Season five of The Real Housewives of Potomac is far from over, but Candiace Dillard Bassett is already worried about the reunion.
As RHOP fans are surely aware, much of this season has revolved around the Bravo personality's physical altercation with Monique Samuels, which took place on Sept. 27's episode.
Candiace has since been open about how "embarrassing" the incident was, but on the latest iteration of E!'s Just the Sip podcast, she got more candid than ever about not just the fight, but the aftermath, the impending reunion and even her future on RHOP.
"This affected me on a psychological level and it f--ked me up mentally so bad. And it's not even the fight," Candiace told E!'s Justin Sylvester. "People are like, you're milking this, you're being dramatic...It's not even the fight."
"It's everything that happened after, knowing that you are allowing this narrative to continue to be perpetuated when you know the truth," Candiace added, referring to the notion that she provoked Monique during their confrontation. "People holding cameras, people that edit footage have told us what happened and you are still dying on this hill that I was provoking you and I was threatening you and I threw wine on you and I threw a glass on you. I even heard I threw a bottle at her."
The entire experience is "awful to relive," according to Candiace. She couldn't watch the altercation on the show, and the only reason she had in the first place was to press charges against Monique.
Both women actually took legal action in November 2019, but all charges have since been dropped. Candiace said part of these proceedings will play out on RHOP this season.
"This took me so far left of what I saw for myself and where I saw myself being in life and what I saw happening for me that it just...I didn't even know my name for a while," Candiace explained on the podcast. "I was just in my house looking at the walls like, 'What the f--k happened? How did this happen? How did we get here?'"
Candiace continued to detail the fallout from the incident with Monique, telling Justin that "the mob boss has sent her indentured servants out here into these streets, trolling my pages with clown emojis and rat emojis, trolling my mother, trolling my husband, trolling my sister."
"All at her hand," she added. "To try and reroute this narrative for her."
Justin pointed out that Candiace will have to come face to face with Monique at the RHOP season five reunion, and she responded by noting that it'll "be the most emotionally taxing" reunion yet.
"I think this is the first year I'm not looking forward to the reunion," Candiace expressed. "I'm just like, can we just get to it and through it and then take me to the bar?"
She added that she's unsure whether the reunion will be virtual or in-person. If it's the latter, Justin gave her a friendly reminder: "If your name is on either couch closer to Andy Cohen, that means that you're going to have the hardest reunion. Did I lie?"
"You did not lie," Candiace responded.
Justin told her that she's been in the center of so much drama this season, "At this point bitch, you might be on Andy's lap."
In that case, Candiace said she hopes Andy's "quads are ready."
Candiace went on to describe how she really wants the reunion to be set up should it actually take place in-person.
"New York was in person, you saw their set-up. Andy was at the front of the U. It was like a U-shape," she recalled. "He was at the front and then the girls were spread out 6 feet apart in individual oversized chairs...I want him to be in the middle, though. So he can really field questions to both sides."
"So I hope that he's in the middle if we're in person and we're spread out 6 feet apart flanking him," Candiace added. "That's my hope."
Of course, there's still much more to come this season.
Candiace even teased one part of the finale, though it has to do with one of her fellow cast members, not her.
Who? Ashley Darby.
Candiace mentioned the upcoming moment after Justin asked for her thoughts on Ashey's husband Michael Darby, who's been the subject of infidelity rumors this season, and in the past, has been accused of sexual assault (charges that have since been dropped) and grabbing people's butts.
"So...I don't even know what to say about that, except, who raised him?" Candiace responded to Justin.
"I just can't, for the life of me, I can't understand," she continued. "This man is like 79 years old. You are too old to be behaving like this. You have an infant and one more on the way and you have shamed...your child is in utero; you are shaming your child and they're not even here yet."
Following an incident involving Michael at a strip club earlier this season on RHOP, Ashley gave him an ultimatum, warning that any similar indiscretions would be "catastrophic" for their relationship.
The two are still together, and though Justin theorized that Ashley might be thinking a baby will "fix" things between them, Candiace shut that down.
"She's not that dumb. I think she just wants to have children, and this is the person she's been in it with for so long and this is the person who's gonna provide security for her and her children," Candiace said.
She continued, "I don't think she thinks it's gonna fix anything. I think she's aware of what she has, and you kinda see that—I didn't see this, I heard about it—you kinda see that at the finale."
Candiace, unfortunately, didn't provide any additional details, but she did drop a bombshell when Justin asked the ultimate question: "If Monique is invited back to Real Housewives of Potomac, will you go back?"
Candiace's answer?
"I don't see a world where the two of us can exist."
Listen to the complete episode of Just the Sip above.
The Real Housewives of Potomac airs Sunday nights at 9 p.m. on Bravo, and you can binge past seasons on Peacock!
(E!, Bravo and Peacock are all part of the NBCUniversal family.)