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She’s back! More than a decade into their feud, Gretchen Rossi and Tamra Judge are finally facing each other again on The Real Housewives of Orange County, and their long-awaited reunion goes way differently than you might expect — at first, anyway.
As Gretchen is arriving to Katie Ginella’s hot pot meal arm-in-arm with Jennifer Pedranti in the above preview clip for RHOC Season 19, Episode 2 (airing July 17), Tamra not-so-surprisingly remarks, “I might need a drink,” as castmates Shannon Storms Beador, Heather Dubrow, Gina Kirschenheiter, and Emily Simpson await some drama.
In a more shocking turn of events, however, Gretchen is quick to cordially greet Tamra, who, in turn, puts on a happy face and takes the opportunity to “reintroduce” herself. From there, not only do the onetime sworn enemies say that it’s “nice” to re-meet each other after 12 years, but Tamra even throws out a compliment, telling her, “You look beautiful.”
Gretchen isn’t exactly putting her guard down amid these superficial pleasantries, though: “This definitely feels like a Tamra tactic: Pretend like everything’s great, make everybody, laugh … right before she strikes,” she notes in a confessional.
Erring on the side caution was, perhaps, a wise decision, as the RHOC Season 19 trailer already teased that the meal ventures back into more familiar territory, resulting in what appears to be a heated back and forth between the two. You’ll have to tune in to find out exactly what happens between Gretchen and Tamra, though.
Inside Gretchen Rossi’s connections to the RHOC Season 19 cast
As you may recall, Gretchen and Heather are former RHOC castmates. Elsewhere in the sneak peek, Emily also reminds viewers that she actually met Gretchen at her 40th birthday party, which the latter notes she remembers fondly.
RELATED: Gretchen Rossi Previews How She’s “Back in the Mix” on RHOC Season 19: “Can’t Wait”
As Emily points out in a confessional, though, “My friendship with Tamra did suffer when I was friendly with Gretchen because I did not know there was a beef between the two of them. We worked through it, but I’m not making that mistake again.”
According to Gretchen’s cast bio for RHOC Season 19, she “makes her return to the group through new friends, Jennifer and Katie,” however.
Indeed, a second sneak peek at RHOC‘s July 17 episode shows Gretchen (with longtime love Slade Smiley) hanging out with Jen, Katie, and their respective partners, Ryan Boyajian and Matt Ginella.
“I met Gretchen when I was going through so much with Tamra,” Jen reveals in a confessional. “I slid into Gretchen’s DMs. I think all I said to say was, ‘Tamra SOS,’ and I got a call right away.”
Apparently, that type of outreach became commonplace over the past 11 years. According to Gretchen, who exited RHOC after 2013’s Season 8, “Every new Housewife always reaches out to me and asks me how to deal with Tamra.”
Her typical response? “I legitimately tell them to run. Like, go the opposite direction. I could be making so much money if I started charging for the advice.”
What to expect from Gretchen Rossi’s RHOC return
Gretchen’s Season 19 bio further teases that “she finds herself dealing with the same old issues with Tamra.” What’s more, their problems are “amplified when a new story from an unlikely source causes a chain reaction, forever shifting the dynamics of the friend group.”
RELATED:Â Tamra and Gretchen’s “12 Years” of Feuding Comes To a Head in Shocking RHOC Season 19 Trailer
Further evidence that Gretchen and Tamra’s detente will be short-lived: Slade (with whom she now shares 6-year-old daughter Skylar Gray) refers to the latter as “Captain Evil” at one point in the trailer.Â
Fighting aside, there will also be plenty of fun and fashion, as Gretchen hinted in a video posted to Bravo’s Instagram account.
“I’m excited to be back in the mix with all the ladies,” she added. “I love the ladies, I’m having so much fun, and I can’t wait for the season to air.”
Shannon, meanwhile, opened up about Gretchen’s comeback during a June 2025 appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, spilling, “She’s been nothing but kind to me. I think she’s a great addition to the show, so I’m excited to have her there.”
In the meantime, catch up on what else Gretchen has been doing since she last appeared on RHOC.
