It’s very clear after the disastrous 15th season of Real Housewives of Orange County that the show is definitely not what it used to be. There’s no more whooping it up with Vicki Gunvalson or pot-stirring from Tamra Judge. Gone are the days of Fancy Pants Heather Dubrow being the voice of reason or never-ending jokes about Gretchen Rossi and Slade Smiley‘s over-produced relationship.
Season 15 was a dud. Kelly Dodd and Braunwyn Windham-Burke became more problematic than ever. And OGs of the OC Tamra and Vicki didn’t return at all. It made Shannon Beador the longest-running RHOC cast member, and the crown was definitely a bit too heavy for her to carry. Probably because she’s still going back and forth with David Beador years after their split.
Because the show is such a bore, it seems like old stars (read: Tamra) can’t help but throw shade in the press to one another since the cameras are no longer rolling. Gretchen recently entered the chat and spoke to Us Weekly all about her continued disdain for Tamra. “I have not had any communication with her — praise the Lord for that,” she said.
Gretchen continued, “Thankfully, we don’t really live in the same community, so I don’t have to run into her or anything like that.” She went on to claim she “doesn’t hold grudges” (while still talking about her years-long feud with Tammy Sue) and is in a “better place” since leaving the show. Yes, she and Slade finally had their first child together, but their finances don’t seem to be doing so hot after the Bravo checks stopped rolling in.
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Gretchen said she wasn’t surprised that Tamra was let go from RHOC, even though she added that Bravo tends to reward bad behavior. Hmmm, where have we heard that before? “I think that she would definitely do a lot of things for [the] camera and she was kind of the messenger of the production and Bravo on that show — if like, you know, they wanted something to be stirred up or whatever and she would go and do it.” Now she has a point — no one conjures up drama better than Tamra and her Bass Lake inquisitions. Gretchen added that the show started to become “really inauthentic” and the audience “started to get over” Tamra’s schtick of conjuring drama for the sake of good TV.
Gretch went on to say that after she “left,” she had the assumption that fans thought that she was the only one to have issues with Tamra. “But clearly, she had issues with, like, almost every single other person on that show, you know? And we saw this last season, I mean, for goodness sakes, her best friend Shannon and her [are] no longer friends,” she said.“So, after a while, you start to look at the common denominator and you start to go, ‘OK, well who’s the problem here?’ Because in most of those relationships, she was the one that always was causing the drama or the issue.” Tammy Sue did do a complete 180 in her friendship with Shannon after she realigned herself with Vicki. And the tres amigas really were always destined to fail.
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Now, we know Bravo and Andy Cohen are taking their sweet time to cast Season 16. And apparently, Gretchen (probably more like Slade) wants to be included. That’s definitely no a shocker, especially after her “surprise” appearance at Vicki’s party that she attended solely to spread gossip about Eddie Judge. “With Tamra gone, it makes it a lot easier to say yes,” she said. “Whenever she was on, I was like, ‘Hell to the no,’ but now that she’s gone, I just feel like it wouldn’t be as ugly as it was for me.”
Sounds like Gretchen is playing the victim game, totally ignoring her own instances of attacking her castmates or being generally careless. But I think the Gretchen ship has sailed unless Tamra is back on the show to push her buttons. Or if she spitefully befriends Shannon. Investigator Meghan King Edmonds has a better chance for a return, but that’s JUST MY OPINION.
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TELL US – DO YOU WISH GRETCHEN WOULD COME BACK TO RHOC? WHICH FORMER RHOC LADY WOULD YOU NEVER WANT TO RETURN TO THE SHOW?
[Photo Credit: Vivian Zink/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images]