‘Real Housewives of Orange County’ season 11, episode 17 review: Did Tamra win her competition?
Last time on “The Real Housewives of Orange County” we saw the fighting between the ladies and Kelly Dodd continue to sink to new lows. We expect there to be fighting on this show, but this season has hit below the belt so many times that it’s kind of making us uncomfortable. We are hoping for more glamour and lavish parties to round out the end of the season so we can have a bit more balance to all of this fighting.
This week’s episode picked up right where it left off – the ladies are trapped in a van together as they head to the airport to go home and the fighting is still in high gear. While Kelly has said some pretty bad things, Meghan sees how Kelly has become an easy target for the other ladies to gang up on and feels that Heather, Shannon and Tamra have provoked her on this trip. That being said Meghan admits that she doesn’t know the whole story so she’s not getting involved, but she feels that Vicki should be since they are friends.
Speaking of not getting involved, Vicki is trying her best to stay out of this situation, but after Shannon pushes Vicki says that she doesn’t like it when Kelly drinks. This sets Kelly off and she reveals that Vicki told her that Shannon’s husband hits her. Shannon denies that this ever happened, but Vicki is claiming that this is the secret that she’s been holding for Shannon (and that she told Kelly for some reason).
Tamra asks Kelly if there’s any other information Vicki told her and while we can’t hear what she told her, Tamra starts telling Vicki off for something she said about Eddie maybe cheating or being gay. The ladies have now shifted their anger towards Vicki and she’s back on the outs with everyone, except Heather who is placing the blame of this squarely on Kelly who won’t stop spilling secrets.
When they get home, Kelly’s husband advises her to try to start mending fences by talking to Vicki and finding some answers, so she invites her over for a talk. They end up finding some peace from this talk as Vicki explains that she was in the middle of it all because she is still trying to mend fences herself. Vicki also regrets not standing up for Kelly and apologizes.
Next Kelly talks to Tamra and this talk went lot better then we thought it would. Tamra listened to Kelly and they both apologized for their parts in the fight. After speaking with Kelly, Tamra calls Shannon and suggests that Vicki should still be invited to her party so that everyone can confront her together since she has yet to apologize for anything.
Through all of this fighting, we at least we had a chance to see Tamra compete (and win!) and it was so inspiring and thrilling to watch. She has worked so hard for this to happen and even after having a few mishaps, like the dune buggy accident, she pushed through. We love watching stories like this on this show – it really helps to give a bit of happiness through some pretty dark topics. Episode grade: B
What did you think of tonight’s episode of “The Real Housewives of Orange County”? Leave us a comment in the box below. If you want looking for more scoop on “The Real Housewives of Orange County” then head on over to the link here. Also, in case you missed it, we have exclusive interviews with Shannon Beador at the link here and with Kelly Dodd at the link here. (Photo: Bravo)