Did Jessel Taank put Tribeca on the map?
The “Real Housewives of New York City” star certainly feels like she made the Lower Manhattan neighborhood popular, as she explains on Pvnew’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast.
“Hello, I made it relevant,” she says facetiously before invoking a “Mean Girls” quote to punctuate her claim.
“I made fetch happen with Tribeca!”
During the Aug. 13 episode of “RHONY” Season 14 — rebooted with an entirely new cast — Taank met up with frenemy Erin Lichy for coffee to discuss residual tension from a dramatic girls’ trip to the Hamptons.
But new beef emerged when Taank inadvertently dissed Tribeca, NYC’s trendy enclave that many celebrities — including Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Bethenny Frankel and Lichy, 36, herself — have called home.
“A couple of my friends are moving to Tribeca,” the British expat told Lichy. “This neighborhood is really up and coming.”
Lichy, a real estate agent, was confounded by Taank’s assessment.
“It’s there,” she asserted, prompting Taank to further question Tribeca’s pertinence.
“Is it there? I mean, I feel like it still needs the restaurants,” she said, adding, “I feel like there’s still a lot of potential.”
During her “Virtual Reali-Tea” chat, Taank admits that she had a little fun getting under Lichy’s skin.
“I knew in that moment how to piss Erin off. And I think that was the lightbulb that went off in my head because, like, ‘Ah, I’m basically insulting a realtor about where she lives and about where she thinks the hottest neighborhood in New York City is,’” she says.
“And it was a little bit of an a-ha moment, [me asking her], ‘Is it there?’”
Taank — who resides in Chelsea with her husband, Pavit Randhawa, and their 2-year-old twin sons, Kai and Rio — now understands that Tribeca has a highly sought-after zip code.
“I do get the cache,” she says.
However, the fashion publicist is still puzzled by the attraction.
“I grew up in England, I lived in LA, I lived in New York, I spent some time in Asia,” she notes. “And so when I walk around Tribeca, I’m like, ‘Why would people pay $50 million to live in a one-bedroom warehouse? I don’t get it.’”
Taank points out that she believes Tribeca has made improvements since she and Lichy filmed that infamous scene last year.
“It’s definitely become better, I would have to say. Like, the restaurant scene and all of that, the parks,” she observes.
“But for me, I didn’t get it. I really didn’t. I didn’t get it. I was just so confused.”
Taank’s filter-free analysis of Tribeca earned her a fervent fan base — “I’m blown away,” she says of the love and support she receives online — but she has become aware of the pride New Yorkers take in where they live.
“A comment like that was such a throwaway comment to me. And it’s funny how New Yorkers really take things personally,” she says, acknowledging netizens who’ve challenged her opinions about Tribeca.
“You really sort of see how proud they are of where they live and their zip codes, and it started a debate that we’re still talking about it now, like, almost 13 weeks after the fact.”
And it seems as though Taank’s remarks never left Lichy, who has since moved uptown.
“The Real Housewives of New York City” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
