Remember that game on Sesame Street, one of the things does not belong? Photo Credit : IIDA

Part I of this LONG STORY is here. 

On tonight’s Real Housewives of Atlanta, Cynthia Bailey gets her first job as an emcee for a fashion runway show. Cynthia knows a LOT about modeling, but we have all seen that attempting to verbalize her own thoughts is rather difficult for her. Based on previews for tonight’s show, her performance is almost as cringe worthy as seeing Miss Lawrence turn up in full garb at a real event in Atlanta. The fashion show was held on May 5th.  That means these scenes occurred after the baby shower brawl but before any of the birthday parties.  While we are talking about real timelines, this may be the place to point out that Nene had at this point not filmed at all with ANYONE and there were rumors galore that she was being replaced by Marlo Hampton. It does seem mysterious that Nene was not at this event since she is portrayed on the show as being BFFs with Cynthia. Doesn’t it? I’ll get to that soon.

We know that Kandi’s birthday was on May 17th but that was the night of her real party I’m not quite sure when Kandi’s fake party was filmed.  The baby shower for Kim was on April 17th and there was at least a month if not more before anyone saw Nene filming anything.  So a lot of blogs ran with the idea that Marlo was replacing Nene this season.  And maybe she was. Click through the jump for all the tea.



This is why models don’t get paid to talk Photo Credit : IIDA

 So Cynthia somehow gets this gig at the Botanical Gardens. The event is hosted by the Georgia chapter of the International Interior Design Association and is their biggest charity event each year. The fashion show is actually a competition where teams of interior designers compete to create a wearable piece for a male and a female model. It didn’t seem as though this was explained during the clip so while you all might assume the patrons are laughing at the designs, they are really laughing at Miss Lawrence. Pay close attention to the actual attendees in the background during the episode. As much as Bravo TV would like to lead people to believe that the gay men of Atlanta are traipsing around in five inch pumps and sequined women’s blouses at our charity events, this is SO not the case.

For the love of GAWD, Miss Lawrence, learn to behave! Photo Credit : IIDA

Not only did certain members of the RHOA create a spectacle, Miss Lawrence either worked his way up to the front before this shot was taken or got moved father back during the show.  I do not understand why Bravo wants this idiot on the show and invites him to every scene! It’s embarrassing and Bravo is going to run out of places they are allowed to shoot in Atlanta soon!  Atlanta has GREAT GAYS! They are just not on the RHOA. The buffoons they do put on the show sure do not do anything to help the perception of gays in the black community. Andy Cohen should be ashamed. As for the crowd that paid a $100-$150 dollars to attend this esteemed event, the group directly around Miss Lawrence can be seen laughing and texting like crazy people in many scenes and still shots.

Yellow is the new black! Photo Credit : IIDA

Phaedra and Apollo showed up well-dressed as usual for the event and were photographed at the event’s step and repeat. Phaedra tells the Bravo cameras tonight that Apollo and Peter have put their beef behind them. While they did have just over three weeks to calm down between the baby shower and the fashion show, with Nene in a snit, they needed someone to film with Cynthia and Phaedra and Sheree are always down for airtime. That said, Peter, while in attendance at the fashion show was hardly even seen in the previews. It will be interesting to see if Peter and Apollo are filming in the same room at the cocktail party held after the runway show. There is a bar at the party and well Peter does not always remain on his best behavior in some instances. Also, Peter is not known to be the most comforting husband when things go badly for Cynthia. It would not surprise me if Peter was not seen much at all in any of the fashion show scenes. We will see him in other scenes though as Cynthia, it would appear, did not read Nene Leakes’ book, Never Make the Same Mistake Twice (available in a dollar book bin near you) and is considering funding Peter’s latest money hole, Bar One. It seems her storyline this season will be her family trying in vain to get her to see the light of day.

Introducing, another fake storyline Photo Credit : IIDA

Speaking of the cocktail party this is the occasion where Bravo decides to introduce Marlo Hampton to the viewers. Now remember, Nene has not been seen filming for RHOA at this point. Nene is prone to temper tantrums and while the RHOA film crew was in town, they were also filming some things for Kim’s upcoming wedding spin-off. One can only imagine Nene’s head was exploding. There had been rumors of Nene getting her own spin-off but those fell by the wayside recently once Kim and Kandi got spin-offs instead. Kandi even got a Producer credit on her show The Kandi Factory. That girl has business sense. While Nene was melting down, Marlo was filming. In fact, Marlo filmed A LOT of scenes for this season up to and including the big South Africa trip! Marlo also told Bravo she was engaged to Charles Grant. Pay close attention tonight when Phaedra, who will claim to know Marlo “from the gym”, introduces Marlo and Charles to Sheree and Cynthia.  In the extremely rehearsed and stilted scene, Charles has enough when Marlo says to the girls that Charles is not her husband, but may be someday. At that precise moment, Charles tells Marlo it is time to leave. Bravo wanted to work the angle that Charles used to hook up with Nene so that she and Marlo would go head to head.  Nene knew the deal and eventually when she was reminded she was under contract with Bravo to film was fine going along with it, but Charles was not. This was a problem. It was about this time that Bravo “happened to find out” that Marlo has a violent criminal past.  Like that one time she knifed some chick in Florida or the fact she is a convicted felon. I think Bravo decided no matter what kind of a diva fit Nene was throwing, they didn’t want to go forward with the Marlo v. Nene storyline lest one of them kill the other. Bravo likely met a financial demand or two of Nene’s and reminded her she was under contract. So Charles rode on out and Marlo was left with no storyline and Nene decided to fulfill her contractual obligation and that pretty much catches us up for tonight’s show. As a footnote, Marlo and Nene are like peas and carrots on twitter these days and seem to spend a lot of time together. I don’t think Bravo was counting on that.

So if you read through all that thanks! Leave me your thoughts and opinions. Thanks again for the follows on @tamaratattles on twitter!