Kelly Bensimon Says New 'Real Housewives Of NYC' Season Is More Real Without Bethenny Frankel! Exclusive!

Could Bethenny’s absence actually improve ratings? Kelly thinks the change has wonders for the show!

Kelly Bensimon isn’t worried about Bravo pushing back the premiere date of The Real Housewives of New York City to March. In fact, she thinks fans are going to love this new season even more because the drama and relationships are more real… now that Bethenny Frankel has left the cast!

“There was the Bethenny character that flew in and out and made all this drama,” Kelly tells HollywoodLife.com exclusively. “It’s a totally different season [now] — totally different show.”

“People think that without Bethenny, ‘Is the show going to be able to last?,'” Kelly says. “It was so unauthentic for the past two seasons. The great thing about this season is that, because the relationships are now three to four years old, the actual situations are organic. They are deep and they hurt.”

Still, Kelly won’t admit she’s happy Bethenny is gone. “I would never say that I’m glad,” she says. “She was a cast mate on the show and they chose her. Now she’s gone and the show is taking a completely different direction, which is really exciting.”

And Kelly doesn’t think fans will be let down this season, despite critics suggesting it might be boring. She assures us there will be plenty of drama! “It’s drama that you have — drama that I have with my friends,” she explains. “It’s going to attract so many more viewers because it has depth. It’s not topical drama. I’m making memories [and] there are some very painful moments for me.”

Kelly’s Real Housewives co-star Ramona Singer completely agrees that fans shouldn’t worry about a lack of entertainment this season:

“This will be the best season ever and will be everything but boring,” Ramona assures us. “The viewers will be in such anticipation for it to be on and so will I. The trip to Morocco has it all — great events, tears and laughter!”