Vicki Gunvalson Compares Real Housewives to a ‘Deal With the Devil’

Vicki Gunvalson is not holding back about her time on The Real Housewives of Orange County.

Gunvalson, an original cast member on the first-ever Housewives show, which premiered on Bravo in 2006, said she had no idea what she was signing up for at the time.

“I definitely feel like it’s a deal with the devil,” she said on the Tuesday, October 29, episode of Vice TV’s The Dark Side of Reality TV, per People.

Gunvalson, 62, recalled that she didn’t get paid for the show’s first season and made around $5,000 for season 2.

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“Not much money, I didn’t even have an attorney look over my contract. I had no idea what I was doing,” she said.

Eventually, the Coto Insurance founder earned a cool seven figures for her final season as a full-time Housewife during season 13.

“My final full-time season was significant. Seven figures. I never really thought I would make the number I was making,” Gunvalson said.

But her time on RHOC took a toll on her marriage to her ex-husband, Donn Gunvalson, the reality star said. Gunvalson filed for divorce in 2010 and it was finalized in 2014.

“People ask me if I regret doing the show and when I look at my relationships I’d say yes. With Donn, 100%, the show had an impact on our relationship,” she said. “Being on TV 100% had a role in our divorce because it puts a lot of pressure on a marriage. I think we would’ve survived if I wasn’t on the show. So that I regret.”

Gunvalson has previously opened up about how allowing cameras into her home impacted her marriage.

“I think that hindsight … I know for a fact that if I wasn’t on a reality show, I wouldn’t have been divorced,” she said during a January 2021 appearance on the “Behind the Velvet Rope” podcast.

During Tuesday’s episode of Dark Side of Reality TV, Gunvalson also described the “traumatic” way she learned her mother, Joanne Steinmetz, had died on camera while filming at costar Shannon Beador’s home.

“[My daughter] Briana had been calling, calling, calling, and they kept telling her, ‘Well, she’s filming right now, blah, blah, blah.’ She’s like, ‘I need to talk to my mom right now,’” Gunvalson said, referring to the show’s production team.

According to Gunvalson, production set up Beador’s wrapping paper room with “lights and cameramen” to capture her eventual phone call with Briana. Gunvalson was ultimately filmed bursting into tears and falling to the floor when she got the news.

“I was really upset that production knew for an hour, and they didn’t tell me,” Gunvalson alleged. “They were out of line, and I think they should have taken me aside and said, ‘Your mom has passed. Talk to your daughter off-camera.’ If I was a producer, that’s what I would’ve done.”

“Let me scream and cry on my own and be mad,” she continued. “It was very, very traumatic. I will never forgive Bravo for that.”

Despite her criticisms, Gunvalson has continued to make guest appearances on RHOC since her full-time exit after season 13, including during season 18, which is currently airing on Bravo.

Us Weekly has reached out to Bravo for comment.