You may not have heard the name Rita Ora yet, but it’s seemingly only a matter of time before she becomes a household name. The UK-based pop star is Jay-Z‘s latest protégé, and is already being called “the new Rihanna.”Ora, whose song “How We Do (Party)” is in the running for this year’s Song Of The Summer crown, was born and raised in Albania, so when she popped by our offices here in Times Square recently, we made sure to ask her about a member of the VH1 family with Albanian roots: Drita D’avanzo from Mob Wives.
“I love her, she is my GIRL!,” Rita joyously explained. “She’s the prime example of an independent woman … [Albanian women] sometimes do come across as agressive, but it’s always from a good place, you know? Unless you trigger us wrong!” Then, Rita turned directly to the camera to proclaim, “Keep doing your thing on Mob Wives, and I’ll still be watching you Drita. I really am supporting her!”
Well, apparently the feeling is mutual. Drita and Rita exchanged complimentary tweets the other night, which we have for you below!
Rather than asking what the biggest, baddest fight of the year was, we’re posing that question in a different way: We want to know who you think had the fiercest, most volatile onscreen relationship of 2011. Because as we’ve learned, even some of the biggest fights, like Laura and Malaysia‘s episode one blowout on Basketball Wives L.A., can still end with no hard feelings. But these women we’ve listed below, well, it’s pretty safe to say they may never be friends. So whose situation is the realest, meanest definition of “frenemy”? You tell us. To refresh your memories, look after the jump for GIFs and clips of some of the more intense moments these women shared.
Cast reunions are some of the most heated, exciting, eventful episodes of the year, and we’ve had a ton of great reunion moments from all of our shows in 2011. But if we had to pick one moment to reign supreme over all the others…well, that’s a tough choice to make. We’ve narrowed down our four biggest reunion moments and want to know which one you think was the best. Watch each moment below and then take our poll!
Evelyn Lozada
After putting up with Meeka Claxton all season, it seemed like the ladies on Basketball Wives might tear her apart during the reunion. Surprisingly, Meeka and Tami, though they exchanged words, kept things fairly civil during the taping. However, it was during an argument with Meeka over the design of her earrings where things got heated. Evelyn, who has an earring line of her own, got into a dispute with Meeka’s earring designer and after a brief back and forth, shouted her now infamous “Security!” and gave a double snap of her fingers, getting the designer booted from the set. In time, Meeka followed suit, choosing not to return to the show.
Somaya Reece
Somaya may have said some not-so-nice things about Olivia during season one ofLove And Hip Hop (“I’m making you relevant again” ring any bells?) and it came back to bite her at the reunion when Olivia’s manager Rich Dollaz took her to task. However, it was Somaya who had the last laugh when she repeatedly called Rich a “vagina,” turning your every day anatomical reference into an insult and causing him to angrily walk off the stage. (Somaya even apologized to fans of the show for Rich’s behavior.)
Renee Graziano
Renee and Carla came to blows during season one of Mob Wives when Renee accused Carla’s boyfriend of inappropriately touching her. The women agreed to disagree over what kind of “bad touch” this guy actually tried, but it made for the most explosive conversation of the reunion, with Renee breaking down in tears and finally shutting Carla down saying “Restylane! ‘Cause you’re nothing but a filler, bitch.”
Draya Michele
Draya had the best lines of the night during the Basketball Wives L.A. reunion and she definitely held her ground when she had to. When she was describing how she was treated, she told host John Salley “The underdog rose to the top on this show!” Later, when the women were ganging up on Jackie and conversation turned (half-jokingly) to Jackie needing medication, Draya joked “Do you have a doctor? She got Michael Jackson’s doctor!” (“Michael Jackson’s” actually trended that night on Twitter, so we KNOW you loved it!)
Have you ever noticed that your favorite VH1 stars have a habit of reusing some of the same phrases over and over again? One such phrase that we’ve noticed is a favorite on almost every show is “At the end of the day.” And now that it’s the end of the year, we made a supercut (correction: our fantastic and hilarious video editors made a supercut) of every mention of this particular turn of phrase that we could find. We’re sure there are more references out there, but at the end of the day, who has the time to go back and find every single one? We hope you enjoy it no matter what time of day it is.
Last week was pretty exciting for us here in the VH1 office, we welcomed the entire cast of Love and Hip Hop, old and new, to our studio for an interview session. We’ll be posting some of the video of our chats with Emily, Chrissy, Olivia, Somaya and the two new ladies, Kimbella and Yandy, as the season approaches (the premiere is November 14!), but for now, enjoy a few shots of the women as they prepared for the shoot. You’ll notice that some of the ladies had new looks for season two (Chrissy said goodbye to long hair), some went glam for the shoot, and after seeing them in person, we can assure you that they all looked gorgeous.
After a few months of summer vacation, Love and Hip Hop is finally returning to the airwaves in a few weeks, and we’ve got all the details for you, at last.Chrissy,Somaya, Olivia, andEmily are all back for season two, and they’re joined by two new faces, Kimbella Vanderhee and Yandy Smith. Season two premieres on November 14 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, and this time around, episodes will be an hour long.
VH1 will also premiere it’s newest dating show, Excused, on November 14 at 6 p.m. ET/PT hosted by Last Comic Standing winner Iliza Schlesinger. More information about both shows is below.
VH1′s keeping YOU WARM AND TOASTY WITH Two hot NEW SEASON PREMIERES ON MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14
the return of VH1’s hit series “Love and Hip Hop” and new series “Excused”
to Premiere Monday, November 14 Starting at 6PM ET/PT on VH1
Catch Sneak Peeks and Exclusive Clips on VH1.com
SANTA MONICA, CA – October 14, 2011 – As the cool of winter approaches, VH1 heats up with two hot season premieres on Monday, November 14 beginning at 6 PM ET/PT. Watch as the ladies of VH1’s hit series, “Love & Hip Hop” return for a second season. This new season of “Love & Hip Hop” will take viewers back inside the professional and personal relationship dramas facing a group of women behind some of the biggest names in hip hop. Then stick around for “Excused” a new dating show from CBS Television Distribution and the producers of the series “Blind Date,” hosted by Comedienne Illiza Shlesinger, winner of the competition series “Last Comic Standing.” “Love & Hip Hop” Season 2 and “Excused” is all set to provide an exciting behind-the-scenes look into the world of dating, celebrity life, love and sometimes war.
Thanks to fans of Love & Hip Hop, Olivia‘s last single, “December” soared on iTunes this summer. (Her talent also had something to do with it, don’t get us wrong.) And now Olivia is back with her new single, “Happened To Me,” and she’s released a video of the making of the song. To quote Olivia herself, “It’s insane!” The song is seriously so good — to listen to it in it’s entirety, head over to TheYBF.
Often, there’s more news about VH1′s stars than we can keep up with, so we’re bringing you a weekly gossip roundup of all the news stories we may have missed earlier. Here are some of the stories making the rounds this week:
La La Vasquez looked gorgeous and glamorous at the Multicultural Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum Of Art this week. [TheYBF]
According to her Twitter feed, Basketball Wives star Evelyn Lozada is launching a blog soon! [Twitter]
Vibe has a list ofRay-J‘s Top Ten Career WTF Moments [Vibe]
It pays to wait on Love & Hip Hop star Jim Jones. The rapper reportedly ordered $20,000 worth of champagne at a New York Club this week and left a $6,000 tip. [TMZ]
Former Single Ladies star Stacey Dash is officially divorced from her husband Emmanuel Xuereb after just over two years of marriage. [TMZ]
Earlier this week, we pointed out that VH1 stars like Olivia from Love & Hip Hop and Laura and Gloria Govan from Basketball Wives L.A. were making the rounds at New York Fashion Week. After days of (seemingly) endless fashion shows, red carpets, television appearances, and other assorted fashion events, we’ve gathered that quite a few of our favorite reality stars were out and about and hob-nobbing with other fashion-loving A-listers. Check out some of our favorite shots of everyone from Mob Wives‘ Renee Graziano, to La La Vasquez chilling with her pal Kim Kardashian, to the Govan sisters meeting Lady Gaga.(!!!)
Oh, and we should note that Gaga, like Adele before her, has admitted that she loves the Basketball Wives. Gloria Govan explained to Life & Style that when they met, Gaga told her that “she didn’t get to watch that much TV, but she really likes the show when she gets to watch it! She was like ‘Wow, you guys are the Basketball Wives, aren’t you!’ It was so amazing that she knew who we were!”
“Shout out to Chrissy!” Jim Jones said as soon as MTV’s Sway brought upLove & Hip Hip during an interview yesterday. Jones was hanging out at MTV for the one-year anniversary of RapFix and talked about the reality show that features him and his fiancee Chrissy Lampkin, and which is currently filming its second season.
“Getting into it, I didn’t really know what I’d get out of it or how it’d make me look,” Jones said. “It’s something they’ve been trying to do with me for like five years and we finally got it down to a science where I could be a part of it and not necessarily make it feel like it’s my show directly. First season I was a little skeptic, I watched it like everybody else, fell in love with it.” Check out the clip above for all of Jones’ thoughts on the drama and rumors (wink!) surrounding the new season, including talk of fighting on the set.
After the jump, check out another clip from the RapFix anniversary show featuring Jones and freestyler Consequence, who performs a rap with a shout out to Basketball Wives. (That one begins around the 8:20 mark.) [click to continue…]
