Real Housewives of Melbourne 2020 cast announced
A former CNN news anchor and SBS presenter has been confirmed as the latest cast member to join RHOM in a move which no-one saw coming.
Confidential
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It is a new-look Real Housewives of Melbourne with three new characters to liven up the popular Aussie reality show as the format makes a return after more than a year hiatus.
Foxtel today rolled out the red carpet to unveil yoga instructor Cherry Dipietrantonio and self-made businesswoman Kyla Kirkpatrick as new faces for the fifth season of the TV hit.
And in what some would consider a major coup for the broadcaster, former CNN news anchor and SBS Dateline presenter Anjali Rao rounds out the new line-up.
Born in Hong Kong, Rao grew up in the UK to an Australian mother. She has one son from her marriage to Brett Gullan. The pair split in 2013.
Returning for the new season, which fans have been eagerly awaiting, are ‘singer/songwriter’ Gamble Breaux, outspoken barrister Gina Liano, businesswoman Janet Roach and food lover Lydia Schiavello.
The Real Housewives took a break for 2019, having screened the fourth season on Foxtel from December 2017 to February 2018.
“The Real Housewives of Melbourne is our most loved reality program and our audience has been literally begging for us to bring it back,” Foxtel group general manager lifestyle Wendy Moore said. “We couldn’t do that without shaking things up and adding a bit of spice to the fun. These are strong, successful women, and we love having a window into their lives. This is going to be viewing you can really sink your heels into.”
The 10-part one hour series is being produced by Matchbox Pictures and with an air date yet to be announced.
Jackie Gillies, wife of Silverchair drummer Ben Gillies, announced at the weekend she would not be returning for the new season as she and her partner are trying to start a family.
“Ben and I really talked about it and we wanted to put everything on pause, including Housewives, to focus on starting a family,” she told The Sunday Telegraph’s Stellar magazine. “Because I’m not getting any younger.”
Other former Housewives include Chyka Keebaugh, Andrea Moss, Pettifleur Berenger, Susie McLean, Sally Bloomfield and Venus Behbahani-Clark.
MEET THE NEW CAST
Kyla Kirkpatrick
Kyla is a dynamic self-made businesswomen known as the ‘Champagne Dame’. She is a Champagne ambassador and runs one of the most successful champagne sales businesses in the country, with Emperor Champagne. Kyla and her partner Kyri have a six-year-old daughter Arlington-Rose (named after the area of Scotland from which her family originate).
Kyla and Kyri also work together and during the Australian winter each year, they venture to Paris as a family – dividing their time between the City of Lights and Champagne where they host luxury tours.
Anjali Rao
A multi award-winning anchor, who has had two decades at the top tiers of international television journalism. Most notably, she spent six years hosting CNN’s weekday breakfast news and weekly celebrity chat show, Talk Asia, interviewing the world’s biggest names to 220 million homes across the world.
Since moving to Australia seven years ago, Anjali has been a regular guest presenter on a number of prime time television and radio shows. Anjali was raised in Hong Kong, educated in England, and spent many years working in Asia and the UK. Currently single, Anjali is a divorced mother of a 10 year-old son.
Cherry Dipietrantonio
Yoga instructor Cherry is originally from Southampton in the UK. She met husband Andre in Bali at the age of 18 when travelling the world during a gap year with girlfriends. Inseparable, Cherry and Andre married in Melbourne three years after they met and together they have three children. Cherry is passionate about health, nutrition and is dedicated to a lifestyle focused on wellbeing.
Originally published as Real Housewives of Melbourne 2020 cast announced