The Cheating Drama That’s Scandalizing the ‘Real Housewives of Orange County’

Read more of our Real Housewives of Orange County coverage HERE.

Welcome back to Season 17! After just two episodes of everyone pretending that Jenn’s cheating admission is NBD, our Orange County girlies have already begun to turn on the freshman Housewife/yoga enthusiast. And of course, Gina and Tamra are the main ones spreading this anti-Jenn propaganda.

Excuse me for sounding like an infidelity supporter, but I don’t really understand this strategy to vilify Jenn. It’d be one thing if we actually saw Jenn’s marriage to her ex-husband Will disintegrate in real time or witnessed how he treated her. From a viewer’s standpoint, he’s literally just some man who lives 1,500 miles away from his children (which doesn’t make him sound great). Whenever Jenn or anyone on the show mentions him, I think of the default Facebook avatar that’s just a silhouette of a man's head. Why should I treat this information as anything other than juicy gossip?

To me, the fact that Jenn’s a woman in Orange County announcing that she had an affair on a national platform is honestly more staggering than the admission itself. Yet Tamra wants Jenn to share all the salacious details of her and Ryan’s origins as a couple with a group. From a production standpoint, Jenn should be as open as possible, considering her family situation was why she was hired. However, Tamra also doesn’t seem to like Jenn as much as we were led to believe in the beginning.

When the “friends” meet up at the now-defunct Cut Fitness, we learn that Tamra and Jenn had a rift in their friendship at one point. Apparently, Tamra learned about the affair while it was happening from Jenn’s boyfriend, Ryan, while they were on vacation together, which put her and Eddie in an awkward position. Jenn admits that she pulled away from Tamra when everything in her marriage went haywire. Currently, Jenn seems to think everything is patched up between them. However, you never want to give Tamra Judge, of all people, an ounce of ammo to use against you—as we see later in the episode.

Before that, of course, we need to check in with the other girls, who actually have some interesting things going on, starting with Mrs. Dubrow. Initially, I was worried that Heather’s entire storyline this season would revolve around her twins leaving the nest. But luckily, Taylor has already tasked herself with pestering Heather by involving her in her D-list actress dreams. This is exactly the sort of low-stakes showbiz drama I want to watch Heather navigate. It reminds me of her beef with Alexis Bellino over her one-episode stint on Malibu Country.

Last episode, Taylor asked Heather for some acting tips for some sketchy movie she’s filming in Oklahoma (I love how frequently Oklahoma is brought up on this franchise), and Heather tepidly agreed. However, when Heather shows up at Taylor’s house, she’s simply there to watch Taylor receive acting lessons from another instructor. It’s actually pretty rude, considering that Heather put on a blazer for the event.

More staggeringly, we learn that Taylor offered Heather a role in her film, which Heather took as a joke and drunkenly said yes to. It turns out Taylor was dead serious and sent her a video of her “office” on-set because I guess this production doesn’t haven’t trailers. I love how unprofessional Taylor is making this opportunity sound. She’s also a worse actress than Alexis was a news anchor.

Meanwhile, Emily is stressed about being a stay-at-home mom now that her husband Shane has finally joined the workforce. I usually find the whole “overwhelmed mom” storyline extremely tiring on these shows. But something about Emily is so real and refreshing, especially how she talks about her issues with her mother, who suffers from mental health issues.

Emily’s at-home scenes are certainly more charming than watching Gina and her boyfriend Travis studying to get real-estate licenses because they want to sell houses now. I don’t mean to poor-shame (or maybe middle-class-shame). But I don’t really enjoy Gina’s relatable schtick. If you’re going to start a venture, I need it to be something impractical and ridiculous that will probably never come to fruition, like She by Sheree or Taylor’s movie career. I don’t want to watch a Real Housewife do something that my friends and I would do if we couldn’t find a job right after college. Make a wig line, patent a toy!

‘Real Housewives of Orange County’ Recap: Tamra and Shannon Fight While Dressed Like Flamingos

Anyway, this episode culminates in a farewell party for Cut Fitness where everyone has to be sentimental about a gym they’ve probably only visited during filming. Jenn is trying her best to make it seem like she has an emotional connection with this place as a former member. Even from her fitness-obsessed mouth, I don’t believe it.

This is where Jenn discovers that she’s a main target this season and isn’t going to sail by being all sweet and zen. First, Gina confronts her about an Instagram Reel she posted the day before, celebrating that her yoga studio is still up and running. Gina asks if this was shade against Tamra, and Jenn seems genuinely confused. She also claims she was simply copying some TikTok trend because her studio is trying to boost their social-media activity. Tamra overhears this, and starts to question Jenn, who eventually apologizes for the bad timing. Although, I’m sure Jenn could’ve made this post two years from now, and Tamra would be salty about it.

Later in the night, the girls rehash Jenn and Ryan’s affair. Emily senses that it wasn’t just emotional (obviously Tamra told her something) and presses Jenn to divulge more information. When Jenn claims they were never physical, Tamra makes a face and tells Jenn to be honest. In a confessional, she says Jenn’s ex-husband Will found out about Jenn and Ryan while they were hooking up in her car. Unfortunately, none of them are able to crack Jenn just yet.

Meanwhile, Gina, with her terrible posture, is talking shit about Jenn to Travis and asking why the group is tolerating her infidelity. (What are they supposed to do, stone her??) In a confessional, Gina says Jenn’s affair is triggering for her since she was cheated on by her ex-husband. To this I say, you’re on Bravo, grow up!

It seems like Jenn will be a trigger for several people by the look of next week’s preview, including Shannon. We also see the woman react to the news that Ryan has supposedly been a cheater. Uh, yeah??

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