What Makes A Real villain?

Current Curiosities

[Reading] Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse 

[Listening] "Daddy Lessons" by Beyoncé and The Chicks 

[Watching] Ride or Die

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MAGA AND THE REAL HOUSEWIVES Since Spring 2023, I've belonged to a private Real Housewives Discord, and I've enjoyed every silly take, lighthearted squabble, and the community composed of fellow lovers of all the garbage (complimentary!) Bravo produces for us. I dabble mostly in The Real Housewives franchise and Top Chef (God, I love Kristen Kish so so much as the new host!), and I avoid the "boat shows," the MAGA McBees, and the heterosexual darkness of Vanderpump Rules and it's bleak sequel The Valley. (Bravo, please bring back Backyard Envy and Garrett Magee's slutty lil mustache!)

More often than not, we as a Discord community agree on the villains and the current heroes, who've yet to enter their villain eras. Some villains are easy to coalesce around. For example, the OG from the OC Vicki Gunvalson, from Bravo's first iteration of the franchise, The Real Housewives of Orange County (RHOC), is a classic Real Housewives villain. Vicki, a mother of two and insurance boss, often makes queer/transphobic comments, openly supported Trump and his three wildly racist presidential campaigns, and allegedly lied about her then boyfriend's fake cancer to garner sympathy from her suspicious cast mates. Vicki's history of problematic behavior over 14 seasons made it easy for an audience of mostly women and queer men to paint her as the Ur-villain of The Real Housewives.

Eventually, Vicki became too toxic even for Bravo, so the network let her go before bringing her back for two seasons of The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip. Then at BravoCon in 2025, Andy Cohen gave Vicki back her orange for the twentieth season of the show. Now, do I like Vicki as a fellow human? Absolutely not. She is garbage (pejorative). Do I like seeing Vicki terrorize her cast mates? Emphatically yes. Vicki brings a certain chaos that adds life to an otherwise stuffy franchise.

Another über-villain is Ramona Singer from The Real Housewives of New York City (RHONY). Ramona, an original RHONY cast member, revealed her darkness over the course of thirteen seasons. Ramona, queen of crocodile tears and quick, meaningless apologies, made a name for herself by attacking Bethenny Frankel (who went from hero to menace over ten seasons) and other younger cast mates. Ramona's descent into villainy culminated in the infamous Black Shabbat dinner co-hosted by new cast member and former Fox News contributor Ebony K. Williams. At the dinner, Ramona interrupted the prayer and made many insensitive (that's putting it lightly) comments about Italians and Jewish and Black people. After that disastrous season, Ramona and the rest of the cast were put on pause while Bravo retooled the show. Also of note, during the pandemic Ramona became a semi-regular fixture at Trump's Mar-a-Lago with her ex-husband Mario. 

Like Vicki, Ramona was featured on two seasons of The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip. Then Ramona was promptly disinvited from BravoCon 2023 for allegedly using the N-word when talking to Bravo producers. Unlike Vicki who went from working mom everywoman to the Karen of Karens, Ramona always flirted with villainy, which led to her own downfall. And the audience collectively breathed a sigh of relief when Ramona finally got the boot. 

When RHONY returned, the audience was introduced to bonkers (complimentary, mostly) new women like Jenna Lyons, Sai De Silva, Raquel Chevremont, and absolute queen Jessel Tank. Erin Lichy, an uptight waspy Jewish woman, was also part of the cast. The audience immediately turned on Erin, who is a Trump supporter and donor to his "stop the steal" fundraising campaign. Erin also responded with typical cishet white woman fragility to criticisms from fellow cast mate Ubah Hassan, a stunning, sharp-tongued model. Erin represented a relatively benign (when compared to Vicki or Ramona) villain who the audience loathed. Aside from her Trump association and basic cishet white womanness, Erin's only real crime was having the personality of a used teabag. Yet the audience loved to hate her.

After two seasons, Bravo again needed to recast RHONY with Erin returning for Season 16. (No good summers left Princess Carole Radziwill, a friend of Ghislaine Maxwell, is also returning to the franchise after a six year hiatus.) While Erin never went full racist, queer/transphobe in the vein of Vicki and Ramona, the audience will again inevitably deem her the villain and rightly so for her political contributions and other recent wild public statements. (Or maybe it will be Carole?)

A few weeks ago, Bravo's newest franchise finished its stellar freshman season. ​The Real Housewives of Rhode Island (RHORI), featured Italians and Lebanese cast members reminiscent of the golden early days of The Real Housewives of New Jersey. (Bravo, we don't need RHONJ back. RHORI fills that void perfectly.) From the jump, Alicia Carmody became a fan favorite with her ditzy persona and endearing love of crackers (pronounced crackahs in her thick Rhode Island accent). Alicia is a Trump voter and donor, which is problematic yes, but it's not as horrific as the filmed behavior of Vicki or Ramona and is on par with the benign malevolence of Erin. 

However, I think Alicia should be placed in the same villainous category as overt bigots Vicki and Ramona even though her actions are more covert and because she hasn't as of yet said anything openly racist or queer/transphobic on film.

Alicia’s Trump vote, like that of Vicki and Ramona and Erin, helped to create the environment in which Trump could strip away women’s bodily autonomy, in which Trump's ICE stormtroopers could invade Minneapolis-St. Paul killing two people (see also Houston, TX, and Biddeford, ME, among too many others), in which Trump and Evangelicals could target trans people and their access to healthcare, in which Trump could start a seemingly unending war in Iran and on and on and on.

Alicia’s vote for Trump is both functionally and materially violent, racist, and queer/transphobic. Alicia’s vote has real world impacts and creates real harm for marginalized people. In this way, Alicia is just like Vicki and Ramona, but so far she’s better at not getting caught on camera. 

Alicia is nearly universally loved by my fellow garbage (complimentary) Discord members for being a kooky dumdum. I'm the rare acceptation and find her reception puzzling and inconsistent when compared to other Trumpy franchise villains. Honestly, I do not understand why folks willing overlook the very real consequences of Alicia's Trump vote while laying that same albatross across the necks of Erin, Ramona, and Vicki, among others. Again, on the scale of mega (or MAGA?) villainy, Vicki and Ramona win that hella dark race by a Deep South country mile. But the gray areas inhabited by Alicia and Erin still represent potential villainy. After all, you need darkness to make gray.

Please note, I'm not judging anyone for watching RHORI, RHONY, and RHOC. I watch and enjoy them all! But I do think we need to look deeply and critically at who these women are and how they impact the real world around us. 

Anyway, if you're curious, here are my current favorite cities:

• The Real Housewives of Atlanta
• The Real Housewives of Miami
• The Real Housewives of Potomac
• The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City

Thank you very much for your time. If you have recommendations or curiosities, please fill out this nifty contact form.

Sending y’all supportive, well-caffeinated vibes,

Creighton 

Today’s Pen(cil): Sherpa WTF Sharpie Cover 

P.S. Bravo, please also bring back Ladies of London: The New Reign. The cast was perfection (minus Margo, obvi).