At first Bravo planned to put the show on hiatus until Teresa returned from Prison in 2016, but the New York Daily News is reporting that “producers now are hustling to keep their options open and have been quietly preparing for a new season without her.”
“They don’t know where it stands with Teresa doing the show or not doing the show or when she’s getting out,” an insider revealed. “So they’re prepping for either way. Anyway, they need to shake up the cast… last season’s cast was terrible.”
The site reports that a casting director for the producer of the show, Sirens Media, was given a deadline at the end of February to find someone to anchor the series alongside long-running cast member Melissa Gorga.
Bravo held a meeting last week where Johnson was named a front-runner and insiders say negotiations are underway. Producers are reportedly looking for a “big, over-the-top personality” to fill Teresa’s shoes and Johnson’s tendency for scandal appeals to them.
Barber met Johnson while she was an intern at NBC, while he was working for Today. He later left his wife, Ginny, then eight months pregnant, for Johnson. They married in 2012, just eight days after his divorce became final. Sources say the couple have been interested in doing reality TV for some time.
Reps for Bravo and Johnson both declined to comment.
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