“The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” star Jennifer Shah and her legal woes are the talk of the town — even thousands of miles away in Thailand.
Filming on “The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip” started in mid-July 2022 — two days after Shah plead guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud related to an alleged telemarketing scheme. It was a total change from the not-guilty plea she entered in court two months prior — and the innocence she professed throughout Season 3 of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.”
Shah wasn’t invited to Thailand (nor could she travel given her ongoing case), but her “RHOSLC” castmate and staunch supporter Heather Gay made the trip. And several housewives couldn’t wait to hear the latest from Gay, who was with Shah right until the moment she entered the courthouse.
They jumped on Gay the moment she entered the Thai resort, and grilled her about someone who isn’t even on the trip.
“This was a huge story!” Gizelle Bryant told TheWrap ahead of Thursday’s Season 3 premiere. “Heather had front-row seats to all that was going on with Jen. We needed to know what was happening. [Jen] had said that she was not guilty for over a year. And then all of a sudden, at the last minute, she pled guilty. So yeah, I wanted to tea! I need to know what’s going on.”
Candiace Dillard, Bryant’s “The Real Housewives of Potomac” costar and fellow “Girls Trip” attendee, felt the opposite.
“It was top of a lot of people’s minds,” Dillard admitted. “I personally was kind of lost on a lot of it. It just wasn’t interesting to me. And then you know, Heather, was or is best friends with Jen. So I get why people would expect her to have some answers. But some were asking her to be the mouthpiece for Jen Shah. And she clearly obviously doesn’t know anything. So you see me kind of zone out in some of that conversation!”
“The Real Housewives of Miami” cast had mixed feelings about all the Shah talk.
“I’m not so fascinated by her or what she did at this point,” Alexia Nepola said. “We all knew what she had done. So I really didn’t want it to be about her. Honestly, it bugged me a little bit. Because I’m like, “There’s so many things to talk about. We have a lot of things between us, so why would we be talking about her? But you know, I get it. It had just happened. Heather was coming back from New York. And Jen Shah had just pleaded guilty. So it makes sense to maybe mention it. But I just didn’t want to make it about her because there’s a reason why she wasn’t there.”
Marysol Patton disagreed.
“It was quite fun!” she replied. “I was like, “I can’t believe we get to hear this [firsthand]. And I can’t wait to hear the answer.”
“Each woman has plenty to talk about for the rest of the nine days,” Porsha Williams added. “So spending one day to get the tea on Jen was worth it.”
Shah’s name comes up later in the season when the topic of Gay’s black eye — the other major storyline from “Salt Lake City” comes up.
“I don’t know how I got it,” Gay says of her shiner.
“I thought Jen hit her,” Gay’s cousin and castmate Whitney Rose responded.
“I have figured this out,” declared Bryant. “Jen Shah punched Heather in the face. But if Heather tells anybody, then they’re going to put more years on the years that they’ve already given her in the clinker!”
Is Bryant right? You’ll have to watch “The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip” to hear exactly what Gay said about her now-incarcerated BFF.
“The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip” Season 3 premieres on Peacock Thursday.