Tamra Judge shades ‘side bitch’ Vicki Gunvalson over diminished ‘RHOC’ role: ‘She can’t even get a clementine’
Friends, soulmates and sisters no more.
In an exclusive interview with Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast, “Real Housewives of Orange County” star Tamra Judge savagely shades ex-BFF Vicki Gunvalson for her diminished role in Season 18 of the Bravo reality show.
“She’s a side bitch on the show. She can’t even get a clementine, let alone an orange,” Judge says, further joking that Gunvalson isn’t even able to get her hands on a “Cutie,” the well-known grocery store clementine brand.
“She can’t get a Cutie, a clementine or an orange.”
Judge, 56 — who has held an orange as a full-time “RHOC” cast member for a total of 14 seasons — feels another citrus fruit is more appropriate for Gunvalson, 62.
“I think we need to give her, like, a grapefruit,” says the TV personality, who made her Bravo debut in 2007’s Season 3. “She’s so sour.”
Gunvalson was part of the original “Orange County” cast when the series launched Bravo’s juggernaut franchise in 2006. She maintained a full-time spot on the series for 13 consecutive seasons before being demoted to a “friend of” the cast in Season 14.
The Coto Insurance CEO skipped out on Seasons 15 and 16 altogether, but has since made guest appearances on Season 17 and 18. In the current installment, she has so far appeared in several scenes as an ally to Shannon Beador — another former friend of Judge’s.
Judge — who was fired from “RHOC” after Season 14, but made a triumphant return in Season 17 — and Beador, 60, fell out for several reasons. Notably, the ladies’ conflict has been underlined by disagreements over the latter’s drinking habits following her September 2023 DUI arrest.
This contention ultimately caused Judge to drop out of the “Tres Amigas” live tour with both Beador and Gunvalson.
Although Judge’s dynamic with Beador devolved, the Vena CBD founder insists that she and Gunvalson did “not have a problem” throughout the discord — until Season 18 started airing this summer.
“We were cool filming all season long and then as soon as this season stopped, she has been nonstop trashing me,” she shares.
Judge says Gunvalson “crossed a line” this year when she reportedly encouraged an audience at one of her retooled live shows with Beador to chant, “F—k Tamra!”
“And I just thought, ‘I haven’t had any fights with you. I’ve been friends with you for a long time, even if you’re not happy with me because I’m not enabling Shannon? I’ve never done anything to you, Vicki, and that shows your true character,’” Judge says, recounting her internal dialogue over the situation.
“I just would never go that way.”
Judge notes that she was particularly upset when the self-proclaimed “OG of the OC” publicly demeaned her character, saying in a recent episode that she has a “black heart” and “vinegar” running through her bloodstream.
“To say that I have vinegar running through my veins and a black heart, I’m like, ‘Sweetie, I’m not the one out there bashing you. You’re bashing me. So what I have done to you?’” she tells “Virtual Reali-Tea.”
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Judge says she is glad to have moved on from both her friendships with Gunvalson and Beador — who she claims have a hard time getting along behind the scenes.
“Part of the reason I didn’t want to do the show … they would fight the entire time,” she alleges. “And I would be the one they’d go to where Shannon would talk crap about Vicki and Vicki would talk crap about Shannon.”
Judge feels the duo’s relationship is “toxic” and that they are “using each other.” She, too, “felt used” as one third of the “Tres Amigas.”
“I just decided that this is not going to work for me,” the “Two Ts in a Pod” co-host says.
As for the future of Beador and Gunvalson’s friendship, Judge isn’t certain it will last.
“Shannon has fought with everybody on the show. Everybody, she’s gone after, she’s talked badly about,” she says, when asked if she thinks the “wheels might fall off” for the seemingly close pair.
“It wouldn’t shock me … It’s kind of the nature of the show. It happens with all of us, but [Beador is] no innocent bystander.”
“The Real Housewives of Orange County” airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
