OWN’S ‘Ladies Who List: Atlanta’ star Quiana Watson quits drama-filled reality show, says ‘I don’t like the narrative’

Feb 9

By Daniella Darby // Entertainment // EEW Magazine Online

EEW Magazine Online is all about upliftment and positivity which is something Oprah Winfrey is known for in media. Yet, some of the reality shows featured on her network do not reflect the wholesome image the mogul spent so many years curating through her personal brand.

This is one of the reasons why Quiana Watson, a co-star of OWN’s “Ladies Who List: Atlanta,” an eight-episode series that follows six professional, Black businesswomen working in real estate, has decided to quit the show with no hopes of ever returning.

In an interview with The Kempire Daily, the CEO of Watson Realty Co, an all-female brokerage, explained that she was told by show producers, “We’re gonna highlight your businesses, we’re gonna highlight everybody doing the work that they say they’re supposed to do,” but instead, drama and petty arguments dominated the storyline.

“I don’t like the narrative, and I don’t need it,” said Watson, one of Atlanta’s most visible and top-producing real estate professionals who said she has garnered over $90 million in sales and has nine agents under her who are “top producers” according to the records of Atlanta Board of Realtors.

“I don’t want to be a part of it,” she said. “When I look at the grand scheme of things, you can be known for reality TV, or you can be known for empowering people.”

Watson appears alongside “Ladies Who List” co-stars: Robin Andrade, real estate broker; Cristyl Kimbrough, real estate attorney; Tiffani Hawes, real estate attorney; Tiana Harrison, real estate agent; and Kira Oliver, real estate agent.

According to Watson, the negativity and toxicity overshadowed the real reason she agreed to be on the show in the first place: to gain more exposure for her business and empower viewers by educating them about the ins and outs of the real estate business.

“I want to be able to discuss real estate. I want to discuss my investing in property and being a first-time investor, and buying tax sale property, and how you can build property,” said the entrepreneur who owns four other businesses.

Watson noted that during taping, “There were properties shown. There were meetings that were had. There were other businesses that were highlighted. It’s up to the production to show you that.”

“Ladies Who List” is produced by Love Productions USA and executive produced by Al Edgington, Joe LaBracio, Richard McKerrow, Thomas Jaeger, Monique Barrett, Calvin Singh, Vivian Payton, and Elise Duran. The show was marketed as “an attempt to show the power of Black women as they assist buyers in ﬁnding their dream homes, teach clients the importance of establishing generational wealth, and prove that home ownership is attainable for all.”

But there seems to be a disconnect between the branding and execution of the show.

EEW Magazine Online Entertainment editors have received messages from some viewers of “Ladies Who List” that say a disproportionate amount of airtime was spent featuring arguments, tense relationships, and catfights among the women. Though the series is heavy on entertainment, they say, by comparison, it is quite light on education—something that frustrates them as well as Watson who said she is not interested in “trash television” that “just highlights and follows drama.”

Perhaps there is a presumption that a reality series connected to OWN— launched in 2011 as a joint venture between Winfrey’s Harpo, Inc. and Discovery, Inc.— should be more enlightened and held to a higher standard. Be that as it may, the plotline more closely resembles the drama-filled “Real Housewives” and “Basketball Wives” franchises.

Rebecca Johnson, editorial director of EEW Magazine Online weighed in: “Though Black women have made great strides in film and television, we are still grossly underrepresented. Representation is very important, and I think Black women are beginning to say – more now than ever – that we want more control over our image and a say so in how our stories are told.”

Without that say so, Watson has chosen to empower herself and protect her brand by walking away, though she is admittedly disappointed.

“You would have been able to see more properties, more closings, more behind-the-scenes if that’s what the production team wanted to show you,” said Watson.

What they serve up instead is a hefty main course of drama with a side of real estate education.

Never seen “Ladies Who List: Atlanta”? EEW Magazine Online has posted one full episode for your reference below.