Bethenny Has No Choice But to Return to 'RHONYC'

We fell in love with her on the Real Housewives of New York City, we fell out of love with her on Bethenny Getting Married?, we fell back in love with her on Bethenny Ever After, and fell out of love, again, with her on the new talk show, Bethenny, but this time, the "out of love feeling" might be permanent. Fans are so turned off by Bethenny Frankel right now that they're starting to completely tune her out — Naughty But Nice Rob is reporting that her cover issue of People is one of the worst selling issues in the history of the magazine. With only 610,000 copies sold, "no one is going to offer her another magazine cover for a long time.”

But, we all know that won't stop Bethenny from trying. She's not one to just slither away into the shadows and wait for the love-hate cycle to come full circle. Not going away is what she does best, after all — I mean, how else can you explain her stints on her eponymous reality shows, The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, as well as Skating With the Stars? She's been on at least 97 episodes of reality TV. Ninety-seven. Clearly, this woman doesn't shrink when there's camera-time to be had.

Which is why this People magazine flop is only going to light her fire, not extinguish it. With the new season of the Real Housewives of New York City but months away, it'd make sense if Bethenny went back to her roots and appeared at least once or twice on the show. And since the season's already been delayed due to shaky casting and contract negotiations, there's no doubt Bravo would welcome her back with open arms.

Oh, and did I mention the fact that Kelly Bensimon is reportedly filming a few scenes for next season?

If Bethenny misses her chance for another "I'm up here, you're down here" convo with crazy Kelly, it's that, and only that, which will give us sufficient evidence that Bethenny has given up her time in the spotlight. People sales, Schmeople sales — if Bethenny doesn't appear on RHONYC, that's when we know she'll be gone for good.