A Bravo Producer Opens Up About How Real Housewives Casting Changes Are Made

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Casting changes can be the toughest part of being a fan of any Real Housewives franchise. Of course, nobody ever wants to say goodbye to their favorites. The Real Housewives of Potomac Executive Producer, Kemar Bassaragh, opened up about the process of asking cast member to return (or not) during the October 8 episode of The Daily Dish podcast, which you can check out, below. 

“There’s a lot of people involved in that process and we don’t always say we wanna change it up. It all depends on what is going on in someone’s lives,” Bassaragh explained. “For example, if you’re following me, and you were on my journey, and I got married and had a kid, and you were following all this stuff and then you were like, so what is going on in your life coming up? And I was like, ‘Honestly, that’s really it. Like, I’m married. I have a child. Like, there’s nothing new that I can show you.’ That’s usually what happens when someone doesn’t get invited back to our show, because it’s really because of what’s happening in their lives.” 

"If they’re at a stalemate, you don’t wanna come back and watch the same exact thing in someone’s lives happening over and over and over again,” he continued. “You wanna see progression and if they’re at a point in their lives when they’re like, 'Guys, you know, everything that I’ve done, I’m tapped out,' it’s usually a mutual decision where everyone is like, ‘well, you know, we really like you, but unfortunately, there’s nothing new happening in your lives, and we’ve already followed you as much as we can.’” 

Although it can be tough to say goodbye to a cast member, Bassaragh explained that the excitement of having a fresh face come in makes it easier to “move along.” For example, he noted that The Real Housewives of Potomac’s newest cast member, Wendy Osefo, has been an excellent addition. 

“I’m stealing Candiace [Dillard]’s word. Wendy is really Black Girl Magic personified. I love her,” he said. “Like, I love her on every level as a person, and as someone that is new to Potomac because she has so much to offer. She made herself the voice of reasoning, and as you’ve seen, there was a lot of back and forth and Wendy emerged as someone who literally was what we were thinking as people watching the show.”