Aviva joined the Real Housewives of New York City in season five alongside Carole Radziwill and Heather Thomson. The three women were brought on as part of a major plan to overhaul the cast and revamp the series after seeing it fall into a perpetual cycle in its fourth season. Bethenny Frankel introduced Aviva to production citing her prosthetic leg and previous marriage with Harry Dubin—who many other New York housewives have dated—as a casting director's dream.