The Real Housewives of Melbourne renewed for a fifth season

Foxtel has confirmed The Real Housewives of Melbourne has been renewed for another season. But mystery surrounds who will return.

Pop the champers, our very own housewives are back.

The Real Housewives of Melbourne has finally been commissioned for a fifth season, after being crowned the most watched reality show in Foxtel’s history.

The controversial Matchbox Pictures production, which first launched on Arena in 2014, has not yet cast any housewives, but Foxtel’s executive director of television Brian Walsh hinted who may be returning, in an interview on KIIS 1065 with Kylie and Jackie O.

He added there was potential to add some Sydney women into the fold.

“When I met with the producers a few months back I said some women on The Real Housewives of Sydney, we’d love to have them back on the screen, so I gave them the challenge of coming back to us with an idea to combine both cities and broaden out the idea to real housewives of Australia,” Mr Walsh said.

“I think we’ve got to shake it up.

“The reason it’s taken 18 months is that it was becoming a bit predictable in terms of the behaviour of a few women, we want to shake it up a bit and get some new faces.

“The next thing for us is to sit down with the producers and the housewives to determine which ones stay and which ones go.”

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All seven ladies in the fourth season of the Real Housewives of Melbourne. Gamble Breaux, Janet Roach, Jackie Gillies, Sally Bloomfield, Lydia Schiavello, Gina Liano, Venus Behbahani-Clark. Picture: Mark Stewart

The Real Housewives of Melbourne has given fans an intimate look inside the exclusive worlds of Melbourne’s uber wealthy women, and the drama that follows them in their privileged lives.

It is set to air on Foxtel in 2020.

While no one has inked a deal yet, Mr Walsh said the show’s unofficial poster housewife, Gina Liano, expressed she wouldn’t sign on unless fellow cast member, Sally Bloomfield, was booted.

He also said Lydia Schiavello was keen to return

“Where we left last season is that Gina said she would not come back to the show if Sally was on the series, and that has taken us some time to resolve how we move forward,” Mr Walsh said.

“Gina is an important part of the franchise and we’d love to see her back but we can’t have a situation where the talent is dictating the creative on the show.”

Gina Liano may return.

The news comes after there was confusion over whether it would be picked up for another instalment, with the previous season airing in early 2018 and coinciding with the original stars contracts expiring.

But the last four seasons have seen blockbuster ratings for Foxtel, with Mr Walsh saying the decision to renew was a no-brainer.

“This series has a huge following of loyal and adoring fans and it was paramount we picked the perfect time to commission a fifth season,” he said.

The housewives profiled in the fourth season were original cast members Gina Liano, Jackie Gillies, Janet Roach, Lydia Schiavello, and latecomers Gamble Breaux, Venus Behbahani-Clark and Sally Bloomfield.

By the end of last season, fan favourite Liano was at odds with almost every other housewife, which cast doubt over her future on the show.

The Real Housewives of Melbourne was developed as one of the international instalments of The Real Housewives, an American television series franchise.

A single season of The Real Housewives of Sydney aired in 2017 before being axed.