Highlights
- Leah Remini has joined The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Season 16 as a full-time cast member, per Variety.
- Tracy Tutor is joining too, while Kyle Richards, Erika Jayne, and Dorit Kemsley return as full-timers.
- Amanda Frances was cut from the cast despite Rihanna’s DM support, as Season 16 filming begins in LA.
Leah Remini has traded taking on Scientology for taking on Beverly Hills.
It’s a casting swerve nobody saw coming: the woman who spent a decade dismantling a controversial church is now signing up for a show built entirely on manufactured conflict.
Bravo has tapped the King of Queens alum and longtime anti-Scientology activist as a full-time cast member for “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” Season 16, with sources confirming the news to both Variety and Deadline.
She’s not walking in alone. Real estate star Tracy Tutor, formerly of Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles, announced her own arrival on Instagram on Aug. 19, closing out years of will-she-won’t-she chatter.
Tutor has been eyeing this cast for a while. Asked about the rumors during a past “Watch What Happens Live” stop, she summed up her feelings on the group bluntly: “I love them all — not equally.”
The pair joins returning full-timers Kyle Richards, Erika Jayne, Dorit Kemsley, Bozoma Saint John, Rachel Zoe and Sutton Stracke, with Kathy Hilton and Jennifer Tilly staying on as friends of the group.
Not so lucky: Amanda Frances, Season 15’s self-styled manifesting guru, who got cut despite reported behind-the-scenes support from Rihanna. Frances announced her own exit on Instagram.
Filming is already rolling. Several cast members jetted to Ghana for Bozoma Saint John’s wedding to Keely Watson on Aug. 21, though Remini and Tutor sat that one out; Remini starts filming in Los Angeles later this week.
The timing fits. RHOBH remains the franchise’s most-watched entry as Housewives marks 20 years on air, and, per executive producer Andy Cohen, its most maligned: “They hate it so much, it’s the No. 1 ‘Housewives,'” he told Variety in June.
Eight full-timers and two friends of the group is a packed table of Chanel and grievances. Whether Remini’s truth-telling streak calms the chaos or just gives it a new accent is Season 16’s real cliffhanger.
