RHOC Premiere Recap: Tamra Accuses Katie of Contacting Blogger as Katie Fails to Show DMs, Emily Hires Attorney Over Nanny Drama & Reveals Son’s Eating Disorder, Plus Shannon Settles John’s $60K Lawsuit

Bloggers, psychotherapists, rumors, and a wellness retreat. A jam-packed premiere of The Real Housewives of Orange County proves that these ladies are back! Emily is harboring resentment toward Katie and her never-ending affinity for podcasts and bloggers. Tamra debuts a new version of herself (again), and Shannon enters the season as the peacemaker, an interesting plot twist. Questioning Katie seems to be the theme, as the women try to get to the bottom of her motives.

After settling with John Janssen for a cool $60,000, Shannon is a new woman, one who has sought relaxation at the health and wellness center, The Golden Door. Sure, it only cost her $12,950 for eight days, but damn, she feels great. So much so that she has decided to host the ladies there in order to get everyone together, which is so desperately needed.

Shannon has become closer with Katie, but Katie is having a rough go with the others. Katie sees nothing wrong with that *thing* that happened last season involving her daughter, Kaili, and Emily. In fact, when Emily’s ex-nanny came forward to corroborate Kaili’s story, Katie told the ex-nanny about the podcast her daughter did. The next thing you know, the ex-nanny is on the same podcast sharing her story about Emily. And so, Emily is furious about Katie giving life to this.

Gina and Travis are back to being roommates, but this time, they are in a much bigger place. Gina blames her newfound clarity on her Bali trip, and she is ready to live her life fully.  

Emily comes to check out the new place and hear the tea. Gina talks about her trip to the dog beach with Katie and Jenn. According to Gina, Katie DID give the ex-nanny the information about the podcaster, and Emily is feeling rather violated by the whole situation. Katie could have simply ignored the ex-nanny, but instead, she chose a hurtful route. Katie still does not think she did anything wrong. In fact, Katie is mad because Emily went ahead and talked about Katie giving up custody of her three children during the reunion. Emily went LOW. Katie is p*ssed that Emily has not apologized for saying those things.

Gina realizes that she was the one who brought Katie into the group and wants to try and clear things up. She invites Emily to join, because shady, but it seems weird to think that Katie owes Emily the apology when Emily also did Katie pretty dirty at the reunion. 

The “normal” life stuff gets highlighted: Shannon’s daughter heads to a rave in Europe. Heather contemplates selling her $16 million Beverly Hills mansion since the work is just not worth it. 

Emily opens up about her son Luke, who has been recently diagnosed with ARFID. Food generally disgusts him, and Emily worries about him getting the nutrients that he desperately needs. 

Tamra pays a visit to her psychotherapist. She is emotional from the jump. The goal is to find out where her anger comes from, and she shares that her intrusive thoughts are out of control. Tamra admits that she misspoke about being on the spectrum, and she is upset for getting attacked. She also feels misunderstood by her daughter, Sydney, and fears that if she gets close to people, they will turn on her. Trust seems to be Tamra’s biggest issue, and so she puts up a front to protect herself… or so she says. 

Jenn and Ryan are (actually) getting married, and naturally, Ryan wants a boardshorts and bikini-themed wedding. Jenn claims her kids are excited about the upcoming wedding in Cabo, and she explains that she does NOT want Tamra there after all of the pain that she has caused. Jenn is not in the best place in her divorce, and Tamra’s words could have affected her custody. According to Jenn, Tamra truly did like Ryan back in the day. And because Ryan did not pick Tamra, she is lashing out. Ryan is not buying Tamra’s therapy story and likens it to her baptism healing her way back when… 

Later, Emily, Heather, and Tamra get together and talk about Katie. Tamra shares that she caught Katie in a lie. Evidently, Katie once again DMed a podcaster, and this leaves Heather wondering why Katie is trying to hurt everyone. Yet somehow, Katie always has an excuse for everything. Interestingly enough, Katie’s supposed BFF, Jenn, allegedly called Katie a “con artist,” according to Gina. Tamra feels like Jenn has a habit of telling people what they want to hear.

As they head to meet Katie, Emily lets Gina know that her son Luke may possibly have autism, which is linked to his eating disorder. Emily is “emotionally tapped out,” and so she has little tolerance for the Katie bullsh*t at this point.

Katie feels ambushed by Gina bringing Emily, but Gina just wants Katie to tell the truth. Gina comes right out and tells Katie that she lost a lot of trust in her. According to Gina, Jenn also questions Katie’s motives and lets Katie know that Jenn called her a “con artist.” Katie calls BS, considering she talks to Jenn 10 times a day.

Katie admits that she should have ignored the ex-nanny, but she claims she was angry. Emily lashes out and explains that she never retaliated by bringing someone’s kids into the mix. Katie does not see it as equal when Emily brings up her custody and legal battles. Emily is the one who broke the “no kids in fights” rule, but she does apologize for going into Katie’s past. Neither woman is any closer to trusting the other.

Shannon is putting together some Golden Door gift bags for her “friends,” yes, Tamra included. Tamra feels like Shannon betrayed her after 10 years of friendship, and she wonders how Shannon can be so “heartless.” 

When Tamra enters the retreat, she is down in the dumps. Multiple brain tumors have been found on Teddi, and Tamra “can’t imagine my life without” her “best friend.” Shannon realizes that now may not be the best time to talk about what is going on with their friendship.

Shannon is, however, excited to try and heal the group. This is going to be a hard sell, considering Emily has pre-made a list of things that Katie has lied about.  

The tension is thick, but Shannon is hell-bent on trying to get the group together, yet she chooses to keep herself away from Tamra during the activities. Half of the group plays the drums, while the others practice tai chi. 

Jenn feels nothing towards Tamra, but Tamra, on the other hand, explains that Jenn and Ryan have been so aggressive on social media. Jenn admits that she has thrown jabs and explains that she didn’t care how low she had to go, including utilizing some bloggers to pass along some legal info. 

Over some food, Katie invites the ladies to a hot pot lunch. Consider it an olive branch? Heather needs Katie to stop with the bloggers before they are able to move on, but apparently, these bloggers are Katie’s “friends” (huh?!). 

Katie points out that Jenn never called her a con artist, and so she feels like Jenn is getting manipulated by Gina and Emily. Emily explains that she had to hire an attorney to sue the ex-nanny for defamation of character, and so she is having a hard time being fake with Katie.

At the reunion, it was very clear that everyone had to come from a good place and quit digging up information. But Katie evidently forgot that. Tamra explains that Katie and her HUSBAND called a blogger with information on Tamra, yet Katie denies this. This allegation could be cleared up if Katie shows her DMs: Did the blogger contact her first?! But as luck would have it, Katie has no service (which Shannon backs up) and cannot show HER receipts. Is Katie innocent, or is she really trying to hide who made contact first?