Reality Bites with Monica Garcia

This is the most dramatic podcast ever and iHeartRadio podcast. Chris Harrison and Lauren Zema, I am coming to you from our new office at Merritt Street Media, which hopefully you guys have found out about in prior podcasts and all the press that has dropped. LZ is at the home office in Austin, Texas. We are separated, but we are together in this podcast. But we are together because of the subject matter and our guests today, because we're talking Real house Wives of Salt Lake City.

LZ.

Yes, and you know you are now a Housewives fan, or at least you're about as much of a fan as I could get you to be.

You watched about.

Half the season of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City and then you tuned back in for like the reunion.

I'm happy with that. That's as much as I was.

Going to get.

And you thought that this was some of the best reality TV you'd seen in a minute.

And I think.

That it is largely in part two, if not all, in part thanks to our guest today, the woman who some would call her a villain, now some would say she saved this franchise. Monica Garcia is joining us She came on the most recent season of Salt Lake City as the former assistant of former cast.

Member Jen Shaw.

If you don't know the cliffs notes is, you've probably seen the headlines that Real Housewives of Salt Lake City member Jen Shaw was convicted of fraud of elder people. She is now doing a time behind bars, and Monica came on as her former assistant. That's how she was introduced.

So we're gonna ask Monica about it all.

There she is, there, she is.

Monica.

I'm dying right now, you guys, I am dying. This is such a surreal moment for me.

Thank you so much for having me. This is so crazy.

Wait, why is this a surreal moment for you? Because I was about to say the same thing.

No, I have watched you my entire life, and so sitting here with you now is like I literally I don't have words. It's honestly, completely surreal. I can't even believe this, I really can't.

The feeling is mutual because I can't. I can't say I've watched you my entire life because you just you just made me very old. That's the sad part. You have probably watched me your entire life. But no one's Lauren's ema. She's a real fan. She's like a legit fan of the Housewives and knows it. She could write the Bible. I have never watched The Housewives, never ever have watched an episode, except she said, you have to watch Salt Lake City. Oh my god, Monica, I've never

I love you guys so much. You have no idea. Thank you so much for having me.

Oh, Monica, thank you for being here. And by the way, he's coming to you.

We're usually together, but he like had another interview today and postponed it.

To talk to you.

I'm not joking.

Oh my god, I have commandeered this conference room here in dalla Us. Lauren is coming to you from our home office in Austin.

Oh my gosh, well, thank you so much.

So we have to talk about Salt Lake City because just let's do a thirty thousand foot overview. Yeah, it is my opinion, And again I don't necessarily watch them all, but I understand them all. Is Salt Lake City? I feel like it's Housewives on steroids. Why is this show with this group of women just so spectacular?

Oh?

Man, you know, I'm going to be completely honest.

I don't feel like it was so spectacular until this last season.

And I'm not saying that's because.

Of me or until you we can say no.

I genuinely feel like season four was just absolute, like genius. I mean, even production, the way they decided to even produce everything, It just it works so well and everything was so real. I mean, it was one hundred percent authentic, and I feel like that's rare. Honestly, I feel like that's rare. Nowadays even in reality television, and so viewers were getting real reality television and it was just like.

Holy crap.

Yeah. Well, and Laurena and I are both steeped in reality TV, and I will say there's something, there's some validity to what you're saying, and it's I don't want to you know, poo poo on anybody else in other seasons, but I will say there is a there is a lightning in the bottle mentality in a situation in reality TV that you can do the best producing in the world. Sometimes it just doesn't pan out. Sometimes it comes to you in waves, but it does take good producing to

Yes, they did incredible.

Everyone was amazing and how they spun it was so great and it worked. It just honestly, it just worked and it was wonderful. Can you talk about that.

It's interesting to watch with Chris Monica because it's behind it scenes so much, so he's watched Our producer told him to say that producers came up with that idea, and he's very skeptical watching reality TV. So it's interesting to me to hear you say that, it was like so real.

Do you expand on that? Like, what do you think the producers did so well?

So I went in there and I said, the only way to do this is to be one hundred percent open, because I feel like so many people that do reality TV they're open to a certain extent, but they hide a lot of the stuff that that people relate to, right because it's either shameful or it's embarrassing, or you know, it's frowned upon, or they're afraid of being judged for it.

Okay, So what made me so captivated by you from the beginning was that you were you were like, yeah, I had an affair, I did this, I did this. You just laid out your truth and I thought this is the most brilliant debut we've ever seen from anyone who's ever joined Real Housewives, because you didn't let anybody else search for the skeletons. It seems like you just you opened up the closet and said here they are. Yeah, you had this big reveal at the end, so.

To say the least.

By the way, Yeah, one of the questions I wanted to ask you was, you know, if anybody's missed it? Basically Monica and Real Housewives of sulis that he delivered like the best finale, the most captivating finale in housewives history. I would say it was created you reveal the Instagram account sooner, like when you were kind of sharing everything about yourself.

Yeah, so it's really simple. I didn't reveal it because it wasn't just me. Everything that I did reveal, I'm the one that had the affair. I'm the one that had had a car repossessed. I'm the one that went through a divorce. I'm the one that went through domestic violence. You know, there's all these different things that were just involving me. This account involved five other people, and we all told each other we would never come out with

The account wasn't even mine in my name.

I mean, there were just so many other parts that I just felt like, Okay, well, we promised each other we wouldn't say anything, so I'm not going to say anything. If it was just me, I would have come out and said it, But it affected multiple other people's lives that I had promised I wouldn't ever discuss.

Now, Look, I'm gonna admit right now to everybody, I'm a Monica defender, So I'm just gonna I'm not unbiased here as I enter into this next question. Let the jury. Let the jury know what I found interesting at the tell all and throughout the season. So when this came out and the women got all up in arms and were clutching their pearls about how upset they were that you were a fan of the show and like somehow some sanctity of housewivedom was broken with you coming on

It was It was, honestly just these women. Just anything I did I could sneeze wrong and it would bother them.

It didn't matter.

I could have I could have come on as someone famous's wife and they would have had a problem with me. I just think it was deeper rooted than that, and they just picked up everything. Heather Gay herself has come out several times throughout the years and said she is the biggest Housewives fan. So it's okay for her to say that, but it's not okay for me to have been a fan.

It's just that Boss is out of control.

Do you think you were always the outlier? I mean again, I'm not the biggest fan of everything, but I think Laurence kind of filled me in that you don't fit that prototype, right, You're not the prototypical housewife without all the things you've been through. You even said throughout the season that I watched, I don't have the money that all of you have. I'm not carrying the bags. I'm not doing you know, I'm taking care of my kids with my mom. By the way, love the stuff with

Of that, Yeah, one hundred percent.

I think there was always this mentality of she doesn't really.

Belong and that's fine. You know.

It's not like they were mean to me in the beginning or anything like that. I think, you know, things started to change once we started filming. I think they were fine until I started filming. But you know there's the scene stuff that happened even before we started filming that I was like, these women do not want me there?

Oh you know, yeah, what gave you that vibe?

Some of them, I'm not gonna name names, literally tried to get me fired before we even started filming. So I knew what I was going into when I started. I knew it was going to be an uphill battle. I knew that they you know, they didn't trust me, they didn't want me there, And what.

Was the reason that they were trying to get you fired?

I don't look, I'm going to be completely honest. I have ran this through my mind so many times, like why these women hate me so much? I really have no idea because at the end of the day, and I think I said this, I don't remember where, but the only person that actually deserves to really have a true problem with me, or hate me or be angry at me really is Jenshaw.

That's it.

The only person that I really screwed over and oaths anything to is jen I did nothing to these women. So for them to be like, oh, you lied to us, and da da da da.

Da the argument that they made, and it was hard because like on the reunion, we couldn't really see the posts that that account had been posting, but it seemed like the argument that they made was that the account that you and these other people were behind was being really negative to them and saying mean things of them about them and trying to like tear them down. So do you feel like, would you argue that was not the case?

I would one hundred percent argue that was not the case. And some of the things that they showed in the clips on reunion weren't even from reality Fontige. They were from like other Burner pages, And that page was one hundred percent I mean, if you go on there like we praised the women, we had posts dedicated to like Whitney and stuff praising her like, that page was one hundred percent awful to Gentshaw and that's it.

But she went to jail for yes, exactly, didn't.

Go to jail. He went to prison. There's a difference.

There is a difference. You're right, you're right, you're right, and you go to jail when you get picked up for a dui. But how close did you come to not doing this then? Did you have were you apprehensive and did you regret? You know, because if you know going into this it's going to be contentious, yeah, or did you ever think? Man, I don't know if these women already hate me, I don't know. If I want to start taping this.

Oh hell no.

I was like it made me want to go on. It was like, oh you don't want me there, I'm coming.

I love Monica right here, well I mean truly Monica, Like again, you're great TV. Like I've seen you there's There have been other women who have come on the show, have said they watched, said they were fans, and then they almost like that almost hurt them. You could see their wheels turning them thinking about being on TV, and you just went all in.

But I do wonder like, looking back, now, do you wish you'd revealed the reality Vontee's thing earlier or not?

No?

No, no, because I know for a fact if I had, it wouldn't have changed one damn thing.

Nothing.

I could have said it the first day. I could have said it before filming started.

They act like, oh, if you came to us and you don't know, Like, let's be real.

You know if I told you the first day or the last day on the beach, it would have had.

The same outcome.

They were gunning for you no matter what.

Yeah, yeah, it would have had the same result. It wouldn't have changed anything. And you know, I think I think the outcome was already written in stone a long time ago.

So and what an outcome it was.

I mean, yeah, yeah, out.

With the bank, and I'm gonna like kind of put on my Chris Harrison hat and quote him.

Oh okay.

And we were because I don't know if you remembers this, but when we were watching the.

Finale and then the reunion, he was like, these producers knew. Am I taking the words out of your mouth?

Baby?

No?

One hundred percent, She's right, I said, one hundred percent. They knew, Yeah, that Monica had been a part of this. Nobody's A They're not that dumb, and B they are that smart. I would have done that. I would have cast you on the Bachelor or Housewives if I had known that. For sure? They knew? Can you confirm that?

So I'm going to be a hundred percent honest.

I told production, but I did not tell the same people because the production people I told when I first interviewed were not the same production people from when I actually started filming, because it was like a year later. So in my head, I'm like, oh, they probably just like relayed the information.

Yes, No, You're like, oh, they they forgot yes, that does Monica. That doesn't happen. Life's not that coincidental when it comes to reality TV. Of course you told him, and of course they passed it on and they kept that nugget when they needed it for season.

Four when he said on the reunion, we would have never cast through if we would have.

Known that, I.

Again, like I would guess you.

If Yeah, I know for a fact other housewives have burner accounts, or they're feeding blogs information that they want leaked, or whatever the case.

What I did is nothing new.

It's what's new is I owned it, and I owned up to it, and I admitted it, and I said, yeah, I did have a part in that, whereas other people they can deny, deny, deny, and so it just it made it easy for me to just you know.

Get burned at the stakes. Yeah, yeah, isn't Heather.

So Heather was.

Got this information from her hairdresser, who was your friend and who also did the account with. You said the Heather is still friends with and getting her haircut by this person.

So Tanisia actually doesn't cut hair. All she does is style.

But I know that Heather.

Is still good with Tanisha as far as her doing her hair. Still, I don't know, and I really don't even freaking care, because at the end of the day, she and I.

Were involved in the same exact thing.

One of us was given a complete pass and one of us was actually completely brutalized for it.

And that's why I asked, because it's like this double standard.

Yeah, and I just I find it funny because Heather can sit there and act like it was this huge, big reveal. She knew that, she knew, she knew, she knew, she knew, And I knew that it was going to come out eventually because I knew that Heather knew.

Yeah, they needed the scapegoat, they needed the villain, and you were it. Yeah, why are you not back and so far? Or are you?

They refused to film with me? No, I'm really not back.

You're really not back.

I'm really not.

I would have lost money on that because you are too good of TV. There's two by the way, There's so much more story here that we need out of this. No, and so the women banded together and said, we're not We refuse to tape with Monica. Yeah, And the print is that that's what the producers told you of why you're not coming back.

They just said there's not been enough time for the women to heal. But how there has literally gone out and said, I refuse, I will never film with Monica again. She has said that publicly. Lisa Barlow has said that publicly, these are not secrets. It doesn't even need to come from production. It came from their own mouths.

By the way, time for everyone to heal from the fact that you had a burner account on Instagram? Is that where we're healing from.

I'm like, you.

Literally got socked in the face, but you're upset about a burner account, like it's wild.

It's so wild to me.

Yeah, baby, Elsie, do you agree?

Is it?

Don't you think there's so much more juice in the story.

That we need.

Look, I will you know I I'm not like black and white about my fandom and that there are things I like. I like Heather, I like Lisa, And when I say I like, I like watching them, you know, I like. And what I think would be smart for

In Houston exactly exactly.

Honestly, I feel like somehow so I get it where they're like, this is what's good for this show, and if we want a successful show, we want to keep getting renewed year after year.

They should have people wanted to see.

You know, the fallout from that finale. Not to mention Heather and I are still suing each other in real life. That alone is a crazy storyline. So I really was shocked that they did decide not to have me come back. But I just you know, when you have people that are like, we won't film with her, what am I going to do film by myself?

Yeah? Well you, hey, you and your mom should go do a show. I think people will. People will watch you and your mom.

During all that Monica I was just like, oh my gosh, I feel for this woman, Like I, where are you and your mom at right now?

We are done? Done, done?

Oh y'all are speaking.

I will never talk to her again.

Oh, don't don't say that. Don't say never.

Oh no, I'm so serious. I agree with you.

Don't have to start to your mom again.

I disagree with Yeah, my mother.

Actually she took my range Rover Awa again and so that's gone. And she took it because she was pissed at things that I said at the reunion, and you know, she when she came over to take it, it was very ugly. The police were called and got involved. I called them, and unfortunately she burched into the house and did her whole thing. And it happened in front of my children, and my youngest daughter was like, why are you taking our car? How are we going to get

I know you're not.

Used to like showing that, but that was my real life and my relationship with my mother is completely torched.

Well I'm sorry, that's that's not a good thing. I'm very sorry, and especially when the kids are involved like that.

So yeah, it was awful.

I just wanted to see more of what you would bring to television because you are captivating to watch.

You're funny.

Is there anything though that you wish you had done differently? Like sometimes the women say you were like going you were like a little too mean in the arguments, and I could see where they were coming from on some of that.

Or do you stand by.

All a little too mean?

No?

You No, I completely disagree.

I think that.

I mean everyone's like you called Lisa ugly. I'm like, she literally called me a Pillsbury dough girl, Like is that not mean? So I'm like chubby and roie So she can say that, I can't say you're leather and rubbery, Like where are we.

Drawing the line? You know what I mean? I think?

Also, the Pioneer dinner was nuts because I was made to look like a psycho. But you literally have someone standing up screaming and throwing a glass in a restaurant. But that's okay, you know, a price ski I was also made to look like the psychopath, but Angie literally.

Grabbed food off my plate and put it in my mouth.

I mean, it's just wild to see, Like, do you wish you would have done anything different?

Like, look what I was dealing with.

No, No, that's a lot. You were dealing with a lot. So I'm just curious as you're talking about this, you're not on the show anymore. Yeah, excommunicated from the church, you're clearly divorced from your mom. Yeah, what's next for you? Because again, as we were just saying, there is more story, there's more life to live, but now just in the real world, what is next for Monica?

I don't know, you know, honestly, I really have no idea. I think right now I'm trying to just stay busy. The fans are insane. They have been absolutely incredible. The support has been mind blowing. I know that, you know, even people from production and the network have been like, it's been a minute since we've had a first year housewife, cause this much of an uproar from fans, and I'm

But you know, maybe start dating and I don't know. I don't know.

I was gonna say, are you open? Are you open to finding love? Is it? I mean it's yes. It seems like you're in a good spot for that.

Yeah, I'm definitely open to that for sure. I want my bat girls to see that a good relationship.

A lot of people are dreamcasting you on the next season of The Traders.

They want to see that. Has there been any doing so.

I'm like, that would be so fun.

That would be so I do feel like I get voted off like the first eliminated. They'd be like, he's the Trader.

Well, I don't know the inner workings of Bravo and what Andy has control of over there, but I don't think we're done with you. I don't think we've seen the last of you.

I don't know, Chris, just.

Knowing television again, we all liked as producers, we'd like to take our stands and get on our moral high box. But when you see ratings and you see a storyline, it is so hard to walk away from that. And at the end of the day, I think they're going to see, wow, we really left some fruit on the tree there, and as a producer, you don't want to do that. So I don't think we've seen the last of you.

I don't know, we'll see. I mean, I agree with you one hundred percent. I was stocked. I think everyone was stocked. They're like, how what the hell, like, how could they do that? But yeah, we'll see. I don't know. I really I don't know.

Well on that, Nomonica.

I do have two questions about Like one, I have to ask you about the red because again there were some people saying, well, like if like you at the reunion, you seemed like you shut down, like you were like had put a little bit of a wall up, and tell me about why that was. And also do you look back, like do you think you could have done anything differently that would have changed you winding back up on the show.

Yeah, so I one hundred percent shut down.

I think what people don't understand is there's so much adrenaline and anxiety and pressure and stress leading up to the reunion and then it is the longest day it is such a long day from the second you start glam to the second you're done. I mean it was like a fifteen hour day. And I had sat up on that stage completely alone, with not a soul, by me taking hit after a hit, after a hit after a hit, and you know, by our ten which would

Have anything to say?

No? I mean, here's the thing. I went into their knowing also the outcome. So I could have gone in there on my hands and knees, kissing their feet, and they still would have wanted the same result, which was me off the show.

You were the punching bag that day.

Yeah, there was no apology great enough that I could have made to these women, and they said it. Andy Cohen asked, you know, was there anything Monica could have said? Nope, nope, nope.

And I knew that.

You made the choice to be you and to say like stay true to yourself and you know, not grovel if it you didn't feel like it was worth anything.

Yeah, I mean I think too, what was hard? Is I I was I was blindsided. If I'm being completely honest, I knew that they were going to play recordings, but I I did not know that my best friend gave them every effing recording I had ever sent her in my life, you know, a rant on a random Tuesday venting to my best friend. I had no idea they were going to play that. So that happened in the first ten minutes. I mean it was right out the gate.

Yeah. And I'm guessing if the producers did their job, they prepped the other women.

Yeah, I'm sure they knew.

They were prepped, and they had already been given the tape.

You were probably like even almost like a little tense, like well, what else is going to happen?

Like you were kind of in fighted, like.

Yeah, well, and then when I went to show the burn book that the way that that was shut down or not shown was really frustrating because I had to sit there and listen to recordings of myself, but I wasn't given an inch to talk about any of the stuff that I had do you know what, I mean, and I'm not blaming Andy Cohen. I'm not because he did give me multiple times that I could have said something.

So I mean, it was just like, what are we doing here?

Yeah, when you know the deck is stacked against you, it's a yeah. You definitely get that feeling of what's the point and you kind of shut down.

Now that you have, you.

Know, other platforms, Is there anything you want to clear up any misconceptions or things edited wrong or portrayed wrong from your opinion from the season.

Oh my gosh, girl, we don't have enough time.

Like, honestly, really and truly, I do think that the biggest thing I am owning that I made mistakes. I am not saying that what I did was right. I got really caught up in my anger and discussed in what Genshaw was doing that I did take things too far and you know, did these little drive buys and you know whatever.

I shouldn't have done that.

But I do think too that, like, let's be honest, you are sitting with me, who made a mistake, and you're sitting with Heather who made a huge mistake, So why are we only forgiving one of us?

I just I did feel like that was that was really shitty.

I think, you know, lying to the officers, lying to lawyers, investigators, a network production is kind of more severe.

But I guess I'm wrong.

The black Eye is such a good point, Like it's such a good point. The Jenshaw literally punched another cast member in the face.

All So, I mean, do you think there's because, like Chris just said, Monica, you know, I am sitting there with twenty years of reality TV experience. He's thinking, get her back on the network, and we want to see more of this great TV you bring? Is there any inroad? Like, of all the cast members, which of them do you think you could come.

Back in with?

If at all?

I actually really feel you know, Mary Cosby and I are great. She's amazing, She's been so supportive and wonderful to me. Meredith and I think Meredith is actually really smart and she is a business woman. I think she would be open to, you know, allowing me to come back. She and I also didn't have any like crazy major beef. And then you know, Whitney and I really didn't have any issues. I think those would be the only ones.

I don't I don't know. I also didn't think that women were allowed to do that on these shows.

That's the thing I'm shocked to hear that they have that much power that they would determine who the cast is because they're not gonna because I'll be honest, they're not going to determine what the best television is. They're going they're going to assume that they're interesting enough and people just want to know what they're doing. And that's not good television. What's good TV is what we just watched, and that is conflict and drama and the good, the bad,

Let any new women in that. I think if you had their say, it would just be them and that's it till the end of time. And so yeah, one hundred percent agree with you.

I did. I mean, everyone was like, there's no way and they got what they wanted. They did.

Okay, before we let you go, can we go? Yeah, LZ, do I have to ask? I know, I know you weren't in the van. But there was a scene in Palm Springs. Oh he's going way I'm going way back. I'm going way way back.

I love it.

Can we ask about this or should we just skip it?

Ask me whatever you want. I'm here, I'm loving it.

Ask me whatever you want the scene.

But was it Whitney, Who was it that got so drunk? Who was it Heather?

Heather?

When Heather was so drunk in the van towards the beginning of the season, did she pee puke or both?

Look, I'm going to tell you that I was not in the van when that happened, but I was told that it was both.

Okay, because Lauren and I replayed it several times. I go, that's not puke. I think she's literally peeing her pants. I think she's being in the van.

Yeah, one hundred percent.

I think it's funny because Heather went and did this interview where she said Monica shit on the show she shit on you know this, she hit on that, and she didn't you know, housewives is a caliber and I'm like, girl, literally pissed yourself and threw up on national. You have bigger issues to worry about.

Than me, Like come on, no, oh, Monica, I don't know what will become of you. But again I'm going to say, I think we have not seen the last of you. And I was really happy to hear you were coming on the most dramatic podcast ever because Louren and I desperately wanted to talk and get your side of the story. So truly appreciate your time.

I'm so grateful you guys, Thank you so much. This has been just check Bok off the list. This is just incredible, So thank you for having me.

Thank you, and again we want to see you on TV again, so wherever it is, know that we will be tuning in.

Thank you, min.

Thank you you guys. Have a good day.

Thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram at the most Dramatic Pod Ever and make sure to write us a review and leave us five stars. I'll talk to you next time.