Tamra Judge didn’t hold back when she described how she learned she was being fired from RHOC. While Vicki Gunvalson recalled being stunned and in tears after getting a call about her own exit, Judge says she answered with a blunt, four-letter response. The moment has since been replayed as one of the most real ones in The Real Housewives of Orange County history.
Tamra Judge and Vicki Gunvalson talk about getting fired from RHOC
The two RHOC castmates recently collaborated for an episode of Vicki Gunvalson’s podcast, where she told listeners that she learned her contract would not be renewed after Season 14 in 2019. She said the call came while she was at an insurance conference in Las Vegas with then-fiancé Steve Lodge.
“It was horrible,” Gunvalson said on the My Friend, My Soulmate, My Podcast, and recalled standing on a balcony and crying. “I think I just got fired, but I think they have the wrong number,” she added, describing her shock.
Meanwhile, Tamra Judge, who was also fired before RHOC Season 15 in early 2020, described a very different reaction. She said she had expected a meeting about her future, only to get a call that producers “decided to go in another direction.” In her telling, Judge did not hide her anger. “And you know what I said? ‘Go f— yourself,’” she said.
Both RHOC alumnae have reflected on how sudden and painful the news felt at the time. However, Gunvalson, one of the franchise’s original stars, has since returned to RHOC as a full-time cast member. This move seemingly closes a long chapter and shifts the story back toward the series’ early roots.
Judge previously addressed her firing before Season 15 during a panel at BravoCon 2022. “I was like, ‘Oh s—.’ Like, really? This is happening?’” Judge stated. “I got to a state where, the first year, I was in a fetal position crying. I was very sad about not being on the scene, everybody filming, and all that stuff.” (via People)
Notably, Tamra Judge also returned to the show in Season 17. Moreover, her return has reignited one of the key rivalries of Bravo history: her feud with Gretchen Rossi.
