Real Housewives of Orange County alum Gretchen Rossi has always attracted controversy. Gretchen was engaged to a much-older man, Jeff Beitzel, when she first joined the cast. After Jeff’s death, Gretchen started a relationship with serial Housewife-dater Slade Smiley during Season 5. None of her fellow RHOC co-stars were supportive of the match. If Gretchen hadn’t scored him, Slade was in danger of running out of Housewives to financially support him date.
When Gretchen proposed to Slade with the Bravo cameras rolling, it was both a cringe-worthy over-the-top stunt, and a desperate bid for Gretchen to keep her Housewife position. Gretchen had her man flown in by helicopter to the top of AT&T building, where Gretchen popped the question. If Slade had proposed, Gretchen would probably have been presented with a single rose and a candy ring pop.
