Real Housewives of Dallas star Stephanie Hollman explains how COVID-19 impacted the show’s filming process.
Most of the Real Housewives shows that are currently airing have had to film during the pandemic including RHOC, RHOA and RHOD.
Stephanie explains some of the CDC protocols they followed while filming including keeping their social bubble to the other cast members and their husbands.
“We took a lot of tests and it was different because you are literally just with your small group of friends so pretty much the people who are on the show and husbands, which is very different but also kind of nice because you don’t have a lot of the outside stuff when you’re filming,” she explains to Hollywood Life.
She also addresses that she and the cast members sometimes wore masks while filming around people outside of their bubble.
“You’re wearing a mask or a shield on all of the time which is also very different. Then you forget that you have a mask or a shield on your face, so you take a shot and you hit your shield instead of your mouth,” she adds.
“It was different. Something I will never forget, but it was a fun time. It was a fun ride,” she says of the experience of filming Season 5 as a whole.
How Stephanie feels about the way they addressed COVID-19 on Season 5
Stephanie reveals that she didn’t initially understand how serious the pandemic would be when they first started filming.
“You definitely didn’t know what you were getting into and there wasn’t a lot of knowledge on the virus, so now I’m starting to know a lot more people that have gotten the virus and it can be really, really scary,” Stephanie confesses.
“I know some people who had it that were asymptomatic and I had some friends who were very, very sick. I actually had a family member who passed during the end of filming from COVID.”
However, she feels like the women still took the pandemic very seriously while filming.
“All of the girls were very careful because we also had a crew that we had to be responsible for, so I appreciate all of the crew, everybody, the crew, the cast, for everybody to get serious. I feel like we did our best to just hangout with each other and try to stay in our little bubble,” Stephanie shares.
D’Andra Simmons contracted COVID-19
Long after filming wrapped and shortly ahead of the RHOD Season 5 premiere, D’Andra Simmons tested positive for COVID-19.
Her symptoms got so severe that she had to go to the ICU on December 28.
Her good friend and fellow cast member, Tiffany Moon, who has been stressing the urgency of the pandemic on the show, kept fans updated on the status of D’Andra’s condition.
D’Andra was released from the hospital on January 1.
Stephanie explains that while D’Andra still feels very weak, her condition certainly has improved.
The Real Housewives of Dallas airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.