Credit: Bravo
Emily Simpson and Gina Kirschenheiter revealed they “were not invited” to film Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip, which will celebrate the iconic stars of the franchise as it approaches its 20th anniversary. Emily shared how she feels about it and said they’re at the “bottom of the totem pole.”
Some fans have accused Emily and Gina of being ‘producer plants’ on Real Housewives of Orange County, meaning they’ll do whatever producers ask to stir up drama. This is why, according to the theory, they’re favored in the editing room. But their absence on RHUGT perhaps is a sign that they aren’t as favored as people think.
“Did you both film for the upcoming Ultimate Girls Trip?” asked PEOPLE reporter Danny Pellegrino at the 34th Academy Awards Viewing Party for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. “It’s sort of like the big anniversary of Housewives.”
“We were not invited to that,” said Emily.
“We were not,” agreed Gina.
“We did get invited to this,” said Emily, referring to the viewing party. “We are here.”
“But we were not there [filming],” said Gina. “I’d rather be here.”
Though Emily claimed there were no hard feelings, she seemed to imply that they were overlooked, saying, “Honestly, even though we’ve been on for eight years, you have to realize that we’re still at the bottom of the totem pole.”
Last season, many fans were unhappy about Emily and Gina’s treatment of Katie Ginella. In an interview for Us Weekly at the time, Katie addressed the situation.
“The things with Emily [were] very unfortunate … [But] I just feel like a lot of this is me being held to a higher standard and a different set of rules than everybody else,” said Katie. “I just think they don’t know me, and they’re always moving the goal posts of what’s okay and what’s not okay.”
“I was eaten alive [at last year’s reunion]. So that was me going into this season, my second season, is I’ve gotta be more prepared,” she added. “I made some mistakes that I’ve definitely learned from that I cannot do again. But I just felt that need to almost be in this game with these women.”