Just because Vicki Gunvalson is done with The Real Housewives franchise, but that doesn't mean she's done talking about Real Housewives. And not just the show either, she has thrown some shade at current cast member Ramona Singer, from Real Housewives of New York, and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills OG Kyle Richards.
Ramona and Kyle are two of the last original Housewives remaining (pre-Dallas and Potomac, of course). Ramona has Luann de Lesseps in the Big Apple, but, technically speaking, Lu did have one season as a part-time cast member. NeNe Leakes is still ruling the roost on Real Housewives of Atlanta, even though she did take some time off in the middle. Standing strong in the Garden State is Real Housewives of New Jersey OG Teresa Giudice. Other than those 4, the Real Housewives OG is a dying breed. Lisa Vanderpump left Beverly Hills last year in the middle of season 9. Bethenny Frankel announced her departure from Real Housewives of New York right before the cast started shooting.
And then there's Vicki. After thirteen seasons on Real Housewives of Orange County, she got demoted to part-time status as a Friend of the Housewives for season 14. Then, when she didn't get that orange back, she said goodbye to the show before the cast started filming season 15. That doesn't mean she's left the spotlight though. Some former Housewives just want to shake off the embarrassment, keep to themselves, and plug non-Bravo-adjacent projects. However, Vicki isn't one of those people. Despite the less-than-amicable departure, she still puts her stake down in the ground as the pioneer of the Real Housewives franchise.
Just like most reality TV stars in quarantine, Vicki aired her grievances in an Instagram Live session. She had her fellow Real Housewives of Orange County cast-off Tamra Judge join the live for a discussion. They answered questions from fans. As expected, there were a lot of questions about them not being friends with Shannon Beador after she made up with Kelly Dodd after Vicki and Tamra left the show. However, they're just recycling the same comments about that scenario in their quest for attention. Everyone gets it - you're not in touch with Shannon. She's cool with Kelly, let's move on. After the obligatory Shannon shade, Vicki was asked to share her opinions on some fellow OG Housewives and that's when the conversation got super interesting.
Us Weekly reported that Vicki slammed Ramona as "big eyes," which is not exactly a new insult. Ramona has heard this one a million times over. Hell, even Andy Cohen has a blindfold with her eyes on it in the Bravo Clubhouse. Vicki added, "She thinks she founded the Housewives and she didn’t. I did." Sure, Vicki. When she was asked about Kyle Richards, Vicki described her as "kind of vanilla" before she shared, "I don’t see any conflict, like I just see her, like, playing the safe lane always." She's not wrong.
First of all, the production team founded Housewives. Just because Vicki was in the original cast of the first show, that doesn't mean she actually "started" the show, despite her constantly-shared beliefs. However, this isn't the first time that Vicki slammed Ramona about "starting Real Housewives." Vicki was miffed when Ramona said Real Housewives of New York put the Real Housewives franchise on the map because The Real Housewives of Orange County wasn't as popular. The two of them even had an in-person debate during BravoCon back in November 2019. However, no one was actually designated the victor in the discussion. Vicki doesn't have that same contentious history with Kyle, but she's not wrong about Kyle playing it safe. Kyle is pretty neutral with most people on her show at this point. But, to be fair, a lot of people like vanilla. After all, Kyle's been serving that up for ten seasons straight.