Russell Armstrong's Family: 'Bravo is at Fault and Someone Needs to Pay'

In the days following the suicide of Russell Armstrong, estranged husband of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" cast member Taylor Armstrong, the gossip, innuendo and blaming has hit a fever pitch, and Armstrong's family is making it clear that they want heads to roll at Bravo.

"Bravo is at fault and somebody needs to pay," Armstrong's stepbrother Wade Jackson told Radar Online.

As we reported this week, Bravo and "The Real Housewives" are not the only reality show to see a contestant commit suicide. There has been a stunning rash of reality TV suicides over the last couple of years, and it's starting to become an alarming trend not specific to any one network.

Nonetheless, the Armstrongs believe the blame falls squarely on Bravo.

"Russell's whole family was very close and they're considering suing Bravo... Russell's dad doesn't want to talk about what happened to him with a lot of people, but everyone in the family thinks that Bravo is to blame."

Armstrong's mother John Ann Hotchkiss had even harsher words for the network's executives in a CNN interview: "Better not air one frame of my son -- or else!"

She went on to say that Armstrong had expressed his angst about what the show was preparing to do to his reputation.

"Mom, they're just going to crucify me this seasos. I don't know what to do. I'll never survive it," he reportedly told Hotchkiss.

Bravo appears to be taking the warnings (or any case the very real possibility of a lawsuit from someone) very seriously.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, "the network will push the Sept. 5 premiere at least one week and possibly longer following the apparent suicide of Russell Armstrong, according to a source close to the show."