Some say she was a Jill Zarin casualty. Others say Simon van Kempen was so disliked by the powers that be at Bravo that she was purged to get rid of him. Others say she was just a casualty of the new direction Bravo wanted to take with this franchise. Either way, Alex McCord will be missed.
From the beginning, the quirky, awkward couple didn’t fit in with this show. In some ways, they were a little too normal. In other ways, they were too desperate, too fame-seeking (especially him) Desperate is never pretty.
There were the awkward moments in Season 1, like Alex bringing Simon to the “girl’s evening”. We will never know if Alex didn’t know what a girls evening is, or if Simon insisted on attending. Or the fact they did not try to control their children at the finale dinner party. And of course there were the nude pictures Alex that would be used against them later.
Alex’s best season was Season 3. Simon still had his hotel manager’s job, we saw very little of him. Alex was able to become friends with Ramona Singer and Bethenny Frankel. Since Alex could never be the vicious bitch that most of the women were, she was somewhat under their protection. However, on the Season 3 reunion, Jill Zarin blew it up with one line “spread-eagle in the lobby of your husband’s hotel”, referring to those nude photos. Next thing we knew, Simon no longer had a job.
Some of the things the couple did between seasons that year stemmed from the fact that the emotions were so raw. But it came back to bite them, hard, during Season 4. That talk Bobby Zarin had with Simon, with Rob Shuter in the background, sealed the fate of this franchise. With everything that happened over the mean tweeting controversy, both sides were fired, Jill, Kelly and Alex.
from eonline:
Forget Real—Alex McCord and Simon Van Kempen are becoming desperate Housewives.
After being booted off The Real Housewives of New York City last week along with cast mates Jill Zarin, Kelly Bensimon and Cindy Barshop, the couple are fighting for their reality-TV lives, attempting to sway the powers that be to stay on the show and still collect a paycheck from Bravo.
So what’s their latest scheme?
As of last night, Alex and unofficial Housewife No. 6, Simon, were planning to head to Bravo HQ in New York today to meet with reality honcho Andy Cohen and producers to make a last-ditch bid to remain on the show in some capacity.
“Basically, they’ve been begging to stay on. Simon questions how he can ‘harness the swell of support’ behind them,” says a source to Bravo. “They’re not accepting that it’s done. They are meeting with Bravo this afternoon and Bravo doesn’t want them on the show, but Andy would like them to pop up occasionally, whether on Housewives or other programs on the network is what they’re saying.”
Alex and Simon vehemently denied this on twitter. Simon seems to think his klout score, which is about 77,(out of 100) quite high, means he has that much clout in the real world, when in reality it only measures how often he is on twitter and Facebook talking back and forth. It’s true he (noticed it’s all about him, not the actual cast member) has support, but it’s mostly people who dislike his nemesis Jill Zarin so much they talk about her 24/7. He’s the anti-Jill.
After the aforementioned meeting, they reached out to Good Morning America. In the prelude piece, it was mentioned that Simon was overexposed. His overexposure certainly didn’t help, no “Househusband” has been featured as often.
Alex and Simon have started a new business, Aluxe Home, specializing in Egyptian Cotton textiles. Why they think textiles will be profitable I have no idea. Of course, it did work out for Zarin Fabrics.
Forget it, Alex, you were too good for these bitches anyway.
Just Sayin’
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I think Bravo did the right thing getting rid of Simon. How long did they think that the viewing public could put up with this obviously gay man(which is fine by the way) trying to act like he was strait? Just because we watch reality TV, doesn’t make us stupid. And lets face it, Alex is not model material, much as she may want to be.
There’s nothing wrong with social climbing. This is what we see in all the RH series. Alex (and Simon) were an interesting, refreshing hipsteresque Brooklyn couple that provided a different perspective than the high-brow (but low-class) Manhattanites.
Let’s get to the heart of the matter – there was no way that Jill Zarin was going to be fired without some serious retaliation *if* Alex McCord wasn’t taken out with her. Zarin was after McCord from Season 1 because they are the anti-thesis of each other.
Remember Alex in Season 1? All she talked about was making connections with those of elite social status. That was the only goal of Silex. Then came the hunger for fame, not just status. That’s what turned them into the monsters they’ve become. Simon has no idea that he was never an integral part of the show. Personally, I started to feel embarrassed for them both. They lost sight of reality, believing they’re comparable to Brangelina, in terms of fame. They’re too egocentric to see what the majority of the public sees them as. They’re already on the fast track to “has-been” status.
Simon was a Night Manager at the hotel not a hotelier. The general public is unaware of the insignificance of this job. This man exploits his family to earn a living. He allows Alex to speak only so that he can speak. She allows him to use her like a ventriloquist’s dummy. She echoes his opunions, he dresses her, he advises her on RHONY and he is their pr. She must be made to realize that he is at the bottom of the firing. He is a vengeful chiuld and though I believe little of what Jill says, I think he was involved in mean tweeting her. He himself says that Bravo miscast them. THEM he is delusional..he thinks all of this is about HIM
Alex and Simon gave an excellent, insightful interview on GHA, earlier today. I don’t see any groveling.
Alex was my fav! Cannot believe that LuAnn, the working-class practical nurse from CT., is still on RHNY. If she hadn’t married a minor Count with money, she’d be living in obscurity working night shifts at the local nursing home.
Couldn’t agree less with this, but whatever. I think people just dislike Jill so much that they can’t be honest about what a grasping, desperate nerd Alex is. If they have any dignity left at all, they should just go quietly at this point. I wouldn’t put it past Silex to grovel until the last possible moment though. After all, pressing their noses against the glass and being famous was the pinnacle of their lives. Hopefully that “modeling” career Alex was attempting to launch will work out, cause it doesn’t look like Simon is doing much these days except Twittering.
LOL @ pressing their noses against the glass
That describes their appearance on all their RW seasons.
Alex is a good person. She is well mannered and refreshing. I do not find her jaded like the rest of hws, and nerdy-”ness” is a plus, not a minus . Yes. she is not dumb like the rest of them. She actually thinks before she speaks! People can learn to be more refined on the show and in this country.
I really hope that it’s untrue that they are begging for their Bravo jobs. If it is true, then their financial situation must be dire.
I too question how wise it is to start a textile line in this economy. Think about how often you buy bedding and towels. They aren’t something you buy all the time. You pick your colors for the bathroom, buy the towels and don’t buy more until they need to be replaced or you redecorate. How often do most people redecorate their bathroom? Nice towels and sheets are in your linen closet for a couple of years at least.
Jill was nasty to say what she said about Alex’s nudies. However, Jill isn’t the one that had nudies taken. She isn’t the one that released them. Silex claims that they had nothing to do with the release. I don’t know if that’s true or not. I thought the photos looked like they could have been taken in Simon’s hotel. Also, Silex denied that there was a spread eagle photo but I saw it.
Simon claimed that he left the hotel and wasn’t fired. If that is true, they were very dumb to leave a steady paycheck for more screen time on a Bravo show about women, not Simon!
You are right, they never fit in. It was uncomfortable watching desperadoes. Alex not being able to argue with the HWs without sputtering and hyperventilating did not help their situation. She appears inarticulate which doesn’t make good TV.
In real life, Alex is very articulate. It’s a shame it didn’t translate to television.
I believe that he took the pictures to sell. It blew up in his face. How else did they become commercialized.