ANYWAY belatedly just adding my thoughts to this DISASTER of a season 5 casting.
For me, Lydia is by far the biggest loss. As problematic as she is, I just cannot help but STAN - and I'm sure I'm not alone with that opinion
I'm not sure a season of TOTALLY CHECKED OUT Gina would be all that fun to watch tbh, and it would probably stifle any dramatics that could possibly thrive with any new additions, but as season 3 proved, Lydia as a LOOSE CANNON with on-show allies only in the loosest sense of the word (

Pettifleur) made absolute reality TV
GOLD. The rumour is Lydia was swapped out for Jackie once Gina confirmed she wasn't going to proceed, which is just MADNESS to me from a reality TV point of view. Not to mention Janet vs Lydia is a complete POWDER KEG of a plot point that really needed exploding.
A brief timeline from cobbling together various online sources (nobody I actually KNOW!) of what I
think happened -
- After season 4 - the show fell into PRODUCTION HELL with the network focusing on other programming and the production company putting it on the back-burner trying to get Auckland and Sydney off the ground (

)
- Pre-pandemic season 5 was in talks, but the production company were struggling with how to make the season not be a repeat of season 4 with everybody coming for Gina again/Gina being foul to newbies.
- They FINALLY sort it out, and announce season 5 with the previous cast that included Gina & Lydia. A few scenes are shot (people saw them shooting in Melbourne) but production is totally shut down due to C-19.
- JANUARY this year, production resumes in small capacity - Lydia and Gina definitely shot a couple of scenes together at the start of the year.
- Gina speaks to press saying she is enjoying life without Housewives and isn't too bothered about returning to the spotlight.
- New cast is revealed without Gina and Lydia, and with a MYSTERIOUS return of Jackie.
- Gina doesn't give a fuck about the new cast, Lydia spends the whole day of the cast reveal liking comments/re-sharing fans saying 'Bring back Lydia" on social media
I'm guessing from what was shot already, Gina was just checked out and Lydia wasn't exactly RIVETING TV by proxy (not that Lydia really shines as Gina's henchwoman anyway), hence the decision to switch her out for Jackie. SAD!