Television August 17, 2023
Luann de Lesseps & Sonja Morgan Tease ‘Good Drama’ on ‘RHUGT’ (Exclusive)
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“The Real Housewives of New York” alums Luann de Lesseps and Sonja Morgan brought their big-city bling and high heels down South in “Luann & Sonja: Welcome to Crappie Lake.”
“Extra” spoke with Luann and Sonja about their small-town adventures in Benton, Illinois, which included catching catfish, a testicle festival, and even some romance!
Luann shared, “This is a show that’s feel-good, heartfelt, warm, you know, where we go down to help this town and, you know, we come from small towns. Our lives have changed, but now we’re going down to help out a community, and there’s a lot of fun that goes along the way, and that’s what we love about it.”
Sonja chimed in, saying, “Put us two together and any town like that, is gonna be, ‘are these girls nuts showing up in bling and heels to do work? Because I don’t really know if they’re gonna do all what they promised.’ And I think they learned after they saw us staying not just a week, but five or six weeks in that little Benton motel… they said, ‘If they can do that, we’re starting to believe in them,’ and they came right by our side to help get things done.”
In the wild reality series, Luanna and Sonja travel to the small town of Benton to help it bounce back from COVID.
Luann dished, “We got down there to get our hands dirty to really help out. We moved furniture. We built playgrounds. I caught a catfish with my bare hands.”
She pointed out, “When are we gonna catch a catfish again in our lives? Never. When are we going to probably go to a testicle festival? Or rocky mountain oysters, as they called them.”
The people of Benton also got a big surprise when pop icon Paula Abdul came to help Luann and Sonja.
Luann noted, “We needed somebody to help the dancers and what a great surprise for these girls to get instructed by Paula Abdul.”
Sonja added, “She just happened to be flying from California to New York, so she could drop down and help us. It was amazing, but we promised her, ‘Paula, you’re not wasting your time. These kids are really talented.’”
For singe girls, Luanna and Sonja, there were some close encounters with some country boys!
Luann admitted, “We flirted a lot. I had so much fun flirting with the firemen.”
Sonja quipped, “That could be Luann’s next book is how to flirt.”
The two will be reuniting with some New York OGs for “Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: RHONY Legacy.”
Sonja dished, “I was happy to be back with Dorinda [Medley] and Ramona [Singer], because having filmed with Luann just reminded me how much I missed being with my girlfriends and we all go way back, especially me, Luann and Ramona. So that was exciting, and then to see Kelly [Dodd] again was fun.”
Luann teased, “You’ll hear the real deal on some of the stories that have happened in the past. And there’s always drama, but we have a good time, and I would say it’s like good drama. You can sink your teeth in, and I think people are gonna really enjoy to see us back at that house in St. Barts.”
Catch the finale of “Luann & Sonja: Welcome to Crappie Lake” this Sunday on Bravo.