Real Housewives of Sydney is a ‘punch in the face’ compared to Melbourne franchise

TWO potty-mouthed wives are leading the charge in a battle between the Sydney and Melbourne Real Housewives franchises. And ... we have a winner.

THE grudge match between Sydney and Melbourne, once fought on the footy field, has a new battleground, with the rise and rise of The Real Housewives reality TV franchise.

And six rounds into the new Harbour City series, the executive producer of both programs, Matchbox Pictures’ Kylie Washington is, controversially perhaps, calling the fight for ... Sydney.

The boxing analogy is not coincidental, with the brawling women on The Real Housewives of Sydney described as a “punch in the face” when compared to their southern counterparts.

“Sydney is bold and brash and has a bit of a ‘f*ck you’ attitude about anything,” Washington, the director of unscripted programming at Matchbox tells News Corp.

‘If Sydney was a character on Real Housewives, she would be this incredible beast of woman, an Amazonian goddess, who looked out into the world and went: ‘you’ll never be as beautiful as I am.”

Remind you of anyone?

Cue Lisa Oldfield, arguably the shoutiest and ballsiest of all the Sydney housewives, who doesn’t mind throwing a few metaphorical elbows when arguing her corner or sticking up for her city.

The straight-talking wife of former One Nation powerbroker David Oldfield, Lisa calls a spade a shovel and then, even just for dramatic effect, threatens to club you with it.

Before the first episode had aired, Oldfield had talked her way into the headlines, after spending most of filming dropping the ‘C’ bomb, then fighting with producers to have one scene — in which she called her five-year-old son a “dickhead” — cut from broadcast. She lost.

Lisa Oldfield with Alex Perry. Picture: Instagram

Swearing, like storming off during the show’s reunion specials, host Alex Perry points out, is almost compulsory across the 16 international franchises.

But, as is her style, Oldfield would go for gold in any competition of cussing.

An unrepentant Oldfield argues it was all part of her decision “to be real” on the reality series.

And besides, the proud Christian married, mother of two says: “there’s nothing in the Bible that says, ‘you can’t swear.’ Look at Jesus, for Christ’s sake. He went into the temples, turned over the tables and tore up the curtains ... he could have been a Real Housewife.”

Remarkably, Gina Liano — who has delivered some of the best explicit-ridden tirades as the breakout star of the Melbourne series — thinks Oldfield may take it too far, specifically when using foul language in front of her children.

“I don’t think my swearing is gratuitous, it serves a purpose,” the Melbourne barrister, who prosecutes child abuse cases in the Family court, argues.

“For me, I don’t come home and drop the C bomb every three minutes. And I had heard she calls her husband a ‘c*nt’ and he calls her one frequently. I don’t do that, I don’t. It’s just standards,” Liano says.

Tempering her comments, she adds: “I don’t know Lisa ... she might be an absolutely gorgeous woman and her husband might be a c*nt, I don’t know.”

The Real Housewives of Melbourne star Gina Liano. Picture: Foxtel.

Washington, who recalls fighting with Liano for a record three hours over the very use of the ‘C’ word in an early episode of season one of the Melbourne series, begs to differ.

‘It was over an episode where Gina called Anthea [Moss, a former housewife] the C word’ with the verbal slanging match only broken up because Washington “had to go to the toilet.”

“She was like, ‘you can’t use that’ and I said ‘well, yes we can. It’s on our show and you all know you were wearing microphones.’ ... it just went on and on from there,” Washington says.

“My boss came in to check on me and I was in full flight, we were screaming at each other at that point. He came in and dropped off some flowers. Then he came back an hour later and gave me some chocolate, I was still on the phone and he just started backing out of the room.”

Mounting a more sound case about the differences between the two franchises, Liano says Sydney has benefited from Melbourne’s experience.

“We were a hard act to follow ... and that probably put pressure on them going into their first season, more than we had in ours because we got time to warm up and tell more of our backstories,” she says.

The Real Housewives of Sydney. Picture: Fabrizio Lipari/Foxtel

The audience could get invested, the Melbourne housewives “evolved as characters,” whereas “Sydney, I don’t think they had the luxury of doing that.”

“Whether or not they were going to be like that anyway, I don’t know but certainly they have come out all guns blazing,” Liano concedes.

The Melbourne housewives return to film their fourth season later this month, with a few new faces expected to join the cast, Washington confirms.

“That’s the key to the longevity of that show. It’s been going since 2006 in the States, when it started with the OC [Orange County, California]. You bring in a new cast member, you see how that affects the group, their stories to tell and that shapes the series. We will definitely open the doors with new WAGs and see where that might take us.”

The Real Housewives of Sydney relax. Picture: Fabrizio Lipari/Foxtel

WHY ORIGINAL IS BEST

Forget Sydney OR Melbourne. Beverly Hills, New Jersey and New York too for that matter. When it comes to the Real Housewives franchise, original is best. The ladies of Orange County have been flashing their wealth and entitlement around for everyone to see for more than a decade and it easily takes the cake as the most addictive version.

It does scandal and intrigue so much better than the competition. Lisa Oldfield’s faux outrage over someone bringing up her husband’s questionable past with Pauline Hanson is yawn-inspiring when you compare it to the couldn’t-make-this-shit-up-juicy fake cancer scandal that rocked the OC last season.

It unfolded over seasons and involved the show’s longest serving ‘housewife’ Vicki. Her boyfriend Brooks, who every other person on the planet despised, had taken the successful businesswoman for a massive ride right in front of millions of viewers across the globe. The Bold And The Beautiful could’t even pull this storyline off. So I’m told.

Lisa Oldfield loves calling a spade a shovel. Picture: Fabrizio Lipari/Foxtel

The first episode of the Sydney show had the women up in arms after Victoria Rees tossed Athena X’s ‘fishing net’ shawl into the harbour after an argument over ... I can’t actually remember what as I’d drifted off.

Compare that to the brilliant cat fight that took place in some Californian sushi joint where newbie Kelly started dropping C-bombs and F-bangers at anyone who dared come into her line of sight. It was car crash TV at its best and rich privilege at its worst. But there was no doubt that it was real and you have to think so hard sometimes to remember who hates who at any given point in time draws you in even more.

Sydney feels like real life women reading from a script which asks them to look like they’re not reading from a script. It’s almost robotic and it’s definitely draining.

It’s new and I guess some slack has to be given, but they’ll never be like the girls from The OC.

– David Meddows

THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF SYDNEY AIRS 8.30PM, SUNDAY ON FOXTEL’S ARENA