Vasana Montgomery, 25, a business owner from Beaverton, Oregon, was dismissed from the upcoming Season 8 just days before the premiere, making it the second consecutive year the show has faced this situation. Two different videos of Montgomery circulated online showing her using the N-word: in one, she says it while appearing to play a shooting game at an arcade; in another, she is in a car rapping along to a song that uses the word.
A Peacock spokesperson confirmed the videos appear to have been privately owned and were not publicly shared until after her cast announcement, making them inaccessible to vetters before her removal. Montgomery has not publicly addressed the footage.
The removal follows an almost identical situation from Season 7, when Yulissa Escobar was pulled from the villa during the second episode after videos surfaced of her using the same slur. Later that season, Cierra Ortega also exited following backlash over a separate racist term she claimed she had no idea was a slur.
The back-to-back incidents raise pointed questions about the limits of pre-production vetting. The show screens public social media accounts before casting is finalized, but privately held videos — shared only after a contestant’s name becomes searchable — expose a gap that producers have now failed to close for two consecutive seasons. Fan reaction on social media was swift and unforgiving, with viewers drawing immediate comparisons to Escobar’s exit and questioning how the show could allow the pattern to repeat.
The controversy lands as the show heads into one of its highest-profile premieres yet. Season 7 became Peacock’s most-watched original series, accumulating 18.4 billion minutes of watch time across its six-week run, and Season 8 carries significant commercial stakes for the streamer. The series is hosted by Bravo star Ariana Madix and premieres June 2. It remains unclear whether production has already begun shooting and whether Montgomery had entered the villa before her removal was confirmed.
A person who identified themselves as a close friend of Montgomery’s wrote on Instagram that they were “trying to be a supportive friend,” while acknowledging the videos showed behavior they said they had never witnessed in five years of friendship. “People can change and grow and I will believe that until I am proven wrong,” the post read.
