Heather Gay shares what she got out of Norway, and what she hopes to get out of 'The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City' season 3.
Heather Gay is shouting, "Skol!" to her Below Deck Adventure experience -- and (soon) to season 3 of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.
"Especially in the last two years, just any opportunity that crosses my path, I say, 'Yes!' Yes, a thousand times yes to, because I never anticipated having any opportunities across my path, let alone someone saying, 'Do you have seven friends that would want to go on a yacht in Norway?'" Heather shares with ET ahead of the conclusion of her Scandinavian excursion on Below Deck Adventure, airing Tuesday on Bravo.
"I have seven times 70 friends that would want to do that!" she exclaims. "I didn't even hesitate. I worried initially about my kids, you know? Like, can I get away with it as a mom? And once I knew the kids were settled, I didn't even look back. It was a huge, huge opportunity for me."
That opportunity saw Heather and her gaggle of "bad Mormons," as they call themselves, descend on super yacht Mercury for a few days of Viking-themed fun, including zip-lining through the Norwegian wilderness.
"We were all just on the same wavelength, like, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for [the crew] and for us, and we were gonna waste a minute of it," she shares. "I think the adventure part is what allured me to it the most, you know? I want to get my hands dirty, and that's just part of the way I grew up, and that's kind of the way I want to live my life. So the fact that it was Norway, and not just, you know, Cabo? That was huge for me."
While Heather says she spends her time on Housewives "trying to be cooler" than she actually believes herself to be, Below Deck Adventure was a chance to let her freak flag fly.
"I mean, I am really myself," she declares. "I don't hold back, I am not afraid of looking obnoxious. I am not afraid of playing charades. I am not afraid of being just the goofball nerd that I am in front of these people. ... You are getting to see a lot of friends just really you now suck the marrow out of the bone of Norway, and we still reflect on that trip, and if they ask me to do it again tomorrow -- as long as my kids were squared away -- I would do it."
Heather and her pals (RHOSLC co-star Angie Harrington included) bonded with the cast of Below Deck Adventure, possibly more than any charter group has with any Below Deck crew in franchise history. Many of the yachties celebrated the show's November premiere in Utah with Heather and Angie.
"It was kind of a melting of spirits," she muses. "I think the most the biggest revelation for me was, watching it back and recognizing how much work the crew has to do."
Heather says she and her friends have been group-chatting away as the episodes play out on TV, because they had no clue about most of what was unfolding down in the crew quarters aboard Mercury.
"We were just saying, 'Holy cow!'" she says. "We had no idea how much work they had to do, because they were like swans. They just presented VIP, five-star luxury the whole time. We didn't see a ruffle, a fight, a problem. We didn't sense anything going on behind the scenes, even during the giant egg mess-up, you know? I think that was a testament to the crew and to the professionalism of Captain Kerry [Titheradge] and [chief stewardess Faye Clarke], and everyone on that team, because we thought we were all best friends, having the best time of our lives, and that, you know, there was not a problem at all. Front of house or back of house."
Heather's been delighted to learn about stew Oriana Schneps' hookup with deckhand Lewis Lupton, among other reveals from the episodes.
"We thought she had made out with Mike [Gilman]!" she exclaims. "We put those two together, so we were way off, and we they didn't reveal a thing."
There are more reveals to come for Heather and her friends, including this moment of Mike repeatedly ignoring calls over the radio to help the interior crew serve the group during their "final family meal." Check out ET's exclusive sneak peek at Tuesday's all-new episode here:
Heather says Housewives casts could take a note or two from Below Deck's deckies, in terms of not oversharing secrets.
"I mean, if Housewives could be as professional as Below Deck crew, it would be a probably a lot more suspenseful series," she surmises. "Social media has become such a big part of Housewives now, it's hard to even think of watching without a tease, or you know, some commentary from the side."
Heather's very used to that by now; her castmates are quick with the Twitter fingers as their show airs. Just this weekend, Lisa Barlow and Jen Shah battled it out on the platform.
The heated exchange comes in the middle of a very different kind of vacation for Heather, a girls' trip (gone wrong?) in San Diego, California, which also featured a yacht experience... though that one was less about adventure, and more about Jen fighting with people and throwing their personal belongings overboard.
"San Diego was a popcorn popper of emotion," Heather concludes. "I think the good thing about our group of friends is, expect the unexpected. Nothing is ever beyond repair. We throw down hard, but we can bounce back high, and I think, after San Diego, we just have to figure out where we're at, and where the chips fall."
"I don't like living in conflict," she adds. "I'm getting a lot more comfortable with it, being a Housewife, and I think that you're kind of seeing me try to sort out my footing, and all of our friendships kind of settle in and see where we are at."
Fans and co-stars alike have been perplexed by Heather and Jen's friendship over the course of RHOSLC's run, especially this season, as Heather stands by Jen in the aftermath of her federal fraud indictment, while others have turned their backs on the reality star. Jen maintained her innocence during the filming of season 3, but ultimately changed her plea in the case to guilty and is now awaiting sentencing. She could face as many as 30 years in prison for the crimes, yet Heather doesn't judge Jen for her involvement. Ironically, Jen brought up her concerns about Heather in previously unseen flashback footage on the latest episode of RHOSLC, the embattled reality star claiming her pal is only a good friend to her "60 percent" of the time.
"Listen, Jen and I, we can talk some trash and still be friends," Heather offers, "and that's why everyone thinks we're such a dysfunctional friendship, and to the critics I would just say, the heart wants what the heart wants, you know? You can't help who you love being around. Good, bad or ugly."
As for whether Jen will be around at the soon-to-tape season 3 reunion, Heather has no clue. Ever since Andy Cohen told the crowd at BravoCon in October that Jen pleading guilty "ended her engagement" with the network, fans have questioned if she'll make it to the all-cast sit-down.
"I am a betting type of gal, and I like a tight-line, and I would say that this one, the bookies are going to be the ones that make the most money," Heather cracks. "Over-under is so close, you know?"
As for what Jen's potential prison sentence means for the future of the show, that's also unclear. Three newbies -- the aforementioned Angie H., Angie Katsanevas and Danna Bui-Negrete -- stepped up to the plate this year as "friends of," with one or more likely to snag a promotion to full-time snowflake holder in season 4.
"The more nuts in the trail mix, the better," Heather says. "I’m not in charge of casting, and seeing real relationships deteriorate on this show has been really difficult for me, and something that I'm trying to figure out how to come back from, so I don't know if I would want to put anyone up on the altar again."
Heather jokes she wants "no blood on my hands" moving forward with this group, which seemingly includes at reunion. In seasons 1 and 2, a different, more intense (and sometimes aggressive) side of Heather poked out at reunion. She says expect something else this time around.
"I mean, I was trained in soccer," she explains of her previous reunion performances, "and you pull out your big guns for the playoffs, and so I've really been in that mentality, and I think that you'll see even a different Heather this year. I don't really feel worried about it. I am not really looking forward to it, and I am not really dreading it. I just am looking at it right now as part of the gig, and when people are like, 'Wait are you so nervous?! Reunion is coming up!' I am just like, you know what? They'll hate you if you do, they'll hate you if you don't, and so I am just ready to walk through it and get it over with, honestly."
Heather says there's a "booklet" of questions she wants answered and things she wants resolved at the taping, but she's putting no expectations on the day.
"I am not really a take-'em-down girl," she notes. "I just am a good-time girl and I hope that we can resolve a lot of the really fractured relationships that we are seeing right now in Salt Lake City."
One of those is between Heather and her cousin, Whitney Rose, which still stings for the Beauty Lab + Laser owner. She would've loved to have shared her Below Deck Adventure outing with the Wild Rose Beauty founder.
"Whitney is such an adventurer," she notes. "There was a time when Whitney would have been a no-brainer, but as you've seen on Housewives, that relationship has dismantled."
If she gets the chance to do it all over again, Heather would love to work as a deckhand! If she has to come back as a guest, though, she'd invite a different RHOSLC co-star along for the ride.
"I would love to see Meredith Marks on a zip-line, and I would love to see if Meredith Marks has the cojones to jump off the top of a yacht into the Arctic, Norwegian sea," she dreams up. "I would want to see Meredith Marks in a harness."
She just wouldn't be allowed to disengage. Below Deck Adventure airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo, while The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
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