Scandals mount ahead of Real Housewives of Melbourne finale

FROM an anonymous poison pen letter to the unmasking of Gina Liano’s lover, the juiciest Real Housewives of Melbourne drama is happening off-screen.

Gina Liano with her partner of eight years, Dean Giannarelli.

The season finale of The Real Housewives of Melbourne screens this Sunday night, and as the show heats up, so too do the real-life goings-on of the women involved.

In fact, it seems that most of the Housewives drama is happening off-screen at the moment. Here’s a wrap-up of the craziest Real Housewives scandals of the past few days:

1) THAT anonymous blog post

Online reaction to the show in recent weeks has been almost unanimous in its support for barrister Gina Liano, who has appeared, on camera, to show remarkable restraint in the face of verbal attacks by Andrea, Lydia, and friend of 20 years Janet.

On Sunday, an anonymous blog appeared online that presented an alternative view of the show’s public favourite.

Letter2Gina is a prolonged, badly-written attack on Liano written by someone who claims to have worked on the show. Among the cheap digs — Gina wears too much perfume, she smokes on set (yawn) — were intimations that Gina’s positive portrayal on the show is perhaps due to her litigious, controlling nature.

Fact or fiction? Either way, the blog gained traction when fellow Housewife Lydia retweeted it — causing many to question whether she was in fact behind the anonymous post. Oh warw.

News_Image_File: Lydia retweeted a link to the offending blog post.

Foxtel have denied the blog post came from anybody in their camp, posting a statement on the RHOM Facebook page that reads in part:

Some of you may have seen an anonymous blog that appeared on social media recently. This blog has nothing to do with Arena, Foxtel or the production company, Matchbox Pictures and while social media discussion about the series is welcome, we encourage everyone to be respectful when making any comments about the housewives.

2) Gina’s man unmasked

Yes, he of the ‘geographically impossible’ relationship — Gina’s partner of eight years, who Jackie ‘psychically predicted’ had cheated on her in the first episode. After a temporary break, the pair have reconciled. The mystery man is Florida-based Australian property developer Dean Giannarelli, and while the pair were spotted at last month’s Melbourne Grand Prix, Liano told TV Week she had no plans to settle down.

‘I don’t think marriage is what either of us needs,” she said.

News_Image_File: Dean Giannarelli and Gina Liano at last month’s Grand Prix. Picture By Julie Kiriacoudis

3) Will Gina quit the show?

She’s hinted as much in an interview with TV Week. “I think it would be difficult for me to put myself in that position again,” Gina told them.

“When I went into it the first time, I had no idea I would be targeted and it would be such a hate campaign.”

It seems unlikely she would leave the show, though, given her status as the audience favourite. Just look at the current result of this poll over on fansite iRealHousewives, with more than 3,000 people voting for their favourite Melbourne Housewife:

News_Image_File: Results of the ‘favourite Housewife’ poll. Look, Andrea and Lydia could charge up to the front at any moment.

4) Has the bullying gone too far?

As the slanging matches on the show have escalated in recent weeks, Mamamia’s resident recapper even quit her post in dramatic style, declaring that the show “is awful and I don’t want to write about it anymore.” (Fear not, dear reader, we’ll continue to bring you our weekly recaps. We’re going to see this thing out to the bitter end, together).

In particular, Housewives Lydia and Andrea seem to have been caught by surprise at the public backlash against them, and two weeks ago forced producers to edit out some of their harsher comments about Gina at the last minute.

News_Image_File: Housewives Lydia (l) and Andrea have faced a barrage of online criticism from fans of the show. Picture Simon Cross

The preview at the tail-end of last week’s episode teased an epic showdown between Gina and Andrea that ended with Gina calling her nemesis a ‘f**king moron’. Will that scene make the cut come Sunday? We’ll have to wait and see.

5) Just what will be revealed on the reunion show?

As public criticism has grown louder, several of the ladies have taken to Twitter to promise that ‘all will be revealed’ on the Alex Perry-hosted reunion show, already filmed and screening in two parts from May 4. Will we finally learn the details of that legal email Gina forwarded to the other ladies? Will Andrea and Lydia explain to viewers exactly why they’ve attacked Gina so much in recent weeks? And will Jackie ever stop saying ‘Shine shine shine’?News_Rich_Media: The Real Housewives of Melbourne will feature six new housewives who enjoy the lavish, pampered and cultured lifestyle who own private jets, amazing homes and are married to high profile businessmen, including one to a rock star and another to a plastic surgeon

The Housewives of Melbourne drinking game

Housewives episode 9: Gina finally bites back