New blood! The Real Housewives of Orange County will return with an unfamiliar face, as veteran Vicki Gunvalson has yet to begin shooting scenes for the new season, multiple sources confirm exclusively to Us Weekly.
“Vicki has not filmed yet,” a source revealed to Us.
Gunvalson responded to fan buzz of a demotion on Twitter on Saturday, February 9, writing, “Unless you hear it from me, then it’s simply a rumor. I am in negotiations.”
An insider revealed that the rest of the cast began shooting this month. That group will include newcomer Braunwyn Windham-Burke of Laguna Beach, California, the source confirms to Us.
Windham-Burke, who is married to tech center Channelstars CEO Sean Burke, describes herself as “a globe-trotting mom to seven amazing kids” on her blog, Barefoot in Heels.
The show’s season 14 lineup has been uncertain since the season 13 reunion, when Gunvalson accused castmate Kelly Dodd of doing cocaine. Dodd denied the claims at the time.
Though the two women called a truce by the end of the special, Dodd later threatened to leave the Bravo hit if the Coto Insurance founder remained on the series. “If they don’t do something to Vicki how could I go back … I’m not going to sell my soul for this ratchet liar!” Dodd replied to a fan’s Instagram comment on November 20.
Gunvalson took a jab of her own in December, claiming via Twitter that Dodd had no “job or career.” The latter hit back by accusing her frenemy of being envious of her life. “I’m sorry if you’re jealous, I just work smarter.. I hope you find happiness, peace and love Vicki#dontbejelly #donthate,” she wrote in a now-deleted Instagram post.
Tensions only escalated from there, with Dodd hinting that she wanted to fight her former pal. “I wish I could do that [to] someone we know!” she commented on a photo of Tamra Judge boxing her husband Eddie Judge in January. “But hit directly in the face,” she added.
Later that month, the TV personality slammed the entrepreneur’s plastic surgery, writing in a now-deleted comment on a photo of Gunvalson with Tamra and Shannon Beador, “That facelift Vicki got really did malfunction.”
Gunvalson told Us exclusively in July that she’d undergone a face-lift.
“I had a lot of fillers in my face and I didn’t feel like it was me anymore,” she said at the time. “I had too many doctors, too many different times say, ‘Let’s do this, let’s do that, let’s fill here, let’s do Voluma, let’s do Sculptra,’ and by the time I was done I looked in the mirror and was like, ‘I don’t even look like myself.’”
Bravo has declined to comment on any casting news.
Season 14 of the Real Housewives of Orange County will air on the network later this year.
