Believe it or not, Jim Bellino has been tuned into Season 18 of The Real Housewives of Orange County just like the rest of us. Of course, he has some thoughts about Shannon Beador’s storyline. Long story short, he still isn’t a fan.
The ex-husband of Alexis Bellino, who famously sued Shannon for defamation, appeared as a guest on a podcast and claimed that he got “angry” about how producers edited Shannon. Apparently, he thinks she deserves even more scrutiny for her DUI, and he believes his ex-wife has been wrongly portrayed as a villain.
Jim Bellino blames it on the edit
Jim hopped onto the Behind the Velvet Rope podcast via Zoom and discussed RHOC Season 18. He said he felt frustrated for Alexis because it seemed like RHOC’s producers intentionally tried to make her look bad while propping up Shannon.
“I believe that the psychologists behind Bravo and these reality shows will decide what they want a person to be when the show begins, and they’re going to run with it,” Jim explained.
He continued, “Shannon got an absolute f-cking pity edit. I’m sorry, but it makes me angry.”
Although Tamra Judge held Shannon’s feet to the fire about her drinking habits, Jim said that Season 18 should have focused even more on it. According to him, the John Janssen storyline should have never outweighed the DUI.
He asked the podcast audience, “Why did the story of Alexis dating Johnny J overshadow Shannon’s issue with a DUI?”
In Jim’s opinion, Bravo viewers have become aware of Bravo’s editing tricks and how they wrongly vilify certain people. He thinks it happened to his ex-wife this season, and he said it happened to him years ago.
These days, Jim allegedly gets messages around “fifty times a day” from RHOC fans “apologizing” for misjudging him. Meanwhile, he argues that Shannon doesn’t deserve that grace. It’s an interesting thought process.
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs new episodes on Thursdays at 9/8c on Bravo.