Heavy/Getty/Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen/YouTube Lisa Barlow, Heather Gay, Meredith Marks, Whitney Rose
“The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” star Lisa Barlow shared that she was a crucial piece in the show’s origin during part one of the show’s season four reunion on January 9. Barlow shared her story in response to her new cast member Monica Garcia, who was talking about how she made her way onto the show’s cast.
“I applied just like everybody else sitting here,” Garcia said, with Barlow quickly replying, “I didn’t apply, I helped bring the show to Utah, so I didn’t apply.”
In a January 19 interview for The Hollywood Reporter, three of the producers behind the show shared that the cast began with one of Barlow’s co-stars, Mary Cosby.
RHOSLC Producers Share the Show’s Origin Story
NBCUniversal Television and Streaming Senior VP Production Noah Samton told The Hollywood Reporter, “[The idea to set a ‘Real Housewives’ series in Salt Lake City] originally came to Bravo through [original castmember] Mary Cosby. 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. We kind of just fell into it.”
Samton went on to describe his first time meeting some of the season one cast, which consisted of Barlow, Crosby, Heather Gay, Meredith Marks, Whitney Rose, and Jen Shah.
“I’d already been blown away by the casting tape that I saw, and every woman that I met was even better in person,” Samton said, “We met everybody for drinks at a bar, and then [another executive] 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.”
Barlow has already responded to Samton’s story. When one user shared Samton’s story with her on Twitter, Barlow replied, writing, “Odd and not true she was recommended by my friend Cameron.”
Bravo Shared the RHOSLC Season 1 Casting Tapes
Before the RHOSLC season one premiere aired on Bravo screens, the network shared the casting tapes of its original stars in an October 2020 Facebook post. In the casting tapes, the ladies spoke about their lives, work, family, and relationships.
Marks introduced herself with a joke, saying, “I’m Meredith Marks, and I am 45 for the third time this year.”
Barlow and Cosby both spoke about the culture surrounding the Mormon church in Salt Lake City, with Barlow saying, “Mormons are a little judgey. I get judged for owning an alcohol company. Anybody that knows about tequila knows that it’s a gift from god,” and Cosby later saying, “Utah has layers and layers of money. I do come from old money, we call it ‘blessed.’ We’re not rich, we’re blessed. I’m blessed with everything. I don’t know? I have everything. I don’t want for anything. Utah-ans love to gossip, they love to be in everyones business. This is the new generation of Utah.”
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