The stars of the latest series in the "Real Housewives" franchise are an assortment of over-the-top, attention-seeking personalities. There's a tequila entrepreneur who picks up family dinner at Taco Bell in her Porsche. A baby-voiced blonde who celebrates her wedding anniversary with a spin on the stripper pole. And a woman married to her step-grandfather.
Oh, yeah, and one other thing: The affluent women of "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" are — or once were — members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a religion known for promoting wholesome values rather than rosé-fueled catfights.
While the show includes the usual petty disputes (a feud has already erupted because one woman said another "smells like hospital"), religion is central to the drama in a way that is unique within the "Housewives" universe, where goat yoga class is about as spiritual as it gets.
"It is really surprising how open they are about Mormonism and how it relates to their lives," "Real Housewives" executive producer Andy Cohen said of the series, which airs at 9 p.m. Wednesdays on Bravo.
Excessive drinking, lewd talk, immodest dress and messy personal lives are virtual prerequisites for aspiring housewives — but also contradict the church's conservative strictures.
"To be Mormon, we are taught honesty and integrity, fidelity within marriage and, most importantly, to watch for sin," the housewives explain in an opening montage, which shows them behaving in the opposite fashion.
Something different
Needless to say, the women of "RHOSLC" aren't exactly model Mormons: Lisa Barlow describes herself as "Mormon 2.0" because of her lax attitude to church laws. Jen Shah was raised Mormon but converted to Islam. Whitney Rose was excommunicated from the church after cheating on her first husband. Heather Gay is a divorcee who bristles at the constraints put on her as an unmarried woman. The remaining cast members are Meredith Marks, a Jewish jewelry designer, and Mary Cosby, the couture-loving "first lady" of a Pentecostal church and an early contender for the show's leading drama queen.
(Rose and Gay are second cousins. "It doesn't get any more Utah than that," Rose said.)
Producers have not been shy about playing up the Mormon element, frequently using establishing shots of the Salt Lake Temple. Joseph Smith and Brigham Young are name-dropped as often as luxury brands.
Some locals are displeased. A review in the Deseret News, a church-owned newspaper based in Salt Lake City, warned readers that the show is "full of digs at Utah culture (and) church members ... that will make any Utah die-hard squirm or even surge with anger." (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints declined to comment on the show.)
Bravo is not worried about potential blowback.
"I think there will be a lot of people who say this doesn't represent Salt Lake City or the Mormon church," said Cohen. "It's not supposed to. It's supposed to represent a certain group of friends in that area."
