You may have noticed that we are seeing a lot of Salt Lake City on our screens. First, Real Housewives of Salt Lake City premiered on Bravo in 2020, bringing us into the lives of some of Salt Lake’s most affluent women. In 2024, Hulu wanted a piece of the Salt Lake drama, debuting The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which follows a group of young Mormon moms in a TikTok group. Not long after, Bravo added Sold on SLC to their network, putting a Utah spin on Selling Sunset.
Salt Lake City is the hidden gem of reality television, and networks are finally tapping into this precious resource. But what makes Salt Lake so special? The casts of these shows have to battle between the religious and social standards in Utah, and external temptations from the media and pop culture. This conflict creates a dynamic we’ve never seen on reality TV before. The shadiest drama, the darkest secrets, and the biggest fights come from the people you least expect.
Religion Is Central To The Conflict In Salt Lake City Reality Shows
A huge portion of the population in Utah is Mormon. Although the number continues to drop, in 2020, 60% of people in Utah identify as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or LDS. Mormon culture engulfs life in Salt Lake City. You’ll find a lot of soda shops, but not as many bars or coffee shops, because the church teaches its members to abstain from drinking alcohol or coffee. The city is also laid out into a grid where the Temple Square is the center, symbolizing how central religion is in their lifestyles. Religion consumes all aspects of life in Utah. In all three Salt Lake City shows, we see most of the cast members, in their own ways, struggling between conforming to the religious standards they grew up with, and exploring life outside of LDS.
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RHOSLC immediately sucked us in. We met Lisa Barlow, who’d converted to the Mormon faith but also launched a tequila company – which heavily contradicts LDS doctrine. Mary Cosby, who’d agreed to marry her step-grandfather in order to inherit her grandmother’s church. Heather Gay, who is navigating life after her divorce, which left her shunned by the church, the community, and her family. Religion most certainly affects the casts’ relationships with each other. One of the major storylines in Season 1 surrounds allegations surrounding Mary’s church, including that it’s a “cult,” and that they steal money from congregants. The ladies also fire at Lisa for judging the other ladies’ “un-Mormon” like behavior, while owning a tequila company. Whitney Rose also accuses some of the other housewives of weaponizing her childhood trauma against her. Religion is a central part of the conflict on RHOSLC, which is nothing like we see on any of the other installments of Real Housewives.
Religion is almost more central to the conflict in The Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives. For example, Jen Affleck’s perfect Mormon girl image quickly crumbles in Season 1, as we get a look into her marriage. Her husband, Zac Affleck, is seemingly quite controlling. On a girls’ trip to Las Vegas, the ladies go to the Chippendales, a male stripper show. When Jen fills her husband in on what’s going on, they get into an explosive argument, Zac threatening to end their marriage because Jen has “no values or morals.” The other ladies try to tell Jen that Zac’s behavior is unacceptable, and that she needs to find her independence from him. Throughout the season, we see Jen fighting between the Mormon standard of following her husband no matter what, and listening to her friends.
As viewers, these dynamics are foreign for many of us. Unlike Vanderpump Rules, these young adults aren’t just dealing with normal growing pains, navigating relationships, friendships, and careers. They also have to battle between listening to a religion that has conditioned them to live a certain way their whole lives and free will.
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The Darkest Secrets Come From The People You’d Least Expect
When you think of Mormons, you think of people that are pure and innocent. People who follow the rules of the church, no questions asked. That’s why these reality shows are so intriguing to watch. Because the darkest secrets come from the people you least expect. Before The Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives aired, the cast mates were part of a viral TikTok group called “Momtok.” The young moms made content together about motherhood, friendship, and living in Salt Lake City. However, a secret about one member of the group rocked the world. Taylor Frankie Paul was caught in a swinging scandal with other “Momtok” members, leading her to become ostracized from the group. Feeling that she was being portrayed as having an affair, she exposed the swinging scandal publicly. The scandal shocked social media users because the scandal came from the people you would least expect – Mormons.
In Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, Taylor continues to reel from the swinging scandal drama. She’s divorced from her husband, Tate Paul, who was involved in the scandal, and now has a baby on the way with her new boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen. Taylor is an anomaly in the “Momtok” group. Although she’s Mormon, she goes against a lot of what the church teaches. She parties, is divorced, has a child out of wedlock, and as we discover during the show, gets arrested for domestic violence. Taylor is the source of a lot of drama, but she is clearly troubled. On the show we see her break down over trying to navigate having another baby, her toxic relationship with Dakota, and the pressure from her family. The pressure to conform to religious norms has taken a toll on her mental health, which she opens up about on the show and on social media.
Networks are finally tapping into Salt Lake City, the hidden precious resource of reality TV. The Utah city has proven to be the treasure trove of reality TV. Three shows have come to life on our screens, each delivering top tier shade, drama, and scandal. Religious tensions brought forth by the Mormon church reflect broader societal issues and personal struggles within the cast members. The main storylines in the series show us how the pressure to conform to religious norms affects relationships within the cast, family dynamics, and mental health. You can watch Real Housewives of Salt Lake City and Sold on SLC in the U.S. on Peacock, andThe Secret Lives of Mormon Wives on Hulu.
