Being a housewife on Bravo’s dramality series The Real Housewives is a tough gig. Putting to one side the palatial mansions, designer clothes, fancy dinner parties, and extravagant vacations, it takes a lot of stamina to survive the petty fights, diva antics, and dramatic power plays that are synonymous with the Housewives franchise. Which is why some housewives don’t make it past one season.
Over 100 housewives have appeared on our TV screens over the years and while some look good on paper when they’re in front of the camera they can’t deliver what's needed. Sometimes that is because they are considered too boring, not likable, or they just don’t get along with their fellow castmates. Other times it's a personal choice that leads to their exit.
Some fans have rejoiced when these one-and-done housewives have exited; others departures have left the fandom wanting more of whatever it was they brought to the franchise. Those that remain memorable are memorable for a reason, whereas others have been lost to Housewives history.
The Entire Cast of ‘Real Housewives of D.C.’
The fifth installment of the Real Housewives franchise, RHODC was only on the air for one season, ending after Michaele Salahi and her husband Tareq crashed newly elected President Barack Obama’s first White House state dinner in honor of visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The Salahis thought they’d earned the right to attend the dinner, given that they’d previously met Obama back in 2005, when he was a Senator, at the 12th annual Rock the Vote Awards Dinner. They were wrong. Earning the nickname "the White House party crashers," the couple’s actions caused Bravo to cancel the show amid the storm of controversy they caused.
Sadly, the other housewives – Cat Ommanney, Stacie Scott Turner, Mary Amons, and Lynda Erkiletian – were unwitting casualties of the Salahi’s unwise attempt to climb the social ladder by unconventional means.
Teresa Aprea & Nicole Napolitano — 'Real Housewives of New Jersey' Season 6
Overall, Season 6 of RHONJ is not memorable. Those who do remember it consider it to be one of the worst — if not the worst — seasons in RHONJ history and a lot of the season’s poor reception comes down to casting. Out of the previous season’s cast, only Teresa Guidice and Melissa Gorga returned. Producers opted to bring back Dina Manzo (she had appeared as a series regular in the first two seasons) and added three new housewives: Amber Marchese and twin sisters Teresa Aprea and Nicole Napolitano.
The desperate feel of adding new cast members was too much for fans, who failed to invest in the season. And the fact that the twins did not know any of their castmates did not bode well for their staying on. But that didn’t stop Aprea, who was the more feisty of the twins, regularly facing off against the show's main star, Teresa Guidice. This was also the season in which Teresa Guidice went to prison for fraud, which meant that the long gap between Seasons 6 and 7 further decreased the chances that Aprea and Napolitano would return.
DeShawn Snow — ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ Season 1
Some housewives leave the franchise of their own volition, others are forced out. The latter was true of RHOA alum DeShawn Snow, whose contract was not renewed for a second season.
In a 2020 interview with Essence, Snow said she was blindsided by producers who told her that she did not fit with the direction in which they wanted to take the show. They thought her sweet personality was simply no match for her more aggressive castmates, NeNe Leakes, Sheree Whitfield, and Kim Zolciak-Biermann. They wanted to ramp up the drama and, according to producers, Snow wasn’t able to provide that.
Carlton Gebbia & Joyce Giraud de Ohoven — ‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ Season 4
The fourth season of RHOBH introduced two new housewives: Carlton Gebbia and Joyce Giraud de Ohoven.
While she got on famously with fellow Brit Lisa Vanderpump, Gebbia — the first Wiccan to appear on the franchise — raised the ire of fans by going after fan-favorite and OG housewife, Kyle Richards. She even went so far as to put a ‘curse’ on Richards. Sure, the Wiccan angle was unique, but it was not enough to compensate for Gebbia’s powerful personality which ostracized her from fellow castmates and fans alike.
As with Gebbia’s relentless feuding with Richards, Puerto Rican actress Giraud de Ohoven made an enemy of series regular, Yolanda Hadid. While her departure after only one season rated a mention in executive producer Andy Cohen’s book The Andy Cohen Diaries, the fandom was unsure how to feel about it. Giraud de Ohoven’s constant bickering with Hadid did not endear her to some fans who were relieved she was not asked to return for Season 5, whereas others applauded her for her class, beauty, and ability to stand her ground against the veteran housewives and were confused when she did not return.
Tiffany Hendra — ‘Real Housewives of Dallas’ Season 1
Tiffany Hendra didn’t provide a reason for leaving RHOD at the end of Season 1. It wasn’t until a subsequent Facebook post heavily criticizing the show and its producers came to light that all was revealed.
In the November 2017 post, Hendra claimed that “Bravo is a bottom feeder” and that executive producer Andy Cohen was only interested in exploiting the housewives to advance his real estate portfolio. After a scathing social media post like that, Hendra effectively closed the door on ever being invited back. Ever.
Kim Fields — ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ Season 8
Kim Fields, who is best known for her role as Dorothy ‘Tootie’ Ramsey on the long-running 80s sitcom The Facts of Life, joined the cast of RHOA in Season 8 and was quickly taken down by fellow ’wife and Real Housewives villain Kendra Moore.
Fields proved no match for Moore’s constant digs, which included calling her boring and intimating that Fields’ husband was gay. It’s fair to say that Moore made Fields’ life a living hell and that Fields’ sweet, grounded personality did not fit well with all that Atlantan drama. After enduring a rocky season she bowed out gracefully, retreating to her quiet life as mom, wife, and actress.
Kathryn Edwards — ‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ Season 6
When controversial RHOBH cast member Brandi Glanville exited the show at the end of Season 5, that left a space that was filled by Kathryn Edwards who came on as a new housewife in Season 6. Edwards entered at the same time as Erika Girardi (also known professionally as Erika Jayne). Whereas Girardi was (and continues to be) an iconic housewife, Edwards’ time on the show was… far less memorable.
Other than her friendship with O.J. Simpson — which proved to be a point of contention with fellow castmates Kyle Richards and bestie Faye Resnick — and her marriage to retired NFL star Donnie Edwards she had little else to offer. Not even an early alliance with the OG Lisa "Pinky" Vanderpump, which was pretty much derailed after she went to Vanderpump with Girardi’s comments about her, could save Edwards from a mostly dull storyline. So, it makes sense she did not return for Season 7.
Jules Wainstein — ‘Real Housewives of New York’ Season 8
Going up against RHONY OG Bethenny Frankel is no mean feat, but Jules Wainstein went there, butting heads with Frankel throughout her season. To her credit, she opened up about dealing with some tough personal issues, such as her battle with an eating disorder and she was the only housewife to do actual "housewifey" things during her time on Season 8.
There were glimpses into Wainstein’s marriage issues while she was on the show, but it was only after she decided not to return for Season 9 — citing personal reasons — that the extent of her marital woes was revealed. She disclosed that during filming she had been going through a divorce from her husband Michael Wainstein after she found him cheating on her.
Peggy Tanous — ‘Real Housewives of Orange County’ Season 6
At the urging of RHOC alum Alexis Bellino, Peggy Tanous joined the show in Season 6. However, she quickly found it was not for her.
Plagued by anxiety, Tanous found it difficult engaging with the other women which, in true Housewives fashion, often includes dealing with a confrontation between castmates. By the end of the season she had concluded that, for the sake of her mental health, it was not worth continuing. She declined Bravo’s invitation to rejoin the women for Season 7, posting on Facebook that she needed to escape the “negative energy of certain cast members.”
Peggy Sulahian — ‘Real Housewives of Orange County’ Season 12
Yep, there was another Peggy in Orange County! Peggy Sulahian achieved two firsts when she arrived on the RHOC scene for Season 12: she was the 100th housewife to join the franchise and the first Armenian-American housewife to appear on the show.
Sulahian endeared herself to both castmates and fans by sharing her personal story, having recently undergone a double mastectomy for breast cancer. But the pressure of being Number 100 might have proved too much. Despite seeming like she enjoyed her time as a housewife, at the end of the season Sulahian announced her departure on Instagram saying, “At this point, moving on seemed like the right thing to do.”
While these one-season housewives have rightfully — or wrongfully, depending on how you look at it — earned their place in the Real Housewives’ Hall of Fame, they go to show that living the glitzy high life might be harder than it looks.