“The Real Housewives of Orange County” went back to basics in Season 17, with Tamra Judge’s scheming and Vicki Gunvalson’s fiending . . . for camera time.
Tamra, who made her Housewives debut in Season 3 and was on the show for 11 consecutive seasons, came back after a two-season hiatus with her familiar object-throwing, pot-stirring energy that made “RHOC” so entertaining in its golden years.
It was largely because of Tamra’s willingness to go toe to toe with any housewife that Season 17 breathed a new excitement into the Orange County franchise, revitalizing “RHOC” as a whole.
Vicki, commonly known as “the OG of the O.C.,” because of her 12-year reign on the franchise, and instrumental role in the expansion of The Real Housewives as a whole, also made her return to filming in a “friend of” role.
A “friend of” is a cast member who appears sporadically throughout the season, usually in an attempt to attain the full-time housewife position for the following year.
Anyone who has watched Bravo for a long time has to give Vicki her flowers. She was the first housewife to make a name for herself.
From complaining about family vans to surprising her son at college and subsequently doing a keg stand in front of his friends, Vicki has earned her title as the original “RHOC” icon, but her digs at newbie housewife Jenn Pedranti tainted her comeback for me.
The longest-standing Orange County Housewife Shannon Storms Beador was also a key player this season, having early beef with Tamra and later feuding with Heather Dubrow.
Heather left the show after Season 12, but started filming again last season and assumed the vacant “head bitch in charge” throne that “RHOC” so desperately needed.
Alongside now-established Orange County Housewives Emily Simpson and Gina Kirschenheiter, Heather masterfully led a Shannon take-down in Season 16.
Unfortunately for Heather, Tamra has seemingly taken back that orange-crested crown and placed it on her blonde hair, using her strategy and ability to rally the troops against certain housewives to make the show interesting again.
Tamra vs. Shannon
The main storyline for the beginning of Season 17 was Shannon and Tamra's feud.
The long-time besties fell out after a cast shakeup in 2020, leaving Tamra and Vicki, two-thirds of the “Tres Amigas” trio with Shannon, in the dust as they both confirmed their departure from the show.
This feud played out for the first few episodes and it was incredibly amusing.
I personally feel “RHOC” is at its best when Tamra and Shannon are at odds. Shannon’s unhinged neuroticism and Tamra’s innate ability to create drama and make great reality television has always set their feuds apart from other housewife spats.
Even after Shannon called Tamra “unhinged” and Tamra accused her of being an alcoholic, the two quickly forged their path to forgiveness via a FaceTime call in episode three, and made their full amends in the cast trip to Montana.
The feud between these “RHOC” veterans was entertaining, but relatively short lived. I would have thought a feud three years in the making would merit a more epic quarrel, but it was clear Tamra had bigger and fancier fish to fry.
Tamra vs. Jenn
Following her reconciliation with Shannon, Tamra quickly set her eyes on her friend and “RHOC” freshman Jenn Pedranti.
If Jenn’s rookie season told Bravo fans anything, it’s that she has all the makings of a quintessential housewife, and her deep-rooted history with Tamra made their feud all the more exciting.
In addition, her personal storyline is extremely Orange County coded.
Jenn, while married to biotech businessman William Pedranti, her husband of 18 years, had an alleged affair with her now boyfriend Ryan Boyajian, according to an article by Distractify, an online pop culture publication.
The catch? Jenn met both Tamra and Ryan at CUT Fitness, a now-closed gym ran by Tamra and her husband.
It was made apparent on the show that Ryan had a reputation around Orange County for being a player, something Tamra used against Jenn multiple times.
“You left for a player! You’re not the only person he f–ked at my gym,” Tamra said to Jenn in episode 15.
I will admit, her multiple diatribes against Jenn, one of which ended up with Jenn getting a Nobu napkin thrown in her face, were difficult to watch.
However, as a self-proclaimed Tamra apologist, I feel a big piece of information people fail to remember is that Jenn allegedly joined the “RHOC” cast behind Tamra’s back, according to a Reality Blurb article with screenshots of a July 6 Q&A she held on her Instagram story.
Tamra responded to a comment accusing her of bringing Jenn on the show writing, “I did not bring her (Jenn) on the show she tried out multiple years. We had very little contact two years prior to filming.”
Throughout the season, Tamra brought up different rumors she’d heard about Ryan, going so far as to bring in non-cast member Heather Amin who corroborated a story that she received a nude picture from Ryan.
Was it messy of Tamra to bring Heather Amin on camera to expose her friend’s new boyfriend? Yes. Was it entertaining? Also yes.
Jenn left her husband with whom she had five kids, and decided to join a reality television show her bone-collecting friend Tamra helped build. I hate to say she was asking to be eaten alive, but at some point Jenn needed to start playing chess rather than checkers.
Tamra steamrolled a soft-spoken, sensitive Jenn. Their season-long dispute was akin to watching a teenage boy feed his famished snake a live mouse.
Luckily for Jenn, she did bring an interesting storyline but she lacked confidence and refused to stand up to her blonde-haired, more socially-adept foe. Better luck next season Jenn!
Tamra, Emily and Shannon vs. Heather
In Tamra’s most successful feat of Season 17, she managed to spearhead something pretty unprecedented in “RHOC’s” history, a Heather Dubrow takedown.
Coined as “Fancy Pants” because of her extraordinary wealth and affinity for champagne, Heather had a rough season and it was sort of sad to see it unfold.
Ever since Tamra introduced Heather to the Orange County cast in Season 7, I immediately took a liking to her.
Can I relate to her? Absolutely not, she has private chefs and I have a microwave.
But even though Heather is inordinately rich, she somehow managed to make her lack of awareness endearing.
This season, the “RHOC” ladies didn’t find Heather quite as lovable.
A lot of Fancy Pants’ issues stemmed from rumors that she was saying disparaging things about Shannon’s relationship with her now ex-boyfriend John Janssen, who broke up with her shortly after cameras stopped rolling in Orange County.
Again, who took the liberty to bring this up on the show? Tamra.
For years, Tamra and Heather were a powerful duo and more or less ran “RHOC” throughout Heather’s time on the show.
Unlike when Tamra and Shannon fight, I hate when Tamra and Heather are pitted against each other. I love their friendship and their treacherous reign in the O.C. was iconic.
2023 “RHOC” was a different vibe for the former duo, as Tamra, alongside castmate Emily Simpson, took any opportunity they could to take jabs at Heather.
Emily now has five seasons as a full-time housewife under her belt and while I didn’t love that she came after my girl Heather, it was nice to see a shift in alliances. In Season 16, Emily and Heather were close friends who both verbally decimated Shannon for her shady behavior throughout the season.
This gang up on Heather that took place in the second half of Season 17 was textbook Tamra.
She mended fences with Shannon, who already had issues with Heather, and Emily was already starting to get tired of Heather’s condescending attitude and lack of introspection.
With this, the marionettes were strung and a Fancy Pants take down was set. All Tamra had to do was nurture her friendships with other castmates and watch the dominos fall.
On the “RHOC” cast trip to Mexico, Tamra instigated multiple arguments with Heather and other castmates including Shannon, Emily and even close friend Gina, telling the group that Heather called the four women “losers” at BravoCon in New York City.
BravoCon is an annual convention celebrating all shows and cast members on the network according to an E! article.
In Mexico, Heather reluctantly revealed to her already irritated castmates that she sold her Newport Beach home, lovingly referred to as “Chateau Dubrow” in favor of a Downtown Los Angeles penthouse.
Heather sold her home for $55 million, the third-highest sale in Orange County history, according to a People article.
Of course, this went over like a punch to a wasp's nest, and the cast immediately criticized her for not sharing the information sooner, as she kept the sale a secret from her castmates.
After the Heather takedown left Mexico, the season finale was primed to be a tough outing for Fancy Pants, but wisely she pulled her resident hater Emily aside and broke down where their friendship took a left turn.
The friends turned foes somewhat reconciled, much to Tamra’s dismay.
As soon as Tamra saw Heather, Emily and Gina together, she went off on Heather. This was the first time we’ve seen Tamra be on the losing side of an argument this season, as her profane language and finger-waving antics were no match for Heather’s calm demeanor and articulate verbal arsenal.
While the season was an overall success for Tamra, Heather, in my opinion, remained poised and handled what was clearly her season of reckoning well, and was the only housewife who was able to evade the Tamra attack that so many castmates have fallen victim to.
But, one thing Tamra might have underestimated was that she wasn’t dealing with fragile Shannon or reality television neophyte Jenn, this was Heather “I have fuck you money and don’t need this show” Dubrow.
Reunion
“RHOC” heavyweights Tamra and Heather have the two spots on either side of Andy Cohen on the reunion couch, usually signifying that these two had the most successful season and will likely be asked back to the franchise for Season 18.
Sneak peaks of the reunion have been released and it seems the conflict of the reunion follows the dynamics of the second half of the season, with Tamra, Emily and Shannon all berating Heather in the clips I’ve seen.
Bravo will air Part One of the Season 17 reunion on Oct. 4 at 8 p.m. PDT. Part Two will air Oct. 11 on Bravo, the time is yet to be announced.
