Season 2 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives didn’t just tackle Marciano Brunette and Demi Engemann’s alleged romantic connection — it also sparked a new revelation about an alleged affair with Jessi Ngatikaura.
The drama actually started on another Hulu show — Vanderpump Villa — when Demi, Jessi, Jen Affleck, Layla Taylor and Mikayla Matthews were guests on season 2 of Lisa Vanderpump’s series
During their stint in Italy, Marciano insinuated that his connection with Demi extended beyond the footage that made it into the show. (What did make it into the show was an emotional conversation between the pair that ended with Marciano kissing Demi on the cheek.) Demi, however, shut down the rumors that she was unfaithful to husband Bret Engemann with Marciano.
“Nothing happened with Marciano. At the expense of sounding rude, there wasn’t even a remote attraction to him. It sucks that women can’t be kind and friendly and even playful with men in this world without it being taken as like you’re open. I had a rock on my finger the entire time I was there,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in May. “I brought up my marriage multiple times and they were told that we were married women — so it sucks that we couldn’t just go and have a good time and that he couldn’t respect that.”
Marciano remained tight-lipped about his relationship with Demi during the season 2 reunion of Vanderpump Villa, which aired in May 2025. He then hinted that the truth would come out on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives so imagine Us‘ surprise when the season 2 finale featured an appearance from Marciano — who revealed it was actually Jessi that he had an intimate relationship with when cameras weren’t rolling. (Jessi is married to Jordan Ngatikaura.)
“One thing led to another. Oh, more than [us making out],” he claimed to Layla. “As soon as I saw her, she jumps into my arms and wraps her legs around my waist. I thought we were cool in the Villa but then she was extremely forward.”
Jessi previously denied anonymous fan rumors that she was “publicly” making out with Marciano at TomTom, which serves as a crossover into Vanderpump Rules for Bravo viewers.
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives has yet to be renewed for season 3, but Hulu teased footage of Jessi and her husband, Jordan, reacting to the rumors. Keep scrolling for a timeline breakdown of the alleged affair and more details about what was said off screen:
The Key Players
Vanderpump Villa, which premiered on Hulu in April 2024, introduced Us to Marciano, who was initially referred to as the new Jax Taylor due to his messy relationship with now-ex-girlfriend Hannah Fouch. He remained in the Bravo sphere with a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo on Vanderpump Rules, which was an extension of his friendship with Scheana Shay.
Demi and Jessi, meanwhile, were the main cast members on season 1 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which premiered in September 2024. The Hulu series offered a glimpse at Demi’s marriage to Brett following her divorce from ex Blake Corbin. As for Jessi, she tied the knot with Jordan after previously being married to someone else.
The Gist
In April 2025, Vanderpump Villa showed the Mormon Wives cast visiting Lisa’s Castello Rosato. As soon as they met, Marciano found himself drawn to Demi “not only physically” but emotionally.
“Demi taught me to live with that intent and the right partner is out there,” Marciano told the cameras after knowing Demi for two days. “I knew if I didn’t say goodbye to her, I would regret it.”
Demi didn’t seem to be on the same page. “The deepest and most successful marriages are faced with, ‘Where do we go from here?’ It is all about how you work through on that together,” Demi, who is 16 years younger than Bret, said about her marriage. “We have gone through so much growth and nothing scares him away. No one has made me think this way about it. This is good for me.”
Demi did admit she “almost divorced” her husband “27 times” due to their age difference. But she was proud of the progress they made. In another confessional, Marciano told producers he definitely planned to remain in contact with Demi.
While speaking exclusively to Us Weekly about where they stand now, he teased in April 2025, “You can see that everything was very authentic and very real. If it transitioned into anything after [filming], you’ll just have to wait and see.”
Marciano elaborated on that during the Vanderpump Villa reunion special.
“There was a rumor that came out that we hooked up at TomTom. Demi and I had a very strong attraction in the castle that led to something outside of the castle,” he claimed in the May 2025 episode of the show. “It wasn’t just Demi. It wasn’t just Demi I was interested in.”
Hannah fired back that Marciano was also interested in Demi’s “best friend” and that is when he recommended viewers find out the whole story when season 2 of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives premiered on Hulu later that month.
Well, there’s several marriages being questioned. Bret appeared to clap back at Marciano’s insinuations before the season dropped by sharing a photo of him and Demi, writing via his Instagram Story, “I’m so proud of this beautiful human. She’s the most incredible woman I will ever know. The amount of nonsense she’s had to endure at the hands of disingenuous and deceitful fools is astounding. She’s conducted herself like a graceful lioness amongst a bunch of yipping hyenas.”
During an interview with Us, Demi elaborated on the misinformation about her personal life.
“That [experience] was a whirlwind and so much went into that. My husband and I had actually been in Italy for 10 days prior to jumping over and filming for Vanderpump Villa. So we had the best time ever [before that],” she shared in May 2025. “I was actually apprehensive about going into filming Vanderpump Villa. My husband was actually the one that was pushing for me to go and we honestly didn’t really know what we were getting ourselves into.”
Demi clarified that her and Bret are “solid” despite the speculation.
“We’re good. I communicate with him and I’m honest to a fault. So every step of the way, I’ve communicated from jumping out of Vanderpump Villa, going back to the hotel and Bret was the first person I called and just laid everything out — the whole experience,” she recalled. “More will come from that. There’s a lot of things behind the scenes, as far as how I was mistreated and how that situation was handled.”
At the time, Demi admitted she didn’t feel supported by her costars. “A lot of the women [on my show] and now Marciano jump on the train of taking things out of context. To me, it’s completely a clout tactic in my mind of trying to ride the clout and ride the wave of the success of the show and confuse people. To me, it’s manipulative and I don’t roll that way,” she added. “You’ll see that I’ve said very little about anything that happens behind closed doors or behind the scenes or that would give anything away or conflict with the girls.”
What People Are Saying
The situation between Demi and Marciano was briefly mentioned on season 2 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, including her denial that anything happened. There were also claims Bret slept with someone while Demi was out of town. While they laughed off the rumor on screen, a hot mic moment caught Demi questioning whether Bret’s strong reaction was a hint that there was some truth to the rumor.
Later in the season, Jessi was asked whether a blind item about her and Marciano making out at TomTom. “If I was like dumb enough to do that, I wouldn’t do it in public,” she told her costars.
Marciano had a different version of events when he sat down with Layla at the end of the season, first speaking about Demi.
“When I put myself out there, I didn’t really know what was going on because they said, ‘Oh, we have these Mormon swingers [as guests],'” he told Layla about his initial connection with Demi. “I didn’t really know what to think. This girl Demi is really pretty and gorgeous so I want to try to entertain this. Everything started to transpire and it happened really fast. So I didn’t understand the boundaries.”
He continued: “It was a friendly, flirtatious thing that I mistook for not the friendly part. I would be lying if I said I didn’t at least try and kiss her. I caught feelings for her pretty quickly because I was already consumed with the fantasy that she was open. If Bret wasn’t around, would things be different? I don’t think so.”
While Layla kept asking where he stood with Demi, Marciano cryptically teased that it wasn’t Demi they should be discussing.
“It is not even just about Demi. It’s a rumor — that wasn’t a rumor,” he hinted before elaborating on how the blind about him and Jessi at TomTom was true. “One thing led to another. Oh, more than [us making out].”
Marciano claimed he had sex with Jessi — and it wasn’t a one-time arrangement.
“We have tried meeting up [to continue the affair],” he said. “Jordan doesn’t know the truth about how extensive it was. It was not just a one-time hookup thing. It was not some one night stand.”
Season 2 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives ended with a “To Be Continued” message and additional footage from the fallout of Marciano’s claims. While he said in a voiceover that the situation is “so much bigger” than others think, Jessi’s husband, Jordan, called the rumors into question.
“This is going to be headlines. The truth always reveals itself,” he said while in another scene accusing the drama of being “Demi’s doing” behind the scenes.
Jessi, meanwhile, appeared to blame Demi as well for spreading misinformation. “He knows that this is ruining my family and my life,” she shared before saying Demi was “making it up” when it came to the affair claims.
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