Real Housewives of Orange County Season 17, Episode 12 Recap: Pumpkins and Paparazzi

Real Housewives of Orange County recap
(Photo by: Casey Durkin/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

We had comedy gold during the last episode of the Real Housewives of Orange County. The fourth wall was continuously broken as Shannon Beador kept storming off set while planning her fiesta. First, it happened when Heather Dubrow denied being the main culprit behind gossiping about her relationship with John Janssen. Her next walk off was her conversation with Emily Simpson when Emily called her Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Surely Shannon’s mic had to be broken from being thrown on the ground so many times.

Due to the drama, Emily, Heather, and Gina Kirschenheiter skipped Shannon’s party. Emily hosted a gala for the CA Innocence project, and Heather dreamt of diving into a vault full of gold coins like Scrooge McDuck due to the future sale of her home. However, Shannon pulled up her Jimmy Choo straps and the fiesta was on. The group had fun until Jennifer Pedranti got peeved about Shannon’s tale of saving Gina’s kids from CPS during her DUI arrest. Jenn went to Gina’s and spilled the tea the next day. Looks like it’s going to be another season of Shannon vs Gina!

We’re in the money!

Dreams do come true for the Dubrow family. Heather had a premonition they would sell their home for $60 million dollars, and several months later the deal was done for a mere $55 million. Million Dollar Listing agent Josh Altman informed Heather and Terry Dubrow their home would be the third largest sale in Orange County history, all they needed was a done deal. Three minutes later Josh ran back to deliver the good news that the deal was done! Heather popped her bottle of 2012 Dom and Terry was already on his phone purchasing a G6.

Meanwhile, Taylor Armstrong called up the group to invite everyone to a fall festival party. She wanted to carve pumpkins and hoped they wouldn’t stab each other with their carving tools. Good luck with that. Emily met up with Gina at a motorcycle shop. She too wanted to make her dreams a reality, and this one was to get her motorcycle license. As they shopped for a bike to rival Tamra Judge’s, Gina told Emily that Shannon was at it again with the CPS story. Each time Shannon told the story she upped the ante, and Gina noted she would be a murderer next. Emily threw some shade and said with Shannon’s one year of law school she should know CPS just doesn’t take kids away for a DUI. Boom!

Shannon was open and honest

Shannon was on a mission to prove everyone wrong as John finally spent the night at her home. Tamra arrived to witness the occasion and immediately wanted to notify Emily, Heather, and Gina of the breaking news. After John left, Shannon and Tamra shared Trader Joe’s snacks with Archie by their side. Shannon finally revealed her feelings about John, and said she was worried about their relationship. She and John hadn’t talked about marriage, or even gone on a trip together. She loved to communicate and he was an avoider. Still, there wasn’t enough red flags to send Shannon packing just yet.

While Shannon hoped to get married to her beau, that was the last thing on Jenn’s mind regarding Ryan Boyajian. After an outdoor workout with cute animals romping about, Jenn and Ryan got ready for a wedding. Ryan brought up the fact that he wanted to marry her. Jenn rolled her eyes and said she couldn’t get over that he was with another woman when they were on a break. Ryan got defensive and said she couldn’t hold that against him, but Jenn held strong and said she could. She was not ready to disappoint her kids again with another divorce. Ryan joked that he was ready to stay with Jenn and her boobies forever. What a keeper.

Another IMDb credit for the resume

Even though Tamra and Eddie Judge’s gym closed they still had to work out. As Eddie lifted weights, Tamra lifted the weight off her shoulder about her recent breakfast with Emily and Heather. She shared that they were out to bully Shannon. It didn’t seem that way in the clip however, when they told Tamra they wanted to make amends with Shannon. Tamra then poked fun at Heather and Terry’s Sears catalogue paparazzi photos in response to the rumors Terry cheated on Heather. Tamra quipped that Heather was not the A-lister she thought she was.

Per the breakfast with Tamra, Heather made good on her word and tried to make things right with Shannon. Heather was not a fan of small talk and went in hot without even saying hello. Someone let Heather know it’s okay to ease into a conversation. She told Shannon her goal was to resolve their issues. In their confessionals, Shannon said Heather’s violation of her vault was a slap in her face. To which Heather responded, that there was no vault because Shannon gave everyone the combination. Point for Heather!

Shannon brought up the fact that both Tamra and Emily told her Heather was going around town spilling the beans about her relationship with John. Heather denied it and said it was never her goal to talk about Shannon. She wondered if she would have to use the Men in Black mind eraser every time Shannon told her information about John. Heather turned on the waterworks and said she did not mean to stir things up and if she did she was sorry. Shannon gave a golf clap and noted this would be a good credit for Heather’s IMDb. Hey, she’s gotta up that resume for her move to LA.

I don’t recall

The pumpkin spice was extra spicy as Tamra got served some news on the way to Taylor’s fall festival party. Real Housewives alum Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave called Tamra to inform her that she said on their podcast that Heather’s paparazzi photos were staged as the paps do not go to the OC. Tamra joked thanks for the warning but secretly loved the tea she had to spill. 

Everyone was at the pumpkin patch sans Shannon. As the group divided up to pick out their pumpkins, Gina and Emily got to it asking what happened at Shannon’s fiesta with her CPS comment. Tamra and Taylor raised their right hand and said I do not recall over and over, while Heather coughed bullsh*t. Then Shannon arrived in her best Debbie downer mode. She made it known she was not a fan of fall or pumpkins. Not even pumpkin pie?

The ladies all did basic carvings and managed to not stab each other. That is, until Tamra told Shanon Jenn said Shannon claimed to save Gina’s kids from CPS. Shannon immediately told Jenn she would never say such a thing. Jenn thought she was in the upside down. How would she know the specific details if it never happened? Gina believed Jenn, however, Jenn was miffed that Tamra didn’t have her back as Tamra explained the situation to her the night that it happened. 

Shannon then turned the conversation to Gina talking about her relationship behind her back. She claimed just as Gina talked about her relationship out of concern, she talked about how she helped Gina with the lawyer out of concern. Shannon said she would never trash Gina. Tamra heard her cue and blurted Shannon’s comment about Gina’s boyfriend having a small penis. Shannon wondered when she would learn to keep her mouth shut around Tamra. Luckily the mood lightened, and Shannon and Gina agreed to stop talking about each other.

Paparazzi-gate

After the ladies were done having a classy conversation about pumpkins having a butthole, they headed over to another table for dinner. Heather sat down next to Tamra and aimed to have a friendly conversation which immediately backfired. Tamra decided the time was right to carve open paparazzi-gate. She informed Heather what Teddi said on the podcast. Heather gave her best hair toss and hearty laugh. She was shocked that anyone would believe they staged photos. Tamra stated that the paps don’t go to Disneyland. Heather then decided not to tell the “schadenfreude b*tches” about the sale of her home. 

Still, Heather wasn’t too angry as she invited the ladies to an upcoming launch party for the Fireside app. Tamra asked if it would be at her home and Heather said no. I sense Heather’s plan to keep the sale of her home a secret is not going to go well. The dinner ended with Emily noting there was a double standard that Shannon could say things about someone having a small penis, but no one could say that about her boyfriend. The ladies joked unless they said John’s penis was diamond encrusted and twenty-four carat gold. And with that it was pumpkin spice latte’s all around as the ladies finally had a laugh. 

Real Housewives of Orange County continues Wednesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.

TELL US – DO YOU BELIEVE TAMRA AND TAYLOR DO NOT REMEMBER SHANNON’S COMMENTS ABOUT CPS? DO YOU THINK THAT JENN SHOULD MARRY RYAN? DO YOU THINK HEATHER STAGED HER PAPARAZZI PHOTOS?

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