Heather Gay and Whitney Rose from RHOSLC told me which housewife they want to fight
Not to be dramatic, but interviewing Heather Gay and Whitney Rose from The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City might’ve been the best day of my life.
In case you weren’t already aware, Real Housewives is a massive part of my existence. These women are very important to me. Not a day goes by where I’m not quoting one of the many iconic, sometimes niche, lines from the ladies. I’m constantly watching a season. Right now I’m rewatching New York from the beginning (for the fifth time) while simultaneously watching the new season and the new season of Salt Lake City. So yeah, safe to say that the show occupies almost all of my brain.
If you were to ask me, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, New York, and Atlanta have always been staples in my viewing. But ever since I took a chance on watching the very first season as it aired, the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City has completely changed my life. All five seasons I’ve been entertained, captivated, and in awe of these women. Who knew there was so much untapped, unhinged energy in Utah? Arrests, bar fights, black eyes, troll accounts, mafia accusations and Mormonism, Salt Lake City has truly got it all.
So naturally I almost fainted when the opportunity to chat to iconic cousins and frenemies Heather Gay and Whitney Rose in the flesh came up. (They’re friends right now, don’t worry everyone.) And not to brag, but we’re all best friends now. In fact, Heather and Whitney said that we’re actually cousins on the account that we’re all bottle blondes.
We giggled, we chatted about juicy gossip, and most importantly, we took a lot of selfies in their bedroom. You can watch all of that chaos below.
And if you want to read all the cheeky things the gals and I spoke about, here’s our chat.
Punkee: If at any point during this interview, I pass out, that’s because I’m mega fans of you both and of Housewives in general. I was actually front row yesterday at the panel, and I had to leave if you saw that weird, tall person run away because I was so flustered in your presence.
Whitney Rose: I thought we said something offensive and I was like, why did that tall handsome man?
Thank you. Your cousin!
Heather Gay: It’s cause he’s such a great character, like a candy wrapper in the middle of a pensive scene.
I was just adding mystery to make you think, who’s that person? And then where did you run off to? Now I’m here.
HG: Don’t leave!
WR: Where did you run off to?
Just outside, I had to jet.
HG: To hyperventilate in a brown paper bag?
Yeah.
HG: You’ve recovered and you’re here.
Thank you, but I might pass out. Anyways!
HG: Mouth to mouth, I call dibs first. You can do the chest compressions.
WR: I’m great at compression.
Thank you. Love that. It seems like the Utah girlies are dominating reality TV right now. We’ve got Real Housewives of Salt Lake City and we have the Secret Lives and Morman Wives. Why is Utah like a breeding ground for iconic reality TV?
HG: I think they’ve seen the success of our friends and our show, and they want a piece of the pie so to speak.
WR: Yeah. I mean, we definitely paved the way but Salt Lake City is a hidden gem. The culture there is just so unique and dynamic, and I think people don’t expect it, because when you think of Salt Lake, what do you think of? Have you ever heard of Salt Lake before? Housewives. Exactly. But the culture is so wack, so dynamic and fabulous
HG: And layers upon layers upon layers of confidence and drama.
WR: It’s like, majestically beautiful,
HG: But like Momtok is basically who we were twenty years ago.
WR: Fifteen.
HG: Seven years ago, and so it’s interesting to see us seven years ago and how far we’ve come, and we hope the best for them as well.
Did you know that there’s another Whitney with a cunty Bob?
WR: Yes.
And what do you think about that? Who’s winning the Bob off?
WR: Um, hello. I’m doing the full Robert.
You’ve stolen the game.
HG: It has been bad press for our brand as cousins because I am not related to the other Whitney with the… cunty bob.
WR: Well, mine’s not cunty. Mine’s a full send Robert.
HG: I tripped on the word because I didn’t think I could say it.
WR: Can we say that word? He said it first.
HG: Are we fired? I knew I’d get cancelled.
No, not by me babe, you’re okay. Like Cuntalicia Jones.
HG: I say the See You Next Tuesday word this season. I don’t know if they’ll use it or not.
WR: Did you? I called someone a cunt this season. Who did you call?
Who?
HG: Who did you call a cunt? Me?
WR: No.
HG: Hold on. I don’t want to know.
WR: Your new best friend.
HG: Ask me who?
WR: Who did you call?
HG: Myself.
I have the vibes that bad weather is slowly back on track, and it’s nice to see you become friends again. Cousins, first, friends mending bridges in this season, at least. How has that relationship been? How is it going to become friends again?
HG: Well, if I were a forecaster, I’d say sunny skies with few clouds ahead. This trip has been amazing for our ‘friendship’.
WR: Why did you do the quotes?
HG: I thought it’d be funny, to serve See you next Tuesday. This trip has been really, really fun for us, because the last international trip we took was not so fun. It was to Thailand for Ultimate Girls Trip. And we just had a rocky road since season three, really, but the love has always been there. It’s pretty effortless for us to be together. And so, I feel like this has been the best of our lives.
WR: We literally have not even been here for two days, and it has been magical.
HG: I thought we’ve had two years. It’s been 84 years in Sydney.
WR: It’s just good to remember how much Heather loves me, to the point where she slept in my bed every night. We’ve had a sleepover both nights. We love Australia, we’re having a brilliant time.
Whitney, what’s going on with your Meredith this season?
WR:Oh my God, I don’t know. There’s a term in reality TV where you just say, ‘you’re welcome for storyline’. Thank you for storyline, because she just picks me. I don’t know, like I don’t understand the bath bomb thing. When I launched Iris and Beau in 2016 I launched, literally, with bath bombs. The jewellery thing came to me. I didn’t intentionally start a jewellery brand to step on hers like Prisms’ so different. It’s more about my healing journey so I don’t know what it is about Meredith, because one minute, I think that we are sincerely like sisters and great friends, and we go from I love you’s to having the best time, to her wanting to kiss me to I turn my back, and there’s just another dagger in it, so I don’t know what it is. I’ve kind of just moved on from it so that I can enjoy my other friendships for now. Like I don’t have anything bad to say about her.
Were there any fights across the five seasons that never aired that you thought were going to make the cut?
HG: We never know what’s going to make the cut ever.
WR: Yeah, it’s terrifying.
HG: And I think every minute we’re on screen should make the cut quite frankly, no, our fights usually just get skirted into the bad weather pile. We fight a lot.
You have a proxy fight, like people are fighting, and then it’s like, oh, they’re going at each other, but like, you guys have figured it out, and then it’s back to the main argument. I kind of love it. How long glam takes before you film a scene?
WR: It depends if we do it or if we hire it.
HG: Everyone has their own system. Do you want to know my personal system? So when we’re filming, I have a glam team that comes to the house at 6am and we’re done by 7:30am and then I just am ready to go
WR: Mine’s similar but I actually really enjoy doing my own makeup, so I do my makeup a lot. In fact, my regular glam in Utah, they’re always like, you didn’t tag me. I’m like, I did that. But however, now I’m in Australia and working with Heidi, and it has been amazing to have someone follow us around all day like it has been amazing. Heidi’s a beautiful artist, so it’s been amazing. We love glam.
Who is a housewife from any franchise that you would never want to fight with, and one that you think I could take them on?
HG: Oh my gosh. I would want to fight with all of them, and I would want them all to take me on, if I could have the honour.
WR: I would love to be read by Nene Leaks, like, I would love for her just to walk through my house and read me. Who is the one person you wouldn’t want to take on?
HG: Who wouldn’t you want to take on? Take me on right now.
WR: I have. Every season, it’s terrible.
HG: I haven’t unleashed the Kraken on you yet.
WR: I feel like when we were on Girls Trip we got to take on some pretty heavy hitters in Thailand.
HG: I didn’t fight with anyone in Thailand, besides you.
WR: We fought with everyone. That’s great.
I would never want to be anywhere near a fight with Kenya Moore.
HG: Kenya is cool.
I mean, please Kenya, love you so much, but the way that she reads those girls, drags them through.
HG: It’s like asking a football player, who wouldn’t you want to play a game with? Yeah, there’s no one. I would want to engage with all of them. I have no fear. I’m dead inside. I feel no joy. I feel no fear. I just am here for the fight. I’m a gladiator. Put me in the ring. How about you?
WR: I actually was thinking Kenya Moore, I mean, for obvious reasons, because of what’s happened recently, you know, like, so there’s no limits, but she’s a great housewife.
Because Utah is so small, do you ever get stopped in the grocery store? Or people like, it’s just Whitney and Heather, or is it like, oh my God, I need paparazzi photos, autographs, signatures.
HG: We don’t have paparazzi, but we have our community. And I’ll tell you right now, Trader Joe’s, you can’t do Instacart, or, you know, DoorDash, like you have to go to Trader Joe’s. And I used to go to Trader Joe’s and thought nobody recognised me, just nobody cares. And then I had a strange encounter, and, they said, ‘Oh my gosh. I know I shouldn’t do this, but can I take a picture?’ I’m like, ‘Shouldn’t do this? This is what I was born to do!’ So I took a selfie, and the second I did that, like 15 people came out. And I was like, I come here all the time. I’m never recognised in the way I should be. It was so funny. You realise that they know who you are, and they’re also just letting you shop at the grocery store. But they should know we don’t want to shop. We want to take selfies.
WR: Sometimes I just want to run in and out. It’s amazing to travel all over the world. I mean, we’re here in Sydney getting recognised and asked for photos. It’s beautiful. It’s amazing. But I think there is something about being honoured and recognised in your community because that’s validating. That’s where you live, those are the people you know. It’s a really cool feeling, too.
HG: It’s a community, it’s not just like fandom.
WR: And we wouldn’t have this if we didn’t have the fans.
Thank you very much for speaking to me. I didn’t pass out. So go me. This whole time I was gonna, like, I was shaking up the website elevator. I was like, oh my god, I can’t do this. Massive fan of you both. Massive fan of the franchise. I’ve written many articles about housewives, so I’m very excited to have the opportunity to talk to you. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Written by Ky Stewart, who hasn’t stopped hyperventilating since their housewives encounter. You can follow them on socials at @ky.stewart23
Image credit: Punkee