Here are a few unwritten rules of Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise: If Aviva Drescher throws her prosthetic leg across a fancy Manhattan cocktail party, duck! Don’t pay less than $25,000 for sunglasses. Make sure the table is fixed to the floor if you’re dining with Teresa Giudice. Avoid asking vape-puffing Hollywood medium Allison DuBois for a reading. And know that it’s always about Tom.
And there’s one new rule: What happens in the Sprinter van never stays in the Sprinter van.
The humble Sprinter van is now a main character on Housewives following the latest season of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, which concludes with part three of the reunion tonight on Bravo. On a cast trip to Aspen, Colorado, Lisa Rinna claims that Kathy Hilton threatened to take down NBC, the “entire show,†and even her sister Kyle Richards, during an alleged off-camera “breakdown†in the back of a Sprinter van. Sadly, no footage exists to confirm her account, but that didn’t stop Rinna from turning it into a main story line of the season, concluding with tonight’s reveal of what Hilton did or didn’t say in the van.
The now-infamous vehicle, which can fit up to 12 people depending on the model (the black Mercedes is Bravo’s current van of choice, FYI), is like a messy group-dinner scene on wheels. Here, the Housewives are confined together, so the drama intensifies with each passing mile — with nowhere to whisper, run, or hide. And the Sprinter is more than a mode of transportation: It’s the linchpin of the recent season’s biggest moments.
The Sprinter van popped up in 2021, during season two of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, when teams of cops from the FBI and NYPD showed up to arrest Jen Shah. (In July 2022, she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a nationwide telemarketing scheme.) Shortly before cops surrounded the van, which was due to transport the wives to a cast trip in Colorado, Shah received a phone call. She immediately asked for her microphone to be removed and fled the scene, telling her co-stars that her husband was in hospital. As the van sped toward Vail, the women learned of Shah’s arrest from media reports as Bravo’s cameras rolled. Samantha Bush, who runs the Instagram account BravoHistorian, tells Vulture that it was Shah’s arrest that turned the Sprinter van into a pop-culture heritage site. “It was one of the top-five moment of Housewives ever,†she says. “It was so iconic instantly; watching the SWAT team surround the van, while they had no idea, was so surreal.â€
The Sprinter van went on to make more appearances on RHOSLC season two. It became the scene of a physical altercation between Shah and Lisa Barlow. The driver of the van, a guy named Kevin, even became a micro-celebrity, with Entertainment Weekly asking, “Is this van’s driver, Kevin, some sort of chaos demon?â€
The van also pops up on the East Coast: On Real Housewives of Atlanta season 13, Kenya Moore booked herself a private jet to travel to North Carolina, while the rest of the cast was packed into a van. (It didn’t have air-conditioning, so you can imagine how well that went down.) In 2021, Real Housewives of New Jersey’s Joe and Melissa Gorga got into a heated marital argument on the ride back from a restaurant, as their co-stars watched the sparks fly. And on Real Housewives of Orange County’s infamously traumatic trip to Ireland in 2016, Tamra Judge shrieked in Vicki Gunvalson’s face on the ride back to the airport. (That driver really didn’t know what he signed up for.)
The core appeal of the Sprinter, beyond its ability to be a bar on wheels and prevent DUIs, is that the cast and crew can easily fit. Alex Baskin, producer of RHOBH, tells Vulture it’s relatively easy to film in a Sprinter van compared to smaller vehicles. “We like Sprinters because they can hold more people and filming gear,†he explains. Longtime Housewives fans will know that limousines used to be the go-to for transporting the cast between events. They’ve blessed us with some of the most meme-able moments over the years, from Ramona Singer screaming, “I can’t, I can’t, I CAAAN’T!†to Kim Richards yelling, “You stole my goddamn house!†Limos work when the Housewives are in their natural habitat, but Baskin says that, on cast trips to faraway places, such a fancy ride doesn’t always fit the vibe. “We like that [Sprinter vans] are a bit more low-key,†he says.
Renting out Sprinter vans emphasizes the Housewives franchise’s transition to a bigger production, with more anticipation surrounding group scenes and trips. Conor Behan, host of the Housewives and Me podcast, thinks that as Housewives has evolved, Sprinter van scenes can actually feel more authentic. “Sometimes, it can feel more intimate and ‘real’ even if it’s just because the lighting and setup is less glossy than the interview segments or watching the cast at home,†he says. “We can catch them in a possibly unguarded moment and on the trips shows that if some people have had too much to drink, or a fight has started, how that behavior is carried over from other scenes.â€
Filming the Housewives in transit is part of the fabric of the franchise. “So much of Housewives is a process. It’s all in the build and anticipation,†Baskin says. Whether it’s two cast members gossiping in a back seat behind their co-stars’ backs or an entire group confined to a pressure-cooker-style van, these highway scenes have multiple functions. “They play such a big part in establishing a dramatic structure for each episode and building tension,†Behan explains. “Those moments of ‘before and after’ are key for keeping us guessing, and seeing how cast members feel right after a big showdown.â€
To appreciate the Sprinter van is to speak Bravo’s language: It’s a shorthand fans are familiar with, like “Dinner Parties From Hell,†the cast’s signature drink orders, or launches for products that rarely make it to market. “For fans, a Sprinter van is as much a location as a brunch spot or the green-screen confessional interview room,†Behan says.
As the Housewives franchise gets even bigger, with all-star Ultimate Girls Trip seasons and international series Real Housewives of Dubai, devoted fans know that the Sprinter van can deliver the high-drama moments they want. When one pulls up, viewers know something chaotic is about to go down. “The fan response is the joy of the job,†Baskin says. “I love that the smallest of details — seemingly mundane moments — resonate.â€