D.C. Housewives Break The Fourth Wall

Last night’s episode finally got around to the Salahis’ infamous attendance to the White House state dinner. When Michaele couldn’t produce the couple’s supposed invitation for the cameras, a producer stepped in for the first time in Real Housewives history.

In the seven hours the couple spent preparing for the event at the Erwin Gomez Salon, Michaele was filmed enthusiastically discussing the state dinner with her makeup artist and hairdresser. In a scene that was obviously set up by producers, one of the stylists asked Michaele if she could see the invitation. She fumbled around in her limo, looking not only for the invitation, but her bra, neither of which she found. Her husband Tareq told her that she wouldn’t need either items that evening. However, one of the show’s producers—wanting to capture such a prestigious invite on camera—wouldn’t let the issue drop, even though Michaele was clearly evading questions about it.

The fact that the couple had told producers and employees at the salon, the day of the state dinner, that they received a printed invitation is a new twist—and another hole—in their story. In an interview on an August episode of HBO’s Real Sports, the couple told reporter Bernard Goldberg that they hadn’t received a hard copy invitation, but rather, an email and a phone call.

In an interview segment for Housewives, Tareq explained why the printed invitation wasn’t necessary to bring with them, in order to attend the state dinner, saying it was merely a sort of keepsake that one might get framed. Still, though, he could not produce the “keepsake.”

The more the Salahis speak in public, more cracks seem to surface in the image they try to portray themselves as, and frankly, make them look completely pathological (see Michaele’s claims of being a former Washington Redskins cheerleader, that Playboy asked her to pose for an issue, or Tareq’s claims of having anything to do with his family’s winery). Like how they said they were attending the state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh because they were going to be hosting America’s Polo Cup against India. However, India refused to have anything to do with the Salahis, and declined to participate. Later, the Salahis still billed the event as America vs. India, but had Pakistani players pretend to be Indian.

Last week, it was reported that Bravo would not ask the Salahis to return for a second season of Real Housewives due to the couple’s claims that the network had contractually barred them from speaking openly (and honestly) about the gate-crashing incident. Bravo issued a statement saying that was “simply not true.”

BTW the salon featured on last night’s episode was the same one Michaele used for her wedding, running up a tab of several thousands of dollars, but did not pay. When they left the salon the night of the state dinner, the couple did not tip any of the employees.