Season 19 isn’t the first time that Tamra Judge has dramatically quit The Real Housewives of Orange County, but the former fitness instructor’s tumultuous departure from the New Orleans cast trip should have been her final exit from the series, since she has nothing left to offer but the bitter gossip she drudges up against her co-stars.
After Gretchen Rossi refused to believe the “roofie” gossip the RHOC veteran brought forward in her feud with newcomer Katie Ginella, Judge pulled the familiar move of fleeing the scene of an argument that she stirred up when blame was shifted onto her. Judge has leaned into spreading gossip about her co-stars ever since Season 5, when she lost the ability to share her family life on camera after her ex-husband refused to allow their children to appear on TV. Spreading rumors is a tactic that she has mastered over the years, but it hasn’t served her well in Season 19, as both the cast and viewers are wise to her maneuvers by this point. Even though Bravo allowed her to return to film after she seemingly quit the series, this season of RHOC should be Judge’s last, since it is no longer entertaining to see her bait her co-stars into confrontations, only to lose her temper and flee the scene when her antics are exposed.
Tamra Judge Is Familiar With a Dramatic Housewives Exit
Despite rumors that she had been fired, Judge insists that she left the series on her own terms after being offered a “limited role” for Season 15. However, she seemed to have forgotten this claim when accepting an offer to come back in Season 17, informing People that she still didn’t know why she had been “fired” in the first place. This departure was more demure than others. Who can forget the Bali vacation in Season 9 where the cast confronted Judge at the dinner table about the gossip she had been spreading behind their backs, and she sprinted barefoot away from the table, shoes and purse in hand, yelling: “You will never see me again. Goodbye.” Though she ended up continuing to film that season, she left the cast trip early, just as she did in the most recent episode.
The dramatic reality TV exit is a move that Judge mastered early in her career. During the Season 6 reunion, Judge stormed off the set after trading jabs with Slade Smiley, leading to her epic stairwell rant about Rossi’s boyfriend being a “liar.” But then, Judge went on to call Smiley’s ex-wife to talk about his child support payments. And this is where the pattern of Judge digging into her co-star’s lives and taking things too far, only to retreat when called out, can be seen. On the reunion stage, when Judge returned, Rossi observed that when things got “too hot in the kitchen,” her co-star had a habit of running off.
Tamra Judge Can Dish It Out, But She Can’t Take It Back
Judge’s quick wit and rapid-fire insults make her an iconic Housewife. Shouting “Jesus Jugs” at her Christian co-star, Alexis Bellino, is possibly one of the most memorable line deliveries in Bravo history. Judge screaming “that’s my opinion” at Vicki Gunvalson in Season 9 is one of the best-known scenes in the franchise. She can certainly hold her own in a confrontation, but whenever one of her co-stars points out the hypocrisy in her anger about other people spreading stories about her life, when she is the major source of malicious gossip in their lives, Judge cannot handle the comparison.
Iconic lines aside, Judge has demonstrated an erratic inability to face the consequences of her actions. In Season 6, when Jeana Keough meddled in Judge’s divorce by speaking about her in the press, Judge threw a cease and desist letter in her face, followed by a glass of wine, still blaming her co-star all the while. In the recent episode, Gina Kirschenheiter confronting Judge about being rude at the table was the last straw for her, “quitting” the show shortly afterward. Judge’s antics have gotten so predictable that neither the viewers nor her cast mates want to tolerate them any longer, and she shouldn’t be allowed to return to RHOC until she has more than malicious gossip to offer.
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo.
