Where were you when Lisa Rinna left Real Housewives? I was in Budapest on a spa break intended to start the new year with a clean slate and empty mind. This stab at tranquility was interrupted on the third morning when I woke to a flurry of notifications from frenzied gays – had I heard the news? After eight years as a Real Housewife of Beverly Hills, agitator-in-chief Lisa had been let go. Attempting to elicit some kind of response from my sleepy boyfriend, I may have referred to this history-changing development as “our moon landing”.

For gay people, the Real Housewives franchise has become a uniting force. It binds disparate groups – from Canal Street twinks to Stockwell bears – with a shared interest and common parlance. It is football for gays; a fast track to intimacy between men with little else in common. “Are you up to date on (Real Housewives of) Potomac” has become our “did you see the match?”