Why Did ‘Real Housewives Of Auckland’ Get Canceled Suddenly With No Reunion? [Spoilers]
Even though the Real Housewives franchise was born and raised in the United States, that doesn’t mean it can’t be topped somewhere else in the world, and why not in Auckland? And that is certainly the case with Real Housewives of Auckland, where one interaction left jaws on the floor around the world. A racist phrase not only caused there to be no need for a Real Housewives of Auckland reunion (though some of the more ghoulish among us would have tuned it), but it got the show canceled for good after one season.
In comparison to the interaction between Real Housewives of Auckland, Michelle Blanchard (a former London model, and a gorgeous, leggy woman of color) and Julia Sloane, a children’s book author (who writes ironically about racial acceptance), the booze battles on Real Housewives of New York just seem like forgetting to say please after “pass the salt.” Sloane, who claims her children’s books are to fight racism in communities where Maoris are a minority, delivered a line to Michelle Blanchard in the presence of Real Housewives of Auckland Persian Gilda Kirkpatrick that would have been rude in the sixties, let alone 2016.
On RHONY, Bethenny Frankel was angry at Sonja Morgan for ripping off her Skinnygirl brand with a Tipsygirl Prosecco, but the name-calling was at a minimum, and things never got nearly as personal as they did on Real Housewives of Auckland.
In the United States, we are getting the Real Housewives of Auckland on a year delay, which doesn’t make what transpired between two of the Housewives any less shocking. To start, the New Zealand ladies of Real Housewives of Auckland seemed like any other group of Real Housewives; quirky, full of themselves, entitled, but then they went on a group trip to Australia, and the proverbial wheels came off the cart.
The Real Housewives of Auckland cast is largely Caucasian, with the exception of Michelle Blanchard, who is of Jamaican heritage and Gilda Kirkpatrick, who is Persian. While in Australia, the Real Housewives of Auckland spent the day on a yacht, and for some reason, Julia Sloane, in what she alleged was a joking tone used the word “n***er” to Blanchard.
On the yacht, Gilda Kirkpatrick asked Michelle Blanchard to help her up from below deck. Julia then chimed in.
“She’s not your boat n***er!”
Blanchard and Kirkpatrick are shocked and respond after a stunned moment that the use of that work is never okay. Julia Sloane does apologize, but as one of the other ladies explains, you can never put the toothpaste back in the tube. Sloane then makes things worse by painting herself as the victim.
“It’s an old boating term. I should never have said it.”
Julia Sloane and her husband, Michael Lorimer, tried to keep that episode of Real Housewives of Auckland from airing but were not successful. Lorimer said that Sloane did not intend to be racist, but says that they use the saying between themselves in humor.
“[The term] wasn’t intended to be racist. [The] term is used occasionally in a tongue-in-cheek way when sailing.”
Julia Sloane says she is trying to move on from the “distressing experience.”
But Real Housewives of Auckland Michelle Blanchard says she will never be able to move on fully and was “absolutely shocked” to hear what Julia Sloane said on the yacht. Blanchard said that nobody had ever used that word in reference to her; not in London and not in New Zealand. Blanchard explained that she was shocked that a grown woman wouldn’t understand the implication of the word “n***er.”
“[Sloane] needs to own it. Don’t blame it on anybody else or make it out to be a lighthearted comment that you jokingly use, because you know what? It is not a lighthearted comment. It’s an offensive comment.”
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For Huffington Post, actor/comedian Ryan Bailey sat down with podcast host Troy McEady and contributor Shira Hirschman Weiss to do a recap and bemoan the canceling of the Real Housewives of Auckland. Both men really enjoyed their viewing of Real Housewives of Auckland, including the over the top tag lines and wished that it hadn’t been canceled.
Weiss passed along the spoiler alert to the men that Real Housewives of Auckland wouldn’t be returning.
“Spoiler alert: This is the only season of the franchise. It was canceled because there’s something controversial ahead and there’s no reunion.”
Bailey said that despite the racial comments on Real Housewives of Auckland, he would have continued watching.
“That’s terrible. Just in this first episode, you had all of the best things about Housewives. You had people talking about others behind their backs, the rude comment immediately stated at the table in a way that was so far ahead of other Real Housewives casts. I am shocked to hear that it was canceled because I would be all in for five seasons.”
Spinoff is reporting that Real Housewives of Auckland Julia Sloane is still trying to move past the racial slur infamy and is plotting a “comeback.” Editor Duncan Greive said that Sloane really put her foot in it.
“She became an international pariah after uttering the worst racial slur on The Real Housewives of Auckland. Now Julia Sloane is apparently plotting a comeback with a feature-length documentary.”
Sloane is hoping a documentary about race and racism will finally put the lid on the racist event from Real Housewives of Auckland.
Have you watched the Real Housewives of Auckland? What did you think of the controversy?
[Featured Image by Bravotv]
