House Of Villains Is Missing A Key Ingredient: Lisa Rinna

E!’s House of Villains is what reality TV dreams are made of. The new series, which premiered on Oct. 12, sees ten of the most villainous names in reality television history coexist under the same roof and battle it out in dramatic fashion for a $200,000 cash prize.

But the show appears to be missing a key ingredient: The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Lisa Rinna.

Rinna joined the cast of RHOBH in 2014 and soon made her mark, landing squarely in the center of drama throughout her eight-season run on the show, becoming a divisive figure in the process.

Kathy Hilton famously labeled Rinna “the biggest bully in Hollywood” during last year’s tense reunion, while some fans dubbed her the villain of Beverly Hills, even calling for her to be fired from the series.

Rinna appeared to welcome her unofficial title of resident 90210 villain, however, boasting in her Season 12 opening credits tagline: “Hi, I’m Karma. And yes, I am a b*tch.”

She eventually walked away from the Bravo-verse ahead of Season 13. But longtime Housewives fans understand that Rinna’s role as a villain is what made her a reality TV hero.

Rinna is one of the greatest reality TV bad guys to have ever graced our screens and deserved an honorary spot on E!’s House of Villains. Here’s why.

She Brings The Drama

Even the detractors will admit that if we’re grading drama, Rinna comes top of the class. As one fan put it: “Hating Lisa Rinna for playing a shady villain is like hating the mailman for delivering your mail. It’s their f****** job.”

Some of the most dramatic Beverly Hills storylines can be traced back to Rinna. Season 5’s viral Amsterdam showdown, Season 6’s Munchausen Fallout, and the Denise Richards drama of Season 10 — just to name a few — have become canon.

These hall-of-fame RHOBH highlights would never have seen the light of day without her masterful antics, and this is precisely why House of Villains missed a trick.

Where Rinna goes, the drama follows — and she would have put the likes of Pump Rules’ Jax Taylor, Tiffany “New York” Pollard, and The Apprentice veteran Omarosa to work.

She Owns It

Rinna famously faced a chorus of boos at 2022 BravoCon, where she was asked how she manages the harsh critiques of Housewives fans. “I’m Lisa f****** Rinna,” she quipped — a fitting response from a reality star who evidently leans into their role as a villain.

Examples of Rinna “owning it” (a phrase synonymous with the Beverly Hills alum) are peppered throughout her RHOBH stint.

Rinna memorably copped to spreading rumors about Yolanda Hadid in Season 6 (at the alleged request of Lisa Vanderpump) and ate some humble pie in Season 7, admitting that she may have slightly exaggerated Kim Richards’ state of well-being for dramatic effect.

Do fans always co-sign the methods of Rinna’s madness? No. But she understood and embraced her villainous presence on the show that she was willing to bleed for. No doubt, Rinna would’ve brought this same energy to House of Villains, and the series would have been all the better for it.

She’s Winning The IDGAF War

While some of her former Beverly Hills co-stars have been accused of “pandering to the Twitter crowd” to stay on the audience’s good side, Rinna was never swayed by the opinions of social media.

She famously went head-to-head with fan favorites including Vanderpump, Richards, Garcelle Beauvais, and Sutton Stracke, and had no qualms about being labeled the bad guy.

This fearlessness is what makes reality stars like Rinna, and the current House of Villains cast, so compelling. They’re winning the IDGAF war and we have a front-row seat. Fingers crossed Rinna makes the cut for Season 2.