Fans are still buzzing about the shocking "Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" finale that launched a thousand memes, and they can't stop asking each other this burning question: Did the producers know?
In a backstage interview with Bravo’s Andy Cohen after his appearance on TODAY Jan. 10, he addressed the controversial question head-on.
But first, let's remember the glorious, heart-stopping episode of television that even actor Jennifer Lawrence said deserved an Oscar: “Bad Mormon" Heather Gay announced to the other ladies that their “friend” Monica Garcia runs an Instagram troll account called “Reality Von (Tea)se.” Once the account completed its initial mission of discrediting former housewife Jen Shah, Gay alleges, it then attempted to discredit other housewives in the Salt Lake City franchise, including those seated around the dinner table in Bermuda at That. Very. Moment.
Fans are demanding answers. They want to know if the producers had knowledge that Garcia ran the troll account before they cast her in the show.
We don't want to Von (Tea)se you, so let's get right to it.
"We've been breaking the fourth wall on 'Housewives' more and more over the years. Sometimes it's unavoidable," he begins.
"The biggest question is, 'When did production find out?' And the answer is down south on this trip is when everyone found this out."
But that's not all Cohen had to say.
Gay was so magnificent in her exposition of Garcia that fans suspect she rehearsed her "lines" in advance of the "Bermuda Triangle" dinner party.
But what does Cohen think?
"I think she'd been thinking about it a lot. And I think she was fired up and upset and passionate," he says.
"One of the hardest things about this show is the social media conversation and aggression that happens as a result of it. And I think that the women were so upset because this played into something that they felt very upset by over the years. You know, listen, there's no guidebook for how to act when you become famous, and also how to act when people really start going after you on social media. So once you've been through it, you understand why people are so upset."
There you have it, folks. Case closed on another housewife mystery ... until part two and three of the reunion.
