Reality Recap: Finale and exit (maybe)

Dorit and PK Kemsley were spotted having a dinner date in Sherman Oaks leading to speculation that there could be a reconciliation. Kate Gosselin is responding to her son Collin’s viral TikTok in which he alleged that she pitted him and his siblings against each other. And the ever-irrelevant Melissa and Joe Gorga are expressing pride in their daughter Antonia on her 20th birthday. Cute, I guess.

Chaotic season of The Valley wraps up with explosive reunion

The third and final installation of the reunion of The Valley aired this week and it was just as explosive as Andy Cohen promised it would be. 

It was much of what we saw during the first two parts with Jax and Brittany as they continued to discuss their separation and his drug use. Andy seemed to be doing a bit of ass-kissing in my opinion, touting Jax’s accountability, which, after this long, we should know is not genuine accountability seeing as it never comes with true, long-lasting change.

The group moved on to discussing Janet’s choice to use the legal terminology for Danny’s actions against Jasmine and Melissa. When asked if she used that word specifically in an attempt to take an “undeserving” Danny down and “ruin his life” as Kristen suggested, she insisted that wasn’t her intention. Instead, she claimed, her goal was to hold him accountable, and that it wasn’t her fault for talking about his actions, but his fault for doing what he did.

As much as I despise Janet, she’s not wrong at all in that assertion. Her rationale is actually quite fair. She went on to explain to the cast that at the time she said it, she had the support of Jasmine, who expressed to Janet that she was “sick and tired” of the men on the show being able to get away with lewd acts and never be held to account.

But perhaps the most interesting issue to be raised of all came near the end of the episode when the discussion turned to Jesse’s new girlfriend, who during the season had levied legal threats against Michelle, demanding she not speak about her on the show. But according to recent comments from Jesse’s girlfriend, it didn’t unfold this way at all. Read more about that here. 

Andy asked Michelle what transpired between her and Jesse’s girlfriend the last time they had seen each other, a question that Michelle shied away from answering as per advice she received from her lawyer. But Andy was asking a question he already had the answer to.

“I heard there was a screaming match when cameras went down,” he said, as if to help fill in the blanks. But it was to no avail.

Brittany chimed in, explaining Michelle’s hesitance to talk about it, which set off Kristen, who demanded that they stop with all the legal stuff for season three and just film the show – which fans would truly appreciate.

Jesse explained that as soon as his girlfriend showed up, producers put a boom mic over their heads. Andy explained that producers were damn right to do that, saying it's their job, adding in that if his girlfriend showed up right then and there at the reunion, he’d do the same.

Andy and the rest of the cast pointed out the ridiculousness of her showing up to an all-cast event during filming and then threatening legal action, reminding Jesse again that it’s a reality show. 

With all of the legal threats and the cease and desists we’ve seen over time, it truly does impact the viewing experience of any given reality show – and the main reason for this is because that, precisely, is where the drama, the tension, the storyline, the plot truly lies. We want mess. Not legal parameters. 

Tamra Judge makes dramatic exit after things don’t go her way

Over on Real Housewives of Orange County, while tensions seem to be easing between Tamra and Shannon, tensions boiled over between Tamra and just about everyone else. It’s all thanks to a revelation from Tamra that she said she had been holding onto for about a month. 

According to Tamra, Katie had been going around saying Gretchen was telling people that Tamra roofied her. If you’re having problems wrapping your head around that, join the club. Now, we know Tamra is a sh-t stirrer, so viewers and cast members alike were aware that this story could be all the way made up. 

But for people who have been watching the show for as long as I have, you may recall the infamous “naked wasted” night. Nearly 20 years ago at a get together, in an attempt to dismantle Gretchen’s split personality of being a total drunkard in some settings and a prim and proper lady in others, Tamra and Vicki attempted to get her “naked wasted”. But she’s adamant that “naked wasted” had nothing to do with anything sexual, and that there were no actual drugs involved.

Tamra made this revelation to Gretchen and Shannon together, which was likely a strategic move on her part because she knows Shannon is pissed at Katie due to her ongoing issues over the recording of her blow up at a shoot last season. 

This is how Tamra operates. If I wasn’t so disgusted by her triangulation and manipulation I’d be impressed. It becomes clearer and clearer throughout the episode that Tamra has exacted this plot to get Gretchen back on her side by using Katie as a pawn, and throws this compliment in Gretchen’s face to butter her up:

“I see a different side to you now. You’re so cute and you’re so beautiful and you’re a mom now.”

But Gretchen clocks exactly what’s going on because she’s been dealing with Tamra’s tactics forever at this point.

“The thing that Tamra’s always been good at is making you feel like there’s hope for change, for moving forward and yes everything in my soul wants to believe that’s true because I want that for her and I. I absolutely do,” she said. 

At dinner, Tamra pulls Gretchen aside to ask if she wants her to bring it up to Katie at the table, but Gretchen said she spoke to Katie, asked if it was true, was told it wasn’t, and believes her friend, prompting Tamra to storm back to the table, outraged that Gretchen isn’t believing what Tamra is telling her. 

“Am I getting bamboozled over here by somebody telling me that this is what’s happened so I come at you and freak out at you and get pissed at you?” Gretchen said to Katie during their conversation. 

Then, during a confessional, Gretchen explained how her history with Tamra is the root of the difficulty she’s having believing her:

“When you have dealt with an individual that is willing to go to the greatest lengths to destroy people, to harm people, to hurt people, it’s just hard to believe that person over the person whose never showed me that in their life.”

When Tamra’s back at the table, Jen brings up the unflattering photo Tamra has been going around showing people to prove that she’s had work done to look just like her, but Tamra shuts it down, which isn’t well-received by people who think it's hypocritical for her to decide what the agenda is. And Gina, the host, is livid over Tamra’s drama, and points out that she is completely wasted, which sets Tamra off and pushes her to…quit the show?

Halfway through the episode, Tamra makes a vow to never be seen wasted again, and in a confessional, says she wants to have conversations with a sound mind. And by the end of the episode, it’s being questioned whether she’s taken a Xanax by more than one person at the table. We’ll see if she really meant her departure or not but if you ask me, it’s just another cry for attention.