A small, southern Illinois town is about to have its big debut, thanks to a couple of former “Real Housewives of New York City” reality television stars.
Beginning this weekend, Peacock and Bravo viewers will have the chance to tune into “Luann and Sonja: Welcome to Crappie Lake,” a new reality show featuring Sonja Morgan and Luann de Lesseps — two glitzy Bravolebrities — helping to revitalize Benson, a southern Illinois town about 300 miles outside of Chicago with a population of fewer than 450 people that was “devastated by the pandemic,” a release says.
A trailer for the new series shows Morgan, once married to the great-grandson of J.P. Morgan and de Lesseps, the ex-wife of Count Alexandre de Lesseps, searching for famous “crappie fish” in Rend Lake with their bare hands, going mudding with monster trucks, attending the town’s famed Testicle Festival and more.
In an interview with TODAY.com, the duo say they filmed in Benson for a month and a half, smack dab in the middle of summer.
“I call it ‘The Sweat Lodge,’ Morgan said, of the motel the pair were staying in and helping to refurbish. “There was no AC. We went down offseason, it was July.”
In the interview, de Lesseps said that she’d “never been to this part of the country,” and found the experience interesting. “We did so many things that we would never do,” de Lesseps said. “Like, I caught a catfish with my bare hands.”
Both Manhattanites also told TODAY.com that growing up in small towns helped prepare them for the experience.
“We lived all over the world, but we know what it’s like,” de Lesseps said. “They were expecting us to come in and be these spoiled brats, and certainly our life has changed, but we are simple at heart when it comes to that.”
“We were both charmed by all these people in this small town because they’re just such a lovely community,” de Lesseps added.
Morgan told TODAY.com that she initially thought the duo was headed to the Windy City. “When they said we were going to Illinois, I was thinking Chicago,” she said.
When the mission was over, it was time to get back to New York. “We made a lot of friends. It was hard to leave, but at the same time, we couldn’t wait to get back in our own beds, our own homes and gardens,” Morgan said.
“Welcome to Crappie Lake” premieres on Bravo July 9.
from NBC Chicago https://ift.tt/0YC6j5u
No comments:
Post a Comment