In November 2021, Andy Cohen went on The Today Show and excitedly announced The Real Housewives of Dubai, he promised it would “blow the lid off the entire franchise.” Three years later, the show is on pause after airing only two seasons.
Some fans will claim they saw this ending coming from a mile away. Others are still scratching their heads trying to figure out where RHODubai went wrong. Either way, we’re finally hearing from Andy about the indefinite pause, and he promised that the move wasn’t personal.
Business is business
Photo Credit: Clifton Prescod/Bravo
Of course, everyone knows that TV decisions are ruled by ratings. If no one is watching a show, it’s bound to get canceled. However, Andy explained in an interview with People that ratings weren’t the sole reason for Dubai getting put on pause. Instead, he said they were looking at the Real Housewives franchise as a whole.
“It’s just smart business,” Andy explained. “We have a lot of Housewives going right now. And it’s one of the reasons it took so long to get The Real Housewives of Atlanta going and one of the reasons we’re in a deep pause with The Real Housewives of New Jersey. We just want to make sure we get everything right and be very deliberate with everything we’re doing.”
Although Dubai’s live ratings weren’t the strongest, Andy explained that it wasn’t the be-all and end-all for the fate of a show. There are a lot of factors that go into the decision-making, including the streaming numbers from Peacock.
“The great thing about the Housewives in general is that the numbers are super high for all of them across the board, especially when you factor in Peacock and streaming,” Andy noted.
He went on to explain that they look at “the full picture” when determining the fate of a show. For example, RHONJ has higher ratings than the controversial reboot of The Real Housewives of New York. Still, they chose to put New Jersey because they wanted to be intentional about the casting decisions.
“We love these shows,” Andy continued. “We all want to get it right.”
With that in mind, it’s possible that we’ll get Season 3 of Dubai sometime in the future. However, Andy has made it clear that it is not going to be anytime soon. They’re focusing on the established franchises.
