The recent season finale of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City was one for the ages. In it, Queen Heather Gay reveals that newcomer, Monica Fowler? Garcia? (She’s got a million different last names. Well, only three, but still), is one of the people behind Reality Von (Tea)se, a troll Instagram account. This account has gone after the Housewives but was especially focused on bringing down former Housewife and current federal inmate Jen Shah. Heather brings this to the other core Housewives’ attention in a meeting on the beach and then later confronts Monica at a dinner. The confrontation and reveal were a moment in television history. IT WAS EPIC.
The Core Four on the beach after Heather revealed the information about Monica.
I’ve been watching the Housewives from the beginning when Jeana Keogh and Vicki Gunvalson beckoned us into the gated community of Coto de Caza in Orange County, California. I was there for Scary Island on RHONY. Theresa’s table flip on RHONJ.
The original Housewives.
I’ve been there since the beginning. I watched the shitty seasons. And much like Scandoval, my loyalty has been rewarded.
RHOSLC has been a pretty solid city since the beginning. I mean, Mary Cosby is married to her step-grandfather. Jen Shah went to federal prison for defrauding old people. The feds literally showed up to the Beauty Lab and Laser parking lot when the group was getting ready to leave for a trip. The show delivers.
But this time was different. The group was infiltrated by a troll. By a fan. By someone that worked to take the group down.
Jen Shah deserved to be trolled. She defrauded the elderly through her company for years for millions of dollars. She needed to be taken down. She’s also just a trash person who got what was coming for her. Karma is a real bitch and Jen is now wearing an orange jumpsuit. Shit happens.
But the fact that someone behind one of the many Bravo Instagram accounts was able to make it onto the show is beyond. It’s like an armchair quarterback walking onto a NFL team and winning the Super Bowl. It just doesn’t happen.
Monica was nuts from the beginning. She has a, to say the least, volatile relationship with her mother. At one point during the season, her mom basically steals her car. She cheated on her husband with her brother-in-law. She has an Etsy shop that’s basically cut up fabric she sells as swaddle blankets. She’s a mess and great television.
Monica whatever her last name is.
And I’ll give her some credit, she admitted to being behind the account after Heather confronted her. Not immediately, but she did fess up. Heather delivered a speech that applicants should use as their monologue when applying to theatre school. I wish I was still a high school speech nerd so I could use it in competition.
Part of why the reveal was so great was because it came out of nowhere. All we knew was there was some kind of phone call in Bermuda, where the ladies were on vacation. And except for Lisa Barlow cropping Monica out of a photo, the ladies didn’t say a thing. They kept their mouths shut until the show aired. And we the viewers, got to delight in finding out that way, instead of across social media before the season aired.
Heather Gay, right after the reveal.
I loved the finale and can’t wait to watch the reunion with all my friends. Monica made a splash as a first year housewife and I hope that she’s one and done. She doesn’t need to come back. The women aren’t going to film with her, and I don’t blame them. You can’t go full on super villain and expect to be part of the group anymore. She’s very reminiscent of Danielle Staub on RHONJ. Danielle was alienated from the group in the early seasons, but eventually made her way back into Theresa’s circle and back on the show. But it took almost a decade for that to happen. If Monica were to return, it would have to be after a long break.
She made her mark and moved from the JV squad to Bravo royalty in one season, no small feat. So thank you, Monica, for such a season finale. And thank you to Heather Gay for her investigation and reveal. Y’all are divas.
It may seem silly to write about something this trivial, especially with the state of the world. It may seem silly to have such a history with the Housewives. I mean, I’ve watched them for almost 20 years.
But I view watching the Housewives as a radical act. Buckle up and stay with me.
From left: Bethany Frankel, Vicki Gunvalson, Kandi Burruss, Theresa Guidice, and Lisa Vanderpump.
Anything feminine is viewed negatively in the patriarchal society in which we live. Anything that’s specifically for female pleasure is considered bad. It’s behind the idea of a guilty pleasure - why is something that brings you joy bad? Just because something isn’t serious or scholarly doesn’t make it inherently a negative. If it brings you joy, and it’s not hurting someone else, what the fuck is wrong with it?
The Housewives are frivolous. But they’re also revolutionary. They’re totally stuck in a binary and in many ways play into negative female stereotypes. But where else can you see middle aged women on television consistently? Where else can you see a full range of female emotion celebrated? Where else can you watch women just live?
These are all cis, mostly white, rich ladies. But we watch them fall from grace. We watch them start to make their own money and leave dirtbag husbands. We get to watch them make mistakes, fight with each other, and make up (sometimes). We get to watch them be revealed as a troll. We get to watch them be.
Many would argue my love for Housewives is basic. And maybe it is. But it’s also subversive to watch something so focused on female pleasure. Do I think these ladies are feminist icons? No. Do I love watching inherently flawed women act out and act up? Yes.
I don’t know the politics of many of the ladies, and in some cases, I don’t want to. I stopped watching Orange County in the Trump years because I couldn’t stomach the thought of watching conservative women. Even if they were acting like assholes and making themselves look bad.
Maybe that makes me a hypocrite. I’m someone who knows
politics is personal. It's a privilege to not pay attention to politics. There are laws in this country restricting my reproductive rights. And I can bet many of the Housewives are ok with that. Maybe they aren’t. Maybe I’ll never know.
But even if they vote against their and my interests in the voting booth, I’m still going to watch them. And it’s still going to be a radical act. Because in a world that white, male, boomers have ruined, leaning into my pleasure and joy as a woman is radical. My sheer existence as a queer woman pisses them off. And my Housewives obsession? I know it bothers them.
So as long as I’m pissing off the patriarchy, I’m going to keep watching my Housewives. Might I recommend you do the same.