Credit: Bravo
Elizabeth Vargas believed her spot on Real Housewives of Orange County was safe as she reveals she had a contract in place prior to her firing before also weighing in on Braunwyn Windham-Burke‘s departure and the new cast.
In her first interview following the RHOC cast shakeup, Elizabeth revealed she wasn’t at all worried about her spot on the show when asked if she was “on edge” when Andy Cohen first teased a potential reboot.
“No. [I] 100 percent thought I was coming back. Never even for a minute questioned it,” she proclaimed on the Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef podcast. “I mean, I even talked to other producers. I talked to other people, other everything, and my contract was still in place. I guess that just shows you that when the almighty dollar is [king], the end result is everyone’s disposable.”
Elizabeth went on to say that certain producers even congratulated her for being asked to return for a sophomore season. But then, she got a call from her manager, who delivered the shocking news of her firing.
“I heard a week before that I got it, so I prepared,” she shared. “The night before they announced everybody, I got a call that day from my manager. And he was in Mexico sipping margaritas in a pool, and he’s like, ‘Just got engaged,’ and I’m like, ‘Great.’ And he goes, ‘And by the way, you didn’t get picked up. Sorry, I don’t know how to tell you this, but they pulled your contract when a week before they had already solidified the contracts.'”
“They just pulled the whole contract,” she continued. “So, I mean, that contract included my Vargas Vodka in there for so many years and all sorts of stuff. So it was interesting that they just pulled it.”
As for why her contract was allegedly pulled at the last minute, she doesn’t have the answer to that, but she claims she could fight it if she wanted to do. However, she’s seemingly not interested in going up against the network.
“I could probably do something about something,” the Edge Music founder explained. “But I’m not going to because I’m going to go out on top, and I don’t feel like ruffling any feathers.”
Also during the interview, Elizabeth admitted she’s happy Braunwyn was also fired before teasing that the mother-of-seven is harboring a deep, dark secret that she’s determined to keep hidden.
“I’m really happy she was let go, not just for her, but for her entire family cause there was some dark stuff happening in the background that only the cast knew was happening to her family,” she spilled. “And she did everything she could to make sure it did not come out to the public what was happening to her family. And I will never expose what was happening, but it was a lot of dark stuff.”
She then referenced what Andy had to say following Braunwyn’s firing as he explained he didn’t believe the show was the “healthiest spot” for her family.
“It was a big problem what was happening, and I don’t think Bravo wanted to be responsible for that,” Elizabeth added.
Though Elizabeth is ready to move on following her one season on the show, she admitted she has had some tough moments, including a recent “grumpy” incident.
“I was really grumpy and b*tchy the other day, and I’m like, ‘F*ck this,’ and unfollowed everybody,” she laughed. “I’m like, ‘I don’t wanna watch all this Bravo sh*t!’ And then I said, ‘You know what, Elizabeth, you’ll probably watch next season, so refollow everybody.'”
As for the season 16 cast, she said she believes they’ll make an “awesome” show, but she doesn’t think Noella Bergener will mesh very well with the other ladies.
“I think [Noella’s] gonna clash with all of them. She might get along with Heather Dubrow eventually, but I think she’s gonna clash with all of them. I know her pretty well and I can’t see…. yeah,” she laughed. “That’s going to be interesting.”