We’re 10 episodes into The Real Housewives of Atlanta Season 17, and K. Michelle is still struggling to find her footing in this friend group. Kudos to Cynthia and Phaedra for holding her hand through what has been an excruciating process to watch.
Last week, Cynthia arranged a sit-down between K. Michelle and Porsha, and they made a teensy bit of progress towards normalcy. Still, K remained convinced that Drew was the mastermind behind the still-to-be-proven scheme to embarrass her.
In The Real Housewives of Atlanta Season 17 Episode 10, “Star Spangled Mess,” it became abundantly clear that their relationship still has a very long way to go.
What happened in The Real Housewives of Atlanta Season 17 Episode 10?
After establishing another flimsy truce between K. Michelle and Porsha, the Housewives continued trying to integrate the former Love & Hip Hop star into the friend group with varied results. Meanwhile, Angela and Shamea’s feud intensified with major accusations about Shamea’s marriage, and it will almost certainly have a ripple effect on the already divided friend group. Plus, Pinky announced a lofty new career aspiration that no one saw coming, and Drew tried to bring the group together at the Rich Homie Quan Celebrity Charity Softball game.
Angela dropped major accusations about Shamea’s marriage
RHOA Season 17 Episode 10 kicked off with Cynthia opening the doors to Lake Bailey and hitting us with the on-screen debut of her boyfriend, LePrince. He gets bonus points in our eyes because, unlike a certain ex of Cynthia’s with a tendency to insert himself into women’s business, LePrince knows his role. He got out of dodge when it was time for Cynthia and her fabulous guests to get down to official Housewives business.
With LePrince safely out of frame, Cynthia sat down with Phaedra, Angela, Drew, and Porsha to debrief on the latest drama in this fractured little friend group. They touched briefly on Porsha’s fragile peace deal with K. Michelle, but Angela quickly hijacked the room with her recap of her messy lunch with Shamea.
Angela told them how Shamea stormed out of the lunch after she accused her of stepping out on her husband with both NFL and NBA players. That was Porsha’s cue to physically leave the room because she wanted absolutely no part of anything related to Shamea, and honestly? You can’t blame her.
If the accusations are true, Shamea is out here bagging Hawks and Falcons players like it’s nothing, which is impressive and probably worth an online course or a webinar or something. If they’re not true, it’s an incredibly damaging thing to say about a woman whose husband is already so insecure that he won’t let her book acting gigs with romantic scenes because he can’t stand the idea of her with anyone else.
Either way, Angela claimed she has a trusted source, and she believes that this is true. That also opens another can of worms because we now have a whole new mystery to unravel. Who told Angela this alleged tea on Shamea?
Shamea’s last-minute party invite caught the women off guard
While Angela was busy dishing about her fight with Shamea, Cynthia got a conveniently timed text, and not in the fun Love Island way. It was Shamea, inviting her and Phaedra to her husband Gerald’s surprise birthday party. Speak of the devil!
Shamea told them to show up in their finest African garb for what sounded like an elaborately planned event. The only issue? She gave them a day’s notice. On top of that, she decided to invite everyone from the cast except for Drew, Porsha, and Angela. That tells you everything you need to know about how all over the place the group’s division actually is. Although, curiously, Dennis the Hot Dog King managed to score an invite to the party weeks ago. Puzzling doesn’t even begin to describe it.
A peach and a cherry blossom
As if there wasn’t already enough happening this week, like Pinky casually announcing she’s investing $40,000 into turning her life into a scripted series, this episode also delivered a cameo from Real Housewives of Potomac icon Gizelle Bryant! She popped up for a boozy lunch date with Porsha.
Gizelle was in Atlanta filming a cameo on Beyond the Gates and made time for a quick catch-up with her former Bravo’s Chat Room co-host. The two ordered Caesar salads, knocked back some tequila shots, and got straight to the gossip. Goals.
Naturally, Gizelle wanted the full debrief on Porsha and Shamea’s situation. Do they still hate each other? Is it reasonable or shady?
Porsha explained that the two of them had learned to coexist but were nowhere near being besties again. She insisted she wasn’t trying to be a mean girl or ice Shamea out of the group.
Meanwhile, Shamea was at home planning her husband’s birthday party, excluding Porsha but inviting her baby’s father.
Phaedra tried to talk some sense into K. Michelle
For what Phaedra lacks in personal storyline this season, she is more than making up for in her willingness to move everyone else’s along. Last week, she sat down with Kelli to get her out of the cycle of shade with Porsha. This week, she turned her attention to K. Michelle.
It’s ironic because K. Michelle originally believed Phaedra was part of the conspiracy against her. She has now done a complete 180, declaring her the most “relatable” person in the group.
The pair got together for an afternoon of backyard fishing at K’s new place, which did not go well. Apparently, Kool-Aid-soaked hot dogs are not effective fish bait. What did go well, however, was Phaedra’s pep talk about K. Michelle’s status in the group.
While waiting for the fish to bite, she intimated to K that the divide in the group was getting out of hand, and that sometimes you have to walk into an uncomfortable situation for the sake of the bigger picture. After all, it’s literally what they signed up for when they signed their contracts for a reality show.
“If we’re all going to get along, sometimes we have to do things that might not be comfortable, but for the greater good of the group,” Phaedra explained.
K seemed to be receptive to Phaedra’s advice, and later in the episode, it seemed like she was ready to put it into practice. At least it seemed that way for a second.
K. Michelle left her purse behind, running away from Drew
RHOA is probably the only show on Bravo where you will ever hear the name Rich Homie Quan, and this week, the ladies showed up to his Rich As In Spirit Celebrity Charity Softball game to support his legacy and his surviving family.
Drew was tapped to sing the national anthem and invited the entire cast to come out, including K. Michelle. Inspired by the pep talk with Phaedra, K reluctantly showed up. That’s progress!
After the charity event, however, Drew, K. Michelle, and Shamea met up at a restaurant. That’s where the tiny bit of progress quickly slipped away.
In addition to the ongoing thing about Blakk, K. Michelle hinted to Drew that her feelings were now also hurt over her comments at Phaedra’s Healing Waters event, when she told her she didn’t “belong” in the group. Drew responded by telling K that she needed to start “speaking up” for herself, rather than dropping all of these cryptic hints about who she’s mad at.
It’s similar to the feedback Porsha gave her. It’s the same thing everyone watching at home has been screaming at their TVs for weeks. Be direct! Say something! Be a Housewife!
When faced with Drew, who has solidified herself as an essential worker on this show, K completely shut down. Instead of having the conversation she’s being paid to have, she high-tailed it to the car waiting outside, jumped in, and started blaring the National Anthem from the speakers. She even left her purse behind at the restaurant!
Abandoning a designer bag to avoid having a real conversation is definitely new territory, but here we are. Just when it seemed like K. Michelle was finally turning a corner toward something resembling a Real Housewife, she took two giant steps back. There’s always Episode 11.
The Real Housewives of Atlanta airs on Sundays at 8/7c on Bravo and streams the next day on Peacock.
TELL US — WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA SEASON 17 EPISODE 10? DO YOU BELIEVE ANGELA’S ACCUSATIONS ABOUT SHAMEA? WERE YOU SURPRISED TO SEE K. MICHELLE FLEEING THE SCENE WITH DREW?
