If you tuned into Oxygen back in 2012, you definitely remember the red hair. You remember the "Jay Leno" jokes. And you definitely remember the constant, high-octane drama that defined Bad Girls Club: Las Vegas. Erica, also known by her stage name Venetia or Lucci Vee, wasn't just a participant. She was the polarizing force of the house.
Erica from BGC 8 basically ran that season with an iron fist, for better or worse.
Honestly, looking back at that era of reality TV is like opening a time capsule of pure chaos. Erica was 23 when she walked into the mansion. She came in as the "Trash Talking Cheerleader," and she lived up to every syllable of that title. But where is she now? In 2026, the landscape of reality TV has shifted, but the curiosity about the BGC OGs hasn't faded.
The Las Vegas Reign of Terror
Most people remember Erica for her leadership in the "Wolf Pack." It was a polarizing clique. You had Erica, Gia, and Mimi (rest in peace) essentially dictating the vibe of the house. If they didn't like you, you knew it.
The twins, Dani and Gabi Victor, found that out the hard way.
The jumping. It's the one thing fans can't stop talking about even a decade later. BGC 8 is often cited as the "season of the jump-a-hoes" because the physical altercations were rarely one-on-one. Erica was right in the middle of it. She was the one who famously plotted on the phone with her mother about how to handle her rivals. It was gritty. It was dark. It was, quite frankly, hard to watch at times.
Erica wasn't just a physical threat in the house; she was a psychological one. She had this way of rallying the other girls. If Erica had a problem with you, suddenly the whole house had a problem with you. It’s why so many fans labeled her a bully.
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The Music Career and the "Lucci Vee" Era
While she was in the house, Erica was hyper-focused on one thing: her rap career. She frequently talked about making it big. She met with rappers like Jazzy and tried to use the platform to launch her brand.
She eventually released music under the name Lucci Vee.
If you go digging through YouTube or old Soundcloud links, you’ll find her tracks. They were very much of that time—club-heavy beats and aggressive lyrics. She tried to pivot the "Bad Girl" image into a professional music career, which is a path many girls from the franchise tried to take. Some succeeded more than others. For Erica, the music became a staple of her identity post-show, though it never quite reached mainstream charts.
The Physical Transformation No One Expected
If you haven’t seen a photo of Erica recently, you might not even recognize her. Seriously.
Social media went into a frenzy a couple of years ago when new photos of her surfaced. The red hair is long gone. But it wasn't just the hair. Erica underwent significant plastic surgery, including what many speculate—and she has partially confirmed through the years—was jaw surgery.
Fans on Reddit and Twitter used to be brutal about her chin. Like, truly mean-spirited stuff. It seems she took those critiques to heart.
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- The Surgery: She reportedly had double jaw surgery.
- The Aesthetic: She moved away from the 2012 "club girl" look into a more polished, "IG baddie" style.
- The Vibe: She looks softer now. Less "I'm going to jump you in the limo" and more "I'm living my best life in Miami."
It’s interesting because, in 2026, we’re a lot more used to seeing massive transformations through fillers and surgery. But back when Erica first did it, it was a massive shock to the BGC community. She literally looks like a different person.
Is She Still With Chris?
This is the part that usually shocks people.
Remember Chris? Her boyfriend during the season? The one who she was constantly fighting with on the phone? The one who she claimed would FedEx her a pair of "red bottoms" (Christian Louboutins) but never actually seemed to do it?
They stayed together.
In an industry where reality TV couples last about as long as a TikTok trend, Erica and Chris stayed the course for over a decade. They eventually had a child together. For someone who was portrayed as so volatile and unstable on television, her personal life ended up being surprisingly consistent.
It’s a weird contrast. On screen, she was the girl who couldn't get through a night without a screaming match. Off screen, she was building a long-term family unit with the same guy she was dating in 2012.
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The Legacy of BGC 8 and Erica's Place in It
Let's be real: BGC 8 changed the franchise. After the Vegas season, the "jumping" became such a problem that production eventually had to crack down on it in later seasons. Erica was the face of that shift.
She wasn't invited back for the All-Star Battle or many of the major spin-offs like some of her counterparts. Why? Some say it's because she was a "production puppet." Others think she just wanted to move on.
She did make a guest appearance on BGC 9 and showed up on Love Games, but she never became a recurring staple like Natalie Nunn or Tanisha Thomas. And maybe that was for the best. Erica seems to have traded the spotlight for a quieter life, focusing on motherhood and her own business ventures.
What You Can Learn from Erica's Journey
If there is one thing to take away from Erica’s story, it’s that the person you see on a 42-minute edited reality show isn't the whole person.
Erica was a villain. There’s no getting around that. Her actions on the show were often indefensible, especially the way Elease and the twins were treated. But the way she’s handled her life since then—staying low-key, raising her child, and staying with her partner—shows a level of stability that her "Bad Girl" persona never hinted at.
Next Steps for BGC Fans:
- Audit the Footage: If you haven't watched BGC 8 in a while, it’s on Tubi and various streaming platforms. Watch it with 2026 eyes; it hits different.
- Check the Music: Search for "Lucci Vee" on streaming platforms if you want to hear what she was working on during her peak fame.
- Follow the Evolution: Look up her recent interviews on YouTube podcasts. She occasionally pops up to discuss her time on the show and clarify the "edit" she received.
Erica from BGC 8 might always be remembered as the girl in the plaid pajama pants, but her life today is a far cry from the Vegas strip. She’s one of the few who actually managed to leave the "Bad Girl" label in the past and start over.