Read More

By Drew Grant 4/06/12 9:15am

The Real Housewives of New York City

The RHONY cast: Ramona Singer, LuAnn de Lesseps, Aviva Drescher, Caroline Radzwill, and Heather Thomson (Getty Images)

Real Housewife of New York City’s Aviva Drescher Spills About New Season’s Drama

With the 5th season of The Real Housewives of New York City airing June 4th, the first teaser trailer has given fans a lot to look forward to. Not only are there three new Housewives—Aviva Drescher, Heather Thomson, and Carole Radziwill—but the sneak peak shown earlier this week has everything from prosthetic, skinny-dipping, and an elderly gentleman suggesting that he could give one of the ladies her “first squirting orgasm.” And a lot of booze, to be sure.

Ms. Drescher, an advocate for amputees (she herself only having one leg) appears to play a major part in the drama of the season. The trailer begins with Ramona Singer asking if the toes on her prosthetic are “real” and ends with Ms. Drescher calling the tenured Housewife “white trash.”

“I regret having said those words,” Ms. Drescher told The Observer by phone yesterday. “I have a much larger vocabulary than that.” Read More

By Drew Grant 4/05/12 3:01pm

The Real Housewives of New York City

Aviva Drescher on the new season of 'RHONY' (Bravo)

New Cast Members of The Real Housewives of New York City Announced: Aviva Drescher Makes the Cut (Video)

Well, what do you know? After months of speculation and waiting around, our prediction that philanthropist and “Wall Street Wife” Aviva Drescher (whom we profiled in December) would be joining The Real Housewives of New York City proved correct! Now let’s see if the other rumored women for the show will also be joining Countess LuAnn de Lesseps, Sonja Morgan and Ramona Singer for the 5th season of the Bravo hit. Read More

By Drew Grant 12/20/11 12:00pm

Profiles

Aviva Drescher, who will not be a Real Housewife

Aviva Drescher: The Good (House)Wife

Update 4/5/12: Aviva Drescher has been announced as one of the new additions to The Real Housewives on New York City, Season Five.

Tucked into a back table at the Upper East Side pastry and panini shop Via Quadronno for brunch last Monday, Aviva Drescher, the 5 foot 10 inch, flaxen blond, part-time socialite, full-time mom and rumored new addition to the cast of Bravo’s Real Housewives of New York City, told us the story of how she lost her leg in a horrifying farm accident upstate at age six.

“It was a genius idea to go ride a conveyor belt in a barn that was meant to remove cow manure,” Ms. Drescher said, rolling her eyes.

Along with a black pencil skirt from Dolce and Gabbana paired with a burgundy bow blouse and cashmere sweater vest by Gucci, Ms. Drescher was sporting a pair of thigh-high black boots. She always wears thigh-high boots.

The initial amputation was not the ideal surgery, she recalled. “The problem was, as a child, they only amputated several inches above ankle, so the amputation was very awkward. I’d get abrasions all the time. I constantly had infections.” At 26, Ms. Drescher underwent elective surgery to remove more of the leg, which gave her more skin and padding. Read More