Spy: Just how much is a Real Housewife worth?

Julia Sloane, Gilda Kirkpatrick, Michelle Blanchard, Ann Batley-Burton, Angela Stone, Louise Wallace. Photo / Norrie Montgomery

If you're out partying, having dinner at a swanky restaurant or in the city's designer stores in the coming months you might find yourself an extra in The Real Housewives of Auckland.

The show, detailed this week at the launch of new MediaWorks channel Bravo, will put a real spark in the social scene.

Spy's Norrie Montgomery has already been quizzed about the top parties to be seen at.

The women appearing in the first New Zealand series - author Julia Sloane of Parnell; actress Louise Wallace and Rascal's Agency owner Gilda Kirkpatrick both of Paritai Drive; champagne importer Ann Batley-Burton of Remuera; model Michelle Blanchard of Coatesville and fashionista Angela Stone of Newmarket - are all inviting the public into their homes and private lives when it hits our screens in August.

So why are they doing it? Well, it's not for the money. Each cast member will earn $15,000, paid in two instalments, for approximately 20 hours of filming.

That's not enough to hire a private jet, but might get the gals a helicopter ride somewhere. Rather than the money, sources close to the show tell Spy, it is about fame and is a good chance for these women to push their brands and causes.

Batley-Burton has already pushed her Champagne Jacquart several times before filming has even started.

Sloane and Blanchard both have daughters who have recently joined Clyne Models, so the telly will be helpful exposure for them.

So will their partners engage and enjoy being stars like their overseas counterparts?

At the launch on Tuesday, Wallace's husband Scott told Spy he was looking forward to it, Batley-Burton's hubby Richard Burton was a little grumpy, Blanchard's husband David was affable and Sloane's new husband Michael Lorimer is said to be up for it.

Kirkpatrick and Stone are listed as divorced on the press release, but had their good friends - richlister Annette Presley and publisher Vanessa Green respectively - along for support, and both are up for making cameos.

Visiting housewife from New York, Romana Singer, warned the newly baptised "Housewives" that social media can be harsh.

Yes, it can. But we agree with Wallace who said succinctly: "People will watch."

Spy certainly can't wait to see what unfolds. Already we hear that among the group, Wallace is, unsurprisingly, leading the pack.