Real Housewives of Orange County Season 18 Episode 4 Recap: Drinking and Driving

RHOC stars Emily Simpson and Heather Dubrow.
Photo Credit: Bravo Media

This week’s episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County, “Not My Cup of Tee,” was a doozy. Last week’s episode showed tensions still at an all-time high, and frankly, the women are still riled up. This week, Heather opened up about Terry’s stroke. The actress explained her idea of centering her thoughts around the “what was.” But instead of keeping her zen, she came face to face with the new girl, Katie. Here is your Real Housewives of Orange County, Season 18, Episode 4 recap.

The dive bar 

RHOC stars Katie Ginella and Jennifer Pedranti.
Photo Credit: Bravo Media

Okay, Tammy Sue—purposefully not inviting Shannon wasn’t nice. But Emily peeing in a bush was everything. Evidently, there is no time for peeing on a girls’ night out, and Emily is making sure to “streamline” the process. Katie, even though new, is my kind of girl. We finally get a chance to get to know her properly. One thing is clear: She is no fan of Heather. 

Is anyone up for a White Snake video?

RHOC stars Gina Kirschenheiter, Heather Dubrow, and Tamra Judge
Photo Credit: Bravo Media

As the drinks start to flow, Katie starts to explain that she has a friend who is evidently on speed dial for Kimmy K, and in charge of multiple paparazzi. Word on the street is that Ms. Fancy Pants likes to hire photographers to take pictures of her when she is out and about. Wanting to get to the bottom of this, Katie quizzes her friend, who seemingly confirms that, yes, Heather does do this. 

Tamra reminded fans that last year, Heather adamantly denied ever staging paparazzi photos, even though the picture in question looked like a prom pose. The whole argument is silly. It turns out that Heather alerted Mickey Mouse that she was headed to Disneyland. If that wasn’t enough, the “gift from God,” as Tamra puts it, has receipts in the form of screenshotted text.

Heather hates surprises, and she doesn’t like to be called a liar. I feel like Katie has just signed her death warrant. But all is fair in screenshots and Real Housewives, right? The night ends as you’d expect, with the drunk OC wives living out their dreams of Coyote Ugly dancing on a bar. 

Queen V returns 

Katie Ginella, Jennifer Pedranti, and Shannon Beador discussing the other women.
Photo Credit: Bravo Media

Leave it to Vicki to ignore the doctor’s orders and check herself out of the hospital with a staph infection because she is “very, very busy.” Reminds me of early 2020 when she was also an anti-vaxxer, but I digress. So, two of the Tres Amigas are still going ahead with their comedy show. For Vicki, it’s all about two- Lucy and Ethel, Thelma and Louise. Vicki is over what used to be the Tres Amigas and even doubled down, saying Tamra “has vinegar in her veins and cold heart. Good riddance.” 

Okay, that statement had me saying “Good God” out loud and looking for the holy water. But there is something so special about seeing The OG of the OC back on my small screen. Shannon reveals to Vicki that she received a legal letter from John about her facelift lawsuit. The man is claiming he is owed 75k! Thankfully, Vicki steps in to set the record straight, noting, “You paid for all the upgrades on the flights, all the clothing, all his paraphernalia, and that’s only the stuff I know. He’s a jerk.” Thanks Cancer Scammer, for coming through!

You may be asking why Vicki didn’t warn her friend. Well, she didn’t feel it was her place. I’m not holding my breath that Dos Amigas pans out.

Drinking and driving

RHOC stars at Heather Dubrow's party.
Photo Credit: Bravo Media

As I said, Katie has won me over, despite her feeble attempts at attacking Heather. As she readies herself to host her First Lady’s Day of golf with the working title, Drinking and Driving, I don’t get the impression she is ready for the drama. But that is just par (pun intended) for the course. The sport of golf is conservative: there is a certain etiquette that is expected. So, I’m not sure why Katie thought the day would go smoothly. But she did have an offering of Heather’s favorite food, hotdogs, so there was a chance. 

But leave it to Tamra to beat Katie to the punch. As soon as putt-putt ended, Tammy Sue was tattling like her life depended on it. Now that’s a proper Real Housewife! If Katie was trying to prove she wasn’t a threat, she failed. As Shannon lamented, “Katie, today will be a big learning lesson.”

Immediately, Heather goes in hard, claiming there is a lot of untruths going on. 

Fancy Pants isn’t happy

RHOC star Heather Dubow forced to defend herself again.
Photo Credit: Bravo Media

But Katie isn’t thwarted and proceeds to count the times Heather did her dirty, including ignoring her at Sutton’s Christmas party. Which, is weird but whatever. According to Heather, the new girl isn’t even a blip on her radar. But Katie drives her point home simply by stating, “I know you lied.”

In an attempt to save face, Heather persists, saying, “Show me the proof. On the lives of my children, I have never called paparazzi.” Now, here’s the thing. Why would Kate lie? She has nothing to gain. But I’ve come to find that when one person rants and raves about their innocence, they are usually hiding something. Also, Katie might be doing too much at this point, none of her “news” is earth-shattering.

And the proof is in the pudding. Bravo did Fancy Pants dirty as they showed the text which showed that Katie wrote, “Settle this for me. Did Heather Dubrow call paps to come take pics of her and her husband in public?” The one-word response was “Yes.”

 Real Housewives of Orange County continues on Thursdays at 9/8c on Bravo.

TELL US – DO YOU THINK HEATHER IS LYING ABOUT THE PHOTOS? WILL KATIE BE ABLE TO STAND HER GROUND?

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