Candiace Dillard Bassett reacts to fan feedback on season 8 of RHOP amid divided cast. Plus, hints at her “exit strategy” from Real Housewives.
Longtime RHOP star Candiace Dillard continues to dip her toe in the world of acting, but she isn’t sure her co-stars know the difference between reality TV and scripted television.
“For sure, there is a lot of acting happening on Potomac this season,” Candiace tells ET. “It might be nice to let one of the girls, one or two of the girls, audition for a role as an extra [on ALLBLK’s Hush], since they want to be actors.”
Candiace is resuming her role as Syleena in Hush for the streaming drama’s second season. She’s also starring in her sixth season of Bravo’s hit series, RHOP.
Season 8 of RHOP, which is currently airing on Bravo, has been met with mixed feedback from viewers despite its continued high viewership. Viewers aren’t a fan of the divided cast feuding over lackluster antics.
“It felt exactly how you all are viewing it,” Candiace quips. “I always speak highly of our viewers. I think the Potomac fandom, Potomac viewership is some of the smartest in the Bravo-sphere. You all don’t miss anything. Your think pieces are riveting, even the ones that are anti-Candiace.”
“It feels like everybody went to school, everybody was in the library, and I appreciate that,” she continues. “It is it was weird to shoot. It was weird to film. It was weird and awkward to be in a lot of these spaces.”
Season 8 of RHOP features its largest ensemble cast, with eight full-time Housewives and various friends and former Housewives popping in and out all season long.
The season started off on rocky ground, with most of the RHOP cast taking Robyn Dixon to task for hiding the news of her husband Juan Dixon‘s sketchy behavior during season 7.
As a result, Candiace became Robyn’s harshest critic on and off social media, yet the 37-year-old doesn’t regret sharing her scathing thoughts on Twitter.
“I stand by my think piece,” she says of the tweets. “When I tweeted that, I was upset, but I was also operating with information that you all don’t know yet.”
“I don’t know if and when you will find out everything, but there is more that you all don’t know,” she teases. “Also, I will say that there’s a tweet that’s being tacked on to everything, that I said, that is being attributed to [Robyn]. That’s not for her. When I said, ‘This is your best work? It’s time to recast,’ that wasn’t for Robyn.”
In fact, Candiace still believes that Gizelle plotted to protect Robyn and Juan Dixon during season 7 by using her husband, Chris Bassett, as the scapegoat to deflect attention from the issues going into the Dixon family’s life.
Gizelle Bryant has denied the claim and insists she didn’t know about Juan and Robyn’s relationship drama until it was addressed on her and Robyn’s podcast.
However, Candiace doesn’t buy it and doesn’t believe fans do either.
“Did you really think that you were going to fool our audience?” Candiace asks. “Like, the camera does not lie. The camera is, like, the oracle; it knows all, it sees all, you can’t fool the camera.”
“We are watching a lot of floppianas flopping around right now,” she quips. “I think that there is an answer to the divide, for sure. It’s not elusive. It’s not like it’s not evading us at all, like, the answers are there.”
“You have to have a group of women who are collectively willing to do what needs to be done,” she continues. “Do the work to move forward, and from what I’m seeing, we’re still backpedaling. … We want to rest in the valley of the shadow of lies, and if we’re going to make those choices, then I don’t know what we’re going to do. We’re going to keep dancing around each other and pretending like everything is fine, and… I don’t know.”
Meanwhile, Candiace says she has no plans to leave RHOP anytime soon but admits she does have an “exit strategy” for reality TV as her singing and acting careers grow.
“I have always had a plan,” she shares, adding, “Everything is a gift. All of this, like the music, the acting, Potomac — it’s all a bonus for me. None of it is something that I feel entitled to, and I would rather live that way than the other way.”
The Real Housewives of Potomac airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.
