Marciano Brunette hasn’t just stirred up drama on Vanderpump Villa — he is now also involved in an affair scandal featured on Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
When Hulu originally introduced Us to Marciano, his biggest problem was whether he was together — or broken up — with Hannah Fouch amid their debut on Vanderpump Villa.
“When it came to filming our show, I knew what I was going to do going into it,” he exclusively told Us Weekly in May 2024. “I knew how I was gonna act and then from there it was gonna be one of those things of, ‘How do I make sure I do differentiate from [that version] when I’m not filming?’”
After countless onscreen fights and an unclear relationship status, the duo returned for season 2, which is where things got messy. Marciano was single when Demi Engemann, Jen Affleck, Jessi Ngatikaura, Layla Taylor and Mikayla Matthews from The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives made appearances as guests in the season that aired in April 2025.
It didn’t take long for him to become smitten with Demi — who is married to Bret Engemann. While nothing happened between Marciano and Demi on the show, he leaned into speculation that there was more that took place off camera. Demi, for her part, has denied any insinuation that she had a romantic connection with Marciano.
Things got even more confusing when, one month later, Marciano made a surprise appearance on season 2 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives to drop a bombshell about how it was actually Jessi — who is married to Jordan Ngatikaura — that he had an affair with when cameras weren’t rolling.
According to footage teased at the end of the season 2 finale, both Jessi and Jordan denied the infidelity on her part. But the actual question on everyone’s mind is who exactly is Marciano and how is he this entrenched in all the reality TV drama?
Luckily, Us has been keeping up with Marciano’s reality TV presence even before that crossover. Keep scrolling for a breakdown of what to know about the man fueling multiple affair rumors:
What Is Marciano’s Background Before Reality TV?
According to Hulu’s official description of Vanderpump Villa, Marciano had “almost a decade of experience in high-end hospitality” before being hired by Lisa to work at Château Rosabelle in France. He then returned for season 2, which was set in Castello Rosato, where Marciano remained a lead server.
“Marciano has worked in some of Las Vegas’s biggest and busiest day and nightclubs and restaurants, and he has always leveraged his skill, good looks, and charm to rise to the top of any workplace,” read the rest of the press release.
“Growing up in Las Vegas, I worked at all the best nightclubs. I was able to easily translate that to the restaurant business,” Marciano shared on season 1 of the show, which aired in April 2024. “But at my job, they had to make a policy that you cannot sleep with any other employees because I slept with an extraordinary amount of employees.”
Why Was He Coined the New Jax Taylor?
When Vanderpump Villa premiered in April 2024, viewers quickly noticed how Marciano’s off-and-on romance with Hannah appeared to mimic Jax and Stassi Schroeder‘s complicated relationship from the early days of Vanderpump Rules in 2013.
“Working with an ex is actually something that we’re both very comfortable with because we do that here in Las Vegas right now,” he told Us at the time. “We have [done that] multiple times whether we were together or not, so I wasn’t worried so much about that.”
As for his thoughts on those comparisons? “I understand the resemblance but we’re nothing like them,” he explained. “To be honest with you, I’ve said this before but I’m completely different than Jax. I’m not gonna say anything bad about him. I don’t know Stassi, unfortunately, but I’ve met Jax.”
Besides the obvious backstory between Marciano and Lisa, he has also been close with Scheana Shay and her husband, Brock Davies.
“So I’m actually friends with Brock and Scheana [Shay],” he told Us in March 2024. “I got to really see firsthand how they operate when it comes to filming and being themselves.”
Vanderpump Rules viewers caught a glimpse of Marciano in a March 2024 episode of the Bravo show where he witnessed Brock confronting Katie Maloney about sleeping with Tom Schwartz‘s best friend Max Boyens. (Below Deck‘s Dylan Pierre De Villiers was seated next to Katie before making his debut on the separate franchise.)
How Did the Affair Scandal Begin?
While Marciano only spent two days with Demi on Vanderpump Villa, he walked away from the experience absolutely smitten. He was subsequently grilled by his Vanderpump Villa costars multiple times about whether he actually hooked up with one — or more — of the cast members once filming wrapped.
Marciano didn’t rule out an ongoing connection with Demi, which she shut down. From there, Marciano took it a step further by claiming it was actually Jessi he slept with off screen.
“We have tried meeting up [to continue the affair],” he said on season 2 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. “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.”
While Marciano said 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,” Jordan said while Jessi blamed Demi for making up the claims. “He knows that this is ruining my family and my life.”
While Marciano didn’t actually get his wish, the reality star allegedly made a move on Lisa when she was still his boss.
“You told me in great detail in front of many people exactly what you would like to do to me and how you would like to do it,” Lisa claimed during a May 2025 episode of Vanderpump Villa, adding that Marciano was severely intoxicated at the time. “Do you not remember that? … I [told you I] don’t have the energy or the time or inclination.”
Marciano, for his part, seemed mortified that he couldn’t remember the conversation.
