The Real Housewives of Lagos: The Women Make Good TV Drama

After the 12 episodes of drama and two episodes of the reunion show, it is still difficult to decipher the most honest housewife in the first season of The Real Housewives of Lagos. The show which premiered in April exceeded expectations with the drama the six women — Toyin Lawani-Adebayo, Carolyna Hutchings, Mariam Timmer, Laura Ikeji, Chioma Ikokwu and Iyabo Ojo — brought to the screen.

At first, it seemed as if it was going to be another boring show about spoiled kids but when the drama set in, the women revealed that their bitchiness is on a higher level than a ghetto’s. They removed their gloves and clawed at each other without remorse. Pandora’s box was emptied and the contents? Rated PG.

The finger-pointing, shades, jealousy, and competition added spice to TV shows which is something that has been missing in reality TV shows, except Big Brother Naija. From Carolyna aiming shots at Laura from the first few episodes about her sister ruining her marriage with her blog stories to the bitter ending of Chioma and Carolyna’s friendship, the season was peppered with enough drama to keep one glued to their Showmax screen.

Each of the women came with a different personality from what was usually seen on their social media pages. The bubbly disposition of Laura gave way to a drama queen whose love to protect family was admirable but friendship expectations questionable. She wore the toga of the ‘oddball’ impressively, and interestingly had the last laugh.

Iyabo, who everyone unanimously respected on the show, maintained her no-nonsense persona. She enjoyed the drama of others but would not tolerate anyone’s bullsh*t. 

For all her eccentric and wildness on social media, Toyin showed a calm side of her. Even when Laura rejected her care, she respected herself and gave her space.

Mariam, the wild one was the only one who did not get into a confrontation with anyone until the reunion show. 

Chioma was the self-proclaimed fashion queen known for her lateness.  

And our dear Carolyna had more than one attribute but ended the show with one label tied to her brand.

Every good TV show relies on conflict and drama to keep the audience entertained and these women delivered an overdose. The underlying theme was embedded in friendship but at the end of the day, lies and gossip made the strongest relationship fallible. From the onset, it was about pitching tents and Laura had a hard time figuring that out and at a point, was an outlier as the other women kept her at bay. But the main reason for her isolation was the simmering dislike between her and Carolyna whom she labelled a liar. In her words, “she lies with confidence.” Carolyna had accused Laura of being pimped to a governor which nearly led to a fight after the latter sent a lengthy message on a WhatsApp group chat about Carolyna and Chioma’s tardiness to events. Carolyna felt insulted and had the support of others who deemed Laura’s message malicious.

Although not everyone believed Laura until the clash between Carolyna and Chioma, the season’s besties. Laura felt vindicated that her assertion of Carolyna finally came to light. 

If the reunion show was to let sleeping dogs lie, these women proved otherwise. More revelations showed that everyone really considered Carolyna a liar. And Toyin who maintained her cool throughout the season finally lost it. From a heated spar with Carolyna on what led to their breakup, who slept with who, who snatched another’s man, to almost physically dealing with Chioma for another ‘who said what’ episode. Then Mariam topped it by returning the scarf Carolyna gave her because of another ‘who said what’ episode. This time around, it was about ‘jazz’ and mistrust.

Apparently, these women had a lot going on among themselves that was not shown on camera. At the end of the reunion, the only people whose friendship is not threatened are Toyin and Mariam. The peacemaker Iyabo has learnt to carry her cross.

Given the seating arrangement as summed up by fans of the franchise — those who seat far from the host are unlikely to return — 

 it is unlikely that Carolyna and  Chioma will be featured in the next season. Who knows, they may surprise us.