An icy showdown! Following a well-received debut on Bravo, The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City returned with a bigger and even more dramatic second season.
As viewers watched Lisa Barlow, Mary Cosby, Heather Gay, Meredith Marks, Whitney Rose, Jen Shah and Jennie Nguyen at odds on screen, the group gathered to address all the issues that went down between them during the sophomore season.
In January 2022, Andy Cohen revealed that the reunion special for RHOSLC marks a major milestone for the new year.
“First reunion of 2022 and it’s a biggie: #RHOSLC ! #BabyGorgeous #Snowbound,” the host captioned a selfie of him on set via Instagram. The Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen executive producer continued to tease what fans can expect to see as he shared clips of himself with the cast in-between filming.
Although none of the Housewives were visible in the footage, Andy and Lisa had a conversation about the progress that everyone was making after season 2.
“I think it is going good, I can’t wait to get into more!” the Vida owner said in the Instagram Story post at the time. “This afternoon is going to be rough. It’s a lot. I’m ready.”
A large plot point during season 2 was Jen’s arrest — which RHOSLC cameras captured on tape. In March 2021, Jen and her assistant Stuart Smith were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The case was later explored in Hulu’s The Housewife & the Shah Shocker documentary, which featured interviews from two alleged victims, the agents involved in the investigation and legal experts. Ahead of the doc’s November 2021 premiere, Stuart changed his initial not guilty plea and instead pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice.
“He admitted to hiding ownership and money, defrauding elderly people and lying to the Federal Trade Commission in a deposition, which constituted perjury,” attorney Ronald Richards, who is not involved with the case but who appeared in The Housewife & the Shah Shocker special, told Us Weekly that same month.
Another shocking story line was Mary’s controversial statements to newcomer Jennie. The self-proclaimed spiritual leader found herself in the hot seat when she told Jennie that she loved her “slanted eyes” during a December 2021 episode of the hit Bravo series.
Jennie explained to Mary that she shouldn’t “say things like that,” noting in a confessional, “It is insulting to our Asian culture to call me that, and it comes across as racist. And it’s shocking cause Mary should be more educated and understand it’s not appropriate to say stuff like that.”
In another episode, Mary again repeated the comments after Jennie tried to explain at a group event why she felt offended.
Mary, who previously was accused of making racist comments about Jen during season 1, went on to clarify that she didn’t “mean any harm” towards her costar, saying, “Like, for me, it’s a compliment. I will never walk down that road. I apologize.”
Scroll below to learn more about the season 2 reunion: