Tamra’s back! Did she earn her orange this season or just create confusion?
In this episode, we discuss Tamra Judge storylines from Real Housewives of Orange County Season 17:
- Tamra vs her orange
- Tamra vs Jen
Episode Transcript (generated by eddy.headliner.app)
Sharon: Do you want to try it again? Say this is Real Housewives on Real Housewives.
Caitlin: Uh, this is Real Housewives on Real Housewives.
Sharon: Hi, this is Caitlin, and this is Sharon.
Caitlin: And welcome to Real Housewives on Real Housewives, where we unravel housewives story threads and keep the tea flowing.
Sharon: So chic.
Caitlin: Hold on to your oranges.
Sharon: Today we’re digging into Tamara Judge from Real Housewives of Orange County. Season 17 It’s our first OC. Yay.
Caitlin: The verses this week are Tamara versus her orange, tamara versus Jen, and Tamara versus Shannon. Okay, so our background information on Tamra is that she joined the OC in season three, which is a long time ago now, and she was fired before season 15. So she’s back living in the iconic house that we know her from the earlier seasons, which I think is kind of cool. Um, she is married to Eddie Judge. She got divorced on the show originally from her first husband, Simon, and then she fell in love and married Eddie. And they opened Cut Fitness, which was a big part of her storyline back when it closed due to COVID. So that’s kind of part of the history this time. Um, what is our history with OC?
Sharon: Um, I watched one of the older seasons with Brooks or whatever. That was a fake cancer scare.
Caitlin: Yeah.
Sharon: Um, and then I watched, like I.
Caitlin: Watched last season, I think.
Sharon: I can’t remember which ones I’ve watched, but I have some weird intermittent.
Caitlin: You do. You’ve got, uh, hit and miss. OC was like, my first housewives. So I feel, like, very passionate about it, especially, I think, coming in new, it’ll be interesting to see how you feel about Tamara.
Sharon: So I like Tamara. I actually really like Tamara a lot before, which is why and I loved her on the Girls, which is why it was hard for me because this season I did not care for her so much. I agree. But I kept trying to apologize for her, and I was like, okay, she’s being kind of a jerk this season, but I still like her.
Caitlin: Yeah, this was the first season I wasn’t pulling for her airtime as much. Yeah, I did not want her on the show, but it’s like what she had to say wasn’t as relevant or important. Mhm, I don’t know. What do we think that Tamara brings to the show this season? Because she obviously had to come back. She had to bring appreciate we’ll talk about later. I appreciate that there’s a resolution with Shannon because I do love the friendship between Tamara and Vicki. So, like, the return of the Trace amigas with Shannon. That is fun. I like that we’ve wrapped up those, like, lucid.
Sharon: Yeah, I do like that she see I have really conflicted feelings about Shannon. M um sometimes I love her. Sometimes I hate her. And I’ve just gone back and forth with Shannon. And when I see Tamara, it makes me feel different ways about Shannon sometimes. It makes me like Shannon sometimes if.
Caitlin: You see it through. So? Yeah.
Sharon: I don’t know. That probably made no sense, but for some reason I find important, it helps me see Shannon in different ways. The fact that Tamara is there.
Caitlin: Yes, that makes sense. Because I did feel like Shannon on her own last season without Tamara was kind of like a like there was nothing that was, like, holding her in place to the story. Exactly. She didn’t have an orange.
Sharon: Tamara. And here’s the thing. I really love Eddie.
Caitlin: Yeah.
Sharon: And I think he’s so he’s one of my favorite mhm, and I don’t.
Caitlin: Know, he’s house husband history.
Sharon: Yeah.
Sharon: And I think he really loves Tamara. You could tell that they love each other, and I love her, and then I’m like, God, why do you have to be like that? Because then I feel like she makes him look bad when she’s and the.
Caitlin: Hard thing for me with Tamara this season, I think, is that so there’s the gen there’s. She’s stirring it up with Heather. Um, there’s like, that napkin toss where she angrily throws a napkin across the table. All of that felt, unfortunately, really forced. And Tamra’s never felt forced before. Like, she has a hot temper. She sticks her foot in her mouth, but there’s like, a natural stupidity, a natural anger that I’ve always really liked. And in this case, it’s just are you trying so hard to keep.
Sharon: I.
Caitlin: Can’T watch the bachelor and record this, but it’s like she’s trying so hard to keep her orange and not be put back on pause. That I just felt like she was just desperately trying to create drama instead of letting the drama come to her. And that drove me nuts.
Sharon: I’m wondering about that, too, because why was so much of that drama there? But she does say in the reunion doesn’t she say she realized she was a jerk or something? But she said, like, cut fitness posing was really hard.
Caitlin: Yeah. And her ex husband went through cancer treatments and stuff, and so I think that was hard for her because with her kids and everything.
Sharon: But I remember when she was, like, crying at the reunion, I actually kind of believed her.
Caitlin: Yeah. But I do feel like she explodes, but she doesn’t I’m not sure she’s malicious. She just gets hurt, and she immediately responds in anger.
Sharon: I think she doesn’t think things through. Sometimes she just gets caught up in her feelings and she’ll just run with it.
Caitlin: Yes.
Sharon: Like with Jen, it’s kind of like exactly.
Caitlin: And I think the big thing, too, of her comeback tour was that she just sort of treated it as her own personal therapy of getting over the fact that she’d been fired. It was like she had all these questions about being good enough, and do the women still like her? And will she be accepted back and she’s such a tough person that I think you wouldn’t think that that stuff bothered her, and I think it did more than she was willing to admit. And so I think she kind of took it out on the other housewives.
Sharon: Like Heather.
Caitlin: Maybe especially Heather.
Sharon: Like, she’s jealous that she was fired and Heather wasn’t.
Caitlin: I mean, I kind of think do you think, like, let’s say for the win, do you think that Heather I mean, Heather, do you think that Tamara deserves to keep her orange for next season? I do.
Sharon: I just think she’s a fundamental part of the show.
Caitlin: I think so too.
Sharon: I just have a hard time when people that are on there a long.
Caitlin: Time, there’s historical things that really hold the cast together.
Sharon: No.
Sharon: Unless I super hate that person.
Sharon: Mhm.
Caitlin: Or they’ve just done something completely unforgettable.
Sharon: Exactly. Then it’s like I feel like they should generally stay.
Caitlin: I think so too, because I just feel like we saw how it was without her and it wasn’t good. Um, so we clearly need her, and I feel like we need Vicki too.
Sharon: I love Vicky.
Caitlin: Yeah. I’m sure they’ve talked about bringing back is that, like, Alexis Belino and some of those people, and I’d like that. But I love Tamara and Vicki and Shannon together.
Sharon: I do too. And I’m like, am I weird that I love Vicki?
Caitlin: I don’t so because she’s just like she’s so iconic.
Sharon: She’s so mean.
Caitlin: It’s like how you really should hate Ramona and actually, I’m kind of getting there with Ramona. Yeah, but a lot of those New York people, you really should hate them, but they just do theirs.
Sharon: Like an abusive relationship.
Caitlin: You’ve been with them for so long and there’s so much history.
Sharon: I don’t know.
Sharon: Vicki, I just get the biggest kick out of actually, when I saw her come back to the show, I was happy.
Caitlin: And an honesty about Vicky, uh, she’s like she’s a hard worker. I mean HM. She loves her career and her job. And again, she gets wrapped up in stuff too, but she doesn’t necessarily mean to hurt people’s feelings. She just kind of is Vicky. And I think it’s that when people are just unapologetically who they are, that’s when the show really um so, okay, so I think we say that Tamara wins over her orange or she gets to keep the orange, I guess. Um, let’s talk just briefly about Tamar versus Jen. So Jen is going to get her own episode. We will go into the incredible draw that is like Jen and her ex husband and her divorce and her new boyfriend Ryan. But just for this, why do you think Tamara is so mad at Jen and so mad at her boyfriend Ryan? This like, what is that about?
Sharon: It is very strange to me because okay, so they’re supposedly friends.
Sharon: Yes.
Sharon: Although then at the reunion, they say something like, well, they weren’t speaking. Um, and this and that. When she came on the show, that was a little confusing to me.
Caitlin: It’s hard to know how good a friend people are when they bring them on the show. It’s kind of like and they did.
Sharon: All go and work out at the gym together.
Caitlin: Yeah.
Sharon: I mean, I believe that they were friends.
Caitlin: I just wonder part of me wonders not friend friends.
Sharon: Maybe Tamara felt insecure because she’s fighting her orange. And then Jen comes back and Jen is a very like I think she’s sweet and likable.
Caitlin: She is very is.
Sharon: And she adopts kittens, and she takes care of all these kids, and she.
Caitlin: Has a big part of her default for things.
Sharon: Yeah.
Sharon: So I almost wonder if that’s why she kept digging into this one thing to make her out to be a bad guy. Which mean we don’t know her story. We don’t know what it was like in her not I feel like it’s so unfair. Um, no, I agree.
Caitlin: The only other thing I can think of is if, for some reason, tamara loved her ex husband and loved them together as a like, sometimes when you have a like, I wonder if Eddie and the ex husband were really close or something. Because sometimes I think when you have friends that are like couple friends, and then you’re like, well, if they break up, that ruins the whole uh huh. But I didn’t quite get that vibe from Eddie, although I got the vibe that Eddie didn’t really like Ryan, so I kind of wonder if HM. That was part of the problem, too. Yeah. I don’t know. Because you think that, like, went through a divorce and then she married someone who was kind of, like, younger and uh huh. So it’s a similar path. I don’t understand why she so acts like she’s completely astounded by it.
Sharon: Yeah.
Caitlin: Or vicki in the oh, my God. Don’t get divorced and don’t like, okay, let’s get off our high.
Sharon: Yeah. Oh, but when they were talking about, like, in the gym, where Tamara was saying that Ryan said he wanted to get mhm with Tamara, whatever, but then, um, Jen explains, like, we were both joking. We were joking, like that about I actually totally believe Jen. I think it went both ways. I think it was all jokes. And I think Tamara tried to make him out to look like a huge jerk. Now, he does seem a little weird, which we’ll talk about yeah.
Caitlin: In her episode, but he may not be.
Sharon: Tamara was really trying hard there.
Caitlin: She was. And I guess if you really did care about your friend, there, uh, is a point where you just go, well, she likes this guy, and she’s happy with this guy. I don’t know.
Sharon: She cares about her friend. Why she tried to focus on her so much versus making her look bad. She just keeps trying to make her look bad and then saying, well, it’s because I’m worried about you.
Sharon: Exactly.
Caitlin: And you have to know that Jen obviously needed the job. Like, when she said she didn’t even have the money to pay for certain things, and she’s not making money from.
Sharon: Her yoga studio, it’s like yeah, she exactly.
Caitlin: So back off a little bit, maybe. Mhm.
Sharon: Yeah. I feel like Tamara came out looking mean.
Sharon: Yeah.
Sharon: And then at the reunion, they hugged or whatever.
Caitlin: That felt kind of phony to me, and I don’t know why. I guess I just feel like Jen is great at forgiving, and I’m not sure she should be that great. It’s a little too much, and I don’t know how long it’ll last.
Sharon: Well, I feel like it’s got to build up inside Jen. I almost wonder if that’s what happened in her first, you know, the way you see she acts.
Caitlin: Maybe that is true.
Sharon: So she’s like, I’m done.
Sharon: Yeah.
Caitlin: And then she and really, when she watches it back and hears all the things that Tamara says behind the scenes, because that’s what gets people, like, often. I’m surprised going to the next season, I think, oh, they all worked it out. But then it’s like, well, that person watched the show, so now you’re in trouble. Yeah, exactly. Because all the stuff that they said is going to come back.
Sharon: Mhm.
Caitlin: Okay, so who wins that one?
Sharon: I think Jen. I think Jen, too, because I think Tamara looked really mean. She looked like a mean girl.
Caitlin: Yeah, she really did. I just think it’s like it’s not how I wanted to see her coming back, because mhm. It’s like one of her strengths, in addition to being kind of a stinker, is that she can be a really good friend.
Sharon: Yeah.
Caitlin: And so it was sad to see this person that she brought on after coming back and then see her treat that person so poorly. It’s like, I don’t want to see that from you. That’s not great.
Sharon: Yeah.
Caitlin: All right, let’s talk about Tamara versus Shannon, because I guess in general, it is sort of interesting how Tamara can kind of turn on these long term friendships a little bit too. She does dispose of people kind of quickly.
Sharon: And this is where I didn’t this was one of those I have no idea who’s telling the. I mean, I think they both believe they’re telling the yeah. They both say that basically they weren’t there for each yes.
Caitlin: And, like, as we were talking it back through. So it just sounds like, uh, Tamara had the bigger platform for shading in the public because she has that podcast with, um, Teddy Mellon camp two t’s in a pod. And so Tamara had a lot of space in which to talk about the negative things about her castmates.
Sharon: Mhm.
Caitlin: So I kind of think it’s a combination of the fact that there was sort of a misstep and they got tired talking to each other. And then I think with Tamara getting fired, I’m not sure she wanted to talk to like she probably didn’t want to clean up Shannon’s messes. She didn’t want to be constantly reminded that she wasn’t a housewife. I know for her that you could tell this hit her really hard when they fired her, paused her. Um, so I think it’s a combination of that she acted out by speaking out in the media constantly. And then neither of them wanted to talk to each other because they’d said such awful things, like in public arenas about each other.
Sharon: And after watching the season, I do think that there’s a lot to the whole like Shannon probably saying stuff when she’s drunk that she doesn’t remember. I think she completely and maybe that happened in there also.
Caitlin: HM. I think that would totally be true. And it’s like, I think for both of them, their lives were kind of crumbling, so neither of them could be the strong person to be like, okay, well, I’ll be the strong friend right now, while you’re the they’re both kind of falling apart. Um, and I don’t think that helps. The problem is Tamara kind of gets so mad and then she’ll just say things she can’t take back. Like calling Shannon a liar and alcoholic. But then after the season and the stuff that goes down with Shannon, you worry, okay, well, maybe she’s not like maybe there is some issues there. So when they get to Montana, though, again, I think just history always saves them. And history saves Tamara a lot. Mhm, they kind of make up. What surprised me, I guess, was the fact that they both apologize. They’re both really stubborn about apologizing. Mhm, and yet they both did in the moment. And I guess I think that’s what probably saved them. Yeah. And also she was really screwing things up with Jen, so she had to make friends with.
Sharon: Somebody.
Caitlin: She had to hang on to some life. I don’t know. I don’t want them to go backwards. I want them to stay friends, though.
Sharon: Yeah.
Caitlin: I mean, they now have that comedy thing they’re going on tour with with Tamara and Vicki and Shannon.
Sharon: Will they show that?
Sharon: Yeah.
Sharon: Would you go see that?
Caitlin: I would go see oh, I would totally go see that.
Sharon: Yeah. And a heart.
Caitlin: Would they do a Bravo con? They should do like a mini thing. I wonder if they will. That huh would be cool. I’ll add that onto my ticket.
Sharon: Yeah.
Caitlin: I um, guess overall, my takeaway from the season with Tamara is they think that she was just so desperate to keep her orange that she came in so hot and so crazy and that she really left all these she had unresolved issues and she ended up throwing those up on Heather and Jen. So if mhm, she can just get back to like she almost seems to go in as a blank slate next season and just have her own storyline with something that relates to her and not take on all this other stuff that doesn’t relate to her and just.
Sharon: Be who she is.
Sharon: Right.
Sharon: Or someone be mean to her and she can defend herself and act crazy.
Caitlin: That yeah. Oh, we didn’t say who won with Tamarind shannon. But I mean, it’s a draw.
Sharon: It’s a draw because Shannon did get that DUI, which made me re see everything everyone said about her being in, like, a whole new life, which maybe isn’t, but it kind of makes me.
Caitlin: Realize no, but I really always liked her. When she first came in, I didn’t like her ex husband at all.
Sharon: So, again, it was kind of like.
Caitlin: I felt like I was pulling for and I’ve been pulling for and it’s like I’ve been backing you. And now I don’t think I can back.
Sharon: You. Shannon love her hater. Love her hater. By the end of the season.
Caitlin: I love their argument.
Sharon: Yeah.
Caitlin: No, she’s a real roller coaster.
Sharon: She is.
Sharon: She’s a hot mess.
Caitlin: She’s, um, a hot mess. Yes, that’s exactly all right. Well, this is our first episode from OC. We’re going to go through the rest of the ladies. Um, remember, you can check us out and, um, join us and follow us on our patreon. We have some bonus, um, content there at certain levels. So we put our yearbook episodes there. And actually, our, um, Teresa from New Jersey book club episodes are there.
Sharon: And they’re really good. Our book clubs are good.
Sharon: Ah.
Sharon: I’ve always wanted to be in a book club.
Caitlin: I know. And I think we’re kind of good book clubbers. I think we are.
Sharon: I feel like someone should really invite us to a book club now.
Caitlin: I feel like this is our secret, like skill. Skill that we didn’t know.
Sharon: It’s our superpower.
Caitlin: It is our party. How do we pull this out at a party? We have a book. Let me get it on my phone.
Sharon: Yeah.
Caitlin: People are like, no, I don’t know that kind of time I’m going to advertise a book.
Sharon: Yeah.
Caitlin: I mean, because who wants to read books? So wouldn’t you rather have somebody else read them for you and tell you about them? Come on.
Sharon: It’s kind of like how we listen to people recap, uh, true crime movies.
Caitlin: I don’t actually ever watch the documentary.
Sharon: I never listen to you tell me, m what the documentary?
Caitlin: We’re like that, but for books. All right. Remember housewives, bring the drama.
Sharon: We bring the receipts. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please hit the subscribe button. If you’d like to help support us, please share it with others and leave a rating and review. Also visit us on Instagram and Twitter, both at RH underscore on underscore RH for fun pictures and polls us or email us at rhonrhpodcast@gmail.com. Thanks again. And remember to stay out of the.