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Did you watch? The highly anticipated #Strippergate episode of The Real Housewives of Atlanta finally aired, and viewers who wanted to see some juicy and messy drama go down weren’t disappointed. Even though the show’s 13th season hasn’t been as eventful as many of its previous ones thus far, last’s night episode solidified that in addition to loving their sexy fun time, there are just some things about the RHOA ladies that haven’t changed.
As longtime viewers know, yesterday’s episode wasn’t the first time we’ve seen the RHOA cast show off their assets for a night of some adult fun. It also wasn’t the first time we’ve seen them indulge in some adult entertainment provided by a live stripper. While the cast may change, the affinity for some freaky fun that the Atlanta ladies have isn’t anything new. It’s always been good TV to see the shenanigans the ladies fall into when they’re in these situations. But what sucked all the enjoyment out of things in last night’s episode was seeing Kenya be so invasive and judgmental about what happened between some of the ladies and the stripper hired to work Cynthia’s bachelorette party.
If you recall, viewers viewed clips mostly from the beginning of the “return to the dungeon” for Cynthia’s celebration. As seen, after Bolo (the stripper) finished his initial performance, Porsha went to ask on behalf of herself and the other women if he would come back out to have some more fun. When Bolo confirmed that he would, Porsha in particular was of the one ladies who we saw being adamant about the camera crew leaving for the night so the women could have an uninhibited good time. Without wanting to worry about what would be filmed for the world to see, or how they would be judged, the production crew was shooed away and the majority of the cameras remaining in their vacation rental were blacked out.
Relatedly, viewers heard Kandi — who was acting as the “mistress” and MC of the evening — tell the ladies multiple times that she wanted everyone to feel they were in a judgment-free space. It was clear that from the beginning of the night, she and everyone else wanted to create genuine memories at Cynthia’s bachelorette party, and do whatever they wanted to do with whoever they wanted to do it with, as grown women should be able to. Everyone was on board with that, except Kenya.
In the aftermath of the events that transpired that night, which included LaToya and Porsha making out, Tanya Sam wanting a piece of the action, and a few of the ladies checking out Bolo’s package — assuming things only went as far as what the camera crew was sneakily able to piece together despite being kicked out — the next day Kenya “held court.” She did so in an effort to expose just how far some of her castmates went with each other and the stripper in a public way.
As mentioned, while it’s good some things about the RHOA women haven’t changed, the harsh judgments Kenya holds over her castmates is a really bad thing that needs to. Throughout the season, we’ve watched as she’s made multiple negative comments about the social justice work Porsha accomplished last summer for Black Lives Matter, all unprovoked. Last night, Kenya once again made Porsha a target, throwing condemning statements about what went down with Bolo all in Porsha’s direction. Honestly, why did Kenya care so much? Porsha is a grown and single woman, so why did it matter how far she went with the stripper, or any of the other women for that matter?
Not only did Kenya come off as a top-tier hater, but she also proved that she has no idea what it means to follow “girl code” or be a “girl’s girl.” Marlo, Cynthia, and Shamea all seemed like they had even more information about what went down that night between their fellow castmates and the stripper than Kenya did, but none of them blatantly made it a point to expose what happened behind closed doors. That is what good girlfriends do. Unfortunately, instead of treating her co-stars with the respect grown women and friends should share, we saw Kenya do the opposite. If you recall, throughout the years we’ve seen her flirt with another woman’s husband, make disparaging comments about the husbands and/or marriages of multiple cast members, say Marlo had a “card reader” between her legs, and almost ruin Cynthia’s engagement — those just being the instances I can remember off the top of my head. Sadly, it’s clear that the former Miss USA isn’t in support of women’s empowerment or other people’s happiness as much as she’d like that notion to come across.
All in all, Kenya trying to make Porsha and the other women feel guilt and shame surrounding their fun is horrible, point blank period. She only added to the negativity by turning the situation into a storyline for production, making it a topic of conversation once the cameras returned for filming the next day. To be real, I was already over Bravo dragging out this South Carolina trip in anticipation for last night’s episode because Kenya has been being shady almost the entire time. When we know she can be a lot of fun when she wants to be, it’s sad to see Kenya’s hater vibes towards the other women still ruining everyone else’s good time. As mentioned, some things just haven’t changed.
Scroll below for some of the best tweets about last night’s episode.
