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How “The Secret Life of Mormon Wives” became a city hit

Can #MomTok even survive this? This now-viral refrain comes from Hulu's groundbreaking reality series The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives— and viewers haven't been able to stop saying it since the show's debut in early September. The eight-part series grew out of a “soft swinging” scandal that rocked a Utah religious community in 2022, thanks to a sensational livestream from TikToker Taylor, Frankie, Paul.

Paul is our entry point into The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which delves into the often confusing world of trad-wifes’ TikTok content provided by their fellow #MomTok influencers Jennifer Affleck (married to Zac, the cousin of Ben And Casey Affleck), Demi Engemann, Whitney Leavitt, Mayci Neeley, Jessi Ngatikaura, Mikayla Matthews, And Layla Taylor. They all have identical blowouts and regularly get Botox injections in the same place, but the group is sharply divided into opposing camps: the so-called saints and the so-called sinners.

As Mayci says in the first episode, “Taylor used to be the face of #MomTok, but when the whole controversy came up, nobody really knew what #MomTok stood for anymore. Are we just a bunch of swingers or are we just a bunch of Mormon women fighting the patriarchy?” Taylor counters, “Have I ruined your life or made it better by bringing you influence and satisfaction?” The hosts of VF'S Still watching The podcast attempts to answer these questions in a special bonus episode that includes an interview with the series' executive producer Jeff Jenkins.

One of the masterminds behind reality shows like The simple life, Netflix Bling Empire And My unorthodox life, Bravo Luann and Sonja: Welcome to Crappie Lake, and lesser-known individual pieces such as Living LohanJenkins has been in television as long as some of his newest stars have been alive. The confrontation with the Mormon Church has paid off. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is Hulu’s most-watched unscripted premiere of 2024, according to the streamer, and solves The Kardashians. Jenkins, who spent the first decade of Keeping up with the Kardashians on E!, is reticent when asked if he would beat out some of his former cast members. “I'm rooting for both shows, you know, but it's kind of funny or ironic to outdo yourself in a weird way,” he says ^ “Vanity Fair – The Wonderful World of Vanity”.

When asked why the show has been so well received, Jenkins replies: Mormon women combines “a serious examination of religion” with an “escapist, glamorous, sexy show about young people.” He continues: “We have beautiful young women who are at turning points in their lives. They're very likeable, they're really fun to watch, they're really extroverted, really brave; they take risks – all the soap opera things we love about a good, improvised show. Then there's this whole other element that the ladies are confronting, which is their faith. That's an unshakeable force. How can I, as a young person, integrate that into my life without perpetuating misogyny and without passing trauma on to my children?”

By the end of the season, after much lemonade has been drunk and Fruity Pebbles poured (if you know, you know), the romantic relationships of two of the cast members are on shaky ground. Taylor and her boyfriend Dakota Mortensen, with whom she has just had a baby, argue about his possible infidelity, while Zac threatens to end his marriage to Jen because she wanted to see a Chippendales show during the group's Las Vegas trip.

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