The Countess and Mrs. Morgan have landed!
Luann de Lesseps and Sonja Morgan’s private plane landed in southern Illinois on Wednesday to begin filming their upcoming reality show.
Benton Mayor Fred Kondritz and dozens of fans greeted the “Real Housewives of New York City” stars on the tarmac of Benton Municipal Airport, local news channel WFCN News reports.
De Lesseps, 57, and Morgan, 58, who looked swanky in New York, were photographed disembarking from their plane and stepping onto a miniature red carpet as cameras filmed their arrival.
According to an earlier WFCN News report, they will be filming “for several weeks” in the area.
Located in Franklin County, Benton has a population of nearly 7,000, according to a 2020 census.
Local tourist attractions include the Franklin County Garage Museum, the Historic Jail Museum, the George Harrison “Beatle” Museum, and Rend Lake.
Vidak For Congress broke the news in June that de Lesseps and Morgan had signed a deal to star on their own reality show.
The Bravolebrities will live and socialize with the locals, as Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie did on their show ‘The Simple Life’ in the early 2000s.
“Luann and Sonja will of course be their fantastic selves, and in each episode they will interact with the locals,” a source close to the production told us at the time. †[Executives] even held the locations of the girls until the last minute. †
The untitled show will have approximately 10 episodes and fans can expect familiar faces to make surprise appearances.
It’s unclear whether NBCUniversal will air the show on Bravo or its streaming service Peacock, which has aired other spinoffs, including two seasons of “The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip.”
While de Lesseps and Morgan keep themselves busy in Illinois, Bravo is working on rebooting — and most likely completely recasting — “RHONY.”
After the original franchise is released and ready to go, the network plans to focus on “RHONY: Legacy,” which will star former fan-favorite apple owners.