‘Real Housewives of Rhode Island’ Star Alicia Carmody on How the Bravo Series Changed Her Life: “I Never Knew I Could Work This Hard”

Alicia Carmody’s life has done a full 180 since it was announced she joined The Real Housewives of Rhode Island cast not even a year ago.

Five months after the show debuted on Bravo, the Housewife is deep into filming on the highly anticipated second season, but she squeezed in some time to chat with The Hollywood Reporter about her new partnership with Ferrero celebrating Adultoween.

“I love Halloween. I love snacks. I love Ferrero. I love a Butterfinger. I love a Kinder Egg. So it kind of just like all worked out,” Alicia says when asked why she wanted to partner with the food company behind snacks such as Nutella, Kinder and Tic Tac.

Alicia adds of the partnership, “Halloween has always been one of my favorite times of year. It’s really about embracing that sense of play and not taking yourself too seriously. That’s exactly what Adultoween is about: Giving adults permission to be creative and have fun again, the way we did as kids. And honestly, snacking is such a huge part of that nostalgia for me — Ferrero has always been part of my Halloween memories, so partnering with them for this felt really natural.”

Ferrero’s Halloween collection includes Kinder Joy x Stranger Things Eggs, Kinder Bueno Halloween Lay Down Bags, Butterfinger Skulls, Keebler Spookie Fudge Stripes, Mother’s Eerie Critters and Kinder Joy Glow in the Dark Halloween Eggs.

When asked if partnering with brands is something she was looking forward to after becoming a Housewife, Alicia admits, “I actually really never thought I was going to even be a Housewife. I really didn’t know what to expect, to be honest.”

Bravo revealed in May that Rhode Island was pacing as the network’s second-biggest series across platforms, behind only The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, the longtime ratings winner of the franchise.

Alicia says that the cast “had no clue” their show would be so well received, and she believes viewers resonated with her story because she “was so honest about my life.” Among the topics she discussed on season one were her 10-year engagement to Billy Kitsilis and her desire to be more involved in their business, Pizza Mamma.

“I don’t know how to not be myself, and I think people could see that, you know,” she says when asked why fans resonated with her. “I shared my family, my aunts, building a business with my fiancé. I just think that I was so honest about my life.”

Being a Housewife is a full-time job, and Alicia says it’s been hard work. “It’s a full-time job, but I didn’t know that. I was like, I’m gonna film going out to dinner with my girlfriends, having a cocktail, a drama here and there, you know,” she says. “I never knew I could work this hard, and it keeps you young. It keeps you moving. You’re always pushing yourself to different limits.”

Alicia is partaking in Bravo Fan Fest Charleston this October, just ahead of Halloween. It will be her first fan event as a Housewife, and she’s preparing to “take up every moment that I can.”

As for details about season two of The Real Housewives of Rhode Island, she remains tight-lipped, but hints at a potential story to come. “It’s a lot of work, to wedding plan,” she says.

Would she ever let Bravo film her wedding? “You never know. I don’t even know what day it is right now, so you never know what [it will be] like when it actually happens. I mean, it’s been 10 years that we’ve been engaged.”

With the launch of her partnership with Ferrero, Alicia gave her Instagram followers a peek into how she celebrates Halloween, while announcing a giveaway that will see a winner receive Ferrero Halloween goodies. Of what she loves most about the holiday, the Housewife said, “I love that Halloween, you can be creative and you can be whatever. You can make yourself into whatever you want.”

“Adultoween started as an insight the Ferrero Group discovered and has grown into a cultural movement,” said Chad Stubbs, chief marketing officer of Ferrero North America. “We’re excited to see where this year’s trends land and how they’ll shape the way we engage and show up for our fans in bigger and better ways this Halloween and beyond.”