When Part 1 of The Real Housewives of Orange County reunion premieres later tonight, on April 20, the cast will reconvene to rehash Season 16. And that means Shannon Beador will be forced to explain why she felt the need to bring up Nicole James‘ lawsuit against Heather and Terry Dubrow.
As you can see in the EXCLUSIVE clip below, things get tense when the subject of Nicole is brought up by a viewer at home. Host Andy Cohen says, “Shannon, Valerie from Aurora, Colorado says, ‘At the beginning of the season, you seemed really hopeful about the future of your friendship with Heather. So why mention the lawsuit with Nicole to Gina and Emily just as [Heather] was coming back into your life?”
Shannon claims that she “didn’t know it was the same girl” due to some plastic surgery Nicole had gotten done in the many years since they had seen each other. After showing Andy a photo of Nicole from 2003 to show how much she’s changed since then, Shannon said Gina Kirschenheiter was the one who pushed her to tell Heather about the supposed lawsuit that she knew about. However, Gina and her good friend, Emily Simpson, said Shannon knew exactly what she was doing when she told them about Nicole on camera.
“You know how this show works. You told two people on a show about two other people on a show at the very beginning of the season. Did you honestly think that that was never going to come up? That’s bulls*** to think that. You know what you did? You pulled the pin out of the grenade, and you handed it to Gina and me. That’s what you did,” Emily said.
And that won’t be the only drama of the night. Bravo’s episode description says, “The ladies of Orange County reconvene to rehash season 16. A discussion about Heather’s return reopens old wounds for Shannon. The narrative of Noella’s divorce is questioned. Emily confronts hard truths from her childhood. Gina and Shannon’s growing resentments of each other come to a head.”
Want more? Part 1 of the Real Housewives of Orange County reunion airs later tonight, April 20, at 9pm ET on Bravo.