The entire Real Housewives franchise wouldn’t be very interesting if fans loved all the participants on the shows. A big part of the drama for fans is getting to choose favorites and relish in the takedowns of the cast members they don’t like. Even so, some cast members’ drama becomes so all-consuming that fans would rather see them depart for good. Causing enough trouble for reality TV fans — who typically thrive on the drama — to want you gone may be rare, but it’s happened more than once on Real Housewives of Atlanta‘s most recent season.
Now that Eva Marcille is officially off the show, many fans are hoping Cynthia Bailey follows in her footsteps.
Fans wanted Eva Marcille gone
RELATED: ‘RHOA’: Eva Marcille Has Some Final Words for Her Cast Members After Leaving the Show
Marcille had made some guest appearances on Real Housewives of Atlanta before, but she officially joined the cast as a full-time participant in 2018. Fans expected a longer run from the reality TV veteran, but it was shocking to watch the very friend who brought her to the show become her most vocal critic. In the process, fans turned against Marcille, too. At one point, Marcille was close to fellow cast member Nene Leakes, but things turned sour between the former pals.
Leakes accused Marcille of not pulling her weight on the show, and the resulting fallout was explosive. Marcille insisted that she wasn’t going anywhere, but that tune changed just a few weeks later. Marcille announced her departure and said that she had bigger goals in mind that better fit what she wanted to do for the culture of America. “I look forward to serving my community on The Rickey Smiley Morning Show and finding ways to be a voice during this transformational time in our country for people of color,” Marcille explained.
Cynthia Bailey had ups and downs on the show
Unlike Marcille, Cynthia Bailey is a long-standing cast member who has been on the show since its third season. During that time, she has had some ups and downs with fan reception. At one point, fans viewed her as weak and pointed out that she often took a backseat to her former friend Nene Leakes. In particular, fans were frustrated that Bailey did not do more to confront cast member Kenya Moore about her behavior.
That changed, however, and so did fans’ perception of Bailey. She called Moore out for being a “shade assassin,” and some fans have grown to appreciate Bailey much more fully because of her newfound backbone. For her part, Bailey explained that she only had her modeling experience to guide her as she took the step into reality TV and that it took some time to learn the ropes: “Being in the modeling industry is very different from being on a reality show. Girls can be catty but they’re not just being mean for no reason or just throwing shade for no reason because we are all in it together … it’s a sisterhood.”
Some fans want Cynthia Bailey gone
With Marcille’s departure complete, some fans are hoping that Bailey follows suit. Rumors started swirling that Bailey wasn’t returning for Season 13 or that she was offered less money and would, therefore, be shown in a reduced role. Bailey flatly denied these rumors and insisted that contract negotiations hadn’t even started yet.
More recently, it seems like Bailey has confirmed that she will be returning. When fans asked Bailey about Marcille’s departure, Bailey responded in a way that made them think she was definitely still part of the cast: “She’s a good one. We lost a good one, a strong Black woman. But you know, Eva has to do what’s good for Eva and her family.” By talking about RHOA as a “we,” Bailey definitely gave the impression that she would be back. While some fans might not be happy about it, she has garnered enough of a fan base to keep her going on the dramatic reality series.