-[woman] Attention! -[drumbeats]
-Attention! -[drumbeats]
-At ease. -[drumbeat]
-Attention. -[drumbeats]
-Don't hit me. -At ease!
-You're doing great, Karamo. -[woman] Attention.
-At ease. -[drumbeat]
-Attention. -[drumbeats]
[chuckling]
-At ease! -[drumbeat]
-Oh. -Oh.
[cymbal crashes]
[woman] At... ease!
[woman laughing and clapping]
[Tan] Bobby, who we helping this week?
-Ms. Wanda Winters. -Wanda Winters?
She is the founder and CEO of the Pythons Drill Team.
-Cute. -[Antoni] Jonathan just twitched.
She founded the Pythons in 1986
and it's been her passion and baby ever since.
Wanda's world is the Pythons Drill Team.
I live it, I drink it, I eat it, I sleep it.
[singsong] I am auditioning.
Is a Drill Team the same as Band Camp?
-Oh, God, no. -No, it's kind of like a pom squad
-dance team. -Yes. It's a dance squad.
Okay. Okay. Okay.
Pythons Drill Team is in the house!
[Bobby] Wanda is from Kansas City, Missouri.
Her age is a mystery because Wanda will not disclose it.
-I don't tell my age. -Cute.
Her nominators is Gregory, the creative director, and Joe,
music director of the Pythons Drill Team.
[Gregory] We are both former members,
but now we are currently assistant directors of the Drill Team.
All these trophies back here came from so many different competitions.
Ambery! Move back, girl!
I've had seven members and came home with five trophies.
I've had 70 members and lost the competition.
It's always quality over quantity.
Get 'em up! Get 'em up!
Ninety-five percent of the Python members
have become very, very productive in life
through what they've learned through the Pythons Drill Team.
[Jonathan] People that lead extracurricular activities,
that are passionate and inspired about it,
those people in my life have, like, been so long-lastingly impactful.
-Yeah. -So, like, go, queen.
[Bobby] Wanda is a stern leader and set in her ways.
She is very much a dictator.
Parents, do you all have any questions? Don't ask me after practice.
-She's not a warm and fuzzy kinda person. -[chuckles]
-No! -Like, with Wanda's daughters,
I would say they have a very close, yet very far relationship.
I am a single mom
of two adult daughters,
ages 32 and 29, I think.
I'd definitely want her to be a little bit more, uh,
warm and fuzzy, just to be a little more open.
Wanda needs something besides this drill team.
[phone ringing]
-[Wanda] Good morning, Gregory. -[Gregory on phone] Good morning.
I'm just going over some things.
She needs a social life.
Getting out and mingling is...
[chuckling] I don't know.
It's been so long.
So, if you're giving all your time to this,
you can't give your time to anything else, and we gotta fix that.
Obviously, you guys are not international dance leaders and coaches
and you clearly do not know what it takes.
I just think there's nothing wrong with her,
and I think all we need to do is join the squad.
[Bobby] Wanda is very particular about her hair.
She normally wears a wig and a baseball cap.
Where is the nutrition for our scalps? Where is the nutrition for our faces?
-She is busy. -Jonny, she's a drill teacher.
-Hey! She's busy, Jonny! -She can't do it. She doesn't need--
I'm leaving the show, and I'm gonna be the captain of this drill team.
-[all laughing] -[Bobby] Wanda is so proud of the Pythons.
She dresses almost exclusively in Pythons' T-shirts.
It is a brave choice to never wear regular clothes.
[Bobby] Wanda's celebrating her documentary premiere
at the end of the week, but it's time for the world to see Wanda.
So, guys, our mission this week
is to make Wanda...
[all holding note] Wow!
[continues holding note]
[theme music playing]
♪ I cry out in the desert ♪
[soulful music playing]
♪ Struggles rising every day ♪
-Well, we're here. -[all] We're here.
-I did it. -[Tan] Hello!
[Bobby, singsong] Wanda!
-[all exclaiming] -Hey!
Oh, my God! -Ah, girl, how are you?
She doesn't disappoint. She got her Pythons T-shirt on.
-[Wanda] Oh, my goodness. -How are you?
Wanda is a really energetic person.
-This is impressive. -[Bobby] Look at all these trophies.
But the house itself...
[crickets chirping]
There's nothing here.
Where's the furniture?
Huh, um...
-Where's the furniture? -There.
-[Jonathan] Never been furniture? -[Wanda] I had furniture.
I had to move it around for practice,
then at one point I had to get rid of it.
[Bobby] What is this room used for?
-[Wanda] When I need extra practices. -[Tan] Okay.
With the drill team. So that's why...
-[Tan] There's all this space. -Uh-huh.
I don't get it. All I see is trophies.
You sitting on trophies? Because this is a mess.
[Jonathan] Can I tell you how ready I am to learn some choreo?
Hey! Go, Quincy!
-[Tan] Oh, no. -[laughing]
-Hey! Go! -[Karamo] That's not drill team, though.
-Drill team is like this. It's like... -Yes. See? There you go. There you go!
There you go. [laughing]
You can... [grunts]
-[Fab 5] Hey! -Oh, so great!
Hey!
There you go!
-Are you the happiest boy ever right now? -Yes!
We do not play. We came to slay.
So, Wanda, tell us about what's going on in here.
Well, I'm trying to cook some fajita chicken.
-Antoni. -[Antoni] It's chicken breast,
which is healthy, there are veggies.
-It's frozen. -Yeah.
I assume that it was bought like this.
What's in these?
Um, that's actually my cabinet.
-They're empty. -You have cabinets in here.
[pom-poms rustling]
-[Antoni] It needs seasoning. -Okay, let me find the seasoning for you.
Boo!
No!
There's literally nothing in any of these cabinets.
Minimalism is the key here.
[Wanda] This is the bathroom. This is where my day begins.
-[Jonathan] What happens up in here? -Uh, nothing much.
In case we need to light a grill,
-or brush our teeth with our fingers. -[Wanda laughing] Yeah.
I just kind of see this as, like, a missed opportunity
for you to kind of nurture yourself.
[Tan] There's not food. There's condiments.
Pickled jalapenos, one of my favorites.
Should we see if there's one in the fridge? Is it bad if I open it?
-Ooh, queen, look at this tall bed. -[Wanda] Yes.
-[Jonathan] She's luxurious. -[Wanda laughing]
-She has none. -Great. We're opening it.
She might be saving that for doomsday.
[discordant drumbeat]
Bobby is my Jay-Z and I'm giving him Beyoncé.
[drumbeat continues]
I'm like, "Ah, we're crazy in love, Bobby-B."
-That's called teamwork. -Yeah.
[Jonathan] What about our hair? How do you wear your hair?
-This is what I do. -Queen. Okay.
So, that's when I pick out my outfit, I might do one of these.
[snaps] Queens don't dig their crowns from a laundry basket on the ground.
-I love you're embracing natural texture. -Yes.
But they live in the basket, they don't live on, like, a wig stand.
No. They live in the basket.
No.
You braid your natural hair.
-I braid my natural hair. -We pop this right over it, or do you...?
[Wanda] I do sew-in sometimes.
[Jonathan] Then you pop if off, "I'm gonna go back to my little wig moment?"
-Or just my hat moment. -Over your braids.
-Right. -Okay.
-And how long have you been doing that? -About...
maybe four years now.
It helps me feel more confident
because my natural hair is not showing.
-Why? -I guess because it's all not there.
-Your hairline? -Right. Right.
[Jonathan] With Wanda and so many women, weaves, extensions, sew-ins, and wigs
can cause what's called traction alopecia.
That happens because we abuse our scalps and it puts too much tension on the hair,
and it, eventually, it just gives up on us and it doesn't wanna grow any more.
-Okay. -Longer you do that, the more unlikely
it is that it's gonna grow back.
I just wanna, like, get us into a conversation
-about your long-term scalp health. -Okay.
[Antoni] So, let's start here.
-What we're loosely calling the kitchen. -[Wanda] Okay.
What I love is that it is immaculately organized.
-You are regimented. -I am a good organizer.
-You are a very good organizer. -Yes. Yes. Yes.
Why is this all here?
If you open the cabinet, it just looks scary.
-[chuckles] -Let's go look at what's scary.
It's scary empty.
This is a cute little kitchen.
After, like, a long day of practice, what are your go-tos you like to make?
If my daughters are coming over, you know, we'll fry fish.
I fillet it, and season it.
-You make fried fish from scratch? -Yes,
-I make the fried fish. -Awesome.
Where do your daughters eat when they come here?
We all just eat in the living room right there.
-So you eat on the floor? -But we make it work, though.
-So, what do you wanna know more about? -I wanna learn more about asparagus.
Is that how you call it?
-Asparagus? -Oh, my God, I wanna try that so bad.
[Antoni] You pronounced it perfectly.
-So, you've never had asparagus. -Never had it.
You wanna cook healthy? Is that what it is?
-Cook healthier. -Gotcha.
-Why do you love the Pythons? -'Cause it's me.
That's why I wear my T-shirts all the time.
Okay. I'm going to challenge that.
Wanda is rough. I wanna crack that veneer open
and find out exactly who she is.
Just because you own the Pythons doesn't mean you have to wear this all the time,
and just only represent that one side of you.
What is happening this week is a special event.
It's the premiere of the Pythons Drill Team.
-It's a documentary... -Okay.
...on what's been going on with us for the last 30 years.
I'm very excited about it. I get to show all my family and supporters
-what we've been doing the last 30 years. -What you've achieved.
-That's impressive. -Yes, it is.
What would you, like, normally wear to that?
-Something glamorous and flowy. -Okay.
I want to look and feel confident.
Okay. Are there any areas of your body
that you think, "I'm not comfortable showing
-that part"? -Yes.
Okay. I won't get you any crop tops, that's fine.
From what I see, from your personality, this isn't you.
You're too hot for this.
Maybe, like, your mom or your grandma could wear this.
-[laughs] -I know, Wanda, it's hard to hear,
but I wanna see sexy Wanda. I know she's there.
Now I found drumsticks.
[tapping rhythmically]
-[Karamo] Racking up on trophies. -[Wanda] Yes.
[Karamo] This is pretty extraordinary. All the years I saw my sister do it,
-I don't think they had... -[laughing]
[pinging rhythmically]
[Karamo] Who are these photos of?
[Wanda] This is my lovely family.
I have two daughters. They grew up in the Pythons, too.
They were dancers?
-In their blood. -What?
I see why you all have won all these trophies.
I have to be at every practice. I have to be... I-- I-- You know...
I'm a hard worker.
How many hours do you think you spend a week on this?
Out of a day,
maybe just like a regular job, like eight hours.
But the other hours, I am... doing administrative work.
Okay. So, you're about 12 hours with, every day,
-doing Python work. -Pythons.
Maybe I'm overworking myself,
but our young people are not like the way they were ten years ago.
So, I have to kind of keep it up.
Like with my daughters, you know,
that same structure that my daughters had in the drill team, you know.
It's just that drill team, it, you know, it straightens you up.
-Yeah. -And the discipline is there.
When I look at the success that my sister has,
I attribute a large part of that to her drill team captain
who looked and acted just like you.
There was always somebody outside of my mother and father
that was saying, "I'm gonna make sure that you do well."
And that's why I've been doing it for years.
Yeah.
[voice breaking] It's the kids.
I wanna see them...
make something out of themselves, 'cause that's what drill team did for me.
[blues music playing]
Let's sit down on your sofa.
-[Wanda] Okay. -[laughs]
I come in here and I look at this
and I see a woman who's dedicated her life to everybody else.
Tell me how about your home
functions for you, or how it does not function for you.
-It's not welcoming, first of all. -Right.
I don't have much company over.
Now, when I have practice, that's a whole different thing.
Come in here, we're gonna work hard, you know. Yeah, but--
-All right, show me your bedroom, -Okay.
so that way I get a full picture of what's going on.
-All right. -After you, my lady.
-Oh, you got a lot of space up here. - [Wanda] Yes.
-This is my favorite room here. -Why is that?
The hours that I'm not with the Pythons,
this is where I relax.
This is where you would see more of Miss Wanda.
Wanda is bubbly. She is over the top. She is exciting.
[Wanda] As much as I'm gone all the time, you know, there's no place like home.
Her home is sad,
it's dark, the opposite of what Wanda is.
Something's not right.
[Jonathan] What choreography you wanna get started with first?
Drill team consists of marching.
-So, we're gonna march a little bit. -[Fab 5] Okay.
Okay? So when we march...
we... Uh-huh.
You gotta have those hands in place.
Are you walking us right out the door?
[Karamo] We wanna see the rest of drill team.
-Y'all ready? -Doing it.
Y'all gotta keep them legs up.
Keep those legs up, boys. Don't screw this up.
-[drumbeats] -[whistle blowing]
[Wanda] We're at the Pythons' headquarters.
-[Tan] It is? -Oh, my God, I can't wait. Let's go.
[whistle blowing]
-[Fab 5 cheering] -[drumbeats continue]
I've never seen anything like this.
-Woo! -Yeah.
[Jonathan] Yes!
Drummers! March time! March! [clapping]
Gimme me a beat! Let's go!
Same foot! Same foot!
Let's go!
[Bobby] Wanda is passionate about what she does.
Kind of like if you went to boot camp.
[whistle blowing]
The discipline from some of these kids being so young.
Are they moving?
-'Cause if they are... -No! They're not moving.
When I turn around, they're gonna be in ready position.
-Yes. -[Antoni] Yes, they are.
So, you told me that your daughters were part of this.
-Yes. -Are they here?
Yes, come this way.
Yes, yes, yes.
-Hi! My daughters. -Hi! I'm Bobby.
Hey, how are you?
-I'm Antoni. -Keke. I love it, Keke.
-Hi! -Hi, Keke!
-What's your name? -Arica.
-Arica. Bobby. Nice to meet you. -Keke.
[Karamo] I need to learn more dance moves.
-Okay. -I need to...
-Bye! -Okay.
All right.
-[Antoni] These are all your trophies? -Uh-huh. Yeah.
And these are all the costumes?
-This isn't all of them. -There's way more.
-There's way more than this. -Holy moly.
This jacket here, we call "Rhythm Nation."
I'm a white boy, but I get the Janet Jackson reference.
-Yeah. -I really respect that.
Can I teach y'all something?
So, go like this.
Oh, y'all got it.
Hey.
-Karamo's got rhythm, he's got spirit. -Hey. Now, hey.
-There you go. -[Jonathan] He's mayor of Rhythm Town.
My other sisters...
I was just gonna follow her.
...are not mayors of Rhythm Town.
[Wanda] Five, six, seven, move! One, two.
[drumbeats]
Oh, oh, oh. Whoops!
Not happening.
What's it like having a mom who's so dedicated to her job?
-It is hard. It is. -[Antoni] Yeah.
Because there's days where we're like, "Okay, can we not do drill team?
-And can we just..." -My dad's a physician, he's a doctor.
And we used to get house calls from patients
and he would always take them, off hours.
Not that he meant any type of, like, ill,
but it always felt like his work came first.
It's hard when you have someone who's so passionate about what they do.
-Yeah. -But she's your mom.
-Yeah. -You only get one.
Tell us about Wanda. Is she a little bit scary?
-A little bit. -When she hollers.
-When she hollers? -[laughs]
How mean is Miss Wanda?
-Oh! You can be honest. -You can be honest, honey.
You need to get back in ready position, though.
-Hello. We know you. You're the nominator. -Yes.
-Oh! -[Gregory] This is the other nominator.
Hey, how are you? I'm Karamo. Nice to meet you.
I know at the end of the week,
the documentary's premiering, right?
-[Wanda] Yes. -[Jonathan] Oh, my gosh.
[Karamo] So, what are you all hoping that Wanda gets from us?
A new Wanda.
-Yeah. -We here.
-[Karamo] All right. -Yes, yes.
All right. Here we go.
March time. March.
[drumbeats]
[Wanda] Let's go!
[whistle blows]
[pop music playing]
[Tan] Wanda has two looks.
Drill Wanda,
and Grandma Wanda.
Nothing sexy, nothing sophisticated.
I wanna make sure that I find Wanda who is just
ready to explore a life that she currently doesn't have outside of work.
[Bobby] I need to de-Python this house because when Wanda comes home,
I need her to shut it off
and focus on Wanda.
I just wanna help Wanda empower herself to make the most healthy,
responsible choices that she can with her hair.
Wanda is an interesting cookie.
She's been super limited in that kitchen,
and I wanna teach her how to cook.
There's a lot more we can do than fried fish.
[Karamo] The root of this healing starts with Wanda.
And that's what Wanda needs to understand.
She needs to relax,
take her wig off, kick her feet up
and just enjoy life.
[big band music plays]
[Antoni] This is our loft.
-This is our cute little home. -Okay.
We get to cook today. So, I know that you love your fried fish.
I thought we can switch things up a little bit.
-[Wanda] Okay. Are those...? -It's a scallop.
I was gonna say that. Honestly, I was.
-Have you ever had scallops? -I haven't.
That makes me extra excited. So, first things first. Asparagus.
This is really hard to bite on,
so if you play around with your fingers like so,
you find the breaking point and it just breaks off.
And then just take a simple peeler
and just remove some of the extra fiber so that it's nice
and delicate, like so.
It's basically like one step more than taking frozen veggies out of a bag.
And look how cute those look.
You guys are all about, like, teaching... kids in your family.
-I feel like that's really a thing. -Yes.
[Antoni] Olive oil.
A little bit of salt.
Perfect. So, now I'm going to put this in the oven.
So, to go with it, we're gonna make a carrot butter sauce.
-You ever heard of anything like that? -No, I haven't.
We have some carrot juice, which you can buy already ready-made.
So, who taught you how to make this fried fish?
My mom's a good cook. I've watched and learned.
[Antoni] My mom is an excellent cook, but she never let me cook with her.
I kind of learned as a student,
-sitting on the other end of the island. -Right.
No kids allowed in the kitchen.
[Antoni] You're just gonna add a little knob of butter.
We're gonna season it with a little bit of salt.
Our last little step, hand-squeeze a nice little orange.
Orange and carrots go really well together.
I'm definitely gonna look at carrot juice differently now.
-[chuckling] -Yeah. Right? It's not just for drinking.
Your daughters are gonna be impressed you're able to make something like this.
So, we have olive oil in the pan here, we wanna get it really nice and hot.
We throw in the capers.
And now we wanna take our scallops, I'm gonna season them lightly with salt.
Then put them on the pan.
If you crowd the pan too much,
they're not gonna get browned along the edges.
So, we wanna keep a little bit of space
-in between each. -Okay.
You're like me. I feel like you like to be a good student.
Yeah. I don't have to give orders all the time. [chuckles softly]
You're so damn creative with what you do for these kids,
and you focus on your work a lot,
-and other things come at a price, right? -Right. Yes.
Are you caring to your daughters?
I can be caring, you know.
I can.
You remind me a lot of my mother.
And I don't have a relationship with her.
Like, we were afraid of my mom growing up.
That little fear.
There was that fear
-where she, like, kept us in check. -Uh-huh.
I'm not saying that she didn't love me growing up, but she's somebody who
never said I love you back.
It was very hard for her to say. And when I would ask her and be like,
"Why don't you say I love you?" She would be like,
"I don't have to say it. I do it with my actions."
And that's why I cook.
I express things through my actions,
-I guess. -Mm-hmm.
You have this effect on me that my mom has of, like, frustrating me.
-No. -'Cause you're tough.
Sometimes a kid needs
-that little mushy moment. -Yeah, yeah.
You need some more of my fried fish, that's what you need.
Then you would think differently.
-Are you trying to distract me with food? -[laughs]
-It may be working. -[laughs]
You know what? I am soft on the inside.
-I know my voice can sound hard. -With a very hard shell.
Yes, there it is.
There's a soft part of me.
-Yeah. -It's just--
I've kind of lost it a little bit.
-But there's a soft part. -When did it go?
I have no idea,
but I'm gonna find it.
[Antoni] So, all of these can be removed to the plate, please.
And then, you just pour the carrot butter over, like so.
And then throw in a bit of the capers.
-And then we're there. -This is just way too pretty.
-I like that. -What's your favorite part?
-The scallop or the asparagus? -The asparagus.
You like the asparagus? Really?
I think I can just eat a whole bunch of these.
This is something you can make for your daughters, as well.
-I really like that. -This took us 20 minutes to prepare.
-I am just like the scallops. -Yeah.
Crispy on the outside, and I'm just soft on the inside.
And soft and delicate on the inside.
-See? -[Antoni] Okay.
[pop music playing]
[Tan] I love a department store.
-We're gonna be spoiled for choice. -[Wanda] Okay. All right.
I was wondering if you'd turn up in a Python T-shirt today. You did.
I'm glad you did.
Plain Jane.
-You know? -I think it's just
that you haven't found
-who you are outside of work. -Right.
Right now I wanna focus on every day,
date life, social life,
out-of-Python-life Wanda.
And then find her voice, find her life, find her style.
When you're going shopping, do you think, "I wanna look like...
Beyoncé.
I wanna look like J-Lo"?
Like Taraja...
-Taraji P. Henson? -Yes.
-Hell, yes. -Yes.
-She's so sexy. -Mm-hmm.
-She's got a lot of swag. I love that. -Right.
-Even casually. It's like... -Yeah.
Her casual is fantastic. So, okay that's a great jumping off point.
I kind of loved that sweatshirt with the detail on it.
Oh, my God.
And it's kind of A-line,
so it's gonna fall nicely.
I love a Moto.
I love a suede.
I wanna get you some stuff I know that when we layer it,
when we make it look cool, you're gonna look 15 years younger.
I'm just gonna line these up.
Do you ever wear shapewear?
-No, I don't. -Okay.
We're gonna get you ready for the premiere of your documentary.
You had said that the only area that you're self-conscious of
-is this part. -Right.
So, I wanna make sure I'm doing you every favor I can,
which means shapewear, so you feel smoothed out.
-Are you good with that? -Yes.
Okay, good. Are we ready to try on?
-I'm ready. -Okay, wonderful.
[Tan] Okay, Wanda, can I come in?
-Ready. -I looked through the outside.
Oh, wow. Wow, wow, wow. Okay, so the jeans fit so hot.
I like the top, because it got a little sexy flair to it.
-Yeah. -And the boots are cute.
[Tan] The boots are way cute. Booty looks incredible.
This was your area that you were most self-conscious of.
-Yeah. -I can't see any of that right now
because this is so distracting.
It's not overtly sexy.
You're sexy with class.
Watching Wanda move in this, it's transformative.
Will I be able to walk into practice like this?
Yeah. Could you imagine--
She's already so visibly changing.
Okay. Oh, Wanda.
-Who is this lady? -[chuckles]
Looking slammin'.
It's a very slim jean that elongates your leg. That heel...
is a block heel so you could hopefully be more comfortable for longer.
The reason I gave you velvet up top,
I wanted to give you texture,
I wanted to give you something more interesting than just a tee.
-There's many ways you can wear this top. -Okay.
I'm just gonna simply tuck it at the front. It's a little more refined.
I love the jacket.
Look at how wicked your body looks.
-I love it. -You do?
Yes. Yes.
-Yes. -Yes. There you go.
[laughs softly]
[pop music playing]
Hello. Okay,
let's sit it on top of here.
Thank you.
[band music plays]
-[Karamo] Y'all ever been here before? -[Keke] Yeah.
-You've been here? Oh, nice. -It's a nice little spot.
[Karamo] It is.
So, I appreciate y'all meeting with me.
-[Arica] No problem. -Yeah.
That little brief meeting we had at the community center was nice.
-[Keke] Yeah. -But I was too focused on drill team.
[chuckles] Aw.
-Hi. Thank you. -Thank you so much.
-Thank you. -[Karamo] When I spoke to your mother...
I gotta tell you, it broke my heart when I saw the house.
That she was living with no furniture.
And I'm like, that's not... just drill team.
I understand you have to be tough with the kids.
-Yeah. -But...
there's an extra toughness that's going on there.
[Arica] Yeah, this has been forever,
since we were kids, that my mom was like this, so...
So, does she talk to you all about your personal lives, or is it more
ninety percent drill team, ten percent about y'all?
[both] Ninety percent drill team, ten percent
-in our lives. -[Arica] Yeah.
Yeah. I don't know. I know growing up, it was hard to kind of...
talk about my feelings a little bit to her,
so I just learned how to keep it all in or, like, vent to my sister or something.
But of course I wanna talk to my mom. Like, if I have a problem,
I wanna be really comfortable to talk to her
without a type of response that won't keep the conversation cool.
The thing that I'm noticing is
she's closed, she's not saying anything,
and she's just going along with it, helping everybody else.
So, I invited your mother here. So that she can get out of drill team.
But now, especially talking to you all,
if you had a chance to tell your mother something without fear of her response,
what would you wanna tell her?
I want us to all connect better as mother and daughters.
-You know, I'm a true believer that-- -Mama.
Ooh!
-How you doing? -[Karamo] Take a seat.
What's going on?
-Thanks for joining us. -Oh!
-Thanks for having me. Like, I wasn't-- -Yes.
You weren't expecting the girls?
-No. -[Karamo] Well,
I needed to get to know more about them so that I can get to learn more about you.
[Wanda] Okay.
You put 90 percent into drill team and ten percent into your relationship
with your daughters and the rest of your life. Would you agree with that?
Yeah.
I think one of the things, talking to the girls,
that I learned really quickly is, first of all they both love you
and they both respect you. Would you all agree
-that you love and respect...? -[both] Yeah.
-These are my babies. -[Karamo] I know.
But sometimes it's good just to know and hear.
You know what I mean? I got kids, and you give, you give, you do, you do,
and sometimes we don't always say how we feel.
I always wanna establish that there's love and respect here.
Your daughters have boundary issues.
But I thought we were all girlfriends.
It could be stronger.
Yeah.
If we, kind of, express something that we're feeling,
I think we're more afraid of your response.
Y'all scared of me?
-Well... no... -[Keke] Yeah.
[Karamo] Hold on, this is just the beginning conversation,
your daughters saying to you,
"Mom, we're ready to talk and we need you."
I want you to just call us and be like,
"What you doing today," or "How are you doing today?"
Like that kind of stuff.
So, are you saying that I've just been, like, boring?
You know, don't wanna do anything if it's not drill team?
Kind of.
We want you to hang out or come over and watch a movie on the couch.
I wanna be closer to my mom.
-Oh. -Yeah.
It's just hard to tell you sometimes.
I don't know, it's just...
kind of hard
when you've been the same way for years.
-[Keke] That's what we really want. -Yeah.
I think love and all that other stuff... will come after that.
[R & B music playing]
[Jonathan] Okay.
Take a seat.
Okay.
-So, I just wanna talk about hair, -Okay.
and I wanna talk about our relationship with hair.
More specifically, your relationship with hair,
because this is like a big thing for you,
and we don't have our natural hair to a point
where we can feel confident without a wig or without a hat on.
Well, because the way it is, there's-- I can't style it.
Can I just--? Let's just, like-- Let me see it.
Just let me see it this way.
Let me see the front.
[Wanda] See where it's none right there
-and then on the sides it's gone. -Yeah.
[Wanda] So that's why I don't ever show my hair.
-Let's put it back there. -Okay.
There is no shame in traction alopecia.
I'm just kind of insecure.
I like the texture of my hair, I just don't like the way...
it looks.
But we can do something about it.
You do have the hair to support a natural style.
-You think so? -Just hear me out.
I would love to take this off, cut it short,
and at least give your hair the chance to come back.
I just wanted to show Wanda that she is, in fact, a gorgeous stunning woman.
We can create an illusion to connect the dots
and to allow her hair to kind of regrow, give her scalp a break.
The longer she wears her hair like this, the better it's gonna get.
Baby, Wanda this is Treana.
-Treana, this is Wanda. -Hi!
-How are you? -Good, how are you?
Very fierce hairdresser, as you can obviously see.
She's serving us look, she's serving us life.
Can you tell us a little bit about your own journey with...
-with your own hair? -Right. I mean...
About five years ago,
I literally got stuck in sew-ins.
'Cause when you get used to weaves and sew-ins,
it's hard to kind of break away from it.
So, I really had to train myself to get out of that.
You can gradually do it,
-you don't have to-- -I love gradual. I love a harm reduction.
Before you know it, you're out without your wig.
Okay.
-So, let's just go downstairs. -All right.
[Jonathan] Nailing it.
Oh, my God.
I cannot tell y'all the last time I've had my hair shampooed.
Yes, bitch!
[Treana] Teamwork...
♪ Makes the dream work ♪
-[Wanda chuckles] -Get in formation.
There you go.
Your scalp is breathing.
-You feel ready? -[Wanda] Yes.
Three, two, one.
[gasps]
Wait a minute.
Is that my hair for real?
All of it.
You can touch it. You can feel it if you want.
Oh...
The smile. Look, the smile.
I like it.
Oh, amazing.
You can take this off now.
Hey, I have hair.
Honey, you have hair.
[gasps softly] Oh, my God.
I like it.
I don't feel so heavy.
-[Treana] Feel free. -You know, like...
Right, I don't feel, like, weighed down.
[Treana] You'd walk around with this look.
I would walk around the house like this, yeah.
I would even open the door.
-for somebody to see it. Yeah. -[Treana] See? See?
I'm so proud of you, girl. Get up here, give me a hug.
-I love you. -Oh, my God.
-So amazing. -Thank you for trusting me.
[R&B music playing]
-[Bobby] All right, you ready to see this? -[Wanda] Yes, I am.
-[Bobby] Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. -[horn honks]
-Oh, my God. -Bobby's here.
[both laughing]
[Tan laughing] Don't scare her with that sparkly robe.
-It's so pretty. I love it. -[Karamo] Thank you, boo.
-[Bobby] You ready? -[Wanda] Yes!
[gasps] Oh, my God!
Oh, my God!
Oh, my goodness.
-Oh, my God! -You like it?
[Wanda] Look. Oh, my goodness.
[Antoni] Touch the pillows. Touch the pillows.
[all exclaiming]
How in the... Uh. Lo-- Excuse me.
[all laughing]
-[Antoni] Is it cute now? -Oh, my goodness.
[Bobby] Painted the cabinets pretty pink,
-so you would use them. -[Jonathan] I love the cabinets!
Yes.
-Oh, my God. -[Karamo] Open the cabinet.
-There's stuff in it! -[all laughing]
[laughing]
-No. -A palace meant for a princess.
[Wanda] No.
[Bobby] Got you a new bathrobe,
-a big mirror. -Yes. For the sexy, natural me.
-Yes. -Yeah! [laughs]
[Jonathan] Up on this gorgeous shelf,
-we got you gorgeous weaves to play with. -Yes.
-What I was thinking was-- -Oh, my God.
I wanna show you how to safely wig cap and I wanna show you your bathroom.
-Just gonna do, like, a little playtime. -Okay.
-[Bobby] Okay? -[Wanda] Oh, my God.
So, there's some gorgeous stuff in here. So, first: wig cap.
Grab the little edge.
And go, girl.
-And let's put your little baby wig on. -Okay.
Yes, girl.
-This is dry shampoo. -[spritzing]
Dry shampoo is every wig's best friend.
Big hair.
Right? Not our fault.
Love that it's off your body because do you see how it makes you, like, hourglass,
even though this is a tight shirt?
Woo!
-Ooh! -[chuckles]
Okay, bye.
Have you had time to think about what your daughters said to you?
I've had time to think about it. It just kind of hurt me a little.
-Mm-hmm. -But I'm glad that I know now.
Who you are at your core,
at your essence,
is a giver, a provider, and someone who is full of love.
I thought we were the perfect mom and daughter relationship.
I didn't know that they were requiring more love from me.
I know now.
Tonight, for this red carpet, you will be in red.
I love it.
-Red is sexy. -Yes.
-I like the length of it. I like this. -Me too.
Ruching is everyone's friend. Feels very much Wanda?
-Yes. -Okay, good.
There's so much more to Wanda than just the Pythons.
The wardrobe that I've got for you is for that Wanda.
-Okay. -[Tan] So, first things first.
It's a suede boot. You can wear these to work every now and then and dance away.
♪ Dance the night away ♪
Yeah, exactly. Wear that to a date and dance the night away.
I love them.
I got you different colors of blouses that are just gonna be great
-with any simple pair of jeans. -Okay.
I love
when a woman has
a beautiful figure to be able to wear a pencil skirt.
[Wanda] So I can look more like
-the CEO of my business. -Yes.
I love the change.
-Yeah. -Like, the change of scenery for me.
When you wanna feel better about yourself,
put on something that you really like every day.
That's the power of clothes.
-I can rock it all. -Yeah, you can.
Okay, boys, she's ready.
-You ready to see her? -Yes, we are.
[Tan] Okay. Come on, my love.
[Karamo] Oh, look at that hair.
-Look at that. -And that jacket.
[Bobby] Cute little casual look,
-but still sophisticated. Yeah. -[Jonathan] Navy looks good on you.
That shoe's lit! I'm sorry to interrupt you, but that shoe...
[Bobby] Give us a twirl.
-Oh, you want a twirl? -[all] Yeah.
-Yeah. -Yes, please!
Can you give me an eight-count of a gorgeous drill moment?
-Oh, come on. -No. No, no. This is not Python land.
Remember? Fifty-fifty.
Yeah! You got it.
Yes!
That was the test and you passed.
I failed it.
[laughter]
The only way to, like, really stop a wheel that is, like, running non-stop
is to throw a wrench in it. I think that's kind of what this week's been.
Stopping you long enough to-- So that you could slow down
and take on some observations in your life, you know.
You knocked down a wall
that's been up for so long,
and I appreciate that.
I've learned that... outside of the Pythons...
I can still be Wanda...
and look good being Wanda.
[laughing]
You know, even just sitting here with you guys,
I feel comfortable.
Hey, I'm having company.
-Did y'all know that? -Yeah.
-You all are my first company. -We are!
I'm ready for the world to see the new me.
-The world ain't ready. -There you go. There you go.
[Tan] Enjoy your night, my love.
-I'm gonna miss you guys. -Take in all the love.
I love you.
-Oh, I'm not gonna forget you guys. -I love you.
[Wanda laughing softly]
-Thank you for everything, sweetheart. -Thank you.
-Bye. -Bye, we love you, Wanda.
-Have so much fun. -[laughing]
[soul music playing]
[Antoni] Guys. -[Tan] Yes.
Olive oil and salt. Butter and salt.
-Turmeric and salt. -Ooh.
Where is the caramel?
According to Karamo, it's carmel.
-It is, it's carmel. -Where is the carmel?
[Jonathan] Well, let's get in formation.
Bobby, obviously, you're out of formation.
Your shoulder has to line up with the back of my shoulder.
-They're not gonna get it. -[Antoni] Just 'cause you're right,
-doesn't make it in sync. -[Jonathan] Five, six, seven, eight.
-Uh, uh... -Whoa!
-[Karamo] You guys ready for Wanda? -Yeah.
More ready than I've ever been for anything in my entire life.
-She looks great. She looks great. -She really does.
-Whoa. That's a lot of butter. Okay. -Yeah.
-Now she's putting even more. -[laughing]
This is a slightly different technique. It was supposed to be sautéing scallops,
but I guess she's poaching them in butter.
Oh, my God.
Oh...
Wow.
Daughters, Keke and Arica. They look good.
-Oh, my God. -Aw, that's nice.
I'm shaking. We get to come here and have movie night.
-Hey girl. -Hi!
-It's so pretty. -Do y'all like it?
-We could sit at the table. -Yes, we can sit at the table now.
-[squeals] -[Karamo] She wants to connect with her.
They did not have a dining table. They ate on the floor.
-Oh, this is cute. -This is so cute.
-I know it's not your usual fried fish. -I like this.
Considering where she was at the start of this week, that's really good.
-What a huge change. -Mm, mm, mm, mm.
-These are really good. -Guess what I did this week.
-What? -This week, I took the hat off
and I showed my real hair.
-[Keke] No. -[Arica] That's a big step.
And another thing that I've learned this week is...
You know, you all were raised on more of my actions instead of...
-words, you know? -Mm-hmm.
I just wanted to let you guys know...
that I love you.
-Aw. We love you too, Mama. -And we love you too, Mama.
Oh...
-That was hard for her. -Yeah.
We're all gonna help each other with that, saying that to each other more often.
Growing up, you know, we didn't hear it a lot, but we-- We saw it.
So just hearing it,
-that just really made me happy. -[Tan] Aw.
That was such a good example of, like, repairing something,
like, "I didn't realize that meant so much to you."
-I will do that going forward. -[Jonathan] Yeah.
-All right. You ready? -Yes.
Let's go!
-She is showstopper-realness right now. -Yeah.
Thank you.
[people cheering]
All her kids.
[all] Aw!
-So, what y'all think? -This is what we been asking for.
-Right here. -Over a decade, right here!
-We knew. -We knew you had that under there.
-We knew that. -We knew you did.
She is ready for the red carpet.
What we gonna do about two sexy girls? I don't know.
She's into it. I love it.
It's time for the premiere, so blow the whistle.
Say it with me. Blow the whistle.
This is 32 years in the making.
All this right here.
[speaking indistinctly]
All right, y'all ready, Pythons?
The impact she's had on these people's lives is insane.
[cheers and applause]
Woo!
-Good job! -Oh, my God.
-Good job! -Love!
Oh, sit down.
[laughing]
I wanna call up Gregory, Joe, and my daughters.
Now, I know I'm not the one to speak about my emotions,
but I just wanna thank you guys.
I really love you guys, and I appreciate you
for being the pillars of the Pythons Drill Team
for the last several years, and...
as of today...
I will be taking a step back to deal with my administration.
Gregory and Joe, I hope that, you know, you continue
the legacy that the Pythons Drill Team
has been doing for the last 30 years.
[cheers and applause]
-Whoa. -What?
And if you mess up my drill team, I know where you live,
I know your phone numbers.
[Bobby] Oh, there it is.
-Yeah, there she is. She's back. -[Bobby] There's our Wanda.
Okay.
[uplifting music playing]
We are all so much more than the jobs we have.
Spoiler alert: The universe, life, it's all about finding a balance.
Because an unbalanced life is not a healthy life.
[Jonathan] If you can't nurture yourself, you cannot give what you don't have.
What do we need to say?
-You gotta... You gotta do better. -You gotta do better.
[both] You gotta do better.
-[drumbeats] -Hey!
Yeah!
I'm just gonna step away from the day-to-day 'cause I can't leave my baby.
But I am gonna spend more time for me, and I can't wait to show the world
what Miss Wanda is all about without her Python T-shirt.
Ah! [laughs]
To Wanda relinquishing.
Delegation station!
-[Bobby] Delegation station! -[all] Yes!
Do you have that gorgeous facial product that you're obsessed with
but you did a little bit of a splurge, so you wanna make it last?
Instead of doing this...
No, girl, all your product is on your hands. Who wants that?
Take your product, put some on the back of your hand,
then go, "Boop... boop, boop, boop."
And then from there, then go ahead and rub it in
that way you're not wasting excess product on the palms of your hands,
then you don't feel guilty about your impulse buy on spending on your skin care
because, honey, it's gonna last forever. [scoffs]
[drumbeats]