Elizabeth Lyn Vargas Opens Up About Joining The Real Housewives Of Orange County!

Elizabeth Lyn Vargas is opening about her decision to join the cast of The Real Housewives of Orange County for the show's fifteenth season.

“The journey has been amazing,” Vargas told the OC Register. “And I didn’t realize the journey was going to be so amazing, so I’m pretty proud and happy about the decision to be on the show.”

Vargas says her friendship with  Kelly Dodd encouraged led her to join the series after Vicki Gunvalson and Tamra Judge left the show.

Vargas says she and Dodd had become friends, even though she had never watched a single episode of the series prior to being cast on it.

“I had never seen the show,” she said. “So maybe that’s why we hit it off. I didn’t know what to expect with the tornado,” Vargas laughed.

Vargas claimed a friend who manages the rapper Too Short urged her to apply for the show and then accompanied her to the first of several auditions and interviews. After she was cast, she decided to finally watch an episode of RHOC.

“I just said, ‘You know what, I want to do this,’” she said. “So here we are. I was a little nervous because I did watch one of the shows. I was like, ‘Ohhh. Well, this will be fun!’”

“The women on the show are extremely strong and smart,” she says. “Knowing that and asking around, I was very excited to meet all of them because it takes some serious (moxie) to put yourself out there and be as bold and bright and beautiful as they are.”

Vargas says she hit it off with the rest of the women, including Shannon Beador, who is known to have a tough time with new cast members. 

“Everybody told me, ‘Oh my god, be super-nervous when you meet her,’” she said of Beador. “And I’m thinking, ‘Oh my god, she’s gonna bite me? What does she do? Does she sprout fangs?’”

Elizabeth says another reason why she decided to join the show was the fact that her three-year-long journey through “a very, very difficult divorce” was still not finished at that point.

“I was looking for something to distract my mind and have fun with,” Vargas says, adding that she already felt exposed by the divorce process. “So frankly, when this opportunity came about, I said, ‘Well, whatever, I’m already out there.’

Overall, Vargas says doing RHOC has been a positive experience for her. “It’s a wonderful experience to be with strong women,” she told the OC Register. “Everyone has their differences, and we all – I – learned about everyone’s opinions on the show.”

“But overall, it was an exciting experience, and I can’t wait for future seasons because it’s just fun. I mean, no matter what our differences are, whatever we argue about, we still love each other in the end,” adding, “That’s my hope.”

Photo Credit: Bravo/NBCUniversal