What do you get when you take the remaining stars from The Real Housewives of New York, three yachts in St. Barth and a bunch of camera crews? Hopefully some hot bikini bods and a splash of drama!

Sonja Morgan, Ramona Singer, LuAnn de Lesseps, Carole Radziwill and Heather Thomson were seen living it up on a boat in Colombier Bay the other day, and from topless tanning to some serious girl time, it looks like there were good times ... and good footage!

Of course, Kelly Bensimon, Bethenny Frankel and Jill Zarin were not there, as they're no longer on the show...

Bravo

The remaining cast members of Bravo's The Real Housewives of New York will make more money from the show next season ... thanks to their cast mates getting the boot!

Because Jill Zarin, Kelly Bensimon, Cindy Barshop and Alex McCord were let go from the cast last month, veterans LuAnn de Lesseps, Sonja Morgan and Ramona Singer are seeing their salaries jump from $275,000 a season to $500,000 a season for Season Five, says The New York Post.

Things have changed since the early seasons, when the women were making just $7,500 per season.

The Post says that, because women like Zarin, who had been on the cast since Season One, are gone, Bravo has more money in its budget to increase the salaries of Lesseps, Morgan and Singer. The new cast members, as rookies, will only make about $5,000 an episode to start.

Now they really don't have an excuse to be bankrupt (Sonja!)

Bravo

Bravo confirmed over the weekend that Real Housewives of New York's Jill Zarin, Cindy Barshop, Alex McCord and Kelly Bensimon had been fired from the show.

Rumors had it that the network wanted the show to have more glitz and less bickering.

Now, The New York Daily News is reporting who will replace the four, joining LuAnn de Lesseps, Sonja Morgan and Ramona Singer.

According to the paper, author/news producer Carole Radziwill, fashion designer Heather Thomson and philanthropist Aviva Drescher are the newest housewives.

Radziwill, who used to work for ABC, will be the show's "single girl" with famous roots. She lost her husband to cancer in 1999; only a month earlier, her close friends, Carolyn-Bessette Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr., were killed in a plane crash. Her mother, Lee, is the younger sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Drescher has three children with her banker husband, making her the "Wall Street wife." Thomson's shapewear business has made her wealthy -- she's a married mom of two.

Bravo would not confirm the new cast, saying only, "We haven't made any announcements regarding new ladies at this time."

Bravo

Reports surfaced Thursday that (from left to right, above) Cindy Barshop, Kelly Bensimon and Jill Zarin, along with Alex McCord (below) -- four of the seven members of Bravo's The Real Housewives of New York cast -- were being fired from the show.

Now, the network has officially confirmed the rumors.

Zarin and McCord were original cast members. Bensimon joined in season two, Barshop in season four (the most recent season).

The network's statement:

"Ramona Singer, Sonja Morgan and LuAnn DeLesseps will be returning for season 5 of The Real Housewives of New York City. We've had a fabulous run with all the ladies and appreciate them sharing their lives with our viewers. It is a friendly departure among the other ladies and we continue to have on-going discussions with them."

McCord (right) started a Facebook campaign last week to keep herself on the show -- clearly, it didn't work. She Tweeted on Saturday, " ... a decision has been reached. @SimonvanKempen & I are leaving #RHONY, sadly but amicably."

Said Zarin: "When one door closes..another one opens."

According to our X17online.com poll, 23 percent of our readers said they would not watch the show without the departing cast members, while 36 percent said Bravo made the right decision because the show needs some fresh faces.

Bravo

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills isn't the only show in the Bravo franchise experiencing drama.

Reports hit the Internet Thursday that The Real Housewives of New York's cast is seeing major shake-ups.

The Huffington Post reports that original cast members Jill Zarin and Alex McCord were notified Thursday that they had been fired from the show. Kelly Bensimon, who joined the show in its second season, has also been let go.

In addition, Us Weekly reports that Cindy Barshop has been fired. She became a cast member in the 2010 season -- the show's fourth.

That leaves LuAnn de Lesseps, Ramona Singer and Sonja Morgan for Season 5.

Lesseps told New York Live on Wednesday that three new cast members were being added to the show.

Kelly Bensimon is 43 and looking fabulous!

The Real Housewives of NYC star is flaunting her ripped bikini bod on the cover of Shape Magazine.

As for how she keeps toned and tight, Bensimon says a healthy lifestyle helps. She tells the mag:

“My body is like a Ferrari. I know what it needs to run well — and that doesn’t include drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes.”

How bout' a test drive?

The Real Housewives of New York's Sonja Morgan might lose her $6 million home ... making her not much of a "housewife" at all.

Morgan's bankruptcy struggle has been detailed in the current season of Bravo's show. She filed in November of last year, citing $19.8 million in debt and $13.5 million in assets. Morgan, 47, is currently in a court battle with her ex, John Adams Morgan, 80, over a $3 million divorce settlement.

She now might be forced out of her $6 million New York City townhouse, reports E! News.

Morgan said on the show that she lost money after a movie investment deal went bad. Adams Morgan, the great grandson of financier J.P. Morgan, claims he was already forced to pay more than was listed in his prenuptial agreement.

A source tells E!:

" ... he's not giving her a cent more and she's now more than $7 million in the hole. She's in denial, it's only just started to hit her how much trouble she's in. She makes $275,000 a year on Housewives, which would be good for anyone else but it won't save her."

Sonja joins a growing list of "housewives" who have met financial struggle while on the show ... see who else after the jump.

The Real Housewives of New York's Countess LuAnn de Lesseps has debuted the video for her new single, "Chic C'est La Vie."

It's another example of the talking-but-not-quite-singing dance music that many of The Real Housewives have come to "master."

In the vid, fellow Housewives Jill Zarin and Kelly Bensimon are seen doing some dramatic walking and bathrobe dancing with de Lesseps. Popeater reports that de Lesseps asked the other Housewives to be a part of the vid, but they declined. She said:

"It was very disappointing that the other ladies wouldn't be part of it. The other girls didn't come, they didn't think it was appropriate. ... They said it was not the right image they wanted to portray and I was like 'excuse me, not the right image?' Who goes out without their panties, another rubs her husband's naked chest on the show, please."

De Lesseps released her first and only other single, "Money Can't Buy You Class," in May 2010. In case you forgot about that video, we've included it after the jump ... along with a recent performance from Real Housewives of D.C.'s Michaele Salahi of her song "Bump It" on a Miami TV station.