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Brooks Ayers of The Real Housewives of Orange County insists he really does have cancer, and that the show is playing up fake drama for ratings.

“I have cancer,” Ayers, Vicki Gunvalson’s ex, told Entertainment Tonight, revealing that his specific diagnosis is Stage 3 Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

According to Brooks, despite what you see when you watch The Real Housewives of Orange County online, this has never been a point of contention.

He’ll start a new round of chemotherapy for the blood-based form of cancer in L.A. next month, and is sad that this has become a reality TV topic.

Ayers thinks Bravo is playing up the others’ skepticism over cancer diagnosis his “to create drama … manufactured drama … and that’s sad to me.”

Brooks called the whole cancer controversy “useless drama that brings on stress that, quite frankly, no one needs and in particular, my situation."

“I’ve distanced myself in a lot of ways from it," Ayers adds of rumors that he is faking cancer, but at the same time, "I’m not running from anything.”

Ayers said he’s focusing on the positive and not “lying around in a hospice bed,” noting that his cancer statistics show more “normalized” numbers.

On this week’s episode, Vicki had a breakdown coping with all the skepticism of her fellow cast members who wanted to see his medical records.

Recent episodes have shown her wilting from the health battle, and the naysayers questioning it; Brooks and Vicki split up right before this aired.