Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta season 6

Production

Season six of Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta was announced by VH1 on February 21, 2017, with a premiere date set for March 6, 2017. A five-minute super-trailer dropped on February 27, 2017. Despite rumors of a mass firing, all main cast members from the previous season returned except for K. Michelle. Tommie Lee was promoted to the main cast.

New supporting cast members included social media personality Lovely Mimi, club promoter Melissa Scott, Kirk’s alleged mistress Jasmine Washington, her lovers Rod Bullock and Keanna Arnold, beauty shop owner Sierra Gates, her assistant Moriah Lee, and her husband Shooter Gates. Aspiring radio personality Tresure Price, aspiring singer Estelita Quintero, Stevie J’s daughter Savannah Jordan, and Tommie’s mother Samantha also appeared in supporting roles.

Rapper Gunplay made a one-episode appearance as a supporting cast member, serving as a teaser for the upcoming spin-off Love & Hip Hop: Miami.

On April 19, 2017, VH1 announced that Joseline’s Special Delivery, a special documenting the birth of Joseline’s child, would air between the season’s eighth and ninth episodes on May 1, 2017. It premiered to 2.18 million viewers. Another special, Dirty Little Secrets 2, featuring unseen footage and deleted scenes from season two through season five, aired on May 10, 2017, drawing over 1 million viewers. Production grew increasingly troubled, with later episodes showing Joseline Hernandez and Kirk Frost breaking the fourth wall to express displeasure with producers.

Longtime cast members Bambi Benson, Ariane Davis, and Deb Antney saw their screen time drastically reduced, while Dawn Heflin was nearly phased out entirely, appearing in only two minor guest spots. On January 27, 2017, Bambi was hospitalized during filming and later confirmed she quit the show due to her drama with Scrappy. During the reunion taping on June 1, 2017, tensions between Joseline, Mona Scott-Young, and other producers boiled over, with Joseline announcing she had quit the show after six seasons. With this season, Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta became the first franchise incarnation to reach 100 episodes.

Synopsis

Season 6 of Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta kicks off with Joseline heavily pregnant and locked in a bitter dispute with Stevie over who fathered her child. Karlie and Yung Joc have gotten back together, but she struggles to move past the way he once treated her. Tammy has split from Waka; she is determined to stay single and independent, while he pulls out all the stops to win her back and keep their family intact. Tommie faces legal trouble stemming from her violent clash with Joseline the year before.

At a masquerade party Joseline throws, Karlie and Joc are stunned when a woman named Jasmine approaches them, claiming that Kirk is the father of her baby born a few months ago—a revelation that puts major strain on Kirk and Rasheeda’s marriage. The premiere drew huge numbers for VH1, with a combined 5.2 million viewers, a 17% jump from the season 5 opener. But ratings soon dropped, and the show faced backlash for centering on new cast members who had little connection to hip hop music and for storylines that felt manufactured.

Funky Dineva, a longtime recapper who appeared in early episodes, called the Sierra and Moriah plot “phony and fake,” and said executive producer Mona Scott-Young should be ashamed to attach her name to what he described as “this garbage ass, fake ass, bullshit ass show.”

Cast

Mimi Faust appeared in 13 episodes, Rasheeda in 15, Karlie Redd in 16, Tammy Rivera in 15, Tommie Lee in 13, Joseline Hernandez in 14, Stevie J in 15, Yung Joc in 16, Melissa Scott in 13, Jasmine Washington in 8, Kirk Frost in 12, Rod Bullock in 5, Momma Dee in 8, Ernest Bryant in 6, Lil Scrappy in 9, Karen King in 7, Waka Flocka Flame in 5, Jessica Dime in 15, Keanna Arnold in 4, Bambi Benson in 3, Sierra Gates in 8, Moriah Lee in 7, Lovely Mimi in 10, Tresure P in 9, Shooter Gates in 4, Deb Antney in 3, Ariane Davis in 5, Gunplay in 1, Shirleen Harvell in 7, Estelita Quintero in 7, Savannah Jordan in 6, and Samantha Lee in 6.

Guest stars included Stevie J's daughter Sade Jordan, Shawne Williams, Black Ink Crew's Ceaser Emmanuel, and Jasmine's ex-boyfriend Logan Bullard. Minor appearances featured Young Dro, Ernest's mother Bessie Bryant, Alexis Skyy, Jasmine Burke, Bobby V, Stevie J's son Dorian Jordan, Sina Bina, Dawn Heflin, Joseline's brother Kermit Silva, Stevie J and Mimi's daughter Eva Jordan, Kandi Burruss, Spice, Kelsie Frost, Ky Frost, and Stevie Jordan Jr.