Was Bethenny’s “Lost At Sea” Story A Hoax?!

Now see, this is what happens when producers don't do their jobs. People start blabbing the truth! Someone better find this guy's confidentiality contract and FAST!

Last month, we reported a horrifying story about former "Real Housewives of New York" star Bethenny Frankel, who was allegedly lost at sea for 21 hours after her boat ran into some technical problems and it's GPS stopped working. Bethenny was recently on Ellen DeGeneres' show to retell the dramatic story in her own words, but there is someone else who wants his side of the story heard. The man that "rescued" the reality star and her crew recalls the tale quite differently and is coming forward to share his drastically less traumatic version of the story.

According to Tim Russell, the owner of the boat tow company that came to Bethenny's rescue, he received a call from her therapist that day, who was also on board with them, asking for a tow. As they had already called the Coast Guard, who wouldn't come to their aid because they were in "no danger," he gave Tim their location's " exact coordinates, which he read off of the GPS system."

So, they had a working GPS. Okay, fine. What good is a GPS if your boat isn't working and you can't get back to shore. That's still pretty scary, right? Sure it is - except that wasn't the case for Bethenny and Co.! Tim reveals that when his crew arrived on the scene:

" ...the boat was fine. There were 9 people on the boat. Bethenny, Jason, the therapist, and a Bravo film crew of six. They did not need a tow, as the boat was fine."

In fact, they were so fine, they didn't even need a tow! They simply followed Tim and his wife back to shore with their fully-fucntional boat with an equally functional GPS.

Now, ready for the cherry on top? In her interview with Ellen, Bethenny claimed that she gave her brave rescuer a $2,800 tip for saving her, Jason and the crew. Tim says that never happened, but regaled about how Bethenny strangely kissed the dock when they got to shore - after her crew jumped out ahead of her to film it, of course!

A liar and a cheapskate? For shame!

Call the writers in, Bravo! It's time for some major damage control!!!

[Image via WENN.]