We need to talk about RHOSLC
Bravo's Salt Lake City franchise is not going well
On Friday, Real Housewives of Salt Lake City castmember Jen Shah was sentenced to 6.5 years in federal prison for wire fraud. It turns out her seemingly vast wealth was earned selling services of no value to mostly elderly people. Some lost everything, many more are in crushing debt.
The Jen Shah criminal train left the station in March 2021 when she was arrested returning from a RHOSLC girls’ trip. For the next year, she strenuously maintained her innocence, but abruptly pleaded guilty in July 2022 (after her “first” assistant pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government). Friday’s sentencing was the end of the line.
But the problem for Bravo was that the third season of RHOSLC had already been filmed.
The show was already a trainwreck. Original castmember Mary Crosby left the show after castmates insinuated that she was running a cult (not criminal) that bilked its congregation out of cash (definitely criminal) and after she made overtly racist comments to multiple members of the cast. When it was clear the reunion would be tough, she just didn’t show up.
Season two addition Jenny Nguyen was fired when her vile Facebook posts about Black Lives Matter surfaced. It’s as if Bravo never bothered to check her social presences (frankly stunning given that housewives are expected to be social media stars) or do basic oppo research on talent before hiring them. And in season three, regular addition Angie Harrington’s husband opens a fake Instagram account that, among other things, harrasses Jen Shah and Lisa Barlow. And no one cares.
But Jen Shah’s conviction and sentencing brings up much more serious issues. She spends the entirety of season three professing her innocence, like the show was airing in a universe in which we all didn’t know she’d pleaded guilty. We see her let her mother drain her 401k to help pay for lawyers. We see her lying to her kids and husband, Coach Sharrief. Her bizarre ride or die friendship with Heather Gay is cringeworthy in real time. Maybe, by doing most of her confessionals dressed in an outfit that makes her look like the Hamburglar, she was trying to tell us something.
“The only thing I’m guilty of is being Shah-mazing”
At the end of the day, there’s a bright line between being brave and being sloppy. It’s brave to put diverse women on screen and create a lush, guilty pleasure of a show. It’s sloppy to create a platform for casual racism, internet bullying, and outright criminality.
Bravo was sloppy with casting in the first place (see Mary, Jenny, and Jen), and sloppy when they allowed Jen Shah to return for season three - not to mention making her innocence a core part of her narrative arc. They were sloppy for not editing, ex-post facto, to minimize her impact, and sloppy to ignore the guilty plea.
If Bravo wants us to enjoy their guilty pleasures, they need to do better.
P.S. This is the best scene ever filmed on RHOSLC