Welcome to Reality TV Rabbit Hole, where we unpack lingering questions that have left us spiraling from our favorite reality TV shows.
There’s nothing secret about Mormon wives and their love of fake hair. In fact, if there is one take away from watching Hulu’s Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, it’s that a standing extensions appointment at JZ Styles salon is nothing short of sacred in Utah.
But among the sea of Mormon women on reality TV with waist-length hair, there are a few who dare to go short. And we couldn't help but notice that those gals are getting the villain edit. Just ask The Whitneys.
Both Whitney Leavitt (Secret Lives) and Whitney Rose (RHOSLC) have been cast with the classic reality TV villain trope. Let’s dig deeper.
Leavitt kicks off the season with short hair, literally shedding her past (and her husband’s Tinder indiscretions) with a fresh look and leaving her “give a f—s” back in Hawaii. Fans of the show know that Leavitt brought the drama (and ratings!) every time she was on screen. She was criticized for everything from happily telling all the MomTokers what trash talk the others were saying behind their backs to skipping castmate and closest friend Mayci Neeley’s launch for her Babymama pre-natal vitamins. (Women supporting women be damned!)
"As far as leaning into this quote-unquote villain era, I mean, yeah, I didn’t love what I watched of myself either,” Leavitt revealed in a feature with The Cut. “So much was going on in my personal life. So when the show came out, I thought it was so funny that I had been labeled as this villain, so I was poking fun at it. But I don’t think I’m the villain.”
In The Cut interview, Leavitt even noted that hair extensions are “just not for me.”
“I don’t know how people sleep on them or wash their hair. I want to just touch my scalp!”
While there is so much that has already been unpacked about the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives (the rules of soft swinging, the marriage of laughing gas and botox, where the Mormon Afflecks fall on The Hollywood Afflecks family tree - spoiler nowhere), Leavitt’s brave move to rock a bob is seemingly a strategic play to set herself apart from the rest — and what’s a bigger bad girl move than that?
Just ask Whitney Rose. The RHOSLC Season 5 premiere was Whitney vs. everyone else, as shots were fired (and glasses were literally thrown) from Lisa Barlowe who still isn’t over Whitney labeling her a “villain” on The Viall Files podcast earlier this year.
Whitney storms out of Lisa “Besos” Valentine’s Day party, after the confrontation, giving her the finger on the way out. Clearly, the rest of the cast is “Team Lisa” for now.
There’s also a new bob on the block in the form of the couture-hoarding newbie cast member Bronwyn Newport who Lisa Barlow has declared another villain to watch out for during a recent episode of Watch What Happens Live, telling host Andy Cohen, “I think Bronwyn might be a little villainous.” (Bronwyn and Whitney seem to be teaming up this season, because baddies unite.)
Bronwyn’s bob aside, wearing yellow cheetah hot-pants and a bra top to brunch is a sign she can’t be trusted. Plus, she's a brunette.
What do you think? Sound off in the comments below!
