Does Vicki Gunvalson blame fiancé Steve Lodge for getting fired from The Real Housewives of Orange County?
The 58-year-old spoke out recently about her former job as a RHOC housewife, wondering if her beau — who’s not exactly reality TV material — contributed to her being let go from the show.
“Do you think — because Steve got in my life four years ago — that I became happy and content, so to speak, and not a lot of drama […] do you think that the producers and Bravo thought that my life is too normal now?” Vicki asked on her Whoop it Up With Vicki podcast.
“You are not normal,” Steve chimed in. “If you had a camera following you around everyday it would be the #1 show in the nation.”
“Steve’s on the boring level, he’s not a ‘whoop it up’ kind of guy,'” Vicki stated. “You don’t know how to ‘whoop it up’ I’ve tried to teach you. I think Bravo might have thought of him as ‘He’s bringing Vicki’s personality down.’”
Steve went on to explain how the network “[doesn’t] like conservatives” and Vicki added to that sentiment by noting how it may have not been a great fit for a left-leaning network and audience.
“I might have blamed him a couple of times,” Vicki admitted. “I thought, ‘You’re the reason why, because you’re not controversial!’ He plays a very safe lane, and I love that about him, but it might not be very good for TV. That’s okay – it is what it is.”
The Coto Insurance owner added that she’s not necessarily blaming him, but does recognize that his M.O. might not be what Bravo was looking for, compared to her past drama with, say, a Brooks Ayers.
“Am I blaming Steve for me getting fired? The answer’s ‘no,’ but I think he’s very very safe lane and very conservative and that doesn’t bode well with a very liberal network,” Vicki continued. “Steve is very vocal about his political viewpoints and that may not have been very good for me.
Vicki added how she’s aware she got “expensive” for Bravo in addition to her relationship with Steve being pretty placid, and also claimed that she never wanted to be a housewife for the fame.
“I didn’t like the fame,” she remarked. “I’m still very insecure, you know, I wanna be skinnier, I wanna be prettier, I’ve had my face done, I’ve had my nose done, I’ve had my chin implanted because Slade [Smiley] called me ‘Miss Piggy,’ so, I am insecure […] I like being very private and quiet. But … it was different when you throw yourself out there for 15 years — you gotta be prepared!”
The mother of two also discussed other Real Housewives noting how she was sometimes a bit worried for some of them who’ve become hooked on the whole enterprise.
“That’s what scares me a little bit about this whole reality TV [world], because one day it will end for them,” she stated. “[A]nd if that’s their identity, then they’re gonna have a really hard time adapting to the new normal.”
Photo Credit: Astrid Stawiarz/Bravo
