Real Housewives of Sydney episode one recap: Inside eastern suburbs world of mansions, champagne, blow outs, and a blow up over a ‘porn star’ comment
The first episode of RHOS has landed, as seven rich, glamorous housewives take us inside a world of “basic manners Botox”, pricey homes, and an eastern suburbs “full of snobs”. But is it any good?
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Victoria Montano sums up Binge’s new Real Housewives of Sydney within the opening moments of its first episode.
“There’s a view that the eastern suburbs are full of snobs, or people who think that they’re better than other people and they’re actually pretty spot on,” the luxury sport brand owner said.
Montano is one of seven housewives who we are deftly introduced to in the first of 10 episodes, which came out on Tuesday.
Other newcomers to the format are Sally Obermeder, Caroline Gaultier, Kate Adams and Terry Biviano.
Krissy Marsh and Nicole O’Neil are the only two returning to the fold from the first season.
Montano’s pointed comment is also the first taste of what sets the privileged denizens of the Harbour City apart from their equivalents in the global franchise’s eleven US series, and 21 international adaptations.
A wry, stereotypically Australian sense of self-awareness.
Asked the value of her “Italian art-style villa” in Darling Point, Montano cringes.
“Next door’s selling for $38 million. That’s ridiculous, we can’t say that.”
The second season of RHOS has been a long time coming, six years since the first incarnation hit television screens here and abroad. The 2017 season was snubbed by US networks for being “too mean”.
This time around, all the ingredients are just right.
These women are exceedingly wealthy, and indulge our obsession with rich people voyeurism.
They give tours of their elaborate mansions and show a leisurely day in the life that involves champagne tasting, horse riding, caviar on boats, and maintaining physical appearances with personal trainers and injectables.
Bondi-based single mum Caroline Gaultier schedules her days around travel and anti-ageing treatments.
“Ageing is for the lazy, you’ve got to keep on top of that,” she said.
Montano takes a stronger stance: “I am one of the last three women in the eastern suburbs of Sydney that has retained my nose, lips, and my breasts from birth. But I think it’s basic manners to Botox your forehead.”
As for Krissy Marsh? “I have a little nip, a little tuck, a little jab. I mean really do you have all day?”
As the saying goes: Don’t worry, you’re not ugly, you’re just poor.
The big personalities make for compelling entertainment. But they’re not overcooked to the point that these women become caricatures of themselves, or too unlikeable to watch.
O’Neil is navigating empty-nesting. Former TV presenter Obermeder runs wellness business SWINISH after beating breast cancer. Gaultier is finding herself after divorce.
Of course, the lifeblood that feeds all successful reality television is present too. The drama.
It emerges early on that the group will fracture into two camps. With Biviano, Gaultier, and Adams on one side, and O’Neil, Marsh and Montano on the other. Obermeder attempts to be Switzerland.
The lines were drawn over a comment Marsh claims she did not make, asking Gaultier whether she was “a porn star”.
The issue is raised by group newcomer Adams, who will stoke friction as the natural odd woman out. Adams is self-made, not married, nor does she have children. The Bondi Vet owner’s connection to the others, as she says, is mostly via their pets.
“Krissy Marsh said this funny thing to me the first time I met her,” Gaultier confides to Adams. “She said oh are you a porn star? I took it as a compliment.”
Adams brings it up at a ladies’ lunch hosted by Biviano, intending to stir the pot.
“She needs to apologise,” Adams said.
“I would never refer to someone as a porn star, even if I thought it,” Marsh said.
“I have not called her a porn star, I champion women like her. I am a woman like Caroline,” Marsh tells Gaultier, who “backs down” from the incident.
“I’m not really upset I’m kind of used to it,” Gaultier said. “Do I get judged by the way I look? Yes, but I only have two looks: high class hooker or homeless person.”
This rift between Marsh and Adams appears set to deepen in future episodes.
“What I’ve learned about married people is that they all like to live vicariously through others and they all have a f**king opinion,” Adams comments in a preview for the season.
Marsh: “That’s really offensive.”
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