The Real Housewives of Potomac will put a cap on its 10th season Sunday night, though it was the offscreen activities orbiting the show that have clouded its discourse.
Missing from the cast this year was Karen Huger, an original Housewife who joined during season one’s 2016 debut. She was absent because she was serving jail time tied to a DUI and DWI. And five days after RHOP season 10 premiered, Wendy Osefo and her husband were arrested and booked on 16 insurance fraud charges.
Legal scandals aside, Gizelle Bryant, Ashley Darby, Stacey Rusch and Keiarna Stewart, alongside Osefo, , whose arrest occurred after filming had wrapped. Alongside mainstay Karen’s truancy, season 10 also included new additions Tia Glover and Angel Massie. Monique Samuels, a former Potomac Housewife, also returned in the “friend of” role.
Potomac is one in Bravo’s repertoire bursting with hidden gem moments from the Real Housewives filmography. The series is not based amid the glitz and glamour of Beverly Hills or the hustle-heavy streets of New York City, which Joshua Brown, vice president of unscripted production NBCUniversal, cites may be a reason for RHOP’s underrated reputation.
“Obviously, Potomac, [Maryland,] is not a huge city. It’s not a metropolis. It’s a very well-to-do suburb,” he says. “We like to, as people have certain expectations, surprise them with how entertaining and fun the show is. … It’s hard to compare when you just say the words Potomac versus New York or Atlanta. Those are gigantic cities, and we were sneaking up.”
It’s undeniable for Bravo fans not to take a look at RHOP nowadays, partly because of the legal attention circulating the series. It’s an unfortunate attraction, though as viewers tuned in to watch Karen’s awaited return in the final season 10 episode (plus the third part of the reunion, which airs Sunday) and Wendy’s addressing of her arrest, plenty of drama unfolded.
Freshman Housewife Angel delivered one of, if not the, most controversial group trips in Real Housewives lore. Inviting the women to her award-winning home in Colorado, the women were swiftly informed they were not staying in their friend’s house, but instead a separate house an hour away from her headquarters. Only Tia and Keiarna were invited to stay alongside Angel.
“I know that the women, or at least some of the women, genuinely thought they were going to all be staying at Angel’s house going into the trip,” Brown says. “They were genuinely surprised.”
Then havoc ensued.
After learning they weren’t staying together in one location as a cast, as Housewives typically do on trips, the running water in the guest home stopped working. And having to travel over an hour via car to meet up with Angel was an added layer of annoyance for the Potomac women.
The Housewives were outwardly angry with Angel for not providing suitable arrangements for their trip. But how did such a situation arise?
It’s understood that production typically foots part of the bill for Real Housewives’ trips, leaving the option for the women to cover additional expenses. Production’s involvement in paying for cast extravaganzas is something Monique brought up in a confessional interview during season 10.
“While the network covers certain expenses, it is our job as a host to be in line with production every step of the way,” Monique said in the interview clip while the cast was critiquing Angel’s accommodations. “I gave a list of activities, because why? My name’s on it,” she adding, referring to a trip she hosted in earlier seasons.
Brown declined to comment on production’s involvement with payment of Real Housewives trips. Though he notes that “the team really looked to her to help guide, in terms of activities and lodging,” which is what happens when a woman’s name is attached as the “leader” of said trip.
“Every year, not just on Potomac but Housewives in general, if someone is hosting the trip and ‘owning’ the trip, it’s really on them to take the lead in planning. We love when our cast members take ownership of a trip and really put their heart into it,” he explains. “Angel is from the area. She lives there. She has a house there. I know the team really looked to her to help guide, in terms of activities and lodging. She really took the lead on this trip, very much so particularly because she and her husband own a luxury travel company as well. The team really did organically rely on them for taking the lead.”
Aside from the Colorado controversy, most everyone in the cast seemed to be at odds with standout Stacey. After joining in season nine, this year served as her sophomore installment, a run that Vanity Fair recognized as part of their best performances of 2025 list. (She was the only Bravo-related talent featured on said list.)
The ethos of Stacey’s stint on RHOP being labeled a “performance” was posed as a question by Andy Cohen: “Stacey, do you consider what you do on the show to be a performance? One could say that is exactly what these ladies take issue with when it comes to you.”
But aren’t all Housewives, in some form or the other, performing on their respective shows? Sure, the show wasn’t conceptualized with hopes of Teresa Giudice flipping a table or Lisa Rinna smashing a wine glass on a table to solidify the franchise as an icon of the reality TV space, but it’s 2026 — there’s no need to deny the notion that Housewives are keen to put on a show for the cameras.
Brown, however, insists “it’s best if we don’t feel Housewives performing.” He adds, “I would say Bravo wants cast members where what you see on the screen is what you’re going to get in real life. If you met someone at BravoCon or on the street, I would hope they would feel like the same person that you see on screen.”
Addressing the elephant in the RHOP conversation, which the cast and Cohen get deep into in the reunion, the series’ passing legal controversies were an undeniable marker of season 10. Yes, it was a decade-marking year for the Potomac-based series, but it felt different with longtime leader Karen holding a champagne flute in the main title.
“With an amazing cast member like Karen, she’s always missed. I can’t say that we weren’t thinking about her. We missed her, for sure,” the vp of unscripted production at NBCUniversal notes. “However, I think we also had so much other amazing story going on. And the other women stepped it up in her absence.”
Among the stories led by the cast were Ashley’s frowned upon hook-up with former Potomac Housewife Charrisse Jackson Jordan’s son (which didn’t happen on the installment but was merely brought up); Keiarna’s moving back in with her boyfriend Greg who, instead of popping the question like she wanted, gifts her a picture frame as a move-in gift; and Stacey’s recommitment to her ex-husband whom she just divorced.
Karen and Wendy’s mostly offscreen conflict drove intrigue for season 10. The former Housewife’s release from jail on Sept. 2 was filmed as the final episode of the installment, alongside a sit-down interview with Cohen.
After filming had seemingly wrapped following Karen’s bonus episode, news of the Osefos arrest broke. One week after said arrest, they filmed a short segment that was featured in part one of the reunion.
Karen’s reintroduction and Wendy’s commitment to appearances (be that at BravoCon 2025 and to film the season 10 reunion) have drawn in backlash.
“We’ve been really happy to see how [Karen’s] doing since being released from prison, and really support her on the journey,” Brown says of Karen’s appearance at the end of season 10. He declined to comment on whether or not she will be reinstated as a full-time cast member for a potential season 11, or any of the women’s status. “But I’m a big fan of Karen’s and big supporter, and I’m rooting for her always,” Brown adds.
As for how his team navigated news of Wendy’s arrest, Brown says, “When something so kind of surprising and earth shattering happens with one of our series, we really put on our documentary hats and really just try and follow what’s really going on as best we can. We’re just following the events and what’s happening in real time, just like everyone else is as they’ve heard about it.”
Of her appearance on the reunion, where her charges were dissected and not shied away from the women to discuss, Brown notes, “I’ve always admired Wendy’s strength of character, and I continue to admire it. I think she is speaking her truth.”
With no confirmation on an 11th season, from an outside perspective, it appears the cast is rather disjointed. Brown acknowledges that this sentiment oftentimes arises “particularly at the end of seasons,” and he anticipates the ladies of Potomac will be able to regroup amid much divisive times.
“The women of Real Housewives of Potomac have an amazing ability always to come back together and to move forward when you think it’s not possible,” he asserts. “I’m optimistic for the future of this group. … Going into a second decade, I’m hoping we can graduate a level deeper with everyone’s stories, so that viewers can keep learning new incredible things about these women.”
“But I would never bet against them. That’s all I can say,” Brown concludes.
Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Potomac three-part reunion concludes Sunday, March 1, at 8 p.m. Uncensored reunion episodes will be available to stream the next day on Peacock.
