Heather Gay Finally Admits Who Gave Her the Season 3 Shiner

By Emma Chance | TV | January 3, 2024 |

By Emma Chance | TV | January 3, 2024 |

After much anticipation, season four of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City had its finale last night. Titled “Secrets, Revealed?” it was like Gossip Girl meets Pretty Little Liars meets Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” come to life. Newcomer Monica Garcia was outed as the face behind an Instagram burner account, operating under the moniker Reality Von Tease (inactive since 2022), with the sole mission of disparaging the names of the SLC Housewives, specifically Jen Shah, since season one. Garcia has claimed that she and many others, including a former hairstylist of fellow Housewife Heather Gay, ran the account, but that claim has yet to be authenticated.

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But it’s Heather Gay, and her revealed secret, that I’m here to talk about.

Let’s recap: Heather Gay was, by her own admission, Jen Shah’s “ride or die” friend. We watched her defend Shah for years, including after she was arrested, prosecuted, and jailed for fraud. Somewhere in the middle of Shah’s legal troubles, the SLC ladies went to San Diego for their season three girls’ trip. It was there, after a night of drinking, that Gay woke up with a black eye the likes of which a pro boxer would have winced at, as well as scratches and bruises all over her body.

After initially saying “I don’t want to get anyone in trouble,” “I need you to help me figure out if someone wants to talk about what really happened last night,” and “We need a cover story,” to Shah herself, Gay’s story has always been that she doesn’t remember what happened, that maybe she fell, that she was drunk, that it was a silly oopsie, etc. But everyone knew that Shah definitely beat her up because that just seemed like the kind of thing Shah would do. This was before Shah was convicted, so she was still maintaining her innocence. Maybe Gay knew the truth and threatened to reveal it and Shah started swinging, who knows? Someone like her probably didn’t need even that much of a reason.

And last night, at a Bermuda Triangle-themed dinner, right after exposing Garcia’s true identity, Gay finally confirmed that Jen Shah punched her in the face.

We will hopefully get the whole story at the reunion, coming January 9th, but honestly, I think Gay only finally admitted what we all already knew because she thought Garcia probably already knew too, and I doubt she’s any less afraid of Shah now than she was then, so I’m not holding out hope.