Reality TV shows don’t usually include scenes where the cast breaks the fourth wall by feuding over brand deals and contract negotiations — but it was unavoidable on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
Executive producer Lisa Filipelli spoke out about the situation during an interview for Like & Subscribe on Wednesday, May 28, about the drama, saying, “That’s what was actually happening and playing out in real time.”
Filipelli noted it would have been impossible to film around it.
“We couldn’t not talk about it. That was what was happening within the friend group,” she added. “That’s what was happening in their real lives.”
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When Mormon Wives premiered on Hulu in September 2024, influencers Jen Affleck, Demi Engemann, Whitney Leavitt, Mikayla Matthews, Mayci Neeley, Taylor Frankie Paul and Layla Taylor often spoke about the money they were bringing in from TikTok videos and brand deals.
Season 2, pushed the unspoken role to not address that the cast is filming a show when Demi, 30, and Jessi, 32, fought about the contract negotiations that took place behind the scenes.
“We had had, like, a mutual understanding that we were gonna come in fighting for everything as a united front,” Demi claimed in season 2, which premiered in May, about a joint phone call with network executives. “Then, [my husband, Bret Engemann, and I] felt like she dogged us and went around us, like, ‘I’m gonna get whatever I want.’ So, we were like, ‘Well, f*** it, then we’re gonna do the same thing.’”
She added, “It’s not a shock that I’m a fan-favorite [after the first season]. I feel, like, I’m an asset [and] I should fight for more.”
Jessi clarified offscreen on “The Viall Files” podcast that she felt Demi was trying to kick her off the show.
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“She basically threw me under the bus because I didn’t care to fight for more money, and she wanted an absurd amount of money,” Jessi, who said she was late to the call and missed a memo about what the group planned to say, claimed. “I was just like ‘I’m not doing this pattern where I have to beg for your love if I’m not doing exactly what you want.’”
While everyone from the cast — including newbie Miranda McWhorter — returned for season 3, it remains unclear whether the tension over money will cause permanent rifts. Whitney recently told Business Insider that the cast is currently paid equally for starring in the show but teased more conversations “down the line.”
“It is equal and I think, maybe, more seasons down the line, we’ll have more conversations about it,” she noted earlier this month. “Because I think just naturally more people are being filmed more than others.”
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is currently streaming on Hulu.
