Real Housewives of Salt Lake City fans were stunned when star Jen Shah was arrested on Tuesday for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering as part of a telemarketing scheme. Along with her “first assistant” Stuart Smith, Jen allegedly created and sold “lead lists”, aka names of individuals 55 and older to be targeted for scams. She now faces up to 30 years in prison. Like Erika Jayne and Teresa Giudice’s legal drama before her, Bravo fans can’t get enough.
In addition to these newsworthy criminal allegations, Jen certainly made a name for herself during season 1. She openly flaunted her wealth and luxuries, like having multiple assistants. But it was so unclear how she got this money that fans were already suspicious well before the arrest. Andy Cohen even asked how she got so rich on the reunion. While trying to explain, she more or less described the lead list scam. As the headline-making drama unfolded, eyes turned to her co-star’s social media.
Us Weekly reported on some of the reactions. Heather Gay sent a dm to writer Evan Ross Katz, reading “I AM SHOOKETH”. Evan tweeted it out, although that appears to have been deleted. Series breakout Brooks Marks, the son of Meredith Marks, posted a lip sync to Nicki Minaj lyrics “She threw dirt on my name, ended up at her own burial”, that seemed very pointed. After the video was reposted to Bravo fan accounts, his mother argued with commenters, insisting it wasn’t aimed at anyone. Brooks had his own beef with Jen after she insulted his clothing line. But Jen’s co-stars weren’t they only ones talking about it. As it turns out, a number of Bravolebrities are just as into the drama as Bravo viewers.
Heather Dubrow spoke about it on her podcast, expressing bafflement that Jen would go on reality tv and not expect this to come out. Below Deck alum Kate Chastain joked on Twitter, captioning a photo showing calls from Below Deck Mediterranean’s Bobby Giancola, a telemarketer, and a spam risk, with “I don’t mean to brag but I received calls from a lot of Bravolebs last week.” Responding to a thread of Jen struggling to explain her career, Summer House‘s Kyle Cooke tweeted “I checked out her IG link 2 months ago and it led nowhere lol.” RHOBH’s Teddi Mellencamp and Kyle Richards showed up in the comments section of a @queensofbravo photo from the courthouse. After joking that Teddi was in the picture, Kyle wrote, “The way we have been reporting back and forth today I am thinking maybe we should just head over there.”
The case will probably get a lot messier. And with each new development, more shady reactions will surely follow. Real Housewives of Salt Lake City season 2 is already into production, and it’s been reported that Jen’s arrest was caught on camera. Fans will highly anticipate witnessing the on-camera reactions as well.
