In a statement to The New York Times on Thursday, Bravo said that Half Yard Productions, the producers for the series “The Real Housewives of D.C.,” was under the impression that Michaele and Tarek Salahi, two polo-playing devotees of Washington’s social swirl and on-line social networks alike, had been invited to the biggest and most exclusive soiree to take place in Washington this year.

“The cast of ‘The Real Housewives of D.C.’ has not been finalized,” Bravo said in the statement. “Michaele Salahi is under consideration as a cast member, as such Half Yard Productions were filming the Salahis on that day. Half Yard was only aware that per the Salahis they had been invited as guests.”

A White House official, informed of Bravo’s statement, said that was not the case. “We’ve already confirmed that they weren’t invited,” he said.

Better than balloon boy?

Michael Hirschorn, a former executive vice president for original programming at the reality-centric VH1 channel and a co-founder of Ish Entertainment…said that prospective reality stars are becoming smarter about “self-producing” themselves by pulling dramatic stunts. Photos from Here’s the CNN story:

“At this point, there must be what, a thousand reality personalities on TV at any one time? So they know they have to stand out,” he said.

The story was first reported yesterday by the WaPo’s Roxanne Roberts and Amy Artsinger. The Secret Service is looking into its security procedures after having established that the Tarek’s got past a checkpoint that “did not follow proper procedures.” Here’s the CNN story: