Kandi And The Old Lady Gang: “The Queen of Bravo” On Success, Secret Ingredients and Who’s the “King of Shade”
The “Queen Of Bravo” Kandi Burruss is back with her fifth special with Kandi And The Gang, which will follow her, her husband Todd, and their restaurant Old Lady Gang’s dynamic staff as they face a much-needed change at the restaurant while juggling their career ambitions, larger-than-life personalities and personal lives.
With tensions rising as family members don’t perform up to standards, a little tough love and a lot of restructuring will shake things up with the staff, whether they’re ready for it or not.
BET.com chatted with the Real Housewives star on the secret ingredient that will make this show successful, to which she responded by saying her family and her Atlanta roots.
“I think the main ingredient that I have on my side is my family and being a part of the Atlanta scene, we have a little more sauce anyway,” the Bravolebrity laughed. “This show is going to be a lot different than anything you’ve seen on Bravo. We have my family there, my aunts, and my mother who are entertaining within themselves.”
After going down the list of the staff who will appear on the series, she shares this cast is rare for Bravo as it will feature more men than any other program on the network.
She also confirms that everyone who you will see in the special is an actual employee of the famed restaurant.
“We didn’t hire anybody to play as if they worked at the restaurant — everyone who is there genuinely works there or is an actual family member of mine,” The Masked Singer alum shared. “That just keeps it 100, real, and people will love it because they are crazy.”
When the trailer dropped, the drama spoke for itself and social media was already locked in with anticipation.
The famed songwriter shared [in non-spoiler fashion] the biggest pieces of drama fans can expect from the show.
“I know based on the trailer, people want to see the drama that showed a big falling between my cousin and my aunty — that was crazy,” the producer told us.
“The other drama is with Philip, who had to come in and help us get the restaurant in order because it was falling apart,” she began.
Philip Frempong serves is introduced as the Director Of Operations for the OLG restaurant, already forming a business relationship with Burruss as he previously worked as a consultant at her other restaurant Blaze Steak & Seafood.
“First he did consult at my other restaurant, Blaze, and then brought him over to OLG during the time we started filming, which was probably a whole shock to him. I said Philip is the king of shade because he gets them together.
She tells BET.com how Frempong doesn't “play with nobody” and viewers will see throughout the season how he will butt-heads with the staff.
“Because they’ve been here a long time, they get upset because he’s a new employee stepping into this role and checking everybody, getting them in place but that’s his job,” the entrepreneur explained.
The businesswoman also shares for the audience to keep an eye on is Brian Redmond, an ex-bartender turned server who is the life of the party but also shares how he gets transparent with substance abuse.
“Someone else who I feel will be interesting to see is Brian who is the life of the party at the restaurant,” the reality star said.
“Although he’s super funny, he’s also very transparent about some of his issues he’s dealing with like substance abuse and other things he’s going through. He’s so open and it’s a beautiful thing,” before sharing how she was even shocked to learn Redmond and fellow employee Torin Mitchell hooking up in the commercial preview where Redmond suggested Mitchell is well-endowed.
Whew, sounds spicy.
Now, of course, Mama Joyce is not far behind if Burruss is having a special and we asked the famed actress if she ever tells her mother to be mindful of what she may say that has the potential to go viral, to which she answered “you can’t control her.”
“My mom is one of those people you can’t control,” she expressed.
“In the past, people online would try to tell me what to tell my mother to do — I don’t what people tell their moms but you don’t tell my mom what to do. It doesn’t matter if I share with her how I feel about something, she’s still going to say what she wants to say. It’s a gift and a curse.”
Fans have grown to love the OLG sister trio who have each become social media meme phenomena in their own rights. When asked who she feels will give us new memes to screenshot and add to our camera rolls, she said each one will give us a few throughout the season.
“Aunt Bertha is hands down the meme queen and ya’ll are going to be memeing her all season long,” she explained. “She’s naturally hilarious so I already know people will love her and repeating what she says. Aunt Nora is a sweetheart..most of the time but she will get you together.”
Now we did get a little insight on the upcoming season of Real Housewives Of Atlanta, to which the star told BET.com the season date hasn’t been confirmed to her as of yet but will be “coming soon” and they finished taping a few weeks ago,
She leaves us with sharing the scenes she was a part of were “crazy”
While we wait to see how the peach diva serves on RHOA, you can see her in her new special Kandi And The Gang which premieres on Bravo Sunday, March 6th.
Ty Cole is a New York-based entertainment reporter and writer for BET.com who covers pop culture, music, and lifestyle. Follow his latest musings on Twitter @IamTyCole.
