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Andy Cohen opened up about the casting of The Real Housewives of Nashville and The Real Housewives of Chicago during an interview on Tuesday.
While also commenting on Tracy Tutor‘s addition to The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, revealing if he’d been asked to join The Traitors, and confirming why he turned down a role on Dancing With the Stars, Andy, 58, shared his thoughts on Rosie O’Donnell, 64, filling in for Jimmy Kimmel, 58, on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and the potential expansion of the Real Housewives franchise.
“The cities that we want are usually the ones that are not obvious,” Andy explained amid an August 25 interview with Variety. “We’ve cast in Nashville two or three times. We’ve cast in Chicago two or three times. We’ve cast in Greenwich, Connecticut … Meaning we have cast wide nets and put groups of women on camera who could be potential Housewives, but that we’ve just not found the right groups yet.”
“When you look at [The Real Housewives of Potomac], and you look at [The Real Housewives of Rhode Island], [Real Housewives of Salt Lake City] before everybody started doing reality shows in Salt Lake City, these are places that people hadn’t thought of. So I think it’s going to be more like that,” he continued.
Moving on to Tracy, 51, being added to the RHOBH cast for season 16, Andy admitted it was “a very long time coming.”
“She’s been on Watch What Happens Live for years promoting [Million Dollar Listing: Los Angeles], and she overlaps with [RHOBH]. Also, her personal story is so great. She’s climbed her own mountains. She’s aspirational. If the hallmark of being a great ‘Real Housewife’ is speaking how you feel, she’s certainly a bullseye,” he explained.
As for what took so long, Andy added, “I think Bravo needed to make sure that they were done doing whatever they were doing with Million Dollar Listing LA, and so, you know, everything happens in its own time.”
After Tracy admitted there were people she wanted to go after on the show, Andy said, “It means that she’s got a connection and a feeling.”
Regarding his own reality career, Andy said he had yet to be asked to join The Traitors.
“First of all, I think I would be eliminated immediately. I host the reunion, which I would like to keep doing. I don’t think I could do that if I were on it. But also, I think I would be such a target, and I’ve produced competition reality shows, so I don’t know who would want me on their cast,” he reasoned.
Andy was also not open to appearing on DWTS.
“I can’t dance on TV. No one wants to see that,” he stated. “I used to be the greatest freeform dancer, and I feel like every time I go to Dead shows, people film me dancing, and then I get made fun of on TikTok. Let me dance in peace.”
Also during the interview, Andy said he was a “big Rosie fan.”
“She’s very likable, and she did it right, and she knows what she’s doing, and it was great to see her in that format. It was a joy,” he shared of her hosting gig on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Andy went on to say that he’d be happy to see Rosie return to TV in her own show.
“The TV landscape has changed so much. It does make you wonder if she’s the person who could galvanize a few million people to make something happen in daytime,” he shared. “It’ll be interesting to see what happens with her. To me, if you’re a streamer trying to start a late-night franchise or a talk franchise, on the one hand, wouldn’t it be the greatest thing? On the other hand, if Washington is wielding an unusual amount of power over these companies, it may not be. I would love to see who takes the chance.”