TV

The Real Housewives of Potomac

You think there's drama in Washington DC? Go up the river a bit...

Photo: Bravo

The wealthy town of Potomac, Maryland, is just outside of Washington DC, and there’s drama to be found there. The Real Housewives of Potomac follows the personal and professional lives of a group of women. Some of the Housewives who have been featured on the show include Ashley Darby, a Miss District of Columbia Pageant winner who became a stepmom to a 21 and 24-year-old when she was just 22; philanthropist Gizelle Bryan; and Robyn Dixon.

  1. Episode 12 Reunion Part Two
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Reunion Recap: The End Is Here How did we get this far without more delightful malapropisms from Charrisse?
  2. Episode 11 Reunion Part One
    RHOP Recap: ‘Internet Is for Haters and Porn’ It’s like Shakespeare said: Brevity is the soul of shade.
  3. Episode 10 Rules of Enragement
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Finale Recap: Come to Jesus Lunch See you at the reunion!
  4. Episode 9 Fifty Sense
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Go Pet a Panda Robyn and Juan are the actual cutest. I want to double-date with them.
  5. Episode 8 All Shades of Shade
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Light-Skinned Problems Gizelle is trying to be a paltry imitation of Iman.
  6. Episode 7 Reading Is Fundamental
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: An Ashley Moment It’s day 49 of the never-ending Girls’ Trip!
  7. Episode 6 Beach Session
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: The Bougie Woman’s Weekend Guide Gizelle is the Monet of shade.
  8. Episode 5 Error on the High Seas
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: The D-Word Michael has “I married a younger woman so I have to seem wild and crazy” disease.
  9. Episode 4 Desperately Seeking Marriage
    RHOP Recap: Happy Birthday, Thirsty! Katie is the one true holder of the thirst.
  1. Episode 20 Reunion Part 2
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: What Does a Masseuse Do? Season three’s wild ride comes to a wild end with debates over what a masseuse does and an unfortunate music video.
  2. Episode 19 Reunion Part 1
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: A Frosty Reunion Everyone seems a little quick to be offended during the first of season three’s reunion specials.
  3. Episode 18 Unsolved Mystery
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: The Great Falls Caper The season comes to a close with a pizza-delivery caper and some thoughts about parenthood.
  4. Episode 17 Hot Gossip, Cold Pizza
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Back in Town The trip’s over and now the other Housewives try to find out what’s up with Karen.
  5. Episode 16 Au Revoir Drama
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Peace in Our Time The trip to France continues and everyone resolves to work out their differences in a mature manner. It’s weird!
  6. Episode 15 Turm-Oil in Friance
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Essential Oils Abroad The trip to France continues in an episode that mostly finds the Housewives spinning their wheels and checking out essential oils.
  7. Episode 14 Cannes We All Just Get Along
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Bonjour! The housewives go to Cannes but, unsurprisingly, drama follows them across the ocean.
  8. Episode 12 Can’t Hide From These Green Eyes
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Charity, Lies, and Wedding Planning There’s a lot of behind-the-back gossip in the midst of an iffy charity event and some desperate wedding planning.
  9. Episode 11 Exes and Oh Nos
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: The Ambush Karen is the Benedict Arnold of event invitations.
  10. Episode 10 RSVPlease!
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Ghost Protocol Turns out you’re never too old to get ghosted.
  11. Episode 9 A Happy Medium
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Mending Fences Who hasn’t had a cry in the shampoo bowl?
  12. Episode 8 That’s Scentertainment
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: The Wig Party We are STILL at the Fat Bird Resort.
  13. Episode 7 Blue Skies and Blue Eyes
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Free Uncle Ben The Housewives’ visit to Nemacolin gets complicated by relationship drama and a ropes course.
  14. Episode 6 I Came From Jesus
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: The Fat Bird Are there resorts that just exist for reality-TV stars to stay at and fight in?
  15. Episode 5 Shade in a Bubble
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: The Suspect Husband Why in the world does Candiace keep talking about her fiancé’s penis?
  16. Episode 4 First Ladies and Second Chances
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Mother’s Day Ashley Darby is a Tennessee Williams heroine in the middle of Potomac.
  17. Episode 3 Meme Your Own Business
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: The Meme Wars Why in the world does a Monique fan page exist?
  18. Episode 2 Meet the Press
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Mind Your Business We all know Karen don’t work.
  19. Episode 1 You Gotta Make Millions to Owe Millions
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Season-Premiere Recap: The Grand Dame The Grand Dame is now the Grand Dette.
  1. Episode 19 Deck The Halls With Drama
    Real Housewives of Potomac Finale Recap: A Man Touched Me Sparks fly at Robyn’s holiday party to close out the truly explosive fifth season of RHOP.
  2. Episode 18 Shifty Wigs
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Shake and Go Home Karen’s web of white lies catches up with her at her wig launch party, where Candiace and Monique (almost) come face to face.
  3. Episode 17 Fifty Shades of Betrayal
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Dominatricks and Strategery The Portugal trip comes to an end on a sexy, yet disappointing note.
  4. Episode 16 Picking Sides
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Sorry Not Sorry Old wounds spark new fights as the housewives’ trip to the City of Portugal continues.
  5. Episode 15 Portu-Girl-Bye
    The Real Housewives of Potomac: The City of Portugal The scenery may be different (and beautiful!), but the fights are the same.
  6. Episode 14 Hats Off… Shades On
    The Real Housewives of Potomac: Four Degrees of Separation As tensions mount before a girls trip to Portugal, Dr. Wendy continues to weaponize her education against the other women.
  7. Episode 13 No Shows and Show Downs
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Wigging Out The Housewives skip Monique’s podcast show in favor of a drink with Dr. Wendy, where lines in the sand are drawn.
  8. Episode 12 Fully Charged
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Sip and See You in Court The women celebrate Dr. Wendy’s daughter while questioning Candiace’s choice to prosecute Monique to “the full extent” of the law.
  9. Episode 11 Taxing Times and Blurry Lines
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Homecoming Queen We get a glimpse of Karen’s farm-based backstory in a trip to her hometown, complete with combines, thrown candy, and tears.
  10. Episode 10 Sorry… Not Sorry
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Team Skeptical Five days after the winery ruckus, everyone is still reeling.
  11. Episode 9 The Tipping Point
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Fight and Flight Did we ever think that the first hands to really be thrown on Potomac would be Candiace and Monique?
  12. Episode 8 Serving Up Betrayals
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Not Buying It Ashley tells the ladies what’s going on with her marriage and Everyone. Has. Questions.
  13. Episode 7 Fireball and Firepits
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Fire It Up This? This is not the look, Monique.
  14. Episode 6 The Text Heard ‘Round the Lake House
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Incoming Text How dare the show tease us with this incredible bit of information about Michael and not give us the reveal during the episode?
  15. Episode 5 Look Who’s Squawking
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: The Lake House Did you ever think we’d see the day that Gizelle and Monique would take a two-hour drive together with a bird?
  16. Episode 4 Celebrations and Strange Explanations
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Life of the Party Throwing a party in which your husband goes to sleep in the middle is not how you bring the spice back into your relationship, Karen.
  17. Episode 3 Sip and See You Later
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Knives Out Thankfully, the women of Potomac are so good that watching them yell about social-media slights from eight to ten months ago is still entertaining.
  18. Episode 2 The Rumor Meal
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: No Apologies Is Candiace a real human woman who eats and breathes? Yes. Is she someone I could eat and breathe near? Absolutely not.
  19. Episode 1 Old Testaments, New Revelations
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Season Premiere Recap: It Made Sense to Laugh Candiace seems like she’s looking for a fight and really wants to convince herself that she’s gotten to Gizelle. No one gets to Gizelle.
  1. Episode 17 Altar-ed State of Mind
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Season-Finale Recap: Jumping the Shark It is finally time for Karen’s vow renewal, which is a setup for another dinner party from hell.
  2. Episode 16 Crab-boiling Over
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Crabs in a Barrel Must be the season of the rebrand.
  3. Episode 15 Lost at Sea
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: All Aboard Are Robyn and Gizelle’s powers beginning to decline?
  4. Episode 14 Tossing Salads and Spilling Tea (Bags)
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: All Hands on Deck Striking that most people agree that Candiace could be handling all this better.
  5. Episode 13 GVO or GTFO!
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: You Know the Vibes If Candiace wants to make it in the R&B/hip-hop world after landing this distribution deal, dissing strippers is not the way to go.
  6. Episode 12 Reasonable or Shady?
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Home Improvement Mia and Candiace fully get into an argument about Mia’s gossiping in the music video. Robyn and Gizelle seem hellbent on stoking tension with Wendy.
  7. Episode 11 No Business Like Shade Business
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Dude, Where’s My Car? Candiace’s intrusive mother enters the chat and reads Chris for being a lousy manager and husband just in time for Candiace’s upcoming music video.
  8. Episode 10 Goddesses of War
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: That’s the Gospel Truth Mia’s penchant for producing mess is in full effect during her goddess party.
  9. Episode 9 High Infidelity
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: The Milkmaid’s Tale Ashley agitates something deep in Candiace that at times is warranted, but frequently ends up being an overreaction.
  10. Episode 8 Talk to the Braids
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Whip My Hair We’re in the messy aftermath of Wendy’s read of Gizelle and Robyn now.
  11. Episode 7 Gossip, Girl!
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: The Devil Wears Zara Ladies, gents, and everyone in between, Zen Wen has officially arrived.
  12. Episode 6 Land of the Free, Home of the Shade
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Style Over Substance Gizelle needs to know that it’s tasteless to feign worry so that she can snark on Wendy’s body.
  13. Episode 5 The Rumor Mill
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Wendy Thou Art Loosed The mystery behind New Wendy is confusing everyone.
  14. Episode 4 Going Ham at the Pajammy Jam
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Bananas in Pajamas Robyn realizes she needs to get her groove back as Mia continues to put her girlboss stamp on the show.
  15. Episode 3 Jiminy Crickets!
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: The Curious Case of Zen Wen Season Two Wendy is itching to create a moment that she isn’t ready to deliver just yet.
  16. Episode 2 Sing Sing For Your Supper
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: The Not-So-Newlywed Game There can only be one girlboss in this cast, and Wendy is dead set on making sure that woman is her.
  17. Episode 1 The Nude Interlude
    RHOP Season-Premiere Recap: Over the Valleys and Hills We Go If Gizelle and Karen are going to continue anchoring the conflict this season, they are really going to need to elevate these reads.
  1. Episode 17 A Grande Finale
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Season-Finale Recap: Gossip Folks The season has mercifully ended, and I hope Potomac does some tinkering in the off-season.
  2. Episode 16 The Naked Truth
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Going Fishing What better time to air out some dirty laundry than when an exotic dancer is making it clap right in front of your lobster tail?
  3. Episode 15 Indecent Disclosure
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: The Plastics If Karen should take anything away from this, it’s that she has no allies on the show, and she should work on repairing that.
  4. Episode 14 Shake-ups and Makeups
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Dirty Bird Karen seems checked out this season, and everyone is silly for pilling on her.
  5. Episode 13 Sisterhood of the Traveling Beefs
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Overcooked Beef Potomac is descending into overproduced chaos that isn’t all that enjoyable to watch.
  6. Episode 12 Mic Drop
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Pretty Little Liars Ashley mischievousness truly knows no bounds.
  7. Episode 11 Show Time
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Mic Check Gizelle has finally stopped playing the sidelines and jumps back into creating discord for television.
  8. Episode 10 Cleaning Up the Mess
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Fixing Cracks and Mending Fences The entire premise behind Robyn and Candiace’s conflict is illogical.
  9. Episode 9 Ambush in Paradise
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Abuelitas a Miami The dynamic between Mia and Jacqueline is so bizarre, yet I can’t look away.
  10. Episode 8 Queen vs. Queen
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Take It to da House Somehow, Karen has become the personal steward of everyone’s behavior in this Mia-versus-Wendy situation.
  11. Episode 7 Beef is Served
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Mamma Mia Let’s walk through this fiasco step by step.
  12. Episode 6 Burnin’ and Beefin’
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Mean Girls Apparently the winery is where sense goes out the window for these women.
  13. Episode 5 The Burn Session
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Fanning the Flames A burn session only works if everyone comes to the table with good intentions, and Gizelle and Robyn clearly will not be doing anything of the sort.
  14. Episode 4 Not All Fun and Games
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Off-Field Drama After four long weeks of anticipation, the Potomac taglines are finally out, and boy, were they about as exciting as a colonic.
  15. Episode 3 Stand In Your Truth
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Rockin’ Robyn Season seven might be the fall of Gizelle and the rise of Robyn as a force multiplier. Who could have seen that coming?
  16. Episode 2 Allegation Nation
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Hounding for the Bassetts The stage is being set for the rivalry we’re already anticipating: Gizelle versus Candiace and Chris.
  17. Episode 1 Spring Awakening
    Real Housewives of Potomac Season-Premiere Recap: Cherry Blossoms and New Bosoms It’s Gizelle’s world and we’re all just living in it.
  1. Episode 18 An Iconic Ending
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Season-Finale Recap: Much Ado about Nothing Mia’s commitment to chaos may be the only thing that can pull this show out of the abyss.
  2. Episode 17 Fashion Show-Down8
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: A Nightmare on Sesame Street Deborah’s delusions erupt into utter chaos.
  3. Episode 16 Boiling Point
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Crabs in a Barrel Sixteen weeks in and we finally get an episode with some real meat on it.
  4. Episode 15 Fool’s Gold
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Darby’s Barbie Dreamland The wives finally address their longstanding issues in front of the cameras. It’s a small win, but we’ll take it.
  5. Episode 14 Sun’s Out Buns Out
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Healing and Thriving Despite some glimmers of levity, RHOP continues to be weighed down by the women’s refusal to break free from deeply entrenched oppositional positions.
  6. Episode 13 Sharing Is Caring
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Passport Hoes Nneka and Wendy can’t resolve their never-ending fight, but everyone seems committed to having an enjoyable trip to the Dominican Republic.
  7. Episode 12 Blazed and Confused
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Running on Fumes This episode is dedicated to the women’s various hustles, with a few petty fights sprinkled in.
  8. Episode 11 First Come, First Served
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Limited Liability Both Karen and Gizelle are attempting to control the narrative of the back half of the season but from entirely different perspectives.
  9. Episode 10 Friendship Is a Mother
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Call Me Mother Candiace is still stuck fighting last season’s battles, and it still feels like the show is stuck in the mud.
  10. Episode 9 Hard Conversations
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Paving a New Road We salute Mia and Karen for stepping it up and trying to move the cast (and show) forward.
  11. Episode 8 Painting Austin Red
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: What a Drag We’re going to keep getting the same story lines if the wives won’t work through their differences.
  12. Episode 7 Don’t Rock the Boat
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Flying the Chicken Coop Robyn spirals as she’s confronted with the reality of discussing her marital problems on-camera this season.
  13. Episode 6 Tequila, Tears, Texas
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Under Construction The best episode of the season so far shows what can happen when this group is able to commit to all-cast gatherings no matter all their differences.
  14. Episode 5 Pie in the Austin Sky
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: A Huge Drag What should otherwise be a straightforward Housewives argument gets a cheap stigma attached and becomes truly grating. Enough with this story!
  15. Episode 4 In a Pickle
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Rise and Shrine Wendy vs. Nneka is proving to be tiresome and disappointing.
  16. Episode 3 Heaven Is a Place in Potomac
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: A Fence Is Not a Bridge This episode makes clear Karen’s value to the franchise.
  17. Episode 2 Home Sweet Drama
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Drowning in Drama Robyn is too slowly coming to terms with how miserable she is in her relationship.
  18. Episode 1 Projections and Deflections
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Season-Premiere Recap: Dixon Dilemmas Will we recover from the Dixon’s Patreon-induced calamity?
  1. Episode 7 Hard Launch, Soft Landing
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Honesty Is the Best Policy Whether consciously or subconsciously, the cast seems to understand what’s needed to keep this rebuilding season on track.
  2. Episode 6 Shady Waters
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Stiff Where? Potomac is still working through a soft reboot, with the newcomers still testing the boundaries of the cast’s hierarchy.
  3. Episode 5 Blast From Everyone’s Past
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Chaos Is a Ladder Mia makes a play to usurp Karen’s throne, but she proves she’s not quite ready to take on the Grande Dame.
  4. Episode 4 Bunking Beds and Butting Heads
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Unfriendly Black Hotties The disruption brought about by the newcomers is activating the more seasoned cast’s worst mean-girl traits.
  5. Episode 3 Momma Knows Best
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Kernels of Truth Gizelle has adopted an entirely different strategy this season, and it’s throwing everyone for a loop.
  6. Episode 2 Double Trouble
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: Read Receipts It genuinely pains me to point out all the ways that Gizelle is right in this episode.
  7. Episode 1 A Crash Course In Deflection
    The Real Housewives of Potomac Season-Premiere Recap: Drive Me Crazy With the intractable alliances of last season behind us, this season’s outlook is promising.

More Real Housewives

  1. close read
    A Tale of Two Housewives DUIsShannon Beador and Karen Huger’s damage-control narratives are as different as the personas they’ve each spent seasons cultivating.
    By Louis Peitzman
  2. vulture rankings
    The Best and Worst Returning HousewivesComebacks are having a moment in the franchise, but there’s a long history of fruit holders making the most — or least — of their second chance.
    By Brian Moylan
  3. housewives institute bulletin
    Make Jersey New AgainWe know a RHONJ reboot is coming, but what might that look like? A few suggestions …
    By Brian Moylan
  4. no fun lexi
    The Comeback FlopAlexis Bellino’s RHOC return is a case study in Housewife self-sabotage.
    By Louis Peitzman
  5. bravo
    Phaedra Parks Schemed a Real Housewives of Atlanta ReturnLeave it to the Traitors standout to find her way back.
    By Justin Curto
  6. bravo bravo
    Still More Great Moments in Real HousewiferyBecause 100 seasons can’t be confined to a list of just 100.
    By Brian Moylan
  7. chat room
    RHOC’s Shannon Beador Faces the Storm“I don’t want anybody to think Poor Shannon, because I don’t.”
    By Tom Smyth
  8. living the dream
    Jennifer Lawrence
    Bravo Superfan Jennifer Lawrence Will Be a Real-ish HousewifeIn the sense that she’s starring in a Real Housewives–inspired murder mystery movie for A24 and Apple.
    By Jennifer Zhan
  9. reality bites
    Andy Cohen Vs. the HousewivesHow the Watch What Happens Live host survived the ‘Reality Reckoning’ (at least for now).
    By Jessica Pressler
  10. turning the tables
    The Real Housewives of New Jersey - Season 13
    Will RHONJ Forgo a Reunion This Season?Despite being only four episodes in, speculation has begun over whether or not this unconventional season will end with a reunion.
    By Tom Smyth
Load More

More Shows You May Like

  1. The Real Housewives of Atlanta
  2. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
  3. The Real Housewives of Dallas
  4. The Real Housewives of New Jersey
  5. The Real Housewives of New York City
`; // integrate Sub(x) scripts and elements if (hostname !== 'subs.nymag.com') { // do not integrate on this subdomain document.head.appendChild(trackingScript); document.body.insertAdjacentHTML('beforeend', subXAnimationElements); }