Bethenny Frankel Calls for Reality Stars to Stop Filming Amid Actors, Writers Strike: “We’re Getting Screwed, Too”

Former Real Housewives of New York star Bethenny Frankel is questioning why reality TV hasn’t unionized just a week into the WGA and SAG-AFTRA double strike, and as networks have pivoted to reality TV to support their fall schedules.

“Hollywood is on strike, entertainers are fighting for residuals and no one will promote anything. Why isn’t reality TV on strike?” asked Frankel, who starred in eight seasons of the Bravo reality franchise before exiting in 2019. “During the last writers strike, we were providing all the entertainment, and that’s really when the gold rush of reality TV started.”

In a video posted to her Instagram on Wednesday (below), the Big Shot With Bethenny producer revealed that she was only paid $7,250 for her “first season of reality TV,” before calling for reality stars to stop filming “until their free content is [taken] down.” Frankel says networks and streamers shouldn’t be able to continue profiting from stars without acknowledging the cultural and financial impact of reality shows like The Hills, Vanderpump Rules, Jersey Shore, The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.

“I have never made a single residual,” she claims. “So either I’m missing something, or we’re getting screwed too.” 

She homed in particularly on the issue of residuals, pointing out that stars like Lauren Conrad and Kristin Cavallari “don’t make a damn dollar” from their time on their hit MTV series that Frankel says was “getting ratings that network television doesn’t get” and is “still being watched today.” (Reality series are largely not covered under SAG-AFTRA or other union contracts, though individual stars can be part of the actors union.)

“We’ve always been the losers,” she said, adding more in the caption to the video. “Unscripted talent aka ‘reality stars’ should have a union or simply be treated fairly and valued.”

One source pushed back on Frankel’s statements, saying reality show compensation arrives in a “different way. The castmembers use the platform to grow businesses and brands, and Bethenny did just that. She’s still making plenty off of a show she hasn’t been on in years by launching a podcast that’s dedicated to the Housewives.”

In her post, the former RHONY star, who spun off several shows from her time on the series and launched her ReWives rewatch podcast in late 2022, challenged the idea that reality stars reap benefits only from exposure.

“The mentality that we were nobodies and that these streamers and networks have given us platforms and that we can capitalize on them is also moronic,” she wrote. “From @snooki to @laurenconrad to @kaitlynbristowe to myself, reality tv has generated millions of dollars and entertained people GLOBALLY and my name and likeness and content are used for years to come for free on episodes where I was paid peanuts for my work.”

Frankel describes this kind of relationship — in which stars are not getting the kind of broadcast and streaming residuals SAG-AFTRA actors receive — as exploitative.

“Just because talent signs their life away,” she said, “doesn’t make exploitation correct.”

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