THE Real Housewives Of Auckland,
Arena (Foxtel), 8.30pm Sunday
WHAT the heck?
This is a franchise that seems to be travelling the globe, gaining local versions and audiences around the world at a rate of knots.
It’s a franchise that I had, until Sunday night, managed to avoid. Yes there was curiosity, hearing workmates talking about the antics of this woman or that had piqued the curiousity but the bug hadn’t bitten until the promo for the Auckland version had screened during the Emmy telecast and suddenly it was appealing.
And so the television was switched on and the whole clan watched. Still not sure what we watched and how we made it to the end – someone hid the remote. It wasn’t even car crash television – the sort that you can’t look away from it was, well it was something else.
It was six grown women, none of them remotely housewives (but that was expected), sniping at each other and rubbing their lifestyles in the faces of their viewers.
It was camp and over the top – a group of women bitching about each other for the camera and going on “adventures”. All are well-known in some form in New Zealand or at least have high profiles.
In the latest episode they were preparing and then heading to Australia for a “well-earned” girls holiday at Port Douglas (and complaining because they had to share villas with other members of the cast).
The nice thing about watching the Kiwi version of these international franchises (including The Bachelor) is that they don’t tend to take themselves seriously and it is a bit more fun – usually.
If this supposed to be “tongue-in-cheek” it missed the mark.
It was a series of almost silly set-ups, watching as the women had manicures or their first spraytans, tried on bikinis, took pretentious 12-year-old nephews on ludicrous high tea dates, interspersed with straight to camera monologues that had you wanting to find that remote quickly and put them out of our misery never to return.
And if Auckland wasn’t enough of course, there is The Real Housewives of Sydney filming now and coming to Arena next year – can’t wait to miss that one!
– Tania Phillips
