Couples Retreat is back on VH1. This time around, Michael Blackson and his fiancee Rada, who are alums of the last season, bring their celebrity couple friend group together for some much-needed therapy to hopefully save their relationships. Joining Blackson and Rada, Nick Young and Keonna Greene, Styles P and Adjua Styles, Claudia Jordan and KJ, Jess Hillarious and Daniel, and Ronnie and Shamari DeVoe.
On a tropical island, coaches AJ Johnson and John Salley force each couple to confront their issues. Shadow and Act Unscripted spoke with Blackson, Rada, Jordan, and KJ about the show. There will be many tears, smiles, jokes and fights this time around.
Claudia Jordan felt it was a good chance for people to see a different side of her and show a vulnerability to her within her relationship that they’ve never seen before
Jordan starred in two reality shows: season 7 of The Real Housewives of Atlanta and the short-lived TV One reality series The Next 15. On both shows, some viewers felt she was tough to read. Now, she invites viewers weekly into her mind on her talk show on FOX SOUL. She says Couple’s Retreat was the chance for people to see her in a different light.
The media personality has been in a relationship with a Dallas-based realtor named KJ for the past three years. On the show, Jordan and KJ are at a standstill in their relationship in the romance department.
She told us, “There have been so many rumors [about my love life]. Any time I take a picture near an athlete, they say I’m stupid and I’m like, ‘I don’t even know his name. What are you talking about?’ And that’s so irritating to have complete strangers who’ve never met you run a narrative on you…I was happy to show people that like I was in a stable and nice relationship with a really nice guy…And this show gave all of us a chance to show we’re more than just the act that we put on. And we can go a little deeper and show who we really are.”
KJ was happy to support Claudia Jordan by participating in the show, despite preferring a more private life
While Jordan is used to public scrutiny, KJ was not. He admits this show was out of his element, but it’s something he saw as necessary in order to potentially have a more positive outcome in their relationship. He does say that there were some discussions of how they’d portray themselves to the public beforehand.
“Before dating Claudia, I was a pretty private person, so I got over that after being on red carpets and being in blogs [because of our relationship],” he admitted. “We talked about our relationship before we even went on the show and we talked about what was on limits, and what was off-limits. And basically she said, ‘Let’s just put it out there. Let’s just be vulnerable. Let’s show other couples that we are human and we have likely the same problems that they have.’ So it would be a learning experience.”
Michael Blackson and Rada have done the show before and are now engaged and working through issues of being in a semi-open relationship, but Rada insists Michael is a different person outside of the cameras
Since the last show, Blackson proposed to Rada and the two are trying to figure out the next phase in wedding planning. But Rada still has issues with Blackson’s lifestyle. Though she says she’s OK with Blackson having intimate relationships with one other woman a month (which is a compromise with what he was previously doing), she doesn’t feel he respects her boundaries in terms of not being seen with other women in public. Still, she says their relationship is worth it and Blackson doesn’t have any plans to let his one side chick a month go.
Rada says Blackson may be a caricature in public, but behind the camera, he’s much different. “Mike is surprisingly very different when he’s off. He can be this big old gangster on social media or in his interviews, but at home, he’s a little puppy,” she said.
Michael Blackson says he's in the show because he's confident in his relationship and likes the paycheck
Some viewers disagree that therapy on a reality show is productive for a relationship, but Blackson says the paycheck made it worth it to him. The comedian says he’s confident enough in his relationship with Rada and the check was a bonus.
The show airs every Monday at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Check out the full interview above.
