Cameras have been rolling once again on season 18 of The Real Housewives of Orange County — and its all because of Jenn Pedranti’s fiancé, Ryan Boyajian, and his alleged involvement in the MLB gambling scandal.
Sources close to production on RHOC confirm to ET that cameras picked up with the recent news of Boyajian’s alleged connection to the legal drama surrounding L.A. Dodgers Shohei Ohtani with regards to potential illegal sports betting.
Filming on Season 18 was supposed to have wrapped in April. At the time, cast member Tamra Judge celebrated the occasion on Instagram, writing, “And that’s a wrap on Season 18! #RHOC.”
However, Judge took to X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday to share a video of herself and costars Heather Dubrow, Emily Simpson and Alexis Bellino, who appeared to be filming a scene at an outdoor restaurant.
“It’s never really over…” Judge captioned the post.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Boyajian was allegedly connected to the gambling and theft scandal involving Ohtani and his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.
ESPN reported that Mizuhara wired money to Boyajian in an effort to pay off gambling debts with money Ippei allegedly stole from Ohtani’s accounts. Ohtani has denied any allegations of gambling on sports or involvement in illegal sports betting.
Steven Katzman, Boyajian’s attorney, told ESPN that Boyajian is working with federal authorities, and denied that he is a bookie or involved in any criminal activities.
In a photo posted by Judge over the weekend, the cast member seemed to poke fun at the federal investigation into the gambling scandal, when she wore a ballcap emblazoned with “FBI” across it in a photo that has since been deleted.
Shortly thereafter, Pedranti took to her Instagram story to share a photo of herself in a hat that read “Trash.”
“Oops…did I not blue out the message on my hat good enough…” she wrote over the image.
Judge spent the better part of season 17 voicing her concerns about Pedranti’s relationship, calling Boyajian a “playboy” and claiming he vowed to hook up with Judge — who’s been married to Eddie Judge since 2013 — before pursuing Pedranti.
This escalated during season 17 when Judge threw a napkin in her face during a lunch at at high-end sushi spot Nobu, after getting into an argument about Boyajian.
The falling out came after Judge helped Pedranti audition to get on the show, but things went south when the cameras started rolling, as she explained to ET in an interview last October.
“That was a friendship for me, and I just cannot make sense of it,” she said.. “After reunion, it was the same thing; everybody was un-mic’d and she comes up and, ‘I love you,’ and, ‘I want to make it right,’ but I have sat here so many times in that same conversation, so I don’t know.”
No premiere date has yet been set for season 18 of Real Housewives of Orange County.
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