Candiace Dillard Bassett is finally giving The Real Housewives of Potomac fans a concrete reason behind her seemingly meaningless ongoing beef with Ashley Daby. Dillard Bassett joined the cast in Season 3 and was introduced as a friend of Darby’s. The two women claimed to have met one another in the pageant circle. Dillard Bassett won the Miss United States title in 2013. Darby won Miss District of Columbia in 2011.

“For me, when I first joined this cast, when I first joined this group of girls, I came in as Ashley’s friend,” she tells Entertainment Tonight in a recent chat. “We knew each other through the pageant world. As a friend, I have a standard of protocols. Loyalty is one of them.”

Dillard Bassett says watching Darby’s confessionals during her first season and seeing the negative comments she said about her to producers and her co-stars was shocking. 

“For example, when Wendy [Osefo] came in, I welcomed with open arms,” Candiace explains. “I introduced her to the group. I stood by her. I called her every other day. I made sure she was good. I checked in with her. I was her friend. I didn’t get that from Ashley. Ashley brought me in, she dumped me on the side of the road, and then she was shading me in confessionals five minutes after I joined the cast. I didn’t even see that until it aired. I was like, ‘Wow. Who is this girl?'”

Furthermore, she says she was able to try and move past her petty drama with Darby until she felt betrayed by Darby when Darby sided with Monique Samuels amid the legal fallout between Samuels and Dillard Bassett following their season 5 physical altercation. Darby wrote Samuels a letter of support in her countersuit against Dillard Bassett, claiming Samuels was the only co-star who came to her defense when her husband Michael was accused of gropping a cameraman. Darby alleges Dillard enjoyed the chaos surrounding the legal matters with her husband.

“The true catalyst, for me, was when she involved herself in legal matters, simply to be vindictive,” Dillard Bassett notes.

RHOP airs every Sunday on Bravo at 8 p.m. EST.