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When The Real Housewives Came to Newport

Published November 1, 2026

Published November 1, 2026

Aerial view of waterfront homes and palm trees along a grassy area near the marina.
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NEWPORT BEACH | AROUND NEWPORT | NOVEMBER 1, 2026

Newport Beach didn’t become part of The Real Housewives of Orange County overnight. The show launched in 2006 with its original cast in Coto de Caza. Newport moved into the regular mix in Season 7, when Heather Dubrow joined in 2012. She and her husband, Newport Beach plastic surgeon Terry Dubrow, brought a local connection to a series that had mostly kept viewers behind the gates elsewhere in the county. (Bravo on Heather’s arrival)

Since then, Newport has been a familiar backdrop, with cast members and storylines tied to Newport Beach and Newport Coast. Season 15 gave the boardwalk its own moment when Elizabeth Lyn Vargas joined the cast. She was living on the boardwalk, and Bravo featured her Newport home. One episode was even called “Trouble in Newport Beach.” (Bravo’s Season 15 feature on Elizabeth’s Newport home; Season 15 episode listing)

Elizabeth Vargas Season 15
Real Housewives

Around here, Elizabeth is a big-time Newport local—one of our fearless leaders and somebody plenty of people know and love. Her season put a familiar stretch of town on national TV: not just the big houses, but the boardwalk and the beach right outside.

For a show built around Orange County’s homes, personalities and social circles, Newport was a natural fit. But seeing the cameras on the boardwalk made the series feel a little less like distant reality TV and a little more like home.

Help us out, Newport.

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