The best and worst new Real Housewives of 2025.
Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: NBCUniversal
It has become something of an annual tradition here at the Housewives Institute to recap the year in Housewifery by awarding a trophy to the new-to-the-game woman who had the best premiere season. So far, we awarded it to Monica Garcia in 2023 and Bronwyn Newport in 2024, so it has been a mixed bag. A month after Monica won, we got the famous “receipts, proof, timeline, screenshots” rant, which then led us to call for her firing. But, hey, Bronwyn is hanging in there and having an excellent second season.
This year, there are no entrants from The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City since the cast didn’t change. Why should it? You can’t mess with perfection. Most of the candidates came from revamps of The Real Housewives of Atlanta and The Real Housewives of Potomac, which both added several new full-time cast members in mini-reboots. (Sorry, “friends of” are not eligible.) Left off the list, however, is The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills newbie Amanda Frances, who just appeared in last night’s episode so she is disqualified by the Eileen Davidson Accords. There’s always next year. Yes, this is so fun. I can’t wait to do it again.
If you look up flop in the dictionary, there is a picture of Angel. I think she’s going to rank up there with all-time-worst Housewives like Peggy Sulahian, Diana Jenkins, and Quinn Fry. “Who?” you’re currently asking, and that is exactly the point. Angel is a low-energy downer who doesn’t seem suited to this line of work. She keeps taking ages to mull things over, brings barely realized grievances three weeks late, and can’t even articulate her stance when she finally tries to bring it up. Based on the RHOP midseason trailer, it looks like the second half of the season is all about how bad her cast trip to Colorado is. Well, at least she has a really hot husband.
Another Housewife who wasn’t fit for purpose. She spent her tenure whining that the other Housewives didn’t want to get to know her, but, as Porsha Williams pointed out, she needs to work to get to know them as well. Everything about Brit was a debacle. She threatened Kenya Moore with violence at the slightest provocation, held a terrible launch event for an awful business where she didn’t give anyone food, and, finally, skipped the reunion where she’d have to answer for all of it. It’s like it was everyone else’s fault that she sucked at being a Housewife. The only reason she’s not in the last spot is that she did what many others have tried and failed to do: get Kenya Moore off the show.
This pint-size princess has one of the most underrated of Housewives qualities: She’s funny. But everything else about Kelli breeds skepticism. It seems like everything is a shtick, from her multicolored dog to the Sprinter van with her own personal branding, as if she’s trying to put a high-gloss shine on something that isn’t as luxe as she wants us to think it is. Kelli needs to try a little less hard. She’s got a messy home life, fits in well with the gals, and makes us laugh. Now, if she can only stop playing a Housewife and start being herself, she’ll be all set.
She’s been on only a couple of episodes so far, but she’s already fitting in like she’s part of the furniture. I’m not sure if that’s because I remember her Bravo show from back in the day or because she’s been in the same social circles as Kyle Richards, Kathy Hilton, and Bozoma Saint John for years. Either way, she showed up real, honest, and ready to show us everything. I have a feeling that if this list were coming out at the end of her season rather than the beginning, she might be higher up. But we already know she’s bananas, and we’re already bananas for her. I die.
A longtime background player, Shamea finally stepped up and took her place as the central connector of the women, new and old, populating this messy season of RHOA. It turns out her home life is fairly complicated, and she’s more ready to throw down than we ever suspected, yelling at Angela Oakley about her “’90s nose.” But it was her willingness to put her lifelong friendship with Porsha Williams on the line that proved she was finally ready for prime time. Considering she was openly bickering with Drew Sidora onstage at the RHOA panel at BravoCon, her hot streak is just getting hotter.
This isn’t entirely fair since most Americans still haven’t had a chance to watch this, but it really was the best first season of a Housewives franchise I’ve seen in a long time. Breakout star Amanda Cronin brought extraordinary delusion, returning favorite Juliet Angus brought pettiness, Panthea Parker brought a dogged interest in gossip, Juliet Mayhew brought some of the worst fashions not in Gizelle Bryant’s closet, Karen Loderick-Peace brought obscene wealth, and Nessie Welschinger, well, she brought herself to every event. You have to give her that. It’s a great combination of ladies and just the right sprinkling of drama. I can’t wait for them to pick up cameras for season two and take us “back to Paddington, back to Paddington, back to Paddington.”
Speaking of Housewives from London, Tia was a slow burn at first but her calm demeanor belies a willingness to call it like she sees it and really get into the mess when it comes for her. She took the time to get to know the women and decide where her allegiances should lie before choosing sides, something more new Housewives should do but few bother with. Naturally, she has decided she is not on Stacey Rusch’s side or in support of her lies. Tia is funny, game, and less of a pushover than she initially seemed. We shouldn’t have let the accent fool us.
Yes, she spent way too much time bragging about her wealth. Yes, she used her private plane to try to buy the women’s affection. Yes, she dresses like she was born sometime in the 1930s. But Stephanie still made an indelible impact on The Real Housewives of Miami in just one season. She started off standing up to Lisa Hochstein and breaking her habit of showing up woefully late to every event with the snap of her fingers. Then she came for the primacy of Alexia Echevarria and Marysol Patton, giving the Cuban bros the formidable adversary they’ve lacked for years. By reunion time, she had already made up with them. But, as frustrating as she could be at times, she did make a truly great show even better.
Angela arrived and nothing was off-limits: messy drama between her mother and daughter, her husband having a baby with someone else while they were married, and her terrible business decisions. It’s like she inherently knew the audience would forgive just about anything as long as she was honest about it. She also flourished taking on some of the show’s seasoned professionals, bringing Drew Sidora on Porsha Williams’s trip against her wishes, going toe-to-toe with Phaedra Parks over some leaked information, and even checking Andy Cohen when he asked a bit too much about her husband Charles Oakley’s dating history with former peach-holder Shereé Whitfield. From showing up with a blinged-out fan at the reunion to telling Brit Eady she had “miles on her mouth,” everything she did was iconic. After an amazing season, this NBA wife proved that she is ready to play in the big leagues.
