Vancouver gets its own Real Housewives franchise—before Toronto
Dear Housewives of Toronto,
What happened? It wasn’t long ago that a casting director was calling Sharon Mimran and allegedly speaking with Suzanne Rogers and Stacey Kimmel. Last we heard, Jessica Mulroney was talking to producers, and despite the many women who declined offers, the show was still approaching the likes of Lisa Kellett and Karen von Hahn. And now, without a whisper of notice, we wake up to a press release for some show called the Real Housewives of Vancouver? What gives, Toronto? Surely Rogers, Kimmel (we picture her as the Ramona Singer of the group), Jenna Bitove and even Sylvia Mantella would make for a better show. Add the Mulroney name and we’ve got ourselves a winner. I mean, look at these Vancouver women. Come on. And don’t tell us that Toronto is above a Real Housewives show—because who wouldn’t want a homegrown version of Countess Luann, complete with a foray into singing? And who knows, maybe we’d get to see a little something of the dark underside of Toronto’s affluent? Let’s get our act together, ladies. This is embarrassing.
Sincerely,
The Hype
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/culture/real-housewives-of-vancouver/&title=Vancouver gets its own Real Housewives franchise—before Toronto&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Jenna-Bitove-and-Suzanne-Rogers.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_119994" align="alignright" width="292" caption="Jenna Bitove and Suzanne Rogers (Image: Erin Simkin)"][/caption]
Dear Housewives of Toronto,
What happened? It wasn’t long ago that a casting director was calling Sharon Mimran and allegedly speaking with Suzanne Rogers and Stacey Kimmel. Last we heard, Jessica Mulroney was talking to producers, and despite the many women who declined offers, the show was still approaching the likes of Lisa Kellett and Karen von Hahn. And now, without a whisper of notice, we wake up to a press release for some show called the Real Housewives of Vancouver? What gives, Toronto? Surely Rogers, Kimmel (we picture her as the Ramona Singer of the group), Jenna Bitove and even Sylvia Mantella would make for a better show. Add the Mulroney name and we’ve got ourselves a winner. I mean, look at these Vancouver women. Come on. And don’t tell us that Toronto is above a Real Housewives show—because who wouldn’t want a homegrown version of Countess Luann, complete with a foray into singing? And who knows, maybe we’d get to see a little something of the dark underside of Toronto’s affluent? Let’s get our act together, ladies. This is embarrassing.
Sincerely,
The Hype){kind=link}
This is a travesty!
All the housewives of Vancouver look like they were pulled straight from a brothel.
Well, this is one time I ‘m happy to let Vancouver have something before we do. Besides, I doubt that most Vancouverites are proud to be first for this dubious honour….:)
And yeah, those women look rough – if that’s the best they can do after all that photoshopping I can’t imagine what they look like in person. Ugh.
Well, i know all of the woman approached in Toronto, including Sylvia Mantella and Jenna Bitove and their reasons for declining were all the same. Why would they risk the horror of being inaccurately exposed and portrayed by way of calculated editing which the Bravo Franchise is infamous for!
Without question our elegant and beautiful Toronto ladies made the right decsion to politley decline.
Lets see if Vancouver lasts for a Season 2..
JF
As someone who has lived in both Vancouver and Toronto, I can say that I am not surprised the franchise went to Vancouver before Toronto.
Vancouver is such a BEAUTIFUL city, with amazing views, water, beaches, mountains, etc. The weather is a lot better, and there are wold class restaurants and shopping centres. The cost of living is a lot higher than in Toronto, with he cost of homes starting at $1M… in the suburbs. I find the comments made by a lot of people on this site about Vancouver, the housewives, and the fact that it came to Vancouver before Toronto awful. These are beautiful and succesful women! Before saying anything about how “class-less” these women are… watch what you are saying or writing first.
I am proud to say that I live in Vancouver, and I cannot wait to watch the drama unfold.
Jessica, its all about casting. It has nothing to do with the scenery. You must know nothing about television. I mean Jersey got one before Vancouver. I have also lived in both cities and respectfully disagree with you on almost all fronts. Toronto is equal on the restaurant front, has better transit, far lower crime rates, less junkies walking the streets, better weather(unless you like gloomy rain season year round give me snow any day) far better night life(we actually celebrate new years here) far more theatre , and culture, museums, art, and yes better shopping. Yes the scenery around vancouver is beautiful but the city itself looks like a newly developed asian city. Give your ego a break and leave Toronto alone.
Mor, who cares about transit, crime and junkies when shooting a show about the lifestyles of wealthy women? And your right… Jersey did get one before Vancouver… and Vancouver got one before Toronto… I never once bashed Toronto in what I wrote, simply defended the decision to have the franchise in my city. I think Toronto is a great city and I thoroughly enjoyed living there. But honestly, theres not too much of a point in writing any more – watch the show on April 4th and I’m sure you’ll see just what the producers were thinking when chosing Vancouver as the first stop for “the world’s number one lifestyle reality franchise” North of the border.
Do you really think if Real Housewives of Toronto was released first that Vancouver would be as successful?
They’re saving the best for last. I love Vancouver and Toronto, but lets be honest here, Toronto is the heart of Canada.
Really ladies – the show is awful, the women look like drunken, sniping, classless, fools (with the possible exception of Reiko who has cool cars). Vancouver does look beautiful. they must have waited for the 3 sunny days and then filmed 9 episodes per day! I live in Vancouver and I do watch it because it’s kind of fun to see restaurants I eat in and places I’ve been, and in the last episode I actually saw a guy I used to work with. But if I were rich, classy, and gorgeous and was asked to appear on a show like this I would decline too. Toronto really shouldn’t be jealous.
First let’s Start off with Toronto isn’t the Heart of Canada. Canada has so many beautiful places from the West Coast to the East. It’s how you look at it. Second this show is going to show you what these women are really about. Trust me when I say I have seen all these women in action. They just don’t want their dirty secrets out to the world to see. I give it to some that have been successful on their own. But most of these women wanted to marry rich and spend money and go to all the best parties. Good for them if that’s what they want out of life. It’s just Vancouver had more balls to show than Toronto.
Toronto, stop your whining. Suck it up and don’t be mean spirited. Vancouver did it first. It’s okay to say mean things about Vancouver if it makes you feel better. But seriously, instead of being a bitter loser, why not support a Canadian city who got Canada on TV. Its publicity for the whole country. Our programmings in the country suck! At least we got something worth watching, other than hockey!! If anything, the comments defending Toronto only proves to me one thing … people say people from Toronto aren’t as friendly as those in BC. Perhaps, they’re right.