The Real Housewives franchise is full of drama, but there is just something about Real Housewives of New York City's fights and feuds that far surpass the rest. What other city has had two seasons involving situations on islands resulting in those incidents earning their own names ("Scary Island" and "Slutty Island")? For eight seasons, this particular city and its Housewives have delivered some of the best and most dramatic moments yet. You know what that means? It's time to do a much-needed ranking of the RHONY seasons ranked by the best drama.
I'm not going to lie. Determining which season had the best drama was no easy feat. That's just how much fighting and arguing there's been throughout the series over the past eight seasons. And based on the upcoming trailer for RHONY Season 9, the drama isn't ceasing anytime soon. Let's all say it together, "Thank goodness."
What makes the situations these women find themselves in all the more entertaining is how they handle it. Let's all think back to when Dorinda Medley screamed at her friends in Season 8 after they ruined an evening at her Berkshires home. (She "made it nice!") That's just further proof right there that RHONY is top notch. With that, allow me to present my ranking of the seasons based on which one had the best drama.
8. Season 1: Huh?
Seriously does anyone remember the first season and anything that happened? It was the shortest RHONY season with only seven episodes, so there wasn't that much heavy-hitting drama. Though, that doesn't mean there wasn't any at all.
Between Luann de Lesseps' current husband, Tom D'Agostino Jr., making an appearance and hitting on Ramona Singer and her friends long before he would show up again (for real), Ramona getting mad at Simon Van Kempen for interrupting a "girl's night" and not letting it go, and Luann telling Bethenny Frankel she can't ever introduce her to a driver as "Luann," but rather as "Countess de Lesseps," Season 1 still has some memorable dramatic moments.
7. Season 2: Kelly vs. Bethenny
Like Season 1, Season 2 isn't that great of a season. However, the same can't be said for the longstanding battle between Kelly Bensimon and Bethenny Frankel.
Season 2 was when the tension between Kelly and Bethenny began. They just could never see eye-to-eye. Because of it, and the fact that Kelly thought Bethenny acted totally inappropriately and rude during a fashion show and at a charity meeting for Jill Zarin's daughter this all resulted in a blowup where Kelly told Bethenny, "This is you. This is me."
Of course, their feud bled into Season 3 during "Scary Island."
6. Season 4: Morocco
Real Housewives is known for its dramatic trips and RHONY's Season 4 vacay to Morocco was no exception. The trip was hosted by Luann, who thought she was going to treat the ladies to the time of their lives. Well, that definitely didn't seem to be the case for a few of them.
Ramona and Jill went at it, which resulted in Ramona crying uncontrollably on her bed. Then, there was the fortune teller who claimed to Ramona that her now-former husband, Mario, had another woman in the picture. Oh, and there was all of that drama between Luann and Alex McCord over how The Countess treated Ramona after her fight with Jill. If you recall, this was the fight where Luann posed about Alex, "Is that a buffalo coming down the stairs?" She then said to Alex's face, "And you came in in your Herman Munster shoes."
As great as Morroco's drama was, it doesn't beat a lot of the other trips.
5. Season 6: "Book-gate"
Oh, Aviva Drescher. She came in swinging — and not only when she deliberately took off her prosthetic leg and slammed it onto a table. This wasn't Aviva's first season, but it was certainly her most dramatic one.
Where to begin? This was the season Aviva wrote a book and accused writer/former journalist Carole Radziwill of using a ghostwriter. It was a slap in the face to Carole, especially as an author. Their fight became known as "book-gate" and drove a huge wedge between Carole and Aviva. As mentioned earlier, Season 6 was also when Aviva took off her leg and tried to make a point that there was nothing fake about her — except for her leg.
This was also the season the ladies visited Heather Thomson's home in the Berkshires. Yes, this is when Ramona ordered her own air conditioning unit for her room and hired her own private jet to come rescue her because she didn't want to stay one more day.
If you recall, the women also went to Montana for a trip courtesy of Kristen Taekman. Part of it was a disaster and mainly thanks to Ramona complaining about how bad of a host Kristen was and the fact that she couldn't get over when Kristen got her hair wet at the spa prior to Montana. You know what happened next. Yeah, Ramona threw a wine glass at Kristen's face, which cut her lip.
4. Season 7: Just Be Cool
"Be cool. Don't be all like uncool." This will forever be the one line Luann will be remembered for. Season 7 wasn't just the season Bethenny returned, but it was also the one where Lu brought home a man while the group was on vacation and angered Heather in the process.
During a Turks and Caicos trip, Heather went on the warpath after waking up to an unknown man in their residence. It ended up in an argument between Lu and Heather, where The Countess uttered her famous one-liner. What made this all the better, is compared to past seasons, Lu was totally chill and cared less about Heather's concerns.
This season also featured many arguments between Heather and Bethenny, who struggled to find common ground. Oh, and there was that mini-trip to Atlantic City, which showed Sonja drunkenly talking about how she parties with "John-John Kennedy and Madonna all the time." To that, Dorinda Medley responded, "John-John's dead, so that's difficult."
And, of course, Season 7 was when Carole met her boyfriend, Adam, aka Lu's chef/family friend/niece's ex-boyfriend. It resulted in a ton of drama between Carole and Luann. But, Carole didn't really care and continued to date Adam — and still does.
3. Season 5: "Slutty Island"
Before "book-gate," there was "Slutty Island." (By the way, that name comes from the episode title.) Season 5 was when Carole, Heather, and Aviva first joined the franchise. It was also when the ladies traveled to St. Barths, which was a disaster.
First, let's talk about Luann and the pirate. Remember the guy who everyone thought resembled Johnny Depp and supposedly hooked up with Luann while she was still with Jacques? Later on during the RHONY's 100th episode special, Luann did clear up a few things, but most of that evening remains a mystery.
St. Barths was also where Aviva conquered her fear of flying by having her husband accompany her to the island. Rather than getting the welcome she thought she deserved (maybe like a huge banner congratulating her efforts?), her arrival ended with her calling Ramona and Sonja "white trash."
Let's not forget Season 5 was also where Heather and Ramona were first at odds. So much so, Heather didn't invite Ramona to her London trip. Oh, and this was also the season we met Aviva's father, George, who did not get along with Ramona — at all.
2. Season 3: "Scary Island"
Would RHONY be anything without "Scary Island," aka the trip Ramona put on for her friends (minus Lu and Jill) in St. John? Where do I even start? When the ladies weren't having "turtle time," it was basically Kelly who was the main problem. First, she continued to find major issues with Bethenny, constantly used the word "creepy," didn't believe she was a chef, but rather a "cook," and expressed to Jill that based on several nightmares she had that she feared Bethenny would stab her.
This wasn't even the tip of the iceberg, because at dinner one evening prepared by Bethenny, Kelly strolled in only wanting to eat gummy bears and not wanting anything to do with Bethenny. All of this led to Bethenny iconically screaming, "Go to sleep! Go to sleep!" Sonja stepped in and told everyone to back off, because it seemed like something was off with Kelly. To make matters so much worse, Jill showed up as a "surprise" to Ramona. It was not a welcomed one, because it ended with Ramona kicking her out.
When all of the chaos wasn't happening on "Scary Island," there was also major drama between Bethenny and Jill, whose friendship came to an end by the Season 3 finale. This was also the season where Bethenny told Jill "to get a hobby." These two not working things out was a huge deal, because Bethenny and Jill had been extremely close friends for a very long time. As much as it was probably for the best that they didn't reconcile, it was sad to see it all come crashing down.
1. Season 8: Lu & Tom
Season 8's drama is going to be hard to beat by any future seasons. So much madness happened that I don't know if RHONY will ever top itself here in the drama department.
First, there was the weekend trip to Dorinda's home in the Berkshires. I mean, there was so much fighting and yelling that it might have been more than all of the eight seasons combined. Bethenny and Luann had their most epic fight over Sonja not being invited, Bethenny's business, how Luann claimed she came up with the idea for Skinnygirl, and Luann never owning up to anything involving her personal life, as Bethenny put it. It was one of their worst fights ever — and basically ruined Dorinda's evening. Bethenny and Luann's brawl resulted in Dorinda telling everyone off. You go, Dorinda! After all, she "made it nice!" Really, her speech alone was enough drama for one season.
Then, of course, there was all of that drama between Bethenny and Sonja over Skinnygirl vs. Tipsy Girl, which ended with Sonja in tears. Bethenny really argued with most everyone in Season 8, including Dorinda's boyfriend, John Mahdessian.
Finally, there was that whole mess with Bethenny showing Luann pictures of her fiancé, Tom, kissing another woman. One word: catastrophe. The way it was handled, the information being delivered, and Luann staying with Tom was so extreme. After all of this was revealed, Luann said during the reunion that Tom "copped to it" and was "devastated" over the matter. She decided that she loves him too much to let this ruin them. Yeah, all of this certainly made Season 8 the most dramatic and best yet.
Thank you, RHONY, for being a dramatic mess. Keep on being you.
