Sunday night’s episode of THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA (March 10, 2013) was called “Strip is a Trip.” Below is a full recap of the Season 5, Episode 17 of RHOA:

The ladies of Atlanta are continuing their adventure out west.  NeNe and company leave La La Land and head to Sin City.  After a long bus ride from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, the ladies decide to go out for a night on the town. Where do six women spend their first night out in Vegas- the strip club of course.  Portia does not want to go to the club and says that her husband Kordell would not be “ok” with her going there.  NeNe tells her, “Nothing wrong with going to the strip club, I worked there for years.”

After her concerns about her husband elicit silence and eye rolls from the other ladies, Portia tries to use religion as an excuse, “I have a ministry inside of me to help other girls my age. I don’t like to see a woman sell her body, strip clubs make me sad.” Holy high roller Phaedra is having none of that. Phaedra tells her “Jesus was a carpenter and he hung out with prostitutes. Don’t do the Christian card because I am a preachers daughter on both sides.”

In the end, Porsha follows her husband’s orders and does not go to the club. Kenya can’t resist poking fun at the situation and tells the cameras “Well I guess papa Kordell didn’t sign Porsha’s permission slip to go on the field trip.” Kandi thinks she should “loosen up and have fun, no one is going to make her sit there and tip the chicks or something.” NeNe is annoyed, “Don’t come on NeNe’s girls trip if you’re not going to be down.”

The ladies waste no time “making it rain” in the club. Phaedra approaches a woman who has her legs spread wide open on the pole and tells her “you have such pretty skin and you are shaved up so pretty.” LOL of the night, NeNe mimics Phaedra and says, “Phaedra was like, ‘you’re so pretty, your body is so nice, and you’re so great, here’s some money’- I thought she was about to take a bite out of hello kitty.”

Obviously the strip club is the perfect place to have a heart to heart conversation and share your feelings, so talk turns to Porsha. NeNe says that even though Kordell wants Porsha to be a stay at home wife, she thinks that Porsha has a different dream and she wants Porsha to live her dream and fight for her independence.  Kenya takes another dig, “All of the ladies have worked hard for every accomplishment that we have, we didn’t just marry well.” All of the women decide they need to have a “girl talk” with Porsha to discuss her husband’s controlling ways.

The next day, the ladies head out to the Jubilee show, a classic Las Vegas revue complete with old school showgirls. NeNe pulled some strings to get backstage passes to the performance. “One of the perks of being a Hollywood actress is that we get VIP passes to a lot of things. Going backstage is way more cooler than just watching the show.” Girl please, a perk is one those $45,000 Academy Awards gift bags, not being backstage with a bunch of showgirls.  I don’t want to say that success has gone to NeNe’s head but… Success has gone to NeNe’s head.

On the way to the Jubilee show, the women have their “girl talk” with Porsha. She tells them that her husband is “very traditional.” NeNe tells her there is a difference between being traditional and being controlling. Porsha proclaims “He wants to make sure our home is run a certain way, and a lot of times I don’t agree but in the end I realize it needs to be run a certain way. For him to let me go on this trip, I’m proud of him.” NeNe thinks that is some “old traditional bulls**t.”

Porsha says, “I don’t feel like he’s controlling. I feel like he helps me be a better woman and I help him be a better man.” She continues, “When you marry a man who has money and success they’re not wanting you to go out and have the same thing.” Does this poor girl realize how foolish she sounds? Thankfully, Phaedra does, she tells the cameras “Everybody can’t be a lawyer and be a doctor, what makes the world go around is we need a few dummies.”

The ladies arrive at the show and Porsha scurries off with Phaedra to the bathroom; the remaining ladies continue the discussion outside. Cynthia thinks that women sometimes confuse control with love or protection.  Kandi says that she has several friends in similar situations, “he controls her, the man got the money so he’s running s**t.” Kenya is a little less diplomatic, “She gets to shop, gossip and watch TV all day so I guess it’s a win-win situation.”

Inside the rest room sneaky Phaedra plays both sides. At the club she was nodding and agreeing with all of the ladies about the situation but now she’s singing a different tune telling Porsha “I don’t know nothing about you and your man child, so I cant speak on that child.” Porsha tells her “I’m like a Chihuahua, I bite first and bark first then I think about it and then sometimes what people says it makes sense.”  Um…ok. Too bad nothing you say makes sense Porsha. Maybe Kordell has the right idea telling her what to do, judging by this mangled metaphor and her other gaffes (remember she thought there were 265 days in a year) I doubt the poor girl can walk and chew gum at the same time.  The discussion ends when NeNe says, “I have said what I want to say and I will never say anything else again.”

After the show, everyone heads back to the hotel are having fun playing games at Kandi’s “Bedroom Kandi” themed slumber party.  Phaedra is up for the games, but she doesn’t play nice. During the first game, the ladies all take turns seductively eating a strawberry. When Kenya eats her strawberry, Phaedra for some reason calls her “Captain Crunch” and says, “Somebody might like it but it don’t look like Walter do.” And then cackles and calls her a “loser.”  Kenya is silent and sips her drink while they move on to the next game.  For this game, they all write down a sex or relationship question and put it in a bowl and then everyone pulls a question and answers it.  Kenya’s question is “what do you do when someone you thought was your friend hurts you and then pretends it never happened.” The answer all of the ladies give is that you should address your issue. Kenya wants Phaedra to answer the question.

Phaedra says she was hurt by Kenya too; Phaedra was offended when Kenya came to NeNe’s party seemingly dressed her, “If you want to address something seriously with someone then don’t mock them.” Just like you fell like I hurt you, you hurt me.” Kenya shouts that Phaedra made personal attacks on her character- calling her crazy. Phaedra asks Kenya if an apology is what she wants; Kenya steaming mad at this point tells her “no b**ch I don’t need an apology from you Phaedra because you’re already shown me it’s not going to mean s**t anyway.” No one apologizes and the argument ends in a stalemate, as NeNe said, “these b**ches will never be friends.”

Next: Kandi’s housewarming party. NeNe is doing press for “New Normal.” Kordell and Porsha argue. Walter and Kenya come face to face.