The Real Housewives of Orange County season 16 premiered to less than one million viewers earlier this month. But where did the long-running Bravo reality series go from there?
As Heather Dubrow, who returned to the show for the new episodes after a four-season hiatus, reacted to the idea that she saved the show, which Kelly Dodd was accused of ruining, on Twitter, news of the ratings on episode two of RHOC were released.
On December 2, Bravo Ratings on Twitter confirmed that episode one of season 16 had brought in 936,000 viewers with 0.23 percent of the key demographic of 18 to 49-year-olds.
The following week, after episode two of RHOC season 16, the same fan page on Twitter revealed that ratings increased substantially amid the second episode, with 1,024,000 viewers tuning in, 0.34 percent of which fell in the key demographic.
In the seasons that followed Heather’s exit from the RHOC cast after season 11, which saw a season-high of over two million viewers, the ratings on the series saw a steady decline. Season 13 reached a low of 1,270,000 million viewers, and season 15 reached a season-low of just 820,000.
As for Heather’s recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live, which aired after the premiere episode last week and also included actress Annaleigh Ashford, that gained an impressive 577,000 viewers, which was more than both the December 5 episode of WWHL, which featured Martha Stewart and Christian Siriano, and the December 7 episode, on which Vanderpump Rules stars Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix appeared. Those episodes received 441,000 and 452,000 viewers, respectively.
Also on Twitter, Heather was seen responding to a viewer who applauded her for saving the show.
“Heather Dubrow only needed two episodes to fix what Kelly Dodd spent three seasons ruining,” wrote Jarett Wieselman.
And, in a tweet of her own, Heather replied with five champagne bottle emojis.
Following the conclusion of RHOC season 15 earlier this year, Kelly, along with Braunwyn Windham-Burke and Elizabeth Vargas, were released from their contracts with Bravo.
The Real Housewives of Orange County season 16 airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.
Photo Credit: Tommy Garcia/Bravo