Reality television royalty have joined forces to participate in a new reality dating series. From mega-producer Will Packer, in Queens Court, Grammy-nominated singer Tamar Braxton, Basketball Wives alum Evelyn Lozada, and singer Nivea embark on a journey to end their single lifestyles as they are paired with over a dozen eligible bachelors in Atlanta in hopes of finding their king. Hosted by Hollywood power couple Holly Robinson Peete and Rodney Peete, the longtime married couple advise the women as they lean on one another in the courting process. By the end, will they pick their forever partner?
All women over 40, Braxton, Lozada, and Nivea have experienced major dating woes. All three have been married and divorced, and are busy with their careers and raising their children. But they desire love. The 10-episode Peacock series premieres March 16. Ahead of the premiere, PopCulture.com spoke with the women about what attracted them to the show, their newfound sisterhood, and more. Watch the full interview on our YouTube channel.
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PC: So, congratulations on this show. This is something that your fans have not seen you guys in. Tamar, I’ll start with you. You have gone through two difficult public splits, and you’ve obviously healed out loud. What made you realize that you were ready to step into the dating world on such a grand scale as a dating show?
TB: Because I’m ready for my person. I was tired of meeting the same person over and over and over and over and over again. I really truly wanted to meet an eligible bachelor, who was ready for what I was ready for, and this seemed like the most safest place for me to put myself out there, being as though it’s Will Packer Productions. And I knew that he wasn’t going to exploit the things that we all had been through and that they were really going to take care of us, in the sense of where we are mentally and what we needed to fulfill spiritually.
PC: Now, we, as Tamartians, know you as being the bold and spicy one out of the bunch, but a lot of women are different in relationships. So what would people be surprised to know about Tamar the wife – or Tamar the girlfriend?
TB: That it’s a balance. I’m not always turned up Tamar at home. I really appreciate my position, which is me not taking the lead all the time. I don’t want that. I want a real true partner, where sometimes it’s me, sometimes it’s him, sometimes it’s the both of us. And I’m not loud and boisterous. I like to have a good time with my girlfriends, and I like to have a good time in general, but when I’m at home, I’m mommy, and I’m wife, and I cook, and I have a fabulous time making amazing memories with my family. And it’s not television all the time.
PC: Now, for you, Nivea, you’ve been with a few icons, obviously. You’re an icon yourself, but were you nervous about your potential suitors, how they would react once you revealed who you were, and whether they would be intimidated by your exes?
Nivea: Well, I was glad that these men were aware that we were three. They didn’t know who we were, but they knew that we were successful. And I think, in the regular world, for me, it’s always intimidating for men, even if it’s not right away. It becomes eventual. It’s like, “Dang, she really don’t need me,” in certain ways. But also, I’m glad, because they should have realized I needed them in other ways. There’s many ways to show up in someone’s life, not just necessarily materially or financially. So yeah, I’m glad that people…I feel like this is a window into seeing who I am in general, because a lot of people have only made speculations about the person they think that I am. And I’m glad I’ve gotten to show a little bit of myself to the world.
PC: Now, fans know you as the cool outgoing personality that you are, and watching the show, at some points, I was nervous because I was scared that guys would try to put you in the homie category. Have you found that to be your experience with dating in the past?
Nivea: Right. Well, ironically, it worked differently on the show. It’s funny you even pointed that out. In regular life, because this was real life, I hate that I keep saying that, but outside of this show, the friend thing has always worked for me. It eventually turns into a relationship, sometimes very quickly. I tend to get into relationships very fast. However, on the show, it was me coming into my whole “I like everybody” type thing and it being just platonic. I actually enjoyed that very much. And that’s not what I was here for, though. So I had to constantly, thanks to my sis here, keep putting that in check. But I was glad to see that. I know that I’m a guys’ girl, so I don’t take that negatively. Just help me see “you just in the friends zone. It’s nothing more to it than that.”
PC: Now, Evelyn, for you, I laughed a lot during your interview process of the men, where you would disclose that you have a 29-year-old daughter. And I love how close you guys’ relationship is, and, from the shows that I’ve watched that you were on, she’s rarely held her tongue when it came to your preferences in men. So what was her reaction to your participation in the show?
EL: Well, she didn’t want me to do it, actually. She didn’t know what this was going to be. I retired from reality TV, and she was proud of me for doing that. So she didn’t know what I was stepping into. She didn’t know what this looked like. And for her, she was like, “Listen, you already left. I’m afraid that this is going to cause chaos. You have Leo.” So she was very opinionated. I told them, Shaniece and I had one of the biggest fights we’ve ever had in our relationship, because of this show, because she didn’t want me to do it. But in hindsight, now she’s like, “OK, I get it. I was wrong. You were right.” But Shaniece has been spot on. She’s very spiritual.
She has been very spot-on with my past relationships, and I should have listened. But she was also younger, so she didn’t feel comfortable enough to share that and say, “Hey, I don’t really think that person is for you.” She knew, like Nivea said, when she meets somebody, she’s in a relationship, and she’s like 10 toes in right away. That was me. So she didn’t have time to voice her opinion and say, “I don’t think this is good for you.” Now that she’s older, she definitely gives me her feedback, and it’s nice to have her give me pointers and give me advice of what she thinks. Because she knows me better than anybody.
PC: Now, how did you guys go about helping one another navigate through the process? Were you guys vying for the same man? And were there their feelings hard to shake at some points? And who was the most outspoken in saying “yay” or “nay,” when it came to the other queens?
Nivea: We were outspoken with each other, I think. We was calling each other, pulling like, “No girl, what is that? Uh-huh. Well, I think this.” And giving each other initially a fair shot. Evelyn and I transferred a couple of guys. We were like, “All right, you try him out here.” And there was no…
PC: We saw that in the preview episodes that we saw.
Nivea: Now, as the show progressed, you’ll see, once it gets to choosing, we are not interfering with each other’s possible prospects. Yeah. But it was cool. It was mutual, we talked about it, everything, every date, every guy, and our different experiences with them, with each other.
EL: Yeah, we were real with each other through this whole process. So she may vibe somebody, and Tamar and I would be like, “Girl, that is not that one for you.” And vice versa. Like “No.” Tamar would be like, “he got to go. He got to go. I don’t know what y’all see in him.” I would be like, “well, he’s really sweet,” and whatever. And Nivea would be like, “yeah, I don’t know.” So we would have these little powwows, group texts, like “I don’t know about this one.”
Nivea: We was group chatting.
EL: We really had these conversations in front of the camera and off the camera, really trying to navigate all these guys, because it’s a lot of different personalities. You don’t know who’s being themselves. We don’t know what happened on her date, that maybe can give me insight and me be like, “oh no, he’s done.” So I think that was cool, that we have that sisterhood and that we dated these guys together, but we also eliminated them together.
