I caught the season premiere of House of Villains and finished the episode realizing that Omarosa is already the queen of the show.
Now I'm not ignorant of the fact that for many, the mere mention of her name comes with an obligatory eye roll. Since her debut on The Apprentice in 2004, she's managed to alienate people for her unapologetic way of voicing her opinion and her knack for being rather manipulative in competition. Who can forget when she sabotaged fellow Apprentice contestant Kwame Jackson for what looked like no reason at all? In the years that followed, she made a series of questionable decisions and unpopular statements on various reality shows that drew glares from both her former castmates and viewers.
With all that said, Omarosa is perfect for House of Villains and is absolutely the star of the show.
From the moment the former White House staffer stepped out of the car to walk into the home she shares with her House of Villains castmates, all eyes were on her. Some of her castmates were literally running out of the living room into other corners of the home. Then as she exchanges pleasantries with Johnny Bananas, Jonny Fairplay, Shake and others, she runs into Corinne and things immediately go left.
A bubbly Corrine goes up to Omarosa and says, "Hi, what's your name?" Apparently, that was a "Big mistake. Big. Huge!" (yes, a Pretty Woman reference). Omarosa stares Corrine down and replies, "Umm, Google, it will help you." Omarosa's response left me with my jaw on the floor. Check out the exchange in the following clip.
Outside of this moment, Omarosa manages to continue to steal the focus throughout the 75-minute series premiere. During the first challenge of House of Villains, while her competitors are running around a field trying to eliminate one another in hopes of attaining the week’s immunity and the right to nominate people to go home, she literally sits back and views her fellow celebs knock each other out of the game. I watched in amazement that her strategy worked.
She even manages to be one of the last two standing and convinces Johnny Bananas, Mr. Challenge himself, to forfeit and allow her to win. In exchange, she promises not to nominate him for elimination. I was stunned he would make a deal with her knowing her reputation.
Fast forward to the moment when Omarosa actually names which of her contestants she is nominating. It was clear she would nominate Corrine, but then she starts giving an impassioned speech about the need to eliminate someone who is a real threat. She literally describes Johnny Bananas without saying his name, which made me think she was going to stab him in the back with the biggest knife in the most public of ways. However, she creates the suspense only to say she'll keep her word and not put him up for elimination. If I were a producer of House of Villains, I would say Omarosa created a suspenseful golden TV moment.
All in all, Omarosa reigned as the queen of the show in its debut. Her shady moments got people talking on social media. She caused me and other viewers to stay engaged wondering how she would tactfully win the power to eliminate the other contestants. She overall created a level of drama on reality TV that was enjoyable to watch and just shy of toxic.
I don't know how she'll fare throughout the competition, but even though I'm not a fan of hers, I'm not so secretly hoping she goes far. I'm interested to see how this plays out.
House of Villains airs on Thursdays on E!
