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The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Inside the Controversy · The conspiracy

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  Speaker 1: Hello, beautiful. How are you doing today? How are you
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: doing today? You want to learn something useful today? Not
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the right video. Today we're learning about some useless brain
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: rock knowledge, okay? But you know what? I'm actually going
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  Speaker 1: to throw in some actual knowledge throughout this video, so
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: stick around. You'll actually learn something you could take away
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: from this experience, I think. But unlike this video, you are...
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: stunning and smart and, dare I say, sagacious. Jay, you
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: gotta put that on the screen. Probably most of them
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  Speaker 1: don't know. I had to look it up myself. Anyway,
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  Speaker 1: today we're gonna talk about the infamous viral show, The
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. And if you don't know
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  Speaker 1: anything about the show, this is honestly the perfect video
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  Speaker 1: for you. It's a good synopsis so you don't have
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  Speaker 1: to watch this show, which I wouldn't necessarily recommend, but
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: if you like shows, reality TV shows that you could
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  Speaker 1: just throw on in the background, it's fine to do that.
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  Speaker 1: It's entertaining enough. But yeah, let's get into it. So
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  Speaker 1: let's first off start with the synopsis of the show.
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  Speaker 1: The scandalous world of a group of Mormon mom influencers
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  Speaker 1: and bloats when they get caught in the midst of
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  Speaker 1: a swinging scandal that makes international headlines. Now their sisterhood
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  Speaker 1: is shook to its core. Faith, friendship, and reputations are
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  Speaker 1: all on the line. Will hashtag mom talk be able
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  Speaker 1: to survive and continue to give the rule book a
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  Speaker 1: run for its money? Or will this group fall from grace?
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  Speaker 1: The wording in this synopsis is crazy. Coming from a
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  Speaker 1: Christian background. Crazy. Yeah. I mean, that's a pretty good
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  Speaker 1: synopsis in and of itself, but it is quite literally that.
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  Speaker 1: It's seven, eight, eight of them. I don't know. I'll
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  Speaker 1: talk about them. It's eight ex-Mormon and Mormon moms just
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  Speaker 1: thrown into this mix, kind of like the housewives of
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  Speaker 1: Orange County or Beverly Hills or some shit. I never
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  Speaker 1: watched those shows. And it's basically just talking about their
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  Speaker 1: lives and what kind of scandals they've been through, how
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  Speaker 1: they came out of the Mormon church or how they're
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  Speaker 1: in the Mormon church, how Mormon they are, how Mormon
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  Speaker 1: they aren't. And it's just been going crazy on the
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  Speaker 1: internet because a lot of people have a lot of
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  Speaker 1: opinions about it. Mormons got opinions about it. Regular people
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  Speaker 1: loving the show because they don't even understand what's going on. Yada, yada.
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  Speaker 1: I think I've seen quite a few videos about this show,
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  Speaker 1: but nobody really delves into Mormonism in the history of it.
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  Speaker 1: And I think that's important to understand the show and
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  Speaker 1: to understand... what's going on and, like, perspectives of the
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  Speaker 1: actually religious people that follow those religious rules and who doesn't.
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  Speaker 1: So I think, and this is the little we're gonna
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  Speaker 1: learn something part, we're gonna delve into the history of Mormonism,
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  Speaker 1: otherwise known as the Church of Jesus Christ of the
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  Speaker 1: Latter-day Saints, otherwise known as the LDS, and then we're
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  Speaker 1: gonna be talking about the show and all the scandals
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  Speaker 1: and all the shit. Let's start with the history lesson, okay?
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  Speaker 1: Let's talk about it. So, Mormonism, otherwise known as the
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  Speaker 1: Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, aka LDS,
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  Speaker 1: was founded in the 19th century by Joseph Smith, aka
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  Speaker 1: what my boyfriend calls the first iPad baby. If you
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  Speaker 1: get it, you get it. If you don't, you don't.
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  Speaker 1: It's fine. I also want to preface that I have
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  Speaker 1: no opinions on anything Really? Um, I grew up in
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  Speaker 1: the Christian world and stuff, and I'm just like, I'm
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  Speaker 1: basically just giving a brief history about this. I'm not gonna, like,
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  Speaker 1: I don't have really much of an opinion because I
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  Speaker 1: think everybody can believe in what they believe in as
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  Speaker 1: long as nobody's getting harmed, and I'm good with it. Uh,
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  Speaker 1: so anyway. So the movement emerged during a time of
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  Speaker 1: religious revival in the United States, particularly in upstate New York,
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  Speaker 1: known as the Second Great Awakening. And here's a breakdown
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  Speaker 1: of how it all started and evolved. So first off,
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  Speaker 1: we have Joseph Smith and the First Vision, and we're
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  Speaker 1: going back to 1820, all right? So Joseph Smith was
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  Speaker 1: born in 1805 in Vermont, and he grew up in
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  Speaker 1: a religiously active family. During his teenage years, he was
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  Speaker 1: confused by the conflicting doctrines of Christian denominations, and in 1820,
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  Speaker 1: at the age of 14, Smith claimed to have experienced
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  Speaker 1: what is called the First Vision. And in this vision,
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  Speaker 1: he reported seeing God the Father and Jesus Christ. That's
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  Speaker 1: pretty cool. Who told him that all existing Christian churches
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  Speaker 1: were corrupted and that he was the chosen to restore
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  Speaker 1: the true church. And then in comes the Book of
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  Speaker 1: Mormon from 1827 to 1830. So in 1823, Smith claimed
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  Speaker 1: he was visited by an angel named Moroni. Moroni? I
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  Speaker 1: don't know, who directed him to a set of golden
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  Speaker 1: plates buried in a hill in Palmyra, New York. And
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  Speaker 1: these plates were written in an ancient language, and they
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  Speaker 1: were said to contain a religious history of ancient American civilization.
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  Speaker 1: And Smith, being the only one who could transcribe these plates,
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  Speaker 1: translated them into what became the Book of Mormon. And
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  Speaker 1: this was published in 1830. And the book tells a
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  Speaker 1: story of a group of Israelites who sailed to the
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  Speaker 1: Americas around 600 BCE. And the teachings of Jesus Christ
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  Speaker 1: to these peoples after his resurrection. So the book serves
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  Speaker 1: as an additional scripture alongside the Bible. And I do
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  Speaker 1: kind of want to talk about a little bit of
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  Speaker 1: the controversy surrounding this, because I think it's important, honestly,
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  Speaker 1: so people can have like the full idea of it.
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  Speaker 1: But basically the controversy of it was that the plates
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  Speaker 1: that were given to Joseph, when people ask like, whoa,
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  Speaker 1: where are the plates? He's just like, The angel took
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  Speaker 1: him back, I don't know. Which, yeah, okay. So yeah,
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  Speaker 1: that happened. So nobody could actually physically verify the existence
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  Speaker 1: of the plates, which obviously led people to assume that
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  Speaker 1: he fabricated the story. And Smith claimed to have translated
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  Speaker 1: the plates by a gift and the power of God,
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  Speaker 1: using a set of seer stones or Urim and Thurim, thumim,
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  Speaker 1: or later a stone placed in a hat. And later
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  Speaker 1: critics and skeptics would see this and say it was
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  Speaker 1: inconsistent with traditional methods of scholarly translation. And one of
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  Speaker 1: the most interesting ones is that Martin Harris, who was
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  Speaker 1: one of Smith's first followers, was a financial baker. And
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  Speaker 1: basically he helped him transcribe, as in he basically just
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  Speaker 1: acted as a scribe as Joseph was saying it. And
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  Speaker 1: Harris had convinced Smith to let him take those 116
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  Speaker 1: pages home to his wife, who was skeptical. And then
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  Speaker 1: basically she was just like, all right, well, if he
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  Speaker 1: was able to transcribe this and he could transcribe it again,
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  Speaker 1: so we're going to lose these pages and then he
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  Speaker 1: can transcribe it again. So when Harris went back to Joseph,
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  Speaker 1: he was just like, we lost the pages. Can you
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  Speaker 1: transcribe it again? And Joseph basically said that it was
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  Speaker 1: forbidden by God to retranslate that portion. So critics would
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  Speaker 1: see this as a coverup suggesting that Smith invented the
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  Speaker 1: story and could not reproduce the same text. So it's
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  Speaker 1: a pretty good like, hey, man, I don't make the rules.
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  Speaker 1: All right. Where have I said this before? It's like
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  Speaker 1: every cult thing that I've ever said before. It's like, hey,
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  Speaker 1: it's not me. All right. It's that guy. I want
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  Speaker 1: to retranscribe it. I wish I could. Okay.
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  Speaker 2: But I can't.
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  Speaker 1: And there's many, many more controversies, but that's kind of
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  Speaker 1: the main overarching one, so we'll get back into the
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  Speaker 1: history of it. So we'll talk about the establishment of
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  Speaker 1: the church. So on April 6th, 1830, Joseph Smith officially
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  Speaker 1: founded the Church of Christ, later named the Church of
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, aka the LDS church
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  Speaker 1: in Fayette, New York. And the church's early members believed
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  Speaker 1: that Joseph Smith was a modern day prophet and that
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  Speaker 1: he was restoring the true Christian faith. And the church
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  Speaker 1: would quickly grow, attracting converts from various states, but it
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  Speaker 1: also faced significant opposition and persecution. Kind of like what
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  Speaker 1: I was talking about before with all the controversy surrounding it.
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  Speaker 1: So some of the key events that happened in Mormon
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  Speaker 1: history first started with the migration to Ohio and Missouri.
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  Speaker 1: So Smith and his followers would move to Kirkland, Ohio,
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  Speaker 1: where they would hope to build a very strong and
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  Speaker 1: religious community. And during this time, they would establish a
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  Speaker 1: temple in Kirkland and gain many converts. And in 1838,
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  Speaker 1: the Mormons would face severe persecution in Missouri, leading to
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  Speaker 1: the infamous extermination order issued by the governor, which essentially
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  Speaker 1: legalized violence against Mormons. And they were forced to flee.
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  Speaker 1: I don't agree with that. I don't agree with forcing
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  Speaker 1: any violence upon anyone. I think that's horrendous. So the
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  Speaker 1: Mormons would move and then settle in Nauvoo, Illinois. Sorry
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  Speaker 1: if I'm saying that wrong. Where they built a new
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  Speaker 1: thriving community. And Nauvoo, Nauvoo, Nauvoo, I'm sorry, quickly grew
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  Speaker 1: to become one of the largest cities in Illinois. And
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  Speaker 1: it was here that Joseph Smith really started to introduce
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  Speaker 1: some controversial doctrines, such as... plural marriage, which you've probably
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  Speaker 1: heard of, and it's called polygamy, which drew both internal
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  Speaker 1: dissent and external opposition. And in 1844, tensions between the
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  Speaker 1: Mormons and non-Mormons grew and grew and escalated very quickly.
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  Speaker 1: culminating in the arrest of Joseph Smith. And while imprisoned
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  Speaker 1: in Carthage jail, Smith and his brother Hiram were murdered
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  Speaker 1: by a mob in June 27th, 1844. So then comes
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  Speaker 1: the Exodus to Utah. So after Smith's death, Brigham Young
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  Speaker 1: became the leader of the majority of the Mormons, facing
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  Speaker 1: continued prosecution along the way. So Young would lead the
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  Speaker 1: Mormons on a westward Exodus and eventually settling in Salt
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  Speaker 1: Lake Valley in present day Utah, 1847. So the Mormons
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  Speaker 1: would establish a new home in what was currently at
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  Speaker 1: the time a Mexican territory, creating a theocratic community they
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  Speaker 1: called the desert. And then in the 1850s, the Mormon
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  Speaker 1: community absolutely flourished in Utah. As we know now, a
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  Speaker 1: lot of them still live there. But tensions with the U.S.
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  Speaker 1: government continued, particularly over the practice of polygamy, which had
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  Speaker 1: become more public under Brigham Young. So the church would
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  Speaker 1: officially renounce polygamy in 1890 under the President Wilford Woodruff
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  Speaker 1: to facilitate Utah's acceptance as a U.S. state. And although
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  Speaker 1: the mainstream LDS church abandoned that practice, splinter groups such
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  Speaker 1: as fundamentalist Mormons continued to practice polygamy. So let's talk
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  Speaker 1: about the Mormon beliefs. So Mormon theology is both based
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  Speaker 1: off of the Bible and other scriptures unique to the
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  Speaker 1: LDS faith, most notably the Book of Mormon. So Mormons
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  Speaker 1: believe in the Godhead, consisting of God the Father, Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 1: and the Holy Ghost as separate. So they're distinct beings,
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  Speaker 1: but unified in purpose. So this differs from traditional Christian
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  Speaker 1: concept of the Trinity, where God is seen as one
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  Speaker 1: being in three persons, basically. And then comes their plan
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  Speaker 1: of salvation, which is basically Mormons believe in premortal existence,
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  Speaker 1: where human spirits lived with God before being born on earth.
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  Speaker 1: Earth life is basically just a test. And depending on
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  Speaker 1: how individuals live, they will return in God's presence or
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  Speaker 1: to a lesser degree of glory after death. And there
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: are three degrees of glory, or heaven as some may say.
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  Speaker 1: There's celestial, terrestrial, not those terrestrials, I know what you're thinking,
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  Speaker 1: and telestial. And the celestial kingdom is the highest and
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  Speaker 1: is reserved for those who have fully accepted the teachings
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ and that follow the LDS ordinances. And
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  Speaker 1: Mormons also believe in the continuing revelation. And this means
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  Speaker 1: that God continues to speak through modern day prophets, which
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  Speaker 1: is very prevalent in Mormonism. Joseph Smith being the first.
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  Speaker 1: and continuing with the subsequent leader of the LDS Church.
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  Speaker 1: And they also have temples, which are basically sacred buildings,
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  Speaker 1: where special ordinances are performed, such as baptisms for the dead,
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  Speaker 1: eternal marriages, and sealings that bind families together for eternity.
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  Speaker 1: In addition to the Bible, like we talked about before,
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  Speaker 1: Mormons accept the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine of the Covenants,
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  Speaker 1: and the Pearl of Great Price as scripture. And there
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  Speaker 1: were lots of other branches of Mormonism as well, similar
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  Speaker 1: to Christianity, where people believe in certain things and other things.
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  Speaker 1: This is just kind of the overall arching, so I
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  Speaker 1: don't want to claim that each Mormon is the exact same,
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  Speaker 1: because that's not the case. This is just the overarching
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  Speaker 1: history of it. And Mormons, like a lot of other religions,
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  Speaker 1: kind of have a set of practices and guidelines that
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  Speaker 1: they need to follow, and they call it the Word
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  Speaker 1: of Wisdom. And these are rules that shape the way
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  Speaker 1: they live their life. So the word of wisdom being
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  Speaker 1: it prohibits the consumption of alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea, and
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  Speaker 1: illegal drugs. I would be screwed.
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  Speaker 2: I'm just kidding.
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  Speaker 1: Just the coffee part, basically. And it encourages the consumption
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  Speaker 1: of healthy foods and advises against overconsumption of meat as well.
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  Speaker 1: And then there is tipping, where members are expected to
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  Speaker 1: contribute 10% of their income to the church to support
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  Speaker 1: operations and or charitable work. And then they have the
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  Speaker 1: Sabbath day, where members are encouraged to keep the Sabbath
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  Speaker 1: day holy, meaning they avoid work or recreational activities on Sundays.
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  Speaker 1: And then there's also missionary work, where young men and
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  Speaker 1: sometimes women are encouraged to serve in missionaries for a
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  Speaker 1: period of 18 months to two years. And this is
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  Speaker 1: a central part of the LDS faith and spreading the
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  Speaker 1: LDS faith. So a list of things Mormons can't do.
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  Speaker 1: I think the list is extremely long, but the kind
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  Speaker 1: of main ones are that they cannot have premarital or
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  Speaker 1: extramarital sejules. No panagrapha. You know what I'm saying? No
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  Speaker 1: gambling and no tattoos or piercings. And again, there are,
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure there are plenty of Mormons that do all
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: of the above. I mean, I only speak about Christianity
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  Speaker 1: because I grew up in the Christian faith, but similar
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  Speaker 1: to Christian, you know, like a lot of rules are broken,
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  Speaker 1: but with Christianity, you're basically born a sinner. So you're
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  Speaker 1: kind of like just expected to sin. And then you just,
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  Speaker 1: you know, say, I'm sorry I did that. You just
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  Speaker 1: have to be cognizant of it, basically. So I'm not
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  Speaker 1: saying that You know, if you do all these things,
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  Speaker 1: you're not Mormon. I don't know how it works. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know. I have no idea. I'm just a
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  Speaker 1: messenger right now, okay? I'm just saying what I read.
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  Speaker 1: So let's go on to modern Mormonism then. So today,
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  Speaker 1: the LDS Church is one of the fastest growing religious
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  Speaker 1: movements in the world with more than 16 million members globally.
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  Speaker 1: Its headquarters are in Salt Lake City, Utah and is
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  Speaker 1: led by a prophet, president. Kind of like who Joseph
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  Speaker 1: Smith was, each one following him was a prophet president.
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  Speaker 1: So the current prophet president of the LDS church is
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  Speaker 1: Russell M. Nelson, and he became the 17th president of
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  Speaker 1: the LDS church in January 14th, 2018, following the death
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  Speaker 1: of his predecessor, Thomas S. Monson. And me, having my
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  Speaker 1: true crime mind, just looked into what cults have stemmed
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  Speaker 1: out of Mormonism and stuff, and there's a lot. And
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: basically these cults are just kind of like splinter groups
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  Speaker 1: from Mormonism. And they're called cults because of extreme practices.
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  Speaker 1: I think that's when it indicates it's a cult, is
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  Speaker 1: when it's extreme. When it's not normal, you know? So
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  Speaker 1: first off, you have the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ
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  Speaker 1: of the Latter-day Saints, aka the FLDS. They're one of
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  Speaker 1: the most prominent groups that kind of broke away from
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  Speaker 1: the LDS church. And this was after they officially abandoned
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  Speaker 1: the practice of polygamy. So the FLDS, they're like, that's stupid.
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  Speaker 1: We like polygamy. We're gone. So the FLDS officially split
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  Speaker 1: from Mormonism in about the 1930s. And this group was
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  Speaker 1: based in Colorado City, Arizona and Hilldale, Utah. And the
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  Speaker 1: FLDS was led by a self-declared prophet, classic cult, who
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: wields nearly absolute authority. Not good. Sounds a little dictator-y
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  Speaker 1: to me. And one of its most notorious leaders is
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Warren Jeffs, who assumed leadership in 2002 after the death
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  Speaker 1: of his father, Rulon Jeffs. And some of the controversies
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: surrounding Warren specifically were that his arranged marriages were not
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: great in age ranges, if you know what I mean.
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  Speaker 1: You know, girl, guy, gross. And there was a lot
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: of Sejul Abbas, uh, happening as well. And in 2006,
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  Speaker 1: Jeff was placed on the FBI's most wanted list and
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: was arrested in 2007. And in 2011, he was convicted
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: of Sejul Asildin, two minors, and sentenced to life in prison. Nice.
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  Speaker 1: But despite Jeff's imprisonment, the LDF, the FD, oh my God,
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  Speaker 1: it's all getting mixed up in my head. The FLDS
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: remains active, although significantly weakened by legal actions and internal divisions.
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  Speaker 1: But they still practice polygamy. Essentially, that's like the main
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  Speaker 1: thing that they do. That's different from the LDS church.
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  Speaker 1: There's also the Kingston clan, also known as the Order,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: which is scary sounding. Or the Davis County Cooperative Society.
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  Speaker 1: Doesn't roll off the tongue. And it was founded around
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  Speaker 1: the 1930s as well by Charles Eldon Kingston. And like
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  Speaker 1: the other fundamentalist groups, the Kingston clan broke away from
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  Speaker 1: the mainstream LDS church to continue the practice of polygamy.
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  Speaker 1: They just loved that idea. They're like, this is lame now.
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  Speaker 1: It's lame, okay? Give me more wives. But the Kingston
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: clan specifically was notorious for incestuous marriages. Big no-no. Big
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: bad no-no. And this was to keep the bloodlines pure.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: I knew another guy that liked to keep bloodlines pure.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm talking about? And the leadership of
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: the Kingston clan is basically passed down through the Kingston family.
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  Speaker 1: Every time I hear Kingston, I just want to be like, Hey, O'Shawn,
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  Speaker 1: you almost like Kingston. If you know, you know. Which
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: brings me to the Church of the Firstborn of the
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: Lamb of God. That's a mouthful. where we have Ervil LeBaron,
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  Speaker 1: who declared himself the rightful prophet of the Mormon faith
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  Speaker 1: and introduced the doctrine of the blood atonement. That sounds scary.
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  Speaker 1: Which basically justified the killings of individuals who opposed the
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  Speaker 1: leadership of the church. So basically, him. He claimed that
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  Speaker 1: those who defied his authority were guilty of... grave sins
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  Speaker 1: that could only be forgiven through their deaths. Not cool.
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  Speaker 1: And LeBron's teachings would lead to a series of assassinations
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: known as the LeBaron's killings. Did I say LeBron? I'm sorry. LeBaron.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: It's LeBaron. If I said LeBron somewhere, it's because the
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: name was just, I don't know. I don't know. And
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: this is where LeBaron basically ordered the murders of rival leaders,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: including one of his own brothers, Joel. Sounds like a
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: stand-up guy. And by that, I mean, he's not a
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: great guy. But he would be arrested in 1979, and
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: he would be ordered to life in prison. But even
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: from prison, he ordered several other murders that would happen,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: even though he was in prison. So this guy had, like,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: some serious power. And then there's other offshoots I could
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: go on for quite literally a long time, which I
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: don't think you want, but... There's a true and the
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: living church of Jesus Christ and the latter day saints.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: There's the church of the firstborn, et cetera. Anyway, that
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: is like the gist of Mormonism. Obviously the cults that
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: I was talking about, it does not revolve around that technically.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: I just thought that that was an interesting off sheet
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: that I know you guys appreciate hearing about. But all that,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: and we go to the brain rot, okay? We come
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: to hashtag mom talk, AKA hashtag brain rot, okay? And
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: like I said before, it is a show on Hulu.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: with a series that's out. It has, I think, eight episodes.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Had to double check. Yep, eight episodes. It's all a blur.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: And for those of you who don't know what hashtag
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: mom talk is, I'd suggest you don't go down that route.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: But basically it was self-founded, I guess it was probably
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: started before her, but it was self-founded by Taylor Frankie Paul,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: which she's like the OG mom talk, the OG Mormon
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: mom talk. That's kind of what mom talk revolves around.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: I know there's plenty of moms on TikTok that aren't Mormon,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: but that's what it kind of revolved around. There came
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: a group of Mormon moms that collectively made up hashtag
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: mom talk. I'm gonna try to break this down to
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: the most layman's term interesting way I can. I'm not
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: gonna get into the nitty gritty. There's a lot of
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: other videos if you wanna get like the nitty gritty details,
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: I'll tag some of them below. But this one's just
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: gonna be very brief synopsis. So the original mom talk
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: group isn't who's actually in the show. There's only actually
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: a few people from that original mom talk group that
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: made the show, which at first people were like, oh
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: my God, what happened? What's the tea?
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: We don't really know. But what we do know is
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: that everything kind of stemmed with a scandal, with that
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: swinging scandal, that soft swinging scandal that we talked about
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: in the synopsis of the beginning of the video. And
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: I'll talk about it briefly right now. So in 2022,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: Taylor Frankie Paul, the OG rapper, of MomTalk, the OG
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: Mormon MomTalk girl. She was on a TikTok live stream
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: and she was sharing that her and her then husband,
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Tate Paul, were getting a divorce. However, it was not
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: the only bomb to be dropped. She also said that
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: her and Tate had been soft swinging. And if you
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: don't know what that is, it's, it's, This, I'm gonna
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: put it right here. Just let you read that. And
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: for those of you who didn't read it, it's basically,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: it means that they would switch partners with another couple
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: and hook up without going all the way, AKA soft swinging,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: not going all the way, I guess. I don't know.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: But Taylor claimed that she would hook up with other pairings.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: of the Mormon TikTok community. And in the video, she argues,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: no one was innocent. Everybody has hooked up with everyone
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: in this situation. And this everyone being the rest of
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: the group that was in the original mom talk. But
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: she didn't give specific names, but it was pretty, pretty
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: clear who she was talking about. Causing an absolute dumpster
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: fire of accusations across their corner of the internet, obviously.
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: Have you talked to your bishop or the church about anything?
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: No.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: No? How come?
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: I don't know, because like, what if they're going to
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: like excommunicate me? Hey, when you are out soft swinging,
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: what do you expect?
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: And what is soft swinging? Explain that.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: So, swinging is where you full-on switch partners, like swingers, right?
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: And so, for us, we, like, opened up our relationship of, like,
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: playing games and being intimate all in front of each other.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: So, we weren't, like, full-on switching, per se, you know? Yeah.
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: So, that's why they called it soft-swinging, which I didn't
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: come up with.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: That term, by the way. So, in the series, all
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: the women except Taylor very explicitly, sorry, deny ever swinging
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: or engaging in non-monogamy. And while they never name drop
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: any of the members of the swinging group, it is
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: implied that they are not the cast of the show.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Am I convinced? Not really. Because these bitches are crazy.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: In like, I guess, Mormon way. They're not like that crazy,
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: but we'll get into that as well. But from what
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: I've seen, I've seen a lot of Mormons react to
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: the show specifically. And a lot of them say that
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: swinging is pretty common in Mormonism. Because a lot of
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: them get married at a very young age, which I'll
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: go over the cast and how young some of them were,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: where they got married being like 16 and 18 and
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: starting to have kids. So like at the time they're older,
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: they're just like, I need to let loose. I need to...
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: I need to, you know, F your husband and you
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: need to be with my husband and my wife or
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: my wife or something. I don't know. But they just
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: basically were children when they started being adults or having responsibilities.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: So they feel like they need to let loose. That's
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: what I hear. Not me, but it kind of makes sense.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: So some of the OG moms that were in the
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: original mom talk, as far as I know, Kelly Monday
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: and Miranda MCW, that's their names on TikTok or whatever.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: They aren't on the show. So they replaced them with
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: other moms. Mormon moms, basically. And Mormons did not like
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: the idea of the show being on. There was even
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: a petition that was being signed by a lot of
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: people for the show not to be aired. And apparently,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: I read that Mormons don't use the term Mormon anymore,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: I guess? Their most recent prophet exclaims,' It' s the Church
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ's Latter-day Saints.' So I don't, or maybe Mormonism.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: So if I've been saying that wrong, I don't know.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: That's what it says literally everywhere I look. People who
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: are Mormon refer to themselves as Mormon. So I don't,
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: that's just like one article I read. So I don't
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: know if I'm saying that wrong, but if I am,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I'm ignorant. Okay. But let's go over the
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: show's cast. Okay. And if I got any of that
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: mom talk drama wrong or names, I don't care that much,
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: but here's the show stuff, okay? So essentially to start
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: off and from my research, basically none of them are
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: really truly Mormon, according to Mormons, okay? According to my research,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: like they're not acting Mormon. Some of them claim to
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: be Mormon and some of them have completely dissociated from
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: the church completely. Basically they split off into groups of
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: saints and sinners. Saints being the ones that are still
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: in their first marriages, which isn't really said on the show,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: but it kind of just makes sense because it is
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: what it is. But saints being the ones that are
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: in their first marriages and that, for the most part,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: practice Mormonism still, and sinners being people that basically are
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: in second marriages or not in marriages or divorced, and
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: they don't practice Mormonism as much or if at all.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: So let's go over the saints and the sinners. So first,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: we'll start with Jen Affleck. no she's not related to
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: Ben Affleck or she might be because she kept saying
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: it on the show kind of but not really also.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: They're like well if you marry him you get to
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: say you're related to Ben Affleck but she's like a
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: second cousin his dad's only met him like once but
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: like I'm like yes I'm related to Ben Affleck you
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: are and I was named after J-Lo like.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: I'm here to take their place. So Jen is known
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: as a saint as she is still in her first marriage.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: She's considered like the second most Mormon out of the group.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: She wears garments regularly and has also had a baby
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: blessing in the show, which are both extremely Mormon practices, basically.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: And temple garments are basically a type of underwear worn
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of the
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: Latter Day Saints. Oh my gosh, I'm sorry. And they
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: are worn as a reminder of the covenants made in
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: temple ceremonies and to symbolize the wearers of the connection
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: to God. So they're very important in the religion, I
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: would say. And she's really one or I think two
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: of them wear them, maybe three. It's all a blur.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: But anyway, most of them don't wear them, but Jen
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: was known to wear them. But she also like swears
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: on camera. And sometimes she did wear immodest clothing without
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: her garment. So like she wouldn't be considered a true Mormon,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: I guess. But I would say she's like up there.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: And Jen's storylines basically revolves around her and her difficult
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: marriage with her very controlling husband. And she struggles with
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: emotional manipulation and divorce fears make her one of the
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: most sympathetic characters in the show. Fans and media and
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: myself empathize with her vulnerability as she navigates through the
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: challenges of the show. So that's Jen. And the next
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: saint is Michaela Matthews. She's also in her first marriage.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: And she was the one who was married at only
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: 16 years old. and she was married to a guy
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: that was 21 years old. And apparently looking into Utah law,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: basically it says that anyone who is 14 to 15
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: years old can legally agree to have consensual, sejual, and
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: you know what, with someone who is four years or
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: younger or four years old, wait, under four years older.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Does that make sense? So he would have to be 20.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: So that means she had, it, What she did wasn't
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: legal or what that person did to her wasn't legal,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: I should say. And that's just not like set in
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: the show at all. And I'm just like. I don't
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: know math very well, but I mathed it. So that
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: was weird. That was very strange. And it's also just
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: kind of sad. But yeah, she was her, basically her
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: childhood was stolen away from her. She also got pregnant
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: at like 16. She is one of the youngest cast
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: members as well. And she's basically just grappling with the
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: expectations of early motherhood and her conservative upbringing. And her
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: storyline focuses around her struggle to reconcile her youth with
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: the expectations placed by the Mormon community. So I would
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: say she's pretty up there as like one of the
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: most Mormon out of the group as well. But you know,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: not perfect. And that brings us to the next saint
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: who is Macy Neely. She's still in her first marriage
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: and I'd say she's like probably a fan favorite. She's
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: a very much a girl's girl like she's for everybody.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: She's not like manipulative like some of the other ones
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: or like very judgy like some of the other girls.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: She's like the most Mormon out of all of them.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't say like a true Mormon but you know
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: she's the most Mormon in practicing. She does a lot
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: of the practices within Mormon. She goes to you know,
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: church every Sunday. She's very mindful of what she says
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: and she's not drinking alcohol. all that, you know? And
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: she even answered some backlash on TikTok when people were
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: saying that she wasn't Mormon, which was interesting. I am
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: indeed Mormon. I am also active in the church. I
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: grew up Mormon. I've been Mormon my entire life. Besides
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: maybe a two-year period where I was an active in college.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: I attend church every single Sunday. I also have a
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: calling in the church. I also have a temple recommend.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: She basically plays a central role in some of the
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: season's biggest revelations and viewers really often sympathize with her
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: as she navigates personal in group conflict, so she's awesome.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: I think she's great. And then we have our final saint,
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: but I would say sinner. But anyway, she's in her
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: first marriage, which makes her a saint or whatever. But Whitney,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: Whitney Leavitt, leave it, leave it, leave it alone. She
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: is like the clear villain of the show, like so clear.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: And those are kind of the people Some people think
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: that that's their favorite because they love it. They love
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: the drama and the going against things, but also being
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: for it. I don't know. But basically, she's the most
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: polarizing figure in the show. Whitney balances religious conservatism with
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: her influencer life. But she has the infamous RSV TikTok incident,
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: which I didn't even realize was her. And after I
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: realized it, I was like, And they even talked about
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: it on the show. And it's kind of funny, obviously
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: not funny. The kid's fine and that's good. But she literally,
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: and pointed at her baby who was like dying of
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: RSV on TikTok. And she's just like. And it's so cringy,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: but here's a clip. In that video, I was using
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: my child's sickness for clout and for attention. So that
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: was a big point, a note in the show.
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: I can only feel for her because I've been in
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: her exact shoes and that sucks and it will really
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: mess with you mentally and I feel like Yes, to
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: us and maybe everyone else, it's not that deep, but
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: to her, going through that right now, it's very deep.
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: And you just know that it's not good for your
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: mental health, regardless of how she's acting out.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: And then she also had a very provocative brand deal,
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: which was also brought up with a Sejual toy. And
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: this also came up when something else came up about
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: one of the never... before, which is also just crazy.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: We'll get into that. But yeah, she's both admired and
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: criticized for her candidness and willingness to push boundaries, let's say.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: And next up, we have the sinners, okay? The ones
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: that make the show interesting. First up, we got Demi,
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: or Demi, or Demi, I don't know. And she's kind
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: of like the fan favorite sinner, I'd say, I guess,
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: I don't know, from like what I've read. And she
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: kind of like came on strong a lot at first,
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: like very clearly just wanting to be famous and wanting
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: to be like noticed or whatever. But then she kind of,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: as the season goes forward, she really like speaks about
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: how women aren't treated equally within Mormonism, in her opinion,
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: and how basically women are set up to fail in
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: that faith. and everything, which was really interesting. She doesn't
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: claim to be Mormon anymore at all, although she was
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: raised Mormon. But yeah, her story is very interesting. Again,
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: it's not a bad show. It's interesting to just watch
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: people's lives. I think that's why people like reality TV.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Like it's obviously so over-dramatized and romanticized. And a lot
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: of people went into the show, like we saw TikToks
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: after the show was released, that all of them thought
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: that they were like the hero of the show, but
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: it was so clearly not that. Most of them sucked. Yeah.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: So it's just that's why I don't like reality TV
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: that much just because it's like you're just watching like
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: a fake life It's not like a real person's life
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: because you never know what's true or what's not so
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: and then the next sinner is Jesse and she's basically
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: like the least Mormon she she like she drinks she
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: swears She's baddie, you know, she completely left the Mormon Church.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: She's just like I get a shot She like brings
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: like a friggin flask everywhere. She goes with vodka in
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: it or whatever. It's like over the top but also
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: kind of slay, I don't know. She also has a
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: hair extension company, which kind of is funny because it
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: goes along with like the modern Mormon beauty standards. They
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: all look the exact same. If I watched maybe the
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: first five episodes, I couldn't tell you who was who really,
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: because they all look the same. Maybe except for Whitney,
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: because she has like shorter hair, but it's kind of scary.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: how similar Mormon women look. Like they look the exact same.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: So that's really interesting. But anyway, she has the hair extension. Sorry,
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: I have something in my eye. That's what I get
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: for talking shit. I'm not really talking shit. I'm talking truth.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: I'm spitting facts. I'm spitting straight facts. I don't know
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: what I was saying. But yeah, Jesse's character doesn't really
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: always take center stage, but when it does, her loyalty
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: and emotional depth become very evident. That's why she's like,
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: she is pretty liked, I think, among most people. She's
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: viewed as like a very like stabilizing force within the group.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Although she's usually caught in like the middle of larger conflicts,
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: but she's like, one of the more level-headed-ish group, I
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: don't know. Again, it's kind of an old blur. I
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: did notes, and then I just kinda, I got ADHD brain, man. Anyway,
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: that's her. Next sinner, we have Taylor Frankie Pauly, AKA
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: OG of the group, OG mom, talk, or whatever. She
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: is the sinner, not the sinner, but like, you know,
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: I'd say the most polarizing person on the show, just
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: given her history. So she's obviously divorced and she's also remarried.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: She's kind of known as like the imperfect hero of
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: the group and to a lot of other people, especially
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: on social media. She tried to take that swinging scandal
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: and try to turn it into something better. Like she's
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: trying to become a better person. And I do this
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: because I don't know. And I say, I don't know
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: because she also got arrested for domestic violence. Bomb drop.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: And basically, you're saying, well, what happened? Did she like
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: slap her husband across the face or something? No, she
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: threw a chair at a wall, I guess that it
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: but it didn't it hit her kid. It hit her
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: five year old child and she got she got arrested
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: for that. It's pretty bad. And it's kind of hard
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: to like just dismiss and they kind of dismiss it
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: in the show. Cause the show really tries to paint
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: her as like a heroine. She's basically, she's a woman
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: trying to make herself better going to like probation meetings
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: and doing all these good things basically. But it's kind
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: of hard to just forget that she threw a chair
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: at her kid. Sometimes it's hard to take the show seriously.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: Cause like you don't know whether to feel bad for her.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: Cause at some moments you really do. And she's also
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: pregnant during the show. So that just adds to that
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: kind of empathy. But sometimes I always think, cause I'm
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: just a cynical person that it's very calculated and it's
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: reality TV. You know, all of them want to become
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: rich and famous. That's why they're on the show. All
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: of them want money and fame. There's no other way
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: to go about it. So like, it's hard to think
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: that she's not very calculated in how she's presenting herself.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: There's also like clips of her in the past with her,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: I believe, ex-husband at the time, just acting strange. And
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: I don't know, it's just all weird. And I don't
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: like automatically feel bad for her. I kind of just,
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: I'm questioning intentions basically. Not that I think anybody can't change.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: I think that's life, you know? But when it's on
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: reality television, everyone's full of shit, pretty much, so. And
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: last but not least, we have Layla, the last sinner.
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: And she's actually the only single one as well. She
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: is also one of the ones that got married at
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: a very young age, which was 18 years old. and
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: she would be divorced at 22 years old and have
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: a child. So she literally went through some of the
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: most pivotal years of her life being married and divorced.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: And by the time most people can drink and are
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: halfway through college, she had already married, divorced, and had
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: a kid. So I can't even imagine that as a woman,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: as a human being, just how much that would with
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: your head. And they kind of show that journey as well.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: And she's the one that said she's never finished in
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: her life as well, which brings up all the sigil
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: toy scandal with Whitney and everything. And it's just kind
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: of sad. It's just kind of sad to see how
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: some of the women are just so blind to the
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: rest of life. They're so like pushed into this one
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: little pocket, even though they are like out, you know,
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: they're still in it. Like they don't like most of
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: them besides what's her face who drinks vodka. They they're
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: like vice is pop or soda for the Americans. I
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: say pop because I'm Canadian and it's crazy. That's like
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: how they get like, they're just like freaking like doing
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: shots of pop. It's just like what's happening right now?
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: 44 ounce sparkling water with sugar-free coconut, sugar-free vanilla, sugar-free raspberry,
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: sugar-free pineapple, and coconut cream. Chef's kiss. And like the
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: funniest thing about this all is like they're all like
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: twerking on TikTok. They're all like doing basically anything that
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: you would assume a Mormon wouldn't do. They're just doing it.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: They're wearing like like scantily clad clothing, not all of them,
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: but most of them. And it was just all strange.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: I don't know. Again, I just think reality TV in
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: general is just like brain rot, but what do I know?
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: Speaking of twerking, did you guys, actually this has nothing
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: to do with twerking, not really, but it's fun. It's
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  Speaker 1: fun and cool, like twerking, I guess. And it's Sour Boys.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: I wanted to give you guys another little promo, another
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  Speaker 1: little promo, because you guys have been loving the candy
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  Speaker 1: and we love that. We have little guys, we have
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: new Sour boys candies and I just wanted to gift
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: you a little something if you've hung around this long
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: in the video You know, I think an appropriate little
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: promotion code will be twerk. Let's do it. Let's do
• 35:24
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  Speaker 1: Let's give you 15% off your whole order and let's
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• 35:42
  Speaker 1: first 500 of you will get 15% off, which I
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: think is pretty cool. Thank you guys for supporting my
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: little co-owned business with my lovely, lovely boyfriend, Caleb. And
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  Speaker 1: let's get back to it. Let's get back to the
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  Speaker 1: twerking moms. So use code twerk at checkout, or you
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: can just use the link that I put in the
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: description of the comments or somewhere down below. But yeah,
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: the whole show just navigates like Mormonism and scandals and relationships, faith, everything.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: It is interesting, but again, like it being reality TV,
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: you just don't know how much is like completely made
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: up or manipulated or all that. So it's just hard
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: for me to like really encapsulate myself in it like
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: some other people do, I guess. But the most I'd say,
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: I would go over every single episode, but I want
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: you to, you know, hang around. So I'll basically just
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: go over the biggest scandals. First of all, one of
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: the biggest scandals within the series was the swinging scandal, obviously,
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: where Taylor Frankie Paul confessed her involvement in soft swinging
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: and that lifestyle, where couples swap partners and whatnot, and
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: that most of the other moms do the same thing.
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: And this, I think, is what really captivated viewers to
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: start watching the show as well. And then we have
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: Whitney's villain arc, basically. She has a very hypercritical behavior,
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: criticizing Taylor's lifestyle while posting interviews a sponsorship instagram photo
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: of a sejual toy like i said which left viewers
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: like completely flabbergasted which is hilarious and whitney also had
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: like multiple tense confrontations with some of the other cast
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: members and she was called out by other fellow cast
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: members um for her being like really judgmental with her
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: attitude towards people that weren't like as mormon as her
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: and like cutting ties with former friends which led to
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: some explosive feuds and then we have jen affleck's uh
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: relationship with her very controlling husband. It was a very
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: major storyline within the show. He even threatened to divorce
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: her at some point in the show if she attended
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: the Chippendales, uh, ceremony, if you will. Do you want
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: to go to that? No, I think it's more of
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: like a funny thing if we do end up going.
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: Being divorced and taking care of two kids would be
• 37:37
  Speaker 3: kind of tough, so I guess you make the decision.
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: It was basically like the trip to Vegas. That's it.
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: And that's all just sad, dude. I hate, I hate that.
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: I hate watching that. It was, it's like hard to watch,
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: but basically showcase like the oppressive dynamics within some marriages
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: portrayed in the show, which sparked a lot of like
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: controversial and emotional manipulation, gender roles within the Mormon community.
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: And then we had, you know, the infamous baby shower,
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: like feud where basically like one of them had a
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: baby shower and some of them weren't invited because they
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: weren't Mormon enough and couldn't go into the temple. And
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: it was just a whole big thing. It was just like,
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: what the fuck? Oh, is Whitney not here yet? I
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: don't know. Fashionably late. Did she tell her she's not coming? No,
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: and I told her maybe she should, but she said
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: that Taylor's probably not even going to notice. And then
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: there's a whole Vegas meltdown and toilet paper incident where
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: during a dinner scene after an emotional blow up, Whitney
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: returns to the table with with a piece of toilet
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: paper stuck to her shoe, which is just like classic
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: and like so I feel like staged. And the editors
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: highlighted it like so much, which maybe it wasn't staged,
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: but it's like pretty funny. So it was like kind
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: of a comical moment within the series with many calling
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: it like reality TV gold, which if that's gold on TV,
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: we are doomed. But anyway, there was a lot of
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: pivotal moments and there's a lot of emotional moments and
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: everything and hearing about their lives with having children and
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: getting married young and getting divorced and not being accepted
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: in their community. It's all interesting. But some critics do
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: feel that the show didn't really deeply dive into the
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: Mormon values and instead focused on sensationalism, which is fair.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: And this probably gave the viewers a very skewed image
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: of religion. And that's kind of why I went over like,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: all the stuff in the beginning of the video, because
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: I think it is important to have context. Context matters.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: Context matters. A lot of creators have pointed out how
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: the show really emphasizes interpersonal feuds, such as power struggles
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: within marriages and friendships, over genuine exploration of faith. And obviously,
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: as we know, the Mormon community doesn't really like the show,
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: to be fair. It's basically drawn attention to all, like,
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: the most negative parts of the culture, essentially. And the
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: influencer lifestyle that these women lead is not in line
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: with most people in the Mormon culture, so it's kind
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: of like an insult almost. But from watching a lot
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: of Mormon creators, they're like, no, this is kind of
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: what it's like. So many people said that The Secret
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: Lives of Mormon Wives would not be an accurate representation
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: of Mormonism, but after binging the show, I could not
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: disagree more. Okay, these are my thoughts on Secret Lives
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: of Mormon Wives. I know a lot of people are
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: not super happy about like using the word Mormon in
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: the title, whatever. They feel like it's misrepresenting Utah and
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: mostly like the church. I don't feel like that's true
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: at all.
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: I feel like everything that I saw was very, very accurate.
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: Which is also fair. Like there's just like, no, nobody's
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: perfect and nobody's like... I'm perfect and I'm going to
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: follow all the rules. So that's fair as well. And
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: this is just coming from like the Mormon church, the like,
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: you know, the ones that are deep in it. But
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: in a statement shared in August about the show, the
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: LDS church hinted at its dissatisfaction with the portrayal of
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: its religion in a wider message titled, When Entertainment Media
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: Distorts Faith. And then they said, we understand the fascination
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: some in the media have with the church. but regret
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: that portrayals often rely on sensationalism and inaccuracies that do
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: not fairly and fully reflect the lives of our church
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: members or the sacred beliefs that they hold dear. So,
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: I mean, you know, fair. people aren't perfect and people
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: are going to live their lives and people are going
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: to be in religions and people are just like, they're
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: going to follow it the way they follow it. So
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: it's just, it just is what it is. If anything,
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: it highlights that people are imperfect and how true that is,
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: which I think is valuable, you know? Um, but anyway, yeah,
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: overall the secret lives of Mormon wives, my Lord. It
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: offers plenty of drama and controversy, and it has a
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: lot of, you know, deeper implications regarding marriage and faith
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: and emotional abuse. And it sparks some serious discussions among
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: viewers and critics alike, especially like creators like myself and
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: on TikTok are talking about it. Some are very, you know,
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: for it. It's like a must-watch reality show, and they're
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: all like reality enthusiasts. And then there are some people who...
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: questioning the ethics behind the show and the portrayal of
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: the sensitive topics, which I'm kind of not in either
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: side of the category. I'm like, I watched it mostly
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: for this video. And I think it's TV. You know,
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: I think you really just shouldn't take it that seriously,
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: especially reality TV. It's mostly brain rot, like I said.
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: And I, like I say, always do your, always do
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: your homework, you know, do your homework and be nice.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: So also buy some sour boys at sour.gg with code twerk, 15%.
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: If you want, if you want a little something sweet
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: after a little bit of sour talk. But anyway, I
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: hope you learned something in this video. If you liked
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: the video, please like the video. It really helps the channel.
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: And also subscribe if you haven't subscribed. This is the
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: best YouTube channel ever. And until next time, I will
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: see you beautiful face in the next episode. All right, bye.