Vicki Gunvalson Doubted Bravo’s Reason for Firing Her From ‘RHOC’

Vicki Gunvalson is back on The Real Housewives of Orange County after getting fired following its 14th season. She said that she is grateful to be back because her firing devastated her. Bravo demoted her ahead of her final season. Why did she ultimately lose her job on the show?

Vicki Gunvalson was fired from ‘RHOC’ after its 14th season

Gunvalson was on The Real Housewives of Orange County beginning in its first season. During its 14th season, she was demoted to a “friend of” the show to shake up the cast’s dynamic. After season 14, though, Bravo decided to move forward without her. She said that the moment she learned this was “horrible.”

“I’ll never forget I was in Las Vegas on the balcony and Steve [Lodge] was in the room and he’s like, ‘What’s going on? Why are you crying?’” Gunvalson said on Tamra Judge’s My Friend, My Soulmate, My Podcast. “I’m like, I think I just got fired, but I think they have the wrong number.”

According to Andy Cohen, this decision came down to wanting to introduce new storylines and dynamics. He denied that it had anything to do with Gunvalson’s age.

“We just felt like, with Orange County, we were going in circles a little bit with the group,” he said on Andy Cohen Live. “Sometimes you have to take people out of the group to see the stories go in a different direction. I think if we had taken Shannon [Beador] out of the group, then we could have a discussion about whether this had something to do with age.”

Gunvalson didn’t buy this. She theorized that this might have had something to do with her high salary.

“There’s several things we thought of… we got very expensive and I think they said that viewers were ready for younger blood,” she said on the Whoop It Up With Vicki podcast. “I thought, well, you can’t really say that because the viewers and followers have followed my life for 15 years.”

Years later, though, Gunvalson is back for the 20th season of the show.