The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City has been one of Bravo’s most talked about series. Season 1 showcased the Park City, Utah women in a light like no other. We had the (unbearable) Jen Shah, the always classy Meredith Marks, and the larger-than-life Lisa Barlow. Also in the mix was cast member Mary M. Cosby.
She’s eccentric, bold, and unafraid to tell you what she’s thinking. In other words, Mary is everything viewers love in a Housewife. So, when Noah Samton, Senior VP of Programming and Development at NBC Universal, revealed that RHOSLC was built around Mary, it all began to make sense.
RHOSLC is the house Mary built!
During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Noah spoke about the explosive Season 4 finale that drew in over two million viewers in January 2023. However, the most surprising part of his sitdown was the declaration that the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City started because of Mary.
“[The idea of RHOSLC] originally came to Bravo through [original castmember] Mary Cosby,” he said. “Somebody had discovered her as a great character. She was pitched, and we started to find other characters along with her.”
“Once the development team started to dig in and meet people there, they realized that it was just such a hotbed of interesting, unique personalities. It wasn’t planned as a Housewives.”
After learning of Mary, the network’s development team traveled to Salt Lake City to meet the women for the first time, and upon their introduction, things pieces began falling into place.
“We kind of just fell into it. … I’d already been blown away by the casting tape that I saw, and every woman that I met was even better in person.”
“We met everybody for drinks at a bar, and then Sheonna and I left, and the Housewives all stayed there. And then we heard all these stories the next day where a huge argument broke out and somebody got thrown out of the bar. They were Housewives already before we even started filming them.”
Hopefully, the next volume of Not All Diamonds and Rosé will reveal what the SLC ladies fought about. Could there have been a particular smell in the air?
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Season 4 reunion concludes Tuesday, January 23 at 8/7c on Bravo.
TELL US — ARE YOU SURPRISED TO HEAR ABOUT THE SHOW’S ORIGIN? DIDN’T LISA SAY SHE BROUGHT THE SHOW TO UTAH?
