The 10 Greatest "Real Housewives" Trips of All Time
The perfect simulacrum for the plutocratic schadenfreude that’s suffused throughout popular culture, The Real Housewives has remained a reality television mainstay since its inception with The Real Housewives of Orange County in 2006. Comprising more than 50 individual programs, Bravo’s Housewives franchise almost perfectly parallels Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe–the ladies standing in for the superpowered heroes and villains and their regular vacations being some of their most dangerous missions. Frequently acting as a newcomer initiation or cast milestone celebration, the group trips across different Housewives programs have varied in locale from Los Vegas to London but have all managed to deliver the same explosive drama and delirium reality TV fans tune in for.
Anguilla - The Real Housewives of Atlanta
During a three-episode arc during the show’s fifth season, the ladies of Atlanta embark on a historic couple’s trip to the Caribbean British Territory, Anguilla. Soon after the cast arrives, Kenya Moore is at odds with almost all of the ladies after she's accused of behaving inappropriately around the other women’s husbands. After a few sangria-soaked group dinners, the ladies gather for a late-night glass of wine on the patio and tempers quickly begin to flare—particularly between Kenya Moore and Porsha Williams. After a nearly unintelligible shouting match that almost has the ladies coming to blows, Kenya and Porsha are separated and Kenya delivers one of the franchise’s most incredible moments, fixing a glassy-eyed expression on the horizon, twirling the hem of her skirt, and crying out she’s still, “Gone With the Wind fabulous,” while her castmates gawk at her, befuddled.
Aspen - The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
Throughout the entirety of season 12, the ladies’ notorious Aspen trip hung over the season like a storm cloud, continually alluding to a major blowup between Kathy Hilton and her sister, Kyle Richards, featuring some trademark mettling from Lisa Rinna. Though the trip was evoked as a cataclysmic upcoming turning point in the series, the most shocking moments went down off camera after Lisa Rinna took a harrowing car ride through the Colorado mountains with Kathy Hilton. While accounts on the details vary wildly depending on who you ask, Hilton allegedly threw a historic, expletive-filled hissy fit after a failed attempt to start a conga line led to her shouting at Kyle Richards and storming off from the group. On an off-camera car ride, Rinna alleged that Hilton continued her vicious tirade, taking swipes at everybody from her sister Kyle to NBC. Disagreements over this fight led to an enormous rift amongst the ladies and contributed in part to Lisa Rinna's departure from RHOBH after a fantastic 8-season tenure.
Lake George - The Real Housewives of New Jersey
Midway through the show’s explosive fifth season, The Real Housewives of New Jersey cast embarks on an ill-conceived retreat to Lake George in Upstate New York. The interminable family feud between Teresa/Joe Guidice and Joe/Melissa Gorga continues to drag on, coming to a head when Joe Gorga refers to his sister, Teresa, as scum, setting off a full-on brawl between the Joes. After the husbands are separated, Joe Gorga, inexplicably, removes his shirt while continuing to shout indiscernible obscenities while being corralled by his wife. Teresa tries to rebuild her relationship with her brother Joe to no avail, leaving the “healing retreat” with more familial tension than ever.
Thailand - The Real Housewives of Dallas
In the latter half of the penultimate season of Bravo’s since-canceled The Real Housewives of Dallas, the ladies took a disastrous group trip to Thailand upon an invitation from cast member Stephanie Hollman. After an acrimonious trip to Mexico, the ladies' hopes for a more peaceful vacation are quickly foiled by housewife LeeAnne Locken’s histrionics making their predictable appearance right at the trip’s onset. The trip falls completely off the rails after a fateful night in Bangkok’s Red Light District which sends LeeAnne into a rage that went in Housewives history. After the ladies attend a show Locken doesn’t seem to approve of, she hurls racist comments at her castmate Kary Brittingham and cuts the ladies’ night out short, much to the chagrin of the rest of the cast. After an admittedly difficult season, Locken was fired from Real Housewives of Dallas after season four, primarily due to her comments made to Brittingham in Bangkok.
The Berkshires - The Real Housewives of New York
An unofficial Housewives rite of passage, surviving a weekend at Dorinda Medley’s palatial Tudor home has become something of a Bravo baptism by fire. The backdrop for some of the show’s greatest parties and biggest blowouts, the baroque Blue Stone Manor seems to have a certain effect on all those who step inside its gilded gates. Though innumerable iconic moments were made in the Berkshires, The Real Housewives of New York season eight trip to Dorinda’s Massachusetts estate was easily the show’s most memorable. By the time the ladies arrive in the Berkshires, frenemies Bethenny Frankel and LuAnn de Lesseps had been taking shots at each other for weeks in one of the most drawn-out beefs of all time. After de Lesseps alluded to playing a central role in the founding of Frankel’s successful brand Skinny Girl, Frankel goes fully ballistic, shouting profanities while Luann gleefully smirks, delighted to have gotten under Frankel's skin. Later, when de Lesseps and Romana Singer are chatting in Dorinda’s kitchen, they mock Medley’s home and the birthday cake her mother had made her, sending Medley into a blind rage wherein she shouts her now signature mantra “I made it nice!” as she threatens to throw the ladies out.
Hong Kong - The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
Midway through the show’s spectacular seventh season, the ladies of Beverly Hills jet off to the Chinese metropolis of Hong Kong to rebuild their rocky relationships. Originally an international sojourn for Lisa Vanderpump to present her documentary covering the Yulin Dog Festival, the trip quickly devolves into one of the greatest (i.e. most disastrous) Housewives vacations. A simmering argument between Lisa Rinna and Dorit Kemsley boils over when the women take a nausea-inducing boat ride to admire the Hong Kong skyline. Later at dinner, Dorit, Rinna, and Erika continue to exchange snipes, leaving soap star Eileen Davidson caught in the crossfire after Erika snaps at her over a glib comment about Jayne and Kemsley’s inane disagreement. Before being whisked away to sell sweaters on QVC, Lisa Rinna delivers the episode's most unforgettable line when asking Dorit if she’d been using cocaine at a recent party she’d held in her home.
Vail - The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City
The trip’s most shocking moment happens before the women even depart SLC, and leaves such a cataclysmic fallout that it affects the trip and the whole show as well. Shortly after Heather, Jennie, Lisa, Whitney, and Jen Shah meet outside Heather’s med spa, Beauty Lab + Laser, they board a sprinter van (the Apollo’s chariot of the Housewives pantheon) and ready themselves to head out to Vail. Just before the ladies set off, Jen receives an apparently shocking call that leads to her quickly bailing on the upcoming trip. Jen tells the ladies she was just informed of a family medical emergency and bolts from the lot. Bewildered, the women give Jen their sympathies and watch her leave just before swarms of federal agents and law enforcement officials descend on the lot in search of Jen. After maintaining her total innocence until the eleventh hour, Shah pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for her involvement in a widespread telemarketing scheme and is currently serving a six-and-a-half-year prison sentence.
Amsterdam - The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
Culminating in an explosive fight between housewives Lisa Rinna and Kim Richards, the trip to castmate Yolanda Hadid’s home country was plagued with rumors, catfights, and chaos that all morphed into truly sublime TV. When the women gather for dinner in Amsterdam, Lisa Rinna makes a heartfelt attempt at amends with fellow Housewife Kim Richards, only for Richards to dismiss Rinna’s apology and further antagonize their exhausting disagreement. As Kim becomes more incensed, she lashes out at her sister, Kyle Richards, and actress Eileen Davidson before Lisa Rinna steps back in to stop Kim’s tirade. Kim slips in a shot at Rinna’s husband, actor Harry Hamlin, sending Lisa into an unbidden state of rage fully focused on Kim. The women continue to shout at one another, rising from their chairs before Rinna throws a drink in Richards’ face and smashes a glass on the table. Kyle flees the restaurant like an escaped prisoner, leaving Brandi Glanville to tend to a still-raging Kim while Rinna is quickly ushered out.
Bermuda - The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City
Coming to a head with one of the greatest blowout finales in Housewives history, the ladies’ fateful trip to Bermuda was brimming with the camp drama, emotional volatility, and memorable moments fans can’t ever seem to get enough of. Initially envisioned by the cast as an opportunity to celebrate newcomer Monica Garcia’s birthday, the trip is thrown into complete pandemonium when the women receive some shocking information. While in Bermuda, Housewife Heather Gay is informed that Monica was behind an anonymous Instagram that’d been tormenting the Salt Lake City cast for years. Before a group dinner including Monica, Heather calls the other ladies to the beach to share the information with them in a sequence of shots as melodramatic as Heather’s news warrants. After the other women agree to back Heather when she confronts Monica at that night’s dinner, they all assume a solemnity like soldiers before battle and brace themselves for the fallout. When Heather confronts Monica at dinner, she’s completely blindsided, scrambling to keep her carefully curated web of lies from unraveling before the group.
Scary Island (St. John) - The Real Housewives of New York
A disastrous vacation forever canonized in Housewives history, Scary Island (aptly named by castmate Kelly Bensimon) was one of the first trips filmed as part of New York’s unforgettable third season back in 2009. The episode, appropriately titled “Sun, Sand and Psychosis” follows the ladies to St. John in the US Virgin Islands where their relationships with Kelly Bensimon break down alongside Bensimon's frayed psyche. Tensions between Bensimon and Bethenny Frankel had been building for weeks leading up to the trip and were only exacerbated by Bensimon’s bizarre behavior, which included accusing Frankel of trying to kill her and claiming castmate Alex McCord was “channeling” the devil. At first, the ladies seem amused by Bensimon’s nonsensical ramblings until they continue and start to cause legitimate fear and condern. Bensimon’s shocking outbursts left the remaining cast unsettled to the point that even Jill Zarin’s surprise (i.e. unwelcome) appearance in St. John seemed like a moot point by the end of the trip.
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