Although Jessel Taank and Erin Lichy were seemingly in a good place going into The Real Housewives of New York City Season 16, all that changed when Jessel discovered Erin had been talking badly about her during filming of The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Roaring 20th. During the RHONY Season 16 premiere, Jessel revealed her source to be The Real Housewives of Dubai‘s Chanel Ayan.
How to Watch
The Real Housewives of New York City Season 16 premieres Tuesday, September 8 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo. Episodes stream next day on Peacock.
In a confessional interview, Jessel played a voice message from Chanel detailing the drama. “My babes, you know I love you so much and care about you,” Chanel could be heard saying. “Be careful with Erin. Because a few of the girls at the party came to tell me that she was talking s—t about you. And she was telling them that you are untrustworthy. But, just pay attention. Just pay attention to that bitch.”
Jessel explained that she felt particularly betrayed given that she and Erin had recently bonded following the loss of their fathers, who passed away within a few months of each other.
“Then, we go to the Berkshires for the Ultimate Girls Trip finale, and I find out Erin was going around calling me untrustworthy, and fake,” Jessel confessed during RHONY’s Sept. 8 episode. “I feel like dumb for even trusting her, and believing that she was genuinely sort of concerned about me.”
Jessel Taank details what Erin Lichy said about her during the RHUGT: Roaring 20th finale party
As Jessel and Erin spoke at Jessel’s Lunar New Year party during the Sept. 8 premiere, Jessel accused Erin of putting out “a smear campaign” against her to other ‘Wives.
“You called me ‘fake,’” Jessel alleged, and although Erin claimed, “I don’t talk about you ever, Jessel,” producers disputed Erin’s comment in flashbacks to the RHUGT: Roaring 20th finale filming, which took place three months before the RHONY Season 16 premiere was filmed.
“Okay, the fakest? Sorry, but it’s Jessel,” Erin was captured on a mic saying as she rode in a car with other ‘Wives.
Jessel then accused Erin of calling her “thirsty.” During a flashback to the Berkshires finale party, producers also caught Erin on a hot mic saying, “I can’t with the thirstiness.” Jessel’s assertion that Erin called her a “snake” was also proven to be true. “She’s fake like a snake. Like, I can’t,” Erin said into a mic during the party.
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Erin eventually admitted to Jessel’s allegations. “I mean, I’ve said those things. yes, I feel that way…I do feel that you’re inauthentic, yes,” she told Jessel during the Sept. 8 premiere. Erin explained her reasoning: “You think deeply about the way in which you’re going to twist stories and f—k people over. You are a PR girl…you are literally the fakest person I know.”
To producers, Erin confessed: “Was I talking s—t? Yes. But she is thirsty. And to be honest with you, sometimes you talk s—t about your friends when they’re pissing you off. And that’s what I was doing. Which by the way, I was with a bunch of f—king Housewives. What do you expect?”
The night ended on a bad note, as Jessel proclaimed, “I’m done with you, goodbye,” and kicked Erin out of her party.
Jessel Taank and Erin Lichy’s friendship history, explained
RHONY’s Season 16 premiere wasn’t the first time Jessel and Erin have butted heads. The two had a disastrous coffee talk during Season 14, Episode 5, in which Jessel was upset by Erin’s impressions of her.
“She said, ‘I think you like being catered to,’ and I was like, ‘So you’re calling me a princess?’” Jessel explained to Sai de Silva at the time. “So, I took offense to that, because I’m like you—like I came here with no money. I work my ass off. Maybe I give off like a certain vibe?”
The two first got off on the wrong foot earlier in Season 14, when Jenna Lyons revealed to Erin that Jessel once called her a “cackling hag.” Jessel later doubled down on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen and said she had no regrets about her comment.
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Things between the two worsened when Brynn Whitfield confessed during a Season 14 cast trip that Erin had called Jessel the “dum-dum of the whole group.” Jessel admitted she was keeping a list of grievances on her phone—many of which were about Erin.
“You f–king tell me that I’m used to being catered to. No one and nothing has catered to me,” Jessel explained of when Erin had gotten wrong about her. “You tell me that I f–king come from a rich f–king family and you’re accusing my family of buying my apartment.”
At one point, Jessel referred to the drama as “mean girl s—t” and called it “draining.” Their strained relationship continued during RHONY Season 15, as Erin sent Jessel a “cryptic” text that read only: “so disappointed.”
The RHONY Season 16 trailer only teases more drama to come between Jessel and Erin, as Jessel accuses Erin of being both “like a one-man Ponzi scheme” and “a bootleg Houdini,” and Erin threatens, “I wouldn’t f—k with me, Jessel.”
