Michaele Salahi: Too “Hot” for Bravo TV?

While I’ve written quite a bit on Bravo TV’s Real Housewives of Orange County, and it’s revolving cast, this is my second foray into the Real Housewives of D.C..

On Monday, I wrote about Bravo, the Salahis, and the White House Gratecrasher incident, where MSNBC had reported the Salahis weren’t cast members of the Real Housewives of D.C., that Bravo TV was filming the Salahis as their “audition” for the show. I disagreed and cited several sources which named the D.C. Housewives who had made the “final cut” and that the show had already begun filming back in September. That Bravo’s production crew had sought to film the Salahis at the Black Caucus Foundation Awards Gala Dinner which Obama attended-Bravo was purportedly turned down-and, the Salahis, who crashed the event by sneaking in the bus boy entrance. The Salahis have remained “mum” on their Real Housewives “status”, while Bravo may have good reason to claim the Salahis hadn’t made the “final cut”.

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Real Housewives of Orange County: Library of DBKP articles
Over 30 articles on Bravo’s RHOC.

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According to an article written on May 28 by Reliable Source at the Washington Post, Half Yard Productions is in charge of producing the Real Housewives of D.C. for Bravo. One of Half Yard’s execs is Abby Greensfelder, the wife of New Republic editor Franklin Foer, and that Abby “moves among the political/media elite”.

From Reliable Source:

Who wants to be a “Real” housewife? Who, that is, in Washington?

That’s the question now that Bravo’s boobs-and-Botox reality series is turning to the nation’s capital for the sequel to “The Real Housewives of Orange County” and its ilk. Network officials told our colleague Lisa de Moraes they’ve already taped 25 local women — but some of them told us producers were less than candid about what they were auditioning for.

On May 27, AceShowbiz reported that Half Yard Production casting calls were underway and, according to Bravo Media executive VP and GM Frances Berwick, the show was looking for “Housewives” who were on a different “level” than the type of women previously cast for Bravo’s OC, Atlanta, New York, and New Jersey Housewives franchises:

“We’re tapping personalities who are among Washington D.C.’s influential players, cultural connoisseurs, fashion sophisticates and philanthropic leaders – the people who rub elbows with the most prominent people in the country and easily move in the city’s diverse political and social circles,” said Bravo Media executive VP and GM Frances Berwick.

According to Reliable Source, back in May, Susanna Quinn, wife of superlobbyist Jack Quinn, claimed the production crew “repeatedly assured” her the filming wasn’t for Real Housewives, which, Quinn wanted “no part of”. Two other women mentioned: Mary Amons and blogger Andrea Rogers:

Blogger Andrea Rodgers said she “had my suspicions” the show she was being taped for was “Housewives” but doesn’t mind because the show has “a solid franchise.” Plus, she’s convinced a D.C. “Housewives” has to be different: “I don’t think we’ll be flipping tables over or propositioning men for quickies” like the women from other cities. “We’re all very political here, whether we’re in politics or not.”

We found this comment on Rogers quite interesting:

Um, Andrea Rodgers would have had more than “suspicions” as she would have SIGNED A RELEASE in order for her to have been filmed.

Only she can desperately seek fame (see the self-promoting Wikipedia page she wrote which they just deleted) and then try to act coy about it. And only the Post would have given her that much space about nothing without even asking that question.

Please go on the show, Andrea, and let the world see you as the self-serving, bridge-burning fameseeker that you are.

Speaking of “self-serving” fameseekers, in my prior piece on the Real Housewives of D.C. I wrote somewhat about the Salahis. In the May Reliable Sources article, Micheale Salahi wasn’t mentioned as a potential cast member.

On November 30, NBC Washington published “Real Housewives of D.C.” Identified? Housewives have been cast, and we may or may not know who they are.

The article stated casting had been completed but, “can we expect some “Survivor”-type challenges?”:

These five women are the preliminary lineup and some say (some, meaning sources that ARE NOT Carol Joynt, the queen of the Washington D.C. social scene) Republican lobbyist, Edwina Rodgers may be in the final lineup.

The “five” women:

Mai Abdo: wife of Jim Abdo of Abdo Development, mother of two and firmly on Washingtonian’s list of best-dressed women.

Mary Schmidt Amons: mother of five and founder of the District Sample Sale.

Lynda Erkiletian: president of one of D.C.’s most prominent modeling agencies.

Michaele Salahi: former model and wife of Tareq Salahi, who’s president of America’s Polo Cup and owner of Oasis Winery

Lisa Wernick Spies: the reality TV-ambitious wife of Republican fundraiser Charlie Spies.

The “Hush Hush Confidential” side of the production came to a screeching halt when the Salahis were outed as Bravo TV’s White House “Gatecrashers”. Since the incident, Michaele Salahi has been outed as making some rather easy to poke holes through claims: Claims such as Michaele being a “former model” and former Washington Redskins Cheerleader.

According to the Washington Post, Michaele was listed on the Washington Redskins Cheerleaders Alumni Association’s roster under her maiden name, Missy Holt, during the Redskins’ 1991 season. Even so, when Salahi showed up at the September 20 Redskins-St. Louis Rams game at FedEx Field to perform at halftime with 150 former Redskins cheerleaders, she raised suspicions when: none of the former cheerleaders “could remember” Salahi, Salahi came with a camera crew, and, that Salahi “couldn’t perform some of the basic cheerleader routines, including the standard choreography for the team’s fight song, “Hail to the Redskins.”"

According to the Post, it wasn’t until after the Salahis crashed the White House State Dinner that Redskins cheerleaders decided to check up on Salahi’s Redskin cheerleader “credentials”. The cheerleaders discovered that Salahi had become a “dues paying member” in 2005 due to “misrepresentation”.

The Post reported that Salahi had performed as a “former” Redskins cheerleader on two prior occasions. Even so, her past “performances” hadn’t raised any suspicions. This time around, Salahi showed up at the Redskins cheerleader practice on September 18 with a Half Yard film crew. The cheerleaders were asked to sign agreements granting their permission to “appear on Real Housewives” and binding them to confidentiality.

In the past I’ve written on Bravo’s “staging” of Real Housewives of Orange County scenes, that the women’s “lifestyles” were often set-up in a manner that portrayed the Housewives as living lives that were quite a bit more “glamorous” than their real “circumstances”. This season I’ve written about Slade Smiley, Orange County’s “Jetset Deadbeat Dad”, and, Lynne Curtin, the “nice” Housewife with not one, but two recent evictions this past summer. The Post article detailed Michaele Salahi’s “staging performance” at the Redskins cheerleader practice, where Salahi purportedly showed up “late”, caused a disruption when the camera crew “scrambled” to film Salahi as she exited her Range Rover, and filmed “an awkward” Salahi “contriving” to make “smalltalk” with the cheerleaders:

“She came up to me, and asked, ‘So, how many kids do you have now?’ ” said a former cheerleader, who asked not to be identified because the alumni group has asked its members not to speak to the news media. “It was really contrived and awkward.” Some of the dialogue had to be reshot because Salahi wasn’t facing the camera, she said.

Maria Diaz at Bravofan has the “goods” on Michaele’s former “line of work” at a Nordstrom’s “Chanel” counter. Mademan has more on Michaele Salahis’ “embellishments and outright lies” such as Michaele’s “Victoria Secret model”, Redskins Cheerleaders, “numerous TV spots”, and magazine “features”.

Andrea Rodgers, “AskMissA.com” weighed in on the Salahis with Tareq and Michaele Salahi: Sari Behavior. Rodgers gives details on her and the Salahis’ involvement in the “The Courage Cup” a polo match which raised funds for inner-city kids:

I first met Tareq and Michaele at The Courage Cup polo match in 2005. They were allegedly involved in organizing the event with Greg Ball (now New York State Assemblyman). Soon after the event, Greg asked me and some others to take over the event planning for The Courage Cup in 2006. I was very involved in fundraising and event planning in Washington, and had a great circle of friends who did the same. While planning the 2006 event, we came to find out that allegedly bills had never been paid for the 2005 event and vendors didn’t want to work with us. Many would have thrown in the towel, but we wanted to raise money for the amazing kids of the Work to Ride program in Philadelphia that provides afterschool care, tutoring, and gives the at-risk inner city kids the opportunity to learn to ride horses. Some of the kids in the program have learned to play polo and are quite accomplished athletes. So we fundraised and paid off the debt left by Greg Ball and those allegedly organizing the event with him like Tareq and Michaele Salahi.

Rodger’s post on the Salahis is well worth the read.

The Salahis turned down a recent invitation to meet with Washington “bigwigs”. According to Politico, the Salahis may face a Congressional subpoena after refusing to attend an “invitation” to sit down and talk with the Congressional Homeland Security Committee regarding the Salahi’s “gatecrashing” incident at the White House State Dinner.
One line of questioning may include Bravo’s role. Bravo TV is owned by NBC Universal who, in turn, is owned by GE. The head of GE, Jeffrey Immelt, is a good buddy of Barrack Obama and serves on Obama’s Economic Advisory Board.

As for Bravo, the question some are asking is whether the Salahi “scenes” will wind up on Half Yard Production’s cutting room floor. Bravo is playing “coy” while the Salahis have remained mum.

By LBG

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