Ellsworth's ready for ‘Real Housewife’ duty

The ladies of “The Real Housewives of New York City” should watch their backs — or at least their jobs. Sources tell us philanthropist Barbara Ellsworth is waiting in the wings for a spot on the popular Bravo reality show.

An insider close to the women says Ellsworth, who is married to oil magnate Lloyd Robinson, is gunning for a permanent role on the reality franchise. A close friend of current cast member Sonja Morgan, Ellsworth already filmed at least one scene with Morgan last December, when the reality star hosted a spontaneous engagement fete for Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell .

Bravo has yet to announce a date to start the fifth season of “Real Housewives of New York City,” but fans of the show are already getting a whiff of the drama between old and new cast members.

As we first reported in September, Carole Radziwill, Aviva Drescher and Heather Thomson joined the cast after the network gave Jill Zarin, Kelly Bensimon, Alex McCord and Cindy Barshop the boot.

But according to reports, the veterans have not been happy with how slowly the new ladies are filming their scenes, and held something of a production strike during New York Fashion Week in February. A Bravo insider told the Huffington Post on March 5 that the women “might call it a strike, but the network sees it more as a little disagreement.”

Little disagreements could mean a big payoff for Ellsworth if Bravo gives any of the disgruntled women the boot before recasting for season six. A second source says this is what Ellsworth is banking on.

According to the insider, the sophisticated socialite has been overheard on two occasions telling people she’s already a “Real Housewife,” despite only filming brief scenes so far.

Ellsworth, who lives in a mansion in Larchmont in Westchester County, is making sure she fits the image. The initial source tells us that while the mother of two is now staying in an apartment in the Trump World Tower near the United Nations while in the city, she’s also shopping for a multimillion-dollar apartment in Manhattan. “Money is not an issue,” the source tells us.

According to the initial insider, Bravo tossed around Ellsworth’s name for previous seasons of the show, but didn’t select her. The second source says Ellsworth tells pals she passed initially because her sons were too young at the time.

A spokeswoman for Bravo says the network hasn’t made any official announcements about season five yet, “so we definitely haven’t made any announcements about any future seasons.”

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