Former Real Housewives Of Orange County star Vicki Gunvalson’s recent appearance on Nick Viall’s Viall Files podcast was largely unremarkable — until the end of the podcast, when Vicki’s hot mic caught her as she continued to speak.
Vicki was one of the longest-tenured Real Housewives stars, and appeared on RHOC for nearly 14 seasons before she was axed by Bravo in 2020, demoted to the dreaded category of “Friend.”
Still, Vicki is active in the general reality TV sphere, and she comes up quite a bit — almost always in something of a negative context.
In July, Vicki was sued in what was largely described as an “elder abuse” related claim, and in early August, she indicated in a statement that she was “outraged” by the allegations.
On literally the same day Vicki was issuing angry statements, we also reported that she reserved a significant amount of vitriol for Tamra Judge, after Tamra decided she no longer wanted to do a podcast with Vicki.
“Vitriol” is a strong word, but what Vicki said about Tamra is hard to describe in any other way:
She has vinegar running through her veins and a black heart.
Gee, it’s a real head scratcher as to why Tamra opted out of the project.
Tamra acknowledged the comments, called Vicki “so sour,” and said:
“[Vicki is] a side b**** on the show. She can’t even get a clementine, let alone an orange.”
Not content to let the beef go, Vicki shot back, calling Tamra a “nasty villainous person who likes hurting people.”
All of which is to say that accountability doesn’t seem to be her strong suit — and Vicki doesn’t seem very capable of brushing off even a small hit to her ego.
Which brings us to that hot mic moment recently on Nick Viall’s podcast, and Vicki’s subsequent claims that she was in control of the faux pas.
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Vicki Gunvalson seems desperate to get rid of Tamra Judge.
Vicki Launched Straight Into Bashing Viall Files
On Tuesday, December 3, a clip of Vicki’s “hot mic” moment was posted on Reddit.
On r/BravoRealHousewives, a fan shared a video of Vicki signing off from her Viall Files appearance … or so she thought.
Vicki said “okay, bye … bye” — and in the same breath, she instantly began grumbling about the appearance in an unintentional cringefest:
It was genuinely stunning how quickly Vicki went from a sunny goodbye to eviscerating the podcast and its hosts, who were still listening in the studio.
They looked mortified, and it was uncomfortable to watch.
As the camera shifted from Vicki’s face to the umbrella under which she sat – this all occurred between the 0:05 and 0:06 mark – she began speaking to someone off camera.
Much of what she said was unintelligible in the middle, but her initial comments and subsequent ones were audible, and US Magazine transcribed them:
“‘That was a favor to her dad,’ Gunvalson was then immediately overheard telling her travel companion, boyfriend Michael Smith.
“‘He’s got 7 million views.’ It is unclear whose father the reality TV star was referring to. ‘He has his own network, his own show … I’ve never heard of him.'”
Vicki and her “travel companion” continued talking, and right after she called Nick “Nick Viles,” she seemed to realize she hadn’t hung up — someone in the studio made a “cut it” gesture, and the call finally ended.
TMZ spoke to Vicki on Wednesday, and unsurprisingly, she claimed she had to “approve” the hot mic portion before Viall Files could air it.
Vicki maintained that she “gave her blessing [to] Nick’s podcast team to use the now-viral recording,” and that Nick “reached out before making the clip public” — seeming to imply her permission was necessary.
Vicki also acknowledged the hot mic mishap in an Instagram Reel on Wednesday, which featured snippets of her saying “you guys owe me on this one,” and “I’m doing this, and I don’t want to be doing this right now,” both things she said when she was fully aware her mic was live.
In the comments, Nick said: “Never change, Vikki.”
- TMDB User Rating
- 55
- Release Date
- March 21, 2006
- Main Genre
- Reality
- Creator(s)
- Scott Dunlop
- Cast
- Tamra Judge , Heather Dubrow , Shannon Storms Beador , Gina Kirschenheiter , Emily Simpson , Jennifer Pedranti , Alexis Bellino
- Seasons
- 18
- Writers
- Scott Dunlop
- Network
- Bravo
- Streaming Service(s)
- Bravo , E! , Peacock
- Franchise(s)
- The Real Housewives
- Showrunner
- Scott Dunlop
