Andy Cohen has no question that fans will fall in love with The Real Housewives of Rhode Island.
Shortly after announcing the latest addition to the Bravo franchise, Cohen, 56, gave fans a little insight into what they can expect from the new cast.
“The cast is incredible,” he told Page Six. “They are very Italian. Rhode Island is such a small state, and they all kind of know each other and overlap, and it’s an incredible group of women who have really interesting connections. I think it’s going to really surprise people.”
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Ralph Bavaro/Bravo via Getty
(l-r) Jennifer Aydin, Teresa Giudice, Dolores Catania on ‘The Real Housewives of New Jersey’
When asked if there were any similarities to The Real Housewives of New Jersey, which boasts a primarily Italian American cast, Cohen noted that the show was based in Rhode island and added that the new cast was “more Italian” with “deep families.”
“[It] does kind of remind you of early ‘Jersey’ in a weird way,” he continued.
The outlet asked if the screening process had changed over the years, and Cohen admitted that the network was stricter on their background checks.
“When we started Jersey, nobody had [done] anything illegal. As the show has evolved, the diligence has evolved,” he said, referring to OG cast member Teresa Giudice and her then-husband Joe Giudice’s fraud and tax evasion case in 2015. The former couple were eventually sentenced to prison.
Related: Andy Cohen Has RHONJ Fans Spinning After Saying Show May Have ‘All Fresh Faces’ Next Season: Here’s the Truth
On May 7, Bravo announced several new programs it was adding to its slate for the upcoming year — including a brand new Housewives series, RHORI.
According to a press release shared with PEOPLE,The Real Housewives of Rhode Island women are described as “a tight-knit circle of Rhode Islanders who have deep community roots and families that go back generations.”
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“With aspirational lives, thriving businesses and tangled family dynamics, these decade-long friendships prove that in a state this small, there’s no escaping your past … or each other,” it continues.
The network also announced several new series including Wife Swap: The Real Housewives Edition, a reboot of Ladies of London and a Shahs of Sunset spinoff called The Valley: Persian Style.
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