A real change is reportedly coming to The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.
According to Page Six insiders, the Bravo franchise is looking to recast a trio of its lead stars… one of which is obviously Jen Shah, who is heading to prison next month for over six years due to her role in a nationwide fraud scheme.
She won’t be seen on television for quite awhile as a result.
But two other Utah-based stars are also on their way out.
“They held auditions in the fall,” reports the aforementioned outlet, adding of producers:
“They were looking to replace three of them. They hadn’t decided if some of the ‘friends of’ would be promoted or if they’d find new talent.”
As for who remains safe? Who viewers can count on seeing throughout Season 4?
Meredith Marks, Heather Gay, Lisa Barlow and Whitney Rose will all return, Page Six claims, which means both Jennie Nguyen and Mary Cosby may be seeking new employment in 2023.
One of the newer shows in the enormous Real Housewives universe, the Salt Lake City franchise has become too “dark,” this source explains; hence the basis for this forthcoming cast shake-up.
The source may be referring to the recent scandal surrounding the series when Gay mysteriously got a black eye — and refused to divulge how she got it.
As you might expect, this caused fans to come up with hundreds of theories, many of which centered around domestic violence of some kind.
Not exactly the sort of rumor you want floating around about your program, you know?
Barlow and Marks, for their part, have not reconnected ever since Barlow accused Marks of “f-cking half of New York” — among several other cruel claims– in a heated hot mic rant from Season 2.
Things have become more awkward between the pair than entertaining at this point.
“They’re trying to bring in new women to lighten it up,” this insider alleges, adding that the women executives looking for must “over-the-top” because, come on…
… this is still The Real Housewives.
Shah’s legal woes, meanwhile, began playing out when she was arrested in March 2021 for running a giant telemarketing scheme (targeting the elderly) while filming Season 2 of the hit Bravo reality show.
She strongly maintained her innocence for months, but then switched her plea to guilty just days before she was set to stand trial in July.
“Jen Shah deeply regrets the mistakes that she has made and is profoundly sorry to the people she has hurt,” Shah’s attorney said in a statement at the time of her conviction earlier this month.
“Jen has faith in our justice system, understands that anyone who breaks the law will be punished, and accepts this sentence as just.”
Shah had been planning to sit down with Andy Cohen and delve into the details behind her arrest and sentencing… but then canceled this special a few days ago.
“I will not be doing the 1:1 with Andy Cohen and Bravo because of their unwillingness to remove contractual provisions that would allow the network to legally make misrepresentations of me and my story,” Shah wrote via Instagram on Thursday.
Part 1 of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City reunion airs Wednesday, January 25 at 8/7c on Bravo.
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City: MAJOR Cast Shake-Up on Season 4?!? was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip .
