Monica Garcia shock exit: RHOSLC producers claim they had no knowledge of star's connection to online troll account - but Andy Cohen hints she's NOT gone for good

By CHRISTINE RENDÓN, US SENIOR REPORTER

Published: | Updated:

RHOSLC producers have insisted they had no knowledge of Monica Garcia's connection to an online troll account after her ties to the platform were exposed during the season four finale. 

It was dramatically revealed that Garcia was one of several people behind Reality Von Tease, an Instagram troll account targeting former cast member Jen Shah and co-stars such as Heather Gay and Whitney Rose. 

The betrayal enraged her cast members and it has since been revealed that Garcia will not be returning to the upcoming fifth season of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. 

Lisa Shannon, an executive producer and the SVP of programming and development at Shed Media, said producers were unaware Garcia was posting to the troll account.

Withholding that information would have broken the trust producers and cast have with one another. 

RHOSLC producers have insisted they had no knowledge of Monica Garcia's connection to an online troll account after her ties to the platform were exposed during the season four finale

RHOSLC producers have insisted they had no knowledge of Monica Garcia's connection to an online troll account after her ties to the platform were exposed during the season four finale

'You have to have the trust of your cast,' Shannon said on Variety's Making A Scene. 'And we would never jeopardize the trust of the cast, nor would the network, nor would Andy. 

'Especially over something so seemingly silly — and not knowing that it’s going to pay off. We just would never do that. Especially with the entire cast — you’re really blowing up your relationship with everybody.'

If producers were aware, they would have helped Garcia come forward with the information to the others, Shannon said.  

'Had we known, we probably would have encouraged her much earlier on to have a come-to-Jesus with the ladies,' she explained.

The Reality Von Tease storyline would have played out in earlier episodes had production been aware.  

'If we would've known about Reality Von Tease, we would have planted seeds earlier on in the episodes so that it would've paid off and made much more sense when you found out who and what it was,' Shannon also explained. 

At the reunion, the possibility of production knowing about Reality Von Tease was raised by Lisa Barlow.

'You guys brought her on knowing she wanted to f**king take every single one of us out, and no one gives a f**k,' Lisa said.

Garcia - who said the purpose of the account was to 'take down' Jen Shah - claimed she was honest about her involvement with Reality Von Tease during casting.

But Bravo executive Andy Cohen shot her down.

'If you’d said you run a burner account we wouldn’t have cast you,' Andy said. 

Heather Gay confronted Garcia over the account during the dramatic finale

Heather Gay confronted Garcia over the account during the dramatic finale 

Surprisingly, despite the betrayal, Andy suggested Garcia could return in the future

Surprisingly, despite the betrayal, Andy suggested Garcia could return in the future

The betrayal enraged her cast members and led to her being dropped from the upcoming fifth season of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City

The betrayal enraged her cast members and led to her being dropped from the upcoming fifth season of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City

People ultimately reported that Garcia would not be returning for season five of RHOSLC.

Surprisingly, despite the betrayal, Andy suggested Garcia could return in the future.

'We are going to have a cooling off period, I think,' he said on his show, Radio Andy.

Andy explained Monica was unable to win any of her colleagues over during the reunion. 

'I think the reunion is the chance to come out, say why you did [and] what you didn’t on the season. It’s the Supreme Court of public opinion,' he explained.

Andy explained Monica was unable to win any of her colleagues over during the reunion, and the women told him they found her untrustworthy

Andy explained Monica was unable to win any of her colleagues over during the reunion, and the women told him they found her untrustworthy

'So Monica, I think, had the opportunity, not only to explain herself to the audience, but way more importantly in this case, to the other women. And I don’t think she successfully swayed any of them to her side. She didn't.' 

Andy learned the women still found Monica untrustworthy and were not interested in maintaining a relationship with her. 

'And at the end, I really went around, because I was thinking, "OK, well let’s hear it from them all right now: Where do you stand with her?" And they all expressed they very much don’t trust her.... What I was also asking was: Is there a path forward for you and Monica? And the answer was no all around.'

For now, they were allowing the issue to 'breathe'. 

'So I think that it’s best — we all discussed it ad nauseam — that it would be best to let this one breathe for a while.'

He noted Garcia was indeed 'compelling television' and suggested she could repair relationships with the women off camera.

'She’s obviously really compelling television. Maybe she’ll be able to build some inroads with the women on her own, off camera. And we’ll see if that happens.'

Whitney RoseHeather GayJen Shah

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