Free Cirque Du Salahi: Be Careful Who You Trust by Diane Dimond Page B

over again, while the cameras captured the action.
    “I asked her how she got invited, and if I could see the invitation. I asked her several times, in fact.” Michaele couldn’t come up with the invite, but the cameras were rolling, so she made a pretense of looking for it in her purse. At the producers urging, she even went so far as to go out to the car to look for it while the cameras followed.
    Asked if Peggy was coached by the producer to repeatedly pose the invitation question—perhaps as a way to embarrass Michaele and make for more compelling television—Peggy responded, “Umm. No, I was just really curious to see it. Erwin and I had been to the White House to work during inauguration and I’d never seen an official invitation.”
    Why would Michaele go along with such a ruse and look for something she knew she didn’t have? Here again, the confidentiality agreement with the TV production company prevented her from saying anything, because “talking about how the show is done” is a potential contract violation. But sources who work in reality television say performers are often cajoled by insistent producers intent on getting a compelling storyline. And the reality TV performers are so intent on becoming famous, they will do just about anything to please the producer. In fact, many of these reality TV cast members are so eager for celebrity, they will sign practically anything, barely pausing to consider the ramifications and restrictions of the contract.
    The producer and the camera crew, about a dozen people in all, worked at the salon for seven hours that day. Cameras captured all the preparatory action including the hair, the makeup, and all the details of getting dressed up for a major life event. Most of that footage captured that day was “overshoot” and will never see the light of day, but it still falls under the protection of the confidentiality restrictions.
    “For some reason I didn’t eat that whole day and I don’t think I even had a bottle of water,” Michaele recalled later. “I was just so excited to be getting ready to go to the White House!” Tareq confirmed that they never took time to stop for lunch because the day was so hectic. Good nutrition is important for MS patients, and Michaele should have known better.
    Phone records and sworn testimony given to the Secret Service reveal that on that afternoon, November 24 th , at 4:37 p.m., Tareq Salahi made a call to Michele Jones’ office. Jones was not in the office but a male assistant answered the phone.
    Tareq said, “I gave him my name and told him we weren’t sure which gate to use for the White House event that night. He put me on hold and when he came back he said, ‘Go to the south gate, the one closest to the Treasury Department. Arrive by 6:30.’”
    Once Tareq was dressed in his handsome tuxedo and Michaele was outfitted in her now famous red and gold sari, they were joined in the stretch limo by a Half Yard Productions camera crew and producer for the short ride over to the White House. A camera captured Michaele in the limo, excitedly squealing into a cell phone, “ Yes! We’re going to the White House!” That clip became one of Bravo’s most repeated promos for The Real Housewives of D.C. once the show was finally announced.
    They arrived at the White House complex and the camera crew got out of the car with them. They followed the Salahis all the way to the White House gate, but were not allowed to go farther because their special permit, issued to them by the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Parks Department, prohibited filming beyond that point. Although the camera crew was not allowed to enter the compound, any denial by Bravo TV that they really didn’t know the details of the Salahis’ White House visit is countered by the fact that they knew enough about it, and had enough advanced warning, to get the necessary filming permits in place.
    NBC Anchorman Brian Williams was later quoted saying he saw