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The RHOSLC OGs aren’t missing Jen Shah at all! The ladies are sharing how the show has changed without disgraced Housewife.
Real Housewives of Salt Lake City OGs Whitney Rose, Heather Gay, and Lisa Barlow are dishing on how they feel about continuing on with the franchise sans Jen Shah.
For the first three seasons of RHOSLC, the franchise was the Jen Shah Show. The show revolved around Jen’s drama with the other cast members and her highly publicized legal woes.
However, now that Jen Shah is behind bars, the franchise is getting a fresh start. More importantly, the Salt Lake City Housewives are getting a chance to step out of Jen Shah’s shadow.
During the season 4 premiere of RHOSLC, Heather Gay revealed that she was doing “surprisingly” well without Jen Shah in her life.
Heather explained: “I feel like a weight is lifted” now that Jen serving her five-year prison sentence.
In her confessional, Heather admitted, “I felt like I couldn’t be honest with Jen. With everything she had going on in her life, the stakes were way too high. It was not a time to talk about our friendship and to work on boundaries. But now that she is in prison, I feel like I can just shut the door on it and move on.”
Earlier in the episode, Heather said she received a ton of public scrutiny for her friendship with Jen.
“I’ve learned that hate is always going to come, but right now, I’m just trying to block out the haters and, for the first time, live my life authentically for me,” she said.
Lisa Barlow, on the other hand, is released that Jen Shah is no longer a part of RHOSLC. She believes that season 4 is the best season of the franchise to date.
“I literally think it’s our best season ever,” Lisa told Access Hollywood’s Housewives Nightcap. “It’s dynamic. It’s exciting.”
When asked what it was like filming without Jen Shah, Lisa had a very surprising answer.
“It was so different, and it was kind of a relief because everything had to be about Jen in the past. So, it wasn’t like you were seeing everybody else’s perspectives. It was like acquiescing to Jen,” Lisa explained.
She continued, “So, I think, you know, I hate to say this, but it wasn’t like I missed her. I forgot when we started filming that, like, hey, Jen used to be a part of this. There was so much other stuff going on that you didn’t miss that other element.”
Meanwhile, Whitney Rose says RHOSLC is a “breath of fresh air” without Jen Shah.
“I will say that season 4 kind of goes back to the original OG Salt Lake City roots,” Whitney explained on Teddi Mellencamp and Tamra Judge‘s Two T’s in a Pod podcast last month. “It very much is like season one in that the fights are lighter. They’re just as dramatic, but we’re not fighting over, you know, [Jen].”
The 36-year-old said, “Having Jen gone is like a breath of fresh air,” adding, “Honestly, it was so much easier.”
“I think it just felt weird not having her because she’s been an OG,” she elaborated. “We built the show with her. But I don’t think we missed her in the sense of toxicity — like we were able to all bond in a different way and get to know each other on a deeper level, and that was nice. And I don’t know if that’s Jen or if it’s just season four, the dynamics of it.”
RHOSLC airs on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
