The Comeback Flop

Being a fan of The Real Housewives teaches an intimate understanding of the adage “be careful what you wish for.” Complaining about a series that’s gone stale might inspire a total reboot that can never reach the heights of the original, despite its charms. Demanding that a past-her-prime star get put on permanent pause can cause a show to slide into monotony, robbed of a chaos agent who moved the story along. Our latest monkey’s-paw wish involves a return instead of a departure: After fans begged for The Real Housewives of Orange County to bring Alexis Bellino back into the fray, the show has delivered one of the most regrettable comebacks in franchise history.

To be fair, this isn’t Alexis’s first time as the butt of the joke. During her original run as a full-time Housewife in seasons five through eight, Alexis was consistently outplayed by her castmates, once claiming that she was so severely bullied that “I had to go on Xanax for it, Lydia!” She told a group of children at a birthday party a graphic story about nearly dying from a pulmonary embolism. She explained that “Costa Rica is in Mexico, so it’s south.” She let herself be defined by those around her — first, her (now-ex-) husband Jim Bellino, who liked to keep her in line; and then by her co-star Tamra Judge, who bestowed on her the lasting moniker of “Jesus Jugs.”

But in the decade since Alexis last appeared on the show, she seemed to have experienced some actual growth. The woman who once said people in same-sex marriages would “have to talk to God when they get to heaven’s gate” took to Instagram in 2022 with a full-throated embrace of her trans son, writing, “​​We are all human and we are ALL equal.” She also parted ways with Jim, who often appeared to be the person holding her back. And Alexis made up with (most) of her former enemies, including Tamra and Heather Dubrow, the latter of whom repeatedly said that Alexis belonged back on RHOC.

Fans were equally vocal, particularly as the show hit new lows with the dreaded COVID season and a couple rudderless (Tamra Judge–free) years. “Too much talk about Tamra coming back, not enough talk about Alexis Bellino coming back,” Bravo by Betches posted to X in July 2022. That same year, a Bravo fan account shared an image of a prayer circle with the repeated refrain, “Alexis Bellino returning to RHOC for s17.” Those calls for a comeback escalated last fall, as Alexis made a celebrated appearance at BravoCon. The hope was that a new Alexis, humbled by her time off the show and free from Jim’s influence, would bring fresh energy along with a hit of nostalgia.

Unfortunately, the woman who joined this season in a recurring friend-of role is not Alexis Bellino but “Fun Lexi” as she’s declared herself — or, perhaps more accurately, the future Mrs. John Janssen. Shortly before being officially asked back, Alexis joined forces with John, the recent ex-boyfriend of co-star Shannon Beador. (The timeline is a bit fuzzy, but “recent” refers to a matter of weeks.) Whatever storyline Alexis planned to return with has been trumped by her relationship with “Johnny J,” who has dominated every conversation she’s been in since the season premiere. Her sole mission is to defend John Janssen — and, naturally, to destroy Shannon in the process.

There was a world in which this might have worked out for her. Shannon also had a busy off-season, driving her car into a house in a DUI incident that left her with a bloodied face and a potentially traumatized dog. (Archie was in the car at the time.) But Shannon has somehow emerged victorious, the picture of (mostly) sober regret. The more Alexis tries to jab at her about John or Tamra flings accusations of alcoholism, the more viewers are inclined to take Shannon’s side. That’s a problem for Alexis, who has at this point defined herself entirely in opposition to Shannon.

That’s not a crime, of course — these shows are driven by conflict and resolution, which means someone generally has to be on whatever fans perceive to be the wrong side. The reason the situation is especially dire for Alexis, however, is that she’s neglected to give viewers anything else to work with. “Times have changed,” Tamra says in a confessional. “I feel like the Alexis I knew ten years ago is not the Alexis I know today.” That may be true, but all we’ve been able to see is someone standing by her repugnant man — nothing new for her on the show — and trying to kick a fan favorite while she’s down. As new Housewife Katie Ginella notes, “I feel like I’m kind of getting to know John a little bit more than I’m getting to know Alexis.” It’s important to keep in mind here that Katie says this without ever having met John: Aside from a brief FaceTime cameo, he has not appeared on the show at all this season.

Given how long Alexis has been out of the game — and how badly she fumbled her first go-around — it probably shouldn’t be surprising that she’s flailing. But even with the bar lowered, Fun Lexi is still flopping hard. From the moment she arrived, she’s maintained laser focus on protecting John Janssen, a man viewers spent years getting to know as Shannon’s dud of a boyfriend with whom she had “normal fights that paralyze me.” In Alexis’s first scene back, she’s immediately spitting fire, calling Shannon a drunk whose low opinion of Johnny J can’t be trusted. “Alexis clearly feels the need to come in and defend her man,” Emily says in a confessional. “Her man that she’s been dating for, what, a month now?”

Six episodes into the season, Alexis has done a remarkably bad job of re-introducing herself. What does she have going on in her life? An exciting new relationship with “true Christian man” John Janssen. What are Alexis’s interests? Talking incessantly about her boyfriend, John Janssen. What does she do in her spare time? She has sex, four times a day, with John Janssen. What are her goals in life? “The only thing I really care about is [Shannon redeeming] my man’s name.” The morality of her mission aside, Alexis’s single-minded approach to this season of RHOC is the kind of pigheaded tediousness that makes a Housewife (or friend-of) less likely to be asked back.

Meanwhile, Alexis’s allies are doing their best to help her course-correct. In the midst of John suing Shannon for repayment of $75,000 he allegedly loaned her, Alexis arrives at a group dinner with literal receipts showing the money transfers. After Shannon flees in tears, Heather gently suggests “taking it down,” advising Alexis to take a kinder approach and potentially even become friends with Shannon. (They certainly have something in common!) In a confessional, Emily is blunter, saying, “I do think Alexis does herself a big disservice being so aggressive toward Shannon. Let these girls get to know you as you, as Alexis, and not as John’s defender.”

But — and this is, again, no great surprise — Alexis is doubling down. In the most recent episode, Jennifer Pedranti asks Alexis when her “hellpath” against Shannon will finally come to an end. Alexis says she can’t stop because Shannon is still making up lies about Johnny J. “I get really worked up about John because the man is nothing but kind, generous, loving, caring, and unfortunately, Shannon has ruined John’s reputation throughout the community,” she explains. Things take an even darker turn as Alexis reveals that she has “horrific” videos of Shannon from the night of the DUI that will be released unless Shannon recants everything she’s said about John. (Alexis should also ask Peacock to remove the last several seasons of RHOC from streaming if she really wants to repair her boyfriend’s reputation.)

It remains to be seen if the actual videos will ever emerge, but the threat itself represents a new low in the John vs. Shannon war in which Alexis has enlisted. It’s tough to imagine how Fun Lexi comes back from this — and why we’d want to see more of her, even if she did. It’s not only that she miscalculated whose side viewers would be on, but that she’s fused herself to dead weight. RHOC fans didn’t care for John Janssen when he was dating Shannon, and they’re certainly not going to embrace him now that he’s lurking off-screen, providing Alexis with an arsenal of oppo research to destroy his ex. And unfortunately for Alexis, she and John are now a package deal. In failing to establish any identity outside of her man, she’s also failed to make a case for herself on the show.

Alexis is certainly not the first Housewife to self-sabotage over the wrong guy. There’s a proud tradition on these shows of riding hard for total losers — including on RHOC. Just ask Vicki Gunvalson, whose staunch defense of boyfriend Brooks Ayers amid an alleged cancer scam led to her “being nailed to the cross like Jesus was.” (Vicki herself has compared Alexis’s blind loyalty toward John to hers toward Brooks.) More recently, Teresa Giudice let herself become derailed by a relentless need to protect her husband, Louie Ruelas, on The Real Housewives of New Jersey. Bitter and endless fights over Louie have dragged the long-running series into new depths of ugliness, leaving its future uncertain. And Alexis Bellino is no Teresa Giudice.

It’s still too early to say with any certainty if Alexis will be asked back to RHOC next season — ratings, though down overall, are on the upswing, which could be seen as a credit to the drama she’s bringing. For viewers, however, enough time has passed to declare Alexis’s long-awaited return a humiliating failure. Her attempts at rebranding and heavily rehearsed reads (“there’s the door, Shannon Beador”) have landed with thuds. Even her allies’ patience seems to be wearing thin. Alexis may have been attempting to stave off criticism when she announced in the season premiere, “Your heart wants what it wants, and here we are; take us or leave us,” but she inadvertently offered a tempting option. Alexis might be surprised to discover how many of us who once clamored for her comeback are now on team “leave us.”