'My truth is stranger than fiction': Bethenny Frankel denies she staged being lost at sea for reality TV show

Bethenny Frankel has denied staging a drama on the high seas for her reality TV show. 

The 40-year-old Skinnygirl mogul claimed they were stranded on the ocean for twenty hours last month after the GPS on the boat broke.

She was travelling from Block Island to Nantucket, Massachusetts, with her husband Jason Hoppy. Frankel's therapist and a Bravo camera team were also on board. 

Stranded at sea? Bethenny Frankel, pictured here with husband Jason Hoppy, denies that she staged her recent ocean drama for her reality show
But Tim Russell, the man who 'rescued' the couple, were never in any real danger. He insists that the navigation system was working when he received the call.

He told the Jewish Journal that he was called to help when the Coast Guard refused due to the lack of danger. 

He added that when Frankel got to shore, she bent down to kiss the deck but not until the cameras began rolling.

Russell also said he never received the $2,800 tip that Frankel told Ellen DeGeneres she gave to him.

My truth is stranger than fiction: The reality star walks through NYC with her husband, Jason Hoppy, and daughter Bryn

But Frankel insists the misadventure wasn't set up in order to score ratings for her reality show.

'Fiction? For some reason the craziest things just happen to happen to me,' the former Real Housewives of New York star told E! Online's Marc Malkin.

'Not many people have an iguana poop in their suite on their honeymoon or their baby nurse attempt to baptize their child.

She continued: 'I wish that boat trip were fiction rather than the nightmare it actually was. My truth is stranger than fiction.'

At the time of the drama, she said: 'It was very scary. Absolutely traumatic.

'We were in the middle of the deep sea with no land or anybody near us. The captain had never, in 30 years, called the Coast Guard.'

She, Hoppy and nine other passengers were travelling to the idyllic Massachusetts island when the incident occurred.

True to form, Frankel is still irritated that she's been called a liar and has taken to her Twitter page to vent her rage.

'Let's review last week's idiocies,' she wrote today. '1)I have a"nice"coach 2)I'm getting divorced 3)I'm pregnant 4)I lied re:being lost at sea Anything else?'

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A bit of an animal: Mischa Barton poses topless with a lump of raw steak in a bizarre new Tyler Shields photo shoot

Lady Gaga famously wore a dress, hat and shoes made out of meat at last year's MTV Video Music Awards. 

So perhaps Mischa Barton was trying to follow in the superstar's footsteps when she agreed to take part in a rather bizarre photoshoot with celebrity photographer Tyler Shields. 

The 25-year-old actress struck a number of poses with a lump of steak in a new set of photographs.

Steak out: Mischa looks like she is about to take a bite out of a lump of raw steak in one photograph from celebrity photographer Tyler Shields

One shot featured her topless, sticking her tongue out towards the steak as it was proffered to her by an anonymous hand.

And in another, she is seen taking a bite out of the large lump of meat. 

The accompanying press release describes the star's appearance in the photos as 'naked, lipsticked, and icily coiffed like a Duran Duran-era object of desire.'

Taking a bite: A lipsticked Barton chomps on the raw steak in one shot from the photoshoot

With her hair scraped back into a ponytail, the star wears little makeup, making her bright cerise lipstick appear even more striking

For her part, Barton jokingly describes working with Tyler Shields on the shoot as 'terrible, horrible!'

She adds: 'First he covered me in milk, then he rolled me around in flour and made me slap my face with a steak! No, it was amazing!'

Give it the eyeball: Mischa holds a steak over her eye in one pose in a collaboration with Shields which she describes as 'amazing'

The animal trend: Lady Gaga arrived at last year's MTV Video Music Awards wearing a meat dress

One shot indeed shows the former O.C actress holding a slab of steak over one eye. 

Meanwhile, Shields explains that he got the idea about working with Barton through a mutual friend.

'I randomly met her friend and we talked about it. A few days later this happened,' he says.

'She was amazing to work with. I cant wait to do it again.'

Shields is famous for his work with celebrities including Lindsay Lohan, Glee star Dianna Agron, Alex Pettyfer and Hayden Panettiere who strike a number of provocative poses complete with knives, blood and guns.

The new pictures will be shown in London's Intimate Modern gallery this Wednesday.

Perhaps Barton will be hoping that the new photos will gain her some publicity for a career which has been on the wane since she left her starring role in TV series The O.C back in 2006. 

The actress does however, have a few movie projects in the pipeline. 

Her low budget horror flick The Sibling will be released in U.S. cinemas next week where she plays a high school guidance counsellor.  

She will also appear along with Martin Sheen in ensemble drama Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain, a drama about the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy - known as one of the world's worst industrial catastrophes. 

Tyler Shields will unveil a new exhibit in London this week with UK-based artist Maximilian Wiedemann, showing at Imitate Modern from October 13 to November 13.

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