'God Warrior' Marguerite Perrin reflects on “Trading Spouses” meltdown, says she damaged equipment to oust TV crew

In 2025, it might be controversial to ask, but: Do you remember when religious fanaticism felt fun? Perhaps a single instance (yes, only one) comes to mind, when, 20 years ago, Louisiana Christian Marguerite Perrin descended to Earth from the warm embrace of her God™ above, only to ascend to the throne of reality TV thanks to her iconic 2005 meltdown at the end of her stint on Fox's Trading Spouses.

While it was fun for the world to watch (Perrin's end-of-episode freakout over "dark-sided" forces and "tainted" entities entering her home landed her a guest spot everywhere from The Tonight Show to The Tyra Banks Show), the 64-year-old tells Entertainment Weekly two decades later that it wasn't a ball for much of anyone in front of the cameras at the time.

First, the moment captured a beleaguered Perrin who, unbeknownst to audiences, had just gotten off a delayed flight and didn't make it home until close to 2 a.m. "They had to wake my family up to come to the door," Perrin, who now runs a dance studio in Franklinton, La., tells EW with a laugh. It was a hellish way to end to an already difficult multi-day stretch that saw the devout Christian switch places with an "ungodly" Boston-based hypnotherapist whose family dabbled in arts far too dark for Perrin to handle — including astrology, magic, and, as she squealed upon returning home, "gorgyles" (intended: "gargoyles"), and "slykicks" (intended: "psychics"). The sequence ended with Perrin's husband and children attempting to console the "God Warrior" (as she dubbed herself in the fit of rage), as she screamed for the show's camera crew to "get the hell out" of her house while she ripped up the show's $50,000 prize allotment.

Related: 'God Warrior' Marguerite Perrin says she declined role in Ben Affleck movie due to pedophilia plot (exclusive)

"I threw the camera crew out once I got home," Perrin remembers, adding that the fact that "they weren't leaving" upon her demand made her angrier by the moment. "You know how I got them out of my house?" she asks. "I said, 'You see these expensive ear sets you've got on [me]? I'm jumping in my swimming pool.'"

When EW clarifies if she meant that she jumped into a pool as a metaphor, without hesitation, she confirms she got the crew's equipment very, very wet. "I jumped in the pool. I was rebuking everybody!" she says.

After tearing up a letter from the other family allocating $50,000 for future use, Perrin says the impact of Hurricane Katrina changed her mind, and she decided to keep the money because people in the area "lost everything" in the storm's wake.

In Perrin's wake was an instantly iconic reality TV moment that epitomized the kind of red-hot rage networks exploited across early-aughts reality shows. From Banks' scolding of America's Next Top Model contestant Tiffany Richardson to Pumkin spitting in Tiffany "New York" Pollard's face on Flavor of Love, Perrin's outburst aligned her with genre icons of the era, and her image quickly went ... whatever the 2005 equivalent of what today's audiences might call viral.

Her post-show fame was still fame, though she dealt with some fans mocking her actions. Still, Perrin maintains, "I said everything I said," and that the show wasn't scripted by producers. She says there was "an agenda," though, and that included testing her boundaries with the occult. "I just didn't belong there," Perrin says, but pushes back against the notion that she's a Christian stereotype.

"I'm in dance world. I've always been a flower child. I love people. I've always been like that. People that really know me know that I've taken homeless people off the street into my house," Perrin stresses. "That's what I hate the most. I came off looking so judgmental and closed-minded."

Now, Perrin is filming a new reality TV show following her life with her surviving daughter, Brooke (Perrin's eldest, Ashley, who also appeared on Trading Spouses, died in a car crash in 2007), and grown-up granddaughter, Abigail, who help her run the family dance studio. She also doesn't have regular contact with the family she swapped places with back on Trading Spouses, but she's found something new to fill the void.

"After I had my outburst on TV, the gay community completely got it and saw me," Perrin remembers, crediting her queer fans' memes and celebration of her reality TV legacy as a saving grace amid dark times after Ashley's death.

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Following the death of her husband, Barry, in 2024, Perrin also finds greater joy within the community that many religious folks stand against.

"I think it's horrible," Perrin, who's a registered Republican but says she didn't vote for Trump in November, responds when asked about the rise in anti-LGBTQ legislation that often cites religion as justification. "I don't believe the bulls---. That's not me."

Now, whether she's dancing with her beloved gays (including Frankie Grande) in WeHo or performing TikTok dances set to Lady Gaga's Mayhem, Perrin simply hopes she's "spreading love" and that people pay attention, whether they're laughing with her or at her, adding that, if she can escape the pits of reality TV hell and walk into a new era of life, anyone can find a path to salvation of their own: "Do it the easy way, open your heart to people!"

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