‘Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’ Will Reportedly Be the Next Franchise Put on ‘Pause’ Amid Major Fan Backlash
Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is only in season 3, but a major cast shake-up is coming. At least, that’s the best-case scenario. Thanks to the recent sentencing of Jen Shah, we already know RHOSLC is losing one cast member. But amid major fan backlash, the series will reportedly be put on “pause” with no guarantee of a return for season 4.
‘Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’ is reportedly being put on ‘pause’ after season 3
Season 3 of RHOSLC has focused on the drama of Jen Shah and her telemarketing fraud case, which recently ended with a guilty plea and a prison sentence. On January 6, Shah was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in federal prison, plus five more years of supervised probation. She is scheduled to surrender herself on February 17.
But, the loss of Shah isn’t the only issue that producers are facing. According to a recent report from Deux Moi, RHOSLC is actually close to getting a “no plans to bring it back” announcement, just like Real Housewives of Dallas, unless the producers can find a whole new cast.
“After a whole season with practically no storylines (and an even worse reunion that hasn’t aired yet), execs seem to be scrambling with the SLC housewives,” a source shared, per All About TRH. “None of the women have received deals for a 4th season which was supposed to start filming this month and has now been pushed to ‘probably February’ with no specific date.”
Major fan backlash could mean no one is safe
The source continued, claiming that Lisa Barlow was the only cast member who was “safe.” The problem is, she’s “very difficult to cast around.”
“Seems like a major casting shakeup or a Dallas style ‘no plans to bring it back’ announcement is imminent,” the insider claimed.
Along with Barlow and Shah, the current cast of RHOSLC includes Meredith Marks, Whitney Rose, and Heather Gay. Many fans are over the moon that Shah is going to prison — especially since she stole from the elderly. There’s also the fact that season 3 has been all about her and her supposed innocence, but she ended up pleading guilty in the end anyway.
Then there’s the issue of Heather Gay. Fans were not happy that she teased the black eye situation for so long after it first showed up in the season 3 trailer way back in November — and now they’re over it.
‘Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’ producer Andy Cohen says season 4 is still happening
Since Shah’s sentencing, executive producer Andy Cohen has made it clear that she won’t be coming back to the show because she’s going to prison. Essentially, the judge made that casting decision for him.
“I got so many tweets from people saying this has been such an interesting period where she’s been waiting to be sentenced, and people have been saying to me, ‘Well, is she on the show or not?’ I’m like, ‘Do you understand that this woman is being sentenced to jail on January 6th?’ “I don’t understand what people want me to say…. It seems like the judge figured it out for us, didn’t he?” Cohen said on his SiriusXM radio show.
Cohen did note, though, that he’s “feeling good” about RHOSLC Season 4 and claimed to “have excellent casting” in the works.
Real Housewives of Salt Lake City airs Wednesdays on Bravo.
