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Credit: Instagram, Clifton Prescod/Bravo
Tamra Judge explained why Liz McGraw quit The Real Housewives of Rhode Island after just one season during an interview on Wednesday.
As she also named Jo-Ellen Tiberi, 38, as her favorite cast member, reacted to her performance at the season one reunion, and admitted to being concerned about Rulla Pontarelli, 46, amid her marriage to Brian Pontarelli, the 58-year-old Real Housewives of Orange County star shared new details about the months leading up to Liz, 56, leaving the show.
“I don’t like it at all. I think she brought a lot [to RHORI],” Tamra told Page Six’s Virtual Reali-Tea on July 22. “I had talked to her off-season, and she was really struggling with the hate on social media … People need to chill. It’s TV. It’s entertainment. You don’t need to go for their children and their businesses and write bad Yelp reviews and send death threats.”
As fans may have seen, Liz confirmed she was leaving the show in a July 1 announcement shared to her Instagram page.
“I’m full of gratitude for the amazing opportunity to appear on this show,” Liz began in her July 1 message to fans. “As filming for Season 2 begins, I have made the decision to take a step back and focus on my family, my work and my passions.”
“The RHORI cast is an amazing group of women who have created something special. I’ll be watching next season, rooting for the continued success of this franchise,” she continued. “For now, I look forward to enjoying this little corner of the world from the other side of the camera.”
Then, after it was alleged that she actually left the show to avoid potential legal issues due to her closeness to Dino Guilmette, who had been met with drug-related offenses following a March 2022 arrest, Liz set the record straight on her Instagram Story.
“It’s fascinating to me how everyone assumes my reason for leaving involves being afraid of ‘skeletons’ .. ‘jail,’ etc. This is not new gossip .. it has been the local slander for YEARS,” she declared. “If there were even an ounce of validity to it, I’d not have ever gone on a show! I realize that for some, it feels good to speculate, hate and defame my character, but I have never been investigated, nor involved in ANY criminal case. It’s preposterous and people should know how utterly ridiculous it sounds. Sorry to disappoint. It’s wild to me how people feel at liberty to openly state such absurd claims as facts.”
“Now that I have time on my hands, I will start the process of holding those originating and spreading such fiction accountable,” she added.
During another moment of her interview on Virtual Reali-Tea, Tamra named Jo-Ellen as her favorite cast member.
“I just love her. I love her … I walked so she could run,” Tamra declared. “I feel like, you know, she had the FBI hat on and outfit on; I don’t know if that was like an AI picture or whatever, and I’m like, because I was gonna tell her, ‘I have an FBI hat that I wore one season. Would you like it?’”
“She was a little much at the reunion, but I appreciate the hustle,” she added.
As for Rulla, Tamra gave a nod to Brian’s past affair.
“I like her, but I’m just confused with the husband stuff. Like, I’m all for trying to make things work, but burying your head is what it kind of looks like. And I just, I worry for her in that relationship,” she stated.
The Real Housewives of Rhode Island season two is currently in production.