If the second season of the Real Housewives of Johannesburg was an upgrade from the show’s premiere season, then these Reunion Specials have taken the entire franchise to a whole level.

We were never ready for this volume of explosive files, hideous fashion choices and shady scream-fests!

It’s a good thing; nerves were all over the place when the locals found out that fan fave, Evodia ‘Madam’ Mogase would not be returning with her daughter Mercy.

Evodia later announced her own spin-off show with the daughter, and it’s set to premiere on Mzansi Magic some time this year.

The Mogases, a.k.a Versaces, were the breakout stars on the South African edition of the popular reality TV franchise, and one couldn’t imagine what the show would look like without Madam’s drama, iconic quotables and her fascinating mother-daughter relationship with Mercy.

Fortunately for us all, as it’s turned out, the Versace’s absence didn’t stop the reality show from dishing out every single bit of the drama, shade and wealth we hoped to see this season. The newbies are seasoned, no pun intended.

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This season gave us enough to talk, laugh and gasp about, and some.

We had elevated supplies of drama (Lethabo, who’s now being lambasted by multitudes for bordering on bully), vicious deliveries of swift shade (Now, you know Mrs. Mops collected these girls and read them for filth the entire season) and actual storylines (Brinnette and Christall served the kind of post-divorce reality that made up for the girls’ disappointing reluctance to delve deeper into their romantic relationships).

Phat Joe is the host of Real Housewives of Johannesburg Reunion Special

If anything lacked during the season, the girls are certainly making up for during the three-part Reunion Special.

For one, we’ve gotten a side of Lebo we didn’t know was there!

The polite lady who sauntered through the season showcasing her blissful romance with her husband, top Johannesburg businessman Lebo Gunguluza, has gone from being the quiet peacemaker to serving heated files on her frenemy, Lebo.

She also revealed that at some point during the season, she had to fight an urge to slap Mrs. Mops.

While there’s enough reason to believe she’s come out fiercely during this finale to reserve her spot for the next season on the popular show, we are certainly impressed that she’s saved her best game for the end.

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That Lebo, as gracious as she was the entire time, clearly knows that this is chess, not checkers.

Proving that experience comes with power, returning housewife Brinnette Seopela came prepared for the girls.

Having kicked things off by presenting title deeds to host Phat Joe to prove that she does, in fact, own property, Brinnette proceeded to check both Mrs Mops and Lethabo.

She cross examined the season’s ‘mean girls’ with chilling reads while dropping files that fellow cast members have slammed for not being appropriate for national television.

Brinnette made claims that Mrs Mops, who Phat Joe questioned about being on a “married high horse”, has been less than faithful to her husband.

The good sis did, however, fail to produce fails to back her explosive allegations, and instead based them on here say. Mpumi Mops and Lethabo laughed it all off, clarifying that the night in question was a shoot and whatever male figure Mpumi was “seen leaving with” must have been part of the project.

Not done with Mrs. Mops, Brinnette questioned her on how she met her husband. On the first episode of the season, Mpumi had painted a fairytale picture of how she met her hubby.

We all caught feels when she revealed how he wooed her while she was a student, and a week later flew her out in Milan. What she left out, Brinnette claimed, was how she was “hooked up” by an acquaintance they share. And also, she added, how she’d been pregnant within a week after that.

Then she came for Lethabo, with who’s she’s been feuding the whole season.

A married man, we were told, paid for Lethabo’s hotel room during the girl’s trip to Durban, where they’d flew out for the Durban July!

Lethabo denied these claims, saying a friend handled the bookings.

In the previews for the next and final episode, we see Lebo going at it with Lethabo. Lebo threatens to sue the living daylights out of Lethabo, who she appears to claim does not even have medical aid.

Real Housewives of Johannesburg airs Fridays at 7PM on 1Magic, DStv channel 103.

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