'VPR' Alum Scheana Shay Never Begged for 'Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' Role

Scheana Shay didn't go to Jessi Draper begging for a job on "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" ... TMZ has learned Jessi’s version of events leaves out some major context.

Here's the deal ... Jessi told Stassi Schroeder on the season premiere of "House of Stassi" that Scheana said she was planning to leave Bravo behind before pointing out her husband, Brock Davies, was raised Mormon and suggesting she could make the move to Utah for 'SLOMW.'

Stassi said Scheana loves the spotlight and she’d be shocked if the conversation didn’t go down exactly as Jessi described it.

However, a person who attended the Salt Lake City stop of Scheana's book tour last summer tells TMZ ... they witnessed the exchange firsthand during a live Q&A moderated by Jessi ... and says it was clearly a joke.

The witness tells us they recall an audience member submitting a question, which Jessi read aloud, asking whether Scheana would ever consider moving to Salt Lake City to join either "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" or "SLOMW."

We're told Scheana jokingly responded ... "Well, Brock was raised Mormon," prompting laughs from Scheana, Jessi and the audience.

The source says Jessi seems to be manipulating the tone of what was a lighthearted interaction to make it sound as though Scheana was seriously campaigning to join MomTok.