The reunion trailer for Real Housewives of Orange County is out and after an explosive finale, Shannon isn’t quite sure she’ll return. We also learned that John Barlow can’t parallel park to save his life. Variety reported that Ariana Madix has landed a guest starring role on the third season of Will Trent. And for the first time in a long time, a lot of people agree with Bethenny Frankel on her thoughts about Teresa Giudice.
Real Housewives of Orange County sees fiery season finale
The 18th season of the original Real Housewives franchise ended with a bang. We know what it means when production picks up in a show’s off-season, which is that there is something big happening. We saw this happen when Scandoval broke, and we saw it last night in Orange County just three weeks after production wrapped, all because news of Jennifer’s fiancé Ryan being connected to an alleged gambling ring.
Naturally, Tamra was thrilled to hear that her levying allegations of the FBI looking into Ryan rang at least somewhat true, singing to the ladies, who met for an impromptu sh-t talking session that she was ‘right’.
A tearful Jenn, who spoke with Ryan about the issue on-camera, could be seen telling him the news felt like ‘a lot’ for her.
“Everybody now wants to question me, and it's gonna be a bloodbath for me,” she said, looking ahead to the next season.
Production rolled the tape from the pair’s engagement party held just a few weeks ago, where Ryan’s friend, Matt Bowyer, the bookie Ryan has spoken about, could be heard telling Terry Dubrow that he “might” be jailed because he’s not a “rat”. Are we in the OC or New Jersey? Hm.
I’m glad I tuned into last night’s episode of Watch What Happens Live because we learned two things. The first is that Ryan has immunity in the case. Despite the havoc this wreaked, both Jen and Ryan already knew the news was going to break, they just weren’t sure when. The way the show was edited made it seem like it came out of left field. I’m not sure what he did to get immunity, but apparently, he’s protected.
The second thing we learned, though, is that Ryan is a sweet-talker, which is probably how he got the damn immunity. Watching him respond effortlessly to being in the hot seat, I completely understood how Jen ended up being the fiancé of a man who may or not have criminal connections to a Vegas gambling ring.
We know that in cases like this, the main question becomes whether she knew. We saw it happen with Teresa Giudice when her and Joe Giudice faced a 39-count indictment. We saw it with Jen Shah when rumours started swirling about conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering. Despite the dark cloud over Jen this finale, social media users almost unanimously agree that despite this, she is a star.
With the concerns over franchises like Real Housewives of New York being overly produced, starring housewives that refuse to be vulnerable deliberately keeping things off-camera, our appreciation for Jen is heightened. She’s been open about the fallout of her divorce, her jumping into a relationship with Ryan, not being able to pay her rent and her son choosing to live with her ex instead of her. Plus, who could forget her chewing Tamra a new one a few weeks ago? No notes.
Newbies make their mark on Real Housewives of Salt Lake City
Over in Utah, the newbies on Real Housewives of Salt Lake City are earning their keep. This week, in separate conversations with Heather, both Angie and Bronwyn hold her accountable and call into question her double standards.
At Britani’s “Mormon family night” (where no wine is allowed, not even as a gift, because “Mormons don’t drink”), Heather tells Angie and Britani that Bronwyn extended an invite over to her home – an eyebrow-raising gesture given the fact that the pair have been on shaky ground in recent weeks. Immediately, Angie encourages Heather to go, saying that she feels like Bronwyn really does want to be Heather’s friend. But Heather rejects this idea, suggesting that they’re all being “schmoozed” by Bronwyn instead.
Angie defends Bronwyn, describing her to be very “direct”, referring to Bronwyn calling Angie out on remarks she made about Lisa’s parenting. This is a very unusual response for a housewife and quite frankly, earns Angie so many points in my book. The fact that she was called out on something and rather than huffing and puffing and blowing a house down over being called out, she marks it as a green flag about someone’s character, instead.
This is part of the reason why Heather is losing so many fans this season, including Rihanna, perhaps, who was once a Heather stan and recently followed Bronwyn, which could mean nothing. Heather interprets everything to be messy and assumes everyone is being shady and a lot of this is her projecting, because she is messy and she is shady.
I was so proud of Angie for calling Heather out on sitting idly by while Lisa levied a serious verbal attack on her, for being dishonest about how she got the black eye a few seasons ago, and for standing by Jen Shah despite her criminal dealings.
“I’ve known Heather since I was 15, and she’s always wanted to sit at the cool kids table and she’ll do anything to be at that table, even if it means taking up for the wrong person,” Angie said in a confessional. That is a read.
When Heather goes to Bronwyn’s house, Bronwyn confronts her about relaying what she said about Whitney’s season premiere walk out being rehearsed, but she feels like Heather applied a totally different tone than how it was meant. In return, Bronwyn shared what Heather said, too:
“If Heather thinks she can tell everybody what I said with her stank on top of it, I can tell Angie exactly what was said.”
She apologizes to Heather, owning up to the fact that it was messy, even rewording her apology to Heather’s liking so that the pair can move forward, but urges Heather to also take accountability for her mess.
Over the next few minutes, we watch Heather bullsh-t her way out of apologizing for her wrongdoing, suggesting that Bronwyn is dishonest, threatening, and only inviting her over so that Heather can audition for a spot on Bronwyn’s upcoming trip, when she knows damn well that all Bronwyn is trying to do is clear the air with her so that the tension doesn’t carry over onto the trip. Rather than face the music, be a human and apologize, Heather – in true Heather fashion – walks out instead.
“I’m glad that you have so many new friends,” Heather said upon her exit.
And there it is, folks. That’s the real problem. Heather is pissed that Bronwyn is so well-liked, even by Mary M. Cosby herself, whom Heather has always struggled to gain approval from, and she’s taking her wrath out on Bronwyn by intentionally maintaining their feud. Heather is aiding the continuation of her own very rapid descent from grace and she’s too proud to accept any sort of lifeline thrown her way.
Southern Charm trailer drops
Is it just me or does Southern Charm not get the respect it deserves? For those who have watched all 10 seasons, you must admit we’ve been through a lot as viewers. We’ve been permanently traumatized by Thomas Ravenel, rocked by the shifts that the racial reckoning of 2020 brought to a problematic, privileged cast with familial ties to slave ownership, and it truly is the f-ck boy capital of Bravo.
This upcoming season’s trailer promises more of the drama we know and love and it’s no surprise that there is yet again more fraternization.
It looks like one of Craig’s exes, or ex-flings at least, will be on the show. And Taylor’s current boyfriend dated a new castmate named Salley, who you may recognize from Clayton Echard’s season of The Bachelorette. Salley also slept with Shep. And in a shocking turn of events, it looks like JT and Veneta are becoming a thing (what in the entire f-ck). And to top it all off, Shep is dating a girl who doesn’t seem to have any interest in him but every interest in being on the show, we stan a thirsty queen. The crossovers, the nuances, the inter-cast hookups – this is going to be a great season.
