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RHOP Stars Reveal Just How "Shocking" Candiace Dillard and Monique Samuels' Fight Was

In exclusive interviews with E! News, The Real Housewives of Potomac cast shared their honest thoughts about the unfortunate altercation

By Brett Malec Sep 20, 2020 6:30 PMTags

The drama in Potomac is about to hit new heights.

This Sunday's new episode of The Real Housewives of Potomac will finally show the moment that caused the heated altercation between Monique Samuels and Candiace Dillard. The fight, which led to both women taking legal action against each other in November 2019 (all charges have since been dismissed), will surprise and stun fans, according to Monique and Candiace's RHOP co-stars.

"What happened with Candiace and Monique was just shocking and unnecessary," Gizelle Bryant told E! News exclusively before echoing what she said in the RHOP season five trailer about the racism the cast faces as Black women.

"The stereotype in this country is that Black women are aggressive. That we're violent. That we don't know how to have conversations without there being some sort of violence. We are viewed as less than. We are viewed as borderline animals," Gizelle explained. "So, if we are on a national platform as Black women, clearly, we don't want to show white America that we are what they think we are, which are women that cannot use their brains and use their words to get through a difficult situation."

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Robyn Dixon shared with E!, "This altercation, whatever you want to call it, was so shocking and surprising, and unnecessary. It was unfortunate. I mean, it just really shook us all because we weren't expecting something like this. If it was a case where you felt like the tensions were so high that two people couldn't be in a room together without getting physical then we wouldn't have been in the room together, you know? We wouldn't have had those two in the room together.

"So in our minds there was nothing that really made it OK for that to happen. So it definitely rocked us and shook us to our core big time. It changed the dynamic greatly in the group, because there were so many emotions. We were disappointed. We were shocked. We were hurt. And then you just have the fallout from it, it was a tough time to get through as a group, and it totally wasn't necessary."

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Newcomer Wendy Osefo said, "I wish that that incident never happened. If I had a magic wand I would completely remove it. I think it's something that impacted all of us deeply as a cast and i just wish that they were able to handle it differently."

Ashley Darby revealed, "I was shocked that it got to that point only because of where we were at the time. As you'll see, things had transpired but I didn't necessarily anticipate that they would come to a head as fast as they did. So it was a bit surprising, but if there's one thing I know it's that both of them are very spirited and they can tend to say things that are really heated and when you put two people like that together, you never know what you're going to get in an altercation."

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Karen Huger previously told E! News during an exclusive chat, "Lemme put it this way: two wrongs never make a right. That altercation was a powerful moment, it had repercussions on all of the ladies. But what I believe about us and I think the viewers will agree is that we're able to work through it because we have authentic friendships and relationships that are strong enough, I believe, to carry us through."

Karen added, "Again, we don't do altercations, we use our words and I'm confident that we can get back to using our words after this season. You'll see a lot of work going on."

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Gizelle said following the fight, fans will get to see the cast have difficult but necessary conversations about the incident. "It was really more about how do we want to hold ourselves as Black women? And who we are as Black women, and what it means to be a Black woman in this country," she shared. "Oh that conversation is everything because everyone was so honest and it was raw and it was real."

As for whether they think Monique and Candiace might one day reconcile, Robyn says it will all come down to the upcoming RHOP season five reunion taping. 

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"I've been at a place before on season three with Ashley. She really was just attacking my family and my life, and I was like, I never want to be around her. I was livid and adamant that I would never have anything to do with her. And then it was two weeks later and I'm in the same room with her, and we're having a pow wow," Robyn said. "So, things can be worked out, but this situation here is like so much deeper, it's gotten really nasty. I think we're going to have to see what these ladies will talk about at the reunion, and if people take accountability for their actions, if they have any type of remorse or if it's going to be a whole lot of finger pointing. That's going to be the telltale sign of whether we can get through it, if people can actually own their actions, and have some sort of remorse for them, because that's the only way you get through it.

"Otherwise it's like if you can't own your actions, then how do we know this isn't going to happen again. Like we really don't want this to ever happen again. But if you can accept responsibility for your actions. Then, we're not sure that this would never happen again. You know it's going to take a good reunion to sort through all of it, and it's not that a reunion can fix it all but at least show us that we're making progress. It won't be easy."

The Real Housewives of Potomac airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on Bravo. Binge past seasons of RHOP on Peacock starting Sept. 20.

(E!, Bravo And Peacock are all part of the NBCUniversal family)

Peacock is live now! Check out NBCU's streaming service here.

(Originally published Sept. 16 at 5 a.m. PT)