It’s the franchise that started it all. The Real Housewives of Orange County kicked off on March 21, 2006 on Bravo with the simple premise of following the personal and professional lives of a group of women residing in an exclusive enclave of Southern California. That straightforward conceit proved to be such a hit with fans that the show expanded into an entire The Real Housewives television universe, with 11 spin-off series in cities across the U.S., as well as 21 international editions like The Real Housewives of Dubai.
And along with being the O.G. of basically an entire genre of reality TV, RHOC has also gifted viewers with plenty of dramatic feuds and memorable meltdowns over the course of seventeen seasons. The show’s eighteenth season is scheduled to premiere on Bravo on July 11, 2024, with new housewife Katie Ginella joining long-running cast members like Tamra Judge, Heather Dubrow and Shannon Storms Beador. And we can already bet that the new episodes will have even more fiery additions to add to the list, but in the meantime, here are the 10 best fights in The Real Housewives of Orange County history.
Best fights from The Real Housewives of Orange County
10. Vicki vs. the van driver (Season 2)
Yes, the majority of the show’s most famous fights have occurred between fellow cast members, but this Season 2 blow-up featured original cast member Vicki Gunvalson (who departed the main cast after Season 13 but has popped up for guest appearances in Seasons 17 and 18) at her most “Karen,” screaming at a lowly employee of an airport shuttle service over the phone. "I said 12 bags, six people," she roared in the now-iconic scene. "We are going on a cruise for two and a half weeks. This is not funny! You have a little family van!” The outburst would prove to be a mere amuse bouche to the feast of freakouts that Vicki would unleash in her nearly two decades on the reality show.
9. Sarah vs. Heather’s cake (Season 7)
Equal parts glamorous and petty, this argument that Heather Dubrow later dubbed “the dumbest fight ever” all revolved around a fondant cake bow. At the end of RHOC’s seventh season, Heather threw a party to celebrate legally changing her last name to Dubrow, during which a particularly peckish Sarah Winchester—a friend of Alexis Bellino and Gretchen Rossi—prematurely ate the decorative bow off a cake before it was served to the rest of the party guests. “She goes and defiles my cake?” Heather hilariously descended into melodrama, which escalated to the point where a tearful Sarah was eventually asked to leave the Dubrow home.
8. Tamra vs. Simon in the back of the limo (Season 5)
Sometimes reality TV can get almost too real, such as during this brutal marital spat between Tamra and her then-husband Simon Barney in the Season 5 finale. The bickering began long before the couple entered the limo that would take them to the end-of-season cast party, with Simon disparaging Tamra for her choice of dress for the event. But things escalated quickly between the pair until Tamra exploded on her hubby, yelling: “You’re a nasty, vile person…I want a divorce! F*** you!” Though the couple tried to put on a happy face for the party, they would indeed end up divorcing a year later in 2011.
7. Vicki vs. Tamra’s opinions (Season 9)
“That’s my opinion!” Tamra’s opinionated outburst has taken over the Internet in the decade since it aired during the ninth season’s reunion special back in 2014. When reunion host Andy Cohen asked castmate Vicki Gunvalson about her ex-boyfriend Brooks Ayers—you know, the one who faked having cancer and told Vicki’s daughter that she deserved to be hit—Tamra Judge rightfully dubbed the dude “not a good guy,” a criticism that Vicki took issue with. But then Tamra unleashed her very emphatic, and very loud, retort, which quickly went down in meme history.
6. Kelly vs. Emily’s husband (Season 13)
Joining RHOC in Season 11, Kelly Dodd was a fiery addition to the show and that intensity was very much on display during this Season 13 spat. While at an event at Tamra Judge’s home, Kelly was already ticked off at Vicki Gunvalson’s boyfriend Steve Lodge for allegedly talking about her in the press. After she confronted Steve at the party, the man who had been standing next to him—who, unbeknownst to Kelly, was castmate Emily Simpson’s husband Shane—defended Steve, which just fueled Kelly’s ire even further. “You’re a f***ing dork, that’s what you are. You’re a loser,” Kelly told Shane, before going back to the other women to badmouth him. The awkwardness of Kelly calling Shane a “little bitch” directly to his wife’s face segued into sheer anger, as Emily had to be held back while screaming in Kelly’s face: “You don’t talk to my husband like that. Get her the f***away from me. I will f***ing kill you.”
5. Vicki vs. Slade and Gretchen at ‘80s night (Season 7)
There have been many ridiculous rumpuses on RHOC, but few have featured as absurd costuming as this one. While at Tamra’s ‘80s-themed Bunco Party—and dressed in neon spandex with teased hair—Vicki confronted a mullet-wigged Slade Smiley for calling her “Miss Piggy” during his stand-up routine. After storming out of the soiree once, Vicki returned with her eyes “bulging out of her head,” Tamra noted. (“Nothing good is gonna come out of this,” the host worried.) Indeed, things quickly escalated, with Gretchen butting in to defend her then-boyfriend and the two women engaging in a vicious screaming match, all while looking like something out of a White Snake video.
4. Tamra vs. Vicki and Brooks (Season 7)
The two longest-tenured cast mates in The Real Housewives of Orange County’s history, Vicki Gunvalson and Tamra Judge shared a close friendship until Vicki’s relationship with then-boyfriend Brooks Ayers—whom Tamra was less than a fan of—caused a rift between the two women. It all came to a head in the finale episode of the seventh season, during which Tamra felt that Brooks instigated a fight between the BFFs, claiming that she had given Vicki the “evil eye.” The resulting argument offered up one of the most memorable meltdowns from the show, with Vicki roaring: “You’re supposed to be my friend! My friend, my soul mate, my sister!”
3. Shannon’s dinner plate vs. Kelly (Season 12)
The Real Housewives universe has seen tables flipped, drinks thrown and, uh, artificial legs tossed during heated arguments. And during a memorable 2017 episode of RHOC, Shannon Storms Beador kept up that hurling tradition during a disastrous ladies’ dinner at The Quiet Woman restaurant, when she flung a full plate of food at her nemesis Kelly Dodd in the middle of the meal. Though Kelly criticized the woman for “nitpicking” things to be upset about, the looks on the rest of the women’s face as she told Shannon to take “some hormones” was clue enough that things were about to get very messy.
2. Kelly and Vicki vs. Shannon and Heather in Ireland (Season 11)
Girls’ trips in The Real Housewives franchise are always rife with conflict, and the Orange County ladies’ sojourn to Ireland in RHOC Season 11 was especially chaotic. During a wee-hours shuttle ride to the Dublin Airport, the growing mean-girl animosity from the women towards Kelly Dodd bubbled over and caused the latter to lash out. “This is me at my breaking point,” Kelly proclaimed, as she furiously called Shannon “a drunk” and told her to shave her chin hair. “You take things to such a new low,” Heather chastised from the back of the bus, though that didn’t stop her from bitchily accusing Kelly of having “a psychotic break” and calling her trash. Soon, it seemed like every cast member was jumping in the ring, leaving us feeling very sorry for the shuttle driver.
1. Tamra’s wine glass vs. Jeana’s face (Season 6)
One of the most infamous squabbles on the show was a 2011 eruption between Tamra Judge and Jeana Keough, which was ignited when Tamra accused Jeana of speaking to the press about her divorce from Simon Barney. Jeana unhelpfully tried to douse the flames of the fight by threatening to throw Tamra into the pool, but Judge retaliated with a dousing of her own, pulling out a “cyst and deceased” (that would be “cease and desist,” natch) order and tossing her drink directly in Jeana’s face. It was such a shocking moment that it gave the internet that instantly meme-worthy reaction from Vicki Gunvalson’s daughter Briana Culberson.
