The Real Housewives of Orange County are in for a wild ride into the sunset.
Housewives and BFFs Gina Kirschenheiter and Emily Simpson teased RHOC season 16 reunion drama exclusively with E! News at a fundraiser for the California Innocence Project at Swirl Boutique in Carlsbad, Calif., with Gina hinting that this season will end like "no other franchise has ever ended before."
"I think everybody's gonna be very, very excited to see what comes in the final episode. It's really fun," Gina revealed on April 2. "It's something that's completely out of character for all of us. And we all do ultimately come together as a group and I think that's really nice to see too in a way that nobody's done before."
After the finale, even more surprises are in store during the season 16 reunion. According to Gina, rehashing this season's events wasn't enough for one particular cast member to admit her wrongdoings.
"You think when somebody is put in a position where they're so obviously wrong and have been proven wrong, they would just lie down at that point," she said. "I was really surprised to see, particularly one of the castmates, just not willing to take accountability for anything."
Emily chimed in, joking, "I think it's called sociopath," though Gina said that might not be the proper "diagnosis" to make.
One thing the two can agree on is how difficult they found their relationships with RHOC newbie Noella Bergener. According to Emily, "It was difficult to establish a foundation" because of how little they got to know her.
"I still don't know exactly who Noella is because I feel like she's always trying to play a character and when you're trying to play a character, you don't really get to know who that person is," Emily shared. "And it's really hard to connect with them on a real authentic level."
Gina agreed, drawing a distinction between her fights with Shannon Storms Beador and Noella: "You have to have a real friendship before you can have real fights. And that was just not really established."
Finally, when asked about what fans are getting wrong about current storylines playing out on the show, both denied being in the wrong when it comes to their feud with Shannon.
"I think Gina and I and particularly Heather [Dubrow] as well, the three of us get a lot of crap and get called ‘mean girls' because of Shannon, but Shannon is really excellent at playing a victim on camera and making herself look like a victim," Emily revealed. "I understand that she's gone through a lot. She has things that she has to deal with, but we all have."
Gina added, "We're just always protecting her and she's always trying to deflect and say that we're bad, but really we're protecting her."
On this week's April 6 episode, the drama in Aspen continues as Gina teases that things between her and Shannon will "come to a head."
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on Bravo.
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