It was said (by Heather Dubrow) that a lot happened during the filming of season 18 of The Real Housewives of Orange CountyIt may be that not everything will air.
“It’s a good season, it really is,” Judge Tamra promises to ET. “I think it’s a great cast. I think both of them (Emily Simpson It is Gina Kirschenheiter) really stood out, really stood out, especially this season.”
Gina introduced herself and got into trouble with a Season 17 newbie Jenn Pedrantiwho revealed in the premiere that she was evicted from the home that Gina, a newly licensed real estate agent, helped her secure by vouching for Jenn instead of the landlord doing a credit check. Gina found out about the eviction (in part) after Jenn posted “moving sucks” on Instagram, while the landlord engaged Gina in text conversations about months of unpaid rent. Tamra, who is also a licensed real estate agent, lives in the same gated community that Jenn was renting.
“I actually found out from my neighbor,” she shares. “My neighbor was like, ‘Did you know Jenn just got evicted?’ and I was like, ‘No! I didn’t know, oh my gosh…’ and I was like, this is so… I’m not going to reach out and say, ‘Hey, how’s your eviction going?’ Like, I’m going to let this slide, and then she started posting that she was moving out of the house. Now the thing is, it’s like she was only in that house for four months, so she moved from a house in our community to another rental, but she was only there for four months. So I was like, I don’t get it… It’s just really, it’s really confusing to me, renting a house that you clearly can’t afford.”
In episode 2, viewers watched as Gina confronted Jenn about the ordeal, criticizing her for tarnishing Gina’s professional reputation while continuing to spend money on things Gina considers frivolous, such as hair and makeup to film the show. Gina stormed out of the conversation when Jenn didn’t tell her what she wanted to hear, briefly breaking the fourth wall to tell production that she wasn’t going to waste her time talking to someone who didn’t want to have an honest conversation.
“It keeps getting ugly,” Tamra confirms. “That conversation, I get it. I get both sides, but I get where Gina’s coming from, because one thing, I look at Gina like, she was me 15 years ago. So Gina and I, we got divorced, we have kids, and we did what we had to do to take care of ourselves and our kids. I wasn’t getting child support. I wasn’t getting child support. Gina didn’t get child support for a long time, you know? I was selling clothes on eBay. I was living in two-bedroom apartments. I wasn’t trying to keep up with the Joneses, even though I was on a reality show. I was doing all the things to make myself better, to take care of my kids, and with Jenn, like Gina was saying, it’s been four years[since you separated from your husband]. You haven’t done anything! Do something. Support yourself.”
Jenn revealed that she only makes about $50 per class she teaches at the yoga studio she co-owns; all the rest of the money goes back into the business. It’s the start of a rollercoaster season for the star, who also got engaged to her longtime love Ryan Boyajian this year, shortly before news broke that he was somehow involved in a $16 million MLB gambling and theft scandal. He’s reportedly working with authorities in their ongoing investigation.
“I think Jenn has a history of hiding her head,” laments Tamra, a staunch critic of Ryan.
“Sometimes I don’t know if it’s an act, and that’s what Gina was saying, like, ‘I can’t do you,’ like, ‘You’re so confusing,'” she adds. “It’s not good, that’s for sure. It makes me worry for her. If I were her, I would definitely start a career, because, what’s your plan B?”
Ryan offered his home to Jenn and her kids following his eviction, but Tamra says the events of season 18 made her feel “worse” about the guy. The cameras are working again to capture the aftershocks of the headline-grabbing MLB scandal story.
Gina vs. Jenn isn’t the only rivalry of the season; Heather and the Season 18 newbie Katie Ginella also get in on this, with Heather dubbing the newbie “Noella 1.5”, an unsympathetic review referencing the 16th season’s only series, ‘Wife’ Noella Bergenerwith whom Heather had many problems, mainly over what she perceived as performative behavior.
“I’ve never actually worked with Noella, so I didn’t know what it was like to work with Noella,” Tamra notes. “I don’t know if Noella came in and was very, like, went after Heather right away. If that’s what she’s talking about, then yes, she’s correct. Katie came in, and you’ll see as this unfolds, that she has information about Heather that she very much wants to be known, and it’s not information that Heather would find funny, but another cast member encouraged her to release that information because she I found it funny.”
In a preview of the drama to come, Katie stands her ground as she labels Heather a “liar” after Heather asks her to retract the statement.
“Don’t call Heather a liar,” Tamra warns, teasing that what Katie brings up isn’t exactly new territory for the series, except this time Katie claims to have evidence to back up the topic being revealed.
“I got some criticism about a certain situation last season,” she reflects. “So there was a part of me that was like, Bring me the proof! Yes! Right? Just to validate what I said, but at the end of the day it’s not really a big deal. It’s something a lot of people on TV do.”
“It’s not a big deal, so it was like, ‘Oh, this is going to be interesting…’ and I was like, it’s not going to be good, because Katie was kind of passive-aggressive with Heather,” she adds. “It’s like, ‘I have this information about you, but hey, I’m going to have a hot dog stand at my party just for you…’ and it’s like, she just– clearly, she’s watched the show before.”
While she may have a “fanboy mentality,” Tamra gives Katie her seal of approval as a cast member.
“I think Katie is good,” she offers. “Your first season is always tough. Some people get it right away, some people are very outspoken and talkative, and some people aren’t. She tends to be quieter, but she speaks her mind. Her confessionals are great, so I’m curious to see how that goes. I’m watching her as a viewer, too!”
There’s plenty of Tamra’s personal history to watch, too. For the first time in nearly a decade, her daughter, Sophia, filmed the show. Before she turned 18, Sophia’s father, Tamra’s ex-husband Simon Barney, refused to sign the release that allowed her to make on-camera appearances.
“I was so scared, I was so nervous, because she’s my baby and she has such a kind heart,” Tamra says. “I left it up to her to decide, do you want to film it? And she was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll film it…'”
Sophia is an aspiring musician, and the show gives her a platform to showcase her talents. She sings and produces her own tracks.
“She’s such a nice girl, and she’s so down to earth,” Tamra gushes. “Everyone seemed to love her[at the premiere]so I just hope it stays that way, because I just don’t want anyone to go after her. That was my biggest concern.”
In Sophia’s first scene back, she and Tamra visited a local tattoo parlor to each get a tattoo. Tamra selected an angel number design, 111, which she says has special meaning to her because every time she sees it, she makes a wish for her oldest daughter, Sidney, to come home to her. Sidney is Sophia’s older sister, who has been critical of The Real Housewives since her parents’ divorce. She and Tamra have been estranged, and Sidney has repeatedly asked not to be mentioned on the show.
“To be honest, I don’t even want to talk about it,” Tamra says of mentioning it at the tattoo parlor, admitting she regrets doing so.
“Sometimes you get emotional in a scene,” she offers. “It opens up a can of worms, and it was my fault, but it’s my reality.”
Tamra is also looking forward to the cast’s trips to Big Bear, California (she and her husband, Eddie, have a second home there) and London.
“Heather and I in London, we had so much fun and were so silly,” she smiles. “We shared a big suite together and, my God! We were just– I can’t. I don’t want to give it away. It’s so good, it’s so much fun we had together.”
It’s a nice return to form for both men, who ended season 17 in awkward fashion.
“Heather and I, it’s funny, because (Shannon Beador) is telling Heather, ‘The reason I was tough on you last year and didn’t let you…’ whatever it is is because of Tamra. It’s actually the opposite,” she says. “When I first got back to this group, Shannon took me aside and told me all these things that Heather supposedly said about me, and then I was like, wait. What? Seriously? Oh my God. Like, I had no idea, and that’s why I was so withdrawn and hesitant about the whole thing with Heather. So it was actually the opposite. She was projecting.”
There’s also a dinner at some point where “some Season 17 Tamra” (aka alcohol-induced truth-bombing) is revealed.
“I was super nervous, super, super nervous to be around this person, and Katie was like, ‘Do you want a martini?’ And I don’t think I’ve ever had a martini in my life,” Tamra previews, confessing that she didn’t realize the drink was just an alcoholic beverage.
“I had three,” she confesses. “I don’t totally regret what I said, because what I said wasn’t a lie, but it’s probably something that I could have just, you know, just ignored and I didn’t.”
For more of Tamra’s thoughts on Season 18, especially those involving Shannon, check out the video and link below. The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Thursdays at 9pm ET/PT on Bravo. Episodes stream the next day on Peacock.
RELATED CONTENT: