That’s tea! Queer Eye star Bobby Berk revealed a ~mysterious~ Real Housewives of New York star once “stole” from his interior design showroom under the guise of decorating her “new apartment” years ago. What exactly went down — and who is the Bravolebrity in question? Here’s everything we know.
Who Is Bobby Berk?
The 38-year-old is one of five cast members (a.k.a. the Fab Five) on Netflix’s Queer Eye for the Straight Guy reboot. His area of expertise is interior design and home renovation.
What Happened at Bobby’s Store?
“I had a New York Housewife come into my store years ago in New York, and [she] was like, ‘Oh, I’m buying this new place.’ Turns out, of course, she wasn’t buying it. She didn’t even own the last one she had on the show that she said she owned,” the Missouri native told Jenny McCarthy on her SiriusXM show on June 18. “She’s like, ‘I want you to come in and design it all. I’m gonna put you on the show.’”
The Los Angeles resident added he hadn’t been featured on television yet and still “kind of” enjoyed the Real Housewives so he agreed — but only to the stipulation that he would do the job at cost, not for free. The mystery reality starlet agreed.
What Happened After Their Agreement?
Bobby then revealed the television personality’s husband called him and tried to “bully” him into doing the job for free. As a result of that phone call, the Nailed It alum decided not to work with the Bravo star … but the drama didn’t stop there.
“She came into my store the next week when I wasn’t there and told my staff that I had said she could take anything out of the store that she wanted to design her house for the shoot,” Bobby said. “And here was her credit card and ‘If I don’t bring anything back, if I like something, you can just charge the credit card.’”
The designer’s employees had no idea the arrangement was off, so “they gave her whatever she wanted” and the undisclosed Housewife “cleaned the store out.”
Did Bobby Confront the Housewife?
Months later, the Fab Five member’s employees finally realized they had been scammed when Bobby went looking for some specific pieces from his archive that were taken by the star. They called her for months to no avail and when they attempted to charge her with the credit card given, it was declined.
From there, Bobby did confront the unrevealed famous face by telling her she “literally stole” from his store. Her response was allegedly threatening. “They said, ‘You know what? Then let’s go to court. This’ll be good TV,” Bobby told Jenny, 47. “It’s easier for us just to have our lawyer deal with it than it would be to actually pay you.’”
The Queer Eye star did not say whether or not the incident was ever fully settled, inside or outside of court.
Oh @AvivaDrescher, UR such a con-artist. Guess I’m not the only one you F’ed over. So pathetic! http://t.co/q0dpeO368t #matthewsatz #RHONY
— Bobby Berk (@bobbyberk) September 15, 2014
Who *Is* the Housewife? Any Clues?
Though nothing is confirmed, a source told Us Weekly the designer was referring to RHONY alum Aviva Drescher during the interview. Bobby once called her out for allegedly extorting $5,000 from an artist by detaining their paintings until they paid up.
“Oh @AvivaDrescher, [you are] such a con-artist,” he tweeted in September 2014. “Guess I’m not the only one you [f—ked] over. So pathetic!”
Bobby also called out her husband, Reid Drescher, on Twitter months earlier, calling him a “crook.”