The newly minted star of 'The Traitors' says she's dealing with deceit and backstabbing both on and off-camera.
It's the end of a (short-lived) era.
Roughly a year after reconciling with Shannon Beador on season 17 of The Real Housewives of Orange County following a years-long feud, Tamra Judge has once again cut her co-star out of her life, along with the third member of the "Tres Amigas," Vicki Gunvalson. It's largely played out on social media over the past week, as Tamra ramps up for the premiere of Peacock's The Traitors -- the first three episodes start streaming on Friday night -- and Vicki dubs her a "traitor" in real life.
"There's some things I don't want to talk about, because ... we go into production [on season 18] next week and, obviously, it's gonna be talked about," Tamra tells ET, sitting down to chat at a Scotland-themed activation in Los Angeles put on by Peacock to promote season 2 of the hit competition series, which films in the UK country.
"I backed out of the Tres Amigas for some reasons that you probably will hear about on Orange County Housewives," she teases. "You know, it's tough. It's so twisted, and there's so many layers to it, it's hard for me to explain everything -- but I didn't do anything to either one of them."
After finding their way back to friendship, Tamra, Vicki and Shannon went into business together, launching a series of live comedy shows themed around their trio. They only did a couple performances before Tamra says she started questioning whether this was the right move for her. Today, she's not speaking to either woman, save for social media sparring matches with Vicki.
"After we did the Phoenix show, the agent called me and said, 'Would you like to do another show?' and I said, 'You know what? I really, I can't right now. I have too much, too many things on my plate, I can't go on this tour with them," she recalls. "They had already known that, they know my schedule's super busy."
Tamra cites her podcasting schedule -- she currently hosts two shows with former The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Teddi Mellencamp, and is soon to launch a third with fellow Bravo-lebrity Kate Chastain -- as her main reason for backing out.
"I just didn't have a lot of time to go traveling, and I guess Vicki didn't like that and now she's calling me a traitor," Tamra adds.
Tamra's feelings about the live shows, which were themed as a sort-of party, became even more complicated after Shannon's September arrest for a DUI, which happened before the Phoenix performance.
"It's difficult," she says. "I think that people are gonna understand my concerns and, you know, as far as the Tres Amigas show, I felt like we should not have done it right after her DUI. I felt like she needed to concentrate on herself. ... Conversations were had between us about it, and how I felt... and I don't want to give too much away."
On top of that, Tamra says she caught wind of some backstabbing behavior from her so-called friends.
"There were some things they had said about me behind my back that got to me, and it didn't sit well with me," she says. "In 2024, I'm not going to be around toxic people that are, you know-- if you're my friend, be my friend. If I'm doing something or saying something you don't like, come to me and tell me. That's what Teddi does with me. We hold each other accountable."
Tamra points to a conversation she had with Teddi behind the scenes at BravoCon as an example of what she means.
"I told Teddi, 'You shouldn't have done that with the Vicki situation on Squash the Beef,'" Tamra shares, referencing the moment Andy Cohen brought Teddi and Vicki face to face on stage in Las Vegas to settle their differences. Vicki's made her disdain known for Teddi ever since Tamra teamed up with the former reality star for their podcast.
During the segment, Teddi told Vicki, "I originally thought that maybe you had issues between me and Tamra being such close friends, then I realized you were probably just triggered by someone who actually has cancer." Teddi, who's become an advocate for skin cancer awareness after own diagnosis, made the comment as a jab at Vicki's darkest RHOC chapter, during which she dated a man who the women believed faked cancer for attention.
"[I said], 'You weren't right,' and she's like, "Ok, you're right,' and those are the type of friends that I want," Tamra says. "I don't want friends that are stabbing me in the back, and talking behind my back. So, I wish them both all the success in the world, but until things change, you know, I don't need to be a part of it."
Shannon and Vicki are continuing with their tour, now as a duo with special guests, while Tamra is set to start doing live shows with Teddi to promote their podcast. When the announcement for Two Ts' first theater date hit socials, Tamra says Vicki freaked out.
"But let me just tell you, they knew I was doing that!" Tamra says. "I told them months ago that I was doing it. It's a one-time thing that was put on by [our podcast company] iHeart. So it wasn't to take [the Tres Amigas show's] place..."
Tamra says she's "so happy" Vicki and Shannon are continuing with their tour, and even offers her blessing to internet speculation they'll replace her with former RHOC star Kelly Dodd to form a new iteration of the "Tres Amigas."
"Good for them," she says. "I hope they sell a lot of tickets with that."
Kelly entered the conversation about the friendship fallout on her YouTube show, Rick and Kelly's Daily Smash, slamming Tamra's social media posts about the feud, including one comment comparing cutting Vicki and Shannon out of her life to taking " the biggest dump."
"You know what? This is Satan doing its work and that's who she is," Kelly said. "I mean, look at her eyes, they're dark black. You can't even see. Like, she's evil. Pure evil."
"Well, Satan was saying that," Tamra quips back. "So, Satan was telling you this."
"We are set up for a really good season," she half-jokes, offering some hope for the future.
"Listen, I never say never," Tamra says of potentially mending things. "I don't like the way I was talked to; I don't like the things, the text messages that were sent to me. I've been nothing but supportive."
There's also the Alexis Bellino factor. The rumored-to-return orange-holder -- who reentered the Bravo-verse with a surprise appearance at BravoCon -- is now dating Shannon's ex, John Janssen, a pairing reportedly upsetting to Shannon.
"I don't even know if Alexis is coming [back] on the show," Tamra confesses. "I mean, there’s so much stuff on the internet saying that she has a contract. I don’t know any of this."
"There's no girl code [violation]," Tamra adds in Alexis' defense. "They don't know each other. They didn’t work together. I mean, is it ironic or is it karma? The night that Shannon got her DUI, she was texting me that Alexis was in the bar at the restaurant she was at and ... she goes, 'What do I do if she goes after me?' And I said, 'Just be nice to her.'"
At the time of Shannon's arrest, she and John were still talking, but no longer officially dating. By November, she told ET she had ceased contact with him following the voluntary completion of a 28-day treatment program. Weeks after that, he was photographed with Alexis, sparking romance rumors between the two.
"It wasn’t a calculated move," Tamra says. "I actually was on my podcast and I said, 'Listen, they ran ... into each other. Why is the press jumping to the conclusion that their dating?' Like, just because someone takes a picture together doesn’t mean they're dating. And so, about a ... week went by and she called me and she goes, 'Thank you so much for sticking up for me, that's exactly what it is. We took a picture together...'"
Tamra says Shannon stopped talking to her after she publicly showed support for Alexis. Not long after, news broke that Alexis and John were officially dating. By Christmas, Alexis was posting about being in love with him, leading some to question whether she got with John to reclaim her spot on RHOC.
"And then a month later, we started seeing more pictures and [Alexis] called me and said, 'We're dating now...'" she says, "and I was floored. I had no idea."
The complicated social web Tamra finds herself in on Housewives seems like the sort of thing that would prepare her for the game of lies and deceit that is The Traitors, but Tamra says she went into the experience questioning if she could handle it.
"I was scared to go!" she admits. "I've never been away from my family for that long, and not to have a phone and have contact... my husband and my kids, that was, like, really hard for me, and I almost backed out because I was like, 'I don't know if I could do it, I don't know if I could do it.' And I think that, I psyched myself out so much that when I got there, the very first day we got into it and we got into the castle, I'm like, 'Holy moly, this is amazing!' And then, by day three, I ended up getting sick."
"I got severely sick, from head-to-toe chills, sore throat -- I lost my voice, I was actually out, like, four days," she continues, though notes she missed minimal filming.
Going into production, Tamra had no clue who else would be joining her in Scotland. Season 2 switches up the format from season 1, with an all-celebrity cast instead of half famous faces and half civilians. Tamra says the casting team led her to believe she was the only Housewife this time around, which turned out to be the first bit of trickery at play in the game. Fellow Housewives stars Phaedra Parks, Shereé Whitfiled and Larsa Pippen were all part of the ensemble, along with Bravo fan-favorite Mercedes 'MJ' Javid of Shahs of Sunset fame.
"So, going into it, I was a little bit scared," she says. "Now, I'm on the plane to Scotland -- which is a long flight -- and a friend of mine said, 'I’m hearing they're leaking who's out there, this is who it is... now listen, if there's Johnny Bananas, watch out for him. If there's Dan [Gheesling], don't trust him. He's good at this...' and all this information and I'm like, oh my god. I don't know who these people."
After meeting Dan, the winner of Big Brother 10, Tamra says her friend was right to warn her about him.
"That guy is vindictive," she says, going on to name-check Survivor champ Parvati Shallow, Big Brother legend Janelle Pierzina and Phaedra as the other players to watch out for as the season unfolds.
"Phaedra, I mean she really fooled us all," Tamra says. "She would never talk game strategy with anybody. She would pray for us, which everyone's like, 'Oh, Phaedra's so sweet! You're praying for us all the time...' I'm like, yeah, you're praying for us, but why aren't you talking game strategy? What is going on?"
Fans can tune in to see how Tamra fares on The Traitors when the show starts streaming on Peacock on Friday. The first three episodes of season 2 debut at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, with new episodes premiering on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.
The Traitors Experience, where ET sat down with Tamra, is now open to the public in Los Angeles. Upcoming game days include Friday, Jan. 18, Saturday, Jan. 20 and Sunday, Jan. 21. For play times and ticket info, click here.
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