The last episode of “The Real Housewives of Dubai” ended with former besties Taleen Marie and Caroline Brooks arguing with each other. Taleen explains to the group that after Chanel Ayan’s queens dinner, Brooks called her to say, “Caroline Stanbury was talking sh*t about you.”
According to Brooks, Caroline Stanbury said, “I don’t even know why Taleen took me away from the table. I don’t know her like that.”
Taleen tells everyone that after their conversation, she called Stanbury right away and asked her if she said that, to which she was told, “No.”
“Isn’t that a bit stirring the pot?” Taleen asks. Brooks tries to argue that she promised to tell Taleen anything the group says about her but is told, “Oh my god. Can you ever take accountability for anything?”
“Taleen is rrrrrrreally choosing you Stanbury over Brrrrrrooks,” Chanel says. Meanwhile, Sara Al Madani the spiritual gangster tries to make peace within the group and everyone is wondering when she became the Brooks whisperer.
“I feel like you’ve got your hand up her ass and moving her mouth,” Stanbury tells Sara. She doesn’t understand how Sara went from disliking Brooks last season to now being her emotional support person.
“You are a hypocrite, Sara!” Stanbury yells. She tells Sara that all her “humbo jumbo” is ridiculous and tells her to shut up. “You shut up!” Sara says. “You shut up!” Stanbury answers back.
Lesa Milan and her kids are alright
Meanwhile, Sara gets put on the spot over asking Chanel if Lesa Milan is okay because she’s been snappy lately and is worried about her home life.
She tries to explain that she is only concerned about Lesa. Chanel tells Sara that she felt uncomfortable with her asking about her best friend.
“Asking if everything is okay at home implies that something is wrong at home,” Lesa tells the cameras. “And I trust my best friend over everyone. If Ayan said that’s how it was said, that’s how it was said, period.”
Sara’s friend Saba Yousef, who was there at the time, chimes in, “I wish you knew the truth of how it happened. Because she said it with love.”
Somehow, the spotlight is completely off Brooks which Taleen notices and she tells the cameras how good her friend is at deflecting. Real Housewives 101. Somebody did her homework.
Lesa Milan needs a break
Chanel and Lesa meet up for double espressos to discuss the desert party’s events. Lesa admits that Sara’s comments about her home triggered her because her husband complained about their lack of sex as of late.
Lesa is running a business while juggling her kids and husband so girl is tired. “These days, I don’t even know who I am,” she tells Chanel. However, she can’t quit her company because as her mom told her, “Just in case Rich leaves, you need a backup plan.”
“For you to even say that, I’m a little bit worried,” Chanel responds. “You do so much for yourself and your family.”
When asked by a producer if she thinks Rich will ever leave, Lesa says, “A rainy day can come at any point in time,” which could mean Rich losing his job or they get a divorce.
Chanel urges Lesa to talk to Rich about how she feels and tells her that he’s been nothing but supportive so far.
Sara Al Madani wants to be taken care of
Akin comes to visit Sara and Maktoum because he’s heading back to Germany. Maktoum is twerking as Akin walks in. “Can you tell him to stop?” Sara tells Akin as if he’s Maktoum’s dad for real.
Sara shoos her son away so that she can have “The Talk” with Akin. She tells him that her mom knows about him and says, “I see a future, definitely.” At this point, their relationship seems more like a business transaction and there’s no chemistry between them at all. Have they even gotten to second base by now?
She tells him that she wants the man to be the sole provider because she took care of her exes financially and is done being the breadwinner. Also, being a spiritual gangster isn’t a real job.
He asks, “So when the man pays for everything, who has the most say in the relationship?” Sara asks him to clarify and he says, “I mean when you say the man is the alpha, then he’s like, a little more dominant, has a little more say in the relationship, no?”
“In Islam, the man is the provider and the protector. The man has to do that, yet he’s not the one in control,” Sara argues. He doesn’t seem sold on being a provider and not wearing the pants. *cough* red flag *cough.*
He tells her that if there is to be a future, he doesn’t want her seeing anyone else. She assures him that she’s not. So they leave off with the two committed but not dating yet. Shrug emoji.
Caroline Stanbury gets a reality check from her daughter
Stanbury and her daughter Yasmine Habib go out for dinner. She probably had to leave Sergio crying in the corner for some girls’ time.
Yasmine has just come back from her college tour in America with her dad, which Stanbury wasn’t able to go to because she was too busy having workers plant a giant bonsai tree in the middle of her house.
She’s going to miss her daughter when she’s off to college and tells her she wants to spend more time with her. “Do you feel like I prioritize you?” she asks. Yasmine answers, “No.”
Stanbury says that it’s hard because she has three kids and Yasmine tells her that she doesn’t prioritize any of them over Sergio. Ouch.
“Do you think you could have a better relationship with Sergio?” she asks. “I try but he makes it very difficult sometimes. That’s all I’m going to say,” is Yasmine’s response.
However, that’s not all she says. “I really don’t like when he steps in when you are trying to like, parent us. That’s not his place.”
In a confessional, Stanbury admits that she brought in Sergio too quickly and regrets it. “COVID sped up our relationship 100-fold. My ex-husband moved out and Sergio got locked down here but at the same time, their father and I had grown apart. So with or without Segio, I was getting divorced.”
“You are my priority too so I don’t want you to feel like I always stick up for him,” Stanbury tells her daughter. Yasmine starts crying and says, “You do. That’s what really upsets me.”
She tells her mom that she doesn’t appreciate the way Sergio yells at her during arguments and says, “It always ends up with you yelling at me.” Stanbury agrees and tells her that hopefully, they can all move forward.
Caroline Stanbury shows up for Taleen
Taleen’s family dog Coco has sadly died and she tells her sister and mom that the only ones who reached out were Chanel, Lesa, and Caroline — Stanbury, not Brooks. “You know how hurtful that is? A dog just died. How can you not reach out to somebody?” she vents.
Her husband Rafael Khanoyan tells her that she and Brooks always have drama but will make up. “No, this is different. Like, I haven’t spoken to her in a week,” Taleen insists.
She tells them that she sent Brooks a message wishing her son Adam a happy birthday but got crickets from her first Dubai friend.
“I’m seeing a side of Brooks that maybe she wasn’t the friend that I thought she was and that’s really hard to digest,” she says in a confessional.
She asks her family, “Is this something that we can even recover from?”
Brooks has set up a birthday party for Adam on the beach. Lesa and Sara arrive with their kids but Chanel is absent because she’s picking her family up from the airport. They wonder if Taleen will come and Brooks tells them that her frenemy didn’t RSVP.
“I’m not going to engage in rubbish on my son’s birthday. We’re not doing that,” Brooks says.
Meanwhile, Stanbury shows up at Taleen’s with flowers. She knows what it’s like to lose a pet so she’s sympathetic.
Apparently, they went out the night before and they joke about their drunken antics which included Stanbury falling in the bushes and then crawling into bed with Rafael.
At the beach, Brooks and Sara gossip about Stanbury posting her night out with Taleen in her Instagram Stories.
“Stanbury and Taleen hanging out on Instagram deep diving into the pits of hell is very, very fitting. Gutter meets gutter,” Brooks tells the cameras. “Stanbury, you were complaining that Taleen had her bushes open at Beyoncé. Now you’re letting her jump right into your bush. Make it make sense, b*tch.”
It looks like alliances have shifted and Brooks has lost her minion friend to the other side.
