Those of us who watched Martha Stewart's aborted foray into Donald Trump's Apprentice realm will definitely remember Bethenny Frankel.

Three years ago, Bethenny Frankel was known as the show's runner up to actual winner...um, what was her name, again? Oh, right, Dawna Stone. (Oh, give me a break -- who would remember someone who would write a book called Winning Nice?) In the Television Without Pity forums, Frankel's gaunt eye sockets, Grinch-like smile, and nasty attitude earned her the nickname of "Corpse Bride." Where Dawna was nice and blond, Bethenny was evil and brown. Where Dawna founded a sporty magazine for women, Bethenny baked low fat, wheat free, egg free, dairy free, and refined sugar free products.

Safely squirreled away in one of Martha's many magazines, Dawna has receded into relative obscurity while Bethenny has taken back the bitchlight. Not only is she "starring" on The Real Housewives of New York as the, rather confusingly, only unmarried housewife, but she catalogs her television appearances and online cooking show on her very own, very pink YouTube channel, she has a food column in Health magazine, and she maybe continues to bake. Back in the pre-Bravo days, the Bethenny Bakes website actually resembled that of one trying to push natural baked goods. Now, it just looks like a vanity site.

Recently, the dressing room of the Wednesday taping of the Bravo A-List Awards beheld a scene straight out of The Women. Just replace Paulette Goddard's pearly whites with Bethenny Frankel's Jungle Red nails. Apparently, scripted jokes about miles lived from beach and the minuteness of New York apartments culminated in a fight that required Tamra Barney (of The Real Housewives Original Flavor) to use daubs of makeup to mask the scratches on her sun-soaked arm.

Even after drawing first blood, Bethenny threatened that the cat fight was far from over, promising, "Give me a can of hairspray and a match, and I'll take care of that in the dressing room later."

Oddly enough, that's also her recipe for crème brûlée.

Related posts

• Thai Curry and Talking to Strangers