All hail the queens

DStv is serving up the most ruthless and manipulative divas with back-to-back telenovelas this July.

- IPELENG RAKGANTSHO

Mess with them and you’ll land six feet under: these leading ladies of telenovelas are unapologetically brutal. DStv airs telenovelas with crazy twists and turns thanks to some strong-willed women, ranging from obsessive girlfriends to monster mothers who use their superpowers for evil and never good. Here are our top eight devious divas:

IRON ROSE (2016)

When wicked entrepreneur Altagracia Sandoval (Aracely Arámbula) walks into the room in this telenovela originally titled La Doña, she instantly commands attention and respect. It isn’t only because she’s breathtakingly gorgeous. She possesses a certain kind of confidence – some call it the X-factor. Altagracia or La Doña, as her business associates refer to her (because she’s the boss lady), mastered the playbook in a male-dominated construction world. Not too long ago, she had everyone eating from the palm of her hand, exploiting the poor and killing anyone who stood in her way to get to the top.

Altagracia wasn’t always self-assured, though. She went through hell and back after she was raped by a group of thugs when she was still a teen, resulting in an unwanted pregnancy. The pain and anger from the incident fuelled her hunger for vengeance. She abandoned her daughter and spent years searching for the men who raped her. She succeeded, and Altagracia eventually killed half of them. With police after her for a series of murders, corruption and other crimes, Altagracia knew that she had to skip town. She faked her own death by drowning in the season 1 finale. Like the boss she is, she later appeared in France without a care in the world. But a family tragedy in season 2 will force Altagracia to return to Mexico and face her past.
Watch Iron Rose weekdays on Telemundo (*118) 20:00