This was originally posted Tuesday, May 16, 2017 by Rodney Ho/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
I'm back from vacation! I set up my time off not knowing Bravo would extend the reunion episodes so far into the year so I missed the crazy fourth reunion episode of "Real Housewives of Atlanta" May 7. (I tried to get a copy in advance to I could write about it before I left to post that evening but Bravo didn't have it finished in time before I left May 5.)
Andy Cohen at the NBC Universal upfronts Monday was asked by E! about the future of Phaedra Parks after that explosive reunion. He more or less confirmed that she is out, news Bravo hasn't officially confirmed yet but appears to be a done deal.
“The question that we look at now with Phaedra is, when the reunion ended, none of the other women wanted to have anything to do with her. So that’s what you have to look at,” Cohen told E!. “How do you shoot a show about a group of friends when no one is speaking to one of the friends?”
( Bethenny Frankel of RHONY agreed with Us magazine at upfronts that Phaedra's actions sealed her fate: "I don't think Phaedra can bounce back from that.")
TMZ reported while I was gone that Parks is off the show for sure.
Cohen has always liked Phaedra and even invited her to ask him questions about his book last year when he came to Atlanta to promote his latest book. But even he couldn't square her whopping lies and use of Porsha Williams to do her dirty work spreading unfounded rumors about Kandi Burruss. The fact Phaedra lied to Porsha about the source of the "drugging/raping" rumor was the final nail in the coffin for Phaedra.
Page Six of the New York Post and other gossip sites have noted that Phaedra heard the rumor from a producer on the show: specifically, Carlos Scott, who is now gone from RHOA as well and previously worked with Kandi's husband Todd Tucker on the now axed "Hollywood Divas" on TV One. Any comments Phaedra made regarding Carlos was cut from the reunion show because Bravo does not like to reveal what goes on behind the curtains to that degree.
In the end, it was ultimately Phaedra's responsibility spreading the rumor to Porsha and not fessing up about it until confronted.
Porsha was her only good friend during season 9. And Phaedra burned her, too.
So from a logistics standpoint, Phaedra has alienated all the ladies with her inability to own up to her own lies. They have no desire to shoot with her. In a lame effort at damage control, she apologized multiple times on the reunion show but none of the women bought her so-called amends. She has seldom been 100 on this show and over the years, she has burned one too many bridges.
The episode that aired this past Sunday, which is basically leftovers that didn't make the final cut from the regular season, showed quite a bit of Phaedra, including her charitable work.
Bottom line: that's the last we'll see of her after seven seasons on the show.
Typically, Bravo brings back production of the show in June. The usually don't announce the entire cast until August or September, allowing for plenty of speculation. Sometimes, they test newcomers for potential part-time or full-time roles. So far, Kim Zolciak is reportedly returning part time and NeNe Leakes is likely to come back full time, with a possible spin off in the works.
About the Author
