Tamra Judge, Shannon Beador Claim They Didn't Know They Were Being Recorded During Kelly Dodd Sex Train Conversation

"Real Housewives of Orange County" stars Tamra Judge and Shannon Beador claim they didn't know they were being recorded during a conversation they had about a rumor involving co-star Kelly Dodd and a "train" of multiple men.

The conversation -- during which Tamra was heard saying Vicki Gunvalson had heard a rumor that "eight guys pulled a train on Kelly" -- took place in a black SUV after a group dinner. During the dinner, Vicki had alluded to having dirt on Kelly, prompting Tamra to blurt out, "Are you talking about the train?" Vicki insisted they not talk about "that."

In the car on their way home, however, viewers heard Tamra's "eight guys" comment, as footage showed only the outside of the SUV as it was driving. Gina Kirschenheiter was then heard saying, "We're never bringing this up. We're never letting Vicki bring this up. This is where it lies and dies."

On Instagram Friday, Shannon told her side of the story. "I refused to say anything until the cameras were off and no one was mic'd," she wrote. "And I made sure no one had a microphone on them when we got into the car. What I didn't know is that there was still audio in the car after our dinner. #truth #notahypocrite #goodfriend #rhoc."

Shannon replied to numerous skeptics in the comments section, maintaining "no one was mic'd" and claiming she "didn't know the car still has audio." She told one person that "there isn't usually audio in the car."

Reposting Shannon's photo, Tamra wrote a lengthy caption of her own.

"Lots of people are questioning why the 4 of us would talk about something private on camera then say 'this lies and dies here,'" she wrote. "The absolute truth is we were done filming, not mic'd and had a private conversation (lot of it missing) between 4 friends. We had no idea our audio was being recorded, that's why you don't see our faces. Thank you @shannonbeador for [bringing] out the truth."

She later edited the caption to include, "Let's not forget Kelly knew she was being filmed when she yelled out the rumor about David and Eddie."

But fans are scratching their heads at the ladies' claims.

For starters, the image Shannon shared was a screenshot from a scene viewers did not see during the episode. It was the same shot of the outside of the SUV, only it had subtitles showing Shannon saying, "What are you doing? Why would you bring that word up?"

Secondly, all three of the women who say they knew about the rumor spoke about it during their post-dinner, post-car ride confessionals.

In her confessional, Vicki said, "We had a code of silence that none of us were gonna talk about the choo choo train. Tamra, Shannon and I discussed it, and I said nothing good can come from this. This is all gonna be super damaging."

In Tamra's confessional, she explained that pulling a train meant having sex with multiple people, one right after the other.

And in Shannon's confessional, she said, "I heard the train rumor when Vicki heard it, and my mouth's been shut ever since I did. This is not okay. To put a notion out there that a woman would have sex with multiple men in front of others is disgusting, and I will have no part of that rumor."

Critics on both Tamra and Shannon's posts pointed out to the women that even if the car audio never aired, they still spoke about the rumors to some extent on camera.

But Tamra explained to someone on Shannon's post that they "found out later in our interviews that we were recorded [in the car] and had to answer our interview questions."

After newcomer Braunwyn Windham-Burke filled Kelly in on the gossip, she denied the accusations and blamed Vicki -- until she watched the episode.

"[Braunwyn] told me off camera," Kelly said on Tuesday's episode of the "Everything Iconic with Danny Pellegrino" podcast. "Here's Tamra, on camera, saying I do a train, then she says I pulled like, eight guys. So on national TV, you're saying I pulled not only a train, but eight guys screwed me."

"They were looking for dirt," she added, "and they heard it from a guy that hates me."

Bravo had no comment when contacted by TooFab.

"The Real Housewives of Orange County"airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Bravo.

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