Sometimes controversial figures make great TV; the annals of reality television demonstrate this fact for us, from the disgusting/charismatic Puck Rainey from The Real World: San Francisco in 1993 to the manipulative mastermind Richard Hatch, the winner of Survivor's first season in 2000.
And sometimes they are Faye Resnick. While there was a lot of division in the recently ended third season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Resnick's presence as a "friend of the Housewives" — the franchise's terminology for recurring cast — actually succeeded in uniting the audience: in really disliking her. Whomever she was aggressively defending was probably wrong (Adrienne Maloof, Kyle Richards), and whomever she was fighting with (mostly Brandi Glanville, but also Lisa Vanderpump and Yolanda Foster) was likely right. It didn't vary, and it wasn't particularly fun.
So no, people of Real Housewives: The recent RadarOnline report that Faye Resnick has turned down "an offer to become a full-time The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member" was not correct. Because there was no offer. (Resnick did not respond to an email request for an interview.)
"It's matter of fan appeal — people don't respond to her," said a source close to the show. And therefore, according to this person, "She's not going to be a 'friend,' and for sure she's not going to be a cast member."
Things did not, however, get as ugly between the show and Resnick as they did with Adrienne Maloof, said the source; Bravo felt so burned by Maloof not showing up to the reunion tapings that host/executive Andy Cohen announced her firing on the air.
Oh, and Marisa Zanuck — another recurring third-season player — won't be back either. "The friends come and go," said the show source. Brandi Glanville becoming a regular after she was a recurring cast member in the second season was "a rare case."
Season 4 of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills has not officially begun shooting, though the source said that production has been filming Lisa Vanderpump behind the scenes on Dancing with the Stars in order to not miss any developments there.