'It's a deal with the devil': Vicki Gunvalson talks RHOC regrets

Vicki Gunvalson was one of the original housewives on The Real Housewives of Orange County, meaning that even though she left the series as a man housewife and has only returned as a friend or guest, her sixteen season run makes her one of the longest-running housewives in the entire franchise.

Unfortunately, it looks like Vicki Gunvalson has become the latest housewife to have some serious bad blood with Bravo because she's spoken out about why she thinks signing on for RHOC was "a deal with the devil," the thing she'll never forgive Bravo for, and how much they paid her for the first season of the show.

How much did Vicki Gunvalson make for season one of RHOC?

In a recent episode of the Vice TV docuseries The Dark Side of Reality TV, Vicki Gunvalson got candid about her thoughts on signing up for the very first season of the first Real Housewives franchise -- and shared how much Bravo was paying for the franchise before they knew it was a hit.

According to Vicki Gunvalson, she was paid "nothing, zero" for the first season of the show because the concept was so new and Bravo had no idea whether or not it was going to succeed at that point. After the first season proved to be a success and Bravo chose to continue with the concept, she said they started paying slightly more. Of the second season, she said she was paid $5,000 for the season and said, "Not much money, I didn't even have an attorney look over my contract. I had no idea what I was doing."

"I never really thought I would make the number I was making."

By the time VIcki Gunvalson reached season 13, her final season as a full-time cast member, her salary for the show was "seven figures." But unfortunately, she admits that money came with a major price and one thing that she claims she lost because of the show was her marriage to husband Donn Gunvalson.

"Being on TV 100% had a role in our divorce because it puts a lot of pressure on a marriage. I think we would've survived if I wasn't on the show. So that I regret," she admitted in the episode of the docuseries.

Unfortunately for Vicki Gunvalson, losing her marriage to Donn Gunvalson isn't the only thing that she regrets about being on the show.

Vicki Gunvalson says she'll "never forgive Bravo" for "very traumatic" scene

Season 10 of The Real Housewives of Orange County had a heartbreaking moment during which Vicki Gunvalson received the news that her mother had passed away. The cameras caught the moment that her daughter called to give her the news and filmed Vicki Gunvalson's initial reaction to learning that she had lost her mother, which she says she'll never forgive Bravo for doing.

"I was really upset that production knew for an hour, and they didn't tell me. They were out of line, and I think they should have taken me aside and said, 'Your mom has passed. Talk to your daughter off-camera.' If I was a producer, that's what I would've done."

At BravoCon in 2023, Vicki Gunvalson was the first cast member from the Real Housewives franchise to be honored with the Wifetime Achievement Award, presented to her by Andy Cohen. "You know how much I love you and the legacy that we built together. We did this together as a family," she told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live while discussing the award.