Tamra Judge Officially Returning to Real Housewives of Orange County

The reality TV star and Bravo's Andy Cohen both confirmed on Wednesday night that she'll be back as a full-time cast member on "The Real Housewives of Orange County" Season 17 -- two years after she was fired from the very same show.

On last night's "Watch What Happens Live," Judge strolled out onto the show's set, picked an orange off the wall from behind Andy and gave her best opening one-liner: "The Judge is back and drama is in session."

"Ladies and gentleman, it's true, Tamra Judge is returning to the 'Real Housewives of Orange County,'" added Andy, getting quite the reaction from the in-studio audience.

On Thursday, Vicki Gunvalson -- who was also fired from the show in 2020 -- reacted to Judge's return on Instagram. "'My friend, my soulmate my sister' is back on #rhoc ... I loved seeing you reclaim your orange last night with @bravoandy on #wwhl @tamrajudge," she wrote, adding, "Go give 'em hell girl!"

The confirmation isn't exactly that big of a surprise, as her return has been rumored for the past month. The rumor even led to a pretty big social media battle between Tamra and fellow "The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Ex Wives Club" costar Jill Zarin, who posted a video in which she appeared to confirm Tamra would be back.

During a since-deleted Instagram Live on Saturday, Jill claimed, "Breaking news ... Tamra's coming back and my friend [Vicki Gunvalson's] not happy." That clip then found its way onto Twitter and it wasn't long until Tamra jumped into the replies.

"Go f--- yourself @JillZarin! You thirsty bitch!" she exclaimed, after Zarin has been called "thirsty" by a number of her costars on RHUGT this season.

Tamra later followed up that tweet with a video in which she said, "Hey guys, I have a big announcement: Jill is the thirstiest bitch I've ever met." Dorinda Medley, who's gotten into it with Jill a couple times on the new "Girls Trip" season also retweeted the video -- appearing to agree with the sentiment by adding some water emojis.

Later in the day, following a six-hour event, Zarin came back onto social media in an attempt to explain herself with a video alongside daughter Ally Shapiro.

"I just have to straighten something out. This morning I was on my way to the event and I use an expression often, 'Breaking news,' but it doesn't mean that there's anything breaking that wasn't broken to me and I had read online that Vicki was not coming back and Tamra was — and I said that," she explained.

"I just repeated what I had read. I don't have any inside information. Nobody talks to me at Bravo. I know absolutely nothing. I just repeated the news that was already printed," she added.

In addition to Tamra's return, RHOC axed newcomers Noella Bergener and Dr. Jen Armstrong -- both of whom won't be back following their debut seasons.

Tamra joined RHOC in the show's third season back in 2007, before she was let go ahead of Season 15 in 2020. She's currently appearing on the second season of RHUGT, which dropped its finale on Thursday.