Vicki Gunvalson and her 'RHOC' BFF Tamra Judge expose what's unfolded off-camera between the OG of the OC and 'RHONY's Dorinda Medley.
Rule No. 1 of Real Housewives: always be ready to provide the receipts!
Vicki Gunvalson did just that when ET sat down with the OG of the OC and her The Real Housewives of Orange County BFF, Tamra Judge, to discuss The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Ex-Wives Club, the franchise-mixing mash-up show the pair filmed last winter at The Real Housewives of New York City's Dorinda Medley's Massachusetts estate, Blue Stone Manor. Vicki and Dorinda got off on the wrong foot during filming, and they've stayed out of step since -- their bubbling feud boiling over in recent weeks as press ramped up for the series' return to Peacock. In an Instagram Live interview for Bravo, Vicki commented about Dorinda's mansion being in "the middle of nowhere" and "old," proclaiming she would be "friggin' miserable" if she lived there. That prompted Dorinda to fire back on her Radio Andy show, where she told her listeners, "You may not like my life, but I also don't date people that pretend to have cancer," a direct knock at Vicki's controversial relationship with Brooks Ayers, a man she ultimately said conned her.
"I also don't date men that then leave you for women that are half their age," Dorinda added, a second shot -- this time at Vicki's most recent romance with Steve Lodge, who called off their engagement ahead of Vicki filming RHUGT and has since remarried. "You wanna get mean? I'll get mean."
Dorinda doubled down on her stance toward Vicki in her own ET interview last week, sharing she'd received "thousands of texts" full of "not nice" messages from her RHUGT co-star. "Thousands?!" Vicki exclaims in response. "I've got the text messages -- probably, like, four. Four to six. ... One thing I don't like is liars!"
Then, after a little prodding from Tamra, Vicki pulls out her phone to share exactly what the messages say, handing her device to Tamra to read the exchanges out loud.
"She said 'knock it off,' but she also sent a screenshot of what Dorinda was saying," Tamra explains. "'Dorinda Medley is accusing Vicki Gunvalson of dating people that pretend to have cancer and she slams Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip co-star of lack of manners and says she has no taste.' So, Vicki says, 'You have no idea the torment and money I went through with Brooks. Shame on you.' But she didn't stop there. 'Leave me out of your bulls**t press, you have zero knowledge of who I am. I own four houses, my own business for 32 years and no one gifted me anything. Go away! Go away!' And she didn't stop there -- maybe not thousands, but we're still going."
"'You made everyone miserable at your home,'" Tamra continues reading. "'Also, you may want to re-listen to my interview. I never said anything bad about your home or you. I said, if you're happy that's all that matters. I also said, it's old. And in the middle of nowhere. And wouldn't work for me. Whether it's historic or not, it's still old!'"
"She's not done," Tamra adds. "'Get control of your temper,' Vicki says. 'You are a mean person and you didn't make it nice -- for many of us!' she said. 'Yep, I was gifted a beautiful manor. Lucky me.' That was Dorinda. 'You know what you said and the people have responded...' and, I mean, it goes on..."
"No, it's two more text messages and that's it," Vicki clarifies, taking her phone back. "She says, 'I'm at my daughter's graduation, we're celebrating her, going to...' whatever, whatever. So, she diverted. I never said it was bad. I never said it was distasteful."
Dorinda's made it known that she views her home as "historic" and took extra umbrage with Vicki's insinuation that the house was gifted to her when her husband, Richard Medley, died.
"To be going on about, in texts to me, that it was gifted to you or whatever? I just find the sentiment towards it very negative," Dorinda told ET. "It wasn't frankly gifted to me. My husband died and we owned the house together, so I don't know where else it would've gone unless he had some sort of mistress I didn't know about. You know what I mean?"
Vicki points out that the "gifted" comment was made in private, and Dorinda made it public. She also suggests she took it out of context, because Vicki says she never explicitly said Dorinda was gifted the home. Instead, she made remarks about never being gifted anything herself. When Tamra tries to show Vicki how that still reads poorly, Vicki shuts her down.
"Don't defend her!" she tells Tamra. "She was mean. She's mean. You know, it's a moot point. Somebody asked me on the interview, 'What'd you think of Dorinda's house?' As long as it works for her, as long as she's happy with that, then I just said, 'It's old and in the middle of nowhere,' and it is old. And it is in the middle of nowhere. How is that a lie?!"
"Why even make a fight about that?" she asks. "If I lived in an old house in the middle of nowhere and somebody said that I would be like, 'Yeah, I do! I live in an old house in the middle of nowhere!' Why is that a problem?!"
Vicki and Tamra spent about a week living with Dorinda in the Berkshires, alongside Real Housewives alumnae Phaedra Parks and Eva Marcille (The Real Housewives of Atlanta), Brandi Glanville and Taylor Armstrong (The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills) and Jill Zarin (The Real Housewives of New York City).
"Originally, I wasn't asked to be on the show," Tamra reveals. "I got asked at the very last minute and I still don't know why."
"'Cause I got COVID!" Vicki interjects. "They thought they were not going to be able to use me."
"Oh, probably. I mean, I don't blame them," Tamra continues her thought. "So, [Real Housewives executive producer Andy Cohen] called me, and he said, 'How would you like to be on the Ultimate Girls Trip?' And I had known that Vicki was going on it and there was rumors of the cast and all I thought at that time was, 'Thank God they didn't ask me because Brandi Glanville is on it, and I don't want to film with her..' 'cause she scares the bejesus out of me."
Tamra and Brandi have a long history of online feuding, dating back to at least 2015 when Tamra called "bulls**t" on Brandi claiming leaving RHOBH was her choice (in an ET interview no less). They've popped off on one another over the years via the comments section, but never sat down and hashed things out face to face. That finally took place while filming RHUGT.
As for the rest of the cast, Vicki and Tamra say they were excited to spend time with the women, many of whom they knew of but didn't know -- and Vicki goes so far as to say she still doesn't know who Eva is, even after spending the week together (though she likes her). The only disappointment in the bunch turned out to be Dorinda, at least for Vicki.
"I thought being in her home she would be much more gracious, and you agreed," Vicki rattles off, turning to Tamra for backup -- but Tamra doesn't bite.
"Don't be throwing me under the bus!" she tells Vicki. "Listen, [Dorinda] had a tough job. She had to remove herself from being in her environment. We're definitely in her house, but she is filming a show just like we are, so she has to accommodate everybody. It was tough. It would have been a tough job."
Vicki repeatedly calls Dorinda "mean" and suggests she only "engaged with the OG" on and off the show in order to gain attention ahead of RHUGT's premiere.
"She's not nice," she reiterates. "She made [Tamra] cry, she made me-- she made everybody cry! ... She made everybody in the place cry, but I think Eva. Phaedra cried. I mean, everybody cried. It was a nightmare."
Vicki says she has no plans to return to the Berkshires after her experience at Dorinda's house, but claims she'll remain cordial should they ever run in to each other -- which will likely happen on Tuesday night at the RHUGT premiere party in New York City.
"Those type of people don't enter the gates of my life because I don't trust her now," she shares. "I think she's mean. We filmed with her for a week, and it was awful."
The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Ex-Wives Club starts streaming June 23 on Peacock.
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