Why MomTok’s two most controversial stars are mostly absent from Season 3 of ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’
One of the moms was ultimately lured back by the prospect of taking a new stage.
(Pamela Littky | Disney) Whitney Leavitt, left, and Demi Engemann, cast members of “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.”
The first two seasons of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” had no shortage of drama — or villains.
Viewers see the rise and inevitable fall of Whitney Leavitt and Demi Engemann in the Hulu show’s first two installments. It’s natural, then, to expect to see how the next tracks of the rollercoaster are laid out.
But Engemann, and, to a lesser degree, Leavitt, are mostly absent from the new season of the hit reality show, which begins streaming Thursday.
In the new season’s first episode, another mom, Mikayla Matthews, lays out the MomTok class of 2025. Taylor Frankie Paul and Jen Affleck are on temporary mental health breaks and Leavitt, according to her, “left MomTok again.”
“Recently, we all renegotiated our contracts, but Whitney apparently didn’t want more money. She wanted tickets to the Oscars and a scripted role in another TV show,” Matthews said. “Clearly, she’s not here, so she didn’t get it.”
Leavitt finally makes a cameo in the aptly named fifth episode of the season, “The Book of Resurrection,” where a producer asks her about her absence and Matthews’ claims.
“No, that’s bulls—,” Leavitt says about the awards show tickets. She confirms, however, that she did ask for a scripted role in another show. “Yeah, a girl knows what she wants.”
When Leavitt visits with two friends at Straptank Restaurant & Brewery and they ask about her return to the show, she tells them, “I just found out if I came back to film, then I can audition for ‘Dancing With the Stars.’”
Leavitt and Affleck ultimately made the cast of the dance competition show.
When it comes to Engemann, according to Matthews, her absence stems from the fact that she wanted to “get paid three times more than everyone else.”
“When she didn’t get that,” Matthews said, “she officially walked away from MomTok.”
This is not the first time contracts and money have been mentioned when it comes to Engemann. In Season 2, the moms hint that Engemann was willing to axe Jessi Ngatikaura (her best friend at the time) from the show to get paid more.
When Engemann appears in the sixth episode of the third season, she said there was “a lot” that went into her decision to leave.
“Ultimately,” she said, “it came down to just feeling like I wasn’t being valued.”
At the end of this season, she makes an appearance to film in Los Angeles for a Hulu get-together and participate in media events after the release of Season 2. “I am back to set the record straight,” she says in an interview with a producer. “I’m back to tell the truth and I don’t feel like I’ve had a fair chance at sharing my story.”
