#RHOC: An Assessment of the ‘Wives

It all started with one show, The Real Housewives of Orange County. It premiered in March, 2006 and it quickly became a success. What was supposed to be a reality show documenting the lives of 5 affluent women living in a gated community in Orange County, quickly became a hit that spawned several franchises. Nine seasons later, and the show is still a success. In this blog I’ll be doing my assessment of the housewives, however, I’ll only be using the current housewives from season 9. If I do an assessment of all, that’s 16 housewives and that’s…not going to happen, ha. Plus, I only started watching from season seven. Maybe when I watch from the beginning I’ll give an assessment of all the rest.

Vicki Gunvalson (Season 1-present) Vicki is the OG of the OC. Since season 1 we’ve seen her marriage to Don Gunvalson deteriorate and began a complicated (that’s the understatement of the year) relationship with on again, off again boyfriend Brooks Ayers. We’ve also seen her daughter, Briana go to college and now is the mother of two baby boys to her husband, Ryan. For 3 years Briana was plagued with an illness that they couldn’t get diagnosed until season 7 when she had to undergo thyroid surgery to find out if she had cancer. Soon after she found out she was cancer free, she eloped with her love, Ryan. Briana has never approved of her mother’s relationship with Brooks, due to his duplicitous ways, leaving Vicki torn. I personally believe that she should find somebody else because she could do so much better. But, the heart wants what it wants. Out of all the housewives, Vicki is the one I’d rather be friends with the most because she loves to have fun and knows how to do it. Plus, she made a huge comeback after that tragedy that was plaguing her for all of season 8 (her hair).

Shannon Beador (Season 9-present) Shannon has been a lightning rod on the show, and it’s still only her first season! Her tagline of the season is “The OC has many secrets, but I have nothing to hide.” And she proved that to be true as she’s very open and honest in nature. She’s not afraid to lay it all out there, arguing with her husband (who is completely hot!) in front of her new friends and bitching at him for the world to see. Shannon’s also a complete contradiction and she owns it. She believes in the holistic approach when it comes to healing but she colors her hair with chemicals. Not to mention, she’s not afraid to call out Tamra Judge on her lies and 2-faced behavior and Heather Dubrow for talking down to everybody, including her. Despite her efforts, Heather couldn’t paint the picture of Shannon as “scary angry” as she wanted and at the season 9 reunion, Shannon finally put Heather in her place. Shannon won season 9 of RHOC.

Elizabeth “Lizzie” Rovsek (Season 9-present) This former beauty queen fell her way on the show at her friend Danielle’s ugly sweater party. She handled it with grace and poise and let the OC know that “I’m here!” The first time meeting Vicki was a complete disaster. Never one to shy away from confrontation or keep her opinions to herself, Lizzie quickly let Vicki know who she was dealing with, leaving Vicki speechless. She has a sweetness and charm that radiates beauty…not from the outside, but within. Of course, you can get on her bad side, just ask her husband, and Tamra. Her lies finally caught up with her and it affected Lizzie, albeit through a text, but, hey, at least she had a Tamra-free birthday. There’s the silver lining! Granted she was pissed because of a tiny lie from Tamra but, hey, it was her birthday and she could cry if she wanted to. On their trip to Bali, Lizzie was the first one to call out Tamra on all her lies, backing Tamra into a corner and sent her running to her room crying. Then at the reunion, Tamra basically ripped poor Lizzie to shreds. If you’re back for next season, Lizzie, a word of advice: watch your back and RUN! You already know that you’ll be Tamra’s next target.

Heather Dubrow (Season 7-present) Oh, boy. What can I say about this condescending, manipulative, hypocritical, pretentious, elitist snob of a housewife? Oh, I know. She’s married to a douche lord plastic surgeon named Terry. I’ll be honest, from the minute she came on the show, I never liked her. She was way too uptight and I could sense she was very condescending. I liked her husband more than I liked her, to be honest. This actress has a lot of opinions and isn’t afraid to let anyone know it. She’s also not afraid to let you know that she has plethora of vocabulary and it can sometimes make you feel like you’re talking to an encyclopedia and not a person. Heather and Terry are currently building a new mansion because one of the kids will have to share a room. Ugh, rich people problems. Usually, Terry doesn’t get into the mix of things but made it his personal mission to get involved to let David Beador, Shannon’s husband, know that he is a penis for what he said about his wife (even though Eddie said worse and they were both drunk and joking) and that basically he’s beneath him because he’s a construction worker. You’re right, Terry, you’re a better man for turning people into cats while David’s a loser for building homes for people. I think Heather and Terry are an amalgam of a douche and a prick. By the season 9 reunion, Heather finally learned her place. Thanks, Shannon!

Tamra Judge (Season 3-present) Dear God, where do I even begin with her? Tamra is basically the Brandi Glanville of the OC. She turns on a new housewife every season and tries to shift blame to justify her hideous behavior. If I ever saw Tamra in person, I’d probably crap myself. She always looks mean and miserable, even when she’s happy. Must be all the botox. But I still can’t tell when she’s happy, not because of her face, but when she talks, she always sounds angry. It’s scary! She’s the former bff of Vicki (her disdain for Brooks is what started the rift between them). One thing that’s always curious about Vicki and Tamra’s relationship though is whenever something happens to Vicki, it happens to Tamra. Briana was sick, so was Tamra’s son, Ryan. Briana had a baby, Ryan’s about to have a baby. Briana is married, Ryan’s about to get married. Vicki got divorced, Tamra got divorced. Out of all the OC housewives, I think Tamra is the worst, but in season 7, we learned a little bit about her suicidal past that humanized her a bit and warmed my heart a little… until she went right back to doing what she does best…fight and stir up shit.

Out of all the housewives franchises, these women are probably the most frustrating out of all because there is a lot of double standards, fakeness and terrible behavior. There’s a fine line between being dramatic and just plain mean and these women crossed that line a long time ago.

Thanks again for reading my blog! Let me know what you think in the comments section or feel free to tweet me your opinions (@SalvaCam21).