Bethenny Frankel Is Turning Burning Man Into Her Non-Reality Show
Of all the eye-popping artwork dotting Black Rock City — the ad hoc Nevada desert home of the legendary Burning Man festival — as well as this year’s massive sandstorms, which caused a temporary gate closure, and the triumphant return of the festival’s Orgy Dome, there’s one story that has towered above all others coming out of the wild desert festival this year: reality TV star Bethenny Frankel’s unexpected and very expensive foray into Burnerland.
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The entrepreneur, philanthropist and former “golden era” castmember of The Real Housewives of New York — and since then, the deeply entertaining center of multiple reality shows from producers who recognize this woman is always the main character — has been posting her experience on the famed playa to her TikTok page. Possibly defying the festival’s rules around posting to sponsored personal pages, Frankel is documenting her brave walk among tens of thousands of Burners — a subculture that has apparently declined in numbers, as inflation crept in and the scene morphed into a “sausage fest of aging Millennials” and solipsistic influencers.
Frankel’s arrival at Burning Man comes, depending on your perspective, a few years after the event was unofficially “over,” culturally speaking, or amid a transition into a psychedelic playground for the ultra-wealthy — revelers who parachute in from the much-bemoaned worlds of tech or entertainment, or from new money, or from the dreaded influencer class. In Frankel’s case, it’s close to all of the above.
But then there’s no prerequisite to becoming a Burner; the invasion is felt on the playa because it’s there. It’s also notable in the data: a Black Rock census form 2025 shows Burners now averaging salaries of $100,000, a quadrupling of average incomes from a decade ago. And with that, the event’s $775 average entry fee starts to make more sense. Well, maybe not if you were there in 1990, when the suggested donation was $20, or in 2015, when entry was under $400.
It’s clear entertainment and highly recommended, but whether Frankel’s week at Burning Man will become an artifact of the social experiment happening at this exact moment is anyone’s guess — but maybe it’s a solid hunch. Regardless, it’s essential viewing for Housewives fans and it looks like many more — some of the funnier clips this week have tripled Frankel’s average viewer count.
Frankel’s fish-out-of-water moments — donning steampunk-style goggles while standing atop her rented RV amid the sandstorm that plagued the start of this year’s event was a viral hit — sit next to some blunt, unfiltered monologues that convey both her wide-eyed curiosity and her bougie-because-I-want-to-be sensibility. Frankel is nothing if not wise to her brand, and unflinchingly aware of how to deliver the goods to her audience.
“Fuck it, I’m doing what the fuck I want, and respecting the process,” she says in a clip covering her intentions going into a situation so primitive. “So I’m going, and what I don’t need, or love, is needy high people trying to own my experience. I’m gonna own my experience. And then I’m going to sell it to you.”
A kaleidoscope of those experiences has landed on Frankel’s TikTok. Here we have the one-time assistant to Jerry Bruckheimer — who parlayed a runner-up finish on Martha Stewart’s The Apprentice into a reported net worth of $80 million — afraid to leave the Burner Express and flee into the fray (“I’ve never wanted to stay on an airplane so badly. Never rushed to the door more slowly”). Soon she’s doing “turtle time” for 15 minutes in a neon vehicle shaped like the cold-blooded reptile, then strutting out of her RV in a metallic bikini top and skirt and, frequently, a cowboy hat.
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Missed something she filmed at the fest? No worries, she’s got a hot daily recap.
If this is a moment of existential crisis for the DIY festival where a city is erected then burned, that’s of no concern to our guide. Frankel has her reasons for spending four days at Burning Man, which she’ll share later — it seems to involve a new suitor with Burner tendencies. Though she teeters between disdain and what feels like a sincere sense of adventure,
No, Frankel will not be blasting off. This was never going to be a case of coming back to this place — unlike John, the nice fellow traveler she meets on the Burner Express, who’s on his 13th trip to the playa. Say what? For the Real Housewife of the playa, zero drugs will be consumed and nothing will be awakened — so if that’s what you came for, keep moving. Burning Man is, mostly, something people talk about, which makes it content, whatever the official rules may say.
Of course, Frankel — the most self-aware of the New York Housewives and alumnae — says as much herself as she’s about to walk into a world of slight discomfort for a marathon of content-gathering.
“I’m open to an experience based on some personal things that have happened in my life recently. And why not try something? If I hate it, I can leave,” she says, doling out another blunt truth.
“That’s one of the beautiful benefits of being successful. You can get medical care when you need it, and you can get out of someplace if you want to, and then she concludes: “I brought mostly things I don’t give a shit about. Bye, and you’re welcome, despite the fact that I’m not.”
