It's tough to be the new girl in town! That's the harsh lesson Meghan King Edmonds learned during the July 27 episode of Bravo's Real Housewives of Orange County. Not only did the newest Housewife struggle with managing her distant husband, Jim Edmonds, and her troublemaking teenage new stepdaughter, Haley, she also had to deal with a lot of judgment from her fellow OC Housewives on a wide variety of topics ranging from how she ran her game night to how she acts in her marriage.
How did Meghan handle herself and all the other Housewives? Read Us Weekly's recap to find out!
Meghan Edmonds
Edmonds was still reeling from last week's revelation that her stepdaughter Haley is not taking school seriously, and tried to regain order by putting new rules into place. Haley immediately balked at the guidelines, claiming that it was ridiculous to not be allowed to go out after 11 p.m. on school nights, and questioning Edmonds on what she was supposed to do if she wanted to sleep over her friends' houses. Edmonds did her best to seem like a tough and well-put-together stepmother, but it was obvious that she was struggling to find her place is in Haley's life.
Not making things better was the fact that Meghan's husband, Jim Edmonds, was constantly working in St. Louis. She admitted to her shocked castmates that she only spends about half of her time with her new spouse since he's always out traveling, and they're currently spending a month apart from each other because she decided to go on the Housewife trip to Tahiti.
She felt guilty about going to Tahiti, since it wasn't a necessary trip, but hoped that when she returns she and Jim can bond over a lunch excursion. Maybe then she'll have the chance to fully vent about the drama she got mucked up in this week with her new OC-based friends!
Best Moment: Proving that she has never seen any episode in the Real Housewives franchise, Edmonds optimistically claimed that she hoped that her game night would lift everyone's spirits up and make them happy. It was almost disheartening to see how wrong she was about that idea. Then again, you are not a true Housewife until your first disastrous game night, so congratulations to Edmonds for reaching this important milestone!
Heather Dubrow
Dubrow remained Edmonds' biggest ally in the OC, and happily teamed up with her for the couples' game night since her husband, Terry Dubrow, also had to skip out on the event for work reasons. Not only did Heather help Edmonds out by playing the Newlywed Game with her, she also tried to keep Vicki Gunvalson from fleeing the event early.
When Dubrow wasn't helping her new friend survive the rough waters of Housewife initiation, she was impressing people with her skillful packing. After a day trip with her husband to buy some new $400 shirts for the big journey to Tahiti, Dubrow set to work on her intense packing process. The shoes were separated, the clothes were rolled, and every outfit was planned, laid out, and documented. There was no room for error in Dubrow's plans to take Tahiti by storm!
Best Moment: At the start of her shopping trip with Terry, they pulled out a bottle of champagne to drink together in the car. As soon as she heard the cork pop, Dubrow happily sighed, “Ah! My favorite sound!” When all is said and done, Dubrow and “champs” may be the one true pairing of Orange County.
Shannon Beador
Beador and her husband, David, continued to work on their shaky marriage. This week that meant going back to seeing the counselor from their season premiere retreat. As Shannon cried over her inability to stop thinking negative thoughts about David and his mistress, David expressed his frustration with counseling in general, saying that it only seemed to be making things worse at home. The counselor implored them to keep trying and that they were making progress, but they still had a long way to go toward fixing their communication methods.
That communication gap was evident during Edmonds' couples game night, when the Beadors came together for the most awkwardly tense Newlywed Game pairing ever documented. When the question “When I want to [blank], my wife wants to [blank]” came up, Shannon laughed and said, “When David wants to sleep, I want to make whoopee!” The laughter quickly died when David went for incredible honesty with his response, “When I want to sleep, Shannon wants to talk!”
She was noticeably upset, and David's next answer made things worse: He claimed Shannon had become less romantic since they were married. It's hard to keep your negative thoughts at bay when you can't get through a game night unscathed!
When Shannon was not upset with David, she was saving her ire for Miss 30-Year-Old herself, Edmonds. Even though Shannon was invited to an Edmonds event this time around, she still hadn't forgiven Edmonds for rescinding the charity event invitation weeks ago.
As soon as Beador arrived and noticed that Edmonds was single for couples' game night, she immediately gossiped about how strange it was to Housewives friend Lizzie Rovsek. “I can see having a girls night when my husband wasn't around, but a game night?” she questioned. Edmonds noticed Beador's attitude and immediately accused her of having “judgey eyes” — which apparently meant showing off her “full iris” while talking to the newbie. Beador balked at the claim and added it to her list of grievances against the newbie Housewife. “First, I'm not charitable… and now I have judgey eyes?” Beador wondered.
Fellow Housewife Tamra Judge got the last word on the issue saying that Beador didn't have “judgey eyes” but she did have “crazy” ones. Maybe Edmonds will learn the difference soon!
Best Moment: During game night, Edmonds excitedly announced her plans to get her first Botox injection. Immediately Beador was confused by the idea, since she thought the 30-year-old did not look near ready enough to take such drastic measures with her appearance. Edmonds attempted to prove that she needed Botox by showing Beador her first wrinkle, a minuscule line between her eyes that Beador really couldn't see. What Meghan really had was “an expression,” Beador quipped. Beador's eyes may not be judgey, but her words certainly can be!
Tamra Judge
Judge continued her streak of bathroom-related embarrassments tonight. After bringing home used toilet paper in her underwear in Napa, Judge followed that incident up by nearly pooping herself in the car on the way to the hotel in Tahiti. Gunvalson was horrified and warned Judge not to fart, because she was wearing light-colored clothes. Meanwhile, Judge moaned in the backseat because she wasn't sure she was going to make it to the nearest restroom. Blessedly, disaster was averted.
Best Moment: In an extremely self-aware talking head, Judge admitted that this trip could not be any worse for her than last season's Bali excursion, since that was when all the Housewives teamed up to take her down. This led to a great flashback clip of the dinner where Tamra got up and literally ran away screaming, “You will never see my face again! Goodbye!” Hopefully the rest of this trip will provide at least one moment as iconic as that.
Vicki Gunvalson
Gunvalson is the OG of the OC, and you better not forget it! Tonight she was in pure alpha form asserting her dominance over newbie wife, Edmonds.
It all started at Edmonds' game night, where Gunvalson not only arrived late, but then cut out early, claiming that she was tired. It was an easy claim to believe since Gunvalson made sure everyone noticed her fake snoring as the instructions for the games were being laid out.
Things did not improve from there, because the next day Gunvalson called up Judge to gossip about how weird it was that Edmonds had a couples' game night planned for an evening where her husband wasn't even home. Latching onto that, Gunvalson decided that the Edmonds marriage was troubled because they weren't spending enough time together in their newlywed stage.
After making this deduction, Gunvalson thought it was best to let Edmonds know all the ways in which her marriage might be failing. When the Housewives went out to get a cocktail on their first day in Tahiti, Gunvalson questioned Edmonds about why she spent so much time in Orange County when her husband was always in St. Louis. Edmonds stated that she needed to stay here to take care of Haley since her mother was dying of cancer, and Gunvalson questioned that too, asking her what the boundaries in the relationship were.
Edmonds quickly became frustrated, and noted that she felt like she was being “indicted” by Gunvalson. Things remained tense during a shopping trip the next day. As Heather Dubrow considered buying herself a pearl necklace, Gunvalson began to question whether it was okay for a wife to buy something without her husband knowing — especially when that wife doesn't work. Deeply offended, Edmonds tried to advocate for herself by pointing out that she worked hard as a stay-at-home mom, a claim that Gunvalson blew off.
“I'm just saying if I were the husband and I was making all that money, I would be angry if I came home and saw that my wife, who doesn't make a paycheck, bought a Louis Vuitton bag!” Vicki argued.
At this point, Edmonds became frustrated, as she felt that Gunvalson was accusing her of being a gold digger. “Maybe she's just jealous of the lifestyle I have,” Meghan reflected later. Besides, she'd been a medical sales representative, a lucrative position Gunvalson was surprised she'd given up. Edmonds tried to argue that the job was no longer feasible with her OC lifestyle, but Gunvalson wasn't having it.
“What is she going to do when Jim Edmonds leaves her for wife number four?” Vicki questioned in a later interview. Seems like these two are not going to be friendly anytime soon!
Best Moment: Gunvalson was concerned with one thing and one thing only when she arrived in Tahiti: finding a place to “whoop it up.” Sadly, while “whoop it up” is a common part of her vernacular, it is not a phrase that transcends all cultures. As a result, she had an awkward encounter with the lady checking her in who had no idea what Gunvalson was talking about as she repeatedly asked her what the best places were to “whoop it up” with her gals. Better luck next time!
Tell Us: What do you think of Vicki's accusations?
