By RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com, originally filed Sunday, March 1, 2015
Apollo Nida, who provided a farewell video before he entered prison for eight years for bank and identity fraud last September, also left a nasty departing "gift" for his wife Phaedra Parks.
As trailers have shown for months, we know Phaedra has been accused of dating an "African Prince" supposedly nicknamed "Chocolate." Last week, we learned Apollo showed Cynthia Bailey's husband Peter Thomas texts he found on her phone where she allegedly said she was getting "off the plantation" soon to this "Chocolate" guy and teased him about spanking her.
Did he create these texts out of thin air or were they real?
We have no idea here though the show revealed a couple of past Phaedra lies - like fudging her first pregnancy date and denying she had insulted Cynthia until audio evidence was revealed.
At a dinner at Fogo de Chao in Buckhead with all the women present, Cynthia Bailey awkwardly brings up what her husband had seen. Her excuse: Phaedra had thrown the word "whore" around so loosely (to Kenya) and then NeNe did it to Claudia. She feels that was an unfair accusation if this Phaedra cheating scandal was remotely true.
Kenya Moore then chirps in because she's far better at attacking people than Cynthia. She had earlier shed tears when she heard this rumor. So she goes after Phaedra.
Phaedra rarely - if ever - reacts particularly angrily to anything on the show - at least to people's faces. She has written a book about manners, y'all! She denies the rumor, looking confused and perturbed. But as we saw in trailers, she stands up and lifts her purse. It appears as if she is going to physically go after Kenya.
It's all a feint. She doesn't do anything more besides say "You need to check yourself." She backs off any physical threat and leaves the restaurant.
"You're the biggest whore here," Kenya says. She thinks Phaedra's outburst is a tell, noting, "You don't get that angry when someone tell you that's not the truth." Kenya also calls Phaedra "foul to the core."
Outside, Kenya wants to continue the conversation while awaiting their valeted cars. But Phaedra keeps her mouth shut. NeNe covers for her, questioning Cynthia why she brought it up in front of the whole crew.
Trailers show this story line continues next week with questions brought up about Kandi Burruss's "loyalty." She seems less than supportive of Phaedra. Kandi blames her own issues on not giving Phaedra more support.
Earlier in the episode, Phaedra said she is relieved Apollo was in prison, given his previous threats, noting the past few days had been "emotionally draining... He has left so many messes to clean up... I'm living through a living hell."
She even brings in a pastor to do an "exorcism" of her home. It didn't work. She has no idea what was coming.
Other story lines:
- Kandi and new hubby Todd Tucker are having some issues: she wants more sex. He doesn't seem as interested. She says all they talk is business. He agrees reluctantly to counseling.
- NeNe is prepping for her Broadway role on "Cinderella."
- Claudia Jordan and Porsha Williams didn't have their own story lines this week. Ditto with Demetria McKinney, who I don't recall even had any dialogue tonight at the dinner.
QUOTES
"Excuse me? I spilled tea all over myself!" - Kenya, reacting after the fact over Phaedra's supposed "Chocolate" amour.
"Way too much whore calling!" - Cynthia
"I need to teach you to be a better pit bull." - Claudia, about Cynthia
"Cynthia looks like an idiot." - NeNe about her former friend
"I'm not going to breathe life into this nonsense. These hens can cluck all they want. But I don't mind taking them to the slaughterhouse and chopping their heads off." - Phaedra after the fact.
RATINGS
The show drew 2.85 million viewers two weeks ago for the 14th episode, a bit below average for the season. (The last time the show aired was Feb. 15. It took a week off because of the Oscars.) It's way down from the comparable episode a year ago when the show drew a whopping 4.64 million viewers. The 18-49 rating is down to 1.2 vs. 2.1.
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