The entire Bravosphere was shocked by Vicki Gunvalson‘s demotion to Friend of the Housewives for Season 14 of The Real Housewives of Orange County — former frenemy Gretchen Rossi included.
In a new interview, the former RHOC star opened up about her reaction to the OC of the OG getting her orange snatched.
“That was a huge surprise,” Gretchen told Us Weekly on Thursday (Sept. 26), though she clarified that she actually expected the demotion to have come several seasons earlier due to Vicki‘s still-murky involvement in ex-boyfriend Brooks Ayers‘ cancer scam back in Season 10.
“I was really surprised by that,” the new mom continued. “‘Cause I thought if they were going to do that with Vicki, they would have done that a few years back when the audience and everyone was so mad about what went down with the whole cancer thing. So the fact that they decided this year was kind of a shocker to me.”
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Gretchen also posited that money could’ve been a major factor in the decision to demote the last remaining original Housewife.
“But you know, listen,” she said, “all these women are getting up really high in their paychecks at this point. And if they’re not as interesting to the fans, or if they’re not bringing it or if they’re not delivering content, something that’s interesting to the fans, I get that sometimes it’s time to hang up the hat. You know what I mean?”
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While a contract negotiation is definitely a possible explanation, the accusation that the OG of the OC isn’t “delivering content…that’s interesting to the fans” is positively rich coming from a woman who was fired for orchestrating an over-the-top proposal to still-fiancé Slade Smiley during Season 8 when she really had nothing to bring to the table besides organizing shipments of plastic Gretchen Christine Beauté luggage.
In fact, fans may recall that during the Season 8 Uncensored special a few years ago, executive producer Douglas Ross admitted that “the problem with Gretchen for Season 8 was, as the season went on, it was difficult to find stories to tell for her. Watching her purses get delivered does not make for good television.” Even Andy Cohen himself chimed in, claiming that “it just seemed like the proposal was all tied into the show.”
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When it comes to delivering something interesting to fans, Gretchen may want to take several seats. Let Vicki keep driving the fun bus into RHOC‘s future, orange in hand or not.
TELL US – WHAT DO YOU THINK OF GRETCHEN’S COMMENTS ABOUT VICKI? SHOULD VICKI HAVE BEEN DEMOTED FOR SEASON 14?
[Photo Credit: David Livingston/Getty Images]
