Here's Where Cynthia Bailey Stands with One of Her Former Rivals

Cynthia Bailey has long shared her life with viewers. Between her time on The Real Housewives of Atlanta to later appearing on Celebrity Big Brother, Cynthia is not shy about putting herself out there. And she’s ready to do it again on the new E! series Celebrity Beef. On it, she’s set to go up against her Celebrity Big Brother rival and real-life pal Todd Bridges following their drama during the last season of CBB.

And it was a challenge she was more than excited to take on.

“I didn’t know what to expect. I was just excited to reunite with Todd in a public way because the last time we were together was in the Celebrity Big Brother house. [We had drama] and a lot of the fans didn’t realize we made up,” she told The Daily Dish this week. “A lot of my fans were still mad at him. And it’s so crazy, because of all the people I connected with in the Big Brother house, Todd Bridges was definitely someone I really connected with outside of our fight. And we are friends. We are really good friends now. He’s like one of the people I’m closest to other than Carson [Kressley, who also appeared on the same season of Celebrity Big Brother]. It was fun to go back on TV with him and explain where we are and kind of talk about what happened in that house, [because] it’s like being in a pressure cooker.”

Without giving too much away, Cynthia said of going up against Bridges on the Joel McHale–hosted competition show that “you guys get to see us hash it out and have that conversation and just wrap it up [in a] full-circle moment. Todd’s my guy. We are very, very good friends, and I’m very glad I got to meet him in the Celebrity Big Brother house, ’cause I don’t know if our worlds would have ever collided had it not been in that house.”

(You can hear more from Cynthia about all things Celebrity Big Brother in the Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen clip above!)

Now that fans will get to watch Cynthia “cook it out” with Bridges, the duo are actually thinking up plans for another venture together down the line. “Todd’s a great cook. I’m a great cook,” she said. “We’ve actually been talking about doing a cooking show together at some point.”

In looking back at her experiences on RHOA and CBB, Cynthia made this observation: “I will say, to be honest, I thought that being a consistent peach holder on The Real Housewives of Atlanta for 11 years would have prepared me for going into the Big Brother house, but it absolutely did not and that surprised me. It’s just a completely different beast.”

Will her RHOA experience give her the edge on Celebrity Beef? Well, you can find out soon enough. The series airs Tuesdays on E! and this week’s episode features Cynthia Bailey and Todd Bridges. The competition, of course, is all for a good cause, as the winner goes home with not only a trophy but also $10,000 for their charity of choice.

Other Bravolebs set to appear on the series include The Real Housewives of New Jersey’s Dolores Catania cooking against RHONJ alum Caroline Manzo, and Flipping Out designer Jeff Lewis and actress Missi Pyle facing off against pro wrestlers Nikki and Brie Bella.

Other contestants include Cheryl Hines and Rachael Harris, Ben Higgins and Nick Viall, Andy Grammer and Justin Baldoni, and Justin Sylvester (fans will recognize him from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills) and Loni Love.