Gretchen Rossi will not be returning for the ‘Real Housewives of Orange County’ Season 20.
As the Bravo franchise gears up to begin production on its history-making 20th season, the cast is taking shape with most of Season 19’s ensemble intact.
According to Variety, the only other departure besides Rossi is Katie Ginella, who announced on January 9 via Instagram that she’d been fired.
Ginella’s exit wasn’t entirely surprising. The first Asian American woman cast on the show endured a disastrous season plagued by controversy. She was caught lying about making an illicit recording of castmate Shannon Beador and was accused of leaking show information to Bravo content creators. After failing a lie detector test on camera, she essentially stopped filming, reportedly at the producers’ request.
Rossi had returned to the franchise in Season 19 as a “friend” of the cast, brought in specifically to clash with her longtime rival Tamra Judge. The reality star was a full-time cast member from Seasons 4 through 8, and her feud with Judge only intensified during her time away from the show. While their enmity played out throughout Season 19, Judge gained the upper hand during the finale when Gina Kirschenheiter brought up a 2023 Twitter thread showing screenshots of Rossi allegedly liking transphobic, anti-abortion, and anti-vaccine posts.
Rossi’s reaction at the cast’s final dinner in Amsterdam appeared disoriented, and she offered a muddled response to the allegations. During the reunion episodes, she attempted to fight back, claiming she’d hired a cyber analyst who tied unspecified social media activity to Judge. However, she failed to produce concrete evidence either during the reunion or on Instagram afterward.
Despite Judge’s tumultuous Season 19, which saw her quit the show multiple times while being filmed, she’ll return for Season 20. Her comeback is tied to the storyline potential of reuniting the now-fractured “tres amigas” alongside Beador and Vicki Gunvalson. Executive producer Andy Cohen offered Gunvalson, the “OG of the OC,” an orange at BravoCon in November, making her the first confirmed cast member for the milestone season.
The rest of the Season 19 cast will return, including a newly engaged Kirschenheiter, Emily Simpson, Heather Dubrow, and Jennifer Pedranti.