Destiny Payton on
Whether Arionne Curry
Brings Out the Worst in
Martell Holt: “She Feeds It”

Destiny Payton did not hedge. In her first exclusive one-on-one interview with executive producer Carlos King, Payton was asked to settle the argument running under Love & Marriage: Huntsville’s twelfth season: who brings out the worst in Martell Holt — Martell, or Arionne Curry? Payton sided, in her word, “100%” with Curry. “She feeds it.” That verdict is Payton’s opinion of a castmate, and this story keeps it labeled exactly that: the question was King’s, the answer was hers, and neither woman’s rival was in the room to respond.

The Question, and Her Answer

King put the choice to her directly. The vivid phrasing — “brings out the worst” — is his, and BC News quotes it as his question, not as her words:

Payton’s answer was immediate. She put herself “100%” behind the second option — that Arionne Curry brings out the worst in Martell Holt — and then gave the reason in three words of her own:

That is the whole exchange, and it matters that it stays whole. Payton did not coin the charge; she was handed a choice between two people and picked one, completely. Her “100%” and her “she feeds it” are the news. What they are not is a finding: Curry did not appear in the interview, Holt was not asked about the answer in it, and Payton’s assessment of the two of them is one principal’s view of a feud she is standing in the middle of.

Why the Question Landed

The question works because of who Curry is to both of them. Curry is Holt’s ex and the mother of his son. For years she was one of the show’s most-discussed off-screen names; Season 12, which premiered September 12, 2026 on OWN, put her on camera as a cast member for the first time — and her integration has collided head-on with Payton, Holt’s closest friend in the group for years. Curry has described Holt as her best friend, a description that cuts directly into the territory Payton has occupied. When King asked who brings out the worst in Martell, he was asking Payton to grade the woman now standing where she stands.

What Viewers Have Already Seen

The feud behind the answer has been playing out on screen for weeks, and the beats below are what aired, as reported by the episode sources credited in this story’s source box.

In “Martell’s Destiny?”, the episode that aired Saturday, October 10, 2026, Curry called Payton a snake and said she wants Holt to stay away from her. At LaTisha Scott’s brunch in the same episode, Curry stormed out after Payton arrived. Two weeks earlier, in “Nell Me About It!” (September 26), an OWN clip premiered exclusively by BOSSIP showed Curry sitting down with Nell Fletcher to dispute Payton’s account of their history: Payton has said it took her three years to be in a space with Curry, and Curry pointed out the two had previously been around each other at one of Holt’s birthday dinners. In that same conversation, Curry gave Payton a nickname — “Chicken Tender.”

Two things in this storyline are claims, not established fact, and this article treats them that way: the long-running cast whisper that Holt and Payton’s friendship is “more than friendship,” which neither the episodes nor this interview establishes, and each woman’s version of their pre-show history, which they dispute with each other on camera.

The Answer, in Context

Payton’s verdict on Curry did not come from nowhere in the interview. In the same conversation, she called Tisha and Kimmi Scott’s sit-down with Curry “another Twilight Zone scene,” contrasting the clean slate the two women offered Curry with the grudge she says they still hold against her, a year and a half on. Read together, her position is consistent: she believes Curry has been welcomed into rooms she herself had to fight to enter, and she believes Curry’s presence brings out a side of Holt that makes everything around him harder. The first belief is her account of the cast. The second is her opinion of Curry and Holt. BC News is reporting both as hers — because that is what they are.

The storyline continues Saturday, October 17, when “The Art of War” airs. If Curry or Holt responds to Payton’s answer, this story will be updated.

Questions About Destiny Payton’s “She Feeds It” Answer