She may be the OG of the O.C., but after this season of The Real Housewives of Orange County, Vicki Gunvalson may want to consider a permanent relocation.
With season 11 in our rear-view mirrors (save an explosive reunion special episode or three), Vicki yet again finds herself a social pariah with the women she considers usurpers of her territory, interlopers on her turf, invaders of her show. Though she spend the entire season trying to claw her way back into the lives of Tamra Judge, Shannon Beador, Heather Dubrow, and, to a lesser extent, Meghan King Edmonds following the long national nightmare known as Brooks Ayers, Bravo’s longest-lasting Housewife might be even more worse off than she started.
To put it plainly: Season 11 did not go well for Vicki.
After the Irish Airport Van Ride From Hell unearthed some of the truly heinous gossip Vicki was allegedly spreading about the husbands of the very woman she was so desperate to press the reset button with (thanks to her supposed friend and resident wounded animal, newbie Housewife Kelly Dodd), Vicki was once again on the defensive, heading into Tamra’s carbo-loading party hoping she’d be able to offer up one of her patented blanket apologies wherein she claims to take full responsibility for every bit of wrongdoing, but never seems capable of actually identifying any individual things she’s done wrong. This time, though, no dice.
Shannon wasn’t interested in the letter she had for her. “Oh, so you can write it, but you can’t look me in the eye and say anything?” she asked before likening being friends with her to being back in bed with the devil.
Heather seemed as though she wanted nothing to do with either Vicki nor Kelly moving forward, though much of her vitriol was saved for the new girl on the scene whose poisonous tongue and “speak now, apologize later once I’m done seeing red and realize what I’ve done” mentality seemed to really break the champs lover this season, leading to repeated instances where Heather dismissively called Kelly “trash” in a way that wasn’t very becoming, regardless of Kelly’s behavior.
Shannon admitted she’s all but ready to pull up stakes and hightail it back to St. Louis, lest any of this ugliness influence her unborn daughter. “I’ve seen a lot that I didn’t like this year and I feel these other women are really going too far,” she said. “If this is the kind of example my child has to look forward to in the O.C., I don’t know if I want to be around for that.”
And Tamra? Well, Tamra seems truly and finally done with her former BFF. After telling Vicki she doesn’t even exist in her world, Tamra gave in to Briana’s request for one final chat outside of Shannon’s house, where Vicki gave one last college try at an apology before she couldn’t help herself and doubled down on the serious allegations that David Beador beats his wife. “It’s really bad. I worry about Shannon,” she repeated.
“OK, you know what? That’s bulls–t. David doesn’t beat Shannon, and you’re a bitch,” Tamra shouted as she walked away and the titles on the screen revealed that the two haven’t spoken for six months.
This reunion is going to be intense. Bring. It. On.
The Real Housewives of Orange County‘s three-part reunion special airs over three consecutive Mondays, beginning Nov. 7, at 10 p.m. on Bravo.
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