Anjali Rao compares the Real Housewives of Melbourne to a ‘sewer’

Former CNN newsreader Anjali Rao has opened up about her decision to walk away from the show.

Speaking to the Herald Sun, the 47-year-old likened the reality show to a ‘sewer’ and said she was quitting to preserve her reputation.

‘Other people are absolutely hell-bent on destroying my reputation and I’m afraid I can’t let that happen because it’s my only currency,’ she said.

‘People were hell-bent on destroying my reputation’: Former CNN newsreader Anjali Rao has opened up about her decision to walk away from the show

‘And I don’t care how much Dolce & Gabbana you put on a sewer rat, it’s still a sewer rat and I will not get into their sewer with them,’ she continued.

‘I’ve got to protect my professional reputation and that’s exactly where it was.’

Anjali shocked her Real Housewives of Melbourne co-stars on Sunday’s episode when she accused them of having ‘fake fights’ before refusing to film any more scenes with the group. 

Brutal: 'I don’t care how much Dolce & Gabbana you put on a sewer rat, it’s still a sewer rat and I will not get into their sewer with them,' she told the Herald Sun

Brutal: ‘I don’t care how much Dolce & Gabbana you put on a sewer rat, it’s still a sewer rat and I will not get into their sewer with them,’ she told the Herald Sun

And speaking to TV Blackbox this week, the esteemed anchorwoman also said that she’d experienced ‘horrendous’ trolling since the show aired.

When asked to share the ‘biggest surprise’ she’d learned about reality TV during filming, Anjali replied: ‘There’s very little that’s real.’

She continued: ‘I’m sure I’m not the first person to say it. But just everything is so manufactured and that was strange to me.’

Speaking out: Anjali (pictured) opened up about the 'manufactured' reality show and the trolling she's received this season in an interview earlier this week

Speaking out: Anjali (pictured) opened up about the ‘manufactured’ reality show and the trolling she’s received this season in an interview earlier this week 

The broadcaster then became emotional while describing some of the trolling she’s received since appearing on the show.

‘The trolling has been next level, just horrendous,’ she said. ‘I’ve never experienced anything like it.’

Earlier this week, after a fan on Instagram asked her why she bothered signing up for the show in the first place, Anjali replied: ‘Because I was told this season would be something completely different to what it actually was.’

'It's so manufactured': When asked to share the 'biggest surprise' she'd learned about reality TV during filming, Anjali replied: 'There's very little that's real'

‘It’s so manufactured’: When asked to share the ‘biggest surprise’ she’d learned about reality TV during filming, Anjali replied: ‘There’s very little that’s real’

She then added cryptically: ‘I trusted the person who sold it to me.’

Anjali chose not to film with the group any further on Sunday after co-star Gamble Breaux read a private text message she’d sent her complaining about the women and the show.

‘You all have fake fights and you have fake fun,’ Anjali wrote in the message.

‘It’s getting me down. I’m just dying for something that means anything genuine.’

'The trolling has been next level': The broadcaster became emotional while describing some of the trolling she's received since appearing on the show

‘The trolling has been next level’: The broadcaster became emotional while describing some of the trolling she’s received since appearing on the show

‘This is the most bored I’ve ever been in TV and that’s coming from somebody who spent 20 years discussing the Israelis and Palestinians,’ she added.

Later in the episode, Anjali was shown meeting up with her friend Kyla Kirkpatrick, seemingly to announce her departure from the show.

‘I’ve had 25 years in the top tiers of global media,’ she said, before adding: ‘Yeah, I find the experience of being in the group boring.’ 

She then took a swipe at her castmates’ intelligence in a scathing confessional.

Over it! 'I've had 25 years in the top tiers of global media,' she said on Sunday's episode, before adding: 'Yeah, I find the experience of being in the group boring'

Over it! ‘I’ve had 25 years in the top tiers of global media,’ she said on Sunday’s episode, before adding: ‘Yeah, I find the experience of being in the group boring’

‘I’m not exactly dealing with the biggest brains here. They’re not special, they’re just your average old, run of the mill, common or garden variety b****es,’ she said.

‘I have achieved more than most of them, and what most of them ever will.

‘Most of them are just these empty, vacuous airheads who don’t have anything in their lives except money from whoever they married.’

Anjali is best known for her work with CNN and SBS, but has also worked with Sky News and Channel 10’s The Project.

Vacuous: 'Most of them are just these empty, vacuous airheads who don't have anything in their lives except money from whoever they married,' Anjali said of her co-stars

Vacuous: ‘Most of them are just these empty, vacuous airheads who don’t have anything in their lives except money from whoever they married,’ Anjali said of her co-stars

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