Andy Cohen opened up about Vicki Gunvalson and Tamra Judge’s surprising exits from ‘RHOC’, and revealed which one was offered a small arc to wrap up her storyline in Season 15.
During his live SiriusXM show on Jan. 28, Andy Cohen opened up about the recent cast changes on The Real Housewives of Orange County, confirming it was a “big weekend in the ‘Housewives’ world. It was very dramatic.” And that it was — in a shocking one-two punch, fans learned that both longtime cast members Vicki Gunvalson, 57, and Tamra Judge, 52, wouldn’t be returning for the show’s forthcoming 15th season. Vicki’s exit was sort of expected, as she was already demoted to “friend” status in Season 14, but nobody thought Tamra would be leaving, too. Heck, not even Tamra saw the news coming.
Andy’s Radio Andy co-host John Hill pointed out that after Tamra revealed she was leaving the show on Saturday, Jan. 25, she quickly unfollowed him, Shannon Beador, and Evolution (“the production company that produces” the show) on Instagram. Andy said he “didn’t know” that, but because Tamra seemed upset, John asked Andy if she was, in fact, “fired”. But Andy said that’s not exactly what happened.
He explained, “She told PEOPLE magazine that we had offered her three episodes to come back and kind of wrap out her story. That is true. And she didn’t want to do that. Listen, she’s been on the show for 12 years. We wanted to give her a sendoff. She has been an incredible housewife. She’s been dramatic, she’s beautiful, [and] she has been great. And we have been wanting to kind of shake it up a little bit for a few years. I am hoping, and this is not lip service, I’m hoping that she will come back in some form, either this season or in the next couple because I just think she’s someone who I am always interested in.”
As we previously revealed, Tamra announced her exit from the series on Saturday, Jan. 25. Alongside a photo of herself and husband Eddie Judge, 46, she wrote on Instagram, “It’s been a wild 12 years . But it’s time for me to move on. Im sad to go but I’m very excited about my future. Love ❤️ you guys”.
Tamra joined RHOC at the start of Season 3 in 2007. She remained a full-time housewife through Season 14, which wrapped on Dec. 26, 2019. Filming for Season 15 is expected to start in the near future.