7 shadiest moments on The Real Housewives of Lagos episode 1

The Real Housewives of Lagos finally launched on Friday, April 8 and it took Africa (and the UK) by storm!

The show trended for most of its launch day, with Laura Ikeji-Kanu, Iyabo Ojo, Toyin Lawani-Adebayo, Chioma Ikokwu, and Carolyna Hutchings making appearances on the trend table.

Mariam Timmer, who didn’t appear in the first episode, will make an appearance later on in the season.

While it’s still early for the drama to begin, episode 1 already showed fans that there’ll be more to unpack with the number of shady moments from the women’s first event.

Here are seven of the biggest shady moments in episode 1 of The Real Housewives of Lagos.

Spoiler alert – don’t read this until you’ve watched episode 1 of The Real Housewives of Lagos for yourself.

1. The accent shade, or was it? 

Toyin Lawani-Adebayo had one of the earliest shady moments on the show, although it’s also easy to argue that it wasn’t so much shade as it was jesting. Toyin’s first impression of Chioma was that her accent was too much. During her diary sessions, she kept making comments that it would take a minute to adjust to Chioma’s British English. However, it’s hard to say that Toyin was “shading” the hair mogul as Chioma spent most of her formative years in London, hence the accent.

2. Carolyna’s over-the-top dress and the ladies’ reactions

Carolyna was determined to make the biggest entrance for the ladies’ first outing because her over-the-top lemon dress was a little more than the ladies could handle. Even though the former actress was only going to a product launch for Toyin Lawani-Adebayo’s daughter, she donned a dress worthy of a red carpet event. Trust that the ladies had so much to say about the dress’s thigh-high slit and heavy cleavage, and most of it was SHADY.

3. Laura’s late coming

Laura arrived late at Toyin Lawani-Adebayo’s event and the latter didn’t like it at all. She announced that she would be reciprocating the tardiness. Toyin stated, “I will get to her event when they are already packing the chairs”. All the other women also thought it uncool for Laura to show up several hours late to the event, and someone even asked why she bothered at all. Carolyna simply said she wouldn’t say anything about the situation because she doesn’t like to say anything mean about others.

4. Are we friends or not?

Another shady moment in the first episode was when Laura said she’d been Chioma’s friend for six or seven years and the latter said she’d been a good customer instead. Obviously, the Instagram influencer thought Chioma was being shady and called her out during her diary session, saying she wanted the younger woman to state that they were friends. Chioma’s refusal to acknowledge a friendship with the mom of two automatically put them in crosshairs, with Laura looking crossed the rest of the evening. Laura ultimately stated that she believed the other women in their group were being too nice to Chioma, and she couldn’t understand why. 

5. Seriously, are these women really friends, or should we mind our business?

There was another friendship or lack of friendship moment in the first episode. Laura noted that she didn’t think Toyin Lawani-Adebayo was still friends with Carolyna and was surprised to see them hanging out. Both ladies used to be good friends but had a blow-up that made them go their separate ways. Even though the show brought them back together, Laura has refused to accept that things are now good between them, and she may have a point. Toyin Lawani-Adebayo claims she’s a butterfly who doesn’t know how to stay mad at someone for too long. The mum of three added, “Anybody that doesn’t gel with me has spiritual problems. Their village people are following them.” Carolyna, on the other hand, made it very clear that Toyin is WAY too much for her, and she can only be around her for short periods. So we ask again, are they friends, or should we mind our business?

6. Iyabo Ojo’s eating habits meet Laura’s weight-watching

This season, Laura may be the drama, considering she was the shadiest person in the first episode. Even though she arrived late at the event, the influencer had an issue with Iyabo Ojo eating too much and wasn’t too shy to call her out in her diary session. 

7. Iyabo Ojo and Toyin Lawani-Adebayo with this “Aunty Iyabo” business

Toyin Lawani-Adebayo calling Iyabo Ojo “aunty” may not sound shady to most Nigerians, but the latter may have considered it so. The actress called it out in her diary session, saying that it made her feel old and she didn’t like it. She didn’t call it out to Toyin directly in this first episode, but it’s an issue fans should be curious about. We genuinely wonder how it will play out for the rest of the season.

Catch all the episodes of The Real Housewives of Lagos on Showmax.