Welcome back to the latest recap of The Real Housewives of Orange County. Last time, Tamra faced off with Vicki over remarks that Vicki made years ago about Tamra as a mother. And Shannon comforted Tamra after her meltdown. Here’s what happened in RHOC Season 20 Episode 16: “Mad Money.”
What happened in Real Housewives of Orange County Season 20 Episode 16?
The group questioned Gina’s finances as she shopped in Tokyo. In the OC, Carmella was overwhelmed by major life decisions. And Jenn started a new business.
Gina shops ’til she drops
The next morning, which was their final day in Tokyo, the ladies hit a vintage store. “This is my motherf*cking Super Bowl,” Gina said in her confessional. “I am in it to win it!”
Meanwhile, Emily and Gina asked Shannon what happened between Vicki and Tamra. “Does Vicki know Tamra has been telling people that Vicki’s not talking to Briana [Culberson]?” Emily asked.
“No. Tamra told me last night,” Shannon replied. That remark about her daughter won’t make Vicki happy.
Downstairs, Jenn said of Gina, “She’s just come into like high-end fashion, elevating herself.” Heather remarked, “I love it for her. But I mean, I get a little worried sometimes.”
Tamra also voiced her concern. “She hasn’t been in real estate that long. There’s ups and downs with real estate,” she said.
“Every show I did, there were always some people, and the moment they got the gig, they bought a Porsche and the big TV,” Heather stated. “And then the show would get canceled. This doesn’t last.”
Then Heather mentioned the Saddleback Magazine photo shoot two months earlier. “Did you hear what she and Emily paid for that stylist?” Heather asked. “They hired the stylist, and they each got four outfits, borrowed, and it was $12,000 apiece.”
In her confessional, Vicki said, “I think Gina’s becoming very successful. But yes, she is much bougier than she was a couple years ago.”
Is Gina living above her means?
Tamra and Emily hit another store. “She’s very into shopping,” Emily said of Gina.
“I love Gina to death, but fashion hasn’t been her strong point. But now she’s showing up in Prada. She’s always got the power suit on. She’s got the bags,” Tamra said in her confessional.
“Do you ever get concerned about her shopping?” Tamra asked. “No. I know she’s really smart with her money,” Emily replied.
Right on cue, Tamra mentioned there was some talk about Gina’s shopping habits. Tamra said that Heather’s comments were “more out of concern.”
In her talking head, Emily said, “Gina’s going to do $20 million in closings this year. That is a legitimate real estate career that she has built from [the] ground up.” Back in their room, Emily told Gina that Heather was “concerned about, like, what you’re spending.”
Gina was annoyed. “This isn’t a gig. I have a business.” She added that Heather doesn’t know “what it feels like to have to support herself and her children completely on her own.”
Then Gina sounded off in her confessional. “If you were concerned about me and my finances, maybe you should have f*cking used me as your realtor,” she remarked. Gina will never let that go.
Finally, the ladies got dressed up in their Harajuku best. Vicki and Shannon decided to twin in matching blue wigs and outfits. My highlight of RHOC Season 20 was seeing the group in their creative costumes.
Gina accuses Jenn of calling her “poor”
At dinner, Emily compared Vicki and Shannon to “aged-up” twins in The Shining. YES!
Eventually, Gina confronted Heather. “I had a great day today shopping. And then I heard that you had some concern about the things that I was buying or how I was spending my money,” Gina said. When Fancy Pants explained her past as an actor, Gina responded, “But that’s not my experience.”
“It’s coming from a place of judgment. I feel like it’s giving superiority complex,” Gina added in her talking head.
“And literally, Heather’s words were, ‘It’s so awesome to see you thriving,’” Jenn said. “And then I chimed in and said, ‘You know the one thing that I love about her that I hope never changes. I love the girl who went from the casita to the bad *ss that she is now.’”
Gina fired back, “I never lived in a f*cking casita! I was never poor!” A shocked Jenn replied, “I’m not insinuating that you were poor.”
Clearly, Gina was angry. “It is inaccurate, and I don’t appreciate it!” Gina exclaimed.
“I owned a home in Coto De Caza, and every other weekend when Matt [Kirschenheiter] would come, I would go to this casita as like a crash pad,” Gina explained in her confessional. In a 2018 flashback, Gina told Emily she rented a casita for the weekends. “That way you don’t move the kids,” Gina stated.
“The chatter of the universe is always like casita Gina,” she told the group. “And I don’t like it because it insinuates that I was, like, living in a casita with my kids.”
Jenn quickly apologized. “I promise you, I am still living within my means. I’m just doing better,” Gina told her co-stars.
Gretchen Rossi supports Jenn’s new venture
Back in the OC, RHOC alum Gretchen Rossi and her fiancé, Slade Smiley, joined Jenn for her fitness class. “For a while, I thought about my putting my classes out on a platform. And the things I was hearing from women was, ‘I want to feel sexy’ or ‘I want to feel fit.’ And that is where Sexy Fit came from,” Jenn explained.
Naturally, Jenn filmed the first class. “You’re a bad *ss, like, you were so good. This is your jam, girl. I’m so proud of you,” Gretchen said afterward.
Elsewhere, Carmella and her daughter, Presley, were cleaning out her closet. “I can’t believe like, in a couple weeks, you’re going to turn 18, and then you’re going to graduate and go to college,” Carmella said.
“They’re not just my children. They’re my friends,” Carmella said in her talking head. “Like, I will miss her so much. I’m literally like, a part of me is going to die.”
Later, Shannon and Jenn visited Carmella. Carmella felt like “she let everyone down” by not going to Tokyo. During the visit, Carmella was emotional.
“Presley’s graduating. Sh*t’s a mess with Danny. It’s like I’m still f*cking married. I don’t know what I’m doing,” Carmella admitted.
In her confessional Carmella said, “I don’t know what it is with Danny, but I have this deep, soul feeling that something is not right. I have come to the realization that I just can’t trust him.”
Is Tamra using Jenn?
Heather, Vicki, and Tamra met for dinner. Vicki shared that she and Michael sat down to discuss their “life plan.”
The engagement ring wasn’t important to Vicki. “I still have the ring that I bought when I was engaged to Steve [Lodge],” she said in her talking head. “I paid $110,000, and it’s devalued.”
She confirmed to a producer that she bought her own ring. “He didn’t have that kind of money, and I wanted a big one,” Vicki said.
Tamra apologized for stating that Briana, Vicki’s daughter, wasn’t talking to her. In her confessional, Vicki explained that her “relationship with Briana was good. I don’t see her enough. That’s the hardest thing.”
Meanwhile, Jenn, Gina, her daughter, Sienna, and Emily went to pick up trash on the beach. Emily and Gina ribbed Jenn about being besties with Tamra.
“Sometimes I think, is this friendship with Tamra genuine? All the pictures … I felt like, does Tamra want these pictures with me or is it like…?”
Gina replied, “Trying to p*ss off Heather?” Emily added, “I thought so, too. She and Heather have some underlying tension.”
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs on Thursdays at 8/7c on Bravo. It streams on Peacock the next day.