{"id":17080,"date":"2026-02-03T06:50:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T06:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/?p=17080"},"modified":"2026-02-03T06:50:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T06:50:20","slug":"gretchen-rossi-officially-out-star-fired-from-rhoc-ahead-of-milestone-season-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/?p=17080","title":{"rendered":"Gretchen Rossi Officially Out! Star Fired from \u2018RHOC\u2019 Ahead of Milestone Season 20"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The orange has officially been dropped. Gretchen Rossi\u2019s highly anticipated return to The Real Housewives of Orange County has come to a screeching halt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 47-year-old reality star will not be returning for the Bravo hit\u2019s landmark 20th season, Variety reported on Tuesday, January 27. While fans were shocked by the news, representatives for both Rossi and Bravo have yet to officially comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Short-Lived Comeback
Gretchen made a splashy return to the franchise in Season 19, sliding into a \u201cfriend of\u201d role after a decade-long hiatus. Previously, she reigned as a full-time Housewife from 2008 to 2013 (Seasons 4\u20138) and made a brief guest appearance in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Her return wasn’t easy to secure. In a July 2025 appearance on the \u201cI Do, Part 2\u201d podcast, Gretchen admitted she turned down the network multiple times before finally saying “yes” for Season 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI honestly said no three times,\u201d she revealed, citing the intense scrutiny she and fianc\u00e9 Slade Smiley faced during her original run. \u201cFinally, they ended up making an offer that we couldn\u2019t refuse\u2026 that\u2019s why we decided to finally say \u2018yes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Season 20 Shakeup
Gretchen isn\u2019t the only one departing the OC. Her exit follows just weeks after Katie Ginella confirmed she was also let go after a two-season run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The network has decided to move forward with season 20 without me,” Katie shared via Instagram on January 9, noting that while the news was “disappointing,” she was proud to have “shown up authentically.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Who\u2019s Staying in the Orange Grove?
Despite the exits, the core cast remains strong. According to reports, the rest of the Season 19 lineup is expected to return, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamra Judge<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shannon Storms Beador<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heather Dubrow<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gina Kirschenheiter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emily Simpson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jennifer Pedranti<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Return of the OG
While Gretchen is out, the “OG of the OC” is officially back in. Vicki Gunvalson, 63, was famously handed an orange by Andy Cohen at BravoCon 2025, marking her return to full-time status for the 20th anniversary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vicki, who is currently filming The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Roaring 20th, previously exited the main cast in 2020. Now, it seems she\u2019s ready to “whoop it up” once again as the franchise celebrates two decades of drama.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The orange has officially been dropped. Gretchen Rossi\u2019s highly anticipated return to The Real Housewives of Orange County has come to a screeching halt. The 47-year-old reality star will not be returning for the Bravo hit\u2019s landmark 20th season, Variety reported on Tuesday, January 27. While fans were shocked by the news, representatives for both […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1694],"tags":[522,544,2082,2078,520],"class_list":["post-17080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-show-rhoc","tag-bravotv","tag-housewivesdrama","tag-ocdrama","tag-realhousewivesoforangecounty","tag-rhoc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17080"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17088,"href":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17080\/revisions\/17088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}