For seven seasons on The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Phaedra Parks made quite the impression as the lawyer/mortician mom of two with some of Atlanta's best shady remarks. She exited the reality series back in 2017 on a wave of controversy, but she’s having quite the resurgence of late. Bravo fans have seen the familiar face again in her appearances on other spinoffs: Season 2 of Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip and the first season of Real Housewives of Dubai. Will she upgrade from just a “guest of the show” to main castmate in the latter’s future, though? The alum expressed interest in the idea and, in turn, the show’s stars shared their own honest thoughts about the idea.
Why Phaedra Parks Is Down For Major Real Housewives Of Dubai Stint
The TV personality entered the Real Housewives of Dubai scene, which is home to wealthy, elite stars like Netflix's Lindsay Lohan, as a “friend” of Caroline Brooks. She’s really closer to Brooks’ cousin, but the two apparently started hanging out more when Brooks was helping her look into buying property in the United Arab Emirates. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight after her Versace-clad episode, Phaedra Parks was candid that it was a “strong possibility” that she might become a series regular, saying:
You've got to run with people who are obviously running with the same purpose and destination.
Evidently, she's still looking for the right home as she continues to develop a line of sea moss treatment products in the region. In which case, she would indeed fit right in with the other Dubai ladies, most of whom are business moguls themselves. Not to mention, the star still hasn’t lost her penchant for side-eyeing and down South colloquisms that make her such good TV to watch…
Real Housewives Of Dubai Castmates Speak Out About The Phaedra Parks Possibly Being Cast
Caroline Brooks might be down, yet the others on the show are decidedly against Phaedra Parks from joining their ranks. Real Housewives of Dubai standout Chanel Ayan – who is just as formidable an opponent as tried-and-true stars like Kenya Moore or Bethenny Frankel – was frank about not needing Parks’ antics. She told Entertainment Tonight:
I think she needs to find her own show, we are good where we are. That’s my personal opinion.
Chanel Ayan and her co-star, Lesa Milan, are staunch best friends and allies on what is the Real Housewives’ first international spinoff to air on Bravo. Again, their dynamic closely compares to other iconic franchise duos like Ramona Singer and Sonja Morgan of the New York spinoff or even Porsha Williams and Phaedra Parks in the old seasons of Atlanta. So it comes as no surprise that Milan is backing what Ayan is putting down concerning Phaedra Parks’ further involvement. The Mina Roe founder said to the outlet:
We love Phaedra, she's nice and stuff, but I think she’s more Ultimate Girls Trip and the shows that she's doing. Yeah, not ours. Sorry, Phaedra. You can only show up and say, 'Hello.' That’s more than enough.
Truth be told, I would’ve more expected to hear talk of Phaedra Parks returning to The Real Housewives of Atlanta fold instead of the new Dubai spinoff. The cast is comprised of almost entirely new people at this point, except for alums Kenya Moore and Kandi Burruss. At one point, even Moore said that she was hoping Parks would come back for Season 14, despite famously always feuding with her on the show in the past. Alas, an Atlanta comeback might be a little more complicated to manage as Parks’ ouster on the show was the result of her spearheading a date rape rumor about Burruss, who was very upset about the situation at the time.
For her part, anyway, the on-again off-again Real Housewives star told the outlet before that she most definitely doesn’t want to pick up a Georgia peach again. So that’s that. But Chanel Ayan and Lesa Milan might want to be wary because that might not be that when it comes to Dubai. Stay tuned for the drama and cultural approach Andy Cohen and more have taken for the series, which airs on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. EST on Bravo and streams exclusively with a Peacock Premium subscription.
