‘RHOSLC’: Secrets Behind Bravo’s Best Real Housewives Season Ever

There are pop-culture moments that change the nation forever. Who shot J.R.? The O.J. Simpson trial. Heather Gay uttering “Receipts! Proof! Timelines! Screenshots!” in Bermuda.

After a zeitgeist-shattering Season 4 finale, The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City exploded from its underdog status to become Bravo’s signature show. From TikTok trends to the House floor, Gay’s iconic monologue was inescapable—and so was the question: Where do we go from here?

To botched bang dinner parties, a lunch of eight Lisas, and a “high body count” bat mitzvah, apparently.

“I have been fighting for my life with these women since Day One,” Heather Gay, an original Salt Lake City Housewife, told the Daily Beast’s Obsessed.

“We have real history, but we also consistently show up and leave it all on the field,” Gay added. “As much as we fight and are at each other’s throats, we’re also consistently predicting each other’s behavior, which is kind of what friendship is about: radical acceptance of our closest friends’ flaws, and the ability to navigate it together.”

Since The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City premiered in November 2020, it has consistently one-upped itself, from the Jen Shah arrest to the Reality VonTease reveal. The Salt Lake City Housewives, once Bravo’s perennial underdogs, are now the top improv troupe in the nation.

With its snowy landscapes, choral score, and religious undertones, The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is like no other show on air. It’s prestige TV wrapped in an absurd bow, all nestled in the signature Bravo wink.

“It’s got everything, right? It’s got the highest level of drama of any show. It’s the funniest of any show,” added Noah Samton, Senior Vice President of Current Production, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. “They [each] bring their own unique experience, but they also have this shared life experience from that backdrop of Salt Lake City, which has such a strong hold on the people who live there.”

Exposing America to a culture tucked between the snowy Utah mountains, RHOSLC has helped propel a “Mormon moment” in culture, as soda shops spring up across the nation, while Mormon influencers ponder the question: Can MomTok survive this?

From the moment we met Lisa Barlow and her Diet Coke (easy ice, add lemon), the Salt Lake City Housewives proved that the women of the city’s pursuit of excellence extends well beyond the Mormon temple. It’s present in their every moment, both on and off screen.

“The first season of the show, I found out there’s a tenant of Mormonism where you aspire to perfection,” Samton said. “It was so interesting to discover that and then see how it played on the women’s psyche, and how they handle that as they go through their lives. That’s a lot of pressure. How they either go with it or go against it defines who they are.”

“We kind of pulled the curtain back on this environment we live in, and people have found it interesting—and traumatizing,” Gay laughed. “There’s a lot of camp just innate in our culture.”

That inherent humor shows through the cast’s constant fights in a plethora of costumes—much to Barlow’s chagrin—and their theatrical ability to make a scene out of anything. Even a trip to the aquarium produces top-tier TV in Salt Lake City.

Coming off the most dramatic finale in Housewives history, RHOSLC returned with a season premiere totally devoted to Barlow’s Besos party, making it the first-ever Housewives premiere to take place at one event.

From there, the cast went all gas, no breaks to deliver 16 wonderful, tightly crafted episodes. They may never hit the dramatic highs of Season 4 again, and Season 5 proved they don’t need to.

“Last year was an unusual circumstance, and it was this one event that was the wow factor. This year, every event had a wow factor to it,” original Housewife Meredith Marks said.

“There is no single star to the cast. It’s a chemistry that works between all of us,” she added. We’re all very strong-willed. We’re all kind of feisty and not afraid to stand up for ourselves. And we clash a lot because we don’t see things the same way.”

That might be an understatement. Never has an episode of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City gone by without at least one scuffle—often thanks to Gay’s wonderfully sadistic games (put her in The Traitors castle!).

The Salt Lake City Housewives are constantly walking a tightrope—quite literally, at points—and doing so expertly.

And as the stakes rise, so do fan expectations. If a Housewife says something in the moment, she’s too mean. If she waits for her confessionals, she’s too fake. If she doesn’t say anything at all, she’s boring and needs to be fired.

The fan culture isn’t unlike that of the city itself. It’s one that breeds expectations of unattainable perfection. And it’s something the Salt Lake City Housewives proudly work against. One week, Lisa Barlow’s the villain and the next, she’s the hero to jewelry dealers across the nation. One season, Heather Gay’s the Greek chorus. The next, she’s seen as the Big Bad of a black eye lie. Only Angie K. can be Greek for life, evidently.

“Who wants a Housewife curated for Twitter? That’s not reality television,” Gay said. “Housewives is built on women being willing to expose their weaknesses and flaws to the world, and it’s a much harsher environment now.”

“On Salt Lake, a lot of the women don’t play to the audience and that’s what keeps the story moving,” she added.

No one embodies that more than original Housewife Mary Cosby, who once departed the show amid rumors she ran a cult, and has now emerged as the shockingly relatable fan favorite—all while sharing her unfiltered, bluntly hilarious thoughts.

“Season 1, I said something about the haters and [Cosby] said, ‘No, no. We need the haters!’ And she’s right. You need it all,” Marks shared.

“You have to be strong enough to have haters because haters are the ones who push you to the top,” Cosby said. “[Cast member Bronwyn Newport] was saying, ‘Mary, I don’t know if I can handle the haters.’ And I’m like, you’re going to have to, because they’re going to be there. And if you can’t take it, you’re on the wrong show.”

Last season, Cosby “didn’t have the energy to be bothered with these women.” This season, she showed herself in a whole new light, opening up about her son’s struggles, while her newfound friendship with Angie Katsanevas allowed her to let down her walls in a true display of vulnerability.

Viewers got a first-hand look at a heart wrenching conversation between Cosby and her son, Robert Jr., as he admitted he needs help with a severe drug addiction.

“We didn’t plan it. We just went for it. I try not to live in regret, so I didn’t want to be fearful,” Cosby said. “I just do things and throw it out there. This is our truth, and this is our life. You either accept it or you don’t, but this is where we are, and a lot of other people can relate to it.”

“It was real, raw. I know they all say ‘Oh, it’s real, it’s raw,’ but it really was.”

From Cosby’s breathtaking vulnerability to Gay facing “mean girl” allegations head-on amid an Ozempic transformation, Season 5 of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City constantly punched above its weight, proving reality TV is far more than a frivolous art form.

“I don’t think it’s for everybody, but it’s definitely for me and my people,” Gay said. “This is the only forum that gives women over 40 center stage and a platform and a voice, and financial independence and fame. Even Hollywood ages ’em out. If you think of the livelihood that it creates for women in my decade, it’s phenomenal as a source of societal change and eradicating misogyny.”

“Where’s the highest density of women’s stories anywhere on the planet other than in Andy Cohen’s back pocket?” she added.

And no one proves just how much women’s stories matter quite like these stars. Just like Gay’s pioneer ancestors, they’re blazing a new trail. Whitney Rose has popularized the “hilling” journey nationwide, while Lisa “Baby Gorgeous” Barlow might’ve finally revealed the secret behind Gretchen Weiners hair: Kerastase Thermique.

Just a year ago, fans were asking how the show goes on without Monica Garcia. A year before, fans wondered: Is there a Real Housewives of Salt Lake City without Jen Shah?

Now, all anyone’s wondering is: How long will we have to wait for Season 6?

Thankfully, the Salt Lake City workhorses are already gearing up for next season. That could include a murder mystery party, Gay teased, as research for her next book (fiction, this time). Perfection just might be attainable, after all.

“We can’t go on autopilot, because that’s when the wheels come off the bus,” Samton said. “The conversations we’ve already had are like, ‘Okay, now how do we get to the next level? Is there a next level, and how could we possibly get there?’ I don’t know if there is a next level, but we’re sure going to try.”

“I don’t worry about flying too close to the sun,” he added. “Unlike Icarus, we’re not going to melt and fall at the sea and die. We might get scorched a bit, and we might overstep a certain thing, or something might go wrong. And then we learn and evolve from there.”