The season 15 of The Real Housewives of Orange County will revolve around the pandemic and politics provoked stress and division.
Slated to premiere on Oct. 7 at 9 pm on Bravo, RHOC will return with five regular cast members and one new face. The recurring cast members include Shannon Storms Beador, Kelly Dodd, Gina Kirschenheiter, Emily Simpson, and Braunwyn Windham-Burke, while the new cast member is Elizabeth Lyn Vargas, who will be divorced soon.
Production for the longstanding series kicked off in Feb., but the United States locked down to restrict the spread of COVID-19 just a few weeks later. Much to the relief of the fans, cameras didn’t stop rolling as the cast battled coronavirus and dealt with growing political tensions across the country.
As expected, sides are taken as the cast members come to grips with familiar realities for most Americans. Despite being cleanliness and health-centric, Beador tests positive for COVID-19, but the season begins in total bliss for her, as she spends time with boyfriend John Janssen in their new home in Newport.
Beador was on bad terms with Dodd, but she makes peace with her. This places her into hot water with a few of the ladies. The cast members are dealing with the pandemic and lockdowns with Beador expressing anxiety over health in the past.
As the still raging pandemic continues to claim millions of lives around the world, Beador’s stress level reaches an all-time high and leads to tension between her and John over their views about house rules with the children during the lockdown.
Regrettably, Beador and her three daughters have tested positive for COVID-19. Documenting her journey on her mobile phone, she posted a photo to her Instagram account. “This photo was taken pre-pandemic,” she wrote describing the photo.
“Today, we are COVID positive times 4. The girls and I are blessed to be quarantining in the same home (but isolating in separate rooms). A huge thank you to all of the medical personnel that has been patiently guiding us through this illness. Sending prayers to all of those affected.”
Beador recently announced that she is doing good and even dropped her daughter off at college. Windham-Burke, who participated in Bravo’s Race In America: A Movement Not a Moment, struggles to see eye to eye with some of the other cast members over her involvement in local protests and political views.
Kirschenheiter receives criticism for not joining the cast for a “quarantine happy hour.” Aside from that, she struggles with homeschooling, but her new relationship makes her happy.