The Real Housewives of Orange County’s season 19 new year party erupts in explosive drama as Katie Ginella fails polygraph test; Shocking fallout rocks Emily Simpson's home

Tensions ran high during The Real Housewives of Orange County Season 19, Episode 8, when Emily Simpson’s Persian New Year party took an unexpected turn with the arrival of professional polygraph examiners. In a twist no one saw coming, Emily had secretly arranged for her castmates, Shannon Beador, Heather Dubrow, Katie Ginella, Tamra Judge, Gina Kirschenheiter, Jennifer Pedranti, and friend Gretchen Rossi, to take lie-detector tests.

Each woman was led into a dark room and hooked up to equipment measuring everything from blood pressure to fingertip moisture as they answered a series of yes/no questions. Anxiety-ridden Katie appeared to struggle the most, leaving the examiner to mutter a blunt verdict after her test: “She’s so full of s–t.”

New problems for Katie Ginella

The tension escalated when the examiner revealed the results to Katie, bluntly declaring that she had not only “failed” the test but had also “done the worst out of everybody.” The examiner specifically called out Katie’s answers regarding Gretchen, saying, “Those questions for you about Gretchen, you failed those very badly.”

Irrespective of the result, Katie maintained her innocence, insisting she “told the truth” and “didn’t lie” about the drama involving Gretchen and Tamra, as well as the allegations that she played a recording of Shannon for Alexis Bellino. Her castmates, however, were unconvinced. The confrontation reached a boiling point when Emily told Katie to leave her home immediately, marking one of the most explosive moments of the episode.

Katie also explained why she failed every single question on the test. She said, "I was anxious, not only to be in this group of women, but then sit in Emily's closet and do a random non-certified polygraph test," Katie explained in the above After Show clip. "Not in a controlled environment; in her closet."

Katie’s problems were compounded by her own admission that she had forgotten to take her anti-anxiety medication before heading to Emily’s party. Although she initially brushed it off, telling herself she would be “fine” without it but the pressure of the polygraph test quickly proved otherwise.

Role of Katie Ginella and Jennifer Pedranti in the Gretchen lie detector drama

Katie was further baffled by Gretchen’s completely “truthful” test results as on the After show, she speculated that Gretchen “must be f–kin’ lying,” pointing out that she wasn’t the only one who had heard Gretchen’s alleged comments about Tamra during their group dinner with Jenn and their partners, Matt Ginella, Slade Smiley, and Ryan Boyajian.

"And that's why, in that moment, I pointed to Jenn and was like, 'Jenn, you know she said that,'" Katie added. "We had just talked like the month before on the phone about it, with Ryan and Slade. How do you not remember this?"

Despite the chaos, Katie described Jenn as “a very kind person,” while speculating about why Jenn had remained silent on the matter. "I think that when she saw that I was getting in the mess, she didn't wanna get in the mess," Katie theorized. "And that's why she's like, 'I didn't hear it.' Because she's friends with both of us, or she was friends with both of us."

Katie speculated that Gretchen had allegedly repeated the rumor at dinner “to rile Jenn up more to hate Tamra,” and described how Slade was frantically “calling Matt like 20 times in a row” while the women were in New Orleans. Upon their return, Katie claimed Matt offered to “talk this out” with Slade, but he “ghosted” him. She questioned the situation, asking, “Why would he do that if I just made this up and lied about it? He wouldn't.”

Either way, Katie revealed to an After Show producer that Matt “doesn’t talk to Slade anymore,” leaving the fallout from the polygraph drama lingering.