{"id":23287,"date":"2025-07-02T08:50:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T12:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T10:01:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T14:01:25","slug":"danielle-pistotnik-georgia-berger-on-returning-to-the-secret-lives-of-mormon-wives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/danielle-pistotnik-georgia-berger-on-returning-to-the-secret-lives-of-mormon-wives\/","title":{"rendered":"Exec Producers Discuss Returning to\u00a0The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives"},"content":{"rendered":"

With its premiere in September 2024, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives<\/em>\u00a0exposed the personal lives of Utah-based TikTok influencers who had been mired by a swinging sex scandal. In doing so, it not only revealed the reality behind the facades posted on social media, it also exposed the different ways the women grapple with their religion and the roles expected of them.<\/p>\n

Season two, out now on Hulu, continues to see the women deal with the fallout of the scandal and other problems that arose during season one\u2014marital difficulties and internal fights about loyalties\u2014all without judgment or placing blame. \u201cThat\u2019s what the show really aims to do,\u201d explains Georgia Berger, an executive producer and talent manager at Select Management Group. \u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily trying to justify any of their actions. It\u2019s just trying to show all sides of it. The lifestyle, the community. The good, the bad. They don\u2019t want to shy away [from reality, especially when] online, social media is known to create \u2018perfect\u2019 lives. We and these women wanted to show that what you see online is not always the full picture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Season two also continues to explore the women\u2019s faith and how they engage with their roles as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Season one was mainly about introducing the religion \u201cbecause [for] a lot of people, what they thought they knew about the Mormon community and the church was more FLDS, which is fundamentalist,\u201d Berger says. \u201cSo, it was about introducing everybody to Mormon culture. Season two feels a bit more relatable. It doesn\u2019t matter what religion you\u2019re in; they all have similar themes or common misconceptions, and it tackles it in a way that feels more relatable and less about specifically being Mormon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a [moment] where they\u2019re sitting around the table discussing what they believe, how frequently they go to church and the extent of their belief system,\u201d notes Danielle Pistotnik, also an executive producer and talent manager at Select Management Group. \u201cEven though they\u2019re Mormons, the thing I like about that is it\u2019s a conversation that all of us have with people that we\u2019re really close to. I was raised Jewish and all my friends are from different walks of life. We sit down and we have these conversations. That makes the Mormonism of it all feel a lot more relatable to most people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the women make their living on TikTok and know what it is like to receive backlash, the debut of the show caused \u201can amplified version of what they experienced before,\u201d Pistotnik says, with plenty of comments from people within their own community criticizing the way they engage with Mormonism to people from outside the community casting judgment. Despite that negativity, though, \u201dit\u2019s felt so positive. The girls are excited, the team is excited, everyone watching it seems excited. And 3 percent of the haters online do 90 percent of the comments. We\u2019re used to it over here. It doesn\u2019t really matter that much.\u201d<\/p>\n

That being said, Pistotnik, Berger and the rest of the behind-the-scenes team take their duty of care seriously. Jen Affleck, one of the moms in the cast, dealt with marital issues that came to a head during the first season. She decided to step back from filming.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we decided that Jen had to focus on her own mental health, whatever that may be, that was a decision that was just obvious,\u201d Berger says. \u201cFor us, as managers and producers, making sure that the talent and their well-being first and foremost are OK\u201d is paramount.<\/p>\n

That also applies to those adjacent to the women on the show. Miranda McWhorter was not part of season one, but she was part of the initial swinging sex scandal. She did decide to join for season two. \u201cOur producers had spoken to Miranda about potentially joining for season one, but the one thing that we always really want to make sure with our cast is that they\u2019re all really comfortable,\u201d Berger says. \u201cFor some people, like Miranda, who had a very big secret aired online, she was a little hesitant to give up control of her own story and wanted to control that narrative through her own social posts. But after seeing season one, there\u2019s a lot more trust built.\u201d<\/p>\n

The show has been a major success for Hulu, with season one\u2019s premiere becoming its most-watched unscripted season premiere in 2024 after three days. Season one also became the first Hulu unscripted series to appear in Nielsen\u2019s streaming ratings. It\u2019s not just the power of Hulu that has driven this success\u2014it\u2019s the very women on the show, who know exactly how to market themselves online.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re geniuses,\u201d Pistotnik says. \u201cI see the videos that they post every single day, and, if that was any other influencer, that would be their biggest, craziest video. And then the way they do it together\u2014two people who don\u2019t like each other will get together, make a video and poke at it. They just know exactly what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Danielle Pistotnik and Georgia Berger, executive producers of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, tell World Screen Newsflash about returning to the series for a second season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1412,"featured_media":23288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[10018,11205,10020],"class_list":["post-23287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-danielle-pistotnik","tag-georgia-berger","tag-the-secret-lives-of-mormon-wives","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nExec Producers Discuss Returning to\u00a0The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives - TVREAL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/danielle-pistotnik-georgia-berger-on-returning-to-the-secret-lives-of-mormon-wives\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Exec Producers Discuss Returning to\u00a0The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives - TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Danielle Pistotnik and Georgia Berger, executive producers of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, tell World Screen Newsflash about returning to the series for a second season.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/danielle-pistotnik-georgia-berger-on-returning-to-the-secret-lives-of-mormon-wives\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-02T12:50:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-02T14:01:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/07\/Danielle-Pistotnik-Headshot.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jamie Stalcup\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jamie Stalcup\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/danielle-pistotnik-georgia-berger-on-returning-to-the-secret-lives-of-mormon-wives\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/danielle-pistotnik-georgia-berger-on-returning-to-the-secret-lives-of-mormon-wives\/\",\"name\":\"Exec Producers Discuss Returning to\u00a0The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives - TVREAL\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-02T12:50:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-02T14:01:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/0da12602224807cc7b179b8405018deb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/danielle-pistotnik-georgia-berger-on-returning-to-the-secret-lives-of-mormon-wives\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/danielle-pistotnik-georgia-berger-on-returning-to-the-secret-lives-of-mormon-wives\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/danielle-pistotnik-georgia-berger-on-returning-to-the-secret-lives-of-mormon-wives\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Exec Producers Discuss Returning to\u00a0The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\",\"name\":\"TVREAL\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/0da12602224807cc7b179b8405018deb\",\"name\":\"Jamie Stalcup\",\"description\":\"Jamie Stalcup is the executive editor of World Screen. She can be reached at jstalcup@worldscreen.com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/author\/jamiestalcup\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Exec Producers Discuss Returning to\u00a0The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives - TVREAL","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/danielle-pistotnik-georgia-berger-on-returning-to-the-secret-lives-of-mormon-wives\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Exec Producers Discuss Returning to\u00a0The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives - TVREAL","og_description":"Danielle Pistotnik and Georgia Berger, executive producers of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, tell World Screen Newsflash about returning to the series for a second season.","og_url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/danielle-pistotnik-georgia-berger-on-returning-to-the-secret-lives-of-mormon-wives\/","og_site_name":"TVREAL","article_published_time":"2025-07-02T12:50:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-02T14:01:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":360,"url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/07\/Danielle-Pistotnik-Headshot.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jamie Stalcup","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jamie Stalcup","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/danielle-pistotnik-georgia-berger-on-returning-to-the-secret-lives-of-mormon-wives\/","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/danielle-pistotnik-georgia-berger-on-returning-to-the-secret-lives-of-mormon-wives\/","name":"Exec Producers Discuss Returning to\u00a0The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives - TVREAL","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-07-02T12:50:13+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-02T14:01:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/0da12602224807cc7b179b8405018deb"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/danielle-pistotnik-georgia-berger-on-returning-to-the-secret-lives-of-mormon-wives\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/danielle-pistotnik-georgia-berger-on-returning-to-the-secret-lives-of-mormon-wives\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/danielle-pistotnik-georgia-berger-on-returning-to-the-secret-lives-of-mormon-wives\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Exec Producers Discuss Returning to\u00a0The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/","name":"TVREAL","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/0da12602224807cc7b179b8405018deb","name":"Jamie Stalcup","description":"Jamie Stalcup is the executive editor of World Screen. She can be reached at jstalcup@worldscreen.com.","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/author\/jamiestalcup\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1412"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}