It seems as though Judge will return for the show's 17th season.
Jill Zarin apparently spoiled some big news for Tamra Judge, letting it slip that Judge is -- finally! -- returning to The Real Housewives of Orange County.
In a since-deleted Instagram Story but captured by a Bravo fan account, Jill posted a short video Saturday morning saying, "And Tamra's coming back, and my friend Vicky's not happy." A few hours later, after the video made the rounds on social media, Tamra's verified Twitter account responded to the video the Bravo fan account posted and said, "Go f**k yourself @JillZarin! You thirsty b**ch!"
It wasn't long before Jill got wind of Tamra's furious response, and she took to Instagram again and posted a video responding to Tamra, saying she was puzzled by the attack. Jill essentially tried to backtrack her comments from earlier in the day, explaining that she was only repeating a headline she had read and that she has no "inside information."
"Thirsty about what?" Jill wondered. "I'm so happy for you. You wanted this and I'm happy for you. Why is there any ... anyway, we're gonna have to straighten this out."
Tamra exited RHOC in early 2020 after 12 seasons as a full-time cast member. The network offered her a limited role to return and, per Tamra, "finish out" her story, but she turned down the offer and sat out season 15.
Back in July 2021, fans went into a frenzy when Tamra shared a TikTok video to her social accounts, lip synching to a line from Nicki Minaj: "I took a couple, you know, I took some time off to rest and now it's game time, b***hes."
Fans connected the dots as though this was her way of hinting she was soon going to snatch back her orange, but that turned out not to be the case. But if it's true that Tamra's returning, it's welcome news for fans, who immensely missed her presence over the last two seasons.
And it seems Tamra straightening things out with Housewives executive producer Andy Cohen may have lent a huge helping hand.
Tamra had to assure him that her Two Ts In a Pod podcast -- which recaps all things in the Bravo universe -- is not a conflict of interest when it comes to being a Housewife. He voiced concerns on a June episode of Jeff Lewis' RadioAndy show.
"He was under the impression that I had this [gossipy] type of podcast, behind the scenes, and I’m like, 'No, we don't. We are literally supporting Bravo. We have some of the best guests on the show,'" she shares. "I was able to clear the air and, yeah, he didn't say on there, 'Tamra will not be back!' It was just, I mean the press went crazy with it and it is what it is. We'll see what happens."
During her own appearance on Jeff Lewis' show following Andy's interview, Tamra suggested Heather Dubrow got in the Watch What Happens Live host's ear about her and her podcast, seeing as Heather shared a similar sentiment on her own podcast, Heather Dubrow's World.
"At this point, how would you have someone back who just talks about the show all the time?" Heather asked when a guest brought up the idea of Tamra returning to RHOC. "Once you become someone who talks about shows, especially a show you were on, how can you then go back to that show? It doesn’t work."
But a las, it seems things have been straightened out. With Andy and Tamra, anyway.
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