Tyra Banks is denying a report that she doesn’t want Real Housewives stars in the Dancing With The Stars ballroom.
The supermodel issued a response to a recent OK! Magazine source who claimed she planned to “ban” ladies from the Bravo franchise from competing on the ABC celebrity ballroom competition she now hosts.
Tyra’s publicist, Elana Rose, told Page Six the story is “100 percent untrue.”
“She’s a huge fan of the Housewives and everyone knows Tyra is a businesswoman first. As a businesswoman, why would she say anything against the Housewives? She has nothing to do with casting.”
While the OK! source claimed Tyra didn’t think stars like Bethenny Frankel and NeNe Leakes were relevant anymore, her rep said she loves the Bravolebrities and their show, so much so that he recently tried to get one of her really good friends on the Housewives franchise.
“She watches the shows. She loves them,” Rose said.
Tyra also has connections to two Real Housewives of Atlanta stars. She previously modeled with Cynthia Bailey, and Eva Marcille got her start on the supermodel’s former show, America’s Next Top Model.
And she loves the Housewives hub, Watch What Happens Live, and its host, Andy Cohen. The model was a guest on the Bravo late-night chatfest earlier this year.
Tyra’s staunch denial is in stark contrast to the accusations made earlier this week when an alleged insider said she was “never a fan of the Housewives.” The source described it as a decade-old franchise and claimed the new host felt DWTS “needs to aim higher” when casting celebrities for the competition.
For its 29th season — the first with Tyra on board — the DWTS cast did not include any Bravo stars, but it did feature contestants from three buzzy Netflix reality shows.
Just ahead of Tyra’s response, Real Housewives of New York City alum Bethenny Frankel tweeted a clap back to inform her that she has been asked to compete on Dancing With The Stars “multiple times” over the past decade by the show’s longtime casting director, Deena Katz. Frankel also invited Tyra to join her on her podcast to talk things out.
There have been rampant rumors that Tyra has been ruffling feathers behind the scenes at Dancing With The Stars . Her own signing to the show was the subject of great controversy when she unseated longtime host Tom Bergeron after 29 seasons. She also scored an executive producer credit when she joined the ABC dance-off.
