10 Facts About Real Housewives of Potomac You Didn't Know

The Real Housewives of Potomac swept over Bravo earlier this year when the episode premiered in January. The show was a big hit as the eighth chapter in the Real Housewives franchise, immediately becoming one of the most watched Real Housewives series. RHOP chronicled the personal and professional lives of six women living in the affluent Potomac, Maryland region. These women reignite the age-old war between old and new money, each bringing something unique to the table in terms of culture, racial variety, religion, financial standing, and, of course, the show's topic, standards of etiquette.

Because Bravo recently announced that RHOP would be renewed for another season, we've decided to look at ten facts about The Real Housewives of Potomac that you may not have known!

The theme for the Beginning
Every Real Housewives show follows a similar formula, particularly in the opening credits where the women are introduced. They each have their own characteristic tag line and then all come together during the theme song, usually clutching something specific or representative of their city.

For example, on The Real Housewives of New York City, the women are seen holding an apple, an orange on The Real Housewives of Orange County, a peach on The Real Housewives of Atlanta, but a champagne glass on The Real Housewives of Potomac. If RHOP followed the conventional standards, they'd all be clutching crabs, Maryland's most famous export, but that just wouldn't fly with the Real Housewives brand. 

The question has never been fully answered, but we can hypothesize that the women grab a champagne glass because it's a very classy and elegant drink, and we all know the RHOP is all about being the fanciest and most respectable women in America.

Potomac Symphony

The producers described the show as "Potomac Ensemble" during its early phases before it got to TV and was simply filming around town. According to the Washington Post, the women were observed filming at the luxury Willard hotel. According to the viewer, there were posters put throughout the hotel lobby warning people that they might be captured on video, and the notice labeled the show under the pseudonym name. It appears that production will frequently do this since posting the title with "Real Housewives" may attract too much-unwanted attention, and they want the show to flow in reality as smoothly as possible. In truth, the production crew not only used that title to minimize fan notice but also promised the show starring women that it would be called "Potomac Ensemble." "We didn't know our program was going to be a hit," Robyn Dixon stated in an interview.

Add Block

The working title for the show during filming was the Potomac Ensemble, which included six women from our everyday lives engaging with other women. Dixon stated that the women found out during a conference call during which the production team thanked them, informed them Bravo loved them, and wanted them to be The Real Housewives of Potomac. This was in November, and the program didn't air until January - talk about a rushed production! It felt like a Housewives show — it had the same concept, but they didn't tell us what it was."

Awesome Blogs
Fans of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills will know that the cast members are expected to write a blog response to each episode.
In an interview with Black Enterprise, Potomac housewife Robyn Dixon said that the Bravo production crew sends each lady a copy of the program two days before it airs on national television. They must watch the video and write a lengthy blog response expressing their emotions. The blogs are published on the Bravo website immediately following the airing of the program. "It's surreal to see me on TV... I find myself thinking, "I should have said this or done that." Then you find out what people are saying behind your back, and you think to yourself, "Oh, if I'd known she said that, I would've checked her differently!"

But that's what the reunion is for; during the reunion, you can have a more open dialogue and actually address problems," she explained.

Katie Rost Will Not Return

Katie Rost was an essential character in the first season of The Real Housewives of Potomac. She certainly brought the drama, constantly feuding with Gizelle Bryant and Robyn Dixon and stirring up discussions about racial diversity. Even though we see this all the time in the Real Housewives series, some are surprised that she would not return for the second season. On June 29, she turned to Twitter to announce her departure, implying that she was sacked because she was "too boring." Sad to say, I will not be on #RHOP this season," she said. I can't get enough excitement out of my life. "#DeliveredTomorrow" — yikes! Bravo has not issued a public announcement regarding her departure, and it is too early to speculate on who will take her place. There have been allegations that she couldn't continue because her on-again, off-again boyfriend Andrew Martin refused to be recorded, and her ex-husband was opposed to their children being filmed. While the true reasons are unknown, one thing remains: Rost will no longer be a Housewife.

Two of the Housewives identify as bisexual.

Katie Rost is not only bi-racial but also bisexual! This snippet of information was disclosed on The Real Housewives of Potomac's two-part reunion special. Katie first revealed it in an episode when she said she had plunged into the "woman pond," as the Potomac ladies called it. The subject came up again during the reunion, and Rost even revealed which of her cast members she'd hook up with. "Definitely Charrisse, definitely Ashley, I would have hate-sex with Gizelle," she claimed. Sure, I would include everyone." She then revealed that she believes everyone is bisexual, but they just don't behave like it. Following her sexual revelation, another Housewife, Ashley Darby, said she was in a romantic relationship with a woman when she was only 18.

Success in the First Season

Unlike its predecessor, The Real Housewives of D.C., Potomac had a phenomenal debut season. Many people compared the show to former homemakers of Washington because Potomac is nearby, but this show is far from it, with a completely different cast and an entirely different attitude. RHOP's first season was so successful that it has already been renewed for a second season. It was the most watched inaugural season of any Real Housewives show since The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills in history.

It was the highest-rated premiere of any Real Housewives franchise series, with an average of 2.1 million people. All that etiquette instruction appears to have paid off!

Illegal Behavior

Katie Rost and her on-again, off-again lover, Andrew Martin, were one of the primary stories from season one of The Real Housewives of Potomac. Finally, in the season finale, he proposed, but they split up immediately before the reunion. It's unclear whether the two are still together, but some surprising material from his history has surfaced in the public after the season ended. According to Radar Online, Andrew was involved in a "massive drug bust involving boxes of marijuana and a SWAT raid on his residence." Back in 2011, a drug dog from the Montgomery County Police Drug Interdiction Unit "took two parcels" from a Maryland FedEx. The packages contained bags of marijuana in quantities "consistent with possession with intent to distribute." Andrew was linked to the drugs because the parcels were addressed to a property he owned. When a SWAT team stormed his residence, they discovered additional narcotics and paraphernalia. Andrew was not detained at the time because he was not on the property, but he was charged and found guilty of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and sentenced to three years probation, according to Radar Online. That kind of behavior is probably not included in Karen's etiquette manual!

The show ruined Charrisse's marriage.

Throughout the first season, fans observed Charrisse struggle with her marriage's current status. Her entire plot revolved around whether or not she was going to obtain a divorce, and she was unusually forthright about it. She mentioned several times that she was planning to seek for divorce because she was unhappy in the relationship.
Eddie Jordan, Charrisse's husband, lives apart from her because he works as a coach at Rutgers University. While viewing the show, it was evident the two had serious communication issues, as Charrisse stated he rarely responded to her texts, even when she told him she was going through the divorce process. During the reunion, however, Charrisse disclosed that her husband had been fired from his coaching position but had still not moved back in with her, which many assumed was the reason they were living apart in the first place. 
Just as the reunion was closing, Charrisse revealed to the women and viewers that her husband had ceased talking to her since she was on the show. There's no news on the state of her marriage or whether these two have been able to restore their relationship, but things weren't looking good when the show left off after the first season.