‘Real Housewives’ OG Making Surprising Return to Franchise After 15 Seasons

Orange grove.

Heavy Jo De La Rosa filmed for RHOC.

Former “Real Housewives of Orange County” star Jo De La Rosa has returned to film with some of her old pals. De La Rosa starred on season 1 of the franchise in a full-time role and appears as a guest on season 2 and 3.

On April 19, she posed for a photo with RHOC full-time Tamra Judge and the two women shared the snap on their respective Instagram feeds. “And that’s a wrap,” Judge captioned the pic, adding the orange emoji.

“So much fun last night! It was just like riding a bike like you said,” De La Rosa wrote in the comments section.

It seems as though De La Rosa will only appear as a guest, likely on the finale. However, it’s entirely possible that she will return in some sort of role on season 19 — but she seems open to the idea. When a fan commented that De La Rosa should come back to the show, the former reality star said that would be “so fun.”

De La Rosa left the show after she split from Slade Smiley (who is now in a relationship with former RHOC star Gretchen Rossi).

Here’s what you need to know:


Fans Seem Excited That Jo De La Rosa Is Back on RHOC

Fans reacted to De La Rosa and Judge’s photo in the comments section of the post.

“Omg YASSSS!!!!! Bring Jo back!!!!!” one person wrote.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am that @jodelarosaa may be on this season of #RHOC! I love the early seasons so much. So many memories,” someone else added.

“Only in the OC do the real OGs come back to play,” a third comment read.

“I’m so happy that ur back on the OC Jo. I miss the originally ladies,” a fourth Instagram user said.


Jo De La Rosa Moved to Los Angeles & Works in Advertising

Since leaving RHOC, De La Rosa moved to Los Angeles and started a new career, officially leaving fame behind.

“It’s like being an astronaut; you go to the moon, then you come back and you’re, like, working in advertising. I know, I know, I just compared being a Housewife to going to the moon,” she told Bravo’s The Daily Dish in 2018.

In 2022, she married composer Taran Gray. “Two years ago, we met on a dating app. The rest is history! You’re everything I ever prayed for and everything I never knew I needed,” she captioned a wedding video uploaded to Instagram. De La Rosa tagged the app Hinge in her wedding posts.

“It really did feel like I was in a ‘Love Is Blind’ episode because I was falling in love with this human over a screen. I thought I was crazy. I was like, ‘How am I having these feelings? I haven’t even met this guy in person before,'” she told People magazine after the nuptials.

“We waited our whole lives to find one another. This is only the beginning of our lifetime together,” she added.

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