How Was The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip Created? The Idea Behind the Crossover Franchise

What’s better than a group of Housewives, many of whom are old friends, fighting and building friendships in one city? A Housewives crossover!

That’s the idea behind The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip (also known as RHUGT).

“I mean, it’s eight housewives in a foreign country, what could go wrong?” The Real Housewives of New York City’s Leah McSweeney said while in Thailand for Season 3, currently streaming on Peacock.

What Is RHUGT? The Show, Explained

RHUGT streamed its first season on Peacock back in 2021. Many reality shows (think America’s Got Talent) decide to bring back fan favorites for a sort of “All-Stars” version of a show, and that’s exactly what you’re getting with RHUGT.

The first season of the show invited OGS The Real Housewives of Beverly Hill’s Kyle Richards, The Real Housewives of New York City’s Ramona Singer and Luann de Lesseps and The Real Housewives of New Jersey’s Teresa Guidice—and also added Housewives who have been on their franchises for years: The Real Housewives of Atlanta’s Cynthia Bailey and Kenya Moore, and RHONJ's Melissa Gorga.

Kyle explained the season gave her a chance to exchange notes with the other OGs.

“The ones who go through this mash-up show with the other franchises, it was sort of interesting to see all of their takes on it, so that was really interesting for me to see,” Kyle told Bravo Insider.

Besides bringing your favorite Housewives to the screen in a new vacation setting, the series also helps the ladies form new, sometimes unlikely, friendships across franchises.

“It was an amazing trip,” Luann said on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen of the season filmed in Turks and Caicos. “I was really surprised I got along really well with Kenya. I didn’t know Kenya really well, and so that was cool. And Kyle and I laughed a lot, really had a great time with her. I had a great trip.”

Andy Cohen called Season 2 of RHUGT his “dream cast crossover” during an appearance on The Daily Dish podcast in December 2021. The second season added a twist with a dose of nostalgia in casting all ex-Housewives (‘Wives who are no longer currently on their shows).

“Phaedra [Parks], Vicki [Gunvalson]…Dorinda [Medley], I mean, [they] are all at the Berkshires, so this is a group of wildly different people,” Andy said about the Season 2 cast of The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Ex-Wives Club. “It may be too twisted for words, we’ll see, but that was really exciting for me.”

Two of the castmates from Season 2 are now back on their original shows since it aired: The Real Housewives of Orange County’s Tamra Judge and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hill’s Taylor Armstrong (who also made the first switch in Housewives history to a new franchise. She is now on the upcoming season of The Real Housewives of Orange County with Tamra.)

RELATED: After Taking Care of the Women on RHUGT, Where Is Pepsi Now?

Mixing up the Housewives also creates new drama across franchises, as producer Alfonso Rosales teased about Season 3 (currently streaming on Peacock) at BravoCon 2022, when he said, “I’ll say that this is Scary Island on steroids, and there’s a yacht trip to rival Cartagena.”

The upcoming RHUGT Season 4 promises another Ex-Wives-themed season, with four of the cast members of the second season set to return, and another exotic locale for fans: Marrakech, Morocco.

Watch Season 3 streaming now on Peacock, with new episodes of The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip dropping on Thursdays.