Real Housewives of Orange County: Vicki Gunvalson Defends Brooks Ayers

Two things are true if you find yourself fighting with Vicki Gunvalson about her ex Brooks Ayers’ cancer diagnosis on The Real Housewives of Orange County: You are only doing this because you proclaim you are her friend and you love her – and your name is either Heather, Tamra or Shannon.

That’s the lesson from Monday’s RHOC, which saw the ladies really take to heart all of the floating rumors and “inconsistencies” (what does a skipped appointment prove, really?) swirling around Ayers’ health.

In turn, three of Gunvalson’s friends sat down with her in the hour, each to share concerns about the controversy, and each to urge Gunvalson to do what they thought was the only logical thing: divulge Ayers’ medical records.

Really.

Ayers is not a well-liked figure on the show, and several people have called his character into question over the course the series. So what is happening this season feels more surprising than it actually is.

Ayers is not bilking anyone out of money for potentially fake bills. He’s not clearly using the story to avoid anything. There is no easy way for the women to prove Ayers is lying – and asking him to prove the opposite is, in Gunvalson’s words, “unconscionable.”

And yet, it is totally possible (in the way that most things are possible, even if improbable) that Ayers is lying about some or all of his diagnosis.

The difficulty of answering that question definitively is what has kept everyone chattering.

And so: Fresh from Gunvalson’s fight with Tamra Judge at Shannon Beador’s Aries-themed party, Heather Dubrow pulled Gunvalson aside to fill her in on all the talk. This is more or less the template for the episode’s two other cancer conversations.

“This is a group of people that love you and want you to have the very, very best,” Dubrow told Gunvalson.

Dubrow said Ayers’ doctor doesn’t have a background in oncology, and that Ayers should start showing his medical records.

Gunvalson was unswayed.

“It’s not any of Heather’s business,” she told the camera.

She said revealing the records could only be step one of letting the women completely into the realm of Ayers’ medical care, where none of them have a right to be.

“You’re feeding a monster that’s never going to be full,” Gunvalson said of the ladies’ skepticism.

Speaking of that skepticism, the show introduced a new, sympathizing dimension: While shopping with stepdaughter Hayley, Meghan King Edmonds talked more about how connected she feels to Hayley’s mom’s cancer fight.

Round two of The Cancer Conversation came when Judge visited Gunvalson after the Aries party to apologize for her temper over Ayers’ comment that apparently called her character into question.

What Gunvalson did not want to discuss was anything about Ayers’ health. She and Judge went back and forth, just like she and Dubrow had. But there was one change: Gunvalson asked Judge to be more upfront with Edmonds and admit that her behavior in investigating Ayers was crossing at least a few personal boundaries – and Judge did do just that at a gym meetup with Edmonds.

And then there was round three of The Cancer Conversation. Beador, also upset because she felt like Gunvalson blew off the best part of her party, had her own small host of questions about Ayers’ health. Such as: Why didn’t he chose to use Beador’s recommended doctors?

Gunvalson’s new answer? “Ask Brooks. I’m done.”

And in next week’s episode, that’s exactly what it looks like will happen – though it appears as soon as Ayers’ decides to reveal a piece of medical info, Edmonds will say she has been able to debunk it.

Gunvalson, in tears at the episode’s end, said, “I’m trying to be as strong as I can be. I feel betrayed, I feel sad. When you’re a friend, you’re a friend.

“I don’t know how to end this, I just don’t.”

The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Mondays (9 p.m. ET) on Bravo.