If you’ve been craving old-school Housewives vibes, this week’s episode of Atlanta delivered in a big way. In The Real Housewives of Atlanta Season 17 Episode 5, “Dynasty Divas in Atlanta,” we got a good old-fashioned read-off that will undoubtedly go down in the history books. Thank you to Pinky and Angela for clocking in.
Prior to this incredible reading session, Pinky hosted a community giveback day, opened up to her husband about her looming bankruptcy, and confronted the ongoing rumor that she’d been secretly eating meat. But as we learned this week, when one beef simmers down in this group, there’s already another one firing up.
What happened in The Real Housewives of Atlanta Season 17 Episode 5?
After Pinky’s community giveback day, the Atlanta ladies packed their bags and headed to Dallas for a Dynasty-themed trip, courtesy of Cynthia and her pal, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Adrienne Maloof.
Before anyone could settle in, drama popped off over the rooming situation. Of course it did, this is Housewives. Then, at the very first dinner in Dallas, things went completely sideways in a head-spinning argument between Pinky and Angela. Even Dominique Deveraux would clutch her pearls at this.
Adrienne Maloof made a cameo in the latest episode of RHOA
Cynthia might be a part-time cast member, but she has a full-time role in Season 17’s first cast trip. She partnered up with her pal Adrienne from RHOBH on a tequila company called Tequila Comisario, and they’re going to Dallas for a brand trip. Suddenly, everyone watching at home started craving tequila.
Episode 5 opened up with Adrienne, Cynthia, and Phaedra teeing up the trip, explaining the tequila partnership, and fully committing to the Dynasty theme. When the cast met up at the airport for their private flight, it became immediately clear that most of them had not gotten that memo. Most of this cast didn’t even know Dynasty, but that’s fine. Those who get it, get it. Those who don’t can at least enjoy the random RHOBH crossover happening right in front of them.
Bankruptcies are on trend in the RHOA circle
At this point, we’ve been hearing about Pinky’s bankruptcy on a near-daily basis, and last week, we learned that Kelli was also considering filing. Turns out there’s another member of the bankruptcy club in this circle, and it’s Angela! She opened up about it while the ladies flew on their private flight to Dallas.
Although Angela started her RHOA journey declaring herself a self-made millionaire, things spiraled pretty quickly when her investment properties went sideways, and she took a $2 million loss. She’s currently trying to claw her way back with a smaller investment property that is, at the moment, primarily occupied by spiders. Either way, this chat reiterated the fact that Pinky isn’t alone in this. Times are tough out here, but bankrupt girlies can still fly private.
Notably, Shamea was sitting there and taking notes on this entire conversation, probably with a huge lump in her throat. If bankruptcy and money issues are what’s in store for entrepreneurship, perhaps it’s time to reconsider that peach-flavored rum endeavor.
Cynthia’s room assignments caused a stir
The ladies arrived in Dallas, and immediately, we got the classic Housewives beat of trying to figure out who sleeps where. To Cynthia’s credit, she arranged for these ladies to stay in a sprawling compound with a mansion, a separate one-bedroom “tiny” house, and a two-bedroom pool house. Most of us could only dream of hosting a trip at some property, but some of these ladies were not thrilled with their assignments.
The drama started when Cynthia revealed that one person would stay in the tiny house alone. The two Housewives with the closest friendship would bunk together in the pool house.
Pinky got the tiny house, which she was cool with. The closest friendship? That honor went to Kelli and Shamea, and the backlash arrived in record time.
Shamea and Kelli skipped dinner in Dallas
Cynthia arranged a fabulous dinner, the first dinner in Dallas, but three of the Housewives didn’t show up. K. Michelle refused to come to the dinner because her glam squad hadn’t arrived. Sure, girl.
Shamea and Kelli, on the other hand, had a slightly more layered list of excuses. First of all, they felt like the pool house was an inferior accommodation and that Cynthia had been shady about the whole situation. On top of all of that, the pool house apparently needed a deep clean. So, they skipped the dinner and sat by the pool with K and a bottle of booze.
Poolside, Kelli confided in the ladies about the very stressful legal situation unfolding with her ex-husband, Marc. In case you missed the headlines, Marc threatened to sue Bravo for defamation and called out Kelli for having their kids on RHOA without his permission. All of that had been weighing on her heavily. Arriving in Dallas only to be relegated to a dirty pool house was not exactly the reset she needed.
Cynthia eventually came over to the pool to smooth things over with her disorganized guests and apologized for the cleanliness issue. That helped on the surface, but the underlying suspicion that Shamea and Kelli had been given the short end of the stick? That probably won’t go away quite as easily.
Angela and Pinky butted heads during the first night in Dallas
There was Claudia versus NeNe. There was Eva versus Marlo. Now, we have Pinky versus Angela as one of the all-time great RHOA read-offs, and honestly, it came out of absolutely nowhere.
These two have barely had any conversations on-screen, but things took a turn during dinner when Pinky tried to insert herself into Shamea and Kelli’s pool house drama. Angela accused Pinky of being aggressive and “bothered.” It was up from there.
Angela asked Pinky, “Are you bothered?” to which Pinky replied, “There isn’t anything on you from head to toe that I’m bothered by at all.”
Turns out, they were both very much bothered. The ladies traded jabs on bad wigs, “incestuous teeth,” and their messy financial situations. At one point, Angela compared Pinky to Papa Smurf. Pinky hit back and told her that she could buy her foreclosed homes. Every exchange took things further and further into the pits of hell. Even the husbands weren’t off limits.
“Your husband don’t even like you,” Pinky said.
Angela replied, “We don’t have a live-in wife in the basement.”
Say what now? Here we were thinking that Drew’s estranged husband, Ralph, was the only spouse in a basement. Either way, this back-and-forth got so loud and juicy that Kelli, Shamea, and K. Michelle came running from the pool! All of those excuses about skipping dinner melted away when they realized something good was going down.
And the real beauty of this reading session: there was no loser. They’re both winners, and in fact, we’re all winners because we got to experience this beautifully toxic war of words. It’s not exactly what you would have heard on Dynasty, but honestly? Close enough.
The Real Housewives of Atlanta airs on Sundays at 8/7c on Bravo. You can stream new episodes the next day on Peacock
TELL US – WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS ON RHOA SEASON 17 EPISODE 4? DID SHAMEA AND KELLI OVERREACT TO THE POOL HOUSE SITUATION? WHO HAD THE BETTER READS AT DINNER – ANGELA OR PINKY?
