Gretchen Rossi Returning to 'Real Housewives of Orange County' for Season 19 After Alexis Bellino Gets Axed

Alexis Bellino may have departed The Real Housewives of Orange County, but Bravo is bringing back another familiar face — Gretchen Rossi.

According to Variety, Rossi will re-join the show in a “friend of” role for Season 19. Fans last saw Rossi on the series full-time during Season 8 of the show, and she also made a brief appearance on Season 12. Rossi’s storyline ended with her getting engaged to longtime beau Slade Smiley. While they are still together and share a daughter, the pair have yet to tie the knot.

As far as relationships with the cast go, Rossi and Tamra Judge clashed from the get-go. While the pair became friends during Season 7 of the show, they were completely on the outs one season later.

As OK! reported, the entire main cast from Season 18 is planning to return for the next season of the show.

An insider dished on January 14 there were “rumblings about Katie Ginella not returning due to pressures her and her family felt during the first season, but she was asked back and ultimately decided to return.”

As for why Bravo brought back the entire cast, the source confirmed it was “one of the best-rated seasons Housewives had in years” and the cast worked “so authentically well together.” Although fans may have been nervous there would be a shortage of drama with Bellino gone — as the majority of the fights involved her last season — a source spilled to OK! there is an intense off-camera feud brewing between Ginella and Emily Simpson expected to make it into the new season.

“As fans know, the pair had drama last season over claims that, when Katie’s daughter babysat for Emily’s kids, they talked negatively about Heather Dubrow,” the insider shared.

After a post surfaced on Instagram where Simpson’s former nanny spoke out — backing the allegations Ginella had made — the source claimed lawyer-turned-reality star was “beyond pissed at Katie” and ready to “confront her” regarding the ordeal.

Simpson “feels Katie is on a smear campaign and fueling things like this post to attack her,” the insider shared. “Since drama fuels the show, it’s almost certain fireworks are going to explode between these two as soon as the cameras go up and it will almost certainly make for a fiery start to the season.” With that situation already brewing — and with Rossi returning — fans of the franchise will definitely be in for another crazy ride.