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“The Real Housewives of Orange County” star Tamra Judge may not have been an OG of the franchise, but she takes credit for making the show what it is today.
“I came in season 3, so there was two [seasons already], and they were kind of boring. It was very not like it is today, but you know it’s what started everything,” Judge told her iHeartRadio “Talking a Big Game” podcast co-host Dan Gheesling during their show’s inaugural August 12 episode.
“And so I ultimately got cast on the show, and I’m like ‘I don’t know why you want me, but here I am,’ and I really changed ‘Housewives’ as it is today,” Judge added. “I came in feisty, calling people out. Before it was a very sleepy show, just documenting dinner with the girls. The day that I screamed ‘Did you go to Bass Lake?!’ everything changed, and here we are.”
Fans & Critics Agree that ‘Did You Go to Bass Lake?’ Changed ‘Housewives’
Judge asked Gretchen Rossi if she went to Bass Lake in season 4 episode 6. The question came during a group dinner with Judge, Rossi, and their season 4 castmates Vicki Gunvalson, Jeana Keough, and Lynne Curtin. The ladies were discussing how Rossi’s fiancé Jeff Beitzel had been in the hospital.
Rossi mentioned she was spending as much time with him as possible though she hadn’t seen him for a few days while celebrating the 4th of July at Bass Lake. After the ladies agreed they would be by their partners’ side as often as possible if they were in her position, Judge mentioned, “I wouldn’t be at Bass Lake,” before asking Rossi “Did you go to Bass Lake?”
Judge isn’t the only one who thinks her question marked a turning point in the franchise. Vulture credited her with “inventing the [‘Housewives’] medium,” in that moment. “‘Real Housewives’ didn’t become the show we know today until Tamra Barney famously uttered [those words],” the outlet wrote in a season 17 episode recap.
Fans feel similarly, with one Reddit user writing an over 800-word analysis on why Judge changed the game with her confrontational question in March 2021. Months later in September 2021, fans gave Judge’s “Bass Lake” barb several nods in the comment section of another thread which asked, “Who do you think deserves ‘credit’ for creating the Housewives franchise?”
“Tamra ‘Did You Go To Bass Lake??’ Judge,” one user commented.
“Tamra’s addition in RHOC season 3 is what created the ‘Real Housewives’ genre, focusing on the dynamics between cast,” another fan added.
Tamra Judge Shares Her RHOC Origin Story
In her podcast episode, Judge also shared her RHOC origin story with Gheesling.
“My girlfriend, who lived next door to me — now this was 2006, I had little, little kids and [was] married to Simon [Barney],” Judge told him, later adding, “So my girlfriend sends me over the application for Housewives [over instant message], she goes ‘They’re doing a casting call at Balboa Bay Club.’ I had just gotten into real estate, I said, ‘Well I am doing an open house in Coto de Caza that day, so I will not be there.’ But there was an online application and I filled it out very obnoxious. Just said obnoxious things, didn’t send a picture, didn’t send anything. And I got a phone call the next day, saying ‘Hey, I saw your application, and I’d really like to interview you.'”
After a few more interviews, the rest was history, as Judge joined RHOC’s third season, which began airing in 2007, and remains on the series today (with only two seasons away from the show after she was let go for seasons 15 and 16).
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