Roxanne 
Gretchen Rossi is shedding light on potential tension ahead of The Real Housewives of Orange County’s upcoming season. While the Bravosphere is still buzzing over “OG of the OC” Vicki Gunvalson’s return, Rossi revealed that drama may already be simmering behind the scenes.
“Even just, like, over the summer, Vicki was, like, texting me stuff and saying, like, oh, I’m just gonna keep me mouth shut [about] what she said,” Gretchen Rossi told Us Weekly on Saturday, November 15, while attending BravoCon 2025 in Las Vegas. “She was telling me some insane stuff,” Gretchen continued, claiming that Vicki was texting about her longtime friend and RHOC co-star Tamra Judge.
“Yeah, it’s gonna be, it’s gonna be interesting to see the dynamics,” Gretchen said, hinting that the upcoming season could bring some friction.
Vicki’s official return to reality TV was announced at this year’s three-day fan convention in Sin City on Friday, November 14, after Andy Cohen surprised her on stage with an orange during The Bravos awards.
“Vicki, would you join us as a housewife for season 20?” Cohen asked Vicki, who became visibly emotional on stage. (Vicki helped launch the reality TV show and appeared for 14 seasons before walking away from the cameras in January 2020.)
“When I went out there, Andy wanted me to give Kandi Burruss the Wifetime Achievement Award, and he gave me a week’s notice,” Vicki explained to Us on Saturday. “I prepared a speech, and I went up on stage, and it wasn’t on the prompter.”
She continued, “When he asked me about season 20, I was really somber going out there because I thought, ‘This is my last time on stage. This is my last time with BravoCon. They’re putting me out to pasture. I’m going to kick and scream the whole way out, but I’m going to do it.’ And then, when he asked me, it took a while for me to understand that this is my next life now for at least a year. I’m so grateful and thankful. I’m just going to be me and have fun and encourage women.”
While Gretchen seemed to allude to some possible bad blood still lingering between the pair, Tamra Judge told Us weekly that she is excited for the upcoming season despite being caught off guard by Vicki’s return.
“No, I did not know it was gonna go down,” Tamra told Us on Saturday. “I’ve been, you know, spending a little time with Vicki lately and talking with her. And I’m like, ‘Have you got any news? You know, normally we don’t get news about next season till about December or January. So she’s like, ‘No, I haven’t heard anything.’”
She continued, “So yeah, she was totally surprised. Totally surprised.”
