At long last, The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is finally back on TV screens and by the looks of last night’s premiere, Bravo fans are in for a thrilling season.
As theGrio previously reported, The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is Bravo’s latest hit. After a knockout freshman year, the ladies are back for their sophomore season, with all six original housewives returning along with newbie Jennie Nguyen.
What sets this season apart, however, is the stirring legal drama surrounding housewife Jen Shah, and the premiere wasted no time showing fans exactly what went down while filming this year.
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Season 2 Premiere
Cameras roll during Shah’s arrest
As TheGrio reported earlier this year, Shah was indicted and arrested in a federal telemarketing fraud case in March. While it was widely speculated that cameras were rolling during the arrest, fans finally got a look at the epic day as Bravo kicked off the season two premiere with the footage.
Jumping ahead two months, the scene features Heather Gay, Whitney Rose, Lisa Barlow, Nguyen and Shah getting ready to go on a cast trip, before Shah suddenly takes her mic off and flees, telling her co-stars she just “got a phone call and has to go.” Moments after she leaves, it is revealed in the press that Shah was indeed arrested and indicted, as the rest of the women are left to wonder if they really knew anything at all about their castmate.
Shah’s marital woes exposed
Flashing back to two months before the arrest, Barlow heads over to Shah’s new chalet. While giving her a tour of her home, Shah reveals that she almost divorced her husband, Sharrieff Shah, during quarantine.
She explains in a confessional, “We’ve been married 26 years, but this is the first time he ever said, ‘I am leaving you.'” Shah reveals that while they still have their struggles, they are currently together and in couples therapy.
Jen Shah and her husband Sharrieff Shah
Mary Cosby is as hilarious as ever
Mary Cosby was a stand-out star of the first season of RHOSLC, as theGrio previously reported. Cosby, who is the First Lady of Faith Temple Pentecostal Church and is married to her step-grandfather, has one of the most unconventional storylines in Housewives history, to say the least.
Outspoken and always keeping viewers on their toes, Cosby entered into the new season revealing she spent most of quarantine talking to herself (yes, talking to herself.) She reveals that, “it was not okay,” but started a podcast to help with the loneliness.
Enter Jennie Nguyen
The season two premiere wasted no time introducing viewers to the newest housewife, Nguyen. Per the official Bravo site: “Born in Vietnam, Jennie began her journey to the United States when she was just seven years old.”
In her first scene, Nguyen details her fascinating journey to the United States to Barlow’s children, sharing, “I lived through the war and because of the Communist country we needed to escape.”
As the first Vietnamese housewife, she recently told The Wrap, “I feel I need to represent my culture. Although I grew up in America, I still have my culture and my ancestry ingrained in me. I don’t want my kids to forget where we came from.”
Shah is a disaster on social media
Outside of her impending legal drama, it seems storms were brewing for Shah long before the Feds got involved. Housewife Meredith Marks kicks off the season ready to defend her son, Brooks Marks, who Meredith feels has been bullied by Shah via social media.
After Shah liked homophobic comments about Brooks (who has yet to identify his sexuality to Shah or publicly at all), Meredith is not happy with her. She shares in a confessional, “He’s figuring things out…leave him alone!”
Marks is not the only one clocking Shah’s social media behavior. In the premiere, Gay reveals Shah shared posts calling her a “racist.” This seems to be a pattern with Shah, who also called Cosby, the only Black cast member on RHOSLC, a racist in season one. In the premiere, while the two are at lunch, Cosby tells Gay, “People show you who they are…. believe ’em.”
Season 2 of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City will continue to air Sunday nights on Bravo. The first episode is available to view now on Bravo’s official YouTube account.
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