Countess LuAnn de Lesseps and Ramona Singer will be the only two original cast of the reality show's fifth season.
- September 18, 2011
AceShowbiz -
It is now official that four cast members of "The Real Housewives of New York City" have been dismissed. Bravo has released an announcement that Jill Zarin, Alex McCord, Kelly Bensimon and newest member Cindy Barshop were not asked back for season 5.
"Ramona Singer, Sonja Morgan and LuAnn DeLesseps will be returning for season 5 of The Real Housewives of New York City," a network spokesperson told People "We've had a fabulous run with all the ladies and appreciate them sharing their lives with our viewers. It is a friendly departure among the other ladies and we continue to have on-going discussions with them."
Zarin, McCord, Bensimon and Barshop were negotiating with the network in the past few weeks and Zarin denied back then that she's been fired from the show. She has now released a statement via her rep, "Jill is humbled by the extraordinary amount of media interest in her response and looks forward to personally opening up about all of this very soon and announcing some exciting new projects."
McCord also said, "Of course Simon and I are sad not to continue with RHONY but it's a friendly decision and discussions with Bravo are ongoing for other projects."
