How Vicki Gunvalson Met Her Boyfriend

Everyone who has been watching Real Housewives of Orange County from the beginning knows that Vicki Gunvalson doesn't have the best luck when it comes to men and dating. It's been a long road, but I, along with the other fans, have been pulling for our girl to finally end up with a nice guy. Now that the OG of the OC is in a relationship again, I'm really curious about the specifics. I wonder how Vicki Gunvalson met her new boyfriend Steve Lodge.

We all know that Vic is not the type to stay single for long, but her dating life has always been so public thanks to the show, so I can't help wondering how she got together with Steve. Was he a fan of the show? Have they been friends for a long time? I have a lot of questions about this coupling. Most importantly, I'm just vicariously nervous hoping that this Steve person will actually be good to Vicki, but so far it all seems to be going well.

The Steve and Vicki romance is pretty fresh. According to one of Vicki's Instagram posts, they met on April 16, 2016. She put up a photo of roses from her new man in May 2016 with the caption, "After meeting this amazing man 1 month ago today, he surprised me with my 2nd set of roses in a week." So, it sounds like it was getting pretty romantic between the two of them right from the start if you ask me.

According to The Daily Dish, the couple initially hit it off at a charity event event and he actually had no idea who she was. I think that's a pretty good thing since Vicki of all people could really use a fresh start when it comes to dating. Not only was Steve unfamiliar with Real Housewives of Orange County, but wait for it, he'd actually never watched reality television at all. Consider my mind blown.

Vicki explained to The Daily Dish, "When we met, I was like, 'Have you ever watched a reality show?' He's like, 'No, I don't watch reality TV.' And I'm like, 'OK, good.' He's like, 'Why do you ask that?' And I said, 'I might be on a little bit of a show.'" Good for her. I'm just hoping he never dips into the repeat episodes during an RHOC marathon.

Apparently, he really didn't understand how big of deal it is to be the OG OC. Vicki told a story to Us Weekly about Steve being severely confused when a Real Housewives viewer approached her during a date night. Vicki shared, "We were having dinner one night and somebody wanted to take my picture, and he was like, ‘Do you know her?’ I was like, ‘No.’ He was like, ‘Why are people looking at you?’” Awkward.

Then Vicki revealed, "I was like, ‘I’ve got a little something to say!’ I told him and he was like, ‘I like you. I don’t care what you do for work.’” Well, thank God. It seems like she finally has a dude who doesn't want to be an honorary Housewife and who just wants to be around her instead of schmoozing it up for the cameras.

She also said, "He's like, 'Nope, I've never seen [it], I don't know who you are.' And I was like, 'Yes!' So that was really fun for me because most people would know me from TV. I mean, 11 years on, it's really hard to find somebody that doesn't know you, so that's a plus."

I have no idea if he's seen the show now, but he really does have no interest in being a part of it, which I find very refreshing. I feel like that's probably the best thing for Vicki after over a decade of being super open with her love life. Vicki told The Daily Dish, "He does not want to film. He does not want to be part of it. He respects my career, respects my viewers, respects what I do, but he doesn't want to be part of it. So that's really nice for me is that he just wants to stay private."

The start of this relationship seems to be pretty promising, but there's really just one test that Steve really needed to pass and that's getting Briana Culberson's approval. Viewers all know that Vicki's daughter was not at all fond of her last boyfriend, to put it mildly. So, what does she think of this new guy? Vicki told Us Weekly, “[Briana] loves him!” That's a major relief. She also shared, “They do wine night together when I’m working or traveling. She calls him and says, ‘Steve, are you coming over?’ It’s so funny!”

I believe it. Especially since I saw some super cute pics of Steve hanging with Briana's kids while Vicki was babysitting. So, the Briana stamp of approval is clearly there. Good for him.

It looks like Vicki finally has a good man in her life and their relationship got off to a great drama-free start. Let's hope I didn't jinx them with all of my praise and that things stay this way. I'm very #TeamSteve these days.