Andy Cohen Details How ‘Housewives’ Producers Decide Reunion Seating Charts

Heavy/Bravo/YouTube Andy Cohen

When it comes time for a reunion show, “The Real Housewives” stars often find themselves vying for prime positioning next to Andy Cohen, as this keeps them involved in as much drama as possible.

Bravo has started releasing reunion seating charts on social media prior to the episodes airing, though they’ve largely kept the reasoning behind their seating assignments under wraps. Now, in an October 31 TikTok shared to the CosmopolitanUK account, Cohen detailed some of the network’s reasoning behind their seating decisions.

“We decide the lineup of who sits where based on [the season],” Cohen told the outlet. “If they’re sitting on either side of me that means they’re involved in a lot of mess this season. And then I will say, usually they’re sitting next to someone that they like, usually they’re sitting across from someone that they don’t. A lot of it is for camera angles. If you have two people who are directing ire at each other you kind of want them to be across from each other so they’re not turning to one side or another all the time.”

Andy Cohen Told ‘Housewives’ Cast They Were Hard to Seat

Some seasons of “The Real Housewives” lead to more intense fighting and drama than others, making the reunion seating charts a delicate balance. One example of this came in the “Real Housewives of Potomac” season 7 reunion show, where Cohen opened the reunion by asking the ladies what they thought of their seating placements.

“Well, it was your design,” Candiace Dillard Bassett responded, with Cohen adding, “Well, no. I was a voice. It is decided by all of the producers and a lot of time it has to do with who’s getting along. If you’re not getting along, typically we’re not gonna put you next to each other. Now, let me say this: this is a complicated group because there are a lot of people who have issues. So, it’s a puzzle.”

The RHOP reunion saw Karen Huger, Dillard Bassett, Robyn Dixon, and Mia Thornton sitting to Cohen’s left, with Gizelle Bryant, Ashley Darby, and Wendy Osefo to his right.

Another example of a season dictating how the reunion show flowed was “Real Housewives of New Jersey” season 14. Since the ladies were so divded during the season, Bravo made the decision to forego a standard reunion, and instead film two concurrent finale-episode watch parties, allowing the cast to choose which of the two rooms they would be in for the live reaction.

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The next reunion on the docket for Bravo is for “The Real Housewives of Orange County”. Bravo revealed the reunion seating chart on October 6, showing Shannon Beador, Gina Kirschenheiter, Jennifer Pedranti, and Katie Ginella to Cohen’s left, with Tamra Judge, Emily Simpson, Heather Dubrow, and “Friend of the Housewives” Alexis Bellino to Cohen’s right.

This tracks per Cohen’s initial assessment to CosmopolitanUK, as the biggest “mess” of the season was between Beador and Judge as their years-long friendship fell apart in the wake of Beador’s DUI and Judge’s decision to stop doing their Tres Amigas live shows with Vicki Gunvalson.

The RHOC season 17 reunion begins airing on Thursday, November 7 on Bravo.

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