Season 10 of The Real Housewives of Orange County has been a long, strange ride. It finally looks like we’re going to get some explanations, though, especially regarding Brooks’ cancer. It’s been a controversial topic that Vicki’s done her best to dodge. But it’s finally time for her to give her friends (and the viewers) the answers they want in part three of the reunion.
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An Issue of Credibility
Briana’s still sitting on the couch, joining the ladies for the Brooks conversation. Host Andy Cohen says that Brooks blames Briana for his and Vicki’s break-up. Briana says that she was an innocent bystander who Brooks repeatedly offended, and if you want to say that she’s the reason because she only repeated what he did, then she’s willing to take that responsibility.
Now let’s get into it: Cancer Gate. Tamra says that as early as the beginning of the season, Brooks’ illness was questionable. Not even Eddie believed he had it. Heather says it’s a credibility issue because he’d lied about so many other things.
Tamra shares a story about how Vicki wanted to leave Donn in 2008 because she thought Brooks was dying of pancreatic cancer. But it turns out that he was lying about having cancer; he really hand pancreatitis, which is inflammation of the pancreas brought on by alcohol abuse. Tamra thinks that cancer is something that Brooks throws out there to get sympathy from people and manipulate them.
Vicki acknowledges that all of this is fishy, but she still believes he has cancer. She doesn’t think there’s enough proof for her not to believe him.
Andy spends some more time talking with Brooks in a one-on-one interview because clearly Brooks is too afraid to sit there and face these women at the reunion. He tells Andy he saw plenty of good, world-renowned doctors, just not Shannon’s doctor. He claims that the two ex-girlfriends who claimed he was lying about having cancer just had a vendetta against him. And perhaps most despicably, he blames Vicki for misspeaking to Briana about his “pancreatic cancer” situation.
Heather wonders how Vicki, someone she considers to be a smart person, didn’t figure this stuff out. And Meghan is personally insulted that she lost someone close to her because of cancer and Vicki has the stomach to just sit there and continue to lie.
Vicki maintains she doesn’t have enough proof to think that Brooks faked it, but Shannon says she does. She brings out a copy of her own CAT scan report from Newport Imaging and compares it to the wonky one Brooks showed the “doctor” on the show. She points out all of the inconsistencies and concludes that if Brooks said he had a CAT scan at this place, that is a lie.
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She Misspoke
We get more on Andy’s interview with Brooks. He continues to blame all of the inconsistencies with his and Vicki’s stories on Vicki “misspeaking.” She continues to defend him, yet he’s willing to blame her first thing.
There’s also the issue of the story involving Terry Dubrow. Vicki had told a bunch of people that she called Terry after Brooks was especially sick one night and Terry sent over a colleague to give him an IV. When this story is easily disputed by the Dubrows, it becomes clear to Vicki that she’s not getting out of this lie. She admits to fabricating that story so that the other women would feel more compassionate about Brooks’ illness. Brooks, in his interview, says that he can clear up all doubts by showing Terry his records and having him vouch for him. Guess what never happened? Brooks never contacted Terry or Heather about anything.
Shannon says it’s vile that she lied about that story, asking people to pray for him when he was never even sick. Meghan is still mad at all the times Vicki attacked her when she knew Brooks was lying. Vicki claims she was still with him when he got chemo, but when it comes down to it, she only ever waited in hospital waiting rooms and never actually saw him get treatment. Yet she still insists that she believes he has cancer.
No one can believe that she never knew he was lying. Tamra says she’s thrown both her and her daughter under the bus for the last three years and she’s chosen him over them. Andy asks Vicki if she’s scared of him and she nods her head yes. Briana claims that she’s seen Brooks get physical with her mom on more than one occasion and Vicki says the verbal abuse has continued even though they’ve broken up.
Andy wants to know why she’s sacrificed all of her relationships and gone through so much pain just to try and fix something that wasn’t right. Is it because she’s lonely? Does she have low self-esteem? Vicki admits that she’d thought it would be easier to try and fix things with Brooks than to find a new man. Shannon thinks that maybe this whole time, Vicki just didn’t want to know the truth. Vicki says that’s true because she doesn’t want to look like an idiot. And here comes Meghan with the left hook telling her she already looks like an idiot.
Then there’s the issue of Vicki being so nasty to Shannon, even when she suspected Brooks was lying. Shannon can’t believe that she said she deserved what she got when Ronda brought up her husband’s affair at Tamra’s baptism. Shannon said she never did anything to deserve that betrayal. Vicki seems unapologetic here, and I think this is exactly where she shows her true character. It would be so easy to apologize to your friend here (Ronda was so clearly out of line), but Vicki continues to try and blame Shannon’s (non-existent) conspiratorial behavior. Shannon really seems done with Vicki on this one. It’s clear she’s crossed a line that she’s not going to be able to come back from.
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What Does Your Gut Say?
Vicki continues to say that the reason she acted like she did was because she lost her mother. Meghan says just because she lost her mother doesn’t make it okay for her to lie about so many other things.
For the thousandth time, she claims she doesn’t know the real truth about Brooks. Tamra asks her what her gut says, and Vicki says her gut says that Brooks is lying.
Everyone stops because no one can actually believe she finally just admitted that. She and Briana make up a lot of excuses about how she was manipulated by Brooks to cover up for him. The ladies respect Briana for sticking up for her mom, but they don’t but it at all. They agree that Vicki admitting as much as she did is a step in the right direction, but it still doesn’t feel like the whole truth.
Vicki says that she feels duped, but she fell in love hard and it made her act differently than she normally would have. She says she ignored the red flags and got defensive with the ladies instead. The good news is that now she can start to pick up the pieces with her wrecked relationships, starting with Briana. She also says that she’ll never get back together with Brooks, something the rest of the ladies also don’t buy.
At the end of the day, no one is really satisfied with Vicki’s admission. Shannon is especially disappointed with her friendship with Vicki. Vick offers a half-hearted apology to Shannon, but she still claims she’s a loyal friend to her, which is pretty much garbage.
The ladies cheers to season 10 and send it on its way. What do you think? Is Vicki telling the truth?
(Image courtesy of Bravo)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
