In this episode of KARAMO, host Karamo mediates a heated confrontation between identical twin sisters Arlene and Darlene. Arlene alleges that a coworker attacked her after a physical altercation involving a crowbar, and she believes Darlene helped set up the incident and has been speaking behind her back to family members and coworkers. Karamo brings Darlene onto the set to hear her side, then conducts a “phone‑unlock” investigation, revealing that Darlene’s texts and DMs contain no evidence of collusion or secret communication. The twins recount a long‑standing rivalry dating back to their teenage years, marked by jealousy, public disrespect, and mutual criticism. Karamo guides them through empathy‑building exercises, encouraging apologies, mutual acknowledgment of issues, and a commitment to trust each other again. The episode concludes with both sisters affirming a desire to rebuild their relationship, and Karamo offers a broader lesson about listening, saying “I hear you,” and the importance of empathy in repairing fractured sibling bonds.
Chapters
That's a cute sweater.
Oh my gosh.
Arlene, tell me about that big fight at work.
Oh man, I'm telling y'all, ever since I started working with her, it feel like it's her and the coworkers getting, come like really against me. Like I started getting picked on, people started telling me stuff. Like a coworker came talking to me about Darlene and I was like, this weird. So I felt like it was a setup.
So y'all had a fight?
We had a fight. I told the girl, I told her, I said, "Come on, let's go outside since you keep on talking. Come on, let's go outside. Come on, let's go outside." So we went outside. The girl had a crowbar for me. So I grabbed the crowbar out the girl hand. My hand got messed up. So my lip was bust. My hand was bleeding. I showed Darlene on FaceTime my face. She started laughing.
What?
She started laughing. So I'm thinking, okay, this is like a setup because the next couple of days y'all acting like y'all friends.
Yeah.
Y'all acting like y'all close.
Yeah.
So this is what I don't understand. So I feel like ever since I met her, it's like a competition with me and her. Has it always been that way? Huh?
Has it always been that way?
It feel like that. Okay. It feel like that. Because men, I feel, I always encourage her. I don't care if she big or not. I say you pretty. I don't care. I say, you don't think when people messing with us, I say, you don't think that's why they mess with us because we pretty or who we are? She was saying no, but she turns on me for other people.
Okay, so after the fight you feel like she turned on you 'cause she kept being this woman friend?
Yes, she kept being this woman friend. She was talking on the phone with the girl like I never had a fight with the girl.
So let me go back. How long has this type of rivalry been going on?
Since teenage years.
Teenage years, okay then. Darlene told my producers that you're jealous of her.
For what? Me and her look alike. Why would I be jealous of her? Why, why? Why would I be jealous of her?
Okay, so I know that you're here because you really think she helped set up that fight at your work. So she handed over her phone, Darlene handed over her phone to our unlock the phone investigators because we were trying to find out if Darlene was responsible for a specific coworker attacking you. If Darlene has been communicating with this specific coworker that picked on you and if Darlene has been talking behind your back to a specific family member.
My family acts totally different in front of her than when we together.
What will happen if it comes back that Darlene was responsible for your cohabitation?
I gotta leave her alone. I gotta move on. I gotta love her from a distance. I gotta show her that I can't be like this. We getting old. We not getting, we getting older.
Well, let's bring out your identical twin sister Darlene, 'cause I wanna hear her side of the story. So everyone welcome Darlene to the show.
Hi, Darlene.
Hi, Karamo. Thank you for being here. Oh, hi. So what do you have to say about what Arlene just said?
Oh, I just think that it's all made up.
Did you set up Arlene to be attacked by a coworker?
Why would I do that? I didn't even know nothing about it until after it happened. I think so. I think so. Everything about her that you made up. How can I be a part of something that I didn't know about? I didn't know about it. Nursing homes, I work with you, my life has been like chaos.
She said that after the fight happened and you saw that she was hurt, that you got on the phone with the woman she fought?
I thought it was funny, to tell you the truth. Why did you think it was funny? Because at first, it's not funny in a sense, is what I'm saying. But I thought it was funny 'cause why would you initiate a fight with a coworker? Because that's not something I would do. I feel like, you know right from wrong. You should do what you have to do 'cause I know how to tone it down. I know how to do that.
Do you think Arlene is critical of you?
I think yes, very much so. Oh, I never said I'm perfect. You always saying I'm ugly. You always telling me— You feel ugly. No, I don't. You say I feel ugly. She do feel ugly. 'Cause she, let me tell you, she feel ugly. 'Cause she keeps saying I tell her that when that's a lie. I don't say that. We play that. You turning it around.
What I see here is I see years of dysfunction.
It is. Yes, it is.
And I don't think y'all have ever sat down to truly hear each other. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Usually somebody would step in and say, y'all gotta hear each other. But I feel like no one's done that for you.
Never. We have 12 other siblings. Mind y'all, we have older siblings.
That's why. And this is the thing about twins. Everybody think they got the same personalities. Y'all got very different personalities, obviously. Very different personalities. And so I see how both of y'all personalities trigger each other. This is the thing. So, well, first we gonna do one thing because you wanna know if your sister helped plan the attack.
Yes, right.
I think that's important.
Yes, I do.
So I think it's time to unlock the phone.
Yes.
I want to see. All right, Darlene, we unlocked your phone. Arlene, you wanna know if Darlene has been talking behind your back to specific family members. Darlene says she has not. Ma unlocked the phone, investigators searched her texts and found she is telling the truth.
Okay. I'm happy. I'm happy for that too.
Arlene, you wanna know if Darlene is responsible for a specific coworker attacking you. Darlene says she was not. My Unlock the Phone investigator searched her phone and found that Darlene is telling the truth.
That's good. That's good. 'Cause that would've put a strain on our relationship.
Darlene, you wanna know if Darlene has been communicating with specific coworkers that pick on you? Mm-hmm. Darlene says she does not. My Unlock the Phone investigator searched her DMs and found she's telling the truth.
Okay. All right. 'Cause I was really feeling bad. I was, I was feeling bad.
So now you have 'Cause if there was any remnants to showing that she was being shady behind your back, we'd have found it.
I understand.
So how do you feel about this in this moment?
Well, I feel like sometimes people think things, we all think things, and we all feel a certain way about—
You can just say, hey sis, I'm sorry.
Yeah, yeah, I am, I am wrong.
You can say sorry, I didn't believe you.
Yeah, 'cause you have to trust me and stop thinking I'm the enemy. I'm not the enemy.
Oh, you know what? Hold on. Are you reading my card?
No!
Because that's exactly the advice I had. And the same advice you just gave her, I'm gonna give to you. You gotta trust her and not think she's the enemy.
That's right.
Because at some point in this relationship, at some point in this relationship, y'all stop trusting that the other person is there for you, loves you. And the thing is that y'all going back and forth will never help you to figure out how to rebuild that.
That's why I want her to get help. I can't use—
You need help too.
I can't, I do not. I talked to her.
That's what I'm saying to you, that's what I'm saying. So I want you to look at your twin, all right? And I want y'all to say this together, all right? I said we both got issues.
We both got issues. We both have issues.
We both need to work on it.
And we both need to work on it.
Did you say it?
I am, I'm sorry.
I hear you say it.
I'm sorry for making my sister feel like she really, you know, like she the problem. But I feel bad because I feel like I've been talking to you while her life keep going good and mine's not. You have to reflect on yourself. Like, no, 'cause I don't treat nobody any kind of way. That's the thing, I don't do people any what they do me.
So let me tell you a big lesson right now really quickly before we leave this show. When your sister just said, "I feel like I'm targeted," that's a moment where you can show up.
She don't do that.
And you don't, hold on, hold on, no, no, no. And this is what, because this is what, but no, because if you want to rebuild the trust with your sister, then this is a moment where even in numbness, all you gotta say is, "I hear you." Because the more you say, "I hear you," inadvertently you're gonna become an empathetic listener because you actually are gonna just start listening. You're not defending. And I think if y'all can start doing that, you might start to trust in your sister again. Do you wanna trust in your sister again?
Yes, I do.
Do you wanna trust in your sister again?
Yeah, I do. Say, "Sis, I wanna trust in you." 'Cause she the only one that I really talk to.
Say, "I wanna trust in you." Say, "Sis, I wanna trust in you." Well, I start trusting in y'all, okay? So you wanna say it to your sister as well?
Yeah, I hope so. And I hope she stop disrespecting me in public.
No, no, no, no. In public, she disrespect me in public. You just went right backwards. You just went right backwards. She don't respect me in public. Nope, you just gonna, oh, you picked it up. Headlin' back. Oh, you wanna go back back. You wanna go back back. I saw, I know.
I'm not trying to say that. I just want her to stop doing that in public. Don't do that. Don't do that to me in public.
Say it, I hear you. Say it, I hear you.
Well, I hear you.
There you go. Listen, take my advice. Just take that advice and that's the first step and I promise it's gonna work out, all right? All right, listen, thank you for being with us, everybody. Make sure to come back next time, friends, so we keep talking and growing. I love y'all.
