Real Housewives of Potomac alum Monique Samuels was asked to join a coveted new show, Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip, but she turned down the offer. Many fans are wondering why she rejected the Bravo gods when dozens of other alums would have begged for the position.
The star ended her journey with the network in 2021. Monique’s drama with Candiace Dillard Basset reached a boiling point at her final reunion, culminating in a heated fight. After leaving the show, Monique joined Love & Marriage: DC, created by a former Real Housewives producer.
In an interview with Insider, Monique shared why she rejected Bravo’s RHUGT offer (even though she hadn’t seen the first season).
“It just wasn’t what I wanted to do,” said Monique. “I didn’t feel like I could be the same Monique that people were accustomed to seeing anymore when it came to that particular franchise and that particular network, because there was so much toxicity there.”
She went on, “I did not want to be in a position where I was expected to bicker and argue with a bunch of women.”
“I’ve never watched any of the ‘Girls Trip’ shows that they do. All I knew was at that time when Andy [Cohen] asked me, I just had no desire to be back on that network,” Monique explained.
“It doesn’t even matter about the cast or who is the production company for the show,” she added. “I just had no desire to go back to that network. I just didn’t want to do it.”
The star also spoke with ET, revealing she’d never go back to Bravo — but she admitted that RHOP helped save her marriage to ex-NFL player Chris Samuels.
“People always say that reality TV tears your marriage down. What people don’t realize is that Real Housewives of Potomac actually in some ways saved my marriage,” she said. “Chris and I, before we started filming that show, we were in a really rough place.”
“We had lost all of the dating in our marriage,” Monique added. “Once we started filming reality TV, it actually helped us because it forced us to date. So we were able to get out, just reignite that intimacy and be excited about each other. So I will not lie, season two RHOP saved my marriage. And at the end of the day, sometimes you still have to come back to those moments.”