For the second time on The Real Housewives of Orange County Season 19, Tamra Judge arrived at a cast event with the same surprise guest: Jo De La Rosa.
Prior to bringing the RHOC alum as her plus-one to Jennifer Pedranti’s beach day amid drama with Gretchen Rossi on Episode 9, Tamra also invited her to Heather Dubrow’s birthday bash. Given that Jo is the ex-fiancée of Slade Smiley — aka Gretchen’s current “life partner” — Tamra’s motives seemed clear to some of the women.
When a producer for The Real Housewives of Orange County After Show asked in the above clip why Tamra was suddenly bringing Jo around, Gina Kirschenheiter immediately chimed in, “To piss off Gretchen!”
RELATED:Â Jo De La Rosa Reflects on Her “Wild” RHOC Season 19 Return: “Stuff Goes Down”
Even Tamra joked back, “At this point, I figured it worked at Heather’s party, so why not?”
She quickly clarified that she was “just f–king with” Gina and Emily Simpson, though, before going on to claim, “We are good friends, and I do talk to her. I just talked to her yesterday.”
As Tamra added later, “No, I really didn’t bring Jo to get under Gretchen’s skin … If that happened, that’s a bonus.”
Gretchen Rossi reacts to Tamra Judge and Jo De La Rosa’s friendship
Separately on the RHOC After Show, Gretchen remained skeptical of Tamra’s explanation, though.
“I’m sorry, but, like, they have not been friends for so many years,” she noted. “Now, all of a sudden, they’re buddies and hanging out, and then she’s bringing her to all these events.”
Insisting that Jo’s presence was “not even a little bit” weird for her, Gretchen unpacked what did bother her, however.
RELATED:Â Tamra Judge Makes a Shocking Declaration About Gretchen Rossi (EXCLUSIVE)
“As far as I’m concerned, I don’t have an issue with Jo,” the Season 19 friend elaborated. “It’s Tamra bringing Jo into the picture … You’re trying to start something.”
Gretchen went on to describe how she and Jo previously squashed their beef at BravoCon, which made the latter’s reaction to her saying hello at Heather’s birthday party all the more confusing.
“At BravoCon, she’d come up to me and said, ‘You know what? I’m sorry for all the stuff in the last 15-plus years,'” Gretchen recalled. “She kept going out in the press and, like, talking about Slade and I. And I just kept saying, ‘Stop talking about us. Like, stop.’ And so, she apologized. We had a good little, like, moment, and that was, like, the end of it. And so, when I saw her, I thought she was gonna be cool.”
Inside Tamra Judge and Gretchen Rossi’s beach day reconciliation
Though Tamra and Gretchen’s After Show comments seem to make clear where their friendship stands today, the two at least temporarily made peace on RHOC‘s Sept. 4 episode.
In the midst of Jenn’s beach day, the two separated from the group for a one-on-one, which kicked off with Gretchen questioning Tamra’s “intent” for inviting Jo to the gathering.
“I just think that maybe not bringing the person that maybe was Slade’s ex is the best thing because we’ve had issues with Slade’s exes before,” she explained, prompting Tamra to reply that she “didn’t even go that deep” prior to extending the invitation to Jo.
From there, the two rehashed decade-plus-old drama involving Slade, before Gretchen eventually apologized for “reaching out” to Tamra’s estranged daughter, Sidney Barney, on social media. Tamra, for her part, said she was “sorry” for making negative comments about Slade, but also skirted some of the blame for the subject even arising on her podcast in the first place.
“Do you wanna move forward or no?” Gretchen asked.
Tamra’s response? “Yeah, I wanna move forward, but I can’t dwell on the past, Gretchen. You are obsessed with it. You won’t let it go. Let it go, Gretchen. What is it gonna take for you to let things go?”
Gretchen, meanwhile, informed Tamra that not only did she cause “so much pain and hurt,” but her comments also “100 percent” prevented Slade from getting jobs.
“I wasn’t aware of that. I’m very sorry,” Tamra said. “I don’t want to see you hurting, and I don’t want what I said to affect your life in any way.”
With that, the pair agreed to “move forward” and “have fun” with each other — even holding hands and skipping back to the table. As Gretchen noted afterward, though, it was only “step one” toward them repairing their relationship.
Get a sneak peek at what eventually reignited Tamra and Gretchen’s feud by watching the RHOC midseason trailer.
