Gather around the chicken coop and place your bets. It’s time to savor the last episode of Real Housewives of Potomac of 2023, with The Real Housewives of Potomac Season 8, Episode 7.
For the cast trip to Austin, Ashley planned a jam-packed itinerary with high hopes of mending their broken friendships. Sadly, her plans kept getting derailed by intense group conversations about Robyn and Juan.
This week, on Real Housewives of Potomac Season 8, Episode 7, “Don’t Rock the Boat,” it’s the Grande Dame’s 60th birthday. The ladies continued trying to bridge the divide in the group. But first, we had to pick back up on Robyn’s backseat breakdown while en route to chicken sh*t bingo.
More tears left to cry
Episode 7 picked up right where we left off, with Robyn balling her eyes out in the backseat of an SUV alongside Mia, Candiace, and Wendy. They were headed to chicken sh*t bingo, but after Candiace insinuated that it was Robyn’s fault that Juan lost his coaching job, Robyn was inconsolable.
“Juan being fired, it’s like a part of him has been taken away from him,” Robyn explained in her confessional interview. “It really hurts my heart for my husband. This is a sensitive and emotional situation for us.”
Robyn cried out that she couldn’t understand why the ladies were painting her out to be a villain. At first, Candiace tried to console her former friend, but then she ended up doubling down on her opinion notion that talking about Juan’s legal issues on the show led to him getting fired. The two of them started bickering, and Robyn determined that they would be better off just never being friends.
Curbside pickup
The ladies arrived at the bar/bingo hall/barnyard for chicken sh*t bingo, but Robyn’s tears didn’t stop. You’d think the stench of chicken feces and beer would help her snap out of it, but she just couldn’t. Candiace started crying too, which confused everyone. Is crying contagious?
When Gizelle saw Robyn struggling to recover from her emotional breakdown, she immediately went into defense mode for her bestie. It’s not often that Robyn is sitting amongst this group weeping, so Gizelle needed to know exactly what happened. When she found out Candiace was involved, you could see the steam rolling off her head.
Snotty and teary-eyed, Robyn went outside, sat on the curb, and tried to clear her head of all of the mess. This might be the lowest we’ve ever seen Robyn on RHOP. You can’t help but feel bad for her, but at the same time, that image of her sitting on the curb is probably one of the funniest images to come out of this season so far. Was there not a bench nearby?
Gizelle and Mia went outside to get Robyn off the curb and into an Uber. They rode back to the hotel, and Gizelle fully reaffirmed her disdain for Candiace and her unwavering support for Robyn.
“I bet she won’t get you again,” Gizelle promised Robyn. “I am 100 on ready.”
Karen’s Triple 20
Day 3 of the Austin trip also happened to be Karen’s 60th birthday! The Grande Dame referred to it as her “triple 20,” which is very on-brand for her.
Karen said that if she had her choice, she would spend her birthday out of the country. However, she’s stuck in Austin with the Real Housewives of Potomac, playing chicken sh*t bingo and other random activities. For Day 3, Ashley planned for the ladies to go kayaking. (Karen sat on the dock and watched.)
Understandably, Karen felt hesitant about spending another birthday on a RHOP cast trip. Last year, her 59th birthday was the backdrop for the messy, drink-flinging Miami fight between Wendy and Mia. This year, Gizelle kicked off the birthday vibes by barging into Karen’s hotel room and gifting her wine, M&M’s, and a Snickers bar. We love a low-effort, gas station birthday gift.
With Karen’s milestone birthday in mind, she shared that she was reflecting on the legacy that she’s going to leave behind for her family. Of course, we could watch Karen on the Real Housewives of Potomac until she’s 99 years old, but there’s more to Karen than just being a reality TV personality.
Karen shared with the ladies one way she would continue her legacy; she finally got a piece of her family’s land! She purchased her grandmother’s 100-year-old home with plans on restoring it into a tourist experience. Karen has wanted a piece of her family’s property for a while and it was the main storyline of her Surry County spinoff special. It’s refreshing to learn of some progress there, so congratulations and happy birthday, Karen!
Can Candiace and Gizelle move forward?
Although it’s Karen’s birthday and that’s a reason to celebrate, the bulk of this episode followed the exhausting feud between Candiace and Gizelle. Karen wanted them to mend things, but that seems increasingly unlikely. Neither of them will budge.
Candiace is still clinging to last season’s drama with Gizelle accusing Chris of making her uncomfortable. Candiace said that it caused major harm to her marriage and her mental health. She won’t let it go, and she doesn’t want to be friends with Robyn either since they’re so close.
Gizelle had a similar stance. In a conversation with Karen, Gizelle explained that her issue with Candiace goes behind the regular Housewives name calling. She said that when Candiace made allegations about Gizelle being a colorist, it opened the door for her to get bombarded with online death threats.
Obviously, Candiace isn’t personally responsible for the unhinged behavior of some Housewives fans, but Gizelle explained a line was crossed. You can’t really argue with that, so Karen agreed to just leave the situation alone. She’s not going to keep trying to make Candiace and Gizelle fix things. This is a problem that even the Grande Dame can’t resolve.
Robyn phones home
Unfortunately, this episode started with Robyn crying and ended with Robyn crying. She can’t catch a break. During the final moments of the episode, she called Juan to tell him about the drama she endured. She wanted him to know how the ladies were trying to insinuate that it was her fault he got fired from his job. Bad idea.
Before Robyn could even finish her sentence, Juan started yelling at her. Instead of supporting his wife who was clearly getting emotional and teary, Juan blamed her for “feeding into” the group’s drama.
“Why are you feeding into it?” Juan asked repeatedly. “I can’t listen to this anymore because it’s so ridiculous … I need you to stop feeding into it.”
Why does it feel like every season of RHOP has a scene of Juan screaming at Robyn over the phone? This is the same person who we’re supposed to believe is so friendly that he mosied down to a hotel to pay for some random lady’s hotel room just to be nice.
Regardless, how can you not feel bad for Robyn this week? She had probably been dreading that conversation with her Juan ever since she was sitting on the curb outside of chicken sh*t bingo. She should be able to call her husband for comfort and support. Instead, she got yelled at through the end credits of this episode while fighting back tears. What a mess.
The Real Housewives of Potomac will continue in 2024 with new episodes every Sunday starting on January 7 at 8/7c on Bravo.
TELL US – WHAT DID YOU THINK OF REAL HOUSEWIVES OF POTOMAC SEASON 8, EPISODE 7? HAS YOUR OPINION OF ROBYN CHANGED AFTER SEEING HER EMOTIONAL VULNERABILITY? SHOULD GIZELLE HOLD CANDIACE ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE ONLINE HATE SHE’S RECEIVED?
