Real Housewives LuAnn De Lesseps, Ramona Singer Get Huge Pay Raises

LuAnn de Lesseps and Ramona Singer are not only rejoicing that they're the only original "Real Housewives of New York" still standing; they're also celebrating a massive pay increase.

"In the fourth season, LuAnn, Ramona, Jill [Zarin] and Alex [McCord] all earned $275,000 for 16 regular episodes plus a one-day reunion taping that was shown as two episodes," an insider tells me. "So in total it was $275,000 for a total of 18 episodes. But now that Jill and Alex have been fired, LuAnn and Ramona are getting $500,000 to tape 18 episodes. That's almost $28,000 an episode.”

Taping for the new season starts this week with three new cast members -- and the drama is already on.

"Nothing causes drama more than asking all the ladies to do the same amount of work and paying some more for it than others," one of the ladies tells me. "Sonja [Morgan] and the new ladies are not earning anything like the money LuAnn and Ramona are, and that is already causing tension -- plus, a very unlikely friendship between past enemies LuAnn and Ramona. It's way too early to know how all this is going to play out, but early meetings have gone great."

A Bravo spokesperson declined to comment on the ladies' huge raises, saying the company doesn't discuss financials. However, the spokesperson did confirm that with every season comes an increase.

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Comments

[miwi98]

06:43 PM on 10/06/2011

I will not watch this show anymore. I am sick of Ramona "I am better than U" attitude. Jill Zarin will be missed. Bravo exec Andy Cohen really took Bethany side when she and Jill had a disagreement and portrayed Jill, by way of editing, in the worse light. Andy Cohen u have allowed your status to go to your head.

[Gabriellyn]

10:21 AM on 10/06/2011

I didn't see the episode so I'm hoping I was mistaken but I thought I saw a commercial for the Beverly Hills Housewives where one woman at an event was bragging that she had paid $25,000 for a pair of sunglasses. Please tell me this isn't true. How many hungry bellies would that $25,000 feed? I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. I don't begrudge wealthy people for the money that they've honesty earned but get sickened to know how they spend it on things like this while there are so many needy people out there.

[mwhite6440]

10:51 AM on 10/05/2011

I will not watch the show anymore because my favorite was Alex. She likes the limelight but I think that she is a genuinely nice person who knows how it is to be an average person. She seems down to earth as compared to the others. Also, it is because average people are struggling in this economy and it is ridiculous what the other housewives are going to be making.

[eltito]

10:34 AM on 10/05/2011

Cohen is ripping all the MULA, he is not as stupid as he looks, he knows exactly what he is doing, he wants people to murder each other, to commit suicides, to cheat on each other spouses, to cheat the government not reporting income (Teresa Guidice and hubby), to screw their own families and to humiliate their friends and families alike...Cohen knows what brings in the dough!!!! but I would watch a reality show better if he starts taping one inside St Quentin, he can call it..."The real scums of sin sin"

[dlrgpv]

10:31 AM on 10/05/2011

Funny when Luann is on I change the channel or get a snack, shes a dead bore.

[Helena Williamstom]

04:41 PM on 10/05/2011

I agree. Luann is snob and highly unlikeable.

[Rob Shuter]

10:28 AM on 10/05/2011

GOOD FOR THEM....$500K

[Michelle Male]

09:32 PM on 10/23/2011

You know what? I agree! (lol) Viewers complain and hate on them, yet they STILL watch the show causing the ratings to go up even higher - hence the pay raises. The solution to their complaints is really very simple - Turn the channel and don't watch. But nowadays, that won't happen because ESPECIALLY in these bad economic times, viewers are too curious to see how the other half live. *sigh* And no, I'm not one of them. I refuse to watch that crap.

[tsunamicoming]

09:25 AM on 10/05/2011

Jill and Kelly being gone are a good thing. The Countless is a horrible want a be actress with NO CLASS and definitely can not carry a tune....but she is being used by Bravo as the comic relief troll. NeNe and Teresa need to go as they are misfits in society as both have the IQ of a troll. Kyle Richards has told she is an Obama fund raiser; therefore, she is a ja-- -- h-- -- e of the decade. Why would old Andy get rid of Alex as she was not the fake one, but Countless definitely is and should GO GO GO.

[Gabriellyn]

07:56 AM on 10/05/2011

In times like these with people losing their jobs, fighting to keep their homes and trying so hard to put food on the table for their families I am really disillusioned with the whole thing. I suppose, though, if they ever decide to have "The Poor Housewives Of Pennsylvania" I may just go for it just so I can pay my medical bills. Now that's a thought.......

[josie pena]

10:24 AM on 10/05/2011

I am thinking the very exact thing! I think that this is disgusting!!! What for? So they can go buy $1,000.00 shoes and handbags so they can be looking good??? This is RIDICULOUS AND SAD!!!! Our country is suffering along with people who have lost their homes to storms, fires and high mortgages and rates!!!! OUR COUNTRY'S VALUE SYSTEM SUCKS!!!! THESE EXECUTIVES are all CONNECTED TO THE GOVERNMENT in some kind of way! THESE WOMEN ARE NOT WORTHY of this increase. What for? This is SICK!!!! i AM ALSO really disillusioned with the whole thing. It is all so FAKE AND PHONY AND THEY ARE PAYING THESE WOMEN JUST TO SATISFY THEIR EGOS!!! SICK,,,SICK.....SICK!!!!!!!

[clematisvine]

06:54 AM on 10/05/2011

They should've kept Alex, she was a voice of reason. She tried to be peacemaker which always put her in the middle. They kept faux royalty & really talentless singer LuAnn who's a key instigator in too-many situations. But Bravo likes that just as they are enjoying the tragic suicide of Beverly Hills Housewife Taylor's husband, Russell. Greed. Greed. Greed. Andy Cohen? Laughs, make jokes, has jackhole (of which he's a major one), acts naive when he loves the feuds, the hatred and even the deaths. NBC's Bravo is a low-life station. Greed. Greed. Greed.

[dmm1047]

08:41 AM on 10/05/2011

Alex was a nobody who thought she was a somebody. I'll bet her husband had something to do with the decision to dump her.

[clematisvine]

08:47 PM on 10/05/2011

We're all somebody. We all end up the same. Celebrity wise, though, they're all nothngs - only in their minds.

[josie pena]

10:25 AM on 10/05/2011

sick....sick....sick.......help the poor and needy and people who have lost their homes.!!!!!

[clematisvine]

08:47 PM on 10/05/2011

You're right, they should.

[Sharon Kamp]

06:50 AM on 10/05/2011

Oh sure, here we are main stream America hurting, lost job, flood damage, lost homes, taking pay CUTS to keep our jobs and thses greedy movie and TV employees get mega raises. Part of the reason our consumer goods cost so much cause it cost so much for advertising on TV!!

[lawrencefishberg]

06:07 AM on 10/05/2011

This either proves that there is a God or that God does not exist at all...your choice.

[maxfax]

10:22 PM on 10/04/2011

Ramona got a raise, and Jill got fired, wonder what Jill thinks?

[cowboyben2010361]

10:54 AM on 10/05/2011

I can assure you Jill isn't laughing at all..... Luanne is a turn-coat! lol I hope Jill learned her lesson in that there is no such thing as "true friend" between her and Luanne... it's all about the $$$$$.

[gemini68]

07:38 PM on 10/04/2011

They should have gotten rid of Lumann. I will not be watching the next season with her still on the show.

[curious-yellow]

07:05 AM on 10/05/2011

DARLING, You mean The Countess don't you? I guess Jill will be visiting The Countess to STILL be on camera.

[VOTER]

07:25 PM on 10/04/2011

Does this mean, Ramona, the NYC Housewife Resident Drunk and classless beeach will be 
wearing an even larger crucifix?
Yes, one made by her husband's "religious" jewelry company and blessed
with Ramona's EGO Wine.

Bravo may have wanted to clean house but they left the most obnoxious
regular, Ramona, on the show. Expect fewer viewers ..........Big Time!!!
Take that to the bank, Andy.

[cowboyben2010361]

10:57 AM on 10/05/2011

Most wonderful and true comment yet to date! Thank you dear!

[ajasgram]

06:17 PM on 10/04/2011

these women are bottom feeders the way they use their children and husbands sham on them and the suicide of a man