The Real officially comes to an end on Friday and a clip has dropped from their emotional finale. After 8 seasons and 1,360 episodes on daytime television, as well as two Emmy Awards, the show’s final episode is airing this week. The decision to end the show came allegedly due to a decline in ratings over the past few years. Since the show’s inception, they’ve lost two original co-hosts. The show’s current hosts – Adrienne Bailon, Jeannie Mai, Garcelle Beauvais, and Loni Love – reflected on the show’s ride in an emotional send-off. 

The show debuted in 2013 as a series targeted to millennial women of color

Bailon introduced the show in a summer series run with Love, Mai, Tamera Mowry Housely, and Tamar Braxton at the roundtable. It was marketed as the first of its kind. Bailon spoke about receiving a phone call from her mother, who is also a diehard fan of the show, for her to give her daughter and co-hosts their kudos.  

“I was talking to my mom earlier this morning, she knows this is the farewell show and she was just telling me like, you guys really did break the mold of daytime television, and it’s so crazy when you think of it that way. There was never a show that looked like us,” she said of the conversation.

Beauvais, who joined the show in 2020, agreed. She previously told S&A Unscripted in an interview that she felt the show lasted as long as it did due to the audience growing along with the show. 

Love added that the show has had such major success with unprecedented interviews with the likes of Former First Lady Michelle Obama, Tyler Perry, and more. With that in mind, she says it’s nothing but a celebration of what they’ve been able to achieve.

“We hope that our example, with what we’ve done, can continue. Don’t let this end. Get another show like this together, with fabulous women, because we have a whole future of things that we still have to fight for like justice and equality. We can’t be afraid to talk about this,” Love said. “We’ve had deep discussions, and when you have multi-cultural people on, from different cultures, we’ve been able to cover AAPI, we’ve been able to cover the Haitians, we’ve been able to cover the Latinas, the Black people, the women. We are so proud, and we will not be sad today.”

Mai has expressed her sadness previously. The new mother recently returned to the show ahead of its cancellation after being on maternity leave.

Watch the clip below: