It’s a case of dueling girls’ trips on this episode of the Real Housewives of Orange County. Gina, Emily, Shannon, and Heather head to La Quinta, where we get to see a Housewife of seasons past: Elizabeth Vargas. Tamra invites Katie, Jenn, and Alexis to her Big Bear house, where we get to see grown women dressed in bear onesies. But despite the location, the drama still follows. Gina finds herself in hot water with Heather AND Emily, and Alexis shares that Johnny J. has video footage of Shannon the night of her DUI.… What he plans on doing with said footage is in question.
Heather and Emily meet to discuss the dinner from hell the night before. It was not just Tamra and Shannon clashing, but also Emily pointing out Jenn’s lack of “integrity.” Emily explains that if Jenn owes money to people, then why would she be walking around wearing a (broken) Rolex?! Not a good look. Why Emily cares about Jenn’s financial decisions is beyond me, but here we are.
Jenn and Tamra head to the beach and Jenn talks about her beef with Emily. Jenn is aghast that Emily would insinuate she owes people money and wonders if Emily just thinks this is funny. Jenn also lets Tamra know that Gina was talking about how Tamra has changed Emily for the worse. This will def come back to bite Gina.
In the meantime, Gina shops with Katie, who is hungover from the night before. Katie is a little wary of her friendship with Gina now despite Gina’s apology for this Heather paparazzi situation. Gina admits that Heather is being cold and distant, and she’s not wrong with her vibes. Heather lets Emily know she feels betrayed by Gina and she has a lot of questions. However, she will not allow Gina to use this Travis thing as an excuse for her lousy friend behavior.
Shannon joins Gina and Katie and shares that she got another letter stating she owes John $75,000, plus lawyers’ fees. This also means Alexis has now been involved in two lawsuits against Shannon. On top of that, Shannon is unsure where she stands with Tamra after the night before, but Tamra is tired of Shannon’s excuses. According to Tamra, Shannon acts like the victim.
After seeing Shannon’s tired face, Gina blurts out, “You know I have the listing to Elizabeth Vargas’ house in La Quinta,” so Gina is using this as a getaway for Shan and to check on the house. Katie lets Gina and Shannon know that she cannot come as she will be going to Tamra’s in Big Bear, and so begins the great divide. Luckily, Heather will attend the La Quinta trip after Emily invites her, but she worries things may be weird with Gina.
Emily is driving Shane’s truck for group A (La Quinta). Shannon is bringing a crockpot full of chili, and Heather is bringing her own little grill. Gina explains that she doesn’t want the girls to ruin everything she worked so hard to stage, but it’s a little late for that. Heather’s okay with being in the back — further away from Gina — and I am happy to see that they all abided by Shane’s rule of not eating in the truck. Hello, Jack in the Box!
Group B (for Big Bear) piles into Tamra’s truck for the road trip, and they are trapped in an Alexis information overload about Johnny J. Think Scheana talking about Rob hanging a TV. You get the idea. Tamra’s place is super quaint, and she brings each of the ladies to their rooms, where the teddy bear onesie jammies are located.
Over in La Quinta, Elizabeth is there to greet the ladies, and it’s a blast from the past seeing her on our screens once again. This listing is HUGE for Gina, as the price tag is massive, but Elizabeth is wary of leaving this group free in the house.
Meanwhile, in Big Bear, Alexis doesn’t know which shoe goes on the right foot as she preps for snowtubing, which is all you need to know really. Once at the top of the hill, Alexis screeches as she heads down, and this gives the women a reprieve from her talking for a few minutes.
Heather and Emily prep the mini grill, and Shannon busies herself in the kitchen. Evidently, this girls’ trip has gone wild since they decided to change their shirts into matching girls’ trip shirts right there on camera. When Heather drops something on the newly staged carpet, Gina feels like she is doing it on purpose. And when Emily spills her drink, Gina worries that her commission check is basically out the window.
Right before the ladies head out in Big Bear, Johnny J. makes an appearance via FaceTime. Alexis is not shy talking about their sex life in front of everyone, and when Tamra walks over to say hello, she admits that John looks like 150 pounds of weight has been lifted off of his shoulders — a nod to his break up with Shannon. Ouch.
Speaking of Shannon, she does a good job of stirring the pot when she sits Emily down. She lets her know that Gina and Katie feel like Emily has been upset and angry lately. Shannon states that Gina said before her dinner, Emily was “so far up Tamra’s a*s that she became more aggressive or meaner.” Emily denies this and feels betrayed by Gina, her so-called bestie. According to Emily, Gina dug her own grave since both Heather and Emily are mad at her.
Emily reenters the kitchen with quite the ‘tude, not hiding her anger toward Gina at all. Shannon claims she didn’t know telling Emily this would cause such tension, but Gina knows something is up. Gina feels like this house is turning against her, and Shannon sits seemingly perplexed by Emily’s anger.
As the La Quinta crew chows down on dinner, Emily asks Gina, “You said… that I’m mean and I’ve changed…?” Emily goes on to say that Gina is the one changing since she was ready to throw Katie, her new pal, out after the Heather stuff. Gina promises that she thought Katie was a good girl, but Heather claims that Katie fed her bull information. And this is when Heather hijacks the fight.
Gina’s motives are questionable, but Heather explains that these untrue rumors affected her children. Hearing about this fake information was a lot, but Shannon making up a rumor about Gina and CPS is not comparable to calling the paps. Gina feels like she can never make mistakes. Emily points out that Gina called Katie months later to squash the paparazzi rumor, but Gina is claiming it took her 10 minutes to try and get Katie to stop talking about it.
In downtown Big Bear, the ladies sit down for an Italian dinner, and Katie talks about her Asian flush and how she feels hung out to dry by Gina. Tamra makes it clear to Katie that Gina set her up in this situation, but Gina promises she is not lying. Heather continues to feel betrayed by Gina since Gina believed “that girl” Katie over her. Gina continues to promise that Katie is lying (which is not Katie’s story). In the end, Heather needs more action from Gina, so she will wait and see what happens.
Post Big Bear dinner, the grown women don their onesies and start trying to help Jenn with her finances the only way they know how: OnlyFans. Jenn proceeds to stick her toe in pie while photos are snapped, and Tamra then sucks the toes clean. Gross, but if I had to see it, you have to relive it, too.
Jenn wonders when Alexis will stop gunning for Shannon, and Alexis explains that Shannon essentially ruined Johnny’s reputation. According to Alexis, Johnny doesn’t “have a bad bone in his body” since he has helped her grieve the passing of her late mother. Alexis threatens to pull out “horrific” videos of Shannon on the night of her DUI. She then tells the ladies that if Shannon doesn’t stop lying, Johnny will expose them. Side note: If Shannon was that drunk in these videos, and Johnny let her leave, doesn’t that make HIM look bad, too?! Wait… is this blackmail?
