Jackie Gillies, Janet Roach and Chyka Keebaugh on That Shocking 'RHOM' Finale

People.com:

Anyone who was under the illusion that this season of The Real Housewives of Melbourne had run out of drama before the finale had another thing coming on Thursday night.

After months of back-and-forth over rumors, not to mention plenty of nasty comments by resident villain Giana Liano, even cool-headed clairvoyant Jackie Gillies lost some of her shine-shine-shine.

Once Gillies arrived at this week's big event, a birthday party for season 2 newbie Pettifleur Berenger, she told PEOPLE she immediately felt her extra-powerful intuition tingling. What followed was, according to fellow Housewife Chyka Keebaugh, "very big drama that no one saw coming or expected."

The Set-Up

Though most Housewives events are wine-fueled showdowns, "I'd only had one drink," says Gillies, who spoke to PEOPLE along with pals Keebaugh and Janet Roach. "I said [to Janet], 'Something bad's going to happen tonight. I can feel it.' "

"She did," confirmed Roach. "She said, 'Psychically, I feel I need to keep my wits about me.' "

What followed was a literal bang-up argument that started with insults about Gillies' carer as a psychic, crested with Liano making "outrageous" insinuations about Gillies' and Roach's sobriety, and ended with Gillies chasing down Liano, rapping on a balcony door to draw her frenemy back in and ultimately, claims Gillies, getting caught up in a physical altercation that wasn't shown on screen.

Or, as Roach summed it up during the episode: "Gina is such a dirty fighter. She throws the bomb that Jackie and I have got dilated pupils and then run as fast as that fat, Spanx ass will let her go."

Unlike many other Housewives franchises's feuds, Melbourne's fight have typically been verbal – not physical – and Keebaugh says (perhaps optimistically): "I don't think it would ever get worse than [what happened in the finale]."

The Background

The dust-up had deeper layers than viewers saw because Liano, according to Gillies, "brought a person along ... to fully intimidate me. She brought this person along to say something to me, and so she ran outside, knowing that I wouldn't go after her. And I thought, 'No, no, no.' So I went after her, and she grabbed me. They don't actually show that. You only see me saying, 'Don't touch me.' That was probably my moment where I was like, 'I'm just done with this.' Because I did feel in a way unsafe. I did feel threatened."

It's a surprising move for Liano, a sharp-tongued lawyer who herself isn't easily intimidated, to shy away from conflict. Keebaugh attributed it to the fact that "Jackie rattles her cage."

She continued, "Gina knows that Jackie's got the support of us, and she doesn't know how to deal with it. So when she flies up and makes comments and Jackie says, 'That's not true,' she already knows that she's lost the battle because we all believe in Jax."

What's Next

But it's Gillies who'll be rattled at next week's reunion: "You see a side of Jackie you've never seen before," teased Roach.

"I get emotional," said Gillies, who cops to shedding more than a few tears over "something that happened in season 1 off camera and was swept under the carpet." 

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