'Real Housewives of Orange County' news update: Two women competing to replace Meghan King Edmonds

Since Meghan King Edmonds announced that she will be leaving "Real Housewives of Orange County" ("RHOC") on Jan. 23, producers have reportedly been looking for her replacement for the upcoming season 13. Two women are now in the running for her role — Tatiana Beebe and Gina Kirschenheiter.

In a blog post, Edmonds announced that she will be leaving "RHOC" to focus on her family and her second pregnancy with twin boys. She talked about the "emotional toll" she experienced in dealing with the drama among her co-Housewives as well as the "physical toll" of filming the reality show during her first pregnancy with daughter Aspen. She will be leaving Orange County to return to her hometown, St. Louis, to raise her and sports broadcaster husband Jim Edmonds' growing family.

A promotional poster for the reality television show, "Real Housewives of Orange County."Facebook/RealHousewivesofOrangeCounty

While fans are sad about Edmonds' departure, rumors about her replacement for the upcoming season started circulating. Pictures of women who supposedly tried for the role began appearing. Speculations about possible new Housewives halted when Real Housewives 101 tweeted photos of two ladies on Jan. 15 with a caption "Front runners #RHOC Season 13... #TimeWillTell #SoManyWives #OnlyAFewOranges."

According to All About the Real Housewives (AllAboutTRH), the two women are the front-runners for season 13. The two ladies in the tweet are Beebe and Kirschenheiter who are rumored to not only be connected but very close to the "RHOC" Housewives — in the same tweet, the two are seen in photos together with Tamra Judge, Shannon Beador and Vicki Gunvalson.

AllAboutTRH asked Judge about the rumored participation of the two women in the show and she confirmed that the two are indeed, vying to join the "RHOC." She emphasized that although Beebe and Kirschenheiter both had talks with Bravo TV, the cable television network broadcasting the show, no decision has been made on who will replace Edmonds.

"The Real Housewives of Orange Country" will air sometime this year.