The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City alum Monica Garcia may be good at keeping secrets, but she has nothing to hide when it comes to The Traitors.
After rumors swirled on social media that Garcia, 41, failed a psychological evaluation during the casting process for season 3 of the Peacock reality series, she set the record straight.
“Honestly, the fact that people believe that blows my mind,” she exclusively told Us Weekly on Wednesday, June 19, while promoting the Dolce Aesthetics Pride Party in New York City, which she is hosting. “Like, we really will just believe anything. It’s actually crazy. I wish I did do Traitors, but maybe next season.”
Garcia previously clapped back at The Neighborhood Talk after the entertainment website reported on the rumors earlier this week.
“This is actually terrible that you would post this. Complete lie. Disgusting!!” she commented on the site’s Instagram post about the speculation.
“Let’s get on the call with the executives together. Let’s find out how good your source is. I am the source. I didn’t even do one interview. Pathetic and absolutely disgusting,” she continued in a subsequent comment, noting that she would be taking “legal action” over the “insanely damaging and FALSE” reporting.
Garcia further addressed the rumors in a video shared via her Instagram Story.
“To go out there and make and publish a claim that I failed a psych evaluation is a complete lie,” she said. “It’s disgusting. Also, to play with my mental health like that is extremely disturbing.”
Before Peacock announced The Traitors season 3 cast — which includes Vanderpump Rules’ Tom Sandoval, Bachelor Nation’s Gabby Windey and Britney Spears’ ex-husband Sam Asghari — earlier this month, Garcia was rumored to be involved. Her absence left fans wondering whether she was fired from the show, but Garcia said she was never hired in the first place.
“I didn’t even go through the process of Traitors to where I would even be asked to take a psych evaluation,” she explained via her Instagram Story earlier this week. “It didn’t even go that far. I was never even asked to take a psych evaluation. So to sit here and say that I failed one is wild.”
If Garcia had been cast on The Traitors, it would’ve marked her return to reality television after her exit from RHOSLC at the end of season 4. During a January interview with The Cut, Garcia revealed that she didn’t voluntarily walk away from the show.
“That would be a cast and Bravo decision. It would not have been my decision,” she said.
During the January RHOSLC season 4 finale, Garcia’s costar Heather Gay revealed to the cast that Garcia had been running an Instagram troll account called Reality Von Tease. While her costars accused Garcia of using the account to bully them, Garcia has insisted that the purpose of Reality Von Tease was to expose Jen Shah. [Shah, 50, who appeared on seasons 1 through 3 of RHOSLC, began serving a 6.5 year prison sentence in February 2023 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.]
“The page was never about them. It was about Jen,” Garcia told The Cut. “They want to say, ‘It bullied us for four years’ — first of all, the page was only open for, like, a year. Second of all, it really was about exposing Jen.”
While her former costars have not forgiven her for the revelation, Garcia told Us that the RHOSLC fanbase has been understanding.
“It wasn’t that serious. I think that the only people that think it was that serious are the cast,” she said. “Literally, I have not had one person be mean to me. Everyone that comes up to me or meets me or whatever has always been so kind [and] so sweet. They’ve just been like, ‘We hate how you were treated.’ Or they’ll say, ‘Thank you for showing your relationship with your mother.’ Everyone’s been so kind. The only people that wanna hold on to that is, unfortunately, the cast members.”
Premiere dates for season 3 of The Traitors and season 5 of RHOSLC have not yet been announced.
With reporting by Travis Cronin
