The season finale of “The Real Housewives of Potomac” Season 8 is here after allegations, accusations, and an unwilling abdication of the title of “Grande Dame” of Potomac. The last episode ended on a cliffhanger with Deborah Williams trying to start drama with Candiace Dillard at the tail end of Gizelle Bryant and Ashley Darby’s GnA fashion show.
The cameras had stopped rolling but picked up again amid the ladies’ fight. Candiace is being held back by Charisse Jackson-Jordan. “Deborah threw a drink on Candiace,” Wendy Osefo yells in the bathroom.
Everyone’s screaming and upset. Keiarna Stewart appears to be injured. Meanwhile, Candiace is still screaming, “Get that raggedy b***h the f**k out! Get that Sesame Street ass b***h and don’t come back.” Everyone is trying to hold her back. Does she not remember the incident with Monique Samuels?
Candiace is sufficiently restrained and Deborah is escorted out as she tells the producers that she didn’t throw her glass at the “RHOP” star, just the drink. She then claims that Keiarna punched her in the face.
Ashley has followed Deborah outside and is trying to comfort her. Keiarna is inside nursing her bloody head.
The RHOP cast gives their recount of events
“According to my memory, before Deborah even says anything to Candiace, I hear her saying something a little bit to Ashley. I can’t make it out because of the music but it seemed like it had a lotta oomph to it.,” Wendy tells the cameras.
“I remember, like, going to Deborah and saying, ‘Think about your children, think about your husband. I don’t even understand why they were fighting,” Mia Thornton says.
“This seems intentional and attention-seeking, and K got hurt,” Karen Huger adds.
Then, we get a recount from the victim herself. “So we’re standing up, next thing I know Deborah Sesame Street, whatever, she takes the drink, whew, she throws it to hit Candiace. At that point, I’m like pushing her back ’cause I see like, she’s a problem. She turns around, grabs a glass, hits me in my damn forehead. My face. Are you okay?”
The medics come and Karen goes with Keiarna to get her wounds treated.
Ashley tries to defend Deborah, saying that her friend has been there for her. “I don’t have Candiace at the forefront of my mind when I think about Deborah,” she says.
Ashley Darby takes a stand
After Deborah got messy on social media regarding the fight, Ashley reveals that she’s putting their friendship on “pause.” She says in a confessional, “A lapse of judgment is one thing, it’s really how you act moving forward and I can’t get down like that.”
Gizelle, who wasn’t present during the fight, got the deets from Ashley. She can’t believe Keiarna got beat up and most importantly, she doesn’t want their athleisurewear company associated with a street fight. The ladies meet up for lunch and Gizelle is grateful that they’re concerned about her ailing father, despite their differences.
Charisse hobbles in with her foot in a cast. She tells everybody that while she was holding Candiace back, someone stepped on her foot. It’s unclear if she broke something or just needs attention, but Charisse wants everyone to know that she has an ouchie.
Ashley tells the group that Deborah heard Candiace and Wendy talking smack about her and that was why she confronted them about it. It escalated into Deborah being called “the help” and “vermin.” Gizelle seemingly takes Deborah’s side by saying, “The mouth, the mouth, the mouth.”
According to Ashley, Candiace put her hand up and that’s when Deborah threw her drink. “And then K reached out and punched Deborah,” Ashley says.
The RHOP cast against Deborah Williams
Mia and Monarch Magazine throw their party and Robyn comes in with her big top bun.
She reveals that she had left the party but then heard the fighting. “I really don’t know how it happened, I don’t know why it started, all I know is what everyone else saw and it’s unfortunate that Keiarna got caught up fighting other people’s battles,” Robyn says.
The women come together and agree that Deborah is the problem, which is what Candiace was saying since the lady said Chris Bassett was flirting with her last season, along with “Happy Eddie.” Now, they’re all coming after Ashley for being friends with Deb Deb.
Nneka Ibrahim comes in and she’s agog that Charisse got her foot hurt during the kerfuffle. Charisse admonishes Candiace about her part in the fight and tells her that she’s better than that.
“If you would have done something with that bottle, you would have been in jail,” Charisse tells Candiace, not unreasonably. “Not if she touched me first,” Candiace argues.
“When Candiace picked up the champagne bottle, it surprised me … I didn’t think she was actually going to do anything, but at the same time, it’s not a good look for you to have a champagne bottle in your hand like you’re gonna do something,” Ashley says.
Wendy Osefo sticks up for Candiace. “Clearly your friend came with an agenda.” Ashley is left picking up the pieces. Karen tells Ashley that trust has been “destroyed” within the group. “I feel like this sends a bigger message to a larger group of people who wanna come up and f**k us up anytime they want, okay?”
Ashley Darby apologizes to the group
“So I do want to say I am that I put everyone in this position. I never imagined that this is where it would go. Totally overshadowed this beautiful thing Gizelle and I have been working on,” Ashley tells the ladies. “I will try to be more conscious of who I bring into the group and ensure your safety.”
Wendy puts on her professor hat and tells everyone that she wants everyone to be cohesive as a friend group and move on, despite her still having beef with half of the “RHOP” cast.
Gizelle rounds up the rah-rah moment by sharing that she’s grateful for those who have reached out to her amid her father’s brain cancer diagnosis, specifically naming Karen. “We’ve been through a lot but I like where we are right now. Even if I didn’t, it’s the right thing to do in this friendship circle,” Karen replies. Hint, hint Wendy and Candiace. The women do a toast and Mia makes her speech, while Bravo updates viewers on what the cast has been up to since wrapping.
Closing scenes for RHOP Season 8
Candiace is recording more music, which hopefully brings some dough because she has revealed that she’s not returning for “RHOP” Season 9. Wendy has finally launched her podcast, which she will need as well, as she has also confirmed she was fired from leaving “RHOP.”
Robyn is another cast member leaving the show, which gives her time to focus on her Glo30 franchise, while Juan Dixon figures out what he wants to do with his life.
Bravo has revealed that Karen is renovating her Surry house, which shows that she doesn’t have a lot going on for her, other than some cosmetic “tweaks.” Yawn.
In sadder news, Gizelle’s father died after his surgery. Nneka’s IUI procedure didn’t take and she is planning on going down the IVF route. Ashley is still living her best life and dating but still has yet to sign her divorce papers.
Mia is still rambling on with her speech until Gordon finally takes the mic and sings praises for her. He calls her a “pretty darn good wife.” Unfortunately, they separated three months later and Mia is now with someone who has her “whole heart.” Does that mean Gordon only had half her heart? Which makes sense given that she admitted that she married him for money.
RHOP fans see what caused Mia and Gordon Thornton’s marriage to unravel
In a confessional, Mia tells the cameras that she and Gordon had officially split in July 2023 after the “RHOP” Season 8 trailer came out where she tells Ashley that she married her husband for his money and he talked to the tabloids about it.
“He didn’t like that at all. And honestly, I feel like that’s why TMZ came out,” Mia says in her confessional. Shot to a headline showing Gordon telling TMZ that Mia is only after his money and is cheating on him.
Back in Potomac, Mia and Gordon discuss living arrangements. He tells her that he’s planning on going to Charlotte, North Carolina in November.
Then, Gordon drops a bombshell. “I’ve known you’ve been having an affair for 10 years or longer. I know you had an affair just before we got married. You tell me how it looks, a married woman going to live with a single man in a five-bedroom house.”
Mia denies this and Gordon calls “Bullsh*t,” telling her that their kids told him. Mia doesn’t try to deny that she stayed in said five-bedroom house and instead insists that the man in question wasn’t even present most of the time. “He works in 17 different cities. Always on the road,” she says. According to their kids, she and the dude were sleeping together, Gordon answers.
Mia shares that the guy she’s supposedly having an affair with is named Inc, or Incognito, who is the one that currently has her “whole heart.”
“Inc was someone from my past, high school sweetheart long time ago. Gordon was aware of me sleeping with him when we first got married because I told him. We went to counseling, we moved on from it. It’s like, it’s a very unfortunate situation,” Mia says.
Mia and Gordon Thornton had an open marriage
Just when you thought things couldn’t get messier, Gordon tells Mia, “I had prostate cancer. My things, organs, weren’t working like they used to. On my 70th birthday, I said, ‘You know, if you find someone that you think you want to start spending time with, I want you to know I’m okay with that but I have two rules. One, be discreet, two, don’t get the kids involved.” Looks like Mia broke all two rules.
Apparently, Mia has been coming home at all hours of the night and Detective Gordon has seen that she’s been talking to Inc all day long by looking at her phone bills. Not only that, she’s been bringing their kids around him. “Juju asked, ‘Dad, why is Mommy trying to replace you with Mr. Inc?'” Gordon tells Mia.
Mia asks Gordon why he’s so bothered when he gave her the pass to cheat and he answers, “Because you were throwing it in my face and you took the kids around him.”
Just when Gordon looks like the cuckolded husband, Mia accuses him of stealing her phone for two hours and locking her in a room, “Jane Eyre” style. He’s had enough and peaces out of the conversation.
Then, THEN Gordon accuses Inc of thinking their son Jeremiah was his. “That’s not fair,” Mia says. “You want fair, go to a carnival,” Gordon shoots back.
Mia shares in a confessional that she had admitted to Gordon when she was pregnant with Jeremiah that he might not be his son. Gordon responded by telling her that he was going to raise Jeremiah as his own.
Gordon tells Mia that he’s willing to work things out for their kids but she’s already done. “If that’s what would make you happy, bye,” Gordon says. Thus concludes “RHOP” Season 8 but it’s not over yet — the reunion is sure to spill a lot more deets.
