‘RHOA’ Star Phaedra Parks Is Coming Back To Reality TV, Set To Star In New Season Of ‘Marriage Bootcamp: Hip Hop Edition’

Real Housewives of Atlanta star Phaedra Parks is returning to reality TV for Marriage Bootcamp: Hip Hop Edition.

Whether you love her or hate her, you’ve got to admit: Phaedra Parks made watching RHOA that much more entertaining. It’s been three years since we’ve seen the southern belle on our screens, but she’s making a return, and this time it’s with her actor-rapper boyfriend, Medina Islam.

The couple has been dating since March 2019 and are set to join several other couples on the hit series. Parks and Islam have been cast along with #WillieTaylor and Shanda Denyce, Tahiry Jose and Vado, Toni Calvert, and Kurt and Hazel E and DeVon Walker. Like usual, the couples will embark on an adventure of unique tasks led by Marriage Bootcamp’s Dr. Ish Major and Divorce Court’s Judge Lynn Toler.

Parks and Islam met through a dating app, and she told PEOPLE back in September that Islam is “a really great guy.” “He’s very calming and soothing and mild-mannered. I always dealt with the bad boys, and he’s very opposite from any guy I’ve ever dated. So that’s refreshing,” she explained. While the two met online, Parks says she knew him from around town in Atlanta,” she said.

“You know, he used to be on a show here, so we have a lot of mutual friends. One of my best friends is one of his best friends as well,” she said. So if they are so happy, why the need for bootcamp? Well, Parks and Islam are living a long-distance relationship, and that has created some issues for the fairly new item. “It’s hard doing the long-distance, especially bi-coastal because L.A. is a super long flight, outside of just the time difference. But we’ve been making it work! He’s an actor, so he’s New York quite a bit, and then he comes to Atlanta, and I get to L.A. to see him as well,” said the mother of two.

The new season of Marriage Bootcamp: Hip Hop Edition premieres Thursday, July 2 at 9 p.m. E.T. on WE tv.