Season three of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City has all led to this.
Jen Shah's federal fraud case drama finally culminated on the Bravo reality show's Jan. 11 season finale, as fans got an inside look into the days leading up to Jen's guilty plea in July 2022.
Following the conclusion of Heather Gay's Bad Mormon book cover reveal party, the episode flashes forward three months and picks up with Jen and her husband Sharrieff Shah (a.k.a. Coach) arriving in New York City for her trial. Heather and co-star Meredith Marks showed their support by joining Jen in the Big Apple.
While out at lunch with Meredith and Heather, Meredith's husband Seth Marks asks the ladies if they've ever questioned Jen about her guilt or innocence. "When your friend looks you in the eyes and says, 'I am innocent of this,'" Heather confidently responds, "you say, 'Then I will support you in whatever path you're gonna take.'"
Though Heather promised to have Jen's back no matter what, all that changed after Jen changed her initial not guilty plea to guilty. The episode features clips of Jen exiting a NYC courthouse, followed by a screen that reads, "On July 11, 2022, Jen Shah pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She has been sentenced to 6.5 years in prison."
Back home in Utah, Heather states that she feels "overwhelmed with grief" while having lunch with co-star Lisa Barlow, adding, "Grief that we are in this situation, that there's victims, that our friend is going away for a decade and she has a 16-year-old." Jen and Sharrieff share two sons, Sharrieff Jr., 28, and Omar, 16.
The situation has Lisa feeling just as emotional, as she adds, "I didn't want to believe that Jen was capable of doing any of that."
After Jen spent the entire season—as well as most of season two—proclaiming her innocence, Heather has a theory as to why Jen chose to plead guilty rather than fight her charges.
"I think that Coach discovered what Jen was doing and that it was impossible to explain away," she speculates to Lisa. "There was something that they could not get out of, and it was a smoking gun that said, 'Okay, the gig is up. You have to walk in there, you have to say you did these things and you have to go to prison for a decade.'"
"I think she did it," Heather continues as Lisa holds back tears. "I think she did it and I think she's choking on the words and she doesn't want to say it. It's too big, and the penalties are too big."
Fans may have to wait a while to hear the cast's—including Whitney Rose and friends-of Angie Harrington, Angie Katsanevas and Danna Bui-Negrete—reaction to Jen's prison sentencing, as the show's upcoming season three reunion was filmed before she was sentenced to six-and-a-half-years behind bars on Jan. 6.