Peacock decided to jump right into Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip Season 3 by dropping three episodes off the bat. The group, which includes familiar faces from Real Housewives of Potomac and Real Housewives of Miami, is just getting familiar with their surroundings in Thailand, and with each other. Gizelle Bryant’s inherent shadiness got things going in episode one. But now that the girls are settled in, the drama is on autopilot.
RHUGT Season 3 Episode 2 features the ladies visiting an elephant sanctuary that gets just as messy as Gizelle’s questions. There’s been tension between Candiace Dillard Bassett and Porsha Williams since before the trip began. It boiled over when Candiace finally asked Porsha about the major tea that every Real Housewives of Atlanta fan has been wondering about since Porsha left the show. Here are five main takeaways from the RHUGT episode “The Elephants In The Room.”
Elephant Poop Somehow Brings The Group Together
It’s a new day in Thailand and the ladies of the Phuket Palace are ready for some cultural immersion. Leah McSweeney, who wastes no time letting everyone know that she’s PMSing, sets up a trip to an elephant sanctuary. They visited elephants that have been rescued from abusive situations, and it ends up being a great excursion for the ladies to bond. Gizelle can’t help but make ridiculous noises while interacting with the animals, which gets CandeeGal thinking about her co-star’s relationship status. “If you’re making these sounds during sex, no man wants to have sex with that,” Candiace said. The shade. It was almost as bad as Porsha saying that the animals felt like “hairy balls.” You can’t take these girls anywhere.
The ladies get into a mud bath with the elephants that quickly goes awry when one of the animals poops in the water. The ladies scream and run, while Porsha spends time throwing mud at Gizelle, Marysol Patton, and CandeePants. The outing ends with a lunch complete with Hennessy shots and heart-to-hearts among the ladies. Each woman gets pretty deep about an aspect of their life. Whether it’s Porsha’s struggle with post-partum depression or Marysol’s explanation about Mama Elsa embracing the TV cameras after botched facial fillers, there’s something nearly every woman could relate to each other on. It was some calm before the storm of a chaotic evening hosted by CandeePants, and it was fun to see the ladies have some authentic fun on the trip.
Heather Might Be Digging Her Real Housewives Grave
It’s hard to gauge the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City girls on the Thailand trip. Heather Gay had it rough from Day 1 as she was expected to answer about the Jen Shah of it all. However, as time progresses, I’m starting to think doing RHUGT was a bad idea for Heather. RHOSLC Season 3 was already bad for the snowflake holder who previously was a fan favorite. This time around, her behavior just seems to reinforce the idea that she’s all about the cameras.
Heather and Whitney Rose attempt to hash out their “Friendship Break” from RHOSLC on the trip, but Heather can only focus on the publicity aspect. Whitney explains that without the show, she would still have the same feelings and issues involving her relationship with Heather. “A lot of people would kill to be a part of Bad Weather,” Heather said. Girl, what does this mean? Bad Weather is like a couple name for you and Whitney. It’s a glorified meme, not a way of being.
During the elephant lunch when the ladies express the hardships of being Real Housewives stars, Heather can only see the good. She basically explains that before the show, she wasn’t at all hopeful about her future. However, the show’s given her an escape that she’s grateful for. I’m happy Heather has found healing after some serious religious trauma, but this is raising red flags. Reality TV fame, we all know, is often fleeting. I’m sad that Heather feels like she doesn’t have much outside of the show, and hopefully one positive from the experience is that she learns to live authentically and for herself. Not for a church, and definitely not for the cameras.
Gizelle Is Dying For Someone Else To Be Shady
After the elephant extravaganza, Candiace hosts a night out for the ladies to see Thai “ladyboys,” who are similar to drag queens in America. CandeeGal wants everyone to go all out so even Gizelle puts her blinged-out grills in for the occasion. Candiace decides to give all of the ladies their own “ladyboy” names and dons herself “Petty Labelle.” However, Gizelle is far from impressed with Candiace‘s efforts at being petty.
When naming the other ladies, only Gizelle and Porsha really receive anything somewhat shady. Their names are “Sh’Neda Mann” and “Sh’Taka Mann,” respectively. Candiace gave the reason that Karen Huger always says Gizelle needs a man and cites the rumors surrounding Porsha’s relationship with Simon Guobadia. Gizelle spends the rest of the night pouting that Candiace is the worst at being petty. Candiace isn’t one to throw the first punch — Ratata Candiace only comes out when provoked. It seems like Gizelle might be trying to provoke her RHOP co-star for her own entertainment so she doesn’t get accused of being the only pot-stirrer on the trip. CandeeGal, watch your frenemy.
Candiace Finally Asks Porsha About The Elephant In The Room
As previously mentioned, Candiace finally does the dirty work every RHOA fan has been waiting for. She finally brings up the rumors that Porsha started dating Simon while he was still married to Falynn Guobadia. Porsha says Candiace’s “ladyboy” name for Porsha is “giving very much pressed,” but she seems pretty pressed that CandeeGal brought it up in the first place. What did Porsha Luther King expect? For us to forget all of the drama about her marriage just because she’s not holding a peach anymore? No girl, you don’t get off that easily.
Porsha explained at the dinner that she reached out to Simon once she heard that he and Falynn were splitting. Gizelle also reminded us during a confessional that Simon accused Falynn of cheating on him and getting pregnant by another man, so their relationship was undoubtedly messy. Porsha says Simon wanted to hang out, but she wouldn’t agree to do so until he sent her signed divorce papers. She explained that at the time, the divorce wasn’t finalized but was totally filed.
Candiace, like the rest of us, has questions. “This is quite the contradiction from what the saints in the street have been saying,” CandeeGal says. Regardless, Heather, Whitney, and Marysol all basically agree that they don’t blame Porsha for taking a man, especially after seeing the rock on her finger. I’m just glad that Porsha was finally put in the hot seat about her marriage in front of the cameras. It was long overdue.
Leah Reminds Everyone Why She’s A Flop
Leah might have set up an amazing elephant excursion on the trip, but that doesn’t mean she’s any less of a flop. I wanted to like Leah so badly since she joined Real Housewives of New York. It’s not even her sobriety that makes her boring to watch. I actually think it’s one of the more interesting aspects of her story. Leah sucks because she’s insufferable. During the lunch, Leah brings up the tough last season of RHONY where she lost her grandmother. Leah claims that production nor her cast would let her leave filming while her grandmother was dying.
Many of the girls, especially Whitney who works with the same production company as Leah, had questions. Gizelle put it best that Leah can’t blame production. Whitney added there was no way that they wouldn’t let her leave for an emergency. Let’s also remember this all was during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, so who knows how strict travel protocols were. It seemed like Leah just wanted a moment to combat fans who questioned her grieving process instead of ignoring the trolls and living for herself and her healing.
Leah’s worst offense comes at the ladyboy dinner. Gizelle asks Alexia Echevarria to explain the story about her ex-husband who she found out was in love with a man after his death. Leah just so happened to hear the story earlier in the day and isn’t interested in a retelling. She keeps rolling her eyes while Alexia is ANSWERING GIZELLE’S QUESTIONS and calls the story a snoozefest. She adds that she’s so bored that she wishes the ladies would get drunk and take shots for her amusement.
In the same breath, once Marysol calls out Leah’s rude behavior during the story, Leah weaponized Marysol’s drinking against her. She claimed Marysol is in a bad mood because her stomach hurts. “It’s not my fault that you’re drinking vodka every morning,” Leah shouted. This is from the girl who said first thing in the morning that her PMS was going to make her freak out on everyone. Leah is always just reaching and doing too much. Which is the reason why fans aren’t that into her.
TELL US – WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE SECOND REAL HOUSEWIVES ULTIMATE GIRLS TRIP SEASON 3 EPISODE? DID YOU BELIEVE PORSHA’S EXPLANATION FOR HOW SHE GOT WITH HER HUSBAND?
[Photo Credit: Mark Rogers/PEACOCK]