Alicia Carmody did not expect The Real Housewives of Rhode Island to change her life the way it has.
Less than a year after Bravo announced the RHORI cast, Alicia is already filming Season 2, preparing for her first Bravo fan event and landing brand partnerships after the show became one of Bravo’s biggest new hits.
While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Alicia opened up about her new partnership with Ferrero for Adultoween, her unexpected Housewife journey and how hard she has been working since joining Bravo.
“I love Halloween. I love snacks. I love Ferrero. I love a Butterfinger. I love a Kinder Egg. So it kind of just like all worked out,” Alicia said of the partnership.
Carmody said Halloween has always been one of her favorite times of year because it brings out a playful side.
“Halloween has always been one of my favorite times of year. It’s really about embracing that sense of play and not taking yourself too seriously,” she explained.
She added that Ferrero’s Adultoween campaign is about giving adults permission to have fun again.
“That’s exactly what Adultoween is about: Giving adults permission to be creative and have fun again, the way we did as kids,” Carmody said. “And honestly, snacking is such a huge part of that nostalgia for me.”
While brand partnerships often come with the Real Housewives lifestyle, Alicia admitted she never expected any of this.
“I actually really never thought I was going to even be a Housewife,” Alicia said. “I really didn’t know what to expect, to be honest.”
RHORI ended up making a major splash for Bravo. In May, the network revealed that The Real Housewives of Rhode Island was pacing as Bravo’s second-biggest series across platforms, behind only The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
According to Alicia, the cast had no idea the show would connect with viewers the way it did.
Alicia believes fans related to her because she showed her real life, including her family, her aunts, her 10-year engagement to Billy Kitsilis and her desire to become more involved in their business, Pizza Mamma.
“I don’t know how to not be myself, and I think people could see that,” Alicia said. “I shared my family, my aunts, building a business with my fiancé. I just think that I was so honest about my life.”
But Alicia quickly learned that being a Housewife is not just dinner, cocktails and a little drama.
“It’s a full-time job, but I didn’t know that,” she admitted. “I was like, I’m gonna film going out to dinner with my girlfriends, having a cocktail, a drama here and there, you know.”
Instead, Alicia says the experience has pushed her harder than she expected.
“I never knew I could work this hard,” she said. “And it keeps you young. It keeps you moving. You’re always pushing yourself to different limits.”
Alicia is also preparing for Bravo Fan Fest Charleston in October, which will mark her first major fan event as a Housewife.
She said she plans to take in every moment.
As for Season 2 of RHORI, Alicia is staying mostly quiet, but she did tease that wedding planning could be part of what viewers see next.
“It’s a lot of work, to wedding plan,” Alicia said.
When asked whether she would ever allow Bravo to film her wedding, Alicia did not shut the door.
“You never know,” she said. “I don’t even know what day it is right now, so you never know what it will be like when it actually happens.”
She added, “I mean, it’s been 10 years that we’ve been engaged.”
Alicia may not have known what she was signing up for when she became a Housewife, but one season in, she is already balancing filming, business, brand deals, fan events and possibly wedding planning.