Reality televisiongirls trips are notoriously viewed as opportunities for toxic exchanges ranging from exposing secrets, to nail-biting insults and stereotypical cat fights. Audiences know that when a group of female reality stars travel together, there is bound to be drama and lots of it.Love & Marriage: Huntsvillereturned after a month-long hiatus with a girls' trip planned by the show’s heroine,Melody Shari.Taking the cast all the way from Huntsville, AL to the Virgin Islands, proves OWN and Kingdom Reign have leveled up and are looking to take theLove & Marriagefranchise to a much more competitive level. Audiences have become accustomed to seeing theReal Housewivesgalavanting across the country on toxic girl’s trips, but in previous seasons theLAMHcast were restricted to vacationing stateside.
Melody’s Girls' Trip Could Have Been Disasterious
Melody’s suggestion to take the ladies of the group on a trip together was met with suspicion. Although she is a principal character on the show,Melody isn’t close to any of the other cast members. In fact, Melody has created clear boundaries between herself and the rest of the cast. During a previous trip planned byNelle Fletcher,Melody stressed not wanting drama withher ex-husbandMartell. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast has had a hard time comprehending that Melody and Martell are no longer a packaged deal.
There were constant references to the couple throughout the trip, making it extremely uncomfortable for Melody. Instead of re-visiting an uncomfortable trip with the other conflicting LAMH couples, Melody made an executive decision to host a girls' trip. She invitedLaTisha, Kimmi, Nelleand evenLAMH’snew villainSunni. LaTisha extended her plus one invitation toDestiny, completing the circle so everyone felt included. Melody went to great lengths to ensure the accommodations were luxurious, and the activities were fun and exciting. The ladies arrived separately and, as with most trips, immediately started bickering over whose room was biggest. Instead of going low with the complaints, Melody chose to go high and remained pleasant whileKimmiand LaTisha complained about their room and, like Nelle, threw a fit about a missing name card. Melody’s commitment to remaining pleasant and agreeable as the host made all the difference in the trip being a success and all the women enjoying their time together.
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Melody understood it would be a difficult task so she enlisted two personal friends to act as a buffer for her with the other women. Her friends defended her to a fault, but Melody controlled the temperature of the trip and refused to let disrespect lead.She allowed space for every woman to share their grievancesbut controlled the conversations so that they didn’t take a turn that would ruin the trip. When Kimmi and LaTisha confronted Melody about the size of their room, instead of responding with a flippant response, she listened to their grievance, assured them her intentions were not to slight them and encouraged them to enjoy the rest of the trip.
The Men Didn’t Actually Stay In Huntsville
For Melody to pull off a successful trip with women she is no longer close to and two cast members engaged in warfare over one man (Sunni and Destiny) was a huge win. Sunni, a former producer forLAMHtransitioned to cast member by dating Destiny’s ex-boyfriend,Moses. Making the betrayal even more personal, when Sunni was working for the show, she was assigned to Destiny’s story line. Sunni met Moses while he and Destiny were an item, but because they both came from the same hometown, they soon realized they knew a lot of the same people.Moses made the decision to jump ship on Destiny and immediately started dating her producer.Sunni and Moses married 90 days after they started dating, throwing Huntsville fans into a tailspin. Destiny didn’t have time to heal from the betrayal, before Sunni was flaunting her wedding ring in her face. Most of the cast empathized with Destiny, but trying to remain semi-neutral, most of the ladies were cordial to Sunni.
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When Sunni and Destiny confronted one another over dinner, Melody gave each woman a chance to air out her grievance and held Sunni accountable to her sketchy timeline. Melody’s resolve was tried exponentially when the topic of conversation turned to her ex,Martell, and newcomer to the show,Tricia. Tricia admitted to having interacted with Martel over social media and even meeting up with him while he and Melody were in the process of divorce. The ladies expected to see Melody lose her cool over the revelation, but instead, she refused to engage in the conversation abouther ex-husband and his attempted tryst with Tricia.Instead of losing her cool at yet another example of betrayal by her co-stars, Melody retired from the table and approached the next day with a positive disposition. LaTisha made one final attempt to throw Melody off by asking how she felt about Tricia and Martell’s rendezvous. Melody refused to take the bait and instead responded matter-of-factly, “I’m not surprised, everyone knows Martel’s a hoe.”
After being exposed,Tricia decided not to face Melody the next morning and left along with Stormi.Neither of the women thanked Melody for her hospitality or even bothered to let her know they were leaving. In a final act of victory, Melody acknowledged their departure was rude but refused to dwell on it and gathered the ladies for one final night of relaxation in the Bahamas. The remaining ladies enjoyed the rest of the trip immensely and complimented Melody on her planning and execution.
Huntsvillewas late to the party for overseas vacations, but the cast, specifically Melody, cracked the code on successful reality cast trips. As a result of her commitment to hosting a drama-free experience, Melody achieved what no reality star has been able to successfully curate', a drama-free girls' trip.
Love & Marriage: Huntsvilleairs every Saturday on OWN. Episodes can be streamed on Discovery+.
Love & Marriage: Huntsville
Three high-powered African-American couples come together to help the thriving city of Huntsville, Ala., continue to grow.
Stream on Discovery+
