The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City may only have five seasons under its belt, but this Bravo show seriously knows how to bring the drama. The third and final part of the reunion special was no different and for fans watching at home, it was one particular bit of conversation involving a former cast member that got people talking.
During the reunion special, the fact that Meredith Marks had previously taken a phone call from Jen Shah, who is currently serving a prison sentence for conspiracy to commit wire fraud because of a telemarketing scheme she was running.
Although this moment drew a lot of reactions from both viewers and fellow snowflake holders like Mary Cosby who questioned her decision to take the call, Meredith Marks is far from the only RHOSLC cast member who seems open to reconnecting with Jen Shah. Previously, Lisa Barlow said she's "open to anything" as far as Jen Shah returning to the show and has even gone so fasr as to call her "harmless" as long as you're not in the age range she was targeting.
Meanwhile, fellow former snowflake holder Monica Garcia hasn't been on the receiving end of such a favorable view from her co-stars. Monica Garcia appeared on a single season of RHOSLC and was removed from the cast after it was revealed that she was behind an Instagram account called Reality Von Tease, focused on posting gossip and rumors about the RHOSLC cast.
While it's fair to say that what Monica Garcia did to her co-stars was shady, backstabbing and bad behavior is at the forefront of the Real Housewives franchise, so why is it that when Monica Garcia does it, she's ostracized from the show and even Sutton Stracke calls her behavior "scary" while Jen Shah is sentenced to prison and called "harmless"?
Though some fans have pointed out that the problem stems from who the respective former cast member's victims are -- Monica Garcia was targeting the other RHOSLC stars with the posts on her drama account while Jen Shah was defrauding the elderly out of their money -- this comes into question when fans remember the mystery of Heather Gay's black eye. Who gave Heather a black eye was a question that persisted through season 3 until finally, in the following season, she admitted that it came from Jen Shah.
This revelation made many fans wonder what made her decide not to share the story sooner and some fans even believed that it was because she was trying to protect her attacker, but for what reason? Regardless of her reason for hiding the perpetrator of her black eye, it adds a new layer to the fact that the cast is willing to talk to and humor the idea of bringing back Jen Shah while continuing to feel betrayed by Monica Garcia.
Regardless of her reason, it brings one thing about the RHOSLC cast's double standard into view: harm to their group is seen as a worse offense than criminal activity done to outsiders and, even within their group, physical harm is harder to look past than public embarrassment. Jen Shah, despite being convicted of financial crimes, didn't harm the group's image or trust in a way that the group couldn't control the outcome of.
Heather Gay could have continued to hide the source of her black eye and no one would have known it came from Jen Shah, but the RHOSLC cast had no control over the posts on Reality Von Tease. Because of this, it's easier for them to see Jen Shah serving her prison sentence as her atoning for her crimes and forgive her for them, despite not being her victims, than it is for them to move past Monica Garcia's transgressions against the group.
Whether or not Jen Shah is brought back to The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City after her prison sentence comes to an end is unclear, but fans likely won't be shocked if she's welcomed back after her release.