While the debate continues amongst the OG housewives as to who put the show on the map, one debate rests: The housewives put Andy Cohen on the map. When Real Housewives of New York City’s former cast member Carole Radziwill tweeted that the Housewives changed Andy’s life, she wasn’t wrong, and the man confirms it himself in the new housewives book, Not all Diamonds & Rosé By Dave Quinn.
Unlike other reality shows where the host of such notoriety would have regular airtime, (think The Bachelor/Bachelorette’s former host Chris Harrison or American Idol’s Ryan Seacrest) Andy has very little. As executive producer of the Housewives franchise, Andy only makes one appearance hosting: at the end of the season for the 1- sometimes 4- part reunions. It was at one of these reunions, however that things went left for Andy in a way that he feels, made him recognized like never before.
So let’s play a game of Clue/Trivia Bravo fans: If you ask Andy, there was one culminating event or zhousewife that pushed (hint hint) Andy into the forefront of notoriety in the Bravoverse.
Congratulations if you guessed Real Housewives of New Jersey’s Teresa Giudice at the season 2 reunion, with her bare hands. The typically cordial and neutral host somehow hilariously got in the middle of a physically aggressive moment between the ladies and ended up being pushed by the OG housewife.
Andy explained, “Teresa pushed me and it was so weird- after the taping, I got all the way back to New York from the Borgata, where we’d filmed in Atlantic City, and I was having drinks with Mark Consuelos and Kelly Ripa on their roof at like, ten or eleven at night, and I said, “I think I got pushed. I think Teresa pushed me.”
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The excerpt continued, “I was in shock. I didn’t see the footage until I saw the first cut of the supertease and I thought it was hysterical. I watched it twenty times. I couldn’t believe it. That summer when it aired, I was in the Hamptons, and when I went back to the city, everybody on the street knew who I was.”
Andy explained, “It was so crazy, people were saying my name. It was like that push actually kind of it made me famous. It was incredible. Teresa inadvertently wound up making me famous!”
Andy is a good sport, about what was at the time, pretty shocking. Even though it was just a shove and no one was hurt, it’s not every day your reality tv host gets assaulted by a cast member. As a viewer, this moment added to his credibility as housewives producer and host. He could handle these ladies and their antics!
Only in the beautiful, crazy Bravoverse, can a physical altercation, seem honorific, and for Andy, in hindsight, that push was the pivotal reality tv moment that propelled him into the realm of celebrity.
RELATED: Andy Cohen Says His Dynamic With NeNe Leakes Is “Complicated” After NeNe Said She Wants To Return To Real Housewives; Says He Plans To “Keep NeNe’s Name Out Of His Mouth”
TELL US- DO YOU THINK ANDY WOULD BE AS FAMOUS IF TERESA NEVER PUSHED HIM? WHAT FRANCHISE/ MOMENT/ OR HOUSEWIFE REALLY PUT HOUSEWIVES ON THE MAP IN YOUR OPINION?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
