Janet Roach Talks ‘The Real Housewives Of Melbourne’ Fights!

Janet Roach is an expert on spilling the tea as she owns her own tea range, Raw Essentials Tea. While The Real Housewives of Melbourne is currently on hiatus due to the upcoming premiere of The Real Housewives of Sydney. During a recent interview with news.com.au, Roach spilled the tea on how some of the most explosive fights ever seen on the Foxtel hit reality series really happen.

So Janet, the massive fight scenes on Housewives: real or faked?
When we have these arguments out at dinner, the truth is we’ve probably been there for maybe four or five hours. We’re having a fun, lovely time and they just let us go. After four or five hours of drinking, someone is going to say something that someone doesn’t agree with. Viewers only see that part, but we’ve been there for hours before that having a great time.

So you all usually start out in a good mood?
Everyone starts out fine, but the drinks have an effect. Say, for instance, Lydia says Jackie’s psychic powers are running amok — usually Jackie would just say ‘What would you know?’, but after four or five glasses of wine she takes exception. We never even notice the cameras — a lot of it is zoomed in — they just set us down and let us go. And we don’t pretend — we’re all terrible actors.

It sounds like filming a nature documentary! The producers biding their time, waiting for the sparks to fly.
Absolutely. There’s times when we’ve had dinners and we haven’t all fought. One time we were all out and Pettifleur was announcing she was an expert on diamonds, an expert at property developing ... then she told Gina she was an expert at the law … Why would you say that, Pettifleur? She can’t even string a sentence together. I do love her.

Anyway, Gina and I were laughing about it and we had to stop filming because we could not look at Pettifleur; we had to put our heads under the table. We had to abandon the shoot, and they were furious with us. We’re supposed to be arguing but we’re crying with laughter.

What is staged in the show?
The only time it’s a bit contrived is when they ring you and might say ‘Oh Janet, you’re going to go and have a chat with Gamble.’ I’ll think, ‘Uh-oh. What’s happened there? Am I in trouble, is Gamble going to tell me something?’

So you have to go in to that meet-up blind?
Absolutely, and it’s terrifying. You know you’re going to be on camera but you don’t know if you’re going to be attacked. Or say you think you’re going for coffee with Gamble, then halfway through the conversation Lydia walks in. You’ve just been calling her a bitch, then she walks in and says ‘Hey, have you been talking about me?’

That sounds so stressful. What keeps you doing the show?
It’s scary but it’s so much fun because they are crazy. I love the Housewives. They don’t pay us very much, but you wouldn’t do it for the money. When you go out with seven nutters, it’s really exciting — you don’t know what’s going to happen.

The Real Housewives of Sydney starts this Sunday. Do you know much about those ladies?
I’ve met a couple of the girls and they are lovely. I know the Sydney show is quite different, but I’d love to do State of Origin — we’ve had three years more experience so we’ll smash them! The producers tell me it’s a very different dynamic, because the Sydney girls don’t drink as much as the Melbourne girls.

Real full interview via news.com.au

Photo Credit: Foxtel